{"id":4467,"date":"2012-08-23T11:19:29","date_gmt":"2012-08-23T15:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/?p=4467"},"modified":"2012-08-23T11:34:56","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T15:34:56","slug":"guest-blog-the-power-of-play-or-why-im-glad-to-be-an-undergrad-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/2012\/08\/23\/guest-blog-the-power-of-play-or-why-im-glad-to-be-an-undergrad-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blog – The Power of Play: Or, Why I\u2019m Glad to be an Undergrad Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sherry L. Deckman, Senior Resident Tutor and Sophomore Advising Coordinator, Adams House<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, to call myself an \u201cundergrad\u201d is a bit of an exaggeration\u2014given that when I was an actual undergrad the internet was just gaining popularity and it was possible to have a decent social life without having a cell phone, let alone a \u201csmart\u201d phone.\u00a0 However, through Harvard\u2019s unique college house system wherein graduate students live among and advise undergraduates, I have had a chance to do some of the undergrad experience over again.<\/p>\n

One of the most important lessons that I\u2019ve taken away from this time is about the power of play.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to get caught up in the feeling of constantly needing to do school work or to devote oneself to extracurricular and leadership activities.\u00a0 But, now that I\u2019ve had the opportunity to experience undergraduate life for the second time, I can assure you that while we\u2019re all here at Harvard to work hard and to learn, play is an important part of that process.\u00a0 The lessons learned outside of the classroom from your neighbors and peers might even be the most valuable that you take with you from your four years here.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably heard this sort of thing before, maybe from your parents or older siblings.\u00a0 And, you may be thinking that this all sounds fine in theory, but still be wondering how you can actually go about applying this idea to your Harvard experience.\u00a0 I suggest pushing yourself in two ways:<\/p>\n

1) Do something you never thought you\u2019d do (at least once a semester); and<\/p>\n

2) Do it with someone you\u2019d never thought you\u2019d do it with.<\/p>\n

For me, a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, this has involved lots of costumes!\u00a0 I can assure you that costumes were sadly lacking from my first four undergraduate years and have truly enriched this one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here I am donning formalwear and a tricorne hat with some Adams juniors at our House dinner to celebrate Harvard\u2019s 375th<\/sup> anniversary this past year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In this photo, I\u2019m posing with our Adams House Master and the House Committee Co-chair, at a celebration of the 250th<\/sup> anniversary of the House Masters\u2019 residence.\u00a0 Everyone wore colonial garb and we had a parade around the block with a fife and drum band.\u00a0 For those of us with neither a fife nor a drum, we played gold-colored kazoos.<\/p>\n

While this may seem a bit silly and nonsensical even, by letting our guards down and forgetting about classroom stresses and work obligations, through laughing and playing, we at Adams House come to know each other on a deeper level and forge close bonds.\u00a0 It may also be due to the whimsical nature of some of these interactions that we are emboldened to make connections with people we never imagined we\u2019d connect with.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s hard to take yourself\u2014or anyone else for that matter\u2014too seriously when you\u2019re wearing a 12-inch tall wig and playing a kazoo.<\/p>\n

These boisterous times can turn into long conversations after study breaks, like this one in my Resident Tutor suite:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And these conversations turn into friendships that can transcend your time at Harvard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here I am at our Adams House champagne toast for graduating seniors in May with some students who came from across the U.S. and the world and became friends here at Harvard.<\/p>\n

Not everyone has this amazing opportunity to have a second undergraduate experience.\u00a0 So, remember to make the most of your time at Harvard by doing things you never knew you were capable of and meet someone you never could have met if not for this shared undergraduate experience.\u00a0 You will learn so much about yourself and the world.\u00a0 And, if you ever need to borrow some costumes, just visit us at Adams House!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sherry L. Deckman, Senior Resident Tutor and Sophomore Advising Coordinator, Adams House Okay, to call myself an \u201cundergrad\u201d is a bit of an exaggeration\u2014given that when I was an actual undergrad the internet was just gaining popularity and it was possible to have a decent social life without having a cell phone, let alone a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2494,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37316],"tags":[64732,15599,3987,29824,64842],"class_list":["post-4467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-blogger","tag-adams","tag-advising","tag-house-life","tag-house-system","tag-tutors"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4467"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4480,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4467\/revisions\/4480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}