Leverett House is 'One Big Family'

Some students argue that as with real estate, House preference is location, location, location. But students at Leverett House will tell you otherwise. Although Leverett residents are right in the center of things on the river, they know that it is the people who make the House community, and in terms of community and sociability, Leverett is second to none.

"There's a lot of spirit," says Leverett House Committee Chair Larissa R. Chernock '02. "People are always asking each other how they're doing."

Highlights of the academic year include the annual Leverett '80s Dance, the spring carnival and the spring formal, which has been held at F.A.O. Schwarz the past two years.

And while the students rave about each other, they also rave about the House Masters, Howard Georgi (known as Chief) and Ann Georgi (nicknamed Coach.)

Coach and Chief know everyone's name and at their semi-weekly open houses they serve several thousand pieces of their famous monkey-bread.

The masters--now in their second year--got their nicknames through their enthusiastic participation in intramural sports. Coach plays football and does crew while Chief participates in squash and tennis. And, of course, their two dogs, Gussie and Kentucky, are everyone's favorites.

Senior Tutor Judy Murciano-Goroff is also legendary among students for her ability to dispense wisdom and advice, as well as get students into graduate school.

And thanks to an unusually large number of suites for married tutors, a large contingent of tutors with families call Leverett home.

Students say that the kids and dogs running around make them feel more at home at cold, impersonal Harvard.

Even the large size of the House does not dampen the community feeling.

"We are certainly among the biggest Houses, but we feel like just one big family," Georgi says.

The House does not lack in creature comforts either, as it offers a student-run kitchen and a weight room which is rumored to house more free weights than the Malkin Athletic Center.

While some consider the Leverett towers--built in the early 1960's--a blight on the campus skyline, residents enjoy astonishing views of the Charles and the Boston skyline. And sophomores in the towers happily compare their large, light rooms in the towers to the small, cramped suites of Winthrop, Eliot and Kirkland Houses.