Class of 2013 Chooses Class Marshals

All throughout the day on Monday, Nina M. Yancy ’13—a Quincy House resident and social studies concentrator—received emails and text messages from friends congratulating her for her election as the first class marshal for Class of 2013.

“I am definitely honored,” Yancy said. “I have really enjoyed my time at Harvard, so this is an awesome opportunity to give back to the school and the class.”

Yancy is joined by seven other seniors who have been chosen as class marshals for 2013, according to an email sent out Monday morning by the Harvard Alumni Association and the Harvard College Fund.

Scott J. Yim ’13, also a Quincy House resident and a biomedical engineering concentrator, will be second class marshal.

A co-chair of Quincy House Committee, Yim said that he, too, feels fortunate for this opportunity to serve the Harvard community.

“Harvard has opened lots of doors for me and my family,” Yim said. “I am so lucky and excited, and I hope I can do everyone proud.”

Yancy and Yim will head the Senior Class Committee, which will be responsible for planning events for the class throughout the year.

This sense of gratitude was echoed by Class Marshal Margot J. M. Leger ’13, an Eliot resident who hails from Johannesburg, South Africa. Leger said she feels privileged to be able to give back to the community she loves.

“I want to be a part of it for years to come and create a global community,” she said.

This year’s group of class marshals, which includes students who have taken part in activities ranging from the Crimson Key Society and the Undergraduate Council to Expressions Dance Company and the Black Students Association, come from diverse backgrounds and interests.

Everton L. Blair Jr. ’13, another newly elected Class Marshal from Currier House, said he wants to foster a more culturally and socially inclusive community.

“[Being chosen for class marshal] is both a confirmation from my peers, as well as a charge to do the best I can to bring people together for our last year and to make senior year memorable,” he said.

Blair, an applied mathematics concentrator who spent last spring studying abroad, said he was both surprised and excited to find out that he was elected as one of eight class marshals.

According to the announcement sent to the senior class, nearly 1,000 seniors voted in the final round.

In addition to organizing Senior Week, the Senior Class Committee is also charged with finding speakers for Class Day.

Yim said his dream speakers would be Michelle Obama, Ellen DeGeneres, or Jim Yong Kim, while Blair said he hopes the Senior Class Committee will book Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow, Dave Chappelle, Bill Maher, or Kevin Hart.

Class marshals also include: UC President Danny P. Bicknell ’13 of Mather House; Nadia L. Farjood ’13 of Currier House, an inactive Crimson editor; J. Arturo Villanueva ’13 of Lowell House; and Crimson news editor Julie R. Barzilay ’13 of Quincy House. They will be joined by 13 House representatives, who will be elected next week, along with a secretary, treasurer, and webmaster.

“I am excited to meet with other members,” said Yancy, who is Barzilay’s blockmate. “It will be a team effort in working to represent our class.”

—Staff writer Jane Seo can be reached at janeseo@college.harvard.edu.