Harvard Graduate Council Presents ‘One Harvard’ Awards, Plans Socials

The Harvard Graduate Council presented “One Harvard” awards at a March 18 meeting and plans to host three “One Harvard” social events for students at all 12 of Harvard’s graduate schools over the next two months.

This year’s One Harvard socials are intended as a renewed effort to encourage connections across the graduate schools. The events will be funded by the HGC, which currently holds more than $30,000.

Idongesit Sampson, a second-year student at the Harvard School of Public Health and Vice President of the HGC, explained that the One Harvard socials are meant to connect students at different graduate schools and “foster a sense of community.”

“The idea of One Harvard is part of the vision that guides the HGC, and it’s really to bring students from different grad schools because we’re very engrossed in academic work,” Sampson said.

“We try to secure events that bring students from different schools to collaborate or get a mixture and just enjoy life outside the bubble that exists within your individual school,” Samspon said.

Each respective school’s student government can apply for funding for socials through the HGC. Their funding applications double as “a mini town hall” for students to bring up advocacy issues concerning their own schools.

Programming for One Harvard socials includes a Masquerade Ball held at the Museum of Science in Boston this Saturday, a Harvard vs. MIT game night on Sunday evening, and the Starlight Swings Socials, which will occur mid-May.

Recipients of the One Harvard awards included David G. Lou, Olayinka Fakorede, Luke Sutherland, Sarah Wang, and Gabriela Rose, who were all students on the iNight planning committee. iNight, or, International Night, is an event meant to “celebrate the talents, cultures, and diversity” of the School of Public Health.

Dalton Fogarty, finance chair of the HGC and a student at the Harvard Business School, explained that the HGC has been trying to rebuild the capacity of One Harvard social events since 2014, when between 1,500 and 2,000 students attended the end-of-year masquerade ball. This year’s ball will have a maximum capacity of 300.

According to HGC President Brett Monson, the “One Harvard” social initiative came after the HGC struggled to maintain former sources of funding for social events.

“The HGC a couple years ago was given $30K to start a program called the ‘One Harvard Catalyst Fund.’ Any student group could apply for $500 or $2,500 for something that promoted cross-school events,” Monson wrote in statement.

According to Monson, Harvard’s Office of the Provost funded the one-time grant and did not approve requests from the HGC to replenish it.

—Staff writer Adina R. Lippman contributed reporting.

—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker can be reached at angelina.parker@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @angelinajparker.