Have these become part of your Harvard experience–
Events at Harvard that are only for Extension students like you?
A room crowded with people who are truly excited by the courses and projects that excite you?
New friends you will keep for years to come?
Opportunities to mingle with scholars and practitioners from Harvard and the world beyond?
The knowledge that you have friends at Harvard who respect your hard work in Extension is a great feeling to have! And many Extension students are finding that feeling in socials, clubs, and special events sponsored by HESA– The Harvard Extension Student Association.
HESA is the one place at Harvard that is all about us. And we are building it together by volunteering our time and by giving $25—or whatever we can—to make our community even better.
HESA’s Fall Kick Off– an exclusive social event just for Extension students– was a lot of fun!
Our speaker Jim Alvarez had the right idea– “You may never again be surrounded by so many people who can help you to make your lives after Harvard all that they should be.” Our Harvard experience is not complete without friends who understand our work and our hopes, our achievements and our dreams. The time to make them is now; the place to make them is HESA.
To make the most of this opportunity, each of us needs just two things— (1) a strategy for cultivating relationships (such as the one Jim explained) and (2) a place where we can start them (such as the event itself). Our Fall Kick Off brought the two together and, of course, friendships were made! That’s what HESA’s all about.
And this is only the beginning. Just scroll through the website calendar and you will find an event like this is projected for each month of the school year. HESA will bring you another opportunity for fun, friendship, and networking every month of the academic year. This is one of HESA’s oldest traditions, evolving from coffee and cookies in the Grossman Common Room to the events of the past year. This year we are making these opportunities bigger than ever– hundreds now attend. Each event has a fun program—a speaker, movie, an activities fair, etc. And we’re now serving dinner. That’s quite a jump, but we feel that the extra work and expense is worthwhile.
Also this year, two special HESA events will open worlds to us both at Harvard and in the world beyond. At a time when the future of Pakistan is so much on the world’s mind, The Harvard Extension International Relations Club (HEIRC) hosted the Extension school’s first ever International Relations Conference, bringing American and Pakistani policymakers together to discuss terror and peace on October 17 at the Harvard Medical School’s beautiful conference center. Scholars and diplomats from Harvard and the world at large joined us to explore the prospects in a beautiful, troubled, yet promising part of the world.
The Negotiation & Leadership Conference sponsored by The Harvard Extension Service and Leadership Society (HESLS) brings Harvard and world experts together to discuss life’s most useful skill in all of its real world settings– law, business, politics. Past Negotiation Events have pressed them to rethink the conventional wisdom about how to negotiate in multi-cultural settings and interpersonal conflicts. This year’s topics and panels will be no less provocative. But because the Negotiation & Leadership Conference has earned a respected place in the Harvard University calendar, it is fortunate for Extension students that HESA supports and ponsors it– it may sell out!
As in past years, HESA will also present a Thesis Forum to honor the work of those students who are defending theses this year. This is also a surprisingly successful social event– a chance to connect with the students in your own field of study.
And of course, HESA will host events for the Big Day– a Commencement Breakfast for graduates and their parents and– if funding permits– a Graduation Formal Dance. Events like this not only draw us together, but also include our friends and family.
Whether monthly socials or special events or academic celebrations, all of HESA’s events knit us together into the community that will endure long past graduation.
Events like these are priceless, but also costly. Behind the scenes, HESA’s volunteers spend many hours and dollars to create the events that bring us together. It takes imagination, team work, and fierce attention to detail to create these magic hours at Harvard that are all about us. HESA– The Harvard Extension Student Association– is the one place at Harvard that is all about us.
So that all this is done and done well, year after year, HESA’s President, Andre Bisasor, is organizing a permanent staff of HESA volunteers and rebuilding HESA’s finances. An MBA with expertise in organizational consulting and finance, Andre is implementing reform with a plan of daunting thoroughness. It boils down to just a few key ideas– a permanent volunteer staff, attention to all of HESA’s missions, well-organized support teams, and an ethic for HESA that is worthy of Harvard. This year’s renewal of HESA will enrich the Harvard experience of Extension students for years to come.
This year’s more ambitious program requires more volunteers and more funding. Nearly 35 new volunteers have stepped up to do the work required. And HESA is also negotiating more support from all of our funding partners, who are excited to see how far we have come in just a few years. Will you join them in supporting a community at Harvard that is just for Extension students?
And unlike other student associations, both at Harvard and elsewhere, HESA is unusual in collecting no Student Activity Fee to pay for a whole year of activities for students. Instead, HESA proudly relies on the strength of its program to attract the financial support of such benefactors as the School itself, the Harvard COOP, the Bank of America, and individual contributors. Because HESA pays no staff, and is energized by the commitment of dedicated volunteers, every dollar given goes far. To put this in it’s proper perspective, the student association for the MBA Program at the Harvard Business School manages about 1.3 Million dollars per year for about 1800 students. The student association at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Law School manages somewhere between $130,000 per year and $150,000 per year. HESA manages $15000 per year for about $15,000 students. From one perspective, this works out to be $1 per each student. Though in all fairness, not all 15,000 students expilicity use our services. Still all of our students benefit in some way (directly or indirectly) from what HESA does and provides, whether it is the new website that allows functionality and provides updates or whether it is our calendar of events or our recommendations of policy changes to the admninstration on matters that affect all students.
We are proud to have farsighted funding partners who see that investing in our friendships and networks gives powerful leverage to the value of a Harvard education, not only enriching our lives, but also increasing the good that we can do together for the world. Can we not believe in ourselves as much as they believe in us?
It’s easy to join them by making a contribution of $25, or any other amount you prefer, at the Paypal link below that will more than pay for itself in your richer Harvard experience. All of us have given to this cause and we feel proud to have made this investment in our vibrant community. We invite you to join us.
Very truly yours,
Andre Bisasor
HESA President 2009-2010
Mark Walton
Fundraising Director
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