Meet our adorable, HoCo-loving, Dapa-champion celebrity of the week, Joanna Guth!
Let’s start with the basics…
Name: Joanna Guth
House: Kirkland
Year: 2016
Concentration: Statistics
Plot twist. If you weren’t concentrating in Statistics, what would you want to concentrate in and why?
OEB! I would have loved to work in conservation somewhere; save the dolphins or discover one of those puppy-sized spider species.
Hometown: Annapolis, MD
Sell your hometown to us. What’s the best part? What do you miss most?
Annapolis is the sailing capital of the world, and our other main attraction is the US Naval Academy (…plus all the very attractive midshipmen who attend it) so it’s extremely picturesque and a really fun place to grow up. It’s the perfect mix of an smallish city and a tiny town, and I really miss knowing everyone I ran into whenever I left my house!
Tell us about your extracurriculars on campus!
What’s your favorite extracurricular and why?
I’m absolutely obsessed with Kirkland House Committee. I have a huge thing for event planning, and HoCo is such a great way to channel that. You really get involved with the house community (and the Kirkland community is unmatched) and get to give back in a tangible way…and I just love formals.
Tell us more about about being on Kirkland HoCo. Do you have any events coming up?
Kirkland Winter Formal! Kirkland Secret Santa Week (it’s huge) culminates in a ridiculously festive holiday dinner and dance and basically embodies everything you’ve ever thought about the holiday season. It’s on my birthday this year, so I have extra incentive to make it awesome.
Weigh in on your Harvard experience for us!
What’s your favorite college memory so far?
The Kirkland Holiday Dinner last year. Kirkland Secret Santa is an amazing tradition (that I am so excited for this year) where someone in the House who you might not even know just showers you with love for a week, and it culminates in the Holiday Dinner. I’ve never been to any event that was so festive and full of House pride and spirit, and it was probably the point at sophomore year where I felt fully part of the House. There are so many emotional, inspiring speeches from the seniors and then when you meet the person who was your Secret Santa it’s just such a rush of happiness!
At any given moment, where are you most likely to be found on campus?
The Office of Alcohol and Other Drugs Services. I’m really involved in Drug & Alcohol Peer Advisors (DAPA), which works to promote safe drinking culture on campus, and I also intern there doing all their survey data work, so I spend a lot of time in the office. It’s a good thing I have such great coworkers!
What’s on your Harvard bucket list?
Eat in all the dining halls!
Do you have any advice for the soon to be admitted class of 2019 (!) or current students?
Don’t ever feel like you need to hold yourself to what other people think. There’s a lot of implied social pressure here, and it’s important to do what’s best for you, not everyone else. Above all, don’t be afraid to do what makes you happy.
Now, just for fun:
If you could fit one more thing into your schedule, what would it be and why?
I just saw posters for the Blackjack club and I’m actually hoping to make time for that; it would be such a cool application of stats and I could pretend I’m living in the movie 21.
Do you have any weird talents?
Reciting Disney songs from memory
What’s in your backpack right now?
It’s empty because I grabbed a banana for breakfast on Monday…and didn’t eat it, so it leaked all over my stuff later in the week. I’m a mess but it’s drying in my bath tub right now.
If you had a completely free Saturday (#asif), how would you spend it?
I would lie in bed as long as possible, and then get out of the city! I would go to Salem or somewhere on the commuter rail, just leave the Bubble entirely and play tourist. Eat somewhere cute and window shop.
What’s the title of your future memoir?
“Thanks, I bought it on sale!”
Thanks for talking to us, Joanna!