C l a s s  of  2 0 0 7

Each year we ask our classmates a straightforward, simple question taken from the last lines of a poem by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Mary Oliver. It seems such an easy question on the surface, but sometimes the easy questions are the hardest to answer. Indeed, although we ask for only 200 words or less, most people grapple with the question a long time. We share with you intimate and candid responses from the Class of 2007 to this question,"What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

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The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean -
the one who has flung herself
     out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out
     of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and
     forth instead of up and down -
who is gazing around with her
     enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and
     thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open,
     and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention,
     how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down
     in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how
     to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Concept and photography: Tony Deifell, '02
Original website design & layout: Paul Sternhell, '02
2007 Organizer: Missy Blakeley
2007 sponsored by the HBS Careers Office MBA Admissions, MBA Student and Academic Services

     
Simon Belsham    Did the tree really notice me? Last summer I stood high-up in the shady branches of a giant African Baobab in Botswana...   Kasia Biezychudek    My parents would not allow the weight of the iron curtain to hide my stage...   Aditya Bindal    Win. I want to win my family’s safety, by never failing to protect them...   Missy Blakeley    I'll share with you a dirty little secret: all these wonderful opportunities… scare the heck out of me...
     
Noah Broadsky    Make people smile. And laugh and play, and have wonderful vacations they never forget...   Ebony Cambridge    I want to cook callaloo and crab every Sunday just like women in Trinidad did when it was all they had, and not a local delicacy...   Rishi Chandna    I will live in the present. I will push myself as I hard as I can every day. I will pack a bit less and endure a bit more...   Leslie Feinzaig    I no longer have big dreams. I have little dreams; simple, happy, cozy dreams...

 
 
 
Walter Frye    I will start each day without hitting the snooze button, taking a few moments every morning to think about how I can leave a positive imprint on the world before returning to bed...   Margarita Golod    I want to have the courage to ask questions. Serious questions, embarrassing questions, aspirational questions, even silly questions...   Kirsten Hassert    I will unleash my own Inner Spiderman with his motto: "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility."...   Daniel Hong    I want to be constantly scolded for not having grown up. I want to be told how immature and childish I am after all these years...

 
 
 
Erica Hunt    Learn to say, "So what, that's just me"...and mean it. I never liked being the only kid in my neighborhood who went to Catholic schools...   Toby Johnson    My father died in June. One of the last things he did, was see me FLY. . .literally...   Zameer Kassam    When they say "with this ring, I thee wed," I will be there. When they want to show their daughter how proud they are, I will be there...   Ryan Kauppila    "When you laugh, everyone laughs with you. Cry, and cry alone. So you best put a grin on that face right now!"...
     
Harman Kochar    If life could be planned I would have already – • Eradicated Poverty from the World • Controlled Global Warming • Established World Peace...   Clint Lawrence    I peek over the edge. I can no longer see the white sand of the sea bed. Without hesitation, I jump into the deep blue Caribbean water and swim to shore...   Heather McLetchie-Leader    We are blessed to be blessings...I almost didn't make it. At 17 I dropped out of high school and by 19, teenage motherhood stood poised to knock me even further out of the game...   Janice Lin    I have an insatiable need for speed. There's never enough time to do everything I'd like, but I aspire to be inhuman and accomplish the maximum within the short time I know is left...
     
Sharon Liszanckie    Twist what HBS taught about apparitional marketing, NOT to sell luxury goods, but to illustrate "goods" aren't important, what you do for others is...   Rebecca McKillican    I will always post my letters. Handwritten, colorful, shiny letters. The excitement of receiving mail during my summers at camp has never been forgotten...   Alexandra Rethore    I am a proud 'Auntie' to six nieces and nephews, whose legs, confidence, and imaginations are growing like weeds...   Jorge S. Roberts    A 7-year old boy stands on his grandmother's balcony with the Mexican flag across his chest while he imagines he the president delivering a speech to millions of people...
     
Robert Schwartz    I will fight contentment. I want to be happy, of course. But not content. Never content...   Brian Shaw    Live outdoors. Drink freshly squeezed orange juice. Let food cook slowly on the grill...   Bianca Tabourn    I want to sometimes fall short of people’s Super Woman expectations of me. It will remind everyone I am only human...   Jialei Tian    Live in fear of failure – unable to wholeheartedly realize my potentials and relentlessly pursue my dream...
       
Sunru Yong    My first car was a cornflower blue 1981 Chevrolet Citation. Free life lesson here, kids: don't ever market a car using a name synonymous with "moving violation."...   Peggy Yu    I will close my eyes. Take a deep breath. And leap. Conscious. Deliberate. Aware. And yes... maybe scared...   Jiao Zhang    The ruler snapped on my knuckles. "Girls dream of being wives not mathematicians." Another rant from the school teacher in front of my class. But I was busy dreaming...    

© Copyright 2002-2009 Tony Deifell