The Campaign & On
The choice of whether or not to run in the Presidential election was hard -- and frankly, terrifying -- to me. Although several friends began murmuring sophomore spring about it, I put off any thought of it until after the summer and we hit the fall of my junior year.
I remember having a conversation with Shaiba Rather, UC President ‘16, about her experience on the trail and beyond, and I will never forget when she told me, “The night that the results of the campaign were released, I went up to the rooftop with my roommate and cried. I did not feel like I would be ready to take on the year, and I was really scared.” Here was my biggest student role model telling me she was scared -- I knew then, that my fears -- not being seen as genuine, being judged from peers I had not personally met, not being the most effective or best leader for this school, and so many more --were valid. This would certainly not be an easy journey, mentally or emotionally, but one that I could take on.
When Nick & I started having conversation about it, we both agreed that we would only want to run with one another -- having been friends since our first-year, not only did we trust each other completely, we cared for one another and for the school at large. We brought different strengths to the team, and I could not think of someone with a better work ethic, drive, and passion that I would want to be with.
And thus began: Cat & Nick, Together we CAN.
While externally it may have seemed I was at my height of confidence, internally, I was struggling with my own ideas of what it meant to be a leader and believing my own abilities to be shortfalls. I struggled daily with doubts and felt the absence of many core support systems. Yet finally, countless days of door-knocking, printing, meeting with student groups, and sleepless nights of website-updating, emailing, and pubbing later, November 17th finally rolled around, and we gathered in my room with our campaign team to await the results.
It was a moment of joy, bewilderment, disbelief. And to share it with a team that had really brought us there was one I will never forget. Reflecting back, I am overwhelmed by the amount of love we received during this period of time, and the experience is one that has truly had its impact.
Following that, the work had just begun! This is not to say that everything is rainbows and butterflies now -- I have already had my fair share of frustration at inefficiency from both the College and Council’s, hardship from internal and external pressures and relationships, and late-nights wondering whether I had said the right thing or made the right decision. There are times that Nick & I disagree and butt heads, but inevitably learn from one another. And while my days are now spent from morning to night in meetings with administrators, classes, meetings with students, responding to emails, preparing for meetings, thinking about the work that needs to be done, and grinding through that work, I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve a community that I care deeply about. I see Harvard with a new perspective, and while there seem to be new issues every week, I will continue to advocate for that I believe in. Here’s to a year of fighting, learning, struggling, and growing!
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