(Re)Discovering Wonder at Visitas

On Sunday, April 26th, a group of prospective students during Visitas gathered to attend (Re)Discovering Wonder, a panel conversation moderated by Professor Adaner Usmani and featuring three current seniors: Stella Kwon (Social Studies), Joel Crawford (Government and Philosophy), and Liz Zheng (Applied Mathematics and Sociology). This event invited students on the cusp of some of the most consequential decisions in their lives to reflect on what it means to “choose well” and what the purpose of a Harvard education is.

The discussion opened by talking about a paradox that has likely been present in many students’ lives: students will arrive on campus having already been handed their “whys” by other people, whether that be family, community, or circumstances, and college is the first real opportunity to revise or claim those whys for oneself. Coming to Harvard, one speaker suggested, is a form of self-governance: a chance to ask, for maybe the first time, what the purpose of a good life really is.

Each panelist offered a different window into that question. One speaker described arriving at Harvard with a vision of the university as a “golden ticket,” a gateway to a great life defined by external markers, before gradually discovering that the more meaningful question was what actually fuels them versus what doesn’t. They spoke about trying pottery for the first time, being bad at it, and confronting the discomfort of wanting to fast-forward past being a beginner to mastery. The discomfort, they suggested, was part of the point itself, as learning how to sit with this discomfort is the kind of patience that makes growth possible. Another panelist reflected on how easy it is to lose sight of what makes Harvard remarkable once you’re inside it. They encouraged students to reconnect with the version of themselves who first imagined this place and to seek out communities that make Cambridge feel like a home. A third panelist described the anxiety that comes from fixating on outcomes and instead encouraged students to focus on being present and grateful.

This conversation also pushed back on the pressure that students carry into college. Rather than competing against peers, one panelist urged students to compete only against the person they want to become. The panelists also agreed that this has been much more feasible in college than in high school, where students choose their community, try out new things, know the people around them work hard to get where they are, and recognize that they might not be the smartest person in the room

Drawing on David Foster Wallace’s This is Water, another speaker asked students to consider what they choose to worship, not in a religious sense but in the sense of what they organize their lives around. This may be unconscious or something that is often not explicitly thought about because it seems so obvious, but college, the speakers suggested, is a rare chance to examine what those defaults are rather than to simply go along with them.

Reflecting on their Harvard journeys, the panelists shared recommendations for courses and resources that shaped how they think about the questions raised in the conversation, about purpose, identity, choice, and having a meaningful college experience. These included General Education courses focused on philosophy, courses in Social Studies and Government, and episodes streamed through podcasts or other services.

The panel closed with a poignant comment to the prospective students, as they make their final decisions about where to spend the next four years: college is not about what Harvard will make of you, but what you will make of Harvard and of yourself.