HAGS.
HBS is a community of makers. For our final edition of the academic year, we aggregate reflections and learnings from ECs heading off into the real world, all of whom emphasize the invaluable relationships they built on campus. We review the team effort that made, from scratch, a phenomenal three-night Harbie run with perhaps only one flaw (I think my mom skims the Harbus sometimes, so I count at least one reader). We explore entrepreneurial ventures and innovative solutions to tough problems, and we sit down with our incoming SA Co-Presidents to dissect their community-building plans for next year. Finally, we are thrilled to launch our ask-me-anything HBS community advice column, mitaliPOV.
With graduation, we say farewell to our exceptional Harbus ECs, who developed consistently excellent content and shared important stories. Thank you, and congratulations on finally mastering business administration. I am especially grateful to Rory Finnegan (MBA ’24) and Edgard Mejico (MBA ’24) for their service as Co-Editors-in-Chief, and for sharing their parting reflections with me.
Ed and Rory came to the role from similar places – both had always loved to write, but never had the chance to try their hand at journalism. The Harbus was a way to “keep my love for writing alive,” said Rory. Stepping into the Co-Editors-in-Chief role, however, was about people. Along with curating content and setting a direction for the paper, Ed said “it was about recruiting people to write. We got really good people.” Of course, each other was one of those really good people. The dynamic duo (and sectionmates) applied to the Co-Editor-in-Chief role together, and found it “really fun to work with a friend,” said Rory. Some of their fondest Harbus memories came from engaging with their community to drum up a story – running around campus asking for interviews, turning cold outreach into interesting conversations, leaning on friends to share quotes or ideas.
At HBS, both Rory and Ed came out of their shells – or as Ed’s friends jokingly put it, they were “peaking at the wrong time.” Two self-identified introverts are now accustomed to being surrounded by people, and are immensely grateful for the friends they can always count on for a good time. They are more confident, too, in pursuing what is important to them. To that end, the most valuable lessons they have taken away from HBS are (1) the importance of relationships, and (2) the importance of prioritization. Rory acknowledges how tempting it may be to prioritize finances post-MBA, but remembers the alumni reunion stories we read in LEAD: “they're most focused on their families and their friends, not their jobs, and not how much money or power they had.” Recalling the RC-year pressure to “try to do everything,” Ed now better appreciates the importance of prioritizing and doubling-down on the key people in your life. Both are bittersweet about graduation, but excited for new adventures ahead. As Ed aptly summarized: “I’m looking forward to what’s going to come, because I don’t know what it is.”
I am eager to see the amazing things our Co-Editors-in-Chief will go on to do, and the positive impact they will have on the people around them. Know that you will be greatly missed here at the Harbus.
They say pursuing your MBA is like going back to high school, so I’ll sign off with my go-to yearbook signature: HAGS. Have a Good Summer, HBS.
Tim Ford (MBA ’25) is originally from New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Virginia with degrees in Commerce and Spanish, and completed an M.Phil. in Latin American Studies at the University of Cambridge. Prior to the HBS MBA, Tim worked in growth equity in San Francisco.