“People have to know about the injustices that are occurring in their name.”
To Serve Better
Inspired by one of Harvard Yard’s famous gates, “To Serve Better” is a yearlong Harvard Gazette project exploring the connections between members of the Harvard community and neighborhoods across the United States and its territories.
The Dexter Gate, built in 1901, welcomes first-year Harvard students to “Enter to Grow in Wisdom” on its north-facing side, and encourages graduating students to “Depart to Serve Better Thy Country and Thy Kind” on its south-facing side.
This project honors the Gate’s message by celebrating Harvard students, alumni, faculty, and staff who are committed to public purpose and to making a positive difference in communities throughout the country. It will roll out in four phases over the course of the 2019-2020 academic year.
“There's so much potential in the young people not only in my hometown, but in little bitty towns and rural communities all over the country.”
“Everybody recognizes the emotion in the music.”
“Never again is now.”
“These are just human stories, and these people are caught up in a very complex system.”
“It’s not truly success if it doesn’t have this greater sociable benefit for those around you.”
“Anytime that you can raise awareness, or address the invisibility of Native American issues in the academy is incredibly impactful.”
“You win sometimes, you lose a lot, and you learn from every experience.”
“We’re trying to make sure that cancer clinical trials can get to every single patient who needs them.”
“Education is the single highest leverage place you can devote your energy to if you're trying to improve outcomes for the folks who need those improvements the most.”
“I think I can say without hesitation that everyone who works at Save the Bay views it as a privilege — we’re doing something we love.”
“If I'm not surprised while I'm making the story, then I didn't learn anything and probably neither will the people who I'm telling it to.”
“Talk, sing, play. Believe it or not, that’s the foundation.”
“If you do in collaboration — do change with, not to — a community, or profession, or a family, it is a much better product in the end.”
“We have to make sure that what we're doing is actually in the best interest of students.”
“People want their job to be more than just their job.”
“We are working every day to build a society and economy that enables everyone to reach their full potential.”
“People don’t just want to grow a successful business here, they want to do so in a way that is sustainable.”
“Health is fundamental.”
“When you spend time with people, you start to see their lives open up.”
“Make the world a better place.”
“I have never been involved in a topic where I had more hope and more energy and more reason for optimism.”
“Being uncertain doesn’t mean that we can’t address [the effects of climate change].”
“I wanted to really make a difference.”
“We have an opportunity here to break the cycle.”
“Our right of use laws, our zoning, and our land use policies — all of those things were written for a very different war.”
“Often the people who hold the knowledge or insight that can unlock a creative solution are overlooked.”
“Journalism matters because power needs to be held accountable. It’s that simple.”
“Everybody has opportunities to see a barrier, find the cause of it, and change it.”
“In order to maximize learning, you have to maximize the person.”
“Being attentive to loss doesn’t have to be devastating.”
“There isn't American history, and then LGBTQ+ history, and then Black history, and then women's history. It's all American history.”
“It's like a book that’s sitting out there and weathering over time. We want to read as much of that book as we can before the ink starts running, the pages get ripped out, and it gets lost.”
“What I have found over and over is [that] if you give people an accessible entry point [to the arts], they’ll take to it with great enthusiasm and great excitement.”
“We want to get the kids hooked and convince them that they can solve real problems if only they put some effort into this.”
“We need to be much more aggressive and not accept the status quo. Just because that’s how it is now doesn’t mean we have to accept that.”
“Whenever I have the opportunity to cultivate an environment of my own, I try to put community, kindness, and welcoming at the forefront, no matter where, when, or who it is.”
“I could spend a whole lifetime doing science [in Montana] and not even scratch the surface of what there is to learn from the land.”
“What you see in the built environment didn’t fall from the sky; [it's] a product of decisions people made. It’s not natural, and it’s not inevitable.”
“Guam is more than just a military base. It is filled with people who are rarely written [about] in the U.S. history textbooks.”
“You have to design for people and you have to talk to people.”
“No one’s circumstances should be dictated by where they live. I want to see a world in which all young people have access to opportunity.”
“Fiction exists as an exercise in radical empathy.”
“Give [kids] all the information, let them make up their own minds, and they make the right decisions.”
“Lasting change doesn’t usually come from the outside, and it’s not top-down.”
“It’s so critical that legal advocates approach problems with humility and understanding.”
“What if we can reverse engineer ways to create and empower diverse leaders from our community to become the elected officials, the doctors, the teachers, and the lawyers of our community?”
“Our focus is genetics, but we think it could have really wonderful returns for our world, just to know each other better.”
“When you give any kid rich learning opportunities, they will learn, grow, and reach their full potential.”
“At my core is a desire to leave any place better than I found it, including the organization in which I work or the community in which I live.”
“It’s about creating structures for people to come together and have an input into the laws and rules that govern their lives.”
“There’s an incredible hunger for something different, for pragmatic solutions, for folks who can put country before party.”
“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is playing music I want to dance to, and serving food I want to eat.”
“We’re facing big problems — as a community, as a state, as a country, as a world — but the folks who tell you that it’s hopeless are wrong.”
“I knew I wanted to do something impactful, and not just a project that I thought was important, but [one that] would be addressing an issue that was there.”