Work Hard, Play Hard
Everyone, especially SEAS students, knows how rigorous academics at Columbia Engineering can be. It is a commonplace sight at all hours of the night into the next morning to see people bowed over problem sets in Butler Library, still in group project meetings in dorm lounges, or going to Ham Del to refuel because whatever the assignment is will take that many more hours to finish. SEAS students certainly work hard. But we play hard too. One of my favorite memories from freshman year is one night when a few of my friends and I stayed up all night—not studying physics, but playing pool in Hartley Lounge. It started as a study break (or maybe it was just procrastination) but turned into an intense rivalry with each round's losing team always suggesting "one more game" to even out the win-count. Many, many one-more-games later, the sky was starting to light up, and what finally made us go to bed was that Hartley Lounge had to close at 7 AM for cleaning. I can't remember the score, but I know I felt accomplished. I don't remember every lecture or every assignment from college, but I will always remember those lessons of pure "play" and the friends I made at Columbia who learned them with me.