 | Matt Kung (he/him) – 2023 For several years in his youthful naïveté, Matt toiled laboriously in hopes of acquiring a prized sponsorship from the world’s most influential corporation, Frito Lay North America, Inc. Alas, his pursuit was dismally unrequited. Bedraggled and downtrodden, he eventually conceded defeat and set forth in search of a new passion. He settled upon HOC, where he leads trips into the beautiful chip-less expanse of the great outdoors, free from the shackles of corporate society. Embark on one of his trips to enjoy nature’s magnificence, good company, and – uhhh? – a refreshing bag of Lay’s Kettle-Cooked Potato Chips at the summit? |
 | Michael Wallace (he/him) – 2023 Michael was raised in the untamed forests of Wilton, Connecticut, a place with a large population of retirees and some of Connecticut’s hardest mountain biking trails, two things that go together really well. In September 2018, Michael decided to hike all of the 48 tallest mountains in New Hampshire in a single week. The attempt was a failure, covering only 5 hours and 1 peak before Michael packed up and came back to Harvard. Some say he never intended to hike all 48 peaks at all; some say he is a tragic hero who was crippled by circumstance. Michael says he actually did all 48 when you weren’t looking. When he’s not planning a new trip, Michael enjoys going for long runs, getting cannolis from Mike’s Pastries, and marveling at the wonders of public transport. |
 | Allegra Colman – 2022 Adrenaline junkie by nature, alpine skier by choice, Allegra “Legs” is still getting used to this whole ‘uphill’ phenomenon. You’ll never catch her without a hefty supply of emergency baking soda, endless knee-length socks and a plethora of hair-brained schemes for her next intra-continental adventure. When in Cambridge, Allegra studies History and Literature and enjoys espousing the wonders of HOC to anyone that will listen. |
 | Sinead Danagher (she/her) – 2022 Sinead has learned to love the outdoor adventures around Boston, despite maintaining an internal chant of “West Coast, Best Coast!” at all times. Hailing from Lake Tahoe, CA, you’ll be hard-pressed to convince her your hometown is better. It was among the soaring granite peaks and crystal blue lakes of her home that Sinead discovered the ultra-fun intersection of adrenaline and nature in activities like skiing, hiking, biking and cliff jumping. When not sneaking off campus to further explore this intersection, you can find Sinead loitering in the Fogg or sprawling somewhere along the banks of the Charles |
 | Nellie Ide (she/her) – 2022 Nellie grew up in Minnesota, otherwise known as the state of two seasons: winter is coming, and winter is here. Naturally, she loves to get as much frostbite as possible, so she is on the alpine skiing team (yes, there is a ski team and yes, she knows there are no mountains in Boston). Nellie began her outdoor experience when her family took her on a canoe trip at the tender age of one year old. This led to a childhood full of hiking and canoeing around the Minnesota wilderness, and she looks forward to exploring some real mountains out here in the East! |
 | Theo Lukin Yelin (he/him) – 2022 Hailing from the distant lands of Cambridge, MA, Theo likes to spend his time traversing the wilderness of Garden St. on his bike. Studying Physics and Computer Science, he is always eager to escape the confines of the Science Center Library to explore the White Mountains (although he typically only makes it as far as the dining hall by the time the next problem set is due). He will happily explain why Winter is the optimal hiking season (no mosquitoes, and it’s easier to make a cold person warm than vice versa), but venture out on the hottest of summer days nonetheless, all while complaining that he could still be on bed. On campus you can find him on the hockey rink, or working anywhere from the river to the quad. |
 | Henrietta Reily – 2022 Henrietta grew up in the steep hills of Kentucky and likes to go outside even when everyone else is inside and no one will join her. She also likes going outside with others, forest dynamics, her dogs and the Harvard Outing Club. She dislikes wet socks, sweet coffee, people who whine and light pollution, but if any of them come on her trips she’ll be very nice to them! |
 | Wildman Schubert Reed (he/him) – 2022 His name is Wildman. But if that doesn’t tell you enough about him, here’s a bit more: Wiley was born and raised in a small town called Brooklyn, NY. His outdoor interests range far and wide, from living vicariously through people who have more free time than he does, to being a member at REI. Growing up, he spent almost every weekend fishing and rock climbing on the Long Island Sound. One can only wonder how he rock climbed a body of water… As he got older, he undertook ever-more intense and eclectic outdoor escapades, including a backpacking trip to Hawaii where it rained for 10 days straight. Now he’s afraid of water. On that same trip, lying on his back and looking up at the stars at the top of 14,000-foot Mauna Kea, Wiley understood the meaning of a misplaced modifier, and also decided he wanted to understand the universe. Now he is deep in the throws of a concentration in physics doing just that (and perhaps regretting it a little bit, too). In fact, he was such a big proponent of the outdoors throughout high school that his friends nicknamed him “Tree Boy.” Now he’s a Wildman, and a Tree Boy. |
 | Maggie Schultz – 2022 Growing up in Northern Michigan, Maggie only has a short period of the year in which she can go outside without losing feeling in her toes and fingers. In this time, she developed a love for berry and mushroom picking, camping, running, and hammocking. She loves to jump off tall things (sometimes into water), utilize the chest pocket on her overalls, and sleep in her sleeping bag on top of her normal covers. At Harvard, she lives in Leverett House and studies environmental engineering (so, really her weekly hikes are for ~academic~ purposes). |
 | Zuzanna Skoczylas (she/her) – 2022 Zuzanna grew up in Poland, indisputably home to the best apples. She fell in love with hiking after her parents took her ‘hiking’ and ended up taking a nap and a cable car instead. Her favorite outdoor memory is seeing triple from altitude sickness when hiking inside a volcano. When not outside, you can find her studying computer science or searching for new travel destinations. She tends to spend all her money on vegan food and traveling. |
 | Emily Spector (she/her) – 2022 Emily grew up in New York in an outdoorsy but notably not granola family, and at age 17, she wrote her harvard application essay about how she’d like to run away from school to live in the mountains (and she was accepted?) Her mission now is to travel up and/or down every incline she can find on foot, snowboard, bike, or river with as many people as are willing. In the backcountry, she is known to enjoy sitting in lakes of snowmelt until her body temperature drops to 5°F, and in the front country, she is known to almost lose her gear trailer on I-25 with a van of 12 high schoolers to bear witness. In Cambridge, Emily can be found running long loops around the Charles, violining in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, explaining to unwilling strangers why Mather is the best house, or preparing to yeet herself and others into the mountains. |
 | Nathan Oalican – 2022 Nathan Oalican was born on the streets of Roslindale in Boston, Massachusetts. Born into a family of non-hikers (egad!), Nathan found his calling for the outdoors in gallavants throughout Boston with the self-proclaimed Rozzie Rats of Roslindale. From these humble beginnings, one may say, there was nowhere to go but up. And up he has gone, from Mount Washington in New Hampshire to Mount Whitney in California. When not hiking, you can find Nathan studying plant biology, thinking about landscape history, or signing a supermax deal with the Boston Celtics. |
 | Morgan Whitten (she/her) – 2022 Morgan possesses an uncanny ability to attract mosquitoes; in fact, some believe on one weekend camping trip she donated enough blood to singularly save the mosquito population of Maine from extinction. She has come a long way from her first rendezvous with nature, in which she proclaimed, “I HATE camping! I want to stay in a ho-tel!” Now her fondness of the outdoors rivals her kinship with her own species, which in part drove her to study Environmental Science and Public Policy. A European wannabe, Morgan calls Stuttgart, Germany home (do beer gardens count as the “outdoors”? do nude spas?). |
 | Ursula Volz – 2022 Ursula lives in Orono, ME but is an Alaskan girl at heart, having lived in Anchorage for 15 years. Despite having survived frostbite on the back of a dog sled and being charged by an angry mama moose, Ursula looks back on her Alaskan childhood fondly as it was the place she fell in love with the outdoors. She is a junior in Leverett House concentrating in Mechanical Engineering with a secondary in Astrophysics and—her most challenging academic pursuit—a Norwegian citation from Harvard’s illustrious (read: extremely niche) Scandinavian Languages Department. Skål! When Ursula isn’t contemplating rotational inertia, she can be found roller skiing throughout Boston as member of the Nordic Ski team, or planning her next weekend adventure. |
 | Cameron Maltman – 2020 Cameron hails from rural Canada where he learned, among other things, the call of the moose, how to properly wear a flannel shirt, and the true meaning of the word “eh”. He is known at Harvard as the kid who likes “canoes and stuff”. Cameron dislikes weekends not spent outside, sitting still, and getting less than 7 hours of sleep. He enjoys hiking, white-water canoeing, weekends spent in a tent and building stuff (some would call it engineering). His love for the outing club is only matched by his love for maple syrup and HUDS stuffed chicken. |
 | Sophie Pesek – 2020 Sophie “Stilts” Pesek is easy to spot at a distance because of her height and tendency to only wear clothing with animals on it. She grew up in Cambridge before being sent off to boarding school in New Hampshire, where she survived by spending all of her time in the woods. Now that she’s back in Cambridge, she tries to return to the NH wilderness whenever she can. When she’s not studying Environmental Engineering or walking to and from Pfoho, she loves to spend time sailing, skiing, and listening to sci-fi books as she runs. |
 | Molly Leavens – 2020 Molly is studying environmental science and public policy with a focus in food systems. She enjoys ALL sports, cooking, playing guitar, making art, and making people uncomfortable. Additionally, she loves to make chocolate pudding in large camping pots for Will Li. She is currently in a long-distance relationship with her cat and dreams at night about a peanut butter/nutella/marshmallow fluff/cookie butter ice cream flavor. She resides from Utah, currently lives in the CoOp, and loves HOC more than a hawk likes mice. |
 | Lars Hornburg – 2020 Lars was raised in the beauty of northern Michigan and grew up working in the vineyards of Traverse City. He was shaped by the the scenic landscape much like the fine Chardonnay wines he worked to create, and while some say his smile is equally sweet and intoxicating, his personality has a complexity more akin to a Cardboardeaux. In addition to his love of hiking, he enjoys racing as a member of Harvard’s Alpine Ski Team, and watercolor painting. He has few accomplishments in life but hopes to limit his negative impact on society by concentrating in environmental science and public policy. Despite his general lack of achievement, he is a very proud owner of possibly the largest collection of Patagonia fleeces in the contiguous US. |
 | David Lu – 2020 David was raised in Houston, Texas and therefore owns a single, lone pair of long pants. He can be found hiking and rafting in Big Bend National Park, or exploring restaurants all over Houston. He enjoys eating barbeque, eating Tex-mex, and eating sushi, so basically he just likes eating food in general. His other hobbies include running, playing squash, and meditating. |
 | Jeyna Doshi – 2020 Jeyna grew up in the oldest town in Connecticut, known for its small town feel and numerous tobacco farms (which make for a great summer job!). As a youngling, she disliked most things that had to do with nature, much to her mother’s disappointment. Nowadays the tides have turned, and she dislikes anything that keeps her inside. She begins having ski dreams around the beginning of July (this year it was June) and waits another agonizing five months (or more) for the snow to come. During the other three seasons of the year, she enjoys hiking anywhere she can to satisfy her hunger for the mountains. When not biking to-and-from her wonderful home in Cabot, Jeyna can be found playing soccer, practicing yoga, gazing at the stars (without ever remembering what she’s looking at), or baking treats to satisfy her sweet tooth. |
 | Kira Telgen -2020 Kira grew up on a tiny island off the gulf coast of Florida without a single mountain (or hill) in sight but somehow still managed to get passionate about climbing big things. She spends the majority of her semesters loitering around Cabot dining hall and her summers commercially salmon fishing in Bristol Bay, Alaska. You can usually find her with a coke zero in hand professing the merits of platform tevas or planning yet another cross country road trip. |