At Harvard Kennedy School, Orientation Leaders play a pivotal role in welcoming new students to campus and helping them navigate the transition into the HKS community.
Four Master in Public Policy (MPP) Orientation Leaders—two from the Alpha cohort and two from the Epsilon cohort—reflected on their experiences, shared what they learned, and offered insight into what makes the orientation experience meaningful.
Alpha Cohort Orientation Leaders
What motivated you to become an Orientation Leader?
Stuti Goyal MPP 2027: In MLD-201A: Exercising Leadership: The Politics of Change class with Professor Farayi Chipungu, I recently came across the term “brave space,” which is different from a “safe space.” A safe space is one that focuses on creating emotional comfort and protection from harm, while a brave space encourages people to face discomfort and engage in challenging conversations for growth. I think this distinction fits really well with my objective of taking on the role of an Orientation Leader. In my mind, the path to a brave space is through a safe space.
Sixty-five people walked into the same room in August—some from 20 minutes away and some from 30 hours away—and you have five days to make all of them feel like they are part of this incredibly rich ecosystem. That is a wonderful problem to be trusted with.
My co-lead and I spent over 50 hours designing a week around one central objective: empowering incoming students to show up authentically to HKS so that they can make this an experience that helps them achieve their unique goals. This required us to think deeply about how to foster connection, introduce HKS and its resources, build inclusion, co-create norms of engagement, and ultimately make the Alpha Cohort feel like a support system.
Louise Engohang MPP 2027: Coming directly from undergrad to HKS, my first year was honestly really difficult. I was adjusting to a new city, leaving behind much of my family and community in Michigan, adapting to the rigor and workload of HKS, and learning how to navigate an institution like Harvard. Even the social aspects, like networking, finding community, and figuring out how to navigate spaces where it seemed like everyone else already knew what they were doing, were overwhelming. There are also so many resources and opportunities here that even figuring out what to take advantage of can feel like a job in itself.
By my second semester, though, I had started finding my footing. I built stronger relationships, co-founded the Immigration and Refugee Rights Caucus with a friend, and began working through much of the imposter syndrome I experienced during my first semester.
That experience was a huge reason I wanted to become an Orientation Leader. I wanted to be there for students who might arrive at HKS feeling the way I did. It is very easy to look around and assume everyone else has it figured out—they don’t! I wanted incoming students to hear an honest perspective: HKS can be hard. You might struggle at first, but struggling does not mean you do not belong here, and it does not prevent this experience from becoming incredibly meaningful.
What were your favorite events at Orientation?
Stuti: If you asked me to pick my favorite child, it would be impossible, so I'll pick my top two!
We played Mafia across four days and 65 people: eight Mafia members, four detectives, three doctors, and 50 villagers. It sounds random, but the thinking was deliberate: we wanted continuity through the week, a low stakes debate, friendly competition, and to really inculcate the “Be a villager, support your village” mindset.
The norm-setting exercise was an unanticipated favorite. We discussed where we had felt belonging versus where we hadn't, and what we could ensure in this space to enable it. Two norms went back up on my wall:
Disagreements might be academic for one and personal for another.
Be hard on ideas, not people.
It was a fantastic week; you really had to be there!
Louise: One of my favorite moments was actually the very first welcome session. As Orientation Leaders, we stood outside welcoming students, handing out name badges, and watching people arrive from all over the world. The energy was incredible. You could see every emotion—excitement, nervousness, disbelief—and I remembered how surreal it felt during my own Orientation. Getting to watch other students experience that moment for the first time was incredibly special.
My favorite activity was a week-long game of Mafia. At the beginning of the week, everyone secretly became a townsperson, Mafia member, detective, or doctor, and we played a round each day. Watching the accusations, alliances, and increasingly elaborate theories unfold became one of the best icebreakers imaginable. By the end of the week, everyone was invested, and the final reveal was hilarious. It helped our cohort become genuinely close.
And after such a long week of information, activities, and meeting new people, Quorum Call was the perfect ending. There was a collective “we did it” feeling. We made it through Orientation, and now we’re actually starting at HKS.
“Louise and I spent over 50 hours designing a week around one central objective: empowering incoming students to show up authentically to HKS so that they can make this an experience that helps them achieve their unique goals.”
What advice would you give to prospective students considering applying to HKS?
Stuti: The most valuable part of Harvard Kennedy School has been knowing that you can make this experience exactly what you want it to be. Interested in space policy? Come to HKS, create a caucus, host networking events, fundraise and start a conference, and invite pioneers in the field to a panel. If you can dream it, you can make it happen at HKS.
I also recommend writing an application that only you could have written. Treat the process as a time to reassess, re-think, and re-align yourself to your career aspirations, and to explore where that aspiration stems from. I was honored to offer a grounding presence to the new MPP class, helping them feel not just oriented, but empowered to be brave in how they spend their time here. My dean at Smith College used to tell us, “Orientation leadership isn’t a position for two weeks—it lasts for the rest of your time at college and sometimes goes even beyond.” For me, it’s always gone beyond.
Louise: My biggest pieces of advice are:
Just apply. Seriously. Online admissions forums can make you feel like you need the perfect résumé, the perfect amount of experience, the perfect test score, and some magical sign confirming that you are finally “qualified enough” for HKS. That feeling may never come. There will always be someone whose accomplishments amaze you. Don’t let that stop you. Put together an application you are proud of, put your heart into it, and apply.
Take your essays seriously. Your résumé and scores tell admissions what you have done; your essays tell them who you are and why it matters. Be specific about why HKS makes sense for you. What do you want to learn? Which parts of the curriculum excite you? What professors, resources, or opportunities connect to what you hope to accomplish? Go beyond wanting to attend Harvard—show why you want to be at HKS.
Know what you’re signing up for. HKS is an incredible place, but it is also challenging. The coursework is rigorous, the workload can be heavy, Cambridge is expensive, and graduate school asks a lot of you academically and personally. Think seriously about whether this is the right moment in your life for that commitment.
And then—yes, I’m saying it again—just apply. You cannot get an acceptance to a school you convinced yourself not to apply to.
Epsilon Cohort Orientation Leaders
What motivated you to become an Orientation Leader?
Niyathi Singh MPP 2027: One of the biggest highlights from my time at HKS, apart from the incredible professors, classes and speakers, has actually been my classmates. The HKS classroom is a melting pot of perspectives from around the world. Every person you speak to brings a different set of experiences, ideas, and knowledge. I’ve learned something from almost everyone I’ve met here.
So, when I had the opportunity to become an Orientation Leader, it felt like a no-brainer.
After learning so much from my own cohort, I wanted to help welcome another group of incredible students and hopefully make their transition into Harvard a little easier. We spent weeks preparing for Orientation and thinking about how to help our incoming students navigate not just HKS, but the broader Harvard ecosystem. But being an Orientation Leader ended up being about much more than helping people find their footing at Cambridge or understand how Harvard works. It was about helping a group of people who had just arrived from all over the world begin to feel like a community. And, yet again, it reminded me of why I love HKS in the first place.
Zac Thomas MPP 2027: Honestly? A healthy mix of fear of missing out (FOMO) and wanting to give back.
HKS is packed with incredible people, and as a second-year student, I knew I would never have time to meet all of them. Being an Orientation Leader was a chance to meet a huge number of new people in a very short amount of time. It’s also easy to forget how special the Harvard ecosystem really is. Seeing that magic through the eyes of new students was a great reminder of what we have here. I was lucky enough to have two fantastic Orientation Leaders when I first arrived. They made my first week smooth and a lot less overwhelming, so I wanted to do the same for others.
What were your favorite parts of Orientation?
Niyathi: We put up a world map and asked everyone in the Epsilon cohort to mark where they were from. As the map slowly filled up, it was amazing to see how much of the world the beautiful people in front of me represented. I remember looking at the map after everyone had finished and thinking: how is it possible that all of these stories are sitting in one classroom? But we took it a step further. Students shared the “hidden gems” that only a local would know about their part of the world: from places to visit to cultural traditions or just something most people wouldn’t know. For a moment, it felt like we were taking a trip around the world without ever leaving Cambridge.
But what I loved most was that it made something about HKS very tangible: your classmates are one of your greatest resources. You don't have to travel across the world to learn about another country. You can just talk to the person beside you.
Zac: Two moments stand out:
- The boat cruise, which is a classic for good reason. I like to think the Orientation Leaders cutting shapes on the dance floor helped put everyone at ease (because they could all laugh at how terrible we were).
- Creating a cohort song with the help of AI. Each team put their own spin on it, and some of the submissions had me crying with laughter.
“There are few places better equipped than HKS to help you turn ambition into action. Come with questions. Come with ideas. Come ready to learn from people who see the world differently from you.”
What advice would you give to prospective students considering applying to HKS?
Niyathi: Here are my pieces of advice:
Believe in yourself. Everyone who makes it to Harvard comes from a different background with a completely unique story, but there is something we all have common: we believed in ourselves enough to take the leap. So be bold. Apply.
Embrace what makes you unique. You are as brilliant as anyone else in the room. Your personality, skills, lived experiences, knowledge, and perspective are uniquely yours. Don’t try to fit yourself into what you think a “Harvard student” looks like. Bring your whole self to the table. The very things that make you different may be what your classmates learn the most from.
Come ready to make an impact. If you’re considering HKS, I imagine you want to have some kind of positive impact on the world. There are few places better equipped than HKS to help you turn ambition into action. Come with questions. Come with ideas. Come ready to learn from people who see the world differently from you.
Most importantly, ask what you can do. HKS has an extraordinary ecosystem of people, resources, and opportunities—and if you’re willing to take the initiative, the School will more than empower you to do it. And perhaps that is the best part of being at HKS.
Zac: Do it. HKS is Disneyland for nerds. No matter how niche your interest is, you'll find people here who share your passion and are genuinely excited to talk about it. If you're sitting on the fence wondering whether you belong here, that doubt is normal. Almost everyone I've met felt it at some point. The only way to find out is to apply.
