Meet your fip leaders!

Click on the names to send them an email...
and try putting your mouse over the pictures!

Rasha Al-Salem

Rasha is a little awesome giggling thingy who hails from the glorious Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She is a rising sophomore concentrating in Government who, alongside with Beñat, is probably the most likely person to end up having a nerve crisis one of these days due to her dangerous lifestyle (even more dangerous than the sky-diving skills she brags of in her picture) that includes an excessive amount of caffeine, diet coke and five-hour energy shots (you'll get to meet these little evil substances Harvard provides us with in a few months) and a complete lack of sleep for no reason whatsoever.


Rasha is the Secretary of the Woodbrige Society and spends her free time eating burritos, shopping online, creepily looking at babies' Polo and Zara clothes and dreaming about having her future children wear them and complaining about how much she misses milking her camel and pumping some oil every day (these are actually not true but with Rasha you never know). Extracurricularly, apart from being involved in Woodbridge, she also takes advantage of all the Model UN Harvard can offer you (travelling team and conference staffing). If you love procrastinating, drinking coffee and giggling for absolutely no reason whatsoever she is someone you really want to get to know during FIP!!!

Natali Alcala

Andres Arguello

Hey FIP-pers! Andres A. Arguello. That's right, TRIPLE A. He's tried to make it his new nickname on countless occasions, but people don't seem to think it's as cool as he does. He's probably the only person who will be told in both his native Nicaragua and the United States that he doesn't know the language.* So don’t worry if you have an accent (or soon find out you do), you are not alone. he is a rising senior in Eliot House who after failing the sciences decided to concentrate in History and Literature and pair it up with a secondary in East Asian Studies (don’t ask him how this is going to be useful after graduation). You can usually find him cruising Lamont Library like it's part of him field work or listening to a remix before it becomes the next big thing on Youtube (he might also be the only person who thinks this.) So get excited FIP Class of 2013, he is going to be 21 this fall, and he promises it's going to be awesome for everyone involved.
*For the complete story and some self-promotion see this Harvard Crimson article

Cansu Aydede

Cansu Aydede is from Istanbul, Turkey. Because she is from such a great city and is am friends with Talal aka "one of the coolest people at Harvard," she is pretty awesome. Her greatest accomplishments in life have so far been chewing a gum and walking - at the same time- and serving as a voting member of the best soccer team in the world: Galatasaray. Other than that, she is one of the many MUN ( Model United Nations) geeks around and a member of DAPA (Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors) team. In her free time, she tries to fill out requirements for the Applied Mathematics concentration as well. As a former resident of Matthews and the new member of Eliot, she welcomes you all to Harvard and hopes you will have an amazing freshman year. Please feel free to email and ask her any questions you might have.

Ezgi Bereketli

Adrian Campero

Sam Ten Cate

Allie Chen

Chris Coey

Chris, a rising sophomore, is suuuper-duper (!) excited to be a part of FIP again. He did FIP last year and had literally one of the best weeks of his life meeting, exploring, and partying with the internationals. Chris met some of his closest friends that week, and is going to be living with his fellow FIP leaders Evan, Dominik and Erfan in KIRKLAND HOUSE for the next three years!! You should be glad, because coming to see Chris after FIP is a great excuse for visiting the most beautiful, tight-knit, super chill house that exists. (Or maybe it should be the other way around - Kirkland is a great excuse to come visit Chris :P haha).

Chris Coey is known for several things at Harvard: 1) Being "that Australian guy, probably from Sydney - the capital - right?"   2) Dancing, like there is no tomorrow, at parties (particularly Woodbridge parties)   4) Being an avid world traveler   3) Being the father of Sisi Pan's baby, "Peter" (who inherited Sisi's last name).

Most of this is fairly accurate, but to clear up a little misinformation: 1) Sydney is not the capital of Australia (but equally as important, Chris is actually from Mackay. You've never heard of it)   2) Beware of Chris on the dancefloor - he is a safety hazard (but he has never injured himself, despite having danced off the edges of tables)  3) He reallllly likes traveling - he took a year off after high school to go to Europe, India, Mexico and other places :D  4) Unfortunately, Sisi and Chris never had baby Peter Pan, and nor were they dating (it was April fools day... and yes, some people actually fell for it). 

Anyway, you have no clue how much Chris is looking forward to spending the most EPIC week with you FIPpers! BE AT FIP.

Evan Covington

Or Gadish

Or figured that the best way to really introduce himself is to introduce to you one of the greatest questions ever invented for making smalltalk: "Where are you from?" Or's problem is that his has no one answer really. Usually his answer is "Israel... via Ecuador... and Colombia kinda?". And the follow-up question to that is another great one: "Where is home to you?" Let him lead you through what goes in his mind. First he thinks, "Oh boy here we go again." Then he wonders what the person means by home and begins to think: well, on the one hand, his parents live in Spain, so that's a physical home. But all of his best friends (besides his great ones here at Harvard) are from Ecuador, where he graduated, so that's a home. And when he "goes home for the summer", he goes to Israel to visit his extended family. You decide.



Besides spending his time pondering his origins, he was the Director of International Awareness and External Outreach in Woodbridge for the last two years (now Yannis' job), and he likes to play the guitar - classical and electric - dance salsa, and more, but for that you're gonna have to actually get to know him. He's a rising Senior in the great Adams House (unlike everyone else's plugs for their Houses, Adams being the greatest is just a fact :D). He is concentrating in Biomedical Engineering, secondarying in Linguistics, and getting a citation in Portuguese, so you can really ask me about anything (except Ec or Gov... we have enough of those to go around :P).



Let him close with one last comment: Yes, his name really is Or, like the conjunction. In fact, his name is a conjunction in two languages: English (which you should know) and Hindi/Urdu (in which it means 'and'). Go figure.

Dafni Giannikou

Dafni is a rising sophomore in Lowell House so if you ever feel like climbing on the belltower on a Sunday afternoon just look for her on the loudest non-English speaking table having brunch in the dinning hall! She is involved in modern dance, artistic publications and the Hellenic students Association at Harvard while juggling with a concentration on Math and Philosophy. Besides this, she is also very, VERY fond of culinary explorations so she is the only person you should listen to regarding food in any area of Boston (including the dining halls!) She's really excited for FIP 2008 so whether you want to chill with internationals and feel like home, explore Boston, or start your first semester partying, just join us in the beginning of September!

Benat Idoyaga

Danielle Lee

Danielle is a proud Hong Konger who has lived in Japan and the USA. A rising junior in mighty Kirkland House, she is currently searching for her true calling in life - for the time being she will concentrate in Human Evolutionary Biology with a secondary field in Indian Studies. She is especially talented at pressing the snooze button on her alarm clock, eating large amounts of food, and taking long naps in lieu of doing work. She also loves to travel. At Harvard she participates in way too many things; Woodbridge Society, Harvard Radio, Asian American Dance Troupe, Chinatown Afterschool Program, International Relations Council, and Catholic Student Association all prevent her from sleeping as much as she would like. Two of her most favorite things in the world are watching Bollywood films and eating frozen yoghurt from Berryline; she makes it a point to do both whenever she can. Lastly, Danielle is ecstatic to be a FIP leader and can't wait to get to know all the FIPpers. Please e-mail her especially if you are excited, confused, troubled, or bored.

Johnattan Leon

Jennifer McKee

Jennie is a rising sophmore who is ridiculously excited for the fall when she gets to meet you. The people she met through FIP are her closest friends and she cannot wait to meet the next set of FIPpers! She is a potential government and environmental science concentrator and will be in the very best house next semester (don't listen to anything anyone else says) DUNSTER! She is originally from Canada, but now proudly call Harvard her home away from home. She is really excited to teach everyone about the wonders that are Harvard from who the best teachers are, to how to deal with new roommates. She is involved in Harvard Model United Nations, the Institute of Politics, Environmental Action Committee, and Woodbridge - the best organization on campus.

Prathama Nabi

Prathama hopes you're having a great summer so far.She can't wait to meet you all in the fall. Before she rambles on further, let her introduce herself. Prathama is from Bangladesh. You'll probably remember her as the girl whose name you can't pronounce or can't remember. If that does happen, please feel free to call her Prats, as all others here do. She's a rising sophomore, possibly concentrating in Neurobiology, although she might end up with something completely random by the time you actually meet her. At this point, Benjamin is standing behind her with a gun to her head, forcing her to write this bio and she can't think of anything to say. So she's just going to list off random things (she enjoys being random). Wait, she has a better idea. She'll do what everyone here does...Tell you two truths and a lie and you can tell her which one she lied about when you meet her. :)

1. She can spin fire.
2. She had scabies during the first month in school.
3. She was born in North America.

While you figure that out, she'll enjoy being completely confused about what she needs to do with her life and wait for fall to come.

Reihann Nadarajah

Reihan Nadarajah is a sexy little thing from the wonderful nation of Malaysia. He spent the past year residing in the ultimate freshmen hall (Hurlbut), and will be moving into the ultimate upperclassmen house (Eliot) in the fall - only he should be that lucky. When he's not busy enjoying his lap dances from Benjamin Newmark, Reihan tries to 'find himself' in a range of scholarly tracks from contemporary theatre to Hindu mythology and human rights. He has been given a deadline of November 2008 to settle on something that excites him. Besides the academic nonsense, Reihan spends a good deal of his time floundering in things like Woodbridge (<3), the Harvard Student Agencies, and the Harvard Programme for International Education. He also participated in the skankyness that is MUN and Debate. Reihan is highly convinced that everyone (including Americans) should be allowed to FIP it up, since there is really nothing better that one can do with their first week prior to college; it's just that sexy. Reihan demands that anyone who has got this far down the page of bios e-mail him so that he can make your transitioning into fair Harvard as exciting, magnificent and *insert superlative here* experience as it has been for him. Seriously, get cracking on that e-mail.

Edlira Nasi

Edlira Nasi is originally from Tirana, Albania but everyone thinks she is Greek because she lives in Thessaloniki, Greece. Sometimes, people also think she is Turkish because she hangs out and has roomed with Cansu :), but that is unfortunately a lie, since no matter how hard she has tried, Edlira has been unable to learn Turkish. Edlira lives in the magnificent and glorious Eliot House and is involved in MUN related stuff. Her greatest achievement at Harvard has been to choose a concentration: Social Studies. Hence she is guessing she was probably an admissions mistake, which explains very well why she enjoys hanging out in the dining hall, reading chick flicks and procrastinating, much more than studying in Lamont. She is really really really looking forward to meeting and chillaxing with the 2013 International Class and is sure you will all LOVE Woodbridge and FIP! Can't wait to meet you all!

Benjamin Newmark

Benjamin is a rising Senior in Funster House. He hails from London and this is his third year as a FIP leader, the best job in the world, so he is especially excited to meet you all. He studies Applied Maths and has previously been involved in organizations such as Woodbridge, Model United Nations, the Harvard Investment Association and the Harvard College Peace Initiative but has since given that all up to have a relaxing senior year. He enjoys football, pizza, techno and hanging out, which is probably why he likes FIP so much.  And most importantly he wears way too much purple. Over the course of his final year he intends to focus on rock climbing, dressing well and ping pong. He wants you all to have great summers and to be excited for a great Freshman year!

Dominik Niezsporowski

Dominik is a rising sophomore in the glorious Kirkland House, the cradle of all awesomeness, as well as of Facebook. A probable Economics and Computer Science concentrator, he seems to enjoy dealing with everything international or money-related – the reason he serves as Treasurer for both Woodbridge and the International Relations Council. Originally from Warsaw, Poland, he is a keen world traveler and a foreign language enthusiast – feel free to speak to him in Polish, French, English, Russian or Chinese. Dominic is a huge fan of Formula 1, Chelsea London, U2 and Oscar Wilde’s writing, so definitely let him know if any of the above perturbs the rhythm of your heart too. Well, even if it’s not the case, do let him know anyway because his heart is certainly open to new sources of perturbation. Dominique is absolutely thrilled at the prospect of experiencing FIP’s awesomeness again this year, and he thinks you should start getting excited too!
On a final note, you might have noticed that Dominick’s name leaves room for a lot of creativity, so give it a shot and try to pronounce it the right way when you meet him in person in August. Also, make sure to e-mail him this summer under whatever pretext, because he will be in Beijing studying under a Chinese-only pledge and he really hopes for e-mail correspondence to help preserve his sanity.

Jo Osborn

Jo is American, but she has spent a significant portion of her life living abroad in Japan, Spain and most recently Germany.  You can pretend that she’s Spanish if it would make you feel better - she has a Spanish flag hanging in her room and owns every movie Almodovar ever made. She's planning to concentrate in Archaeology, and she also studies Spanish.  In her free time she is Director of Publicity and Student Liasons for Woodbridge, and she is one of many FIP leaders involved in MUN. Other addictions include Old Bay seasoning, sweet potato fries, and sharpies.  She loves FIP and knows you will too.

Sisi Pan

Sisi Pan was born in a fishing village in Zhejiang, China, but her mother named her after Empress Elisabeth "Sisi" of Austria. Her family soon relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, then to Montreal, Quebec, and just when Sisi thought she could not call a colder place "home", her family moved to Edmonton, Alberta. While Sisi may look 100% ethnically Chinese, according to Cansu Aydede, she is also part-Turk -- though according to Cansu, everybody is part-Turk. Irrespective of Turkish ancestry, Sisi enjoys alphabetizing, bargain shopping, cake eating, compulsive list making, dancing foolishly, defending Canada with Jennie Mckee, laughing, learning, living, (re-)reading Harry Potter, taking long walks (on the beach, if Edmonton had any), and wanderlusting. She cannot wait to meet each and every one of you! FIP 2009 will fill your brain with profound knowledge and silly memories, your tummy with a preview of the culinary treat that is Harvard University Dining Services, and your heart with a little (re: a lot of) something called Woodbridge love.

Shambhavi Singh

Erfan Soliman

Erfan is a rising sophomore in Kirkland House and is really excited about being a FIP leader! Somehow, Erfan manages to confuse people whenever they ask him where he’s from. Although he secretly likes the attention he gets, it’s really not that complicated. He calls three places home: Iran, which is the country where he was born, Canada, where he spent his wonderful and cherished childhood, and Qatar, where he lived for the last 6 years before coming to Harvard. He enjoys playing most sports, especially volleyball, sexy football (note the use of ‘sexy’ to distinguish it from the fake kind of football… not that other internationals need this specification), ping pong, and rock climbing. He’s also a big fan of “that’s what she said” jokes, juggling, camel riding, whistling the Mario theme song that seems to always be stuck in his head, and meeting new FIPers!! He’s really excited about meeting all of you, so please email him if you are curious about anything… or if you’re just plain awesome. And since he’s sure that all of you meet second requirement, he’s expecting a lot of emails!

Aleks Stefanovski

Patrick Thornycroft

Upasana Unni

Yannis Valtis