Kolbe Keating '22 - Field Hockey
Returning to GoCrimson.com for an eighth season, "Around The Yard: Life As A Harvard Student-Athlete" explores life away from the playing fields for select Harvard student-athletes through Q&A style entries.
First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
The first aspect of my life that usually comes to mind when I am asked to tell others about myself is my family. I am one of ten children, and am #9 in the lineup (7 girls, including myself, and 3 boys). My parents, brothers, and sisters (and now 5 brothers-in-law, 1 sister-in-law, and 12 nieces & nephews - with 1 more on the way) are my best friends! Most times I share this fact about me, I am asked whether or not I know all of my siblings' names—yes, I do, and can recite them in order in 1.42 seconds! I am from a town called Haverford, right outside of Philadelphia.
A bit more about me: I am on the field hockey team here at Harvard and learned the game mostly from my mom and my sisters. I am the youngest girl in my family, all of my sisters played field hockey and my mom was the first to coach each of us in elementary school. Being the youngest, I often found myself on the sidelines of my sisters' field hockey practices and games. Learning by watching them, I just couldn't wait for the moment that I could start playing myself! Once I started playing, I've never looked back. Other than hockey, I love hanging out with my friends, being outside, singing (when I get the chance to!), running, and I'm a huge fan of a good coloring book!
What is a PAF/Eagle PAF and how did you become one? Did you know from your first year that you wanted to do this?
A PAF stands for "Peer Advising Fellow," which is an upperclassman at the college who is selected to help first-year students by offering advice and assistance as they embark on their college experience. PAFs are part of the first-year advising network that each incoming student receives, working in conjunction with proctors, academic advisers, and Resident Deans to connect first-years with campus resources and empower them to make the most of their college experience. As fellow college students, PAFs have a unique perspective within the advising team. PAFs work on entryway teams, usually comprised of about 3 PAFs and a proctor, to help craft a community in a given first-year entryway.
Each PAF is assigned to about 6-10 students, to whom we act as a beacon to shed light on all of the amazing resources that Harvard has to offer, lend a hand with college transition, cultivate an environment of camaraderie within first-year entryways, as well as just act as a friendly face on campus. We also host monthly 1:1 meetings and help organize entryway events, like study breaks and outings, to help round out the first-year experience. Going into my junior year, I was selected to be an "Eagle PAF," which essentially, is a PAF to PAFs. Experienced PAFs have the opportunity to interview to be an Eagle PAF, which is a position that allows you to work closely with the college administration to craft, organize, and improve upon the PAF program at large. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I took a semester off and now am only here for the fall, I was unable to be a PAF/Eagle PAF this year, because each PAF remains an advisor for the entirety of the school year.
I interviewed to be a PAF during my sophomore spring, and actually, at first, was put on the waitlist! It's a competitive process in which a given candidate has to display a range of qualities to be deemed a good advisor—like empathy, open-mindedness, enthusiasm, and reliability, while also demonstrating fulsome knowledge about the academic and extracurricular resources on campus. I always knew that I wanted to be a PAF because I had a great PAF during my first year, an older inspirational team member of mine was an Eagle PAF, and ultimately, I wanted to play that "big-sister" like role that I was so lucky to receive from all of my siblings while growing up.
What was it like advising first-year students? What was the biggest challenge for you in that role and what do you think is the best advice you gave?
Advising first-year students is amazing! My "PAFees" have had such a wide range of experiences prior to coming to Harvard and it's so awesome to be able to learn about people from all different backgrounds. It's a privilege to be able to see how those upbringings have shaped who first-years are and what they'd like to delve into while in college. Being a PAF has particularly highlighted the degree of diversity that is present on Harvard's campus and has given me the opportunity to help students navigate difficult situations that may arise during their first year, as well as be a cheerleader for them during the exciting ones. The biggest challenge for me while advising first-years was keeping a clear line between being a "fellow" and "friend." Although PAFs are peers, we ultimately need to act as more of an advisor than anything else. Sometimes, with such similar interests and experiences with some of my advisees, I needed to make sure that they still saw me as a mentor.
The biggest advice that I gave to my PAFees was that the wide range of classes and extracurriculars offered at Harvard can act as a double-edged sword. It's so great to have an array of ways to "do Harvard," but in that same vein, it can get tricky as people find themselves easily bogged down by feeling the need to engage in so many aspects of campus life. Of course, I thoroughly encouraged my PAFees to get involved, push their comfort zones, and explore different groups and settings—but at the same time, I emphasized the importance to not to feel like they have to do everything, and to make sure that they were taking time each day to just be.
How did your role change when you became an Eagle PAF?
Once I became an Eagle, my advising role to first-years did not change at all—I still had a group of students that I advised, ran study breaks each week, and helped to create an entryway community with my co-PAFs and proctor. However, when I became an Eagle, I took on an additional administrative role by working closely with the Advising Programs Office (APO). I, along with seven other Eagle PAFs, oversaw the program, comprised of about 190 advisors and 1,650 first-year students, with the help of Brooks Lambert-Sluder and Anne Marie Sousa. Eagle PAFs run the PAF training program during the summer and help to ease the transition for new PAFs entering into the role. The Eagle PAFs, Brooks, and Anne Marie met each week to discuss particular ways that we can get ahead on best advising practices before any potential problems arose for PAFs or for their advisees. For example, around midterm season we'd discuss best ways to help first years navigate their first round of midterms, or, for instance, other times we'd chat about things like ways to increase study break attendance. We would communicate these best practices during monthly "Yard Meetings."
Each month, an Eagle PAF would run a Yard Meeting for PAFs, in which we'd focus on sharing experiences, bounce advising tips off of one another, and talk about any other relevant information for that month. Additionally, as Eagle PAFs, we tried to create community within the PAF program itself, by hosting social events or other opportunities to connect. We often would discuss how the PAF program constitutes a very special population of Harvard's student body, as a group of students who really want to help other students make the most of Harvard and try to come together as a group as much as possible. Each Eagle PAF is also assigned a group of "Eaglets," (I know, a lot of terminology here!) which is a group of brand new PAFs, so that each of these new PAFs has a go-to person to ask questions about PAFing, to discuss difficult advising situations, and to meet with on a periodic basis to make sure that they feel confident in their advising capabilities. Lastly, during the spring, Eagle PAFs assist with the PAF application, interview, and selection process for new PAFs to join the program for years to come.
What's one experience you'll always remember from your time as a PAF/Eagle PAF?
Wow, it's hard to pinpoint just one! For me, I think one experience that I will remember from my time as a PAF is when one of my PAFees told me that they wanted to be a PAF because I had made such a difference in their life during their first year. It's this potential influence on such incredible people, especially at a place like Harvard, that I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to be a PAF and connect closely with first year students. I hope that all of my PAFees know the huge impact that each of them has had on my Harvard experience, as well!
How do you think your time as a PAF/Eagle PAF influenced your participation in Athletics?
As a PAF, you have to be able to navigate large groups of people that bring a lot of different experiences and perspectives to the table, and being on a team, you do that a lot as well. So, I think the relationship goes both ways. By being on an athletic team, I am able to be a better PAF and by being a PAF, I am able to be a better teammate. When placed on a collegiate team, you're automatically placed into a group of people with differing backgrounds, similar to what happens when you are placed as a PAF in a first-year entryway. This dynamic is particularly relevant with respect to my team, as field hockey is such an international sport, and our squad usually represents 5 or so different countries at any given time.
When I became a PAF during my sophomore year, I felt as though I was equipped to handle the array of personalities and situations that came along with being a PAF due to the fact that I had already been exposed to this on my team. Further, being an advisor made me realize how so many of my own life mentors have derived from sports. Coaches and teammates all have played a critical part in shaping who I am today—particularly in terms of my work-ethic, competitive spirit, time-management skills, and being able to navigate relationships within large groups. (I think my family plays a major role in all of these qualities, as well!) Many of these attributes were strengthened as I became a PAF and as a result, I've been able to become a better teammate through PAFing.
How do you think your time as a PAF/Eagle PAF will impact your life outside of Athletics?
I think that being a PAF/Eagle PAF will impact my life outside of Athletics in that it has made me a much more compassionate person, as well as much more thoughtful in terms of how I approach my relationships with others. I continually am reminded by my PAFing experiences of the value in meeting people where they are in their life. Further, being a PAF has allowed me to embrace the fact that not knowing the solution to every problem is okay—and not only completely okay but expected. Much of the responsibilities of being a PAF don't necessarily lie in solving a first-year's dilemmas or having the answer to each of their questions but more so in directing them to the correct resources that can best help in those situations. Additionally, I believe that being an Eagle PAF has also allowed me to grow as an individual by helping me to cultivate in my ability to manage groups, organize and conduct my own meetings, and gave me an appreciation for working closely with larger entities like the APO and Harvard at large.
