Class Board of 2019 survey connects students' summers

Finals are over, grades are posted and dorms are empty. Undergraduates might not be back on campus until New Student Orientation, but they can still spend time with classmates across several continents.

In early May, the Class Board of 2019 compiled a list of the locations where rising sophomores will spend their summers. Through a Google form shared through Facebook, students submitted their names and contact information along with the dates they will be at each location. The Class Board compiled and shared the survey results on the Class of 2019 Facebook group.

On May 23, the directory had entries from 144 students and was still accepting submissions. Twenty-eight percent of those students are spending their summers in one or more of 22 foreign countries submitted.

Rising College and Engineering sophomore and Class Board of 2019 President Aren Raisinghani said he hopes the resource will allow students to reach out to people in their hometowns. The ease of accessing the list, he added, will make it more popular than other summer meetup services.

“It’s so easy to access, and there’s very little engagement you have to have with the service,” Raisinghani said.

Similar platforms already exist, with directories only available for those who also submit their summer plans.

One such service, Summer Playbook, has linked students from Ivy League schools and Yale-National University of Singapore since it was founded in 2014 by Harvard students. This summer, the platform will also be available for students from Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wellesley College, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and New York University.

3,411 students used the website last summer, according to Summer Playbook's website. Penn had the second-highest number of participating students, after Harvard.

Rising College junior Emily Marucci joined Summer Playbook last year to find other college students in her hometown of Dallas, Texas.

She eventually contacted Caroline, a Cornell student interning at a hotel outside Dallas. Marucci learned Caroline didn’t know anyone in the area — she was living alone in an apartment rented through Airbnb.

The two became friends over the course of the summer, going out to eat and exploring Dallas.

“I showed her as much of Dallas as I could,” Marucci said. “This is a great way to show people fun things to do in your city.”

The two are still close, keeping in touch through letters, FaceTime, texts and emails. Because of her experience, Marucci recommends taking the initiative to reach out to nearby students over the summer.

“You never know, something really good could come out of it,” she said.

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