HAPPY: The song that connects my college and graduate school experience

Yes, I’m talking about the HAPPY song by Pharrell Williams.

I was going through some old photos and papers from my time in undergraduate and graduate school, and tried to think about what really pulled these experiences together. Then I realized that it all boiled down to this one fabulous song: HAPPY. (OK, well…there are a few other things, but this is a great excuse to share these videos!)

Last year, a few classmates shot and produced this video at Harvard Kennedy School to the HAPPY song. A few days after my graduation, I went to my college’s 5-year reunion and saw a montage of my classmates’ video footage from all over the world stitched together by Emily Lamont. My friends and I are in this one–we shot it on a freezing spring day on Weeks Footbridge!

I love these videos. They’re fun, and they showcase just how mixed, diverse, colorful and energetic the two student bodies were. You’ll probably recognize some names like…Larry Summers, Greg Mankiw, David Ellewood, and some pretty fabulous students. Some are better dancers than others, but the point is that anyone can be happy, anywhere they are in the world, whoever they are.

Oh, and if anyone knows Pharrell Williams…please feel free to forward this to him! 🙂