While most students will spend today shopping classes and eating fly-by lunch, Dafna V. Hochman '00 will spend the afternoon being wined and dined by Glamour Magazine in New York City.
The trip to New York--along with a $1,000 prize--is the payoff for being chosen one of the "top ten college winners of 1999" by the magazine.
Hochman said she and her twin sister, Yale senior Dalia Y. Hochman, who also won the award, applied "as a joke."
"We thought it was really funny and never expected to hear anything back," she said.
Dafna Hochman said she sent in her application--including an essay and a letter of recommendation--during January, and did not hear back from the magazine for months, until the day before they wanted to take her picture for the story.
She thought the novelty of a Harvard-Yale twin pair helped her win the award.
"I think the magazine really liked the twin aspect," said Hochman, who is a social studies concentrator and an Adams House resident.
But Jonathan Small, the Glamour editor who was in charge of the project, said the editors were wowed by the pair's credentials.
"It helped that they were twins but they were both impressive in their own way," Smalls said. "It's just kind of cool that they were twins, especially that one went to Harvard and one to Yale--A little sibling rivalry," he said.
Of the more than 500 applicants from all over the country, only a handful made the cut.
"It was very hard to choose the 10," Smalls said. "If we have two women who excel in science, we have to choose one, since we want to keep it diverse."
"We were looking for women who have outstanding grades, who were making lots of contributions on and off campus, who have inspiring stories, who were real leaders," he said.
A brief profile in the magazine's October issue lauded Hochman's "kick-butt credentials" as an international relations student.
"At the ripe old age of 21, Dafna has excelled as a diplomat," the article said.
The article praised her for serving on the staff of the Seeds of Peace Camp for International Conflict Resolution, which brings students from Middle Eastern countries to Maine for a program aimed at promoting peace.
Hochman, who is a Crimson editor, said her summer at the camp inspired her to pursue a career in foreign relations.
"I became really excited about this idea of mediation and conflict resolution," she said.
The profile also included Hochman's words of wisdom to first-year women: "Don't let guys make or break your self esteem," she said.
Harvard students have fared well in previous Glamour competitions, with 8 of the last 11 years' awards including at least one student from Harvard.
"We have one just about every year," said Linda Laux-Bichane, Glamour's reader services editor. "Harvard's a popular choice."
Past winners from the contest's 42-year history include home decorating guru Martha Stewart, Cosmopolitan editor Kate White and speech-pathologist-to-the-stars Lillian Glass.
This year's winners will spend three days in New York and will be honored at a luncheon that features feminist Naomi Wolf as keynote speaker.
"We fly them into New York, we put them up, they meet Naomi Wolf, they meet the editors of Glamour," Smalls said.
And, of course, there's the $1,000, for which Hochman said she already has plans.
"I need a new computer to write my senior thesis," she said.
Read more in News
Students Hit the Campaign TrailRecommended Articles
-
A Year After Death, Rabin Is RememberedThe sounds of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin singing the Jewish Song of Peace wafted through the courtyard of
-
Nike May Give Aid To PBHA ProgramNike is extending its influence at Harvard beyond merely what is covering students' feet. The company has asked Cambridge Youth
-
Survey Ranks Cosmopolitan First Among Magazines Read on CampusIf you dare to enter the room of an typical college student, you'll likely find dirty socks, empty beer bottles,
-
Ivy League Educations Don't Pay off on the Silver ScreenA Harvard degree might guarantee you a six-figure salary in some professions, but a recent study suggests that in Hollywood,
-
Charles Square: Catering to the Elite"What, You Haven't Been to Charles Square?" asked the voice on the radio in last spring's advertisement campaign to promote
-
In Signature: two easy lessons for hack writingIn this issue, Signature's earnest editors treat the problems of "What is Wrong of Right with College Writing?" by printing