By now, many seniors recognize the name of their new first class marshal, Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe '01, who was chosen out of 77 candidates in two rounds of voting that ended this week. But they've all heard her nickname: "Yo' Mama."

"All my friends like to rhyme my name with something," laughs Ghartey-Tagoe, whose middle name is Yamoaa. "It just stuck with me. My closest friends will call me Grandma."

"I'm sort of the mother of the class," she adds.

It's a role Ghartey-Tagoe takes seriously. As first class marshal, her platform is simple but unmistakable: Be nice. Wave. Smile. Take the time to say hello.

"Your smile may be the only one a person sees all day," she says. "If I don't say hi to somebody, oh my goodness!"

She certainly seems to try. In the Mather House tower where she lives, Ghartey-Tagoe introduces herself to every person in the elevator, and then introduces them to each other.

The most important job of the class marshals is to promote that kind of unity, she says.

"By the end of this year, every senior will know each other by name and not be afraid to say, 'Hey, what's up,'" she says. "That's one of the biggest things I'm shooting for. I think there is a lack of community, hands down."