Harvard Outing Club

Alumni Bios

Matt Kung (he/him) – 2023
For several years in his youthful naïveté, Matt toiled laboriously in hopes of acquiring a prized sponsorship from the world’s most influential corporation, Frito Lay North America, Inc. Alas, his pursuit was dismally unrequited. Bedraggled and downtrodden, he eventually conceded defeat and set forth in search of a new passion. He settled upon HOC, where he leads trips into the beautiful chip-less expanse of the great outdoors, free from the shackles of corporate society. Embark on one of his trips to enjoy nature’s magnificence, good company, and – uhhh? – a refreshing bag of Lay’s Kettle-Cooked Potato Chips at the summit?
Zoe Goldstein – 2023
Since making the trek from her home in Cambridge, MA to her (Eliot) House in Cambridge, MA (a trend?), Zoe has enjoyed continuing to build a reputation for herself as the clumsiest person to consistently seek out balance-challenging and post-hole-promising hikes. She has an intense love of books, comfy clothing, and all things fruit. When she’s not planning hikes in the Whites for days it’s going to rain or repeatedly asking people how they are as she passes them in the Yard, you can find her hanging out with five- and six-year-olds with the Mission Hill After School Program, walking back and forth between Eliot and the SOCH, or in the Barker Center bragging about how she only has class three days a week. She butters her toothbrush AFTER she puts water on it.
Michael Wallace (he/him) – 2023
Michael was raised in the untamed forests of Wilton, Connecticut, a place with a large population of retirees and some of Connecticut’s hardest mountain biking trails, two things that go together really well. In September 2018, Michael decided to hike all of the 48 tallest mountains in New Hampshire in a single week. The attempt was a failure, covering only 5 hours and 1 peak before Michael packed up and came back to Harvard. Some say he never intended to hike all 48 peaks at all; some say he is a tragic hero who was crippled by circumstance. Michael says he actually did all 48 when you weren’t looking. When he’s not planning a new trip, Michael enjoys going for long runs, getting cannolis from Mike’s Pastries, and marveling at the wonders of public transport.
Luke Bailey (he/him) – 2023
Luke was raised in Longframlington (I promise its a real place), a small village in northern England. There wasn’t much to do in the village apart from go to the bakers and/or butchers, and talk to old people, so Luke spent much of his childhood exploring the local cheviot hills (imagine the rockies but way better because its in England). There are loads of great hikes and climbing spots in this area which is where Luke fell in love with the outdoors. After coming to university, Luke became a leader in the Outing Club to help others explore the outdoors. Luke studies computer science and math and lives in Dunster House. Catch him at IMs trying very hard but not achieving much because he spends too much time doing psets and not enough time at the Gym.
Alana Carroll (she/her) – 2023
Alana hails from upstate NY, where she spent many years smearing herself (and her siblings!!) with mud and running wild through creek, marsh, and forest. Every summer (and during her gap year) she returns to her hometown to teach kids (and adults!) essential survival skills such as starting fires with friction, which mud pits are best for camouflage, how to carve with stone, how to catch trout with your bare hands, and how to properly abandon one’s civility. If you go on a trip with Alana, be prepared for intense excitement about what the general public dubs “mud, twigs, weeds, and pests”. It is her greatest desire to get everyone else as hyped about them as she is.
Megan Curry – 2023
Megan is technically a SoCal native, but since moving to Colorado for high school, she’s morphed into your stereotypical (Kind) granola hiker. Against the backdrop of Mt. Blanca, a 14er in the middle of nowhere Colorado, she fell in love with hiking and trail running. Today, you can find her hiking around Boulder or begging her friends and family to hike Longs Peak, to which they always decline. When she’s not hiking, you can find her trying to finish course books the class only read two chapters from, learning how to cook, or crocheting scarves. 
Jim Diamondidis – 2023
Jim Diamondidis actually IS Batman. When he’s not saving lives in Gotham, he’s saving lives on treacherous HOC trips in New Hampshire. Jim always brings candy on his HOC trips, and he expects you to jam with him on the car ride. He studies math, and will probably ask you math questions on the trail—but don’t be fooled!—he’s an artsy-fartsy ski bum hippie at heart. Oh, and p.s., Alta is for skiers.
Alex Fogel (she/her) – 2023
Alexandra was raised in suburbs of NYC, which does not have tall mountains but does have awesome bagels which kinda makes up for it. She loves the outdoors despite the fact that the outdoors does not always love her (evidenced by the fact that she once sank up to her waist in mud in the middle of swamp while everyone else was somehow spared). Some of her favorite things to do in her favorite places to be are hiking in the White Mountains, surfing off the coast of Long Island, slaloming in Lake George, and skiing at Alta (she’s a first chair kinda gal). On campus, she can be found doing her Social Studies reading and EPS psets at the Barker Cafe, drumming up social events for the Club Climbing Team in her hammock at the Barker Garden, and just generally loitering around Barker.
Nina Foster (she/her) – 2023
Nina is a proud plant mom and English major hailing from Ossining, New York. When she’s not sipping an oat milk latte and reading in a cozy cafe, she happily sacrifices her Birks for hiking boots and heads to the mountains. A hike with Nina comes with an Insta-worthy photo guarantee, the only caveat being that you’ll have to wait weeks until she finally gets her film developed. Be warned: she will stop for at least five minutes to cuddle with any dog that she encounters on the trail, and she probably won’t stop talking about how cute the last one was until another comes along. Nina is also known for spontaneously belting out Christmas songs regardless of the time of year, diving into deep conversations after knowing someone for fifteen minutes, and curating Spotify playlists for those long drives into the Whites.
Naomi Hegwood (she/her) – 2023
Naomi Hegwood hails from North Dakota AKA the-one-state-the-you-have-
never-been-to, which basically just means that she says bag wrong, knows way more about cows than she ever wanted to, and gets VERY excited whenever she’s in a place with trees and/or actual topography. Even though her fingers and toes are permanently icicles from living in one of the closest things the United States has to an Arctic Tundra her whole life, her warm heart and sarcastic comments still manage to melt through the snow, causing her to somehow be able to survive standing outside in -30 degree temperatures. When she is not freezing, Naomi can be found attempting to identify plants, doodling gnomes to her heart’s content (many people call her Nomes), or staring at her computer screen pretending to do work but instead getting distracted and looking up squirrels.
Jenny Lu (she/her) – 2023
Jenny comes from the warm (HOT), sunny Austin, Texas, where she grew up swimming outdoors year-round and goes on long walks with her goldendoodle, Pi (yes, like the number). In addition to the good old travel-by-foot, she loves to bike, ski, and ice skate. On campus, you might find her with a camera, or you just might not find her because she’s eating in Allston. Challenge Jenny to a game of Set, Bananagrams, or name the Taylor Swift song in 10 seconds, and her heart will be yours!
Annie Miall (she/her) – 2023
Annie comes from the faraway lands of Boston, Massachusetts where she fills her time with food. LOTS of food– including cooking maple bacon brussels sprouts, baking sponge cake, and consuming (and rating!) quality vanilla ice cream. When she’s not satisfying her gastronomic desires, you can find her hastily putting one foot in front of another (running), flapping her arms and legs in bodies of water (swimming), and having the absolute time of her life (hiking! With YOU!).
Christian Wagner – 2023
Hailing from the coastal ranges of Northern California, Christian grew up surrounded by redwood trees and ice-cold breakers. He first discovered his love for the backcountry in high school while backpacking the beautiful glaciers of Oregon’s Three Sisters Wilderness. Since then, he’s spent his days out west exploring the Sierras and beyond. When life took him east to the land of bricks and sticks, he made a vow not to let the hills of New England go untrodden, which he’s been living by ever since. On campus you can find him either nerding out at Stat office hours, hacky-sacking in Eliot courtyard, or sitting with his guitar by the Charles singing sad, sad songs, lamenting the 3,000 miles between himself and the kelpy surf breaks of Santa Cruz.
Rob Walker (he/him) – 2023
Rob’s currently trapped inside a computer.
Kristina Wolinski – 2023
Kristina grew up in the suburbs of Boston, where her family taught her to compost and then to watch each night as raccoons came to raid the compost bin.  On her first ever hiking overnight, she threw up in a composting toilet, and has been hooked ever since – perhaps too hooked, though, because sometimes in the frontcountry she realizes she doesn’t remember when her last shower was.  Some of Kristina’s favorite activities include running slowly, writing old-fashioned letters to friends, playing board games, and talking deep into the night. If college doesn’t work out, her plan is to become a full-time nomad.  
Sam Woolf (she/her) – 2023
Sam Woolf, also known as “Hungry Like The” Woolf by her middle school gym teacher (for her excessive aggression during floor hockey), is now trying to live up to the name through the interesting snacks she brings on Outing Club hikes. These include, but are not limited to: instant sticky rice, dark chocolate ganache hearts, and goat cheese crumbles. Her favorite trail snack though, is the “immensely fruity, intensely chewy” Hi-Chew. Not only is the candy a nod to her Japanese heritage, but the altitude pun hits different on the summit.
Serena Wurmser (she/her) – 2023
Serena is from Montclair, NJ, but has spent the past year living in Utah, North Carolina, and Nevada… basically a lot of places. She studies Astrophysics and Earth & Planetary Sciences at Harvard, and loves nothing more than telling people about the night sky (her friends sadly can confirm). Some of her skills include knowing the time using the Big Dipper and making puns about space (although none about the solar system… those are only one star jokes). When not stargazing, she enjoys rock climbing, reading (especially lord of the rings!!), and finding more excuses to walk around barefoot.
Jonathan Zhang (he/him) – 2023
Jonathan “Juicy J” Zhang’s the name, wacky spaztastic fun’s his game! Born in raised in West Bloomfield, Michigan (aka South Canada), he was exposed to the outdoors from a young age. Never more than a few feet away from food at all times, Juicy J will hound people down to feed them like the mother hen he is. After joining a cult in New Mexico called UWC which touts a mission of “sustainability and peace,” Jonathan used the place as an excuse to partake in a week-long hike through the Grand Canyon, a 14-day trip with no refills through the Pecos Wilderness, and a 3-day orientation trip that he led for his own underclassmen. When he’s not in the wilderness, Jonathan can be found in Lowell House having an existential crisis and/or watching the Good Place.
Alvin Zou (he/him) – 2023
Born and raised in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Alvin couldn’t have grown up closer to the outdoors. Despite the Canadian stereotype, he doesn’t say “baaag” or “a-boot,” and while he never rode a moose to school, he did ski home after class one day (it helps when you live a block away). The Pacific Northwest instilled a deep appreciation for spending time in the wilderness. In his free time, you can catch Alvin skiing into a tree on the slopes of Whistler-Blackcomb, falling off a mountain bike in the Sierra Nevada, and managing to flip a supposedly un-flippable canoe on the Connecticut River (lesson learned: with enough movement, nothing is un-flippable). He also enjoys backpacking, kayaking, and river rafting.
Spencer Carter (he/him) – 2022
Spencer is a junior in Winthrop House studying Psychology. He’s from Pelham, NY and is VERY conflicted about whether he should claim to be a “New Yorker” or not. He’s passionate about HUDS peanut butter, falling asleep in Science Center Hall B, and fixing typos wherever he can get his hands on them. Spencer is an avid hiker and paddleboarder, having fallen in love with the outdoors when he began college. He’s also a Scorpio. Make of that what you will.
Allegra Colman – 2022
Adrenaline junkie by nature, alpine skier by choice, Allegra “Legs” is still getting used to this whole ‘uphill’ phenomenon. You’ll never catch her without a hefty supply of emergency baking soda, endless knee-length socks and a plethora of hair-brained schemes for her next intra-continental adventure. When in Cambridge, Allegra studies History and Literature and enjoys espousing the wonders of HOC to anyone that will listen.
Sinead Danagher (she/her) – 2022
Sinead has learned to love the outdoor adventures around Boston, despite maintaining an internal chant of “West Coast, Best Coast!” at all times. Hailing from Lake Tahoe, CA, you’ll be hard-pressed to convince her your hometown is better. It was among the soaring granite peaks and crystal blue lakes of her home that Sinead discovered the ultra-fun intersection of adrenaline and nature in activities like skiing, hiking, biking and cliff jumping. When not sneaking off campus to further explore this intersection, you can find Sinead loitering in the Fogg or sprawling somewhere along the banks of the Charles
Nellie Ide (she/her) – 2022
Nellie grew up in Minnesota, otherwise known as the state of two seasons: winter is coming, and winter is here. Naturally, she loves to get as much frostbite as possible, so she is on the alpine skiing team (yes, there is a ski team and yes, she knows there are no mountains in Boston). Nellie began her outdoor experience when her family took her on a canoe trip at the tender age of one year old. This led to a childhood full of hiking and canoeing around the Minnesota wilderness, and she looks forward to exploring some real mountains out here in the East!
Matthew Li – 2022
Matthew Li hails from the town of Carlisle, Massachusetts. His love of the outdoors come partly from the fact that trees do not ask him how to spell or pronounce his last name, which comes partly from the fact that trees don’t talk – but they do make a sound upon falling, even if no one hears them. In addition to run on sentences, Matthew enjoys hiking & camping just about anywhere. On campus, Matthew studies some form of life science and some computer science. He also performs stand up comedy.
Theo Lukin Yelin (he/him) – 2022
Hailing from the distant lands of Cambridge, MA, Theo likes to spend his time traversing the wilderness of Garden St. on his bike. Studying Physics and Computer Science, he is always eager to escape the confines of the Science Center Library to explore the White Mountains (although he typically only makes it as far as the dining hall by the time the next problem set is due). He will happily explain why Winter is the optimal hiking season (no mosquitoes, and it’s easier to make a cold person warm than vice versa), but venture out on the hottest of summer days nonetheless, all while complaining that he could still be on bed. On campus you can find him on the hockey rink, or working anywhere from the river to the quad.
Henrietta Reily – 2022
Henrietta grew up in the steep hills of Kentucky and likes to go outside even when everyone else is inside and no one will join her. She also likes going outside with others, forest dynamics, her dogs and the Harvard Outing Club. She dislikes wet socks, sweet coffee, people who whine and light pollution, but if any of them come on her trips she’ll be very nice to them!
Wildman Schubert Reed (he/him) – 2022
His name is Wildman. But if that doesn’t tell you enough about him, here’s a bit more: Wiley was born and raised in a small town called Brooklyn, NY. His outdoor interests range far and wide, from living vicariously through people who have more free time than he does, to being a member at REI. Growing up, he spent almost every weekend fishing and rock climbing on the Long Island Sound. One can only wonder how he rock climbed a body of water… As he got older, he undertook ever-more intense and eclectic outdoor escapades, including a backpacking trip to Hawaii where it rained for 10 days straight. Now he’s afraid of water. On that same trip, lying on his back and looking up at the stars at the top of 14,000-foot Mauna Kea, Wiley understood the meaning of a misplaced modifier, and also decided he wanted to understand the universe. Now he is deep in the throws of a concentration in physics doing just that (and perhaps regretting it a little bit, too). In fact, he was such a big proponent of the outdoors throughout high school that his friends nicknamed him “Tree Boy.” Now he’s a Wildman, and a Tree Boy.
Maggie Schultz – 2022
Growing up in Northern Michigan, Maggie only has a short period of the year in which she can go outside without losing feeling in her toes and fingers. In this time, she developed a love for berry and mushroom picking, camping, running, and hammocking. She loves to jump off tall things (sometimes into water), utilize the chest pocket on her overalls, and sleep in her sleeping bag on top of her normal covers. At Harvard, she lives in Leverett House and studies environmental engineering (so, really her weekly hikes are for ~academic~ purposes).
Zuzanna Skoczylas (she/her) – 2022
Zuzanna grew up in Poland, indisputably home to the best apples. She fell in love with hiking after her parents took her ‘hiking’ and ended up taking a nap and a cable car instead. Her favorite outdoor memory is seeing triple from altitude sickness when hiking inside a volcano. When not outside, you can find her studying computer science or searching for new travel destinations. She tends to spend all her money on vegan food and traveling.
Emily Spector (she/her) – 2022
Emily grew up in New York in an outdoorsy but notably not granola family, and at age 17, she wrote her harvard application essay about how she’d like to run away from school to live in the mountains (and she was accepted?) Her mission now is to travel up and/or down every incline she can find on foot, snowboard, bike, or river with as many people as are willing. In the backcountry, she is known to enjoy sitting in lakes of snowmelt until her body temperature drops to 5°F, and in the front country, she is known to almost lose her gear trailer on I-25 with a van of 12 high schoolers to bear witness. In Cambridge, Emily can be found running long loops around the Charles, violining in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, explaining to unwilling strangers why Mather is the best house, or preparing to yeet herself and others into the mountains.
Nathan Oalican – 2022
Nathan Oalican was born on the streets of Roslindale in Boston, Massachusetts. Born into a family of non-hikers (egad!), Nathan found his calling for the outdoors in gallavants throughout Boston with the self-proclaimed Rozzie Rats of Roslindale. From these humble beginnings, one may say, there was nowhere to go but up. And up he has gone, from Mount Washington in New Hampshire to Mount Whitney in California. When not hiking, you can find Nathan studying plant biology, thinking about landscape history, or signing a supermax deal with the Boston Celtics.
Morgan Whitten (she/her) – 2022
Morgan possesses an uncanny ability to attract mosquitoes; in fact, some believe on one weekend camping trip she donated enough blood to singularly save the mosquito population of Maine from extinction. She has come a long way from her first rendezvous with nature, in which she proclaimed, “I HATE camping! I want to stay in a ho-tel!” Now her fondness of the outdoors rivals her kinship with her own species, which in part drove her to study Environmental Science and Public Policy. A European wannabe, Morgan calls Stuttgart, Germany home (do beer gardens count as the “outdoors”? do nude spas?). 
Ursula Volz – 2022
Ursula lives in Orono, ME but is an Alaskan girl at heart, having lived in Anchorage for 15 years. Despite having survived frostbite on the back of a dog sled and being charged by an angry mama moose, Ursula looks back on her Alaskan childhood fondly as it was the place she fell in love with the outdoors. She is a junior in Leverett House concentrating in Mechanical Engineering with a secondary in Astrophysics and—her most challenging academic pursuit—a Norwegian citation from Harvard’s illustrious (read: extremely niche) Scandinavian Languages Department. Skål!  When Ursula isn’t contemplating rotational inertia, she can be found roller skiing throughout Boston as member of the Nordic Ski team, or planning her next weekend adventure.
Cameron Maltman – 2020
Cameron hails from rural Canada where he learned, among other things, the call of the moose, how to properly wear a flannel shirt, and the true meaning of the word “eh”. He is known at Harvard as the kid who likes “canoes and stuff”. Cameron dislikes weekends not spent outside, sitting still, and getting less than 7 hours of sleep. He enjoys hiking, white-water canoeing, weekends spent in a tent and building stuff (some would call it engineering). His love for the outing club is only matched by his love for maple syrup and HUDS stuffed chicken.
Sophie Pesek – 2020
Sophie “Stilts” Pesek is easy to spot at a distance because of her height and tendency to only wear clothing with animals on it. She grew up in Cambridge before being sent off to boarding school in New Hampshire, where she survived by spending all of her time in the woods. Now that she’s back in Cambridge, she tries to return to the NH wilderness whenever she can. When she’s not studying Environmental Engineering or walking to and from Pfoho, she loves to spend time sailing, skiing, and listening to sci-fi books as she runs.

Molly LeavensMolly Leavens – 2020
Molly is studying environmental science and public policy with a focus in food systems. She enjoys ALL sports, cooking, playing guitar, making art, and making people uncomfortable. Additionally, she loves to make chocolate pudding in large camping pots for Will Li. She is currently in a long-distance relationship with her cat and dreams at night about a peanut butter/nutella/marshmallow fluff/cookie butter ice cream flavor. She resides from Utah, currently lives in the CoOp, and loves HOC more than a hawk likes mice.
Lars Hornburg – 2020
Lars was raised in the beauty of northern Michigan and grew up working in the vineyards of Traverse City. He was shaped by the the scenic landscape much like the fine Chardonnay wines he worked to create, and while some say his smile is equally sweet and intoxicating, his personality has a complexity more akin to a Cardboardeaux. In addition to his love of hiking, he enjoys racing as a member of Harvard’s Alpine Ski Team, and watercolor painting. He has few accomplishments in life but hopes to limit his negative impact on society by concentrating in environmental science and public policy. Despite his general lack of achievement, he is a very proud owner of possibly the largest collection of Patagonia fleeces in the contiguous US.
David Lu – 2020
David was raised in Houston, Texas and therefore owns a single, lone pair of long pants. He can be found hiking and rafting in Big Bend National Park, or exploring restaurants all over Houston. He enjoys eating barbeque, eating Tex-mex, and eating sushi, so basically he just likes eating food in general. His other hobbies include running, playing squash, and meditating.
Jeyna Doshi – 2020
Jeyna grew up in the oldest town in Connecticut, known for its small town feel and numerous tobacco farms (which make for a great summer job!). As a youngling, she disliked most things that had to do with nature, much to her mother’s disappointment. Nowadays the tides have turned, and she dislikes anything that keeps her inside. She begins having ski dreams around the beginning of July (this year it was June) and waits another agonizing five months (or more) for the snow to come. During the other three seasons of the year, she enjoys hiking anywhere she can to satisfy her hunger for the mountains. When not biking to-and-from her wonderful home in Cabot, Jeyna can be found playing soccer, practicing yoga, gazing at the stars (without ever remembering what she’s looking at), or baking treats to satisfy her sweet tooth.

Kira Telgen -2020
Kira grew up on a tiny island off the gulf coast of Florida without a single mountain (or hill) in sight but somehow still managed to get passionate about climbing big things. She spends the majority of her semesters loitering around Cabot dining hall and her summers commercially salmon fishing in Bristol Bay, Alaska. You can usually find her with a coke zero in hand professing the merits of platform tevas or planning yet another cross country road trip.

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