Campus Service

Project TEACH

In collaboration with the Office of Public Affairs and Communications, the Crimson Key Society supports Project Teach: the Harvard Official College & Career Awareness Program. Harvard’s Project Teach program seeks to develop a college-going identity among all Cambridge Public Schools seventh-graders and Boston Public Schools seventh-graders who attend a school in Allston-Brighton. By working with teachers, students, and families, Project Teach demonstrates that college can be an affordable, accessible, and attainable opportunity. A cornerstone of the program is a Harvard campus visit in which students participate in a program tailored to their individual academic interests. Throughout the day, CKS members engage with the students, expose them to the educational opportunities available to them after high school, and assure them that college is a feasible option for everyone.

Orientation

Each year the Crimson Key Society welcomes Harvard’s incoming class of first-years by coordinating and hosting Orientation Week. The week consists of events designed to ease the stress of the transition and bring Harvard’s newest students into an environment where they can start forming lasting friendships.

Each day of Orientation, members of the Crimson Key Society are stationed at a tent in the Yard ready to give out keys, answer questions, give directions, and guide first-years to that day’s events.

Here are some events we’ve planned for past Orientations:

First-Year Fling
School dances may sound like high school but this is a new and improved college version with approximately sixteen hundred of your soon to be best friends! Dance your heart out in one of Harvard’s most fun spaces to some of the danciest DJ stylings you’ll find anywhere.

Love Story
The legendary annual showing of this Academy Award-winning movie, plus participation by authentic Crimson Key Society members. Join us for our very own witty and irreverent commentary on one of the worst critically-acclaimed movies of all time! Good times to be had by all, guaranteed!

First-Year Talent Show
World-class entertainment in a world-class venue. Show off! Or at least, come watch in the name of fun and friendship. Auditions are held throughout the week of Orientation.

Lawn Games
Opening Days are such a busy and exciting time, so here’s your chance to kick back and chill with Crimson Key! After all of your required meetings, come hang out with us and enjoy some sweet treats and activities in Tercentenary Theater (New Yard) while also getting to know your fellow classmates and CKS members.

Other Campus Service

The membership of CKS is often asked to serve as official Harvard University guides during campus-wide events. Annual events at which CKS volunteers include:

Commencement
Members of CKS guide and direct graduates and their families during Harvard Commencement and its accompanying events.

Arts First Weekend
CKS members inform and direct students, faculty, and visitors at this annual celebration of the arts at Harvard.

First-Year Family Weekend/Junior Family Weekend
In the fall, CKS guides first-year families as they learn about and celebrate their child’s transition to Harvard. In the spring, CKS reprises this role in welcoming the families of juniors to campus.