Senior Profiles in Service: Sam Greenberg

May 29, 2014

Name: Sam Greenberg
Hometown: Cambridge, MA
Concentration: History and Literature
House: Lowell

Sam Greenberg '14 has been a leader in the development of the first youth homeless shelter serving young adults in the Harvard Square area. The youth homeless shelter will double the number of available emergency beds for this population. 

Describe your public service involvement during college.
I began volunteering at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter my sophomore year of high school and worked on the HSHS staff for all four years of college, as an overnight supervisor and as the Staff Director. Since my sophomore spring, I have been helping to lead an effort to open up a new homeless shelter for young adults. I also served as the Co-Director of Mission Mentor, and as the Vice President of PBHA, of which HSHS and Mission Mentor are both programs. I also was a leader for the First Year Urban Program for three years and Public Service Representative for Lowell House for one. I spent the summer after my sophomore year on a CPIC fellowship interning with a housing and homelessness agency in the Bay area called InnVision Shelter Network, and the summer after my junior year working with PBHA's Summer Urban Program as a member of the Full Time SUPport team.

Share an impactful memory or moment that brought you the most joy during your public service involvement.
It's hard to pin down one moment, or even 10. I think it's a string of moments at the shelter that have brought me joy. Since I'd been volunteering for so long, I was something of an institution there, and it was a comforting feeling to walk in and have the guests make snarky remarks like "oh they still let you back?" I loved the joking around and people asking me about how my little brother was, or about my homework. We always tried to make the shelter as close to a home as possible for the guests, but it was also a home for me, and my co-workers who worked there.

What will you be doing after graduation? What was something you learned from engaging in public service? How did your public service experiences influence you and shape your post-graduate path?
I'll be working on the Richardson Fellowship to open up a homeless shelter for young adults in Harvard Square. My knowledge of and passion for the issue has been completely catalyzed by my time doing public service work at Harvard. The vast majority of the skillset that I will be using next year was also developed doing public service work at Harvard.

Why is it important or valuable, in your opinion, for students to get involved in service during their undergraduate career? What advice do you want to share with students engaged in service or looking to get involved in public interest work at Harvard College?
I mean on a selfish level, I don't know how I would have made my way through Harvard without public service. It gave me a humbling base, but also helped me develop as a person. I found academics to be by far the most enriching and rewarding when it related to my public service work, and I wrote my junior paper and senior thesis about homelessness, largely as a result of my public service work.I would just advise students to do it, and keep doing it. Pour your heart into public service work because it will challenge you, but also make you care and make you smile. If you let it, public service work will define your Harvard experience in way that I firmly believe is unique and special.

What lesson will you carry forward with you, as a result of your public service engagement, as you move on from Harvard College?
I think the main lesson (there are so many) that I will take away is to not be afraid of making what you're passionate about something that defines you. I had a really hard time academically for a while because I wasn't letting myself study the social issues I cared about. The real turning point for me was one of my professors who just kind of told me to follow what I cared about, and I haven't looked back since.