In her column Stanfordphile, Anya Vedantambe profiles students, faculty, staff and alumni, highlighting community members’ unique stories and their favorite aspects of Stanford.
Senior Taylor Pagel leans over her marinara pasta conspiratorially. She’s about to tell me about a rule she broke at Stanford, and I’m eagerly awaiting her response. The chatter from the late dinner crowd (or as late as dinner gets at Arrillaga Dining Commons, meaning 8:30) hums around us, and the warm glow of the room makes me feel like this place could become home at some point very soon.
Turns out, Taylor broke this rule not only in her sophomore year, not only in her junior year, but every year she’s been physically on campus. What could this possibly be? I wonder.
“I’ve done band run, like, three times,” she confesses to me with a laugh. “You’re only supposed to do band run when you’re a freshman,” she says, “but I technically was the RA running with it, so it doesn’t really count.”
Band Run is a tradition during New Student Orientation, in which the marching band runs around campus, stopping at each dorm to pick up freshmen who join the running mob. The run ends in front of Memorial Church with dancing and celebration. After spending freshman year in COVID isolation, hearing the blare of the trumpets and french horns, getting pulled along with the crowd in order to not get trampled, and dancing under the glowing lights in Main Quad was doubly special.
A SymSys major from Temecula, Calif., Taylor has spent the past three years at Stanford giving back to her community as an RA (residential assistant). Some people might shy away from a job that takes over their whole lives, but for Taylor, the work is a joy. In her opinion, being an RA is a special opportunity to meet many new people and form close friendships.
“I love working with people and mentoring people,” she says. In her eyes, there are few other places where “you can have so many connections with so many people from so many different backgrounds.”
Taylor is one of the few Stanford students who can say that she has seen the freshmen she mentored when she was a sophomore become RAs themselves as juniors.
“It was a really cool experience seeing their growth as people,” she tells me. “I remember that first day,” she reminisces, and she says that seeing them come full circle makes her feel “really happy for their residents,” because she knows they’re going to thrive as RAs.
Outside of being an RA, the many opportunities to connect with others are one of her favorite things about Stanford. “Stanford does make a good effort” to give people those opportunities, she says, “whether that’s through on calls or other programming or Cardinal nights.” She loves that there are abundant opportunities to meet new people, even if you haven’t made the effort in past years.
As we talk, the room begins to empty out and quiet down, and staff close the metal gate at the entrance to the hall. Taylor shares a final Stanford secret with me, before we head to put our plates away. Or maybe it isn’t really a secret – maybe I’m just a freshman.
“A lot of people don’t know that the church is almost always open during the week,” she tells me. “So sometimes I’ll just go in there between classes, and it’s a really nice place to clear your head… It’s gorgeous.” She continues, “I think that’s something that’s always lived up to my expectations. Even if things aren’t going well, I can always rely on the prettiness of campus: the trees, the foliage, the sunsets, and the buildings.”
I’m always looking for Stanford community members to be featured in the column! If you’re interested in being featured on Stanfordphile next, please visit tinyurl.com/stanfordphile.