Recollections of Altruism

“I was on the train, and I was struggling so much with my sandwich. I was trying to wrap it so it wouldn’t spill in my bag. And the guy next to me saw me and was like, ‘do you want this bag?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, thanks.’” —Colyi Chen, sophomore

“When I was seven or eight, me and my mom were coming home from the train station. We were grocery shopping, so we had a lot of bags and we were late to get off the train. So, as I stepped out, the door closed behind me. I was scared out of my mind and started crying when these two women came up to me and gave me their phones to call my parents, and waited with me the whole time while I waited for my parents.” —Ibtida Khurshed, sophomore

“It was in middle school when I was on the bus, and before I got out, the doors shut. I didn’t know how to tell the bus driver, and these three random middle schoolers yelled at the bus driver to open the door. That was pretty nice of them.” —Muna Faruqi, sophomore

“Though I appreciate each and every thing everybody has done for me, the kindest actions someone has done for me were listening and accompanying me during one of the dark ages in my life. They gave solace and comfort, a sanctuary of some sort that anchored me from going too far.” —anonymous, junior

“[Have someone] be a substitute for my mom.” —anonymous, junior

“I had lost my chorus binder and another student I didn’t know had told me that they found and kept it for me. All while I was at rehearsal, he waited outside of the school for two hours until I was done to give the binder back to me.” —Shera Zhou, sophomore

“One time my friend told me that I gave her the confidence to speak in a room full of people and that made me feel really good about myself.” —Raaita Anwar, sophomore

“Somebody sending me a yo-yo.” —Danny Shao, sophomore

“My mom did my chores for me during finals week so I could study.” —Sofia Thornley, sophomore

“I remember being lost and confused as a freshman here, and having Big Sibs around to show me around the school really helped.” —Tiffany Wong, sophomore

“I’m not sure about the kindest, but I have this one friend I’ve known since elementary school I’m really close with who buys me birthday, Christmas, and congratulatory gifts—like for graduation—when she doesn’t have to. It’s really nice because we haven’t hung out with each other in years, but we’re still close to each other.” —Angel Huang, freshman

“One of my friends bought me yummy candy and sweet Asian snacks for my birthday and we also went to Dunkin Donuts together and had ice cream. It was really special to me because this was the first time I really did anything like this with a friend instead of just like a family dinner. Also, it was really meaningful because it was just my first time receiving a present in general and my friend doesn’t like going outside a lot so it was sweet she went out with me that day.” —Ayesha Talukder, sophomore

“A friend customized a scarf and sticker for me this Christmas.” —Alan Chan, sophomore

“One time at the Starbucks drive-through, the car in front of me paid for my order. I was having a bad day and that really cheered me up.” —Alexandra Tsarenkov, senior

“When BooGrams were being packaged, I was in charge of the last minute packaging and many volunteers had already left. Though it was late into the evening, some of my friends and members of SU stayed behind and helped me package until 12 a.m.” —Yoonha Shim, sophomore

“I got a poem from someone after being good friends for a bit.” —anonymous, sophomore