Lovett O-Week:
Pass the Torch
Aishwarya Thakur
Advisor
Tommy Bennett
Advisor
Love it? Shoulda Put 5 Rings on it!
Born and raised in Brighton, England, just an hour outside of London, Tommy is one of Rice’s most thrilling, involved, and manly international students. At Rice on a tennis scholarship, Tommy led the team his sophomore year as he was the #1 seeded player for the majority of the season. He has an incredible amount of support from Lovetteers and is actually WORLD RANKED (currently #1944). In addition to his incredible athletic ability, Tommy is extremely focused on his studies, majoring in economics and hoping to have a successful career in finance IF he does not pursue playing tennis professionally. Around Lovett, Tommy is known for his extremely friendly personality and lovely English accent. When he is not playing tennis or flexing his abs in the mirror (embarrassing me while I shamelessly watch), Tommy is hanging out with his friends, most of whom will reside on second floor next year. Tommy is also well known for eating for two each time he walks into the servery, as he often downs two fully loaded plates of straight protein-packed food. From top to bottom, and especially in the middle, Tommy is a really cool dude and someone all Lovetteers should get to know.
~Neel Ahuja, Lovett ‘16
If you can imagine packing insane intelligence, pure excitement, and a little bit of crazy into a five-foot-two-inch ball of human, then you might be able to understand Aishwarya Thakur. Aish (as we like to call her) proudly hails from the beautiful Bay Area region of California and is the definition of fun size. Don’t be fooled by her small stature and excited squeals, though, because she has more spunk than the average chupacabra and is not afraid to show it. As spunky as she is, the moment she sets her mind to something, she’s in it to win it. This is apparent in her dedication to a multitude of activities campus wide. Even with her full schedule as a pre-med student and Cognitive Sciences major, she finds time to sing with Basmati Beats, Rice’s Indian-American fusion a capella group, research across the street at the Baylor College of Medicine, serve on the board for Rice’s South Asian Society, act as Lovett College’s senator to Rice’s Student Association, and still have time to relax and have fun. When she’s not busy being superwoman or tending to whichever body part she’s recently injured doing something entirely regular, Aish loves jamming out to Tyler Ward and hanging out with her friends. Even though she’s the human equivalent of a chihuahua, she’s got a whole lotta love packed into her, especially for you new students. Don’t worry, her bark is louder than her bite… usually!
~Rahul Kothari and Alex Heath, Lovett ‘17
When you’re walking around campus and see this uniformed little ball of energy whiz by, you’ll immediately know who it is. Faster than the bird, the plane, and even Superman himself, Nitin Agrawal is the resident BEAST of Rice University. Nitin is a member of Rice’s very own Emergency Medical Services, and with him as your new best friend, there will be no worrying about even the smallest of cuts and scrapes suffered as you begin your adventurous life away from home. During the day, Nitin is ensuring his status as the best pre-med that Rice has ever seen by studying in his second home, Fondren Library (he’s kind of the Michael Phelps of being pre-med, not that it’s a big deal, or anything). But you’ll never have to worry about Nitin being absorbed by the black hole that is Fondren Library- he’s involved in millions of other things across campus, and even performs in shows every semester as a member of Rice’s South Asian Society. One of the most hard-working, caring, and reliable humans that have graced Rice, you are truly lucky to have Nitin as a part of your O-Week experience.
As a parting note, there are three very important things you should know about Nitin: 1) Nitin loves hashtags, and is not afraid to use them in every conversation, 2) Nitin is a huge fan of Taylor Swift (and will have you converted if you spend any small amount of time with him), and 3) There’s no calming Nitin down – he truly is a compressed packet of energy ready to scream you awake during the earliest hours of the morning.
~Nirali Desai, Lovett '16
Hailing from the suburbs of Chicago, the amazing Erika Danckers is here to make your O-week the best it can possibly be! This multi-talented girl is involved in so many different things around Rice that it seems like she needs a time machine to be able to do it all. Erika’s competitive streak comes out not only when she plays for Torque, the women’s club ultimate frisbee team, and almost all of Hanszen’s own sports teams, but also when she keeps beating her record on the countries of the world Sporcle trivia quiz (she’s definitely under 10 minutes at this point). She’s also big on giving back to the community – she led an Alternative Spring Break trip focused on affordable housing and handicap accessibility. If that hasn’t convinced you of how awesome she is, Erika’s also super dedicated to her studies. She’s a Mechanical Engineering major, but finds time to take Spanish classes and TA for Leadership Rice courses. In her free time, Erika’s usually watching TV (New Girl and Modern Family are among her faves) or eating copious amounts of sugar. She’s a fun gal who will help you successfully navigate your future at Rice, so get excited for an awesome O-Week!
~Saumya Rajvanshi, Hanszen ‘15
Nitin Agrawal
Diversity Facilitator
Erika Danckers
Co-Advisor
