HSA 65th Anniversary Book

fy
15
A low point for Let’s Go
FEBRUARY 1, 2014 –
JANUARY 31, 2015
HSA’s title of coolest place to work on campus was in danger of being usurped. Other campus employers
and summer internships were draining HSA’s talent pool, so Harvard’s original startup struck back. To
kick off FY15, HSA raised the company-wide minimum wage to $12 an hour. Over the summer, managers
took the business world by storm with the first externships, hosted by select HSA alums. The students who
stayed behind were treated to HSA’s first structured business-education curriculum. HSA alums, friends,
and other all-stars taught seminars on everything from finance to Excel.
CCFE’s latest brainchild, Business School Night, helped juniors and seniors connect with representatives
from top-tier graduate programs in business. Cleaners developed Clothespin, a mobile app on which
students could schedule laundry pickups and track deliveries. Signups for pickup and delivery skyrocketed,
and twin sister HSA Dorm Essentials also broke sales records. Interactive videos were the main draw of
ACT Bootcamp, a new online test-prep course. A new Creative Director coordinated the company’s physical
and digital branding, including a redesign of the corporation’s motley assortment of websites.
With the expiration of its contracts with Avalon and Travora, Let’s Go began
FY14 with no guaranteed revenue. For the first time since FY70, Let’s Go
self-published its print guides, and the title line consequently shrank to three,
including two Budget Guides and good ol’ Let’s Go: Europe.
With the support of the Office of Career Services, Let’s Go got creative and used
funding from the David Rockefeller International Experience grants to help
send its 10 RWs abroad. As the office staff shrank to the size of a single pod, the
traditionally separate company reintegrated both physically and operationally
into the rest of HSA. Most strikingly, Let’s Go’s traditional September-to-
September hiring schedule was shifted to coincide with HSA’s fiscal years, and
Publishing Director Michael Goncalves ’14 served an extended 16-month term.
100
PRESIDENT
Ryley
Reynolds
OFFICES
67 Mt. Auburn St.
17 Holyoke St.
52 JFK St.
Smith Campus Center
65 Mt. Auburn St.
TITLES
• Let’s Go: Europe
AGENCIES
• HSA Cleaners
• Let’s Go
• Harvard Distribution
HARVARD
STUDENT
AGENCIES
The Unofficial Guide got an update for the BuzzFeed generation with a new website and two reimagined
books: 112 (for Harvard) and 82 (for Boston) Things to Do Before You Graduate. Collected from a survey of
nearly 1,000 students, the hilarious entries on these bucket-listicles included “Catch the Mather Turkey”
and “Date Someone.” A new volume also joined the library: Life in Crimson, a 200-page coffee-table book
of student photographs sold exclusively at The Harvard Shop. Having found that HSA always pays its
debts, HBO bent the knee again to Marketing with another Game of Thrones pre-screening. Under a new
marketing initiative, Giftbox, HSA partnered with national and local businesses to deliver product samples
and coupons to freshmen during move-in week. HSA Video was renamed Mt. Auburn Productions and
branched out to offer photography services.
Harvard gave notice that Cleaners and The Harvard Shop would be evicted from the Holyoke Center in
March 2016, when ground broke on renovations for the new Smith Campus Center. The ghosts of Thayer
Hall and the Freshman Union nodded gravely as the omnipotent university again cast humble HSAers out
of a warm and welcoming home. The move set off a scramble at HSA HQ to relocate not one, but two core
storefronts in the span of 18 months.
With the goal of expanding its customer base beyond Harvard, Custom Orders rebranded as GroupGear,
a new online platform where groups could create their own custom merchandise for members. GroupGear
was quickly named one of the 2014 Best Businesses of Cambridge. The Harvard Shop also launched a new
online-only division, Boston Apparel Company, that sold MIT- and Boston-themed merchandise. As revenue
climbed to $2.7 million and 100 students staffed the three stores, the Board of Directors recommended the
addition of The Harvard Shop’s own permanent staffer. After an extensive search process, Retail Manager
Sarah Miller was hired, bringing years of retail experience to her new domain.
For the first time in years, Let’s Go made a profit as Let’s Go: Europe 2014 sold out its (admittedly diminished)
press run. The strong sales convinced the now-five office staffers, who had considered going all digital, to
print a Let’s Go: Europe book for 2015 as well. However, on July 18, 2014, tragedy struck Let’s Go for the
second time. RW Haley Rue ’17 drowned in a freak accident while hiking in Germany. In the words of her
blockmates in a memorial tribute, the vivacious and talented member of the Let’s Go family passed away
“doing what she loved: traveling and writing.” A poignant dedication to Rue filled the first two pages of Let’s
Go: Europe 2015.
• The Unofficial Guide Presents:
112 Things to Do Before
You Graduate
• Unofficial Guide to Visitas
• Cronin Center for Enterprise
• The Harvard Shop
• HSA Marketing
• The Harvard Guide to
Summer Opportunities
• The Unofficial Guide Presents:
82 Things to Do Before
You Graduate
• HSA Dorm Essentials
• Harvard Bartending Course
• HSA Tutoring
• Unofficial Guide to Summer
at Harvard
• The Unofficial Parents’ Guide
to Visitas
• Life in Crimson
• HSA Translation
• Mt. Auburn Productions
• HSA Temp Agency
HSA 65th Anniversary History Book 101