Long a Harvardian, now an American
Marina Betancur knows the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) well. Five days a week, she’s there before dawn to prepare the café for a long day of operation. But on Tuesday (April 5), the 47-year-old Colombia native got to see a different side of the School she loves, one usually reserved for visiting diplomats and world leaders. Surrounded by family and friends, as well as by teachers and tutors from the Harvard Bridge Program, Betancur and 15 other Harvard employees were feted by President Drew Faust at a dinner in the Taubman building. Their accomplishment? Becoming Harvard’s newest American citizens. For Betancur, who was formally sworn in as a citizen last September, the annual dinner was a victory lap after a long and arduous trek to becoming an American. “Sometimes I forget I am [a] citizen,” she said with a humble laugh. When Betancur, then a young newcomer to the United States, gave birth to...