While the majority of Haverford's squash team started play back in October, Zeek Barnett '13 is just now getting back into the swing of things after an exciting semester abroad in China. There, the junior was restricted to a "language pledge"—no English allowed. He said of the transition, "My Chinese went from useless to proficient, and interacting across cultures in a foreign tongue was enlightening."

For his stay in China, Barnett, currently an economics major and Chinese minor, was located in the city of Harbin which is about 700 miles north of Beijing with a population of roughly 6 million.

In addition to this recent adventure, Barnett spent the summer of 2011 in Nanjing and Sichuan (both in China as well). He was teaching English in schools for migrant worker's children. He said, "Though teaching may be a task a bit too daunting for a career path, the summer was an informative experience on a number of levels, particularly in expanding my understanding of economies and the global marketplace."

After graduation Barnett plans to return to China for another teaching position and to attain fluency in Chinese. He is also interested in management consulting, and undecided whether to pursue this in the United States or abroad.

Barnett says that his hobbies outside of Haverford clubs and squash are mostly centered around music. Barnett is a cellist who has performed in the Bi-Co orchestra. He has played in a few chamber groups too.

Most recently, his musical interests have shifted towards a new genre, and he enjoys creating original works, rather than just playing already-written pieces. He said, "I've been involved in making electronic music for some time and recently released an EP, which will be followed by another one sometime in the next month or two." Downloads are available at this website: http://skeletonzoo.bandcamp.com/

Barnett also works in the library where he digitizes senior theses, and he is treasurer of Haverford's Nerf Club.

– Jordan Schilit '13
Haverford SAAC

SAAC is the college's student-athlete advisory committee, which discusses issues that affect the well-being of Haverford's student-athletes on campus and within the Centennial Conference and the NCAA. For more information, please check out the SAAC website.