Different and not
This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. Cesar Alvarez, president of Native Americans at Harvard College (NAHC), couldn’t stop dancing. In a single day during the recent Arts First festival, he joined a performance with NAHC’s Harvard Intertribal Dance Troupe, and then served as Head Man Dancer in the Harvard Powwow: six straight hours of dancing, in total. “I loved every minute of it,” said Alvarez. “Being the Head Man Dancer is a great honor.” Alvarez is from Four Bears in western North Dakota, a community of about 400 in the Fort Berthold Indian reservation. If the move to Harvard was a major transition, the experience has reinforced values he’s carried since childhood. “I understood that sense of community from an early age,” he said. “If you saw someone was having a hard time, then you reached out to that person. That concept really follows you wherever you...