Breaking away
Cheryl Best works hard, even by Harvard standards. The College junior takes a full courseload each semester to fulfill the requirements of her concentration, psychology, and her secondary field of study, the classics. During the week, Best is a research assistant at Harvard’s Social Neuroscience and Psychopathology Lab, where she aids a study of the relatives of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. On weekends, she puts in two eight-hour shifts with the mentally ill at McLean Hospital. An independent student, Best picks up extra cash working late nights as assistant manager at the Quad Grille. But when Winter Break came around, Best decided to go home to Arizona and do something really difficult for most Harvard College students: slow down. “When I got back from school, I did a lot of sleeping and lounging around,” Best said. “I was so busy during the semester — working at least 40 hours a week at...