By President Stella Gilbert ‘26
If you ever want to know how many semesters someone has been in Harvard Consulting on Business and the Environment (CBE), the trick is to check how many CBE “Welcome” cards they have stored in their dorm room — whether tucked away in their desk drawers, propped up on their bookshelves, or displayed on their dorm room walls.
Every semester at our opening banquet, when training concludes and casework officially kicks off, each of the ~140 CBE members — from new freshman analysts all the way up to returning senior Board members — receives a personalized, hand-written card written by a current Board member welcoming them (back) to our organization for another semester.
This tradition is honestly really impractical; what a logistical nightmare it is to take Board members from teaching analysts about slide-making or facilitating Case Team Lead leadership exercises and make them use their only breaks in the day to write dozens upon dozens of personalized cards in the middle of an already-hectic training weekend. But it has never once crossed our minds to get rid of this tradition in place of an easier, more convenient welcome.
Care in CBE
In my past five semesters with CBE, I’ve witnessed the organization undergo tremendous change — from an exponential increase in the quality of our casework, to the amount we invest in community engagement and charitable giving — but one quality has remained consistent: unrelenting care.
In a world full of fast fashion, fast food, fast… everything…, efficiency and convenience can often seem like ends in themselves. However, CBE has always instead prioritized care over convenience. We are simultaneously a consultancy, a student club, and a charitable nonprofit. Of course it would be much simpler to focus on one of those identities — we could have a lot more money in our bank account if we stopped donations, or we could spend a lot more time hosting social engagements if we weren’t as busy working on casework. But the most convenient path forward has never been what CBE is about.
A Vision Forward
As the Board and I envision our upcoming Spring 2025 semester, we are doubling down on the unrelenting care and dedication that makes CBE such a special organization for our clients, our community partners, and our members.
As a consultancy, we are improving the quality of our casework this semester by bringing in more experienced consultants to expand our training program, investing further resources into our interview sourcing process, and providing professional development resources and workshops to help our case teams continue producing deliverables that exceed client expectations.
As a nonprofit, we are thinking more deeply about our impact by developing an inaugural impact report, providing more community service opportunities for our members, expanding our annual Sustainability Grant and Boston Public Schools Scholarship, and furthering our partnership with Greater Boston-area nonprofits through new donation initiatives and pro-bono casework.
As a student organization, we are investing in engagement by establishing unprecedented alumni connection opportunities, inclusivity initiatives, and social events that encourage both mentorship and lifelong friendship.
In Conclusion
I still remember receiving my very first welcome card at the Fall 2022 training banquet and being shocked at the specificity with which a senior Board member wrote about me after having met mere days ago. During the overwhelming time that was my freshman orientation week, that card was a lifeline — it told me that I was now a part of a special community of people who demonstrate care for one another and for the world, even when it’s inconvenient.
In the busy rhythm of the semester, it’s easy to get lost in deadlines and meetings, but acts of care — whether a handwritten card, a little extra time spent on a slide, or a more in-depth conversation about impactful giving — make all the difference.
Looking ahead to Spring 2025 and beyond, I’m honored to guide CBE in embodying this ethos of care in everything we do. As we continue to grow, I am certain that we’ll maintain the heart of this organization — the unrelenting care that we show for our members, community partners, clients, and the world around us.
Stella Gilbert is a junior in Lowell House studying Sociology and Economics. She is in her sixth semester with CBE, now serving as the organization’s President. She can be reached at president@hucbe.org.