Brian Hecht

SFS ’16
Age: 20
Hometown: Newtown Square, Pa.
Major: International politics
Concentration: Security Studies

Tell me a little about your experience being on the crew team.
It’s been a really great experience and I think it was especially helpful for me coming into college having a group of guys I knew I could turn to. It helped me get over the first month of college, like, “How am I gonna meet people and how am I gonna adjust.” As a student athlete, you know you’re gonna spend 25 hours a week with these people, so that definitely helps. It helped throw me head first into Georgetown and then from then on it’s been just amazing. Something that’s unique about Georgetown is that the student athlete population is really segregated at other schools whereas here, the social mixing is really great. 

Have you felt looked down on for being a student athlete?
I walked onto the team but I had talked to the coach previously because I rowed in high school but I wasn’t recruited. There are looks that you get when you say you row for the crew team. The looks kind of say, “Well, you’re obviously at this school just because you’re a little bit athletic.” But some of the smartest and most hardworking people I know at this school are on sports teams and I think our GPAs reflect that.

Do you feel a need to be busy here at GU?
Yes. Absolutely. There’s this really strong tendency at this school to compare what you do to other people, and not even in a competitive way, but more along the lines of like, “Oh he or she is doing this, I’m not doing that. Should I be doing that? Yes, I should be doing that.” And I think it causes a lot of us to feel the need to be busy.

What are you doing after Georgetown, and does that question bother you?
Yes, that question does bother me, mostly because I don’t even know what my plans for this summer are, let alone after Georgetown. But it is something I’ve been thinking about, but I have a feeling that my career goals are going to change as I go deeper into my major. Right now I’m thinking more along the lines of where I want to be and where I want to end up, and right now I’m pretty sure I’m going to be staying in D.C. 

Can you compare and contrast your hometown with Georgetown?
I grew up in Newtown Square, which is a pretty average town in Pennsylvania and I went to a Jesuit high school. Comparatively, I do fall into that trap of the typical Georgetown student who is from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York or California. I think I can appear to be that stereotypical Georgetown student.

What do you think the Georgetown stereotype is, and then how would you describe what you think the typical Georgetown student is?
I think the stereotype for a GU student is lots of pastels, played lacrosse in high school, the type of preppy Northeasterner, super busy because they’re an overachiever and have had an internship and job lined up for years. In my experience, there is not a typical Georgetown student because everyone here is crazy and does their own thing.

Is there a part of what makes you a Hoya that you think people can often overlook?
I don’t think people necessarily overlook it, but I think they misinterpret what being a student athlete means. For the most part, people look at student athletes and think, “You wouldn’t be here without it so you go just do your sport and try to pass your classes.” I think there is absolutely another important aspect that people forget about being an athlete: You spend a lot of your time doing something for the university. I just do it because I love it and it’s really kind of special to me to be able to put on my Georgetown uniform four or five times a season and, win or lose, compete for the school.

What do you do for “me time” or to relax?
I’m big into Netflix and recently I’ve been running more, which is funny because if you know you me you know I’d never go running. This spring, when the good weather finally decided to break, I realized I had fallen victim to the Georgetown bubble and started running around the D.C. area, where the monuments are and even north of here around Wisconsin and it’s been really relaxing.

If you could live in one TV show, what would it be?
If I could live in one TV show it would be “Parks and Rec.” I’d like to say that I’d be best friends with Ron and Leslie and Ben but I feel like I would end of being the Jerry of the group and being very klutzy all the time.

Is there anything you’d like to add about your Georgetown experience?
It’s gone really fast so far. I remember at the end of freshman year thinking, “Wow, thank God I still have three years left,” but since I’m going abroad, I’ll wind up having just three semesters left at school, which is really sad but really exciting because I feel like I’ve met a lot of cool people at this school and had my horizons broadened a lot. It’s definitely been an eye-opening and shaping experience, as college should be.

Interview by Lindsay Lee