They can be found everywhere on campus—filling the lecture halls, waiting in line at the dining hall, studying on the tenth floor of the Smith Campus Center. But behind the typical school routine, many Harvard students possess extraordinary talents. Concealed away in dorm rooms, rehearsal spaces, or back in their hometowns, these students have incredible gifts invisible at first glance.
While it is no secret that Harvard students are incredibly talented, these unique abilities are often veiled by the routines of daily campus life. The first thing people usually notice about 7-foot-tall Harvard men’s volleyball player Brian Thomas ’26 is his height. Unbeknownst to most, Thomas is an experienced speedcuber. Generally done with Rubik’s Cubes but often involving other brainteasers, speedcubing is a competitive sport where contenders solve puzzles as quickly as possible. Inspired by his math teacher, Thomas began speedcubing in seventh grade. “The rest is history,” he remarked.
Ella Schneider ’26 was also in middle school when she discovered her natural talent for unicycling.
“I used to ride my bike to school everyday in elementary school and middle school,” she said. “I got really good at riding the whole way with no handlebars. I then went to a circus summer camp where they had unicycling as an activity,” Schneider explained.
Raghav Mehrotra ’26 uncovered his talent much earlier in life than Thomas and Schneider. Mehrotra himself did not discover his knack for drumming—his parents did.
“They had a speaker system in our house, and I’d kind of just sit by the speaker and bob my head all the time,” he said. “By my second birthday, they realized that I started tapping on stuff and put some pots and pans in front of me to see what I did. And I just made a ruckus,” he remembered. “For my third birthday they got me a little tiny drum set,” he explained. “It’s kind of been my thing ever since.”
Inspiration can strike in many ways: a middle school math teacher, elementary school bike rides, or even just banging on a couple of pots and pans. But these seemingly small events led to a whole new world for Thomas, Schneider, and Mehrotra.
The speedcubing scene for Thomas meant lots of competitions and time dedicated to perfecting his craft. Thomas has spent “countless hours of practice” on speedcubing. This increased during the COVID-19 pandemic when he spent “a good few hours every day” practicing. “It really takes a lot of work,” he noted.
Schneider has dedicated immense amounts of time to unicycling. While Schneider discovered unicycling at summer camp, her passion helped her keep riding long after camp ended. “I got a unicycle for Christmas one year and continued to practice it throughout the year, not just at camp,” she explained. “I did it for two hours every day for three weeks that summer, and I would continue to go back and keep doing it.”
Mehrotra commits a large portion of his time to drumming. Similarly to Thomas, the COVID-19 pandemic provided him with lots of free time to practice. “I was thinking about, or playing music in general, for 12 to 16 hours a day,” he said. But even when school was not over Zoom, drumming was a priority. “I was on Broadway when I was in middle school,” he casually noted. “We did the Tony Awards, which was a lot of fun.” Mehrotra’s huge dedication to drumming has certainly been rewarded with incredible experiences like these.
Thomas also has experience with showing the world his talent. “I went to some official World Cube Association competitions,” he recalled. “I won one bronze medal.”
The hours these students spend on their talents is perplexing to some. For those who do not speed cube, unicycle, or drum, such devotion begs the question: why? For Mehrotra, Schneider, and Thomas, it all comes down to contentment. If Mehrotra were to give advice to a beginner drummer, he would tell them to “lead with love and the rest will follow.” Schneider explains how unicycling “can be so rewarding and fun.” Thomas says that for him, speedcubing is “always enjoyable.”
For all three of them, hard work is easy when there is so much love involved. When asked about his favorite part of drumming, Mehrotra simply replied: “It makes me happy.”
Heidi Heffelfinger’s ’26 (heidiheffelfinger@college.harvard.edu) hidden talent is wiggling her ears.