Ann Flynn is a one-of-a-kind person and one of the best friends anyone could ask for. Some words to describe Ann:

She’s incredibly intelligent. A brilliant writer, she’s vice president of BLS Writes, and is constantly writing beautiful poetry and fiction. Fun fact: her favorite poet is Pablo Neruda, and loves his poems about death and romance. Ann can also write a killer essay in one night: I’ve watched her bang out five paragraphs in a few hours, only to have her genius rewarded with an A. She’s the perfect model of a BLS student: well-rounded, talented and above all, enterprising. Not only can she write, but she’s also a genius at physics and math. She untangles equations effortlessly and enjoys doing it. It’s kind of scary, actually.

I had the pleasure of reading Ann’s college essay one afternoon, the both of us exhausted and stressed from college applications. We had spent a few afternoons on Zoom, scrambling to finish out college apps. Her essay was bursting with passion, energy, wit, drive and creativity, combining her fantastic writing skills and her love for engineering and physics, her desire for the future. When I think of Ann, I see someone who is so full of life and ready for what’s to come. 

Ann’s nature skills are outmatched, and neither is her adventurous personality. She’s a natural-born camper. Ann hikes mountains like it’s nothing and pitches camp like she was born to do it. She spends most weekends in the woods of New Hampshire, climbing Mount Washington or camping with just a sleeping bag in the forest. On our camping trip to Cape Cod, Ann and I went swimming in a kettle pond at midnight to go look at the stars. There’s no one else in my life I feel I could share a moment with like that.

Did you know that Ann is a certified reiki master? The amount of skill, patience and sheer gift it takes to learn a practice like that shows there’s nothing Ann can’t do. A true renaissance woman.

Most of all, there’s never a moment you can’t share with Ann. From pre-Winter Concert parties to late nights on fire escapes, stargazing and talking about the future to sitting quietly next to a bonfire, Ann makes every moment fantastic. BLS is partially to thank for the late nights we’ve spent studying, or the time spent bonding over finals stress. It’s been a wild ride, and Ann’s made these six years the best they could possibly be.

Congratulations on six years of BLS, Ann!