15 years ago, a police officer held a toddler for a photo at Harvard. Now, she’s a freshman on campus.
“My parents came to America to give me a better future. This was a glimpse into the future.”
Crystal Wang posed for a photo in Harvard Yard in 2004.Dressed in pink shoes and shorts, short pigtails hold back the 3-year-old’s hair from her face as she looks at the camera, held in the arms of a Harvard University police officer beside his department motorcycle. Now, 15 years later, the Houston, Texas, native has enrolled at Harvard in the Class of 2023 — and been reunited with the officer she met on campus as a toddler. Harvard shared a photo of Wang and Officer Charles Marren posing together again in Harvard Yard.
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Marren told the Harvard Gazette he’s been with the university police department for 19 years and he’s used to posing for photos on the campus.
“I might be more photographed than the statue,” Marren said of the famed John Harvard Statue.
Wang told the publication she didn’t remember the original photo session with the officer, but learned of the picture after she was accepted into Harvard’s dual degree program with the Berklee College of Music.
“My parents came to America to give me a better future,” Wang said of the original photo. “This was a glimpse into the future.”
When Wang and Marren had their reunion, the student gifted the officer a copy of the 2004 photo and a copy of her debut album, according to the Gazette.
“In your time here, if there’s anything you need, any issues you have in any way, let me know,” Marren told her.
