"I would walk around the hospital with a beeper, and when they'd get a patient who spoke only Spanish, they'd beep me, and I'd go and translate," Gordon says. "I learned how to say things like bowel movement and catheter in Spanish."

Gordon says her involvement in activities away from Harvard has in large part been spurred by a desire to befriend people of different generations and from different backgrounds. And her interest in social issues goes far beyond refugees' concerns. She is concerned with women's rights, gay rights, and civil rights in general.

"I met Jennifer when she was a freshman. She was interested in knowing what Radcliffe was about, and mostly, she was looking for a community of people both older than herself and younger. She was looking beyond her own age group," says Radcliffe Dean of Students Philippa Bovet. "I found it fascinating that as a freshman she took the time to go to the Cambridge Public Library and spend time with children there from time to time."

"I really like having friends in Cambridge, who have nothing to do with Harvard," says Gordon. "It's so important to me to have friends that are older and friends that are younger."

Gordon says that now, especially when she walks through Central Square, she often runs into her clients from Centro Presente and meets their families. "My life is divided between my Central American friends and that whole community on the one hand, and the Harvard community on the other."

Her Harvard friends say she provides as much emotional strength and support to them as she does for her Centro Presente ones. "She's a social worker for many people. Friends really come to her with their problems a lot," says Achinstein.

"Whenever I'm completely at the end of my rope, I go to Jennifer, and I always feel better when I leave," adds Gena White '87, who has known Gordon since freshman year.

Gordon says she hopes to continue to combine her interest in people with her interest in social issues after graduation by working in a victim/witness program, a program which helps people who have been victims or witnesses of crimes like rape or murder prepare to testify. Eventually, she is considering going to law school.

A friend evokes an image that captures Gordon's energy: "Jennifer was great at dealing with the subway in Mexico this summer. The Mexico City subways are tremendously overcrowded, but tiny as she is, she was able to squeeze through and always get out first."