"I saw a lot of things that made me really rethink life and rethink what I had," Gabay says.

These experiences led Gabay towards local politics. He worked closely with the Bronx borough president throughout high school as a member of the Bronx Corps program, in which students work towards community revitalization.

Gabay plans to return to local politics after college, crediting his present success to early political activism.

"Back home being a politician doesn't mean that you're doing it for yourself or to aggrandize power," Gabay says. "It means that you have an interest in the community--politicians start as grassroots activists."

Gabay was involved with the Corps' mentor program, counseling younger teenagers on issues that included drugs, weapons and unplanned pregnancy. "Not standard Harvard fare," he says.

In fact, when Gabay graduated from Truman High School in the Bronx borough of New York City, he neither wanted nor intended to attend Harvard. "It was not at all on my list," he says.

Pressure from his guidance counselor was compounded by his father, who decided Harvard was the place to be.

"But I had heard bad things, that it was lame and boring," Gabay says. "And when I got here I was disappointed in the party scene. My roommate played Risk on Saturday nights."

Gabay compensates for Harvard's apparent social deficiencies by shedding his government concentrator-council president-nice guy from Quincy image and hitting the Boston club scene a few nights a month. "I like Avalon and Venus," he says. "Sometimes, once in a while, we'll try Europa."

He spends his few remaining free hours watching Yankee games, The Simpsons and Batman cartoons--and All My Children. "(13-time Emmy nominee) Susan Lucci might actually win this year," he contends.

But those are passions secondary to his greatest love.

"Talking to people, simple as it sounds, is what I do," he says. About what? "Sports, politics once in a while," he says. Then pauses: "And girls."

Even his study habits cannot escape subjection to his "people personality." Gabay's favorite library: Lamont. "It's very social, you can hang out, talk to people," he says.

Most of Gabay's conversations are more rooted in his own daily responsibilities, though. A typical day begins with an early awakening for his Crimson delivery route. He studies for a few hours before classes, and then spends the bulk of the afternoon and evening attending to his extracurricular enterprises.

Between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. Gabay says he juggles his commitments to the council, Quincy House's Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND) program, and Philips Brooks House (PBH).