In fact, Carpenter, a Social Studies concentrator, is writing his thesis on Kenya-specially, the development of the self-help movement in Kenya from the grassroots level. Carpenter rapidly flips through photographs of his trip to Kenya, tellig me the names of people he met, chuckling at intervals in front memory. The more we talk, it becomes pretty clear that Carpenter has a natural affinity for people; he is definitely a people-person.
"He's jusst really personable," says teammate Carlos A. Gonzalez '94. "He's outgoing very one-toone..even during the game, he'll talk to you, you know, pull you aside if you haven't been playing well and say 'Hey, let's get it together'. He loves people."
This natural liking for people may have led Carpenter to choose a team sport over an individual sport.
"I think individual sports, like golf, are great, but I knew what I wanted," Carpenter says. "There's lots of other things I could do individually. It's team endeavor that I really wanted."
Teamwork, Carpenter tells me, ultimately makes theb difference in volleyball.
"You could be the best player, but you can do nothing without your teammates. Teamwork is the key. When players are able to serve, pass, set and hit continuously ,they build up a rhythm, and then they're virtually untouchable."
I ask Carpenter what else he's done that has meant a great deal to him, aside from volleyball. He tells me he's been teaching sunday school to about 15 children at Memorial Church for four years.
"I take them to Harvard hockey games sometimes," Carpenter says. "It's been great, it's the most rewarding thing I've done.I worked with these kids who were seven or eight when I first began, and now they're beginning high school."
"It's been pretty remarkable seeing them grow, very satisfying," he adds. "One kid who moved to Iowa halfway through the program I still keep in contact with. We exchange Christmas cards."
My impression of Carpenter as an intense, principle person, is incomplete; Carpenter has a lighter side too, an amusing side, as his senior roommate Eric S. O'Brien reveals.
"Jon threw a [huge] party over Christmas break last year at a restaurant in Pao Alto," O'Brien says. "He invited his senior class from high school, people he'd worked with over the summer, Harvard friends living in Caloifornia.he hired two bands. It was a great party, and it cluminated with Jon running around in his boxers, drunk, singing live songs..like 'You're Lost That Lovin' Feelin..to all his former girlfriends in high school."
On this still, peaceful Saturday afternoon, however, there is no trace of Carpenter's clownish side. He is serious, composed, at ease discussing Gore Vidal and his philosophy of life ("I have had no plan for me").Carpenter and I chat a little more about his future hopes-he plans to work for an investment banking firm in New York-and his fears.
"There're icreasing disparties in thee world in general. It's scary," Carpenter says. "Even an Harvard. We [use] lables to distinguish ourselves from others, rather than celebrating what links us all together. There's a general trend towards this..we have to fight against it."
It's a Carpenter statement. I've spent just three hours with him sso far, and it's clear he's an intense person.
Volleyball coach Ihsan Gurdal agrees: "He is very intense..he has the strongest personality [on court].He knows what needs to do done and he zeroes in on it, and that show up in his playing ability."
On the court of goofing around at a party, Carpenter is earnest, adrenalinized. Maybe it's his Nikeesque "Just Do It" attitude to life.
"It's true, 'cuz life is short," Carpenter says. "We should just do a lot of things intensely-class, sports, whatever."