Justin Krebs says he has been influenced by his parents, both of whom "came into the business they're in because they were interested in the art of it."

His father is a theater producer and his mother, Suzanne Krebs, turned her interest in photography into a career that allowed her to be home during the day with Justin and his older sister Arielle, 24.

At Harvard, Krebs has achieved beyond his extracurricular interests. His thesis on James Baldwin's articulation of American national identity earned him a History and Literature nomination for a degree summa cum laude.

The thesis focuses on several essays and a novel, Another Country, that Baldwin wrote after returning to the United States from Paris in the 1950s and 1960s. The thesis examines what it means to be American in the context of Baldwin's personal tensions about national identity.

"A thesis is incredible because it is the most ownership you'll ever take over your own education," he says.

But while Krebs studied belonging and identity, both are themes that he seems very comfortable with in his own life. As First Class Marshal he must represent and tie together a disparate class and their University, with whose policies he does not always agree. The most important part of his job, Krebs says, is keeping the class in touch with each other, but he also feels able to serve in the complex position of liaison with the University.

"It doesn't have to be a strictly ceremonial position that fits into the larger machine of the University," he says. The class committee as a whole, Krebs says, "brings forth a good sense of how the class feels."

He says he will not shy from disagreements with the University and will try to effect change through his position.