He says after his one-year contract in Hong Kong, he will definitely teach, but where is anyone’s guess.

“Maybe I’ll pick a big city in the Midwest or South and set up shop there and teach,” Pierce says. “I wanted to get out of the States while I still could, while I don’t have rent to pay, or car bills.”

When Pierce looks back on his almost four years in Cambridge, his friends are not the only ones who distinguished PMJ from his present status.

“I’ve come a long way from freshman year,” he admits.

Pierce’s appearance bears witness to his college-years’ transformation.

He sports a hooded sweatshirt and a goatee, staples of the scruffy college student.

But he also wears a braided leather bracelet and beaded necklace from Morocco, presents from a friend there who Pierce says liked him and respected him even though he was a devout Muslim and Pierce was in the process of questioning religion.

The red and gray colors of the leather (Ohio State colors) have faded away, and the leather is worn and brownish black.

But for Pierce, they will be a lasting symbol of the profound impact his Morocco trip had on the way he views himself and his Harvard experience.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.