Florence Nightingale he’s not, but the idealism and drive Jordan A.A. Bar Am ’04 brings to nursing may put the romance back into the profession anyway.

You have probably met Bar Am before, on one of the many blustery New England days that the Harvard Initiative for Free Trade (HIFT) handed out coffee in front of the Science Center.

Perhaps he sat behind the desk at Lamont when you checked out a book, offering a gentle smile or a kind word.

One day, if his current plans hold, he may be the nurse at your bedside.

Even if you haven’t met Bar Am yet, you have likely heard about his antics over the past four years. Bar Am has been identified as a liberal voice on campus, as one of the Progressive Student Labor Movement protestors who lodged himself in Massachusetts Halls during the Living Wage sit-in in 2001, as the founder of HIFT and recently, as one of the four Harvard students arrested at an international trade protest in Miami.

As his resume indicates, Bar Am has lost as little time dispensing his ideals as he has walking to class.

“I walk very quickly, so freshman year we used to jokingly race around the yard,” Bar Am quips when questioned about his speedwalking reputation.

In high school, two influential teachers led Bar Am to assess his role as a consumer rather than a producer. Realizing that his place in the balance was entirely one-sided, Bar Am prioritized living as an ethical consumer.

Bar Am’s social consciousness was further augmented by the controversy and violence now surrounding Israel. As the son of an Israeli father and a mother who teaches special education, the source of Bar Am’s patience, thoughtfulness and deliberation with regard to his place in the world is apparent.

Whether choosing to buy coffee at Gato Rojo, which sells the Fair Trade brand, or living as a vegan because he hasn’t the heart to “produce” other forms of foods himself, Bar Am is vigilantly aware of his individual impact on the world.

After a sojourn in Ethiopia with Oxfam—an international consortium that targets poverty, suffering and injustice—Bar Am was convinced of two things: Ethiopian coffee is amazing and that his lack of training left him with little help to offer to the people there.

Coffee arabica, the coffee plant, is endemic to Ethiopia, although the plant has been transplanted around the globe to current coffee powerhouses.

While there is no doubt that Harvard students are interested in coffee, instilling in them awareness of the coffee’s origins was another matter entirely.

HIFT calls attention to the global crisis in the coffee market, where overproduction has driven prices down 70 percent in the last five years. “Fair Trade” agreements pay an above-market rate to coffee farmers to counter the costs of production.

“It was hard to convince people that coffee was an issue worthy of one’s time and effort,” Bar Am says. “Coffee’s only one way of approaching ethical consumption. The campaign itself was really well-received by students here.”