SENIOR PROFILE: Kevin Bulger

Kevin Bulger, CC ’10, might be remembered at Columbia for his game-winning shot against Harvard in his junior year, but his future ambitions may take him global.

While the Columbia College student has focused on his academic, athletic, and mentoring efforts locally, Bulger is now looking to take his work further with international programs that would combine his love of basketball with his interest in working with young people.

During his time at Columbia, Bulger was a star student—a recruited member of the basketball team and a Kappa Delta Rho brother. He has also been involved with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, an initiative “to close the bond between the student body and athletes at large,” he explained.

“He’s the hardest-working guy on the team. He’s the guy putting in the extra effort,” fellow basketball player Patrick Foley, CC ’10, said of his friend and teammate.

As a history major, Bulger cited Barnard professor Robert McCaughey as a particularly strong influence. Friends said Bulger worked just as hard in the classroom as he did on the court.

“He’s kind of hard to find during the week, because he buries himself in the library,” Foley said, adding, “He’s the only person I know who gets a head start on papers.”

While Bulger has yet to finalize his post-graduation plans, he has three promising options, all of which relate to his interest in athletics and mentoring programs.

Bulger is interested in potentially working for PeacePlayers International in South Africa. The program uses basketball to bring children of different races together to promote HIV awareness.

Another post-graduation option is a similar program in Ireland, where Bulger would work to ease tensions between Protestants and Catholics through youth basketball activities.

His third option is a post-grad program in Durham, England, where he would be working toward a master’s degree in education. Ultimately, Bulger sees himself coaching and teaching high school history. In the meantime, he has worked at the Double Discovery Center at Columbia, where he tutored and mentored low-income students from Manhattan and the Bronx.

But the Glenview, Ill. native still made time to develop lasting friendships at Columbia, according to colleagues. “He is the kind of guy you would want to have on your back when you go into battle for something,” Foley said.

“You can always count on him to liven up the crowd,” Niko Scott, CC ’10 and another member of the basketball team, added.

When asked to describe his four years at Columbia, Bulger summed them up in a single word: “Tremendous.”