Macarena Correa

Macarena M. Correa '00

She gained fame for her name as a first-year. The song barely makes the play-list at weddings anymore, but the comments haven't let up.

Before even arriving in Cambridge, Macarena M. Correa '00 says, her potential leaders on the Freshman Urban Program (FUP) fought over who would get to have "the girl named Macarena" in their groups. Her name preceded her entrance into the College.

"The song was in its peak in, like, 1995," she remembers. "I knew about it before the hype became extreme."

As a first-year, she gained a small degree of cult-like fame among her classmates. People she didn't know would strike up friendly conversations with her in Annenberg, waiting to emote a "Hey...Macarena!" somewhere mid-sentence.

"I used to go to parties and they'd play it for me," she says. "At the Freshman Mixer, they played it twice."

With all the practice, one would think that Correa has a mastery of the follow-the-leader-like Macarena choreography.

"I don't know," she says. "You just have to shake from within."

Though the song no longer has the same degree of popularity it once did, Correa explains that there are still some "hard-core" people.

"I'm still paranoid," she says. "If people put 'hey' and 'Macarena' in the same sentence, I never know what's going to happen.

"I don't think it will ever go away," she adds.

The song-and-dance routine continues, but Correa is careful to limit her complaining. After all, consider the alternative.

"It's better than the old stuff," she says. "In elementary school, people used to call me 'Macaroni.'"