Senior Stories

Sarah Hyde

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Anthropology and Human Development double major, Dance minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy Scholar

Campus Involvement: Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology; Community Partnerships, Dance Club, Eclipse

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: In Professor Joyce Bennett's Anthropology 431 seminar, which focused on transborderism and globalization, one of our culminating assignments was to interview local community members who were comfortable sharing their stories and experiences about migrating to the United States. After a semester of reading intense ethnographic works about the barriers that immigrants face, conducting interviews humanized these issues and highlighted the need to focus on people's resiliency instead of just their hardships. This realization has changed the way I think about all my research. I now actively try to humanize issues and avoid being too deficit-based.

Best takeaway from my internship: For my junior year internship, I worked with a child rights policy and advocacy nonprofit called New Mexico Voices for Children in my hometown, Albuquerque. My best takeaway from this experience is that all oppressions are connected, which is why it is vital for community-based organizations to do intersectional work and engage in coalition-building.

Post-graduation plans: I am going to work for New Mexico Voices for Children over the summer again, and then will be attending the University of New Mexico School of Law beginning in Fall 2018. I have been awarded a scholarship funded through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to participate in a program throughout my three years in law school called Child and Family Justice Advocates, which is focused on public interest law and New Mexico's vulnerable children and families.

Darrell Spencer

Chicago, Illinois

Economics major

Campus Involvement: Black Student Union, Student Government Association

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: One of my favorite experiences at Conn was being a part of SATA Vietnam. While in Vietnam, we were able to study the Vietnamese economy through survey work, and left understanding how foreign economies outside of the United States function. Additionally, we were able to travel to Cambodia and along Southeast Asia gaining life experiences I wouldn't have gotten if I hadn’t chosen this study-away opportunity.

Best takeaway from my internship: I was able to work for Illinois Tool Works, a Fortune 500 company that produces engineered fasteners and components, equipment and consumable systems and specialty products. At ITW, I served as a global sales and marketing intern, responsible for maintaining business relationships with our customers in our Canadian market as well as working to build new relationships with customers in that region. Working in sales taught me lifelong skills about adaptability and efficient communication when building and maintaining relationships that I will implement in my future career in sales.

Post-graduation plans: I will be working as an internal wholesaler in the Internal Sales Division of the Capital Group, a financial services company that ranks among the world’s oldest and largest investment management organizations, with $1.7 trillion in assets under management.

Charlotte List

Fair Haven, New Jersey

Computer Science and Mathematics double major

Campus Involvement: Varsity Sailing Team, Computer Science tutor for the Academic Resource Center, Science Leader, Senior Gift Committee, Women in STEM Club

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite liberal arts moment was sophomore year. I was taking “19th-Century Literature” as my English requirement and then “Informatics” as a computer science elective. In “Informatics,” we learned about text processing and wrote programs to analyze text. For my final project, I created a program that focused on 19th-century literature: It could analyze works of text by Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman and report to the user how each author felt about a given topic, such as nature, based on their writings. This was a very cool moment to be able to connect English and computer science!

Best takeaway from my internship: I completed a 10-week internship at Time Inc. in New York City as a global security intern. I got to work with the cybersecurity team to protect the network and data across the whole organization for all brands, such as Sports Illustrated, Time, People and Fortune. I worked on a variety of projects, one of which I got to lead and present the results to the team of 20-plus engineers. I loved this experience. It really taught me about technology in the media/publishing industry, developed my communication and presentation skills, and grew my network.

Post-graduation plans: I will be working at BlackRock in New York City as a software engineering analyst with the Aladdin Product Group. I am very excited to start my career in technology in the finance industry.

Brian Bahena

Chicago, Illinois

Biology major, Anthropology minor

Campus Involvement: Biology Student Advisory Board, Senior Class Gift Committee, Camel Catering

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite classroom experience was in my First-Year Seminar. I had the privilege of enrolling in the “Illuminating Disease” seminar through my participation in the Science Leaders program. It was a rewarding experience being in the same room as other dedicated and passionate students who were as excited as I was about science. Professor of Chemistry Marc Zimmer provided us with a class that was both challenging and fun, allowing us to ease into our first year of college with a lot more confidence.

Best takeaway from my internship: The best takeaway from my junior summer internship at Evive, a company that provides a platform to integrate healthcare benefits. I was learning that I actually enjoy working in a business setting. As a biology major, I would have never thought that business would be of interest to me. I always saw myself working in a lab or for a nonprofit organization post-graduation. My time at Evive allowed me to step outside my comfort zone and face new challenges, which helped me grow exponentially as a professional. I believe being able to take classes outside of my major is one of the main factors that helped me adapt quickly and be successful in an area of work I was not familiar with.

Post-graduation plans: I will be returning to my hometown of Chicago to work full time at Evive as a member services associate. I eventually plan to attend graduate school to obtain my master’s in public health with a concentration in either health administration or epidemiology.

Amanda Yacos

Wyckoff, New Jersey

Economics and Computer Science double major, Art History minor

Campus Involvement: Student Government Association, Peggotty Investment Club, Club Lacrosse, Coffee Closet

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: During my sophomore year, I took “French Revolution and Romanticism” with Professor Robert Baldwin, where we studied romanticism in art. The class comprised four art history students. Since we had such a small class, Professor Baldwin hosted us at his home one night to have a catch-up lesson. This is a common practice of local professors at Conn. It speaks to the sense of community that is fostered between professors and students and how much they care about their subjects of study and the individual students themselves. We ate Thai food and got to talk about European art during the French Revolution. It was one of my favorite experiences at Conn.

Best takeaway from my internship: Over the summer and then again in the winter, I was lucky enough to intern at UBS Wealth Management. There, I was able to apply classroom skills and hone my craft. I worked on a variety of projects, presented research and conducted SWOT analysis. Additionally, I worked on many of the campaigns that my 14-person team was presenting. I learned professional and presentation skills, research techniques and about the finance industry from a hands-on perspective.

Post-graduation plans: I will be a client services associate for UBS Wealth Management.

James D. Murray

Cleveland, Ohio

Government major, Economics minor

Campus Involvement: The College Voice, Student Government Association, N20

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: “International Political Economy.” Professor of Government and International Relations John Qunjian Tian helped make challenging concepts in international finance and trade accessible and interesting. He always encouraged us to pursue our own creative interests on the topic when he assigned research papers, not restricting us to one or two specific prompts. My final paper about regulations on the flow of international capital is one of my favorite academic accomplishments. His enthusiastic encouragement and support is what led me to pursue more courses in economics and gain confidence in my ability to excel in academics. The course was also essential in helping me make connections and see the relationship between my major and minor.

Best takeaway from my internship: I worked last summer as a social media and digital marketing intern for a leading public health nonprofit called Americares in Stamford, Connecticut. I helped design and implement social media strategy, create content for platforms, and complete short research projects. The biggest takeaway from my internship was the importance of asking questions and taking initiative. Over the summer I built confidence in pitching ideas to my managers and was able to see my own ideas come to fruition. It also allowed me to be more comfortable taking constructive criticism and responding to it.

Post-graduation plans: I have accepted a job as an account coordinator at LaunchSquad, a public relations and communications firm in New York City. I am looking forward to starting my career in a growing and dynamic field at an industry-leading company.

Tanaya Cardenales

Harlem, New York

Africana Studies and Economics double major

Campus Involvement: Umoja, Center for the Critical Study of Race and Ethnicity, Eclipse, Roth Writing Center

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: “Black Feminism” with Professor Andrea Baldwin. My favorite experience in this class was our final presentation because we were given a platform to express our individuality by applying the knowledge we learned throughout the semester. My presentation was based on expressing Black Girl Magic in an artistic view. Black Girl Magic is a movement that focuses on the celebration of the beauty, power and resilience of black women. As a young woman who promotes self-love and self-care and learning about the importance of black women caring for themselves first, I led a self-care activity that allowed viewers to reflect on putting oneself first.

Best takeaway from my internship: I was the operations intern at Workforce1 Healthcare Center, in charge of updating and creating content for social media outlets. I shadowed and attended meetings and organized and entered data for the organization and events. I learned that although having guidance is ideal, sometimes not having any guidance allows your creativity to flow and allows one to see their ability to get things done without guidance.

Post-graduation plans: I will be attending Hunter Silberman School of Social Work in the fall, and this summer I will be teaching Algebra I at my former high school.

Simon Luxemburg

South Windsor, Connecticut

International Relations major, Economics and Jewish Studies minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: The Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts

Campus Involvement: President of Hillel, Senior Admission Fellow, Campus Tour Guide, Student Government Association Senator, Peggotty Investment Club, Senior Class Gift Committee

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: Writing my CISLA Senior Integrative Project under the direction of Professor William Rose. His guidance and expertise helped me develop as a researcher and writer and was an amazing capstone academic experience. Professor Rose helped me apply formal research methods and analysis in political science to the seven months I was living abroad in Israel. I wrote a comprehensive research paper examining Israeli counterinsurgency efforts from 1985 to 2016.

Best takeaway from my internship: As part of CISLA, I interned at a security consulting firm in Jerusalem, Israel. It was extremely rewarding to take the skills, knowledge and research experience I learned in the classroom and apply them to threat analysis reports and security briefs for the company's global clientele.

Post-graduation plans: I will be working on the Senior Program team of Camp Ramah in New England.

Sarah Rose Gruszecki

Northampton, Massachusetts

American Studies major, Elementary Education Certificate candidate

Campus Involvement: Roth Writing Center, Community Partnerships, Office of Residential Education and Living, LGBTQIA Center, The College Voice

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: In my “Elementary Literacy Methods” course, our class developed a partnership with a local sixth-grade class. Throughout the semester, we exchanged emails, shared writing and eventually met in person with our sixth-grade "buddies" through field trips to their school and the College. The experience provided me with a meaningful connection between the theory and practice of teaching and prepared me for a position as a student-teacher at the Regional Multicultural Magnet School.

Best takeaway from my internship: In my role as an undergraduate intern and assistant teacher at the Hollingworth Science Camp at Columbia Teachers College, my most critical takeaway was the imperative of learning from and valuing master teachers. Throughout my time in the position, I was consistently humbled by the deep respect and care the educators I worked with espoused for their students and how they drew on their graduate degrees and years of classroom experience to foster a community of learners within such a short period of time. I am confident that I will carry many of the lessons I learned from them throughout much of my own teaching career.

Post-graduation plans: I completed my degree in the fall of 2017 and am working full time as a kindergarten instructor at the Friendship School in Waterford, Connecticut. I look forward to applying to head teaching positions.

Saskia Stark-Ewing

Frankfurt, Germany

Government major, Environmental Studies minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment

Campus Involvement: Conn Coll Democrats, Mock Trial Team, Honor Council, Women's Empowerment Initiative, Day of Committee, One Love workshops, Amending Menstruation Initiative, Habitat for Humanity, Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment Student Advisory Board

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: The Goodwin-Niering Center gave me the opportunity to combine my semester abroad in Vietnam with my internship and my academic interests. I wrote an honors thesis as my senior integrative project about how the Vietnamese government has approached food safety matters and how this has resulted in a general fear, by Vietnamese consumers, of domestically produced food. Writing this thesis alongside Professor of Government William Frasure has been my most rewarding academic experience at Conn.

Best takeaway from my internship: I interned with Rhode Island's Director of Food Strategy in Providence. Through my internship, I was able to see the inner workings of state government from an environmental viewpoint and to walk away with ample background knowledge on food safety regulation in preparation for my senior honors thesis.

Post-graduation plans: I will be moving to Manhattan to work as a litigation paralegal for Shearman & Sterling and plan to attend law school in the future.

Justin Winokur

Stowe, Vermont

International Relations major, French and German Studies minor

Campus Involvement: Musicians Organized for Bands Rights on Campus, Student Government Association, The College Voice, Chamber Choir, Camel Heard

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: As a scholar in the Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and Liberal Arts (CISLA), I took the sophomore seminar “Perspectives on Modern Global Society.” It was by far the most multifaceted and challenging course I have had at Conn. Every two weeks, a new professor would begin a unit on the global connections inherent in their field. Though it was intellectually demanding to change academic lenses so frequently, the seminar was an eye-opening and unforgettable interdisciplinary experience.

Best takeaway from my internship: For my CISLA internship, I spent 10 weeks working as a research assistant at the Institute for European Politics in Berlin, Germany. Immersed in European political discourse, I was surprised to find how easily the United States transformed into a distant, ambiguous monolith. Despite the magnitude of its presence in German politics, the United States lost its nuance and became, instead, a looming abstraction. That sense of the United States' removed dominance was deeply unfamiliar and unnerving and will be essential for me to draw upon as I continue to study international relations from a global perspective.

Post-graduation plans: I will work as a research assistant at the American Secretaries of State Project, a joint initiative of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. There, I will help research America's most senior diplomats to uncover key lessons about negotiation and leadership. In the long term, I anticipate pursuing a graduate degree in either international law or peace and conflict studies.

Asa Waterworth

Pittsfield, Vermont

Africana Studies and French double major, Psychology minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts

Campus Involvement: Senior Admission Fellow, Office of Residential Education and Living, Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Advocacy (SafetyNet), Community Partnerships, Africana Studies and French Student Advisory Boards, Blue Camel Cafe

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: “Existence in Black” with my adviser, Associate Professor of French and Africana Studies Nathalie Etoke, was the most challenging and rewarding class I’ve taken at Conn. I was pushed out of my social and intellectual comfort zone as we explored Black Consciousness, Negritude, epistemic violence, ontology and phenomenology through varied readings from Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Audre Lorde, as well as films, spirituals and jazz songs. For our final exam, which took the form of creative group presentations, I worked with some of the brightest, most philosophical and most supportive students I’ve met at Conn. I’ll never forget celebrating with my classmates, while eating soul food in Unity House, how much we had all learned and grown.

Best takeaway from my internship: I was fortunate enough to do two internships. The first was with L’Association Saint Camille, a West African organization that focuses on mental health care, community-based rehabilitation and culturally sensitive treatment. My experiences working with patients outside of Cotonou, Bénin, was invaluable to my CISLA (Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts) senior integrative project on conflicting discourses on mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa. I then returned to Yaoundé, Cameroon, where I’d studied abroad, to intern at Metabiota, a global biotech company working to mitigate the impact of infectious diseases. There, I worked on CHAMP, an ongoing program and research project being conducted in collaboration with CARE Cameroon, Johns Hopkins University and Global Viral Cameroon that focuses on the spread, treatment and stigma attached to HIV in key populations (female sex workers, clients and partners of sex workers and men who have sex with men) across Cameroon.

Post-graduation plans: After spending the summer hiking all 273 miles of Vermont’s Long Trail with my mother, I will be heading to the island of La Réunion off the coast of Madagascar to spend the 2018-2019 academic year as an English teaching assistant in a local high school as part of the TAPIF program managed by the Centre international d'études pédagogiques, an agency of the French Ministry of Education.

Joanna Fischer

Boxford, Massachusetts

Architectural Studies and Sociology double major

Campus Involvement: Architectural Studies Student Advisory Board, student researcher in the Sociology Department, Coffee Closet, “Combating Relationship Violence” themed house, Intramural Soccer

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: For my class on Prairie School architecture, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to see the original living room of Frank Lloyd Wright’s "Little House" entirely reconstructed in the museum. It was incredible to physically experience a building we studied in the classroom.

Best takeaway from my internship: I interned at South Coastal Counties Legal Services Inc. in Brockton, Massachusetts. I collaborated with an attorney in their housing unit to help tenants who were being evicted, particularly from public and subsidized housing. I learned the value of permanent, affordable housing to end cyclical homelessness in our communities.

Post-graduation plans: I will be participating in the Harvard Graduate School of Design's architecture summer intensive program and will be applying to architecture master's programs in the fall.

Lindsey Ruzza

Bedford Hills, New York

International Relations and Theater double major, Psychology minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: The Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy

Campus Involvement: LGBTQIA Center Staff, Connecticut College Theater, Wig & Candle

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: I've had so many incredible experiences at Conn that it's hard to pick only one, but I had a blast workshopping pieces in Associate Professor of Theater Kenneth Prestininzi's “Advanced Playwriting” class. The people in the class read scenes or parts of larger plays that we'd written. Hearing the words spoken aloud was essential to the learning process, and there was always a general atmosphere of support in the classroom.

Best takeaway from my internship: I did my internship at the New York State Division of Human Rights, and my best takeaway from this experience is that there are (at least) two sides to every story. I got a firsthand look at people in situations where discrimination had been alleged. Understandably, these cases are often emotional. I came to appreciate the importance of taking a step back in order to look at the bigger picture.

Post-graduation plans: I graduated in December, and am currently working in New York City at Davenport Theatrical Enterprises and Theatre Communications Group. During the summer, I will remain in Manhattan to work with the All Stars Project toward ameliorating poverty in New York City.

Justin Mendillo

Freeport, Maine

Government and American Studies double major, Sociology minor

Campus Involvement: LGBTQIA Center, Queer Peer Program, Planned Parenthood Generation Action

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: The unique part of being at Conn is the access you have to your professors. It means more than flexible office hours and professors buying lunch. It means that during class, professors are more engaged because they actually know their students, they take the time to get to know us. One of my favorite classroom experiences was in Government 250: “Gender and U.S. Politics” taught by Professor of Government MaryAnne Borrelli. She brought in a well-known American writer and feminist to the classroom for us to interview. It was an incredible and unique opportunity that she prepared us for weeks to do. Professor Borrelli told us that we had to learn how to negotiate our politics and actively participate in an open discussion with a prominent feminist in the field. While it was only 75 minutes, I learned about myself because I was given the opportunity to take theory and put it into life. I will be forever thankful to her for reawakening my deep interest in politics.

Best takeaway from my internship: Over the summer, I was lucky enough to work for an amazing organization that was started by a Connecticut College alumna and her mother, Community Works. During summer 2017, they were producing a national series of Youth Creativity Summits utilizing the lens of creativity as a tool for problem-solving and future-planning. It was inspiring to work for an organization with so much promise and vision regarding youth. I took away from these two strong women that resilience and strength are keys to making change. While it sounds cliché and dramatic, I truly profess that the freedom they allowed me in their organization, the value they placed on every single person they came across, was eye-opening. They found a problem they wanted to fix, a population they wanted to serve, and they didn’t stop for anything. Being a part of their vision, if only for a couple months, has given me the motivation to dream forward. For that I will be forever indebted to them.

Post-graduation plans: I plan to continue my organizing work in Los Angeles or Washington, D.C., to promote Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections.

Kelley Fairman

Houston, Texas

Economics and Dance double major, Environmental Studies minor

Campus Involvement: Dance Club, Eclipse, Department of Dance Student Advisory Board, Microeconomics tutor in the Academic Resource Center, Senior Admission Fellow, Orientation and Senior Week, Office of Sustainability Food Policy Fellow

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: I am completing an economics honors thesis under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Economics Mónika López-Anuarbe. It is a privilege to work closely with professors across academic disciplines while deeply exploring a topic I am so passionate about: subnational climate cooperation. I find that when I begin telling someone about my research, I simply can’t stop. Channeling four years of interdisciplinary study into a culminating thesis is an exciting opportunity.

Best takeaway from my internship: I worked during the summer at Connecticut College as a Senior Admission Fellow. I had the privilege of interviewing over 150 prospective students. My favorite part of this role was getting to sit back and listen to inspiring students tell their stories—stories of resilience and adventure and discovery.

Post-graduation plans: I have accepted a job as an analyst in the Healthcare and Group Benefits Division at Willis Towers Watson in New York City.

Albert Webson

Washington, D.C.

Government and Mathematics double major, Economics, Philosophy and Computer Science minor

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: The extraordinarily small size of our classes enables a genuine connection between the faculty members and each student. It still astonishes me today just how much care and support the faculty devotes to students. Put simply, your professors are actually good friends.

Best outside-the-classroom experience: In my junior year summer, under the College’s Keck research fellowship, I was afforded the opportunity to conduct independent research in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. This was essentially a “Ph.D. lite” experience that has been absolutely indispensable in preparing me for graduate school.

Best takeaway from my internship: I twice interned, first in data analytics and then in American politics research, at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, D.C. I found that the nature of most think tanks today is primarily political advocacy; if one is committed to rigorous social science research, however, there is little substitute for academia.

Post-graduation plans: I will be completing a Ph.D. in computer science at Brown University, with a research focus on artificial intelligence and natural language understanding. In the long term, I hope to contribute my humble share of effort toward the dream of making computers understand human languages. Meanwhile, I am still a political scientist at heart who will never cease contemplating structural and institutional reforms to advance the welfare of civilizations.

Alex Bukovac

Winnetka, Illinois

Computer Science major

Campus Involvement: Women in STEM Club, Women’s Soccer Team, NESCAC All-Academic Athlete, Computer Science Department, Love Your Melon

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite academic experience at Conn has been designing my own research as part of my computer science major. For a full year, my independent research focused on creating a weather-smart personal stylist application, which used machine learning (case-based reasoning) to recommend an outfit for the user to wear from their closet.

Best takeaway from my internship: I was a tech consulting intern for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago. The best part of my internship was leading an intern team as a project manager on a salesforce-driven project for a Service Cloud case. I enjoyed being able to work on each stage of a full-cycle project. At the end of summer, we presented the solution to a panel of PwC partners who judged the competition among the interns.

Post-graduation plans: I will be starting in October as a tech consultant for PwC in Washington, D.C.

Tyrone Williams

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Psychology major, Government minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: Center for the Critical Study of Race and Ethnicity

Campus Involvement: Law Society, Student Activities Council Major Moments

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite classroom experiences were the simulations we did in my “Political Speech” seminar that allowed the class to get a sense of the pressure political figures face when making public statements.

Best takeaway from my internship: Working with the mayor’s office in Philadelphia allowed me to get a real understanding of the complexity of governing a major city. I also loved getting the opportunity to interact with children attending public schools in Philadelphia and hearing community feedback.

Post-graduation plans: I have been offered a full scholarship to the New England School of Law.

Dara Pohl Feldman

New York City, New York

Theater major

Campus Involvement: Wig & Candle, Theater Student Advisory Board, Jazz Ensemble, Lunch with the Deans, Student Government Association, Women’s Empowerment Initiative

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: “Advanced Acting-Heightened Text” with Professor David Jaffe. I transferred into Conn the spring of my sophomore year, and this was the first acting class I took here. I honestly cannot overstate how amazing David Jaffe is. His positive teaching model showed me that I could grow and learn as an actor without putting myself down. His genuine care for his students and his thoughtfulness in the classroom is unique and utterly devoid of ego. He was the reason I came to Conn, and he was one of the many reasons I stayed.

Best takeaway from my internship: My internship was at a small theater in New York City called Clubbed Thumb. They produce weird and wonderful new plays by living American playwrights. I really loved it, and it was exactly the kind of theater I wanted to work in! I learned so much about the business of theater and got some amazing hands-on experience with incredible playwrights, actors and directors. It allowed me to network like crazy, and I feel much more confident heading out into the world.

Post-graduation plans: I’m working in the box office at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center this summer. Then, I’m working with Associate Professor of Theater Ken Prestininzi on a play that he’s writing and directing in Boston.

Joshua Moss

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Economics and Architectural Studies double major, Environmental Studies Minor

Campus Involvement: Peggotty Investment Club

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: While I took many interesting courses at Conn, there was nothing like taking classes and spending a semester in Florence, Italy. One of my courses, “The Business of Art: the Economics and Management of Culture,” was particularly interesting because we had the opportunity to evaluate exhibits such as “Ai Weiwei. Libero” at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. The exhibition was the first major retrospective in Italy dedicated to one of the world’s most influential contemporary artists. A dissident artist with a leading voice, Ai Weiwei is known worldwide as much for his challenging contemporary art practice as for his political activism. Attending this exhibit following the 2016 election was extremely thought-provoking and led to many interesting discussions about the role of art in activism.

Best takeaway from my internship: For my junior year internship at Epsilon, a data-driven marketing firm, I was tasked—along with a team of interns from across the country—to present on the future of marketing in the financial sector. As the project manager of my team, I learned the challenges of leading the team and presenting to senior leadership with precise and creative presentation techniques that ultimately led to my team’s research being recognized as the best of the six intern teams. Utilizing each person’s individual skill set was vital for our team’s success.

Post-graduation plans: I am looking for a position that will allow me to help find and develop solutions or housing and other issues facing our cities through economic and social policy research. My interest in this subject began with my first-year seminar, “Public Housing in America,” with Dean of First-Year Students Emily Morash, and continued with my sophomore year internship for the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Policy, Research and Enterprise Planning Department.

Rakhshi Qureshi

New York City, NY

Chemistry major, Anthropology minor

Campus Involvement: Bioluminescence Research Group, Office of Career and Professional Development, Science Leader, Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives, ALANA (African American, Latino/a, Asian American and Native American), American Chemical Society, Society of Cosmetic Chemists

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: As a science student, my favorite class was “Organic Spectroscopic Methods” primarily because this class encourages students to apply the content learned in class to a semester-long project of determining an unknown compound. It was a very fun, small and interactive class that shifted the classroom dynamic from a professor teaching to everyone learning from one another. Aside from my science classes, my favorite class was “Anthropology: Globalization/Transborderism” because of the collaboration projects with our community partners, including the Immigration Advocacy and Support Center, a nonprofit organization in New London that helps immigrants in legal matters. It challenged my own opinions and helped me raise questions to better understand how we as human beings can make a difference moving forward.

Best takeaway from my internship: I interned at Columbia University as an assistant coordinator for Phase II and Phase III clinical research. It was an experience that was new, very informative and an opportunity that I thought I would never love, considering I had spent my three years mostly in a science lab. The lesson I learned was to never say no to trying new things and keep an open mind about your options because you never know what you may love doing.

Post-graduation plans: I hope to one day enter the world of cosmetics as a cosmetic chemist. I aim to apply for a Ph.D. within the next couple of years.

Stephanie Jackvony

Cranston, Rhode Island

Behavioral Neuroscience and Philosophy double major

Campus Involvement: Office of Student Wellness and Alcohol/Other Drug Education, Camel Health Promotion (PEEPS), House Fellow, Roth Writing Center, Nu Rho Psi National Honor Society in neuroscience, Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology, Student Member of IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee), Coffee Grounds, Eclipse

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: Overall, my favorite academic experience at Conn has been the ability to engage deeply with both philosophy and neuroscience. More specifically, I loved the “Philosophy of Happiness” course I took with Professor of Philosophy Larry Vogel. In this class, we looked at a wide range of texts and explored happiness from many angles. At the end of the semester, Professor Vogel gave us the ability to synthesize our materials from throughout the semester in a personal and individualized way. For our end-of-the-year project, Professor Vogel provided us with a list of thought-provoking questions with no restrictions. We were not expected to analyze one philosopher or a single essay. Instead, we were encouraged to synthesize a wide collection of ideas, find gaps in those existent concepts, and use our personal experiences and philosophies to fill them in. By the end, we had each come up with our own, more complete definition of happiness.

Best takeaway from my internship: I worked as a student researcher at the PediMIND clinical research program at Bradley Hospital, a child psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island. The research I conducted was mainly with children who had psychiatric disorders that affected their mood and behavior. The work helped me become attuned to my passion for research by highlighting just how exciting scientific discovery can be and sparked my desire to become part of the greater academic conversation on neuroscience.

Post-graduation plans: Next year, I will be pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Cornell University in New York City.

Teodora Mavrokordatos

Caracas,Venezuela, and Poros, Greece

Psychology major, Gender and Women’s Studies minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy

Campus Involvement: LGBTQIA Resource Center Queer Peer Program and QPOC+, Office Of Sexual Violence Prevention and Advocacy, Global Learning Center Language Fellow, Orientation Committee, Women’s Empowerment Initiative, Senior Center, Eclipse, Color Brave Monologue, Connecticut College Children’s Center, Admission Tour Guide, Jennings Elementary School student volunteer

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite classroom experience at Conn was “Cultural Psychology.” Since the subject itself deals with personal identities, the professor proactively created a space where students felt they could share their stories while also being able to ask challenging questions about bigger theories and experiences. This was an amazing classroom dynamic.

Best takeaway from my internship: I interned in a child sexual abuse prevention and advocacy organization. One of the most important takeaways was the importance of listening. I think that as a society we like to give advice and always state our opinions, but often we forget that what a person wants is just to be heard.

Post-graduation plans: I will be attending the University of Vermont to pursue a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs.

Laura Henderson

Mbabane, eSwatini

Psychology and Sociology double major, Africana Studies minor

Campus Involvement: Oasis Snack Shop, Media Services, Women's Rugby, Psi Chi Honors Society, International Student Association (ISA), Diversity Coalition at Connecticut College

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: One of my favorite classroom experiences at Conn is the “Punishment and Society” 400-level sociology seminar. Each week we engage in in-depth discussions about the justice system in the United States and the effect this has on people's lives. I love the small class size and structure, which allows a lot of student input. In addition, this course is pushing me out of my comfort zone and challenging me to try new things, like writing a policy paper.

Best takeaway from my internship: My best takeaway from my internship was being able to learn firsthand about mental health issues and the impact they can have on someone's life. I worked with a small NGO in Australia that provided disability and mental health support to citizens of the country. Through this internship, I gained insight into how individuals with mental health issues can be misjudged and discriminated against and how even the littlest things can make the biggest difference to someone's life.

Post-graduation plans: I am looking for a job in either a social psychology lab or a position dealing with international student support. My plan is to earn a Ph.D. in counseling or social psychology.

Shaniqua Shaw

Worcester, Massachusetts

International Relations major, Hispanic Studies, History minors

Center/Pathway affiliation: Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts

Campus Involvement: Women's Basketball, Class of 2018 President, Women's Empowerment Initiative

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: The most revolutionary experience I had at Conn was when I was introduced to the theory of constructivism in Professor Joyce Bennett's “Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology” course in my first year. Having learned that our societal norms are the result of man-made rationales constructed in order to cope with our understanding of the world around us has truly liberated my consciousness. It pushed and will continue to push me to think about the ways in which our societal dogmas have no factual basis, and thus should not dictate how we live our lives and how we interact with those around us.

Best takeaway from my internship: Having the opportunity to work at the nonprofit organization Fundació Bayt al-Thaqafa has taught me that flexibility is key in all working environments. I was a student researcher, but there were times that I had to teach basic English courses, mentor younger clients and even help paint houses for incoming refugee populations despite the fact that these tasks were outside of my areas of expertise.

Post-graduation plans: As an aspiring lawyer, I plan to take a gap year before law school and gain professional experience. My alternative options include, but are not limited to, paralegal work and marketing and public relations positions.

Marta Martinez Fernandez

Valencia, Spain

International Relations major, French minor

Campus Involvement: International Students Association, Student Government Association, Honor Council (Chair), Housefellow, student safety patroller, Student Support Network

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: “Comparative Social Movements” taught by Visiting Professor of Government and International Relations Daniela Melo. It was discussion-based and every student was able to bring their own interests and case studies they were passionate about to the classroom.

Best takeaway from your internship: My best takeaway was learning about the dynamics of an NGO in France and the struggles and challenges that it faces.

Post-graduation plans: I will be working as a House Parent at EF Academy in White Plains, New York.

Belinda Mullally

Garden Grove, California

Environmental Studies major, German Studies minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts

Campus Involvement: Varsity Women's Volleyball Team, Green Dot, Women in STEM Club

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite classroom experience at Conn was a 400-level senior seminar, “Environmental Justice in a Global Perspective.” It was the class that solidified what I wanted to do with my life by combining social issues with environmental issues. We spent most of the class time working through global environmental issues such as climate change, transnational waste flow, eco-business ethics, over-consumption and ecological justice. It opened my eyes to the degree at which environmental injustices are imposed upon developing countries and marginalized communities. We formed groups to lead a three-hour class discussion on how developed countries, globalization and consumption have exacerbated a specific environmental injustice. My group was focused on climate change refugees and we simulated a mock United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees panel discussion with our classmates representing various viewpoints around the world. This class combined what I have learned about social justice and environmental science and is a good representation about how my education has come full circle.

Best takeaway from my internship: The best takeaway from my internship at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany, was how important it is to directly engage communities in national projects, such as the German Energy Transition. My work at IASS consisted of analyzing the German Energy Transition in the creation of a national survey and participating in public outreach forums. I collaborated and aided a team to develop the Social Sustainability Barometer, met with investors to present the project, and researched stakeholders in the renewable energy field. This internship helped me understand the social implications of a national project that has become the identity of Germany in addition to inspiring my senior integrative project about the German Energy Transition.

Post-graduation plans: I am currently seeking opportunities to work in the field of environmental planning and sustainable development.

Noah Johnson

Milford, Connecticut

Government major

Center/Pathway affiliation: Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy

Campus Involvement: Housefellow, Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Advocacy, Student Support Network, Senior Gift Committee, Club Baseball

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: Having "rap battles" in our “History of Hip Hop” class with Professor of History David Canton. After learning about the history of hip hop, and how to use poetry as a form of communication, we all wrote a few verses and shared them with each other.

Best takeaway from my internship: Working at the Children's Defense Fund taught me the importance of communicating effectively, working as a team and never losing sight of the people you're trying to help.

Post-graduation plans: I will be a caseworker for Children's Corps, a child welfare organization in New York City that helps children and families navigate the foster care system. I am also planning on attending law school.

Annette Davis

Berlin, Massachusetts

Anthropology and Hispanic Studies double major

Center/Pathway affiliation: The Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy

Campus Involvement: Community Partnerships Fellow, Unitarian-Universalist campus ministry

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: During a TRIP (Travel, Research and Immersion Program) course to New York City with my “Anthropology of Tourism” class, we went on a culinary tour of Chinatown and visited the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to gather ethnographic data about culinary tourism and dark tourism. In our final essays, those of us who focused on culinary tourism analyzed how ethnic neighborhoods were represented on the tours we took, as well as how foods were represented, described and sold to us.

Best takeaway from my internship: I learned how USDA regulations on food processing and labeling can create difficult realities for small farms. I worked at a family-run farm in my hometown, Berlin, Massachusetts, and I witnessed firsthand how USDA regulations negatively impacted the sales and productivity of the farm and actively prohibited them from earning more money to support themselves and their family.

Post-graduation plans: I am pursuing opportunities in Havana, Cuba, with grassroots organizations doing incredible work to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas.

Rishma Mendhekar

Los Altos, California

Computer Science major, Art minor

Campus Involvement: Connecticut College Asian and Asian American Students in Action, Women in STEM Club, Computer Science Department

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite academic experience at Conn has been as a scholar in the the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology. Through the center, I have had the opportunity to work on a joint computer science, dance and gender and women's studies research project which I recently presented at the center's biannual Arts and Technology symposium. For my senior integrative project, I have been designing and coding a women's health app.

Best takeaway from my internship: I was a digital art intern at The Bloc, an advertising company in Manhattan. As an intern, I not only got to work on real campaigns with my department but also had the opportunity to revamp The Bloc’s apprenticeship recruitment campaign with seven interns from various departments. For the new campaign, I designed a microsite where potential apprentices could learn about the program and apply.

Post-graduation plans: I am excited to be moving to Atlanta to pursue a master’s degree in human-computer interaction at Georgia Tech. During the summer I will be working as an instructor for Girls Who Code’s immersion program, teaching high school students introductory computer science.

Patrick Farrell

Smithtown, New York

Economics major, History minor

Campus Involvement: Varsity Tennis, Honor Council, Economics Student Advisory Board, Admission Tour Guide

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: “Topics in Health Economics,” a seminar with Professor Mónika López-Anuarbe, was my favorite class at Conn. It used current events and readings to foster group discussions, projects and a final research paper. I was able to read news headlines and articles within an economic framework that informed my interpretations and reactions. Having a class that coincided with developing plans to restructure the health care system made the class very enjoyable as we could apply what we were learning and our backgrounds to new proposals made each week.

Best takeaway from my internship: I interned with the Washington Kastles of World Team Tennis and the International Tennis Hall of Fame. I learned about event management, sales, customer satisfaction and marketing. I was able to apply the skills learned through my economics and athletics backgrounds, such as teamwork, organization, problem-solving and creating efficiency, to be successful in these internships.

Post-graduation plans: I plan to work in the areas of sports management or sports marketing.

Myles McDevitt

Wilmington, Delaware

Economics and International Relations double major

Campus Involvement: Williams Street Mix a cappella, Office of Finance and Administration, Sustainability Fellow for Economic Development, Career Fellow, Admission Tour Guide, Coffee Grounds

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: I was able to go abroad with a professor to Peru for nine months and take two classes with her. In those classes, we went to a communal potato farm high up in the Andes and also went to Cusco and Machu Picchu. We then were able to write a paper on the economic and environmental factors that the farmers in the Potato Park region suffered at the hands of global warming.

Best takeaway from my internship: This past summer, I worked at a small startup (five people) in Denver, Colorado. The company, Parsyl, used big data to analyze shipping patterns of commodities in order to minimize damage to the products. They have since partnered with a group of food and health organizations, such as the World Health Organization in Nepal, to monitor vaccination shipments. I was able to see the development of a small, mission-driven startup that is dedicated to bettering the world.

Post-graduation plans: I am applying to graduate schools for a master’s degree in finance. I want to be able to use the liberal arts background that I have gained at Conn, combined with the focus of a master’s degree in finance, to enact change in society.

Emma Horst-Martz

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

American Studies major, Anthropology minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy

Campus Involvement: Roosevelt Institute, Menstrual Health Initiative, CC Divest

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: Connecticut State Representative Chris Soto taught our Program in Community Action seminar my junior year and spent an entire class explaining tax codes. I had thought about working in government or running for office, but this was the first time I realized that I could understand the minutiae of governance and have the capacity to be an elected official.

Best takeaway from my internship: For my internship, I was a public policy intern at the Committee of Seventy, a non-partisan good government organization in Philadelphia. I learned that voting in local elections can have the biggest impact on policies that actually affect our day-to-day lives. We cannot afford to assume that everyone else is voting so we don't have to.

Post-graduation plans: I will be returning to an internship for the summer at the Center for Digital Health at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. In the fall, I will begin my full-time position as the Public Interest Research Group campus organizer at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Paolo Sanchez

Piscataway, New Jersey

Film Studies major

Campus Involvement: Student Government Association, Office of Residential Education and Living, Film Studies Student Advisory Board, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, Senior Admission Fellow, Club Ultimate Team

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: “Experimental Film” with Professor Ross Morin during the fall semester of my junior year. I never thought that I would be learning how to actually make films on real film stock. Professor Morin not only taught me American experimental film but he also fused philosophy, sociology and psychology in his classes. Particularly, I remember the class in which we learned how to use light meters. Although the class was predominantly focused on the technical aspects of the tool, I left that class knowing more about humanity and how film helps to express the human condition.

Best takeaway from an out-of-the-classroom experience: The best takeaway I have had from an out-of-the-classroom experience was from my service on the Student Government Association. Being on SGA, I learned to play an active role in decisions that the school makes. It's incredibly empowering to know that the school cares for its students and is willing to listen to our ideas and concerns. I have had the pleasure of sitting on committees with my professors and other faculty and staff.

Post-graduation plans: I am looking forward to pursuing a Ph.D. in film studies and am awaiting graduate school decisions.

Maddy Dickey

Hamilton, Massachusetts

Dance and Global Islamic Studies double major

Center/Pathway affiliation: The Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts (CISLA scholar)

Campus Involvement: Housefellow of Larrabee, Senior Admission Fellow, Dance Club

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: “West African Dance Repertory.” In this course we used dance as a medium to tell untold stories about the Middle Passage and slavery in the Americas. As a class, we travelled to Senegal during spring break to learn Senegalese styles of dance, collaborated with a dance company based in Dakar and performed. We also visited one of the slave castles on Goree Island, where captured slaves were imprisoned before they were shipped to the Americas. The trip to Senegal was an intense and amazing experience and greatly informed the content of our piece, to be performed at the end of the year.

Best takeaway from my internship: I completed an international internship funded by CISLA. I interned with Ariana MIX'ART, an association based in Paris that works with French public schools to promote citizenship engagement and republican values through the creation of street art. Working in an office where every employee speaks French sharpened my speaking skills. I was also able to assist with the association's after-school art workshops in primary and secondary schools all over Paris. I loved interacting with the students.

Post-graduation plans: I hope to work as an admission counselor at a small liberal arts school!

Kelsey Handelman

Madison, Connecticut

Art History and Architectural Studies double major

Campus Involvement: Architectural Studies Department Student Advisory Board and tutor, Senior Class Gift Committee, ConnArtists a cappella group, Academic Resource Center tutor

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite classroom experience at Conn took place while I was working in the design studio. A peer was struggling to grasp a drafting concept. I remembered a simple demonstration made by a former professor and showed her how to break down the idea. She immediately understood and excitedly began to tackle her work. I was so proud of her for realizing her ability and gaining back her confidence in the class. That day both my classmate and I were able to learn from each other as I realized that my education is meaningless unless I use it to empower others. Soon after, I became a tutor for the Academic Resource Center, and I continue to learn something from every interaction I have.

Best takeaway from my internship: I completed a 10-week internship with Deborah Berke Partners, an architectural design firm in New York City. It was a hands-on and integrative experience, as I had the pleasure of working within all of the firm’s departments. Despite their hectic schedules, every person I worked with gave me the opportunity to engage, ask questions and assist with some extremely interesting projects. From organizing material libraries to helping designers stage model apartments in a luxury apartment building, I learned that confidence, hard work and a little bit of research are essential for anticipating the needs of your work environment.

Post-graduation plans: I am moving to New York City to take on a creative director position at a nonprofit startup.

Dominique D'Onofrio

Bainbridge Island, Washington

Italian Studies and Classics major, Museum Studies minor

Center/Pathway affiliation: Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts (CISLA)

Campus Involvement: Italian tutor, Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Advocacy (SafetyNet), Green Dot, CISLA and Italian Studies Student Advisory Boards, Divest Club

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: Professor of Art History and Anthropology Christopher Steiner's Introduction to Museum Studies class was perhaps the most influential and impactful course I have taken at Conn. I remember watching a documentary on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist and realizing that I wanted to learn more. I immediately spoke to professor Steiner expressing my desire to do my final museum studies project on stolen art. Four years later, I wrote my museum studies senior integrative project on the collection, exhibition, and repatriation of Native American art and cultural heritage and am writing an honors thesis on the history and prevention of antiquities trafficking in Italy.

Best takeaway from my internship: I have done two internships during my Conn career. The first was as an educational and curatorial intern at a historical museum in Seattle, Washington, and the second at the Direzione Generale Archeologia, Belle Arti, e Paesaggio (Directorate General Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape Heritage or DGABAP) in Rome, Italy. Initially I was amazed at how well the internships helped me utilize my classroom knowledge and how the knowledge I gained from the internship transferred to the classroom. My second internship in Rome not only contributed greatly to my honors thesis on transnational antiquities trafficking but it also ultimately helped me decide on my professional goals. At the DGABAP, I learned so much about international cooperation in law enforcement and criminal justice and was able to hear perspectives on those topics from government employees at the Ministry for Culture as well as from police officers of the Carabinieri. These conversations and my experiences seeing recovered stolen artifacts influenced my decision to further pursue this research next year in Scotland.

Post-graduation plans: I will be attending the Transnational Crime, Justice and Security master’s program at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

Hallie Carmen

White Plains, New York

East Asian Studies major, Jewish Studies minor

Campus Involvement: East Asian Studies Student Advisory Board, The College Voice, Structured Independent Language Study Program

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: This semester I am taking a senior seminar for my East Asian Studies major titled, the “East Asian Diaspora,” where we have been studying different definitions of diaspora in various contexts throughout East Asia. One week we discussed the idea of food having the potential of being diasporic. As a fun activity to further our understanding of this concept, we decided to order General Tso’s chicken from several different Chinese restaurants and conducted a taste test to compare the different variations of the dish.

Best takeaway from my internship: Interning at the China General Chamber of Commerce-U.S.A. (CGCC) gave me the unique opportunity to continue to improve my Chinese language skills and further develop my skills in video editing and photography. Prior to the start of my internship, I had just come back to the United States from a four-month intensive Chinese language program in Harbin, China, and I was eager to continue to maintain my Chinese language abilities. I was very excited to have the opportunity to intern in a mostly Mandarin-speaking work environment immediately following my studying abroad experience.

Post-graduation plans: This summer I plan on returning to CGCC to assist the organization with video-editing, graphic design, and photography.

Trevor Bates

Hingham, Massachusetts

Behavioral Neuroscience major, Theater and Psychology minor

Campus Involvement: Wig and Candle, Habitat for Humanity

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My favorite class has to be Advanced Playwriting. This small, seven-person class allowed me to explore my creativity and work as a writer, creating scenes and even a full-length play. We were able to talk about current events and political happenings that impacted our lives, understanding that our words have meaning and learning to express who we are as humans.

Best takeaway from my internship: I was working at a summer educational program for high school students which provided many challenges but also was incredibly rewarding. I loved seeing these students apply themselves and walk away with new skills, passions, and interests.

Post-graduation plans: I plan to be in Edinburgh, Scotland, completing a master’s of science in performance psychology.

Katie Soricelli

Poughkeepsie, New York

Theater and English double major

Campus Involvement: Solo senior flute recital, Williams Street Mix a cappella group, Wig & Candle, Admission Ambassador and Senior Admission Fellow

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: Senior theater majors have the opportunity to complete a capstone project as a culmination of their studies. I created, directed, and performed in a play inspired by feminist punks with my two closest friends for my capstone. We even taught ourselves to play new instruments so we could play as a punk band on stage. It was a perfect way to end my theater studies. The creative freedom and support we received from faculty and peers alike epitomize the strength of academics here at Conn.

Best takeaway from my internship: Since my first year at Conn, I knew that I wanted to utilize my funded internship as an opportunity to live and work in a city where I would have to be self-sufficient and take public transportation (I'm from the suburbs), and Berkeley was a wonderful place to have that experience. I was part of Berkeley Repertory Theater's summer new play development residency program called The Ground Floor, which was an excellent opportunity to witness playwrights' writing and workshopping processes, as well as a chance to learn about the daily operations of a regional theater. The staff at Berkeley Rep made their interns feel like family from the first day of training, which has helped shape my plans for post-graduate jobs.

Post-graduation plans: I am looking at one-year fellowships at regional theaters that specialize in new play development.

Catherine Healey

Rumson, New Jersey

Theater major, Psychology minor

Campus Involvement: Wig & Candle, The Williams Street Mix, Student Support Network, Senior Gift Committee

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: I really loved my Acting 2 class with Associate Professor of Theater Ken Prestininzi my sophomore year. We did great exercises that exposed us to many different types of acting, including Viewpoints and devising, which later informed my approaches to theater. We did scene work from plays and received formative feedback from Ken and our classmates. I grew from this class, and it prepared me for more intense acting classes to come.

Best takeaway from my internship: I completed the Theatermakers Acting training program at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center through the National Theater Institute for my funded internship. Each week, the actors, playwrights and directors in the program created original plays for the public and participated in intensive training courses led by renowned theater professionals. This intensive really shaped me as an actor. I would say the biggest takeaway was learning that I could be part of an ensemble that could mount original work in less than 72 hours. I also got to meet amazing people who have helped me begin to make connections in the theater world.

Post-graduation plans: After graduation, I will serve as an administrative intern at Peninsula Players, an Equity summer stock theater in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. There, I will help with day-to-day office management, marketing and fundraising projects and work in the box office, concession stand, and usher for the shows in the evenings. After that, I plan to move to Philadelphia or Chicago to begin a career as a theater maker and performer.

Anna Jardine

Arlington, Massachusetts

Sociology, Gender and Women’s Studies and French Minors

Center/Pathway affiliation: Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts

Campus Involvement: Eclipse, Dance Club, Asian Students in Action, Office of Admission

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: Gender, Culture, and the Body taught by Associate Professor of Sociology Afshan Jafar explore the ways in which social forces shape human bodies and bodily experiences. I loved the environment of this classroom; it pushed me to contextualize my own individual experiences into a larger framework and inspired much of my future research and ways of thinking about my own identity.

Best takeaway from my internship: As part of CISLA, I interned both at Columbia University’s Global Center in Paris and at La Maison des Femmes in Saint-Dénis. Through these internships, I learned the importance of taking initiative, fully committing and embracing both the challenges and benefits of my experiences.

Post-graduation plans: I hope to work as an assistant director of admission at a fellow liberal arts institution and, in the next few years, will be applying to master’s programs in sociology.

Cecilia Bole

Boston, Massachusetts

Philosophy and Classics, Dance Minor

Campus Involvement: Eclipse, Dance Club, Enrich Mentor Program

Favorite classroom experience at Conn: My sophomore year I took a class called The Ideal of Equality with Professor of Philosophy Lawrence Vogel (now my faculty adviser). We spent the first half of the semester learning about philosophical perspectives on equality from various philosophers and the second half on an independent research paper of our choosing. I wrote my paper on immigration and the Syrian refugee crisis. As a result of taking this class and writing my paper, I was awarded the Mellon Undergraduate Research Fellowship to complete an internship relating to immigration over the summer. I worked at Massachusetts Law Reform Institute in Boston with their immigration attorney. It was such a wonderful experience to connect theory with action and apply my research to a real-life work situation.

Best takeaway from my internship: I completed two funded internships: one from the Mellon Undergraduate Research Fellowship and one through Conn’s Office of Career and Professional Development, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Although in very different fields, both my internships taught me how to manage multiple projects at once and be an efficient worker.

Post-graduation plans: I will be traveling through eastern and central Europe after graduation.

Ready to launch: The Class of 2018

Meet some of the members of the class as they reflect on their Conn experiences and prepare for the future.

Sarah Hyde

Darrell Spencer

Charlotte List

Brian Bahena

Amanda Yacos

James D. Murray

Tanaya Cardenales

Simon Luxemburg

Sarah Rose Gruszecki

Saskia Stark-Ewing

Justin Winokur

Asa Waterworth

Joanna Fischer

Lindsey Ruzza

Justin Mendillo

Kelley Fairman

Albert Webson

Alex Bukovac

Tyrone Williams

Dara Pohl Feldman

Joshua Moss

Rakhshi Qureshi

Stephanie Jackvony

Teodora Mavrokordatos

Laura Henderson

Shaniqua Shaw

Marta Martinez Fernandez

Belinda Mullally

Noah Johnson

Annette Davis

Rishma Mendhekar

Patrick Farrell

Myles McDevitt

Emma Horst-Martz

Paolo Sanchez

Maddy Dickey

Kelsey Handelman

Dominique D'Onofrio

Hallie Carmen

Trevor Bates

Katie Soricelli

Catherine Healey

Anna Jardine

Cecilia Bole

Four years to your career. Learn more

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