Commencement Issue

VOLUME CXLVII COMMENCEMENT EDITION

FRIDAY, M AY 18, 2018

AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS

COMMENCEMENT CXCVII

Photo by Shawna Chen ’20

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

Schedule Events of

FRIDAY, MAY 18 - SUNDAY, MAY 20

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

1 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Check-In Alumni House

8:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Check-In Alumni House

5 p.m.

Commencement Rehearsal Main Quadrangle (Johnson Chapel in case of rain)

9 a.m.

Phi Beta Kappa Meeting Stirn Auditorium 10 a.m.

Baccalaureate Celebration Johnson Chapel 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Conversations with Honored Guests See College Website Noon - 1 p.m.

Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Commissioning Ceremony Johnson Chapel

12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m.

Luncheon Valentine Quadrangle 1 p.m.

Sigma Xi Meeting Lewis-Sebring Dining Commons 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Conversations with Honored Guests See College Website 3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Conversations with Honored Guests See College Website 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

President’s Reception Garden of the President’s House 9:15 p.m.

Choral Society Concert Buckley Recital Hall, Arms Music Center

SUNDAY 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Welcome Center Open Alumni House 10 a.m.

The 197th Commencement Main Quadrangle 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m.

Luncheon Valentine Quadrangle

STAFF EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Nate Quigley, Isabel Tessier HEAD PUBLISHER Nico Langlois EDITORS Shawna Chen, Kelly Chian, Olivia Geiger, Julia Shea, Julia Turner CONTRIBUTORS Daniel Delgado, Natalie De Rosa, Hugh Ford, Connor Haugh, John Kim, Seoyeon Kim, Jack Malague, Jake May, Henry Newton, Veronica Rocco, Emma Swislow PHOTOGRAPHERS Shawna Chen

2 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

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Table of Contents SENIOR PROFILES

10 11 12 13 14 15 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Irisdelia Garcia Navigating Identity Through Activism and Art Alex Frenett Creating Machines, Building Relationships Dakota Foster A Marshall Scholar Destined for Greatness Mo Hussein A Runner’s Journey for a Family and a People Kyndall Ashe The Busiest Woman on Amherst’s Campus Josh Harmon Marching to the Beat of His Own Drum Jingwen Zhang Humanizing Medicine with the Written Word Reece Foy Finding Faith and Purpose Through Struggle Aditi Krishnamurthy AAS President Strives For Transparency Aziz Kahn Aspiring Doctor Personifies Poise on the Pitch Hannah Hackley Basketball Star Leads with Compassion Stefan Yong A Fluid Dancer, Intellectual and Traveler Alisa Bajramovic A Feminist at Birth Finds Love in the Archives Alejandro Niño A Consultant with a Future in Social Justice Asha Walker Taking on Amherst with Unwavering Courage

OTHER CONTENT PAGE

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9

31

The Year in News

Fellowships and Scholarships

Senior Reflections

Honorary Degrees

The Year in Sports

4

6

8

PAGE

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 3

The Year in News AUGUST The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a $1.5 million grant to the Folger Shakespeare Library, which is administered by the college, to fund a four-year collaborative research project called “Before Farm to Table: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures.”

SEPTEMBER The discovery of a noose on Pratt Football Field on Sept. 5 touched off a week of student action and administrative communication condemning the incident.

Members of the student body organized in protest of the racist symbol, leading a demonstration on Valentine Quad during which the majority of participants arrived in black clothing and yelled out words such as “love,” “change” and “security” in response to the question “What do we need?” The Amherst College Police Department later identified two juveniles unaffiliated with the college who were responsible and submitted reports to the district attorney’s office for review.

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The new science center completed construction and will be in use starting in Fall 2018.

Photo courtesy of Shawna Chen ’20

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Amherst hosted college community members at an event for “Promise: The Campaign for Amherst’s Third Century” on April 7.

OCTOBER Chief Student Affairs Officer Suzanne Coffey announced her retirement at the end of the 2017-2018 academic year after 35 years in higher education, 12 of which she spent at Amherst. After working as Amherst’s athletic director from 2006 to 2014, she was promoted to her current position in 2014. Hikaru Kozuma, who previously worked at the University of Pennsylvania as associate vice provost, will replace her in Fall 2018.

Acclaimed poet and former John Woodruff Simpson Lecturer Richard Wilbur ’42 died on Oct. 14 after a lifetime of writing, reading and teaching. Wilbur, a U.S. Poet Laureate and two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, majored in English at Amherst before receiving a master’s degree from Harvard and teaching for nearly 40 years at institutions such as Harvard, Wellesley College, Smith and Amherst. “He was a major yeasayer to life,” said Professor of English David Sofield.

NOVEMBER Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein announced the college’s plan to host students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands affected by Hurricane Maria. Students admitted to the program arrived on campus for the Spring 2018 semester. The college covered the students’ Amherst tuition, books, housing and health insurance, along with tuition at their home institutions.

Photo courtesy of Olivia Tarantino ‘15

Photo courtesy of Chattman Photography

DECEMBER Renowned writer and activist Shaun King spoke at the college on Dec. 6 about police brutality and America’s current “dip in the quality of our humanity.” He encouraged students to imagine themselves in the civil rights movement and choose carefully who they wish to become.

JANUARY Dining Services implemented a number of changes throughout the year, including adding already-made daily breakfast smoothie options and a lunch-time burger bar, serving hot food on Wednesdays at Grab-N-Go, extending weekend hours and renovating the layout and structure of Valentine Dining Hall.

The college released changes to the Party Policy, a set of rules governing expectations for parties on campus, to significant student backlash. The policy changes, designed to reflect “the college’s ability to effectively support logistics and safety” according to Senior Associate Dean of Students Dean J. Gendron, took effect for parties on and after Feb. 1. Students were frustrated with the lack of transparency, short notice and vague details of enforcement of the new policies.

Though the college cited increased alcohol-involved incidents and hospital transports as reasons for the abrupt change to the policy, an Amherst College Emergency Medical Services (ACEMS) member provided data from an internal review that found no statistically significant differences in the proportion of alcohol-related hospital transports between the semesters of Spring 2015 through Fall 2017. Two weeks after the new Party Policy was announced, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) held a town hall with administrators and students in the Red Room in Converse Hall, which was filled to capacity with students crowding onto the stairs and standing in the back. Administrators referenced wider surveys and invitations for more dialogue, but a number of students at the town hall felt these proposals were too little, too late. The Office of Student Affairs later sent out a survey about student needs and expectations for campus social life FEBRUARY The college’s life sciences departments received a $104,000 grant from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, which will fund the creation of an Amherst chapter of the Beckman Scholars Program. Selected sophomores will gain access to an independent research program that will continue over the course of the summer prior to their senior year, during their senior year and the summer after graduation.

CONGRATULATIONS INDUCTEES

ΦΒΚ

The following students of the class of 2018 have been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa for their show of academic excellence, based on their cumulative grade point average. Asterisks indicate nomination at the end of junior year.

4 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Hoàng An Gabriella Bishop Conor Bronsdon Ryan Cenek Jonathan Che* Madeline Clyne Jason Darell Bryan Doniger III Lily Fang Joshua Ferrer Dakota Foster Alexander Frenett* Ryan Hardin

Joshua Harmon Maedot Haymete Peter Horton David Ingraham Emily Isko Zoe Kayton Andrew Kiley René Kooiker Sophie Lichter Nolan Lindquist Casey McQuillan John Miller Galen Muskat

Scott Nelson Sarah Nessen Jacob Pagano Phuong-Nghi Pham Bailey Plaman Eleanor Politi Noor Qasim Spencer Quong Emily Ratté Rosalyn Jules Langhinrichsen Rohling Minato Sakamoto Rowena Schenck

Tobias Schwed Abbas Shah Katherine Stanton John Strahan Obinna Ukogu William Vosejpka William Wesley Zoe Wong Hui Xu Stefan Yong Jingwen Zhang

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A large crowd of students packed the Red Room in Converse Hall during a town hall on the new Party Policy held by the Association of Amherst Students on Feb. 12.

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At least 100 students participated in a demonstration on Valentine Quad on Sept. 12 after college police discovered a noose on Pratt Field the week prior.

Photo courtesy of Matthew Chow ’18

The Amherst College Belonging Committee released the Strategic Plan to Increase Belonging, which defined what it means to belong and set forth objectives to make the campus more inclusive of all identities.

Some suggestions include creating shared experiences such as campus traditions, a first-year civic engagement project and making physical spaces on campus “more safe, comfortable and welcoming” by creating student hang-out spaces and making all buildings accessible within the next 10 years.

For the first time, the college implemented Early Room Draw for students with housing accommodations, an effort by the Office of Residential Life and the Office of Accessibility Services to allow students with accommodations to enter Room Draw with friends, an option that was not previously available. The change came after recommendations from Roosevelt @ Amherst, a branch of the Roosevelt Institute, which brings students together to research policy.

MARCH The college lost three members of the community — two students, Andrew Dorogi ’18 and Christopher Collins ’20, and Professor of Black Studies Jeffrey Ferguson — and honored their losses in a series of memorials.

APRIL The college launched “Promise: The Campaign for Amherst’s Third Century,” which aims to secure Amherst’s future in advance of the college’s 2021 bicentennial, on April 6. The campaign plans to raise $625 million over the next five years, though half of the money had already been raised through “quiet” fundraising leading up to the campaign launch.

Campaign goals include expanding a variety of resources on campus and academic departments, especially related to STEM. Greenway Dormitory A was renamed Ford Hall in honor of William E. Ford III ’83, P’13, the CEO of a growth equity firm called General Atlantic, who has contributed signifi-

Photo courtesy of Sarah Wishloff ’19

cantly to the college as trustee and chair of its investment committee.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) notified Amherst, along with several other colleges including Williams, Middlebury and Tufts, on April 5 and 6 that it was being investigated for alleged violations of federal antitrust laws in the college’s early-decision program. The letter DOJ sent to schools said that it would be investigating “a potential agreement between colleges relating to their early decision practices,” according to The New York Times. Dean of Admissions Katie Fretwell said Amherst would cooperate.

Amherst formed the New England College Renewable Partnership, a collaborative contract to purchase solar electricity from a solar farm in Farmington, Maine, with Bowdoin, Hampshire, Smith and Williams.

Starting in 2019, Amherst will annually receive 10,000 Megawatt hours from the farm, enough to account for around half of the college’s total electricity use and all of its purchased energy.

Dining Services announced that Schwemm’s Coffee House, Amherst’s late-night dining venue, will undergo major changes including the addition of beer and wine for 21+ students and renovations into a pub-style space with completion expected

by Fall 2018. Dining Services Director Joseph Flueckiger said the venue change is intended to promote a “healthy social culture around alcohol use.”

MAY Nearly 440 students, faculty and staff participated in Amherst’s Walk for Mental Health and CareFest, which was organized by Active Minds, the Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion and the AAS. The college pledged to set aside a base sum of $15,000 as well as an additional $15 per walk participant for “on-campus programming and activities related to psychological and emotional wellbeing,” President Biddy Martin wrote in an email. The walk raised a total of $21,600.

Crimes (and Criminals) of the Year Aug. 21, 2017 6:30 a.m., Alumni House Officers investigated a smashed window and discovered someone had thrown a walnut through it.

Sept. 1, 2017 3:59 a.m., King Dormitory Officers responded to a report of a naked male sleeping in the first-floor hallway.

No one was found.

Sept. 7, 2017 4:05 p.m., Webster Building An employee reported the theft of a new chair valued at $500. The investigating officer located it in another room.

Sept. 10, 2017 4:17 p.m., Hitchcock Hall The Student Affairs office reported receiving a report that a student urinated out a window and onto other people.

Sept. 14, 2017 11:58 a.m., Campus Grounds A student reported receiving a call from a person, claiming to be from the FBI, who wanted $5,900 as tax payment on a student loan. The student ended the call.

Sept. 20, 2017 2:49 p.m., Marsh House A caller reported the word “Wut” was written on a wall in a common room of the newly renovated building.

Sept. 24, 2017 9:10 p.m., Wieland Dormitory An officer responded to a report of vandalism to the laundry room and discovered that someone discharged a dry chemical fire extinguisher throughout the room.

Sept. 28, 2017 8:06 p.m., Valentine Dining Hall A student reported the theft of water valued at $30 from the lobby. It was being prepared for an athletic team.

Oct. 30, 2017 5:11 p.m., Stearns Dormitory Officers responded to a complaint of someone banging on a basement door and covering the door viewer so people inside could not see out. It was discovered that the involved people knew each other and were playing around.

Nov. 9, 2017 11:39 a.m., Railroad Right of Way New England Railroad reported a person walking along the railroad tracks with no shirt or shoes near East Drive. Officers checked the area, but no one was located.

Nov. 12, 2017 2:00 a.m., Boltwood Avenue

An officer assisted a student from the Five College area who missed a bus.

3:59 p.m., Memorial Hill Officers responded to a report of a fight near the baseball field and located about

30 people there. Their celebration of a recent soccer win had been mistaken for threatening behavior.

Nov. 13, 2017 11:14 a.m., Charles Pratt Dormitory The Office of Student Affairs reported receiving information that the soap dispensers and towel dispensers were vandalized in a restroom.

Nov. 26, 2017 12:29 a.m., Marsh House Officers and the Fire Department responded to an alarm and found it was activated when a resident used a plastic pot to boil water.

Dec. 3, 2017 12:27 a.m., Plimpton House An officer and three town paramedics who were removing a patient from the building were urinated on by several males, who were standing at the third level of an exterior staircase.

Dec. 8, 2017 9:43 p.m., Athletic Fields Officers responded to a report of a person screaming on Hitchcock Field. The area was checked but no one was found.

Dec. 10, 2017 1:25 a.m., Jenkins Dormitory A visitor reported her coat stolen from a suite where she left it unattended during a party. It is valued at $900.

pack on a computer was discovered.

2:32 a.m., Hitchcock Hall A resident reported that his dental retainer was vandalized and an electric razor was stolen from a restroom during a registered party.

Jan. 16, 2018 6:23 a.m., Frost Library An officer responded to a report of a man in the vestibule drying clothes on a heater. The man, who has no association with the college, was asked to leave campus.

Jan. 25, 2018 9:32 a.m., Mill Lane An ATM machine stolen from the Hampshire Mall was found on college property off Mill Lane.

Feb. 10, 2018 3:53 p.m., LeFrak Gymnasium A visitor complained about the type and volume of music played at a basketball game. The game manager was notified.

Feb. 21, 2018 3:33 p.m., Campus Grounds A caller reported three people climbing high up a tree near the Octagon. An officer advised them to stop the activity, which they did.  March 5, 2018 4:14 p.m., Converse Hall An officer responded to a report of an unusual odor in the basement. A bad battery

March 23, 2018 11:25 p.m., East Drive An officer encountered a student in the process of stealing a stop sign. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

April 8, 2018 2:52 a.m., North College Dormitory Officers responded to a report of a group of males fighting in a stairway. The group was located but there was no fight. They were being very loud.

April 15, 2018 6:15 p.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding in a third-floor room. The resident was not in, but nine candles were found and confiscated. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

April 20, 2018 4:00 p.m., Johnson Chapel An employee reported the theft of an Amherst College banner.

April 22, 2018 7:14 p.m., Merrill Science Center An officer discovered that someone wrote on the lobby walls with chalk.

11:08 p.m., Woodside Day Care Center An officer responded to a report of someone in the building at the unusual hour.

The person was identified as a custodian.

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 5

Fulbright, Marshall & Watson Scholars Fulbrights JOSHUA FERRER A political science and music double major, Joshua Ferrer will use his Fulbright award to research the impact impact of election lawmaking on politics in New Zealand. The research “takes a close look at New Zealand’s election legislating, while utilizing theories developed through the examination of other democratic systems and developing insights that will be relevant to every modern democracy. Understanding the incentives political parties face when determining election rules is essential to combating

worldwide democratic decline,” Ferrer wrote in his application.

The research will extend on previous research he conducted on election laws for his undergraduate honors thesis, which was “an empirical longitudinal study of election law coverage and the rhetoric used to justify restrictive voting laws in the United States.” Ferrer also plans to spend his time in religious and political groups, as well as the musical community in Dunedin. After completing his Fulbright year, Ferrer will pursue a Ph.D. in political science studying democracy studies, political sociology and public policy with future plans to teach, research and work with policy think tanks.

MONICA NIMMAGGADDA A computer science and environmental studies double major, Monica Nimmaggadda won an English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) in Malaysia. Her previous experiences teaching have fueled a passion for connecting every student’s individual interest to academic material on hand. Forming relationships through teaching has shown her that “a love of learning and community is common in all of us and it’s up to educators to prioritize this passion and support as students mature,” she wrote in her application.

MAXUM PAUL Maxum Paul, a double major in French and biochemistry and biophysics, was offered a Fulbright to pursue research on protein-nucleic acid interactions in HIV. “Knowing which various components of the system are interacting with each other during various steps of the process is essential for understanding the nature of these interactions and the system as a whole,” he wrote in his application.

Understanding the function of the nucleocapsid protein,

which is “beneficial to the retrovirus but detrimental to humans,” will help open doors into new forms of antiretroviral treatments and therapeutic approaches, Paul said.

He will conduct his project at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) Paris-Saclay in Cachan, France with a team of researchers in the Laboratory of Biology and Applied Pharmacology, aiming to present his work at a mid-year conference in February. His year in France will also help improve his language proficiency and provide an immersive experience into French culture.

He plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry and related fields and is interested in a career in industrial or academic research.

PHUONG-NGHI PHAM A triple major in psychology, music and English — and a triple theses writer — Phuong-Nghi Pham received a Fulbright to conduct a research project on music cognition at the Ryerson University SMART Lab in Toronto. Her project will collect data on congenitally deaf people who are presented with tasks synchronized to beats. She aims to answer evolutionary and biological questions through an understanding of the interactions between culture, auditory processing and language.

NICOLE ROBERTS During her year as a Fulbright scholar, Nicole Roberts will study sea otter recovery, its effects on urchin and sunflower star populations and the Coastal First Nations shellfish industries’ adaptive capacities in response to changes in sea otter abundance. Because of the recent restoration of the sea otter population, First Nation communities now face increased livelihood and food security risk. Her research will examine perspectives on community-based otter management.

6 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

In Malaysia, she plans to organize group activities that involve active participation to foster a sense of community and build character for her students in both their personal and academic lives. “Looking forward, I hope to be challenged by Malaysia, the communities I will be a part of and the students who will ask me questions I haven’t asked myself yet,” she wrote. Due to Malaysia’s diversity with large Chinese, Indian and indigenous populations, she also hopes to “learn from Malaysia about cross-cultural exchange and tolerance.”

After her Fulbright year, Nimmaggadda plans to attend graduate school with a focus on education policy in the United States.

“I hope that this project will contribute not only to the sparse literature in music cognition on the congenitally deaf, but also to the larger knowledge of our brain’s astounding workings, defining who we are as humans and what we are capable of,” she wrote in her application.

In Toronto, she will also assist the music coordinator with the CMSU 100 Choir Program, which offers singing and ear training opportunities to elderly adults with hearing loss, and hold outreach performances to showcase the lab’s work.

She intends to pursue Ph.D. programs in music cognition and music theory after her Fulbright year.

Mentored by the director of the Coastal Marine Ecology and Conservation Lab, she will pursue her independent project in British Columbia, Canada by analyzing data collected at a number of sites and synthesizing her results into a literature review to be published and shared with First Nation communities.

“By placing the ecological issue within its socio-cultural context, my research can enhance our ability to monitor these dynamic coastal ecosystems,” she wrote in her application.

A double major in biology and environmental studies, she intends to pursue a Ph.D. program in marine ecology and conservation science and to work as a conservationist researcher.

SOPHIA SALAZAR Sophia Salazar, a double major in political science and sociology, will participate in the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program in South Korea. Having worked as a summer program assistant for a nonprofit that runs summer and after-school programs for Holyoke’s public schools, she has learned firsthand what it looks like to “listen to [students’] eccentric yet oft-misunderstood voices, and tailor our curriculum around them.” In South Korea, the opportunities for cultural immersion will allow her to continue

her experience of stepping into her students’ worlds, she said. She hopes to incorporate digital storytelling into traditional Korean pedagogies in order to help her students express creativity to their fullest extent.

“Fostering cross-cultural understanding as a Fulbright ETA serves as a foundation for larger projects I am passionate about, like equity, justice and peace,” she wrote in her application. “I intend to use my Fulbright experience in South Korea as a starting point in building dialogue that will make our own ‘worlds’ seem less disparate.” She intends to pursue a career in education and legal advocacy for immigrant groups in Los Angeles.

ROWENA SCHENCK Biochemistry and biophysics major Rowena Schenck was awarded the Fulbright grant to research climate change’s effects on fjords and southern ocean carbon storage in New Zealand.

She will enroll in a Marine Science one-year, research only Master of Science program at the University of Otago, where she plans on joining the Otago Lacrosse Club and the school’s snow sports club. “[New Zealand’s] unique environment not only holds information that can help us decipher global carbon cycles

ZACHARIAH STERN Zachariah Stern, a biology major, was awarded the English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) in Cyprus. Stern was drawn to Cyprus because of its dynamic and multicultural history. “The complex dynamic between the Greek and Turkish sections of the island provide an ideal landscape for understanding cultural differences and interaction. Cyprus’ rich history, stunning beauty and unusual position as a cultural crossroad speak to me. Contained on the island, generations of Cypriots coexist with differ-

and climate trends, but can also teach us valuable lessons about balancing scientific and conservation efforts with a successful tourism-based economy,” Schenck wrote in her application.

In the past few years, Schenck acquired significant geochemical field and lab experience through an independent project at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution “researching sulfur cycling in salt marsh ponds.” She wrote a biogeochemistry thesis on “mercury cycling in a Connecticut River cove.” After her Fulbright year, Schenck will continue to conduct research and teach with plans to pursue a Ph.D focusing on “marine biogeochemistry and human impacts on these global chemical cycles.”

ing values regarding the culture,” he wrote in his application.

With plans to teach American culture and frisbee along with English while in Cyprus, Stern has taught a wide variety of subject matter from backcountry trips to math and emphasizes a “flexible, positive, and adaptive leadership” while teaching. Though the setting may change, Stern believes the approach stays the same, which includes “breaking down the confusing parts into understandable chunks, using repetition to get it right, inspiring the learner with the potential of [mastering the skill] successfully, and being willing to take a hands-on approach.”

After Cyprus, Stern plans to work in pediatric medicine.

NATALIE SUN Using the Fulbright research grant, Natalie Sun will join a team of researchers in National Taipei University to better understand how heavy metal pollution affects wild carnivore populations in Taiwan.

“The results of this research will help determine the extent of the harm that manmade metal pollutants impose on Taiwanese carnivores and the sources of pollution in different fields,” she wrote in her application. “Such information could have a significant impact on conservation efforts by directing attention

and resources towards removing heavy metal pollutants from Taiwan’s habitats.”

Sun will spend the first few months in two different industrialization levels, Yangmingshan National Park and an industrial area near the Da-an river, using cage traps to capture wild carnivores for blood and hair samples, after which she will conduct metal concentration tests on the samples for a statistical analyssi to test “the field-specific levels of lead and zinc found in each species.”

Her long-term plans include pursuing a career “as a veterinarian specializing in exotic species or small animals, and providing care that integrates East Asian and Western medicine.”

Marshall DAKOTA FOSTER A double major in political science and Asian languages and civilizations, Dakota Foster will pursue a master’s degree in war studies at King’s College London in her first year as a Marshall Scholar and a master’s degree in international relations from either Cambridge University or the London School of Economics in her second year.

“I’ve known since I was really young that I wanted to do public service,” she told the college. “It’s been a process over the last

10 years of figuring out where I think that public service path is going to take me.”

She is particularly interested in examining strategy, security and combat in regions of the Middle East, Russia and eastern Europe. Her previous academic studies focused on analyses of foreign fighters. “I feel that it is important to address national security challenges with a combination of hard and soft power,” she wrote in her application.

She plans to pursue a career in national security policymaking and eventually work for the U.S. State Department, Department of Defense or National Security Council.

Watson MOHAMED RAMY As a 2018 Thomas J. Watson Fellow, Mohamed Ramy will spend four months each in Djibouti, Germany and Canada in order to interview refugees and volunteer at local and international community organizations. The three countries were chosen for their differing immigration populations, naturalization processes and refugee camps. “I want to explore how home is recreated among displaced and resettled people, and to learn what forms of cultural practices relevant to healing offer solace,” Ramy

wrote in his application.

While at his final stop in Canada, Ramy hopes to finalize his project by compiling all the artifacts collected throughout the journey to create a multimedia website featuring the refugee narratives of healing.“By engrossing myself in places where art and healing intersect, and vulnerability and interconnectedness manifest, I hope to empower refugee narratives and halt desensitization to the global crisis,” Ramy wrote.

A neuroscience major from Egypt, Ramy has long term plans to attend medical school and possibly work for Doctors Without Borders.

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 7

Senior Reflections What’s your favorite memory of your time at Amherst College?

Kayla Balda ― I had been playing on the women’s rugby team for all four years here and had yet to score a try. Then, on the last play of the last game, I was supporting a teammate as she ran the ball to the try line, with an opposing player right on her heels. My team was shouting for her to “Pass it to Kayla!” right until the last moment when she was tackled to the ground, a meter away from scoring. I grabbed the ball and finally made that sweet try!

Ana Ascencio ― My favorite memory from Amherst, tied with all of the moments up at Book & Plow Farm, was actually a moment when I wasn’t an active student at Amherst. I was on my gap year at home in California, and I recieved a package in the mail from the Bluestockings (the a capella group I sing with) that had a card, a pair of striped blue socks and a recording of the group singing a song in rehearsal. It was a time when I really missed Amherst and all of the amazing friends I’d made here, and feeling reconnected with the group in that way gave me the strength I needed to come back and finally finish.

Obinna Ukogu ― This semester I competed with a team of my friends in the Iron Chef cooking competition organized by Valentine Dining Hall each year. It’s something that I had wanted to do since I got here, so I was really excited to compete. My team didn’t win, but it was really fun to cook right in the middle of the dining hall. I especially enjoyed the many trips into the drinks room to grab milk and other odd ingredients for our crêpes. I hope this becomes an Amherst tradition!

Ellie Politi ― Because I was really intimidated by one of my professors, I emailed the TA instead of going to office hours. The TA then proceeded to forward my message to my professor, much to my chagrin, who asked me to come to his office. He ended up being extremely kind and helpful — and also my favorite professor. I even babysit for him now! Hi Professor Honig, can I call you Adam now?

Cristian Ramirez ― I remember standing at the top of Memorial Hill my first year, in line with my friends from Charles Pratt, all holding trays we had snuck out of Val. I’ll never forget looking out at the mountains in the distance and the pure white snow that led smoothly to the bottom of the hill. All my Florida-raised instincts told me to go back inside and sit by the fireplace, but as we leapt and tumbled down the snow, I knew that the people I was with and the college we shared were truly special.

Samantha O’Brien ― When I worked commencement my sophomore year, I felt odd as the madness of schoolwork died down and people trickled away. I realized that for the first time in two years, I wasn’t worrying about academics while on campus. At first, I didn’t know how to fill my time. As I made friends with others on campus, we explored places that we couldn’t during the school year. Once, we all piled into a car and drove forty minutes to a lake in Ashfield. It was one of the first times I left the Amherst area. Discovering Western Massachusetts’ beauty was a special experience that will always stay with me.

Pei Gong ― Two days after I submitted my thesis, I dragged my friends to Tuttle Hill at 2 a.m. to see the shooting stars.

After growing up in a polluted city, I finally saw the Milky Way for the first time. It was then that I realized that Amherst is so beautiful, but I never gave it the attention that it deserved.

Gabriella Bishop ― One of my favorite memories at Amherst is from the beginning of my senior year — it was a sunny Saturday in September and I was with my friend Megan Do. We cooked bruschetta in the Greenway kitchen using Book & Plow garlic and cherry tomatoes, and bread I had bought from the farmer’s market in the morning. Dancing around to Sam Cooke and eating food that reminded me of home was a great way to start my last year at Amherst.

Tenzin Dawa ― My favorite memory at Amherst was karate belt promotion with the Amherst Mixed Martial Arts Organization. A whole day of working out and sparring is physically exhausting but also very rewarding. The best thing about it is that you can actually see your achievements.

Madeline Clyne ― My best memories of Amherst aren’t so much of individual events, places and people as they are of formative processes. Rehearsing for Lauren Horn’s dance thesis about racial identity and writing my own thesis were challenging, but intensely rewarding processes that occurred in many beloved places and in collaboration with many beloved people. But if I had to choose a single favorite Amherst memory, it would have to be getting rained on in the bird sanctuary with my dear friend Krista Goebel ’18 — it was a lot more fun than it sounds!

Brendan Seto ― My favorite memory here is making poke with the Hawaii Club. After forming the club and gathering together all of our friends, it was great to share our culture and eat some really good food. I’m gonna miss good quality poke in Boston next year...

Anna Vuong ― Waking up early for Easter Sunday to enjoy the sunrise and shout worship songs with people in the Amherst Christian Fellowship is definitely one of the traditions that I’ll miss. Hopefully I can take this tradition with me beyond my time at Amherst!

Drew Kiley ― Going back to my first-year room in Charles Pratt during Senior Ball. All of my floormates from my first year went back to the floor with me. We talked about our memories from the last four years, and I met some of the awesome first years living there now!

Julia Konso Mbakire ― Amherst was my first long-term introduction to America, so choosing an important memory is difficult because they all are! But I think one of my favorite memories was during First-Year Orientation. I lived in North and a bunch of us congregated in the first-floor common room and had a long discussion on our various cultural backgrounds and the ways we find it difficult to navigate them. I remember thinking “Yup, this is the right place for me.” A couple of those Northies have become my closest friends on campus and I lived in a suite with four of them this year, so I would say I was right.

Images courtesy of those featured

8 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Honorary Degrees Sherri Goodman ’81 Environmental Security Advocate

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie comes to Amherst having published three novels and three books of essays and boasting a lengthy list of awards and distinctions, including a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. In a New York Times Style Magazine article, Dave Eggers wrote: “She is the rare novelist to become a public intellectual — as well as a defining voice on race and gender for the digital age.” Her works include “Purple Hibiscus,” “Half a Yellow Sun” and “Americanah.” Her latest work, “Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions,” came out in paperback this May. She is also known for her two viral TED talks, “The Danger of a Single Story” and “We Should All Be Feminists,” the latter of which she later adapted into an essay of the same title. Her works have an incendiary quality, spreading rapidly throughout the worlds of popular culture and literature to ignite rich discussions of American culture, Nigerian history and women’s rights.

Sherri Goodman ’81 works at the nexus of environmental and national security.

Goodman is a Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program Polar Initiative, where she researches how changes to clean water access in places like Flint, Michigan might become national security threats for the U.S. From 1993 to 2001, Goodman served as the first-ever Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security) and led the Department of Defense’s energy, environmental and natural resource conservation programs. Goodman is a also senior advisor for international security at the Center for Climate and Security and a member of numerous councils regarding ocean and water health and climate change. Previously, Goodman worked as the president and CEO of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and has practiced law as a litigator and environmental lawyer. She graduated summa cum laude from Amherst in 1981 before going on to Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she earned a masters in public policy.

Kellie Jones ’81 Art Historian and Curator Danielle Allen Classicist and Political Theorist Danielle Allen is the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, principal investigator for the research and action lab the Democratic Knowledge Project and a contributing columnist for the Washington Post. In 2001, she was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Her research focuses on political sociology and democratic theory in ancient civilizations, specifically ancient Athens.

With Ph.D.s in both classics and government, she has written works such as “The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens,” “Why Plato Wrote” and “Education and Equality.” She is a former trustee at Amherst.

Kellie Jones ’81 studies African-American, African Diaspora, Latino and Latin-American artists, as well as issues in contemporary art and museum theory. She is an associate professor in art history and archaeology at Columbia, and a part of the university’s Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS). From her research, she has written two books, “EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art” and “South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s,” as well as multiple articles that have appeared in catalogues and journals. A curator for over thirty years, she has also organized countless exhibitions. She was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2016 and has also been honored by the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. After graduating from Amherst, Jones went on to pursue her masters and doctorate at Yale.

Philip J. Landrigan Children’s Health Advocate Morris Dees Civil Rights Activist and Attorney Morris Dees is a co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the foremost civil rights advocacy organizations in the country.

With Dees at its helm, the center founded the Intelligence Project, an award-winning periodical that monitors radical domestic right-wing groups. Among some of the group’s most notable accomplishments under Dees’ leadership are a $7 million judgment against the United (Ku Klux) Klans of America and a $6 million judgment against the Aryan Nations, which ultimately went bankrupt because of this. Dees has published three books: “A Lawyer’s Journey,” “Hate on Trial” and “Gathering Storm: America’s Militia Threat.” For his precedent-setting accomplishments in protecting civil rights, he has received both the American Bar Association Medal and the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize.

Philip J. Landrigan serves as Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center and a dean for global health at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where a passion for children’s health, coupled with a background in pediatrics and epidemiology, fuels his work. His role as senior advisor on children’s health to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) helped to inspire the establishment of a new Office of Children’s Health Protection at the EPA. He has conducted extensive research on the impacts of pesticides and neurotoxins on children, publishing over 500 scientific papers. Landrigan also served in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Navy, for which he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal three times, as well as the National Defense Service Medal and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.

Images courtesy of Amherst College

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 9

Senior Profile | Irisdelia Garcia

Navigating Identity Through Activism and Art Irisdelia Garcia has been one of the most influential advocates for students and people of color on campus through her activism, poetry and scholarly work.

—Isabel Tessier ’19 I first heard Irisdelia Garcia speak on the first floor of Frost Library, on Nov. 12, 2015 — the start of Amherst Uprising. Addressing the large crowd of students, faculty and staff that had poured into the library, she spoke passionately and forcefully about the experience of being a low-income woman of color on campus. Now, over 2 1/2 years later, Garcia no longer remembers exactly what she said — “it felt like a spirit took hold of me” — but continues to carry on the legacy of that experience in her work, community and understanding of her identity.

She is an award-winning poet and theater performer. She is an activist.

She is a summa cum laude-nominated thesis writer. She is a staff member at the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) and a part of several campus cultural organizations, including Black Student Union (BSU), La Causa and African-Caribbean Student Union. In fact, she’s involved in so much that it’s often hard to keep track. But there’s a singular focus — a commitment to community — that guides all of Garcia’s passions, whether in voicing the experiences of people of color or honoring her family heritage.

Coming to Amherst Although originally from the Bronx, Garcia attended boarding school at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut for high school, which she said was a difficult experience. As a senior, her college adviser told her that all of the colleges she had applied to were reaches, so when she ended up getting into 11 of 13 schools, Garcia printed out her acceptance letters and laid them on her adviser’s desk.

“That’s a great example of my experience in high school,” she said. “I always felt like I needed to prove myself to others because of where I came from and how I looked and my identity as a whole.”

These difficult moments, ironically enough, made the adjustment to Amherst smoother, as the elite nature of Hotchkiss is similar to that of Amherst.

“There were transitional moments, but

… it never felt like a culture shock,” she said.

Nevertheless, Garcia’s first few semesters in Western Massachusetts weren’t smooth sailing. Although she wouldn’t fully come to realize it until the end of her sophomore fall semester, Garcia’s time at Amherst had been marked by “racially charged” incidents in both her academic and personal life.

Like many students, Garcia’s churning emotions came to a head at Amherst Uprising in November 2015.

Identity through Activism Garcia clearly remembers the moment that Mercedes MacAlpine ’16 got up during the Frost sit-in, which had been originally organized in solidarity with students of color protesting racism on other college campuses, and said to the crowd, “Why are we sitting in for other schools when s*** happens here too?” This remark deeply impacted Garcia. “I didn’t realize how much I was hurting until someone said it,” she explained. “I was really angry that semester, and Amherst Uprising made me feel like I was okay to be angry.”

Garcia came to understand Amherst, and her place within it, differently after the movement. Whereas before she had known that the college — a historically white, male and wealthy institution — was not originally “built” for people like her, through listening to other students’ stories, she saw that there still remained “structures in place that make sure that the over 50 percent [students of color] feel like they are small.”

Garcia said she realized that simply being a student of color on campus was significant and “an act of protest within itself — to breathe in a space like this.”

But Garcia’s acts of protest soon extended far beyond breathing. She joined the Amherst Uprising committee that continued to meet for several months after the sit-in, became involved in various walk-outs and sit-ins that were held on campus throughout the 2016 election cycle and after President Donald Trump’s election and started working for the MRC. When a noose was found on Pratt Field in the

fall of her senior year, she and other students organized a community gathering on Valentine Quad that brought together over 100 students. Community, Garcia said, can be “a radical act of protest” in divisive times.

Family: A Guiding Force Community and family, whether they’re home in New York or at Amherst, have always been crucial to Garcia. “I come from a very close-knit family, so it’s always hard being [away],” she said. “I’m raised by a single mom, but I lived in very much of a four-parent household. I lived with my grandparents and my uncle as well.” Garcia’s grandparents immigrated from Puerto Rico and raised her mother and uncle in New York — and eventually Garcia and her younger sister too.

During Amherst Uprising, Garcia addressed Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein at one point and told her that “if I told my grandparents everything that has been told to me, everything that has been shouted at me, everything that has been put against me, I would not have enough hands to hold all their tears.”

“I think about that moment up to this day,” Garcia said. In every aspect of her life, she tries to “make sure I’m honoring the people who have come before me, in their journey in order to bring me into this life.”

Remembering and missing her family, Garcia has worked to create “chosen families” on campus. She met some of her closest friends at Amherst Uprising and formed new support systems, which she speaks about with clear affection and admiration. “I have the most loving and beautiful and amazing, talented, compassionate people in my life,” she said.

Garcia’s devotion to her friends and family is obvious for anyone who knows her. Bualong Ramiz-Hall, director of the MRC and Garcia’s supervisor, said she “is the most empathetic, emotionally-connected and passionate person you will ever meet. She has an amazing ability to connect with people in such an authentic way.”

Garcia’s thesis, which was nominated for summa cum laude honors, intertwines digital technology, photography, poetry and critical analysis to explore Puerto Rico’s colonial identity.

10 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Photos courtesy of Irisdelia Garcia ’18

Garcia’s path to campus activism began at Amherst Uprising, when she gained the “language for my anger.”

Finding Her Way to Radical Art Garcia entered Amherst thinking she would major in theater and dance, but soon switched to English with a Five-College Multicultural Theater Certificate. She found that she wasn’t able to do the art that she wanted — “art that really pushed boundaries, and [was] radical and very much centering people of color” — under the purview of Amherst’s major. In 2017, Garcia created a personal performance art piece, “Bonita,” which she performed at both UMass and Amherst. “‘Bonita’ was an exploration of Puerto Rican trauma, and particularly trauma of a femme body,” Garcia explained. It was a way of “cataloging my own personal s*** while also having that in conversation with historical institutions.” The wordless show, accompanied by a soundtrack featuring music by Puerto Rican artists, was the opportunity and type of art that Garcia had been looking for all along.

Digital Humanities Ultimately, however, Garcia’s greatest academic passion lay in English and digital humanities. As a first year, she initially thought her time as an English major would be devoted to creative writing, but when she took “Videogames and the Boundaries of Narrative” with Professor of English Marisa Parham, she immediately knew that digital humanities was for her. “Digital humanities allows me more avenues to explore text. I don’t have to just write an essay; I can turn in a whole digital project,” Garcia explained. Parham, who eventually became Garcia’s thesis adviser, said that Garcia has grown enormously as a scholar over her years at Amherst. For Garcia, this includes “having found found the center of her own work, particularly her practice as a poet and … combining that with electronic technologies, but in ways that actually enhance poetic experiences,” said Parham.

Since that first class, Garcia has taken a class with Parham every semester and just completed a digital humanities thesis: “Digital Vaivén: Atlas was a Puerto Rican.” Her thesis is a digital project comprised of of critical analysis, poetry and 360-degree film that “explore[s] Puerto Rican identity through virtual reality and poetry” and

“showcases the digital identity of colonial bodies.” The project, which was nominated for summa cum laude Latin honors, is structured like a grid with 64 tiles, each of which contains a body of work — a poem, a piece of critical analysis or photo.

Over the summer, Garcia was able to go to Puerto Rico for the first time with the MacArthur-Leithauser Travel Award. There, Garcia met extended family for the first time, researched and took photos for her project. Only a few weeks after she left, however, Hurricane Maria hit. The trip, Garcia said, was “beautiful and so cathartic, and it was also incredibly hard.” Upon landing in Puerto Rico, she felt she had “received something that I didn’t know I was missing,” and when she left, “I had to give it back.”

The project grapples with the question of “what does it mean to know that everything you know as your identity, as something to be proud of, was constructed by larger structures?”

The emotional toll of the process did not discourage her however; her thesis experience has only further cemented Garcia’s plans for the future.

After spending some time at home with her family, she plans to enter a Ph.D. program and eventually become an English professor. “It’s really important to have people of color in higher [education] and in academia, because they’re the experts in what they’re doing,” she said. And, of course, “Dr. Garcia has a really nice ring to it.”

Starting A New Book Like a true English major, Garcia explained the end of her time at Amherst with an apt metaphor. “I feel like I’m ending a book in a series,” she said.

Although she feels ready to leave, and has felt ready for a while, as graduation approaches she said that she’s realized how much she will soon have to say goodbye to. “I know it’s an ending that I’m satisfied with and I’m going to be excited for, but I can’t re-read it again because it’s not going to have that same feeling,” she explained.

“I love this place because it has blessed me with so many amazing people … my god have I been reminded time and time again that this system is not built for me, but I have been blessed with such an amazing circle of people that I know that will be with me for the rest of my life.”

Senior Profile | Alex Frenett

Creating Machines, Building Relationships A brilliant physicist, Alex Frenett has a passion for creation extends far outside the lab.

—Hugh Ford ’20 Ask any member of the men’s club soccer team about Alex Frenett, and he’ll tell you that what he cares about the most is not the number of games the team wins but building a welcoming team community.

This is one of Frenett’s defining characteristics. Though he is known as an academic all-star in the physics department, winning the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship and completing a grueling thesis involving creating oxygen ions in a quantum state, Frenett always makes time to build genuine and meaningful relationships, be it with faculty or peers — relationships that are part of the reason Frenett chose to come to Amherst in the first place.

Finding Physics Frenett grew up in Rochester, New York, and if you ask anyone, he is extremely loyal to his hometown.

For his 19th birthday, Frenett took some of his close college friends to a nearby Wegmans to get a taste of back home. In Rochester, Frenett attended a small private school, and he credits the school’s emphasis on teaching for his passion for academics.

An eighth grade trip to a lab in Rochester was where Frenett first discovered his love for physics. To-

day, he recalls how enthusiastic his teacher was about the subject, crediting that enthusiasm with shaping the passion he now brings to physics.

However, Frenett is not wholly consumed by protons and electrons — he carries his curiosity for learning into any endeavor he pursues.

In fact, some of his favorite classes at Amherst have been outside the physics department.

One of the key reasons Frenett came to Amherst was to explore the open curriculum, and he’s taken full advantage, telling me that one of his favorite parts of his Amherst education has been taking classes in which he is not an expert. He loves being able to hear from people at the top of their fields and, always humble, is excited to soak in new ideas and perspectives.

Frenett affectionately remembers a sophomore year class on the Quran, in which he found it refreshing to dialogue with some of history’s most influential texts and peer at the world through an entirely different lens.

He also loved recently taking a class on race relations in the Soviet Union and how they differed from those in the United States. Frenett does not feel the need to always be

the authority in the room, but he does bring a zeal to learning that makes him a formidable student in any field. In the case of physics, however, Frenett usually is the authority.

Professor of Physics David Hanneke said of Frenett: “He brings a genuine curiosity about every aspect of the research, from the big picture of testing quantum gravity to the small details like the ‘zone of silence’ that occurs when a gas expands faster than the speed of sound.”

Photos courtesy of Alex Frenett ’18

Forming Connections at Amherst Frenett has spent the last three summers working in Hanneke’s lab, and this past year Hanneke served as Frenett’s thesis advisor. At a base level, the thesis involved engineering a machine with lasers to create and measure oxygen ions in a specific state.

Though Frenett told me not everything was rosy with his thesis — the machine still is not fully functional — he has enjoyed the process of planning and putting something together himself.

This love for creating carries over into Frenett’s hobbies. Frenett is an avid cook — one must be in

Despite his impressive accomplishments, Frenett is proudest of the personal connections he’s developed along the way. order to spend three summers on campus. He loves the challenge of complicated recipes, with his favorite food being Indian. He’s a big fan of Val’s paneer — though he said he doesn’t always have the patience to make it himself.

Some of Frenett’s most treasured memories from a busy senior year are of the dinners held at the house of Professor of Physics and Astronomy Kannan Jagannathan (affectionately referred to as “Jagu”). Frenett and Jagu bonded over a shared love for physics, the city of Rochester (where Jagu completed his graduate studies) and, of course, cooking. Frenett loves Jagu’s homemade guacamole, and Jagu in turn reports that Frenett is a “fantastic cook.” Jagu also calls Frenett a “brilliant student of physics and mathematics” and was impressed by Frenett’s thesis.

For his excellent work in physics at Amherst, Frenett became one of just 211 students nationwide to be awarded a Goldwater Scholarship, often considered the highest undergraduate distinction in STEM fields.

His hard work also earned him a ticket to the physics Ph.D. program at Harvard Graduate School, where he will continue his studies next fall.

Nevertheless, Frenett is very modest about these lofty achievements, citing them as a testament to the lengths people in the Amherst community go to in order to help one another.

A Pursuit of Community

Frenett pursued a senior thesis that involved engineering a machine to create and measure oxygen ions — one of his many accomplishments that demonstrate his love for creation.

Frenett’s curiosity and desire for human connection follow him out of the classroom as well. When he finds the time, you can catch him at meetings of the Amherst Political Union (APU). Though he has strong political views, Frenett always cherishes the opportunity to hear others speak and engage with these new perspectives. He especially appreciates the opportunity for enthusiastic face-to-face discussion that APU provides.

A friend since First-Year Orientation, Becki Golia ’18 says that “although Alex often ends up in

debates, his intent is always to understand others’ perspectives and continue to learn. Alex is a great listener and even better friend who supports and truly cares for all of the people in his life.”

When Frenett first arrived at Amherst, club soccer was still in its infancy. Over the course of his four years here — during two of which he has served as captain — Frenett has worked hard to cement the team’s place and standing at Amherst.

First and foremost, Frenett has sought to foster an inclusive community that is at once fun and competitive. A strong center back and one of the best players on the team, he never comes across as arrogant or condescending. Instead, he is firm yet friendly when he gives instructions and advice, relishing the opportunity to teach, something he partly attributes to the philosophy of Amherst.

For Frenett, what really makes Amherst special is the professors’ commitment to both education and research. After graduate school, Frenett eventually wants to become a researcher — no surprise, given his penchant for it already — but he also wants to have the opportunity to make an impact on the world through teaching.

He has been a teaching assistant for numerous physics classes at Amherst, and he brings the same enthusiasm he had for instruction on the soccer field into his office hours.

He enjoys holding help sessions and meeting the younger students in the department. He has also appreciated the opportunity to strengthen his relationships with faculty and serve as a bridge between professors and students, even going as far as to list TA-ing as one of his proudest accomplishments here at Amherst — a fact that speaks to both his modesty and his love for teaching.

Indeed, Frenett already seems to embody some of the best traits of teachers: genuine compassion, trustworthiness, consideration and humility. Whatever Frenett ends up achieving, there is no doubt that he

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 11

Senior Profile | Dakota Foster

A Marshall Scholar Destined for Greatness An exceptional leader, Dakota Foster boasts a singular dedication to her passions, whether lacrosse or international relations.

—Nate Quigley ’19 Many members of the class of 2018 will proudly boast of how they made the most of their time in Western Massachusetts; how many clubs they joined, sports they played or majors they completed. Some of them may even be right. However, most of these accomplishments pale in comparison to those of Dakota Foster, who in her brief four years as a member of the Amherst community, has truly seized the opportunities afforded to her.

A Lifelong New Englander While arriving at Amherst can be a culture shock for students unaccustomed to small-town Massachusetts, Foster wasn’t phased at all. Having grown up in Brunswick, Maine with both parents working at Bowdoin, the young New Englander knew a liberal arts education had always been in her cards. With her house located a few dozen feet from the Bowdoin dining hall, she saw firsthand the close interactions between members of the college community and the incredible opportunities provided by schools of Bowdoin and Amherst’s ilk. Especially key were the conversations, with students at weekly dinners hosted by her parents and in her day-to-day interactions, which reinforced her impression that for liberal arts students, the opportunity of “being in such a small campus really gave them this ability to be leaders in a bunch of different ways.”

Foster became so enamored by the palpable rigor and community of the Bowdoin campus that she made the choice after her junior year of high school to leave behind the snowy, lobster-ridden confines of Maine for the only slightly-less-snowy climate of Concord, Massachusetts, where she finished high school at Middlesex School, which boasted an atmosphere more similar to elite liberal arts colleges than her local public high school.

Apart from the time spent soaking up the virtues of a liberal arts education in Brunswick and Concord, Foster spent much of her youth on athletic fields of various dimensions. Playing soccer and basketball until her arrival

at Amherst and indulging in America’s pastime for a few years, she boasted quite the athletic repertoire, but ironically never touched a lacrosse stick until her first year at Brunswick High School. Although Foster started playing nearly a decade after most of her current teammates at Amherst, she quickly picked up the sport — so much so that she attracted the attention of Amherst coach Chris Paradis, who was just coming off a NCAA tournament semifinal appearance. She saw something in the young Maine native and soon offered her a spot on the team.

Paradis’ offer, combined with the community and location of Amherst, both of which she noted were much superior to those of that other school to the West, made it a no-brainer. And so, after a decade of focusing on the liberal arts, Foster arrived at Amherst in the fall of 2014.

Feasting on Foreign Policy Once settled in, Foster quickly set about making a name for herself in all aspects of campus life, perhaps nowhere more so than in the political science department. Having known since eighth grade that she wanted to major in political science and ultimately pursue international relations, she raced through the major, racking up plenty more than the required 10 classes.

Knowing she needed to zero in on a single area of study, Foster turned her full attention to the Middle East, due in large part to Brunswick’s status as an army town and the wars n Iraq and Afghanistan during her formative years.

Since knowledge of foreign languages is essential to any career in international affairs, Foster started taking Arabic upon her arrival on campus, a path that resulted in her unexpectedly double-majoring in Asian Languages and Civilization. She even took the step of studying abroad in Jordan in a Middlebury-sponsored program at the University of Jordan, which meant she could not speak English for five months.

Rather than complaining, however, Foster spoke to the rewarding nature of being able to develop friendships in a

completely foreign situation.

The willingness to take on such a challenge carried over into Foster’s three summers as a college student, each of which she dedicated to furthering her career pursuits. Her first two internships, at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and then on Capitol Hill with the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, provided excellent opportunities to participate in both the think tank and political aspects of foreign policy. Ultimately, she came to favor the former, choosing to spend the summer between her junior and senior years interning for the U.S. Army’s Combating Terrorism Center at the Military Academy in West Point, New York, working with a group of people whom Foster fondly describes as “the army nerds with army Ph.D.s.” Foster plans on returning to Washington D.C. next summer to spend more time at one of these think tanks because of how much she enjoyed the experience.

These summer internships, combined with her intense semester in Jordan, set Foster up well for the culmination of her academic research — her senior thesis about the impact of two religious and governance doctrines (Wahhabism and Wilayat Al-Faqih) on forms of terrorism in Saudi Arabia and Iran. Foster especially cited the role of Professor of Political Science Eleonora Mattiacci in the thesis-writing process, describing the importance of her position as a woman in the male-dominated field of international relations.

Mattiacci, Foster’s thesis advisor and professor for two other classes, was effusive in her praise for all aspects of her advisee, singling out the way in which Foster’s “intellectual curiosity motivates her greatly to pursue original research.”

Nor was Mattiacci alone in bringing up this defining trait of Foster’s academic pursuits. Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought Austin Sarat went even further in his praise, saying “she is, in a word, extraordinary. Smart doesn’t adequately describe Dakota’s formidable intelligence. And in every conversation … she showed herself to be unusually thoughtful and insightful.”

Foster, though not a star on the lacrosse team, awed her teammates and coaches with her gifts as a leader, being named a team captain her senior year despite only playing in nine of the team’s games.

12 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Photos courtesy of Dakota Foster ’18

Foster will spend the next two years in England pursuing two master’s degrees in international relations and war studies.

Leadership On and Off the Field This extraordinary nature was not contained to the classroom or summers — Foster’s passion and insight found their way into every one of the many activities she participated in and often led. Foremost was the women’s lacrosse team, which Foster played on for four years, during the last of which she served as captain. Although by her own admission, she wasn’t the flashiest of players, Foster was a reliable presence for Paradis in the midfield, delivering workmanlike shifts whenever called upon. Her time as a Mammoth has culminated this season, the best of her four years in Western Massachusetts. Foster showered loads of praise upon the Mammoths’ talented first-year class, exalting both their skill and character.

Paradis, however, made sure to single out Foster herself for praise, especially for her role as captain. “Her leadership this year as a senior captain has been impeccable — setting the bar high as far as expectations of others and vocally leading our young team to a successful season,” Paradis said.

Foster’s coach went on, praising about how Foster “dedicated her four years to serving others, leading others [and] strategizing about how to make our community and the world a better place, all the while taking care of her people and doing the daily grind with a presence that I have rarely witnessed in my 24 years as a head coach.”

Apart from her time on Gooding Field, Foster dedicated countless hours to the Amherst Political Union (APU), of which she served as president during her senior year. Again, Foster is quick to give credit to others in the years above her who served as mentors.

Even besides APU and women’s lacrosse, Foster was a fixture in other groups on the campus, including the Multicultural Resource Center, at which she worked as a staff member during her first year, the resident counselor group, which she was a part of for two years, and several committees. This depth and breadth of activity underscore Foster’s deep appreciation for and love of the people at Amherst, a sentiment that has been reciprocated by many of those who come into contact with her. Close friend Craig Nelson ’18 heaped praise on Foster, saying that “the perspective that she brings to the

classroom, the field, and to our friendship is priceless. When I look back at my own time at Amherst, one of my cherished memories will be having Dakota as my friend.”

Olivia Rosenfeld ’18, another of Foster’s friends, similarly spoke of her incredible friendship, saying, “What I have valued the most in our friendship is not her academic success, but her kindness, loyalty, and honesty.”

While she is incredibly appreciative of the academic and professional opportunities an Amherst education affords, ultimately the personal bonds developed within the community have meant the most to Foster.

Fellowships and Beyond Foster’s incredible track record at the college has not gone unnoticed by those outside Amherst either. While most students would kill for either the Truman or the Marshall scholarship (the former subsidizes graduate school in the United States, while the latter provides for two years of education in the United Kingdom), Foster managed to win both awards over the course of her junior and senior years. She additionally earned the Schwarzman scholarship but turned it down in favor of the Marshall.

One of just 43 Marshall scholars from an application pool of over 1,000 and one of 62 Truman scholars from a field of over 750, Foster hopes to use these incredible opportunities to achieve her dream of a career in foreign service. She’ll spend the first year of her Marshall at King’s College in London working towards a master’s degree in war studies, before moving to either Cambridge or the London School of Economics to receive a master’s degree in international relations.

Though Foster is unsure of her specific plan further down the road — she’s weighing getting a Ph.D. — she does want to spend some time in the government before moving into her preferred path of academia further down the road. If her time at Amherst proves anywhere near representative of her future, though, this won’t be the last time Foster’s name appears in newsprint. Even with this bright future ahead of her, Professor Sarat’s words seem most fitting to close with given the impact Foster has had in four short years; “Amherst will miss her. So will I.”

Senior Profile | Mo Hussein

A Runner’s Journey for a Family and a People Mohamed Hussein is one of Amherst’s greatest-ever harriers — but his path to excellence began halfway across the globe.

—Jack Malague ’19 On Aug. 30, 2012, a skinny kid walked through a gate at Dulles Airport in Virginia, emerging onto a bustling concourse dotted with ATMs and gaudily-priced restaurants. Mohamed Hussein, known almost exclusively at Amherst as “Mo,” strode out of the airport and boarded a van bound for Western Massachusetts.

The flight that Hussein disembarked from was one of the rare few that took off from Hargeisa, Hussein’s hometown. Hargeisa is the capital of Somaliland, a small, self-declared nation that separated from Somalia in 1991 but is not recognized as independent by the international community.

Hussein could easily have cast his upbringing in Hargeisa, a city of a little more than one million, in the boilerplate style of an autobiography; a story of hopelessness complete with an escape through hard work and talent. Yet he speaks of his past, and the people in it, with surprising gratitude and joy: “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Running Free He described his as a typical Somali family, comprised of his mother, father and six siblings — two older and four younger. He spent most of his time in a roving band of misbehaving boys, who divided their time between trespassing on airport property and dueling rival groups in oft-violent soccer games. This latter activity earned some of his friends brief stints in jail, but Hussein always maneuvered clear of trouble. “Life was simple, we just wanted to be adventurous, and explore our surroundings,” he remembered. “And there was soccer.”

Though he has made his name in distance running, Hussein’s first love was soccer. “Playing soccer was the escape for me,” he said. “If I didn’t have soccer I would have had a miserable experience. I don’t think I would have been at Amherst College right now.”

Hussein’s freedom was punctuated by the decided inconvenience presented by school. Somalia and Somaliland once stood out in the region, with literacy rates near 70 percent. Following the civil war between the two in the 1980s,

however, the education system was decimated.

By Hussein’s generation, schools had been rebuilt, but were nothing awe-inspiring. Not many kids in America find real inspiration in elementary school, but developing an educational drive was nearly impossible in Somaliland’s overcrowded, dilapidated schools, staffed by teachers wholly unprepared for their task. Yet Hussein holds no grudge against his teachers. “I don’t blame my teachers, because, in many ways, that was the only mode of survival for them, to feed their families,” he explains It was his parents that forced him to school every day. His mother, who came from a nomadic herding family and struck out on her own for the city, had no formal education. She was determined that her children would receive what she had not. “I’d say, ‘This guy is beating me up, Mom,’ but she’d just say, ‘You have to go, you have to go,’” Hussein said.

Hussein became serious about school in eighth grade, when every Somali student takes national exams, which more or less determine a student’s educational future. “For this one I actually had to change my friend group — I couldn’t play as much soccer as I normally did,” he said, joking, “I had to switch to the nerds.”

A Schoool Called Drought The switch worked. Mo was admitted to the Abaarso School of Science and Technology, which was opening that year and was led by Jonathan Starr, a former hedge fund manager, whose Somali uncle had convinced him to start a school in Somaliland.

“That school changed my life,” Hussein said. “That’s where the story of me speaking English and me loving school, loving learning — that’s when all that started.” But Abaarso was a far cry from the lush prep schools we picture in the United States. Abaarso looks more like a military installation, or even a prison. 12-foot cement walls, topped with razor wire, surrounded the 12-acre compound. Towers manned

by armed guards looked out over the miles of dusty desert that surrounded the campus, interrupted not even by so much as a house. Starr had built his school in perhaps the worst place imaginable. Abaarso, the name of the town nearest the school, means “drought.”

There was no source of water, and no system of pipes to be found. Water had to be delivered daily, by truck.

Starr insisted on complete English immersion. Hussein described this as the greatest culture shock of his life: “I was so disoriented. I was in the same country, but I was almost in a different universe.” Over time Hussein and his classmates learned, and he quickly began to excel in school. He soon was “shortlisted” for placement in a New England prep school.

In March of 2012, Starr came to Hussein’s room on campus. Hussein had been accepted to Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH), a boarding school in western Massachusetts.

Not long later, Hussein received a visit from Grant Gonzalez, NMH’s director of international education.

Gonzalez, sitting beside Hussein in the middle of the Somali desert, showed him pictures of the campus where he would live for the next two years.

“Grant comes over, and starts showing me pictures of this school, pictures of the facilities, of the gym, the academic buildings, the dormitories,” Hussein recalled. No guard tower, no razor wire, no 12-foot walls. And, it was green. “That was what my focus went to, how much green there was … that almost got my heart pacing.” Then Gonzalez, NMH’s track coach, asked a question that would change Hussein’s life: “Do you want to go for a run?”

If Hussein’s stride then was anything like it is today — flowing, powerful and seemingly effortless — Gonzalez must have immediately become giddy. He was soon selling Hussein on the school’s cross country team.

America at Last At the end of the summer, Hussein bid farewell to his family and to his classmates, and left dusty Abaarso

Hussein has dominated the NESCAC cross country circuit ever since his arrival at Amherst, winning the individual crown at the conference championship meet in both his sophomore and senior years.

Photos courtesy of Mohamed Hussein ’18

Hussein’s plan to help open middle schools in Somaliland stems from the influential teachers he had in high school. for NMH’s verdant perch above the ribbean Student Union.

Connecticut River. On his first day, he The Finish Line & Beyond walked to the flagpole in the center of After senior awards, Hussein the campus, where the cross country walked out from a boiling Johnson team met each day for practice. “Im- Chapel onto a first-year quad speckmediately, I felt the camaraderie of the led with spike ball sets and Adirondack team,” Hussein remembered. chairs. The weather had broken a couThough his soccer friends were still ple days before, and sunbathers lay in in Somaliland, he found new kinship the afternoon sun, worshipping the with a very different crew at NMH. newly-dawning spring. His slight frame Running gave Hussein a chance to con- was weighed down by a trophy he had tinue the exploration he had enjoyed as received an hour before — the Howa child, now in the lush setting of Gill, ard Hill Mossman trophy, given each Massachusetts. year to an athlete who, through ath“What attracted me was how safe, letic achievement and sportsmanship, but also how scenic and peaceful it “brought the greatest honor in athletics was,” he said. In the leafy surroundings to the alma mater.” of NMH’s campus, Hussein found a Hussein was eager to talk about sport that he loved. “I didn’t even think the future — just not his own. When about the competition at first,” he said, he showed up to the library for our a statement anyone who has seen him interview he was nearly giddy: he had race will have trouble believing. “Before discovered that a Somali student was that, I was like, ‘This is peaceful, this is among Amherst’s new admitted class. scenic, and also the camaraderie is sec- “It’s cool to see that the Somali flag will ond to none.’” be there,” he said, referencing the anThe rest is history. At NMH he won nual City Streets display. “They don’t multiple conference championships have to get a new one; they can just and, as a senior, was named Massachu- keep this one for the next four years.” setts’ Gatorade Athlete of the Year. At As excited as he was about this, he Amherst, he has won two NESCAC ti- was more excited about his sister, Hamtles, five All-American awards and been da. She had just been accepted to the named as an Academic All-American Berkshire School, another prep school countless times more. in Western Massachusetts. “That was, Hussein’s celebrity at Amherst, kinda, the proudest moment of my however, has less to do with his athlet- time here … She’s younger than me, ic performance than with his interest obviously, but she’s someone that I in others. If you’ve met Hussein, he look up to … a natural-born leader knows your name. He probably knows … I want her to have a better experiyour major too, and where you’re from. ence than I did, and do more, and she Hussein was late for our interview, as he will definitely have more opportunities was busy watching his friends in Danc- available to her.” After his struggles and ing And Stepping at Amherst College triumphs, Hussein hopes, his sister will perform on Admitted Students’ Day. walk more freely the path he blazed beAnd as we spoke, Hussein raved fore her. about the people who had helped him As for his own future, Hussein will get to where he is. “For me what’s most graduate with a double major in ecoimportant is that it’s not a story about nomics and Asian languages and civimy journey, it’s about the people who lizations, as well as a five-college certifishaped my story … Those people are cate in African studies. the bones,” he said.

He plans to find work at a boarding He told me about his siblings and school, teaching and coaching track. his friends, and made sure I knew their This he will do for two years before names. He told me about Susan Starr, heading back to Somaliland to work his old host mother whom he simply with a group starting a chain of middle calls “mom.” He talked about Randy schools — fulfilling Abaarso’s mission Valdez, his “mentor, friend” and, most to train the country’s future leaders. importantly, “boss” in the equipment Mo’s legacy at Amherst will be one room. Billy McBride, another mentor of a student and an athlete, who met and friend. He talked about his friend the adversity, culture shock and unfaDarienne, with whom he started Shaah miliarity of his journey with courage, and Sheeko, a group that meets for “tea optimism, generosity and grace, and and storytelling,” the rough translation whose ferocity in competition rivaled of its name. He went on about the his kindness in demeanor. With all he friends he met through the African-Ca- has ahead, we wish him the best.

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Senior Profile | Kyndall Ashe

The Busiest Woman on Amherst’s Campus From her work on the diversity task force to her role as AAS VP, Ashe is one of few students who can say they had a direct influence on Amherst’s social and institutional path.

—Olivia Gieger ’21 In her own words, Kyndall Ashe is “just a busy person and always will be.”

Ashe is the vice president of the Amherst Association of Students (AAS), a student representative on the President’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion, a director of the a capella group The Sabrinas, manager of the varsity volleyball team and founder and coordinator of the intramural volleyball program.

And in case that wasn’t enough, she also runs The Option, the on-campus used book seller, organized the Branches social group initiative, sat on former AAS President Tomi Williams’ cabinet as the campus community coordinator, sang in women’s chorus and double majored in math and sociology.

Since her sophomore year, Ashe has lived by the guiding philosophy of pursuing her passions. “In college, I decided there’s more than [academics], and my legacy will be more than just how many A’s I got here. I prioritized things that brought me happiness and created spaces or experiences for people to enjoy themselves,” she said.

Rooting Communities Ashe’s deep involvement has grown naturally over her four years at Amherst; she likened it to a domino effect. This increasing engagement led her to run for AAS vice president at the end of her junior year, having never served in AAS before. “At the end of my junior year I realized, I’ve been doing so many things on the institutional level, it makes sense for me to represent the students more officially,” she said.

Her increased involvement in the school initially stemmed from her love for volleyball. With a desire to continue playing her sport beyond high school, Ashe as a first year, along with Katie Ventre ’17, founded the intramural volleyball program and has continued to lead the initiative through all her years at Amherst. Her dedication to her work led her to take on a variety of roles; she arrived early to set up the nets and stayed late to

dismantle them, even storing volleyballs in her room when there was no place to keep them.

Her rationale is was simple: “My personality is very much that if something is not getting done, I’m just going to swoop in and get it done,” she said. “If I’m going to do something, I need it to go well.” It is a personality trait that has extended to many of her other extracurricular pursuits.

Throughout much of her time in student government, Ashe’s work has been focused on social relationships.

When she became the campus community coordinator in her sophomore year, she joined the social project work group committee.

Ashe assumed that position at a turning point in the college’s social scene; the social dorms were about to come down and students were unsure what would rise to fill that void as a communal social space. Ashe and her group launched a research campaign to gauge interest in the potential creation of social clubs. Their survey brought in an unprecedented number of responses, with 1,200 people voting on the existence of social clubs and 60 percent of respondents in favor of them. From this arose the Branches initiative, which featured five different groups, each with no set theme or dominant culture.

Ashe described the challenge of organizing the groups while still letting them be autonomous, a difficulty which eventually led to what she described as “an inequity in how much fun was had” in each group. This imbalance, in addition to the graduation of several organizers, led Branches to fizzle out. While Ashe does still lament the loss of the social dorms and the chance for natural community-building they provided, she is confident and optimistic that the students will come together to find new avenues for the same sense of social connection.

Synthesizing Passions Her love for community transcends Amherst; next year Ashe will work in San Francisco on a LinkedIn team. After interning there last summer, she will return “for the company,

not for California.”

“Tech is one of those places where you go and are like, ‘This is not work.’ ... People do amazing things but while they’re doing it they are making relationships with great people, having great discussions, analyzing interesting data points,” Ashe said as she enthusiastically described the perks and colorful atmosphere of the office.

“It’s a great company. I’m so happy, so lucky, to have the opportunity. Getting to see it last summer was a surreal experience.”

Starting in October, Ashe will be part of the business leadership program at LinkedIn, which is a rotational program that prepares employees for sales positions. “[Working there is] such an interesting and fulfilling experience. It’s cool to see that people can do important and empowering work changing the world, but do it in a way that doesn’t have to be boring,” she said.

The job will also allow Ashe to apply the skills she’s honed in both her sociology and math majors.

While Ashe clearly has a deep love for math and the math department (“The math department here is amazing. They’re pioneers in diversity, super inclusive and awesome”), she especially values her experience as a sociology major. “Sociology has given me my communications skills, my analytical skills, my ability to synthesize ideas into writing. I will always be so grateful,” she said.

Her skills in these areas are ones she’s honed while at Amherst and applied skillfully throughout all her areas of interest. “One of Kyndall’s greatest strengths is her impeccable ability to articulate a vision and couple the idea with elements that contribute to that end goal,” said Director of Student Activities Paul Gallegos, who has worked closely with Ashe on many community engagement projects.

“Her ability to advocate for resources and collaborate with different campus partners has made her an incredible advocate for expanding community traditions.”

The analytical aspects of both her majors perfectly illustrate Ashe’s per-

Photos courtesy of Kyndall Ashe ’18

A math and sociology double major, Ashe will join the San Francisco LinkedIn team after graduation. sonality: she is a born problem-solver. Perhaps it’s genetic — she is a third-generation math major, taking after both her mother and grandmother.

Intersecting Identities Since she was young, Ashe has been engaged in her community. For high school, Ashe attended Sidwell Friends in Washington D.C., the city she has called home for most of her life. Colorful lockers and uplifting sayings dotted the school’s hallways, Ashe remembers, noting that she chose the school for its bright atmosphere and friendly attitude — descriptors that can be, and often are, applied to Ashe herself. At Sidwell, she was the student government co-clerk, a member of the volleyball team, the director of her a capella group and part of the chamber chorus.

Looking at colleges, Ashe eventually settled on Amherst because she felt it echoed the atmosphere of Sidwell. “Amherst is so diverse that I never felt alone,” she said. “I chose it because of that, the open curriculum and [because] my visit was out of this world.”

Throughout her time at Amherst, Ashe’s racial identity has played a unique role. “It’s very rare to be a black woman of means,” she said.

She says her identity within these various groups has led her to “break into different communities. I found myself surviving by trying to be in touch with black communities based on my blackness, be in touch with women’s communities, like The Sabrinas, and then I also am able to get along with rich white kids,” Ashe said. “Being a sociology major and being on the diversity task force, I think about this a lot.”

Leaving a Legacy

Ashe took on a variety of leadership roles at Amherst, including vice president of the Association of Amherst Students and student representative on the President’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion.

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Being a part of Presidential Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion has also been formative, not only for Ashe but for Amherst itself. In her time on the task force, the members have gone from discussing the very purpose of the group to creating an online bias-reporting system.

“Just Biddy [Martin] making the task force is a big deal. That was a gesture showing, ‘I don’t know exactly what needs to happen, but let’s get a group of people who might know together, and let’s talk about it,’” Ashe

said, noting how it marks an upward trend of attention towards issues of diversity.

She feels the same way about the college’s focus on belonging. “I think it’s a matter of acknowledging people’s struggles from the institutional level, making it very explicit that we are here to support you,” Ashe said. “[It’s about] understanding that we are on a path to a very different campus than it was in the 1800s.”

Ashe is optimistic that change will come, but she notes that the college still has to do a lot of work. Thinking forward to her fifth- and 10th- year reunions, she said that upon coming back, “I would like to see more faculty of color, hear about more discussion of bias happening here. I would like to see, hope to see, students have figured out their own way to socialize without the help of the administration ... I do think in five years it will work itself out. I would hopefully like to see students of color, international students, disabled students, people from a number of different backgrounds no longer feel like they aren’t supported by the school overall.”

While she still sees so many problems to be solved, Ashe acknowledged that “I have to be content with the idea that I’ve done all I can, and hopefully Amherst is or will be a better place because of some of the things I’ve tried to do here.”

And for many, she has done just that. “She has remained committed to issues of inclusion and equity but also ensures that the task force continues to focus on the student experience — particularly around the issue of bias,” said Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Norm Jones, who worked on the task force with Ashe. “Along with her peers, Kyndall helps the task force appreciate the in- and out-ofclassroom lived experience for many of our most marginalized students,” he added.

Helping improve communities and the members within them is ultimately what drives Ashe in her intense involvement at the college. In her own words, “If I can provide [assistance] to people that’s great ... In all the things that I’m doing, I have wanted to create opportunities for everyone else to enjoy themselves. I’ve wanted to help them improve their own lives, while also improving my own self.”

Senior Profile | Josh Harmon

Marching to the Beat of His Own Drum Josh Harmon’s enthusiasm for music has been apparent during all four of his years at Amherst — but his positive energy and infectious humor will be missed the most.

— Jake May ’19 “What to say about Josh?” began Professor of English Anston Bosman, whom Josh Harmon worked for as a research assistant during his junior year. “There’s his signature blend of smart and goofy. Crazy talented but always modest. Hard working though he never seems to break a sweat.”

Anyone close to Josh knows these things to be true. During his time at Amherst, Josh has developed a reputation for organizing incredible concerts purely out of passion, performing excellent music in front of his classmates with a genuine smile on his face and making puns that make you groan and laugh at the same time.

The Birth of a Performer Growing up in Short Hills, New Jersey, Josh was a bit of a renaissance man. Early on, he was interested in film, making videos for a YouTube channel he ran with his friend (the partnership fell apart in middle school due to “creative differences”).

He also enjoyed sports, playing Little League baseball (in which he once threw a no-hitter) and later high school tennis. But Josh’s main passion — and what he is now perhaps most known for at Amherst — was drumming. He began taking lessons at the age of four, and his skills quickly developed.

It was his experience at summer camp in the Berkshires, which he attended at age nine with his brother Michael Harmon ’16, that drove home his passion for the instrument.

There, Josh impressed the older kids with his talents, eventually earning the opportunity to close the annual talent show along with Michael.

“Performing at camp, especially when Michael and I would play as a duo, was incredibly exciting,” Josh said. “I started to realize how fun per-

forming was. I began to think ‘This is more than just something I do with a teacher.’”

Josh especially loves the connection he can create with an audience through drumming.

“What I’ve come to realize is that the drummer has control over what’s going on more than anyone else on stage,” he said. “People are dancing to the beat, so when playing the drums, I feel most connected to the audience.”

Arrival at Amherst Josh’s love of performance followed him to Amherst. Upon arriving, he joined the Amherst College Jazz Ensemble (ACJE) and a jazz combo, playing in both with his brother. No one was more excited for Josh’s arrival to Amherst than Michael.

“After Val introduced all-day Honey Bunches of Oats, I didn’t think it could get any better,” Michael said.

“Then Josh arrived. It was a dream come true to spend those two years together — making music, cracking jokes and eating our honeyed oat bunches with reckless abandon.”

After playing in college-run jazz bands together for a year, the brothers decided to create their own band, one in which they could replicate the pop medleys they had played together at summer camp.

Along with Michael, Josh recruited talented musicians they’d met through the Amherst jazz programs and formed a pop cover band, The Brothers Harmon or TBH for short.

Since its formation, TBH has been a staple of the Amherst student band scene, thanks in large part to Josh’s expertise on the drums.

“Josh is the best drummer I know,” Michael told me, bluntly. “His dedication, tenacity and chopstick

stick chops are almost superhuman, and I’m lucky to just be in his band, to be honest.” With the Harmons, one must know that the pun was intended.

Josh values his experience in TBH a great deal: “Playing in TBH has been the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had here at Amherst — not only musically, but socially as well,” he explained. “From playing in that band, I’ve met some of my closest friends, been able to meet new people at Amherst and [through booking gigs on other campuses] allowed me to explore the Five Colleges.”

As a current member of TBH myself, I can say that without Josh’s passion, talent and organizational skills, the band would never have become what it is today.

A Passion for Live Music Josh’s love for performance extends beyond his own concerts to watching others perform as well.

While at Amherst, he has dedicated himself to bringing exciting and unique musical acts to campus for his fellow students to enjoy. Often working with his friend and fellow ACJE member Dan Langa ’18, Harmon has brought a spectacular act to campus each of the past three years.

His sophomore year it was Busty and the Bass, his junior year it was The Kennedy Administration and this past year it was Theo Katzman of Vulfpeck (for whom TBH was an opening act).

“Working with Josh on these projects was a lot of work, but Josh is always thinking three steps ahead,” said Langa. “That made our work miles easier.”

This year, Josh also took on the additional responsibility of being lead programmer of the Campus Activities Board (CAB). This meant

Harmon’s senior thesis on the French military snare drum combined his love for drums and rhythm with interests in European studies and film.

Photos courtesy of Josh Harmon ’18

For Harmon, a French major who developed a love of drumming as a child, making music at Amherst has been a formative experience. that he was involved in nearly all of the college-sponsored activities, from Farm Fest to Spring Concert.

Coalescing Interests In addition to Josh’s impressive extra-curricular activities, he is also a driven and talented student. Josh is a French major, much to his own surprise.

“If you had told me in high school that I was going to major in French, I would have laughed in your face,” he told me. Upon arriving at Amherst, Harmon was not sure in which area he wanted to focus, joking “I switched my major maybe 100 times.”

Early on, Josh had many ideas on what to major in, from geology to film to English. None of them stuck, though. “Through it all, I had been taking French classes, at least one every semester,” Harmon explained, “So eventually I just thought ‘why don’t I become a French major?’”

This decision proved fruitful, as it led Josh to write a thesis on the French military snare drum, which he described as “an incredibly fun process.”

“My thesis allowed me to combine many of the things that I am passionate about, including drums, European studies and film.”

Josh was able to travel to France during interterm to visit a school of French snare drum technique. He took the opportunity to make a movie about his experience, which he calls the fourth chapter of his thesis.

The thesis itself centers around the French military tambour, a topic that even his thesis advisor, Professor of French and European Studies Ronald Rosbottom, hadn’t heard of when Harmon brought it up.

“I told him I wanted to write about the French tambour, and he said ‘what is that?’ When I brought it to the department, I said ‘I think

this is a good idea.’ They didn’t believe me.”

The department has since changed its tune. “Josh’s thesis turned out to be one that the French department will brag about for years,” Rosbottom said. “Part of its success came from his modesty combined with a probity that understates his formidable talents.”

Rosbottom clearly enjoyed advising Harmon’s thesis, adding that “Josh was an excellent thesis student, especially because he kept his infectious sense of humor during the entire process. I remember when he was fretting about how to start his thesis last fall. I said ‘Look, Josh, it’s only mid-October.’ His response: ‘It’s already mid-October?! I’m doomed!’”

An Exciting Future Like his search for a major, Harmon is not exactly sure where the next chapter of his life will begin.

In the short term, he is planning on working in Amherst over the summer with the Putney Pre-College, an international program for high school students that provides academic and athletic opportunities.

As for the long term, Harmon is still figuring things out. He hopes to continue playing music in some capacity, but he doesn’t yet have a clear plan. But, with his level of talent, drive and modesty, it is only a matter of time before Harmon finds a fitting and fulfilling future. Perhaps it will be in performance, perhaps it will be in concert production, perhaps it will be in academia.

But Bosman has other ideas: “I expect him to invent a new kind of snare drum, spend his fortune on a chateau in France and invite me to stay in the ‘chambre de bonne’!”

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 15

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May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 17

Congratulations Ben Greene We are so proud of you!

Love, Mom Dad and Evan

18 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Marialexa Natsis #9

This girl is on FIRE! Dearest Mia, Be who you are meant to be and you will set the world aflame!!

We love you and are so proud of you.

Love, Mom and Dad May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 19

Connor Green McGann Congratulations!

Your family and friends are so proud of you!

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Congratulations Skylhur Class of 2018 Yesterday represents our history and tomorrow you continue your march toward your future.

But today, and every day we have been blessed with the opportunity to know you, you are the gift that keeps on giving - our eternal present.

Thank you for choosing us to share in your journey.

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Senior Profile | Jingwen Zhang

Humanizing Medicine with the Written Word A compassionate friend and ambitious student, Jingwen Zhang leaves behind a legacy in research, advocacy and journalism.

—John Kim ’20 From her days in high school, when she was the captain of her science olympiad team and learned how to play both the piano and flute, to when she came to Amherst as a Schupf scholar and eventually became editor-in-chief of The Amherst Student, Jingwen Zhang’s future has always been as bright as her smile. Her easy-going and sincere personality, along with her motivation and leadership, has made her years at Amherst unforgettable — both for her and everyone around her. Zhang led her peers from her position on the e-board of Amherst Christian Fellowship, created advocacy, outreach and education initiatives for GlobeMed at Amherst and handled countless medical emergencies as a member of Amherst College Emergency Medical Service (ACEMS).

She is a true interdisciplinary scholar, pursuing the pre-med track, exploring many of Amherst’s humanities departments and developing her excellence as a writer, in the classroom and out. Her extensive contributions to our community will last long after her time at Amherst comes to a close.

Blooming on Amherst Grounds Zhang began her journey in China, moved to Chicago when she still had baby teeth and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. She quickly overcame the “culture shock” of coming to Amherst and began to explore and nurture her interests. As one of the few Schupf scholars at Amherst, Zhang saw firsthand how “there were faculty who were willing to invest in me when I was just a freshman who knew nothing.” The Schupf scholarship allowed Zhang to receive access to faculty advising and research funding opportunities to explore her interests. Working with her Schupf advisor, Professor of Biology Caroline Goutte, she quickly realized that Amherst was different from the other colleges she had considered during the application process. Her early connections with Amherst faculty not only gave her confidence but also inculcated a profound appreciation for the humanities on top of her passion for science. “Biology is

about figuring out how life works, but the humanities are about what gives life meaning,” Zhang said.

Zhang already had a tentative interest in becoming a doctor when she arrived at Amherst, but over her four years in Western Massachusetts, this interest developed into a whole-hearted passion for the field and its mission to help others. Zhang is sure to note that her passion for medicine did not come “as a lightbulb moment,” but rather blossomed through a sustained, regular commitment to expanding her experience in the field.

“I was able to connect with Amherst alums and shadow them, and I saw how people were able to use their own training for good,” she explained.

The altruism in the field of medicine — “elevating other people’s needs before your own” — resonated with her Christian belief in the value of service, duty and care for those in need.

At Amherst, she also grew into her Asian-American identity. Her academic experience with Professor of American Studies Franklin Odo — “such a genius, leader and funny guy” — taught her to never be complacent with her Asian-American identity, to always ask how it “affects the way I perceive things.” A year after taking his course, WWII and Japanese Americans, she took a Schupf-funded trip to San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Seattle to explore archival materials and the oft-ignored history of Asian-American communities. Her time with museum curators and other scholars shattered the one-dimensional image of Asian Americans that is pervasive in both “media and even higher-education.”

She tied in her growing awareness of Asian-American identity with how she expects to serve her patients in the future. A doctor who treats you, she believes, should place “pain and hardship in the context of who you are and what you’ve experienced.”

Zhang, according to close friend Zoe Wong ’18, is incredibly talented across a number of disciplines. “Jingwen … won awards in three different departments at Senior Assembly in

Zhang’s senior thesis, which investigated iron transport proteins in plants, though difficult, proved to be incredibly rewarding.

22 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

addition to writing a thesis, which really demonstrates that quality,” Wong said. “She is also able to balance those impressive academics with extracurriculars and spending time with friends.”

Seong Eun Jung ’18, another friend, noted that this commitment to both her work and her relationships shows a lot about her character. “She is pretty understanding and caring,” he added.

Rising for Amherst Uprising Zhang began writing for the news section of The Amherst Student in the spring semester of her first year. When she became the main Student reporter for the Amherst Uprising movement in November 2015, she had little idea that this would be foundational in her development as a journalist.

“With an emotionally-charged issue, you want to avoid making mistakes, which is why I approached the issue cautiously,” she said. With passion and indignation rising across the campus, some students questioned why Zhang kept “reporting the events objectively” without ever taking the students’ side.

Shortly after the student movement, the college got rid of Lord Jeffery Amherst as its unofficial mascot, and Zhang faced another flurry of complaints, this time from alumni who called to let her know that they “didn’t like that the protests were happening.”

Zhang was determined to remain true to both journalistic ethics and journalism’s mission of balance. Nevertheless, she recalls, “it was a tough time covering those protests,” admitting that she hit a couple rough patches along the way. In trying times, Zhang sought respite and strength from both her editor-in-chief, Sophie Murguia ’17, and her mother, who is an experienced journalist herself.

“Not everything in news falls together in a neat fashion for you to write about,” Zhang explained. With contentious and heavy issues, she said that at times, it was “difficult sticking to the same set of rules.” Yet, she persevered and found her stride amidst the heat she faced — “you get used to it, and you keep writing what you write.”

As an aspiring journalist myself, it was reassuring to hear from someone whose commitment to journalism’s code prevailed over emotion and personal whim.

In the spring semester of her junior year, Zhang was promoted to editor-in-chief of The Student. She led the newspaper with Drew Kiley ’18 for two semesters, covering the reveal of derogatory email exchanges between members of the men’s cross country team, the student uproar over new housing policies of gender quotas and the discovery of a noose on Pratt Field, among many other stories.

Working with the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) to budget funds and resources, she also facilitated The Student’s transition from being an independent to a college-supported

Photos courtesy of Jingwen Zhang ’18

Zhang dedicated herself to a variety of activities on campus, including The Student, GlobeMed and Amherst Christian Fellowship. newspaper. The Student staff members she has personally mentored, including managing news editor Shawna Chen ’20 and current editor-in-chief Isabel Tessier ’19, cited her support as integral to their journalistic experiences at Amherst and thanked her for all that she has given to the paper. Her years-long investment in the student newspaper is visible in all of its sections, and her impact on editors and writers will continue long after she leaves Amherst.

Fascination, Failure and Fulfillment In her final year at Amherst, Zhang crowned her love for biology with an honors thesis. Working with Professor of Biology Jeeyon Jeong as her advisor, Zhang attempted to better understand iron transport proteins in plants. “Iron is super important for your body, for all your metabolic processes, and you can’t do anything without it,” Zhang said.

“It’s essentially in all your cells and in all living beings.”

Although it became stressful towards the end, Zhang says that writing her thesis “was cathartic.”

“It was overall, a really good experience because it showed me how research works,” she said. It served as a refreshing alternative to “the research projects I did in high school that someone would set up for me, where a lot of the work was just replicating experiments.”

For Zhang, writing a thesis was a voyage into uncharted waters, in which easy and simple solutions were seldom found. Even when she asked her advisor critical questions, Zhang said Jeong would respond with, “Hmm … Looks like you have more work to do to figure it out.” Though her research topic was novel, Zhang said that she felt “lucky to have previous experiences to easily jump into lab research.”

And yet, lab work was only half the job. “Writing a huge document like that is no small feat,” she said, “ because you have to go into the literature, draw out any information you can and explain why what you did was important.”

“For a lot of people, you don’t get results that work out, which is fine,” she added. Not having all the answers, however, is part of the process. Rather, Zhang said, the important thing is to take that uncertainty and use it to “lay the groundwork for future experiments.”

With so much invested in such an

extensive intellectual project, growth of character is inevitable. “It’s a lot of thinking, a lot of dealing with failure,” she said. Now, she is able to laugh about how often she would become frustrated, even on the verge of tears, when her yeast cultures failed to grow in the lab.

However, she persevered through those painful moments for the sweet rush of discovery — that moment when she found something fascinating and thought, “Huh … this is really important.”

Beyond Amherst When asked whether she wants to continue her research after graduating, Zhang candidly responded that she doesn’t care as much for biology research as she does for practicing medicine. She is looking to expand her horizons, explaining that she “can apply this love for science and love for learning in so many different ways beyond research.” Fortunately for biology departments across the world, she is still “keeping open the idea of doing research in the future.”

Underpinning this overall ambition for discovery is her consistent love for writing. “I really want to carry good communication and writing skills into my medical practice,” Zhang said. She has been inspired by several Amherst alumni who frequently write as practicing doctors, and she hopes to write for a publication in the future.

It comes as no surprise, then, that Zhang plans on taking a gap year after graduation to do medical writing.

“It’s not like journalism writing,” she explains, “but presenting medical literature in a way where people can read, understand and pass on what I’ve written.” Making medical knowledge more accessible is crucial, Zhang said, since many doctors “don’t really know how to communicate things well to their patients and to the public. In an era where relationships between academia and the public can get tense, facilitating good understanding and communication is more important than ever.”

Nevertheless, she leaves Amherst with a heavy heart, having cultivated treasured memories and invaluable experiences. She did struggle along the way, she said, but learned to ask for help. “You have to learn to be humble — only when you admit that you don’t know something is when you can learn.” And continue to learn she will.

Senior Profile | Reece Foy

Finding Faith and Purpose Through Struggle Reece Foy has shown his dedication and love for the Amherst community through his service and infectious positivity.

—Kelly Chian ’20 Growing up in Hawaii, Reece Foy says the spirit of aloha was “just ingrained in the culture.”

“It doesn’t just mean hello or goodbye, but it’s also a way of life — it’s a way to perpetuate love. In that sense, you come and show aloha to everyone, no matter where you are or who you are,” he said.

In this environment and culture of love, in which Foy viewed everyone as family, he dedicated himself to sports, focusing mainly on football, baseball and basketball.

“He had a curious spirit and lived life to the fullest and did not leave a stone unturned. His actions, intended or not, had an impact on most around him,” his mother Terry Foy said.

Now, after four years in Western Massachusetts, Foy leaves Amherst College having enriched the lives of those around him through his dedication to service, faith and football.

A Life of Faith Raised in a Catholic family, Foy spent every childhood Sunday at church. But it wasn’t until his teenage years that Foy began to have a personal connection to his family’s faith.

“I was in my eighth-grade year when I really began to investigate faith for myself, and probably officially my sophomore year of high school when I began to take claim faith for my own,” Foy said.

Foy’s relationship with God deepened after a religious retreat he attended his sophomore year, which motivated him to become the leader of his high school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The retreat was a “special time for me and definitely was my first personal encounter with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and [I] felt His love in my life,” Foy described. “The retreat wasn’t easy either; there were times when we were crying together, we were celebrating and we were praying. Through all of it I felt the newness of Christ.”

However, not until his sophomore year at Amherst did faith become “the center — the most important thing that my entire life revolves around.”

Following Football Like faith, athletics has also long been a part of Foy’s life. Since the age of four, he has played a wide variety of sports, starting with football. This passion was fueled primarily by his family, who advocated for athletics for the life lessons they teach.

Thanks to a stellar high school career as quarterback, Foy was recruited by several colleges, ultimately deciding to attend University of San Diego on a scholarship and fulfilling his dream to play football at a Division I school.

During his first year, Foy went from fifth-string to second-string, but received a concussion during the spring game. The head coach asked Foy to switch positions due to the injury and incoming quarterback recruits. “[The conversation] left a sour taste in my mouth,” Foy said. “It just showed that they didn’t have faith in me, and I wasn’t even sure I would have a spot on the travel roster once the season started.”

While back home in Hawaii that following summer, Amherst football coaches called him daily after hearing about his unhappiness at San Diego.

“I ignored the calls every day because I thought that I’m not going to play Division III,” Foy said.

Foy eventually answered out of respect for his brother, who was close with one of the coaches. Knowing little about the school, he applied to Amherst that June with the encouragement of his father.

After getting accepted a few weeks later, he sat down with his prayer mentor and asked God where He wanted Foy to go to school. In his prayers, Foy had a vision of a bird’s-eye view of the college, receiving his answer that God had plans for him in Amherst, he said.

By chance, his football locker

during his first year was next to that of Chris Gow ’16, who had been praying for more Christians to arrive at the college and help grow the Amherst Christian Fellowship.

During his junior year, Foy tore his ACL and wasn’t able to play his second season at Amherst. The injury served as a lesson to look at his life beyond the spotlight or leadership of being quarterback and instead reaffirm his faith in God. Recently, Foy tore his ACL a second time, and instead of despairing, began to rejoice because “perseverance actually makes our faith more complete.”

“The things that we think are going to be insurmountable, with Christ are actually very surmountable, because my true joy, my true fulfillment, doesn’t come from football or even from my health,” Foy said. “My true joy [and] fulfillment comes with Christ and having a relationship with Him.”

Translating Service into Academics This fulfillment is clearly visible in the kinds of community service projects in which Foy has participated from a young age. When he was in ninth grade, Foy created a club that raised over $50,000 for refugees in Darfur.

Once at Amherst, Foy complemented his interest in service with his academic pursuits — he is a political science and architectural studies double major — to deepen his understanding of social issues and inequalities. In a class with Professor Gabriel Arboleda of the architectural studies department, Foy learned more about housing issues in the Darfur refugee crisis as well as the barriers that inadequate shelter place on social mobility.

In political science classes, Foy pursued material on the practical impacts of policy implementation.

“Quite frankly, in this world you can’t get much done unless you have

Foy excelled on the football field, leading the team to a perfect 8-0 record as a sophomore and throwing for over 2,000 yards and 15 touchdowns over the course of his collegiate career.

Photos courtesy of Reece Foy ‘18

Foy’s time at Amherst has been marked by a deep commitment to faith, as seen in his time with the Amherst Christian Fellowship. some knowledge of the political realm,” Foy said. “If I want to go and work in Darfur, there’s so many political strings attached to it, and especially in international work.”

“I want to really make a change in these lives,” Foy added. “I need to have both knowledge of their dayto-day living and political knowledge … like how does implementation between political policy correspond to the actual creation?”

Eleonora Mattiacci, a professor of political science at Amherst, has taught several classes and independent studies with Foy, and was impressed by his leadership qualities.

“He has a unique capability to bring people together, whether it is by engaging their thoughts in class with thoughtful and original contributions, facilitating group discussions or organizing group activities,” Mattiacci said. “He has a knack for communicating with others in a way that is both respectful and compelling.”

Mattiacci further noted Foy’s originality and creativity, highlighting the way “he has distinguished himself for his sharp, often counterintuitive takes on the material for the class.”

“He engages with the material in a uniquely thoughtful way, taking careful notes in class and seriously engaging both readings and assignment,” Mattiacci said.

Beyond his distinguished academic record, Foy spends much of his time developing and strengthening his relationships on and off campus.

“I think one of the most unique things about Reece is his ability to both be the life of the party by being adept and engaging in large group settings, but also how I’ve personally experienced his ability to show incredible care and respect for me in our individual relationship,” said Nathan Ives ’18, his roommate for the last two years. The two met during their first year at Amherst and became close

friends after a spring break trip to New Orleans called ServeUp, which brings college students together to serve in areas affected by natural disasters and engage in dialogue about race, faith and social justice.

Bill Cooley, Amherst staff worker and member of the local church MercyHouse, which Foy attends,similarly attests to his compassion.“The genuine love that Reece has for others is rooted in his Christian conviction that God loves every person unconditionally,” Cooley said. “He is committed to reflecting that love in his own actions.”

This deep dedication to others has manifested itself throughout Foy’s time at Amherst. He helped launch Val Appreciation Day and organized members of the football team to work at Valentine Dining Hall. “I just love the people in Val, and I think it’s important that I can recognize what they do for us. It’s a thankless job,” Foy said.

Foy also volunteers his time for organizations like Amherst Survival Center, the Amherst Senior Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Hampshire County and MercyHouse.

The recognition Foy has received for all these contributions is not limited to the Amherst campus — Foy was named to the 2017 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and honored during the 2018 Sugar Bowl halftime ceremony.

After college, Foy plans on continuing serving Christ by working in ministry in southern California next year, with weekends devoted to training quarterbacks in the area.

“In all that he does, he invests his whole heart,” his mother said.

“Although Reece is the epitome of ‘living life to the fullest,’ he also tries to get others to live their best life. Reece’s passion for people highlights his friendly spirit and determination to help and make a difference.”

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 23

Senior Profile | Aditi Krishnamurthy

AAS President Strives For Transparency Aditi Krishnamurthy’s drive to improve campus culture has shaped the lives and experiences of countless students for the better.

—Henry Newton ’21 Summing up an entire four years at one place is a difficult endeavor. However, in some cases, one word can easily encapsulate an entire experience. For Aditi Krishnamurthy ’18, that word is simple: unexpected.

Krishnamurthy will graduate as a double major in chemistry and French, while also having served as president of the Association of Amherst Students (AAS), treasurer of AAS and a senator, all while pursuing a career in the finance industry. It is this curiosity and adventurous spirit that has come to define her time at Amherst, for there was never something she wouldn’t try at least once or a challenge too difficult to pursue.

Embracing the Unexpected From her earliest days on Amherst’s campus, the unexpected was everywhere. Arriving from India without ever having seen or experienced the place that she would call home for the next four years was a nerve-wracking experience that left Krishnamurthy searching for something that would define her.

One of the things that gave definition in those first days was meeting her best friend, Christina Bourne ’18, during First-Year Orientation.

“Becoming friends with Christina was so important to my time here because we are very similar but obviously come from completely different places,” Krishnamurthy said. “She was born and bred in Chicago, but over the course of freshman year we spent a lot of time together and found that we had so much in common. And that did set the tone for me at Amherst because it opened my eyes to the fact that I could be so much alike with someone who has a completely different background from me.”

It was this openness to others and new experiences, coupled with a willingness to change direction and pursue her passions, that would come to define Krishnamurthy. As Bourne said, “I’ve always been impressed by her intelligence and her confidence in her intelli-

gence … She is unapologetic about her drive, which is uncommon for women on this campus, and [that] was something that really drew me to her as an individual and friend.”

Intellectual Curiosity That first year also saw Krishnamurthy begin on the path towards what would eventually become her major, chemistry, working in the lab of Professor Elizabeth Young. Her first project in the lab centered on the longterm goal of creating a paint that could be used to produce energy. “I worked on a lot of things in Professor Young’s lab, including a bunch of things in a glove box, which is an inert environment, in Merrill, which basically means you have to stick your hands in these giant gloves and do all of these precise experiments inside,” Krishnamurthy explained.

Despite this sudden and often overwhelming introduction to high-level chemistry, it was here that she made her first change in plans. “One of the things that I learned throughout that first year in Professor Young’s lab was that I did not want to pursue chemistry long-term, which was a very valuable thing to learn at that point!” she said.

Her thoughtfulness and willingness to make changes that others would not allowed Krishnamurthy to face new challenges. “Understanding what I was actually interested in versus what I had convinced myself I should be doing with my life was a big moment,” she said.

Alongside this intense immersion in chemistry, Krishnamurthy pursued one of her other interests: French. Her passion for the subject stemmed from her youth, when she had to learn three languages simultaneously, but found French to be the most fulfilling.

“I’ve always just loved French,” she said. “When I moved to India, after a certain time, I had to pick between learning Hindi and French. In Hindi it felt as if I was just banging my head against a wall, but I loved learning French, and I just stuck with it. It opened a whole new world of books

I could read and films I could watch.

To have this whole other world that felt like my own was amazing.”

This intellectual curiosity served Krishnamurthy well in her pursuit of two diametrically-opposed subjects.

“French has been my outlet. Even if class if boring, I can just sit there and enjoy the language,” she said.

Finding Finance Over the summer between her sophomore and junior years, Krishnamurthy, disenchanted with chemistry, decided to find something completely new and different to try, and looked towards finance as a way to change her perspective. “I feel like the job is something that, in a weird way, came to me,” Krishnamurthy said.

“I didn’t go out looking for it, and it’s the fact that I had a couple of goofy answers that connected chemistry to finance and [Wells Fargo] gave me an opportunity and then I interned there twice. I met people there who reminded me of the people I’ve met and been friends with and realizing that I enjoyed the job and growing within the position to learn things that I couldn’t have learned at Amherst.”

However, even with this newly-discovered affinity for finance, Krishnamurthy didn’t completely abandon her previous paths. “I made the decision that I was not going to change my major, largely because I enjoyed the challenge of chemistry,” she explained.

“It was not something that came or comes easily to me, and it was definitely something that I have had to try at, a lot. And that was good; it taught me so much in terms of just sitting down for four hours and then being proud of what you’ve produced.”

This perhaps reveals the most about Krishnamurthy’s character. In the face of daunting moments, moments that would otherwise seem insurmountable, her willingness to simplify and solve problems has made her stand out at Amherst. Coming to Western Massachusetts from high school with a plan to study chemistry, only to find out that was not the path she want-

Photo courtesy of Aditi Krishnamurthy ’18

Krishnamurthy led the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) through a year of hardship but never once let that weigh her down.

24 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Photo courtesy of Takudzwa Tapfuma ‘17

A chemistry and French double major, Krishnamurthy’s journey to and through Amherst has been filled with surprises. ed, forced Krishnamurthy to open her horizons and find something that truly appealed to her enthusiasm for taking intellectual and interpersonal risks.

Serving Amherst Rising out of this predicament, Krishnamurthy unexpectedly decided to run for AAS senator for the class of 2018 as a rising sophomore. Krishnamurthy soon grew to love the process and institutions that made up the student government, claiming “[AAS] helped develop within me an attitude of wanting to help people figure things out.”

After a year as senator, Krishnamurthy was elected to serve as treasurer of AAS, which meant that she was responsible for dispensing AAS’ funds to the clubs and student organizations that requested money for the school year. A key part of Krishnamurthy’s time as treasurer was spent putting more emphasis on transparency, which she sought to improve.

“As treasurer, I held office hours, where anyone who had something they wanted to ask me or to talk about their budget could come discuss,” she noted.

“Although people rarely came, it was something that I think was important because it showed that AAS was really trying to be there for the students, rather than being the government of the students.”

In the end, the decision to run for president was like many of her other major events at Amherst, unexpected and an intellectual risk. As Krishnamurthy tells it, “in a way, it was unconscious. It just happened, and one day I found myself running for president.”

“The presidency itself was challenging,” she said. “The general theme was, for me, rebuilding AAS as an institution that students could trust and come to, and another was working with the class deans more, because they’re an underutilized resource in terms of building community.”

However, Krishnamurthy was faced, as many student leaders are, with the inevitable sclerosis of an institution reticent to change and unwilling to relinquish some of its authority to the students. “The stuff that happened at Crossett Christmas and the way the school started responding … with little or no consultation with us was challenging,” Krishnamurthy said.

At the same time, many in the student body pushed back against the AAS. Krishnamurthy described how “it was hard trying to convince some students that we don’t report to the administration. We have our own bank accounts that aren’t tied to the school at all, but in order to get things done at the school, you can’t just throw a coup — you have to work with people.”

Faced with a stubborn administration and a skeptical student body, Krishnamurthy said these were the most trying moments of her presidency. “It’s hard because sometimes the administration here doesn’t respect student government in the way it should.

I had a meeting with Dean [Suzanne] Coffey when we were planning the town hall, and I did my best to remain in contact with her so that, at the very least, they always knew that there was someone watching them.”

A Lasting Legacy While Krishnamurthy herself expresses skepticism over the impact of her administration, she has earned the respect of both administrators and students for her leadership and command of both the collaborative and managerial aspects of her job.

Director of Student Activities Paul Gallegos, who worked closely with Krishnamurthy when she was AAS treasurer and president, said: “she was able to deftly work through inefficiencies and grow the influence of student government in tremendous ways.

What was most impressive about her work was that everything she ventured toward was carried out in a collaborative and compassionate manner for everyone involved.”

Krishnamurthy leaves Amherst as a member of a class that has seen a sea of change in the way that Amherst views itself, its responsibilities and its history, and as a leader who has guided and shaped this very same transition.

What she leaves behind is not necessarily a legacy of physical change or grand campus movements, but the perhaps more important understanding that the history and legacy of an institution are constantly shaped by those who are there to push for such changes.

“The day I graduate, I’m going to have a lot to think on, because I’ve gotten to see these two sides of Amherst.

It’s been such a learning experience to be here,” she said.

Senior Profile | Aziz Khan

Aspiring Doctor Personifies Poise on the Pitch Aziz Khan’s selflessness, faith and humility have made him a role model for his teammates and friends alike.

—Connor Haugh ’21 Aziz Khan was picked last in his fifth versus sixth grade soccer match.

“I actually started late,” Khan remembers. “I was not into sports when I was younger. I was more into arts, drawing and painting.” That day, when Khan was picked last, changed his mind.

“I wasn’t a big soccer fan, but the idea of being left out felt awful,” he explained. “So that summer, I asked my mother to get me a ball and I just trained. I trained all summer, and I came back the next year and I was one of the better players.” Success on the pitch, along with encouragement from his mother to look abroad brought him from Banjul, Gambia to boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts and finally to Amherst.

While at Amherst, Khan was home on the left flank of the Mammoths’ attacking trident. On the ball, he is poised, his poker face giving no hint as to his intentions. Galloping forward, he can uncork a sizzling cross, leaving his defender in his wake with a whirling-dervish-like combination of feints and explosive steps. His coach, Justin Serpone, praised Khan, saying he was “probably as creative and talented as any guy we’ve had. He has a little bit of a flair to him that other guys appreciate.” Serpone, however qualifies such praise unusually, noting, “But that’s one percent of what I would remember about Aziz.”

To explore Khan’s time at Amherst without consideration for the empathy, poise and determination with which he carries himself is to ignore the most important part of him. These characteristics are fueled by his deeply faith-based sense of self and a profound love of his home.

A Close Childhood Community Banjul sits at the gaping mouth of the Gambia River, the banks of which comprise the serpentine-shaped nation of Gambia. The joining of river and sea holds more than aesthetic significance for Khan’s family. His father runs a restaurant which serves dishes from both bodies of water, while his mother

exports aquatic delicacies, like traditionally dried catfish and tiger prawns, to Gambian expatriates abroad who crave the taste of home.

When I asked where to get Gambian food in Amherst, Khan warmly offered his mother’s cooking when she comes for graduation, earnestly insisting that there is no better alternative.

“I only get homesick when I miss the food,” he jokes. Gambia, however, plays a distinct part in the way Khan interacts with the world around him.

After Khan was born in Boston, his parents made a decision to leave America and return to their homeland. Khan attributes his parents’ move to a desire to raise their family like they themselves were raised.

The first difference Khan notes is the pace of life. “You have to make friends outside,” he quips.

His earliest memories involve growing up in the streets of Banjul, which he describes with a hint of nostalgia.

People are what matter in his memory of Gambia.

“Gambia is different in the sense that it is a very collectivist culture. All doors are open, and you are encouraged to meet people, say hi and always greet the elders.” The guarantee of close community, even sitting some 3,500 miles away from the bustle of Banjul in Frost Café, gives Khan confidence to pause and smile to himself.

Khan took the lessons from home to America. “In many ways that culture grounded me, and so when I came over for boarding school in 2010, it wasn’t a big jump to me,” Although most Gambians who study abroad do so in Europe, at the suggestion of his mother, Khan enrolled in Lawrence Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts.

Khan enjoyed life at Lawrence, where he made music, danced and played soccer. “It was different, but I felt like I had everything I need to succeed here,” Khan said. He enjoyed the sense of community at the school, where he knew all his peers, teachers and the staff personally. It was a desire to continue his education in this type of small, tight-knit community that drew

him to Amherst.

A Team Player In his first fall at Amherst, Khan immediately found a group of close friends on the soccer team, eagerly dove into his coursework, ran track and got involved in many groups, both faith-based and secular. Early on, Khan formed a close connection with Mo Hussein ’18, whom he remains close with to this day. They bonded over meals in Valentine Dining Hall, debating sports — Khan avidly follows the NBA and is a Manchester United fanatic — and Hussein grew to value Khan’s wit, as well as his care, honesty and patience. “When he’s talking to you, he never loses his calm — he knows who he is and will never change that,” Hussein said.

“There’s a handful of kids you have over the years, that, even when you are coaching them, you admire, and Aziz is one of those guys,” says Serpone, who values Khan’s contributions off the field as much as his creativity on the pitch.

“He’s as kind-hearted as a person as I’ve met, let alone coached. You just want people to be around him.” When giving the 11 new first-years on the team advice, Serpone simply told them: “just stand next to Aziz and you’ll learn something.” Khan, in his role as captain, added value not through exuberance, but through a measured confidence and caring interactions. “The way that Aziz works, it’s one-on-one conversations, it’s challenging people, again in really thoughtful ways,” Serpone said.

Although a delightfully skillful player with the ball at his feet, Khan struggled throughout his time at Amherst to dominate defensively, a necessary part of Amherst’s intense, physical style of play. Even when the going was tough, Serpone noted that Khan’s innate positivity deflected any hits to his confidence.

Indeed, according to Serpone, Aziz consistently put his teammates’ successes first, almost to a fault. “Any conflict I’ve had with Aziz is because he’s so unselfish. He doesn’t worry about himself

Khan’s soccer coach says Khan always puts his teammates’ successes first, both on and off the field, a quality that led to his selection as team captain.

Photos courtesy of Aziz Khan ’18

Khan, a soccer player and aspiring doctor, helped Amherst win the Division III National Championship in 2015. at all, he’s always thinking about other people.” The team selected Khan as captain his senior year for this exact ability to motivate and connect with his teammates.

Even with these minor struggles, Khan’s soccer career has brought great joys — he fondly remembers celebrating goals, especially at Amherst’s DIII National Championship during his sophomore year. Khan remains grateful for the experiences his soccer career has given him.

“To me, soccer has been a great teacher of many things,” Khan said.

“Discipline, patience and just how to deal with people. You are forced to meet people and then learn to work with them. I think we [the Amherst team] have a common joy and common love. That joy is the language we all speak and it brings us together.”

A Field of Interests Off the field, Khan has excelled in his academic work. Along with completing a psychology major, Aziz pursued courses which would prepare him for a career in medicine. In his major, he enjoyed looking at the human mind and understanding its confounding nuances, particularly in his Behavioral Neuroscience and Abnormal Psychology courses. Outside of his major, his favorite course was Organic Chemistry with Professor David Hansen. “STEM courses are very difficult in a sense, because they are different than other courses,” Khan explained. “They are very applied. They give you the tools, so when they give you a problem they know how to attack it.”

Lauding Professor Hansen’s teaching ability, Khan said, “I think often professors get lost in assuming some things you might know, but Professor Hansen lays everything out. The tools he has given me I can apply to other courses.”

Khan also developed a passion for languages, taking courses in French and Spanish, which he regrets beginning too late, and he hopes to continue honing his skills after college.

In addition to balancing academics, friends and athletics, Khan is a devout Muslim. Practicing his faith at Amherst, however, has not been straight-

forward. Salat, the practice of five daily prayers, often overlaps with class and practice, but Khan always finds time in his schedule to pray. “If I miss it, I make it up at night,” he said.

The Muslim community at Amherst is small in comparison to Gambia.

Valentine Dining Hall does not observe halal cooking methods, so Khan must forgo that practice at school while still avoiding pork and pork products. Tequila lime chicken and other meals cooked with alcohol also pose an issue for Khan’s religious practices. Khan wryly cracks that he finds himself “switching over to the ‘Lighter Side’ a lot.”

Living in a diverse community, despite the difficulties of practicing his faith, has been a positive experience for Khan. It has allowed him to serve as an ambassador for his faith and enter into dialogue with those of other faiths and perspectives he would not have encountered in Gambia. Faith also provided a springboard into the larger Pioneer Valley for Khan. He regularly attends the Hampshire Mosque in Hadley for Friday prayers and meets with the Muslim community at UMass Amherst.

Pursuing His Dreams After Amherst, Khan has set his sights on medical school. He sees the immediate future, however, as another opportunity to try new things and follow his passions. Along with attending tryouts to play professional soccer, Khan will teach science to seventh and eighth graders and extend the passion for the sciences he has cultivated as a pre-med student at Amherst to the wider world, or maybe conduct research in the sciences.

Hussein, who hails from Somaliland, joked with me at the end of our interview that he and Khan would take their nation’s flags with them upon their graduation, as the probability of another student arriving from their homelands remains unlikely. Mo laughs after saying this, but adds, “Hopefully, because of him, there’ll be more Gambians here in the future.” From Banjul to Benenski, Khan has maintained a strong self of self, bringing joy and calm to friends, teammates, professors and peers.

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 25

Senior Profile | Hannah Hackley

Basketball Star Leads with Compassion Hackley is enormously accomplished and incredibly humble both on and off the court.

—Seoyeon Kim ’21 An English and psychology double major and senior captain of the women’s basketball team, Hannah Hackley is a role model to many. Described as a selfless, caring and intelligent individual by those around her, she is known for having a positive impact wherever she goes.

When asked about his relationship to Hackley, women’s basketball head coach G.P. Gromacki simply replied, “I have not and cannot see anyone not having a good relationship with Hannah.”

Before Amherst Hackley grew up in Westford, Massachusetts, a close-knit suburban town around an hour outside Boston. She speaks warmly of her family and of the constant support they have provided, as well as their commitment to being present in everything she accomplishes, often giving up entire weekends to drive her to tournaments in middle school or planning family vacations around her basketball schedule.

Hackley started her basketball career in third grade, when her mother began coaching her in a recreational league, a relationship that lasted until eighth grade.

Hackley was initially drawn to basketball because of the sport’s team element. “There’s nothing more fun than winning with the people you love,” she said.

While basketball has always been a big part of her life, Hackley started realizing toward the end of her high school career that she could use her passion for the hardwood to help achieve her academic goals as well.

Drawn by Amherst’s amazing academic and athletic reputation, she leapt at the opportunity to compete for a national championship at an elite academic institution.

A Remarkable Selflessness When asked to describe Hack-

ley, her family, coaches, friends and professors reach a consensus on one particular characteristic: her selflessness.

“She’s thoughtful, reaching out when she knows you have something big going on like a test or a tough, long stretch of meetings,” said close friend and teammate Jackie Nagle ’18. “She’s always putting others before herself — her selfless nature makes her really special.”

Hackley’s altruism also shone in her role as captain this past year.

“On the court, she is always looking to make the extra pass before shooting her own shot,” said assistant coach Victoria Stewart. “She always wants what is best for the team, not just what’s best for herself individually.”

Gromacki agreed with his assistant, describing Hannah as “one of the most unselfish and caring individuals … she puts her teammates and everyone ahead of herself.”

A Phenomenal Player During Hackley’s last two seasons at Amherst, the women’s basketball team put together a historic 66-game winning streak, notching consecutive perfect 33-0 seasons complete with two national championships.

Hackley has been an integral part of her team’s success, tallying her 1,000th career point against Little III rival Wesleyan in this Feburary’s NESCAC tournament semifinals. In addition, Hackley has been on the NESCAC All-Academic team for all four years of her college career.

“Hannah is a ‘big moment’ player,” Gromacki said. “Last year, she hit the game-winning shot versus Tufts to get us home court advantage and keep our streak going, and this year she hit the big three-point shot that won a game versus Trine [University] in Las Vegas.”

When asked about his first impression of Hackley, Gromacki said

that he was initially impressed by her outstanding athletic ability, noting that her range of movement is remarkable for someone of her height.

“My great impression never changed … she is the same person today as when she entered Amherst, the only difference being she leaves with two national championships,” he said. “She will go down as not only one of the greatest players but one of the most influential players ever to play in our program.”

As a leader, Hackley stresses that her bond with her teammates is what motivates her. “I feel a responsibility to carry the success and commitment of the people who came here before me,” she said. “Encouraging my team the best I can … that’s what drives me. Seeing my teammates excel is so important.”

A Passion for Working with People Hackley’s natural tendency toward being a team player is clear off the court as well. “She’s always been a happy person, smiling at everyone and just being a people person,” Hannah’s sister, Cara, said. “People are attracted to the light she gives off. She’s the kind of woman that people want to be near, and she is very humble about it.”

Hannah’s first career instinct was to become a teacher. She worked at a variety of summer camps while growing up, including both basketball camp and vocational bible school. These experiences led her to seriously consider pursuing a career in education, and it didn’t hurt that children generally love her. “I have literally never seen a kid not smile at her,” Cara said.

When she arrived at Amherst, though, Hackley developed a new passion in her majors, and discovered a penchant for consulting and marketing. However, even though she plans to pursue a long-term career in finance, she says that working

Hackley started 99 games over her four years at Amherst, including 62 games during the program’s ongoing 66-game win streak. She leaves Amherst as a two-time national champion.

26 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Photos courtesy of Hannah Hackley ’18

Hackley’s friends, coaches and professors rave about her work ethic, incredible care for others and outstanding academic record. with kids is still a huge part of her life. Her dedication toward helping others is evident: Hackley has participated in “Beyond el Campo,” a program that brought her to Costa Rica to teach English in a community with limited educational resources, and has also traveled to Rwanda, where her mom works nearly full time, to help put on summer camps for disadvantaged children.

Hackley emphasized that these trips have been transformative.

“Working with the people [at “Beyond el Campo”] ended up being a life-changing event and personal growing opportunity,” she said. “It was humbling.”

Hackley has also worked as an orientation leader at Amherst and tutors in town with A Better Chance.

“My favorite role I had [at Amherst] was being an orientation leader,” said Hackley. “I had such an amazing experience as a freshman … I wanted to try to pay that forward and impact students the way that I was.”

Outstanding Academics In addition to a stellar athletic career, Hackley will graduate from Amherst with another remarkable accomplishment: her psychology thesis. Looking at the malleability of two occult personality traits, communion and agency, Hackley examined how these traits change given particular contexts.

“I started thinking about [my thesis] when I went through my own interview processes last June,” Hackley said. “I became attuned to how I was answering the questions differently based on the gender of my [interviewer], based on the industry I was applying to, based on all these different aspects. My thesis involves looking at students in interview settings or friend settings and examining how people self-express differently about success and failure given a situational context.”

Hackley’s thesis advisor, Professor Allen Hart in the psychology department, gave a glowing review of her academic ability, saying that “when [Hannah] puts things on paper, there’s a crispness in her writing that I noticed from the very begin-

ning — a clarity in her writing that I think is very impressive, and really sets her apart from a lot of writers that I’ve worked with.”

Hackley’s work ethic in balancing her many extracurriculars and her academics is incredible. “She is a great thinker and a hard worker … tenacious in pursuing ideas and in pursuing people to get them to participate in her studies,” said Hart.

When asked how she manages her time between all of her activities, Hackley replied that she actually enjoys the chaos. “I think I thrive in competitive and multitasking environments,” she said. “I love running around to different programs … I couldn’t see myself not having a structure. [The constant chaos] works well for my personality.”

“It helps that I’m not doing it alone,” Hackley added. “There are 10 other young women on my team who are balancing everything too and I’m inspired by them every day.”

Endless Possibilities After college, Hackley will work as a data analyst for the digital marketing firm Digitas in New York City.

While she is passionate about marketing, she is still unsure about which specific path she will pursue in the future. However, according to those closest to her, this uncertainty simply places Hannah in a world of endless possibilities.

“Hannah’s future is going to be absolutely whatever she wants it to be,” Stewart said. “She is a determined individual and when she has her mind set on something, she can get it.”

Hart agreed: “It’s going to be hard to shoehorn her into one area or another … It’s hard to predict exactly what her future will look like, because she is more than wellequipped to pursue many different career paths going forward.”

Hackley hopes to continue working with others in collaborative, team-oriented work environments.

Given her ability to excel in her passions and her remarkable selflessness and humility, there is no doubt that Hackley will continue to be a role model for many — regardless of where she goes.

Senior Profile | Stefan Yong

A Fluid Dancer, Intellectual and Traveler In everything from military service to K-Pop dance groups, Yong boasts an ease and fluidity that allows to him excel in all endeavors.

—Daniel Delgado ’21 Stefan Yong is a black studies major with an eclectic set of interests. As a member of Dancing And Stepping at Amherst College (DASAC) and DBJ Dance Crew (a Five-College group), former e-board member of the International Students Association and one of the founding members of the Asian Students Association (ASA), Yong is deeply involved on campus through a variety of distinct avenues.

It is not surprising, then, that he will be part of an intense interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in University of California, Santa Cruz, a future that fits in with his diverse interests, passions and unique way of thinking.

Bootstraps packs

and

Back-

Yong, who grew up in Singapore, spent two years after high school in mandatory military service for the city-state. While serving in the army, he developed valuable friendships — he noted that you tend to closely bond with a “group of people where we are all suffering together.”

Besides learning all your “you know, army skills,” he recalls the period being a formative part of his character development. After all that time he spent walking around in the jungle, he said, he now loves to go on hikes.

However, Yong admits that he has a complicated relationship with the military. “Sometimes I wish I could get that time back,” he said, noting that he wouldn’t have joined the army if he had a choice in the matter.

It was during these two years that he ended up discovering the liberal arts and applying to college.

His decision to apply to Amherst was an unusual one compared to his friends, most of whom chose colleges in Singapore, Australia or the

UK. Yong felt a sense of curiosity and wonder when he first learned about the nature of a liberal arts college and knew almost immediately that he wanted to “be whatever that is.”

“The model of education in Singapore is very different. It really focuses a lot on performance,” Yong explained. “In a lot of stages of your education they assess you and you’re meant to turn yourself into a high-performing individual.

So hearing about small class sizes and seminars and open curriculum and hearing about all these things I’d never heard of before — I was like, ‘Yes!’” Yong made his way through the application process largely on his own, using websites like College Confidential to learn about the U.S. college application process, standardized testing and other required elements of the application. After applying to to several colleges, Amherst was his only acceptance and so, “it was either stay home or come to Amherst.”

class, an international student and had served in the military. Among these large groups of people that were new and foreign to him, he had to “learn how to translate my own sense of humor to America.”

He also experienced dissonance between the expectations and reality of his academic life. When asked if he had taken a class that he hadn’t expected to before arriving at Amherst, he said took Narratives of Suffering with Professor of English Geoffrey Sanborn because he felt it was important “even though I didn’t think I’d be necessarily comfortable.” In the end, the class left a deep mark on his thinking — whenever he sees “people who took that class, and I only know them because they were in that class, I still say hi to them and I feel like, ‘Yeah, we took that class together.’ It means something that we were in that space.”

Despite not considering himself a literature person, the class helped him develop an appreciation for the written word, and he ended up writing a thesis with a literary emphasis.

Expectation and Reality

Finding Community and Rhythm

“I think the key feature of my thinking about Amherst before I came wasn’t what I was thinking about, but how I was thinking about it,” Yong said when asked about his first-year transition.

Like many students entering college, he imagined Amherst as “uncomplicated, and almost like … some type of paradise.” He remembers thinking that “when I got there things would be so different, and things would be great all the time.

And obviously it’s not great all the time.”

Yong experienced culture shock during his first semester and recalls having to get used to “different senses of humor.” He was a few years older than most in the incoming

Yong has been an avid dancer since middle school, but he stopped upon joining the military. After two years without dancing, he began to think that he might never do it again. Things changed during his second semester at Amherst, however, when he casually accepted an offer a friend made to try out for DBJ Dance Crew, a K-Pop dance group. “I went to the audition, and it was super fun,” he remembered.

He hasn’t looked back since.

Since DBJ Dance Crew is a five-college group, Yong soon found himself frequently leaving campus to perform, and the group became a way to branch out of the Amherst “bubble.”

Photos courtesy of Stefan Yong ’18

Since he grew up in Singapore, Yong had to spend two years in the military after high school and before arriving at Amherst.

Indeed, the group became like a family for Yong, who explained that “people care about nurturing a sort of community where we dance together and we have fun dancing together. You know, in addition to looking good on stage, you want to have fun, be friends. So that was something that I got a lot from and I’ve been in that group since freshman spring, so it’s been a long journey with them.”

Yong’s dancing has not been contained to DBJ Dance Crew, as he joined DASAC at Amherst. Yong recalled how he went to the group’s shows before he tried out and loved how different the atmosphere was from other dance performances , especially the intensity of audience participation. “There is a feedback loop; the more the audience is into it the more the dancers are into it,” Yong said.

Being part of DASAC has exposed Yong to many different styles of dance and made him a significantly better dancer. Even more important, Yong said, is the restorative power of dance. “[Dance is] one of those things that when I do it I feel like I’m not thinking about anything,” he said.

“I let stuff go and just enjoy myself and move. And part of that is I just like dancing, so I would go to practices anyway, but performing is also something else; with the rush that you get, you don’t even feel — you forget you have bruises, you forget you’re aching and you forget about your own breathing.”

A Life of the Mind

Yong’s passion for dance has been rekindled during his time in Western Massachusetts, as he has joined two dance groups — Dancing and Stepping at Amherst College and DBJ Dance Crew.

Stefan knew he would be a black studies major fairly early on, knowing when he got here it would be either that or history.

“In other parts of the world when people try to … think about race, a lot of the vocabulary is borrowed from scholars that have done the work before in black studies or other kinds of ethnic studies de-

partments. And so, that idea from the beginning was very attractive to me,” he explained.

In his first semester at Amherst, he took Critical Debates in Black Studies with Professor Jeffrey Ferguson, who recently passed away. “He was just, wow,” Yong said. “He’s just something else. He has this composure of a very easygoing, but hyper-intellectual kind of vibe.”

Perhaps Yong’s most memorable experience from the class was when he turned in a paper and Ferguson told him that “this entire paragraph could be like one sentence, if you just removed all your unnecessary prepositional phrases.” Thinking about how he writes was one of the major takeaways from the course, one that would serve him well as he went on to complete a black studies thesis on Samuel Delany’s science fiction novels.

“The only contribution I can claim to have made is helping him to think more closely about reading material texts, but in terms of the theories he was looking at and the debates he was critiquing and entering, it was just amazing … it was quite a fabulous experience to work with him,” his thesis advisor Professor Rhonda Cobham-Sander said.

After Amherst Yong will continue pursuing his intellectual curiosities as he prepares for his Ph.D. program, called the History of Consciousness. It is an “unorthodox, interdisciplinary, humanities program,” which Yong hopes will allow him to take on “really interesting stuff that transgresses disciplinary boundaries.”

Despite Yong’s success, Cobham-Sander describes him as “surprisingly modest.” Yong’s strong desire to learn is surely a factor in his humility, as it is through collaboration and learning from others that we discover new ideas and enrich our understanding of a complicated world.

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 27

Senior Profile | Alisa Bajramovic

A Feminist at Birth Finds Love in the Archives Alisa Bajramovic’s passions are widespread and many, but all lead back to an unyielding dedication to social justice.

—Emma Swislow ’20 When Alisa Bajramovic and I sat down in Frost Café, we went from talking about her time on the debate team in high school to her potentially unhealthy love of Amherst Coffee to her involvement with the Reproductive Justice Alliance (RJA) at Amherst and more.

Even though this interview was supposed to be all about her, I still found her listening and engaging with me, a quality that her thesis and major advisor Ellen Boucher, an assistant professor of history, has also noticed.

“Alisa already has interesting things to say and comments to make, but one thing that’s really wonderful about her is that she really listens to the other students in the class, and she tailors her comments in light of what other people have been voicing,” Boucher said. “She’s talkative, but she never dominates the discussion, and sometimes she really shapes the discussion with her comments and her insights.”

“Watch Out, Feminist” Following the 2016 presidential election, Samantha O’Brien ’18, a close friend and frequent classmate of Bajramovic, founded RJA. When the idea first came to her, O’Brien sent an email to Bajramovic and several other people asking for suggestions.

Bajramovic was abroad in Edinburgh at the time, but O’Brien said that she replied in less than five minutes with several paragraphs outlining what she hoped the organization might do.

“Immediately when she got back on campus, she hit the ground running and did so much for the Reproductive Justice Alliance and helped it grow to what it is today,” O’Brien said.

Bajramovic’s interest in feminism started fairly early on in her academic career.

“I found a kindergarten report card in which my teacher told me that I would always correct her when she talked about mankind, and I would say, ‘Um, it’s humankind,’”

Bajramovic said. “In parentheses on the report card, she said ‘Watch out, feminist.’ I was six — that’s kind of insane.”

Since kindergarten, Bajramovic has dedicated plenty of time to social justice issues and activism. She says that her involvement with RJA is “one of the best uses of my time at this college.”

With the group, she has helped fundraise for local organizations that are typically underfunded, like the Pioneer Valley Workers Association, to bring attention to their causes, all of which fall under the umbrella of the reproductive justice framework.

Her friend Noor Qasim ’18 sees Bajramovic’s caring personality in her involvement on campus and in their own friendship.

“She really genuinely cares about other people and in her extracurricular life. She’s dedicated herself to doing stuff that actually helps other people in such different ways,” Qasim said. “But she can also have a good time and has wonderful friendships and really cares deeply about all her friends.”

The connections between her two majors, history and sexuality, women and gender studies (SWAGS), has been something that Boucher has noticed while working with Bajramovic both in class and on her thesis.

“She sees in the past, a way of understanding present-day problems,” Boucher said. “I see her pondering the various ways in which gender works as a social and cultural formation in our modern lives by looking into the past and trying to find either patterns and structures that have been historically created that continue to shape our present day, or to look for models of how we can understand the way in which gender works by taking a case study from the past and maybe applying insights that we can learn from in the present day.”

Journey to Amherst Bajramovic grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago.

At her high school, Amherst wasn’t a well-known or common school for students to apply to. According to Bajramovic, it was her older sister Hanna who suggested she look into it.

“Funnily enough, I didn’t know that Amherst existed until kind of late in the game,” she said. “My sister came home one day and she looked at the list of the schools I was applying to since I was about to send in all of my applications, and at the bottom she wrote, ‘You should look at Amherst.’”

It was the open curriculum and community that ended up convincing Bajramovic to choose Amherst after visiting in the spring of her senior year.

“Everyone here seemed really genuine,” she remembered. “I felt like at other schools people seemed to be putting on a show to make it seem like their school was the best and so wonderful, but I felt that all the students I met here, including my tour guide, was like, ‘Oh yeah, Amherst has problems, but we address them and we move on from them.’”

Outside the Classroom Since arriving at Amherst, Bajramovic has managed to maintain an active presence in clubs and causes on campus, in addition to succeeding in the academic and social spheres of her life. Her first year at Amherst, she started playing on the women’s ultimate frisbee team mostly for the social aspects.

“I joined it not really thinking I would do it for athletic reasons because I’m not naturally an athlete, and my parents are still shocked that I play a sport, like shocked every time,” she said. “But I fell into it and really enjoyed the team sport. Of course there’s the social side. You have a network of 60 women who will do anything for you and have done so much for me.”

She also spent time working to make the college more eco-friendly by launching the Bike Share program in 2016 with Director of Sustainabil-

Bajramovic’s interests in gender studies were clear from her days in kindergarten, when she found a report from her teacher that commented on Bajramovic’s tendency to correct “mankind” to “humankind”.

28 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Photos courtesy of Alisa Bajramovic ’18

In her four years at Amherst, Bajramovic dedicated herself to issues of social justice, feminism and environmental sustainability. ity Laura Draucker and other students.

“It took about a year, which in retrospect, I cannot believe I was motivated through that year,” she said.

“We spoke with students at different colleges and at bike share networks across the country to figure out how to make the program free, student-run, easy to use and sustainable. Now I’m not part of Bike Share anymore, but other people are, which shows to me that it’s a sustainable program that will last beyond the founders graduating.”

Inside the Library Bajramovic spent much of this school year working on her thesis in the history department. Her thesis looked at shell shock in British soldiers during World War I with a specific focus on the soldiers’ transitions back into civilian society and how various people in the war office, the ministry of pensions and charities and parliament talked about soldiers.

She found that the language around soldiers varied depending upon the source.

“I argue that even though they were very different in the way that they talked about the men and they way that they thought the men should be behaving in civilian society, throughout these discussions, they kept on coming back to these notions on masculinity and class,” she said.

“How should a man be behaving after he had fought in the war? What does it mean to be an upper-class man in Britain in the early 1920s? I said that they were all motivated to return back to pre-war notions of masculinity and class.”

Boucher found Bajramovic’s ability to shape her thesis based off on what she found in her archival research to be especially impressive.

“One time she came in so enthusiastic about this governmental report she had found on shell shock and after she left I thought, ‘Wow, not many students would come in and be so excited about a governmental report from 1921 or 1922,’” Boucher said. “She really got into the process of doing the archival research and let the archives lead her.”

Bajramovic traveled to London

over interterm to continue doing primary source research for her thesis and found the experience especially helpful in figuring out what to write.

“Writing the first chapter was almost impossible because I didn’t know where to go from there,” she said. “The easiest was that once I got in a groove, you could just spit things out and it made sense. Once I went to London to do research for my thesis over interterm, I had so many more primary sources, and I had a much stronger grasp on what my argument was, writing that next chapter was a breeze.”

After graduation, Bajramovic will enroll in a gender history master’s program at the University of Glasgow, where she’ll spend half the year taking classes and the other half of the year working on a dissertation. She hopes to continue the work she’s done on her thesis by looking at women who came home from World War I with shell shock.

“I think spending a year in a place that I’m not used to will make me more confident no matter where I go after that, be it a big city or just anywhere really,” she said. “I’m just so excited to pursue what I’ve really enjoyed doing this past year in my thesis but even further and with different resources now that I’ll be in Scotland.”

While she’ll leave Amherst with a degree and a thesis that Boucher describes as “enormously impressive,” Bajramovic considers the relationships she’s made in college to be one of the most important parts she takes from her four years here.

“At the start of college, you feel like you have no one here because your family and the people you grew up with are 1,000, 2,000 miles away, and that you kind of have to start from scratch,” she said. “Out of all the amazing things I’ve learned in classes, which there have been many, I think the relationships and the experiences I’ve had outside of class has been the best part of Amherst. There are so many people here who care so deeply about so many important issues and care so deeply about me and other friends that I don’t think this community could be replicated anywhere else.”

Senior Profile | Alejandro Niño

A Consultant with a Future in Social Justice Despite multiple pursuits and accomplishments, it is Alejandro Niño’s warm smile and caring heart that people remember.

—Natalie De Rosa ’21 When I asked Alejandro Niño if there was anything I should know about him, he said that he hoped he was considered a good friend. According to Siena Koh ’18, there is no doubt that this hope has come to fruition.

“Alejandro is just simply one of the best people I know and an important person in my life,” Koh said. “He’s not only one of my best friends but the best friend anyone could ask for.”

Koh described Niño’s diligence, tenacity and drive, but what she emphasized most was his care for those around him. “[He is always] worrying about everything and everyone and constantly looking out for his friends — sometimes I get peeved at the extent of this, but I would also trust him with my life,” said Koh. An economics major at Amherst, Niño has demonstrated strong leadership skills and used his voice as a force for good, often taking initiative on projects that were of significance to him. Most clear, however, is his natural tendency to care for those around him and share his light with others.

“Never Been Farther North than Kentucky” For Niño, Amherst was a far cry from what he had been accustomed to growing up. After immigrating to the United States from Colombia at the age of five, Niño lived in the suburbs of Atlanta before moving to south Florida. Despite the distance, Niño

knew ithat Amherst was the place for him after meeting an alumna at an admitted students event. “[Her] saying that she felt that I would fit in and find a place here really gave me the confidence to make the jump,” Niño said.

Despite this positive experience, Niño’s journey to Amherst was by no means smooth sailing. After applying to nearly 20 colleges and universities, Niño said that he barely knew what he wanted from a school. It wasn’t until the middle of his senior year in high school that he came to realize he enjoyed the close relationships with faculty that a small school allowed, a realization that prompted his choice of Amherst.

Even after his decision, however, Niño still did not know what to expect.

He recalled researching the college’s history to get a sense of what his experience would be like, joking that he came to “know way too much about some of these buildings.”

A major reason for his research stemmed from the fact that he had never visited Amherst before attending. “I had never been farther north than Kentucky,” Niño said.

“Most of the time when I say I hadn’t been farther north than Kentucky people ask me why I had ever gone to Kentucky,” he added, jokingly.

The Making of the Mammoth One of Niño’s main endeavors

during his time at Amherst was serving as co-chair of the mascot committee.

“It was a cool role because it changed so much from the very beginning to the end,” Niño said.

His position as co-chair involved a considerable amount of deliberation on how the committee would execute its mission. Throughout the fall semester of his junior year, Niño remembers discussing with the committee the various facets that would make the transition process successful: transparency, fairness and equity were just some of the qualities the committee meditated on.

Although the committee needed to carefully calculate its moves, Niño found the process of gauging community input rewarding. Between the students, administrators and alumni on the committee as well as the outside Amherst community, Niño was impressed by the level of engagement he encountered.

“It’s not something that happens that often, where you get to work that closely with alumni and students,” he said.

One of Niño’s favorite parts of the process was reading the initial list of suggestions submitted from the community. His favorite mascot suggestion? The Amherst Bed Bugs.

“The rationale was just that they are resilient,” Niño remarked.

Now that the Mammoth is officially Amherst’s mascot, the winding down of the decision process revealed to Niño the areas in which this leadership role helped him grow.

“I felt much more comfortable speaking up with alumni. I got to lead a team of students,” he said. “It was cool that it was my first real leadership position where I was actually leading a team.”

Strength in Identity

Niño pursued his love of the outdoors in a variety of ways, including participating in the Amherst spring break trip to Zion National Park.

Even while leading the mascot committee, Niño constantly sought to be open about his immigration status in the hopes of fighting the stigma attached to being undocumented.

“I was very purposeful about coming here and tried to be more open and public about my status. Even from my first year here, I wanted to make this real for people, and actually interact with people as someone who is undocumented,” Niño said.

Fortunately, he was met with unwavering support from his friends and the Amherst community as a whole.

Though his journey hasn’t been easy, the ability to reflect on and share his identity with others provided a sense of assurance.

“I think the first thing this place did was give me the confidence that I was part of a community where I could at least name it,” he said. “That in and of itself is hard for me because I previously wouldn’t have imagined [that].”

Throughout his time at Amherst, Niño has been able to explore what it means to be undocumented, both

Photos courtesy of Alejandro Niño ’18

Niño, an economics major, was a key figure in the selection of the Mammoth as the official Amherst mascot. through his classes and his involvement in La Causa, the college’s Latino affinity group. It was over the past year, however, that Niño experienced a period of tremendous growth that culminated in a trip to Washington, D.C. to advocate for the inclusion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in Congress’ annual spending bill.

After his trip to Washington D.C., Niño took time to reflect on this moment and time in American history and what role he himself has to play.

“I’m still trying to figure out where I fit into this movement or how I can at best be a part of it,” he said. “That’s something I’m still grappling with.

This year has been a lot of grappling.”

Even though such reflection has been hard, Niño found that the freedom that Amherst offers created a productive environment and is thankful.

“I definitely feel fortunate that I found that space to wander this year,” Niño said. “I think I have grown in so many other ways at Amherst, both academically and as a leader, but I think this year was more of a personal journey.”

Zion and Beyond During his time at Amherst, Niño took every opportunity to explore the outdoors in ways that his south Florida home could not offer. In his first two years, he went on two or three outing club trips each semester, became a leader for the First-Year Outdoor Orientation Trips (FOOT) and spent much of his free time outdoors.

“Some of my favorite memories here are going on runs on the Robert Frost trail,” Niño said.

Niño further developed this interest during the Out of Amherst spring break trip to Zion National Park, which he participated in as a first year before becoming a trip leader his sophomore and junior years. Niño considers the relationships he built on these trips some of the most special ones he has.

“You really have to be vulnerable and open with people for a whole week and really get to know everyone well, and you’re doing it in a really incredible place,” he said.

While Niño was forming meaning-

ful relationships on the Zion trips, the rest of the group simultaneously developed a level of respect for him. He recounted being called the “dad” of the group because of his protective nature and genuine care for each person.

Though Niño is unable to leave the United States because of his undocumented status, he said that his experiences on the Zion trips have shaped his hopes and aspirations for the future.

“Amherst has really helped me expand my geographic experience, what spaces I’ve been able to experience,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a really meaningful time for me when I can finally get that international experience.”

After Amherst After graduating from Amherst, Niño will begin work as a consultant at Bain & Company in Boston. He talked about how intelligent and passionate his new co-workers are, and emphasized that he felt he would be supported at his new job. Ultimately, he realized that he was looking for the same support Amherst provided him in his career pursuits.

“That word — [supportive] — is really the one that is most important to me, to be in a place and a company that is more than willing to invest in me,” Niño said.

While Niño showed excitement for his life in Boston after graduation, he did mention that he aspires to take a more unconventional route and pursue a law or public policy graduate degree rather than an MBA after his time at Bain. He hopes to continue exploring issues of social justice, and credits Professor Kristin Bumiller in the political science department for sparking this motivation.

“Teaching Alejandro is like setting off a multiplier effect,” Bumiller wrote about Niño. “I expect he will take every particle of knowledge he has acquired at Amherst and extend it as far as possible to create new possibilities for social justice.”

For the time being, though, Niño is content to both look forward to the experiences he will have in Boston and reflect on what is important to him.

“Now that I have some financial stability, I’m really figuring out what is meaningful to me,” he said.

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 29

Senior Profile | Asha Walker

Taking on Amherst with Unwavering Courage With an Amherst experience unlike that of most others, Asha Walker has been an inspiration to all those around her.

—Julia Turner ’19 I met Asha Walker before I even knew I wanted to go to Amherst. I was sitting in Valentine Dining Hall during my visit as a high school senior, and she came and sat down at the table full of softball players.

She immediately struck up a conversation with one of her friends on the team, and it took about five minutes for her to look at me and say, “Hey, you’re new.”

We talked briefly before she had to run to class, and I didn’t see her again until I started at Amherst nearly a year later. The next August however, during my first weeks in the Pioneer Valley, Walker was one of the first people to welcome and congratulate me.

The warmth and genuine care that emanate from Walker define who she is as a person and is something her friends, teammates, coaches and really anyone who knows her has commented on.

The law, jurisprudence and social thought major from Los Angeles was recruited to play volleyball at Amherst by coach Sue Everden.

Her father, having grown up in Connecticut and attended Conn.

College, encouraged her to explore the East Coast, especially small liberal arts schools.

Initially wary of the thought of leaving California, it took cajoling by her parents and Everden, especially, before Walker would even consider Amherst.

However, upon visiting the campus for the first time during her senior year of high school, she immediately realized that “this was the place.”

After seeing Amherst and meeting the team and her coach, Walker knew that no other school was going to stand up.

Firedog Family

Playing the role of defensive specialist for the volleyball team, Walker made a big impact during her first year.

Recording 181 digs and 76 kills in 92 sets, she helped the Firedogs, as the women’s volleyball team is affectionately called, reach the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament, ultimately losing to archrival Williams.

Walker highlights her sophomore season as her best at Amherst.

The 2015 campaign was the first time in half a decade that the team had reached the NCAA tournament, and Walker played in all but one of the Firedogs’ 100 sets.

An integral part of the defensive game for the Firedogs, Asha recorded 233 digs that year and averaged 2.35 per set, the third-highest mark on the team.

“Asha brought a sense of commitment, humor, respect and grit to the program, Everden said. “She brought a swag that was contagious and made the players around her strive to be better.”

The outlook is bright for the young Firedogs that Walker will leave behind.

She has high hopes for the program in the next several years, as they are a talented, underclassman-heavy group that made a strong NESCAC run this year, only falling in the semifinals to Tufts, which ultimately emerged as champions.

Walker describes the volleyball team off the court as a family, and credits much of the atmosphere to Everden.

“She has created an environment where we feel comfortable spending time together outside of volleyball,” Walker says.

Her team provided a support system on and off the court during

a busy fall season and has prompted friendships that last much longer than that.

“Asha will always be a Firedog,” says Coach Sue Everdeen. “She will always have a place in Amherst Firedog history.”

Her Shining Star Walker especially praises her team for being one of her biggest support systems when she most needed them.

“I definitely didn’t end up having the normal Amherst experience,” she says with a laugh, as she talks about coming back to campus for her junior year after giving birth to her son, Aiden, over the summer.

Arriving back at Amherst for her junior year, only her team and a few other friends knew about the child, and Walker describes the support they provided while she told the Amherst community.

“It was very uncomfortable at first,” she said. “But I knew that there were enough people who had my back, who had Aiden’s back, that it would be okay.”

The community at Amherst, as a whole, ended up being exceptionally welcoming and inclusive, falling in love with Aiden from the start.

“I think Aiden has more friends on this campus than me,” Walker jokes.

Though she initially felt uneasy sharing this very personal news with such a small community, Walker described the way her mindset began to develop. “Once you have a little human that you have to take care of, you realize not everything is about you,” explained.

For Asha, going on winter break or spring break doesn’t mean just going home and relaxing. Instead, it means taking care of Aiden and spending as much quality time with

Walker was an integral part of the Amherst volleyball team during her four years, excelling in the position of defensive specialist. She leaves Amherst having totalled 819 digs and 132 kills.

30 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

Photos courtesy of Asha Walker ’18

Walker served as one of the first woman e-board members of the Council of Amherst College Student Athletes of Color. him as possible. But there is no hesitation or second thought when she says she wouldn’t have things any other way. “He is the shining star in everybody’s eyes,” she says with a smile.

Creating Community The campus has felt Walker’s impact deeply, nowhere more strongly than CACSAC — the Council of Amherst College Student Athletes of Color. The organization began several years ago, but Walker, as one of the first women to serve on the executive board, seized the organization and made it her own.

In the four years that Walker has been a part of CACSAC, the group has more than doubled in size and has become an inclusive space for student athletes of color to come together and find support and community on campus.

The council meets every several weeks for activities organized by the members of the executive board: meeting to hear speakers ranging from faculty to coaches, organizing trips to see Black Panther or simply coming together to share a meal.

Coach Billy McBride, a close friend and mentor of Walker’s, described her involvement in CACSAC with an emphasis on the same warmth and inclusivity that I’ve felt from Walker for the nearly four years I’ve known her.

The community that Walker found within CACSAC was something that she hadn’t felt so intimately anywhere else on campus, and she wanted to share it with others.

She encouraged friends to start coming to meetings, designing and advocating for fun, community-building activities like a group trip to see “Black Panther.”

A key motivation for Walker in

these actions was her experience of pressures that come with being a student-athlete of color on the Amherst campus. Throughout her time with CACSAC and working with the athletics department, her focus has always been on providing space and support.

“It’s not easy,” she said, so she — along with the executive board and other members of CACSAC — opened the group up to anyone who was in need of and looking for such support. “She wasn’t defining color,” says Coach McBride, “and it’s a colorful thing to have that going on.”

Courage and Grace “She is one of the most courageous individuals I have ever coached,” says Everden. For many people who know her, myself included, Asha Walker is the epitome of courage and grace.

It takes courage to mother a child in college. It takes courage to go to class every day and continue working towards your degree while that baby boy is 3,000 miles away. It takes courage to step back on a volleyball court only two months after childbirth. It takes courage to speak up in a community setting that you have helped to build, and then open up that same community to those who need it.

Walker has exhibited all this courage and more during her time at Amherst, and the people who know her — and even those who don’t — have benefitted.

Coach McBride says that Walker exudes a joy that manifests itself in her laughter, her smile and her impact on others. “Her most defining characteristic,” he says, is the way “she opens her arms to others that may not feel the same joy that she is feeling.”

The Year in Sports

Photos courtesy of Amherst Athletics

FALL SEASON Women’s Cross Country Women’s cross country enjoyed a record-breaking season behind the leadership and standout performance of senior captain Nicky Roberts. Roberts, who placed first at the NESCAC Championships with a time of 21:19.9, cut her eight-kilometer time by 30 seconds to finish fifth in the country at NCAA Division III National Championships in November.

Beyond her postseason performance, Roberts also claimed first at the Little III meet in October and second in the six-kilometer Paul Short Classic race. The Mammoths also received impressive performances from their underclassmen this fall, with Kristin Ratliff ’20 and Paige Reddington ’21 each recording top finishes among the Amherst squad. The team will graduate three seniors this year and look to continue to build on its young core.

Women’s Golf Following a historic 2016-17 season that saw the team place ninth at nationals, women’s golf got off to a hot start this fall, placing in the top three at all five tournaments it competed in this fall. Led by lone senior captain Zoe Wong, the Mammoths opened with a third-place finish at the 12-team St. Lawrence University Invitational led by first-year Isabelle Ouyang, who started her Amherst career tied for 10th overall.

Ouyang finished at the top for Amherst in one other tournament this fall, tying for second overall in the George Phinney Golf Classic to help the Mammoths secure a team victory. Sophomores Morgan Yurosek and Jessica Jeong returned after stellar seasons as first years and put together several strong performances, with each finishing as the top Amherst golfer once in the fall. The Mammoths closed out their fall campaign with a second-place finish at the Williams Fall Invitational and a matching finish at the NESCAC Championships.

Men’s Golf Men’s golf got off to a slow start this fall before finding its stride in the spring season.

In their most important victory of the fall, the Mammoths edged out Hamilton by just four strokes to claim the final qaulifying place in the NESCAC Qualifier in October. With that the team secured a place in the NESCAC Championships this spring.

Leading a strong sophomore class, Cameron Clark shaved 24 strokes off his day-one mark to finish eighth overall at the Qualifier.

Joining Clark as Amherst’s scoring golfers were junior Jack Burlison and sophomores Nicholas Kumamoto, Jeffery Herr and Cole Vissicchio. The fourth-place finish for the Mammoths was the team’s fourth NESCAC Championships qualification in the last five years.

Field Hockey Despite outstanding individual performances and a strong start to the season, Amherst field hockey missed the NCAA tournament this year after a tough loss to Williams in the first round of NESCAC playoffs. The 2017 team featured a strong upperclassmen presence, especially seniors Elizabeth Turnbull and Mary Grace Cronin, who recorded 19 and 16 points, respectively. Turnbull, who led the team in both goals and total points, garnered second-team All-American garlands.

Meanwhile, Caroline Fiore ’18 and Kendall Codey ’19 led the Mammoths’ defense, holding opponents to a 1.48 goals-per-game average.

Fiore, one of the nation’s top defenders, finished her career with three selections to the NFHCA All-Region team.With the losses of such talented seniors, Amherst will look to Codey to lead the charge next year, as she proved to be an all-purpose threat, logging five goals and five assists, while also making a team-high three defensive saves. The Mammoths finished the season ranked No. 18 in the nation with a 10-6 record; they will graduate six seniors.

Football The Amherst football team went 7-2, claiming several big wins but suffering close losses at Middlebury and Williams. The Mam-

moths started the season with a huge win over Bates, outscoring the Bobcats 41-17 at home on Pratt Field. Offensively, sophomore quarterback Ollie Eberth took the majority of the snaps for the Mammoths, racking up 1,382 yards on 155 attempts for an impressive 146.8 passer rating. Eberth’s top three targets were Bo Berluti ’19, James O’Regan ’20 and Craig Carmilani ’18, who combined for nearly 1,600 recieving yards on the season. On the ground, junior Jack Hickey ran for 640 yards, averaging 71.1 per game and earning a first team All-NESCAC nod.

Joining him in receiving All-NESCAC offensive honors were lineman Kevin Sheehan ’18 on the first team and the trio of Hasani Figueroa ’18, Mitch Arthur ’18 and O’Regan on the second team. The Mammoths’ defense came alive this year, led by NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year Andrew Yamin ’19, who garnered first team All-NESCAC honors alongside Avery Saffold ’20 and Nate Tyrell ’19, while Amherst placed Greg Franklin ’20 and Andrew Sommer ’19 on the second team.

The team looks to return the bulk of its dominating defense and rebuild offensively, though a veteran roster of receivers will be returning next season.

finished 6-2-2 in conference play and has a bright future thanks to the stellar play of its underclassmen.

Men’s Soccer

Joined by four incoming first years and two-sport athlete Cam Hendricks ’20, Amherst volleyball recorded a 17-10 season, going 5-5 in conference before falling to top-seeded Tufts in the NESCAC semifinals.

The Mammoths lost several closely-contested NESCAC matchups during the regular season, forcing five sets against Middlebury, Tufts, Bowdoin and Hamilton.

Individually, Amherst was led by dominant outside hitters Emily Kolsky ’20 and Mia Natsis ’18, who recorded 304 and 284 kills, respectively. Defensively, veterans Hayes Honea ’19 and Asha Walker ’18 led the team with an outstanding 492 and 238 digs, respectively. The Mammoths look forward to next season, as they will return six of seven players who appeared in all 27 matches for the Mammoths.

— Julia Turner ’19

Welcoming a massive 11-man first-year class, the men’s soccer team relied heavily upon both its veteran base of eight seniors, as well as the young newcomers, en route to a 12-4-3 season that saw the team advance to the third round of NCAA tournament play.

After the then-No. 10 Mammoths fell to the Hamilton Continentals in the NESCAC quarterfinals, Amherst entered NCAA play with something to prove.

After a comfortable win over Salem State in the first round, the Mammoths took part in a nail-biter against Springfield that ended in a penalty-kick shootout, which saw Weller Hlinomaz ’18 and Felix Wu ’21 slot home the winning spot kicks. However, Amherst ultimately fell to University of Rochester in the third round of NCAA play despite an early goal from first-year Kyle Kelly. The team

Women’s Soccer The defending NESCAC tournament champions raced out to a strong start against five-college rival Mount Holyoke with a 10-0 victory to begin the year. Unfortunately, the young team didn’t fare as well against NESCAC competition, finishing with a 4-5-1 conference record, which earned Amherst the No. 7 seed heading into the NESCAC tournament.

The Mammoths earned a huge win in the first round of postseason play, a 1-0 victory against second-seeded Conn. College thanks to an early goal by All-NESCAC first-team selection Rubii Tamen ’19. The team fell in the semifinals, however, to rival Williams despite a two-goal effort by sophomore Sasha Savitsky. The Mammoths were led by a trio of veterans, as Tamen, Hannah Guzzi ’18 and Delancey King ’18 all received first team All-NESCAC nods. The team welcomed eight first-years, who will look to return to 2017’s heights even after losing four impact seniors.

Volleyball

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 31

Photos courtesy of Amherst Ahletics

WINTER SEASON Men’s Basketball Senior stars Michael Riopel and Johnny McCarthy led the Amherst men’s basketball team throughout the season, with the two All-NESCAC honorees attempting to fill the shoes of the talented class of 2017. The two senior captains started every game for the Mammoths and averaged the most minutes by a significant margin. Both averaging over 11 points per game, Riopel and McCarthy will be sorely missed in the coming years.

The Ammmoths entered the NESCAC tournament as the No. 1 overall seed for the first time since 2014, overcoming a mid-season slump to finish 7-3 in NESCAC play and 17-8 overall.

Unfortunately, a heroic performance

by Wesleyan in the NESCAC semifinals ended the Amherst men’s season.

Coach David Hixon will rely upon underclassmen like Grant Robinson ’21, Eric Sellew ’20 and Fru Che ’21 in order to return to NCAA action next year.

Men’s Ice Hockey After getting off to a strong start, the Amherst men’s hockey team experienced a mid-season losing streak before winning four conference matchups in a row to earn the No. 3 seed heading into the NESCAC tournament. With seven players contributing double digit points on the season, led by senior Thomas Lindstrom’s 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists, the Mammoths showed the depth of their bench this season. While Lindstrom led the offense, veteran goalie Connor Girard ’18 logged nearly 1,200 minutes in net for Amherst, racking up 438 saves on 478 shots.

Along with Lindstrom, who earned an All-NESCAC nod for his efforts for the second time in his career, junior defenseman Phil Johansson picked up first-team accolades for his 16 points on the season, which ranked fourth in the league among defensemen. Johansson also helped lead the penalty kill unit for the Mammoths, which finished 96 of 105 for a mark of 91.4 percent, good enough for second in the nation among Division III teams. Looking forward to the 2018-19 season, Amherst will grad-

uate six seniors and look to Giancarlo Ventre ’20 to fill the shoes left by the All-American Girard in goal.

Women’s Ice Hockey After getting off to a rocky start with two losses against Conn. College to start the season, Amherst women’s ice hockey rebounded in spectacular fashion, going 9-4-3 in conference play and reaching the NESCAC finals against top-seeded ranked Middlebury. The NESCAC runners-up were shocked by the NCAA selection committee’s decision to withhold an at-large bid to the tournament, but the season was nonetheless filled with extraordinary individual and team performances.

Concluding a historic career, senior Alex Toupal recorded 41 points on the season, with the next closest Mammoth being junior Jocelyn Hunyadi with 24. Toupal’s excellence was mirrored by fellow senior Bailey Plaman, who racked up nearly 1,300 minutes in goal, recording 622 saves on 654 shots for a 0.951 save percentage. The veterans were joined by several standout first years, including forward Emma Flynn, who totalled 17 points, and defenseman Mia DelRosso, who anchored a stellar blue line partnership with junior All-NESAC selection Miriam Eickhoff.

Amherst will find it hard to replace its seniors, but there is enough talent on the roster to remain competitive next year.

Men’s Squash After starting the season with four straight wins, Amherst men’s squash hit a slump in January, losing six straight before competing in team and individual CSA Nationals. Relying heavily on five talented first years, the team went 8-12 on the season, suffering three losses in CSA team championships.

First-year Terrance Wang’s standout performance, however, did capture the consolation bracket victory in the individual tournament. Wang played on the top court for the Mammoths all season, going 6-6 overall against the nation’s top competition.

Juniors David Merkel and Harith Khawaja held down the second and

32 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

third rungs on the ladder for Amherst, with Merkel impressing with a 4-0 record on court two and Khawaja posting a 3-2 mark on the third court. With only one graduating senior, captain Cameron Bahadori, the Mammoths will hope for continued development by the young squad in the 2018-19 season.

Women’s Squash The Amherst women’s squash team showed off the depth of its roster this season, with six different women making appearances on the top three courts.

Senior captains Kim Krayacich and Haley McAtee led the team, with each earning All-NESCAC nods for their performances.

Krayacich posted a record of 5-3 at the No. 3 position before moving up to the top two rungs of the ladder for the last six matches of the year. McAtee, who held the top position for most of the year, racked up seven wins in the No. 1 spot in addition to winning three of four at the third and fourth positions.

The Mammoths will look to standout first-year Riddhi Sampat — who boasted a perfect 4-0 record on court one this season — to lead the team to replace the stellar production of McAtee and Krayacich.

Men’s Swim and Dive The Amherst men’s swimming and diving team had an impressive season, highlighted by standout individual performances up and down the roster.

Eleven All-NESCAC performances helped the Mammoths clinch a thirdplace team finish at the NESCAC Championships. Senior Elijah Spiro set two pool records en route to first place finishes in the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke events.

Additionally, Spiro notched his third first-place finish of the meet in the medley relay, swimming the breaststroke leg on a team comprised of classmate Sam Spurrell and sophomores Craig Smith and Jack Koravos. In addition to earning gold in the medley relay, Smith and Koravos each added to the team point total with second-place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly, respectively. The team will now

rely upon seven first years and strong junior and sophomore classes to replace five graduating seniors.

Women’s Swim and Dive Women’s swim and dive outperformed expectations this year, recording an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and narrowly missing the top spot at NESCAC championships, finishing as the runner up to archrival Williams. The Mammoths sent seven individual qualifiers to the NCAA Division III championship meet, with an additional three swimmers traveling to compete in relays.

The young group of qualifiers was paced by the trio of first-year Lindsey Ruderman, sophomore Nina Fitzgerald and senior Stephanie Moriarty.

Moriarty captured All-American honors for her seventh-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke and her participation in four of the top Amherst relay teams. Ruderman, meanwhile, concluded her extraordinary rookie season by finishing fifth in all of Division III on the three-meter diving board. Lastly, Fitzgerald garnered All-American honors in two different individual events as well as two relays.

Such unexpected success at nationals by a largely underclassmen group bodes well for the Mammoths’ future.

Men’s Indoor Track Led by coach Steve Rubin in his first season at the helm of the program, the Mammoths had a great season and qualified several athletes to compete at the indoor national championship meet.

The Mammoths placed second to Williams at the Little III Championships, scoring 124 points to the Ephs’ 151. Building off a great cross country season, Cosmo Brossy ’19 posted nationals’ qualifying times in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs and also anchored the nationals qualifying distance medley relay (DMR).

At nationals, Brossy anchored the Mammoths to a ninth place finish in the DMR and placed 10th in the 3,000 meters, just missing out on All-American honors in both events. Spencer

Ferguson-Dryden ’20, Ralph Skinner ’20 and Jacob Silverman ’19 also ran on the nationals qualifying DMR, while Kristian Sogaard ’19 overcame early season injuries to earn his second consecutive All-American honors in the 800, placing seventh in the finals at nationals.

The junior also ran a leg on the nationals qualifying 4x400-meter relay, which placed 10th at indoor nationals after improving by nearly 10 full seconds from 2017 to 2018. Amherst was the only NESCAC team to qualify both relays for indoor nationals this year, demonstrating the team’s depth and promise for years to come.

Women’s Indoor Track The women’s track and field team opened its 2018 campaign with a second place finish at the Little III Championships, beating Wesleyan by a mere five points to top the Cardinals for the first time since 2011. First-year Ella Rossa won the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 9.24 seconds and later improved her time in the event to 8.95 seconds, just missing the qualification mark for indoor nationals.

At the Branwen Smith-King Invitational, Leonie Rauls ’18 won a memorable 1,000-meter race in a time of 3:01, with teammates Sarah Gayer ’21, Adele Loomis ’18 and Paige Reddington ’21 finishing right behind her in third, fifth and ninth, respectively. With their finishes, all four women qualified for the Division III New England meet in the event.

In her first year running the 800 meters at Amherst, Danielle Griffin ’18 qualified for nationals along with teammate Rauls for the same event. Griffin entered as the 11th seed at nationals, but had a stellar race at nationals to cross the finish line in first in her preliminary run in a time of 2:11.82, breaking Amherst’s indoor school record in the event. With her sixth-place finish in the finals, Griffin also earned her first AllAmerican honors. Meanwhile, Rauls set a new personal best, finishing 11th overall with a time of 2:15.56.

— Julia Turner ‘19, Veronica Rocco ’19

SPRING SEASON Baseball After the 2017 season saw the Amherst baseball team post only a 20-16 record, losing in the doubleelimination conference tournament to eventual conference champions Tufts, expectations were rather low for this year’s campaign. However, the Mammoths defied the odds, claiming the NESCAC tournament title over Tufts in a tight 3-2 game. The team needed to win its final two regular season games to even qualify for the postseason, but rose to the occasion by defeating Middlebury twice to earn the No. 1 seed in the West.

In the first game of the tournament, the Mammoths beat Bates 3-2 in 12 innings and then beat Tufts twice in a row to clinch their first NESCAC crown since 2013. With the win, the Mammoths earned a spot in the NCAA tournament as the sole NESCAC representative and will travel to Auburn, New York and start play against the University of Southern Maine in the doubleelimination tournament, the winner of which earns a trip to the NCAA Division III College World Series in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Senior Ariel Kenney earned firstteam All-NESCAC honors, while the trio of Severino Simeone ’20, Max Steinhorn ’18 and Harry Roberson ’18 garnered second team plaudits. For the team’s impressive run this spring, coach Brian Hamm earned NESCAC coach of the year honors for the second time in his career.

Women’s Golf Amherst posted a second consecutive strong year, with Isabelle Ouyang ’21 claiming NESCAC rookie of the year as well as a spot on the All-NESCAC first team. Teammate Morgan Yurosek ’20 joined Ouyang on the first team, while the team’s sole senior Zoe Wong earned a second-team nod.

Bolstered by the return of junior Kate Weiss after a semester abroad, the Mammoths won the Jack Leaman Invitational this spring and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships, where they finished 14th in the nation. In her two years at Amherst, coach Elizabeth Davis has qualified for nationals and made the cut at the tournament both times, earning NESCAC coach of the year honors for her efforts in Fall 2017.

Men’s Golf The Mammoths qualified for the

spring NESCAC Championships by virtue of their fourth-place finish at the fall NESCAC qualifier, at which they edged out Hamilton by just four strokes.

The team rode this wave of momentum into the spring season, winning the Little III Championships for the first time since 2013 in rainy conditions, before finishing as runners-up at the NESCAC Championships, where Jack Burlison ’19 and Cameron Clark ’20 finished tied for fourth overall with matching scores of 148.

With this excellent showing at the championship event, the duo earned first-team All-NESCAC honors. This marked Burlison’s third consecutive season on an All-NESCAC team, while Clark, the 2016 NESCAC player and rookie of the year, repeated his firstteam finish last year.

Men’s Lacrosse The Mammoths’ season got off to a hot start this season with four consecutive wins, the last of which came against Denison University, which had entered the game ranked second in the nation.

Heading into the NESCAC tournament, the team boasted a conference record of 9-1, tied with Wesleyan and Tufts for best in the conference.

Although Amherst lost to eventual NESCAC champions Tufts in the semifinals, the team received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Mammoths hosted a first-round game against Keene State College and emerged with a dominant 24-7 victory. The team then took on No. 2 York College of Pennsylvania in the second round, losing the close game 13-11. Several team members took home major awards, with Dylan Finazzo ’20 earning New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (NEILA) player of the year honors and Evan Wolf ’19 nabbing NESCAC player of the year.

The duo also earned first-team AllNESCAC and NEILA honors, as did teammates Colin Minicus ’20, Jordan Sanford ’18, Matt Solberg ’20 and Jimmy McAfee ’20. Coach Jon Thompson also received NESCAC coach of the year honors for the second time in his career.

Women’s Lacrosse Entering the 2018 season, the Mammoths were unranked nationally, having finished the 2017 season with just a 6-9 record and barely made the NESCAC tournament. However, the Mammoths

showed they were a vastly-improved team in the very first game of the 2018 season, beating the defending NESCAC champions, Colby, on the Mules’ home turf in a statement 13-12 win.

The women only lost once in the regular season, to eventual NESCAC champions Middlebury, attaining a national ranking of No. 1 at one point, but lost in the NESCAC semifinals to Bowdoin.

Even with the loss, the Mammoths still earned an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament, hosting the opening two rounds of action, the first of which they received a bye for. In the second round, Amherst beat State University of New York-Cortland 10-7, to move on to the Sweet Sixteen, in which the Mammoths will take on conference rival Wesleyan on Saturday, May 19, at 2:30 p.m. in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the right to a spot in the Elite Eight.

Thanks to the stellar regular season, the Mammoths nearly swept the major NESCAC honors, as Sabrina Solow ’19 earned defensive player of the year and Maia Noyes ’21 received rookie of the year. The duo joined senior Julia Crerend on the All-NESCAC first team, while coach Chris Paradis earned coach of the year honors.

Amherst men’s tennis team finished the 2018 season with a 12-7 record and a third-round loss in the NCAA tournament. The team had an excellent regular season and was able to host the NESCAC tournament, at which they lost their opening contest to Wesleyan in a close 5-3 match.

The Mammoths earned not only an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament, but a first-round bye as well, thanks to their strong regular season.

Amherst swept Nichols 5-0 in the second round, but lost to rival Williams 6-2 in a second-round match. First-year Sean Wei earned NESCAC rookie of the year honors and claimed spots on both the All-NESCAC first team for his performance in singles action and the second team for his doubles play along with partner Jayson Fung ’20.

Fellow first-year Kevin Ma also earned first-team All-NESCAC honors for his play on the second singles court for the Mammoths. Wei recieved an invitation to the national singles tournament next week and is set to impress after defeating the defending national champion of Middlebury and beating No.1 Emory’s top singles player.

jump in the triple jump. Edwards later improved his mark to 14.02 meters at the NESCAC Championships, earning second place. The Mammoths had a great day at the NESCAC Championships, placing sixth as a team.

Kristian Sogaard ’19 posted two standout performances, first defending his 800-meter title in a time of 1:50.95 that qualified the junior for nationals.

Sogaard later returned to the track to run a stellar anchor leg in the 4x800meter relay to earn the win for the Mammoths with a lean across the line.

The relay’s first three legs were run by Jacob Silverman ’19, Estevan Velez ’20 and Ermias Kebede ’19.

Cosmo Brossy ’19 was a close second in the 5,000 meters and is on the bubble for qualifying for nationals, while Clark Ricciardelli ’20E placed second in the 10,000 meters and ran a nationalsqualifying time at Open New Englands two weeks later.

The men’s 4x400 relay squad looks to run a qualifying time for nationals on the backs of Vernon Espinoza ’19 and Harrison Haigood ’18, each of whom scored points for the Mammoths at the NESCAC Championships.

Softball

Women’s Tennis

Women’s Track & Field

Women’s tennis is enjoying a strong season in 2018, earning a trip to the NCAA tournament and making it to Claremont, California for an Elite Eight matchup against archrival Williams on Monday, May 21. The Mammoths earned an at-large bid to nationals after a solid regular season that saw the team host the NESCAC Championships but lose to Tufts in the first round.

The team was awarded a first-round bye in NCAA play and posted 5-0 sweeps against both North Carolina Wesleyan in the second round and the University of Mary Washington in the third round.

Camille Smukler ’20 earned firstteam All-NESCAC honors and an invitation to the NCAA individual championships for her excellent singles play all season, while the doubles pairing of Avery Wagman ’18 and Anya Ivenitsky ’20 earned second-team All-NESCAC honors and an invitation to the doubles national tournament.

The Mammoths enjoyed a successful day at the Amherst Spring Fling — Amherst’s only home meet of the entire year — placing third on their home track. At the Silfen Invitational, Sophia Friedman ’21 broke 60 seconds for the first time in the 400 meters and finished in 59.18 seconds, a time she brought down to 58.93 at the NESCAC Championships to score one point for Amherst with an eighth-place finish.

The conference meet was highlighted by senior Danielle Griffin’s win in the 800 meters, Griffin’s first conference championship title, in a time of 2:12.

Additional highlights for the Mammoths included a second-place finish for Kristin Ratliff ’20 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and a gutsy run by Haley Greene in the 10,000 meters, which earned the first year fifth overall.

Though the team only placed 11th at the meet, success seems to be on the horizon thanks to a strong first-year class. Though national-qualifying times have not yet been declared, the Mammoths will likely send a strong squad to Wisconsin-La Crosse for the NCAA Division III Championships.

Coming off a 2017 season, in which the Mammoths finished fifth in the nation and played in the NCAA College World Series, expectations were high for the Amherst softball team.

The team tore through March, losing only two games to non-conference opponents. Thanks to the strong regular season, Amherst hosted the NESCAC tournament as the top seed in the West Division. The Mammoths won their opening game over Bates, 9-0, before falling to Bowdoin in a tight 2-1 loss.

With their 26-5 regular season record, the Mammoths earned an atlarge bid to the NCAA tournament, ultimately losing to rival Williams in regional finals. Prior to NCAA tournament play began, Ronnie Falasco ’21 and Lorena Ukanwa ’19 earned first-team All-NESCAC honors, while Gina Pagan ’18, Kate Kopatic ’19 and Audrey Hansen ’21 earned secondteam honors. With a strong first-year class, the future looks bright for the Mammoths after ending 2018 with an impressive 29-8 record.

Men’s Tennis Led by a strong junior class, the

Men’s Track & Field The Mammoths placed third at their home Amherst Spring Fling meet, an event that was highlighted by sophomore Jordan Edwards’ 13.85 meters

— Veronica Rocco ’19

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 33

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Congratulations

Rebecca Segal We are so proud of all you have already accomplished and look forward to cheering you on as you go from strength to strength.

Love, Mom, Dad, Raphael and Yoni

34 | The Amherst Student | May 18, 2018

May 18, 2018 | The Amherst Student | 35

TEAMS OF THE YEAR

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY MAKES HISTORY

Photos courtesy of Amherst Athletics

The Amherst men’s cross country had a season to remember, winning Amherst’s first-ever NESCAC crown and finishing fourth at the NCAA Division III National Championships, the best performance at the meet in program history.

The team opened its season at the Smith Invitational, where the Mammoths scored a near-perfect 15 points, led by Clark Ricciardelli ’20E, who won the event in his first cross country race. At the Purple Valley Invitational hosted by Williams, the Mammoths finished third.

Amherst showed it would have a significant presence on the national stage at the Paul Short Invitational, where they team faced a field of mostly Division I schools in the most competitive race of the day and finished 25th overall in the 40 team field — the second-highest Division III finish. The race also saw the return of four-time All-American Mohamed Hussein ’18 to competition after injuries during his junior year.

The Mammoths made history on Oct. 14, when

they won the Little III Championships, breaking Williams’ 29-year winning streak. The Mammoths were led by Cosmo Brossy ’19 who crossed the line in first, with Ricciardelli shortly behind him in second.

Amherst dominated the NESCAC Championships, placing all five scoring runners in the top-14., beating runners-up Middlebury by 31 points, scoring 35 points to the Panthers’ 66. Additionally, Hussein earned his second NESCAC cross-country title.

At the New England Regional Championships, the Mammoths placed second to regional rival Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but bounced back at nationals where they placed fourth as a team, led by Hussein and Ricciardelli’s All-American performances.

Coach Steve Rubin earned NESCAC coach of the year honors, while coaches Cassie Funke-Harris and Danny Feldman were essential in leading the team at daily practices and meets. The Mammoths are poised to return to the podium this fall with a rapidly improving first-year class and strong upperclassmen.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL DOES IT AGAIN In the 2017-18 basketball season, the Amherst women’s basketball team showed once again why it is the best team in the nation, winning another national championship with a second-consecutive perfect 33-0 season.

In their trip to sunnier climates in December, the Mammoths faced a host of West Coast teams. Proving they could dominate outside of the NESCAC, the women’s team completed a four-game sweep of UC Santa Cruz, Trine, Chapman, and Redlands Universities.

The Mammoths tore through conference play, winning two crucial close games against conference rivals and top-10 programs Bowdoin and Tufts. Amherst earned the top seed in the NESCAC tournament once again, dominating Trinity and Wesleyan before winning another tight game against Tufts in the final, 44-40.

The Mammoths proceeded to set an NCAA record for the fewest points allowed in an NCAA tournament game in their first round contest, holding Becker College to just 12 points total and none in the fourth quarter.

The Mammoths breezed through the next three rounds, en route to a third-consecutive Final Four. Though a great third quarter from Thomas More University in the National Semifinal game left the Mammoths with only a narrow four-point lead going into the

fourth quarter, the Mammoths persevered and held the Saints to just nine points in the last 10 minutes, thus sealing a spot in the national championship game.

The Mammoths replicated their fourth quarter heroics against NESCAC rival Bowdoin in the championship game, holding the Polar Bears to nine points and scoring 23 of their own to beat Bowdoin, 65-45.

Much of Amherst’s success was due to the improvement of Hannah Fox ’20, who did not start last season but played a critical role this year. The sophomore earned first-team All-NESCAC honors along with teammate Madeline Eck ’20, while coach G.P. Gromacki earned NESCAC coach of the year honors for the third straight season and the seventh time in his 10 years at Amherst. Additionally, the sophomore duo of Fox and Eck also earned All-Region and All-American Honorable Mentions.

Emma McCarthy ’19 claimed most valuable player honors for the Final Four, and the transfer from Fairfield never lost a game for Amherst in her two years on the team, going 66-0 before her NCAA eligibility expired at the conclusion of the season.

The Mammoths winning streak stands at 66 games and the team will now look to challenge the Division III record of 81 straight wins and claim a third consecutive national title.

MVPs: Best of the Class of 2018 ALEX TOUPAL

Alex Toupal

In her four years at Amherst, Toupal has become one of the most decorated women’s ice hockey players in program history. Her senior year saw the forward from New Brighton, Minnesota led the NESCAC conference in total points, goals and assists, recording 41 points in 27 games. Her 1.52 points per game average ranked 11th nationally, while her 0.70 goals per game and 0.81 assists came in at 14th and 12th on the national leaderboard, respectively.

Toupal will finish her career at Amherst having played in 103 contests for the Mammoths with 65 career goals and 52 assists for a whopping 117 career points. With five total this year, Toupal scored a total of eight career hat tricks for Amherst women’s ice hockey.

ELIJAH SPIRO

Elijah Spiro

As one of the veteran swimmers on this year’s young men’s swim and dive team, Spiro solidified his place as king of the breaststroke this season. The Ohio native successsfully defended his 2017 NESCAC crowns in both the 50 and the 100-yard breakstroke events with times of 25.07 and 55.38 seconds, respectively.

These two first place finishes earned Spiro individual All-NESCAC honors.

In addition to his solo accolades, Spiro was also an integral part of the award-winning medley relay team for the Mammoths. Along with classmate Sam Spurrell and sophomores Craig Smith and Jack Koravos, Spiro led the way to a first place finish in 1:29.84 in the 200-yard medley relay.

JULIA CREREND

Julia Crerend

In an exciting season for Amherst women’s lacrossse, which will compete in the third round of the NCAA tournament this weekend, Julia Crerend is having a breakout year. The attacker from New Canaan, Connecticut has been the Mammoths’ top offensive threat all year with 52 goals and 61 points scored on the season with a 76.7 shots on goal percentage.

Netting her 100th career goal in the NESCAC quarterfinals, Crerend earned first-team All-NESCAC accolades for the first time in her career in the ultra-competetive NESCAC. In addition to her offensive production, Crerend has also picked up 20 ground balls, seven draw controls and forced 12 turnovers for the Mammoths on defense.

HARRY ROBERSON

Harry Roberson

A four-year starter for Amherst baseball, Roberson has been steady in the field and a constant threat at the plate. The Arlington, Massachussetts native has been a key component of the Amherst offense, consistently batting in the top of the lineup for the Mammoths. With a .422 career on base percentage and a .438 slugging mark, Roberson hits more doubles than nearly anyone else in the NESCAC. It’s fitting then, that when the shortstop broke the college’s career hits record this season, it was with a two-run double that ended up winning a close game against Clark University for the Mammoths. With 196 career hits heading into NCAA play, Roberson hopes to add to that number with a deep postseason run.