Campus & Community

Four years ago, as we sat together as a class on the quad during Convocation, none of us could have imagined how many experiences, challenges, and opportunities we would find over the course of our time here.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Matthew Lyskawa ’18 saw no purpose in school. But a teacher saw a spark and lit the fire that set Lyskawa on his journey, first to community college, then Rochester, and now to begin a doctoral program in philosophy at Harvard.

For the Michigan native graduating with dual degrees from the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Eastman School of Music, Ivan Suminski found himself in an enviable dilemma.

Rochester native Cherish Blackman has always had a knack for languages. “I wanted to study languages that weren’t very close to English,” she recalls. The double major in Russian and East Asian studies is heading to China next year, but is bringing her Spanish books with her.

Anya Khalid came to the University without having ever coded in her life—but she was eager to get in on the ground floor of the new undergraduate major in data science. Now the Washington, D.C., resident is graduating with degree in economics as well, bound for Seattle and a job as a data analytics consultant.

From saxophonist to student government treasurer, to internships at BASF, SpaceX, and Ernst & Young, C.J. Van Huben has packed a lot into four years. “I had a feeling I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to be put in a box,” the financial economics major says. “The open curriculum was perfect for me.”

Beatriz Gil ’19 and Jamal Holtz ’20, the Students’ Association president and vice president-elect, have been involved in SA government since their first year and have served as senators. We want to make the student body one,” says Gil.

For Ian Manzi, a photo of Rush Rhees Library left behind in an office at his Rwandan high school changed his life. “It looked so beautiful, a representation of college,” he says.

The business major described by her coaches as a “once-in-a-generation player” knows that community service will be in her game plan. “It’s something I love,” Al Leslie says. “And it’s something that will always be part of my life.”

Neuroscience major Allen Chen ’19 and biology major Audrey Goldfarb ’19 are the University’s 2018 recipients of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.

The senior from Warner Robins, Georgia, has crammed a lot into four years of college, and Kat Bakrania is not done learning. “When I graduate, I’m going to leave here with some really solid friendships and some amazing experiences.”

“It’s students crossing boundaries between disciplines, asking questions, and coming up with innovative and exciting answers to the challenges that face us in the contemporary world.”