At ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Reunion in June, the Alumni Association gathered to present the annual Alumni Council Awards, recognizing the exceptional career and service achievements of five alumni.

“It is truly inspiring to witness the transformative power of our alumni as they engage in informed civic action and lead in diverse fields,â€� said Leah Elsmore ’12, president of the Alumni Association for the 2025-26 academic year. “This year’s recipients reflect the ardor and devotion — Amore ac Studio — that define the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ experience, serving as a powerful reminder of the potential within our entire alumni network.â€�

Peter R. Basiliere ’76 received the Alumni Community Service Award in recognition of his leadership and civic service in Milford, N.H., where he was elected town moderator and school district moderator. After retiring from a career as a leader in additive manufacturing, Basiliere, an active Rotarian, began serving as a volunteer with the American Red Cross. Since then he has joined disaster relief teams in California, Vermont, the Carolinas, and, most recently, Guam, where he oversaw the Red Cross’ food operations after a super typhoon hit the island. Basiliere’s commitment to service and strengthening communities around the country reflects ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ ideals of purposeful work and responsible stewardship of the wider world.

Scientist Noah E. Petro ’01 earned the Alumni Professional Recognition Award in recognition of his career and leadership at NASA, where he has worked since 2007. Since 2017, he has been the lab chief of NASA’s Planetary Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry lab, which conducts research on Mercury, Venus, Earth, and their satellites. He is the project scientist for Artemis III, the 2027 mission that will bring astronauts to the moon’s surface for the first time since 1972. Petro’s work at NASA, both highly scientific and serving the general public, exemplifies ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ mission of combining intellectual rigor with public good.

Physician Christopher B. Lanoue ’99, P’26 earned the Bruce Stangle ’70, P’96, GP’26 Award for Distinguished Service to the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Community in recognition of his commitment to supporting ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students and alumni through their medical school journeys. An emergency medicine specialist with MaineHealth, Lanoue has worked closely with the Center for Purposeful Work, mentoring ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ies pursuing medical careers, and done so with “generosity, warmth, and openness.â€� His leadership and service, emblematic of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ values, has touched countless people as they themselves prepare for a career of serving others through medicine.

Rachel Ebersole ’17 was presented with the Distinguished Young Alumni Award in recognition of her career as a museum educator and her leadership within the alumni community. Ebersole is the manager of teen programs at The New York Historical museum and library, where she also oversees a digital learning lab and makerspace. Ebersole is a dedicated leader within the New York ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Network, fostering alumni community and hosting events. Her volunteer service to the college is an inspiring example of the transformative power of the young alumni network.

Erica Seifert Plunkett ’86 earned the Helen A. Papaioanou ’49 Distinguished Alumni Service Award, which recognizes alumni who have given exceptional service to the college. Plunkett served as class co-president while at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and, since graduating, as an Alumni Council member, a dedicated class agent, and a committee leader. Plunkett has also led an accomplished career in research; she spent more than 25 years at the Wellesley Centers for Women supporting research projects studying mental health literacy and mental health in adolescents. She is now a project manager at Brown University’s Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute, working on projects related to adolescent depression prevention.

The Office of College Advancement also presented Kathryn (Kali) M. Brown ’21, Craig E. Comins ’81, and Meg W. Curran ’11 with ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ Best Awards, which recognize dedicated volunteers who have expressed a passion and commitment for advancing the mission of the college.

“Our alumni continue to do incredible work in their communities and professions, and honoring this year’s award recipients is a privilege,â€� said Assistant Vice President for Alumni Engagement Sarah Cameron. “Every year, these awards remind us of the strength and reach of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ network, and we look forward to seeing who our community nominates next.â€�

Want to nominate someone for a 2027 award? Nominating forms are available now. 

Many ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ faculty have received grants, awards, and other acknowledgements of their strong teaching and research. Earlier, we highlighted two English faculty — Jessica Anthony and Myronn Hardy — who received Guggenheim Fellowships and two faculty Fulbright grantees — Elena Maker Castro and Michel Droge. Read on for more great faculty news. 

Professor of Digital and Computational Studies Carrie Diaz Eaton received support from the Hewlett Foundation. Diaz Eaton leads the Institute for a Racially Just, Inclusive, and Open STEM Education (RIOS Institute). The Hewlett Foundation renewed their support for RIOS with a two-year, $1-million fund for general operating support.

Associate Director of Counseling & Psychological Services Allison Brown was named one of the 2026 Harriett Copher Haynes Leadership Mentoring Award winners. This award, given by the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors, comes specifically from the Inclusive Excellence and Equity Committee. The award celebrates and supports “talented mental health professionals who belong to an identity group that experiences systemic barriers.�

Emily Kane, professor of sociology, was awarded the Periclean Faculty Leader course grant. This program is generously funded by the Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Eugene M. Lang Foundation. The Periclean Faculty Leader grants support enhancements to an existing course — in this case, “Sociology of Gender� — to “empower students to make positive change in their communities and help revitalize democracy.�

Brett Karpf ’26 walks to make sense of the world. He walks because he loves to walk. And he walks because he has to, for reasons he’s still trying to understand. Beginning in August, fully funded by a fellowship from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, Karpf will spend a full year walking — and thinking about walking. His proposal, “Seeking Meaning in Motion,â€� was one of 39 winning projects out of 155 Watson finalists nationally. ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is one of 40 participating colleges that can nominate up to four students each year. 

Karpf, who grew up in and around New York City, cannot remember a time when he was not in motion. Shuttling by car, subway, and bus from place to place, movement settled him. It was when he began attending a summer camp just an hour away from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ that he really began to understand how motion felt different when he was walking. 

“When you’re moving slowly, you’re constantly being met with new stimuli, such that your mind is refreshing at a natural pace,â€� Karpf says. “As opposed to, for example, when you’re in a car, you’re passing by everything so that it’s hard to focus on any one thing.â€�

When he arrived at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, he took to walking across Lewiston every night after dinner. “It was an incredible way for me to get to know the place,â€� he says. “It grants you a level of intimacy that otherwise is kind of hard to reach. You’re more autonomous in what it is that you’re observing. It also allowed me to find my own place within ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.â€�

Karpf, an English major who frequently drops lines from various texts to tell a story of his own, is inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s writing about walking. Thoreau celebrated what he called
“sauntering,â€� derived from sans terre meaning “without land or a home.â€� To Thoreau, sans terre means “having no particular home, but equally at home everywhere. For this is the secret of successful sauntering.â€� 

Karpf plans to “saunterâ€� through seven countries, spending time with a cooperative of herders in Mongolia, Zen Buddhists in Japan, semi-nomadic Sámi reindeer herders in Sweden, and others. He will also visit Australia, Norway, Nepal and India, each of which has a culture attached to movement. Karpf will bring his curiosity to more deeply understand the role of walking within those cultures, while self-examining his own motivations. 

“I think in some part what I’m hoping for is a comfort in stillness. At the end of it, I’d like to have a sense that I can settle down a little bit.â€�

Karpf was encouraged to apply for the Watson after spending time with friend and fellow Watson finalist Poppy Marsh ’26 of San Francisco, Calif., on an Otis Fellowship in 2024. That experience — framing a project, moving through the application, and then visiting the Dolomites — informed his Watson application and his initial interview. The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Watson fellowship committee, led by Robert Strong, director of national fellowships, saw that this was a strong project.

“Brett’s Watson project intrigued the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ committee because it is internally tuned but seeking externally as well,â€� Strong says. “Throughout his application process, Brett was reaching to articulate something just beyond the reach of words — but something he feels and knows when walking.â€� 

Working to harness an idea beyond the reach of words and turn it into an actionable plan, Karpf knew he would need support. Each of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ four Watson finalists was paired with a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ mentor, and Andrew Mountcastle, associate professor of biology, was Karpf’s. 

“His research project was just totally organic to who he is as a person and authentic to him,â€� Mountcastle says. “We saw that right away in both his written material as well as his interview process.â€� 

In addition to serving on the Watson committee for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Mountcastle has a special perspective on the Watson. Following his own college graduation, he won a Watson fellowship and used it to study different cultural responses to sea mammal beachings in seven countries. And while he did learn about the question at hand, he learned the most about himself, which made him uniquely qualified to help Karpf with the messier questions about a year away from home.

“At first glance, the Watson feels very outward,â€� Mountcastle says. “You’re traveling to different countries, doing a self-designed project. You’re exploring the world. But I think the lasting impact on me was what was happening internally.â€�

The duo met almost weekly, leading up to the interviews with the Watson Foundation in December. “We’d talk about his latest draft,â€� Mountcastle says. “He’d get really excited about different angles and exploring different potential components of his project. And then he’d disappear for a week and spend all his time writing.â€� 

Karpf also went into the application process with the support of Associate Professor of English Sanford Freedman, who has come to know Karpf well over his four years at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. In addition to working together on Karpf’s senior honors thesis on William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, Karpf helps Danielle Freedman, Sanford’s wife, with her gardens. 

“Brett Karpf’s powerful ability is to speak to people at all levels,� Freedman says. “What may go unnoticed is the capacity of what he brings to these exchanges: friendship, hope, goodwill, and an amazing perspicacious consciousness registering and analyzing life exchanges.�

As Karpf begins to plan the year ahead in earnest, he is humbled by this opportunity. “Motion is a great privilege. An American passport is a great privilege. A lot of people can’t go as easily around the world as I’ll be able to, and many people can’t even leave their own neighborhood.â€� Karpf is also aware of the opportunities that have opened up for him because he was in a community that encouraged him, at a school that supported him. Faculty and staff, but also fellow students, helped Karpf feel like his questions were worth asking. 

The one thing that he wants to tell ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students as his time comes to a close? 

“Apply to stuff! One reason I got this Watson is because I had applied for other things at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, whether that be the Otis Fellowship or an environmental grant.â€� One experience leads to confidence to apply for the next. And support from the Otis family will continue to help Karpf on the roads ahead. “The Otis family helped fund my summer last year where I was working on the Allagash doing trail work and made it possible for me to purchase gear,â€� including a pair of boots that will carry him across seven countries in the coming year. 

“I love these boots, by the way,� he says. “Though I may have to get them re-soled again.�

Four ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ seniors are hoping to get the chance to spend the next year seeking answers to some big questions. Finalists for the Watson Fellowship, these students are exploring differing approaches to work across cultures, persistent traditions amid changing political boundaries, how meaning can be made from movement, and community-driven approaches to power grids.

The Watson Fellowship offers college graduates support to travel for a full year exploring a complex topic. Fellows receive $40,000 along with health insurance and a year’s worth of student loan payments (if needed). In exchange, they must remain outside of the United States for a full year, beginning in the August following their college graduation.

“This is some version of heaven,â€� said Robert Strong, director of national fellowships. “The Watson allows ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ies to spend a year traveling the earth constrained only by the limits of their curiosities, which Watson believes should be limitless.â€� ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is one of 41 colleges and universities that can nominate students. Each institution is allowed to nominate up to four students from within their own highly competitive pool. The last time ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students were awarded a Watson was in 2023, when two ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ seniors, and , received the prestigious fellowships.

This year ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ has four nominees: Poppy Marsh ’26 of San Francisco, Calif., John Harun-DeLong ’26 of Fairbanks, Alaska; Brett Karpf ’26 of Ridgewood, N.J., and Linh Hoang ’26 of Hanoi, Vietnam. And if awarded, their travels could span 19 countries — from Nepal to Norway to New Zealand.

We caught up with these four finalists, to learn more about what they hope to accomplish if they receive a Watson. Poppy Marsh, a double major in English and politics, has proposed a project to explore identity and community among those impacted by political borders in five countries. Marsh was an Otis Fellow in 2024 and spent eight weeks in the Italian Dolomites, hiking and talking to people about climate change and environmental degradation. Marsh sees the Watson as “the grandparent of the Otis,â€� with a longer time frame, larger scope, and increased independence on the part of the fellow. For the Watson, she explains, “I’m curious about individual and communal conceptions of identity as it relates to the invention of the modern state through, around, and between communities whose presence on this land predates the state’s modern borders. So my project is thinking about this through distinct methods of cultural, linguistic, and social preservations of these communal identities as they relate to the land that they’ve remained on.â€�

Marsh’s interdisciplinarity shows up in her work at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. Her politics thesis, which is “a comparative study of the refugee accommodation regimes in Greece and Kenya,â€� focuses on policy differences in shifting communities. Her year-long poetry thesis allows another way to explore questions of place. “For that, I’m interested in ideas of homeland, ideas of what it means to come from a place and no longer be with it or what it means to come from a place and remain with it.â€� 

Marsh’s idea for the Watson builds on questions of belonging, but never aims to find answers or offer solutions. “I’m not really after a specific political or social definition. I’m not interested in proving a rightful belonging to land or affirming a rightful belonging to land. That’s so far from my place. What I want is structured around open-ended curiosity. I want it to be stretchy. I want it to be bent and folded and contradicted. I want it to be able to hold water and leak as well, depending on where I am.â€� 

Marsh credits her first-year seminar professor and advisor, Senem Aslan, professor of politics, for her growing enthusiasm and curiosity about these questions. Aslan has been Marsh’s advisor all four years and has encouraged Marsh to move toward these goals. 

John Harun-DeLong ’26 of Fairbanks, Alaska, could have selected any number of big questions to follow for his proposed year abroad. He is a cellist, on the debate team, and majoring in biochemistry with minors in philosophy and Hispanic Studies. But within those varied interests is a throughline:  “Climate change is what really drives me. I need to think of it. For me, my life isn’t just my own body. It’s like my entire community of Alaska and my hometown. And so the destruction of that is fundamental. Everything that shaped you, if those are being destroyed, that’s the most complete destruction of the self that can exist, really.â€�

Though he aims to work toward a MD/PhD in the future, Harun-DeLong first wants to spend time understanding, and comparing, power grids around the world to work toward more sustainable and safer solutions for the U.S.. 

His plan is to travel to countries with a decentralized power grid or microgrids that are more resilient than the aging – and vulnerable – grid in the U.S. It isn’t only the science that interests Harun-DeLong. These microgrids also “allow [citizens] to have truly democratic control over the grid because the people in the village are supposed to maintain and decide what the best grid policy is.â€� 

There’s a precedent for Harun-DeLong to figure it out as he goes, and find opportunities along the way. Last summer, when Harun-DeLong knew that he wanted to work with some of the top cancer researchers in the world, he cold-called them. He showed up in Spain and ended up working as a research assistant for Maria Blasco, director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Center. 

Linh Hoang ’26 of Hanoi, Vietnam was traveling in Svalbard, Norway, when she met a stranger who changed her life. In a shared kitchen, over instant ramen, Hoang struck up a conversation with a man who explained his own big questions. He had spent the past two decades in constant motion, always striving through work to reach the next rung on the ladder. He suddenly stopped and asked himself: “What do I actually want?â€� That reflection struck Hoang as she was busy working toward her own future. Why wait for a mid-life break to ask this question? Talking to friends across the globe who are building lives in a time of uncertainty, Hoang believes that it is worth pausing to notice how various cultures respond to and help shape relationships to work. 

Hoang’s Watson project emphasizes existential questions and places her generation in a broader context of work culture. “From my Watson, I will learn how people across cultures navigate the same tensions I’ve felt: between ambition and meaning, belonging and freedom, expectation and reality. I will return with a deeper understanding of how systems and emotions intertwine, and with the humility to know that both matter.â€� 

Those who know Hoang as a double major in math and economics might be surprised that she is focusing on philosophical questions. Hoang’s understanding of economics will certainly impact the questions that she asks, but she really is interested in a more personal approach in her travels. Hoang’s proposal lays out a plan to visit nine countries in the coming year. 

Hoang is already making plans to pursue graduate work that bridges math and finance. She isn’t on the fence about her next steps, and she does not see the Watson as “opting out.â€� Instead, she is remembering the stranger in Norway reflecting on his life and his choices. And in framing these questions comparatively in cultures both known for their high-pressure or their laid-back approaches to work, Hoang is certain to move toward her next phase with more understanding. “What I’ve found,â€� Hoang says, â€�is that when I talk to more people, I learn more about myself.“ 

Brett Karpf ’26 of Ridgewood, N.J. spends a lot of time walking. Whether covering hundreds of miles along trails in Italy on his Otis Fellowship, wandering through urban Morocco during study abroad or simply moving from place to place in Maine, walking gives meaning to his life. As he has grown and reflected more on the role of motion in his own life, he has begun asking more questions about walking and movement, such as “Why is it that moving, walking especially, can enable us to gain a better sense of faith or understanding or contentedness?â€� 

An English major, Karpf is deeply engaged in analyzing words; his two-semester thesis project explores sublimity in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! But Karpf has also served as an assistant to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ horticulturalist Jeremy Lavertu and worked as a gardener for Sanford Freedman, associate professor of English. His proposal for the Watson allows him to combine his love of the natural world with his analytical skills as he works to understand what happens for people who spend time walking outside. 

Though Karpf’s experiences walking have been selective and intentional, he is drawn to nomadic cultures whose very existence is tied to movement. “I’m looking for similarities and oppositions between different groups. You can find so much cultural similarity between places that are thousands of miles apart, if not tens of thousands of miles apart, and who are using motion to sort of reach similar ends.â€�

Karpf will explore people who walk for various reasons, including religious pilgrims. He hopes to learn “by interacting with people who are walking as a means of religious observance or as a way to become closer with what they deem to be divine.� The project will also explore “cultures where motion and movement are prioritized — herders, semi-nomadic peoples, including people that used to be nomadic and no longer are,� in order to understand the drive to hold to traditions that are increasingly threatened.

Karpf hopes to find meaningful answers — and at minimum, answers that help him understand himself more. “I am seeking how others experience purpose and understanding when it feels deeply entangled with movement: Can their experience help me understand my own?�

Mohammed M. Obaid Shwani ’24 has been a world traveler and an award winner since he was a teenager. In 2016, he first came to the United States after being named an Iraqi Young Leader through a State Department program, then traveled to Bosnia to attend United World College on a scholarship before landing in Maine for college.

As a first-year student at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, he won the Dana Award, the highest honor bestowed on a student in their first year. He majored in politics, minored in philosophy, and graduated summa cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After time in England and a return to Iraq, he’ll soon embark on another journey with a fresh accolade, heading to Beijing as a Schwarzman Scholar.

This month Shwani was named one of 150 Schwarzman Scholars, representing 40 countries and 83 universities from around the world, who will attend a one-year, fully-funded master’s degree program in global affairs at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University. Selected from a pool of over 5,800 candidates worldwide, Shwani is a part of the most competitive cohort to date. 

When the State Department selected him as a Young Iraqi Leader, they saw a determined student from Kirkuk who grew up amid terrorism and instability, and who, at just 16, founded Iraq’s first National Model United Nations association. At ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Shwani was curious about global systems and approached this work from an interdisciplinary perspective. His work at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ was followed with a year in England studying law at the University of Oxford. These experiences, he says, helped him learn to critically analyze power, history, and governance. “ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ didn’t give me a single narrative,â€� he notes. “It gave me the tools to deconstruct them and form my own conclusions.â€� 

Shwani returned to Iraqi Kurdistan after ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and has been leading global partnerships at the Kurdistan Foundation, tasked with attracting investment, collaboration, and strategic alliances to the region.

“For years, my country and I have oriented ourselves around ‘what will the U.S. do, and how does its system work?’� he says. “But my country is now actively engaging with another great power whose system we do not understand. We have strong economic ties with China, but almost no insight into its strategic culture, its governance model, or its long-term vision. Kurdistan and Iraq’s future leaders must understand and have connections with all sides to be able to navigate the country’s relationships in this new multipolar world.�

This need for understanding led him to the Schwarzman Scholars program, a scholarship created to respond to the geopolitical landscape of the 21st century and designed to prepare the next generation of global leaders.

“Our eleventh cohort is a truly impressive group that fills me with optimism,� says Stephen A. Schwarzman, founding trustee of Schwarzman Scholars, “I am hopeful that their interest in China and global affairs, coupled with their leadership potential, will create opportunities for collaboration and dialogue at Schwarzman College and beyond.�

As Shwani prepares for Beijing, he looks forward to reuniting with Scarlett Wang ’23, who now lives in Beijing. “It’s been years since we were on campus together,â€� he says. “The idea that a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ friend will be part of my first community in China makes this huge transition feel more like a homecoming. It reminds me that no matter where I go, the network and relationships from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ are a permanent foundation.â€�

Before she joined the U.S. Foreign Service, Clarisa Pérez-Armendáriz, professor of politics, was certain that she would never make a career out of studying Latin America.

Her family is from Mexico — she was born in Monterrey before moving to the U.S. at age 2 — and she felt that studying the region would give in to people’s stereotypes about what was expected of her.

But, when she was assigned to Mexico for her first post as a Foreign Service officer, everything changed.

“I was really upset,â€� Pérez-Armendáriz says. “But then, it turned out it’s the most incredible thing that happened in my life.â€�

Her experience in Mexico inspired much of her thesis work for her PhD in politics and continues to impact her research and teaching. In recognition of the latter, Pérez-Armendáriz is this year’s recipient of the Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ highest honor for teaching.

“I really like teaching, and it felt really exciting for people to recognize something that I care about a lot,� Pérez-Armendáriz says.

“Hearing from them and taking seriously their observations, I like that a lot. That’s what makes me come up with a new idea for a course.â€�

Professor of Politics Clarisa Pérez-Armendáriz

She helped establish the college’s Program in Latin American and Latinx Studies, and her courses frequently cover comparative politics, Latin American and Latinx politics, and international migration. This semester, she’s teaching a first-year seminar, “How Democracy Dies,� and a 300-level course, “Political Challenges in Latin America.�

For politics major and “Political Challenges in Latin America� student Elizabeth Holcombe ’26 of Takoma Park. Md., what makes Pérez-Armendáriz stand out as a teacher is her ability to develop close, honest relationships with her students.

“Clarisa makes everyone feel capable and smart in their own way,â€� Holcombe says. “Everyone has something to share and contribute.â€� 

Both Holcombe and Leslie Jimenez ’26 of Chicago, Ill., a politics and Latin American and Latinx studies double major also in “Political Challenges in Latin America,� took their first courses with Pérez-Armendáriz their sophomore year. They jump at any opportunity to enroll in a course with her, they say, and are constantly recommending her courses to their peers.

“Clarisa is this light that guides a lot of people in this world,� Jimenez says.

Another strength of Pérez-Armendáriz’s teaching is the way that she uses her experience as a Foreign Service officer to make her lessons come alive, Holcombe says.

“It’s pretty clear in her teaching that a lot of her life before ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is informing what we’re learning about in a powerful way,â€� Holcombe says. 

As a Foreign Service officer, Pérez-Armendáriz was responsible for issuing visas for entry into the U.S. and helping people with dual citizenship in Mexico and America resolve various administrative problems. She began to notice interesting patterns among her clients with dual citizenship or who had emigrated out of Mexico and were returning or visiting. 

Her experience inspired her to begin thinking about how Mexican emigrants influence the political state of their home country from abroad or through their families, a topic that would go on to influence her doctoral thesis and later research. Pérez-Armendáriz is currently working on several research projects, including investigating election participation of Mexican citizens who vote from abroad.

Pérez-Armendáriz’s courses touch on complicated, contested political concepts, such as, for her first-year seminar students, the often-debated definition of populism. As a teacher, one of her priorities is ensuring that her students both understand and can explain these intricate topics. She wants them to be able to share what they’ve learned, whether while educating family members or discussing their work in a job interview.

“We complicate things a lot,� Pérez-Armendáriz says. “You don’t want to lose your audience.�

Pérez-Armendáriz helps students grasp ideas by teaching them how to create and analyze visual tools such as graphs. She’s laid back and approachable when she’s at the front of the classroom, using humor to help students relax and feel comfortable approaching difficult topics, and quick to remind them that there is often more than one way to view an idea.

In her classroom, “you’re allowed to have a very nuanced opinion,â€� Jimenez says.

Pérez-Armendáriz seeks feedback from students on what they want to learn and provides opportunities for students with unique global perspectives, such as international students or those returning from study abroad, to share their insights with their classmates. 

“Hearing from them and taking seriously their observations, I like that a lot,â€� Pérez-Armendáriz says. “That’s what makes me come up with a new idea for a course.â€�

Her changing, topical ideas for her courses are part of what makes students return to her repeatedly.

“Clarisa has her finger on the pulse,� Holcombe says. “She knows what people want to learn.�

Though her courses are all taught in English, Pérez-Armendáriz encourages her students to engage with source materials in other languages, whether they access them because they speak another language or through using AI translation services. She discussed the importance of accessing sources in different languages during the Kroepsch Pedagogy Panel in September, which Pérez-Armendáriz organized and moderated around the theme of “preparing our students to be global citizens.�

In the same vein of having students who have spent time abroad share their experiences, engaging with scholarly work in different languages offers a glimpse into ideas beyond what is available in the English scholastic catalog.

“It’s not just ‘same stuff, different language,’â€� Pérez-Armendáriz says. “It’s ‘different stuff.’â€�

Lexie Jamieson ’20, a double major in politics and Spanish, embraced Pérez-Armendáriz’s enthusiasm for using multiple languages while writing her thesis analyzing perceptions of foreigners in Argentina. With Pérez-Armendáriz encouraging her as her advisor, Jamieson conducted surveys and interviews in Spanish. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Jamieson worried that it wasn’t possible to complete her thesis virtually. But Pérez-Armendáriz assured her that she could do it. They met online nearly every day until she was finished.

“She’s the definition of what an amazing professor is like, and she really truly cares about her students and their lives,â€� Jamieson says.

Pérez-Armendáriz enjoys supporting students who are interested in research and encourages them to pursue their interests, even when their ideas are unusual. When she herself was a PhD student, her advisors cautioned her against studying her primary interest of immigration, claiming that it was not a topical part of politics.

Years later, immigration is one of the most relevant and examined topics in political science.

“I have a really strong reaction to when people are like, ‘You don’t want to do that.’ It’s really negative,â€� Pérez-Armendáriz says. “It keeps us from knowing and learning stuff we don’t know. Maybe a student is from a place that hasn’t been represented in academia.â€�

Jimenez spent a summer as Pérez-Armendáriz’s research assistant through an internship funded by the Center for Purposeful Work. Even though Jimenez began the summer without the research skills needed for the work, such as coding data, Pérez-Armendáriz was confident that she could learn — and she did.

“Clarisa is just meeting you where you’re at and really wanting to make sure you like what you’re doing,â€� Jimenez says.

But Pérez-Armendáriz has high expectations for her students. Her courses taught Jamieson that her brain and work ethic were capable of more than she previously thought possible. Today, as a bilingual English-Spanish kindergarten teacher in Washington D.C., Jamieson views her students’ potential the same way that Pérez-Armendáriz viewed hers.

“It really influences the way I also hold those high standards and expectations of my students,â€� Jamieson says. “Even as five-year-olds, I’ve been very amazed at their abilities to have critical conversations about the world around them and understand.â€� 

Pérez-Armendáriz knows personally that the path to purposeful work is often winding and full of surprises. With her unfailing belief in her students’ ability to succeed, she is equipping them for the journey.

“One thing will lead to another, and you can’t predict it,â€� Pérez-Armendáriz said. “Just be ready and be open and listen to your instincts.â€�

President Garry W. Jenkins has received the 2025 Maine Black Excellence Compass Career Award from , a network that connects Maine’s Black professionals, students, and entrepreneurs to opportunities across multiple areas, from social to professional. 

The Third Place gives its Compass Career Award in recognition of “outstanding professional achievement, principled leadership, and a commitment to equity and excellence in one’s field.â€� The nonprofit, which was founded in 2017 by Executive Director Adilah Muhammad, noted that Jenkins, the ninth president of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, is also its first Black president.

“From the courtroom to the boardroom to the college green, Garry Jenkins has led with integrity, brilliance, and heart,� the group said, citing his record spanning higher education, law, philanthropy, and public service. “His career is a compass for those navigating the intersections of leadership and justice.�

“I’m deeply touched by this honor, and for this award to be tied to my new home state of Maine,� Jenkins said as he accepted the award at a dinner celebration on a beautiful August evening outdoors at the Caswell Farm and Wedding Barn in Gray. “It carries special significance because it comes from a community that understands both the challenges we face and the excellence we represent.�

“Our democracy and our institutions succeed and flourish when everyone has a seat at the table and has the support and encouragement to shine brightly,� he added.

Jenkins was one of . He spoke of his pride at leading ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, citing its rich and unique history of inclusion and legacy of producing remarkable Black leaders through the 20th century and into the 21st century. Specifically, he mentioned John P. Davis, a debater at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ who graduated in 1926 and would go on to be a lawyer and pivotal figure in the Harlem Renaissance, and civil rights icon Benjamin Mays, a member of the Class of 1920, as well as pioneering television journalist Bryant Gumbel ’70 and Val Smith ’75, the president of Swarthmore College. 

“I want to make sure that we continue to produce alumni, of all backgrounds, who go on to make a difference to their communities, fields, and institutions,â€� Jenkins said.  

His remarks ended with an invitation to attendees to come to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, walk on the beautiful campus, visit the museum, and attend theatrical and musical performances as well as athletic competitions.

Among the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ community members who joined Jenkins at the event were recent graduate Davina Kabantu ’24, who is a trainee in a bank management development program, Professor Emerita of Politics Leslie Hill, and Morgan Kinney and Mohamed Awil of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. The Portland Press Herald .

On June 7 during Reunion Weekend, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Alumni Association honored six alumni for their outstanding contributions to the college and the wider world.

The awards were presented during the Annual Gathering of the Alumni Association, held in Merrill Gymnasium following the Alumni Parade, which was moved indoors due to rain.

Presenting the awards were John Howard ’86, vice president of the Alumni Association, joined by ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Garry W. Jenkins.

The Annual Gathering also featured Jenkins’ Presidential Address, in which he thanked the Reunion alumni for the many and powerful ways they have stepped up to support ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. “Your dedication is nothing short of astonishing,” he said.

“We are so grateful for alumni support,” he added. “It makes an enormous difference. We stand on the shoulders of others. Giving back ensures future students enjoy the same transformative education that once changed your life.”

Alumni Professional Recognition Award: Dean Bragonier ’95

Bragonier was recognized for his work as founder of NoticeAbility, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students with dyslexia identify their unique strengths and build self-esteem. His work has had a significant positive impact on students with dyslexia around the world, exemplifying ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ values.

His award citation noted: “Dean’s mission is deeply personal. As a student with dyslexia, he has shared that his passion for learning wasn’t ignited until he came to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€”where his differences were embraced and his potential recognized. Through his leadership at NoticeAbility, Dean is now bringing that same ethos of understanding, support, and empowerment to students, families, and educators around the world.”

Bruce Stangle ’70 Award for Distinguished Service to the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Community: Ann Clark Tucker ’78

Tucker was recognized for her extraordinary and long-standing volunteer leadership across the college, including with Advancement, Admission, and the Center for Purposeful Work, offering ongoing mentorship to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students and sharing advice from her career as a communications executive.

Her award citation noted: “During Short Term 2024, Ann returned to campus as a Practitioner-in-Residence with the Center for Purposeful Work, where she designed and taught a month-long course centered on the values of service and civic responsibility. She continues to mentor those students today, helping them prepare for lives of impact beyond ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.”

Sesquicentennial Prize: Derek Anderson ’85 

Anderson was recognized for his significant publishing achievement, Improbable Voices: A History of the World Since 1450 Seen From 26 Unusual Perspectives.

This book explores the history of the world through the voices of 26 people whose stories have long gone unheard, celebrating diverse perspectives and highlighting the value of liberal arts. Anderson has made his life and career as a high school history teacher, librarian, and world traveler.

His award citation noted: “The book’s creation connected dozens of librarians, historians, and archivists around the world, celebrating the essential roles these disciplines play in preserving and interpreting human history. It also pays homage to the influence of his ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ mentors, whose guidance inspired his passion for inquiry, storytelling, and thoughtful scholarship.”

Distinguished Young Alumni Award: Nick Beati ’20

Beati was recognized for his volunteer service to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and mentoring ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students. As a director with Savills North America, based in Boston, Beati has welcomed and mentored ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ interns through the Center for Purposeful Work.

His award citation noted: “Not only has he created professional opportunities for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students, but he has also provided thoughtful mentorship and guidance to help them navigate life after college. Nick’s willingness to go above and beyond — whether by opening doors for students exploring professional options, hosting events, or simply being a reliable and thoughtful presence — has made him a standout among young alumni.”

Helen A. Papaioanou ’49 Distinguished Alumni Service Award: Geraldine M. FitzGerald ’75

FitzGerald, a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ trustee emerita, was honored for decades of distinguished and extensive service to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, including serving as co-chair of the $336 million ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Campaign. She has served as president of the Alumni Association, remains an active Purposeful Work and Cheney Society volunteer, and co-chaired 1975’s Reunion Gift effort.

Her award citation noted: “Few alumni have served ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ with as much devotion, vision, and warmth. Geri’s thoughtfulness, grace, and preparation have left an indelible mark during this Reunion year. She has crafted individualized outreach, personally thanked every classmate, and successfully inspired major giving, always leading with kindness and conviction. Her leadership has brought her classmates closer to each other and to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ “

Alumni Community Service Award: Robin Waterman ’85

Waterman, who was unable to attend the awards presentation at Reunion, was recognized for a career working with underserved communities worldwide.

For more than two decades, she developed community-based programs for low-income, culturally and linguistically diverse families in the greater Denver metro area, including 14 years as founding executive director of the Aurora Community Connection, fostering parent involvement, community leadership, and self-sufficiency.

Her award citation noted: “Her efforts continue to bridge systemic gaps in health and education access, embodying ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ core values of civic responsibility and ethical leadership. Whether supporting immigrant youth through the Village Exchange Center’s college access programs in Aurora or living in solidarity with homeless immigrants in Houston, Robin’s service is wholehearted and unwavering.”

Eight young ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College alumni, including seven new graduates, have been offered Fulbright Student awards for 2025–26. 

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ has been recognized as a Top Producer of Fulbright Student awards for 14 straight years, most recently in February for 2024–25.

“These accomplished Fulbright recipients embody the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ mission of commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world,â€� said President Garry W. Jenkins. “We are immensely proud of and thrilled for our awardees, whose academic achievements, passion for intercultural understanding, and joy in exploration will enable them to build powerful connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.â€�

This year’s awardees have been offered Fulbright English teaching assistant grants for Germany, Rwanda, Spain, Switzerland, and Taiwan, and a Fulbright research award for Slovenia.

Each year, the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers over 400 awards in more than 135 countries for U.S. citizens to teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects around the world. 

“I have been inspired this year by seeing ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students and our young alumni lean into our world’s accelerating complexity,â€� said Robert Strong, director of national fellowships and lecturer in English. “It’s good to know that these ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbrighters will be around the globe, representing the positive, problem-solving spirit of American leadership in learning and research.â€�

The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbright Committee described these internationally minded young leaders as humble, enthusiastic, personable, curious — and exceptionally knowledgeable.

Claire Bohmer ’25

Claire Bohmer ’25, a biochemistry major from Steamboat Springs, Colo., has been offered a Fulbright study/research grant for Slovenia. 

Research Experience Includes: Bohmer studies Lyme disease with a place-based approach that combines lab research and local knowledge. At ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, she was a researcher in the lab of Paula Schlax, Stella James Sims professor of chemistry and biochemistry, as a National Institutes of Health INBRE fellow, investigating RNA and protein behavior in the Lyme disease–causing bacterium. 

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Community Activities Include: Biology teaching assistant, STEM scholar, AESOP trip leader, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Public Health Initiative participant, and president of Chicks on Sticks women’s ski club.

Fulbright Research Purpose: To compare the primary bacterial transmitter of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, as it appears in Europe versus the United States in order to better understand the pathogen’s structure and function, which could help establish more effective therapeutic treatments for Lyme disease.

In collaboration with the University of Primorska, in Koper, Slovenia, Bohmer will also observe how Slovenian communities combat Lyme disease using public health initiatives and disease research, to determine if such methods could serve as global models for other countries to implement as tick-borne diseases grow increasingly prevalent under climate change.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Slovenia: To volunteer at the Science Centre at the University of Primorska to share science with the general public, connect with local schools in Koper and work with elementary students to better understand the local knowledge of those living in tick-populated areas, and run with the Obala Ultra Trail group.

Plans After Fulbright: To attend medical school for pediatric care or pursue a master’s degree in biotechnology.

What the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbright Committee Said: “Both her academic endeavors and her extracurricular activities keep her engaged in her community: She always seeks to connect what she loves to what she does.â€�

More About Bohmer: During a semester spent studying climate science in Patagonia, Bohmer stepped outside the lab to learn directly from ranchers, fishermen, and storekeepers, discovering that place is defined less by landscape than by the people and stories that shape it. 

As an emerging scientist with an interest in research, intervention, and disease management, Bohmer is driven by that sense of connection. “Genuinely connecting and listening to others may just be the solution to changing scientific narratives that no longer serve communities at large.�

Charles Breyfogle ’25

Charles Breyfogle ’25, a double major in politics and French and Francophone studies from Columbus, Ohio, has been offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Switzerland.

Relevant Experience Includes: French-English translator with Maine’s Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, French language teaching assistant, sailing instructor, and soccer coach.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Community Activities Include: Center for Purposeful Work peer advisor, former varsity soccer team member, and volunteer at Trinity Jubilee Center.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Switzerland: To join a community soccer team, coach or volunteer with youth soccer players, join outing clubs, offer English tutoring outside of the classroom, and volunteer for social service or environmental organizations.

Plans After Fulbright: Earn a law degree and work as an immigration lawyer serving French-speaking populations.

What the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbright Committee Said: “Charlie is a quiet leader who makes the groups he is in much stronger through his skills in mediation. He will be a model for his students regarding community engagement and civic responsibility.â€�

More about Breyfogle: An avid traveler, Breyfogle has connected with friends around the world through the universal language of soccer. He joined Kansai Gaidai University’s team during his semester abroad in Japan and, despite knowing little Japanese when he arrived, became friends with Japanese students through bonding over the sport.

“Soccer has allowed me to create friendships and learn more about other cultures, whether immigrants to the U.S. or while traveling abroad. I now have a plethora of friends waiting to open their doors to me around the world — I too would do the same for them.�

Maple Buescher ’25

Maple Buescher ’25, a politics major from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Spain. For 2025–26, she has chosen a different path and will serve as a Spanish teaching apprentice at the High Mountain Institute, a wilderness-based semester school in Colorado.

Relevant Experience Includes: Teaching assistant at an afterschool program for children from underserved populations in Spain, youth mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid–Maine, and counselor at Reaching Heights orchestral camp. She completed an honors thesis analyzing nationalist rhetoric and changing understandings of nationalism in Galicia, Spain, from 2016 to 2024.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Community Activities Include: Ladd Library student access specialist, editor-in-chief of The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Student 2023–24, Outing Club trip leader, and club sailing team member. She graduated magna cum laude, with honors in politics and Phi Beta Kappa membership, and received the Charles A. Dana award.

Wes DeOreo ’25

Wes DeOreo ’25, a double major in politics and German from Westport, Conn., earned a Fulbright English teaching grant for Germany.

Relevant Experience Includes: Research aid studying transatlantic history at the University of Freiburg, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany; English teaching volunteer at the Carl-Shurz-Haus in Freiburg; and head coach of PTSV Jahn Freiburg Pumas Lacrosse.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Community Activities Include: AESOP leader, rugby club president, Athletics student assistant, and Davis Fitness Center attendant.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Germany: Join community sports teams and reconnect with German friends and family.

Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a career in public service.

What the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbright Committee Said: “Wes has a strong sense of service. Wes also has an impressive sense of humility and is eager to learn from his students through this experience.â€�

More about DeOreo: While teaching English during his semester abroad in Germany, DeOreo fielded students’ questions about life in America, including questions about gun violence, particularly sensitive to DeOreo in the aftermath of the October 2023 shootings in Lewiston.

“It will be my job to encourage my students to embrace their curiosity and see the classroom as a place where they have freedom to seek answers to these challenging questions.�

Ale’ia Gallego Calle ’25

Ale’ia Gallego Calle ’25, a politics major with minors in Chinese and Japanese from Waterbury, Conn., was offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Taiwan in July.

Relevant Experience Includes: English tutor for elementary-aged ELL students, online private tutor, 2022–24 president of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Chinese Club, semester spent studying in Shanghai.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Community Activities Include: Office of Intercultural Education peer educator, first-generation peer mentor, co-founder of the Korean Intercultural Association.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Taiwan: To establish or support a bilingual storytelling club at a local library, organize field trips for students to local farms to support local agriculture and deepen students’ appreciation for how their food is created, and establish or join a program assisting students in pursuing higher education abroad.

Plans After Fulbright: Work with international organizations on humanitarian and social justice initiatives, ultimately pursuing a career in medicine and academia.

What the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbright Committee Said: Ale’ia’s “experience organizing cultural events reveals her ability to engage diverse communities, crucial for positive representation. Her adaptability, evident from her study abroad experiences, ensures she can navigate cultural differences gracefully. These qualities, combined with her knack for cultural exchange, make [Ale’ia] an ideal ETA.â€�

More about Gallego Calle: Gallego Calle’s passion for cultural exchange and language learning began as a young child, when her family moved to the U.S. from Colombia and Gallego Calle taught her younger sister English by telling her stories.

As an English teaching assistant, she’ll again utilize storytelling to help her students learn. Gallego Calle says she is “not just aiming to understand Taiwan; I want to become a part of its story. By embracing new experiences, celebrating cultural differences, and finding common ground in unexpected places, I’ll bring the Fulbright mission of fostering mutual understanding as an ambassador to life.â€�

Madeleine Kwei ’25

Maddy Kwei ’25, a psychology major from Pasadena, Calif., earned a Fulbright English teaching grant for Taiwan.

Relevant Experience Includes: English teaching assistant in France and Nicaragua, psychology teaching assistant at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, and creator and leader of a six-week English language learning program with Families Forward Learning Center in Pasadena, Calif.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Community Activities Include: Over 100 hours of community-engaged learning experience mainly with youth in afterschool programs and classroom settings, community outreach fellow with the Harward Center for Community Engagement, women’s varsity golf team member, and Ladd Library access desk worker.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Taiwan: To encourage students to play sports with an emphasis on gender equality and volunteer with Special Olympics.

Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a master’s degree in counseling psychology, with the goal of working as a psychologist for diverse youth and people with Asian backgrounds.

What the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbright Committee Said: “Maddy is passionate about working with youth and learning more about adolescent development, and skilled at communicating and efficiently solving problems.â€�

More about Kwei: Kwei spent several years of her childhood in Beijing, where the friendships she formed at her international school informed her passion for intercultural communication from an early age.

While showing Danish friends she met in Beijing around Maine, Kwei became aware that “Americans hold a high regard toward celebrating regional cultures and integrating diversity into everyday life. Learning to recognize the values and beliefs that make me an American (and the blind spots that I still have) deepens my curiosity to learn more about the world and how I can contribute as an informed global citizen.�

Helena Raddock ’24

Helena Raddock ’24, a politics major from Warren, Vt., has been offered a Fulbright English teaching assistant grant for Rwanda.

Relevant Experience Includes: Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition intern with the Rwandan Association of Maine; English language learning mentor to elementary school students; Lewiston High School tutor; Vermont Council on World Affairs participant; field organizer; study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, with a human rights and multiculturalism program.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Community Activities Include: Center for Purposeful Work peer advisor; Snaggletooth literary magazine contributor; peer tutor for First-Year Seminars; “Get Out the Voteâ€� fellow for Harward Center for Community Partnerships. At commencement, she received the Maung Maung Gyi Award for Excellence in Politics with membership in Phi Beta Kappa, completing an honors thesis on “The Construction of Coloured Identities: Apartheid Nostalgia and the Politics of Memory.”

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Rwanda: To offer career-guiding workshops for Rwandan citizens at the U.S. Embassy, create an English language learning book club, and volunteer with women’s empowerment organizations such as Rwanda Women’s Network or Empower Rwanda.

Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a master of arts degree in global affairs with a focus on gender, conflict, resolution, and peacemaking.

What the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbright Committee Said: “Since learning that Rwanda has the world’s highest proportion of women in government positions, Helena has wanted to live in Rwanda and learn more about the role of women in Rwandan education and society.â€�

More about Raddock: Raddock’s passion for helping others learn languages is largely informed by her experience living with a host family in South Africa, who welcomed her and encouraged her as she learned the isiXhosa language, which was no easy task.

Last summer, she attended Middlebury College’s French language immersion program, which “deepened my passion for language learning and cultural immersion.�

“My goal is to foster an atmosphere where language learning is viewed as an opportunity for growth and connection, just as it was for me during my time with my homestay family.�

Emma Seitz ’25

Emma Seitz ’25, a double major in theater and history from Brooklyn, N.Y., has been offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Germany.

Relevant Experience Includes: Study abroad and research assistant at Berlin International University of Applied Science, teacher assistant at the Grace Church Theater Department in New York City, children’s summer camp leader in New Paltz, N.Y., during COVID-19.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Community Activities Include: Merimanders a cappella, Musician Union treasurer and secretary, club volleyball, AESOP leader.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Germany: To facilitate cross-cultural communication through open discussions on contemporary issues and topics, join a music group and a theater group, and provide tutoring for several subjects including English and history.

Plans After Fulbright: To work as a teacher in the U.S. while pursuing a career in playwriting and script writing for television and film.

What the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Fulbright Committee Said: “Since returning from study abroad, Emma continued to read German news, watch German media, and speak the language whenever she could. She wrote her history thesis on the difference in generational guilt surrounding the Holocaust between East and West Germany. Emma will arrive in Germany with an excellent knowledge of its history, culture, and current events — and with an excitement to learn more.â€�

More about Seitz: While studying abroad in Germany, Seitz produced a short film for a final project in just three weeks, which required her to use her still-developing German to secure a filming permit from Berlin’s main transit company.

The experience was “hard and rewarding work,” she said. “I wanted to continue teaching and collaborating with Germans because of the challenge.â€� She’ll bring her experience studying and working in German to her role as an English teaching assistant, aiming to make her students feel supported and understood in the classroom.

At ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ 159th Commencement on Sunday, May 25, Commencement speaker Angela Duckworth began her address with one simple request to members of the audience: to take out their phones and hand them to someone next to them.

The 504 members of the Class of 2025, along with their families, faculty, and staff — whether strangers or kin to their neighbors — obliged. 

Onstage, Duckworth traded phones with President Garry W. Jenkins. Free from their digital companions, Commencement attendees turned their attention forward.

With this striking exercise, perhaps unique to the 2025 graduation season, Duckworth began to drive home a compelling, useful, and relevant message: Through “situation modification, we have the power to shape and alter our surroundings in ways that help us thrive.

 â€œThis is what mindfulness looks like in the digital age,” said Duckwork, who is a psychologist, leading voice in the study of human behavior, and author of the New York Times bestseller Grit. “Not willpower, but the wisdom to shape the situations that shape you.â€�

View the 159th ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Commencement. Speaker Angela Duckworth’s address begins at the one-hour mark.

This emphasis on self-determination and its relationship to our surroundings — whether the latter be the location of a cellular device, the campus that the Class of 2025 has grown to call home, or ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ spot in an uncertain world — echoed throughout the Commencement speeches, including Jenkins’ welcoming remarks and the 2025 Senior Address given by Aanika Patel ’25 of Needham, Mass.

On the heels of last week’s atypical May northeaster that covered campus in rain, the 159th Commencement was one of the chilliest in recent memory, with the temperature at 56 degrees but feeling cooler thanks to clouds overhead and a northwest breeze, which prompted a number of audience members to arrive with fleece throws.

Members of the Class of 2025 are from 38 states, the District of Columbia, and 31 countries. Among those students were 126 with double majors and four with triple majors, including five students who received Fulbright grants for the 2025–26 academic year. Sixty percent of the Class of 2025 studied abroad, and more than 40 percent played on varsity sports teams. 

Duckworth received a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree, and three other honorands were also recognized: 

• Mary Bonauto, a lawyer and activist for LGBTQ+ rights who successfully argued Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) before the Supreme Court, received a Doctor of Letters degree;
•  Stanley Nelson, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who tells the dynamic stories of Black Americans, received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree; 
• Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts and former U.S. assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, received a Doctor of Laws degree.

In his opening remarks, Jenkins acknowledged the unique and challenging moment that the Class of 2025 faces as they enter the world beyond ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

“You have probably heard more than once that these are uncertain times,� Jenkins said. “Perhaps so much so that you may be a bit tired of hearing it.�

But, Jenkins said, there is good and bad news on this front. On one hand, “there will always be uncertainty,� Jenkins said. “Life is defined by change, by the unexpected, by the yet-unknown and the always-unknowable.�

The Class of 2025 is well-equipped to handle uncertainty, Jenkins said, having ended high school and begun college during a pandemic and gained an education preparing them to handle a changing future.

As they venture onward, the Class of 2025 has much to offer, Jenkins said, and he hopes that they will bring forth the skills they’ve acquired at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ to continue to do good.

“The world needs ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ graduates — the world needs you — to bring all the tools and talents you have acquired during your time on this campus to bear for lives of leadership and purpose, ameliorating uncertainty, fueling prosperity and innovation, standing up for what is right, caring for those around you,â€� Jenkins said.

The Class of 2025 has much to offer, Jenkins said. They embody grit, creativity, and a commitment to seeking justice and asking the hard questions, values instilled by a liberal arts education.

“It is at places like ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ that we prepare students to think critically, to problem solve, to engage across difference, to connect, both the dots and with each other,â€� Jenkins said. “And then those students become graduates who contribute to their communities around the world in all their vibrancy, diversity, and complexity.â€�

Jenkins charged the Class of 2025 and Commencement attendees with carrying forward a message about the importance of higher education in changing our world for the better, and “the reason it matters to a healthy democracy.�

“Higher education has long fueled American progress — driving innovation, preparing leadership, and enhancing civic life. Of all this, I am certain,â€� Jenkins said. “And, I can tell you — our amazing graduates, as well as friends and visitors — I call on you all to be ambassadors for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and for higher education.â€�

Senior Speaker Aanika Patel ’25, an environmental studies major from Needham, Mass., began her speech by recounting a very-ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ tale. 

Picture this: It was winter in Lewiston, and Patel was preparing for the first outdoor lab in the course “Scientific Approaches to Environmental Issues.â€� Ahead of the lab, her professor, Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Holly Ewing, encouraged her students to dress appropriately for the trek up Mount David in the snow. 

That was really no big deal, thought Patel. She showed up wearing a jacket and Blundstones, not a glove in sight, and declined to sport the college-provided snowshoes, despite a foot and a half of snow on the ground.

“About 30 minutes into it, I felt the snow slowly seeping into my socks, and my hands turned a terrible pale shade of white,â€� Patel said. “This class had suddenly become one of those David Attenborough Planet Earth »å´Ç³¦³Ü³¾±ð²Ô³Ù²¹°ù¾±±ð²õ.â€�

Patel learned her lesson: proper preparation frees the mind to revel in the surrounding natural wonders. 

“After learning to dress properly, I began noticing the Maine beauty around me that I continue to be grateful for,â€� Patel said. 

On Mount David, Patel saw a maple tree, which, even in its stateliness, grew while leaving room for a nearby birch tree to also extend its roots. Each species, she noticed, played a role in the delicate dance of nature. She imagined the birch tree falling over, and its fellow trees stepping up to take over its ecological responsibilities.

“Each species finds a new place in space,� Patel said. “In this way, communities form, diverse but intertwined and interdependent through relationships forged over many years.�

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ community is not indifferent from these intertwining natural relationships, Patel said. Since the first week of freshman year, the Class of 2025 has constructed its own “ecosystem,â€� rooted firmly in place and defined by the lessons students have learned from one another and the memories they’ve shared.

“Place is a network of relationships carrying histories, contexts, stories, and identities,� Patel said. “In order for a place to remain, there needs to be this acknowledgement of what has created it and how our identities are framed by it.�

Like Jenkins, Patel acknowledged that the Class of 2025 has dealt with tremendous change, from enrolling in college during a pandemic, to grieving in the aftermath of the October 2023 Lewiston shootings, to processing the 2024 presidential election.

But they didn’t go it alone. The Class of 2025 persisted and thrived thanks to support from many entities on campus.

“It is on this campus we found a community to fight against isolation, to mourn loss and find hope in change, and to fight for the things worth fighting for just by being there and adjusting and relying on each other,� Patel said.

Wherever the members of the Class of 2025 end up next, despite the fear and uncertainty of a path untrodden, they will always have ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Patel said.

“Like the trees standing their ground on Mount David, we will always have these histories we created in our back pockets, and their memory will be a reassurance to stand tall, stay grounded in who you are, and be courageous in this next chapter of our lives.�

In her Commencement address, Angela Duckworth also discussed the importance of staying grounded, specifically by improving our relationship with the devices that now live ubiquitously beside us.

“If being on your phone were a paid job, we would be getting overtime,� Duckworth said.

Cell phone use and placement have a profound effect on personal performance and well-being, Duckworth explained. Research shows that having one’s phone within eyesight while taking an IQ test lowers scores, and high school students who study with their phones farther away from them perform better academically.

Additionally, she pointed out, the popularity of social media over the last two decades coincides with decreasing rates of in-person social interaction, and studies show that halting Facebook and Instagram use for just one month corresponds with increased levels of happiness and decreased levels of depression and anxiety.

Often, the choice to pick up our phones is not a conscious act but rather a habit that we turn to when we’re feeling awkward or anxious; cell phones are “effectively adult pacifiers,� Duckworth said.

The key to dealing with digital distractions, she said, is not about willpower but taking action to remove the distraction.

“Situation modification means using physical distance to create psychological distance,� Duckworth said.

Successful people change their environment to eliminate temptations or distractions instead of expending energy to resist them.

Due to her phenomenally successful book, Duckworth is famously linked to the concept of grit, which “might make it sound as if world-class performers just force themselves to do things. But that’s not accurate. They love what they do. And because they love what they do, they create sanctuaries where they cannot be distracted from their craft.�

Where we keep our phones is among the most important choices we make, Duckworth said. Luckily enough, it is not a choice that we make only once, but rather one that we can recommit to — or change — over and over again.

“I urge you to make a humble yet powerful vow: Commit to situation modification,� Duckworth said.

As such, Duckworth offered six suggestions:

• Put your phone in another room when you need to focus deeply.
• Go outside when you feel awkward, anxious, or bored.
• Keep your phones off of the table during group dinners.
• Keep your phone beyond arm’s reach while driving.
• Don’t keep your phone in your bedroom.
• When you do want to use your phone, listen to The Ezra Klein Show podcast featuring author Zadie Smith, who discusses why she refuses to buy a smartphone.

“Situation modification isn’t about abstinence. It’s about intentionality,â€� Duckworth said. “It’s about creating space between stimulus and response, between notification and reaction. And it’s about reclaiming your attention.â€�

Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, offered the honorary degree citations for Duckworth, Bonauto, Nelson, and Patrick.

Bonauto, a leader in legal efforts to advance marriage equality, has been senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD Law) since 1990.

In 2015, she successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage legal throughout the country.

“As she said at the beginning of this year, accepting the Presidential Citizen Medal from President Biden, ‘We each have a role to play in fulfilling our country’s promises of equality, dignity, and freedom,’� Hill said, quoting Bonauto.

“In her career, and her contributions to a more equitable society, we see the realization of her own hopes,� Hill said.

Stanley Nelson’s expansive documentary filmmaking has broached subjects including Harriet Tubman, Emmett Till, and historically Black colleges and universities.

“He is a prolific — and prolifically talented, and prolifically honored — documentary filmmaker, focused on telling the stories of Black Americans — lifting up those narratives that haven’t been told, and sharing other narratives, ones that we presume we know, in new and revelatory ways,� Hill said.

Deval Patrick focused on “student achievement, healthcare coverage, entrepreneurial activity, and veterans services� and defended Massachusetts’ law legalizing same-sex marriage, the first of its kind in the country.

“‘Community’ provides not only the through-line of his life and career — it is a value deeply held, frequently cited, and powerfully enacted,� Hill said.

Hill then read the Class of 2025’s names during the conferral of the degrees, the students’ short steps across the Coram stage marking a leap into the next phase of their lives.

After the conferral, Jenkins paused to recognize Hill for his contribution as dean of the faculty; after a sabbatical; he will returns to the classroom as a professor of biology and earth and climate sciences.

Then, Leah Elsmore ’12, president of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Alumni Association, offered parting words about the importance of building connections with fellow alumni and being prepared to support future ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ies.

“Throughout the twists and turns of your professional and personal journey, you can always connect with a Bobcat in the wild,â€� Elsmore said. “And I urge you to pay it forward. Someday when you’ve established yourselves in your chosen fields, be ready to be there for the next generation of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ graduates.â€�

In a benediction coinciding nicely with the images of nature twisting through Patel’s address, and after Jenkins’ charge to go out and do good, the words of the Rev. Raymond Clothier, interim multifaith chaplain, closed the Commencement ceremony:

“May what you have learned at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ take root and flower in minute and majestic ways to nourish others, nurse the wounded earth and nurture human community.

“May it be so.�