Stories

When gun violence changed his life forever, Lelan O’Brien ’23 decided to take action. After interning with the Brady Campaign, which works to end gun violence, O’Brien served as a Courage Fellow for Giffords, a group led by shooting survivor and former congresswoman Gabby Giffords. This month, O’Brien attended a lobby in Washington, D.C., where he met Giffords and other lawmakers working toward a safer future.

Members of Hamilton’s Class of 2023 have walked off the Commencement stage, canes in hand, and out into the world ready to make a difference and take the lead on global issues and needs.

Growing up in the suburbs of Rochester, N.Y., Jackson Vogt ’23 was undecided between the University of Rochester and Hamilton College. “I had a lot of friends going to the University of Rochester, but it seemed a bit too close to home,” he said. Now, four years, two majors, and an Amazon internship later, Vogt has accepted a full-time position at Amazon Web Services.(AWS) as part of their web design and development team.

Oftentimes students feel as though there is a dichotomy between the sciences and the arts and that they must choose one or the other. Enter Shelly Cao ’23, an art and mathematics double major pursuing a combination of both through architecture and showing the paths that emerge from pursuing interdisciplinary interests.

Four years ago, Jason Le ’23 might not have believed it if you told him that he would one day attend film school. As a first-year student, Le intended to major in biology on a pre-med track.

During her time on College Hill, Merrill Storch ’23 has developed a passion for sustainability through her studies in physics and interest in mechanical engineering. Now, she’s taking her talents to Stanford as a graduate student, where she’ll study how mechanical engineering can be used to address climate change.

Every year, Hamilton selects project proposals from members of the senior class that exhibit a “spirit of inquisitiveness and a seriousness of purpose” worthy of $30,000. Hamilton’s Bristol Fellowship awards this generous funding for worldwide research projects that will encourage both “discovery of self and the world.” This year’s recipients, Abigail Moone ’23 and Charlie Ratner ’23 hope to make those same discoveries.

Six Hamilton seniors have been awarded U.S. State Department Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships for 2023-24.

The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship offers participants the chance to explore their “absolute passion.” This mission appealed to Salwa Sidahmed ’23. After graduation, Sidahmed will visit five different countries to follow her passion: plant-based practices and sustainability.

Will Whalen’23 is a mild-mannered world politics major by day, but master of the mean, meowing Chess bot Mittens by night. Whalen, who moonlighted at Chess.com as a creative strategy lead while on campus, had the idea to create the cute kitty chess master that played an aggressive game of chess. Mittens has proven to be a formidable and frustrating opponent on the Chess.com website. Whalen will join Chess.com as director of audience development after graduation.