2024-25 FYE Leaders

My name is Hope Obolanle and I am a junior neuroscience major with a minor in literature. During my free time, I crochet and take walks in the glen and get boba from Euphoria. As an FYE leader, my goal is to encourage students to connect and to make the transition to college easy. I hope that our events push students out of their comfort zones and find their interests.

Hey everyone! My name is Elise, and I’m currently a sophomore at Hammy majoring in biochemistry and minoring in music :) I’m originally from Southern CA, so I totally understand the struggle in transitioning to college especially for those who may be coming from farther places! FYE really helped and made my freshmen year a lot more fun :) I’m involved in various things on campus like orchestra, research with my professors, ROOTS (Society for POC in STEM), solo performance for piano/violin, MP2 Peer Mentoring, chamber music, job at the Career Center, and obviously FYE (the best hehe <3), so let me know if you ever have any questions about anything! Welcome to hammy :)

tchefalo@hamilton.edu

315-859-4846

Tessa Chefalo (she/her) oversees Hamilton’s orientation program, including leadership of both on-campus orientation and the Exploration Adventure (XA) trip program, a branch of Hamilton's signature 4-day immersive orientation trips. She directs the First-Year Experience program (FYE), designed to create social and resource connections for new students through their first year on campus. Tessa's portfolio also includes supervision of the Office of Student Activities and the ongoing development of a campus life curriculum. Tessa received her MS in Higher Education from Syracuse University, and a BA in English from SUNY Geneseo. Currently in her eleventh year at Hamilton, Tessa remains passionate about building inclusive spaces for new students to make connections, utilize campus resources, and build self-advocacy skills.