As they receive their diplomas, members of the Class of 2024 (whom we first met in 2020) share their reflections and memories of their time as students at Oxy. The students below are pictured as first-years and again as seniors.
Ally Fukada
Major: Cognitive Science
As the third in her family to attend Occidental, Ally Fukada had an idea of what to expect once in college. But nothing could have prepared her for a first year spent remotely, taking classes in the middle of the night from her home in Tokyo. Despite her distance from campus, Ally quickly jumped into Oxy's immersive learning experience, participating in the PPE Portrait Project with professors Mary Beth Heffernan and Clair Morrissey. Beyond working with healthcare workers during the early stage of the pandemic, Ally's Immersive Learning Program cohort of 15 students grew close, working and studying together every day via Zoom. "It brought so much joy to me. It's one of the highlights of my four years," she says.
Making it to Los Angeles to begin her sophomore year was a welcome change that came with more-than-usual trepidation. "For a year we were told to fear interacting with other people. We were all masking up everywhere we went and making sure we were sanitizing everything. It created a small barrier in interacting with people on a ‘fun level.’” Slowly but surely, Ally created strong friendships that will soon span the globe—“it gives me a reason to travel after graduation"—and recognized her priorities along the way. When we first met Ally in 2020, she was set on a path toward nursing. While her path has since changed, the cognitive science major still sees a future in supporting people's health.
"Depression, anxiety, and disordered eating were amplified by the situations people were in [during the pandemic]," she observed. Seeing family members and friends struggle with mental health, and the barriers that often come with finding support, sparked a career path for Ally—she'll be heading to the University of Edinburgh next to earn a masters in counseling studies.
Despite having missed a year in Eagle Rock, Ally has made the most of exploring her surroundings. She has fulfilled her first-year goals of making use of the campus gym ("It's my happy place”) and finding some favorite dining spots within walking distance (including Joy, Belle's Bagels, and Skaf's on York, where she has worked part-time).
Christopher Haliburton
Major: Diplomacy & World Affairs
When Christopher Haliburton arrived on campus as a sophomore (having spent his first year learning remotely from his home in Fontana), the first people he met were not his fellow classmates, but the newest class of first-years. The diplomacy and world affairs major entered campus life as a resident adviser in Stewart-Cleland, a first-year residence hall. "I feel like I missed out on really bonding with my entire class," he recalls of his sophomore year. In addition to living with brand-new students, there were masks and social distancing to adapt to. But Christopher didn't let the experience set the course for his four years as an Occidental student.
When we talked to Christopher in 2020, he had his mind set on creating connections across campus. While this goal was delayed his first year, he made Oxy's track and field team in spring 2022—a worthwhile risk he needed to take. Christopher observes that he "100 percent found my closest friends on the track team. They helped me get out of my bubble." As a student-athlete, his involvement has gone beyond the track, working to implement justice, equity, diversity and inclusion across all of Occidental athletics through the JEDI Committee. "Athletics is a bridge that connects people from all walks of life," Christopher notes. "What better way to foster conversations on mental health, race and gender than to help lead the discussions?"
His involvement as an RA and a student-athlete have given Christopher a well-rounded perspective on what it means to be an Occidental student in 2024—much to his surprise. “The growth from where I was my sophomore year to senior year is a completely different person, a full turnaround from where I was." While he at one point considered transferring schools, Christopher has spent the last year as a senior fellow with the Office of Admission. As a tour guide he's had a unique inside view of the Oxy campus, and the part he’ll miss the most: “The Quad. When it's super hot and everyone is by the fountain or at the benches, it's just a different vibe. I'm really going to miss that feeling and culture.”
Kel Kline
Major: Urban and Environmental Policy
After spending 13 years at the 331-year-old William Penn Charter School, Kel Kline was ready for a new start at Occidental. This fresh beginning would be a slow transition into college life due to the pandemic, though Kel found a silver lining that year. “I’m grateful for that moment because it allowed me to grow a little bit personally. Spending time with myself and my family really expedited the process of coming out of my shell."
During that year of remote learning, an Urban & Environmental Policy class with Bhavna Shamasunder opened Kel's eyes to a new passion for environmental justice and urban planning. "I had never explored that area before, but the work in that class was so interdisciplinary that it really resonated with me," he says.
He continued on this interdisciplinary track as soon as he arrived on campus the summer of 2021 to participate in the Undergraduate Research Center's Summer Research Program studying environmental ethics surrounding monarch migration with professors Gretchen North (biology) and Clair Morrissey (philosophy). While being in a new and rigorous academic environment was a natural transition from his college prep school, Kel felt a distinct shift in his experience. "Going to a PWI (predominantly white institution) you're subliminally getting messages of 'you're not as academic as your white peers.' At Oxy I wanted to start fresh." Opportunities that may have otherwise seemed out of reach or not meant for him suddenly became uniquely suited for Kel, and roundly supported by friends and classmates.
"I've tried to take advantage of every opportunity that's been thrown at me," says Kel—and it shows. His undergraduate career has included working for the United Nations Development Programme through Kahane Oxy-at-the-U.N. as well as interning for a local environmental justice organization, in addition to on-campus work within student government and sustainability research. The sum of these experiences has prepared Kel for his next steps after graduation. "I've figured out the person that I want to be," he says. And we’re excited to see his social impact on the world continue to grow.
Leslie Garcia
Major: Psychology
“I told myself I was not going to be so involved,” Leslie Garcia recalls about her first year at Occidental. Throughout her four years at Oxy (the first being spent on remote learning), her attempt to keep student activities at a distance was repeatedly thwarted. The jazz musician instead created a long resume of student club initiatives, helped develop curriculum for the Music Department, and engaged with faculty mentors in research—among other activities.
We first met Leslie during her first fall semester in 2020. As a neighborhood local (she’s been hiking Fiji Hill since she was a kid), Leslie knew Oxy’s campus well but had yet to become immersed in student life. A job in the College bookstore her first year helped build bridges with staff and students, and participating in Oxy’s immersive learning program allowed her to create bonds with a specific cohort of students, but it wasn’t until sophomore year that Zoom connections turned into three-dimensional friendships. For Leslie, that first year of remote learning offered a silver lining of allowing a slower transition into college life. “Coming in on Zoom gave us a breather from the stress we had in high school, because I know a lot of people in our class were busy with a bunch of extracurriculars.”
The not-quite-gap year seemed to provide Leslie a burst of energy once on campus: Between balancing classes for her psychology major and minors in music and neuroscience, Leslie helped fellow newcomer Jonathan Richards, visiting assistant professor of music, build the jazz ensemble program; started the Live Performance Club to create opportunities for student musicians to perform on campus; and found a mentor in her adviser, Patricia Cabral, whom she has assisted with psychology research. “Most of my time is dedicated to the music programs and music scene on campus,” says Leslie, who counts arranging “Lift Every Voice and Sing” for President Elam’s Inauguration as a core memory. Her harmonious journey will continue after graduation: Leslie plans to blend her interests in music and psychology in graduate school. Given her track record in high school and at Oxy, we know her post-grad career won’t be limited to academics.
Maria Paula Muñoz
Major: Media Arts and Culture
Maria Paula Muñoz's introduction to Los Angeles began ... not in Los Angeles. Like her classmates, Maria spent the year learning remotely, in her case from her family home in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. But like only 14 other classmates, Maria became uniquely acquainted with her new home through the Arts in Los Angeles immersive semester where not only did she actively research and study the work of arts in L.A. but found the people that would become some of her closest friends for the next four years.
After a gap year spent working in El Paso in order to reach France and a remote year spent in Mexico, Maria was ready to head to her new home. As a media arts and culture major studying film, "L.A. is the place to be," she says. That sophomore year, she was at last able to meet her online friends in person in their new dorm- a triple in the Pauley Multicultural Hall. "The triple [room] wasn't the best, but the friends that I was with were the highlight of it all," Maria says. "I don't think we could have gone through the college experience without each other."
Once on campus, Maria quickly took control of her immersive experiences, landing an internship at Warner Music Group (then by CEO Steve Cooper '68), where she worked for three semesters before moving on to a development internship on the Warner Bros lot. ("It's the most L.A. thing I do—go work at a studio lot and head back to classes at my liberal arts college.") After four years of commuting to and from internships while also committing to her academic work and on-campus jobs at the Green Bean, the office of admission, and the Undergraduate Research Center. It's clear that she's inherited the work ethic she has long admired in her family. "I know what I want and I feel ready to graduate," she reflects. And her lifelong Oxy friends will surely be cheering her on.
Zander Patent
Major: Politics
We first met Zander Patent on campus in 2020, the spelling champ from Chicago was eager to start his college experience and a pandemic would not fully disrupt his plans. Money he saved from his after-school gardening center job helped him establish a foothold near campus, if not directly on campus. Zander spent his first year living with fellow Oxy students in the Eagle Rock neighborhood as he took remote classes and became as acquainted as he could with Occidental.
Zander established a strong propensity for academic involvement throughout his time in high school and he has brought that same energy to Occidental: working as a resident adviser his sophomore and junior year, creating a powerlifting club on campus, and representing the College as a senior fellow in the Office of Admission. Perhaps his most visible and impactful contribution to Oxy has been as student body president in a year where he's had to navigate geopolitical discourse on campus and the potential for long-term changes for student workers through a tentative labor union. "One of the biggest ways I've grown is becoming more of an attentive listener," he says.
His leadership and active listening on campus has resulted in personal growth while also continuing an Oxy culture he witnessed during his first days working as an RA in Braun Hall. "I remember vividly there was a group of first-years who had moved in for preseason who were so welcoming and talkative, asking me tons of questions and practically interrogating me," he recalls. "Most people here are more than happy to talk and learn from each other. I think it speaks to the power of community at Oxy and its potential."