Class of 2018 – Page 6

Wesleyan sponsored three Posse Veteran scholars to attend the Veteran’s Gala for Specialist Sean Pesce, an Army Ranger who was shot 13 times and paralyzed from the waist down during a mission in Afghanistan in fall 2012. Michael Smith ’18, Andrew Po ’18, and Bryan Stascavage ’18 attended the June 19 benefit to show support for a fellow veteran, and to learn more about a smaller non-profit organization that is helping those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The charity that is helping Pesce, Homes For Our Troops, modifies or builds homes that allow wounded veterans to live independently.…

More than 185 Wesleyan students are employed in various campus departments over the summer. Of those, about 78 are work-study eligible. Students earn money that can be contributed to the cost of their education, while learning skills that will benefit them in the classroom and beyond. Employers benefit from students' skills, insight and enthusiasm. (more…)

Eudice Chong '18 has been named both the women's tennis NESCAC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, as well as a first-team all-NESCAC choice in both singles and doubles, following her tremendous rookie campaign as she surrendered just one set in singles all year with a 17-0 overall record. In doubles, almost exclusively with Helen Klass-Warch '18, Chong fashioned a 20-3 record at #1 doubles. Klass-Warch received a nod to the all-NESCAC first team in doubles. (more…)

#THISISWHY Claudia Kahindi ’18 and Olayinka Lawal ’15 have received a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant to launch KIU, an English education project, in Kahindi’s home area of coastal Kenya this summer. Named for the Swahili word for “thirst,” KIU will serve more than 100 fourth-grade students at Kahindi’s alma mater, Kilimo Public Primary School, in Kenya’s Kilifi County. (more…)

#THISISWHY In this video, meet Brooklee Han '18 of Redding, Conn., a figure skater who has been competing internationally since 2010. She competed in Sochi, Russia in 2014 as a member of the Australian Olympic Team.

Wesleyan student Jack Gorlin '18 captured a foggy evening on College Row April 4. (more…)

While walking back to his room from Al-Faw Palace in Baghdad, Iraq, Bryan Stascavage ’18 remembers telling a friend about his plans for the future. “When I get out of the military, I’m going back to college with a vengeance," Stascavage said. “A perfect 4.0 GPA or bust. I’m not messing around and wasting this opportunity like I did my first time around.” His first time in college, which he attended right after high school, had been an "unmitigated disaster," Stascavage recalls. He only lasted three semesters with a GPA hovering around a 2.0. After taking a wide array of…

#THISISWHY In this Q&A meet Laila Samy from the Class of 2018. Q: You came to Wesleyan from your hometown of Cairo, Egypt. Can you describe your life growing up in a foreign country? What was your secondary-school education like? A: Growing up in Egypt and going to school there made me feel very grateful because I had a great opportunity to both play squash and get a decent education which lead me to move on to the next experience which is completing my last two years of high school in the U.S. and that lead me to be able to…

For her six years of service to the nation, Afghanistan veteran Kyle Foley '18, a Posse Scholar at Wesleyan, received a quilt from the local Quilts of Valor Foundation during a ceremony Dec. 3 at the Emblem Club in Middletown. Since 2003, Quilts of Valor have become a national community service effort to bring the home front to wounded soldiers and to honor returning Veterans. Quilts of Valor members pay tribute to those who have been touched by war by giving them a symbol of comforting and healing. During her six years in the Navy, Foley was a Seabee, specifically a construction mechanic, and was…

Eudice Chong ’18 has blossomed as the top player on Wesleyan's women's tennis team in her first season. Recently in action during a tournament at Conn. College (Oct. 5), she defeated Trinity's #1 player and Amherst's #2 player, both in straight sets. Each opponent was a top-eight seed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England fall championship, which Eudice missed in September in order to traveled to South Korea for nearly two weeks to represent her native Hong Kong at the 17th Asian Games. Here is a bit about Eudice and her experience: Q: You just finished playing the the 17th Asian Games…

Eudice Chong '18, a native of Sai Kung, Hong Kong, will be representing her nation in the 17th Asian Games, to be held in Incheon, South Korea from Sept. 19-Oct. 4. Forty-Five nations will be represented at the Games with 439 events in 36 disciplines being contested. Chong is Wesleyan's number-one player in women's tennis and went 4-0 during the team's opening activity, a double tournament hosted by Sacred Heart University Sept. 6. She will be competing in both doubles and mixed doubles during the Asian Games. Chong is currently ranked 323rd in the most recent International Tennis Federation World…

A mini fridge, mirror, bed linens, navy blue rug, a N.Y. Yankees decorative sign, storage tubs, a closet-full of clothes. And don't forget the guitar. "What didn't I bring with me?" said Aaron Stagoff-Belfort '18 as he unloaded and unpacked his bounty of belongings into his 113 Butts C residence Wednesday morning. "I have it all. But I only brought a couple books because I heard that [in college] you have no time to read them." Stagoff-Belfort, who hails from Montclair, N.J. is one of 757 members of the Class of 2018 who settled into their new home-away-from-home on Arrival Day,…

Wesleyan Posse Veterans Attend Benefit for Wounded Ranger

Students Gain Skills, Help Departments While Working on Campus this Summer

Chong ’18 is NESCAC Women’s Tennis Player of the Year

Students Receive Davis Projects for Peace Grant to Launch English Education Project

Figure Skater Han ’18 Competed in 2014 Olympics

Foggy Evening on College Row

War Veteran, Posse Scholar Stascavage ’18 Pursuing Degree in Economics

Samy ’18 Begins Collegiate Squash Career with 12-0 Record

Posse Scholar Foley ’18 Recipient of Quilt of Valor

Tennis Star Chong ’18 Represents Hong Kong at the 17th Asian Games

Chong ’18 to Represent Hong Kong in Tennis at Asian Games

First-Year Students Move In on Arrival Day (with photo gallery)