What's Next: Class of 2026
Hometown: Dhaka, Bangladesh
What were you involved in at Hamilton?
Society of Physics Students, Philosophy Club
What will you be doing next?
Pursuing my Ph.D. at University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.
Who made your Hamilton experience better and how?
Definitely Professor Adam Lark (and the Physics and Math departments). During my almost four years of research with him, he gave me the room and time to work at my own pace. Given that I work in short bursts of energy, this freedom really helped me produce research I am proud of. In fact, all the professors were accommodating of my working style, which helped me learn much more productively.
What’s a Hamilton moment you never want to forget?
The trip to the Adirondacks in spring 2024 for the eclipse viewing. I was one of the volunteers who helped organize the event, and I’ll never forget waking up at 8 a.m. to head to the mountains, setting up the telescopes, and occasionally looking at the sun (through protective eyewear, of course!) only for the clouds to roll in right during totality and ruin the view. Although I couldn’t see the most amazing part of the eclipse, it was still mesmerizing to watch the surroundings go dark and quiet with a twilight in every direction. The entire event and the setup had a celebratory vibe that will always stick with me.
What’s something you accomplished here that you’re especially proud of?
My senior thesis. I worked on identifying the correct host star for planets in systems where stars align so closely in our line of sight that it is difficult to conclusively tell which one hosts the planet. I originally started working on this project in 2024, and I was able to successfully identify and characterize the source star during my senior thesis. I’m especially proud of this work because NASA’s ExoFOP database had abandoned this specific star pair, assuming it would be too difficult to identify the host from ground-based observations, but we did it regardless.
Complete this: When I came to Hamilton, I thought I would …
Be a theoretical physicist or a mathematician, but I ended up becoming an astrophysicist instead.
What’s something you’re more confident doing now than you were four years ago?
Writing, presenting in front of an audience, conducting research, and operating telescopes (or really any other expensive scientific equipment).
Hometown: Longmeadow, Mass.
What were you involved in at Hamilton?
I served as a president of the Finance Club, a captain of the women’s squash team, and the team lead for the finance and consulting & business and entrepreneurship career communities at the Hamilton Career Center. I was also a member of the Women in Finance Club and Alpha Theta Chi.
What will you be doing next?
I’m returning to RBC Capital Markets as an investment banking analyst on their leveraged finance capital markets team.
What’s a Hamilton moment you never want to forget?
Senior Day this past winter against Bates, which was also my last home squash match. My parents weren’t originally able to come, so it was a great surprise when they drove to Hamilton to be there. I won a close match in the fifth game, Hamilton beat Bates 5-4, and it was an incredibly special moment to celebrate with my teammates, family, and friends.
What’s something you accomplished here that you’re especially proud of?
I’ve built a lifelong group of best friends at Hamilton. I’m excited to stay in touch as we begin this next chapter — whether we’re moving into our first apartment together, visiting each other in different cities, or simply sharing life’s updates along the way.
What’s something you’re more confident doing now than you were four years ago?
Communicating with people. Networking with Hamilton alumni and taking speaking-intensive classes helped me become more comfortable expressing my ideas clearly, engaging in professional conversations, and building meaningful relationships.
“Networking with Hamilton alumni and taking speaking-intensive classes helped me become more comfortable expressing my ideas clearly, engaging in professional conversations, and building meaningful relationships.
Boies ’26 and Kwon ’26 Awarded Bristol Fellowships for International Travel
Caroline Boies ’26, a math and art double major, and Elise Kwon ’26, a biochemistry major and music minor, have both been awarded the William M. Bristol Jr. ’17 Fellowship for International Travel, providing them the opportunity to engage in independent studies abroad. The fellowship sponsors projects “based on strong personal interest and commitment” and that “exhibit a spirit of inquisitiveness and a seriousness of purpose.”
Hometown: Sharon, Mass.
What were you involved in at Hamilton?
Hamilton Hillel, Red Weather, Hamilton Herbivores, COOP Service Internship (CSI) program, First-Year Experience (FYE)
What will you be doing next?
Interning at the Boston Public Library Fund in Boston for the summer, then relocating to Washington, D.C., for a master’s degree in engaged and public humanities at Georgetown University. Afterward, I look forward to continuing to contribute to the public humanities, whether at a historical organization, a nonprofit, a museum, or a public media outlet.
What’s a Hamilton moment you never want to forget?
All the celebrations I’ve enjoyed with friends and faculty along the way, including but not limited to baking sugar cookies decorated like my suitemates, creating a brochure demonstrating the impact of the COOP’s programming, and popping champagne with my creative writing thesis cohort after the submission of our final drafts.
What’s something you accomplished here that you’re especially proud of?
Stepping into the co-editor-in-chief position for Red Weather alongside my good friends Sydney Lee ’27 and Helen Gass ’29. Through many hours spent hunkered down in the Sadove Media Suite, poring over the copy of fellow students’ poetry, fiction, and hybrid work and meticulously re-aligning text boxes and images, we publicized the funky, contemplative, and often urgent creativity of our student body. It’s been 50 years of Red Weather, and I hope there are many more to come!
What’s something you’re more confident doing now than you were four years ago?
Stepping out from behind the scenes to be a visible, vocal leader in a variety of student organizations and student employment roles. As an introvert, I joke that my time at Hamilton has acted as social exposure therapy. From interviewing peers and alumni for the Communications and Marketing Office to hiding stuffed animals around campus for an FYE scavenger hunt, I’ve participated in a lot of tasks that still surprise me, but I’m grateful for the innumerable ways in which they’ve expanded my comfort zone.
Hometown: Green Bay, Wisc.
What were you involved in at Hamilton?
Yodapez improv!
What will you be doing next?
Teaching English in Japan with the JET Program
What’s something you never expected to do at Hamilton?
Participate in the mainstage productions! I had never studied or done any theatre before Hamilton. Even so, I was the understudy for Prior Walter in Angels in America, Part One: Millenium Approaches, and I played Gail in Our Lady of 121st Street.
What’s a class that changed you or the way you think?
Professor Heidi Ravven’s religious studies course Holocaust Literature and Film. I learned so much about authoritarianism and fascism, and it totally changed the way I look at contemporary politics forever.
What’s something you accomplished here that you’re especially proud of?
Writing the rap for the Lin-Manuel Miranda performance is the easy answer … but … my creative writing honors thesis! Over the fall and spring semesters combined, I wrote a total of 270 pages of prose — a completed draft of the novel I hope to publish in the future!
What’s something you’re more confident doing now than you were four years ago?
Writing. I’m really lucky to say that after four years of tutoring others, being tutored myself, getting feedback on academic, creative, and professional writing, and learning how to revise and improve my own work, I’m a much more confident and self-assured writer than I used to be.
“After four years of tutoring others, being tutored myself, getting feedback on academic, creative, and professional writing, and learning how to revise and improve my own work, I’m a much more confident and self-assured writer than I used to be.
Class of ’26 Grads Heading to Roles With Teach for America, AmeriCorps
Emily Pogozelski ’26, Analisa Lona ’26, and Elijah “Eli” King-Bond ’26 will be taking what they’ve learned at Hamilton to Teach for America and AmeriCorps, respectively.
Hometown: Newton, N.J.
What were you involved in at Hamilton?
Varsity soccer, Judicial Board, The Spectator
What will you be doing next?
Getting a master’s of public affairs at Brown University. In their spring project, I’ll be paired with a local stakeholder and solve a problem specifically for them. I’m interested in education policy and energy policy.
What’s something you never expected to do at Hamilton?
I’m a sociology minor, which I didn’t know I’d be interested in coming in. But [I’ve seen] that it’s really applicable to policy. By learning about how people and culture interact, you can see how sociology impacts policy and how policy impacts how people act sociologically. Understanding that gives you a different perspective in the policy arena.
What’s a class that changed you or the way you think?
When I did the DC program, I got to work on a lot of legislative stuff, go to hearings, and write up memos. With the focus being the work experience, I got to explore four days a week of actually working in an office in legislative policy. I learned that [DC]’s a lot of what you make of it, and there’s going to be opportunities, and you have to be adaptable and take them as they come. Now with my experience there, I think I can do that and mold and shape policy the best I can.
What’s a Hamilton moment you never want to forget?
In DC, I was giving a tour on a random Tuesday in the tunnels of the Capitol. I was introducing myself and I said, “I’m Vincent, and I went to Hamilton.” A few seconds pass by, and I hear footsteps behind me, someone taps my shoulder, hands me his card, and tells me that he graduated from Hamilton in the ’90s and he’s a chief of staff for a representative.
What’s something you accomplished here that you’re especially proud of?
On our freshman year orientation trips, we had to write a letter to ourselves, and it came full circle last week when I got it and saw that in the last few sentences, I said, “I want to go to grad school.” I didn’t even remember writing that freshman year, but it’s nice that I’m actually doing what freshman me coming in wanted to do and I made it happen.
Hometown: Pittsford, N.Y
What were you involved in at Hamilton?
Women’s rugby, The Daily Bull, Signature Style
What will you be doing next?
Working at Activate HQ through their Summer Associates Program.
What’s a class that changed you or the way you think?
New Frontiers in Storytelling, taught by Professor Anna Huff, changed the way I approached digital artmaking. The class required me to think critically about the mediums in which I choose to express myself.
What’s something you accomplished here that you’re especially proud of?
I’ve written some lengthy, unique essays, and I’m grateful I took the time to craft writing that was meaningful to me rather than attempt to curate my essay to be what I thought the professor would like.
What’s something you’re more confident doing now than you were four years ago?
I’m much more confident in my leadership skills and my ability to manage groups to execute large-scale projects. I’ve learned to envision the whole picture while maintaining care for details.
“I’m much more confident in my leadership skills and my ability to manage groups to execute large-scale projects. I’ve learned to envision the whole picture while maintaining care for details.
Callejas ’26 Combines Disciplines Enroute to BU’s Ethnomusicology Program
By taking advantage of Hamilton’s interdisciplinary studies program, Norma Callejas ’26 has carved out a space that blurs linguistic, cultural, and academic lines among three disciplines — Hispanic studies, Japanese, and music. She’ll soon be heading to Boston University for a master’s degree in ethnomusicology.
Senior Fellow Afsar-Keshmiri ’26 Dives Deep into Neurodegenerative Diseases
As a senior fellow, Julia Afsar-Keshmiri ’26 has amassed a network of scientists to further unravel the mysteries of brain development and neurodegenerative diseases. Through her fellowship, Afsar-Keshmiri has the opportunity to devote her entire senior year to her project, giving her a taste of life as a professional researcher.
Hometown: Wallingford, Conn.
What were you involved in at Hamilton?
Varsity softball, Psi Chi
What will you be doing next?
I’ll be a Level 2 teacher at the New England Center for Children.
What’s something you never expected to do at Hamilton?
I never expected to take a ballet course. As someone who’s never danced before, it was very out of my comfort zone. I’m grateful I took the class, though, because I learned a lot about an art form I was unfamiliar with and proved to myself that I can take on all sorts of challenges!
What’s a class that changed you or the way you think?
In Cognitive Neuroscience with Professor Alexandra List, I learned about the flaws in our everyday cognition that impact our judgment and decisions, often subconsciously. Understanding the imperfections in the way we see the world made me think more deeply about the different factors that contribute to my own and others’ decision making.
What’s a Hamilton moment you never want to forget?
The moment we [varsity softball] beat Tufts, a nationally ranked team, in the final game of my senior season. Everyone on the team contributed in some way to the victory, and it was a great way to close out my collegiate softball career.
More from the Class of 2026
Posted July 1, 2025
