The Class of 2024 in ̽̽’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is bursting at the seams with smart, creative, motivated almost-grads, including these 11 remarkable seniors. They have all experienced the uncertainty of starting college in the midst of a pandemic, the lifelong bonds formed with friends and faculty members, and the mind-opening joy of discovering new passions and truths both in and out of the classroom. At the same time, each one has been shaped by a mosaic of experiences that is full, rich, and utterly unique. And, as their undergraduate journeys come to a close for these students and their classmates, they’ve shown that they’re more than ready for whatever comes next.
Ainsley Morton
Majors/minor: Film and television studies and art history double-major, studio art minor
Hometown: All over the place (her dad’s in the army)
One thing Ainsley Morton (shown above) loves about ̽̽ is how accessible knowledge is. “The professors in your major encourage you to sample a wide range of things,” she says. As a result, Morton has taken a class in nearly every department in CAS. “Classes unrelated to your major can teach you so much about the major,” she notes, “like how an English professor looks at art history or an economics professor sees film making.”
Outside the classroom, Morton is most proud of her involvement with the afterschool program at Sara Holbrook Community Center. “Working there has allowed me to be part of an organization committed to creating an inclusive, safe environment that helps educate children, support families, and instill hope for a brighter future in Burlington,” she says. Service has been important throughout her college experience: She’s in the Alpha Phi Omega service club and has worked extensively with the Pad Project, an international nonprofit organization that creates and distributes reusable menstrual products.
As her biggest accomplishment, Morton singles out her nomination last May by Sarah Richter, art history professor, for a Fulbright Scholarship. “It meant the world to me to be supported by my entire department,” Morton says. “It was an incredibly demanding application, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Another achievement: She’s been chosen by AmeriCorps to teach elementary special ed in Colorado Springs, CO for the next two years. Grad school may also be in her future. “It will be exciting to see what path I take,” she says.
Jack Kenney
Major/minor: Sustainable entrepreneurship (individually designed major), leadership and public speaking (individually designed minor)
Hometown: Wellesley, MA
Not long before Jack Kenney arrived at ̽̽, he watched a video that asked, “You have four years—what are you going to do with your experience?” This was no easy question, especially during a pandemic, and he took the words to heart, using a centering practice he’d developed in high school to help him focus. “I have big aspirations,” he says, “and mindfulness is how I get in touch with what I really want to do.” One thing he identified was to study abroad, and he did, twice: once in Costa Rica and then in Barcelona.
Another was to dip his toes into entrepreneurship, and he did that in two ways. One was through an internship with Plink, a local sustainable hydration tablet company whose co-founder he met while interviewing entrepreneurs for a capstone project. Kenney cultivated the relationship by sharing daily polar plunges at Perkins Pier, eventually earning a multi-faceted role at the company created just for him. The other was to continue to build the Christmas tree recycling service, Holiday Haulaways, that he formed in 2019. (His goal for 2024? To create the Northeast’s first potted Christmas tree rental service.)
While Kenney is reluctant to leave the rich community he’s found in Burlington, he’s excited about what comes next. After directing some fly fishing and backpacking trips this summer, he’s off to Vietnam to do some exploring of his own. After that, who knows? “Having a bit of buffer space is a wonderful gift,” he says.
Catherine Fauver
Major/minor: Neuroscience major, philosophy minor
Hometown: Pennington, NJ
For Catherine Fauver, the college years have been about finding balance. “I came here set on the STEM pathway but also interested in the humanities,” she says. “So, I dove into philosophy, and now I know I want to incorporate both human and social sciences into my life somehow.” Her time at ̽̽ has been spent doing just that. On the STEM side, Fauver has spent a lot of time in the lab, first studying the thermal tolerance of fruit flies in the Helms-Cahan lab, then doing an Honors thesis on the behavior of particular proteins in the neurodevelopment of zebrafish in the Ballif lab. On the humanities side, she’s editor of The Water Tower, belongs to the philosophy club, and is a shift lead at the Exam Proctoring Center.
This uber-involvement has helped Catherine do something many students hope to accomplish at college: discover who she is. “I’ve really gotten to know myself by exploring so many interests,” she says. “I love the experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve become close to, who’ve helped me discover what I’m passionate about.”
Now, she’s ready to not be in school for a bit. Fauver plans to take a year off to travel and save money before she thinks about next steps. But she’ll miss the community. “I love the rotating cast of characters in my life,” she says. “It’s a really special thing to have so many people with so many different perspectives in one place. That’s hard to replicate.”
Jojo Kofman
Major/minor: Political science major, sociology minor
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
When asked what she has been most passionate about during her time at ̽̽, Jojo Kofman doesn’t hesitate, answering, “Shedding light on structural issues within the carceral system.” The way she’s accomplished this has been through her work with San Francisco-based Court Watch, a program that trains interns to watch criminal courts in action and report on what they see in an effort to increase transparency and shine light on issues that affect the surrounding communities.
Once an intern herself, Kofman created and now runs the Vermont arm of the program, managing about 40 interns spread across the two locations. This is a huge accomplishment, but it’s not what she’s most proud of. “That would be becoming confident in my own ideas,” she says, noting that that’s what made her work with Court Watch possible. She credits the professors who supported and encouraged her, noting, “They motivate you to learn and explore, all while making you feel seen and your ideas feel understood.”
Kofman plans to stay in the Burlington area for the summer, overseeing and motivating her Vermont Court Watch team, before heading back to the West Coast. Law school may be in her future, but for now she’s content to follow her interests and see where they lead. “You get to a point when you’re ready to take the tools you’ve developed and apply what you’ve learned even if you don’t know the exact direction,” she says.
Marty Gnidula
Majors: Theatre and English
Hometown: Orange, CT
Marty Gnidula arrived at ̽̽ thinking, “I am an actor.” Then, over the next four years, he experienced all sorts of theatre he’d never worked on before, like opera, Shakespeare, and many other performance styles. Onstage, he performed in productions like Bat Boy the Musical and Imogen Says Nothing and directed and performed with the ̽̽ Top Cats, a campus a capella group. Offstage, he mastered roles like set construction, costumes, stage management, even marketing. Through it all, he learned to be flexible and scrappy—a must in a small theatre program—and has emerged as an extremely well-rounded thespian. “There are so many skills I didn’t have before that I do now,” he says. “I’m leaving thinking, ‘Now, I am an actor.’”
Like the rest of the class of 2024, Gnidula arrived at ̽̽ during COVID-19. “I was very scared coming into a place I didn’t know at a time when nobody knew what was happening,” he says. “I’m very proud of how I’ve adapted, and the experience has given me the confidence to know I can hold my own.”
Post-graduation, Gnidula will be doing a couple of local performances (including Spamalot with Vermont Rep in June) before moving south to begin an MFA program at the University of Central Florida. But he’ll be leaving a bit of his heart behind. “There’s an easygoingness in this small Burlington theatre community, a spirit of understanding and protecting other people that I really love,” he says. “I’m going to miss that.”
Clara Feldman
Majors/minor: Global studies and German double-major, political science minor
Hometown: Oakland, CA
For Clara Feldman, coming to ̽̽ was a revelation of possibilities. “I joined a ton of clubs, started working and volunteering, and got really involved on campus and in the community,” she says. Her policy of trying all sorts of new things and focusing on the ones she felt most passionate about led her to experiences like undertaking leadership roles in Outing Club, interning with both New Farms for New Americans and a film production company, developing a job for herself working for a state senator, spending her junior year in Berlin, writing an Honors thesis, and even applying for a Fulbright Scholarship. (She was named a semi-finalist.)
“I came to college with the idea that I’ll get out what I put in, and I’ve put so much into it,” Feldman says. She’s happy that her college resumé is so strong, but what she treasures most are the connections she’s made with faculty members, her student colleagues in the German department, and the Fellowship Office. “I’m most proud that people will know I worked hard and contributed.”
While Feldman does have a post-graduation job lined up, working remotely from New York City with a Berlin-based company, she’s also planning to travel and explore what it’s like to have time to herself again. “I’m going to really miss the incredible community here and it’s going to be hard to leave the best friends I’ve ever had in my life,” she says. “But I know they’ll be with me in spirit.”
Antonio Pugliese
Major/minor: English major with concentration in writing, philosophy minor
Hometown: Charlotte, VT
When you ask Antonio Pugliese (seen above with his parents and grandfather) what he’s passionate about, you might expect the answer to be soccer. After all, he came to ̽̽ after playing soccer professionally in Europe for two years and immediately earned a spot on the varsity team (though he left after his first year). But what really inspires Pugliese is service, and he has shown that by tutoring at the Undergraduate Writing Center, acting as a peer mentor in the DREAM program, and co-directing the Student Legal Services program. “I’ve loved having the opportunity to serve students from all departments here at ̽̽, plus help immigrant families in the nearby community of Winooski get grounded in their new lives,” he says.
As for what he’ll miss most about ̽̽, Pugliese finds it hard to narrow it down. “There are so many things—the people, the community we have here,” he says, noting that not only has he always felt supported, but that every community he’s been part of has been both welcoming and intellectually stimulating. Pugliese is headed to law school at the University of Virginia in the fall, a school he chose in part because its collaborative learning environment reminds him so much of ̽̽. He’s not yet sure what kind of law he’ll focus on, but “I know I eventually want to do work oriented toward public service,” he says.
First, though, he’s going to take a bit of a break. “I’m really looking forward to spending some time with my family,” he says with a smile.
Claire Bushey
Major: Chemistry
Hometown: Fletcher, VT
Since day one, Claire Bushey’s time at ̽̽ has been all about the lab. “My first semester, I joined a research program that introduced us to the labs,” she remembers. “We had presentations from all the chemistry professors and got to ask them about their work.” She started out doing biochemistry research with Andrea Lee but eventually made her way to Rory Waterman’s lab to work on research on organometallic synthetics. The work hasn’t been easy, but that’s one of the things she loves about it. “I like that things don’t always work the first time,” she says. “There’s always a lot of trial and error, so when you do solve something, it makes it so much better.”
That pioneer spirit has served Bushey well. Last summer, she published two papers in well-regarded journals— a rarity for undergraduate students—and was even the second author on one of them. Then, this past March, she presented her Honors thesis research in a special symposium recognizing a number of undergraduates for their research acumen at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2024 meeting.
In the fall, Bushey will take her love for research to the next level by entering the Ph.D. program in chemistry at Brown University. She has some parting words of wisdom for others who may be curious about research. “Talk to people about what they’re doing and tell them you want to learn more,” she says. “If you try it, you might find it’s something you’re passionate about.”
Abbie Kopelowitz
Majors/minor: Philosophy and digital media ethics (individually designed) double-major, political science minor
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Sometimes, the field you choose to study can be life-altering. That’s been the case for Abbie Kopelowitz, who says that philosophy has shaped their identity and changed the way they think of the world. “Philosophy helps you see the life you want to live and gives you the tools to achieve it,” they say. For Kopelowitz, that life has included plenty of philosophy outside their own studies, too, through their work as a teaching assistant for an Introduction to Philosophy class (as well as a class in Rubenstein) and participation in a philosophy-focused summer reading group.
Kopelowitz is especially of proud of the time-management skills they’ve developed, successfully juggling at least one job, several internships, a full course load, and other extracurriculars at any given time. Those extracurriculars have included being a news journalist for local papers with the Community News Service, acting as an artist/writer for The Water Tower, and becoming deeply involved in ̽̽ Hillel. Plus, they just finished writing and presenting their Honors thesis on the metaphysics of characters from role-playing games.
Eventually, Abbie hopes to become a public interest lawyer. First, though, she’s going to stick around Burlington and enjoy the city for a while. “I’m excited to be able to read a book without looking for hidden motives or context,” she jokes. “Seriously though, I want to use what I’ve learned to be an adult-ish person in the world and figure out how to enjoy life to the fullest.”
Annie Heller and Willow Phoenix
Annie’s majors: Music technology and business and communication sciences and disorders double-major
Willow’s major/minors: Music technology and business major, classical civilization and business administration minors
Annie’s hometown: Annapolis, MD
Willow’s hometown: Gloucester, MA
You may have heard of Waking Windows, a massive annual arts festival held in Winooski, VT in early May. This year, the festival showcased a new event, and it was all thanks to Annie Heller (above right) and Willow Phoenix (above left). For their senior capstone project, Heller and Phoenix worked together to produce a musical showcase highlighting female-identifying and non-binary individuals in the Vermont arts community. “It all started with Natalie Neuert’s Arts Management class,” says Heller. “We wanted to do a project more about the management side of music.” They applied for, and received, a Dan Higgins Community-Engaged Arts and Humanities Award and got to work. They did it all: developing a budget, booking the venues and artists, handling the marketing and promotion, and setting up at the event.
Their pairing on the project came naturally, as Phoenix and Heller not only share a major but are also each other’s oldest ̽̽ friend. “We connected on Instagram after we were both accepted and have been close friends ever since,” says Phoenix. They meet up often to drink coffee, talk about fantasy books, and, of course, work on their big project.
Surprisingly for her choice of major, Phoenix isn’t a musician. “My interest is in the business side of things, so the music performance and theory classes were new territory for me,” she says. “But I made it through and can now read music, play some piano, and even sing a bit. I never had confidence in myself in these areas before but now I can do them, and it’s helped me feel confident that music business is the right field for me.”
Heller, who sings and plays guitar, is as passionate about songwriting and poetry as she is about the business side of music. She, too, has experienced a huge increase in confidence during her time at ̽̽. “I feel good about how I’ve spent my time here and how I’ve grown,” she says. “One thing I struggled with in this major was imposter syndrome, but I feel I’ve overcome that mindset and am now ready to share my songs with the world.”
Both women are now ready to get out there and spread their wings. Heller will stay in Burlington for the time being to figure out her next step. “I want to pursue music but also give back to the community,” she says. Phoenix, meanwhile, is headed back to Gloucester to work at a new music venue for the summer, then hopes to find full-time job in London or somewhere else abroad. “College has been so much fun,” she says, “and it feels like things are just gearing up.”