A huge congratulations to our unstoppable class of 2024, formerly the class of 2020, aka, the covid class, for making it through…and finishing with flying colors!! Bella Barocas, Mira Begg, Dylan Campos, Ishani Dave, Ella Doherty, Sloane Dzhitenov, Lia Franklin, Madeline Frew, Danielle Garten, Andie Glanzer, Debbra Goh, Madisyn Gomez, Marangela James, Sachita Jariwala, Joshua Kleiman, Kiran Kling, Paul Kraut, Jasmine Lam, Amara Leazer, Serena Levingston, Alberto Lopez, Jessica Luu, Cam McCrystal, Maggie Monaghan, Nerdvens Moreau, Amanda Morris, Meera Nemali, Advait Prasad, Lea Schaffer, Amy Smith, Cole Torino and Katie Yin. Watch the video below to meet our entire class of 2024 — and click on the links in this paragraph, to read more about so many of those amazing new alums!
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meet our bailey coe 2024 summer fellows!
Every year, the Bailey COE awards fellowships to fund summer (and spring and fall) research opportunities for Wesleyan students across all majors and class years. Most recently, the Bailey COE awarded almost 40 fellowships to Wes students. Learn a little bit more about each, below! Applications for summer 2024, fall 2024 and spring 2025 Bailey COE fellowships will open in January 2024.
Ava Guralnick ‘25 plans to use personal storytelling narratives to combine the perspectives of Asian American Studies and Environmental Studies. She will examine the ways in which various spatial and temporal geographies of land can provide new ways to understand and locate the interwoven histories of imperial conflict, connection, and new kinship/family making processes.
senior spotlight: kiran kling ’24
How did you first become interested in the environment?
I started thinking and asking and learning about different ways to deal with climate change when I was really young. I used to have a plan to build an electric car company, and I would drag my parents to conferences on renewable energy. I was very concerned that there was this problem, and nobody was paying attention, and felt like somebody had to do something about it. I thought that I would try and play as much of a role as I could. When I finally had the freedom to study climate solutions in college I jumped at the chance.
What led you to choose your majors, environmental studies and government?
When I got to Wesleyan I decided that I really loved the environmental studies major, and I didn’t want to be boxed into taking the entire earth and environmental science curriculum, particularly online during covid. I liked the variety within the environmental studies major, and I really liked learning about policy, which led me to pursue the government major as well. I chose Wesleyan in large part because of our open curriculum and academic flexibility. I’ve been lucky to take fantastic IDEAS, biology, E&ES, and religion classes alongside my major coursework.
senior spotlight: lea schaffer ’24
What majors or minors did you combine with environmental studies?
I’m a biology and environmental studies major.
Why did you decide to become an environmental studies major?
I actually transferred to Wesleyan University for my junior year. Part of what interested me in transferring is that I was coming from a school that was just doing hard sciences and biology. I wanted to get a better understanding of its applications in the world, and I thought the environmental studies program was a very good way for me to see, especially in terms of sustainability, the impacts and the larger picture.
Can you tell me about your senior project?
I’m doing an essay that has to do with wastewater management and climate change. So, what is wastewater management? How does it function? And what are the problems with it? And how does climate change exacerbate it?
Why did you choose that topic?We have these family friends that my dad has worked with that has this really cool company called Clean Two that does septic tanks that have a process to denitrify the waste. So I learned all about why it was needed. It was placed near Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where they have a huge nitrogen problem in the water and all of it comes from wastewater. It’s kind of a solution to that. That got me interested in wastewater in general, and kind of understanding how climate change makes things more important in that matter.
senior spotlight: amara leazer ’24
What are your combined majors/minors?
My primary major is a university major for environmental and ecological design and engineering. It’s linked with environmental studies and I have a minor in IDEAS.
Can you tell me about your university major? How you created it, what drew you to it, and what it consists of?
I was originally in earth and environmental science. I liked it but some of the requirements were just not going to be helpful for what I wanted to do, and I wouldn’t be able to take other classes that would be more helpful. IDEAS wasn’t a major yet—now, it’s the College of Design and Engineering Studies. So, there was no major that let you build stuff, and I wanted to build stuff. That’s why I made the university major. It’s been super fun and I haven’t had to take too many classes that I don’t want to, so I recommend it.
senior spotlight: amy smith ’24
Hey, Amy! What majors or minors did you decide to link with environmental studies during your time here?
I’m majoring in environmental studies and biology, and minoring in IDEAS.
What drew you to those majors?
I came into college, knowing that I wanted to study biology. I grew up on a farm in a pretty rural area, so I always had a strong connection with nature. That’s the same thing that drew me to environmental studies. In terms of IDEAS, I took a mechanical design class my first semester of college, and just like really loved the creative aspect of it. Being able to do hands-on work, as opposed to a lot of my bio classes at that time that were just purely lecture based classes. I really liked the interactive aspect of it.
So what did you do for your senior project?
I did a thesis, I worked with a lab at UMass Boston that I interned with last summer. The lab is focused on marine ecology. The project was looking at how different environmental changes are impacting kelp populations and we found that nitrate concentrations and sea surface temperature are primary environmental drivers of kelp population decline in the northwestern Atlantic. So on the coast of Connecticut, Boston, and up towards Nova Scotia.
senior spotlight: mira begg ’24
Hi Mira! Where are you from, and what led you to major in environmental etudies?
I’m from Lake Tahoe, California. I’m studying economics and environmental studies. I grew up in an outdoor place, and because of this I’ve inherently been interested and connected to the outdoors throughout my life. When I got to college, I didn’t think I wanted to major in environmental studies at all, but then I took a class called Dynamic Earth, and realized that I actually really did want to pursue the maor. I’ve changed directions completely, which I’m very happy about. I’m much more interested in this major combination than only majoring in economics.
What are some of your favorite classes?
My favorite class was Renewable Energy and Negative Emissions Technologies with Professor Rosemary Ostfeld. I enjoyed it primarily because I’m really interested in clean energy, the tech startup industry, and carbon sequestration. I like following the new ideas that come from those fields.