Exceptional Oxy graduates have been elected to membership in the Delta of California Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honors organization. Meet a few seniors from this year's impressive cohort.
Mario Alvarado
“After graduation I will be applying to medical school during my gap year. I have always been interested in and am extremely passionate about patient care and prevention. What I deeply value from my Oxy experience is the time I have spent conducting research within Dr. Navarro’s organic chemistry lab where we focused on finding alternative pathways for synthesizing medicinally relevant compounds. I am truly grateful to both Dr. Navarro and Occidental for providing these research opportunities because they shed a unique perspective on the intersection between science and other areas of interest, such as medicine in my case. It helped me develop a lot of skills that I am sure will prove fruitful in my future academic endeavors.”
Anissa Basnayake
“After a wonderful four years at Occidental College as a Cognitive Science and neuroscience student, I am excited to pursue a MPhil in Ethics of AI, Data and Algorithms at the University of Cambridge with help from the Trinity Hall Research Studentship. I hope to promote pillars of empathy, equity, and anti-discrimination within the ever-growing world of AI and big tech. My home away from home has been The Occidental newsroom, where I collaborated with reporters and photojournalists at the student-run weekly publication for all four years. I look forward to taking the values of earnestness, curiosity, and honesty that I learned via The Occidental and from my cherished friends, in the coming years to lead community-oriented work centering equitable AI use and governance.”
Samuel Levy
“After graduation, I plan to become an educator, specifically focused on secondary-level mathematics and computer science. In my time here at Occidental, I've had so many fantastic opportunities to discover this passion through through my classes in the Computer Science, Education, and Math departments, as well as to explore my broader interests through the Theater department and comedy teams on campus. My time at Occidental is defined by the all of the people that I have had the endless pleasure of getting to know here, and I'm incredibly grateful for this and the other opportunities that a liberal arts education has offered me!”
Alyanna McGrath
“Following graduation from Occidental, I will be joining Google as a full-time Associate Product Manager in their APM program, where I’m excited to build products that make a meaningful impact. What I value most about my time at Oxy are the relationships I’ve built, not just with peers who’ve become lifelong friends, but with professors who have challenged, supported, and pushed me to grow in ways I never imagined.”
Madalyn Palay
“After graduation, I will be attending Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law as an O'Connor Fellow. What I value most about my time at Oxy is the amazing faculty who have always gone above and beyond to help me reach my goals, as well as the opportunity to be a leader in the pre-law community and help expand the pre-law programs and opportunities available to students. My time at Oxy has helped me grow so much as both a student and a leader, and I am looking forward to continuing to be involved in the Oxy community by coaching our mock trial team remotely from Phoenix next year.”
Maxwell Stanley
“Following my graduation from Occidental, I will be moving to Berlin, Germany to accept a full-time consultant position with Silver Construction Engineering GmBH. Additionally, in Berlin, I will continue my athletic career playing semi-professional soccer with FC Internationale. Looking back on my experiences at Oxy, my fondest memories are with my team, friends, and family following our SCIAC victory and NCAA post-season tournament run. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed pursuing my different research topics centralizing Chinese economic development and the effects of coaching on team performance.”