2022 Graduation Tabloid

Growing up, David Hooker wanted to be one of two things: a racecar driver or an astronaut. He wasn’t sure how well he’d do those jobs, but as long as he had a good time doing them, he’d be just fine.  Now, Hooker is on his way to work as a tax accountant — and will probably have a good time doing it. Hooker didn’t always know he would be an accountant. He would find his way during his time at Wak...

Sierra DeVeaux will graduate as the first African American Studies major in the history of Wake Forest University. DeVeaux made the decision to major in African American Studies just before her senior year and found a discipline and faculty altogether different from any that she had ever encountered. Wake Forest launched the African American studies program in the summer of 2021. It is led by program d...

With a primary major in Finance in the Wake Forest School of Business, Ruohan Li has spent countless hours studying within the business world and focusing on a future within the accountancy sector. She is currently enrolled in the five-year finance track through Wake Forest’s Masters of Science in Accountancy Program. Yet, Li developed a second passion of anthropology — which turned into her seco...

 When Minato Hiraoka applied to Wake Forest, he knew what he would study. Now he is graduating after only three years with a degree in applied mathematics. Though Hiraoka always knew he would be majoring in a science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) subject, he describes the decision to major in Applied Mathematics as a “process of elimination.” Physics and chemistry were never as fun ...

When coming into college, many students are told to pick a profitable major or one that will set them up to easily find a job upon graduation. Sometimes this works out, the match is compatible and the DegreeWorks “What If” section goes untouched. But sometimes, a lucky student gets to tell their parents during a lull in a winter break dinner conversation that they want to pursue art history. Dur...

 Caroline Kernell is a highly-accomplished Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (BMB) major hailing from Houston, TX. With advice from her a cappella director Kate Hanson — and a semester of experience in Dr. Lindsay Comstock-Ferguson’s lab as a research assistant — Kernell declared her major early in the fall of her sophomore year. “Caroline has been a joy to work with for the last three ...

 Leonardo Silenzi loves complexity.  In his experience, Silenzi has found the human brain to be the most complex structure on Earth, so he has decided to spend his time studying that.  “I love to stare at complexity,” Silenzi said. “Sometimes it’s frustrating, but it’s fascinating to me. I’ve always been interested in understanding human nature.”  Silenzi is passionate about phi...

Rich Pope came to Wake Forest as a curious student looking to find his niche in academics. Coming into college, he thought he was content with biology but found himself venturing into broader sciences. With his mind open, he explored organic chemistry and physics, which opened a whole new door for him academically as he found a new love for physics. He found himself with a choice between the biochemis...

Renate Ma is a chemistry major from Rocky Mount, NC, who epitomizes Wake Forest’s undergraduate pre-medical program. Although from a young age, Ma wanted to be everything but a scientist, now she hopes to use her skills in the medical career field as she transitions into the Wake Forest Medical School in July. Ma’s journey began in high school when she took an AP class in organic chemistry with...

Brae Troutman always knew that he wanted to pursue a Chinese language when coming to Wake Forest, but did not expect to also develop a deep passion for another discipline — computer science.  “Coming to Wake [Forest] initially, I only wanted to major in Chinese,” Troutman said. “I came in and I thought that I would really like to teach English overseas. I came in and took an intro to comp...

Ashrut Sood has spent over half of his academic career in a Latin classroom. He began taking Latin in sixth grade. However, majoring in Latin or classical languages, which combines Latin with Ancient Greek, was not on his radar coming into Wake Forest.  “It started off as a way to fulfill the language requirement,” Sood said. “But then I really came to appreciate and admire the faculty in th...

In Latin, the verb ending “bam” indicates something one did in the past. For example, the Latin word vincabam means, roughly, “I succeeded”. In the Classical Studies major, one person who definitely has a right to say she succeeded is Bam Purcell. Purcell, a Clayton, NC native originally from Thailand, planned to study science at Wake Forest. Her plans changed after taking a Latin prose clas...

With Zoe Chamberlin having been chosen to represent this year’s class of computer science majors, one would think that she has been interested in the subject for quite some time. Surprisingly, she was originally averse to it and planned to pursue a track in chemistry, her high school interest.  Chamberlin’s mother constantly impressed upon her that coding was the future and that she should see what...

Among many other factors, one thing that really drove Grace Lyons to Wake Forest was the weather; North Carolina is far warmer than a Massachusetts winter. “I hated the cold weather,” Lyons said. “Then I took a tour of the campus and absolutely loved it.” Early into her time in Winston-Salem, Lyons found a home in the economics department.  “I decided to take ECN 150 to see how I liked it....

Since childhood, Lauren Robertson always knew she wanted to be a teacher. She was one of those kids who used to force her siblings to play school with her, making them sit down and listen to her lessons. So when she arrived at Wake Forest four years ago, there was no doubt as to what she would study — what she didn’t know was how many opportunities being an elementary education major would offer h...

Like many Wake Forest students, Juliana Hopper thought her career path was set when she came to campus as a freshman, but she found a completely different avenue for her passions instead. Hopper is originally from Westport, CT. Although she anticipated that she would major in biology, a transformative experience in an Intro to Engineering course inspired her to pursue a different path. As Hopper be...

For many, figuring out how to balance all of your interests and figuring out what to major in is a difficult task. For Lauren DeMarco, she decided to pursue all of her academic interests, and she affirms that despite the intense workload, she has enjoyed her time in these various disciplines. “I’m an English and studio art double major and a Spanish minor. I came into college not exactly sure w...

 With the future of the planet uncertain, graduates like Sophia Masciarelli give hope to the fight against climate change. As an environment and sustainability studies major, Masciarelli has fully embraced Wake Forest’s interdisciplinary approach to sustainability in both her coursework and extracurricular pursuits.  Although she initially wanted to pursue a major in politics and international affa...

If Sarah Kate Massey is anything, it’s balanced. This can be a difficult feat to accomplish at Wake Forest, where unique opportunities to involve yourself in university life abound. As a senior graduating with majors in finance and psychology, Massey is the picture of a student who used her time at Wake Forest to pursue her interests in all aspects of academics.  Although Massey will graduate with both majors, her career will...

Laia Vancells Lopez is a French major from Terrassa, Spain. While her outstanding performance in her French classes has gained her recognition as a distinguished French major, Vancells also excelled in her second major, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (BMB). Furthermore, Vancells was a key asset to the women’s field hockey team over her four years at Wake Forest, as she was recently named to the ...

Born in London and raised in Charleston, SC, Eliot Leadem has never considered one single place home other than where his family is. Leadem became a world traveler early in life, and he and his siblings have always shared a love for languages. Although he took French throughout middle school and high school, he took his first German class the second semester of his freshman year with Dr. Alyssa Ho...

Shayla Smart knew she would be attending Wake Forest in her sophomore year of high school, when she committed to play soccer for the Demon Deacons. As an athlete, she was always drawn to the Health and Exercise Science (HES) field, but she knew that she wanted to pursue a future within medicine. Coming to Wake Forest, she believed that majoring in HES would be the best fit for working through all t...

Lejiu (Julie) Sun arrived at Wake Forest from Hangzhou, China with a keen interest in history. During her first semester of freshman year, she took a seminar class (HST 343) with Drs. Qiong Zhang and Jeffrey Lerner on the Silk Road. While sitting in the library, brainstorming a topic for her final paper, Sun noticed a cup of tea on the table and started researching. After a month of composition, she finished ...

Going into college, Mia Williams was not too interested in learning a new language after some struggles with German and French in high school and Spanish in middle school. She knew, however, that there was a language requirement to be fulfilled, so she decided to give the Japanese a try. As a big fan of anime, taking Japanese seemed like a logical and exciting opportunity.  “My whole life, my older brothe...

Zoe Clay is someone who does it all. Being Raised in Crozet, VA, Clay was heavily involved in track and cross country in high school, but they also found time to get interested in Latin — despite the high turnover rate of their high school Latin teachers — and took the language all four years.  Despite their experience with the language, Clay was not anticipating majoring in Latin when they a...

Like many children who were dissuaded from watching Disney Channel, Noah Edwards- Thro’s favorite programming came from a Disney Co. subsidiary — ESPN. Growing up in Lexington, KY, Edwards-Thro was a big Kentucky Wildcats fan. But if the blue-blooded basketball team wasn’t on the television that night, he was fine with any other ballgame.  Playing since the age of eight, Edwards-Thro carried that love ...

David Li became interested in economics when he picked up the book “Freakonomics” and started listening to its accompanying podcast of the same name.  One particular story in “Freakonomics” that was of great interest to Li was a story of why Roe v. Wade, which barred states from criminalizing abortion, was connected to a dramatic decrease in crime in major American cities in the 1990s. Economists...

 A lot of kids grow up wanting to be on the silver screen, being recognized wherever they go. Hearing whispers as they walk by of “is that Jessica Chastain? Honey, look it’s the guy from ‘Ted Lasso’” and “oh my god you are local Channel 6 News meteorologist Andy Greene”  That was the dream for this Milford, Pennsylvania native — until he found out how much science was involved. Andy Greene is now...

Many students are intimidated by math and therefore give up long before they reach higher-level courses. Sarah Ruth Nicholls is one of the students who did not give up.  As a double major in math and computer science, Nicholls devoted a great deal of her time at Wake Forest to disciplines in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). She will tell you, however, that there is no such thing a...

“The early periods of music, such as when Gregorian chant gave way to Organum and then to polyphony, are fascinating,” Eric Ross said of his interest in music. “Just seeing the formulations and foundations of modern western music is absolutely enthralling, especially to see how it has evolved over time.”  Ross hails from Pfafftown, NC. Although he is a distinguished major in music in liber...

Katarina Sams’ love for music began at a young age. Born in Croatia and raised in Switzerland, she attended an elementary school where she was required to play a band instrument. Sams chose the flute and has dedicated her life to learning that instrument ever since.  Sams moved to the United States in 2018 to begin her undergraduate studies at Wake Forest. She entered her freshman year thinking she might w...

Although she is now an accomplished philosophy major, Liat Klopouh didn’t know she wanted to major in philosophy until she attended college. Hailing from Baltimore, MD, Klopough initially intended to follow in the footsteps of her parents and major in biology. Although she decided that that academic path wasn’t for her, she loved the analytical nature of science and wanted to be able to apply that...

Will Caulkins didn’t have the firmest idea as to what he wanted to do when coming to Wake Forest — but his interests aligned him with a science, math, engineering and technology (STEM)-related discipline. Physics provided Caulkins with an intuitive way to learn and an understanding of problem-solving that he resonated with. It was a subject that he continued to love during his time at Wake Fores...

 Maggie Fox always wanted to go to law school, and her experiences at Wake Forest only reinforced that aspiration.  “I think especially after the 2016 election, I really got more interested in political affairs,” Fox said. “And so I thought that was going to be that my law school path was something more related to workings of government, and policy reform, that kind of thing. It was hones...

 Amber Adkins’ first exposure to psychology was at a high school summer camp in her home state of Kentucky.  “I had never taken a psychology class before Wake Forest but I did a camp at one point in high school where we were split into different subject areas for the summer, and I got randomly assigned to psychology,” Adkins said. “It was [less the] academic side of it, and more ‘here a...

Like many freshmen at Wake Forest, Leilani Fletcher started out on the pre-medicine track. However, after taking an introductory chemistry class Fletcher realized that this track was not for them.  “I was a stereotypical freshman who thought I was going to do pre-medicine,” Fletcher said. “I thought, ‘yeah, [I’ll] be a neurosurgeon … make all the bucks.’ I thought I [would be] a [Che...

Hannah DeMaioNewton decided to pursue a medical career at a young age, spending her upbringing close to the treatment side of medicine as her family dealt with chronic Lyme disease. She moved to Raleigh, NC from a small town in Massachusetts at age 14 and came to Wake Forest with her sights set on becoming the first in her family to go into the field of healthcare. Upon her arrival, DeMaioNewton realized that...

Leslie Morales-Noyola is a double major in Spanish and political science from Winston-Salem, NC. When she first arrived at Wake Forest her freshman year, Morales-Noyola had no intention of majoring in Spanish and instead just wanted to satisfy the language division requirement by taking a Spanish class.  She soon discovered that her desire to interact with the Hispanic and Latino community would d...

Quynh Nhu-Vu entered Wake Forest knowing that art was a discipline that she wanted to pursue, but it wasn’t exactly easy to translate this passion due in part to her background as a child of immigrant parents.  “Since being a sperm cell, I knew I wanted to draw pictures and make art, but given that I am a child of immigrants, I have always felt pressure from my parents and extended family to view ar...

 Through COVID-19, through feelings of inferiority, through four long years of college, the show must go on. That seems to be what drives Fuyuan, or Freya Zheng, a Theatre major from Tianjin, China. In her four years at Wake Forest, she has directed and stage-managed productions; won research awards and founded a club and excelled academically.  Zheng was first drawn to theatre through a First ...

Hailing from Los Angeles, CA, Olivia Thonson’s interest in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies began at a young age, when her grandmother told her stories of how difficult it was to navigate high school as a woman in the 1950s. One story in particular stood out to Thonson, how her grandmother wanted to take the auto-shop class her high school offered but was not allowed to do so due to the...