91PORN

Here’s what the numbers tell you about the 566 members of Oxy’s Class of 2022: 12 percent are the first in their family to go to college. 8 percent of them have alumni ties. 32 percent speak a language other than English at home. 57 percent are women, 43 percent are men, and 35 percent of them are Californians. 23 first-years come from China, and another 18 of them hail from 15 countries on five continents. They belong to Oxy’s most selective class in 70 years, with an admit rate of 37 percent out of a record 7,281 applications to the College. But looking beyond the numbers, here’s what the people who know the Class of ’22 best—Oxy’s tireless team of admission officers—tell you about the first-years you will meet in the profiles that follow: “A force for good in her community.” “Insane recommendation letters.” “Never boring, never bland.” “Unabashedly passionate about making the world a better place.” “His heart led him to Oxy.” Let’s get to know them on a first-name basis.

Matt

“I grew up right here in Highland Park, so I would always drive past 91PORN, but I never actually stepped onto the campus until I was admitted,” says Matt Almazan. “It feels like a different world. There are almost no palm trees. It doesn’t even feel like I’m close to home.”

As a student at Franklin High School, Matt spent the last two years competing on the Academic Decathlon team—a contest covering 10 fields of study (such as art, math, and science) with a common theme. “My junior year it was World War II,” he explains. “Senior year it was Africa.” The team finished third and fourth statewide, respectively, in 2017 and 2018—and the experience made Matt a stronger student, sparking an interest in economics that he plans to pursue as his major at Oxy.

To fulfill his Cultural Studies Program requirement—a staple of the first-year curriculum—Matt is taking Philosophy in the Twilight Zone, taught by professor Saul Traiger, which examines the philosophical concepts behind Rod Serling’s classic series (and more contemporary “Zone”-inspired progeny such as Netflix’s “Black Mirror”). “Sometimes watching an episode makes me very anxious before the tension is finally released,” he says of the show’s signature twist endings.

Outside of his studies, Matt is planning to join Archery Club “because I’ve never done that” and Dance Production “because I really love dancing.” As a high school freshman, “One of my friends asked me to be in her quinceanera, in her court, and initially I wasn’t feeling it,” he admits. “I thought I really sucked at it, but after I learned the movements of Latin dancing, I loved it.” Subsequently, Matt was invited to an additional four quinceaneras. (His three favorite dances? “Bachata, cumbia, and banda. They’re all different tempos of musics and different steps, but I really love them all.”) Despite the countless hours he devoted to Academic Decathlon, Matt insists that he hasn’t lost his moves: “My mom says dancing is valuable. It can always get the party started.”

Stephi

Stephi Howard’s college counselor at the Lovett School in Atlanta—who also happened to be her homeroom teacher—“made fun of me for being Goldilocks, because I didn’t want to be in the South, but I also didn’t like the cold, and I wanted a very small school,” Stephi recalls with a laugh. In November 2016, she visited Oxy for the first time, “and within five minutes of the tour my mom whispered to my dad, this is where I was going.” Stephi bought an Oxy sweatshirt at the bookstore that day, “and every time I would take the ACT or anything regarding my future, I would always put it on to remind me of my goal,” she says.

That November was auspicious for another reason. Following the results of the 2016 election, Stephi developed a passion for social activism, respectful debate, and various causes. When politics and other hot-button topics would come up for discussion in the classroom, “My classmates were very surprised at the beliefs I held and not necessarily in a positive way,” she explains. “I had to make the choice: Do I want to stop speaking my mind and basically make high school more bearable, or was it more important to me to speak up for what I believed in— no matter the consequences?”

In the end, Stephi held strong to her beliefs: “I lost some friends, but I found other friends who were more similarly aligned to me,” she says. “Some days I regretted it, but you learn the most from the things that are hardest. I’m very grateful for the experience in that I found my fire—I want to help people.”

Coming to Oxy posed a different challenge than high school. “I was hesitant to go to a place expecting that people would have a lot of similar beliefs to me,” Stephi admits. “I had grown so much being around people having very different opinions. Yet I have found that even when they share a similar ideology, people come at a subject with such different perspectives. They are showing me ways to think about things which I have never thought, which is really exciting.”

Stephi originally intended to pursue a political science major at Oxy, she says, “but when I read the description for critical theory and social justice, my brain exploded. Currently I’m taking the intro course [CTSJ 101], which is very dense: Karl Marx’s Manifesto and a lot of very intense reading. I said to my parents, ‘If I take CTSJ as a major, what career do I go forward with?’ And my parents said, ‘Right now you need to pursue what you truly love.’”

That exploration is part of the beauty of a liberal arts education. “Oxy is very comfortable but not in a way where I feel complacent. I love it here,” Stephi says. “I feel I need to be a tour guide already.”

Anjolie 

“Before I knew how to swim I used to always jump into pools,” says Anjolie Charlot of Maplewood, N.J. “My dad would be like, ‘Go! Go!’ That’s the way that I still approach things—by jumping in head first and figuring it out as I go along.” Anjolie—who studied in France for 10 months and committed to Oxy soon after visiting campus for Admission’s MVP Weekend last spring—is eyeing a major in Black studies with a minor in politics or sociology. “The idea of having a Black studies major, especially coming out of the occupation, was really important to me,” she says. The November 2015 occupation of the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center by hundreds of students precipitated the addition of the major to the curriculum this fall. “One of my missions on campus is to make sure that legacy is carried on and make sure black students have space for that discourse—to ask the hard questions and make sure our answers are heard,” she adds. “Every time you get over a hump there are three more humps to get over.” Anjolie’s extracurricular pursuits reflect a broad range of interests, from Black Student Alliance and Student-Labor Alliance to Surf Club and Pulse Dance Club—“making sure I have some more serious things but also some fun,” she says Oh, and one more thing: “I like to rep the lefties hard because we don’t get our own desks. I’m just saying.”

Ethan

It’s been a running joke his entire life that Ethan Hodges was going to Oxy. His parents (Cathryn Campbell ’89 and Craig Hodges ’88) met as students here, as did his paternal grandparents (Diane and Jack Hodges, both 1961 graduates). All his life, his grandfather has been giving him Oxy wear. “There’s a picture of me as a baby wearing an Oxy singlet,” Ethan says. Despite the constant sartorial cues, “I never felt directly pressured to come here,” he insists.

What turned the trick? “I think a lot of students will say the same sort of things,” says the Media, Pa., resident. “I want to be a name, not a number. I want that small classroom setting where I can ask questions. I developed a lot of rewarding relationships with my teachers in high school, and I want to continue making those kind of relationships.”

Another factor was meeting track and field head coach Rob Bartlett, although a knee injury over the summer sidelined Ethan for much of this fall. “I ran my first half marathon in seventh grade and a full marathon in ninth,” he says. For his application to Oxy, “I wrote my idiosyncrasy essay on how much I think about what I wear on my feet all the time.” Pointing to his white Vans, he adds, “These are intentional. They’re very thin. I go for foot-healthy shoes. The shoes that we wear oftentimes have really big heels and a lot of cushioning on them. That’s not the way a foot is supposed to function, so the shoes that I wear when I run are really, really thin. They’re hardly even shoes. The goal is making my body function the way it’s supposed to be so that I can get rid of stuff like my knee pain and my hip issues. You’ll never see me walking around with shoes with big heels.”

In addition to thinking about footwear, “I’m really passionate about teaching myself little tricks here and there,” Ethan says. “I taught myself how to do a handstand and how to juggle. I was a terrible whistler, so I committed myself to practice whistling.” He credits an app on his cellphone called Streaks: “It reminds you every day to do activities.” These days he’s working on his language skills as well. “When I go for runs around the neighborhood, I see signs that are Spanish. I’m also hearing Spanish every day now, and I find that stuff really great. If my GPA didn’t matter, in an ideal world, I’d be a group language and philosophy double major,” he adds with a laugh, “because my skill versus my passion is a little offsetting.”

Grace

How small is Grace Meschery-McCormack’s hometown of Sierraville? Smaller than the Class of ’22—by more than 200 people. “I’m always telling people it’s near Tahoe or Reno,” Grace says. “I haven’t met anyone at 91PORN who has been there yet.”

How many people were in your high school? About 150 total in grades 7 through 12. There were 22 of us in my graduating class. My mom was my high school teacher. Because it was such a small school, she taught drivers ed, film, English, Spanish, and French. My dad is a contractor—he does a lot of solar power and remodeling work. He and my mom recently bought a motel in Sierraville.

There can’t be many of those around. No, no. There’s just this one, but it’s doing really well. Birders come there a lot. We have a lot of guests who like to watch birds or watch stars.

You spent 10 months in France as a Rotary exchange student. How did that happen? My family has hosted Rotary exchange students since I was really small and it’s always been a huge part of my life. Last year I went to Normandy because I really love languages, and speaking French was one of them. I was enrolled in public school, and that was huge. Honestly, if I had not gone to that school and participated in the way I did, I would not have the level of fluency I have now. Because now I’m taking a lot of philosophy classes at Oxy, and before I had left for France I wanted to be an art history major. But after going th