Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Wilcox is a ham radio operator who makes connections all over the world through a hobby that brought the world closer together long before social media and cell phones.

Sophie Louis ’24 has always had a passion for helping others. Now, she’s putting that passion to work as the first Ursinus student to join the Collegiate Recovery Leadership Academy.

As a student in high school, Dora Zeibekis ’24 struggled with biology. At Ursinus, she excels as a biology (and Spanish) major. If you think she likely has good advice to share on improving one’s study habits, you’re in good company: She has 123,000 followers on Instagram who agree. Known as @coffeestudi, Zeibekis offers study tips and academic coaching.

Whether it’s skating or biking, Tech Support Technician and part-time Campus Safety Officer Ray Stitt has had a lifelong passion for wheels—a hobby he’s been combining with his social media know-how to gain fame on TikTok as @BgDaddyRay.

Surrealist artist and Donald E. Camp Award winner Kelsey Gavin ’22 spun her collection of paintings into a significant scholarship at her dream graduate school. This fall, she is pursuing her master’s degree at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts (PAFA), the alma mater of her lifelong inspiration, David Lynch.

Before Eduardo Ramos ’06 was accepting a Tony alongside the cast and crew of Take Me Out (2022), he was captain of the Ursinus College lacrosse team, ahead on credits and needing one more course to be eligible to play his last season. Hey. Acting sounds fun.

Driven by her Ukrainian heritage, Christine Heren ’22 has been taking small steps to make a big impact in a country that has suffered eight years of conflict with Russia.

A Chester County farm founded by an Ursinus alum provides volunteer opportunities for the members of Tau Sigma Gamma sorority in a symbiotic partnership.

Leslie New’s early fascination with Star Wars has accompanied her her whole life, from struggling in early math classes to completing her Ph.D. on birds of prey in Scotland. Today, she serves in the 501st Legion, a Star Wars cosplay charity group that hosts events like children’s hospital events and charity fundraisers. She has assembled two fantastic costumes so far. While teaching math and statistics at Ursinus College, New is working on her most ambitious uniform yet.

Last summer, Emelyn Rodriguez ’22 and her Bronx-based family made a five-hour trip to Washington, D.C., to move her things to the nation’s capital, where she planned to complete an internship during the fall semester. When plans for what the political science major intended to be a dream internship on Capitol Hill didn’t work out, she made the difficult decision to move—again—back to Ursinus.

Simra Mariam ’21 has been a BIPOC feminist advocate and a professional journalist since she was a teenager. At Ursinus College, she opened the door to a new generation of marginalized writers and artists through an online publication that would become impactful and illustrious: Reclamation Magazine.

Today, Abbie Painter ’23 is a rock star, theater scholarship recipient, psychologist, and non-binary luminary. Eighteen years ago, they were drumming on their dad’s workout equipment. Painter’s evolution since then, especially from 2019 when they stepped on the Ursinus stage, has been a feat of transformation.

Roughly 10 years after graduating from Ursinus, Latonia Brown ’04 took up a new hobby—face painting—and, in the process, laid the foundation for a future as a special effects makeup artist.

In desperate need of work/life balance at a former job, Katie Bean found healing in yoga—and is now on a mission to show students, faculty, and staff the benefits of the practice. “It’s so much bigger than tree pose.”

On stage and on the page, Ursinus College Creative Writing Award recipient, Literary Society president, and longtime illusionist, Anastasia Dziekan ’22 recreates truth with something up her sleeve.

Scientist sisters Andrea ’23 and Diana Cando ’24 are first-generation students with a lot in common, and even more in distinction.

When Jadidsa Perez ’21 is asked where she gets her drive and her focus, she doesn’t hesitate in providing an answer.

Senior Simba Kanjanda’s path from Zimbabwe to Ursinus wasn’t as circuitous as one might imagine, but a bit of circumstance certainly helped him to find the perfect school.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, working parents have struggled with meeting the needs of their jobs while simultaneously tending to children who are not only learning from home but also spending less time with friends. Kate Foley ’23 and her family created a business that could help.

Just six years after graduating from Ursinus, N’Namdee Nelson ’02 founded Rising Leaders Global, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing positive role models and mentors for at-risk youth in Camden, N.J. FOX 29 recently spotlighted his important work.

After working in the events industry in Maine, Connecticut and New York, James Futter came to Ursinus for a three-month gig running events on campus. That was four years ago.

Holly Hubbs has always loved vintage items. Growing up, she often attended antique sales and old-car shows with her father, “a collector and an overall appreciator of all old things” whom she credits with inspiring her passion for vintage.

Jade Touam, assistant content marketing manager, has been constructing LEGO sets for 15 years. In the early days of the pandemic, she discovered it was the perfect pastime.