News

Honor marks 14th consecutive year of recognition by the prestigious exchange program.

Jane Sedlak graduated from Oberlin College in 2019 with a degree in chemistry and was named the winner of Oberlin’s Nexial Prize. Given to a student who demonstrates academic excellence and an interest in cultural study, the Nexial Prize comes with a $50,000 award, which afforded Sedlak the opportunity following graduation to study art conservation at the Louvre in Paris.

David Shostak ’20, a native of San Francisco, played four years on the varsity soccer team and graduated with a major in biology, a concentration in cognitive science, and a minor in environmental science. For the past two years, he has worked at a neurobiology lab at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Read more in this After Oberlin Q&A.

On September 26, director Ry Russo-Young ’03 released her three-part documentary film Nuclear Family on HBO Max, which follows her landmark custody case that unfolded in the late 1980s. The film is an intimate look into Russo-Young’s childhood growing up as the younger daughter of two lesbian mothers and a paternity suit that threatened to upend their "nuclear family." 

Hispanic studies and politics major Leila Miller ’16 recently transitioned from criminal justice reporter to foreign correspondent at the Los Angeles Times. She recently moved to Mexico City to begin her new position covering the news in Mexico and Latin America.

Neuroscience major and cross-country team alum Mia Bates ’18 is studying at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in Bronx, New York. She reflects on her time at Oberlin, and how the liberal arts model allowed her to become a well-rounded student and explore her passions.

Biology major and Oberlin baseball team alum Lawrence Hamilton ’21 is finding success as a student at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. His post-Oberlin endeavors are a testament to his hard work and passion for the medical field.

Yemko Pryor ’17, a PhD student at Emory University, has a long-term career goal that might one day help society scientifically understand the effects of racism and slavery on Black bodies.

Justine Goode ’16 has always wanted to work at a print magazine in either a design or an editorial capacity. Today, the former editor of the Grape, Oberlin's alternative student newspaper, is fulfilling both career goals at Vanity Fair.

Fung earned a master’s in scientific illustration at Zuyd University in the Netherlands. She recently founded Biotic Artlab, a medical and scientific illustration studio.