Athletes of the Week Okamoto and Yurich lead playoff push

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April 8, 2026

Olivia Okamoto

Olivia Okamoto (senior) is currently the lacrosse team’s leading scorer and has been on All-SCIAC teams from 2023–2025. An attacker from Redmond, WA, Okamoto said she is striving to leave an impact on her younger teammates as she prepares to graduate.

“We’re a younger team with a lot of people still building their confidence and figuring out their role on the team,” Okamoto said. “I just wanted to be a leader in that sense, and help people figure out what they want to excel in, and how they contribute to the team and help build their confidence.”

Okamoto said she hopes to spend her final season enjoying the game and taking in the friendships she has formed on the lacrosse team, while also embracing her role as a senior leader and captain.

“We play our best when we’re having fun,” Okamoto said. “I think taking that leadership role helps me too, because a lot of the younger players look to me for what to do on the field. So that ends up [being] how I score goals and assists.”

Olivia Okamoto (senior) passes the ball during practice at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. March 31, 2026. Olivia Adams/The Occidental

According to Sierra Slack ‘18, the head coach of the lacrosse team, Okamoto has grown as a voice on offensive plays, and has learned how to become a triple threat: a dodger, cutter and feeder.

“I admire that Liv goes after her goals and, more than that, she’s not afraid to bring others into that plan,” Slack said. “It takes fire, motivation and guts to accomplish all she has in her time here at Oxy. Her statistics are a byproduct of living out those qualities everyday.”

Slack said the lacrosse team has invested a lot of time into improving their lacrosse IQ and setting intentions, while improving their ability to switch from offense to defense.

“It’s been incredible, [Okamoto] has improved every single year that she’s been here,” Slack said. “This year, we really invested a lot of time into our re-defend, and she sets the example in that. I can credit her for our ride — I get a lot of compliments on it.”

Olivia Okamoto (senior) looks for a pass during practice at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. March 31, 2026. Olivia Adams/The Occidental

Okamoto said she feels her work ethic is one of her main strengths as an athlete.

“I’m a person that will go early and stay late after practices to do wall ball, get extra reps in and stay and talk with my coach about what I can do to get better,” Okamoto said. “I’m always pushing myself to be the best I can be, and to hit my full potential.”

Jack Yurich

Jack Yurich (sophomore) helped secure a win for the tennis team over Colby College March 23 after coming from behind in his singles match and scoring a service winner. The final score was 4-3, Occidental.

“I lost the first set 6-3 […] and I really wanted to win, so I knew I had to come back,” Yurich said. “I ended up playing a lot better in the second set, and won 6-2. Then I was down 3-5 in the third set […] I was like, ‘Oh, I really have to lock in.’”

Jack Yurich (sophomore) on the Academic Quad at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. March 31, 2026. Olivia Adams/The Occidental

According to Yurich, the men’s tennis team started their season with some losses to teams they felt they should have beaten, teams they have historically won against.

“I lost some matches early in the season […] winning this [match] sets a turning point for the team, because we’re going into SCIACs now,” Yurich said. “Now we have a lot more motivation and [an understanding] that we can hang with these teams that are ranked.”

According to men’s tennis associate head coach Jackson Frons, Yurich is enrolled in a lot of hard courses and performs well in the classroom while also competing on the court.

“I think for everyone as a college athlete, it’s a challenge to manage school, other commitments and tennis, but [Jack does] a really good job,” Frons said.

Jack Yurich (sophomore) receives the ball during practice at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. April 2, 2026. Olivia Adams/The Occidental

Yurich said he strives to create a positive atmosphere for the team because he finds that mental toughness within one player can influence the whole team.

“I never get upset, I never get frustrated, ” Yurich said. “I think that mentality helps the team, because tennis is an individual sport. You’re out there alone, but at the same time, when you’re looking around, you’re seeing all your teammates.”

Frons said Yurich came to Occidental with a big serve and strong forehand, but has rounded out his game during his first two seasons.

“I think for all of our younger guys, the sky’s really the limit,” Frons said. “I just hope [Yurich] continues to grow and compete, and I think he’s going to be a huge part of what we’re building with the tennis program here.”

According to Yurich, the team’s main goal is to earn a spot in the SCIAC tournament as the 2026 regular season comes to an end. At the end of the 2024–2025 season, the men’s tennis team came in fifth, and the top four teams moved on to the tournament.

“I think in the next two years, we’re really trying to make it in the top four,” Yurich said. “It would be huge, because the teams in our conference are all ranked in the top 40, so it’s all really solid tennis. That’s the main goal.”

Contact Quinn Sumerlin at sumerlin@oxy.edu and Abigail Montopoli at montopoli@oxy.edu

Maggie Mackay recognized for reopening Vidiots

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Claire Wilson-Black and Amelia Darling

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April 8, 2026

The Woman of the Year award was founded in 1987 by Assemblywomen Bev Hansen and Sally Tanner who wanted to recognize remarkable women throughout California for Women’s History Month. Every year, the representatives of each Assembly and Senate district in California recognize a woman for her impact on her community.

Maggie Mackay, executive director of Vidiots, an Eagle Rock non-profit video store and theater, is this year’s 52nd Assembly District Woman of the Year. Mackay said she attended the March 16 awards ceremony in Sacramento, where recipients from each district spoke about their accomplishments and received their awards.

“It was a really moving experience because […] you’re in a room with some of the most interesting, dynamic women in the state of California,” Mackay said. “It was a pretty high honor.”

According to Assemblymember Jessica Caloza of the 52nd Assembly District, who took part in making the selection, Mackay is more than deserving of thanks for her hard work on the restoration of the historic theater on Eagle Rock Boulevard which Vidiots calls home today.

“Her dedication to preserving the arts and uplifting our local creative community made her a clear choice for AD-52’s 2026 Woman of the Year,” Caloza said via email. “She has brought new life to the historic Eagle Theater — creating a vibrant space where art, culture and our community come together.”

Vidiots on Eagle Rock Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. April 2, 2026. Lila Weiner/The Occidental

Caloza said that the arts are essential for building community in our current cultural and political moment.

“At a time when the digital age becomes our new normal, it is so easy to forget the value of physical media and the sense of community that sharing it can create,” Caloza said via email. “This year, I wanted to celebrate someone whose work is leaving a mark on our history and is bringing Angelenos closer together.”

According to its website, Vidiots was founded in 1985 in Santa Monica, closed in 2017 due to rising costs and reopened in Eagle Rock in 2023. Mackay said it took a lot of effort on her part to make the reopening happen. She started this project with just a small team, Mackay said, which has now grown to include almost 45 people.

“I was doing everything, from raising the money to fighting for the permits — which in and of itself is a full-time job — to figuring out what the creative vision was going to be to assembling the team,” Mackay said.

Mackay said now that Vidiots is up and running, her responsibilities as Executive Director have changed.

“My role has kind of shifted now more into sort of stewarding this large and wonderful ship full of really smart, talented people,” Mackay said.

Mackay said her job now is to ensure the business is financially sustainable and growing.

“I oversee all of the fundraising and business aspects of the organization,” Mackay said.

Inside Vidiots on Eagle Rock Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. April 2, 2026. Lila Weiner/The Occidental

According to Mackay, the reopening of Vidiots in Eagle Rock has brought two community resources back: both Vidiots and the Eagle Rock Theater.

“Movie theaters and film spaces like Vidiots have the capacity to really act as what we call a ‘third space’ for community members, especially in a time when there is so much darkness, so much sadness, so much uncertainty,” Mackay said.

Driven by a desire to carry on the legacy of Vidiots founders, Patty Polinger and Cathy Tauber, Mackay said she took the risk of leaving her well-established career as a film programmer.

“I had already known for a very long time the importance of Vidiots in the city of Los Angeles as a cultural hub,” Mackay said. “And then when I met [Polinger and Tauber], I discovered that they were sort of like my big sisters in the cultural landscape.”

According to Mackay, Polinger and Tauber were not taken seriously in the film world when they got their start in the 1980s.

“They had been very underestimated when they started out in 1985 with Vidiots,” Mackay said. “Then they created something enormously successful, and more importantly than successful, they created something with real longevity and real cultural influence on some of the most well-established filmmakers working today.”

According to Mackay, Polinger and Tauber’s persistence inspired her work on the restoration of the theater and Vidiots.

“Knowing that they had really fought to create a space in the landscape made it even more appealing for me to take that kind of a risk because carrying on their legacy became really, honestly, more compelling to me even than just ‘let’s try to keep something very cool running,’” Mackay said. “It also became a sort of philosophical journey for me to ensure that their legacy was going to remain.”

Vidiots Director of Marketing, Saila Reyes, said Mackay has been expanding on Polinger and Tauber’s original mission.

“Patty and Cathy are incredible women who had a vision […] so that’s why they built this incredible collection that we’re still expanding today,” Reyes said. “There’s nothing [Mackay] does that doesn’t go directly back to Patty and Cathy’s vision statement.”

Working so hard on an important historical theatre and making it accessible to the community are huge accomplishments, according to Reyes.

“Her highlight reel is incredible,” Reyes said. “No one deserves ‘Woman of the Year’ more.”

Contact Claire Wilson-Black at wilsonblack@oxy.edu and Amelia Darling adarling@oxy.edu

‘Every little battle’: Eagle Rock rallies around No Kings

By

Naisha John

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April 8, 2026

Demonstrators across the nation took to the streets for the third round of No Kings Protests March 28. With over 3,300 registered No Kings events taking place, an estimated eight million attendees mobilized in the US.

Katy Hickman and Janice Markham, co-facilitators of the Indivisible Eagle Rock Hope Squad, organized an unofficial Eagle Rock No Kings Rally on Eagle Rock and Colorado Boulevards. Markham said she did not think the Eagle Rock rally would see high attendance, as the group was unable to officially register with No Kings, but decided to go ahead with the event and scheduled it after the Pasadena and Glendale rallies to encourage attendance. Markham said she spread word of the protest through Mobilize, an organizing app, resulting in 250-300 attendees.

“There were many people who were grateful that we had an Eagle Rock site for No Kings,” Hickman said. “It was easier for some older people to not have to travel as far […] The whole point of that was to organize locally.”

According to Hickman, the Indivisible Eagle Rock Hope Squad formed after Indivisible Eagle Rock merged with the NELA Hope Squad. Indivisible, a progressive grassroots organizing movement with 2,500 registered groups across the nation, is one of the lead organizers behind the No Kings movement, along with 50501 and MoveOn.

Jane Demian, a long-time activist from Eagle Rock, said she attended both the downtown LA and Pasadena protests. Demian said downtown was an electric environment, estimating that over 100,000 people and various activist groups participated.

“[At] Pershing Square, they’re marching and chanting, and people in Gloria Millennium Park are handing out flyers and they’re talking about signing up for stuff,” Demian said. “There was a lot of stuff about immigration protection and pro-Palestinian issues. Anybody who does anything was there.”

No Kings protest in Eagle Rock in Los Angeles, CA. March 28, 2026. Courtesy of Indivisible Eagle Rock Hope Squad

Demian said the fact that every round of ‘No Kings’ Protests has drawn out larger and larger numbers of people gives her hope that people will continue to mobilize. Demian said the scale of these protests — from five million people last June to seven million in October to the eight million March 28 — demonstrates their impact.

“I think the reason why these protests are getting bigger — and they’re also worldwide now — is because of this factor of the most powerful person in the world exhibiting dictatorship qualities,“ Demian said. “People are waking up, and they’re understanding what Trump wants to do.”

According to Demian, protesting can be a tactic to resist injustice by building networks of like-minded activists who then collaborate to influence change, comparing No Kings to the Vietnam Anti-War Movement.

“It’s a way to get people more involved,” Demian said. “When you show up at a protest, you meet other people. You exchange phone numbers, you hand out flyers, you tell people to show up at a meeting. That’s really what the protest is for. It’s not [the] end all be all.”

According to Demian, the various protests she attended had very different atmospheres: the Eagle Rock rally was very family-friendly, the Pasadena protest seemed to lack diversity and downtown LA was packed with people from all walks of life. At least 75 people were arrested at the downtown LA protest for refusing to disperse or assaulting law enforcement. Demian said she does not see the No Kings protests as a means of disruption, and that the protests were organized legally with permits to avoid inciting escalation from the federal government.

Hickman said the purpose of these gatherings is to provide a focus for people to rally around, creating energy to be carried over into everyday activism. While people may view the movement as emotional but incoherent, Hickman said taking any form of action is what gives grassroots movements political strength.

“I think we need to get away from heroes, from giant expectations of a big change after something,” Hickman said. “It’s trench warfare. It’s just every little battle — a little bit more, a little bit more — and staying in it.”

Hickman said she has seen the protests inspire more people to get involved with the Indivisible Eagle Rock Hope Squad: the group gained around 20 active members after the Jan. 10 protests and ten members have joined since the March 28 rally. Markham said the Eagle Rock Hope Squad tries to play to their members’ strengths by offering people a range of ways to get involved.

“There are people who are like, ‘I’d rather stick needles in my eyes than pick up a phone and phone bank,’” Markham said. “‘That’s not my thing, right?’ How about postcard writing? Maybe you’re more comfortable with face-to-face talking to people or find out about ballot measures or help with going to Trader Joe’s and get some food for the group for mutual aid.”

According to Demian, the movement’s next steps involve a nationwide work stoppage planned for May 1. According to the group’s interest form, they are also involved in bridge actions, canvassing, phone and text banking, content creation, mutual aid, climate work and community defense. Hickman said the Indivisible Eagle Rock Hope Squad will meet next at Eagle Rock City Hall April 11 and hopes to maintain the current momentum through the upcoming midterm elections.

“Every single thing by itself is so shocking: the deportations, the data centers and detention centers […] That’s a terrible thing that we’ve gotten to in our country,” Hickman said. “There’s so much, overwhelming to take on, but we’ve just got to do that. Every time I get overwhelmed, I’m like, ‘well, what’s the next thing?’”

Contact Naisha John at njohn@oxy.edu

And Destroy: late night coffee, all day games

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Abigail Montopoli

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April 8, 2026

Full of large tables, couches and a bar, And Destroy Coffee & Gaming had its soft opening August 30, 2025, offering free drinks to its first 100 customers. The coffee shop, located on North Eagle Rock Boulevard, strives to create a unique gathering space by staying open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., barista Adrian Leifson said.

“I’m really happy that we’re open so late into the night, and a lot of people who come in here are happy that they have somewhere to hang out so late,” Leifson said.

According to Leifson, there is a difference between the clientele of a coffee shop open in the morning and those who frequent a coffee shop at night.

“As someone who mostly does night shifts, I think that it’s more chill. People are getting off work, people want to hang out, whereas a morning coffee shop is people on their way to work, people trying to get somewhere,” Leifson said.

Interior of And Destroy on 3420 N. Eagle Rock Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA. April 4, 2026. Kadence Bernard/The Occidental

Barista Tristan Jemsek said he has worked in coffee for 20 years, and has also played in two bands, Dogbreth and Diners, that performed at a coffee shop where And Destroy owner Ryan Peterson worked. According to Jemsek, the social aspect of working at And Destroy has been a great experience.

“The staff and customer base are just full of total sweeties,” Jemsek said. “It’s just a wonderful place to be.”

Returning customer Alex Sosa said the drinks add to And Destroy’s appeal — they order something different each time.

“I always just get the seasonal things, which is majority Hōjicha, chai and non-espresso stuff,” Sosa said. “Because the drinks cycle so much, I always just get the seasonal things.”

Sosa is the founder of the Glassell Park Board Gamers, a group of around 60 people who come together to play board games every Friday and Sunday.

“It’s complete strangers, everyone’s open, everyone’s welcome and the variety of people is quite large,” Sosa said.

Sosa said they have held online gaming groups, but never had the courage to bring the group together in person.

“I tried to lose all fear of walking up to people and saying, ‘Hey, you’re playing this board game. I’m starting a group, do you want to join?’” Sosa said.

According to Sosa, members of the board game group own anywhere from 12-60 board games each. Those who come bring a handful of games they want to play, and the group will select one for the session, Sosa said.

“It’s based on who’s actually here and their tastes,” Sosa said. “We bring out the board games onto the table, and it’s just ‘What do you want to play?’ The variety is quite large, but primarily nature-themed games, and heavier games that take up to three hours.”

Sosa said the Glassell Park Board Gamers have built up a relationship with the employees at And Destroy. Since some games run for hours, the group strives to give patronage to the coffee shop, Sosa said.

“The baristas are very kind and check in with us,” Sosa said. “They now know us as regulars, so we try to chat with them, and when they’re not working, they might join in on a couple of games.”

Cork flyer board at And Destroy on 3420 N. Eagle Rock Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA. April 4, 2026. Kadence Bernard/The Occidental

Jemsek said he finds And Destroy a wonderful place to be and a great place to work.

“Just the other day, someone was sick and they asked if I could come in and cover,” Jemsek said. “It wasn’t one of those things where I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to do that.’ I was like ‘Actually, yeah, that sounds fun.”

According to Leifson, they had worked with Peterson before and enjoy doing so again. Leifson said seeing the team come together and customers become regulars has been a privilege.

“I like my coworkers, I like the regulars — I just like all the people,” Leifson said. “I really like having a chance to get to work with [Peterson] again. I love the team that we put together for our opening here. I love being a space where people can come and just chill.”

Contact Abigail Montopoli at montopoli@oxy.edu

Joey Valence and Brae Light Up Springfest 2026 with Student Openers

By

Amy Wong

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April 8, 2026

Aitan Milman’s (sophomore) opening set for Springfest at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. April 4, 2026. Amy Wong/The Occidental

Hannah Fortvne’s (senior) opening set for Springfest at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. April 4, 2026. Amy Wong/The Occidental

Joey Valence and Brae (JVB) performing for Springfest at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. April 4, 2026. Amy Wong/The Occidental

Audience during Joey Valence’s and Brae’s (JVB) performance for Springfest at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. April 4, 2026. Amy Wong/The Occidental

Audience before Joey Valence and Brae (JVB) come on stage for Springfest at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. April 4, 2026. Amy Wong/The Occidental

Brae performing for Springfest at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. April 4, 2026. Amy Wong/The Occidental

Christopher Grant named new associate director of Campus Safety

By

Vivian Pei

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April 8, 2026

Christopher Grant was selected for the position of associate director of Campus Safety, according to a school-wide email from Campus Safety sent March 20. According to the job announcement, the associate director of Campus Safety is expected to report to the director of Campus Safety on matters of developing, implementing and overseeing general security operations at the college.

According to the March 20 email, Grant joins Campus Safety with years of law enforcement and public service experience, as well as knowledge of safety and security issues specific to higher education and college campuses.

“I previously worked nearly two decades in law enforcement in a variety of operational, administrative and community engagement assignments,” Grant said via email. “Prior to law enforcement, I taught high school.”

According to Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Vivian Santiago, the college considers campus safety a high-priority issue, and strong leadership in Campus Safety is essential to meeting these priorities.

“Since last summer, when Stacy Spell was promoted to Director, we have prioritized filling the associate director role to strengthen Campus Safety’s leadership team,” Santiago said via email. “Christopher Grant’s hiring marks an important step forward, enabling the department to expand strategic planning and implement key enhancements, including improved officer training, strengthened emergency response protocols and modernization of administrative systems.”

Santiago said the college believes efforts in recruiting leadership for Campus Safety will bear positive impacts.

“The college takes the safety and security of our campus community very seriously,” Santiago said via email.

According to Campus Safety Director Stacy Spell, filling the associate director position was a top priority for Campus Safety and a measure supported by the college.

“[The college] understands Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,” Spell said. “If you don’t have basic safety, then we can’t get on to more philosophical endeavors without providing the service that [Campus Safety] wants to.”

While Campus Safety values the experiences potential candidates have, they also look at personality fit, Spell said.

“When I hire people at the officer level, one of the things that I tell people is this is less of a difficult security job and more of a customer service job,” Spell said. “You’re looking for people that interact well with students, faculty, staff, have a cool temperament and don’t get flustered easily.”

Stacy Spell outside the Campus Safety office at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. Feb. 23, 2026. Abigail Montopoli/The Occidental

Spell said the hiring process was selective and Grant was a strong fit. Grant previously worked for Azusa Pacific University and his dual experiences with university safety and policing made him a strong candidate, Spell said.

“Oxy is a special place and you need more than law enforcement experience,” Spell said. “I love that he prioritizes contact with students, faculty and staff, knowing that sometimes we have limited time. I think that comes from the heart.”

Spell said Campus Safety has been busy implementing security changes in the wake of current events.

“[Campus Safety] looks at what other higher learning institutions are doing, what are their best practices, and then what fits for us, because with a student population of less than 2000 people, we don’t anticipate to model UCLA’s approach,” Spell said. “There’s a strong look at [security] cameras, for example, and how we balance that with not coming across as surveillance [or] an organization that’s looking at people to see them on their worst day.”

Grant said coming to Occidental marks his return to the SCIAC community. Grant attended the University of Redlands for his undergraduate degree and said baseball was an important experience for his character development.

“I had played baseball since I was a child, so that really helped build the foundation for working hard, dedication, discipline, being a good teammate and person, working through challenges good and bad while continuing to persevere through it all,” Grant said via email.

Grant said his career experiences have been all about helping others and making positive impacts on communities.

“My first week with the Occidental community has been amazing and very welcoming. I am very thankful for the kind welcome that I have received,” Grant said via email. “I look forward to the increased engagement with our Occidental community and collaboratively working together to enhance safety with our community.”

Contact Vivian Pei at vpei@oxy.edu

Off-campus housing policy poses challenges

By

Lucinda Toft

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April 8, 2026

Residential Education & Housing Services (REHS) sent an email Feb. 2 to the sophomore class sharing the Third-Year Live Off Application. The application, which closed Feb. 25, consisted of a Google form and the signing of a Community Relations Policy Agreement Statement.

According to Director of Residential Education Isaiah Thomas, the application is launched each year to exempt juniors from living on campus, as the college requires all students to live on campus for three years.

“For this year, as well as the previous year, only 30 rising juniors were permitted to live off-campus,” Thomas said via email. “For the past two years the number of applications has exceeded the 30 limit, which has been challenging for our students who really desire to live off-campus for their junior year.”

Thomas said the number of juniors approved for off-campus living each year is determined by the Division of Finance, Planning and Operations.

“Each year this division approves the number of juniors REHS is permitted to live off-campus, and a variety of factors can impact the number, such as the number of seniors requesting to live on campus, the total number of students studying abroad, and projected first-year, transfer, and sophomore students enrolled at Oxy,” Thomas said via email.

Associate Dean of Students, Director of Residential Education, Housing Services and Student Conduct Isaiah J. Thomas. Courtesy of Isaiah J. Thomas

Maurice Romanyshyn (sophomore) said living off-campus and having more independence from the college appealed to him.

“I want an opportunity to have a space that belongs to me and a chance to live with my friends,” Romanyshyn said. “To have a space where we can have a backyard, play games outside, cook [our] own meals [and have] a community space.”

Aida Richey (sophomore) said she applied for off-campus housing after her frisbee teammates approached her to create a women’s Ultimate Frisbee team house. Richey said her whole group was approved to live off campus.

“[My friend and I] filled out the housing application literally two minutes after it dropped,” Richey said. “It was definitely easier to coordinate a group of people and be organized together, because we [are] all on the frisbee team together […] In terms of the actual REHS application, I honestly think the determining factor was that all of us filled it out immediately.”

Thomas and the email sent by REHS said applications would be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. Romanyshyn said he and his entire housing group received approval from REHS to live off campus next year after applying right when applications opened.

Susanna Kelly (sophomore) said she has been looking forward to the opportunity of off-campus housing since her first year at Occidental. She said being on campus constantly has created stress on top of pursuing a biology and chemistry major and other on-campus commitments.

“It just got to the point where I don’t like coming back to campus, and a big part of that is my living situation, so how can I cut out my stress?” Kelly said.

Susanna Kelly (sophomore). Courtesy of Susanna Kelly (senior)

Jojo McCabe (sophomore) said they applied for off-campus housing to create a place to relax outside of the business of a college campus. McCabe said they filled out the online application within a week of the initial email from REHS.

“The bubble was starting to get to me,” McCabe said. “There [are] some great things about being such a small school, and I don’t feel like I can really appreciate all of those aspects when living on campus. It’s very overwhelming to constantly be seeing everybody you know.”

According to Kelly, she filled out the off-campus housing application within three days of its release. Kelly said she received an email from REHS after spring break, which denied her off-campus living for the next school year. Kelly said she has been unable to schedule a meeting with REHS despite her multiple pursuits.

“I found [REHS] very hard to communicate with,” Kelly said. “I think that kind of factored into all of this being so unclear.”

REHS sent out a reminder email Feb. 25 at noon that the application was due that afternoon at 4 p.m.

According to McCabe, they were not expecting the spots for junior off-campus housing to be so competitive. McCabe said the application seemed simple, and they were not worried about appealing as a candidate.

“I don’t have any conduct charges, I have an accommodation to live in a single and I do a lot of stuff on campus,” McCabe said.

McCabe said the application and denial process was confusing overall because REHS did not define the standards for a ‘good’ application.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for in terms of who is allowed to live off campus before senior year,” McCabe said. “I wish they made that clearer because I’m filling [the application] out to the best of my ability, answering it all truthfully […] They also didn’t give a reason for why my application was denied.”

Contact Lucinda Toft at ltoft@oxy.edu

Lessons Learned: Ask yourself, why not?

By

Nora Youngelson

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April 8, 2026

Every morning before middle school, my mom would say to me: “Be kind, be courageous and don’t mumble.” Much of my college experience has been an attempt to live up to these three directives, particularly the final one: not to mumble.

I used to believe that to have a strong and clear voice, you had to pick a niche and stick with it. There is so much pressure to find your one “thing” when you come to college — your passion, your people, your reason, your place. Over the past four years, I learned just how futile it is to wait until you find the perfect thing. Instead, I picked every single fig and learned how to use my voice in countless different spaces on campus. One of those spaces came in the form of WAC, Occidental’s Ultimate Frisbee team.

In the middle of a recent, particularly intense Ultimate Frisbee game, sweaty, out of breath, and with very little grace, I put my hands up and shouted.

“I’m calling a Spirit Time Out,” I informed my teammates and the opposing team.

Ultimate Frisbee is based on a fundamental guiding principle, the Spirit of the Game, and a set of rules that expect players to call their own fouls on the field. The game had gotten too physical, and I took the “Spirit Time Out” to remind everyone that we were playing a game we all love and that we needed to play it safely. We all took a deep breath and resumed.

Four years prior, I am pretty sure an opposing team could have hit me in the face, and I would not have dared to make a call on the field. Calling my own fouls and encouraging my teammates to do the same is just another way of using my voice to show up for my team and myself one game at a time.

Another space where I found myself was in the Newcomb Media Suite.

For my first pitch at The Occidental, I sat all the way in the back, sinking into a mesh chair, hoping no one would look at me. I wrote stories mainly because I enjoyed asking questions and meeting my peers and professors. Slowly, but surely, my curiosity was guided and nurtured by my peers on the paper. They encouraged me to keep writing and eventually begin editing. The structured AP style of writing provided me with the space to be confident in my edits. I found my voice as a student reporter, as well as my own particular style. I loved it.

Recently, I stood up in front of The Occidental as Editor-in-Chief for the final time. Looking at all the writers, photographers, illustrators and members of our team I was content and proud. My leadership as a captain on WAC and Editor-in-Chief of The Occidental has been defined by listening to others and learning about their goals. It has been a pleasure helping others find their voice, no matter where they sit in the room.

We put too much pressure on finding the perfect things for ourselves. Instead, I encourage you to find the things that challenge you and push you to change. If you think you have found your niche, get up and keep looking. After all, the longest way round is the shortest way home.

When I was a kid, I mumbled because I wasn’t quite sure what space to occupy. I thought my voice had to be substantiated by knowing all the rules for Ultimate Frisbee or having the perfect idea for a story. Contrary to my mom’s advice, sometimes it is okay to mumble — to be unsure and to speak anyway. Knowing everything would seem to make things a lot easier, but perfection is not what got me to this moment.

It took time, but what did get me here is the following: I met the people I love dearly, I tried clubs I only went to once and I gave all of myself to the work that I was proud of, and to work that I am not so proud of. The Occidental and WAC are just two of the countless spaces I occupied at Occidental. Years working in the Writing Center, time spent reading for my CSLC classes, poor performances in intramural soccer games, oboe lessons, a short-lived job at a coffee shop, long runs, a semester abroad in Paris and all of the time in between shaped me. My voice is now hoarse from yelling on the Frisbee field and laughing in my house with my friends, and yes, I still mumble (sorry Mom) because I am still trying new things, even if I do them scared.

In the midst of a sweltering heat wave, on the first day of college, I wrote in my yellow composition notebook: “August 22nd, 2022: It is all incredibly overwhelming – the amount of people I am meeting and the amount of things I can spend my time doing. But I am also incredibly excited for what is coming… You know what, I am going to have a really great time and get everything I can out of these next four years, because why not?”

The profound and overwhelming sentiment is typical of a nervous and eager first-year student. Now, four years later, as I prepare to move to a new city, I am feeling similarly untethered in the face of possibilities. I can’t say for sure if I’ve lived up to my vague goal of getting everything out of college, but after hundreds of nights spent in this corner of Los Angeles, I have done my best, and I encourage you to do the same, because why not?

Contact Nora Youngelson at youngelson@oxy.edu

Lessons Learned: A love letter to shared spaces

By

Abigail Montopoli

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April 8, 2026

I grew up an only child, and it is safe to say that I came to college with a fear of shared spaces — communal bathrooms, a roommate, common rooms and all the cohabitation that comes with a college experience. In my time at Occidental, I have learned to love these spaces, cherishing every moment I have had the privilege of sharing them with the people I’ve gotten to call my best friends over the last four years.

Dining Halls

One of the first places I saw when I came to Occidental was the Marketplace. Truly, everything happens in the MP or Cooler.

I remember sitting with the Ultimate Frisbee team, WAC, to watch one of their players perform her music on the patio before I could call them all teammates and friends. I remember my first lunch with my first-year friends, and the breakfasts I have after my 8:30 a.m. class this semester.

Most vividly, I remember watching all my friends get accepted into their Fall 2024 study abroad programs with my dead phone in my pocket. I remember the pride I felt for them, but the anxiety brewing in me, only to settle once back in my room with a phone charger and an acceptance.

Freshman year, WAC would go to the Cooler after each practice. We played board games, watched our teammates get eliminated from the rugby team’s assassination game and ate more fries than I can count. We bore witness to the ‘C’ in ‘Cooler’ on the sign falling off the wall and watching in horror and shock.

Newcomb Hall

On that very Marketplace patio, I selected my sophomore housing: Newcomb Hall. Nearly the entire class of 2026 on WAC joined me, including my random first-year roommate, who remains perfect to this day.

Newcomb was the best decision of my life. We never got a third roommate (unless you count our friends and neighbors), something we feared every time we received an REHS email. The AC was a wonderful change from Chilcott, and the communal bathrooms… well, they built character.

We would all leave the dorm shortly before 8 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday night, and it was truly a great migration. Anyone who was kind enough to hold the door would have to stand there as around 15 sophomore girls exited the dorm.

On one of our last nights as Newcomb residents, we visited all the WAC rooms in Newcomb, with representation on all three floors. Each room had a different theme, and we all truly committed to the event.

Patterson Field

They’ve been name-dropped numerous times throughout this list, but WAC’s importance to my growth as a player, person and teammate cannot be overstated. During my freshman year, my now-roommate dragged me to my first practice. My then-roommate said she claimed I wouldn’t make it: I hated running, had no hand-eye coordination and had never thrown a frisbee before.

Ultimate Frisbee has taken over my life. I attended practices with new teams when I studied abroad, and now I spend a lot of time calculating our (much too small) budget and even live with people I met on the team.

We have won at Patterson, lost at Patterson, cried at Patterson and become the people we are at Patterson. When I toured Occidental in 2021, Patterson was all but a hole in the ground. Never did I think that so much of my identity would come from my time on the field. Now, the turf of Patterson is ingrained in my rug and in my cleats and I will probably carry it with me for a long time.

My living room

I have spent my senior year living off-campus, and I can safely say this is where I’ve truly learned to love shared spaces. From movie nights to Secret Santa to studying for midterms to filming my comps, our living room has become a defining space for my senior year.

I wish I could pull a specific memory from this space, but honestly, I don’t want to — I can’t — select just one moment. I don’t want this period of my life to ever end. I want to stay on our used $50 couch with the AI-generated dog pillow forever. To me, declaring one moment my favorite will mean this time is coming to a close, and I’m not ready to accept that.

Thank you, spaces, for giving me a place to grow and to find myself. Thank you to the people who filled those spaces.

Contact Abigail Montopoli at montopoli@oxy.edu

Lessons Learned: An obvious metaphor between the moon mission and college

By

Ava LaLonde

-

April 8, 2026

There’s a scene in Samantha Harvey’s 2023 book “Orbital” in which an astronaut on the International Space Station tells his daughter that progress is beautiful. She argues with him, pointing out that progress has led to creations such as the atomic bomb. The astronaut responds, “You didn’t ask if progress is good, and a person is not beautiful because they’re good, they’re beautiful because they’re alive. Alive and curious and restless.”

As I write this, four astronauts are hurling themselves towards the dark side of the Moon, flying farther into space than any human has ever been before. The Artemis II mission is sending humans outside of Earth’s orbit for the first time since 1972. The NASA website reads, “[…] NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly challenging missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.”

I am incredibly locked in on the 10-day trip these astronauts are taking, as they prepare for their lunar fly-by aboard the Orion capsule, which they have nicknamed “Integrity.” I watched the launch on my laptop in the library and downloaded the NASA app to receive daily updates and track their progress in real time.

There is something so breathtakingly human about this mission to me, this desire to see things the naked eye has never seen before. The majesty of the whole endeavor has rendered me incapable of knowing whether this is a good thing; do we really need to spend these resources to photograph parts of the Moon that might be completely shadowed? I have no idea.

The one thing I do know is this: Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman took a photo of Earth from the Orion spacecraft window the other day. You can see two auroras in the image, as Earth eclipses the sun. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life.

As I approach the final days of my time at Occidental, the “end times” (as I’ll dramatically call them), I’m tempted to ascribe a value judgment to my college experience in general. Some days, I wake up and think, “Graduation, good! And college was good!” Other days… well, I won’t falsely claim ever to think that graduating is a negative thing, but there are moments when I worry about how I’ve spent these last four years.

Have I done enough, learned enough? Learned the right things? Did I study abroad in the right place? Have I unwittingly separated myself from the “real” world and from my community, from who I was before I stepped foot on this campus? I say words like “ontology” at least once a day now. Who have I become?

Only recently has it felt true to me that the goodness of my movement towards the future, in college and afterward, is not the only attribute of my progress I should focus on. Whether or not I have done the most “good” or become the most “good” (which feels different from the “best”) version of myself I could be in this moment, I have done a bang-up job at becoming, at moving forward. I could not be justly accused of a lack of growth. I don’t know, and I can’t really ever know, if I’ve ended up being the exact person my first-year self wanted to be, but I think (and hope and pray) that I would be proud of the pure distance I’ve traveled, the ground I’ve covered.

In August, I’m starting a doctorate program and will work toward a degree that no one in my family has earned before. In hurling myself forward, farther than my ancestors and I have ever been, I am beautiful. Hopefully, I am hurling myself towards something good, but the thrust itself, the enormous energy it takes to make any progress at all, is proof that I’m alive.

On Day 6 of the Artemis II mission, the crew will lose contact with the Earth for about 40 minutes as they pass behind the Moon. They will take photos and videos of what they see to share with us afterward, but for almost an hour, I will be holding my breath in anticipation, waiting for four other humans to tell me, and all of us, what they saw.

As they enter their return trajectory, the crew of the Orion spacecraft will most certainly be coming back different people than they were when they first launched. They will come back with more knowledge and experience, and maybe their lust for the stars will be satisfied.

I believe, just as I believe for myself as I return from this mission and embark on another, that they will come back more curious and restless than ever before. They will come back more beautiful.

Contact Ava LaLonde at lalonde@oxy.edu

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