Nassim Assefi ’91

1990s

A woman with dark hair lies on the floor, facing the camera. She holds a notebook in her left hand, and she holds a pen with her right hand and part of the pen is between her teeth. Her eyes look upward as if she is deep in thought.

I began Wellesley as an overly serious pre-med and transfer student, driven by my immigrant parents to start college at 13. I loved it so much I persuaded my parents to let me stay an extra year to chase non-science interests and play a little. In Munger Hall, I met Kate Bedard ’91 (now Kraus), a brilliant philosophy-physics double major who’d go on to a Princeton PhD followed by University of Chicago law school and become a nationally-recognized tax lawyer. Together, we plotted a Guerrilla Girls–style April Fools’ prank on beloved President Nannerl Keohane ’61: one of us kept watch while the other secretly “glammed” Nan’s bike outside Green Hall—clown horn, glow-in-the-dark spoke beads, streamers, license plate. The next day, a still “blingy” bike basket contained a thank-you note! That moment sums up Wellesley for me—a community that contains multitudes: good-natured humor and mischief alongside intense learning and rich friendships.