When Arianna Muñoz Huizar ’30 first set foot on Wellesley’s campus, she instantly knew she was home: “It feels like its own little world!”
Traveling from Fort Worth, Texas, Muñoz Huizar joins 590 other members of the purple class of 2030 who moved into their residence halls August 25 and began classes August 31. The first-years come from 39 states, Washington, D.C., Guam, and 26 nations of citizenship. Twenty percent of the class are first-generation college students.
As the new students settle in, they will learn about their sibs’ diverse backgrounds and experiences that make the Wellesley community so special. Among them is a founder and CEO of QuickQuake BackPack, Kazakhstan’s first startup targeted at developing emergency survival kits in response to earthquakes. Another student is a founder and executive director of AAPI Youth Rising, a platform that campaigns for expanded inclusion of Asian American and Pacific Islander histories in classrooms and promotes youth advocacy. The collective of more than 200 chapters has been recognized by Time and by President Joe Biden at the 2022 United We Stand Summit.
Muñoz Huizar grew up in a small town in Mexico before moving to Texas, where she worked at her grandmother’s restaurant. “I loved getting to talk to customers, help out, and just be around people,” she says. “To me, being able to help someone is a privilege, and I genuinely could not be happier doing it.”
She is one of 10 students across the country to be part of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Voices of Youth program. She created a handbook in both English and Spanish to help parents have “honest, age-appropriate conversations with their teens about substance abuse and connect them with mental health resources,” she says. As part of this program, she spoke with senators during Capitol Hill Day about Texas laws regarding punitive actions against youth who use e-cigarettes on school grounds.
Muñoz Huizar is eager to pursue her goals at a liberal arts college, where small class sizes foster personalized learning: “I really wanted a school where having a relationship with my professor would be easier and more meaningful, rather than just feeling like another student in a huge lecture hall,” she says. She plans to major in biological sciences and creative writing, and aspires to meet other students who share her love for reading in Wellesley’s Book Club.
Ananya Shah ’30, from Scarsdale, N.Y., also looks forward to exploring her varied interests at Wellesley. She says she is drawn to the “intersection between seemingly disparate fields,” such as political science and mathematics, or screenwriting and biology.
Thanks to the College’s flexible curriculum, Shah won’t have to choose between her interests. “The intellectually curious and collaborative community feels like the right environment for me to take risks, challenge assumptions, and explore different subjects,” she says.
Beyond the classroom, Shah hopes to try out for the rugby team: “I haven’t played before, but no time like the present!” She also plans to continue her research with the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy, founded by Ismar Volić, professor of mathematics. Shah has been part of its High School Summer Research Program for the past three years, concentrating on persistent homology, a method that helps shape data sets, to compare voting levels at the district and precinct levels to quantify the effects of gerrymandering in the United States.
For Sonya Carter ’30, an overnight visit with her friend at Wellesley led to her choosing a future home for the next four years. “As soon as I got to know Wellesley’s community, I knew it was the perfect fit for me,” she says. A track and field captain at her high school in Seattle, as a prospective student Carter got to speak with Wellesley’s coaches and tour the facilities. She has committed to run on Wellesley’s track and field team.
Since elementary school, Carter has been curious about science, and she credits a science teacher with encouraging her to engage in hands-on learning, whether it be building rockets or constructing DIY science kits with her parents. “She taught me what it means to be a woman in STEM,” Carter says. “Having her as a role model jumpstarted my interest in science.”
As a Washington Aerospace Scholar, Carter was one of 130 juniors in the state who were selected in partnership with NASA to undertake a simulated mission to Mars. She is planning to take a variety of courses in STEM at Wellesley. “While I don’t know what career I want to pursue, I’ve been really interested in neuroscience and the brain,” she says.
The future looks promising for Muñoz Huizar, Shah, Carter, and the rest of the class of 2030 as they prepare to make their mark on Wellesley’s campus and the world. “I want to look back and know that I said yes to things that scared me, tried things outside of my comfort zone, made mistakes, learned from them, and took advantage of being at Wellesley,” Muñoz Huizar says. “If I can leave in 2030 knowing I became a better student, a better friend, and a better person who is still excited to serve others, I’ll consider that a pretty successful four years.”
