At the conclusion of her junior year, College senior and softball player Emma Downing was unsure if she should apply to the Honors Program in History. She didn’t think she would get in — only seven students were accepted this year — and even if she did, she didn’t know if her schedule would allow for it. Nevertheless, she decided to take the plunge. “There weren’t any other classes I wanted to take, and I wanted to push myself academically and see what I could accomplish,” Downing said. “I knew that coming up with a question and researching it all year to write a 60-page paper would be the hardest thing I’ve ever done academically.” The History and Russian & East European Studies double-major ...

Shamar Graves sat in the home bleachers of the Woodbridge High School football stadium with a wistful expression on his face, overlooking the field he sprinted up and down over a decade ago as a star wide receiver. The sky was the limit back then. Graves was offered more athletic scholarships than he could keep track of, and making it to the NFL seemed like a feasible dream. After playing four seasons as tight end for the Scarlet Knights, Graves got his degree from Rutgers University. But his post-graduation options were limited. A shoulder injury derailed his chances of trying out for an NFL team, and he didn’t have a plan B. Graves woke every morning at 4 a.m. for his shift at Old Navy. Then he taught at a ...

When Sports Illustrated published senior writer Chris Ballard’s remarkable feature on former New Orleans Pelicans Head Coach Monty Williams a year and a half ago, I was a first-year sitting in the very back of my Intro to Psychology class. The article was titled “‘You Can’t Give In’: Monty Williams On Life After Tragedy.” I read it from beginning to end without lifting my eyes from my laptop screen a single time. I couldn’t. Then I read it again. I’ve never really been one to pay attention during lectures. While other students charted the differences between classical and operant conditioning in their notebooks, I sank down in my chair, awestruck. Susannah Donaldson was under the in...

It was four months ago that Lilah Drafts-Johnson, OC ’18, clutched her first-place trophy while being mobbed by teammates and coaches. She had just run the 10th fastest 400-meter hurdle time in the event’s history at the NCAA Division III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and could finally call herself a national champion — a promise she made to herself three years earlier. Two days later, it was her Oberlin College diploma that she held with pride. After four year...