Letters of L♡ve

Oluyemisi holding a blue card
By Oluyemisi Bolonduro ‘23 During Claremont Christian Fellowship’s (CCF) post-Friday Fellowship, two acronyms were dropped. The first was DMC, “deep meaningful conversation.” The second was H2HC (not a molecule), “heart to heart chat.” I had both of these that night. My original plan was to say hello for a short amount of time and vanish for the night (vanishing is me cur...
Read More

Braving Office Hours

small white dog in costume with sign encouraging voting
By Nelia Perry ‘24 So, you’ve decided to attend a small college––meaning you must be interested in close student-to-faculty relationships. But, if you’re anything like me, you’re wondering how to actually create a close relationship with a professor. First of all, let me say not all of the work is on your part. AND, the work that is on you, isn’t actually all that muc...
Read More

Tackling Imposter Syndrome at Pomona College

screenshot of unmute and start video buttons on zoom
By Hayeon Lee ‘23 Have you ever felt like you don’t belong in an environment where everyone else seems more capable? More at home? When you begin to feel the icky feelings of Imposter Syndrome, know that you are not alone. During the summer of 2020, I had the pleasure of interning for the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships as a Communications Int...
Read More

Memories of Mentorship

zoom screen with mentees smiling
By Oluyemisi Bolonduro ‘23 People are oftentimes surprised when I say I don’t like working in teams, it’s strange coming from someone who frequently does group activities. This is because I grew up in competitive environments. My high school ranked the students with the top 25 GPAs, and many students in my class invested time into tracking who applied and got accepted into w...
Read More

Not an Ordinary Breakfast

bowl of cereal
by Sophia Augustine ‘23 “Professor Abrams, would you like to grab a meal sometime?” First-semester first years, my friend and classmate Emily and I sent this email to our remarkable Intro to Cognitive Science professor, Lise Abrams.  Although class sizes are very small, and a massive part of Pomona’s appeal is the supposedly tight-knit relationships between students and p...
Read More

A Day in the Life of Zoom University: Freshman Edition

Sonam in Pomona sweatshirt
By Sonam Rikha ’24 When I received the email on a Friday in early March telling students that, after Monday, my school would be taking a temporary break due to concerns of COVID-19, I didn’t think much of it. On Monday, fellow students jokingly said, “See you next year!” I scoffed at the idea that this break would last longer than two weeks. Surely it wouldn't last for the r...
Read More

Car-Less in Claremont

shops in Claremont Village
By Chloe Mandel ’23 In my suburban Connecticut hometown, I fully depended on the use of a car to get around. Since the day I got my license in my junior year of high school, I’ve embraced the opportunity to drive my parents’ slightly worn-out Chevy Equinox everywhere I’ve needed to go. Granted, my daily drives to school were often full of frustration as I waited in a long li...
Read More

The Art of the Cold DM

Example of Cecil DM
By Sonam Rikha ‘24 Having your first semester of college be online is no easy feat. Whether it’s juggling time zones, Zoom fatigue, or the slow loss of sanity from being at home, Zoom University is definitely not how I imagined my first semester of college. As a person who was heavily dependent on friends and fellow classmates to get through difficult classes in high school,...
Read More

Unpacking the Princess Packs

Oluyemisi in Teacup ride
By Oluyemisi Bolonduro ‘23 My freshman year of high school, there were a few upperclassmen that had themed backpacks. A few had turtle shells; the rest had princess backpacks. I thought it was a fun idea and resolved to do the same by my senior year. The Princess Pack: 1st Edition was the backpack I used my senior year of high school. It had Mulan, Jasmine, Belle, Ariel, ...
Read More

Spiblings for Life

Chris with golden retriever
By Chris Meng ‘23 Every college has its acronyms and funny lingo; Pomona is no exception. From OA and ID1 to AAMP and the QRC, Pomona needs its own dictionary! As a tour guide, we are specifically trained to explain those words that have become colloquial vocabulary to us as Pomona students. However, you still might catch a tour guide slip up as they excitedly talk about the...
Read More