Westmont Magazine Best in Their Class: Top 2019 Graduates

Top Seniors Head Overseas as Fulbright Scholars

Noel Hilst ’19 and Gabriel Grabowski ’19 both received the top award in modern languages, and Grabowski also earned it for history. The two Westmont graduates will serve as 2019-2020 Fulbright Scholars. Hilst travels to northern Spain, where he will work with plurilingual schools and assist in various community projects. Grabowski will work with college students in Argentina and examine issues of globalization and transnationalism this spring. Two students also earned Critical Language Awards, part of the Fulbright program: Will Walker will study Arabic, and Anastasia Heaton will pursue Russian.

REBEKAH BEEGHLY: COMMUNICATION STUDIES

Through Westmont Downtown, Beeghly served as the social media and communications intern at Youth Interactive, an after-school entrepreneurial arts academy.

“She is curious, energetic, intellectually engaged, a superb question-asker, and flat-out funny,” says Professor Deborah Dunn, who chairs the communication studies department. “She also demonstrates incredible sensitivity toward others and is committed to pursuing mutual understanding, especially regarding high-stakes identity and justice.”

A member of Intercultural Programs and a leader of the Multi-Ethnic Student Association, Beeghly wrote for the Features section of the Horizon. She studied abroad with Westmont in Jerusalem, served as president of Lambda Pi Eta, the Communication Studies National Honors Society, and directed Spring Sing skits in 2016 and 2018.

“While studying abroad, I found a love for Israel/Palestine and was able to learn a lot about myself, justice and conflict, and created some of my strongest and deepest friendships,” she says. She hopes to publish a series of children’s books about race in the U.S. called “The United Shapes of America.”

WHITNEY TICE: ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

Tice studied on Westmont in Asia during Mayterm and lived at Faith Children’s Home and God’s House of Miracles in Lugazi, Uganda, for a month as part of Emmaus Road. “This was one of the most valuable experiences in my life,” she says.

Her professors describe her as industrious, inquisitive and present in the moment. “Actively listening, gently probing, persistently processing, diligently growing and quietly contributing, Whitney is also an outstanding person who lives her faith daily and who is sincere in reaching out to others, offering prayers and being concerned for all,” says Rick Ifland, chair of the economics and business department.

“The education I have received at Westmont has prepared me to engage in gracious and meaningful conversations about faith with people from a variety of backgrounds,” Tice says.

An aerial dancer, Tice has shared this skill in a chapel worship service. “Aerial allows me to maintain a sense of childlike playfulness and while working hard. I get most excited about the challenge of trying and mastering new skills and sequences, which I find incredibly fun and exhilarating.”

CONNOR GIBBS: PSYCHOLOGY

Gibbs is working on a doctorate in social psychology at UC Santa Barbara. “He is bright and organized, goal-directed, and he works steadily on achieving his goals,” says Ronald See, chair of the psychology department. “Connor generates and implements novel ideas in his research and made successful presentations at national conferences.”

He conducted summer research with Carmel Saad, professor of psychology, about “Combining Bias Interventions: The Effect of Bias Prediction and Self-Affirmation on Reducing Prejudice.”

“The best part of my Westmont experience has been gaining real-world, hands-on experience as a researcher,” Gibbs says. “Given that a great research career requires not only sharpness of mind but organization and persistence, Connor has a bright future ahead,” Saad says. “He has remarkable integrity, is considerate of others and is ready to help. His respectful and loving nature reflects of his deep faith in Christ.”

MATTHEW COFFMAN, NATELLI CRIPE AND KYLE HANSEN: MATHEMATICS

Three mathematics majors all earned 4.0 GPAs.

Coffman, who loves abstract thinking and problem solving, will stay in Santa Barbara and become a software engineer. “Matthew’s work is meticulously accurate,” says Russell Howell, chair of the mathematics department. “He has a natural eye for the subtleties of mathematical arguments, and has a knack for asking a question that provides the perfect segue into the next point that a teacher wants to make.”

Cripe hiked the Jesus Trail from Nazareth to Capernaum while on Westmont in Jerusalem. “Not only did that trip challenge and deepen my faith and bring the Bible to life, but it also instilled in me a love for adventure and new experiences,” she says. “The combination of insight and intellectual honesty that she displays is uncommon,” Howell says. “She will own the gaps in her proofs rather than hoping they will go unnoticed.”

Two of her grandparents and her father graduated from Westmont. “It’s special to follow in their footsteps,” she says. “I’m really thankful for the long-lasting friendships I’ve made here, and I look forward to a life of learning and adventure.”

She continues to work as finance coordinator at the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County while pursuing other finance positions.

Hansen, working on a doctorate in mathematics at UC Santa Barbara, also won the top award for computer science.

“He approaches computer science in a uniquely Westmont way,” says Don Patterson, professor of computer science. “He knows the technical details of manipulating bits on the processor, he can uncover the abstract efficiency of different data structures from a mathematical perspective, and he writes well about the social impacts of the digital world. But he also has a heart for his friends, whether he is organizing Spring Sing, encouraging his dorm, or writing an app for organizing potlucks in the Global Leadership Center.”

Hansen presented research in the field of complex analysis last January at the Joint Mathematics Meetings conference in Baltimore.

“His brilliance is matched only by his modesty, as he downplays his tremendous help as a grader and with our mathematics contest—and as a choir member and Emmaus Road participant,” says Russ Howell, professor of mathematics.

KAYLEE YOON: DATA ANALYTICS

Known as an exceptional student, researcher and trailblazer, Yoon graduated as one of Westmont’s first data analytics majors. She worked with Professor Don Patterson on his project using machine-learning techniques to detect cerebral palsy in premature babies. She also did research for her senior capstone project building an artificial neural network that predicts how much a donor will give to the college in the next year.

A double major in economics and business, she studied in Asia. “It was so much fun experiencing a new culture with other Westmont students,” she says. “We interned at Development Bank of Singapore, ate tons of new food, explored almost all of the cafes in Singapore and took trips to Hong Kong, Cambodia and Vietnam.”

After graduating, she plans to do machine-learning research as an intern in Taiwan before returning to the United States to work in the tech industry.