Prior to starting their freshman year at Vassar College, most students take a tour of the campus. Spending hours in planes, trains and automobiles, optimistic high school students walk down Raymond Avenue, admiring all that Arlington has to offer. Most students stop in the Juliet Bookstore, pick up a sticker for good luck and head to the old Admissions Building on the south side of campus for their guided tour. Walking across Library Lawn, prospective students marvel for the first time at the beauty of the Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library, the number of trees that surround them and the current Vassar students going about their day. They leave Poughkeepsie with the hope of returning—the hope that Vassar will become their home.
More than four years later, those high school students have turned into seniors in Vassar’s Class of 2026. They are now familiar with Arlington—they know what to order at Bagel World on a Sunday morning, the fastest route to get to My Market when it is cold outside and the names of the employees at the local stores. They have a Vassar sweatshirt now, maybe two. They have watched prospective students come to campus each year and smiled (or avoided them like the plague), remembering how they felt when they visited campus for the first time. The Class of 2026 has taken the place of those who came before them, all while leaving behind their own mark on Vassar.
“My time at Vassar has really altered the way I understand not just myself, but my place in the world. I feel like over these past few years I have really come into myself and have learned so much about who I am as a person—which everyone always said college would do but I honestly never really believed them,” wrote Wyatt Keleshian ’26. “Looking back at freshman year me, I think about someone who is slightly awkward and unsure, two things which I still feel that I am, but I feel as though now I can tackle these feelings with a sense of confidence that I did not have four years ago.”
Reflecting on their time as college students, members of the senior class noted how, over the years, they became more comfortable on campus, began to feel more ownership over Vassar and felt more connected to Poughkeepsie. “The semester back at Vassar after going abroad to Dublin was extremely formative and positive for me,” wrote Emma Goss ’26. “It kind of felt like returning home for the first time. Prior to that, real-home always felt like California to me but going abroad and being alone, independent, brave, and adventurous and then coming back to Vassar was an experience so full of gratitude: to return to these people, this place, and my Vassar professors.” To Allison Lowe ’26 [Disclaimer: Lowe was the Spring 2026 Editor-in-Chief of The Miscellany News], the people she met at Vassar made campus feel like home: “To be honest, one of the best experiences has been living in a TA with some of my best friends. We have made so many wonderful memories and truly built a home that I will remember forever.”
Since the Class of 2026 first arrived on campus in August 2022, they have navigated college in an era in which students and universities are increasingly under attack. In response to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, college students across the country organized protests and erected encampments in solidarity with the people of Palestine and to encourage their schools’ administrations to divest from companies that provide support for the Israeli military, and from weapons manufacturers in general. At Vassar, students protested on Library Lawn before ultimately reaching a resolution with the College administration, which included an agreement from the Campus Investigator Responsibility Committee to prioritize reviewing a proposed divestment plan; the College’s Board of Trustees later rejected the plan. Since Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, universities have come under scrutiny as the president attacked institutions of higher education for alleged antisemitism, among other criticisms about the use of diversity and inclusion practices on college campuses. The Trump administration has withheld billions of dollars of funding from major universities and targeted hundreds of other schools. Despite mounting attacks on higher education, the Class of 2026 have continued to engage in advocacy, organize efforts to help those in need and work together as a campus community.
Throughout their final year at Vassar, members of the Senior Class Council (SCC) have worked to plan events to celebrate the Class of 2026. The SCC is responsible for planning major events, such as 100 Nights and 50 Nights, in addition to class-wide activities like Senior Assassin. In the week leading up to graduation, the SCC runs Senior Week, which features events like the Senior Brunch and Formal. “Our goal is to make sure there is something for everybody!” wrote Vassar Student Association Director of Senior Events Lanie Mussina ’26 in an email to Miscellany reporters. “Some of our events have limited capacity due to the venue’s restrictions, but other events are open to all, and we tried very hard to make sure that there’s a wide variety of events to appeal to as many people as possible.”
On May 24, the Class of 2026 will enter a new chapter of their lives and say farewell to their time at Vassar. Filmmaker Noah Baumbach ’91 will look out into a sea of caps and gowns and deliver the Class of 2026’s commencement speech. As students walk across the stage at the bottom of Commencement Hill, friends, family and loved ones will smile back, remembering the beginning of their journey at Vassar.
As they prepare for graduation, members of the Class of 2026 have reflected on their years in Poughkeepsie and pondered the advice they would give to an incoming first-year at Vassar. “Make the most out of these four years, and soak up every moment you have,” wrote Lowe. “It goes by faster than you can imagine.”