Aziere Earns Awards to Support Honors Research

aziere

We’re excited to celebrate Eli Aziere (The Independent School, 2024) on receiving an Honors Fellowship through the Charles Center at the College of William & Mary, along with the Anthropology Department’s Altshuler Scholarship. Together, these awards will support 10 full weeks of honors research for Eli’s anthropology major, conducted on campus in Oceanic Archaeology Lab under the mentorship of Jennifer Kahn, from late May through early August.

Eli’s research is a comparative archaeological study of two sites on the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia, examining feasting, ritual, and shell artifact use over time through microscopic analysis of shell tools. This project will be the first comparative study of shell artifacts in the island’s history and aims to advance archaeological knowledge while elevating the cultural heritage of Oceania—an underrepresented region in anthropology. The work will culminate in an Honors thesis, to be written during the academic year and defended in spring 2027.

“𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ. 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑚 & 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑦 𝑃. 𝑂’𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑦 𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠.”

Aziere Named Fraternity Man of the Year

aziere

We want to extend a huge congratulations to Eli Aziere (The Independent School, 2024) on being recognized by Fraternity and Sorority Life at William & Mary as the Fraternity Man of the Year during last month’s Evening of Excellence Award Ceremony. This honor recognizes Eli’s leadership, service, and commitment to academic excellence, and came just three days after he helped recharter the fraternity.

Eli currently serves as the Internal Vice President for the Gamma Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity and as the Vice President of Academic Excellence for William & Mary’s Interfraternity Council.

“𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑦 𝑃. 𝑂’𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑦 𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑠.”

Aziere Appointed Undersecretary

aziere

Eli Aziere - 1

We proudly announce that Eli Aziere, The Independent School, 2024, has been appointed the Undersecretary of Student Experience at William & Mary! In this role, he will work on initiatives such as hazing prevention, promoting inclusion for transfer and non-traditional students, advocating for the arts, and improving fraternity and sorority life.

Eli shared, “What I’m most excited about is being more involved with the inner workings of student government because the Student Assembly has a lot of influence here on campus. We have a three-branch student government, and I’ll be serving in one of ten cabinet departments in the executive branch. My department deals with every walk of student life, from multicultural organizations to club sports, student programming, and philanthropy. I applied to four different departments, but this is the one I wanted to work with the most because I ultimately want every student who walks on this campus to have the best four years of their life, and working in the Department of Student Experience is how I hope to achieve that. I’m very passionate about bringing more awareness to hazing prevention, and during the second semester, I’d like to focus on rethinking how we do some aspects of new student orientation.”

Eli also shared a fun fact about his photo, “The building I’m standing in front of is the Wren Building, built in 1700. It is the oldest college building in the United States, and I have class there three days a week.”

Congratulations on taking on this role and being a champion for change, Eli!

By Claudette Glenn, ago

Aziere Announces College Decision

aziere

Eli Aziere, The Independent School, 2024, has officially decided to attend the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, this fall to study History and Anthropology on the Pre-Law track. The sense of community on campus and the potential for internships in the Washington D.C. area or with someone within the school’s extensive alumni network were reasons that helped him make this decision.

“I’m really excited to experience life in another part of the country and become involved with different campus activities like the Wind Ensemble or student government organizations,” Eli stated. 

Fifth Class of Scholars Announced!

Fifth Class of Scholars Announced!

We are proud to announce Timothy P. O’Shaughnessy Foundation’s newest Lifelong Learning Scholarship recipients!

The 2024-2025 recipients are: 

Eli Aziere – Independent School

Samuel Ferguson – Trinity Academy

Vitor Geromel – Maize South

Rafael Martinez – Maize South

Israel Torres – Wichita Northeast Magnet High School 

By Claudette Glenn, ago