Through sunlit paths, student protests, late-night study sessions, and digital breakthroughs, the Class of 2025 leaves behind more than memories. In this love letter to UC Berkeley, Jessie Fisher reflects on what it means to come of age in a world spinning fast—and in a place that made it all feel worth pausing for.
Our plot points have been proudly, and profoundly, placed here.
We’ve been sociologists in sweatshirts walking down Dwight Way. Football players listening to Future outside Evans Hall. News reporters for The Daily Californian, on Bancroft, drinking honey pearl milk tea. Economists sneaking into the Greek Theater.
We’ve been young political scientists and budding urban planners laughing, then kissing, at the intersection of Piedmont and Channing, and, all the while, the world has unfolded, as it tends to do, behind our backs or through notifications on our phones.
Biden was inaugurated, Russia invaded Ukraine, Queen Elizabeth died, The Last of Us dropped, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, and ChatGPT strutted onto the world stage.
2024—the year we realized, with graduation creeping closer, that we were going to have to start thinking about our next steps more than not at all—was the hottest year on record.
Roe v. Wade was overturned, and I sat in the Art and Anthropology Building for Taylor Swift class to unpack the Eras Tour the night Trump became the president-elect, again.
During the drama, amidst the chaos, we’ve been in Berkeley—brushing our teeth, tying our shoes, almost forgetting our keys, closing the door, and doing our days.
We’ve pulsed with aliveness, feeling young and cool and beautiful, and like everything has a little “wow” in it. We’ve been hungover too, and dragged down by dread.
We’ve studied, scrolled, snacked on Skittles, seen the sun set, and heard the 51B squeak to a stop. We’ve rummaged around in our minds, looking for new perspectives to play with, narrowing in on the right question to ask of the world, in our careers, and within our lives.
We’ve crammed our schedules and under-processed our encounters. Yet, the familiar contours of campus have remained constant.
Here are four stories of graduating seniors. They are grounded in Berkeley campus grasses. They have spread out over Berkeley streets, and while sitting in UC Berkeley library chairs. They have been built in UC Berkeley buildings—through breathing Berkeley air.
Protecting Creativity in the Age of AI
Coming from a family of artists, Kate Hayashi got to Cal with a plan to study comparative literature and pursue a career in publishing. But her path took an unexpected turn when artificial intelligence surfaced. Recognizing its potential, and its inherent dangers, Kate decided to add a computer science major. She wanted to understand this rapidly evolving landscape—how it works, and how to navigate it.
While serving as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Berkeley Fiction Review, Kate has been working as an AI Ethics Research Apprentice with Professor David Harris. Her research addresses thorny issues like the inclusion of non-consensual intimate imagery in AI model training data and the implications of open-source AI.
In working with words, Kate has come to value not just the final product, but the attention, care, and soul behind the works. She told me about the ongoing lawsuits from The Authors Guild and The New York Times against AI companies for using copyrighted work without permission. To her, unauthorized use is a sign that we didn’t think far enough ahead. We saw the shiny new thing and forgot to squint into the future. Voluntary self-regulation has proven insufficient. That’s why Kate’s next step is law school.
Kate wants to advocate for artists and creators, pushing for regulations that protect intellectual property and creativity in the digital age. The techno-future we imagined is here, Kate said. Now we have to figure out how to adapt to it.
Reading the Field, Rewriting Her Script
For Ari Kai Manrique, college has been one long lesson in rolling with the punches. As captain and center forward of the Cal Women’s Soccer Team, she led with grace and grit. But after too many hits to the head—and her growing sense of hesitation in tackles that once felt instinctive—Ari made the difficult decision to hang up her cleats. Kate adjusted to a changing world; Ari adjusted to a quiet shift within.
Soccer, Ari tells her players now, should always be fun. As Assistant Coach for the Cal Women’s Soccer Team and a coach at Berkeley High, she brings that philosophy to every practice. Her favorite drills to run are “Over the River” and “King of the Court.”
She sees soccer as more than a game. To Ari, the sport is a source of confidence and joy, and a place to prove that practice pays off. As a No. 9 (a center-forward), she spent years mastering the art of reading the field and responding in real time: holding up play, distributing with precision, and knowing exactly when to thread the needle. That sharp situational awareness didn’t stay stuck on soccer. With the support of the Cal Athletics Department, Ari has begun applying those same instincts off the field—using her sense of timing, teamwork, and strategy to navigate new roles, with purpose.
From Relaxed Pace to Machine Learning
Campus is over 8,000 miles from Thomas Yeoh’s hometown of Penang, Malaysia—and it feels just as far when it comes to pace. Life here moves fast, and everyone’s always busy. Back home, Thomas said, things are way more relaxed. Like Kate and Ari, he had to adapt.
The restlessness of the campus culture, coupled with the challenges of transferring as a junior, presented initial hurdles. But with one year under his belt—some walks to Elmwood and some bowls of Aki’s Japanese Pork Chop Noodles—Thomas found his footing.
Through URAP, Thomas started working with Professor Park Sinchaisri on research exploring how gig economy workers make decisions. Why does a driver pick Uber instead of Lyft? Or Postmates over DoorDash?
Using machine learning, Thomas is helping to build and optimize models that analyze real-time data from the apps themselves. The goal is to simulate driver behavior and predict which platform they’ll choose based on factors like location, time of day, and earnings potential.
Thomas also told me about a computer vision class he took. One of his projects involved colorizing early black-and-white photographs taken by Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii. Gorskii, who had a hunch that color printing would one day be possible, captured scenes on three glass plates using red, green, and blue filters. Thomas used image processing to align and stack the digitized layers, bringing the images to life in full color.
In performing precomputation and aggregating data, Thomas is asking questions about how we make decisions and how we might see human behavior more clearly. He is capitalizing on futuristic thinking and adding color where it’s lacking.
Amplifying Voices, Shaping Soundscapes
Lena Ho is asking these questions and doing these things too—not with machines, but with music.
A first-generation student from Los Angeles, Lena has come to characterize music as a universal language with deep connective and cultural power. To her, the music a person listens to and the artists they follow unlock insight into who they are and why they make the choices they do.
Lena quickly found her home at Berkeley in the SUPERB Productions Concert Department. There, she curates live music events, choosing artists and transforming campus locations like Savio Steps into concert stages. She sees these events as more than just performances—they are reflections of the atmosphere of this place and the spirit of this time.
Lena has worked for Capitol Music Group and °1824, Universal’s Marketing and Creative Strategy Division. She is collecting industry experience like track IDs, learning about brand partnerships, fan engagement, and experiential campaigns.
Music executives are in the business of understanding how the world moves, Lena said. They match its rhythm with the right sounds, turn up new voices, and compose what comes next. At Berkeley—a place she calls “an institution of thought leaders”—Lena has sharpened her ability to think strategically, anticipate cultural shifts, and help orchestrate them.
Bye, Berkeley
These four stories offer just a glimpse of the countless narratives unfolding across campus—a peek into a class not only prepared to question the world, but to shape it.
From AI to athletics, machine learning to music, these graduating seniors—these almost-alums—embody the glorious sprawl of a Berkeley experience. They’re headed into a world that’s equal parts hot mess and possibility, and achingly ready for the energy, expertise, and empathy they bring.
For those of us about to walk, we’re preparing to both say goodbye to and carry forward this campus. We’re leaving behind wished-on eyelashes, strands of hair caught in the wind, and the quiet choreography of our steps on the pavement. We’re taking with us the echoes of the Campanile’s chimes, a decent impression of Oski’s weird walk, and four wins against Stanford.
We love you, campus. Thank you for lifting us up and pushing us forward. Thank you for teaching us how to walk in step with the world—and, when necessary, how to kick it on course. My Converse will miss you. So will the flip-flops. And the slippers. You’ve been the most beautiful stomping ground.
Congratulations and welcome! Graduating seniors and recent grads from the Classes of 2022–2025 can take advantage of CAA’s Recent Graduate membership, just for the newest members of our Cal family.
