The genesis of the new FLI website was conceived when Questbridge Alumnus Derrick Nguyen ’22 directly felt the rippling effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic and school shut downs. He and the entire Claremont Community received the unprecedented news in March 2020; an eerie silence fell on the campus before gasps and cries quietly pour, everyone began frantically calling and texting their loved ones. Chaos ensued with movements such as Occupy Pomona responding to pandemonium and the administration’s decisions in response. Ironically, Derrick would burn out from the institutional harm and slowly crept away into obscurity. Similarly, other FLI Scholars from the classes of ’20 and ’21 would graduate online and bring their institutional memory with them. The old website was forgotten.
However, when head mentor Yosi Mayoral ’23 and others pushed Derrick to continue being a FLI mentor in his final semester in the fall, he would meet Leslie Serna ’24 and Stefanie Howard ’26. The two students would eventually become Head Mentors themselves. With the powerful connection of mentorship and friendship, Derrick, Leslie, and Stefanie would collaborate and nurture their shared vision set by the founders of FLI regarding institutional memory and honoring our legacy. The new website debuted in 2024 after Derrick began constructing it in 2023.
Derrick hopes his passion for documentation, creative digital art, and service will permanently etch the profound experience and consequences with the pandemic into the institutional memory of the FLI organization at Pomona College.
Key Individuals
Derrick Nguyen ’22
Yosi Mayoral ’23
Leslie Serna ’24
Stefanie Howard ’26
The Classes of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024
March 2020. The Class of 2020 and, eventually the Class of 2021, unknowingly took their last steps on campus as undergraduates. Strictly in terms of on-campus presence, The Class of 2020 completed three and three-quarters years and the Class of 2021 completed two and three-quarters years. The two classes held their commencement online, but once the pandemic subsided sufficiently, “Take Two: The Classes of ’21 and ’20 Return” provided an opportunity for alumni to return and celebrate their long overdue senior send off.
The Class of 2022, with one and three-quarters of academic years spent on campus, returned for their senior year totaling two and three-quarters.
The Class of 2023, with only three-quarters of a year spent on campus before quarantine, returned for their Junior and Senior years totaling two and three-quarters spent on campus.
The Class of 2024 began their first year of undergraduate studies online. They would take their first steps on campus as sophomores, completing three years spent on campus.
Generally Speaking, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the traditional college experience for the Classes of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. The Classes of 2022 and 2023 rarely sent students abroad during quarantine but with a few exceptions of course.
The pandemic actually marks a variety of other historical institutional changes. For example, room draw had been a physical process with an equitable system consisting of HIGH, MID, and LOW number lotteries. It would be last used in the academic year 2018-2019 to select housing for the 2019-2020 academic year. Presently, housing assignments are now conducted digitally.
