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The 2026 Heal Together event was hosted by the Office of Access, Compliance, and Community (OACC) in partnership with the Center for Leadership and Intercultural Engagement, Contemporary Student Services, the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, and Community Engagement and Civic Learning. 

Senior information technology major Crystal Forson likes to joke that her parents have been in school with her the whole time—"just without the studying.” Their support, she said, has been constant, from eighth grade when she joined the 91����’s Early Identification Program (EIP), all the way through graduation this May.

As one of the key focal points of 91����’s Grand Challenge Initiative, building a climate-resilient society requires not just innovation in sustainable infrastructure, but innovation in how the university prepares future leaders in sustainability.

91���� senior Silas Fransen plans to pursue a career as a museum curator. And thanks to the university’s Office of Student Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR), the art history major already has one exhibit to his name. 

Beginning a PhD is rarely straightforward. Beginning one just as the world shuts down adds an entirely new dimension to adaptability. For 91���� biosciences PhD student Matthew Lefkowitz, that quality would come to define his doctoral journey.

To learn through experience and gain a competitive edge, finance and accounting students from the Costello College of Business at 91���� participated in the Costello Fellows on Wall Street program, connecting with major financial services firms and alumni in New York City. What has become an annual tradition continues to grow, with participation expanding significantly—from 10 students in previous years to approximately 30 this year.

At George Mason, Zarin Musarrat Niladree learned that science is ultimately an act of care. This led her to pursue medicine with the goal of becoming the kind of physician who makes patients feel safe.

In May 2026, Duong Thuy Nguyen is graduating with a 4.0 GPA, an Academic Excellence Award from her department, and a Capstone team leadership under her belt. In the fall, she’ll be back as a graduate student in George Mason’s accelerated bachelor’s-to-master’s program.

A cybersecurity major and long-distance runner, Simeon Omorodion found the same logic threading through both pursuits: structure, persistence, and a tolerance for discomfort that eventually becomes growth.

When 91���� senior Avery Butler was 16, his family traveled to Cambodia to visit the Killing Fields, the massacre sites associated with the country’s brutal Khmer Rouge era. The experience would change Butler’s perspective on life and inspire him to pursue a professional career in peacebuilding.