Sagehens Find Community in the Nation’s Capital

After graduation, Nina Ye ’24 was eager to put her politics, philosophy and economics degree to good use when she moved across the country to Washington, D.C., for a role in the federal government. But in less than a year, her career came to a sudden halt when the agency was affected by mass layoffs.

As federal workforce reductions reshaped the region, a career networking event with the Pomona College Washington, D.C. Regional Chapter became more than a professional gathering. For those like Ye navigating an uncertain time, it offered the comfort of a Pomona community 2,600 miles from campus.

“I had only been out of college for a year, so finding a village of Sagehens who genuinely wanted to help each other made D.C. feel like home,” Ye says.

That sense of belonging is at the heart of Pomona’s regional chapters. Part intellectual community, part social network and part touchstone, the chapters create places for Sagehens to carry the College wherever they go.

However, few places demonstrate that quite like Washington, D.C.

Reestablished in 2023, the D.C. chapter has grown into a thriving Sagehen community of more than 1,000 alumni and 100 family members of current students within a 60-mile area of the nation’s capital. It is one of Pomona’s 10 regional chapters, which are open to alumni and families alike and designed to help Sagehens stay connected to the College and one another.

At any Washington event, a Sagehen who arrived weeks ago might find themselves talking with a 40-year resident. Journalists meet lawyers; public servants mentor students; graduates from the 1970s trade stories with those who left campus only months ago.

For chapter chair Teresa Kwong ’91, that is what makes it so distinctive.

“This city is a place of comings and goings, but Pomona gives us a shared foundation—you can quickly walk in a room and feel like you’ve found your people,” she says.

Kwong is part of the chapter’s seven-member leadership committee, along with Caryl McNeilly ’79; Frank Albinder ’80; Amy Van Buren Rhodes ’07; Marc Rod ’20; Daniel Silverman ’19; and Ye. Their lives and careers have taken markedly different paths, but Kwong says they each bring something different to the community they are building together.

That range is reflected in the chapter’s programming, too. Events have explored topics from human trafficking to election analysis to international affairs, as well as service and networking events.

For Rod, a senior congressional reporter, he points to a chapter event featuring Pomona Politics Professor Mietek P. Boduszyński and his work on Ukraine-related issues at the Department of Defense as one example of how the chapter helps extend the College’s intellectual life far beyond the classroom.

McNeilly, who moved to D.C. in 1980, says she has found particular value in the chance to meet Sagehens whose experiences differ from her own, calling these connections “invaluable.”

The chapter’s leadership committee hopes for even more of these encounters in the years ahead. Kwong wants the chapter to grow by bringing new voices into the fold. McNeilly would welcome more visits from Pomona faculty, creating opportunities for lifelong learning. Ye envisions partnerships with other chapters, including New York, that could bring Sagehens together across an even wider geography.

“I’ve seen firsthand how, when life takes an unexpected turn, this community shows up and has a way of helping people rediscover what it means to be a Sagehen,” says Ye.

For a city of arrivals and departures, those connections take on particular meaning: someone is always new, while someone else always knows the way around. And in the span of one gathering, Sagehens whose lives might otherwise never intersect find themselves flocking to a nest entirely their own.

Interested in joining a regional chapter in your area? Visit our website to find one near you.