The college experience offers students an unparalleled journey of opportunity and exploration. As they navigate this transformative period, success takes many different forms, from academic achievement to personal growth and career readiness.
With scholarships, supportive communities, and wraparound services, the University of Oregon empowers students to explore their passions, embrace challenges, and chart their own paths to success.
In "Wings of Achievement", we recognize members of our flock who are thriving in their UO experience.
Class of 2026
Class of 2025
Class of 2026
Class of 2024
Class of 2024
Class of 2026
Class of 2024
Class of 2024
Class of 2025
Class of ????
Loany Carreon Jimenez
Class of 2026
Major: Psychology and Communication Disorders and Sciences
Hometown: Eugene, Oregon
First-Generation College Student: ✅
Three Facts About Loany
- She moved to Eugene at the age of 15 and enrolled at Willamette High School despite speaking barely any English. Her story of determination to learn the language, succeed, and pursue higher education was chronicled in The Register-Guard newspaper in 2022.
- She serves as as student ambassador at UO, leading families on tours of campus year-round. She is also a Spanish heritage language program leader, helping other students who grew up in Spanish-speaking homes.
- She loves adventure and hiking in the Oregon outdoors.
How do you plan to use the education you're receiving at UO?
“I plan to pursue a master’s degree and to eventually become a therapist or psychologist. I feel like we need more psychologists for the Latinx community that come from within our own community, so I’m excited to pursue that path.”
Annie Neal
Class of 2025
Major: Advertising
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Three Facts About Annie
- She was the valedictorian of her high school, Leodis McDaniel High School in Northeast Portland.
- She attributes her work ethic and discipline to spending her childhood and teenage years in competitive dance.
- She has launched her own creative brand while at UO, offering photography and social media management services.
Why would you recommend to other students that they seek out resources and support to help them find their way at UO
“I remember going into my first term and feeling really excluded and just lonely and I reached out to a UO alum, who is the president of the Black Alumni Network. And her advice to me was to ‘Get involved.’ And I'll never forget that. Getting involved and putting yourself out there is the best way to get opportunities, because people will believe in you when you start to believe in yourself first.”
Declan Zupo
Class of 2026
Major: Environmental Science and Political Science
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Three Facts About Declan
- He is helping organize a food security fair this spring where UO students who need assistance will be able to sign up for SNAP benefits.
- He is a campus correspondent for the “My Climate Story” project out of U Penn, gathering an oral story bank of local student experiences with climate change and its impacts.
- He co-founded a small clothing brand with his friends at UO, building on screen-printing skills he started developing in high school.
How has your PathwayOregon scholarship helped you?
"My Pathway scholarship is the reason I came to here to begin with, after not being a very engaged student in high school. It helped convince me I had a place at a big, prestigious institution like UO.
Now, I probably meet with a Pathway advisor every other week. They can answer almost any questions I have: about registration, picking classes, and degree paths. I also access their professional development resources and training. "
Johnny Media
Class of 2024
Major: Journalism
Hometown: Reno, Nevada
First-Generation College: ✅
Transfer Student: ✅
Three Facts About Johnny
- His friends called him “Mr. Glass,” because he has broken at least 29 bones, which he mostly attributes to his “all-in” approach to recreational sports.
- His UO journey is inspired by a promise he made to his older brother, who tragically passed away before completing his own college degree, that he would become the family’s first college graduate. He still carries one of his brother’s old work ID cards in his pocket every day.
- He overcame his severe dyslexia to be chosen as editor-in-chief of Flux Magazine, the SOJC’s award-winning student magazine, this year.
What has your journey at UO been like as a nontraditional student?
“I was worried that I'd stick out like a sore thumb. When I’m around other students, I always joke that I’m the old man of the group. But no one has ever treated me differently.
I would not have been as successful had I gone straight from high school into higher education. Just because my background, growing up in a housing project and not having a support system. Now, coming back later in life, I have that work ethic that I’ve built up and I’ve put school as the focus, taking classes like it's my 9 to 5, and that has led to my success for sure.”
Megan Van Pelt
Class of 2024
Major: Native American Studies
Hometown: Pendleton, Oregon
First-Generation College: ✅
Transfer Student: ✅
Three Facts About Megan
- She is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and is also of Nez Perce and Cayuse lineage.
- She likes to make ribbon skirts, traditional handmade Indigenous garments that have become a modern fashion item. She is also an avid beader.
- She has been a recipient of the Oregon Tribal Student Grant, a program funded by the state legislature that assists Native American students with tuition, housing, and book costs.
What has been your proudest moment at UO?
“I was part of the Cayuse Five research class and that class is based specifically off my tribe’s history and violence committed against us. It was the hardest, but also probably the most unique course I’ve taken at UO. With the research we were doing on this course (to find out more about the five murdered tribe members), we were developing a relationship with my tribe, and we were working for them."
Jedi Thonthaengthai
Class of 2025
Major: Business
Hometown: Eugene, Oregon
First-Generation College: ✅
Three Facts About Jedi
- He moved to the U.S. from Thailand with his family at the age 10 and had to adapt quickly to a new language and culture.
- He suffers from test anxiety; he once ran out in the middle of a math quiz at UO and didn’t come back. After that incident, an advisor helped connect him to the Accessible Education Center. He now receives time and location accommodations on exams, which he says has helped him tremendously.
- He is an avid scooter rider, often frequenting skateparks in Eugene and Springfield, and loves to play folk and country music on his acoustic guitar.
How has the Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence helped you find your place at UO?
“I got plugged in with CMAE because of the New Student Fall Retreat and that provided a bridge for me into academic advising and support so much earlier compared to other students. It helped me step foot in the right direction early on and I’m so grateful for that.”
Blair Hickok
Class of 2026
Major: Accounting
Hometown: Eugene, Oregon
First-Generation College: ✅
Transfer Student: ✅
Three Facts About Blair
- She is a wife and mother of two and has to manage her class schedule around school pick-ups and drop-offs.
- She quit drugs on the day she found she was pregnant with her son. Homeless at the time, she packed up her tent that day and hasn’t looked back. She is now seven and a half years sober.
- She volunteers at Looking Glass’s PEER Shelter for unhoused youth in Eugene.
Why would you recommend to other students seek out resources and support to help them find their way at UO?
“This is a really, really big campus and there’s a lot of students, but you can find your niche. It’s about putting yourself out there and being uncomfortable in new situations. I realize we’re all a little scared, nervous, and apprehensive, but when we come together, we can create collaborative friendships where we all support each other.”
Jessica Molina
Class of 2024
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Elk Rapids, Michigan
First-Generation College: ✅
Transfer Student: ✅
Three Facts About Jessica
- She received a Gilman Scholarship and volunteered with Volunteer for the Visayans, a local organization in the Philippines last summer, helping women and children transition through trauma.
- She took part in an exchange program with Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms for two years, learning about sustainable permaculture and ecology techniques, wildcrafting and bee-keeping in the US, Ireland, and Scotland.
- She is a painter, poet, and metalsmith, designing art “infused with the poetry of everyday life” and she shares it with others through her own small business, Nectar Forge.
How do you plan to use the education you're receiving at UO?
“My long-term goal is to start a nonprofit that helps marginalized and low-income individuals receive the mental health care that they need. I want it to be a space where people can receive quality therapy in different ways, through art, wilderness, and traditional cognitive-based therapies."
Fedi Aniefua
Class of 2024
Major: Mathematics and Computer Science
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Three Facts About Fedi
- He starts a job as a software developer at Amazon in Seattle this July, following a successful internship last summer where he was able to fully design his own project.
- He founded the Computer Science Leet Club last year that aims to help students prepare for potential careers in tech, with regular workshops on a variety career-building skills.
- He loves watching Anime television shows and movies, with Naruto being a personal favorite.
How has the Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence helped you find your place at UO?
“One of their advisors helped encourage me as a second-year student to apply for a computer science internship opportunity in Portland for students of color. At the time, I had only taken a couple CS classes and felt very unprepared. But she said, “Just go and try for it.” That led to my first internship and a domino effect to where I am today. I owe the CMAE hugely for pushing me to go outside of my comfort zone and helping me to seek out an opportunity.”