Our 2020 Valedictorians

Nicole Aggarwal of Ventura, California is completing her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (and Communication Studies), with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies. While at Saint Mary’s, Nicole served as a Belles Connect leader where she assisted underrepresented, first-generation, and international first-year students adjust to the campus community. In 2019, Aggarwal served as a research assistant in the Department of Sociology and Criminology where she analyzed the dangers of White Power music in the recruitment and growth of the global White nationalism movement. Her senior comprehensive research project, “The Media Virus of Explicit Racism: A content analysis of internet memes”, recently took first place at the North Central Sociological Association annual meeting. Following graduation, Nicole will be pursuing her doctorate in Sociology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Sarah Hautzinger is from Crown Point, Indiana. Hautzinger is completing her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology and a minor in Psychology. While at Saint Mary’s, Sarah was president of Friends with Sisters, a campus organization that facilitates friendships between Saint Mary’s students and Sisters of the Holy Cross. She was an ambassador in the Admission Office, a pastoral music leader in Campus Ministry, and an assistant in The Learning Tree. Her senior comprehensive research project, “In the Business of Justice: An ethnography of the bureaucratization of a small-town courtroom”, recently took second place at the North Central Sociological Association annual meeting. Hautzinger will pursue her Juris Doctor degree at St. John’s University School of Law in Queens, New York.

Anna Bilse is from Munster, Indiana. Bilse is completing a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a concentration in Molecular/Cell Biology, and a minor in dance. Bilse has served as president of Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society, Big Belle Little Belle committee co-chair for Student Government, member of the Events Committee for Residence Hall Association, and a part of various other clubs. Her senior comprehensive research examined the effects of a Peroxiredoxin 2 antioxidant enzyme deficiency on the migratory ability of metastatic ovarian carcinoma cells. Bilse teaches and supervises the Summer and Music & Movement Programs at Hannah and Friends, a non-profit organization providing services and housing for those with different abilities, and she also works as a support staff at A Rosie Place, a specialty hospital providing palliative care for medically fragile children. Upon graduating, Bilse will pursue her Master’s in Physician Assistant Studies at Elon University in North Carolina.