New Smithies Bring Strength and Passion to Campus

When asked what she is looking forward to most about her first year at Smith, Olivia Carbone says, “Going to class—and continuing to go to class.”

“I’m really excited about focusing my attention on academics and being part of the community,” adds Carbone, who is from Los Angeles. “That’s something I wasn’t always able to do in high school.”

In her first year of high school, Carbone suffered a serious accident while building a theater set. A safety guard on a power saw had been left unfastened, and the tool ran over her hand.

Carbone lost a finger and the use of her left hand and spent three long years recovering from five separate surgeries. As a result, she missed 16 months of school.

While the accident interrupted her studies, it did not prevent her from achieving. Carbone enrolled in a new high school that emphasized self-directed learning and founded a chapter of e-NABLE, a global initiative that designs and prints 3-D hand devices for those in need.

Her high school experience “was difficult because I really had to push myself to learn,” says Carbone, who plans to study art history and museum studies at Smith. “On the plus side, I was able to figure out what I wanted and be part of an amazing project.”

Carbone brings her strength and passion to Smith as a member of an extraordinary group of entering students that includes 660 first-year students, 32 transfer students and 32 Ada Comstock Scholars of non-traditional college age, the Office of Admission reports.

Fifteen percent of new Smithies this year are international students, 19 percent are the first in their families to attend college, and 38 percent of new students who are U.S. citizens are students of color.

“The new students represent an incredible depth and breadth of accomplishments across the board—in academics, artistic pursuits and service,” says Deb Shaver, dean of admission at Smith. “I’m so proud of this class, and I know they will take full advantage of everything the college has to offer.”

Although they are just starting their undergraduate careers, this year’s entering students are already an accomplished group.

In addition to Carbone, here are examples of some other exceptional new Smithies:

• Ada Comstock Scholar Laura Martin of Holyoke, Mass., is a single mom who put her college dreams on hold to raise her daughter, Emma. Laura Martin is a first generation college student and now a Smith “legacy in reverse.” In May, she watched Emma graduate as a member of the class of 2016.
• Xuanqi (Christina) Lyu was born and raised in Harbin, China, a city known for its annual Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival—the world’s largest winter festival. Lyu, who taught herself ice sculpting as a young girl, has garnered awards for the past three years in the ice sculpture competition in her hometown.
• Charlotte Samuels of Ridgewood, N.J., began swimming competitively at age 6. Two years ago, Samuels became the youngest swimmer in history to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming around the island of Manhattan, across the Catalina Channel in California and the English Channel between Britain and France. The holder of three world records, she is also the youngest swimmer in a century to complete the Ederle Swim from New York City’s Battery Park to Sandy Hook, N.J.

Olivia Carbone, a member of the Smith class of 2020.