Alumni Highlight — Kenza Fernandez, MS in Design Engineering at Harvard

We want to take a moment to spotlight an alum and prior student staffer, Kenza Fernandez, and her recent accomplishment of being accepted to graduate school!

Kenza is thrilled to be starting an MS in Design Engineering at Harvard University this August. The program is housed jointly by the Graduate School of Design and the Paulson School of Engineering.

Reflecting on her academic journey at the Claremont Colleges, she is reminded of the Hive and its significant role in her educational and life journeys. “My time at the Hive started in 2019, my sophomore year, as I joined as a student worker in their communications team. I then took four classes there: Intro HCD, Design for Environmental Behavior Change, Critical Design Studio, and Building Los Angeles, where I would find mentors whose opinions and work I admired in all my professors.”

Upon graduating from Scripps College in 2022 with a BA in Environmental Studies (SBE Track) and Art, she moved back to her home, Monterrey, Mexico, with hopes to be closer to family. To her delighted surprise, the Hive followed her there. “I was lucky to reconnect with Asha and Fred, who wanted to set up a program to expand the Hive’s horizons to Mexico, and I was ecstatic to jump in and help prototype what we now call CoLab; we ran two Advanced HCD classes in collaboration with Mexican universities and start-ups.”

As she begins this new educational venture in Boston, she knows her connection to the Hive doesn’t conclude. She is eager to see more Claremont students reap the benefits of taking real-world project-based classes at the Hive like hers, and for more experimenting, failing, and learning in such a safe and inspiring place.