Meet the Future Notable Alums of OC ’30
Oberlin Remarkable Alumni League
Illustration by Frances McDowell, Layout Assistant
In this year’s Winter Olympics, incoming Oberlin student Liz Lemley ’30 won gold in women’s mogul skiing and bronze in dual mogul. Lemley is the first-ever Oberlin College-affiliated athlete to compete in the Olympics. Her achievements have been widely celebrated by the Athletics Department and typical Oberlin nerds alike, and we, the Oberlin Remarkable Alumni League (ORAL), are excited for campus to welcome a student who got their own Wikipedia page before they’ve even registered for their First Year Seminar on underwater basketweaving!
In the wake of Lemley’s watershed victories, ORAL wishes to share the spotlight with other future Obies—especially unconventional ones like us—who are doing amazing things and who will surely do even more amazing things when they arrive on campus this fall.
Kay Sexton of Truth or Consequences, NM is set to publish not her first, but her second novel! Forthcoming from Harper Collins in November of this year, Sexy Enemies is the sequel to Sexton’s critically acclaimed debut Advancement. Sexy Enemies was, like other generational greats such as 50 Shades of Grey, innovatively derived from the source material of Sexton’s Pulitzer-winning Heated Rivalry fanfiction; instead of hockey stars, Sexton’s two protagonists are Olympic fencers. Don’t be fooled by the title: Sexy Enemies isn’t just a steamy M/M romance—it’s a poignant interrogation of the lives and loves of LGBTQ+ athletes. “I just think gay fencers are underrepresented in our current literary scene,” Sexton said in an interview with The New Yorker. “The success of Heated Rivalry inspired me to shed light on the hardships faced by closeted male foil fencers, yet also their queer joy.” Sexton plans to major in Creative Writing with a concentration in the new Sport Studies and Management program. She is excited to join Oberlin’s renowned writing workshops and hopes to become the manager of Oberlin’s club fencing team.
Mint Bernard of Brooklyn, NY is the youngest chef to ever be awarded a Michelin Star. Beating out Aiden Byrne, 22 at the time of the award, Bernard, 18, runs the rapidly-rising vegan small-plates restaurant Sprout & Bean, which has been taking Bushwick by storm. Their most beloved dishes include their delectable herbed carrot deconstructed ratatouille parmigiana and their delightfully crunchy pan-fried tofu with soy demi-glace and premium nutritional yeast. “People ask why I would ever want to take a break from my career, when my restaurant is blowing up this much,” Bernard said in an interview with The New York Times. “I just really want to learn…and judging by what I saw at All Roads, those OSCA people need me.” They plan to pass their chef duties to their father, who they say “taught me everything I know,” while they’re studying Psychology with a concentration in Food Studies at Oberlin. Depending on how well the restaurant is doing, Bernard says they may fly back home on weekends to cook for their adoring customers. They hope to revolutionize OSCA’s cooking practices and serve as permanent head cook for Harkness and Tank (simultaneously) to start, and then later Keep and Pyle.
At just 15, poststructuralist bedroom indie rock virtuoso Richard Johnson of Hoboken, NJ is already a respected recording artist. Having skipped three (!) grades on account of his superior intellect, Johnson will be among the youngest students Oberlin has ever had — and the youngest artist to have one of their albums named Best New Music by Pitchfork. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Johnson described his critically acclaimed debut LP, Structure/Sign/Play, as a “post-post-ironic Derridean concept album that explores the idea of bricolage through a kind of faux-intellectualized, yet poignant, variation on emo noise pop, with some touches of inspiration from Baudrillard and Stephen Malkmus.” Johnson is set to enroll as a Double Degree student, majoring in TIMARA in the Conservatory and Philosophy and Cinema & Media in the College. He is also considering a Critical AI Studies minor. He is looking forward to lively discussions with his classmates about the future of technology and art and opening for Geese at the ’Sco.
