The 2025-26 cohort of Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL) Scholars presented their year-long research projects at the annual OWHL Symposium, showcasing their work through a range of formats, including videos and papers. The projects were united under this year’s theme, “In the Presence of the Past: Reflections, Refractions, Reverberations.”
One of the five scholars, Isabel Djerejian ’26, presented The Last Generation of Artsakh, a documentary that she made exploring the long-standing conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, a former enclave of Armenians living inside neighboring Azerbaijan. She discussed how she aimed to bring greater awareness to a conflict absent from mainstream headlines.
“When I was hearing about the exodus [from Armenia] that happened in 2023, I basically couldn’t find any written accounts, especially in English, of the Armenian or Nagorno-Karabakh [enclave’s] perspective of this conflict. So I felt the responsibility to gather their voices and be able to share their experiences, so that it wouldn’t be forgotten,” said Djerejian.
Presenter Bianca Mohamed ’26, whose project examined Egyptian graffiti during the Arab Spring and subsequent revolutions, explained the personal motivations behind her work. She added that she hopes projects like hers encourage students to look beyond Andover’s campus and engage more thoughtfully with global issues.
“I’m Egyptian myself. I kind of have really struggled in general with a lot of people not being educated about the Middle East and like a lot of dehumanization surrounding the Middle East. So for me, this topic was kind of a way to give people an opportunity to be educated and also humanize Egyptians through graffiti. I hope that it creates the conversations about people really challenging themselves to make an effort to understand the world outside of Andover, because Andover is a very isolating place, and it’s very easy to try to kind of forget exactly what goes on outside of it,” said Mohamed.
Ellah Kotlarsky ’27, an attendee, appreciated the range of project topics and presentation formats.
“What’s so exciting about OWHL [Scholars Program] is even though they’re united by this theme, which was something about the past, I loved the diversity of the projects. There was one about Buddhism arts, Egyptian art, and astronomy at Andover. I love that they were super diverse, and I got to learn a lot of things,” she said.
Camille Torres Hoven, Director of the OWHL, highlighted the intentionality behind this year’s theme. She also noted several structural changes aimed at making the process clearer and more supportive for students.
“This year’s theme grew out of our desire to help students think more deeply about how the past continues to shape the present. We wanted language that captured the many ways history works on us. Sometimes the past is reflected clearly, sometimes it is refracted through different perspectives, and sometimes it reverberates in ways we do not fully understand until much later. The theme invites students to think not only about what happened, but also about memory, interpretation, and impact,” said Torres Hoven.
She continued, “This year, we focused on making expectations clearer for students earlier in the process, especially around deadlines during the summer and presentation structure, slide preparation, and citations. We also worked to support students in thinking about how to communicate their ideas to an audience, not just how to complete strong research. Small logistical changes like clearer timelines and more intentional mentoring helped the entire event feel more organized and student-centered.”
Kotlarsky highlighted how public presentations offered a fresh, engaging style of learning that emphasizes shared scholarship.
“It’s so cool that we get to, as a community, celebrate these scholars for the incredible work that they’ve done over the summer and this term. We often associate a scholarship with a very solitary thing. It’s similar to something where you’re poring over books in your room. But this makes learning very communal by giving them the chance to share it with us and for us to appreciate them, it’s really important,” said Kotlarsky.
Attendee Hannah Jung ’28 reflected on how hearing student research pushed her to reconsider how she engages with news.
“[The Symposium] made me more conscious of the fact that as someone living in America right now, I’m really impacted by the media and how things are on the headlines, but [there are] always so many other events going on that not many people notice, per se. After watching these presentations, I want to try practicing some meditation and looking at the news more deeply,” said Jung.
