The First-Year Counselors—or FroCos!—are an integral part of Yale’s residential college experience and Yale’s advising system. Living in the same entryways as the first-year students, the First-Year Counselors are there to ease and support the transition of incoming first-year students to the academic, extracurricular, social, and cultural life of Yale. Below are the 2024-2025 First-Year Counselors in Pauli Murray College.
Sonam Wangchuk, Head First-Year Counselor
Sonam Wangchuk (He/Him) lived in Bhutan for most of his life, with a brief stint in Thailand to finish highschool before coming to Yale. Despite perplexingly taking Directed Studies during his first year, he is double majoring in Computer Science and Psychology and Statistics and Data Science, particularly interested in exploring decision making patterns and behavior in historically underrepresented regions.
On campus, Sonam can be seen giving out food and boba on cross campus as the lead outreach coordinator for Yale Summer Session, or attaching electrical sensors on other students as a research assistant for the ASCL and Rutledge Lab. In his free time, Sonam can be seen watching movies with the Yale Debate Association, enjoying a hotpot trip with his friends, relistening to another album that he swears is underrated despite everyone having heard of it, or losing nuzlockes while lounging under the sun at the best Residential College.
Maybe most of all, Sonam loves listening to new stories and meeting new people! He’s incredibly excited to welcome the wonderful incoming class and spread the Pauli Murray bug further :)
Pol Berger Romeu
Pol Berger Romeu (he/him) is from Carmel, Indiana, and is a simultaneous BS/MS student in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB). He is deeply interested in the intersection between biology and business, particularly fascinated in the process of driving life-saving medical innovations to market.
On campus, Pol is an undergraduate researcher in the Dimitrova Lab, which specializes in understanding the role of long noncoding RNAs in cancer development and progression. He also serves as the President of the Yale Undergraduate Consulting Group, is a MCDB Peer Mentor, and loves being a campus tour guide. Post graduation, he plans to attend law school and pursue a career in biotechnology or public health.
In his free time, Pol enjoys competing with Yale’s Club Soccer Team, representing Pauli Murray in intramurals, and reading about history.
Outside of Yale, he likes to travel (specifically to visit his family in Spain), play any sport with friends, watch comedy movies/shows, and is probably one of the biggest FC Barcelona fans you will ever meet.
Pol has loved his three years as a LiMur and cannot wait to meet the Pauli Murray Class of 2029 as they start their journeys at Yale!
Lucía Cores-Harg
My name is Lucía, and I am originally Spanish & Swedish. I grew up in Madrid and spent most of my summers in Stockholm. I have now moved around for almost 5 years—living & studying in Austria, Italy, the US, and most recently Australia!
At Yale, I am majoring in Environmental Studies, with a focus on environmental media & communications. I am also a Yale Education Studies Scholar, and I am most passionate about early childhood education (I love kids!). I hope to pursue a career in the world of education, hopefully bringing together different pedagogies from around the world and working to create original educational projects.
I am also passionate about languages, I currently speak 6 and I hope to continue adding more. Other things I love to do: backpacking and hiking, photography (especially wildlife photography), cooking and baking, singing, running, swimming…I also love Eurovision and playing Geoguessr! During my last months in Australia, I have also added surfing & triathlon to my list. But my all time favorite thing is having a long (open-hearted) chat with anyone over a cup of tea!
I am super excited to meet you, class of 2029, and to be there for you in whatever way I can!
Graci Doster
Graci Doster (she/her) is from Enterprise, Alabama. She is an Ethics, Politics, and Economics major who is planning to attend law school after she graduates. Graci’s interests and aspirations are motivated by a commitment to fostering diversely informed and increasingly knowledgeable political opinions, particularly in the American South. Yale seemed like a large jump from growing up in a small town, but she quickly found her place and loves everything Yale has to offer. Graci has spent her years at Yale cheering on the Bulldogs while being a member of the Yale Cheer Team. You’re also likely to find Graci singing around campus with her a cappella group, Something Extra. She is passionate about traveling and cultivating a global perspective, which she has gratefully gotten to do while at Yale. The summer after her freshman year, she spent eight weeks all over Europe while based at the London School of Economics. The next summer, she spent three months doing an internship in Hawaii. During her third summer, Graci will be traveling the country doing People Operations for a baseball entertainment company. She believes in experiencing all that life at Yale has to offer, and is passionate about helping prospective students learn about how they can fit in here on campus. She is excited to be a FroCo this year in the best residential college, Pauli Murray!
Logan Foy
Logan Foy (he/him) was born and rised in Bellingham, Washington. Growing up in the PNW, Logan naturally loves spending time outdoors and jumping into various bodies of water whenever he gets the chance. At Yale, Logan studies Economics and Anthropology, focusing on antitrust and corporate ethnographies. He is interested in using the tools of Cultural Anthropology to better understand how corporations function in our society and how our relationships with them affect our daily lives. Outside of school, Logan was the musical director of the Yale Alley Cats for two years and most recently took a gap year to be the director of The Yale Whiffenpoofs. By the time you are reading this, Logan will have traveled to 20 countries with the Whiffs and produced a studio a cappella album. Besides a cappella, Logan is a field trip greeter at the Peabody Museum and would love for you to visit him during his shift (he doesn’t know much about dinosaurs but he loves a walk and talk in the museum :)). Yale has been a truly magical experience for Logan and he is beyond excited to be able to share it with the class of 2029!
P.S. Logan wants you to know that Pauli Murray is far and above the best college at Yale and is eager to give his freshmen a load of talking points so that they too can spread the good word of Pauli Murray!
Sofia Jacobson
Sofia Jacobson (she/her) is originally from Westchester, New York. At Yale, she is studying the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health and a Global Health Scholar. She will also be sticking around for one more year to complete her Master of Public Health in Health Policy. She enjoys doing public and global health centered research about the intersection between climate change, health, and policy. Last summer, she was a fellow through the Leadership in Global Health Fellowship with the World Bank in Washington, DC doing climate and health work.
She can also be found on the soccer field with the C2 Club Soccer Team, planning events with the Women’s Leadership Initiatives, or volunteering with Yale Community Health Educators. Sofia has also been on the Pauli Murray College Council (MYCC) helping to foster Murray connection and manager of the Pauli Murray buttery (her favorite item is the quesadilla)! She also enjoys spending time with friends, trying new restaurants in New Haven, and baking/cooking.
Sofia is incredibly grateful for all the meaningful communities she has found at Yale - especially within Pauli Murray - and she is so excited to welcome the class of 2029 into the college. She looks forward to helping new students feel at home, answering any questions they might have, and sharing all the things that make Murray and Yale such a special place
Charlize León-Matta
Charlize León Mata (she/her/ella) is originally from Santiago, Dominican Republic, but has lived in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, since immigrating to the United States in 2011. She is double majoring in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health, with an Advanced Language Certificate in Spanish. She is passionate about the intersection of public health and law and hopes to attend law school in the future. At Yale, Charlize is deeply involved in student leadership and community engagement. She is one of the co-founders and co-presidents of Yale Lawtinas, the university’s first pre-law organization dedicated to empowering Latina students pursuing legal careers. Additionally, she has served as a peer liaison for La Casa Cultural, a project lead for the Yale Hunger Project, and a Matriculate College fellow. Charlize was also one of the organizers of the National Dominican Students Conference (NDSC), which brings together Dominican students from across the nation to engage in cultural and professional development. She loves to dance and is a member of Yale’s premier Latin Dance group, Sabrosura. Outside of Yale, she is a board member for Haven’s Harvest, a food rescue non-profit. You will always find her with her digital camera, documenting her friends’ silliest moments or the scenic views of New Haven. She loves to bake, play tennis, and is an amateur florist. She is extremely excited to meet the incoming Class of 2029 and welcome them to Pauli Murray College!
Dami Oluwatade
Dami Oluwatade is a Nigerian-American from Ridgeland, Mississippi pursuing a B.S./M.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (MB&B) on the pre-med track. He works in the Sumigray Lab at the Medical School, where he is currently researching the mechanisms of intestinal development and patterning in postnatal mice. His experience in the pharmaceutical industry has sparked his interest in expanding access to innovative medical research for historically underrepresented patient populations.
Apart from academics, Dami sings in the Yale Gospel Choir, plays club soccer, volunteers at the Community Health Care Van, and is a Peer Mentor for the MB&B department. Before becoming a FroCo, he mentored Black First-Years as a Peer Liaison for the Afro-American Cultural Center.
In his free time, Dami loves traveling, exploring new restaurants, thrifting for vintage clothes, working out, and watching movies. He particularly finds joy in spending time with the people and in the spaces that have made Yale his home. He can’t wait to meet the Pauli Murray Class of 2029!
Isabel Rancu
Isabel Rancu (she/her) is from Anderson, South Carolina. Here at Yale, she is pursuing a BS/MS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry along with a Certificate in Data Science (a mouthful!). As a member of the Cohen lab at the Yale School of Public Health, she is interested in applying computational methods to better understand disease evolution and transmission of tuberculosis.
Although an aspiring premed, Isabel loves to teach and work with the community. She is the current president of Code Haven, teaches for Splash at Yale, ULAs for S&DS 2380, and volunteers as a Spanish interpreter for HAVEN Free Clinic. This last year, she served as the Editor in Chief of the Yale Global Health Review and Fundraising Lead for Partners in Health — if any of these interest you, come chat with her!
Outside of seeing Isabel diagonalizing The Whale parking lot to get to Science Hill, you can catch her at East Rock taking photos of birds, sipping on an iced raspberry latte from The Jitter Bus, or dancing for Yale Danceworks. But, most of all, she can’t wait to chat with all the newest LiMurs!
Alejandro Rojas
Alejandro decided to come to Yale because of the warm and diverse community it boasts, and has found such in his various campus involvements. Having chosen not to play collegiate soccer, club soccer has given Alejandro an outlet to continue to enjoy his sport. In his fourth year as a (proud) bass/tenor in the Yale Gospel Choir (YGC), Alejandro has sung with the likes of the Clark Sisters, Kirk Franklin, and Richard Smallwood in venues both domestic and international. Although initially auditioning for YGC on a whim as a trumpet player, Alejandro has embraced the voice he never knew he had, grown stronger in his faith, and made lifelong friends. Through the Yale Black Men’s Union, Alejandro has run a mentorship program at a New Haven Middle School every Friday for the past couple of years. Helping his students graduate and identify their goals in their transition to high school has been a privilege, and he hopes to continue such work after college. Alejandro is also the president and a proud member of the Zeta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated in which he hopes to share the rich history of his chapter with the broader Yale community.
You can catch Alejandro on early morning hikes with his friends to East Rock, browsing his favorite paintings on the second floor of the YUAG, teaching his roommates German phrases, or geeking out about his favorite watches. Feel free to ask Alejandro any questions from class suggestions to music recommendations!