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Karmellah Buttler '25

Karmellah Buttler, a physics major from Canton, Ohio, supports fellow students as a STEM Zone intern, sings a cappella with Round of Monkeys, and participates in Astronomy Club and Physics Club. Serving as a research assistant in earth sciences and physics, she coauthored a study investigating the inside-out galaxy disk formation theory with Laura DeGroot, assistant professor of physics. For her senior I.S., Buttler contributed to the next phase of development in a long-running project in physics at the College, researching avalanches in a conical bead pile, a critical system that applies to broader ideas like landslides or earthquakes. Buttler plans to pursue graduate studies in atmospheric science after a gap year.

Rayan Dos Passos '25

Rayan Dos Passos, a global & international studies and Spanish major from Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brazil, has served in numerous leadership roles at �����Ƶ, including as a residential assistant, class representative, orientation leader, and senior intern and tour guide with the Office of Admissions. He participates in Model UN, Club Soccer, Latinas Unidas, and Jenny Investment Club. He has been previously recognized as a Kendall-Rives American Research Fellowship recipient. Through his Independent Study, Dos Passos examined the political economy of U.S. bilateral food aid and its impact on trade and welfare in Mexico. He plans to pursue graduate studies in international economics or global development.

Rev. Matthew E. Davis

BENEDICTION SPEAKER: A parent to �����Ƶ students in the classes of 2024 and 2025, Rev. Matthew Davis is pastor at Mendocino Presbyterian Church, a historic carpenter gothic style church serving its community in Northern California since the 1850s. Leading the congregation for the last ten years, Rev. Davis has built upon a traditional worship with a leadership development approach focused on “giving thanks” and “blessing.”

He sees ministry as an invitation to build community, sharing one’s gifts exploring God’s world and making a difference, whether by hiking the Grand Canyon with students “Looking at Life with God from the Top-Down and the Bottom-Up” or confronting the devastating wildfires in California by developing a herd of 80 goats and sheep called “Holy Goats: Your Fire Prevention Angels.” When band was cut at the local public school because of lack of funding, he introduced a classical guitar program that has enabled over 400 students to learn how to read music and play music at a high level.

Davis earned his master’s degree in divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1997 and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in anthropology and religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis in 1993. His son Hudson Davis ’24 majored in geology at �����Ƶ, and Drew Skylar Davis ’25 is a communications studies major with a minor in environmental studies.

Samuel Peppers '25

INVOCATION SPEAKER: Samuel Peppers ’25 is a political science major and religious studies minor from Roanoke, Virginia. While at the College, he has been on the board of multiple clubs, including serving as president of Model UN, and holding positions in the Jewish Student Organization, and the Slavic, Eastern European, and Central Asian Culture Club. He pursued interests in music, religious studies, and Middle Eastern politic, and economic sanctions have been a focal point of his studies. His Independent Study focused on authoritarian governments’ responses to sanctions. After graduation, he will be moving to Washington, D.C.