Five Questions With University of Puget Sound Student Success Advisor Najhan Bell

Najhan Bell

The first year of college is hard. It’s even harder when you’re the only person from your family—maybe the only person you know—to pursue a college degree. Whether writing papers, declaring a major, or living with someone you just met, making the transition to college life can be more than a little intimidating. That’s where Student Success Advisor Najhan Bell steps in. A recent college graduate herself, Bell helps students, and first-generation college students in particular, adjust to life at Puget Sound and succeed academically.

Life Lessons in the Lab and Beyond

Steven Neshyba and Max Bloom ’24

When a catastrophic equipment failure struck the computational chemistry lab, Max and his fellow students acted quickly. In the span of a week, the team used their collective know-how to build a complex hardware and software system from scratch to get the lab up and running again. Max, an experienced computer builder, led the assembly of three new computers and increased the system’s existing power by more than 10 times in the process.