Name: Alexa Hassell

Hometown: North Richland Hills, TX

Major: Politics and Italian with concentrations in art history and ethics

Notable UD Memory: Taking Political Philosophy and the Middle Ages with Associate Professor Gladden Pappin, Ph.D.

Achievements: Hatton W. Sumners Scholar; Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Fellow; intern at the Dallas Chapter of Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums; president of the Art Village Association; president of the St. Thomas More Pre-Law Society; president of the Alexander Hamilton Society; Dallas Forum undergraduate fellow; Phi Beta Kappa; Hephaistos Society founder; intern at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Future Plans: Pursuing a J.D. at the University of Notre Dame this fall.

“I ended up at UD entirely by Divine Providence,” said Alexa Hassell, BA ’23. In 2018, Hassell enrolled in the intensive summer program Arete: An Introduction to the Classics, where, as she puts it, she “fell in love with the notion of the Core Curriculum.” Hassell, who graduated from a public high school, had never been introduced to this kind of classical education. UD made it so compelling that she reconsidered her original plan of heading northeast and instead set her sights close to home. 

“The Catholic identity of the school and the Core Curriculum were big parts of my decision,” she remarked. “In no way has UD disappointed me.”

Hassell said she has felt fulfilled daily by the education she receives on campus.

“I got to explore so many different fields and ask interdisciplinary questions, which is essential to a good education,” Hassell said.