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.
Luke Tillitski, Head First-Year Counselor
Luke Tillitski (he/him) lived in Atlanta, Georgia, Boca Raton, Florida and Charlotte, North Carolina before coming to Yale. He is an English major most interested in exploring how marginalized authors respond to dominant literary modes, methods, and influences. Luke has followed an untraditional Yale path, taking two different gap years. In between his first and second years, Luke took a leave of absence to work virtually for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 policy team and coach debate for Taipei American School. Last year, Luke took time off again to travel the world singing with the Whiffenpoofs. Some of his other involvements on campus include being the Lead Recruitment Coordinator for the Admissions Office, former Co-chair of Outreach and Engagement for the Tour Guide Program, and a regular at intramural table tennis and dodgeball.
Luke really struggled in high school, and he came to Yale eager to find himself and a community where he felt he belonged. He will forever be grateful for the amazing friendships he made in his first year (and beyond), and he can’t wait to watch the Class of 2028 make similarly powerful and important friendships!
Walker Bargmann
Walker Bargmann (he/him) is from Brighton, Colorado, and is the youngest of six children. At Yale, he is majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a certificate in Global Health, and will be sticking around for one more year to complete his Master of Public Health in Chronic Disease Epidemiology. Walker is also completing a pre-medical curriculum and hopes to one day work in oncology. He is particularly interested in personalized medicine and understanding how social factors influence the way patients receive treatment and recover from cancer. You’ll likely see Walker around campus giving tours as a Yale tour guide and loves helping prospective students learn their fit on Yale’s campus. He also works in the Yale Comparative Cognition Laboratory where he spent the past two summers researching wild monkeys in Puerto Rico to help unravel the evolutionary history of the human mind, and will be spending this summer in Amsterdam studying public health. Last semester, he worked as a medical debt and insurance counselor at HAVEN free clinic, and has also previously dabbled in the world of set design in Yale’s theater scene. In his free time, Walker loves ordering takeout and watching TV with his friends, playing video games, and constantly bothering his mom for pictures of their dogs. Most importantly, he is excited to begin working as a FroCo!
Asia Beason
Asia Beason (She/her) is from Dallas Texas, and is double majoring in African American Studies and History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health. Asia is particularly interested in centering lived experiences and America’s social and historical frameworks in any public health research. On campus Asia works at LEITH Lab at the School of Public Health and is a founding member of GAASA (Generational African American Student Association) which she loves to yap about! While on campus Asia has acted as a mentor for Matriculate, a national non-profit organization that looks to support first generation students navigate the college process and a volunteer for Yale Undergraduate Prison Project which looks to challenge the inequities of the criminal justice system through advocacy and educational programs!
If you don’t see Asia hanging around the Afro-American Cultural center (aka “The House”), you can find her stuck in a Tik Tok trance somewhere around Murray or playing super smash bros in the TV room. Asia loves talking about her most recent ear worm and how wonderful Mitski’s entire discography is! But most of all Asia can not wait to meet the new class of the best residential college ever! :)
Matthew Jennings
Matthew Jennings is majoring in history and political science with an interdisciplinary concentration in the American judiciary and jurisprudence. He grew up in Killingworth, Connecticut, and from a young age loved running and longing for city living. On campus, Matthew is the co-editor-in-chief of the Yale Undergraduate Law Journal, which he founded during his sophomore year to foster community and learning for other students interested in the law. He also spends much of his time working at the Yale Office of Undergraduate Admissions and at the Yale Law School Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law.
Matthew is grateful for the chance to explore his interests in law and public policy as a Director’s Fellow at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and as a Liman Undergraduate Fellow at the Liman Center. During the summer before his junior year, Matthew worked with a legal aid organization in New York City that provides legal services to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness.
Beyond all of these activities, Matthew finds joy in community and is always building in time with his friends. He loves to explore new restaurants and cafes around New Haven and is constantly chasing the next great study spot. He is deeply invested in the success of Pauli Murray Intramurals and most thoroughly enjoys the seasons of broomball and volleyball. Matthew’s time at Yale has been marked most by the friendships he has built and the unexpected joys of living in a community of peers. He can’t wait to welcome you to Pauli Murray!
Zawadi Kigamwa
Zawadi Kigamwa was born in Nairobi, Kenya and grew up in Fishers, Indiana (she reps the midwest majorly), but recently relocated to East Granby, Connecticut up North. She majors in American Studies, works as a Pedagogical Partner in the Poorvu Center, and hopes to pursue a career in education law and policy after graduation. Her friends know the secret to her heart is a sunny day stroll and Atticus cafe jam bun!
On most days you can find her at the African American Cultural Center singing with the Yale Gospel Choir, eating tasty dinners at the Chaplain’s Office, and posted up at the BEST residential college office on campus, Pauli Murray, of course! Otherwise, Dwight Hall is her favorite place in the world on Friday evenings to attend Chi Alpha Christian ministry services—she would love to see you there—and Saturday mornings volunteering with the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project (YHAPP).
On campus she has worn many hats as a Peer Communication and Consent Educator (CCE), Mid-Orientation Program Cultural Connections Counselor, Broad Recognition Feminist Magazine Staffer, and as a bible study leader. Please do not hesitate to ask her about any of the activities mentioned! She’s more than happy to discuss these wonderful spaces with everyone!
She knows the new LiMur class will have so many amazing interests and specialities for her to learn from and is eager to see new ones emerge over the course of the school year! She’s truly looking forward to fostering a welcoming and open environment for all perspectives and questions in her class of ‘28 first-year group!
Lizbeth Lozano
Lizbeth Lozano (she/her) is from Smyrna, Tennessee, a town right outside of Nashville, and her family is from Guanajuato, Mexico. At Yale, she studies Statistics & Data Science and Education Studies, and she is broadly interested in educational justice and inclusive teaching in K-12 education. To that end, she has worked and volunteered in New Haven Public Schools since her first year, serving as a part-time teaching assistant, STEM tutor, and a math competition coach through MathCounts Outreach; she has also studied children’s learning and motivation as a research assistant in the Leonard Learning Lab. As a future educator, she hopes to draw on these experiences to create active and culturally competent learning environments. On campus, Lizbeth has been involved with La Casa Cultural, serving as a Peer Liaison, an artistic director for Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Yale, and a member of the Steering Committee for Mecha de Yale. She has served in student government for three years as a Class Representative and Policy Director (ask her about YCC!), and she promotes spiritual exploration on campus as a Chaplaincy Fellow and faithful attendant of Saint Thomas More, the Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale. In her free time, she loves scrapbooking, taking long walks, playing board games, and going on boba runs. Lizbeth can’t wait to meet the incoming Class of 2028 and introduce them to the best residential college at Yale!
Zeki Tan
Zeki Tan (he/him) is from Manila, Philippines, although he also lived in New Zealand for a few years when he was little. Zeki is studying Biomedical Engineering on the pre-med track and is currently conducting kidney tissue engineering research at the School of Medicine. He hopes to pursue a career in medical research and innovation after graduation, although he expects his medical training to prepare him for activities not usually associated with healthcare, such as philosophy and literature. Zeki was actively involved in Christian life on campus, serving as a leader in Christian Union for two years, and is now helping run the Yale Logos, a journal for Christian intellectual thought. He is also a member of the Yale Political Union and the Yale Biomedical Engineering Society. In his free time, Zeki takes walks around New Haven, listens to ‘70s and ‘80s pop songs, and learns ballroom dances. Nothing makes Zeki happier than sitting down for a meal and conversation with someone–reach out to him and he will always make time to meet! Zeki can’t wait to meet the Pauli Murray Class of 2028!
Ikenna Ugbaja
Ikenna Ugbaja (he/him) is a senior here at Yale majoring in Political Science. Ikenna is Nigerian-American, born in Washington D.C., growing up in both Baltimore, Maryland and Boston, Massachusetts. He is particularly interested in Criminal Law and Intelligence work, as well as Human Resources and Marketing. In line with his interest in Criminal Law and Human Resources, Ikenna has interned with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Courts, BioAbundance LLC, and various law firms and courthouses. He plans to go to law school after graduation, but is still interested in going into government work. On campus, he is a former Yale Football member (his career ended due to injury), a member of the Yale Black Men’s Union, and recruiting coordinator for Yale Student Association for Small Claims Assistance or Y-SASCA. He runs a poetry account on instagram, @poetrybyike, where he posts his original works. In Ikenna’s free time, you can find him in the weight room, basketball courts, listening to great music on a sunny day in the Pauli Murray Quad, playing video games with friends, watching multiple different shows and/or movies, and others. Though Ikenna is relatively quiet and reserved, he is more than happy to argue about all things sports, music, and Nollywood early 2000s movies. Feel free to ask him anything, he usually has an answer!
Mia Velez
Mia (she/her) is from Philadelphia, PA. She is double majoring in Political Science and English with an Advanced Language Certificate in Spanish. She plans to attend Law School after graduation. Beyond academics, Mia works as a Recruitment Coordinator (RC) in the Yale Undergraduate Admissions Office, and has previously led the Yale & You programming for the 2023-2024 academic year. She has also served many roles in Despierta Boricua, the Puerto Rican Student Organization at Yale as first-year liaison, Treasurer, and President. She is passionate about creating and fostering spaces of community, and can’t wait to do so with the class of 2028.
Dalaney Westbroek
Dalaney Westbroek (they/them)
While born in Utah, I grew up in McDonough, Georgia and now call Colorado home sweet home! I’m the big sibling in a lively crew of two younger brothers and one younger sister, along with our adorable wiener dog, Winnie.
I am majoring in Chemistry, and do lab work with Professor Mayer, but have also spent time researching in Göttingen, Germany! My research is done with the Department of Energy and the Center for Hybrid Approaches to Solar Energy (CHASE). I am interested in mass-monitoring techniques that serve as methods of performing fundamental studies of semiconductors.
Beyond the lab, I love working as a peer tutor in the chemistry department. I plan on pursuing a Ph.D. after graduating.
I love reading—everything from science fiction to fantasy to philosophy to classics. I’m working on getting my German sufficiently good enough to read classic German literature in its original form! I also enjoy running, movies, and DnD.
I can’t wait to meet the Class of 2028 and show them LiMur life!