Immediately hooked on the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum when she arrived at CMC, Olivia Licata ’25 attended so many Ath presentations as a student—around 150 by her count—that the shift from participant to serving as a 2024-25 Woolley Ath Fellow was easy.
“It was a seamless transition, and it just felt very, very right,” said Licata, a Connecticut native who graduated from CMC with a dual degree in International Relations and Public Policy.
Now pursuing her post-grad aspirations—first up, a Portuguese language-learning fellowship in Brazil—Licata carries with her a treasure trove of Ath-engendered skills and values that will continue to shape her future. “The Athenaeum was an extremely central part of my CMC experience…it just did so much for me.”
Conversing in any number of scenarios at the Ath, never knowing what that day’s unique challenge or opportunity would be, tops the list. “You could be sitting next to President Chodosh or next to a first-year student who has never been to the Ath before. And it’s a learning experience to figure out, okay, what am I going to be learning from the person next to me, or what can I help provide to the person next to me? What cool insight do I have as a CMC student?
“You always have to figure out where you fit into the puzzle, and that’s a fun adventure to go on,” she added.
Helping Licata determine how all the pieces come together for productive and meaningful interactions was CMC’s commitment to constructive dialogue, a value robustly practiced in the Ath and campus-wide through The Open Academy.
“You can’t overstate the role that the Ath places in creating an environment where people learn how to engage in constructive dialogue,” she said. “In some spaces outside of CMC, there can be this assumption that constructive dialogue is something that can just occur if you get people on the same page and say, okay, this will be a constructive conversation. No, you have to foster, you have to teach, you have to put people in environments where they’re challenged.”
As an Ath Fellow, Licata strove to partner the conversational rigor, which could be intense for newcomers and longtime participants alike, with a strong sense of connection and comfort.
“I focused on trying to foster a comfortable environment and make the Ath seem like a very accessible space,” she said. “During the cocktail hour, during the meals, I made sure people felt comfortable speaking with new people and connected to the community.”
Soon off to Brazil for her next challenge, Licata will rely on what she learned at CMC and as an Ath Fellow to make the most of it. Pervading it all will be a curiosity that was constantly nourished at the Ath—and Licata intends to follow that curiosity “for the rest of my life.”
“I’m so excited to go [to Brazil] and be open minded and meet a bunch of people. There are so many skills I strengthened through my Athenaeum experiences, whether that was engaging with new people, learning about new things, learning how to ask really good, interesting questions, or keeping the conversation going, and having a sense of curiosity underlying it all. I’m really excited to apply all of that to my next adventure.”
What will follow is yet undecided, but Licata envisions working in foreign policy in Washington, D.C. in the future. Her eagerness for what lies ahead rests upon a foundation of enthusiasm that never waned at CMC.
“I can’t begin to explain how grateful I am for all the experiences I was able to have. I truly was so excited every Monday to get up and be like here we go.”