The Paths That Led Them Here: Meet Columbia GS’s Newest Students

There is no single path to Columbia GS. Meet some of the newest members of the GS community, whose journeys span careers, countries, classrooms, and unexpected turns—and discover what brought them to Columbia for their next chapter.

Undergraduate

Kolin Krizan

Where are you from?: Riverton, Wyoming

What is your intended major?: Economics

Tell us about your path to GS:
My path to GS has been quite unconventional. At 16, I moved six hours from home to pursue hockey at the highest level in America. I worked multiple jobs to fully fund my hockey career. By 18, I was drafted to play at the next level. That year, I was traded twice and lived in five states in six months. During this time, I developed skills in software and began working full-time as a network technician while playing hockey, allowing me to continue funding my pursuit of playing at the highest level possible.

I’m drawn to difficult problems, high-pressure environments, and unfamiliar paths. Whether it was leaving home at 16 to pursue hockey, taking a software job I was wildly under qualified for, or playing in front of 4,000 fans a night, I’ve always chosen the harder route to see what I’m capable of.

Why did you apply to GS?:
I applied to GS because it represents the kind of opportunity I have always chased: one that rewards resilience, ambition, and an unconventional path. My journey has taught me to create opportunities rather than wait for them, and GS gives me the chance to bring those experiences into an environment surrounded by driven people. I believe GS is only the beginning of my journey, the moment when everything I’ve endured begins to matter, a chance to turn all I’ve learned into something larger than myself.

What's the best advice you've received and how will you carry that with you throughout your GS journey?:
"If you can live your life to make sure that someone else’s life is okay, your life will always be okay"

Dan Dan Ligaya

Where are you from?: South Sacramento

What is your intended major?: Visual Arts

Tell us about your path to GS:
Straight out of high school, I attended cosmetology school, earned my license, and began professionally cutting and coloring women’s hair. I later moved to Hawaii in 2007, and after returning to California, I began my academic journey in the summer of 2008. I attended Cosumnes River College, Sacramento City College, and Sierra College, and along the way, I changed my major four times. I wanted to explore every subject that sparked my curiosity.

After a long and circuitous path, I fell in love with painting and academia. I enrolled in color theory and art history courses and discovered a passion for teaching art. I completed 60 units at community college before deciding it was time to transfer to a university.

Initially, I was accepted to the University of Hawaii and CalArts, and I couldn’t wait to go. I told my friends, family, and coworkers that I was moving to Southern California or Hawaii. Then I received my admissions letter from Columbia University. I was so happy that I honestly didn’t know how to process it. A month later, I decided to take the opportunity and go for it.

July was a busy and emotional month for me. I got married to my beautiful wife, left my government job after 13 years of service, and relocated to New York City. And here we are.

I’ve always had more hobbies than I can handle, and that has probably been one of my biggest challenges—and one of my greatest strengths. Every couple of years, I pick up a new hobby or medium and put everything I have into learning the craft. Since the pandemic, that curiosity has accelerated; I’ve picked up a new hobby almost every year simply because I had more time to explore.

Over the past six years, I’ve learned basic car maintenance, made custom bags and purses, hemmed jeans, reupholstered furniture, explored woodworking, and taught myself how to cook. I think that same curiosity is what ultimately brought me to Columbia. I’ve always been willing to try something new, follow where my interests lead, and see where the journey takes me.

Why did you apply to GS?:
I applied to GS because I learned that Columbia had a path for nontraditional students to return to college and earn their undergraduate degree. As I explored the program, I reviewed the Core Curriculum, Visual Arts courses, faculty, and the culture of the University. The more I learned, the more I felt that Columbia was the right place for me. I knew I had to apply.

What's the best advice you've received and how will you carry that with you throughout your GS journey?:
The best advice I’ve ever received came from my mom: “You should do it, because you may never get this chance again.” That’s all I needed to hear when I decided to relocate to New York City and attend Columbia University.

I’ve always lived a life full of adventure and curiosity. I’ve never been afraid to say yes to things that scare me or take me outside of my comfort zone. I may not live as fearlessly as I did in my twenties, but I promise to carry that same sense of curiosity with me throughout my GS journey, especially in my artistic practice and academic inquiry. There is still so much to discover, and I don’t want to miss the opportunity to see where this experience takes me.

Emanuel Williams

Where are you from?: Los Angeles

What is your intended major?: Film and Media Studies

Tell us about your path to GS:
In 2024, I was impacted by the mass layoffs that struck America's economy. Rather than allowing the emotions of defeat to dictate my life, I decided I wanted to change the trajectory of my future. In Spring of 2025, I enrolled at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, where I continued my studies in communications, specifically focusing on how gender and sex influences all aspects of media. I knew once I obtained my Associates of Arts, I would transfer back into a four year institution to complete my bachelors degree that I had started in California. As a result of young adulthood, my college journey took a pause in 2018, and I landed in the workforce working in New York. I experienced the most success working across roles in retail sales, fashion marketing, community management, and digital social media strategy. My work experience consists of the following companies: Kith, Balenciaga and Saks Fifth Avenue. I also was able to freelance for Netflix and Showtime working in the Costume Department and modeled for brands like SavagexFenty.

Owning my story as a nontraditional student has allowed me to reflect on the obstacles in my life that once held me back and has now strengthened my perspective for my future.

Why did you apply to GS?:
At Columbia GS, I believe the institution is the right fit for me to continue paving my life’s path and contribute to a future I want to see represented. Taking actionable steps, the school would offer me a diverse curriculum and the chance to connect with leading academics across majors. In addition, one element of this program that I found the most intriguing is how well Columbia GS embraces nontraditional students seeking to develop their expertise as they see fit.

What's the best advice you've received and how will you carry that with you throughout your GS journey?:
The best advice I have received that I find myself applying to all aspects of my life came from my media and communications professor Dr. Christopher Jackson who always said, “Always go deeper, deeper in thought, deeper in research.” Another piece of advice that I hold dearly to my nervous system is what my partner, Michael, of five years tells me all the time, “Never be anxious for anything.”

Hengbao Yang

Where are you from?: Yunnan, China

What is your intended major?: Cognitive Science

Tell us about your path to GS:
I spent 10 years building apps that billions of people scroll every day. Now I am a college freshman—because I want to rebuild my foundation to understand the minds and feelings behind the screens, not just the metrics being generated.

I grew up in a rural village in Shaanxi, China. While daily life was about survival, my soul was nourished by the free air of the fields, the warmth of community, and curiosity about the wider world, sparked by two maps on my wall. After a national exam, I was admitted to a university in Beijing, which paved the way for my subsequent career in technology.

At 23, I joined a 20‑person apartment‑based startup: ByteDance. For 10 years I helped it grow—until a Spring Festival dinner showed me how social apps fractured family interactions, as everyone retreated into their screens. I began to question: had the world we built expanded, or folded in on itself?

So I stepped away to become an outsider. I farmed, learned my mother’s childhood story, and re-read Thoreau for reflection. I re‑entered classrooms across France, Cambridge, and at Santa Monica Community College, absorbing new perspectives and rebuilding my academic skills.

Now at Columbia studying cognitive science, I aim to reorient technology around human‑centered priorities: close rural educational gaps, build tools that strengthen family connections rather than erode in‑person interaction, and design elderly‑friendly digital solutions that leave no older user behind.

Why did you apply to GS?:
After a decade of building technology at high velocity, I had amassed experience, yet lacked a deeper understanding. I began to ponder questions my career never afforded me time to ask: What is technology actually for? What makes us human amid AI?

At a folk‑music salon in Yunnan, I watched a singer teach a room of strangers face‑to‑face. That encounter convinced me that no online course can replace in‑person connection in a real classroom. GS is among the few places in the world made for nontraditional students like me, ready to restart their learning intentionally.

What's the best advice you've received and how will you carry that with you throughout your GS journey?:
When I funded the construction of a new home for my mother on our ancestral land, she inscribed the gate with four characters: 耕读传家 — "farm the land, cultivate the mind." It's how she raised us: work honestly with your hands, and never stop learning. At GS, this means staying grounded while thinking big: coming prepared, learning from every classmate, and seeing education not as a credential to earn, but as a field to tend.

Is there anything else about your GS Story that you’d like to share?:
I applied to GS last year and was not admitted. Rather than giving up, I spent the year strengthening my English and academic foundations—and earned straight A’s in the process. To anyone taking a nontraditional path back to school: treat setbacks as data, iterate, and try again.

Ashley Zanelli

Where are you from?: Orange County, California

What is your intended major?: Political Science

Tell us about your path to GS:
I joined the Army at 17. After two years of training, including learning Russian, I was stationed overseas. Here I worked with various U.S. and European units and offices. I was also able to travel throughout Europe and North Africa, sometimes with others and sometimes on my own. Through my work, I saw the consequences that foreign policy decisions can have on countless lives, which made me want to study and pursue a career relating to international relations. I originally planned to complete my bachelor’s through a program offered by the military. However, while on a rotational deployment, a near-death experience would derail my plans, ending my time in the military and leading me to apply to GS.

Why did you apply to GS?:
Academic rigor and receiving a world-class education are particularly important to me. Columbia’s location in New York City would give me the chance to live in the most diverse city in the country, along with ample access to my academic and professional interests. I similarly valued the older student body at GS and the opportunity to connect with peers who bring unique backgrounds and experiences to the school.

What's the best advice you've received and how will you carry that with you throughout your GS journey?:
It’s not exactly advice, but I like this quote by Annie Dillard: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” To me, it represents how short life is and the importance of doing what you actually want to do. I’ve found that being proactive and working toward realizing your goals is usually much better than waiting for life to change or an opportunity to arrive at your door.

TAU-Columbia Dual Degree Program

Chloé Tamman

Where are you from?: New York City

What's your major?: Computer Science

Why did you apply to this program and what do you hope to gain from the experience?:
I’ve never had a very linear idea of what an education should look like, which is probably why GS felt so right for me. Before Columbia, I studied in Tel Aviv, spent a year traveling through the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia with KIVUNIM, and started building companies somewhere in between classes, flights, and coffee shops. I wanted a program where those experiences wouldn’t feel separate from my education, but would actually add to it.

At Columbia, I’m hoping to be surrounded by people who are equally curious but have taken completely different routes to get here. I want to leave with stronger ways of thinking, people who challenge me, and probably a few ideas I haven’t thought of yet.

What are you most excited about as you begin your Columbia journey?:
The collision of everything.

I’m excited to go from studying in Tel Aviv to being on a campus in the middle of New York City, where I can take a class in the morning, meet someone building something completely unexpected in the afternoon, and end up at a lecture about a subject I knew nothing about that morning.

I’m especially excited about meeting people whose brains work completely differently from mine. I love entrepreneurship, technology, languages, cities, history, and marketing, and Columbia feels like one of the few places where I don’t have to choose just one of those things.

What's the best advice you've received and how will you carry that with you throughout your time at Columbia?:
“Everyone knows something you don’t.”

I love talking to people, genuinely anyone. I’m usually much more interested in hearing someone’s entire life story than making small talk. Some of the most random conversations I’ve had, with people I probably wasn’t “supposed” to meet, have completely changed the way I think about something.

So at Columbia, I want to keep doing exactly that. I want to talk to the person sitting next to me before class, professors about things that have nothing to do with the syllabus, people studying subjects I don’t understand, and people whose lives look completely different from mine. I think being curious about people is one of the best ways to learn.

What's on your NYC bucket list?:
I grew up in New York, so my bucket list is less about discovering the city for the first time and more about getting to experience it differently.

I met my husband while I was living in Israel, so I’m especially excited to come back to the city I grew up in and experience it with him, showing him the places that feel like my New York, while also finding completely new ones together.

I want to discover the tiny restaurants I somehow missed growing up, run routes through parts of the city I’ve only ever driven through, go to weird lectures and events just because the title sounds interesting, become aggressively loyal to one neighborhood spot, and keep a running list of places that make me think, how did I grow up here and never know this existed?

What's one thing people are always surprised to learn about you?:
Probably how many languages are floating around in my head at any given moment. I speak English, French, Spanish, and Hebrew, can read and write Hebrew, understand Italian, and at one point decided learning Arabic would also be a reasonable thing to add.

My brain occasionally chooses the wrong one mid-sentence.

Is there anything else you'd like to share about your background, something you're passionate about, or your proudest accomplishment?:
I’m slightly obsessed with the way people discover places, ideas, and each other.

That obsession has turned into entrepreneurship for me. I’ve spent the past couple of years building startups, including Sitti, a platform for people with great taste in cities to create and share curated maps, and WHYL, which experiments with turning the time people spend waiting for AI to generate into something useful.

Outside of startups, I love languages, running, ridiculously specific restaurant recommendations, Middle Eastern history, and learning things that have absolutely nothing to do with whatever I’m supposed to be studying.

One of the things I’m proudest of isn’t actually a startup, though. In high school, I founded a food pantry initiative that redistributed leftover school lunches, and I’ve stayed involved in community-service projects ever since. I like building things, but I care most when the thing being built is actually useful to someone.