First-gen Bio grad sets sights on Climate Science and Policy at Bard
Aleksandra Belugin of New Windsor, N.Y. (center) assists with environmental research on the Hudson River alongside fellow students in Mount Saint Mary College’s Division of Natural Sciences.
Photo by Lee Ferris
Aleksandra Belugin of New Windsor, N.Y., a first-generation American and first-generation college student, graduated from the Mount with a degree in Biology and a commitment to champion environmental advocacy.
Weeks before Commencement, Belugin had already been accepted into the Master of Science in Climate Science and Policy program at Bard College. It’s a transition she feels well-prepared for after four years of intensive research and leadership at the Mount.
“I really am excited that I’ll be able to look at environmental issues through the scope of policy,” Belugin said, with the ultimate goal of helping officials to understand the scientific data and make more informed decisions when crafting laws.
Belugin’s Mount journey was shaped by unexpected health challenges. Contracting a viral infection post-COVID triggered an underlying autoimmune condition, Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, affecting her joints and mobility. Her dream of getting a college education hinged on finding a campus that was small, accessible, and supportive.
Mount Saint Mary College “had everything I needed as someone going into the mindset of their life having a major change,” she explained. “I’m suddenly disabled, but technically not, and I needed a college that was good with that.”
Belugin didn’t take her education lightly, and soon became a pillar of the Natural Sciences department. She served as the president of the Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society (Lambda Theta chapter) and vice president of the American Chemical Society affiliates for the Mid-Hudson section. She also spent two summers participating in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE), working alongside Lynn Maelia, professor of Chemistry, on microplastic analysis in the Hudson Valley.
The SURE program “was my first experience really building something of my own academically,” she explained. “It was mine to push forward and figure out what we wanted to do and then taking it to conferences and presenting that research.”
The industrious student credits much of her success to the close-knit faculty, specifically Maelia and Suparna Bhalla, associate professor of Biology, whom she affectionately refers to as her “Mount moms.”
“Coming to Mount Saint Mary College for biology, but honestly for anything, is the experience that will make you realize the type of person that you want to be,” Belugin explained. “Not who you have been, but who you are. It puts you on a path to really reckon with the world and what you’re learning, and it just puts you where you want to be in life.”
