About Us

Voted most likely to burn the Thresher office down, Riya spends the majority of her free time trying to microwave things that shouldn't go in the microwave. She is a senior double majoring in English and Social Policy Analysis, with a wicked talent for wearing the most uncomfortable shoes at any given moment. She likes Bojack Horseman and hummus, and is very sorry that she hasn't responded to your messages yet.

Although Maria, a Duncan senior, has lived most of her life in Houston, she was born in Kentucky, which she is most proud of, #KFC. Her passions include finishing her meal while finding something to watch on Netflix, window-shopping online and posting egregiously late trip recaps on Instagram. When not taking midday naps, she's probably making chai or finding new, innovative ways to procrastinate studying for her neuroscience exams.

Spring is a senior at Wiess majoring in Business and English. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she is disappointed that Houston has no mountains to hike but makes up for it by going to raves and trying funky fusion food (next up on the list is Viet-Cajun crawfish!). Once, she ate and enjoyed a deep-fried scorpion.

Sarah is a Duncan College junior triple majoring English, linguistics and medieval & early modern studies. When she isn't in the Thresher office, she's probably at one of her other jobs or reading 500 pages a day in Chaus. Her greatest accomplishment is being named the Thresher's best dressed staff member twice in a row.

James is a sophomore from Wiess College studying English and something else he has yet to decide on. Hailing from Massachusetts, James enjoys deluding himself into believing that Houston is walkable and can often be found playing high-stakes crossy road on various streets, avenues and highway ramps. His favorite hobby is media consumption, whether that is books, music, television or movies. He also enjoys some outdoorsy things and trying new restaurants around Houston.

Viola Hsia is a senior from Brown College, and currently one of the assistant news editors for the Thresher, having held the position since spring 2024. Previously, she was a senior news writer from 2022-2024. She has written for the Thresher since fall of 2021. Viola is also a managing coordinator for the Rice Players, a very proud member of Spontaneous Combustion (Rice's best and only improv comedy troupe), and is a professional actress, having appeared in Modern Love Season 2 and Fallout. She is a SAG-AFTRA member.

Belinda is a junior from McMurtry College studying Mathematical Economic Analysis and Statistics. Having grown up in Singapore, Belinda is fascinated by the amount of space in Houston and likes to explore on road trips. In her free time, she enjoys figure skating, taking pictures of everything, and exploring places to eat.

Sammy is a sophomore at Jones College studying History. When not working on the Thresher, you'll probably find him in his dorm room trying to crack old Call of Duty games on the highest levels, listening to contemporary Christian music, watching alternate history YouTube videos, or otherwise writing novels. Hailing from Seoul, South Korea, Sammy's comfort food is a good slice (or two) of kaya butter toast with a strong cup of coffee.

Shruti is a Martel sophomore from Illinois studying Operations Research and minoring in Sociology. When not rushing to Thresher meetings, Shruti loves rewatching old Bollywood movies, making her friends gourmet lattes, and going on speed walks around the inner loop to meet her step count.

Juliana is a junior at Sid Richardson college studying political science and English.

Arman Saxena is a proud member of Lovett College studying Statistics, Business, Cinema and Media Studies, and Data Science. Arman is a rising junior who in his free time enjoys seeing movies and listening to music (just look at what his articles are about), watching sports, going on late night food runs, and random assorted shenanigans.

Kathleen Ortiz, a Lovett College junior, is studying Social Policy Analysis and Sport Management. Ortiz is on the Rice Women's Club Soccer team, and she dabbles in every intramural sport Rice has to offer. When she isn't playing or watching sports, Ortiz is watching movies and logging them on Letterboxd or reading books and logging them on Goodreads.

Diego is a senior at Will Rice majoring in Political Science and Sociology. Dubbed as Thresher's "resident soccer expert" and "Backpage secret weapon", Diego takes pride in naming obscure sports facts and researching different types of comedy while succeeding at none of them. You can catch him hosting sports trivia at Pub or at Will Rice deviously planning the next Beer Bike sweep.

Andersen Pickard is a sophomore from Duncan College majoring in Statistics and Sport Analytics. He is also a Rice Baseball Analytics Intern who enjoys spending time at Reckling Park. Andersen drinks too much Diet Coke in the Rice Stadium press box and spends all day Sunday obsessing over his six fantasy football teams. Most of his hobbies involve sports, but you can also find him hanging out with friends, going on hikes with his family back home in New Hampshire, or listening to the 400+ songs in the country music playlist he created from scratch.

Andrew is a Lovett senior from the Chicago suburbs proper. As a POLI/MEOS/SOPA major, dsci/span minor, and student government devotee, he has regrettably yet failed to accrue enough campus engagements in conflict of interest to render him immune to Thresher interview inquiries. So now that he's left his cool escape room building club and committed to a Buffalo Exchange closet cleanse, Backpage is kind of the most interesting thing he's got going for him.

Charlie is a McMurtry College junior from Atlanta, Georgia studying Cognitive Science. They can be found crocheting tchotchkes and taking powderpuff way too seriously (ball is life). Ask them how a real Southerner pronounces "pecan": it's pecan, not pecan. Their simple pleasures on campus include typing loudly on Fondy 6th, chasing squirrels, and trying and failing to climb 45°.

Max is a sophomore from McMurtry College majoring in English and Anthropology with a minor in Politics, Law and Social Thought. Born and raised in Houston, he spends most of his spare time reorganizing his entire laptop. If he's not doing that, then he's probably taking pictures of curious phenomena, watching videos of cute (yet strange) animals, or getting through his colossal Letterboxd watchlist. Also, if you see him around campus, make sure to show him a whimsical image or video on your phone -- he'll probably ask you to AirDrop it to him.

Will is a Brown College sophomore from Connecticut studying Social Policy Analysis. In his free time, Will enjoys watching NBC sitcoms from the 2000s, playing/watching tennis, and making low-ball offers on Depop. He is also an avid enjoyer of music, holding himself to a strict one-concert-a-month rule (no more, but definitely no less). Will's four-year-plan hinges upon him winning Survivor, or Big Brother at the very least.

Annika is a senior at Martel College majoring in Anthropology. When Annika isn't ridding the world of Oxford commas (except for this webpage, grr) she is most likely talking incessantly about her hometown of Seattle, pretending she isn't allergic to fruit, hauling her fat cat to the Thresher office or drinking an extremely reasonable amount of coffee.

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Cali is a senior at Duncan College majoring in Psychology and Visual Arts, with minors in Environmental Studies and Neuroscience. She is from San Diego, California, and enjoys taking photographs, traveling, designing graphics and clothes, reading, exploring nature, and playing club lacrosse and soccer.

Francesca is a junior at McMurtry from New York, NY, majoring in Computer Science. She enjoys taking photos and perfecting her photography skills, as well as baking and going to museums. She's always overdressed, so don't be surprised when she shows up to class in sundresses on a regular basis. When she's not stressing about all the work she has to do (because she signed up for too many classes and is too stubborn to drop one..), catch her making a juicy peach cobbler in one of the tiny Murt kitchens or exploring fun things to do in Houston.

Steven is a Sophomore Film Major and Politics, Law and Social Thought Minor at Duncan College. When not making videos for the Thresher, Steven can be seen rating everything he watches onto Letterboxd, not finishing his 10-page essay due tomorrow and praying on Drake's downfall.

Ayaan is a junior at Will Rice College studying Computer Science and minoring in Computational and Applied Mathematics & Data Science. Ayaan can often be found in traffic, cursing the local infrastructure whilst trying to find a fishing hole in Houston of all places. Other habits of this lanky giant include taste testing spicy chicken sandwiches, using his height for good, and typing in VS Code like it's a text editor (like when making this page).

Alice is a senior from Will Rice studying Health Science and Sports Medicine on a pre-dental track. She really likes birds, and can often be found admiring a variety of feathered friends around Rice campus. In her free time, Alice enjoys doing yarn crafts, exploring the Houston food & boba scene, procrastinating her classwork, and lamenting about how much she misses the desert landscape of her hometown Las Vegas.

Chloe is a senior at Will Rice College majoring in Cognitive Sciences and Art History. Commonly spotted around campus wearing sunglasses 24/7 (yes, even at night), this ex-competitive gymnast's favorite pastimes include visiting museums of all types, designing for Flame & Fortune (Will Rice's merch brand!), watching movies (Inception anyone?), and occasionally making late night boba runs against her better judgment. Notably, one of her greatest weaknesses (or is it a strength?) is that she can't handle caffeine so if she's awake at 4am that's probably why…

Siddhi is a senior at Sid Richardson majoring in Computer Science and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She spends most of her time listening to music and distracting herself by getting into multiple-hour-long conversations. When not designing for the Thresher, she likes exploring cafes in Houston, trying new food, and spending all her tetra at CHAUS.

Jessica is a Jones College sophomore from a suburb of Massachusetts hoping to study Health Sciences and Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences. She recently relocated to Dallas and is currently searching passionately for green spaces across Texas to hike and bike. When she is not obsessively color-coding her Google Calendar, you can find Jessica curating Spotify playlists, baking cookies (but not eating them), volunteering in the garden, and leaving her violin in odd spots around campus.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Kirstie is a sophomore at Hanszen studying architecture. From New York, she firmly believes that they have the best bagels. In her free time she enjoys traveling and photography. She also loves to swim and going to the beach. When she's not napping, you can find her trying new restaurants around Houston.

Lauren is a senior at Jones College who has spent most of her life on Long Island, NY. She's majoring in Computer Science with minors in Data Science and Biosciences. She has a terrible sense of direction, but if she's not struggling to make her way across campus, you can probably find her drinking coffee at Chaus, adding to her extensive collection of Spotify playlists, taking photos of campus squirrels or obsessing over cute dogs.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Alina Zhong is a sophomore at Wiess majoring in Economics and minoring in Business and English. At any given time, they can be found doomscrolling instead of working at Chaus, Sammy's, Fondy, or commons. In their free time, they enjoy curating hyper-specific Spotify playlists, writing poetry and Letterboxd reviews, and impulse-booking tattoo appointments.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Madison is a junior at Duncan and a Houston suburbanite studying Civil Engineering with a certificate in French. She is a professional city-girl and is constantly looking for new ways to get around Houston. In her free time, Madison enjoys practicing with the Duncan Beer Bike team, going for long walks instead of studying for exams, and watching the same six comfort TV series because she knows she won't be disappointed.