Sofia Storey ’26 Named MMC’s 2026 Senior Class Speaker
Open gallery
As an MMC peer leader, Sofia Storey ’26 has spent the last three years helping new students adjust to college life, guiding them through everything from using the New York City subway to forging friendships on campus. Her dedication earned her the Peer Leader of the Year award last spring.
“It’s one of the things I’m most proud of from my time at MMC,” she said. “Coming to college can be so intimidating, but I hope I’ve helped lighten that experience for the students I’ve met.”
Next month, however, she’ll shift from ushering students into college to helping her classmates mark their passage from it. MMC has selected Storey, a San Francisco native, as the senior class speaker for its May 22 commencement ceremony at the United Palace theatre. The honor—among the most prestigious the College bestows on a graduating senior—gives Storey the opportunity to speak on behalf of her class before family, friends, faculty, and staff.
For Storey, a triple major in BFA Acting, BA Directing, and BA Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Theatrical Intimacy Practices, it’s a chance to flesh out the thoughts she’s been jotting down about her class’s journey since MMC announced that it would be merging with Northeastern University.
“When the merger was announced, I started a notes app on my phone where I would put down what I was feeling as I thought about the transition,” she said. “When I went back and read it, it became more than a place to collect thoughts—it became something I wanted to share with others.”
One of her goals is to help classmates see possibility amid so much change—for both the College community and for a graduating class on the cusp of its next chapter. “I hope they can see not just the uncertainty, but the opportunities ahead,” she said.
MMC’s graduating seniors were in their early years of high school when the COVID pandemic upended daily life and came of age just as in-person learning resumed. Storey said that experience shaped them into a class full of hardworking students intent on getting the most out of their college experience. “Because of COVID, we know what it is to lose time and what it means to take education and community for granted. In a way, many of us used college as a chance to do all the things we wish we’d done in high school.”
That hard work and effort mean they won’t leave MMC empty-handed—or as the same people who arrived four years ago, she added.
“My MMC education has meant so much to me. I’ve been given the space and opportunities to grow, challenge myself, and meet people who make me want to be better every day,” she said. “Over the past four years, I’ve really grown into myself, and I credit so much of that to Marymount. In my classes, I was pushed to form opinions about the world and share them. Now, as I’m leaving, I feel strong in who I am and what I want from the world—and that’s really exciting.”
The possibility of transformation was part of what drew Storey to MMC. “All of my other school options felt comfortable; I could envision exactly what the next four years would look like. At MMC, I couldn’t even picture what one day in my life would look like. I wanted something different from my high school experience, and I was excited that going to Marymount scared me a little.”
Some of that growth has revealed itself in her academic path. Storey initially enrolled at MMC as an Acting major, determined to have a career in musical theatre. “I thought that was the end-all be-all and that if you didn’t have a career in musical theatre and weren’t working on Broadway, you weren’t successful,” she said.
By sophomore year, though, she had begun exploring other dimensions of the theatre world, including Theatrical Intimacy Education, which trains performers to stage intimate material safely, ethically, and artistically. MMC had begun incorporating it into its Theatre curriculum in 2019. “MMC is really good at teaching a specialized approach for college education, and it made me realize that I wanted to go into intimacy training and do it full-time,” she said. Working with Visiting Assistant Professor Skye Bronfenbrenner, who specializes in movement, stage combat, and theatrical intimacy, and Theatre Arts department chair Jill Stevenson, she helped shape an Interdisciplinary Studies major with a concentration in Theatrical Intimacy Practices.
“Building a major from the ground up involves making sure that the education I’m receiving is balanced with both academic rigor and, due to the nature of my concentration, practical training,” Storey said. As part of that work, she served as intimacy coordinator for student productions under Bronfenbrenner’s direction and presented research from an independent study connected to her major, Theatrical Intimacy Practices in Contemporary Performance, at Honors Day.
Her sense of what a life in theatre could look like expanded in other ways, too. In her junior year, Storey took a directing class that resonated with her. “I loved it,” she said. “When I looked at the requirements, I realized I was only two or three classes away from adding a directing major, so I went for it.”
Now, when she imagines a theatre career after college, she imagines something far broader than she once did. “I’ve realized there are so many ways to be involved in theatre, and I want to be on or near a stage in whatever form that takes,” she said. “I’d love to move among the three areas I’m passionate about.”
She is equally eager to see fellow seniors reach their own versions of success. “Marymount offers the kind of performing arts program that celebrates individuality and creates so many paths for so many kinds of artists,” she said. “I’ve made invaluable connections here that make life after graduation feel exciting rather than scary.”
Published: April 30, 2026
MMC Salutes Scholarship, Community, and Tradition at Honors Day 2026
MMC recognized exceptional student achievement at its 2026 Honors Day Colloquium, celebrating the scholarship, creativity, and intellectual curiosity that have defined the College.
