Isabelle Kapoian

Student standing in front of Waysmeet Center

Isabelle Kapoian ’21 lives by the mantra “Do what you fear and fear disappears.” Suffering from Lyme disease throughout the majority of her high school experience, Isabelle took advantage of the opportunity to start over in a new environment at UNH. “Now that I had energy, I just wanted it to be everything. I felt like I was trying to make up for lost time.” 

At first, conquering her fears included simply talking for 20 minutes with someone she didn’t know. Later it would grow into studying abroad and applying for roles for which she didn’t always feel qualified. “I was always the one pushing myself out of my comfort zone.” Ultimately for Isabelle, the journey was about personal growth or what she describes as “becoming more.”

While participating in the MLK Summit during her first year, Isabelle would begin to develop a passion for social justice work. She would also meet mentor Larry Brickner-Wood, former UNH chaplain and executive director of the Waysmeet Center. Isabelle regularly attended events at Waysmeet and served as an associate chaplain – a role focused on empowering and engaging fellow students and nurturing more just communities. Still, being unexpectedly celebrated in her first year at UNH by friends and community members for painting the “Still I Rise” mural on the front steps of the Waysmeet Center confirmed she belonged.

During her sophomore year, Isabelle also recalls being moved by the words of Syrian spoken word poet Amal Kassir at an event in the Memorial Union Building. The two would speak afterwards and, through a moment of shared empathy, Isabelle would reconnect with her Armenian heritage and identity.  Isabelle recalled hearing survival stories of the Armenian Genocide during her childhood from her Armenian community and connecting to her ancestry with her grandmother who immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey. “Every time I speak with her, I am transported back in time to the old country.” Then in 2020, the Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Artsakh. For 44 days, Isabelle closely followed the tragedy unfolding and decided to dedicate her senior thesis to reframing the cultural erasure and art washing of the ethnic Armenian  monuments, artifacts, and cultural goods in Artsakh by Azerbaijan.  For Isabelle, the work is not about healing but rather survival - “it is about documenting these sites before they are destroyed or irrevocably changed.”

Isabelle’s study abroad experience in Florence, Italy during the spring of her sophomore year gave her the opportunity to explore a place renowned for its preservation of culture, but her time there didn’t turn out quite as expected.  In fact, she describes it as one of the loneliest experiences of her life. After class, she would spend hours walking around the city just to fill the time. Ultimately the city would provide solace through spontaneous interactions with street performers or the unanticipated connection with elderly Italian women at a pro-choice demonstration. “By the end, I got comfortable with myself being alone in a place where no one knew me…the loneliness turned almost into a kind of comfort.  I was just enjoying what was around me more – I wasn’t framing it as me being alone but me experiencing something.” 

Brickner-Wood describes Isabelle as “an amplifier of others.”  Through her ongoing work in The Beauregard Center for Equity, Justice, and Freedom, Isabelle has served as social justice program coordinator, student coordinator for the Audrey Lorde Summit (formerly MLK Summit), and has previously acted as one of two student representatives on the University Commission for Community, Equity, and Diversity. According to Lu Butterfield-Ferrell, associate director of the Beauregard Center, “Isabelle has been an active and engaged member of our community fighting for equity and change and educating to make UNH an inclusive and accepting place for people with minoritized identities.” Isabelle also received a Peter T. Paul College Inclusion Award for her work in the UNH community.   

As a member of the Honors program, a Presidential Scholar, and Hamel Scholar, Isabelle continues to excel academically. With a major in economics, a minor in international affairs, and second minor in art, Isabelle plans to pursue a career working in the international art market or for cultural property rights. Fascinated by the “intersection of art as a commodified good,” Isabelle seeks answers to questions about art from an interdisciplinary lens.  She is also considering a law degree with a focus on intellectual property rights or cultural property law.

While COVID has limited opportunities over the past year, Isabelle continues to find ways to challenge her fears and reflect on her experience. “I’ve learned to have more compassion and patience for the journey and how growth happens.” Despite almost transferring in her first semester at UNH, Isabelle wouldn’t change a thing. “The people I have met have made staying a complete blessing.”

Watch Isabelle's Story