“So many of the great opportunities I have had came solely because I put myself out there.....I put myself in the room, and I said, ‘I would love to do this if you’ll have me.’”
Shane Lischin ’26

Step Right Up

Seemingly, everyone took him up on the offer. Shane held leadership positions in many clubs and organizations at Loomis Chaffee, including Student Council vice president, co-president of the Shultz Fellows and the Jewish Student Union, and a member of the leadership team for the Financial Literacy program. He also was part of the tech crew in theater, for which he won a Morris H. Brown Senior Dance & Theater Arts Prize. Add that to the Charles Edgar Sellers Faculty Prize, which he received on Class Night, and a Founders Prize, which he was given junior year.

Even so, he didn’t always brim with self-confidence.

“There were so many opportunities that in my freshman year I was scared to do,” he says. “And later on I said, ‘This isn’t that bad.’ It’s like getting a shot at the doctor’s. ‘It’s going to be terrible, it’s going to be terrible,’ and it’s not that bad.”

Once Shane got a shot of confidence, there was no stopping him. He says he figured he’d try many things and see what he liked. “I think I enjoyed it all,” he says with a laugh, “so I kept doing it all.”

At the end of his sophomore year, he put himself out there again, running for Student Council. “I had not wanted to get up and give a speech and have people voting for me,” he recalls. But he did it anyway, and he was elected. Three months later, he was one of the student speakers at Head of School Jody Reilly Soja’s installation. 

“That’s funny,” he remembers. “Everyone afterward said, ‘You looked so confident, didn’t seem nervous at all.’ But my memory from that is standing at the podium and feeling my legs shaking so much I had to hang onto the podium because I was worried I would fall over.” He delivered, just as he did in many other ways during his four years. 

Shane has a keen interest in Holocaust education. He and a small group of peers, including classmates Sophie Singer and Eli Somberg, promoted Holocaust education by planning and hosting events and speakers about the topic, and they worked with faculty to “bring Holocaust education back and make it a strong part of the curriculum.” This achievement is one of Shane’s proudest accomplishments, and he is grateful for the faculty’s support. “That change in curriculum was only possible because the faculty was open to hearing us out,” he says.

In March Shane went on an International Education Program trip to Germany and Rome. In Rome he and his peers participated in the Yale Model United Nations Europe conference. And before that, the trip involved learning more about the Holocaust, visiting Dachau, the site of a concentration camp, and Nuremberg, where trials were held for the Nazis. 

The shared experience was meaningful. “It takes a particular group to be able to feel the emotions of such a powerful place together, and as a result you’re able to learn much more and think much further,” Shane says.

Quick Takes

College: Columbia University

Clubs/Activities/Awards: Student Council vice president, Model United Nations head delegate, head tour guide, co-president of the Jewish Student Union, co-president of the Shultz Fellows, Financial Literacy leadership team, theater tech crew, Global & Environmental Studies Certificate, Founders Prize, Morris H. Brown Senior Dance & Theater Arts Prize, Charles Edgar Sellers Faculty Prize

Favorite food: Anything his mom makes, but whenever he isn’t feeling well, her matzah ball soup “always makes me feel better.” 

If Loomis Chaffee came with a warning label, what would it be? “Warning! Will make you step out of your comfort zone.”

Back home: Shane grew up on a 100-acre full-service thoroughbred horse facility. He describes horses as “empathetic creatures” who sense what you feel. “You really have to build a relationship between yourself and the horse.” He also is interested in the business side
of horse racing. “There’s a fascinating science behind the pedigrees and horse breeding, so I spend a good amount of time looking at that.” He’s also a volunteer firefighter.