More in Four: Student Profile of Nkatha Mwenda ’19

Nkatha Mwenda

Class of 2019
Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI
Major: Biology with a neuroscience concentration

Singer, Scientist, Poet and More

The “distinctly-K” stories of Nkatha Mwenda ’19 include these: poetry and neuroscience; close relationships with professors (one that even defied retirement); music; leadership; Ecuador; and a research internship at Johns Hopkins UniveNkatha Mwenda in the labrsity. Nkatha chose K for its open curriculum and the promise implicit in its intimate size. The freedom associated with the former nicely fits Nkatha’s penchant for exploring mystery, which explains in part this biology major’s keen interest in neuroscience and the ultimate “black box” of the human brain. Science has no monopoly on mystery. Art, for example, is a way to explore the mystery of identity. Nkatha always loved to read poems. During her sophomore fall she wanted to see if she could write them. And could she ever. One of her works, “Battleground,” (accepNkatha on study abroad in Quito, Ecuadorted and published by the Cauldron) shares the struggle and complexity of establishing, celebrating and preserving an identity that has sources in two cultures with a difficult and unjust history. The open curriculum brings together poetry and neuroscience; K’s size is perfect to bring together students and their professors. Nkatha’s first-year fall seminar professor, Professor Emeritus of Biology Paul Sotherland, retired soon after that term, but the two remained close, and Nkatha would share many a dinner at the Sotherland house. Her advisor, Associate Professor of Biology Michael Wollenberg, helped her secure a summer internship (Johns Hopkins University) doing bench research on age-related diabetes. The end of that experience featured a scientific gathering of various principal investigators at work on projects associated with the National Institute of Aging–a networking opportunity for chances to work with scientists exploring the aging brain. After the internship Nkatha was immediately off to Ecuador for study abroad. If her pace seems breathless, she has trained for it. In addition to her campus academics Nkatha served as a peer leader, a President’s Student Ambassador, an executive board member of the Women of Color Alliance, a member of KalamaAfrica and a singer in the a cappella group, the Lime Lights. Quite a “more-in-four” for more in a lifetime, made possible in part by gifts like yours to Kalamazoo College. Thank you!