For Miyani Sonera ’27, a biology project about soccer was as much about learning the research process as it was about the result. “Getting to design a study, analyze data and see it published, that was incredible,” she said. “It showed me how much there is to explore when you ask the right questions.”
In soccer, chemistry might outweigh star power.
A new study from Kalamazoo College, published in Football Studies, found that a soccer player’s individual ability accounts for only about 11% of performance variation in small-sided games. Their combination with teammates? Roughly double that.
In the study, Associate Professor Santiago Salinas, soccer alumnus Shun Yonehara ’24 and student-athlete Miyani Sonera ’27 ran 78 small-sided matches—three-on-three, men and women, rotating teammates through ever-changing combinations. Because each athlete played with many different teammates, the researchers were able to separate the influence of individual ability from the impact of specific teammate combinations.
The research drew inspiration from an unlikely source in quantitative genetics. “In biology, we often separate the effects of genes and environment to understand why organisms differ,” Salinas said. “We realized we could apply the same idea to soccer. Players are like genotypes, teammates are the environment, and performance is the resulting phenotype.”
What they found surprised even the researchers. Individual player effects accounted for only about 11% to 12% of the variation in performance, while teammate combinations explained 20% to 23%. The rest, nearly two-thirds, remained unpredictable, likely influenced by opponent dynamics, moment-to-moment decisions, and the inherent randomness of low-scoring games.
“When you actually see the numbers, it’s eye-opening,” Yonehara said. “I expected teamwork to matter, but I didn’t expect individual impact to be that small.”
For Yonehara, the research question was personal. A biology major who played soccer throughout his life, he had long felt that games are won in moments that often miss the highlight reels.
“People talk about great teams like they’re just a collection of great individuals,” he said. “But from playing, you know that without cohesion, without players doing the unseen work, the whole thing falls apart.”
The study also compared match performance with traditional skill assessments including passing accuracy, dribbling speed, shooting precision and ball control. Those measures, commonly used in evaluations and tryouts, did not strongly predict how much a player helped their team in games.
“That was a big takeaway for me,” Sonera said. “Being great in isolated drills doesn’t necessarily translate to being effective in real gameplay.”
Sonera, who has loved soccer since childhood, was drawn to the project because it merged science with a sport built on collaboration.
“Soccer demands understanding your teammates,” she said. “That’s part of what makes it beautiful. This research puts numbers behind that idea.”
Shun Yonehara ’24 currently works as a research assistant for Momoko Yoshimoto, an associate professor at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker, M.D., School of Medicine.
Associate Professor of Biology Santiago Salinas traditionally teaches classes such as vertebrate biology and human physiology. His research interests include his work in the K Fish Lab, where he and his student collaborators study the ways fish populations cope with changes in the environment.
In the men’s dataset, the researchers observed that teams made up of complementary roles such as a scorer, a facilitator and a defensive-minded player tended to outperform teams of similar player types. Although that pattern did not appear in the women’s data, Salinas cautioned that the difference might reflect sample size rather than a fundamental distinction.
Together, the results challenge conventional approaches to scouting and performance analysis, which often rely on individual statistics or fixed lineups.
“Our findings suggest that some players make everyone around them better,” Salinas said. “But that kind of impact is hard to see unless players are tested in multiple contexts.”
Sonera hopes coaches take that message seriously.
“I’d like to see coaches think beyond who looks best on their own,” she said. “Building balanced lineups and focusing on how players connect could make a huge difference.”
Yonehara echoed that idea, comparing team building to constructing a well-balanced system rather than collecting stars.
“It’s like building chemistry in a video game or a trading card deck,” he said. “It’s not just about rating, it’s about fit.”
Although the study focused on soccer, the researchers believe the approach could apply broadly across team sports, particularly those that are fluid and fast paced, such as basketball or hockey.
For the research team, the findings support a long-held belief in team sports that what matters is not just who the players are, but how they work together.
Eleanor Pinkham ’48, director emerita of Library and Media Services, died on March 24, 2026. She was 99.
As a student at Kalamazoo College, Eleanor majored in sociology with minors in music and French and was recognized with the Todd Sociological Prize. She was active on campus as a member of the Eurodelphian Literary Society, the College Singers, and the Gaynor Club women’s singing group, and she served on the student newspaper staff. After graduating in 1948, Eleanor married her classmate, the late James Pinkham ’48.
Eleanor received a Master of Library Science degree in 1967 from Western Michigan University and attended the Oxford Library Seminar at the University of Oxford, England, in 1985. She began her career at K as circulation supervisor in the Upjohn Library in 1964. Over nearly three decades, she held a series of roles: assistant librarian for public service (1967-70), acting director (1970-71), and library director (1971-82). She was named director of library and media services in 1982, a role she held until her retirement in 1993.
Her tenure was marked by significant growth and innovation. Under her leadership, the library’s endowment grew by more than $2 million.
Eleanor Pinkham ’48 shows a student how to use a computer in 1976.
She helped to bring new technology to campus, spearheading the installation of Kalamazoo’s first online union cataloging system through the Ohio College Library Center and directing the implementation of the College’s first integrated computerized library system. Eleanor also helped curate and grow the rare book collection in the Library’s A.M. Todd Rare Book Room, establishing a series of student-developed exhibits and programs.
She was an active member of numerous state and national professional organizations, serving on and chairing committees for the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Library Administration and Management Association, the Michigan Library Association, and the Michigan Library Consortium. Among her many honors, Eleanor was named Michigan Librarian of the Year in 1986 and received the Michigan Library Consortium Distinguished Service Award in 1982. In 1993, she was honored with the Weimer K. Hicks Award in appreciation for her leadership and service to Kalamazoo College. She was highly regarded as a role model and caring mentor to students and employees alike.
A Celebration of Life will take place on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes, 1730 E. Grand River Ave, East Lansing. A one-hour visitation begins at 11 a.m., followed by a noon service and a reception immediately following. An obituary will appear in the fall issue of LuxEsto.
A Michigan Environmental Council representative who wants to keep the state’s water clean, filled with wildlife, and available to all Michiganders will speak at Kalamazoo College on Earth Day.
Reese Dillard, the council’s water policy coordinator, will deliver a keynote titled Relationship Building: A Means to Energize a Political Movement at the 2026 Senior Integrated Project (SIP) Sustainability Symposium. Her talk will begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, 205 Monroe St. Senior presentations will follow at 7:30 p.m.
Dillard argues that political engagement can be challenging, but affecting change for the sake of the environment is possible through building relationships and making connections. By doing so, Michigan can grow a community of individuals committed to policy that prioritizes environmental success and collaborative government.
Before joining the environmental council, Dillard worked for Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski and as a field service technician for a botanical garden and arboretum. She holds a degree in political science from the University of Michigan and has taken coursework in criminal justice and corrections at Siena Heights University.
SIPs at K are capstone experiences, a lot like a senior thesis. A total of 17 seniors will present their work tied to sustainability including Luke Werner ’26, who looked at history to examine how we can protect the modern-day Great Lakes; and Hailey Yoder ’26, who worked toward coral reef restoration in the Galápagos Islands.
Reese Dillard, the Michigan Environmental Council’s water policy coordinator, will speak on Earth Day—Wednesday, April 22—at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.
On summer mornings along the shores of the Great Lakes, Kalamazoo College student Luke Werner ’26 recognizes the rhythm of the water as something almost instinctive, shaped by years of fishing trips, charter boats and stories of salmon runs. And what began as a personal connection to Michigan’s waters became something far more ambitious: a deep historical investigation into how those waters were nearly lost and what their past can teach us about protecting them today.
Werner spent the past year immersed in archives, government reports and decades-old ecological data to complete his Senior Integrated Project (SIP). Unlike many sustainability-focused projects rooted in biology or environmental science, Werner’s work emerged from the history department—an intentional choice that underscores a central argument of his research: understanding environmental crises requires an understanding of the past.
His project traces the rise, collapse and partial recovery of fish populations in the Great Lakes, revealing how human decisions over centuries, rather than a single ecological disruption, set the stage for disaster.
“I wanted to go back and really look at the history of the region,” Werner said. “We tend to latch onto big moments, including the invasions and the tipping points. But the more I learned, the more I realized those were just the final dominoes.”
A Crisis Centuries in the Making
Long before invasive species such as sea lampreys and alewives devastated the lakes in the mid-20th century, the ecosystem had already been strained by human impact. Werner points to a gradual shift away from the reciprocal relationship Indigenous communities such as the Anishinaabe had with the land.
“The crisis wasn’t just caused by these fish showing up,” he said. “It was enabled by hundreds of years of decisions, including overfishing, damming rivers and pollution. We refused to cooperate with the lakes.”
By the time invasive species entered through shipping routes and canals, native fish populations were already vulnerable. The result was catastrophic as sea lampreys decimated large fish, while alewife numbers escalated.
“It genuinely became an international crisis,” Werner said. “You had industries collapsing, thousands of jobs lost, and entire ecosystems out of balance.”
The Man Behind the Salmon
In the 1950s, Howard Tanner, a fisheries biologist, was at the center of the most pivotal response to that crisis, as his bold proposal helped reshape the Great Lakes.
Werner holds a large mouth bass.
Sustainability SIP Symposium Scheduled
Kalamazoo College will celebrate Environmental Education Week April 20-24. Events will include the annual Sustainability SIP Symposium on April 22, which is Earth Day, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. The event will honor more than a dozen students from a variety of majors who pursued themes of climate change, the environment, and sustainability in their research and projects. For more information, watch envirostewardship.kzoo.edu.
Tanner, who had experience studying salmon in the Western United States, proposed introducing Pacific salmon, specifically coho and Chinook, into the Great Lakes as a biological control for alewives.
“He knew salmon were strong, cold-water fish that could survive in the lakes,” Werner said. “And more importantly, they prey on alewives.”
At the time, the idea was far from an assured solution. Introducing another non-native species carried risks, especially in an already unstable ecosystem. But Tanner framed it as a calculated, science-driven intervention.
“It was a gamble, but it was an intentional one,” Werner said. “That’s the difference. These fish were chosen.”
Within a year of Tanner’s proposal, hundreds of thousands of salmon were released into the lakes. The alewife populations plummeted, and a new recreational fishing economy took shape.
“Tanner’s work didn’t just help stabilize the ecosystem,” Werner said. “It created this entire multi-billion-dollar recreational industry that still exists today.”
A Solution That Requires Constant Attention
Werner is careful not to describe the salmon introduction as a clean victory.
“It’s more like it was managed into something sustainable and only with constant effort,” he said.
Today, fish populations in the Great Lakes are still carefully balanced through a combination of stocking decisions, invasive species control and strict regulations. Too many salmon can deplete alewife populations, which in turn harms the salmon themselves. Too few salmon allow alewives to rebound.
“It’s a cat-and-mouse game,” Werner said. “They actually have to adjust how many salmon they introduce each year to keep everything in balance.”
That balancing act extends beyond species management. Werner points to modern environmental protections such as limits on commercial fishing, pollution controls and habitat preservation as direct responses to past failures.
At one point, Michigan alone had more than 10,000 commercial fishing licenses. Today, that number has dropped to just a few dozen.
“That’s one of the biggest changes,” he said. “We’ve shifted from this mindset of extraction to something much more intentional.”
Why History Matters
For Werner, the most important takeaway from his project isn’t just what happened, but how we understand it.
“It’s really critical to analyze and reflect on our past,” he said. “We repeat the same mistakes all the time if we don’t.”
By placing environmental issues in a historical context, his work reveals the complexity behind them, showing that crises are rarely sudden and solutions are rarely simple.
“Being a history major, it’s impossible for me to take things at face value,” Werner said. “There are always layers—economic, social, political—that shape what happens.”
That perspective, he argues, is essential for anyone working in sustainability.
“I wanted to move beyond the big headlines, the big titles, and the simple understanding of history and look at the myriad causes of these issues from the late 1600s through the 1950s,” he said. “Realistically, there were hundreds of different factors that led to this crisis.”
Looking Ahead
As Werner considers a future in environmental work—whether with state agencies, conservation groups or fisheries management—his SIP serves as a capstone and a starting point. What began as a personal connection to the Great Lakes has evolved into a deeper understanding of how fragile yet resilient those systems can be.
“It’s changed how I see the lakes,” he said. “It’s not just about what’s in them, it’s about our relationship with them.”
As his research clarifies, that relationship—shaped over centuries—will determine how the Great Lakes are sustained for generations to come.
“If we could get some agreements between governments—even if it’s just state and provincial governments—I think that would be a big boon for the environmental and economic success of the region,” he said.
Civic Engagement Scholar Lyrica Gee ’26 (far right) and her K Votes teammates planned strategies that helped students with voting.
When Lyrica Gee ’26 began helping classmates navigate voting, she saw firsthand how access to information could shape civic participation. Now, her efforts are earning national recognition.
Gee has been named to the ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll, recognizing her work to advance nonpartisan voter registration, education and turnout at Kalamazoo College. A Civic Engagement Scholar with K Votes, Gee is one of 168 students nationwide selected for the fifth annual honor roll from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. She is the first student to be involved in K Votes across all four of her years at the College.
K Votes is a nonpartisan coalition that promotes voting and civic engagement among students, faculty and staff through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement. This marks the fourth consecutive year that a K Votes Civic Engagement Scholar has received the recognition.
Support K Experiences
Lyrica’s experience is one example of how donor support powers the K experience, with scholarships helping ensure students can pursue meaningful opportunities inside and outside the classroom. Make a gift to support K students at www.kzoo.edu/onlinegiving.
Through her work with K Votes, Gee helped fellow students register to vote, understand key issues and access information about local and state ballot measures.
“K Votes has been a defining piece of my Kalamazoo College experience,” Gee said. “The people I have met and the lessons I have taken away have developed my leadership skills and helped me feel as if one person truly can make a difference. Politics can seem like a scary endeavor to embark on alone, but with the hard work of K Votes participants and leaders as well as our institutional support through the CCE, this type of engagement has become second nature to me. I am so thankful that this opportunity I selected as a first-year student has turned out to be so beneficial for my personal development and that of the campus community.”
The Center for Civic Engagement has supported student voter engagement for nearly 20 years, working with faculty, staff and student leaders to build campuswide initiatives. In recent years, Civic Engagement Scholars have strengthened those efforts by expanding community partnerships and organizing voter education events, advocacy initiatives and outreach to help students cast their ballots.
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge works with more than 1,000 colleges and universities across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, representing more than 10 million students.
“From hosting registration drives to initiating conversations with classmates in the hallway, our 2026 Student Voting Honor Roll is filled with students who exemplify what it means to be leaders in civic engagement,” said Jen Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “We are thrilled to celebrate their accomplishments and excited to see their continued impact as we approach this year’s midterm elections.”
Activist, author, and attorney Sandra Barnhill, JD will return to Kalamazoo College this month for a series of events, including two open to the public, focused on the balance between advocating for social change and preserving one’s sense of purpose.
Barnhill will discuss her book, Tough Mind, Tender Heart: Reflections on a Black Woman’s Activist Journey, from 2–4 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at the Black Arts and Cultural Center, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall, Suite 102.
She will also deliver a keynote address at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in Room 103 of Dewing Hall, 1219 Academy St. Both events, which will feature cultural curator LJ Hollingsworth, and will explore what it means to find one’s voice in a complex world.
Advance registration is encouraged for the April 18 event to help plan for attendance. Guests may register online and walk-ins are welcome.
Barnhill is the founder and former CEO of Foreverfamily, formerly Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers, a national nonprofit based in Atlanta that works with children and families impacted by parental incarceration, providing mentoring, leadership development, and advocacy to support long-term stability and opportunity. In 2018, she founded Sandra Barnhill and Associates, a consulting firm focused on advancing social justice and strengthening nonprofit organizations. She was named a Leadership for a Changing World awardee in 2004. Today, she continues that work alongside aspiring and seasoned activists, offering guidance to those navigating the demands of sustained social change.
Barnhill has long-standing ties to Kalamazoo College. As a founding visiting fellow at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in 2011, she conducted research on intergenerational mentoring and social justice leadership in activist communities. She also co-facilitated a course titled Social Justice Leadership Fundamentals, sparking the creation of the College’s first Diva Brunch, an empowerment-focused gathering for women of color students.
Her book chronicles a four-decade career in activism, offering candid reflections on the challenges and rewards of working for social change. It encourages readers to engage in activism at any level and underscores the importance of diverse voices in the pursuit of justice.
Meghan London ’26 stands with Ida Puliwa Mwango, the founder of the Othakarhaka Foundation, outside the organization’s headquarters in Malawi.
The first time Meghan London ’26 set foot in Malawi, Africa, she didn’t yet know she would one day build her Senior Integrated Project (SIP) around a nonprofit organization there. But standing in the heat with her family in 2023, watching women pause their work in the fields to greet visitors they were just meeting, she began to understand something she would carry back with her to Kalamazoo College: generosity can thrive even where resources don’t.
That realization now sits at the heart of London’s work. A double major in anthropology and political science, she has spent the past year documenting the efforts of the Othakarhaka Foundation, a group that helps girls overcome barriers to education. Her project, housed in critical ethnic studies, draws on interviews, field research, and personal experience to tell the stories of young women whose lives have been reshaped by their access to education.
Secondary school requires fees in Malawi, and in many families, boys are prioritized when resources are limited. Additionally, London quickly learned that the barriers facing girls extend beyond tuition costs.
“Girls may be expected to take care of relatives or spend hours helping their families by collecting firewood,” London said. “Othakarhaka looks at all of those factors.”
That holistic approach became a central theme of her research. The organization, for example, plants trees closer to villages so that girls don’t have to travel long distances for firewood. It operates a health clinic, so illness doesn’t derail education. It provides meals, bicycles, and even a library, implementing small interventions that collectively enhance attendance.
In July 2025, with support from the Center for International Programs, London returned to Malawi for two weeks to conduct her fieldwork. She interviewed about a dozen young women, most between the ages of 18 and 25, all of whom had been connected to Othakarhaka. Their stories, she said, were varied but shared common threads.
“Some were still in school, some were teen mothers, and many had faced financial barriers,” London said. “But all of them talked about how much the organization helped them continue their education and improve their lives.”
In Malawi, pregnancy often ends a girl’s formal education. Schools don’t allow pregnant students to attend, and returning after childbirth is rare. Othakarhaka works to change that, advocating for young mothers and helping them reenter school when possible. For London, those interviews were among the most meaningful parts of her project.
“They were so determined,” she said. “Some wanted to start businesses, some wanted to go into trades like welding, and one wanted to go to law school. Many of them said they wanted to give back by passing on the kindness once they were able to.”
That phrase “passing on the kindness” is a model for how the Othakarhaka Foundation operates, and it’s embedded into what they aim to do. Program volunteers are encouraged to support others when they can. That creates a cycle of community investment that London found both practical and inspiring.
“It’s not just about receiving help,” she said. “It’s about becoming someone who can help others.”
London inside the Othakarhaka Foundation headquarters while she was in Malawi for her SIP.
London plants a tree at the headquarters with the help of volunteers. The trees create environmental sustainability and represent the volunteers’ kindness.
About the Othakarhaka Foundation
The Othakarhaka Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Mulanje, Malawi, dedicated to increasing educational access for girls through a holistic approach that addresses financial, social and logistical barriers. Programs include school-fee sponsorship, a health clinic, a library, a sewing school, tree-planting initiatives, and girls’ empowerment camps. The organization is supported by thousands of volunteers and donors worldwide. Learn more at the Othakarhaka Foundation website or donate to the organization online.
While in Malawi, London also observed a girls’ empowerment camp hosted by the organization. Dozens of participants gathered to learn arts, music and dance, culminating in a community performance.
“The goal is for girls to feel like they can accomplish things, that their education matters, and that people care about them,” London said.
Her work has been guided by Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas. But London is also quick to credit those on the ground in Malawi, particularly the organization’s founders—Ida Puliwa Mwango and Ted Mt Mwango—for making the experience possible.
“They were incredibly generous with their time and support,” she said. “They invited me to stay at their house for a week, and they drove me to and from the organization. My project wouldn’t exist without them. They’re inspiring people, especially Ida. She is determined to change the world. I hope I can be a lot like her because she’s doing something meaningful.”
That perspective is already shaping London’s future. After graduation, she hopes to work in sustainable development, ideally with organizations that take the kind of long-term, community-centered approach she observed in Malawi.
“I want to create positive change,” she said. “And I think this kind of work, building systems that actually last, is important.”
For now, her project stands as an academic achievement and a personal turning point with a story of connection that began with a family trip and grew into a deeper commitment to global equity. At its core is a simple idea, carried across continents and communities alike: that kindness, when passed on, can multiply.
“This shows how valuable education is and how it can really change someone’s life,” London said. “A quality that I really took away from the organization and the work it does is that it encourages those it helps to ‘pass on the kindness’ once they are able to, helping others the way they were helped through volunteering, donations, and other forms of support. My SIP shows that the work Othakarhaka does has been incredibly meaningful for many different individuals.”
For so many alumni, Kalamazoo College wasn’t just where they went to school; it was a place that felt like home, from the friendships they forged to the passions they discovered. On May 6, the Day of Gracious Giving, K’s annual one-day fundraising celebration, invites alumni, parents and friends of the College to invest in those same experiences for today’s students.
“When I talk with alumni and they reflect on their time at K, they talk about more than academics. They talk about discovering who they are, the mentorship they received, and the lifelong connections they built,” said Lindsay O’Donohue, senior director of constituent programs and annual giving, whose team organizes the Day of Gracious Giving. “That’s what inspires them to give back, ensuring that every student who comes to K can find their place here too.”
Why Your Gift Matters
The Day of Gracious Giving is the College’s largest annual fundraising event, powered by participation. Gifts made throughout the day go to work right away, funding scholarships, programs, faculty, and K’s highest priorities.
The 2026 Day of Gracious Giving is May 6.
With 98 percent of students receiving scholarships or financial aid, donor support helps ensure that a K education remains accessible.
“From first-time donors to longtime supporters, every gift—no matter the size—helps support the quintessential K experiences that students carry with them long after graduation,” O’Donohue said.
How to Get Involved
Building on last year’s momentum, this year’s goal is to grow participation to 1,200 donors across the K community.
Visit the Day of Gracious Giving page to hear directly from students and make your tax-deductible gift. Matches and challenges throughout the day will amplify each contribution, unlocking additional support as more donors participate.
You can also spread the word about the Day of Gracious Giving by sharing a quick message with classmates and friends, posting on social media about why you chose to give to K, and sharing K’s Day of Gracious Giving content.
“As a community, we can make a real difference in a single day,” O’Donohue said. “I invite everyone who believes in the power of a K education to join us on May 6.”
When Amy MacMillan, the L. Lee Stryker Professor of Business at Kalamazoo College, sat down with Matt Shankle to talk through a vision for her Principles of Marketing course, neither could have predicted exactly where it would lead. But their partnership resulted in one of the most hands-on learning experiences her course has ever offered: students were tasked with devising a plan to help Heritage Community—a senior living facility in the Portage area—evolve to meet the future needs, wants and desires of prospective Baby Boomer clients.
“Once we just got started and let things evolve from there, I think it energized both of us and some additional faculty at K,” said Shankle, the vice president of marketing and business development at Heritage Community of Kalamazoo.
Along the way, students met regularly with Shankle and Heritage residents who visited campus. Their work extended beyond the textbook, as they built out detailed proposals through a series of weekly milestones and ultimately traveled to Heritage to present their finished plans in person.
Meet the Market Where It Lives
Organized into groups of four or five, the students began their work with research. They fanned out to interview members of the Baby Boomer generation—including grandparents, friends’ parents and neighbors—seeking to learn what mattered most to them as they approached or entered retirement. Groups channeled those insights into their projects.
A group that included Agustin Creamer ’28, for example, called its concept Heritage Hub: a membership-based lifestyle hub open to residents and nonresidents of Heritage, offering pickleball, yoga, fitness classes, a pool, dining services, a coffee shop and private event space. The idea was to let people experience the Heritage community and build connections there without requiring the full commitment of moving in.
“We combined two of the main things that we thought Baby Boomers would want: an active lifestyle and socializing,” he said.
Jack Hartung ’27, a junior from Ann Arbor majoring in political science and business, described how his group’s research revealed the importance of intergenerational connections and maintaining independence. Their proposal had two parts: a subscription service for Heritage residents to access outings—such as plays, sporting events and restaurants downtown—and an idea for Heritage to acquire houses in a central location for a more independent, upscale alternative to traditional assisted living.
“Matt and the Heritage residents who came to class seemed receptive to those ideas, but Matt also talked with us about the importance of density and the feasibility of buying a neighborhood of houses,” Hartung said. “Different residents would have different mobility levels, too, so having a whole house might not be best for them. We transitioned that into having one floor of an apartment building that didn’t feel like assisted living.”
Basi Okromchedlishvili ’28 described her group’s concept as “bringing Florida to Michigan” with a resort-style addition to Heritage complete with a pool, sauna, spa and themed events, designed to evoke the warm-weather retreats that Baby Boomers are known to seek in retirement.
Students and Baby Boomers worked together to imagine the future of senior living.
Basi Okromchedlishvili ’28 met with her group and a Heritage resident to talk about the future of senior living.
“Most of the residents were excited about it,” she said. “They were the ones who recommended theme nights. Matt gave us some recommendations about what we could include, like the sauna, and he also mentioned it being open to the public to generate more revenue so the residents wouldn’t have to worry about costs so much. Even with that idea, we had to make sure that it was mostly focused on Heritage and their residents.”
Elisabeth Wilks ’28, a Kalamazoo native majoring in quantitative economics, said her group zeroed in on a project targeting purpose and service. The idea tapped into the intergenerational connection that students experienced in class by having Baby Boomers serve as mentors.
“The shift to retirement can be difficult,” she said. “Our interviews revealed how much it matters to retirees that they make meaningful contributions after spending decades in the working world, so we call our program Bridging Futures. It gives Baby Boomers that sense of purpose through volunteering as they go into retirement.”
Spencer Rasmussen ’26 came in thinking his group might pitch a virtual golf simulator. He said the conversations with Heritage residents quickly changed his team’s direction.
“We found that the people we talked to really just wanted opportunities to be heard because they all had stories to share,” Rasmussen said.
That realization led his group toward a student fellowship model, where K students would spend time at Heritage, benefiting residents through connection and activity, while helping students gain hands-on experience in fields such as nursing, psychology and fitness.
The Real World Walks into Class
One of the course’s most distinctive features was the regular presence of Heritage residents in the classroom itself. Several times throughout the term, residents made the trip to campus to hear the students’ ideas and offer feedback.
“One who sticks out in my mind is Bill,” Hartung said. “He’s 97, and it was amazing because it made me appreciate that people at these ages aren’t just sitting in a chair—they come out and do things. They can be sharp-minded and healthy, even at 97.”
For Wilks, one resident in particular left a lasting impression.
“Every time Mary comes to our table, she says, ‘This is my favorite idea. I love it.’ She worked for an airline as a flight attendant, and she loves talking about her career with us. There are so many different aspects of being a flight attendant that I never would have known about. She’s always so happy and bubbly.”
Rasmussen remembered a light moment between his group and a regular visitor when they taught her about technology, especially the flashlight on her iPhone. The levity pointed to something deeper.
“I didn’t realize before I was in this class how lively a retirement home can be and how much activity actually goes on,” Rasmussen said. “It’s been an absolute joy working with them.”
Shankle, who has witnessed many intergenerational programs in his career, said the classroom visits were exactly what he had anticipated.
“The mutual interest in seeing the students produce something meaningful meant both residents and students bought-in almost immediately,” he said.
He also was impressed by the students themselves.
“As a graduate of a liberal arts college myself, I can see that K students are a high-caliber group,” he said. “They’re well-rounded. They’re not just studying business, but also religion, ethics and psychology, for example. I think K students are well-prepared for the modern-day workforce that’s ultimately going to need someone with a diversity of thought who can make an impact in society.”
The term culminated with the student groups traveling to Heritage to present their proposals in person, for five minutes each plus questions and answers, in the room where their ideas, if adopted, might one day come to life. The groups took the occasion seriously.
“A couple of groups even had matching shirts that they had made, or they dressed up in the theme of their projects,” Shankle said. “They really had a lot of fun with it, and I was impressed, first and foremost, with the students and their presentation skills. They had never been to Heritage before, and they came prepared.”
But the conversation didn’t end at the presentations. Shankle said two of the student projects are now under active consideration for development.
“I think there are some ideas that I’d like to create a task force for, with a combination of our staff, a few of our residents, and some of the students,” he said.
Shankle envisions a program that would match Heritage residents with K students in their fields—pairing a future health care worker with a retired health care worker, a pre-law student with a former attorney—to create genuine mentorship alongside real-world practicum experience.
“With two of the group projects being very similar, we can get the synergy of both groups thinking as one,” he added.
Where Marketing Comes to Life
If the students and Shankle are enthusiastic about the partnership, they are equally vocal about the professor, MacMillan, who made it happen.
“She has a lot of knowledge in her area, which is marketing, but she’s also good at teaching that knowledge,” Creamer said. “This class is unique because it’s more about how we can apply these concepts in real life rather than just studying them without knowing how to apply them.”
Okromchedlishvili said MacMillan’s class has her thinking about future opportunities in marketing, possibly starting with an internship this summer.
Wilks described MacMillan as engaging on a personal level, quick with constructive feedback, and consistently enthusiastic in a way that makes an early class feel like somewhere worth being.
For Hartung, the class’s value extends beyond marketing. He is considering law school—either for business law or a career in political campaigns—and sees the lessons learned as applicable to either path.
“If I go into politics, that’s all marketing,” he said. “Marketing yourself, marketing a candidate—the same baseline concept applies.”
Rasmussen, who will graduate in June with his sights set on medical device sales, said, “I haven’t missed a class yet. It’s one of those classes where it doesn’t feel like I’m working and I enjoy what I’m doing.”
Shankle said MacMillan’s approach has a rare quality: the ability to ground marketing theory in practice without losing its theoretical foundation.
“She teaches from a book, but she really encourages students to use their own experiences to relate to the teachings,” he said. “Every class I attended, students were presenting on the marketing process through their own lived experiences, and they articulated what they learned.”
It’s a blueprint Shankle and MacMillan hope to build on. Whether the task force produces a mentorship program, a fellowship or something yet to be imagined, the students who spent eight weeks thinking carefully about Heritage Community have left a mark on Heritage residents, each other and future versions of the Principles of Marketing course.
“Amy and I are already talking about next steps and what this could look like in the future,” Shankle said. “I could see a lot more doors opening for these types of engagements where students and older adults are working together.”
A Kalamazoo College alumna has been awarded a prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship, an honor given to just 24 early-career scientists nationwide.
Hayley Beltz ’18, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kansas, was selected from a pool of more than 400 applicants for the highly competitive program, which supports independent research in astrophysics.
As a senior double majoring in physics and mathematics at K, Beltz received an Astronomy Achievement Student Award and a Chambliss Medal through the American Astronomical Society (AAS), recognizing her exemplary Senior Integrated Project (SIP) presentations at the organization’s meetings. Her SIP involved quasar spectroscopy, meaning she analyzed light that is billions of years old to find and measure the large concentrations of hydrogen that develop as stars form.
“My time at Kalamazoo College gave me the strong physics and math background that I needed for graduate school,” Beltz said. “I loved working as a consultant for the Math and Physics Center, which helped me grow my skills as a mentor and teacher. Being able to try out research with multiple professors at K helped solidify my desire to continue my education and become a scientist. I am very grateful to all the faculty who answered my many questions in office hours, wrote me letters of recommendation, and helped shape me into the astronomer that I am today.”
Beltz earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 2023. She then conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland from August 2023 to January 2026 before moving to her current position in Kansas. Recently, her work has focused on “Hot Jupiters,” which are gas giant exoplanets about the size of Jupiter that orbit extremely close to their stars, completing an orbit in just a few days. Temperatures during their daytime can exceed 2,000 degrees.
The Hubble Fellowship will support Beltz’s research for the next three years as she continues developing computer models of exoplanets beyond our solar system with a focus on how magnetic fields shape their atmospheres.
“Learning about these other planets helps us understand the full range of planet formation in our galaxy,” Beltz said. “Magnetic fields are especially important because they play a key role in shaping environments like Earth’s, where life can exist.”
Hayley Beltz ’18
In 2018, Beltz was one of just five undergraduates from across the country to earn a Chambliss Medal from the American Astronomical Society.
