News Stories Archives - Page 7 of 41

Alumni Impress at Home, Around the World in 2024

Posted on December 17, 2024December 19, 2024

Kalamazoo College alumni continued to distinguish themselves locally, nationally and around the world through personal accomplishments, professional achievements and efforts that will make a difference in the educations of K students for years to come. Here are their top 10 stories of the year as determined by your clicks at our website.

10. Three New Grads to Teach in Spain

Ali Randel, Andre Walker Jr. and Maggie Zorn, all from the class of 2024, were selected for the North American Language and Culture Assistants Program (NALCAP) through the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain. They are working under the supervision of teachers in Spain to help Spanish students improve their English skills and understand American culture.

9. Heeding the Call of the Wildlife

Many people think of household pets like cats and dogs when they think of veterinary medicine, yet it’s a whole other animal for Maddie Chilcote ’17. She is a wildlife and conservation medicine intern at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW), a nonprofit teaching hospital and visitor education center in Sanibel, Florida.

Chilcote brought this mottled duck back to health after performing its surgery at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife.

8. Q-and-A with New Admission Director

Shannon Milan ’16, previously an admission counselor and assistant admission director, returned to K in August after working for Portage Public Schools as a school psychologist. We sat down with Shannon to talk about her background and goals for admission. 

Portrait of Director of Admission Shannon Milan alumni — Director of Admission Shannon Milan ’16

7. Trout Unlimited Communication Director Speaks at Convocation

Nicholas Gann ’12 has recognized how his liberal arts education at K prepared him for his career through wide-ranging roles such as substitute teacher, laborer, political researcher, roofer, public relations and tourism manager.

Nicholas Gann '12, alumni — Nicholas Gann ’12 hikes in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, near Centennial, Wyoming, in 2021.

6. KP Cinemas Screens He Went That Way

Kalamazoo’s KP Cinemas was one of 25 theaters around the country to screen He Went That Way, a thriller co-produced by alumnus Hugh Broder ’77 and based off a chapter in a book written by the late Kalamazoo College Professor Emeritus Conrad Hilberry.

Alumni Hugh Broder with actors Zachary Quinto and Jacob Elordi await Tribeca Film Festival — Hugh Broder ’77 (middle), is the co-producer of “He Went That Way.” Zachary Quinto (left) stars as Jim Goodwin and Jacob Elordi (right) stars as Bobby Falls in the film.

5. Tamea Evans ’93 Delivers Commencement Address

Evans earned her medical degree from the University of Kentucky and completed her Internal Medicine residency there after an internship at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her commitment to improving health outcomes was recognized when she was named a physician champion for the Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support program by the Kentucky Department of Public Health.

Portrait of Tamea Evans, alumni — Tamea Evans ’93

4. K Honors Outstanding Alumni at Homecoming

Each year during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend in October, K recognizes several outstanding alumni who bring honor and distinction to the institution through their accomplishments, service and achievements.

Kim Aldrich at Outstanding Alumni event — Kim Aldrich ’80 received the Weimer K. Hicks Award during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend.

3. Alumna Swings for the Fences, Scores Baseball Job 

Kalamazoo College alumna Samantha Moss ’24 had a new job working for Major League Baseball in 2024. Moss, a timing operations administrator, was at MLB headquarters in New York, ready to assist on-the-field officials who needed help interpreting the league’s new rules, especially those related to pitch clocks.

Samantha Moss in front of the Major League Baseball store in New York — Samantha Moss ’23 served Major League Baseball as a timing operations administrator during the 2024 season.

2. Fulbright Selects Four Recent Alumni 

Four members of Kalamazoo College’s class of 2024 were selected for prestigious Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants for the 2024-25 academic year. Julia Holt, of Owatonna, Minnesota; Teresa Lucas, of Mattawan, Michigan; Ally Noel, of Midland, Michigan; and Danielle Treyger, of West Bloomfield, Michigan; are among the students, artists and young professionals representing the U.S. in about 140 countries for one academic year.

Portrait of Fulbright recipient Ally Noel — Ally Noel ’24

1. Sherbin Fellow Widens Death Culture Studies 

Sydney Salgado ’24—who was a triple major in religion, Spanish and international area studies in Latin America—was just the second K graduate to receive a Jerry Sherbin Fellowship, designed to send one graduating senior overseas to explore a topic of personal interest for one year. She now is pursuing ethnographic research around Latin American cultures and how they view death in unique ways.

Sherbin Fellow Sydney Salgado shakes hands with President Jorge G. Gonzalez at Commencement — Sydney Salgado ’24 shakes hands with President Jorge G. Gonzalez at Commencement.

Kalamazoo College Unveils Fall 2024 Dean’s List

Posted on December 13, 2024December 13, 2024

Congratulations to the following Kalamazoo College students who achieved a grade point average of 3.5 or better for a full-time course load of at least three units, without failing or withdrawing from any course, during the Fall 2024 academic term. Students who elect to take a letter-graded course on a credit/no credit basis (CR/NC) are not eligible for Dean’s List consideration during that term. Nor are students who receive an F, NC or W grade for that particular term. Students with incomplete (I) or in-progress (IP) grades will be considered for the Dean’s List upon receipt of their final grades. Dean’s List recognition is posted on students’ transcripts. Kudos to the entire group for Fall 2024.

Fall 2024

A

Callie Abair
Yaz Abu-Zaid
Jade Acosta
Aliyah Adams
Tahmina Ahadi
Fuzail Ahmed
Isaac Ahn
Isabella Alimenti
Maya Alkema
Zoe Allen
Randa Alnaas
Adnan Alousi
Mahmoud Alsafadi
Emiliano Alvarado Rescala
Zahra Amini
Eleanor Andrews
Connor Anspach
Maya Arau
Emerson Arensman
Emily Auchter
James Azim

B

Gabrielle Baldori
Poppy Balkema
Carter Bandemer
Leila Bank
Grace Barber
Shyane Barnes-Taylor
Luke Barnum
Lena Barrett
Gabriella Barry
Joseph Basil
Ava Bechler
Emma Becker
Saniyah Bedell
Annabel Bee
Conner Bell
Josephine Belsky
Camila Benavides
Aubrey Benson
Thomas Bentley
Alexandrea Bernal
Eleanor Bernas
Henry Black
Derek Blackwell
Miles Borgsdorf
Daphne Bos
Mairin Boshoven
Sotirios Bougioukos
Eleni Bougioukou
Mabel Bowdle
Adelaide Bowen
Jaylen Bowles-Swain
Ella Boyea
Teige Bredin
John Brewer
Chloe Briggs
Ellie Britt
Lukas Broadsword
Cole Bronoel-Cuthrell
Eamon Bronson
Blair Brouwers
Chloe Brown
Ava Buccafurri
Jaden Buist
Kali Bunce
Sara Bush

C

Bailey Callaway
Eleanor Campion
Raymond Cargill
Samantha Carpentier
Luis Castro-Limon
Isabella Caza
Daniel Celedon
Haziel Cerroblanco
Bo Chambers
Josetta Checkett
Trustin Christopher
Parker Ciurla
Alisha Clark
Nathaniel Clark
Maya Clarren
Brendan Clinard
Mai Elise Code
Logan Coller
Toby Comensoli
Jordan Cook
Clay Cook
Josee Cooke
Nicklaus Coseo
Courtney Cotter
Cate Cotter
Cameron Couch
Holden Coulter
Sebastian Courtright
Connor Creech
Kamya Crenshaw
Mia Crites
Cameron Crosby
Isabella Cross
Lilian Crowder Smith
Skye Crowell
Chase Cummins

D

Emily Dalecki
Erik Danielson
Ethan Daugherty
Jasmine Davis
Jacob Davis
Griffin Davis
Maya Davis
Avery Davis
Asha Dawson
Zachary Dean
Tara Dean-Hall
Noel DeFeyter
Lille Dekker
Enrique Delzer
Maansi Deswal
Laura DeVilbiss
Jack Dewey
Alexander Di Dio
Olivia DiGiulio
Michaela Dillbeck
Reed Dixon
Shane Dong
Alexia Dowell
Charles Doyle
Jack Duggins

E

Alden Ehrhardt
Abigail Eilertson
Evelyn Ellerbrock
Elise Elliot
Owen Ellis
Francis Ernzen
Lily Evans
Ryan Everham
Dilynn Everitt
Chad Ewing
Bradley Eziuka

F

Claire Farhi
Madalyn Farrey
Max Feliks
Margaret Ferris
Blake Filkins
Bridget Finco
Sara Finks
Mabel Fitzpatrick
Alex Fleming
Sofia Fleming
Jordan Flink
Mathias Florian
Robyn Foley
Ross Fooy
David Fooy
Jessica Forbis
Drew Fortino
Emma Frederiksen
Caden Frost

G

Dillon Gacki
Lucy Gallagher
Maria Garcia
Valeria Garcia
Ingrid Gardner
Isaac Garza
Roberta Gatti
William Geiger
Mallory Gentry
Arlo Getachew
Maira Ghaffar
Logan Gillis
Nathan Gleason
Makala Goddard
Brizza Gonzalez
Charles Gordon
Charles Graves
Cecilia Gray
Natalie Greene
Kaitlyn Grice
Westin Grinwis
Cassandra Grotelueschen
Cole Grupenhoff
Sarah Guerrero Gorostieta
Oliver Gutierrez

H

Aiden Habboub
Sydney Hagaman
Isabelle Hahn
Carter Haley
Avery Hall
Colin Halloran
Blu Haney
Alison Hankins
McKinley Hanninen
Colten Hansen
Luke Hanson
Kaylee Hanson
Doyle Harrison
Pauline Hawkes
Beatrice Hawkins
Willow Hayner
Thelma Hazen
Jacob Hazlewood
Zachary Heikka
Elizabeth Henderson
Litzy Hernandez
Jay Hernandez
Felix Hernandez Santiago
Gerardo Herrera-Sanchez
Ashlen Hill
Alyssa Hinkley
Jacob Hoffman
Garrick Hohm
Timothy Hollern
Jaelyn Horn
Evanne Horrigan
Molly Horton
Tyler Houle
Gavin Houtkooper
Jakob Hubert
Kennedy Hynde

I

Zarifa Ibrahimzada
Jalen Iereneo
Carson Ihrke
Carolyn Ingram
Britt Inman
Weslee Innes
Harper Isaacs
Daniel Isacksen
Macy Ivins

J

Teddy Jacobson
Rex Jasper
Ryleigh Jaworski
Johe Newton Johnson
Halley Johnson
Jaden Johnson
Caroline Johnson
Zane Jones
Ayako Jurgle

K

Kiana Kanegawa
Thomas Kartes
Isabelle Kastel
Seth Keana
Jackson Keefer
Alyson Kemery
Mphumelelo Khaba
Hibah Khan
Joshua Kim
Dong Eun Kim
Ava King
Samuel King
Kendyl Kirshman
Mart Klenke
Toni Koshmider
Katya Koublitsky
Jaden Kowalski
Julia Kozal
Daryn Krause
Jason Krawczyk
Jack Kreckman
Shay Kruse
Annabelle Krygier

L

Andrew La Penna
Kathleen La Prad
Nicholas LaFramboise
Daikan Lale
Rylee Lambert
Edward Langton
Braeden Lavis
Elijah Layne
Son Le Dinh Truong
Delaney Lee
Seonha Lee
Maya Lee
Joseph Leonard
Ellie Lepley
Sage Lewis
Aidan Liedeke
Alexander Ligman
Alex Lloyd
Ava Loncharte
Katelyn Long
Beatriz Lopez
Alondra Lopez
Maya Lopez
Grace Lounds
Madeline Lovins
Mairead Lynch
Isabella Lyskawa

M

Ellie MacE
Lauren MacKersie
Kyler Maiorana
Natalie Maki
Larson Makie
Andrew Mallon
Ariadne Markou
Natalie Martinez
Kate Martinez
Cassidy Martini-Zeller
Isabelle Mason
Alexandria Mason
Matthew Matuza
Benjamin Maurice
Zachary Maurice
Cedric May
Allison Mayer
Jay McDaniel
Mollie McDonald
Fallon McFarland
Grace McGlynn
Jacey Merkle
Rachel Meston
Estelle Metz
Gabriel Meyers
Bernice Mike
Brittany Miller
Marin Miroslavich
Ameera Mirza
Elana Mitchell
Aliah Mohmand
Jacques Monchamp
Raven Montagna
Alondra Danahe Montoya Martinez
Elizabeth Morgan
Meena Moritz
Maren Mosher
Mary Ellen Muenzenmaier
Elizabeth Muenzenmaier
Alex Mungai
Andrew Munger
Ella Myers
Sydney Myszenski

N

Nailia Narynbek Kyzy
Sabrina Nelson
Chloe Nelund
Mackenzie Newhall
Robert Newland
Emma Newlove
Kevin Nguyen
Yen Giang Nguyen
Theodore Niemann
Maeve Nolan
Malin Nordmoe

O

Mary Oduor
Nora Oleary
Gabriel Olivier
Nicholas Olmeda
Emma Olson
Tyler Omness
Reece Omodio
Kevin Oneill
Muna Onwochei
B Osborne
Andrew Oss
Aryka Ostroski
Nathan Overmier

P

Maren Palmer
Eron Palmer
Renzo Palomino Caceres
Brennan Pannucci
Rachael Pashturro
Juniper Pasternak
Morgan Paye
Zachary Payment
Alberto Paz-Rodriguez
Logan Pearson
Marcus Pedde
Phillip Pedicone
Audrey Pegouske
Isabella Pellegrom
Alex Pepin
Noah Peters
Maya Peters
Katarina Peters
Tobias Peters
Maggie Petersen
Paige Peterson
Anna Phyo
Timothy Pinches
William Plesscher
Evan Pollens-Voigt
Mario Pomorski
Madelyn Portenga
Tadeusz Potocki
Madison Potts
Grayson Pratt
Juliana Pullen
Noah Pyle

Q

Alex Quesada
Brody Quinn

R

Elizabeth Rachiele
Tieran Rafferty
Akaash Raghunath
Nicole Rapp
Hunter Rayens
Sara Reathaford
Laura Reinaux Silva Oliveira
Julia Reisor
Micahaia Reynolds
Jaycee Rider
Sheldon Riley
Narelle Robles
Jackie Rodriguez
Ash Rodriguez
Nevaeh Rodriguez-Vergel
Amelia Rooks
Luke Rop
Eli Routt
Miriam Ruiz Kahle
Nathaniel Rulich
Wyatt Ruppenthal
Amir Rustamov
McKenna Ryan-Elbert

S

Amelie Sack
Abigail Samson
Ryan Sanborn
Sofia Santos
Leslie Santos
Isabella Santos-Pye
Simon Sawyer
Maxwell Saxton
Cecilia Schihl
Leo Schinker
Olivia Schleede
Vivian Schmidt
Annika Schnell
Eden Schnurstein
Arden Schultz
Audrey Schulz
Ava Schwachter
Aurora Scott
Alison Settles
Brendon Shaffer
Katherene Shank
Halen Sherwood
Veda Shukla
Clara Siefke
Mo Silcott
Zachary Simmons
Julia Sitz
Kiersten Sjogren
Colby Skinner
Dawson Skupin
Kendall Slamka
Jamie Smith
Maja Smith
Ping Smith
Owen Smith
Anoushka Soares
Jonah Spates
Sophia Sprick
Florian Stackow
Adam Stapleton
Katelyn Steinbrecher
Eleanor Stevenson
Joseph Stevenson
Meredith Steward
Pavel Stojanovski
Elena Stolberg
Calvin Strader
Zachary Strauss
Katherine Suarez
Maeve Sullivan
Hannah Summerfield
Jocelyn Suranyi
Grace Sweet
Brady Swift

T

Ella Talaski
Charlotte Tatara
Jovanay Taylor
William Thomas
Levi Thomas
Sandra Tienda-Lopez
Elizabeth Tiesworth
Emily Tiihonen
Alexander Tolman
Lily Toohey
Phoebe Tozer
Vincent Tran
Samuel Tremaglio
Sutton Tutas

U

Christopher Ulrich
Lilibeth Uribe

V

Tony Vaisanen
Anthony Valade
Eli Van Drie
David Van Hooser
Gavin Van Kampen
Lucy Vandemark
Lauren Vanderstelt
Cameron VanGalder
Mitchel VanGalder
Ella VarnHagen
Morgan Vasquez
Gianna Vicario
Savannah Vincent

W

Audrey Walker
Ivy Walker
Annslee Ware
Ryan Warezak
Nina Warrow
Haley Watson
Jordan Wesaw
Kiersten West
Charles Wester
Maggie Westra
Jack Wheeler
Benjamin Whitsett
Jay Wholihan
Alicia Wilgoren
Elisabeth Wilks
Ruth Wilson
Sierra Winter
Ryan Witt
Darius Wright
Emma Wrobleski

Y

Devin Yankee

Z

Sofia Zeller
Nora Zemlick
Katalina Zhao
Maggie Zhu
Brock Zimmerman
Kenzi Zimmerman-Frost
Lee Zwart

Warhol Foundation Grant Supports Research Travel for K Professor

Posted on December 3, 2024December 3, 2024

Anne Marie Butler, assistant professor of art history and women, gender and sexuality at Kalamazoo College, is a recipient of a 2024 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, the foundation announced December 2.

Butler is one of nine grantees in the article category, for her article, “Deviance, Penetration, and the Erotic in Aïcha Snoussi’s Drawing Installations,” examining the Tunisian artist’s work. Butler’s research focuses on contemporary Tunisian art, global contemporary art, contemporary global surrealism studies, Southwest Asia and North Africa studies, gender and sexuality studies, and queer theory.

“I am honored to have been selected from amongst many wonderful scholars to receive this prestigious award,” Butler said. “This grant will support 2025 travel to conduct primary research for a new scholarly article on Aïcha Snoussi’s (Tunis and Paris) works. Informed by Heather Love and Audre Lorde, I argue for a new reading of Snoussi’s drawing installations, illuminating intimate relationships between theories of queer of color archives, deviance, and erotics.”

The grant program supports writing about contemporary art, with the goal of maintaining critical writing as a valued way of engaging with the visual arts.

“Artists play a vital role in illuminating key issues of our time, but it is thanks to the attention and insights of arts writers that artists’ visions become widely known and discussed,” said Joel Wachs, president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. “The Andy Warhol Arts Writers Grant supports and celebrates the crucial contributions of writers who not only transmit but creatively engage with artists’ methods, intentions, contexts, and blind spots to bring their perspectives into focus in the public sphere.”

Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant recipient Anne Marie Butler — Assistant Professor of Art History and Women, Gender and Sexuality Anne Marie Butler is a recipient of a 2024 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.

In addition to nine article writers, the 2024 Arts Writers Grants include nine books and 12 short-form writing awardees, for a total of $945,000 to 30 writers. Ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 each, the grants support projects targeted at both general and specialized art audiences, from reviews for magazines and newspapers to in-depth scholarly studies.

“The 30 writers receiving support this year are working on projects asking urgent questions about art’s place in the world today,” said Pradeep Dalal, director of The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. “Exploring topics including art’s relationship to fossil fuel extraction, Native art and activism, migration and questions of visibility, internationalist solidarity networks, DIY publishing, and LGBTQ comic artist communities, and covering artists working in Chile, Columbia, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, and Venezuela, this year’s grantee projects actively expand our understanding of contemporary art. Many of these projects make unexpected connections between seemingly disparate aspects of art and culture. Despite the severe contraction of available venues for publishing in the arts, these writers continue to enrich and expand the academic disciplinary frameworks of both art criticism and art history.”

Butler’s writing has appeared in publications including ASAP/Journal, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, and the London Review of Education. She recently co-edited a new book, Queer Contemporary Art of Southwest Asia North Africa (Intellect Press, 2024).

Chemistry Club Engages Community in Science

Posted on November 25, 2024November 25, 2024

In celebrating the power that comes with the sharing of scientific knowledge, the Chemistry Club at Kalamazoo College participated in two community events this fall where local students and families—children in particular—could engage with hands-on experiments and interactive displays.

Hundreds attended the events, which were packed with activities designed to spark curiosity and inspire future scientists. Students such as Isabella Pellegrom ’25, at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, and Justin Essing ’25, at the Air Zoo, were among the demonstrators representing K.

Pellegrom and her peers fascinated the general public by showing how children can protect themselves from UV radiation. Using UV-reactive beads made into bracelets, experimenters could see colors change from a neutral color into purple, blue or pink when UV light is shined onto them.

“It makes the kids really happy every time they see it,” Pellegrom said. “And then we have certain things that they can do to protect the beads from changing color, which could represent protecting themselves, their eyes or their skin from getting burned.”

The experiment used sunglasses, various types of clothing and sunscreen to help museum attendees recognize the best ways to protect themselves.

“It shocks a lot of people that sunscreen doesn’t completely protect the beads from changing color,” Pellegrom said. “We’ll start the demonstration by asking the kids whether they have ever gotten some sort of sunburn, and they sometimes say, ‘Oh! My dad got the worst sunburn in Florida last month’ or something like that. It’s funny because, as you’re telling the kids this, the parents many times say, ‘See, this is why I tell you to put on your sunscreen.’”

At the Air Zoo, Essing helped operate a booth that used the College’s virtual reality headsets to show Portage Public Schools students the structure of a COVID-19 protein so they could make connections between an illness they would feel and the science behind a virus’ structure. He said with multiple youths immersed within virtual reality at any given time, it was difficult to keep them from bumping into each other, but a common effort proved successful in engaging everyone.

“We had some people giving our spiel and explaining some of these tough concepts to kids,” Essing said. “Others were helping students put on the headsets. They all had to work as a team toward a common goal of educating and inspiring young students to pursue the sciences.”

Six Chemistry Club students representing Kalamazoo College at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum — Several members of Kalamazoo College’s Chemistry Club, including Isabella Pellegrom ’25 (bottom right), have participated in community science days over the past few years at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum including this one in 2023.

Students help AirZoo attendees put on virtual reality headsets — Kalamazoo College Chemistry Club members including Justin Essing ’25 (seated left) attended an Air Zoo event where they helped Portage Public Schools students view an enlarged model of a COVID-19 protein.

These are examples of how K chemistry students, and Chemistry Club members specifically, go beyond the classroom and labs to communicate what they learn in the community.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Pellegrom said. “And it’s one of the best parts about this club. It’s a fun experience to get together with people, take time out of your schedule, and talk about science or just be around other people who are interested in it.”

Essing said the community opportunities and the 66 students involved show the strength of the Chemistry Club and why it endures year after year.

“We all have personal relationships with each other, both through this Chemistry Club and taking classes together,” he said. “With the small campus size, everybody gets to know each other pretty well, personally and professionally. I feel that allows us to coordinate our goals together and figure out how to reach them in and out of the classroom.”

National Honor Salutes K’s Voter Participation Efforts

Posted on November 20, 2024November 20, 2024

A nonpartisan and nonprofit initiative is saluting Kalamazoo College today as one of 471 U.S. institutions doing the most in higher education to increase student voter participation.

K is just one of two private institutions in Michigan being recognized as a 2024 ALL IN Most-Engaged Campus for College Student Voting, meaning that the College:

Reported its 2022 student voting data to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), which is run through the Institute of Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University.
Shared that data with the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, an effort that strives to improve and increase democratic engagement activities on college campuses.
Developed and submitted to the ALL IN challenge a 2024 voter-engagement action plan.
Received support from the College’s president through ALL IN’s Higher Education President’s Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation.

K Votes volunteers drive voter participation by offering assistance at the Center for Civic Engagement — K Votes volunteers, including Oakley Gabriel ’21 (center), offered students rides to the polls on Election Day to drive campus voter participation.

K Votes—the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement’s (CCE) nonpartisan coalition to inform the College’s students, faculty and staff members about voting and civic engagement—is the primary driver of the institution’s efforts in increasing voter participation. K Votes representatives work in partnership with students to register new voters, mail absentee ballots, provide rides to the polls, and distribute candidate information with maps to local polling places.

CCE Program Associate Oakley Gabriel ’21 leads K Votes, along with students, faculty and staff.

“The relationships and momentum built among community organizations and our campus were critical to implementing our robust action plan as supported by a grant from Students Learn Students Vote Coalition,” Gabriel said. “We expanded voter registration initiatives, increased capacity for voter education and elections support, and made connections with hundreds of students. More than 200 K students are newly registered voters thanks to our K Votes Coalition. The Center for Civic Engagement took on a massive undertaking, and the campus and Kalamazoo communities showed up with us, and I’m very proud of what we achieved.”

Student Filmmakers Praise Instructor, Showcase

Posted on November 18, 2024December 5, 2024

After a pandemic pause, a favorite Homecoming tradition returned in October, showcasing the creative talents of Kalamazoo College film and media studies students. A film festival featuring the introductory and advanced students in classes led by Visiting Instructor Danny Kim, allowed alumni to peek behind the curtain and see how students hone artistic skills through documentary filmmaking. After the screening, alumni asked questions of the filmmakers to learn more about the projects and applauded the students’ talents.

The projects required students to take B-roll footage to supplement the main footage, conduct about four interviews and use a filming technique called framing that shows the interviewee looking somewhere other than at the camera. Three of the student producers recently shared what they learned from their experiences.

Homecoming film festival with instructor and filmmakers — Visiting Instructor Danny Kim (from left), and students Ethan Galler, Davis Henderson, Alex Quesada, Megan McGarry, Emma Frederiksen and Jane Bentley, all from the class of 2025, attend the Homecoming Film Festival.

‘Saturday Night Live’ if it Had No Budget

Davis Henderson ’25 put K’s TV-production class in the spotlight with “ARTX-200,” a film named for the course taught by media producer and studio instructor Jaakan Page-Wood.

“To quote Jaakan, it’s very much like Saturday Night Live if Saturday Night Live was filmed on a Thursday afternoon by amateurs with no money, and was at 4:15,” Henderson said. “It was a great time, and I wanted to give it more attention. It’s definitely helped me find a space at K where I’m able to make stuff.”

“ARTX-200” presents Henderson’s peers as they explain how the course provided a creative outlet they had yet to find elsewhere on campus. Henderson, a theatre major who plans to pursue voice acting, developed an interest in filmmaking as a child when he and his brother began making skit videos with his mom’s photography equipment along with editing tools such as iMovie.

“ARTX-200” by Davis Henderson ’25

“Documentary filmmaking is interesting to me because it’s challenging,” Henderson said. “When something unexpected happens, you can’t restart. There’s no script and you pick it up as it goes. I can open up a history book and get bored. But being able to open a documentary, and see and hear what people are talking about, provides demonstrations that allow your imagination to take over. This is probably the most influential and crucial class I’ve taken here at K. I was able to create something tangible that will go in my portfolio and use it to get a job.”

An Art Form That’s Interesting and Exciting

Jane Bentley ’25 took a much more serious issue of importance to her and created “Students for Justice in Palestine,” a film about the student organization of the same name.

The film opens with Suha Qashou ’24—then president of K’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)—leading a vigil outside the Light Fine Arts building, surrounded by signs and supporters. She discusses her desire to commemorate the lives lost in Gaza in an honorable way.

The subject matter provided Bentley with some challenges.

“Between rallies and meetings, I set up a lot of my shots so a lot of people wouldn’t be identifiable for two reasons,” Bentley said. “First, I wasn’t confident that I was going to get a release form for every single person who might be there. And also, when you’re making something about the pro-Palestinian movement, especially in the immediate aftermath of October 7, you have to consider that leaving someone recognizable could put them in a vulnerable position.”

“Students for Justice in Palestine” by Jane Bentley ’25

Regardless, Kim’s class provided Bentley a chance to be expressive in an inclusive fashion that was supportive of all the student members of SJP.

“If you have something in your life that you think is worth talking about, the best way to get people interested in it is to package it in a form that’s interesting and exciting,” Bentley said. “I think a documentary can be the best way you to do that.”

A Day to Live Graciously

Unlike Bentley or Henderson, Ethan Galler ’25 had the problem of being uncertain when circumstances would allow him to film the bulk of his footage given his subject matter, K’s Day of Gracious Living.

“This is DOGL” captures student voices and some thoughts from Vice President for Student Development Malcolm Smith the day before DOGL 2023. They discussed the importance of the traditional day off toward the end of the spring term as well as the history of it being a secret date selected by student government representatives and revealed in advance only to a few administrators.

Thankfully, Galler scheduled the interviews in advance through some sleuthing and logical conclusions.

“This is DOGL” by Ethan Galler ’25

“It was getting close to the end of the term, and either DOGL was the day it was or there would’ve been conflicts with other student events,” he said. “We picked the day before for interviews and hoped for the best.”

Despite cloudy and cool conditions for DOGL, Galler collected footage of a good number of students having fun at the beach in South Haven and supplemented it with footage from K’s archives of previous DOGL activities.

The end product and his enjoyment of the creative process led him to echo Henderson and Bentley’s praise for their instructor and the advantages of taking the class.

“It’s always good to have a little variety in the classes you take, especially if you’re a K student,” Galler said. “Everybody can be a fan of film in their own way, and making a documentary, you get to see behind the curtain with a production. It’s a fun experience.”

All the student videos from the film festival are available on YouTube. Click the links below to watch the others.

Featured Filmmakers

The other student filmmakers featured in the film festival and their projects included the following. Links are included where available:

Ian Burr ’24: “Football,” spotlighting K football players and what their sport means to them.
Sam Douma ’26: “Via Ferrata,” in which a voracious duo aims to harness their raw musical energy despite being young and distracted.
Emma Frederiksen ’25: “Growing with Disability,” showcasing three K students who describe their experiences navigating adulthood and transitioning into college while living with a disability.
Alek Hultberg ’26: “Tom Evans,” showing students and friends of Music Professor Tom Evans honoring him as he prepares to retire.
Caleb Kipnis ’26: “How to Run Hillel,” presenting insights into the Jewish student organization Hillel and its board members’ roles in planning and executing an event.
Megan McGarry ’25: “Clay and Community,” with ceramics students collaborating to make art pieces in response to a problematic mural.
Alex Quesada ’25: “Train Swag,” featuring cities, states and people that can seem far apart, but with a train, the world becomes smaller and connected communities get bigger.
Amalia Scorsone ’24: “A SuperKut of Us,” with friends discussing the importance of their time at K as they approach graduation.
Luke Torres ’25: “Squishmallows,” in which Jenna Paterob ’23 reveals her obsession with Squishmallows toys.
Tariq Williams ’23: “Sustainability at Kalamazoo College,” showing K’s efforts in sustainability and the impact of recycling on campus.

“Football” by Ian Burr ’24

“Train Swag” by Alex Quesada ’25.

“A SuperKut of Us” by Amalia Scorsone ’24

Internship Prepares Young Entrepreneur for Specialist Role

Posted on November 18, 2024February 5, 2025

Kelvis Quaynor ’25 has long thought he would like to be an entrepreneur, and an internship with Startup Zoo helped prepare him to pursue his goals.

Quaynor completed a Community Building Internship (CBI) through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) during summer 2024, and Startup Zoo subsequently hired him as community engagement specialist for his last year at Kalamazoo College.

“Engaging in this work has given me a good idea of the things I will need to put in place to be a better entrepreneur, when that time does come,” Quaynor said. “That’s one way this internship has helped position me to accomplish my goals.”

Working at Startup Zoo, a hub for the Kalamazoo entrepreneurship community, has also helped Quaynor build his confidence, network and learn about the business world—applying and reinforcing lessons from the classroom.

“One takeaway is definitely the fact that people in the business world are more open than I thought,” Quaynor said. “A lot of opportunities are out there for you, and if you jump on it, you might be able to capitalize. Another thing is that I’m capable of occupying certain spaces, which is something I’ve struggled with. I think COVID played a role, a lot of things played a role, being Black probably played a role as well. I got to see that I’m capable of doing things and occupying spaces in certain places.”

Much of Quaynor’s internship work with Startup Zoo involved contacting and connecting with entrepreneurs, investors and other members of the business community. That was challenging and surprising to Quaynor.

Young entrepreneur Kelvis Quaynor — An internship with Startup Zoo helped entrepreneur Kelvis Quaynor ’25 secure a community engagement specialist role with the nonprofit.

“Reaching out to people I didn’t know was hard, because it’s one thing when you’re in front of someone and you can say, ‘I like your shirt’ or something, but when you’ve never met someone, it’s hard to establish a genuine connection,” Quaynor said. “It surprised me how open people in the venture community were, though. I was reaching out to executives, some of the biggest venture funds in the state, and they would accept a connection on LinkedIn, and sometimes they would even reach out to me if they were going to be in Kalamazoo and say they would love to connect and see how we can help each other. A lot of people in the venture and entrepreneurial support organization space are good people trying to help. I didn’t know how that existed in the business world.”

Quaynor was also analyzing what other entrepreneurial support organizations were doing, researching business funds, and helping plan for the Southwest Michigan Entrepreneur Summit in September. An economics major from Seattle, Washington, Quaynor appreciated learning more about the resources that exist for businesses in Kalamazoo. Early on, he learned a lot from Carl Brown, executive director of Startup Zoo. As the internship progressed, he grew more independent.

“It was hard in the beginning,” Quaynor said. “Carl would give me direction, but sometimes it would be things I had never done before. I hate to be a pest, so for me, if you told me what to do, it’s hard for me to then ask you how to do it. I feel like I should have the tools to be able to figure it out. He was super open, though, and every time I did have to ask, he was fine with that, and he would point me in the right direction.”

The CCE’s reflection dinners for K students working on CBIs helped Quaynor stay in touch with friends completing CBIs, make new friends and put into words what he was learning and experiencing at Startup Zoo. His reflections throughout the summer as well as his final project for the CCE prepared him for his Senior Integrated Project on the internship.

“This internship is definitely going to help inform my decision on what I want to do post-Kalamazoo, because I’m not sure what’s next,” Quaynor said. “I’m just trying to finish my senior year the best way I can, academically and socially and all the good things. Recently, actually, I was thinking about potentially going to graduate school, which is something I never thought I’d do. I feel like there’s still a lot to learn.”