Category: Students

Spring 2019 Dean’s List Unveiled

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Spring 2019 Dean's List Campus
Congratulations to the Kalamazoo College students who qualified for the spring 2019 Dean’s List.

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 spring 2019 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 Dean’s List upon receipt of the final grades. Dean’s List recognition is posted on students’ transcripts. Kudos to the entire group.

Spring 2019

A  B   C  D  E  F   G   H   I   J  K   L   M  N   O  P   Q  R   S   T   U   V  W   X   Y   Z

A

Elizabeth Abel
Isak Akervall
Jazzmyn Albarran
Josue Alcala Cendrero
Allegra Allgeier
Tyler Allyn-White
Georgie Andrews
Hunter Angileri
Hamza-Ali Annamyradov
Abigail Antias
Mary Elizabeth Arendash
Madeleine Armstrong
Lukia Artemakis
Avani Ashtekar
Brooklyn Avery

B

Julia Bachmann
Andrew Backer
Nicole Bailey
Revaz Bakuradze
Heather Banet
Georgios Bantis
Angel Banuelos
Natalie Barber
Samuel Barczy
Elijah Barker
Aleksandra Bartolik
Eric Batson
Mitchell Baty
Lillian Baumann
Quentin Baur
Marina Isabella Bayma-Meyer
Blake Bean
Logan Beck
Benjamin Behrens
Dylan Beight
Sage Benner
Maci Bennett
Brigette Berke
Owen Bersot
Julia Bienstock
Maya Bieszki
Daniel Black
Maximilian Bogun
Elliott Boinais
Jonah Bolton
Jacob Bonifacio
Cavan Bonner
Maria Bonvicini
Alexander Bowden
Kimberly Bowers
Haylee Bowsher
Emily Boyle
Amaris Bradley
Sarah Brandstadt
Irie Browne
Molly Brueger
Jane Bunch
Pierce Burke
Lauren Bussell

C

Abigail Cadieux
Abigail Calef
Jacob Callaghan
Mackenzie Callahan
Madeleine Camilli
Madison Campbell
Catherine Carlberg
Justin Carlson
Kayla Carlson
Rachel Carson
Kebra Cassells
Ubaldo Castillo
Claire Cebelak
Kyle Ceci
Jessica Chaidez
Rebecca Chan
Sharmeen Chauhdry
Nutsa Chinchilakashvili
Jennifer Cho
Samantha Choknumtumnukit
Lakshya Choudhary
Iffat Chowdhury
Anna Christinidis
Qynce Chumley
Gabriel Chung
Paige Chung
Maile Church
Hannah Clark
Christopher Coburn
MaryClare Colombo
Noah Coplan
Valentina Cordero
Maricela Cordova
Rachel Cornell
Chase Coselman
Haley Crabbs
Austin Cramer
Aby Cruz
Ethan Cuka
George Cutler
Peter Czajkowski

D

Mansi Dahal
Wentao Dai
Minh Dang
Linh Dao
Shayaan Dar
Amelia Davis
Gwendolyn Davis
Riley Davis
Steven Davis
Ximena Davis
Adam Decker
Gina DeGraaf
Jane Delmonico
Catherine Dennis
Kaitlyn Dexter
Eva Deyoung
Sofia Diaz
Abigail Dickstein
Anthony Diep
Alexis Dietz
Savannah Dobreff
Amelia Donohoe
Adam Dorstewitz
Amanda Dow
Sydney Dowdell
Imalia Drummond
William Duffield
Alexa Dulmage
Elizabeth Dulski
Alex Dupree

E

Joseph Edwards
Nathanael Ehmann
Noah Ellinger
Jennalise Ellis
Tiffany Ellis
Abraham Ellison
Anna Emenheiser
Vivian Enriquez
Sarah Eringaard
McKinzie Ervin
Stacy Escobar

F

Daniel Fahle
Alex Fairhall
Thomas Fales
Greta Farley
Julien Feret
Marcos Ferguson Morales
Emma Fergusson
Anders Finholt
Maxwell Fitzell
Brett Fitzgerald
Brianna Flinkingshelt
Faith Flinkingshelt
Clifton Foster
Talea Fournier

G

Riley Gabriel
Talia Gadd
Anna Gambetta
Kaitlin Gandy
Amanda Gardner
Camden Gardner
Brendan Gausselin
Cory Gensterblum
Sarah George
Lena Gerstle
Julia Ghazal
Malak Ghazal
Joshua Gibson
Levon Gibson
Jasper Giglio
Hannah Ginsberg
Anthony Giovanni
Francesco Giusseppe-Soto
Sophia Goebel
Jessica Gougeon
Jessica Gracik
Ryan Graves
Abigail Gray
Claire Greening
Malachi Greenstone
Stanton Greenstone
Preston Grossling
Eduardo Guerrero
Katie Guo
Mengqiao Guo
Garrett Guthrie
Stephanie Guyor
LinzeyPearl Gyimah

H

Kalli Hale
Rebekah Halley
Emily Hamel
Grace Hancock
Caryn Hannapel
Kelly Hansen
Martin Hansknecht
Madeline Harding
Haley Harris
Mara Hazen
Noah Hecht
Megan Heft
Alyssa Heitkamp
Kaylee Henderson
Maeve Hening
Caleb Henning
Amelia Hensler
Emiley Hepfner
Maya Hernandez
Mireli Hernandez
Delaney Hewitt
Samantha Hicks
Adelaide Hilarides
Hunter Himelhoch
Kento Hirakawa
Sam Hoag
Alexandra Hobrecht
Emerson Holmes
Fiona Holmes
Mathew Holmes-Hackerd
Alysia Homminga
Audrey Honig
Taylor Horton
Daniel Horwitz
Josephine Hosner
Addissyn House
Eleanor Hughes
Ayla Hull
Destiny Hutcherson
Benjamin Hyndman

I

Austin Ickes
Ngozi Joy Idika
Ayami Iijima

J

Denise Jackson
Sadie Jackson
Samuel Jacobson
Eric Janowiak
Danielle Janowicz
Sophia Jenkins
Maria Jensen
Johanna Jeung
Diana Jimenez
Benjamin Johanski
Lisa Johnston
Ellie Jones
Jackson Jones
Jaylin Jones
Tytiana Jones
Joseph Jung
Zoe Jurgensen

K

Liza Kahn
Claire Kalina
Sharat Kamath
Grace Karrip
Lucas Kastran
Maria Katrantzi
Donald Kearns
Ava Keller
Joseph Keller
Jackson Kelly
Mitchell Kennis
David Kent
Samantha Killmer
YoungHoon Kim
Mikayla Kindler
Sarah Kleppe
Nicklas Klepser
Ella Knight
Anexy Koizumi
Brandon Kramer
Ethan Krasman
Katherine Kreiss
Matthew Krinock
Charlie Krone

L

Zoe Larson
Andrew Laxton
Stefan Leclerc
Michael Lee
Yung Seo Lee
Julia Leet
Kathryn Levasseur
Marissa Lewinski
Donna Li
Joy Lim
Lu Liu
Sichun Liu
Molly Logsdon
Jacob Lopez Pink
Lizbeth Lopez
Ellie Lotterman
Isabella Luke
Lezlie Lull
Jillian Lynk

M

Selina Ma
Rachel Madar
MacKenzy Maddock
Samuel Maddox
Deven Mahanti
Madisyn Mahoney
Angela Mammel
Merrick Manchester
Eleftherios Manopoulos
Victoria Marquez Gomez
Cydney Martell
Clara Martinez-Voigt
CJ Martonchik
Kevin McCarty
Seamus McCurren
Genevieve McDaniel
Maygan McGuire
Grace McKnight
Isabel McLaughlin
Aidan Merritt
Ana Maria Mesenbring
Hannah Meyers
Nathan Micallef
William Mierz
Briann Millan
Chaniya Miller
Chelsea Miller
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage
Margaret Miron
Rebecca Mitchell
Iris Moffa
Dominic Moore
Zachary Morales
Maximillian Moran
Cesareo Moreno
Ryan Mulder

N

Ravi Nair
Yukiko Nakano
Mihail Naskovski
Kyle Neuner
Sang Nguyen
Kelly Nickelson
Nikoli Nickson
Alyssa Norman
Emily Norwood
Brooke Nosanchuk
Ian Nostrant

O

Madeline Odom
Evan O’Donnell
Abigail O’Keefe
Udochi Okorie
Aisat Oladokun
Madeline Olivares
Gabe Orosan-Weine
Michael Orwin

P

Dylan Padget
Evan Palmer
Kayla Park
Angela Pastor
Rushik Patel
Anne Kearney Patton
Caleb Patton
Paul Pavliscak
Houston Peach
Anthony Peraza
Ilene Perea-Sanchez
Devon Peters
Eve Petrie
Julia Petroff
Uyen Pham
Joseph Piet
Sarah Pobuda
Karen Portillo
Diarra Pouye
Arianna Prater
Natalie Price
Maren Prophit
Zachary Prystash

Q

Daniel Qin
Jorence Quiambao
Abdullah Qureshi

R

Erin Radermacher
Hannah Rainaldi
Valentina Ramos
Harrison Ramsey
Molly Ratliff
Samuel Ratliff
Stephanie Rauhoff
Zachary Ray
Farzad Razi
Dawson Read
Jordan Reichenbach
Emiliana Renuart
Kelli Rexroad
Dulce Reyes Martinez
Samuel Rice
Luke Richert
Daniel Righter
Sage Ringsmuth
Lucas Rizzolo
Danna Robles-Garcia
Angelica Rodriguez
Petra Rodriguez
Lily Rogowski
Brynn Rohde
Sydney Rotigel-Finegan
Panayiotis Rotsios
Maelle Rouquet

S

Tanush Samson
Marlyn Sanchez
Danielle Sarafian
Marco Savone
Thomas Saxton
Margaret Schaefer
Faruq Schieber
McKenna Schilling
Kimberly Schmidt
Zoe Celeste Schneberger
Emma Schneider
Hannah Scholten
Lia Schroeder
Beth Schulman
Peter Schultz
Darby Scott
Justin Seablom
Frank Seidl
Ruby Seiwerath
Madalyn Seveska
Kaitlyn Shafer
Yasamin Shaker
Isabella Shansky-Genovese
Reagan Shapton
Regina Shaw
Lily Shearer
Andrew Sheckell
Austin Shepherd
Riley Shepherd
Jenna Sherman
Kai Lin Shi
Julia Showich
Josie Shuster
Nathan Silverman
Manveer Singh
Simran Singh
Caroline Skalla
Kyle Skiver
Madeline Small
Asia Smith
Emily Smith
Margaret Smith
Michael Smith
Adam Snider
Asante Solomon
Sophia Spencer
Patricia Spitzer
Casey Sprague
Gabriel Stanley
Evan Stark-Dykema
Katherine Stewart
Alexander Stockwell
Claudia Stroupe
Fiona Summers
Savannah Sweeney
Jacob Sypniewski
Nina Szalkiewicz

T

Jack Tagget
William Tait
Fiorina Talaba
Hikari Tanaka
Mio Taylor
Thomas Teftsis
Emily Tenniswood
Subi Thakali
Louise Thomas
Cade Thune
Dustin Tibbetts
Paige Tobin
Maria Tolentino Guzman
Emma Toomey
Anna Torsky
Jonathan Townley
Caitlin Tremewan
Uyen Trinh
Lydia Turke
Annie Tyler

U

Eva Ugelow

V

Marcela Valdivieso
Clara Valenti
Madison Vallan
Adriana Vance
Brianne Vanderbilt
Megan Vandyke
Ethan VanSant
Taylor VanWinkle
Hope Vanzo-Sparks
Travis Veenhuis
Miriam Velasquez
Christopher Vennard
Ashley Ver Beek
Naomi Verne
Carter Vespi
Lucille Voss
Dat Vu

W

Carter Wade
Alex Wallace
Barnaby Walsh
Gabrielle Walton Schwartz
Ta-Yin Wang
Maya Wanner
Claire Ward
Madeline Ward
Lesli Washington
Leah Wathen
Micheal Watson
Anne Waugh
Maija Weaver
Zhi Nee Wee
Justin Wesley-Johnson
Ehren White
Tanner White
Annarosa Whitman
Jessica Wile
Brian Will
Megan Williams
Blake Willison
Clayton Wilms
Abigail Wilson
Mars Wilson
Nick Wilson
Ryan Witczak
Hannah Wohlman
Hannah Wolfe
Julia Woods
Zachary Worthing
Andrew Wright
Robert Wright

X

Lingrui Xiang

Y

Kimberly Yang
Eleanor Yaruss
Ethan Young
JayLashay Young
Ynika Yuag
Austin Yunker
Sophia Yurdin

Z

Kaylin Zajac
Zoe Zawacki
Chi Zhang

Conference, Faculty Catalyze Chemistry Students

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The opportunity to present to and learn from pharmaceutical professionals is normally reserved for graduate students, professional scientists and postdoctoral fellows. For Kalamazoo College chemistry students in Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry Laura Furge’s lab, attending the Great Lakes Drug Metabolism and Disposition Discussion Group annual meeting as undergrads is a tradition that opens doors and underscores their passion for science.

Chemistry Students Attend Drug Metabolism Conference
Three chemistry students attended the Great Lakes Drug Metabolism and Disposition Discussion Group on May 9 and 10 in Ann Arbor with Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry Laura Furge (second from right). The students are Kevin McCarty ’20 (left), Cydney Martell ’19 (second from left) and Michael Orwin ’20 (right).

Three students attended the spring meeting on May 9 and 10 in Ann Arbor. Furge’s students, known for their research excellence, have had several opportunities in recent years to show off their work regarding the P450 enzyme, which catalyzes drug-metabolism reactions, with implications toward drug discovery.

This year’s K representatives included Cydney Martell ’19 of Gull Lake, Michigan; Kevin McCarty ’20 of Clarkston, Michigan; and Michael Orwin ’20 of Portage, Michigan.

“I feel I was really fortunate to get into (Furge’s) lab,” said Martell, whose connection with Furge also helped her secure an internship last year with Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis and committed to discovering medicines for people around the world. “The most rewarding thing about the conference is our ability to network with individuals and build important relationships. It’s nice to be able to have that connection and be on equal ground. It’s a love of science that facilitates our ability to work across experience levels.”

Martell will seek a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Northwestern University beginning this fall.

The poster presentation McCarty made from his research in Furge’s lab will evolve into his Senior Individualized Project this summer, he said, which is a testament to Furge’s guidance.

“Instead of telling you how to do things, she’ll ask you questions, engaging you in the work,” McCarty said. “She gives you the freedom to do every part of the research you can by yourself, which helps you understand and take away what’s important.”

In fact, McCarty has been so happy with his experiences in the chemistry program at K, the drug-metabolism conference and in Furge’s lab, he’d tell prospective students considering K to also major in chemistry.

“I would tell them, ‘you’d be surprised by all the opportunities you’ll have,’” McCarty said. “When I first considered K, I heard all about our small class sizes and the faculty. What they didn’t tell me is how many opportunities there would be to work with faculty members like Dr. Furge or in a lab like hers.”

Orwin echoed his peers’ excitement for attending the conference and appreciation of Furge’s leadership in their lab at K.

“I really loved attending the conference and it was a great undergraduate experience being able to present my work to industry professionals,” Orwin said. “Overall, I find the most exciting part of research is the ability to contribute to our collective knowledge alongside being able to share one’s passion with others. I find myself very fortunate for being able to have this experience.”

Kalamazoo Promise Fulfills its First Class at K

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Kalamazoo Promise Student Druanna Darling with a dog
Druanna Darling ’19 said she had not considered attending Kalamazoo College until the Kalamazoo Promise was extended to Michigan Colleges Alliance schools in 2015. Photo by Catalina Gonzalez.

When students in the Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) receive their diplomas, 92 percent of them are eligible for an outstanding graduation gift: a tuition-free post-secondary education thanks to the Kalamazoo Promise.

KPS graduates who have lived in the district and have been students for at least four years can have as much as 100 percent of their in-state tuition and fees paid for thanks to the Promise, a program funded by anonymous donors. The program is applicable to community colleges, public universities, and since 2015, to 15 private institutions in the Michigan Colleges Alliance, including Kalamazoo College.

Fortunately for Druanna Darling ’19, this promise was made at just the right time.

“I remember there being a press conference during the summer before my senior year (in high school) and my mom was the one who showed me the Promise was being extended” to private schools, said Darling, whose family moved to Arizona when she was 6, only to return because of what the Promise offered her. “We had heard a lot of great things about Kalamazoo College and it was a part of our community, but it never seemed accessible to me. K wasn’t even on my radar.”

A chance to attend K with smaller class sizes and one-on-one opportunities to work with professors was extraordinarily appealing. The opportunity to have her tuition covered convinced her to visit campus. Two campus tours and an overnight stay later, Darling was sure she had found her second home.

“It felt like the students were more of a priority at K,” she said. “Elsewhere, the colleges accepted a huge group of students and the students paid their tuition. At K, faculty and staff were more personal and invested in students. I felt accepted immediately.”

Darling, a psychology major and Loy Norrix alumna, applied to the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Western Michigan University. Ultimately, she decided K was the only place she wanted to experience college. That college experience will culminate Sunday, June 16, when she will be one of eight KPS graduates to graduate from K, representing the College’s first class of Promise-eligible students.

Promise-eligible students have added a perspective of their own to K’s student body, Director of Admission Suzanne Lepley said. They are smart, well-prepared for college and know the community well, although most just start to learn of K’s distinctive offerings—including the K-Plan, the College’s approach to the liberal arts and sciences—shortly before applying.

“They have been educated in the richly diverse KPS system and that learning perspective transfers to the community at K,” Lepley said. “Despite being raised in the city, many spend little, if any time on our campus before attending. They tend to experience the College in a special way as they explore a part of the community they might not have known.”

Darling said she will graduate with a very limited amount of debt that she feels won’t be a burden thanks to the Kalamazoo Promise. And four years after first falling in love with K, her passion for K hasn’t changed.

“I keep thinking I might want to declare a second major and stay for a fifth year,” she joked. “I don’t think my view of it has changed at all. As an entering student, I was overjoyed. The environment is so warming. I have felt supported every day.”

Much of that support has come directly from the faculty. Darling worked with Assistant Professor of Psychology Brittany Liu in Liu’s research lab, and she has received assistance from professors in applying for jobs and graduate school as she hopes to one day work with autistic children.

“Personally, I know a lot of individuals who went to big universities,” Darling said. “There are a lot of things their education has lacked such as an opportunity to learn about social justice issues. At other universities, you might learn about physics or writing a good paper. But at K you learn about how to be a better citizen.”

10 Earn Heyl Scholarships; 7 Will Attend K

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Ten students from Kalamazoo County high schools will receive Heyl scholarships to attend institutions of higher education in the 2019-20 school year, majoring in STEM-related fields. The group includes seven who will attend Kalamazoo College.

2019 Heyl Scholarships 002 cDUGAL
A dinner May 31 at Kalamazoo College honored 10 recipients of Heyl Scholarships.

The prestigious scholarships — available to accomplished Kalamazoo-area math and science students who meet certain requirements — cover tuition, room and board, and book fees. The scholarships were established in 1971 through the will of F.W. and Elsie L. Heyl. F.W. Heyl was the first director of research at the Upjohn Co. and taught at Kalamazoo College.

Heyl Scholarship Fund Executive Director Karika Ann Parker is pictured at the far left. Honored at a dinner at the College, the scholarship winners include Rachel Kramer (from left), Gull Lake High School/Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC), attending Kalamazoo College; Samuel Ankley, Kalamazoo Central High School, Kalamazoo College; Suja Thakali, Kalamazoo Central/KAMSC, Kalamazoo College; Macy Hoppe, Loy Norrix High School, attending Western Michigan University School of Nursing; Emma Knutson, Loy Norrix High School, WMU School of Nursing; Sierra Knight, Loy Norrix High School, WMU School of Nursing; Carter Eisenbach, Loy Norrix High School, Kalamazoo College; Alexis Nesbitt, Parchment High School/KAMSC, Kalamazoo College; Rachel Lanting, Kalamazoo Central High School/KAMSC, Kalamazoo College. Elizabeth Wang (not pictured), of Portage Northern/KAMSC, will attend Kalamazoo College.

Virtual Reality Demonstration Wows Students

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Buildings developed through virtual reality
Fourteen students in Nayda Collazo-Llorens’ digital art course were transported into a world filled with structures developed from their imaginations through virtual reality.

Exclamations such as “Wow!” and “Cool!” were emanating from Light Fine Arts last week. That’s because students were witnessing the dazzling results of a partnership between the Art Department and the College’s Center for New Media Design (CNMD): a virtual reality demonstration depicting projects from Nayda Collazo-Llorens’ digital art course.

The 14 students in the course were transported into a world filled with structures developed from their imaginations including domed mazes, star-shaped-shadow-casting trellises and cleverly arranged hexagonal pillars, allowing them to climb, observe and interact with everyone’s creations.

Virtual Reality Demonstration Buildings 2
Fourteen students in Nayda Collazo-Llorens’ digital art course were transported into a world filled with structures developed from their imaginations through virtual reality.

Virtual Reality Demonstration 5
Fourteen students in Nayda Collazo-Llorens’ digital art course were transported into a world filled with structures developed from their imaginations through virtual reality.

Their project, which Collazo-Llorens titled Architectural Aura, required students to design complex, three-dimensional structures capturing fantastical facades rather than traditional buildings. Students considered their structures from multiple viewpoints, including the interiors, and added perspectives based on volume and mass, proportions and balance.

Maren Prophit
Maren Prophit was among 14 students in Nayda Collazo-Llorens’ digital art course who received a demonstration of her work in virtual reality.

Students then used computer-aided design tools such as TinkerCAD — an app for 3D design, electronics and coding — to develop them, and turn them into tangible models through three MakerBot 3D printers including one in the CNMD. Educational Technology Specialist Josh Moon and Peer Design Consultant Faith Barnett ’21 later spent about two weeks transforming the 3D models into virtual reality.

The experience was a hit for the class’s students including Gaby Cordova, an English major from Los Angeles, and Maren Prophit, a biology and art double major from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, who were impressed to see how small objects could be enlarged into a world where students could interact with them.

The project was especially practical for Prophit, who interned last summer with Mackinac State Historic Park, a family of living history museums and nature parks in northern Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac. There, she saw sketch art re-created and exhibits designed with help from virtual reality, reflecting her own need to learn digital processes.

Barnett also received hands-on work in developing virtual reality for a public presentation for the first time.

“There was a lot of fine tuning to solve some minor issues because some of the graphics were jittery,” Barnett said. “But the best part of VR is you can do things with it that are impossible in the real world.”

A Different Diagnosis for Akhenaten? Ask Your Mummy

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Even with modern-day royals generating headlines, Chelsea Miller ’19 would rather focus her attention on a royal who lived thousands of years ago. Miller’s research, first conducted through her junior-year seminar, is applying new theories to the legacy of Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt from about 1353 to 1336 B.C.

Chelsea Miller Researches Akhenaten
When Chelsea Miller ’19, of Flint, Michigan, began her studies at Kalamazoo College, she thought she would pursue the pre-med program. Instead, she fell in love with the Classics Department, where she studies historical figures such as Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt thousands of years ago.

Traditional belief says Akhenaten suffered from awkward physical conditions such as Fröhlich’s syndrome, a rare childhood metabolic disorder, or Marfan’s syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the body’s connective tissue. Yet Miller’s research leads to a different diagnosis, even thousands of years after Akhenaten’s death.

“I believe the cause of his behavior was a combination of propaganda and a mental tendency of taking things too far,” said Miller, a classical civilizations major with a concentration in neuroscience. “I believe he had characteristics such as an elevated mood, inflated grandiosity and overactivity. I believe he had egomania.”

That theory, in fact, seems to be supported by those symptoms as found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which mental-health experts in the U.S. use to identify mental illnesses.

“I think the average person would find it a little surprising that we can do such a retrospective diagnosis,” Miller said. “He was such a famous person and he probably had a mental illness, yet there are still stigmas regarding people who have mental illness. I think other people can be drawn to his eccentric lifestyle like I was, and what might’ve been going on inside of his mind.”

Miller presented her research this winter at the University of Tennessee Undergraduate Classics Conference, also attended by representatives of institutions such as Duke University, Bryn Mawr College and the University of Wisconsin.

“It was an amazing experience,” Miller said. “So many people from very well-respected and well-known schools made me feel proud to be representing K because it shows the kind of work we do here. I think more students at K should know they have opportunities like this. It was very rewarding to present my work and experience other people’s work.”

Miller said Akhenaten was married to Queen Nefertiti and was believed to be the father of Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut. Egypt at the time was a conservative civilization that valued stability and continuity, although Akhenaten rejected many Egyptian traditions that rulers were expected to uphold. He introduced monotheism, for example, to a culture that had worshiped hundreds of gods for many centuries.

Akhenaten also spent great resources founding a new royal capital city, and he adopted a bizarre, androgynous image for himself and his family that violated idealistic Egyptian artistic canon. That image included a grotesquely elongated face that surmounted a tall and thin neck, weak and sloping shoulders, a distended belly and spindly calves.

His decisions, in fact, presumably caused Akhenaten’s subjects to hate him because they posthumously condemned his memory and attempted to remove all mentions of him from historical records. When researchers rediscovered proof of Akhenaten in the 19th and 20th centuries, archaeologists and medical professionals attempted to explain his unusual appearance and radical behaviors in art and history with retrospective diagnoses of physical conditions.

Miller, though, said Akhenaten’s mummy was discovered without any sign of the physical conditions portrayed in images of him, aiding her conclusion of mental illness. She added she hopes her research will lead her to more fascinating ideas about historical influencers.

“I’m interested in looking at other misunderstood figures in history and what they did mentally,” Miller said. “I don’t want to say the Akhenaten story is over for me, but other people have already investigated rulers such as Alexander the Great, and I’d like to go further into that history.”

K Student Selected for National Theatre Event

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A top-honors finish in a recent theatre regional event led Rebecca Chan ’22 to an even bigger stage in April.

Rebecca Chan and Three Other Students at National Theatre Event
Rebecca Chan ’22 (second from right) was one of two first-year students and four students overall selected to attend the Kennedy Center American College Theatre event in Washington, D.C.

Chan, a theatre major from Howell, Michigan, has returned from the week-long Kennedy Center American College Theatre National Festival in Washington, D.C., where she was one of only four students from around the country to participate in its Institute for Theatre Journalism Advocacy (ITJA) events. There, Chan engaged in a series of seminars with well-known journalists from publications such as the Washington Post, American Theatre and National Public Radio, focusing on theatre criticism and how it’s changing with technology.

The opportunity meant extending the experience she received at the regional festival in Madison, Wisconsin, where she wrote deadline-oriented critiques and responses about shows she watched each night. The event, which included students from across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, was where Chan received her first experiences in theatre journalism and became one of just eight students from around the country to earn top honors. From those eight students, four were chosen to attend nationals.

“I was taken aback by the opportunity,” Chan said. Before this year, “I didn’t have a background in journalism. This validated my experience from regionals on a second level. I felt really blessed to have the opportunity. The fact that the seminars sparked so much conversation was something I enjoyed. I loved to see people sorting through my ideas.”

Chan credited her theatre classes in her first year at K for helping her develop the skills that enabled her to write so successfully.

“I took three theatre courses involving fundamentals of acting, playwriting and stagecraft,” she said. “Those three prepared me to evaluate a lot of different things, including the technical aspects and structures of a play. They really bolstered what I was able to do.”

From there, Chan ensured she maintained her skills independently from the end of regionals until nationals.

“I made sure that I practiced writing every so often,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how to practice specifically for theater journalism, but I made sure I had a good foundation going.”

The ITJA aims to develop arts journalists who can advocate for excellence in the arts through a variety of media—web, print and broadcast. Chan was one of two first-year students selected to attend the national event among the four participating. The other two were seniors, including one from California who soon will pursue a Ph.D., and one from Missouri who majors in journalism.

“I liked having (the journalism major) in the room because she had that student perspective and she’s in the process of finding a job,” Chan said. “It was neat to be on an equal playing field with someone with so much experience in the field.”

Chan said she would like to pursue another opportunity with the Kennedy Center events in the future. As a first-year, she’s not certain which area of theatre will be her focus, but “journalism is another form of writing for me to play with and explore,” she said. “I like to stay open to possibilities.”

International Jazz Day Gives K Reason to Toot its Own Horn

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Music Professor Tom Evans rehearses his trombone with Rushik Patel ’22 at Light Fine Arts. Evans directs K’s noteworthy Jazz Band, making the College a great place to mark International Jazz Day.

There are days during the year when it makes sense for Kalamazoo College to toot its own horn. International Jazz Day is one of them, as the College’s Jazz Band is known for its well-attended, quality performances popular with the musicians themselves and audiences alike.

According to its website, International Jazz Day — celebrated each April 30 — unites communities, schools, artists, historians, academics and enthusiasts to celebrate jazz and its roots. It helps the world learn of jazz’s future and its impact, while encouraging intercultural dialogue and international cooperation.

That desire to celebrate jazz could cause anyone, from jazz novices to experts, to gravitate to K’s Jazz Band.

“We tell our audiences, ‘if the music affects you, get up and dance,’” said Music Professor Tom Evans, the band’s director, who ensures his group is deserving of recognition around K and around the Kalamazoo community. “By the end, we usually have many who are dancing in the aisles. It’s always great to play in front of such an appreciative audience.”

The enthusiasm of the musicians is part of what makes the band special. “I have one rule with the Jazz Band: It’s OK to make mistakes, but it’s not OK to play without passion,” Evans said. “I believe (the band) can make you a better person. It makes you more disciplined and it engages your mind. It’s a chance to explore history from the earliest jazz continuing through many contemporary artists.”

For those who need a primer in jazz as they mark International Jazz Day, Evans said the music is exciting because “jazz reinvents itself every night. If you go to a concert and see the same group two nights in a row, the beginning and the end might sound familiar, but the middle would be different.”

That middle represents the jazz process of improvisation, defined as the spontaneous creation of fresh, original melodies beyond the notes on a page. Improvisation is inspired by the musicians performing and how they feel at a given moment. Plus, they can never be identically repeated.

K’s Jazz Band typically follows standard big band instrumentation with five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones and a rhythm section consisting of a pianist, a bass player, a guitarist and drummers. This year’s rhythm section features two guitarists and adds a vibraphone player. A vibraphone has metallic bars instead of the wooden ones seen on the garden-variety xylophone.

“A xylophone has a distinctive wooden ‘dong’ sound, but a vibraphone has metal with sustained pitches that sound like ‘ting,’” Evans said. Those pitches are controlled through fans underneath the instrument that spin and rotate.

For students interested in Jazz Band, there are music ensemble scholarship opportunities for incoming students, and while auditions are sometimes required for the band, there are more opportunities to participate and take a leadership role than you might find at a larger school.

“If you attend somewhere like the University of Michigan, good luck. You’re probably waiting until at least your junior year to play in the Jazz Band, and even then, there might be a waiting list,” Evans said. “K is a place where students have immediate leadership opportunities from the moment they get to campus.” Jazz Band is no exception. “With the Jazz Band, every voice is critical. If one person doesn’t show up, it affects everyone.”

Evans came to K in 1995, inheriting the College’s Jazz and Symphonic bands, after teaching at Alfred University, another liberal arts institution, in Alfred, New York. His jazz bands have toured Chicago, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati and Detroit in the U.S., and Russia, Estonia, Japan, Finland and Tunisia around the world.

The group’s next concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, May 11, in the Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts. Evans said the band’s play list will include some early jazz, swing, bop, fusion, funk and Latin varieties.

“At the end of each concert, I want the kids to walk off the stage as heroes,” Evans said.

Hear some selections of prior Jazz Band performances and learn more about the group at its website.