Fifteen Kalamazoo College students joined three of their teachers (professors Dwight Williams, Santiago Salinas and Ellen Robertson) to present research at the 2016 West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference (WMRUGS) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The annual conference provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to present their own research to a large and supportive group of professional scientists. K was well represented with sophomores, juniors, and seniors in attendance from both the Departments of Biology and Chemistry: Suma Alzouhayli ’17 (Chemistry and Biology), John Bailey ’17 (Chemistry), Christi Cho ’17 (Chemistry), Quinton Colwell ’17 (Chemistry), Rachel Fadler ’17 (Chemistry), Sarah Glass ’17 (Chemistry), Sharat S. Kamath ’19, Christina Keramidas ’18 (Chemistry and Biology), Cydney Martell ’19 (Chemistry), Garret Miller ’16 (Chemistry), Susmitha Narisetty ’19 (Biology), Darren Peel ’17 (Biology), Collin Steen ’17 (Chemistry), Myles Truss ’17 (Chemistry), Raoul Wadhwa ’17 (Chemistry and Computer Science). In addition to presenting their research, students heard a keynote address and research talks by undergraduate and graduate students from regional colleges and universities. This free event also provided undergraduate researchers the opportunity to interact face-to-face with graduate school recruiters and to learn more about future career opportunities.
There were 169 undergraduate posters presented at WMRUGS from students representing 17 different college and universities. Ten students from the Kalamazoo College Department of Chemistry, presented results of their research conducted under the mentorship of Kalamazoo College faculty that included Laura Furge, Regina Stevens-Truss, and Dwight Williams. Other students presented the results of their summer research projects conducted in laboratories at Indiana University and the University of Oregon. Students from the Department of Biology presented their findings from research conducted this past summer in laboratories at South Dakota State University and Michigan State University.
Honors Day soloist Lauren Landman and President Jorge Gonzalez
Kalamazoo College Family Weekend served as backdrop for the College’s annual Honors Day convocation. More than 250 students were recognized for excellence in academics and leadership in six divisions: Fine Arts, Foreign Languages, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social Sciences and Physical Education. Recipients of prestigious scholarships were recognized as were members of national honor societies and students who received special Kalamazoo College recognition awards. In addition, student athletes and teams who have won Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association awards were feted. The students who received awards or recognition are listed below.
FINE ARTS DIVISION
THE BRIAN GOUGEON PRIZE IN ART, awarded to a sophomore student who, during his or her first year, exhibited outstanding achievement and potential in art. Kaiya Herman-Hilker Qynce Chumley
LILLIAN PRINGLE BALDAUF PRIZE IN MUSIC, awarded to an outstanding music student. John Bowman Christopher Coburn Matthew Peters Madeline Lauver
COOPER AWARD for a junior or senior showing excellence in a piece of creative work in a theatre arts class: film, acting, design, stagecraft, puppetry, speech. Quincy Crosby
THEATRE ARTS FIRST-YEAR STUDENT AWARD, given to a sophomore for outstanding departmental efforts during the first year. Kate Kreiss Robert Davis Maren Prophit Louise Thomas
FOREIGN LANGUAGES DIVISION
LeGRAND COPLEY PRIZE IN FRENCH, awarded to a sophomore who, as a first-year student, demonstrated the greatest achievement in French. Lauren Arquette Danny Horwitz
HARDY FUCHS AWARD, given for excellence in first-year German. Emma Eisenbeis
MARGO LIGHT AWARD, given for excellence in second- or third-year German. Eric Thornburg
ROMANCE LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT PRIZE IN SPANISH, awarded for excellence in the first year in Spanish. Kate Kreiss Daniel Cho
CLARA H. BUCKLEY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN LATIN, awarded to an outstanding student of the language of the ancient Romans. Emma Peters
CLASSICS DEPARTMENT PRIZE IN GREEK, awarded to an outstanding student in the language of the ancient Greeks. Brittany Jones
PROVOST’S PRIZE IN CLASSICS, awarded to that student who writes the best essay on a classical subject. Danielle Gin
HUMANITIES DIVISION
O.M. ALLEN PRIZE IN ENGLISH, given for the best essay written by a member of the first-year class. Kate Kreiss
JOHN B. WICKSTROM PRIZE IN HISTORY, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in history. Mackenzie Callahan
L.J. AND EVA (“GIBBIE”) HEMMES MEMORIAL PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY, awarded to that sophomore who, in the first year, showed the greatest promise for continuing studies in philosophy. Katherine Bennett Garrett Sander
NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS DIVISION
WINIFRED PEAKE JONES PRIZE IN BIOLOGY, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in biology. Min Soo Kim Cydney Martell Maggie Smith
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in chemistry. Meghan Horal
FIRST-YEAR CHEMISTRY AWARD, awarded to a sophomore student who, during the first year, demonstrated great achievement in chemistry. Anthony Diep Nicholas Ludka
LEMUEL F. SMITH AWARD, given to a student majoring in chemistry, pursuing the American Chemical Society approved curriculum, and having at the end of the junior year the highest average standing in courses taken in chemistry, physics and mathematics. Collin Steen
COMPUTER SCIENCE PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in computer science. Hans Wieland
FIRST-YEAR MATHEMATICS AWARD, given annually to the sophomore student who, during the first year, demonstrated the greatest achievement in mathematics. Dahwi Kim
Allegra Allgeier
THOMAS O. WALTON PRIZE IN MATHEMATICS, awarded to a member of the junior class for excellence in the work of the first two years in mathematics. Abhay Goel
COOPER PRIZE IN PHYSICS, given for excellence in the first year’s work in physics. Kayla Park Ricardo DelOlmo-Parrado
SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION
DEPARTMENTAL PRIZE IN ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY, awarded for excellence during the first and/or second year’s work. Paige Tobin Meghan Horal Hannah Muscara Adam Edery Benjamin Smith
C. WALLACE LAWRENCE PRIZE IN ECONOMICS, awarded annually to a economics student who has done outstanding work in the Department of Economics and Business during the sophomore year. Maria Franco Hannah Kline Logan Smith
C. WALLACE LAWRENCE PRIZE IN BUSINESS, awarded annually to a business student who has done outstanding work in the Department of Economics and Business during the sophomore year. Cody Colvin Jacob Wasko Alex White
IRENE AND S. KYLE MORRIS PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s courses in the Department of Economics and Business. Christopher Coburn Rachel Frank Evelyn Wagner
WILLIAM G. HOWARD MEMORIAL PRIZE, awarded for excellence in any year’s work in political science. Lauren Arquette
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY FIRST-YEAR STUDENT PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in psychology. Michelle Alba
MARSHALL HALLOCK BRENNER PRIZE, given by the family and friends in memory of Marshall Hallock Brenner, class of 1955, to be awarded to an outstanding junior for excellence in the study of psychology. Kyle Hernandez
PHYSICAL EDUCATION DIVISION
DIVISION OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION PRIZE, awarded to those students who, as first-year students, best combined leadership and scholarship in promoting athletics, physical education and recreation. Jordan Wiley Amanda Moss Cheyenne Allyn-White
MAGGIE WARDLE PRIZE, awarded to that sophomore woman whose activities at the College reflect the values that Maggie Wardle demonstrated in her own life. The recipient will show a breadth of involvement in the College through her commitment to athletics and to the social sciences and/or community service. Malak Ghazal
COLLEGE AWARDS
GORDON BEAUMONT MEMORIAL AWARD, awarded to the student who displays qualities of selflessness, humanitarian concern and a willingness to help others, as exemplified in the life of Gordon Beaumont. Sarah Bragg Mireya Guzman-Ortiz
HENRY AND INEZ BROWN PRIZE, awarded in recognition of outstanding participation in the College community. Sidney Wall
VIRGINIA HINKELMAN MEMORIAL AWARD, awarded to a student who displays a deep concern for the well-being of children, as demonstrated through career goals in the field of child welfare. Moises Hernandez
HEYL SCHOLARS – CLASS OF 2020
Taylor Ashby Kento Hirakawa Matthew Krinock Samuel Maddox Shukrani Nsenga Michael Orwin Marjorie Wolfe Julie Zabik
POSSE SCHOLARS – CLASS OF 2020
Iffat Chowdhury Fabien Debies Neelam Lal Madisyn mahoney Israel Mazas Joseph Ney-Jun Melissa Pasillas Cesar Soria Gabriel Ugarte Raphaela Varella
NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR – CLASS OF 2020
John Patton
ALPHA LAMBDA DELTA – CLASS OF 2019
Alpha Lambda Delta is a national honor society that recognizes excellence in academic achievement during the first college year. To be eligible for membership, students must earn a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 and be in the top 20 percent of their class during the first year.
Lauren Arquette Meredith Ashton Max Aulbach Katherine Bennett Kevin Bhimani Emily Boyle Moly Brueger Mackenzie Callahan Tapiwa Chikungwa Heeseong Cho Jennifer Cho Christopher Coburn Ricardo DelOlmo-Parrado Anthony Diep Emma Eisenbeis McKinzie Ervin Alex Fairhall Rachel Frank Ian Freshwater Sarah George Natalie Gratsch Claire Greening Meghan Horal Sadie Jackson Min Soo Kim Mackenzie Landman Madeline Lauver Hyunyn Lim Sara Lonsberry Nicholas Ludka Cydney Martell Abigail McDonough Jacob Mooradian Emma Mullenax Kayla Park Andrew Parsons Cecilia Ringo Skylar Rizzolo Scott Roberts Timothy Rutledge Austin Smith Benjamin Smith Margaret Smith Natalie Thompson Evenly Wagner Ailih Weeldreyer
ENLIGHTENED LEADERSHIP AWARDS
ARCUS CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADERSHIP Donovan Williams
CREATIVE EXPRESSION IN JOURNALISM Emiliana Renuart Maia Taylor
CREATIVE EXPRESSION IN MUSIC Anna Christinidis Liam Fries Joshua Gibson Kathryn Martin Boemin Park Orly Rubinfeld
CREATIVE EXPRESSION IN VISUAL ARTS Georgie Andrews Brianna Burnell Lizi Chinchilakashvili Nutsa Chinchilakashvili
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Lakshya Choudhary Shiva Sah
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM AND SUSTAINABILITY Aiden Voss Madeline Ward
MICHIGAN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (MIAA) AWARDS
The following Hornet teams earned the 2015-2016 MIAA Team GPA Award. Team members achieved a 3.3 or better grade point average for the entire academic year.
The MIAA each year honors students at member colleges who achieve distinction on the classroom and in athletic competition. Students need to be a letter winner in a varsity sport and maintain at minimum 3.5 grade point average for the entire school year.
Michael Allen Kelsey Adamski Ryan Andrusz Elizabeth Arellano Lauren Arquette Alberto Ayala Sonal Bahl Victoria Beehler Kennedy Boulton Riley Boyd Allie Brodsky Molly Brueger Thomas Bryant Hayley Buckhout Matthew Burczyk Janice Burnett Alex Cadigan Kathryn Callaghan Olivia Cares Charlie Carson Katherine Cebelak Madeleine Chilcote Cody Colvin Anthony Convertino Anna Dairaghi Christina Dandar Elan Dantus Sabrina Dass Eric De Witt Ricardo DelOlmo-Parrado Dana DeVito Cecilia DiFranco Mikayla Doepker Guillermo Dominguez Garcia Alivia DuQuet Erin DuRoss John Dynes Charles Edick Emma Eisenbeis Rachel Epstein Angelia Evangelista Kevin Ewing Andrew Feeley George Fishback Matthew Fitz Chris Francis Maria Franco Ian Freshwater Brett Garwood Sarah George Camille Giacobone Emily Good Evan Gorgas Monica Gorgas Kyle Hahn Griffin Hamel Jordan Henning Kaiya Herman-Hilker Kyle Hernandez Samantha Hicks Megan Hoinville Shelby Hopper Allia Howard Robert Hudson Nicole Huff Julia Hulbert Jordan Jabara Clare Jensen Claire Kalina Spencer Kennedy Kelsey Kerbawy Benjamin Kileen Dahwi Kim William Kirchen Hannah Kline Emily Kozal Stefan Leclerc Da Bin Lee Jacob Lindquist Jordan Loredo Nick Ludka Megan Malish Sarah Manski Nicholas Marsh Cydney Martell Mallory McClure Alexander McDonnell Thomas McLravy Madison Moote Christopher Muir Victoria Najacht Jonathan Nord Skyler Norgaard Mackenzie Norman Andrew Novetsky Michael Oravetz Alexandria Oswalt Dylan Padget Dana Page James Paprocki Bradley Popiel Nicole Prentice Megan Riley Phillip Ritchie Scott Roberts Sophie Roberts William Roberts Rebecca Rogers Anna Roodbergen Keigan Ryckman Matthew Ryder Mason Sarosi Ashley Schiffer Grady Schneider Eleanor Schodowski Aaron Schwark Cameron Schwartz Jacob Scott Lauren Seroka Sharif Shaker Claire Slaughter Grace Smith Kathleen Sorenson Sophia Spencer Vethania Stavropoulos Mira Swearer Lily Talmers Alexander Townsend Lydia Turke Elizabeth Tyburski Kaela Van Til David Vanderkloot Jacob Waier Kyra Walenga Jacob Wasko John Wehr Alex White Joshua Whitney Hans Wieland Jordan Wiley Madeline Woods Sarah Woods Brent Yelton Matthew Zhiss
Rocketry and a liberal arts education might seem like a strange combination, but not for Kalamazoo College’s Emma Kristal. Emma recently won individual and team gold medals with the USA World Space Modeling team in the Space Modeling Championships in Lviv, Ukraine.
Kalamazoo College student Emma Kristal wears gold medals she won during the World Space Modeling Championships.
Emma – a junior from Royal Oak, Mich. – majors in psychology and biology with a concentration in neuroscience. She also minors in French at K. Yet rocketry has been a passion since fifth grade.
“I didn’t want to go compete at first, but my dad had the time off and it was finally in Michigan,” Emma said of her first National Association of Rocketry competition. “He conned me into going by telling me it would be just for fun.”
Emma set one of her 10 U.S. National Model Rocketry records in the E SuperRoc event during that competition. That led to more competitions and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum accepting one of her rockets.
The Smithsonian “liked it because a fifth-grade girl used it to set a record and because I made it to look like a giant pink pencil,” Emma said. Although the rocket is not on display, she hopes it one day might be.
Emma since has tried several events to find which she likes best. Her event this year on the world stage was the S2P Precision Fragile Payload. In this event, competitors tried to reach an altitude of 300 meters and a flight time of 60 seconds for three consecutive flights while not breaking an egg in the rocket. Emma was the flyer who came closest to the cumulative target without breaking or cracking her egg.
“The fun part is we can’t check between rounds whether the egg is cracked,” Emma said. “It wasn’t until an hour after the final round had ended that I found out I was in first place.”
The world championships are every other year. Emma has competed with the U.S. team since 2010. The competition has allowed Emma to travel to Serbia, Slovakia and Bulgaria in addition to Ukraine for competitions. Emma also has visited Vienna, Austria, and a rocket manufacturer in the formerly closed city of Dnipro, Ukraine.
“Most of the competitions are in Eastern Europe because that’s where most of the competitors are from other than the U.K. and China,” she said, noting she has made friends from all over the world.
Emma Kristal stands with Team USA during the World Space Modeling Championships.
“We’re the fiercest competitors on the field, but afterward, we can still sit down and play cards together,” she said. “I’m making connections with people from all over the world. Sometimes I can scroll through my newsfeed (on Facebook) and not see a single thing in English.”
Despite her interest in science-related topics and hobbies, Emma quite naturally chose K.
“My dad is an emergency room doctor and when we asked his colleagues where I should attend college, they all said K. Honestly, we thought (Kalamazoo College) put something in the water to make them all rave about it,” she said with a smile.
Emma has no plans to make a career out of rocketry, but one thing is certain: She will always shoot for the stars.
Emma Kristal’s U.S. National Model Rocketry Records
8/2/07A, Division E, SuperRoc, Altitude, 138,223 points, E6-8 motor
Junior A.J. Convertino – a Canton, Mich., native and a son of Val and Rick Convertino – has received a $20,000 David L. Boren Scholarship to study Chinese for six months in Beijing during Kalamazoo College’s winter/spring quarters.
A.J. Convertino will study for six months in China, where he will be immersed in Mandarin Chinese and work in an internship.
Boren Scholarships are funded by the federal government through the National Security Education Program, which focuses on geographic areas, languages and fields of study deemed critical to United States national security. About 170 students nationwide earned the scholarship last year.
The prestigious scholarship is named for former U.S. Sen. David L. Boren, the principal author of the legislation that created the National Security Education Program. Boren Scholars (undergrads) and Fellows (graduate students) will live in 40 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East, and study 37 languages.
A.J., an East Asian studies major and a political science and Chinese minor, said he chose K for its academic and athletic opportunities as well as the study abroad program. He is a wide receiver on the K College football team and a member of the a capella group Kalamadudes, which he feels gave him an advantage in the rigorous Boren application process that required two essays and three letters of recommendation.
A.J. said he started taking Chinese when he attended Plymouth High School.
“At first I think taking Chinese was about me wanting to be different from everybody else,” he said. “We had more than 20 Spanish teachers and only one Chinese teacher. But it’s rare for a native English speaker to be fluent in Chinese.”
The scholarship will be a life-changing opportunity for A.J. When it’s done he will fulfill a two-year service obligation with the federal government in a department with national security responsibilities. A.J. hopes his service eventually leads to work as a Foreign Service officer in the U.S. Department of State.
Most football players at K need to miss their junior season if they decide to study abroad in a program like A.J.’s given when most of the programs are available. However, A.J. worked with Center for International Programs Acting Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft to find a six-month opportunity with enough credits that begins Dec. 28. He will depart Dec. 26 for Beijing’s Capital Normal University.
A.J. credits Wiedenhoeft, football coach Jamie Zorbo, Associate Professor of Political Science John Dugas, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Madeline Chu, and Assistant Professor of Chinese Yue Hong for a combination of hard work, letters of recommendation, essay assistance, teaching styles and dedication for his upcoming opportunity.
The first part of A.J.’s experience will involve a language pledge, meaning he must speak Mandarin inside and outside the classroom. After the January term, he will have a two-week break for Chinese New Year before spring semester when he will have an intensive language course with a Chinese politics or history course in English. On top of that, he will work in an internship for eight hours a week, but he won’t know what his internship will involve until he gets to China.
“I’m really excited (for the internship) because I made it clear on my questionnaire that I’m interested in government and politics. Learning the vocabulary of that setting would really help me in my career,” A.J. said.
A.J. will return to the U.S. on June 24. Luke Winship (China/Mandarin), Erin Eagan (Senegal/Wolof) and Amanda Johnson (China/Mandarin) are previous Boren Scholars from K.
Noriko Sugimori (left) and senior Christa Scheck, who is majoring in studio art and earning a minor in Japanese
Assistant Professor of Japanese Noriko Sugimori will use a three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to contribute her research to the Oral History in the Liberal Arts (OHLA), a project of the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA). In a collaboration that also involves the Japanese department at Albion College, Sugimori and her K students are producing the world’s first bilingual (Japanese and English) synchronizations of interviews Sugimori conducted that focus on the World War II memories of various Japanese individuals.
The origins of those interviews trace back to Sugimori’s doctoral work. She researched the relationship between imperial honorifics and the concept of lèse-majesté (the crime of violating the dignity of a reigning sovereign or state) in Japan prior and during World War II. For that work she talked with several score of Japanese civilians born before 1932. The interviews were powerful, and the people with whom she spoke often deeply wanted to share their stories.
After completing her doctorate Sugimori began an oral history project that focused on war memories. Audiotaping was the cutting edge technology when Sugimori first starting interviewing subjects. Later she adopted digital videotaping. And in 2010 she became aware of Oral History Metadata Synchronizer technology, which provides a platform to show simultaneous English translation of video recordings in Japanese.
“That changed everything,” said Sugimori. “I am videotaping people who were teenagers during the war who are giving untold accounts of their experiences. These tapes can convey a whole different message to future generations about the war, and this is considered a unique contribution to the linguistics field.”
The videos and simultaneous translations have pedagogical implications for K students of Japanese. “They get to see the interviewee’s facial expressions,” said Sugimori, “which provide much more information about what is being said in a cultural context. This goes way beyond trying to learn the language from only grammar exercises.”
Because simultaneous translation allows for a more flesh-and-blood and nuanced entry into a recorded interview, students gain a more comprehensive understanding of history. “Students learn much more than political history,” said Sugimori. “They also see, as well as hear, how people were affected by the political actors.”
Today, digital technologies are making oral histories very popular among the general public. Sugimori and K students are among the pioneers helping to make that happen.
Kalamazoo College senior Sara McKinney and junior Shawn Fair secured and completed Monroe-Brown internships this summer. Monroe-Brown internships are local opportunities that include at least 400 paid hours of work with a Kalamazoo area company, valuable networking, and scholarship funding upon completion.
The Monroe-Brown family (and, subsequently, The Monroe-Brown Foundation) has a long history of supporting Michigan students in higher education. McKinney’s internship focused on research into this legacy.
She compiled a family tree; cataloged birth, death, and marriage certificates; interviewed family members; read biographies and news articles; and much more. Much of the work was conducted independently.
The end goal is a book for the Monroe-Brown grandchildren. “I’ve really enjoyed the research aspect of it,” McKinney says. “The project has really helped me develop self-accountability and has helped me learn how to seek out information and contacts in the Kalamazoo community.”
McKinney is majoring in English (with an emphasis in creative writing) and earning a minor in psychology. This fall she will complete a collection of short stories for her Senior Individualized Project.
For his internship Fair worked in the marketing internship at Fabri-Kal, an industry leader in product packaging. He analyzed the branding, marketing and advertising of the company’s environmentally friendly Greenware line.
Fair used the opportunity to evaluate what he’d learned in the classroom about leadership. He observed the leadership styles of his coworkers, managers and company executives, and determined that, to be a relational leader, “You have to be trustworthy, dependable, supportive, and willing to devote time to getting to know each of your team members.”
Fair is majoring in business and earning a minor in Chinese. He is already applying the practical lessons of his internship by launching his own mobile application production company, Simple Fix, LLC.
K students like Fair and McKinney have been well represented in the Monroe-Brown Internship Program for the last several years. Since 2012, 13 students have interned with local companies including Eaton, BASIC, AVB, Parker Hannifin, LKF Marketing, Imperial Beverage, Abraxas, and Schupan & Sons, Inc.
Text and Photo by McKenna Bramble ’16, Post Baccalaureate Summer Intern, Center for Career and Professional Development
Scientific inquiry takes no summer break at Kalamazoo College, and a culmination of the summer’s work occurred at the Dow Science Center Mini Poster Session (August 26). In the chemistry department alone some 17 students worked in the laboratories of five chemistry faculty–Professors Bartz, Furge, Smith, Stevens-Truss and Williams. Those students include first-years, sophomores, juniors and seniors, many of the latter working on their Senior Individualized Projects. The mini poster session included 12 presenters explaining the science they had conducted during the summer. Quinton Colwell ’17 (in the red tie) is pictured discussing his poster, titled “Molecular Dynamics and Real-Life Drug Metabolism.” Molecular dynamics is the study of real life systems using computer models and simulations. Colwell’s work involved a relatively novel technique,biased molecular dynamics, which, he wrote, “brings an additional layer to computer simulations relevant to bench-top experiments. It has the potential to be a game-changer.” In addition to Colwell, other presenters included Sarah Glass ’17, Myles Truss ’17, Shreya Bahl ’17, Suma Alzouhayli ’17, and Blake Beauchamp ’17.
Ian McKnight ’19 came to Kalamazoo College with aspirations of working in politics. After talking to alumnus Darrin Camilleri ’14 about careers relating to political science, Ian was offered an internship on Darrin’s campaign for State Representative this summer.
During his internship, Ian spent most of his mornings collating and analyzing voter data, making phone calls and researching competitors’ tactics. In the afternoons and evenings, Ian and his fellow colleagues knocked on thousands of doors in Metro Detroit to talk to voters and to provide them with candidate and campaign information. “I do not enjoy knocking on doors,” Ian admits. “[But] knocking on doors and making phone calls really does improve results on Election Day.”
On the evening of August 2, 2016, six weeks after beginning his internship with the Camilleri Campaign, Ian stood with a spreadsheet keeping count of the votes released by each precinct. “When the last precinct came in, I got to stare [in] disbelief [at] the razor thin margin, turn to our candidate, and say, ‘Congratulations, Mr. Camilleri.’” Ian says. “At that moment, the 173 votes that won the election for us seemed totally worth every 95-degree day, every awkward phone call, and every blister.”
“It was great to see someone so freshly out of [a political science] major make a career out of it,” Ian says. “[This internship] has given me the roadmap that I didn’t have before. In campaign work you really work your way up, and this was a phenomenal place to start.”
Ian is a rising sophomore and plans on declaring a political science major with an American Studies concentration and a public policy and urban affairs concentration. He is also the president of the College Democrats student organization.
Text and Photo by McKenna Bramble ’16, Post Baccalaureate Summer Intern, Center for Career and Professional Development
Kierra Verdun ’18 (right) with her Historypin supervisor, Kerri Young, at the National World War I Museum (Kansas City, Mo.)
History major Kierra Verdun ’18 wasn’t planning on completing an internship this summer, but after speaking to her professor, Janelle Werner, the Marlene Crandell Francis Assistant Professor of History, about her post-grad plans, Kierra decided she needed some experience in digital history.
She found her opportunity to gain this experience at Historypin, an organization that promotes communities to digitally share their local history. “Historypin taps into ‘knowledge communities,’ which are communities that already have this local knowledge,” she says. “[The goal] is to put value into what they are already doing [and]… to bridge the gap between communities and the digital world.”
This summer Kierra has used primary sources from the National Archives to create an online archive on Historypin. She has also been involved in creating a World War I app that teachers and educators can use as a tool for finding and presenting digital archives in the classroom. Kierra recently attended a conference at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo., to present the app. “We did demos with the teachers and then reported back to developers with teachers’ comments and suggestions,” she says. The conference was a collaboration between the National Archives and the National Word War I Museum.
“History should be more accessible,” says Kierra. “That’s why I like Historypin. It’s presenting histories that are not often represented.” Her internship at Historypin has made her more confident in her ability to research and contribute, and she has also learned how digital history relates to community engagement. “I better understand what ‘public history’ is, and how it relates to community engagement and social justice,” she says. “Historypin has given me the tools to know how to get at the intersection of public history and social justice.”
Kierra will study abroad in Thailand this fall. After graduating from K, she hopes to pursue a graduate degree in public history.
Text by McKenna Bramble ’16. McKenna graduated from Kalamazoo College with a B.A. degree in psychology and currently works as the post-baccalaureate summer assistant in the College’s Center for Career and Professional Development. She enjoys writing and reading poetry, hanging out with friends and eating chocolate. In the fall she plans to apply to M.F.A. degree programs for poetry. This is one of a series of profiles she is writing about K students and their summer internships.
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 2016 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 of more than 500 students, and good luck in Fall Term, 2016.
Nana-Yaw Aikins
Michelle Alba
Luis Alves-Diniz
Michael Anderson
Lauren Arquette
Meredith Ashton
Max Aulbach
Esprit Autenreith
B
Dalbyeol Bae
Julia Bartlett
Jade Beauregard
Grace Beck
Victoria Beehler
Andrea Beitel
Hayley Beltz
Katherine Bennett
Erin Bensinger
Hannah Berger
Madelyn Betts
Kevin Bhimani
Allison Bloomfield
Jacob Bonifacio
Maria Bonvicini
Kennedy Boulton
Zoe Bowman
Riley Boyd
Emily Boyle
Emerson Brown
Erin Brown
Maxine Brown
Sarena Brown
Molly Brueger
Thomas Bryant
Hayley Buckhout
Ian Bunker
Matthew Burczyk
Janice Burnett
Erin Butler
Thaddeus Buttrey
Shanice Buys
C
Alexander Cadigan
Robert Calco
Abigail Calef
Kathryn Callaghan
Mackenzie Callahan
Kalyn Campbell
Paloma Campillo
Angel Caranna
Olivia Cares
Raymond Carpenter
Lee Carter
Kebra Cassells
Coral Cervantes
Rachel Chang
Jasmine Charter-Harris
Haroon Chaudhry
Sirui Chen
Yu-Chyn Chiang
Tapiwa Chikungwa
Madeleine Chilcote
Emiline Chipman
Heeseong Cho
Elina Choi
Jennifer Cho
Jennifer Cho
Kanwal Chowdhury
Amelia Chronis
Isabelle Ciaramitaro
Joseph Cleary
Christopher Coburn
Kate Colebrook
Annaliese Collier
Cody Colvin
Quinton Colwell
Anthony Convertino
Hannah Cooperrider
Dejah Crystal
D
Susmitha Daggubati
Elan Dantus
Justin Danzy
Natalie Davenport
Corrin Davis
Robert Davis
Ximena Davis
Cecilia DeBoeck
Timothy DeCoursey
Ricardo DelOlmo-Parrado
Clare DeLong
David Demarest
Dana DeVito
Eric De Witt
Melany Diaz
Green Dickenson
Anthony Diep
Cecilia DiFranco
Margaret Doele
Guillermo Dominguez Garcia
Rachel Dranoff
Elizabeth Dulski
Thao Duong
Alivia DuQuet
John Dynes
E
Daniel Eberhart
Adam Edery
Emma Eisenbeis
Andres ElAmin-Martinez
Tiffany Ellis
Anna Emenheiser
Rachel Epstein
McKinzie Ervin
Michelle Escobar
Lucas Eshuis
Amanda Esler
Andriana Evangelista
Angelia Evangelista
Fiona Evans
Serita Evelyn
Kevin Ewing
Ihechiluru Ezuruonye
F
Rachel Fadler
Alex Fairhall
Brian Farrell
Andrew Feeley
Maria Feijoo
Mario Ferrini
Elizabeth Fiator
Marie Fiori
George Fishback
Emily Fletcher
Joshua Foley
Angela Fong
Delaney Fordell
Monet Foster
Steven Fotieo
Hannah Frame
Christopher Francis
Maria Franco
Rachel Frank
Jakob Frederick
Ian Freshwater
Maria Fujii
Lydia Fyie
G
Delfino Gaspar
Charlotte Gavin
Kathleen George
Sarah George
Carina Ghafari
Mousa Ghannam
Malak Ghazal
Sarah Glass
Samantha Gleason
Daniella Glymin
Abhay Goel
Shelby Golden
Emily Good
Adam Gothard
Emma Gougeon
Connor Grant
Madalyn Grau
Andre Grayson
Claire Greening
Jackson Greenstone
James Grenda
Jena Groshek
Alyse Guenther
Yicong Guo
Sapana Gupta
David Gurrola
Garrett Guthrie
Xueyun Gu
H
Kyle Hahn
Torey Halsey
Robert Hammond
Sara Hanna
Jessica Hansen
Hadley Harrison
Eric Hart
Sarah Hassle
Kelly Haugland
Shannon Haupt
Mara Hazen
Stephanie Heard
Frances Heldt
Ashley Henne
Kaiya Herman-Hilker
Kyle Hernandez
Moises Hernandez
Lucia Herrera
Sophie Higdon
Adelaide Hilarides
Louis Hochster
Gabrielle Holme-Miller
Roger Hood
Shelby Hopper
Meghan Horal
Andrew Horton
Daniel Horwitz
Elise Houcek
Allia Howard
Pornkamol Huang
Audra Hudson
Robert Hudson
Nicole Huff
Briana Huisken
Julia Hulbert
Siwook Hwang
I
J
Jordan Jabara
Sadie Jackson
Jaehoon Jang
Eric Janowiak
Alejandro Jaramillo
Clare Jensen
Jon Jerow
YanYan Jiang
Katherine Johnson
Emily Johnston
Brittany Jones
K
Francis Kaguku
Kamalaldin Kamalaldin
Emily Katz
Andrew Kaylor
Jessica Kehoe
Agnes Kemboi
Christina Keramidas
Kelsey Kerbawy
Anthony Ketner
Graham Key
Khin Oo Khin
Benjamin Kileen
Dahwi Kim
David Kim
Hannah Kim
Min Soo Kim
YoungHoon Kim
Savannah Kinchen
William Kirchen
Sai Klein
Hannah Kline
Benjamin Kochanowski
Julia Koreman
Bharath Kotha
Emily Kozal
Katherine Kreiss
Hannah Kruger
Marc Kuniansky
L
Kyle Lampar
Lauren Landman
Mackenzie Landman
Robyn Lane
Jeremy Lantis
Bryan Lara
Madeline Lauver
Andrew Laverenz
Stefan Leclerc
Annelise Lee
Joo Young Lee
Brett Lehman
Omar Leon
Phuong Le
Arianna Letherer
Sarah Levett
Emily Levy
Rachel Lifton
Hyunyn Lim
Jacob Lindquist
Xiang Lin
Kate Liska
Gordon Liu
Yishi Li
Giovanni LoGrasso
Molly Logsdon
Sara Lonsberry
Jordan Loredo
Chloe Love
Chenxi Lu
Nicholas Ludka
Samantha Luna
Liam Lundy
M
Andrea MacMichael
Madeleine MacWilliams
Alicia Madgwick
Sarah Manski
Kayla Marciniak
Guadalupe Marin
Nicholas Marsh
Cydney Martell
Natalie Martell
Alexis Martin-Browne
Elizabeth Martin
Kelsey Matthews
Rose Maylen
Karly McCall
Mallory McClure
Alexander McDonell
Abigail McDonough
Miles McDowall
Aaron McKay
Ivy McKee
Sara McKinney
Ian McKnight
Jordan Meiller
Molly Merkel
Lesley Merrill
Vanessa Merritt
Franklin Meyer
Samuel Meyers
Daniel Michelin
Chelsea Miller
Sangtawun Miller
Zach Miller
Jamie Misevich
Diana Morales-Perez
Zachary Morales
Aliera Morasch
Blanca Moreno
Aidan Morley
Cody Mosblech
Amanda Moss
Chloe Mpinga
Emma Mullenax
Stuart Murch
Justin Murshak
Hannah Muscara
Nkatha Mwenda
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Victoria Najacht
Jacob Naranjo
Laetitia Ndiaye
Audrey Negro
Annie Nelson
Annie Nelson
Hung Nguyen
Nuong Nguyen
Phuong Nguyen
Mark Niehaus
Anne Nielsen
Naori Nishimura
Lionel Niyongabire
Nicholas Nizzardini
Jonathan Nord
Skyler Norgaard
Mackenzie Norman
Fernando Nunez
O
Kelly Ohlrich
Josiah Olah
Michael Oravetz
Eli Orenstein
Victoria Osorio
Connor Otto
Ty Owens
P
Dylan Padget
Dana Page
Nirmita Palakodaty
Anthony Palleschi
Kayla Park
Andrew Parsons
Khusbu Patel
Ryan Paul
Kaeli Peach
Darren Peel
Elizabeth Penix
Victoria Penman-Lomeli
Jessica Penny
Madison Perian
Kaitlyn Perkins
Lauren Perlaki
Emma Peters
Matthew Peters
Caroline Peterson
Katherine Pielemeier
Emily Pizza
Sarah Pobuda
Bradley Popiel
Maylis Pourtau
Emily Powers
Nicole Prentice
Erika Pueblo
Danielle Purkey
Q
Yilan Qiu
Zichen Qi
R
Sagar Rafai
Andrea Ramirez
Shivani Rana
Malavika Rao
Megan Riley
Skylar Rizzolo
Madeleine Roberts
William Roberts
Marion Robin
Annalise Robinson
Jakob Rodseth
Rebecca Rogers
Anna Roodbergen
Justin Roop
Peter Rossi
Stefanie Roudebush
Wendy Rubio
Brock Rucinski
Timothy Rutledge
S
Amber Salome
Tanush Samson
Christa Scheck
Katharine Scheck
Austen Scheer
Claire Schertzing
Maison Scheuer
Ashley Schiffer
Ashley Schmidt
Natalie Schmitt
Sarah Schmitt
Grady Schneider
Nicholas Schneider
Eleanor Schodowski
Cameron Schwartz
Jacob Scott
Rachel Selina
Sivhaun Sera
Lauren Seroka
Sharif Shaker
Yu Shang
Ke Sheng
Tianqi Shen
Kai Lin Shi
Geon-Ah Shin
Brandon Siedlaczek
Kaylah Simmons
Kriti Singh
Sharon Situ
Claire Slaughter
Griffin Smalley
Austin Smith
Bailey Smith
Benjamin Smith
Erin Smith
Grace Smith
Logan Smith
Margaret Smith
Sarah Smith
Meagan Soffin
Cassandra Solis
Mariam Souweidane
Federico Spalletti
Sophia Spencer
Austin Sroczynski
Honora Stagner
Vethania Stavropoulos
Collin Steen
Ellen Stormont
Marian Strauss
Matera Stuart
Caroline Sulich
Kyle Sunden
Mira Swearer
Collin Sweet
Maya Sykes
T
Kiyoto Tanemura
Hanna Teasley
Diana Temple
Kathryn Thamann
Derek Thomas
Natalie Thompson
Eric Thornburg
Charles Timmons
Mateo Tobar
Paige Tobin
Carolyn Topper
Zachary Tornow
Carmen Torrado-Gonzalez
Brooke Travis
Kelly Treharne
Dakota Trinka
Brittany Trombino
Sydney Troost
Minhkhang Truong
Elyse Tuennerman
Lydia Turke
Shelby Tuthill
Elizabeth Tyburski
U
Eva Ugelow
V
Asha Vadlamudi
David Vanderkloot
Erica Vanneste
Kaela Van Til
Natalie Vazquez
Julia Villarreal
Cory Vincent
John Vinson
Anh-Tu Vu
W
Erika Waalkes
Raoul Wadhwa
Evelyn Wagner
Brigid Walkowski
Emily Walsh
Sean Walsh
Mary Warner
Samantha Weaver
Connor Webb
Ailih Weeldreyer
John Wehr
Natalie Weingartz
Paris Weisman
Kenneth Weiss
Haley Wentz
Alex White
Zachary White
Joshua Whitney
Elijah Wickline
Hans Wieland
Jordan Wiley
Brooklyn Willett
Carolyn Williams
Kiavanne Williams
Rachel Williams
Abigail Wilson
Natalia Wohletz
Camille Wood
Lindsay Worthington
Katherine Wynne
X
Anja Xheka
Jie Xu
Mingyue Xu
Zeyu Xu
Y
Michael Yeomans
Esther Yi
Samantha Young
Adre Yusi
Zixiao Yu
Z
Rachel Zemmol
Dylan Zerki
Matthew Zhiss
Jingcan Zhu
Fifteen Kalamazoo College students joined three of their teachers (professors Dwight Williams, Santiago Salinas and Ellen Robertson) to present research at the 2016 West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference (WMRUGS) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Scientific inquiry takes no summer break at Kalamazoo College, and a culmination of the summer’s work occurred at the Dow Science Center Mini Poster Session (August 26). In the chemistry department alone some 17 students worked in the laboratories of five chemistry faculty–Professors Bartz, Furge, Smith, Stevens-Truss and Williams. Those students include first-years, sophomores, juniors and seniors, many of the latter working on their Senior Individualized Projects. The mini poster session included 12 presenters explaining the science they had conducted during the summer. Quinton Colwell ’17 (in the red tie) is pictured discussing his poster, titled “Molecular Dynamics and Real-Life Drug Metabolism.” Molecular dynamics is the study of real life systems using computer models and simulations. Colwell’s work involved a relatively novel technique,biased molecular dynamics, which, he wrote, “brings an additional layer to computer simulations relevant to bench-top experiments. It has the potential to be a game-changer.” In addition to Colwell, other presenters included Sarah Glass ’17, Myles Truss ’17, Shreya Bahl ’17, Suma Alzouhayli ’17, and Blake Beauchamp ’17.
