Category: Students

Hornet Teams Display Computing Power in ACM Competition

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Seniors Kyle Sunden, Lucas Kushner and Fayang Pan at the ACM competition
Orange Hornets (l-r) Kyle Sunden, Lucas Kushner, and Fayang Pan, all seniors.

Two teams of Kalamazoo College students recently competed and computed in the annual Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Intercollegiate Regional Programming competition. When the dust settled, the Orange and Black left some big competitors feeling blue.

The Orange Hornets team of seniors Lucas Kushner, Fayang Pan, and Kyle Sunden solved two of nine problems and placed 34th out of about 126 teams from 61 colleges and universities throughout western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, eastern Ontario, and Indiana. The Black Hornets team of seniors Tibin John and Will Reichle and sophomore Sarah Manski also solved two of nine problems and finished 40th.

“It’s a combination of both time and correct submissions, with penalties for incorrect submissions,” explained K Associate Professor of Computer Science Pam Cutter who accompanied the teams to the competition held at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids.

She said the Orange Hornets solved the first problem in 50 minutes with three incorrect attempts and solved the second problem in 2:30 with one incorrect attempt. The Black Hornets solved the first problem in 1:41 with two incorrect attempts and solved the second problem in 3:39 with one incorrect attempt.

Last year, K teams placed 39th and 53rd out of 131 teams.

Senior Will Reichle, sophomore Sarah Manski and senior Tibin John at the ACM Competition
Black Hornets (l-r) senior Will Reichle, sophomore Sarah Manski, and senior Tibin John.

The 2013 competition included teams from big institutions such as Carnegie Mellon, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, University of Toronto, and University of Michigan—some of which finished behind Cutter’s Hornet squads.

“I am quite proud of our teams,” she said. “If you see this gang, give them a “Good job!”

ACM is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society.

 

 

Honors Day 2013

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Congratulations to the following Kalamazoo College students, who received awards during the Honors Day Convocation, November 1, 2013, in Stetson Chapel. The awards include all academic divisions, prestigious scholarships, and special non-departmental awards.

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.
Lucy MacArthur
Emily Walsh

THE LILLIAN PRINGLE BALDAUF PRIZE IN MUSIC, awarded to an outstanding music student.
Geon-Ah Shin
Alexandra Szeles

THE FAN E. SHERWOOD MEMORIAL PRIZE, awarded for outstanding progress and ability on the violin, viola, cello or bass.
Rina Fujiwara

THE MARGARET UPTON PRIZE IN MUSIC, awarded each year to a student designated by the Music Department Faculty as having made significant achievement in music.
Kieran Williams

THE 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.
Jane Huffman

THE SHERWOOD PRIZE, given for the best oral presentation in a speech-oriented class.
Emily Stillman

THE THEATRE ARTS FIRST-YEAR STUDENT AWARD, given to a sophomore for outstanding departmental efforts during the first year.
Esprit Autenreith
Emily Walsh

FOREIGN LANGUAGES DIVISION

THE LEGRAND COPLEY PRIZE IN FRENCH, awarded to the sophomore who as a first-year student demonstrated the greatest achievement in French.
Jennifer Cho
Stephanie Heard
Alexandra N. Smith

THE HARDY FUCHS AWARD, given for excellence in first-year German.
Muyang Sun

THE MARGO LIGHT AWARD, given for excellence in second-or third-year German.
Emily Walsh

THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT PRIZE IN SPANISH, awarded for excellence in the first year in Spanish.
Keith Garber
Michael Lindley
Nadia Torres

THE CLARA H. BUCKLEY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN LATIN, awarded to an outstanding student of the language of the ancient Romans.
Kaitlyn Greiner

THE PROVOST’S PRIZE IN CLASSICS, awarded to that student who writes the best essay on a classical subject.
Taylor Hartley

HUMANITIES DIVISION

THE O. M. ALLEN PRIZE IN ENGLISH, given for the best essay written by a member of the first-year class.
Mallory McClure

THE JOHN B. WICKSTROM PRIZE IN HISTORY, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in history.
Isabelle Ciaramitaro

THE VOYNOVICH COMPETITIVE SCHOLARSHIP, awarded to a first-year, sophomore or junior who writes the most creative essay based on a selected topic in the alternating areas of Religion and Science.
Tessa Moore

THE L.J. AND EVA (“GIBBIE”) HEMMES MEMORIAL PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY, awarded to that sophomore who in the first year shows the greatest promise for continuing studies in philosophy.
Brian Dalluge
Sarah Werner

THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY PRIZE, awarded for excellence in any year’s work in philosophy.
Riley Cook
Charles Davis
Morgan Jennings

NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS DIVISION

THE WINIFRED PEAKE JONES PRIZE IN BIOLOGY, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in biology.
Reid Blanchett
Lucy Mailing
Elizabeth Penix

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in chemistry.
Matthew Kuntzman

THE FIRST-YEAR CHEMISTRY AWARD, awarded to a sophomore student who, during the first year, demonstrated great achievement in chemistry.
Katherine Cebelak
Nadia Torres

THE 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.
Sara Adelman

THE COMPUTER SCIENCE PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in computer science.
Natalie Davenport
Fayang Pan

THE FIRST-YEAR MATHEMATICS AWARD, given annually to the sophomore student who, during the first year, demonstrated the greatest achievement in mathematics.
Paige Maguire
Sarah Manski

THE 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.
Tibin John
Philip Mulder
Fayang Pan

THE COOPER PRIZE IN PHYSICS, given for excellence in the first year’s work in physics.
Sarah Manski

SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION

THE DEPARTMENTAL PRIZE IN ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY, awarded for excellence during the first and/or second year’s work.
Annaliese Collier
Gabriel Frishman
Shannon Haupt
Brandon Siedlaczek

THE C. WALLACE LAWRENCE PRIZE IN ECONOMICS, awarded annually to a pre-business student who has done outstanding work in the Department of Economics and Business during the sophomore year.
William Cagney
David Personke
Lilian Taylor
Thomas Verville

THE IRENE AND S. KYLE MORRIS PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s courses in the Department of Economics and Business.
Spencer Kennedy
Bo Gyoung Lee

THE WILLIAM G. HOWARD MEMORIAL PRIZE, awarded for excellence in any year’s work in political science.
Audra Hudson

THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY FIRST-YEAR STUDENT PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in psychology.
Elizabeth Penix

THE MARSHALL HALLOCK BRENNER PRIZE, given by 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.
Ian Good

PHYSICAL EDUCATION DIVISION

THE 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.
Jacob Lindquist
Lucy Mailing

THE 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.
Mallory McClure

NON-DEPARTMENTAL AWARDS

THE GORDON BEAUMONT MEMORIAL AWARD, awarded to the deserving student who displays qualities of selflessness, humanitarian concern, and willingness to help others, as exemplified in the life of Gordon Beaumont.
Paula Dallacqua
Roxann Lawrence

THE HENRY AND INEZ BROWN PRIZE, awarded in recognition of outstanding participation in the College community.
Jessie Owens

THE VIRGINIA HINKELMAN MEMORIAL AWARD, awarded to a deserving student who displays a deep concern for the well-being of children, as demonstrated through career goals in the field of child welfare.
Raven Fisher

THE F. W. AND ELSIE L. HEYL SCHOLARSHIP to Kalamazoo College provides tuition, room, and books for select students who are graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools or the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center and who are majoring in the Sciences or Mathematics.
Robert Brice Calco
Quinton Colwell
Andrew Kaylor
Madison McBarnes
Colleen Orwin
Graeme Timmeney
Eric Thornburg
Raoul Wadhwa

THE POSSE SCHOLAR PROGRAM provides leadership scholarships for public high school students from Los Angeles, California with extraordinary academic and leadership potential. Students are selected for their intrinsic leadership abilities, their skill at working in a team setting, and their motivation and desire to succeed.
Erin Byrd
Kaitlyn Courtenay
Moises Hernandez
Richard Hernandez
Emily Kowey
Francisco Lopez
Jose Lopez
Jessica Magana
Aaron McKay
Phylicia Samuel
Yaneli Soriano

JOHN T. WILLIAMSON SCHOLARS – This scholarship fund was founded in recognition of the work and efforts of John T. Williamson to further the growth of education for our youth. The J.T. Williamson is awarded to black and Hispanic students for their outstanding academic achievements.
Isabela Agosa
Lucas Arbulu
Nathan Arcienega
Alberto Ayala
Maribel Blas-Rangel
Vanessa Boddy
Sarah Bragg
Viola Brown
John Clark
Caitlyn Cook
Quincy Crosby
Amanda Crouch
Bianca Delgado
Olivia Finkelstein
Samantha Gleason
Marlon Gonzalez
Janelle Grant
Brenden Groggel
Mireya Guzman-Ortiz
Fatoumata Hanne
Kyle Hernandez
Jordan Hessbrook
Natalie Hettle
Allia Howard
Yohana Iyob
Janay Johnson
Kourtney Johnson
Siani Johnson
Ebone Jones
Bryan Lara
Gabriela Latta
Jaime Lazcano
Gabriel Lind
Bailee Lotus
Malikah Mahone
Blanca Moreno
Gabriel Ovsiew
Stephany Perez
Nicholas Polzin
Joshua Robison
Rogelio Ruiz
Kaylah Simmons
Kylah Simmons
Oyindamola Sunmonu
Benjamin Toledo
Carmen Torrado-Gonzalez
Natalie Vazquez

THE ENLIGHTENED LEADERSHIP AWARDS are merit-based scholarships created to enhance and reflect the spirit, culture and values of our campus community. As a college with a rich history of excellence, we award students each year who show personal dedication and involvement in the following areas: Social Activism and Community Engagement, Creative Expression, International Activism, Sustainability and Environmental Activism.
Kyle Lampar
Vethania Stavropoulos
Ian Williams
Helena Marnauzs
Chiara Sarter
Katherine Ballew
Gwendolyn Balogh
Bianca Delgado
Valentin Frank
Hannah Lehker
Kelan Gill
Gabriela Latta
Dallas Pallone
Stephany Perez

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. The Kalamazoo College chapter was installed on March 5, 1942.
Ayaka Abe
Reid Blanchett
Francisco Cabrera
Willina Cain
Kathryn Callaghan
Olivia Cares
Isabelle Ciaramitaro
Annaliese Collier
Brian Cunningham-Rhoads
Susmitha Daggubati
Miranda Doepker
Rachel Dranoff
Marie Fiori
Joshua Foley
Angela Fong
Keith Garber
Evan Gorgas
William Gribbin
Nora Harris
Stephanie Heard
Pornkamol Huang
Audra Hudson
Jessica Kehoe
Spencer Kennedy
Bo Gyoung Lee
Elizabeth Lenning
Madeline LeVasseur
Jacob Lindquist
Riley Lundquist
Madeleine MacWilliams
Lucy Mailing
Sarah Manski
Mallory McClure
Molly Meddock
Gabrielle Montesanti
Chloe Mpinga
Yunpeng Pang
Elizabeth Penix
Jung Eun Pyeon
Emily Salswedel
Cameron Schwartz
Lauren Seroka
Alexsandra Siems
Alexandra Smith
Mira Swearer
Nadia Torres
Alexander Townsend
Elizabeth Tyburski
Sarah Wallace
Emily Walsh
Jared Weeks

THE NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARS are chosen based on their abilities, skills, and accomplishments as evaluated through student’s academic record, information about the school’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’s curricula and grading system, test scores, a high school recommendation, information about the student’s activities and leadership, and an essay.
Liam Lundy

MIAA TEAM AWARDS – These 12 teams earned the 2009-10 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Team GPA Award for achieving a 3.3000 or better grade point average for the entire academic year.
Men’s Basketball
Men’s Cross Country
Men’s Golf
Men’s Soccer
Men’s Swimming and Diving
Women’s Basketball
Women’s Cross Country
Women’s Golf
Women’s Soccer
Women’s Softball
Women’s Swimming & Diving
Women’s Tennis

MIAA ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL – The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association each year honors students at MIAA member colleges who achieve in both the classroom and in athletic competition. A student must be a letter winner in a varsity sport and maintain at least a 3.5 grade point average for the entire school year.
Abby Anderson
Giancarlo Anemone
Alexander Armstrong
Nicholas Beam
Tyler Benmark
Nicholas Bolig
Amanda Bolles
Travis Braun
Kelly Bresnahan
Erran Briggs
Aaron Bunker
Rayanne Burl
Francisco Cabrera
William Cagney
Olivia Cares
Edward Carey
Cody Carr
Brandon Casto
Kathryn Chamberlain
Taylor Clements
Holly Cooperrider
Brock Crystal
Rebecca Cummins-Lanter
Rachel Dandar
Abigail DeOchoa
David DeSimone
Miranda Doepker
Benjamin Dueweke
Trenton Dykstra
Taryn Edsall
Kristen Ellefson
Alan Faber
James Frye
Keith Garber
Jared Georgakopoulos
Mark Ghafari
Cierra Gillard
Ian Good
Evan Gorgas
Alexandra Gothard
Emily Gray
Virginia Greenberger
Alexandra Groffsky
Guilherme Guedes
Dagan Hammar
Stephen Hanselman
Sally Harrison
Kenneth Heidel
Jordan Henning
Robert Hilliard
Jacob Holloway
Benjamin Hulbert
Tibin John
Evan Johnson
Katherine Johnston
Daniel Karn
Grace Kelley
Spencer Kennedy
Michael Korn
Rory Landis
Colin Lauderdale
Elizabeth Lenning
Jacob Lenning
Jacob Lindquist
Emily Lindsay
Christopher Lueck
Shane MacDonald
Dane Macdonell
Lucy Mailing
Megan Malish
Sarah Manski
Scott Manski
Megan Martinez
Gina Massari
Caitlin McCarthy
Mallory McClure
Quinn McCormick
Adam McDowell
Megan McLeod
Molly Meddock
Jordan Meeth
Bradley Merritt
Matthew Mills
Alexander Minch
Michael Minkus
Gabrielle Montesanti
Kelsey Moran
Alexandra Morris
Alexander Numbers
Michael Paule-Carres
Bronte Payne
Adam Peters
Margaux Reckard
Maria Rich
Sophie Roberts
William Roberts
Ryan Rohatynski
Connor Rzeznik
Kira Sandiford
Lauren Seroka
Aaron Schoenfeldt
Cameron Schwartz
Dylan Shearer
Jacqueline Short
Charlotte Steele
Alexandra Stephens
Sarah Sullivan
Nicholas Sweda
Emerson Talanda-Fisher
Brett Thomas
Allison Thompson
Alexander Townsend
Elizabeth Tyburski
Stephanie Verbeek
Samantha Voss
Cameron Wasko
Loren Weber
Jared Weeks
Clayton Weissenborn
Joseph Widmer
Cheryl Zhang
Agron Ziberi
Marc Zughaib

 

 

 

Seniors Present Chemistry Research

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Sara Adelman Presents a Poster of her chemistry researchThree Kalamazoo College seniors presented their Senior Individualized Project (SIP) research at the Midwest Symposium on Undergraduate Research. The event took place at Michigan State University on Saturday, October 5. The students, their presentation titles, and where they did their SIP:

Sara Adelman’s poster (see photo) won the Outstanding Poster Award for Biochemistry. It was titled “Effects of Copper Bipyridine Catalysed Alkaline Hydrogen Peroxide Pretreatment on Lignocellulostic Biomass in the Ethanol Production Process.” Adelman did her research with Professor Eric Hegg ’91 at Michigan State University.

Geneci Marroquin presented a poster titled “Reactions of Cobalt(II) and Nickel(II) Complexes Containing Binucleating Macrocyclic and Pyridine Ligands with Carboxylic Acids: Formation of Binuclear Co(II), Co(II)Co(III), and Ni(II) and Tetranuclear Co(II) and Ni(II) Complexes.” Her research was done in the laboratory of Professor Thomas J. Smith at Kalamazoo College.

Kendrith Rowland conducted his research in the laboratory of Professor Catherine Murphy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rowland’s poster was titled “High Sensitivity Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) Nanoplatform Based on Gold Nanoparticle Aggregates.”

Kalamazoo College Professor of Chemistry Jeffrey Bartz gave an invited talk at the symposium. That talk, “Detecting Cartwheels and Propellers by Velocity-Mapped Ion Imaging,” highlighted the SIP work of Ryan Kieda ’09, Masroor Hossain ’12, and Nic West ’12, as well as the research of Amber Peden ’11, Aidan Klobuchar ’12, Kelly Usakoski ’14, Braeden Rodriguez ’16, and Myles Truss ’17.

Active Autumn in Career Education

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Bret Linvill, Jerry Mechtenberg-Berrigan and Amos
Bret Linvill ’15 (center) during his summer internship, flanked by alumni supervisor Jerry Mechtenberg-Berrigan ’97 (right) and Jerry’s son, Amos. Linvill’s was a Community Building Internship organized jointly with the College’s Center for Civic Engagement.

Autumn’s active in the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD). The Recruiting Expo and the Professional Development Institute are hard-to-miss fall events. And you often find CCPD staff speaking in upper-level classes and first-year seminars. Every day CCPD staff members help students with career counseling, with assessment tools, and with application materials. And fall’s the time CCPD reaches out to alumni and parents to invite their partnership in providing summer career development opportunities for students.

Alumni and parents, let us know if you will host a summer student, either through the Discovery Externship Program or as a K Intern in the Field Experience Program.

Externships: Short Homestay and Job Shadow

Past externship hosts, who have housed students and hosted them in their workplace for up to four weeks in the summer, become enthusiastic advocates for the program.

“John and Tyler were wonderful externs! Not only did we enjoy them tremendously, but we received such positive feedback from our colleagues who graciously spent time with them. The days were long and hectic, but our dinners were relaxed and full of conversations about their days, their impressions, the state of medicine, and more.” – Sherri Seifert ’83

“It is always great to connect with a current K student and to spend time sharing my home and work life. As I have become more professionalized in my career, I find I can more comfortably provide advice and insight into working in the arts.” – Bethany Whitehead ’98

“Discovery Externship is a special program that I highly endorse. I wish all college students could have such an experience. The students come well prepared and ready to try out new things. And we seem to benefit just as much as they do.” – Anne Dayanandan ’75

Other comments:

“I found it a lot of fun. I enjoyed showing our student what practicing medicine is like. It helped me reflect on what I was like at 19 trying to make similar career decisions.”

“Hosting a K student was a lovely experience. It was fun to get to share my experiences at and beyond K with her. When I was at K, wondering what I might do next, I had no idea what graduate school was all about. I enjoyed being able to offer a K student a glimpse of that next step and to provide some guidance about how to get there.”

“I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the extern about my own scattered career path. I reassure students that career paths do not need to be defined at graduation and do not need to be linear. I wish I had someone to talk to about such concerns when I was a student.”

“It’s great to see the level of intellectual curiosity that I remember as a hallmark of my time at K is still alive and well in the current student body. My extern made me feel as if the DNA of the college was still much the same–the students are there because they are truly engaged and committed to learning. That was nice to see.”

Internships: Summer Workplace Immersion

Externship host Bridget Blough with her two summer externs
Externship host Bridget Blough ’08 (right) shares a day at the beach with her two summer externs.

Alumni and parents who select and supervise student interns for at least six weeks through the Field Experience Program are similarly effusive. They cite many benefits of involvement, including:

– Engagement with talented, idealistic, dedicated students;

– Enhancement of the projects to which interns are assigned;

– The real and valuable work undertaken by the students;

– The learning that goes both ways;

– The opportunity to see future leaders learn and grow by doing.

The program’s structure–a sliding-scale stipend, a learning contract, regular contact with the CCPD through reflective assignments, final evaluations, and official transcript notation–ensures that learning goals and mutual expectations are established and met.

The CCPD is currently fielding inquiries and confirming participation for both extern and intern hosts for summer 2014. Alumni and parents may indicate their interest in either program online, and a CCPD staff member will respond by mid-November. As fall turns to winter, our students will head off for winter break, and the CCPD’s summer line-up will be complete.

Double Intern

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Zoe Beaudry with young students in HaitiSo eventful was the junior year of senior Zoe Beaudry that she made sure the summer following was just as worthy in terms of experiential opportunities. Zoe studied abroad in Israel during her junior fall and winter terms. That was followed with spring quarter on campus, during which she worked toward her major in art. Then came a summer of two internships. The first found Zoe in Massachusetts, working with Israeli and Palestinian youth to build community across cultures and differences through art. The second half of Zoe’s summer was spent in Haiti, as an intern with International Child Care. ICC is a Christian health development organization that has operated in Haiti since 1967. It works to change the conditions of poverty that impact health and well-being. Zoe kept a blog while she was in Haiti. Its entries cover her first impressions and hopes and her first art session with children at ICC’s Grace Children’s Hospital. She also worked in the wider community. ICC’s community outreach program serves families of mentally or physically handicapped children in the community by sending hospital staff to their homes for weekly physical therapy or mental exercise sessions. News of her art sessions spread, and so she did artwork with children who participate in community inclusion program. The photo was taken after that session: Zoe is pictured in the back row, at left. Her blog entries are worth a read. Zoe’s senior year promises to be as rewarding as her junior year. Among other activities, she is a Civic Engagement Scholar (CES) for the program Partners in Art. The CES program is administered by the College’s Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement.

Writer’s Voice Rising

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Alejandra Castillo ’15 will be the first in her family to graduate from college, and she is making her family proud every step of the way. “My three siblings dropped out of high school in the 9th grade. The fact that I’m at a prestigious liberal arts college is truly a dream come true, not just for me but for my whole family.”

Castillo is a Posse scholar, attending Kalamazoo College on a full scholarship awarded to teens from urban areas who exhibit high academic achievement and leadership skills.

Four years ago, while still a high school student, Castillo began work at a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization called WriteGirl. This summer, she returned to the organization, but this time on an “independent internship” through K’s Center for Career and Professional Development’s Field Experience Program. WriteGirl challenges interns to think critically about the world, to write about it, and then to voice their work out loud. Leadership, communication skills and self-confidence are qualities nurtured in the program.

“I came back to WriteGirl because I want to be as ready as I can be to enter the workforce when I graduate college,” says Castillo.

At Kalamazoo College, Castillo is majoring in anthropology and sociology AND distinguishing herself as a playwright. Her one-act play, How Miss Long Beach Became Miss Long Beach, will be performed at the Kalamazoo College Festival Playhouse as part of the Senior Performance Series under direction of senior Amy Jimenez. The Senior Performance Series will occur May 1-4, 2014.

“Alejandra has been my student in playwriting class, and she developed this play in an independent study,” says her theatre arts professor, Ed Menta. “It’s a heartfelt and funny story of a young Latina who has mixed feelings about her mother forcing her to participate in a beauty pageant. The play touches on issues of mother/daughter, body image, assimilation, and sexuality.”

Another Castillo play, Say Yes, a conversation between two young people in the parking lot of a convenience store in Los Angeles, was selected for the Kalamazoo New Play Festival.

Preparation for Turbulent Times

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Convocation crowd gathers at Stetson ChapelThe College’s Alumni Relations department invited (via an e-mail titled “Welcome to the Class of 2017”) the friends and alumni of the College to share in this year’s Summer Common Reading experience, part of the annual Orientation program. SCR 2013 featured a campus visit by author Vaddey Ratner, who spoke with faculty, staff, and the first-year class that had read her book, In the Shadow of the Banyan. The e-mail invited alumni to “join in on the reading as you think about a new chapter that begins in the lives of our new K students, and remember your first year experiences through this process.” The e-mail also included an old photo (at left) of the inside of Stetson Chapel, and to its call was received at least one response–from Moses Thompson ’70, from quite a distance. “I am in remote, actually very remote, Zambia,” he wrote. “Nevertheless I will find the book on line and join in. Just looking at that photo of the chapel,” he added, “reminded me of the last time I was there, in 1970, well after midnight one evening, sitting in the balcony preparing to graduate and leave the next day: somehow a very powerful place. And musing over the cornerstone: ’The end of learning is gracious living’, which we enjoyed transposing as ’the end of yearning is gracious loving’. Yet, that chapel had a powerful effect on me. It was at a time when the College was in a great transition of culture change, not smooth but turbulent change: for the students then it was a transition from in loco parentis, required chapel, and closed dorms, to personal responsibility, choice about chapel, and mixed dorms–a huge uproar this caused at the time. Trivial issues of change when compared to the enormous and sweeping transformations about to be unleashed around the globe; still, in a microcosm these small changes captured the energy and heart of new directions. It was not to be a simple coming of age for a generation of young people pushing the limits of their local environment. This would be a change in the way we understood personal responsibility, in and beyond our narrow community and interests.

“In 1972 I became director of a predominantly black organization, hired by phone and assumed to be black because of my name, and spent a few years in the midst of the nation’s worst racial tension. I went on to 30 more years in international development assistance. And the decision, and to be sure the desire, to take on these challenges might have been formulated at K, perhaps that evening, in the dark of Stetson Chapel, seated in the back row of the balcony, feet up on the pew before me: chapel no longer required, now a choice. The locus of motivation had changed from the outside and others trying to coerce, to the inside with a personal desire to go out and create something of value.

“Kalamazoo is a wonderful college and a great place to prepare for turbulent times.”

Thompson would have enjoyed the ways in which, during the course of two days, the author, her novel, and its readers touched one another and learned from one another. Ratner posted her reflections of her experience at K. She wrote, “My journey there was as enriching, exciting, and full of life-affirming discoveries and learning as any fantastical adventure conjured up by the magic of imagination. Indeed, I felt I was walking into a sanctuary of learning, where the essence of youthful energy and curiosity is focused in a shared endeavor to know, to understand.”

Prep and Patience

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Bartz chemistry lab members Jeffrey Bartz, Myles Truss and Braeden Rodriguez.
Researchers in the Bartz chemistry lab include (l-r): Jeffrey Bartz, Myles Truss, and Braeden Rodriguez.

Myles Truss ’17 and Braeden Rodriguez ’16 are learning a great deal about chemistry during their summer internships in the laboratory of Associate Professor of Chemistry Jeffrey Bartz. Among the lessons is the extraordinary patience and preparation required to run an experiment that shoots lasers at chemical compounds in order to watch how they behave. According to Truss, it’s “a way of seeing” a chemical component “that combines chemistry and physics.” But things don’t always go as planned. Lasers need fixing, problems arise in the “beam machine,” sample preparation may go awry. According to Bartz, when a high tech piece of lab equipment breaks down his response often aligns with the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). And who would have thought chemistry taught that? Rodriguez and Truss are completing data from a Senior Individualized Project begun several years ago, which shows another key element of science–how it builds over time and through collaborations. Part of what they seek through laser “sight” is nitric oxide (NO) released from interesting compounds. Nitric oxide happens to be central to the chemistry research of someone quite close to Truss—his mother, Associate Professor of Chemistry Regina Stevens-Truss, whose research has found nitric oxide to be of great interest in several cascades of chemical events associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Truss and Rodriguez are testing theory, says Bartz, more “pure” science than applied—with two key products nevertheless, Bartz adds: “the research itself, and aspiring scientists like these two young men.” Rodriguez intends to declare chemistry as his major winter quarter of his sophomore year. Truss begins his first year this fall and is leaning toward chemistry as a possible major.

Hornet Fall Student Athletes Arriving on Campus!

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Ronnie Russell puts on a tie while mom, Paulette, and younger sister, Kathleen, help arrange his Harmon Hall roomAre you ready for some Hornet football?! How about soccer, volleyball, golf, and cross country? Because student athletes from all these teams arrive on campus soon, led by football players like Ronnie Russell ′17 from Lansing moving in today. Ronnie, putting on a tie while mom, Paulette, and younger sister, Kathleen, help arrange his Harmon Hall room, joins his teammates for their first practice at Angell Field on Saturday, in preparation for their Sept. 7 home opener against Rose-Hulman. Hornet Men’s and Women’s Soccer players arrive tomorrow, followed by Volleyball players on Sunday, Men’s and Women’s Golf teams on Aug. 25, and Men’s and Women’s Cross Country arrive Sept. 6. Check out the Hornet Athletic webpages (http://hornets.kzoo.edu/) for full schedules, rosters and other info on fall athletics at K. Go Hornets!

From Chem Lab to Gridiron

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Student-athlete Jake Lennin
Jake Lenning ’15

Three student scientists/athletes transitioned from the laboratory to the gridiron on August 16, the first day for Hornet football practice. Jake Lenning ’15 (chemistry major, health studies concentration), Joe Widmer ’14 (chemistry major, biochemistry concentration), and Jake Hillenberg ’14 (chemistry and psychology major, neurosciences concentration) spent the summer doing chemistry research–Lenning in the lab of Professor of Chemistry Greg Slough; Widmer and Hillenberg in the lab of Associate Professor of Chemistry Jennifer Furchak. Lenning’s research involves testing for differences in two variations of a resin known as the Wang Resin. Widmer and Hillenberg were working outside the laboratory on the day I visited. Lenning plays wide receiver for the Hornets, Widmer and Hillenberg are defensive linemen. The 2013 season will be the team’s second on the new Angell Field, and Lenning is excited. “We had a good season last year,” he said, “and that success will be a good foundation to build a great season this year.”