Kalamazoo College will sound as vibrant as it feels this month, with two campus music ensembles inviting audiences to shake off the winter chill through music inspired by movement, mood and color.
Academy Street Winds
The Academy Street Winds will present a dance-themed concert featuring waltzes, a tango, a malambo, and more at 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 15, at Dalton Theatre. Winter Dances will feature a title piece by Brian Balmages, the celebrated work Satiric Dances by Norman Dello Joio, and other selections that capture the emotions and motions of movement. Admission is free; donations are appreciated.
The ensemble is a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion musicians, bringing together both students and community members to expand the group’s sound and capabilities.Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Greg Bassett serves as the group’s director.
Kalamazoo College Jazz Band
The Kalamazoo College Jazz Band, directed by Visiting Instructor of Music Sandra Shaw, will present Colour My World at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 20, at Dalton Theatre. Admission is free; donations are appreciated.
The concert will begin with Chicago’s Colour My World. It will continue with tunes that describe different colors to add visual stimulation and evoke specific emotions and feelings while reflecting shared experiences. Listeners are encouraged to dance if the music inspires them during the show.
For more information about both performances, contact the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
The Kalamazoo College Jazz Band will be one of the ensembles performing this month.
The Midwest Outdoor Leadership Conference is returning to Kalamazoo College February 6–8, offering a weekend of student-led workshops, networking and hands-on learning focused on outdoor leadership and sustainability education.
The annual event will connect more than 50 students from small, medium and large institutions across the region. K students will be able to participate at no cost and without the need to travel.
“It really doesn’t matter what students’ majors are. It’s just all about outdoor leadership and sustainability education,” said Josie Belsky ’28, one of the five conference organizers including Madeline Moss ‘26, Zoe Allen ’28, Chloe Brown ’28 and Ava King ’28.
Belsky’s journey to organizing the conference began when she attended last year’s event at Earlham College. Moss had heard about the conference through her first-year seminar, Wheels of Change. After missing last year’s conference while studying abroad, Moss jumped at the opportunity to help organize when Sofia Fleming ’25, a previous conference attendee, reached out.
For Moss, an English major, the conference represents an opportunity to bridge academic interests with outdoor pursuits—a combination not always obvious to those outside the field.
Kalamazoo College last hosted the Midwest Outdoor Leadership Conference in 2020 with gatherings like this one at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. The conference is returning to K Feb. 6–8.
“At K, we don’t have a lot of leadership-specific courses or an outdoor education major, so this is an opportunity for us to be able to touch base with students from other schools who might be interested in that and who have a lot of background in it, while also learning from them,” Moss said. “Being able to intersect my interest of the outdoors and sustainability with English is a nice thing about the conference.”
This interdisciplinary approach defines the conference’s appeal. Workshops range from technical skills such as scuba diving and rock climbing to more philosophical discussions about what wilderness means and how to decolonize one’s understanding of the outdoors.
Planning the conference has been a crash course in event management for the organizing students, who have met weekly since the start of the academic year with support from Outdoor Programs staff. The planners have coordinated with campus organizations like the Office of Student Activities. They’ve also reached out to local organizations such as the Kalamazoo Nature Center and engaged with students about their Senior Integrated Projects (SIPs) and other campus initiatives.
The organizers emphasize that the conference welcomes everyone, regardless of outdoor experience.
“One of the bigger barriers is that it can be a little intimidating to go to a conference—you feel like you have to come in with something, but in reality, it’s for everyone,” Belsky said. “There’s no experience necessary. You don’t even have to be an outdoorsy person. It’s just meant to be fun.”
Hosting the conference offers an opportunity to showcase how K’s sustainability infrastructure has evolved, particularly through the Environmental Stewardship Center.
“K has gone through a lot of changes, and I think this feels somewhat grounding back to our history of sustainability in leadership and student-led learning,” Moss said. “The fact that we hosted this conference back in 2020, before the pandemic, and a lot of things have shifted since then, and the fact we’re adapting it to the way that the school is now, says a lot about our dedication to creating a space of outdoor stewardship.”
Attending this conference at other schools has been eye-opening for K students. Last year at Earlham, for example, Belsky and others learned about Earlham’s Quaker heritage and toured facilities including horse stables, composting operations and a community building where people sell handmade art and pottery.
But beyond workshops and campus tours, the conference creates lasting connections.
“I’m still in contact with the people I met at last year’s conference,” Belsky said. “One of them came to visit me and my roommate last year, too, which was fun.”
She also emphasizes the conference’s professional value.
“It’s a good way to network with people and make connections that will help you so much in your future career,” Belsky said.
The organizers express deep appreciation for Outdoor Programs Director Jory Horner, Outdoor and Environmental Coordinator Greta Farley ’22 and Outdoor Leadership Training Center Coordinator Hannah Wolfe ’21, who provided crucial guidance. Farley’s perspective as a former student organizer has been particularly valuable.
“Sometimes we get fogged up with the student mindset and think we’re so busy that we couldn’t possibly do this,” Moss said. “But it felt grounding to have them tell us that we’re capable of it, and we could do so much more than we expected.”
With the conference happening on campus, the organizers have a simple message for the K community: Join us.
“The fact that it’s here is huge for us because we know, especially for student-athletes and people involved in student organizations, it’s hard to get away on the weekends,” Belsky said. “Your lives get busy, especially at K, because we’re always so involved. But it’s here. It’s so close, so come join us.”
For some Kalamazoo College students, study abroad can feel out of reach—too long, too expensive or too intimidating to fit into already full academic and personal schedules. But for 23 students who spent 10 days in the Dominican Republic during winter break, a short-term, faculty-led program offered something transformative: a first step into global learning that reshaped how they see the world and themselves.
Led by Associate Professor of Spanish Ivett López Malagamba, the immersive experience brought students to Santiago de los Caballeros, a mid-sized city in the Dominican Republic, where they lived with host families, conducted daily academic work and navigated life almost entirely in Spanish.
Kalamazoo College students who participated in short-term study abroad over winter break were welcomed to the Dominican Republic with a special dinner.
Students participated in an orientation when they arrived in the Dominican Republic.
An Accessible Path to Global Learning
The short-term program targets students who may face barriers to longer study abroad opportunities, including first-generation college students, students of color, student-athletes and those balancing multiple commitments on campus. It was first launched as a pilot program in 2019, funded through a grant from the Mellon Foundation, which supported faculty planning, along with Center for International Programs funds. Additionally this year, the Ambassador Martha L. Campbell and Consul General Arnold H. Campbell Foreign Study Endowment and the Robert J. Kopecky ’72 Endowed Study Abroad Fund helped high-need students afford the experience. The Campbell Endowment was established in 2009 to support and enhance the foreign study experience for K students. The Kopecky fund was established in 2022 to help maximize the number of students who participate in study abroad while encouraging students to explore the culture around them during their international experience.
For some participants, the Dominican Republic trip marked their first time traveling internationally or even boarding an airplane.
“For them, this was not just an academic experience; it was a personal milestone,” López Malagamba said.
Academically, the program is tied to the Spanish curriculum. Students must have completed Spanish 201, the final course in K’s language requirement sequence for Spanish. In the fall, participants enroll in a preparatory course and attend predeparture sessions focused on Dominican history, race relations, politics and the country’s deep connections to the United States and the Caribbean. And once they are in the Dominican Republic, the learning is nonstop.
“Every day is academic,” López Malagamba said. “Even when students are on a beach or in a community celebration, they are learning—about economics, migration, tourism, race, history and the environment.”
In the coastal region of Samaná, students encountered a lesser-known chapter of shared history: communities founded by formerly enslaved people from the U.S. who settled there in the 19th century.
Students had a chance to make chocolate while learning about the country’s export economy through cocoa farming, studying the role of tourism in shaping cities, and examining the deep ties between the Dominican Republic and the United States.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
Students explored the Dominican Republic through lectures, guided visits and hands-on experiences that reinforced themes from their language coursework, including urban life, nature, the arts and professions. They learned about the country’s export economy through cocoa farming, studied the role of tourism in shaping cities, and examined the deep ties between the Dominican Republic and the United States.
In the coastal region of Samaná, students encountered a lesser-known chapter of shared history: communities founded by formerly enslaved people from the U.S. who settled there in the 19th century. A guide, himself a descendant of those settlers, shared how English once flourished in the region before being suppressed and how that legacy still shapes Dominican identity.
“These are moments where students realize that U.S. history doesn’t stop at our borders,” López Malagamba said. “It lives in other places, in other people’s stories.”
Environmental justice was another key focus. Students learned how coastal communities balance the economic need for tourism with the protection of ecosystems, national parks and marine environments that sustain local livelihoods.
Living with host families added another layer of immersion and challenge. Students had to adapt to new routines, unfamiliar foods and different cultural expectations, all while communicating in a second language.
“There’s always a moment where students feel overwhelmed,” López Malagamba said. “They miss their familiarity. They realize how hard it is to express themselves fully. But then something shifts.”
That shift often comes in small victories: asking for directions, explaining a preference at the dinner table or successfully navigating a conversation they once would have avoided.
“By the end, students realize, ‘I can do this,’” she said. “That confidence is powerful.”
K students participated in a Spanish class while visiting the Dominican Republic.
Students visited the Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración, which was built for the 100th anniversary of the Dominican War of Independence, which was fought in 1844 to gain sovereignty from Haiti.
‘I’m Hooked’
For Tom Clark ’27, the Dominican Republic trip became a lifeline to study abroad after he had to cancel plans for a longer program in Greece. The business major, who is dual-enrolling at Western Michigan University to pursue exercise science, realized too late that he couldn’t balance a two-term study abroad with his academic timeline.
“I went through all the predeparture stuff, was all ready to go, and then I realized I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Clark said. “But right as I dropped it, I got an email about this trip to the Dominican Republic. I saw it was over winter break, so it wouldn’t take away from credits that I would need. It was perfect.”
The trip marked Clark’s first time leaving the country, and the experience immediately challenged his assumptions about privilege and perspective.
“I thought I was familiar with other cultures,” he said. “I thought of myself as an empathetic person who could put himself in the shoes of others. And then I actually took the trip, and my understanding was much different.”
Simple differences struck him immediately. Getting off the airplane, he looked for a water fountain to fill his bottle only to realize public drinking fountains don’t exist in places without widespread access to clean water. The language immersion then proved to be both challenging and rewarding. Clark hadn’t taken a Spanish class in nearly a year, and the first few days were rough. But surrounded by Spanish speakers constantly—including his host parents, who spoke no English—he found his skills returning and improving rapidly. Those challenges, in fact, became opportunities for connection.
Among Clark’s favorite moments was a joint class session with Dominican students learning English as a second language, meeting people his age from vastly different backgrounds, yet fundamentally similar. He made a friend named Casey who runs a fashion brand with 60,000 Instagram followers and is working toward getting a green card.
The experience reframed how Clark thinks about language learning. In a classroom, he explained, students have varying levels of investment. On the trip, everyone was committed, making the learning more dynamic and applicable.
“We were talking about how another language is like learning a superpower,” he said. “I learned I could travel to many countries and be perfectly fine. I could meet people and connect better. The Dominican is a tiny island, so I’m hooked on imagining what the rest of the world is like.”
Tres Ojos, or Three Eyes National Park, is a 50-yard, open-air limestone cave.
Students walk through Tres Ojos National Park.
Discovering New Perspectives
For Sarah Guerrero Gorostieta ’28, a first-generation college student, the Dominican Republic trip offered something unexpected: a chance to see her own culture through new eyes while discovering how much she still had to learn.
“I have never learned so much in such a short amount of time about myself, my peers and an entirely new country,” Guerrero said. “With my Mexican heritage, I assumed because I’m Hispanic and because they’re Hispanic, there would be some similarities between us. There definitely were, but there was also so much nuance.”
Although Mexico and the Dominican Republic were both colonized by Spain, Guerrero learned how French and African influences shaped Dominican culture differently. More importantly, she heard those histories directly from Dominicans themselves.
Guerrero’s experience was framed with many memorable moments. She recalls feeling grateful for trying plantains for the first time, exploring caves and seeing the ocean.
“I’d never felt so many emotions packed into one trip,” she said. “And I’m really excited to carry all of those lessons into study abroad.”
Guerrero is next hoping to study at Belfast University in Northern Ireland, where she wants to explore political tensions and the media’s role in conflict—themes she first encountered in the Dominican Republic through a guest lecture on how the media weaponizes political relationships during elections.
Students stopped at St. James the Apostle Cathedral during a tour of Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic.
Associate Professor of Spanish Ivett López Malagamba (right) led the short-term study abroad experience through places such as downtown Santiago de los Caballeros.
Opening Doors for Student-Athletes
For Riley Shults ’28, a runner on K’s cross-country team, the 10-day format meant he didn’t have to choose between his sport and international experience.
The short-term trip to the Dominican Republic didn’t change Shults’ academic trajectory, he said, but it reinforced the direction he wanted to pursue. He is declaring an anthropology-sociology major in February and is now planning to study in Oaxaca, Mexico, during the winter of his junior year through a program focused on community engagement and Indigenous cultures.
“I knew that I wanted to care about people, and I knew that I wanted to travel the world,” he said. “This program was the first real experience that I got to have of that.”
One question lingered throughout the trip: Can such a short program truly transform students in the way longer study abroad experiences do? And for Shults, the answer is unequivocal.
“One hundred percent,” he said. “I barely talked to anyone on that trip before it, and now I see them every day. Every little aspect fundamentally changed who we are because we were forced to think about someone other than ourselves. It’s not just about me anymore. It’s about the whole world.”
The change came through small moments that accumulated into profound shifts. Shults discovered he loves beans and rice. He overcame his lack of confidence in his language skills and found himself thinking in Spanish. He engaged with complex political histories he’d only read about in textbooks as his host mother shared stories each morning about the country’s history under dictator Rafael Trujillo.
“I used to think one way, and now I think this other way,” he said. “Study abroad pulls people out of their comfort zones. Once you push past that boundary your learning is only limited to what you allow yourself to find.”
One particularly memorable moment came during a Sunday block party in a working-class neighborhood of Santiago. Community organizers welcomed the K group with music, announcements and open celebrations.
Students danced alongside children, parents and grandparents in the streets. Shults found himself at the center of that celebration, dancing with elderly women who grabbed his red hair for good luck. He moved freely without self-consciousness in a way he’d never experienced at home.
“Every single person is not caring about what other people say, they’re just moving,” he said. “It’s such a different culture than ours. Here, people don’t just dance. We’re always thinking about what other people are doing. But that’s not what they think. They’re just going to have fun.”
His experience now surfaces in unexpected moments back on campus. In a class about water systems, Shults reflected on the reality that Dominican tap water isn’t safe to drink.
“I’m sitting in class thinking, ‘I lived this,’” he said. “I lived this example where you don’t have water right on the tap.”
A resident of the Los Pepines neighborhood dances with Riley Shults ’28.
The Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración is the tallest building in Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic.
Distinct Opportunities Bring Transformations
Although the program lasts just 10 days, its impact extends far beyond winter break. López Malagamba noted that many students return with renewed interest in longer study abroad opportunities and greater confidence in navigating unfamiliar environments. For her, watching students undergo their transformations in just 10 days remains the most rewarding part of leading the program.
“These students come back with a different understanding of what it means to be a global citizen,” she said. “They’ve lived with families who welcomed them. They’ve navigated challenges in a second language. They’ve sat with discomfort and come out stronger.
“These programs remind students that the world is bigger than the U.S. and their immediate communities,” she said. “They learn that their actions matter, that their country has an impact elsewhere, and that shared humanity exists across borders. That’s the kind of learning that stays with you long after the trip ends.”
Senior business majors at Kalamazoo College are stepping into a hands-on consulting experience this winter, partnering with a local coalition to explore one of Kalamazoo’s most compelling questions: How can our city foster a stronger sense of belonging and create the kind of social, cultural, and recreational experiences that encourage recent graduates to stay? With nearly 25,000 undergraduate students across the area’s colleges and universities, it’s a question with real potential to shape Kalamazoo’s future.
A 2024 report from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research found that nationally, only 47% of public university graduates and 43% of private college graduates stay in the same metro area as their alma mater. While job opportunities often drive alumni migration, the Kalamazoo region offers notable employment options: according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, 20 Fortune 1000 companies have headquarters here, and the greater metro area is home to numerous smaller businesses and nonprofits, offering diverse career pathways for new grads. This project, therefore, focuses on another part of the equation: “value of place”— the cultural vibrancy, amenities and social connections that shape daily life and make a location truly stick.
To examine that element, K’s business capstone class is working with Sarah Olszowy, chief experience officer at Greenleaf Hospitality Group, and other members of the Kalamazoo Marketing Coalition, a cross-sector group representing business, regional development, city government and destination marketing. Their coalition aims to improve collaboration and synergy among marketing teams promoting the region. Additional members include Kimberly Viers, marketing and communications manager at Southwest Michigan First; K alumna Dana Wagner ’10, director of marketing and communications at Discover Kalamazoo; Meghan Behymer, downtown coordinator for the City of Kalamazoo; and Allie Lochart, senior marketing manager at Greenleaf Hospitality Group.
Amy MacMillan, L. Lee Stryker Professor of Business at K, is co-teaching the capstone with Visiting Assistant Professor of Business Matthew Schultz. Mirroring the structure of a professional consulting firm, student teams composed of team leads and associates will research the issue and develop data-driven proposals. Each recommendation will need to show meaningful potential for positive return on investment within three years.
The business capstone combines two senior-level courses, one in marketing and one in finance, into a program named The InKubator for Experiential Innovation, a teaching approach that immerses students in real-world problem solving while strengthening their analytical and design-thinking skills. As an InKubator course, students will engage with guest mentors and presenters from various disciplines, drawing on humanities perspectives to expand their creative thinking and problem-solving approaches.
“We invite artists, authors, entrepreneurs, community leaders, and other innovators to our program to help unleash our creative potential,” said MacMillan. “Our business students take courses across the liberal arts—in creative writing, psychology, languages, sociology, music, and more. Most students studied abroad. They’re often amazed to find how relevant these courses and experiences are in business problem-solving. At a time when it’s tempting to outsource brainwork to AI, we nurture human creativity to the fullest—and, yes, we’ll harness the power of AI, too.”
Expanding learning beyond the classroom, the course will meet periodically at the downtown Radisson in meeting space provided by Greenleaf Hospitality Group. Throughout the term, Olszowy will review student progress and offer guidance as teams refine their ideas.
The course will conclude with a final presentation in which students will share their proposals directly with Olszowy and other coalition representatives, offering K students an opportunity to contribute to an important conversation already underway regarding talent retention and community development in the region.
“This partnership with Kalamazoo College brings fresh perspective and real momentum to one of our community’s most important questions,” said Olszowy. “Engaging K students in this work gives us an invaluable window into what the next generation is seeking in a community. Their ideas and lived experiences support Greenleaf Hospitality Group’s role as the host of Kalamazoo and help shape a more vibrant, welcoming city that inspires recent graduates to build their future here.”
Kalamazoo College’s business capstone class is working with Sarah Olszowy, chief experience officer at Greenleaf Hospitality Group, and other members of the Kalamazoo Marketing Coalition, a cross-sector group representing business, regional development, city government and destination marketing. Their coalition aims to improve collaboration and synergy among marketing teams promoting the region.
Amy MacMillan, L. Lee Stryker Professor of Business at K, is co-teaching the capstone with Visiting Assistant Professor of Business Matthew Schultz.
Business majors at K are partnering with a local coalition to explore one of Kalamazoo’s most compelling questions: How can our city foster a stronger sense of belonging and create the kind of social, cultural, and recreational experiences that encourage recent graduates to stay?
The course will meet periodically at the downtown Radisson in meeting space provided by Greenleaf Hospitality Group.
When Harper Schrader ’26 arrived last year in Jordan for her study abroad experience, she had never spoken a word of Arabic. Three months later, she returned to Kalamazoo College not only fluent enough to navigate daily life in the Middle Eastern nation, but also with ideas for a career path that would take her back across the globe.
Today, she interns remotely for the Jordanian embassy in Washington, D.C., combining her passions for journalism and international relations.
“I definitely couldn’t have imagined this experience had I not attended K,” Schrader said. “Being able to study abroad and graduate on time—while also getting to do my (Senior Integrated Project) abroad and the internship—is cool.”
Schrader, a Kalamazoo native who came to the College through the Kalamazoo Promise, was drawn to K specifically because of its study abroad opportunities. Unlike some institutions where studying overseas can delay graduation or limit academic options, K’s flexible curriculum allowed her to pursue international experiences without sacrificing other opportunities.
Choosing the Road Less Traveled
When it came time to select a study abroad destination, Schrader deliberately avoided the well-trodden paths to Europe that many students take. She considered Senegal and Korea before narrowing her focus to the Middle East, ultimately choosing Jordan, which is also known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
“I wanted to go somewhere that a lot of people weren’t going,” she said. “I was more interested in the Middle East, so that’s how I narrowed it down.”
A conversation with a Jordanian international student during her sophomore year helped seal the decision. That student provided invaluable insights into the program and what daily life in Jordan would be like, easing Schrader’s concerns about diving into an entirely new culture and language.
The program, run through CET Academic Programs—one of K’s partner organizations with centers in China, Brazil and Jordan—required students to take a language pledge upon arrival, committing to speak only Arabic. For Schrader, who had no prior experience with the language, this was daunting.
“I was a little nervous, but it actually helped having the language pledge, because I was in an environment where that was all I was hearing,” she said. “I started picking up words without realizing it.”
The program began with two intensive weeks of Arabic instruction before students launched into elective courses. Schrader and her cohort attended classes at a center within walking distance of their apartments, where they were paired with “jirans”—an Arabic term that loosely translates to “neighbors”—who were Jordanian university students that helped with assignments and led cultural excursions around the city.
Adjusting to a New Reality
Jordan is home to numerous ancient attractions including two of Schrader’s favorites: Petra, which is an ancient city famous for its rock-cut architecture and water engineering near the modern town of Wadi Musa; and the Citadel, an archaeological site and historic landmark on the highest hill in downtown Amman, offering panoramic city views while showcasing layers of history from the Bronze Age through the Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad period.
For Schrader, exploring these historical treasures became a highlight of her stay, although the experience still had its adjustments and challenges. She began wearing a hijab the day she arrived in Jordan, a personal decision that felt natural in her new environment.
An unexpected challenge emerged as she navigated the range of perspectives represented among the American students in the program. Many were preparing for government service careers and approached learning Arabic purely in terms of future policy or security work. This experience deepened her commitment to approaching international relations and journalism with cultural sensitivity and respect, values that would shape her academic and professional pursuits.
Pursuing Journalism in Amman
Schrader hadn’t thought seriously about journalism until she took an introductory course with Professor of English Marin Heinritz ’99 during her first spring semester. Yet watching journalists like Clarissa Ward and Anthony Bourdain on CNN had already planted seeds of interest, and the class caused those seeds to grow.
In Jordan, she enrolled in a media course focused on the Middle East, where discussions covered cultural considerations in reporting and the role of social media during the Arab Spring. The class visited the Jordan Times newspaper, where students met with the editor-in-chief to discuss reporting in the region.
“There are a lot of differences between the U.S. and Jordan when it comes to the customs of interacting with people,” Schrader said. “For example, it wouldn’t be common to have a male person interviewing a woman there, or a woman interviewing a male.”
She also noted that topics such as royal families and religion are often approached more cautiously if at all out of respect for cultural sensitivities.
“Someone wouldn’t write something negative about the small Christian population, for example, because it would be seen as disrespectful,” she said.
Schrader had initially planned to intern with the Jordan Times during her study abroad semester, but scheduling conflicts prevented it. Undeterred, she returned to Jordan this past summer and spent three months working with the English-language newspaper, focusing primarily on digital content and video editing.
Harper Schrader ’26 visited several historical sites in Jordan including Petra, which is an ancient city famous for its rock-cut architecture and water engineering.
Schrader obtained an internship with the Jordanian embassy in Washington, D.C., shortly after returning from study abroad.
Wadi Rum, meaning Valley of the Moon or Valley of High Places, is Jordan’s famous desert valley known for red sands, rock formations and ancient inscriptions.
From Study Abroad Student to Intern
When Schrader returned from Jordan in September, she brought with her not just memories and language skills but a professional opportunity that perfectly merged her interests. A roommate from her study abroad program had worked for the Jordanian embassy, and when Schrader reached out about internship possibilities, the timing proved fortuitous.
“I applied, not really thinking I would get it just because I don’t have any experience in international relations, but I did get it,” she said.
Now, working remotely with the embassy’s Information Bureau in Washington, D.C., Schrader monitors press releases, think tank events and social media posts by politicians, compiling them into reports while helping to draft media statements.
“It’s really fun for me to combine an international relations interest with journalism,” she said. “It’s like the perfect intersection.”
The position, which she plans to continue until around June, has its limits as only Jordanian citizens can be hired for full-time positions. Yet it has already opened doors and created valuable connections. She has worked with officials close to the ambassador and met other students passionate about Jordan and the Middle East.
Confronting Media Narratives
Through her work monitoring international media coverage, Schrader has developed strong opinions about how the Middle East is represented in Western journalism. Although she believes Jordan itself is portrayed fairly, she’s critical of the coverage of other countries in the region.
“I think especially places like Iraq or Palestine are dehumanized,” she said. In fact, she’s found herself relying less on mainstream outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, instead turning to social media to follow journalists on the ground, particularly in Gaza.
Jordan hosts refugees from Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Yemen, bringing international recognition. The country maintains a delicate balance—about 60% of Jordan’s population is estimated to be of Palestinian origin, which can create tension when the king maintains relationships with the United States and other Western powers.
“In Jordan, of course, it can feel frustrating for people if seeing the king, for example, be friends with the United States when a majority of the population there is Palestinian,” Schrader said. “But when you put it into the perspective of Jordan having little natural resources, their biggest strength is that they’re a peaceful country.”
This understanding of geopolitical complexities is precisely what Schrader hopes to bring to her future career. She’s currently applying to master’s programs to pursue a thesis examining how different regions and wars are represented in media, with a particular focus on how media can manufacture consent for conflicts and military actions.
Looking Forward
Schrader’s journey from Kalamazoo to Jordan and back again has been shaped by supportive mentors, including Professor of English Babli Sinha, who serves as her SIP advisor despite Schrader never having taken her classes.
“She’s inspired me the most,” Schrader said. “She doesn’t make me limit myself when it comes to journalism. She encouraged me with journalism and to follow what I’m passionate about.”
For her SIP, Schrader wrote a narrative journalism piece about her two visits to the West Bank and Jerusalem during her time in Jordan, including a stay with a family in Bethlehem. “It’s been rewarding to write what I’m passionate about,” she said.
On campus, she helps run both the student newspaper, The Index, and the literary magazine, The Cauldron. She’s also been involved with Students for Justice in Palestine since her first year and helped revive the Muslim Student Association after returning from study abroad.
When asked what she’d want Americans to know about Jordan, Schrader’s answer cuts to the heart of why cross-cultural exchange matters.
“I think that it can be easy to let what we’ve been told about the Middle East come to mind when we’re first thinking about these countries, but it’s really important to go there and to talk to the people,” she said. “You’ll realize that the people your age—and people in general —are more like us than we think. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
For Schrader, study abroad wasn’t just an academic experience or a chance to see the world. It was a transformative experience that helped her discover her calling. From struggling through her first Arabic conversations to working for a foreign embassy, she’s living proof that stepping outside one’s comfort zone can lead to extraordinary opportunities.
“It helped me meet other people interested in the same things I’m interested in and opened my eyes up to what I can do outside of what I’m studying at K, which is cool,” she said.
Editors Note: Carson Williams ’25, a former Kalamazoo Promise scholar, wrote this story for College Marketing and Communication.
On November 10, 2005, then-Superintendent Janice Brown stood in front of a school board meeting and made an announcement that would change the lives of students in Kalamazoo, Michigan: The Kalamazoo Promise. The initiative promised that Kalamazoo Public Schools students who attended KPS for at least grades 9–12 would receive a graduated scholarship covering up to 100% of tuition and mandatory fees at 43 eligible Michigan community colleges and universities, funded by a group of anonymous donors. These donors had gathered previously and recognized “the hurdle that college tuition poses in determining the futures of young people.” They then posed the question: what could students accomplish without worrying about the potential financial burden that often comes when seeking higher education? The Kalamazoo Promise Foundation was their answer. Kalamazoo became the first city in the United States to offer full scholarships.
As monumental as this announcement was, one of the gaps was that the Kalamazoo Promise could not be used at the private liberal arts institution in the city it was born in: Kalamazoo College. But 10 years after the initial unveiling of the Promise, K and other private schools that were part of the Michigan Colleges Alliance (MCA) declared that they would be joining with the Kalamazoo Promise Foundation, with eligibility beginning in fall of 2015. The Promise would cover funds equal to the average tuition and fees of the undergraduate programs at the University of Michigan, and the MCA institution would cover the rest. Since 2015, 230 Promise scholars have enrolled at Kalamazoo College, 40 of whom were first-generation college students. Currently, there are 85 Promise scholars at K.
Since partnering with the Kalamazoo Promise, K has worked extensively to ensure that Promise scholars feel welcome on campus and have access to all resources possible. Wraegan Williams is the Promise liaison at K who fulfills this role. “I work closely with colleagues across campus and at the Promise office to proactively address student needs and connect them with academic and wraparound supports to help them thrive both during their time on campus and in their professional pathways as graduates,” Williams said.
“We are working hard to move from partnership to true collaboration with KPS and the Kalamazoo Promise Foundation,” said Shannon Milan, K’s director of Admission. “That means creating intentional opportunities for connection, access, and belonging. Our goal has been simple but powerful: to help KPS students see themselves at Kalamazoo College. A place that believes in them, values them, and is ready to walk alongside them as they take their next steps.”
K has focused on more intentional forms of outreach, including their new annual “Why We Promise” visit day, which salutes the high potential of KPS students and helps them envision their future through K. This day, as well as K’s other forms of outreach to KPS students, have concentrated on a few key messages: possibilities in a place that believes and values students; inspiring students toward curiosity, courage, and community; displaying gratitude to KPS scholars, families, educators, and the Promise team for all of their work to create better opportunities; and highlighting that K is the right choice for students who want to ask big questions and make a difference, because K will challenge, support and celebrate them through each step.
K promotes the mantra that KPS students who are unsure about leaving their hometown for college “can go far by staying here.”
“We want KPS students to understand that staying in Kalamazoo doesn’t mean limiting their horizons,” Milan said. “It means launching from a strong foundation. At Kalamazoo College, they can take full advantage of the Promise while still accessing the kind of global, transformative experiences that define a world-class education.”
Building on that message, K emphasizes what it means by “going far.” One of these ways is through K’s study abroad program, which is also covered by the Promise. Fifty-five percent of K’s Promise scholars have participated in study abroad or study away. Students can also join K’s alumni network that reaches beyond Kalamazoo.
“Being part of this network means students can remain deeply rooted in Kalamazoo while gaining lifelong global connections.” Milan said.
Finally, K provides students with opportunities for internships, research and experiential learning that will help them grow outside of K.
When asked about success stories of the Promise at K, Williams said that all of the successes she has witnessed began with the same belief: “Without the Promise, K wouldn’t have been a possibility.” Through the scholarship, Promise scholars can fully engage in the K-Plan—which unites academics, study abroad programs, independent study, career development, and civic engagement within a flexible and exciting curriculum.
“The impact is clear: 81% of Promise scholars at K have completed a bachelor’s degree, with many continuing on to graduate school, professional programs, competitive internships, and strong employment outcomes, some right here in Kalamazoo, contributing to the same community that invested in their success,” Williams said.
“At the heart of the Kalamazoo Promise is hope, and we see that hope come to life every day at K,” Milan said. “The Promise isn’t just about access to college. It’s about believing in the potential of every student in our community. We’re honored to be part of that story!”
Living the Kalamazoo Promise at K
As a former Promise scholar and K alumna, I am beyond grateful for having the opportunity to learn at an institution like K free of financial burden. I talked to other K students, both alumni and current, who have utilized the Promise scholarship.
Adam Dorstewitz-Verne ’22
Adam earned his degree in computer science and economics, with a minor in mathematics. He currently works for baseball tech company Sydex Sports, which supports MLB, MiLB and NCAA baseball and softball teams that use their software for video coaching.
What does the Promise mean to you personally? The Promise is what gave me the ability to choose the school I wanted to go to without fear of debt. I had the freedom to apply to Michigan-based schools only on how I felt about their program/what they had to offer me, instead of what the financial aid package might look like. The Promise meant college never felt financially unattainable.
How has the Promise helped you pursue your dreams or goals at K? The Promise helped me get to K, and then after that, the knowledge that I was covered while at K meant finances weren’t in the back of my head as I was studying or pushing for a grade for fear of losing a scholarship. It freed me to just be a student, which is tenuous enough without fearing a grade-based financial aid package. The Promise gave me the flexibility to apply for the scholarship that gave me my first job after college, because I knew that I had the ultimate backup in the Promise and that I could reach for the stars and if I fell, I’d still be covered.
Ella Boyea ’26
Boyea is a senior at Kalamazoo College with a major in business and a minor in anthropology and sociology. She recently completed her Senior Integrated Project, which included an internship with a bank in Lansing, Michigan, which she obtained through a K alum. At this internship, she helped with financials, marketing and the process of achieving and setting future goals. Boyea plans on heading into marketing after graduation.
What does the Promise mean to you personally? To me, the Kalamazoo Promise represents an opportunity that shaped the direction of my future. It symbolizes the power of living in a community that cares, and it opened doors I may not have been able to walk through if I didn’t receive this financial stability. Growing up knowing that my education mattered to the people around me created a sense of belonging and motivation. It eased the financial burden of college, allowing me to focus on my academic interests and envision possibilities for myself that I could have only dreamed of before. The Kalamazoo Promise means freedom for people to be able to push themselves to shape who they will one day become.
Since 2015, 230 Promise scholars have enrolled at Kalamazoo College, 40 of whom were first-generation college students. Currently, there are 85 Promise scholars at K.
Adam Dorstewitz ’22: “I had the freedom to apply to Michigan-based schools only on how I felt about their program/what they had to offer me, instead of what the financial aid package might look like.”
Ella Boyea ’26: “To me, the Kalamazoo Promise represents an opportunity that shaped the direction of my future.”
Ala Awad ’26: “The Promise has allowed me to fully commit to my classes and explore career paths connected to business and healthcare without worrying about tuition.”
Tom Clark ’27: “Individuals who have been impacted by the Promise belong to a sense of community. There is a shared gratitude for the opportunity that has been given.”
Megan Hybels ’26: “Since I had the Promise, I felt better about choosing a major/program [that] I was passionate about, even if it’s less lucrative than other fields.”
How has the Promise helped you pursue your dreams or goals at K? The Kalamazoo Promise has given me the opportunity to attend an amazing school that works to build community, connections, and character. I have learned so much from the wide variety of classes I have taken here, [as] well as from my study abroad program to Madrid, Spain, my junior year which expanded my personality and social life tremendously. I am also appreciative of the clubs I am a part of and the Women’s Basketball team I am on here at K, which I would not have been able to do without the Promise giving me the chance to attend this school in the first place.
Ala Awad ’26
Awad is a senior at K completing a business major. He is currently working at his family’s restaurant, Nidal’s Shawarma King, and his future goal after graduation is to head into medical sales. Awad enjoys building relationships and helping people and feels that medical sales is the perfect place for him to grow professionally while staying connected to healthcare.
What does the Promise mean to you personally? The Promise means support. It took a huge financial weight off my shoulders and gave me the chance to focus on my education and my future. It’s made college feel so possible and has motivated me to work even harder.
How has the Promise helped you pursue your dreams or goals at K? The Promise has allowed me to fully commit to my classes and explore career paths connected to business and healthcare without worrying about tuition. It’s given me the freedom to build on my skills, take on leadership roles and stay on track toward my goal of going into medical sales after graduation.
Megan Hybels ’25
Megan earned her degree in religion with a history minor. She is currently enrolled in a Master of Arts program at Western Michigan University in their comparative religious studies department and is working as a grad assistant for WMU. She plans on working for an interfaith nonprofit in the future.
What does the Promise mean to you personally? I think a lot of people choose to not go into the humanities because they are afraid they won’t get a job that pays well enough to pay off student loans. Since I had the Promise, I felt better about choosing a major/program [that] I was passionate about, even if it’s less lucrative than other fields.
How has the Promise helped you pursue your dreams or goals at K? If I hadn’t had the Promise and felt more free to take a wide variety of different classes, I never would have taken a religious studies class and found out that it’s something I’m interested in.
Tom Clark ’27
Tom is a junior at K working on a business major with a psychology minor. He plans on pursuing a master’s degree in exercise science. Along with his studies, Tom is on the men’s tennis team.
What does the Promise mean to you personally? For me personally, the Promise means a lot of different things. Not only does it mean an opportunity to further my education, but it also means family. I was privileged to intern at [The Kalamazoo Promise] and get an inside look at all of the people behind the scenes who are changing countless lives. I already was very appreciative of the gift of the Promise but am even more grateful having seen how much work is actually being done in order to make such a scholarship work.
I also view the Promise as a sense of community. Whether it be in college, in a professional setting, individuals who have been impacted by the Promise belong to a sense of community. There is a shared gratitude for the opportunity that has been given. It is an easy point of connection to make with someone regardless of age, school, or occupation. Among most people that I have talked to, there is also a sense of willingness to give back. The Promise doesn’t take monetary donations, but giving time and volunteering is a way that people can repay the Promise for what it has done. I have already helped out at a couple of different events where I try to show the younger generation that there is an amazing opportunity for them that can be used in a variety of ways, whether that be a four-year degree, associate’s degree, or a trade school certification. The opportunities that the Promise provides are not given to everyone, so it is your responsibility to make the most of it.
How has the Promise helped you pursue your dreams or goals at K? It has allowed me to fulfill a lifelong dream of being a college athlete. Without the Promise, I wouldn’t have been able to play a sport in college because of the cost of schooling, particularly at K. The Promise has allowed me to further my academic and athletic career, while forming countless relationships with people who I wouldn’t have otherwise met, and changed the trajectory of my life.
For Gloria Jackson ’26, the lessons she’s learned in Kalamazoo neighborhoods have strengthened the ones she’s encountered in the classroom and vice versa. With two Community Building Internships (CBIs) through the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), Jackson has deepened her understanding of what it means to be part of a community while discovering new sides of the city she might not otherwise have seen.
“I think CBIs are an accessible and meaningful way to get connected with the greater Kalamazoo community,” Jackson said. “As a student, it’s easy to think we need to be on campus, but through CBIs, there are endless opportunities to engage with community members, learn about what’s important to them and understand the issues that affect our shared community.”
Jackson’s first CBI, in summer 2024, was with the Eastside Arts and Science Experiential Learning program, also known as EASEL, which focuses on science, technology, engineering, art and math—also known as STEAM—for children with hands-on projects and field trips. EASEL is an initiative of Eastside Youth Strong, a nonprofit organization in Kalamazoo that provides programs and support for youth in the Eastside neighborhood. The organization aims to help children succeed academically and socially by offering after-school and summer programs focused on building relationships, leadership and life skills.
“It’s a really beautiful program,” Jackson said. “It’s grassroots—neighbors helping neighbors, who see inequalities within their own community and using their own resources to fill those gaps. I thought that was such a beautiful sentiment and I wanted to see how I could put my hope somewhere beyond myself.”
Gloria Jackson ’26 has found a home with Kalamazoo College’s Center for Civic Engagement as a volunteer, Community Building Internship recipient and Civic Engagement Scholar.
At EASEL, Jackson worked primarily with kindergartners through eighth-grade students, leading science and math-based experiments and joining them on educational field trips.
“We did so many cool hands-on activities,” she said. “We learned about ecosystems and the water cycle, and one of the teachers who loved birding took us to a nature preserve to identify birds. It was so rewarding to see how curious the kids were and how much they already knew about their own neighborhood environment.”
The experience provided a window into inequities in Kalamazoo outside of the Northside neighborhood, where Jackson previously volunteered with the CCE’s Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS) program. This grassroots community organization provides quality academic support to Kalamazoo Public Schools students who live at Interfaith Homes. She is also currently one of two CAPS Civic Engagement Scholar.
“The Eastside community is similar in many ways to Northside, but also very different in terms of access to resources,” she said. “I wanted to understand those differences firsthand. Public funding sometimes fails to adequately support certain communities, and it’s important to recognize this while working with local organizations. These orgs exist to provide essential resources that might otherwise be unavailable to the community due to lack of funding.”
Last summer, Jackson returned for a second CBI, this time with Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation. The role brought new challenges while broadening her view of the community even further.
“My position was unique because I rotated between all six day camps across the city,” she said. “I filled in wherever support staff were needed—sometimes for field trips, sometimes when another staff member was out. Every day looked different.”
That unpredictability pushed Jackson out of her comfort zone, an experience she needed to have to grow as a young adult.
“I’ve realized I sometimes struggle when things don’t go as planned,” Jackson said. “But this internship taught me how to adapt. I never knew what site I’d be at or what kids I’d be working with, so I learned how to adjust my approach depending on the group. What worked at one site might not work at another. I learned to be flexible, patient and creative.”
Jackson said she especially enjoyed discovering what made each camp different.
“Kalamazoo Parks has programs at places like LaCrone Park on the Northside and Rockwell Park on the Eastside,” she said. “I was amazed by how diverse each site was and how the leadership reflected the youth they served.”
Seeing that representation, Jackson said, left a lasting impression.
“It was so powerful to see kids look up to people who looked like them,” she said. “You could see respect and pride. It made me realize how important representation is in community work.”
Working with children also helped Jackson discover a leadership style she hadn’t recognized in herself before.
“I wouldn’t have called myself a leader before this,” she said. “But when kids come to you for help or when they disagree, you have to respond thoughtfully. I learned to listen to both sides and help them find compromises. A good leader doesn’t silence others. They make space for everyone’s voice.”
Her favorite moment of the summer came during a camp talent show.
“It was such a fun time,” she said. “Some of the quieter students completely came out of their shells. They danced, acted and showed their art. It was beautiful to see them be themselves and shine in front of their peers.”
The experience also taught her the value of consistency.
“I found that being the adult who listens to and supports them makes a difference,” she said. “I wanted the kids to know they could always come to me and be taken seriously.”
Beyond youth work, Jackson’s internships helped her grow personally and professionally.
“The program ran from 9 to 5, but because I relied on public transportation, my days were much longer,” she said. “Sometimes I had to wake up earlier than I was used to and get home later than expected. It taught me discipline, punctuality and how to be prepared every morning.”
That daily experience, she added, also gave her perspective on community systems.
“I have so much more respect for people who rely on public transportation every day,” Jackson said. “Sometimes the buses were late or routes changed. It takes effort and resilience to navigate that. It really made me think about how infrastructure impacts people’s lives.”
Jackson, a psychology major, said her internships have directly shaped how she thinks about human development and behavior.
“They’ve absolutely helped me in the classroom,” she said. “I was able to draw from what I learned in psychology, especially social and developmental psychology. For example, I could see theories about how kids’ different environments—their microsystems—interact. One child might be scared to swim, while another can’t wait to jump in the pool. I learned to support both in ways that met them where they were.”
Jackson said her internships wouldn’t have been available to her had it not been for the CCE team, including Operations Manager Felicia Ford, Program Associate Oakley Gabriel, Director Sashae Mitchell and Associate Director Marquise Griffin.
“They’ve helped me reflect on my own positionality including who I am, why I’m entering these communities, and how to engage responsibly,” she said. “They’ve helped me understand civic engagement as an ongoing process.”
And now, as she looks ahead to life after K, Jackson says she isn’t sure exactly what her career will look like, but she knows where her heart is.
“My heart belongs to the community,” she added. “Wherever I end up, it’ll be something community-based or grassroots, where I can use what I’ve learned to help someone else. Learning through civic engagement is ongoing and I’m excited to keep growing.”
Hundreds of Kalamazoo College students were recognized Friday, November 7, during the annual Honors Day Convocation for excellence in academics and leadership. Students were recognized in six divisions: Fine Arts; Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; 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 awards. Student athletes and teams who won Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association awards also were honored. Many of the awards presented are based on outstanding performance during the previous academic year. The students receiving Honors Day awards or recognition are listed below.
FINE ARTS DIVISION
Brian Gougeon ’81 Prize in Art
John Brewer
Sara Bush
The Margaret Upton Prize in Music
Maya Davis
Charles Cooper Award in Fine Arts
Lena Barret
James Hauke
Fan E. Sherwood Memorial Prize
Bernice Mike
Theatre Arts First-Year Student Award
Maya Davis
Sebastian Nelson
DIVISION OF MODERN AND CLASSICAL LANGUAGES
LeGrand Copley Prize in French
Jessica Forbis
Hardy Fuchs Award
Sara Bush
Maren Palmer
Margo Light Award
Johe Newton Johnson
Department of Spanish Language and Literatures Prize
Sarah Guerrero Gorostieta
Jay Hernandez
Clara H. Buckley Prize for Excellence in Latin
Eleanor Campion
Sally Eggleston
Classics Department Prize in Greek
Aubrey Benson
Provost’s Prize in Classics
Sally Eggleston
HUMANITIES DIVISION
O.M. Allen Prize in English
Sarah Guerrero Gorostieta
John B. Wickstrom Prize in History
Brit Inman
Aliah Mohmand
Department of Philosophy Prize
Jessica Forbis
Cecilia Gray
Arden Schultz
L.J. and Eva (“Gibbie”) Hemmes Memorial Prize in Philosophy
Tavi Butki
Jessica Forbis
NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS DIVISION
Winifred Peake Jones Prize in Biology
Josephine Belsky
Chloe Brown
Avery Davis
Department of Chemistry Prize
Linda Chukwu
Carter Haley
May Pasillas
First-Year Chemistry Award
Teige Bredin
Caroline Johnson
Katherine Saurez
Lemuel F. Smith Award
William Tocco
Computer Science Prize
Lena Barrett
Alexander Russell
First-Year Mathematics Award
Ayako Jurgle
Thomas O. Walton Prize in Mathematics
Ingrid Gardner
Lauren MacKersie
Juniper Pasternak
Benjamin Whitsett
Cooper Prize in Physics
Nathan Gleason
Charles Gordon
Caroline Johnson
Katelyn Steinbrecher
Katherine Suarez
SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION
Departmental Prize in Anthropology and Sociology
Leila Bank
Veda Shukla
William G. Howard Prize in Political Science
Bo Chambers
William G. Howard Memorial Prize in Economics and Business
Jordan Doyle
C. Wallace Lawrence Prize in Business
Jack Duggins
Matthew Matuza
C. Wallace Lawrence Prize in Economics
Renzo Palomino Caceres
Maya Clarren
Irene and S. Kyle Morris Prize
Callie Abair
Jackson Keefer
Department of Psychology First-Year Student Prize
Kay Hanson
PHYSICAL EDUCATION DIVISION
Division of Physical Education Prize
Cameron Crosby
Addison Lyons
Lauren Rosenthal ’13 Memorial Prize
Eleanor Bernas
Maggie Wardle ’02 Prize
Maggie Westra
COLLEGE AWARDS
Henry ’36 and Inez Brown Prize
Jaylen Bowles-Swain
John Bungart
Abbie Caza
Ella Spooner
Davis United World College Scholar
Soyeon Jin
HEYL SCHOLARS: Class of 2029
Methmi Amaratunga
Stephanie Castillo
Eiden Jonaitis
Dewen Luo-Li
Gwendolyn MacEwen
Kaljona Thaumanavar
POSSE SCHOLARS: Class of 2029
Elyzet Alfaro
Sarah Baker
Marley Bell
Zeina Coreas
Lavar Ganther
Marcus Lloyd
Vex Maldonado
Sophia Mes
Zaira Ramirez
Coltrane Randolph
Jordan Rivas
NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARS: Class of 2029
Drew Abbott
SLAVA-CICA AND SPASA VOYNOVICH SCHOLARS
Olivia Schleede
ALPHA LAMBDA DELTA: Class of 2029
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 rank in the top 20% of their class and earn a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 during the first year. The students below are members of the Class of 2029 who have met or exceeded those benchmarks and have been invited to join the Kalamazoo College Chapter of Alpha Lambda Delta.
Leila Bank
Grace Barber
Josephine Belsky
Derek Blackwell
Teige Bredin
John Brewer
Ellie Britt
Chloe Brown
Ava Buccafurri
Sara Bush
Haziel Cerroblanco
Bo Chambers
Brendan Clinard
Toby Comensoli
Cameron Crosby
Avery Davis
Maya Davis
Francis Ernzen
Max Feliks
Mathias Florian
Jessica Forbis
Nathan Gleason
Brizza Gonzalez
Cole Grupenhoff
Sarah Guerrero Gorostieta
Carter Haley
Britt Inman
Weslee Innes
Caroline Johnson
Ayako Jurgle
Jackson Keefer
Ava King
Shay Kruse
Katelyn Long
Mairead Lynch
Jay McDaniel
Jacey Merkle
Aliah Mohmand
Meena Moritz
Sebastian Nelson
Renzo Palomino Caceres
Mario Pomorski
Brody Quinn
Cory Rapp
Julia Reisor
Wyatt Ruppenthal
McKenna Ryan-Elbert
Simon Sawyer
Halen Sherwood
Veda Shukla
Katelyn Steinbrecher
Calvin Strader
Katherine Suarez
Nora Zemlick
FINE ARTS SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Annice Bellows
Mag Burkander
Emmett Carlson
Elliot Corpuz
Sophia Deguzman
Ale Demea
Desmond Distel
Molly Duffy
Kellen Fisher
Ana Lucia Galarreta
Ryan Goodrich
Lana Gouin-Hart
Sofia Gross
Sarah Hagan
Abram Haynes
Scarlett Hosner
Aelitta Kazarov
Genevieve Nagel
Alessi Neder
Sam Pattison
Benjamin Perry
Ellison Redwine
Alice Seigner
Saba Sikharulidze
Ana Slouber
Laurel Stowers
Zara Strauss
Chloe Stuckey
Nolan Surach
Mathias Takacs
Arielle Tenner
Lauren Thompson
Jey Trebley
MIAA AWARDS
These teams earned the 2024–25 MIAA Team GPA Award for achieving a 3.300 or better grade point average for the entire academic year.
Baseball
Men’s Basketball
Men’s Golf
Men’s Lacrosse
Men’s Soccer
Men’s Swimming & Diving
Men’s Tennis
Women’s Basketball
Women’s Cross Country
Women’s Golf
Women’s Lacrosse
Women’s Soccer
Softball
Women’s Swimming & Diving
Women’s Tennis
Volleyball
Teige Bredin ’28 performs Intermezzo in “A Major, Opus 118, No. 2” by Johannes Brahms at Honors Day Convocation.
Students participate in Honors Day Convocation at Stetson Chapel on Friday, November 7.
Sarah Guerrero Gorostieta ’28 accepts the Department of Spanish Language and Literatures Prize from Professor of English Amelia Katanski ’92 at Honors Day Convocation.
Parents, families, faculty, staff and students gather for Honors Day Convocation at Stetson Chapel.
Students were recognized in six divisions at Honors Day Convocation: Fine Arts; Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; Humanities; Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Social Sciences; and Physical Education.
Students participate in Honors Day Convocation at Stetson Chapel.
Parents, families, faculty, staff and students gather for Honors Day Convocation at Stetson Chapel.
Hundreds of Kalamazoo College students were recognized Friday, November 7, during the annual Honors Day Convocation for excellence in academics and leadership.
The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association each year honors students at MIAA-member colleges who achieve in the classroom and in athletic competition. Students need to be a letterwinner in a varsity sport and maintain at least a 3.5 grade-point average for the year.
Kalamazoo College student Joe Caton ’26 has turned his lifelong interest in radio technology into an innovative conservation project at Sarett Nature Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan. For his Senior Integrated Project (SIP), Caton built a low-cost telecommunications system to help the center monitor its population of Eastern box turtles.
Sarett is home to several types of turtles, and some, including the Eastern box turtle, are listed as threatened species in the state thanks to humans changing their habitats and predators threatening their safety.
Eastern box turtles play subtle but significant roles in their ecosystems. As omnivores, they help control insect populations and disperse seeds from berries and other wild plants. Their presence affects the food web as both consumers and prey, and their nesting habits intersect with larger environmental issues. At Sarett, turtles have contributed to booming raccoon populations, which can overconsume eggs and disrupt long-term turtle survival.
Sarett staff and volunteers have long tracked the reptiles using older analog equipment that emits radio pings, requiring searchers to walk toward the sound to locate individuals.
Caton, who is a computer science major with a telecommunications background, saw an opportunity to modernize the process and make it more accessible for conservation groups with limited resources.
“Once I found out Sarett was still tracking these turtles, I reached out to see if I could help,” he said. “The receiver technology was the area with the least work being done, so that’s where I focused.”
Caton sourced a software-defined radio device called a Hack RF, which can detect signals across a wide frequency range. He paired it with a screen for visualizing the turtle transmitters’ radio signals and built a homemade antenna using PVC pipe and a metal tape measure. When he and Sarett staff tested the system in the field, they were able to match pings to specific turtles based on recorded frequencies.
The equipment offers Sarett a flexible, open-source alternative to commercial radio trackers, which are costly and difficult to replace or replicate. Caton’s prototype can be produced at a fraction of the cost by printing circuit boards from existing online plans, making the approach scalable for other nature centers, research projects or youth-education programs.
Although Caton’s role focused on technology, he says his work has changed how he thinks about conservation.
“I hadn’t given a lot of thought to how computer science could be used this way,” he said. “Now I realize you don’t just have to use tools that already exist, you can make them yourself and tailor them to the work.”
Caton grew up in Three Rivers, Michigan, and first attended Glen Oaks Community College in nearby Centreville. He originally planned to pursue another degree path, but when Glen Oaks launched a computer science and cybersecurity program in 2020, he became one of its first computer science students. After completing his associate degree, Caton worked for a few years before deciding he wanted to finish a bachelor’s degree.
He had always been intrigued by K.
“When I was younger, I just wanted to go to K because everyone I knew was going to Western (Michigan University) and I wanted to be different,” Caton said with a laugh. “But as I got older and actually started reading about it and hearing graduates’ stories, it sounded like a place I would actually want to go.”
On a whim, he applied to K, assuming it would be too expensive. But the opposite proved to be true.
“I got this financial aid package in the mail that made it not only an option, but the cheapest option,” he said. “That pretty much answered the question for me.”
As a non-traditional transfer student at age 40, Caton expected to feel out of place at K. Instead, he again was surprised.
“The only person who ever brought up my age was me,” he said. “Once I stopped mentioning it, nobody else did either. Nobody looked at me funny or treated me differently. That made it a lot easier to just be a student.”
He quickly connected with computer science faculty including Professor Pam Cutter and Associate Professor Sandino Vargas-Pérez. Their accessibility and encouragement built his confidence to take on projects like the one at Sarett. Caton has also worked on campus in Media Services while balancing coursework and his home life.
Eventually, his SIP provided opportunities that Caton didn’t expect. He has been networking with professionals at the intersection of ecology and technology, and he plans to continue refining his prototype with Sarett. Using a Raspberry Pi—which is a low-cost, credit-card-sized computer—he hopes to combine radio tracking with image-recognition software being developed by WMU students to identify turtles by their unique shell patterns.
Caton’s SIP is complete, but the project continues and so does his enthusiasm.
“If you assume something like the conservation of Eastern box turtles doesn’t matter just because you don’t see the connection right away, you’re going to miss something important,” he said. “We don’t always know what role a species plays until it’s gone. That’s why this work matters.”
Q&A with Sarett Nature Center Executive Director Nate Fuller
Sarett Nature Center—less than an hour from Kalamazoo College between Benton Harbor and Coloma—is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to providing quality environmental education to the community. It has more than 1,000 acres along the Paw Paw River and is home to several state and federally endangered animals in addition to a rich variety of flora and fauna, representing much of what can be found in southwest Michigan. Children are free and admission is $3 for adults who want to hike the trails and visit the welcome center, which has animal displays and feeding stations that are enjoyable for all ages.
Executive Director Nate Fuller answered some questions for us about the nature center, the importance of eastern box turtles and Joe Caton’s contributions to their conservation efforts.
Question: Why are eastern box turtles important within their ecosystems?
Answer: Eastern box turtles are important because they act as seed dispersers, regulate prey populations, and serve as an indicator species for environmental health. Their role in dispersing seeds helps maintain plant diversity, while their omnivorous diet helps control insect and other small prey populations. Because they are so sensitive to changes in their environment, their presence or absence can signal the overall health of their woodland, wetland and field habitats.
Q: How threatened are these turtles?
A: Eastern box turtle populations are declining at all levels—nationally, regionally and locally. They can be found across much of the eastern United States, but they have some level of protected status in nearly half of the states where they’re found. In Michigan, the eastern box turtle was recently moved from “special concern” to “threatened” status due to their increased decline.
Eastern box turtles seem to be doing much better at Sarett Nature Center than anywhere else that they’re studied. By studying Sarett’s population, officials hope to better understand what the turtles need to thrive.Caton built a homemade antenna using PVC pipe and a metal tape measure.Caton sourced a software-defined radio device called a Hack RF (above), which can detect signals across a wide frequency range, and paired it with a screen for visualizing the turtle transmitters’ radio signals (below).Fuller had this to say of Caton’s work: “Joe’s work has the potential not just to make the research being done on Sarett’s box turtle population more effective and efficient, but it could also be a game changer for conservation efforts for all projects using telemetry.”
Q: Why is it important for Sarett to protect them?
A: Box turtles seem to be doing much better at Sarett Nature Center than anywhere else that they’re studied. By studying Sarett’s population, we hope to better understand what they need to be successful. Also, Sarett’s population is large enough that we have an opportunity to study their behaviors in a way that just isn’t possible at sites with smaller populations.
Q: What hands-on work is being undertaken at Sarett to help these turtles?
A: Work started a few years ago when Sarett hired John Rutger and his turtle dogs to help us find turtles. The idea was to demonstrate how working dogs help with conservation. We had no idea how many turtles he would find! The dogs found more than 60 turtles in four days at the nature center, and we had an inkling we were onto something special. Over the years since, we’ve documented more with few repeats while drawing attention from conservation professionals and researchers.
Maarten Vonhof at Western Michigan University is overseeing multiple research projects that are looking at genetics, shell patterns, habitat use, range sizes, nest-site selection, scent communication, disease and social behaviors. Watervliet High School Robotics Club members are working on micro-GPS trackers to add to turtles that already have transmitter beacons on them to better understand their daily movements. Sarett staff and volunteers are working on invasive plant species control to improve nesting and foraging habitats. And we are making plans for students, staff and volunteers to help identify, mark and monitor box turtle nests this upcoming spring.
Visitors to the nature center have been helpful in documenting box turtles. We also worked with WMU to set up an app for anyone who finds a box turtle to add them to our project. They can use their phone to take its picture and upload it to our database so we can build up our image catalogue and track locations of individuals.
Q:Has Sarett reached any important milestones in protecting the turtles?
A: We have hit some impressive milestones regarding the numbers of individuals we’ve identified at Sarett Nature Center. After four years of one-week surveys, we identified more than 300 individuals. After four weeks of intensive surveys in 2025, we were able to add more than 250 individuals to our inventory! We are still working on the data, but it looks like we have 600 individuals catalogued, which is many times more than any other single location documented anywhere.
The bloodwork collected this summer marks the largest genetic assessment of a box turtle population ever. The scent data collected is also the largest ever and will be the most comprehensive study ever done looking at box turtle communication via scent.
Q:How would you rate Joe Caton’s work and the importance of it in Sarett’s efforts?
A: Joe’s work has the potential not just to make the research being done on Sarett’s box turtle population more effective and efficient, but it could also be a game changer for conservation efforts for all projects using telemetry.
The costs of tracking are not just in designing the equipment used. A bigger expense comes from the time it takes humans to use the equipment, everything from training on how to use it to time in the field spent tracking down the animals. With more than 70 transmitters, it’s easier and more efficient to find transmitters in the field, and it will save us thousands of dollars. If you project that out to others using this technology, it could be a huge benefit for wildlife conservation.
By the end of the summer, Caleb Jenkins ’26, Willow Hayner ’27 and Mairin Boshoven ’25 had recorded data on nearly a thousand Pitcher’s thistle seedlings, some barely a half-centimeter tall, on Beaver Island.
Pollinators such as bees, monarchs and hummingbirds rely on Pitcher’s thistle for food in the early spring before much else blooms.
Surrounded by the waters of Lake Michigan, between the state’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, three Kalamazoo College students spent their summer with Professor of Biology Binney Girdler, studying a small species of plant that fulfills big roles.
Caleb Jenkins ’26, Willow Hayner ’27 and Mairin Boshoven ’25 devoted their days to researching and protecting Pitcher’s thistle, a rare and threatened yet important plant on Beaver Island, where the students spent a couple of months at a remote hub for scientific activity: Central Michigan University’s Biological Station.
Pitcher’s thistle grows only on the shores of the western Great Lakes, Jenkins said, where it began to spread thousands of years ago as a huge glacier traveled northward, depositing minerals and sand.
“As the glacier melted, it gave us our Great Lakes,” Jenkins said. “From that, Pitcher’s thistle established roots deep within the Earth. As it grows, it collects more and more sand as the sand drifts and storms wash up deposits, assisting dune grasses in building dunes. Those dunes have developed into areas like the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Wilderness State Park.”
Studies in Wisconsin have shown that entire swaths of Pitcher’s thistle have been wiped out by an invasive weevil called Larinus planus, which destroys the plant’s seeds. Beaver Island is unique because researchers have yet to find any evidence of the weevils there. Their absence helps make the island an ideal spot for the pollinators that rely on Pitcher’s thistle for food in the early spring before much else blooms. It also provided Jenkins, Hayner and Boshoven with a perfect environment for their research, conducting tests and measurements that contribute to the plant’s conservation.
Even the deer on Beaver Island, whose growing numbers are hurting populations of other plants, seem to be having less impact on Pitcher’s thistle.
“The seedlings of the Pitcher’s thistle tend to be the most vulnerable,” Boshoven said. “The deer might step on a few or bite them, but the plants tend to be very resilient. Humans would be much more of a threat to the plant’s population than deer.”
CMU’s Biological Station is a nucleus for scientists and students from across the country. Hayner said K’s representatives were collecting data during the day while evenings brought talks from visiting researchers from organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Michigan Natural Features Inventory.
“These groups often gave lectures on their research, and it was amazing to meet them and learn about their work,” Hayner said. “We also got to work in Binney’s lab, right next to the shores of Lake Michigan. As an added bonus, we were able to participate in the end-of-summer open house and poster show to present our research to the public.”
Much of the team’s daily work involved close observation—very close observation.
“There was a lot of crawling involved,” Jenkins recalled with a laugh. “We’d be hunched over the plants in the sand, and when people walked by asking what we were doing, we’d pop our heads up like groundhogs and say, ‘We’re measuring plants!’”
By the end of the summer, the group had recorded data on nearly a thousand seedlings, some barely a half-centimeter tall. Beyond the data, the project connected the students with the island community, whose residents deeply value Beaver Island’s natural plant and animal systems and appreciate research on species vital to the island’s ecology.
“You don’t have to convince anyone there why conservation matters,” Boshoven said. “They already know. One of my favorite moments was sharing our findings at the open house and seeing how excited people were about the research. It felt like conservation was happening in real time.”
All three students credit Girdler for fostering an environment that balances challenges with encouragement.
“Binney never pressured us just to produce results,” Jenkins said. “I could lay out what I’d learned and what I understood and say, ‘Here’s where I am.’ She was more than happy to meet us in the middle. That level of understanding is an extra bit of humanity you usually don’t get in academic settings.”
“She met us where we were and encouraged us to keep going, even when things went wrong.” Hayner added. “She’s an outstanding mentor. I learned so much just being part of her lab and hope to continue working with her on data analysis this year.”
For Boshoven, the experience has been transformative.
“My first summer there opened my eyes to what fieldwork could be,” she said. “Now I know I want to go to grad school not just for the degree, but for the process of doing the research. It really taught me how and why I want to structure my work in the future.”
Boshoven expects such enthusiasm to spread to the next generations of K students.
“The program Dr. Girdler has built is so well thought out,” Boshoven said. “Academically, it’s a great experience; she will follow it through with you all the way to publishing research, which is impressive for undergraduates. It has made me an exponentially better researcher. On the other hand, it was also just a great time.”
Jenkins said the experience solidified his own dream of becoming a conservation biologist.
“Anyone who knows me knows I’m a plant guy,” he said. “If I can spend the rest of my life studying plants and teaching people about them, I absolutely will.”
Hayner, too, found the project has influenced her long-term goals.
“I’m not totally sure where I’ll end up, but I know I want to keep doing fieldwork,” she said. “This showed me how passionate I am about plant ecology.”
Jenkins, Hayner and Boshoven joined Professor of Biology Binney Girdler this summer on Beaver Island to research Pitcher’s thistle, a threatened species of plant.
The remote location of Beaver Island required the research team to take a ferry from Charlevoix, Michigan, to their summer home.
Professor Proud of Students, Beaver Island Research
Professor of Biology Binney Girdler said she’s proud of all of her students who perform research, especially Jenkins, Hayner and Boshoven, who did so in such a remote place.
“From Kalamazoo, it’s a three-and-a-half-hour road trip followed by a two-hour ferry ride,” she said. “There is one small grocery store on the island, one gas station where gas is $6 a gallon and four restaurants. But on the plus side, the students had 300 feet of sugar sand Lake Michigan beach at their disposal, and the lake to go jump in whenever they wanted. I was incredibly proud of each of them for their creativity and dedication. Each student had their own piece of the puzzle. I was really impressed with what a great team these three scholars made. Even though they each had ownership of a different part of the project, they coordinated their work well so that they traded jobs and supported each other through challenges, especially when I was off-island. My students were professional and engaging, and community members told me what a great job they did presenting.”
What is Pitcher’s Thistle?
Named after: Zina Pitcher, a U.S. Army surgeon at Fort Brady and an amateur naturalist. He discovered the plant in the 1820s along Lake Superior.
Scientific name: Cirsium pitcheri or CIPI for short.
Range: Native only to the dunes of Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior.
Status: Federally threatened in the U.S., federally endangered in Canada.
Ecological role: Stabilizes sand dunes with deep roots; blooms early to feed pollinators such as bees, monarchs and hummingbirds.
Biggest threat: Shoreline development and a seed-eating invasive weevil, Larinus planus.
Why Beaver Island matters: It’s one of the few places with no reports of weevil damage, offering a refuge for healthy populations.
Kalamazoo College connection: Professor of Biology Binney Girdler and her students have studied the species for years, contributing to its conservation.
