Category: Students

Kalamazoo Promise Internship Helps K Student Look to a Higher Future  

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For Natalie Gross ’24, the Kalamazoo Promise paved the way not only to Kalamazoo College, but also to a valuable internship experience. 

During summer 2022, Gross worked as an information technology intern at CSM Group through the Higher Promise program. 

The Kalamazoo Promise is a scholarship program that provides up to 100 percent of tuition and mandatory fees for post-secondary education for any student who graduates from Kalamazoo Public Schools. In the Higher Promise program, the Kalamazoo Promise facilitates job matching between regional companies and Promise scholars seeking internships.

Kalamazoo Promise scholar Natalie Gross interns at CSM Group
In her Kalamazoo Promise internship at CSM Group, Natalie Gross ’24 performed inventory and maintenance of software and updates on company devices.
Kalamazoo Promise scholar Natalie Gross interns at CSM Group
Kalamazoo Promise scholar Natalie Gross ’24 worked last summer as an information technology intern at CSM Group through the Higher Promise program. 

Gross applied to the program in fall 2021, received resumé building help from the Kalamazoo College Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD), and interviewed with a Promise representative before being sent five options of regional business partners. While Gross ranked her interest in the options, companies also ranked their interest in the internship candidates so mutually agreeable matches could be made. 

In her IT internship at CSM Group, Gross performed inventory and maintenance of software and updates on company devices. She also helped with research into intranet options for communication within the company. 

“It was different every day,” Gross said. “IT is really a job where when something comes up, you deal with it. I would go in with a list of things to do, and I would work through those, and then there were also things that would come up more immediately that I would deal with.” 

Gross liked the variety of tasks as well as meeting many people throughout the company as they came to the department for help. 

“I appreciated how everyone treated the IT department,” she said. “It didn’t feel like we were there to just help you and then you’d leave. Everyone came in and they were interested in who I was and how I got there. It was an easygoing conversation and personal relationships with every employee.” 

Focusing on the IT side of computer science complemented Gross’ classroom experiences at K, which have focused more on programming and development.  

“This internship has been a great toe in the water for what life could be like post-grad,” Gross said. “It has given me a little bit of direction on where to go and to look to. I am still open to every side of computer science, but it’s helped me narrow down a bit and be a little more focused.” 

Her experiences at CSM Group along with the structure of the Higher Promise program collaborated to also provide Gross with practice and training for being part of a workplace. Higher Promise planned professional development classes every other week for the interns, which included resumé building with the CCPD, a diversity-and-inclusion seminar, and CliftonStrengths assessment with coaching on understanding your personality in the workplace. 

“There were a lot of fun things that we did,” Gross said. “I learned about how to be professional in a more personal way. I always had this idea that professionalism was something really stiff, and you didn’t have a lot of personality in it. I learned that you can be interesting and professional at the same time; it doesn’t have to be a trade-off.” 

Gross also learned about professional communication and speaking up for herself. Through the Higher Promise program, she was assigned a mentor at her internship, and she was also encouraged to reach out to anyone in the company and network. 

As a female student in a male-dominated field, Gross chose Alyce Brady, the Rosemary K. Brown Professor of Computer Science and computer science department co-chair, as her advisor at K. She appreciated that in CSM Group’s small IT department, there was a female employee. 

“It was nice to have that representation,” Gross said. “I was told there that they wanted to hear my experiences as a woman and they wanted to know what it was like for me in the IT department. They wanted our voices to be heard and they were interested in my opinions.” 

A double major in computer science and French, Gross plays on the softball team, works in the Office of Admission as a tour guide, and spent August to December studying abroad in Rennes, France. 

She thinks all K students should study abroad, visit the CCPD, take advantage of the opportunities that are advertised in College emails, and immerse themselves in the K community. 

“K has this environment where you’re able to connect with people outside of your major and your interests, which I think is not always the case in a lot of smaller schools,” Gross said. “A lot of my friends I’ve met just randomly. I have friends from the softball team and computer science and French classes, and yet I’ve also been able to open up and find friends outside of my immediate interests. I think K really gives you an option to have a more expansive social circle and to meet people outside of your interests.” 

Humanities Courses Lead Students to New Orleans

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A major grant awarded to Kalamazoo College helped 17 students begin experiencing a new dimension of hands-on learning in their humanities coursework through a visit to New Orleans over winter break.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation granted $1.297 million in January 2022 to provide new learning opportunities through the College’s Humanities Integrated Locational Learning (HILL) project. HILL builds student coursework rooted in the College’s commitment to experiential learning and social justice to address issues such as racism, economic inequities and homelessness, while examining history, how humans share land, and the dislocations that bring people to a communal space.

Within HILL, there are multiple academic departments represented with clusters of classes that emphasize collaborative learning within the humanities and humanistic social sciences:

  • The Beyond Kalamazoo course clusters focus on location or dislocation and emphasize place-based learning through an integrated travel component in New Orleans, St. Louis or San Diego.
  • The Within Kalamazoo cluster, which emphasizes a theme relevant to location or dislocation, where faculty directly collaborate on coursework that engages directly with social issues in the Kalamazoo community.
  • The digital humanities hub, which publishes, archives and assesses outcomes in relation to course work and partnerships beyond and within Kalamazoo.

New Orleans was the first site on which the Beyond Kalamazoo cluster focused. In fall, courses consisted of Lest We Forget: Memory and Identity in the African Diaspora in New Orleans, taught by Associate Professor of Anthropology Espelencia Baptiste; Public Art and its Publics led by Professor of Art and Art History Christine Hahn; NOLA Divided: Race in the Big Easy, led by Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas; and The World Through New Orleans, led by Associate Professor of Music Beau Bothwell. Each course operated independently with discipline-specific instruction.

Students interested in doing place-based research in New Orleans applied for the Beyond Kalamazoo cluster, which included six weeks of preparation, instruction on research methodologies in the humanities, the seven-day research trip, and post-trip research and writing. Those students were put into research groups formed by research interest and a distribution of one member from each of the cluster courses, so every group had at least one representative from each of the four cluster courses.

The students’ pre-trip collaboration—based on their knowledge from their respective courses within the departments of English, art history, anthropology-sociology and music—helped them create a collaborative research project that would emphasize location or dislocation, problem solving and social justice in New Orleans.

Students and volunteers paint colorful signs
During a volunteer day, Jenna Paterob ’23 worked with her peers to create signs for Ms. Gloria’s Garden at People for Public Art in New Orleans.
Paintings and artwork on a wall
Community partners such as Lower Nine, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the long-term recovery of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Ida and Rita, and the levee breaches of 2005; and People for Public Art, an organization of artists that funds, creates and documents works of public art for the City of New Orleans to reflect the stories of the people, were significant contributors to the experiences Kalamazoo College humanities students had.
People for Public Art facility during humanities trip to New Orleans
“Throughout the day, I discovered that we were seeing different types of public art, allowing us to feel like we were a part of the community,” said Jenna Paterob ’23 of her humanities experience at People for Public Art in New Orleans.
Colorful paintings and adornments on a building in New Orleans
Kalamazoo College students enrolled in Humanities Integrated Locational Learning classes this fall called their experience in New Orleans educational, eye-opening, fun and immersive.
Figurines of seven African powers in New Orleans
“There is a ton of history that none of us knew about before going there, even though we had all taken a class about the city,” said Josh Kuh ’23. “I thought it was valuable to have this structured opportunity that felt like doing more than observing for research.”
Students and volunteers painted signs for a garden in New Orleans
During a volunteer day, Jenna Paterob ’23 worked with her peers to create signs for Ms. Gloria’s Garden at People for Public Art in New Orleans.

Their subjects of interest for the projects included the city’s theatre scene, public transportation and historical ties to slavery with each student connecting their social justice interests with each of a variety of community partners. Students were encouraged to use onsite and digital archives at the Historical New Orleans Collection for their projects when applicable.

The community partners included Lower Nine, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the long-term recovery of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Ida and Rita, and the levee breaches of 2005; and People for Public Art, an organization of artists that funds, creates and documents works of public art for the City of New Orleans to reflect the stories of the people. Students then worked with these partners during their on-site visit this winter.

Morgan Acord ’23, an English major with a passion for literature, found Salinas’ class to be fascinating because New Orleans has a literature culture all its own, she said. She appreciated that their trip also included cultural opportunities such as participating in a second-line parade, seeing the Oak Alley and Whitney plantations, and observing French and Spanish artifacts at the New Orleans Archive.

Yet for Acord, filling a need for social justice work through a nonprofit was the biggest benefit.

“We helped an 80-year-old woman and her husband who had been sleeping on an air mattress in their kitchen after Hurricane Ida,” Acord said. “They were living in a shotgun-style house and all of her belongings were in what I assumed was the living room. Overall, it showed how catastrophic those New Orleans hurricanes were. You see the footage on TV, but to see it firsthand and see how people live in houses still under repair is eye opening. It felt good on the surface to be able to help, but it was eye opening to know how privileged some of us are.”

Together, Acord and classmates including Josh Kuh ’23, an anthropology-sociology major from Seattle, tore a front wall out of the house that had been destroyed by termites, painted baseboards, and laid down flooring in what was to be the couple’s bedroom. Professor Mills along with Lower Nine representatives assisted in painting the ceiling and the dining room.

“There is a ton of history that none of us knew about before going there, even though we had all taken a class about the city,” Kuh said. “I thought it was valuable to have this structured opportunity that felt like doing more than observing for research. We provided a meaningful service to the organizations that we were working with. I think the biggest takeaways of mine involved seeing firsthand how extensive the hurricane damage was. I saw the disarray in this house and it hadn’t been fixed even though it had been almost 20 years since some of the damage happened.”

Jenna Paterob ’23, a business and psychology double major and art minor, took Professor Hahn’s class in fall because she often feels like she overlooks public art.

“Our experience in New Orleans was educational, eye-opening, fun and immersive,” she said. “It isn’t every day that we get to go into a new area of the country and interact with the community there. I feel like we were able to see bigger issues encapsulated in the city such as tourism, racism, white supremacy and classism. “I feel like when we stay in one place for a long period of time, we may become a little desensitized to the issues that surround us. Therefore, going to a new area, especially as someone who has never been out of the Midwest, was definitely an educational experience for me.”

Paterob had a social justice experience with People for Public Art in New Orleans. During the volunteer day, Paterob worked with her peers to create signs for Ms. Gloria’s Garden. The location offers opportunities for children to garden, cook, sew, make jewelry and music, and take yoga and meditation classes. The garden is managed by a nonprofit, Developing Young Entrepreneurs, which provides youths and young adults with entrepreneurial skills and a safe space for people to feel free to be themselves.

“When I first discovered that we were going to be making signs, I was confused about what that had to do with public art,” she said. “Throughout the day, I discovered that we were seeing different types of public art, allowing us to feel like we were a part of the community. Painting signs for plants in a garden may not be the first thing people think of when they think about public art, but we really did create some fun and beautiful pieces of art that communicate information and improve the garden. I liked that day because I was exposed to a whole new setting and sense of community. I also learned that the organization creates a bunch of impactful pieces, such as the memorial pieces they showed us. They took a tragic event that was minimized and silenced by certain people and allowed the community to come together to grieve. I learned a lot about New Orleans and how the residents interact with their community through learning about the public art there.”

Ally Noel ’24, an anthropology-sociology and English double major, had similar praise for her experience at People for Public Art.

“That day shifted my entire trajectory in terms of my research in New Orleans,” she said. “Going into New Orleans, I had this idea of what I thought I wanted to study but then after Monica (Kelly, representing People for Public Art) was telling the story of the lower mid-city and the inequities that exist there, I realized I wanted to do research on the closure of Charity Hospital after Hurricane Katrina hit. That was the day that everything clicked for me, and I realized, being in that space was important. A student can study a space from afar, but being there helps research in terms of learning and making meaning of the experience.”

Salinas is serving as the curriculum coordinator for integrated travel to New Orleans and a co-principal investigator for the HILL initiative as a whole.

“The primary vision of this initiative is collaboration, be that students sharing their knowledge with other members of their research group based on the cluster class they took, community partners holding space for students to learn about the work they do in New Orleans and the stakes of that work, and research groups working across disciplines in the humanities to develop a digital humanities research project that reflects both their academic knowledge and their experiences in the city,” Salinas said. “We asked students to commit to one eight-hour work day with two of our community partners. Students self-selected according to interest or research investment, frequently with research group members on different work sites. Afterward, students were able to come together and share those experiences with each other and discuss what they learned. It was these moments that enhanced their research and, ultimately, their collaborative projects. HILL’s curricular design relies on students being able to share their experiences, to talk to each other about what they learned, to root in in the type of instruction they received in their cluster classes, and to make those concrete connections back to things like community-building as a crucial element of the humanities.”

As they reflected on their experiences, the students praised the opportunity to go to New Orleans and said they would encourage their peers to seek HILL-focused, place-based learning classes as well.

Baptiste’s class, for example, set the table for students such as Maya Nathwani ’23, an anthropology-sociology and biology double major, to examine history away from campus when she missed a study abroad opportunity because of COVID-19. Lest We Forget: Memory and Identity in the African Diaspora in New Orleans provided Nathwani with a life-changing experience in her college years that she otherwise would’ve missed.

“The class emphasized understanding what history is and how it’s created and produced, along with who has the ability to share and pass on history, impacting how we remember the past,” Nathwani said. “Going to do research in a space where I’d never been was intimidating just because I’d never done it before. But I would encourage other students to try these classes, too, because the professors prepare you to be successful.”

Top News Stories of Students in 2022 Reflect Outstanding Achievements

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Kalamazoo College students exemplified academic excellence in the classroom along with outstanding achievements around campus and around the world in 2022. Based on your clicks, here are the top 10 news stories featuring K students from the past year. Watch for our top news stories of faculty and staff, alumni and the College coming soon.

10. Student’s Research Signals Trouble with Climate Change for Fish

Grace Hancock ’22 and her Senior Integrated Project (SIP) are proving that something fishy is going on with climate change. She is a great example of the women celebrated by the U.N. every February 11 on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Grace Hancock Analyzing Fish
Grace Hancock ’22

9. Chemistry Student Selected as National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow

The National Science Foundation has selected Ola Bartolik ’22 as a Graduate Research Fellow to support her graduate career at the University of Michigan. The fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions.

Ola Bartolik ’22

8. Phi Beta Kappa Chapter at K Welcomes Newest Inductees

The Delta of Michigan Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Kalamazoo College welcomed 42 inductees for 2022 at an induction ceremony on June 8.

The mission of the Phi Beta Kappa Society is to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, foster freedom of thought and recognize academic excellence.

Phi Beta Kappa logo says, 'Dec 5, 1776'

7. Student Earns Alpha Lambda Delta Scholarship

For the first time in nearly 10 years, a Kalamazoo College student received a merit scholarship from Alpha Lambda Delta, the honor society for first-year academic success.

Shahriar Akhavan Tafti ’24 will receive one of 50 undergraduate scholarships worth $1,000 to $6,000 each, as the honor society issues a total of $105,000 nationally through the Jo Anne J. Trow Award.

Alpha Lambda Delta scholarship recipient Shahriar Akhavan Tafti ’24
Shahriar Akhavan Tafti ’24

6. Hundreds of Birds Plus Thousands of Miles Equals Student’s Big Year

Will Keller ’23 told the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo about his Big Year. For bird enthusiasts like Keller, a Big Year is a personal challenge or an informal competition to spot and identify as many bird species as possible within a calendar year in a specific geographic area.

Will Keller ’23

5. Bienstock Pushes K’s Fulbright Count to 5

Rebecca Chan ’22, Libby Burton ’22, Matthew Flotemersch ’20 and Kiernan Dean-Hall ’22 initially were chosen among about 1,900 students, artists and young professionals to represent the U.S. in about 140 countries for one academic year. Julia Bienstock ’22 later became the fifth K Fulbright recipient.

Fulbright Recipient Julia Bienstock_fb
Julia Bienstock ’22

4. Signing Day Spotlights Students Headed to Graduate School

Much like student-athletes would gather to sign letters of intent when formally selecting their collegiate destinations, six K chemistry students met to officially declare where they will attend graduate school.

Annie Tyler Signing Day_fb
Annie Tyler ’22

3. Kalamazoo Gardeners Beware: Student Unearths Jumping Worms

The Senior Integrated Project (SIP) of Katie Rock ’23, cataloging the earthworms inhabiting Lillian Anderson Arboretum, uncovered an invasive species never before officially documented within our city, the jumping worm.

Katie Rock smiling_fb
Katie Rock ’23

2. Eight Heyl Scholars Choose K

Eight Kalamazoo County high school students seeking to major in STEM-related fields have earned Heyl Scholarships to attend Kalamazoo College in the 2022-23 academic year. 

Annaliese Bol_fb
Annaliese Bol ’26

1. Woman’s Fall Tests LandSea Leaders’ Mettle, Training

Imagine being in a remote area of the Adirondack Mountains when you hear a scream. Darkness is falling and a storm is approaching. Would you know what to do? Ava Apolo ’25 and Julia Leet ’22 did.

LandSea Leaders Ava Apolo and Julia Leet_fb
Ava Apolo ’25 and Julia Leet ’22

Kalamazoo College Unveils Fall 2022 Dean’s List

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Sign Says "Kalamazoo College, Founded 1833" in fall 2022
Congratulations to the students who reached the Dean’s List in fall 2022.

Congratulations to the following Kalamazoo College students, who achieved a grade point average of 3.5 or better for a full-time course load of at least three units, without failing or withdrawing from any course, during the fall 2022 academic term. Students who elect to take a letter-graded course on a credit/no credit basis (CR/NC) are not eligible for Dean’s List consideration during that term. Nor are students who receive an F, NC or W grade for that particular term. Students with incomplete (I) or in-progress (IP) grades will be considered for the Dean’s List upon receipt of their final grades. Dean’s List recognition is posted on students’ transcripts. Kudos to the entire group for fall 2022.

Fall 2022

A

Morgan Acord
Kayla Acosta
Khalil Adams
Beren Akpinar
Maya Alkema
Adnan Alousi
Fanny Alvarado
Zahra Amini
Paige Anderson
Eleanor Andrews
Mia Andrews
Michael Ankley
Madison Anspach
Ava Apolo
Alexandra Armin
Lora Armstrong

B

Aidan Baas
Lindsey Baker
Baylor Baldwin
Madison Barch
Evan Barker
Ethan Barnes
Gabriella Barry
Evelyn Bartley
Elena Basso
Jenna Beach
Daniel Beccari
Annabel Bee
Samantha Bekolay
Conner Bell
Carolyn Bennett
Cassandra Bennett
Eleanor Bernas
Willow Bigham
Thalia Bills
Ella Black
Henry Black
Daphne Bos
Mairin Boshoven
Mabel Bowdle
Adelaide Bowen
Jaylen Bowles-Swain
Holly Bowling
Ella Boyea
Yvette Boyse-Peacor
Allison Bozyk
Lukas Broadsword
Avery Brockington
Eamon Bronson
Chloe Bryant
Anna Buck
Christopher Bullard
John Bungart
Leah Bunnell
Donovan Burleigh
Drake Butcher

C

Amaia Cadenas
Isaiah Calderon
Eleanor Campion
Olivia Cannizzaro
Christopher Cayton
Abigail Caza
Alexandra Chafetz
Josetta Checkett
Yongwan Cho
Trustin Christopher
Noah Chukwuma
Noah Chun
Yaire Cisneros Tovar
Eva Clancy
Nathaniel Clark
Alisha Clark
Kai Clingenpeel
Mai Elise Code
Madeleine Coffman
Sedona Coleman
Quinn Collins
Zachary Connor
Jordan Cook
Josee Cooke
Kyle Cooper
Indigo Corvidae
Mia Crites
Isabella Cross
August Crothers
Lilian Crowder Smith
Gwendolyn Crowder
Smith Chase Cummins

D

Gabrielle Daane
James Dailey
Lillian Daniels
Talia Dave
Kylah Davis
Zachary Dean
Tali Deaner
Shruti Debburman
Lillian Deer
Ethan DeNeen
Laura DeVilbiss
Devi DeYoung
Liam Diaz
Michaela Dillbeck
Samuel Douma
Jordan Doyle

E

Sally Eggleston
Jairo Eguia
Rebecca Elias
Elise Elliot
Sara English
Justin Essing
Caleb Ewald
Sam Ewald
Chad Ewing

F

Jazmyne Fannings
Claire Farhi
Ella Faris
Madalyn Farrey
Samuel File
Blake Filkins
Julia Fitzgerald
Sofia Fleming
Ella Flourry
Stephen Flynn
Gigi Fox
Kinga Fraczkiewicz
Caroline Francis
Janna Franco
Emma Frederiksen

G

Alondra Gallardo
Ethan Galler
Valeria Garcia
Roberta Gatti
Lyrica Gee
Vrinda Girdhar
Lukas Graff
Westin Grinwis
Elizabeth Grooten
Cassandra Grotelueschen
Amelia Grupp
Cristian Guasgua
Kendra Guitar
Zoe Gurney
Abigail Gutierrez

H

Marissa Haas
Sophia Haas
Sydney Hagaman
Emily Haigh
Alison Hankins
Geneva Hannibal
Luke Hanson
Madeline Hanulcik
Sophie Hartl
James Hauke
Tanner Hawkins
Beatrice Hawkins
Jiniku Hayashi
Katherine Haywood
Jeremiah Heath
Megan Herbst
Sophia Herold
Ella Heystek
Sierra Hieshetter
Devon Hobbs
Garrick Hohm
Annika Hokanson
Madeline Hollander
Ronin Honda
Jaelyn Horn
Joseph Horsfield
Molly Horton
Charles Horvath
Tyler Houle
Gavin Houtkooper
Jakob Hubert
Ethan Huebsch
Samuel Hughes
Alek Hultberg
Lukas Hultberg
Keaton Hunt

I

Carson Ihrke
Daniel Isacksen

J

Gloria Jackson
Colton Jacobs
Tristan James
Morgan Jenkins
Hao Jiang
Anne Catherine Johnson
Cloe Johnson
Maxwell Joos

K

Amalia Kaerezi
Kiana Kanegawa
Jessica Kaplan
Judah Karesh
Ella Kelly
Emilia Kelly
Alyson Kemery
Roze Kerr
Mphumelelo Khaba
Hunter Kiesling
Vanita Kihuithia
Vivian Kim
Joshua Kim
Anwen King
Caleb Kipnis
Claire Kischer
Alexander Kish
Sofia Klein
Noah Kleiner
Steven Kloosterman
Rhys Koellmann
Cole Koryto
Daniel Koselka
Marissa Kovac
Emma Kovacevic
Katherine Kraemer
Jordyn Kravitz
Molly Kreibich
Laryn Kuchta
Claire Kvande

L

Olivia Laser
Braeden Lavis
Annmarie Lawrence
Madeleine Lawson
Grace Leahey
Ilem Leisher
Margaret Lekan
Sage Lewis
Thomas Lichtenberg
Ava Loncharte
Madeline Lovins
Caden Lowis

M

Gionna Magdaleno
Natalie Maki
Andrew Mallon
Arjun Manyam
Lesly Mares-Castro
William Martel
Daniel Martinez
Molly Martinez
Joaquin Martinez
Stephanie Martinez
Natalie Martinez
Gracen Martini-Zeller
Hollis Masterson
Kanase Matsuzaki
Virginia Matta
Zachary Maurice
Benjamin Maurice
Lily May
Megan McGarry
Lucas McGraw
Leo McGreevy
MacKale McGuire
Ashlynne McKee
Regan McKee
Jacob McKinney
Kira McManus
Abbey McMillian
Amy McNutt
Sophia Merchant
Maximus Mercurio
Gabriel Meyers
Brittany Miller
Elizabeth Miller
Ella Miller
Cooper Mills
Jade Milton
Ameera Mirza
Elana Mitchell
Jackson Mitchell
Lina Moghrabi
Jana Molby
Raven Montagna
Mackenzie Moore
Aiden Morgan
Emma Morrison
Wyatt Mortensen
Madeline Moss
Lorelei Moxon
Phumuzile Moyo
Mary Ellen Muenzenmaier
Elizabeth Muenzenmaier
Karis Mulcahy
Claire Mullins
Anna Murphy
Erin Murphy
Madison Murphy
Ryan Muschler

N

Elias Nagel-Bennett
Alex Nam
Robert Newland
Emma Newlove
Nguyen Nguyen
Anna Nguyen
Theodore Niemann
Dustin Noble
Malin Nordmoe

O

Jeremiah Ohren-Hoeft
Akinyi Okero
Gabriel Olivier
Alexander Olsen
Emma Olson
Fatima Ortega

P

Chelsea Paddock
Eleanor Parks-Church
Hannah Parsons
Eric Paternoster
Jenna Paterob
Morgan Paye
Mia Pellegrini
Isabella Pellegrom
Adriana Perez
Herrero Maya Peters
Charles Peterson
Sydney Pickell
Mia Pierce
William Plesscher
Elaine Pollard
Evan Pollens-Voigt
Grayson Pratt
Melissa Preston
Lucas Priemer
Elena Pulliam
Hailey Pullo
Bea Putman
Noah Pyle

Q

Suha Qashou
Alex Quesada
Matthew Quirk

R

Leah Ramirez
Lafern Ramon
Roman Ramos
Sadye Rasmussen
Sara Reathaford
Isabel Reyes
Keegan Reynolds
Maxwell Rhames
Sheldon Riley
Ashley Rill
Michael Robertson
Narelle Robles
Olivia Roncone
Luke Rop
Alec Rosenbaum
Brigid Roth
Mia Roukema
Eli Routt
Tabitha Rowland
Charlotte Ruiter
Nathaniel Rulich
Elliot Russell

S

Sophia Sajan
Greta Salamun
Bobby Samples
Birch Saperstein
Leonardo Sarver
Maxwell Saxton
Fiona Schaffer
Isabel Schantz
Vivian Schmidt
Audrey Schulz
Hannah Schurman
Mae Scott
Vivian Segovia-Perez
Isabella Shapiro
Elijah Shiel
Joseph Shumunov
Emma Sidor
Kiersten Sjogren
Colby Skinner
Meganne Skoug
Ping Smith
Grace Snyder
Anoushka Soares
Jack Soderberg
Allison Sokacz
Hanis Sommerville
Erin Somsel
Brandon Speed
Maxwell Spitler
Ella Spooner
Sophia Sprick
Adam Stapleton
David Stechow
Eleanor Stevenson
Molly Stevison
Emma Stickley
Lily Stickley
Elena Stolberg
Liliana Stout
Kate Stover
Helen Stoy
Madilyn Stratton
Donovan Streeter
Eller Studinger
Abbygale Stump
Senchen Subba
Hannah Summerfield
Jenna Sutton
Christan Sydney
Brandon Sysol
Ella Szczublewski

T

Chau Ta
Claire Taylor
Lucien Taylor
Nicole Taylor
Benjamin Teletnick
Levi Thomas
William Thomas
Minh Thu Le
Sophia Timm-Blow
William Tocco
Alexander Tolman
Renee Torres
Vincent Tremonti
Frances Trimble
May Tun
Francesca Turnage

U

Hannah Ulanoski
Tristan Uphoff
Ifeoma Uwaje

V

Samantha Vande Pol
Hannah Vander Lugt
Cameron VanGalder
Mitchel VanGalder
Rae Vansparrentak
Francesca Ventura
Evan Vicker
Lucille Voss

W

Joseph Wade
Audrey Walker
Ivy Walker
Natalie Ward
McKenna Wasmer
Jadon Weber
Riley Weber
Margaret Wedge
Emerson Wesselhoff
Grace Westerhuis
Ryley White
Ava Williams
Carson Williams
Jackson Willits
Jordyn Wilson
Siona Wilson
Zoe Wilson
Ruby Winer
Leah Wolfgang
Alexa Wonacott
Reagan Woods
Maximillian Wright
Kevin Wu

X

Lingrui Xiang
William Xu

Y

Hillary Yousif

Z

Kathryn Zabaldo
Camryn Zdziarski-West
Christian Zeitvogel
Jacob Zeller
Ariana Zito

First Album Spotlights K Student’s Music

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Isabella Pellegrom Album Nomadic Tendencies
Isabella Pellegrom ’25 conducted a launch party
for her album, “Nomadic Tendencies,” at a sports bar
near her home in Minnesota and performed to rave
reviews in the nearby town of Pepin, Wisconsin.

It’s the time of year when Spotify and Apple Music users look forward to the apps revealing the artists, songs and genres they’ve listened to most and the statistics that surrounded them in 2022. But search for an artist less familiar, and you might find a new voice to appreciate: a Kalamazoo College student reaching new audiences and achievements with her first album.

Isabella Pellegrom ’25, from Eagan, Minnesota, has produced and released Nomadic Tendencies, a 10-track collection of her vocal talents. Spotify describes Pellegrom as a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter, who pulls inspiration from indie pop, soft rock and jazz, while embedding her own voice. As a storyteller, she hopes to find truth and unite others around her. The album reflects a journey of self-discovery and self-love to highlight the idea that everyone builds a wall and runs away only to return and appreciate the people who matter most in their lives.

That theme of running away followed by an inevitable return helped her realize the moment she finished writing the song Nomadic Tendencies that it would be the title track of her album.

“It was one of the first times I’d just written a song from front to end all in one go,” Pellegrom said. “It was cool to talk about this person who tends to go everywhere because they can’t really find their place. It worked because I realized it correlated to the story of this person throughout the album who is constantly going to new places, whether it’s for better or worse. She’s meeting new people or finding out more about herself, and so has these tendencies to always move around. I liked it because at the very end, it comes back to I’ll Come Home to You because she eventually finds out that her home is with the people who have always supported her.”

Pellegrom first discovered her love of music and singing when she was about 6 years old.

“I have an older sister and she had given me her old MP3 player,” Pellegrom said. “It had maybe 15 songs on it, and by the end of the first week I had it, I knew every lyric to every song that was on it. I sang along to them and pretended I was a little pop star. I loved it.”

Album Cover for Nomadic Tendencies
You can hear Isabella Pellegrom’s album, “Nomadic
Tendencies,” on all streaming platforms
including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Yet over the years, she became not only a vocalist, but an instrumentalist through guitar, saxophone and piano, and a songwriter whose talents and shared messages have grown with her.

“It’s funny to look back at the songs I first wrote because, when I was 10 years old, I would write and sing about things like fairy-tale princesses,” Pellegrom said. “It wasn’t anything that had to do with what was happening in my life. I would like to say I’ve improved since then. I’ve joined choirs, I’m in band (Academy Street Winds) at K now and I did jazz band in high school. I also just recently got into acapella (the student group Limelights) where I’ve learned to arrange music, which has helped me put together and break apart songs. Music is a huge part of my life and it’s nice that I’ve kept it separate from what I hope to do with my career. In that way, it’s allowed me to take off some pressure and just do it because I love it.”

While boating on the Mississippi River one day a couple of summers ago, Pellegrom’s family voted on which town they would stop in to find dinner. The decision turned out to be fateful.

“My mom and her friend, who had this little café, were just eating, when all of a sudden, the café had this live artist,” Pellegrom said. “The artist was Tim Cheesebrow, and my mom knew I wanted to get back into playing guitar. She was wondering if Tim taught lessons and he gave us his card.”

Pellegrom spent those lessons working on songwriting and collaboration.

“He helped me with my songwriting by saying that a lot of times it’s good to keep a continuous theme or have a main message,” Pellegrom said. “It was helpful because I ended up finishing a lot of my songs for those lessons. It was the first time I got to collaborate with someone in terms of songwriting. Through these lessons, I eventually had about 13 songs that I thought were great together. Tim also has his own at-home studio and he’s been producing music for a long time.”

Pellegrom recruited some fellow musicians, pared her songs to the 10 that worked best together, and produced Nomadic Tendencies at Cheesebrow’s studio.

“That’s what I spent the majority of my summer doing the year I came to K,” said Pellegrom, whose parents, Jeffrey ’88 and Mary ’88, also attended K along with a grandfather and some of her aunts and uncles. “I got help from other local musicians for the baselines and the drumming. Tim helped me out with the guitar and walked me through the whole process of what it takes to release it. It all felt like a fever dream at the time and it still kind of does. It’s now out in the world and I’m really proud of it.”

Pellegrom conducted a launch party at a sports bar near her home in Minnesota and performed to rave reviews in the nearby town of Pepin, Wisconsin. She has plans to release a second album, although when is not yet decided as she tries to balance an intended biochemistry major and music minor. Medical school is a possibility for her, too, one day. Yet in the meantime, she will enjoy the success of releasing Nomadic Tendencies.

You can hear Pellegrom’s music on all streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music; she performs covers on YouTube; and you can follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok. Her website is IsabellaPellegromMusic.com.

“I love it when people listen to it,” Pellegrom said. “The best part is realizing that I released it for me. I don’t really have any expectations for it. I don’t need for something to come from it. I just felt it was time to release it. I was ready to put this project that I’m really proud of into the world and move on to other songs and other projects. In terms of my goals for it, the main goal was to release it and hope that people who listen to it can enjoy it.”

Woman’s Fall Tests LandSea Leaders’ Mettle, Training

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LandSea Leaders Ava Apolo and Julia Leet
LandSea leaders Julia Leet ’22 (left) and Ava Apolo ’25
received accolades from emergency medical services
officials after they helped a woman who had fallen,
causing a seven- to eight-inch gash on her leg that revealed a bone.

Imagine being in a remote area of the Adirondack Mountains with a companion when you hear something that sounds like a scream. A storm is approaching and darkness is falling. Not many people would instinctively know what to do or call on themselves to respond.

Ava Apolo ’25 and Julia Leet ’22, however, encountered that scenario as leaders this fall on LandSea, Kalamazoo College’s outdoor pre-orientation program that occurs before first-year students arrive on campus. They said the scream had the innocuous intonation of a bird call that Boy Scouts are known to use in the area, but it could’ve also been indicative of an emergency.

“We had set up camp at a location called High Rock, which is close to a canoe waterway,” Apolo said. “At first, we thought, ‘Who’s making that noise?’”

They decided to investigate. That’s when they found a woman who had fallen, causing a seven- to eight-inch gash on her leg that revealed a bone. Her adult daughter had screamed when she found her mom lying on the ground. The women had precious few supplies, no cell service and no way of getting help other than the two LandSea representatives.

“We determined it was safe for us to help, so Julia was the first to go down to their location with a med kit and I followed right after,” Apolo said.

Apolo and Leet knew exactly what to do. Both received wilderness medical training they were grateful to have as a part of their preparations for LandSea.

“Our patient wasn’t panicking and she communicated with us very well, which was helpful,” Apolo said. “Julia was the first on the patient, putting pressure on the wound, and I had a Garmin that works as a device for us to stay in contact with our directors. We also have an option to press SOS, which gave us a countdown and allowed us to talk with our directors and emergency response. I’d never had an experience with a real medical response like that. At first, I was freaking out inside, but I had to quickly flip a switch to act.”

The accident victim’s husband arrived on scene as it started to rain. Apolo and Leet had to cover their patient and begin thinking about what they might need to treat while brainstorming an evacuation plan.

“I definitely felt our training kick in,” Leet said. “We were following a scenario, except it was real life. We were taking her vitals, making sure our patient was as comfortable as possible. It was getting dark and we were making a lot of judgment calls as to the best way to help her. The family had arrived by canoe and they couldn’t canoe in the dark to get out. Our adrenaline was pumping.”

Many of those judgment calls were determined through Leet’s conversation with the fall victim.

“We’ve been taught that when someone falls, you have to be really sure that they didn’t hit their head because that can cause the most serious of injuries and you don’t often notice the signs of a head injury until a lot later, when it can be too late,” Leet said. “I consistently was asking her, ‘Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?’ and I was checking her LOC, which is level of consciousness. If that starts to go down, it’s an indication that there could be some sort of internal trauma to the brain.”

Their other concerns were for the victim’s loss of blood and her loss of feeling in her feet.

“She had a pretty big wound and I didn’t know what might’ve been severed,” Leet said. “I was consistently checking movement, circulation in her feet and stopping the bleeding.”

More than two hours into the rescue work, emergency medical services arrived on all-terrain vehicles.

“We had two fire department chiefs that showed up, two EMTs (emergency medical technicians), a forest ranger and some volunteers,” Apolo said. “The volunteers did the heavy lifting of getting her on a backboard.”

Once off the hill, the fall victim was taken into a U.S. Army helicopter.

“No private companies were allowing helicopters out at the time and the Army donated their services,” Apolo said. “Because of that, the patient and her family didn’t have to pay the thousands in hospital fees that a helicopter ride to the hospital would require.”

At this point, Apolo and Leet had finished their job. The family and first responders alike congratulated the K duo and expressed their appreciation.

“When they came down, they were prepared for the worst-case scenario,” Apolo said. “They realized her bleeding was stable, so they relaxed for a second, but were still quick about getting her evacuated. They said that we did a good job and there wasn’t anything different they had to do because Julia had also cleaned the wound once the bleeding stopped. They complimented us and the chiefs’ departments acknowledged on social media that we had responded, which was really cool.”

“Once the first responders came in, we were pretty much hands off,” Leet added. “We didn’t want to be in the way, which was kind of strange because we had spent a few hours talking to someone and we felt we got to know a good amount about her life. Then we knew that we would never see her again. The daughter expressed gratitude to us and so did the chiefs in the fire department, and then we tried to go on with our night.”

All that was left was the debriefing. LandSea and Outdoor Programs Director Jory Horner and Assistant Director of Outdoor Programs Jess Port had a bare minimum of information regarding the emergency after receiving the SOS, so it was necessary to update them and the LandSea logistics leaders.

“The only information Jess and Jory got when we pressed the SOS button on the Garmin was, ‘Patrol B1 pressed SOS,’” Apolo said. “They don’t get information of who was involved, so at first, they were concerned it was a participant. When it wasn’t, it took down their stress level. It was new for them to see how EMS brought in their response teams.”

Meanwhile, the first-year students were aware of what happened, but removed from the scene, which helped them keep each other calm. As soon as the fall victim was evacuated, Apolo and Leet had dinner with the first-year students and informed them of what transpired.

“When we had a group debrief, they didn’t express distress from the situation; this affirmed that they were not strongly affected by it and a good amount separated from what happened,” Apolo said.

Yet for the two wilderness emergency responders, the crisis was a life-changing experience within the already life-changing experience of LandSea.

“Having the experience helped me know how a similar experience might affect me emotionally, and also what I might want to consider more in an emergency in the future like the weather and keeping the patient warm,” said Apolo, a biochemistry major who is considering medical school and a career in emergency medicine or women’s health. “I would definitely feel more prepared should I need to do it again in the future.”

“I think it’s good evidence that I can do hard things,” Leet said. “I was a psychology and Spanish double major. I want to become a marriage and family therapist, and pursue psychology to a higher degree. Although it’s not always a medical crisis, a mental-health crisis isn’t all that different in how you respond to it, so I think this was great practice for me. This kind of scenario tests your ability to stay strong and communicative, while making the right choices as best as you can.”

Appreciation from the LandSea Director

“This accident had many conditions that made it very challenging: unstable weather and intermittent thunderstorms; a long rescue that lasted into the late evening, well after dark; and managing both their own group of students and a patient outside of their group, nearly 4 miles down a trail within a designated wilderness area, which does not allow motorized vehicles. Despite these challenges, Ava and Julia did a great job. They remained calm, cared for the patient and her family, communicated the important information to dispatch using their satellite messenger, and saw to it that their own group remained safe and comfortable amidst stormy conditions during the multi-hour ordeal. These are the kinds of situations that our leaders train for during the nine-day wilderness first responder training that they attend as part of their LandSea trip leader role, but handling a real patient and all of the variables of an extended evacuation in the outdoors still presents a lot of challenges. The crews from Star Lake and Cranberry Lake Fire and Rescue who responded to the scene and evacuated the patient to the trailhead made multiple comments about how impressed they were with Ava and Julia’s response and treatment on the scene. From our perspective, we were equally thankful that they and the DEC Forest Rangers could help with the challenging work of evacuating the patient to the trailhead. After the trip had concluded a few days later, we wanted to debrief their group to see if the students needed to process any of what happened that day. Apparently, Ava and Julia did such a great job of remaining calm and keeping their group comfortable during the rescue that the students on the trip seemed a little confused which day we were even talking about when we were referring to the ‘incident’ that they experienced. That, to me, was a real indication of how well they handled themselves—that they could juggle the various responsibilities of that day so well that for the students in their group it felt like ‘just another day.’”

— LandSea and Outdoor Programs Director Jory Horner

Political Internships Provide Experience, Connection for K Senior

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Growing up in various countries overseas, Peter Fitzgerald ’23 considered northern Michigan to be home base. Now a series of political internships have helped the Kalamazoo College senior connect more with his adopted home and envision a possible future. 

With a dad who was a Foreign Services officer, Fitzgerald was born in Australia, and his parents now live in the Washington, D.C., area. In between, they lived in Denmark, Ukraine, Morocco and Belgium. 

Every summer, however, he would spend with his grandparents in northern Michigan. His mom and cousins would stay there, too. 

“We moved around so much,” Fitzgerald said. “That was a place to call home. In relation to other Foreign Service kids, it was unusual to have that kind of stability. I was always grateful to have that place that didn’t change.” 

Peter Fitzgerald playing tennis
Peter Fitzgerald ’23 has played tennis his four years at K in addition to being a member of College Democrats, playing classical guitar, singing in the choir and pursuing a double major in history and political science, minor in music, and concentration in American studies.
Political intern Peter Fitzgerald poses with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
Peter Fitzgerald ’23 has completed three political internships in his time at K, including a summer 2022 internship with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office.

That sense of Michigan as home, combined with both a cousin and a Foreign Services acquaintance attending K and a K representative visiting Fitzgerald’s Belgium high school, made K the only school Fitzgerald even considered attending. After taking a gap year in Belgium, he started at K in fall 2019. 

Fitzgerald is a double major in history and political science. He is also working on a minor in music and a concentration in American studies. The K-Plan’s open curriculum has made it possible for him to explore a variety of interests and discover new ones. 

“I knew that I loved political science,” Fitzgerald said. “I didn’t really plan on doing another major besides that, and then I took a history course with Dr. Boyer Lewis and I just loved it.” 

He plays classical guitar and has sung in the choir, filled a leadership role in the College Democrats, and has played tennis all four years at K. 

“I feel that having those interests and having a lot of leeway in what courses you take connects you to a lot more of the school than you otherwise would have the opportunity to experience,” Fitzgerald said. 

At the beginning of winter term his first year, Fitzgerald was on Handshake looking for opportunities outside campus when he came across internships in Democrat Jon Hoadley’s 2020 U.S. House campaign for Michigan’s 6th congressional district, which includes Kalamazoo. 

“I was curious if there was something I could do, along with my academics, to get to know the Kalamazoo area better,” Fitzgerald said. 

He worked on Hoadley’s campaign, primarily making phone calls and canvassing, for about two months before the COVID-19 shutdown sent him to his parents in D.C. 

“It was rewarding getting a start in the political world,” Fitzgerald said.  

It was rewarding enough that when summer 2021 rolled around, Fitzgerald sought out another political internship, this time with Darrin Camilleri ’14, a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing District 23, south of Detroit. 

Come summer 2022, Fitzgerald applied via Handshake for an internship with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office. He took advantage of K connections, reaching out to Christopher Yates ’83, who also played tennis at K and was recently appointed a Court of Appeals judge by Whitmer, to ask if Yates had any connections within the campaign. Within a couple days, Fitzgerald was contacted for an interview, and soon after that, he was in Detroit working for the governor’s office for three months. 

This internship involved a lot of planning, coordinating and logistics for small business stops, community events and constituency groups, such as Native Americans for Whitmer.  

“I would reach out to the small business owner, or whoever, make a plan, promote it and get people to attend,” Fitzgerald said. “We would drive to these events, two and a half, three hours, for a 15-minute visit with the governor. It wasn’t glamorous a lot of the time, but it felt really important, meaningful and worthwhile. It felt like we were making a difference.” 

The internships have affirmed Fitzgerald’s interest in political work, perhaps with the State Department, and helped him envision some of the possibilities that lie along that path. 

“I learned a lot,” Fitzgerald said. “I met a lot of people who could probably make more money doing other jobs, but they’re working for something that they believe in fundamentally. I felt like I had a relationship with Michigan, from spending my summers here growing up, but this job opened my eyes to people’s lives that I wouldn’t normally have interacted with. I still think I’m on a path where I’d like to work for the federal government, but also, I can see that people’s issues are really localized. People care about what’s in front of them.” 

Working for the governor’s office was both humbling and uplifting for Fitzgerald. 

“People have come up to me and asked me about issues in Michigan thinking that I had power over policy issues,” he said. “Even though I couldn’t do anything, just to be able to listen to people and share with someone who had that power felt really meaningful.” 

The internships also helped Fitzgerald draw connections between coursework and real life. 

“It makes an experience a lot more meaningful when you are able to make connections,” Fitzgerald said. “Whether it was from my American history course or my political science course, there were pertinent things I could draw from in relation to the issues we were talking about this summer. I am also bringing things I’ve done on this campaign back to K.” 

Connections to people have also been key to Fitzgerald’s K experience. Networking and professional contact with alumni such as Camilleri and Yates, personal interest from President Jorge G. Gonzalez, academic inspiration from Professor of History and Director of the American Studies and the Women, Gender and Sexuality programs Charlene Boyer Lewis ’87, and guidance from men’s tennis Head Coach Mark Riley all combine to make K feel like a new home base for Fitzgerald. 

“I think initially, I had some dissonance between knowing that I’m from here but never having lived really in the U.S.,” Fitzgerald said. “I felt out of my element for a time, but the people, my mentors and the friends that I have now, made it possible for me to feel like even though I did come with a different background, even though I felt maybe a little discombobulated at first, that there were people that I could rely on and who would support me.” 

Seed Stewards: Students Learn, Grow at Hoop House 

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Seed stewardship lies at the heart of two summer Environmental Stewardship fellowships at Kalamazoo College’s Hoop House this summer. 

Maeve Crothers ’23 and Nora Blanchard ’23 are completing fellowships through the Larry J. Bell ’80 Center for Environmental Stewardship that will form the basis of their Senior Integrated Projects this fall. 

An online seed stewardship course is helping the students develop skills crucial to their projects. Crothers is part of a seed collaborative’s efforts to create stable tomato seeds, while Blanchard is cultivating corn gifted from the Wixárika community in Mexico to Cyndy García-Weyandt, assistant professor of critical ethnic studies. 

“A big part of what we’re learning this summer is how to be good seed savers and seed stewards,” Blanchard said. 

The course, Seed Seva, is designed and taught by Rowen White, a member of the Mohawk community called Akwesasne, with traditional territories in what is now New York state and Canada. White lives in northern California, where she runs Sierra Seeds. 

“We’re thinking about how our relationships with plants are so intertwined,” Crothers said. “Plants adapt to the environment and the conditions we put them under, but Rowen has also talked about how humans have been adapted by plants to take care of them. It’s very much a symbiotic relationship.” 

Summer Fellowships at K

Several Kalamazoo College students are completing summer 2022 Environmental Stewardship fellowships through the Larry J. Bell ’80 Center for Environmental Stewardship and we are featuring some of their projects at kzoo.edu. Read on to learn about some of the environmental fellowships making a difference in the local community. 

Open-Source Tomato Seed Initiative 

Seed Steward Maeve Crothers
Maeve Crothers ’23 is completing a summer
Environmental Stewardship fellowship and a
fall Senior Integrated Project on a collaborative tomato
growing project with a local seed company.

This is the second year Crothers has participated in an open-source tomato seed initiative with Nature & Nurture Seeds for an Environmental Stewardship fellowship. The project is an Organic Research and Education Initiative grant-funded collaboration between the Organic Seed Alliance, the Seed to Kitchen Collaborative and Seedlinked. 

Her advisor, Mellon Fellow for Experiential Learning Amy Newday, connected her with the project to de-hybridize Juliet tomato seeds. 

While hybrid plants are not inherently bad, Crothers said, their seeds are unstable because of the mix of genetic material. If you save the seeds and replant them, you may end up with very different and unpredictable produce the following year. 

“We’re working to create a stable variety of Juliet tomatoes that can be planted and grown by everyday people, by home gardeners,” Crothers said. 

Erica Kempter of Nature & Nurture Seeds performed the initial cross of the tomato varieties Maeve is growing. The Seed to Kitchen Collaborative is managing the collaborative trials and collecting both the data and the seeds from the plants that are selected for advancement to the next generation. 

During summer 2021, Crothers was growing the third generation of the plants. She grew 15 different plants, and selected the best three—based on a combination of health, productivity, disease resistance, taste and appearance—to return to the project.  

“We had some weird tomatoes last summer,” Crothers said. “We had 15 of the plants and they all grew completely different tomatoes. Some of them were small and round. Some of them were long and yellow. Some of them were striped; some weren’t. And they had very different tastes. Some of them were really good. Some of them were mealy and gross.” 

The Seed to Kitchen Collaborative grew a fourth generation in greenhouses over the winter, and this summer, Crothers is growing a fifth generation. She has five plants each of three different varieties, of which she will pick the best to send back. Since there is still a fair amount of variety in the plants, Crothers expects the project will need a few more generations before they have a stable variety of seeds that can be planted and saved year after year. 

Crothers’ work is part of a community-based seed project, with other growers throughout the Midwest taking part in the same work with tomatoes. The project is key to food justice efforts, as communities that strive for food sovereignty and independence from large food systems require reliable seeds. The fellowship has also been a learning experience for Crothers. 

“I came into this fellowship last year with basically no gardening experience other than my couple months that I had worked with the Just Food Collective in this space, because we didn’t really ever have a garden growing up or anything,” Crothers said. “I have learned so much about what plants look like and what to do for them and how to tell if a plant is struggling, has disease or nutrient deficiency or anything. I’ve definitely learned a lot about nature and how healing it can be to work with plants and work in the dirt and just be.” 

Corn Cultivation 

Seed Steward Nora Blanchard
Nora Blanchard ’23 is cultivating corn gifted to Cyndy Garcia-Weyandt, assistant professor of critical ethnic studies, from the Wixárika community in Mexico, for their summer Environmental Stewardship fellowship.

Amy Newday also advises Blanchard and encouraged them to apply for a fellowship to support their work with corn gifted to Cyndy García-Weyandt, assistant professor of critical ethnic studies, by the Wixárika community in Mexico. 

“That was a tremendous, amazing gift that was given to us,” Blanchard said. “We now have the responsibility of caring for this corn and doing the best that we can to build a relationship with what we call Our Mother Corn now that she’s here.” 

There are five different varieties within the corn—multicolored, yellow, sweet, white and blue—and their arrangement and cultivation are significant for the Wixárika community. 

“Not being a part of that community, it’s been really important for me to become familiar with those traditions” with a lot of help from García-Weyandt, Blanchard said. “That’s what the corn is familiar with and needs. We’re learning how Our Mother Corn grows here and I’m learning how to communicate with her and become really observant about her needs.” 

García-Weyandt led Blanchard in a traditional seed-planting ceremony and blessing of the seeds in the spring. Blanchard is also learning different techniques, such as hand pollination, and keeping the Wixárika community informed about how the corn is developing. 

The hope is that the plants will produce ears of corn. Although they have not yet formed a tassel and silk, which normally would happen at this time, Blanchard remains hopeful. 

“Sometimes when you grow a plant that’s from southern areas in the north, the pollination date can move into fall,” Blanchard said. “This could be something that is going to take a while.” 

The interaction between culture and cultivation fascinates Blanchard, who marvels that you could find one variety of multicolored corn grown all across a country, yet in different areas, people will have selected for different colors, flavors, sweetness and use. 

“That’s why it’s so important to understand and be willing to learn about the community this Mother Corn is coming from,” Blanchard said. “When you look at this corn, the colors and everything are because of the community that has selected for it, and it tells you something; it tells you a story, and it’s amazing. I can’t wait to get different ears and see all the colors and what they look like. I’m excited for that.” 

Blanchard plans to hold a harvest festival for the corn in the fall. 

Seed Steward projects
Seed Steward projects
Nora Blanchard ’23 and Cyndy Garcia-Weyandt, assistant professor of critical ethnic studies, held a spring planting ceremony following traditions of the Wixárika community in Mexico, which gifted the corn to Garcia-Weyandt. The corn is central to the Wixárika culture and the focus of Blanchard’s summer environmental fellowship and fall Senior Integrated Project.

Senior Integrated Projects 

Seed Steward projects

Blanchard and Crothers will be writing fall SIPs based on their summer growing experiences. 

“I want it to be the documentation of the agency of Our Mother Corn throughout this experience this summer, helping her grow,” Blanchard said. “I also want to do a personal side of that, too, where I’m also documenting my own growth and change over the summer in relation to the corn.” 

For Blanchard, an anthropology and sociology major, the community aspect of cultivation is key. 

“Community is something I’ve been thinking about a lot this summer and how that’s a really big part of the work we’re doing and food justice,” Blanchard said. “How do we meet other people who are doing the work we’re doing, and how do we build relationships with them and learn about these structures and people and movements within our own community that we can support or that can support us? This corn is a result of her culture and that’s a really wonderful thing. It’s such an important thing to maintain. What does it mean for the corn to be growing on this land in Michigan and how do I maintain this relationship with the Wixárika community in the future?” 

Crothers, a political science major with an environmental studies concentration, will use the tomato project as a jumping-off point to dive into the origins, history and cultural differences in various types of seed stewardship. 

“I’m also interested in the legality of it, like how can you put a patent on a living thing and call it intellectual property?” Crothers said. “People can get in trouble for growing their own corn next to genetically modified corn; if it pollinates their corn, they can get sued for growing corn they don’t have the right to. I’d like to dive a little deeper into that and also how we can work together to save seeds and create new varieties that can be available for everybody.” 

Both students have found a passion for food justice and food sovereignty through their involvement with the Just Food Collective and the Hoop House. 

“Those considerations are what drew me to the Hoop House in the first place,” Crothers said. “Then I fell down the rabbit hole of realizing it’s such a complex problem; it’s related to seeds, to income inequality and housing inequality and so many things. There’s so much to unpack. Seed saving has its own complexity, but for me, it’s been an element of food justice to focus on that has helped me learn more about the bigger picture.” 

“The way I approach and understand food sovereignty and food justice are always changing,” Blanchard said. “I don’t know how you would do this work without having that be the forefront of what you’re thinking about and considering all the time.”