Category: Students

Student Zeal for Study Abroad Affirms K’s Excellence

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Study abroad student attending a festival in Germany
Kalamazoo College had 249 students at international sites like this one in
Germany in 2019-20, putting it 32nd overall among baccalaureate colleges
in the Open Doors Report, which ranks higher-education institutions
for study abroad participation.

An annual report released in November from the Institute of International Education (IIE) places Kalamazoo College among the top higher-education institutions in the country for study abroad opportunities based on student participation.

According to the Open Doors Report—which analyzes more than 1,800 institutions including doctoral universities, master’s colleges and universities, baccalaureate colleges, associate’s colleges and special-focus institutions—K had 249 students at international sites in 2019-20, putting it 32nd overall among baccalaureate colleges. K was the only Michigan institution to make the top-40 list in the category despite the College’s 2020 pause in study abroad with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Students often cite study abroad opportunities as one of the big reasons why they attend K,” Center for International Programs (CIP) Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft said. “A distinction like this reflects that. We’re proud we give our students a chance to broaden their view of the world in an advantageous and transformative experience.”

IIE shares the Open Doors Report yearly through the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The organization, founded in 1919, is a private, not-for-profit leader in the global exchange of people and ideas as it creates programs of study and training for students, educators and professionals from all sectors in collaboration with governments, foundations and other sponsors. Those programs include the Fulbright Program and Gilman Scholarships administered for the Department of State.

Combined efforts from K’s faculty and the CIP, along with the availability of international partners, have allowed study abroad to restart this fall at K with about 50 seniors in addition to the regular batch of juniors. In a normal academic year, K students can choose from 56 study abroad programs of varying lengths and emphases in 29 countries on six continents over three, six or nine months. The ventures allow students to challenge their assumptions about themselves and other cultures in a rigorous experiential education environment.

“The pandemic, despite its challenges, has only amplified K’s commitment to global experiences,” Wiedenhoeft said. “Students have remained determined to go abroad, and faculty and staff have shown a lot of flexibility and dedication to making that happen. When new students arrive at K and visit the CIP, they should know we can do our best to help them work toward their goals of studying abroad.”

Honors Day Salutes Student Achievement

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More than 300 students were recognized Friday 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. The students receiving Honors Day awards or recognition are listed below.

FINE ARTS DIVISION

Brian Gougeon Prize in Art
Julia Holt
Ana Garcia
Ileana Oeschger
Julia Degazio     

The Margaret Upton Prize in Music
Lindsey Baker                                                                          

Cooper Award
Matthew Swarthout

Theatre Arts First-Year Student Award
Sam Ewald                        

MODERN AND CLASSICAL LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

LeGrand Copley Prize in French
Ella J. Kelly
Claire McCall     

Hardy Fuchs Award
Teresa Lucas
Julia Bienstock  

Margo Light Award
Kelley Akerley
Abby Barnum                                       

Department of Spanish Language and Literatures Prize
Madison Walther
Maria Kasperek

Clara H. Buckley Prize for Excellence in Latin
Emma Van Houten
Aliza Garcia

Provost’s Prize in Classics
Isabella Luke
Elle Ragan

Classics Departmental Prize in Greek
Garrett Hanson

HUMANITIES DIVISION

O. M. Allen Prize in English
Claire McCall

John B. Wickstrom Prize in History
Jacob Roubein
Meghan Best

Department of Philosophy Prize
Drake Butcher
Louise Colin-Sloman
Nikolas Krupka

L.J. and Eva (“Gibbie”) Hemmes Memorial Prize in Philosophy
Anna Budnick
Jessalyn Vrieland
Caleb Mitchel-Ward

NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS DIVISION

Department of Chemistry Prize
Ifeoma P. Uwaje
Nikhil M. Gandikota
Steven A. Shelton

First-Year Chemistry Award
Ann Marie Johnston
Jordyn A. Wilson
Jessica S. Dant  

Lemuel F. Smith Award
Faith A. Flinkingshelt      

Computer Science Prize
Sara Elfring
Shahriar Akhavan Tafti
Jackson Kiino-Terburg                                                                                              

First-Year Mathematics Award
Xavier Silva
Indigo Corvidae

Thomas O. Walton Prize in Mathematics
Mallory Dolorfino           

Cooper Prize in Physics
Jonah Beurkens
Matthew Nelson

NSF S-STEM PRIME Scholars Program

Leslie Bowen
Alexander Perry
Christine Burton
Emily Rojas
Isabella Cross
Angel Ruiz
Grace Leahey
Lilibeth Uribe
Elijah Mobley
Sancera Williams             

SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION

Departmental Prize in Anthropology and Sociology
Marquisha James
Alexandra P. Noel
Jane Bentley

C. Wallace Lawrence Prize in Economics
Zoe Gurney        
Carolina Guzman
Samantha Moss

William G. Howard Memorial Prize
Mihail Naskovski
Emily Tenniswood
Tristan Fuller
Jenna Paterob   

C. Wallace Lawrence Prize in Business
Aleksandr Molchagin

Irene and S. Kyle Morris Prize
Andreas Fathalla
Blagoja Naskovski                                                                                                                    

Department of Psychology First-Year Student Prize
Leah Ramirez
Sophia Haas
Anna Budnick
Ryan Drew

PHYSICAL EDUCATION DIVISION

Division of Physical Education Prize

Jacob ZellerKelsey Diekman

Maggie Wardle Prize
Savera Rajendra-Nicolucci                         

COLLEGE AWARDS

Gordon Beaumont Memorial Award
Mackenzy Maddock
Mihail Naskovski

Henry and Inez Brown Prize
Ella Palacios
Abby Stewart                                                 

Virginia Hinkelman Memorial Award
Reyna Rodriguez

HEYL SCHOLARS
Class of 2025

Ava Apolo
Anna Buck
Elizabeth Grooten
Alexander Kish
Cole Koryto
Margaret Lekan
Emerson Wesselhoff
Laurel Wolfe

POSSE SCHOLARS
Class of 2025

Clarke Austin
Sekai Beard
Micah Dailey-White
Jalen Iereneo
Kiana Kanegawa
Gionna Magdaleno
Allan Martinez
Deanna Miranda
Leslie Santos

NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLARS
Class of 2025
George Weber

VOYNOVICH SCHOLARS

Addissyn House (Religion)
Elisabeth Kuras (Science)

DAVIS UNITED WORLD COLLEGE SCHOLARS

Ashhad Abdullah
Benjamin Buyck
Silvia Gaete Lagos
Amalia Kaerezi
Mphumelelo Khaba
Akinyi Okero

ALPHA LAMBDA DELTA

Alpha Lambda Delta is a national honor society that recognizes excellence in academic achievement during the first college year. To be eligible for membership, students must earn a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 and be in the top 20% of their class during the first year. The Kalamazoo College chapter was installed on March 5, 1942. 

Kelley L Akerley
Shahriar Akhavan Tafti
Sam Ewald
Andreas Nile Fathalla
Sophia E. Haas
Julia Holt
Sharon Renai Huang
Madelaine Hurley
Carolyn Kate Ingram
Ann Marie Johnston
Jackson Kiino-Terburg
Molly Kohl
Margaret LaFramboise
Mengzhuo (Leo) Liu
Anna Murphy
Blagoja Naskovski
Elizabeth Nestle
Megan Ploucha
Steven Anthony Shelton
Xavier William Silva
Allison Sokacz
Erin Somsel
Ella Szczublewski
Danielle Treyger
Ifeoma Uwaje
Megan Grace Walczak
Madison Elisabeth Walther
Hannah Willit
Claire de Vries

ENLIGHTENED LEADERSHIP AWARDS

Performing Arts:  Music

Mabel Bowdle
Grace Park
Laura DeVilbiss
Addison Peter
Sierra Hieshetter
Elena Pulliam
Joseph Horsfield
Maxwell Rhames
Amelia Johnson
Kaytin Waddell
Liam McElroy
McKenna Wasmer
Leo McGreevy
George Weber
Aiden Morgan
Alexa Wonacott

MIAA AWARDS

These teams earned the 2020-2021 MIAA Team GPA Award for achieving a 3.3000 or better grade point average for the entire academic year:

Men’s Baseball
Women’s Golf
Men’s Swimming and Diving
Women’s Lacrosse
Men’s Soccer
Women’s Soccer
Football
Volleyball
Men’s Golf
Women’s Cross Country
Men’s Lacrosse
Women’s Tennis
Women’s Swimming and Diving

MIAA ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL

Student Athletes 2020-2021

Max Ambs
Julia Bachmann
Annalise Bailey
Spencer Baldwin
Madison Barch
Travis Barclay
Hunter Bates
Lillian Baumann
Blake Bean
Ella Black
Rose Bogard
Nikola Bogoevich
Lukas Bolton
Luke Bormann
Alex Bowden
Holly Bowling
Austin Bresnahan
Jack Brockhaus
Jamison Brown
Pierce Burke
Jacob Chantres
Ben Chosid
Walker Chung
Isabelle Clark
Madeleine Coffman
Nicholas Cohee
Zachary Colburn
Thomas Cook
Noah Coplan
Chase Coselman
Joe Coyne
Emma Curcuru
Nicholas Dailey
Gwendolyn Davis
Emmelyn DeConinck
Sarah Densham
Olivia DePauli
Kelsey Diekman
Ryan Drew
Alexander Dubin
Matthew Dubin
Austin Duff
Alex Dupree
Hannah Durant
Gina Dvorin
Bradley Ekonen
Sara English
Jake Fales
Jazmyne Fannings
Colton Farley
Taylor Ferguson
Peter Fitzgerald
Payton Fleming
Matthew Ford
Rachael Gallap
Aliza Garcia
Brynna Garden
Brendan Gausselin
Farah Ghazal
Katie Gierlach
Aidan Gillig
Madison Goodman
Max Gordon
Matthew Gu
Garrett Guglielmetti
Emily Haigh
Rebekah Halley
Ryan Hanifan
Lucy Hart
Hannah Heeren
McKenna Hepler
Sam Hoag
Matthew Howrey
Joy Hunziker
Madelaine Hurley
Nicholas Jackson
Taylor Jackson
John Jesko
Casey Johnson
Jackson Jones
Amani Karim
Lucas Kastran
Ben Keith
Will Keller
Ella Kelly
Blake Kelsey
Hunter Kiesling
Meghan Killmaster
Dahwi Kim
Kaylee Kipfmueller
Allison Klinger
Ella Knight
Matthew Kralick
Brandon Kramer
Benjamin Krebs
Juanita Ledesma
Jack Loveland
Samantha Luzadre
Rachel Madar
MacKenzy Maddock
Keelin McManus
Nathan Micallef
Camille Misra
Ryan Morgan
Anna Murphy
Alexis Nesbitt
Dustin Noble
Jacob Nugent
Alina Offerman
Larkin O’Gorman
Abigail O’Keefe
Jake Osen
Ella Palacios
Helen Pelak
Calder Pellerin
Erin Perkins
Scott Peters
Alexis Petty
Parker Pickell
Sydney Pickell
Megan Ploucha
Harrison Poeszat
Doug Propson
Savera Rajendra-Nicolucci
Jordan Reichenbach
Mya Richter
Ashley Rill
Molly Roberts
Katherine Rock
Lily Rogowski
Alec Rosenbaum
Elizabeth Rottenberk
Jacob Roubein
Tyler Sakalys-Moore
Marco Savone
Justin Schodowski
Hannah Schurman
Darby Scott
Mae Scott
Steven Shelton
Cassidy Short
Jack Smith
Erin Somsel
Emma Stickley
Alexander Stockwell
Alex Stolberg
Kate Stover
Hayden Strobel
Brandon Sysol
Nina Szalkiewicz
Ella Szczublewski
Leah Tardiff
Cade Thune
Frances Trimble
Zachary Ufkes
Damian Valdes
Gabriel Vidinas
Caleb Waldmiller
Maija Weaver
Tanner White
Andrew Widger
Megan Williams
Madalyn Winarski
Madelyn Wojcik
Hannah Wolfe
Olivia Wolfe
Brandon Wright
Tony Yazbeck
Jacob Zeller
Maggie Zorn

Student-Written ‘Unzipped’ Spotlights Self-Discovery

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Production Poster Says Unzipped by Rebecca Chan
“Unzipped,” complete with monologues and Rebecca Chan’s own
music, explores the perception of East Asians in the U.S.
and her experiences as a queer Chinese American.

Our life stories make great stage plays and Rebecca Chan ’22 has a chance to share her story with us all. Her self-written coming-of-age story, Unzipped, is a part of the Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College’s Senior Performance Series.

The production, complete with monologues and Chan’s own music, explores the perception of East Asians in the United States and her experiences as a queer Chinese American. Unzipped takes aim at a common racial slur used against Asian Americans and refers to Chan’s life of unpacking and discovering her identity.

“I’d say in the past few years there has been a lot more representation of Asian Americans, and like myself, mixed Asian Americans,” Chan said. “But I find a lot of media has characters who maybe have one white parent and one Asian parent like myself, and the racial experience of that existence is brushed over. A lot of my life has been me questioning my racial identity, trying to understand it and what it means, so I wanted to write a show very specifically about that experience.”

Chan, a theatre major, has participated in Festival Playhouse productions and events since her first year on campus. In 2019, she was selected for the week-long Kennedy Center American College Theatre National Festival in Washington, D.C., where she was one of four students from around the country to participate in its Institute for Theatre Journalism Advocacy (ITJA) events; another one of her self-written plays, Record, was featured at Theatre Kalamazoo’s 10th annual New PlayFest in February 2020; and she earned the Theatre Arts First-Year Student Award at Honors Convocation in 2019.

Unzipped, however, represents her senior integrated project. She had a chance to write the play as an independent study during the spring term of her junior year while taking an advanced playwriting class taught by then-Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts “C” Heaps. Since, Chan has been calculating the details of the acting process.

“It’s been tricky because I want to be emotionally invested in the show, but I don’t want to carry so much of the emotions that it weighs me down,” Chan said. “It’s a very careful balance of being in the moment of the show and knowing I’m telling the story how I need to tell it.”

The production’s storytelling process includes projected pictures of Chan’s own childhood and picks up with her in high school.

“I talk about different high school relationships and how I understood myself, and as I get into college, how those experiences changed my perception of who I am,” she said. “There are two big plot points: my relationship with my family, like with my grandmother and my dad and how those evolved over the course of my life, and my relationships in college. There’s a lot of weaving and intersecting of how my perception of my family influences how I interact with my friends, and then how things I realized for my friends influenced how I think about my family.”

Chan wrote the music for Unzipped over two years and has added new songs to fill in the gaps.

“I started writing the music before I even knew I wanted to make the show,” Chan said. “I was always interested in it, but in high school, I felt very nervous about it. I didn’t think I had a good enough voice to sing on my own or had enough knowledge of music to produce something people would want to listen to. But starting my sophomore year, I got back in touch with the piano and started picking up the ukulele. I would just write little songs as I was going through life. It was a coping mechanism that helped me process what I was going through in the big events of my life. Over the summer, I spent a lot of time recording demos of the songs so I could share them with whoever would be playing in my band. Luckily, I was able to find five musicians who were available for the show. Four of which are current students and one a recent alumna.”

Milan Levy ’23 is the director and Angela Mammel ’22 designed the set and projections for their senior integrated projects. Attendees should be aware the play contains racial violence and language. Tickets for the in-person performance of Unzipped, at 129 Thompson St. in the Nelda K. Balch Theatre, and the virtual show are available online. In-person presentations start at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. The virtual broadcast is at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is to be unapologetic in who I am,” Chan said. “I think I spent a lot of time trying to make my focus educating other people or changing the world around me. While those are important things to strive for and do, I think the core of my existence should be living for myself and not living to change others who might not be willing to change.”

K Student’s Dedication Leads to Behind-the-Scenes Work at the Olympics

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Uyen Trinh Next to the Olympics Rings
Uyen Trinh ’21 stands next to the Olympic Rings in Tokyo.

It takes dedication, perseverance and determination for the world’s best athletes to reach the Olympics, just as it did for Uyen Trinh ’21 to be a part of the behind-the-scenes efforts at the Summer Games in Tokyo. She was there to gain global career experience while working as an accountant in the Finance Department of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS). 

OBS was established through the International Olympic Committee in 2001 to produce live television, radio and digital coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Organizations such as the New York Times and NBC set up, along with OBS, at Tokyo Big Sight, an international exhibition center composed of the International Broadcast Center and the Main Press Center as the Games began. 

Uyen Trinh at the Olympics
Uyen Trinh ’21 poses in front of Tokyo Big Sight, the international
exhibition center where she worked to support the Olympics behind the scenes.

Trinh, an international student from Vietnam majoring in business and psychology with a minor in Japanese at K, played important roles processing paperwork, receipts, documents and bills for the Olympic Games while stationed in the International Broadcasting Center. A typical six-day workweek involved a one-hour commute on the subway, a trip through security and working from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day with the Olympics, lasting about a month. 

Trinh gained the opportunity while studying abroad through K at Waseda University in Tokyo in 2019. At that time, a friend from the university’s Tae Kwon Do club told her about training for a position at the Olympics.  

“After Tae Kwon Do practice that night, I looked up OBS right away because it sounded like a fascinating opportunity,” Trinh said. “I found out the application deadline was a day or two later, so I filled out and submitted the application right away in one sitting.”

Uyen Trinh at the Finance Department for the Olympics
Uyen Trinh ’21 poses for a photo outside the Olympic Broadcasting Services
Finance Department where she worked during the Games.

Trinh then proceeded to interview for the accounting position.

“In the interviews, I told them I wanted to work for the Olympics because watching the Games has always given me unforgettable feelings,” she said. “And the Japanese people had been treating me really well. I thought Tokyo 2020 was a great opportunity to present Japan to the world. It was a chance for me to return the favor of their kindness and help deliver a positive image of Japan.” 

Her interest in accounting made the impression she left with her interviewers even more favorable. 

“I said that I wanted to do accounting because I’d been keeping track of my personal expenses and it really excited me to see numbers matching up,” Trinh said. “A week later I got a certificate saying I was qualified to work for the Olympics.” 

However, in March 2020, COVID-19 began spreading, forcing Trinh to leave Japan and putting the Games in doubt.

“I still kept a close eye on the Olympics and was disheartened when they decided to postpone the Games. I questioned my chances of coming back,” Trinh said. “September 2020 was the first time I heard back from them. They asked, ‘Are you still interested in working for the Olympics?’ I thought, ‘What do you mean? This is everything I have been waiting for.’ All the logistics afterward in preparation for my departure to Japan were completed via email and the OBS portal website. I received their welcome package in February 2021 with an accreditation card, which served as my visa to enter Japan. There were a lot of requirements regarding COVID that made the week before the flight especially stressful.” 

Upon her return to Japan, COVID-19 regulations required her to quarantine at a hotel for the first 14 days. She was restricted to commuting only between the hotel, OBS and a convenience store next to the hotel. After those weeks, a former host family from her time on study abroad welcomed her to stay with them.  

“I learned to treasure every relationship I had with people. You never know what kind of opportunity anyone could bring to you and what your relationship could grow to be. Most of my colleagues were from countries other than Japan like Spain, Bangladesh and Greece. It’s just wonderful to think that working for the Olympics has enabled people from all over the world to meet and get to know each other regardless of the pandemic. Returning to Japan this time also made me realize how many meaningful relationships I have made during only six months of study abroad. This whole adventure was terrific and I’m so glad I was able to make it. Different from the abrupt departure last time because of COVID, I left Japan this time in peace and with more confidence in myself. This valuable experience will set the stage for my career in finance after K.”

Study Abroad Restarts, Includes About 50 Seniors

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Kalamazoo College Students on Study Abroad at the Universidad de Extremadura in Caceras, Spain
Kalamazoo College students on study abroad pose outside the main building at the Universidad
de Extremadura in Caceras, Spain. Photo by Resident Director Victoria Pineda.

When COVID-19 forced Kalamazoo College to pause its study abroad programs last year, many juniors feared they would lose out on a life-changing opportunity. Delaying it a year is usually not possible with academic obstacles. Plus, varied pandemic protocols continue to make it difficult for students to travel at all.

“If you think about the preparations, the considerations and the protocols that we had to implement for students to be on campus in the last year, just multiply that by 50 for study abroad,” Center for International Programs (CIP) Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft said. “It’s one thing for our international partners to have an academic plan. It’s another to think about all the components and putting them together to offer a meaningful program.”

However, students still had hope and refused to give up.

“When they realized they wouldn’t be going abroad as juniors, we had quite a few determined students who said, ‘I’m going as a senior. How do I make this work?’” Wiedenhoeft said.

Combine that desire with a flexible faculty that recognizes the importance of international immersion, plus a lot of hard work from the CIP, and K had a game plan to restart study abroad, especially for this year’s seniors. Their combined efforts and the availability of international partners are allowing about 50 seniors, in addition to the regular batch of juniors, to go abroad—about 161 students in total in study abroad and study away. That’s proving to be a point of pride at K and a significant number for any Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) school.

“When I talk to my colleagues at other colleges and I tell them how many students we have abroad, their responses are genuinely full of joy and envy for these students,” Wiedenhoeft said. “There are other schools sending students abroad right now, but we definitely have a significantly higher number of students going abroad compared to our peers.”

More than 50 study abroad programs are typically available to K students and most of them are open again by meeting local protocols and health restrictions. Programs this year include two interim opportunities in Lyon, France, and Lüneburg, Germany, which might at some point become yearly destinations. There also are more permanent options opening for the first time in London and Belfast, which are launching a year late because of the COVID-19 hiatus.

Wiedenhoeft said the united effort across campus to make these programs possible should help newer students see the importance of visiting the CIP early and often should they desire a study abroad opportunity.

“I think this underscores our willingness to be flexible and support students who want to include a study abroad component as part of their experience at K,” she said. “It may not be exactly what the student had initially planned when they first arrived. But for students who are flexible and willing to adjust some of their expectations, we can do our best to work with students and make sure that they achieve that goal of getting off campus.”

Wiedenhoeft added students largely have expressed gratitude over study abroad restarting and their experiences, especially the seniors, even when additional COVID-19 protocols are required. For example, students who are now in Thailand and South Korea had to quarantine at a hotel for two weeks for the sake of public health laws.

“That speaks to the type of students we have at K,” she said. “They’ve demonstrated a lot of adaptability and flexibility. As it got closer, they got very excited and we were giving them very specific instructions. I think those instructions made it more intimidating to think about traveling. But the students we’ve heard from, including those who had to quarantine, are just excited to be abroad.”

Honey of a Month Prompts Entomology Q-and-A

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Pull your honey close and get ready for some facts about the super food and honey bees courtesy of Kalamazoo College Biology Professor Ann Fraser and her entomology class.

September is National Honey Month, which prompted us to ask Fraser’s students some questions about honey. As luck would have it, the students have been preparing to take an annual field trip to the Kalamazoo Nature Center, where they see an active hive of honey bees, courtesy of the Kalamazoo Bee Club. The students learn how honey is made, handle the casts where the honey is harvested from a hive, and occasionally see the queen among the thousands of bees. 

“They become fascinated,” Fraser said of the experience. “Some of them are a little scared of bees at first, maybe because they had a bad experience at one point. But over time, as we’re there for the hour, they get closer to the hive. Eventually, they’re actually holding the frames from the hive. It’s surprising how heavy they can be with bare hands because each frame weighs about eight pounds.”

The number of honey bees around the world is dropping because of pesticide use, habitat loss, a drop in their food supply, and Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon that occurs when a combination of these factors and varroa mites, a honey bee pest, combine to kill the worker bees. That potentially could threaten the amount of honey available in the world’s food supply, and cause problems related to pollination and agriculture.

“Every year we see at least 30 percent of hives die off over the winter,” Fraser said. “It’s kind of a new normal in the beekeeping industry.”

The good news is citizens can help protect honey bees and support the creation of honey by planting a variety of native wildflowers.

“Honey bees aren’t native to North America,” Fraser said. “They were brought over in the 1600s from Europe, not for pollination, but to make honey and beeswax products. They’ve been here ever since. By planting wildflowers, we’re providing food resources for bees and other pollinators, so that we can help beekeepers keep them healthy.”

Fraser’s students were busy bees in helping us find more answers to our questions about honey and honey bees. Here’s what they had to say.

How long have humans been harvesting honey from honey bee hives?

The earliest records of humans consuming bee honey and wax are about 10,000 years old as shown in prehistoric drawings in caves. Drawings found in Spain, about 7,000 years old, depict the practice of beekeeping. According to Queen Bee Farms, there is also a 15,000-year-old painting of a woman climbing a rope ladder to collect honey on the side of a cliff. – Joergen and Jack

Why is honey important for the bees themselves and their colonies?

Honey is a great fuel source for bees. Large amounts of it are made and stored to be consumed during the cold months. Bees use stored honey and pollen to feed their larvae. It’s an energy-rich food source that gives the bees the energy they need to vibrate and take flight. – Molly and Camilia

Why is honey vital to the world’s food supply?

If not for honey, honey bees would starve in the winter months. This would be a major issue for world food security, as 71 of the 100 crop varieties that account for 90% of the world’s food are pollinated by bees, according to the Center for Food Safety. From the human perspective, the sweet taste of honey has made it a sought-after treat and sweetener for millennia. It can also be used to make a fermented drink, mead, which is making a comeback in the brewing industry these days. – Noah and Evan

What types of bees are there in a honey bee hive?

Worker bees can account for up to 60,000 individuals in a colony. They’re reproductively-underdeveloped female honey bees, performing all the work for the colony. Young workers stay inside to perform nest cleaning and nurse duties. They move on to become receivers and storers of incoming nectar and pollen. Near the end of their six-week life they leave the hive as foragers to collect nectar and pollen. The queen is a fully-fertile female that specializes in egg production. Typically, there is only one queen per colony and it produces pheromones that regulate the colony’s behavior. Drones are male bees that account for up to 500 individuals in a colony during the spring and summer. The drones fly from the hive and mate midair with the queens from other colonies. – Lia and Penny

Do other types of bees (i.e. non-honey bees) make honey?

Honey is a general term that refers to the nectar processed by insects. Humans generally consume only honey from honey bees because they form very large colonies that store it in abundance. – Zach and Rina

What variables affect the color and flavor of different varieties of honey?

Honey varies in taste depending on the flowers the honey bees visit to collect nectar. Clover honey is light yellow and has a mild and sweet taste. Eucalyptus honey, common in Australia, has a slight menthol aftertaste. Buckwheat honey tastes like molasses and is very dark in color. Dandelion honey has a sweet floral taste and is bright golden yellow. Manuka honey, from New Zealand, is a gold color and is used as a topical ointment for MRSA, stings, infections and burns. Sourwood honey has a buttery or caramel taste. Goldenrod is dark with a sweet, licorice-like aftertaste. Wildflower honey comes from many different flowers and can taste different each time. In general, the darker the honey, the bolder the flavor. – Maci and Gabby

What threats assail honey bees and the world’s supply of honey?

Common threats to honey bees include diseases such as American and European foulbrood, chalkbrood and nosema; some varieties of beetles and mites; wax moths, which can damage a hive’s structure; global warming and droughts; forest fires; and Colony Collapse Disorder, which could be caused by pests, pesticides, habitat changes, stressors, prolonged transportation, malnutrition or a combination of these factors. – Claudia and Kyle

Students holds a hive frame of honey bees
Students in Biology Professor Ann Fraser’s entomology class got an up-close look at honey bees on Tuesday.
Student-Holding-a-Honey-Bee-Hive-Frame
Students took an annual field trip to the Kalamazoo Nature Center on Tuesday to see a honey bee hive.
Students observe honey bees
Students got an up-close look at honey bees Tuesday at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.
Biology Professor Ann Fraser's Entomology Class
Entomology students visited honey bee hives Tuesday at Kalamazoo Nature Center.
Types of honey surround a taste test
Entomology students took a taste test in learning about honey.

What is significant about the honey bees we find in Michigan?

There are about 450 different types of bees in Michigan, most of them native to this the region.  The honey bee is just one type of bee and it was actually imported from Western Europe. Bees are important pollinators of plants worldwide. Honey bees are especially important in agricultural settings because they can be kept in managed hives and have such large colonies. Michigan hosts about 90,000 hives, ranking the state eighth in the U.S. for its number of hives. Honey bees are especially important for fruit crops such as cherries, apples and blueberries, and vegetable or seed production for crops such as peppers, carrots and onions. In 2015, 50% of Michigan’s $2 billion crop industry was attributed to honey bees. – Lydia and Rachel

What can we in Michigan do to ensure we’re supporting the sustainability of bees and honey?

Make your yard or garden a bee-friendly environment. Plant bee-friendly flowering plants such as bee balm, milkweed, asters and sunflowers; and herbs such as mint, oregano, garlic, chives, parsley and lavender. It’s also important to limit pesticides in your garden or yard, especially during blooming periods. – Mikayla and Bella

What is ‘raw’ honey? Do we need to be concerned about the purity or cleanliness of honey we buy?

Raw honey is unprocessed and unpasteurized honey. It might include pollen, wax and a resinous substance called propolis that bees use to seal or repair the hive. While it may contain more vitamins and nutrients than unpasteurized honey, it also might trigger or aggravate allergies in people sensitive to pollen. Some claim raw honey is more nutritious, but consuming it may increase the risk of illness that can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting and a drop in blood pressure. – Mariah and Zaydee

Here’s What to Expect on Move-In Day

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Two peer leaders assist students on move-in day
Resident assistants and peer leaders will welcome students and their families on move-in day.

Move-in day is an exciting time at Kalamazoo College as first-year students arrive. Orientation-related events will continue throughout the week; here’s what students and families can expect on Wednesday, September 8. Remember to bring a mask to wear inside campus buildings.

Report to your residence hall 

From 1 to 4 p.m., resident assistants and peer leaders will welcome students and their families at check-in tables at each residence hall. Pick up your orientation folder from peer leaders. Visit Residential Life staff afterward to collect your student ID and room key, check into your room and get settled. Health-verification forms must be completed before check in. Students with incomplete health requirements will be directed to the Health Center to complete any necessary requirements before they are permitted to check in. Health Center staff will be available until 4 p.m. at the Hicks Student Center for health-information verification and general consultations. 

Visit the Hicks Center 

Collect maps, schedules, directions and answers to your questions at the Hicks Student Center information table from 1 to 5 p.m. The Kalamazoo College Bookstore will offer 20 percent off K-imprinted items from 1 to 5 p.m. 

Find food and refreshments 

Stop by the Book Club Café on the first floor of the Upjohn Library from 1 to 4 p.m. for coffee, hot chocolate, tea or specialty espresso. Grab-and-go food options available include pastries, house-made salads, sandwiches and sides. From 1 to 5 p.m. at the Hicks Center, the Richardson Room will offer an extensive deli line with a variety of toppings and homemade soup. Grab-and-go options available will include sandwiches, salads, yogurt parfaits, fruit, sweet and salty snacks, and beverages. From 5 to 7 p.m., families are welcome to have dinner on campus at the Hicks Dining Center. Students may use their student ID, which serves as their meal card. Families may pay $11.15 per person at the Dining Center entrance. 

Get computer network assistance 

From 2 to 4 p.m. on move-in day, Information Services staff will be available in the Harmon, Hoben and Trowbridge residence hall main lounges to help students with network access and answer computer-related questions. 

Observe athletics practices 

Eight fall athletics teams—football, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s and women’s cross country—will be engaged in daily practices and competitions from 3 to 6 p.m. 

Free time 

Use your time from 7 to 11 p.m. to finish your room setup and relax before Orientation starts on Thursday. 

Dietitian Helps Students Address Physical, Emotional Wellness

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Student eating at Hicks Center cafeteria
Balanced eating can help students attain both physical and emotional wellness.

With National Wellness Month coming to an end and an academic year approaching, now is a good time for Kalamazoo College students to consider how they will maintain their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social and environmental well-being when they’re on campus.

One element to consider within that wellness spectrum might surprise some: food balance. And dietitian Gretchen Kauth is available to assist K and Western Michigan University students with their strategies.

“Food isn’t just critical to our physical health, it’s also a large part of our emotional health,” Kauth said. “Students come to me because they’d like to start being a vegetarian and want to know how to do that healthfully. Or they see me because their blood glucose or their cholesterol is high. They might want to lose or gain some weight. Those are the physically driven reasons. But more and more, especially during the pandemic, students want to know about the emotional part of food. A lot of us were and still are turning toward food as our entertainment, our comfort or our stress management.”

From Kauth’s point of view, “diet” refers to much more than the four-letter word associated with weight goals. Her strategy for assisting students instead addresses the purposes behind our eating to address wellness.

“I think that the traditional sense of how we use the word ‘diet’ usually has to do with weight or weight management,” she said. “I’ve really tried to take a non-diet approach to get away from the numbers and the counting. I want students to really look at the ‘whys’ of what and how they eat and how we can manage emotions without food.”

That’s not to say that food shouldn’t involve enjoyment. Quite the opposite, in fact, and balance is important. Students should have their cake and eat it, too.

“I don’t want to ever deny that food is pleasurable,” Kauth said. “It’s a part of our social world. If we think back evolution-wise, people once ate simply because they were hungry and they knew that eating sustained them. Then there are the reasons people eat as part of traditions and celebrations. Food can and should be a part of those celebrations, but food shouldn’t be the main reason we’re getting together.”

For some people, food can be comforting for emotional needs and helpful in managing stress. But emotional eating, when done too frequently or in large amounts, can create problems.

“I try to get students to think about the ‘why’ rather than always the ‘what’ behind eating,” Kauth said. “Even if we overeat or binge eat something healthy, like carrots—Yes, carrots are a better food to binge on than ice cream, but the behavior is not what we want. To help manage our emotions we need to develop non-food coping strategies – like meditation, yoga, visualization, and in some cases, seeking out a therapist. A healthy diet isn’t just about essential nutrients, fuel and reducing your risk for chronic illness. It’s about understanding our relationship to food and ensuring a healthy balance for physical as well as emotional health.” 

Virtual appointments are available at no cost for students on the College’s health insurance or $50 for students with private insurance. Kauth also is planning three free workshops this fall for all K students. “You vs. Illness: Win with a Healthy Immune System” is scheduled for 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 28. “Vegetarian Eating: Plants are Powerful” is planned for 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, October 6. “Emotional Eating: What Are You Hungry For?” will be from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, October 14. Signup for individual appointments or the workshops by emailing Kauth at gretchen.kauth@kzoo.edu.

“If students have been to the doctor and they’ve been referred for follow up, seeing a dietitian is a good thing,” Kauth said. “If you come into school with a chronic illness like diabetes or cystic fibrosis and you’ve never seen a dietitian, for sure come in, because it’s a good idea to get some care here. If you are interested in changing your diet in any way, or if you’re looking at the pandemic and you think you want to improve your immune system, then reach out. Anything that might have to do with your physical or emotional health—When you’re turning to food to manage emotions, that’s a really good time to seek out a dietitian.”