Students Archives - Page 15 of 55

“Acting Shakespeare” an Ideal Intro to the Bard

Posted on February 9, 2022March 25, 2022

Matthew Swarthout rehearses for Acting Shakespeare — Matthew Swarthout ’22 will present “Acting Shakespeare,” his own play
adapted from Sir Ian McKellen’s production of the same name, this
Thursday–Sunday at the Dungeon Theatre, 139 Thompson St.

If you desire an appreciation for the works of William Shakespeare yet find his plays challenging, you’ll want to attend a show coming this week to Kalamazoo College. Matthew Swarthout ’22 will present his self-written senior integrated project (SIP), a play titled Acting Shakespeare, adapted from Sir Ian McKellen’s production of the same name, this Thursday–Sunday at the Dungeon Theatre, 139 Thompson St.

The original production featured McKellen alone on stage with no props or scenery, performing monologues from Shakespeare’s work, and discussing some of his plays. McKellen first performed it in 1980, and a 1984 Broadway engagement earned him the Drama Desk Award for an Outstanding One-Person Show and a Tony Award nomination.

This version will encompass both Swarthout’s and McKellen’s insight into Shakespeare’s plays, featuring monologues and scenes from plays such as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry the Fourth Part One and Henry the Fifth.

“This is the kind of Shakespeare show for people who don’t know Shakespeare,” Swarthout said. “I can talk in my 2022 language, which everyone can understand, and then I can shift into Shakespearean language and say, ‘This is what Shakespeare meant by this.’ It’s like a sampler of plays. You’ve got a comedy, a tragedy, a history and you can decide for yourself if you enjoy Shakespeare enough to see more of his plays.”

Matthew Swarthout rehearsing for Acting Shakespeare — Matthew Swarthout ’22 offers his insights into William Shakespeare’s plays
in “Acting Shakespeare,” coming this week to the Dungeon Theatre at
Kalamazoo College.

Swarthout first developed his appreciation for Shakespeare as a young child when he saw As You Like It at the Stratford Festival in Canada. He later was drawn to K as he found the liberal arts could empower him to double major in biology and theatre. Since, Swarthout has performed in several Festival Playhouse shows with roles including the comical character Sir Andrew in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and Buzz Windrip, a politician who unexpectedly wins the U.S. presidency in It Can’t Happen Here, a play based on Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 satire of what could happen if Fascism spreads to the United States.

“I’ve had a lot of freedom at K with directors who really like to see some big, expressive characters, and that’s the kind of role I’m often cast into,” Swarthout said. “Even for Acting Shakespeare, I change things around one day and try something completely different the next day to see what works. It’s nice to see what goes wrong in order to see what’s going to go right.”

Acting Shakespeare production poster — “Acting Shakespeare” will encompass plays such as “Romeo
and Juliet,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Hamlet,”
“Macbeth,” “Henry the Fourth Part One” and “Henry the Fifth.”

That freedom takes on more complexity in preparing for Acting Shakespeare as Swarthout serves as both actor and director. He listens to recordings of himself reciting the play while snowboarding for memorization purposes in addition to maintaining regular rehearsals.

“There’s a challenge in looking at yourself with such a critical eye,” he said. “Usually as an actor, you’re doing your best and then it’s up to the director to say, ‘You could improve upon this.’ But since I’m directing myself, I’ve had rehearsals where I go over about three lines in 45 minutes. It’s hard to separate the director from the actor.”

In additional theatre pursuits, Swarthout participated in the New York Arts Program, a study away opportunity that places students from Great Lakes College Association (GLCA) affiliated schools in Broadway and off-Broadway theatre organizations, opera houses, dance companies, publishing houses, literary agencies and music performance venues. Swarthout worked at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, finishing just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the city. An adviser told him not to expect an opportunity to act on stage while there, as most of the acting opportunities go to New York University students. However, his talents enabled him to accept the role of Underling in a production of The Drowsy Chaperone, a parody of American musical comedies of the 1920s.

“That was probably the best experience I had in New York just because I felt like I was living there as a working actor,” Swarthout said. “I had my classes, I had my job and then I had the gig, which was really fantastic.”

Swarthout is sending out audition tapes to adapt to theatre’s current virtual landscape in the hopes of one day returning to the East Coast and eventually New York after graduation. In the meantime, he’s excited to think of how his audiences could develop an interest in Shakespeare as a result of his performances. Tickets for Acting Shakespeare, which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, are available online. Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff are admitted free. Tickets for the general public are $5. Please note that proof of vaccination and masks are required for admittance to the theatre.

“People should enjoy Shakespeare and keep Shakespeare alive, not for the history of it, but what we can do with it,” Swarthout said. “We can change its meaning and interpret it in so many ways to get a point across. If you’re trying to have a theatre season that’s focused on anti-racism or has some themes around homophobia, for example, you can use a Shakespeare show to bridge gaps of understanding. Shakespeare becomes a powerful tool.”

Bazelon Center Intern Helps Protect the Disabled

Posted on December 23, 2021March 21, 2022

Bazelon Center intern Thomas Lichtenberg at Capital in Washington — As a strategic communications intern, Thomas Lichtenberg ’23 backed
the Bazelon Center’s efforts by planning and drafting many of its social
media posts and strategies.

A Kalamazoo College student experienced an internship with an organization that protects the disabled this term.

Thomas Lichtenberg ’23—a political science and philosophy major and math minor—worked in Washington, D.C., for the Judge David A. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, which helps attorneys and others who work to protect the legal rights of people who experience mental disabilities. In some cases, the center will also represent individuals in court who face discrimination or a denial of needed services.

Lichtenberg earned the opportunity through the Washington Center, a group that unites college students with a variety of nonprofit organizations in the nation’s capital. As a strategic communications intern, he backed the Bazelon Center’s efforts by planning and drafting many of its social media posts and strategies. His drafts, which would get approved by a policy or legal director, touted events such as a virtual awards ceremony highlighting the center’s 49th year. That event featured figures such as singer John Legend and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. He also attended a virtual briefing on infrastructure with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and separately met some well-known people, even if only virtually in some cases.

“I attended a congressional briefing,” he said. “I walked to the Supreme Court once and Representative Ilhan Omar was speaking about court reform there. I also met a lot of newscasters. We have a pretty strong relationship with PBS and I got to meet Judy Woodruff and a couple other PBS reporters at an afterparty for our award ceremony.”

Another event he covered through social media was a live YouTube discussion concerning the use of student resource officers in schools and how some officers have mistreated students of color and students who have disabilities. In a social campaign, however, the Bazelon Center more directly targeted publicity regarding an active case, CVS Pharmacy Inc. v. Doe, in cooperation with other disability and civil-rights groups.

“At the end of my time, we actually won that Supreme Court case and social media was essential to it,” Lichtenberg said. “It involved CVS and a group of people with HIV who argued that they were receiving different treatment based on their condition. CVS was trying to say that if it’s unintentional discrimination, then Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 doesn’t apply.”

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a civil-rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.

“A ruling like that would’ve been catastrophic for disability rights,” Lichtenberg said. “Essentially, if that were in place, the person who didn’t have full use of their legs, for example, wouldn’t have a legal recourse if someone built a building that could only be accessed by stairs. “Our social media campaign pressured CVS into withdrawing the case and commit to find a solution which respects the rights of people with disabilities, which is pretty unheard of for such a big company.”

Lichtenberg is returning to K’s campus for winter, where he served last spring as a teacher’s assistant for a logic and reasoning philosophy class that includes an independent study requirement. For that, he wanted to figure out how someone might codify a version of Star Trek’s Prime Directive, a guiding principle that prohibits Starfleet members from interfering with the natural development of alien civilizations while protecting unprepared civilizations from receiving advanced technology, knowledge and values before they’re ready for it. For now, however, he will reflect on an overwhelmingly positive experience in Washington, D.C.

“I find it amazing that there are only about seven people who work for the Bazelon Center,” Lichtenberg said. “It’s incredible that they’re able to manage the cases they do. It was a real honor to work for them and I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned to my classes in a new context.”

Shared Hope International Intern Helps Fight Against Sex Trafficking

Posted on December 21, 2021March 21, 2022

Shared Hope International Intern David Kent in front of the White House — David Kent ‘22 interned this term in Washington, D.C., at Shared Hope International, a
nonprofit organization that seeks to prevent sex trafficking while comforting and bringing
justice to victimized women and children.

A Kalamazoo College student is reflecting on an eye-opening internship opportunity that explored a global problem while providing experience that will benefit him in his life after K.

David Kent ‘22, a business and political science double major from Beverly Hills, Michigan, worked in Washington, D.C., at Shared Hope International this term. The nonprofit organization seeks to prevent sex trafficking while comforting and bringing justice to victimized women and children.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn more about an important issue,” Kent said. “I learned that the practice of sex trafficking is rooted in human civilization. It’s been around as long as people have lived together in societies. It went hand in hand with the institution of slavery. But even now, as slavery is mostly illegal, it persists. I think there is a preconception that it only happens in back alleys and at night. But the reality is there are large operations that work in plain sight and they can sell to people who are well known and very influential. I learned that it can be anybody.”

Part of Kent’s opportunity was funded by the John Dingell Memorial Scholarship, which provides funds for students from Michigan colleges and universities while they participate in an internship. The internship itself was offered through Shared Hope International’s connection with the Washington Center, a group that unites college students with a variety of nonprofit organizations and other companies in the nation’s capital.

Kent worked at Shared Hope International as a policy and communications intern, meaning he was responsible for assisting the organization’s legal team with whatever it needed. Its biggest project involved issuing grades and report cards to each state based on its sex-trafficking laws. Kent served as a media relations contact as he connected with news professionals from around the country.

“It wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but I learned that Michigan is one of the worst states for trafficking with I-94 coming in from Detroit and going on through Chicago, and the state’s connections to Ohio, which is also one of the worst states because of its own highway system,” Kent said. “Michigan certainly has a lot to do in terms of getting laws on the books and enforcing them to better address the situation.”

In addition to the state report card project, Kent performed individual research on large-scale sex-trafficking operations before presenting to the organization’s staff on it. He also helped the organization prepare for a national conference conducted in Washington, D.C., that brought together activists, nonprofit organizations, policymakers, senators and survivors, while running a breakout session and funneling questions from virtual attendees to presenters.

Looking back, Kent said he has some ideas for how the world can fight sex trafficking.

“It starts with individual action,” he said. “Shared Hope International was founded by a former Congresswoman. It started with one person and that’s how we can advocate for such an organization—through one person at a time. These organizations always need volunteers, whether it’s donors contributing supplies or money, or volunteers for activities or shelters. You have to start there and work your way to bigger solutions.”

Human Rights Day Spirit Abundant in K Community

Posted on December 10, 2021January 12, 2023

Emily Worline for Human Rights Day — Emily Worline ’19 founded Refugee Outreach Kalamazoo in 2017
at Kalamazoo College. The organization has spread to other
college campuses and expanded into a nonprofit organization
called Refugee Outreach Collective. It’s an organization that
embodies the spirit of Human Rights Day every day of the year.

The United Nations can count on a Kalamazoo College student group along with its networks and outgrowing nonprofit organization to embody the spirit of Human Rights Day—which is every December 10—on any day of the year.

The U.N. observes the day to mark the anniversary of the General Assembly adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. The declaration proclaims a series of inalienable rights to which everyone is entitled regardless of one’s race, color, religion, sex, language, opinions, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. According to the U.N., it’s the most-translated document in the world given that it’s available in more than 500 languages.

This year’s theme for Human Rights Day is “Equality: Reducing Inequalities, Advancing Human Rights.” Equality includes addressing and finding solutions for deep-rooted forms of discrimination that have affected the most vulnerable people in societies including women and girls, indigenous peoples, people of African descent, the LGBTQ community, migrants and displaced people, and people with disabilities, among others.

Within those groups of vulnerable people, those who face displacement have advocates in the Refugee Outreach Collective (ROC). The group, first organized as Refugee Outreach Kalamazoo at K in 2017, has since grown to seven campuses in Michigan—including Western Michigan University, Grand Valley State University and Michigan State University—and has even become a full-fledged nonprofit organization with national and international reach.

Emily Worline ’19, who is now in law school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, was the founder of ROC at K and still carries out official duties as the full organization’s chairperson. She’s been inspired to extend her work with ROC as a result of witnessing first hand the conditions at refugee camps around the world.

People experiencing displacement attend Global Classroom — People experiencing displacement in Malawi, Africa, attend
the Global Classroom program offered by Refugee
Outreach Collective.

“The unifying factor at all of these camps is that no one wants to be there,” Worline said. “ROC works to shake the narrative that encampments are normal places to house people by organizing advocacy efforts and leveraging networks to alleviate the injustices people face while living there.”

In staying involved, Worline oversees ROC’s Global Classroom, a program that helps displaced individuals from the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi, Africa, get access to university-level educational opportunities through digital courses at Michigan campuses, such as Northern and Central Michigan universities, while offering one-on-one tutoring assistance. The courses combine theory and practice to create space for students to challenge themselves intellectually and learn skills. The first cohort of students is working to receive their associate’s degrees.

“One hope is it will bolster their asylum claim and provide a better chance to resettle somewhere,” Worline said. “Oftentimes, when people are able to prove they have network connections, that can also help the process of resettlement. The other hope is that they can get a job in Malawi with a recognized, accredited associate’s degree.”

Currently at K, ROC amplifies narratives involving migrant and displaced communities through alliance and relationship building. In other words, it collaborates with local organizations in its efforts to make the Kalamazoo community a more welcoming and inclusive place for students and families of diverse backgrounds. Maddy Harding ’22 serves as the organization’s president.

Refugee Outreach Collective President Maddy Harding Discusses Human Rights Day — Maddy Harding ’22 is the president of Kalamazoo College’s
chapter of the Refugee Outreach Collective, which is an
organization that embodies the spirit of Human Rights Day.

“We have the chance to work directly with people at refugee camps overseas, but additionally, we’re able to have volunteer programs that help recently resettled refugees in the Kalamazoo area,” she said. “I think that’s pretty unique. When I first started with ROC, we had a family partnership program in which I would go into recently resettled refugees’ homes and help out the family in any way I could. I’ve learned how to interact with people who have cultural differences from me and I love that.”

One of these programs is the Homework Champions Tutoring program, which was developed in partnership with K’s Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) and the local ROC. The tutoring benefits displaced students in Kalamazoo Public Schools. Katia Duoibes ’23, a civic engagement scholar, helped the program start virtually during the pandemic.

“There previously was an afterschool program that I joined at Maple Street Middle School with Emily Worline,” Duoibes said. “When the pandemic hit, I was close with all of those students. I was contacting them and we were still working together virtually because all of their support systems and the support they received completely stopped. That spring, it was me and some other tutors who were doing that program just informally, helping them virtually with their homework.”

That effort continued through fall 2020 as she and Worline reached out to Samaritas, a Michigan social services nonprofit, which helped ROC connect with more resettling refugees. Afterward, about 20 tutors were paired with students who needed help through winter.

Civic Engagement Scholar Katia Duoibes ’23

The program kept growing when Duoibes and Worline later connected the local ROC and Western Michigan University Professor of Educational Foundations Dini Metro-Roland to make the tutoring a service-learning component for the professor’s introductory education course, allowing 50 WMU students to join their efforts.

“Emily and I quickly realized that we needed a lot more administrative instructional support to keep the program growing and improving, so I was connected with the CCE,” Duoibes said.

CCE representatives including Associate Director Teresa Denton were ecstatic to add this program to the its previous initiatives working with the English as Second Language programs at Kalamazoo Public Schools. Now, Duoibes and Sydney Lenzini ’24, another civic engagement scholar, are working to restart the tutoring program’s in-person components.

“I’m inspired by educational equity, especially in public education,” Lenzini said. “Growing up in Chicago, I saw very unequal opportunities in the public-school system. Some kids got a lot of resources and others didn’t. I feel that can be internalized, and then create a lot of problems down the road. In the realm of public education equity, I feel like all students can succeed. Some students just need different support systems, and public-school systems often can’t or don’t want to provide those supports. I feel education is powerful. I think addressing educational inequities is a big step because education and access to it is like freedom.”

Sydney-Lanzini — Civic Engagement Scholar Sydney Lenzini ’24

The CCE will couple its efforts with the Homework Champions Tutoring program with a service-learning course at K next term that will help more KPS students whose families are new to Kalamazoo. Plus, the ROC nonprofit will continue its international outreach with open-to-the-public events and fundraising for the sake of advocacy, outreach to people subjected to poverty and socio-political constraints such as refugee camps, and connecting individuals to job opportunities, internet access, healing circles and more through its existing networks of people and organizations.

“ROC’s biggest focus right now is on education,” Worline said. “We’re opening doors to making educational spaces more accessible. With every camp I visit, whether that be at the U.S.-Mexico border, in Greece and Serbia, or in Malawi, it’s very obvious that displaced people are being pushed to the very margins of society. They’re excluded from participating in various political processes. They’re excluded from attending college. Their movement is restricted. And to me, the idea of just excluding an entire 84 million people from the rest of society is a huge violation of human rights. I think ROC efforts are placed in reversing that and trying to make it so people aren’t so excluded.”

Tent in mud at U.S.-Mexico border — An image from the Refugee Outreach Collective shows tents in the
refugee camp at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Kalamazoo College Unveils Fall 2021 Dean’s List

Posted on December 7, 2021March 21, 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 2021 academic term. Students who elect to take a letter-graded course on a credit/no credit basis (CR/NC) are not eligible for Dean’s List consideration during that term. Nor are students who receive an F, NC or W grade for that particular term. Students with incomplete (I) or in-progress (IP) grades will be considered for Dean’s List upon receipt of the final grades. Dean’s List recognition is posted on students’ transcripts. Kudos to the entire group.

Fall 2021

A

Shannon Abbott
Morgan Acord
Kayla Acosta
Aliyah Adams
Kelley Akerley
Shahriar Akhavan Tafti
Hashim Akhtar
Abigail Allen
Adnan Alousi
Paige Anderson
Mia Andrews
Ava Apolo
Jeremy Ardshahi
Alexandra Armin
Joshua Atwell

B

Aidan Baas
Litzy Bahena
Guenevere Baierle
Annalise Bailey
Bryan Baires
Lindsey Baker
Chloe Baker
Elizabeth Ballinger
Madison Barch
Ethan Barnes
Evelyn Bartley
Jenna Beach
Danielle Bennett
Carolyn Bennett
Jane Bentley
Meghan Best
Jonah Beurkens
Maryam Rafiah Beverly
Anna Binkley
Ella Black
Katherine Black
Nora Blanchard
Rose Bogard
Zachary Borden
Daphne Bos
Mairin Boshoven
Mabel Bowdle
Holly Bowling
Breven Brill
Jacquelyn Brines
Chason Brodsky
Eamon Bronson
Irie Browne
Anna Buck
Anna Budnick
Marilu Bueno
Jaden Buist
Drake Butcher

C

Natalie Call
Grace Cancro
Chloe Carlson
Eleanor Carr
Colin Carroll
Ashley Casagrande
Isabella Caza
Alexandra Chafetz
Jessica Chaidez
Iris Chalk
Lily Chambers
Josetta Checkett
Lance Choe
An-Ting Chu
Noah Chukwuma
Maile Church
Madeleine Coffman
Quinn Collins
Zachary Connor
Rowan Cook
Kyle Cooper
Indigo Corvidae
Violet Crampton
Lucy Cripe
Isabella Cross
Lauren Crossman
Lilian Crowder Smith
Emma Curcuru

D

Nicholas Dailey
Beatrix Damashek
Jessica Dant
Talia Dave
Claire Davis
Emma Davis-Rodak
Claire de Vries
Zachary Dean
Tali Deaner
Sophie Decker
Julia Degazio
Lille Dekker
Julia Del Olmo Parrado
Ethan DeNeen
Catherine Dennis
Sarah Densham
Olivia Depauli
Laura DeVilbiss
Christopher DeVito
Katerina Deyoung
Liam Diaz
Olivia DiGiulio
Savannah Dobreff
Brooke Dolhay
Rorie Dougherty
Ryan Drew
Dylan Drier
Katia Duoibes
Hannah Durant

E

Eli Edlefson
Jairo Eguia
Nathanael Ehmann
Alden Ehrhardt
Sara Elfring
Kelsi Elliott
Adaora Emenyonu
Sara English
Dean Ersher
Justin Essing
Chad Ewing

F

Faith Faber
Daniel Fahle
Sabina Fall
Brady Farr
Madalyn Farrey
Andreas Fathalla
Ava Fischer
Morgan Fischer
Peter Fitzgerald
Julia Fitzgerald
Jameson Fitzsimmons
Payton Fleming
Sofia Fleming
Jordan Flink
Parker Foster
Melanie Fouque
Daniel Foura
Caroline Francis
Janna Franco
Emma Frederiksen
Allison French
Hana Frisch
Nathaniel Fuller
Tristan Fuller

G

Ethan Galler
Nikhil Gandikota
Ana Garcia
Aliza Garcia
Brynna Garden
Farah Ghazal
Griffin Gheen
Katie Gierlach
Jessica Gracik
Noah Green
Donovan Greene
Lillian Grelak
Westin Grinwis
Elizabeth Grooten
Zoe Gurney
Abigail Gutierrez

H

Sydney Hagaman
Emma Hahn
Emily Haigh
Vien Hang
Ryan Hanifan
Alison Hankins
Garrett Hanson
Eleanor Harris
Lucy Hart
Meaghan Hartman
Tanner Hawkins
Beatrice Hawkins
Noah Hecht
Megan Herbst
Maya Hester
Ella Heystek
Sierra Hieshetter
Jacob Hoffman
Thomas Hole
Julia Holt
Cole Horman
Jaelyn Horn
Joseph Horsfield
Molly Horton
Hazel Houghton
Gavin Houtkooper
Sharon Huang
Micah Hudgins-Lopez
Samuel Hughes
Trevor Hunsanger
Ian Hurley
Madelaine Hurley
Megan Hybels

I

Ngozi Idika
Carolyn Ingram
Daniel Isacksen

J

Colton Jacobs
Ashani Jewell
Deepa Jha
Hao Jiang
Jonathan Jiang
Casey Johnson
Aaron Johnson
Amelia Johnson
Logan Johnston
Ellie Jones
Maxwell Joos

K

Amalia Kaerezi
Kiana Kanegawa
Leo Kaplan
Judah Karesh
Thomas Kartes
Maria Kasperek
Lucas Kastran
Lillian Kehoe
Ava Keller
Will Keller
Ella Kelly
Roze Kerr
Mphumelelo Khaba
Mahum Khan
Hunter Kiesling
Jackson Kiino-Terburg
Vivian Kim
Joshua Kim
Si Yun Kimball
Lily Kindle
Kaylee Kipfmueller
Alexander Kish
Joergen Klakulak
Molly Kohl
Melody Kondoff
Cole Koryto
Daniel Koselka
Reese Koski
Katya Koublitsky
Christian Kraft
Brandon Kramer
Rachel Kramer
Kieya Kubert-Davis
Celia Kuch
Koshiro Kuroda

L

Margaret LaFramboise
Caroline Lamb
Kathryn Larick
Blaze Lauer
Annmarie Lawrence
Madeleine Lawson
Grace Leahey
Angel Ledesma
Isaac Lee
Margaret Lekan
Alejandra Lemus
Sydney Lenzini
Milan Levy
Connor Lignell
Sydney Lis
Mengzhuo Liu
Luis Lizardo-Rodriguez
Ava Loncharte
Christian Lopez
Madeline Lovins
Teresa Lucas
Chloe Lucci
Nicholas Lucking
Elizabeth Luhrs
Jacob Lynett

M

Selina Ma
MacKenzy Maddock
Natalie Maki
Andrew Mallon
Arjun Manyam
Lesly Mares-Castro
Isabel Martin
Daniel Martinez
Molly Martinez
Stephanie Martinez
Harshpreet Matharu
Lillian Mattern
Nicholas Matuszak
Claire McCall
Lauren McColley
Liam McElroy
Grace McGlynn
Dylan McGorisk
Molly McGrath
Lucas McGraw
Leo McGreevy
Ashlynne McKee
Amy McNutt
Sophia Merchant
Eva Metro-Roland
Gabriel Meyers
Luke Middlebrook
Jade Milton
Ameera Mirza
Camille Misra
Caleb Mitchell-Ward
Anna Modlinski
Lina Moghrabi
Brooklyn Mohr
Jana Molby
Aleksandr Molchagin
Rachel Molho
Raven Montagna
Mackenzie Moore
Ryan Morgan
Isabel Morillo
Wyatt Mortensen
Samantha Moss
Ezekiel Mulder
Anna Murphy
Madison Murphy
Ryan Muschler
Rishaan Muthanna
Sydney Myszenski

N

Alex Nam
Blagoja Naskovski
Maya Nathwani
Matthew Nelson
Elizabeth Nestle
Nguyen Nguyen
Char Nieberding
Stefan Nielsen
Alexandra Noel
Joanna Nonato
Malin Nordmoe
Rohan Nuthalapati

O

Larkin O’Gorman
Ileana Oeschger
Jeremiah Ohren-Hoeft
Akinyi Okero
Emma Olson
Gabe Orosan-Weine
Eliana Orozco
Gunzi Otj

P

Ella Palacios
Jenna Paterob
Paul Pavliscak
Houston Peach
Isabella Pellegrom
Natalia Pena Ochoa
Kaitlin Peot
Anthony Peraza
Nionni Permelia
Margaret Perry
Alexander Perry
Alexis Petty
Mary Phillips
Sydney Pickell
Benjamin Pickrel
Noah Piercy
Megan Ploucha
Elaine Pollard
Evan Pollens-Voigt
Grayson Pratt
Noah Prentice
Melissa Preston
Lucas Priemer
Doug Propson
Elena Pulliam
Mason Purdy
Noah Pyle

Q

Emma Quail
Alex Quesada
Jorence Quiambao

R

Elizabeth Rachiele
Tieran Rafferty
Elle Ragan
Julia Rambo
Leah Ramirez
Roman Ramos
Samantha Ramser
Ali Randel
Abby Rawlings
Clarice Ray
Sara Reathaford
Laura Reinaux Silva Oliveira
Kelli Rexroad
Keegan Reynolds
Maxwell Rhames
Gabrielle Riaz
Mya Richter
Kayla Ridenour
Sheldon Riley
Ashley Rill
Emory Roberts
Xochitl Robertson
Michael Robertson
Kaitlyn Robinson
Skyler Rogers
Madison Roland
Joshua Roman
Luke Rop
Panayiotis Rotsios
Elizabeth Rottenberk
Jacob Roubein
Sofia Rowland
Charlotte Ruiter
Angel Ruiz
Luisa Ruiz

S

Richard Sakurai-Kearns
Sydney Salgado
Sofia Santos
Leslie Santos
Isabel Schantz
McKenna Schilling
Leo Schinker
Allison Schmidt
Vivian Schmidt
D.J. Schneider
Eden Schnurstein
Madeline Schroeder
Audrey Schulz
Hannah Schurman
Michael Schwartz
Darby Scott
Isabella Shapiro
Eli Shavit
William Shaw
Morgan Shearer
Steven Shelton
Austin Shepherd
Elijah Shiel
Riley Shoemaker
Elizabeth Silber
Xavier Silva
Samantha Silverman
Zachary Simmons
Colby Skinner
Meganne Skoug
Ping Smith
Grace Snyder
Ariana Soderberg
Allison Sokacz
Erin Somsel
Armaan Sood-Mankar
Kaden Sotomayor
Jonah Spates
Maxwell Spitler
Adam Stapleton
David Stechow
Eleanor Stevenson
Meredith Steward
Abby Stewart
Alex Stolberg
Maeve Sullivan
Hannah Summerfield
Michael Sweeney
Ella Szczublewski

T

Madison Talarico
Nicole Taylor
Claire Taylor
Emily Tenniswood
Abhi Thakur
Levi Thomas
Sophia Timm-Blow
Rojina Timsina
Jack Tomer
Luke Torres
Danielle Treyger
Nghia Trinh
Uyen Trinh
Maria Tripodis
MiaFlora Tucci
May Tun
Dean Turpin

U

Tristan Uphoff
Chilotam Urama
Lilibeth Uribe
Ifeoma Uwaje

V

Emma Van Houten
Samantha Vande Pol
Hannah Vander Lugt
Brianne Vanderbilt
Anna Varitek
Ella VarnHagen
Anna Veselenak
Lucille Voss
Jessalyn Vrieland
Dat Vu

W

Kaytin Waddell
Megan Walczak
Ivy Walker
Audrey Walker
Alex Wallace
Lucinda Wallis
Rosesandy Walters
Madison Walther
Elizabeth Wang
McKenna Wasmer
Alaina Wayne
Jadon Weber
Riley Weber
Margaret Wedge
Elias Wennen
Emerson Wesselhoff
Andrew Widger
Lee Wilkinson
Megan Williams
Tariq Williams
Ava Williams
Carson Williams
Hannah Willit
Jordyn Wilson
Joshua Wilson
Madelyn Wojcik
Olivia Wolfe
Laurel Wolfe
Alexa Wonacott

X

Y

Tony Yazbeck
Hillary Yousif

Z

Maddie Zang
Zoe Zawacki
Nathaniel Zona
Margaret Zorn

Student Zeal for Study Abroad Affirms K’s Excellence

Posted on December 3, 2021March 21, 2022

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 32^nd 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.”

K Records Best Voter Turnout Rate Among Michigan Campuses

Posted on November 23, 2021March 21, 2022

K Votes Efforts Likely Boosted Voter Turnout Rates — Students and staff volunteering for K Votes helped the Kalamazoo College
community with new-voter registration, the mailing of absentee ballots, rides
to the polls, and the distribution of candidate information and maps to local
polling places in 2020, boosting K to a voter turnout rate of 83.7 percent.

Kalamazoo College eclipsed national averages for voter turnout in 2020 as 83.7 percent of the student body cast ballots in last year’s presidential election. For that achievement, the Institute of Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE) at Tufts University has awarded K its platinum seal in the All-In Democracy Challenge, marking the colleges who achieved voter-participation rates of 80 to 89 percent.

K is the only campus in Michigan and one of 48 out of about 1,200 participating institutions nationwide to receive the honor. That puts K in the top 4 percent of colleges and universities in the country for its voter turnout among the institutions reporting. The primary cause for the outstanding benchmark at the polls, according to IDHE, is unclear. However, Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) Director Alison Geist credited K Votes, the CCE’s non-partisan coalition to inform the College’s students, faculty and staff members about voting and civic engagement, for its efforts in boosting the College’s voter participation.

Based on a look at incomplete data for 2016, K’s student voting rate was estimated at 54.1 percent, which was in line with that year’s national average. But in 2020, K Votes representatives worked in partnership with their student peers, the local League of Women Voters and the national Rock the Vote organization, which is led by Executive Director Caroline DeWitt ’04, a K alumna. Those partnerships helped K Votes provide services such as new-voter registration, the mailing of absentee ballots, rides to the polls, and the distribution of candidate information and maps to local polling places.

“I am proud of K’s students, especially the CCE’s K Votes Civic Engagement Scholars, Kaitlyn Dexter and Mahum Khan,” Geist said. “They were so ably led by then-Assistant Director Emily Kowey ’17, whose dedication and creativity, in the midst of a pandemic, drove the College’s impressive turnout and registration rates in the 2020 election. Voting is but a small part of what we mean by civic engagement, but it is essential to our communities and democracy, and it seems particularly so as voting rights are increasingly under siege.”

The IDHE’s report, titled the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), notes the national average of voting rates was 66 percent this year, putting K well above it. However, the report also shows K must continue to encourage students of color to vote, as their participation rates generally trailed those of white students. About 53 percent of K’s Asian students, and 66 percent of Black and Hispanic students voted in 2020 compared with 88 percent of white students.

The NSLVE is the nation’s largest study of college and university student voting. It measured voter turnout at campuses ranging from community colleges to research universities, women’s colleges, historically Black colleges, state universities and private schools. The dataset reflects all 50 states and the District of Columbia, includes 49 of the nation’s 50 flagship schools and tracks nearly 8.9 million voting-eligible students.

“That students, often younger and first-time voters, turned out at rates commensurate with the general public in 2020 is nothing short of stunning,” IDHE Director Nancy Thomas said. “We attribute this high level of participation to many factors, including student activism on issues such as racial injustice, global climate change and voter suppression, as well as increased efforts by educators to reach students and connect them to the issues and to voting resources.”

Honors Day Salutes Student Achievement

Posted on November 5, 2021March 21, 2022

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

Posted on October 21, 2021March 21, 2022

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.”

Intern Sprouts Job Skills, Healthful Food Systems

Posted on October 19, 2021October 30, 2023

Intern Nionni Permelia Works on Food Systems — Nionni Permelia ’22 interned last summer at Zoo City Farm and Food Network.

As an aspiring librarian, Nionni Permelia ’22 knows much of her job one day will involve community engagement.

“You have to know so much about literature, but you have to know so much about your community as well,” said Permelia, an English major from Battle Creek. “People might come in to a library for résumé help or to learn how to print and fax. They also might come in because they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. They might ask, ‘I don’t know where I can go to get fresh food. Can you help me?’ Being a librarian means you have to know a lot about everything around you so you can give people those resources.”

That idea made a Community Building Internship (CBI) this summer an ideal opportunity for her. Permelia was among the K students who worked at local organizations from AACORN Farms to the YWCA of Kalamazoo in CBIs through the Center for Civic Engagement and the Center for Career and Professional Development. The positions, offered each year, last about six to eight weeks, and interns are on the job for 30 to 40 hours a week while earning a stipend.

Permelia worked for Zoo City Farm and Food Network, a nonprofit organization founded and operated by Black women, that centers Black women’s voices and experiences while designing a comprehensive, responsible and sustainable food-industry ecosystem that is beneficial for everyone. In other words, they want everyone to have access to fresh, healthful food regardless of who they are and their economic status.

“Fresh food should be a human right for everyone,” Permelia said.

On a regional level, the organization nurtures food sovereignty by expanding food systems literacy in communities that have little to no education on the food ecosystem, primarily in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. Outside Michigan, Zoo City wants to make its model accessible for communities across the country. While its model is designed with Kalamazoo and Battle Creek in mind, the organization welcomes partnerships with cities around the U.S. that could benefit from initiatives that champion food sovereignty.

“In the inner city of Battle Creek, there are no grocery stores. Battle Creek sits in a food desert,” Permelia said. “My work with Zoo City and their Food and Farm Network helps them create a framework for how places like Battle Creek could eliminate their droughts in food systems.”

Permelia used her writing skills to develop email templates for Zoo City that will allow the organization to approach volunteers about its initiatives and how they can help. One of those initiatives helps farmers and small businesses sell the food they make at a farmer’s market in Kalamazoo.

“Zoo City purchases the booth, and local businesses who might not be able to pay for their own booth take it over,” Permelia said. “The community gets access to fresh food that way, and hopefully, the businesses and farmers will have more people visiting them outside the booth.”

Permelia also performed research for the organization’s Zoo Syndicate, a visual editorial that will show local residents how food is connected to everything.

“I helped them do research on graffiti art and urban interventionism, which are very different to, yet very similar to Zoo City’s core values,” she said. “Graffiti art connects to their initiative of urban farming because it usually happens on vacant property. The idea is that even vacant parking lots can become safe places for neighborhood activities. Instead of figuring out how we can make money off of it by developing houses the neighborhood can’t afford, why not grow food there? It might prevent higher taxes and living costs that make the neighborhood unlivable because people can’t afford it anymore.”

As a result, in addition to the job experience relatable to her future career and the opportunity to be involved in the community, Permelia learned about the administrative roles of people such as Zoo City co-founder Remi Harrington, making the internship beneficial on multiple levels.

“I thought I might be gardening and growing food, but I got to see the admin side of things,” she said. “That inspired me. I saw how people’s ideas to help others can actually come to life. It was amazing to see people like Remi writing all of her plans on a board, before I got to go to a farmer’s market or neighborhood event to see it happen. It was amazing to see it come to fruition.”

She adds, “I’d never worked for an organization owned by Black women before, which is really sad, yet this showed that I could have an opportunity to do it. Getting to see a Black-women led organization helped me to realize that I am also able to bring my writings and ideas to life. Not only that, but it’s possible for me to lead. It’s possible for all Black women to lead and see their imagination become reality. Remi has so many beautiful ideas for Zoo City. I am so happy we all get to witness her work and continue to see her vision unfold.”

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