K to the Pacific Northwest, a virtual series of K-Treks this term, will begin with K to Nike from 3 to 4:30 p.m. this Thursday. All students are welcome to register through Handshake to network with alumni and get to know what it takes to succeed at a global company.
More students than usual will have a chance to participate in three K-Treks this term that will help them network with Kalamazoo College alumni and get to know what it takes to work at global companies such as Nike, Amazon and Starbucks.
K-Treks, offered through the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD), are traditionally career-immersion experiences in which students travel to explore jobs of interest. With virtual experiences this term, cost is not a factor in determining how many students can attend. A more expansive group can be included with all benefiting from enriching opportunities to make meaningful professional connections and get a feel for professional life at a specific business.
The events, collectively called K to the Pacific Northwest this term, begin with K to Nike from 3 to 4:30 p.m. this Thursday. K to Amazon, scheduled for 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, February 11; and K to Starbucks, slated for Thursday, March 4, also are available.
“We tell students that the best path to landing a job or an internship is through one’s network.” CCPD Assistant Director for External Relations Valerie Miller said. “Recruiters might sift through hundreds of resumes for a single job posting, but someone in your network can open doors to unknown companies and opportunities. Even virtually, you can’t beat an opportunity to meet K alumni and expand your network.”
Students may sign up for any or all three of the experiences through Handshake at any time before that event begins. The Kalamazoo College Sport Business Club inspired K to Nike, although any student, regardless of their major, would benefit from attending. K to Nike, for example, will feature five alumni, none of whom majored in business. They are:
Christina Dennaoui ’06, a Service and Experience Design department employee, who majored in religion at K;
Peter Erdahl ’13, a political science major who works with apparel products;
Tobin Ernst ’02, a history major involved in risk management;
Tieneke van Lonkhuyzen ’06, a political science major, who represents sustainability;
Karl Wasmuth ’09, a political science major, who works in government and public affairs.
“Students will learn about the career paths of these successful alumni, what they like about they do, and how they use what they learned at K in their work,” Miller said. “After a panel event with all alumni, students can drop into a breakout session with one of the alums to go deeper and learn about specific career paths.”
Many might think of shoes when they hear the name Nike because the company grew with its founders— including then-University of Oregon track and field coach Bill Bowerman and one of his former students, Phil Knight — when they signed Steve Prefontaine, a young Olympic distance runner, to a footwear-endorsement deal in 1972. Yet the company’s story is much more of a marathon than a sprint as today, nearly 50 years later, it seeks to bring innovation to every athlete through apparel, equipment, accessories and services available for any sport.
“Nike has a unique culture, and they have the most amazing campus,” Miller said. “It’s filled with every sport imaginable. I don’t know many employers that have a swimming pool, basketball courts, athletic fields, running trails and more. In fact, Nike was named one of the happiest companies to work for in 2018. K to Nike is a rare opportunity for a student to learn how to say, ‘hey, look at me,’ to a Nike recruiter.”
Learn more about this term’s K-Treks at the CCPD website.
Hannah Wolfe ’21 (left) and Larkin O’Gorman ’22 explain some of the warmups they pursue with Kalamazoo College’s women’s soccer team. The video is part of a project that is helping Kalamazoo Public Schools students stay active in virtual learning.
Kalamazoo College student-athletes have donated their time during the pandemic by creating a website that gives Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) students a chance to stay active through online videos.
Larkin O’Gorman ’22, the community service director for K’s Student Athletic Advisory Council, brainstormed creating the exercise website that promotes stretching, athletic participation and injury prevention for elementary school children through high school students in videos recorded by representatives of several K sports.
“I have a fifth-grade sister at home and I noticed she was struggling with being active during the pandemic,” said O’Gorman, a women’s soccer and lacrosse student-athlete. “Her gym class wasn’t meeting her standards and she can’t play sports, so I thought it might be cool to have Kalamazoo College athletes come up with things that younger students or even high school students could do while sports were on hold. We talked about it as a group and we came up with the idea of this website to make videos teaching our sports or certain drills to help students stay active.”
Putting an Idea into Action
When she received the council’s approval, O’Gorman began emailing KPS representatives to gauge their interest in a website, and came in contact with Katie Kelly, the district’s lead physical education teacher.
“She was interested and I asked her what they would want from this website,” O’Gorman said. “She had a meeting with the other gym teachers who said they would want shorter videos to keep the students’ attention and things to get them active, like a circuit workout. They gave us some ideas and we ran with it.”
O’Gorman’s fellow K student-athletes were excited to help. For example, Hannah Wolfe ’21, a fellow soccer and lacrosse athlete, helped O’Gorman record two soccer videos, including a warmup consisting of stretching and dynamic movement and a core workout filled with routine exercises they pursue at practices.
“We used an off-brand GoPro, our cell phones and a tripod,” Wolfe said. “The app we used allowed the camera to follow us while we were doing our workout. As we were running back and forth, the camera would rotate. Afterwards, we put together the clips and added the music.”
Exercise Builds Ambition
Jamison Brown Jr. ’22, a linebacker for K’s football team, encourages Kalamazoo Public Schools students to stay active as a way of building their work ethic.
Jamison Brown Jr. ’22, a linebacker from Detroit, saw participating in the videos as an opportunity to be an ambassador for the sport of football while encouraging young people to stay active. In his segment, he discussed how a positive mindset toward exercise or a sport like football can build one’s work ethic. He then demonstrated exercises such as pushups, bodyweight and weighted squats, up-down planks and Russian twists that anyone can do at home without any standard exercise equipment.
“Most days you don’t feel like working out, but you can learn to see it as your job,” Brown said. “If you put yourself in the mindset of getting better, you must go do your job. Football is sometimes like that, too, especially for a college athlete. The more you do it, the better you get. And once you get into your professional career, you might not feel like going to work, but you must do it to be successful.
“I feel that I was very proud to have the opportunity to do it, to give back to the community.”
Exercise Anywhere at Anytime
Ella Knight ’22 demonstrates the exercises she performs with the K women’s tennis team.
While filming at a tennis court, Ella Knight ’22 demonstrated the line jumps, side line jumps and scissors jumps she does with her tennis teammates at practice, yet she stressed that the exercises could be performed just as easily at home using common household items.
“We wanted kids to develop an increased interest in sports and not be on a computer screen so much,” Knight said. “That was our main goal along with taking their minds of the pandemic.”
Respect Precautions
Volleyball teammates MacKenzy Maddock ’22 and Ashley Rill ’23 further showed what can be done without exercise equipment and added some COVID-19 precautions in an abdominal workout outdoors they attempted while socially distanced and wearing masks. The process, Maddock said, was as easy as propping up a phone on a step using a water bottle, while recording and exercising for 20 minutes total.
“For me personally, exercise has been a huge part of my life,” she said. “There are so many studies that show exercise is good for physical and mental health. I use it when I feel overwhelmed. It makes me feel good about myself and my body. That should be available to everyone no matter what equipment they have.”
Enjoy Your Environment
Lily Rogowski ’22 added a voiceover to her video, allowing her to focus on a full-body workout in her demonstrations, which included standing bicycles, plank pushups, Superman extensions, high knees, crunches and shoulder taps. She filmed the video on campus because she remembered how much she enjoyed working out at Oregon State University when she was growing up in Corvallis, Oregon.
“When I was in high school, I thought it was cool to go to the university and run on their track rather than the high school track, so I thought kids might enjoy seeing some of the pretty areas in their town and on our campus,” she said. “I had my iPhone there and just set it up on my jacket, so I filmed some clips and I tried to make it fun. Hopefully, there was a little something in there for everyone.”
Where it Goes From Here
O’Gorman would eventually like to have each K sport represented in at least one video with a growing website that offers more and more content. Perhaps it could even benefit additional schools and involve other college athletics programs.
“When I started, I thought it would be just for KPS, but part of me thinks I should share it with other schools,” she said. “I can definitely see a broader picture and maybe other Division III schools in Michigan and in our league would like to participate and share videos to this website as well.”
View each of the 10 videos currently posted, and submit your feedback and ideas at their website.
Stella Young ’22 was one of five juniors to earn internships this fall through the Center for Career and Professional Development as study abroad was put on hold.
Stella Young, a junior political science major, was just one of the Kalamazoo College students who had planned to study abroad during the 2020-21 academic year. When the pandemic threw a wrench into those plans, she was disappointed.
“Study abroad was one of my deciding factors in coming to K,” she said. “I was supposed to go to Madrid for six months.”
Regardless, K’s Center for Career and Professional Development, along with faculty and staff from around campus, provided a thoughtful alternative. Collectively, they developed a series of internships for 20 juniors, including five who worked through CCPD Assistant Director for External Relations Valerie Miller, giving them practical career experience in addition to a credit-granting class.
“I think the students had phenomenal experiences typical of internships,” Miller said. “They didn’t know what to expect and they had some doubts going in. Then they developed some skills and started to understand the work environment better. By the end, each one of them seemed to feel pretty confident about what they accomplished.”
Alumni Connections Critical
According to Miller, alumni were key in setting up the internships her cohort of students wanted. Young, for example, worked with Rock the Vote, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization that encourages young adults to participate in the election process, which is led by Carolyn DeWitt ’04.
“I wanted to go on study abroad to meet new people and make new connections,” Young said. “I think I did that with this program.”
Young became a valuable asset to her 15 internship colleagues from across the country as she worked on several projects, including one that helped Iowa voters understand issues and where candidates stood on them in Senate races.
“I hopped on projects as staff members needed help,” she said. “I did a lot of research and data entry leading up to the election, and after, I worked with voters who had questions about results. I knew going into this I wanted to work with a nonprofit and this was an opportunity to put what I’ve been learning in the classroom into action. I hope to stay involved as a volunteer because they’re doing really important work.”
Navigating Health Care
Aramide Apo-Oyin ’22, however, independently found her internship serving heart-failure patients through Aurora Advocate Health in Chicago, via a nonprofit patient-support program offered through its hospital.
“The program is basically a volunteer initiative that helps patients and their families navigate the health care system,” she said, adding she commonly helped patients schedule follow-up care, understand their dietary needs and seek the exercise and activity they needed. “It provides them with the literacy they need, and helps navigate any barriers to their care.”
Apo-Oyin noted the program didn’t necessarily have a specific target audience, but it’s easy to spot trends in the health care system when working with people from many backgrounds.
“So even though we don’t say we’re only helping people who have the fewest resources, we often find they’re the people who need our help the most due to language barriers with their care team in the hospital, being uninsured and not knowing how to enroll into government assistance programs like Medicaid or Medicare, and not having a support system at home to help with transportation to appointments and overall support.”
As a result, the transition support program Apo-Oyin represented commonly assisted people without insurance or those who needed more support than just immediate care.
“We have connections and the relationships that can really help us to assist the communities that need our help. This program is about helping the patients heal and live with their diagnosis. I feel like that happens with more than just the medicine and the procedures doctors do. That’s our role and that’s why I chose to go into it.”
A Happy Ending
In moving forward, both students credited the campus partners for creating programs that tied well with their career goals while developing experiences that made their fall term valuable despite the absence of study abroad.
“I definitely want to use these services more in the future,” Young said of Miller and the CCPD. “She was great in finding a position that I really wanted. I would definitely recommend that people go to the CCPD when they want some off-campus experience—it helped broaden our horizons.”CCP
Natalie Barber ’22 was among the 20 juniors who missed out on study abroad this fall because of the pandemic. Instead, she worked in one of the environmental internships made available at the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council. In that position, she researched fresh water mussels like these.
An additional group of students, whose interests could be connected with environmental opportunities, worked with the Center for Environmental Stewardship and Director Sara Stockwood.
“I think it’s been a valuable experience for everyone, even if they didn’t go on study abroad,” Stockwood said of the students who worked for organizations such as the Kalamazoo Watershed Council, the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association and Sarett Nature Center.
The Michigan Lakes and Streams Association was one of three local organizations that helped four Kalamazoo College students earn environmental internships this fall.
“The students I’ve talked to said they’ve wanted to get an internship before, they just weren’t sure how to make it fit in their academic plan,” she said. “But when this class came up it fit well and it matched their class schedule. It was a challenge for them to figure out how to work virtually, and some of them felt a little lost at first, yet they gained the skills they needed to figure it out. I think that will help them in their classes and future jobs, especially if they have virtual components.”
Amanda Dow, a biology major, worked with Melissa DeSimone, the executive director of the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association (MLSA), which is a statewide nonprofit that unites individuals; lake, stream and watershed associations; organizations; and corporations that share an interest the preserving inland lakes and streams for generations to come. Her work experience included writing newsletter articles highlighting the organization’s virtual convention this year, contributing to its printed articles, and reformatting and updating several brochures.
“I have a background in writing so this was a good chance for me to practice in different mediums,” Dow said. “I wrote a review of the convention sessions along with a biography of myself for the newsletter. They also come out with a newspaper and the biggest chunk of my internship went to updating and reformatting their brochures. It helped a lot that when I first got there I could choose what I wanted to do.”
Asylum Lake served as a socially-distanced meeting point for Amanda Dow ’22 and Melissa DeSimone, the executive director of the Michigan Lakes and Streams Association, as Dow served in a virtual internship.
Andrew Wright, a German and biology major, said he felt a little directionless with where he wanted to apply his majors professionally after graduation, until he interned with the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council. The organization aims to protect, preserve and promote the Kalamazoo River and its tributaries for current area residents and future generations.
“Through developing a new interactive digital dashboard with the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council members, my work will help users see the different types of chemical contaminants in the Kalamazoo area and how they affect the types of fish here,” Wright said. “Following the motto of the Watershed, we want to make that information as accessible as possible so people can learn how their communities’ ecosystems have been impacted. The Kalamazoo River has unfortunately suffered its fair share of PCB runoff from paper mills and oil spills, and we want to create ways for people to be knowledgeable and be mindful of how we affect our surrounding environments.”
Natalie Barber, a biology major and psychology minor, joined Wright in working for the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council. She researched fresh water mussels, which filter small organic particles such as bacteria and algae out of lakes and streams, naturally purifying them. Part of that environmental research involved interviewing Daelyn Woolnough, a Central Michigan University biology faculty member and freshwater mussels expert, leading to website content and social media posts for the watershed council.
Asylum Lake in Kalamazoo served as a socially-distanced meeting point for Amanda Dow ’22 and her internship supervisor this fall.
With K’s academic schedule, it was important to Barber that she could undertake the internship as a part of her term and she hopes more students at the College will have the same opportunity.
“It’s important we know the effects of global warming and climate change and how they threaten mussels,” Barber said. “We especially have those threats in Kalamazoo because we had the paper mills that put all the PCBs in the water, plus we had the 2010 oil spill. Just knowing about those bigger issues, and also the lesser-known issues like invasive species, which is a big deal to freshwater mussels. Things the general public might not realize are such a big deal like moving boats from lake to lake without cleaning them, that’s important information we should share so we can protect the organisms within our areas. I felt like I was doing something positive toward my career goals. I think these internships should be offered every term because I thought mine was that useful.”
To conclude the class and their environmental internships, each student provided a final visual presentation with screenshots and pictures from their projects. Stockwood said students each had about three minutes to present what they did, what they learned and why it matters.
“They took it very seriously and it was fun because the students didn’t fully know what everybody else was doing,” she said. “They found a lot of similarities in their experiences over time with being lost in the beginning, independently working and having some ownership by the second half of their projects. I hope something like this will continue. It’s important to recognize that it’s not study abroad, but I think the experience was valuable, and I think the students feel it was valuable, too.”
Kalamazoo College students in the Principles of Marketing class this fall worked virtually with small businesses to boost their marketing plans during the pandemic.
With small businesses struggling in 2020, some Kalamazoo College business students accepted a call to build ideas that could help entrepreneurs locally and beyond.
L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan challenged her Principles of Marketing class in the fall term to create real-life, actionable business plans that could assist business owners in persevering and even growing through the pandemic.
“I was hoping to create a new experience that was right for this particular time, recognizing that the world is just not the same right now,” MacMillan said. Teams of students were randomly assigned to small businesses, some with whom they had existing relationships, and others they were getting to know for the first time. Yet this is the first time one of MacMillan’s classes worked virtually to help several businesses at once.
“Sometimes we’ll pick one business and we’ll have different teams competing against each other,” she said. “It just felt like this moment was right for collaboration.” To re-enforce this, she named the project “PandemiK Partnerships.”
Ultimately, students—sometimes meeting remotely across continents—came up with recommendations that could help the businesses grow and presented those recommendations in a 25-minute Zoom meeting with the business leaders to conclude the course. Here are a few stories of their success.
Energetic Soul
Vanessa Vigier ’21, a business and international area studies major from West Bloomfield, Michigan, recommended that MacMillan approve her group’s idea to work with Energetic Soul, a business near Detroit that’s close to Vigier’s heart and identity.
“Energetic Soul is a dance studio that focuses on Afro-Cuban dance, movement and fitness,” she said, adding that she and her mom have participated in classes there before. “I’m actually of Afro-Cuban origin, so when I discovered this studio, I thought it was perfect. I was super excited when we were approved to work with them because I’ve always wanted to see it expanded to people my age.”
That idea to recruit younger clientele sparked Vigier and her group, gathering virtually from as far away as Vietnam, toward surveying young adults regarding what might prompt them to attend a dance class. They also outlined concepts for Instagram advertising and analyzed price models that could allow college students to attend.
“It seemed like most of the people we surveyed wanted to have a social experience that would allow them to have fun,” Vigier said. “We used that to create a plan of conducting individual group bonding sessions for student organizations, sports teams, Greek-letter organizations and dance teams. We felt the more Energetic Soul did these group bonding sessions, the more people would get a good taste of it and continue.”
Sure enough, even a few in Vigier’s group admitted they weren’t thrilled with the idea of attending dance classes themselves before developing their plan, but that soon changed.
“By the end, they were interested in taking a class,” Vigier said. “For me, it was exciting because I really want people to try it, and the more people can learn about the business in unexpected ways, the more we can grow Cuban dance and make it more popular.”
Honore Salon
Joshua Pamintuan ’22, a business major from California, said he was a little intimidated to hear of a project like this one during a term in virtual learning.
“I was a little hesitant because I’ve never done anything so real-life oriented, where I’m actually working with someone or a company outside of school,” he said. “Projects have been theoretical, but nothing had been quite so hands-on.”
Yet his team of students found a valuable experience working with Honore Salon, a team of stylists offering haircuts, styling, hair coloring, wax treatments and extensions in downtown Kalamazoo.
“Honore Salon has a great team of staff and stylists,” Pamintuan said. “It seems customers are very loyal and they’re family oriented. That makes them successful with the community and the customers they have.”
With weekly meetings, Pamintuan and his team developed a plan to highlight those characteristics through social media. Surveys revealed Honore Salon customers typically use Facebook and Instagram, which could be used to develop repeat business.
“Our big objective for them is to increase comfortability with customers returning to their salon and building their social media presence through Facebook and Instagram,” he said. “To fulfill those objectives, we recommended creating a COVID-walkthrough video so clients could see Honore is taking the right steps to ensure that safety is a priority. We also recommended turning their social media profiles into business accounts so they can gain analytics about who their followers are and better tailor the content they post, making it more personal. We want to see content that helps customers get to know their stylists, and content that is very digestible about their products.”
A final presentation to the business included a video with a short skit of a business walk-through, slides and templates making social media content easier to create, and advice regarding data analytics to measure their success.
“The technical skills I gained from this experience—like coming up with a business proposal, collecting and analyzing data, and learning how to give a professional presentation—will help when I transition into the business world,” Pamintuan said.
Jaded CBD
Alexis Petty ’23, a business and psychology double major from Otsego, Michigan, made her project a family affair by working with her peers on her sister’s business, Jaded CBD in New York City.
That, however, didn’t mean that coming up with a marketing plan for the business was easy. CBD oil is a product of a cannabis plant. It’s different than THC and creates no high, but the Food and Drug Administration regulates what businesses can say about such products.
“You have to be careful and disciplined with what you say and the claims you make,” Petty said. “So much of the advertising for CBD oil is through personal stories using social media channels and social media influencers. It’s non-addictive and there’s no high. You don’t get overly drowsy, and it’s an anti-inflammatory that can help relieve stress and provide a better night’s sleep, although you can’t necessarily make these claims on social media.”
Petty and her group limited their talking points to CBD oil being non-GMO, vegan, cruelty-free, lab tested and safe for a consumer’s body, although a survey of Jaded CBD clients nurtured other ideas for the business including a subscription plan for clients and a new product.
“Right now, they only have a bigger bottle with 30 milliliters,” she said. “We implemented what we found in the survey by recommending a bottle being available at a third of the size for a third of the price.”
Jaded CBD is in the process of implementing the smaller size, along with some advertising concepts recommended by Petty and her partners, and a chewable product of the business’s own development. Despite some challenges, including one group member being in China this term and another consistently traveling between Chicago and Kalamazoo, Petty and her partners received positive feedback.
“Marketing is definitely an attractive field,” Petty said. “I was blessed with the group we had and I was happy to work with a small business to develop it.”
Bilbo’s Pizza
Mackenzie Maiorano ’22, a business major from Commerce Township, Michigan, approached MacMillan about allowing her group to work with Maiorano’s employer, Bilbo’s Pizza. The Kalamazoo restaurant is known for handmade pizzas and craft beer, and is named for the character in J.R.R. Tolkien books.
“I was nervous about working with the place where I’m employed,” Maiorano said. “I didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. It was kind of intimidating at first. But when we started talking with the team, it was easier than I anticipated.”
Her group made three primary recommendations to her manager including revamping the business’s social media presence toward more frequent and personal posts, re-centering its marketing messages toward college-age students, and conducting a College Night at the restaurant. Restaurant closures forced by the pandemic have paused efforts to implement those suggestions, although Maiorano is ready to recommend that she serve as a social media intern for Bilbo’s when it reopens.
“I think this project was intended to benefit the community by helping college students and helping Bilbo’s get more business,” she said. “When I talked to people about my project, they said, ‘we love Bilbo’s and we’d love to see them get more business.’ We’re hoping after they reopen and we do the College Night, we’ll have a spike in the sales from having more college students go. The manager loved our ideas and I think we impressed him. He wanted me to present it to everyone who works there. I told him that’s kind of scary, but I can do that.”
Roche Collection Winery
Baylee Bacheller ’22, a business and history major from Constantine, Michigan, overcame some early hesitation with her group to create a plan for Roche Collection Winery.
“I definitely thought this class would be more about reading text books and lectures,” Bacheller said. When Professor MacMillan told us we’d be in groups, it was kind of scary, but it quickly turned into something really cool. It was exciting.”
The winery is in the process of opening a tasting room in downtown Kalamazoo. The business’s website says it develops contemporary, delicious and luxury Michigan wine collections.
“Our objective was to try to bring exposure to the tasting room and making it an environment where customers feel welcome,” Bacheller said. “We have recommended they do Facebook advertising so she could hone in on target audiences with different demographics, a billboard in Kalamazoo, and specialty nights that target women age 30 to 50. The one we were really suggesting was Ladies’ Nights.”
The business was receptive to the survey students conducted through people in the Kalamazoo area, who could be prospective clients. The winery could have some stiff competition, although the students were able to help develop a plan for it.
“We’ll see how the tasting room opening goes,” she said. “We were able to make a really good connection with the owner and she was receptive to our ideas. Hopefully, we can find out whether she was successful. What sets the Roche Collection and the tasting room apart is the warm atmosphere and welcoming environment. The new tasting room will have table-top seating and a warm, welcoming environment for all ages.”
In the end, the class helped Bacheller change her mind regarding a possible future in marketing.
“I wasn’t a fan of marketing coming into the class, but this is something I learned to like,” she said. “I really enjoyed this project and it helped me see the value for what it is,” she said. “I felt even if just one singular sentence we said helped the business, it was worth it to me.”
Intentional Yoga
When the opportunity to nurture a small business in the Principles of Marketing class came along, Jake Nugent ’22 was excited to recommend Intentional Yoga of Kalamazoo to Professor MacMillan and his work group. He’s a client there himself.
“They’re very community oriented and it’s a place where I thrive,” he said. “I’m all about bringing people together and they have aspects of what I really value in life. Yoga is very grounding to me. Whenever I’m super stressed, it’s where I go to be present in the moment.”
The business specializes in hot yoga, which takes place in a 100-degree room that enhances sweating. Before the pandemic, Intentional Yoga conducted several 60- to 75-minute group sessions per week with a broad clientele, ranging from college students to seniors. It now conducts online sessions with in-person group exercise classes being suspended in Michigan.
After meeting with a co-owner, Nugent and his group went to work on making recommendations for Intentional Yoga’s email marketing and outreach to college students.
“We made a survey that we sent to current clientele,” Nugent said. “We learned they needed to be more personable with their email, so we gave them the idea of including a 30-second video with a class instructor in each email. We also thought they could do a monthly destress week with an online class that college students could attend online for free.”
With a loyal customer base maintaining their memberships throughout the pandemic, the business is on solid footing, yet eager to implement the recommendations Nugent and his team made to emphasize that yoga is for everybody. Nugent found that news, and the class itself for that matter, to be rewarding.
“If you go into marketing, this is something you would have to do,” Nugent said. “That’s something I really value in a class. I’m good at reading books, but that doesn’t really drive me. I would say this project took a lot of people out of their comfort zone and it drove me to find answers for this business. I looked at this not just as a project, but as something I could keep doing in the future.”
Meaningful Experience
As students worked with businesses virtually to develop their plans, the experience in many ways reflected the new reality many professionals are facing with increased telework and new ways of communicating across organizational and geographical boundaries. It also provided an opportunity to support small businesses in a meaningful way. “With virtual teaching, I wanted to create something that had real meaning for us, and also something that could help us feel good about what we’re doing,” MacMillan said.
Helping students develop their skills and build confidence in their own abilities was another important outcome of the course.
“I feel like a coach, trying to bring out the best in people. You want students to bring their experiences to life, and you want them to believe in themselves and believe in their ability to present confidently, to tackle a problem strategically,” MacMillan said.
Congrats to the students, who achieved a GPA of 3.5 or better for a full-time course load without failing or withdrawing from a course, in fall 2020.
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 2020 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.
Shannon Abbott
Elizabeth Abel
Jeztrelle Abella
Morgan Acord
Antelma Acosta
Karina Aguilar
Zishawn Aijaz
Kelley Akerley
Shahriar Ahmad Akhavan Tafti
Hashim Akhtar
Jazzmyn Albarran
Lana Alvey
Larkin Anderson
Mia Andrews
Samuel Ankley
Cameron Arens
Katrina Arriola
Avani Ashtekar
Joshua Atwell
Brooklyn Avery
Luis Ayala Pena
B
Baylee Bacheller
Tolkien Bagchi
Annalise Bailey
Chloe Baker
Lindsey Baker
McKenzi Baker
Revaz Bakuradze
Elizabeth Ballinger
Angel Banuelos
Natalie Barber
Madison Barch
Faith Barnett
Abigail Barnum
Aleksandra Bartolik
Elena Basso
Jenna Beach
Jane Bentley
Cassandra Bergen
Owen Bersot
Meghan Best
Jonah Beurkens
Maryam Rafiah Beverly
Julia Bienstock
Anna Binkley
Daniel Black
Katherine Black
Nora Blanchard
Lizbeth Blas-Rangel
Rose Bogard
Maximilian Bogun
Lukas Bolton
Michael Bond
Zachary Borden
Luke Bormann
Alexander Bowden
Holly Bowling
Haylee Bowsher
Austin Bresnahan
Jack Brockhaus
Jamison Brown
Irie Browne
Anna Budnick
Marilu Bueno
Thomas Buffin
Autumn Buhl
Elizabeth Burton
Lauren Bussell
Ruth Butters
C
Abigail Cadieux
Natalie Call
Jacob Callaghan
Kevin Cano-Santillanes
Vanessa Cardenas
John Carlson
Kayla Carlson
Eleanor Carr
Raekwon Castelow
Richard Castro Nunez
Clare Catallo-Werner
Iris Chalk
Rebecca Chan
Jacob Chantres
Connor Charamella
Kit Charlton
Emily Cheng
Isabel Chiang
Lance Choe
Gabriel Chung
Hannah Clark
Madeleine Coffman
Nicholas Cohee
Gabriel Coleman
Sedona Coleman
Louise Colin Sloman
Melissa Congote
Rowan Cook
Thomas Cook
Indigo Corvidae
Gerald Coyne
Haley Crabbs
Violet Crampton
Abigail Crocker
Lauren Crossman
Cara Cunningham
Emma Curcuru
D
Gabrielle Daane
Nicholas Dailey
Shayla Dailey
Jessica Dant
Riley Davis
Claire de Vries
Kiernan Dean-Hall
Emmelyn DeConinck
Julia Degazio
Julia Del Olmo Parrado
Sarah Densham
Olivia Depauli
Vincent DeSanto
Nolan Devine
Christopher DeVito
Eva Deyoung
Katerina Deyoung
Sofia Diaz
Melissa Diaz Cabrera
Abigail Dickstein
Rachel Dobb
Mallory Dolorfino
Marissa Dolorfino
Riley Dominianni
Susan Dong
Amanda Dow
Sydney Dowdell
Ryan Drew
Dylan Drier
Caitlin Drouse
Gabriel Dunbar
Gina Dvorin
E
Helen Edwards
Nathanael Ehmann
Meghan Eilenfield
Carter Eisenbach
Bradley Ekonen
Jayla Ekwegh
Sara Elfring
Noah Ellinger
Sara English
Claudia Escalante
Stacy Escobar
Gabrielle Evans
Sam Ewald
F
Daniel Fahle
Olivia Fairbank
homas Fales
Jazmyne Fannings
Colton Farley
Greta Farley
Andreas Fathalla
Emma Fergusson
Anna Fetter
Samuel File
Ava Fischer
Morgan Fischer
Mabel Fitzpatrick
Gwendolyn Flatland
Payton Fleming
Brianna Flinkingshelt
Faith Flinkingshelt
Daniel Flores
Benjamin Flotemersch
Matthew Ford
Clifton Foster
Talea Fournier
Caelan Frazier
Grace Frazier
Allison Frey
Hana Frisch
Nathaniel Fuller
Tristan Fuller
G
Aide Gaitan
Nikhil Gandikota
Kaitlin Gandy
Aliza Garcia
Ana Garcia
Destiny Garcia
Brynna Garden
Camden Gardner
Grace Garver
Lena Gerstle
Farah Ghazal
Johanna Ghazal
Griffin Gheen
Levon Gibson
Katie Gierlach
Aidan Gillig
Hannah Ginsberg
Francesco Giusseppe-Soto
Gabriela Gomez
Madison Goodman
Jessica Gougeon
Jessica Gracik
Ryan Graves
Donovan Greene
Mya Grewal
Timothy Grobosky
Natalie Gross
Victor Guerra Lopez
Garrett Guglielmetti
Mauricio Guillen
Zoe Gurney
H
Sophia Haas
Yoichi Haga
Emma Hahn
Emily Haigh
Rebekah Halley
Grace Hancock
Ryan Hanifan
Garrett Hanson
Madeline Harding
Eleanor Harris
Lucy Hart
Meaghan Hartman
Isabelle Hawkes
Jiniku Hayashi
Katherine Haywood
Wallis Hechler
Savannah Heeringa
Caleb Henning
Amelia Hensler
McKenna Hepler
Angela Hernandez
Sam Hoag
Bijou Hoehle
Thomas Hole
Fiona Holmes
Julia Holt
Benjamin Homminga
Hannah Hong
Tyler Horky
Cole Horman
Hazel Houghton
Addissyn House
Sharon Huang
Micah Hudgins-Lopez
Samuel Hughes
Audrey Huizenga
Lukas Hultberg
Michael Hume
Joy Hunziker
Ian Hurley
Madelaine Hurley
Benjamin Hyndman
I
Juan Ibarra
Carolyn Ingram
J
Denise Jackson
Nicholas Jackson
Julia Jeong
John Jesko
Ashani Jewell
Deepa Jha
Jonathan Jiang
Maricruz Jimenez-Mora
Benjamin Johanski
Aaron Johnson
Ryan Johnson
Ann Marie Johnston
Ellie Jones
Tytiana Jones
Daniel Jordan
Joseph Jung
K
Isaac Kaczor
Leo Kaplan
Amani Karim
Timothy Karubas
Maria Kasperek
Lucas Kastran
Ava Keller
Will Keller
Ella Kelly
Blake Kelsey
Samuel Kendrick
David Kent
Anum Khan
Mahum Khan
Hunter Kiesling
Jackson Kiino-Terburg
Dahwi Kim
Lily Kindle
Mikayla Kindler
Kaylee Kipfmueller
Isabella Kirchgessner
Lena Klemm
Steven Kloosterman
Ella Knight
Rhys Koellmann
Molly Kohl
Anexy Koizumi
Melody Kondoff
Maxine Koos
Christian Kraft
Grace Kraft
Matthew Kralick
Brandon Kramer
Benjamin Krebs
Nikolas Krupka
Kieya Kubert-Davis
Celia Kuch
Karlee Kulp
Koshiro Kuroda
Claire Kvande
L
Margaret LaFramboise
Sophia Lajiness
Caroline Lamb
Samantha Lamrock
Levid Lara
Angel Ledesma
Juanita Ledesma
Dillon Lee
Julia Leet
Jack Leisenring
Alejandra Lemus
Sydney Lenzini
Ginamarie Lester
Kelsey Letchworth
Kathryn Levasseur
Marissa Lewinski
Donna Li
Thomas Lichtenberg
William Linehan
Jiazhen Liu
Mengzhuo Liu
Sichun Liu
Alvaro Lopez Gutierrez
Ellie Lotterman
Adele Loubieres
Jack Loveland
Teresa Lucas
Nicholas Lucking
M
Selina Ma
Tristen Mabin
MacKenzy Maddock
Samantha Major
Angela Mammel
Brett Manski
Joshua Martin
Daniel Martinez
Michelle Martinez
Clara Martinez-Voigt
Harshpreet Matharu
Kanase Matsuzaki
Lillian Mattern
Claire McCall
Alexia McColl
Lauren McColley
Molly McGrath
Lucas McGraw
Maygan McGuire
Grace McKnight
Isabel McLaughlin
Keelin McManus
Abbey McMillian
Crystal Mendoza
Eva Metro-Roland
Riley Metzler
Luke Middlebrook
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage
Dylan Milton
Camille Misra
Rebecca Mitchell
Caleb Mitchell-Ward
Lina Moghrabi
Brooklyn Mohr
Aleksandr Molchagin
Rachel Molho
Ariana Moore
Dominic Moore
Ryan Morgan
Isabel Morillo
Lucy Morison
Amanda Morrison
Samantha Moss
Arein Motan
Phumuzile Moyo
Elliot Mrak
Fadi Muallem
Matthew Mueller
Ezekiel Mulder
Anna Murphy
Erin Murphy
Madison Murphy
N
Yukiko Nakano
Blagoja Naskovski
Mihail Naskovski
Maya Nathwani
Karla Navarro
Lindsey Nedd
Abigail Nelson
Alexis Nesbitt
Elizabeth Nestle
Sudhanva Neti
Sang Nguyen
Char Nieberding
Dustin Noble
Joanna Nonato
Alyssa Norman
Maeve Novotny
Kendall Nuffer
Rohan Nuthalapati
Ella Palacios
Joshua Pamintuan
Tara Parkman
Jenna Paterob
Anne-Kearney Patton
Grace Patton
Paul Pavliscak
Calder Pellerin
Natalia Pena Ochoa
Anthony Peraza
Scarleth Perez
Nionni Permelia
Scott Peters
Alexis Petty
Lam Phuong Le
Sheyla Pichal
Sydney Pickell
Noah Piercy
Megan Ploucha
Harrison Poeszat
Katherine Polasek
Karen Portillo
Noah Prentice
Isaac Presberg
Doug Propson
Mason Purdy
Q
Daniel Qin
Yilan Qiu
Abdullah Qureshi
R
Elle Ragan
Savera Rajendra-Nicolucci
Lafern Ramon
Roman Ramos
Samantha Ramser
Dominic Rascon-Powell
Abby Rawlings
Clarice Ray
Kelli Rexroad
Maya Richardson
Luke Richert
Mya Richter
Jackson Riggle
Kate Roberts
Xochitl Robertson
Kaitlyn Robinson
Reyna Rodriguez
Samantha Rodriguez
Lily Rogowski
Brynn Rohde
Joshua Roman
Clay Rosema
Alec Rosenbaum
Elizabeth Rottenberk
Jacob Roubein
Matia Rourke
Sofia Rowland
Tabitha Rowland
Angela Ruiz
Jacob Ryan
S
Tyler Sakalys-Moore
Sydney Salgado
Bobby Samples
Hannia Sanchez-Alvarado
Ethan Sandusky
Marco Savone
D.J. Schneider
Lia Schroeder
Madeline Schroeder
Beth Schulman
Kaitlyn Schultz
Hannah Schurman
Camille Schuster
Vivian Segovia-Perez
Ruby Seiwerath
Delores Shackelford
Isabella Shansky-Genovese
William Shaw
Steven Shelton
Austin Shepherd
Cassidy Short
Julia Showich
Emma Sidor
Elizabeth Silber
Xavier Silva
Samantha Silverman
Manveer Singh
Sophia Sjogren
Caroline Skalla
Kyle Skiver
Pieter Slager
Asia Smith
Curtis Smith
Emma Smolek
Benjamin So
Ariana Soderberg
Allison Sokacz
Hanis Sommerville
Erin Somsel
Larissa Soto
Quinn Springsteen
Camran Stack
Abby Stewart
Emma Stickley
Alex Stolberg
Kate Stover
Matthew Swarthout
Keegan Sweeney
Thomas Sylvester
Brandon Sysol
Ella Szczublewski
T
Samuel Tagget
Rina Talaba
Claire Tallio
Saudia Tate
Nicole Taylor
Emily Tenniswood
Olivia Tessin
Omar Thaj
Suja Thakali
Abhi Thakur
Kaia Thomas
Cade Thune
Jayden Thurmond-Oliver
Rojina Timsina
Leah Todd
Maria Tolentino Guzman
Syeda Tooba
Derik Torres
Jakob Torzewski
Samantha Toth
James Totten
Jonathan Townley
Caitlin Tremewan
Danielle Treyger
Frances Trimble
Maria Tripodis
Blue Truong
MiaFlora Tucci
May Tun
Oliver Tye
U
Zachary Ufkes
Chilotam Urama
Ifeoma Uwaje
V
Alexis Valdes
Christopher Van Alstine
Emma Van Houten
Brianne Vanderbilt
Hope Vanzo-Sparks
Anna Varitek
Miriam Velasquez
Naomi Verne
Gabriel Vidinas
America Vilchis
Mirella Villani
Diego Viramontes
Lucille Voss
Dat Vu
W
Carter Wade
Ava Wagle
Megan Walczak
Caleb Waldmiller
Elle Waldron
Barnaby Walsh
Madison Walther
Gabrielle Walton Schwartz
Elizabeth Wang
Claire Ward
Jacob Waun
Margaret Wedge
Zhi Wee
Elias Wennen
Trevor Whipple
Ryley White
Samantha White
Andrew Widger
Lee Wilkinson
Katelyn Williams
Megan Williams
Skai Williams
Tariq Williams
Hannah Willit
Jordyn Wilson
Riley Wilson
Ryan Witczak
Madelyn Wojcik
Hannah Wolfe
Olivia Wolfe
Mikki Wong
Zachary Worthing
Lydia Wright
X
Y
Tony Yazbeck
Shusei Yokota
Elyse Yost
Stella Young
Mikayla Youngman
Hillary Yousif
Z
Kaylin Zajac
Nikan Zandi Atashbar
Zoe Zawacki
Camryn Zdziarski
Jacob Zeller
Alyssa Zino
Nathaniel Zona
Margaret Zorn
Julia Bienstock (from left), Ella Knight and Addissyn House worked in international internships this term, writing articles for a university’s publication in Spain. One of the articles provided Spanish students with an American view of the Black Lives Matter movement.
When study abroad stayed on pause this fall, Kalamazoo College faculty and staff got creative. In a short period of time, they developed positive, educational experiences for many of the juniors who expected to spend time in another country, showing the strength of the College’s relationships with its external partners.
“Our challenge partly was to identify what students could do to engage with our international partners and folks off campus, but the question was what that would look like,” Center for International Programs Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft said. “It took working with our partners to see what would be possible.”
Five of those juniors, in fact, still had a chance to learn about another culture in working at virtual international internships with K partners overseas. Addissyn House, Ella Knight and Julia Bienstock are working with the Universidad de Extremadura in Cáceres, Spain, writing articles on current events from a U.S. perspective; and Reyna Rodriguez and Maricruz Jimenez-Mora are teaching English as a second language to people in San Jose, Costa Rica.
‘The Perfect Internship’
For House, Knight and Bienstock, this meant working virtually on a weekly basis with Gemma Delicado, an associate dean and study abroad director, on producing articles for the December issue of Vice Versa, a publication from the Universidad de Extremadura Humanities College, similar to an academic journal.
“A lot of students come to K because of study abroad,” Bienstock said. “It’s a big part of the K-Plan. It was disappointing not to study abroad. However, getting this internship opportunity was a positive thing because we’re going to have to navigate this pandemic for a while, which made the experience really powerful.”
Wiedenhoeft compared their experience to a virtual version of the integrated cultural research project (ICRP) that students would normally write while reflecting on their study abroad experience. House described it as the perfect internship for her.
“My goal was to immerse myself in Spanish, which was what I intended to do on study abroad, and I think we’ve done that to the best of our abilities,” House said. “We’re learning to read and write Spanish at a different level than what we could in school. It’s especially different because we’re online and collaborating a lot more. We can see where Gemma’s making edits, and she can explain why she makes them. I didn’t know that would come out of this experience.”
The topics the students write about include current events such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the U.S. presidential election, and the virtual format helps them understand such events from a Spanish perspective. The takeaway remains a cultural immersion that most interns elsewhere will never receive.
“It was disappointing not to study abroad, but this has been enriching in other ways,” Knight said. “It shows that no matter what happens, there’s hope that another opportunity will come along. I hadn’t written articles like this before for a Spanish audience and I’m learning new ways to talk about and teach culture.”
‘I See Myself in These Students’
For Rodriguez and Jimenez-Mora, an international internship meant teaching English to Costa Rican high school students.
K’s study abroad program has connections to Skills for Life, a Costa Rican government initiative targeting bilingualism among citizens for the sake of higher education and better employment. Within that program, Project Boomerang—a reference to volunteers giving back—helps high school students expand their English skills.
Rodriguez was excited for her chance to volunteer through her internship because she struggled to learn English as a child after moving to the Chicago area from Mexico.
“I came home crying because I couldn’t understand my teacher because she seemed to be speaking English so fast,” she said. “I see myself in these students. I know if they’re passionate enough, they’ll be able to succeed. I love the concept of the program because it means I’m giving back.”
Rodriguez typically teaches virtual classes of one to six students three times a week. The students have studied English for at least four years and can read it and write it well. Some even study additional languages. The program, though, provides the students with a stipend as they build their conversation skills on topics such as ice breakers, feelings, cuisine, culture and traditions.
Her fellow volunteers are from countries such as Korea, Brazil and the Netherlands. They all know at least some Spanish, and she and Jimenez-Mora speak it fluently.
“I think students really appreciate that we can speak Spanish because they’re able to ask questions in Spanish if necessary,” she said. “English can be difficult. The context you use and the conjugation can sometimes trip them up.”
Rodriguez has prior experience with teaching as a third-grade language arts assistant at El Sol Elementary in Kalamazoo through CCE. She doesn’t expect to pursue teaching professionally, although the internship has helped her build other job-related skills and she’s grateful for them.
“When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “As I’ve seen it growing up, teaching has been a passion. I don’t think it will be a career path, but this helps me see it will be something I pursue in my own time. Professionally, I’ve been able to communicate better with people just by learning how to say things differently. My time management has improved, and I think my creativity has improved as I’ve made my lesson plans and shifted them from elementary to high school students.”
Setbacks Create Opportunities
Although less than ideal with the pandemic, these opportunities have shown that K can channel its relationships abroad to create further opportunities for these students and others.
“It was our relationships with our international partners that really factored into our ability to develop this programming for students,” Wiedenhoeft said. “We try very seriously to nurture these relationships and these internships are the fruit of that. I think these students have demonstrated an ability to adapt to ambiguity and manage understanding how expectations can change, and can change based on a cultural perspective.”
Kaitlyn Dexter ’22 served the City of Duluth in Minnesota as an intern who assisted with presidential election-related jobs, enabling thousands to vote.
Kaitlyn Dexter ’22 has fond childhood memories of going to the polls with her dad on past election days in Duluth, Minnesota. She would even get a chance to fill out a children’s sample ballot and receive an “I voted” sticker.
“Voting was always a normal thing to me,” she said. “Then I remember having our first Black president. That was a big deal to me even though I was only about 8 years old. Then we had a woman on a major ticket. These were important steps that developed my interest in politics.”
Fast forward to 2020 and Dexter, a junior at Kalamazoo College, continues building on that interest while empowering others to vote. She’s a political science major and worked this term as a virtual engagement assistant for K Votes, a non-partisan coalition that informs students, faculty and staff about participating in elections. Also, in prior years, she was a volunteer for K Votes.
Dexter credits people such as Emily Kowey ’17, who oversees K Votes for the College’s Center for Civic Engagement, and her fellow students for boosting voter participation at K.
“We know that voting is not the only way to get things done but it is a really important way,” Dexter said. “I think that we’ve done a good job making it more accessible, especially for students.”
As a result, when Dexter set her sights on securing an internship recently, she approached the City of Duluth about possible roles she could play related to the presidential election.
“When I talked to them, they didn’t have an internship set up, and they weren’t sure they wanted to take the time to do so,” Dexter said. “Then, the pandemic hit.”
The pandemic left Duluth, a city of more than 85,000 people and about 50,000 registered voters, with no doubt that it would need help managing requests for absentee ballots and handling the ballots themselves. Plus, Dexter knew she would be in her hometown as absentee ballots were received and on November 3 for the general election with the fall term at K being virtual.
Dexter and Duluth city officials sensed an opportunity.
“I think they saw that it would be helpful for them to have another person and then helpful for me to have firsthand experience,” Dexter said.
Ultimately, Dexter spent six to seven hours a day sending out thousands of packets that allowed registered voters to apply for an absentee ballot. After Duluth received about 26,000 absentee ballot requests, she helped respond to the demand by mailing the ballots themselves. Receiving them back involved checking numbers and signatures on personal identification envelopes.
Two weeks before the election, Minnesota officials could start counting ballots. At that time and through Election Day, Dexter helped open the ballots and send them to the St. Louis County Courthouse, where votes officially were counted. This made her an important part of the 2020 presidential election for the people of her hometown. Now, as states certify their election results, remember the village of employees and volunteers—including Dexter—who braved the pandemic’s dangers to ensure each vote would be counted.
“When the pandemic hit, I didn’t want to put myself at risk, but I wanted to do as much as I could to help,” Dexter said. “I knew that at City Hall they would have COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing, so this was a way to safely help. It was the best way that I could make a difference.
“Voting is an avenue we have to make things better in society. It was exciting to see the inside of what goes on in the government at the local level and witness the process.”
Kalamazoo College recognized outstanding achievements by its students Friday with the annual Honors Day Convocation.
More than 250 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. Watch the recorded event at our website.
FINE ARTS DIVISION
Brian Gougeon Prize in Art
Awarded to a sophomore student who, during his or her first year, exhibited outstanding achievement and potential in art.
Elena Basso
Nicole Taylor
Camryn Zdziarski-West
Margaret Upton Prize in Music
Provided by the Women’s Council of Kalamazoo College and awarded each year to a student designated by the Music Department Faculty as having made significant achievement in music.
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage
Cooper Award
For a junior or senior showing excellence in a piece of creative work in a Theatre Arts class: film, acting, design, stagecraft, puppetry or speech.
Jonathan Townley
Sherwood Prize
Given for the best oral presentation in a speech-oriented class.
Sedona Coleman
Cameo Green
Theatre Arts First-Year Student Award
Given to a sophomore for outstanding departmental efforts during the first year.
Milan Levy
MODERN AND CLASSICAL LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES DIVISION
LeGrand Copley Prize in French
Awarded to the sophomore who as a first-year student demonstrated the greatest achievement in French.
Tristan Fuller
Claire Kvande
Hardy Fuchs Award
Given for excellence in first-year German.
Ben Flotemersch
Elizabeth Wang
Margo Light Award
Given for excellence in second-or third-year German.
Ellie Lotterman
Noah Prentice
Romance Languages Department Prize in Spanish
Awarded for excellence in the first year in Spanish.
Emma Sidor
MiaFlora Tucci
Clara H. Buckley Prize for Excellence in Latin
Awarded to an outstanding student of the language of the ancient Romans.
Sydney Patton
Provost’s Prize in Classics
Awarded to that student who writes the best essay on a classical subject.
Jane Delmonico
Classics Department Prize in Greek
Awarded to the outstanding student of the language of classical Greece.
Nick Wilson
HUMANITIES DIVISION
Allen Prize in English
Given for the best essay written by a member of the first-year class.
Shanon Brown
John B. Wickstrom Prize in History
Awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in history.
Helen Edwards
Sam Kendrick
Department of Philosophy Prize
Awarded for excellence in any year’s work in philosophy.
Julia Bienstock
Emma Fergusson
Luke Richert
Teague Tompkins
L.J. and Eva (“Gibbie”) Hemmes Memorial Prize in Philosophy
Awarded to a sophomore who in the first year shows the greatest promise for continuing studies in philosophy.
Garret Hanson
Clarice Ray
Mikayla Youngman
NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS DIVISION
Department of Chemistry Prize
Awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in chemistry.
Abby Barnum
Marissa Dolorfino
Elizabeth Wang
First-Year Chemistry Award
Awarded to a sophomore student who, during the first year, demonstrated great achievement in chemistry.
Thomas Buffin
Mallory Dolorfino
MiaFlora Tucci
Lemuel F. Smith Award
Given to a student majoring in chemistry pursuing the American Chemical Society approved curriculum and having at the end of the junior year the highest average standing in courses taken in chemistry, physics and mathematics.
Jennalise Ellis
Computer Science Prize
Awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in computer science.
Eleanor Carr
Vien Hang
Aleksandr Molchagin
Erin Murphy
William Shaw
Hanis Sommerville
First-Year Mathematics Award
Given annually to the sophomore student who, during the first year, demonstrated the greatest achievement in mathematics.
Tolkien Bagchi
Thomas O. Walton Prize in Mathematics
Awarded to a member of the junior class for excellence in the work of the first two years in mathematics.
Joseph Jung
Tommy Saxton
Carter Wade
Cooper Prize in Physics
Given for excellence in the first year’s work in physics.
Oliver Tye
Blue Truong
SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION
Departmental Prize in Anthropology and Sociology
Awarded for excellence during the first and/or second year’s work.
Milan Levy
Milagros Robelo
Aija Turner
Wallace Lawrence Prize in Economics
Awarded annually to a student who has done outstanding work in the Department of Economics and Business during the sophomore year.
Kayla Carlson
Mihail Naskovski
Emily Tenniswood
William G. Howard Memorial Prize
Awarded for excellence in any year’s work in economics.
Nicklas Klepser
Nathan Micallef
Sage Ringsmuth
Andrew Sheckell
Wallace Lawrence Prize in Business
Awarded annually to a student who has done outstanding work in the Department of Economics and Business during the sophomore year.
Lucas Kastran
Cade Thune
Alex Wallace
Irene and S. Kyle Morris Prize
Awarded for excellence in the first year’s courses in the Department of Economics and Business.
Zoe Gurney
William G. Howard Memorial Prize in Political Science
Awarded for excellence in any year’s work in political science.
Elisabeth Kuras
Department of Psychology First-Year Student Prize
Awarded for excellence in the first-year student’s work in psychology.
Violet Crampton
Sarah Densham
PHYSICAL EDUCATION DIVISION
Division of Physical Education Prize
Awarded to those students who as first-year students best combined leadership and scholarship in promoting athletics, physical education and recreation.
Sam Ankley
Alexis Petty
Maggie Wardle Prize
Awarded to that sophomore woman whose activities at the College reflect the values that Maggie Wardle demonstrated in her own life. The recipient will show a breadth of involvement in the College through her commitment to athletics and to the social sciences and/or community service.
Camille Misra
COLLEGE AWARDS
Henry and Inez Brown Prize
Denise Jackson
Heather Muir
James Totten
Vanessa Vigier
Nicholas Davis
Nathan Garcia
Zy’ere Hollis
Tytiana Jones
Aaron Martinez
Udochi Okorie
Joshua Pamintuan
Anthony Peraza
Samantha Rodriguez
Rina Talaba
National Merit Scholars (Class of 2024)
Carter Wade
Voynovich Scholars
Awarded annually to a student who, in the judgment of the faculty, submits the most creative essay on the year’s topic.
Marina Bayma-Meyer
Yung Seo Lee
Alpha Lamda 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 percent of their class during the first year. The Kalamazoo College chapter was installed on March 5, 1942.
Jez Abella
Hashim Akhtar
Cameron Arens
Tolkien Bagchi
Elena Basso
Cassandra Bergen
Thomas Buffin
Natalie Call
John Carlson
Mary Margaret Cashman
Cassidy Chapman
Nicholas Cohee
Violet T. Crampton
Lauren Crossman
Sarah Densham
Charles Pasquale DiMagno
Mallory Dolorfino
Marissa Dolorfino
Katia Duoibes
Hannah Durant
Carter Eisenbach
Benjamin Flotemersch
Caelan Frazier
Nathaniel Harris Fuller
Tristan Fuller
Grace Garver
Zoe Gurney
Yoichi Haga
Vien Hang
Garrett Hanson
Lucy Hart
Katherine Haywood
Marshall Holley
Audrey Huizenga
Ian Becks Hurley
Jonathan Jiang
Emily Robin Kaneko Dudd
Benjamin Tyler Keith
Isabella Grace Kirchgessner
Sofia Rose Klein
Lena Thompson Klemm
Rhys Koellmann
Elisabeth Kuras
Caroline Lamb
Am Phuong Le
Dillon Lee
Ginamarie Lester
Milan Levy
Thomas Lichtenberg
Cassandra Linnertz
Alvaro J. Lopez Gutierrez
Kanase J. Matsuzaki
Camille Misra
Aleksandr V. Molchagin
Samantha Moss
Arein D. Motan
Matthew Mueller
Erin Murphy
Maya Nathwani
William Naviaux
Sudhanva Neti
Stefan Louis Nielsen
Keigo Nomura
Rohan Nuthalapati
Jenna Clare Paterob
Sheyla Yasmin Pichal
Harrison Poeszat
Noah Prentice
Isabelle G. Ragan
Abby L. Rawlings
Katherine Rock
Skyler Rogers
Gi Salvatierra
Hannia Queren Sanchez-Alvarado
Madeline Gehl Schroeder
William Shaw
Hanis Sommerville
Alex M Stolberg
Kaleb Sydloski
Clara Margaret Szakas
Claire Tallio
Nicole Taylor
Abhishek Thakur
Kaia Thomas
Blue Truong
Oliver Tye
Duurenbayar Ulziiduuren
Chilotam Christopher Urama
Elizabeth G. Wang
Margaret L. Wedge
Ryley Kay White
Katelyn Williams
Skai Williams
Leah Wolfgang
Camryn Zdziarski-West
Sophie Zhuang
Nathaniel Zona
Enlightened Leadership Awards
Robert Barnard
Irie Browne
Rebecca Chan
Nolan Devine
Daniel Fahle
Grace Hancock
Julia Leet
Lia Schroeder
Matthew Swarthout
Jonathan Townley
Ethan Tuck
Ian Yi
MIAA Award
These teams earned the 2019-2020 MIAA Team GPA Award for achieving a 3.3 or better grade-point average for the entire academic year:
Men’s Baseball
Women’s Basketball
Men’s Cross Country
Women’s Cross Country
Men’s Golf
Women’s Golf
Men’s Lacrosse
Women’s Lacrosse
Women’s Soccer
Women’s Softball
Women’s Swimming and Diving
Women’s Volleyball
MIAA Academic Honor Roll
Student Athletes 2019-2020
The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association each year honors students at MIAA member colleges who achieve in the classroom and in athletic competition. Students need to be a letter winner in a varsity sport and maintain at least a 3.5 grade point average for the entire academic year.
Max Ambs
Georgie Andrews
Grant Anger
Hunter Angileri
Samuel Ankley
Julia Bachmann
Travis Barclay
Elena Basso
Lillian Baumann
Alex Bowden
Austin Bresnahan
Jack Brockhaus
Pierce Burke
Annika Canavero
Raekwon Castelow
Claire Cebelak
Walker Chung
Nicholas Cohee
Thomas Cook
Noah Coplan
Rachel Cornell
Chase Coselman
John Crane
Cameron Crothers
Gwendolyn Davis
Riley Davis
Emmelyn DeConinck
Robert Dennerll
Sarah Densham
Eva DeYoung
Mallory Dolorfino
Marissa Dolorfino
Amanda Dow
Austin Duff
Alex Dupree
Hannah Durant
Thomas Fales
Dugan Fife
Gwendolyn Flatland
Payton Fleming
Matthew Ford
Clifton Foster
Luke Fountain
Sierra Fraser
Rachael Gallap
Brendan Gausselin
Katie Gierlach
Anthony Giovanni
Madison Goodman
Mya Gough
Matthew Gu
Rebekah Halley
Grace Hancock
Laura Hanselman
Lucy Hart
Katherine Haywood
Zachary Heimbuch
Alyssa Heitkamp
Daniel Henry
McKenna Hepler
Sam Hoag
Mathew Holmes-Hackerd
Matthew Howrey
Tre Humes
Aidan Hurley
Amiee Hutton
Benjamin Hyndman
Samantha Jacobsen
Jonathan Jiang
Jaylin Jones
Jackson Jones
Amani Karim
Lucas Kastran
Maria Katrantzi
Greg Kearns
Ben Keith
Will Keller
Jackson Kelly
David Kent
Hannah Kerns
Meghan Killmaster
Dahwi Kim
Alaina Kirschman
Lena Klemm
Allison Klinger
Ella Knight
Nicholas Kraeuter
Brandon Kramer
Matthew Krinock
John Kunec
Nicholas Lang
Juanita Ledesma
Jack Leisenring
Kathryn LeVasseur
Marissa Lewinski
Rosella LoChirco
Rachel Madar
MacKenzy Maddock
Deven Mahanti
Lauren Marshall
Samuel Matthews
Courtney McGinnis
Dylan McGorsik
Keelin McManus
Benjamin Meschke
Tytus Metzler
Nathan Micallef
Camille Misra
DeShawn Moore
Dominic Moore
Maxo Moran
Samantha Moss
Elizabeth Munoz
Alexis Nesbitt
Nikoli Nickson
Madeline Odom
Abigail O’Keefe
Marianna Olson
Michael Orwin
Ella Palacios
Cayla Patterson
Hellen Pelak
Calder Pellerin
Scott Peters
Eve Petrie
Nicole Pierece
Noah Piercy
Jared Pittman
Harrison Poeszat
Zachary Prystash
Erin Radermacher
Harrison Ramsey
Zachary Ray
Jordan Reichenbach
Benjamin Reiter
Ashley Rill
Molly Roberts
Katherine Rock
Lily Rogowski
Isabelle Russo
Justin Schodowski
Michael Schwartz
Darby Scott
Andrew Sheckell
Josephine Sibley
Elizabeth Silber
Nathan Silverman
Jack Smith
Katherine Stewart
Abby Stewart
Grant Stille
Alexander Stockewell
Alex Stolberg
Hayden Strobel
Thomas Sylvester
Jacob Sypniewski
Clara Szakas
Nina Szalkiewicz
Jack Tagget
Leah Tardiff
Emily Tenniswood
Cade Thune
Kaytlyn Tidey
Mary Trimble
Matt Turton
Oliver Tye
Damian Valdes
Madison Vallan
Naomi Verne
Alex Wallace
Maija Weaver
Margaret Wedge
Tanner White
Megan Williams
Madalyn Winarski
Hannah Wolfe
Brandon Wright
Tony Yazbeck
Julie Zabik
Christian Zeitvogel
Sophie Zhuang
K Votes is offering information and resources to the Kalamazoo College community on Election Day and beyond.
K Votes, a nonpartisan coalition from the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), is offering help and events to Kalamazoo College students who plan to vote on Election Day.
Beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, students voting in Kalamazoo can reserve a bicycle to ride to the polls. Reserve your bike for a two-hour time slot at the Outdoor Programs website and pick it up with a helmet and lock at Red Square on campus. Maps to area polling places will be available. Additional bikes will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Red Square, K Votes will distribute voting go-bags, voting guides, maps to local polling places and more. Please observe COVID-19 safety practices by wearing a mask, practicing social distancing and completing a health screening before coming to campus. For voters who still need to register, there will be guided walks to the Kalamazoo City Clerk’s Office leaving Red Square at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
For voting help from a distance, call or text K Votes from 7 to 11 a.m. Tuesday with questions about voting, ID necessities, finding candidate information and more at 269.849.9421 or 269.364.0855. You may also visit K Votes’ Voting 101 page at any time for information on registering, candidates and polling places.
As polls close, students across the country are invited to join Associate Professor of Political Science Justin Berry for virtual events at 7 and 8 p.m. Berry will lead an election discussion through Zoom at 7, before a virtual election returns watch party through Microsoft Teams beginning at 8.
Find Zoom and Teams login information along with post-election resources at the CCE events page.
