Category: Students

K’s Chem Club Sieves Out Victorious

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Lydia Manager, Mara Livezey, Joe Widmer, Amanda Bolles, Josh Abbott and Tibin John
2013 Winners of the Battle of the Chemistry Clubs are (l-r): Lydia Manager ’13, Mara Livezey ’13, Joe Widmer ’14, Amanda Bolles ’14, Josh Abbott ’13, and Tibin John ’15

Kalamazoo College’s American Chemical Society (ACS) student group brought home to the chemistry department the coveted ‘Silver Sep Funnel’ Trophy from Michigan State University this winter. The students pipette-ed, read spectra, analyzed, and even danced their way to victory, and as the safest team (“which is the most important part for us,” says Regina Stevens-Truss, who shares co-advising duties for the group with fellow chemistry professor Jeff Bartz). The K ACS student group participated last year for the first time and placed sixth. This year, they won the overall competition, brought home best “safety dance,” earned most artistic accolades for the “best scientific-themed hangman,” and were also the “safest working team” based on OSHA standards.

2013 was the sixth annual Battle of the Chemistry Clubs, an event that originally put into the pipette pit (so to speak) the University of Michigan-Flint against the University of Detroit Mercy. The field has since grown to 12 schools, with Kalamazoo College joining in 2012. Competition consists of several activities that test a team’s knowledge and skill as it pertains to different chemistry concepts. All activities are team based (each with 4 or more students) and are scored and ranked based on time or accuracy. Morning prelims are followed by the afternoon’s “playoffs mode,” with only one team taking home the hardware.

Josh Abbott was the only returning K “letter winner” from last year’s sixth-place team. He vowed then that K would be well represented this year and wrote immediately after this winter’s competition to Dr. Truss: “I would just like to let you know we brought some hardware back for Dow.” Sweet!

Why We Play

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"Why We Play" 2013 speakers Erran Briggs, Allison Liddane, Alex Gothard, Johanna Kupe, Allison Thomas, Brad Merrit, Jeanne Hess and Rebecca Gray
“Why We Play” 2013 speakers, left-to-right (top), Erran Briggs ’14, Allison Liddane ’13, Alex Gothard ’15, Johanna Kupe ’13, Allison Thomas ’13, Brad Merrit ’13, (bottom) Jeanne Hess, Rebecca Gray ’81.

“Why We Play” was the topic of the Winter Quarter Week Six (Feb. 15) Community Reflection in Stetson Chapel. Co-sponsored by the Kalamazoo College Department of Athletics, the annual Reflection offers a space for K student and alumni athletes to share in the collective stories and songs that capture the spirit of sport, recreation, and joy from their Division-III intercollegiate athletic experiences.

Professor of Physical Education and Head Coach of Volleyball Jeanne Hess opened the reflection before an audience of about 200 people. She read an excerpt from her book, “Sportuality: Finding Joy in the Games,” in which she explains why she thinks student athletes choose play sports. “The spiritual life is a purposeful life, and the ‘sportual’ life is a purposeful and playful life,” she said.

Student athletes Johanna Kupe ’13, Alex Gothard ’15 and Allison Thomas ’13 performed “Solider,” a song by Gavin DeGraw. Kupe said she selected the song after a teammate left the encouraging lyrics on a note in her locker before a volleyball game.

President of the Athletic Leadership Council and two-sport athlete Allison Liddane ’13 spoke about the approaching end of her collegiate athletic experience. “My list of ‘why I play’ could be never ending,” she said. Golfer Brad Merrit ’13 read an essay about the recent death of K’s Head Men’s Golf Coach Steve Tyler. Merrit, who won the MIAA Sportsmanship Award, said Tyler was his reason for playing. “We wanted to make him proud,” he said.

Football player Erran Briggs ’14 spoke about his unique love for the game and Division-III level. “When you allow yourself purely to play because you love it, not because you need it, you experience the game on a new level,” he said.

Rebecca Gray ’81 was the featured alumna speaker. A former basketball and field hockey player, Gray is K’s sole Rhodes Scholar. Speaking fondly of her time as a student athlete, shortly after the passage of Title IX that opened more intercollegiate athletic opportunities to women, Gray said sports continue to enhance her life. “For decades now, playing sports, for me, has been a completely reliable and utterly uncomplicated pleasure,” she said. She added that she looks forward to the day when she is no longer referred to as K’s only Rhodes Scholar, but simply as its first.

Community Reflections offer a unique forum for discussion, worship, performance, and community expression each Friday at 10:50 a.m. (refreshments at 10:30) in Stetson Chapel. The entire campus community and general public are invited. On Friday of Week Seven Feb. 22), the Chapel will host “40 Days of Lent: Preparing for Easter.” This reflection will focus on the traditions, history, and ways in which Christians today celebrate Easter and Lent.

Story and photo by Elaine Ezekiel ’13

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

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Willina Cain sings "Wake Up Everybody" while Corrine Taborn accompanies
Willina Cain ’15 sings “Wake Up Everybody” while Corrine Taborn ’13 accompanies.

“What’s Love got to do with it? Anti-Racist Activism in the Creation of Beloved Communities” was the topic of the Winter Quarter Week Four (Feb. 1) Community Reflection in Stetson Chapel, co-sponsored by the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) and the Black Student Organization (BSO). The Reflection centered around love as an underlying motivator for social change and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of “the beloved community” as an end result of non-violent social change. Members of BSO shared their own spoken word pieces, poems, stories, and facts on the subject of leaders from the African-American movement against racism.

Rob Relief III ’13, president of the Young Men of Color student organization, discussed the 87-year history and original aims of Black History Month. Willina Cain ’15 sang the R&B song “Wake Up Everybody” while Corinne Taborn ’13 accompanied her on piano and sang backup vocals. Rian Brown ’16 spoke about how her identity relates to Black History Month. “My ancestors fought for me to gain the privilege to stand before you today,” she said. “But has their work been completed? I know the answer to that question is ‘No.’” She encouraged audience members to shed their complacency and continue the fight for justice and equality.

Jeffery Washington ’15 read a poem he wrote with the refrain “I Black.” “My light friend says I can’t-be-seen-in-the-night-time black/ I’m too black to find that funny,” he read. “I guess I got a dark sense of humor.” Marquise Griffin ’15 read a reflection on his recent trip to Washington D.C. to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum, and his meditations on Christ’s love, which he discussed at the forum. “Dr. King stressed love when combating hate and racism, violence and discrimination,” he said. Bryce Pearson ’16 read a poem called “The Overlooked King,” reflecting on racism. “They didn’t know who I was/ They don’t know who I am/ And they really have no clue of who I will be,” he read. Brittany King-Pleas ’13 closed the Reflection by saying she hoped the audience left with more questions than answers.

Community Reflections offer a unique forum for discussion, worship, performance, and community expression each Friday at 10:50 a.m. in Stetson Chapel. Refreshments at 10:30. The entire campus community and general public are invited.

The Week Six (Friday Feb. 15) Community Reflection is entitled “Why We Play” and features K student athletes discussion why they love to play Division III athletics. This is an annual event always full of heartfelt passion and humor. Special guest speaker is Rebecca Gray ’81. Currently a research scholar at Duke University, Becky majored in mathematics and played basketball for the Hornets. She is also Kalamazoo College’s only Rhodes Scholar.

Story and photo by Elaine Ezekiel ’13

Liberal Arts and Christian faith prepare K student “to achieve things that will last.”

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Marquise Griffin
Marquise Griffin ’15

President Barack Obama, members of Congress, other world leaders, and 80 college students from across the United States—including Kalamazoo College student Marquise Griffin ’15—attended the National Prayer Breakfast today (Feb. 7) in Washington, D.C.

“It was a complete surprise when I got the email saying I got selected,” Marquise said. He attended the National Student Leadership Forum Conference in Nov., a larger conference, also in D.C., from which National Prayer Breakfast attendees were chosen.

According to Marquise, the two events promote a leadership model that focuses on the role of love in leadership.

K Chaplain Elizabeth Candido ’00 nominated Marquise for the fall Forum and is impressed that he was chosen for the interfaith Breakfast gathering.

“Marquise is just a great Christian leader on campus,” she said. “He’s growing in his leadership abilities. Being selected to attend the National Prayer Breakfast is an acknowledgment of that. It’s a really big deal.”

Marquise identifies as a nondenominational Christian. He says he grew up with the Bible as a guiding source for how to live his life and credits overcoming the hurdle of severe hearing loss for fueling his drive and unwillingness to accept human limitations.

“As a kid, I felt cursed. I felt like God had turned his back on me for that to happen,” he said. “Over time, I began to grow spiritually and realize my hearing loss was not a curse. It was actually a blessing.”

Currently an English major, Marquise has a notion to add theater and classics. He said having a degree in the liberal arts will provide him with a well-rounded base, which he intends to apply wherever God needs him.

“I try not to get too wrapped up in trying to plan out exactly what will happen,” he said. “What I really want to do…is to see how I can help better people.”

His faith, he added, assures him that he isn’t going through life randomly. “I have a purpose in life that I have to achieve things that will last long after I’m gone from this earth,” he said.

Story by Maggie Kane ’13.

K Community Responds to Death of Sophomore Emily Stillman

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sophomore Emily StillmanThe Kalamazoo College community continues to grieve the death of sophomore Emily Stillman, who died Sunday, February 3 due to complications from bacterial meningitis. Emily, 19, was taken to Bronson Hospital in the early morning hours of February 1 from her residence hall. K administration and the Student Health Center learned the diagnosis later that morning and immediately began to work in close collaboration with the Kalamazoo County health department and Bronson’s epidemiology lab.

The health department provided two nurses to help K health professionals with education and prophylactic treatment of persons who had been in close contact (within three feet sometime during the previous seven days) with Emily. Those who may have had casual contact should not be affected. Through midday Tuesday Feb. 5, the health team provided prophylactic treatment to approximately 150 persons.

No additional cases of bacterial meningitis have been reported. According to the health department, the likelihood of additional cases of meningitis at Kalamazoo College is very low.

The Student Health Center continues to reach out to students to provide prophylactic antibiotic treatment, discuss symptoms of the illness, and discuss vaccination recommendations. (More information on bacterial meningitis is available from the Kalamazoo County epidemiology on-call line: 269–207–5783.) K Counseling Center staff members have also been available to students.

Emily’s funeral was held this morning at the Dorfman Chapel in Farmington Hills, Mich. Kalamazoo College provided bus transport for about 40 students, faculty, and staff. A special fund is being arranged in Emily’s memory to aid in the research and treatment of bacterial meningitis. Send donations to Temple Shir Shalom, 3999 Walnut Lake Rd., West Bloomfield, MI 48323. Phone: (248) 737-8700.

The Temple will hold donations until the fund is established.

Declaration of Major Day for K sophomores, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed until next Tuesday Feb 12, 11:30 in the Light Fine Arts Building lobby.

Weathering Winter

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Adventure Living Learning House members Morgan Walker, Grace Manger, Dr. Pat Ponto, Allison Kennedy, Katie Ring and Kira Sandiford ’15.
Being glad, not SAD, are (top row, l-r) Morgan Walker ’15, Grace Manger ’15, (bottom row) Dr. Pat Ponto, Allison Kennedy ’15, Katie Ring ’15, and Kira Sandiford ’15.

“Cold Weather Catharsis” was the topic of Winter Quarter 2013 Week Three (Jan. 25) Community Reflection in Stetson Chapel. Co-sponsored by the Adventure Living Learning House , several speakers shared ideas on how to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), spice up the season, stay active, and release the pent-up energy of winter.

Chaplain Liz Candido ’00 welcomed the students in the audience, whom she called “the few, the proud, the brave.” Student Chaplain and Adventure Housemate, Katie Ring ’15 outlined her Living Learning House’s recipe for adventurous living, which she said can help shake up winter fatigue. Then Counseling Center Director Dr. Pat Ponto defined SAD as “a kind of depression contained in fall and winter and in a specific latitude.” She says one treatment for the seasonal mood swings include light therapy.

David Graham ’14, leader of the Active Minds student organization, spoke about how Kalamazoo College has invested in four light therapy lamps, which students can check out when they’re feeling the winter blues. “Nobody deserves to feel SAD’s potentially debilitating effects,” he said. Allison Kennedy ’15 read a comical list poem addressed to herself, reciting all the ways she would not give into “the buzz kill of winter.” Adventure Housemate Kira Sandiford ’15 spoke about the Kalamazoo Outing Club, of which she is an board member. Sandiford suggested joining the club on a winter escapade of snowshoeing, cross country skiing, ice climbing, or ice fishing. “It’s a wonderful way to combat SAD,” she said. Adventure Housemate Grace Manger ’15 said she suffers from SAD herself, and spoke about how she “unwinds” by performing stunts with Cirque du K, K’s circus club. Morgan Walker ’15, another Adventure Housemate, offered some practical advice to staying positive under what he called “the weight of winter.” Candido closed the event by urging attendees to “find your winter adventure—something to keep you positive.”

Friday Chapel programs are called Community Reflections and offer a unique forum for discussion, worship, performance, and community expression each Friday at 10:50 AM; refreshments at 10:30. The entire campus community and general public are invited. Week Four’s Community Reflection is called “What’s Love got to do with it? Anti-Racist Activism in the Creation of Beloved Communities” which will feature a conversation about love as an underlying motivator for Social change and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of the beloved community as an end result of non-violent social change.

K Undergraduate Poet is Up and Going

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Winter term 2013 finds sophomore Kate Belew working as an intern at the Poet’s House in lower Manhattan. Another stop on the creative journey of this English major. As a first-year student Kate received the Nature in Words Fellowship at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute for Environmental Education (Hastings, Mich.).

“It is an extraordinarily competitive fellowship,” says Kate’s mentor and Kalamazoo College’s Writer-in-Residence Diane Seuss. “And Kate made the most of the opportunity with her project, ’Voicing the Natural.’” According to Kate, the project sought to speak through the plants and animals she encountered during summer at the institute. “I planned to create the project using persona poems, inspired by Conrad Hilberry’s collection of poems, The Fingernail of Luck,” says Kate. “As I wrote, the project shaped itself into sections, and finally into a collection of poems that I named But That Was In A Different Life.” The poems are threaded together by Wild Woman, a voice of nature within a female human. Explains Kate: “I walked the trails, read books of poems, took notes, worked with Di, and took the time to witness what was happening in the natural world.”

Kate has also published poems in national magazines: “Prairie” in Outrageous Fortune; “Spoon Out Indigo” in Cliterature (on online magazine founded and edited by K graduate Lynn Brewer ’05); and “Yarrow” in the print magazine Straylight.

Perspectives on a Dream

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Community Reflection Participants Mark Dream Speech Anniversary
Top row (l-r), Babli Sinha, Elizabeth Candido ’00; middle row, Marjorie Toshach ’13, Craig Isser ’13; bottom row, Gabrielle Clay ’13, Natalie Cherne ’15.

“A Dream Deferred, A Dream Made Reality? Marking the 50th Anniversary of the ‘I Have a Dream Speech’” was the topic of the Winter Quarter 2013 Week Two (Jan. 18) Community Reflection in Stetson Chapel. Several speakers considered Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy in their own lives at K.

Associate Dean of Students Karen Joshua-Wathel spoke about the popular characterizations of Malcolm X and King. She promoted the Black History 101 Mobile Museum visiting the Weimer K. Hicks Student Center, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation featuring a speech by K alumnus Harvey Hollins, III ’87. <span”>Natalie Cherne ’15 spoke about the gratitude she feels to King. “I had the opportunity to apply to colleges [and] to choose K…because of what Martin Luther King, Jr. did, and that’s amazing,” she said. Chaplain Liz Candido ’00 read a short sermon she wrote about working with a church in south Boston where she witnessed racism while mentoring Dominican teens. She said our collective dreams depend on community and challenging racist aggression. “I suppose we need each other so we can dream new dreams—ones we have yet to imagine.”

Craig Isser ’13 spoke about his education and white privilege at K. “I must keep the white guilt, but also make something good out of it,” he said. Marlene Crandell Francis Assistant Professor of English Babli Sinha then spoke about King’s less widely-known message about ending the pattern of American consumerism, and its relation to peace. Gabrielle Clay ’13 addressed her remarks directly to King, discussing the work remaining to accomplish his dream. “Talking about race and racism has remained an obnoxious pink elephant in the room,” she said. Marjorie Toshach ’13 spoke about joining K’s Black Student Organization as a white woman, and learning to confront her majority status for the first time. Joshua-Wathel retook the stage to offer closing remarks before Candido led the audience in a closing prayer.

Friday Chapel programs are called Community Reflections and offer a unique forum for discussion, worship, performance, and community expression each Friday at 10:50 AM. Refreshments at 10:30. The entire campus community and general public are invited. Theme of Week Three (Jan. 25) Community Reflection is a “Cold Weather Catharsis” which will serve as a forum for ideas on how to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder, spice up your life, stay active, and release the pent-up energy of Winter with the Adventure House and friends!

Photo: (l to r) top row, Babli Sinha, Elizabeth Candido ’00; middle row, Marjorie Toshach ’13, Craig Isser ’13; bottom row, Gabrielle Clay ’13, Natalie Cherne ’15.

Story and photo by Elaine Ezekiel ’13

STEAKholders

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7 speakers from “Everyone Has a STEAK in It”
“Everyone Has a STEAK in It” speakers (l-r): Shadae Sutherland ’14, Lanna Lewis (ACSJL), DeAngelo Glaze ’14, Mariah Hennen ’15 (CES), Darwin Rodriguez ’13, Amelia Katanski ’92 (English, Farms to K), and Katherine Rapin ’15 (CES).

“Everyone Has a STEAK in It: Implications of How We Eat at K” was the theme of Winter Quarter 2013 Week One (Jan. 11) Community Reflection in Stetson Chapel. Sponsored by the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning, several K community members spoke about the importance of food as part of the College’s food vendor selection process continuing this quarter.

Migrant Rights Action Civic Engagement Scholar Mariah Hennen ’15 addressed the crowd of more than 100 students and faculty members on the importance of the food vendor selection. “Decisions always have ramifications, and choosing a dining service provider for Kalamazoo College is no exception,” she said. Shadae Sutherland ’14 spoke about her experience of moving to Kalamazoo from Jamaica, where she was used to eating food her family grew and produced. “The food that I have had here tastes quite different from the ones I have had in Jamaica. The flavor is very diminished,” she said. She stressed that an ideal food provider for the cafeteria should offer more options for people with dietary restrictions.

Dining Vendor Selection Committee member DeAngelo Glaze ’14, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) Administrative Assistant Lanna Lewis, Associate Professor of English and Farms 2 K faculty advisor Amelia Katanski ’92, Student Commission Vice President Darwin Rodriguez ’13, and Farms to K Civic Engagement Scholar Katherine Rapin ’15 shared their unique perspectives on food justice. By telling stories about their own gastronomic histories from a political, racial, epicurean, genealogical, biological, and cultural standpoint, each speaker encouraged audience members to evaluate their own relationship with food systems in order to participate in the food provider selection process. “We have the institutional buying power to redefine how our food system works,” said Katanski. “We can serve as a leader—an institution that puts our values into action.”

 “Everyone Has a STEAK in It” speakers were (l-r) Shadae Sutherland ’14, Lanna Lewis (ACSJL), DeAngelo Glaze ’14, Mariah Hennen ’15 (CES), Darwin Rodriguez ’13, Amelia Katanski ’92 (English,  Farms to K), and Katherine Rapin ’15 (CES).
Community Reflection offers a unique forum for discussion, worship, performance, and community expression each Friday at 10:50 AM (refreshments at 10:30) in Stetson Chapel. The entire campus community and general public are invited. The Week Two (Jan. 18) Reflection, “A Dream Deferred, a Dream Made Reality? Marking the 50th Anniversary of the “I Have a Dream Speech.”will feature Harvey Hollins III ’87, director of the Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives for the State of Michigan.

Story by Elaine Ezekiel ’13.

Kalamazoo College Well Represented in the Third Annual Kalamazoo New Play Festival

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The thing’s the plays
In which we see the work of Ks!

“Ks” refers to the Kalamazoo College alumni, student, and occasional professor (and Summer Common Reading author) whose work is part of the Theatre Kalamazoo New Play Festival that will be held January 25 and 26 at the Epic Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo. Dana Robinson ’11 and Rebecca Staudenmaier ’11 are the authors of 10-minute plays that are part of the festival–Outdoors and The House of South, respectively. Outdoors will play at 4 PM on Saturday, January 26; The House of South is part of the 8 PM group of plays on the same day. Current senior Megan Rosenberg is directing the play Bringing Home the Bones by Bonnie Jo Campbell, who was the College’s Summer Common Reading author (Once Upon a River) in Fall 2012. Campbell also is an adjunct professor in the English department. Sponsoring theatres are Farmers Alley Theatre (Outdoors), Fancy Pants Theatre (The House of South), and Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College (Bringing Home the Bones). The Festival is free; no reservations are necessary. For more information please, and to learn the other plays featured in the Festival, please call any participating theatre or log on to the Theatre Kalamazoo website.