students

K Student Provides Tips on What to Bring to Campus

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Mattie Del Torro Grabs a Photo from a Crate for What to Bring to Campus Story
Mattie Del Toro ’20 is a student worker for Residential Life, which has updated its suggestions for students regarding what to bring to campus this fall.

When Mattie Del Toro ’20 reflects on choosing Kalamazoo College, she remembers an experience brought to her by the letter K.

As a high school senior, Del Toro attended a Colleges That Change Lives fair near her hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where a good friend had been looking into Knox College. Next to the Knox table, among the Ks and in alphabetical order, was Kalamazoo College.

“I remember thinking, ‘Is (Kalamazoo) the name of a city from a Dr. Seuss book? There’s no way that’s a real place,’ ” says Del Toro, a business and art history major and studio art minor. “I thought if anything it had to be a college named after someone rather than the name of a city.”

Her intrigue led her to approach Associate Director of Admission Andrew Grayson at the fair. Their conversation was fateful as Grayson’s assistance guided her toward an intercultural fly-in program. The program lets students from under-represented backgrounds who are interested in diversity and inclusion visit Kalamazoo College.

“I fell in love with the campus,” says Del Toro, who ended up enrolling at K. “I graduated with a high school class of 50, and when I saw how small and intimate the school is, I was sold. I received a great financial aid offer that made it about the same in terms of affordability as the University of New Mexico, and it was a chance to go across the country for the whole liberal arts experience.”

Del Toro is now a student worker for Residential Life, which has updated its suggestions regarding what to bring to campus for fall. Based on her experiences, as a first-year student living in Trowbridge Hall and as a resident assistant at Harmon Hall, here’s what Del Toro suggests.

Talk with Your Roommate About What to Bring to Campus

K students living on campus this fall should already have received their room assignment with their roommate’s name and kzoo.edu email address. Del Toro suggests contacting your roommate to arrange who will bring what, especially if at least one of you is coming from a considerable distance.

Mattie Del Torro Writes Class of 2019 on her dry-erase board for what to bring to campus story
Mattie Del Toro ’20 advises that first-year students consider making their rooms as homey as possible in thinking about what to bring to campus. Items such as dry-erase boards can help students feel more at home.

Del Toro, for example, arrived in Kalamazoo for her first year by plane with her mom and then-boyfriend, now fiancé, bringing Del Toro’s belongings in a total of nine suitcases. Appliances, for example, weren’t an option for her.

“What you bring might depend on whether you’re from Michigan or someplace farther,” she said, adding that a roommate brought a microwave, curtains and mini-fridge, which she was happy to stock with food.

Shop for What You Can in Kalamazoo

Nine suitcases might not sound like much for transporting everything someone might need for an entire term. Del Toro, however, admits she packed too much and advises that less is more.

“When I left for fall, I packed stuff that I took home during winter break,” Del Toro said. Those items included several blankets and some heavy winter gear after she realized she only needed some long-sleeve shirts, jeans and jackets for the crisp weather that arrives late in the fall term.

When those items and other bulky items are necessary, shop for them in Kalamazoo or place online orders from your hometown and pick them up in Kalamazoo. Del Toro says to consider items such as mattress pads, shower caddies and “items that Mom would normally provide,” such as cleaning supplies and laundry detergent.

Preview Your Room Space

Residential Life doesn’t keep floor-plan measurements for specific rooms. Del Toro, however, advises that students look at pictures of residence hall rooms in K’s virtual tour to estimate their potential floor space. Those visuals should provide ideas as to where students can put items such as small cabinets and bins.

“You get a closet and drawers, but it’s beneficial to have bins and totes of your own as well,” Del Toro said. “I quickly realized I didn’t have the surface area I needed for certain items, and the virtual tour would’ve helped me plan better.”

Make Your Room Your Home

Del Toro says that on a residential campus such as K’s, it’s important that students make their residence hall room their home.

Items such as rugs, pictures of family and friends, twinkle lights suspended through adhesive hooks, and small pieces of furniture negotiated with roommates can ward off homesickness and make your room feel like an owned space.

“I didn’t want to get so comfortable in my space that I disrespected my roommate,” she said. “But any home goods can give you more than a brick wall, a desk and a bed,” allowing for greater comfort.

For more information on Residential Life, visit its website, or contact its offices at housing@kzoo.edu or 269.337.7210.

Heyl Scholarship Winners Announced

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Eight students from Kalamazoo County high schools and one Kalamazoo College first-year student will receive Heyl scholarships to attend Kalamazoo College in the 2018-19 school year, majoring in math or science.Heyl Scholars

The prestigious scholarships, available to accomplished Kalamazoo-area math and science students who meet certain requirements, cover tuition, rooming and book fees. The scholarships were established in 1971 through the will of F.W. and Elsie L. Heyl. F.W. Heyl was the first director of research at the Upjohn Co. and taught at Kalamazoo College.

Honored at a dinner at the College, the scholarship winners are (from left): Evelyn Bartley (Loy Norrix High), Eva DeYoung (Loy Norrix High), Sam Ratliff (Kalamazoo College), Madeline Guimond (Loy Norrix High), Molly Ratliff (Loy Norrix High and Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center), Alina Offerman (Loy Norrix High), Syeda Tooba (Parchment High and Kalamazoo Area Math & Science Center), Tatianna Tyler (Kalamazoo Central High) and Thomas (Jake) Fales (Kalamazoo Central High).

Five other students received Heyl Scholarships to attend Western Michigan University’s Bronson School of Nursing.

Fulbright Allows Student to Retrace Her Heritage in Lithuania

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Imagine an opportunity to travel abroad, retrace your heritage, teach English in a foreign country, greet family you’ve never known and promote international understanding between cultures. Katie Johnson ’18 will have that opportunity through a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant that will take her to Lithuania this fall.

Katie Johnson Fulbright Lithuania
Katie Johnson ’18 developed a taste for international travel when she studied abroad in Budapest, Hungary. She liked the experience so much that she decided to apply for a Fulbright grant when she returned. That grant will take her this fall to Lithuania.

Johnson – a business major and psychology minor from Okemos, Michigan – has yet to receive the specific assignment that details her Fulbright destination city and school. She expects, however, to work in a rural village within about three hours of the capital, Vilnius.

Johnson will travel to Washington, D.C., for an orientation in July before heading to Lithuania in late August or September.

Kalamazoo College was identified as one of the top-producing Fulbright colleges and universities in the 2017-18 academic year. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers fellowships for U.S. graduating seniors, graduate students, young professionals and artists to research, study or teach English abroad for one academic year.

Such recognition is one of the highest honors the federal government gives with regard to scholarship and international exchange. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected as a result of their academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields, to promote international understanding.

“I feel very fortunate to have attended K,” said Johnson, who has also served on the Athletic Leadership Council, received internships and held an externship at Ryzome Investment Advisors during her college years. “I don’t think I would’ve had these opportunities at another school.”

Johnson chose Kalamazoo College because attending would allow her to play for the women’s lacrosse team while still getting to study abroad. That led her during her junior year to Budapest, Hungary, where the people she met and the independence she gained shaped her world view and sparked her desire to seek more adventures.

“I got back from study abroad and I decided to apply for a Fulbright because I wanted to study abroad again,” Johnson said, noting she soon began a year-long application process. “I thought the opportunity to teach English was interesting. Plus, my grandfather is from Lithuania, and my grandma and great-grandma were teachers. It seemed like a great fit.”

Since then, Johnson has begun learning Lithuanian through her grandfather.

“It’s a hard language to pick up because only about 8 million people in the world speak it,” Johnson said, although she is attending a church in Chicago where the sermons are in Lithuanian and talking with friends who have traveled to Lithuania. She also has a best friend from Estonia with whom she bonds over a similar culture and family background including grandparents who immigrated to the United States for the same reasons.

“I’m going to go and hope for the best because I want to understand more about the Lithuanian culture and how it has changed since my grandpa arrived after World War II,” Johnson said.

Among recent K representatives receiving Fulbright grants, Johnson joins:

  • Andrea Beitel ’17, who earned a research/study award and is in the United Kingdom.
  • Riley Cook ’15, who earned a research/study award to travel to Germany.
  • Dejah Crystal ’17, who earned an English teaching assistantship in Taiwan.
  • Sapana Gupta ’17, who earned an English teaching assistantship in Germany.

Choral Concert Centers Around Love Affairs, Obsessions

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The College Singers, a 24-voice choral ensemble that specializes in social justice-themed programming, will perform its concert titled “EXCESS: Shadows of Pleasure and Power” in two free, public performances in Kalamazoo. The first will take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 30, at First Congregational Church and the second at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 3, in the Dalton Theater of the Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College.

College Singers in concert
The College Singers will perform its concert titled “EXCESS: Shadows of Pleasure and Power” in two free, public performances May 30 and June 3 at First Congregational Church and the Dalton Theater at Kalamazoo College respectively.

In the wake of an epidemic-level crisis around opioid abuse in the United States, the program explores genres from Broadway to folk, and from Renaissance songs to vocal jazz, each touching on those experiences that can enhance life in moderate quantities, but which quickly become destructive when taken to extremes. Chris Ludwa, director of the College Singers, described it as entertaining and educational, suggesting that audience members will experience a range of emotions as the concepts of indulgence, self-control and balance are explored as part of the human condition.

The program will touch on the love affair people tend to have with caffeine, alcohol, sex, power and relationships. There will be music from the musicals “Wicked” and “Chicago,” madrigals of Monteverdi, soul music by Sam Cooke, and more.

Both concerts are supported by a free-will offering to work toward the goal of local and Midwest touring to share these social justice concerts with an ever-increasing audience.

The College Singers includes music majors and non-music majors, offering a different approach to choral singing. Ludwa calls it “singing with a higher purpose,” a hallmark for which he is well known in the Midwest.

For more information on the concerts, contact Ludwa at cludwa@kzoo.edu or 231-225-8877.

Vegan Desserts Event Gives Students Hands-On Fun

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Being a student at Kalamazoo College means discovering new opportunities to get involved everywhere you look on campus, even where you eat.

vegan desserts
Baker Sarah Ross (right) talks with student Lezlie Lull as she points toward examples of the vegan banana cake and vegan/gluten-free black bean brownies students created May 10 during the vegan desserts event at Hicks Student Center.

Kalamazoo College Dining Services on Thursday offered students hands-on fun with a vegan desserts class taught by Sarah Ross, a Dining Services baker with 20 years of experience in the food-preparation industry.

Although Ross admitted she sometimes indulges in Greek yogurt or certain cheeses, she strives to maintain a vegan diet, occasionally finding baking or cooking ideas through family recipes and on the Internet. From there it’s a matter of increasing the ingredients in the right balances to find many of the dishes she serves to students.

Lezlie Lull, Rigel Bobadilla, Miranda Flores-Tirado and Shannon Carley participated in the class, learning to bake vegan banana cake and vegan/gluten-free black bean brownies from scratch. The desserts are easy enough to concoct at any off-campus apartment or on campus with the right supplies and tools. The students stirred, mixed, poured, folded, whisked, blended and processed until their delectable creations were complete.

vegan desserts
Students used ingredients such as black beans, salt, sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla to prepare vegan desserts.

Dining Services regularly offers engaging activities such as Random Acts of Yum, which provides students with free treats such as root beer floats; special Chef’s Table dinners featuring locally sourced and sustainable foods; and an emergency coffee truck during finals week. This, however, was an opportunity to get hands on.

“We’ve done contests and events in the past, which have been fun, but not much that has involved teaching skills,” Dining Services Marketing Coordinator Tabitha Skornia said, adding more opportunities like the vegan desserts class are in the works. The next class will be a cheese class May 24. Plus, Dining Services is looking for suggestions on what else it might offer.

“What students like changes over time,” Skornia said. “We’d like to keep these varied, so students can keep walking away with different skills.”

vegan desserts
Miranda Flores-Tirado prepares ingredients for vegan/gluten-free black bean brownies during the vegan desserts event May 10 at Hicks Student Center.
vegan desserts
Shannon Carley blends ingredients for vegan/gluten-free black bean brownies during the vegan desserts event.

If you have ideas for food-inspired, hands-on opportunities, Dining Services wants to hear from you. Skornia is reachable by email at Tabitha.Skornia@kzoo.edu. In the meantime, feel free to try the vegan banana cake or the vegan/gluten-free black bean brownies yourself with the recipes below.

Vegan Banana Cake

3 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup oil
3 cup banana puree
2 tsp vanilla extract
* Can also use applesauce, mango puree and pear puree.

  • Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar, oil, fruit puree and vanilla.
  • Fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients gently.
  • Pour into desired pan and bake at 325 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean.

Vegan/Gluten-Free Black Bean Brownies

3 cups black beans drained and rinsed
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 cup quick oats
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup maple syrup or agave
½ cup sugar
½ cup oil
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 tsp baking powder

* Optional: 1 cup vegan chocolate chips

  • Blend all ingredients except chips in a food processor until very smooth.
  • Fold in chips and pour into a greased 8-by-8 pan.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes and allow to cool completely.
  • Can set in the fridge to help firm them up.

Festival Playhouse Stages ‘Intimate Apparel’

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Intimate Apparel
Actors rehearse for “Intimate Apparel,” which runs through Sunday at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St. The play is set in a New York boardinghouse in the early 1900s.
Intimate Apparel
“Intimate Apparel,” which runs through Sunday at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St., won the 2004 New York Drama Circle and Outer Critic Circle awards.

The Kalamazoo College Festival Playhouse will present its final production of the academic year, “Intimate Apparel,” May 17-20 at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St.

The play – which addresses race, love and dreams – is set in a New York City boardinghouse in the early 1900s. It concerns Esther, a young African-American woman who pursues her ambition of becoming a seamstress. Esther falls in love with Mr. Marks, a white Jewish fabric seller, although she agrees to marry George, a Caribbean man with whom she corresponds under false pretenses. The play will be directed by Karen Berthel.

“Intimate Apparel” is written by Lynn Nottage, an associate professor of theatre at Columbia University, whose plays often discuss the lives of women of African descent. She is acclaimed as one of the most poetic and honored of contemporary American playwrights, and “Intimate Apparel” – the winner of the 2004 New York Drama Circle and Outer Critic Circle awards – is widely considered to be her most moving and thoughtful play.

Intimate Apparel
“Intimate Apparel” – the winner of the 2004 New York Drama Circle and Outer Critic Circle awards – is widely considered to be Lynn Nottage’s most moving and thoughtful play.
Intimate Apparel
“Intimate Apparel” focuses on Esther, who falls in love with Mr. Marks, a Jewish fabric seller, although she agrees to marry George, a Caribbean man with whom she corresponds under false pretenses.

Tickets, all of which are general admission, are free with a Kalamazoo College ID. Other student tickets are $5, senior tickets are $10 and adult tickets are $15. The May 17-19 shows will be at 7:30 p.m. The May 20 show will be at 2 p.m. A talkback with cast members will take place after the May 17 performance.

Call 269-337-7333 or visit festivalplayhouse.ludus.com to reserve tickets today. Tickets also will be available at the door one hour before each show.

Student Music Experiences on Display in Free Concerts

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Two free concerts this week in the Dalton Theater at the Light Fine Arts Building will demonstrate the breadth of student music experiences at Kalamazoo College. Both concerts feature groups directed by Music Professor Thomas Evans.

Student Music Experiences Spring Concerts
The Kalamazoo College Jazz Band will be one of two groups performing in free concerts this week that will demonstrate the breadth of student music experiences on campus.

The Academy Street Winds, formerly known as the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band, will perform from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday. The group is a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities.

The group performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The band is a great favorite for its members and its audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and new. The theme for this concert is “Channel Surfing.”

Then, enjoy K’s Jazz Band from 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday. The group is known for its eclectic collections of contemporary and classic jazz arrangements that provide the students participating and the audience members an electric experience. The concert is titled “Everything in its Right Place.”

For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Music Department at 269-337-7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.