students Archives - Page 16 of 43

Soil and Light

Posted on June 30, 2016March 23, 2022

Every graduating senior contains a multitude of stories. Commencement celebrates them. And Commencement day adds more. Like this one from proud father Rich Frishman (a Seattle-area based photographer), who cultivated a special gift for his son Gabe Frishman (class of 2016) and Gabe’s friends and academic advisor. The photo is the face plate of a card designed by Rich, and the story behind it we share below in Rich’s own words.

“From our first visit, when Gabe was selecting which college would best challenge him, we have been struck by the beauty of K’s compact quad, rolling idyllically down from Stetson, and all the energy it contained. As the heart of the campus, it seems to symbolize the nurturing environment of Kalamazoo College. The towering white oaks and lush grass transform a simple rectangle bounded by concrete and brick into a welcoming meeting place full of life. The trees became symbols, living embodiments of this special place and process; of growth and strength and transformation.

Watching my son Gabe and his friends joyfully embracing each other on the quad, then hurling themselves with complete abandon into the pillow-like piles of gathered autumn leaves, inspired this botanical experiment. Gabe, my wife Brenda and I began collecting acorns on the lower end of the quad (between Hoben, Hicks and Upton) on October 26, 2012, our inaugural Family Weekend. The acorns were most abundant that year. We eagerly gathered a couple dozen freshly fallen seeds, thinking that it would be sweet to have living tokens of Gabe’s new home at our old home. It was when planting them back on Whidbey Island that I thought they’d be a great gift to give to Gabe’s friends and classmates upon graduation. My sentimental notion was evolving.

Had I been successful that first year, I would have needed a moving truck to bring the seedlings back to Kalamazoo in 2016, but Mother Nature was wise. None of those acorns seemed to germinate. Perhaps they’d been eaten by our own squirrels, or the seeds suffocated in transit, or they needed a harder freeze to activate.

By the time of our second Family Weekend I had spent endless hours studying the horticultural requirements for successful white oak acorn germination. My hypothesis was that the weather in the Maritime Northwest was too temperate for seeds that thrived in Midwest winters. So I tried refrigerating our next harvest of Kzoo quad acorns, storing them just above freezing for two months, then planting them in the early spring.
Mother Nature got a good laugh out of that experiment. Out of another dozen acorns, none seemed to survive. Apparently that theory was not ready for publication.

With Gabe in Budapest for study abroad in 2014, we had no Kzoo acorns to plant.

Our final Family Weekend, around Halloween 2015, yielded a moderate number of healthy acorns, all gathered from the same eastern end of the quad. The squirrels seemed more corpulent and the available seed stock harder to find, but we all searched. When I got these back to Whidbey, I took a minimalist approach, planting each acorn in a one-gallon pot. Thinking perhaps my first year’s failure might have been attributable to predation, I built cages to keep them safe from squirrels, chipmunks, deer and rabbits.

Eureka! Despite our very mild winter, shoots began to break the soil in March. By the time we were finalizing our Kalamazoo Commencement plans, we had nearly a score of foot-tall white oak seedlings. I decided I would drive a dozen of them from Seattle to Kalamazoo so we could give them to Gabe’s friends as living tokens of their four years at K.

Men plan and God laughs, they say. And men plant and chipmunks grin. Nature did get one more giggle before I reached Kalamazoo. When Brenda and I stopped in Chicago, I placed our dozen seedlings in a sunny spot protected from the deer that roamed the neighborhood. Some wily chipmunks smelled a feast and eviscerated half the crop from their pots, so we were left with just six to give as gifts. Gabe carefully distributed those few to his brilliant advisor, Professor John Dugas, and five other friends.

Our garden still has six authentic Kalamazoo Quad white oak seedlings, now in two-gallon pots, awaiting final placement. One I know will grow by our house, a reminder of a time and place we hold dear. One will follow Gabe wherever he lands, a symbol of where he was launched.

The choice of tree was completely dictated by heritage. If Kalamazoo’s quad was dotted with Mountain Ash, I would have planted whatever Mountain Ash seeds I could gather. The seeds had to come from the quad because they serve as a totem of the school and the educational quest. Acorns gathered elsewhere would not suffice.

The graduation card was a last-minute creative exercise. I wanted to offer a context and explanation for why Gabe’s gift was significant. I consider the Kalamazoo experience a gift that empowers its students to grow from humble soil into the light.

Gabe is passionate about learning. His hobbies have long been thinking, reading, and questioning…along with cycling, camping and rockhounding.

When it came to selecting a school, he sought a small liberal arts college where he would be challenged academically and supported emotionally, where he could build relationships with faculty and friends. His interests in international affairs, politics, philosophy and the environment were part of what lead him to select Kalamazoo College.

Gabe’s plans for his future are still evolving. He’s considering taking some time to work in his field of study, political science, possibly through a non-profit or NGO or outreach program like the Peace Corps. Gabe anticipates eventually returning to school to get a Ph.D. or J.D., but first he wants to better understand precisely where he wants to focus his energies.”

The inside of Rich’s graduation card reads: WE CELEBRATE YOUR GRADUATION FROM K, AND THE DEDICATION IT REPRESENTS. THIS WHITE OAK SEEDLING IS FROM AN ACORN FALLEN FROM ONE OF THE MANY BEAUTIFUL TREES THAT LINE KALAMAZOO’S QUAD. IT IS A SYMBOL OF A TIME AND A PLACE FOREVER DEAR TO OUR HEARTS. WE HOPE YOU WILL GROW LIKE THESE TREES, FULL OF STRENGTH AND POWER AND LIFE’S MAJESTY.

Distant Mirror

Posted on June 7, 2016March 23, 2022

The Men's Dorm before a fire. Bowen Hall is in the background at left — The Men’s Dorm before the fire. Bowen Hall is in the background at left

Like its century-in-the-future counterpart, the class of ’16 (1916!) faced its share of campus crises scattered among the quotidian rhythm of challenge, disorientation, hard work, fun and growth. You can discover these similarities (and differences) from a display created by archivist Lisa Murphy ’98 and currently on exhibit in Upjohn Library.

The class of 1916 graduated 38 members (four with bachelor of science degrees, 34 with bachelor of arts degrees). The students matriculated in 1912. At that time all classes were held in Bowen Hall, located near what is today the east loading dock of the Hicks Center. Bowen housed the library as well. Male students lived in the appropriately (albeit unimaginatively) named “Men’s Dorm.” It was located near today’s Hoben Hall. Women students resided in “Ladies Hall,” located approximately in the center of a triangle whose vertices would one day be Stetson Chapel, Mandelle Hall and Dewing Hall. None of those three vertices existed then. And none of those 1916 landmarks (Bowen, Men’s Dorm, Ladies Hall) exist today.

Despite being 100 years apart, the academic calendar is roughly the same: mid-September to mid-June, though divided back then into two semesters rather than three trimesters. Fourteen faculty worked at K in 1916; three were women.

According to Murphy, freshmen and sophomores 100 years ago tended to do things as one group, juniors and seniors a second. As freshmen, the class of ’16 distinguished itself in the annual sophomore-versus-freshmen tug-of-war over Mirror Lake, a shallow mucky pond near Arcadia Creek and the Amtrak train tracks. According to a small Kalamazoo Gazette article (headline: FRESHMEN DRAG 15 CLASSMEN THROUGH CHILLY LAKE WATERS), the first-years made short work of the sophomores and pulled them across the entire pond.

Back then juniors and seniors enjoyed an annual picnic at West Lake. The class of ’16 had a chance to attend a senior-only picnic at Gull Lake (see photo, with President Stetson on the far right). Perhaps these events are ancestors to the Day of Gracious Living, which the class of 2016 experienced annually for four years.

Students confined to the Men's Dorm take some air — Students confined to the Men’s Dorm take some air

All classes endure challenges. The graduates of 1916 faced smallpox and a serious dorm fire during their four years. In early April of 1913 a junior named Ernest Piper was diagnosed with smallpox. The Gazette headline read: SMALLPOX APPEARS AT COLLEGE “DORM” WEDNESDAY EVENING: Dr. Stetson Orders All Students to be Vaccinated at Once: Glee Club Members Are Scared. Piper had been on a recent trip with the Glee Club. For a few days, the College was “campused,” which meant students stayed in their rooms with the exception of their vaccination appointments. A doctor’s written verification of vaccination (and antibody production) was required to resume classes and other activities. One such verification is on display in the library, with two dates (April 3 and April 30) corresponding (respectively) to vaccination and efficacy (presence of antibodies presumably).

President Stetson took some heat for not banishing Piper to an infectious diseases sanatorium. None existed in Kalamazoo, and the closest one outside the city Stetson considered deplorable. So he stood his ground. It turned out Piper’s was a mild case, as was the only other case, that of a faculty member. The incident occurred before the age of antibiotics and less than four years prior to the influenza pandemics of 1918-19, which killed an estimated 675,000 Americans. Infectious disease was fearsome.

In the class’s senior year, on March 17, 1916, the Kalamazoo College Oratorical Association of Kalamazoo sponsored a debate between K and Hope College. The topic: “That Congress should adopt a literary test as a further means of restricting European immigration.” K had to argue the affirmative; Hope the negative. The debate occurred of St. Patrick’s Day. No record of who won.

The Men's Dorm the morning after the fire — The Men’s Dorm the morning after the fire

Coincidentally, that very night, a midnight blaze destroyed the fourth floor of the Men’s Dorm. All 48 residents of the building made it out; those on the lower floors had some time to salvage belongings, but the students on the third and fourth floors were fortunate to escape with their lives. In a scene right out of Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie, the bell from the dorm’s tower fell through the floors, narrowly missing one student who had just fled his room. Wrote The Index (March 21, 1916): “A very narrow escape was experienced by Paul Butler when the old bell, which had hung in the tower for more than fifty years and is well known to every alumnus, crashed through the roof and down to the third floor. Butler had just left his room when the mass of metal tore an opening in the floor over which he had recently passed.” Eat your heart out, Tim Burton…though, perhaps, the proximity of place and timing were embellished in the telling.

What’s certain is that local neighbors volunteered to house the newly homeless students, providing clothing and book replacements as well. Lots of homework, even some assignments not due for months, were claimed to have been lost in the blaze.

The night of St. Patrick’s Day was bitter cold. You can see the frozen ice from the water used to douse the flames in the after-photo of the before-and-after sequence. The College declared the fourth floor a loss, and refurbished the building as a three-story structure.

No matter what it may have seemed, not all about the four years was crisis–the same as with the class of 2016. The 1916 baseball team won the conference championship, as would its future descendant 100 years later. The basketball team placed first as well. And 1916 was the year the Kalamazoo College Student Senate formed. Ironically, 100 years later, 2015-16 was the College’s first year since 1916 without a student government.

Heyls On Their Way to K (Mostly)

Posted on May 18, 2016March 23, 2022

2016 Heyl Scholars who will attend Kalamazoo College or WMU School of Nursing. Front row, from left: Shukrani Nsenga, Loy Norrix HS; Anna Roodbergen, Vicksburg HS; Brianna Harrison, Kalamazoo Central HS; and Hannah Laurin, Kalamazoo Central HS. Second row, from left: Taylor Ashby, Kalamazoo Central HS; Kento Hirakawa, Portage Central; and Kelsi Conroy, Kalamazoo Central HS. Back row, from left: Michael Orwin, Portage Northern HS; Matthew Krinock, Portage Northern HS; and Samuel Maddox, Gull Lake HS. NOTE: Two Heyl Scholars were not pictured.

At a dinner last evening Kalamazoo College feted the dozen 2016 Kalamazoo county high school graduates who earned Heyl Scholarships for Kalamazoo College (science and math) or Western Michigan University (nursing). The scholarship covers tuition, book costs and room charges. The winners are (l-r): front row — Shukrani Nsenga, Loy Norrix; Anna Roodbergen, Vicksburg; Brianna Harrison, Kalamazoo Central; Hannah Laurin, Kalamazoo Central; second row — Taylor Ashby, Kalamazoo Central; Kento Hirakawa, Portage Central; Kelsi Conroy, Kalamazoo Central; back row — Michael Orwin, Portage Northern; Matthew Krinock, Portage Northern; and Samuel Maddox, Gull Lake. Not pictured are Julie Zabik and Marjorie Wolfe, both from Loy Norrix. Harrison, Conroy and Laurin will attend WMU. Nsenga, Roodbergen, Ashby, Hirakawa, Orwin, Krinock, Maddox, Zabik and Wolfe are on their way to K! (Photo by Tony Dugal)

Kalamazoo College Commencement is June 12 at 1 p.m.

Posted on May 9, 2016March 23, 2022

Kalamazoo College’s 2016 Commencement takes place Sunday June 12 at 1:00 p.m. on the campus Quad. Speakers include international human rights lawyer, activist and scholar Gay McDougall, Award-winning author Bonnie Jo Campbell, and graduating K senior Mindze Mbala-Nkanga.

Approximately 300 members of the K class of 2016 will receive Bachelor of Arts degrees.

K President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran will welcome the graduates – along with approximately 2,500 family members and friends, K faculty, staff, trustees, alumni and community members – in what will be her final commencement as K president. She retires from her post on June 30 after 11 years.

Gay McDougall will be the 2016 commencement keynote speaker. She is Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence, Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School, Fordham University, New York City. Her long and noteworthy career has been dedicated to fighting racial oppression both in the United States and abroad. She is former United Nations Independent Expert on Minority Issues, former Executive Director of Global Rights at Partners for Justice, and former Director of the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

In 1999, McDougall was a recipient of the coveted MacArthur “Genius” Award. She has also received the Butcher Medal of the American Society of International Law for outstanding contributions to human rights law and the Thurgood Marshall Award of the District of Columbia Bar Association among numerous other national and international awards.

McDougall received a J.D. degree from Yale Law School and an LL.M. degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has Honorary Doctors of Law degrees from Georgetown University Law Center, the School of Law of the City University of New York, and Agnes Scott College.

McDougall will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from K during commencement.

Bonnie Jo Campbell will also speak at commencement. Campbell is the author of Once Upon a River, Women and Other Animals, Q Road, the just-released Mothers, Tell Your Daughters, and the National Book Award nominated American Salvage. In 2012, Once Upon a River was the Summer Common Reading book for the incoming class of 2016. Campbell spent two days on campus meeting with class members as part of their new student orientation program. Per K tradition, she returns to address this same class of students at their commencement.

Campbell is a Michigan native and resident of Kalamazoo who has served as a visiting professor of English at K. She received her B.A. degree from University of Chicago and both a M.A. degree in mathematics and M.F.A. degree in writing from Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo.

During Commencement, Bonnie Jo Campbell will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from K.

2015-2016 President’’s Student Ambassadors, Kalamazoo College, Erin Butler ’18; Francisco “Franky” Cabrera ’16; Bianca Delgado ’17; Alexis Fiebernitz ’16; George Fishback ’17; Immanuel “Manny” Greene ’16; Madeline “Maddie” Hume ’16; Elyse Kaplan ’18; Mindze Mbala-Nkanga ’16; Nirmita “Mira” Palakodaty ’18; Brian Raetz ’16 — Mindze Mbala-Nkanga ’16

Graduating K senior Mindze Mbala-Nkanga will be this year’s student graduation day speaker. Mbala-Nkanga is from Ypsilanti, Mich., and will receive a B.A. degree in biology. Her Senior Independent Project (a K graduation requirement) was “Mother Anopheles: Of Malaria and Other Infections,” a play in two acts, for which she received honors. During her four years at K she completed an internship at Monroe Carell Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University and second at a hospital in Libreville, Gabon. She also served as president of the student organization Kalama-Africa, member of the Student of Color Coalition, and President’s Student Ambassador.

Graduating K seniors Sarah Wallace, Dylan Polcyn and Kaeli Peach will speak at Baccalaureate on Saturday June 11, at 8:00 p.m., in Stetson Chapel. K Baccalaureate is a nondenominational service with student and faculty speakers and musical performances.

17th Century Reality TV

Posted on May 5, 2016March 23, 2022

The cast of the Festival Playhouse production of Molière’s LEARNED LADIES includes Belinda McCauley ’16 (Bélise), Kellie Dugan ’17 (Armande), Madison Donoho ’17 (Philaminte), and Kate Kreiss ’19 (Henriette). Photo by Emily Salswedel ’16

Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College wraps up its 52nd season with Molière’s comedy, The Learned Ladies, in the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, Thursday through Sunday, May 12-15.

The play, first produced in 1672, has been perceived as Moliere’s criticism of educated women. However, Director Marissa Harrington believes “his mockery [targets] the excess in which the women of this play indulge. We must always seek balance.”

“Though the play encourages female empowerment,” explains Dramaturg Lauren Landman ’18, “it also emphasizes the chaos that occurs when indulgence becomes immodesty–not unlike popular television shows such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

“To illustrate this parallel, Festival Playhouse’s production will transform audience members into avid fans of reality television, offering a behind-the-lens perspective that will question what exactly it means to be ‘learned’.”

With today’s reality television shows becoming increasingly popular, Harrington poses a question to the audience: “Do we demand enough truth from ourselves and each other?”

The play opens Thursday, May 12, at 7:30pm. Additional evening performances occur Friday and Saturday, May 13 and 14, at 8p.m., and a matinee concludes the run on Sunday, May 15, at 2pm. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for seniors citizens, and $15 for other adults. For reservations call 269.337.7333 or visit the FP website.

The performance features Elaine Kauffman, costume designer; Lanford J. Potts, scenic and lighting designer; and Val Frank ’17, sound designer. This production of The Learned Ladies has been translated into English verse by Richard Wilbur.

Study Abroad in Soccer

Posted on May 3, 2016March 23, 2022

Andrew Bremer at US Soccer Paralympic Training. Photo by Hana Asano.

Like many Kalamazoo College student athletes over the years, junior Andrew Bremer will enjoy a spring term international experience. His travel will take him to Spain, the Netherlands and (possibly) to Brazil, not as a currently enrolled K student but instead as a member of the United States Paralympics soccer team.

“Before all this happened,” says Andrew, “I’d only been on a plane once, and never out of the country.”

“All this” started with a June 2015 invitation to attend training camp for the U.S. team. That first camp for Andrew (requiring his second plane trip) took place at the National Training Center for Soccer in Los Angeles last October. Andrew had to miss a week of fall term classes as well as two soccer matches (he plays defense for the Hornet team). The second training camp occurred in November (after Thanksgiving and therefore the end of fall term, “thankfully,” smiles Andrew) at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego. For training camp number three Andrew flew to Florida in early January.

“Missing week one of winter term was tough,” says Andrew, who is as hard working and disciplined in his studies as he is on the pitch. The economics and business major (and mathematics minor) enjoyed the full support of his K professors and soccer coach, as well as that of Associate Dean of Students Dana Jansma, who notified the College’s communication office about Andrew’s story and his plans for junior spring term.

He will take a leave of absence that term because he learned in late January that he is invited to join the U.S. Paralympics soccer team. The team will train for most of the month of April in Atlanta. At the end of that month the team will depart for Barcelona, Spain, for a pre-Paralympics tournament to include seven of the eight teams that will compete at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In addition to the U.S. squad, the eight teams include Russia, Ireland, Brazil, Ukraine, Argentina, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

“The pool play format guarantees us at least three games in Spain,” says Andrew. After the tournament the team will return to Atlanta in mid-May for more training. Then it’s off to a four-team June tournament in the Netherlands, organized by the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football. After that tournament Andrew will wait to see if he’s made the roster for Paralympic Games in Rio.

He feels his chances are pretty good, and the prospect of playing there (September 7-18) he considers the most exciting aspect of his soccer study abroad adventure.

“The team will stay in the Olympic Village,” says Andrew, “and the atmosphere will be electric.” He says that the Paralympics soccer matches that followed the London Olympics drew crowds of some 13,000 spectators on average. And the stadium in Rio can hold 15,000 people.

His participation in the Paralympic Games will mean Andrew misses the first few days of fall term, but he’s proven he can handle that challenge. He plans to do preliminary research for his Senior Individualized Project while in Atlanta, where training occurs nearby the liberal arts school Oglethorpe University and its library. During previous trips to Los Angeles, San Diego and Bradenton (Fla.) Andrew grew accustomed to finding a quiet place between practices to knock off some study. And, as good fortune would have it, he completed most of his requirements for his major in his first two years at K. All that remains for economics and business will be the SIP and senior seminar.

True to his liberal arts nature, Andrew intends to snag that math minor as well. And speaking of liberal arts, it’s evident in his soccer too: though he plays defense for K, for Team U.S.A. he prowls the pitch as a forward. He’ll resume the former when he steps foot again on MacKenzie Field fall term. And academically, “I’ll complete all my degree requirements in time for June commencement.

A challenge? Yes. But in some ways enrolling at K at all may been his toughest initial test, what with the familial tug of Calvin College (both his parents are graduates, and the family lives about two blocks away from the campus) and Hope College (his older brother is a graduate and his younger sister a current student). How did Andrew navigate these cross currents?

“I love the Quad,” he says, “and K’s academic rigor. In fact, I love it here so much that it’s painful to take the leave from spring term.” Now that’s a student athlete! With quite a family sports pedigree. His older sister swam the Rice University (Houston, Texas) team. His older brother played hockey for the Flying Dutch, and his younger sister is a member of Hope’s soccer team.

Will they or his parents attend any of his matches overseas? “Probably not in Spain or the Netherlands,” says Andrew. “But if I’m on the roster for Rio, well, they’ve already inquired about plane tickets.”

Toward that end, K shouts out a huge “Good luck, Andrew!”

Heyl Earns Goldwater

Posted on April 27, 2016March 23, 2022

Raoul Wadhwa ’17 has won the very competitive and nationally prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. The Goldwater Scholarship Program was created to encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering and to foster excellence in those fields.

Raoul will graduate in June 2017 with majors in chemistry and mathematics. At K he currently serves as the Civic Engagement Scholar for the Center for Civic Engagement’s Spanish Medical Interpreting group. He coordinates students from K to serve as medical translators for Spanish-speaking patients and English-speaking staff, nurses, and doctors at a local medical clinic. “I first participated in this program as a first-year,” says Raoul, “and I enjoy working with a group of fellow students to improve the health of our community.” He has yet to decide where he will attend graduate school, but he has no uncertainty over his decision regarding his undergraduate education. “I am really glad that I was able to attend K,” says the Heyl scholar. “The relatively small community size fosters the building of close relationship with classmates and colleagues, and I value that about K.” According to Diane Kiino, the College’s director of health sciences and community and global health, K’s last Goldwater Scholar (Tibin John ’15) also was a Heyl Scholar.

STORIES Wins at North by Midwest

Posted on April 26, 2016March 23, 2022

EDITOR’S NOTE (May 24): “The Stories They Tell” won the Kalamazoo Film Society’s “Palm d’Mitten” Award for best local film. And the documentary won second place for best feature film at this weekend’s NxMW Film Festival in Kalamazoo! Pictured (below) at the award ceremony are (l-r): Zac Clark ’14 (Production Assistant), Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan (Co-Authorship Project Creator), Visiting Instructor of Art Danny Kim (Director), Matt Hamel (Photographer/Animator), Michelle Hamel (Videographer) and Dhera Strauss (Videographer). CONGRATULATIONS!

(April 26) “The Stories They Tell,” a documentary film by Visiting Instructor of Art Danny Kim is an official selection of the 2016 North by Midwest Film Festival and will be shown in the Wellspring Dance Theater at the Epic Center (359 S. Kalamazoo Mall) on May 21 at 3:30 p.m. In this charming film, Kalamazoo College Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan partners every Kalamazoo College student in her “Developmental Psychology” class with a child at Woodward Elementary School to write children’s books together. The project’s concept has been expanded and continued through a partnership with the College’s Center for Civic Engagement. As the student (college and primary school) create these whimsical, amusing and surprising stories, the connections they make with each other have a lasting impact, not only in literacy and learning, but in understanding their pasts and futures. The film also screened at the Lake Erie Arts and Film Festival in Sandusky, Ohio, the East Lansing Film Festival in Michigan, and Reading FilmFEST in Reading, Pennsylvania. The tickets for the showing at the Wellspring Dance Theater are FREE but registration is required.

Intercultural Conference and Hip Hop Collective

Posted on April 22, 2016March 23, 2022

Kalamazoo College’s Intercultural Student Life group presents the “Intercultural Conference and Hip Hop Collective,” a two-day event on April 29 and 30 featuring guest speakers, the Black History 101 Mobile Museum, panels, discussions and a performance featuring five Hip Hop artists. The event’s venues include the Hicks Banquet Hall and Hicks Center.

Among the event’s goals are building relationships and learning about the intercultural ethos of K. “My student advisory board and I decided to focus our first event on Hip Hop because Hip Hop has a way to cross over cultural boundaries and speak to multiple groups,” said Natalia Carvalho-Pinto, director for intercultural student life.

The museum exhibit is open both days of the conference and is a powerful experience. “Khalid El-Hakim, the museum’s curator, travels with about 1,000 exhibit pieces,” says Carvalho-Pinto, “ranging from the slavery era through Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement up to Hip Hop and the modern era.” El-Hakim will deliver the keynote address Saturday, talking about the museum and the importance on continuity in social justice work.

The Conference also features Ernie Pannicioli, a photographer who has documented Hip Hop from its birth through modern days and photographed every celebrity in Hip Hop,” according to Carvalho-Pinto. She adds, “He published a book titled Who Shot Ya, and he speaks about ’the other side of Hip Hop,’ the movement building and struggles that few discuss.” Carvalho-Pinto also is excited about the presence of OLMECA at the conference. “He is a very unique artist,” she says, “and his keynote address will focus on his experiences in the Zapatista movement and Hip Hop in Latin America.”

A Hip Hop panel occurs Saturday afternoon with Miz Korona, Mu, Supa Emcee and Kenny Muhammed THE HUMAN ORCHESTRA. Five Hip Hop artists will perform Saturday night for the “Zoo After Dark” activity.

“Our speakers, panelists and performers are really great people,” says Carvalho-Pinto. I would love to see as many students, staff and faculty as possible attend some or all the conference. My hope is that the event opens more opportunities for dialogue and serves as a place of empowerment for our students of color on campus.”

K at EB

Posted on April 21, 2016March 23, 2022

Two Kalamazoo College chemistry majors, Victoria Osorio ’16 and Sarah Glass ’17, attended the annual Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego, Calif. Experimental Biology is a joint meeting of six different societies including the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) as well as societies for physiology, nutrition, pharmacology, pathology, and anatomy. “The meeting is a great opportunity for students to present their work and attend a variety of engaging scientific talks,” says Laura Furge, the Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Professor of Chemistry. “There were more than 15,000 scientists in attendance.”

Osorio and Glass presented results of their research as part of the Undergraduate Poster Competition and as part of the regular scientific session for ASBMB. Their presentations centered on recent work in the Furge lab with protein variants of an important human liver enzyme called CYP2D6. CYP2D6 helps the human body process drugs. The titles of the Osorio and Glass posters were, respectively, “Susceptibility of Four Human CYP2D6 Variants and One Active Site Mutant to Inhibition by the Mechanism-based Inactivator SCH 66712” and “Activity and Kinetic Characterization of Human CYP2D6 Polymorphisms with Bufuralol and Dextromethorphan.”

There were more than 225 undergraduate posters in the ASBMB competition from students across the country and from a variety of college and universities. One Grand Prize and four Honorable Mention awards were presented to students in each of the four research topic categories (proteins and enzymes / metabolism, bioenergetics, lipids and signal transduction / DNA, chromosomes, and gene regulation / cellular and developmental biology). Glass won an Honorable Mention for the “Proteins and Enzymes” category and was recognized the next day in front of an audience of hundreds of scientists, educators and students at the award lecture for outstanding contributions to education. Glass’s presentation was based on the culmination of nearly three years of research in the Furge lab; Glass will complete her SIP with Furge this summer and the lab hopes to publish the results later in 2016 along with co-author Osorio and other recent Furge lab research assistants.

After graduation, Osorio will enter the Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program at Case Western Reserve University. Glass will complete her degree in Fall 2016 (two terms early), and she plans to start graduate school in biochemistry or pharmacology in 2017.

Travel to ASBMB for Osorio and Glass was supported by a grant to Furge from the National Institutes of Health. Glass also received an ASBMB Travel Award of $500.

Next year’s Experimental Biology meeting will be in nearby Chicago, Illinois, says Furge, “and we hope to take a large group of students from the Departments of Chemistry and Biology.”