“This experience completely changed the trajectory of my life. I am a Latina, a child of immigrants, low-income, and first-generation college student,” Duque said. “While I hold these identities with pride, I recognize that they come with many societal disadvantages. I don’t think I would be successfully pursuing my bachelor’s degree without their guidance.”

The resources and community that Duque found in ������Ƶ Academy and at ������Ƶ inspired her to further pursue her education through the (PPIA-JSI). Although Duque learned about the program as a first year, the fellowship is only open to rising seniors, so she spent her time at ������Ƶ strengthening her resume as a Periclean Scholar and a scholar in the Odyssey Program. Duque is double majoring in political science and data analytics, which made her a perfect fit for the summer institute program.

Through the PPIA Junior Summer Institute, 149 scholars will participate in six weeks of free, rigorous summer programming at one of six campus partners to prepare students for advanced schooling and careers in public service and leadership in both domestic and global affairs. Fellows were selected based on merit and their previous, current, and stated dedication to public service.

Duque will be one of 30 students to call at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home for the summer.

“I am looking forward to meeting peers and professionals in the growing interdisciplinary field of public policy and data analytics, as it merges my current majors,” she said. “I am also excited to live in and explore Pittsburgh, even if it is for seven weeks.”

is a nonprofit organization that has been supporting efforts to increase diversity in public leadership for 43 years. After the fellowship, if Duque is admitted to one of Heinz College’s full-time graduate programs, she will receive a full-tuition scholarship. During Duque’s final year as an undergraduate student, she plans to spend the fall semester studying abroad in Seville, Spain, and her spring semester participating in ������Ƶ’s Washington, D.C. program.

Her research uses eye-tracking technology to look at memory differences among people who have varying degrees of autistic traits. Feintuch helped coach a special education gymnastics team during her time in high school and when she arrived at ������Ƶ, she knew she wanted to pursue a research project that combined her personal passions with her academic ones.

“I just became interested in how learning differs for everyone, and as a biology major, I was interested in the science of why and how this was happening,” she said.

Feintuch is majoring in biology with a concentration in molecular biology and a minor in neuroscience. Her project is titled “Evaluating the Self-Reference Effect as an Encoding Strategy for Individuals Displaying Autistic Traits: An Eye-Tracking Study.” Feintuch is mentored by Amy Overman, assistant provost for Scholarship and Creative Activity and professor of psychology. The pair have spent the last two years designing a behavioral experiment in the form of a memory exercise. They also focused on recruiting participants and administering the experiment on a computer with eye-tracking software below the test.

Feintuch has been able to pursue this in-depth research with Overman as her mentor through ������Ƶ’s Lumen Prize program. The Lumen Prize is ������Ƶ’s most prestigious award for undergraduate research and awards scholars a $20,000 scholarship to support a chosen research project and allows the scholar to work closely with a faculty mentor on that project for two years. Each year, 15 rising juniors are named Lumen Scholars and conduct research that often produces conference presentations and publications.

Feintuch knew that applying for the Lumen Prize would allow her to have access to the resources necessary to complete her research at the highest level possible. “I wanted to maximize the opportunities that I could have at ������Ƶ,” she said. “I wanted to be the best version of myself and really go after what I wanted to do in life.”

Under the guidance of Overman, Feintuch has been able to meet other academics in her field, become a stronger and more critical writer, and think deeper both in and outside of the lab.

“Lindy is intelligent and consistently exceeds goals that she sets for herself or we set together,” Overman said. “However, the qualities that truly make her stand out are her willingness to work to understand the perspectives of others, especially the people who participated in her research and the broader autistic community, and her willingness to lean into being a leader on her project and beyond.”

Feintuch and Overman have presented their findings at conferences such as the Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Feintuch hopes to continue her education after graduating from ������Ƶ in the spring to eventually pursue a career in genetic counseling, specializing in assisting individuals with neuro-developmental disorders.

“Making connections with so many people and really building on connecting with professors and professionals in all different positions has allowed me to approach my post-������Ƶ experience with a lot of open-mindedness,” Feintuch said. “I can be really successful in a lot of different fields because I’ve been able to engage in lots of different activities during my time here.”

Wray’s April 24 talk in McKinnon Hall was open to the public and was one of many Earth Week events hosted by ������Ƶ’s Office of Sustainability. Other events this week include Party for the Planet, a plant adoption and a star-gazing event. These events all serve as an opportunity for ������Ƶ students, faculty, and staff to examine their own habits as they relate to sustainability.

President Connie Ledoux Book welcomed the audience by sharing her support for ������Ƶ’s commitment to sustainability and expressing her excitement about ������Ƶ’s new collaboration with eight other colleges and universities to bring an innovative, large-scale solar facility online in western Kentucky.

Wray was introduced by Matthew Flacksenburg ‘24, the intern for ������Ƶ’s Office of Sustainability. Flacksenburg talked of Wray’s long list of achievements, which include her current position as director of CIRCLE, a Stanford-based initiative focused on Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership, and Emotional Wellbeing. Wray’s authored books, including “Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety,” have garnered national acclaim. Wray has spoken at TED and the World Economic Forum, with appearances on BBC, NPR, and CBC. Recognized as a Climate Psychology expert, Wray has received prestigious awards like the Canadian Eco-Hero Award and the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications.

Throughout the speech, Wray emphasized the importance of addressing climate anxieties. She urged a holistic approach to the climate crisis, highlighting the importance of addressing mental health consequences alongside political and technological challenges. She also discussed the younger generations’ internal struggles and anxiety towards an uncertain future.

“The fundamental questions in life that are being asked are now centered around this uncertainty,” she said. “How are we going to spend our time? Where are we going to live? What is our family going to look like? What should we train for? What industry will I devote my time to?”

Marykate Hart ’26 attended the event and worries about the “overwhelming pressure on our generation to fix the mistakes of our past generations and the pressure continuing to build up over time is exhausting and gets heavier.”

Wray offered a variety of ways for people to start a virtuous circle within themselves and support both their mental health and the climate crisis. She led the audience through a variety of exercises that allowed them to reflect on their own personal climate anxieties, as well as appreciating their time on Earth so far. She then urged the audience to continue to have conversations surrounding their attitudes toward current events and provided a variety of resources to make those conversations easier.

“There are deep, important lessons about resilience, integrity, continuance, survival, and community strength that can be centered as we move forth in our climate reality,” she said.

After Wray concluded her presentation, Assistant Director of Sustainability for Education and Outreach Kelly Harer invited students and other audience members to ask Wray questions.

The keynote address was sponsored by the Office of Sustainability, Counseling Services, Environmental Studies Department, and the Truitt Center for Religious & Spiritual Life.

Interactive media graduate student Morgan Stankiewicz contributed to this article. 

Upon taking the stage, Pappas delved into some of the difficulties she has encountered as an athlete, student, and creative thinker. This included her reflection on losing her mother to suicide at the age of four.

“It felt like something was taken from me … and it would have been really easy to make a rule of life that the world was a place of scarcity where things would continue to get taken from me,” Pappas shared. “When my mom passed away, I chose to believe that even though I could not have her, I could have everybody else; other mentors, female figures, and of course the lessons that I learned myself along the way.”

Pappas joined various sports teams to keep herself busy but ended up finding her passion in running. She emphasized the importance of chasing one’s “North Star,” and encouraged the audience to pursue their own genuine goals and aspirations.

“Chasing your frontier, no matter what it is, however big or small, it’s very important to give yourself a window of time in which you grant yourself permission to be fully dedicated to pursuing your goal,” she said. “During this time, do not question the goal itself. You don’t question a workout in the middle of a rep, right?”

Pappas has seen great success as a runner and currently holds the Greek national record in the 10,000 meters, but she confessed that she often struggles with depression following her races, as it is hard to come down from the emotional high reached during the competitions. She described her coping mechanism for these moments, explaining that she places just as much importance on relaxing after a big event as she does preparing for it.

“Please respect that you need a decompression period after any peak in your life,” she advised. “It is so normal and so necessary.”

Pappas then sat down for a discussion with Madison Synowiec ‘24, a member of the ������Ƶ cross country team, and Maggie Reetz ‘27, a member of the Liberal Arts Forum. The three discussed the importance of mentorship, the discovery and pursuit of passions, and the dedication to achieving goals.

“You’re gonna going to live a really good life if you know you’re someone who tried their best,” Pappas explained. “You can never expect yourself to be the best, but I am deeply satisfied with trying my hardest.”

Pappas ended the session by fielding questions from the audience.

Every semester, the Liberal Arts Forum votes on two speakers to visit ������Ƶ’s campus and share their experiences and expertise on a variety of topics. More upcoming events can be found on ������Ƶ’s Cultural Calendar.

van Eerden began the evening by congratulating the winners of the Frederick Hartmann Nonfiction Writing Contest and then read the audience an essay from her upcoming book, “Yoke and Feather,” which will be released later this year. Often inspired by biblical myths, van Eerden focuses on unraveling the subtexts behind these stories and exploring the underlying themes and narratives of the characters in them.

“The book is interested in the images of gravity and grace, likeness and happiness, and obligation and freedom,” van Eerden explained. “A lot of these biblical and ancient texts are very skeletal, and this book is about filling in the gaps.”

The essay van Eerden presented to the audience drew inspiration from the biblical narrative of sisters Mary and Martha. In an imaginative reinterpretation, she took artistic liberties by portraying them as adoptive parents of a foster child.

“I take some creative liberties here,” she said. “What’s interesting to me is the form of nonfiction that slides toward fiction and makes use of imagination in order to test out ideas and make sense of our own experiences.”

Van Eerden has written three novels, “Call it Horses,” and “Glorybound” and “My Radio Radio,” as well as a collection of poetries, entitled “The Long Weeping.” She has been awarded the Gulf Coast Prize in Nonfiction, the Milton Fellowship and a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Fellowship.

Van Eerden earned a bachelor of arts in English from West Virginia University and a master of fine arts in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. She has taught for over twenty years in college classrooms and adult literacy programs. She is an associate professor of creative writing at Hollins University and is the nonfiction editor for Orison Books.

“Believe it or not, at the age of 10, I had never heard the word racism, it did not exist in my world,” Davis explained. “I accepted it as an existence, but what I didn’t know was why? How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?”

At that young age, Davis decided he would spend the rest of his life trying to answer that question.

Davis, a Howard University graduate, author and musician, shared his experiences confronting racism on Tuesday, Feb. 20, as part of the Liberal Arts Forum speaker series. Davis was introduced by Benji Stern ’26, the president of the Liberal Arts Forum.

Davis would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in music from Howard University in 1980. After that, he began playing the piano professionally and traveling the world once more. Davis has played backup for musical legends such as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Legendary Blues Band. During his time off the stage, Davis delved into the history of antisemitism, racism and other supremacist ideologies.

“My profession is music, but my obsession is studying race relations,” Davis said to the crowd.

Davis decided the best way he could work to understand and attempt to improve race relations was by seeking out, engaging in dialogue with and befriending members of the Ku Klux Klan.

“Who better to answer my questions than someone who would go so far as to join an organization that has an over 100-year history of practicing hating people?” he said.

Across the next 30 years, Davis spent time interviewing and befriending members of the white supremacist group. He discovered that Klansmen held numerous misconceptions about black people, primarily rooted in intense indoctrination during their youth. Davis recounted that getting to know him as a human being made it increasingly challenging for the members to uphold their prejudices. Klan members have often invited Davis to meetings, and they have given him their robes and hoods after Davis convinced them to leave the Klan. He keeps the former members’ robes and hoods with pride, as they represent the shift toward a more inclusive and tolerant mindset. He has been directly responsible for over 40 people leaving the Klan.

After concluding his lecture, he entertained the crowd with a piano performance, playing a lively riff that he would frequently play on stage at his shows. He then spent time responding to several audience questions. Before leaving the stage, he encouraged the crowd in Whitley to have difficult conversations, to listen to controversial viewpoints and to challenge themselves to embrace discomfort in the pursuit of finding common ground for the sake of humanity.

“Ignorance breeds fear,” he said. “We fear things we don’t understand. Fear will turn into hatred, and hatred will turn into destruction.”

Every semester, the Liberal Arts Forum votes on two speakers to visit ������Ƶ’s campus and share their experiences and expertise on a variety of topics. The forum’s next lecture event will be on March 11, when Olympian Alexi Pappas will speak at Whitley Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

In recognition of that dedication, Rozan was recently , a top honor for those in the field.

Rozan, who serves as director of programs and audience development at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., made the most of his four years at ������Ƶ. He took full advantage of the wide variety of classes and experiences that the college has to offer and cultivated relationships with both students and professors.

“������Ƶ provided me with an open opportunity to learn and to explore,” said Rozan.

He graduated from ������Ƶ with a degree in studio art and although he did not have a specific career path in mind, he knew he wanted to move to Boston and leverage what he had learned in pursuing his degree to land a role in a museum. Once in Boston, he found an open position responsible for welcoming visitors to an exhibition on Ancient Egypt at Boston’s Museum of Science, and it became clear to him that he had uncovered the path he was meant to follow.

Through the early stages of his career, Rozan greeted visitors, worked in admissions, and enhanced guest experiences.

“This experience, and others, of working on the museum floor, greeting visitors, selling admission tickets, and setting up programs, was invaluable and provided me with one of the most critical educations I could receive about museums and museum work,” he said. “My recommendation to anyone: understanding your job is knowing what it’s like on the factory floor, at the sales counter, or interacting with visitors during their visit to the museum.

His work ethic and dedication guided him to institutions such as the Worcester Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, Harvard Art Museums and the Boston Children’s Museum, culminating in his current position at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Rozan now has a deep appreciation for the importance of museums, and what they contribute to communities. He also emphasized the role that museums serve as a third place, a space that fosters social connections and a sense of belonging beyond the realms of home and work.

Rozan is a pioneer for audience engagement in museums through his advocacy for making museums a better place to work and a better part of the communities in which they exist, both inside and outside of their walls.

“I believe museums exist for the public,” he said. “It is a profound responsibility to be a museum; our work can and should impact the communities we serve.”

Rozan has presented his findings across a variety of platforms, including Harvard University’s extension school’s museum studies program, where he’s lectured and taught courses in audience engagement. Additionally, he is a founding member of the International Audience Engagement network and an international advisor to the CoMuseum in Athens, Greece, and lectures on the topic across the world.

His latest project is the Museum Glossary, a resource for the museum community that can help facilitate collaboration across institutions. The glossary contains over thirty in depth explanation of museum vernacular, developed entirely by industry experts.

“It’s a shared language for our industry that is rooted in audience, and would help people work better with one another,” Rozan said. “If we can’t talk to one another and be on the same page, how can we solve these problems?”

Along with his recognition as a 2023 Blooloop Power 10 Museum Influencer,  Rozan was also highlighted on BlooLoop’s list of .

“I found my interest and I pursued it,” Rozan said of his achievements.

STS 4980: Statistics Practicum is a capstone course that offers statistics majors real-world opportunities to carry out a statistics or data analytics project for an external organization. Students dedicate most of the semester to working with and providing deliverables for their professional partner. The course was first offered in 2019 and students had the opportunity to work with clients at Hanesbrands, Inc. and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

This year, one team of students, which included Katelyn Litvan ‘24, Hanna Engelhardt ‘24, Hayley Hawkins ‘24 and Sean McDermott ‘25, had the unique opportunity to work on a data analysis project for LabCorp’s Aviation Department. The students were mentored by Assistant Professor of Statistics Mark Weaver.

“This experience with LabCorp was just the practical confidence booster that these students needed as they look forward to their post-������Ƶ careers,” said Weaver. “The team took a difficult problem and delivered a product that was immediately useful, and their LabCorp collaborators were excellent sounding boards and guides through the entire process.”

LabCorp Aviation currently conducts its operations from Burlington-Alamance Airport, where its daily responsibilities involve transporting medical samples for testing through routine air deliveries. The student team of four was tasked with the responsibility of cleaning past flight data and creating a more efficient, structured and automatic approach to generating a daily irregular aviation report.
The students used software such as R Studio, Excel, Tableau, and JotForm to clean the data, automate the cleaning process, and create an interactive data visualization dashboard.
“Working with LabCorp this semester was amazing!” Hawkins said. “I learned so much about Tableau and data visualization by working with LabCorp’s analytics experts. Being able to see the direct impact of our work was so rewarding.”

Throughout the semester, the team met weekly with their collaborators at LabCorp to discuss projects and ask questions.

“The project gave me the opportunity to take what I had learned in R from the STS 3470 class at ������Ƶ and apply to cleaning the data for LabCorp Aviation,” McDermott said. “The project gave me the confidence to know that I have the knowledge from my classes at ������Ƶ to solve real world problems.”

During the last week of November, students were invited to LabCorp’s hangar at the Burlington-Alamance Airport to present their final project and tour the facilities. Throughout the semester, the students learned valuable professional skills such as time management, organization, and how to collaborate with people with different skills to make a finished product. The students also got to form connections with their LabCorp collaborators and experience firsthand how to communicate with clients and people outside of their academic bubble.

“Engaging in hands-on professional development, setting goals, and meeting timelines, the experience was nothing short of transformative,” Engelhardt said. “The LabCorp team’s unwavering support and eagerness to facilitate our learning made this partnership an unparalleled journey in honing in on my skills as a Statistics Major.”

STS 4980: Statistics Practicum offers all students with a background in statistics or data analysis the chance to put their skills to use outside of the classroom, and to have a semester-long experiential learning opportunity that stretches beyond ������Ƶ’s campus.

NASA was formally founded in the spring of 2018 by Arielle Watkins ’18, Bear Tosé ’18 and Xena Burwell ’18. That formal founding followed a vision created years before when the three students conceptualized NASA and laid the groundwork for the club during their first year at ������Ƶ. But they saw the full product of their work when the club was officially registered in 2018 during their senior year.

Paula Patch, a senior lecturer in English and the club’s faculty adviser, expressed pride in the club’s growth since its founding. “Over the past five years, this small group of students has kept the organization alive, and they have slowly built up the capacity to host events,” said Patch. “I am very proud of the work that the students have done in the past two years, in partnership with the CREDE especially, to host events and raise awareness of Native and Indigenous culture.”

Jorah Midgette ‘25 is currently president of NASA and said has found a community within the organization. Midgette has dedicated time to creating a safe community for Native American and Indigenous students on campus since she joined the organization during her sophomore year.

“Before coming to ������Ƶ, I hadn’t been very educated on my own Native heritage, so being able to explore my own background more while connecting with fellow Native American and Indigenous students has been great!” said Midgette. “As NASA, we want other members and students of the ������Ƶ community to know that we are here and that we are hopeful about increasing the conversation around Indigenous and Native American voices on ������Ƶ’s campus.”

Patch has been the faculty advisor for NASA since its inception. While the club has continued to grow, due to the very small number of Native-identifying students at ������Ƶ, it has been hard to keep the organization full over the years. According to ������Ƶ’s 2022-23 Fact Book, students who self-identify as American Indian make up 0.1 percent of ������Ƶ’s undergraduate population. Luckily, NASA has been able to partner with the Center for Race, Ethnicity, & Diversity Education (CREDE) to expand its influence throughout the campus and connect with a broader audience.

“Our vetting and continuation process for student organizations is dependent in part on membership numbers, leadership positions, and the availability of members to attend mandatory training,” said Patch. “As the adviser for this organization, I wanted to ensure that the organization could exist even if some of these conditions were not able to be met until ������Ƶ has more Native-identifying students.”

Midgette is a member of the Lumbee tribe and hopes to use her position as president to create a closer relationship with the ������Ƶ community, highlight the need for inclusivity on campus, and increase educational awareness for Native American- and Indigenous-identifying individuals. Another advocacy goal for NASA is to push for more Native and Indigenous content in the curriculum and more Native- and Indigenous-identifying faculty or staff to be hired.

While NASA’s primary focus is on holding a safe space on campus for Native-identifying students at ������Ƶ, the group has slowly built up the capacity to host events on ������Ƶ’s campus. NASA is currently looking into hosting a pow-wow or another community event on campus that would allow students to learn more about themselves and their own heritage. They are also hoping to work with Native student organizations at other universities, such as UNC-Greensboro and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Throughout Native American Heritage Month in November, there have been a variety of events that enable students to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their cultural heritage.

The CREDE has hosted a beading workshop with a local member of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, and a virtual art showcase displaying Native American art pieces. NASA is co-hosted an event with the French Club for a film viewing and discussion of the movie, “Kuessipan” on Nov. 15.

With a focus on creating meaningful connections and educational opportunities, NASA continues to empower students to deepen their understanding of their cultural heritage throughout November and beyond.

������Ƶ dedicated the week of Nov. 6-10 to host the fifth annual weeklong First-Generation Student Celebration with multiple events held to celebrate ������Ƶ’s first-generation community. On Wednesday, Nov. 8, a special celebration was held for ������Ƶ’s first-generation community.

“There are folks that come here that need different levels of support than others. Being able to provide those levels is important, initiatives like these are important,” said Kenneth Brown ‘19, assistant director of First-Generation Student Support Services. “More and more universities are taking first-gen programs more seriously and having a space for students is important to foster community.”

National First-Generation College Celebration Day is Nov. 8, that date selected as it is the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965. In celebration of this day, colleges and universities around the country host events related to the first-generation identity. As of fall 2023, there are 586 first-generation students on ������Ƶ’s campus, and all were invited to attend the First-Generation Student Celebration.

The event, held in Alumni Gym, offered first-generation students and friends a place to connect, reflect and have fun. The event started with representatives from the First-Generation Student Initiative and the First-Generation Society welcoming everyone to the gathering, which was followed by a cake-cutting ceremony. Attendees had the chance to reflect on their semesters so far on a shared reflection board, write notes of encouragement to one another, and play games such as cornhole.

Being a first-generation student comes with a unique set of challenges and opportunities. At ������Ƶ, the support system for first-generation students has been steadily growing over the past five years, with First-Generation Student Support Services getting started in 2019 as an initiative of the Center for Access and Success. In recognition of their efforts in 2021, ������Ƶ received a designation as a First-gen Forward institution.

“My first year, I really leaned on the First-Gen Initiative in the emotional aspect, everything was so confusing during COVID, so I really leaned on them,” said Delyla Makki ‘24. “I really found that there is a community amongst us, so I took the initiative to start more social events and help others be aware we are not alone.”

In 2022, Makki founded the First-Generation Society at ������Ƶ, with the goal of fostering and bringing awareness to the First-Generation student experience. Makki dedicated the spring of her sophomore year to getting the society up and running and served as the society’s first president. Two years later, after establishing by-laws and an executive board, the society boasts over 60 members.

Nicole Galant ‘19 was a first-generation student at ������Ƶ and now works in the National and International Fellowships office. Galant also serves as the staff advisor to the First-Generation Society.

“First-gens are a small but important population here,” she said. “They don’t necessarily look a certain way or come from a certain background, and it is not one size fits all when it comes to supporting them, but events like are super important for building community and making those support systems known.”

This week’s events revolve around the theme, “To Be First.” All the events center around exploration and reflection on what it means to be a first-generation college student.

Other events have been happening throughout the week to celebrate and encourage gatherings, such as a lunch and learn with first-generation faculty and staff members, a painting night with the Odyssey program, a Maker Hub takeover, and a special pop-up at College Coffee.

Maximus Garganta ‘25, is a transfer student and is the current president of the First-Generation Society. “At my old school I didn’t feel supported at all, but here at ������Ƶ because of the Society and all the support services, I do feel more supported,” he said. “The faculty here is very nice, if a faculty knows you’re first-gen, you can just see you have a connection with them right away.”

First-Generation Support Services offers a variety of advising services available to students throughout their time at ������Ƶ. They work with many campus partners such as Student Care and Outreach, Student Conduct, and Koenigsberger Learning Center to ensure students are connected with the necessary resources to thrive.

Additionally, we also provide programming throughout the year to connect students with resources and to one another.  The team also manages two support funds designed so that students can apply to assist with completing any of the five ������Ƶ Experiences and to gain access to academic resources.