This past May, five alumnae of the Scripps College Academy – called SCA Scholars – graduated from Scripps College. It’s a record number for the program, and the women celebrated Commencement 2013 by gathering for a photo near the spot where a similar photo was snapped four years ago when they entered as first-year students at Scripps College in 2009 (right).

The Scripps College Academy Class of 2013 in 2009

The alumnae have ambitious plans that include establishing a nonprofit to help other first-generation college students or to possibly work for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

Each Scholar credits her success, in part, to her experiences in the Academy.

The five women are Anna-Marie Wood ’13, Jasmine Johnson ’13, Jessica Baker ’13, Lyanne Dominguez ’13 and Amy Tran ’13. They had first joined the Scripps community in 2006 and 2007 as high school freshmen and sophomores.

SCA is a free college-preparatory program for female high school students from the greater Los Angeles area who seek to become the first in their families to attend college. This is what each of the five had to say about her SCA experience:

“SCA means new opportunities, new experiences, and achieving my educational dreams,” says Anna-Marie, who is currently serving as the Academy’s interim assistant director.

Jasmine plans to earn a doctorate degree because she wants to pursue a career in education.

“SCA was the first leap I took toward accomplishing my life’s goals,” says Jasmine, who hopes to work for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. “I didn’t know what I was signing up for. I just knew I wanted to go to a great college.”

Jessica’s experiences were life-changing.

“Throughout my time at Scripps, SCA was a community with like-minded people who were committed to helping students succeed in education,” says Jessica, who aspires to become a clinical psychologist and work with special needs students.

Lyanne describes SCA as “my family, my community.”

“It was my support system during my college and high school years,” says Lyanne, who is working this summer for the Chicago-based college-preparatory program, Schuler Scholar Program.

Applying to Scripps College would have never crossed Amy’s mind had she not attended SCA as a high school student.

“One of my aspirations is to help those who are less fortunate,” says Amy, who wants to become either a dermatologist or a medical doctor. “I hope to go on mission trips to Vietnam and help those in need, especially children who live in orphanages.”

She says SCA taught her to help others.

“I am grateful to be a part of the SCA family because of all the opportunities I’ve received. Thank you.”

In particular, she will focus on Jewish philanthropists and social activists who supported the work of anthropologist Franz Boas, who many credit as being the innovator of modern anthropology.

“I am interested in the scope of the activities of these philanthropists and activists; their objectives, and their interlocking networks in New York City from the late-19th century to the mid-20th centuries,” says Liss, who’ll travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to continue her work. “Much of their work focused on social welfare, civil rights, and other civic activism.”

For up to four weeks, Liss will sift through letters, lectures and other writings to better understand what motivated these philanthropists and social activists.

“I did initial work in the archives in February, during my sabbatical, but the papers were so rich that I realized I needed to return,” Liss says.

She will hone in on documents written during the Progressive era, including the years of the New Deal, and she will stop at the anti-fascist movements of the 1940s.

Amy Marcus-Newhall, Scripps College vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, was honored for her extraordinary achievements in the field of education by the YWCA San Gabriel Valley at an awards dinner Tuesday, May 21, at the Industry Hills Expo Center.

Marcus-Newhall was one of eight women recognized at the event, “2013 Women of Achievement in the Field of Education: Honoring Passion, Dedication, and Achievement.”

A professor of psychology at Scripps since 1992, Marcus-Newhall has been vice president and dean since July 1, 2010. She has received several honors from the College, including the Mary Wig Johnson Faculty Excellence Award, which she won a total of nine times for her research, teaching, and service to the College.

Known for her outgoing personality and caring interactions with students, Marcus-Newhall is a founding faculty member of Scripps College Academy, an innovative program of academic enrichment for underserved middle and high school students in the greater Los Angeles area. The yearlong program, which helps prepare young women for the rigors of college academics and college life, has been so successful that it received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2010, presented in a White House ceremony by First Lady Michelle Obama.

The entire Scripps College community congratulates Professor Marcus-Newhall for receiving this well-deserved honor.

In making the announcement to the Scripps community, Linda Davis Taylor, current board chair, said: “Mark is exceptionally well qualified to lead Scripps College’s Board of Trustees. We take pride in welcoming Mark as our board chair-elect for the coming academic year.”

“My special thanks go to the Ad Hoc Committee for Selection of Board Chair – Fran Scoble (Chair), Betsy Smith ’74, Jean Bixby Smith ’59, and Bob Breech – for their diligence and foresight in identifying the next leader of our board.”

Herron joined the Scripps College Board of Trustees in 1997, and has throughout his tenure assumed various leadership roles, including serving since 2004 as vice chair of the board. He has also been a member of the Executive Committee since 1999 and the Compensation Committee since 2008, currently serving as vice chair of both.

With an MBA from UCLA and a BSE in Civil Engineering from Princeton University, Herron has played a critical role in the financial management of the College through his service on the Investment, Finance, and Audit Committees. He is currently chair of the Finance Committee and vice chair of the Investment Committee. He has also served on the Nominations and Governance Committee since 2009.

Herron is the President and CEO of the Davidson Group, an investment management company based in Incline Village, Nevada, and has served in a number of leadership positions with previous companies. He is also a licensed engineer whose civic duties have included service on several governing boards.  He is currently active on the boards of KNPB television, the PBS station in Reno, and the Davidson Academy of Nevada, a tuition-free public school for gifted students on the campus of the University of Nevada Reno.

Herron’s mother, Jeannette Pierson Herron ’45, majored in mathematics at Scripps and became one of the College’s early proponents of mathematics as essential to a liberal arts education.  She served as an alumna trustee from 1968 to 1973. By establishing through a gift in 2004 the Joseph and Jeannette Herron endowed Chair in Mathematics, she and her husband Joseph enabled future generations of Scripps students to pursue their interests in mathematics at Scripps.

“This is tremendous news for Scripps and for our board,” said Lori Bettison-Varga, president of Scripps College. “Mark will do an outstanding job, and I look forward to continuing our work together as he assumes his new role.”

With his wife Susan, Herron resides in Incline Village, Nevada.

You couldn’t have asked for nicer weather for Scripps College’s 83rd Commencement exercises on Saturday, May 18! Graduating seniors marched through the front doors of Denison Library and down Elm Tree Lawn, then listened as President Lori-Bettison Varga handed out diplomas and gave the charge to the Class of 2013 following speeches by entrepreneur and alumna Ruth Markowitz Owades ’66 and senior class speaker Roshni Kakaiya and a musical performance from Sydney Swonigan. Family and friends enjoyed a sun-filled ceremony followed by a packed post-graduation dinner dance on Alumnae Field.

Watch Commencement

Photos of Commencement

Twenty students from across the country have been selected for their dedication, passion, and unique contribution to advancing sustainable energy in America. The young leaders—five each in the categories of Technician, Innovator, Politico, and Storyteller—will meet for one week on August 11th, 2013 on Oregon’s Mt. Hood at the ReCharge! Retreat to explore an area of the country where energy is accelerating towards renewables.

Participants will hike Elliot Glacier, which has experienced 60 percent snowpack loss since 1982; tour the Boardman Coal Plant, scheduled to close by 2020; experience The Dalles Dam, located on the Columbia River and producing hydropower since 1957; and visit Biglow Canyon Wind Farm, which powers 125,000 homes in rural Oregon. Upon returning home, ReCharge! Delegates put what they learn at the retreat to use on their campus and in their communities by promoting sustainable energy solutions.

Cooledge is studying Environmental Analysis: Engineering at Scripps College and has been selected as a young leader in the Innovator category. “I’m looking forward to the ReCharge Retreat experience as a way to switch my mind from worrying about the doomsday environmental scenarios that are what I mostly see on the news to really feeling positive about the idea of what I can do to change things and help those around me live more sustainable lives,” says Cooledge.

Focus the Nation created ReCharge! in collaboration with The Center for Whole Communities to address the need for rising leaders to approach energy challenges with innovative ideas and fortitude throughout their careers. ReCharge! is made possible through sponsorship by Bonneville Power Administration, EDP Renewables, KEEN Footwear, and Portland General Electric.

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Focus the Nation is the country’s leading youth empowerment organization and supports rising leaders in launching careers that accelerate the transition to sustainable energy in all fifty states. Since 2008, the organization has helped more 300,000 young people engage in direct dialogue with business and elected leaders around energy solutions. For more information about Focus the Nation and ReCharge!, visit www.focusthenation.org/recharge/2013 or contact Jessica Earley at jessica@focusthenation.org

Preference will be given to applicants from Livingston County in New York, Tia Palermo’s hometown county, or from one of the surrounding counties of Wyoming, Orleans, Genesee, Erie, Niagara or Monroe.

“The new scholarship will help many students in the years ahead and stands as a testament to Jess’s and his daughters’ love and respect for Tia,” Bettison-Varga said. “The Ravich family’s gift is a tribute to Tia Palermo’s life and to her belief in women’s education.”

Tia Palermo, one of six sisters, enrolled in college and supported herself while she attained a bachelor’s degree in education.

“My parents both believed in the power of women’s education and enrolled, us, their four daughters in an all-girls high school,” Zoe Ravich said. “Further, my mother adored the Scripps College campus and what the college stood for as a women’s institution.”

The gift came in anticipation of a significant fundraising initiative and will produce immediate and long-term benefits for the College.

After spending the fall 2012 semester abroad for off-campus study, juniors Chelsea Carlson, Kate MacDonnell, and Anya Leyhe were happy to return to the familiarity and comfort of Scripps College and eager to share new perspectives gained during their time overseas. Chelsea studied in Florence, Italy; Kate at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; and Anya in Madurai, India. The three enjoyed experiencing all their host cultures had to offer and were eager to continue those explorations stateside. The Discover Southern California Digital Scavenger Hunt was the perfect opportunity to do so.

For the past several semesters, Off-Campus Study director Neva Barker has challenged students returning from their time abroad with the opportunity to explore the local area the same way they had with their study location.  She developed the scavenger hunt to encourage students to venture outside Claremont and photograph their adventures along the way. Items on the hunt list include dining at emblematic Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and perusing the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena to visiting the Griffith Observatory and the Getty Villa.

Carlson, MacDonnell, and Leyhe quickly conquered public transportation and the LA freeways to travel to an impressive number of the sites on the list – and some of their own choosing. Each realized how much there is to see just a short distance from The Claremont Colleges – monuments, museums, and treasures of nature are just a short Metrolink or car ride away. MacDonnell and Carlson were even surprised to find reminders of their time in Europe while Leyhe encountered a very familiar face on a trail marker at Torrey Pines State Park. Based on the success and enthusiasm exhibited by these three contest winners, Barker hopes that more students will be inspired to participate in the scavenger hunt in the future.

“Southern California has so much to offer,” says Barker. “I think we all plan to visit the sights someday but never actually do. I’m glad Anya, Claire, and Kate were able to take the same spirit of discovery utilized for off-campus study and apply it here in their own backyard.”

“I’ve been a fan of “Jeopardy!” since I was a kid. My dad and I would always watch it together. When I saw they were having auditions, I thought I’d try out for it, but I never thought I’d actually be on it,” said Shoenhard, a junior majoring in neuroscience and philosophy. “The fact that I am just blows my mind.”

In addition, Shoenhard was recently selected to be one of 272 U.S. undergraduate sophomores and juniors to receive a scholarship from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation for academic excellence in science and math. She aspires to earn a doctorate degree in neuroscience. Shoenhard wants to conduct research in cellular neuroscience and teach at a university.

Shoenhard competed against other “Jeopardy!” college-age contestants from such campuses as Tufts, Wellesley and MIT.

The Scripps College’s Mock Trial team had its most successful season yet, with numerous individual achievements and a visit to Nationals.

Individual achievements were made at every tournament, including two Outstanding Witness Awards to Lily Foss ’13, two Outstanding Attorney Awards to Peri Tenebaum ’13, and two Outstanding Witness Awards to Rachel Kuenzi ’13. Kuenzi was also the highest scoring witness at the Las Vegas competition.

The team ended Regionals with a record of 5-3, which enabled them to move on to the first round of Nationals in Newport Beach, for the first time since the team’s founding in 2009.

“We were so tense waiting for the results [at Regionals, hosted by Claremont McKenna College],” Foss (above, second from right) says, “when they finally called our name you could probably hear our ecstatic screams all the way over at Harvey Mudd!”

Mock Trial is a competition simulating real trial procedures. Students work as attorneys and witnesses to argue a case against another school’s team based on the case packet sent by the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA). As in court, attorneys deliver opening and closing statements, and direct- and cross-examine witnesses, while witnesses give testimony based on the affidavits given in the packets. The competition is scored by two to three judges, based on the way the sides present their case.

The activity is known for being highly competitive and stressful. “Some people exercise their competitive nature through athletics,” says Foss, team captain and public relations chair. “My sport is Mock Trial.”

Scripps “mockers” find the experience one of the most important of their Scripps careers. It develops public speaking skills, strategic thinking, and teamwork, and creates a close-knit group of friends.

“In fifty years, I bet you’ll see mock trial alumnae in the Motley over Reunion Weekend, meeting up to reminisce,” says Foss. After this highly successful season, the mockers of 2012-2013 will certainly have lots of reminisce about!

CLAREMONT, Calif. (May 10, 2013) — Scripps College’s Hannah Shoenhard ’14 has won $10,000 and a spot in the semifinals of the college championship edition of “Jeopardy!” She made her second appearance on the trivia TV show May 13.

“I’ve been a fan of “Jeopardy!” since I was a kid. My dad and I would always watch it together. When I saw they were having auditions, I thought I’d try out for it, but I never thought I’d actually be on it,” said Shoenhard, a junior majoring in neuroscience and philosophy. “The fact that I am just blows my mind.”

In addition, Shoenhard was one of 272 U.S. undergraduate sophomores and juniors to recently receive a scholarship from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation for academic excellence in science and math. She aspires to earn a doctorate degree in neuroscience. Shoenhard would like to conduct research in cellular neuroscience and teach at a university.

Shoenhard competes against other “Jeopardy!” contestants from such campuses as Tufts, Wellesley and MIT. She had previously appeared on the TV show May 6 and won her first round. The next pre-filmed episode is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. May 13 on KABC-TV channel 7. For more information, please visit www.jeopardy.com/showguide/whentowatch/.

Theint, who hails from Yangon, Myanmar, will program and direct an intensive youth leadership program for one aspiring community leader from each of the eight major Myanmar ethnic nationalities. During her time in Myanmar, she will introduce the practice of collaborative learning and will provide these aspiring leaders tools that will enable them to start their own community projects. To do so, Theint will focus on helping students develop critical thinking skills and the ability and courage to ask questions and state their opinions. She plans to utilize Touchstones Discussions, volunteer management and English skills training, and guest speakers from various fields. She will also lead weekly students’ club visits with CONNECT Myanmar board of youth leaders, another program she established last summer.

In 2012, she raised awareness of Financial Literacy in Myanmar through her summer research and the concept of internships through her social enterprise CONNECT Myanmar public event. Theint has also participated in the Pre-Collegiate Program of the Diplomatic School Yangon, a liberal studies program that prepares students for study abroad.

“My experience with Western education and Myanmar’s traditional education systems will help me bridge the past experiences of students while introducing new concepts and materials to prepare them to start their own community projects,” says Theint. “I am truly looking forward to working with the young community leaders in Myanmar to help open new doors as they pursue their education.”

Theint represents the Strauss Foundation’s 17th group of recipients—since its inception, the Foundation has now awarded more than 230 scholarships–and like their counterparts in the past, all of these new recipients have extensive records of community and public service, as well as a demonstrated desire to “make a difference.”

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Established in 1936, the Slocum Award for best personal library collection is a favorite honor among Scripps College students, as it represents the unique and individualistic nature of the College and its graduates, as well as the care and attention each student is encouraged to give to her evolving education.

This spring’s Slocum Award participants talked about the Slocum Award and their passion and enthusiasm for books in a panel discussion at the April 23 Tuesday Noon Academy, and their essays and bibliography as well as the physical books will be on exhibit at Denison Library through May 18, 2013.

All of the participants will take a trip to the Huntington Library, where they will receive a tour of the rare book collection and enjoy tea.

Kathleen Carter Perception of Beauty in Renaissance Art

Carter has collected books for years; some were acquired while abroad in London, while others were given to her as gifts. She has had the privilege of meeting some of the authors of the books in her collection, allowing her to influence her future love of literature.

Amy Hollander Stories of Life, Stories of Woe: “Others” in the Americas

Based on her Latin American Studies major, Hollander’s collection explores the conception of nation in Latin American countries and marginalized groups that heavily populate the nation and provide it with its rich culture. This collection includes both fiction and nonfiction in English and Spanish.

Breanna Walker Happiness in Psychology and Faith

Her favorite book in the collection is entitled Surprise by Joy. These books have not only helped her understand the motivations and desires of others, but also her own. In reading these books, Walker learned the importance and valuing elders based on their breadth of knowledge and experience.

Rachel Kuenzi Radical Political Theory for Kids (With Supplemental Readings for their Parents)

Kuenzi believes that the physicality of books provides a space for community building; her collection explores children’s books and their political morals as well as academic political theories and philosophies from her classes.

Skye Olson Journeys into Nature: A Collection of Wild Places in Literature and Landscape

Ann Mayhew From Otranto to the Overlook: A Collection of Gothic and Horror

Books ranging from Stephen King to Dracula to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark to Jane Austen, Ann’s collection explores gothic and horror novels that have been a favorite genre of hers since childhood.

Shoenhard, a junior majoring in neuroscience and philosophy, aspires to earn a doctorate degree to conduct research in cellular neuroscience and to teach at a university. Shoenhard is one of two 2013 Goldwater Scholars from the state of Nevada.

Goldwater Scholars are selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,107 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. One hundred seventy-six of the scholars are men, while 95 are women. Virtually all intend to obtain a doctorate degree.

Goldwater Scholars have impressive academic qualifications. Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 80 Rhodes Scholarships, 118 Marshall Awards, 110 Churchill Scholarships and numerous other distinguished fellowships.

In 1986, the U.S. Congress established the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program to honor Sen. Barry M. Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate. The one and two-year scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

The foundation’s purpose is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.

For Christina Noriega ’13, civil disobedience is all about justice. The philosophy and legal studies dual major questions the duties of both government and the civil disobedient in her thesis, arguing a common ground of tolerance and fairness from both parties.

“Government ought to recognize protesters are participating in the common goal to promote justice, and, more, persuasively, to promote justice on terms the state already acknowledges,” she says.

Noriega’s thesis draws heavily from the work of philosopher John Rawls. “More than any other theory I encountered,” she says, “Rawls’s justification focuses on the idea that someone may be justified in breaking an unjust law out of respect for the greater legal order. As far as I know, no one has considered Rawls’s theory of civil disobedience in the light of his later theory of the overlapping consensus.”

Noriega’s interest in the intersection of legal studies and philosophy sparked during classes on constitutional law and theory taken her sophomore year.

“I have been fascinated by questions of meaning and foundations of law,” she says. “I think the possibility of breaking the law out of respect for the law presents an important opportunity to think about what law is, the limits of law, and the origins of our commitment to law.”

She was also inspired by her semester abroad in Rome, where exposure to Italian constitutional law enabled her to look past the American legal system and think about law in the abstract.

Noriega has spent her time at Scripps actively involved in the Claremont community; she served as a resident advisor for Kimberly Hall, a tutor at the Writing Center, a research assistant at Claremont McKenna College’s Salvatori Center, and wrote and edited The Claremont Independent.

In the fall, Noriega will pursue a doctorate program in political science at the University of Texas at Austin.

“I’ll miss walking back to my room in the evenings, enjoying our beautiful campus, and thinking how lucky I am to be a student here,” she says. “But most of all, I will miss that feeling I sometimes get after class, realizing that my view of the world has forever changed in some way. It can be overwhelming, yet so invigorating at the same time!”

Both projects are deeply personal for each student. Theint is a Myanmar national who is studying in the United States, at Scripps College. Magness is a lesbian evangelical from Orange County who transferred to Scripps after attending a more conservative university her first two years of college.

Magness proposes to host a series of educational events in the 2013-2014 school year for gay, bisexual, transgender and lesbian evangelical young adults in Orange County who are “caught in a cycle of loneliness and spiritual conflict. My goal is to offer LGBT students and congregants in religious institutions a safe space to combat feelings of isolation,” she said.

Theint aims to identify and train seven to nine ethnic students in Myanmar who have demonstrated an ability to initiate and follow through on community projects. She proposes to create a program that will “train and mentor economically disadvantaged ethnic youth who have a strong interest in community development,” she said. “This is one way to narrow the gap between the rich and poor and to relieve the frustration of ethnic nationalities in Myanmar.”

The Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship Foundation was created as a memorial to the late Don Strauss, who demonstrated a strong, lifelong commitment to public service and education. Each year, the foundation awards $10,000 scholarships to no fewer than 14 California college juniors who’ve reflected a similar commitment to public service.

Bovine emissions, circadian rhythms, Alzheimer’s disease, mercury testing, and other important topics were explored at the 2013 American Chemical Society Southern California Undergraduate Research Conference in Chemistry and Biochemistry hosted by the W.M. Keck Science Department of Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer College and Scripps College.

The undergraduate research event afforded chemistry students the opportunity to present their research to fellow students and expert faculty from 27 colleges and universities throughout Southern California.  The conference’s morning program featured presentations from 37 undergraduates in oral format and in the afternoon, 56 research posters were presented in two sessions including responding to questions about their scientific inquiries and results.

Among the 200 students and faculty participants, three Scripps students presented posters:

• Amine Incorporation into Particulate Matter at a California Dairy. Kopano Ramsav ‘14 and Professor Kathleen Purvis-Roberts, W. M. Keck Science Center, Scripps College, Center for Environmental Research and Technology: University of Riverside (CE-CERT/UCR)
• The establishment and calibration of a method to analyze heavy metals in the air using Wavelength-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescent Spectrometry. Julia Ritchie ’15 and Professor Kathleen Purvis-Roberts, WM Keck Department of Science, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
• Circadian Regulation of Metabolism in Arabit/opsis Thalialla. Yvonna Leung ‘15, Kayla Kaiser and Bryan Thines, Keck Science Department, Claremont, CA

Alex Moyzis ’13 has worked closely with biology professor Irene Tang since she first came to campus. Fitting, then, that her senior thesis is a synthesis of everything they’ve taught one another.

“I am very intrigued by the potential health implications of prevalent industrial compounds such as BPA, BHA, and BHT,” she says. “These compounds are found in a wide variety of consumer items: water bottles, cans, cosmetics, and food preservatives. Given their extensive use, it would be beneficial to determine their adverse effects.”

The above mentioned abbreviations stand for Bisphenol-A, Butylated Hydroxyanisole, and Butylated Hydroxytoluene, respectively. Their extensive use has caused concern due to studies suggesting they may have adverse effects on cellular function; unfortunately, it’s difficult to gather hard evidence of this in humans or other mammals. Instead, scientists have turned to yeast cells as model organisms, specifically the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Moyzis’ thesis examines the biological pathways involved in the response network to BPA, BHA, and BHT using a genomic analysis approach in S. pombe. Her tests suggest that genes sensitive to the compounds are involved in a number of important functions, including mitotic cell cycle regulation, cytokinesis, conjugation of cellular fusion, DNA damage/repair, and more. The data also reveals BPA is able to trigger a variety of morphological changes, including cell elongation, cell polarity, and cytokinesis-defect phenotypes.

Her study is one of the first genomic studies of its kind, and ultimately Moyzis’ findings can be used to understand how the phenol compounds interact with cells at the molecular level—and enable us to assess human risk of exposure.

“My Scripps experience prepared me for thesis because I was able to work closely with faculty members to determine my interests and pursue research opportunities,” she says.  “My thesis is a culmination of work I have spent the past several years doing.”

Set to pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences at UC San Diego, Moyzis nonetheless appreciates her close relationships with both faculty and other students at Scripps. “I’m going to miss the sense of community,” she says, “and the close relationships I’ve developed during my time here.”

A double major in economics and mathematics means two thesis papers. Add co-directing the 5C Dance Company and serving on the board of the Scripps College Economics Society to her schedule, and it’s safe to say Taryn Ohashi ’13 has had a busy senior year.

Fortunately, her two disciplines were never far apart. “Scripps College always encouraged me to ask questions regarding structure, methodology, assumption, significance, and comprehension,” she says. “I was able to think about my topics from a point of view that was not purely mathematical, and was especially invested in them due to the economic and social costs.”

Ohashi’s math thesis improves upon a model of malaria intervention in an area with limited resources, and a current Harvey Mudd student will continue the research. “The possible implications of my research could potentially save lives,” she says. “Organizations and philanthropists use models like this to maximize their budgets and reduce the number of malaria cases in target areas.”

Her economics thesis is equally impressive. “I examine the existence and roles of state dependence and switching costs in the mass transition from MySpace to Facebook during 2007-2008,” she says. “Using a dataset compiling individual browsing behavior and a discrete multinomial logit model, I find precise, yet extremely small amounts of dependence for users of only MySpace, of only Facebook, and users of both MySpace and Facebook.” While lots of research has been done regarding switching costs in the brick and mortar setting with tangible products and services, Taryn explains, her work extends similar analysis to the relatively new, social networking industry.

The theses were inspired by Ohashi’s professors; she began the malaria research last summer at Harvey Mudd College under the supervision of mathematics Professor Susan Martonosi, and her social media analysis was an outgrowth of relationships forged in spring 2012 with Scripps economics professor Latika Chaudhary and Stanford Graduate School of Business marketing professor Wesley Hartmann.

“I was interested in the quantitative nature of Professor Hartmann’s work in marketing and this became the perfect opportunity for me to learn a new type of econometric model,” she says.

Taryn is quick to credit the economics department with encouraging her to always ask questions: “I would have barely skimmed the surface of my econ thesis topic were I not comfortable asking never-ending questions!”

This summer, Taryn begins work as research assistant at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington DC.

“I have met the most inquisitive, driven, and courageous women here and I will never forget their strength,” she adds. “I have been pushed as a student and as a person from day one, and my professors have evolved from academic advisors to true mentors and friends.”

“I’ve been trying to get back to the Middle East ever since studying abroad in Morocco my junior year. The Arabic program in Claremont has given me an excellent foundation in grammar and vocabulary, and this will help me develop my listening and conversational skills,” says Wheeler, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and economics. Wheeler, who is from Anchorage, Alaska, aims to work for an international non-governmental organization.

The academic program is part of the U.S. government’s effort to dramatically increase the number of students mastering critical foreign languages. The scholarship offers participants several weeks of fully-funded intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences in the Middle East.

“I’m looking forward to reaching that next level of proficiency with intensive language classes and I’m excited about learning to communicate in the local dialect,” says Hendry, a junior majoring in foreign languages (Spanish, Arabic and French) and minoring in Middle East and North Africa studies. Hendry is from Atlanta, Ga.

The Council of American Overseas Research Centers and the American Councils for International Education oversee this program, one of several supported annually by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. For more information about this scholarship, please visit: clscholarship.org or exchanges.state.gov.

If a group of Claremont students runs past you, holding  onto broomsticks and throwing balls at one another, don’t worry! They’re just members of the Dirigible Plums, the official Quidditich team of The Claremont Colleges.

Started by juniors Amy Borsuk and Allyson Healey, the team is now in its second season of competition and is aptly named after a fruit in the popular Harry Potter universe, where they are rumored to “enhance the ability of one to accept the extraordinary.”

For anyone who’s managed to avoid all knowledge of the magical world of Harry Potter, Quidditch is the official sport of witches and wizards the world over. And since we “muggles” (non-magical people) lack the ability to enchant and fly on broomsticks, the game simulates these exhilarations with earthbound running and throwing the Quaffle – er, ball – through three hoops on opposite ends of the playing field.

The transformations don’t end there; the game’s Golden Snitch, originally a winged metal MacGuffin the size of a golf ball, becomes a person clad in bright yellow tights sprinting around the field to avoid capture. This ersatz Snitch can throw water balloons, don costumes, or do anything they like – as long as they’re within the field’s boundaries.

“I wanted to be active in a sport that wasn’t Division III, that was fun and physically intensive, but not time-consuming, and that had a warm, close-knit community,” Borsuk says. “Quidditch was the answer to this puzzle.”

Members of the Dirigible Plums (l-r): Carlen Long (PO), Ben Teng (HMC), Jordan Castillo (PO), and Emily Roizin ’15

College Quidditch started at Middlebury College in Vermont and quickly spread across the country. It is overseen by the nonprofit International Quidditich Association, which helps start franchises, regulate scoring, and connect teams with one another. The sport remains student-run; teams rarely enlist coaches and game times and tournaments are decided by the teams. Last semester, Claremont hosted its first tournament organized by student Rachel Sherman (HMC ’15).

The Dirigible Plums includes players from all five colleges, with four of the colleges represented in leadership. Perhaps because it was started at Scripps, the team is predominantly made up of female players, which makes them unique among the majority of Quidditch teams in the Los Angeles area and across the country.

Borsuk says her favorite part of being on the team is the community it provides. “Quidditch is a goofy yet intense sport, and because it is based on the Harry Potter books, it lends itself to an easy-going, inclusive community,” she says. “I love the feeling of getting onto the pitch at the start of a game, looking at the team in our uniforms, and realizing, ‘We did this. We made this happen.’

“Our team embodies what is so wonderful about the spirit of Scripps: this is the time and place for us to step up and try new things, to encourage others to get excited about what we’re doing, and to get involved.”

Many of the Dirigible Plums have gone abroad for the spring semester, so they’re looking for new players. For more information, check out their Facebook page.

“Today, Timor-Leste is the poorest country in Southeast Asia and one of the youngest, with over half of its citizens under the age of 15,” said Wu, who is from Bellingham, Wash. “The average Timorese youth has grown up enduring some of the most brutal years of the Indonesian genocide, as well as surviving the violence and tumult of Timor-Leste’s early independence. Spending their formative years in such conflict and poverty has left many children with no hope for a brighter future.”

Wu will work with Timor-Leste’s pre-eminent peace-building organization, Ba Futuru, to organize and offer theater and music workshops for at-risk youth between the ages of 6 to 16. The purpose of these workshops is to give youth a safe space where they can gather and express themselves in hopes that they will work through past traumas and develop a healthier self-esteem. The staff at the Ba Futuru Peace Center has provided psychosocial therapy to thousands of Timorese children and youth through play, art, and other modes of self-expression that emphasize self-esteem and empowerment.

The Davis Projects for Peace is an initiative for all students enrolled at a Davis United World College Scholars Program partner school. Students were asked to design grassroots projects that promote peace and address the root causes of conflict among parties anywhere in the world for the summer of 2013. To learn more about Ba Futuru, visit its website at www.bafuturu.org.

When asked about her career as a writer, Melissa Miles McCarter ’96 finds herself coming back to the same word: vocation.

“I had been writing poetry and short stories since I was four, but reading Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time at age 11 inspired the idea that I could write books,” she says.

This Scripps philosophy major has done that, forging her path and taking advantage of new opportunities developing within the literary world. She is proud of her entire body of work, yet calls her dissertation, “Envisioning A Postfeminist Compositions Studies,” and memoir, Insanity: A Love Story personal highlights.

“The liberal arts focus [at Scripps College] made me a well-rounded and well-read person,” she says. “You can’t be a writer if you don’t have interesting things to write about or intellectual curiosity.”

McCarter also runs Fat Daddy’s Farm, a small literary press. “Publishing on demand and electronic publishing has made the process so accessible and affordable that it was hard to justify traditional avenues,” she says. “I had gone the traditional route for years but, in the process of producing my memoir three years ago, I discovered I really enjoyed what goes on in the background when creating a book.”

McCarter plans to use the press to publish books from underrepresented genres such as her forthcoming anthology, Joy, Interrupted: An Anthology on Motherhood and Loss.

“When writing is a vocation, you should see being a writer as having a writing life,” she says. “This means the emails you write, the essays in class, the blogging you do, are all opportunities to develop your craft. The upside of living a writing life is your body of work isn’t just what gets published or wins accolades, it reflects who you are and want to be.”

Check out McCarter’s work on Amazon and at Fat Daddy’s Farm.

CLAREMONT, Calif. (April 25, 2013) — “Re/Fractions,” the annual senior art show highlighting the final thesis projects of graduating studio art majors, will be on display from May 3 to May 19 at Scripps College’s Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery. An opening reception is scheduled at 6 p.m. on May 3 in Bixby Courtyard. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

“Re/Fractions” features paintings, photography and mixed media works on the theme of the body and its surrounding environs and how both change, move and often fracture before mending to become whole again. The exhibition is a juried show displaying the achievements of a diverse and talented group of artists who worked diligently throughout their senior year on the show. In addition to creating the works displayed, the students conceptualize the show, install their pieces, write artist statements and design publicity for the exhibition.

This year’s featured seniors are: Sara Chun, Sophie Forman, Devin Grenley, Diana Orihuela, Camille Robins, Avantika Saraogi and Denise Tupper.

The Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery is located at Eleventh Street and Columbia Avenue, adjacent to Baxter Hall. During the exhibition, the Gallery is free of charge and open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, from 1-5 p.m. For more information, please contact the Gallery at (909) 607-3397 or visit the Gallery online.

About the Artists

Sara Chun: “The Sun Through my Hair”

Sara Chun is from Palo Alto, Calif., and next year she will pursue her interests in community and reproductive health at George Washington University’s School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Her mixed media artwork explores identity, beauty and race. For her artwork, Chun photographed strands of her hair as it covered her face. She took photos of her own hair while outside. In many of those still images, her hair is barely recognizable, which she believes is a way to escape the way others may perceive her.

Sophie Forman: “Chromophilia (2012-13)”

A native of Seattle, Sophie Forman is majoring in art with an emphasis in painting, though she has additional interests in graphic design and art criticism. Her installation consists of six 7-foot-high panels of paintings of abstract space and large figures. These vibrant self-portraits are based around the idea of color as an emotive and psychological agent with the ability to create empathetic figure-viewer relationships and help reclaim the female nude as a painted subject.

Devin Grenley: “Visual Poetic Abstractions: A Close Photographic Rendering of The Female Body”

Devin Grenley is majoring in art and minoring in gender and women’s studies. She has also taken a substantial number of psychology courses and plans to get a license in marriage and family therapy. Originally from Seattle, Grenley took a series of black-and-white still images of various body parts so as to reframe the body. Each photo was taken at close range which makes identifying the particular body part very challenging. She wanted her photos to show various body parts in ways never seen before.

Diana Orihuela: “Meshed and Locked”

From Chino, Calif., Diana Orihuela is majoring in art and after graduation hopes to pursue a career in education. She sculpted three pieces made of chicken wire, plaster and plastic outdoor chairs. Each sculpted figure sits in various positions in a chair. One leans back on the chair, the second sculpted piece appears to sit upright and the third piece is inches closer to the edge of the chair, appearing to stand up. The sculptures refer to the conscious ability of the individual to move past the limited constrictions of the body.

Camille Robins: “Our Changing Landscape”

Camille Robins, an art major minoring in environmental analysis, loves to write. In her two-piece installation, Robins includes photographic portraits of three Pilgrim Place residents whom she interviewed over the course of several months, as well as short stories of each. She grew interested in land development after talking to the retirees about the matter and decided to create a visualization highlighting the integration of the state’s constructed and natural landscapes. For her second installation piece, Robins, who is from Carpinteria, Calif., worked on a 5-foot-tall mixed-media display of the state.

Avantika Saraogi: “Chromaticity and the Dancing Body”

Originally from India, Avantika Saraogi is a double major in art and dance. She is currently interning at Riff Raff Studio in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, a photography and production house. She hopes to pursue a career in commercial fashion photography. For her artwork, she took a series of colored still images of dancers covered in colored powder. The colored powders exaggerate each dancer’s movement, which was Saraogi’s intention. The colorful, festive powders reference the Indian festival of Holi, which celebrates spring’s promise of a new life and a new hope.

Denise Tupper: “My Family of Women: Celebrating Blackness and Exploring themes of Black Feminism”

A double major in art and gender and women’s studies, Denise Tupper painted a series of portraits of close female friends, family members and classmates. She mixed neutral and bold colors for each painting, which are all based on photographs. Her paintings are her interpretations of each photo. Her interpretative paintings are of women between the ages of 8 to 85. Next to each painting, Tupper will include a personal item from each woman. She plans on displaying a lipstick case, a pair of earrings and other items cherished by each woman. Tupper is from Portland, Ore., and she hopes to pursue a career that combines her interests in art, business and sustainability.

CLAREMONT, Calif. (April 19, 2013) — Former Czech Ambassador Karel Kovanda, who also managed the European Union’s relations with the United States until retiring in 2010, shares his expertise and insights at Scripps College as a visiting professor through April 25.

In his seminars, he lectures on his experiences while with the European Union, which has generated many news headlines in the past few years due to how the global economic recession has affected such countries as Spain, Italy and Greece.

He predicts the crisis of the European Union has not yet reached its lowest point. “It’ll get worse before it’ll get better,” Kovanda says.

President Barack Obama mentioned the European Union in his recent State of the Union address when he referenced the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement, a free-trade pact that, once enacted, will link even further the economies of the United States and the 27 nation-state members of the European Union.

“What happens in Europe and its economy directly affects the U.S. economy,” says Kovanda, who received his doctorate degree in political science from MIT. “The two economies are intertwined intimately.”

The United States and Europe generate $2 billion daily in trade, which represents one-third of all global trade, Kovanda says.

Kovanda points out that many forget why the European Union was initially established.

“Its original objective was to prevent further wars among its members,” Kovanda says. “This has been accomplished, but today we take this very much for granted and we don’t realize how great an accomplishment this is.”

For media inquiries: Please call (909) 607-7177 to arrange an interview with Kovanda.