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Mike MavredakisFebruary 14, 20247min
Wesleyan is home to a wide cast of identities, life experiences, and traditions among its over 3,000 students. Each bring their own stories and backgrounds that combine to make campus a place where difference is celebrated. At Wesleyan, each person has a place to find their community. For some of Wesleyan’s students, finding community lays in sharing where they come from outside of the borders of campus. The university’s second annual Power of Language Week is a chance to set aside time to cherish and display those identities and the many languages that can come with them. The Fries Center…

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Mike MavredakisFebruary 7, 20244min
Wesleyan’s Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) chapter is inspiring the next generation of scholars to dig into the world of science and lend a hand to energize the young crop of students that will follow them. SACNAS, led by Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry Tere Padilla-Benavides and a group of student officers, is dedicated to supporting diversity and inclusion in the sciences and helps to foster the success of underrepresented groups in STEM. The group’s mission is to show students from underrepresented backgrounds that a career in science, or an adjacent path,…

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Editorial StaffJanuary 9, 20241min
Snow touched down on Wesleyan University's vast greenery and stately buildings for the first time this season on Jan. 6. A few brave residents slowly ventured out through the cold to the top of Foss Hill with plastic sleds in tow and slipped down its slopes—a must do for all snow-going Wesleyan folk. Photos by Meka Wilson.  

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Mike MavredakisDecember 12, 20237min
Wesleyan’s newest Phi Beta Kappa Society members plan to impact the world through service, research, policymaking, music, literature, and art.  There were 15 high-achieving Wesleyan students inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society at a ceremony in the McKelvey Room on Dec. 6, joining over 500,000 members from 293 campuses across the country. They join former presidents, members of Congress, and Nobel Laureates as part of the nation’s oldest scholastic honor society.  “It is really an impressive honor,” said Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78, who is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. “It's not just your grades, it's not…

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Editorial StaffNovember 1, 20231min
By Thomas Lyons '26 Growing up, Imani Ochieng '25 said she hesitated to tread onto the field hockey turf. Not for the usual reasons (fear of stick clashing, high-speed flying objects, and funny-looking goggles), but because of her family's legacy on that field. "My dad was an Olympian, my mom was almost an Olympian," Imani said. "In a way, [those successes] made me shy away from field hockey more than other sports." Now a star left back on the Wesleyan field hockey team, she has wholeheartedly joined the family's love of the game. Instrumental to her field hockey journey, Imani said, has…

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Editorial StaffOctober 18, 20231min
Pumpkin season is upon us. The lines at your favorite coffeeshops have gotten longer while people flock to the counter for their favorite orange gourd-flavored beverages. Wesleyan had its own leaf-changing season festival on Oct. 14, with live music, free food, crafts, and a mechanical pumpkin that bucked like their bull counterparts. Here is a visual taste of the pumpkin and fall fun. (Photos taken by Meka Wilson)

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Mike MavredakisJuly 28, 20237min
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited Wesleyan University on July 28 for a roundtable discussion with first-generation students on the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to advance diversity and opportunity in higher education. Cardona engaged with students about how diversity is important to their learning experiences, bilingualism, having staff that represent their student populations, and culturally relevant teaching. He also sought advice on how to elevate students’ voices and what they want Washington to do to further this charge. “Each one of these students here today told me that one of the things they love about Wesleyan is learning in an…

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Mike MavredakisApril 20, 20235min
Thomas J. Watson Fellow Jocelyn Velasquez Baez ’23 will travel to at least six countries in a year’s time to explore how the integration, adaptation, and practice of traditional medicine is perceived in diverse Indigenous and ethnic communities around the world. The Watson Fellowship, sponsored by the Watson Foundation, allows recent graduates from 41 partner institutions to do year-long independent exploration projects outside of the United States. Velasquez Baez will travel to the Philippines, Ecuador, Nepal, Ghana, New Zealand, and Canada—with the hope of more—to visit and learn from various Indigenous and ethnic communities in each country over the course…

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Mike MavredakisFebruary 24, 20235min
Yellow and blue balloons were fastened to each of the pillars of Zelnick Hall, but Friday’s gathering of students and faculty acknowledging that it had been one-year since Russia invaded Ukraine was not a celebration. It was a marking of one year of strife and tragedy. For Associate Professor of Dance Katja Kolcio it’s been a year of wondering if her relatives who live in Ukraine are still alive. She has not heard from some relatives since this past January. Kolcio said that February 24 “marks a year of Ukrainian bravery, steadfastness, and strength.” “I'm just continuously reminded that, sadly,…

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Amy AlbertNovember 10, 20224min
Housemates Charissa Lee Yi Zhen ’23 and Robyn Wong Min Xuan ’23 met during International Student Orientation and became close friends living in the Womanist House together Spring 2021. Now they have one more thing in common – they are the student recipients of the social justice award named for Peter Morgenstern-Clarren ’03, a social justice activist. However, their journeys to activism took different paths­—one developed their passion long before they came to Wesleyan and the other discovered it while on campus. Wong explained that while she learned leadership in high school, “Coming to the U.S. and specifically Wesleyan awakened…

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Olivia DrakeFebruary 9, 20212min
Wesleyan's 2021 spring semester officially began Tuesday, Feb. 9, with 2,148 students residing on campus. During the arrival period, held Feb. 5–8, approximately 1,950 students returned to campus after the winter recess. All students were required to prepare for a safe return, which included testing and quarantining before arrival. Once on campus, students must wear masks at all times in shared spaces and practice social distancing. Volunteers from Wesleyan's Campus-Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT) assisted with welcoming students to campus, checking them in, and ensuring they had a COVID-19 test within five days of arriving on campus. (See photos here.)…