The Wesleyan Connection

Ural Grant '13 was one of 28 Wesleyan students who participated in the Management Leadership Conference Oct. 23-26. During the conference's opening dinner and keynote address, students had the opportunity to network with alumni, student parents and Wesleyan faculty from a variety of industries and career fields. The MLC is designed for students who aspire to hold top management and leadership positions after graduation.

Michael Sciola, director of the Career Resource Center, spoke to students about program expectations and led a discussion on responsibility prior to the conference. The MLC program is a joint effort of the Career Resource Center, Career Advisory Council, and the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations.

ESPN.com Editor-in-Chief Robert King '84 delivered the keynote address during the conference Oct. 23 in Beckham Hall. King explained how he worked his way up from an editorial assistant at the Washington Post to becoming a cartoonist, reporter, graphic designer, sports editor and deputy managing editor for visuals at other newspapers. After 22-years in the newspaper business, King joined ESPN in 2004.

Erwin Dwi Saputra '11 listens to King's address.

Dick Miller, the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics, Emeritus, spoke to students during the conference.

Nam Anh Ta '12 was one of the student participants.

Gregory Rolland '95 spoke to students about his role as an accountant with Moriaty & Primack, PC in Springfield, Mass.

Taylor Sander '12 mingles with parents and alumni during the dinner. MLC participants spent the following days with business leaders in Middletown and in New York City. (Photos by Olivia Bartlett Drake)

More information on the Management Leadership Conference is online at http://www.wesleyan.edu/mlc/2009/

Planned Parenthood volunteer Zak Kirwood '12 used a condom-stuffed backpack pocket as a way to recruit fellow students to talk to him about sexual health issues.

Zak Kirwood ’12, a volunteer with Planned Parenthood of Connecticut, was awarded the 2009 Planned Parenthood Federation of America Young Volunteer of the Year award.

During his senior year at Amity Regional High School in Woodbridge, Conn., Kirwood volunteered for Planned Parenthood and was recruited for the organization’s Students Teaching About Responsible Sexuality (S.T.A.R.S.) peer education program. S.T.A.R.S. educators speak to members of their communities about sexual health issues.

“I would act as a resource in my high school – handing out condoms, and information about sexual health and rights,” Kirwood said during his award acceptance speech in Houston, Texas.

In attempt to reach the 1,600 students in his high school, Kirwood used his backpack as a advertisement, stuffing the side mesh pockets with condoms. He pinned an “ask” sign to the backpack.

“I handed out hundreds of condoms that year. People could come to me and ask me about anything,” he recalls.

Kirwood continues these efforts at Wesleyan, where he is a campus action intern. He works independently to plan events related to reproductive and sexual rights, and collaborates with other sexual health groups on campus.

“I’ve always been politically interested in a variety of causes. Planned Parenthood had a ton of opportunities for me to get involved,” he said.

A video of Kirwood’s acceptance speech is online below:

Nathaniel Draper '12 and his friend Matt Firpo (NYU '12) stand in front of Festival de Cannes emblem in the Grand Lumiere Theater. Draper was an intern at the Cannes Film Festival in southern France.

For 15 days, Nathaniel Draper ’12 mingled with top filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival while participating in educational workshops, seminars, pitch sessions, roundtable discussions and screenings. He also happened to pick up an award for a film of his own while he was there.

As a student intern at the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival, held May 13-24 in southern France, Draper had a hands-on opportunity to explore the film industry through the prism of perhaps it most prestigious international event.

“It was, to put it lightly, a surreal experience,” Draper recalls. “I was able to meet iconic directors such as Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola, and found myself interacting with actors and directors such as Inglorious Basterds’ Eli Roth.”

Draper applied for the internship though the American Pavilion Student Filmmaker Program at Cannes, which is the festival’s center for American film and filmmakers.

Draper spent a week with avant garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas in Paris.

The internship program included a three-day pre-Festival orientation and tour of Cannes, including workshops and seminars on the business of filmmaking; nightly festival premiers; roundtable discussions with industry professionals; and an opportunity to network with industry insiders and observe the business of filmmaking firsthand.

“I was granted full festival accreditation–basically a carte blanche to go anywhere in the festival, which allowed me to interact with filmmakers, explore the Cannes film market, and essentially network with the incredibly array of industry professionals that were there,” Draper says. “I took part in panel discussions ranging from screenwriters to the screen actors guild to premier directors.” (more…)

WesSukkah, designed and built by Wesleyan's Architecture II research-design-build studio, is constructed with 1,600 culms of bamboo, measuring a combined 19,200 linear feet. The Wesleyan community is invited to the WesSukkah dedication at 1 p.m. Oct. 3 on Foss Hill.

Every October, Wesleyan’s Jewish community dwells in a temporary structure built for the festival of Sukkot. For eight days, students study, socialize, mediate, eat, host events and occasionally sleep in the religious building.

This holiday, the Jewish students will celebrate the Israelites 40-year journey to the Holy Land inside an airy, five-mound curving structure of carbon-steel clad in bamboo. Designed by 15 students enrolled in Architecture II, a research-design-build studio, the “WesSukkah” provides a sacred space that adheres to a complex, medieval Rabbinic building code.

“The students have crafted something which is both compelling and meaningful for Wesleyan’s campus,” explains the studio’s instructor, Elijah Huge, assistant professor of art. “The structure maintains its symbolic and literal connection to the broader landscape through its materiality and permeability.”

WesSukkah was honored with a 2009 "Faith and Form" Award for art and architecture from the American Institute of Architects. (Photo by Gideon Finck '11)

The students designed WesSukkah with 1,600 culms of bamboo, 46 high carbon steel pipes, six steel rods, five spools of monofilament test line and steel rebar. The structure will be dedicated at 1 p.m. Oct. 3 on the top of Foss Hill.

The final design is a result of an intensive sequence of research, design, fabrication phases and client presentations.

Initially, the project clients, (more…)

Sierra Bintliff '12 feeds livestock at a at a small organic farm in Standish, Maine. Bon Appétit Management Company uses food from the farm.

During the summer recess, amateur gardeners Sierra Bintliff ’12 and Nat Lichten ’09 seeded rows, weeded, irrigated, and tended fruits, vegetables and livestock at a small organic farm near St. Joseph’s College in Standish, Maine.

A bulk of the bounty was harvested for St. Joseph’s dining services, managed by Bon Appétit Management Company, the same business that oversees Wesleyan dining.

“I was thrilled at the opportunity to work for a company whose mission statement embodies the ideal combination of my two passions: sustainability and food,” says Bintliff, who works as a Bon Appétit catering employee at Wesleyan. “While working on the farm, I experienced the genuine enthusiasm of the Bon Appétit community for providing quality food from sustainable sources.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, Bon Appétit will raise awareness about its commitment to supporting local agriculture by participating in the Eat Local Challenge.

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, Bon Appétit will participate in the Eat Local Challenge.

Wesleyan and all other Bon Appétit-managed eateries across the country will feature a special lunch prepared completely from local ingredients from within a 150 mile radius of the café, the only exception being salt.

“The meal will take ‘farm to fork’ to the next level,” explains Michael Strumpf, Bon Appétit Resident District Manager of Wesleyan Dining. “Our chefs will create a delicious, seasonal dish that highlights Connecticut’s local bounty. Everything, every single ingredient, must be bought locally. To give you an idea of what this means, if the bread is served during this meal, the flour and yeast must have come from within 150 miles of Wesleyan.”

The Eat Local Challenge (more…)

Noah Klein-Markman '13, second from left, was one of approximately 800 other first-year, transfer, exchange and visiting students in the Class of 2013 who moved in on Arrival Day Sept. 1.

Noah Klein-Markman ’13 learned his first lesson at Wesleyan 20 minutes after arriving on campus.

“I already lost the key,” he said, carrying in two armloads of belongings. “I think I left the key inside the room.”

Klein-Markman, of Berkley, Calif., was one of the first students to move into the Butterfield Residence Hall during the Class of 2013 Arrival Day Sept. 1. He joined more than 800 other first-year, transfer, exchange and visiting students in the class.

His mother, Laura Klein ‘78; father Henry Markman; and brother Sam Klein-Markman assisted Noah with the early morning move. The family dog, Bruno, guarded the family’s rental car parked on Huber Ave.

Although Laura Klein graduated from Wesleyan in 1978, she doesn’t (more…)