David PesciMay 12, 20102min
Shining Hope for Communities, a student-founded non-profit organization, has been named the winner of the 2010 Dell Social Innovation Competition. The award is based on a world-wide competition among college students who create projects that can “make the world a better place.” Shining Hope for Communities founded The Kibera School for Girls in 2009 in the Kenyan slum of Kibera, and is creating the Johanna Justin Jinich Memorial Clinic and a community center this year at the same site. Initial funding for the Kibera School for Girls was provided by the Davis 100 Projects for Peace program. The Dell award…

Olivia DrakeMay 12, 20101min
The Deans’ Office honored recipients of the ‘10 Academic Scholarships, Fellowships and Prizes during a ceremony May 5 in Daniel Family Commons. This year, 167 students received scholarships, fellowships, prizes and awards; Forty-seven students received multiple prizes, with four students receiving four or five. One employee received a prize, as did two Graduate Liberal Studies Program students. The deans and several faculty gathered at the reception to honor the students who represent the highest ideals of Wesleyan University – intellectual curiosity, academic excellence, creative expression, leadership and service. (more…)

Olivia DrakeMay 12, 20101min
Four Wesleyan students helped create a new video for Grammy-nominated hip-hop artists Nappy Roots. The video for the song “P.O.N.” was directed by Bill Kirstein ’10 and Ethan Berger ’10. Stefan Weinberger ’10 was the director of photography. The video was produced by Ram Sivalingam ‘10, Adam Paulsen ’10 and Drae Jackson of Drae Jackson Films. The video is online at http://vimeo.com/11508541.

Olivia DrakeApril 21, 20102min
Liana Woskie '10 believes that Community Health Workers (CHWs) can be effective and vital components of systems that serve the health needs of hard-to-reach populations. However, their success varies across cultures and program models. She wants to know why. As a 2010 Watson Fellow, Liana Woskie ’10 will research CHWs systems through case studies of programs located in Bangladesh, Tanzania, India, Thailand and Lesotho. Woskie, a College of Social Studies major, is one of only 40 students in the world to receive a Watson Fellowship this year. The fellowship, which includes a $25,000 stipend, offers promising college graduates a year…

Olivia DrakeApril 21, 20103min
Thirteen Wesleyan students participated in Pre-Law Career Day March 26 in Brooklyn, N.Y. The students visited Chief Magistrate Judge Steven Gold '77 at the U.S. Eastern District Court. The day comprised of a career panel of other Wesleyan alumni lawyers assembled by Gold, a networking pizza lunch and the viewing of court proceedings. “It was an excellent experience for the students, and an example of how Wesleyan’s alumni lawyers connect with our students,” says trip organizer James Kubat, associate director of the Career Resource Center and pre-law advisor. The undergraduates on the trip include Alison Cies; Philip Clark; Erica Davidson;…

Olivia DrakeApril 21, 20102min
Student activists involved in Students for a Just and Stable Future were featured in an April 18 Middletown Press article titled "Wesleyan students raising awareness of clean energy, camping outside a week." The students want state leaders to work toward requiring that all electricity in the state comes from renewable sources such as solar or wind power by 2020. They are "rejecting the dirty electricity of their dorm rooms and are instead camping on Foss Hill." “What we want is that anytime you are in your house in Connecticut and you turn on a switch, all that electricity is coming…

Olivia DrakeApril 21, 20103min
Between March 7-19, eight Wesleyan students assisted the Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team-Haiti (AMURT) by setting up camps for children and planting community food gardens in Port-Au-Prince. The students, Jacob Eichengreen '13, Elijah Meadow '13, Haley Baron '12, John Snyder '12, Ali Patrick '13, Barbaralynn Moseman '13, Michael Steves '13 and Stefan Skripak '13, created a video of their experience (watch video below). “Probably, the most difficult time for me was last night when there was a flash flood, and I just realized that everyone that we’ve met, or heard of...hundreds and thousands of people, right now are in six inches…