Oberlin Alumni Magazine
Spring 2007 Vol. 102 No. 4
Winter Term in Oberlin
Winter term at Oberlin continues to be an exciting way for students to explore academic interests outside their regular course offerings. And with students scattered across the globe each January (in places such as Kenya, New Zealand, and Jerusalem), the campus at first glance seems like a wintry ghost town. But dig a little deeper, because for students staying closer to home, campus-based projects prove to be just as vast and intriguing. (A) Globalization versus localization: 15 Oberlin students and 15 visiting students from Asian universities studied ecological design and sustainability with Emeritus Associate Professor of Biology David Miller. Among the group’s many field trips was a tour of the BFI recycling plant in Oberlin. (B) Margaret Grove ’07 looks for nest rootlets in the nest of a catbird, a procedure that will help her to identify the nests by DNA sequence. (C) Christopher Motz ’09 constructs a 1st-century Roman vest and tunic. Before shaping metal plates into these curved pieces, he used a drill press (which he kept in his dorm room) to bore holes used to connect the bands of metal. (D) In the student-run production of Little Shop of Horrors, shy florist’s assistant “Audrey,” played by Courtney Merrell ’08, is devoured by the mysterious plant “Audrey II” (with the help of student puppeteer Margaret Youngberg ’08). (E) The cast of Omnium Gatherum toasts to “good food,” which was a prominent focus of this satirical, “dinner party” play. Nana Efua Embil ’08, Rachel Fine ’07, and Liz Galuardi ’08 researched and designed the show’s meals. (F) Emily Minerath ’09 applies the lessons she learned in Aikido class. (G) Robin Gent, Antonio Papania-Davis, and Nicholas Wirtz, all ’09, construct a steam-powered scooter aimed at reaching speeds of 15 to 20 miles per hour. (H) Andrew Echlin ’09 teaches a Russian language course to 23 students; not pictured are instructors Amy Tabakin ’08 and Lara Simonton ’07. (I) Sara Krugman ’09 is perched atop a scaffold in the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s Ellen Johnson Gallery, where she and eight other students helped construct two large-scale drawings by famed modern artist Sol LeWitt. (J) As a snarling gangster in the musical drama Lost Highway, Raphael Sacks ’09, along with fellow cast members and the Oberlin Conservatory Contempo-rary Music Ensemble, traveled to New York’s Miller Theatre, where they performed two-sold out shows that earned rave reviews from critics. Here, Raphael rehearses for the show’s premiere on campus. (K) Members of the blues, rock, and folk band Huzzah for the Shopkeep rehearse before recording their debut CD. Musicians include James Atwood ’07 on drums, Jesse Jacobsen ’07 and Jesse Sternberg ’08 on guitar, Jeremy Rockman ’09 on bass, Dan Valdespino ’09 on blues harp, and Billy Noseworthy ’08 on vocals.
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Sophia Yan ’08 contributed to this article.