The energy of exploration
As he was riding horseback through a Chilean property called Valle California, assessing the land as part of his summer internship, Colin Shipley ’15 found himself wondering why on earth he forgot to bring gloves.
    Perhaps it was the globetrotting. Within one week in June, Shipley had gone from 90-degree temperatures on a trip to Uganda and Rwanda with the Benton Scholars to this blizzard in Chile on an eight-week project supported by a Milhomme International Internship.

Colin Shipley ’15 in Patagonia, Chile

    Created by Phillip Milhomme ’60, the program provides funding to students eager to gain business experience and enhance their global competency by interning abroad — which is often not financially feasible. Shipley’s interest in sustainability had linked him up with Warren Adams ’88, whose company, Patagonia Sur, invests in and protects ecologically valuable properties in Chilean Patagonia.
    Shipley explored the potential for using renewable energy on the Valle California property, which is owned by Patagonia Sur. He first spent several weeks in Santiago researching renewable energy options — including solar, wind, and hydro — and developing cost and energy estimates for each of those options. Then Shipley spent a week in Patagonia, traversing land that is only accessible by horseback, and surveying sites that seem to have a high potential for the various types of energy he researched.
    “What I love about going abroad is figuring things out for myself and surviving in an environment that I’m not completely comfortable in or haven’t experienced before,” Shipley said. He wasn’t just referring to the fact that he doesn’t speak Spanish, but also the experience he gained calculating stream-flow rate, studying wind directions, and snapping pictures to develop his analysis of the site — all without gloves.  

Google ambassador, world traveler
Selected by Google as a “student ambassador,” Viktor Mak ’15 finished his training at a summit in California in August and is serving as a Google representative on Colgate’s campus this fall.
    He was accepted into the elite program — which included only 150 current Google interns and recommended college students — after being nominated by Claudia Servadio-Coyne, manager of Colgate’s student technology resource group. In his new role, Mak (who works in the ITS department during the academic year) will act as a liaison between Google and Colgate by coordinating events and tutorials on campus.  

Viktor Mak ’15

    Before joining the Google team, like any well-qualified “ambassador,” Mak, of Fort Myers, Fla., expanded his global knowledge. Through a combination of Colgate’s Benton Scholars Program and his own initiative, Mak’s adventures took him to four continents and five countries over the summer.
    He kicked off his summer plans when he flew to Kigali, Rwanda, as part of the Benton Scholars Program’s annual trip abroad for first-year students. Mak and the group then traveled to Buhoma, Uganda, where they volunteered in a hospital, tested the area’s water quality, and conducted sanitation surveys. “We were trying to find the correlation between bacteria in the water and illness in people who use that water source,” Mak explained. The Benton Scholars also joined up with President Jeffrey Herbst to talk to Ugandan government officials about current issues.
    While in Uganda, Mak began his own project where he took photos of families, students, soccer teams, and hospital patients. Color printer in tow, Mak provided more than 300 Ugandans with the first photos they have ever owned.
    Then, through a grant from the Benton Scholars Program, Mak spent five weeks in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. He studied Spanish in the mornings and volunteered his afternoons at Trama Textiles, which employs women to do “backstrap loomweaving” — an ancient Mayan weaving technique. Mak even developed an initiative for the Trama workers that expanded their small business to the international market. He created an online store, through which the women have already accrued profits.
    From Guatemala, Mak traveled to Hungary, where he was born and visits with his family every summer for vacation. Not wanting to “sit around,” Mak said, he e-mailed professors at neighboring universities about research opportunities. With a professor at the Central European University in Budapest, Mak investigated the challenges of ensuring media diversity in the age of the Internet.
    Now, back on campus, Mak is helping the campus community better understand how to use the free services provided by Google, including e-mail, video, blog and image hosting, document sharing, and more.
— Natalie Sportelli ’15

Clowns were dunked, carnival games were mastered, and Holy Smokes BBQ was devoured by the end of the Welcome Back Block Party that brought together community and university members during the first week of classes. (Photo by Andrew Daddio)

Academic views of campus life
First-year students spend their initial days at Colgate adjusting to life in their new milieu. We asked professors in psychology, anthropology, physics, and sociology to share their insights on campus life.
    The first weeks of school are of special interest to psychology professor Carrie Keating, who studies social bonds and what makes or breaks them, as well as the psychological forces that give root to human dominance, hierarchy, and leadership.
    “By observing students’ nonverbal behavior, I glean hints about which way they are leaning,” Keating said. “Are their smiles real or fake; are their laughs happy or nervous? Do their body postures say ‘come hither’ or ‘go away’?”
    Anthropologist Nancy Ries, who has taught Core: Russia as a first-year seminar, sees similarities between the residence hall experience and the Soviet revolutionary experiment of communal living.
    “Students have joked that sharing hygiene facilities with others requires tactics quite similar to those of Russia kommunalka dwellers,” said Ries. “They guard their personal hygiene products like soap, shampoo, and body wash. None of those products are shared or left in the collective bathroom either. The shower caddy — a mundane plastic object — provides a way for students (especially females) to maintain ‘self-other’ boundaries, a small exertion of privacy in the collective space.”
    Physics professor Beth Parks sees communal living in the context of its impact on energy use. She has deployed student researchers to audit energy patterns on campus as a means of raising their awareness as well as improving Colgate’s carbon footprint.
    “Once students arrive on campus, their energy use changes,” Parks said. “In most of the United States, one of the main ways people use energy is by heating and cooling their houses, but because college dorms don’t have much surface area per person, hot water for showers becomes a bigger fraction of their energy use. Similarly, students at Colgate don’t drive very much, because even if they have cars, most don’t have daily commutes.”
    Sociologist Chris Henke teaches a class simply called Food. “We eat food so that we can be nourished, but we also eat to create bonds,” he said. Henke added that this is especially true for international and multicultural students. “Through the cultural organizations on campus, they are able to demonstrate to others who they are.”

Remembering 9/11 with service
In honor of 9/11, students rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to help several nearby organizations as part of an afternoon of service on Friday, September 14. Their efforts were inspired by the national movement to create a positive way to forever remember that tragic day in 2001.

As part of a day of service in honor of 9/11, students assisted elders at Madison Lane Apartments. (Photo by Duy Trinh ’14)

    Students volunteered at 10 locations including Madison Lane Apartments, Community Memorial Hospital, and Camp Fiver. The service opportunities were organized by the Max Shacknai Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education.
    Emily Luba ’16 helped the Community Bikes nonprofit by preparing used bicycles for needy children and adults. Emphasizing that some adults will use the bikes to travel to their workplaces, she said, “A bike opens up a whole world of transportation.” Luba added that the painful memories of 9/11 should “propel us to give back and make a difference.”
    On the eleventh itself, students, professors, and community members stood on the steps of Memorial Chapel to pray together and remember the lives of the seven alumni who were killed. These vigils inspire “a recommitment to live peaceably with each other,” said university chaplain Mark Shiner. They also offer a chance “to cut across faith lines . . . we need to understand each other more,” added Putter Cox, Protestant campus minister.
    That evening, Philanthropists at Colgate hosted an a cappella concert at 110 Broad Street, featuring the Dischords, Resolutions, Swinging ’Gates, and Colgate Thirteen.
    Dagan Rossini ’13, a member of the Dischords, said that while choosing songs such as “1234” by Feist, “Carry On” by Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye, his group was aiming to “uplift people’s spirits.”
    More than 100 people attended the concert, and donations were dedicated to the 9/11 Relief Fund.
— Thomas Cardamone ’13

Challah for Hunger
Shiny loaves of challah — plain, chocolate chip, poppy, and cinnamon sugar — enticed students to a table in the Coop the Friday after Rosh Hashanah.

The mouth-watering smells of cinnamon and baking challah wafted out of the Saperstein Jewish Center. (Photo by Duy Trinh ’14)

    The bake sale was put on by the Colgate chapter of Challah for Hunger. “Half of the money raised goes to the American Jewish World Service, and this year, the other half goes to the Hamilton Food Cupboard,” explained Becca Friedland ’13. “We thought that would be a great way to give back to hunger issues in Hamilton,” added Friedland, who founded Colgate’s chapter during her sophomore year.
    On the Thursday before, the mouth-watering smell of baking bread was wafting out of the Saperstein Jewish Center. The group bakes 60 loaves and sells them at five dollars each — cinnamon sugar flavor is the overwhelming best seller. “We usually donate about $2,000 a year,” Friedland said, adding that they try to have approximately a dozen bake sales a year.
    And the members of Challah for Hunger don’t just do it for the ‘bread’. “You get a break from work, you meet new people, and it’s for a good cause,” said Ariel Sherry ’15.
    “For some people who aren’t necessarily religious, it helps them connect to Judaism in a cultural way instead of a religious way,” added Albert Naim ’14, who helped with the baking.
    Jayne Tamboia ’13, who had never eaten challah before, commented the next day that she was pleasantly surprised by how good the “doughy, sweet bread was. I especially liked it toasted for breakfast.”
    Friedland put it most simply: “It’s tasty, therapeutic, and philanthropic. Everyone wins.”
— Katie Rice ’13

Village Green Downtown Hamilton was a bustle of activity over the summer. Here’s a look at some August happenings.     During the Concert in the Park — featuring musicians Taiward, Joe Mettler, and McDowell Brothers and the Birdseed Bandits — youngsters kept busy with the Children’s T-Shirt Painting Workshop on the village green. Using recycled materials like tires and rubber stamps to fashion their creations, young designers could bring their new apparel home, free of charge. photo by Natalie Sportelli ’15     Nature lovers breathed in the fresh summer air during the Madison Lane Nature Trail Walk and Benefit that toured local diverse ecological habitats including evergreen, wetland, meadow, and orchard regions. Proceeds from the lawn sale went to the grounds beautification fund for Madison Lane Senior Living Complex.     Parlez vous Francais? Held in the Hamilton Center for the Arts, the Fantastic French Story Time for Waddlers and Toddlers brought families together to read picture books, learn nursery rhymes, and sing songs — all en Francais. Participants were also given ideas to further delve into the language together at home.     Rainy weather could not dampen the celebration of the Colgate Bookstore’s 10th anniversary in its downtown location. In honoring the occasion, the community chowed down at a hot dog roast under tents in the bookstore’s parking lot. Having moved from a small location on campus to the heart of Hamilton in 2002, the village store sells a variety of apparel and gifts, in addition to boasting a collection of more than 22,000 books — making it the largest downtown independent bookstore in central New York. — Natalie Sportelli ’15

Healing power of music
One year, after singing 200 shows, Grammy Award winner Joanne Shenandoah developed vocal nodules that threatened to ruin her musical career. For treatment, Shenandoah sought the help of native healers whom she credits for curing her through a ceremony of song and prayer. “I could immediately sing after the ceremony,” Shenandoah said, emphasizing her belief in the healing power of music.

Grammy Award winner Joanne Shenandoah (photo by Duy Trinh ’14)

    In September, Shenandoah performed at the ALANA Cultural Center, where she explained how music can be a dynamic force in an individual’s daily life. The purpose of her music is “to lift the soul, spirit, and mind, and [in doing so] give us hope and peace for the future,” she said. Shenandoah sang three songs: including We Will Rise Up, A Woman’s Song, and Mother Earth Speaks. As she sang, she played the guitar, at times accompanied by Chris Vecsey, Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of the humanities and Native American studies and religion.
    “The music played greatly on my emotions,” said Nicole Schroeder ’15, adding that, “there was a deep resonance within the music.”
    Hosted by the Native American Studies Program, Shenandoah’s performance kicked off the Native American Arts and Culture Festival. The event was meant to display “how Native American culture is alive and well today,” said Vecsey.
— Thomas Cardamone ’13