Two 乐播传媒 students have been awarded 2026 Davis Projects for Peace grants to carry out individual humanitarian projects 鈥� one focused on expanding economic opportunities for women, and the other on safe menstrual waste disposal.

The grantees, Angel Guitcha 鈥�27 of Accra, Ghana, and Vyshu Viju 鈥�26 of Atlanta, will each receive $10,000 to complete projects in Ghana and India, respectively, this summer. Projects for Peace, which is based at Middlebury College, is funding 142 projects in 2026, taking place across 59 countries and seven U.S. states. 

Since its inception in 2007, Projects for Peace has funded more than 2,200 projects. The organization鈥檚 goal is to support student-led, community-centered, and scalable projects addressing pressing issues 鈥� anywhere in the world. To develop their projects, 乐播传媒 students work closely with staff from the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, including Daphne Comeau, associate director for center operations and Davis Partners for Peace campus liaison, and Director of the Harward Center Darby Ray.

Last summer, 2025 Projects for Peace grantee Axelle Tougouma 鈥�27 of Fada N鈥橤ourma, Burkina Faso, led the installation of an irrigation system and agricultural training for women refugees from Burkina Faso living in Ouangolodougou, Ivory Coast. 

Tougouma aimed to create an agricultural system through which refugee women could not only improve their food security but also support themselves financially. She led the three-month-long project virtually while also completing an internship in Boston. 

鈥淚t was definitely fulfilling,鈥� Tougouma says. 鈥淚t also made me realize that the small action we do can also contribute in solving problems. Because sometimes when I sit down and I read news about my country, about terrorism attacks, and [I see] those millions of people being displaced, I wonder, being abroad and not living in that situation, how can I give back to my community?鈥� 

Tougouma hired an engineer to install the irrigation system, identified teachers to lead agricultural lessons, and gave financial literacy classes via WhatsApp. While managing the $10,000 project budget, she leaned on what she鈥檚 learned at 乐播传媒 as an economics major and math minor.

鈥淲e really needed to maximize our budget at some points, and that required giving up on some things,鈥� Tougouma says.

Since the project鈥檚 conclusion, Tougouma has remained in contact with the refugee women 鈥� as has the irrigation engineer, who has offered ongoing consultation free-of-charge 鈥� and plans to pursue other grant and funding opportunities to continue her work in Ouangolodougou.

鈥淸We are] making sure that they feel like we are still supporting them, and this is something that we really care about,鈥� Tougouma says. 鈥淲e are definitely ready to step in if other opportunities open up.鈥�

2026 Davis grantee Angel Guitcha applied for Projects for Peace after learning about the opportunity from Tougouma. She will be completing her project, 鈥淜ayayei Artisan Initiative: Economic Empowerment for Women in Accra,鈥� in Ghana, which borders both Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.聽

In Accra, Ghana鈥檚 capital city, tens of thousands of women workers called 鈥渒ayayei鈥� make their living as porters, carrying heavy loads of market items in large baskets atop their heads. When Guitcha was growing up in Accra, she met a girl working as a kayayoo. The girl was desperate to earn a living after a rape made her a mother at only 12. Her circumstances were not unusual; many kayayei work for as little as a few dollars a day in unsafe labor conditions, sleeping on the streets where they are vulnerable to gender-based violence.

Talking with the girl, Guitcha became determined to organize a project to improve kayayei鈥檚 quality of life. 

鈥淭hat conversation sort of radicalized me. 鈥� That was a very difficult conversation to have with someone at that age,鈥� Guitcha says.

Guitcha will return to Accra this summer to coordinate a six-week workshop on craftsmanship skills for 50 kayayei, with the goal of fostering autonomy and economic empowerment. Women will learn how to make beaded jewelry and embellish Kente clothing, then how to sew reusable menstrual pads with fabric leftover from textile companies. In addition to teaching the women how to create products they can sell and keeping discarded fabric out of landfills, the workshop will also make it easier for the women to take care of their menstrual health, which they often don鈥檛 have the money or time to properly maintain. 

At the end of the workshop, Guitcha will host a graduation ceremony, during which the women will be able to sell the products they鈥檝e made.

鈥淚’m hoping that they leave their workshops feeling more empowered and more in control of their lives,鈥� Guitcha says.

Guitcha, a biochemistry major with a math minor, volunteers regularly in the Lewiston community through the Harward Center and at St. Mary鈥檚 Hospital. She plans to attend medical school.

鈥淚’m very passionate about community service,鈥� Guitcha says. 

Davis grantee Vyshu Viju will head to India this summer for her project 鈥淪ustainable Cycles: Integrating Hygiene Equity and Waste Sovereignty in Chelannur,鈥� which aims to improve access to menstrual waste disposal by installing trash incinerators specifically for menstrual waste.

The town of Chelannur, where Viju鈥檚 grandparents live, is known for its excellent trash management system. However, menstrual product waste is excluded from regular trash pickup because of health safety concerns. Residents are instead expected to dispose of it at a site two hours away, but many residents burn their menstrual waste at home, Viju says, which causes pollution.

鈥淭hey’re supposed to collect [their menstrual waste] for two to three months and then throw it away,鈥� Viju says. 鈥淏ut most people just find that to be a lot of work, and it just takes up too much of their time.鈥�

Viju and her grandparents will together work to secure government approval for the incinerators, then purchase and install them around Chelannur. 

鈥淚’m hoping it decreases pollution and creates a more sustainable pathway in the way that trash is done,鈥� Viju says. The incinerators鈥� emissions from burning waste could also be harvested as an energy source, she says. 

Viju has long been passionate about issues related to reproductive justice and access; she volunteers with Maine Family Planning as a Harward Center Bonner Leader and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroendocrinology. She thought up the idea for the incinerators in conjunction with her grandmother, who is involved in a local feminist group called Kudumbashree.

Staff at the Harward Center were instrumental in helping the project come together, Viju says, including Comeau and Ray, along with Ellen Alcorn, associate director of community-engaged learning and director of student leadership programs, who initially connected Viju with Maine Family Planning.

Viju has also learned a lot about waste management while working as a landscape assistant with 乐播传媒 Facility Services, specifically from 乐播传媒 grounds and maintenance workers Amy Ray and Ian Brownlie.

鈥淭hat’s been a very meaningful part of my 乐播传媒 experience, and I think it very much inspired this project,鈥� Viju says.

Both Projects for Peace are scheduled to be completed by September.

In 鈥淓conomic Sociology,鈥� Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology Francesco Duina presents students with a social and philosophical question. 

鈥淚 ask, 鈥楬ow many of you like a lot of inequality?鈥� Usually none of them raises their hands. But then I say, 鈥楬ow many of you would want perfect equality?鈥欌�� He shakes his head. 鈥淣obody raises their hand. They鈥檝e never thought of that.鈥� 

Duina brings questions like these to his classes, never revealing much about his beliefs because his focus is on helping students examine their own tendencies. 

鈥淪o, where are you and why? Why do you accept some degree of inequality?鈥� he asks.

Students are thus encouraged to understand or at least see their own ways of justifying the world around them, including inequalities. His most recent book has a similar aim. 

The Social Acceptance of Inequality: On the Logics of a More Unequal World (Oxford 2025), a collection that Duina co-edited with Luca Storti, an associate professor of economic sociology at the University of Turin, Italy, dives in deep on why people across the world accept economic inequalities (understood to be those related to income and wealth). The question is all the more salient because over the past several decades economic inequalities have in most cases grown a great deal. In other words, the real issue is actually not why small inequalities are accepted, but why massive amounts of inequalities are in fact accepted, and even approved of, by significant amounts of people. 

Using four logics of acceptance as a framework for the vastly different contexts across the globe from which their 19 contributors write, the book makes visible to readers the assumptions, biases, and worldviews that people bring to their thinking about inequality. 

This interview with Duina has been lightly edited for clarity and space. 

Meredith McCarroll: You write, in the introduction, that while there is a range of feelings about increased economic inequalities, the aim of the book is to focus on 鈥渢he logics by which these inequalities are accepted.鈥� How did you and your co-editor come to determine the need for this volume? 

Francesco Duina: Inequalities have gone up in most cases, and so we chose this because there’s so much written about how bad these things are and why they’re bad and what we can do about it. And there isn’t a whole lot written about why people accept them when they do. We were very eager to understand that acceptance 鈥� it is, after all, a major factor that sustains those inequalities and something that we may want to grasp if we in fact want to do something about those inequalities.  

MM: So why an edited collection? 

FD: Because matters are so complicated. If you’re really interested in the question of why economic inequalities are accepted across the world by a wide variety of people, you need extensive knowledge and expertise. No single person can have that. Who am I to write about Southeast Asia and Latin America and Scandinavia and the United States and China? We figured that if we collect various perspectives and voices, and we get a much bigger umbrella and better coverage, then we can really figure things out a little bit.

Of course, we recognize that there are works in different disciplines, such as economics or psychology, that point to single logics of acceptance. Our goal was to identify and contrast and compare all the major logics, and to see what we can conclude by doing so.  

MM: You outline in the introduction four logics of acceptance: market/economic, moral, group, and cultural. Can you briefly describe those four logics? 

FD: Sure. In a shorter piece that we are publishing about the book, by the way, we are actually calling them 鈥渏ustifications鈥� for the inequalities. The term might be a little easier to grasp than 鈥樷�渓ogics鈥� of acceptance. 

So, when it comes to market/economic logics, people accept inequalities because they believe that they are byproducts of a well-functioning economic system. Trying to eliminate inequalities would mean that wealth production overall would be reduced, investments would go to the wrong places, innovation would be discouraged, and philanthropy would suffer. Importantly, these sorts of logics do not see inequalities as desirable but as inevitable outcomes to be tolerated given what else is being promoted.

Next, we have moral logics, which are based on notions of fairness and justice. In this case, inequalities are seen as actually something that is desirable. There is something good in them. For instance, if you worked hard you deserve to have more. And of course they take different articulations, including inheritance, where one might say, 鈥淲ell, it’s my grandfather鈥檚.鈥� If asked, what does it have to do with you, we hear, 鈥淲ell, in the end, it is fair that it comes to me rather than to somebody else because I am of that lineage.鈥� 

Group logics offer a third ground for acceptance. These are the hardest to see in practice 鈥� at least in their purest form. They are predicated on the idea that a group is, by virtue of who they are and not necessarily what they have done, entitled to more. The clearest example I can think of is the caste system in India. It鈥檚 preordained religiously. So the upper caste should have more 鈥� it doesn’t matter if they sit around and just do nothing 鈥� by virtue of who they are. You see articulations of this in Scandinavia. The Danes believe they are more entitled to the welfare system than immigrants. For instance, they resist giving those immigrants many years of unemployment benefits. Why? Well, some would say that it鈥檚 鈥渂ecause we’re Danes. They’re not.鈥� Of course here many would quickly add that they have worked hard to contribute to that system 鈥� and in this regard their logic is also moral. 

Racial distinctions are also at work in group logics. Gender distinctions, age distinctions, and even class distinctions fit into this mindset. 

The fourth set of logics is cultural. In the case of the United States, for instance, the American Dream is a pervasive set of ideas that most people know about. Most of us grew up with it, and assume it is a fair description of what life in this society is like. You’re going to go from poor to rich if you do the right things. It is easy to see how someone who is born and raised in this cultural milieu might be quite likely to tolerate inequalities. Inequalities 鈥渕ake sense鈥欌�� given what Americans know about their society and world. 

MM: What is new about your volume? What contributions do you see it making to the field or beyond?

FD: Multiple perspectives and an appreciation for the fact that income and wealth inequalities manifest themselves in different settings. And that the same inequality means different things in different places, comes from different places, is or is not problematic in different ways, and is sustained in similar or different ways. Sometimes we find the same logics at work across the world. Others can be more very peculiar to a place. The collection offers an ability to see how the logics themselves compare to, and differ from, each other.

MM: What role do you hope the book might play in terms of solutions to this problem of growing inequality? 

FD: There is already so much written on solutions. We knew that if we wanted to stay consistent with the message of the book, we needed to focus on the logics. We are therefore asking whether there are things in the logics themselves that someone interested in reducing inequalities could tackle. Are there unfounded biases in the logics? Are there faulty assumptions? If the logics themselves inherently have contradictions and or faulty elements, highlighting those things could dissuade some people at least from embracing them  

MM: Are there ways that this approach shows up in your teaching? Is part of your work making the invisible visible? Just allowing students to see that this is part of what’s shaping their core understanding of inequality or fairness? 

FD: Yes. I think my role is to shed light on things. Then students can draw their own conclusions, but the light helps to dissipate the cloudiness and the fog. That’s my goal.

For Mother Jones, in a Sept. 24 article headlined 鈥�,鈥� journalist Evan Mandery named 乐播传媒 as an outlier 鈥� for its emphasis on meaning and purpose. Mandery writes that a focus on finding meaning 鈥渟uffuses the 乐播传媒 curriculum,鈥� unlike many other elite colleges that he covered in his story.

In looking beyond the classroom, Mandery points again to 乐播传媒: 鈥淥ne notable exception is the Center for Purposeful Work at 乐播传媒 College, launched in 2017 and framed around principles of developmental psychology. The center鈥檚 work is predicated on a simple premise: 鈥業f you鈥檝e got wellbeing in your career,鈥� explained director Allen Delong, 鈥榶ou are twice as likely to have wellbeing in all the other areas of your life.鈥欌��

The article points to the college鈥檚 commitment to supporting students seeking meaningful work, noting that 乐播传媒 subsidizes around 600 internships each year, 鈥渁bout as many as Harvard, though its endowment is less than 1 percent as large,鈥� and notes that this commitment shows up in outcomes: 鈥�15 percent of its 2023 graduates went into education (five times the rate of Harvard grads), 16 percent entered the health field (more than twice the rate of Harvard grads), and 5 percent joined nonprofits.鈥� 

With the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art鈥檚 Ralph Steadman exhibition due to close on Oct. 11, interviewed co-curator Andrea Harris about the exhibition. Harris co-curated the exhibition, 鈥淎nd Another Thing鈥�, with Steadman鈥檚 daughter, Sadie Williams. Not quite a retrospective, the exhibition spans 65 years and is drawn from 15,000 works of art. The reporter asked Harris, 鈥淗ow did you get this to come to little old 乐播传媒 College in Lewiston, Maine?鈥�

鈥淲ell, Ralph is all about collaboration and he gets around,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淗e’s been to the United States several times and has been meeting people throughout his career. One of the meetings he had, he was up in Aspen, Colorado, where he met with Dan Mills, who was the director of the 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art. And Dan was always a fan of Ralph’s, had always had a great feeling that bringing the art to Maine would be an incredible experience for the community. 鈥�

Initially the exhibition was slated to open in 2020 but was delayed because of the pandemic. 鈥淎nd here we are having this incredible opportunity in Maine and it’s been wonderful,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淭he 乐播传媒 Museum of Art is this beautiful space. It’s just absolutely incredible for the college students, for the community, and again, available to everyone to come out and enjoy.”

The exhibition opened in June and will close on Saturday, Oct. 11. Harris will offer a lecture to the public on Friday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. and will be present on the closing day to engage with visitors. The 乐播传媒 College Museum of Art is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Stephanie Kelley-Romano, professor of rhetoric, film and screen studies, was featured on The Chronicle of Higher Education鈥檚 podcast College Matters, a series that examines 鈥渉ow higher education pushes students to wrestle with big ideas.鈥� Kelley-Romano鈥檚 popular course, 鈥淐onspiracy Rhetoric: Power, Politics and Popular Culture,鈥� was highlighted in the podcast episode 鈥溾�� as one of聽 鈥渢he most intriguing and popular courses on the nation鈥檚 college campuses.鈥�

 鈥淐onspiracy Rhetoric,鈥� which Kelley-Romano is teaching again this fall, focuses on the ways that rhetoric 鈥� the art of effective (and often persuasive) communication 鈥�  shapes conspiracy theories. Kelley-Romano explains that 鈥渨hen students understand how things function rhetorically, then they can see and create rhetorical campaigns.鈥� She told the Chronicle that the course often helps students understand that 鈥渨hen more people have more rights and more support, the entire society does better.鈥� 

Leigh Weisenburger, vice president for institutional affairs and secretary to the Board of Trustees, was featured in a Portland Press Herald article about 乐播传媒 dropping its application fee for all students. (In the past, students could ask for a waiver for the fee based on their financial needs). In , Weisenburger, who played a role in the elimination of the application fee, said, 鈥淚t just seemed like the right moment to press play on something that we know to be a barrier and will provide relief, economically for families, but also de-escalating any stress a student might have in the process.鈥� 乐播传媒 anticipates more applications in the coming year, following a record 10,029 applications in 2024, and is prepared to accommodate the potential increase with a higher number of adjunct readers. 

Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer of 乐播传媒 College Geoff Swift was recently featured in the Sun Journal鈥檚 .鈥� Swift was interviewed about Lake Andrews, his role in nurturing the campus鈥� physical environment, and 乐播传媒鈥� responsibility for the wildlife that makes its home around the Puddle. 鈥淲e鈥檙e stewards of this place,鈥� Swift said. 鈥溊植ゴ� sits on 133 acres, much of them occupied by residential buildings, sports fields and academic facilities. But the green spaces, from the quad to the wooded areas, are also under our charge and we take that seriously. Respecting wildlife is part of that. There are limits to what we can or should do.鈥�

Sports Business Journal of Jeff Price 鈥�87 笔鈥�29 as the inaugural CEO of the Heisman Trophy Trust. Prior to this role, Price served as chief commercial and philanthropy officer for the PGA of America. 鈥淚 see plenty of opportunity to build a larger commercial enterprise and support the Trust鈥檚 charitable goals, which were also a passion of mine at the PGA,” Price told Sports Business Journal. Price, who played football at 乐播传媒 鈥� as quarterback and wide receiver 鈥� is also a parent of a student in the Class of 2029. Price was recently on campus for the 150th Football Celebration at 乐播传媒. 

News of Associate Professor of Art and Visual Culture Carolina Gonz谩lez Valencia鈥檚 grant of $50,000 to finish her film How to Clean a House in Ten Easy Steps was covered in . The Sundance Institute funded 32 projects this year.

In August, Deadline covered Gonzalez Valencia鈥檚 , which supports filmmakers in developing their pitches, and invites them to present their works in progress to a panel of funders and distributors at Camden International Film Festival. The film, which is being shot in the U.S., Colombia, and Mexico, is a 鈥渉ybrid documentary鈥� in which a domestic worker and her filmmaker daughter co-create the fictional character of a writer to uncover the slippage between truth and fantasy. It tells a story about immigration, labor, dreams, and the power of fiction to spark emancipation.

This week 乐播传媒 President Garry W. Jenkins joined Stefanie Manning, Maine Trust for Local News鈥� managing director, for a public conversation about his leadership and journey to 乐播传媒.

Held at the Roux Institute in Portland, the Sept. 17 conversation was the latest installment in , which invites local business and community leaders for conversations about their work, including challenges they鈥檝e faced and lessons they鈥檝e learned along the way. Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline and a number of 乐播传媒 alumni were among the more than 100 attendees.

One theme of discussion was the value of education for Jenkins, both personally and universally. He spoke of his early years in the public school system, and his experiences at the private liberal arts school he attended, Haverford College, as well as the large public universities he worked at prior to coming to 乐播传媒 in 2023. He described the powerful, formative impact growing up with parents who were educators themselves had on him, and reflected that his own experience steered him toward 乐播传媒, a place that quickly felt like home to him, and which has given him a sense of optimism. 

鈥淭he students are kind,鈥� Jenkins said. 鈥淭hey’re thoughtful. They are interested in making a difference in whatever way that means for them, and they’re open to that exploration. That makes me excited for the future.鈥� 

Watch the full conversation embedded below.

During an open Q&A, an audience member asked how 乐播传媒 is meeting a new reality, when the value of higher education is being called into question by some in both government and the public. 鈥淭he public seems to be much less supportive, much more skeptical, [and] has much less regard for colleges and universities than was the case previously,鈥� the attendee said before asking: How is 乐播传媒 handling this new reality? 

Jenkins acknowledged that shift in public perception. 鈥淭o be honest, for a long time, the college degree, its importance, the value, was almost taken as given,鈥� he said. That value hasn鈥檛 changed, he said, but it can鈥檛 be taken for granted that others see it that way. 乐播传媒 is trying to 鈥渃ommunicate more and communicate better about the value that we add,鈥� Jenkins said.聽

乐播传媒 has a mission to educate the whole person and prepare students to be leaders, he said. 鈥淐ollege is not about teaching people what to think,鈥� Jenkins said. 鈥淚t’s about teaching people how to think. That’s really important. I think we’ve lost the thread a little bit on that.鈥�

The public needs to be aware of these myriad benefits of higher education, Jenkins explained, and this can only be achieved collectively. None of these perceptions developed overnight, he noted, citing the steady erosion of support for public institutions, including state funding, over the course of his own career. 

鈥淏oy has that changed over the past, what, 40 years, 50 years? Right?鈥� Jenkins said. Immediately prior to coming to 乐播传媒, he served as the dean of the University of Minnesota Law School. Looking at how the percentage of funding that came from the state 40 years ago compared to how it is now represents a dramatically different scenario, he said. 鈥淲hen I left the University of Minnesota Law School, the percent [of school funding] from the state was in single digits. So this is part of a much longer narrative, and we’ve got to really dig in and work together to change that, but it’s not an overnight type of solution.鈥�

鈥淭his is going to require citizen to citizen action,鈥� Jenkins told the audience. 鈥淎nd so what we can do is we can enlist others to join us in this fight and in talking about the value, the importance that college had to you, to your life, to your family, and really tell that story.鈥� He encouraged attendees to 鈥渢alk to our politicians, talk to your neighbors,鈥� to help bring about a cultural shift. 鈥淏ecause that’s what we need.鈥� 

In the greenhouse atop Carnegie Science Hall, a green seedling peeks up from an unassuming black pot. Small but storied, this plant has traveled the world to put down roots here in Lewiston.

The ginkgo tree seedling, not even a foot tall, is the child of a ginkgo tree in Hiroshima, Japan, one of 170 hibakujumoku or 鈥渟urvivor trees鈥� that miraculously lived through the atomic bombing of Aug. 6, 1945 鈥� 80 years ago this August 鈥� and still stand in the city today.

鈥淲e are looking at a piece of something that survived the bomb, and that’s what’s really magical,鈥� says Alan Wang 鈥�24, who coordinated the effort to bring the seedling to 乐播传媒 in partnership with the .

Green Legacy Hiroshima tends to the surviving trees in Hiroshima and their legacies, collecting their seeds and sharing them with institutions of higher education and botanical gardens. The offspring of the survivor trees are now growing at 146 partner institutions across 41 countries, bringing their message of hope and survival to communities around the world. 

As a junior at 乐播传媒, Wang, who is originally from Henan, China, studied abroad in Japan through the Associated Kyoto Program. As part of the program, he traveled to Hiroshima to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, where Green Legacy Hiroshima gave Wang and classmates a tour of the hibakujumoku. 

From a watch that stopped exactly at the moment the bomb detonated, to a shadow created by someone instantly vaporized by the heat of the atomic blast, what Wang saw in Hiroshima left a lasting impression on him.

鈥淵ou can just see the devastating impact that the nuclear weapon caused,鈥� Wang says. 

When he learned that Green Legacy Hiroshima had no partners in Maine, Wang became determined to make 乐播传媒 the first. He imagined a survivor tree planted on campus, its presence encouraging discussion about the effects of nuclear weapons.

鈥淚 envision it as a platform to get people to talk about this,鈥� Wang says.

But before he could bring the seeds to 乐播传媒, Wang had to secure the support of campus partners and then apply to join Green Legacy as a partner institution. Though it would be a long process, Wang was committed. 

As a senior back on campus, he started by bringing his idea to Assistant Professor of Japanese Language and Asian Studies Hanna McGaughey and Lecturer in Japanese Keiko Konoeda, who were both eager to support Wang鈥檚 efforts. Impressed by Wang鈥檚 persistence, Raymond Clothier, the interim multifaith chaplain at 乐播传媒, also joined the project.

鈥淲hen somebody is willing to dedicate that amount of time to a project like this and to not let it go when he encounters bumps on the road, it is inspiring,鈥� Clothier says.

Finally, Wang was left with finding a biology professor who was willing to take on a multi-year responsibility. A young tree needs a lot of tending before it is sturdy enough to plant outside. Wang eventually connected with Daniel Slane, a visiting assistant professor of biology, who immediately agreed to help.

With the four faculty and staff members on board, Wang submitted the application for partnership to Green Legacy Hiroshima during the holiday break between semesters of his senior year and heard back within a month: 乐播传媒 was approved as a partner.

In summer 2024, seven ginkgo seeds arrived from San Diego, where all Green Legacy Hiroshima seeds for U.S. partner institutions are stored. Slane first sanded their hard exteriors to make it easier for them to germinate. He then refrigerated two of the seeds for cold stratification, a process which mimics winter by exposing seeds to cool weather and encouraging germination. After a couple of months, he removed the seeds and planted them in pots in the greenhouse high above the Historic Quad.

But, those first two seeds did not germinate. Slane suspects that the soil conditions were too moist. Back to square one, Slane refrigerated and planted three more seeds. A couple months later, one seed germinated. Now, Slane heads upstairs almost daily from his office to check on the seedling.

One of the oldest tree species on Earth, ginkgo trees are known for their resiliency. Konoeda says there is a message there for all beings about enduring through the impossible.

鈥淭he mother plants survived and watched the experience 鈥� the fire and the wind and the heat. And still, we see this green and the tree,鈥� Konoeda says. 鈥淪o, we don’t know what is going on in the world right now, but we will survive.鈥�

乐播传媒鈥� seeds are from a 200-year-old ginkgo tree in the lush Shukkeien Garden, created in 1620. The garden is a little less than a mile from where the bomb exploded. Its blast spread outward and then the force of air, rushing back toward the hypocenter, pushed the tree inward, leaving the tree with a permanent slant toward ground zero. 

The fact that the hibakujumoko are able to reproduce is impressive, Slane says, because high radiation can cause plants to become infertile. The ginkgo seeds鈥� DNA may even be altered due to epigenetics, the way in which heritable traits in offspring are changed by a parent鈥檚 life experiences. 

鈥淚f you have seeds from a tree that has been impacted by a natural event or something like a bombing, they will have certain epigenetic changes that allow the offspring to probably deal better with those changes,鈥� Slane says.

Though it will be at least two years before the tree is large enough to plant outside, the ambition, or hope, is that the ginkgo will eventually be planted on campus, joining the ranks of the bright yellow tree standing guard outside of Carnegie since 2003 and the new ones at Bonney Science Center. Once the tree is planted, Clothier and the Multifaith Chaplaincy will be in charge of maintaining it. 

鈥淚t’ll be meaningful to me to see the tree when it’s in the ground, to have a place, a marker on campus for peace, for the intergenerational work of peace,鈥� Clothier says.

Like the seeds themselves, each of the people contributing to this project have a personal tie to the atomic bombings or the brutal history of World War II, and most have traveled across oceans to end up at 乐播传媒. Konoeda, for example, grew up in Kitakyushu, Japan, the original target for the second atomic bomb. The city narrowly avoided complete destruction when clouds obscured its skyline on the planned day of the bombing, and American planes headed toward Nagasaki instead.

Growing up in Independence, Mo. 鈥� the hometown of President Harry S. Truman, who authorized the atomic bombings 鈥� Clothier interrogated the history of the bombings at a young age. 

In middle school, he and his peers put Truman 鈥渙n trial鈥� for a school assignment, attempting to answer the question, was authorizing the bombings the right choice? Thinking through these questions in a shared hometown contributed to Clothier鈥檚 interest in peace and ultimately led to his anti-nuclear weapons activism.

McGaughey and Slane both have a German background, which instilled in them the importance of never forgetting the atrocities of the war. Both also spent years living in Japan.

Growing up in Germany, 鈥淚 was brought up with, 鈥楻emember, remember, never forget what happened back then,鈥欌�� Slane says. 鈥淔or me, that’s in a way connected, and that’s why my heart is there.鈥�

At the intersection of these varied identities and backgrounds are differing narratives about the story of World War II and the relationship between countries like Japan, Germany, and the U.S. The ginkgo trees do not declare one narrative right or another wrong, the project contributors say; they simply open up a space for listening and thinking beyond preconceived notions. 

鈥淛apan tells a story that is very much about its big victimhood and not about what it has done or how it has come to that position in the history,鈥� Konoeda says. 鈥淎nd the U.S. tells its own narratives. And only by stepping outside of those stories, you see a bigger picture. And we are stuck now looking at this contemporary world that’s so divided in different ways, but we need to step back.鈥� 

As a living reminder of both the past and the potential of the future, the ginkgo tree will offer students the opportunity to reflect on their own lives while perhaps exploring these differing historical narratives, McGaughey says.

鈥淭he past isn’t necessarily a blueprint for how we should do things. I think we are free to decide for ourselves what should come next,鈥� McGaughey says. 鈥淭hat’s what I hope that the tree can be 鈥� a place where people can reflect on, 鈥楽o what is the right thing to do here?鈥欌�� 

For Wang, a 乐播传媒 politics major and Japanese minor, the relationship between his home country of China and Japan is storied and complicated. Fighting between China and Japan during World War II exacerbated the two countries’ fraught political relationship and, for many, established an enduring resentment between the two populations, a feeling only complicated by the devastation Japan experienced during the atomic bombings.

With this historical context, some people, Wang says, may be surprised to see someone from China advocating so strongly for something like the preservation of the hibakujumoku seeds.

But, after studying Japanese for two years at 乐播传媒 and studying abroad in Japan, Wang holds two things to be true at the same time: the relationship between his home country and Japan has been a difficult one, and the atomic bombings in Japan were unequivocally devastating.

鈥淎ll of that has some nuanced influence on my opinion of the seed,鈥� Wang says. 鈥淏ut at the end of the day, it came from something that survived the bomb. The wonders of life, the resilience of this being, I think, deserve celebration.鈥�

Ginkgo trees can live for thousands of years. 乐播传媒鈥� tree may live on to see the next generation of people, and the next, and the next, its legacy of survival and hope enduring for centuries to come. 

Eight young 乐播传媒 College alumni, including seven new graduates, have been offered Fulbright Student awards for 2025鈥�26.聽

乐播传媒 has been recognized as a Top Producer of Fulbright Student awards for 14 straight years, most recently in February for 2024鈥�25.

鈥淭hese accomplished Fulbright recipients embody the 乐播传媒 mission of commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world,鈥� said President Garry W. Jenkins. 鈥淲e are immensely proud of and thrilled for our awardees, whose academic achievements, passion for intercultural understanding, and joy in exploration will enable them to build powerful connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.鈥�

This year鈥檚 awardees have been offered Fulbright English teaching assistant grants for Germany, Rwanda, Spain, Switzerland, and Taiwan, and a Fulbright research award for Slovenia.

Each year, the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers over 400 awards in more than 135 countries for U.S. citizens to聽teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects around the world.聽

鈥淚 have been inspired this year by seeing 乐播传媒 students and our young alumni lean into our world鈥檚 accelerating complexity,鈥� said Robert Strong, director of national fellowships and lecturer in English. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to know that these 乐播传媒 Fulbrighters will be around the globe, representing the positive, problem-solving spirit of American leadership in learning and research.鈥�

The 乐播传媒 Fulbright Committee described these internationally minded young leaders as humble, enthusiastic, personable, curious 鈥� and exceptionally knowledgeable.

Claire Bohmer 鈥�25

Claire Bohmer 鈥�25, a biochemistry major from Steamboat Springs, Colo., has been offered a Fulbright study/research grant for Slovenia.聽

Research Experience Includes: Bohmer studies Lyme disease with a place-based approach that combines lab research and local knowledge. At 乐播传媒, she was a researcher in the lab of Paula Schlax, Stella James Sims professor of chemistry and biochemistry, as a National Institutes of Health INBRE fellow, investigating RNA and protein behavior in the Lyme disease鈥揷ausing bacterium.聽

乐播传媒 and Community Activities Include: Biology teaching assistant, STEM scholar, AESOP trip leader, 乐播传媒 Public Health Initiative participant, and president of Chicks on Sticks women鈥檚 ski club.

Fulbright Research Purpose: To compare the primary bacterial transmitter of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, as it appears in Europe versus the United States in order to better understand the pathogen鈥檚 structure and function, which could help establish more effective therapeutic treatments for Lyme disease.

In collaboration with the University of Primorska, in Koper, Slovenia, Bohmer will also observe how Slovenian communities combat Lyme disease using public health initiatives and disease research, to determine if such methods could serve as global models for other countries to implement as tick-borne diseases grow increasingly prevalent under climate change.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Slovenia: To volunteer at the Science Centre at the University of Primorska to share science with the general public, connect with local schools in Koper and work with elementary students to better understand the local knowledge of those living in tick-populated areas, and run with the Obala Ultra Trail group.

Plans After Fulbright: To attend medical school for pediatric care or pursue a master鈥檚 degree in biotechnology.

What the 乐播传媒 Fulbright Committee Said: 鈥淏oth her academic endeavors and her extracurricular activities keep her engaged in her community: She always seeks to connect what she loves to what she does.鈥�

More About Bohmer: During a semester spent studying climate science in Patagonia, Bohmer stepped outside the lab to learn directly from ranchers, fishermen, and storekeepers, discovering that place is defined less by landscape than by the people and stories that shape it.聽

As an emerging scientist with an interest in research, intervention, and disease management, Bohmer is driven by that sense of connection. 鈥淕enuinely connecting and listening to others may just be the solution to changing scientific narratives that no longer serve communities at large.鈥�

Charles Breyfogle 鈥�25

Charles Breyfogle 鈥�25, a double major in politics and French and Francophone studies from Columbus, Ohio, has been offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Switzerland.

Relevant Experience Includes: French-English translator with Maine鈥檚 Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, French language teaching assistant, sailing instructor, and soccer coach.

乐播传媒 and Community Activities Include: Center for Purposeful Work peer advisor, former varsity soccer team member, and volunteer at Trinity Jubilee Center.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Switzerland: To join a community soccer team, coach or volunteer with youth soccer players, join outing clubs, offer English tutoring outside of the classroom, and volunteer for social service or environmental organizations.

Plans After Fulbright: Earn a law degree and work as an immigration lawyer serving French-speaking populations.

What the 乐播传媒 Fulbright Committee Said: 鈥淐harlie is a quiet leader who makes the groups he is in much stronger through his skills in mediation. He will be a model for his students regarding community engagement and civic responsibility.鈥�

More about Breyfogle: An avid traveler, Breyfogle has connected with friends around the world through the universal language of soccer. He joined Kansai Gaidai University鈥檚 team during his semester abroad in Japan and, despite knowing little Japanese when he arrived, became friends with Japanese students through bonding over the sport.

鈥淪occer has allowed me to create friendships and learn more about other cultures, whether immigrants to the U.S. or while traveling abroad. I now have a plethora of friends waiting to open their doors to me around the world 鈥� I too would do the same for them.鈥�

Maple Buescher 鈥�25

Maple Buescher 鈥�25, a politics major from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Spain. For 2025鈥�26, she has chosen a different path and will serve as a Spanish teaching apprentice at the High Mountain Institute, a wilderness-based semester school in Colorado.

Relevant Experience Includes: Teaching assistant at an afterschool program for children from underserved populations in Spain, youth mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid鈥揗aine, and counselor at Reaching Heights orchestral camp. She completed an honors thesis analyzing nationalist rhetoric and changing understandings of nationalism in Galicia, Spain, from 2016 to 2024.

乐播传媒 and Community Activities Include: Ladd Library student access specialist, editor-in-chief of The 乐播传媒 Student 2023鈥�24, Outing Club trip leader, and club sailing team member. She graduated magna cum laude, with honors in politics and Phi Beta Kappa membership, and received the Charles A. Dana award.

Wes DeOreo 鈥�25

Wes DeOreo 鈥�25, a double major in politics and German from Westport, Conn., earned a Fulbright English teaching grant for Germany.

Relevant Experience Includes: Research aid studying transatlantic history at the University of Freiburg, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany; English teaching volunteer at the Carl-Shurz-Haus in Freiburg; and head coach of PTSV Jahn Freiburg Pumas Lacrosse.

乐播传媒 and Community Activities Include: AESOP leader, rugby club president, Athletics student assistant, and Davis Fitness Center attendant.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Germany: Join community sports teams and reconnect with German friends and family.

Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a career in public service.

What the 乐播传媒 Fulbright Committee Said: 鈥淲es has a strong sense of service. Wes also has an impressive sense of humility and is eager to learn from his students through this experience.鈥�

More about DeOreo: While teaching English during his semester abroad in Germany, DeOreo fielded students鈥� questions about life in America, including questions about gun violence, particularly sensitive to DeOreo in the aftermath of the October 2023 shootings in Lewiston.

鈥淚t will be my job to encourage my students to embrace their curiosity and see the classroom as a place where they have freedom to seek answers to these challenging questions.鈥�

Ale’ia Gallego Calle 鈥�25

Ale’ia Gallego Calle 鈥�25, a politics major with minors in Chinese and Japanese from Waterbury, Conn., was offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Taiwan in July.

Relevant Experience Includes: English tutor for elementary-aged ELL students, online private tutor, 2022鈥�24 president of 乐播传媒 Chinese Club, semester spent studying in Shanghai.

乐播传媒 and Community Activities Include: Office of Intercultural Education peer educator, first-generation peer mentor, co-founder of the Korean Intercultural Association.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Taiwan: To establish or support a bilingual storytelling club at a local library, organize field trips for students to local farms to support local agriculture and deepen students鈥� appreciation for how their food is created, and establish or join a program assisting students in pursuing higher education abroad.

Plans After Fulbright: Work with international organizations on humanitarian and social justice initiatives, ultimately pursuing a career in medicine and academia.

What the 乐播传媒 Fulbright Committee Said: Ale鈥檌a鈥檚 鈥渆xperience organizing cultural events reveals her ability to engage diverse communities, crucial for positive representation. Her adaptability, evident from her study abroad experiences, ensures she can navigate cultural differences gracefully. These qualities, combined with her knack for cultural exchange, make [Ale鈥檌a] an ideal ETA.鈥�

More about Gallego Calle: Gallego Calle鈥檚 passion for cultural exchange and language learning began as a young child, when her family moved to the U.S. from Colombia and Gallego Calle taught her younger sister English by telling her stories.

As an English teaching assistant, she鈥檒l again utilize storytelling to help her students learn. Gallego Calle says she is 鈥渘ot just aiming to understand Taiwan; I want to become a part of its story. By embracing new experiences, celebrating cultural differences, and finding common ground in unexpected places, I’ll bring the Fulbright mission of fostering mutual understanding as an ambassador to life.鈥�

Madeleine Kwei 鈥�25

Maddy Kwei 鈥�25, a psychology major from Pasadena, Calif., earned a Fulbright English teaching grant for Taiwan.

Relevant Experience Includes: English teaching assistant in France and Nicaragua, psychology teaching assistant at 乐播传媒, and creator and leader of a six-week English language learning program with Families Forward Learning Center in Pasadena, Calif.

乐播传媒 and Community Activities Include: Over 100 hours of community-engaged learning experience mainly with youth in afterschool programs and classroom settings, community outreach fellow with the Harward Center for Community Engagement, women鈥檚 varsity golf team member, and Ladd Library access desk worker.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Taiwan: To encourage students to play sports with an emphasis on gender equality and volunteer with Special Olympics.

Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a master鈥檚 degree in counseling psychology, with the goal of working as a psychologist for diverse youth and people with Asian backgrounds.

What the 乐播传媒 Fulbright Committee Said: 鈥淢addy is passionate about working with youth and learning more about adolescent development, and skilled at communicating and efficiently solving problems.鈥�

More about Kwei: Kwei spent several years of her childhood in Beijing, where the friendships she formed at her international school informed her passion for intercultural communication from an early age.

While showing Danish friends she met in Beijing around Maine, Kwei became aware that 鈥淎mericans hold a high regard toward celebrating regional cultures and integrating diversity into everyday life. Learning to recognize the values and beliefs that make me an American (and the blind spots that I still have) deepens my curiosity to learn more about the world and how I can contribute as an informed global citizen.鈥�

Helena Raddock 鈥�24

Helena Raddock 鈥�24, a politics major from Warren, Vt., has been offered a Fulbright English teaching assistant grant for Rwanda.

Relevant Experience Includes: Maine Immigrants鈥� Rights Coalition intern with the Rwandan Association of Maine; English language learning mentor to elementary school students; Lewiston High School tutor; Vermont Council on World Affairs participant; field organizer; study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, with a human rights and multiculturalism program.

乐播传媒 and Community Activities Include: Center for Purposeful Work peer advisor; Snaggletooth literary magazine contributor; peer tutor for First-Year Seminars; 鈥淕et Out the Vote鈥� fellow for Harward Center for Community Partnerships. At commencement, she received the Maung Maung Gyi Award for Excellence in Politics with membership in Phi Beta Kappa, completing an honors thesis on “The Construction of Coloured Identities: Apartheid Nostalgia and the Politics of Memory.”

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Rwanda: To offer career-guiding workshops for Rwandan citizens at the U.S. Embassy, create an English language learning book club, and volunteer with women鈥檚 empowerment organizations such as Rwanda Women’s Network or Empower Rwanda.

Plans After Fulbright: To pursue a master of arts degree in global affairs with a focus on gender, conflict, resolution, and peacemaking.

What the 乐播传媒 Fulbright Committee Said: 鈥淪ince learning that Rwanda has the world’s highest proportion of women in government positions, Helena has wanted to live in Rwanda and learn more about the role of women in Rwandan education and society.鈥�

More about Raddock: Raddock鈥檚 passion for helping others learn languages is largely informed by her experience living with a host family in South Africa, who welcomed her and encouraged her as she learned the isiXhosa language, which was no easy task.

Last summer, she attended Middlebury College鈥檚 French language immersion program, which 鈥渄eepened my passion for language learning and cultural immersion.鈥�

鈥淢y goal is to foster an atmosphere where language learning is viewed as an opportunity for growth and connection, just as it was for me during my time with my homestay family.鈥�

Emma Seitz 鈥�25

Emma Seitz 鈥�25, a double major in theater and history from Brooklyn, N.Y., has been offered a Fulbright English teaching grant for Germany.

Relevant Experience Includes: Study abroad and research assistant at Berlin International University of Applied Science, teacher assistant at the Grace Church Theater Department in New York City, children’s summer camp leader in New Paltz, N.Y., during COVID-19.

乐播传媒 and Community Activities Include: Merimanders a cappella, Musician Union treasurer and secretary, club volleyball, AESOP leader.

Plans for Host-Community Engagement in Germany: To facilitate cross-cultural communication through open discussions on contemporary issues and topics, join a music group and a theater group, and provide tutoring for several subjects including English and history.

Plans After Fulbright: To work as a teacher in the U.S. while pursuing a career in playwriting and script writing for television and film.

What the 乐播传媒 Fulbright Committee Said: 鈥淪ince returning from study abroad, Emma continued to read German news, watch German media, and speak the language whenever she could. She wrote her history thesis on the difference in generational guilt surrounding the Holocaust between East and West Germany. Emma will arrive in Germany with an excellent knowledge of its history, culture, and current events 鈥� and with an excitement to learn more.鈥�

More about Seitz: While studying abroad in Germany, Seitz produced a short film for a final project in just three weeks, which required her to use her still-developing German to secure a filming permit from Berlin鈥檚 main transit company.

The experience was 鈥渉ard and rewarding work,” she said. “I wanted to continue teaching and collaborating with Germans because of the challenge.鈥� She鈥檒l bring her experience studying and working in German to her role as an English teaching assistant, aiming to make her students feel supported and understood in the classroom.

乐播传媒 juniors Aleisha Martinez Sandoval and Mohammed Mohammed, who are both 乐播传媒 STEM Scholars with a lifelong passion for science, have earned prestigious Goldwater Scholarships.

The two are among just 441 sophomore and junior students, from 1,300 nominated applicants, to receive 2025 Goldwater Scholarships, which provide merit-based awards to undergraduate students who intend to pursue careers in science, mathematics, and engineering. 

It鈥檚 the first time that two 乐播传媒 students have earned the prestigious STEM scholarship in the same year. 

Sandoval, who is from Mexico City, and Mohammed, from Iowa City, Iowa, are both first-generation college students and both biochemistry majors, with Sandoval also majoring in politics. 

Each is also part of the innovative STEM Scholars program at 乐播传媒, which provides mentoring, coursework, and community to a select cohort of students, including those traditionally underrepresented in science and mathematics.

鈥淚t鈥檚 thrilling to have our first double Goldwater be two talented STEM Scholars. What makes this moment so meaningful is that both Aleisha and Mohammed have combined scientific excellence with a demonstrated commitment to equity and service,鈥� says Robert Strong, a lecturer in English who is director of national fellowships. 

鈥淪TEM Scholars made me interested in research,鈥� says Mohammed, who plans to pursue advanced degrees in medicine and public health. 鈥淚t helped me grow as a young researcher and gave me the space to explore and define my interests.鈥�

Sandoval will use her Goldwater support to pursue her goal of becoming a physician-scientist focused on cardiology. 鈥淓ver since I was a kid, I feel like there’s nothing else in the world I want to do,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou know how people have plan A and then plan B? I don鈥檛: Ever since I was 5 or 6 years old, I’ve been telling my mom, 鈥業’m going to be a doctor.鈥欌��

April Horton, the Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM and director of the STEM Scholars program, says students like Mohammed and Sandoval embody the confidence and persistence that the program aims to cultivate.

鈥淵ou don’t really get anything you don’t apply for, and we’re all going to get 鈥榥os鈥� in this world. But we surely aren’t going to get a 鈥榶es鈥� if we don’t apply,鈥� Horton says. 鈥淚 try to help the students cultivate that attitude, from when they apply for that very first internship or research experience to applying to something like the Goldwater.鈥�

Sandoval, who grew up in Mexico, attended a specialty high school in Texas for students interested in healthcare. There, she trained as an EMT and paramedic and treated patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淚 realized that I have the capability to actually help people on their worst days,鈥� says Sandoval, who has been an active member of 乐播传媒 Emergency Medical Services.

At 乐播传媒, she has gained extensive research experience. She has worked in the lab of Associate Professor of Biology Larissa Williams, examining the effects of the chemical pollutant perfluorooctane sulfonic acid on the cardiac development of zebrafish.

Last summer, she conducted cardiovascular research at Boston Children’s Hospital while on a Harvard/MIT program that offers research experiences for underrepresented students interested in pursuing a combined M.D./Ph.D. program. This past semester, she studied abroad in Copenhagen, conducting research at the University of Copenhagen on stem cell models for Type 1 diabetes.

Last fall, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Daniel Slane mentored Sandoval during an independent study that looked at how specific genes in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana contribute to heat stress memory.

Slane saw early signs of her determination. 鈥淪he was persistent,鈥� he recalls, in setting up the independent study, 鈥渁nd that was good. And she would come in again in the evening after dinner to finish something that might not have worked out. That overall drive and enthusiasm 鈥� that struck me.鈥�

Slane encouraged Sandoval to consider a research path alongside medical studies. 鈥淚 saw fire in her eyes for research, and I thought, why not go down the track to being a doctor who does clinical research at the same time?鈥�

As a politics major with a focus on public health equity, Sandoval understands how systemic inequalities 鈥� from environmental exposures to gaps in healthcare access 鈥� shape medical outcomes for underserved communities.

鈥淧olitics is engraved into medicine,鈥� Sandoval says. 鈥淲ithout proper laws that protect patients or that protect research, there’s not going to be any advancement in medicine. I think that we need to protect research, and we need to protect science.鈥�

Mohammed, who is also a trained EMT, first became interested in medicine and research as a child growing up in Sudan during ongoing civil conflict and unrest in the country.

Before moving to the U.S. at age 9, Mohammed looked around and noticed that the conflict was causing healthcare and medicine shortages. He wanted to understand why and, since coming to 乐播传媒, has pursued numerous research opportunities.

鈥淣aturally, I’m a curious person,鈥� Mohammed says. 鈥淲hen something captures my interest, I can’t help but ask why. I enjoy digging deeper into things I don鈥檛 fully understand.鈥�

Mohammed has channeled his curiosity into research across disciplines. After his first year, he studied breast cancer treatment plans at the University of Florida College of Medicine through the Summer Health Professions Education Program. 

Following his sophomore year, he conducted peptide synthesis research at the University of Mississippi鈥檚 Department of BioMolecular Sciences. 

During his study abroad, also in Copenhagen, he conducted research at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen on DNA sequencing and recovery techniques for degraded forensic material. 

This summer, Mohammed will conduct endometrial research at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, investigating therapeutic responses to patient-derived tumors.

He is also interested in bioinformatics 鈥� the use of computation to interpret biological data 鈥� which he has supported at 乐播传媒 through a minor in digital and computational studies alongside his biochemistry studies.

Back at 乐播传媒 this fall, he鈥檒l complete his senior thesis in the lab of Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Jen Koviach-C么t茅, exploring chemical synthesis 鈥� the construction of complex molecular compounds through targeted reactions.

Koviach-C么t茅, who became Mohammed鈥檚 advisor after teaching him in organic chemistry, has watched his interests evolve and mature. 鈥淎s he has taken classes and learned new topics, new tools, his interests have led him into thinking about things that could be combined in other ways,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I鈥檝e really seen him grow as a student and as a scientist.鈥�

Koviach-C么t茅 notes the significance of his journey. 鈥淚 am so proud of him, just really thrilled for him. He has worked really hard. He鈥檚 overcome a lot of barriers.鈥�

In his retirement, Ralph Sylvester 鈥�50 of Auburn became a familiar and welcoming presence on the 乐播传媒 campus, having breakfast most days in the Den or in Commons with a circle of 乐播传媒 friends.

In November 2023, Sylvester died at the age of 99, but his positive presence will be felt at 乐播传媒 for many years to come, thanks to his bequest of $1.3 million to 乐播传媒.

Made through Sylvester鈥檚 will, the bequest creates two new permanently endowed funds that will leave a legacy of access, opportunity, and community at 乐播传媒. 

One endowment, the Ralph L. Sylvester 鈥�50 Fund for Financial Aid, will provide need-based scholarships for 乐播传媒 students, with preference for students from Androscoggin and Oxford counties. The second endowment, the Ralph L. Sylvester 鈥�50 Fund for Dining Services, will support professional development for the members of the college鈥檚 dining team.

鈥淩alph was for the underdog, and he was always our champion,鈥� said Christine Schwartz, associate vice president for dining, conferences, and campus events. 

Schwartz learned of Sylvester鈥檚 bequest this week while she was handling swiftly shifting details for Commencement weekend 鈥� rain was in the forecast. 

She teared up when hearing the news. True, the two hadn鈥檛 started out eye-to-eye: Sylvester didn鈥檛 mince words when offering feedback on goings-on at his alma mater, including her dining operation. 

鈥淟et鈥檚 just say that Ralph and I did not start out in a stellar way,鈥� Schwartz says. 鈥淏ut we became great friends, and I really took in his wisdom.鈥� During COVID, Schwartz and her team delivered meals to Sylvester at his home in Auburn.

In recent years, the two friends often talked about how to create opportunity and advancement for the many members of the Dining Services team. 鈥淗ow do we move people along their career path? How do we, as a college, help our staff members realize that there are many opportunities to either continue on the path you鈥檙e on, or to open yourself up to wider opportunities?鈥�

Sylvester was born in Lewiston in 1924 and lived in Auburn for most of his life. Growing up, he was a newsboy for the local paper, graduating from Edward Little High School and entering 乐播传媒 in September 1942. He worked in a local mill to earn tuition money.

Then came World War II. Sylvester joined the U.S. Army in 1943, serving with the 295th Combat Engineers. He landed on Omaha Beach five days after D-Day, when the beach was still covered with the bodies of dead American soldiers, and later fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

After the war, he returned home to Auburn, and returned to 乐播传媒. War had taken a toll, and he left before graduating, but always remained connected to his alma mater.

He married Elaine Miller in 1949, and worked in local banks and in telecommunications, helping to deliver service to rural Maine. He was a lifelong supporter of public institutions in the Lewiston-Auburn community.

Active in veterans affairs, he supported Honor Flight, a nonprofit program that honors U.S. military veterans by flying them for free to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifice.

After retiring, he and Elaine started a morning routine of having breakfast at the Den. That was where Peter Steenstra, head coach of 乐播传媒 rowing, met Sylvester. Steenstra liked to head to the Den for breakfast after the rowers鈥� early morning practice on the Androscoggin River. 

Sitting, eating, and talking with Sylvester and others became a morning ritual. 鈥淏eing able to chat with someone who had such a vast experience in the world helped me keep things in perspective,鈥� Steenstra said.

In recent years, Sylvester shifted to Commons, where he got to know 乐播传媒 rowers, who would greet the nonagenarian as they returned from the river after practice. 

In April 2023, the 乐播传媒 rowing team chose to honor Sylvester by naming its new shell Ralph Sylvester 鈥�50. During the christening ceremony in Perry Atrium, Steenstra presented an oar blade to Sylvester, a symbol of the great esteem the coach and rowers had for him. 

While having lunch with his teammates in Commons on Wednesday, 乐播传媒 rower Leo Sullivan 鈥�25 of Bloomfield, Conn., took in the news of Sylvester鈥檚 bequest. Sullivan was at the 2023 event, where he met and shook hands with Sylvester.

鈥淚t’s incredible that he was so invested in this community that he would pay it forward in that way,鈥� said Sullivan. 鈥淚t just speaks to what a major part of 乐播传媒 he was.鈥�

Supported by a $10,000 grant from the Davis Projects for Peace program, Axelle Tougouma 鈥�27 of Fada N’Gourma, Burkina Faso, will pursue a solar-powered irrigation system and deliver agricultural training for Burkinab茅 women refugees in Ivory Coast, aiming to combat food insecurity and foster economic independence.

Each year, Projects for Peace provides funding to 125 or more student leaders to implement innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world鈥檚 most pressing issues.

Tougouma鈥檚 project supports women refugees living in Ouangolodougou, an Ivory Coast city 18 miles from the border of Burkina Faso, a conflict-ridden country in recent years.

Millions of Burkinab猫, mostly women and children, have been displaced within their country, and nearly 190,000 people have sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to the UN Refugee Agency. Tougouma鈥檚 own father, who owns a business selling agricultural inputs, had to relocate his farm due to the conflict.

Tougouma鈥檚 irrigation project seeks to support and empower Burkinab茅 women in Ouangolodougou as they deal with economic hardship and food insecurity. But, she says, 鈥測ou cannot just build an irrigation system. You need to study the soil so that you implement the best system that works with the kind of culture they have and also the kind of crops they are willing to have in the future.鈥�

Once installed, the system will provide the women of Ouangolodougou with access to water and the ability to more efficiently grow food, both as a means of subsistence and a source of revenue. 鈥淎 system of irrigation provides the opportunity to those women to have constant activities going on instead of waiting for the rainy season,鈥� says Tougouma.

Working remotely over the summer, Tougouma will guide her project partners in the region, including an agricultural engineer based in Burkina Faso who is leading the irrigation system build-out, scheduled to be completed by August. 

鈥淢y way to contribute to peace is through humanitarian action.鈥�

Ultimately, Tougouma hopes her project creates a more resilient community. 鈥淢y vision is just empowering the whole community and giving that financial autonomy to those women so that they can thrive, the family can thrive, the children can thrive.鈥�

At 乐播传媒, Tougouma, who is a double major in mathematics and economics, has learned to combine her analytical skills with her passion for community service and engagement. In Assistant Professor of Economics Kyle Coombs鈥� 鈥淒ata Science for Economists鈥� course, for example, Tougouma learned to apply her economical knowledge to a real-world community engagement project completed in conjunction with the city of Lewiston.

鈥溊植ゴ� gives you that opportunity to explore community services through your major,鈥� Tougouma says. 

In 2023, through a United World College GoMakeADifference grant, Tougouma worked with an organization that employs internally-displaced women in Burkina Faso in soap-making jobs. In 2022, she co-led a project that provided displaced women and children with essential goods, mental health activities, and skills training, such as crocheting and soap-making.

鈥淢y way to contribute to peace is through humanitarian action.鈥�

On May 7, on the cobblestones of St. Peter鈥檚 Square, my peers and I were trying to recall Rome鈥檚 nickname. New York is the Big Apple, Paris is the City of Lights, but what was Rome?

We found the answer printed on a shirt I had purchased just hours before 鈥� Rome, the Eternal City. We had to use my shirt, rather than the internet, because all signals were jammed 鈥� sequestered cardinals in the Sistine Chapel aren鈥檛 allowed to use cell phones during conclave, and evidently neither were we.

For this Short Term course, called 鈥淟ayers of Rome,鈥� we had traveled to Rome to explore the ancient city. But after watching the election of a new pope between lessons on ancient art and architecture, I have personally witnessed what that 鈥渆ternal鈥� label really means. Rome never stops moving; we are lucky to catch any of it. On May 8, though, it stood still.

I am not religious in any manner, but feeling part of such a historic moment doesn鈥檛 require you to be Catholic. It also doesn鈥檛 require you to know really anything in advance. All you have to do is absorb the moment.

My peers and I knew nothing at all. We had arrived at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the first day of the conclave, and expected to know the results by 7:30. We hadn鈥檛 eaten or used the bathroom beforehand. By the time the black smoke actually emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel just after 9 o’clock, we were cold, starving, and all desperately needed a toilet.聽

The next night, May 8, we knew a little more. For one thing, we knew smoke wouldn鈥檛 happen until at least an hour after the actual vote. We also knew to eat (and pee) before heading there again.

We weren鈥檛 planning to actually go to the square on the second night; I had read that a decision would likely be reached the next day. That was until the bells tolled, and off we dashed down the hill to the Vatican, just a kilometer away from our hotel.

And this is where I feel the city stopped, somehow. Despite the rush of people from every corner into the Vatican, roads were closed to cars and the whole city was on the edge of its seat. There were smiles and quick phone calls before folks entered the no-service zone. I accidentally jostled a nun beside me as I approached a security checkpoint and expected her to be ticked off; instead, she smiled at me, offered me her place, and assured me that there was no way I鈥檇 miss the papal speech.

It was a tremendous bonding experience with my peers, too. As we鈥檝e trekked through impossibly crowded streets together, we鈥檝e also learned a lot about each other and experienced something incomparable together.

There was no way to predict when I signed up for our course that Short Term 2025 would coincide with a papal conclave or that we would be staying just meters away from such a monumental moment.

To me, though, it is a testament to the immersive experience of this part of the 乐播传媒 school year 鈥� at few other schools would I have had the opportunity to experience such new and valuable history in person while exploring the way the ancient layers of this eternal city have recorded human history. I am lucky, I am grateful, and I am awed to be here in Rome.

Carly Philpott ’27 is a double major in classical and medieval studies and environmental studies from Centennial, Colo. She will serve as editor-in-chief of The 乐播传媒 Student in 2025鈥�26 with Trinity Poon ’26 of Forestdale, Mass.