When Ryan Lizanecz ’20 first came to �ֲ���ý, “I was anxious, I was curious, I was scared,” he says. “Literally every feeling I could possibly feel at the same time.”

Lizanecz is from Portland, Maine, and he is the first in his family to go to college. Maine as a whole and �ֲ���ý are similar, he says, in that both are “small communities where people know each other and people are friendly.”

Nevertheless, arriving on campus was an “information overload.” Lizanecz had lived in the same house all his life and never been away from his family for more than a week.

At night early in his �ֲ���ý career, he says, he often dreamed of home.

Video by Theophil Syslo

“Thankfully,” he says, “Bobcat First! was my foothold.” The four-year program designed to foster belonging among first-generation-to-college students “provided me with everything I needed to succeed in the first year–plus of my college experience. They were really a family to me.”

With that support, Lizanecz flourished. A politics major, he has delved into the ways that structures of power shape the world.

“�ֲ���ý does a very good job, especially in the liberal arts, of teaching you about how all these different moving parts of the world are interconnected, and how that impacts how the world works,” he says.

At Opening Convocation on Sept. 3, Ryan Lizanecz ’20 (center) sits between keynote speaker and honorand Dolores Huerta and Phillips Professor of Economics Michael Murray. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Lizanecz has sung with the Deansmen, the oldest of �ֲ���ý a cappella ensembles, throughout college. He is also the president of student government this year; in that role, at Opening Convocation, he told the incoming first-year students that their �ֲ���ý experience will be what they make of it.

Now, when he spends the night at home in Portland, Lizanecz dreams of �ֲ���ý.

“�ֲ���ý is my home,” he says. “This is where my friends are. This is where I have the most fun. This is where I learn things that I care about. I think that that’s what �ֲ���ý has become to me.”

“Something that I’ve realized I truly enjoy doing is building community,” says Topher Castaneda ’20 of Los Angeles.

Which makes Castaneda a great fit among the front-line community builders at �ֲ���ý, the college’s Residence Life staff.

This year, Castaneda is a Residence Coordinator team leader. He’s in charge of six Junior Advisors who, in turn, work with groups of first-years in their residences known as First-Year Centers. He has three first-year residences in his portfolio: Clason House, Milliken House, and Frye House.

Video by Theophil Syslo

“Being so far away from home, I’ve found ways and places to help structure some sort of community around myself, but also around other people who identify as me,“ says Castaneda.

“I’m first-gen, I’m queer, and I’m Latinx. How do I build community for those people, but include more stories in the narrative? One really good way is through Res Life.”

“A really big thing when building community is making sure that people feel heard.”

Castaneda taps into a powerful and fundamental way to forge community: “Stories are really important because they connect people,“ he explains.

“A really big thing when building community is making sure that people feel heard, and people are also understanding where you’re coming from — what your background is, your culture, and what your norm is.”

His Res Life work “has been just awesome,” says Castaneda. And that’s partly because, again, of the human connections. “You get to meet so many different people that you wouldn’t otherwise get to meet at �ֲ���ý.”

An environmental studies major, Castaneda devoted his summer to supporting community in a different way. Working with Holly Ewing, Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, he collected water samples from the local municipal water source, Lake Auburn, as part of research into protecting drinking water quality for the Twin Cities.

Topher Castaneda ’20 (right) sits on a boat with Holly Ewing, Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, as they do fieldwork on Lake Auburn. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

From welcoming greetings to parting hugs, from checking out new digs to checking out camping gear, �ֲ���ý’ newest students experience Opening Day on Aug. 26, 2019.

If you could go back in time, �ֲ���ýNews asked eight seasoned Bobcats, what advice would you give your first-year self?

“I would just tell myself to stop being so scared,” said Izzy Eichenbaum ’21, a psychology major from Lakewood Ranch, Fla. “I was terrified before I came to �ֲ���ý —  which is just insane looking back, because I totally went above and beyond what I ever expected and just made this place my own.”

Guiding tours and conducting interviews, Eichenbaum, six other current students, and one recent graduate were working for Admission during the busy summer of 2019 when �ֲ���ýNews invited them to the video studio to reflect on the first-year experience.

From eight young Bobcats, advice to the Class of 2023. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ���ý College).

“Just say yes,” advised Maddie Sirois ’21, an economics major from Maplewood, N.J., who’d actually gotten that advice the first time around from an older sister.

“Just say yes to opportunities that you wouldn’t normally like to take … because sometimes that’s where you find something you’re really interested in.”

And then there was this tip from biochemistry major Anna Gouveia ’22 of Jonesborough, Tenn.: “Don’t forget to bring shower shoes. I had to stand on, like, a folder in the shower for the first three days.”

Here are the other five �ֲ���ýies we spoke with: Zach Collester ’19, Doylestown, Pa.; Sean Anderson ’20, Houston; Kyle Larry ’21 and Michael Hogue ’20, both of Chicago; and Muskan Verma ’21, Shimla, India.

An environmental studies major, Claire Naughton ’19 of Darien, Conn., delivered this year’s Senior Address at Commencement.

As she prepared for her address, Naughton reflected on her time at �ֲ���ý. Moments of failure are the best moments to learn, she says.

“I’ve really tried over these four years to live authentically, because you can’t always expect to be perfect, and it’s OK to be not OK at times. It’s OK to struggle and grow through your struggles.”

Video by Theophil Syslo

In her address, Naughton invoked the Icarus myth from Greek mythology.

While it’s well-known that the story, about Icarus flying too close to the sun, offers a caution against hubris, the lesser-known part of the myth is that Icarus was also told not to fly too low and let the ocean wet his feathers.

For Naughton and her classmates, “our doubts and fears drag us down” toward the ocean. “It’s time to believe in yourself and your victories and failures,” she said. It’s time to feel the heat of the sun on your back. It’s time to jump.”

Senior address by Claire Naughton ’19 on May 26, 2019

Each year, the graduating class at �ֲ���ý elects a member of the faculty or staff to speak at Baccalaureate, held the day before graduation.

This year’s speaker was Francisco “Franky” Urueta, a member of the college’s Facility Services staff.

Well-known at �ֲ���ý, Urueta is a custodian who works the late-evening shift in one of �ֲ���ý’ busiest academic buildings, Pettengill Hall, where he always makes time to greet students with a kind word and his signature fist bumps.

Video by Theophil Syslo

As Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf said in her introduction at Baccalaureate, Urueta is “living proof that the smallest kind gesture can transform someone’s day, someone’s entire college experience, and someone’s life.”

An Apache Native American, Urueta used his address to talk about his path from California to Maine, and he urged the seniors “to give positive energy to people” so that “they give you positive energy back.”

Baccalaureate Address by Franky Urueta on May 25, 2019

Chirayu Baral ’19 of Thane, India, shares his amazement at how easy it is to develop close relationships with �ֲ���ý faculty.

“They’re willing to listen to you,” says Baral, an economics and politics major, “and they’re willing to accept that they could be wrong and a freshman could be right.”

“They hold Ph.D.s from prized institutions around the world, but they interact with you with a sense of humility.”

Video by Phyllis Graber Jensen

Campus Construction Update spent a few minutes on March 28 watching the obliteration of the houses in which we had worked until last fall: 141 and 145 Nichols St., the former home of the �ֲ���ý Communications Office.

On that sunny morning we were part of a small group that included, at various times, passing staff and students, the treasurer of �ֲ���ý, BCO colleagues, Consigli Construction staff including Superintendent Stacey Harris, and Chris Streifel, the Facility Services project manager overseeing the creation of the �ֲ���ý science building that will occupy the demolition site.

The buildings came down fast, and our timing was not ideal. We pretty much missed the ruination of 145, where the college’s digital communications and design experts once were stationed. But we did arrive in time to watch a Gendron & Gendron Inc. excavator tamp the building’s remains into the cellar hole. Someone sprayed water over the debris to settle the dust as the excavator punched down the wood, siding, and wallboard.

The demolition of 145 Nichols St., March 28, 2019. (Jay Burns/�ֲ���ý College).

The tamping gave the big Volvo a firm place to stand as it moved over to 141. Late for a meeting, we nevertheless stuck around for the start of that operation. It was hard to look away: not just because of our lingering attachment to the houses, but because the excavator made the formidable task of knocking down a building look like cutting an angel food cake.

We perceived a slight chiming of cosmic irony as the excavator took its very first bite of 141 very close to the former Campus Construction Update Penthouse. (We also perceived some regret upon realizing that our 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty guitar was still in the penthouse, along with our checkbook.)

Mise en place: Here’s a geographical refresher: Opposite Carnegie Science Hall, the site of the new science building is bounded by Campus Avenue on the north; Bardwell and Nichols streets to the east and west; and along the south, a wandering property line.

All that building demolition marked a crescendo, but not an ending, in the process of site preparation that had begun 10 days earlier as Consigli, the firm managing the construction of the science building, began mobilization activities at the site.

Excavators on the science building work site. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

A Basham Tree Service arborist at work high up on the east side of the science building construction site on March 21, 2019. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Seen through Gate A, opening onto Bardwell Street, two excavators rearrange the soil at the science building construction site. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

To improve ground stability and drainage, sitework contractor Gendron & Gendron has removed existing soils from the science building site and replaced them with prepared materials such as the gray crushed stone visible in the middle distance. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

This pit in the southeast corner of the science facility construction site will be a detention pond for unwanted water. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Mobilization got off to a quick start. The site was fenced in by the 19th. Removing trees and brush began the following day and was nearly done by the 21st, with usable lumber salvaged for milling or pulping, depending on the type of tree. Excavators grubbed out tree roots and various pavements as solar-powered seismographs, placed near homes and buildings outside the site perimeter, monitored vibration levels.

With the houses gone on the 28th, their remains joined the outflow of foliage, broken-up pavement, earth, boulders, and other unwanted materials that has kept a fleet of dump trucks buzzing around the site like diesel-powered bees.

And what’s happening now is getting the land itself ready to accommodate all the machines, materials, and humans who will actually build a building. Or, in �ֲ���ý project manager Chris Streifel’s words, “putting in a lot of work that’s needed to be able to do the real work.”

A student checks his phone as he passes the newly fenced-in site of �ֲ���ý’ future science building on March 19, 2019. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

You could also liken this phase to the French culinary term mise en place, the practice of organizing your ingredients and tools before you cook something. But a key difference between the building project and making coq au vin is that Consigli and Gendron & Gendron, the subcontractor executing the site prep, are dealing primarily with dirt.

Much of the soil at the site is mixed with stuff, like clay, organic material, and random soils, that for various reasons makes it unsuitable to build on. “If you see those signs by the roadside asking for clean fill,” says Streifel, “this isn’t it.”

So even before foundation digging gets underway, much of the existing soil is being removed and replaced with materials with known characteristics. And the terrain also needs to be contoured specifically for the project. Therefore, a lot of what’s been happening at the site is, in the simplest sense, just moving dirt around.

In the southeast corner, across Bardwell Street from Chu Hall, a pit has been dug that, from now until the end of time, or for at least the lifespan of the science building, will handle unwanted rainwater from the site.

In the short term, “any water that runs into the building excavation will get pumped out to that pond,” says Streifel. “It’ll be filtered and treated before it either leaches back into the ground or, if there’s enough, it’ll be filtered and directed to the city stormwater system.”

To improve ground stability and drainage, sitework contractor Gendron & Gendron has removed existing soils from the science building site and replaced them with prepared materials such as the gray crushed stone visible in the middle distance. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Eventually the pond will be made over with appropriate soils and drainage infrastructure.

Then there’s site access. The project began with a single entrance on Campus Avenue, introducing a lot of new traffic — dump trucks! — to an already busy thoroughfare. That entrance will see less and less use.

A new gate has been opened on Bardwell, with another to follow on Nichols Street. A rectangular expanse between those gates, which will ultimately be the parking lot for the science building, will provide site access and space for gear and materials. That work is about half done.

Last but not least in the mise en place department, one of these days Consigli will set up its portable field office on a grassy patch on Bardwell — near the same location the firm used for the two years of the Chu and Kalperis project.

Fixing a hole: The preparations for construction are all very interesting (we just have to keep rereading what we wrote about the drainage pond) — but we are pleased to point out that, probably by next week, actual construction of the science building will begin.

Seen through Gate A, opening onto Bardwell Street, two excavators rearrange the soil at the science building construction site. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

In this phase, it’s “construction” in the sense of removing something rather than building something. Still, you have to start somewhere, and the science building construction will start with the excavation of a hole for its foundation.

This project differs from other recent construction at �ֲ���ý in that the hole will come very close to three sides of the construction site. As we explained previously, if there’s a lot of room around your cellar hole, you can give the sides a nice shallow slope to keep them from collapsing.

Since that amount of free space doesn’t exist here, three sides of the hole will be shored up with corrugated metal sheets driven into the ground — temporary retaining walls.

As Streifel explains, the first phase of excavation will remove soil to a 5-foot depth across the entire footprint of the building. “Once they have the five feet removed, they’ll get started with the shoring. And they’ll need the shoring to go in before they can go any deeper.”

Ultimately, most of the hole will be roughly 15 feet deep. Some spots will go as deep as 20 in order to accommodate building systems that we’ll tell you about in a future CCU.

Can we talk? Please send your thoughts about past, present, future, and speculative �ֲ���ý construction projects to Doug Hubley. Please put “Construction Update” or “I have your Les Paul” in the subject line.

Seen over the construction fence, here’s another view of 141 Nichols St. on March 28, with Carnegie Science, Chase, and Chu halls in the background. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Follow the Class of 2022 from Opening Day and into the next, the poignant first 24 hours as the newest �ֲ���ý students begin to find their own places in the �ֲ���ý community.