By Corinna Nicolaou
Lessons Learned Meet Two of Our 2011 Graduates
Move the Body, Quiet the Mind
The Class of 2011 will celebrate spring commencement by taking the lessons learned at the University of Idaho and moving into a wider world of challenges and rewards. We’ve selected two outstanding members of the Class of 2011 to highlight: dance and psychology double-major Heather Boni, and Dylan Hedden-Nicely, who will be the first graduate of a new professional program that offers a law degree and a master’s degree in water resources through Idaho’s world-renowned Waters of the West program.
Heather Boni is a senior majoring in dance and psychology. 16
To sit in the Commons with Heather Boni, a senior majoring in dance and psychology, is to be in the presence of a barely containable energy that seems to be buzzing and fizzing just beneath the surface of her skin. One gets the impression she’d rather be tapping than talking and that, in fact, she could communicate quite well if given the opportunity to use movement instead of words: her life story in a dance routine. It began in her hometown of Winnemucca, Nev., where her mom recognized early that her bundle of joy was extra lively and enrolled her in physically-demanding activities like soccer and gymnastics. By seventh grade, Boni had fallen in love with jazz and tap dance classes. Her repertoire quickly expanded to include ballet, hip-hop and modern dance. In high school, she joined the dance team and soon was the captain, a position that allowed her to try her hand at choreography. She was honing her body and disciplining her mind. Like all serious dancers, she trained every day, some days getting up before school to get in an hour or two of rehearsal before class. After school, she danced well into the evening. Weekends were an opportunity for more practice. Looking back, she sees that movement was a strategy to stay calm. The onset of her teenage years coincided with a spike in the national anxiety level: terrorism, new forms of instant media and unpredictable weather patterns. For people who are naturally high-strung, these facts can stress an already nervous constitution, and exercise can be an excellent way to keep negative thoughts from spiraling out of control–pirouettes in place of Prozac. When it was time for college, Boni knew she needed to keep moving, but she also wanted to get the most out of her college experience. The University of Idaho was the perfect fit: its well-balanced dance department requires students to take courses in a range of topics such as anatomy, physiology and kinesiology. In addition, Boni could study psychology. After so much focus on the body, she was ready to learn more about the mind. It has been at the intersection of dance and psychology that she has found her true passion for using movement as a tool to promote physical and mental health. Her psychology courses have given her insight into how life