We’ve had an amaz ing start to the academic year. As we draw close to my six-month mark as our first alum director of the Ervin Scholars Program, I am proud of each and every member of our Ervin Family and the work we’ve done this year. From gearing up for the start of the academic year to planning and executing the Ervin 35th Anniversary, scholars and alumni have shown up and shown out to support the Ervin Scholars Program. For that, I am thankful.
A personal highlight for me was the celebration of our 35th Anniversary at the end of September. You’ll read more about it here and see the impact it had on our undergraduates. As an alum of the program, it’s always wonderful to come together with fellow alumni and scholars, with mentors and role models who came before me and with students who came after to recon nect and re-engage. It was particularly awe-inspiring to see the outpouring of love and support from everyone as I took the stage at the State of Ervin Discussion. I never dreamed I’d be leading our program into the future, but now, I can’t imagine doing anything else. The conversations with you all during the weekend and throughout my time as director have been engaging and thought-provoking, and I’m looking forward to many many more of them. I would like everyone to know that we are a family and we can only support and help Ervin to grow by doing so together. Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out to me via email or phone with thoughts, concerns, ideas, updates on life, opportunities for scholars, or just to say hi.
In these first six months as director, I’ve taken an approach of reconnecting our family, hearkening back to our foundational values, and forging the future together. I’m committed to supporting each and every scholar and alum however I can, making sure that our scholars know our history and values and that they can see themselves as part of the 35-year legacy that our program is and should be proud of. In this newsletter, written and produced by current scholars, I hope you are able to see some highlights from the semester, get to know our scholars, and envision yourself giving back to our community and engaging with our undergraduates.
I want to end with an affirmation I made at the State of Ervin Discussion: the Ervin Scholars Program is strong. We support each and every scholar during their four years and instill in them our values and legacy so they can make a difference here on campus and beyond as they add to our legacy in their own ways. We need each and every alum’s presence to expand that support. I envision a scholars program where we as Ervin Scholars—whether current undergraduates or alumni, even parents and families— claim ownership for the Ervin Life Experience. I envision our community plugging back in, supporting one another, so that the legacy of Dr. Ervin, Dean McLeod, Mrs. Elliott, Dean Glore, and all our past administrators and staff, indeed the legacy of each of us and the Ervin Program, can be passed on to the scholars in the generations to come.
I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and learn-ing more about the current happenings of the Ervin Program. If you find yourself back on campus, please stop by the Office of Scholar Programs to see us. Our door is always open and we hope to see you there.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE Greetings
The First-Year Ervin Seminar is a recent development in the Ervin Scholars Program. Created in 2020 to help scholars grow as a family together, learn about the history of the program, and understand what’s expected of them in the Ervin community and beyond, new director Kris Campa saw the possibilities of taking it more seriously. This year, the seminar structure has shifted from meals shared between the director and first-year scholars with occasional presentations from campus partners to a class that cultivates the rigor and culture that makes Ervin what it is. Along with a full reading of Legacies —a written history of John B. Ervin, Dean McLeod, the Ervin program and the university—as well as of Habits of Achievement, scholars come together every Thursday evening and hear from an alum who presents one of the “Habits.” Alums who have presented this year include Matt Holton (’95), Anthony Scales (’19), Amber Simpon (’98), Michelle Purdy (’01), Ashley June Moore (’07), Jordan Cooper (’14), Luke Terrelll (’13), and Eddie Mungai (’17). Occasionally accompanied by meals from locally owned businesses, first-years are given the excellent opportunity to not only connect with a different alum each week, but to process the ways in which the Habits of Achievement improve our experiences as students, scholars and adults transitioning into this new phase of our lives.
Following each class meeting, scholars are required to submit a reflection to further process and express the ways the “Habits” can impact our lives and articulate ways we intend on integrating them into our daily routines. All of this work culminates in a final project presentation from each scholar that focuses on at least two of the Habits of Achievement.
With the flexibility given by Kris, scholars can choose to approach this project in a multitude of ways, from creative artwork to more research focused presentations. The seminar course will conclude with presentations of these projects during the last two class meetings, where alums that presented on the “Habits” are invited to join us.
To scholars that have come before us, this more serious seminar class might seem completely foreign, but to us new scholars, this class is a core part of the first-year experience as an Ervin and as a university student. More than anything, it points to the direction that Kris and the entire scholar community hope to go in. Ervins are Ervins all of the time. We are Ervins in class, with our friends, by ourselves, and we are Ervins to the world. That means trying our absolute best to anticipate what is expected, strive for self-knowledge and self-management, claim ownership, pursue mastery, pay attention, be a giver, and seek meaning and purpose. Ervins must, and want to, practice these “Habits” everyday.
This attitude, this family, and this ethos is what we as scholars are about and hope to be, and it starts and is manifested by the first-year seminar; a journey for young scholars to step into the illustrious community of Ervins. We may have just gotten here, but seeing alums come in every week shows us that Ervins are here for the long run. Seeing a family grow in front of our eyes as we start our lives away from our families back home is a special becoming, unique to the program and its structure. There is much more to come from the firstyear seminar, including an expansion to a three-credit course next year, but it’s already shaping Ervins now and Ervins for the future.
The 35th Anniversary Celebration of the John B. Ervin Scholars Program, “Ervins Unite: Honor the Legacy. Forge the Future,” brought together 145 alumni, 100 current students, their families, and friends of the program from Sept. 30 to Oct 2.
The gathering started with an opportunity to volunteer with the University City School District, exemplifying one of the core pillars of the Ervin Scholars: community service. Projects included assembling take-home bags and sorting shoes for students, putting up bulletin
outdoor gardens and grounds at various elementary schools.
“My favorite event was the community volunteering because it gave me an opportunity to visit a local school, and get to know recent and older alums better due to the small group assignments. It was a fun way to give back to my community,” says Hieran Andebrahan (’25), who volunteered at Julia Goldstein Early Childhood Center.
Program and Dean McLeod’s Habits of Achievement in their lives. DeBaun, an entrepreneur who founded Blavity, Afro Tech and Worksmart, shared that she has had people at her companies read about the Habits of Achievement, too.
Packnett Cunningham is an activist, MSNBC political analyst and podcast host. While at WashU, she co-founded the Student Worker Alliance, which fights for living wages for all workers on campus. She talked about building sustainable movements, particularly the importance of creating “teams, not saviors.”
Following the speaker event, the students and alumni gathered in Tisch Commons for a reception.
boards and social-emotional learning decals at University City High School, organizing books and science labs, and helping with
On Friday evening, alumnae Brittany Packnett Cunningham (’06) and Morgan DeBaun (’12) shared about their journeys from WashU to their careers beyond. They both highlighted the importance of community in movement-building, as well as the significance of the Ervin Scholars
The next day began with a continental breakfast and networking sessions for current scholars and alumni to connect. In “Ervin Networking Across Industry,” sessions were based on interests such as Engineering, Business, Healthcare and STEM, as well as Education, Social Impact, and Advocacy.
The following sessions “Ervin Networking Across Experiences” featured discussions about the change in Ervin admissions, how to navigate experiences as a young professional, and ways to live a healthy life.
alumni on the changes of Ervin since their time in the program.”
Dr. Michelle Purdy (’01) also moderated a discussion about the future of the Ervin Scholars Program, including how alumni can get involved, what current students want to see and do during their time, and how to fund anniversary events moving forward.
from previous classes was so surreal,” says Ephraim Oyetunji (’23). “It felt like a giant family reunion where everyone got to see old faces but eagerly meet and support the current scholars.”
Director Kris Campa (’13) took the stage at the State of Ervin, offering information about the current scholar classes, infrastructure within the program, and his vision and goals. Dr. Laura Stephenson facilitated a panel discussion featuring Amber Brown Simpson ’98 (Ervin Alumni Advisory Council Chair Elect), Jessica Williams (’10), Joel Anderson (’20), and Ephraim Oyetunji (’23), who shared their experiences. Collectively, their perspectives painted a picture of how the Ervin Scholars Program has changed over time, from classes of 11 students to classes of 25 to 35 students.
“I found hearing from the alumni about their personal experiences regarding their time in Ervin to be incredibly valuable,” says Vivien Marmerstein (’25). “It was meaningful to reflect with the
In the evening, Ervin Scholars, families, friends, and guests dressed up and gathered at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel for the signature event, the 35th Anniversary Celebration. As buses pulled up to the hotel, attendees noticed the marquee, which read “Celebrating 35 Years of Ervin Scholars.”
Dr. Trina Williams Shanks (’92) and Ed Stowe (’98) were the hosts of the evening. Speakers included Chancellor Andrew Martin, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Anna Gonzalez, Provost Emeritus Edward Macias, Director Kris Campa, Dr. Sacha Coupet (’91), Stacey Hightower (’92), Mrs. Clara McLeod, and the grandson of Dr. Ervin, Marcus Creighton.
“Seeing so many Ervins
On Sunday, students and alumni gathered to hear from Martin, Gonzalez, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Rob Wild, and Vice Provost of Admissions & Financial Aid Ronné Turner about how the Ervin Program fits within the University’s initiatives and how it is supported by the University.
In bringing together so many Ervin Scholars, the 35th Anniversary Weekend served as a testament to the strength and community of the program. In my journal that weekend, I wrote, “I have met and heard from some of the most passionate, thoughtful, intentional, accomplished, driven, and generous people. They all seem so excited to be here and want to continue to be part of the community. I really want to come back for every fifth anniversary. I have really felt the power of the Ervin legacy and community, and I’m so proud and grateful to be part of it.”
sErvin, the Ervin Scholars’ community service group, was restarted by Tobi Pristupin (’24) in Fall of 2021. Since then, the group has volunteered at organizations like UnhousedSTL and Black Power Blueprint. sErvin was originally a spring break project, where scholars participated in community service projects in St. Louis, MO and Oxford, MS.
Tobi sees sErvin as a core part of the Ervin scholar community: “It exemplifies the fundamental pillars of what it means to be an Ervin scholar: academic excellence, leadership, community service, and diversity. Helping others and being a positive influence is in the DNA of every Ervin, and sErvin is simply an organized effort to do so.”
There is a good reason why Tobi believes this, and it is the same reason why sErvin has existed for more than a decade. What distinguishes the Ervin program from many scholar programs across the country is the emphasis on service to local communities and beyond. While this manifests itself in scholars in varying
ways, there has always been an ambition from the scholar community to start giving back early, hence the prominence of the sErvin program. Even Tobi, as a senior in high school, saw the value of the sErvin program in building community and uniting for a joint cause. He came to WashU with the intention of being involved with sErvin from the very start. He jokes, “Shoveling multiple tons of dirt on a cold Saturday morning is a great way to make new friends.”
At UnhousedSTL, an “all-volunteer community funded grassroots organization providing service and advocacy for the unhoused in St. Louis,” sErvin volunteers have helped distribute food and supplies and run an emergency shelter at Bethel Church. Meanwhile, Black Power Blueprint is working to transform “North St. Louis through renovation, economic development and political power by and for the Black community.” Ervin Scholars have helped with the community garden, preparing apartments for those re-entering our community from the prison system, and more.
Coco Wicks (’25) says, “I think my favorite memory may have been when we went to Black Power Blueprint’s community garden last fall and helped plant tulips and a butterfly garden to then come back in the spring for more volunteering and be able to see everything in bloom.”
She also enjoyed returning to the garden earlier this semester.
Volunteering with sErvin, says Coco, allows her to “make connections with people and communities in St. Louis” and brings her closer to her fellow Ervin Scholars.
The sustained partnership means that volunteers can develop relationships with the people and places they help at. “It’s also been amazing in general to come back and see progress on the many projects we helped with and how the projects serve the community,” Coco
said, “as well as the difference and visible progress we can make in a few hours and how it has a lasting effect on the community.”
Looking ahead to the future, Tobi hopes that sErvin can expand to working with even more organizations, and he is committed to do so during his next two years as an undergraduate. Beyond that, he wishes to pass sErvin down to scholars truly committed to the cause and hopes that attending sErvin events is something that every scholar participates in at least once a year.
As the scholar community evolves, so should sErvin. A historic and core element of the Ervin program, there is no better way to recommit to our pillars and values as Ervin scholars than to dedicate parts of ourselves to the missions of sErvin and community service.
By Mikaela Hall
The Ervin Scholars Program accepts a number of talented and driven scholars. Our scholars achieve amazing feats, both during their time at WashU and after they graduate. Among our talented scholars is Belise Nishimwe (’25), who won the Emerging Voices Award for her poetry this year. She’s a proud refugee-immigrant from East Africa who uses her poetry to tell important stories about what her life has been like as a Black woman in a white dominated society.
Belise is a sophomore at WashU majoring in African and African American Studies with a minor in Data Science. She was first attracted to the idea of the Ervin Scholars Program because she wanted to join a strong community, especially as an out-of-state student, and because she loved the idea of entering a diverse group harboring students from so many different racial and economic backgrounds.
Belise confidently says she feels that the program has changed her life at WashU for the better. Members of the Ervin Scholars Program have provided her with both friendship and a helping hand from her very first day at WashU, and she says that she’s found so many connections through other Ervin Scholars. She also credits the Ervin community for helping her find her voice and become a more outspoken student on campus.
Belise first began writing when she was in middle school, but she wasn’t involved in poetry until high school. She wrote short stories for fun, up until she entered high school and heard about a poetry reading contest that was hosted in high schools across the U.S. It was a poetry reading competition where those who participated would memorize and recite any three poems they chose. She competed during her freshman year and ended up tying with a senior for first place. Upon competing again during her sophomore year, Belise went on to place first at the state division, as well as travel to Washington D.C. to compete at nationals. Reading and reciting poems for this competition inspired Belise to start writing her own poetry, which she continues to do to this day.
When writing, Belise draws inspiration from other poets such as Phillis Wheatley and Zora Neale Hurston. Both are Black women who wrote about the oppression and struggles that African Americans face. Wheatley, in particular, was an enslaved Black woman who became a prominent figure for the anti-slavery movement of the 18th century. Belise focuses her poems on her cultural background, writing about being an immigrant and growing up as a Black girl.
Belise has continued to write poetry during her time at WashU. She took a creative writing course and
“I see poetry as my refuge and often use it to write about things I’m struggling with.”
–Belise Nishimwe (’25)
submitted two of her poems for an assignment in the class. Her professor loved the poems and nominated her for the Emerging Voices Award offered exclusively at WashU. Not only did she win the award, but she also gained the unique opportunity to showcase her poems in Bowles Plaza back in September.
Belise has found great success with her poetry–she even performed one of her poems on a Disney Christmas special in 2020. She says part of the reason for her success is her willingness to embrace any and every opportunity. For others looking to share their talents with the world, Belise shares the advice that it’s important to look for off-campus opportunities; putting yourself out
there in as many circles as possible is the best way to make sure your voice is heard.
Although Belise is only a sophomore and still has a long journey ahead of her, she’s already making plans for the future. After she graduates, she wants to continue with her two main passions: research and writing. She’d love to do work abroad, possibly spending time in Burundi or Rwanda to conduct research on environmental and social issues affecting East African countries. Belise confidently says that poetry and writing will forever remain passions of hers and, no matter where she ends up in the future, she will continue to use poetry to share her story with the world.
*Selected
“Untitled/Black Barbie”
I. My lips are perfect crescent moons that spew words that burn the tips of my tongue. I hate you, I tell the white dolls that are mounted onto my cabinet drawers. Their pearl-like skin is a fresh dew that cooks in the sun ready to be con sumed. Their hair, the perfect paint strokes from the richest soil He used to construct their innocent form. Their eyes like keys to entrance doors into any world they so imagine. And I in contrast, without form and made of coils from the excess clay He used to create the indents of their cheeks. I hate you, I say until the words return into the hot depths of my galaxy
II.I liked a boy. In middle school. His hair was a dark brown hue that matched my dark complexion. His hair reached the nape of his neck, one of his many obstructions to our Catholic school rules. His eyelashes extended into a curl that highlighted his hazel eyes which matched my own. He had been friends with me for longer than all our classmates and thus a natural closeness formed between us. And when conversations turned into moments of truth my lips clamped shut. There was always a white doll, a light skin doll that erased my image. What is it like I wonder to have boys blush over the way your hands glide as you open a notebook/How your laugh that sounds like a penguin’s cry, to them, is the crashing sound of waves across the ocean. And no matter how soft the impressions I make into their---his chest, I forever live within the confines of the untold rule: No one dates the dark skin Black girl.
III. Forming an arch with my neck, my mother and I perform a tug of war on my thick branches she mistakes for weeds. It smells of African potions: coconut oil, leave-in conditioner, and the smoke from branding irons revealing their col lection of my burnt flesh. And within the cracks of our home are buried secrets of Black sitcoms where the oblivious negro is the butt end of their own joke. She taught me how to caress my hair until it lay straight down disassociated from itself. I became her puppet bleached into mixed girls--white girls, anything but the image of her I was so fond of. My nostrils worked like upside-down chimneys releasing grey clouds that polluted my cells obscuring the cracked glass on my pavement floors. And as her lips fill me with hateful jealousy of those white dolls my eyes excrete a dark sable coating that stains my white jeans. Sitting between the meat of her thighs, I am squeezed dry of all remnants of Numen’s beauty.
For Stacey Hightower (’92), the John B. Ervin Scholars Program “with 100% certainty…changed [his] life.” Now the CEO of Omnicom Specialty Marketing Group and a member of the WashU Board of Trustees, he lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Naomi, and two children, ages 10 and 8.
Stacey grew up in New Jersey, near Philadelphia. He describes his upbringing as modest and his family as tight-knit; his parents were state employees, and he is a first-generation college student. One of his biggest influences was his maternal grandmother, who was the “family matriarch.”
“I was a grand-momma’s boy,” says Stacey. “She was an entrepreneur and owned a ceramic studio. She was one of the few Black certified ceramic instructors affiliated with one of the major ceramic companies. She would make and sell ceramics as well as teach classes. She loved to cook and bake and had a very generous spirit.”
After Stacey took the PSAT as a junior in high school, he started receiving mailings from various universities, including WashU. He was also recruited to play football by Coach Ted Gibbons, who informed him of the Ervin Scholars Program.
“I applied and was invited to the prospective freshman weekend to interview for the Ervin Scholarship. I remember being home and discussing colleges at the dining room table with my mother. WashU ranked #1. I was lamenting about the cost,” Stacey says. “At that moment the phone rang and I was offered the Ervin Scholarship. My mother started screaming, and I could barely hear the rest of the phone conversation. That phone call changed my life. The Ervin Scholarship made
Once at WashU, Stacey says that the Ervin Scholars Program “felt like family” thanks to the support of Dean McLeod, Dean Glore and Dorothy Elliot.
“Dean McLeod was like your favorite uncle. He told you things your parents didn’t. You told him things you definitely wouldn’t tell your parents. He showed me places and spaces my parents couldn’t. And all he wanted in return was for you to do your best,” he says. “But like any loving family member he held you accountable. One afternoon I saw him walking along campus and I said, ‘Good afternoon.’ He replied, ‘Good Morning.’ I said, ‘Dean McLeod, it’s the afternoon.’ He said, ‘I didn’t have a good morning, so I’m restarting my day.’ He seemed to always have the right words and frame of mind for any moment.”
As a member of the second class of Ervin Scholars, Stacey recalled dinners, picnics, and guest speakers organized for his cohort. “I look back and reflect on the support system the Ervin Family provided versus other students at WashU who didn’t have that network. To the current students, please don’t take it for granted. Truly appreciate it,” Stacey says.
Stacey studied Business Administration in the Olin Business School. “As state employees, there was very little discretionary income in my parents’ household. I aspired for more financial stability. I also enjoyed problem solving and felt the B-School could help me address both pursuits,” he says.
Outside the classroom, his “primary passion” was football. “I’m forever grateful that I was able to play in college and achieve a level of team and personal success,” he says. Stacey also ran track, played
intramural basketball, co-hosted a radio show during men’s basketball games and played in Air Band, a lipsync competition that was held on campus each year.”
In addition, he volunteered and visited local schools to talk to students about college. “I’ve always thought representation is important, so those school visits were a way to show primary aged students of color what was possible,” says Stacey.
Stacey has had an illustrious career, and he now serves as CEO of Omnicom Specialty Marketing Group. “I enjoy supporting my team in their collective and individual goals. Having the ability to provide resources or insights that help positively influence their career development and experiences brings me a lot of satisfaction,” he says. “And as mentioned earlier, I enjoy problem solving, therefore implementing business transformation and innovation initiatives really excite me. I don’t enjoy stagnant business environments where status quo is deemed acceptable. Passion for improvement is a must.”
In 2020, Stacey became the first Ervin Scholar appointed to the Board of Trustees. “When the request was communicated, they didn’t tie it to an obligatory
donation, but rather requested my time, experience, and opinions. I believe that Dean McLeod and the founding Ervin administration envisioned that an Ervin would one day be on the Board of Trustees,” says Stacey. “Therefore, I feel honored and blessed to be asked to serve. My goal is to share the values that were taught to us as Ervin Scholars and help make them part of the entire WashU culture.”
Overall, Stacey attributes his personal and professional success to his experiences at WashU and in the Ervin Scholars Program.
“I am eternally grateful,” says Stacey. “The John B. Ervin Scholars Program creates an immeasurable haloeffect. I can say with 100% certainty that the Scholarship Program changed my life. Without it I would not have been able to attend WashU.”
“The John B. Ervin Scholars Program not only changed my life but changed my mother’s, father’s, my siblings, grandmother and cousins’ lives as well as my current immediate family including my lovely wife and two sons. It has positively impacted my friends, mentees, co-workers, and the organizations I’ve been affiliated with over my career,” he says.
Aaron Samuels (’11), an Ervin Alumni with an array of titles and accolades, recently secured a multimilliondollar fund for his company Collide Capital. The $66 million fund received backing from Amazon, Alphabet, and Twitter.
Samuels recollected his journey before his success as a founder and managing partner at Collide Capital. He detailed his experience in the Ervin Program as an incredible one in which he felt part of a family. “I lived with Ervins. I studied with Ervins. I partied with Ervins. I fell in love with Ervins.”
Samuels mentioned his appreciation for the immense support he received from his peers, Ervin community members and faculty. The support of the Ervin Program motivated him to provide the same support to others in his community. He asserted that the Ervin Program continues to successfully fulfill the four pillars of academic excellence, leadership, community service and diversity through each generation of scholars. Samuels voiced his excitement about continually seeing news about the accomplishments of Ervin Scholars. Samuels believes that the “[Ervin Program] develops a wave of change agents that are unleashed onto the world.”
After his four years at Washington University in St. Louis, graduating magna cum laude with degrees in Economics and Strategy as well as Philosophy, he began his career as a spoken word artist. After a while,
he ventured into the corporate world using his previous internship experiences in organizations like Google and Deloitte. Samuels worked for Bain & Co. as a strategy consultant and TeleSign as a product manager.
However, he mentioned that his desire to combine his “love for storytelling, strategy, and technology” drove his efforts to co-found and serve as COO of Blavity and AfroTech. Blavity is now known as the largest global Black Media company for Millennials and Gen-Z, and AfroTech is the largest Black Tech conference in the world. While leading Blavity, Samuels obtained a Master of Business Administration at Stanford University. Shortly after, he co-founded a venture capital firm called Collide Capital with Brian Hollins. Samuels explained that Collide Capital invests in the most innovative and hardworking founders solving the next generation of global challenges.
Samuels explained that “the genesis of Collide Capital was fueled by the power of community and the belief that great founders are intersectional in nature and will demand that their investors will be equivalently so.” With a wave of excitement, he disclosed that Collide Capital has backed over 40 companies, of which more than 80% are led by Black, Latinx or Female Founders.
Through Samuels’ recollection of his ever-evolving journey, he imparted advice for current scholars, stating, “Career paths are windy and nonlinear. Have a plan but don’t hold it too tightly. You never know what is around the next corner.”
“[The Ervin Program] develops a wave of change agents that are unleashed onto the world.” -Aaron Samuels (’11)
GOBUMNEME NWANKWO West Chester, OH OYETUNJI Miramar, FL
BETH WIESINGER Fort Mill, SC
KAHLI CROSBY Little Rock, AR
LIZ DAWSON Saint Louis, MO
TORI HARWELL Aurora, CO
Denton, TX
PRANAV RAM Palo Alto, CA
ZOE SIGEL Highlands Ranch, CO
JORDAN SIMMONS Nashville, TN
JIE WANG Memphis, TN
ALEXIS WILLIAMS Clemson, SC
January 13-14: Ervin Winter Retreat
February 11-12: Black Anthology
March 25: McLeod Day of Service
May 13-15: WashU Commencement and Recognition Ceremonies
Thank you for reading this semester’s issue of the Ervin newsletter! We are very excited to revive this tradition and hope that it helps keep you updated on all that is happening in our Ervin community. We aim to publish one issue per semester with alumni and current scholar profiles, recaps of major events and updates, a letter from our director Kris Campa, photos, and more. Please see the following links and QR codes if you have anything that you would like to share with us. We thank you for your help and hope that you have a wonderful holiday season!
Warmly, The Ervin Newsletter Committee
Tinuola Adebukola, the Ervin Graduate Fellow, is originally from Lagos, Nigeria and came to WashU from her current city of Chicago. She is part of the Ervin Class of 2023, Beyond Boundaries academic program, and 3-2 Master of Public Health program at the Brown School. Tinuola will receive her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology: Global Health and the Environment and minors in Psychology and Urban Studies. She is passionate about health equity and improving community health and wellness.
Audeep Cariens is a first-year student from Boston, Massachusetts studying Design in Sam Fox with a minor in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology. He loves to play soccer, run track, and make all kinds of art. He is also a creative writer, having published six books. He hopes to find more ways to help people using creative arts.
https://tinyurl.com/ ErvinScholars
https://tinyurl.com/ ErvinAlumni
Tania Domenzain Vera is from Mexico City and Phoenix, Arizona. A proud member of the Ervin classes of 2023 and 2024, she plans to graduate in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Art History and Italian. Tania has been a museum intern, Student Educator and member of the Director’s Advisory Council at the Kemper Art Museum, as well as a peer mentor with the Chancellor’s Career Fellows program. Tania’s interests include Lord of the Rings, fostering cats, and amateur aquascaping.
Mikaela Hall is a first-year student from Eureka, Missouri. She is on the pre-med track and plans on majoring in neuroscience with a minor in French. She recently joined EST (the student-run first responder team on campus) and is excited to start her EMT training in the spring semester. She’s also involved in Kairos After School, a group that tutors middle and high school students. In her free time, she loves writing, practicing guitar, and playing video games.
Amanda Young is a sophomore from Lafayette, California majoring in History and Educational Studies. She is involved in the Asian Multicultural Council and Student Life newspaper, and she works for the Admissions Office and WashU Marketing & Communications. She is passionate about education, racial justice, and civil rights and Asian American history. Outside of school, she loves baking, hiking, visiting museums, doing yoga, and working on her blog.