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STUDENT NEWS
Youth and Wisdom Unite
The Napier Initiative brings together youthful enthusiasm and the wisdom of elders Written by Elaine Regus
GENERATIONS SEPARATE Harvey Mudd College
students from Pilgrim Place retirees but the Napier Initiative unites them in their quest to make the world a better place. The four-year-old initiative pairs graduating seniors nominated from each of the five undergraduate Claremont colleges with Pilgrim Place mentors, many of whom have spent their lives advocating for social change. “The colleges recognize athletes, musicians and Phi Beta Kappa. We thought it was important that students who had a passion for social justice should also be recognized,” says Jane Douglass, past chair of the Napier Selection Committee and resident of Pilgrim Place, a senior community for residents who have served as leaders of religious or charitable nonprofit organizations. Two Harvey Mudd students were named 2014 Napier Fellows this year. Christian Stevens ’14 proposed spending nine months in Malawi, a poor African nation with a high rate of HIV/AIDS, to study problems that prevent patients from fully accessing available medical treatment. Stevens, a joint biology and chemistry major, intends to spend time with physicians and other health care professionals—as well as their patients and other members of the community— in order to gain a better understanding of the factors that affect medication adherence. He will then help to create an organization that includes both citizens and health care professionals that will focus on improving health care outcomes for patients by improving medication adherence. Stevens’ mentor is Steve Smith, a retired professor of philosophy from ClaremontMcKenna. Stevens is the third student Smith has mentored and the second one from Harvey Mudd. The first one was Kimberly Chung ’12, who proposed a yearlong project studying indigenous medicines in her native Taiwan. Margaret Thompson ’14 is studying long-
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HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE
distance relationships between immigrants in the United States and their romantic partners living in another country. An engineering major, she believes that where immigrants make up a large percentage of a community, that community has a responsibility to care about how community structures—such as immigration laws—are affecting the lives of its people. Thompson began her project as independent study with Harvey Mudd psychology Professor Debra Mashek and a research team who studied transnational relationships from a relationship psychology perspective. “Professor Mashek and I were interested in how some individuals who migrate to the United States from Latin America maintain their long-distance relationships with individuals in their sending country under sometimes incredible circumstances—many are separated
Christian Stevens ’14
The colleges recognize athletes, musicians and Phi Beta Kappa. We thought it was important that students who had a passion for social justice should also be recognized. –JANE DOUGLASS, NAPIER SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBER
for years on end and face barriers for a variety of reasons,” Thompson says. Thompson proposed spending a semester in Guadalajara, Mexico, interviewing people whose partners had immigrated to the United States. Barbara Troxell, Thompson’s mentor, is a retired United Methodist clergywoman. She was involved in the first Napier Initiative planning group, having been a campus minister at Stanford University when B. Davie Napier was dean of chapel there. The Initiative was named for Napier and his wife, Joy, former educators and Pilgrim Place residents. Thompson’s project coincides with Troxell’s work with immigration reform through the local United Methodist Church. “I have been very impressed with this bright young woman who has some great opportunities ahead of her. The future is in good hands,” Troxell says.
Margaret Thompson ’14