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Michael Kwan ’20 and his family left their native Hong Kong so that he and his brother would be able to go to college in America. “We sold everything,” recalls Michael, who was 7 when they moved to San Francisco. “My mom used to work in an office environment. She came to America and worked as a cashier. It’s been a great sacrifice for my parents. I already knew that I wanted to go to college, but that did put a little more stress on me in terms of trying to get into a great, academically rigorous school.” Michael knew he wanted to major in physics when he enrolled at Oxy, but it was the opportunity to study violin with Lyndon Johnston Taylor, the Benjamin H. Culley Teaching Artist in Residence at Oxy, that prompted him to pursue a double major in physics and music. What do playing the violin and physics have in common? “They’re both pretty disciplinary, so that’s how I go about doing both. I allot time and focus and dedication to each and it just works out.” On top of taking as many as 22 units each semester, Michael does research with associate professor of physics Janet Scheel and has applied for a Caltech summer research program: “I needed three recommendation letters and they were so easy to get from professors here—they all know me pretty well,” he says. Of all his activities, what he enjoys most is playing in Sinfonia, Oxy’s orchestral ensemble. “Everyone comes from a different background, and plays at a different level, and you get to see how we all come together and play the same music and put our hearts into it,” Michael notes. “It feels like one person playing. That’s really magical.”
As a sophomore, Michael has been a beneficiary of the COSMOS scholarship program, which provides not only $8,000 in annual support to talented Occidental math and science majors with financial need, but mentorship as well. (The program was created in 2016 by a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation.) “I’ve gotten to know a lot of professors through the program—not just physics but also biology and chemistry and geology and even math,” he says. “And that puts me in a great place in terms of building a large network for career advice.” More than anything else, what the COSMOS grant has given Michael is the gift of time—freeing him from the financial obligations of a work-study Photo by Marc Campos job. “I have 10 more hours of my week to focus on my physics work and research and on my music studies and practicing, and that’s really nice,” he says. Twice this school year, Michael has played his violin during Music on a Friday Afternoon, the music department’s informal recital series, and last year he conducted a piece performed by his peers: “They needed a conductor and I was studying conducting, and that was a fun experience getting to put what I learned into use.” Thanks to the financial support he has received, “I’ve had plenty of opportunities at Oxy,” Michael says. “A music department scholarship pays for my violin lessons during the school year. The COSMOS money has allowed me to focus on academics without worrying about how to pay for college. Everyone here at Oxy wants to learn and have a better future. Just like in Sinfonia, we all come from different backgrounds and we play the same music.”
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Col. Rick Bennett ’63 at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in 1967
LESSONS FROM VIETNAM oxy.edu/magazine
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THE CLASS OF 1968 ON TURN, TURN, TURNING 50 /// DOUBLE EXPOSURE: SINGING FOR SPALDING
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Twelve alumni veterans recount the highs and lows of their military service—and how Oxy prepared them for war