The Hoya: The Guide: October 7, 2016

the guide FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016

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the guide

THE HOYA

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS Devika Ranjan . . . . . . .

Mary Jordan . . . . . . . .

John Glavin . . . . . . . . .

Jimmy McLaughlin . . . . .

Chris Pepe . . . . . . . .

Zoe Rosen . . . . . . . . . .

Kenyon Smutherman . .

Sweetgreen Founders . .

Sanford Ungar . . . . . .

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NAAZ MODAN/THE HOYA

T

he first guide special issue of the fall semester needed to be just that: special.

More impresive than any of the astounding individual accomplishments of Georgetown students, alumni and faculty are the people behind them. From a student-athlete who excells both inside and outside of the classroom to the founders of a successful national restaurant chain to a professor who employs tough love to get the most out his students, this issue profiles just a few of the Hoyas doing truly remarkable things in their fields. They are more than just successful in their curricular activities and chosen professions, they are innovating, inspiring, and contributing to the legacy Georgetown has left and will continue to leave on the world.

Included in this issue are nine profiles representing Hoyas from diverse backgrounds working toward journalistic excellence, healing others through theater in Central Asian communities, remedying the issue of American gun violence, translating music into policy and more.

PRODUCTION STAFF JESS KELHAM-HOHLER JOHN MILLER Editor-in-Chief Guide Editor TOBY HUNG Executive Editor JESUS RODRIGUEZ Layout Editor NAAZ MODAN Photo Editor

MATTHEW TRUNKO Managing Editor JEANINE SANTUCCI Copy Chief

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS CC Borzilleri, Viviana De Santis, Tom Garzillo, Kate Kim, Sterling Lykes, Marina Tian, Emma Wenzinger, Stephanie Yuan

FRONT AND BACK COVER BY: Jinwoo Chong

CARICATURES BY: Grace Chung

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Healing on The World Stage BRASSLAND

Cosima Schelfhout Hoya Staff Writer

Over the summer, Devika Ranjan (SFS ’17) lived along one of the world’s most dangerous borders with an important task at hand. Armed with nothing but a grant from the Catherine Davis Foundation, Ranjan was working on a peace-building project — one that did not entail moderating dialogue between opposing forces or campaigning against pro-conflict government factions. Instead, she was conducting theater workshops.

“The arts can change people’s opinions of what’s happening. The performance altered a decadeslong prejudice.”

Devika Ranjan (SFS ’17)

Ranjan spent her summer in Manguchak, a small town just 500 meters from India’s border with Pakistan, teaching theater in communities impacted by insurgency and, more recently, earthquakes.

Ranjan paints a chilling image of the forlorn village, which is tucked away in the country’s most violent corner, assailed by shelling and saturated in fear. It was here that Ranjan became a fixture among the town’s women, working methodically to unpack the conflict’s psychological impacts.

Although theater played a large part in her life prior to Georgetown, Ranjan decided that while at college, she would focus on her political passions and put aside her interest in the arts.

“I thought that the arts should be a hobby,” Ranjan said. “I thought, while at Georgetown, I should capitalize on Georgetown things, like politics and international relations.”

However, Ranjan soon stumbled upon an opportunity that combined both of her interests in March of her freshman year: a panel discussion concerning the use of theater in conflict zones. The seed was planted.

Ranjan approached the panel’s representatives afterward and they encouraged her to work on a community theater project in Afghanistan. After Afghanistan was ruled out due to safety concerns, Ranjan set her

sights on Pakistan. The biggest challenge she faced was convincing her parents to allow their only daughter to travel through a country that has had conflicts with their country of origin, India.

Theater turned out to be a possible solution to this conflict. During her sophomore year, Ranjan helped choreograph an oncampus show for the Lahore-based Ajoka Theatre group. According to Ranjan, after her mother watched the Pakistani actors perform, she “made the connection,” exclaiming: “They’re just like us!”

The performance played a key role in determining Ranjan’s path: Not only did it push her parents toward supporting her travel plans, it also gave Ranjan faith in the healing power of theater.

“It was step one in affirming that the arts can change people’s opinions of what’s happening,” Ranjan said. “The performance altered a decadeslong prejudice.”

While the Ajoka show won over Ranjan’s mother, it did not do much to convince Georgetown of Pakistan’s safety in order to secure a grant. She overlooked the roadblock and headed to South Asia with a Raines Fellowship in tow and a mission to witness the theater community’s healing in action.

For three months during the summer of 2015, Ranjan travelled throughout India and Nepal, setting up intimate theater workshops in struggling communities.

“I’d love to do human rights fieldwork, using theater but also other methods to understand people and advocate for them.” devika ranjan

(SFS ’17)

Working in post-insurgency — and more recently, post-earthquake — Kathmandu, Nepal, she learned about the ways small group performances help unpack community tensions. Playback theater, a type of performance in which actors on stage perform the stories of audience members, was an especially helpful tool for reconciliation.

After a summer of hopping between villages, Ranjan was not quite ready to return to the comforts of campus. In the interest of furthering her study of conflict zones, she

headed to Palestine in the fall of 2015, on a leave of absence from Georgetown. After encountering opposition in Bethlehem, she left for Berlin, giving her insight into a different kind of conflict: the migrant integration.

Upon arriving in Berlin, Ranjan worked as a translator at a medical clinic for refugees after her friend, a Kurdish refugee, encouraged her to apply. Ranjan was stung by the city’s anti-immigrant stigma and dismayed at the lack of mental health resources available to asylum seekers. Despite her clinical setting, Ranjan’s faith in the arts as a tool for healing persisted.

From Berlin, Ranjan applied for a Project for Peace Grant, and less than half a year later she was in the shell-shocked community of Manguchak.

The independent nature of Ranjan’s project allowed her to dive deeply into the community’s struggles and to formulate major conclusions about the complicated issues surrounding the effects of poverty, insurgency and natural disasters.

By operating daily workshops for the town’s female population, Ranjan unearthed the conflict’s dark underbelly. The regular shelling had created a culture of fear among town members, which encouraged opium abuse and alcoholism, and in turn lead to widespread domestic abuse. As national newspapers reported diligently on border skirmishes and the conflict’s political developments, women faced the conflict headon each evening when drunken husbands came home unhappy.

While many factors can contribute to the prevalence of domestic violence and substance abuse in any area of the world, Ranjan is firm in her belief that the shelling is largely to blame for the town’s most pressing troubles. She argues that it has not only perpetuated constant fear, but has also stagnated the economy, producing finan-

cial frustration and excess idle time. For Ranjan, the conflict tested her own limitations.

“Because I was a foreigner, the community assumed I must have the answers, and I didn’t,” Ranjan said.

While Ranjan was not able to abate a decadeslong disagreement from Manguchak, she was able to have a serious positive impact on the community’s interrelations. By bringing women together on a daily basis in an intimate and safe environment, she inspired a kind of collective women’s movement. Before the workshops began, the town’s women hardly knew each other; relegated to domestic chores, they bared their burdens alone. The workshops inspired the group to unite in their hardship and seek a communal solution.

“Now that they’ve gotten an excuse to come together, they’ve created a collective of over 100 women from neighboring villages,” Ranjan said. “They come together each week to discuss means of financial independence, from things like creating a sewing center or packaging mangos.”

Looking ahead, Ranjan intends on studying conflict resolution and the ways to handle this problem.

“I want to learn more.

I’ve seen a lot of roadblocks, but I’ve also seen this form of theater work,” Ranjan said.

“I’d love to do human rights fieldwork, using theater but also other methods to understand people and advocate for them.”

Ranjan’s work has had a global audience, but can serve as a lesson for Georgetown students as well.

“When nothing is going on, do random things that you wouldn’t find any nominal benefit in,” Ranjan said. “That’s what got me wandering to that panel. That’s what encouraged me to think that even though theater might not get me anywhere, it could be something really interesting, something fulfilling.”

COURTESY DEVIKA RANJAN

Combining her passions for theater and human rights, Devika Ranjan (SFS ’17) brought community theater to Manguchak, a war-torn town on the India-Pakistan border, in order to spark dialogue and healing. She has also travelled to Nepal and Palestine in hopes of proving the universality of healing through theater and community engagement.

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Friday, october 7, 2016

A Lifetime Of Inspired Journalism

NORDISK FILM

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mary Jordan (CAS ’83) has 30 years of experience and has interviewed many important public figures, from former presidents including Jimmy Carter to musicians like Paul McCartney. Her career with The Washington Post has allowed her to travel around the world.

Eleanor Tolf Hoya Staff Writer

Mary Jordan (CAS ’83) has travelled around the world, written two books and won a Pulitzer Prize for her work with The Washington Post. But during her time at Georgetown, her path was no clearer than that of the average upperclassman struggling to figure out post-graduate life.

“I was really open to many different fields. I even thought politics for a while,” Jordan said.

Her decision to ultimately pursue a career in journalism came about after conversations with professors and several internships at media companies, during which she began to feel that journalism gave her a sense of familiarity and continuity.

“Journalism felt like it would be perpetual grad school. I loved school. I wanted perpetual learning.” mary jordan Pulitzer Price-Winning Journalist

“Journalism felt like it would be perpetual grad school,” Jordan said. “I loved school. I wanted perpetual learning.”

Since her graduation, Jordan has thrived in her journalistic endeavors — a testament to her passion for learning. She began working at The Washington Post at age 23 as an intern in the style section.

Three decades later, her journey has been anything but stagnant.

Rising to a new position every four years or so, she has reported from 40 different countries and interviewed the likes of musician Paul McCartney, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish author Gabriel Garcia Marquez. As a foreign

correspondent for 14 years, she learned Spanish and Japanese before running the paper’s headquarters in Mexico and Tokyo.

Her husband Kevin Sullivan has been her writing partner on many of her pieces, including their Pulitzer Prize-winning series on the Mexican justice system and their New York Times bestseller “Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland.” Although some might imagine it difficult to work so closely together, Jordan describes the partnership as “fabulous.”

“It’s like any duo — songwriters, architects, et cetera,” Jordan said. “For some people, it just gels.”

Their home office is equipped with back-to-back desks and “makes writing, which is often very lonely, a lot less so.”

Recently, she has reported on this year’s presidential election.

Coming from an international perspective, Jordan said she appreciates the uniqueness of the American election process.

“People cannot believe how long the campaign is.

It’s mandated in England to only be weeks long. … That’s true in many places,” Jordan said. Her colleagues and friends around the world have expressed their confusion and astonishment with the way the United States handles its elections, particularly noting the amount of money in politics. Still, there are some international similarities.

“Populist candidates are rising all across the world,” Jordan said. “People like Sanders and Trump are tapping into a fear and a frustration with the status

quo that can be seen in many countries — a parallel that’s most evident in the recent Brexit decision.”

This past week, Jordan was in the key swing state of North Carolina to spend time with undecided voters and to gauge their reactions to the debates. Jordan disputes the assumption that the debates do not make much of an impact, and that the majority of viewers are incredibly unlikely to switch sides at this point. For some, the debates can be a huge deciding factor.

“If the race is close and 10 percent is undecided, it could have a big impact.

We’ve already seen from polling, if you’re that 10 percent in a close race, you will get swayed,” she said.

From her experience talking to North Carolina voters, which she noted is a small sample size, last week’s debate seems to be pushing people a certain way.

“Most said now leaning towards Clinton. Everyone said they thought she’d done better.

Although they said they were still waiting to see how the next few weeks played out,” Jordan said.

From covering injustices against women to following this year’s unpredictable campaign, nothing about Jordan’s 30 years of journalism experience has been given to her.

She attributes her persistence and skill in writing to former University President Fr. Timothy Healy, S. J., recalling an English class of his that she took while at Georgetown. Knowing her interest in becoming a

writer, he called her into his office.

“He said, ‘If you want to write, I want to show you how much work it takes.’ He showed me nine drafts of one of the speeches he was going to make,” Jordan recalled.

Seeing this shocked the then-collegeaged Jordan, as she regarded Healy as a naturally skilled writer. Even former President Bill Clinton had consulted with him for his inaugural address.

“The great joy of my career has been to meet the courageous people fighting injustices around the world.”

MARY JORDAN Pulitzer Price-Winning Journalist

“Healy and Georgetown were absolutely critical into spurring me a career of journalism,” Jordan said. “He was saying, ‘It can be great, it can gratifying, it can be rewarding, but it’s not going to be easy.’”

These words never left her, and she passes them on in her advice to any student interested in journalism. Her most invaluable experiences in forming her career were moments where she was forced to face the ups and downs of professional life.

Jordan has had a career that would make many envious and many more intimidated. She has met Hollywood Alisters, world leaders and even notorious drug kingpins. Still, Jordan argued that it is the people behind the scenes who have made the greatest impact on her life.

“The great joy of my career has been to meet the courageous people fighting injustices around the world,” she said.

“No one knows their name. I’ve met presidents and musicians and movie stars, but in the end it’s meeting those other courageous people that has been the highlight of my career.”

FILM VAST

Jordan has been fortunate to make the acquaintance of numerous influential figures, including Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi, left, and Vice President of the United States Joe Biden.

Her successful career at The Washington Post is a testament not only to her work ethic, but to her willingness to take on the most challenging assignments.

friday, october 7, 2016

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High Expectations, Tough Love

Austin Hong Hoya Staff Writer

A longstanding professor in the department of English, John Glavin (CAS ’64), has impacted Georgetown in ways to which few faculty members can lay claim.

During his time here, Glavin has personally mentored some of Georgetown’s most successful alumni and overseen the Carroll Fellows Initiative — Georgetown’s flagship program for undergraduates.

Glavin has earned a reputation as a challenging yet inspiring instructor. In class, the stern and bearded professor stands well above 6 feet, towering over students. He returns papers drenched in the red ink of his disapproval. Even worse than the pointed critiques are his oneword responses: scrawled, offhand notes that read “weak,” “unacceptable” and, occasionally, “no.”

Students who have taken his classes have heard the stories. Glavin taught screenwriting to Jonathan Nolan (CAS ’98), creator of the recently premiered “Westworld” series and one-half of the writer-director Nolan brothers duo behind critically acclaimed movies like “Memento,” “Inception,” “The Prestige” and the “Dark Knight” trilogy. According to Glavin, Nolan named John. G — the antagonist of “Memento,” which was based on an essay Nolan wrote for a Georgetown psychology class — after him. (Disclosure: Nolan was a Hoya staff writer.)

His personal tutelage has produced more than a few Marshall and Rhodes scholarship recipients, some within the past year. Working in his class is like being alone on a stage — students feel the microscope of his attention exposing all their inadequacies, the weaknesses they should have corrected.

“They surprise themselves. I am never surprised by what my students accomplish.”

John Glavin Professor, English Department

“He gives you the platform to share your story. He will pick up on words and finds the things you need to highlight,” said Aya Waller-Bey (COL ’14), who did a series of mock interviews with Glavin during her ultimately successful application for the Gates-Cambridge scholarship. “I knew I was ready for the interviews. I was more intimidated by the mock interviews than the actual one.”

When asked about the rigor of his instruction, Glavin said it is all done with good intentions.

“I would say that I am more a coach than a teacher,” Glavin said. “I think one of the things a coach does is really say to somebody ,‘Perform for me and I will help you sharpen your performance.’… And that obliges me to use very high standards.

I seem rigorous or demanding, it’s because what I really want people to do is become rigorous and demanding on themselves.”

By all indications, it seems students prize the guidance they receive from him. They return, again and again, to his office hours, which run on a strict 15-minute rotation with sign-ups sent out by email at the beginning of each month. All the slots fill up instantly.

Glavin is further revered among other faculty members for his commitment to developing students on an individual level, including Writing Center Director David Lipscomb, whose office last year neighbored

Glavin’s.

“He does so much in so many areas to help students. His door is always open and there’s always a steady stream of students,” Lipscomb said. “He loves being a mentor.

He really loves being a mentor for Georgetown’s brightest.”

Some of that drive to give back to Georgetown stems from Glavin’s personal experience. During his undergraduate years, Glavin was involved in the Georgetown community. He served as The Hoya’s editorin-chief.

“He gives you the platform to share your story. He will pick up on words and finds the things you need to highlight.”

Aya Waller-Bey (Col ’14)

“One of the reasons that I’m invested in service at Georgetown is because Georgetown has been astonishingly generous to me,” Glavin said.

He credits the university for being patient with him through the early parts of his career. When he joined the faculty at Georgetown, he was not the stern mentor of student ambition. He had ambitions himself as a writer.

“I was a playwright,” Glavin said. “And I always imagined that I would actually leave teaching and become a full-time playwright once my ship came home. And for a long time I wrote plays, and plays were staged.

And they were more or less successful. But I came to realize in an interesting moment that this was really what I wanted to do.”

That moment happened in the 1970s, when a major summer theater festival picked up one of his plays. Glavin was excited to kick-start his playwriting career, until his agent told him that its success depended on his leaving Georgetown for the summer and spending the season in Williamsburg, Va., where the play would be put on.

Glavin refused to leave the university, and was promptly dropped by his agent, who told him he must realize he was not serious about a career in the theater.

Like the honest criticism Glavin doles out himself, his agent’s words galvanized change that ultimately turned out for the better.

“I became gradually much more interested in taking the kind of writing I was interested in and making it also the subject of my teaching,” Glavin said. “The result of that has been, over the past 20 years or so, the remarkable experience of teaching many, many people who have gone on to do really interesting work, especially in film.”

This year, Glavin is commemorating his 50th year of teaching and is no longer writing for the theater. Instead, he will ask a new class of Carroll Fellows and a fresh set of aspiring screenwriters to perform for him.

Some will inevitably chafe against a man they see as cold and harsh. Others will embrace the opportunity to learn from a Georgetown legend. Neither group can deny that he hopes to bring the best out of his students. When his students achieve excellence, Glavin has been there all along, expecting it.

“They surprise themselves. I am never surprised by what my students accomplish,” Glavin said.

That is how Glavin works. Not harshness for harshness’ sake, but simply high expectations. And for 50 years, those expectations, along with Glavin’s continuous service, have shaped the students and institution of Georgetown.

Full disclosure: The writer is a participant in the Carroll Fellows Initiative.

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In “Memento,” John Glavin (CAS ’64) was the namesake of the character John G., above, in former student screenwriter Jonathan Nolan’s (CAS ’98) film.

CARROLL FELLOWS INITIATIVE

Known for his tough but effective mentorship, English professor John Glavin (CAS ’64) has guided some of Georgetown’s most successful alumni and overseen the Georgetown University Carroll Fellows Initiative, above. This year, Glavin is commemorating his 50th year of teaching.

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Friday, october 7, 2016

Working Hard, Playing Hard JIMMY MCLAUGHLIN

For Jimmy McLaughlin, second from left, a native of nearby Fairfax, Va., sports runs in the family: His father played football at the University of Pennsylvania from 1984 to 1987 and his mother played soccer at Penn from 1986 to 1987. Last season, McLaughlin was selected to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.

paolo santamaria Hoya Staff Writer

Underneath the helmet and pads of junior wide receiver Jimmy McLaughlin (COL ’18) lies an exemplary studentathlete. The recipient of last season’s Mush Dobofsky Award for Outstanding Student-Athlete, awarded to the football player with the highest grade point average on the team, McLaughlin has found himself one of the busiest and most successful students on the Hilltop.

While the Georgetown community boasts talent and promise in spades across its diverse and impressive student body, the university should consider itself especially lucky to have the 6-foot-4 receiver. It almost did not. “[Being from Fairfax, Va.], I never planned on staying close to home, but, coming out of high school, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Georgetown kind of popped up where I could both play football and go to a really stellar academic school,” McLaughlin said. “And it was just the best of both worlds. Like, I had to chase that.”

When recruiting a potential DivisionI athlete, there is an inherent need to pull out all the stops on an athlete’s official visit. While Georgetown exudes an intrinsic allure, thanks to its location and consistent ranking among the top schools in the nation, it still needs to sell recruits on the details that can define a college experience. The Blue and Gray Tour Guide Society sold McLaughlin.

“I came here on my official visit in December and got to go to a basketball game and be around the football guys,” McLaughlin said. “You don’t really hear a lot about schools that are so academically rigorous — that are such good academic schools but are also at the same time really into athletics and really have an outgoing student body. I kind of fell in love with that really fast.”

However, the wide receiver’s first foray

into college athletics was nothing short of a disappointment.

“I actually came in and had a back injury and missed pretty much the entire freshman season,” McLaughlin said.

“I just wanted to take my mind off the fact that I had showed up and immediately gotten hurt in football ... To kind of take my mind off my injury, I just joined three or four things immediately.”

“I don’t think even in the Ivy League there are schools where the alumni are so hell-bent on helping current students.”

Jimmy McLaughlin (COl ’18) Hoya Wide Receiver, Baker Scholar

And now, two years later, McLaughlin embodies the opportunity that exists for Hoyas. Beyond his academic success, the economics and history double major and business administration minor is a member of the highly selective Baker Scholars Program, a group of 19 students — 10 juniors and nine seniors — that exposes College students to the business world via an extensive alumni and professional network.

With only a few student-athletes accepted to the program over the past decade, McLaughlin is in elite company. He is currently the only student-athlete in the program.

“It’s a really tight-knit group of kids who are just really outgoing and cool but also really driven. I don’t think even in the Ivy League there are schools where the alumni are so hell-bent on helping current stu-

dents from their school,” McLaughlin said.

“It’s absolutely one of those things that’s kind of quintessentially Georgetown. It’s pretty special to be a part of.”

McLaughlin’s on-campus involvements don’t end with academia; his love of sports extends off the field and onto the page. As a sports columnist for The Hoya, McLaughlin’s column “Upon Further Review” runs every other Friday and discusses a variety of topics across professional sports, channeling the “water cooler talk” emblematic of a tried and true sports fan.

“Being a sports columnist was something I always dreamed about when I was growing up. I used to, all of elementary, middle school and high school, watch [Pardon The Interruption] every day at 5:30 [p.m.] when I got home from practice,” McLaughlin said.

“And I thought it was just really awesome to dedicate a part of my experience at Georgetown and just getting to be a sports writer.”

Finding synergy between an athletic and extracurricular life is no easy task.

The passion with which McLaughlin approaches his Hilltop experience naturally lends itself to questions of overcommitment, with the football team often singlehandedly accounting for 40 hours per week of commitment.

However, the junior wide receiver has not just found a balance in his successes but has also parlayed them into a pre-professional life. Through his job at the NFL’s division of public policy and gov-

ernment affairs the summer before his sophomore year, McLaughlin entered a star-studded yet politically charged field.

“It had everything you’d expect from an internship with the NFL in terms of the guys you got to run into. I think [I ran into] Bill Cowher, Mike Singleterry, Rodger Goodell … Once a week you’d run into some former NFL player or somebody big like that,” McLaughlin said.

“You wouldn’t really think about sports and politics [going together], but the NFL spends more than any other American sport combined in its lobbying and political efforts.”

Two years of college down and an array of experiences in tow, McLaughlin is now finally holding steady with his extracurricular involvement.

However, for someone with success and commitments in nearly every facet of his life, the junior wide receiver remains the jokester he’s always been — a trait often hidden by what his accomplishments might otherwise suggest.

“Something that people wouldn’t expect, especially from most kids at Georgetown who are kind of hyper-involved and do a bunch of stuff, is that I’m pretty laid back and don’t take myself too seriously,” McLaughlin said. “[The freshmen and sophomores on the football team] figured I was some hyperinvolved, crazy kid who wouldn’t hang out and goof around on the weekends, but I’m really just a huge freaking goofball. I don’t how else to describe it.”

From Finance to Fitness diana heldfond Hoya Staff Writer

Any brave student who has attended a SoulCycle class in Washington, D.C. can attest to the celebrity of instructor Chris Pepe (COL ’15). He is no stranger to the SoulCycle community, and can regularly be found “tapping it back” at many of the D.C. studios. However, it may come to surprise many students that Pepe, who is known popularly as an exercise instructor, is also a graduate of Georgetown University.

For the uninitiated, SoulCycle is a 45-minute full-body workout class of spinning, core exercises and weight training. “Soul,” as it is referred to by regular riders, has taken the fitness world by storm. Celebrities like soccer player David Beckham, model Alessandra Ambrosio and artist Demi Lovato have been sighted at the trendy workout classes. Even Michelle Obama has paid a visit to the Foggy Bottom location.

Since its founding in 2006, SoulCycle has expanded from New York City throughout the United States and boasts four studios in D.C. Pepe helped open the Georgetown, 14th Street and the Mount Vernon studios, all within the past year.

A native of New Jersey, Pepe double-majored in music and economics and was president of the Superfood a capella group while at Georgetown.

With the goal of working in the music industry, Pepe spent his summers interning at the Verizon Center, the Fillmore and with various talent agencies in New York and Los Angeles. When SoulCycle opened in D.C. during his senior year at Georgetown, Pepe connected with the classes and their musical aspect.

Although he originally auditioned to be an instructor for fun, he became hooked.

After receiving an offer at a highly regarded talent agency, Pepe turned it down when he got an offer from SoulCycle.

The transition was surprising for those who knew Pepe. At Georgetown, he was not a Yates regular and barely even worked out until he discovered the one workout that he loved: SoulCycle.

“I always kept in shape, but I was pretty new to working out and fitness in general,” Pepe said.

Like many Georgetown students, Pepe found himself constantly stressed with curricular work and not prioritizing his health.

“Fitness really isn’t my passion. I just love being active and helping other people become active,” Pepe said.

Part of what has helped make SoulCycle so popular around the country is its social aspect. More than just a workout, it is an opportunity to set aside technology and be completely present in the moment.

“I think what I loved about it, and what a lot of people love about it when they come, is that they love the group environment of it. People like being in these group settings, because people look forward to leaving their phone in the locker for 45 minutes and are completely zoned in on something,” Pepe said.

Apart from conducting a rigorous routine, part of his job entails making people in his class feel welcome and have a fun time.

“I love making it hard, but I also love adding a bit of lightness to it and trying to make it funny — really engaging people. I really focus on the music aspect of it, so it’s one 45-minute DJ set,” Pepe said.

The job of instructor does not stop when the class is over.

Pepe prepares a different playlist for every class, so he spends a lot of time finding new, popular music. In class, Pepe gets into the music by singing along and putting on a performance. He is best known for his “Bad Girls of Hip Hop” themed class, contributing to his reputation as a fun and engaging instructor.

According to Pepe, the most difficult part of his job is having to captivate different audiences.

Soulcycle

Chris Pepe is a beloved instructor at SoulCycle, the indoor cycling fitness company that boasts 72,000 rides sold per week and 12,000 class participants a day.

Pepe finds it mentally and physically exhausting to engage in the experience while maintaining awareness of the room and the clients. Moreover, constantly motivating a room of 40 people proves to be difficult when one is teaching upwards of 13 classes a week.

“It can get a bit repetitive. We find ourselves saying the same things over and over again sometimes. But I think the best thing you can do in a SoulCycle class, the most genuine thing, is to take what you are going through outside of the walls of SoulCycle and apply it in a very broad sense,” Pepe said.

With regards to the tribe of SoulCycle riders, Pepe says that the more classes he attended and the more he interacted with his instructor, the more he saw himself becoming part of the community.

“Having that community is something that people love and it’s a support system that follows you post-graduation. There is a big focus on welcoming every person who walks in the door — making them feel part of the family. Obviously it gets made fun of a bit, as people are sort of ‘cultish,’ but people are really proud to go to SoulCycle and be part of that community,” Pepe said.

For the typical college student, Soul-

Cycle is an expensive routine to get into — single classes cost $34. Pepe explained that he strictly limited himself to going twice a week while at Georgetown. That was enough to create a habit of being excited about fitness and self-care. For the students who have never tried it, it is all about experiencing it for the first time. “[You] have to give it a shot and see what it is. It sounds dramatic, but it can change the way you look at your life, or how you deal with problems that you have, or change the way you look at your health, or how you’re approaching your lifestyle — Especially for the typical Georgetown student who is always on the run and not really caring about themselves,” said Pepe.

Pepe found SoulCycle as a way to reconnect, adding that it is a no-pressure environment. It was really great for him to take a step back from his passion for music after graduation to remind him how much he truly appreciates it.

“It is important for students to realize that it is okay to be unaware of what you want to do or take a step back from your track when you are 22 years old. When you graduate, you realize how young you are and how much time you have,” Pepe said.

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friday, october 7, 2016

THE HOYA

MUSIC WITH A CONSCIENCE jose villalobos Special to The Hoya

The multidisciplinary practice of hip-hop, religion, art and social justice is a niche one, and at its forefront is senior rapper and activist Kenyon Smutherman (SFS ’17).

Smutherman organizes “Magis: Jamaica,” the Office of Campus Ministry’s trip through the Alternative Breaks Program, which aims to provide a group of students with a unique opportunity for self-exploration and service with a higher purpose.

The trip is an exploration of growing inequality in the world and focuses on the intersecting currents of art and religion, something near and dear to Smutherman.

Having gained a following around the country for the hip-hop music he has created, Smutherman is now embarking upon a new series of projects through his raps and his unique academic focus on generational development.

Smutherman’s first encounter with music occurred during his senior year of high school, when a friend wanted to perform in their school’s talent show as a beatboxer but was afraid to go up by himself. Smutherman jokingly offered to get up with him and rap and ended up doing so, albeit reluctantly.

“I was absolutely terrible; it was a mess. … But over time, me and my brother started making songs and rapping a little bit,” Smutherman said.

A few months later, Smutherman came to Georgetown, where he became involved in more opportunities to work on his music and

performances.

“I started getting more and more into it, doing a little bit of recording engineering … learning about how to structure a song, getting a little more into office production. … It just kind of snowballed from there,” Smutherman said.

The summer after his sophomore year, he posted his first song on SoundCloud, where it gained popularity — a huge motivation for him to keep moving forward in his musical discovery.

Smutherman is now involved in a series of new musical projects, moving away from his original, “very laid - back and chill” style.

“At that point, where I was, that was good for me, but now I want to innovate,” Smutherman said.

He strives to connect emotionally with people through an energetic approach to composing new songs.

“I’m focused on creating something different. … The music I’m creating now is a lot more progressive, a lot more high-energy. It has more power behind it.”

Drawing inspiration from a variety of artists like Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Earth Wind and Fire and The Beach Boys, Smutherman hopes his music will have a positive influence on a large group of people, while not necessarily imparting a pointed message through his lyrics.

“I don’t want to say something meaningless, but I feel like a lot of time people are trying to lecture through their raps, and only people who agree to it are going to listen,” Smutherman said. In an attempt to reach

people of varied beliefs and perspectives, he focuses on the sound and energy of his songs.

Although Smutherman still wants to advance his music career, he sees it more as a complement to his overarching goal of facilitating personal connections, encouraging individual action and making systemic changes to alter large-scale inequality.

“People who are consummately artistic, they feel a need to create. That’s not necessarily me, but I love art, and I love the ability to be able to intertwine that with what I want to do,” Smutherman said. “Twenty, 30 years from now, [what I want to do] is probably not music, it’s probably going to be something like policy, being able to create large-scale change, but if music can be a vehicle to make that happen, that’s okay.”

After all, Smutherman believes his desire to better the world around him through individual connections can be supported by his musical endeavors. His projects outside of music focus on his goal of creating more opportunities for future generations to move beyond structural poverty.

“I aim to create systems to benefit future generations and help break cycles of poverty.”

There is an apparent passion in his voice whenever he talks about all the reforms modern societies need. Among the pressing issues he identified are “investments in education, investments in infrastructure, understanding conditions of poverty, understanding how nutrition plays a role in childhood development.”

Although Smutherman has achieved recognition for his music, he does not share

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NAAZ MODAN/THE HOYA

songs and projects through his personal social media. His Facebook page, “Kenyon Lee,” has only shared one post in the last year, and his SoundCloud seems to be the only way to access his music.. In response to his low profile, Smutherman said that he is not one to self-promote, because he likes “having [his music and personal life] be in their separate, different zones.”

According to Smutherman, this clear separation between his studies and his music is a testament to his unwillingness to categorize people and his wish to continue pursuing different paths in his life — politics, arts and music — separately.

Smutherman is not sure what lies ahead after graduation, but “it’s not scary,” as Georgetown has prepared him for whatever that may be. The key to succeeding, for Smutherman, has been to connect with like-minded individuals on campus.

“There are very artistic people around Georgetown, who largely influenced my musical career,” Smutherman said.

“You just have to go out and find them.”

CREATING RECORDS, COMMUNITY JINWOO CHONG/ THE HOYA

Clock Hand Records has created a community for aspiring student musicians and managers to express themselves at a career-oriented school like Georgetown. In the past year, Clock Hand Records has expanded beyond its role as a traditional record label by regularly hosting live perfomances.

Dani Guerrero Hoya Staff Writer

As the university continues to expand its resources for students pursuing careers in investment banking, consulting and public service, other groups, like aspiring student musicians, have found a network of support among themselves.

Since its inception in the summer of 2015, the student-run Clock Hand Records music label has served this goal of bringing musicians at Georgetown together. One year later, its reach has extended beyond the front gates and into the local music scene.

At the helm of Clock Hand Records is founder Zoe Rosen (COL ’16). Born and raised in Switzerland, Rosen attended high school in Toronto before coming to Washington, D.C., to study American musical culture – her major at Georgetown.

Rosen has been passionate about music her entire life. In high school, she took classical opera singing lessons and participated in singing competitions around Toronto.

“I was always more passionate about the modern pop world of singers and song-writers. I really loved indie-pop,” Rosen said.

However, at Georgetown, she found a different path.

“I really love to write songs and play guitar, but finishing high school I decided I didn’t want to go in as a performer,” Rosen said.

After reaching out to a friend who had already graduated yet shared her passion for music, Rosen realized founding a record label was possible with hard work and dedication.

“I found out there were about 150 student-run record labels in U.S. universities alone. I went to their websites and reached out to the heads of the ones I liked best, and had a

lot of phone conversations over the summer of 2014 just asking how they worked,” Rosen said.

During the spring of her sophomore year, Rosen assembled a team of other students to launch Clock Hand Records.

“Georgetown is a very preprofessional kind of school, so I thought starting a student record label could be a great way to give both musicians and managers real-world experience,” Rosen said.

To Rosen, Clock Hand Records is more than just a business – it is a community.

“I noticed there’s a lot of people really interested in doing great things [who are] really talented, but there’s not so much of a cohesive community. There’d been groups in the past that’ve tried to get musicians together, but as people graduate, it’s hard to keep them sustainable,” Rosen said.

In the past year, Clock Hand Records has expanded beyond its role as a traditional record label by regularly hosting live performances.

“It’s a great way to bring in new talent.

That’s actually how we’ve discovered many artists we’ve worked with,” Rosen said.s Last spring, the Healey Family Student Center partnered with Clock Hand Records during the Fall Festival, showcasing more than nine student bands. Fall Festival also served as a launch party for Rosen’s label, which is not currently affiliated with the university’s Student Activities Commission but aims to gain full university recognition and funding in the near future. This year’s Fall Festival will take place Oct. 15, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the label’s first major event.

Rosen realized the importance of establishing a strong foundation before expanding the label to represent campus artists.

“Because we’re so new, last year we worked

a lot on solidifying what we were doing and creating a strong structure before taking on any artists,” Rosen said.

Julian Chartouni (MSB ’19) is another one of the label’s artists and has what Rosen describes as a, “rich, deep country voice.” In preparation for the full album, Chartouni and Clock Hand Records are recording demos and going through rough recordings of Chartouni’s original songs to decide what will make it into the final cut.

In terms of the label’s operations, Rosen mainly works with recording, production, promotion and marketing, which provides her with plentiful experience relevant to entering the music industry after graduation.

Despite her busy schedule running Clock Hand Records, Rosen has not given up her passion for performing. She is currently working on recording a full-length country album

to be released at the end of the semester. In addition, she continues to be a part of the Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance, even singing background vocals for the GEMA Rocks Concert on Sept. 16 and 17.

Rosen’s varied experience in music and business have made her a successful entrepreneur, providing her with a solid background as she interacts with artists and fellow producers. After working at Big Machine Label Group in Nashville over the summer and taking both business and studio-recording courses, Rosen is now thinking of her next steps after graduation.

Wherever she decides to go, her musical legacy at the Hilltop will be carried on by other student musicians who have waited for a group like Clock Hand Records to exist and finally provided them with a community in which they can express themselves.

ALEXANDER BROWN/ THE HOYA

Zoe Rosen (COL ’16) will graduate with a major in American musical culture. Born and raised in Switzerland, Rosen attended high school in Toronto.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016

More Than Just a Salad Redefining a Healthy Lifestyle

FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/ THE HOYA

KATHRYN BAKER Hoya Staff Writer

Every Georgetown student is familiar with Sweetgreen, whether as a postworkout snack, a quick lunch between classes or as the “Destination D.C.” aspect of the particularly unadventurous New Student Orientation adviser.

Six years ago, the only Hoyas who knew about Sweetgreen were its founders, Nathaniel Ru (MSB ’07), Jonathan Neman (MSB ’07) and Nicolas Jammet (MSB ’07). At the beginning of their senior year, the trio began to discuss the limited options for healthy and affordable food in Georgetown.

“We bonded over: one, a love of food; two, a wanting to create something; and three, a wanting to solve a problem in our own lives,” Neman said.

Shortly after, they laid out their vision and developed a business plan. However, Ru, Neman and Jammet had hardly any prior experience. Although each of them had parents who were successful entrepreneurs, the three did not know what it took to build a business, and they knew even less about the food industry.

This lack of experience turned out to be the key to Sweetgreen’s success, as it provided an opportunity to “approach every problem with a fresh set of eyes,” Jammet said.

The original location on M Street, ended up being only 500 square feet, and the limited resources pushed the group to think creatively and focus only on that which they determined they could not go without: a commitment to sustainability and quality ingredients.

The three sought advice from restaurant owners, architects and Georgetown faculty.

“It was not a school project, but we did use our senior year and all of the things we were learning and applied it into building Sweetgreen,” said Neman.

In their business classes, they learned the importance of a value-driven business and began to understand how the culture of a community can influence a brand. They are proud to see that Georgetown still emphasizes the importance of service and are impressed by how much the business school has grown over the past nine years, specifically in its entre-

preneurship program.

Reflecting their values, the founders still make sure to incorporate community service into their company. Launched in 2010, “Sweetgreen in Schools” is a program that seeks to educate children about nutrition and healthy living through various hands-on activities and workshops. The program has evolved from a weekly activity in local schools into a series of workshops across Virginia, New York, the District of Columbia and Maryland. To date, the program has seen the participation of more than 20,000 children and is continuing to expand to other cities.

“The more you know about food, the more you want to eat right,” Jammet said.

When Sweetgreen’s second location began to fail, its founders knew they needed a way to connect to the surrounding community. The three decided to incorporate music, another passion of theirs, and thus the idea for Sweetlife -— an annual music and food festival — was born.

“It’s a party with a purpose,” Neman said. “We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if you could go see a band like The Strokes or Kendrick Lamar while eating a bowl of salad or some quinoa?’”

People have certainly responded well to the idea. The event has grown from a block party of no more than 1,000 people to a 15,000-person event located at the iconic Merriweather Post Pavilion and has featured performances

by Avicii, Calvin Harris, The Weeknd and The 1975.

Sweetl i f e continues to evolve, a n d similar e ve n t s are al-

ready being hosted around other Sweetgreen locations across the country. But for the three Hoyas, the glamour of the event is not the most important element; rather, the main goal is to inspire all whom attend to live their healthiest life.

“We bonded over: one, a love of food; two, a wanting to create something; and three, a wanting to solve a problem in our own lives.”

JONATHAN NEMAN (MSB ’07) Co-Founder, Sweetgreen

According to the founders, Sweetgreen is about more than just salad. The company is based on five core values: “Win, win, win,” “Think sustainably,” “Keep it real,” “Add the sweet touch” and “Make an impact.” All of these values influence the business decisions they make, who they hire and how they celebrate their successes. The founders pride themselves on develop-

ing solutions that benefit the customer and the community while making an impact.

“We’ve been using these values as the foundation for our company since the very beginning. Everyone in the company knows about them, and they really do drive our company,” Jammet said. Neman chimed in, “The way we keep [the values] alive throughout the organization is not by having people memorize them, but by living them and storytelling.”

They believe that their product, a delicious and fulfilling salad, is an embodiment of their brand and their values.

While it is a food company, Sweetgreen believes in genuine human connection and strives to reach its customers on an emotional level.

Nine years later, Ru, Neman and Jammet do all they can to stay involved in the Georgetown community. Both Neman and Ru have younger siblings who attend the school. They still feel very connected to the community and try to come back and speak about their journey several times throughout the year.

“Georgetown is still near and dear to our hearts,” Neman said.

In the near future, the three will be returning to Georgetown for an undisclosed initiative.

“We’ve got some fun stuff planned in Georgetown that you will hear about very soon,” Jammet said.

Since the group first started at Georgetown 13 years ago, the amount of healthy dining options on campus has improved significantly. Ru, Neman and Jammet hope that Georgetown continues to build upon that progress by investing in alternative dining options and that, as students and faculty begin to gain knowledge and understand the importance of eating healthy and living a sustainable lifestyle, the options on campus will develop.

As business-owners, the trio feel a responsibility to provide education and access to healthy culinary options. If the trajectory of the past decade is any indication, Ru, Neman and Jammet have a lifetime of success and opportunity ahead.

SWEETGREEN

Three fully grown Hoyas, Sweetgreen founders and co-CEOs Nathaniel Ru (MSB ’07), left, Jonathan Neman (MSB ’07) and Nicolas Jammet (MSB ’07) integrate the Jesuit value of caring for the whole person into the business world. The business owners keep proving successful in offering people healthy culinary options.

friDAY, october 7, 2016

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An International LIFE SANFORD UNGAR

Under Sanford Ungar’s leadership, Goucher College enjoyed considerable growth in enrollment, expanded academic facilites through an unprecedented fundraising campaign and became the first liberal arts college in America to require that every undergraduate study abroad for a semester.

Alexandra Brunjes Special to The Hoya

Although his Old North office looks toward Dahlgren Quad, professor Sanford Ungar, whose career has been dedicated to the exploration and education of international affairs, keeps his eyes set on global issues. Surrounded by books, his work is interrupted only by the chiming of the chapel bells.

“I don’t need to wear a watch here, because every 15 minutes when I’m in the office the bells tell me what time it is,” Ungar said.

“The great problem is that young people are not really being trained and convinced that one of the purposes of their education is to be a good citizen and to be involved in civic participation.”

Sanford ungar Distinguished Scholar-In-Residence

At Georgetown, his position as a distinguished scholar-in-residence is flexible and in a state of flux. During the fall term, Ungar spends most of his time working on special projects for the Office of the President, the Provost and the Vice President for Global Engagement.

Last year, his work centered on the experiences of international students at Georgetown. After hosting focus groups and conducting interviews, his research culminated in a report that will facilitate improvements to the program.

Although his project for this year has not yet been determined by his superiors, he expects that it will be focused on how the university confronts issues of free speech in repressive locales where it sends students and faculty for study abroad and research opportunities.

“Almost any project I’m going to work on here will be involved in the international arena,” Ungar said.

This does not come as a surprise, as Ungar’s own career began abroad.

After earning his Bachelor of Arts in Government at Harvard College and his Master of Arts in International History at the London School of Economics, Ungar had originally planned on becoming a lawyer. However, he was attracted by other exciting, international opportunities.

Ungar spent his first three years after graduate school abroad. Eventually, a job opportunity at The Washington Post led Professor Ungar to D.C., where he went on to write for The Atlantic and The Economist, before receiving an editorial position at Foreign Policy Magazine.

“It was a much quieter publication back then,” Ungar recalled.

He then worked as a National Public Radio host before moving into education and becoming the Dean of the School of Communications at American University.

Ungar’s diverse experience and employment history are a testament to his willingness to explore new areas.

“I basically reject the idea that we have to choose one thing to do early on and then we have to do that for the rest of our lives,” Ungar said.

“It’s hard to trace a line between what I’ve done, because sometimes I just took advantage of opportunities that came my way.”

E xe mp l i f y i n g this tendency, he describes how, during the Clinton administration, he accepted the position to be the director of The Voice of America, a governmentfunded multimedia outlet that Ungar describes as “the most important source of

information for people in some countries around the world.”

This work preceded the longest position that he has held to date: President of Goucher College in Baltimore, MD. Although Ungar’s career has taken him through a variety of fields, there is a common passion that has oriented his entire life.

“One thing that pulls together things I’ve done is the international component to them. I’ve always gravitated toward international opportunities,” Ungar said.

He even managed to incorporate international affairs into his position at Goucher. During his time as President, he implemented a program requiring all undergraduates to go abroad.

Although this helped distinguish Goucher, Ungar’s primary motivation was his belief in the necessity of international experience.

“Every line of work, every profession, has an international aspect to it now,” Ungar said.

“And not just in this country — everywhere. So that’s an emphasis that I think needs to be added to everyone’s education.”

After stepping down as president in 2014, Ungar came to Georgetown to pursue his interest in teaching. Currently, he teaches a course on free speech at Harvard in the fall and at Georgetown in the spring.

“There seemed to be a niche for an advanced elective in the journalism program,” Ungar said.

The course is a seminar of 12 to 15 students, typically juniors and seniors. Ungar estimates his class to be approximately

one-third to one-half journalism minors, one-third SFS students, and one-third international students.

“I reject the idea that we have to choose one thing to do early on and then we have to do that for the rest of our lives ... I just took advantage of opportunities that came my way.”

Sanford Ungar distinguished Scholar-In-Residence

The class, which requires weekly essays, discusses free speech subjects spanning a wide gamut. Topics include the history and legacy of the Pentagon Papers, the breakdown of Supreme Court case rulings and the evolution of their doctrines, campus speech codes, protests and even pornography.

“It’s a constant examination of the potential boundaries of free speech,” Ungar said. “Are there limits and, if so, where are they?”

In light of the presidential election, Ungar expressed not only a fear for the state of American democracy but an overall concern regarding what is being revealed about the American people as a result of the election.

“I think the great problem is that young people are not really being trained and convinced that one of the purposes of their education is to be a good citizen and to be involved in civic participation. And when you fail to do that, all sorts of abuses are possible,” Ungar said. “It’s pretty sad when people are vulnerable to that sort of attack.”

He looked out the window and smiled, listening for a moment to the bells.

“I think people should just understand the privilege and the great opportunities that they have here and take full advantage of that, because this is a pretty wonderful place. It seems like a ‘goody-goody’ thing to say, but I believe it. I really do believe it.”

GABRIELE MAS/THE HOYA

Ungar has travelled widely in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. He is fluent in multiple languages, including French and Spanish. In addition to his work with Georgetown, he serves on the boards of the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore. Ungar is also a member of the U.S. Public Interest Declassification Board.

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