The Omicron Delta Kappa
Spring 2013
LEADER
“To Recognize Leaders Among Leaders”
DR. CORNEL WEST: “WORDS CREATE WORLDS”
STUDENTS DANCED AWAY THEIR “MARYLAND NIGHTS” AT 2013 CALVERT COTILLION
By Kiera Zitelman, Sigma Circle PR Chair n Thursday, February 14, 2013, ODK joined a group of campus organizations in bringing Dr. Cornel West to speak in the Stamp Student Union for the Drury G. Bagwell ODK Leadership Lecture. The author and former Harvard and Princeton professor spoke to a sold-out crowd about creating positive change in a packed Grand Ballroom. Tickets for the lecture sold out in just three days, so the Hoff Theater broadcast Dr. West’s speech live for those unable to attend in person. Dr. West began by thanking those who worked to bring him to College Park, fondly referring to everyone as “brother” or “sister.” He then spoke for about forty minutes before taking questions from the audience. Dr. West called on his listeners to join one another in believing in the capacity for human greatness, admitting that activism is difficult but necessary. The first step, he claimed, was looking into oneself: “I am a Christian, I am a Muslim, I am a Jew. There is an antiSemitic inside of me. There is a white supremacist inside of me.” Dr. West’s most famous book, “Race Matters,” has sold about 400,000 copies. While race was a theme in his speech, Dr. West painted with broad strokes. He mentioned his beliefs and called his audience to action and reflection on such topics as workers’ rights on campus, the prison-industrial complex, American drone
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By Amanda Fitzgerald, Sigma Circle Vice President s a senior, many things are afforded to you that you probably were unaware of until you actually became a senior. One of the best kept secrets and most magnificent, memorable nights of your senior year will most certainly be Calvert Cotillion. On February 23, over 500 students arrived at the Riggs Alumni Center dressed to the nines, ready to celebrate their senior year and leave it all on the dance floor. For those who haven't ever been in Riggs (like myself) you would have been absolutely stunned by the ballroom. Hues of blue covered the walls and a montage of Maryland's most memorable spots scrolled the screens throughout the night. The food was unbelievable; the chocolate fountain was the proverbial icing on the cake. At Maryland, there are so many groups of people and it is a rarity to be able to get almost all of them together in one room to enjoy a night of just being us. Hopefully you got the opportunity to dance, take a few photos in the photo booth, get caught by the paparazzi on your way in, eat some delicious food and try the drink special "The Senior Slammer." As seniors, it's easy to get caught up in the day to day of studying, going to class, working, applying to grad schools or looking for a full time job for after graduation. Calvert Cotillion was the perfect opportunity to spend time with all of your friends and forget about the responsibilities outside the Riggs Alumni Center for at least a night. If you have the opportunity to go as a senior, don't miss out!
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE LEADER... • • • • •
DR. CORNEL WEST 2013 CALVERT COTILLION ODK INDUCTEES ODK SENIORS: LIFE AFTER GRADUATION ELLIE FIELDS AND JANE MCCARL INDUCTED INTO ODK SIGMA CIRCLE
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NEW MEMBERS OF THE STEWARD OF THE FOUNTAIN SOCIETY ODK HISTORY FROM DRU BAGWELL ODK WINTER ADVENTURES ALUMNI UPDATES
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SIGMA CIRCLE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
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The Omicron Delta Kappa
LEADER
Message from the President By Katy Rennenkampf Hello to both our current ODK members and university alumni! y name is Katy Rennenkampf and I am honored to be serving in my second semester as President of the Sigma Circle for the 2012-2013 academic year. It has been an exciting season for ODKers! Many of our members spent their winter breaks abroad, whether traveling through
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The Omicron Delta Kappa
LEADER OMICRON DELTA KAPPA SIGMA CIRCLE 2012-2013 EXECUTIVE OFFICERS KATY RENNENKAMPF
STARR CHEN
President
Documenting Historian
AMANDA FITZGERALD
KIERA ZITELMAN
Vice President
Public Relations Coordinator
DAN GRANOT
NAINA SONI
Communications Coordinator
Membership Coordinator
ANDREW CAHOON
TIFFANY LIN
Philanthropy & Community Service Coordinator
RUTH WATKINS Events Coordinator
Education Abroad, Alternative Breaks, Birthright, or just for pleasure! Our amazing seniors will be continuing these adventures after graduation—you can read some of our members’ stories in this newsletter! Through collaborations with student groups across campus, we are welcoming an incredible range of lecturers this semester; Cornel West, Gloria Steinem, and the Dalai Lama are each making appearances on campus, sharing their views and experiences with current Terps. ODK also teamed up with the Senior Council, Carapace, and the Alumni Center to host Calvert Cotillion this February! It was a beautiful evening of dancing, food, and music, and a fun way to celebrate our graduating seniors. This year, through our members’ amazing outreach efforts, we saw record numbers of applicants to ODK—over 260 applications each semester! We are excited to welcome 55 undergraduates and 16 faculty, staff, alumni, graduate students, and honorary members to the Sigma Circle this year! This has been a competitive year for ODK and we
are incredibly impressed by the diverse and dynamic leaders that have been invited to membership. We will also be honoring a phenomenal group of emerging leaders through our Top Ten Freshmen and Sophomore Leader of the Year awards, to be announced at the University Awards Banquet this spring. We are also very excited to announce our 2012-2013 Col. J. Logan Schutz ODK Leader of the Year, Anna Roth! Anna is a scholar athlete and will represent the Sigma Circle in the national competition for ODK Leader of the Year! ODK National is excited to be rolling out plans for the centennial of Omicron Delta Kappa, which will be celebrated during 2014. Be on the lookout for news, updates, and fun events from the National Office! I wish you the best, wherever you may be this semester, and I hope that you will return for Maryland Day on Saturday, April 27th. We look forward to joining you and your families for some “fun at the fountain!” As always, stay in touch, and thank you for your support.
Webmaster
BILL FOURNEY Faculty Advisor
BROOKE SUPPLE Faculty Secretary
SIGMA CIRCLE OF OMICRON DELTA KAPPA University of Maryland 2108 Mitchell Building College Park, MD 20742 www.odk.umd.edu
Dr. West, continued from page 1 strikes, inequality, disparities in education, Wall Street corruption, and celebrity culture. Other sponsors of “An Evening with Cornel West” included the School of Public Policy; University Honors; the Office of Diversity, Education, and Compliance; Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy; the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education; the College of Arts & Humanities; and,
Printed on recycled paper with soy ink.
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the Office of Community Engagement. The event was part of the Stamp’s Voices of Social Change series, which has also included lectures by Barbara Ehrenreich and Tim Wise since its launch in November 2010. Our next Voices of Social Change lecture, co-sponsored by ODK, will feature feminist and famous author Gloria Steinem on April 23rd.
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Message from the Faculty Secretary By Brooke Lecky Supple, Ph.D. Greetings from College Park! t was a wonderful, mild winter and early spring in College Park. We have had virtually no snow, one snow-less snow day, and lots of warm days! Looking around campus you would have thought it was May already. Our fantastic ODK Officers have kept us busy and moving forward to recognize and celebrate student leadership on campus. Led by President Katy Rennenkampf, we have worked hard to streamline the selection process and enhance the sense of community among current ODK members. This spring we had a fully online process, ballots and voting were both conducted online. Our officers tweaked the points system and helped identify what leadership looks like in some of our less predominant pillars – all in efforts to diversify our ODK membership and recognize students for all types of leadership. Speaking of selections, we had another banner applicant pool this spring. We had 265 undergraduate and graduate applicants. From that pool, the General Body selected 27 undergrads, in addition to seven faculty and staff, three honorary members and two alumni members for induction into Sigma
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Circle. It was a marathon event, but we moved from the Armory to the Stamp which made it a more comfortable five hour meeting! Tapping has occurred and we are planning for Induction on Sunday, April 14 at 4:00 pm in the Chapel. In other ODK news, Zimri Diaz and I took a wonderful group of ODKers to the University of Richmond for an ODK Regional Drive-In Conference on February 23rd. Katy Rennenkampf, Dan Granot, Amanda Fitzgerald, Starr Chen, Jen King, and Alex Bistany had a great time sharing ideas with other regional ODK Circles and National Office staff. Once we returned to College Park, we celebrated another spirited Calvert Cotillion, co-sponsored by ODK, Senior Council and the Alumni Association. (It was a busy day for us!) We sold a record number of over 500 tickets to this formal event at the Riggs Center. Seniors had a great time dancing and mingling with friends, posing for the photo booth, and snacking on delicious hors d’oeuvres. Special thanks to ODK Officer Ruth Watkins for coordinating the event with the Senior Council and the Alumni Association. The ODK Leadership Lecture Series was thrilled to co-sponsor the Drury G. Bagwell Leadership Lecture with renowned speaker on social justice and racial inequality, Dr. Cornel West on February 14th. A packed ballroom was enthralled by his dynamic, engaging speech. We look forward to co-sponsoring
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feminist Gloria Steinem at the end of April. As in years past, we have just selected our ODK Top Ten Freshmen and Sophomore Leader of the Year. These individuals will be announced at the University Awards Banquet on Sunday, May 5th. We had a record number of applications this spring and were able to select truly the “leaders among leaders” for these awards. Thanks to ODK Vice President Amanda Fitzgerald for running a smooth, efficient selection process. As the spring semester moves along, I hope you will mark your calendars to join us on Saturday, April 27th from 10:00 am-4:00 pm for Maryland Day 2013. Thanks to Sigma Circle alum Susan Goldberg and her husband, Bob, we will have red and black floating turtles in the fountain instead of green ones. Come out and see us for Fun at the Fountain! As always, please keep us informed of any changes to your contact information and provide us with updates about your lives. Visit www.odk.umd.edu to update us electronically. If you are willing and able, please support our activities and events by making a gift to the Sigma Circle. Please see the enclosed envelope for more information. Enjoy the remainder of the spring and we hope to see you at Maryland Day!
The Omicron Delta Kappa
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CONGRATULATIONS FALL 2012 INDUCTEES! This past fall, the Sigma Circle inducted 32 new members into its ranks. The Fall 2012 class was a talented group with outstanding achievements in all five areas of campus life. Congratulations are in order for these new accomplished Omicron Delta Kappa members:
Talia Alter Sasha Azar Vincent Bellitti Joanne Bistany Neva Bowers Hayley Brown Joan Burton Earl Cabellon Jacqueline Crowell Angelica Eng Ellie Fields
Judith Gerstenblith Allison Gibeily Mary Harms Alice He Madison Higgins Navid Kashani Jennifer King Julia Klein Danna Koren Jamie Lee Sydney Liang
Jane McCarl Kieran McGuigan Todd O'Brien Adam Offitzer Christopher Riley Esther Robinson Jocelyn Rubin Jaishri Shankar Yoon Shin Joshua Thompson Samantha Zwerling
INTRODUCING THE SPRING 2013 ODK CLASS: On February 19, 2013, the current members of the Sigma Circle met to select the Spring 2013 induction class. From among the many highly qualified applicants, 40 new members were selected. Congratulations Sigma Circle Spring 2013 Inductees!
Estefan Beltran Nancy Canales Lucile Cancre Sydney Carter David Crocker William Dorland Karen Dunford Paul Evasick Charlotte Evasick Damien Franze Karina French Cary Gillett Stephanie Graf
Christopher Grant Dillon Hagius Kenneth Hart Corey Herdegen Kristen Hunt Megan Katz Omer Kaufman Stacy Kosko Ryan Lee-Young Jessica Lu Byron Macfarlane Vaughn Midder Noah Niederhoffer
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Pourandokht Nourbakhsh Elizabeth Pandya Elissa Redmiles Katherine Richard Lindsey Rodkey Katherine Russell Nicholas Sakurai Zachary Seabolt Steven Strauss Monique Thornton Connor Voss Aaron Wiggins
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ODK SENIORS: LIFE AFTER GRADUATION Name: Naina Soni Major: Biology (Cell Biology & Genetics) and Government & Politics After Graduating: Naina will be attending law school at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville! This summer, she will be relaxing with family, looking for an apartment and getting a kitten to be her companion in Charlottesville.
Name: Katy Rennenkampf Majors: Mathematics, Economics, and English After Graduating: Katy will be traveling to Indonesia in August! She has accepted a Fulbright award for the 2013-2014 academic year, and she will spend nine months teaching secondary English in Indonesia as an English Teaching Assistant through the U.S. Department of State.
Name: Ryan Heisinger Majors: History and English Language & Literature After Graduating: Ryan will be teaching secondary English in Newark, New Jersey through Teach for America.
Name: Julie Brice Majors: Kinesiology and Psychology After Graduating: Julie is currently in the process of applying for multiple teaching positions to teach English abroad as well as to other international aid organizations. She hopes that by this time next year, she will have already spent a semester living and working in another country!
Name: Joshua Thompson Major: Bioengineering After Graduating: Josh is planning on attending medical school at the University of Virginia. He hopes to get an apartment this summer, hopefully pet friendly, and begin settling into Charlottesville, VA.
Name: Judy Gerstenblith Major: Psychology (double minors in Neuroscience and Jewish Studies) After Graduating: Judy will be spending the year in Israel!
Name: Kiera Zitelman Major: Environmental Science & Policy After Graduating: This summer, Kiera will be biking cross-country with the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults! She is raising money for Ulman’s support programs and is biking from Baltimore to Portland with a team of other college students and recent graduates.
Name: Vincent Bellitti Major: Mechanical Engineering After Graduating: Vince will be working as a Commercial Strategy and Operations Business Analyst at Deloitte!
Name: Alice He Majors: Biology and Economics After Graduating: Alice will be attending Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.
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Name: Nancy Canales Major: English After Graduating: Nancy will be teaching in Miami-Dade through Teach for America!
Name: Dan Granot Majors: Global Development and Government & Politics After Graduating: Dan will be attending Graduate School for a MA in either Foreign Service or Conflict Resolution.
Name: Tiffany Lin Major: Bioengineering After Graduating: Tiffany will be attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine!
Name: Anna Roth Major: Bioengineering After Graduating: Anna will be in New Century, Kansas working for Unilever in a margarine factory as a Production Supervisor as part of their Supply Chain Management Program. She will complete three twelve-month rotations, each in a different location with a different job role. The jobs and locations after Kansas are TBD.
Name: Rachel White Major: Bioengineering After Graduating: Rachel will be attending the University of Maryland School of Medicine!
The Omicron Delta Kappa
ELLIE FIELDS AND JANE MCCARL INDUCTED IN TO ODK SIGMA CIRCLE DK was proud to induct Ellie Fields and Jane McCarl last semester in to our Sigma Circle! Ellie Fields and Jane McCarl were both committed and outstanding student leaders prior to graduating from the University of Maryland. They were both among the first students recognized with the Byrd Citizenship Prize, an award presented as a memorial to the late President Emeritus H.C. Byrd and Sally Sterling Byrd to the male and female member of the senior class who during their collegiate careers have most nearly typified the model citizen and have contributed significantly to the general advancement of the interests of the University.
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Both Ellie and Jane have supported Maryland Theater, academic, athletic, student affairs and alumni programs to advance the University as a whole. Whether through philanthropic or volunteer involvement, they are committed alumnae and advocates for the University of Maryland. From 1981 – 82, Ellie was president of the Alumni Association – International, an organization that represented not only College Park, but the other campuses that were in the original University of Maryland system. The support of Jane, and her late husband, Clayton, provided for the Red “M” emblazoned on the floor in the Maryland Club in the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center.
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LEADER SPECIAL WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS OF THE STEWARD OF THE FOUNTAIN SOCIETY DK Sigma Circle would like to recognize the generosity of four new Stewards of the Fountain who joined this elite group of alumni in honor of the 85th anniversary of the Sigma Circle Chapter. We are pleased to welcome the following new members:
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James Bond ’01 Caroline Carrick Pisano ’88 Dr. Lee Thornton The Honorable Joseph Tydings ’51, ’53
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ODK HISTORY FROM DRU BAGWELL By Dan Granot, Sigma Circle Communications Chair o you know ODK? Do you consider yourself an ODK aficionado? I sat down with Dru Bagwell, ODK Faculty Secretary from 1975 to 2001, to talk about some interesting ODK facts, the history of the Sigma Circle, and memorable events he has seen since he first became involved with the organization. Dru came to the University of Maryland in 1974, serving as the Fraternity and Sorority Adviser. Previously, he had been inducted into ODK at the University of Tennessee. At that time, there was no activities office at the University of Maryland, so in 1975 Dru was asked to start one. Since he was a part of ODK, he
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decided to attend a meeting, where there were four undergraduates and three members of faculty. They were going through applications, around twenty in total, passing them around a circle and discussing each person. Soon afterwards, Fred Vogelgesang ’77 was elected president and Dru became the Faculty Secretary. The two men, determined to turn the ODK Sigma Circle into a premier honor society, sat down and mapped out a ten year plan for Sigma Circle. Goals of this 10 year plan included raising membership, increasing alumni involvement, and finding new ways to give back to campus. An interesting fact about ODK: in 1972, Title IX was passed, desegre-
gating ODK. Soon afterwards Beth Havlik became the first woman inducted into Sigma Circle. Prior to that time, ODK had been for men only and Mortar Board had been for women. Another lesser known fact, it is a policy of Sigma Circle to only induct people who can physically be inducted into the society. This means every single member of the Sigma Circle, from President FDR down to the latest students have all been inducted. Some have been through different ceremonies, but each and every last one has been formally inducted into Sigma Circle. Cool, huh?
ODK WINTER ADVENTURES By Starr Chen, Sigma Circle Historian fter a weary week of winter exams, many members of ODK took advantage of the winter break and winter term to do great things and visit great places. While not everyone could visit the mysterious and exotic land of Pennsylvania like this ODKer did, here are some of the fantastic adventures that were had this past winter: Alex Bistany visited Lexington, Kentucky on a Habitat for Humanity trip, where she made amazing new friends while having her very first construction work experience. She even landed on the Lexington news with her group! Overall, it was a great experience and Alex plans to apply again next year. Julie Brice studied abroad this past fall at the University of Botswana, and she kept delightfully busy while she was there. Not only did she attend classes, Julie was also very involved in the local community:
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she volunteered at a soup kitchen, taught fitness classes, cleaned a game reserve, lived with a homestay, and played on the university’s volleyball team. She also managed to squeeze in some adventures like skydiving, bungee jumping, hanging off the edge of Victoria Falls, quadbiking, ziplining, and diving with great white sharks. Amanda Fitzgerald studied abroad during winter term in Florianopolis, Brazil. While taking “Brazil through Work, Culture and Race”, Amanda learned that small businesses account for a whopping 99% of the formal economy in the state of Santa Catarina, where Florianopolis is located. The island also produces 95% of all oysters consumed by Brazil. It seems like she had a fabulous time enjoying the delicious food - with seafood, feijoada (black beans with meat), and rice making up most of her meals - and taking in the
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beautiful scenery and people. Katy Rennenkampf spent her winter in Kolkata, India, where she was able to experience daily life and culture with a high school friend whose Bengali family temporarily took her in. She was able to cook traditional meals, discover the true meaning of “traffic jams”, and explore faith and family during her time in India. Naina Soni spent a portion of her winter with her family in Cancún, Mexico. On the day right after the supposed Mayan apocalypse, she paid tribute by visiting the largest Mayan Ruins in Mexico - Chichén Itzá, and enjoyed surviving with snorkeling and relaxing with her parents and two sisters. Naina also spent part of her break in Martha’s Vineyard, painting and remodeling a home her family recently purchased.
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ODK Alumni Updates Thanks to all of you who keep us informed of your activities. If we haven't heard from you recently, drop us a note. You may use the form on the back of the newsletter or send us your updates on the web at www.odk.umd.edu. Please forgive us if the information below is a little dated. It is very difficult to have up-to-date news when we only publish our newsletter twice a year. But here is what we have and we hope you enjoy reading about your friends! Clyde Taber’s ’84, Visual Story Network now includes 180 organizations and 1250 “media innovators” in 60 countries. The Visual Story Network is a global community of visual storytellers leading a movement so everyone can encounter Jesus by connecting visual storytellers with one another and by training new storytellers.
fairs, including 15 years spent in the high-tech industry, serves as Vice President of Marketing Communications. She is the recipient of the prestigious Award of Excellence from the Public Relations Society of America and a Gold Mercury Award.
Chris, Andrew and Sherita Hill Golden. Michele Barone Hunn and her family.
Michele Barone Hunn ’85, piggybacked on her daughter, Rachel’s, bat mitzvah gift of a trip to London and Paris last summer. They did avoid any major damage from Hurricane Sandy. [You are indeed the lucky one, Michele!]
Dr. Sherita Hill Golden ’90, recently was invited to speak at an international conference on inpatient diabetes management in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Sherita continues to combine clinical research, teaching, and patient care as a member of the Endocrine Faculty at Johns Hopkins.
Laurie Head Atkinson ’90, and her husband, Jay, are coping with a quickly growing computer server hosting business, AIS Network. As a result of their success they are moving from Alexandria to Richmond, Virginia. Laurie, who has more than two decades of experience in strategic marketing, corporate communications, public relations, and public af-
Laura LaPat-Polasko ’90 became the Chief Science Officer with Ciris Energy Inc, which is an energy start up company in Denver, Colorado in 2011. This is a very exciting company because they are converting coal deep underground into natural gas using microbial processes. If you are in the Denver area, please stop by and say “hi” to Laura!
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Rebecca Lee Diamond ’91 is busy raising her two year old twins Brett Nuevo and Brielle Sierra after 13 years with Fox News Channel in NYC. She bought her dream home in North Jersey and is focusing on new business opportunities in the new neighborhood. Brian Perlberg ’94 is Senior Counsel for Construction Law and Contracts at the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), the leading association in the construction industry. He also serves as Executive Director of ConsensusDocs, a coalition of 38 leading construction associations focused on best practice contracts. AGC is in the Washington, D.C. metro area, and Brian lives in Tysons Corner, Virginia with his wife Rebecca, daughter Lila (one and a half), and dog Sunny. Brian recently turned 40 and is enjoying being a dad and really all facets of life. Priyanka Gokhale ’12 is enjoying med school and loving Case Western and Cleveland (though she is certainly not accustomed to the amount of snow that was on the ground in January...on the bright side, it's given her a reason to invest in tons of winter accessories!)
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Ron, ’85 and Caryn Williams, ’84, Arleen and Evan.
Cathy Barham Campbell, ’84, Dan and Danny Campbell.
Dawn Nichols, ’92, husband Joe, and daughters, Emma and Eva.
Former Sigma Circle President, Burman Berger, ’85 and family.
Terry Flannery, ’83 and her husband Brian.
Marsha Guenzler-Stevens and her husband, Randy.
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Marc Greenberg, ’93 and family.
Former Sigma Circle President Ken Brown, ’90 and family.
John Fraser, ’79 and family.
Joe Yost, ’78 and family.
Ken Hall, ’94 and family.
Fomer Sigma Circle President, Jason Ward, ’01
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Paul Carlson, ’93 and family.
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Marc Solomon, ’94 and family.
ODKER TAKES FULBRIGHT TO LATVIA By Sigma Circle Alum David Olson was in the middle of rehearsals US Embassy in Riga. One advantage for my fourth professional pupof having a Fulbright in a small repet show when I got a call from public is that the Ambassador recogthe Institute of International nizes you when you see him at Education asking if I wanted to go holiday celebrations and other emto Latvia as a Fulbright English bassy events. Teaching Assistant. Phone calls like these don’t come very often. You think your life is going in one direction and then in an instant you have the opportunity to do something unique. To go where no Terp has gone before. Valmiera, Latvia. As a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, I live in a town of 27,000, two hours away from the capital city, Riga. I share my time between a high school and university where I teach English approximately 25 hours per Fulbright recipient, David Olson ’11, in Latvia week. The rest of my time, I spend doing research and imSo how different is university mersing myself in Latvian culture. life in this distant republic? Not My research has primarily been fovery different at all. You are more cused on Latvian national identity likely to hear Harlem Shake in the and how artists shape the historical dorms than Saule Perkons Daugava. narrative of this nation-state. I have My students love The Simpsons and had tremendous support from the Family Guy, and if you turn on na-
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tional television, you are likely to catch an episode of Gossip Girl. Since 1991, Latvians have embraced American culture as a symbol of freedom after decades of authoritarian rule. Still, most people I meet have never met an American. There are shadows of communist times everywhere, but walk past any trashcan and you’ll find Coca-Cola bottles and Snickers wrappers. This experience has been life-changing, and I would like to take this opportunity to strongly encourage ODK members to apply for a Fulbright. There are so many opportunities available to you whether you’re a recent graduate or a tenured professor. UMD’s National Scholarships Office can help any alumni or current student through the application process. A Latvian proverb says, “Katrs cilveks ezes savu likteni,” “every man forges his own destiny”. A Fulbright could be the key to your future.
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