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washington college admissions newsletter | volume iv. number iv, winter 2020 | USPS 667260 washcoll.edu/admissions | 410-778-7700 | @wcadmissions
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IN THIS ISSUE A WRITER OF PROMISE BY ABBEY WARK '18 PAGE 1
FINDING HER NICHE BY OLIVIA MONTES '22 PAGE 2
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW MAKES HISTORY AT FBBO BY JAMIE FREES MILLER PAGE 2
KENT COUNTY’S CULTURAL LANDSCAPE IS “BEST IN MARYLAND” BY MARCIA LANDSKROENER M'02 PAGE 2
Justin Nash ’21 was a runner-up for a national prize for undergraduate nonfiction writing after submitting a piece of work his freshman year at Washington College. Justin submitted an essay he wrote for his Introduction to Creative Writing class with James Hall, associate professor of English and director of the Rose O’Neill Literary House. Justin heard back his sophomore year, in December 2019, that “Moments Suggesting this Body Does Not Always Belong to Me” was a runner-up for the 2018 Norton Writer’s Prize. His work—a series of 29 vignettes—was published on Norton’s website later that spring. “I was trying to compile a list of moments when I felt restricted or didn’t have full control of what I was doing or had to conduct myself in a way that I wasn’t comfortable with,” he explains. “Through the order of them, I wanted to create a narrative of bodily autonomy.” The judges were impressed. “Using an innovative form, imagery, and dialogue, the writer creates an evocative piece that helps readers reflect on bodies, identity, and control,” his acceptance letter states. Flash forward to his senior year, and Justin’s resumé has only grown more elite. From interning with the prestigious Copper Canyon Press—part of his Cater Society for Junior Fellows research project exploring how public funding allows non-profit publishing to differ from corporate—to being hired as a consultant at the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC) in Provincetown, MA, after a summer internship, he is excelling in all areas of editing and publishing.
BY ABBEY WARK '18 PAGE 3
As an intern for FAWC, Justin worked closely with 24PearlStreet, FAWC’s online workshop program, supporting famous writers and visual artists who taught online classes. He also gained experience with the program’s outreach and donor management. Now, as a consultant for FAWC, he is helping develop a new online learning platform, a project that was in the works before the COVID-19 outbreak and has since moved to the forefront of the non-profit’s priorities. On 24PearlStreet’s website, you will find that classes are on hiatus this fall as the team focuses on creating a platform that allows students “to focus on their writing—not the technology they’re using.” Justin is a key player in this mission, using his prior experience with web design and educational workshops like Washington College’s Cherry Tree Young Writers’ Conference to bridge the gap between webmaster and program manager. On campus, Justin has taken leadership positions in just about every campus publication. He is currently editorin-chief for “Collegian,” WC’s literary journal, where he is navigating publishing virtually and creating a way to make the upcoming tenth anniversary of “Collegian’s” move from a newsprint to a bound book extra special. “Putting together the first issue of “Collegian” is what has made me the happiest [so far].” he says regarding his role as editor-in-chief. “The staff issue is a trial run to make sure the team knows what to do and learns to depend on each other, but it always comes together so well. For issue 32.1, I was afraid something was going to fall apart—out of my own anxiety—but the day it was published, I read it all the way from the editor’s note to the end, and it was so exciting. That Friday morning, seeing it go live made me so happy.”
EXPLORING AMERICA (REMOTELY) BY DAVID GANSELL PAGE 3
CONNECTING COMMUNITIES BY DAVID GANSELL PAGE 3
ART EXHIBITION REFRAMES BLACK HISTORY BY MARCIA LANDSKROENER M'02 PAGE 4
A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR BY ABBEY WARK '18 PAGE 4
Issue 32.1 is the first student issue of the year and can be found online at collegian.washcoll.edu. Justin’s editor’s note describes that the issue “contains works of visual art, poetry, and prose that plumb the depths of hope, loneliness, fear, identity, and companionship.” To encompass all that Justin has learned over the past four years, his Senior Capstone Experience, “And Can You Imagine? Being So Close to Nothing: The Young Guard of Queer Poetics,” confronts the incredible proliferation of poets writing around sexuality in recent years who are completely untethered from landmark traumas like the AIDS crisis. Where older queer poets have tended to focus on grief, longing, and guilt, he argues that this new crop can’t be pinned down and instead are writing in and around as many spaces as they have the newfound potential to inhabit. One of few commonalities among the poets is a marked use of the second person, which Justin will be close reading as an indicator and effect of this quantum, uncertain potential.
office of admissions
by Abbey Wark '18
Justin Nash studying in the printing press at the Rose O'Neill Literary House.
washington college 300 washington avenue chestertown, maryland 21620
A WRITER OF PROMISE
DIGGING INTO OPPORTUNITY
With a wide range of student organizations to get involved in and opportunities to embrace, including Writers’ Union, “The Elm,” meeting a variety of authors spanning different literary genres, and a hands-on, instructive physical art department, MacKenzie feels both comfortable and at home. Her favorite places on campus—the Rose O’Neill Literary House and the Publication House—also provide outlets for her creativity and her involvement with several publications, including “The Elm,” “Washington College Review,” and “Collegian.”
FINDING HER NICHE by Olivia Montes '22 For MacKenzie Brady ’21, being at Washington College has meant allowing herself to take charge—not only of every opportunity that that has come her way, but of figuring out who she wants to be. Over the past four years, she has embraced a wide range of skills and expertise for her future, all while discovering what she’s interested in and what she wants to do. While attending high school near her hometown of Baltimore, MacKenzie received a plethora of emails from the WC Admissions Office and paid an exclusive visit to the College. She was drawn to WC’s far-reaching programs that would allow her to study art, English, and creative writing. “I knew I wanted to double major in English and art and minor in creative writing—it was just a matter of finding that combination of programs for me,” she says.
“The Lit House is great in that it's got a really homey feel. The space fosters such creativity and collaboration, through readings given by visiting writers, or by hanging out in the conference room getting work done, or by sitting in one of the Lit House staff's offices, or wherever else. The Lit House is a great place to be productive and work with other people,” MacKenzie shared. “I always associate the Pub House with the student publications on campus, so it's a space for production and creation, where student voices are promoted, and information gets out via “The Elm” or art gets out via “Collegian.” It's nice to hang out and work on promoting the voices and stories of others.” Through the flexibility in both of her major departments and consistent support from both faculty and peers alike, MacKenzie’s experiences at WC have allowed her to grow into the kind of person she hopes to continue becoming, even after she graduates and moves on to other pursuits.
“There have been times when it has been overwhelming to be a college student, and sometimes to be a Washington College student specifically,” MacKenzie Brady says as she looks back on her college career. “But I think that I never could have gotten the experience or done all the things I have done here anywhere else, and definitely not to the degree that I have done them.”
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW MAKES HISTORY AT FBBO
KENT COUNTY’S CULTURAL LANDSCAPE IS “BEST IN MARYLAND” by Marcia Landskroener M'02 John Seidel, director of the College’s Center for Environment & Society, and Luis Machado, development director in the Geographic Information Systems Lab, were instrumental in producing an award-winning report that showcases the natural, agricultural, and historical assets inherent in this rural community. The Preliminary Cultural Landscape Assessment Report—a collaborative effort between Washington College, Kent Conservation, and Preservation Alliance—was awarded Preservation Maryland’s Smart Growth Excellence Award as part of this year’s Best of Maryland awards.
"One of the things that truly sets apart our place—Kent County—is its remarkable natural and cultural landscape,” says Seidel. “Viewed carefully, it tells a complex story of the human past, with resources we should take pride in and treasure for the future. Washington College was delighted to help in preparing this unique study and to help bring into focus the amazing place in which we live."
The banding crew present on October 21, 2020 with a White-throated Sparrow, the 300,000th bird ever banded at FBBO. From left to right: Phillip Mercier, Michael Gamble, Jim Gruber, Maren Gimpel, Madelaina Ondo, Jonathan Irons.
by Jamie Frees Miller Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory (FBBO), part of Washington College's Center for Environment & Society, reached a major milestone on October 21, 2020, when the station banded its 300,000th bird, a White-throated Sparrow. Founded by Jim Gruber in 1998, FBBO is located at WC’s River and Field Campus about ten minutes south of Chestertown. Banding about 15,000 birds annually, it is one of the largest-volume banding stations in the East.
GOOSE NATION | 2
Fall 2020 turned out to be an extraordinary season at FBBO, due not only to the monumental banding but to an irruption of "winter finches." These are birds that are normally rare in winter in Maryland, but this season they have moved south in larger numbers due to food shortages in the North. The FBBO crew banded more than 800 Pine Siskins, a close cousin of the American Goldfinch, when in a normal year they would have banded only a handful. Additionally, the station banded two species for the first time: a Red-headed Woodpecker and Evening Grosbeaks, another bird found much farther south than usual. The fall season is already the most remarkable in the station's history.
DIGGING INTO OPPORTUNITY
“During one of the tours of Chestertown, I ended up at the Public Archeology Lab. I met Dr. Seidel and Professor Fithian; we ended up chatting about everything from environmental politics to fracking, student life, and anthropology. They really swayed me toward the school by showing me what the WC community is all about.” Since then, Max has assumed multiple positions with CES, including an archeology internship, volunteering with the local elementary school, and working as the 2019 Field School Student. “As an archeology intern, I was able to start my own projects, do my own research, and really understand how to process artifacts. I dove into zooarchaeology, ceramics, and many other artifacts. I focused my research on a historic house in Kent County called Godlington Manor. “I’ve learned a lot about archeology, anthropology, environmental politics, and many other academic areas. In all these areas, CES has given me the advantage of hands-on experience with the academic topics I learn about in lectures,” Max says of his involvement with the Center.
by Abbey Wark '18 Max Moore ’22 is a Center for Environment & Society (CES) superstar. As an inaugural member of the Environment & Society Fellowship, he quickly became an active member of the CES community. However, his relationship with the Center began when he was a prospective student.
For the past three years, Max has interned with WC’s Eastern Shore Food Lab, whose mission is to promote nourishing food for humans. The ESFL researches, reimagines, and shares strategies that meet and exceed biological and cultural needs. Through the ESFL, students aim to transition culture by strengthening the ties between environment, society, family, and themselves through food as they address issues of
EXPLORING AMERICA (REMOTELY) by David Gansell Michael Hershey ’21 developed a profound interest in history at an early age. Fast-forward to his time now as a student in Chestertown, and it’s no surprise that the Maryland local will graduate with a history degree this spring. Michael embodies the Washington College liberal arts doctrine. In addition to discovering a curiosity about economics and making it his second major, he’s actively pursued many other opportunities offered on campus. “My philosophy about college is kind of cliché,” he says. “You’re paying a lot of money for an education, so you might as well participate in everything that’s offered. I go to as many events and talks as I can. Many times, you’ll see your professors there, and they’ll take notice. Plus, you’re going to meet somebody new and maybe make a good friend. Our community is so tight, and we are able to connect on so many different levels.”
CONNECTING COMMUNITIES by David Gansell Paris Young ’21 is proud of growing up in Southeast Washington, DC, and acknowledges that her hometown made her who she is today. “Being raised in the inner city was an obstacle on its own,” she notes. “I have seen people that I’ve grown up with lose their lives to gun violence or get in trouble with the law. It’s very easy to get sucked into that from an early age. I’m thankful that I had two strong parents and a great support system to nurture me. I went to some of the best and most diverse schools in DC, so I really had a good educational foundation. I’m thankful for my upbringing and the teachers and mentors I had around me.” With a deep interest in Black history, the political science major heard about the College’s Chesapeake Heartland Project during her freshman-year history class, The Underground Railroad. “I applied for an internship that involved working at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture,” Paris says. “I never thought I had a chance to be selected, but I went for it
After being inspired by the presentations of other students who were granted paid summer internships through the Explore America program, Michael was awarded his own chance last spring through the College’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to cut short an initial offer—but the door was not closed for long. Michael received a call about an opening in the publishing office at the Library of Congress, an opportunity he was nervous about accepting at first. “I thought a position in publishing would appeal more to an English major and wasn’t sure if I could be of help,” he says. “The supervisors took my interest in history and tailored the internship to the library and its needs. The Starr Center pushed me outside my comfort zone, and I’m really glad they placed me where they did.”
sustainability, food access, and dietary and social health. “From learning how to bake sourdough, butcher a pig, and ferment foods, to being able to help serve the community for First Fridays, I have learned so much at the Food Lab. I’ve tried a bunch of cool foods, like whale, healthy pizza, and raw milk,” Max explains. “I also am able to help teach elementary school students how to make fermented foods like kombucha and sauerkraut.” Max believes that the CES community has taught him much more than academics. “The life lessons are what I will really take away from my time with CES. All the staff members have made me feel like an important part of the Washington College community. I’ve met visiting lecturers one on one, taught elementary school students about the environment, and had a lot of fun in the process.
“CES has also taught me how to be a better person,” Max remarks. “I’ve learned about persistence, being a community member, and how important building relationships and staying connected to others is. They all genuinely care about me and the rest of the students involved with the Center. The main takeaway I have gathered environmentally is that it isn’t us and the environment—we are the environment!”
Due to the pandemic, Michael performed his internship remotely five days a week, which he admits proved to be a challenge. He assisted Yale professor Sam Watters, who is writing a book about Richard Morris Hunt, a 19th-century American architect and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He also performed research, combed through old newspapers, and screened several other books, including one about skyscrapers and how they have evolved as the centerpieces of many U.S. cities. “I can see myself growing as an appreciator of nonfiction and the publishing process,” he says. A brother in Kappa Sigma fraternity, Michael is a selfprofessed “junkie” for Washington College intramurals and is on the Adventure Club’s executive board. The club has become one of the larger student organizations on campus. In addition, he is a cellist in the College’s orchestra, plays piano, and recently took up guitar. Attending graduate school is certainly a future goal, but Michael is focused on joining the workforce immediately after graduation. “I would love to work as a historian in the National Park Service or do something that’s influencing policy regarding the economy. I have developed a big interest in international trade,” he says.
and eventually was selected. I first visited the museum during high school, and it was always a goal to obtain an internship there.”
been able to learn vital life skills while participating in the program, including public speaking, writing, and learning to work as a team member.
Paris had never set foot on Maryland’s Eastern Shore prior to arriving on campus. The Chesapeake Heartland Program, whose mission is to preserve, digitize, interpret, and make accessible materials related to African American history and culture in Kent County, MD, and beyond, gave her an opportunity to learn about and research members of the local African American community whose ancestors’ labor helped build Washington College. “I didn’t know anything about Chestertown or Kent County, so it was important for me to get more connected to the community and build connections outside the College,” she says. “Meeting community members has made me feel more comfortable about living in Chestertown.”
"Paris arrived at Washington College committed to supporting and celebrating underrepresented voices in the community,” says program director Pat Nugent. “In her role as a researcher, ambassador, and team leader on the Chesapeake Heartland Project, she has been able to bring that dream to reality. She not only has brought attention to unheard voices and stories, she has helped deliver substantial resources to those same communities. Paris has left an indelible imprint and lasting legacy on both the campus and the community, and we all can't wait to see her graduate in the spring of 2021!”
Getting involved in the program has helped nurture Paris’s love for Black Studies, a subject she is minoring in along with Justice, Law & Society. “I have been able to network and find my passion,” she admits. “I plan on attending graduate school to study public history, and I’m also thinking about Black Studies. I would like to obtain a PhD in African American studies and possibly become a professor. I can also see myself working as a museum curator.” Paris devotes a lot of her free time to helping organize social justice campaigns and is thankful that she has
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ART EXHIBITION REFRAMES BLACK HISTORY by Marcia Landskroener M'02 A virtual exhibition, “On the Black History of Kent County and Washington College,” launched in late October, as Kohl Gallery exhibiting artist Jason Patterson offered a guided tour of his work that sets out to reframe the past and bring into clearer focus the impact of systemic racism on our campus and in our community. Patterson, who fabricated all of the artwork, frames, and framed documents for the exhibition, recast images he found in the Washington College archives, in college yearbooks, and in archived local newspapers. Some of the images are painful to view: enslaved African Americans laying the College’s cornerstone, students in blackface as the national Civil Rights movement gained momentum. Others instill a sense of pride: portraits of the first Black students to graduate from Washington College, Black leaders who were instrumental in addressing the educational and healthcare needs of the local Black community. “It is powerful. It is challenging. It is enlightening,” remarked Tara Gladden, director and curator for Kohl Gallery, who collaborated with Patterson on the project. “It is exquisitely rendered in terms of formal art practice, and Jason has worked tirelessly with the highest level of commitment to ensuring the historical and social narratives presented in his works are well represented. ‘On the Black History of Kent County and Washington College’ looks critically at institutional and public legacies of enslavement, white supremacy, and racism while highlighting the experiences and achievements of African American Washington College students and important Kent County African American leaders. It presents a carefully curated narrative of resistance, resilience, and achievement from the 1780s to the present.”
Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, explained that Patterson’s artistic approach to this work uses physical framing as a metaphor. “We, the viewers, are compelled to ask: What images of the past have traditionally been considered suitable for framing, and why? And who does that framing? In this exhibition,” he noted, “the framing has been done by two people who do not resemble the traditional framers and guardians of Washington College history. In the hands of a thoughtful young artist of color, Jason Patterson, collaborating with a young historian of color, Jaelon Moaney, our institution’s past turns out to look very different.” This collection of artwork is the culmination of a twoyear project that began during Patterson’s time as the Frederick Douglass Visiting Fellow at the College’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. Among the important historical artifacts in the exhibition is “A View of Chestertown from White House Farm,” a late-18th-century painting depicting landowner Simon Wilmer on horseback against the backdrop of the Town of Chestertown. On the right side of the panel, African American workers toil in the fields along the banks of the Chester River. “What’s unique about this painting,” Patterson said, “is that at the time of his death in 1798, Wilmer’s inventory lists the people he enslaved. We can correspond those names with the people depicted in this piece based on age, gender, and value that was put on them.” To accompany this work, Patterson formatted and framed Wilmer’s handwritten inventory as an 18th-century document and used it as a vehicle to talk about the significance of this painting to the College. Viewers may visit the exhibition at chesapeakeheartland.org.
I am so excited to share this issue of “Goose Nation” with you. Each of these articles explores the opportunities available through Washington College’s Signature Centers. One of the greatest things about WC is how hands-on students are able to be with their education— an opportunity I am grateful to have experienced during my time as a student. Our Signature Centers— Center for Environment & Society, Rose O’Neill Literary
UPCOMING EVENTS
House, and Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience—are at the heart of this belief. Students truly learn by doing through internships, research fellowships, and on-campus jobs, and the connections our students make through our Signature Centers’ faculty, staff, and guests lecturers carry on long after their time at WC. The students featured in these articles are passionate about their fields and have found their second home at Washington College. I hope that their love for education and excitement for the future shines through in this issue and brightens your day; I know they have for me.
Live From Chestertown: The Virtual Presidential Series Thursday, January 21st 7PM President Wayne Powell & Provost Michael Harvey Tuesday, February 2nd 7PM Dr. Sarah Feyerherm, Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students & Student Leaders Thursday March 4th 7PM Larry Culp ’85, Chairman & CEO, General Electric Learn more about our upcoming events at washcoll.edu/events GOOSE NATION | 4
Kelsey Miller '10 / Director of Admission (410) 778-7700 • kmiller8@washcoll.edu
Cassandra Hynson / Associate Director for Transfer Admission (410) 421-7405 • chynson2@washcoll.edu Transfer Students @wc_cassandrahynson
Lisa Nicole Smith / Associate Director for Multicultural Admission (410) 397-7596 • lsmith6@washcoll.edu Maryland (Baltimore City Select Schools, Montgomery County Select Schools, and Prince Georges County), Washington DC Select Schools and Philadelphia, PA @wc_lisanicolesmith
Katie Clagget / Admissions Counselor (410) 778-7700 • kclagget2@washcoll.edu International Students and Northern Delaware
Ashley Davis '20 / Admissions Counselor (410) 778-7700 • adavis4@washcoll.edu Maryland (Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington Counties), Southern Delaware, West Virginia, and West Coast States
Jack Despeaux '18 / Admissions Counselor (410) 390-0757 • jdespeaux2@washcoll.edu Maryland (Montgomery County), Washington, D.C. Private Schools, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont @wc_jackdespeaux
Suzie Friedrich / Admissions Counselor (410) 705-2126 • sfriedrich2@washcoll.edu Northern New Jersey and Maryland (Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worchester Counties) @wc_suziefriedrich
(410) 390-0305 • skuhn2@washcoll.edu Maryland (Baltimore City Private Schools, Anne Arundel & Baltimore Counties), Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Puerto Rico @wc_skylarkuhn
Annmarie Magnus / Admissions Counselor (410) 927-1710 • amagnus2@washcoll.edu Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin @wc_annmariemagnus
Kelly Valette '18 / Assistant Director of Admissions (707) 931-4395 • kvalette2@washcoll.edu Maryland (Calvert, Charles, Howard and St. Mary's Counties), and Virginia @wc_kellyvalette
Shannon Whitaker / Admissions Counselor
Best Wishes, Abbey Wark '18
(410) 449-7177 • swhitaker2@washcoll.edu Southern New Jersey, Maryland (Cecil and Harford Counties) and New York @wc_shannonwhitaker
DAILY VISITS
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Skylar Kuhn / Assistant Director of Admissions
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Reader,
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WASHINGTON COLLEGE ADMISSIONS NEWSLETTER volume 1v. number iv, winter 2020 USPS 667260 | ISSN 2577-3658 EDITOR Abbey Wark '18 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Abbey Wark '18 Olivia Montes '22 Jamie Frees Miller Marcia Landskroener M'02 David Gansell
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Goose Nation, Publication No. (USPS 667260) is published quarterly by Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, Maryland 21620, in April, July, October, and January. Periodical postage paid at Chestertown, Maryland, and at other offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Goose Nation/Admissions, Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, Maryland 21620-1197. Copyright 2020, Washington College.