Meet MHC's Newest Students

Posted: September 23, 2008

Breaking Down Walls
Jacqueline Adams '12
Whittier, California

Although she spent a decade studying ballet to a preprofessional level, Jacqueline Adams admits she "learned at a young age ballet wasn't necessarily for me."

"Dance has always been a way I explore different aspects of myself," said Adams, who also trained in modern dance. But, she added, "I've always struggled with the dancer's image. . . . I've had to learn that as an African American female, a girl with hips and curves, people won't always accept me as a dancer. I don't fit into particular molds, so I've used my expression to defeat many stereotypes. What I want most out of my dance experience and career is to break down walls that say what size, shape, color, and height a woman needs to be in order to dance."

Adams had a chance to hone her dance skills and her perspective in the summer of 2007, when she was accepted to the intensive summer program at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. For seven weeks, six hours each day, she studied ballet, West African and Horton dance, and yoga. She now plans to major in dance at MHC.

"I want to challenge stereotypes further and really come to understand myself as an expressive body and choreographer," she said. "I'm ready to be a role model and own myself as a a dancer, an artist, and a woman!"

Back to Nature
Charlotta Jornlid '12
Miami, Florida

There's no relaxing for Charlotta Jornlid when summer comes around. For the past three years, she's traveled abroad to study and work on ecological projects.

Her first experience involved a monthlong program at Oxford University, where she studied photography and bioethics, a subject she's now considering as a major. In 2007 she traveled to Costa Rica to help protect the endangered Lora sea turtle. During nightly "turtle walks" Jornlid searched for the reptiles and monitored their nests for signs of animal scavenging; she and her group also created a hatchery to protect the nests from being washed away by the high tide.

This past summer, Jornlid spent time in New Zealand cleaning up a beach and a tussock reserve, and planting and pruning trees at a reserve for yellow-eyed penguins. "They're considered the rarest penguins in the world, with only 4,000 alive today," she said.

Global Citizen
Jinsol Lee '12
Kijabe, Kenya

Jinsol Lee has already seen more of the world than most people will in a lifetime, and the experience has shaped who she is. Born in South Korea, Lee moved to Great Britain when she was 6--and again two years later to Yemen, where her parents worked with NGOs. She later moved to Kenya to attend a boarding school for junior and senior high school, and over the years she and her family traveled back to Korea, and to Singapore, the U.S., and various other countries. Her personality has been molded "through a blend of cultures and influences," she said.

"From the blues of Britain, to the yellow happiness of Yemen, and the green growth of Kenya, I learned to enjoy every moment and to experience all life could offer all over the world," Lee said. Above all, she values the love of family and friends.

"Moments of difficulty taught me its importance, different cultures taught me its various forms of communication, and indescribably wonderful friends taught me its strength," she said. "Learning the phrase 'I love you' in every language wasn't enough for me; I discovered the expressions and value of love in countless diverse people of different cultures."

Media Messenger
Corina Leu '12
Astoria, New York

When Corina Leu moved to New York City five years ago from the former Soviet state of Moldova, she came as the daughter of a United Nations employee, not as an immigrant. Despite that distinction, she readily empathized with traditional and undocumented immigrants.

Leu's concern for her fellow newcomers rapidly snowballed into a passion for other social justice issues. She joined the Global Action Project (GAP), a city organization that trains students to create media messages to provoke dialogue and change. Working with GAP, Leu coproduced public service videos on hate crimes, the U.S. justice system, LGBTQ issues, and the challenges facing undocumented students pursuing higher education.

Leu didn't just rely on others to act on her messages. She organized food and clothing drives for the homeless and HIV/AIDS victims, fundraisers for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and SaveDarfur.org, and youth workshops on reproductive rights and health care. "I believe youth power can be very effective in creating change," she said.

It Takes a Village …
Margaret "Skye" Litten '12
Evanston, Illinois

Being adopted by a world-traveling anthropologist and filmmaker has greatly informed Margaret "Skye" Litten's notions of family.

Litten began accompanying her mother on excursions at the age of 3, when she traveled to New Zealand and was again "adopted"--informally--as a grandchild by the Maori family that served as their hosts. She also developed a close relationship with an Italian family during a yearlong stay there.

"I have friends in Italy who are like siblings to me, and I really have a nana and a papa who are the chiefs of a Maori tribe," she said. "It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, as long as you love them and they love you, you are family."

Litten also traveled to Hawaii, Spain, Costa Rica, England, Scotland, Mexico, France, and Austria, helping her mother document cultural observations and film oral histories. She has scouted for locations, props, and costumes during preproduction, served as a grip assistant, written voice-over dialogue, and helped edit; she has even acted in a leading role in one film. Litten, who plans to study history, now has a documentary of her own in progress.

Dance Fever
Rachel Marston '12
Vancouver, Washington

Rachel Marston isn't certain yet where she'll focus her studies at MHC. She's thinking about biology, English, and art history--and she expects to find other areas of interest once she starts new classes. But she does have one focus of passion: Irish dance.

Marston has been studying and performing Irish dance for the past six years. "I don't have much Irish ancestry, [but] I greatly enjoy being immersed in the culture," she said. "I compete in my community and around the country, and I've had the opportunity to meet dancers and teachers from all over the world."

In competitions known as feiseanna, Marston dances in Open Championship, the highest of the six levels in Irish dance. She competes frequently and loves to perform, so she was delighted to learn she can participate in the Five College Dance Program and continue studying Irish dance right at MHC.

"I'm very excited to experience the Irish dance community here," said Marston. "This is one of the main reasons I chose Mount Holyoke. I can take amazing classes in all disciplines and not have to choose between academics and the arts!"

Love Makes a Family
Emily McGranachan '12
Georgetown, Massachusetts

Emily McGranachan found her voice at the age of 13 while attending the COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) Family Week in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Its "life-changing lessons" gave her "a sense of empowerment."

As a resident of Massachusetts, McGranachan often heard people debate what rights her family should have. Now a guest speaker with the Freedom to Marry Tour, she has shared her story and "introduced people to a child of a same-sex household" on several radio stations nationwide.

McGranachan has also worked to encourage tolerance and activism on a local level, serving as president of her high school Civil Rights Team and as a volunteer at a family homeless shelter through Horizons for Homeless Children. "These children inspire me," she said. "In return I do my best to teach them kindness and compassion by being a positive role model."

Prom and Circumstance
Emily Philipp '12
Mendota Heights, Minnesota

When Emily Philipp heard about people donating prom dresses to young girls whose lives had been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina, she was inspired to organize a similar effort in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

When she discussed the idea with her mother, "We realized that there was an overlooked need [here]," she said. And knowing proms can be prohibitively expensive, "We were eager to provide the opportunity to girls to attend their high school event."

So began Operation Glass Slipper. In the two years since its inception, Philipp and her friends have outfitted more than 1,200 girls, providing dresses, purses, shawls, jewelry, makeup, and shoes.

"Everyone who helps does so for the sole reason of empowering young women and putting smiles on their faces," she said. "Life is difficult for many of the girls, but seeing their self-esteem and self- image visibly improved is what motivates the cause."

Philipp is interested in gender studies, psychology, and education, and she plans to major in economics. She was drawn to Mount Holyoke for "its academic excellence and idyllic campus, as well as its culture, environment, and values," she said.

"As soon as I set foot on campus, my instincts told me this is where I should be."

Eco-Activist
Melissa Rice '12
Rockville, Maryland

Melissa Rice stumbled into Maryland's Montgomery County Student Environmental Activists (MCSEA)--a student-run group of high school activists--at her high school activity fair. She'd read about everyday Americans changing the environment, but as part of MCSEA, "I was able to change the world myself," she said.

"In 2006, MCSEA lobbied, petitioned, and organized a successful campaign for our county government to buy renewable energy credits," said Rice, who served as MCSEA's president her junior and senior years. "That first campaign victory--the largest purchase of clean energy by any county in America--showed me that students could, and did, change the world."

Rice broadened her experience further by attending a student leadership program hosted by the Sierra Student Coalition. She discovered she loves public speaking and lobbying, whether talking to a county council member, a Maryland state delegate, or a classmate in Model United Nations. After visiting MHC, Rice said she "was floored and even a bit envious of the eloquence and confidence of the students and faculty."

"I hope to major in environmental studies, but more importantly, I want to be a college activist," she said.

Related Link:

MHC Welcomes Class of 2012

MHC Opens Year with Green Revolution

First-Year Seminar Lecture Series Begins Sept. 15

Permanent link to this story: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/news/story/5649515

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