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The Class of 2005: The Most Diverse in MHC History Each year, students who are new to Mount Holyoke arrive on campus
toting much more than the ubiquitous suitcases, duffel bags, and CD
players that are a hallmark of their arrival. They bring talents,
experiences, goals, and dreams that ultimately will contribute to
the quality of their new community. The individuals that compose the
class of 2005 have already accomplished a great deal and demonstrate
significant potential. They include an Ultimate Frisbee national junior
champion; a black belt in tae kwon do; a dancer with the New York
City Ballet; an ice dancer who competes at the prestigious gold level;
and a member of the Governing Council of the International Planned
Parenthood Federation. The newcomers' ranks also include the
future head of the student government, the next star of the basketball
team, researchers itching to make their mark in College labs, young
economists who will do internships on Wall Street, musicians waiting
to entertain new audiences, and artists whose work will grace College
gallery spaces. Chosen from the largest and strongest applicant pool (2,881 applicants)
ever, the class of 2005 reflects Mount Holyoke's dedication to achieving
diversity in its student body and is, in fact, the most diverse group
of incoming students in the College's history. ALANA (African American,
Latina American, Asian American, and Native American) students make
up 21 percent of the class (up four percentage points from last year),
and students who hail from outside the United States constitute 17
percent (up two percentage points from last year). The group of incoming
students also includes sixty transfer students, forty-four Frances
Perkins Scholars, six International Guest Students, and six Frances
Perkins postbaccalaureate students (women and men who have earned
a bachelor's degree from an accredited college and who will pursue
a coherent course of undergraduate study at MHC, typically in preparation
for medical school). Dean of Admission Diane Anci attributes the rise
in ALANA and international students "first and foremost to the
College's overall commitment to diversity," but also to the efforts
of the admission office's three-person ALANA recruitment team, transportation
initiatives that resulted in excellent attendance at the ALANA Spotlight
program, and the enthusiastic outreach efforts of MHC students who
work with the admission office. Says Anci, "Everyone in the admission office is very excited
about our success in bringing in this year's class, especially our
success in bringing outstanding ALANA and international women to Mount
Holyoke. As we get ready to leave South Hadley to represent the College
around the globe, we'll be mindful of these young women and the strength
of the community they join. It is our plan to build on our success
to move closer still to the goals of the Plan for Mount Holyoke 2003." Anci reports that the College was more selective than ever before,
accepting 49 percent of those who applied (last year, 55 percent of
applicants were accepted). The result is an academically strong class,
with 50 percent of the first-years ranked in the top 10 percent of
their high school graduating class. This is the first class to have
the choice of not submitting SAT scores, and 24 percent of applicants
chose to exercise this option. "Our SAT-optional policy has been
enthusiastically received by students and guidance counselors, and
the College has taken a leadership role in the testing debate,"
said Jane Brown, vice president for enrollment and College relations.
"We will be carefully tracking the results over the next five
years and hope to contribute substantively to the national discussion." Here's how the class stacks up as a group. How We Chose Them • Number of first-year applications: 2,881 (the largest number
in MHC history) Background Information • Number of states represented: 42 Academic Profile • Percentage in top 10% of graduating class: 50% What They Did Outside the High
School Classroom • Number involved in yearbook, newspaper, and literary magazine:
119 Getting to Know Some Individuals
Kendall Church takes the term fundraising vehicle literally. An avid bicyclist, she spent the summer of 2000 biking across the country with a small group of teens and two adult leaders. Church dedicated her ride to raising money for research on Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease from which her sister suffers. While covering 3,727 miles, Church, who would like to work with computers one day, maintained a Web site about the trip with links to Crohn's disease informational sites. She raised more than $1,000 for her cause. Church's rides are not limited to bicycles—she is also an enthusiastic equestrian who has taught young children to ride and manage horses through the Glastonbury Pony Club and is looking forward to trying out for MHC's equestrian team. When not involved in locomotion in one form or another, Church spent her free time during high school years playing the viola in a select orchestra and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. Hanna Kim
Nayan Tara Kakshapati Of her homeland, Nepal, Nayan Tara Kakshapati says, "In a country
like mine, where only about 40 percent of the population is literate
and 60 percent is below the poverty line, it is only a matter of fact
that an average young woman is married by the time she is eighteen,
and a young man by the time he is twenty! I am nineteen and I can't
imagine being married with children!" Since 1998, Kakshapati
has worked as an advocate for safe reproductive health in Nepal-organizing
and assisting with workshops for young people in Nepali villages and
interactive sessions in schools. This past year, she helped reach
audiences through street theater. Kakshapati, who is interested in business, anthropology, and journalism, serves as coordinator of the National Youth Committee of the Family Planning Association of Nepal and, in that capacity, has given presentations in New Delhi, Bangkok, Prague, and London among other locales. She was also the first Nepali, youth or adult, to be elected to the Governing Council of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
Aimée Leventis hopes one day to transfer the coordination
and perseverance that she has gained on the ice as a top-level ice
dancer and figure skater to such activities as extracting wisdom teeth
and filling cavities. The aspiring dentist, who plans to study both
biological sciences and women's studies at MHC, began skating
at age six and now competes at the gold level and trains at the same
facility as international stars Oksana Baiul, Viktor Petrenko, and
Ekaterina Gordeeva. Off the ice, she served as an editor of her high
school yearbook, played varsity lacrosse, and was a member of her
school's astronomy club. She also has enjoyed teaching her sport
to young skaters.
Lured by the prospect of scholarship money, Reisbig entered the Junior
Miss scholarship program as a lark, along with her best friend. No
one was more surprised than she when she beat out the competition
after being judged in five categories—an interview with the judges,
scholarship, fitness, poise, and talent. After collecting her $500
scholarship and $100 in savings bonds, she went on to compete in the
state competition. She even came close to winning the state title. In the end, Reisbig has taken away more than money from her role
as a Junior Miss. For one thing, she has learned to love working with
children. As one of her Junior Miss duties, she participated in a
program for young girls run by Barnes & Noble and has enjoyed
it a great deal. A self-described "goofy person,” she came
to take the job seriously, containing her "sillier side"
because the girls viewed her as a role model. The discipline, talents, and care that Reisbig exhibited as a Junior
Miss should stand her in good stead as a student at Mount Holyoke.
Her desire to attend MHC goes way back. As a fifth-grader, after a
lifetime of hearing stories about her mother's experiences at
the College, Reisbig decided that MHC was where she would one day
end up. So there is one stereotype about beauty queens that rings
true when it comes to Katharine Reisbig. She believed in a dream,
and it came true. Tobe Stacey Ashley Mee-Yung Barron
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Kendall
Church
For
Hanna Kim, Frisbee is much more than a diversion played on the beach
or a method of exercising an active dog—it's a demanding sport
at which she has excelled at the highest levels. Not only did Kim
captain Amherst Regional High School's champion varsity Ultimate Frisbee
team, but she represented the United States on the national team that
competed and won in Germany last summer. In fact, Kim scored the winning
goal in the final against Canada. When she was not involved with Frisbee
activities, Kim spent her free time playing the trumpet in her school's
band and focusing on photography and drawing. She is planning a career
in design or computer graphics.
Aimée
Leventis
Kiera
McGough
From
helping to build latrines in Costa Rica to piloting an airplane, Quiana
Salazar-King is a young woman who rises to the challenge. As a participant
in Los Amigos de Las Americas in the summer of 1999, she served as
a health worker through a program run by Costa Rica's ministry
of health. In this capacity, she not only helped to build latrines,
but gave English lessons, worked with a community to plant a garden,
painted murals in schools, and taught nutrition classes. A future
international relations major who hopes to practice international
law one day, Salazar-King, who speaks Spanish fluently and some French,
also spent several months in Spain last year with the Experiment in
International Living. She may soon be able to transport herself to
the locales she so enjoys visiting, as she is working toward earning
her pilot's license. When not on foreign soil or in the air,
Salazar-King cocaptained her high school varsity basketball team,
played soccer and tennis, and participated in Model United Nations.
Not content to rest on her athletic laurels, she hopes to experience
a new sport at MHC and will soon try out for the crew team.
Katharine
Reisbig defies just about every stereotype one can hold about beauty
pageant winners, yet she is the somewhat reluctant holder of the title
Miss Junior Miss of Volusia County. First of all, she prefers combat
boots over pumps. She is also smart. A National Merit commended student,
she completed the academically demanding International Baccalaureate
program at her high school and competed in the challenging Odyssey
of the Mind program. She is also an accomplished soprano and has sung
with a choral group in Carnegie Hall. Finally, her mother is an alumna
of MHC, class of 1972. How did a young woman who felt that pageants
were "girly, ridiculous, and not me" end up riding in a
Corvette convertible in a parade wearing a "poofy white dress"?
While
many MHC students march to the music of a different drummer, this
is particularly true of Tobe Stacey, who has been involved with traditional
Japanese drumming since she was nine. A member of the famous Zendeko
drumming group, she plays taiko, which literally means "drum"
in Japanese. Taiko are typically made from one piece of hollowed-out
wood, with a cow skin stretched over each end. They range in size
from six inches to a massive six feet in diameter and have been a
part of Japanese society for thousands of years. In ancient times,
taiko drums were used by everyone from Samurai warriors, who employed
them to terrify their enemies in battle, to priests, who found them
effective for communicating between villages. Stacey began playing
taiko as a means of exploring her Japanese heritage (her mother is
Japanese). She has performed with Zendeko in Japan, Hawaii, and throughout
California. When she isn't drumming, Stacey, who is planning a career
in medicine, teaches gymnastics to young children.
Thanks
to Ashley Mee-Yung Barron's efforts, some children in Third World
countries have a lot to smile about these days. An aspiring pediatrician
who plans to study biological sciences and neuroscience and behavior
at MHC, Barron is a devoted volunteer for Operation Smile, a volunteer
medical services organization that provides reconstructive surgery
and related health care to indigent children and young adults in developing
countries and the United States. Operation Smile volunteers donate
their time and skills to repair the faces of children disfigured and
stigmatized by cleft lips and palates, tumors, burns, and other birth
defects. In July, Barron traveled to Galati, Romania, with a group
of medical professionals to serve as a student volunteer on an Operation
Smile "mission." Her duties included teaching children how
to care for their teeth, educating young burn victims about cleaning
their wounds, and advising about nutrition. In her high school's Operation
Smile youth group, which she joined in 1997, Barron held offices ranging
from vice president for mentoring to vice president for education
and awareness and did a lot of fundraising. She has also participated
in the organization's international youth leadership conferences and
serves on Operation Smile's national student advisory board. While
working for Operation Smile, Barron also found time to volunteer at
a children's hospital and to study dance.