Pamplin Society of Fellows

Hi everyone, I’m back! If you don’t know me, you probably haven’t read Warren’s lovely blog about the International Fair (hint, hint, nudge, nudge). I’m just coming off an excellent week of spring break and easing back into the world of academia, and I thought I would take a minute to share with all you lucky people a play-by-play account of what I’ve been doing for the past week.

For any non-Pio readers, the LC Center for Career and Community Engagement (3CE) organizes two Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trips each year, one to San Francisco and one to New Mexico. I had been aware of these opportunities last year, but didn’t think much of them until earlier this semester, when people started talking about spring break and I realized that I didn’t know what I was going to do. I’d been giving a lot of thought lately to my career, which, though it still lacks specifics, will definitely involve Native American reservations and improved conditions for tribes, and when I saw a flier advertising an opportunity to visit the Navajo and Zuni nations, it instantly became clear that here was a chance to spend spring break doing community service, learning more about what I was getting myself into in terms of a career, and spending time with a bunch of really, really cool people. Problem solved.

An application and a few trip meetings later, I found myself touching down in the ruggedly gorgeous (and freezing!) environs of the New Mexico high desert. If you have never been to the Southwest, I highly recommend it. Although the main point of the ASB New Mexico trip was to visit local schools, work with members of Teach for America, and learn about the education system, we also had time to soak up some super sweet scenery. Had I been gifted with artistic talent, I would hardly have put down my brush. Our most noteworthy stops were in Canyon de Chelly and El Morro National Monument. Yes, we were in two states on the day that we visited Canyon de Chelly, for anyone who knows U.S. geography. I could wax sentimentally for several pages, but I think I’ll let you all have the visual experience instead:

Scenic viewpoint at Canyon de Chelly

Spider Rock is a sacred Navajo monument in Canyon de Chelly

The desert is deceptively flat...

Like I said, flat...

Okay, photographs kind of suck at reproducing colors. Basically, the sky was HUGE and blue enough to bring tears to your eyes, the desert was flat and filled with all the subtle gradations of green and brown and gray and yellow and purple that you could imagine, and the cliffs were like reddish-orange monoliths reaching right up to spear the heart of the sun. To be fair, there was also a great deal of dirt and dust and wind, and you’ll want to keep sunscreen and moisturizer handy, but no place is perfect, right? Sadly, we had time only to do a driving loop through Canyon de Chelly and did not get to hike down to the Anasazi cliff houses. All the same, the fact that we had such a spectacular experience without the added bonus of hiking should give a sense of how glorious this place is. Have I sold you on it yet?

El Morro was just as beautiful as Canyon de Chelly, though in a silvery-white, granite-y kind of way as opposed to the warm, bright colors of the canyon. For anyone who has been to Yosemite high country, El Morro is comparable in some ways. We actually got to go on two hikes at El Morro, and one took us up high over a bunch of rocky outcroppings and cliffs. Our second hike was along the so-called Inscription Trail, named for the carved initials of various historical figures on the cliff sides along the way. (Register Cliff, anyone?) I saw names of Spanish explorers, military officials, railroad companies, and even a petroglyph or two from the ancient tribes that once lived in the area, all of which, as a history major, I found particularly exciting!

El Morro

Ruins at El Morro

A bit like Yosemite, yeah?

But enough with the aesthetics. On a more serious note, we also visited three schools, an elementary school in the New Mexico town of Gallup, and high schools on the Navajo and Zuni reservations. We met with Teach for America teachers at all three schools, and spent each day in various classrooms, talking with students about their culture, helping to conduct activities, and answering questions about college. Our two international students, Bonnie from China and Yuka from Japan, were especially popular with all the students, for reasons that the rest of us still can’t quite figure out. Apart from the presence of Teach for America members, Bonnie and Yuka’s popularity, and the sheer magnitude of difference between the education system in that part of New Mexico and what I have personally experienced in California and Oregon, the three schools could not have been more different. Several elementary schoolers told me about older siblings who had married or had kids earlier than might be thought typical, yet the kids themselves, in spite of coming from very different socioeconomic backgrounds than what I grew up with, did not seem any more aware of such things than I had been at that age. By contrast, the high school students I talked to had a much greater awareness of their socioeconomic status, the state of their education system, and their future prospects both on and off the reservation. Just as a brief rundown: alcoholism, school dropouts, gang activity, and suicide rates all tend to be much higher on reservations than in the rest of the United States, and families on reservations often live without reliable running water, electricity, and adequate housing. At Tse Yi Gai, a Navajo high school located in the lowest-performing district in New Mexico, the students, while friendly, were also rather reserved, particularly when compared to the students of Zuni High School, which we visited the next day. We learned from locals that the Navajo culture tends to involve far less talking than both the Zuni culture and what they referred to as the “dominant” American culture.

Classroom at Rocky View Elementary

Lauren and me being kids again during recess at Rocky View

Aaron and Lauren being celebrities at Rocky View

Math scores from state testing at Tse Yi Gai

That said, I did have several very enjoyable conversations with Navajo students, though the topics under discussion tended to center on schoolwork, family life, and hobbies. One male student I talked with said that the family goat had actually eaten his homework (apparently it is a commonly referenced excuse). In Zuni, the students talked about all of these topics, but also offered much more detail on the cultural aspect of their lives. I met two male students who were dancers, and talked to several female students who had prepared special bread for Zuni ceremonies and who informed me that in the Zuni culture, with the exception of the harvest dance, women are limited to cooking and cleaning for men in terms of their involvement in ceremonies and festivals. I also met a Zuni student during my first cafeteria experience (we ate with the students, and my high school did not have a cafeteria!) who will be studying acting and directing at the San Francisco Academy of Art next year, which I think reassured all of us trip members that, contrary to much of what we had been hearing, students could and did overcome personal difficulties to leave the reservation in pursuit of their dreams.

On that inspiring note, I think I will conclude this longest-blog-in-the-history-of-Pamplin-blogs. For those of you who bore with me until the end, thank you, and I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences almost as much as I enjoyed having them. If you are an LC student interested in learning about education, Native Americans, the Southwest, or all three, sign up for the ASB New Mexico trip next year! At the very least, you will take a hundred pictures and make a fantastic bunch of close friends. I now have two adopted brothers and seven adopted sisters, and I love them all.

View of beautiful sky from Tse Yi Gai parking lot

Watching expert frybread makers. Freshly made frybread rocks!

My lovely adopted family, minus trip leader Maddie.

Note all photos courtesy of trip leader Nick.

So long for now!

- Nikki (’12)

Last week I went to a Foreign Languages and Literatures Student-Alumni event put on by LC’s Student Alumni Association. I am a Foreign Languages major (Japanese for my primary language; French for my secondary), and I had always thought that the major would lead me to a career in translation/interpretation–in fact, I didn’t think there was much else for majors like me.

Boy, was I wrong.

All of the panel members agreed that what benefited them most was not the languages they could speak in particular, but the fact that they had learned how to really communicate. They said that instead of technical skills, current employers are looking for communication, critical thinking, and writing skills–something that Lewis & Clark students, especially Foreign Langages and Literatures majors, have plenty of. It was just amazing to see what varied careers these alumni had found. I never understood the breadth of work one can find with what always seemed to me to be such a specific, technical skill.

This was especially great for me to hear, because I have lots of friends who are so nervous about what they’ll do after graduation. My roommate, for example, loves history to death, but she’s kind of freaked out by the fact that her major seems to be leading her to a choice between academics, museum curation, and food service. I think everyone needs to hear the news: that no matter what your major, you are well-equipped to do zillions of different and interesting jobs. It’s not what you know–it’s HOW you can know, HOW you can interact with your environment, and, of course, how much confidence you have in yourself.

I hope that those reading are cheered by this fact… I know I was! I don’t feel quite so limited in my future now. After going to this event and speaking with one alumnus, I was compelled to look around for internships in some of the large corporations in Delaware (small state, but apparently we’ve got some great tax breaks that make lots of companies want to call it home). I applied for one with AstraZeneca–a posting called “Alliance Development & Stakeholder Relations.” I’m definitely not the typical candidate, but I feel confident in who I am and what I am capable of, and perhaps I’ll be able to explore this (absolutely foreign) field this summer. It’s a bit of a shot in the dark, but I’m sure that nothing can come out of it but good experiences!

The moral of the story? Talk to people! I wouldn’t know any of this had I not gone to this event, listened to these people’s stories, and asked them questions. And don’t assume. Keep your mind open to the huge breadth of everything that this world has, and don’t assume you’re going to get shoved into a major-specific corner somewhere. All of us at this school have an amazing future ahead of us, so don’t sell yourself short.

<3 Diane

Hello!

Hello readers of the internets! Whomever you may be, my name is Warren, and it is a pleasure for you to meet me. I am thrilled to be embarking upon my first web log ever, and I hope that you will stay with me until the end. I have put off this moment for some time because, unlike my fellow fellows, I do not spend my Thursday nights saving the children of Haiti, or advance the frontiers of human knowledge about butterflies on the weekend. I wanted to have something worth blogging about.

Then Nikki (the experienced blogger and author of such inspiring pieces as “The Story of a Pamplin Newbie: A Semester in Retrospect”) came up with a brilliant suggestion. “Why don’t you blog about the International Fair, Warren?” “That is a wonderful idea Nikki!” I replied, “I will get right on that!” Then midterms happened and French Play happened, and somehow blogging did not happen. So now, two weeks after the fact, I am sitting down to write about the glorious Lewis & Clark tradition that is the International Fair!

So smart!

The International Fair is put on every March at Lewis & Clark, coinciding with Parents’ Weekend, to celebrate the rich array of cultural backgrounds of LC students and to trick parents into thinking that this is what the school is like all the time. Lewis & Clark prides itself on the emphasis it places on international studies and global awareness, and the overwhelming majority of students here spend either a semester or a year abroad. We also have a large population of international students on campus, as over 50 countries are represented. At the Fair, we had food and performances from all corners of the globe.

I had the pleasure of performing in a preview of this year’s French Play. Every spring, the French Department puts on a play, but this is the first year that we’ve also done a preview at the International Fair. The actors are all French students who are at the 300 level or higher, and the director is the French teaching assistant (my roommate, the very charming and very French Lilian Lahieyte). This year’s play is Ubu Roi, written in 1896 by Alfred Jarry and considered the first absurdist play. I would like to invite you all to come see it, but unfortunately it closed last night (my fault, for two week delay in posting blog).

Ubu Roi

Anyway, Ubu Roi went very well, and we had great audiences. It’s interesting performing for people who don’t all speak French – after each joke, about half the audience laughs, then you can hear them whispering to the people next to them, then the other half laughs a little less loudly. Doing a play in another language is also a fun way to practice that language in a non-academic environment. The French Club on campus is very active, and offers students many opportunities to use French. I live in the French Apartments at LC with 11 other French Majors/ French people, and it has helped me immensely to use French in my everyday life.

I also performed at the International Fair with my a capella group, Section Line Drive (representing America). A Capella is popular and growing on campus, and there are four different groups on campus now. There is still time to invite you all to our end of year concert/ CD release party, which will be on the last day of classes (May 1st?).

Section Line Drive. Don't we look nice?

There were many other wonderful dances, songs, and musical performances at the International Fair, and instead of trying to describe them all, I think I will just upload a bunch of pictures. Also, I should mention that the Fair was organized and run this year by the Pamplin Society’s own Shelley Zhao. Actually, now that I think of it, she would have been a much more appropriate and well-informed person to write this blog. Oh well. Here are the pictures:

The brains behind the operation.

Well, that’s it I think. I hope this blog was everything you ever hoped and dreamed it might be. If not, feel free to leave a comment about how I might better meet your needs as a reader of blogs. I think I’m scheduled to do another one of these sometime next year. Talk to you then! Bye!

Thoughts about a senior research project for my biology major began percolating during the fall of junior year. I wanted to do something with phylogenetics, and Dr. Binford suggested that I work with an organism I already have some familiarity with. So began an ambitious year-long project. Over the summer, I collected butterflies with a motley crew of undergraduates and LC alums in the far reaches of Oregon— Anyone heard of Frenchglen? My butterflies are orange, with silver spots on the ventral (belly-side) hind wing. They flutter erratically through sagebrush in eastern Oregon, through Ponderosa Pines in the Ochocos, and even among Geysers in Yellowstone (although I did not collect them there).

August brought with it a battery of new skills— PCR, DNA extraction, gel electrophoresis, insect pinning, record keeping. I began amplifying my first gene, and collecting the sequences that would be necessary to construct a family tree of Speyeria. This step, like all of the others, took longer than originally estimated. Knocking on wood, I completed the molecular part of the first gene last week!

The most fascinating part of my thesis by far is all of the people I have met as part of the work. Starting with Dave McCorkle and Paul Hammond, two of the foremost experts on Speyeria in the US, I have skimmed the surface of the art of taxonomy. I met Robert Pyle, the author of the guidebook I used in the field at a conference in November. I have been corresponding with butterfly scientists in Florida and Finland. Without the ready feedback and advice of these people, I would not have been able to get this project off the ground.

March brings the firm deadline for the end of molecular work. I will be done with PCR, and hopefully the 2nd gene. I foresee a week of sequence assembly, a week of alignment, and if all goes smoothly, an honors thesis turned in on time.

As we are all gearing up for finals, I hope everyone is keeping in mind the relaxing time ahead. I know that the thought of winter break is definitely helping me get through this last stretch of the semester. With only one more week to go, I thought now would be a good time to reflect on and share some of the highlights of my first semester.

Just as a brief introduction: I’m Nikki, one of the 2009 inductees and I am a double major in history and art history with special interests in the American West, Native Americans and beautiful paintings. This semester I took History 336: Wilderness and the American West, Biology 100: Perspectives in Biology, History 300: Historical Materials, Art 207: Pre-Columbian Art, and P.E. 101: Yoga (which I highly recommend!).

Now that everyone has a bit of context, I’ll go back and pick out a few things (both big and small) that in some way or another made this semester unique.

#1 Joining the Pamplin Society…

…which I honestly did not know existed until I received my nomination letter. Being inducted was a great honor and I had the opportunity to meet some truly talented and fascinating people. At the same time, the fact that I didn’t know about the Society, or that there was a connection between the Society and the Teacher of the Year Award, has gotten me thinking about ways to make the Society more visible on campus. Nothing brilliant has struck me yet, but as I am on the Service Committee, I hope to find more ways for the Society to connect with both the LC community and the greater Portland area.

#2 Visiting the Dovecote café for the first time!

This probably doesn’t seem particularly special, but I seriously did not visit it at all during my freshman year. Thanks to the lab section of Biology 100 for getting me over to that part of campus.

#3 Being a New Student Orientation (NSO) leader

I guess this would be more of a pre-semester experience, but I am still including it because it was so eye-opening. When I signed up at the end of last semester, I did so because I wanted to experience NSO from a non-freshman perspective. Wow! Certainly as a freshman it seemed to me that a lot of work went into crafting NSO, but I didn’t quite appreciate it until this past August. I was a “floater” NSO leader (meaning that I didn’t have a little group of freshmen attached to me), which allowed me to help out with a bunch of different tasks. Everything from supervising dorm check-ins to guiding parents to being traumatized by exploding balloons to hanging fifty feet in the air during our ropes course…and the list goes on. In spite of the diverse range of activities, they all had one thing in common: AWESOMENESS! For anyone who has a few extra weeks in August and is looking for a fun leadership experience with a great group of people, I definitely recommend the role of NSO student leader.

#4 Doing the epic Historical Materials project AND being invited to dessert at Professor Beckham’s house!

Any history majors who read this probably saw this one coming. For those unfamiliar with Materials, each of us chooses a primary document and writes a set of annotations, an introduction, and a conclusion to clarify or supplement its content for the reader. We had the entire semester to do this project and near the end of the process, Professor Beckham invited our class to his house for marionberries and vanilla ice cream. YUM! A definite semester highlight. For my project, I chose an interview conducted in 1995 with the contemporary Native American artist Fritz Scholder for the Oral History Project of the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art. Scholder was only one-quarter Native American, but his abstract and unidealized representations of contemporary Native American life gained him credit as one of the founders of the New Indian Art Movement. I found Scholder’s name while randomly browsing through the online interview transcripts on the Smithsonian site, but credit goes to Professor Beckham for suggesting that I pursue an artist for my project topic, as a way of combining my interests in history and art history. While I gained massive amounts of knowledge about contemporary art and artists in the course of my research, the greatest takeaway for me will be a reconsideration of the ways in which non-Native Americans view Native Americans and their culture. I’ll be going to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota this summer to volunteer for a week; until then, I’ll be thinking a great deal about what I learned from my project.

That concludes the little snapshot of my life this semester. I hope I didn’t bore anyone too badly. Since I heard from several sources that one purpose of the blog is for people to find out more about the Pamplin Fellows, I wrote with that goal in mind.

I hope everyone pulls through the end of the semester and enjoys a relaxing month off.

Happy Holidays!

-Nikki

There are a few times that you will not forget in your college years, and a few weeks ago I had one of those times.  The Math Department is searching for a new professor, and every time a candidate came to campus, we would have a dinner that night at a professor’s house.  This particular time, we had dinner at Naomi Cameron’s house, a professor who teaches Abstract Algebra among other things.  While the night was winding down and people were starting to leave, I noticed that Naomi had a Nintendo Wii in her living room (with three kids, its great entertainment).  I asked Naomi if we could play Wii, and she said yes.   So we started up a game of Wii golf.

However, this was not just any game of Wii Golf.  When you play against three of your professors, your pride is on the line.  I was playing Peter Drake, a computer science professor, John Krussel, my advisor in the department as well as my Linear Algebra and Calc 3 professor, and finally Yung-Pin Chen, who teaches my Statistics course.  What ensued was nothing short of memorable.

After the round of golf was done, I decided to challenge a classmate to Wii boxing.  However, she didn’t know how to box on the wii, and so Naomi’s daughter decided to “fight” me instead.  About 2 minutes later, my character was on his back, down for the count.  I had been soundly beaten by a six year old.

In order to save face, I challenged my friend again.  But, when she started losing, she simply handed off the controls to the kid again, and I was soundly defeated a second time.

Some people say that Math is boring. They have clearly never played Wii Golf with 3 math professors.  Lewis and Clark’s Math Department is amazing!