Students Making the Most of Summer

It’s summertime! Whether they’re working, taking classes, doing internships, or traveling, Keene State College students are making the most of the semester break. Here’s a sampling of what our students are up to.

Ray Waldron is spending the summer interning in the New York Rangers’ public relations department.

Alexander Davis ’14 is attending a training intensive with the David Dorfman Dance Company, as well as participating in the Southern Vermont Dance Festival in order to continue his dance training and to prepare for a srping student choreography concert.

Margaret Leary ‘14 is studying at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina. At the six-week program she is studying with teachers from around the world and doing choreography for a spring concert through the Theatre and Dance Department.

Montel Walcott and Jimmy Hepple, both on Keene State’s basketball team, have full-time internships at Walsh Construction this summer. They’re also keeping up with their strength and conditioning training so they’ll be ready for the coming season.

Lee Germeroth ’14, who has his own photography business, is launching a Kickstarter campaign for “Full Deck,” a 52-week photography project to create a custom set of playing cards.

Renn Bauhan ’14 has a full-time paid internship as a graphic and web designer at Captured Light Studio, a Keene firm that delivers content for medical companies.

Courtney Roberts ’15 is playing with a nine-member USA Athletes International women’s basketball team , led by KSC coach Keith Boucher, that is traveling around Italy. Games are scheduled for Naples, Florence, Venice, Tuscany, Rome, and Vatican City.

Matt Schwartz ’14 is interning at Fox 25 News in Boston.

Haylie Kelley ’16 is working as a theatre camp counselor at the YMCA’s Camp Lowe in Lancaster, Mass.

Kyle Virgin ’14 is a math tutor for Keene State College’s Upward Bound program.

Mike Desjardins ’14, a geography major, is researching coral reef health and management in the Turks and Caicos and comparing it to reefs around the world. He’ll be traveling to Keene from his Connecticut home many times during the summer to use the Science Center’s Geographic Information Systems Lab (GIS). In September, he’ll travel with the Biology Department to the Turks and Caicos, where he’ll conduct interviews with key stakeholders to see how they try to mitigate the negative impacts that affect the reefs in the area. He aims to shed light on the importance of coral reef conservation through research and proper management strategies, and how to mitigate the socioeconomic conflicts that can arise.

Eliza Smiley ’14 and Becca Brady ’14 are making a second Honors Program trip to Bosnia to do internships and create a documentary.

Honors Program students Emily Winskowicz ’14 and Velvet Young ’14 are traveling to India, where they will spend a month taking courses.

Johanna DeBari ’14, who received the KSC’s Bruce LeVine Mellion ’69 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, is doing a comparative analysis of the use of rape as a tool of genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Kristen Hunyadi ’14 is working at Keene State’s Mason Library, but will also spend two weeks in July traveling with her family to Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

Alexandra Kirk ’14 is interning at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, NH. In August, she’ll return to Keene to work for R.O.C.K.S., the KSC recycling program.

Julia Oberst ’14 is spending a month in Italy studying art history. When she returns, she’ll be working on research with biology and sociology faculty.

Music major Lauren Weiner ’15 was granted a full-tuition scholarship to spend a week singing at a music festival in Sheffield, Mass.

Matt McDougal ’15 is working at Keene State’s Mason Library.

After returning from an Honors Program trip to Ecuador, Courtney Duff ’15 is working with a professor on research and then working at a day camp.

Emily Fennes ’16 is spending the summer working at a camp for children and adults with special needs.

Jessica Tulley ’16 has a paid internship with the Knight of Columbus in New Haven.

Composition and music technology major Jordan Chase ’14 is spending the summer at Keene State composing a large-scale piece for wind, brass, and string quintet, thanks to a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship grant.

*Keene State students: add your summer plans to our list. Email Jane at jeklund@keene.edu. We’ll update as we hear from more of you.