Issue 2

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLV, ISSUE 2 l WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Sotomayor Speaks with Amherst Students

Men’s Soccer Begins Seasons Undefeated See Sports, Page 10

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Frost Opens Center for Humanistic Inquiry Jingwen Zhang ’18 Managing News Editor

Photo courtesy of Matthew Chow ‘18

Sonia Sotomayor fielded students’ questions and encouraged her audience to vote, ask questions and listen to others at an event in Johnson Chapel on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Dan Ahn ’17 Managing News Editor Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke to a packed Johnson Chapel on Tuesday, Sept. 8, answering questions and giving advice to a crowd of enthusiastic students.

Sotomayor was in the midst of a trip to Massachusetts to speak at the Springfield Public Forum, an organization that brings public figures to speak in Springfield. Iliana Cruz, an aide to Sotomayor and the sister of Amherst’s Chief Diversity Officer Mariana Cruz, asked Sotomayor to visit the college while she was in the area.

During the hour she spoke in Johnson Chapel, Sotomayor fielded questions from students. Before the question and answer session, President Biddy Martin warned students that Sotomayor would not be able to answer questions about issues facing the Supreme Court or share opinions about her colleagues.

Instead, Sotomayor spoke mostly about challenges she has faced in her personal and professional life.

Many students also asked Sotomayor for advice about navigating college life. The justice related her experiences as a first-generation college student and encouraged those facing similar challenges to ask as many ques-

tions as possible.

“You feel stupid,” Sotomayor said. “But you are not stupid. You’re ignorant. There is a difference between the two words. Being stupid means you have an intellectual deficit. Being ignorant means you haven’t had an experience yet.”

Sotomayor spoke at length about being a woman in the field of law. In law school, she was accused of succeeding only because of affirmative action.

While she was initially reluctant to leave her position on the Court of Appeals for the

Continued on Page 3

The Center for Humanistic Inquiry held its opening ceremony on Thursday, welcoming faculty and staff to its space on the second floor of Frost Library.

Completed over the summer, the center was constructed in a previously unrenovated space with the goals of facilitating research in the humanities, organizing talks and activities for faculty and staff, and bringing research in the humanities to the public.

“I love the fact that the center sits in the heart of Frost Library, which is already a vibrant hub for the campus community,” said Martha Umphrey, a professor of law, jurisprudence and social thought and director of the center.

The center, which is roughly 5,000 square feet, both acts both as a space for faculty and fellows to conduct research and as an open “think tank” area for meetings and workshops.

A seminar room was also built to host talks and meetings. During evenings and weekends, the think tank area and seminar room are available to students as study spaces when not in use for scheduled events. The seminar room is also used as a classroom for some Amherst courses, such as Law and Love, an analytical seminar taught by Umphrey.

The Center of Humanistic Inquiry underwent a name change before its completion and the opening ceremony. It was originally called the “Humanities Center,” but Umphrey said the college wanted to give it a more inclusive name.

“Humanistic thinking can occur in any discipline, including the social sciences and sciences,” Umphrey said. “And we wanted to be clear that the center was not focused solely on what might traditionally be called ‘humanities’

Continued on Page 3

Pilot Program Connects First-Years with Staff and Faculty Dan Ahn ’17 Managing News Editor This year some first-year students will have a new chance to engage in in-depth conversations with faculty and staff outside the classroom.

Half of this semester’s first-year seminars started a pilot program that created “teams.”

The professor and students of each seminar in the program were matched to two or three college staff members, forming a team.

Teams are scheduled to meet about five times a semester for casual dinners and personal discussions facilitated by the faculty and staff. All meetings are voluntary for students, and faculty can choose the number and content of the meetings. The other half of the firstyear seminars will not form teams, retaining the same format as previous years.

Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought Austin Sarat, who was responsible for leading the implementation of the program, described it as “an effort to extend the firstyear orientation through the first semester.”

The intent of the program is to help first-year

students share their personal experiences and difficulties, as well as receive the support of a cohesive group of peers and facilitators.

“The team approach intends to nurture and cultivate the idea that the first-year seminar can be a gateway to the college experience,” Sarat said. He also said that insufficient support for first-year students after orientation and the negative impact this can have on their academics were problems that teams were formed to mitigate.

Teams were first unofficially formed in fall 2014, when Sarat invited Dean of Students Alex Vasquez, Director of the Career Center Ursula Olender and Director of Counseling Center Jackie Alvarez to form a team with the students in his seminar.

“It was really comforting to have a team of faculty members that took such great interest in helping with my college transition,” said Sophia Salazar ’18, a student in Sarat’s seminar last year. “It was nice to know that some of the feelings I once felt during the first few months of college were shared and validated by the experiences of fellow peers and even, at times, by college faculty.”

Sarat’s team met throughout the semester, and after the first-year seminar ended, Sarat began working on expanding the program to include more seminars and create more teams.

He met with Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein and President Biddy Martin to discuss a potential pilot program. They formed a committee comprising Sarat, members of the Office of Student Affairs and the staff from the original team. The committee met during winter break to decide how to implement the program on a larger scale.

In February, the committee sent invitations for the pilot program to faculty teaching firstyear seminars, and half of them accepted the offer. While the initial plan for the pilot called for only five teams, Dean of Students Alex Vasquez said that the unexpected enthusiasm from the faculty members caused the program to be expanded to half of all seminars.

In March, an invitation to the program was sent out to staff, and 80 of them agreed to participate. Once the committee had a roster of participants, they held a meeting with all the faculty and staff involved to discuss the pilot.

Vasquez said that reaching out to a widely rep-

resentative group of faculty and staff on campus was a priority of the program.

“It’s about having first-year students connect with other members of the community to advise them, to mentor them, to support them and give them more access to resources,” Vasquez said.

The main goal of the program, however, is to make effective use of the facilitated personal discussions.

“It’s less about the provision of expert knowledge than it is providing a setting in which a group of students can talk about adjustment issues, the sense of whether they belong, the stress of academic work, the balancing that we all have to do,” Sarat said.

Details of the program, such as the logistics of team meetings and whether the program will be implemented in all first-year seminars, are set for discussion at the end of this semester.

“I believe that we educate not just minds, but people with minds,” Sarat said. “I have a deep and fundamental commitment to the idea that Amherst can be not only a rigorous, but also a humane community.”

News

Chloe Revery Sept. 7, 2015 - Sept. 14, 2015

>>Sept. 7, 2015 1:17 p.m., Pond Dormitory A student reported the theft of a Schwinn bicycle from the basement of the building. It is valued at $180.00.

3:27 p.m., Cohan Dormitory A resident reported the theft of his wallet. Fraudulent charges were placed on a credit card that was in the wallet.

3:34 p.m., Mill Lane An officer investigated a case of illegal dumping on college property off Mill Lane. >>Sept. 8, 2015 4 p.m., Campus Grounds At the request of a concerned caller, an officer began looking into the whereabouts of a student.

The student was located about 12 hours later. Student Affairs was notified 4:38 p.m., Converse Lot An officer responded to a report that a male had set up a table near the Converse parking lot and was distributing information. He was advised that he needed prior authorization and he left the area. >>Sept. 9, 2015 8:04 a.m., Scott House An officer investigated an intrusion alarm and found it was accidentally set off by an employee. >>Sept. 10, 2015 3:39 a.m., King Dormitory At the request of a concerned caller, an officer checked on a resident. No assistance was needed.

10:30 p.m., 40 Dickinson Street An officer checked on a male found in a vehicle parked behind a college-owned building. He was directed to leave since he had no legitimate reason to be on campus. >>Sept. 11, 2015 1:03 p.m., Charles Pratt Dormitory An officer investigated an altercation between students. A report was filed with Student Affairs.

9:49 p.m., Wieland Dormitory Officers responded to a complaint of loud music coming from a second floor room. No music was heard upon their arrival.

11:34 a.m., The Evergreens Officers investigated an intrusion alarm and found it was accidentally set off by an employee.

6:58 p.m., Crossett Dormitory An officer located two 30-packs of beer in the basement. They were confiscated.

9:32 p.m., Seelye House An officer discovered an unauthorized party in a common room with alcohol and shut it down.

10:49 p.m., Tuttle Farm An officer discovered two people, who have no connection with the college, in the backseat of a car parked on the property. It was discovered neither had a driver’s license. The two were issued written no-trespassing orders and a licensed friend came for the car.

11:30 p.m., Crossett Dormitory An officer observed a large gathering in a third floor suite with people dancing on a window sill.

The gathering was cleared out and the residents were warned about the safety concerns. >>Sept. 13, 2015 12:53 a.m., Crossett Dormitory Officers discovered a large party in a first-floor suite with people lining up in the stairway. Approximately 80 people were cleared out and the residents were warned about having the event. People began to gather again a short time later and they were dispersed. The matter was referred to the Student Affairs office.

1:11 a.m., Crossett Dormitory Officers responded to a complaint of loud music at a second-floor suite and found two non-residents present. The music was shut off, the non-residents were directed to leave, and the suite was locked.

1:32 a.m., Crossett Dormitory An officer discovered a visitor in possession of two driver’s licenses which do not belong to him. They were confiscated and a report was filed with the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

1:04 p.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory A resident reported he damaged his room door after having an argument with another person

11:47 p.m., Marsh House Officers discovered a large unauthorized party in Marsh with hard alcohol present. The alcohol was confiscated and the event ended.

5:57 p.m., Marsh House An officer responded to a complaint from a town resident about loud music and had the volume lowered.

>>Sept. 12, 2015 12:34 a.m., Social Quad An officer encountered an underage student with a 30-pack of beer.

It was confiscated and the matter was referred to Student Affairs.

>>Sept. 14, 2015 12:34 a.m., Valentine Dining Hall An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding in a third floor room and found no cause.

1:48 a.m., Amherst Police Dept.

A female officer assisted the town police with the arrest of two women.

3:54 p.m., Charles Drew Parking Lot A caller reported a vehicle running while unattended in the parking lot. The owner was notified.

Thoughts on Theses Department of History

Chloe Revery is a history and computer science double major who is writing a history thesis on the software developed for the NASA space shuttle program. Her thesis adviser is Anson D. Morse Professor of History John Servos.

Q: What is your thesis about?

A: My thesis is a history thesis about the development of the software in the space shuttle missions. The software system that was used in the space shuttle was extremely complex. It was far more complex than any software that was used in previous NASA missions, which usually only used software for navigation and guidance purposes. With the space shuttle, the mission requirements forced NASA to integrate basically every component of the shuttle with software, which had never been done before. So it was a huge task. The size and complexity of the software requirements for the shuttle ended up forcing NASA engineers and subcontractors to innovate, and those innovations eventually ended up trickling down to the private sector.

It’s a really interesting story, and it hasn’t really been told for a few reasons. First of all, historians tend to be more interested in hardware than in software, because software is a newer field and it’s also more esoteric. You can have a pretty good understanding of hardware if you are an electrical or mechanical engineer, but to understand software, you really have to be a programmer or someone who has programmed in the past.

And it’s a relatively new discipline. So there are not many historians who have expertise in software and history, as opposed to a high number who have engineering and historical expertise.

It’s a really good opportunity because a lot of the space shuttle engineers are still alive, so there’s some chance in this thesis to do some original research, which is very exciting and unusual for an undergraduate history thesis. In particular, I’m hoping to focus on a woman named Margaret Hamilton, who recently got into the news because a photo of her standing next to a stack of papers with the Apollo source code printed out went viral. Hamilton was the lead engineer on the Apollo project, and a lot of the Apollo software was reused on the space shuttle. Margaret Hamilton, after working on the Apollo project, spun off her own firm in Cambridge, called “Intermetrics.” Intermetrics was commissioned by NASA to write the programming language in which the software for the space shuttle would later be written. That language is called HAL/S, and I am going to commit a good portion of my thesis to the language of HAL/S and its development.

Q: What is the significance of the HAL/S language and its impact today?

A: HAL/S was an important programming language mainly because it was the first high-level programming language. Back in the day of the space shuttle, there was a war going on in the industry of computer science over whether to use high-level programming languages (those that are more human-readable) or low-level languages (which are essentially just one step above zeros and ones.) Some incredibly smart programmers decided to make programs called “compilers” that took the more human-readable version of the code and then translated it into those zeros and ones for the computer to use.

But some of the more hardcore programmers wanted to use the low-level language. This was a huge debate within NASA and within the private sector, simultaneously. And NASA decided, in a crucial decision, to go with a high-level language for the space shuttle. But there was no suitable high-level language, because nobody in the private sector had to accomplish what the space

shuttle mission had to in terms of their software requirements. So NASA had to create their own language. The biggest innovation I have found so far in the HAL/S Language — which, by the way, some people think is named after the HAL computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey” — is that it incorporated a concept called “priority scheduling.” In traditional software systems, computing power is allocated to tasks in slices of time. So, one program gets processor time for ten seconds, and whether or not the process is completed, the processor moves on to the next task. But with the priority scheduling system, which HAL/S supported, all tasks are assigned a priority and processing power is allocated based on the priority of the task. In this sense, HAL/S actually looks a lot like the programming language Fortran, which a computer science major at Amherst would be familiar with.

Q: What was it that attracted you to this particular topic?

A: My dad is an aviation photographer, so he’s a photographer who specializes in taking photographs of anything that flies. That’s including military aircraft, rockets and even space shuttles. So I’ve always grown up around planes and things that fly. And space is cool!

Q: Where are you in the research process right now?

A: Over the summer, thanks to the generosity of the Department of History, I had the chance to do some research in Mountain View. I visited the Computer History Museum and also [the] NASA Ames [Research Center,] which is right next door, so I was able to meet with some of the historians there and take a quick gander at the archives. Right now I’m still in the research stage. I’m reading as much as I possibly can — as Professor Servos says, I’m “reading around the topic.” I’ve pretty much honed in on what I want to do, but the writing won’t start until probably around Thanksgiving, and in my opinion, that’s how it should be.

Q: Can you talk a little about being a double major in history and computer science?

A: I don’t think I’m different from any other Amherst student in that most of the students here are pretty well rounded. I know there’s a trend in higher education towards accepting students who are really good at one thing and maybe not so good at other things. But most of the students I’ve met at Amherst are good at the humanities and good at the sciences. I think that any student at Amherst could do computer science, and any student at Amherst could do history, and be successful at it. I don’t see any contradiction there. All the computer science majors I know have amazing writing skills. All the history majors I know, even though they profess differently, would be really good at writing programs.

Q: What is it like to work on a single project across two disciplines?

A: I think that when you’re working on a project with an interdisciplinary aspect, it’s important to find a mentor who has experience working across disciplines. My thesis adviser is a historian of science. His expertise has been invaluable as I figure out how to approach a technical topic from a historical angle.

— Dan Ahn ’17

The Amherst Student • September 16, 2015

News

3

Center for Humanistic Inquiry Opens in Frost Library Continued from Page 1 departments and content.”

The center was built with the hope of providing spaces both for privacy and collaborative work, according to Tom Davies, the college’s director of construction and design.

“The aesthetic is really intended to be forward-leaning, but comfortable,” Davies said. “Keeping with the sensibilities of Frost Library while also being very current and responding to the fact that it’s 2015.”

The center also has an abundance of glass surfaces, some of which are intended for writing.

“We have, by putting a lot of glass in the seminar room and around the center itself, brought a bunch of light from the south side of the building into the core of Frost Library that really weren’t there before because there were stacks and carrels blocking the light,” Davies said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how the glass writing surfaces function when people are writing on them and you’re seeing that from the back side.”

Minor modifications had been made to the space before renovations for the center began in order to adjust for differences between decades-old diagrams of Frost Library and its actual construction. The interior underwent extensive reconstruction, including the replacement of mechanical systems and lighting. The structure of the building is still largely original to its 1965 form.

The bulk of the construction was completed in May and June of 2015, with minor finishing touches applied in the following months. The center was completed on time and on budget.

The completion of the center marks the end of more than 15 years of planning for a humanities center on campus. In 2011,

Photo courtesy of Lily Fang ‘18

Martha Umphrey, a professor of law, jurisprudence and social thought and the director of the humanities center, spoke with her colleagues at a luncheon in the new Center for Humanistic Inquiry on Sept. 15.

President Biddy Martin expressed hope that a humanities center would be built on campus during her tenure. Later, in August 2013, the Humanities Center Building Committee, comprised of Amherst faculty members, gave a report outlining the proposed center.

The decision to build the Center for Humanistic Inquiry was controversial among some members of the faculty. In a letter to

Sotomayor Visits Campus Continued from Page 1

Second Circuit, she eventually decided to accept her nomination, becoming the third of four women to serve on the Supreme Court.

“When you have a chance to open the door for others, you don’t have the right to say no,” she said.

One student asked Sotomayor whether she ever felt pressure to represent specific demographics in her judgments.

“I love the process of law,” Sotomayor responded. “I love the Constitution, and I love our system of government. I don’t represent anyone but me.”

Sotomayor responded to students’ questions up to the last minute, and paused to take a photo with each student who asked a question.

While she was on campus, Sotomayor also met with a group of more than 20 students representing several major student organiza-

tions. The group met for half an hour in the Multicultural Resource Center, and Sotomayor fielded the students’ questions about her personal life and career.

“It was initially going to be a meet and greet. And then the Justice changed it up on me,” Mariana Cruz said. “That says a lot about her open personality.”

Katarina Cruz ’17, a participant in the discussion, said, “My favorite thing was that she had a genuine interest in everybody who was in that room. She took the time to shake everyone’s hand, and to mention at least one thing that she related to for each person.”

Mariana Cruz said that she hopes Sotomayor will be able to return to Amherst someday.

“I think that Justice Sotomayor reminded all of us in the campus community about the importance of learning from each other and listening to each other’s stories,” Cruz said.

Photo courtesy of Matthew Chow ‘18

Sonia Sotomayor embraced and took pictures with each student who asked a question during her talk in Johnson Chapel on Sept. 8.

The Amherst Student last year, Professor of Classics Rebecca Sinos argued that the center would deprive faculty of much-needed open stacks and carrels.

According to Umphrey, the center has already begun to plan for the future. Under the year-long theme “Mattering Lives,” the center will begin to house fellows and program events. Included in the programming will be a

weekly discussion for staff and faculty.

“For the entire community, we will bring in writers via our new partnership with the MacDowell Colony, a nationally-known artist’s colony in New Hampshire,” Umphrey said.

She plans to “host events and speakers invited by departments across the college, begin an initiative on public art at Amherst and maybe produce some surprises for the campus.”

Interested in getting the scoop on the latest developments on campus?

s w e n e h t n i Jo ! ff a t s If you want to write for us, email dahn17@amherst.edu

Opinion

THE AMHERST

STUDENT

Going Beyond “How Are You?” Editorial

Aside from making sure we remembered our manners, Tomi Williams, in his welcome letter to students coming to campus, reminded us to be mindful. In Williams’ words, “When you begin to get a bit tired of the inevitable redundancy of welcome back exchanges, remember how fortunate you are to be a part of community that cares enough to ask and to actually listen.”

He has a good point. We at Amherst are incredibly fortunate to belong to a community that has the resources to help those who feel lost or out of place during their time in college.

And Amherst students do remember our manners. Virtually every time you pass an acquaintance on the sidewalk, you can expect them to say, “Hi, how are you?” However, the issue that we miss when we ask or answer the question “How are you?” is that often people don’t want to give a straightforward answer, and many aren’t expecting to listen to an honest response.

“Duck syndrome” is a phrase popularized at Stanford, but it’s a ailment that, in some form or other, is present at colleges across the country. It’s the appearance of handling everything perfectly while silently struggling, much like a duck seemingly gliding across water while paddling furiously underneath the waves. At Amherst, we have our often-discussed loneliness epidemic.

About 50 percent of each class will use the Counseling Cen-

ter at some point in their college careers, which suggests that Amherst students feel the need to talk about what’s really going on in our lives. Yet, when we’re asked “How are you?” we simply smile and say “Good, how are you?” or, at the very worst, respond with a deflated “tired” or “busy.”

Despite the promise of our community’s open arms, many of us feel isolated and alone. Asking “How are you?” as we pass by someone just doesn’t cut it. It’s a good start, but as a community we need to engage in this apparently simple question and be ready to receive an honest answer. This also means that we need to be deliberate and honest in asking people how they are, ready and willing to receive the honest answer rather than reproducing the tried, true but hollow call and response.

This isn’t a new message. Even the newest students are familiar with the resources we have available to deal with everything from a stress of an essay to the serious shadow of mental illness on campus. Everyone has read about the destigmatization of the Counseling Center, the need to reach out to friends, family and professionals when things are tough. But we also need to have each other, the entire community, as support. Amherst can be a stressful place. Anyone can feel it, even in these first few weeks of school. As we approach the new semester and year, we can start by simply being honest.

The Agony of Choice Galen Muskat ’18E Columnist With the news that Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry, former three-term governor of Texas, was suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination, Republican voters found their choices whittled to a slightly more manageable 16 candidates. Democrats are not likely to see Vice President Joe Biden pursue the nomination for his party as they witness him publicly struggle with the emotional wound left by the death of his son, Beau.

Such paring of potential candidates would seem to be a good thing for both parties and the American people as a whole. But the aforementioned 16 (yes, you will still have to use both feet to count them out) remaining Republicans do nothing to aid the voters’ conundrum of whom to choose. The Democrats still have five candidates to pare down, which could expand to eight, as a Sept. 9 article by Patrick Healy in the New York Times imagined, alluding to fears held by Democrats Hillary Clinton that could lead to a “Plan B” choice among former candidates such as Al Gore and John Kerry.

For several decades, scientists studying the economics of choice have proposed and tested the theory that consumers are not better off by having a greater selection.

A study by Dr. Sheena Iyengar, an economist and social psychologist, demonstrated this idea using jam in a supermarket. Two different displays of jams, all made by one

company, were arranged. One display had six types of jam; the other had 24. Both offered taste samples.

About 60 percent of customers were lured to the display of 24 jams, compared with forty percent stopping by the display of six jams. However, roughly 30 percent of those faced with the display of six walked away having purchased a jar, while only 3 percent choosing among 24 jams did so.

This study supports the theory that when it comes to choices, more is not necessarily better. In fact, too many choices — such as the whopping 20-plus candidates seeking a seat in the Oval Office — can make it difficult for the consumer, or voter, to separate and register the sheer number of choices from the actual differences in information offered by each choice. Other studies similar to Iyengar’s have expanded upon her results, revealing that too many choices often left the participants wondering whether they had made the right choice. In other words, when a person starts with more options to choose from, he might actually be less satisfied once he makes his decision.

Take this back to the elections, and it becomes a little easier to understand why many Americans are paralyzed in trying to sort through the number of candidates.

It’s a challenge to even name all of them off the top of one’s head. Recent polls show voters increasingly torn as they try to choose a candidate; in fact, the small differences in the percentage of supporters in some polls reveal a statistical tie.

Compounding the issue, Clinton’s sudden slip in the polls to Bernie Sanders has not led supporters to move definitively toward Sanders, or even one of the other candidates (Who are they, again? Do they even matter? Or are they just generic jams stacked next to the Smuckers?). Rather, it has led party leaders to consider introducing even more candidates.

The number of options daunts us so that one can hardly separate the candidates based on the details of their positions. It’s almost easier to say, “I don’t know enough about him or her,” and just go with the best-known candidate, ignoring the other choices as though they never even existed.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders align on some issues, such as funding public education, but the nuances of their proposals are hard to sort out among all the other noise in the election. To be informed, it is not enough to know how those two are different from each other — one also must know how different they are from the other three or four on their own side. Not to mention the 16 on the Republican side, who all have their own specific (or not…) proposals about, say, education policy.

One might know Donald Trump and George Bush both advocate similar tax laws on corporations, but attempting to understand the differences is daunting when one first has to figure out what the other 14 Republicans propose on the topic. It’s difficult to sort out the candidates, let alone arrive at the

point where we can assess their differences, leaving voters more likely to wonder if theirs is the “correct” choice.

Iyengar’s study is illustrative in the current political world. Like too many choices of jam or cereal or energy bars, or any other products that line our grocery aisles, our current national election is so full of candidates that voters may not even know where to begin to evaluate them. Not to mention, once one takes a position, one, two, or all twenty of the others push him or her to alter the stance for popularity’s sake and further add to the confusion.

One could argue that such competition will ultimately lead to a refined candidate who pulls together the most appealing aspects of the field to make a veritable “super-candidate.” Perhaps that would be true in a world where we had enough time. But we don’t have that luxury. Whether Biden enters the race, another Republican falters and withdraws, or a third-party (please, no more!) emerges, it still seems almost impossibly difficult to choose.

Alas, start sorting your information now. Make notecards, conduct research, differentiate — make, if you will, a list of ingredients, nutritional differences. Try not to be goaded by the large jam display; create for yourself a smaller selection. Look among the few who are not just another name-brand imitation. It is not breadth of candidates we need, so explore, taste and choose based on an understanding of their depths.

E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editor-in-Chief Sophie Murguia Assistant Editor-in-Chief Elaine Jeon Managing News Dan Ahn, Jingwen Zhang Managing Opinion Johnathan Appel, Sunna Juhn Managing Arts and Living Liz Mardeusz, Paola Garcia-Prieto Managing Sports Lauren Tuiskula, Jason Darell, Drew Kiley Managing Design Gabby Bishop

S TA F F Design Editors Katherine Chen, Megan Do, Adele Loomis, Zavi Sheldon, Yrenly Yuan Assistant News Editor Ryan Cenek Assistant Sports Editors Jeremy Kesselhaut, Jason Stein Publishers Emily Ratte, Tia Robinson

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The Amherst Student • September 16, 2015

Opinion

5

On The Pursuit of Liberal Arts Samuel Rosenblum ’16 Columnist At her Convocation address last week, President Martin offered a spirited defense of the liberal arts, noting, “As institutions we are charged with protecting academic freedom and freedom of expression, not merely for the good of individual scholars and scientists or the good of individual institutions, but for the good of society as a whole.” It is a quote that appears to make quite a lot of sense: The mission of our intellectual project stretches beyond the confines of the collective of peer institutions known as small, liberal arts colleges.

She then went on, “Colleges and universities are among the only institutions whose mission is defined by that commitment.” Perhaps this is just a reiteration of the above point, emphasizing the scarcity of institutions that still engage in the liberal arts mission. But it also risks being read in a self-congratulatory way, normatively calling for the reproduction of liberal arts institutions as sites, specifically the only sites, where academic freedom thrives or should be allowed to thrive. In doing so, it denies voice to the myriad ways in which liberal artistry is practiced outside the university.

I used to think that the best method to (attempt to) quantify — if one would want to quantify — the intellectual curiosity cultivated at an undergraduate college was to consider its Ph.D. production rate, i.e. what percent of any graduating class goes on to earn Ph.D.s.

This measure offers a strong defense of liberal arts colleges: Reed, Swarthmore, Carleton and Grinnell rank high on those lists. Between 2003 and 2012, Amherst’s Ph.D. production rate was 12.8 percent, ranking 17th nationwide among all baccalaureate-granting institutions.

However, that measurement reifies the col-

lege’s maintenance of its own monopoly on the free pursuit of knowledge, excluding all the students who choose to engage with and live the liberal arts outside the academy. In other words, if we use this statistic as a measure of Amherst’s effectiveness at instilling the liberal arts in its students, we only consider those students who practice the liberal arts — ask the open question of intellectual thought and freedom — inside the university’s ivory tower.

Our definition of liberal artists becomes those whom the public respects for being scholars and denounces for being eggheads.

Methodological critiques aside, using this as a metric for the strength of a college’s intellectual community circumscribes what the liberal arts do inside themselves: reproducing professors and researchers who in turn prepare more professors and researchers. But, why does this pose a problem? Surely we students of the liberal arts shouldn’t cynically condemn ourselves for being named elitists, rejecting the rare and unique freedoms we enjoy during our four years here?

Well, we shouldn’t. But, we should be incredibly weary of, if not openly resist, the university. As academia has become increasingly corporatized, colleges have become concerned with protecting themselves, ensuring that their public image is pristine. Professors are burdened with more administrative work while losing their authority to pursue study wherever it takes them. Students are increasingly coddled with extracurricular demands, risk waivers and post-graduate propaganda, much of which subdues their own intellectual curiosities and freedoms. And, most forgotten and most needed to be said, staff face increasing job precariousness. Yet, what survives all of this is the institution itself. Amherst survives.

Amherst will continue to live up to its motto,

“Terras Irradient.” We may not.

In focusing on the “vocation” of the academic, we create a narrative whereby intellectual thought risks being seen as a job, which some students can choose to go into when they are older to attempt to reach the slivers of freedom left in the university. In rightly admiring those who chose the academic profession, we forget at times what I noted above: The university is increasingly disciplinary, unfree and illiberal. And more importantly, a rigorous defense of the university as itself will kill the liberal arts.

To radically fulfill President Martin’s defense of the liberal arts, we must rupture the monopoly on knowledge held within spaces like Amherst and consider new public sites where we can engage with thought and action.

Consider the California prison where inmates read about Bobby Sands and start coordinated hunger strikes; the labor union, where Jean Paul Sartre addressed workers (instead of university students); the streets, where Occupy Wall Street protestors listened to Judith Butler and Cornel West.

If we risk romanticizing the university and the experiences of those who enter it (more than half of whom are exploited as expendable labor as adjuncts), we also disregard the ways in which students practice liberal artistry beyond its confines. By beyond the university, I don’t just mean thinking about how one might apply the skills learned here to their profession.

I don’t mean getting paid to “think critically.”

I want us to think about those students who live and go on to live the liberal arts — in how they go on to form friendships, raise children, and act politically recognize when they and their communities are unfree and live a form of freedom.

Let’s bring this back to Amherst: The “lib-

eral arts must be defended” argument invokes a way of life where liberal artistry is a duty or vocation from which we can temporarily divorce ourselves — we can think and act critically some of the time, within the walls of the seminar room, while then adopting ways of living complicit in and uncritical of the very things we spend copious amounts of time and labor critiquing. In other words, we, or at least some of us, talk about racism, class inequality and rape culture in the classroom and even develop insightful and poignant commentaries on those topics, but then fail to recognize how we ourselves perpetuate those oppressions.

Many of us have tried to master the art of thinking, thinking without acting, without changing the ethical, political and social ways we live. However, is that not precisely what liberal artistry is about, a freeing not only in how we think but also how we act, from the ways in which we are unfree? Or perhaps, to ask it better, are the liberal arts only about thought and not action, theory and not praxis? Does it permit us to remain neutral, never having to decide to change anything about what we do because of the truths we’ve discovered?

President Martin’s declaration that the purpose of the liberal arts is “the pursuit of truth wherever it leads,” is an invitation, not to cynically despair the truths we discover, but to lead ourselves to new truth, to change and reimagine the unjust structures, institutions, and phenomena that we really only want to study and not live. It is furthermore an invitation to rupture the boundaries which the almost mechanical reproduction of this institution creates: between those who go into academia and those who don’t; between the classroom as a space for serious thought and the dorm as a place for fun and play; between our lives as thinkers and our thoughts as life.

Taking Ourselves Seriously: A Response Sam Keaser ’17E Columnist During my second semester at Amherst, I spent most of my Friday nights at Rao’s Coffee. Around 7 p.m., I would head to town and spend a few hours working on transfer applications to colleges that, however vaguely, offered a better social scene. Or at least, offered something more like the social scene that I was looking for. I was unhappy at Amherst, and I was lonely at Amherst. It wasn’t clear then, and it isn’t clear now, that my unhappiness wasn’t directly and inextricably tied to my loneliness.

Professor Thomas Dumm’s recent article “Taking Yourself Seriously” in the Amherst Disorientation Guide, which was distributed to first-years during orientation and is available to all students online, covers, among other things, widespread campus loneliness of the sort I felt during my first year at the college. His exact point on the matter is a bit hard to pin down, but essentially he argues that loneliness, contrary to how it is currently being sold to us by the Office of Student Affairs, isn’t something to be overcome, but is an experience to be accepted. “There is,” he writes, “in fact no cure for [loneliness].”

Rather, “[it] is itself a fundamental part of the contemporary human condition.” Loneliness, he argues, can “lead to a deep and thoroughly wonderful transformation of one’s life.”

To a degree, Professor Dumm’s definition, or redefinition, of loneliness makes sense. Being alone and unpreoccupied offers valuable time for personal self-reflection and critical examination. These are things colleges and universities — and especially institutions that support the value of the

liberal arts — should encourage in their stu- because their experiences of loneliness were dent bodies. If we leave Amherst no more shot through with dysphoria. In this context, conscious of our surroundings and ourselves it makes no sense to discuss accepting lonelithan when we arrived, haven’t we missed an ness, because the moment it becomes acceptopportunity for personal growth? Perhaps ed, it is no longer negatively connoted, and more importantly, Proso is no longer loneliness. fessor Dumm attempts to What I want to suggest, draw a distinction between then, is not that we should While solitude and loneliness and despair, outright reject the value of self-reflection are with the former being cameditative loneliness that indispensable to the pable of and likely neces“Taking Yourself Serioussary for promoting critical ly” suggests, but that we broader academic self-examination and the should frame it within a and social goals latter being “toxic.” Lonebroader concern of taking at the college, it liness becomes dangerous ourselves seriously. While is important that when it is perceived as a solitude and self-reflection they exist within perpetual, inescapable state are indispensable to the of being. broader academic and soa context of a The issue with Profescial goals at the college, it community that sor Dumm’s conception of is important that they exist takes itself, and the loneliness has to do with within a context of a comrelations between the context within which munity that takes itself, members and he bases his definition; that and the relations between is, the context of the recent members and groups withgroups within itself, campus survey on mental in itself, seriously. The seriously. health and wellness. With first step toward this is, 76 percent of Amherst stuI think, rejecting the nodents reporting to have felt tion that loneliness of the “very lonely” over the course of last year, the sort exposed by the survey is acceptable in issue of loneliness is less a theoretical than any capacity. There is absolutely no excuse a practical, salient issue for our campus. Al- for our community so seriously failing over though the survey did not define loneliness, three-fourths of its members. And it is the it seems likely that most students who indi- community, not the general administration cated having felt very lonely were not sug- or the Office of Student Affairs specifically, gesting that they had experienced times of that bears the responsibility for such pervadeep personal reflection. Rather, what they sive loneliness. We have to do better. were indicating was probably something Prescriptive, comprehensive solutions to more in line with common, everyday under- fight loneliness and build community are standings of loneliness — they were unhap- rarely well received or particularly effecpy, alienated and despairing. They were lone- tive. Nevertheless, while I won’t pretend to ly in a way they could not accept or cultivate know the solution to the problem, I do think

“

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there’s one fairly easy and important way to begin to chip away at the alienation often seen and felt on campus: increased upperclassman engagement. As Amherst students get older, we have a tendency to withdraw ourselves from the more general and public life of the college to spend more time with preexisting friend groups and on individual projects. While neither of these is a problem in and of itself, they often have the effect of reducing the number of junior and senior students that first-years and sophomores have opportunities to interact with. In doing so, we curtail the possibility of cultivating meaningful relationships and mentorships among students of different class years, relationships that were vital to me, and many other students who I’ve spoken with, in beginning to feel as though I had a place within the Amherst community. These were the relationships that brought us out of our loneliness. So, simply put, as seniors and juniors at Amherst, we need to take more seriously our own role in cultivating a meaningful community. Get to know new students on campus: Grab coffee with them, give them advice when they need it and listen to them when they don’t. You may even make a few new friends along the way.

Professor Dumm asks that we take ourselves seriously. I agree. But I disagree that the best way to do so is to resign ourselves to a fate of loneliness, however defined.

Communicating with one another, pushing through the feeling of alienation from our peers, is not and will never be easy, but if we are to take what we think and feel seriously, we ought to try. We live within the contemporary condition and so it is ours to shape — let’s make it one of vibrant community, not one of resigned separation.

Arts&Living

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

The Powerhouse hosts a variety of events both during the week and on weekends. Art exhibits, music performances and more take place in the Powerhouse.

Take a Breather: Campus Entertainment Options at Amherst Paolo Garcia-Prieto ’18

Managing Arts & Living Editor Welcome to Amherst College, where the struggle is ever-present and stress seems to be your permanent roommate. But when the readings, exams and papers start to suffocate you, there are lots of places on campus to go for a much-deserved break.

There will always be a chance to laugh, dance, relax and/or support your fellow classmate’s artistic talents somewhere on campus. However, the inundation of fliers and Facebook event posts may seem overwhelming, so I compiled a list of popular campus events to try out at least once. If you’re a first-year, this list can serve as a primer to entertainment on campus. If you’ve been at Amherst longer, you might spot a new event to attend.

Mr. Gad’s House of Improv: Feeling the Monday blues? Gad’s performs in the Friedmann Room (on the second floor of Keefe Campus Center) every Monday night at 10 p.m., the perfect time to take a break from stressing out over the week’s course readings. The group’s quick wit and musical numbers will have you in stitches, and your anxieties about the rest of the week will melt away — at least for an hour. If you’re interested in improvisational comedy, Gad’s offers workshops, and they hold auditions once a semester to find new members for their team.

Dance and Step at Amherst College: Pretty much everyone on campus can attest to the hype surrounding DASAC. Once a semester, some of the most talented dancers on campus treat us with a weekend full of lively shows featuring original hiphop, contemporary dance and stepping.

The dimly lit Friedmann Room transforms into an electric stage for students to perform dynamic routines and spark wild crowd reactions. Dancers come from all corners of campus. No matter what your major, you can join this company of entertainers if you have the talent.

Coffee Haus at Marsh: Marsh, the arts theme house on campus, hosts open mic

nights called “Coffee Haus” about once a month, during which students can showcase their musical talents, recite spoken word poetry or perform pretty much any sort of artistic act. An intriguing showcase of varying talents, Coffee Haus provides a welcome escape from the sometimes tedious college routine.

Theater at Amherst: Theater and dance majors produce multiple plays every semester and any student is welcome to audition or volunteer to work backstage.

Productions range from Shakespearean plays to interpretive dance pieces to hardhitting portrayals of social injustice. More likely than not, you’ll know someone who’s in a show, and although you may feel like you have no time to spare, or you’ve never really been into plays, it’s worth the time to support the hardworking theater and dance majors and their casts. Keep an eye out for auditions at the beginning of each semester.

musical groups set to come to campus.

Also, don’t miss “Music at Schwemm’s,” when jazz groups come to play relaxing music while you study and snack in Keefe.

The Powerhouse hosts a variety of events including visual art displays, cultural showcases, fashion shows and visiting speakers.

Events such as the African and Caribbean Student Union’s “EXPO-losion,” a cultural arts and style exhibition, was one of the highlights of my freshman year. Also make sure not to miss La Causa’s “Voices” event, when poets and spoken word artists from all around the country perform. It is one of the biggest poetry events in Massachusetts.

The Powerhouse may seem like too long a trek from the freshman quad on weekdays, but it provides a really cool space for a variety of art forms.

Besides the events put on by students, you cannot miss campus-wide activities like the Fall Festival. Free food, music and inflatable slides? What better study break could you ask for? The college goes “all out” for these events, although the Winter Carnival is susceptible to weather-related cancellation.

The town of Amherst also has occasional events such as the “Back to School” day, when various local businesses give away merchandise and coupons.

If it seems like there’s absolutely nothing to do here at Amherst, you’re probably not looking hard enough. Even if it’s just taking a walk through the bird sanctuary, make sure you allow yourself time to get outside, breathe some fresh air and remind yourself that there’s life outside of your classroom and dorm room.

Sporting Events and Purple Pride: You’ve probably noticed by now that a large percentage of Amherst students are involved in athletics. Sporting events are a good way to get outside, socialize and support your classmates. There’s guaranteed to be some sort of game every weekend, and if you’re lucky, you’ll spot Amherst’s new cheer squad, Purple Pride, hyping up the crowd.

No cheerleading experience is required to join this group, just a smile and a loud voice.

Music at Amherst: If sports games aren’t your thing, then perhaps you’ll enjoy one of Amherst’s many music events held throughout the school year. Besides the student symphony and orchestra performances, Amherst also has a concert series in which various artists come to perform on campus at little or no charge for students. I’ve accidentally entered a worldfamous gospel choir’s concert while walking back from town, and it was one of the coolest experiences of my first year at the college. If you look up the “Music at Amherst College Series” on the Amherst website, you’ll find a list of the variety of

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

Students play a game during the 2014 Fall Festival, held on Valentine Quad.

Arts & Living 7

The Amherst Student • September 16, 2015

Long-Awaited “Badlands” Proves Halsey a Young Artist to Watch Evan Paul ’18 Staff Writer Ashley Frangipane, better known by her stage name, Halsey, recently stormed into the music scene with a near-shocking amount of gusto and dedication to her craft. Her first full-length album, “Badlands,” is the latest result of that dedication.

Halsey’s career began when she posted a version of her single “Ghost” to her personal SoundCloud page, which eventually led to her record deal.

Following her first single release, Halsey went on to drop an EP titled “Room 93,” which was met with rave reviews from critics and fans alike.

She then released her debut album “Badlands” through Astralwerks record label in August of this year.

Much like other artists under the same label — including Sia, Phoenix and The Kooks — Halsey’s music style boldly and unabashedly covers a large span of genres.

Despite her versatility and fearlessness when it comes to exploring new musical territory, Halsey has managed to cultivate a signature style that is uniquely her own, both musically and visually.

But Halsey’s boldness is not limited to just her music. In the past few months, Halsey has become known for her tendency to speak on issues she feels passionate about, no matter how controversial.

She has used her background as a biracial woman to inform her discussion of race and recent social justice issues.

She has also been very outspoken on Twitter about women’s rights.

Halsey joins an ever-expanding group of celebrities who are not afraid to take a stand for their beliefs, via social media and their work.

As for “Badlands,” the debut record shows Halsey’s undeniable talent. Her breathy, almost hoarse voice, mixed with the often cacophonous, slightly overbearing synthesizers and heavy bass, makes the album sound complex despite the somewhat simplistic lyrics she sings.

I think that’s what most people find appealing about Halsey: Lyrically, she is similar to artists like Banks and Sia, but

the delivery and production of her songs are truly unique. This is partly a result of Halsey’s personal and business relationship with famed producer Lido, who has worked with both Ariana Grande and Cashmere Cat. Despite working with famed producers, Halsey has retained the distinctivness and originality of her sound, without the help of a single featured artist on her album, Halsey has done what only few upand-coming musicians have dared to do on their debut records: to stand alone.

Fortunately, this decision worked well for Halsey, as “Badlands” is sure to go down as one of the best albums of the year.

Best tracks on the album: “Castle”: The opening track of “Badlands” sets the stage perfectly for the rest of the album. There are creepy choir singing, Halsey’s signature hoarse vocals and a drum beat that’s just fast enough to make you sway along.

As she sings about being “sick of being poised,” Halsey makes it clear that she won’t be taking no for an answer.

She’s not afraid to head “straight for the castle,” if that’s what it takes to get what she wants.

“Roman Holiday”: Perhaps the only song that could truly be called “fun” on this album, “Roman Holiday” is a great road trip song because it’s perfect to sing along to.

It tells the story of a relationship that never had the “timing quite right,” but was worthwhile nonetheless. “Roman Holiday” also breaks up the album efficiently, as it offers an upbeat alternative to the generally slower-paced tracks on the rest of “Badlands.”

“Colors”: If you know anything about Halsey, then you understand that color is important to her: She’s known to sport both hair and clothing in any hue of the rainbow.

This song beautifully encompasses the artist’s fascination with color while telling a heartbreaking love story.

“Gasoline”: Brutally honest and a bit

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The musically fearless Halsey’s album goes heavy on sythesizers and bass. depressing, “Gasoline” is perhaps the best track on “Badlands.” This song’s lyrics are nothing short of blunt: Halsey croons about being “low on self-esteem / so you run on gasoline.” Whereas the instrumentals in the background work against Halsey’s singing on other tracks, the background music couples with her vocals perfectly on “Gasoline.” In fact, you could say that these instrumentals add ghostliness to the song, which lends to its overall melancholy tone.

“Control” “I’m meaner than my demons,” Halsey sings on this track. Of all of the songs on the album, “Control“ might be the only one with subdued background instrumentals. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not that the song lacks the

strong synthesizers Halsey is known for, but on this track, the accompanying music doesn’t seem to be in competition with her singing, as is often the case throughout the album.

Although the aforementioned tracks are arguably the best on the album, the entire debut is strong, especially if you pay particular attention to Halsey’s lyrics. The artist seems to bare her soul on “Badlands,” which makes it a personal experience for the listener, too.

If you’re looking for a set of songs to blast while you put the final touches on your room or to entertain you during your walk to class, “Badlands” is an atmospheric record worth checking out.

Kid Stuff: Children’s Book Illustrators Showcased in Northampton Samantha O’Brien ’18 Contributing Writer For many of us, childhood is a time of innocent detachment from the woes of adult life.

For children, anything is possible; the world feels like a magical place even on the dullest days.

But that doesn’t mean that childhood is free from darkness. As Stephen King puts it in “’Salem’s Lot,” “There is no group therapy or psychiatry or community social services for the child who must cope with the thing under the bed or in the cellar at night, the thing which leers and capers and threatens just beyond the point where vision will reach.” Believing in everything is both a blessing and a curse.

I was reminded of this unsettling fact during my recent trip to the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, where the “Illustration” exhibit causes these complicated childhood emotions to resurface. This exhibit displays the original artworks of dozens of famous children’s books illustrators, including but not limited to Dr. Seuss, John Bemelmans Marciano (of the “Madeline” series), Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle and Trina Shart Hyman (of “Saint George and the Dragon”).

I found myself thinking about children’s

books in a new way. These books capture the essence of childhood, and the artworks within the texts are no small contributors to the emotional quality that these treasured works hold.

In the spirit of learning to read, the word usage is limited, frank and often monosyllabic. Yet what the written tale leaves out, the illustrated one completes and enhances. Illustrations anchor children’s stories in a fantasy world in which anything is possible — this, ironically, does not make the stories any less honest.

A good portion of the exhibit was dedicated to the prolific artistry of Theodore Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss. I tend to think of him foremost as a writer — a brilliant one — but in many ways, thinking of him as only a writer ignores the full extent of his gift. Within this exhibit, I came across works featuring some familiar characters, including Horton conversing with his Who, the “Cat in the Hat” and the notorious Grinch.

I saw sketches of Sam I Am during various stages of his green eggs and ham sales pitch and the Lorax perched atop a lone Truffula tree. Other artworks, however, featured characters that I knew not to be specifically tied to any one of his books.

Regardless, these works of art managed to capture the indescribably twisted spirit that

runs through all of his stories.

One in particular that stood out was the painting titled “Cat From the Wrong Side of the Tracks.” It depicts a cat, animated by a ghastly luminescence, posed in front of a snake-shaped pool table. He possesses a maniacal, humanlike quality that many of Seuss’s characters are known to have. The cat is as dreadful as he is amicable. (Remind you of any other cats in the Seussian collection?)

Overall, there is a reiteration in these paintings of what earned Geisel his fame — fictional animals and sceneries, absurd yet light-hearted experimentation with color and a gentle nudge towards certain darker messages about the fate of humanity (what will we do when all the trees are gone?!) Bear in mind that these messages do resonate with young readers more than adults often give them credit for.

Despite the fact that Hyman and Marciano are artists with less name recognition than Geisel or Sendak, I instantly recognized their illustrations. To be clear, the specific paintings were entirely new to me.

However, I had unmistakably seen these worlds before, these mystical alternate realities that can only be attributed to the hands of a very gifted children’s book illustrator. In a strange way, these worlds seemed to belong

to me.

Marciano’s painting, “Madeline and the Cats of Rome,” created a Rome reminiscent of his renditions of Paris — candy-colored buildings, oval-faced schoolgirls and an imperfectly sketched sun.

Curated by gallery owner Richard Michelson, the R. Michelson Galleries offer a variety of additional exhibits. I will be sure to examine them in more detail on a second or third trip.

Needless to say, the one gallery I ventured into did a remarkable job of recreating the nightmarish daydream of childhood. As children, we lack vocabulary for the things that make a childhood so scary, yet wonderful and magical at the same time.

The monsters that live under our beds, whether they are friendly or menacing, are gently dismissed by our loved ones and eventually, we grow up.

Revisiting the artwork from our favorite childhood stories has the powerful capacity of reorienting us back to a darker, messier time in our lives, as well as a more boundless and majestic one.

I’d highly recommend a visit to R. Michelson Galleries’ “Illustration” exhibit for anyone with a mild case of nostalgia — or anyone merely interested in day tripping through some psychedelic art.

Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • September 16, 2015

Study Abroad Profile: Gabby Edzie ’17 Checks in From Sydney

Image courtesy of Chris Tamasi ‘15

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Stunning views like this one of Sydney Harbor are commonplace for Gabby Edzie ’17, who is spending her semester studying at the University of Sydney.

Liz Mardeusz ’16 Managing Arts & Living Editor Studying abroad is a junior year rite of passage for many Amherst students. I check in with Gabby Edzie ‘17, an English major at the college who began her study abroad journey in August.

She engages with both fellow American students and Australians while spending her fall semester at the University of Sydney. She shares her insights about choosing a program and a location, navigating Australia’s slower pace of life, dealing with time differences and catching on to Australian slang.

Q: What city are you studying in, and what program are you doing? How did you choose where you wanted to spend your semester?

A: I’m studying abroad in Sydney, Australia through the Arcadia University program. It actually took me quite a while to decide on an abroad program, and in the end I was deciding among Cape Town, Rome and Sydney.

My favorite memory of traveling is when I went to South Africa, but I wanted to go somewhere I’d never been to, so I decided against Cape Town. Europe is obviously an awesome place to study, because it’s so easy to travel around to different countries, but I ended up wanting to go somewhere that I otherwise might never make it to, so I ended up on the other side of the world. I also kept in mind how I could leave my comfort zone. I have quite a few friends that chose countries in Europe, including Italy, and I wanted to be somewhere where I barely knew anyone — where I’d have to meet new people. Also, the beaches aren’t horrible.

Q: Do you speak the native language of your host country?

What has the language transition been like?

A: I wish I could say yes, but the Australian accent is practically a foreign language. It’s been cool picking up on Australian slang, but I’d be lying if I said it sounds equally as charming in an American accent. The American hard “r” sound at the end of “cheers” is enough to ruin any happy hour. Besides imitating me in a southern accent (I’m from Massachusetts) the Australians are really helpful with teaching their lingo. I was quick to figure out that instead of “what’s up” or “how are you,” Aussies always ask “how ya goin?” I was also quick to figure out that I shouldn’t respond “I’m walking.”

Q: What is your living situation like?

A: Most Australian university students live at home. Those who live on campus live in really beautiful buildings that are referred to as “colleges.” The colleges are like the eating clubs you’d find at some American schools. There are also some apartments near the university and a place called the “Sydney University Village,” which is suite style living that houses some Australian students and quite a few international students. I live in the village, and it’s been very conducive to meeting an array of fun people. It’s kind of like living in the social dorms, minus the stale beer smell.

Q: How do you spend your days in your host city? Is your school schedule busy, or do you have time to explore?

A: I actually lucked out and only have class from Monday to Wednesday, so I have a ton of free time. I’m a 15-minute bus ride from the city, which makes day trips really easy. It’s just starting to warm up here, so I’m spending more and more days at the beach.

Q: What kind of classes are you taking?

A: I’m an English major, so I’m taking one English class that focuses on classic American literature, a history class that’s an introduction to indigenous Australia, an art/film history course that looks at the modernist period and a class called “Sex, Race, Rock in the USA.” That last one has been really interesting, especially because I’m the only American in the class — it’s funny to hear Australian students speak about American ideals, and it’s even funnier when they turn and look to me for confirmation.

Whenever we split into groups to discuss the present topic, my partners disregard the class conversation to ask me about gun control, religion and Twinkies.

Photo courtesy of Gabby Edzie ’17

Edzie lounges on the steps of the Sydney Opera house and makes a new friend in the process.

“Sydney has a really cool music scene,” she said.

Q: Do you have a favorite place to go to in your host city, like a neighborhood or a square you particularly like?

A: There’s a neighborhood called “Surry Hills,” which is awesome.

It’s a pretty artsy area, so there are tons of cool galleries and cafés.

I did an art tour with my program last week, which was great.

We visited the gallery of the Australian artist Brett Whiteley. His work was really avant-garde and explored some interesting concepts. The gallery also had the late artist’s untouched workspace, including the albums he was listening to at the time and a wall of quotes and phone numbers. There’s also a gallery called “the White Rabbit Gallery,” which features contemporary Chinese artists. The newest exhibition, “Paradise Bitch,” was unreal — there was a room filled just with smoke and lasers.

Q: What is your favorite Australian meal? What kind of cuisine do you eat in your host country?

A: A lot of the food I’ve found here is what you’d find in the U.S.,

just with different names and more meat. It seems random, but there is a lot food voted “world’s best” in Australia. Aside from 100 Thai restaurants, my street has this year’s world’s best gelato, which is incredible.

The voted world’s best pizza is also a flight away in Melbourne, so unfortunately I might be increasing my carbon footprint quite a bit while I’m here. I think one of the hardest parts of being abroad has been coming to terms with the fact that a hot dog is just a sausage on a piece of bread, and Domino’s closes at 9:45 p.m. and its pizza tastes like cardboard.

Q: Have you encountered difficulties in adjusting to a new culture? What’s different about your host country than what you experience in the U.S.?

A: It sounds ridiculous but it’s actually kind of hard to adjust to how easygoing everyone is, especially as a speed-walker.

Australia is also a pretty expensive place to live in. In terms of keeping in touch with my family and friends back in the U.S., the drastic time change has also been rough. I’m writing this at 7 p.m. and it’s 5 a.m. at home. Also, spiders.

Q: Are there other Amherst students participating in your program or studying in your host city? What has that been like?

A: There are two other Amherst students in my program, which has been great. I wasn’t very close to them at Amherst, and it’s been really cool getting to know them here. Having them around is also super comforting, like a part of Amherst is here with me.

Q: Have you had the opportunity to travel to other cities or countries? Describe that experience.

A: I started off in Melbourne, which I liked a lot — it feels more European than Sydney. I’m headed to Byron Bay this weekend, which has more of a hippie vibe to it, and in two weeks, I’m taking off for a trip around the east coast.

Q: Why would you recommend your program, or studying abroad in general, to younger Amherst students?

A: Australians are extremely friendly and they genuinely want to make sure you’re having a good time. I’ve been granted a lot of opportunities to get to know them, as I’m attending an Australian university, rather than an abroad program with solely Americans.

All the cities in Australia have a different, unique vibe, so there’s also a place for everyone. The proximity to amazing countries like Thailand and New Zealand is great, too. Sydney also has a really cool music scene, which is obvious pretty much everywhere you go. You’d have to hunt through obscure blogs in the U.S. to find the songs they play in the grocery store down the street. And most importantly, Australia is the place to go to if you love adventure; three out of four of my friends have already jumped out of a plane.

Q: What do you miss about Amherst? What’s different between your life abroad and your Amherst experience?

A: I’m at a huge university, so it’s hard not to miss the small community of Amherst. That’s actually been accentuated a lot by other American students. Amherst students complain a lot about the social life on campus, but stories of other American universities and colleges have been a reminder of how lucky I am to go to a school where I not only recognize, but also have the opportunities to know nearly everyone.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

The Amherst Student • September 16, 2015

Sports 9

Volleyball Posts Undefeated Weekend at Wildcat Invitational

Photo by Janna Joasainte ‘17

After a strong start, the Amherst women’s volleyball team looks to continue its winning ways this week.

Drew Kiley ’18 Managing Sports Editor The Amherst College women’s volleyball team (4-0) started the season in dominant fashion, defeating four non-conference opponents in the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Johnson & Wales University on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11 and 12.

With first-years Hayes Honea and Lauren Reppert, the Firedogs appeared in midseason form. “It was obvious at the start of preseason that everyone worked hard during the offseason and summer”, senior Nicole Carter said.

Hayes brings great defensive consistency, and Lauren has brought her powerful offensive attack on both the outside and right side.”

In Friday’s season opener against Bridgewater State, the Firedogs cruised to victory in straight sets (25-7, 25-15, 25-18). The match displayed Amherst’s depth, as Bridgewater could not respond to the Firedogs’ balanced attack.

Lizzie Ahern ’16 led Amherst with nine kills, and Marialexa Natsis ’18 recorded eight.

Maggie Danner ’17 and Nicole Gould ’17 added seven kills each while Libero Katie Warshaw ’16 led the defensive effort with 15 digs.

Nicole Carter ’16 recorded 19 assists, and Kate Bres ’17 added 12 helpers in the victory.

Amherst then took on Roger Williams University, where Carter led them to a four set victory (25-17, 25-17, 22-25, 25-12). The senior recorded 41 assists, 16 digs and four service aces in a dominant performance.

Ahern and Danner recorded 14 kills each in the victory, while Gould added 11. In addition to Carter’s 16 digs, Warshaw, Asha Walker ’18, and first-year Hayes Honea recorded 13, 10 and nine digs, respectively.

Up two sets to none and 16-11 in the third set, the Firedogs surrendered the third stanza

after Roger Williams went on a 10-2 run. Amherst, however, responded with their best set of the match, jumping out to a 6-2 lead and finishing on a 9-0 run.

The Firedogs then returned to the court against Salve Regina University, continuing their dominance in another straight-sets victory (27-25, 25-13, 25-20).

Bres led the team with 32 assists in the victory, while Warshaw recorded 12 digs. Gould floored 10 kills, while Danner added eight and Ahern seven.

In the final match of the tournament, the Firedogs faced undefeated hosts Johnson & Wales, winning in four sets (25-17, 25-14, 2426, 25-18).

Ahern played another stellar match with 12 kills on 24 attack opportunitities, while Danner and Natsis also recorded double-digit kills with 12 and 10, respectively. Carter led Amherst with 37 assists. Warshaw claimed 20 digs and Kelci Keeno ’17 added 12 digs in the victory.

For their efforts, Ahern was named one of the tournament’s two most outstanding players and Danner was named to the all-tournament team.

“We really hit the ground running and were able to progress in a way that I hope will show up in our first NESCAC match-ups,” Warshaw said. “This season, in particular, it’s important to get off to a winning start because we’re matching up against two of the toughest NESCAC teams opening weekend. That being said, non-conference matches are just as important in order to qualify for postseason play.”

The Firedogs return to action this week with a match at non-conference opponent Western New England on Wednesday, Sept.

16 at 7 p.m. Amherst then faces a pair of NESCAC opponents at home with matches against Connecticut College at 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept.

18 and Tufts on Saturday, Sept. 19.

Hussein Leads Amherst to Second Youth Leads Men’s Golf at Place Finish at UMass Invitational Williams Fall Invitational Jason Darell ’18 Managing Sports Editor The men’s cross country team got off to a strong start at the UMass Invitational last weekend. Facing a six-team field from Division I, the team amassed 59 points and finished second overall behind the University of Connecticut.

The biggest story of the meet was sophomore Mohamed Hussein’s first overall finish in the 6K. He ran the race in 19:28 and finished a full four seconds ahead of any others in the 91-person field. Because of this performance, Hussein was recognized as both the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association men’s cross country national athlete of the week and the NESCAC performer of the week. After a strong debut season last year, the sophomore looks to have improved during the offseason.

With this performance, Hussein establishes himself as an early favorite for NESCAC and national titles this season.

“The way I look at it is that my strong form is a continuation of a solid year last year,” Hussein said. “It’s really encouraging to me to have been able to showcase my growth from last year at the race. I was looking for consistency and growth from last year, and I proved to myself that I’m stronger and fitter than I was a year ago. Of course, it feels good to be rewarded for my efforts but more importantly, I passed one test out of many, and I’m taking it one day at a time.”

Hussein was not, however, the only Amherst runner who put in a strong performance. Seniors Dan Crowley and Jeff Seelaus finished with times of 19:51 and 19:56, good for seventh and 11th overall.

“I think we really showcased our depth

at this meet,” captain Crowley said. “It obviously would’ve been nice to get the team win, but a second place finish and having the individual winner in a race where every other team is Division I is a pretty strong start to the year.”

In addition to these runners, four others factored into the Jeffs’ final score. Sophomore Craig Nelson finished with a 19:58, earning 13th place at the meet.

Brothers Tucker Meijer ’19 and Raymond Meijer ’17 came next. The first-year ran a time of 20:18, earning 27th place, while the junior finished a mere second behind him in 29th place.

“It’s still so early in the season, but it’s a positive sign for what’s to come that we more than held our own against Division I teams,” Raymond Meijer said. “Everyone’s in a good space where we’re not getting ahead of ourselves and taking things step by step.”

Rounding out the scoring Jeffs was junior Kevin Connors, who finished with a time of 20:25 to earn 32nd place.

The second-place team finish represents a large improvement over last season at the UMass Invitational, where the Jeffs finished in fifth. A strong meet to kick off the year competing amongst Division I powerhouses bodes well for the purple and white’s chances in the NESCAC this season.

Their next meet will be at the Purple Valley Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 26, hosted

by Williams.

Last season Amherst placed fourth out of a field of 21 teams. Sophomores Scott Nelson and Chris Butko will look to improve upon their 5000-meter times of 17:36 and 17:56, respectively while Hussein and others will look to build on this week’s result. The meet is slated to start at 12:30 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Captain James Line ’16 shot for a two day total of 157, finishing 31st overall.

Lauren Tuiskula ’17 Managing Sports Editor The Amherst men’s golf team opened its 2015 season with a 10th-place finish at the annual Williams Fall Invitational, a tournament hosted at the par-71 Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown.

NESCAC competitor Trinity won the tournament with a team score of 601. Williams, the host team, finished in second place with a 605 combined score. They were followed

by Western New England, who posted a 612 team score.

Amherst posted a 309 score on day one and a 316 on day two to finish with a team total of 625.

First-year Jack Burlison led the Jeffs in his first collegiate tournament. He finished tied for 25th overall with a two-day score of 155 (78-77).

Dan Langa ’18 placed second for Amherst and tied for 27th among the field. He remained consistent over the two-day tournament, shooting impressive back-to-back scores of 78.

Co-captains James Line ’16 and Liam Fine ’17 both finished tied for 31st with a score of 157. Line shot a 76 on Saturday, earning him the lowest one-day score for Amherst, but followed it up with an 81 on Sunday. Fine’s weekend also featured an impressive day one, as he shot a 77 and then an 80 on day two.

Sam Procter ’18 rounded out the scoring for Amherst. He finished with a two-day score of 162 (79-83).

“This past weekend was a step in the right direction for us, but we’re not happy with where we are and are confident that we have the ability to improve and to be competitve in the NESCAC this year,” sophomore Mateo Wiesner said. “In terms of how the season looks: I think we have a talented roster with tons of potential for success. Our game is in a good place right now, we just need to perform when it counts.”

Amherst will enjoy a week off from competition before returning to play at the Duke Nelson Invitational beginning on Saturday, Sept. 19. Middlebury will host the two-day tournament. The Jeffs finished 18th of 25 at last year’s event.

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • September 16, 2015

Men’s Soccer Kicks Off 2015 Season With Two Decisive Wins Jason Stein ’16 Assistant Sports Editor Men’s soccer began the 2015 season impressively, scoring five goals over two games to move to 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in the NESCAC. Less than five minutes into the Jeffs’ season opener on the road against New England College, Amherst’s offensive attack began to impose its will on the Pilgrims’ defense.

The Jeffs almost scored off a header from junior midfielder Andrew Orozco about four minutes into the contest, but the Pilgrims’ goalkeeper was there to make the save. But less than a minute later, senior striker Nico Pascual-Leone assisted forward Chris Martin ’17 on Amherst’s first goal of the season to put the Jeffs up 1-0 at the 4:52 mark.

For the Pilgrims, midfielder Ronsard Masamba looked their most lively threat.

He fired a pair of shots on net about halfway through the opening period of play, but Senior goalkeeper Thomas Bull proved up to the challenge.

With 15 minutes left in the half, PascualLeone almost responded with an acrobatic attempt that the New England goalkeeper saved.

Forward Aziz Khan ’18 then dribbled down the left side of the box and laced a shot towards the far corner. His attempt beat the goalkeeper but went just wide of the post.

Heading into the halftime break, the Jeffs had a 10-8 edge over the Pilgrims in shot attempts and held a 1-0 lead.

The shot differential between the two teams would grow as the Amherst offense continued to add to its lead while dominating play during the second half.

About five minutes into the second half, Orozco put one past the New England College goalkeeper, off an assist from Martin, to give the Jeffs a 2-0 lead.

In short order, Martin further added to Amherst’s lead when he scored his second goal of the season to put the Jeffs up 3-0, courtesy of an assist from midfielder Bryce Ciambella ’17.

But, the Jeffs’ offense was not finished yet.

Just over 10 minutes into the second half, the Jeffs scored for the third time in the span of about six minutes, giving themselves a commanding 4-0 lead. This time, Martin and Ciambella linked up for the second time, with Ciambella’s second assist facilitating Martin’s third goal of the game.

Remarkably, less than two-thirds of the way through Amherst’s opening contest, Martin had already notched a hat trick and added an assist (for a whopping total of seven points in one game), playing an instrumental role in each of Amherst’s four goals.

Over the final third of the contest, the Jeffs would preserve their 4-0 lead and hand the Pilgrims (who entered play against the Jeffs with a 3-0 record) their first loss of the 2015 season. Overall, the Jeffs finished with 19 shots, and 11 shots on goal while the Pilgrims had 10 total shots, three of which were directed on net.

Defensively, Bull and the Amherst defensive unit was stout. earned its first shutout of the year, as Bull notched three saves in the process.

Coach Justin Serpone was pleased with his team’s efforts.

Against New England College, “the main goal … was to get a shutout and we were able to do that,” Serpone said. “New England College is a good team that will have a great season — it wouldn’t surprise me if they were an NCAA team when it’s all said and done.”

Serpone also highlighted Martin’s individual effort, noting that “Chris joins some great company” among Amherst players who have recorded a hat trick during Serpone’s tenure at Amherst, including Jake Duker ’09 (September 2008 against Suffolk),

James Mooney ’12 (November 2010 in the NCAA tournament against St. Lawrence) and Bubba Van Wie ’15 (October 2013 in the regular season finale against Trinity).

This past Saturday, the Jeffs welcomed Bowdoin to Hitchcock Field for Amherst’s home opener and first NESCAC game of the season in a rematch of the 2014 NESCAC championship game. The game proved to be particularly close and remained scoreless for the majority of play, continuing the trend of scoreless competition in matchups between Amherst and Bowdoin, as both teams failed to score after two overtime periods in the 2014 NESCAC championship game.

Following the first half, the Jeffs and Polar Bears were knotted at zero, as the Amherst defense remained strong and limited the Polar Bears to a pair of shots in the first half. The Jeffs had six shots in the first period and three corner kicks, but were unable to convert on any of these scoring opportunities.

In the second half, the NESCAC rivals traded scoring opportunities, with both teams finishing with seven shots in the second half.

With less than ten minutes remaining in regulation in a scoreless game, forward Jackson Lenhart ’17 sent a tremendous corner kick into the box, which junior defender Cameron Bean headed into the top corner of the net, above the reach of the leaping Bowdoin goalkeeper, to give the Jeffs a 1-0 lead late in a very tightly contested match.

In the final stretch, the Jeffs defense was able to hold off a late attack from the Polar Bears, as Bowdoin had four shot attempts in the closing minutes of the game. With three minutes remaining in regulation, an Amherst foul just outside of the Jeffs’ box gave Bowdoin an opportunity to equalize.

Bowdoing senior forward Andrew Jones put the free kick over the wall and dipping towards the right post. Scrambling to his right, Bull made a spectacular diving save on the strike to preserve the lead for the Jeffs.

With a 1-0 victory over Bowdoin, the Jeffs had the chance to enact some revenge on the Polar Bears, who won the NESCAC championship last year in penalty kicks, after a 0-0 draw through two overtimes, on Hitchcock Field.

On Wednesday night the Jeffs will face off against Western New England (2-3 in 2015) at 4:30 p.m. on the road. Last season against the Golden Bears, the Jeffs trailed for most of the game.Western New England scored a goal early in the first half and held a 1-0 lead midway through the second half. But Amherst eventually notched two late goals in that contest, defeating their non-conference opponent.

“They were beating us for most of our match last year and we needed some heroics to pull out a win,” Serpone said. “I expect more of the same this season.”

On Saturday, Sept. 19, the Jeffs continue NESCAC play with a home matchup against Middlebury (2-0 and 1-0 in the NESCAC) at 2:30 p.m.

Last season, the Jeffs and Panthers played to a 1-1 draw, as both teams scored late goals in regulation to force the game into overtime.

Panthers’ forward Greg Conrad ’17 will be a key player to watch and will demand significant attention from the Amherst defense in this contest, as he enters 2015 as the reigning NESCAC Player of the Year, a first-team All Region honoree, and a thirdteam All American after finishing his 2014 campaign with eight goals and six assists (for a total of 22 points).

On Sunday, Sept. 20, the Jeffs will face Elms College on the road at 2 p.m. Last season, the Jeffs beat Elms 3-0. Bean scored a pair of goals and sophomore forward Kieran Bellew added a goal in the victory. Elms is 1-3 on the season and in the middle of a three-game losing streak after earning a 3-2 win against Rhode Island College in the team’s season opener.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Mohamed Hussein ’18 Favorite Team Memory: Coming second in the NCAA regional meet last fall and demolishing Williams in the process Favorite Pro Athlete: Zinedine Zidane Dream Job: Become the president of Somaliland Pet Peeve: Not having smoothies in Val Favorite Vacation Spot: Somaliland Something on Your Bucket List: Attending an Arsenal game live in the Emirates stadium Guilty Pleasure: Chocolate drop Hershey’s Favorite Food: Camel meat Favorite Thing About Amherst: The people (special shoutout to my ACSU brothers and sisters) How He Earned It: Competing in a field of 91 runners, 67 of which were Division I runners, Hussein nabbed first place with a time of 19:28 at the UMass Invitational this past weekend. He was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association player of the week for the finish as well as being honored with the title of NESCAC Performer of the Week.

Maggie Danner ’17 Favorite Team Memory: Team dinners at Johnny’s Tavern Favorite Pro Athlete: Mike Trout Dream Job: Not sure Pet Peeve: When people cut me in Grab ‘n’ Go — no one gets in the way of me and my food Favorite Vacation Spot: Skiing in Colorado Something on Your Bucket List: Road trip across the U.S. Guilty Pleasure: “Total Divas” Favorite Food: Pepperoni and sausage pizza Favorite Thing About Amherst: the fall How She Earned It: Danner helped the volleyball team go undefeated at the Wildcat Invitational this past weekend.

Her best game came against Roger Williams. She recorded 14 kills on 32 attack opportunities. She also helped to contribute six blocks in that match. The junior was also stellar against Johnson & Wales, posting 12 kills in that game.

Danner was named to the all-tournament team for her impressive performance.

Women’s Cross Country Opens Season with Competitive UMass Invitational

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Tess Frenzel ’17 finished in fifth place among the competing Jeffs.

Jason Darell ’18 Managing Sports Editor This past weekend, the women’s cross country team started its season at the UMass Invitational. The team finished in fifth place overall as the only Division III school in a sixteam field.

Impressively, the Jeffs had seven runners that contributed to the final score. Captain Savanna Gornisiewicz ’17 was first among Amherst runners with a time of 18:31, good for 11th place in the 82-person field.

Right behind her was first-year Lizzy Lacy, who finished her first race in the purple and white in a time of 18:32.

Sophomore Veronica Rocco crossed the finish line in 19:53, and senior captain Betsy Black finished in 20:04.

Rounding out the scoring runners of the purple and white were juniors Tess Frenzel, Cat Lowdon and Cara Lembo. They

finished with times of 20:12, 20:15 and 20:17, respectively.

Gornisiewicz was very encouraged by her team’s results this past weekend: “It was a great start to the season and I’m really proud of how we all competed as a team. I’m excited to see how we’ll all come together this year.”

“It was all Division I teams at the UMass Invitational so there was a lot of very good competition,” Cara Lembo ’17 said. “It was good to get a race under our belt so we’re ready for Williams next weekend. I think that we’ll all be ready to race against some strong NESCAC teams.”

With that first race out of the way, the team returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 16 at the Purple Valley Invitational hosted by Williams College.

Last season, the team finished fifth out of a 24-team field, with Gornisiewicz finishing eighth overall in the 6,000-meter race. The invitational is set to begin at 1 p.m.

The Amherst Student • September 16, 2015

Sports

Women’s Soccer Picks Up Three Wins to Open Season with Undefeated Streak

11

Anthony Fucillo Coach’s Corner Football Quarterbacks Coach/ Recruiting Coordinator

Chris Roll spoke with football assistant coach Anthony Fucillo who is entering his third season with the Amherst football program. Fucillo is familiar with the NESCAC. He spent two of his playing years at Tufts.

Q: Was football always your passion?

A: Football has been a passion of mine since I was child. I grew up in a very athletic family and sports were always a big part of our lives. I played football, hockey and baseball throughout high school but football was always my number one.

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Rachel Abernethy ’16 contributed 16 points last year for the Jeffs.

Virginia Hassell ’16 Staff Writer The 18th-ranked Amherst women’s soccer team kicked off to a strong start capturing a victory in their season opener in an away matchup against Mount Holyoke College and then returning to home action to defeat NESCAC opponent Bowdoin and Springfield College.

At Mount Holyoke, Amherst dominated play, controlling possession of the ball and tempo of play. Mount Holyoke, however, was the first to slot the ball between the posts when Ashleigh Hartsock connected on an assist from Sara Sanau Ruiz in the 17th minute of action.

Although down 1-0 at the half and struggling to find the back of the net, the 15-4 shot advantage seemed to hold promise for what would be a dominant second half for Amherst. Using their offensive dominance as momentum, the composed Amherst squad found their stride minutes into the second half when junior Ashlyn Heller tied the game at 1-1 on an unassisted goal.

It was only a matter of time before Amherst was able to find the back of the net again.

Junior Emily Hester connected with sophomore Hannah Guzzi at the 67:02 mark. The goal would be enough to secure Amherst the 2-1 victory against Mt. Holyoke.

Amherst’s defense proved dominant, allowing only 3 shots on goal, as senior keeper Holly Burwick tallied two saves.

In Saturday’s game against Bowdoin,

Amherst again prevailed, downing their NESCAC opponent 2-0. In the first 44 minutes of play, Amherst and Bowdoin battled in a back-and-forth matchup. With five seconds remaining, first-year Grace Orr made a sensational kick from the right side, slotting the ball into the upper left corner to net her first collegiate goal.

Ahead by one heading into halftime, Amherst topped Bowdoin with a 9-8 advantage in shots and a 3-1 edge in corner kicks.

The Jeffs jumped to a comfortable 2-0 in the 55th minute when first year Maeve McNamara connected with Guzzi to tally her second goal of the year.

Again, Burwick gave a tremendous effort between the posts, making four saves en route to her first shutout of the year.

In Tuesday’s game against Springfield College, Megan Kim ’16 netted Amherst’s two goals en route to a 2-1 victory.

Springfield College got on the board first, however, as Dakota Kelly found the back of the net for the second time this season.

Amherst answered 13 minutes later, as Kim finished a cross from Delancey King ’18 to tie things at one.

Kim provided the game-winner with six minutes left in regulation, gathering a rebound and beating the Springfield College keeper to her right.

Amherst now stands at 3-0 on the season.

They’ll look to continue their winning ways when they host Middlebury at noon on Saturday, Sept. 19.

Q: How did you end up at Tufts?

A: I actually went to Colgate for two years before transferring to Tufts. I looked at a lot of NESCAC schools before choosing Colgate, so I was very familiar with the league.

Q: As a recent star for Tufts football, what’s it like coaching against them now, and what can you tell us about playing and coaching in the NESCAC in general?

A: My first year at Amherst it was a little weird coaching against guys who I was pretty close with, but after a few years it becomes no different than any other week in terms of preparation. However, my father is the wide receivers coach at Tufts, so that game is pretty special to a lot of people in my family. I think for the two of us it’s just week six, another football game.

The NESCAC is a great league to coach in. I have the privilege to coach some of the most bright and hardworking young men I have ever been around. They are driven in all aspects of life, and it makes our jobs easier as coaches.

Q: What drew you into coaching football?

A: As I mentioned before, my father is a football coach as well. He was my high school coach at Winthrop High School and is a member of the Massachusetts High School Football Hall of Fame. He retired in 2006, but was asked to come out of retirement by the former Tufts head coach in 2010. I want to impact people’s lives the same way he did to me and many other players. Coaching football was my dream as a kid, and I am currently living that dream.

Q: For you personally, what is the most

rewarding part of coaching? What’s the most difficult?

A: The most rewarding part of coaching is seeing your players succeed and enjoying their experience. It’s such a great feeling seeing the players graduate and get jobs after college, knowing that football was such a big part of their lives. Winning is a great feeling, but seeing them come back to Amherst after they graduate and finding out what they are doing now is much more rewarding for a coach.

The most difficult is probably telling kids that they aren’t the starter or that someone will be playing in front of them. Especially the kids who work hard and do everything right, but there’s just someone better in front of them.

Q: What’s your favorite football memory as a player? What’s your favorite memory as a coach?

A: My favorite memory as a player is the experience I had playing a college sport. To be able to juggle athletics and academics at a top university is an amazing experience, and it has made me a better person and coach. My favorite as a coach was winning a championship last year with a great group of players. To see their hard work pay off is a wonderful feeling.

Q: Your team lost a strong group of senior leaders and players. How are you going to fill that void this season?

A: We definitely lost a great group of seniors who were not just great football players but great people. They carved a path for the guys below them and we are already seeing guys step up into their roles. We have great captains and seniors this season who have worked hard and now it’s their time to shine and be the leaders of this program.

Q: What can we look forward to this upcoming football season?

A: You can look forward to a great group of young men who will put forth their greatest effort every Saturday.

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Write for the sports section!

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Sports

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

The purple and white were led by first place crowns in the 200 meters by Karen Blake ’17 and in the 10,000

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

With a preseason rank of 13th in the nation, the Jeffs hope to avenge their early NESCAC loss but face tough competition in Keene and Middlebury.

Field Hockey Opens Season 1-1, Looks to Rebound Against Keene State Lauren Tuiskula ’17 Managing Sports Editor Entering the season ranked 13th in the nation, the Amherst College field hockey team handily defeated Five College opponent Mount Holyoke before falling to third-ranked Bowdoin this past Saturday.

The game against Mount Holyoke marked the team’s season opener, and the offense came out strong. Four different Amherst players contributed goals, and the Jeffs took the game by a decisive 5-0 score.

Katie Paolano ’16 quickly put Amherst on the board, collecting her own rebound and finding the back of the net just two minutes into play.

The Mount Holyoke defense responded to the early goal, stymying the Jeffs’ offense for the majority of the remainder of the half. But Sara Culhane ’17 eventually extended the Amherst lead, tallying her first goal of the season at the 28-minute mark.

After the halftime break, the Jeffs continued to impress on the offensive side of the ball. Culhane

again found the back of the net for her second goal of the season in the 44th minute of play. The scoring opportunity came thanks to a well-placed corner pass executed by captain Annie Turnbull ’16.

Turnbull added another assist on Amherst’s fourth goal of the game, this time finding Annika Nygren ’16 in the 55th minute.

Culhane provided the Jeffs’ final goal, giving Amherst the 5-0 win and also earning the junior her second career hat trick.

Keeper Emily Horwitz ’17 made five saves en route to her first shutout of the season.

The Jeffs dominated in all categories, holding a 22-8 advantage in shots and an 11-4 edge in corners.

Moving to conference action, the impressive Jeffs’ offense faltered in a Saturday loss to Bowdoin. Amherst suffered a 4-1 defeat in their home opener.

Both teams enjoyed various scoring opportunities in the early moments of play, but the Polar Bears capitalized first. In the 23rd minute, Rachel Kennedy corralled a loose ball in

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

WEDS GAME SCHE DULE

Men’s Soccer @ Western New England, 4:30 p.m.

Volleyball @ Western New England, 7 p.m.

Field Hockey vs. Keene State, 7 p.m.

front of the net and found Nicole Barieri for the score.

Amherst was able to mount a response soon after, as Paolano found Elizabeth Turnbull ’18 in front of the net off a corner path. Turnbull blasted a strong shot on goal that Bowdoin keeper Clara Belitz narrowly saved.

Before the half was out, Bowdoin added to their lead as Kennedy scored off a corner pass from Kelsey Mullaney.

The Polar Bears retained offensive momentum in the second half, as they extended their lead to three in the 45th minute. Horwitz turned away three consecutive shots before a penalty in the box earned Bowdoin a penalty stroke opportunity. Kennedy converted for her fifth point of the day.

Amherst did eventually get on the board, as Culhane notched her fourth goal of the season just two minutes following Bowdoin’s penalty stroke.

Bowdoin tacked on one more goal with 18 minutes of play remaining. Kimmy Ganong tallied an unassisted score, lifting Bowdoin to the

4-1 victory.

Horwitz tallied 22 saves in the loss but the 32-2 shots differential proved to be too much for the Jeffs to overcome.

“We have a fairly young core and a lot of skill and depth at every position, but we still need to work on supporting each other both defensively and offensively,” Culhane said. “Saturday was tough, but we now have a lot of room for growth.

In order to rebound this week we need to focus on strong off-ball movement, quick passing and communication.”

The team will now look to strengthen those problem areas and turn things arond with a non-conference matchup against Keene State on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Amherst defeated the Owls by a 2-0 score in 2014.

Following the Keene game, the Jeffs return to NESCAC action and will host Middlebury for an 11 a.m. start on Saturday, Sept. 19. Saturday’s game will be crucial for Amherst. The team suffered a 4-1 loss to the Panthers in 2014, as Middlebury went on to compete in the NCAA semifinals.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

FRI

SAT

SUN

Volleyball vs. Connecticut College, 8 p.m.

Women’s Golf Volleyball @ NYU Invitational, TBD vs. Tufts, 2 p.m.

Men’s Golf @ 32nd Annual Duke Nelson Invitational, 9 a.m.

Field Hockey vs. Middlebury, 11 a.m.

Women’s Soccer vs. Middlebury, noon

Men’s Soccer vs. Middlebury, 2:30 p.m.

Women’s Golf @ NYU Invitational, TBD

Men’s Soccer @ Elms, 2 p.m.