JOURNAL

Gaining experience, sharing knowledge

Groups of students in Professor Dr. Katy Lustofin’s Biology 106 lab combed through a cordoned-off patch of grass in front of Erwin Hall in April, searching for as many plant species as they could find. While some of the students asked Lustofin questions about the project or what they were trying to identify, others directed their inquiries to Catherine Wadih ’22, a Biology and Math major and a tremendous asset to the class. “This past year the (teaching assistants) were so critical for making sure that students were following appropriate safety protocols — there’s only so much I can see through Zoom — answering questions when students had them or attracting my attention to Zoom so I could answer questions,” Lustofin says. “And the days when we had no internet — which happened twice this past semester — I would give the intro to the lab in each room and then Cat was essentially the instructor for the room she was in for most of the rest of the class. Honestly, I don’t think we could have done it without the TAs this past year, and Cat was particularly wonderful, as she is very dedicated and proactive about addressing student concerns and confusion.” Lustofin says all Biology majors are required to complete an internship or a tutorship, and Wadih is the fourth TA she has had in her introductory lab. It was important to recruit more TAs for the Biology labs because of social distancing requirements, which meant the labs were split into two classrooms and connected through Zoom. Wadih, who is also pursuing a minor in Gender Studies and Sexuality Studies, thinks graduate school is in her future plans. “I know that in graduate school the chances of me having to serve as a TA again or to even to teach a class are high, so I think that being a TA at this level and working closely with Dr. Lustofin was a really good experience for me,” she Catherine Wadih ’22 helps students identify plant species during a Biology 106 says. “There was definitely a learning curve for me at first as to how to prepare lab. Wadih, a Biology and Math major, completed a tutorship during spring semester with Biology Professor Katy Lustofin. for lab each week, but I think that I got better at it as the semester went on. Dr. Lustofin is really great, and she set a really nice example for me of how a lab like that operates and generally what to expect.”

GI SMITH

Summer reads

At the end of spring semester, Education faculty members Dr. Raven Cromwell and Dr. Amanda Rider and students in the department delivered books and supporting activities to local schools so at-risk children could practice their literacy skills over the summer. The Reading Adventure Packs program will help 300 youngsters maintain and build their literacy skills for the coming school year. As avid readers themselves, Cromwell and Rider are sharing a list of books that they plan to read during the summer:

Denton Little’s Deathdate by Lance Rubin Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (Non-Fiction) The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell (Non-Fiction) The Mayflower by Rebecca Fraser (Non-Fiction) The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (Non-Fiction)

Balancing talents from the lab to the piano

PETER FINGER Sarah McNeer’s final class with Marietta College Piano Instructor Karen Picard Young didn’t look like a typical piano lesson. Sitting outside Gilman Hall during an unseasonably warm April morning, the two talked about Sarah’s next big adventure: moving to Cleveland to begin a Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

“Karen was actually one of the first people I told after I made a decision about which graduate school I would attend, and she was — and is — so excited for me and my future,” McNeer says.

Many know McNeer as an exceptional Biochemistry major and researcher — having earned Phi Beta Kappa and the Laura Scott Etter Prize for research — but she is also known in the Music Department as a hardworking and talented pianist. Having studied piano from third through the 10th grade, McNeer wanted to revive her interest in music as she took on the challenges of being in a difficult major. After the first semester of her freshman year, Marshall Kimball — now-retired Director of Bands — put her in contact with Young.

“Karen turned out to be exactly what I was missing,” McNeer says. “It was a perfect balance of pushing me to be better while also acknowledging that I had other responsibilities with my class work. I was able to enjoy playing again without feeling the pressure to prioritize piano over my coursework or ongoing research project, which often required an extra 10 to 15 hours a week in the lab. Karen was not only accepting, but extremely supportive of my career goals in my field.”

As with all Music 150 students, McNeer was provided 14 weekly private lessons with any instructor on whatever instrument she chose. Those weekly lessons gave McNeer the opportunity to practice difficult pieces and allowed Young to learn more about her student’s work as a science major, “which, for Sarah, meant hearing about what she was growing in petri dishes, and seeing her mind-boggling poster boards as she would prepare for presentations. With the pandemic, I loved hearing her thoughts on the vaccinations and virus.”

“To give an example of how she always went above and beyond,” Young says, “she performed Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1 in the April 2nd Department Applied Recital this semester — this is a five-page difficult piece with polyrhythms (playing eighth notes in the left hand while your right hand plays triplets — this was a new skill for her, and she mastered it well) that she memorized and learned well enough to confidently perform for the department. … Sarah’s goal for this semester was to perform in one of these recitals and I’m proud that she not only achieved that, but she pulled it off with such grace! I’m telling you, she’s amazing.”

As McNeer enters the next phase of her education and her move to another city, she knows her Marietta College experience has prepared her well, “and I’m taking my piano to Cleveland!”

GI SMITH

Enduring agony to reach the finish line

Changing your career direction shortly after investing in and earning a degree in Journalism. Going back to school and accruing more debt. Working in health care just as a global pandemic begins to grip the nation. Battling the same virus that has killed millions of people around the globe, all the while losing your beloved dog to an unexpected and fast-moving illness. Humbling yourself — a once-strong and healthy varsity athlete — to accept help from loved ones and mentors as you struggle with waning strength, depression and anxiety. Krista Tkacz ’09 has overcome all of those obstacles and now is proudly celebrating the fact that she has earned her Master of Science in Nursing from Monmouth University and is now a Board-certified Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner. She also recently signed an offer to begin working as a primary care and women’s health (GYN) nurse practitioner with Southern Jersey Family Medical Center in Pleasantville, New Jersey.

“It’s not just about hard work,” Tkacz says. “It’s about everything else that happens in the process. It’s about finishing.”

RYAN HICKS

RENEE LUDWIG MONTGOMERY

Dr. Richard Knapp ’63 (right) talks with Stevie Craig and Debbie McDonald during the West Virginia Thoroughbred Breeders Association’s annual show.

OFF TO THE Races

Shortly after his horse, Lunar Prayer, took first in the 4 ½ furlongs in 54.04 seconds at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, Dr. Richard Knapp ’63 reflected on how his passion for thoroughbred racing began more than 60 years ago.

“I started going to the racetrack when I was in high school because I was working at a country club in Torrington, Connecticut, which is where I was raised, with a golf pro and a variety of other people,” he says. “On Mondays, the kitchen was closed where I was working and caddying at the golf course, so we would all go to the racetrack.”

After graduating from Marietta and earning his doctorate at the University of Iowa, he kept up with racing but didn’t have the means to be involved with thoroughbreds. As he began prospering in his career at the Association of American Medical Colleges, his involvement in racehorse ownership began to take off. Knapp now owns eight horses outright — two of which are pregnant mares — and has a one-third ownership in eight others.

“Being at the racetrack is a throwback to when we were a much more rural country and a lot of people were around animals,” he says. “The most interesting people I’ve met in my life, I’ve met at the racetrack. There are no uninteresting people at the racetrack — they’re all a little different and I enjoy those folks. I’m also fascinated in trying to pick a winner, trying to find the right sire for the right mare, to produce a fast horse, and I’ve made a lot of friends around the country.”

Knapp admittedly picked a winner when he chose Marietta College after a recruiter visited his high school. His high school classmate, Jim Zeller ’64, also planned to attend Marietta, so their mothers drove the two students to campus in 1959.

“I had an advisor named Jack Prince, who was a prince — he was like a father to me,” Knapp says. “I had no idea what I was going to do. I was a liberal arts major and I went to see Dr. Prince one day and I told him I got three job offers as a salesman. One for the Scott Paper Company, one for the Connecticut General Insurance Company, and one for the Wheeling Steel Company. He said, ‘Richard, you’ll do fine. You’ll be a great salesman and you’ll make a lot of money, but you won’t be very happy.’ Of course, I didn’t understand that.”

Prince told Knapp about a new field called Hospital and Health Administration, and recommended that he attend graduate school. He chose the University of Iowa because it cost $165 per semester for out-of-state students.

“I wanted to do something different, and so I was offered a job at the Association of American Medical Colleges, and it was the lowest-paying job that I was offered but it looked like the most interesting, so I decided to go there, stay a couple of years and see what would happen,” Knapp says. “I stayed there for 40 years and ended up executive vice president for the last 15 or 16 years. I had a wonderful career there; every day was different for me. I knew every medical school dean in the country and a lot of the major teaching hospital CEOs. It was a very interesting and fine job to have.”

Now retired and living mostly in Reston, Virginia, he also spends multiple weeks in Sarasota Springs, New York, and in and around Palm City, Florida, and visits his horses in Charles Town, West Virginia, and Goshen, Kentucky.

“Won some nice races,” he says. “At age 79 it keeps me occupied and mentally alert. I’ve been retired since 2009. Golf, horse racing, reading, seeing friends and travel is what I do.”

Alumna leading local Boys & Girls Club

Rebecca Johnson ’96 knows that on a normal day, the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County plays a crucial role helping children develop academic and social skills and helping working parents ensure that their children have a safe place to be before and after school.

“When the pandemic hit and a lot of children had to learn from home, many of those children were without the resources to do so — and with this region experiencing levels of food insecurity higher than normal, the Boys & Girls Club became a lifeline,” says Johnson, who was named Executive Director in 2018.

From March through June 2020, while most people worked from home due to mandates, a handful of staff at the Boys & Girls Club continued to work at the center, collaborating with Marietta City Schools and GoPacks, to serve as a food pickup site for children in the community who typically relied on the school system for breakfasts, lunches and food during the weekends. For the families who didn’t have transportation to the center, Johnson and a small staff loaded the nonprofit’s two vans and delivered the food.

“Becca has given 110 percent since the first day she walked in the door,” says Angie Scott, who served as the Interim Director while the board searched for a permanent Executive Director. “She believes what the Boys & Girls Club is all about, and she believes in the reasons why we do the things we do.”

The organization’s mission is to provide opportunities for youth to help them become well-rounded citizens, develop academic skills and become college and career ready, and to give them a safe place to be when they’re not in school, says Johnson, who began her professional career as a teacher and later served as principal at Caldwell Elementary School. She became involved with the Boys & Girls Club initially with her husband through fundraising events. The organization is currently working to build a gym and to raise funds to also add a teen center/ music studio.

“I was in public education for 22 years, but I just needed to do more,” Johnson says. “Honestly, I feel like in the position I’m in now, I’ve had more impact in my community and with the kids and the families that need it the most by being here. I have gone to legislative days in Columbus. I’ve been to lunch with Gov. (Mike) DeWine and (his wife) Fran to talk about kids in Ohio. I had an impact as a teacher and as a principal, but now as Executive Director at the Boys & Girls Club, I feel like I have a bigger impact for our local kids — and we’re the only one in Southeastern Ohio. So when I have a seat at the table statewide, I try to make sure that I have an impact and I have a voice.”

GI SMITH

PETER FINGER

NAVY BLUE & QUOTE

“Something that really helped me in vet school was how much we practiced reading scientific papers with Dr. (Jim) Jeitler and Dr. (Suzanne) Parsons. I also felt that having a biochemistry background prepared me well to understand the mechanisms and pathophysiology behind a lot of the disease processes we learned.”