Beyond
Graduation
college magazine
Summer 2019
Beyond Graduation College life is exciting, exhausting, sometimes overwhelming, and often very gratifying. After all the late nights studying, the worries, the new friendships, failures, successes, and the unexpected joys, commencement finally arrives! You toss your mortarboard in the air—and you’re a graduate. Now what? Many Menlo College students have been offered good jobs and know exactly where they’re headed. Others are still trying to find their paths. Research shows that almost all of today’s graduates will change jobs several times during their careers. In this issue, we look at the best ways to prepare for graduation and how to make the most of classes, athletics, and internships. We ask seniors about their anxieties as they are about to step into the “real world” and we interview alumni to glean their wisdom on life beyond graduation. As we spoke to students, faculty, and alumni to develop this issue, one insight shone out from all the others, and that is to expect some failures and learn from them. Charles Duhigg, who researches business life for the New York Times and others, sums up the value of a somewhat bumpy road in “Wealthy, Successful, and Miserable,” saying, “It’s an important reminder that the smoothest life paths sometimes fail to teach us about what really brings us satisfaction day to day.” We wish all our graduates—and those who suddenly see their senior year coming—all the satisfactions that come from a richly lived, well-examined life. Pamela Gullard, Editor-in-Chief Menlo College Magazine
MENLO COLLEGE M AG A ZINE | SUMMER 2019
Beyond Graduation: What’s Next Every spring, college graduates receive their diplomas and then make the enormous transition from campus life into the wide world. In this issue, our writers look at this psychological, social, and intellectual leap. We hope you enjoy their thoughts on this momentous journey. In This Issue 1 Message from the President 3 Letters to the Editor 4 Campus Updates
Features: Dimensions of Graduating5 7 5 Ethics in Entrepreneurship 7 Jobs for the Soul 8 An Artist at Work 9 A Penny Saved 10 Asking the Big Questions 11 Data Literacy 12 Focus on Moral Development 13 Beyond the Oaks—After College 16 Music at Menlo College 19 Easing Graduation Anxiety
Faculty and Classroom 17 ePorfolios 18 Faculty Promotions 19 Judy Wasmann Retires 27 Faculty Updates 40 SV Academy 31 Speakers on Campus 33 Seniors Imagine the Future
Student Life 35 New Students—Welcome! 36 Techstars at Startup Weekend 39 Career Connect Day 41 Student Launches App 43 Menlo’s Lu-au 45 Honors Convocation 47 Valedictorian Zacchaeus Beatty 49 Images of Graduation 51 Commencement 2019 68 Meet Mike Brown!
Alumni 55 Oaks-in-Industry 56 Journeys Back to the Board 58 In Memoriam
Athletics 21 59 59 61 63 65
Internships 29 Interns Learn Skills
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Pamela Gullard Managing EDITOR Caroline Casper CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jodie Austin Tom Byers Brian Brownfield Caroline Casper Kelly Davis Aaron Gillespie Dylan Houle David C. Irmer ’58 Lauren John Charles “Chop” J. Keenan III ’66 Laura Koo Anne Linvill Jordan Long ’09 Larry Lopez ’84 Grande Lum Tarryn Orial ’19 Mike Palmieri Melissa Eriko Paulsen Andrea Peeters Lowell Pratt Angela Schmiede Julia Yasser Joe Walling Victoria Wang Steven Weiner DESIGN Marsha Gilbert PHOTOGRAPHY Andrey Poliakov Brian Byllesby - Oakssports.com EDITORS Lauren John Linda Teutschel
Championships! Wrestling Beginnings of Wrestling Dynasty All-Athlete Award Winners Kaylin Swart, Professional Soccer Spring 2019 Sports Golf Stand-outs
MENLO COLLEGE PRESIDENT Steven Weiner CHAIR OF THE BOARD Micah Ka-ne ’91 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Thomas (Tom) Byers Alma Clayton-Pedersen Andrea (Andy) Cunningham Howard (Howie) Dallmar ‘74 James (Jim) A. Davlin Chris Garrett ‘94 J. Michael (Mike) Gullard David C. Irmer, Sr. ’58 Jordan Long ’09 Larry Lopez ’84 Roxane Marenberg Laurie Shaw Shireen Udenka Benjamin (Ben) Wagner Emeritus Trustees John Henry Felix ’49 Julie Filizetti Charles “Chop” J. Keenan III ’66 Thor Geir Ramleth ’87
Menlo College Magazine, published by the Menlo College Office of the President, brings news of the College and its community to alumni, parents, and friends. 1000 El Camino Real, Atherton, California 94027-4301 Tele: 800-55MENLO, editor@menlo.edu, www.menlo.edu
We don’t mean to brag Menlo was ranked #1 in gainful employment post-graduation.
Menlo ranks among the top 1% for the most diverse student population.
1st “Two-Peat”
Women’s National Wrestling Championship
1 ranking in
#
the Bloomberg Trading Competition
Anthony Orozco NAIA Men’s “Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year”
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but...
A Message from the President – Steven Weiner We selected “Beyond Graduation – What’s Next” as the theme for this issue of the Menlo College Magazine long before we learned that our students outperform all other colleges and universities in California for getting jobs after graduation. In February 2019, online career resource Zippia reported that Menlo College was ranked #1 in gainful employment post-graduation, topping almost 100 institutions across the state. This acknowledgement came on the heels of yet another singular recognition, this time by college selection website College Factual: among all schools across the country, Menlo ranks in the top 1% for the most diverse student population. The combination of high job attainment and student diversity is a rare achievement that speaks to hard work by our faculty and staff – and most importantly, by our students. Our students are strivers, and by virtue of striving to be the best in their field, they’re bringing remarkable recognition to Menlo. We couldn’t be more proud. We believe that Menlo’s #1 ranking in the Zippia study is no accident. We credit the perseverance of the students we recruit, the early and frequent focus on career preparation as exemplified by our internship program, and the size and close-knit atmosphere that characterizes Menlo College. In The Third Pillar, economist Raghuram Rajan argued that “vibrant local communities contribute to human flourishing in ways typically overlooked.” We believe that Menlo is one of those vibrant local communities, enabling our students to flourish to an extent that is unusual in higher education today. It’s an aspect of Menlo that we treasure and celebrate.
But wait, there’s more.
Menlo students strive for success well before graduation day. For example, in recent years, twelve of our students have been selected as University Innovation Fellows, a National Science Foundation initiative housed at nearby Stanford University that affords the opportunity to participate with peers around the world to become “agents of change in higher education.” It also led our student competitors in the Bloomberg Trading Competition to achieve the #1 ranking in March, leaving the 18,000-student Boston University and the 29,000-student University of Colorado trailing well behind our 775-student school. And it led to a topplace finish by our student competitors in the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute’s national competition this year.
Did we mention sports?
Our students pursue excellence outside of the classroom as well. In February, our women’s wrestling team brought home the first national championship in our 92-year history (along with nine All American titles), vanquishing WCWA schools with enrollments of over 20,000 students. In March, the women’s wrestling team accomplished a rare two-peat (and the very first two-peat by any team in women’s wrestling) when they brought home another championship at the NAIA nationals (this time, with twelve All American titles and five national champions). In March, senior Anthony Orozco was the NAIA individual national men’s wrestling champion, and he was crowned the “Most Outstanding Wrestler” of the year. Also in March, our women’s basketball team made it all the way to nationals for the second year in a row. Experiences in and out of the classroom combine to help our students acquire the knowledge, skills, experience, and selfawareness they will need to launch meaningful career —and life— trajectories. We are convinced that our emphasis on teaching critical thinking serves our students well when they analyze all of life’s key questions, including which job to take and how to fashion a life path that will uniquely suit their deepest needs. We know we need to evolve to prepare future generations for a fulfilling life after graduation. The selection of this issue’s theme reflects our commitment to continue to probe this important topic, and to ensure Menlo students continue to acquire skills and emotional maturity that is vital for success in the world outside our campus. M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne
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Letters to the Editor Editor, You and your colleagues have found the true essence of our beloved institution, capturing it in this edition of Advantage Magazine in the most interesting and informative way. We have such a marvelous story; I am proud to read of our accomplishments and know we are improving the quality of Menlo College education. Thank you for all you do. David C. Irmer ’58 President, Innisfree Companies Sausalito, CA
A fantastic issue and very well executed. Shireen Udenka Global Controller, Business for Social Responsibility San Leandro, CA
The content and layout of the magazine are quite impressive. Excellent work on this! Chris Garrett ‘94, Owner Devil's Canyon Brewing Company, San Carlos, CA 3 SUMMER 2019
Another great issue of Advantage magazine. Good insights about the school and, as always recently, well presented. Tom Scannell—Principal, Tom Scannell Associates, Los Altos, CA Editor, The latest Menlo Advantage is a terrific issue! The content really supports the diversity theme. I read it cover to cover. I really like the design feature about new voices at Menlo and felt like I got to know some of the new folk. I thought Library Dean Molteni’s piece was quite nice. Loved Lowell Pratt's on his world lit class. Menlo sure looks like a happening place (and it is!), and I think it should be an exciting read for alums and others in the Menlo community. Congrats! Linda Smith Retired Dean of Bowman Library San Francisco, CA
Student Insight: By Daryn Evans
C A M P U S U pdates New Menlo College Trustees The College recently appointed Roxane Marenberg and Shireen Udenka as Trustees. A lawyer by training, Trustee Marenberg (below left) currently serves as Senior Employee Relations Advisor at Marvell Technology Group. Trustee Udenka (right) holds a CPA, and is the Global Controller for Business for Social Responsibility. With the addition of these two trustees, the Menlo College Board now includes 15 voting members and four emeritus trustees. “Both of these individuals are incredibly talented,” said Micah Ka-ne ’91, Board of Trustees Chair. “Even in their first few months as trustees, each of them has made it their mission to engage with the community. I am confident that they will make important contributions to the College.”
Campus Improvements Continue The drive to renew the Menlo College campus moved full steam ahead in March, when ground broke to reconstruct the campus entrance. The scope of the project includes a newly-paved front drive that will open onto a pedestrian promenade that will unite new walkways from the Admissions Building all the way to the main campus quadrangle. New landscaping and sitting areas are all included in the project. We are incredibly fortunate to have ongoing donor support to underwrite the entire cost of these additional facilities improvements. This latest project is slated to be completed by this spring, and we encourage alumni to return to see the new and improved Menlo!
A Friendship Circle
In our last issue, we wrote about a bench located in front of the Dorothy Skala Alumni Center named in honor of Jim Rea, class of 1967. Jim Rea’s bench is one of three in that location, and now the other two bear the names of his fellow alumni and friends, Bill Bronson and Jay Lazzaro. All three alumni graduated from Menlo College in the 1960s, and their friendship has endured over the 52 years that have passed since the last of them walked across our commencement stage. To honor that friendship, and the support each of them has provided to Menlo College, the benches allow future generations of Oaks to forever sit within the circle representing their shared Menlo bond.
Student Leaders Take a Photo Break! The Resident Assistants and Student Government team for 2019-2020: Front row left to right: Crystal Cebedo, Katianne Walker, Esther Funez, Jenae Pennywell, Malia Johnson, Trey Taniguchi, Lilliana Chisler Middle row left to right: Taryne Hu, Gianna Fernandez, Anthony Philip Ramos, Ashlee Hunt, Niko Dugay, Ally Salzwedel, Tamara Williams Back row left to right: Solin Piearcy, Noa Kerr, Ian Martins, Nicholas Castellanos, Jeremiah Testa, Richard Kiel, Armando Conover Not pictured: Larissa Martinez, Alexa Christoforatos, John Paine, Jordan Broughton Bell, Cameron Bellucci, Joshua Salazar, Rufus Pappy, Megan Robinson, Rasmia Shuman. M E N L O C O L L E G E M A G AZI N E
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5 SUMMER 2019
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TRUSTEE SPOTLIGHT
An Entrepreneurship Educator Brings Ethics to the Table By Tom Byers, Stanford University Professor, Department of Management Science and Engineering, and Menlo College Trustee At a UNC Chapel Hill business school lunch last March, philosopher and Professor Geoff Sayre-McCord introduced himself to a table of entrepreneurship educators and administrators by saying: “Entrepreneurs face a moral liability — that they will become liars.” It was a bold remark to make in a business school setting. And for me, it struck a nerve. As a former tech executive and entrepreneur who has taught entrepreneurship and innovation at Stanford University for almost 25 years, the recent reports of scandals and wrongdoing in Silicon Valley feel personal. I have increasingly wondered what role I, as an entrepreneurship educator, play in this ecosystem. As a faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) since its inception in 1996, I have witnessed entrepreneurship education make great strides. But now we must do better, as educators, to help address the factors — both systemic and personal — that lead to these headline-making incidents. I am encouraged by the existing models in the field of social entrepreneurship, in which mission-driven organizations working on projects like microfinance and global healthcare measure their impact in terms of social change as much as financial gain. I find further confidence in the conversations I’ve had with ethicists at law, medical, business and engineering schools — specialties that began offering graduate-level ethics courses long ago. In my own classes, I find myself gravitating toward role playing as a way to introduce ethical dilemmas to the classroom, using business case studies to test students’ values and breaking points. Recently, my colleague Jack Fuchs invited experienced entrepreneurs to visit his new “Principled Entrepreneurial Decisions” class. In one session, students walked through a case that Fuchs developed with the founder of an internet security company. As students considered several encounters between the founder’s service and online hate groups, they debated the choices the founder made in attempting to balance a distaste for hate speech with the operational and ethical challenges of fairly policing the internet. As the ethical considerations around data and privacy grow ever more complex, I am hopeful that bringing students into conversations with technologists on the front lines of these thorny issues will better prepare them for the crucial decisions that lie ahead, encouraging them to define their personal principles long before they are faced with these sorts of dilemmas. Spending the past year researching applied ethics pedagogy has felt surprisingly similar to the first few years I spent at Stanford in the 1990s, when I held intense conversations with others to expand the reach of the university’s entrepreneurship offerings and encourage educators at other universities to do the same. These days I find myself asking more or less the same question: Do you think ethics-related teaching materials can and should be improved in entrepreneurship courses? The answer I receive is overwhelmingly a resounding yes. To that end, I and several dedicated colleagues are building an applied ethics toolkit for entrepreneurship and innovation educators. We are also developing learning tools, piloting new courses and convening leaders in academia and industry. What does it mean, we ask, to teach values in a secular, nonpartisan way? What methods best encourage students to establish their own ethical guidelines? Are there any immutable principles for entrepreneurs? And how do the unique aspects of the entrepreneur’s environment — from investment structures to the cultural norms within different geographies — impact how values need to be taught? Many of the answers are still ahead of us. But the first step, we believe, is asking the right questions. This article is an excerpt from “Finding Our Values: A New Era of Entrepreneurship Education” on Stanford eCorner (ecorner.stanford.edu) and was created as part of Stanford’s Principled Entrepreneurial Action and Knowledge (PEAK) initiative. PEAK’s mission is to integrate ethics into entrepreneurship and innovation education at Stanford and around the world. Menlo College Trustee Tom Byers visited Menlo’s campus last year as a panelist at the Menlo Meets Silicon Valley event alongside Trustee Andy Cunningham and two College alums–Bob Uttenreuther from Google and Carol Hague from Box. Photo: Andrey Poliakov
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Jobs for the Soul:
The Cost of Optimism By Laura Koo, Senior Director, Alumni Engagement and Development Nearly 25 years ago I did something ill-advised; unwilling to end my educational experience, I applied for graduate school in pharmaceutical chemistry. In addition to the constant niggling that I really wasn’t as much into my research as my classmates were, I had a ‘moment’ of clarity. Taped to the wall above the dry ice chest in my lab was a poster of the biochemical pathways in the human body. One day that collection of chemical formulas and arrows suddenly seemed very sparse. I thought, “There is NO way any of our lives are the sum of letters and numbers with arrows defining the relationship between them. How does that capture who I am? How can that possibly describe life and the act of living?” And then more practically, “How in the world can any of us design any kind of drug with such an incomplete picture of what is happening inside the physical body, inside the mind?” It’s no surprise that I left that field. If I couldn’t work my way toward answers to those questions while alongside worldclass scientists seeking deeper levels of understanding in the field of medicine, then it wasn’t the right place for me. I turned to music and to the 501(c)3 non-profit industry. What if my work wasn’t driven by a company’s need to increase the bottom line? What if my efforts were invested only into delivering a result?
Laura Koo, has found her optimism in music and working for non-profits. Any regrets? None... Advice? “Be true to yourself.”
After nearly 18 years I can honestly say that I have no regrets professionally. The people I’ve had the good fortune to work with, the people and places that I’ve supported have all made me better – and I’d like to believe my time and efforts have left pockets of people and places a little better off than they were. There have been hard decisions along the way, primarily related to finances. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area requires luck and ingenuity when your work is not profit-driven. I am often asked if it’s even possible to make a living. I think the answer is up to each individual. I don’t think of myself as poor but then again, as crazy as it sounds, my net worth does not make that determination for me. At the same time, I tell my son who is nine that if he finds a way to both be true to himself and to find a better balance of financial and spiritual wealth, then he ought to consider that path instead. Mission-driven organizations need your help – the more practical problem-solvers who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves, the better. Sometimes I get asked whether or not I feel like I’m wasting my degree. Frankly, no, I come from a culture where the whole point of an education is to learn how to be a better steward of oneself, our families, and our communities. I am positioned to work through complex issues facing humanity and am challenged to do so with very few resources other than my mind. Through my work, I have found myself, my family, and my place in this world and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 7 SUMMER 2019 Photos: Andrey Poliakov
Know Your Passion and Make it Work Linda Covello, who is an accomplished painter, an adjunct professor at Menlo College and the Academic Director at the Pacific Art League, explains that an artist’s life is gratifying. “There are many avenues to an art career. My advice is to follow your passion in the direction it takes you, whether it’s designing, graphics, animation or fine art. It is difficult to make a living at first, but worth the pursuit. There is nothing like doing what you love and communicating that to others.”
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Beyond
Graduation
Wisdom: The Final Goal of a College Education
As students near graduation and take the first steps toward a fulfilling life, they must decide for themselves what advice to take. And they get plenty of advice! The most common is to follow one’s dreams, which is certainly a good idea, but possibly a little vague. On these two pages, we have asked experts to discuss in practical detail three core competencies that wise people have. Read on to find out about: financial literacy, information management competency, and how to ask the big questions. You may be wiser than you think.
Financial Literacy: A Penny Saved By Victoria Wang, Adjunct Professor of Personal Finance for College Creating a good life beyond graduation actually begins well before commencement. Worrying about it can seep into students’ everyday concerns and living. Tensions rise as they prepare to apply for jobs and interviews while maintaining grades and extracurriculars. Anxiety begins earlier and earlier before graduation as some students are approached by recruiters looking to lock them in and commit to their company, and others are not approached. Students are reminded of the looming unknown at every family function with distant relatives making polite small talk to ask them, “What’s next?” Whatever the next thing is, students will need to be literate about how to handle their finances., A common misconception of being seen as a sophisticated money manager is that you have to have a lot of money or capital to begin with. In my course centered around Personal Finance, we learn skills, good habits, and practical behaviors to save and be conscious of our spending with the understanding that capital builds over time. The point is to be aware of expenses and not unnecessarily incur large fees for things like ATMs, medical insurance options, and car maintenance. Knowledge is power and more often than not, just exposing yourself to financial possibilities and asking questions will get you far. Your bank representative is your friend and so when opening an account, ask questions about how to build credit and the benefits of a credit card over a debit card. Search Google and YouTube for “common financial scams” or “common phishing scams” and be aware of how to protect yourself, such as guarding your pin number at a gas station and making sure to occasionally check your bank statements for fraudulent claims. Through self-awareness one can forecast and budget, including maintaining reserves for emergency expenses like medical bills. The willingness to be disciplined pays off in financial security and independence that opens opportunities for luxuries, such as vacations. Discipline can provide you less stress and more choice in products and places to live. Achieving a healthy balance between necessary expenses and social expenses pays off in big ways, especially with a smaller budget. Much like dieting, it’s not where you start out but the commitment to stick to your goals. Success is not how fast you achieve your goals, but rather how well you maintain your good financial habits. Manage money and expenses in a smart way; don’t let money manage you at your expense.
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Humanities Literacy: Do you know how to ask the big questions? By Lowell Pratt, Lecturer, Literature and Humanities At Menlo College, students prepare for their careers with classes in their major, but those classes are built on the foundation of writing, oral communication, and mathematics skills taught through the core curriculum. The core curriculum includes courses in the humanities, which develop such competencies as cultural understanding; an appreciation for complexity and diversity; and a regard for the range and depth of the imagination, a quality vitally important for an innovative economy. Aside from these practical benefits, humanities classes can provide something more fundamental than career considerations: an understanding of our lives. Works assigned in a literature class, for instance, typically address key existential questions. Franz Kafka’s short story “The Metamorphosis” is one example. Ironically, the tale opens with the surprising announcement that the main character Gregor Samsa has just awakened to find himself turned into a bug! How does Gregor react to this catastrophic news? Instead of stopping to absorb the meaning of what has happened, he soldiers on as he usually does, frantically trying not to be late for work, fearful of upsetting his boss. Students often suggest that Gregor already is figuratively an insect before actually becoming one with the way he anxiously scurries to fulfill his obligations, perceived and real. Perhaps Kafka slyly suggests that Gregor represents a part of all of us living in the modern age. Our situation may not be as miserable as Gregor’s, but like him we may have a tendency to obsess over the immediate and mundane details of our lives, losing track of, or maybe never questioning, the greater meaning of which these details are just a part. Although Gregor changes into a bug outwardly, something positive happens to him inwardly: he becomes more human, someone in touch with his deeper feelings. Near the end of the story, Gregor ventures out of the confinement of his room, drawn by the violin music played by his sister. Having lost interest in food, Gregor finds that the beauty of his sister’s art provides the “unknown nourishment that he craved.” My hope throughout years of teaching at Menlo is that students will find sustenance for their inner being as well. The humanities and the various arts it encompasses can offer us the opportunity to find a nourishment for our inner selves, a nourishment that maintains us during our most difficult periods, keeping us mindful of what is most essential to our emotional and spiritual wellbeing in the brief time we exist. A story like “The Metamorphosis,” a painting, a photograph, or a film can pause life, arrest temporarily the inexorable flow of time, allowing us the opportunity to examine the meaning of how we are living our lives. What does matter, could matter, should matter are the questions the humanities will always raise for our Menlo students, who receive their gift.
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Beyond
Graduation
Data Literacy: How do we get our information? By Anne Linvill, Information Literacy Librarian, Bowman Library, Menlo College The information landscape has changed dramatically since the last decade of the 20th century. Those changes have directly affected all sectors of the economy including higher education. Educators and librarians have responded by updating and recasting strategies to prepare students for shifting digital realities in which data plays a significant part. “The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business’ (AACSB) business school accreditation standards and studies of employers have identified information literacy (IL) skills and the ability to perform research in a business setting as important and valuable skills for the workplace” (Gilbert, 2017). Indeed, 21st century skills require students to be able to build convincing arguments to solve problems, develop marketing strategies, conduct financial analyses, and assess the efficacy of programs—expertise that will inform business decisions at all levels. Data literacy is an important part of the larger whole of information literacy. Increasingly, data literacy has come to be a prized skill, not solely the realm of number crunchers and data scientists. What is data literacy? It can be defined as the ability to willingly include data when making a case for any given strategy. This willingness to use data must be underpinned by an ability not only to uncover relevant and reliable numbers, but to analyze and evaluate their potential impact with regard to a specific problem or area of business. At Bowman Library, librarians are directly involved in teaching students to help them develop information literacy and data literacy skills. These experiences provide opportunities for students to locate, evaluate, and make use of available data to help them construct the best possible response to any given problem or question. Librarians collaborate with Menlo faculty to create targeted lessons that intentionally lead students to develop skills to become lifelong learners. The development of data literacy skills does not end at graduation, and neither does our support. Menlo alumni are welcome to return to Bowman Library to use library databases and librarians’ expertise in pursuit of their professional goals. Gilbert, S. (2017). Information literacy skills in the workplace: Examining early career advertising professionals. Journal of Business/Finance Librarianship, 22 (2), 111-134.
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Menlo’s Focus on Adult Moral Development By Leslie Sekerka, Ph.D., Professor of Management and Director of the Ethics in Action Center Silicon Valley is a home for entrepreneurial spirit. At Menlo, we recognize that the demand for creativity and risk-taking foster both innovation and, at times, unethical behavior. Business ethics in a start-up, or any other type of firm, must begin with a commitment to moral identity. Toward that end, Menlo has been a leader in adult moral development education. Crafting a core requirement for every business student, Professor Leslie Sekerka designed Menlo’s business ethics course to focus on personal awareness, ethical issue identification, and helping students foster a desire to leverage their own unique character strengths as the cornerstone for achieving lifelong success. Sekerka’s research identifies specific moral competencies that must be exercised in order to sustain the moral identity a person claims to hold. We know that employers are looking for millennials who live their values and lead by example. The reality is that many Menlo graduates will face business environments that promote a survivalist approach, an “eat or be eaten” culture. This manifests into a type of reactionary approach to ethics. Taking a minimalist perspective, many entrepreneurs typically address ethics when problems arise, rather than taking the time to build an ethical culture. Examining firms in the Bay Area, Professor Sekerka has found that CEOs like Bruce Cozadd (Jazz Pharmaceutical) and Doug Heske (New Day Investing) have created firms that align with their own moral values and character strengths. Moreover, they strive to wire ethics into the performance structures of their firm’s short and long-term operations. Menlo students have the opportunity to meet these leaders, along with other business ethics professionals, to better understand how to create wealth ethically. The coursework and Ethics in Action Center at Menlo help to ensure that the next generation of leaders will reshape social norms. Instead of rule-breaking being seen as heroic, building ethical wealth will be deemed as valued authentic leadership.
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Beyond the Oaks:
Alumni Success Stories and Life After College “
Almost 50-60% of all venture capital money in America is within 30 miles of Menlo
Alicia Young ‘14: Manager, Sales Development at Panoply in San Francisco, CA Alicia “Ali” Young was working at a car wash down the street from Menlo College when she decided to apply. Young was accepted as a Marketing major in 2010. For the next four years, Young, who was known on campus as “Miss Why” for always asking questions, worked closely with her Menlo professors to create a technology sales portfolio that eventually helped her get to the sales manager position at Panoply, a data warehouse startup, where she is today. After graduation, she also joined the Menlo College Alumni Council, encouraging alums to “return to their Menlo roots.” “Menlo College is more than an education,” Young said. “It’s an opportunity to work with professors who care about you as an individual.”
Advice to Menlo students: Don’t give up, be curious and
be persistent. Build a mentor circle with people of varying skills and personalities.
“
I took a memoir writing class with Professor Marilyn Thomas at Menlo and that class was possibly the best experience of my life. It has helped me in my career more than any other course I’ve ever taken.
”
Patrick Green ’13, Actor and Film Producer, Los Angeles, CA 13 SUMMER 2019
By Caroline Casper, Adjunct Professor of Literature and Creative Writing We’ve all heard about the power of networking. But for many college students, especially those who are international or first generation, networking can seem like a daunting, if not utterly nebulous, endeavor. What does it mean to network as an 18-22-year-old? Social media companies like LinkedIn provide a blur of thousands of possible connections with professionals around the world. The sheer numbers can be intimidating, but networking isn’t necessarily about “meeting” as many people as possible. Networking works best when viewed as participating in mentorship, and it starts with the people we see every day— professors, administrators and alumni who can serve as a bridge to other influential people inside and outside the school. Professors’ office hours can be the most important networking opportunities a college has to offer, an idea that was recently backed by a 2018 study by Gallup, Purdue University and the Strada Education Network. The study questioned 100,000 American college graduates of all ages about their college experiences, looking for connections between how they spent their time in college and how fulfilled they are now. One of the most significant findings was that those who feel like college was a valuable experience are those who established a deep connection with a professor, mentor or an alum. Continued on page 15
College. It’s a great place to connect with other entrepreneurs, and you’re already here.
”
Saeed Amidi ’81, Founder and CEO of Plug and Play in Sunnyvale, CA
Bob Uttenreuther ’98: Strategic Partnerships Manager at Google in Mountain View, CA Bob Uttenreuther, a business major at Menlo in the late 1990s, said playing baseball for the College taught him the most important lesson of his life–how to fail. “As a baseball player, you fail 70% of the time and it’s considered good,” Uttenreuther said. “In the business world, success is about recognizing that you are failing and letting someone know so they don’t do the same thing. All too often people hide failure, and it becomes a problem.” Uttenreuther, who graduated at the height of the Bay Area’s first dot-com boom in 1998, said his first job out of college was with a local commercial real estate firm. From there he went into the telecom industry where he gained experience as a manager, and then, because he was curious and excited about technology, he entered the world of startups, switching jobs every few years to stay afloat. “The startup world was really buzzing,” Uttenreuther said. “I know it’s hard to fathom, but 20 years ago the economy wasn’t as strong as it is today. There was a lot of quick growth and then drop off.” Fortunately for Uttenreuther, the last startup he joined was Google, and, 20 years later, he’s risen the ranks to manager status and is still using the social skills he learned at Menlo to help him manage his teams. “I grew up in a small town in Oregon so going to Menlo and meeting people from all over the world with different passions and goals inspired and motivated me,” Uttenreuther said.
Advice to Menlo students: Give yourself time to breathe. Set some goals. All too often we’re going right into the next thing without setting any proper goals. This is your four years to mature and develop relationships. Get out of your dorm room. Go to San Francisco, Napa, the coast. Get out and think bigger than where you currently are. M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne
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Beyond the Oaks: continued from page 14
Here at Menlo College, trustee and renowned marketing expert Andy Cunningham, one of the newest members of our teaching faculty, is helping students do just that. She’s leading an independent year-long research class called Market Menlo College to connect current students with Menlo alumni. Cunningham, who has more than thirty years of experience bringing innovations to market in and around Silicon Valley—starting with the launch of Apple’s Macintosh in 1983 then on to the launch of NeXT and Pixar—is also helping her students generate a marketing campaign, called Beyond the Oaks: Potential on Fire, to raise the profile of the College for prospective students and to offer current students access to alumni through their inspiring stories of success. Cunningham, who is new to teaching, is using her success as a marketing professional to help inspire and train her students for life after college. Teaching, as it turns out, “is a lot like working with new hires,” Cunningham said. “I’m very much enjoying it.” “I love this class because it’s based on real life experience as opposed to pulling info from a text book,” said Caitlin Sorensen ’19. Sorensen served as the project manager of the campaign and has since been hired by Cunningham to join her marketing firm, Cunningham Collective, as an analyst. Here are three of the esteemed alums the campaign will feature on posters and flags on campus, the College’s website and through other promotional materials next year.
“
My experiences at Menlo College were not only life-changing, but they also changed me as a person. There is a greater debt owed to this school that goes beyond tuition. Chris Garrett ‘94: Entrepreneur, Master Brewer & CEO Devil’s Canyon Brewery in San Carlos, CA
”
Taylor Morrow ’16: Social Media Associate at 23andMe, Mountain View, CA Taylor Morrow chose Menlo College in 2012 because she wanted to play soccer at a small school where she could get involved and make a difference. And that she did. During her time on campus, Morrow, who is from the Central Valley of California, said she was drawn to challenges. She was a tutor in the Writing Center and she worked in the library. She also started the school’s journalism club and re-started the Menlo Oak Press, which she helped transition to an online publication. “Starting the newspaper at Menlo was really hard,” Morrow said. “I had to figure out how to restart it, which first involved creating the journalism club. Then I had to find an advisor, recruit people, build the website and then edit it.” Perhaps the most important opportunity Morrow seized while at Menlo was her work in social media during her internship and then later in the College’s Web Marketing Department. After graduation, when Morrow applied for a job at 23andMe, a genomics and biotech company offering DNA testing for ancestry, the hiring manager saw “social media experience” on her resume and gave her an interview, not for the job for which she applied, but for a social media position Morrow said she didn’t even know was available. “Without Menlo, I literally wouldn’t be where I am today,” Morrow said. “I love this company. I love that we are helping people understand their genetics. We’re groundbreaking; it’s amazing to be a part of it.”
Advice to Menlo students: Try everything! This is a small college. Get to know your professors; spend one-on-one time with them. They are there to help you. Also, don’t be afraid to apply for the jobs you don’t think you can get. Of course, you’re going to get disappointing emails rejecting you, but you keep going. 15 SUMMER 2019
The Campus Comes Alive to the Sound of Music
On January 17, 2019, Menlo College hosted the internationally renowned cellist Ian Maksin for a sold-out performance in the Russell Center. The Russian-born musician gained fame first as an individual performer, and more recently as a composer and recording artist. Mr. Maksin has played under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, and collaborated with Andrea Bocelli, P. Diddy, Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan, Sting, and Barry Gibb, among others. He added a stop at Menlo College while on his 2019 Pacific Tour.
Photo: Andrey Poliakov
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ePortfolios:
Tracking Writing Progress Beyond Grades
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By Jodie Austin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English As of Spring 2019, Menlo College took an enormous step forward and joined thousands of colleges across the country in adopting eportfolios as the primary means of assessing student writing in current students. Supported by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), eportfolios are gradually supplanting standardized testing models as metrics for evaluation. As an Assistant Professor of English at Menlo, I have long advocated the transition to a 21st century model of evaluation that showcases process over product while empowering students to take ownership over their writing. In lieu of a standardized test, Menlo students are now asked to curate and reflect on their written work each semester. Students may choose writing for inclusion in their portfolio that exemplifies strong habits of revision, comprehensive research strategies, or an evolved understanding of style. The rationale for their selections is entirely left up to the writers themselves; for this reason, students may also choose to include assignments that they perceived as being weak or challenging. When viewed as a whole, each eportfolio will provide a valuable snapshot into a semester’s worth of writing produced by students who are constantly testing out new voices, styles, and conventions. This year’s English 100 students represented the first class to adopt the new Digication software platform to showcase their work. Their efforts will culminate in the curation of a final Master Portfolio to be completed in their senior year. As spearheaded by Erik Bakke, Senior Director of Student Academic Support, the English 100 class now features a lab component in which students work one-on-one with writing consultants to hone their skills. By providing feedback specific to each writer, consultants can target areas that need attention while identifying strong points in student writing. In doing so, the English Program hopes that such students will have a better foundation for success in their upper-division, writingintensive courses at Menlo. Ultimately, in asking students to curate and reflect on their work throughout their time at Menlo, we sincerely hope that students will be able to see for themselves their evolution as writers capable of adaptation in a communicatively demanding world. Above right: Professor Jodie Austin proudly presented a first glimpse of the College’s new eportfolio portal to faculty and students in the library this semester.
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Easing Graduation Anxiety By Julia Yasser and Joseph Walling, Menlo College’s Mental Health Services Clinic directed by Dr. Jake Kelman If you just received your Menlo College diploma, we hope you celebrated all your hard work, dedication, and commitment. But graduation, like any significant transition, can also spark an onset of stress and anxiety. If you are a junior or even a senior, anticipating graduation may lead to doubts about obtaining a job, fears about paying off loans, worries about what the next phase means, and other concerns swirling around your mind. The very thought of “adulting” in general might be freaking you out. If this sounds like you, please know that you are not alone. At our on-campus mental health clinic, we hear many students relay similar narratives about the anxiety and stress of graduation. Remember, anxiety is normal and beneficial in small amounts, helping us focus on decisions we need to make and motivating us to act. However, excessive anxiety can become problematic and lead to indecision, procrastination, and emotional distress. In order to help you better manage the anticipation of making this huge step into a new phase of life, here are some suggestions:
Seek out support:
Trust someone. ind a trusted person F in your life, to help you understand what you’re feeling.
• Spend time with friends. Sharing your concerns with people who care about you can help ease the burden of all the stresses you are experiencing. • Find a trusted person in your life, or a therapist like us, to help you understand how thoughts and behaviors connect to what you’re feeling.
Be realistic: • When we don’t know something, our brains tend to imagine the worst, or underestimate what lies ahead. Having a realistic understanding of what lies ahead reduces stress more often than not. • Do not rely on assumptions. Get the facts by doing a little research. Ask knowledgeable people who have the training and/or experience to provide you with accurate information about finding a job, paying off a loan, paying rent, or whatever other new problem you may be about to face.
Get organized: • Break larger tasks down into smaller steps to make them more manageable. For each goal, ask yourself, “What are the necessary tasks to achieve this?” For each task, ask yourself, “What steps do I need to take to get this done?” Then, map it out to stay on track.
Practice self-care: • Find activities that bring you joy and pleasure, whether that be reading a magazine, going on a hike, or talking to a friend. • Sleep is critically important to our physical and psychological health, especially during times of stress. Worries about the future can be disruptive to sleep, so make a concerted effort to protect your sleep time. Set aside anything with a lighted screen (e.g., phone, computer, Xbox) at least 30 minutes before going to bed. Make sure your sleeping quarters are quiet, dark, and cool. • Engage in regular physical activity. Exercise has been shown to assist in stress management. • Schedule worry time. Worry is inevitable when confronted with a significant transition. However, worrying constantly can lead to loss of focus, lowered mood, and drained cognitive and emotional energy. Scheduling a short time each week or each day to worry for a predetermined amount of time can be liberating. • Celebrate! Don’t forget to reward yourself for all your hard work and achievements! Photos: Jonathan Surface 19 SUMMER 2019
Take a hike!
Find activities that bring you joy and pleasure.
Take small steps. Break larger tasks down into smaller steps to make them more manageable.
Get some sleep.
Sleep is critically important especially during times of stress.
Get the facts.
Having a realistic understanding of what lies ahead reduces stress more often than not.
Celebrate!
Don’t forget to reward yourself for all your hard work and achievements!
Schedule worry time.
Scheduling a short time each week or each day to worry can be liberating.
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moving our stars to the front In 2019, Menlo College women’s wrestlers won the first national championship of Menlo College’s 92-year history. And then they did it again, winning a second national championship—in their league, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics— the same year. These athletes may be from the smallest college ever to win a national championship, let alone two! They have taken their place in history and so we have given them a place at the front of our magazine to celebrate. Please turn to the Athletics section for more photos of these superb athletes.
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Women’s Wrestling Seizes National Championship By Brian Brownfield, Menlo College Sports Information Coordinator Menlo College knew they had a women’s wrestling team capable of competing with anyone in the country. They just had to prove that they deserved not only the top rank in their league, the National Association of Intercollegiate Colleges Association (NAIA), but were the best team in the entire U.S. With 17 of the 22 conferences in the NAIA being primarily based in the Midwest or on the East Coast, there are not many opportunities for schools on the West Coast to prove themselves in front of the powerhouses that comprise the rest of the country. That time had come. In February, the Oaks flew to Georgia to compete in the Women’s College Wrestling Association national championships. Commenting on Menlo’s top NAIA ranking, a first for any Menlo College Athletics program, junior wrestler Precious Bell said, “I won’t say it was satisfying, but we finally got the respect we deserved.” She explained that getting the number one ranking showed that the team was being noticed for how well they were doing. Heading into the nationals, she added, “I can say that ranking only made us work harder. It’s just a ranking; now we have to solidify it.” On the mat, one individual match at a time.
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Left page: Angela Peralta ‘21. This page top left: Alyssa Gomez ‘22. Top right: Coach Joey Bareng. Bottom: Tiana Jackson ‘21 Photo credits: Jim Thrall and Brian Brownfield (Coach Bareng photo)
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The first matches in Marietta’s Cobb County Civic Center began and the Menlo side sat in anxious silence as their chances at a national championship began to evade their grasp. The Oaks had five wrestlers in medal matches before the finals, where every victory counts as precious points. Any number of wins would have increased the likelihood of Menlo winning a national title. Menlo lost all five matches. Next up—finals. “We believed that we were in the finals with our four best wrestlers,” Head Coach Joey Bareng said following the tournament. “There’s not a better situation going into the finals than that.” The Oaks were not fazed, but they were in second place. Alleida Martinez went first for the Oaks, wrestling in the 109-pound championship match against second-ranked McKayla Campbell of Campbellsville University. Martinez dominated her way through the national tournament and the championship match was no exception. After racking up a huge lead, Martinez ended it with a pin before time expired to become Menlo’s first national champion since 2004. One down, two to go. Her former high school teammate and fellow freshman phenom Gracie Figueroa competed in the very next match, with a championship at 116 pounds on the line. Similar to Martinez, Figueroa never came close to defeat in her pursuit of a championship, and she shut out secondranked Felicity Taylor of McKendree University 7-0 for the title. Suddenly, things were looking better. Two down, one to go. It all came down to Solin Piearcy, who needed to defeat second-ranked Nicole Joseph of King University in the 136-pound finals. “All of a sudden I heard everyone screaming,” Piearcy explained later. She was the only person on her team not shouting with elation as the Oaks inched their way to within one match of their first national championship. She had a task to accomplish and she was as determined as ever to deliver victory to the College. She trailed for most of the match until she seized a perfect opportunity. Heroically, she lifted Joseph straight into the sky before dropping her onto her stomach for her first points of the match. She then turned to her patented leg lace, turning Joseph once…twice…three times…four times…and once she completed the grueling fifth turn, the match was over. Piearcy was a national champion. The Oaks were national champions for the first time in 92 years. The Oaks had written their place in history.
Back row left to right: Sara Aguilar ‘21, Angela Peralta ‘21, Iman Kazem ‘19, Joey Bareng, Solin Piearcy ‘20, Tiana Jackson ‘21, Hipah Salem ‘19, Precious Bell ‘20. Front row left to right: Alleida Martinez ‘22, Gracie Figueroa ‘22. Facing page: Marilyn Garcia ’21. 23 SUMMER 2019
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F acult y N ews Faculty Promotions By Grande Lum, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Teaching, research, and service are at the heart of what Menlo College faculty provide to their students and the broader world. In consideration of their valuable contributions, three faculty were recently approved for promotion as of August 1, 2019: Marianne Marar, to the rank of Professor, Nicole Jackson, to the rank of Associate Professor, and Melissa Poulsen to the rank of Assistant Professor. We extend congratulations to each of them on this significant accomplishment, appreciation for the impact each has made to Menlo College so far, and excitement for the tremendous work they will bring forth from this moment on.
Left to right and below: Marianne Marar, Melissa Poulsen and Nicole Jackson
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Photos: Andrey Poliakov
A Pillar of Menlo College Retires This May Menlo College said goodbye to one of its most beloved staff members, Judy Wasmann, Learning Services Manager. After fifteen years at various positions advising countless students, providing testing and tutoring, Judy and her husband Mike will further enjoy their love for travel. First stop: A month in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where Judy, an accomplished photographer, will be able to capture the beauty of the Tetons. Judy’s artistic skill is well known to faculty and students. Librarian Anne Linvill, who worked with Judy on displays at the library, says, “Judy can draw anything; she’ll just look at it and represent it.” A longtime member of Menlo’s art committee, Judy helped bring artists to campus, and she created the commencement program, took photographic portraits of faculty, and designed other materials for almost anyone who asked. Lowell Pratt, Lecturer, Humanities, says, “She would make these wonderful flyers for my courses. She is so talented; her artistic sense is just great.” Previous to her work at Menlo College, Judy taught English and art at Half Moon Bay High School for 35 years. She also advised the yearbook staff, mentoring countless young editors and photographers. That willingness to offer her talents, whether advising a student with academic troubles, listening to someone having a bad day, or making the perfect drawing for someone else’s retirement is Judy’s gift. Menlo College librarian Tricia Soto says, “Judy always has a smile for anyone who walks in.” Speak to any Menlo staff or faculty member about Judy and you receive some version of this: That Judy brings her best to the table in every encounter every day. And we’ve all been the better for it. Happy retirement, Judy. We’ll miss you!
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F acult y N ews Faculty Updates Adjunct Professor Caroline Casper’s short story, “Moveable Floors” was nominated by the Lindenwood Review for the Pushcart Prize, which is considered the most honored literary award among small presses in the country. This represents Professor Casper’s second nomination for this award. Her newest short story, “Women in Tech,” will be published in Blackbird in December. The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance published, “Let’s Fire This Guy and Get on with Business: Practical Lessons in Boardroom Leadership,” authored by Professor William Devine. Another article he authored, “Diversity’s Role in Boardroom Leadership,” was published in the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog on Corporations. Professor Evan Lau and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Basel, with undergraduate students, have published a paper in the journal PloS ONE, “Diversity and Relative Abundance of Ammonia and Nitrite-oxidizing Microorganisms in the Offshore Namibian Hypoxic Zone.” Studying the Benguela upwelling, they found that at mid-depths under oxygen deficient conditions, nitrifying microbes, which oxidize ammonia and also produce nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas), increase in relative abundance, resulting in no nitrite and nitrous oxide accumulation in the seawater. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217136 Adjunct Professor Pamela Gullard has been asked to join the Board of the Kepler’s Literary Foundation, which is a non-profit arts organization “dedicated to enriching and inspiring the community through literary and cultural programs.” Among other responsibilities, she will represent writers working with the foundation. Professor Nicole Jackson’s work is helping to advance ambidexterity development: the balance in organizations between competency development and innovation. Professors Jackson and Sean Pradhan have collaborated on research concerning ambidexterity and major league baseball teams both for presentation at the Management Organizational Behavior and Teaching Conference and at the Academy of Management - Strategy division. Professor Kathi Lovelace received the 2018 Mid-Career Distinguished Educator Award from the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS) for her award-winning research, innovative teaching and service to management education. She also received the 2018 International MOBTS conference Best Paper Award for research targeting GenZ students. Professor Lovelace was subsequently elected to the MOBTS Board of Directors. This summer she will present at the Global Research Symposium on Marketing and Entrepreneurship conference in London and the Research on Management Learning and Education conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Provost and Vice President Grande Lum’s article, “The Community Relations Service’s Work in Preventing and Responding to Unfounded Racially and Religiously Motivated Violence After 9/11” will appear in the Texas A&M Journal of Property Law. Professor Marianne Marar taught Human Rights in a Global Perspective with alumna Marissa De Orona ’18 this semester. In collaboration with the Redwood City School District, the class sponsored a Bridge the Gap community-wide event to raise awareness about the financial challenges of underserved schools. Separately, Professor Marar had addressed Stanford University graduate students on her experiences as a liberal arts educator in higher education. She also published a book chapter with Professors Melissa Michelson and Nazita Lajevardi called “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Middle Eastern: Causes and Effects of the Racialization of Middle Eastern Americans.” Finally, she also published an article with Professor Leslie Sekerka called “Fostering Workplace Respect in an Era of Anti-Muslimism and Islamophobia: A Proactive Approach for Management.” To promote career opportunities for Menlo College students, The Real Estate Center (TREC), Menlo College Director Margaret McFarland hosted an event with alumni at Career Connect Day 2019, and also hosted Michael Johnson, CEO of UrbanCore, for a lecture in Professor Dima Leshchinskii’s Real Estate Finance course; and Michael Repka, CEO & General Counsel of DeLeon Realty, for Professor
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Leslie Sekerka’s Business Ethics class. Save the date: On Thursday, September 19, 2019 from 4:00 to 6:00, the TREC Symposium will host a discussion, “Housing by the Bay,” with keynote speaker Rodney Harrell, Ph.D., chief researcher for AARP. Contact Margaret.Mcfarland@menlo.edu to receive an invitation. Professor Craig Medlen presented a paper about Michal Kalecki’s principle of increasing risk at the Western Economic Association International in Tokyo. Using Kalecki’s thesis as an explanation for the relationship between debt and size before 1980, Medlen argued that government debt has recently changed the ratio, becoming the foundation of a dangerous expansion of corporate debt among the largest of U.S. firms, which could worsen the next economic downturn. Along with the preparation of her forthcoming monograph from Oxford University Press, Professor Lisa Mendelman (below) has turned her attention to a new project on the history of modern fiction and mental health. New work from this project includes a paper on suicidality, modernist ambiguity, and Edith Wharton that was recently accepted to the upcoming Modern Language Association conference in Seattle (where she’ll also give a paper on Jewish women and popular culture—from Dorothy Parker to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). Further work from this new project includes co-editing an essay cluster on “Modernism and Diagnosis” for the preeminent journal in modernist studies, Modernism/modernity. And, in May, she participated in an online forum of Modernism/modernity about contemporary approaches to literary scholarship; her contribution, “Strong Character, Weak Theory.”
Professor Melissa Michelson published her 5th book, a co-authored textbook on California Politics entitled “Governing California.” She also signed a contract with Oxford University Press for a book forthcoming in 2020 titled “Transforming Prejudice: Fear, Identity, and Transgender Rights”. Two co-authored research articles appeared recently in the journals Latino Studies and Sex Roles, and she co-authored an op-ed in the Washington Post. Earlier this year, she delivered an invited talk at the Social Science Research Council conference: “Immigration: The Politics of Inclusion and the Politics of Threat.” In April 2019, Professor Michelson received a Distinguished Career Award from the Latino Caucus of the Midwest Political Science Association. Also in April 2019, she joined the editorial team of the journal Politics, Groups, and Identities. M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne
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INTERNSHIPS THROUGH MENLO
You May be Surprised to Learn What Employers Want By Dylan Houle, Director of Internships & Career Services, Academic Affairs Did you know that problem-solving skills, communication, and the ability to work in a team are the top three attributes employers seek in a candidate? “Technical skills” doesn’t even crack the top 10. This finding from the Job Outlook 2018 report published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) is, perhaps, unsurprising. A company can teach technical skills relatively easily, but the ability to communicate, for example, is a deeper problem. And yet, employers across the country consistently report that students today are not graduating with such multifaceted, complex skills. Much of what employers are seeking is best developed through real-world experience. That’s why, five years ago, Menlo College implemented the Academic Internship Program; to help bridge the gap between college and career. The “willingness to learn by doing can be very scary,” observed Jessica Carlson ‘19. Through her summer marketing internship at Atlassian in San Francisco, she “found the confidence to voice my thoughts and opinions in order to be a team player.” Students like Jessica have the opportunity to complete an internship for academic credit the summer after their junior year. The job search process alone helps students develop the attributes employers seek: problem-solving, showing initiative, being adaptable, taking risks, and more. The Internships and Career Services team provides support every step of the way through individual advising, small group workshops, career fairs, and mock interviews. Student Laianne Guimaraes ’19, currently interning with Redwood Park Advisers, shared this feedback: “I wouldn’t be capable to do all the steps on my own to get a good resume, cover letter and tools to find an internship. The Career Services office is a powerful and totally necessary department for Menlo students.” How does our office assess whether or not students are developing the skills and competencies employers want? First, we collect performance evaluations from the student’s supervisor. Second, we evaluate the work done in the seminar. And third, we track the job placement rate of the cohort one year later when they graduate. For the most recent cohort of student-interns, 98.16% of supervisors said they would hire the student if a position became available. And 29 SUMMER 2019
for the past five years, Menlo College has consistently and significantly outpaced the national job placement average. Most recently, Menlo College helped to pilot the Career Readiness Project being led by SkillSurvey and NACE. The project provides valuable insight on each student by comparing their performance evaluation results against those received by actual job candidates. This new data will illuminate even more clearly to us where to focus our efforts in developing career ready students.
Menlo College
Tops in Jobs The California Internship & Work Experience Association (CIWEA), California’s leading professional association for educators and employers dedicated to supporting internship and work experience programs in higher education, named Menlo College the winner of the 2019 Outstanding College Work Experience & Internship Program Award. “It’s truly amazing to see the impact of your program,” wrote CIWEA President Brook Oliver. Dylan Houle, Director of the Internship Program, accepted the award on behalf of the college at the CIWEA Annual Conference in Napa on March 28-29. In related news, Zippia, Inc., a Bay Area startup that uses AI to help people achieve their career plans, recently named Menlo College as one of the 10 Best Colleges for Jobs in California. Taken together, it’s clear that Menlo College is a great investment in your future.
Menlo interns excelled off-campus this year, gaining real-world experience at impressive companies: (clockwise) Laianne Guimaraes Passos ‘19 at Redwood Park Advisers, a wealth management firm in Redwood City, with owners Ben Pettigrew and David Smith; Solin Piearcy ‘20 is interning at Sequoia Consulting Group in San Mateo this summer; Noble Boutin ‘20 (far left), at this year’s Career Connect Day event, met staff members from Sonim Technologies, where he is interning this summer. M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne
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S peakers E nrich the C ampus E x perience
Menlo College faculty deepen their teaching by introducing students to professionals at the cutting edge of their fields. In this semester alone, students could hear and interact with expert speakers almost every week, including leaders of a Black History Month panel, trainers for disability awareness, researchers on gender equity, local politicians, a financial advisor, and an expert on financial modeling. Top row left to right: Kevin T. Yamamoto, a financial advisor at Waddell & Reed; Atherton City Council members Rick DeGolia and Mike Lempres; San Mateo County Supervisor Warren Slocum; Black History Month Speaker Series Panelists from Cisco (left to right) Darryl Sladden, Jodi Washington, Jamar Jenkins, and Menlo student Dezmond Frazier ‘22, who was the panel moderator and one of the event organizers; Bottom row left to right: Professor Arthurlene Towner’s Disability Studies classes partnered with the Center for Independent Living (CIL) in Berkeley to bring Disability Awareness Training to campus; Entrepreneur, Angel Investor and TV personality Manny Fernandez, hosted by the Finance Club, spoke about the future of real estate.
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Beyond
Graduation
What Does the Future Hold? By Melissa Poulsen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English Virtual reality, artificial intelligence, space travel, climate change, war, refugees. These are just some of the answers I commonly hear when I ask students in English 450, a senior-level thesis class, to free associate with the word “future.” It’s a concept we chase the entire semester—moving from the dystopias and utopias dreamed in fictional texts, to the technological advances touted in Silicon Valley, to the realities of climate change recounted in the nonfiction work of scientists and journalists. Our class is not concerned with predictions; instead we explore the question of how we—as individuals, as a society— imagine our futures. In the process, we talk about how difficult it can be to think about the future. It’s easier to emphasize the short term and when we do think of the long term, our visions are often dark. Name a recent dystopian film. Easy, right? Now try to name a utopian one. This course creates a space for students to grapple with and produce ideas, including hopeful ones, about the future. As they work to develop their own take on the future in their thesis papers, I’ve found that students are open-eyed and realistic about what’s coming, sobered and yet confident in their resilience. Students are researching, for example, how artificial intelligence and data analytics will alter the job market. Students are questioning how fundamental concepts like privacy and truth are being transformed by social media, and what that might mean in the long term. They are exploring the future of healthcare, asking how technologies like 3D printing and virtual reality might revolutionize medicine. They are thinking politically, tracing the trajectories of topics like populism, military privatization, and refugee crises. And they are considering our planet, unpacking issues as varied as ocean pollution, extinction events, and how businesses can operate with greener models. The interests are diverse, but what’s clear is that students are confronting head-on the very issues that make the future feel so unstable. As my students’ research papers have continued to reveal, the issues we will face in the future are truly life-altering. They can be scary. And they can feel uncontrollable. What can I do, I often hear students ask, to stop something like climate change? The point is that there isn’t a simple answer. There probably won’t be easy solutions for the challenges, big and small, that lie ahead for each of us. The question is, how can we be resilient in the face of difficult problems? Our class— and, indeed, many of the classes at Menlo—emphasizes the skills students will need in order to understand and analyze a problem, and what’s more, start to imagine possible approaches and solutions. In the end, I want students to see themselves as active contributors to their futures, as people who can dream and hope in the long term.
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By Melissa Poulsen, Assistant Professor, English
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S tudent L ife
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New Students Start Finding Their Niche By Andrea Peeters, Ph.D., Menlo College Dean of Student Affairs
This spring, Menlo welcomed forty-five new Oaks to our family. New students and their families were greeted by a panel of student leaders to discuss the ins and outs of life here at Menlo, followed by a chance to meet faculty and hear from various campus services. Despite the cold, rainy weather conditions, our new students were eager to build connections and get to know the area. They explored downtown Menlo Park and made new friends over board games and a movie night, while enjoying our new Student Union space. Spring orientation may be small in scale, but not in heart!
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S tudent L ife
Techstars Startup Weekend Silicon Valley:
Menlo’s second Techstars Startup Weekend Silicon Valley on April 5-7, 2019 was a tremendous success with over 70 participants from the College and around the world competing to create and pitch the best social impact ideas. Menlo first partnered with Techstars in 2018, thanks to the entrepreneurial skills of Ethan Moengchaisong ’20 who worked hard to bring the event to campus. Ethan and Jessica Carlson ’19, co-lead organizers of the event, are also University Innovation Fellows. Their organizing team did an excellent job of planning, marketing, and executing the event, putting their business skills to good use. 37 SUMMER 2019
Menlo’s Islander Club Broadens Reach forPacific Inclusivity
Social Impact Edition a Success
Alumni played a key role with Chris Garrett ’94, Menlo trustee and CEO of Devil’s Canyon Brewery, returning as both an event sponsor and a popular coach for competing teams. Saeed Amidi ’81, founder and CEO of Plug and Play Tech Center, gave an inspiring keynote speech to the talented group of entrepreneurs. Congratulations to the first place team, Newsheet, which included incoming freshman Nick Abrams ’23 and the second place team, Certified Inclusive, which included Lukasz Nowosielski ’18.
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At this year’s Career Connect Day event, Menlo student Noah Aini ‘20 met staff members from Northwestern Mutual, where he is interning this summer. Photo: Andrey Poliakov
Menlo’s Career Connect Day Sees Record-Breaking Attendance By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Career Services and Study Abroad Menlo’s Career Connect Day was a huge success this year, with 376 students participating in presentations, workshops, and the Career and Tech Fairs. Students participated in engaging professional development activities with Menlo alumni, faculty, staff, and professionals from companies such as MassMutual and Robert Half, a management consulting firm. This year the Career Connect Day Committee selected businesses that offered students excellent advice on best practices in the working world of “life after college.” Topics included cultural intelligence, compensation trends, networking, and various approaches to writing a resume. Many thanks to our sponsors Sodexo and Enterprise Holdings, as well as the Menlo College staff, faculty, students, alumni, and the Oaks Innovation Club, which produced its first annual Tech Fair. Everyone worked so hard to make this year’s Career Connect Day a success - we are already looking forward to next year! 39 SUMMER 2019
SV Academy:
Launching Tech Industry Careers for Menlo By Angela Schmiede, Ph.D., Vice President for Student Success Silicon Valley has a problem: While local tech companies are often criticized for their lack of diversity, they also have a difficult time filling their talent pipeline. SV Academy offers a solution to this dilemma - a win-win for both tech companies and Menlo alumni trying to launch business careers in tech. SV Academy provides a free, online skill-building and mentorship program in business development that matches job seekers with tech companies. Four Menlo students have secured spots in the competitive program. According to SV Academy co-founder and CEO Rahim Fazal, “Menlo College students who become SV Academy fellows are known for their strong business education and broad understanding of the way the adult world works. We consistently hear from hiring managers that Menlo College alumni who complete the SV Academy fellowship represent the epitome of the 21st century workforce.” Upon graduation, Devin Gaines ’16 launched his career as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers. After two years of working 80+ hours a week, he decided he was ready for a career change and applied to SV Academy with the hope of breaking into the tech industry. It worked. After completion of the 12-week program, Devin is now a senior business development representative at SurveyMonkey. As part of the program, he has been paired with a mentor for his first year on the job to help ensure a successful transition. Starlyn Snitko ’17 has a similarly successful story. Her SV Academy training allowed her to move from her role as a marketing coordinator at MassMutual to a business development career at Instapage. Starlyn valued the internship that was part of her training process. She said, “The Academy helps you through every step of the process.” A career in business development provides the opportunity to pursue executive roles in marketing, sales, or customer success. SV Academy reports that there are close to 18,000 business development jobs currently available in California. If you are interested in learning more about opportunities for recent Menlo graduates at SV Academy, contact me at angela.schmiede@menlo.edu.
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Devin Gaines Accounting, Menlo College Graduate 2016 Business Development Representative, SurveyMonkey “SV Academy is free, but the catch is that it was a lot more challenging than I expected. You have to put in a lot of time and be prepared to receive a lot of feedback. The program is designed with employers, so everything I learned was directly related to the types of work I am doing now in my full-time job.”
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Sideways
Seeing
Menlo Student Akin Nefesogullari Launches a New App on Campus By Caroline Casper, Adjunct Professor of Literature and Creative Writing
Akin Nefesogullari ’21 launched a beta version of Selfin on Menlo’s campus, testing it with 27 users in Professor Linda Bakke’s class in March of 2019. Photos: Andrey Poliakov
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In 2014, Menlo student Akin Nefesogullari ’21 and his younger brother, Akan, were in a dorm room in Rhode Island at Roger Williams University, when they made an important discovery. They were using Instagram, sharing photos of their new lives in the U.S., where they had recently immigrated from Turkey, when they realized the popular app only accommodated vertical photos. Any horizontal photo taken in landscape mode (by turning your phone sideways) had to be edited and manipulated to change its size through a tedious process before uploading it to Instagram. After nearly two years of research and planning, that small discovery helped Akin and his co-founder and CTO, Marlon Monroy, launch a company that promises to revolutionize how the world uses social media. Their company is called Selfin, and it’s a phone app that not only allows users to post photos in portrait and landscape modes, but also pays users for their time and engagement through a system of awards. Here’s how Selfin works. Once a user puts in a certain number of hours and/or engagement (or what Selfin calls “stars”) within the app, they obtain “self-stars,” and are considered influencers who are eligible to make money from various posts and interactions. This system is like the one YouTube uses to pay its influencers. Selfin, however, sets no minimum follower limit like YouTube does, making it easier for the average social media user to make money. “Our main focus is the horizontal interface for showing the real size of an image, and helping our users to make money by just being social,” Nefesogullari said. “We are Gen Z. We need options, and we don’t like limits.” According to Nefesogullari, a business major at Menlo, this system of paying users to engage was popularized by the e-gaming industry and is an important component for attracting Generation Z to the app. Other notable features of the app include a messenger and a unique camera app that captures a photo with a simple swipe up anywhere on the screen. Simply put, Selfin leaves users in control of their social media lives. And, unlike most other photo sharing apps, Selfin promises not to sell your data, ever. Instead of selling advertising to gain a profit, Nefesogullari has an elaborate ‘grassroots’ plan for marketing Selfin that involves using brand ambassadors from high schools and colleges to spread the word. The company, which consists of only five employees, officially launched in March with more 1,000 users and is currently seeking funding. “It’s been a long journey that is really just getting started,” Nefesogullari said. “I am really excited.”
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he 28th annual Lūau By Tarryn Orial ’19, Pacific Islander Club President
On March 23, 2019, the Menlo College Pacific Islander Club (PIC) hosted our 28th annual Lu-au. After months of preparations and weeks of intense practicing, 450 people came out to enjoy the brilliant dance performances, deliciously authentic Hawaiian food, and the live music of Pu- maikau-i and the award-winning Hawaiian reggae band Ekolu. This year we raised almost $8,000 to further the club’s mission of expanding understanding of the cultures of the Pacific Islands, and to help us create another stunning Lu-au next year. None of this would have been possible without the support from our donors Keoki’s Lau Lau on the island of Oahu, Konohiki Seafood on Kauai, Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company and donations from the friends and family of our PIC board members. We also want to thank PIC club advisor, Jessica Soliai, and PIC kumu (teacher) Martini Eke, for dedicating their free time to support PIC and the Lu-au. We hope to see you all next year at our 29th Annual Pacific Islander Club Lu-au. Photos: Ian Morken
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his year at the Honors Convocation ceremony, Menlo College had the opportunity to pay tribute to our wonderful faculty members and students through various special awards, but these two award introductions, written by Professor Melissa Poulson and Trustee Charles “Chop” Keenan, stand out as inspiring representations of Menlo’s distinctive community and our faculty’s commitment to students.
Board of Trustees Award Recipient:
Sydney Richardson-Gorski By Charles “Chop” Keenan III ’66, Menlo College Trustee The annual Board of Trustees Award is the highest honor a student can receive at Menlo College. It recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding scholarship, leadership, and service. This year’s recipient is Sydney Richardson-Gorski, who will graduate this May with dual degrees in Marketing and Human Resources Management and a cumulative GPA of 3.89. Sydney has received numerous academic and athletic awards, and is an outstanding student who is well-respected by faculty. “Sydney consistently performs at the top of the class,” said Kathi Lovelace, Professor of Human Resource Management at Menlo. “She is insightful and applies course material in a meaningful way. She possesses a wonderful balance of modesty and majesty.” Sydney’s ultimate goal is to become President of the United States, a goal that is known to many on campus and can be gleaned through her leadership and service activities. She is President of the Menlo College Student Government Association and has served in several leadership roles including Vice President/Director of Events for the Black Student Union, Sophomore Class President, and Multicultural Representative of SGA. She is a member of Menlo College Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as well as a member of the StudentAthlete Leadership Committee. She continues to serve Menlo College as a Student Ambassador and with a Menlo team launched PULSE, which recorded some of the highest attended events on campus. “Sydney is a student who embodies the idea of caring, and understands that ‘caring’ is a reflection of work as much as spirit,” said Jodie Austin, Assistant Professor of English. “It shows in the trust that her fellow students have in her, and the fact that they routinely look toward her as an example to follow.” With three law-related internships – two at our State Capital and one at Fresh Lifelines for Youth in Redwood City where she has been offered a job upon graduation, Sydney is well on her to way to achieving her goals. “I’m ready to vote for her in 2032!” declared Menlo College President Steven Weiner. We are all lucky to be a part of this amazing woman’s journey and proud of the accomplishments she has achieved during her time at Menlo.
Richard F. O’Brien First Year Award:
Megan Robinson
By Melissa Poulsen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English The first-year recipient of the Richard F. O’Brien Award, Megan Robinson, is a classroom leader I have been lucky enough to teach in two different classes. I know the term “engaged” is used a lot when we speak about students, but that’s truly how I would describe Megan. Certainly, in the classroom, she’s engaged in the very best sense of the word; she participates actively and works hard to produce her best work, things all educators value. But what’s more, Megan is someone who has the great skill of finding value and interest in all kinds of subjects. I think this speaks not only to her intellectual curiosity, but also to her generosity, a willingness to see and to meet the world on its own terms. This spills into all of her interactions: I’ve always been struck by her ability to truly connect with and engage people, to have real, honest conversations, whether one-on-one or in a large group. These are characteristics of leadership we will always need in our society. The Richard F. O’Brien award is given to students who exemplify the true spirit of Menlo College. They are recognized as classroom leaders, and are thus dedicated to our campus learning community. And as President of the First-Year Class, and next year’s Wellness Representative, Megan takes what she brings to the classroom and applies it to the entire Menlo community. Photos: Andrey Poliakov 4 5 SUMMER 2019
Congratulations to our Students and Faculty!
At the annual Honors Convocation celebration in April, the Menlo College community applauded our 2019 award winners.
2019 Student Awards Al Jacobs Scholarship: Ian Martins ’21 Don Jordan Scholarship: Giselle Martinez Collado ’20 Wall Street Journal Award: Zacchaeus “Ziggy” Beatty ’19 Psychology Award: Marina Adriano ’19 Judge Russell Award: Lucia Casadei Parlanti ’19 Golden Oak Service Awards: Julie Ccaihuari ’19 and Jessica Carlson ’19 Richard F. O’Brien Awards: Megan Robinson and George Hofstetter (First Year honorees); Giuliana Pepe & Christopher Overkamping (Sophomore honorees); Esther Funez & Noble Boutin (Junior honorees); Maheen Jawaid & Ngozi Harrison (Senior honorees) Menlo Spirit Award: Ryan Barnett ’19 Menlo College Medal: Zacchaeus “Ziggy” Beatty ’19, Adam Fenyvesi ’19, Maheen Jawaid ’19, Lucia Casadei Parlanti ’19.
2019 Faculty Awards Charles Emerick Teaching Award: Jodie Austin Dean’s Scholarship Award: Sean Pradhan Faculty Service Award: Fabian Eggers Adjunct Service Award: Erik Bakke M E N L O C O L L E G E M A G AZI N E
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Perseverance Lands Menlo’s 2019 Valedictorian in the Spotlight By Caroline Casper, Adjunct Professor of Literature and Creative Writing As a high school freshman in 2010, Zacchaeus Beatty ’19 and his mother left the house every morning at 7 a.m. to drive to a coffee shop or grocery store parking lot so they could borrow a Wi-Fi signal. All of Beatty’s teachers at the School of Engineering and Sciences in Sacramento required their students to complete homework assignments online, and the Beatty family didn’t have the internet at home. “My mom and I would often sit in the cold for an hour every morning so I could finish all of my assignments and essays,” Beatty said. Nine years later and no shortage of setbacks and determination, Beatty, an accounting major who is better known on campus as ‘Ziggy,’ is the 2019 valedictorian at Menlo College. “My family is really excited,” he said. “I was a class clown when I was younger. I talked a lot in class, so this is just really exciting.” Today, it’s hard to imagine Beatty as a class clown. He’s a poised, soft-spoken and dedicated student. It’s only when he smiles— with a sense of laughter in his eyes-- that you might catch a glimpse of the mischievous, playful kid who once disrupted classes. But Beatty said that sense of rebellion disappeared when he graduated from high school and was forced to take an unexpected “gap year.” He had been accepted into Green Mountain College in Vermont, but only attended for a week before his mother, whom Beatty calls his most important mentor, pulled him out. “My mom didn’t like the atmosphere of the school,” Beatty said. “The college was in the middle of nowhere, and she thought I was too far away.” Beatty’s decision to drop out of college in 2014 soon became one of the most transformative decisions of his life. He decided not to work so he could instead focus on the next round of college application deadlines, and said that without the responsibilities
of school or a job to keep his mind occupied, he often found himself “totally bored.” “When my friends in Sacramento complained about homework and deadlines at their universities, I always thought they were lucky,” Beatty said. “I know what it’s like to do nothing, and it’s not good.” Later that year, Beatty reapplied to the schools he was interested in attending and chose Menlo, more motivated than he’d ever been in his life. And throughout his four years here, Beatty was steadfast and dedicated to his studies. He never missed a deadline, strived for all A’s and didn’t let anything distract him. He was a member of the Accounting Club, serving as both the club’s Director of Communications and Vice President. He was a member of the Black Student Union (BSU). He worked as a math and writing tutor, and now, he’s graduating at the top of his class. Beatty’s unexpected gap year isn’t the only source of his motivation. He said his grandfather, a former janitor at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, has had a significant influence on him as well. Beatty’s grandfather, a World War II, Korean and Vietnam War veteran, dedicated three decades of his life to the United States military, and when he tried to buy a house in Carmichael, a predominately white neighborhood in Sacramento, the neighborhood association rejected him because he was black. “When I think about my grandfather and the struggles he went through, I feel very lucky,” Beatty said. “He motivates me every day.” Beatty, who will be working at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in San Jose starting in the fall, is also considering applying to law school in a few years, and said McGeorge, the school his grandfather once cleaned, is on his list of places to apply.
Menlo College’s 2019 Valedictorian Zacchaeus ‘Ziggy’ Beatty got his nickname from Ziggy Marley, the son of his father’s favorite musician, Bob Marley. Above: Briana, Zacchaeus, LaTonda and Daryl Beatty 47 SUMMER 2019
Photos: Caroline Casper (family photo) and Andrey Poliakov
When I think about my grandfather and the struggles he went through, I feel very lucky. He motivates me every day.
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COMMENCEMENT
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Photos: Andrey Poliakov
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COMMENCEMENT 2019 Commencement Advice to Graduates:
Gratitude and Integrity Will Lead to Happiness By Caroline Casper, Adjunct Professor of Literature and Creative Writing
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On Saturday May 6, 2019 in Atherton, California, Menlo College celebrated its 91st commencement ceremony with a spirited graduating class. After a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem sung by alumna Celina Pagan ’18, the ceremony was officially convened by Grand Marshal and Emeritus Trustee Charles “Chop” Keenan III ’66. In his seventh Menlo College commencement (his second as president), President Steven Weiner welcomed and thanked the crowd for helping to make this day possible, then continued by saying that although each year he finds more reasons to be proud of being an Oak, “never more so than this year,” as 2019 has been a remarkable year of many firsts for the College. Among some of these “firsts,” Menlo College’s internship program was named the winner of the 2019 Outstanding College Work Experience & Internship Program Award, and for the first time ever, 25% of Menlo’s senior class graduated with honors. Menlo has also recruited the largest entering class of first-year students to date for this coming fall. Also for the first time, a team of Menlo students competed as finalists in both the Chartered Financial Analysts’ Research Challenge Competition and in the Bloomberg Trading Competition. Saving one of the most spectacular “first” achievements for last, President Weiner recognized the Women’s Wrestling team for winning not one, but two national championships this year. “After a 92-year dry spell, Menlo College claimed two national championships in one year,” Weiner said. “If there is a Hollywood agent out there, this is a made for TV or movie script about the small college that could.” President Weiner also recognized and celebrated those whose accomplishments are all-too-often overlooked: graduates who are first-generation college graduates, working parents, students with disabilities and those who are “living in the shadows in this country,” under the status known as Dreamers. “On this day, we celebrate all of you,” Weiner said. “You inspire us. All of you are now written into the history books for future generations to see. You’ll be an Oak for the rest of your lives.” Continued on page 53.
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Micah Kane ’91, Chair of the Menlo College Board of Trustees, and Alicia Young ’14, Chair of the Menlo Alumni Council, spoke next about the significance of giving back and joining the 15,000 distinguished Menlo alumni in the world today. “You will play a key role in the continued success of future Oaks,” Young said. “Do what you can to make an impact…the world is your oyster, now go make your pearl.” Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Grande Lum recognized faculty members for outstanding achievements— Professors Jodie Austin, Sean Pradhan, Fabian Eggers and Erik Bakke. He then honored the four graduating seniors who achieved grade point averages of 4.0 or higher: Zacchaeus “Ziggy” Beatty, Adam Fenyvesi, Maheen Jawaid, and Lucia Casadei Parlanti. “These students have accomplished something remarkable during their time at Menlo College,” Lum said. “No one can recall a precedent of four graduates with perfect GPAs in one year.” In playful speeches filled with gratitude, both Valedictorian Zacchaeus Beatty and Salutatorian Adam Fenyvesi thanked their professors and fellow classmates for helping them achieve their academic successes, but saved most of their gratitude for the perseverance of their ancestors and family members. Beatty thanked his parents and grandparents for teaching him about humility, integrity and the power of an education, and then he thanked his older sister, Briana, “the writer of the family,” for keeping him inspired. Fenyvesi also thanked his family, who had traveled from Hungary for the event, speaking to them in their native language. He then addressed his fellow graduates with a Star Wars joke to point out the auspicious date of the day’s event: “May the 4th be with you.” Student Government President Sydney Richardson-Gorski, next at the podium, responded to her enthusiastic applause with a plug for her future campaign for President of the United States: “Keep this energy when I run for President in 2032,” she said. Richardson-Gorski spoke about finding a passion for change and creating legacy by quoting two activists she admires—the late author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou and political activist Angela Davis. She closed with words of inspiration for her fellow graduates: “You have power, use it. You have impact, make it. You can change things, do it.” The day’s keynote speaker was Yasunobu Kyogoku, founding partner of Innovation Global Capital, a $36 billion venture capital firm that builds early stage companies that are disrupting consumer industries through technology and innovation. As Chief Investment Officer and member of the Executive Management Committee, Kyogoku’s acquisitions have created the largest affordable luxury apparel group in the world.
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Kyogoku, who was educated at Columbia University, Oxford University, and the University of Tokyo, congratulated the graduating class and said he remembered being at his own college graduation, “half a lifetime ago,” pondering a major decision. “I chose experience over money,” Kyogoku said. “Instead of going to Wall Street, the surest path to a financially comfortable life, I chose to attend a doctorate program in Oxford. My mother said to me, ‘you will have a lifetime to work, but only one chance in this life to study at Oxford.’” Kyogoku said it had always been his dream to create a venture capital firm that invests in companies helping to change the world, and the only way to achieve this dream was to conquer his fear of failure and “do it” himself. “The fear of failure is the greatest barrier to happiness,” he said. “To succeed at anything, you must have conviction from your heart, and when things are the very bleakest, and you fear there is no hope, push through and push through yet again.” Kyogoku’s firm has since gone on to invest in environmentally conscious companies that reduce waste and create middle class jobs, companies that are using cutting-edge technology such as artificial intelligence to help change the world while also delivering financial returns to investors. Kyogoku, who has received a lot of media attention for his professional and financial success, also focused his talk on the importance of finding meaning and passion in life, not wealth. In keeping with the day’s inadvertent Star Wars theme, he warned the students of George Lucas’ idea of “the dark side” by quoting Yoda: “A quick path to riches and power, the dark side is.” “Money cannot be your only goal in life,” Kyogoku said. “Money is a result. Not an objective. If you create great products, happy customers and value, money will eventually follow integrity.” Kyogoku closed by summarizing his takeaways–pursue your dreams, remember what matters, and change the world for the better–and offering powerful words of encouragement. “A young college graduate will one day discover personalized gene therapy to cure cancer at an affordable price, invent ways to reduce greenhouse gases or harness AI to increase the lifespan and quality of life for billions of people,” he said. “It may be you. It could be you.” The members of the class of 2019 then took to the stage to receive their diplomas from President Weiner. The ceremony concluded with a cap toss and a spray of confetti, and Grand Marshal Charles “Chop” Keenan III leading the recessional. Photos: Andrey Poliakov
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A L U M NI
T oasting M enlo :
Alumnus Chris Garrett Brews Another Networking Event Success By Caroline Casper, Adjunct Professor of Literature and Creative Writing
At Menlo’s annual OAKS-in-industry event, held on March 26th this year, current students met with alumni and College supporters for an evening to connect, network and engage at Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company. Chris Garrett ’94, Menlo alumnus, trustee, master brewer and owner of Devil’s Canyon, hosted the event, serving delicious food and drinks for a fun evening with live music. Garrett is well known on campus as a role model for students looking to shape their entrepreneurial goals. His family has been in the farming industry for seven generations, but it wasn’t until Garrett spent years working unfulfilling jobs in tech that he realized that he too was a cultivator of sorts. In 2001, he had the opportunity to purchase a defunct old brewery in San Carlos and from there, the beer-brewing hobby he’d started years earlier in a garage became a reality. Today, Devil’s Canyon, which is built upon Garrett’s strong principles of sustainability and social equity, has won more than 35 awards for their craft beers and has been voted as both the “Favorite Bay Area Brewery” and the “Best Bay Area Beer Bar.” 55 SUMMER 2019
Many happy returns...
Members of the Menlo College Board of Trustees have been incredibly generous with their time, money, and expertise. They regularly return to campus to mentor students, serve as judges for business competitions, and give back in other ways. We asked three Board members who are also Menlo College graduates to tell us how and why they circled back to their alma mater.
Back to Menlo by Way of Perth By Larry Lopez ’84, Partner, Australian Venture Consultants, and Menlo College Trustee I have been fortunate to have more ties to the Menlo community than most. My first connection is that I was raised on the Menlo College campus in Michaels Hall where my father, Dr. Carlos Lopez, was the resident fellow (and later president of the College). I then became a student and athlete at the College, from 1979 – 1984, years that were fantastic. I was blessed with wonderful classmates, who became my lifelong friends, and with great teachers and coaches. Along with other important tactical skills like finance, accounting and law, we were trained to lead and expected to run organizations. Upon graduation, I became a management trainee in the International Division of The Pacific Bank in San Francisco. The head of the division, Karl Buder ’66, a fellow Menlo College business alumnus and Hall of Fame soccer player, influenced my decision to take that opportunity. Thanks to my studies at Menlo, I was well prepared for workplace and leadership roles at a young age. In 1989 I had the opportunity to join Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), an independent bank based in Santa Clara. On my first day on the job, one of the executives called me into his office, wanting to know if I was Señor Lopez’ son. That was Harry Kellogg ’63, another Menlo College alumnus who was also a long-serving, generous trustee of Menlo College. Harry and I ended up working very closely together at SVB for the next 17 years, establishing a number of business units, including the creation of an international venture capital group that made investments in Israel, Europe, Australia and Asia. After retiring from banking, I moved to Australia and took several years off to spend time with my wife and children. I eventually became a partner in a Perth-based boutique consulting firm, and in 2016 I was appointed by the Australian government to run a program to accelerate the creation of start-up companies. In the last three years I have led a government program that has invested nearly $200 million in over 300 pre-revenue Australian companies. Through my father’s long service at Menlo College I stayed close to the school. Several years ago, Harry Kellogg asked me to consider joining the Board, which I did in 2016. While it is a long way to travel from Perth to Atherton for trustee meetings, I am proud to play a role contributing to the success of Menlo College. Continued on page 57 M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne
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Continued form page 56
Bringing My Experience Back to Menlo By Jordan Long ’09, Sales Representative with Famous Software, and Menlo College Trustee I look back at my time at Menlo College and see what a great opportunity I had. My relationships with professors and classmates positioned me to have a great career. I left the College with confidence in my ability to achieve success. I knew that, with my foot in the right door, I would be on my way. And it worked. I needed to gain experience to show my true talent and so I viewed my first jobs as steps toward my career. As I gained experience, more and more opportunities came my way. I wasn’t passive in the process. I worked harder and more effectively than my fellow employees, and I attended networking events and began to meet industry professionals who were able to be great references. It’s not a matter of whom you know but who knows you. Making connections at mixers and networking events makes a difference. I have met so many accomplished professionals over the years, such as Natalie Kaita, who has been my manager at Famous Software since I started in 2015. She has generously imparted her knowledge and vision for being successful in sales to me. I met my longtime mentor, Charles “Chop” Keenan, Trustee Emeritus of Menlo College, during my senior year at the College. We stayed in touch and even now, I continually learn from his knowledge and insight into being successful. Such leaders have helped me identify opportunities and shape my goals. When I was asked to be on the Menlo College Board of Trustees, I didn’t hesitate. I knew I wanted to give back to my alma mater. Helping Menlo College students is the most rewarding experience for me. I was once in their shoes.
My Journey Back to Menlo College By David C. Irmer ’60, President, The Innisfree Companies, and Menlo College Trustee I was 23 years old in 1960 when I received my diploma and stepped off campus to embrace the rest of my life. I was a bit scared, proud of the immediate accomplishment, anxious to impart to the world my genius, but most important, hoping to use my skills as a newly minted Bachelor of Business Administration graduate in the wide, wide world of the business community. This was not going to be easy. In 1960, a recession made jobs scarce. My Menlo College education, however, gave me confidence. I could hear John “Judge” Russell (then director of the College and the School of Business Administration) encouraging me to see avenues not yet explored. My Menlo College experience inspired me to take every challenge head on, to be the kind of leader who brings others along by sharing my dreams, and to be inclusive, encouraging and instructive. Those inspiring ideals have informed my career in the almost 60 years since I was handed my degree. They paved the way for me to become the president and founder of my own enterprise, The Innisfree Companies. Over the years, I accumulated extensive experience in real estate development, as well as in the challenges and rewards of working with people to reimagine and revitalize communities. My life has been enriched in so many ways by the “Mighty Oak” culture I experienced on campus, in the classroom, through the social interaction of my peers, and from the heartfelt guidance of my professors. I left Menlo believing that the challenges before me were worthy of my time and attainable, and that I was prepared for the adventure. I’ll be forever grateful. I give back to the institution that helped define me, and I encourage you to do the same. Life in this world of ours is fast paced, mysterious, challenging and, if you do it right, full of great joy! My wish for other Menlo alumni is to actively shape your own success story, to live a full and successful life filled with responsibility, productivity and friendship. Be spirited by your successes and never take failure as defeat. The joy and strength of Menlo College will forever be with you—embrace it on your journey.
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IN MEMORIAM We were saddened to learn of the deaths of four Menlo College alumni in recent months, John Belcher ’55, Gary Mahan ’57, Henry Reynaud ’58, and Steven Trobbe ’77. We are thankful for the time these alumni spent at Menlo College, and extend our heartfelt condolences to their family members, friends, and classmates.
John “Gary” Garrettson Belcher ’55 Garrettson Belcher was born in San Diego, California. After he earned a BA degree from Menlo College, he spent two years in the U.S. Navy. Gary then embarked on his lifelong dream of being a rancher. Over the next few years he acquired two ranches: the Gordon Valley cattle ranch in Napa, California, and for farming, Rancho Corazon in the Sacramento Valley. His passion was working the land, surrounded by nature. Gary died at home at his Gordon Valley Ranch in Napa, California, at the age of 86.
Henry A. Reynaud Jr. ’58 Born and raised in Petaluma, California, Henry joined his father as a partner at the Reynaud Motor Company in Petaluma immediately after graduating from Menlo College. Henry worked for the Reynaud Motor Company for twentyfive years before retiring in 1983 to pursue his many other endeavors: property management, wood working, hunting, and restoring classic cars. His home was made famous as the main filming location for the 1986 Francis Ford Coppola movie Peggy Sue Got Married, which was filmed in Petaluma, and starred Kathleen Turner and Nicolas Cage. Henry had a long-standing membership in the Sonoma A’s, a chapter of the Model A Ford Club of America. His support for Menlo College led him to establish the Henry A. Reynaud Jr. Scholarship in 1976, which since that time, has continued to provide financial support to a Menlo College business major every year. Henry passed away in Phoenix, Arizona, at the age of 83.
Steven Trobbe ’77 (front row, jersey number 33) passed away in Campbell, California at the age of 61.
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Menlo College Women’s Wrestling – A Win By Aaron Gillespie, Assistant Athletics Director On October 10, 2001, large wrestling mats were laid out on the quad, nestled among the Oak trees. Menlo College was ready to host the first-ever competition for the newly-formed women’s wrestling program: Menlo vs. German Wrestling Club AC Uckerath. Over the intervening eighteen years, hard work, tremendous talent, storied coaches, and determination combined to take a program from its humble beginnings atop the roots of old growth oak trees in 2001, to the top of the collegiate women’s wrestling stratosphere in 2019. By any measure, it’s an astonishingly fast path to two national championships. Prodigious talent was in evidence on the women’s wrestling team from the very early years. The Allen name is well-known in the wrestling world, and it’s very closely associated with Menlo College. Lee Allen was a two-time Olympian, the former head coach of the US GrecoRoman Olympic team, and head coach at nearby Skyline College for over 30 years before he was tapped to start the women’s wrestling program at Menlo College. And two of the most storied women wrestlers in Menlo’s history were Coach Allen’s daughters: Sara (Fulp-Allen) Bahoura ’07 and Katherine (Fulp-Allen) Shai ’10. Sara was the program’s first-ever individual national champion when she won in 2005 – only four years after the program was launched. She went on to become Menlo’s first three-time collegiate national champion, a seven-time member of the U.S. National Team, and twice placed third in the Olympic team trials. Sara acknowledged the family-like feel of the program, even in the early stages, as a key component to its success. “Our Menlo College team was like family,” she said. “Everyone had their role and understood their role. Wrestling can be scary and you have to [conquer your
A Big Round of Applause for our Athletes Menlo College Athletics celebrated another year of tremendous success on Sunday, April 28 at the annual All-Athlete Banquet. Nearly 330 athletes, coaches, faculty, staff and board members filled the room to honor our athletic leaders.
Glen E. Dorst Award for sportsmanship – Kenzie Carpenter (Women’s Volleyball)
Collis Steer Academic Excellence Awards
F. Philler Curtis Award for outstanding contributions to campus life – Sydney Richardson-Gorski (Women’s Soccer)
Sydney Richardson-Gorski (Women’s Soccer)
Señor Carlos Lopez Award for outstanding contributions to campus life – Anders Nymo (Men’s Basketball) Don W. Baer Award for all-around leadership – Caitlin Sorensen (Women’s Soccer)
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Menlo College Athletics Department Service Award Ryan Barnett
Anders Nymo (Men’s Basketball) Wyatt Nebe (Baseball transfer student) Sofia Salim Ponce (Volleyball transfer student)
nning Tradition
Below: Sara (Fulp-Allen) Bahoura ’07 (left, red uniform) and her younger sister, Katherine (Fulp-Allen) Shai ’10 (right, blue uniform), were both named the Menlo College Female Athlete of the Year--Sara in 2005 and Katherine in 2010. Photos: (Fulp-Allen sisters): Brian Byllesby
fears]. Coach Allen didn’t say much, but he [said in an unspoken way] ‘I’m here for you.’ That was how we took care of our fears when he was coaching at Menlo College.” Katherine won a pair of national titles as an Oak, and was twice named the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association National Wrestler of the Year. Following in her sister’s footsteps, she was also named the Menlo College Female Athlete of the Year in 2010. She spent five years on the U.S. National Team, and was twice an alternate for the Olympic team, placing third at the team trials in 2012 and again in 2016. She had a chance to train with the team in the new Menlo College Sports Pavilion, creating an even greater connection with current Oaks. “I was so thrilled to hear about Menlo’s success at both National Championships this year,” said Katherine. “Training with the team in the fall gave me a glimpse of the heart and passion of these women, and it was no surprise their hard work paid off.” The women’s wrestling program at Menlo also catapulted a pair of careers onto the professional mixed martial arts (MMA) scene. A three-time All-American as an Oak, Carla (O’Connell) Esparza ’09 went on to become the first-ever straw weight champion in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2014. Ashlee Evans-Smith ’09 also chose the professional MMA path, and is currently a bantam weight fighter in the UFC. In the eighteen-year history of the program, sixty-four wrestlers were named All-Americans, twelve won individual national championships, and seventeen have been named Academic All-Americans. And at eighteen, the program is still young! “Menlo College Wrestling has always been a family,” said Katherine. “Current students and alumni all share a similar love for the team, the area, and the people. It’s paved the path for Menlo’s success.” Club Sport Athletes of the Year for bringing success and recognition to their teams – Tatum Dioro & Nathan Prokop (Weightlifting) Iron Oak Awards for hard work and commitment in and out of season – Nick Adgar (Baseball) & Iman Kazem (Women’s Wrestling)
Freshman of the Year Award – Edin Ibrahimovic (Men’s Volleyball) & Alleida Martinez (Women’s Wrestling) Bud Presley Coach of the Year Award – Joey Bareng (Women’s Wrestling) Don Baikie Athletes of the Year – Anthony Orozco (Men’s Wrestling) & Solin Piearcy (Women’s Wrestling)
Sports Medicine Perseverance Award for achieving success in sport after injury – Destinee Bowie (Women’s Basketball)
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Kaylin Swart ’18
Shining on South Africa Women’s National Team By Aaron Gillespie, Assistant Athletics Director Kaylin Swart rewrote the record books over the course of three seasons as the starting goalkeeper for the Oaks, and she finished her career as the lone three-time All-American in program history. Originally from South Africa, Kaylin is now a member of that country’s Women’s National Team. Her action on the field helped them qualify for the 2019 World Cup. While she now shines on the national stage, Kaylin is quick to show her appreciation for Menlo College and all those who helped her along the way. “I cannot thank Menlo College enough for giving me the opportunity to study and play soccer,” she noted. “I will always treasure what I learned and the experiences I gained. I thank all of the coaches for their best wishes and always pushing me to be the best version of myself. I’ll carry Menlo in my heart forever!”
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Photos: Brian Byllesby M E N L O C O L L E G E M A G AZI N E
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Golf Phenoms Christian and Fredrik Ingul By Aaron Gillespie, Assistant Athletics Director Located on the south shore of the Trondheim Fjord lies Trondheim, Norway. The fourth largest urban area in Norway has a direct tie to Menlo College—it is the hometown of Christian and Fredrik Ingul. Twin brothers on the team, the Inguls have spearheaded the resurgence of Menlo’s men’s golf program. In less than two years, the team has gone from being ranked in the triple digits, all the way to #18 this season, which is the highest team ranking in program history! Fredrik and Christian both aspire to play professionally after their time at Menlo. They are majoring in finance with aspirations to work in the world of stock trading in their future. “I chose finance first and Fredrik copied me,” joked Christian. Fredrik, of course, claims that finance was always his intended major. Christian’s current portfolio focuses mainly on U.S. stocks while Fredrik has been dabbling in the Scandinavian oil markets. One undeniable similarity between the two of them is their appreciation for Menlo College—all that it has offered them so far and what it means for their future. “I was looking for a good opportunity where I can train golf, get a great education—and where I don’t have to worry about the snow,” noted Fredrik. Christian agreed, and added, “When
Twin brother golf stars, Christian Ingul ‘21 (left) and Fredrik Ingul ‘21 (right), helped lead the resurgence of the Menlo golf team this year.
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we go back home there is no one that can compete with us when we say we got a finance degree in Silicon Valley.” Fredrik and Christian have both taken full advantage of the opportunities available to them here at Menlo. Fredrik has a pair of individual runner-up finishes to his credit already, and Christian added his first runner-up finish this year at the Oregon Tech Invite. Both currently top the Menlo College Golf record books in scoring average, birdies, rounds played, and par or better rounds. Together, the two helped the squad to its first-ever team tournament title in 2017, when Menlo Men’s Golf won the Pacific Coast Highway Invitational at Bayonet Black Horse in nearby Monterey. While golf success has been a major positive aspect of their life at Menlo College, they have also grown to love the culture and beauty of the area. “Everyone is so talkative and open here, and I really like that,’ said Fredrik. “Back home people are more introverted, especially my generation. It’s so much better here to get to connect to people in a different way.” Christian touched on the beauty of the surrounding area and the golf courses the team gets the chance to play. “I especially enjoy going to new places and seeing so many incredible courses. I almost feel like a tourist at times,” he added with a smile. While a career in finance is on the horizon, the two plan to ride out their golf careers as long as possible. “We’ve gained a lot of skill over the 12 years we’ve been playing, and we aren’t ready to give that up just yet. Our finance degrees will always be there for us when our playing days are over,” said Christian. They agree they are having a great time at Menlo pursuing both their sport and their education. We’re enjoying their time at Menlo College too!
The 2019 Menlo’s Men’s Golf Team had a remarkable season, climbing to a ranking of #18 in the NAIA. (Front row left to right): Douglas Burton ‘19, Jayrick Cadelina-Canyete ‘20, Eric Angeles ‘19, Shomei Kadota ‘22, Vince Fauria ‘19. (Back row left to right); Christian Ingul ‘21, Tom Field ‘20, Te Shu Kung ‘21, Anders Baumann ‘21, Fredrik Ingul ‘21. M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne
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We’re again making
ExtraOARdinary News! To commemorate the women’s and men’s rowing teams launched this year, former Trustee Tyler Edelstein Tuttle and husband Rick supported the purchase and naming of two “ergs” in the rowing room. Their generosity is displayed for all to see in the new Rowing Workout Room on campus, where the training regimen reflects the goal to compete at the U.S. Rowing Championships. The Oaks make no small plans! Naming opportunities allow you to preserve your legacy at Menlo -- or celebrate the memory of a loved one or friend. If you would like to explore the possibilities, please contact Laura Koo at laura.koo@menlo.edu or (650) 543-3732. All donations support current Menlo College students.
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Meet Mike Brown, the Maestro of Dining at Menlo
In 1962, Menlo opened a new dining commons and established a partnership with the French food services company Sodexo. Fifty-six years later, Mike Brown, graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and Purdue University, arrived on campus to serve as the General Manager of Menlo College dining services. We’re not sure what took him so long. Each morning, Mike rides his bike to campus, dons his chef’s whites, and proceeds to create innovative meals tailored to students’ needs, such as the cafeteria’s training table. He also ferments vegetables and other foods on-site, barbeques regularly, designs extravagantly imaginative catered events, gardens, and otherwise brings energy and creativity to Menlo’s food services operation.. Menlo has never before had such culinary talent on campus. Mike Brown brings enjoyment into the daily lives of students, faculty and staff, demonstrating just how much effect one person can have. As a guest at one of his inventive dinners captured it, “Holy moly, he’s great!” We agree. Photos: Andrey Poliakov
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Non Profit Org US Postage PAID Denver, CO Permit No 3280 1000 El Camino Real Atherton, CA, 94027-4301 www.menlo.edu
SAVE THE DATES! October
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OAKtoberFest Families & Alumni Weekend www.menlo.edu/oaktoberfest