The year in review 2015

statement THE MICHIGAN DAILY THE MICHIGAN DAILY

APRIL 15 , 2015 APRIL 15 , 2015

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Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

The Year in Review.

Students of the Year A president, some Nobel Prize winners, a few Internet moguls, and Darth Vader — there is a high precedent set for students who graduate from the University. To say that the University can be overwhelming is an understatement. With 41,927 students, 1,397 student organizations registered on Maize Pages, and over 100 possible majors, it’s often easy to get lost in the shuffle.

But somehow students find their way and then some, going from scared, M-planner-toting freshman to leaders, innovators, and activists in a few short years. While the many accomplishments of the University’s current students could fill volumes, each year the Statement narrows down the impressive pool to a few select student leaders. Some chosen for the intense commitment they show to one activity, others for the impact they have over campus as a whole.

Some come to the University with ambitious plans in mind, while others have found their way and grown once arriving in Ann Arbor.

Between these ten students, you will find ten different majors, dozens of student organizations, and hundreds of peers impacted and influenced.

Meet the Michigan Daily Students of the Year 2014-2015. They’re all happy to meet you.

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

During the temporary lift of the ban of gay marriage, Ann Arbor residents Donna Rafferty and Jules Cobb marry alongside hundreds of other same-sex couples at Washtenaw County Court in Ann Arbor on Mar. 25, 2014.

Photos of the Year Michigan Daily photographers often find themselves in situations that are rare for most 20-year-olds: front row as President Obama addresses a crowd of 1,500; feet away from nationally ranked athletes as they dive, dunk and score; at the heart of a powerful student protest. Armed with a camera, a good sense of timing, and a keen observational ability, these photographers capture student life at it’s most thrilling, most inspiring, and sometimes most banal. Interspersed through these pages are our Photos of the Year.

Happy viewing.

Magazine Editor, Ian Dillingham Deputy Editor, Natalie Gadbois

Photo Editor, Luna Anna Archey Design Editor, Jake Wellins LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Jim Harbaugh holds his son Jack during a press conference to announce his appointment as the next head football coach at Junge Center on Dec. 30, 2014.

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Magazine Editor: Ian Dillingham Deputy Editor: Natalie Gadbois Design Editor: Jake Wellins

Photo Editor: Luna Anna Archey Illustrator:

Managing Editor: Lev Facher Copy Editors:

Megan Mulholland

Hannah Bates

Maggie Miller

Laura Schinagle

Editor in Chief: Jen Calfas

Emma Sutherland VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

President Barack Obama getting off the stage after he rallied for the Democrats at Wayne State University Nov. 2, 2014.

COVER BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

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JAMES COLLER/Daily

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder waves to the crowd following his reelection at the Marriott in Detroit, MI on Nov. 4, 2015.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Democratic Candidate for Michigan Senate Gary Peters announces his win at the Democratic Watch Party at MGM Grand in Detroit on Nov.4, 2014

WILLIAM LYNCH/Daily

Farmer Norm Holtz of Ida Michigan poses in his barn during the fall.

CONNOR BADE/Daily

Connor Morrell juggles during the 44th annual Hash Bash on the Diag on Apr. 4, 2015.

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School of Music senior Christina Manceor performs at Uma Noite Brasileira at Ford School of Public Policy on Jan. 29, 2015.

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hen students reflect on their time on campus, many will remember game days, the Ann Arbor winter, and long study hours.

LSA senior Keya Patel, however, will remember the many hours she spent working with communities around the world.

Since her freshman year, Patel has worked with the Better Living Using Engineering Laboratory, a student organization guiding nine team projects using a human-centered sustainable design process to collaborate with communities both local and around the world to work on an identified need.

Some of the groups’ previous projects include providing nighttime lighting, organizing education engineering work-

shops and irrigating fields and farmlands.

Six of the teams are based abroad in communities in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, India, and El Salvador.

The teams travel to their partner communities over class breaks throughout the year to help implement their projects.

As BLUElab president this past year, Patel is one of a few team members not studying engineering — she’s earning dual degrees in International Studies and Biology with a minor in Business.

Though she was originally a little intimidated, she said collaborating with students from different fields of study has been an important experience.

“Working with the engineers and

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SA senior Natasha Dabrowski’s face turned red from “talking about herself” and her nomination for Student of the

Year.

“I’m truly humbled by this,” she said. “I do feel like I’ve been a really hard worker on campus, but I know that there are a lot of people that put in a lot of time and energy and effort into making this campus a better place.”

Dabrowski is LSA Student Government president and an active member of the Michigan Club Tennis team and Delta Gamma sorority. But she was more than willing to take time out of her busy schedule to discuss her nomination.

Throughout the conversation, Dabrowski speaks expressively, but cautiously about her achievements on campus — modest about her role in impacting her larger campus community and never failing to give credit to those who have helped her in achieving her goals.

Dabrowski served as a student representative on the Race and Ethnicity Subcommittee responsible for updating the requirement for the coming school year. She was also responsible for creating a religion minor through the University’s History department, which she was the first student to complete.

“I did this not without the help of many other students on LSA student government and administrators,” Dabrowski said. “I came to campus recognizing a lack of an overarching major or minor or program where students could learn about a lot of different things rather than study one specific ethnic studies or religious studies course.”

Diversity is important to Dabrowski. Her family, she said, hosted a foreign exchange student almost every year while she was in high school, and, while she valued the international exposure, she still found it limiting.

“Here on campus I’ve been able to work with

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t’s suggested that those who grow up in the Midwest are forever subscribed to the region’s wholesome values — an admirable work ethic contrasted by modesty, along with the desire to help others. If there’s a student who embodies the favorable, friendly and hard-working Midwestern archetype, its Ford school junior Hannah Lee. Between her extroverted nature and her glass-half-full mentality, it’s clear why Lee is regarded as a positive influence within both the classroom and her extensive extracurriculars. She’s a socializer through and through — outgoing and outspoken, radiating optimism when she speaks of her causes of concern, BRIAN BECKWITH/Daily

mainly social justice and equality. With accolades including her 2014 Freshman of The Year award, it’s clear she’s been and continues to be on track to pursue her goals as a catalyst of social change.

Along with pursuing a degree in public policy focused on inequalities in health and the environment coupled with a minor in community action and social change, Lee is also employed at the Life Sciences Institute, is a recently elected member of Central Student Government, is involved in Common Ground through the program on Intergroup Relations, and is captain of the women’s club soccer team.

“I think through all of my organiza-

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

learning from us is an integral experience because that’s what it will be like in the real world, you’re not just like surrounded by people who are just like you in terms of your academic background,” Patel said. “Having people that are not engineers do provide a lot of benefits. I think people value that too.”

Though as president Patel works with all the BLUElab teams, she first began her involvement as a member and then project leader of BLUElab Sa Nimá Collaborative, a project working to bring nighttime lighting to Samox San Luca, Guatemala. The town currently uses candles for lighting

because of limited energy sources.

Patel has traveled to the project’s partner community in Guatemala three times.

“That team has definitely been the most meaningful to me in college, even sometimes more so than being President of BLUElab because Sa Nimá is the way that I got into all this work,” Patel said.

Throughout college Patel was also involved with the Ginsburg Student Advisory Board and was a member of the University figure skating team. However, working with BLUElab has become her primary endeavor.

“I’ve dropped everything else that I do just to focus my heart

into this and be able to provide as many hours a week into this as possible,” Patel said. “I sometimes wish I could have done everything I used to be doing, but it’s been so worth it to me to put in all this effort into BLUElab and see where it’s gone this past year and helping all our teams as much as I can.”

Engineering junior Katherine Rouen, BLUElab internal vice president, said Patel has been one of the BLUElab’s most transformative presidents and has moved the organization forward throughout her presidency.

“She’s really been someone who has moved BLUElab away from solely implementing technol-

ogy, and being more about thinking about the end users and the stakeholders that we work with,” Rouen said.

Rouen said Patel worked to meet with each team and reached out to individual team members.

“When she’s involved in something she’s 100 percent there,” said LSA junior Emilee Lewis, a member of Sa Nimá Collaborative.

“I feel like that’s the main thing that’s hard to find nowadays.

When you have a meeting with Keya, she is 100 percent present and you’re the only thing that matters at that moment.”

Patel said working with BLUElab has been the most valu-

Keya Patel international students, with transfer students, with students from all across the nation, students who have totally different political and religious beliefs than myself,” Dabrowski said. “The University in a lot of ways can create spaces for you to talk about those even for students who might not self-select to create those conversations. It’s easy to just go through college and just take classes and focus on your studies, but I’ve been so much more enriched by all of the organizational and academic experiences pushing me to go beyond the classroom.”

Dabrowski endured a long process of creating proposals and doing research at both the Univer-

sity and peer institutions to judge the feasibility of creating the new program. Her work culminated in speaking in front of the History department, from whom she received the support to continue shaping the logistics of the new minor.

“It’s still, to date — my LSA student government adviser jokes — the fastest student government project we’ve had ever,” Dabrowski added.

But Dabrowski is a determined person and navigating the bureaucracy of the University is something that comes naturally to her, according to LSA senior Corey Walsh, LSA SG vice presiden.

“It’s definitely something that

does not come easily to many people, but with Natasha, it’s like a dance,” Walsh said. “She always knows who exactly to be speaking to, always has the perfect agenda and always has a next step, whereas a lot of people face roadblocks and give up because they think it’s an unattainable task, but with her it’s always ‘here’s our next venue, this is where we’re going next, I’ll see you at the next meeting.’”

It’s Dabrowski’s friendly and energetic personality, Walsh said, that really motivates their projects and their agendas as student government executives.

“Something that’s most striking to me about (Dabrowski) is the emotional contagion that she has,”

tions, there’s a theme of inclusion and diversity and social justice,” she said. “That is something I’m super passionate about, creating spaces for all students on campus to feel comfortable. “ Within her sizable sphere of campus involvement, comprised of contributions she modestly regards as “small,” she makes a point to help others realize their full potential. Even over coffee for an interview focused on her accomplishments, Lee was more interested in the minute details of my life than discussing herself.

When she arrived on campus

by way of her relatively homogenous hometown of Rochester, Lee sought out opportunities to engage in and provide diversity education.

She immediately became involved in the Michigan Community Scholars program because of its social justice and community service focus. In attempts to foster inclusive environments, Lee facilitates weekly three-hour discussions on religion within her Intergroup Relations class. Among her group of 18 students varying in race, gender, religion and sexual orientation, she successfully enables forward-thinking conversations of

coexistence and open-minded perspectives. Within the group, she makes a point to not only create an inclusive and comfortable space for all, but also speak from a humanistic standpoint.

“I know diversity takes time and its sometimes hard to understand where other people are coming from, but if you have more perspectives and if you are understanding more people, it really helps you become a better person,” she said.

“There was a moment where I feel like my group clicked, it was really cool because I know through dialogue, it’s changing people’s per-

by: Emilie Plesset, Daily News Editor

Walsh said. “She exudes this energy and light that’s so contagious for all of the other people that she spends time with. Being around her you always feel engaged and you always want to care about what she cares about because of the emotion that she exudes.”

But out of all of her experiences on campus, Dabrowski said she will miss the people who have supported and guided her here most of all when she graduates in May. “In my senior year I’ve been able to make even more friends and meet even more people,” she said. “I think that has created such an unforgettable friendship that I know those relationships will go beyond the campus, but they thrive

Natasha Dabrowski

able experience throughout her time at the University. She said the skills she has harnessed through her leadership within the organization are very translatable to the professional workforce. After graduation, Patel will be working with sales and business strategy for Dropbox.

“Sometimes to me the work I do with BLUElab is so much more valuable than school stuff,” Patel said. “I’ve learned so much more out of BLUElab than I ever think I would have in class and I spend more hours a week doing BLUE lab than studying for my classes.

You learn so much out of it, so it’s totally worth it to me in the end.”

so much here. A couple of months from now, I won’t be able to go down the street and be able to see five of my friends. I’ll have to fly across the country perhaps. The relationships that you create and form from all of these transformative experiences are ones that I will miss the most. I’ll continue them, but they’re just going to be different.”

Continuing her government and policy-making involvement, Dabrowski said she is eyeing a few public policy and PR positions in Washington, D.C. after graduating.

“I’m still navigating my future,” Dabrowski said. “As of right now, the nature of politics is that doors open very quickly.”

by: Tanya Madhani, Daily Staff Reporter

spectives and how they see the world.”

She sources her inspiration from her seemingly well-rounded upbringing, insisting her parents initiated her fascination with different cultures and customs, and that she was raised to care and fight for others, understand them and enact change together.

“My parents gave me experiences to show me that that’s not the norm in the world,” she said. “They took me on a lot of humanitarian and mission trips, we did a lot of service in Pontiac and Detroit.”

Looking towards the future of

Hannah Lee

her positive pathway, Lee hopes to continue utilizing her resources to promote causes for social justice, ideally in philanthropy, social justice and dialogue. Last summer she found her niche within her work for a nonprofit.

“I see philanthropy as your time, your treasure, and your talent. I think my long terms are to engage in philanthropy somehow, whether that’s working for a nonprofit or for a foundation,” she said.

“I would love to be a professor one day, I think that would be such an amazing job, teaching and being part of academia.”

by: Caroline Filips, Daily Arts Writer

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Mercyhurst beat Slippery Rock at the Big House on Oct. 18, 2014.

Michigan cornerback Blake Countess and Ohio State wide receiver Devin Smith battle for a deep pass that fell beyond their reach during Michigan’s game against Ohio State in Columbus on Nov. 29, 2014.

VICTORS on the FIELD

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Junior wide receiver Devin Funchess fights off a Penn State defender to score a touchdown on Oct. 11, 2014.

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Junior defensive back Jourdan Lewis misses a catch during Michigan’s loss to Utah on Sep. 20, 2014.

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Baseball Head Coach Erik Bakick’s son Colt helps out as the ball boy during Michigan’s 4-2 loss versus Michigan State on Apr. 14, 2015 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

... and off

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A Michigan and Michigan State player brawl The Michigan hockey team took on Michigan State University in Joe Louis Arena. The Wolverines finished with a 2-1 win over their opponents on Dec. 29, 2014.

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Michigan’s men’s swimming and beat Ohio State 187-117 in Canham Natatorium on Jan. 12, 2015.

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Michigan women’s basketball took on Purdue Feb. 24, 2015. Michigan won 81-50.

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Max Beilfelt takes a fall during Michigan’s narrow win to Northwestern of 56-54 on Jan. 17, 2015.

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The Michigan men’s wrestling team won against Wisconsin 24-12 on Jan. 23, 2015.

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Freshman defenceman Cutler Martin celebrates his game winning overtime goal during a hard-fought match against Minnesota Feb. 13, 2015.

After a 144 minute weather delay, Utah players celebrate their win against Michigan 26-10 in Ann Arbor September 19, 2014.

Redshirt freshman forward Mark Donnal celebrates a dunk during a game against SMU on Dec. 20, 2014 at Crisler Center.

FACES of the CROWD

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Stacey Ervin in competition against Stanford on Feb. 7, 2015 in Cliff Keen Arena. Michigan won 434 to 433.05.

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Sophomore forward Zak Irvin celebrates as time expires during the Michigan versus Ohio State game on Feb. 20, 2015.

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Fans yell at the referees in Yost Ice Arena during Michigan’s game against Penn State on Nov. 21, 2015.

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Junior wide receiver Devin Funchess reacts after scoring a touchdown during Michigan’s win over Penn State on Oct. 11, 2014.

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Senior quarterback Devin Gardner consoles Ohio State quarterback JT Barrett after his injury on Nov. 28, 2014.

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Senior Brook Parker celebrates after a vault at the Big Ten Championships on Mar. 21, 2015 that Michigan won.

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“

Forever Go Blue.” Those three words are often used to communicate what cannot truly be defined by words: fierce love for the University and its community, the love that wide-eyed Wolverine-underlings only glimpse at orientation and eventually build through every late night cram session, every unexpected friendship and every game day throughout their time here.

Until once the tassel switches sides, we can’t think to say anything else. Some students take that slogan to heart, caring about the University so much that they continue on here after receiving their degrees — students like David Moore.

In 2014, Moore received a BSE in mechanical engineering in the top 3 percent of his

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By Kelly Hall, Daily Sports Writer

hough the season had been over for almost a week, LSA senior Nicole Elmblad was still on duty as captain of the women’s basketball team on April 7.

With two teammates feeling sick, she picked up popsicles to help ease their pain.

The two-time Academic All-American, three-time Academic All-Big Ten, and twoyear captain — voted in unanimously by her teammates both years — has excelled on the basketball court. After all, she does hold the records for most games played (133) and wins (82). But her efforts on campus have been noticed as well.

Majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience, Elmblad has over a 3.9 GPA and hopes to attend medical school.

She will take a gap year following graduation with plans to participate in hospital research and take the MCAT. Elmblad grew up in St. Ignace, located at the southernmost tip of the Upper Peninsula, in a “Michigan family,” and her long love for the University is constantly demonstrated through her participation on campus.

She has been involved with the StudentAthlete Advisory Committee since her sophomore year, along with volunteering for a variety of other organizations. She helped plan Maize Night Madness pep rally and volunteers at Mott Children’s Hospital and Food Gatherers.

“When she talks about the University of Michigan, she gets super emotional,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said in November. “She loves this place and what our University stands for and what our program stands for. For her, it’s about being a part of something bigger than herself.”

This season, the Wolverines weren’t able to return to the NCAA Tournament and endured a few tough losses during their season, including falling to Minnesota in double overtime and getting kicked out of the Big Ten Tournament by Michigan State in the second round.

Elmblad was able to keep her team’s spirits high throughout it all.

“It’s never easy to go through a stretch where you’re losing games, especially at the

of study will “complete that perspective of design, operations, and business as a whole.”

But amid all of his academic and professional successes, Moore said a competitive drive will stay close to his heart.

“I’d say that I’m an athlete in all aspects of my life,” he said. “I compete, and I learn, I dedicate, and I set goals, and I would not have been able to achieve nearly as much as I have if I was not in athletics, especially at Michigan.”

Perhaps the most obvious effect of athletics lies in Moore’s unending dedication to community and teamwork. When speaking about anything — dealing with the pressure to maintain the swim team’s tradition of excellence while he was captain, the motiva-

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end of the season when we had put ourselves into a really good position to potentially make a run in the Big Ten Tournament and get a berth into the NCAA (Tournament),” Elmblad said.

“And to see a tough stretch in February, it’s hard to keep your team motivated, but I think you’re able to do that if you set a tone right from the beginning of the season that no matter what the circumstances are, you’re going to work hard and come into practice every day with a great attitude.”

Elmblad exemplified that attitude throughout the WNIT, and her numbers speak for themselves. After averaging 7.4 points and 6.8 rebounds in the regular season, she averaged 10.4 points and 8.2 rebounds in the postseason to help lead her team to the semifinals of the tournament.

Her performance didn’t go unnoticed and she was named to the WNIT all-tournament team. “(Being named to the WNIT all-tournament team) was definitely really cool,” Elmblad said. “I’m very thankful for the way that my career ended. Even though we didn’t necessarily win the championship, I couldn’t have thought of a better way to end it out on Crisler in front of friends and family.

“I was having fun that whole tournament.

Looking back on it, I thought I was playing my best basketball at the end of the season.”

Even near the end of her career, Elmblad was always finding a way to improve her game. But those individual achievements are often shrouded by her outstanding character, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“She’s the most unselfish kid in the program, and I think her teammates truly value that,” Barnes Arico said in November. “They value how hard she works every day. They value her commitment to the success of our program, but also her commitment to Michigan.”

And that’s why, even a week after her duties as captain were up, she didn’t mind spending some extra time on her teammates.

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By Vanessa Wong, Daily Arts Writer class. He also swam for the NCAA championship-winning men’s varsity swim team, serving as captain during his senior year.

After graduating, Moore returned to the University last fall to complete a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. Now that he’s no longer on the swim team, he has used his free time to soak up every bit of Ann Arbor and Michigan before he flies across the pond to study at the University of Oxford on a prestigious Rhodes scholarship. He is one of the 32 Rhodes scholars selected from 877 nominees in 2015 and the only one representing the University. He plans to use his first year of studies to get a Masters in Environmental Change and Management and an MBA in his second.

Sound daunting? Maybe, maybe not.

Moore approaches learning from a broad perspective.

“I don’t want to limit myself to just working on one small aspect of this larger problem of affecting people around the world,” he said. “I want to think about the whole chain of events that needs to happen in order to achieve that.”

His end-goal is to design innovative, sustainable technology that can help solve some of the world’s biggest problems. During his undergraduate years, he was heavily involved with the Tauber Institute and Engineering Global Leadership honors program.

Through these experiences, he was able to supplement his skills designing and developing products with manufacturing and operations acumen. He believes his future plans

tions behind his career goals — everything starts and ends with other people.

“I came to Michigan extremely motivated and ready to do really well individually,” he said. “I wanted to get all As, I wanted to join the swim team and do well with them, but the biggest place that I’ve grown is realizing that it’s not about me, it’s about the people that I affect along the way. My goal-setting has changed from … ‘What I want to do?’ to ‘How can I help other people become the best person they can be?’ ” His term as captain was a way of giving back. His work as a graduate student instructor helping students learn design and manufacturing in Mechanical Engineering 250, his favorite undergraduate course, is a way of giving back. When I asked him if he had anything he’d like to end on, this is the advice he’s giving back to all of us still bumbling our way through undergrad: “Enjoy every minute you have here.

There’s no way I could ever give back nearly as much as what Michigan’s gave me. Every day I walk by the flag on top of the Union, and it just makes me smile and I know this place will always be my home.”

During campus tours for prospective students, tour guides take groups to the Union steps, where they point out carvings above the doors that represent the pillars of an ideal Wolverine: scholarship and athletics. For someone who loves the University as much as Moore does, it’s only fit that he embodies those traits so well.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

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ith a quiet voice and kind smile, LSA junior Olivia Rath’s greatest accomplishments are unknown to her, but her dedication to the University community shines through in everything she does.

“I saw something on Pinterest the other day,” Rath said in an interview. “It’s probably stupid but it really resonated with me.

It said you don’t climb a mountain for the world to see you, you climb a mountain so you can see the world.”

Raised in Farmington Hills, Mich., Rath is an Organization Studies and Program in the Environment double major with a minor in Spanish.

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work is paying off.

“It definitely shows that I’ve accomplished something,” Rath said. “I don’t feel like what I’ve done is a lot because I see it as a part of the campus experience.”

LSA senior Marissa Alaniz, who worked as Rath’s director in DMUM, said Rath was an essential part of the DMUM leadership team.

Alaniz said Rath’s professionalism and grace helped her easily find the balance between delegating tasks and serving as a leader. She added that Rath’s kindness and patience made their work relationship a supportive and friendly one as well.

“The behind-the-scenes nature of her AMANDA ALLEN/DAILY

By Allana Akhtar, Daily Staff Reporter

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By Carly Noah, Daily Staff Reporter Among Rath’s involvement includes Dance Marathon, where she is the rising planning director, Graham Sustainability Scholars, and an Organization Studies Club. She works in two research labs and coordinated a Culture Shift event.

Her highest priority on campus is Dance Marathon, which Rath has participated in for three years. She said the aspect that appealed to her the most was the campus unity she felt.

“I fell in love with it after my first year,” Rath said. “It really unites the three parts of campus — the academic campus, the hospital, and the athletics, because we get our venue from them.”

One of Rath’s other major accomplishments from this year is serving as a Culture Shift Coordinator. Culture Shift is an event created to be a platform for student leaders to engage with each other on campus. This year, the issue the event highlighted was sexual assault prevention.

“It provides students with a common academic ground on an issue and a space for students to have a productive space to have a dialogue about those issues,” Rath explained. “We also work to include students who wouldn’t otherwise be given a seat at the table for these kinds of dialogues.”

Rath said, as someone who primarily works behind the scenes for many of her organizations, a Student of the Year award has served as validation that her hard

work often leads it to go unnoticed, but Olivia has helped DMUM greatly in the short-term and long-term,” Alaniz said.

“Her committee succeeded in working with local businesses to acquire item donations for our silent auction at our Gala and food donations for our Dance Marathon, and she has laid the groundwork for her position in the long-term in continuing to elevate our partners’ support for DMUM.” Alaniz added she is confident that Rath’s passion and drive will benefit her greatly in future endeavors.

Rath added that her experience at the University has shaped the level of involvement with campus organizations she has taken part in.

“I’m the kind of person who goes to all of the free lectures I can,” Rath said. “All of the opportunities I’ve been blessed with — I can’t imagine not using those opportunities, because it comes with the university experience.”

Looking forward, Rath said she hopes to work in sustainability development and is open to any workplace where an organization would intersect with the natural environment.

“I don’t ever want to leave this place,” Rath said. “I hope I’ll be able to find communities that are as productive and helpful as the ones I’ve found here.”

LSA junior Sammie Lyons recalls a quote by E.B. White for daily inspiration: “I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.”

Lyons’ pursuit to make the people around her happier and better off are exemplified through her involvement on campus. Along with being a diversity peer educator at Mary Markley Hall, she is the development chair of Dance Marathon, actively involved in MRun, and the president of Campus Cursive — a student organization that sends love letters to individuals in effort to empower and uplift them. She also works as the undergraduate chair for the student campaign committee in the Office of University Development.

For Lyons, she understood that her limited time at the University would be shaped not in a classroom, but through the work she did with her peers and community.

“Most of the learning you’re going to get from this education is going to be your work on campus,” Lyons said. “It’s not going to be you looking at a computer screen writing a paper, or reading a textbook. It’s going to be about the events you put on for your organization, it’s going to be learning how to communicate with other people and understand how to empathize with other people.”

Specifically, Lyons finds her motivation through community service and philanthropic work.

For most of her time on campus, her primary involvement has been working with Dance Marathon. DMUM is a large student-run organization on campus that helps raise money and awareness for pediatric rehabilitation therapy at local hospitals. Furthermore, Lyons has been part of Alpha Phi Omega, the professional fraternity devoted to community service, participated in an alternative spring break at an HIV/AIDS resource center in New York and helped found Campus Cursive.

Lyons says her involvement in the com-

munity and serving others is what gives her motivation in life. She describes herself as someone “made for others.”

“Who we are as people is defined by the relationships that we’ve had,” Lyons said.

One of her motivations for helping the University community came after the death of her grandfather, who she described as a supporter of her work and a prominent person in her life. She said he, along with thirty-three other family members, attended the University and made her feel at home here.

Currently, Lyons spends a lot of her time working as a diversity peer educator in Markley. In her position, she advises a multicultural council for freshmen and addresses instances of bias. She mentors over 1,000 freshmen and helps create a welcoming, respectful community for students of all identities.

Though this follows her theme of striving to help communicate with others and empower them, she says it has also challenged her the most in her time on campus.

Specifically, Lyons noted an instance where she made a comment to a peer that she did not mean harm by, yet caused unintentional pain to this peer. She said the instance help challenge her own preconceived thoughts, and taught her how great the impact she can have on others is.

“It helped me see that the language I use is so powerful,” Lyons said.

When she isn’t working, Lyons says she enjoys rock climbing, playing the piano, and running.

After graduating, Lyons will continue to help make a difference in the community by joining the Peace Corps and then heading to medical school. She said the best thing students on campus and in the community could do is to leave their comfort zones, and learn to love all other people without an agenda.

“Meet people to meet people, don’t meet them with an agenda,” Lyons said. “Be willing to change the blueprint that you might have set for yourself.”

12B

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

A

fter finishing a mock job interview on the afternoon of Nov. 24, History graduate student Austin McCoy received big news: it was the day the world would know if Darren Wilson would be indicted for killing Michael Brown. McCoy and his interviewer, Associate Prof.

Matthew Countryman, along with other faculty and graduate students, quickly pulled together a student viewing of the announcement.

Their hope was to give students both a place to watch and a way to understand the historical context of Ferguson’s upheaval — a topic McCoy had spoken about before.

“My first four years, I would con-

sider myself, you know, just a successful grad student,” McCoy said, reflecting on his motivation to get involved as a student activist. “And then Trayvon Martin happened.”

The decision not to indict Wilson brought familiar deflation for McCoy, who felt himself profoundly changed when Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, was found not guilty in 2013.

“Many of us are only one cop or one vigilante away from becoming a hashtag,” McCoy said. “It’s like, OK, I don’t have any choice right now but to get involved, because it’s that serious.”

Serious is certainly one way to describe McCoy’s work: a combina-

tion of grassroots organizing, racial justice education, and potentially groundbreaking research on Midwestern cities in the seventies and eighties.

But if the urgency of these topics has hardened McCoy at all, you wouldn’t get that from talking to him. Dressed in a purple sweater, shiny blue tie, and pristine white Nikes, McCoy often wears the kind of bright color that his consistent smile and loud laugh bring to a conversation. McCoy has the confidence of a man six years into his Ph.D., and the unabashed optimism of an activist.

At the University, McCoy’s scholarship, organizing, and per-

$20,000 and we gave these students an opportunity,” Royster said of the program.

William Royster, this year’s presidential candidate for The Team and a committee chair with the Black Student Union, has many ideas. This program, the Michigan Institute for the Improvement of African American Representation program, was one of them.

The ability to turn idea into reality is Royster’s method of success.

His answer is quick and prepared when asked about this. He has earned lots of it. As an independent student — his mother died when

he was sixteen, and soon after his father left — Royster’s journey has been a steady uphill climb to remarkable achievement. He has no intentions of slowing down.

“You determine what you want to do, you make progress towards that thing, whatever it may be, and you do it. You do it well,” he said.

“Today, seeing a lot of these kids from the same hometown as me with $50 stipends at the M-Den and me being able to say ‘Get whatever you want’ — that’s success.”

Royster has spent a great deal of time considering what it is he wants, for himself and for others.

chez is quick to bring up his parent’s experiences, and it’s evident that much of his own personal philosophy has been shaped by their sacrifices.

A vocal performance major at the University, Sanchez’ path wasn’t always so clear. While he has held a love of music since preschool, even attending a prestigious program called the Young Musician’s Program in the Bay Area, Sanchez actually started college at the University of California, Irvine as an electrical engineering major, before transferring to the University.

“I felt incomplete because I wasn’t studying music. Electrical

engineering just made me sad. It wasn’t my passion,” Sanchez said.

“The only reason I did it was to satisfy my dad because he thought I would have a more stable job.

But he saw how I was more passionate for music and he said ‘I respect you son, you do that.’”

Halfway through his freshman year, Sanchez had the opportunity to perform in front of one of the renowned SMTD vocal professors. He was then offered a scholarship to the University’s vocal program on the spot.

Once arriving at the University, Sanchez did not waste time becoming involved. Along with his extensive work in SMTD, he

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

“

To those whom much is given, much is required,” reads the back of LSA junior William Royster’s T-shirt. The same shirt is being passed out to 46 high school freshman and sophomores in the main room of the Trotter Multicultural Center. The interview pauses as Will runs inside to give closing remarks to the three-day residential program he designed for Kalamazoo students to understand the opportunities available at the University of Michigan.

“It was an idea in my head a year ago. I can’t describe how many hours we put in on this, raised

BRIAN BECKWITH/Daily

W

hen asked, “tell me about how you got to Michigan,” most students respond with canned or rehearsed answers — “I grew up in this place,” “I wanted to do this thing with my life,” “I always knew I wanted to be a wolverine.”

SMTD senior Khris Sanchez isn’t most students.

He begins by explaining the story of his parents: both immigrants from Peru, his dad took buses, trains, and even walked the distance from Peru to Oakland, Calif. to first arrive in the United States — holding on to the bottom of a train for hundreds of miles as he crossed the U.S. border. SanDELANEY RYAN/Daily

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

sonality have commanded the respect of both students and faculty, engaging in wide-ranging work but rarely advertising it. McCoy has been a key voice in the United Coalition for Racial Justice, which last year organized an all night speak out on issues of race, attended by almost 1,000 students. Along with #BBUM, the UCRJ has shifted both the conversation on campus and the attitude of the administration when it comes to race.

“The reason people have so much respect for his leadership in the community is he never extends beyond his role,” said Countryman, who also co-chairs McCoy’s dissertation committee. “He’s trying

to bring voices that are not his own into the process. The irony of it is he gets propelled further into leadership because he’s so principled about not reaching beyond where he stands.”

This year, McCoy has been at the center of students organizing against racial profiling and police violence, the reverberations of his and others’ work being felt throughout Ann Arbor.

On the night of the grand jury announcement, McCoy sat in silence with others watching President Barack Obama speak, a split screen showing tear gas pour into the streets of Ferguson. Earlier that fall, McCoy marched through those

same streets, a helicopter overhead.

The next night, he felt himself back in Ferguson, hearing the propellers of a helicopter as he faced a massive crowd on the Diag.

“I remember just looking up, and I couldn’t see anything but people,” McCoy said, recalling his speech at that night’s march. “I had done a lot of public speaking, I had never spoken at a march or anything like this, with this many people.”

Blending his scholarship and activism, McCoy told the crowd that the decision felt like a provocation for action, that the failures of the justice system were not independent of America’s other debts.

“I remember as soon as I was

finished, I just started crying, I was just bawling,” McCoy said. A grin came on his face, and he laughed describing how he fell into the arms of a nearby protester. “I was done … emotionally I was just spent.”

But he wasn’t alone.

Hundreds of demonstrators shut down the streets of Ann Arbor, the march propelling the activist group Ann Arbor to Ferguson, MO. Naturally, McCoy has been involved there as well, raising awareness about local policing issues like the shooting of Ann Arbor resident Aura Rosser.

Somehow, McCoy has found time to work on his dissertation, which he hopes to complete by next

Austin McCoy As a child, he dreamt of being a doctor, of helping people.

“My mother said to me ‘Get an education. Make sure you make the most of the opportunities you have and give back,’ ” Royster said.

His skills in math and science led him to pursue engineering once he arrived at the University. Royster tutored, served as a research assistant, and was also a part of the varsity wrestling team. Still, he felt as though his passion lied elsewhere.

“I spent a lot of time trying to align my passion with my talent and work ethic. When you put those things in the same place you

can start to do incredible things to help people, to make this campus better,” he said.

He switched to African American Studies and Entrepreneurship.

With this shift came an even stronger sense of obligation to give back and explore new ways of doing so.

Royster turned to music and poetry in addition to activism.

“We all have our narrative, and every person’s narrative deserves to be heard, every person’s narrative can add substance to another person. I have a lot of stories of hardship but I also have a lot of great moments in life. If I have the skill to

share them, then I have to, it’s not really a choice,” he said. “I feel like once we get to that point where we feel like were obligated to give back, that’s when you really hit that point of ownership of your skills, and you can serve.”

Central Student Government, Royster believes, is one important place where these narratives can be shared and collaboration can grow, but it’s certainly not the only place.

Despite The Team’s narrow loss in the elections, Royster’s commitment to building unity on campus and increasing the volume of every student’s voice has only grown.

by: James Brennan, Daily Opinion Columnist

“So many communities and so many people joined to help in the process; it was life changing,” he said.

Collaboration, as opposed to competition, is something Royster would like to see increase on campus.

“We’re all diverse in some way, whether it’s diversity of ideas, ethnicity, ability, but we all got here for different reasons. When we start to share and understand our narratives of diversity, we start to have that collaboration that we all strive for, that we want and the University wants,” he said.

Lot’s of people profess these

Will Royster also belongs to the Lambda Theta Phi Latin fraternity, sings in the a capella group Kopitonez, is a member of the College Advising Corps through the Center for Educational Outreach, and owns his own photography business.

Sanchez recalls vividly the moment he first learned the power his music held for others: as a first grader performing in a talent competition.

“I go on stage, and when I sang my first note all the way to the end it was quiet for about ten seconds, and I thought ‘Maybe I did a bad job.’ But then everyone stood up and they started clapping so loud.”

With a laugh he recounts

another memorable part of the evening: two eighth grade girls approaching him and kissing each of his cheeks. But it’s evident that Sanchez is not in music for the recognition. As a vocal major who specializes in opera, Sanchez readily admits that his medium is not the most popular for someone our age.

He shows the same drive for his operatic future that he does in his other activities. His plan for the future clearly maps out the next decade and a half of his life: hopefully vocal grad school at the University, studying and performing opera in Italy, then the same in Germany, before returning to

his homeland of Peru to open a music conservatory for children.

This part of the plan was inspired by seeing his mom’s own acts of goodwill in a small Peruvian village, bringing suitcases full of clothing for the children there.

“My mom was so giving, so heartfelt, and I wanted to do that.

Instead of doing that through clothes, I wanted to do it through music,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez’ many interests coalesced in the most recent project he spearheaded, a music show called Phenom that took place March 14 in the Mendelssohn Theater. Sanchez has always found vitality in furthering diver-

kinds of hopes for progress; few actually do anything. Royster’s candidness in his words and commitment to action is evident even in our time together. Royster is heart, mind and body in the event of the day and the 41 students inside.

The quote on the shirt was spoken at Royster’s high school graduation. It captures an outlook on life and on work that seemed to be already deeply ingrained within him. That is, graciousness for those people and opportunities that remind us of our strength, and the privileged obligation we have to give back.

by: Grace Hamilton, Daily Arts Writer

sity on campus, and this event did that through music, bringing together fifteen multicultural performance groups on campus to promote cultural consciousness as well as raise awareness for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society.

Sanchez lost his father to lymphoma this past December, and the support he and his family received after this event prompted him to find his own way to give back. Through chance, he came into contact with a family here in an Ann Arbor with a child suffering from leukemia, and the proceeds from the event were donated to offset their medical bills.

While it’s obvious that Sanchez

Khris Sanchez

winter. His studies focus on the economic decline of cities during the seventies and eighties and the response by progressive activists.

Countryman believes the research will be “a major contribution to the history of the 20th century in the Midwest.”

And what comes next for Mccoy?

“Any predictions would be limiting,” Countryman, his professor and interviewer, said.

McCoy said he plans to enter the job market sometime next year, with a tenure track position as his top priority. But, McCoy pivoted with a laugh, “I don’t know if I will ever not be able to be an organizer or an activist.”

has a wide array of talents and causes, one of the most impressive things about him is his constant optimism. He admits to singing on University busses and in exchange for burritos at Panchero’s, literally booming with warmth and passion. This all ties back to his parents’ sacrifices so he could have a better life.

“Family. You can have a lot of friends, but they come and go.

But family will be with you even in your hardest moments. And friends who were with me during those times, they are considered family… Without love and support from family, I don’t know how you can go far in life.”

by: Natalie Gadbois, Deputy Statement Editor

13B

14B

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

EMU student Darius Simpson during a protest against the prosecutor’s decision not to press charges against the police officer who killed Ann Arbor resident Aura Rosser on Jan. 31, 2015

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Alabama State Trooper Davis controls the crowds outside the Brown Chapel AME Church, where Martin Luther king Jr. used to attend on Mar. 5, 2014

CAUSES worth

FIGHTING for

MADELINE BATH/Daily

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Alum Danetta Jameson during a die-in to protest police brutality in front of Crisler after winter commencement on Dec. 14, 2014.

Social Work junior Savannah Dupin participates in the Fashion for Freedom Fashion Show on the Diag on Apr. 10, 2015.

ANDREW COHEN/Daily

Students and community members took to the streets of Ann Arbor in solidarity for the annual “Take Back the Night” rally to protest sexual violence on Apr. 2, 2015.

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily

Alum Maryam Basir meditates on the Diag with Awaken Ann Arbor, the group aims to help “students learn how to meditate, to find purpose in their lives and grow spiritually without emphasizing dogma.”

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

15B

DELANEY RYAN/Daily

Business graduate student Razan Zaghmout participates in a candlelight vigil on the Diag to honor the 148 killed in the terrorist attack on Garrisa College in Kenya on Apr. 7, 2015.

RITA MORRIS/Daily

LSA sophomore Lindsey Richmond during a vigil held by the SAPAC on the Diag to honor of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault on Oct. 22, 2014.

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Students mourn the deaths of Aura Rosser, Micheal Brown, and others at the Vigil Against Police Brutality on the Diag Nov. 25, 2014.

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

Students gather on the at the diag for a vigil held by the Muslim Student Association to honor three students shot in Chapel Hill, North Carolina Feb. 11, 2015.

16B

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 // The Statement

ROBERT DUNNE/Daily

Singer B ​ randi Carlile plays at the 38th annual FolkFest on Jan. 30, 2015.

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

LSA senior Dominique Green performs with Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. at Midnight Madness on the Diag Oct. 3, 2014.

ROBERT DUNNE/Daily

LSA sophomore Kallie O’Connor models at the enspiRED Fashion show Jan. 24, 2015

RUBY WALLAU/Daily

A Detroit high school student mimes during Mass at the Church of the Messiah in Southwest Detroit in Winter 2015.

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Fredrik Eriksson, Adam Roth, and Bill Delia — three out of the five members of the alternative rock band Grizfolk — play at the Blind Pig on Feb. 3, 2015

GRANT HARDY/Daily

The early morning Dance Marathon Rave at the 18th Annual Dance Marathon at the Indoor Track and Field Building.

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

The Moli Performing Art Ensemble perform the Jasmine Flower, a traditional Chinese dance at the Michigan League Dec. 1, 2014.

ZACH MOORE/Daily

West coast rapper G-Eazy performs at the Block M Party at Hill Auditorium on Mar. 28, 2015.