Eliot Circular

news from campus

Amrita Sawhney ’22 and Anjali Reddy ’22 turned their tassels in May at the first fully in-person commencement ceremony since 2019.

The Perfect Person for the Job

At fifteen Stevie Hoesel ’22 had reached a crossroads in her young life. She grew up shuttling back and forth between living with her single mother in her native Taiwan and staying with family and friends in the United States and Canada. After dropping out of school to support her family, she says, she got mixed up in criminalized activities.

That’s when she made a conscious choice to change course, securing a scholarship to attend a private boarding school in California and, after excelling academically and earning her high school diploma, going on to study at Reed.

This spring, Stevie, now a senior anthropology major was one of 42 students nationwide selected as a 2022 Watson Fellow, earning an all-expenses-paid year of international travel to pursue a meaningful personal project. She will investigate how diverse communities and social institutions around the world make policies and practices related to incarceration and its alternatives, such as restorative justice.

As someone who can’t help wondering how her journey might have turned out if she hadn’t gotten serious about school, Stevie hit on the perfect topic for her Watson—studying criminal intervention systems for youth in New Zealand, Australia, Norway, and the Netherlands. She will spend a year investigating how diverse communities and social institutions around the world make policies and practices related to incarceration and its alternatives, such as restorative justice.

“What people misunderstand about youth involved in criminal activity is that there’s a sense of community that comes out of being involved in things like gangs,” she says. “That’s why only talking about ‘rehabilitating at-risk kids’ is very much displacing the underlying issue that there aren’t enough intervention and support systems to help communities.”

Stevie’s childhood experiences make her uniquely suited to explore such a complex issue. “You have to be able to show you’re the perfect person to do your project, and this is the project for me,” she says. “What others may consider personal baggage becomes my toolkit for working with and for kids.”

The Thomas J. Watson Foundation is in its 54th year awarding travel fellowships to graduating seniors from a select group of small liberal arts colleges across the country, including Reed. The prestigious program aims, in the foundation’s words, to help students “develop personal, professional, and cultural opportunities that expand their vision, test and develop their potential, and build their confidence and perspective to be more humane and effective leaders with a world view.”

—ROMEL HERNANDEZ

From the Rubble

Sports Center renovation rises on the horizon.

In mid-February 2021, Portland was hit by a powerful winter storm that dumped six inches of snow and ice throughout the metro area. The storm felled trees, caused power losses, and demolished several buildings in the Portland area—including the roof over Gym I and Gym II in Reed’s Watzek Sports Center. Thanks to the building’s alarm system and quick staff response, no one was hurt, but both gyms were a complete loss. Since then, the area has been closed off.

But the gyms will be rebuilt, and the areas that once housed kickboxing, fencing, juggling, the infamous alumni vs. student basketball games, and other activities will be ready for action soon. Plans are close to being finalized, and reconstruction is expected to commence in early spring of next year.

The renovation will bring updates to the entire sports center. Built in 1965, the Watzek Sports Center replaced the original Gothic Tudor–style gym that had been constructed in 1913. It has seen several updates including replacement of the squash courts in honor of Jack Scrivens [physical education 1961–99] (with donations by alumni) and a major renovation to add an outdoor education center, with support from Reed Trustee Tim Boyle.

This renovation will bring a modest change in square footage—about 1,000 square feet— but will turn the space into a more welcoming and inclusive community center.

“The concept is that the sports center is not merely a place for fitness, but a wellness center,” says Steve Yeadon, director of facilities operations. Conceptually, the design of the building will take a note from the Performing Arts Building. “It will be more open,” he says. “You’ll be able to see into spaces so that the rooms feel integrated.”

A large eastern-facing window in the new multiuse gym will look out onto a courtyard that can be used for outdoor yoga or tai chi classes. The south building entrance adjacent to the courtyard will be more inviting, and the check-in and equipment rental area will move from the Botsford Drive entrance to the remodeled south entrance vestibule. The hallway running through the center of the building will add an area for lounging and table tennis.

Many changes will make the sports center more includsive and ADA accessible; one notable improvement is that its square footage will be dispersed across three floors rather than four. Locker rooms will be remodeled to create more privacy, and an all-user locker room will be added that, like the women’s and men’s locker rooms, will have pool access. As for the gyms, the new iterations of Gym I and Gym II will bring many updates. The basketball court will have run-off space and windows placed in a sawtooth configuration will let in more daylight without the blinding effects of direct lights from outdoors. Gym

SEEING THE LIGHT: The renovated sports center will be light-filled and devoted to wellness.

Among other changes, the remodel to the east wing of the library will replace the mansard roof.

II will be outfitted with additional storage space for the many activities hosted in this multipurpose space.

Despite a volatile market for construction materials, Yeadon is confident that the sports center renovation will be complete by the fall of 2024. The college has developed a funding plan for the project. With escalating prices, philanthropic support is welcomed and will allow us to include all aspects of the project’s design.

Library Renovation Underway

The library renovation, which was postponed due to the pandemic, is underway. Crews began work in December 2021, completing some of the loud hammering and sawing over winter break.

The renovation will update the south wing of the library, which was added in 1964. A seismic upgrade will reinforce the masonry, windows will be replaced, and the heating and air-conditioning system will be repaired. An important aspect of the project is to augment space supporting growing programs in math, computer science, and statsitics. The plan includes additional classroom and office space for these programs and an innovative connection to existing space occupied by these departments.

There will also be additional disability services, such as listening stations and spaces for students to go for quiet testing areas, and a small increase in the number of thesis desks.

The distinctive midcentury architecture of the south wing will be preserved. Alterations that will be notable from the exterior will be limited to the mansard roof, which will be replaced with a taller structure with dormer windows.

The project is expected to wrap up in December 2022.

Big Win for Math Students

A team of three Reedies, Robin Hart ’23, Maxwell VanLandSchoot ’22, and Sung Bum “Simon” Ahn ’23 won first place in the national Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition.

Their win was announced in the last few months, but the origin of the project goes back a bit farther— starting with Robin’s internship with Christie Hedman ’80, executive director at the Washington Defender Association (WDA), an organization dedicated to public defense reform.

Later, when Prof. Jonathan Wells [math] assigned a team project in his fall semester Statistical Learning course, Robin remembered a data set they’d encountered at the WDA, and these data became the basis of the team’s project. The team quickly identified that the Washington State Office of Public Defense’s funding model had issues. The group analyzed it and then created a new and better model for equitably providing funds for public defense in Washington.

They were blown away by their win. They hope it shows that statistics can be a tool to fight for equity and justice, and that though Reed’s statistics department is small, it’s

mighty. —JOSH BYRON COX ’18

Sustainability Coordinator

Rachel Willis has been named Reed’s first sustainability coordinator. Willis will help develop and support sustainability initiatives on campus, including tracking and analyzing energy, water, and carbon usage.

The creation of this new staff position was made possible by a group of Reed trustees and a Reed parent who stepped up to ensure the financial stability of the position by helping endow it.