Concordiensis - April 21, 2022

Concordiensis T H E S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F U N I O N C O L L E G E S I N C E 1 8 7 7 Volume. CLI, Issue XVIII

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Thursday, April 21, 2022

STEM alumnae share stories and advice Daniel Greenman News Editor

On 5PM-7PM, Wednesday, On 7PM, Tuesday, April 19, Maggie Hoffman ‘15 moderated “An Evening with Alumnae Rising Stars in STEM,” in which Paige Kotowitz ‘18, Sharifa Sahai ‘18, and Nora Swidler ‘14 discussed their times at Union and in STEM and gave advice for current students. Union’s Gold Network, which connects alumni to Union through networking events, volunteer opportunities and philanthropic support sponsored the event. Hoffman began with her post-Union story. She returned from a Minerva Fellowship in Cambodia needing a job, not knowing what to do. She sat with Becker Career Center’s Bob Soules, who said, according to her, “if

you want to learn in the best, brightest, most fast-paced environment, go to technology.” Hoffman ended up working for Dell, where she has been for Kotowitz, a chemistry major and psychology minor, entered Union “fully undecided” with “science not at the top of” her list. She was “randomly placed into Chem 101” and said she “really enjoyed hands-on” lab classes, citing chemistry as the “central science.” Post-Union, she joined San Diego nanotechnology company nanoComposix’s Research and Development team, learning “the importance of real-world science applications.” She is now in PhD at University of California, Los Angeles. Sahai had liked science since elementary school science fairs. A double major in computer science and biolo-

Courtesy of Young Alumni Philanthropy and Engagement Left to right: Paige Wotowitz ‘18, Sharifa Sahai ‘18, and Nora Swidler ;14

gy, she studied abroad thrice at Union in Australia, Ethiopia, and Fiji. She entered as a biology premedical student, and heard from professors in her computer science class that bioinformatics and computational medicine would be “real big” in the future. She cites her sophomore year NASA internship as steering her toward a PhD. “Everyone who worked there” had one, she stated. Union professors who wanted her to be a professor also

Union, she deferred a Harvard acceptance for a Google software engineer job, but missed research and biology. She is now a third-year Harvard PhD candidate while studying in Harvard Medical School’s Department of Systems Biology. Swidler, a French major and philosophy minor, said she “took advantage in everything” at Union. She studied abroad in France, was panhellenic president her junior year,

was on the basketball team, and “studied what [she] was interested in”. She worked in reality television casting found she wanted a different career. “Forged in Fire was a cool show, but I wanted to use my skill set,” Swidler said, which was being able to make information interesting and compelling. She was “kind of lost” until, three years post-Union, she also went to See STEM on page 2

Club loss: The Garnet Yearbook Team Daniel Greenman News Editor

Union’s Garnet Yearbook Team, the student club that produced “a yearbook for each graduating class,” according to Union’s “Clubs & Organizations” website, is currently nonexistent. According to Assistant Director of Student Activities, Katie Davin, it has no current mem-

their yearbook in 1877. The last campus events email from the club was sent June 4, 2021. Sarah Trim, President of the Garnet Yearbook at the time, sent it to advertise the year’s book’s pre-order deadline, with a cost of $45 for a hardcover or Ebook. Assistant Director of Student Activities Davin and “advisor for all[...] media groups on campus” worked with the

club’s most recent version. She said it stopped operating this Fall term, when “there wasn’t a student to take the lead” after its leaders graduated last year. She said the club had three members that year and the “year before that maybe two. [It’s] not always easy for a club like that.” The club’s most recent version, said Davin, “took pictures” and “sourced pictures from students” showing athletics, campus events and more.

The club’s most recent email asking for pictures from community members was last January 29, soliciting photos of people and friends, online and in-person events and “good memories from fall term”. The club hosted senior portraits, too, which happened almost each year. Assistant Director Davin recalls that “last year we had over 200 students take their portraits. Folks really still wanted that.” She estimates the number of

people who buy a yearbook, when available, as “[m]aybe 50”. The portrait portrait process is continuing without the club after Davin pitched the possibility to the senior class council, and worked with the council last April and May. “[Every] senior that wants to be in [a portrait] gets a free portrait and can buy photos after the fact,” said Davin. “Yearbook Club is like any other club,” Davin added, in that it was “based on student See YEARBOOK on page 2

Opinions. page 3 Earth Day is a protest, not a holiday

World, page 4 Updates on Yemen and Jerusalem

Sci/Tech. page 5 Ice volcanoes discovered on Pluto

A review of Club Drag-

Women of the Week (WoW): Susie Hanks