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Spotlights
Native Scholar in Residence Laurie Steelink Explores Art and Community
Meet Laurie Steelink, a multidisciplinary artist and a Native Scholar in Residence at Pitzer College’s Community Engagement Center (CEC) this semester. Steelink identifies as Akimel O’otham and is a member of the Gila River Indian Community. Born in Phoenix, Arizona, she was adopted out of her Akimel O’otham Nation and raised by a white family
[Read More...] April 18, 2024
Spotlights
Sammy Basa ’25: Working Toward Conserving Sibuyan Island’s Coral Reefs
Sammy Basa ’25 traced his love for the ocean to a boat ride under a star canopy to Sibuyan Island. Basa recalled how the brisk wind cooled his face and how he and his mother dipped their feet into water that glowed with bioluminescence. “The bright flashes of blue and green were like stars in the sea, and we watched in wonder as they faded into the darkness,” said Basa. “While those flashes appeared as pure magic to my younger self, they signified something profound—a deep-seated bond between my family, our land, and the marvels of the natural world.”
March 26, 2024
Press Releases | Spotlights
For Pratya Poosala ’24, Storytelling and Radical Listening Can Improve Healthcare
Does storytelling belong in labs and medical offices? Pratya Poosala ’24 would argue yes. Poosala enjoyed her STEM classes as a behavioral neuroscience major, but she still had a passion for the humanities. Her solution was adding a self-designed major in narrative medicine. “The way that science is taught sometimes tends to be detached from the humanities. As someone interested in a healthcare career, I think it’s important we not only learn how to be good scientists and researchers but also good people—people who work with communities.”
March 20, 2024
Spotlights
Hayley Blain-Weinstein ’91 Makes Game Show Dreams Come True
From Love Connection to Extreme Makeover to My Feet Are Killing Me, Hayley Blain-Weinstein ’91 has met many kinds of people in her reality television casting career. Who would live on a remote island or race around the world for a cash prize? Who has a rare illness in need of treatment? Who would look for love in front of millions of viewers? Blain-Weinstein’s job has been to find people who fit those bills.
February 20, 2024
Spotlights
Beihua Guo ’21 Unearths L.A. Aqueduct’s Dark History Through Photography
Photographer and Pitzer alum Beihua Guo ’21 has received $5,000 as a finalist for The Aftermath Project’s 1492/1619 American Aftermaths grant. Guo’s project, “Water Is Thicker Than Blood,” illustrates the ignored and forgotten history of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the California water wars. According to its website, The Aftermath Project is a nonprofit that supports photographers “to
[Read More...] February 16, 2024
Press Releases | Spotlights
Pitzer Marks 25 Years of Social Responsibility in Action
For Pitzer students, social responsibility isn’t just an idea found inside a book—it lives in community gardens, warehouses, classrooms, on street corners, and beyond. Pitzer’s Community Engagement Center (CEC) has helped make this work possible since its establishment in 1999. “We’re supporting the innovation, ideas, passions, and justice issues arising in our community partners by
[Read More...] January 19, 2024
Press Releases | Spotlights
Arts Council Fellow Micah Huang ’13 to Continue His Sonic Exploration of Injustice at Los Angeles Festival
Micah Huang’s ’13 work as a composer, musician, and sound artist exposes social injustices as well as explores music’s ability to heal and transform. As a Fulbright fellow, Huang visited Hungary to work alongside the marginalized Roma people to amplify and help preserve their musical traditions. Two of his recent pieces, Blood on Gold Mountain,
[Read More...] December 13, 2023
Press Releases | Spotlights
Filmmaker and MOR Fellow Daisy Okazaki ’25 Explores Asian American Identity
Since childhood, Daisy Okazaki ’25 has told stories informed by their experience as an Asian American. After learning watercolor painting from their father, Okazaki depicted the two of them as Kiki and Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service as a Father’s Day card. In high school Okazaki wrote and illustrated a memoir about grappling with their
[Read More...] December 5, 2023
Press Releases | Spotlights
Incarceration to Reintegration: Kenneth Butler ’22 Helps Pilot Program in Uganda
When Kenneth Butler ’22 was released in 2021 after 15 years of incarceration, he was on his way to a bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College. However, he didn’t yet know how to rebuild his place in the community and start his career. Butler turned to the Reintegration Academy, an eight-week program that teaches formerly incarcerated individuals about life skills, career development, and vocational education. Now, Butler is helping expand the academy in Uganda as part of his Fulbright.
November 8, 2023
Press Releases | Spotlights
After Two NSF Fellowships, Teo Cooper ’24 Seeks to Balance People and Nature
Pitzer senior Teo Cooper ’24 has completed not just one but two fellowships funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In summer 2022, they worked in a UC Berkeley biogeochemical lab and studied soil carbon sequestration. This summer, they joined The Leadership Alliance and Harvard University’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. In this spotlight, Cooper also recalls the racial justice series that brought them to Pitzer and looks ahead to studying abroad in Southern Africa.
September 11, 2023