Student Accomplishments 2011-2012
April 26, 2012
Laura Adrien '12 was selected for a U.S. Student Fulbright award for 2012-2013 to Macau, China, where she will hold an English Teaching Assistantship. Adrien is an English Literature and Spanish major.
Six science students were chosen as Merck Scholars and will receive scholarships for the 2012-2013 academic year: Eric Batista '14, Matthew DeFazio '14, Sandra Hernandez '13, Michael Lynch '13, Victoria Perrone '14 and Nicholas Rizzo '13.
Anna Boutin '13 received a grant supported by Emmanuel's Center for Mission and Spirituality to carry out a community service project over the summer. Boutin will work part time with the Notre Dame Montessori Preschool in Dorchester, with a focus on introducing the children to theater.
Monica Busch '15, Frank Decusati '13, Johanna Salisbury '14, and Hillary Schumacher '14 presented conference papers as part of a panel organized by Assistant Professor of English Lisa Falvey at the Popular Culture Association's 2012 National Convention in Boston in April 2012. The panel was titled "The Muted Sexuality of Philip O'Connor's Erotic Novel, Steiner's Tour." The papers were written for Dr. Falvey's "Persuasive Strategies" course in fall 2011.
Brittany Bye '14 will work part time with the children at Julie's Family Learning Center in South Boston this summer, with a focus on connecting children to programs at Revision Urban Farm and other food and nutrition programs around the city. The project is part of a community service grant supported by Emmanuel's Center for Mission and Spirituality.
Becky Camarda '12 had an essay titled "Bottle Up and Explode" accepted for publication. Her essay was originally written as part of a course with Associate Professor of English Mary Beth Pope.
Jordan Colon '13 presented a paper along with Wyant Professor and Professor of Political Science Lenore G. Martin titled: "Turkey-Israel: From Friendship to What?" at the Northeastern Political Science Association meeting in Philadelphia in November 2011.
Jordan Coloumbe '12 will have a work published by the Natick Historic Society entitled, "Cobbler in Congress," about former U.S. Vice President and Natick resident Henry Wilson. Coloumbe was invited by the Natick History Society to write the brief biography on the famous abolitionist's life as well as speak at the opening of its Henry Wilson Exhibit in October 2011.
Rachael DeNoncour '14 received a Summer Community Service Fellowship from the Jean Yawkey Center for Community Leadership. She will work part time with children at Sociedad Latina in Roxbury. As part of the fellowship, DeNoncour will receive on-campus housing at Emmanuel and a stipend for the summer.
Bernadine Desanges '12 presented a paper at the Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting in New York, February 23rd-26th. Her paper was entitled "How Risk Factors Influence the Academic Lives of At-Risk Youth."
Jonathan Edmond '15 received a Summer Community Service Fellowship from the Jean Yawkey Center for Community Leadership. Edmond will carry out a full-time, independent project focused on promoting the importance of college education and technology literacy among inner-city youth in Boston. This project will build on his past experience working with the Hyde Square Task Force and with Mel King at the South End Technology Center. As part of the fellowship, Edmond will receive on-campus housing at Emmanuel and a stipend for the summer.
Aaron Fatato '12 was one of 48 undergraduate students selected to participate in the American Sociological Association's Honors Program at this year's national conference in Denver, Co., taking place August 17th-20th. He will present on his distinction project "What Will the Owner of the Vineyard Do?: Theology and Societal Oppression."
Michael Fierro '12 had two essays accepted for publication this year. He wrote an essay about his English internship at Knopf Doubleday this past summer that was accepted by Epiphany Magazine. Fierro initially wrote the essay in Associate Professor of English Mary Beth Pope's "Writing Seminar" course. The second essay, entitled "The Boy and The Dancer," which he originally wrote as part of Dr. Pope's "Prose Writing" course, was accepted at Marco Polo Literary Magazine.
Allison Harbottle '12 and Jillian Cavanaugh '13, presented a poster titled "A new multiplexing single molecule technique for measuring restriction enzyme activity" at the March 2012 meeting of the American Physical Society.
Jenny Hayes '14 received a Summer Community Service Fellowship from the Jean Yawkey Center for Community Leadership. She will work part time at the St. Ambrose family shelter in Dorchester. As part of the fellowship, Hayes will receive on-campus housing at Emmanuel and a stipend for the summer.
Meghan Kirwan '12 was named a 1st Team Capital One Academic All-District selection. Kirwan, a captain of the Saints women's basketball team, possesses a 3.68 cumulative grade point average, while majoring in elementary education at Emmanuel. She was one of just five women's basketball players from New England to receive 1st Team Academic All-District honors.
Franko Kosic-Matulic '14 received a travel grant for advanced study as part of the new Emmanuel Summer Fellowship Program. He will attend an intensive summer printmaking workshop at the Maryland Institute for Contemporary Art.
Grant Kuehl '15 received a travel grant for advanced study as part of the new Emmanuel Summer Fellowship Program. As part of his research, "Few and Far Between: The Hunt for Quality Education and Great Teachers for American Students," Kuehl will travel to Washington, D.C., and Sacramento, Calif., for an investigative research project on education reform, with a particular focus on former chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools Michelle Rhee and reactions to her ideas.
Jenny Konecnik '14 and Amy Longwell '12 presented a paper at the Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting in New York, February 23rd-26th. Their paper was entitled "The Functions of Alternative Schooling for At-Risk Youth: Through the Eyes of Teachers."
Amy Leu '12 will have an essay published in Absinthe Revival: An Online Literary Magazine. She initially wrote the piece as a part of Associate Professor of English Mary Beth Pope's "Advanced Prose Writing" class.
Michael Lynch '13 received a Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research award in support of his research project with Professor of Chemistry Faina Ryvkin. The Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research program has a highly competitive application process and only approximately 20 percent of applicants receive funding.
Kaitlyn Murphy '14 received the St. Julie Billiart International Community Service Grant supported by Emmanuel's Center for Mission and Spirituality. She will travel to Nicaragua this summer to work with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Matagalpa and to work with a nonprofit that is constructing a high school in Granada.
Kelly Peragallo '12 and Charles Desper '12 were finalists in the Say Something Poster Project, a poster design competition affiliated with nonprofit organizations that have a long-term commitment to youth services.
Harrison Powell '13 was selected as a Merck summer research intern for summer 2012. He is a biology major with a concentration in neuroscience.
Alejandro Ramirez '12 had three essays accepted for publication this year. His essay, "Pokemon Shuffle," was selected for publication in Defunct: A Literary Repository for the Ages, a journal devoted to essays on pop culture published by the University of Iowa. His short story, "Crossing the River," was accepted for publication in the literary magazine Imitation Fruit. His work, "It's Complicated," was chosen for the spring 2012 issue of *Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices*. All three works were written as part of Associate Professor of English Mary Beth Pope's courses.
Danielle Sheehan '13 co-authored a scholarship project with Assistant Professor of Psychology Michael Jarvinen entitled "Increasing Student Engagement and Learning through Digital Video: Taking a Page from Social Media." Dr. Jarvinen presented the research at the annual National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology in January 2012, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Aida Zapata '12 was featured in the November 20th issue of The Boston Globe in the article, "Latino students get lift toward college." Zapata is a sociology major who is interning at Sociedad Latina, a nonprofit organization in Roxbury that works with Latino youths. The article highlights the organization's "Mission Possible!" program, which mentors and prepares Hispanic students for college.
