Higher Ed Writing

Soundings Magazine @Endicott College •

Cycling, Squats, and Endicott

“I’m just rolling with it,” shrugs Emily Skoniecki ’04 gesturing to the ladder, earsplitting drilling, and rows of empty stationary bikes behind her at The Inner Cycle’s newest indoor cycling studio opening soon in Salem, Mass. Skoniecki’s best friend since 9th grade (and co-owner of The Inner Cycle for nearly a decade) Hillary Mandelbaum zips by in leggings, wielding a hammer that she soon takes to a wall. “We’re not afraid to DIY our builds,” explains Skoniecki, who has constructed
Soundings Magazine @Endicott College •

Cool Beans

Casey Arnold ’14 was living in Seattle, the coffee capital of the world, but missing Dunkin’ iced coffee from Massachusetts—the extra-large kind that stays cold for hours even on the sweatiest July days. When the pandemic lockdown hit, the cafés shuttered, and the iced coffee challenge lit up TikTok with aspiring millennial baristas shaking up beans, milk, and ice in need of a caffeine fix. “It became my obsession,” Arnold remembered. “I found a new sense of joy and a hobby in figuri
Soundings Magazine @Endicott College •

Untangling a Mingo Beach Myth

“As a historian, I always tell my students that one of our greatest responsibilities is to correct the myths of the past because without accurate knowledge of history, the present is chaotic and the future is unclear,” said Elizabeth Matelski, Associate Professor of History. And when it comes to Endicott’s past, arguably the greatest myth is that of Robin Mingo, namesake of Mingo Beach, one of the College’s three picturesque shorelines. A lesser-known, troubling truth is waiting some
The Boston Architectural College •

Helping Others Gain a Foothold: The James Kukla, B.Arch’85 and Family Scholarship

“I relish the idea of architects helping and giving back to society, whether it’s with time or talents,” says James “Jim” Kukla, B.Arch’85. “Sometimes we get so absorbed in our own lives, whether it’s personal, professional, or otherwise, and it makes it hard to give back. I’ve been lucky because I now have time to give back.” Of late, that has been to The Boston Architectural College (BAC). Jim is semi-retired in Jupiter, Florida and he and his wife Michèle recently donated a generous 5-year s
Endicott College •

The Code Breaker

This is one in a series of profiles spotlighting Endicott’s outstanding 2022 graduates. Read about Will Levine '22, Sam FanFan, Fernanda Trevino '21, Colby Yokell '22, and Sarah Horgan '22. Jamyang Tamang ’22 is known simply as “Z” (if you know, you know) by his friends and professors at Endicott. He Zooms into our interview from the lounge inside the Ginger Judge Science Center where he’s pulled plenty of all-nighters—both for computer science classes and as part of the winning team for WHACK,
Endicott College •

Fighting On and Off the Field

This is one in a series of profiles spotlighting Endicott’s outstanding 2022 graduates. As an Endicott sophomore, Will Levine ’22 took an introductory philosophy class he’ll never forget. “It made me think more deeply,” he said. “It got me into a stronger mindset, and I think that helped a lot through the 18 months that came next.” At the time, he had never faced real adversity in life—but that was about to change. Although he’d been recruited from Southborough, Mass., to
SMFA at Tufts University •

An Internship at Facebook Opens Doors to Practicing Equitable Design | School of the Museum of Fine Arts | Tufts University

Denzel Oduro, BFA ’22, is an artist, graphic designer and a self-taught user experience (UX) designer. Last summer he relocated to New York City, a place that energizes him creatively, and worked virtually as an UX design intern at the social media giant Meta, focusing on product design for Facebook users. “I worked on tools that can help people feel safer using Facebook,” he says simply. It was not the typical art gallery internship experience for an SMFA at Tufts undergraduate, yet it was
SMFA at Tufts University •

Knitting It All Together | School of the Museum of Fine Arts | Tufts University

Although Irene Schechter, BFA ’22, came to SMFA at Tufts University identifying as a painter, she has spent most of her time exploring textile arts instead. “I haven’t picked up a paintbrush in a really long time now,” she admits. She first explored fiber arts through an introductory course on the topic taught by Samantha Fields, a multimedia artist and degree program faculty at SMFA. Schechter’s great-grandmother was a painter and potter, and as a result, Schechter grew up with art all around
SMFA at Tufts University •

Monumental Power | School of the Museum of Fine Arts | Tufts University

“I’ve been thinking about monuments since the start of the pandemic,” Felipe Lopez, MFA ’23, said during a Zoom studio visit. His ongoing body of work, “Where is our power?” grapples with the connections between public monuments, memory, iconoclasm, and history. “When Black Lives Matter was taking down monuments here in the US, the same thing was happening in Colombia but for different purposes and reasons. Mostly by indigenous people,” he explained. Lopez, who is from Bogota, scrutinizes
Endicott College •

For Hannah Oravec ’14, Home is Where the Art Is

“I always knew I wanted to own an interior design business. However, I thought that would only come with 20- or 30-years’ experience,” Hannah (Cushman) Oravec ’14 admitted. Instead, just two years after graduating from Endicott, she founded her Plymouth, Mass., firm Lawless Design, named to honor her great-grandmother and the legacy of growing up in an artistic family. Just this month, Oravec was named a winner of the 2022 New England Home Magazine “5 Under 40” prize, a prestigious award that ha
SMFA at Tufts University •

He Took a Leap and Applied | School of the Museum of Fine Arts | Tufts University

Geovani Alberto Cruz Alfaro was born in El Salvador but grew up in South Central, Los Angeles, raised by a single mom who showered him with acceptance, love, and encouragement. Museums, galleries, and access to expensive visual art materials weren’t in his orbit as a kid. “Growing up, I never really had the resources to purchase acrylic paints or sketchbooks,” he said. He hadn’t thought about college as within reach, but while attending the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts
Endicott College •

Students are Solving Real-World Business Challenges in Ireland

Ryan Curley ’23 is so driven that he dragged himself out of bed at 5:45 a.m. over winter break to log onto Zoom with fellow student innovators at Munster Technological University (MTU) in Cork, Ireland. “It’s part of international business,” he said. “We are all going to have to get used to taking meetings that aren’t in our ideal time zones because we have business partners or clients abroad. America is just a small fraction of the market.” Curley, along with over 100 other undergra
Endicott College •

Charlotte Gordon on Writing, Teaching, and the Perseverance of Women

“I’ve always been interested in how women persevere against hardships,” said Charlotte Gordon. “And I’ve always written.” A well-known author and Distinguished Professor of English at Endicott, Gordon is one of the leading experts on Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter, Mary Shelley. Her book, Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, won the National Book Critics Circle award in 2016. Her latest book, Mary Shelley: A Very Short Introduction, is slated
Endicott College •

Their Assignment? Start Your Own Business

In high school, Amanda Drager ’24 informally sold $1 cupcakes to classmates. But at Endicott, she had kneaded her hobby into an income-generating small business. “When I was young and I wanted something really badly I’d always say, ‘Please, mom, with sugar on top,’” Drager recalled. It made perfect sense to name her start-up Sugar on Top Bakery. She came to Endicott with a solopreneur’s focused mindset, already certain that she wanted to run her own bakery and be her own boss. “Afte
Tufts Now •

Hacking for Diversity and Representation

In 2020, Dina Deitsch, director and chief curator of Tufts University Art Galleries, led a public art audit that took a hard look at the overwhelming dominance across Tufts’ campuses of art by—and depicting—white males. From that analysis (conducted as part of the Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution initiative), she and the Public Art working group concluded that while the university’s imagery wasn’t overtly racist, it was exclusionary because as it did not include any people of color. Deitsch
The Boston Architectural College •

The Mission Driver

“To get to The Boston Architectural College, you have to take the T,” Marilyn Swartz-Lloyd, Vice Chair of the BAC Board of Trustees explains matter-of-factly. “Even before stepping on campus, you’re thinking about the placement of doors and portals on the subway. You’re standing in front of Massachusetts Avenue wondering what are all these cars doing here? You’re on the sidewalk and saying, why is this sidewalk so narrow? You can’t help but constantly think about how you can use this education t
North Bennet St School •

Changing Direction

As a student, it's impossible to pass through the 150 North Street doors and not leave changed in some way. But these four NBSS students and recent grads experienced a major life challenge during their time at school—or took a daring career leap to enroll in the first place. Here's how they found their footing. Coming to NBSS confirmed that this is what I love and that I can make a living doing it. Ariana Rutledge worked in the U.C. Berkeley Library's Preservation Department as an undergraduat
Endicott College •

Endicott Students Hack to Combat Police Violence

“There’s this idea that hackathons are about cyber hacking,” explained Endicott College professor Hank Feild and faculty sponsor of the Computer Science Club, “but hackathons are almost exclusively about hacking together a prototype to do something cool.” A team of Endicott computer science majors and club members recently did just that, entering their first hackathon and developing a cutting-edge prototype for ALive, an app that can be used to witness and document police violence. Their entry
Endicott College •

The Beekeeping Club is Making Campus Sweeter

Olivia Mersicano ’22 clutched the steering wheel as she drove back to Endicott from a local farm. It was easily the scariest 30-minute drive of her life. In the backseat sat two loosely sealed wooden boxes containing around 2,000 bees each—and they were angry. She could hear the high-pitched whining of their wings rubbing together and their muscles contracting. “It was the most stressful drive,” she remembers, shaking her head...
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