By Elisabeth Zarnoti '17

Knox College awarded two dozen grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to students to help them cover the costs related to internships, community service projects, and undergraduate research during the summer.

"The Knox Mellon Fellows are having experiences that allow them to put their education into practice, they are testing out career fields, and they are refining their own goals and interests," said Mariangela Maguire, Interim Director of the Gerald & Carol Vovis Center for Research and Advanced Study.

Almira Karajic '17 is one of those students gaining experience in a potential career. Karajic said that after working as a summer resident advisor for Summer@Brown, a pre-college program at Brown University, she has become a “confident applicant for graduate school, a better mentor, [with] a wealth of experiences to share." After graduating from Knox, she hopes to enter a graduate program focused on student development and guidance counseling.

The Mellon grants are given to first-generation college students who show academic promise and who have financial need. Many Mellon fellows pursue opportunities that serve as stepping-stones into career fields.

Stephanie Cordero-Gonzalez '17 (pictured above) says her internship at Cook County Juvenile Probation Department in Chicago, Illinois, has assured her that she is interested in a career in this field. "I want to work with at-risk youth to help bridge the gap between youth of color and the resources that they think are unavailable to them," she said.

While many students have used their Mellon grant to gain work experience, some have used the stipends to explore various opportunities related to their education, such as preparing for senior capstones or Honors projects, or developing valuable research and writing skills.

One of those students is Sofia Tagkaloglou '18, who used her Mellon stipend to stay on campus this summer and work on different projects. Primarily, Tagkaloglou helped environmental studies professor Peter Schwartzman work on his book on food and energy solutions. On the side, she has been able to explore interdisciplinary connections between environmental studies and computer science by teaching herself JavaScript programming language with help from professor Jaime Spacco. She also has been managing the Knox College Farm.

"The stipend really allowed me to apply a lot of the knowledge that I was learning through this research directly, hands-on, into my community," said Tagkaloglou. She hopes to combine her interest in environmental studies and computer science into an Honors project during her senior year.

All Knox students explore at least one experiential learning opportunity before graduation. According to Maguire, "research on teaching and learning demonstrates that participation in internships, undergraduate research, and community service increases the depth of student engagement, enhances learning, and narrows the achievement gap across student populations."

Here are Knox's Mellon Scholars for summer 2016:

• Elizabeth Clay ‘17, creative writing project, San Francisco, CA.
• Sanna Sepulveda ‘17, creative writing project, Seattle, WA.
• Shontoria Pratt '17, African American studies research, Knox College and University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
• Anada Bardill '19, internship, Chicago Children’s Choir and Chicago Wisdom Project, Chicago, IL.
• Karen Barragan '19, anthropology research, Chicago, IL
• Allison Buiser ‘17, internship, Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, IL.
• Rachel Cheng '17, internship, Institute for Therapy Through the Arts, Evanston, IL.
• Willa Coufal '18, theatre costuming research and creative work, Chicago, IL.
• Jackson Faulkner '18, internship, Northwestern Mutual, Peoria, IL.
• Caroline Foulk '17, internship, Stage Left Theatre, Chicago, IL.
• Taylor Grims '19, service project, Kick the Streets Martial Arts, Chicago, IL.
• Victoria Martin '17, internship, The Compass Program, Springfield, IL.
• Yaoska Mayorga '17, translator/intern, Peterson Automotive Museum, Los Angeles, CA.
• Adriana Ortiz '18, service project, St. Wenceslaus Church, Chicago, IL.
• Kaylie Padgett '17, internship, Curbside Splendor Publishing, Chicago, IL.
• Callie Rouse '17, internship, The Borgen Project, IL.
• Kim Santos '17, computer science research, Knox College, Galesburg, IL.
• Salvador Solis '18, creative writing project, Knox College, Galesburg, IL.
• Clara Torres '17, creative writing project, Knox College, Galesburg, IL.
• Danielle Zepeda '17, camp counselor, Wediko Children's Services, Windsor, NH.