Also In This Edition

Middle Path awaits the return of students in the fall.

The Lords took top honors for their third straight and thirty-fourth overall NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championship in March in Shenandoah, Texas. A total of 468 points put them 85 points ahead of runner-up Denison.

After Class

Indefatigable volunteer Phoebe Roe '16 sparks Kenyon efforts to aid an underfunded local school.

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Fresh Faces

President Sean Decatur introduces new leaders in admissions and student affairs.

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On a Mission

Richard Dickey '59 uses his retirement years to help Haitians with medical care.

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Kenyon in Quotes

"Plundering continues despite the resulting loss of vital, contextual history."
—Associate Professor of Classics Zoe Kontes, promoting repatriation of classical antiquities.

Novel Approach to Romance

The Kenyon College Bookstore pitched a "Blind Date with a Bookseller" by wrapping staff-selected favorites in plain brown paper with a few words of description to capture each book’s essence and seduce a reader into a good read. With about 12,000 trade books in the store, there is plenty of love to go around.

Snapshots of Kenyon Life

A Treasure from Kenyon's Archives

Founded in 1969 as a way of making Kenyon less elitist and more "relevant," the Gambier Experimental College drew on the talents of students, faculty and staff. Until it petered out in 1993, the school offered courses such as Consciousness Raising, Ethnic Militancy, Folk Guitar, Needlepoint, Tightrope Walking and Scottish Sword Dancing.

The teachers included Kenyon luminaries including Peter Woytuk ’80, who would become a noted sculptor (he did the crows on Ransom Hall), Harry Clor of the political science faculty and Joyce Klein and Peggy Turgeon of Friday Café fame.

The Highest Level

Scott Thielke has accumulated twenty-two years of experience in two stints as coach of the Lords and Ladies tennis programs. His career includes a dozen North Coast Athletic Conference coach of the year awards (six with the men, six with the women), two Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Region coach of the year honors, and the distinction of being named the 2012 ITA national coach of the year. He counts more than 600 match victories with the two programs, and his teams consistently rank among the best in the country.

Visions

"The Pain," acrylic and paper on wood by Klara Auerbach '18.

The artist writes, "'The Pain' is the physical expression of my ongoing emotional progression in coping with chronic pain, a process not unlike the stages of grief. It is the process of having an unwanted spike intrude into your life and the stubborn, entirely human response of not wanting to accept its existence." 

Class Notes

Recent Class Notes
’04

Grace Van Cleave, Des Moines, Iowa, ran for a seat in the Iowa Senate this year “focusing on reproductive, social and economic justice,” she reports. “I had no idea how much I would like running for office.” She spent the spring working, listening, fundraising and door-knocking before the June 7 primary, in which she garnered 1,336 votes but did not win. “The best part of running for office has been reconnecting with so many of my Kenyon classmates,” she shared last spring. “I am humbled by the overwhelming support I have received from the Class of 2004 and other alums. In a health-care question during an endorsement interview (which I did earn), I used information I picked up from talking to John R. Tisdale and Erin E. Hayward! Lauren Bierman Waller knit me an Iowa beanie and mittens in Paul Wellstone green.”

’95

J. David Hicks, Bristol, Tennessee, writes, “For those with kids who think you’re dumb, I have good news. Now that eldest son Alex is a college grad, married and a homeowner, he now thinks I’m smart and calls me for advice frequently. So while your kids may question your intelligence now, the day is coming when you’ll once again be that smart, intelligent person you were in 1995 when you graduated from our esteemed alma mater.” Because David still has a college student, high schooler and middle schooler, “patience is still required in regaining this stature in your offspring’s eyes.”

’17

Andrew T. Meeker, St. Petersburg, Florida, completed an M.F.A. from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia last year. Drew works in 3-D animation for a film studio under companies such as Sony, Warner Bros. and Marvel.

Past Editions