Illinois Wesleyan University student Jenny Prochotsky ’16 has organized a project to distribute free fresh produce at pop-up produce stands in west Bloomington’s food deserts.  So far more than 3,000 pounds of produce has been collected from the Downtown Bloomington Association Farmers Market and distributed through the generosity of farmers and the efforts of dozens of volunteers. “After studying food justice issues at Illinois Wesleyan, I was interested in putting a real-life framework to the topic by speaking to people who live in the experience,” Prochotsky said. Within one day of deciding to pursue this interest, she had set up the first pop-up stand using produce from the IWU Peace Garden.

As the project developed, Jenny received help from IWU alumni and staff including, Karin McDowell ’00; Cheryl (Baller) Philippi ’81; Michael Gorman ’10, Information Technology Project Analyst; Deborah Halperin, IWU’s Action Research Center Program Coordinator; Admissions Counselor Bobby Castillo ’13, and Manish Mandava ’14.

Read more about the produce stand here and here.

Alumnus Joe O’Brien has received the Hester Merwin Ayers Art Achievement Award, which honors a member of the Illinois Wesleyan University senior class for outstanding achievement during four years of undergraduate study in art. O’Brien is quoted as saying, “I see the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University awarding me the Hester Merwin Ayers Art Achievement Award as a sign of encouragement. (It’s an indication) that my studio practice over the last four years has developed well, and that I should continue pushing myself and my studio practice forward in the same way.”

Joe O’Brien ’14

Congratulations, Joe!

Read more about Joe’s accomplishment here.

Illinois Wesleyan University alumna Kathryn Seibring was selected this past June as one of the first 50 Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellows, a competitive teacher training program through the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation of Princeton, New Jersey. According to a recent article published about Seibring’s success, the fellowship program “recruits both recent graduates and career changers with strong backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math — the STEM fields — and prepares them specifically to teach in high-need secondary schools.” Seibring will receive $30,000 to complete a specially designed master’s program based on a yearlong classroom experience and apply what she learns through through teaching at New Jersey schools in need of STEM teachers.

Kathryn Seibring ’14

Congratulations, Kathryn!

Read the full article here.

Nick Anderson ’14, IWU Business alumnus and star basketball player, has finished a Finalist in the National Collegiate Athletic Association‘s (NCAA) Elite 89 Academic Recognition Award Program. According to the NCAA’s website, the Elite 89 Award “recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers” and is “presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s 89 championships.” Anderson, with an outstanding 3.97 GPA, received the Elite 89 award for the 2014 NCAA Division III men’s basketball championship.

Nick Anderson ’14

The new “Fan Favorite” portion of the award allows fans to vote for their favorite recipient of the Elite 89 award, with the winner receiving additional recognition from the NCAA. After advancing to the Semifinals and Finals, Anderson finished fourth with a total of 2,010 votes.

Congratulations, Nick!

View the final vote tally here and read about Anderson’s advancement to the Semifinals here.

Harrison Freeland ’14 has been hired as senior associate in the Champaign office of Murray Wise Associates. According to the Business and Professional Briefs in Champaign’s News-Gazette, Freeland will “assist in marketing efforts for auctions, financial modeling and valuation for Murray Wise Capital and crop scouting and reporting with the company’s farm management team in Iowa.”

Congratulations, Harrison!

Harrison Freeland ’14

Read the full article here.

Through the healthcare internship community Work the World, nursing alumna Hannah Smith spent three weeks this summer as a midwifery intern at Mount Meru Regional Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania. She witnessed over 40 births over the course of her internship, performed eight deliveries independently, and worked as the nurse in three cesarean sections.

Hannah Smith ’14 cradling a newborn

“What I liked most about my internship placement were the experiences that I would not likely see in the United States,” said Smith. “Being immersed in a culture where fetal heart tones are taken only every four to six hours on a woman in labor and documentation is done on a scrap of paper helped me grow to appreciate the charting and standards that we have in the United States.”

Read the full article here.