Author Archives: Mack Rivkin

Mellon Scholar Colleen O’Connor ’14 Investigating Therapeutic Value of Creative Writing

Posted on by
Reply

Colleen O’Connor ’14 is currently investigating creative writing as an affordable mental health intervention. As one of this year’s recipients of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Re-Centering the Humanities grant, O’Connor regularly leads a creative writing group at the Addiction Recovery Center at Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, Illinois. 

Colleen O’Connor ’14

“For those with few resources, creative writing may provide a low-cost alternative for the management of persistent mental health disorders,” said O’Connor, who studied both Psychology and English-Writing at IWU. “I was interested in investigating how creative writing can best be used as a low-cost supplementary aid or replacement for traditional therapy techniques.” She hopes to eventually integrate successful creative writing-based therapeutic designs into the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery.

Read the full article here.

Aaron Smith ’14 Competes in Ironman Triathlon

Posted on by
Reply
Illinois Wesleyan Scholar Athlete Aaron Smith ’14 competed in the Ironman Triathlon at Couer d’Alene, Idaho this past June, completing the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26-mile, and 385-yard marathon in just over fourteen hours. Smith speaks about his experience in an interview with the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier. “There were hundreds of people lining the finish line,” Smith said. “As I came into the finish chute Mike Reilly announced ‘Aaron Smith and NCAA championship runner, you are an Ironman’ and it brought tears to my eyes. I wore my Wesleyan track singlet.”
Read the full article here.

Cyclists competing in the Ironman Coeur d’Alene

Smith ’14 was chosen as the “Best Newcomer” for the IWU Men’s Cross Country team as a freshman, was named the “Most Valuable Performer” on the IWU Men’s Track and Field team in the 2012-2013 season, and won the 800-meter run at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin outdoor meet as a senior with a time of 1:54.57.

Aaron Smith ’14 in his senior year Track and Field roster picture

Congratulations, Aaron!

A Brief Introduction

Posted on by
1

Hey there, alumni! If you don’t recognize me from my picture at the top-right of this page, my name is Mack Rivkin and I am the new Class of ’14 Newsletter Editor. I want to extend my gratitude to Bobby Castillo, the former newsletter editor and fantastic friend of mine, for his hard work and dedication to IWU and the class of 2014.

A bit about me: I studied English and Environmental Studies while at IWU, and was heavily involved with theatre. I am passionate about writing and editing, and I did a ton of it in school. When I wasn’t writing papers for class, I wrote poetry, short stories, and plays. Now, no longer a student, I still write for leisure when not working at Epiphany Farms Hospitality Group in downtown Bloomington. In my free time I enjoy riding my bike, surfing Reddit, and playing Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons.

I am very excited to do even more writing as Editor of this newsletter, and I hope to serve my class well. Please email me at mrivkin@iwu.edu if you have any updates you’d like to share!

Because this is the internet, I will leave you with an adorable picture of my cats. Happy reading!

Kittens

My cats, Montgomery Bagel and Amelia