101 Things To Do Before You Graduate Living In History ... - Alumni

ange of needs, including autismspectrum
and related disorders.
Alexandra Snell ’10 said the idea
for the project emerged from conversations
she had with fellow seniors
Lindsey Simpson, Lauren Kaplan,
Samantha Horn, and Hannah Sandler,
and with psychology professor Regina
Conti and educational studies professor
Sheila Clonan. Throughout the
semester, this core group of students
and faculty met regularly to develop
and critique curricula and activities
that were used with the children, as
well as to monitor the engagement
and growth of the children involved.
As the project grew — attracting
elementary students from Hamilton
and other communities — so, too, did
the team supporting it. More than a
dozen Colgate students, along with
community volunteers, took part.
Workshops, set to the themes of
The Wizard of Oz, facilitated development
of social skills such as making
new friends in uncomfortable situations,
like Dorothy did with the Tin
Man, Scarecrow, and Lion in the
unfamiliar land of Oz. Participants
learned new ways to deal with many
challenges, from feeling left out to
responding to a bully. “By using drama
games, music, and performance to
teach different social skills, we were
able to concentrate both on personal
growth and commitment to a larger
group of people,” said Simpson. “It was
really inspiring to see how the kids ex-
celled individually, but also grew as a
group who supported each other and
celebrated one another’s accomplishments,”
she added.
Children also learned to use sign
language during the song “Over the
Rainbow,” thanks to community volunteer
Bethany Sackel, who also worked
with volunteer Delaine Dacko to choreograph
and facilitate creative movement
within the energetic group.
All the children, be they energetic
or quiet, were encouraged to express
and recognize their differences.
“The beauty of The Oz Project was
most apparent in the day-to-day interactions
among the kids. They could
look beyond the obvious differences
between them and focus on what
they shared,” said Kaplan.
This sense of teamwork was evident
in the final production, in which
close to 30 children, comfortable with
each other and their differences, sang
and danced like stars. The production
was a big hit with the audience, but
the true success was found within
each and every participant on stage,
who overcame the challenges of social
situations and grew to embrace new
friendships.
Although its cardinal leaders all
graduated in May, it is hoped that
the project that Snell said touched all
aspects of the Hamilton community
will be reprised for years to come.
— Eileen O’Brien ’10
The Oz Project, an eight-week theater program created by Colgate students and faculty
members, brought together children with and without special needs for a performance of
The Wizard of Oz.
Andrew Daddio
Get to know: Jesse Henderson
Visual Resources Curator
How she got here: Before joining the Art and Art History department, I did my master’s in
library and information studies at McGill University in Montreal. I directed my assignments
toward image collections, so I really focused on hoping to land this exact job, even though I
didn’t know it was available.
The mission: The main charge of the visual resources library is making analog and digital images
available for faculty. We’re transitioning this analog collection to digital based on what
the professors are using. They basically curate the collection; they come in, bring books, and
say, “I want these images for my lectures; I need them so I can project them, show them, and
talk about them.” We’re up to almost 12,000 in the four years that I’ve been here, but we’re
dealing with a 90,000-image slide collection.
Favorite medium and color: I’m a painter at heart — I love oil painting. Any opportunity I
have to discover new painters while handling the collection is great for me. And my favorite
color is red. Definitely red.
Crowd shocker: I always surprise people when I tell them that I was the homecoming queen
of my high school, because it’s such a stereotype. I try to tell them to shock them, and then
they’re like, “No!” Other than that, I’m pretty much an open book.
Working on the Shapes for Hamilton Project: I built a fairly simple database in Filemaker
Pro and ended up cataloguing all of the shapes into the database. Once we got the lists of
people, I integrated them and randomly matched them up with a shape. In the gallery, once
you made contact through the database and found yourself, you saw your shape and started
thinking about what it looked like compared to all the others. It brought a new perspective
to the project that none of us were expecting. I just made the tool, and then it turned into
something wonderful that helped streamline all this information.
World traveler: The second year I lived in Montreal was heavenly. I lived in a very artsy
neighborhood called “the Plateau,” and that was really the first serious metropolitan living
experience I’d had. With access to the cafés and all the art, the pace of life was really fun.
Guilty pleasure: Frozen pizza. A good, cheap, frozen pizza.
She’s crafty: I made a quilt by hand. Some great local Hamilton ladies taught me how. My
most recent crafty endeavor was with Emily Oren (assistant curator) and her husband. We
made these handmade, painted little dice that say “you” on two sides, “us” on two sides, and
“me” on two sides. They’re marriage dice, so people can use them to settle their disputes.
She plays banjo, too – is she the next Béla Fleck? No way. In four years, I’m still playing
the same 12 small ditties, so I doubt it. But it’s fun, and I’m hoping to expand my knowledge
more over the summer. My husband plays guitar really well, so at some point, I have to learn
a little bit from him.
News and views for the Colgate community
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Andrew Daddio