The world beckons

Three members of the Class of 2015—Lauren Bosche, Jesse Hardman and Mayumi Kohiyama—will soon be packing for Europe, where new educational and work options await.

Bosche and Hardman have received Fulbright awards for study and employment in The Netherlands and Germany, respectively, and Kohiyama will also go to Germany under the auspices of the selective Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange.

Bosche will enroll at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam to work on an MSc degree in environment and resource management. She plans to specialize in water and climate policy and complete a research project at the Amsterdam Global Change Institute. She said, “In gaining this degree, I will turn my passion for the study of natural resources into applicable skills that will allow me to pursue a career in environmental policy.

The Environmental Studies major plans to draw on her experience working at bicycle advocacy organizations to volunteer in the Fietsersbond Cyclists’ Union and the Vrije Universiteit’s bicycle repair shop “as a way to connect with the local community.” The longtime member of Skidmore’s Riding team said, “Connecting with others through sport has been a natural way for me to cultivate community.”

Upon returning to the U.S., Bosche, who hails from California, hopes to put her knowledge about water policy to work in her parched home state, perhaps working for an environmental policy organization in California, where she believes that the “concepts of the renowned Dutch environmental policy” might be helpful. She said she was interested in Environmental Studies since high school but “discovered my specific passion for the study of natural resources as an undergraduate. “ It was a geosciences course, “The Origin and Distribution of Natural Resources” that cemented her interest and led to her declaring geosciences and economics as minors to ES major.

For Hardman, a resident of New Hampshire, it is a desire to facilitate better mutual understanding between German and English speakers that led to his Fulbright-winning application as an English Teaching Assistant, which involves a teaching assignment in Niedersachsen. The placement will allow Hardman, a double major in government and history, to return to Germany, where he spent spring semester 2014.

He has a distinctive approach to learning language that he will likely share with his high school students. “To practice speaking and writing in German, I often listen to some of my favorite songs or read some of my favorite poems, translate them from English to German, and then perform or recite them in German.” The practice allows him to gain experience in reading, speaking, and writing German, which is the first language of his father, who was born in what was then called West Germany.

Hardman has acquired significant practice in language teaching through his work at the Skidmore Writing Center and through his work with non-native English speakers during the summers of 2013 and 2014. He said he has strategies for helping students who are frustrated with learning new languages, for him it is a matter of “retraining the brain.”

Coming from a small town and small high school, Hardman said that his first year at Skidmore “left an indelible mark.” Four specific teachers— Bina Gogineni, English; Kyle Kelly, economics; Matt Hockenos, history; and Tim Burns, government—were “essential” to his academic success, he said.  “They all pushed me in many ways. They all demanded good work. I learned a lot from them and about how to approach college studies and how to use what I learned,” said Hardman. “My Skidmore classes were challenging and rewarding.”

Upon returning from his Fulbright year, Hardman will apply to law school.

The Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange is co-sponsored by the German Bundestag and U.S. Congress to strengthen ties through citizen diplomacy. Just 75 American and 75 German students are annually selected for the yearlong program.

Neuroscience major Mayumi Kohiyama, whose minor is German language and culture, will be doing research in a neurobiology laboratory. Her university assignment has not yet been announced. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Kohiyama is a Porter Scholar who hails from New York City. She too, will be returning to Germany, where she spent a semester in 2013 at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

The program offers Kohiyama a chance to actively participate in Germany’s science community. She greatly admires German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a trained physicist, who has made science funding a priority. In addition, Kohiyama is interested in developing a stronger understanding of Germany’s cultural awareness.  A Japanese-American who is culturally Jewish, Kohiyama is interested in learning how Germans incorporate “otherness” into society. While there in 2013, she discovered the cobblestone project, which memorializes Holocaust victims.

Following her year in Germany, Kohiyama hopes to work as a research scientist in the U.S. and prepare for graduate school and a career in science.  She said her best memory of Skidmore was as a summer collaborative research student with Sarita Lagalwar, assistant professor of neuroscience. “I had the greatest time—to be in a place I love, doing the things I love was pretty special.”