Nicole Encarnacao chose Union when she was just eight years old, when she was here for one of her older brother's football games.
“I remember taking one look around and saying to my mother, 'Mom, I'm coming here.'”
Ten years later, after being recruited for the women's soccer team, Nicole enrolled as a member of the Scholars Program, which honors students who demonstrated
outstanding academic excellence in high school.
During her four years at Union, Nicole was involved in a variety of activities, from Big Brothers/Big Sisters to Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honors society. But most notable was her devotion to teaching. In addition to tutoring at the Kenney Community Center, she was the campus coordinator for Teach for America, the national program that encourages outstanding recent college graduates to commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools. Nicole was planning to join Teach for America, but her lifelong dream has taken a slight turn. She will go to Ohio State in the fall to begin work on a Ph.D., the first step toward becoming a college professor.
“I always wanted to be a political science professor. To me, being a professor is more of an avenue to being a constant learner. Professors are also students because they have teaching and research experience and are always learning more.” How does the idea of five more years of school suit this lifelong learner? Perfectly. “It won't be bad at all. I get paid to go to school-to learn!”
Nicole's background played a large role in her interest in political science, her major.
“My family is deeply political. My dad is 'Mr. Politician' in my hometown in Massachusetts. He's been on the town council, and so I've always been around politics. I used to help him campaign when I was in high school, so I've always known that this is
what I was interested in.” At Ohio State she hopes to focus on American politics and education policy in general,
as well as race, gender, and voting behavior.
As a Union Scholar, Nicole was able to take advantage of extra classes. For example, she did a project her sophomore year on women and film, something completely different from what she was learning in class. She also found time to minor in both Spanish and history and went on a term abroad to Seville last winter.
Nicole says she learned more than just academics during her four years at Union. “When I came here, I had an idea of what college was in terms of the social aspects. But what impacted me were the academics, and that's what changed me the most-those academic opportunities. I think I'm a lot more confident now than I was. I was always friendly and enthusiastic, but now I'm more carefree.”
That's not to say she didn't take advantage of the social opportunities. “I made friends from all walks of life here.
I think freshman year I was slightly worried about being in the right crowd when, in reality, none of it matters.”
As for her plans, “I'd really like to teach at a small, liberal arts school much like Union.”
It looks like some things never change.
Not only is the title of Chris Roblee's senior thesis a mouthful, so is his list of academic accomplishments at Union.
The thesis title is “Genetic Algorithm Based Design and Implementation of Multiplierless Two-Dimensional Image Filters.”
The academic accomplishments of the computer engineering major/math minor include a 3.97 GPA, making him this year's valedictorian. He made Dean's List since freshman year, was a member of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honors society, and was
secretary of the Eta Kappa
Nu electrical engineering honors society.
Chris's four years also included several hours a week tutoring school children as well as his peers. As a volunteer at the Kenney Community Center, he helped third and fourth graders from local elementary schools with their homework in all subjects. “I have always enjoyed working with the kids; it is incredibly rewarding to be able to make a positive difference. I believe that besides actually helping kids get their work done, the truly profound goal of this program is to get them to respect the importance of education as a whole.”
Chris and the other tutors also played educational and recreational games with the children to give them a fun and educational place to go after school. “This has been a wonderful opportunity for me to reach out and help the community; I feel that we have had a lasting impact on these kids.”
Chris says that his commitment to his grades was not just about working itself, but how he worked.
“As soon as I got to Union, I was committed to working as hard as I could. It was more about work ethic.” Looking back, he says he was perhaps overly concerned. “The most important thing I learned was to work more efficiently, to work smarter-not just to work 'hard.'”
Going on a term abroad to Prague was a great experience, he says, but deepened his appreciation for Union. “School there is very different. In Prague there was no homework, no tests-we hardly ever got feedback. The school we went to had 20,000 students. I came back really appreciating the atmosphere at Union.”
Besides academic evolution, Chris experienced a personal evolution of sorts. “Initially,
I was really opposed to Greek life. But then I joined a fraternity and now am really involved in it. By taking leadership roles there, it thrust
me into other leadership roles on campus.
“I think Union has some shortcomings that reflect some of the social shortcomings in society as a whole. Like in the 'real world,' people here join cliques and sometimes segregate themselves. I know that's an actual human trait, but at least now I'm prepared to face it in the 'real world' and know to be more of an individual.”
With all his accomplishments, Chris remains modest. His success, he says, is not solely his own. “I owe a lot to my teachers. Everyone here has been incredibly open and willing to explain things. Maybe some other people don't take advantage of the willingness of professors, but that's one of the reasons I came here in the first place-when first visiting here, the faculty and small class sizes are what really sold me.”
This fall, Chris plans to attend graduate school at Dartmouth to get his master's degree in computer engineering, with a goal of becoming the chief of technology officer at a major corporation. “I want to be able to use technology in a leadership role, maybe to guide some sort of project. I want to effectively influence the flow of technology.”
After influencing so many young lives, it doesn't seem like a far-off goal.
Ask Eric Meissner what he thinks of getting a close-up look at a gunshot wound or a head injury, and he'll reply, “A lot of things look worse than they really are.”
Pre-med student? Absolutely. But also a political science major-a combination that can be traced to his grandfather's influence.
“I remember when I was young, going wherever my grandfather went. He was very outspoken and knew everyone. I wasn't taken to ordinary childhood places but instead saw the world from a unique point of view. I saw the largest pagoda and Buddha in the Western Hemisphere, a Mormon temple, restaurant kitchens, bank vaults, the cockpits of airplanes, Japanese temples, the Polynesian Cultural Center, and many other atypical places. Most importantly, my grandfather introduced me to different cultures and people without ever making a distinction between them-they were all different, but equal.”
Eric has always wanted to be a doctor, although he can't pinpoint the reason. “No one in my family is a physician, and growing up in a lower to middle class neighborhood, medicine is not something most people have careers in. I wasn't sure if I could do it just because I didn't see many people doing it. But then I took an anatomy and physiology class in high school, which fascinated me.
I think being a doctor is a way to apply what I like in science to what I like about people.”
Despite his childhood goal, he was at first discouraged at Union. “My roommate's parents were doctors, and he would always tell me it wasn't something I'd like doing.” He started taking introductory courses in political theory and accumulated enough courses to become a political science major. “Looking back, I'm glad it happened because it encouraged me to learn about all these different areas.”
Eric was an EMT for Union's Emergency Medical Service, providing first response medical care for sporting events, social events, and weekends several times a term. He was also a clinical research assistant last summer at the emergency department at Albany Medical Center, where he saw that many of the problems in the ER were more social problems than medical problems. One result of that observation was his senior thesis on the impact of the Healthcare Reform Act on hospital emergency departments in New York. “I found that while HCRA has failed to meet its objectives and has put increased financial strain on hospitals, ED administrators and other emergency medical professionals report increased services, quality of care, and access at their facilities.”
Eric's Watson Fellowship proposal was to spend a year abroad participating in the delivery of emergency medicine in Honduras, Nicaragua, Holland, and England and to understand how and why the functions of these systems differ. “No one had applied for something like this in so long, and this year one person applied for the same exact thing and won.” Even so, Eric got the opportunity to travel. Last fall, he took a term abroad to Brisbane that focused on biology fieldwork and the society, culture, and ecology of Australia.
Eric says he changed a lot during his four years at Union. “I think Union really challenged me to develop. I found classes that really interested me and great professors who fostered the ambition that I had. I
consider myself much more focused. I've always worked hard, but now I really do because I like to be independent. When I was younger
my mom worked hard to give me what I wanted, and so
I've learned that's what you have to do.”
Eric plans to take the MCAT's this August and hopes to work for Paramedics for Children in Honduras. There, we will train local
people so they can provide their own care.
Political activist and playwright Lucia Scheckner describes her time at Union as if she were blindfolded in a dark room: “I sort of felt my way through everything.”
For Lucia, it wasn't enough to just learn the readings of dramatic literature; she wanted to understand the theories behind the writings. “I wanted to learn how theater can be used to illustrate political ideas and inspire social change. Theater is a unique medium of art that offers a dialectic analysis of the world within which we live.” It should be no surprise, then, that she became an interdepartmental major in philosophy and literature, pursuing not only her interest in literature but also her ability to interpret literature critically.
Despite her creative energy, Lucia says that writing is not something that has always come easily. “My father was an English professor, so that definitely had an impact on my writing. I struggled with the grammatical aspects of writing. I always had ideas and was enthusiastic about writing, but sometimes felt that my ability to communicate those ideas was hindered.”
Perhaps this explains her motivation to become a Writing Center tutor. “I can really relate to the people I work with.”
Lucia headed Union's Campus Action organization, a group of students devoted to making the College more socially and politically conscious. “At first, I dealt with my political frustration independently, going to protests without being backed by some organization. Then I was given the opportunity to chair Campus Action. Suddenly, when I was 'forced' to organize, it became astoundingly clear that my independent activism had come to an end.”
According to Lucia, this was an enlightening experience for her. “Activism is not something one does alone. Things can only change when we realize our strength, our voice, and use that to send a message together. My grandmother, since the day I can remember, told me that we all must break out of the cages our society puts us in-Black, White, Woman, Man, Rich, Poor.”
Break out she did.
Lucia came up with the idea to publish a campus newsletter that would provide an open forum for the 'alternative voice' on campus. “My initial motivation stemmed from my frustration with the blatant biases of mainstream media, especially at a time when it is so important to be asking questions and challenging what we are told. That's what it means to be an American, to live in a democracy. Condemning people for speaking out seems pretty hypocritical.”
The newsletter, The Campus Activist, was worth the challenge, she says. “Because of this newsletter, we have been able to reach many students, staff, and faculty we were previously isolated from. In addition, we have formed a strong alliance with neighboring Capital District schools. We have recently formed a Capital District student anti-war movement, and we meet once a month to discuss ideas and plans for the future.”
Lucia completed her senior thesis on the work of the playwright Berthold Brecht. “He revolutionized the theater by using Marxism as a definite schema for creating ideological theater. Brecht combined entertainment and instruction in the hope of creating a more critical theater, a theater that was more than simply entertainment for consumption, which to Brecht was self-indulging and only contributed to the bourgeois decadence he abhorred.
My thesis discusses Brecht's creation of epic or didactic theater; its central focus,
however, is socialist feminist analysis of Brecht's female characterizations.”
This spring, Lucia assisted Guest Director Brad Beckman with Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle, doing everything from helping with script analysis to set design. “Working on this production seems like the perfect culmination to these four years, after spending so much time studying Brecht's work.”
Lucia will attend Columbia University's MFA program in dramaturgy to continue her interest in performance, dramatic theory, and education. She's slightly anxious about the theater background of some of her future classmates. But that seems a minor detail when you look at all that she accomplished while at Union.