WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM
NEWSLETTER Fall 2023
A Word of Welcome
from Dean Rebecca Spang 01
A Note from the Director
by Christoph Irmscher 02
Wells Sophomores in Berlin
WSP Class of 2021 04
Wells Freshmen in Berlin
WSP Class of 2022 08
Hiking the Camino de Santiago
by Stella Behforouz 11
Congratulations to Sophia Muston and Vinayak Vendantam 13
Wells Class Notes 14
Edited by
Christoph Irmscher
Designed by
Ali McConnell
Photographs by
Christoph Irmscher, unless otherwise stated
Cover image
Ella Kingery, WSP ‘22
Published August 2023
The Trustees of Indiana University
CONTENTS
Rebecca Spang, a 2022-23 Guggenheim
Fellow, is an award-winning historian drawn to,
in her own words, “of that which appears to
have no history.” She is widely known for her
books The Invention of the Restaurant (pub-
lished in a second edition, with a foreword by
the New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik) and Stu and
Money in the Time of the French Revolution,
both published by Harvard University Press.
From 2016 to 2022, she directed the Liberal
Arts and Management Program at IU.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 1
Working with the Wells Scholars Program and with so many individual Scholars
has been one of the greatest highlights of my time at Indiana University. So I am
thrilled, albeit still a little surprised, to nd myself now part of the Program’s
formal reporting structure. The Program truly does represent the very best of
this campus, and it is so fortunate to have Christoph as its Director and all of
you as its alumni/ae. I look forward to long and happy collaborations. And to
the new Scholars joining us in a few weeks: Welcome to Bloomington!
A WORD OF WELCOME FROM DEAN SPANG
Rebecca L. Spang
Rebecca Spang,
Distinguished Professor of History
Interim Dean, Hutton Honors College
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 2
Dear Friends,
My personal highlight this year was
our visit, during our Freshman Inter-
national trip to Berlin, to the Berlin
Philharmonic. It was a gorgeous
evening, of the kind I wistfully associ-
ate with the summers of my child-
hood in Germany when the light
lingers and the sky seems almost
transparent. We were joined by the
Director of the Indiana University
Europe Gateway, Dr. Katrin Völkner,
and the Gateway’s Associate Director,
Annabel Türk. After we had gathered
outside the “Philharmonie,” its boldly
expressionist architecture still as
impressive as it must have been back
in the 1960s, we were joined by our
alumnus Noah Bendix-Balgley, since
2015 the rst concertmaster (essen-
tially, the rst leader) of the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra.
Noah looked like he’d just ambled
down the street. Casually dressed,
he didn’t seem nervous at all, as if he
wouldn’t have to lead, in just over an
hour, one of the world’s greatest
orchestras through a two-hour
program before an audience of over
2,000. Calmly he took us through the
evening. Titled “An American
Evening,” the concert began with a
new piece by the Mexican composer
Gabriela Ortiz, followed by the second
piano concerto by Alberto Ginastera
(Argentina), culminating in Charles
Ives’ second symphony. The irony
wasn’t lost on the Scholars—we’d
come all the way to Berlin to hear
classical music from South and North
America. But this was another
reminder of how small the world
really is, a fact underlined by Noah’s
presence here.
Noah patiently explained to the
Scholars what they could expect—the
stomping rhythms of Ortiz’s “Téenek”
evoking the indigenous cultures of
her country, the modernist complexi-
ties of Ginastera’s concerto, the
self-conscious use of American folk
tunes in Ives’s symphony. When
students asked Noah about his role in
the orchestra, he was unfailingly
modest, insisting that he was merely
a liaison between the conductor and
the orchestra, using gestures and
body language (sometimes even
swinging his instrument) to make
sure the orchestra remained a
seamless whole. For us, there was a
direct line that evening between
Noah’s evident kindness to us and the
warm, rich tone several of us noticed
when we heard him play a little later
in the most beautiful concert hall we
had ever visited.
The combination of competence and
humility we saw in Noah embodies
the values that the Wells Program
seeks to instill in the Scholars we
welcome every year to Bloomington—
our hope that, wherever our Scholars
might nd themselves in life, they will
always feel the need to give back, to
younger Scholars, as Noah certainly
did that night, to the community and
the world. Reading the class notes for
this year, I was heartened to see how
many and varied forms this giving
back takes, whether our alums give
their time as doctors, teach at-risk
youth at home, or conduct English
classes abroad, play jam sessions at a
local restaurant, or organize earth-
quake-preparedness bike races. What
unites all these forms of commitment
is a feeling well expressed in the
essay we also include in this issue by
rising senior Stella Behforouz, in
Noah Bendix-Balgley (WSP ‘01) meeting with
WElls Freshmen outside the Philharmonie in
Berlin, Germany
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 3
which she reports about her partici-
pation in the Camino di Santiago: the
realization that we are part of some-
thing so much larger than ourselves.
I hope you enjoy the compilations
from the journals Scholars kept
during their Berlin trips this year and
Stella’s essay as well as the always
uplifting notes sent by our alums and
Scholars. And I also hope you like the
Berlin-inspired art by rising Sopho-
more Ella Kingery, featured on the
cover of this issue as well as in the
article about her class’s experiences
in Berlin.
One important housekeeping
detail—as of July 1, the Wells
Scholars Program has officially
joined the Hutton Honors College,
though some of our daily business
will continue to be done with the
Oce of the Vice Provost of Under-
graduate Education (OVPUE). We are
so grateful to our friends at OVPUE
for a decade of unstinting support
and would especially like to thank
Vice Provost Dennis Groth, Associate
Vice Provost Kurt Zorn, and Tracey
Wagner, Director of Finance and
Human Resources, and send our best
wishes to Tracey and Kurt for the next
phase of their lives in what we know
will not, in practice, be “retirement.”
And we look forward to working with
the new interim Dean of the Hutton
Honors College, Rebecca Spang, a
longtime friend of (and reviewer for)
the Wells Scholars Program.
Thank you, Scholars, parents of
Scholars, alums, friends of the
program, and donors of the program
for all you do to help us carry on.
Warmly,
Christoph
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 4
Delayed by the pandemic, like so
many events in our lives these past
few years, the Wells Scholars Class of
2021 didn’t get to go on their Fresh-
man International trip until they were
Sophomores. When, on March 10,
2023, we sat back in our seats on an
American Airlines ight from JFK
bound for Berlin-Brandenburg, the
German capital’s spiy, squeaky-
clean new airport, some of the Schol-
ars felt the need to pinch themselves.
The days we spent in Berlin—almost
our entire Spring Break—ew by fast.
Our very rst full day, a four-hour
walking tour, guided by Ryan of Berlin
Perspectives, at rst seemed to do
little to lift the confusion most of the
jet-lagged Scholars felt. But slowly the
city began to grow on them—a story
told repeatedly in the journals the
Scholars kept during the trip, from
which this article is compiled.
WELLS SOPHOMORES IN BERLIN, MARCH 2023
Anastasia, Belle, and Ana posing on top of the Berlin Reichstag in March 2023
Berlin is a city saturated with history,
but not the way a museum is, as
Reagan Walhof observed: “Walking
through the city and seeing locals
living their lives in such a historically
dense area just shows that the city
isn’t simply a historical relic.” Keegan
Priest felt that “walking really allows
you to notice not only the architec-
ture and the purely visual aspects of
the city, but also all the smells,
sounds, and noises, that let you fully
experience what the city is like.” In
Berlin, dierent eras of history are
intimately connected—so much so
that you realize why you can’t, writes
Keegan, “teach history in chunks the
way we do in the United States.”
Berlin is a living example of how
“every action, every event, every
decision is preceded by hundreds if
not thousands of years of cultural,
economic, and artistic context.”
Wells Sophomores at the Brandenburg Gate in
Berlin, March 2023
The Wells Freshmen were impressed
by the eorts Germans have made to
remember and honor, respectfully,
the victims of the past. The trip was a
life-changing experience for many of
the Scholars. To quote Keeghan
again: “Our country needs to do a
better job of admitting our failures. It
is more engaging to learn history and
hear the stories when we can actually
see the spots they happened [and
see] the physical remains or the
buildings where decisions were made,
treaties were signed, and people’s
lives were changed forever.”
Maria Amanda Irias also enjoyed how
the past seemed to live on every-
where in Berlin: “It was impressive
and mind-blowing to look at well-
known attractions like Checkpoint
Charlie, but what really touched me
was what I couldn’t see. Every step I
took in that tour I could only think
about the history of the tiles I was
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 5
stepping on. In my head I would piece
together the broken pieces of the wall
and picture what it used to be and
represent. To think that people on
dierent sides of the wall lived
completely dierent lives in terms of
their freedoms is unimaginable. No
more than a couple of hundred
meters dened who was oppressed
and who wasn’t.”
Likewise, Belle Chatpunnarangsee
found memories, both good and bad,
engraved in the very walls of Berlin or
into the ground, like the famous
stumbling stones, bronze-covered
blocks sunk into the ground inscribed
with the names of victims of the
Holocaust who had lived there.
Inadvertently, she found herself
comparing Berlin with her native
Bangkok. “In many ways Berlin was
Bangkok’s sister, reminding me of the
brilliant and warm days I spent back
home last summer. They share many
traits—the busy roads, fast-paced
pedestrians, and the convenient
public trains that run straight through
the heart of the city. However, the two
cities are also quite dierent. Berlin
tends to be more multilingual, as
French, Arabic, Spanish, and Portu-
guese are languages often heard in
the streets. Also, the colors are
dissimilar. Bangkok boasts sleek and
tall skyscrapers behind bright blue,
green, and orange street vendor carts
that populate the city like ies around
a slab of meat. In Berlin, the colors
are paler and carry pastel-like tones.
They blend seamlessly with the calm
blue sky.”
Anastasia Spahr especially appreci-
ated seeing the graves of the com-
poser-siblings Fanny and Felix
Mendelssohn on the Dreifaltigkeits-
friedhof near the IU Gateway, where
we met daily for lectures and discus-
sion. She was intrigued by the grati
on the houses, which she saw as
evidence of a modern consciousness
inscribing itself on the past, as a way
of reclaiming older buildings built by
people who didn’t own them and
probably weren’t adequately com-
pensated for their labor. Leyla Fern
King wrote that there was “something
uniquely strange about walking
around a place that isn’t yours and
only hearing a language that isn’t
yours.” But she decided that that was
the beauty inherent in traveling: “For
a brief period, you get to step into the
shoes of someone else and play
pretend, saying ‘Danke’ to a waiter,
laughing when someone assumes we
know German.” At the same time,
Berlin was so much more diverse
than she originally thought: “Each
stutter, each tumble, each falter
brings me one step closer to a Berlin
that is mine, a Berlin that belongs to
many with my name somewhere on
the list,” a Berlin where people spoke
Arabic or Spanish on the train, where
people she saw on the street had a
similar skin color to hers.
Scholars were particularly intrigued,
by our excursion to Potsdam, a city
about an hour south of Berlin, where
Frederick the Great built his summer
palace, Sanssouci, to which he soon
added other palaces. Scholars were
both entranced and repulsed by the
Prussian King’s need for opulence.
Meghan Rafoth liked the King’s music
room (Frederick the Great was an
accomplished musician who wrote
more than two hundred compositions
for the ute): “The ceiling is what I
loved most about it. It had gold
designs all around that looked like
leaves and vines, and in the center of
the ceiling where the chandelier hung
down there was a giant golden
spiderweb.” Belle was wondering if
Frederick himself paid attention to
the designs he commissioned.
Noticing how the King’s ute and the
pianoforte were located under the
chandelier, she asked herself “if the
performers or the monarch himself
had observed the way the clear
chandelier reects the piano keys
being top-danced upon by nimble
ngers.” She imagined a picturesque
scene, the sounds of music accompa-
nied “by the clinking of teacups and
the occasional light chuckle.” At the
same time, she was also haunted by
thoughts of exploitation: “Who built
these palaces? And whose life, envi-
ronment, and homes were impacted
by the extravagance of Frederick the
Great’s countryside palaces?”
For Meghan, a close second was the
King’s jungle-themed guest room:
“The walls were yellow, adorned with
green vines and owers and animals
such as monkeys and parrots, even a
little red squirrel, which reminded me
of the squirrels at IU.” Nicky Goh was a
fan of that same room: “I was amazed
by the gures of plants, fruit, and
animals carved into wood. The large
variety of colors also made it fun and
pleasing to the eyes.” At the King’s
New Palace, the “Grotto Room” took
Meghan’s breath away: “It featured
seashells all over the wall, and images
of giant sea monsters. It was so
beautiful and made me feel as if I was
actually underwater.” Ana Lim com-
mented on the obsessiveness she saw
manifested in Frederick II’s architec-
tural project (she’d rather not refer to
him as “Frederick the Great”): “Though
he conquered people, that seemed not
enough as he sought even to conquer
nature as well by desiring not to let
plants grow wild, but instead insisting
on the cultivation of several
non-naturally occurring plants in his
garden.” All that marble, gold, and
beautiful art were magnicent, to be
sure, “yet they left me feeling distinctly
underrepresented, realizing that I
didn’t belong.” Finally, Evan Jackson
couldn’t help but notice the evidence
of craftsmanship everywhere: “There
were stunning crystal chandeliers in
almost every room, gold—patterned
ceilings, frames that were more ornate
than the paintings they held. The
porcelains, clocks, desks, and chairs
were also remarkable.” Reecting on
the King’s loneliness—we saw also the
chair in which he died—it seemed
dicult to understand “how anyone
would want that much space, espe-
cially Frederick, who seemed to keep
to himself mostly.” Anatasia Spahr
was bothered by the false conscious-
ness she found displayed by the
museum curators. Audio guides made
available to our group didn’t address
the harm Frederick’s extravagant
pursuits did to his people or how his
homosexuality impacted his life.
In Berlin, reactions to the Holocaust
Museum and Peter Eisenman’s
Memorial for the Murdered Jews of
Europe were more positive. Ana
struggled with her emotions when
visiting the memorial, located right
between the Reichstag and the site of
Adolf Hitler’s Chancellery: “Watching
walls of gray rise and fall around me,
pacing on uneven ground, and
noticing how my friends and peers
disappeared, my initial feeling of
being unsettled grew into a choking
and claustrophobic sense of fear.
The dierent and dipping angles
seem almost as if they were falling,
and I recognized these architectural
choices were deliberate, aiming to
evoke similar feelings to those Jews
who were being persecuted. This left
me shaken, but acutely aware of my
privilege in being able to walk away
from these feelings and leave them
behind. Yet, even as I walked away,
the fact that each block was unique
stuck with me—a reminder of the
individual lives of each of the people
who were murdered.” Reagan
observed: “We all learn about history
in school, but seeing the places and
monuments connected with it is so
dierent. The Memorial built close to
where the Wall dividing Berlin once
was did remind me how connected
everything is. Learning history in a
classroom can give the false impres-
sion that history happens in a
vacuum.” For Evan, the Holocaust
Memorial was a reminder of the
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 6
Wells Scholar Keegan Priest listening to his audio guide at Sanssouci Palace,
Potsdam Potsdam, March 2023
amazing human ability “to translate
pain and sorrow to art.” The Memori-
al’s “scale, elegance, and elusiveness
combine to make it a one-of-a-kind
experience. Its openness forces you to
derive meaning yourself, to reect on
the atrocities of the Holocaust.” As he
reected on the Memorial’s impact on
him, Evan recognized that what stood
out most to him was not the stones
but “the moss growing in the cracks
between the tiles on the ground, the
cracks and pockmarks on their rough
surfaces, the stains from rain coming
down the side. They served as a
simultaneously somber and beautiful
reminder that life persists.”
vanishing into a dark tunnel: “Their
expressions varied greatly, from a
terried scream to a placid face
content with fate. It was also inter-
esting to me that the echo and
invisible oor gave the impression
of a never-ending sea of faces.”
Not everyone felt ready for the
experience of visiting Sachsenhau-
sen, a Nazi concentration camp.
Jordan Pace, who had learned earlier
in the week that the world’s rst
gender reassignment surgeries were
performed in 1920s Berlin, a haven
for gender-nonconforming people,
was distraught by the evidence of the
sheer damage the Nazis did.
“Although I left the camp feeling very
drained, I’m so glad I got the chance
to go because nothing can really
show you the full extent of the
horrors of these camps as really
being there…I never felt such a strong
emotion as I did while visiting Sach-
senhausen.” Meghan said that she
felt the visit rearmed “the impor-
tance of facing evil and suering head
on, acknowledging it, and then
resolving to live well in spite of it.”
Writing about the visit in his journal,
Aaron Lipsky noticed that he was
“still struggling to grasp what had
happened inside these gates, on the
very soil I was standing on.” To Belle,
the most chilling thought was this:
“We had the privilege of leaving this
camp, and the prisoners did not.”
Upon leaving Berlin, many Scholars in
the group vowed to return. In Kee-
gan’s words: “We live our lives at IU so
conned in our cultural and environ-
mental bubble that it can oftentimes
be hard to remember how rich,
complicated, and beautiful humans
are. There are so many places and
cultures I will never get to explore, but
every time I get to have an experience
like this, I’m reminded how grateful I
am to be alive and to sample the
intricacies of this thing we call Earth.”
The trip reignited Reagan’s passion
for learning languages, prompting her
to consider a gap year, or even two,
“which would give [me] some import-
ant perspective before entering the
medical eld where I could be
working with people from all dierent
backgrounds.” Reagan also thought
that “the theme of the trip was
interesting. Memories are so per-
sonal, but remembering history can
oftentimes be something that
requires public consensus or partici-
pation. How do we remember history
in a way that is still respectful of
individual memories?” On a dierent
note, Leyla concluded that “Wells
Scholars are kind of fun.” The trip
gave her “a sense of camaraderie I did
not previously have with my other
scholars.” More mundanely, the trip
also taught her something about
herself, namely that she wasn’t as
good at waking up in the mornings as
she thought she was.
At the Holocaust Memorial, Berlin, March 2023
At the Jewish Museum, designed by
the American architect Daniel
Libeskind, Scholars appreciated the
innovative design that kept visitors
walking on slanted, precarious
ground, an allusion to the Jewish
experience of diaspora and persecu-
tion. Nicky had a powerful response
to the installation “Fallen Leaves,” by
the Israeli sculptor Menashe Kad-
dishman, a river of metal faces
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 7
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 8
During their stay in Berlin, from May 9
to May 17, members of the Freshman
class all noticed the role nature
seemed to play in the city. Many of
the trees seemed old and huge, wrote
Sarah Rodenbeck, who also pointed
out that trees are “great equalizers,”
oering shade during the hot days of
early summer to anyone who needed
it, “showing that no matter who we
are or where we come from, we all
nd some relief under a tree.” Jake
Stevenson loved the walkability of the
city, the obvious priority given to
pedestrians and cyclists, “making it
easy to navigate the streets” without
having to rely on cars. So many parks,
gardens, and green corridors
throughout Berlin provide opportuni-
ties for recreational activities and, in
Jake’s words, “respite from the
bustling cityscape.”
WELLS FRESHMEN IN BERLIN, MAY 2023
Wells Freshmen at the Brandenburg Gate, May 2023
At rst, the parks seemed a little
unkempt to Sam Thant, an interna-
tional Scholar from Myanmar. In the
one just outside the hotel where we
stayed, the grass was high and in
evident need of mowing, many of the
paths weren’t paved, not to mention
those that had been “naturally
created by people taking shortcuts.”
But with Sam, that gradual sense of
unfamiliarity gave way to the pleasant
feeling elicited by seeing the natural
environment integrated so seam-
lessly into the daily lives of Berliners.
Mariana, an international Scholar
from Brazil, liked the sustainability
eorts she saw everywhere, the
wooden cutlery for takeouts, the
abundance of solar panels on the
roofs of buildings, the paper bags
(which one had to purchase) in
grocery stores, and the sheer number
of people riding their bikes. Not
coincidentally, Mariana is a
passionate walker, too: “I’ve always
loved walking through cities I travel
to; it lets me experience the city more
slowly, as well as letting me choose
whatever path I want to take, and get
into whatever tiny shops I want.”
Courage Barda, a composer, likewise
felt happy in Berlin and attributed this
to his ability to go and relax (or work!)
in a park whenever he felt like it:
“There are so many cafés, each one
dierent from the others, so many
parks, one of which I visit to compose
after my lunch.”
Ella Kingery, In Max Liebermann’s Garden
(from Ella’s Field Notebook)
The fusion of nature and culture
became evident for many of the
Scholars during our visit to the villa
formerly owned by the German
impressionist painter Max Lieber-
mann in the posh suburb of
Belin-Wannsee, now lovingly restored
by volunteers to its former beauty.
Sam was happy to see how the
paintings displayed in the house
reected the blooming owers and
the shimmering lake outside. Given
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 9
how peaceful Liebermann’s garden
felt, Annabel Prokopy found it hard “to
comprehend that less than 100 years
ago, Nazi ocials met just down the
street to strategize mass murder.”
Indeed, the infamous “House of the
Wannsee Conference,” which we had
visited earlier in the day, is just a
block away and, incongruously,
boasts a similarly beautiful view of
the lake. Here, on January 20, 1942,
the Nazis called a meeting of senior
ocials to ensure their cooperation in
the implementation of the Holocaust.
The constant presence of the past in
Berlin was a theme that stood out to
all members of the class. Yahya
Amjad went to a museum to travel
back to ancient Greece, immersing
himself in the painstaking, panoramic
representation of the city of Perga-
mon in (of course) the Pergamon
Museum. But then there are the many
public memorials, too, monuments to
past trauma, which, to journalism
major Mia Hilkowitz, served as a
strong warning to be uninching in
her reporting on current injustices.
But Scholars also took the time to
sample present-day Berlin, the
markets, thrift stores, and especially
the plentiful coee shops. Ella
Kingery, whose wonderful sketches
illustrate this article, was delighted to
drink coee that, unlike that oered in
IU dining halls, needed no powerful
additives to “mask the taste.” The
subway appealed to everyone, too,
but perhaps no one liked it more
than Deo Akiode, who confessed that
she just loved her daily commute to
the IU Gateway, where our lectures
took place—what a wonderful
opportunity to observe people! Laila
Morris, perhaps remembering her
hometown of Chicago, was amazed
to be on trains that “don’t rattle back
and forth.”
What stood out to Kyle Eubank in his
daily walks was the sense of mutual
trust shaping public life, as indicated
by the “bookstores with vast displays
sitting on sidewalk tables and coee
shops only taking payment after you
have nished your drink.” Kyle
enjoyed learning about Berlin having
been a destination for sexual experi-
mentation back in the 1920s, before
the Nazis destroyed that culture, but
he couldn’t banish thoughts about
the current laws in several states
targeting LGBTQ+ people. Kyle
enjoyed seeing “happy gay couples
safely walking together,” a reminder
that while there is a sense of “ally-
ship” present in Bloomington, there
isn’t a similar sense of inclusion:
“What we need is not only support
for, but also representation of,
LGBTQ+ people.” He found people in
Berlin to be overwhelmingly kind:
“Even as I sometimes struggled to
communicate with waiters or
cashiers, nobody ever grew impatient
with me.” Vitor Braga, an interna-
tional Scholar from Brazil, also felt a
very personal sense of productive
“enthrallment,” an “experience of
uncertainty I never felt before,”
emanating from the diverse commu-
nities visible in Berlin, the people
from all corners of the universe that
throng its streets.
Ella Kingery, Coee in Berlin
(from Ella’s eld notebook)
Kyle enjoying his ice cream in Berlin-Kreuzberg
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 10
many things. Sometimes I would hear
people talking or babies crying or
dogs barking. Sometimes I heard cars
driven by, blasting the favorite songs
of the owners. Sometimes I would
hear a laugh or yell from the club
across the street. Sometimes I would
hear an angry honk (likely at the
quickly changing light or unconcerned
pedestrians that keep walking (this
was sometimes me!). All these sounds
were so comforting to me. I slept well
knowing that in the quiet night, people
still laugh and cry and yell and honk
their horns. Quiet and loud.”
Sophia Nguyen, a trumpet player,
experienced a more concrete kind of
uncertainty when she rst arrived.
Puzzled that there were no paper
towels in public bathrooms, she
struggled with the weird contraption
she found in their place, a cloth towel
on an endless loop, “stretched
between two rotating cylinders.” But
such befuddlement was gone when
she relaxed into her seat at the
symphony hall in Berlin, where we
had the privilege of listening to one of
the world’s greatest orchestras led by
Wells Scholars Program alumnus,
Noah Bendixen-Balgley, the rst
concertmaster of the Berlin Philhar-
monic. Noah met with us before the
concert, and Sophia was delighted to
listen to him later, during the perfor-
mance, coax the richest sounds
imaginable from what seemed like
little more than a “varnished wooden
box.” Of course, she also liked the
trumpets which, as part of a large
orchestra’s soundscape, sounded
just “wicked cool.”
Ella Kingery found Berlin to be a city
of contrasts, inscribed into the very
cobblestones she walked on every
day, alongside new owers and
budding trees coming back for the
spring. She relished the sounds of
Berlin, a city of so many contrasts
(old and new, happy and sad, loud
and quiet). At night, she would keep
the window of her hotel room open to
sample these contrasts: “I heard
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 11
HIKING THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO
By Stella Behforouz
I was skeptical when I rst met
Amanda Roshan-Rawaan, the study
abroad advisor who works with most
Wells Scholars. Studying Media
Science with minors in International
Studies, Spanish, and Human-Cen-
tered Computing, I didn’t know the
feasibility of going overseas with
wide-ranging academic requirements,
but when she told me about a smaller
program in Sevilla, Spain, that oered
courses I needed, I knew that I had to
take advantage of this opportunity.
France. (The “Camino,” as it is known
for short, is the traditional pilgrimage
to the shrine of the apostle Saint
James the Great in the cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in
northwestern Spain). While I am an
adventurer at heart, this solo under-
taking was largely due to an
expanded sense of condence in
myself and in the Spanish language
that I achieved by studying in Seville.
It was a perfect way to end my trip—
another growing experience with time
dedicated to reection. I had a back-
pack stocked with only the necessities
and walked for hours. As you can
imagine, these hours were lled with
a lot of thinking about my experience
overseas. So, I would like to share a
few of my conclusions.
Before I traveled to Spain, many
people had told me that Seville was
the most beautiful city in Spain. I can
condently say that I agree with this
assessment. Yes, the city was beauti-
ful because of its rich history, magnif-
icent architecture, and true
Andalusian culture. To me, however,
Sevilla was breathtaking for what the
city taught me, the challenges it
posed, and the people it allowed me
to meet. The hard-learned lessons
and genuine connections I made are
now a part of me. While Seville
I ended my time in Spain hiking the
rst week of the Camino de Santiago,
starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port,
Top: A eld of owers on the Camino de Santiago.
Bottom: Stella’s self-portrait on the trail.
possesses many typically beautiful
characteristics such as ever-owering
trees, a picturesque “Gran Vía,” and
the outstanding Cathedral, ultimately,
the city was beautiful to me because
my understanding of the world and its
people grew alongside an under-
standing of myself in both a cultural
context and independently. I am
Seville, as seen from the top of the Cathedral
beyond grateful to the Wells Program
for giving me this opportunity.
However cliché this might sound, it
was truly life changing.
In one of my classes called Intercul-
tural Communication and Leadership,
we talked at length about the way in
which our view of the world is shaped
by our own cultural values.
While this may seem obvious, it was
amazing to have a course dedicated
to deliberately dissecting some of our
experiences living in Spain in an
analytical and cross-cultural manner.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 12
Because of this class, I believe I
achieved a much better understand-
ing of not only the Spanish culture
but also how to be a cross-cultural
communicator. I noticed myself
utilizing the skills and mindset that
we practiced in class in my everyday
interactions. As part of an extracur-
ricular program, I participated in a
language exchange in which I was
paired with a Spanish student
attending the University of Sevilla.
Over the course of the semester, we
met for thirty hours to practice our
respective languages, learn about
each other, and explore the city
together. Of course, we had some
misunderstandings as my partner
was learning English and I was
learning Spanish; however, as time
progressed, frustration no longer
was my initial response to some of
our interactions. While it was largely
due to an increased ability in the
language, I do believe that my
increased level of cultural awareness
and cross-cultural dialogue was
responsible for this change.
I could not share my experience
abroad without describing the most
memorable day, the rst day of
Semana Santa, or Holy Week.
Semana Santa had been a topic of
conversation in most homestays and
in my classes, as well as in my
conversations with friendly Sevillanos
excited to share a part of their culture.
It was said that during this week,
there would be crowds of people and
daily processions, so I thought that I
was prepared for the upcoming
week. However, when I stood in front
of a “paso,” a religious oat carried
by 50 men, with hundreds of candles
lit, in a crowd of around three thou-
sand people, in complete silence,
that’s when I knew I was experienc-
ing something extraordinary. Beside
me was my favorite market where I
bought fresh fruits and vegetables;
behind me was Seville’s most
modern (thus, controversial) piece
of architecture. And in front of me,
there were thousands of traditionally
dressed people carrying crosses,
candles, and burning incense began
walking as a drum beat and horns
commenced. While emotional
reactions are quite normal during
this week, I did not expect the tears
that were forming in my eyes while I
watched. The hush that fell over
thousands of us as the procession
grew closer, the respect that each
person showed for the experience of
others, and the obvious spiritual
signicance of Semana Santa had
for so many Spanish people who
attended was astonishing. From
Sunday to Sunday, people dressed in
their nest clothes, wandered into
the winding cobblestone streets of El
Centro, and dedicated their time to
something larger than themselves,
whether that was participating in a
procession themselves or watching a
loved one do the same. I feel so lucky
to have had this experience!
My hope is to continue using my
Spanish in a future professional
environment while also continuing to
experience the world and broaden
my horizons. I am not exactly sure
yet what exactly this will look like, but
I am excited beyond measure. As I
strive to be a conscientious world
citizen, I believe it is my duty to seek
all the insights that the world and its
people have to oer. With many
thanks to the Wells Program, I have
the resources and the academic
support to do so.
Adorned with candles, crosses, and owers, the “pasos” or religious oats during Semana Santa or
Holy Week are some of the most ornate in all of Spain. Seville is known for its week-long celebration
that leads up to Easter.
We like to celebrate our students and alumni, for their achievements, for who they are, and for who they are going to
be. But we don’t often get an opportunity to celebrate two of them at the same time. That occasion came when
Sophia (WSP 2015) and Vinayak (WSP 2013) returned to Bloomington to tie the knot. Many Wells scholars from both
classes (and Christoph!) came from near and far to take part in the ceremony. There were two, in fact—a traditional
Indian wedding on Friday evening and a Western ceremony the next day. Vinayak and Sophia told us that for them the
event was also an incentive to reect fondly on the night in October 2015 when the Wells Scholars Program gave them
tickets to a showing of Jack Heggie’s opera Dead Man Walking. As they say, the rest is history. Sophia and Vinayak
now reside in Berkeley with their pit-bull mix, Clarence.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 13
CONGRATULATIONS TO SOPHIA MUSTON AND VINAYAK VEDANTAM
Photo Credits:
Anna Clark (top);
Lauren Bernofsky (bottom)
Kelley
Pollock
Chris
Mackey
CLASS NOTES
Marc
Pelath
Jennifer
Botkin
In December 2022, Marc Pelath
nished the writing and recording of
his second album, “Amor Fati,” and
then spent a week in Italy at Ritmo
& Blu studio while it was mixed.
This album of evocative, emotional,
instrumental “post-prog” revolves
around themes of fate and eternal
recurrence and features eight con-
tributing guest musicians from the
US, UK, Austria, and Denmark, all
CLASS OF 1991
much better musicians than Marc,
and some at the top of their craft.
Still, he’s the one who composed it.
“Amor Fati” was released in April 2023.
CLASS OF 1992
Mark Schneider is a senior litigation
partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in
Chicago, where his practice focuses
on defending companies in govern-
ment investigations. He is married to
Eleanor, has three young daughters,
and serves on the Board of Directors
of the Lumen Christi Institute.
Mark
Schneider
During the pandemic, Chris Mackey
founded Skillsline The Human Skills
Company, with the mission of provid-
ing a foundation of the durable
human skills demanded by today’s
employers and critical to thriving at
work, in school, and in life. Chris is
back in Indiana working with K12
schools under the Indiana Depart-
ment of Education’s Employability
Skills Innovation and Implementation
Grant. According to Chris, “it’s an
exciting time for the company as the
currency of human skills is steadily
increasing with employers, and
automation and articial intelligence
play a greater role in replacing
routinized work. We feel bullish about
the future of us humans!” Chris
continues to enjoy hiking, camping,
aquariums, and reading—and doing
all these fun things with his family!
Kelly Pollock (Duke) lives in Oak Park,
Illinois, and is the new Director of the
Holiday Food and Gift Basket program
there providing almost 800 families
with grocery gift cards and holiday
gifts. She is also a freelance reporter
for the local newspaper. Kelly lives
with her husband and two children.
CLASS OF 1990
Jennifer Botkin (Roach) lives in
Zionsville, Indiana, and works as a
pediatrician in Avon, Indiana. She is
extremely excited to live vicariously
through her Freshman son, Ben, who
will be joining IU this fall.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 14
CLASS NOTES
Khozema
Shipchandler
Khozema Shipchandler still lives in
Lafayette, California, with his family
(and now, dad). He is the President of
Communications at Twilio and
recently joined the board of Smart-
sheet. He was lucky to make a college
visit with his son to Bloomington in
the spring and meet with several
Wells students. Now he can’t wait to
go back!
Karl
Torke
Karl Torke lives in Berkeley with his
wife Rochelle (originally from Marion
and a fellow IU alum) and sons Jonas
and Abram. He continues his work
with the law company Elevate. While
still loving California with all its beauty
and chaos, he returns regularly to
Indianapolis and Bloomington. He
wishes the best to the Wells Scholars
Program family, with a special shout-
out to the class of 1992
Lauren J.
Wolven
Lauren J. Wolven (Barnett) lives in
Oak Park and is a Trusts and Estates
attorney in Chicago. She and Brad (IU
‘95) have a rising senior in high
school and a rising junior at IU. The
family recently went to the Galápa-
gos, which was the adventure of a
lifetime!
Will
Stephens
Will Stephens is still working as a
lawyer for the District of Columbia
government, but he nally relaunched
the Sunday dinner-hour jazz jam
session he used to run for over 10
years before Covid—now in the Mount
Pleasant neighborhood at a historic
mom-and-pop restaurant and bar
called “Haydee’s.” If any Scholars or
alums are in DC, please come by on a
Sunday evening and say hello!
CLASS OF 1994
Kate
Schroder
CLASS OF 1995
Kate Schroder lives in Cincinnati, OH
with her husband, John Juech, and
two children, Josie (10) and (8). She
serves as President and CEO of
Interact for Health, a health founda-
tion serving the 20-county Greater
Cincinnati region.
CLASS OF 1997
Angelique Cabral recently starred in
Hulu’s comedy series “Maggie” as
well as the hit ABC show “Big Sky.”
She currently appears in the criti-
cally acclaimed Amazon rotoscoped
series “Undone” and has recurring
roles in Amazon’s “With Love” and
“Big Shot” for Disney+. Other recent
credits include Netix’s “Grace and
Frankie” (alongside Jane Fonda and
Lily Tomlin), the CBS hit comedy
“Life in Pieces,” the portrayal of
Angelique
Cabral
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 15
CLASS NOTES
Shannon
Foo
Carrie in the lm “All About Nina,” and
the role of Maddie in the 2017 movie
“Fat Camp.” On television, she starred
as the female lead in the comedy
series “Enlisted” and had a recurring
role in “Don’t Trust the B in Apart-
ment 23.” Additional television credits
include “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Fresh O
the Boat”, “Transparent”, “The Odd
Couple,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “Two
and a Half Men,” “Criminal Minds,”
“Chicago P.D.,” “Backstrom,” “State of
Aairs,” and “Bad Judge.” Her feature
lm credits include “Friends with
Benets” and a role in the indepen-
dent feature “The Perfect Family.”
Among her stage credits are the
O-Broadway shows “Tape,” “Jesse
Garon Lives,” and “Rubirosa.” She has
worked in public schools, teaching
at-risk youth how to express them-
selves, and is a certied Kundalini
yoga teacher.
Shannon Foo (Sullivan) lives in
Seattle, Washington, with her husband,
Jimmy. They welcomed their third child
this spring—a daughter, Evelyn.
Together with her big sister, Sabrina,
and big brother, Holden, Evelyn com-
pletes their family of ve. Shannon
serves on the Board of Directors of
Sabrina’s Mandarin immersion school,
the International Friends School,
in Bellevue, Washington.
Jennifer
Burnett-
Zieman
CLASS OF 1998
After leading a malaria prevention
program in Malawi for three and half
years, Jen Jennifer Burnett-Zieman
and her family have returned to
Washington, DC. Jen is currently a
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning
Director at Palladium, where she
supports the USAID project “Promot-
ing Results and Outcomes through
Policy and Economic Levers”
(PROPEL Health). In her free time,
she enjoys exploring DC with her
husband, daughter, and 100-plus-
pound rescue pup.After leading a
malaria prevention program in Malawi
for three and half years, Jen Jennifer
Burnett-Zieman and her family have
returned to Washington, DC. Jen is
currently a Monitoring, Evaluation,
and Learning Director at Palladium,
where she supports the USAID
project “Promoting Results and
Outcomes through Policy and Eco-
nomic Levers” (PROPEL Health). In
her free time, she enjoys exploring DC
with her husband, daughter, and
100-plus-pound rescue pup.
Brad
Patterson
Alongside his family, Brad Patterson
moved to Brittany, France in 2022.
He’s taken a step back from the
company he started fteen years
ago (Maple Leaf Strings) and has
become a life coach. He also leads
retreats and teaches breathwork. At
43, Brad is still dening what he
wants to do when he grows up,
hoping he never does.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 16
CLASS NOTES
Kimberly
Renee
Knowles
Libby
Lewis
Baney
Kunal
Desai
CLASS OF 1999
Kimberly Renee Knowles is moving
with her husband and eight-year-old
daughter to the Chicago Western
Suburbs (specically Lisle, Illinois) to
be closer to family. After fteen years
of retaining undergraduates at the
University of San Francisco, she is
now transitioning to retaining B2B
clients as Customer Success
Manager. Reach out via LinkedIn to
connect or re-connect with her for a
virtual coee chat or an in-person
get-together if you are in or will be in
the Chicago area this summer and
beyond. Kimberly also hopes to make
a trip down to Indianapolis, Bloom-
ington, and Louisville soon.
CLASS OF 2000
The best parts of Libby Lewis
Baney’s life continue to be her son,
Lucas (age 9), meaningful work, and
a supportive community of friends
and family. Recent highlights include
whizzing by trac on her bike, singing
as she is commuting to Faegre
Drinker’s Washington D.C. oce;
being appointed to the rm’s Man-
agement Board; saying yes to all sorts
of travel adventures with loved ones.
During working hours, Libby solves
regulatory problems for pharmacies,
pharmaceutical supply chains, and
digital health clients.
After graduating in 2004, Kunal
Desai completed an MB at IU Bloom-
ington. He then worked in the phar-
maceutical industry for eight years
before going on to medical school at
the University of Illinois-Chicago in
2014. He completed his Internal
Medicine residency at the Cleveland
Clinic in 2018 and is now nishing a
hematology/oncology fellowship at
the University of Chicago. He lives in
suburban Chicago with his wife and 2
children (ages 3 and 5).
CLASS OF 2001
Alex
Eble
Alex Eble lives in New York, where he
was just awarded tenure at Columbia
University, advancing to the rank of
Associate Professor of Economics
and Education. His website can be
found at http://www.alexeble.com/.
CLASS OF 2002
Jason
Bell
Jason Bell lives in London (UK) and
works in agricultural technology. He
serves as VP of Customer Success for
Hectare Agritech. Jason completed
an MBA at Oxford ve years after
nishing in Bloomington in 2006.
Jason is married with two daughters.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 17
Matthew Burkhart lives in Whites-
town, Indiana, with his wife and two
young sons. He is a partner at
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in
Indianapolis. He focuses his practice on
trade secrets litigation and counseling
and on other corporate disputes.
CLASS NOTES
Mark
Johnson
Ryan Funk lives in Indianapolis with
his wife (Pilar) and their two children
(Rori, 9; Sammy, 6). Ryan is a labor
lawyer at Faegre Drinker, where he
was promoted to partner in 2022. He
is involved in the Indiana State Bar
Association and Indiana Landmarks,
a historic preservation nonprot. The
Funks love coming back to Blooming-
ton to camp on Lake Monroe and
enjoy meals on 4th Street.
Mark Johnson is the lead pastor of
Christ Community Church in Sioux
Center, Iowa. He and his wife
(Roxanne) have three lovely daugh-
ters: Kyla (10), Eden (8), and Selah
(3). After serving in collegiate minis-
try for fteen years at IU, Mark
transitioned into the pastorate in July
2022 and is loving the new challenges
it brings.
Dan
Stanko
Dan Stanko lives in San Francisco,
California, with his wife (Mandira),
daughter (Samara, 6), and son
(Jahan, 3). He continues to work for
Crosspoint Capital, a cybersecurity
and infrastructure software-focused
private equity rm.
Simi
Dhillon
Simi Dhillon lives in the San Francisco
Bay Area and works in Technology
Sales at Google.
CLASS OF 2004
CLASS OF 2005
Alex
Cohen
Alex Cohen works for GiveWell, a
funder of organizations working in
global health and development. He
currently lives in Cincinnati with his
CLASS OF 2006
Deepak
Agarwal
Deepak Agarwal lives in Minneapolis
and is an Assistant Professor of
Urology at the University of Minne-
sota. He recently received an internal
grant to study the ergonomics of
urologic endoscopy.
CLASS OF 2007
Matthew
Burkhart
CLASS OF 2003
Ryan
Funk
wife, Jess, and two children, Gene (7)
and Joanna (4).
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 18
CLASS NOTES
CLASS OF 2007
Hannah
Kennedy
Hannah Kennedy is the Director of
Communications for the award-win-
ning Chicago Shakespeare Theater. In
this senior leadership role, she is
responsible for developing messaging
around the Theater’s productions and
programs and implementing public
relations plans to elevate the organiza-
tion’s prole locally, nationally, and
internationally. Chicago Shakespeare
produced the North American pre-
miere of the hit musical “SIX,” which
became the rst new show to reopen
in October 2021. Hannah was on-hand
for all the “purple carpet” opening
festivities and celebrated the produc-
tion’s two Tony Award wins in New
York City in June 2022. She recently
led the communications eorts
around the world premiere musical
“The Notebook.” Hannah lives in
Chicago’s North Center / Lincoln
Square neighborhood with her
husband Aaron and rescue pup Layla.
CLASS OF 2009
Adam
Friedman
Adam Friedman lives in Chicago with
his wife, Amanda (a fellow Hoosier,
class of ’14), one-year-old daughter
Shay, and their dog Kirkwood. Adam is
a Vice President at Linden Capital
Partners, a private equity rm investing
in healthcare companies. Amanda runs
her own wedding planning business
called Amanda Paige Events. In his free
time, Adam has mastered the air fryer
and time trials in Mario Kart 8.
CLASS OF 2010
Elizabeth
Davis
Elizabeth Davis lives in Seattle and
expects to nish her Ph.D. in geology
this winter. Her research focuses on
interpreting the record of Washington’s
past earthquakes from mud and sand
at beaches and deltas. This year she
was honored with a teaching award for
her role in co-developing a new under-
graduate eld camp. She also works in
CLASS OF 2011
Jonathan
Hawkins-
Pierot
Jonathan Hawkins-Pierot lives in
Washington, DC with his wife, Agathe.
Jonathan is an economist at the
Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau. In the past year, he has
started a vegetable garden (radishes
did well, but the peas died early.
Fingers crossed for the melons...)
and picked up baking sourdough,
several years behind the trend.
Come say hi if you’re in town!
CLASS OF 2013
Vinayak
Vedantam
Vinayak Vedantam will soon be
entering his 7th year of living in the
Bay Area. He lives in Berkeley, Califor-
nia with his amazing spouse and
cultural preservation with the Duwa-
mish Tribe and leads and participates in
earthquake preparedness bike races in
Seattle and Portland.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 19
CLASS NOTES
fellow Wells alum, Sophia Muston,
and dog Clarence. Vinayak was
recently promoted and is now leading
a product team at Meta focused on
ghting scams and deceptive adver-
tising. Given his increasingly limited
free time, Vinayak has narrowed his
list of hobbies down to music (pri-
marily guitar but also piano and
ute), rock climbing, video games,
obsessing over cars, and making
top-notch chai. Vinayak has been in
the Bay Area long enough to know the
cool hiking spots and restaurants, so
if you’re in Bay Area, give him a call!
CLASS OF 2014
Steve
Browne
Steve Browne lives in Chicago and
works for Ruggable, a home goods
company. He is leaving the workforce
in the fall to attend the University of
Chicago Booth School of Business.
He is excited to become a student
again and has been reminiscing on his
incredible time at IU as a result.
Outside of work, he enjoys distance
running, crosswords, and traveling
with his girlfriend, Chloe.
Richard
Solomon
Richard Solomon graduated from the
University of Chicago last summer and
has been working as vice consul at
U.S. Embassy Riyadh in Saudi Arabia
for the past year. He will begin a
doctoral program in political science
at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in the fall. All recommen-
dations are welcome! He misses Wells
Scholars friends dearly and was
honored to share brunch with Shawn
Gompa and Jonathan Hawkins-Pierot
before departing for the Middle East.
He has also recently enjoyed Chris-
toph Irmscher’s biographies of Max
Eastman and Louis Agassiz.
Gabe
Young
Gabe Young continues to live in San
Francisco, where he is the Associate
Principal Oboist of the San Francisco
Opera. The company celebrated its
Centennial this year with a glorious
season full of operatic delights,
CLASS OF 2015
Kate
Adams
After spending the past four years
working in Chicago for the consulting
rm Bain & Co (excluding a six-month
stint at clean energy company BioLite
in Nairobi, Kenya), Kate Adams is
relocating to the Bay Area with her
ancé Dante to pursue an MBA at
Stanford’s Graduate School of
Business. She is excited to take
advantage of all Palo Alto has to oer,
including hiking, winter sunshine, and
proximity to fellow Wellsies! She’d
love to catch up if you’re in the area!
including Richard Strauss’ mammoth
opera. This past year he joined the
faculty at the University of California
Santa Cruz, where he teaches oboe
and chamber music. Gabe is pictured
at the center), with colleagues Mingjia
Liu (left) and Ben Brogadir.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 20
CLASS NOTES
Rhi
Battersby
Rhi Battersby lives in Washington, DC,
and works in reproductive health and
abortion access. Highlights of the last
year include volunteering on a com-
munity farm, learning embroidery, and
marrying her partner Johnny in a small
ceremony with Wellsies Sophia,
Vinayak, and Luka in attendance.
Annaka
Grismer
Annaka Grismer graduated from
Indiana University’s O’Neill School of
Public and Environmental Aairs with
a Master of Arts in Arts Administra-
tion in 2022. While earning that
degree, she served as the Artistic
Director of Bloomington Chamber
Opera, a nonprot which she
co-founded in 2019. Upon graduation,
she accepted a position as Digital
Communications Assistant for the
Jacobs School of Music. Annaka now
works as Program Coordinator for the
Richmond Scholars Program at the
University of Richmond. She lives in
Richmond, Virginia, with her wife-
to-be Cal and their two mischievous
cats, Minnie and Clover.
Sophia
Muston
Sophia Muston is pursuing her MSW
in Berkeley, CA. Last year, she worked
for Oasis Legal Services, providing
case management support to
LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers. After her
wedding to Vinayak Vedantam (WSP
2013), Sophia spent part of her
summer in Oaxaca polishing her
technical Spanish and taking classes
on psychology, sociology, and tradi-
tional healing methods. This year,
she’ll practice narrative therapy and
work toward her school social work
credentials in the West Contra Costa
Unied School District. She is on a
quest to perfect her bagel-baking
technique and Wingspan-playing skills.
CLASS OF 2016
Lauren
Ehrmann
Lauren Ehrmann is teaching English
in Hualien, Taiwan, where she is living
with fellow Wells Scholar Coleton
Hast. The two were happy to have the
opportunity to host and show o
Taiwan to Wellsies Thalia Taylor (who
took the photo) and Damon Pham
this winter! In the fall, Lauren is
excited to begin her Ph.D. in Islamic
Art History at Harvard. In the mean-
time, she plans to spend the summer
reading all the novels she won’t have
time for during her Ph.D., going on
mountain hikes, and eating her way
through Taiwan’s night markets.
Coleton
Hast
Coleton Hast is currently living in
Hualien City, Taiwan nishing his MA
thesis at National Dong Hwa Universi-
ty’s College of Indigenous Studies.
His current research and community
work is focused on grassroots digital
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 21
CLASS NOTES
language revitalization for a Taiwan-
ese Indigenous language, ’Amis. He is
also volunteering for a Boston-based
non-prot called 7000 Languages
which provides free e-learning
software for endangered languages.
Outside of his academic work,
Coleton has been utilizing his so-so
Chinese to explore Taiwan’s beautiful
mountains and night markets with his
fellow Class of 2016 Wells Scholar
and occasional roommate, Lauren
Ehrmann. Coleton is also thrilled to
announce that he has made friends
with the turtle that lives outside his
apartment. He will be returning to the
US in September with Lauren (but
sadly, not the turtle) to live in Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts.
Hannah
Huth
Hannah Huth is excited to be spend-
ing this year in Washington. DC as an
MRSP research fellow at the National
Institute of Health (NIH). She will
pursue cutting-edge research in
interventional oncology and medical
devices under the direction of princi-
pal investigator Dr. Bradford Wood.
Over her rst three years of medical
school at the University of Tennessee
Health Science Center, Hannah has
fallen in love with the study and
practice of pediatric oncology at St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital and
eagerly anticipates a future as a
pediatric solid tumor oncologist. In her
free time, Hannah loves to stay on top
of the new restaurant and bar scene,
travel, cycle, and paint. She would be
more than happy to talk with any
scholars in the DC area or anyone
interested in medicine or research!
Lauren
Meadows
Lauren Meadows lives in Washington,
DC. She works as a Project Associate
in the Oce of the CEO of the States
United Democracy Center, a nonpar-
tisan nonprot dedicated to free, fair,
and secure elections.
Damon
Pham
Damon Pham lives in Ho Chí Minh,
looking forward to one more year
here. He’d love to show Wellsies and
friends around, so drop an email if
you nd yourself visiting! Lately,
Damon’s neuroimaging research was
published in the journal NeuroImage.
His practice has been shared in such
venues as the Frye Art Museum in
Seattle, Digital America, and Over-
heard Literary Magazine. He had a
wonderful time at the AI Anarchies
Autumn School in Berlin last year.
This coming October, Damon, using
the name “Epecially,” expects to share
a music album.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 22
CLASS OF 2017
Sam
Epstein
CLASS NOTES
Neil
Shah
Over the last year, Neil Shah contin-
ued working at Bain and Company,
where he was promoted early to the
Consultant position. After completing
a seven-month procurement-focused
project with an agriculture client, he
began an externship in India, helping
grow Shrimad Rajchandra Love and
Care, a global nonprot. Throughout
his eight months in India, he has
resided at the Shrimad Rajchandra
Ashram, engaging in his spiritual
journey with his spiritual Guru (Pujya
Gurudevshri Rakeshji) while also
driving global strategy for the non-
prot. He also became a certied
yoga teacher. Upon returning to the
States in the fall, Neil will shift to UC
Berkeley, where he will pursue his
MBA at the Haas School of Business.
His goal is to further study the
foundations of non-prot strategy
and management.
After graduating in 2021, Sam
Epstein joined Cincinnati Ballet
Second Company, performing works
by Jennifer Archibald, Gerald Arpino,
Jodie Gates, Victoria Morgan, Amy
Seiwert, and Septime Webre. He was
also a Teaching Artist for Cincinnati
Ballet’s CB Moves adapted dance
program in partnership with Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital, teaching dance
classes for children with specic
needs. This past year, he was com-
missioned to choreograph Setting
Suns, an original abstract ballet for
Chattanooga Ballet, and The Diary of
Anne Frank, an opera receiving its
world premiere at the Jacobs School
of Music. And most recently, he was
grateful to have been invited to
perform as a guest artist in Confetti
as part of Gerald Arpino’s Centennial
Celebration at Diablo Ballet’s 29th
Anniversary Gala. Having just com-
pleted Cincinnati Ballet’s 2022-2023
season, Sam is excited to share that
he will be joining Grand Rapids Ballet
as a company dancer for the 2023-
2024 season.
Ping
Showalter
After graduating from IU, Ping
Showalter earned a master’s degree
in Restorative Justice from the
Vermont Law School and worked in
court diversion services for vulnera-
ble young adults. Currently, Ping lives
in Perú and continues preventative
and youth-based work as a Peace
Corps volunteer. She supports the
local school and local government,
organizing positive development
strategies and programs. In her free
time, Ping enjoys eating fruit from the
farm she lives on, playing soccer,
going on hikes, and aggressively
reviewing books on Goodreads.
Tyler
Zhang
This past March, Tyler Zhang
graduated with a master’s degree in
computer engineering from UC Irvine.
He wrote a thesis on leveraging
connected vehicle infrastructure and
machine learning to help reduce
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 23
CLASS NOTES
highway congestion. After graduating,
Tyler took a month o to travel and
spend time with friends and family.
He now lives in San Diego working as
a rmware engineer at Apple.
CLASS OF 2018
Walker
Smith
Walker Smith graduated from IU in
December 2022 with degrees in
chemistry and music composition.
Walker has spent the past few years
developing and touring his “Sound of
Molecules” show, an immersive
science/music performance for all
ages that asks and answers the
question, “What do molecules sound
like?” He premiered this show at
Bloomington’s WonderLab Museum
in September 2022 and since then
has shared it with thousands of
students at museums, schools, and
conferences across the country and
the world. Walker received a 2023-24
Fulbright Scholarship to the Nether-
lands to continue his “musical chem-
istry” research at the Institute of
Sonology, a renowned computer
music center in The Royal Conserva-
toire of The Hague. He has also
accepted a Ph.D. position in Com-
puter Music at Stanford University,
starting Fall 2024. Walker is excited to
continue developing performances
that share the beauty of combining
science and music with curious
minds of all ages.
CLASS OF 2019
Maddie
Butler
Maddie Butler is profoundly grateful
for her time at IU, particularly for the
friendship of her Wells cohort and the
mentorship of Christoph. She gradu-
ated in the Spring of 2023 with a B.A.
in International Law and Institutions,
a B.A. in Middle Eastern Languages
and Cultures, and a minor in French.
She is elated to attend NYU School of
Law in the Fall of 2023, where she will
study issues at the intersection of
human rights, freedom from gen-
der-based violence, and immigrant
justice. She would appreciate con-
necting with any Wells alumni with
similar areas of interest or any
experience living in NYC!
Sage
Hamm
Sage Hamm graduated this spring
with degrees in Japanese, piano
performance, and molecular life
sciences, receiving the Gines Scholar-
ship for his achievement in an East
Asian language and a pre-profes-
sional eld. Starting in September,
Sage will be spending ten months in
Tokyo, Japan, on a Fulbright scholar-
ship. As a Fulbright Fellow, he will be
conducting research on Japanese
identity in post-WWII education and
music. Although Sage will miss the
idyllic Hoosier community, he has
enjoyed for the past four years, he is
excited to live in a metropolis like
Tokyo. Before moving, Sage will be
spending this summer as head
counselor for the IU Piano Academy.
He also is serving his last year as the
Director of the Seminar Division for
Komatsu Summer School, where
Japanese high school students
participate in a liberal-arts style
summer camp.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 24
CLASS NOTES
CLASS OF 2020
Adebowale
(“Ade”)
Adelekan
Adebowale (“Ade”) Adelekan is
pursuing research with Professor
Haixu Tang over the summer, using
machine learning techniques for the
prediction of tandem mass spectra
from given peptide sequences. During
the fall semester, Ade will work with
Professor Martin Swany on strategies
for eective data processing and
low-latency networking. Ade is also
part of the supercomputing team that
will represent Indiana University at
the Super Computing Conference
(SC23) in Denver later this year.
Joelle
Jackson
Joelle Jackson is a rising senior
majoring in anthropology and Folklore
and Ethnomusicology with an individ-
ualized minor in Social Science
Research Methods. In the fall, she
studied at the University of Kent in
England, and she also participated in
an anthropological eld school in
Oaxaca, Mexico in May. In the spring
semester, she served as a democracy
reform organizer with the Workers
Circle. She also successfully
defended her honors thesis in anthro-
pology. This summer, she is continu-
ing her work as an undergraduate
researcher with Traditional Arts
Indiana and will be traveling to Ireland
to undertake archival research at the
National Folklore Collection.
Madelyn
Mustaine
Madelyn Mustaine completed her
undergraduate thesis on the eects
of state policies allowing Medicaid
payment in mental health treatment
facilities. This topic was a personal
passion for Madelyn, as it happened
to be the subject of her Wells Scholar-
ship essay in 2019! Madelyn spent
the spring 2023 semester studying
abroad at the Australian National
University interning with the Australian
Capital Territory Department of
Health. While in Australia, Madelyn
completed a research project on social
capital in government health promo-
tion grant programs. Upon returning
to Bloomington this fall, Madelyn will
begin her accelerated master’s
program in public aairs through the
O’Neill School. She is proud to have
been selected for the Washington,
D.C. Accelerator Program, where she
will be interning in the nation’s capital
during her nal year of graduate
school. Madelyn is looking forward to
continuing to pursue her passion for
improving health policy!
Savannah
Price
Before her nal year in Bloomington
(sadly!), Savannah Price is enjoying a
busy summer: working as a research
assistant for Dr. Sanders in the
Gender Studies department, attend-
ing three weddings (including her
sister’s!), taking a summer class, and
working on promotion for her book
Retro Crochet Style, which will be
published on September 5th. In the
photo, you see her modeling one of
her creations.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 25
CLASS NOTES
Cooper
Sykes
Cooper Sykes is a rising senior
scholar majoring in Environmental and
Sustainability Studies and geography
and minoring in German and Water
Resources Science, Policy, and Man-
agement. This past school year
aorded him the wonderful opportu-
nity to study abroad in Vienna, Austria,
thanks to the incredible support of the
Wells Scholars Program. During the
summer, Cooper is working for the
City of New Albany, Indiana, as a part
of the Resilience Cohort in the McKin-
ney Climate Fellows program. He will
be engaging with the New Albany
community to support the city’s
eorts toward the completion of a
Climate Vulnerability Assessment and
Climate Resilience Plan.
CLASS OF 2021
minor, she is particularly grateful for
the opportunity to have traveled
abroad with fellow Wells Scholars to
Berlin in the past year. Currently, she
is working as a McKinney Climate
Fellow at the Environmental Resil-
ience Institute and Indiana Resilience
Funding Hub, where she is providing
technical grant writing assistance to
rural and historically disadvantaged
communities that require funding for
sustainability projects.
Ana
Lim
Ana Lim is a rising junior Social Work
major. As an International Studies
Jordan
Pace
Jordan Pace has spent this year
focusing on her biology studies while
also expanding her horizons by
participating in a service club, trying
out new hobbies like crocheting, and
reading lots of books. This summer
she is living at home in Columbus,
Ohio and interning at the Columbus
Zoo while also taking online classes.
She looks forward to returning to
Bloomington for her junior year.
Anastasia
Spahr
Anastasia Spahr is a rising junior
double-majoring in English (with a
creative writing concentration) and
French. In the fall, she was inducted
into the Pi Delta Phi French National
Honor Society, and in April, she
received the Albert and Agnes Kuer-
steiner Memorial Prize for her accom-
plishments in her French courses.
This past school year, she served as
the Vice President of the book club
Bookmarked at IU, the Poetry Editor
of the Publishing and Editing Club,
and the Secretary of Rotaract at IU.
In March, she immensely enjoyed
traveling to Berlin with her fellow
Wells Scholars. She also spent two
wonderful weeks in Paris at the end of
May as part of the Hutton Honors
course, “Reading the City: Parisian
Spaces.” This July, she looks forward
to traveling with her family to New-
foundland, Canada.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 26
CLASS NOTES
Christian
Courage
Barda
CLASS OF 2022
Christian Courage Barda just
nished his Freshman year, pursuing
a BM in Composition as well as a
BSOF in Historical Performance-Voice
and Nonprot Management and
Leadership. During his rst year,
Courage received second prize in the
NOTUS Composition Contest for his
composition “so much depends”
(which you can watch on YouTube).
He also placed second in the Jacobs
and Kelley schools’ Innovation
Competition for “TUTTI: The Disabil-
ity and Arts Advocacy Project,” which
he plans to begin in the new aca-
demic year. This summer, he went to
Newport Beach, California, to witness
his composition “This One Was One”
(which uses text from Gertrude
Stein’s 1912 poem “Picasso”) per-
formed by the Choral Arts Initiative.
He had a marvelous time in Berlin
with his Wells classmates and is
excited to meet the incoming class of
Wells Scholars!
Laila Morris is a Sophomore Wells
Scholar from Chicago, Illinois, dou-
ble-majoring in International Studies
and Middle Eastern Languages and
Cultures. She is a part of the Arabic
Flagship Program, a Peer Mentor for
the Hamilton Lugar School of Global
and International Studies Living
Learning Center (HLSGISLLC), and a
Student Ambassador for the Hamil-
ton Lugar School. She aims to use
her passion for language to take her
on a journey to discover dierent
parts of the world and use her
knowledge to help others.
Laila
Morris
Sophia
Nguyen
After the Wells Scholars freshman trip
to Berlin, Sophia Nguyen is staying in
Bloomington this summer, using this
semester to take Japanese classes
with the IU Language Workshop as well
as to intern with the IU English Depart-
ment’s Victorian Studies journal.
Jake
Stevenson
Jake Stevenson is a rising Sopho-
more student at IU. This Summer,
Jake spent a week between Montreal
and Quebec City in Canada where he
was able to practice and hone his
understanding of the French language
as well as of Quebecois history and
culture. He found this experience to
be both highly enjoyable and enrich-
ing and believes that it will serve him
well for future studies abroad in the
Francophone world.
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 27
NOTES
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 28
NOTES
WELLS SCHOLARS PROGRAM NEWSLETTER 29
Indiana University Bloomington
Wells Scholars Program
Harlos House
1331 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47408
Learn more at
www.wellsscholars.indiana.edu
