Q&A with a Geology Major

Dede in puffer jacket, kissing a stuffed bison, with snowy mountains in background
By Siena Swift ’23 This week I interviewed Bert & Rocky’s-loving Dede Chapline ‘23, who is one half of the iconic snake mom, OKC superstars duo with last week’s interviewee Lilly Haave (see “Q&A with a Transfer Student” for further explanation). This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.  Q: Can you please introduce yourself? A: My name i...
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What Is Research Anyway? (Don’t worry, I had no idea either)

group of 9 students smiling for selfie shot outside
By Youssef El Mosalami ‘24 After a grueling online semester full of  multiple spontaneous FaceTime calls, outings in NYC with other Pomona students who lived in the area, and turning off my camera during class to nom down on some lunch (don’t tell my professors), I definitely missed being able to give friends hugs when I saw them or just being in the physical presence of oth...
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4+7 Things I Realized About Pomona as a Sophomore

image of psych class on zoom
By Chris Meng ’23 It’s hard to believe that I am starting my second semester of my sophomore year. At the end of May, I will be halfway done with college, and I will have somehow reached the age of 21. Over my nearly two-month winter break, I spent a lot of time with family and friends (mostly virtually), having conversations with them and myself that gave me a chance to ref...
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Taking Philosophy to the Public

screen grab of Kevin with graphics
By Kevin Hua ‘23 About two years ago I first encountered philosophy in an untraditional fashion over the Internet–it all began when a schoolmate of mine urged me to check out “a cool online philosophy course on death.” My high school in China did not have philosophy in its curriculum, but among the general public and high school students, the subject was considered lofty ...
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Using Machine Learning in Patient Diagnoses

By Ebenezer Mensah ‘23 When I was six years old, I remember walking with my father to the doctor’s office, which was in a clinic two towns from where we lived. When we reached the Afari clinic, the only nurse on duty recorded my vital symptoms, including my temperature, pulse, and blood pressure, and told us to wait for our turn. I was the 30th person in line to meet the...
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Summer Research: Finding Funding and Free Meals

lab lunch
By Calder Hollond ‘21 One of the most daunting aspects of a typical school year at Pomona can be weaving a summer internship search into an already busy schedule of classes, on-campus jobs, studying, and other extracurriculars. Many students at Pomona get some sort of summer internship, whether it’s part-time or full-time, at home or in a different city, paid or unpaid. Thes...
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Combining Queer Theory and Pipetting Bacterial Cultures

My summer internship with Planned Parenthood Great Plains, working in the reproductive justice sector
By Calder Hollond ‘21 When I came to Pomona, I thought I was going to be an English major. That’s what I had told all my family and friends before I left home, what I told all my new friends at Pomona during the initial “What are you planning on majoring in?” small talk, and what I made sure to enroll in during course registration. What I hadn’t planned on was that after the...
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An Undergraduate Fellowship Everyone Should Know About

By Marie Tano ‘20 The greatest thing about Pomona is the abundance of programs, fellowships and internships at your disposal. There is so much opportunity. The tricky thing is locating them, finding time to apply and actually being accepted. One fellowship that I find is generally unknown and unpopular to students is the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. As a current sch...
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Looking for Paradise and Finding Peanuts

Paul Kiefer in Morocco
By Paul Kiefer ’20 In a few important ways, Morocco did not feel especially foreign to me. It is a Muslim country, and I am a Muslim. It is largely an Arabic-speaking country, and I speak enough Arabic to navigate comfortably. Moroccan cities are dense, but I have spent enough time living in college dorms to feel comfortable in close quarters. I went to Morocco expecting to ...
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My First Summer As a Lab Assistant

looking at slide in chem lab
By Myles Ashitey ‘22 My father would constantly drone on about my “untapped potential.” You could imagine his astonishment to discover that I was granted the opportunity to intern through a program called STEMPrep after my first year of high school. The program seeks out high-achieving, minority students with STEM interests and grants them laboratory experience by pairing...
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