Hendrix Alumni Blogazine

Hendrix attracts largest incoming class in its history
Enrollment climbs above 1,300

By JAMIE FOTIOO
Enrollment Communications Manager

Hendrix College was full of energy and excitement as it welcomed a record-breaking 447 new students to its campus this August.

“You are making history today, as you are the largest class to enroll at Hendrix in the history of the College,” Karen Foust, vice president for enrollment, said during the opening convocation for new students on Aug. 19. “The Hendrix community is excited to welcome you to this wonderful place that you will call home for the next four years.”

The class of 2012, consisting of 433 first-year students and 14 transfer students, also represents one of the most geographically diverse classes to join the Hendrix community. Making the relatively short drive to Conway on Move-In Day were 178 Arkansas students. The rest of their new classmates traveled farther distances from 32 different states—from Maine to Washington—and eight countries, including Bangladesh, China, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Rwanda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. In all, 60 percent of Hendrix’s new students arrived from places other than Arkansas.

Hendrix’s newest class brought with it an outstanding academic profile. More than 75 percent of new students scored 26 or higher on the ACT, with more than a third scoring 30 or higher. In addition to Hendrix, members of the new class were accepted to other nationally ranked institutions such as Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.; Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.; Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa; Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.; and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

When choosing among colleges and universities each with an equally impressive list of academic and post-graduate statistics, many students selected Hendrix based on factors unique to the College.

“I spent a lot of time debating between Swarthmore College [in Swarthmore, Pa.], Johns Hopkins University [in Baltimore], University of Chicago and Millsaps College [in Jackson, Miss.], each a renowned institution and full of qualified students and teachers,” said Sarah Thompson, a freshman from Picayune, Miss. “In the end, I found a spirit and honest excitement on the Hendrix campus that couldn’t be encapsulated by ACT/SAT scores or graduate-school acceptance rates. Teachers and students were sincerely friendly, the opportunities available through the Odyssey program floored me, and the financial aid was phenomenal.”

In high school, Thompson founded Girls Excelling in Mathematics and Science (G.E.M.S.), a program that engages fifth- and sixth-grade girls in monthly experiments that aim to prevent the erosion of interest in mathematics and science that girls often experience during this transitional period in their lives. Currently trying to organize a G.E.M.S. chapter in Conway, she ultimately hopes to secure Odyssey funding to help establish chapters throughout Arkansas and her home state of Mississippi.

Expanding G.E.M.S. is only one of numerous projects Thompson plans to complete during her Hendrix Odyssey. A pre-med student who’s interested in studying chemical physics and bioethics, she also aspires to study abroad at the Regenerative Medicine Institute and the Centre of Bioethical Research and Analysis at the National University of Ireland in Galway.

“It is rare to find a college that not only encourages participation, but provides enormous financial support for these kinds of [Odyssey] experiences,” Thompson said. “And the opportunities available aren’t simply limited to a handful of prescribed programs—any passion can be explored and expanded.”

Freshman Adam Stewart of San Diego, Calif., was also impressed by Hendrix’s Odyssey program.

“The Odyssey program was one of the biggest factors that led me to choose Hendrix,” he said. “It provides so many opportunities for cultural immersion and academic growth, and Hendrix makes it unbelievably easy to participate in these opportunities.”

Interested in African aid and awareness activities, Stewart led the Invisible Children club at his high school. Invisible Children is a San Diego-based non-profit organization with the mission to improve the quality of life for the war-affected children of Uganda by providing access to quality education, enhanced learning environments, and innovative economic opportunities for the African community.

Stewart, who plans to create his own African Development major, intends to further pursue his passions through the Odyssey program. He hopes to study abroad at the University of Ghana, conducting in-field research on rural development, and is currently working on obtaining a summer internship at Justice Africa in London. A talented double bass player, Stewart is also already an active member of the Hendrix Chamber Orchestra and Hendrix Quartet.

“It amazes me that I have the ability to design my own major, study abroad in Africa, travel with the Hendrix Orchestra, and conduct my own research, all at the undergraduate level,” he said. “I cannot imagine doing all of this at any other college.”

The class of 2012 joins three returning classes to create the largest enrollment in the College’s history, with 1,342 undergraduate students enrolled.

Hendrix College junior Kelly Zalocusky was named a Goldwater Scholar by the Board of Trustees of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Zalocusky, a biology and psychology double-major at Hendrix, was selected from a field of more than 1,100 mathematics, science and engineering students nominated from throughout the country. In the program’s 20-year history, Hendrix has had 19 Scholars.    

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry M. Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate. The purpose of the Foundation is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields.

321 scholarships were awarded to undergraduate sophomores and juniors for the 2008-2009 academic year. Zalocusky was one of four in Arkansas to receive the award – and the only private college student to be named a Goldwater Scholar.

Hendrix students Adam Jacobs, Bethany Edwards and Luke Erickson, also juniors, received Honorable Mention as Goldwater Scholars.

A photographic journey through German concentration camps, an internship with a “Bollywood” movie production company in India, a mission to equip Mexican orphanages with computers, and the continued development of the “Hendrix Community Garden” in Conway – Hendrix College awarded grants for 55 such engaged-learning experiences to its students and faculty in April, totaling more than $197,000 through the college’s Odyssey Program.

The grant awards were the largest awarded in Odyssey Program’s thee-year history. In total, Hendrix has awarded more than $1 million to support student and faculty projects since the Odyssey Program was launched in 2005.

The Hendrix Odyssey Program requires Hendrix students to complete three Odyssey experiences during their undergraduate career in areas selected from six categories: Artistic creativity, global awareness, professional and leadership development, service to the world, undergraduate research and special projects. Students and faculty define what course of study they’d like to experience, and award decisions are ultimately made by the college’s Committee on Experiential Learning.

This summer, Hendrix students Lauren Bartshe and Julie Champlin will travel to Germany and Poland to visit concentration camps primarily used to house and kill prisoners during World War II. At each site, they will record the camp’s current state and eventually pair each image with writings by Holocaust survivors, American soldiers and prison guards. The images and writings will be used in a book they will design and produce.

Hendrix student Aditya Oza will travel to India where he will experience the country’s filmmaking industry behind the scenes as an assistant to the production crew for a movie scheduled to begin filming in June. The popular film industry based in Mumbai, India – often referred to as “Bollywood” – produces approximately 40 percent more films each year than its American counterpart and grosses more than $100 million a year at the U.S. box office alone.

Closer to home, Hendrix students Ben Samuelson, James Depper and Emily Nichols will continue the development of the Hendrix Community Garden, a produce garden adjacent to campus that was originally created as an Odyssey project in 2005. The garden has seen several harvests of significant amounts of produce, and the new phase will create additional plots and enrich soil with mulch and fertilizer.

“Our society is structured in a way that demands instant gratification, but gardening is a patient activity in which steady working and waiting make results more deeply satisfying,” Samuelson said.

In all, students will travel to numerous countries around the globe this summer -- from Little Rock to Kansas to Australia to the Republic of Georgia.

For more information about this summer’s Odyssey Projects and other projects funded since 2005, visit www.hendrix.edu/Odyssey.

A Hendrix student is one of two recipients of a prestigious graduate fellowship designed to promote doctoral study in the humanities by talented graduates of small and mid-sized private liberal arts colleges.

Jennifer Tate ’08, an English major from Germantown, Tenn., will receive up to $50,000 to fund a year of graduate study as an American Graduate Fellow. To receive the grant, she must be admitted to one of 23 prestigious institutions in the United States, Great Britain or Ireland. The grant is renewable for a second year.

She plans to earn a Ph.D. in English Literature at Washington University in St. Louis.

In addition to her English studies at Hendrix, Jennifer pursued her interest in music and singing. She was among the members of the Hendrix College Choir who performed at Carnegie Hall in May 2007.

Other institutions whose students were among the 12 finalists for the fellowships are Wellesley, Kenyon, Furman and the University of Richmond.

The award is sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges, an association of independent colleges and universities (including Hendrix) working together to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance private higher education’s contributions to society.

The American Graduate Fellowships are funded by a generous grant from the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Katie Pratt ’08, a graduating senior from Shreveport, La., has been award a Walker Odyssey Fellowship on recommendation of the Honors Committee at Hendrix College. She will receive a grant of $12,500 to fund out-of-country study trip to explore her topic: “Women's Relationship to Food:  Globalization and Changing Eating Habits: China, Fiji, Argentina, Italy.”

The Walker Odyssey Fellowships were established in 2006 to encourage Hendrix students to apply for Watson Fellowships, a national award that funds a year of study outside the United States. Hendrix is the only college in Arkansas that is eligible to nominate its students to be Watson Fellows. Hendrix students who apply for Watson grants but are not successful become eligible for Walker Odyssey Fellowships to fund their proposed projects on a limited basis.

Walker Fellows spend a portion of the year after they graduate on their journeys under guidelines and expectations similar to those of Watson Fellows.  When they return, Walker Fellows are invited to campus to present the results of their projects.