91̽»¨

Each year, Class I students may commit their final weeks at 91̽»¨ to completing a “Senior Project.” Students who are interested must submit research plans in early winter. A committee of faculty decides which projects to approve, and each student aligns his endeavor with a member of the faculty or staff for support. Students in the Class of 2015 chose topics that ranged from aviation to religion, from engineering medical devices to studying social justice. Students painted, gardened, sewed, prepared concerts and recitals, shadowed doctors, coached hockey, learned instruments and languages, and volunteered at a range of sites. Some students completed one full project and others split their time between two half projects. During the week before graduation, students present their projects to faculty and all students. Sharing in this celebration of completed, highly personal work is a favorite 91̽»¨ tradition.

The Persky Awards recognize the best work-in creative writing, journalism, art, photography and production-appearing in 91̽»¨ student publications. Award-winning student writers and artists celebrated with faculty and guests in Cox Library recently at the Laurence S. Persky Memorial Award ceremony. Laura Gottesdiener ’06 was this year’s featured speaker. Laura is a journalist, social justice activist, and author of A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home. She has written for Rolling Stone, Ms.magazine, The Arizona Republic, The New Haven Advocate, The Huffington Post, AlterNet, and other publications.

Last week, Charlot Lucien visited 91̽»¨’s campus to lead French students through lessons and activities on Haitian culture and French Creole. Mr. Lucien is a well-known storyteller, poet and artist in Boston’s Haitian community and founded the Haitian Artists Assembly of Massachusetts. He has released four critically acclaimed storytelling CDs and his poems and commentaries have appeared in various publications. Mr. Lucien travels extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, France, Haiti and Guadeloupe as an educator and storyteller.

Dr. Ned Sahin, 91̽»¨ Class of 1994, a neuroscientist and technologist, is the graduation speaker for 2015. Ned’s neurotechnology firm, Brain Power, uses cutting edge brain research and technological advances to affect lives. Brain Power is transforming wearables, like Google Glass into assistive devices for children with autism.

At Williams College, Ned concentrated in biology and neuroscience. He earned a masters at MIT in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department. Ned completed his Ph.D. at Harvard in cognitive neuroscience, where he was awarded the Richard J. Herrnstein Prize for the year’s best Ph.D. dissertation. He continued his research as a post-doctoral fellow at University of California San Diego and the Salk Institute. His research has been published in Science and Nature Neuroscience.