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create art, transforming audience perspectives on climate change. Where did you grow up, and why did you choose PLU for undergraduate studies? Ruggeri: I grew up in South Florida and wanted to go out of state for college, specifically a liberal arts college offering a theater program with a directing focus. I hoped to find a smaller community and had summer camp friends who had gone to PLU. And PLU gave me a good scholarship! Knapp: I grew up in Bellingham. I loved growing up there but wanted to

environmental studies and theatre, and the duo drew on their passions to create art, transforming audience perspectives on climate change. Where did you grow up, and why did you choose PLU for undergraduate studies? Ruggeri: I grew up in South Florida and wanted to go out of state for college, specifically a liberal arts college offering a theater program with a directing focus. I hoped to find a smaller community and had summer camp friends who had gone to PLU. And PLU gave me a good scholarship! Knapp: I

south of Paris, creeping its way ahead of the Nazi advance in 1939, and sharing the road with refugees, horse-drawn carts and embassy cars. Yet the ambulance occupant was not an injured soldier heading to a hospital. The passenger was smiling and wrapped in velvet. Da Vinci’s the Mona Lisa was the vehicle’s only occupant, aside from the curator assigned to protect the masterpiece for the duration of the upcoming war. When the ambulance was opened at a country villa, the curator had fainted from lack

to Namibia as a Fulbright-Hays scholar, returning to the country in 2011-13 as a co-leader in J-Term comparative education courses. “I knew my first trip to Namibia transformed me,” she said. “I still am unable to totally articulate the transformation, but I know I was a different person when I returned.  Each time I journey to Namibia I become increasingly comfortable in a culture that is so different from what I know or knew.” Namibia was under South African rule, and apartheid laws, until just

a safe and inviting place to kick back, relax and learn skills that will not only help them excel at school, but also in life. The Parkland Literacy Center (PLC), 1112 124th St. South, opened last March in a house next to Keithley Middle School. There, PLU faculty and students serve the community through literacy-training and academic-support programs. Students visit with a variety of goals — some are working on improving skills, and others are in programs like Advanced Placement (AP) and

create art, transforming audience perspectives on climate change. Where did you grow up, and why did you choose PLU for undergraduate studies? Ruggeri: I grew up in South Florida and wanted to go out of state for college, specifically a liberal arts college offering a theater program with a directing focus. I hoped to find a smaller community and had summer camp friends who had gone to PLU. And PLU gave me a good scholarship! Knapp: I grew up in Bellingham. I loved growing up there but wanted to

McCRACKEN Hometown: Spanaway, Wash. Major: Global Studies & Anthropology. Graduation date: May 2014. Peace-building experience: McCracken went to Northern Ireland with Feller and Political Science Professor Ann Kelleher for a J-Term course on peace-building and dialogue in 2012. From there, McCracken followed a path of peace, studying social and political transformation in Durban, South Africa; representing PLU as one of two Peace Scholars at the international school in Oslo, Norway; joining PLU’s award

there.” What about the future of ELSK the Studio? “ELSK the Studio may be growing in the future. But I didn’t start this business to make money. I really just wanted to try a creative venture that would express my values about sustainability and friendship. Clothing design is one way to do that, but there are also other ways, including working on social innovation projects in the South Sound area and beyond.” “At PLU, I learned that entrepreneurship begins with critical thinking—learning about a

thoughtful individual, but I was also challenged to leave my comfort zone. In doing so I became a sojourner my junior year and lived in South Africa for 11 months, an experience that opened up my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed. Additionally, PLU encouraged me to explore my personal values, faith and views; which has resulted in strengthening my understanding of what I hold to be true. My PLU experience has provided me with opportunities I didn’t know I was seeking, a support network that has

horror that was going on in lower Manhattan that day,” Senn told us. “Going into work I had a spring in my step, couldn’t wait to get there.” Everything changed at 8:45 a.m. As soon as he arrived on scene, he witnessed the tail end of the second plane just before it hit the south tower. Looking up at the towers, he said he could see people in the windows one hundred floors up. They started jumping. “It was an excess of 100 degrees up there,” Senn said. “They knew this was it. There was nothing we