Three Keene State College students, an eighth grader from Monadnock Regional High School, and a storyteller from Shelburne Falls, Mass., received awards at the 12th Annual Hildebrandt Holocaust Studies Awards Program on Monday, April 20.

Courtesy photo; 2009 Hildebrandt Award winners (left to right): Hannah Bush, David Arfa, and Meagan Blais.

Hannah Bush, eighth grader at Monadnock Regional Middle School, received the $300 Community School Award for her original song, “Be a Witness.”

David Arfa, from Shelburne Falls, Mass., received the $300 Community Member Award for his storytelling entry, “The Jar of Tears,” based on the life of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapiro, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Meagan Blais, a KSC Junior enrolled in Keene State’s new Holocaust and Genocide Studies major, received a $500 award for her personal essay, “Inheriting the Holocaust.”

KSC students Jessica Howard and Becky Midler shared a $500 award for “Unearthed Sense,” an original dance that they choreographed and performed.

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The most special people graduate from KSC!

Well over 900 students will graduate from KSC this centennial year. The ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. on Fiske Quad, Saturday, May 9, so come on over and cheer these new graduates on in the next phase of their adventure. On Friday, May 8, Spring Honors Convocation will be held from 4-6 p.m., in the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond to recognize those students who have excelled in scholarship and leadership. Good energy and good wishes to them all!

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Dr. Lauret Savoy

Have you attended Grayson Lectures in the past? This year, Dr. Lauret Savoy, professor of Geology and Environmental Studies at Mount Holyoke College, will present “Alien Land Ethic: The Distance Between,” on Monday, April 27, at 6 p.m. in the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery Conference Room. Dr. Savoy is one of eight women scientists nationwide featured on the National Science Foundation’s award-winning CD-ROM, Telling Our Stories: Women in Science. She will discuss how the intertwinings of human history and geologic-natural history contribute to stories we tell of land’s origin and history, and to stories we tell of ourselves in the land and of relational identity.

Come back to campus on the 27th and let us know what you thought of the lecture. If you’ve attended others in the Grayson series, tell us about your favorite. We’d love to hear.

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Were you on campus, or near campus, or even on Rt. 9 between Keene and Concord on Weds., April 15th? If so, you probably saw something of the big splash we made as just part of our Centennial celebration. Early that morning in Concord, NH, Gov. Lynch signed a special KSC Centennial proclamation and handed it off to the first in a long line of relay runners and walkers who hand carried the document all the way back to campus for a big birthday celebration that included fireworks and a giant (and I mean giant) cake!

If you were driving from Keene to Concord during the day, you might have seen the relay runners along Rt. 9. Maybe you even showed up on campus that evening and got a piece of the delicious cake and thrilled to the fireworks and all the enthusiasm. Even if you were just somewhere near campus, you probably saw the fireworks and heard the cheers.

Our intrepid Lucy Webb, who spent the entire day manning Centennial Command Central, kept a rolling blog going that tracked the doings each step of the way. Visit it to see the day’s events and some of the great photos and video coverage (including the fireworks!), and let us know what you think.

Photo by Chris Justice; Chris Feiker and his wife, Cindy.

Members of the Keene and campus communities gathered in front of Parker Hall on April 22 to honor Frederick “Chris” Feiker with the dedication of the garden in front of Parker Hall. Chris was Keene State’s gardener from 1976–2004, and created many wonderful gardens on campus. Friends and colleagues shared memories and paid tribute his legacy, beauty that renews itself each year.

Do you remember Chris? Use the “Comments” link below to share your special memories of this gentle man.

The Keene State College Chamber Orchestra, conducted by KSC artist-in-residence Don Baldini, will perform A Celebration of American Composers on Friday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Redfern Arts Center.

You’ll hear Aaron Copeland’s film score for Our Town, and his “Fanfare for the Common Man,” plus John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes,” Leroy Anderson’s “The Syncopated Clock,” Richard Rogers’ “Victory at Sea,” Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, and Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” from the opera A Little Night Music.

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Conductor Don Baldini will lead the Keene State College Jazz Ensemble in some of his favorite tunes on Wednesday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Redfern Arts Center.

Among those favorites will be the Gershwins’ “Strike Up the Band,” Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes,” Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park,” and “La Fiesta” by Chick Corea. You’ll also hear tunes from such greats as Fats Waller, Gus Kahn, Chuck Mangione, and Neil Hefti.

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Chemistry student Elizabeth A. Neuhardt has won a New Hampshire EPSCoR Student Travel Award of $500 to present the results of some of her recent research at the American Chemical Society National Meeting (August 16–20, 2009). These awards are given to support undergraduate student research in the physical sciences, mathematics, computing science, and engineering and to encourage these students to present at a national meeting or conference.

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