Also In This Edition

An unexpected downpour did not stop students from gathering to cheer on members of the newest class as they sing traditional Kenyon songs.

Kenyon students express themselves through beloved possessions including water bottles and laptops.

Middle Path filled with students going to and from classes — pausing on the way to sit and read — on the first day of the fall semester.

A late-night event at the Gund Gallery releases a surge of student energy into campus.

Jasmine Wilson ’19 of Cleveland seeks advice from Professor of History Glenn McNair.

Amy Shirer ’18 of Columbus visits the Horn Gallery to set up an exhibit for her “Late Gothic Art in Europe” class.

Jonathan Urrea-Espinoza ’19 of Mesa, Arizona, meets up with friends on the Science Quad.

Nate Winer ’19 of Chicago shares a Middle Path bench and a laugh with his friends.

Kenyon in Quotes

“The conundrum of a writer’s life, particularly that of a poet, is learning to embody a paradox. One has to be fierce and tender at the same time, loud and quiet, brash and introspective.” — Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rita Dove, in her keynote address at the Kenyon Review Literary Festival.

In the Details

245
Exhibits, concerts, film screenings, lectures, performances and readings are hosted at Kenyon in an average year.

1
Kenyon student was nominated for an Academy Award for her work on the short documentary “Period. End of Sentence,” which was screened at the Gund Gallery.

8,000,000
Downloads a month of Radiolab, a Peabody Award-winning podcast created by Jad Abumrad, who spoke to Kenyon students about storytelling.

A Probing Podcast

“What’s up, nerds?” That’s how biology major Sarah Jean McPeek ’19 introduces each episode of her new podcast, “Kenyon Kernel.” On a quest to uncover what she calls “the hidden world of student-driven research,” McPeek interviews classmates immersed in “mind-boggling” projects on everything from moss reproduction to theoretical quantum physics. She hasn’t lined up any sponsors yet, but we hear that Squarespace might be interested.

When zombies attack

While “The Walking Dead” isn’t ready to move production to Gambier, zombies were a frequent topic of discussion in one Kenyon course. In “Health Service and Biomedical Analysis,” Professor of Biology Joan Slonczewski and her students studied a fictional outbreak of zombie virus at Kenyon. Slonczewski sent email updates on the outbreak to the campus community, including general wellness suggestions and emergency-preparedness tips. The epidemic was contained when infected zombies were invited to Weaver Cottage for quarantine and therapy measures that included pizza and brownies.