Present Reality—Before the Airport On the morning of August 23, 2023, a strange alarm song kept resonating in the room. It was weird waking up to an unfamiliar alarm. All of a sudden, I remembered installing a new theme on my phone–the new theme had its own alarm sound. My usual alarm is the classic…
Biopiracy and The Gene Rush: How Pharmaceutical Companies are Colonizing Plant Knowledge
In 1977, my grandfather ran out the door of his South African home in pursuit of my then 6-year-old fathers cries. The scene he entered upon was a strange one: My father, with snot and tears mixing on his face, sat plump and huddled in the shade of the garage door. In the center of…
Resource Guide for First-Year Student Athletes
Balancing academics and athletics at Amherst can be challenging, especially for first-year student-athletes adjusting to college life. This guide is here to connect you with the support, tools, and resources you need to succeed both in the classroom and in your sport….
Belong in STEM: A Guide to Research and Beyond
Research at Amherst can be truly transformative — opening doors to new ideas, skills, and communities. But finding your way into it isn’t always obvious, especially for first-year and underrepresented students. Even with all the incredible resources here, it’s easy to feel unsure or left out because of hidden norms, unfamiliar processes, or lack of…
Asynchronous Video Recordings for Enhanced Student Learning
By: Fatima Danazumi, Ethan Ohm, and Richard Noh Our idea All Amherst students have at some point struggled to get help when they’re confused about something in class. Sometimes they’re too busy, too shy, or even sick and can’t make it to office hours. Even when students do have time, they may hesitate to attend…
EMT Certification Class at Amherst College
The Problem: I am trying to solve the issue that EMT-B Certification is unfairly gated behind a multitude of hurdles that the student has to jump through. At most of the universities that offer a certification class (which is only about 700 in the US, and 500 of those are two year institutions), the classes…
Powerful Personal Poetry
Abdullahi Mire Today I received a sort of wake-up call about my situation.Live time or dead time.Wastefulness or wakefulness. Things to start:PrayerReading QuranReading more oftenDrinking water more frequently, exercising, eating healthier.Planning for the futureChecking in with yourself constantlyHaving faith and belief in the positive outcomeCombating ignorance and lazinessMeditationMaintain good hygiene Things to quit:Minimize screen timeAny…
A story about family
Manuel Badena I “I got a lot from my parents. My eyes. My eyebrows. My hair, my teeth, even my toes. I also inherited their lack of magic. Unfortunately, I live in a magic world. There’s magic in jobs, magic in clothes, magic that cures people, magic that makes machines move, magic that makes others…
Jacqueline du Pré and Multiple Sclerosis
By Aranne Jung Hailed as one of the greatest classical recordings of all time, Jacqueline du Pré’s rendition of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with Sir John Baribirolli and the London Symphony orchestra has enamored classical music fans for over 50 years (“The 10 greatest classical music recordings,” 2014). A recording of Jacqueline…
Improving Student-Professor Communication Through Short-Term Learning Reflections and Midterm Feedback
HSTEM 2025 Project by Juli Keiper The goal of this HSTEM project is to examine the benefits of implementing more direct lines of communication between students and professors in the form of short-term learning reflections and mid-semester reflections. Short-term learning reflections, such as weekly reflections or one-minute sheets, can help students reflect on their own learning and can…