Diving into research 

The internship offered Moya a comprehensive and immersive experience in marine biology. She spent her time doing fieldwork, including boat surveys for population monitoring, acoustic monitoring throughout the Sarasota Bay, fishing to study dolphin distribution and their prey, and gaining skills in photo identification. These hands-on experiences offered a realistic glimpse into the life of a marine biologist. 

“To thrive in this environment, it’s essential to have a growth mindset—being open to change, willing to explore new interests, and understanding that your passions may evolve,” Moya said. “You might discover that something you expected to love isn’t quite the right fit or unexpectedly fall in love with a new area of study.” 

The SDRP challenges students to grow as scientists through real-world research and offers ongoing opportunities to volunteer in diverse projects—from necropsies and offshore acoustic receiver deployments to sea turtle hatchling releases and collaborating with shark researchers. 

“At SDRP, you’re encouraged to be curious, ask questions, read scientific literature, and learn from both successes and mistakes,” Moya said. “Ultimately, the experience is what you make of it—so be a sponge, soak up every opportunity, and allow yourself to grow both personally and professionally.”

Learning beyond the science

Being a scientist means more than just doing science: it requires confidence, courage, resilience, and most importantly, a willingness to face the unknown and embrace failure as part of the journey. These are the traits that have sustained SDRP’s legacy for 55 years and enabled it to produce pioneering research for marine mammals. 

By continuing to take bold steps driven by curiosity and ambition, SDRP has helped lay the foundation for marine mammal conservation and inspired generations of scientists to follow. 

In analyzing the behavior and health of small cetaceans, Moya noted that when dolphins are together, they’re not called pods; they’re called communities.

“The bottlenose dolphins are just like us—living creatures who are curious, trying to survive, and remarkably intelligent with developed communication skills that help expand their complex social structures,” said Moya. “Bottlenose dolphins are self-aware and able to recognize one another through signature whistles.” 

Dolphins serve as vital indicators of the health of the world’s oceans. They play a key role in maintaining the balance of marine ecosystems, help control fish populations, help maintain water quality, and keep the food chain in balance. 

“Their sensitivity to environmental changes makes them sort of like our ocean security guards for detecting issues like pollution and disease, or even with incidents of algal blooms like red tide, which occurred in 2021 throughout the Sarasota Bay,” said Moya. “However, when dolphins are in trouble, it can be a serious sign that our oceans may be at risk too.”

Exploring the opportunities

�������ý��Ƶ students are encouraged by faculty and staff to take on internships to expand their understanding, build relationships, and strengthen their overall career path. 

“‘Ride my wave’—that’s something my mom always tells me, and it’s become a grounding mantra throughout my college journey,” Moya said. “It reminds me to stay present and embrace each moment, whether it’s challenging or joyful. The tough times are temporary, and the good ones pass quickly too—so it’s important to appreciate them while they last.” This perspective has shaped not only how Moya moves through tough moments, but also how she approaches the future. 

“Even when the wave you’re riding knocks you down, you get back on the board and catch the next wave. That mindset is guiding me as I work toward graduate school in marine mammal research while staying open to new opportunities that may come my way.”

Like many children living in or adopted from foster care, Wolf struggled to settle into his new home despite the stability it offered. 

“Justin was just turning 9 years old when I met him,” Ellsworth said. “His childhood had been disrupted, and he had an understandable distrust of me and adults in general.” He dealt with his trauma, in part, Ellsworth said, “by testing the limits and boundaries of his new parents.” 

The trauma of his early childhood left Wolf with behavioral issues—problems that are, sadly, fairly common with kids in the foster care system. 

“My adoptive parents, Ann and Dave, played a huge role in helping me work on myself,” Wolf said. “Having space to just be a kid and explore my creativity helped me improve my behavior and learn how to regulate my emotions better.” 

Wolf began to blossom—and believe—in his parents. 

“It was hard at first to trust and believe that my new parents actually loved me and had my best interest at heart, so I was often defensive in the beginning,” Wolf said. “But my mom was a relentless advocate for me and never gave up on me even when others might have.” 

When Ellsworth moved to Wisconsin for her new position at �������ý��Ƶ, Wolf followed to be closer to his family. 

“I decided to give college another try, and �������ý��Ƶ was an excellent opportunity for me,” Wolf said. “I just really feel at peace when I am making music.”

Wolf graduated from �������ý��Ƶ in 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. He recently got married and moved to a new city to start a leadership job in retail, which he said he enjoys immensely. 

“My adoption gave me a second chance at a normal childhood,” Wolf said. “Being aware of what my life used to be like, what it’s like now, and the alternative route it could have taken has made me extremely grateful for my parents and how the simple act of a parent’s love can completely change your life.”

Reflecting on her hopes for Justin’s future, Ellsworth responded with, “That he will always know he is loved unconditionally.”

To heighten the sonic immersion, Frueh took advantage of Harper Hall’s extensive renovations last winter. He utilized the new surround sound system to project bird call recordings from different directions across the room. At one point, he improvised at the piano in response to them.

“During COVID, my brother [Ben Frueh, a �������ý��Ƶ violin student] and I gave outdoor concerts for our neighbors,” he recalled. “I distinctly remember one time someone telling me they had a much easier time focusing because the performance was in a natural soundscape—the soundscape became part of the pieces that we were performing.”

At �������ý��Ƶ, Frueh found academic footing for these sentiments. A variety of influences proved influential, many found through musicology coursework and an independent study with Sonja Lynn Downing, associate professor of ethnomusicology. The work of acoustic ecologist R. Murray Schafer, bioacoustician Bernie Krause, alongside the deep listening techniques of composer Pauline Oliveros——proved pivotal. 

Frueh originally considered an outdoor concert, but piano-moving logistics proved impractical. Indoors, however, he found new creative possibilities: the chance to design tailored soundscapes for each piece, pairing recorded birdsong with its musical reflection.

“The instruments in Quartet for the End of Time imitate the common nightingale and Eurasian blackbird—European species which we wouldn’t be able to hear live,” he explained. “So, instead I’ve been able to pull recordings of those and play those through the surround sound.”

Several world premieres took this approach even further, each with a unique relationship to birds and place.

Frueh was joined by his brother Ben for Thomas Meinzen’s Headland (2024), written during a residency at Sitka Center for Arts and Ecology on the Oregon coast. It features field recordings from more than 10 birders. 

“Ben and I have worked with Thomas for over five years,” Frueh said, “and this piece really celebrates the birds of that coastline. The field recordings are cued live by the performers, to enter at different points in the piece.”

Headland was also recorded in the spring and will be featured on an environmentally themed EP the Frueh brothers are releasing with Meinzen on Aug. 1.

Another piece, �շɾ��ٳ�����,��by Orson Abram, received its second performance, having been premiered by Frueh at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music over his 2024 spring break.

“F�ǰ� Twitcher, we used a transducer on the piano’s soundboard that amplifies the bird songs through the instrument itself, so the piano becomes the speaker—the birds basically have a voice through it.”

The final two premieres underscored the recital’s global reach: Nickerson Beach by Brad Balliett evoked a Long Island birding site, including video projections in slow-motion. 

Another, Julia Tchira’s Upland Sandpiper, connected Argentina and Wisconsin through the migratory path of a single species. This piece took an activist bent, aiming to draw attention to the conservation issues often faced by different grassland migratory birds. Frueh and Tchira’s collaboration was .

Even older pieces gained new life in this context. Amy Beach’s Hermit Thrush at Eve, which Frueh first performed as a sophomore, returned with immersive recordings of the bird that inspired it.

Frueh explained: “It’s been influential for me to think: what is it like to interact musically with a soundscape?” 

Frueh will explore that question further this summer, performing in the soundSCAPE festival in Blonay, Switzerland. After that he’ll attend Bowling Green State University to pursue further piano studies.

Khor has been teaching literature at �������ý��Ƶ since 2009. Her academic specialty is 20th and 21st century postcolonial and global anglophone literature and her research areas have focused on human rights, humanitarianism, and environmentalism.

“A scholar of global and multicultural literature, your teaching focuses on learning about the world with and alongside literary texts; you establish your classroom as a place where trust is developed to learn together about difficult topics,” Provost and Dean of Faculty Peter Blitstein said of Khor as he presented her with a citation.  

Khor’s book,��Human Rights Discourse in a Global Network, was published by Routledge in 2013. Her work also has been published in Human Rights Quarterly, South Central Review, and Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice.

She has led interdisciplinary projects such as guiding �������ý��Ƶ students in creating and showing documentaries on the intersections of literature and human rights. A member of the English faculty, she also teaches as part of the interdisciplinary ethnic studies program and global studies program.

A native of Penang, Malaysia,��Khor received a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College.

Betsy Schlabach

A member of the history faculty since 2021, Schlabach teaches courses in 20th century American history, African American history, and urban history. 

She is the author of two books,��Along the Streets of Bronzeville: Black Chicago’s Literary Landscapes, published in 2013, and Dream Books and Gamblers: Black Women’s Work in Chicago’s Policy Game, published in 2022. 

Her 2022 book arrived about the same time Schlabach received a travel grant that allowed her to take her research efforts on the road, traveling to the John Hope Franklin Research Center at Duke University, an archive housing more than 1,000 oral history recordings about life in the Jim Crow South.

Schlabach has been a champion of humanities research efforts among faculty at �������ý��Ƶ. 

“Colleagues laud you as exemplifying the teacher-scholar and praise your engagement with the public outside the walls of academe,” Blitstein said.

She has a Ph.D. in American studies from Saint Louis University, a master’s from Lehigh University, and a bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University.

Sigma Colón

In 2024, Colón was named one of 20 Career Enhancement Fellows by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars. Funded by the Mellon Foundation and administered by Citizens & Scholars, the fellowship increases the presence of outstanding junior faculty committed to campus diversity and innovative research in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.

Colón came to �������ý��Ƶ in 2017 via postdoctoral National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fellowships in geography and history, then worked as a visiting assistant professor of environmental and ethnic studies before earning a tenure-track appointment in 2021. She teaches in both ethnic studies and environmental studies, developing courses that address the geopolitics of inequality and linking racial and environmental justice.

The Career Enhancement Fellowship has allowed her to focus attention on research centered on the intersections of water, settler colonialism, race-based nationalism, and immigration, with an emphasis on how they impact climate justice.

“A geographer by training, you have taught more than twenty distinct courses across multiple programs,” Blitstein said. “Faculty and staff colleagues recognize your dedication and creativity as a teacher, as do students, one of whom writes, “Sigma is one of the professors I’ll remember for the rest of my life!” 

Colón holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a master’s degree in history from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University.

Confetti and graduation caps flew as Commencement came to a close on an overcast but gorgeous Sunday morning. Faculty then led the graduates through the �������ý��Ƶ Arch in a recessional that has quickly become a cherished tradition, representing the transition from student to alumnus. The graduates join an alumni community more than 22,000 strong.

“Sitting where you sit at this exact moment, getting a degree from this venerable institution, is not just an accomplishment, it’s not just the fruition of time and effort spent, but it’s also an irreplaceable marker of your investment in yourself,” Scott told the graduates.

Scott, who first rose to prominence as an actor in the 1990 film Longtime Companion, released seven years after he graduated, talked about his journey through �������ý��Ƶ, from arriving a bit unfocused to being inspired and refocused by brilliant and committed professors. He would go on to a 40-year-plus career as an actor and director that included such films as Dying Young,��Singles,��Big Night, The Amazing Spider-Man, and the recently released Nonnas.

“�������ý��Ƶ is where I learned how to learn, and what part of my education might be solely my responsibility,” Scott said. “That real knowledge wasn’t just memorizing or regurgitating what was factual or established, or measured positively by success and negatively by failure, but had more to do with recognizing strengths and weaknesses that were particular to me and having a safe place to investigate them.”

Three teaching awards presented to �������ý��Ƶ faculty

He encouraged the graduates to take the lessons learned at �������ý��Ƶ—in and out of the classroom—and apply them to their next steps and the steps after that. A liberal arts education is built for just that.

“Building an adult identity is a messy business,” Scott said. “I know this because I’m still doing it, 40-some years after I started trying to figure it out here in Appleton. Every success, every joy, every creation, every stable period will be, must be, balanced with some degree of its shadow side. There will be failure, grief, destruction, and instability. Although our intelligence may try to tell us that the ideal life is lived skating away from, or above, those shadow experiences, our souls know quite well it’s only by meeting and passing through them that we learn how to be truly safe in the world.”

President Laurie A. Carter applauded the graduates for their intellect, their creativity, their commitment to each other, and their resilience, all necessary to get them to the Commencement stage. She noted that the graduates were entering their first year at �������ý��Ƶ when she arrived as president in 2021. They have grown together.

“The liberal arts education you have received at �������ý��Ƶ has shown you a path to a lifetime of learning and growing,” she told the graduates. “You’ll often hear alumni say that it was at �������ý��Ƶ that they learned how to learn. And that carries through life, through good times and challenging times. You are now better equipped to adapt, to innovate, to think critically, and to thrive.”

Bruna Velez ’25, an international relations major from New York City,��served as senior class speaker. She thanked and congratulated her classmates and gave a shout-out to the family and friends who supported the journey.

“I am an Ecuadorian American woman, an identity I wear with a badge of honor,” she said. “My family immigrated to the U.S. for this—to watch their daughter reach further and bigger than their biggest dreams. I stand here as a commemoration of their hard work, drive, compassion, and joy. I know many of you share this sentiment in one way or another. So, thank you to all the families and support systems that are in attendance for my fellow graduates, for all that you have done and will do.”

The �������ý��Ƶ faculty, led by faculty marshal Timothy X. Troy and attired in traditional regalia, processed across College Avenue and onto Main Hall Green at the outset of Commencement. They were joined by Carter, Board of Trustees Chair Scott Myers ’79, Scott, and a second honored guest, Robert McDonald ’73, an accomplished pianist and music educator who gave the Baccalaureate address on Saturday afternoon in Memorial Chapel. The faculty then lined the sidewalk leading to the stage in front of Main Hall, greeting the graduates as they processed to their seats—family and friends taking photos and video amid the cheers. The �������ý��Ƶ Graduation Band, led by Matthew Arau and Ceon Rumphs from the Conservatory faculty, provided accompaniment. Main Hall, the oldest and most iconic building on campus, served as the backdrop, with giant video screens flanking both sides of the stage.

Both Scott and McDonald were presented honorary degrees during Commencement—Scott receiving an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts and McDonald receiving an honorary Doctor of Musical Arts. Adding additional significance was that Scott’s mother, Colleen Dewhurst, who attended Milwaukee-Downer for two years before embarking on her own brilliant acting career, was awarded an honorary doctorate from �������ý��Ƶ in 1972.  

In his address to graduates at Saturday’s Baccalaureate service, McDonald, the acclaimed concert pianist, talked of the need to keep learning, calling one’s education a lifelong commitment.

“Knowing oneself is key, and it can take a long time to get good at it, to be honest about what we do know and believe, and particularly what we don’t know,” he said.

At the close of Sunday’s Commencement, just as a light rain began to fall, the graduates were greeted with applause, high-fives, and hugs as they made their way along College Avenue to a reception on the patio in front of Mudd Library.

“In every classroom, in every late-night study session, we’ve supported one another and grown together,” Velez said. “It’s not just the knowledge we gained that will make us college graduates, it is the ability to problem-solve, seek help, and fail upwards together. What makes �������ý��Ƶ so special is this, this community.”

Scott told the graduates he came to �������ý��Ƶ as a history major before finding inspiration in the English curriculum and theater. He was given space to grow, to fail, and to try again. He said he hopes members of the Class of 2025 will say the same.

“This was a place where I could start investing in my own humanity,” Scott said. “And that was mostly a stumbling affair, believe me, hazy with drink, a little narcissistic, often selfish, sometimes all out wretched, always imperfect. But, also, room for some leaps and bounds in there, many of them a surprise, and all of it safe enough to continue on.”

She also was selected as one of the student dancers for “Gather Together,” the original dance performance presented in May by choreographer Robert Battle as part of �������ý��Ƶ’s inaugural Creator in Residence program.

“It was an absolutely amazing experience and truly reinforced how to best connect to people through the arts,” Velez said.

Her post-graduation plan includes working as a paralegal for a year or two before beginning law school. 

“I’ve always wanted to go into law to help people,” Velez said. “I’m trying to find that area between my international studies and humanitarian law, as well as international business law, and then slowly migrating into refugee and immigration law.” 

An Ecuadorian American, Velez first connected with �������ý��Ƶ through the university’s partnership with the Posse Foundation. Her international relations major gave her access to visiting professors and other professionals who spoke passionately about diplomacy work and other aspects of international careers. 

“And then through Model UN, which is facilitated through the International Relations Department, we’ve been able to meet people from all over the world and experience what it’s like to be part of an international community,” Velez said. “All of that really solidified my want and desire to be a part of it.”

She will share aspects of that journey with her fellow graduates at Commencement.

“I am incredibly grateful for the experience I’ve had here at �������ý��Ƶ,” Velez said.

�������ý��Ƶ’s Commencement also will feature an address from Commencement speaker Campbell Scott ’83, an accomplished actor and director, a message from �������ý��Ƶ President Laurie A. Carter, and the awarding of honorary degrees to Robert McDonald ’73, a much-honored pianist and music educator, and Scott. Beginning at 10 a.m., it will be the culmination of a Commencement weekend that includes a Commencement concert on June 13 featuring members of the Class of 2025, a cookout for the campus community and a Baccalaureate service, both on the afternoon of June 14, a weekend-long senior art exhibition in Wriston Art Center, and various dinners and celebrations. 

The B.M.A.,��first introduced as a degree option in 2019, offers students a 50-50 split between music studies and their choice of another field in the liberal arts landscape. �������ý��Ƶ now has four degree options: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts & Bachelor of Music Dual Degree, and the B.M.A.

That flexibility made it easy when, toward the end of his first year, friends in the Conservatory of Music invited Lewis to join a bluegrass group. Now known as the Litch Brothers, the band features Tashi Litch ’24, Kaj Litch, Evan Snoey ’23, and Lewis.

“I sort of fell in love with bluegrass music right away,” Lewis said. “It has this driving energy to it that really resonated with me.” 

He cites guitarists Tony Rice—”one of the original pioneers”—and Alison Krauss as important influences. 

�������ý��Ƶ’s Conservatory nurtured the group’s development as they refined their sound.

“The Conservatory was really supportive of this,” Lewis added. “They helped foster the Litch Brothers as we expanded our repertoire. I was able to learn very quickly and develop as a bluegrass musician while I was here—it’s all thanks to the Conservatory’s culture.”

Through coaching with �������ý��Ƶ instructor and improvisation specialist Matt Turner, the band crafted a distinct style blending bluegrass with elements of jazz and rock.

“We bring a more progressive approach to bluegrass music incorporating styles such as rock, folk, and Romani jazz—we have a more ‘jazz-sound’ in general,” Lewis said. “Our arrangement of traditional bluegrass tunes have a more progress-quality to them. We also cover popular rock tunes.”

As they gained traction, the Litch Brothers played wherever they could—small festivals, nonprofits, and community events—anything to “get their sound out there.” A string of successful performances throughout the country culminated in their biggest milestone yet—the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) World of Bluegrass festival, the genre’s most prestigious venue.

With financial support from the Conservatory and encouragement from Dean Brian Pertl, the Litch Brothers made a triumphant debut at the IBMA festival in September 2023. Their performance was met with enthusiasm, securing a return invitation for 2024 as well as a coveted booking at the Your Roots Are Showing (YRAS) conference. The band spent more than a week in Ireland in January 2025.

“The folk tradition runs deep in Ireland, and there’s a lot of government support for it,” Lewis said. “The festival was held in Killarney, which is a really naturally beautiful place.”

The conference was preceded by an eight-day tour in Ireland.

“We just got to meet so many musically involved people,” Lewis said, “whether it be music executives and festival organizers at YRAS or talented amateur musicians in the pubs.”

Lewis’ participation in both festivals was made possible by the Conservatory’s Fred Sturm Inspiration Fund, which supports students pursuing innovative musical projects. 

The band will pursue a number of opportunities during the summer of 2025: the Gray Fox Bluegrass Festival, recording their debut album, and embarking on a five-week concert tour of the West Coast.

Lewis, graduating in June, hopes to move to Nashville, Tennessee, and join the bustling bluegrass, old-time, and country music scenes. He was recently recruited by mandolin player Nick Dumas for a series of summer concerts. 

“�������ý��Ƶ has made me a very versatile player—I never have to put myself in a box because I’ve learned to play so many different styles here, and more than just jazz and bluegrass,” Lewis said. “I’ve played R&B music, soul, rock, punk… and so much more. Even if I don’t move to Nashville, I’ve got all the tools I need to succeed.”

This broadened perspective directly shaped Panshin’s own artistry and informed her junior recital, which she designed to reflect a more personal relationship with her repertoire.

“Originally, I had prepared a Chopin Scherzo and a Liszt Etude—these big, impressive, showy, canonic pieces—but I realized that doing that didn’t sit right with me; it was not who I am as a musician,” she said.

Instead, Panshin sought to reimagine her program through the lens of her musicological studies.

“I had come across Hélène de Montgeroult’s Fantasy a year or so earlier and fell in love with it,” she explained. “I had been working on it for a while when I wondered, what else could I do with her music? She wrote a lot of surprisingly lovely pedagogical pieces, and I decided to use that as an opportunity to explore how she would have wanted me to learn her music—I ended up programming two of her etudes alongside the Fantasy.”

The recital began with “Song Without Words,” Op. 18, No. 2 by Delphine von Schauroth, a lesser-known Romantic composer and virtuoso pianist. Panshin carefully placed this piece alongside Montgeroult’s works, highlighting both composers’ shared focus on making the piano “sing.”

Panshin added: “I really wasn’t coming from an angle of, ‘I’m going to do a recital of music by women.’” Instead, I asked, ‘How can I perform music that is meaningful to me and that I think can be valuable for other people to hear, that is not just aligning with canonic values and narratives?’”

After her recital, Panshin was eager to pursue additional avenues to further her research and the impact it could have on a broader audience.

In earlier research, she had come across the New Muses Project. She emailed organizers in the spring of her junior year, sharing her enthusiasm, which landed her the summer internship with the organization.

combines scholarship, performance, and education to promote composers of marginalized identities, past and present. A major component of the project is a website interface that allows visitors to enter the names of familiar composers and receive recommendations of underrepresented composers who wrote in similar musical styles. 

“There are a lot of dimensions to New Muses,” Panshin said. “I think the work they do is really meaningful, and it’s really aligned with what I care about, how I make music.”

Her responsibilities included researching biographical information, locating recordings, and scrutinizing manuscripts. Through this work, Panshin and her colleagues aimed to present composers authentically—neither reducing their stories to victimization nor elevating them to untouchable icons.

In addition to her continued work with New Muses, Panshin serves as the Conservatory’s musicology student representative on the Dean’s Advisory Council. She will present her senior recital at 8 p.m. April 28 (location tbd).

Looking to the future, she plans to attend graduate school in musicology, where she hopes to further her research and advocacy for marginalized voices in classical music.

“One of the crucial things for me is to emphasize that the work doesn’t stop here; continuing to interrogate and reimagine accepted power structures and assumptions within the musical environments I participate in is a practice I’m committed to and that I hope to encourage in others through my work,” Panshin said.

Her journey illustrates how musicology can extend beyond an academic enclave—it can be a pathway to fostering representation, connection, and meaningful change in the world of classical music.

Although she had been sewing for the past 10 years, coming to �������ý��Ƶ offered Wallin-Swanson her first opportunity to receive formal training in sewing and costuming.  

One of her first classes at �������ý��Ƶ, Costume Crafts and Technology, allowed Wallin-Swanson to explore new sewing techniques. The course was taught by Kärin Kopischke, instructor of theatre arts and costume shop supervisor, who also helped Wallin-Swanson on her path to working in the �������ý��Ƶ costume shop.  

“I came in knowing how to sew, but she (Kopischke) will meet you where you’re at,” Wallin-Swanson said. “We have plenty of people that come into the costume shop and don’t know how to sew but want to learn. By the time they leave, they’re fluent and efficient in the costume shop, and it’s really fun to watch them learn.” 

Most recently, Wallin-Swanson worked in the shop as costume designer and shop supervisor for the fall 2024 musical, Working. She designed the costumes for three of the characters; in addition, she assisted everyone else in constructing costume pieces.  

Working presented a challenge as it “defied time and place.” The musical, based on the 1974 book by Studs Terkel of the same name, follows 26 professionals in their daily lives. A revised version of the musical was put out in 2012, offering a look at how professions may change but hopes and fears around careers do not.  

“Each of these stories are intertwined and map together, and it’s really pretty to see that happen,” Wallin-Swanson said. “We have people that are dressed to period in the ‘70s, and we have people who are modern day. We need to make sure that the person in the ‘70s doesn’t feel too distant that we can’t hold onto their story anymore.”  

Wallin-Swanson’s involvement in the theater department also showed her what life after college could be like. When she first arrived at �������ý��Ƶ, she planned on becoming a high school librarian. 

“I really enjoyed sewing, I really enjoyed theater, but I didn’t feel like there were job opportunities out there for it,” Wallin-Swanson said. “I got here, and I met Kärin and some of the other folks here in the theater department, and I was like, this is something I could make work.” 

Now in her senior year at �������ý��Ƶ, Wallin-Swanson is gearing up for her senior project, which will be a “bible of bibles” for costume shops. Every costume shop has a “bible” for each show, which includes the script, the cast’s measurements, the designs, and anything else the costume department might need for the show. She will also be looking at how those “bibles” may look in different parts of the world. 

Wallin-Swanson also credits Kopischke with helping her get her first job in the wardrobe world, working over the summer as the wardrobe supervisor at Northern Sky Theater in Door County.  

“It starts out as a professional relationship, and it turns into one that you really want to foster,” Wallin-Swanson said of her relationship with Kopischke.  

At Northern Sky, Wallin-Swanson gained experience running her own department.  

“I felt very underprepared going in, and when I got there, I realized I actually have all of the skills needed to do this,” Wallin-Swanson said. “I’ve been prepared for this.”