Wes Students: Exceptional in Any Element!

I met yesterday morning with Ben Travers, who for the last few months has been making very cool videos about Wesleyan students. For example, there is this wonderful, short piece about Mary Vallo ’13, who is doing research on epilepsy with Prof Jan Naegle’s team. Mary is one of the many Wes students who are able to contribute to sophisticated research in the sciences. And check out the video of Oscar Takabvira ’14, who has the great line: “I love numbers and I think they like me back.”Arya Alizadeh ’13 is portrayed as the active citizen he is. I know him from his role with the WSA, but it was great to learn more about his ambitions in engineering and history — and that he rows crew. Senior Carmen Yip also has a memorable line: she hates sweating! Carmen has come to Wes from Hong Kong, but that didn’t satisfy her urge to travel and study. She spent a semester in Regensburg, and has already landed a job with Deutsche Bank!

Ben has also made videos of athletes (including Arya). Casey Reed ’12 is a devoted volleyball player from California, a fundraiser for Wesleyan and a sketch comedy performer. Arthur Burkart ’14 was welcomed onto the crew team, into the African students association and has given back by being a note taker for students who need that assistance. In her video, soccer star Laura Kurash ’13 tells us that she is getting ready for medical school (her memorable line: I’ve seen a lot of blood squirt out; it’s cool). Laura also shows off her musical talents (without using her feet too much!).

One of the coolest (certainly the most fiery) videos Ben has made so far is on Prometheus, Wesleyan’s fire performance group. The students actually are not on fire, but they certainly do light up the night!

If fire isn’t your element, go under water with the swim team. And watch out for Ben as he makes his way around campus, video camera in hand.