BY HANNAH ROACH '17
Mount Holyoke campus erupted with cheering and chanting at 3 p.m. on Wednesday Nov. 16. Noise could be heard, echoing through academic buildings, leading to the library. There, hundreds of students, staff and faculty had started gathering as part of the MHC #SanctuaryCampus Walkout.
BY NICOLE VILLACRES '18
Clean Water Action, a national environmental group, has awarded the Environmental Ground-Breaker Award to professor Kate Ballantine for her work with the Restoration Ecology Program. The program was created in 2012, when Ballantine and her environmental studies students noticed that Upper Lake had a severe problem with algae blooms caused by excessive nutrient pollution. One facet of the program is the Project Stream restoration site, which is focused on restoring the wetland and stream that feeds into Upper Lake, so that the nutrients would be naturally filtered out.
BY NICOLE VILLACRES ’18
With funding from Afghan Girls Fi-nancial Assistance Fund, Sajia Darwish ’18 opened the Baale Parwaz Library this summer in Kabul, Afghanistan. Although a native of Kabul, Darwish has been in the United States since she was 13. The idea to build the library came out of a conversation between Darwish and the co-founder of AGFAF, Joseph Highland. AGFAF supports Darwish’s education at Mount Holyoke through financial assistance.
BY NICOLE VILLACRES '18
In the aftermath of Director of AccessAbility Services Deborah Cohen’s resignation, Mount Holyoke plans to change the organizational structure of the department from having a singular director to two accommodation coordinators. Cohen, who spent four years at the College as AccessAbility director, will work her last day on Oct. 28.
BY JULIA DOYLE ’20
Dr. Darby Dyar was recently awarded the 2016 Geological Society of America’s G.K. Gilbert Award for her achievements in the field of planetary geology. The G.K. Gilbert Award, named after the scientist who “recognized the importance of a planetary perspective in solving terrestrial geological problems,” is an award for “outstanding contributions to the solution of a fundamental problem(s) of planetary geology in its broadest sense,” according to the Geological Society of America’s website.
