Three KSC Safety Studies students have received scholarships from the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), a national organization that represents more than 34,000 safety, health, and environmental professionals. Travis Brenner, a Keene State senior, was awarded the Flatiron Construction Christopher Gonzalez Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $4,700. Keene State senior, Timothy Brinkerhoff, received the Greater Boston Chapter Leadership Award of $1,000, and Joshua Besnoff, Keene State graduate student, was awarded the New England Area Future Leadership Award in the amount of $1,000.

The money will be a big help in moving these students ahead in their career paths. “
This scholarship will be great support towards graduate school,” Brenner said.

Nathan Gray, recipient of the 2012 Fred Fosher Excellence in Writing Award

The craft of writing well eludes many students—and adults—but KSC senior and soon-to-be alumnus Nathan Gray found the key to excellence when he approached writing as music. “I began to think of writing a page of prose as writing a page of sheet music,” said Nathan, also a musician and songwriter. “Each word can be a note, or each sentence can be a note. I kind of made it an art game, playing with the shorts and the longs. As in music, you choose a note and then you decide upon the most effective instrument to play that note. In the same way, you choose a concept and then you choose the best word or phrase to express that idea. As soon as I did that, my writing improved. Just as it’s not very interesting to have a bunch of quarter notes in a row, you don’t want a bunch of five-word sentences in your writing. You’ve got to come up with ways to add variety and present your ideas in interesting ways.”
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Samantha Massahos—KSC employee, grad student, and ’10 alum.

Samantha Massahos is a KSC employee (with Campus Safety), a graduate student, and alumna of the Class of 2010. And she’ll be competing for the title of Miss New Hampshire at the end of April. She’s currently serving as Miss Capital Area with a  platform of Advocating for Survivors of Sexual Violence. And she’d like your help: Help her get into the top 12 at Miss NH this year by going to the Miss NH website AND the Miss NH Fan Page and voting for her. Make sure you open the confirmation email and clink of the confirmation link to complete the voting process.

Says Sam: “Thank you—it is very much appreciated! I look forward to representing the Keene State College community at this year’s competition!”

KSC members of the New England Intercollegiate Band. Front row (l–r): Megan Fleagle, horn; Alyssa Comeau, clarinet; Gabe Belluscio, tenor saxophone; Kathryne Lundstedt, clarinet. Back row (l–r): Nathan Shower, trumpet; Kathryn Lanouette, clarinet; Kirk Bobkowski, euphonium; Josh Brennan, percussion; Rob Skrocki, trombone.

Nine KSC students have been chosen to play in the New England Intercollegiate Band at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., on March 30 and 31. Organized by the New England College Band Association, the Festival brings the top college musicians from across New England together for a weekend of music making with an internationally known guest conductor. This year, that is Ray Cramer, long-time former director of bands at Indiana University, President of the Midwest Clinic, and current guest conductor for the Musashino Academia of Music in Tokyo, Japan.

Chloe Edmonds

Chloe Edmonds, a double major in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and American Studies, has been offered a paid research fellowship at Brown University for the summer. She’ll be working with Dr. Maud Mandel, associate professor of Judaic Studies and History at Brown. Chloe was also accepted to the Mellon Initiative, a program for undergraduates interested in pursuing doctoral study in the humanities and social sciences. She’s also being considered for similar fellowships at Harvard and NYU.

The Leadership Alliance Summer Research-Early Identification Program at Brown University provides nine-week summer research opportunities for outstanding undergraduates interested in exploring the nature of advanced graduate school study. The program was created to develop underrepresented students into outstanding leaders and role models in academia, business, and the public sector.

That’s quite an accomplishment! If you know Chloe, drop her a note of congratulations.