Morningside Connect

Everywhere I go I hear folks say, “Where has the summer gone?” It’s so true. We already have students moving into their respective residence halls. It seems like just last week we had commencement. In that short period of time, a great deal has taken place on campus.

Dimmitt Hall has had a complete overhaul! It now has air conditioning, a fresh coat of paint, and many other updates. You will have to come see for yourself at Homecoming. (You’ll be receiving a brochure in the mail!)

We now have ownership of the tennis courts. The courts received quite a makeover. Thanks to the generosity of a number of our alumni – the tennis facility is one of the best around!

Resurfacing the Grace Church parking lot was another of those summer-time projects needing to get checked off the list.

Amongst all of this, Randy Peters, artistic director of the Betty Ling Tsang Fine Arts Series, has overseen a truly remarkable series of programs that have drawn huge crowds. As part of this series and what has become a near 4^th of July tradition, the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra performed in the Buhler Outdoor Performance Center before nearly 2,000 people. The evening was capped off by an amazing fireworks display accompanied by the orchestra.

As I commented earlier, summer is almost gone. Students are slowly making their trek back. Before you know it, Homecoming will be here! Please consider coming back for it! It’s October 9-11. Bring the family; everything we do is family friendly. In the next few days you should receive a Homecoming brochure in the mail. Attached to it is an RSVP card. Take time to fill it out and send it in. We’d love to see you again! Come see all of the changes on campus! Of special interest will be the tremendous changes in Dimmitt Hall. That alone is worth your coming back!

Before you know it, I’ll again be saying, “Where’s the summer gone?”

Gene Ambroson

The Betty Ling Tsang Fine Art Series recently had its last performance of the summer series, but not the last one of the year. The performance of “Oklahoma!” occurred on August 7th and 8th. Join us for the Waitt Lecture with Chuck Todd, NBC News political director and host of “Meet the Press,” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in Eppley Auditorium.

Sea had sent out many applications and resumes for summer research positions. She ended up receiving offers for research positions from University of Nebraska Lincoln, University of Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, and the Amgen Scholars Program. She chose to participate in the Amgen Scholars Program in Japan.

“I ultimately decided to go for this program because I was offered a truly unique cultural experience along with summer research,” said Sea.

This summer research opportunity for students is sponsored and paid for by Amgen, a biotechnology company. The program provides selected undergraduates with the opportunity to engage in hands-on research at some of the world’s premier educational institutions.

Sea is working in the lab of Professor Eiichi Nakamura, which is a synthetic and physical organic chemistry lab. Her work deals with synthesizing organic compounds for use in imaging biological materials with scanning electron microscopes.

“The stuff I’m learning about is pretty difficult, but the language barrier makes it even more challenging,” said Sea. “Definitely hard work, but very rewarding!”

This program runs for eight weeks. Her weekdays are spent in a lab from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. learning synthetic chemistry techniques and running different types of equipment. On the weekends, she travels around Tokyo taking in the sights and culture.

“Tokyo is divided into districts; so far I have seen Asakusa, Akihabara, Shinjuku, Ueno, Yushima, Kichijoji, and Shibuya,” said Sea. “I’ve seen a lot of temples and shrines, but also a lot of crowded cities. We even went to Tokyo Disney one day.”

Besides Tokyo, Sea is getting to learn about other cultures from the other students in the program. Her roommate is from Australia, and her classmates come from all over the world.

Her learning about cultures won’t stop after her internship in Japan. This fall she will be leaving campus to study in Panama for the semester.