E H T THE MAGAZINE OF ALMA COLLEGE FALL ❖ 2018 DIGITAL SCIENCE • SCOTS AROUND THE WORLD • HOMECOMING 2018 THE MAGAZINE EDITOR Mike Silverthorn DESIGNER Rachel Salazar PHOTOGRAPHERS McKenna Clark ’18 Katie Keaton Compo ’14 Jordie Hayes ’18 Joy Johnson ’20 Molly McCranner ’19 Hannah Plotzke ’20 Benjamin Tigner Trent Wiederhold CONTRIBUTORS Jeff Abernathy Anthony Collamati Derek Devine Cheyenne Kalfsbeek ’19 Matt vandenBerg ’02 WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK. PLEASE SEND COMMENTS TO Mike Silverthorn Alma College 614 W. Superior St. Alma, MI 48801-1599 or e-mail
[email protected] Alma College’s mission is to prepare graduates who think critically, serve generously, lead purposefully and live responsibly as stewards of the world they bequeath to future generations. ON THE COVER: Junior Molly McCranner studied biodiversity and environmental sus- tainability in New Zealand during spring term 2018. For more spring term images of Scots around the world, see pages 19-23. COMMENCEMENT 2018 A day of happy faces and recognizing accomplishments. 3 Letter from the PRESIDENT A growing demand for STEM he growth in career opportu- nities in science, technology, engineering and mathemat- icsT (STEM) fields has been well documented. In a 2017 report, the Economics and Statistics Administration of the Department of Commerce reported that "em- ployment in STEM occupations grew much faster than employ- ment in non-STEM occupations over the last decade (24.4 percent versus 4.0 percent, respective- ly), and STEM occupations are projected to grow by 8.9 percent from 2014 to 2024, compared to 6.4 percent growth for non-STEM occupations.” Alma College is proud of a long tradition of providing students an excellent liberal arts education, especially in the humanities and Alma College faculty are working the social sciences.