Academic Showcase, held every spring on campus, gives students a chance to present a project of their choosing to the community. Gifford, a math education major from Eagle, Colorado, took the opportunity to dive into more details behind a documentary on the quilters.

“The dichotomy between harsh prison conditions and the gentleness of quilting was fascinating,” Gifford said. “What could be the impact of these opposites being paired together?”

The program aims to help prisoners in the maximum security prison feel safe and unwind, while at the same time supporting foster children by providing them with beautiful, handmade quilted blankets.

Before diving deeper into that, Gifford explained alternative rhetorical identity.

She said prison education can act as resistance and safety in a system that is built around hypermasculinity — a set of behaviors such as an over the top attachment to traditional gender roles with a focus on aggression, dominance and physical strength. Inmates in the quilting program break down these behaviors because their craft allows them to do so. Aggression isn’t helpful in quilting — as it’s all about patience.

“Resisting the loss of identity is difficult in a uniform system,” Gifford said. “Prisons perpetuate the narrative that prisoners don’t matter the same way as those outside the prison do.”

This loss of identity can also be found in the small living spaces prisoners are placed in, often sharing a cell that is no larger than the average single dorm room. These cells are small and leave zero room for privacy, leaving prisoners vulnerable physically and emotionally.

“Restorative justice programs, such as the quilting program, allow a safe space for self expression,” Gifford explained. In the walls of the quilting room, individuals may abandon hypermasculine traits as they ask questions and learn patterns.

The crafting room also offers a communicative space, where a social bridge is created between inmates and foster children.

“Quality and care exist even within prison walls,” Gifford said. An art-centered program allows prisoners to reactivate their personality through a humanizing act. Individuals become gentle with the fabric, and then gentle in their behavior.

Unfortunately, when the day is done, many of the prisoners slip back into their metaphorical masks of hypermasculinity. In a prison system, these behaviors are often meant to be self-defensive rather than outwardly aggressive.

Gifford said programs like the quilting one aren’t uncommon. A lot of prisons are beginning to offer restorative justice options such as education, arts, gardening and more because they have been proven to help prisoners retain knowledge and skills that are helpful after they complete their sentence.

By Caspian Weeden, an English major from Pueblo, Colorado.

“I’ve always been interested in understanding how people are attached to numbers. I want to be able to take and analyze data in a way that everyone can understand,” Reid said.

Reid, a junior mathematics major from Omaha, Nebraska, helps manage customer relations by organizing and using data. They work with an interface called Hubspot that helps track contact, company and service information. The goal is to collect data so they can send out audits and make sure people are billed correctly.

“We’re just trying to mitigate all the issues that come with talking to customers and how we can give them our information in a nice and cordial manner,” Reid said.

Reid found out about this internship through the Scott Scholars program at �㽶��Ƶ. Director Dave Rippe helped Reid contact the Scott Data Center in order to set up a conversation about the internship.

“I met with management twice earlier this year. The second meeting is where they gave me the offer,” Reid said. “I wrote a letter saying I wanted the job and then received an email to apply for it and got it within the same day.”

Customer relations can be difficult to handle and Reid is learning how to navigate it. Not every customer will need the same thing and Reid has been tasked to differentiate the needs of different customers. In order to do this, Reid said asking questions is very important when navigating difficult situations.

“I’ve learned to not be afraid to ask questions and that it’s okay to be uncomfortable with not knowing everything because that’s how you gain clarification,” Reid said. “It’s okay to come across as naive or inexperienced because they are going to help you because you are helping them.”

Reid has enjoyed learning about different kinds of people, collecting information and sorting data in an organized way that will allow for easy use in the future.

“I always try to look for how we can solve issues along the road, not to create problems, but to create solutions before we have a problem,” Reid said.

This internship has been an opportunity for Reid to learn more about data science, a field they are passionate about. They hope to gain leadership skills from this experience and become more comfortable with creating opportunities for themself.

“Getting these internships has been amazing and has allowed me to become more comfortable with being creative in a way I haven’t seen before, which can test the boundaries of what a company can do,” Reid said.

Reid said �㽶��Ƶ professors have influenced the skills that they have gained and have opened their eyes to various jobs that can utilize those skills. They’ve learned that this internship helps them understand things that people use everywhere, especially when it comes to businesses.

“I can put my goals and skills into anything I want to do. I don’t have to stay on one path. My professors helped train me to be applicable in many types of job fields,” Reid said.

Reid is taking an actuary exam this summer and plans on becoming an actuary after �㽶��Ƶ, although a masters in mathematics is not out of the question.

“I’m very passionate about making it accessible and understandable for everyone. If I can take my knowledge and educate people around me, we can have conversations that can include everyone, not just those who are in the mathematics field,” Reid said.

By Rachel Ritzmann a business administration and marketing major from Broomfield, Colorado

Seniors Markus Miller, Gunnar Pike and Zander Hardy, and recent graduate Tyler Welsh ‘25, are all contributing to the Sodbusters, and all have collegiate experience through the �㽶��Ƶ Broncos baseball program.

Established in 2018, the Sodbusters are a part of the Independent League Baseball. It’s a growing association spread across three states and includes eight teams. Andy Chase ‘19 is a co-owner and an assistant coach for the Sodbusters, and coaches the esports club team at �㽶��Ƶ.

During the busy summer league, which includes travel, players have to balance commitments to the team with internships and jobs. Student-athletes understand the importance of practicing and training over the summer and learn how to stay responsible and committed to their sport while maintaining their commitment to their academics and future career.

“Summer ball is all about getting reps and keeping the players active. The worst thing to do is take a break, it can be detrimental to how you play in season,” Chase said.

Miller, who is from Hastings, is studying physical education at �㽶��Ƶ. In addition to playing for the Sodbusters, he coaches a Hastings American Legion Baseball team. He plans on becoming a physical education teacher and hopes to coach wrestling and baseball.

“Just seeing baseball from a different perspective, the way a coach looks at a game compared to a player is kind of different,” Miller said. “The head coach is like a teacher, so I am able to ask him questions that can contribute towards my future career.”

Pike, a mathematics major from Broomfield, Colorado, is a pitcher for the Broncos and the Sodbusters. When he’s not on the field, he works at Head Start, an early childhood development center, and at Blue Fork, a local restaurant. Pike said he plans on working towards his masters in mathematics and becoming a statistician.

“Both of the jobs I’m working are very flexible and are very accommodating to each other. It involves a lot of early planning and setting up a schedule,” Pike said. “These jobs help me grow as a person and learn how to interact with an assortment of different people.”

Miller said Sodbusters is different because he gets to experience other coaching styles and new teammates. The Sodbusters bring in players from all across the country, and Miller said he enjoys getting to know other players and the different practice styles and techniques they have.

Being able to play with different people has broadened his knowledge and can contribute towards his coaching and teaching passions.

Pike said he enjoys that summer baseball is more relaxed and everyone is there trying to have fun and grow as individuals. He’s played on a summer baseball team every year since he was little. So, when it comes to balancing athletics and a job, he is used to juggling multiple things at once.

The Broncos and Sodbusters both play at historic Duncan field in Hastings, which was built in 1940 and is known to be larger than any current MLB field by square footage. The field has attracted many baseball athletes and has become a monumental staple in Hastings.

“Home runs don’t happen often at Duncan Field, which pitchers have learned to love about it. It’s a pitchers’ paradise here,” Chase said.

Participating on both Broncos and Sodbusters, Miller and Pike have been able to get involved with the Hastings community.

“Being able to pitch in my hometown in front of the community I grew up in is kind of cool to me. And going to �㽶��Ƶ has allowed me to give back to the community,” Miller said.

Pike being from Colorado has had a different experience coming from a bigger town. He has had more flexibility with his schedule and chose to stay in Hastings to not only work on his career and athletics, but to also learn about living on his own.

“A lot of it is credited to the people where I work and play baseball at. With it being a smaller town, employers know about the Sodbusters and they want to support their home teams and young athletes,” Pike said. “They want to support their community, so they are very accommodating when it comes to the busy life of a college athlete.”

By Rachel Ritzmann a business administration and marketing major from Broomfield, Colorado

Landing one research experience for undergraduates (REU) is an accomplishment for a student in the sciences. Milly McClure, a senior from Liberal, Kansas, landed four.

The physics and mathematics major spent summer 2024 in Texas A&M’s Cyclotron Institute. She helped faculty learn to use a new thermal evaporator—a machine integral to the institute’s research into using the radioactive element astatine to fight cancer.

But that’s not all.

The university sent her to a five day, expense paid workshop at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois.

“I was the youngest person there and the only undergraduate student,” Milly said. She took advantage of exposure to graduate students, postdoc fellows and professors from other institutions to get advice on selecting a graduate program.

A year earlier, she had no idea these opportunities existed, let alone would be open to her.

This story originally appeared in the 2024 HC Today.

An Unclear Path

By the end of McClure’s sophomore year, she hit a crossroads. She had quit playing softball and picked up a second major in mathematics.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what I could do with my degrees,” she said. “I knew I wanted to go grad school. I just didn’t know what for.”

Seeking insights from others who had graduated from the College’s physics department, she signed up for the �㽶��Ƶ Alumni Mentoring Program and participated during the first block of her junior year.

Her mentor: Dr. Jordan Borrell ‘13, assistant professor of occupational therapy education at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

As an undergraduate at HC completing his senior capstone project in physics, Borrell constructed a robotic hand in the same labs where McClure was working and learning. His next stops included the University of Kansas for a master’s and doctorate and the University of Nebraska Omaha for postdoctoral work in clinical applications of assistive and prosthetic devices.

Along the way, he benefited from mentors’ guidance. When Kim Graviette ‘83, director of Career Services, asked him to serve as McClure’s mentor he said “yes.” It was also a wakeup call.

“Now I can actively say I have about 10 years of experience under my belt for research,” Borrell said. “I can provide that knowledge I wish I had.”

Getting Answers…and More

McClure entered the alumni mentoring program seeking answers.

What graduate programs are available? How can one pay for grad school? What does it take to get into grad school?

What she did not know to ask: how do I land a REU?

For college students from smaller colleges and universities like �㽶��Ƶ, REUs provide summer opportunities to work in large research laboratories, network in their career fields of interest and explore graduate programs.

Once Borrell explained how crucial REUs can be for clarifying career goals and securing graduate school slots, he and McClure began focusing their weekly meetings on completing REU applications.

The goal: to land one REU

McClure landed REUs from the University of Arkansas, University of Kansas, University of Colorado and Texas A&M.

“The REU programs were emailing me all at the same time so I had to make pros and cons lists for which ones I really wanted to go to, what would help me in my career and what would help me get the best experience for grad school,” McClure said.

Many of those lists she compiled at 2:00 a.m. while traveling in France because the programs required responses within a week.

Borrell said he was extremely proud of McClure’s success. His advice?

“‘You’re in a lucky position where you get to choose that opportunity because you got multiple offers. So now look at the potential projects, we have the opportunity to leverage which project you get into.’ Not all students have that,” he said.

Ultimately, McClure selected the REU at Texas A&M based on the research she could do there and its location.

“I had already lived in Kansas and Colorado. I’ve never lived in a town as big as College Station,” she said.

When not in the lab, McClure enjoyed the camaraderie with undergraduates from across the country who share her interests as well as trips to see NASA’s facilities in Houston.

‘A clear path of what I want to do.’

McClure and Borrell continue to meet. As she applies to graduate programs in medical engineering or bioengineering, Borrell is reviewing her papers and applications.

“I can’t thank [Dr. Borrell] enough because he has really helped me,” she said. “And I really appreciate the mentoring program because the REU wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t met him. The REU helped me get out of my comfort zone. Now I have a clear path of what I want to do.”

Borrell credits McClure’s strong work ethic, intelligence and willingness to listen with her success thus far.

“She has a bright future ahead of her. I’m really excited to see what she accomplishes and where she goes,” said Borrell.

About the Alumni Mentoring Program

The program connects current students with alumni in their career field of interest to get career advice and insights. The pairs meet for about an hour a week for a minimum of five weeks during an eight week block. If you have questions about the program and may be interested in participating as a mentor, contact Carissa Uhrmacher ‘96 in Career Services at carissa.uhrmacher@hastings.edu or Alicia O’Donnell ‘96 in the Alumni and Foundation Office at aodonnell@hastings.edu.

By Alicia O’Donnell ‘96

Gibson has been working as an information technology intern at CPI. The company’s main focus is offering a wide range of services and products that help farmers optimize their operations and improve yields.

His typical day as an IT intern involves helping with minor to major network and technology issues. Gibson is involved in operations such as setting up printers across locations to use their built-in document scanners to directly email employees using what is called a simple mail transfer protocol relay.

This protocol provides the scanners with email capability that makes it easier to scan and retrieve documents by allowing the user to scan directly to their email of choice. This method is quick and efficient in a way that is also user-friendly.

The project took four days to execute and Gibson faced challenges during the project.

“Although it took four days to complete, it required a lot of trial and error to individually get the printers working correctly for all employees and locations. Effective communication with each location’s employees was crucial in understanding the issues and finding a solution, ultimately making the process less time-consuming,” said Gibson, who is from Nassau, the Bahamas.

For Gibson, IT is just the starting point in his technology career. Understanding how certain software affects the people he helps is closely tied to the interpersonal skills he values highly.

“Connecting with people on a personal level and learning about their issues that need solving make the job easier to do. To me, communicating is a self-improving learning experience for developing soft skills, simply by meeting more people and being able to connect with them,” Gibson said.

Before starting his internship at CPI, Gibson wasn’t a stranger to communicating and helping others as he worked at the �㽶��Ƶ IT helpdesk in Hazelrigg Student Union. He helped students and faculty with anything technology-related.

Once his internship began, the work environment shifted to constant interaction with coworkers throughout the CPI office where he works.

“I see these people every day. It’s an adjustment that I am not handling student and faculty concerns so the interpersonal skills mixed with the agricultural community are much different — it’s a bit more personal than I am used to,” he said.

Aside from strengthening his interpersonal skills at CPI, he said courses at �㽶��Ƶ helped him continue his passion for IT. He said mathematics professors Dr. David Cooke, Dr. Bobbi Buchholz, and the now retired Dr. John Schneider showed him the ins and outs of database fundamentals and what data looks like with cyber security and monitoring.

Reflecting on the experiences gained at CPI, Gibson said he aims to continue providing excellent customer service to people he encounters. As he approaches his senior year, he looks forward to resuming his internship at CPI and, ultimately, hopes to work in IT at a firm or tech company.

By Cecilia Velarde, a senior marketing and communication studies double major from Loveland, Colorado

By Dr. Bobbi Buchholz ’02, Professor of Mathematics

I first met Dr. John Schneider as a student at �㽶��Ƶ. Even though I was a double major in mathematics and computer science, I didn’t have my first class with Dr. Schneider until my senior year in the fall of 2001. He still gives me a hard time about that being my one and only class with him. I remember him as being a fun and engaging teacher who made mathematical concepts easy to understand.

After �㽶��Ƶ I went on to graduate school, and I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have earned my Ph.D. if it weren’t for the encouragement and continued support I received from John and Dr. Dave Cooke. They helped me apply to graduate school, gave me the encouragement and motivation to continue after earning my master’s degree and were present when I gave my dissertation defense. Their belief in my abilities is what got me to where I am today and for that I will be forever grateful.

This kind of support of a student is not unique to me.

Seven years after graduating from �㽶��Ƶ, I was hired as a faculty member. To be able to come back and teach alongside my academic mentors has been such a blessing.

Being a colleague of John has opened my eyes even further to his amazing gift of teaching and connecting with students. You will find very few professors who care more about their students than John. I’ve watched him year in and year out pour himself into giving the best classroom experience for every student in his classes.

If students are struggling, he does everything possible to change and adapt to make the environment one that allows for success. It doesn’t matter the time commitment or level of work required. He also goes beyond the classroom and gets to know his students as people, helping them achieve their goals in life. It is no surprise that he is well-loved by students.

John has influenced the lives of countless students who have been a part of the �㽶��Ƶ community. Many who have gone on to become high school mathematics teachers continued to stay in contact with him and ask for his advice. He was always willing to mentor them through that transition to teaching. Many have also commented how they model their classrooms after his — he has no idea how wide his impact really is.

John joined the �㽶��Ƶ faculty in 1985. He has participated in all aspects of the campus community throughout his many years serving on the Faculty Affairs Committee, Tenure and Promotion Committee, and Academic Affairs Committee. He also spent time as the Associate Dean of Math, Science & Business and chair of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department. He also helped start the �㽶��Ƶ Mathematics Invite for high school students and served as its co-director for 22 years.

The most important thing to John are his children: Leah, Jack and Emma. He is known for his stories of his children and his dogs, and also for his love of pop, Hagoromo chalk, motorcycles and jean jackets. John is a genuine professor who has an amazing ability to connect with students and make mathematics fun and engaging.

His relationship-building skills, along with holding students accountable, has modeled a great classroom environment for many future mathematics teachers, which continues to positively impact students in high school classrooms far and wide.

After 39 years of being a faculty member at �㽶��Ƶ, John plans to retire at the end of this month. He will be missed, but his legacy will continue on in the former students he inspired.

�㽶��Ƶ, where class sizes are small and the student to faculty ratio is about 13 to 1, suited him perfectly. He found professors who were there for him every step of the way, and a culture that helped him excel.

Scoular is an employee-owned, $9 billion global agribusiness company that buys, sells, stores, handles and processes grain and ingredients. It employs 1,400 people in more than 100 offices and facilities in North America and Asia.

Egr, who is majoring in business administration and computer science, was looking for an internship where he could interact with colleagues, gain experience in code and do more than sit at a computer all day.

He found Scoular as an option, and the �㽶��Ƶ Career Services office gave him a reserved conference room for the interviews. They also helped prepare him with interview questions so he would feel more comfortable.

The workload for Egr includes multiple small projects throughout the week and attending meetings with his supervisors, internet technology teams and web design teams. Egr’s latest tasks have been working on two large coding projects.

“The first project is working with Power Apps also known as Microsoft Power Apps, for the environment safety department. So I build the forms and tables that will take all the data and only be visible to the environmental safety supervisor,” Egr said.

His second project involves data mapping for trucking dispatch. “I am trying to recode the old dispatch system and organize it by file so it’s easier to utilize,” Egr said.

Egr said math and computer science professor Dr. David Cooke’s coding courses and math professor Dr. John Schneider’s web development classes helped him get familiar with code, how to read it and how to understand the structures of low-code environments. Egr also credits his football coaches for teaching him about accountability and teamwork, which he applies daily.

Egr said he plans to contact Scoular again next spring for any opportunities to return to the company.

“Because of the environment of the office members and the real-world experience I’m gaining at Scoular, I want to come back next summer to work for another department,” said Egr. “I want to broaden my horizon in the field of coding because when I work here at Scoular they treat me like any other employee, not just an intern.”

By Cecilia Velarde, a junior marketing and communication studies double major from Loveland, Colorado

Collins said college is also a chance to encounter like-minded people who support his cause, as well as interact with students who excel in different areas, especially students who help to make up areas in which he is lacking.

“Education is a chance to expand my growing life experiences in and out of school,” he said. “It is a means to lessen the hardship my generation, and the future generation, will face.”

Collins, a Public School Scholars Programme (PSSP) scholarship recipient, is studying math and actuarial science — the study of risk, usually associated with insurance, pension, and investment plans.

“I relished the challenge since math was always my strongest subject. Actuaries are also heavy in demand worldwide and even more so in The Bahamas. I discovered that there are few Bahamians who ever become an actuary, so I became determined to change that,” said Collins.

Read the full article in .

During her junior year, Worthington started to consider what she could do over the summer to better prepare for graduate school. She talked with her advisor, Dr. John Schneider, and he recommended doing an REU. He told her that Dr. Bobbi Buchholz ‘02 had done one and it set her apart when she went to graduate school.

“He recommended that I apply for those, and I didn’t know what else I could do for a math internship, so this was the perfect choice,” Worthington said.

She applied for several different REUs, writing a personal statement and submitting letters of recommendation for each. She had to describe why she wanted to be a part of the program, her interest in math and her future plans.

In the end she decided to do her REU at Ithaca College. “It fit my schedule perfectly and it had a topic that I’m interested in,” Worthington said. “It fell right into my hands – it was great.”

Worthington’s REU was all about research on fractal trees, so she and two other undergraduate students had the opportunity to discover all they could about them. Her mentor for the REU was a professor at Ithaca College, Dr. Dave Brown, and he spent the first couple of weeks just introducing the students to fractal trees. Then he guided them through creating a research question that they would spend the rest of their time focusing on.

Throughout their research, Worthington’s group worked on LaTeX, which is a software that makes mathematical writings. With it, they made a report that had every conclusion they came to and every route they took.

At the end of her REU, Worthington and her group presented all their findings to the other groups and the professors. “We had a poster presentation, with the best conclusions we came to. We had to pick and choose from our larger report,” Worthington said. She hopes to present her findings at �㽶��Ƶ sometime during her senior year.

While this experience will help set Worthington apart for her graduate school applications, it’s also helped her learn what she’d like to study in graduate school.

“I discovered that I do like researching math,” Worthington said. “Working with the less straightforward side of math, where you’re not given the process to find it or the answers ahead of time, is something that I really enjoy.”

By Ally Banks, junior English major from Shawnee, Kansas