Profiles - The McKendree Review

A Dedicated Life of Numbers: Questioning Dr. Ryan

23Apr

By The McKendree Review3 Comments

A Dedicated Life of Numbers: Questioning Dr. Ryan

By Quinn Polaski, contributing writer Dr. Dennis Ryan is a professor of Mathematics at McKendree University. He currently holds three degrees: a bachelor’s, master’s, and a doctorate of applied mathematics. These were all earned at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Here at McKendree, he has taught every mathematics course that is offered; some of his favorites are Complex Variables, Calculus, and Statistics. When he was working at a larger university, he taught entry-level math courses, with class sizes that would range anywhere from 60-80 students. In contrast, the largest math class that I have taken at McKendree had about 18 students. These UIC math classes were not by any means difficult for Dr. Ryan to teach content-wise. They did contain students who were n...

McKendree Graduate Series – Jenna Ritzheimer

16Apr

By The McKendree Review2 Comments

Personality, Profiles

McKendree Graduate Series – Jenna Ritzheimer

By Elexis Baltimore, Editor So you got your cap and gown in the mail, maybe sent out graduation announcements, and have probably been asked about your “next step” more times than you can count… with graduation just around the corner some of us are wondering what happens next. In order to help answer this question and maybe give everyone a little peace of mind, I decided to check in with a few McKendree Alumni in what I am calling the McKendree Graduate Series! When Jenna Ritzheimer, then Jenna Wood, transferred to McKendree University she had no idea what she wanted to do. During her first few years in college Jenna realized that she had an interest in psychology and pursued her bachelor’s with that interest in mind. “I had no idea at the time if I would even work in that field,” Jenna sa...

13Apr

By The McKendree ReviewNo Comments

Entertainment, Personality, Profiles

The Man Behind the Conducting Baton

Merisa Ashbaugh- Contributing Writer Plato once said, “Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.” Driven by a love for music and his students, Adam Pulver brings a fresh, upbeat spirit to the McKendree University community and dazzles those he encounters with his gifted abilities. You’ve probably seen him walking around campus dressed to the nines or like a student, or perhaps passed through the lower level hallway of Clark and wondered where the alluring aroma of apple from a Scentsy warmer came from. If you happened to guess the show choir office, you would be correct. Pulver was born in Jacksonville, FL and raised in San Diego, CA until the age of fourteen. For as long as he can remember, Pulver had a passion for music. His mother got him invol...

11Apr

By The McKendree Review7 Comments

Campus News, Personality, Profiles

Entirely Improbable – Gilson Nyrimana

By Zach Breeding, Editor The sheer impossibility of finding another person in the same situation as Gilson Nyrimana is a better opener than any that I could ever think of. The statistic I searched so long for is athletes who have zero experience in a sport walking onto their college’s team and being able to compete. Up until late in the second semester of his freshman year, Nyrimana had never swam extensively. It was then that he registered with the NCAA and began training doubles with the McKendree swim team, a top 15 team in the nation. Nyrimana is from a Kigali, Rwanda, a small country that many only know exists because of the genocide which occurred there. Even more interesting to note is that the country does not have a national swim team except for the one person they sen...

23Mar

By The McKendree Review5 Comments

Campus News, Personality, Profiles, Sports

One Leg, No Limits

By Alexis Porter, Contributing Writer I was walking back from the cafeteria at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center in the summer of 2017, carrying a to-go box of leftovers to enjoy later, when I first met Jacob Waters. He sped past me on his bike like a NASCAR driver and popped the longest wheelie I have ever witnessed in my life. My mouth dropped open in disbelief. I was instantly impressed and intrigued. “Hey, wait!” I called out after him. He circled back around and pulled up next to me. I glanced over his face quickly and then took a long look at his bike. It was bright green, rugged, with large treaded tires. I figured it had to be special if this kid could ride it on one wheel for so long. “Sorry didn’t mean to fly past you like that,” he said hopping off his bike...

19Mar

By The McKendree Review2 Comments

Campus News, Personality, Profiles

Wanderlust

By Magdalena Knapp, Editor “I got run over by a baby elephant, and wow, even a baby elephant is huge and powerful! […] But it was fun!” Whether she gets run over by a baby elephant in Thailand, detained at the Israelian border, invited by an American Jew in Jerusalem to join Shabbat dinner in a tiny room full of people, or snuck out from a Jewish hostel in Jerusalem to join a three-people Palestinian tour of Bethlehem and discuss political tensions – Professor Capron has done it all. Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, India, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Machu Picchu, Puerto Rico, Canada, Vancouver, Thailand, Jordan and more – the list is endless. There is hardly any place in the world that she has not stepped on and somewhat explored yet. Aurélie Capron is who I would consider a real Marco Po...

Dr. Mario Livio – The man that gives curiosity a face

2Mar

By The McKendree Review2 Comments

Campus Events, Campus News, Local News, News, Opinion, Profiles

Dr. Mario Livio – The man that gives curiosity a face

By Magdalena Knapp, Editor “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.” (Kate Chopin - "Story of an Hour") - You can hardly introduce a short story with a better sentence than this, in my opinion. This sentence makes you curious, wants you to continue reading and to discover more about Mrs. Mallard, the death of her husband and how she is going to live with it. Curiosity - this has been Dr. Mario Livio’s field of interest for the last five years. Dr. Livio shook my hand with the heartwarming words “La vita è dura” (Italian for “Life is hard”) and introduced himself to me before his big speech. “I’m not actually Italian,” he says, “but people think it because of my name, so I mi...

26Feb

By The McKendree Review3 Comments

Campus News, Entertainment, Personality, Profiles, Sports

For the Love of the Game

By Kaylee Fann “What distinguishes a great player is his presence. When he goes on to the court, his presence dominates the atmosphere” – Bill Russell Charismatic. Outgoing. Loving. Talented. Inspiring. Resilient. These are all words that can be used to describe 19 year old Winslow Martin, a basketball player for Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg, Illinois. Born and raised by a single mother in Centralia, Illinois, Martin fell in love with the game of basketball from a young age. His older brother and grandfather served as positive role models for a young Martin, teaching him everything he knows about the game. Once he started playing, he practiced with his brother nearly every day. His grandfather was actually a professional player overseas until an injury abruptly ended h...

20Feb

By The McKendree Review1 Comment

Personality, Profiles

A man has to BE something

From Editor, Zach Breeding Today marks the 13th anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson tragically taking his own life. There is, however, no sense wallowing in pity for a man who felt he lived 17 years too long, anyway. So, on this most auspicious of occasions I would like to present one of my favorite authors' take on a young man's life and what is truly important within it. Without further adieu, here is a letter from Thompson, then 17, to his friend who asked him for some advice: Dear Hume, You ask advice: ah, what a very human and very dangerous thing to do! For to give advice to a man who asks what to do with his life implies something very close to egomania. To presume to point a man to the right and ultimate goal—to point with a trembling finger in the RIGHT direction is somet...

Rob Watkins – Being More Than Just a Student

15Dec

By The McKendree ReviewNo Comments

Personality, Profiles

Rob Watkins – Being More Than Just a Student

By Shelby Procko, Contributing Writer McKendree Senior Robert Watkins is both the president and founder of the McKendree chapter of Sigma Alpha Phi, also known as The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS). He is a business administration major with a minor in leadership studies. When asked what he planned to do with his degree after graduation in December he shrugged and said, "I have no idea, I am still trying to figure that out." Grinning, he added, "If you figure it out, let me know." Rob is active in numerous other roles on campus including student government president, peer mentor, a job working in the IT department, and an intern for the Student Success Center doing data organization. He used to play for the McKendree Men’s Volleyball team but decided to sit his last ye...