Shoaib Alam
Shoaib is of foreign extraction. He is majoring in Literature and Economics. At sixteen Shoaib fell madly in love with California so after a gap year of teaching English at home, in Bangladesh, he rushed over to sunny CMC. He spent the next three years traversing the state on a Budget. This inspired him to work on a collection of short stories for senior thesis. Some have confused Shoaib’s background in British English to indicate kinship to Her Majesty. This is not true. Shoaib loves to talk about all kinds of writing, including academic writing at the Claremont Colleges. During his free time, Shoaib relishes a jar of double roasted salsa with tortilla chips while watching his favorite show, Bones.

Grace Beck
Grace is an Environment, Economics, and Politics major at CMC. In addition to working in the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, she enjoys researching at the Roberts Environmental Center, playing on the CMS Women’s basketball team, and spending time outdoors. She is from Santa Cruz, California, and hopes to go to medical school after graduating from CMC. In terms of her academic interests, Grace has taken many science courses and is familiar with the format and structure of lab reports. In addition, she enjoys helping students with argumentative essays in literature and government.

Lauren Buchanan
Lauren is an Economics-Literature dual major. When she is not consulting at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, Lauren enjoys hitting up the links (especially with the CMS Athenas Women's Golf Team), listening to music, singing, and dancing. A major de-stressor for Lauren is watching her favorite TV shows, which include, but are not limited to, Gilmore Girls, Sex and the City, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, and Glee. Her dream jobs would be becoming a Broadway star, the editor of Vogue, or a hip-hop/ R&B singer/songwriter. If you're looking for Lauren on campus, she is either in her room watching TV and drinking coffee, at the Motley ordering coffee, at the local Starbucks ordering coffee, or at the library cafe ordering coffee.

Elizabeth Duckworth
Elizabeth (who is far more likely to respond to Ducky) is from a northern suburb of Chicago, Illinois. When she is not helping peers craft concise, powerful essays she enjoys encouraging future students to commit to CMC while leading tours for the admissions office, organizing the club field hockey team's defensive unit, obsessively studying for Organic Chemistry, and spending time "wired in" while writing code for her computer science class. While not in a consulting session she would be more than happy to discuss the inherent supremacy of dogs over cats, almost any show on television, or the plight of lemurs in Madagascar. She is looking forward to seeing the reader of this blurb in the Center for Writing and Public Discourse!

Lauren Gonzalez
Lauren is from Sacramento, California. She is planning to major in Chemistry (though that plan occasionally involves a Literature major). In her free time, she drenches herself in Chopin’s Nocturnes, loses her shoes, and attends as many Ath dinners as possible (usually while wearing shoes). She would be glad to assist with any variety of writing assignment!

Carly Goodkin
Carly is from Bellevue, Washington. She divides her time between art, Pedal Spin, AquaFit and dance (at some point, you may even see her in a Reverb hip hop performance). Carly loves Claremont, but she left her heart in Madrid where she lived and studied this past summer. Having taught as a tutor and a choreographer throughout high school, Carly is enjoying the opportunity to continue working with other students as a writing consultant.

Laila Heid
Laila is from Bellevue, Washington. Although she is still undecided, Laila is strongly considering dual majoring in Government and Psychology with a Leadership sequence. Laila's academic interests, however, extend beyond these areas of study. She has studied French for eight years now and has even had the opportunity to participate in an exchange to Nantes for several weeks. In addition, Laila is currently studying Portuguese at Pomona and is hoping to study abroad in Brazil next spring. Laila is also extremely passionate about the performing arts and is an active participant in the CMC theater group, Under the Lights. Laila is excited to join the team at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse and help her peers in any way she can!

McKenzie Javorka
McKenzie is from a little town called Kalispell, tucked up into the Rockies in northwest Montana. She knows her way around a grizzly bear and has taken on a mountain or two in her day, but don't let that scare you. When she's not in the wilderness, McKenzie studies Psychology and Literature, and aims to earn her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology after graduating from CMC. She is an avid reader of many genres, but does hold a soft spot for Jane Austen and Shakespeare. When she isn't helping students with papers at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, she can be found raising money for the school at Phonenite or doing psychology research with Professor Krauss's lab team. McKenzie is an active member of SPEAR, CMC's environmental club, and during her free time enjoys doing ballet and modern dance, playing her guitar and singing, or simply being outdoors.

Michelle Kahn
Born and raised in Beverly Hills (adjacent!), History-Government major Michelle Lynn Kahn would love to be back in Germany, sitting in front of a microfilm scanner all day. She'd also love to fast-forward to her future life as a German history professor or - at the very least - to be done with Modern European History PhD applications. But she can't. In the meantime, she'll continue as a consultant at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse and write her thesis, tentatively titled, "The Herero Genocide: Implications for German Colonial Memory, 1884–1945" (because you know you're a real historian when you include a date range). Before locking herself up in the Ivory Tower, she served as the Editor-in-Chief of two publications, including The Claremont Port Side, and dabbled in politics. She loves German, hates French and really wants to learn Turkish this summer, if only she can convince her parents that Istanbul is safe for a tiny Jewish girl with a bum knee.

Jeffrey Kang
Jeffrey is from Pasadena, California with a soft spot for the sea. Currently, he is taking a forcefully nonchalant approach to writing his thesis: a memoir. He is also working at the Scripps College Press on an independent study: Typography and Book Design. Because these two chief pursuits require massive amounts of percolative creativity, he can be found relaxing in front of the Hub, cruising around campus on his bicycle, or reading on the Kravis terraces. Please feel free to interrupt him during any of these secondary pursuits – one can use his francophility to one’s advantage. After graduation he intends to enter the world of publishing; hard work coupled with words and imagery make him happy.

Aliza Kellerman
Aliza is closer to completing her Religious Studies major than fulfilling her GE's. She is looking forward to spending a semester abroad in Rome, where she will consume as much gelato and pasta as possible while hoping to come back somewhat fluent in Italian. She enjoys editing papers of every creed and color, but she is partial toward Philosophy papers and anything Religious Studies related.

Simon Ma
Simon is majoring in Biology and Economics. His interests include dancing, writing, and rooting for his favorite sports teams. As an avid Broncos fan, Simon wholeheartedly believes that Tim Tebow will develop into the best quarterback to ever play the game of football. Simon spends his weekends studying Organic Chemistry and volunteering at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. In addition to assisting students at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, Simon works as a Lab TA for General Chemistry. He has taken numerous science courses, and is very familiar with the structure of lab reports.

Gracie Mahan
Gracie is from the great plains of Lubbock, Texas! She is dual majoring in International Relations and Literature, and she spent this past summer working in a federal genetics laboratory in Texas. Gracie has always had a love of writing, and she has been tutoring since she was a wee little lassie. Gracie also works for the Children's School, and she spends the fall and spring semesters teaching writing seminars at Pomona High School.

Mark Munro
Mark, who is majoring in Literature and Government, enjoys thinking creatively about new ways to deliver public services and design social systems. His academic interests range from depictions of public space in literature to social innovation. Spending the past summer in Cape Town, South Africa reinforced his interest to move to Sub-Sarahan Africa and start a social enterprise. Previously, he has interned with the White House Domestic Policy Council and the Deputy Secretary's Office at the Department of Education, working on social innovation and education policy. He currently serves as the Resident Assistant of Berger Hall, and has also assisted with research on Robert Frost's letters at the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies. Mark hails from Beaverton, Oregon, and enjoys farmer's markets and food trucks.

Russell Page
From the land of green chile and hot air balloons (Albuquerque, New Mexico), Russell is a History and Government major who loves discussing any issues related to his beloved Land of Enchantment. On campus, he runs varsity cross country and track for CMS, which means, simply, that he is a masochist. As the Web Editor for the Claremont Port Side, he drives web content for the progressive publication. A proud non-conformist, he was a punk rock lead singer in a former life. He has involved himself in politics through internships for the Obama campaign and in the Senate Office of the Honorable Tom Udall. This past summer, he helped mentor children of American servicemen stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany. At the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, Russell hopes to help students master the craft of writing so they can express themselves and learn critical thinking skills.

Shree Pandya
Shree is a Government-Economics dual major. In addition to consulting at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, she works for the Keck Center of International and Strategic Studies and is a research assistant for the Government department. Her academic interests include (but definitely aren't limited to): sustainable development, History, Government/International Relations, Literature, and Gender Studies. In her free time, she can be found strumming her guitar idly or reading decidedly nonacademic science fiction and fantasy novels. That, or watching reruns of Castle or Firefly.

Shalni Pawa
Shalni is a 3+2 Management-Engineering major whose interests spread around the world and back. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, she is often caught modelling her native behaviour by referencing hockey and spelling with tonnes of superfluous letters. As a linguistically-inclined perfectionist, Shalni is notorious for eagerly helping others with their writing for pure pleasure, regardless of the subject. She has spoken English since birth, French since preschool, Spanish since high school, and Italian since August. Her future goals include designing rocket ships or roller coasters, traveling and learning new languages, saving the environment, and putting smiles on people’s faces; however, friends believe that she is destined to be a cartoon voiceover or a journalist who reports on breaking news through limerick.

Katie Punsly
Katie is double majoring in Literature and Philosophy. Around campus, she is an RTA and research assistant at the Gould Center for the Humanities. She spent the past year abroad in England, studying at Worcester College, Oxford, but has failed to come back with an accent. The majority of her extra-academic experience is in journalism and she has been a staff writer for a video games website for the past five years. She avidly reads technology, comedy, and sci-fi blogs and always tries to find ways to combine her interests. Last Bloomsday, she took part in a project to tweet all of Joyce's Ulysses over the course of a day.

Alyssa Roberts
Hailing from the mountain-framed city of Denver, Colorado, Alyssa is a Government major who spends her free time baking cupcakes, citing the Constitution, and perfecting prose. Throughout her primary and secondary education, her newspaper editor father butchered her five-paragraph essays until they bled red ink. Though traumatized by the constant criticism of her spelling skills, this experience shaped Alyssa into a superior copy-editor and argumentation consultant. Combining her love of writing with her passion for progressive politics, Alyssa serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Claremont Port Side. She has also interned at the White House, the Center for American Progress, and on various campaigns. Her favorite punctuation mark is the en dash – use it wisely.

Veronica Salas
Veronica hails from Mesa, Arizona and hopes to dual-major in Economics and International Relations with a focus on Latin America. When she is not at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, you might find Veronica laying poolside or sprawled on the grass with a book in hand. Her academic interests outside her major include the Spanish language, analyzing rhetorical strategies, creative writing and queer/feminist theory. At CMC, Veronica has served as an America Reads tutor at Vista Valle Elementary School, volunteer at Pomona High School with the Education Task Force, a sponsor for first-year students through Chicano/Latino Student Affairs, and a grant-writing and development consultant with SOURCE, a student-run non-profit consulting organization that services the Claremont community.

Heather Siegel
Heather is from Huntington Beach, CA. She is majoring in French and just returned from a semester studying at the Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris, France. She has been tutoring since the 6th grade and more recently has been consulting at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse. Heather also works at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government and volunteers as an Admissions Associate. She spent the past summer in Brussels, Belgium interning at the US Mission to NATO.

Sara Stern
Sara is a Philosophy major from Seattle, Washington. When not contemplating the possibility of time travel or the ethics of genetic enhancement, Sara can be found hiking the trails of Mt. Baldy. She has only been beaten once at Star Wars trivia and can tell you more than you need to know about most ethical theories. Sara’s other academic interests include Literature and History, although she is also familiar with the requirements for Government and Religious Studies papers. Sara studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she studied Scottish literature and health policy.

Nora Studholme
Nora is from far-away Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a double major in Economics and Anthropology with her sights set on someday working in and with developing nations. While Nora dreams of someday running her own business, one of her most fond ambitions is to get old and sit on her porch in a rocking chair, spending each day writing in the sunshine. For now, she is delighted with teaching yoga, writing articles and editing for “The Forum," and adoring CMC and life in general. Bring her a paper of ANY topic, and she will be genuinely excited and you will have made her day!

Nick Thompson
A product of Kansas City, Missouri, Nick enjoys the luxuries of the West Coast like running water, internet access, and air conditioning. Nick is an Economics-Psychology dual major, but he enjoys words much more than data, and he will glow with delight after correct uses of the word “whom” and the conditional “were” (as opposed to was). When he is not happily reading over the papers brought into the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, Nick can be found working on thesis, watching KU basketball, traveling, or listening to Frank Sinatra.