Profiles of Three Recent Graduates

Apple Melgazo

Apple Melgazo, from the Philippines, found Middletown to be a much quieter, calmer environment than her hometown of Manila. She also had to adjust to snow and cold temperatures! Even more disconcerting, however, was getting used to an environment in which students are expected to form opinions and articulate them in and out of class. Like many other Freeman Scholars, Apple had been raised within an educational system that was fairly rigid and circumscribed; she was not accustomed to speaking out in class or questioning her teachers, although she had been president of her high school’s student government.

Apple became adept at public speaking at Wesleyan, so much so that she signed up for the debate team and competed in a novice tournament at Columbia University in New York. Later, she became the cochair of the Wesleyan Student Judicial Board, a panel comprised of students who adjudicate cases of fellow students alleged to have transgressed the university’s code of nonacademic conduct. After graduating from Wesleyan a government major in 1999, Apple was able to obtain an internship at the United Nations in New York during the summer that same year. She recently completed her final year at the University of Philippines School of Law, having spent one summer on Palawan working with an environmental NGO. Apple feels her Wesleyan education, especially all the reading, prepared her well for law school. She remained a leader in student affairs in her role as secretary of the Law Student Government. Apple recently passed the bar exam and worked as a specialist in law reform at UP Law Center. She is now with DB Law Partnership, a law firm in Makati. Apple hopes to work in the field of community development with nongovernmental organizations. Apple may eventually run for public office in the Philippines.

Intan Suci Nurhati

Intan Nurhati, who graduated in 2001 from SMU #8 in Jakarta, Indonesia, engaged herself completely in the academic and social life of Wesleyan from the first day she arrived in Middletown. She suspects that her first year may have been the most “fun” of the four she had at Wesleyan because she decided to try as many new things as she could fit into her schedule. Academically, that included taking courses in Economic Theory, Intermediate Japanese, Writing about Places, Computer Programming, Environmental Science, Quantitative Economics, and Factors and Matrices. Socially, it included playing varsity squash, joining the crew team as a coxswain, and winning the election for freshman class representative in the student government.

As a Muslim, Intan was able to arrange to live in a single room her first year so that she could have the privacy she needs to pray five times a day. She found a small, but supportive, Muslim community in Middletown. Sophomore year she lived in a special interest house, “Womanist House,” where she continued to live in her third year.

Intan changed her mind about a possible major several times, from economics to government to East Asian studies. She eventually chose to double major in economics and earth and environmental science. Over her first summer break, she did research on biogenic silica in the Long Island Sound. The second summer, Intan interpreted side scan sonar data to “see” the floor of Long Island Sound. The side scan radar is useful in another project she continued on Bioluminescence Bay in Vieques Island in Puerto Rico, where she traveled during the winter break to study the plankton that makes the bay glow at night.

Later, Intan conducted field work at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef and hiking in the rainforests. During the summer of 2004, Intan spent six weeks on a remote island in Sulawesi, gathering data for research on the effects of degrading water quality and sedimentation on corals, and working on a community outreach project with the “sea gypsy” people. She said “I tried to do as much research as possible because I want to do research at home. Not only environmental research, but environmental economics research. I had no clue or interest about this thing called research that naturally sounds boring to our ears. But that’s the thing about doing environmental research; you get to go outdoors and get mucky, salty, sweaty, and then you get nerdy in the lab, then make yourself neat for the presentation. All in one!”

With a wealth of research experience, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute offered Intan the use of their deep sea sediment samples to write her senior thesis. She investigated the past oceanography of the flow from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean through the Indonesian archipelago, and looked at its climatic implications. Intan is now enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Georgia Institute of Technology in the field of paleoclimate/oceanography.

What does Intan miss most about Indonesia? “Fresh and abundant seafood!” What is Intan’s advice to prospective Freeman Asian Scholars? “Just go for it! Wesleyan sees more than just your academic credentials. They see who you are.”

Takahiro Haneda

Takahiro Haneda graduated from Wesleyan in May 2006, having double majored in architecture and dance.  His senior thesis helped him to win the departmental prize for "most promising artist." He came here from the Tokyo Kokusai Metropolitan High School. At first, Taka struggled with English, but he found students and faculty to be extremely helpful and understanding.  The non-competitive atmosphere, small classes and dormitory life made it easy to master English quickly.

Taka expected to study government at university, with the hope of becoming a diplomat.  Explaining his change in direction, Taka says “Wesleyan offered me things that I had never thought of.  Especially the art, dance and music programs made me realize that being a diplomat is not the only way for me to get involved with issues about our contemporary societies.  I became more fascinated by the power of expressions in art and believe in its power to influence people’s lives. I started to see dance as another outlet, an alternative language to speak about myself and connect with other people. Yes, I still would like to be a diplomat, one who can communicate well with people of different customs and cultures, but as an architect or dancer.”

In his third year, Taka enrolled in “The Shape of Two Cities: New York-Paris Program,” organized by Columbia University, exploring the role of architecture, preservation and planning in creating contemporary urban environments. He appreciates the wealth of experiences that the program has afforded him.

At Wesleyan, Taka was often reminded of the great things about Japanese culture, and also learned much from seeing how Japanese individuals or groups play a role in the whole community.  He worked as a curatorial assistant at Wesleyan’s Center for East Asian Studies, translating classical Japanese into English and making captions for exhibitions.

Taka worked this past year as a New York performance season coordinator for the highly acclaimed dancers Eiko and Koma. He plans to pursue graduate studies in architecture, film making, or journalism.   

Additional Thoughts From Freeman Asian Scholars

“What is undeniable is that it has changed me, if for no other reason that it has given me the language to describe my own life . . . My life will never be the same.”

“My peers and professors constantly challenged my preconceptions, thoughts, and values and made me discover a lot about myself.”

”I spent my freshman year feeling incredibly dislocated and confused. Personally, I think it was dealing with such a diverse student population at Wesleyan that prepared me for handling emotional extremes. The small campus and intimate living conditions made me empathetic towards different groups of people, changing my values and opinions.”

“I’ve lived in one of the largest cities in the world my whole life, and being uprooted from that environment only to be transplanted in a suburban setting was most frustrating and challenging.”

“I am excited to see what I can do, what I can contribute to the larger world.”

“It is not so important to constantly be in the center of attention and be acknowledged by everyone. Wesleyan is a place where each person’s small deeds and activities are recognized in some way or another. In other words, the attribute itself is rather appreciated more than the subject.”