News & Events08/2013

by William Sweet

Getting help with your college expenses just became as easy as picking up a phone, thanks in part to the work of Bryson Alef ’14.

Amidst all the news about increasing higher-education costs, Scholly, a new smartphone app that helps students sniff out the best scholarships, has been catching some attention, not to mention clicks at the App Store and Google Play. Alef, a double major in computer science and psychology, designed the app.

By Peter Rooney

As more African-Americans are realizing they have German roots, and as Germans expand the notion of what it means to be German, a new academic discipline dedicated to examining the Black German experience recently had its third International Conference at Amherst College.

They have participated in dog rescue programs, supported hurricane relief and competed on the international squash circuit. They speak 30 different languages and have lived in more than 40 different countries. They are Quakers, Junior Olympians, Irish fiddle players and calligraphers. There is even an embalmer’s assistant.

What do all of these people have in common? They started their college careers at Amherst on Aug. 25, when New Student Orientation began.

“We are ready for you. We have worked for one year on this year’s Orientation. The anticipation on campus is palpable.”

This is a recent message for incoming students from Patricia O’Hara, on her Countdown to Orientation blog. In addition to being the Amanda and Lisa Cross Professor of Chemistry, O’Hara is starting her fourth year as Amherst’s Dean of New Students. She chairs the Orientation Committee and coordinates Orientation activities. And she has the names and photos of the Class of 2017 displayed on rotation in an electronic picture frame in her office in Converse Hall, to help her get to know them before they arrive.