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Golden Age The following Nu Alpha Phi Alumni are to be congratulated and honored for their perseverance. Do them the honor of correspondence. Write! The Pomona College Alumni Office provided Nu Alpha Phi with this list of surviving NAF alumni in September 2001. Ken Smith ‘33 #138 does warn me, however, that Pomona may not have the most recent information. I apologize in advance if their information is incorrect. Please contact the Pomona College Alumni Office if you notice any inconsistencies. (Note: We don't publish alumni addresses and phone numbers on the web. Write to the editor if you can't find this information in your print version of the Oak Leaf.)
I am pleased to report to you on the 2000-2001 Nu Alpha Phi Scholarship and the William H. Schoonmaker, Jr., Scholarship. We have selected Regan Douglass, a junior from Ben Lomond, California; Erica Kim, a junior from Long Beach, California; Grace Kim, a junior from Cerritos, California; and Janne Olson, a junior from Eugene, Oregon, to be honored as the Nu Alpha Phi Scholars. We have selected Grayson Schaffer, a senior from Spokane, Washington, to be honored as the Schoonmaker Scholar. Regan Douglass is majoring in English and considering a career as a screenwriter. This fall, Regan studied in Salamanca, Spain, through Pomona College's study abroad program. She looks forward to returning to her involvements on campus this spring: working at the Women's Union, editing Re-View, Pomona College's literary magazine, tutoring in writing, and studying piano. Erica Kim is majoring in Art History and considering a career in museum work. She is currently the Getty Intern at the Pomona College Slide Library, and she is making contacts at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Erica is studying abroad in Rome this spring, so that she can study early Christian Art in person. She is also passionate about languages and has become proficient in French, Italian and German. Grace Kim is majoring in Politics and French and is considering a career in law. This fall, she studied in Paris, France through the Pomona College study abroad program. She serves as a research assistant to Professor of Politics, David Arase and Professor of French, Monique Saigal. She has interned with the American Civil Liberties Union and takes piano lessons at Pomona College. Janne Olson is majoring in Biology and Politics. Janne was awarded the Brian Stonehill Media Studies Grant to study Political Theater in San Francisco last summer. Her independent study involved interviewing actors, audience members, mime troupe members, political activists, and spoken word and rap artists. She also participated in a six-week intensive program in modern dance at Duke University. This fall she studied in Seville, Spain, through Pomona College's study abroad program. Grayson Schaffer is majoring in Economics. He has spent his summers working as an information systems and web page design consultant for Global Tactics. He is also an assistant to a Beverly Hills Celebrity Photographer. He is the staff photographer for the alumni magazine and the sports photographer for The Student Life, Pomona College's student newspaper. We think that Regan, Erica, Grace, Janne, and Grayson represent the very best that Pomona College strives for in its students, including hard work, community involvement, and scholarship. We want to thank you again for the Nu Alpha Phi members' generous gifts, which allows such students to attend our College. Christopher Michno I am pleased to report to you on the 2001-2002 Nu Alpha Phi Scholarship and the William H. Schoonmaker, Jr., Scholarship. Nathan Fisher, from St. Louis Park, Minnesota; Conor O’Rourke, from Bend, Oregon; and Kavin Paulraj, from Madras, India. We have selected Matthew Clark, a sophomore from Port Angeles, Washington, to be honored as the Schoonmaker Scholar. Susan Caplow is majoring in Public Policy Analysis and Biology, and she is considering a career in Environmental Policy advocacy. Last November, Susan traveled to the Hague as a part of the Greenpeace Student delegation in support of the Kyoto Protocol. Susan acts in the student theater at Pomona, is a member of the Pomona College Choir, sings with an a capella group and plays varsity volleyball. Nathan Fisher is majoring in Public Policy Analysis and Politics, and he is considering a career in journalism. Nathan writes for The Student Life and Password, the new literary magazine on Pomona’s campus. Last year he was honored with a writing prize from the English department. After graduating from Pomona, Nathan plans on working with Teach for America for a few years before applying to journalism schools. Conor O’Rourke is majoring in Economics, and he is considering a career in business. This August was the second time that Conor has led an Outdoor Adventure Program for first year students; he enjoys his role in helping first year students through the transition to college life. This year he hopes to find an internship in the film industry. In his spare time, Connor enjoys creative writing. Kavin Paulraj is considering majors in Biology or History. Last summer Kavin worked as an assistant to Dr. Rachel Levin, Associate Professor of Biology, in her research on the reproductive behavior of the House Wren. Kavin enjoyed the beauty of the Sierra Nevadas and hopes to research avian behavior in the future. Kavin competes with the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company, sings with a Five College a cappella group, and has learned a new instrument, the western Flute. Matthew Clark is majoring in Politics, and he is considering a career in medicine. Matthew is enjoying his education at Pomona College; he has a thirst for knowledge and enjoys reading. Matthew writes that he especially enjoys reading authors with points of view very different than his own to gather insight into opposing points of view. We want to thank you again for the Nu Alpha Phi members generous gifts, which allow such students to attend our College. Sincerely, Christopher Michno [The following is excerpted from the Newsletter for The Inn at Sterling Senior Communities, Temecula, California, where Ken Smith ‘33 #138 writes that he still visits Chuck Shelton on occasion. –Ed.] Want a first hand account of the start of WWII? Just ask the Inn's Charles Shelton. Charles was born in Glendora, California on September 14, 1914. He was raised in California and graduated from Pomona College in 1935. He married his wife of 65 years, Kathleen, in 1939. Soon after his marriage, Charles as a reserve, was stationed in Hawaii at Hikman Air Field. His wife joined him on December 4th. Thus their “paradise” lasted three days, until the morning of December 7th, 1941. That day the air was filled with Japanese planes on their bombing runs at Pearl Harbor and Hickman beginning World War II for the United States. The Army immediately sent Kathleen, and all dependents, back to California. Charles spent WWII in India, Asia, and the South Pacific. When Charles was discharged from the Army, he had the rank of Lt. Colonel. After the war Charles and his wife raised four daughters. Charles bought the Azusa Herald and the Glendora Press newspapers and served as the Editor in Chief. In the mid-50s, he purchased the Desert Magazine in Palm Desert. He also owned Southwest Gallery in Palm Desert and founded Palm Desert Post in the early 1960s. He lived in Palm Desert until his retirement and move to Temecula's Sterling Communities in November 2000. Charles enjoys music, reading, and spending time with his family.
San Luis Obispo - Some of Sam Blakeslee's fondest childhood memories are of visiting the coast at Montana de Oro with his father, Earle. Now, decades later, those memories have become the catalyst for one of the most successful land conservation efforts in the county's history. Sam Blakeslee has an aerial photograph in his office of Diablo Canyon taken in the 1960s, before the nuclear power plant was built. When Earle Blakeslee, a popular Cuesta College music teacher, died a year ago, his son Sam was looking for a way to work through his grief. He chose the ambitious task of trying to find a way to conserve the 14,000 acres of pristine coastal land around Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. “That whole project was intended to leave a legacy for him,” Blakeslee said. Working with landowners Pacific Gas and Electric Co., county supervisors and environmental groups, Blakeslee was able to put a carefully worded advisory measure on the March primary election ballot. The measure, called the DReAM initiative, urged county supervisors to adopt land-use policies that encouraged the continued use of the Diablo lands for agriculture, open space and recreation after the power plant closes, which is scheduled for 2025. “It's a rare quality to get people from all points of the political and philosophical spectrum to agree on something, and Sam was able to do that,” said Kara Woodruff Smith, who as the Central Coast project director with The Nature Conservancy has worked extensively with Blakeslee. By any standard, the measure was a stunning success. It passed by a margin of 75 percent and passed in each supervisory district by at least a two-thirds margin. A majority of the voters in even the most conservative precincts in the North County approved the measure. In one San Luis Obispo precinct, the measure passed by an unbelievable 90 percent margin. “One of the reasons Sam was so successful was that he did not take an adversarial role,” said Greg Smith, president of the Bay Foundation, another land conservation group in the county. “He is a very good listener.” In pulling together the DReAM initiative and its steering committee, Blakeslee called upon a lifetime of skills learned as a strategic planner, businessman and corporate employee. Before returning to San Luis Obispo in 1995 to join the family’s financial planning firm, Blakeslee worked for Exxon Corp. in Houston, Texas. He worked in the oil company's research laboratory and did strategic planning. This experience gave him valuable insight into corporate decision-making and allowed him to craft the DReAM initiative in a way that skittish PG&E executives found acceptable. By adding the phrase “consistent with public safety and property rights” to the initiative, PG&E was able to support the measure. “A corporation can't just do the right thing because it feels good,” he said. “It has to do what is good for the shareholders.” PG&E officials credited Blakeslee's sensitivity to their needs as a reason for the initiative's success. “We appreciated that the DReAM initiative's goals were in line with PG&E’s long-standing stewardship programs for Diablo Canyon lands,” said Missie P. Hobson, PG&E’s public affairs manager. “The committee's interest and efforts in working with PG&E and respecting private property rights was a key component in assuring the DReAM’s initiative eventual success.” Blakeslee's most potent skill, however, was an innate sense of optimism. “These big projects are doable,” he said. “Often the only thing that is lacking is the faith that it can be done.” But that optimism did not prepare Blakeslee for the cynicism with which some people greeted the DReAM initiative and his involvement in it. He was accused of doing it as a way to drum up customers for his business or to provide a springboard to elected office. “It’s natural that some cynicism would be there,” he said. “But it's a poison, a cancer, because it discourages people from running for office and taking on big jobs.” Although his land conservation activities have put Blakeslee in the public eye, they are only a small part of his life. His customers at Blakeslee & Blakeslee remain his highest priority. “My life is so full, I have no plans for future elected office,” he said. There are some of the other ventures that keep Blakeslee busy: Member of the Cuesta College Board of Trustees. President of the Central Coast Natural History Association. Working with the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce on downtown parking and access issues. Working with a partnership to bring a $16 million drilling project to the San Andreas fault near Parkfield that would study the fault in an attempt to predict earthquakes. This is a throwback to Blakeslee's college days. His doctoral dissertation was on earthquake prediction. The last massive earthquake on the San Andreas fault took place in 1857, and a repeat could throw the state's economy into turmoil. “To me, it's one of the most important unaddressed dangers facing our state.” | |||
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