The WildCats are back!

Randolph College's fall student-athletes arrived on campus Thursday. The weather cooperated perfectly for them to unload their suitcases, clothes, and dorm essentials in front of Main Hall and move in to the residence halls.

Classes don't start for more than a week, but they are here to get a head start on the fall season, practice their skills, exercise, and bond with their teams.

At the right, Ashley Oswald, a first-year student from Mechanicsville, Virginia, pulls a cart of her belongings up to Main Hall, along with her mother Lisa, her sister Alexa, and her father Eric. Ashley will be playing soccer—take note of the soccer balls and cleats in her basket. Welcome to Randolph College, Ashley!





At left, David Guwani, another first-year playing soccer at Randolph College, is reporting to campus with some of his own furniture in tow. Guwani is from Silver Spring, Maryland.





Here, Jacob Hood, a sophomore from New Market, Maryland, stacks his belongings to move in with the help of Bob Lusczek, his roommate's dad. Hood also is a soccer player.

Although they didn't pose for any pictures, WildCats from the volleyball team and the men's and women's cross country teams moved in Thursday. Welcome back, WildCats, and we look forward to you making us proud in your competitions this fall!

Wolfbane Productions presents The Tempest at Thoresen Theatre

A Lynchburg theatre company promises Shakespeare’s The Tempest “as you’ve never seen it before” at Randolph College starting next week, just in time for the play’s 400th anniversary.

The Wolfbane Productions show on the Thoresen Theatre stage combines Celtic music and dancing with computer-animated graphics to spin a tale of treachery, revenge, love, forgiveness and magic. Thought to be one of Shakespeare’s last plays—probably the last that he wrote on his own—The Tempest symbolizes the culmination of the playwright’s career, said Ken Parks, a Randolph College theatre.

“It pulls together everything that came before,” said Parks.

Dustin Williams, the founder of Wolfbane Productions, has been adapting Shakespeare’s script since his first year at Lynchburg College. He changed the main character from Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, to Prospera, the exiled wife of the late duke. Ever since hearing Loreena McKennitt’s song “Prospero’s Speech,” which takes it lyrics from the play’s epilogue, Williams has felt that Prospero should be a female role, he said.

Other than that change, Williams only cut from the script to make the flow better for a two-act, 90-minute show, he said.

Williams approached Parks about performing a Wolfbane show in the Thoresen Theatre last year, but the stage was booked for college shows, Parks said.

“I was really eager to get them in this year,” said Parks. “We, as a department, have been looking for ways to get better use out of our space when we’re not doing productions.”

In Wolfbane’s performance of The Tempest, Prospera summons a storm to seek revenge against Alonso, king of Naples (played by Parks), and Antonio, who have banished her to an island. After the betrayers are shipwrecked, Alonso’s son falls in love with Prospera’s daughter Miranda. By the end, they reach reconciliation and forgiveness.

Forgiveness is the focus of this performance, making it unique, said Kim Willard, who plays Prospera.

“Rather than focus on the negative aspects or the scariness, the central theme is in Prospero’s line, ‘ the rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance,’” Willard said. “It’s about forgiveness. It’s about terrible wrongs being done, and revenge not being satisfying.”

“You see the human in Prospera come through,” Williams said. “Despite how evil people can be, she forgives them.”

The Tempest will be performed at 8 p.m. on Aug. 24 – 27 and Sept. 1 – 3, and 3 p.m. on Aug. 28 and Sept. 4. Tickets, available online, cost $12 for adults and $8 for students. All performances will be in the Thoresen Theatre, in the Leggett Building.

Here is the trailer for the show:

The Tempest from Jonathan Haring on Vimeo.

Student research highlights Disney's treatment of race

Julianna Joyce ’13 speaks about her Summer Research that investigated racial views in Disney productions.

The heroine in the Princess and the Frog grabbed attention as Disney’s first black princess in 2009, but the animated film perpetuated racial stereotypes that have long been a part of mass media, according to research by Julianna Joyce ’13.

“It’s not as progressive as you’d think,” said Joyce, who studied race in Disney productions during Randolph College’s Summer Research Program.

Joyce has been skeptical of Disney movies and the widespread belief that they present wholesome family entertainment. A communication studies major from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, she decided to test her theories in an academic study. Joyce worked with Chad Beck, a communications professor, to analyze several films and television series.

Joyce studied race in Disney sequels, including Aladdin: The Return of Jafar and Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World. She said sequels have not received as much academic attention as other movies.

“The project revealed that Disney’s multicultural marketing and animated media representations incorporate minority characters and audiences, yet the company’s commercial strategy ultimately prioritizes white perspectives, revives historical stereotypes, and obscures ongoing racial inequalities,” said Beck.

Joyce said that in most cases, the antagonist and protagonist in the productions are of the same race, but the protagonist has more Anglican features. In the case of The Princess and the Frog, Joyce found that the dark-skinned main characters were not obviously racialized, but other characters revived old stereotypes. The villain had the physical appearance and personality traits of a “brutal black buck,” one caricature identified in media studies, she said. “It’s just being reiterated by this multibillion dollar company that everyone sees as wholesome,” she said.

Joyce hopes her research will result in a paper for an academic conference and help prepare her for graduate school.

Fresh paint on the front porch

The east and west front porches of Main Hall are getting fresh coats of paint this week. Here's a picture of Allie Starbuck '12 painting the floor of the west porch on Tuesday.

It's about the same color that it was before, but the fresh paint makes a real difference.

The east porch will be painted on Wednesday, so it will be closed.

Starbuck is one of several students who worked with the Buildings and Grounds department this summer to help make improvements around the Randolph College campus. Students will notice many improvements as they return to campus for the fall semester!

Randolph students get SUPER start to college

More than two weeks before the fall semester begins, 20 first-year students gathered for their first day of class.

What brings them here so early?

These students are participating in Step Up to Science and Engineering at Randolph (SUPER), an intensive two-week course that helps students transition to life at Randolph College and the rigorous math and science curriculum here.

“This is a program to get them ready for the next level of college math and science,” said Peter Sheldon, a physics professor who oversees the program. “It also teaches them how to be in college.”

The College launched the SUPER program one year ago. Ten students participated last year, and all had academic success, Sheldon said.

SUPER participants take three math and science classes each day during the program. They also participate in activities such as bowling, frisbee golf, and a scavenger hunt to familiarize them with campus.

Brier Darcy ’15, of Dallas, Texas, said she was looking forward to getting to know the college better during the SUPER program. “I thought it would be a good way to get ready for college,” she said.

“I wanted to get to college as fast as possible,” said Tom Heynen ’15, from Charlotte, North Carolina. SUPER provided him the way to get to college and jump-start his higher education.

SUPER is one example of how Randolph College is developing an educational experience that will help students succeed with small classes, challenging course work, and dedicated faculty.

“The College is very student-focused,” Sheldon said. “We are very interested in making the students as successful as they can be. That's why we create programs like these.”

Student Center Renovation Update: Aug. 10

Finding places to take photographs in the current Student Center facility is getting harder and harder these days. More floors, walls, and staircases have been removed as workers continue the demolition process--which is expected to last several more weeks. Now that the small rooms and walls have been removed, the amount of space available inside the Student Center facility is astounding, and it is easy to visual how transforming this renovation project will be to campus.

Lynchburg youth get taste of science at Randolph College

Excitement for science was palpable Tuesday afternoon as participants in Lynchburg Parks and Recreation summer programs came to Randolph College to learn about electricity.


Peter Sheldon, a physics professor, showed the children how electricity from Tesla coils and Van de Graaff generators—also called lightning machines—interacts with packaging popcorn, pie plates, and human hair.





Sheldon encouraged the students to attend the College's Science Festival, scheduled for March 23—25 next year, to participate in more cool science experiments.