After two-plus years in the newspaper office and 20 issues in charge of The Student alongside my partner and co-editor in chief, Jingwen Zhang, I have overseen my last issue with the newspaper. Over the last nine months, we have reported on the college’s selection of its new mascot, the Mammoth, covered campus responses to a divisive U.S. President and continued communicating the most pressing needs of the college community to its constituents.
Gibbs has spent his life pushing boundaries. He entered Amherst in 1959 as one of the only African Americans in his class. Then, Gibbs opted to pursue a career in international business, an unusual choice at the time for both an Amherst graduate and an African American. With this background, one might expect to hear a story of conflict and controversy. However, that is not Gibbs’ story. Instead, he attributes his success to hard work and quiet dedication, while his overwhelming gratitude and generosity is evident through a new scholarship he co-sponsors, the Asa J.
The Amherst Student’s editors, writers and staff have long prided ourselves on the independent nature of our student-run newspaper — since 1868, in fact. By “independent,” we mean that The Student was not funded by the school and that our all-volunteer team has worked hard to cover our own costs of printing, shipping to subscribers and distribution. While many other schools’ newspapers either started as school-funded projects or shifted to this model, The Student had managed to maintain its independence.
Born in the United Kingdom to Nigerian parents but raised in the United States, Tomi Williams was forced to learn how to make himself at home in any environment. At Amherst, this adaptability led to a successful political career for the two-term Association of Amherst Students president.
Beginning their season last weekend against Bowdoin, the Amherst women’s lacrosse team claimed an 11-6 win over the Polar Bears to open their overall record and conference record at 1-0.
In a matinee game on Saturday, March 5, it was Bowdoin who opened the scoring a mere 34 seconds into the contest. After Amherst’s Claire Cagnassola ’17 controlled the draw, the Polar Bears forced a turnover before Megan O’Connor shot the ball past Amherst goalie Christy Forrest ’16.
Men
The Amherst men’s swimming & diving team won its matchup against NESCAC rival Middlebury by a score of 173.5-111.5 last Saturday. Hosting their first meet of the year, Amherst won 12 total events en route to their third straight win of the season.
The hosts started brightly in their first event, the 200-yard medley, where the foursome of Matt Heise ’16, Elijah Spiro ’18, Kaison Ifill ’19 and Alex Dreisbach ’17 won the event in a time of 1:34.83.
The Amherst College women’s cross country team sent two runners to the NCAA Division III Championship on Saturday, Nov. 21. Savanna Gornisiewicz ’17 and Lizzie Lacy ’19 each notched top-75 finishes in the race at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin.
Gornisiewicz claimed 65th place at the national meet with a time of 22:06.06. She finished a strong junior season with one of her best performances of the season, bettering her time at Division III championships last year by 14 seconds with an average mile time of 5:56.
