Sara Roberson '09 and Nick Zosel-Johnson '07 will begin their fall academic year with one of the most coveted jobs on campusas Athenaeum fellows for the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.
Located on East Eighth Street on the CMC campus, the Athenaeum's distinction as a convivial forum for dinner and intellectual discourse among students, faculty and community members puts the role of Ath Fellow on many a wish-list. Fellows not only eat at the head table with influential speakers from the fields of business, politics, and the arts, but introduce the guests to Athenaeum audiences four times a week.
Roberson and Zosel-Johnson were selected following a process that included submission of a written application and prior consideration by the Athenaeum Advisory Committee.
"Athenaeum Fellows are selected on the basis of academic strength, breadth of interests and intellect, and communication skills," says Athenaeum director Bonnie Snortum. "Sara and Nick embody all of the above, as well as a nice balance of diverse interests."
Roberson calls the Athenaeum an irreplaceable facet of CMC. "It offers members of our community the amazing opportunity to learn from and interact with various exemplary members of the real world,' " she says. "Perhaps even more importantly, I feel that the Ath aims for inspiration, something that is sometimes overlooked in the more rote aspects of conventional education."
Zosel-Johnson concurs: "Students interact with professors, members of the community, and with working professionals," he says. "The Athenaeum was one of the main reasons I decided to come to CMC. I think it is a defining feature of the school."
One of Roberson's and Zosel-Johnson's chief duties will be to help write and edit the Athenaeum's bi-weekly newsletter, The Fortnightly. In addition, the Fellows will work with Athenaeum director Bonnie Snortum to develop themes and strategies for bringing distinguished guests to campus.
Zosel-Johnson, a government major, is interested in the theory of American Exceptionalism and hopes to see a speaker series developed on the future of American-led "Democratization." Roberson, who has not yet declared a major but suspects it will be an amalgam of history and foreign languages, says that booking former President Jimmy Carter would be a dream come true.
"Unfortunately, though," she laughs, "I think it's a dream of the pipe variety!"
Understandably, free time will be a luxury for Roberson and Zosel-Johnson as they gear up for their new roles as Ath Fellows, but in her scant downtime, Roberson says she enjoys crafts, jewelry-making and knitting (when she isn't at work on a mystery novel for one of her classes, that is). "I also spend a considerable amount of time perfecting my champion whistling skills."
For Zosel-Johnson, hiking, biking or swimming anything outdoors will suffice just fine. "I have a passion for traveling and recently I studied abroad in Ecuador," he says. "While on my journeys I always bring along a camera to document the trip. I like putting myself in new situations."
Snortum says that perhaps the most positive aspect of her position at the Athenaeum is the opportunity to spend time with "truly fine young men and women.
"Morgan Rice, who graduated this year, and Josh Schneider '08, have been superb Fellows," Snortum says, "and now I will have the pleasure of working with Sara and Nick as we launch a new season."