Allison Westfahl '07 was recently appointed to serve on the Claremont Community Services Commission for a four-year term. The Commission makes recommendations on the development, improvement and maintenance of the city's parks, buildings, sanitation, and streets.
Westfahl, a Claremont High School graduate and 16-year Claremont resident, says she applied for the position because she has a perspective not typically reflected in city governmentthat of a former Claremont high schooler and current college student.
A double major in mathematics and government, Westfahl's service on the Commissionplus her recent election as board member of her primary school alma mater, Carden Arbor School in Upland, where she's currently serving a three-year term at the request of the school's headmastershould provide some valuable on-the-job training. Westfahl attended Carden from grades 2-8 and graduated in 1999 as class valedictorian.
As a Carden board member she will be involved in alumni outreach, but also work with other board members to determine and approve the school's annual budget, assist in new-hires, plan fundraisers, and provide information to parents of children attending the school.
Westfahl, a McKenna Scholar, is active in The Claremont Colleges Debate Union, and volunteers for its middle school and high school outreach program. During the summer, she presented a paper at the International Debate Education Association's International Debate Festival in Xi'an, China, and this semester plans to attend several national debate tournaments, as well as the Northeast Asia Debate Championship in Seoul, South Korea.
"Even though I didn't do parliamentary debate in high school, I fell in love with the activity," says Westfahl. "The Debate Union has presented me with so many opportunities that I never could have imagined."
In addition to her volunteer work, Westfahl also is a member of The Claremont Colleges Amnesty International Chapter, and the newly formed Society of Undergraduate Mathematicians (SUM) at CMC. She will be traveling to Arizona in November, and to Atlanta in January, to present at several mathematics conferences findings from research conducted with students Adam Cox '06 and Christopher Jones '06, under the supervision of professor of mathematics Mario Martelli.
Westfahl counts visiting the Athenaeum to see inspirational speakers such as Janet Reno, Eric Schlosser, and Cornel West among her fondest CMC experiences. She also looks forward to classroom dialogue with her favorite professors, including assistant professor of government Ken Miller, and mathematics Professors Asuman Aksoy and Mario Martelli.
"I've only been at CMC just over a year," she says, "But I can definitely say that my professors played a role in my decision to apply for the Community Services Commission position."