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The first time Mareike Wieth realized her field of interest resonated beyond her office walls was the day in 2012 she got a message she didn’t expect. “When I got a voice mail from the BBC, it was like, ‘What?’ I think I hyperventilated,” she said. After all, it wasn’t every day that the British Broadcasting Corporation called an associate professor of psychology at Albion College. But Wieth was working on something that not only intrigued that news organization, but has sparked the interest of media on this side of the Atlantic as well.

A renovated downtown Albion building that will serve as a hub for interaction between Albion College, the City of Albion and the region will be named The Ludington Center. The Ludingtons, a Midland-based family, have had a strong interest in the Albion community as well as a distinguished history at the College.

For the second straight year, the Albion community has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for The Big Read. The grant will fund a month-long community celebration of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and although The Big Read itself won’t take place until October, English professor Jess Roberts and Madeline Drury, ’15, recently kicked off preparations intended to build on the successful 2015 event.

Six Albion College students and one staff member attended the recent National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL), hosted by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) at the University of Maryland, College Park. The three-day conference June 2-4 included keynote speakers, personal development workshops, a Women of Distinction awards ceremony, career and graduate school fairs, and an evening to explore Washington, D.C.

Albion College is one of 20 universities and colleges nationally to be named a finalist in the 2016 Ford College Community Challenge, which focuses on finding student-led projects that address the theme of “Building Sustainable Communities.” Albion’s project is titled “The Twelve-Mile Challenge,” connecting the communities of Albion and Marshall, and is in line to be one of up to 10 proposals that could be awarded a $25,000 grant by the Ford Motor Company Fund.

Albion College once again scored well in the 2016 Educator Preparation Institutions Performance Score Reports that included 33 Michigan colleges and universities.

“I always knew I wanted to work with kids and this just solidified it,” said Bess Pelton, ’17 (left), an English major with an elementary education concentration from Bloomfield Hills. Education, it seems, can come from all directions and perhaps that was never more in evidence than at the 10th annual Showcase Learning Fair on May 26, hosted by Albion College’s Education Department and Fritz Shurmur Center for Teacher Development.

The first game was Read Between the Wines. The new game is Brew Ha Ha! And the third game, currently in the midst of some serious research and development, is called Whiskey Business. And they are all part of an online startup, Uncorked Games. Sense a theme? Audra Quinn (left), ’03, laughs. She knows how it looks. But the Royal Oak native isn’t as interested in alcohol and the consumption thereof as she is camaraderie and fun and, yes, perhaps making a few bucks.

In the current supercharged red vs. blue political climate, color Albion College students a calm shade of purple. At least that’s according to Collegestats.org, which analyzed 2.4 million tweets originating on or near college campuses across the country to determine Republican and Democratic leanings. Albion ranked No. 2 in tweets using Democrat keywords and No. 9 using Republican keywords, prompting the site to conclude that “Albion College can easily boast the most diverse set of politically engaged students on social media.”

The first year is over and the six members of Albion College’s inaugural Build Albion Fellows group is a lot smarter – about many different things. “What surprised me was the workload,” said Khaliah Roberts, ’19, who is majoring in women’s and gender studies.”Nothing is given to you,  said Cortazia Wilson, ’19, also looking toward a major in sociology. “Everything is offered to you but nothing is given to you. Sometimes you have to go through the bad to get to the good.”