Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

Gabbie Eyler won the People’s Choice Award in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Holiday Cookie Contest for her chocolate turtle cookies, a chocolate sugar cookie rolled in toasted pecans and drizzled with chocolate and caramel. It is the second straight year a senior has won a top prize in the annual contest. Eyler learned how to bake from her mother, Amy Eyler, associate professor of public health at the Brown School.

High school students need computer science skills, but who will teach them? The Institute for School Partnership is addressing Missouri’s desperate shortage of computer science educators through the Code.org professional learning program, which prepares educators with no coding experience to lead computer science classes. The need is urgent: only one-third of Missouri high schools offer computer science.

A self-professed science geek, Anand Chukka arrived at Washington University eager to prepare for a career in medicine. As a December degree candidate, he has accomplished just that. He majored in biochemistry in Arts & Sciences; conducted medical research in labs in St. Louis, Boston and San Francisco; and serves as co-president of GlobeMed. But he also majored in American culture studies, a decision that reaffirmed his passion for medicine and positions him to be a better doctor.

The Washington University Police Department’s Blue Santa program is collecting donations for the children of Whitney Thomas, who was killed in a traffic accident in October on Riverview Boulevard. The six children range in age from 11 to 8 months old.

Students created sculptures, paintings, books, musical compositions and works of fiction that reimagined Frankenstein’s monster for the Monster Challenge. Sponsored by the Frankenstein Bicentennial, the contest celebrates Mary Shelley’s novel and its enduring legacy. Their work is now on view in Olin Library’s Gingko Room.

Brown School student Jesse Herman is working to make the university a more welcoming place for veterans. An Army veteran, he is a facilitator for the Office of Military & Veteran Services’ new Veteran Ally training program.

Last month, Penina Acayo Laker asked students in her “Design for Social Impact” class to interview their friends about the Nov. 6 midterm elections. The results were alarming. So the class created posters to educate fellow students about the voting process and inspire them to go to the polls.

The research shows that most college students won’t vote in Tuesday’s midterm elections. But, for the students in this class, elections are more than an opportunity to vote — they are a career path.

Ashoka, the South Asian student association, will produce the annual celebration of South Asian cultures Nov. 2 and 3 at Edison Theatre. “When people think South Asia, they immediately think India,” student Rithvik Kondai said. “Our goal this year was to lend voice to some of those other cultures that celebrate Diwali.”

Brittany Ferrell, a social justice activist, nurse and Olin Fellow, emerged as a leader of the protest movement after Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson and co-founded Millennial Activists United. Her activism shifted her career plans to studying public health.