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STUDENTS TO LOBBY FOR GRANT PROGRAM DURİNG 'DAY AT THE CAPİTOL'

Thomas Rusert '06 spoke with Sen. Betsy Wergin during the Day at the Capitol event two years ago.St. Olaf students have the opportunity to meet with legislators at the Minnesota State Capitol to advocate for continued student financial aid during St. Olaf's Day at the Capitol event Wednesday, April 9. Those interested in participating can register at Oleville.com.

Day at the Capitol is organized each year by the Minnesota Private College Council for college students to lobby for continuing support of the Minnesota State Grant Program that helps more than 70,000 low- and middle-income students pay for their college expenses. At St. Olaf 468 students receive Minnesota State Grant aid totaling $1.67 million.

"It's essential to add that extra funding in order for students to attend St. Olaf," says Karl Olson '08, who participated in Day at the Capitol last year.

During the event students learn about the grant program and how to lobby at the Capitol as they interact with legislators. Participants receive a policy and lobbying briefing, including comments from representatives and senators. They then meet individually with legislators. Students from Minnesota meet with their hometown district representatives, while those from outside -- as well as Northfield residents -- meet a Northfield representative. Participants will eat lunch with legislators and attend a question-and-answer session. The Minnesota Private College Council provides training and materials and arranges meeting appointments for participants. St. Olaf students (including Tyler Hauger '08, third from left) met with Rep. Ray Cox '73 in 2006.

Civic engagement"With our college's spring theme of civic engagement, we're not just going to the Capitol to ask for money," explains Tyler Hauger '08, president of the college's Student Government Association. "This is an opportunity to talk with legislators, learn how a state body works, and advocate for a tangible way to affect policy."

Hauger says that Day at the Capitol affects the financial aid of St. Olaf students from both inside and outside Minnesota. With more state grant money going to Minnesota students, St. Olaf has a greater ability to fund students from out of state.

"Financial aid is an issue for every college," Hauger says. "This year we're continuing to make sure our voice is heard."

Last year, between February and April, more than 400 students from Minnesota's Private Colleges attended Day at the Capitol. On April 9, St. Olaf will be joined by students from Carleton College and the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University.

CLEAN WATER ACTİVİST NAMED ST. OLAF COMMENCEMENET SPEAKER

St. Olaf College President David R. Anderson '74 has announced that clean water activist Susan Seacrest '75, a recipient of last year's Heinz Award for the Environment, will be this year's Commencement speaker. The Nebraska native will deliver her address May 25.

Groundwater Action, founded by Susan Seacrest '75, has grown to serve hundreds of communities across more than 40 states.

In 2007 Seacrest was one of six people to share the $1.25 million Heinz Award -- one of the largest individual achievement prizes in the world. In granting the award the Heinz Family Foundation called her "engaging, creative, collaborative and, perhaps most of all, persistent," and referred to her effective advocacy for "protecting the health of our fragile aquifers."

"She is a thoughtful and effective educator and advocate for causes that align beautifully with St. Olaf's mission and values," Anderson says.

Seacrest's path to activism began in 1984, when she read an article that noted a possible connection between high leukemia incidence rates and pesticides and nitrates in Nebraska's Central Platte River Basin. She had recently been through a four-year struggle with the poor health of her newborn son, and Seacrest "needed somewhere to put all the anguish I'd been through," she recently told St. Olaf Magazine (read more about Seacrest in the article "Groundwater Guardian"). "So I started studying groundwater." (Her son, one of three children, is now grown and healthy.)

Just one year later, in 1985, Seacrest -- who as director of the National Arbor Day Foundation already knew the power of organizations -- founded the Groundwater Foundation. The organization strives to make groundwater science accessible and understandable, and with its grassroots energy the foundation has grown to become active in protecting local groundwater supplies across more than 40 states.

"We look forward to her remarks," Anderson says.

Other St. Olaf Commencement speakers over the past few years have included New York Fire Captain Brenda Berkman '73, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson '76, former Federal Reserve Board member Mark Olson '65 and Nobel Laureate Peter Agre.

ALUMNA OPERA SİNGER TO PERFORM

Audience members will have the opportunity to hear what Entertainment News calls "... high notes that thrill and a creamy middle range" when St. Olaf College alumna Kelly Kaduce '96 returns to campus to deliver a performance on Sunday, March 16.

The recital will begin at 7 p.m. in Christiansen Hall of Music, Urness Recital Hall. St. Olaf Assistant Professor of Piano Christopher Atzinger will accompany Kaduce as she performs a selection of 20th century music. The performance is free and open to the public. Kelly Kaduce '96 playing Marguerite in Faust with the Florida Grand Opera.

After graduating from St. Olaf with a degree in vocal performance, Kaduce earned a master's degree at Boston University and soon after won the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She has received national acclaim, with Opera News noting that her voice has a "bell-like purity and silvery sweetness ... she suspends her legato with an effortless, sensual spin."

Her 2007-08 performance season includes a debut with Opera Pacific as Mimi in La Boheme and return engagements to Malmo Opera in Sweden as Marguerite in Faust; the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in the title role of Madame Butterfly; and the Minnesota Opera in the title role of Rusalka. Other opera companies she has performed with include the Boston Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera and Florida Grand Opera. 99 percent preparation + 1 percent luckIn a highly competitive line of work where getting roles is difficult, Kaduce believes that having a career like hers is

99 percent preparation and 1 percent luck. What has set her apart from most sopranos is the size of her voice in relation to the size of her body. Being a relatively small woman makes her ideal for the big lyric soprano roles that require the lead to be small and have the ability to sing over a large orchestra.

But size is not all that matters. Many directors have been impressed with Kaduce's willingness to also take on the acting side of opera. "I particularly enjoy the acting side of opera and really like to immerse myself in a role and try unusual things ... most importantly, I try to remain true to myself amongst all of the outside influence," Kaduce says.

20th century art songsPeople might think that an opera singer like Kaduce would be singing opera arias in her recital to showcase her voice, but she will instead cover a different genre of music: art song. Composers that will be featured in her recital include Arthur Honegger, Alban Maria Johannes Berg, Joaquin Turina, Enrique Granados and Ricky Ian Gordon.

Kaduce said she found the Honegger song set while studying at St. Olaf but never performed it until this year. The Gordon pieces were inspired while she was doing the Minnesota Opera's world-premiere opera version of The Grapes of Wrath music set by Gordon.

After meeting Gordon and seeing a recital given by the Minnesota Opera's young artists, she began researching Gordon's pieces and chose four compositions, titled Day Break in Alabama, A Horse with Wings, Poem (Lana Truner has Collapsed!), and Joy. "

I opted against performing any opera on the recital," Kaduce says. "I perform so much opera during my career and very little art song. When I have the opportunity to do art song, I like to take advantage of it."

"... A tranquil, beautiful haven of education"Returning to her alma mater, Kaduce reflects on how St. Olaf has affected her life. "After years of living in New York City and traveling the world, it no longer seems the enormous institution I saw it years ago," Kaduce says. "Now it appears to be a tranquil, beautiful haven of education nestled in its own corner of the world ... as I progress further in my career and life, finding ways to give back to my community become more important."