December’s Student Athlete of the Month honor is awarded to Jessica Wegner ’22. Wegner is known around campus by her fellow student athletes and friends as “a friendly face and a fierce competitor.” Wegner is originally from Taipei, Taiwan and specializes in butterfly, backstroke and freestyle. 

Wegner has many notable achievements in her athletic career for the Blue, including CSCAA All-American honors in 2020, NEWMAC Women’s Swimming & Diving All-Conference First Team in 2019 and 2020, six school records and wins in the 100 yard butterfly at the 2019 and 2020 NEWMAC Conference Championships. 

A teammate shared this sentiment when nominating Wegner for this recognition: “Jess is enthusiastic, hardworking and entertaining in and out of the pool. We can always count on her to bring the heat and brighten the mood.”

The News (TWN) interviewed Wegner (JW) earlier this week.

TWN: What is your favorite memory of your season thus far?

JW: I was away at home in Taiwan all last year, so I was really excited to come back and see all the returning teammates and meet my new teammates (there were 20 of them!!).

TWN: Have you faced any adversity as your season has progressed? If so, how were you able to overcome those challenges?

JW: I think one of the hardest parts of this season was getting back in shape after the gap from the covid since there were limited opportunities for me to be in the pool. It was definitely very hard at first, but having my teammates next to me, pushing me through practice made the practices so much better.

TWN: What gets you most excited to play your sport?

JW: I LOVE the team and I LOVE competing!!! We get to train together and celebrate when all our hard work pays off.

TWN: Are there any future competitions or traditions that you are particularly excited for as the season progresses?

JW: I am excited for our winter session bondings, especially the dinner where seniors prepare the main dish, juniors prepare the dessert, sophomores prepare the appetizers and first-years prepare something to entertain the rest of the classes. I can’t wait for championships at MIT this year and maybe we’ll be able to make it to the NCAA.

TWN: Include anything else you’d like to mention about your season, what you’re majoring in, your interests, your favorite foods, your friends on campus, etc.!

JW: I’m double majoring in Environmental Studies and Physics, I love arts and crafts, music, naps and trying new food. I love boba, Taiwanese beef noodles (牛肉麵), pot stickers (鍋貼) and Taiwanese night market food.

Wellesley Swim and Dive concluded the first half of their season this past weekend at the MIT Invitational Meet, a three-day event hosted by MIT from Dec. 3-5. Wegner placed first in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 56.02, fast enough to qualify for an NCAA B cut. The Blue as a team finished 5th overall just behind RPI. 

The Blue will return to campus in early January to train and compete during the College’s Wintersession. The next competition will be held on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 in a tri-meet against Bridgewater State and Trinity at 1 p.m.

Keep an eye out for the January Student Athlete of the Month nomination form that will be distributed at the beginning of next month.

As the one year anniversary of Wellesley College shutting down approaches, COVID-19 preventions and precautions are no longer new to us. Nevertheless, the virus continues to spread through even some of the most careful communities.

Towards the end of fall semester, a first-year tested positive for COVID-19 on campus. She was sent an email to relocate to Dower early one morning and had to move all of her belongings across campus from Tower Court. The student reported being frustrated that she did not receive any help with this process. However, some staff members, such as the Director of Res Life and Housing, Helen Wang, did try to ensure the student’s comfort after arriving at her isolation unit in Dower.

“Helen Wang definitely tried her best to make sure my stay at Dower was more comfortable by giving me bottled water and even by bringing me some extra food on Christmas Eve, my last day of isolation,” the student said. 

The student went on to inform the News that she did not experience any symptoms related to COVID-19, such as loss of taste and smell or trouble breathing. 

“I was incredibly surprised by the notice because the furthest I traveled was to the Ville, and even then it was always with my friends, none of whom tested positive,” she said. “Spending 10 days by myself was horrible to say the least, but I understand the precautions they had to take.”

The student’s precautions and lack of symptoms prior to her isolation raised the idea that maybe she had a false positive test. However, the student was informed by medical staff that the sample was tested again after the first positive result for reassurance. Dr. Jennifer Schwartz, current medical director of Health Services, debunked these potential lapses in testing. According to Schwartz, false positives are very unlikely, and usually potentially occur when testing a recovered COVID patient, even if the person should test negative directly after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Some students also caught COVID-19 while living off-campus. Meiya Sparks Lin ‘22, who was off-campus for the fall semester, caught COVID-19 from their workplace. Four people at her work tested positive, and she did shortly after. 

“I tested negative twice, and later tested negative for antibodies,” Sparks Lin said. “But I consulted a doctor, who told me it was likely that I had such a mild case that it didn’t show up on tests.”

Sparks Lin was fortunate to have a mild case, but still experienced bothersome symptoms associated with COVID-19, similar to those of the student on campus. For around five to six days, they experienced “mild symptoms of fatigue, sweats and chills, nausea, body aches, and shortness of breath.”

“The shortness of breath was the worst,” Sparks Lin said. “I couldn’t hold even a quick conversation without gasping and sighing. I could breathe in fully, but for each breath I felt like I was only getting two thirds or half the oxygen I normally do when breathing.”

The College’s attempt to curb the spread of the virus on campus led to quite a few students having to isolate when identified as a close contact of someone with COVID. Riya Balachandran ’24 found herself in this position. She attended an on-campus event that an unknowingly COVID-positive student participated in as well. Balachandran was notified early on Nov. 18th that she had to relocate to an isolation unit in the College Club. 

“I was allowed to do laundry before packing since I had no clean clothes, and then I walked over,” Balachandran said. “I wasn’t that surprised since a couple people I knew who were already in the College Club told me I was probably a close contact, and I had already been isolating in preparation for this. My friends in Claflin all found out and I felt really supported as they sent nice messages and left snacks in the hallway for me to take into quarantine.” 

COVID tests were administered to the students every other day at the beginning of isolation before returning to the normal testing schedule. Balachandran reported having issues with a lack of hot water from the shower she was assigned to, and another student isolating ran into some trouble with receiving meals everyday. Though these issues made for a frustrating isolation period, Balachandran felt sympathetic for the staff that were taking care of the isolated students, as most of the issues were out of staff control.

“In general, I feel like administration could use more staff specifically to deal with the ins and outs of full quarantine and various logistical issues.” Balachandran said. “Res life and the kitchen staff have enough on their hands as it is!” 

Helen Wang, Director of Res Life and Housing, Peter Eastment, Director of Faculty Housing and Transportation, and the Office of Student Wellness helped the students with accommodations as much as they could given the novelty of the situation. Balachandran said she was appreciative. “I actually am currently wearing the cat socks I got in a comfort package made by Allison Weinberg through the Office of Student Wellness.”

Our Voice is a Gen-Z focused app that strives to encourage students to become more civically engaged and educated about political and social issues. A major goal of the application is to encourage students to exercise their voices on issues they are passionate about. Our Voice achieves this goal by connecting high school and college students with political organizations, nonprofits and campaigns across the country. 

Our Voice was founded by Wellesley student Emily Pattison ’21 and Babson student Anandita Jha ’23, who were joined by Peyton Wang ’22 from Wellesley College, who serves as the chief of development for the project. Pattison originally got the idea for Our Voice at Innovate for BU, a Boston University hosted entrepreneurship summer program, and worked on the project over the fall 2020 semester as an independent study. 

Pattison and Wang also worked on developing low and high-fidelity prototypes — rough and interactive models of their application’s interface —  in Human-Computer Interaction, a computer science elective that Wellesley offered this past summer. 

“Our team was inspired to leverage online platforms to encourage activism and bolster democracy for a brighter future, with values rooted in democracy, community, unity, equality, integrity and growth,” Wang said.

Our Voice aims to connect students with political organizations and other resources to engage in further social action. In order to do this, the application provides features to facilitate communication between users and like-minded activists. These features include a news feed of recommended opportunities, such as pre-written phone scripts to call representatives, as well as additional opportunities to find and follow new political organizations or movements. There is also the option to share these interactive opportunities with friends and invite them to join the app. 

“Our focus is to have features such as a news feed populated by verified organizations so that misinformation is not spread on Our Voice’s platform,” Jha said. “As so many amazing resources for taking actions already exist, we will act as a bridge to connect Gen Z to these resources easily instead of them having to scour the internet to find these resources.” 

To make it even easier to create change in the issues their users care about, Our Voice breaks down goals for users into easy, actionable steps. Larger collective goals show users how far away they are from achieving a certain milestone like user engagement. 

Over the summer and throughout the fall semester, the team worked on developing the first iteration of their web application. In the upcoming semester, they hope to recruit new members to join their team, specifically BOW students with experience in mobile application development, social media and marketing, and public relations. 

While Our Voice has been a success, there are still some political issues that the team finds difficult to address, including inaccurate polls and fake news. Among Gen-Z, these issues have stemmed from low civic engagement and performative activism. 

“It won’t be an easy journey, but we hope our application will garner enough attention among young adults and college students, motivating them to stray from the herd mentality on social media and instead engage more in real-life activism,” Wang explained.

When reflecting on the project, Pattison is both enthusiastic and hopeful. She explained that she owed a lot to Project W’s Project Pods, a semester-long project-oriented program hosted by Project W, BOW’s community of student entrepreneurs and innovators. This program taught her how to become an entrepreneur and how to start a business. Without its guidance, Pattison does not think she would have been confident or brave enough to pitch her idea. 

“I needed a push,” Pattison recalls. “Honestly, without Project W and having a community of entrepreneurs to pitch too, this idea would have stayed just that … an idea.”

The Our Voice team recently launched a website for BOW students to engage with and learn more.

Last Sunday, three Wellesley College fencers advanced to the semifinal round at the 2020 NCAA Northeast Regional Championships at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Sejal Saxena ’23 and Brie Maurer ’20 took 17th and 19th place, respectively, as part of the foil squad to lead the Blue. Kimberley Kimura took 20th place in epee. The 2020 NCAA Fencing Championships will take place on Mar. 19-22 in downtown Detroit, Michigan. Participants will be selected by the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Fencing Committee and announced on Mar. 10. 

Tennis

Last Sunday, Wellesley Tennis took a 6-3 victory over Brandeis at Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse in Wellesley. This victory puts the Blue at a 2-3 overall record. Cinji Lee ‘22 and Korina Hernandez ‘20 had an 8-2 victory at No. 3 doubles to start the Blue off. In singles, Michelle Shen ‘22 gained a 7-6 victory followed by a comeback victory by Libby Chang ‘22. Wellesley will open its New England Women’s & Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) season on Mar. 17 while hosting Wheaton College. 

Lacrosse

Last Sunday, Wellesley Lacrosse fell to Albright College 15-7 at SUNY Polytechnic Wildcat Field. Carson Dennis ’21 and Eleanor Mallett ’22 led the Blue scoring two goals a piece. Kat Gallison ’21 scored her seventh goal of the season, while Louise Conary ’21 and Cassia Schuler ’22 also scored one goal each. Wellesley Lacrosse continues their season on Mar. 18 when they travel to Curry College. 

NEWMAC Winter All-Sportsmanship Honorees

Each season The New England Women’s & Men’s Athletic Conference recognizes one student-athlete from each NEWMAC institution in every sport an All-Sportsmanship award to the student who best demonstrates the ideals of the NEWMAC and its Code of Conduct. The 2019-20 Winter honorees were Alexandra Bullen-Smith ’22 from Swimming & Diving and Kendall You Mak ’20 from Basketball.

Last Saturday, Wellesley Tennis fell to Skidmore College 6-3. Michaela Markwart ‘22 and Michelle Shen ‘22 earned an 8-2 victory in No. 2 doubles to help Wellesley to their final score. The pair was also named the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference women’s tennis Doubles Team of the Week. This was each of their first time receiving this NEWMAC weekly award. Selina Peng picked up a victory for the Blue in singles. Wellesley Tennis will continue their season on March 1 with a 10:00 AM match at Rensselaer.  

Track & Field

Last Saturday, Wellesley Track & Field competed in the 2020 Division III New England Indoor Track & Field Championships at Middlebury College. Ari Marks ‘22 led the Blue finishing fifth in the 3000m with a PR of 10:04.70. This race places Marks among the top-30 in the nation in the indoor 3000m. Maya Bradbury ‘22 finished 12th in the same event with a time of 10:39.15. In the mile, Eva Paradiso ‘20 and Elizabeth Wegman ‘20 placed 12th and 26th respectively. Wellesley Track & Field finishes up their indoor season on March 7 at the Tufts Last Chance Qualifier in Medford, Massachusetts. 

Basketball

Last Wednesday, Wellesley Basketball fell to MIT in the 2020 NEWMAC Basketball Quarterfinals. The score of the game was 67-53. Alyssa Cho ‘21 led the Blue schoring 19 points. Caitlin Aguirre ‘20 finished her final collegiate game with 13 points and seven assists. She finishes her career at Wellesley with 1,103 points making her the fifth all-time high scorer in program history. Emily Kopp ‘20 had six points and six rebounds. Wellesley Basketball finishes their season with a 14-9 overall record. 

Lacrosse

Last Wednesday, Wellesley Lacrosse fell to Framingham State 19-12 in their home season opener. Izzy Burdick ‘22 scored a hat trick leading the Blue on the offensive side. Kat Gallison ‘21 had two goals and four assists. Ella Matticks ‘21, Louise Conaty ‘21, and Cassia Schuler ‘22 each scored two goals as well for the Blue. Goalkeeper Lorna Li ‘22 finished the game with four ground balls and eight saves. Wellesley Lacrosse will host Wentworth on March 4 for a 4:00PM game.

Last Week, Wellesley Basketball came back from a 13-point deficit in the first quarter to defeat Emerson College 60-52 on their senior day at Wellesley. Seniors Caitlin Aguirre, Emily Kopp and Kendall You Mak were celebrated before the start of the game. Wellesley basketball now sits at a 14-6 overall record and a 6-2 NEWMAC record. The Blue are now at the number three spot in the NEWMAC conference and have two games remaining in their regular season. Jiyun Chae ’23 led the Blue scoring a team high of 15 points. The Blue continue their season on Feb. 19 as they travel to Cambridge for a 7:00 p.m. game against MIT. 

Track and Field

Last Saturday, Wellesley Track and Field competed in The Gordon Kelly Invitational hosted by MIT. Samara Shaz ’20 took first place in the Mile, and Kathryn Winkler ’23 took first in the 400m to lead the Blue. Shaz finished with a personal record of 5:30.69 to win the mile. Claire Anderson ’23 and Fiona Harrigian ’20 followed, placing fourth and eighth respectively. Sally Richardson ’23 was Wellesley’s top competitor in the 200m, finishing as runner-up with a personal record of 27.45. Wellesley Track and Field will continue their season on Feb. 22 at the Bowdoin College Invitational in Brunswick, Maine. 

Upcoming Events

• Swim and Dive travels to Cambridge to compete in the NEWMAC conference championships from Feb. 20-24 at MIT. 
• Basketball travels to Springfield for a 12:00 p.m. tip-off.
• Fencing travels to Poughkeepsie, New York for the NEIFC Championships at Vassar College on Saturday, Feb. 22.
• Track and Field travels to Brunswick, Maine for the Bowdoin Invitational at Bowdoin College on Saturday, Feb. 22.
• Tennis hosts TCNJ for an 11:00 a.m. match as well as “Earn the W Day.”

Last Sunday, Wellesley Fencing posted a 6-0 perfect record at the Northeast Fencing Conference (NFC) meet at Tufts University and set the program record for wins in a season at 24. The Blue posted wins against Tufts, Smith, UMass, Vassar, Boston University and Dartmouth. This completes their NFC season with a 9-3 record. Highlights of the day included Brie Maurer `20 leading the foil squad and finishing with a 16-1 record. Julia Calventus-Coveney `21 and Kimberley Kimura `23 each finished 12-3 in the epee squad. Brooke Dodrill `23 led the sabre squad with a 14-1 record. Wellesley fencing’s next match will be the NEIFC Championships which will be held at Vassar College on Saturday Feb. 22. 

Track and Field

Last Saturday, Wellesley Track and Field competed in the Tufts University Cupid Challenge. Eva Paradiso ’20 led the Blue finishing fifth place in the mile. Her time of 5:12.68 was a personal record and it qualified her for the Division III New England Championship (DIII NE). Three additional members of the Blue qualified for the DIII NE meet during the day: Elizabeth Wegman ’20 placed 13th in the 1000m with a personal record of 3:11.77, Ari Marks ’22 finished seventh in the 3000m with a time of 10:36.49 and Maya Bradbury ’22 finished eighth in the same event with a time of 10:29.87. The Blue will compete next at Boston University’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Friday Feb. 14.  

Basketball

On Saturday, Wellesley Volleyball defeated Mount Holyoke 64-26 in a NEWMAC matchup at Mount Holyoke. The Blue recorded 26 steals and 34 forced turnovers throughout the game. Pujita Shukla ’23 scored 14 points and had three rebounds and four steals to lead the Blue. Rachel Shurberg ’23 and Caitlin Aguirre ’20 finished the game with six steals and ten points each. Emily Kopp ’20 had ten rebounds to lead the Blue on the defensive end. The Blue sit at a 13-5 overall record and a 5-2 NEWMAC record. Wellesley Basketball will host Fisher on Feb. 12 for their next game. 

Wellesley Swimming & Diving improved their undefeated record to 3-0 with a 198-97 win at Mount Holyoke prior to Thanksgiving break. Shawyuan Hsu ‘23 finished with three individual victories to lead the Blue. She finished first in  the  50 freestyle (24.90), the 100 freestyle (54.72), and the 200 individual medley (2:14.69). Jessica Wegner ‘22 finished first in the 100 backstroke (1:00.95) and the 100 butterfly (1:00.27) while Shelpy Ripp ‘22 won the 400 individual medley (4:56.96)  and the 100 breaststroke (1:11.92). The Blue will close out the first half of their schedule at the MIT Invitational on December 6-8 at Zesiger Center Pool in Cambridge, MA.

Fencing

Last Sunday, Wellesley fencing competed in the Brandeis Invitational finishing with a 1-2 record. The Blue defeated Incarnate Word 16-11 but fell 19-8 to both Cornell and St. John’s. The Blue’s afternoon match against Yale was cancelled due to inclement weather. This puts the Blue at 17-5 overall. Brie Maurer ‘20 and Isabella Stewart ‘23 each earned three bout victories in three matches to lead the foil team. Brooke Dodrill ‘23 finished with a  4-4 record to lead the sabre squad. The Blue will finish out their fall semester season on Thursday, December 5 with an evening match at Harvard.

Basketball

Wellesley Basketball took third at the Wesleyan Tournament the weekend going into Thanksgiving break. The Blue defeated Mitchell College 43-33 on Saturday afternoon to secure the third place finish. Jiyun Chae ‘23 scored 11 points to lead the Blue. Chae also had four  rebounds and two steals to earn All-Tournament honors. Pujita Shukla ‘23 had nine points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block. Emily Kopp ‘20 led the Blue in rebounds with seven total. Wellesley’s game scheduled for December 2 at Worcester State was postponed due to inclement weather.

Lacrosse

Wellesley Lacrosse has released their schedule for the upcoming 2020 season. The team is coached by Lauren Schoenberger. The Blue will host Framingham St. for their first game at home February 26, 2020. The Blue’s NEWMAC opener will take place on March 21 at Babson. The NEWMAC Lacrosse Championship is currently scheduled to begin on Wednesday, April 29. The full schedule is available at WellesleyBlue.com.

Wellesley Volleyball fell to Clarkson University 3-1 in the Second Round of the 2019 NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship at Alumni Gymnasium in Potsdam, New York. Lauren Gedney ‘21 led the Blue with a match-high 17 kills. Nicole Doerges ‘22  added 16 kills and 15 digs while libero Meghan Shoop ‘21 added 20 digs. Gedney and Izzy Seebold ‘22 earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-American honors for the 2019 season. Gedney was named part of the NEWVA All-New England First Team while Izzy Seebold was named part of the Second Team. 

Fencing

Last Sunday, Wellesley fencing posted a 3-3 record at the first Northeast Fencing Conference meet of the season on Sunday at Brown University. The Blue came away with wins against New Hampshire, Sacred Heart and Brandeis. The Blue fell by one bout to Boston College, MIT, and Brown. Julia Calventus-Coveney ‘21 posted a team high 12 victories as part  of the epee squad. Alexia Gilioli ‘22 and Brie Maurer ‘20 posted 11 and 10 wins respectively to lead the foil squad. Rounding out the day, Brooke Dodrill ‘22 posted 11 wins for the sabre squad. The Blue will return on Sunday, Dec. 1 at the Brandeis Invitational. 

Cross Country

Last weekend, Wellesley Cross Country placed 12th at the NCAA DIII New England Championships at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Grace Cowles ‘21 finished 39th on the 6k course with a time of 22:36.9 to lead the Blue. The Blue finished 12th at the Regional meet for the second year in a row with a total of 365 points. Keiko Hilmo ‘20 finished 60th with a time of 22:54.7, a new personal record. Other top finishers for the Blue included April Chu ‘21  (73rd), Maya Bradbury ‘22 (90th), Eva Paradiso ‘20 (103rd), Samara Shaz ‘21 (111th), and Elizabeth Wegman ‘20 (113th). This race marked the end of the 2019 season for Wellesley Cross Country. 

For the past five years, Wellesley College softball has had a special addition to their roster. Maeve Fleck, a seven year when she joined, has been a part of the Blue’s roster through Team IMPACT. Maeve is from Needham, Massachusetts. She enjoys dancing, riding her bike and swimming. 

Team IMPACT is a non-profit organization that strives to improve the quality of life for children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses through the power of a team. This makes Fleck the longest standing member of the college’s softball team. A couple of weekends ago, Fleck participated in the alumnae softball game.

Fleck enjoys being part of the team by participating in many of the team’s games and events on and off the field. She attends practices and alumnae games as a supporter and goes out with the team to see movies and to trick-or-treat during Halloween time. 

“The alumni game this year was great,” commented sophomore Haley McMorrow. “We got to see old teammates and get a sense for the history of the program. Additionally our teammate Maeve Fleck, who we connected with through team IMPACT, was able to come out and support us! We love the time that we can spend with Maeve both at the field and during other events and treasure the connection we’ve built with her”

Fleck became a part of IMPACT because she has Spastic Quadriolegia, which is a form of Cerebral Palsy caused by brain injury prior to birth. While this condition affects all of the limbs in her body, she is mobile using a wheelchair or power-stander. Fleck completes weekly physical and occupational therapies in order to maintain her health.  Fleck will continue to participate on the Wellesley College softball team for the upcoming 2020 season.