Through a balance of challenge and support, students at Hollins test their limits and push their boundaries. When you’re inspired to reach for your best—and even beyond your best—the results can be pretty amazing, as the following examples show.

• The Hollins University tennis team took third place at the season-ending Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament held at Sweet Briar College April 25-27. Hollins defeated Randolph-Macon 6-0 in the quarterfinal round, but then lost to second-seeded Bridgewater, 5-4. However, the team rebounded the following day to beat Virginia Wesleyan 5-4 to clinch third in the 11-team tournament. Maggie Bai '09 went 2-1 at number one singles and teamed with Mary Sheridan '11 and Nathalie Faure '11 to go 3-0 at number two doubles. Anne Ailstock '11 was undefeated in three matches at number five singles and won another match at number one doubles with Sarah Budrus '11. Sarah Sullivan '08 won two matches at number six singles and picked up two more wins at number three doubles. The Hollins team combined for 15 wins against only nine losses during the three-day event. Seven players were named to the all-tournament team: Bai, Faure, Budrus, Sheridan, Ailstock, Sullivan and Tiffany Robinette '10. Hollins' tournament performance follows a third-place finish in the ODAC for the regular season in which the team compiled a 12-4 record overall, 10-3 in the conference. Team members selected as All-Conference include Maggie Bai (First Team Singles and Doubles), Nathalie Faure (Second Team Singles and First Team Doubles), Sarah Budrus (Second Team Singles and Doubles), Mary Sheridan (Second Team Singles and Doubles), Anne Ailstock (Honorable Mention Singles and Second Team Doubles), and Sarah Sullivan (Honorable Mention Singles and Second Team Doubles).
  
  
• Mara Robbins of the Horizon program shared top honors at Virginia Military Institute's inaugural Poetry Symposium, held April 5 in VMI's Preston Library. Robbins was co-winner of the 2008 VMI Poetry Symposium Award for Best Paper on Poetry for "The Sacred and the Everyday in Two Ancient Goddess Poems." She also read from her own work at the event. Hollins students joining Robbins at the symposium included three other Horizon students: Julie Abernethy, who delivered a paper on the poet Lord Byron called "The Romance of Loss;" Melanie Huber, who presented "Checking the 'Poetic Pulse' of America" and read from her own poems; and Sharon Mirtaheri, who also read from her work. In addition, senior Alison Fraser presented her paper, "Refiguring the Female: The Paradise Lost Illustrations of Carlotta Petrina." 
     Students from VMI, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Southern Virginia University, Roanoke College, Washington and Lee University, and Sweet Briar College also participated in the symposium, which was sponsored by VMI's Department of English and Fine Arts, the VMI chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the Institute Writing Program, and the offices of the dean and undergraduate research.
  
  
• The Hollins University Dance Department attended the Southeastern American College Dance Regional Conference held March 7-11, 2008, on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. There were 33 schools in attendance from all areas of the nation. The conference featured the following works and performances by Hollins students: "...and for THEIR Mothers," choreographed by Constance Teage '08 and performed by Teage, Danielle Samuels '10, Symphoni Lipscomb '11, Megan Doldron '09, Krystina Hall '10, and Jasmyne Davis '11. "emotionless," choreographed and performed by Danielle Samuels '10. "Navy Blue," choreographed by Emily Wexler '04 from the Hollins/ADF M.F.A. Program and performed by Constance Teage '08 and Lyndsey Carr and Deborah Hazler, both from the Hollins/ADF M.F.A. Program. The work was selected for the gala evening of performance out of some 150 works presented. From the gala evening, three works were selected to represent the southeastern region at the National Festival, which is held in New York in early June. Wexler's work was selected as one of the three most promising works to go to this festival. In addition to this incredible opportunity, Wexler was nominated for the prestigious "best student choreography" award. The National Festival is held every other year by the American College Dance Festival organization. This marks the fifth time in the last 12 years that Hollins has been selected to perform at the National Festival.
  
  
• Hollins student and alumnae dancers will be featured in a performance sponsored by the acclaimed Danspace Project in New York City, May 1-2. As part of its mission, the Danspace Project showcases the next generation of dance-makers emerging from renowned college and university dance departments. For nearly 35 years, Danspace has provided a setting for choreographers to take risks and for the public to engage in and be transformed by the work of these artists. The project includes Lucinda Childs, Douglas Dunn, Bill T. Jones, David Rousseve, Eiko & Koma, David Gordon, Bebe Miller, and Meredith Monk as some of their alumni.
  
  
• Sarah Budrus '11 from Huntington, West Virginia has been named Women's Tennis Player of the Week for the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC). Budrus went 3-1 on the week. She won #3 singles 6-3, 6-1 vs. Sweet Briar and won #1 doubles, 8-6.  Against ODAC-preseason #2 Virginia Wesleyan, Budrus lost at #1 doubles, but with the match tied 4-4 she won at #3 singles in a three-set tie breaker. She won the deciding match and lead Hollins to the road upset of Virginia Wesleyan, 5-4.
  
  
• Hollins' riding team has clinched first place in Zone 4, Region 2 of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). Hollins will now compete at Randolph College on April 13 to determine the two teams that will represent Zone 4 at the National Championship IHSA Horse Show in Los Angeles in May. Hollins' Katie Furches '10 has been named the region's high point rider and has thus qualified to compete in California for the Cacchione Cup, the equestrian equivalent to college football's Heisman Trophy. Katie will be joined by five other Hollins riders (Mandy Lynch '08, Stacy Zimmerman '08, Abby Gonzalez '10, Shannon Sarkozy '08, and Stephanie Ostericher '08) at the IHSA's Individual Regionals at Sweet Briar College on February 29. The top three winners in each class from Regionals qualify for the Individual Zone Finals at Randolph College on April 13 to determine who will move on to individual competition at the IHSA Nationals in Los Angeles.
  
  
• Hollins junior and Miss Virginia 2007 Hannah Kiefer represented the university and the Old Dominion with distinction at this year’s Miss America Pageant, placing fourth in the competition held Saturday, January 26 in Las Vegas and televised nationally on TLC.
      Kiefer performed ballet en pointe in the talent portion and sought to raise awareness during the pageant for her platform issue, creating healthy choices for teens. Since she was crowned Miss Virginia on June 30 of last year, Kiefer has visited school systems across the state and spoken to approximately 10,000 teenagers, striving to serve as an all-around role model to help them deal with peer pressure and give them confidence to pursue their dreams. She has also talked publicly about the positive impact Hollins has had on her life. As she told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in a recent interview, “I attend an all-women’s university where we all are encouraged to be individuals and we’re encouraged to be ourselves.”
      Kiefer is taking a leave of absence from Hollins while she fulfills her duties as Miss Virginia. A double major in communication studies and psychology, she will return to Hollins in the fall. After completing her undergraduate studies she plans to pursue a master’s degree in public relations.
  
  
• Ann Fitzgerald-Pittman '08, Rachel McCarthy James '08, and Holt Saulsgiver '10 represented Hollins at the ninth annual Wachovia Ethics Bowl Competition, held February 10 and 11 at Marymount University in Arlington. Students from all 15 members of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges took part in the event, whose theme was "Ethics and the Environment." The team from Hollins won three of the four cases it debated on environmental ethical dilemmas. Nearly 50 business and community leaders from across Virginia critiqued team arguments.
  
  
• Eight Hollins student artists are featured at the 2008 Southern Women's Colleges Art Exhibition at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, through March 2. Works by Amanda Agricola '11, Jennifer Austin '08, Olivia Body '08, Meagan Cupka '11, Leah Jackman '08, Pauline Non '10, Mary Townsend '08, and Ashley Viers '09 are represented during the exhibit, which highlights such mediums as watercolor, ebony pencil, charcoal, oil on wood, oil on canvas, digital photography, monotype, monoprint, a cheesecloth, oil and gel transfer, and others. In addition to Hollins, Brenau University, Converse College, and Salem College are taking part in the exhibition.
  
  
• Sarah Marie Budrus '11 has won first place in the College Undergraduate category in the 2007 Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) Essay Contest.  Budrus was honored for her essay, “Dr. Marjorie Senechal: What Do Silk, Crystals, Culture and History Have in Common?,” which profiles the Louise Wolff Kahn Professor Emerita in Mathematics and History of Science and Technology at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. Budrus will receive a prize and her essay will be published online at the AWM web site.
  
  
• Hollins student Radford Thomas '09 has been named one of six winners in the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC)/Philip Morris USA Scholarship Program competition for 2008-2009. Thomas, a business and economics major from Thomasville, Georgia, was selected in a statewide competition with applicants from all 15 member colleges in the VFIC consortium. This prestigious scholarship, worth $10,000, carries with it the opportunity to be considered for a paid summer internship at Philip Morris USA in Richmond, Virginia. 
  
  
• Political science major Morgan Davis '08 will present “The Bolivian Revolution and Revolutionary Theory" to the Annual Meeting of the Virginia Political Science Association at Virginia Commonwealth University on December 1. She was one of only three Virginia students selected to give a paper at the conference.
  
  
• For the fourth year in a row, Klaus Phillips, professor of film and German, was selected to nominate ten Hollins students as "Fellows" to participate in the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, NC. This year's event, the tenth in the festival's history, was held April 11-15. The following students attended: Rachel Bandy '10, Candace Barber '10, Samantha Blankenship (Horizon), Michelle Brandenburg '10, Jessica Martin '10, Natalie McKenzie '08, Kara McKinney '07, Amanda Poore '10, Mary Townsend '08, and Leah Twichell '09. Fellows' sessions included meetings with Michael Moore, St. Claire Bourne, Ross McElwee, D.A. Pennebaker, and other filmmakers.
  
  
• "The Effects of Exposure and Microbes on Hatchability of Eggs in Open-Cup and Cavity Nests," a paper by Associate Professor of Biology Renee Godard, Assistant Professor of Biology Morgan Wilson, Associate Professor of Psychology Bonnie Bowers, Jessica Frick '05, and Paul Siegel of Virginia Tech, has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Avian Biology, an international journal and one of the top ornithology journals.
  
  
• Hollins University senior Lisa O’Quinn has been accepted into the Master of Fine Arts program in photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia. She also received a $3,000 fellowship from the institution. O’Quinn is studying art and photography at Hollins. Last summer, she worked as an intern with Marie Claire magazine in New York, and has also interned with The Roanoker magazine.
  
  
• Hollins University seniors Megan Culp and Kendall Schmierer and junior Allison Berneking presented their student research projects at the 2007 annual convention of the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) in New Orleans February 21 – 24.  Culp presented “The Effect of Body Size on Ratings of Professor Performance”; Culp and Schmierer presented “The Relationship between Interpersonal Trust and Multiple Personality Constructs”; and Berneking presented “The Effect of Facial Masculinity/Femininity on Perceptions of Personality and Attractiveness.”
  
  
• Amanda Cox '07 and M.A.L.S. student Victoria Crump participated in the VMI Undergraduate Research Shakespeare Conference, held November 10-12 in Lexington, Va. Cox presented her essay, "Double Representation of the Feminine in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream." Timothy Spence, visiting assistant professor of English at Hollins, presented Crump's essay,  "'Let Us Speak Our Free Hearts': Spaces of Communication, Homoeroticism, and Gender as Performance in William Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus' and 'Macbeth.'" This essay won the distinction "Best in Session," and Crump received an inscribed copy of "Shakespeare: The Seven Ages of Human Experience" by Dr. David Bevington, conference keynote speaker, professor emeritus of English at the University of Chicago, and editor of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare," among many other publications on early drama.  Other Hollins students who attended all or parts of the conference were: Amanda Nelson '08, Natalie McKenzie '08, Rebecca Klabunde '07, Holt Saulsgiver '10, and Emily Marvel '09.
  
  
• A Hollins University student is helping to pioneer one of the most talked-about new forms of filmmaking. Meghan Foster '09 is an animator and actor in the genre known as “machinima.” A combination of the words “machine” and “cinema,” machinima is a process in which video game backdrops and characters are manipulated with a keyboard or game controller to create and record an actual movie, complete with story lines and dialogue.
      Foster this year joined with about a dozen other machinima artists from her hometown of Dallas to create The Codex, an online series set in the universe of the popular science fiction video game, Halo. Released in 20 episodes between February and August, The Codex caught the attention of the mtvU network, which is broadcast to 6.5 million college students on over 730 campuses around the country. Foster and the rest of The Codex Crew were invited to Los Angeles to tape a segment for the program “Gamer’s Ball,” which aired on mtvU in November.
      In the meantime, Foster is enjoying her recent notoriety while pursuing her studies at Hollins. Double majoring in film and sociology, she hopes one day to become a cinematographer and is currently working on several short films. She is also a highly regarded fencer, having competed in the Junior Olympics. For more information about The Codex, go to www.thecodexseries.com.