For our July edition of the Bear Necessities, some of our students have provided brief updates on their summer adventures. Here they are...aren't they grand?!?
Maya Anderson is interning in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill for Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), researching policy affairs on criminal justice, consumer protection, and banking law.
Ronnie Avansino spent the first six weeks of summer working for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks in Bozeman, building the shows that will be performed on UM's Oval during the first week of fall semester!
Zoe Belinda sends word that she and Riley Comstock have been guiding packrafting and backpacking trips for Scouting America in the Bob Marshall Wilderness through internships with the Boone and Crockett club!
Julia Burky was in China for three weeks with the Mansfield Center's Bridging Divides program in June, participating in soft diplomacy efforts. Right after a visit to Great Wall, Julia delivered a speech on the American Youth's Dreams for the Future.
James Deacon has been on road trips to Yellowstone and Zion National Parks, while also working for the Forest Service and at The Trailhead.
Hannah Grass is an Administrative and Marketing Assistant for the Office of Educational Initiatives and Innovation this summer and invites folks to stop by the office and say hello. Hanna attended a family reunion at Lake Vermillion in Ely, MN, and reportedly caught some 'fantastic fish.' She's also backpacked deep into the Rattlesnake to camp, spent a few nights in Yellowstone, and plans to make a trip to Glacier and then back to her home in Kentucky to see her parents and pups. Hannah is learning acoustic guitar (we can't wait for her Open Mic night debut), and has been tending her raised bed garden, drawing trout and writing poetry.
Cadence Hatten is having a 'working summer' helping with YETI camp on campus, working at MonTECH, and playing the role of barista at Funk It.
Gabriel Hendrix is at the Flathead Lake Biological Station all summer, taking Field Ecology, Alpine Ecology, and Forest & Fire Ecology! He's researching, observing, and studying everything from the invasive Mysis shrimp to the native Pink Wintergreen and the Hoary Marmot.
Blixen Hoffman is interning with The Climate Reality Project in Washington, D.C..
Carter Jasper was appointed by Governor Gianforte as the Montana University System Student Regent. Congratulations, Carter!
Bridger Jones' summer started with Choir Prom, and he hosted a cabin trip with friends. Bridger's work with the National Stuttering Association is also keeping him busy.
Amory Kindle is working in the seafood industry in Alaska's Bristol Bay. Ammo is also reading up a storm and recommends Dan Flores' Wild New World and Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy.
Josh Lamb, Katelyn Hauck, Dylan Van Rossum, and new honors student Phillip Tilleman did a fantastic job as Resident Program Assistants for the DHC's biggest-ever Schwanke Summer Honors Institute in June.
Sydney McClenning has been working for Yale University at the International Summer School of Scotland. As a student counselor, she's leading a group of girls through academics, electives, and fun evening programs like Scottish dancing and clan sports. With over 80 nationalities represented between staff and students, she's connecting with people from all over the world and sharing with them what life is like in Montana.
Rayne McCollough writes from her study abroad in Chile that she is soaking in the last of her opportunities with the community she's built, finishing up finals, and preparing to come home.
Max Nelms is shadowing a D.O. in sports medicine at Baylor Scott and White in Texas, learning about pathways into medicine. Max is also volunteering part-time at a ceramics company called Bee Cups, helping to hydrate and save thirsty pollinators.
Brooke Odenthal writes that she backpacked across Europe with two fellow DHCer's, Dylan Van Rossum and Vivi Ostheimer, before starting a ten-week internship at a crop insurance company. Brooke has been learning about crops and traveled to both Minnesota and Great Falls with the company. In her free time, she's been camping, running a marathon, and playing with her parents' new black lab puppy.
Ireland Osentowski has been busy in Missoula participating in the Montana International Choral Festival! Ireland invites the community to stop by their performances July 18th-20th. Among the DHC students joining Ireland as part of UM's Chamber Chorale and 'Aiga Singers' are DHC'ers Sophia Boughey, Jae Coehlo, Parker Friday, Sam Galindo, Bella Smith, and Alden Whitney. Parker also participated in the Wild Rockies Field Institute's course, Southwest Climate Student Art: Change and Resilience in the American Southwest.
Vivi Ostheimer began the summer backpacking around Europe (see Brooke's note above), and is now back in Missoula working with the City of Missoula Climate Team through the Baucus Institute. She's been enjoying paddle-boarding the Clark Fork, running with friends, hiking in the Bitterroot, and swapping books with my roommates!
Pitcher Hayden Peschl was named to the All-Rocky-Mountain Regional Team and helped the Grizzlies win the Rocky Mountain Regional Baseball Championship.
Maya Roelen is back from New Zealand and is excited to be working as a fellow with the Rachel Carson Council to rewild land and reintroduce native plants in Washington. Maya will also be attending the American Environmental Leadership Institute in Washington, DC as part of her fellowship
Ella Rowland has been working at Radius Art Gallery and enjoying being immersed in the Missoula art community! She's also interning at Opportunity Resources Inc. facilitating their art program. Ella's also been spending a lot of time at the river, swimming, fishing, floating, and reading, and is challenging herself by playing pickleball! It’s been a busy but fun summer.
Lauren Schulte has the 'best job ever' and is busy leading Adventure camps for Missoula Parks & Rec. She spends her days rafting, climbing, and hiking with kiddos! Lauren is also continuing her research project in Dr. Bryan Cochran’s lab and squeezing in camping trips and a vacation to Orcas Island.
Brody Smith published a book review on the Colors of April (Ha and Tran, 2025) in the Southeast Asian Review of English. He's also been working with people from all over the world in the SUSI programs at the Mansfield Center.
Hazel Walker has been working at Doc’s Sandwich Shop and got her first apartment in Missoula! She just returned from a family trip to the Jersey Shore, and leaves next week for a father-daughter backpacking trip in Alaska. Hazel's been enjoying the 2025 Griz Read, Ross Gay's Book of Delights, as well as Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, which she describes as difficult but rewarding.
Rylin Wilde writes that he's been trying to avoid DC's humidity and has been seeking out as many catered events as possible while interning for Senator Schumer (the latter has been much more successful).
Professor Steve Yoshimura reports on an 'awesome, educational, and fun' study abroad experience in central Europe with honors students, including Lizzie Dresang, Colton Franklin, Bentley Hillman, Ruby McFann, Ruby Mulcahy, Jess Reilly and Kate Widmer.
Of course, the good work of the Davidson Honors College continues — the team has been rocking and rolling (check out our — thanks Katie and Erin)! We'll be back next month with all sorts of information as we turn the page to back-to-school season...the first day of fall semester is August 25, 2025...just a bit more than one month away. And the weeks between now and then will fly. Wherever this finds you, I'm wishing you all the joys of this sweet summer. Whether you're working, playing, studying, or traveling — or just the right mix of all of the above — take a cue from our students and make the most of it!
Here's Mary Oliver's (who/what else?) The Summer Day:
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean -- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down -- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts up her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down into the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
P.S. It's cherry and huckleberry (two of my favorite foods) season in western Montana! Get out there, my friends!
