News
August 30
Early morning classes? Twenty-page papers? Oddly-textured "meats" in the dining hall? These elements of the college experience may seem perilous, but incoming freshman and Eagle Scout Frank Moda is used to steering himself through dangerous situations - including staring a mako shark straight in the eye. "Makos are dangerous sharks to catch - they're fast, strong and very aggressive when hooked," Moda said. Moda, a native of North Reading, Mass., began fishing with his family seven years ago. "In their airborne acrobatic attempts to dislodge the hook, they could actually jump into the boat! The last place you want a live shark is in the boat with you." And that's where Moda's area of expertise comes in. "My responsibility is to maneuver the boat to be sure that the shark doesn't jump into [it]," he said. And so far, the engineering student's efforts have been successful: there have been no shark-in-the-boat disasters, and the Moda family has been told "that the Mako shark we caught during the summer of 2002 was one of two [caught] in the state of Maine that year, and [that] the two we caught in 2003 were the only two caught that year." Though it's safe to say that not many other members of this year's freshman class are avid "sharkers," Moda's love of adventure is a trait he shares with many members of the Class of 2009 - including Marisa Jones, a Pennsylvania born-and-bred runner, pole vaulter, snowboarder...and circus gymnast. "I like to do things that a lot of people don't do and that are 'on the edge,'" Jones said. Jones was a one-time competitive gymnast who became interested in circus performance after watching "Totally Circus," a Disney Channel reality show that trailed Vermont-based troupe Circus Smirkus as it traveled and performed. "Basically, I fell in love with the idea of performing with a circus," Jones said. In order to turn that idea into a reality, Jones contacted and auditioned for Circus Smirkus, making it into advanced training camp and then touring the country for the next two summers. "I perform on the trapeze, Spanish web, hand balancing and partner acrobatics," she said. But Jones isn't only drawn to the athletic: she counts nutrition, community health and political science among her areas of academic interest, and says she eventually wants to "be a doctor or have a government job dealing with health policy." And she's confident that Tufts is the place to pursue that goal. "I became interested in Tufts after talking to a customer of mine at the Italian restaurant I waitress at," Jones said. "My customer was interested in my college search, and had twin sons who graduated from Tufts." And once she visited the Hill, Jones says she "definitely got the feeling that it was the perfect school for me." "What really drew me to Tufts was the sense of balance I felt here: city versus suburban, academically balanced, good size," she said. What drew fellow freshman Max Bridges to Tufts was decidedly different. "I decided to attend Tufts because, of course, it is a pachydermocentric institution," deadpanned the creative writer, bassist, Ultimate Frisbee player and vegetable gardener. "There's also that whole 'world-class-school-for-poli-sci-and-international relations' thing that it has going for it, but, quite frankly, I'd be disappointed if I weren't attending a college that has a large statue of an elephant on campus." (See box at right for other freshmen's thoughts on Jumbo the elephant.) Bridges said he hopes to eventually teach history and government in a New England-area high school and "[run] a political campaign for the one honest person who will ever hold public office in this country." As far as more immediate goals, while at Tufts, he plans on acquiring "at least limited proficiency in Arabic. It's an intriguing language to me, and it's also quite different from the languages I've studied before: French, Spanish and Russian." Bridges will also nurture his musical inclinations while at Tufts. "My dad's side of the family is full of music," he said. "My great-grandfather played banjo around the world, [and] my dad did a little of the same with his guitar before settling down. I've had some sort of fretted instrument in my hands since I was ten years old." The fretted instrument currently in his hands is the Megatar, which he describes as "a 12-stringed, fretted instrument with the range of a grand piano." He adds that it's "rather difficult" to play and that there's a "lack of proper instructional materials for the instrument," but that he still "[loves] it dearly." Another lover of music and the arts from the Class of 2009 is Joanna Wroblewski. Born in Poland, Wroblewski moved to the U.S. with her parents when she was seven, attended a performing arts high school and describes herself as "an addict of the Argentine Tango." "Social dance is a blast and a great way to meet people," said Wroblewski, who is interested in both biology and engineering. "It's different than other dancing because you don't memorize moves. The whole point is to interact with another person in an improvisational and creative way." Wroblewski is looking forward to promoting that type of interaction on the Hill. "I hope to get a group of at least 16 people interested enough to make an official Tufts club with funding for instructors," she said. "Until then, I can teach the basics guerilla style." "All we need," she added, "is a hardwood floor and willing participants." Freshman Dan Albert, an engineering student who one day hopes to design aerospace systems for spacecraft or airplanes, is also familiar with hardwood floors: he's spent a good part of the past eight years on them, studying a martial art called kempo. "[It's] an art which traces its modern history back to the islands of Hawaii in the 1940s," said Albert, adding that "then, Asians living in Hawaii didn't usually teach their art to those not from their homeland." When the different ethnic groups integrated their martial arts systems, kempo was the result. "Kempo was formed when they eventually got over their differences," said Albert, a second-degree black belt who teaches kempo classes and performs with his studio's demonstration team. "The team puts on shows out in the community for various causes and benefits," Albert said. "The shows are high-energy and choreographed to music and involve cutting-edge extreme performance-spinning kicks, ariel maneuvers, flips, twists and fight sequences." Albert plans on continuing to spin, kick, flip, and twist while at Tufts. "I was thinking about starting my own club for anyone with a general interest in the martial arts, and was hoping to find people with various martial arts backgrounds to teach each other," he said. And he wants to give them the chance to show off their newly acquired moves to the rest of the Hill. "I [hope] to pull some students together and put together a performance team to put on shows similar to what I've done with my studio's demo team," Albert said.
