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Kalinowski calls on grads to lead
By Kate Johnson
jokathry@mscd.edu

Photo by Jessica Oleksy/oleksy@mscd.edu Samantha Kalinowski speaks to the 2006 Commencement crowd at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Kalinowski was the recipient of the 2006 President’s Award.

On Sunday, May 14, President’s Award recipient Samantha Kalinowski stood before more than 1,300 fellow Metro graduates armed with a list of numbers – an outline of her college career to which she hoped others could relate.

In her speech Kalinowski estimated she consumed over 500 cups of coffee and lost 708 hours of sleep during her time at Metro. She also wrote 87 papers, listened to 1,250 hours of lectures and worked a total of 3,300 hours at various jobs.

“I got the numbers idea because my family is just weird like that. My uncle, when he was flying in for the graduation, was trying to calculate the trajectory of [the plane’s] descent into Denver… It runs in the family—weird things like that,” Kalinowski said.

The President’s Award is given to one senior who has a GPA of 3.75 or higher, and has displayed exceptional academic achievement and superior service within a certain field.

Kalinowski, who has a 4.0, is a psychology major with an individualized minor in community action and social change. Her contributions to her field include a recent internship with the Aurora Mental Health Center, where she continues with research that will aid in the evaluation of patient progress and the construction of an improved patient care model.

Kalinowski was home schooled throughout high school and, though she was pleased with the education she received, she acknowledged that she missed out on a substantial amount of everyday socialization. When she entered college, she found public speaking a somewhat unpleasant experience.

During her freshman year, Kalinowski landed in professor Richard Swanson’s upper-division psychology class. Instantly gravitating to his curriculum and teaching style, Kalinowski utilized Swanson’s course work and mandatory class presentation in order to ease into college life.

“I think meeting him definitely helped shape the way my college career turned out because he helped me get over the whole public speaking thing, and he’s been a great mentor,” Kalinowski said.

Swanson took notice of Kalinowski after she continued to score on his tests around 10 points higher than the next closest student. Swanson said he saw in Kalinowski the kind of insight and intuition it takes to be successful in any given career.

“It was like she was able to take what we were talking about and generalize it to a much more general frame of reference. So that’s a pretty strong talent to have, and that’s the kind of thing that brought her to my attention,” Swanson said.

Kalinowski applied for the President’s Award in January. Months later, she was taken off guard when she started getting letters and messages of congratulations. Though the president’s office had sent her no notification, the word was out among many of her colleagues and professors that she had received the award.

On graduation day, Kalinowski addressed the graduates with a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment. While acknowledging the immense diversity of the graduating class, she began by saying it was her aim to deliver a speech on behalf of all graduates.

She had many people to thank, most notably her mother, who is currently a history major at Metro. The two acted not only as study partners, but also as an ongoing support system for one another.
Kalinowski’s speech went on to emphasize the need for graduates to become aware and active in society, and to utilize their education and talents to affect positive change in the world.

“When we leave here today and re-enter the larger community as graduates … no matter what hardships or tragedies or setbacks we encounter, we can succeed, because we have already succeeded despite them,” Kalinowski said. “We are also taking on greater responsibilities, and that is the strive for excellence in our chosen fields, to never let the knowledge that we gained here atrophy, and most importantly, to use our knowledge to challenge our leaders and society when we feel that their actions are unjust and destructive.”

She concluded her speech with a final thanks to the graduating class.

“To stand here as a representative of your knowledge, of your compassion, of your perseverance and ultimately, your success, is truly an honor,” Kalinowski said.