Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board. True crime podcasts are taking over the internet. According to The Wall Street Journal, as of 2019 “My Favorite Murder,” arguably the most popular true crime podcast, […]

The Corporation — the University’s highest-governing body — elected three new members to its Board of Fellows and seven new members to its Board of Trustees during its annual spring meeting in May, according to a June 1 news release.

The three new members of the University’s Board of Fellows are John Atwater ’83, a trustee since 2015, Pamela Reeves ’87, a trustee since 2016 and Nancy Zimmerman ’85, a trustee from 2010 to 2016 and since 2019. Each member of the Board of Fellows customarily serves an 11-year term.

The seven new members of the University’s Board of Trustees include Angelique Brunner ’94, Susan Chon ’91, Joseph Dowling, Carlos Lejnieks ’00, Russell Malbrough ’98 and Sridhar Ramaswamy Ph.D. ’95, each of whom will serve a six-year term. Denise Marte M.D. ’20, the seventh new member of the Board of Trustees, was elected as a new alumni trustee, and will serve a term of two years.

The Corporation meets as a full body three times during each academic year — in October, February and May. At any meeting, new trustees or fellows may be elected if necessary, according to the University’s charter.

The Corporation has a bicameral structure, in which 12 members make up the Board of Fellows and 42 members make up the Board of Trustees. Thirteen trustees are elected by alumni, including the current and two past chairs of the Brown Alumni Association, as well as 10 other individuals who serve six-year terms. Among the newly-elected members, Lejnieks will serve as the new president of the BAA beginning in July.

The shared responsibilities of all members of the Corporation include overseeing policies regarding University finances and operations, identifying new trustees and fellows, and, on occasion, selecting the next president of the University, according to the Corporation’s website. Additionally, all members must serve on either the Committee on Academic Affairs, the Committee on Budget and Finance or the Committee on Campus Life.

The newly-elected members will formally begin their positions at the first Corporation meeting of the academic year this October.

“Each was invited to serve on Brown’s governing body based on their commitment to the University and its mission of education and research,” the news release read. “All members are dedicated to ensuring that their work will produce an intellectual environment that will shape the careers and lives of future generations.”

“I’m deeply honored and humbled to be elected to the Board of Trustees for the Brown Corporation,” Brunner wrote in an email to The Herald. “Brown University has a limitless supply of extraordinary alumni who have achieved world-changing outcomes since graduation. I hope to advance the goals of the University, alumni and student body.”

During her time at Brown, Brunner helped organize a student protest for need-blind admissions — an experience which influenced her work with the Corporation moving forward.

“In understanding the challenges of establishing need-blind admissions, I became aware of the role of the Corporation and the difference between the administration, the faculty, the student body and the Corporation,” she wrote. After the protest, “I felt that it was important to have people at the Corporation-level that understood the needs of the alumni, the students and the faculty. That was when my interest first started in serving the corporation level.”

“Brown has had a profound positive impact on my life and my family’s life,” Ramaswamy wrote in an email to The Herald. During his time at Brown, Ramaswamy studied computer science and audited courses on music and literature, which “opened (him) to the rich possibilities that Brown offered to enrich one’s world view.”

“I come from a family where neither of my parents got a chance to go to college,” he added. “I am grateful for the opportunities afforded me. I have also realized that these opportunities are not there for many citizens in our own country and my hope is to help spread the power of education to more people in our own country.”

For Marte, who graduated from the Warren Alpert Medical School just over one year ago, being voted into the new alumni trustee position came as a surprise.

“I didn’t think a first-generation college and medical school graduate would be in consideration for a position like this,” Marte explained in an email to The Herald. “I especially didn’t think that an M.D. alumna would be elected to represent one of the closest links to the current student body, which includes undergraduate, graduate, medical and doctoral students, on the board of trustees.”

Two recent alums who are within five years of their graduation are elected as “new alumni trustees,” decided by an initial nomination from a member of the Brown community and then a vote of the graduating class of undergraduate, graduate and medical students. These two new alumni trustees are each elected biannually, serving two-year terms beginning alternating years with an annual election for one of the two positions. The remaining 27 trustees are nominated by the Corporation’s Committee on Trustee Vacancies.

Given her recent study at the University, Marte wrote that she has a unique perspective to bring to her position, and one largely influenced by the work of the student body.

“Brown would not be what it is today without its students. I know this because I saw how students molded diversity and inclusion projects throughout the University following Brown’s Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan,” she wrote.

Marte also wrote that she hopes to help the University in its recovery process from the pandemic, making sure that University initiatives are supportive of students, faculty and staff “that have struggled the most.” Marte also hopes that the University’s recovery will include local communities.

“To current students and recent alumni, please see me as a bridge to having your voices heard at the level of the Board of Trustees. I am not naïve about the problems we face as an institution,” Marte wrote. “I still have a lot to learn about this new role, but I hope to be a voice for students.”

The announcement of the Corporation’s election of ten new members coincides with its announcement of a $1.34 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2022, which was also decided upon at the Board’s spring meeting in May. The budget marks an 11.9 percent increase from the Fiscal Year 2021 budget, and was approved by the Corporation’s trustees. In the coming spring, the newly-elected trustees will similarly partake in approving a new budget for Fiscal Year 2023.

Correction: A previous version of this article included a misspelling of Lejnieks. The Herald regrets the error.

Sweet, savory and salty: French onion soup

Ludovic Péron/Creative Commons

( Ludovic Péron under CC BY-SA 2.0.)

French onion soup is a well-balanced dish. Caramelized onions are sweet, beef broth is savory and rich and toasted bread topped with broiled cheese offers a crunchy textural contrast with a hit of saltiness. I went all-out for this iteration of the classic recipe and made my own beef stock from scratch, but even if you decide to use store-bought, there are a few ways to amp it up. Although this soup traditionally requires oven-safe bowls to top each serving with melted cheese, in this recipe that step is modified to make it more accessible for home cooks. 

Ingredients

• 4-5 pounds yellow onions 
• 4-5 quarts high-quality beef stock
• Sliced sourdough bread
• Gruyere cheese
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Dry sherry or white wine
• Thyme
• Parsley
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

French onion soup

1. Slice onions in half from root to tip, and then cut off the roots and the tips. Peel the onions, remove the stem and then thinly slice them in the root to tip direction. I’d recommend following along with Babish’s video on this step for a visual aid.
2. Thinly coat the bottom of a large pot with equal amounts of olive oil and butter.
3. Add all the onions, plus a sprinkle of salt (which helps draw out moisture), to the pot.
4. Gently stir the onions to evenly coat them, and then caramelize them over medium heat for however long it takes for them to become soft, jammy and deeply golden brown. Near the end, the onions will be delicate and there will be a lot of fond (the brown bits of onion on the bottom of the pot) so be gentle with the onions and aggressively scrape up the fond so it doesn’t burn. 
5. Add a generous few turns of sherry or white wine to deglaze the fond.
6. Add the beef stock and gently stir, taking care to incorporate any fond that you weren’t able to deglaze with the sherry or wine. If you’re using store-bought beef stock, simmer it with some parsley, a few cloves of garlic, a slice or two of carrots, some peppercorns and ideally a Parmesan cheese rind beforehand.
7. Drop in a bundle of thyme and parsley that have been tied together.
8. Bring the soup to a gentle simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
9. Taste, and season very generously with salt and pepper. You will need a lot of salt to offset the sweetness of all those onions

Bread and cheese topping

1. Preheat an oven to 425°F and toast bread for 5 to 7 minutes until crisp but not browned.
2. Top the bread with as much grated gruyere cheese as desired and return to the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Place a piece of bread and cheese atop each bowl of soup, and serve.

Expect to devote some time to this dish as caramelizing onions takes longer than you’d think. French onion soup is great for serving family-style for a large group of people. Pat yourself on the back for sticking it out through this pretty laborious recipe, and enjoy the incredible results of your work!

Contact Abhi Varma at avarma@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian

In the second annual march and vigil organized by Trans Resistance MA, demonstrators marched from Nubian Square to Franklin Park Playstead Saturday for Black transgender lives. Participants gathered afterward for a vigil and pridefest that included performances, tabling by LGBTQ+ and BIPOC community organizations and an art installation in remembrance of transgender community leader Jahaira DeAlto.

I always look forward to summer break as a student because it means not having to worry about balancing classes and work. I look forward to the sun, playing basketball in the driveway with my siblings and even walking around the neighborhood with my little nephews. But above all, summer means taking a mental and physical break from the days of hard work and busy life. It is a time to unwind, kick back and relax. A time to take in all the vitamin D before Minnesota’s long winter returns.

When I take time to enjoy the warm air and sunshine, the world appears to be very small. All my worries turn to dust because the only thing on my mind is how blessed I am to be having this experience. But reality kicks in as soon as I go back to my daily life. Many of us are job hunting, looking for internships, going to work, planning for graduation, planning for the future or even taking summer classes. Thinking about questions like “What now?” and “What next?” can be very exhausting, especially after more than a year of living in a pandemic.

It has come to my attention how little time we got for ourselves. We were in a year of struggle and hard work, academically speaking. Some of us did as well as we always do, while others just wanted to erase that one year off their record because of poor performance. Most of all, though, I do not think we had any time to just breathe. It was all “get up and get going” without a “sit back and relax” period. Even if we wanted to steal those moments from our busy routine, life got in the way. I realized that I am completely burned out. Now, all I want to do is sleep. I want to lay down with my eyes closed and not have to think about life. I want to drift into a sweet dream, fly through the air and look down on all my mundane life worries.

It is all wishful thinking, though, because life demands and we comply in order to live and survive. We have a never-ending to-do list that we dread crossing items off of. I know it all sounds gloomy if thought about that way but ultimately we can reprogram our thinking. Our perspective on our lives can make life heaven or hell, though that is not to say that we do not face obstacles such as job rejections, overdue payments, family issues or work problems.

But these things are just part of life, the good and the not so good. I did not want to call them problems because our programmed minds will want to take a negative stance on issues that arise, allowing them to dictate our daily life outcomes. I do not think there is anything wrong with facing issues in life, but it is a matter of knowing when to take a break and keep ourselves from burning out. It is a matter of pacing ourselves and having priorities. Burnout is real — you know it when you feel exhausted, empty and even have difficulty just dealing with life.

So despite adjusting to changes on mask mandates and getting back to a semi-normal life this summer, steal those moments from your busy days to unwind and relax, to breathe in and breathe out, and to maybe even let the sun warm your face.

I like to imagine having an invisible wall that runs across my waist. I use it to push down all my life’s issues so that they do not crawl up to my mind. It is like having a certain threshold that life’s issues can reach but cannot pass through. I think not taking in all that goes wrong is one way to reduce stress and live the life you want while dealing with surprises that might arise. Take a deep breath and pace yourself. Good will always surpass the bad.

Berkeley police arrest juvenile following fires in Berkeley Hills

Celine Bellegarda/File

As California continues into the fire season, Berkeley emergency personnel arrested a 12-year-old girl allegedly connected to four separate fires in the Berkeley Hills on Friday.

The first fire, a small grass fire, began at 10:22 a.m. on the 1600 block of La Vereda Road and was extinguished by nearby residents, according to a Berkeley Police Department Nixle alert. The second, reported at 2 p.m., took place along Cedar Path, located between La Loma Avenue and La Vereda Road.

Emergency personnel responded to two more fires later in the day, including a second fire at the 1600 block of La Vereda Road and one fire on the 2700 block of Cedar Street, the alert adds.

“During the warmer months, we must all remain alert of the dangers of fire during this period of increased fire risk,” the alert reads. “We are thankful that no was seriously injured by the fires.”

Aditya Katewa is the executive news editor. Contact him at akatewa@dailycal.org, and follow him on Twitter at @adkatewa1.

The Daily Californian

Senior Poppy Tank had a stellar season by earning bids to compete in the NCAA Championships for Track and Field in the 5k and 10k event. She has become the sixth Ute in program history to qualify for the Championships. Over the weekend, Tank competed in the 10k event on June 10 and the 5k event on June 12. 

The 10k event was the first event that Tank competed in where she ran her lifetime best with a time of 32:50.57. This time was the program’s best time in its history along with Tank’s personal best. Tank finished in ninth place where she earned her second All-American honors. 

“Poppy ran another very smart and tough race,” said head coach Kyle Kepler. “I know she wanted to place higher, but I can’t envision asking more of an athlete than she gave tonight in an NCAA final. Fifteen athletes, including Poppy, ran lifetime best. That’s the kind of race it was. We are all incredibly proud of her.”

Tank finished her season career competing in the 5k event where she gained an All-American Honorable Mention at Hayward Field with her time of 16:15.88. Her time was 43 seconds faster than any Ute who has competed in the 5k event in the Championships. Tank finished up her Ute career with All-American honors in XC & 10k, an All-America Honorable Mention in the 5k event and First-Team All-Pac-12 honors XC. 

With the conclusion of the NCAA National Championships, that officially wraps it up for the Track and Field season with lots of great things ahead for the athletes and the program as they look to the 2021-22 season.

e.dush@dailyutahchronicle.com

@DushEmily

The post Utah Track and Field’s Poppy Tank Competes at NCAA Championships appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

Angelina Anderson’s ascent to Cal’s cream of the crop

Lisi Ludwig/Senior Staff

Lisi Ludwig / Senior Staff

With two minutes left on the clock, it’s a rare one-on-one showdown on the pitch — a penalty kick to decide Cal’s biggest game of the year. The blue and gold are up 1-0 against Stanford, and all eyes are on their sophomore goalkeeper, Angelina Anderson. 

After collecting a flawless eight saves, she’d all but proved her mettle as a virtually impassable defender. But to Anderson, it’s not the past that counts. It’s about the future goal.

“Visualization is a huge part of my pregame ritual,” Anderson said. “I’ll close my eyes and see myself making the save. I have a whole highlight reel going on in my head. I do that before the game, right before my warmup, and then once I have the visualization done, I’m ready to go.”

As Stanford’s Civana Kuhlmann creeps up to the ball, Anderson knows she only has a few options to block the shot: dive to the left, shift right or stay in place. So she commits to one, leaping to the left side with fully outstretched arms — a game-saving move that helps lift the Bears over the Cardinal for the first time in nearly eight years. 

Lisi Ludwig / Senior Staff

Long before the glitz and glamour of Cal’s Division I soccer program, Anderson grew up no differently than many of her contemporaries. Born and raised in Danville, California — a quaint Bay Area town 22 miles east of Berkeley — she was an active kid with an insatiable curiosity. 

“Angelina’s always been a reader and writer,” said her mother Lisa Anderson. “She’s a heavy journaler and likes music. She also loved to hike and be in nature. On any given day, you could find her on a trail outside.”

Surrounded by former athletes, Anderson gravitated toward sports at an early age. Her father, Sean Anderson, was a linebacker at the University of Iowa. Her mother ran track and field at San Francisco State University.

“I definitely grew up in an athletic environment,” Anderson said. “My family prioritizes health, fitness and sports. My mom is more so about the holistic health and wellness side of being an athlete; my dad is really intense about the sports aspect. They’re both still in incredible shape, still working out all the time, and it’s really inspiring. I think that’s a goal of mine for how to live once I’m older too.”

Already 5’5” by age 10, Anderson took a particular interest in basketball and soccer, where her height proved particularly advantageous. She blocked shots with ease as a pass-first point forward and anchored backlines as a centre back turned goalkeeper. 

With a selfless style of play that spoke for itself, teammates quickly followed her lead. Soon thereafter, coaches began to take notice of Anderson’s distinctive presence on both the court and pitch. 

“The basketball and soccer crossover really worked for her,” Anderson’s father said. “Going for balls up in the air was like grabbing a rebound. The footwork was the same as doing a layup. A lot of her basic techniques were already developed at a young age.”

Come ninth grade, Anderson chose to double down on soccer. With Carondelet High School and Mustang Soccer Club Elite Clubs National League, or ECNL, she maximized her athletic ability by developing her own set routine. At 5 a.m., she’d wake up and go straight to the gym; at 3 p.m., she’d practice with the rest of the team for at least four hours a day, every day of the week. 

“People probably don’t know how much she actually did,” said Mustang Soccer ECNL director Mike Kelley. “She missed a lot and sacrificed to get to where she’s at. She kept improving, was always super prepared and took fitness seriously. You could see it in her eyes that she was hungry to get better.”

As Anderson sharpened her skills as a goalkeeper, she had a goal in mind: make it to at least one camp held by the U.S. Youth Soccer National Team. Such an invitation is essentially the “golden ticket” of soccer. To receive one is especially rare, reserved only for the most skilled soccer players in the nation for their respective age group. 

On Dec. 9, 2016, her work ethic paid off in due course through email: 

“Congratulations! You have been selected to the roster for the upcoming U.S. Soccer Striker and Goalkeeper training camp in Carson, California. Including travel days this trip will take place from Wednesday, December 14th, 2016 – Saturday, December 17th, 2016.”

But even one “golden ticket” was no guarantee that Anderson was welcome to stay. Unbeknownst to many players, to truly rise to the top is to receive multiple camp invites by captivating the attention of scouts and coaching staff. So Anderson’s goal evolved: from working her way toward one to the first of many to come. 

Lisi Ludwig / Senior Staff

A goalkeeper’s job is far more than simply blocking shots. It requires anticipating the opposition, vocalizing commands to coordinate the team’s defense accordingly and stopping the offensive charge before it ever begins. It also requires grit. Although the pressure of being the “last man standing” can be overwhelming, a goalie has to stay composed for the sake of their team’s collective morale.

In other words, to be a great goalkeeper is to be a great leader. And for Anderson, filling in such a role is as natural as kicking a soccer ball itself. 

With Carondelet High School, she led her team to back-to-back East Bay Athletic League Championships; with Mustang ECNL, she rallied her team to two ECNL National Playoffs Final Four appearances; and with the U-17 Women’s National Team, she competed at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup as the squad’s starting captain.

“To become a high-level athlete, you have to have confidence in yourself and gain the respect of your teammates. She definitely has both,” Kelley said. “She’s very clear, concise and quick and was never one to blame other people. Her teammates kind of gravitated toward her because they knew that she cared. I saw her in many situations where no one else wanted to step up and say something, but she’d be the first to do it.”

But Anderson’s aptitude for leadership hasn’t come without its challenges. When she entered the U.S. National Team’s camp at 16 years old, she felt like an outsider. 

“Unless you’ve been on the national team since you were around 13 years old, you’re kind of a late joiner. There’s a kind of core group of veterans who are used to girls cycling in and out,” Anderson said. “So when I first entered, it was really nerve-racking and hard to connect and make friends.”

To earn her teammates’ trust, Anderson set a short-term goal for herself: prove that she belonged through her play. After all, it was just soccer — a sport she had poured her heart into for as long as she could remember. 

Such a mindset allowed Anderson to embrace the situation with confidence. Taking each day game-by-game, practice-by-practice, she swiftly gained the respect of not only her teammates but coaches as well. Before she knew it, the U.S. National Team started flooding her inbox — one invite to a training camp in Florida led to another in China, which led to several more in Mexico, Argentina and Nicaragua, to name just a few.

By the time Anderson was a sophomore in high school, committing herself to play collegiate soccer was all but set in stone. At just 16 years old, she received offers from colleges such as Cal, Stanford and Notre Dame. 

During the decision-making process, Anderson was initially turned off by the idea of settling in at UC Berkeley. As big of a presence as Cal is in Danville, she — like many other antsy teenagers — was eager to move far away from home. 

“I was actually super opposed to going to Cal because it was just so ingrained and so close to me. There’s a lot of alumni who live in Danville, and I see Cal license plates, Cal stickers, Cal flags all the time,” Anderson said. “I had grown up thinking, ‘No. I’m getting out of here, I’m going to do something completely different.’ ”

But once she assessed her options and weighed the pros and cons, she gained some more clarity. 

“Eventually, I came to my senses. The coaches that I currently play under coached at Mustang Soccer Club. When I was little, I would go to Cal soccer camps overnight all the time,” Anderson said. “Cal has always had a storied goalkeeper program, and I knew that my position was going to be cultivated. As a goalkeeper, I was going to learn and grow a lot, which ultimately helped me make my decision.”

So she decided to stick around in the Bay Area and officially signed with the blue and gold Nov. 14, 2018. Now, at around a halfway point into her collegiate career with Cal, Anderson has developed quite the resume. 

By the end of her freshman year, she could boast nine shutouts with the team, was the first player in conference history to be named Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in the same season and recorded a save percentage of 0.851 on 86 total saves — the second-most in a single season in the program’s 40-year history.

Anderson’s sophomore season was a similar story. In 14 games, she ended with a spectacular 10-save performance against Arizona State, collected a fourth career Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week Award and landed a spot on the All-Pac-12 second team. 

But even with such a long list of accolades, Anderson is sure not to take anything for granted. As proud as she is of her accomplishments, her focus is always on what’s next — what she can try differently for the next game; what new skill she can pick up through the next practice; and what she can do to advance her career to the next level. 

It’s a type of short-term goal setting that drives her motor and has helped her get to where she is today.

“Having those tiny milestones has helped me a lot in the grand scheme of things,” Anderson said. “For everyday things, if my mind is cluttered, I have to write it down in a checklist. For bigger goals, it’s always in the back of my mind, no matter what I’m doing. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. If I’m out trying to have fun or it’s my day off, it’s always back there nagging at me, which is good in the end since it keeps me driven.”

Anderson’s forward-thinking mentality also applies to the rest of the team. Along with a sixth sense in anticipating the trajectory of opposing shots, an ability to lead with confidence is what makes her such a valued goalkeeper on the pitch. By approaching the opposing offense with an equally deliberate, methodical approach for her defense to follow, she can envision team success far before the game even starts. 

Because ultimately, it’s not the past that counts to Anderson. It’s about the future goal.

Ryan Chien covers women’s soccer. Contact him at rchien@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian

“When you think of a Tongan woman, it’s probably not me — too dark, too skinny, too plastic, too fie palangi,” said Sisilia Kaufusi at the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebration and Rally on May 22. “When you think of an American woman I’m not what comes to mind. The tone of my skin and the curl of my hair is all they see sometimes. So tell me what I’m supposed to do? What space is left for me?”

Kaufusi, a University of Utah student studying human resources, spoke at the event as Miss Rocky Mountain and the only person of color out of 49 to be competing at this year’s Miss Utah competition. 

The fifth of nine kids and a first-generation college student, Kaufusi found the Miss America organization in an attempt to pay for her education. The Miss America organization focuses on providing scholarships to young women competitors.

In 2017 she competed in her first pageant, Miss Pacific Islander, and won. 

“It was a lot more to it than just wearing a dress,” she said. “What I found out very quickly [is] you have to serve your community, have your whole year be all about the service and what your platform is and what you’re supporting.”

Kaufusi has held the title of Miss Rocky Mountain for about five months. She originally placed first runner-up in the competition, but soon got the crown when the original winner dropped out because of COVID-19 concerns. 

Now, she is going on to compete at Miss Utah from June 10-12. The competition was canceled last year because of COVID-19, and events will be scaled back this year as well.

“We are so excited to be able to put on a competition and provide this experience to a group of women that are very deserving of the scholarships and recognition,” said Whitney Thomas, communications director for Miss Utah Scholarship Organization, Inc., in an email interview.

As aforementioned, Kaufusi will be the only woman of color competing and she said she feels a lot of pressure because of it. 

“I feel a huge weight on my shoulders just because I know that for me as a little girl, I want to see myself in that kind of position because I didn’t. It’s hard to imagine yourself as something that you don’t see,” Kaufusi said. “It gets a little lonely because I feel like a lot of people don’t really understand why that’s so important to me, or why it’s even a subject to talk about.”

In the early years of the Miss America pageants, rule number seven prohibited women of color from competing. 

Kaufusi said she thinks it may be hard for people of color to compete in these pageants due to the lack of representation. 

“I don’t match the stereotypical standard of beauty that Utah holds,” she said. “It’s difficult because you look at all of the past winners of this competition, and you look at all the girls that you are competing against, all the people that are going to be judging you, and you don’t look like any of them, but everyone expects you to still feel just as confident as everybody else, still feel like you have a place there.”

Thomas said the judges are looking for someone who loves the state of Utah and is willing to serve it. 

“There is a strong emphasis on service and education. While we encourage our candidates to present themselves in a professional manner, there is no scoring based on their appearance or beauty,” Thomas said. 

She also said they want someone who is ready to jump in and promote her social impact initiative. 

Kaufusi’s initiative, titled “IM-POSSIBLE,” focuses on motivating inner-city youth to exceed expectations and break the boundaries society puts on them. 

Growing up in West Valley, she said she wanted to make an environment better than the one she grew up in. This includes changing the narrative about success. 

To do this, Kaufusi started working with the high schools around her home, talking to the youth and encouraging them to change the statistics stacked against them. 

“When I was in high school, I had a 1.3 GPA — I wasn’t going to graduate,” she said. “I didn’t have any kind of goals or anything like that. It wasn’t until I really realized that I was in control of my life, is when I started changing my grades, I was able to graduate.”

If she were to win Miss Utah, she wants to work with city councils to improve the environments these kids are growing up in. 

“Get them more funding, equal funding, and really help them see other aspects of life than just, if you’re good enough to throw a football, or if you’re good enough to have all of these straight A’s, then you’ll make it in life,” Kaufusi said. 

After redefining success and introducing opportunities to these kids, Kaufusi believes they will be able to find what pathway is meant for them. 

“It’s a lot more than just pretty girls and pretty dresses, it’s young women who are taking the time to make the changes you wish to see in the communities that you live in,” she said.

k.silverstein@dailyutahchronicle.com

@chronykayleigh

n.colby@dailyutahchronicle.com

@natalie__news

The post U Student Sisilia Kaufusi Takes on Miss Utah Competition as Only Competitor of Color appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

After a year and a half of masks and social distancing, in person events are back on. Here is a run down of local summer happenings and how they will be different for the summer of 2021.

Juneteenth Celebrations: (June 13 – 19)

Juneteenth celebrations are on for the summer of 2021. From the 13 through the 19 of June, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will be hosting several events leading up to and on Juneteenth, all of which will enforce minimal restrictions related to COVID-19. The schedule of events is set to include literature readings, drive-in movie screenings and virtual community panel discussions, as well as live music and kite-flying in Bethune Park.

Pride: (Lead up events: June 9 – 27 — Pride Festival: July 17 – 18)

It is truly not a summer in the Twin Cities without Pride, and after an unspeakably difficult year the celebration is back on. The Grand Marshal MASKqueerade Party event will be held at two locations for smaller gatherings, and the Rainbow Run 5k will go off in groups of 250 at 9 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m., etc. for spacing of runners. For the Pride Festival itself, booths have been removed along the lake side of Loring Park to ease congestion.

Stone Arch Bridge Festival: (June 19 – 20)

The yearly art and music gathering on and beside the historic Stone Arch Bridge will be going forward for 2021 with minor changes to the usual arrangements. With live music, a culinary arts market and a local car show, there is something for everyone. Artists’ tents will be spread out — offering a good amount of space between each tent — and all of the large music events have been scaled back. While the event typically features several stages with a full lineup of performances stretching into the evening, this year there will be two stages featuring primarily acoustic sets of one or two performers.

Loring Park Art Festival: (July 31 – Aug. 1)

Mark your calendars for the weekend of July 31: The annual community arts festival and market is back in full swing. A bustling art celebration across from the Walker, this event will once again be bringing local art, delicious food and a fun loving atmosphere to the Loring Park neighborhood. There will be hand sanitizers throughout the park and there will be limited entertainment and activities to eliminate gathering points.

“The safety of our guests, artists and partners is paramount,” said Pat Parnow, director of the event. “We are working closely within the guidelines set forth by the CDC and the State of Minnesota, and we have been strategizing and sharing best practices with art festival directors locally and nationally for many months.”

Uptown Art Fair: (Aug. 6 – 8)

Come August, the streets of Uptown will be bustling with artists and art lovers once again. As the second most attended event in Minnesota, this event will be packed with folks selling and purchasing visual art of all kinds. The executive director of the Uptown Art Fair, Jill Osiecki, commented on the uphill climb to put on this event after having only recently been given the green light by the state.

“The real challenging thing is that we’re planning an event, essentially in two months, that normally takes us a full year,” Osiecki said. “The fair impacts so many different people, not only 300 plus artists, but also our community. We feel it’s super important to make it happen.”

Minnesota Renaissance Festival: (Weekends Aug. 21 – Oct. 3)

Granted the current condition of the pandemic continues to improve as expected, organizers at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival will once again open doors to their fantasy kingdom in Shakopee, Minnesota. The director of marketing and events at Mid-America Festivals, Stephanie Whipps, shared how the organizers are still unsure what restrictions will look like for what will be the festival’s 50th anniversary summer.

“We are hopeful to have a normal renaissance festival experience, but will do whatever we have to do. If we have to operate with some restrictions, then we will,” Whipps said.

Rock the Garden: (Canceled)

Unfortunately, this cherished Twin Cities music festival will not be taking place this summer. Due to the difficulties of scheduling during the pandemic, it will likely be another year before music lovers can once again gather on the Walker Art Center grounds for a day of loud music and high spirits.

Minnesota State Fair: (Aug. 26 – Sept. 6)

Whether your fix is a bucket of Sweet Martha’s cookies, a ride on the giant slide or wandering into random RVs you could never afford, the great Minnesota get-together is coming back with all of the foods and events you’ve been missing. At this time, the State Fair does not anticipate daily attendance limits and masks will not be required for fair guests; however, organizers are strongly encouraging the use of masks for those not fully vaccinated, the Minnesota State Fair announced. Additional announcements regarding the 2021 Minnesota State Fair, including the free entertainment lineup, new foods, full Grandstand lineup and more will be released in the coming weeks.