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Marketing Strategies Employed by Michigan Nonprofit Organizations to Increase Donor Acquisition and Retention
No full text31 p.This paper attempts to display and describe various marketing strategies that nonprofit organizations throughout Michigan employ to successfully increase donor retention and acquisition. The research utilizes a qualitative methodology involving in-depth interviews with six Michigan nonprofit organizations. These interviews identified and analyzed the nuanced approaches organizations implement to attract and engage donors. One approach involves peer-to-peer fundraising and ambassador programs that play a pivotal role in spreading awareness of an organization and increasing donor acquisition. Additionally, organizational insights uncovered the effectiveness of large-scale events, social media platforms, and targeted communication with donors. This paper delves further into the successfulness and variability of social media marketing and the power of communicating compelling narratives. The importance of sustainable donors, or younger donors, was also revealed through these interviews. As the nonprofit landscape continuously evolves and transforms, this research provides valuable insight that all Michigan organizations can utilize to make informed decisions about their marketing efforts and enhance their capacity for donor acquisition.Kalamazoo College. Department of Economics and Business. Economics and Business Symposium, 2019
A Chance to Uncover the Hidden Mysteries behind the Dodo Bird through De-Extinction
No full text11 p.My paper discusses the implications of resurrecting the dodo bird through a pioneering method known as “de-extinction.” Research in gene editing can inspire us to utilize the concept in various ways. Overall, I believe that my paper captures the essence of the potential for de-extinction in the realm of genetic engineering and how it can improve our knowledge of science
The Relationship Between Photorhabdus and Heterorhabditis: How Changing Conditions Can Impact Symbiotic Relationships
No full text18p.Symbiosis is a persistent interaction between two species, where there is either overall net benefit or net cost. There are three main types of symbiosis: mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism. These are mainly characterized by the amount of benefit or cost on each organism in the relationship. However, these relationships are not static, and there is variation within them. One example of variation within a symbiotic relationship can is evident in the interaction between Photorhabdus bacteria, Heterorhabditis nematodes, and insect larvae that are infected by the bacteria and nematodes. The bacteria, which exist in two different forms, alter the type of relationship that they have with the nematodes based on the environmental conditions that they are in at the time. While in P form, the bacteria are parasitic to the insect larvae, producing toxins to kill the insect. However, while in the M form, bacteria are more mutualistic with the nematode, supporting its growth and development. One contributing factor is related to a gene sequence, called the madswitch, that switches between the P form and the M form. When the madswitch is oriented “on,” genes that encode for special fimbriae are expressed, and the bacteria is able to adhere to the nematode intestine and initiate mutualism. When this type of expression is present, the bacteria is in the M form. In contrast, when in the P form, the madswitch is oriented “off” and the bacteria produces toxins to become parasitic to the insect larvae. Certain proteins, such as MadO, CipA, and CipB, are upregulated and produced more within either the M form or P form of the bacteria, and can thus be used as a target when trying to isolate and visualize one of the two forms. In studying a relationship, such as the one between Photorhabdus and Heterorhabditis, where disease-causing agents can be beneficial or costly to the organism that they inhabit, researchers can better understand the molecular mechanisms occurring and target drug therapies accordingly
Towards the Synthesis of Novel Anticancer Electrophilic Compounds and Three-Dimensional Scaffolds via the Complexity to Diversity Approach
No full text49p.Many commonly prescribed drugs today work by covalently inhibiting a specific biological target. The distinctive chemical structure known as the scaffold of the compound, along with an added electrophilic motif, referred to as an electrophilic warhead, are the two key characteristics in the design of a drug that impact its binding affinity. Together both the scaffold and electrophilic warhead contribute to a compound’s unique design that will allow it to establish a covalent bond with a precise biological target, resulting in irreversible inhibition. In more recent years, multiple successful and widely used anticancer drugs have been intentionally designed in this manner. However, most approved anticancer covalent drugs consist of planar, flat structures with minimal stereochemical complexity. Therefore, to advance the development of oncogenic drug scaffolds, this study utilized Complexity-to-Diversity (CtD) strategies to synthesize novel electrophilic anticancer compounds that possess multiple stereogenic centers and densely functionalized fused ring systems. In this project, three out of the six desired final compounds and seven different intermediates were successfully synthesized and isolated. The results of this research highlight some of the challenges that come with synthesizing such electrophilic compounds, like low yields and purification difficulties. Additionally, one of the benefits found from starting with structurally complex natural products was that there proves to be untapped value and potentiality in all derived intermediates and synthesized scaffolds due to their novelty, diversity and unique three dimensionality. Therefore, all final compounds and their intermediates will contribute to a wider library of candidates that will undergo preliminary cancer cell viability screens, which will take place to showcase the potential discovery of potent and selective anticancer compounds developed via this approach
Optimizing Social Media Marketing for Sports
No full text33 p.My Senior Integrated Project (SIP) serves not only as a reflection of my experience managing social media pages for a sports organization, but also as a guide for other accounts to grow on social media platforms such as Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Facebook. This document is an interdisciplinary report on my experience as the Lead Content Coordinator for Kalamazoo College Baseball, a personal experience that bridged the gap between sports marketing and visual art. The core covenants of the Kalamazoo Baseball Creative Content team can be found in this report, along with a statistical analysis to quantify the success of various social media campaigns that were published. The information that was collected shows so much about the market potential for sports social media, and how social media can be used to boost the publicity of a person or a group of people. I hope that this document can be insightful to sports organizations looking to gain more traction on social media, or any person who is looking to build a brand on these platforms. Below this passage is a link to my digital portfolio, containing all the work I created as a Creative Content Coordinator
"A Widow Seven Weeks" : The Diary of Louisa Adams Park
No full text71 p.In December of 1800, Louisa Adams Park addressed her diary, beginning by writing, "Louisa Adams-- (how odd that looks) was a heedless girl-- Louisa Park is not." Louisa continued, adding, "See what it is to have a good husband that one loves. Oh that I could-- that it were possible for me, in some way, to show him the unbounded depth of my affection. But fate has placed me in a situation where I can do or say no more than others." Louisa wrote in her diary during her husband's voyage on the USS Warren in the West Indies, often speaking directly to him in its pages. Her diary served many purposes: it aided her household management; it was where she mapped the social circles she and John ran in; and where, increasingly, she vented her hopes and frustrations to her husband in an epistolary style during his long absence. Louisa's diary was no secret, either, such as that of Elizabeth Pepys's, which met its fate in a fire upon her husband's discovery of its existence. It had been John's idea that Louisa keep a diary in the first place. He clarified as much to the future readers of his wife's diary, having transcribed it in the 1840s, stating that there she could "keep a little journal of occurrences &, when disposed, of her thoughts, during my absence, as it might be an amusement in some of her solitary hours, and would certainly be an interesting manuscript for my perusal." Louisa's diary had the potential to take many forms; it could be a simple helpmate, where she kept terse, barebones, dated entries of weather, correspondence, and household matters with very little introspection or, if she had the time and inclination, could be a space for self-expression. Neither one nor the other, Louisa's diary takes on a variety of forms throughout its eight-month existence; beginning and ending with her husband's departure and arrival, it is shaped by and for him. Louisa herself expressed as much by clarifying to her diary that she was no longer Louisa Adams, a girl, but Louisa Park, a married woman. By doing so, she reinforced her changed status and the social and cultural mores that simultaneously shaped and were expected of her and influenced how and what she wrote in her diary. Yet, Louisa's diary also acted as a space in which she confided her frustrations and worries, moments in which her anxiety for her husband, herself, and her child erupted into moments of conflict. As scholar Felicity Nussbaum writes, "Women's autobiographical writing, especially the private writing of diary and journal, is one location of these contradictions that both produce and reflect historicized concepts of self and gender while sometimes threatening to disrupt or transform them. " Louisa's diary is both structured by the cultural dictates of womanhood and motherhood in the post-revolutionary era and also an action against them; it is this dynamic that has the potential to complicate the diary as a historical document and diary writing itself, thereby enriching the study of woman's lives and experiences
The Spontaneous Manifestation of a Creature’s Psyche
No full text23 p.This paper is a narrative of the process associated with my Senior Integrated Project The Spontaneous Manifestation of a Creature’s Psyche. It explores my creative journey of self discovery through art. I will tell a somewhat chronological story of the creation. Beginning with background on my thoughts and feelings leading into my final year at Kalamazoo College, then recounting the three chapters of the project’s creation. The first; the fall, and advanced studio. This section explains my thinking and feelings throughout a class and a series of pieces created during the class. The second; acts as a bridge connecting the series of pieces from advanced studio to what I would ultimately make for my project. This narrative is a personal exploration of the growth I experienced throughout the process
Biomimetics: Dental Longevity through Natural Processes
No full textiv, 17p.My Senior Integrated Project (SIP) focuses on my shadowing experience at Drake Dental, Kalamazoo, observing crown preparation, crown seating, fillings, implants, dentures, extractions, standard teeth cleaning, and detection of periodontal disease. As a result of my shadowship and discussions with dental colleagues, I discovered the topic of biomimetic dentistry. I specifically focused on preserving as much of the natural tooth as possible during crown replacement using sustainable materials. This paper aims to describe the differences between biomimetic dental techniques and conventional methods of preparing and completing crowns, the reasons for using either approach, and my personal experience with biomimetic dentistry. Witnessing different professionals uniquely perform the same procedures inspired me and elucidated the current paradigm of the field: dentists and dental hygienists visually and verbally explained their techniques step-by-step, making my shadowship more meaningful
The Latvian Center Garezers : The Culmination of Personal Experiences and Building of Community Among the Latvian Diaspora
No full textii, 54 p.My interest in researching Garezers comes from a deeply-rooted personal attachment to the camp. Both of my parents graduated from GVV, my mother went on to teach Latvian art history and Latvian history at the camp, and my father became the organization's president 8 years ago. Although my family is from Chicago, I was raised in Three Rivers, Michigan over the summers. I was a part of the preschool program, elementary school program, middle school program, and graduated from the high school program in the summer of 2018. Garezers has facilitated the growth of my own generation of Latvian Americans. I have established friendships that will last a lifetime. My American high school and college friends will come and go, but my Latvian American friendships will always remain. In order to fully understand the different generational experiences and the development of personal connections to the camp, I collected oral histories and other primary sources from the camp to learn how a cultural establishment like this has maintained its original purpose for so long. I created a very strategic set of interview questions designed to discover any similarities in personal experiences regarding Garezers. I reached out to the broader Latvian American community and asked if people would be interested in participating in my project. My choice in interviewees was less from the generation that built Garezers- their purpose for establishing Garezers is self evident as I will explain later, but rather the subsequent generations that reaped the benefits of the founders mission. The first half of this project is my research of the history of Latvians in America, specifically Michigan, post World War II. The second half of this project is a compilation of primary sources and oral histories. Garezers was designed to maintain a Latvian national identity outside of the physical bounds of the European country itself and has continued to do so for 58 years. The Latvian Center Garezers is a place where Latvian Americans come to spend time together as a community in America
Understanding the Complexities : Exploring the Impact of Mental Health, Social Support, and Identity in First-Generation College Students
No full textiv, 21 p.Does first-generation status influence mental health? The primary objective of this literature review was exploring the influence of mental health, social support, and identity in first-generation students. The literature review investigated overlapping factors in relation to generational status to understand why this could have an influence on overall mental health. These factors include socioeconomic factors, racial identity, family dynamics, mental health challenges and support at institutions. Findings indicate that generational status is linked with many other factors such as low socioeconomic factors and minority groups which collectively influence the college experience and mental health of first-generation students. Future research should explore these different identities simultaneously to examine the relationship