Pioneers in the News

Head men's cross country and track and field coach Will Freeman was recently quoted in the Washington Post.  Like all of our head coaches at Grinnell, Freeman is a Professor of Physical Education, and his primary course is Psychology of Sport.  The Washington Post reached out to Will prior to the SEC Championship game to see what impact, if any, Georgia's prior loss to Auburn would have.  A former SEC athlete himself, Freeman was a great source for the article, offering these observations, “It is certainly a normal human response to want revenge when we are harmed.  Can it increase motivation? Yes. Can that motivation go bad? Also, yes."  See the full article here.  Like any savvy coach, Freeman wisely avoided making a prediction, but he does offer some great insight!

Pioneers in the News

It's been a few weeks, but I'd like to return to the theme of Pioneers in the News.  It's an exciting, but volatile time in America, something new and big seems to happen on a daily basis, or even multiple times on the same day.  It can be confusing to sort through all of it, but one journalist helping us weed through it all is 2006 Grinnell grad, and fellow History major Ben Jacobs.

Ben first became a household name in late May when, working as a reporter for The Guardian, he was body slammed by then Montana House candidate Greg Gianforte (Gianforte has since plead guilty to misdemeanor assault).  Though I'm sure he would rather not have been cast into the spotlight in this manner, I hope people will now take time to notice Jacobs' reporting.  He's done a fine job in his role with the Guardian, and remains a consistent voice in these wild political times.

Keep up the great work Ben!

Pioneers in the News

It has been an eventful past week or two, both nationally and here at Grinnell, and our alumni have been at the forefront of a lot of it.  Over the next week or so I'll be profiling some of the highlights.

To kick things off, Grinnell's commencement speaker this year was comedian and 2001 grad Kumail Nanjiani.  Kumail's fame has steadily grown, likely boosted by his role on HBO's Silicon Valley.  This summer he'll be starring in The Big Sick, a semi-autobiographical story he and his wife wrote together.

Kumail covered a wide range of topics in his address, both serious and hilarious.  The line that got the best reaction was his take on how to ensure you'll be on the right side of history when it comes to the immigration debate in this country, and is at the beginning of this clip: https://www.facebook.com/NowThisPolitics/videos/1566920553339429/?pnref=story  Again, Kumail covered a lot of topics in his address, and my personal favorite was cut out of this highlight.  I don't have it word for word, but it went something like this, "so I encourage you to seek out people, thoughts, and opinions different from yours.  Listen to it, absorb it, oppose it if you feel it's wrong, but let it affect you."

Great call Kumail!  That's a Grinnell experience summed up in one line.  Thanks for a great address to our graduating class of 2017, and to all of us Pioneers!  #GCPride

Grinnell Football in the News

Des Moines' NBC affiliate, WHO - Channel 13, paid a visit to Grinnell last week to talk college football. And in particular the history behind the Pioneers defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes!

Enjoy the video!