on the cover: people's choice

We let readers choose who appeared on the cover of our Spring Issue, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results: four fantastic covers and eleven smiling faces truly showcasing the diversity of our student body. Photography Director Liza Rueckert shot each of the covers, all of which are showcased on these pages. Hundreds of readers participated in an online poll to select which cover they wanted, but in the end only one could win…

The winner of our cover contest was the Men’s Rugby Team, who recently hosted Nationals and had an impressive season. Seniors Andrew Gumbiner, Matt Linden, Jon Milgrom, Justin Sherman, and Rich Bryan brought an easy-going attitude to our afternoon cover shoot, keeping everyone entertained while we shot hundreds of photos. In the end, the photograph we chose for the cover effortlessly demonstrates their camaraderie and fun personalities.

Adam Polonski ’08 was a natural cover model and began striking great poses from the moment Liza began shooting (including a few choice shots with Adam’s satirical version of The Continental, The Hessian). Joined by Megan Brousseau ’08, the two easily bonded over the inherent awkwardness of campus photo shoots. Adam is the Editor-In-Chief of The Daily Bull, a Writing Center tutor, a Student Assembly Representative, and part of Hamilton Alumni Leadership Training (HALT). Megan is a biology major, an EMT, on the women’s soccer team, a member of ATX, works in the Oral Communications Center as a tutor, the Campus Campaign Coordinator for Teach for America, and teaches the lab practical EMT classes.

Britt Freitag ’08 and Emerson Sosa ’10 met for their first time when they came together to shoot their cover for The Continental. Both were surprised that they were nominated, but the enthusiasm and charisma they showed on the shoot demonstrates why they are favorites among the student body. Britt is a theatre major and studio art minor. She is a Senior Intern in Admissions, an Adirondack Adventure leader, Captain for Varsity Women’s Crew, and President of the Zen Meditation Club. Emerson is the Social Chair of La Vanguardia, the Social Chair of TKE, a member of the Fencing Team, an Orientation Leader and Coordinator, a Burke Library Reference Assistant, a Switchboard Operator, a POSSE scholar, and he does the Hamilton College Ropes Course.

Marisa Clemente ’08 and Willy Cowles ’09 were a match made in heaven for our cover shoot. Their chemistry was so good that we joked that their photos were more characteristic of an engagement announcement in the New York Times than a magazine cover. Willy is a member of the Crew team and a Writing Center tutor. Marissa is an English major and Comparative Literature minor. She works with Hamilton Alumni Leadership Training (HALT) and is also a Café Opus Barista.