Category: Winter 2020

They didn’t know it when they left their hometowns, but Moises Hernandez ’17 and Viridiana Carvajal ’15 wound up finding their forever homes—both in terms of place and with each other—after landing in Kalamazoo.

Both native Californians, Carvajal, who lived in Mexico from ages 6-12, left Westlake, a community outside Los Angeles, to come to K, the first in her family to attend college. 

Hernandez hails from Indio, a mid-sized agricultural community in Riverside County. Coming from a city with a large Latinx population, he briefly struggled to find his footing after arriving at K, but soon found support with MEChA, a Latinx student organization. 

“I had never really heard of experiential learning, much less been immersed in it,” he says. “It was a bit of a shock first coming here, both culturally and academically.”

A Posse Scholar—a high school student with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who attends college as part of a diverse cohort, or “posse”—Hernandez also found the overall culture of K supportive of the social justice mindset that he began to develop in his church youth group and through community service activities in high school. 

“I wanted to get involved in community service at K when I applied,” he says. “I was really happy to find out how social justice is integrated into so much of what the College does and stands for. There are so many opportunities to be involved in helping to enact positive change in the world. I really found a home there.” 

While at student at K, he was a Civic Engagement Scholar through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, working at Maple Street Magnet School as well as in the El Sol Elementary After-School program. Deeply committed to the academic success of kids, he continued working in the schools in the summer of 2017 as a Youth Development Worker with Kalamazoo Communities In Schools’ Think Summer! program, focusing on educational equity. 

Carvajal experienced some of the same challenges when she matriculated. She remembers classes where she was the only Latinx student, a “bit of a shock” after coming from a school that was comprised mostly of students who looked like her and shared her culture. By her sophomore year, her grades started to drop, and she thought about transferring to a college near her home. Yet she persisted. 

“I told myself, ‘Alright. I am here. I can do this,’” she says. “I got a lot of support from my mom and family. I am the first in my family to go to college. I leaned on my friends and people I met in various student organizations, who supported me a lot.” 

Carvajal works as an After School Coordinator with Communities In Schools, organizing programming that enhances student success in myriad ways, from tutoring to extra-curricular activities that support social and emotional learning. She also oversees a volunteer program at El Sol Elementary School, where lessons are taught in both English and Spanish, and where K students volunteer, helping kids achieve greater academic success.

Hernandez and Carvajal met while working in K’s Center for Civic Engagement—where Hernandez now works as the Assistant Director—recognizing in each other values they held dear within themselves, they say.

“We saw pretty early on that we have similar values in our work,” Carvajal says. “It shapes us as we move into our future. We have a very close bond. You could say that the personal values we have for equity and social justice, and that were allowed to grow at K, played a big part in bringing us together as a couple.”

Those values also play a large part in how they raise their 4-year-old son, they say.

“We try to be more informed about child development and raising a son who will be informed and fight for equality and social justice like we are so passionate about,” Hernandez says. “The way I grew up is different from the experiences I had at Kalamazoo College, where we were encouraged to think critically about important issues. I know that how we learned to think about the world will be a part of his life.” 

In the city of Kalamazoo they found a community that embraces and celebrates the core facets of the campus culture at K—community engagement, social justice, diversity and the importance of education. The Kalamazoo Promise, the tuition-free college program, was one of several factors that made them decide to call the city home, especially looking toward their son’s academic future. 

Hernandez misses the strong cultural roots of his upbringing. So, too, does Carvajal, who says she still pines for the diversity of culture and food of the greater LA area. Though they thought about heading back to California after they both graduated, their roots in the Kalamazoo community were too strong, they say, nourished with the knowledge and experiences they took away from K.

“The city is trying to advocate toward equity and healing,” Hernandez says. “And that is what our family is trying to do, too. This is where we are supposed to be.”

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AT K

By forging a link between service and learning, the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) works to:

• Strengthen the community
• Invigorate the educational experience and
• Promote students’ informed and ethical engagement to build a more just, equitable and sustainable world.

CCE works with 30-35 community-based organizations, public schools and governmental entities.

Faculty offer about 20 community-based classes spanning the disciplines.

About 300 students enroll in community-based courses.

About 250 students participate weekly in co-curricular programs, in Community Building Internships and in paid federal work study jobs; around 20 serve as Civic Engagement Scholars leading these programs.

Vice President for Advancement Al DeSimone • Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communication Kate Worster • Editor Sarah Frink • Creative Director Lisa Darling • Project Manager Lynnette Pryor • Design and Animation Craig Simpson

BY JEFF PALMER ’76

LuxEsto heard rumors that four Kalamazoo College alumni own and operate craft breweries in the following Michigan cities: Ann Arbor, Cedar Springs, Kalamazoo (and Escanaba), and South Haven. 

The rumors suggested that these alumni not only brew excellent beers, ciders and meads, they also serve a variety of tasty foods that, like their brews, include ingredients harvested from Michigan’s agricultural abundance. AND, they are heard to openly credit K for some of their brewing/business success. 

To confirm these rumors, LuxEsto went undercover to all the breweries where we quizzed the alumni and, well, sampled their products. Our trip was so successful, we suggest you visit each establishment and see/taste for yourself.

Bottom’s up!

Cedar Springs Brewing Company

95 N. Main Street NE Cedar Springs, Mich. csbrew.com

Cedar Springs Brewing Company is in a colorful brick and glass building at Maple and Main streets in downtown Cedar Springs, a town of 3,500 people some 20 miles northeast of Grand Rapids. 

“You have to earn the title,” he said, beer stein in hand while joking with some patrons and waitstaff. “I was in the buttoned-up investment world for 15 years. Now I’m in a business that’s all about hospitality, good cheer and fellowship—what the Germans call Gemütlichkeit.”

That German reference tells you a lot about David and his brewery. 

During high school in Grand Rapids, he forged a lifelong friendship with a German exchange student. At Kalamazoo College, he majored in history, took a lot of econ classes, played football and baseball, and studied abroad in Hanover, Germany. After K, he returned to Germany for five years, living mostly in Bavaria, working in several breweries and entering an apprenticeship program to learn beermaking. 

Upon his return to Michigan, he continued to work in breweries before embarking on a successful career in finance and investment. 

Yet opening a German-themed brewery and restaurant had long been his dream. In November 2015, he opened Cedar Springs Brewery with a beer lineup focused on traditional Bavarian styles and a food menu rooted in Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria) meals. His own American craft beers and smokehouse pub options complement the German fare.  

In the taproom (and in 70+ bars and restaurants in the region), the most popular Cedar Springs beer is Küsterer Original Weissbier, a wheat beer auburn in color with hints of almond and nuts. It and a lighter version have earned awards in several American and international beer competitions. 

A pale bock (hearty lager with malty sweetness), Bohemian pilsner, dunkelweizen (dark wheat beer with hints of coffee and chocolate), Maibock (a malty and somewhat hopped-up lager), Marzen (Oktoberfest lager), and Schwarzbier (dark lager) round out the Bavarian-style beers on tap. All bear the Küsterer brand, named for Christoph Küsterer, the first German brewer in West Michigan who set up shop in Grand Rapids in the 1840s. 

“No one in Michigan and very few in the Midwest are doing what we do,” David said. “It’s traditional and authentic, right down to the lederhosen on our logo.”

To keep the authenticity going, some of the hops and malts for his Bavarian brews come from the old country. David takes some of his brewing and kitchen staff there each year, too. They visit breweries to watch and learn from some of the same people he worked with years ago. He and his wife took their young twin sons for their first visit this year. 

According to David, the brewery has also participated in a downtown revival in recent years. 

“Ours was the first new building downtown in 40 years. Since then, four other buildings have been constructed, including a new public library. I can think of a dozen other new buildings and businesses that are planned. It’s become a vibrant place where people want to be.

“Through our donations, fundraising events for local causes, and a Community Give Back program, we’re helping make our community a better place,” he said.

Many visitors arrive via the White Pine Trail, a 92-mile-long linear park that passes by the brewery’s back door. A covered bike rack and biergarten greet them. 

“We love being along their path,” said David. “I’ve had a winding path to where I am today, and K inspired me. That’s in part what K is about. Liberal arts, travel, SIPs, career internships, athletics…learning and exploring what you love. 

“I explored a German culture that I fell in love with. Now I’m sharing it with others in a little cultural oasis in West Michigan.” 

Prost, David!

Bløm Meadworks

100 S. 4th Ave. #110, Ann Arbor, Mich., drinkblom.com

Bløm Meadworks, owned and operated by Lauren Bloom ’07 and her husband Matt Ritchey, sits near the intersection of S. 4th Ave. and Huron St., on the south edge of Ann Arbor’s historic Kerrytown neighborhood, known for its brick streets, charming shops, restaurants, and theatres, all in the shadow of nearby University of Michigan.

For Lauren and Matt, Bløm (the name is a nod to her Swedish heritage) also sits at the intersection of local foods and fermentation, passions that fuel their personal and professional lives. 

Following her graduation from Kalamazoo College with a degree in international relations, Lauren moved to Chicago where she worked in development and marketing in the nonprofit sector. Yet her real joy was cooking, especially with locally sourced foods. 

“My study abroad in Santiago, Chile, and the Farms to K program on campus really ignited an interest in local foods and showed me a potential career path,” Lauren said. 

This path eventually led Lauren to join the board of Slow Food Chicago, an organization that advocates for the value and pleasures of food produced in a way that’s good for consumers, farmers and the environment.

Meanwhile, Matt had a career in finance before he, too, followed his passion, becoming owner and head brewer for a small Chicago brewery. Unfortunately, he developed an intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye (some of the main ingredients in beer), and had to leave the brewery. 

The couple moved back to their home state and started a business that united her local food knowledge with his fermentation skills—in a way that wouldn’t make him sick. 

They opened Bløm in May 2018.

“We make light, dry and carbonated drinks,” Lauren said. “Our meads start with honey, water and yeast—ingredients sourced from Michigan. Unlike most mead, however, we ferment ours like a dry craft cider, so the result isn’t nearly as thick or sweet as traditional mead.”

According to Lauren, each batch can take on unique seasonal highlights, depending on the blooms their Michigan honeybees have been pollinating. Also, their locally sourced fruits, hops and spices can change season by season. 

“It’s Mother Nature’s call on all the subtle notes you’ll get to enjoy,” she said.

Fermenting small batches for the taproom also means “we can try cool things with small farmers, maybe a small batch of wild foraged pears, or hoop house ginger grown here in Ann Arbor,” she said. 

Bløm’s top-selling meads include a Hopped (popular with beer lovers), a Black Currant and a thirst-quenching Rhubarb. A Christmas Mead sold out faster than expected last year, so they’re brewing a bigger batch this year. 

House ciders include Tart, Dry, Semi-Dry and Apple Cyser pours. 

All Bløm meads and ciders range from 5-6.5 percent alcohol by volume. All are gluten free. Many can be purchased in cans at about 25 area stores and restaurants. 

The food menu at Bløm is small; it’s also Michigan sourced: Crackers from a local shop, cheeses from four area dairies, jams from northern Michigan and chocolates from a shop in nearby Dexter.

“We encourage visitors to BYO food from home or nearby restaurants,” Lauren says. She also encourages folks to stop in during weekly trivia and board game nights, Sunday afternoon “Movies and Meads,” and sessions with a local baker. Throughout the week, part of the Bløm taproom is available for community events like yoga classes and beekeeping workshops.

“We love having a downtown space that fosters community ties and supports small businesses that are deeply invested in our town.”

Skål to that, Lauren!

Three Blondes Brewing

1875 Phoenix Street, South Haven, Mich., threeblondesbrewing.com

When Carrie VanDerZee ’05 and her two sisters decide to meet for a beer, there’s little discussion about where to go. Since June 2018, they’ve been co-owners of Three Blondes Brewing in South Haven, the Lake Michigan beach town where they were born and raised. 

Their brewpub is on bustling Phoenix Rd., less than two miles east of downtown. Venerable Sherman’s Ice Cream Shop is just to the west and the Kal-Haven bike trail that stretches all the way to Kalamazoo is less than a mile away from their bike rack.

Three Blondes Brewing features a lounge, bar, patio and mezzanine level called “The Library” available for private parties. On tap are 14 styles of beer brewed on site in a 15-barrel brewhouse. Three styles are available in cans and on tap in numerous Southwest Michigan restaurants.

Carrie earned a bachelor’s in economics from K, studied abroad in Madrid, and joined the Hornet swimming and volleyball teams. She said the intervention of a professor put her on the academic and career path she wanted.

“I took an accounting class my sophomore year from [Associate Professor of Economics and Business] Tim Moffit ’80 that really sparked my interest in the field, but K didn’t have an accounting curriculum. When I talked to Professor Moffit, he really listened to me and said, ‘We will find a way for you to focus on accounting and still earn a degree from K.’” 

He arranged for Carrie to take accounting classes at Western Michigan University that fulfilled her SIP requirement and provided credits toward the CPA exam. He then connected her with a recruiter at a large accounting firm. She landed a job before her graduation and worked in corporate accounting for 12 years.

Meanwhile, family reunions in South Haven were frequent and included sisters Megan and Amanda, their husbands and Carrie’s husband Adam Troyer ’05. 

“We talked about craft breweries popping up in other cities, creating cool community gathering places, and even revitalizing small neighborhoods and towns. We wondered when one would open in South Haven.” 

Soon, the idea turned to research and more family discussions. Carrie and Adam created a business plan and Three Blondes Brewing was in motion. 

“Our goal was to create a place where family, friends, locals and tourists could gather to experience exceptional South Haven beer with a unique, locally based menu, and parking spots aplenty,” she said.

The most popular pour at Three Blondes is “Boom Boom Betty,” a blonde ale (naturally) named for the sisters’ grandmother. “Trees & Seas,” a classic IPA that Carrie said might be her favorite, and “Wake & Lake,” a light lager, are also popular. And because South Haven is the blueberry capital of the universe, they serve “Boom Boom Berry.” 

A few cider and white/red wine options are also available, as is a full food menu. 

“We take pride in everything that comes out of our ‘from scratch’ kitchen and brewery,” Carrie said. “We source as much local, family and sustainable foods/products as possible year-round and proudly serve Michigan-raised beef, turkey, eggs and pork. We have a lot of veggie options, too.”

Engaging the local community is very important to the sisters, especially after the summer tourists depart. They host live music and trivia nights, fundraisers for school supplies and at-risk families, a holiday toy drive, arts and crafts classes…and you don’t want to miss “Blondetoberfest.” 

During the “Day of Gracious Living” in May, K students get a discount—on food only! Carrie happily recalls borrowing her parents’ convertible and driving classmates around South Haven during Day of Gracious Living when she was a student. It’s one of her many fond K memories.

“Study abroad was amazing, of course. The econ department was so good to me. And the swim and volleyball teams were like having two more families. My entire liberal arts education continues to be so valuable. In a small business, you are called upon to play many roles. K prepared me well.” 

We’ll drink to that, Carrie!

Bell’s Eccentric Café & General Store

355 E. Kalamazoo Avenue, Kalamazoo, Mich., bellsbeer.com

Bell’s Eccentric Café—just a one-mile stroll from Kalamazoo College through downtown Kalamazoo—is the epicenter of Kalamazoo’s now bustling craft beer scene, begun in the early 1980s by Larry Bell ’80, founder and president of Bell’s Brewery, Inc. 

High walls covered with some of Larry’s old maps, quirky artwork and an extensive collection of beer memorabilia help Eccentric Café earn its name. It also boasts a concert venue called The Back Room that attracts national touring acts, a family-friendly beer garden with its own performance stage, a large patio and an on-site brewhouse.

Add in a casual fine-dining restaurant serving locally sourced, primarily non-GMO and sustainable ingredients made from scratch to complement its beer, plus a retail store selling Bell’s beers, merch and homebrew supplies, and you’ll find good vibes offered by few places in the North American beerosphere. 

Popular brews among the 20+ taps include Amber Ale, “the beer that helped build our brewery,” Larry said. According to tasting notes on the brewery’s website, Bell’s Amber “features both toasted and sweet caramel notes from carefully selected malts, balanced with herbal and citrus hop aromas.” 

Oberon, a seasonal wheat ale, is also hugely popular, even though it’s available only from late March until supplies run out, usually in September (except in lucky Arizona and Florida, where it’s available year-round). Oberon is a wheat ale fermented with Bell’s signature house ale yeast “mixing a spicy hop character with mildly fruity aromas.”

Annual Oberon release parties are legendary at Eccentric Café and beyond. 

“I had no idea a beer named after a Shakespeare character would be so popular,” Larry said. “It took on a life of its own. I think it’s all about spring and summer weather that’s about to greet us each year.” 

Bell’s top-seller now is Two Hearted Ale, an American IPA “bursting with hop aromas ranging from pine to grapefruit …balanced with a malt backbone.” Named after a river in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Two Hearted was recognized in 2019 as the “Best Beer in America” for the third year in a row by members of the American Homebrewers Association. 

Larry’s favorite? “Well, there’s nothing like a cold Oberon on a warm summer day, but I’m really excited about our new series of beers inspired by Walt Whitman’s book of poetry, Leaves of Grass.” 

Beer Central

As popular as Bell’s Eccentric Café is, it’s just the rich foam on top of the brewing behemoth that is Bell’s. The business end of the operation lies seven miles east in neighboring Comstock. Here, in a 330,000-sq.-ft. brewhouse, you’ll find most of Larry’s 570 employees. In 2020, they will brew and ship nearly 500,000 barrels of beer. [Note: 1 barrel = 31 gallons. That’s nearly 15.5 million gallons, 124 million 16-oz. glasses, or 165 million 12-oz. bottles and cans.] 

By sheer volume of beer produced, Bell’s is now the 7th largest craft brewer and 16th largest overall in the country—out of some 4,000—according to the Brewers Association. Bell’s beers are sold in 41 states (and counting), plus D.C. and Puerto Rico. 

BTW, if you’re traveling through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, stop for sustenance at Upper Hand Brewery in Escanaba, Bell’s northernmost outpost on the shore of Lake Michigan.

The brewery’s downtown Kalamazoo and Comstock locations combine to make one of the true meccas of American craft brewing. Beer pilgrims by the busload arrive throughout the year to take free tours of each facility that cover the history of Bell’s and brewing, plus sustainability, packaging, ingredients and quality. The tours are so popular that USA Today rates Bell’s as #2 on its 2019 “10-Best Reader’s Choice Brewery Tours” list. 

“We’re going for #1 next year,” Larry said. “If you haven’t taken a tour or even if you have, you’ll want to see what we’re adding.” 

Bell’s Early Days 

When asked whether his affinity for beer traces to his K days, Larry admits that he did live in a section of Trowbridge Hall that students affectionately called “Stroh’s Row” when the legal drinking age in Michigan was 18. 

“My interest in yeast, grains and fermentation didn’t really begin until after I left K and took a job at Sarkozy Bakery in downtown Kalamazoo. I’ve been hip deep in all of these ever since.”

Meeting Paul H. Todd, president of Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Company (now called Kalsec) in Kalamazoo, was also key.

“Todd’s company was developing hop products for the homebrew market in England. They hired me to test some of their products by brewing beer at home. I visited the company every month with my brews to conduct taste tests. Making as much as 20 gallons a week in my basement, I learned a lot.”

With seed money from Todd and other small investors—and after a six-week class at the former Stryker Center at K titled “How to Start a Small Business”—Larry opened a homebrew supply store under the name Kalamazoo Brewing Co. in 1983. 

Brewing with a 15-gallon soup pot, he sold his first commercial beer on Sept. 19, 1985. Within a year, annual production reached 135 barrels. By 1990, Larry and nine employees brewed, bottled and distributed more than 500 barrels of his craft beers across Michigan and into other states. 

When Eccentric Café opened in 1993, it was the first onsite pub at a Michigan brewery since Prohibition and became a catalyst for future growth in what had been a long neglected Kalamazoo neighborhood. 

“It was pretty rough down here,” Larry said. “There were a lot of abandoned factories and warehouses, a junkyard, prostitution, many homeless folks.”

In the years since, Kalamazoo’s “East Town to River’s Edge Neighborhood” has become an entertainment and business hub with few empty buildings, many new ones and patrons galore. Other restaurants, coffee shops and another brewery have opened nearby.

Bell’s Eccentric Café remains at its center. 

Serving His Communities

As one of the “elder statesmen” in the craft brewers’ community, Larry Bell is a sought-after advisor and has served in many leadership roles within industry organizations. He’s also been an outspoken business advocate for clean water and the environment in the Great Lakes region. 

Through the years, he’s served and supported the Kalamazoo Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Boys & Girls Club, Boy Scouts and many other local nonprofits, including Kalamazoo College.

Larry supports K’s annual fund and a scholarship for students coming to K from the Chicago area where he grew up. He’s been a guest lecturer in economics and business department classes led by faculty members Tim Moffit ’80 and Amy MacMillan, and he’s advised students in the K-Trek program who are exploring the intersection of business and sustainability.

Larry has also supported K students’ Farms to K, Just Food Collective and Hoop House initiatives intended to increase the use of locally sourced food, bring more transparency to the food supply system and reduce the College’s carbon footprint.

The Eccentric Café also hosts quarterly Hornet Happy Hours for local and visiting alumni. 

Several K alumni work in fulltime business and science positions within the company. More than a few have held part-time jobs at Eccentric Café. Others have served internships.

“I tell students to cherish their liberal arts education, because life is complicated and it’s great to know as much you can,” Larry said. “A Kalamazoo College education is all about gaining experience and knowledge in many areas. It’s worked for me and I’ve seen it work for many others through the years.

“K is a real gem. I love that students, faculty and staff are so involved in the community. They inspire me.” 

Cheers to that, Larry!

By Zinta Aistars

Not many people know their career path by age 4. Amy Houtrow ’96 knew—she would be a doctor. She would help children like herself. She would make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities. 

Born with a rare genetic bone disorder that affects only about 50 people in the world, Houtrow has lived a life immersed in medicine, first as a patient, undergoing numerous surgeries, now as someone who provides health care, trains the next generation of clinicians, and conducts research focused on improving outcomes for children with disabilities. 

Amy Houtrow, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., is a professor and endowed chair for pediatric rehabilitation medicine in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is also the vice chair for Quality and Outcomes. She directs the Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship and is the chief of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Services at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP), and she is the medical director of the Rehabilitation Institute at CHP. 

“I developed a great respect for the health care field as a child,” Houtrow says. “With all the specialized treatments and surgeries during my childhood, I was exposed to medicine in all its wonders. I knew pediatrics would be my life.”

Part of Houtrow’s spine was fused when she was 4 years old, but that did not keep her from attending school. She was carried on a board to pre-school, where other children came to call her “the laying-down girl.”

There was no keeping Houtrow down, however. 

“I grew up in Kalamazoo and went to Loy Norrix High School,” Houtrow says. “I was awarded the Heyl Scholarship, so there was no question that I was going to K.” 

Houtrow was also part of a legacy family with ongoing Kalamazoo College connections. Her late grandfather, Sherill Cleland, was a professor of economics at Kalamazoo College from 1956 to 1973 (later president of Marietta College in Ohio); her mother, Ann (Cleland) Feldmeier, was in the class of 1972; and her uncle, Scott Cleland, was in the class of 1982.

Admittedly, Houtrow says, the first two quarters as a Kalamazoo College student were “exceptionally challenging.” 

“I loved science…the ‘basic sciences,’ not so much,” Houtrow smiles. “Luckily I had great professors and friends to help me succeed.” 

At K, Houtrow pursued numerous passions. She had acted in the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre since the age of 9, and she continued her involvement in the theatre by taking theatre classes at K and performing in shows. Houtrow earned the Sherwood Prize for Excellence in Public Speaking in 1995. She also helped create the improv theatre group called Monkapult that performed in the basement of the Hicks Center and other venues. “Being in theatre helped me learn to be a collaborative member of a team, to think on my feet, and hone my public speaking skills,” Houtrow says.

She fueled her passion for social justice and inclusion by joining the GLBSQ (now Kaleidoscope) meetings to support her friends in raising awareness of LGBTQ+ issues. She helped organize the Glamour Party in 1995, which was the precursor of the Crystal Ball (now Pride Ball), an event that students attend dressed in drag with the purpose of challenging gender norms. She also hosted a radio show on WJMD with 1960s era protest and folk music.

“It isn’t just rigorous academics that made the K experience so valuable,” Houtrow says. “My liberal arts education set the stage for my medical career, and it also taught me how to incorporate social justice into my work, to critically think, and to be creative.” 

Houtrow graduated cum laude in health sciences from Kalamazoo College, went on to earn her medical degree at Michigan State University (MSU) in 2000, completed combined residency training in pediatrics and physical medicine and rehabilitation in Cincinnati in 2005, and earned a master’s in public health policy and management at the University of Michigan in 2004. In 2012, she earned her Ph.D. in medical sociology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) while also serving on the pediatric faculty there. Her dissertation won an international award for advancing the health and function of children with disabilities. 

As a resident physician, Houtrow found herself frustrated at the many times she had to spend time on the phone, arguing with insurance companies to get the health care her young patients desperately needed. While her motives were to obtain the best care for her patients, she felt that the motivation for insurance companies was to turn a profit. She is a proponent of universal health care funded by the government. “Everyone is deserving of high-quality health care, not just those who can afford it,” Houtrow says. Her desire to improve access to needed health services for children with disabilities led her to pursue a degree in health policy and subsequently medical sociology. “I was incredibly lucky to have amazing mentors who believed in me and encouraged me to follow my dreams,” she says. 

After several years as a physician and researcher at UCSF, Houtrow was recruited in 2012 to her current position at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She was asked to grow its pediatric rehabilitation program. “It was a great opportunity for me to build a clinical program and advance my research,” Houtrow says. 

Houtrow has authored nearly 100 manuscripts for high-impact medical journals and has been showcased in national media. She has served as keynote speaker and expert panelist at medical conferences and seminars around the globe. Her research has informed health policy, while her scholarly activity has included sitting on boards and committees, writing clinical reports to guide quality care, authoring and editing textbooks, and developing training programs for young physicians and scholars. “One of the great things about my career at this point is that I am able to mentor others,” Houtrow says. 

These days, Houtrow is often in our nation’s capital serving on committees that help inform national policies. “It’s a great honor to be considered worthy of this work. What I give there gives me back so much in return—it’s a valuable reciprocity. And hopefully our efforts will help shape how we do our jobs and help children and their families.”

With all that Houtrow has already achieved, including induction into the National Academy of Medicine—one of the highest honors in medicine—she continues to shape new goals for the future. There is always, she states, room for improvement and growth. Kalamazoo College taught her about being a lifelong learner. 

“I’m now doing some training in storytelling,” she says. “I’d like to learn how to disseminate information, promote ideas and solutions to non-academic audiences. Not just numbers and statistics, but to help others understand challenges in health care so that we can make needed changes.” She notes, “I am a physician and a researcher, but I was (and am) a patient first.” One of the positive aspects of having a disability, she says, is that it builds empathy for others. She muses that she hopes it will help her share her message to a broader audience, to make it real.

“I understand the challenges on a personal level,” Houtrow says. “It’s a running joke at my office. I make moms cry. I try to ‘open the door’ to let children and their families express their true feelings and talk about their experiences, their goals, their struggles. I am deeply humbled by the trust families give me. I am constantly wowed by my patients—their tenacity, their wisdom, their sense of humor. Truly, it is an honor to be their doctor and to be able to advocate to improve health services for all children with disabilities.”  

By Antonie Boessenkool ’99

To maintain an acting career spanning four decades, Deb (Nassar) Snyder ’82 has relied on two qualities, both cultivated at Kalamazoo College: a passion for performance and the grit to keep going. 

Snyder’s lifetime love for acting—as a little girl singing for her family, then through college and after—has led to local theatre, commercials, TV shows and a self-made web series. She played a central role in director Ang Lee’s first feature film, had scenes with Harrison Ford and other stars and even appeared recently in the voyeuristic guilty pleasure Big Little Lies. It’s taken her to England, New York, Florida and now Los Angeles, where she and husband Doug Snyder ’82 (a music major at Kalamazoo College) continue their creative pursuits, bolstered by their day jobs in communications and information technology, respectively. 

Snyder’s parts are often on the periphery. She has played a secretary, a photographer’s assistant and even a cheerfully blunt “turkey meatball lady” in the CBS TV show Life in Pieces, serving food at a grocery store deli counter. For her, every chance to act—whether filling in as the housekeeper in a local theatre production of The Man of La Mancha or singing in a scene with Reese Witherspoon—is a chance to live her passion.

Snyder came to Kalamazoo College in a roundabout way via Indiana University. As an IU sophomore, she landed the part of Joanne at the Brown County Playhouse’s production of Vanities, a comedy-drama about the friendship between three Texas cheerleaders as they grow up and grow apart. 

As it does for a lot of Kalamazoo College students, though, K’s study abroad program beckoned. 

“I loved theatre,” Snyder remembered. “I was having so much fun, but I wanted to go to England, badly.

“I wanted to see British theatre. I wanted to see the Royal Shakespeare Company,” she said. “I just wanted to breathe the air where Shakespeare lived.” 

It was Evie McElroy, the director of Vanities, who provided the connection. 

She told Snyder that she’d once worked in the theatre of a small Michigan college that sent students overseas. Snyder applied to K in the fall, and by January, she was at the College, studying theatre and playing nosey next-door neighbor Ruby in Getting Out under theatre department head Clair Myers.  

Snyder later acted in several other productions at K, as Bunny (another next-door neighbor) in the dark comedy Gemini; as housemaid Dorine in the Molière comedy Tartuffe; and as Helen of Troy in Trojan Women in her senior year. She was tireless as a performer, though, she admits, perhaps not as a student. Snyder remembers performing in one Kalamazoo College play, then sprinting over to the Quad to perform with a band for Quad Stock, which she calls her first rock and roll appearance.

During study abroad in England, Snyder took full advantage of her surroundings, hopping trains and traveling to Switzerland, Italy and Germany and absorbing as much theatre as she could. 

“It was cheap to go to plays,” she remembered. “I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company do Hamlet. I saw the National Theatre do a fabulous performance on roller skates. I don’t even remember how many plays I saw…I saw Macbeth in Italy. I made myself go to theatre companies I read about at K.”

Traveling through Europe helped her develop the tenacity she later relied on as an actress auditioning (and auditioning some more) for parts, she said. 

“When you’re traveling around and you only have a Thomas Guide and a train doesn’t show up, there’s no panicking. There’s just, ‘OK, what am I going to do next?’ You’ve gotta stick with it. You’ve got to get from here to there some way.” 

Snyder remembers her senior project well, a one-woman show she wrote based on Mae West, the bawdy, sexy blonde who started her career in vaudeville. Taking the character to the limit, Snyder shaved off her eyebrows and donned a curly blond wig and a Wild West saloon-style dress to belt out songs for her performance in the black box theatre in the basement of what was then the Festival Playhouse, later renamed the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse. 

She teamed up with another actress friend, Leslie Simmer ’82, who did the first half of the show as the serious Francis Farmer, an outspoken actress who was forced into a psychiatric institution in the 1940s. 

“Everybody needed a laugh after that,” Snyder said. “I loved clowns. Mae West had a clown in her. Lucille Ball had a clown in her. There’s a clown in me. I like people who say what they want to say by making you laugh.” 

After graduation, Snyder continued her theatre education with a master’s program at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. Then she was out in the world, looking for opportunities to play the funny or dramatic women characters for which her experiences at Kalamazoo College laid the groundwork. At times it was difficult. She quickly learned that auditioning for a part—an accomplishment in itself—doesn’t mean getting it. 

“It depends on what other people think and want,” she said. “And you have to have the tenacity to withstand the rejection.” 

A break came with her part in Ang Lee’s 1991 indie film Pushing Hands, about the East-West cultural misunderstandings that happen when a Chinese widower moves in with his son and American daughter-in-law (Snyder) in the United States. During filming, Snyder stayed at her grandparents’ house in Yonkers, just a mile from the film set. 

“I walked to the set every day listening to Aerosmith’s album Pump. That’s how I’d get myself pumped, emotionally charged for the scenes I had to shoot,” she said. It was an unforgettable experience for her, with a half American crew and a half Asian crew led by Lee, who was aiming for perfection.

Other roles followed: TV shows, commercials and an appearance with Harrison Ford in the movie Random Hearts. (“Harrison was very nice! Very quiet, very professional.”) 

The Snyders were living in Florida when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks happened, and the fallout eroded her husband’s government contracting business. They decided to make a change. 

“We packed our things and moved out to LA. We had no place to go. We said, ‘We’re in our 40s. What the heck. Let’s go try Los Angeles.’” Soon she had booked a commercial in LA that gave them a down payment for a house and helped them get established again. 

“It’s the tenacity that K taught me. Just kindly, compassionately, but steadily keep going after it. You don’t stop dreaming, do you? Listen, I haven’t been able to give up acting after all this time. I’ve had some really good times.”

That also meant supporting creative endeavors with other means, Snyder pointed out. She works in communications for a local school. Doug, a bass player in three bands in his spare time, works in the IT department at Southwestern Law School. 

With a drive to keep creating, Snyder devotes herself to other projects aside from acting. For the last 20 years, she’s teamed up with Philip Bynoe, an Emmy Award-winning musician, to make children’s music in a venture called PBnDeb. She helps, as treasurer and board member, with the Pasadena, California, organization Urban Harvester, which collects surplus food from grocery stores and restaurants and brings it to homeless organizations and others in need. 

She also acts in her own collaborative projects, such as the comic web series Eve & Edna, which she created and wrote, and Meet Me at the Barre, which she produced. 

As for getting that role in Big Little Lies, it took Snyder six auditions with David Rubin, whom she first met when she landed her small part in Random Hearts years ago. Snyder said most of the acting and goofy off-key singing she did for Big Little Lies Season 2, Episode 5 was cut. Nevertheless, she is visible, part of a group hug when (for those who have watched the show) Madeline and Ed visit a Big Sur healing institute to try and repair their marriage. 

“I know what I did on that set,” she said. “I have so many friends who did beautiful work that ended up on the cutting room floor. And I said to them, ‘But you did the work.’ And sometimes, at this level, that’s what counts.

“Acting is such a big world and so much fun,” Snyder said. “It may not be about the Oscars and the big awards and the accolades. It’s about the journey. And mine has been long and tenacious and gritty and beautiful.”

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Growling noises

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