2016 grad Julia LaPlaca, English major, has really stretched herself while working on the Vern Ehlers project this summer. She's learning a lot about "how science works in the world." Julia is assigned to work with Professor Matt Walhout (Physics Dept.)on the Ehlers project. The family of Vern Ehlers has been bringing in boxes of historical materials and papers, and Heritage Hall in the Hekman Library has claimed some of them. Julia has camped out in the Rhetoric Center on the library's 2nd floor, to do her sorting, reading, and writing.

As Julia sifts through the mass of materials she's looking for themes. She has learned that Rep. Ehlers, a former physics professor at Calvin (1966-1982) and Calvin grad (1956), did not take the usual route to politics! Vern liked to say that when he first served in the U.S. House, he was only 1 of 2 research scientists (and the ONLY physicist since Benjamin Franklin!) Julia has discovered that Ehlers was very passionate about environmental causes, especially when it came to protecting the Great Lakes, and also a champion for math and science education.