Inaugural coed class blazes trails, provokes changes

Kendra Itskin didn't think she was special when she moved into her room on the top floor of the Baur-Sames-Bogart residence hall in August of 1994.

Neither did Nellie Magnanti, Jennifer Schroeder, Morgan Hawker or any of the 68 other members of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's first freshman class to include female students.

"I couldn't understand what all the hoopla was all about: Television crews were on the front lawn (near the residence hall), the residence hall staff helped carry our clothes and boxes to our rooms, and guys held the doors open for us everywhere," said Itskin. "I thought, 'They really take the start of the school year serious here!'"

Yes, they were special . . . and still are as they achieve the goal they share with their male classmates: Earning a cherished Rose-Hulman diploma and becoming professional engineers, scientists, computer scientists or mathematicians.

Along the way the group has:

• Blazed new trails, establishing new social, civic and honorary organizations on campus.
• Helped improve the academic credentials of the student body.
• Been married, engaged and started families.
• Better prepared Rose-Hulman's male students for working in the 21st century workforce.
• Served as role models for future female college students.

"There's a sense of pride that we established things that will last forever," says Magnanti, a former president of the Gamma Lambda chapter of the Chi Omega women's fraternity. "I'm looking forward to meeting each other at the Homecomings and weddings in the future. I want to know what's happened to everyone. There's a strong bond among us. We were the first."

"I came here for the same reason as the guys: small classes, personal attention, and the excellent career opportunities" -- Kim Whitesell, daughter of 1970 alumnus Stephen Whitesell

Making history was the furthest thing from Kim Hayden's mind when she arrived at Rose-Hulman. Like most college freshmen, she was unsure if she was ready for the challenge that awaited.

"I came from a small high school (Cascade High School in Clayton, Ind.) and was the first person in my family to attend college. And, I wasn't attending just any college. I was at ROSE-HULMAN. There was lots of self-doubt."

Kendra Itskin secluded herself in her residence hall room for the first two weeks of the fall quarter. There were piles of homework to be done and she was determined to succeed.

"We (the initial female freshman students) had something to prove -- to ourselves and the critics who thought we didn't belong here. I took it as a personal challenge," described the mechanical engineering major.

Classmate Sara Brown felt the pressure, too.

"I heard comments about how Rose-Hulman had lowered its standards to accept the girls in the first freshman class. That hurt," she admits. "I had to prove to myself that I could make it."

In reality, the academic profile of Rose-Hulman's freshman class has increased since the college started accepting female applicants -- from a 1210 median SAT score in 1993 to 1350 in 1998. (In the same span, the verbal SAT score has risen from 540 to 630 and the number of high school valdictorians enrolling as freshmen has increased from 37 to 62.)

"We didn't want to be treated any differently," conceded Liza Saunders, a chemical engineering major. "If we've done anything special, we broke down stereotypes people had about females not being able to cut it here. It's something that I'm most proud of."

She should be. Saunders will graduate with the top grade point average in this year's graduating class -- the only senior with a perfect 4.0. She plans to attend graduate school in biomedical engineering.

Hayden has succeeded, too, being a consistent dean's list student and Clare Boothe Luce Academic Scholar. She is also the first Rose-Hulman student selected to be a princess in this May's Indianapolis 500 Festival. Next fall, she will begin a master's degree program in chemical engineering at Purdue University.

It didn't take Sara Brown long to realize she was among a small minority of female students on campus in 1994: She was the only female student to sit down in her first class that fall.

"That was a little awkward," states the mechanical engineering major.

She wasn't alone.

After arriving at Rose-Hulman from Stillwater, Minn., Amanda Speich was greeted by a couple of local residents in the checkout line of a Terre Haute clothing store. Noticing Speich was wearing a Rose-Hulman sweatshirt, the well-meaning patrons inquired, "Does your brother go to Rose-Hulman?"

"I must have answered that question a thousand times," the chemical engineering major said. "Once they found out I attended Rose-Hulman, they always replied 'Oh, you're one of THEM!' as if we had a contagious disease."

However, being a female student on campus did have its advantages, especially when it came to forging relationships with their male classmates.

Ann Christensen married fellow senior chemical engineering major Matthew Talbert last summer, while Amy Ott is married to classmate Jason Hatfield. At least 10 other female members from the Class of 1999 are engaged to Rose-Hulman students or alumni, including Speich, who will marry Todd Burch (Civil. Eng., '98) this summer; Brown is preparing to marry Robert Zembrodt (Mech. Eng. '97); and Jill Troxel is engaged to Chris Riley (Mech. Eng. '96).

"It was easy to date Rose-Hulman students because they understood what you're up against (in school). They knew there were weeks when we had no time for a relationship," stated Kendra Itskin, who will work in the biomedical engineering field (Guidant Corp.) after graduating. "There was no pressure to have a date every weekend. We were too busy."

The female students also believe they have helped better prepare their male classmates for working with female engineers and scientists in the future.

"Men now realize that we (females) can be productive colleagues and teammates. They're not as quick to brush us off," said Kim Whitesell, a mechanical engineering major. "They've taught us, too, how to communicate with them."

Nellie Magnanti stated, "We made Rose-Hulman, the students, the faculty and the staff a little softer."

Chemistry major Jennifer Schwartz added, "It's a better place."

"It's the people that make Rose-Hulman special: Being able to greet the president walking down the hall, being captain of the cheerleader squad and finding faculty members in their offices -- even on the weekends. Those are the things that have helped shape me." -- Sara Dougherty, sister of 1994 alumnus Tim Dougherty

Members of Rose-Hulman's first female freshmen class have had a long list of accomplishments during the past four years, including:

• Competing on the college's first women's volleyball and basketball teams.
• Organizing the first women's fraternities, Chi Omega and Delta Delta Delta, and a chapter of the Society of Women Engineers.
• Being nominated for homecoming queens.
• Acting in Drama Club musical productions.
• Surviving the implementation of the laptop computer program.
• Watching the campus grow with the construction of the Sports and Recreation Center and the Olin Advanced Learning Center.

"I wouldn't trade the last four years for anything in the world," said Nellie Magnanti. "It has made me a better person. I'm ready for the future (as an engineer at General Motors Corp.)."

"I never have worked so hard for something in my whole life," states civil engineering major Morgan Hawker, who has accepted a job with UOP in Chicago. "There's a great sense of accomplishment . . . I'm not special, but I've done something special."

Sara Speckhard, a residence hall assistant for the past two years, is starting to realize that commencement day is close at hand.

"They're interviewing people for next year's RA staff. I'm being replaced. That's hard," said the mechanical engineering major who will work at General Electric's aircraft engines division in Cincinnati, Ohio. "I want to be there to see the girls in my residence hall grow as we did."

Kelly Kozdras, who is considering an appointment as a high school mathematics teacher with the Peace Corps, stated: "Rose-Hulman has expanded and changed my views about who I am and what I want to do with my life."