Success Through Community: An evening of conversation with alumni from the UBC Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies Department.
The UBC Central, Eastern & Northern European Studies (CENES) Department is pleased to invite you to our annual Alumni Night: Success through Community on January 31st, 2024. Last year CENES hosted it’s first Alumni Night, and it was a major success. This opportunity allows alumni, students, and faculty to get together and to share their experiences to help navigate their way through university, and plan for their future.
First CENES Alumni Night Panel, 2022. From left to right: Cicely Belle Blain, Gabrielle Bonifacio, Jordan Kantypowicz and Minori Kato-Hopkins (Photo by Elizabeth Nolan)
The CENES Alumni Night offers CENES students the opportunity to learn more about the value of a CENES major/minor degree, and to provide first-hand knowledge and advice on how the CENES community fits into the UBC student experience, and how this degree can provide tools to either find or create opportunities in assorted careers. This is also a great opportunity for alumni to engage and build connections with the faculty, alumni and students in the department they majored and/or minored in.
Event Programming:
Doors open at 5:15pm. The event will begin promptly at 5:30 with a moderated panel, giving our four alumni an opportunity to
speak about their experiences in the CENES community and how it helped them during their undergraduate degree and now, as they move onto new things. Our alumni night will include a Q&A portion where audience members can ask their own questions, followed by a social hour where students will have an opportunity to chat and interact with the alumni, peers, and faculty. There will be light appetizers and refreshments from Salishan Catering.
How to Attend:
Please RSVP here to attend on January 31st, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm in the Peña Room (Room 301) located in the Chapman Commons, Irving K. Barber Centre at 1961 East Mall.
Featured Alumni Panel:
Matt Clarke
BA’14, English Literature / Scandinavian (Nordic) Studies
BIO: Matt grew up in Vancouver and studied Theatre in New York at the New Actors Workshop under directors Mike Nichols and George Morrison. He is an actor, director, writer and producer of Theatre in Vancouver. Highlights include writing and co-creating Division Infinity Saves the World! (2023 Neworld) a puppet show exploring kids’ experience of the pandemic; producing and starring in the Stories Written by Kids project (2020-2023) – a collaborative project between youth authors and professional actors presented at The Cultch Theatre, directing the original superhero satire The Antagonist at The Cultch (2016 Vancouver Fringe), serving as dramaturg for several Fringe-touring plays like Playing for Advantage (2012/2013 Edmonton & Vancouver Fringe) and Jack the Ripper (2012 Vancouver Fringe), working as a youth mentor and acting coach with The Roundhouse Youth Theatre Action Group since 2016, and producing the Vancouver premiere of Anne Washburn's Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play in April 2018 with his company Little Mountain Lion Productions. He has written and directed two iterations of Kurt Vonnegut's The Euphio Question (2012 & 2017), and created and adapted many plays for youth performances at festivals and in schools. Matt is a Theatre, Acting and Voice Over instructor with various institutions in Vancouver such as Arts Umbrella and the Roundhouse Youth Theatre Action Group, and has degrees from UBC in English Literature and Scandinavian Studies.
Colby Payne
BA’23, Honours English Literature/Russian Minor
Bio: Colby (she/her) graduated in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in Honours English Literature and a minor in Russian. She is currently completing an editorial fellowship at the Walrus, and recently submitted applications to begin her Master of Arts in English Literature beginning in fall 2024.
Melanie Kilchherr
BA’23 Modern European Studies / International Relations
BIO: Melanie Kilchherr is a recent graduate from the Faculty of Arts at UBC, having majored in Modern European Studies with a minor in International Relations. She currently works as a Corporate Services Administrative Assistant at a downtown Vancouver law firm, with hopes to attend law school in the near future. Most notably during her university years, Melanie was a member of the Inaugural CENES Advisory Council as well as a participant in the Witnessing Auschwitz research seminar. In addition to her academic pursuits, Melanie also held leadership positions in various clubs across campus and worked a handful of part-time jobs, one being an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant position.
Nathaniel Andre-Peirano
BA’23 Graded with Distinction in Honours in History / German
BIO: Nathaniel is a born and raised Vancouverite who is now living the dream of becoming a lawyer. He graduated from UBC with Distinction in a Bachelor of Arts, comprised of Honours in History and a minor in German. While at UBC, he studied abroad in the CSSG (Canadian Summer School Program) run by St. Mary’s University and ended this program with a 4.33 GPA. Additionally, Nathaniel has worked as an undergraduate researcher for the Museum of Anthropology and for Professor Andrew Connolly respectively. His experiences at UBC helped him receive an acceptance to UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law with the Sangra Memorial Entrance Award. Currently, he is undertaking a full-time Juris Doctor at Allard, volunteering with Pro Bono Students Canada at their BC Civil Liberties Association placement, and he is a presenter for Allard’s Legal Education Outreach program. Outside of school, he enjoys powerlifting, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and learning new things.
