Brittany Ballantyne
Equinox Staff
Not only is she a double major, the president of a club, and the recipient of a fellowship with Brown University, but she has also been accepted for a fellowship with New York University and Harvard University. Her name is Chloe Edmonds.
Edmonds is a sophomore double majoring in American studies and Holocaust and Genocide studies.
Her advisor, English Professor Michael Antonucci said, “Her work ethic is amazing. She’s very dedicated, very thorough. She’s willing to revise her work and she understands the idea that you don’t get something from nothing.”
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Edmonds explained how she keeps up with her schoolwork.
“I feel like if I just set up a time correctly I’ll do fine on it. I’ve never really had a problem in terms of feeling like I’m not going to do well on a project. For me, it’s just prioritize well enough in order to get it done,” Edmonds said.
Antonucci added, “She’s a very down to earth direct person, I think she’s always smiling, which is kind of crazy but it’s true I think. I’ve very seldom seen her in a moody situation, she’s always a breath of fresh air.”
Through the leadership alliance, Edmonds was selected for fellowships. Edmonds said the alliance allows for high-level schools, or Ivy Leagues, to take in students who haven’t had the chance to attend an institution of that level of schooling and offers them research venues.
“They pretty much give me free reign to do any kind of research project that I want which I applied with and then for nine weeks I do my own research. I use their facilities, I use their library, I talk to other students in the leadership alliance, and then I work with mentor to create a thesis and then at the end I present at a national symposium,” Edmonds said.
When first applying, Edmonds didn’t think she would get the acceptances. “She didn’t necessarily think she was there in the running and I was like no, this has got your name on it,” Antonucci said.
Mistakes happen everywhere, even in Ivy League school offices. “The funny thing is she was actually counted out of the running for this early because they thought that they hadn’t received, or that she hadn’t turned in, a piece of the application. And that’s so un-Chloe, she’s very thorough,” Antonucci said.
He explained that after making calls, Brown University realized they had misplaced what she had sent.
He said, “She didn’t give up, we didn’t give up, and the fact the extra effort that they had to take to find her stuff that they had lost might have just pushed her stuff to the top of the pile and they realized that this kid from this school that they might not have heard of was really something special and they realized their mistake and it’s now their benefit.”
Edmonds is still surprised she got into the program. “They actually looked at my interests and saw some potential in me. That means pretty much anyone at Keene can get farther than they expect that they can,” she said.
Antonucci said this “shows where we are as an institution in terms of our student body and the kind of work that they’re producing in fields that are cutting edge.” Not only does Antonucci like working with Edmonds, but her fellow classmates and colleagues do as well. Sophomore Johanna DeBari said that Edmonds “played a pivotal part” in the fall semester of the Holocaust and Genocides Awareness club. This semester, Edmonds stepped up to a higher position.
“She’s been a wonderful president and someone who’s great to work with,” DeBari said. DeBari said before the spring semester began, “she already knew what she wanted and set goals for herself and it was extremely admirable the way that she carried herself and carried out what she wanted to do.”
Senior Danielle Flaherty said, “I think the organization and general leadership of the club has become a lot stronger since she’s taken charge.” As far as her schooling goes, Antonucci said Edmonds has a lot of deep material to work through.
“Using literary works, using sociological materials, gives her the philological training that will really bode well for her further work at the higher level as a graduate student in the future.”
“She’s a very serious person. Although happy, although down to earth, although very accessible, she’s serious about her work and what it needs to do, which is to effectively save the world or at least save lives. And that’s a work in progress,” Antonucci said.
After learning all of this about Edmonds, one might be surprised that she is hearing impaired.
“I was born completely deaf in my right ear. That made classes more of a struggle for me just because I have to prioritize how I talk to my teachers, making sure my teachers understand the best way to communicate with me.”
Edmonds said she is considering pre-law in the future and has an interest in working with the International Criminal Court. She is looking into graduate schools such as Rutgers University, Yale, and NYU.
Edmonds explained that right now, “I’m focusing on trying to follow the preventative path, working with genocide and trauma and crises like that and just trying to figure out methods of prevention. So right now with [the] Academic Excellence Conference, I’m working on awareness because awareness is one of the steps of prevention.”
Flaherty said, “She’s one of my friends, but she’s also one of my colleagues. It’s going to be interesting to see where she ends up and what she’s like as a senior. She’s only a sophomore right now, she’s something to aspire to and I’m graduating.”
When asked how she thought Edmonds might reach her goals in the future, Debari said, “She’s just so dedicated that I don’t think she would let herself let herself down.”
Brittany Ballantyne can be contacted at bballantyne@keene-equinox.com