Volunteerism, school projects keep student busy

Volunteer work. Graduation with Distinction. Artist-in-Training.

These three things have kept Clara Kolterman busy throughout the summer as she prepares for her senior year at LSMSA.

Kolterman, of Sterlington, wanted to become involved in her community, so she chose to volunteer at the Ouachita Council on Aging in Monroe.

“This seemed like a great way to get involved in my community,” she said.

She helps with paper work, serves meals and one day a week plays the flute with a piano as accompaniment for hymns.

When she is not volunteering, Kolterman is working on a project for Graduation with Distinction and a project for the Artist-in-Training program.

Kolterman’s Graduation with Distinction project is about the history of the tobacco control movement and using it to model the future of vegan activism. She is pursuing distinction in mathematics and computer science.

“Graduation with Distinction is a wonderful opportunity to prove I can work hard at something I am passionate about,” she said. “I am incredibly passionate about veganism, and I believe it’s the inevitable future of how we eat.”

She became interested in computer science and mathematics after taking a modeling and simulation class taught by Brad Burkman, principal lecturer of mathematics and computer science who serves as her mentor.

Kolterman, who loves to play the flute, believes that the Artist-in-Training program will allow her to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.

To complete the AiT program, she must take mixed ensemble for all four semesters she is at LSMSA, take two semesters of theory, attend AiT seminars and perform in honor bands. She also has to put together a 45-minute senior recital.

“I am rehearsing at least one hour a day so I can have my music mostly learned by the time I return to school,” she said.