Many University of Rochester students thrive on the school’s open curriculum, which allows and even encourages students to pursue multiple passions with equal vigor.
The Memorial Art Gallery’s “Hidden Passions: Inspiring Conversations about Hyphenated Lives” lecture series is in its third season of celebrating the creative lives and private hobbies of Rochesterians. This week, the event focuses on students and the surprising double lives they sometimes lead.
Here, we highlight those students being featured at the “Hidden Passions” event on Thursday, February 9.
Art and the unseen
Dan Hargrove ’17 (KEY) is an international relations major with two distinct pursuits he has followed since childhood. The first is his art. With no formal training, Hargrove has honed his craft, creating detailed, colorful ink and watercolor drawings which he showcases in an online portfolio at Danielhargrove.com. He’ll also be discussing the coral reef he created and has maintained in an aquarium at home since he was 14 years old.
Going with the grain
Erik Rosenkranz ’18 is a mechanical engineering major who hopes to pursue a career as a civil engineer. He is captivated by bridges, looking at them and analyzing them. But his “hidden passion” is for woodworking, especially the longboards that he builds and rides.
‘Our goal was simple. We wanted to help as many refugees as we could.’
Engineering students Omar Soufan ’17 (left) and Ibrahim Mohammad ’17 knew from the minute they met that they were bonded by their pasts—and their future. Together they share a “hidden passion” that has led them to create 3-D printed prosthetics for Syrian refugees.
