Photo by Lisa Abitbol

During term two last fall, Knafel Assistant Professor of Social Sciences Jennifer Chudy started a group for students of color interested in political science. The first event she planned, aimed at letting them get to know each other, was a socially distanced gathering to paint birdhouses. Riya Balachandran ’24 attended, but before she could hang her finished birdhouse, she learned that a close contact on campus had tested positive for COVID-19. A few weeks of quarantine later, one of the first things she did when returning to Claflin was to track down some birdseed and hang her birdhouse. “I’m a bird enthusiast,” Balachandran says. “It’s so exciting to just stand a few feet away and watch as they start to gather and chirp near the house. I’m so glad that other people have taken notice of the uptick in birds near Claflin and are enjoying it as well!”