Impacting a Community

Paul Remmler ’23 spent the summer as an intern at the Putnam County Museum conducting community-based research and at the Putnam County Library assisting with training and program development.

Remmler, from Shelbyville, Indiana, began working at the museum as a DePauw Stone Scholar, a program for first-year students that focuses on civic leadership. He continued his work through the Bonner Scholar Program, a community service-based scholarship program. 

During Remmler’s sophomore year, he helped the museum staff research and design a small exhibit on nitroglycerin and its role in rail transport. “As part of the research, I also looked at crime in the county in relation to nitroglycerin transport, the rail systems, the role it played as well as if there were any accidents related to its transport,” he said.

“The information was so interesting, and I loved putting it together. There’s a very passionate community in the area for railroad history.

“My work with the DePauw Gaming Club led to me exploring the beneficial social contributions that gaming can provide, inspiring my work with the Putnam County Library, while my love for the people of the community and museum staff inspires me to continue working with them.”

Remmler founded the nonprofit Putnam County Gaming Initiative, through which he hopes to learn how to effectively manage community programming efforts that positively affect a community. His goal? To gain valuable entrepreneurial skills so he can open and operate his own businesses one day.

Remmler credits his success at DePauw to the faculty members he has worked closely with. “Professor Hiroko Chiba has been incredibly understanding, flexible and supportive of me exploring areas of interest while still providing a gentle hand to ensure I stay on track,” he said. “Professor Harry Brown has relentlessly supported my interests, particularly in the area of game design, and helped me find ways to explore those interests in an academic context.”

Remmler said his post-graduation plans are open to opportunity but may include continuing his work in Greencastle, particularly with the gaming initiative and DePauw.

Forming a Path in Public Health

Brandon Collins ’23, a neuroscience and global health double major, chose DePauw because of the small class sizes, tight-knit community and opportunity to be a Bonner scholar and environmental fellow. 

Collins, from Clarksville, Tennessee, began volunteering at the Putnam County Health Department in fall 2021, assisting in the COVID-19 vaccine clinic as part of his community service requirement for the Bonner Scholar Program. 

His interest developed into a passion, he said.

And since then, he has become increasingly involved with the health department.“The experience has been nothing short of highly rewarding and insightful,” he said. “The people I work with have become more and more like family and they are always incredibly supportive of my professional and academic goals.”

In February he was asked to work on a landfill well testing project. “I compiled data that had been collected over nine years and was able to present the results to the Putnam County Board of Health in May,” he said. “There I made a point of emphasizing that there were certain heavy metal concentrations that were above minimum detection levels that would have been unsafe for drinking and bathing.” Since the presentation, he has been able to get approval for furthering the investigation into how that might be affecting residences nearby. 

Collins said many faculty and staff members have guided him in significant ways. “Professor (Sharon) Crary (chemistry and biochemistry) was the reason I ended up majoring in global health after taking her intro course. She and professor Susanne Biehle (psychology and neuroscience) advised me on graduate school opportunities and guided me in one of the environmental health projects I’ve undertaken at the Putnam County Health Department.”

Following graduation, Collins plans to obtain a master of public health degree with the goal of earning a Ph.D. in public health.