Nicholas Xenakis, Class of 2005, is the kind of student who defies easy classification. He is a serious scholar with a synoptic (self-designed) major in history of Western consciousness, a member of the varsity cross-country team, and a brother in Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He has also spent a year in Greece, gone on a medical mission to the Peruvian Amazon, interned with a senator's campaign, and been named a finalist for the prestigious Truman Scholarship.

Xenakis thrives on being involved in so many activities. Each one, he feels, makes him a better person. "You really have to experience life," he says. "Kenyon lets me be well-rounded."

For his senior year, Xenakis is adding a new role to his already-packed plate: that of the president of the Kenyon Student Council. He values his work with the council, as it gives him the ability to work closely with faculty and to help make Kenyon a better place for students. "Being able to make change on campus is something that I really like to do," he says.

Xenakis's involvement with student government is an outgrowth of one of his passions: the struggle for justice in the world. He planned his coursework to feed this passion. "I designed my major to read great books and obtain a vision," he says. One of his greatest influences at Kenyon was the yearlong, introductory political science course Quest for Justice, which "provided the philosophical framework" for basic political and social issues.

A Georgia native, Xenakis spent a summer working with Georgians for Equal Justice, a group that advocates equality in the criminal justice system. There, he saw the injustices caused by ineffective legal counsel for indigent defendants. He plans to attend law school, possibly to become a public defender or pursue a political career, two vehicles that will allow him to fulfill his drive for righting inequalities and building a more just society.