Kyle 
Piunti, 
who 
went 

through the boot camp in 2014 
and 
subsequently 
attended 

Columbia University, is now a 
tutor in analytical reading. He 
said seeing the growth of his 
students has been rewarding.

“A lot of students, when they 

first come in, are overwhelmed 
with a text,” Piunti said. “Then 
you start to see them develop 
as far as understanding the 
text and the direction in which 
we’re taking them.”

People from every branch of 

the service attended the boot 
camp this year. Two veterans 
who attended this year’s camp 
are Pawlowski and Cody Gil-
man, who said they are consid-
ering attending the University 
in the future.

Though they attended the 

camp together, their stories 
regarding transition from mili-
tary to academic life are differ-
ent.

Pawlowski received an asso-

ciate’s degree in political sci-
ence and joined the Marine 
Corps, but a leg injury forced 
him to leave the service and 
pursue a different path.

“... I was on a combat deploy-

ment in the Middle East and, 
from a severe blow, I got 
injured,” Pawlowski said. “I had 
11 surgeries and almost lost my 
leg. I realized, I can’t do what 
I love any more, so I’m going to 
have to go to school.”

Pawlowski then decided to 

return to political science and 
pursue a bachelor’s degree. He 

said the Warrior-Scholar Proj-
ect has both given him the skill-
set to be a successful student 
and also broadened his view of 
the world.

“Education in general just 

kind of helps mold the way you 
think, your character, the way 
you live your life and the way 
you see things,” Pawlowski 
said. “Being here has shown me 
that I can be a student, that I 
can excel at an upper-division 
type of school. If I had gotten 
injured, got out of the military 
and just went back to school, 
I would’ve done myself a dis-
honor and a disfavor because I 
would’ve been scrounging for 
help.”

Cody 
Gilman 
attended 

Kalamazoo Valley Community 
College before joining the mili-
tary. During college, he said, 
his time management and writ-
ing skills needed to be honed. 
While he was in the military, he 
said, he still wanted to go back 
to school, so when his sergeant 
told him about the Warrior-
Scholar Project, he applied.

“The military is so simple, 

and this is kind of an eye-open-
ing experience. To get you into 
that dense material and being 
able to understand and dissect 
it gives you confidence to know 
you can keep up in a class led by, 
really, some of the best profes-
sors in the country, arguably” 
said Gilman.

According to the Warrior-

Scholar Project’s website, every 
person who has gone through 
the program and gone to college 
has continued pursuing their 
education.

3

Thursday, June 18, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS

mass e-mail to Ann Arbor res-

idents to ask about what artists 
they would like to see perform. 
According to Nesbitt, this year 
the team received more than 
1,500 responses. Upon process-
ing information about artist 
preferences, the festival team 
then collaborates with potential 
artists, while being conscious of 
providing a variety of genres for 
attendees.

“Four hundred artists submit 

to play Top of the Park. We try to 
keep a broad mix of a lot of dif-
ferent genres, so its accessible to 
people — bluegrass, punk, rock, 
R&B, etcetera,” Nesbitt said.

Ann 
Arbor 
residents 
like 

Joseph Tau, a rising sophomore 
at the local Skyline high school, 
attend the festival as well. 
Tau said he has partaken in its 
events for several years.

“I came here a couple times 

last summer and I went almost 
every night the summer before 
that. I like the movies a lot and 
hanging out with people and lis-
tening to music,” said Tau.

The festival also attracts peo-

ple from outside of Ann Arbor, 
such as Ferdinand Magellin, an 
Ohio native who is on a road 
trip with no final destination 
in mind. On his exploration 
through America, he fortuitous-
ly stopped in Ann Arbor and 
spoke of his admiration for the 
city.

“Ann Arbor is beautiful. It’s 

very nice — a lot of pleasant 
people, nice environment, great 
food, great music. You get the 

best of everything,” Magellin 
said.

Magellin said he was particu-

larly looking forward to hearing 
from “The Appleseed Collec-
tive” Thursday because of their 
“gypsy jazz, swing” genre.

Top of the Park also provides 

activities targeted for a young-
er audience in a portion called 
Kidzone. At the Kidzone Fri-
day, children were able to play 
orchestral instruments under 
the guidance of volunteers.

Nick Penizinsky, a violinist 

from Milford, was one such vol-
unteer, and said he felt nostalgic 
as he recalled learning to play 
the violin.

“I liked playing string instru-

ments, so I thought I’d help out, 
help people learn better. It’s 
been a lot of fun watching (kids) 
learn how to play. It reminds me 
of when I learned how to play,” 
Penizinsky said.

While not that much has 

changed about the festival over 
the years, Nesbitt spoke of the 
expanding reach of the festival 
due to technological advance-
ments. 
As 
of 
the 
festival’s 

opening night, 27,000 people 
downloaded the digital app to 
follow the event.

“So many people are living 

on their mobile device, there’s 
so much information,” Nesbitt 
said. “To rise above that noise, 
it’s a very different way to figure 
out what’s going on and engage.”

Although 
the 
sights 
and 

sounds of the festival can be 
found on the web, Nesbitt said 
she is weary of those who watch 
the fun from the comfort of 
their own home.

“I’m very about live events 

— you can download this expe-
rience, but if you weren’t there 
to get the ‘oohs’ and the ‘ahhhs,’ 
you didn’t get the magic that of 

FESTIVAL
From Page 1

BOOTCAMP
From Page 1

ZACH MOORE/Daily

The Maccabees open for Mumford & Sons at DTE Energy Music Theatre 
on June 16th.

MUMFORD & SONS

New law aims to protect religious freedom 

Law may protect 
adoption agencies 
that refuse service 
to same-sex couples 

By JACKIE CHARNIGA

Daily Staff Reporter

Thursday, Gov. Rick Sny-

der (R) approved a bill that 
will allow private adoption 
agencies to deny adoption to 
prospective parents on the 
grounds that providing ser-
vices would violate religious 
beliefs.

Many see this bill as tar-

geting same-sex couples, and 
is widely opposed by LGBTQ 
advocates.

The 
state 
House 
passed 

the bill in a 65 to 44 ruling in 
accordance with Snyder’s deci-
sion.

The law protects any gov-

ernment-funded child-placing 
agency against legal action by 
state or local governments for 
refusing services considered 
contrary to the agency’s reli-
gious convictions. However, 
the Senate included a stipula-
tion that any couple refused 
adoption 
rights 
would 
be 

referred to another agency or 

to a state website.

Joshua Pugh, former Michi-

gan 
Democrats 
communica-

tions director, was incredulous 
about the law.

“It’s really disgusting that in 

2015 that we are literally legal-
izing discrimination against 
people because of who they are 
or who they love.”

Pugh said he finds the tim-

ing of this law incredible, in 
light of the impending U.S. 
Supreme Court ruling on the 
legality of same-sex unions.

Snyder told the Associated 

Press he anticipates litigation 
in response to the law, which 
he has received in the past 

— specifically, the 2012 law-
suit filed by April DeBoer and 
Jayne Rowse, who challenged 
Michigan’s same-sex marriage 
ban.

Pugh agrees the passage of 

this law is allowing a state-
funded service the immunity 
of a church.

“The 
U.S. 
Constitution 

couldn’t be any more clear 
about how the state should 
treat religion and religious 
agencies,” said Pugh, “They 
should not be supported with 
taxpayer dollars — it’s com-
pletely inappropriate.”

The bill was received by Sny-

der Wednesday from the large-

ly Republican state Senate.

Gideon Dassandro, spokes-

man for Speaker of the House 
Kevin Kline, stated the law 
is necessary for the future of 
Michigan’s adoption agencies.

“There is a compelling case 

to be made that without this 
bill, it is possible that you could 
see a lot of adoption agencies 
shut down in the future.”

Dessandro said these agen-

cies are largely Catholic or 
Lutheran, and if the law is 
changed it would have reper-
cussions for the system.

“Hypothetically, 
in 
the 

future, so that they have to 

See BILL, Page 8

