When Ksenia Golovkina ’11 (right) visited Denison pal Nino Vashakidze ’13 (left) in her home country of Georgia last summer, the pair caught up and went sightseeing, but they kept thinking about a special spot in Ohio, where they shared two years of friendship in the States.
Vashakidze knew of Golovkina’s talent as a painter, so she asked her for a gift before Golovkina headed home—a remebrance of that small campus, in a little village, near a big city in America.
So on the door of Vashakidze’s apartment, Golovkina created a mural of Swasey Chapel, a Big Red buzzard, and the buzz of campus life. “Ksen wanted to symbolize events in life as passing cars, with Denison always standing behind our ever-evolving lives,” says Vashakidze.
The result brought Denison a little closer to home for Vashakidze. “Denison is always on my mind. I am very grateful for the friends that I made on campus,” says Vashakidze. “Even though all of my close college friends live in different countries, still we are constantly in touch.”
Though she’s in Georgia, and her friends are scattered throughout the world, she’s never too far from Denison. “The more time passes, the more I value the University and my entire college experience,” she says. “I love being reminded of this place every day I come at home and open the door.