Claire and her father, Dr. Troy Hanson, both created a plaque and both helped with the Elder on the North side of the Tower, Helen Kuzelka (North 11). Helen was a nurse in New Prague and worked for and admired the work of Dr. Novak. I loved how they all found each other to work together and now Claire is working on her MD and Ph.D.!

Claire’s life post-New Prague: After graduating from New Prague High School, I attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN to study neuroscience and French. I spent two years post-grad doing computational neuroscience research at the National Institutes of Health, and now I’m back at Vanderbilt working on my MD and Ph.D. in biomedical informatics.

Description of Claire’s plaque that she created as a teenager: This bronze plaque is an abstract representation of my identity as a young woman growing up in New Prague. The community and experiences in New Prague shaped a lot of who I am, forming a foundation upon which my new pursuits can rest. When I think of the location of this installation, I’m reminded of summer reading challenges, St. Wenceslaus picnics, Dozinky, and walking to the pool in the summer.