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INSIDE

INDEX

THIS ISSUE

NEWS...........A2 ARTS...........A8 METRO........A4 OPINIONS.....A10 FOOD..........A6 SPORTS.........A12 MAGAZINE....A7

www.bcheights.com

Monday, April 4, 2022

Chestnut Hill, Mass.

OPINIONS

ARTS

Columnist Alexa Piedra delves into the fine line that exists between resilience and healing.

Students demonstrated a range of artistic skills at the Vietnamese Students Association Culture Show on Saturday.

A10

Markey Announces Grant for Team of BC Researchers By Beth Verghese Asst. News Editor

United States Senator Ed Markey visited Boston College to announce a $6.2 million grant the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a team of BC researchers to study water quality and sediment transport in watersheds and along U.S. coastlines. Researchers will aim to understand water as a resource altered by the effects of climate change, such as changes in water quality for drinking and agriculture and the abundance or scarcity of water in different regions, according to Ethan Baxter, chair of the department of earth and environmental sciences. “Young people are our greatest climate champions, and that’s why I was thrilled to visit my alma mater Boston College to celebrate $4 million in additional federal funding for essential climate research that will help to ensure we have a livable planet for this generation and the generations to come,” Markey, BC ’68 and BC Law ’72, said in a press release.

During his March 28 visit, Markey spoke at a press conference alongside University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., Vice President of Governmental and Community Affairs Tom Keady, and other professors and researchers involved in the grant. “So part of [Markey’s] visit was to see the infrastructure that we’ve built up that’s tackling this research,” Baxter said. “And then also just to sort of acknowledge this funding and his support of it, which is pretty awesome.” At least seven different faculty members, at least seven graduate students, and at least seven undergraduate students will contribute to the research process, according to Baxter. While the topic of the grant is fairly broad, Baxter said the central focus is water. “We’re looking at the stability of the nation’s coastlines and the stability of the nation’s inland waterways, so rivers and streams and lakes and reservoirs,” Baxter said. “We’re focusing on the ways in which water serves as a destructive agent and as a shaping agent.” BC researchers will also collaborate

with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to understand climate change, sea level rising, water quality, and sediment dynamics throughout history, according to Baxter. “By studying that historically, [as well as] modern day monitoring … we’re going to be getting a sense of how these systems respond to all those different processes explicitly to help inform the corps how to prepare the nation for the future in the decades to come,” Baxter said. “How can the corps use the science we’re giving them to plan for a sustainable future? According to Baxter, Markey is passionate about the environment and is pushing to secure funding for similar research projects in the federal and U.S. Army Corps budgets. “As sea-levels rise, we continue to see the impacts of climate change on our nation’s coastlines, rivers, and habitats,” Markey said in the release. “Nowhere are the effects clearer than our watersheds here in Massachusetts and in New England. This funding will support critical research for crafting strategies to mitigate these changes so that we can help prevent the worst of climate impacts.” n

Metro

JULIA REMICK / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Newton Teachers, Community Rally Against Job Cuts The proposed cuts would affect mental health resources available to students in Newton Public Schools. See A4

GRAPHIC BY ANNIE CORRIGAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Sanchez Emulates the Life of Saint Romero By MC Claverie Assoc. Magazine Editor

Mikayla Sanchez said she was walking to a park in Madrid, Spain when she found out that she was a finalist for the Saint Oscar A. Romero Scholarship Award. After flying back to Boston less than a month later for the award ceremony, she was announced the winner. “I got the email, and I just stopped,” Sanchez, MCAS ’23, said. “I was so happy, and I told my parents. … I was so, so, so surprised to be a finalist and even more surprised to be the winner.” The daughter of immigrant parents from Colombia and the Dominican Republic, Sanchez grew up in Berkeley Heights, N.J., a predominantly white town in central New Jersey. Sanchez said growing up she knew she was different from her classmates because of her appearance and culture, but it was not something that she discussed with others. “I think from a young age, I knew I was a little bit different,” Sanchez said. “It wasn’t something that I embraced too much. It wasn’t something that I could relate to with my friends at school, and even other people of color, we didn’t really talk about it too much because I think we were all just trying to assimilate into the culture and not try to be different or anything like that.” Sanchez said the feeling she experienced when she first stepped on campus drew her to Boston College, along with the sports scene, academics, school spirit, and the opportunity to start fresh. When she came to visit campus on accepted students day, Sanchez

recalled seeing several student organizations, such as UGBC and the Organization of Latin American Affairs (OLAA), at tables, and the openness of the students at those tables to engage with her as a future Eagle had a strong impact on her. “I remember talking to a couple of people at those tables, and they were students, and they gave me their phone numbers, told me to text them,” Sanchez said. “And I thought that like the personability and personalization of the students and how they were so willing to give me their phone numbers and talk to me … without being told to do so, I thought it was something very special.” While at BC, Sanchez really began to think about her own identity, she said. During her sophomore year, she joined OLAA, where she served as the director of external affairs. Before going abroad, she served as the director of social and political action, and next semester when she returns to campus, she is going to serve as the vice president of the organization. Sanchez is also involved in the Student Admission Program (SAP), where she was the head of the Eagle for a Day program. Additionally, she served as an orientation leader last summer and is going to be the orientation leader coordinator this upcoming summer. In addition to her on-campus extracurriculars, Sanchez also worked as an undergraduate researcher in the sociology department with Rev. Gustavo Morello, S.J., where she helped with research on tattoos and their meanings.

See Sanchez, A7