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Volume 53, Issue 129 | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
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Notre Dame to host ceremonies ndsmcobserver.com P.O. Box 779, Notre Dame, IN 46556 024 South Dining Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556 Editor-in-Chief Kelli Smith Managing Editor Charlotte Edmonds Asst. Managing Editor: Maria Leontaras Asst. Managing Editor: Mary Steurer Asst. Managing Editor: Natalie Weber News Editor: Claire Rafford Viewpoint Editor: Evelyn Stein Sports Editor: Ellen Geyer Scene Editor: Mike Donovan Saint Mary’s Editor: Colleen Fischer Photo Editor: Anna Mason Graphics Editor: Diane Park Advertising Manager: Landry Kempf Ad Design Manager: Ruby Le Systems Administrator: Mike Dugan Office Manager & General Info
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By CHRISTOPHER PARKER News Writer
Notre Dame’s graduating class of 2019 will receive their degrees Sunday at the University of Notre Dame’s 174th commencement ceremony. The weekend includes graduation ceremonies from different schools and programs, events recognizing the work of students in dozens of departments and a series of speakers. “We have 2,045 undergraduate degrees and 1,122 graduate degrees being awarded this weekend,” University registrar Chuck Hurley said. Hurley said this will be the 10th year where commencement will be held in Notre Dame Stadium. The Joyce Athletic and Convocation Center hosted the commencement ceremony until 2009. “We’ve been at this format for many years now,” Hurley said. “Saturday night Mass, Sunday morning University ceremony in the stadium and about 19 diploma ceremonies. We have close to 100 events between Wednesday and Sunday here on campus.” Hurley also said some newer
facilities will host the smaller graduation ceremonies, which has made the weekend run more smoothly. “The Dahnke Ballroom, the Smith Gymnasium in Duncan Student Center — these facilities have helped us out because they have higher capacity than the locations we were utilizing in the past,” he said. “This will be the third year that the University has used the Campus Crossroads buildings for commencement weekend.” The keynote speaker for Sunday’s graduation ceremony is Pegg y Noonan, New York Times best-selling author and a former speechwriter for President Ronald Regan. Hurley said event preparation can be different for different speakers. “The only time it really changes for the ceremony is if we have secret service for years where we have presidents or vice presidents come to speak,” he said. Guest speakers requiring additional security in past years have included Vice President Mike Pence and former President Barack Obama as well as bishops and cardinals from the Catholic Church. Hosting the families of all the graduates poses its own unique
challenges each year, Hurley said. Though the campus often experiences heav y traffic for football games, Hurley said the University undergoes special preparations for this weekend. “We typically have about 30,000 people in the stadium for commencement,” he said. “Game day operations go through many of the same protocols that they would go through for a home football game where they’re checking bags and tickets — things like that. One challenge that’s a little bit different is the crowd that we actually have in attendance. Those visiting for commencement tend to be a little bit older. Many people bring grandparents and other relatives to the ceremony. We accommodate people will mobility impairments, which we have at football games but definitely in higher numbers at commencement.” Hurley said the University has received over 2,700 RSV Ps for Sunday’s graduation ceremony. The procession into stadium begins at 9:30 a.m., and the event is expected to begin at 10 a.m. Contact Christopher Parker at cparke22@nd.edu
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Holy Cross plans for graduation
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By MARY STEURER Assistant Managing Editor
Commemorating the class of 2019 as well as all those who helped shape their college careers, Holy Cross will hold its 52nd annual commencement ceremony Saturday in McKenna Arena in the Pfeil Center. Ashley Adamczyk, a communications major and theology minor, will be delivering the ceremony’s valedictory address. “It’s just really humbling, and I’m really excited to be able to address my class that I’ve gone through these four years of school with and wrap it up on a good, happy note,” Adamczyk said. Adamczyk said her address will focus on four words: “You can do anything.” “This was a simple message that my mom told me on the first day before beginning college,” she said. “I know it’s kind of a cliche statement that you could see on the bottom of a motivational poster or something, but if you just say these words to yourself, it can really change your mindset and put you in the mood or give you the confidence to actually face a challenge head-on.” Adamczyk said she hopes her address helps graduates of the class of 2019 to remember those who supported them throughout their time at Holy Cross. “In my example, it’s my mom telling me these words, but in another student’s case there might have been a professor that really impacted their life and really helped them to just try to achieve more and to keep learning or keep trying,” she said. She said she is especially thankful for Holy Cross’ liberal arts education because it helped her develop a passion for learning across disciplines. “Even if it’s something you don’t
expect to ever use again in your life, there’s something you can learn from every class that you’ve taken and just use it to go forward,” Adamczyk said. Her time at Holy Cross was also formative for her Catholic faith, she added. “Being able to focus on my relationship with God was really helpful for me because it gave me the strength or the focus to put into my academics, but also focusing on how I am in other aspects of my life, and so I was gaining an education, but I was also growing in my heart and spirit,” she said.
“‘Even if it’s something you don’t expect ... there’s something you can learn from every class that you’ve taken, and just use it to go forward.” Ashley Adamczyk class of 2019 valedictorian, Holy Cross
Senior Karen Eckrich will be delivering the ceremony’s invocation prayer. The prayer, which Eckrich wrote herself, will commemorate her graduating class’ four years at Holy Cross as well as extend thanks to the College’s faculty and staff, Eckrich said. “My theme is just going to be ‘overwhelming gratitude’ and just thanking God for all of the different people that make up the Holy Cross community,” she said. Similar to Adamczyk’s address, Eckrich said the prayer aims to help seniors call to mind all those who have made an impact on their undergraduate journeys. “I hope that … people think of all of the different people who have helped
them get through college,” she said. In the days leading up to the ceremony, the class of 2019 celebrated Senior Week, which commenced May 11 with an outing to an Escape Room at the Studebaker Mansion in South Bend. On Sunday, Holy Cross seniors joined Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s seniors in Chicago for a Cubs game at Wrigley Stadium. Seniors traveled to the Indiana Dunes National Park on Monday, and Tuesday to Bair Lake Camp in Michigan for zip-lining and a ropes course. The class had lunch at Round Barn Winery, Distillery and Brewery in Michigan on Wednesday. Senior Week festivities concluded Thursday with Holy Cross’ annual bonfire and luau at O’Connor Commons. Jodie Badman, associate director of development for cultivation and special events, said graduating seniors received special notes from friends and family during Senior Week in a Holy Cross tradition called “Letters from Loved Ones.” “I send out to the families a request for them to send in letters and cards from all their family members, coaches, teachers neighbors, whomever — they send in letters to their students and then the students receive those,” Badman said. Holy Cross’ 2019 Commencement Weekend begins Friday with the annual Baccalaureate Mass at Saint Joseph Chapel at 4:30 p.m., followed by a graduation social and dinner in a tent on the O’Connor Commons at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, a graduation brunch will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the O’Connor Commons tent. The commencement ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. at McKenna Arena in the Pfeil Center. Contact Mary Steurer at msteure1@nd.edu
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Speech SMC alumna to speak at graduation writer to send off grads Observer Staff Report
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the print edition of The Observer on Jan. 16.
Observer Staff Report
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the print edition of The Observer on Dec. 3. Peggy Noonan — one of President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriters and a Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal columnist — will deliver the 2019 commencement address at the May 19 graduation ceremony, the University announced Monday. “Peggy Noonan is universally admired for the stirring prose, keen insight and the moral perspective of her commentary on America and the world,” University President Fr. John Jenkins said in a University press release. “I look forward to welcoming her to Notre Dame and hearing her address to our graduates.” Before becoming Reagan’s speechwriter in 1984, Noonan graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University and worked at CBS News’ radio division. She worked on some of Reagan’s most well-known speeches, including the “Boys of Pointe du Hoc.” The speech commemorated the 40th anniversary of D-Day and “is considered one of the century’s top 60 speeches of any kind,” the release said. Noonan also worked with Reagan on his address to the nation after the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion, which is among the 20th century’s top-10 political speeches, according to the release. When George H. W. Bush ran for president in 1988, Noonan helped him craft his acceptance speech, which included references to “a kinder, gentler nation” and “a thousand points of light.” Currently, Noonan writes a weekly political column for The Wall Street Journal titled “Declarations.” Noonan first began writing the column in 2000, and it appears in the newspaper’s weekend edition, according to the release. In 2017, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary that “connected readers to the shared virtues of Americans during one of the nation’s most divisive political campaigns.” Noonan served as a consultant on NBC’s “The West Wing” and has written nine books on American history, politics and culture, the release said. She also contributed to “Character Above All,” a book of essays on the American presidency. She also has a background in academia, having worked as an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University, a history instructor at Yale University and a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.
Saint Mary’s alumna Kelly Grier, from the class of ’91, will deliver the class of 2019 commencement address in May, the College announced in a press release Wednesday morning. Grier is the EY US financial services firm chairman and managing partner, and managing partner of EY Americas. She will also be receiving an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree at commencement Saturday, May 18. Grier was elected last year to a four-year term, making her “the first woman to lead the giant accounting and professional services firm in the Americas,” according to the release. Grier has spent the last 28 years at EY and now leads more than 72,000 people in 31 countries,
the release said. “As a Saint Mary’s alumna, it’s an honor and a privilege to be chosen to deliver the commencement address to the class of 2019,” Grier said in the release. “I’m inspired and encouraged by these bright young women, who will no doubt have a significant impact on our future working world.” Grier, who studied accounting during her time at Saint Mary’s, also has been a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the release said. Grier was also recognized by the World Economic Forum as a “Young Global Leader” in the past, and was named to Fortune Magazine’s 2018 Most Powerful Women in Business list, according to release. “Kelly Grier’s career accomplishments speak for themselves, and she has excelled as a leader,” Saint Mary’s Interim
President Nancy Nekvasil said in the release. “The example of her life and work is a powerful message in itself, and we’re thrilled that the class of 2019 will have the opportunity to draw inspiration from Kelly as they embark on their careers. It is always such a privilege to invite alumnae back to campus, and having the opportunity to also celebrate an alumna who has made a difference with her life is a true joy.” Saint Mary’s will also be awarding an honorary degree to Sister Maureen Grady, a senior lecturer with the department of nursing science. Grady has a nursing degree from Loyola University Chicago, and in 2015 was given its Spirit of Ignatius Award, recognizing her commitment to the school’s mission, “Care of the Person.” Grady also has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Christian Theological Seminary, the release said. “Sister Maureen embodies
compassion and courage,” Nekvasil said in the release. “Her ability to connect with people on a personal level while addressing complex issues, whether an individual’s health or a community’s scars of war, represents the highest ideals we strive for at Saint Mary’s. There are few people I know who have the gift of welcoming anyone and everyone into their sphere like Sister Maureen.” According to the release, Grady also spent 20 years in war zones in the Middle East as chief operating officer for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. In her role there, Grady worked with war victims and supported the restoration of various social services in Lebanon and Syria. For her efforts, Grady was granted Lebanese citizenship and given the National Order of the Cedar Officer badge. The Holy See also awarded her with the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal in recognition of her devotion to the Catholic Church.
ND dean to address HCC seniors Observer Staff Report
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the print edition of The Observer on Feb. 20. K.J. Martijn Cremers, interim dean of Mendoza College of Business and Bernard J. Hank professor of finance at Notre Dame, will be Holy Cross College’s 2019 commencement speaker, Monica Garvey Leyes, assistant director of communications at Holy Cross, announced in a press release Wednesday. “We are honored to welcome Dr. Cremers as our commencement speaker,” Holy Cross
President Fr. David Tyson said in the release. “The breadth and integrity of his work set him apart in both the academy and the business field. Even more so, his commitment to the Catholic intellectual tradition and his dedication to truth, the dignity of the human person and the common good will speak to every one of our graduates, professors and guests.” Cremers served as faculty at the Yale School of Management for 10 years before joining Mendoza in 2012. He earned his master’s degree from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and received a doctorate in finance from New York University’s
Stern School of Business. Cremers’ scholarship focuses on investment management and corporate governance, and he teaches at both the MBA and undergraduate levels. He received recognition for his 2007 academic paper, “How active is your fund manager? A new measure that predicts performance,” which he co-authored with management professor Antti Petajisto and published in the Review of Financial Studies in 2009. According to the release, the paper “introduced a measure of management called ‘Active Share’ now widely used in the financial industry.” Cremers’ work has been
published in several academic journals, including the Journal of Finance, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial Economics, Stanford Law Review and Northwestern Law Review. His research has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, the release said. Outside his work at Notre Dame, Cremers serves as the independent director at Ariel Investments in Chicago and as an external consultant with State Street Associates. The Holy Cross commencement ceremony will take place May 18 at 2 p.m. in the Pfeil Center’s McKenna Arena.
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SMC valedictorians reflect on College tenures By COLLEEN FISCHER Saint Mary’s News Editor
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the print edition of The Observer on April 2. Saint Mary’s students strive for academic success, but every class has students whose academic devotion puts them at the top of their class. On March 25, the College released the names of the three young women who will be the class of 2019’s valedictorians. Though all three students wanted to excel academically, none of them set out to receive this honor. Communicative science and disorders (CSD) major Elizabeth Priester was simply looking for individual success in each of her classes. “I just wanted to be really successful in all of the classes I was in. It just kind of led to being valedictorian,” Priester said. A similar sentiment was reiterated by fellow CSD major and valedictorian Natalie Dock. “I definitely didn’t think that I would be valedictorian
coming into Saint Mary’s — I was just looking to get the most out of my experience,” she said. Monica McGrath, the third valedictorian, also said she did not seek the title of valedictorian but instead had more personal motivators. “[I am] always looking for self-improvement,” she said. In the summer between their junior and senior year, the students were told there was a possibility they would be named valedictorians of their class. Dock said she tried to make sure this possibility did not change the way she went about her day-to-day life. “I tried not to let it affect me, because I didn’t want to be motivated by that,” Dock said. “I wanted to do the best that I could. … I didn’t want that to be on my mind.” Although honored to receive the title, Dock tried not to place much value on the award. Though she considers it an accomplishment, she said she wanted to evaluate it against some of the other things she has done in her life both academically and personally. “I think in terms of a title it
is a great accomplishment,” Dock said. “I guess I try not to be too proud of titles and those big things but also the little things in my life, but this is definitely one of my greatest accomplishments.” All three women recognized they did not get to the top of their class without help. McGrath said she wanted to share her pride with the people who surround her life. “I am really proud for my friends and family who supported me,” McGrath said. “I am almost more proud for them than for me. My parents and my friends were always pushing me helping me when I was struggling just being there when I was stressed or just helping me.” All three valedictorians said being at Saint Mary’s was crucial to their success, and it means something different to each of them. Priester appreciated that the College allows for all students to express themselves and their talents, and said the school offers them a place to show what they have to offer. “One thing that I
really cherished about my Saint Mary’s education is Saint Mary’s is a place that truly recognizes all the gifts and talents that we bring to the world, and it’s a place of community,” Priester said. “It sets up a network of belonging where students feel recognized as both who they are and who they plan to become. I just love this environment and how they allow us to explore and dream and discover our passions.” Though all of the students said that they focused on academics throughout their career, McGrath said the College also helped them to grow as individuals and people. “I feel like there was a very good balance here,” she said. “Saint Mary’s helped me grow academically and I definitely feel very prepared for any challenges that I am going to face. I feel educated as a whole. That is something that Saint Mary’s always said on the tours — ‘We don’t just educate academically but as a whole person.’ I have grown to be a better version of myself than who I was when I came here.”
When describing themselves, none of the valedictorians used the words intelligent or smart — they instead focused on traits that helped them get to where they are. They spoke about patience, focus and drive. “I’m pretty positive, I like to reflect on things that I am grateful for … I’m pretty patient,” McGrath said. Dock said her grades have always been a primary focus. “I have always considered myself a very detailed-orientated person. I have always been fairly focused on my grades — maybe that is just in my nature, I always wanted to strive to do my best,” Dock said. Priester said her academic career has taught her important life skills. McGrath, Dock and Priester will deliver a joint address to their class during commencement on May 18. “[The road to becoming valedictorian] definitely has given me a good work ethic and a drive for success,” Priester said. Contact Colleen Fischer at cfischer01@saintmarys.edu
ND valedictorian shares philosophy, goals By MARIAH RUSH Associate News Editor
When senior Sofia Carozza first arrived on campus, she knew she wanted to take as many risks as she could, especially if those risks scared her. This journey is what led her to shave her head for The Bald and the Beautiful, join Women’s Boxing and participate in Show Some Skin, among other activities. It also may have led her into some of her accomplishments. Carozza was named valedictorian for the class of 2019 and in December she was named a recipient of the Marshall Scholarship. In the fall, Carozza will head to University of Cambridge in England to pursue a Ph.D. “The only thing I knew I wanted to do when I got here was take as many risks as I could,” she said. “Basically anytime I heard something that someone else was doing and my first reaction was, ‘Oh, that scares me,’ that meant I had to do it.” A self-described nerd, Carozza said she has always been interested in mental health and how the brain works, partially due to her own experiences with
mental illness. This interest took form at Notre Dame as she chose to major in neuroscience and behavior with a supplementary theology minor as well as a minor in philosophy, politics and economics. “I’ve always been fascinated by the human person and human behavior in particular,” Carozza said. “During high school I suffered from mental illness, … and several people who are dear to me either experienced trauma in their childhood or suffered from mental illness. So, it was really a way for me to look at the way that biology interacts with human experience to make us into who we are and to come to terms with the fact that who we are today is a product of our experience over a lifetime.” Carozza is a Hesburgh-Yusko Scholar, a Glynn Family Honors Scholar and a de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture Sorin Fellow, but she said her community involvement has made the biggest impact in her life at Notre Dame. Carozza has spent her summers dedicated to the cause, tutoring children with developmental disabilities and psychiatric disorders in Paraguay, researching effects of
stress on the brain and implementing ideas of communitybased change in South Bend and beyond. “I do some work with the juvenile justice center, and I’ve been involved with the Catholic Worker, and I’ve volunteered for several community organizations that do mental health related stuff for early childhood development stuff,” she said. “Those relationships with community members have really transformed the way that I think about my education and the potential and the responsibility that I have to put it in the service of other people, not just in some abstract future, but right now.” Carozza is a South Bend native and has lived there her whole life. Still, Carozza didn’t see herself coming to Notre Dame. During decision season she was choosing between two schools — Harvard and Notre Dame. She said she chose Notre Dame because of the care she saw professors take with their jobs and their students. “I went abroad my junior year of high school,” Carozza said. “After getting back, I was pretty sure that I wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t in South Bend because I had experienced more
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of a cosmopolitan city life, and I really wanted to pop the bubble a little bit. But it was over the course of my senior year when I realized that the things that were most meaningful to me were the relationships I had with really caring mentors and experiences that really helped me grow as a person. “When I came here to visit, I was really blown away by the mission of the University and how that’s enacted on a personal level — that the professors are really here because they care about us and that students are looked at as their whole person. [They’re helped] to develop into who they’re called to be and how they’re called to serve the world.” Looking forward, Carozza said she would love to return to Notre Dame’s campus to teach. “I’d love to be back here at Notre Dame,” she said. “I love this community, and I think that the role of a professor in my life has been absolutely transformative — to have mentors who can educate me as a scholar, but also accompany me as a person to my fulfillment.” For right now, however, Carozza said she is taking some time off.
“This summer I’m going backpacking some places. I’m going to pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and then I’m going to be spending the rest of the summer working on a farm in northern Colorado,” Carozza said. “I’m so excited to just be immersed in silence. I do best when I’m alone in a place that’s beautiful and I can read and write, so that’s my happy place.” There were times she questioned her decision to attend Notre Dame during her first couple years, Carozza said. But by now she knows she made the right choice. “Really reflecting on everything that’s happened to these past four years and all of the relationships that I’ve grown to have, I cannot imagine having made a different choice precisely because I’m a very different person than I was in high school. I’ve grown and been formed a lot, and I have a deep faith now and an awareness of who I am and what I’m called to do,” Carozza said. “Honestly I can’t imagine it having come as easily at a place other than Notre Dame.” Contact Mariah Rush at mrush@nd.edu
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Salutatorian reflects on time at Notre Dame By SERENA ZACHARIAS News Writer
Having traveled abroad for three summers working in Shirati, Tanzania, and Masaka, Uganda, serving as the co-president of GlobeMed and conducting research through the Kellogg International Scholars program, class of 2019 salutatorian Annelise Gill-Wiehl fulfilled her belief that “we’re here for more.” An environmental engineering major and international development studies minor, Gill-Wiehl said she initially wanted to study water infrastructure, but after taking classes within the major and traveling abroad, she began to see the decencies of electricity. The summer after her freshman year, Gill-Wiehl said she went to Masaka, Uganda, on a Kellogg internship to work for a local agricultural training center, founded by a woman who saw agriculture as an opportunity for families to rise out of poverty. Over the course of her summer there, Gill-Wiehl organized workshops on water conservation and environmental protection and built a water runoff collection tank, but she said her experiences with her host family sparked her passion for energy. “Because they spoke such limited English, I bonded with them by cooking,” she said. “It became one of my favorite things, cooking with my host sister, cooking with my host mom, learning the traditional foods, but we did it all on fire wood and charcoal stoves.” The next summer, she traveled to Shirati, Tanzania, to investigate household energy usage, and the next year, she returned to design a pilot study, training local community members to use gas stoves to work with the households in their own neighborhoods to transition to clean fuel. “The purpose was to really instill a behavior change that’s facilitated by the community itself,” she said. Her involvement abroad extended beyond her time in Uganda and Tanzania, as Gill-Wiehl also served as the co-president of GlobeMed this past year. Although GillWiehl never considered a career medicine, she said she was drawn to the manner in which the club approaches outreach. “It was founded on the
principle that, as college students, we don’t know what’s going on in rural Laos,” she said. “We’re working in partnership with them to understand what’s actually going on there and what their needs are, and I really loved that example of international development and the idea of being in partnership with organizations and communities rather than being a white donor that’s telling them what to do.” Gill-Wiehl said she knew she wanted to work in poverty and justice before she came to Notre Dame, and two of her favorite books — “Mountains Beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder and “Santiago’s Children” by Steve Reifenberg — have helped her order her time at the University. “They’ve really formed how I could look at how my career could be, understanding that larger purpose and opening my eyes to international development and a preferential option for the poor and giving me the language around structural violence,” she said. Outside of academics and research, Gill-Wiehl said she loves running, traveling and drinking coffee. “I love having conversations over coffee,” she said. “I think that it’s magical how it brings people together. In Starbucks, it’s nice to just eavesdrop on the great conversations between students or professors and students. So yes, I’ve been known to beat everyone out on coffee consumption for sure.” Reflecting on her time at Notre Dame, Gill-Wiehl said her Notre Dame education has extended far beyond academics. “I’ve found the heart of my passions and the purpose of those academics in my research in my extra activities,” she said. “Prioritize your academics, but prioritize the activities that really inspire you and bring you energy and life.” Gill-Wiehl said she intends to maintain the passions she cultivated at the University long after she leaves campus, and she hopes her fellow graduating seniors will do the same. “We’re here for more, and we shouldn’t lose that sense that we’re here for more just because we aren’t at Notre Dame,” she said.
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Program offers return to education for retirees By NICOLE SIMON News Writer
This year’s commencement will include some graduates who have a little more experience under their belts — and a little more gray hair. The 2018-2019 academic year served as the inaugural year of The Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI), a program that invites people who have completed their traditional career to spend a year at Notre Dame. Christopher Stevens, who co-founded the program with Thomas Schreier, said ILI finally makes the Notre Dame experience accessible to every age group. “There are plenty of opportunities for people who are in middle school, grade school, high school, college, executive MBA, whatever it may be,” he said. “Once people turn 55 to 60, there’s really no place for them to go if they’ve completed their traditional career but still have a lot of tread left on their shoes.” The ILI is part of a growing movement called “encore education” which affords retired people the opportunity to temporarily return to academia before deciding how they want to spend the rest of their life. The idea of encore education originated at Harvard University, who started their post-retirement program in 2007, followed by Stanford University in 2015. Stevens said they researched these previously established programs and met with the universities to build a successful version at Notre Dame. “Fifteen amazing people … come to Notre Dame for an entire academic year,” Stevens said. “They can audit two to four courses with the help of a faculty advisor across the entire University — undergraduate, graduate, law, wherever it may be. There are weekly lunches with amazing guest speakers. [University President]
Fr. John [Jenkins] was the final guest speaker himself. … There are weekly dinners with just the fellows so the cohort can build that bond even stronger.” Although the program was inspired by those at Harvard and Stanford, the ILI is unique to Notre Dame. The fellows take advantage of Notre Dame’s Global Gateway locations through two trips to Rome and Jerusalem. They are also able to experience the spiritual enrichment of Notre Dame with the help of a spiritual advisor. Tuck Hopkins, a lawyer who graduated from Notre Dame in 1974, said he was drawn to the program because it seemed like an opportunity to “look at yourself.” “I had been retired for about four or five months,” Hopkins said. “My interest was that it looked like it was completely a wonderful opportunity to look at yourself. To look at where you might go and that sort of thing. That’s what drove me to apply. I did not have any desire to figure out what my next job is going to be. It was never like that. It was always … a refreshing opportunity to look at my past life and look at where I am.” In the past year, Hopkins took as many classes as he could, ranging from history to business to photography. While he has not taken a single law course, Hopkins has been able to apply his expertise in various areas across campus. He has guest-lectured in undergraduate courses, served as a judge for mock trials in the law school and mentored students who are interested in law. Outside of academics, Hopkins said he and his wife have enjoyed experiencing an undefeated regular football season, going to women’s basketball games and seeing oncampus productions such as “Sorin.” In addition to Hopkins, this
year’s inaugural cohort includes lawyers, doctors and businessmen and women from a variety of backgrounds. “There’s a man from Singapore who achieved great success in the financial market, but wanted to do something more with his life,” Stevens said. The oldest fellow is an 82-year-old banker from Chicago, who, Stevens said, has “more energy than most of us.” “We are absolutely as diverse as the dickens, but there is this commonality that is invigorating. It is really, truly amazing,” Hopkins said. “We’re just like brothers and sisters from the first day we met. It’s been absolutely phenomenal.” Since that first day, the experience he and the other fellows have had has only become better, Hopkins said. “Every one of us has had the time of our lives. When we talk now after the seven or eight months … we just talk about how this has transformed us, how it’s changed us, how we’re feeling better about ourselves spiritually,” Hopkins said. “Success does not even come close to describing how wonderful this has been. It’s life-changing.” While Stevens said he hesitates to use the word life-changing, he feels this year has been a successful pioneer year for the program. “I believe that our goal, in terms of providing the program, is to provide something that … truly is life-enhancing,” he said. “[I hope] people walk away from here with three things. One, inspired to be a greater force for good. Two, more educated about things that are really important to them that they never had before. And three, that they become advocates for the program because it’s been so important to them that they want to be able to spread the word about it.” Contact Nicole Simon at nsimon1@nd.edu
Photo Courtesy of Christopher Stevens
Contact Serena Zacharias at szachari@nd.edu
Members of the inagural class of The Inspired Leadership Initiative (ILI) take classes on Notre Dame’s campus after completing their traditional career. The cohort is part of “encore education” movement.
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ND awards 6 honorary degrees Observer Staff Report
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the print edition of The Observer on March 26. The University announced six individuals who will receive honorary degrees at commencement exercises on May 19, 2019 in a press release on March 26. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Peggy Noonan, John Affleck-Graves, who has served as Notre Dame’s executive vice president since 2004, Carol Corrigan, an associate justice of California’s Supreme Court since 2006 and James Poterba, a professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will all receive honorary doctor of laws degrees. Ignacio Sánchez, a physician who serves as the president of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, will receive an honorary doctor of science degree. Professor Esther Takeuchi, “one of the world’s leading energy storage researchers” at Stony Brook University, will receive an honorary doctor of engineering degree. Noonan, who was one of President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriters and has worked as a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, will also serve as commencement speaker. According to the release, the University will be awarding Affleck-Graves, retiring in June, with his degree to commemorate his career “as a teacher, researcher and administrator.” Affleck-Graves has overseen the fiscal development of the University over the course of his tenure as executive vice president, the release said. “During [Affleck-Graves’] tenure, Notre Dame’s annual operating budget has grown to $1.5 billion from $650 million and the endowment has increased to $13.1 billion from $3.5 billion,” the release said. “Thirtysix new buildings have been constructed, totaling 3.3 million square feet.” Affleck-Graves, who is a native of South Africa and a naturalized U.S. citizen, will return to teaching finance upon his June 30 retirement, the release said. Corrigan, the California Supreme Court justice, has served in numerous roles in the state’s judiciary system and has won many awards for her work, the release said. She was re-elected in November for another 12-year term and recently served as the co-chair of the Commission on the Future of California’s Court System. “[Corrigan] and a fellow associate justice were described by the Los Angeles Times as judges whose ‘votes and opinions peg neither as an obvious liberal or
conservative, ideologue or pragmatist.” the release said. In addition to his work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Poterba also serves as president of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the “official arbiter” of recessions and recoveries of the U.S. economy. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his doctorate from Oxford. “The National Academy of Sciences, of which he is a member, honored him with its NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing for ’his influential and comprehensive review of factors determining the savings of individuals over their lifetimes and the private accumulation of wealth for retirement,’” the release said. Sánchez, who was appointed president of his university in 2010 for the first time and again for a second term in 2015 by Pope Francis, is a specialist in the medical field with a focus on “cystic fibrosis, asthma and other respiratory illnesses in children and is the author of a handbook and more than 200 articles on the subject,” according to the release. In the past he has served as both the director and dean of the university’s school of medicine. “In addition to his scholarly work in the medical field, he has written two books on Chilean higher education. He is the head of the Chilean chapter of Catholic universities, which is a part of the International Federation of Catholic Universities,” the release said. Takeuchi has collected many honors for her work over the course of her career, the release said. “[Takeuchi] has been honored many times over, including induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the National Academy of Engineering, and as a recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, for her development of the battery to power the implantable cardiac defibrillator,” the release said. The release said the device has helped save many lives and is one of several inventions Takeuchi is attributed with creating. “Invented during her 22-year career at the technology firm Greatbatch Inc. (now Integer Corp.), the life-saving device provides a combination of high power, small size and long life — about five years, compared to the previous device batteries that lasted less than two years,” the release said. “The devices are implanted annually in more than 300,000 people with ventricular arrhythmias. She holds more than 150 patents and also is a chief scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory.”
McGavick, Gayheart reflect on leadership term By CLAIRE RAFFORD News Editor
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the print edition of The Observer on April 2. After a long election process and year in office, seniors Gates McGavick and Corey Gayheart reflected on their term as outgoing student body president and vice president, respectively. McGavick had just one word to describe his feelings on his term in office ending. “Bittersweet,” he said. “I think it feels like it’s definitely time, you know, we’ve been here for a year, and I think we’re all looking forward to being able to focus on other areas of our life. But as we go through the list of things we did, I think we’re all noticing stuff like, oh man, we could have done that. [We are] looking forward to the next administration doing that. For me, it’s been bittersweet.” Gayheart expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to represent Notre Dame’s student body and to serve students as vice president. “It has been an immense learning experience,” Gayheart said. “We have learned a lot not only about the University but our peers, about working in professional environments and working in a large team with dedicated people, and I think that we’re grateful for the opportunity that we had to represent 8,000 of some of the smartest students in the world.” Seniors Gates McGavick and Corey Gayheart completed their terms as outgoing student body president and vice president, respectively, on April 1. In reflecting back on their year in office, McGavick said that one of the administration’s biggest accomplishments was their success in supporting the goals of other student organizations, including the club funding initiative passed by student senate two weeks earlier. “I think we did a really good job of supporting other student groups, which I think is a really critical part of what student government should be,” McGavick said. “We got more money for clubs, we paid out thousands and thousands of dollars in sponsorships and grants to enable other student groups … As opposed to always driving the conversation, I think we were able to enable other people who are really well equipped to improve this campus in their own right.” The McGavick-Gayheart
ticket ran with a campaign slogan of “Approachability, Collaboration and Transformative [Ideas].” Senior and outgoing chief of staff for the administration Briana Tucker said the team fulfilled their promise of approachability through their interactions and collaborations with University administration. “I think we were also very approachable in terms of our … approach to administrators,” Tucker said. “We came in with an open mind and came in with a perspective [of], we want to learn, we understand that we have the same goals — we just have a different perspective on how your work can be better received by students. We were able to really work collaboratively with them to help them push their agenda, per se, in terms of getting out some of the more effective programming that they were doing to students and working in that regard.” As for the team’s collaborative efforts, McGavick added that their partnerships with different groups include, but extend beyond student organizations. “We have worked with so many incredible student groups over the course of this year, and we are proud to co-sponsor events like Race Relations Week, Black Hair Expo [and] Take Back the Night,” he said. “We gave multiple grants to political groups on campus to encourage political discussion. We worked with campus dining time and time again to try and improve students’ dining experiences on campus both in the dining halls and outside the dining halls. We worked with NDPD on holding the first Student Safety Summit as well as disseminating important safety information across campus … We also worked with residence life to gather important information on issues with dorm maintenance. I think we just went in with the mindset that we never turn down a chance to work with any group on campus, be it a student group or an administrative group.” McGavick expressed his newfound appreciation for student government’s contributions to the University at large. “It was unexpected to me how important student government’s role actually is,” he said. “Being very frank, I used to have a pretty dim view of student government when I was a younger student here. But the role that student government can play … in connecting administrators with
the student body, no other group has the capacity to do it that we do.” Tucker said she believes the administration did enact a positive change on campus. “I think we got to do a lot of stuff, just thinking about all the meetings and things that I was able to sit in, both with the team and on my own, and then just also things that I was helping people with,” Tucker said. “I think we moved the needle just a little bit. I understand that we weren’t able to do everything, and there were so many more things that we wanted to accomplish … but I hope that we have been able to make some sort of substantial impact on campus. I think a lot of the programming that we did has done that, even if it’s in a very small way.” As for the future, McGavick said he looks forward to the next administration’s contributions to Notre Dame, as well as the opportunity that the University has to participate in the conversation about the crisis in the Catholic Church. “I’m really excited to see where Elizabeth and Pat take student government,” he said. “I’ve been really impressed with them during this transition. I know that they have a bunch of great ideas that I hope they’ll carry out. I think that Notre Dame has an opportunity right now to play a very, very crucial, forefront role in the crisis in the Church right now. I don’t think that Notre Dame has stepped up to the plate in the ways that it can. I think we began the work of student government being very vocal and very direct about that. I look forward to seeing that continue, and I look forward to seeing students on Notre Dame’s campus push Notre Dame to fulfill its destiny as driving these important conversations.” Gayheart echoed McGavick’s sentiment, saying the incoming leaders still involved on campus inspire hope through their desire to create positive change at Notre Dame. “The young leaders in student government now have given me hope,” Gayheart said. “A lot of the younger senators who will still be continuing their roles elsewhere, some of the hall presidents, some of our cabinet members, class council people. I’ve found my hope for Notre Dame in them and their work and their actions and their commitment to it.” Contact Claire Rafford at crafford@nd.edu
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SGA president, vice president reflect on term By MARIA LEONTARAS Assistant Managing Editor
As the academic year came to a close, seniors Madeleine Corcoran and Kathy Ogden reminisced on their time as undergraduates and Student Government Association president and vice president, respectively. Corcoran thought about her final experiences — particularly her time in the CushwaLeighton Library. “It’s weird because I feel like all the lasts are coming,” she said. “Today I was studying in the library like, ‘This is probably it, I probably won’t study here again.’ How many hours have I sat in that library?” In a May 5 interview with The Observer, Ogden said she didn’t want to think about her lasts as an undergraduate. “I don’t know why, but I haven’t sat down and looked at the calendar, so I keep telling myself I have a good two and a half weeks left,” she said. “I don’t. But I’m like, ‘Oh, I still have two and a half weeks left,’ but it’s like graduation is almost a week away, which I can’t think about. Going to get the trembling lip.” One thing the pair can agree on is the value of their time in student government. Ogden said her time as vice president enhanced her
level of involvement at the College and enabled her to truly fulfill the title of “student leader.” “So many times people say, ‘You’re a student leader on campus,’ but it was being that, which I thought was really cool,” Ogden said. “All of the experiences student government has given us — like sitting in on interview panels and being the student voice there, being able to go to the Board of Trustees meetings and meeting all of these really successful alumnae or people outside of the College. It’s been a really cool part. Just being more involved in Saint Mary’s naturally makes you love Saint Mary’s even more because you see that love is so contagious.” Former student body president Corcoran said the care the administration has for students is reflected in the amount of participation the pair had in their decisionmaking processes. “That speaks volumes to the type of school we go to. That approach really has a waterfall effect throughout the whole college,” Corcoran said. “We always see it in our professors and those people we have daily experiences with, but I think it really stems from an administration that cares a lot about us and wants the student voices to be heard. So many times in meetings they’ll point to Kathy
and I and say, ‘Well, what do you think as students?’ I don’t know for a fact, but I think a lot of colleges wouldn’t even have students be a part of a lot of the meetings and interviews and really high-level parts that we’ve gotten to participate in.” The ability to directly discuss their thoughts and ideas with the administration allowed Corcoran and Ogden to actively pursue their goals as well as tend to issues concerning students. Corcoran said this permitted the two to make student government an attainable resource to the student body. “Overall, people have come to us more often for different needs or questions on campus, and I think that’s something new that hopefully a lot of students feel is true — that we are a resource because that’s ultimately the main goal of student government, being that resource and actually following through on the questions and the concerns of students and working towards their needs,” she said. Corcoran said increasing the SGA presence on campus is a highlight of her time as president. “People see what student government can actually do on campus — whether it’s with Blinkie on Sundays, or the wireless printing, or events on campus, things like that,” she said. “I think across the
board, students are seeing that student government reflects all components of our lives on campus, whether it’s Residence Life, academics or extracurriculars, it really does have a hand in everything. Hopefully, [student government] continues to be the go-to resource like we were the go-to resource.” Ogden said her administration’s most significant accomplishment was making wireless printing accessible to students, a change she said benefitted the entire student body. “I saw a girl in Trumper the other day wirelessly printing something,” she said. ”It was just cool to see. I remember our first meeting as juniors right after we figured out we were going to be student body president and vice president, meeting with Todd Norris and I was able to see the end where she was wirelessly printing from her device, so it was cool.” Though Corcoran and Ogden’s time as SGA leaders is over, the pair said they believe Terra Nelson and Olivia Allen will find success in their time as president and vice president. Corcoran said she hopes the new student leaders maintain the “strong voice on campus” Corcoran and Ogden leave behind. It is this strong voice Ogden
said she wishes for students to appreciate and discover in their times at Saint Mary’s. “Appreciate the little things just because your time here is so precious,” she said. “As a senior, you realize that even more because you’re about to say goodbye. Trust that Saint Mary’s is shaping you into a very successful woman to go out and be a confident, empowering woman.” While giving thanks to all of those who helped the class of 2019 succeed, Corcoran also expressed her gratitude for her formative Saint Mary’s experience. “Being able to leave this College being confident, strong individuals who are going to change the world really is so empowering and so admirable,” she said. “Not everyone can necessarily say that about their college class, and I think that’s something so special about Saint Mary’s. Very much enjoy every minute and second at this place, because it flies by. It goes very quickly … Take in every moment you have here. Just like they say, you’re discovering yourself here and this is your chance to do that. They are preparing you to discover your place in the world — that’s what we’re all about to go do.” Contact Maria Leontaras at mleontaras01@saintmarys.edu
University awards medal to civil rights leader Observer Staff Report
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the print edition of The Observer on April 1 The University announced in a press release it would award the 2019 Laetare Medal to Norman C. Francis — the president of Xavier University of Louisiana — during Notre Dame’s 2019 Commencement. In the press release, University President Fr. John Jenkins lauded Francis’ many achievements. “For more than 50 years, Dr. Francis has been at the center of civil rights advocacy by leveraging the power of Catholic higher education,” Jenkins said in the release. “In bestowing the Laetare Medal upon him, Notre Dame recognizes his leadership in the fight for social justice through educational empowerment.” According to the press release, Francis has served as the president of Xavier University for 47 years. During this time, the school’s enrollment has increased threefold and its endowment is now eight times larger than it was at the beginning of his tenure. Xavier University is both a Catholic and historically black
college/university. The school was founded by St. Katharine Drexel in 1925, at a time of legal segregation in the United States, the release said. The founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament was “heir to a banking fortune” and advocated for racial equality for African Americans and Native Americans using her economic resources. In the release, Francis saluted Drexel’s work. “I did not build Xavier; I was part of Katharine Drexel’s mission to provide a quality education for all,” Francis said in the release. “All the people I worked with were part of this plan and mission, which was not only honorable, but was totally necessary when you look back at what the United States was at the time.” Francis was born to a family of five children in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1931. Throughout his childhood, he attended Catholic schools that were made possible by Drexel’s philanthropy, according to the release. He was admitted to New Orleans’ Loyola University Law School in 1952, becoming the first African American student accepted to the law school. Furthermore, his brother, “the Most Reverend
Joseph Francis, auxiliary bishop of Newark,” was the fourth African American bishop in the United States. Francis served in the army and in 1957 accepted a job as “dean of men” at Xavier, instead of entering a career in legal practice. “It didn’t take long for me to see that I could do more good educating young AfricanAmericans, and when I look at the stats and where we are nationally, I never regretted it,” Francis said in the release. According to the release, Francis accepted his job as president of Xavier on April 4, 1968 —“the same day Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated” in Memphis, Tennessee. In the release, Xavier said he feels honored to receive the Laetare Medal. “I am honored by Notre Dame recognizing me in this way,” he said. “I think the fact that I have the privilege of being among the Laetare awardees is itself a hope and an inspiration, not just for the students, but for many others as well.” In addition to being the president of Xavier, Francis has served in a multitude of other roles as well, the release said. “While solidifying Xavier’s reputation of academic
excellence, Francis gained renown as a civic leader and an exceptional statesman. He served in advisory roles to eight U.S. presidents on education and civil rights issues and has served on 54 boards and commissions,” the release said. “He has been a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, a member of the Board of Trustees at the Catholic University of America and a member of the board of directors of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice. He also served as chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority after Hurricane Katrina. In 2006, President George W. Bush honored Francis with the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.” Francis has previously received two honorary awards from Notre Dame, the release said. “Francis received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Notre Dame in 1988 for his commitment to education and civil rights. The University also recognized him in 2006 with a rare second honorary doctorate for his tireless work to rebuild his own institution and serve as chair of Louisiana Recovery
Authority,” the release said. Notre Dame has awarded the Laetare Medal since 1883. The recipient is announced on the fourth Sunday of Lent, also known as Laetare Sunday — hence, the name of the award. It was intended ”as an American counterpart to the Golden Rose, a papal honor that antedates the eleventh century,” the release said. Every year, the medal is awarded to “a Catholic ‘whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church and enriched the heritage of humanity.’” The release said, the award’s previous recipients include other noteworthy Catholics. “Previous recipients of the Laetare Medal include Civil War Gen. William Rosecrans, operatic tenor John McCormack, President John F. Kennedy, Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day, novelist Walker Percy, Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House John Boehner, labor activist Monsignor George G. Higgins, Homeboy Industries founder Rev. Gregory Boyle, S.J., Rio Grande Valley Catholic Charities executive director Sister Norma Pimentel, M.J., singer Aaron Neville and actor Martin Sheen,” the release said.
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Notre Dame seniors prep for post-graduate life By THOMAS MURPHY Associate News Editor
As members of the class of 2019 receive their diplomas and complete their undergraduate careers, their eyes turn toward beginning their lives after college. For some, this beginning takes the form of employment, others in the form of further graduate education and some will begin their post-graduate lives doing service. According to the University‘s “First Destination” statistics for the Class of 2018, 65% of Notre Dame graduates are expected to be employed within six months of graduation. Ryan Willerton, Notre Dame’s associate vice president for career and professional development, said the University expects consulting, financial services and technology to be the most popular industries for Notre Dame graduates. Willerton also said many of the class of 2019’s first jobs will be steppingstones for the rest of their careers. “For many of them, it’s a first destination; it’s a first stop for a student who might pursue this for two or three years and then realize, ‘I’ve got a great education as a foundation, I have an opportunity to learn these skills and network, get into the Notre Dame alumni network as well, and then be
able to leverage that for a career pivot,’” he said. “That’s really what we’re trying to do here in the [Center for Career Development] — give students the tools so they understand how to utilize these resources for the rest of their life. It’s not just about getting a first job or getting into grad school — these are the tools that you need, these are the skills you need to develop and the competencies you need to gain, so you can pivot and you can advance your career from there.” Senior David Scaramucci, a management consulting and Peace Studies double-major, said he credits the Center for Career Development with providing him the infrastructure necessary for landing a job in consulting prior to his graduation. “I knew I wanted to go into consulting and they just have everybody there — it was an easy middleman to help me as a student to connect with the employer,” he said. While about two thirds of the senior class will enter the workforce, 22% of the Class of 2018 pursued graduate degrees, according to the First Destination survey. Senior Evan Nichols, a biology major and Constitutional Studies minor who will be pursuing a PhD in biology at Stanford University in the fall,
said his experience performing research as an undergrad was an impetus for his decision to pursue a graduate degree. “I’ve been working with a professor on campus doing research for three years now, and I kind of got the bug for research and being able to ask questions and answer questions, I really then set my career path because these are the things I’d like to continue to do,” Nichols said. “ … Going to graduate school and getting a PhD is the first step on that process, so I’m really excited to do it.” If recent trends in Notre Dame graduates continue, approximately 7% of graduates will pursue service directly out of college, Willerton said. This number is almost 10 times larger than the national average for college graduates. “Notre Dame’s service number is much higher than many other colleges and universities, and that’s one of the things that makes Notre Dame distinct,” he said. Notre Dame’s placement rate — or the percentage of alumni with post-graduate plans — of graduates six months after they receive their diploma hovers around 98%. Willerton said this high rate is a result of the way Notre Dame educates students for real world success. “You need to make sure
you’re developing not only the leadership skills but also the interpersonal skills,” Willerton said. “When we talk to our employers, we hear over and over that Notre Dame students excel in their interpersonal relationships. The ability to work as a team, those are core skills that students are going to need and its one of the reasons Notre Dame graduates are finding their way into managerial and leadership positions more than other universities because they have these skills.” Scaramucci said his academic track at Notre Dame has prepared him with those interpersonal skills as well as a critical perspective of his surroundings. “I think sometimes you’re in class and you’re like, ‘I don’t understand how this relates to outside life,’ but I think my management consulting major was so much group projects and presentations that I’m so comfortable doing that now and that’s a lot of what consulting is,” Scaramucci said. “From the Peace Studies perspective, you see how complex problems can be and how sometimes well-intentioned proposals sometimes have negative consequences and how you should be aware of those and how you should critique them when they arise.” This process of developing
leadership skills in and outside the classroom, Willerton said, begins with the University’s unique residential system. “It starts in our residence halls,” he said. “The residential tradition and what we have here where you’re starting off as a freshman living with seniors and you’re seeing that modeled behavior where they understand that college is more than just going to class and relaxing and playing sports and going to games, it’s really about figuring out who you are as a person and how you translate that into the rest of your life.” Nichols said his time at Notre Dame has helped him expand his academic horizons beyond his immediate interests. “I’ve really gained an appreciation for having a holistic intellectual life. Not being able to just focus on a single discipline like biology, but also being able to think about some of the bigger questions,” he said. “ … I think a lot of disciplines are all trying to answer similar questions when you really zoom out and get the big picture view. So, I think being able to appreciate other people’s approaches to things and being able to digest them is what I’ll be able to carry out of Notre Dame.” Contact Thomas Murphy at tmurphy7@nd.edu
Graduates enter program to discern priesthood By CATE VON DOHLEN News Writer
As graduates prepare to leave Notre Dame’s campus and move on towards their professional lives, some will simply be hopping across the St. Joseph’s and St. Mary’s Lakes to Moreau Seminary where they will join the Congregation of Holy Cross’ postulant program. The program is the first step in the process of discernment related to joining the priesthood. Fr. Neil Wack, vocations director for the Congregation of Holy Cross, said postulants have made the first commitment towards joining the religious community. “[They are] not officially part of the community yet, but they are in the process,” Wack said. “They have been accepted, they have gone through the holy application process, but they have not taken vows yet.” Senior Chris Mulholland, who will graduate with a degree in electrical engineering before becoming postulant, said the purpose of the program is to help postulants discern whether the novitiate is right for them. This year, either nine or
10 men from the tri-campus community and other walks of life will form the new postulant group, he said. Some are current students at Notre Dame who will move to the Moreau Seminary directly from Old College for their senior year. Before coming to Notre Dame as a freshman, Mulholland said the question of religious life was already something he already considered since he grew up in a religious family surrounded by members of the clergy. “For a lot of people, I think examples of priests and religious [figures] are what draws them [to the religious life],” he said. Though Mulholland was familiar with the priesthood and religious orders, he said he had never been around Holy Cross priests prior to attending Notre Dame. Mulholland said he appreciates the consistency throughout Holy Cross clergymen despite a wide range of personalities. “There was a very consistent theme with all of them,” Mulholland said. “[They are] very committed people who really lived out the mission that they represented.” Mulholland said much of his
discernment process in the past few years involved asking himself questions surrounding his vocation. “I realized early on in college that for me to answer that question, I was going to have to grow in knowledge of self,” he said. “That came from generally maturing, prayer, staying close to the sacraments ... and also talking to people about it.” Mulholland also said the spiritual direction he received from an adviser at Notre Dame was a crucial part of his discernment. “Once a month, I had to articulate my thoughts, and most of the time, I surprised myself with what I said,” Mulholland said. “By going consistently, it was a way of tracking my progress.” In the end, Mulholland said his calling would never go away unless he addressed it. Entering the postulant program is another step in a longer process. “It’s not like you do all this discernment, and then when you’re done with the discernment, you enter the seminary,” he said. Wack said it is important for people to recognize everything from discernment to
ANNA MASON| The Observer
Moreau Seminary will be the first destination for new postulants as they discern becoming members of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
entering the religious life is a process. “Part of the stumbling block for people when they are considering a vocation to be a religious brother or sister or priest is that they think they have to have it all figured out,” Wack said. “But really what you are discerning is if God is calling you to spend one year looking at this a little deeper in formation.” Wack also said the ongoing sexual abuse crisis in the Church can be a challenge for
some postulants, but the men he talked to hope to be a part of the solution. “They acknowledge the awfulness of [the crisis], but they also see a real desire to be part of the solution because they have experienced a lot of goodness in the Church,” Wack said. “I think those that have been drawn to it, it has made them all the more determined [to follow a vocation].” Contact Cate VonDohlen at cvondohl@nd.edu
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Graduates awarded prestigious fellowships By THOMAS MURPHY Associate News Editor
Members of the class of 2019 received an array of fellowships and awards this year, including two Marshall Scholarships, a Gates Cambridge Scholarship and a dozen Fulbright grants. Jeffery Thibert, director of the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE) said students spent months working with CUSE to build their applications and perfect their essays before they were ready to be submitted. “It’s about six to eight months that people are working on the application,” Thibert said. “The ideal scenario really is that people start working on these in April or May — that’s sort of when they enter the process with us — and then they continue to work with us throughout the summer. Then most of the [highly competitive scholarships] are due in late September or early to mid-October, in that realm. Between April and October, it’s usually at least six months. Now, that’s not required, you don’t have to do it, but often the people who are successful with these have been thinking about the application for that long.” The application process has become more intense in recent years, as there has been an upward trend in the number of qualified students applying as well as an increase in resources dedicated by universities to help students with their applications, Thibert said. “These awards get more competitive every year, and I think it’s partially because there’s more awareness of some of these every year,” he said. “The pool is getting so much stronger, even to be a
finalist for one of these, an honorable mention for one of these. For some [awards], you have to be nominated by the University or endorsed by the University, even that now is much more of an accomplishment because to just excel in the more and more competitive pool is getting harder and harder.” Despite an increasingly competitive application process, Thibert said Notre Dame has performed at a high level of success consistently in recent years. “In the past three years or so we’ve seen an uptick in people receiving the most competitive fellowships,” he said. “There might still be some room to grow, ... but I think we’ve hit a pretty good plateau with these things. The performance of the University has been pretty steady and pretty strong.” The University’s success with the awards can be at least partially explained by the many unique opportunities it offers to undergraduate students that help applicants differentiate themselves, Thibert explained. “The University, I think, is increasingly emphasizing international education and trying to strengthen the core curriculum in a way that gives people a firmer, general education base while allowing them to go into depth maybe a little earlier than they could have in the past,” Thibert said. “Many of these fellowships are interested in people who have gone beyond the typical undergraduate experience, and one way to do that is to have a significant study abroad experience where you achieve something that you couldn’t have achieved at your home institutions, so people who have studied abroad and do research or have interesting
internships — those kinds of thing tend to stand out.” One such abroad experience is that of senior Caroline McGowan, a neuroscience and behavior major and finalist for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship. McGowan said she will be using her Fulbright to teach in Chennai, India, a place where she had previously visited with a Notre Dame group. “I went to India the summer after my sophomore year on an ISSLP — the International Summer Service Learning Program — and I went to Chennai and worked at a school for children with severe disabilities,” McGowan said. “I was in the classroom in the morning and the occupational therapy room in the afternoon. It was really hard, very complicated, but I loved it. I fell in love with the people, the generosity and the diversity of idea; it’s just really amazing. I knew I wanted to go back.” W hile some students had more clear paths from their undergraduate experience to their award, others met the opportunities with more hesitation. Truman Scholarship winner senior Prathm Juneja, a political science and computer science double major, said he was initially unaware of the wide array of opportunities offered by fellowship programs. “I didn’t want to do the fellowship cycle that some professor had told me about because it just seemed like it was a lot of work for the sake of getting an award, but I was slowly talked into it by Professor Joe Buttigieg, Mayor Pete’s Dad. He taught my literature class my freshman year and we got really close,” Juneja said. “W hen I looked more into the programs themselves, I realized
it might be a little bit about the prestige, but actually the monetary incentive and the help it would give me for graduate school was pretty significant.” Following the completion of his five-year degree in the coming semesters, Juneja said he will likely pursue a masters degree in public service using the $30,000 granted to him through his scholarship for that purpose. Juneja said he hopes to dedicate his life to public service and says he was inspired in part by the University’s mission. “The whole premise of Notre Dame as an institution is to be both learning and committing to public service. That’s the idea. That’s what Catholic Social Teaching is all about,” he said. “I think the ethos of the University at large at least pushes a certain amount of students towards public service. Sure, there’s other students who don’t go into it, but I think there’s something about this place that encourages that work.” Winning a fellowship or scholarship can mean many things, ranging from some money for graduate school to full acceptance and tuition at a specific university. Senior Gregory Serapio-García, winner of the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, will have the opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. in psycholog y at the University of Cambridge in England. Serapio-García said part of his application for the scholarship included outlining his possible dissertation. “[The dissertation idea] is using social media big data to predict mental health traits and mental illness and collecting that data through Facebook or GroupMe and being very ethically conscious about the data that’s being collected,” he said.
“I’m also interested in crosscultural psycholog y, so I’ll probably be collecting some of that data, too, but my dissertation should be on social media data and psycholog y.” This dissertation idea has background in his experience as a psycholog y major with a minor in data science, Serapio-García said. “We have a huge mental healthcare shortage around the world, a shortage of resources for assessment and care, and we’re also sitting on a lot of big data that is being exploited,” he said. “I figured more social scientists need to be trained in this area to use the data for the social good rather than for social exploitation through — I don’t know — political campaigns or advertising, because there’s a lot you can learn about a person through their digital imprint.” Though the class of 2019 has already achieved a high level of success in the realm of undergraduate awards, Thibert said the window has not closed for many students and alumni to pursue fellowships and scholarships through CUSE and other University resources. “[Alumni] can still work with CUSE on fellowships applications after they graduate, and a number of the fellowships we work with, you can apply for as an alum,” he said. “For some fellowships there’s kind of a time limit — two or three years out — but others, it can be eight to 10 years out or there’s no limit at all. Every year we have a number of alumni receive fellowships, and I always try to emphasize that people can continue to apply for these things and we will continue to help them.” Contact Thomas Murphy at tmurphy7@nd.edu
SMC seniors win Bob Orr graduate fellowship By MAEVE FILBIN News Writer
Saint Mary’s seniors Ashlyn Maes and Maura Newell have been awarded the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship, a post graduate program for top graduating seniors. According to the fellowship’s website, the program promises a full-time salaried position with a host company, professional development and career coaching, an extensive peer and alumni network, leadership and entrepreneurship opportunities and immersion in the city of Indianapolis. The Orr Fellowship especially
focuses on civic engagement with communities within Indianapolis, working with local nonprofits, social enterprises and public schools. Newell, a political science and communication studies double major, said she was excited to learn she received the fellowship, which she applied for after hearing a presentation from current Orr fellows. “I was unsure of what I wanted to do after graduation, and the multiple opportunities for continued learning, leadership, mentor support, service, etc. the fellowship offered seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore more options over the
next two years while I continued to try and decide where my interests would take me,” Newell said in an email. Newell and Maes were selected from a pool of applicants to attend a “fORRum” event at Notre Dame where they met with current and potential fellows and were later invited to further networking and interviewing events. Newell said she prepared for the interview process by researching the Orr Fellowship and reaching out to College alumnae currently in the fellowship. “It was super helpful to be able to speak with them and gain insight on their experiences and the transition
from Saint Mary’s to their companies in Indianapolis,” she said. “I think the interview process alone taught me so much about myself and professional settings. It was quite a whirlwind process, but I gained a lot from the experience.” Newell said the opportunities for leadership and growth offered at Saint Mary’s as well as advice from supportive teachers played a role in helping her earn the fellowship. After receiving the Orr Fellowship, Newell selected a position at Indiana University Health. She will be working three eight-month-long rotations in different departments within the company
over the next two years, in areas of marketing, healthcare policy and public policy, she said. Her first rotation will start with the Indiana University Virtual Healthcare team. Newell said she is unsure about her plans for the future, but she’s looking forward to taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the fellowship, such as retreats, service days, leadership talks and exploring potential career paths. “I am excited to see where the next two years take me and go from there,” she said. Contact Maeve Filbin at mfilbin01@saintmarys.edu
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Seniors receive awards at annual banquet By MAX LANDER News Writer
The 33rd annual Student Leadership Awards Banquet took place April 9. At the banquet, multiple awards were distributed, celebrating a range of student achievement and involvement on campus. Karen Kennedy, director of student centers, activ ities and events, said although her office hosted the banquet, a number of different organizations gave out awards. “The first ones are those given by the [student] government and Hall President’s Council,” Kennedy said. These awards included the Irish Clover Award, which honors two communit y members — students, facult y, staff or administrators — for ser v ice to the student body. This year’s Irish Clover Award was bestowed to staff assistant Kim Miller and senior Corey Gayheart. The Frank O’Malley Award, which is awarded annually to a facult y member for “outstanding ser v ice to the students of the Notre Dame communit y,” was given to assistant Program of Liberal Studies professor Jennifer Newsome Martin. The Michael J. Palumbo Award, which honors a student for “outstanding ser v ice and dedication to the student union,” was awarded to senior Dan Hopkinson. The Office of Student Affairs also awarded a series of prizes. These awards included the the Rev. A. Leonard Collins, CSC, Award, which was awarded to senior Bethany Boggess. The award is given to a senior who ”has expended substantial personal effort to advance the interests of students at Notre Dame,” according to the Div ision of Student Affairs website. The Rev. Theodore M.
Hesburgh, C.S.C. Award, was awarded to senior Deborah Bineza. The Student Affairs website said the Hesburgh award is bestowed ever y year upon a senior who has focused on furthering inclusion efforts w ithin the Notre Dame communit y. Senior Richard K lee received the Sister Jean Lenz, OSF Leadership Award, which is annually given to a “post-baccalaureate student who has displayed leadership in promoting a more diverse, inclusive campus communit y for students.” The Blessed Basil Moreau, CSC, Leadership Award, which honors a senior ”who embodies Fr. Moreau’s v ision of educating both the heart and mind, and who has demonstrated significant effort to advance the Catholic character of the Universit y,” was awarded to senior Joe Crowley. The John W. Gardner Student Leadership Award, which was awarded to senior and class of 2019 salutatorian Annelise Gill-Wiehl, “annually honors a student who exemplifies the ideals of Notre Dame through outstanding volunteer serv ice beyond the Universit y communit y.” Senior A lyssa Ngo received the Mike Russo Spirit Award, which is bestowed each year to an “outstanding undergraduate student who exemplifies the qualities for which Mike Russo was know n, including serv ice, personal character and those who strive to bring about the best in themselves and others.” The Ray Siegfried Award for Leadership Excellence, which honors a graduating senior for “leadership, generosit y, devotion to the Catholic faith and affinit y for athletics,” was awarded to senior Shannon Hendricks. The Denny Moore
Award for Excellence in Journalism was awarded to senior Juan Jose Rodriguez. The Student Activ ities office also awards the Student Leadership Award ever y year, Kennedy said. “It’s meant to be given to students who got involved and impacted campus in a variet y of ways,” she said. “So it’s not like some of the named ones are really specific to students who have done ser v ice, or specifically to students who’ve made great impact in terms of making Notre Dame a more diverse and welcoming env ironment. So ours are more broad, and we receive nominations from students and staff and we select 10 that we award to students.” The nomination for a Student Leadership Award can come from either a student or staff member and student can be nominated for a diverse level of work and engagement on campus. The 10 recipients of the Student Leadership Awards this year were seniors Clare Cunningham, Sarah Morris, Kayah St. Gerard, Prathm Juneja, Anusha Jain, Maureen Schweninger, Nicholas Martinez, Charles Trense, Nohemi Toledo and Andrea Tong. Jain, a recipient of the award from Lyons Hall, said she believes she received the award due to her involvement in dorm life as well as programing and planning events as part of the Student Union Board. She said she was surprised to receive the award. “I was surprised, because the [nomination was] not in my hands,” she said. “It makes you feel ver y valued, which is something I feel that the Universit y does really well.” Jain, an international student, plans to start work in industr y somewhere abroad next year.
“I’m going into industr y — 16 years of school is enough for me,” she said. “I’m probably going to go abroad, either to the Middle East, or back to India and work there for a couple years and then see where that goes. Maybe come back for a Master’s.” Jain also had an idea of the kind of work she wanted to get involved w ith. “I’m usually looking for something that front-end and client-based,” Jain said. “With my experience in Student Union and dorm life and stuff like that, I am better at face-value. Like when you put me in front of someone, I perform better than if I would on paper.” Martinez was another recipient of a Student Leadership award. He has worked in a variet y of areas during his time on-campus. “I like to think that I tried to make ever y moment count,” Martinez said. “Most recently I’ve been the v ice president of The Shirt Project.” Martinez said he has also been heav ily involved w ith SAO and dorm life. He said it feel great to be recognized for something about his time at Notre Dame which he so deeply cared about. “It’s incredible, it’s really nice to be recognized for all of my different involvements at [Notre Dame],” he said. Martinez w ill be mov ing to California after graduation to work in healthcare. “I move out to San Francisco in July. I’m going to be working as a healthcare consultant and patient advocate in San Francisco,” he said. One recipient, Cunningham, couldn’t attend the awards ceremony due to the schedule of her ROTC training. However, she said she thinks it was her involvement in the ROTC program that got her nominated for the award. She said
she didn’t know a lot about the award beforehand, but appreciated the attention it would bring to her program. “It’s really nice for [the ROTC program] to get extra v isibilit y, because I think a lot of people just see the uniforms and marching and that’s it,” she said. “I think a lot more of what we do is leadership training and ser v ice.” Next year, Cunningham w ill be entering a pilot training program. Toledo was also heav ily involved in campus life. “I am an intern in Campus Ministr y … I worked specifically in multicultural ministr y,” she said. “So I would plan all the events there that would happens like Día De Los Muertos or like Spanish Mass. So that kind of like got me involved in little things on campus and stuff.” Toledo also said she was part of the Notre Dame’s dual-degree program w ith Saint Mar y’s and involved in a number of Latino student clubs. She said she found it nice to be recognized, though she did not expect to receive the award. “I don’t really expect recognition w ith what I’m involved w ith and w ith what I help [w ith], and just doing the things that I love on campus, so that was really surprising,” Toledo said. “It was nice, though. It was nice to know that people are like acknowledging what I’m doing and recognizing that I’m putting full energ y into the things that I do.” Next year, Toledo plans to work in Honduras. “In August, I’ll be mov ing to Honduras for a year and a half to teach in an orphanage,” Toledo said. “I’m really excited, I think it’ll be a nice break just bet ween the next thing that I’ll do.” Contact Max Lander at mlander1@nd.edu
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SMC students honored with character awards By MARIROSE OSBORNE and REBECCA STELLA News Writers
Many students at Saint Mary’s are given opportunities to display their dedication to the College and develop their skills in leadership and study. These accomplishments are honored during a series of commencement awards. Every year since 1988, one student has be chosen to receive
the Outstanding Senior Award. Communicative Sciences and Disorder major and senior Meredith Mackowicz was chosen as this year’s recipient and honored at the Alumnae Association Champagne Brunch. According to an email sent to the students by the College administration, “The recipient of the Outstanding Senior Award exemplifies the spirit and values of her school and is distinguished
by scholarship, leadership and outstanding dedication to Saint Mary’s through participation in both curricular and extracurricular activities.” Mackowicz is graduating with a bachelors in Communicative Sciences and Disorders (CSD) with minors in gerontology and Early Childhood Education. She plans to continue her education by pursuing a Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology
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at Purdue University. Mackowicz is graduating summa cum laude and most recently received a Communicative Science and Disorders Leadership award, the academic excellence award in gerontology and the Residence Life RA of the Year award. Mackowicz has taken on many leadership and volunteering roles during her time at Saint Mary’s. She served as a student member of the Board of Trustees, mentor in the Belles Connect program and a student preacher for Take Back the Night. She was also president of Saint Mary’s’ College Democrats and a volunteer with the Saint Mary’s Parkinson’s Support Group. Makowicz said she was surprised by the honor and feels lucky to have received it. “I did not expect to win the award,” Mackowicz said in an email. “But I’m incredibly honored to be receiving it and want to thank both my nominators and the alumnae association for the award.” Mackowicz said she has many people to thank for helping her along her college journey. “The women I have met in my time here have assisted me in developing my own voice, and for that, I will be forever grateful. My parents have been a constant source of love and kindness, and I wouldn’t be here without them,” Mackowicz said. “Dr. Susan Latham is an incredible mentor and inspiration. My clinical supervisor Julie Voor believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself and [I thank] the entire CSD department for supporting me through successes and struggles over the last four years. Lastly, my friends — the strong, passionate and powerful women who have stood by me through the most difficult times — I will always keep them with me wherever I go.” She said she is not only thankful for her parents and mentors, but also for the entire Saint Mary’s community. “Reflecting on my time at Saint
Mary’s has shown me that this experience has meant everything to me,” she said. “The women I have met in my time here have assisted me in developing my own voice and for that, I will be forever grateful.” Looking back on her Saint Mary’s career, Mackowicz said there was a time when she was unsure of who she was or why she was at the College. However, she said she now realizes Saint Mary’s was the best place for her, and it helped her to become the woman she is today. “We have been given an incredible gift — a Saint Mary’s education, grounded in the traditions and teachings of the Holy Cross,” Mackowicz said in an email. “It is now our job to go out into the world and do something incredible with it by sharing it with all of those we encounter throughout our lives. We have discovered our place in the world, so now it’s time for us to help others do the same.” There are several other awards the College will impart during commencement. Three members of the senior class have been named valedictorians: Natalie Dock, Monica McGrath, and Elizabeth Preister. They will deliver a joint address during the ceremony. According to a May 14 press release, the recipients of two other awards — the Lumen Christi Award and the President’s Medal — will not be announced until the ceremony. The Lumen Christi Award is given every year to a Saint Mary’s student found to have demonstrated a strong commitment to faith and leadership. “Lumen Christi means ‘light of Christ,‘” vice president for mission Judy Fean said in an email. “[Each award recipient] is someone who has excelled in leadership and whose presence has had a profound impact on the College community. During spring semester, the Mission Council … extends an invitation to the community to nominate a senior who possesses qualities that distinguish her as an exceptional woman of faith; one who has contributed significantly to the vitality and growth of the Saint Mary’s community.” According to a 2015 College press release, “As the valedictorian reflects the mind and the outstanding senior embodies the heart of the class, the Lumen Christi Award recipient represents its soul.” The President’s Medal is used to honor long-standing contributions to Saint Mary’s by an individual or organization. “The President’s Medal was established in 1967,” Haleigh Ehmsen, assistant director of integrated communications, said in an email. “It is awarded at the President’s discretion, to faculty, staff, administrator, alumnae or friends of the College for outstanding community service and contributions to the life of Saint Mary’s.” Contact Marirose Osborne at mosborne01@saintmarys.edu and Rebecca Stella at rstella01@saintmarys.edu
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The observer | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
The people in my bar
Taking Saint Mary’s with me
Courtney Becker
Jordan Cockrum
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
Saint Mary’s Editor Emeritus
One of my dad’s friends from his own days as a student at Notre Dame, someone who is like an uncle to me, told me during my freshman year that life — and college in particular — is about finding those people you would want with you in a bar. People you love, people you trust and people with whom you just enjoy spending time. After four years at Notre Dame, there’s a pretty diverse crowd in my bar. Like a typical Arts and Letters student, I dreaded calculus class four years ago. As predicted, I struggled my way through that class and am sure I could not for the life of me earn a passing grade on the final exam today. But that calculus class is responsible for one of my closest Notre Dame friendships. Isabella had no idea what she was getting into when she walked down the hall to my room in Pasquerilla West, knocked on the door, told me she was pretty sure we were in the same calculus class and asked if I wanted to work on the homework assignment with her. She ended up helping me through just about every calculus assignment that semester. We were in the same section in PDub, so we were bound to get to know each other at some point, but thanks to calculus, that friendship was forged in fire. Now, we’re already planning during which weekends we’ll see each other this summer and beyond. She’s not the only friend who I know will be in my life forever. The others include friends I met in PDub, from the first week of school to the fall of my junior year to my time as an off-campus senior. My crowd of Purple Weasels continued to grow with people who love to laugh and pushed me out of my comfort zone as I tried new things. My RAs patiently dealt with me and talked with me when I passed them in the hallways, my roommates tolerated my absolutely absurd sleep schedule and my former rector, Sister MJ, always took an interest in my life, often being the first person to compliment my work in The Observer. I met new people while playing interhall football and at hall events like dances, allowing me to find a home on campus even as an off-campus senior. And there is no describing the place The Observer will always have in my life. The consistent factor among all of my friends is their willingness to put up with me — my dry sense of humor, tendency to not stop talking, bad moods and all. This was no small task while I served as Editor-in-Chief of The Observer. Calculus was nothing compared to the late nights and last-minute emergencies that made me an absolute delight to be around for a year, and I owe all those people who stuck by me and supported me through everything more gratitude than I could possibly express with words. Many of these people were right there beside me in the basement of South Dining Hall, being unhealthily obsessive about doing the same thing over and over again, five nights a week. Running a paper also put a strain on my academic life, and I know that I would not be graduating this weekend if it weren’t for my truly stellar professors, people who not only made going to class exciting and interesting, but also offered me a tremendous amount of support every time I stumbled as a student. After so many times saying thank you to these professors, the words are starting to feel more than insufficient. From my Film, Television and Theatre major to the Gallivan program in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy, I hope all the professors who had a hand in shaping me as a student and a person know how grateful I am for their impact on my life. It has been no small blessing to get to know so many amazing people during my time at Notre Dame, ones who I know will remain family for years to come and others who might never know how much I appreciated their friendship, however big or small. I’m beyond happy with the crowd in my bar. Courtney Becker is graduating with a degree in Film, Television and Theatre and a minor in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy. After leaving Notre Dame, she will be moving back to her hometown of New York City. She can be contacted at cbecker3@alumni.nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
In August, I made a promise with my friends to enjoy each moment of our senior year. While it still felt far away, we knew the end was coming. We handled this realization by focusing on each day, one at a time. Living in the moment, in this way, is a frequent coping mechanism of mine — pushing difficult emotions off until the very last minute possible. Sometimes, this was procrastinating on a difficult assignment until it was due the next morning. Other times, it was making decisions right before the deadline — I visited Indiana University, New York University and Saint Mary’s the week before Decision Day in 2015. This time, it is accepting that my time to leave my second home has come. Tomorrow, I become an alumna of Saint Mary’s College. All year, I could tell myself I still had more nights out with friends, more stories to write for The Observer, more projects to finish and more time before everything had to change. But I cannot say that anymore. I have just one last night as an undergraduate. This desire to avoid the time when I would be forced to move on from Saint Mary’s came from a feeling that my entire identity would have to change. I saw this transition from college to my future as a law student as having to leave Saint Mary’s behind, letting go of many of the aspects of my experience that made me who I am. How could anyone be ready to leave a place that meant so much to them? Saint Mary’s often references the famous Sister Madeleva quote, “We promise you discovery: the discovery of yourselves, the discovery of the universe and your place in it.” For much of my time here, I felt
frustrated with this. I did not feel I was discovering who I was or where I fit in. Despite having times where I felt it was impossible, I was able to find my place at Saint Mary’s and in the world. It is uncomfortable to think about having to find my place in a new environment with new people and new traditions. But, upon reflection, I realized having to find my place again does not mean my identity will be changing. Graduating from Saint Mary’s does not mean I have to “move on” or “let go,” but adapt. My Saint Mary’s experience will always be with me — a piece of Saint Mary’s will accompany me even after I leave this campus and South Bend. It isn’t the physical place that defines what Saint Mary’s means to me, but the lessons learned and experiences shared. Wherever I go, I will always have the strength I gained from learning to manage anxiety while in college. I will always be filled with the intellectual curiosity that brought me to Saint Mary’s and led me to law school. I will always cherish the memories I made in my four years on this campus. I will always be filled with a passion for telling stories, and I will always feel the most fulfilled when I am making an impact on others. Graduating does not mean I am leaving Saint Mary’s behind, but rather taking it with me on the next steps of my journey. Jordan Cockrum is graduating with a degree in communication studies and humanistic studies. In the fall, she will be moving to Bloomington, Indiana, to begin at Maurer School of Law. She can be contacted at jordancockrum7@gmail.com The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Thank you Mary B. Freeman Viewpoint Editor Emeritus
I have learned many things in my time here at Notre Dame. One of these is that properly expressing depth of feeling with language is entirely impossible. I could sit here and write and re-write line after line of this farewell, but no matter what I say, it likely will fall short of expressing how absurdly grateful I am for those who have made the past four years of my life what they were. But, with that being said, here goes. I would like to tell my parents how much I appreciate the endless opportunities they have worked to give me. Thank you, Dad, for encouraging me to follow my passion as a Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) major. Thank you, Mom, for ensuring that I always have what I need. I would like to convey to my professors how thoroughly their teachings have changed my life. How sitting in a seminar classroom discussing the ideas of humanity’s greatest thinkers gave me a rush of joy and fulfillment that made every late night in the library worth it. I would like to tell my friends how much they mean to me. How their goodness, intelligence and willingness for adventure has given me some of the best moments of my life. I would like to convey how they saved me in my hardest times, and made life worth living when we couldn’t stop laughing together. I would like to tell my fellow PLS majors how they have inspired and challenged me to become a woman of integrity, and taught me to be willing to constantly check and recheck my thinking. I would like to thank them for strengthening my empathy
impulse and helping me to acknowledge the love I am called to have for every single human being. I would like to thank my sister for her unceasing generosity and support. I would like to thank my Walsh Hall roommate for helping me through my worst and lifting me at my best. I would like to thank you, who hopefully know who you are, for meeting me where I am, telling me who you are and staying my friend through it all. I would like to thank my Notre Dame women’s club volleyball teammates for the strength they gave me. I would like to thank the staff of The Observer for teaching me how to stand confidently by my decisions. I would like to thank Notre Dame for your beauty and strength of spirit. And I would like to thank God, who ultimately is the source of all goodness. So, yes, there is no way that I could totally sum up how appreciative I am for the experiences I have had at this school. But I pray that this does, in a small way, let some of those who matter most to me know how incredibly they have changed my life. I love you all very much. Thank you. Mary Freeman is graduating with a degree from the Program of Liberal Studies. She will be spending the summer with her family before beginning to work in Chicago next year. She can be contacted at mfreemannds@gmail.com The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
The observer | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
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Notre Dame’s ‘Severe Mercy’ Tobias Hoonhout Managing Editor Emeritus
“If it’s half as good as the half we’ve know n, here’s Hail ! to the rest of the road.” How fitting that a Program of Liberal Studies major would shape his sendoff column around too many book references, am I right? But in all seriousness, it took me four years of way faring to find out what I really learned at Notre Dame. That’s how life can oftentimes work: ever y thing clicks at the moment when the scene is about to end. A good example is Sheldon Vanauken’s masterful “A Severe Mercy.” Transience has been something humanit y has always w restled w ith — if you don’t believe me, take it from Shakespeare’s infamously cerebral Macbeth: “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, / And then is heard no more.” Even if Macbeth speaks a fundamental truth, however, the ways we respond to such a realit y can be radically different. I may be in a play, but does that play mean any thing? Is there even a sense of self in a life seemingly formed by the whims of time? How often do we go about acting — pun intended — as if ever y thing makes sense, but then we experience things that we can’t explain? Oof. Seems easier to avoid. Doubts like these can ruin people (cough, cough, Macbeth). W hy bother? Better yet, if happiness is nothing but diminishing returns, let’s optimize at the point where fulfillment doesn’t have to account for ex istential predicaments. Put me in the driver’s seat — as long as my securit y is found in autonomy, even the bad moments can’t spill over. College — Notre Dame included — seems to
push this narrative. “Study ever y thing. Do anything.” The world is your oyster. Limitless possibilities. Carpe Diem! Utilize the inv isible hand of progress — four years of diverse dabbling in academics w ill gird us w ith unprecedented enlightenment and the tools to change the world. If so, then why do the “easiest” classes fill up first? W hy are the “best” professors the ones who give the most As? Rather than hedge our bets on forming ourselves, we seem to settle on a realization that complacency is the safer strateg y. After all, good grades lead to junior-year internships, which lead to return offers, which lead to ah, the sweet bliss of sanctuar y. The same goes for relationships. “Yeah, these people in my discussion group seem fascinating, but thanks, I’ve already made enough friends — the random prox imit y of Notre Dame dorm culture helped me set my interests and priorities by the end of Welcome Weekend.” “W ho wants to ask stay up late w ith the upperclassmen to talk life adv ice on a Friday night, when we can just go to their off-campus house and ’bond’ over a keg race instead? “ “Sure, I’ve heard of ‘Ring by Spring,’ but I’m not about to start thinking about what it means that I’ve dated you for six semesters — any ways, you’re going to Chicago next year, and I’m consulting in New York; let’s not ‘ruin the moment.’” Ever y where we look, it’s different iterations of the same message: overthinking is overrated. Don’t even bother crav ing if you can’t foresee the next step. As a Catholic universit y, we may pose a spiritual problem of personhood, but are we offering only material answers? Vanauken’s autobiography speaks of the power of doubt, of the depths of love and loss and of
a journey from calculated autonomy to sacrificial relation. I won’t ruin the stor y, but it struck me at a time in my life when I was waking up to a realization that my life couldn’t reconcile a deep-seated desire for meaning w ith an unworried superficialit y. We all go through trials and tribulations, yet the way we often deal w ith them is by minimizing the risk of their effects. How can you “spare yourself” if you are committed to a path? So we end up lowering our eyes and tr y ing not to worr y. W hich, in turn, gradually leads to discontent and only a greater desire to satisf y the itch. So we escape by blending in. I’ve learned to change the approach. It may require a radical submission of self, but when we relieve the fear of authenticit y, we fathom that we actually can be at peace, even if it requires being counter cultural. The satisfaction of whole being is paradox ical because it requires a level of relinquishment, of v ulnerabilit y. Notre Dame is not just another notch in the belt, or simply a time to look back on fondly, or a stepping stone. It’s a journey of severe mercy. So thank you, to those over four years who helped me find this priceless truth. You know who you are. Here’s to the best — the rest of the road. After four years of blood, sweat but no tears in the basement of South Dining Hall, Tobias Hoonhout is off to New York next year, graduating from Notre Dame with dual degrees in the Program of Liberal Studies and economics, as well as some soul searching in Constitutional Studies. He will let you know what he will end up doing if you email him at tobias.hoonhout@gmail.com The views expressed in the column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Commitment never commences Joe Everett Sports Editor Emeritus
“W hatever you value, be committed to it and let nothing distract you from this goal. The uncommitted life, like Plato’s unexamined life, is not worth liv ing.” — The Hesburgh Papers, 1979. Walking back from one of the last classes of my undergraduate career, I fell into a conversation w ith an underclassman as we strolled through North Quad. “So, Joe,” he asked, tr y ing to get me sentimental, “do you regret any of your commitments at Notre Dame? ” I thought for a while, wanting to give him an honest reply. The answer slowly daw ned on me. I was thankful for my commitments. Thankful beyond measure. My fellow graduates, you probably are too. Notre Dame is built upon and sustained by a commitment to a v ision and a mission of educating the heart and the mind. Each of us has continued that tradition of commitment in so many way and through so many roles, each of us adding a unique verse to this epic poem we’ve called “the undergraduate years.” So be proud of what you’ve committed yourself to, find joy in the memories (good and bad) you’ve made through those commitments, continue the friendships that you’ve cultivated, and discover how it has all led you to be the person you are today. Speeches aside, I have three special commitments here at Notre Dame in particular that I w ish to acknowledge. The first is the place where I lived: Stanford Hall. Stepping inside those cinderblock walls
during freshman move-in, I was instantly welcomed by an incredible communit y that quick ly became my home. Through the commitment of so many great people of mentors, I decided early on to commit myself to build this special communit y any way I could, and am so thankful for ever y chance I got to ser ve in some capacit y. A special thank you to my best friend, Chris Westdyk, for his tireless commitment to Stanford, his incredible strength in the face of adversit y and for all the memories we shared together. The second is the place where I learned: the Program of Liberal Studies (PLS). From the death and destruction of Homer’s “Iliad” to the shining v ision of and commitment to justice and love as proclaimed by Martin Luther King Jr. in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” we’ve discussed the biggest and most important ideas humanit y has considered, struggled w ith and committed to. Our w illingness to voice our commitments, to hear those of others and grow in the process is what a Notre Dame education is all about. Thank to my professors, my peers and especially my friends for making PLS a home. Here’s to never ceasing from exploration. The third is the paper, and the people, I grew to love: The Obser ver. As anybody who’s been a part of this student newspaper w ill tell you, working in the office in the basement of South Dining Hall requires a tremendous amount of commitment, dedication and fortitude. The long nights are especially ta x ing (a few memorable nights included crawling into bed as the sun began to rise). And yet, the entire experience was absolutely worthwhile, not only
because of the lessons it taught me, the experiences it afforded me and the stories I loved to share, but simply because of the ama zing people that I met, worked w ith, and grew w ith throughout those long hours in that basement. It’s been an honor and a priv ilege to work w ith such committed indiv iduals, and I feel an immense sense of pride in the great work we created together. A ll of this is to simply say that what has made our Notre Dame experience great is due to what we’ve committed ourselves to, and while these particular commitments have concluded their course, commitment in and of itself doesn’t commence. There’s a whole w ide world waiting for you. You know your values. You know what you stand for. You know what you’re w illing to fight for. You know what you’re w illing to commit yourself to — and you’re able to commit yourself because your Notre Dame experience has trained you to do so. And so we are sent forth, unprepared and yet ready. Home is where one starts from, but our new commitments await. Go out and do good work. Joe Everett is graduating with a degree from the Program of Liberal Studies with a minor in peace studies. For the next years, he will be teaching fourth grade in Tucson, Arizona through the Notre Dame ACE program. Luckily, he’ll get to stay on campus this summer while he takes classes to earn his Master of Education. He’ll miss the late nights in The Observer office jamming to music along with the many friendships he’s made but is thankful for it all. He can be reached at jeveret4@alumni.nd.edu The views in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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The observer | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Let’s hear it for the ladies Elizabeth Greason Assistant Managing Editor Emeritus
A few weeks ago, I was driving the kids I babysit to a number of various locations while the two boys argued in the back seat. Punches were being traded, heads were in locks and tears were shed. And in the midst of all the chaos, a golden mop of hair piped up and said in tone only a newlyturned 8-year-old can get away with, “Brothers, huh? They’re too much. Girls should just run the world, right?” At first I just laughed. But in thinking about what I wanted to write about for my final column, Abigail’s words kept coming back to me. I, like many of my classmates, have been reflecting on my last four years, and one of the themes I keep noticing is all the “girls” who have proven to me that women really can run the world. I thought I had all the female role models I needed. And then in August 2015, I walked into McGlinn Hall for the first time. McGlinn has been a, if not the, central facet of my Notre Dame experience. Within its cinderblock walls are the people who defined my time here. They helped me grow, they encouraged me as I struggled and they supported me through every twist and turn. They were the greatest support system I ever could have asked for. We’ve laughed together and cried together. I’ll be forever grateful for the Mardi Gras dinners, the movie nights and the truly horrific Bookstore Basketball teams, but more than anything, I’ll be forever impressed by each and every one of you and forever thankful that you took in a stray friend and turned McGlinn from a building into a home. The first face I saw when I walked into McGlinn was that of Sister Mary Lynch. Sister Mary, thank you for teaching me that stubbornness can be a good thing and that sometimes there is a correct way to go about things, and if that way if your way, that’s OK. But most importantly, thank you for being an example of resilience. If I could wake up one morning with just an ounce of your determination, I would be confident in my ability to overcome any challenge. Watching you battle this year while simultaneously being an incredible rector was an inspiration to everyone with whom you interacted. As a senior, I was blessed to become a member of McGlinn Hall Staff (special shoutout to the members of 3A — thanks
for making every day a little brighter). And while I thought I knew what I was signing up for, one of the things that came as a surprise to me was the unbelievable relationship that would develop between our lime-green polo shirt clad crew. In our assistant rectors, Delaney and Katy, I found two older sisters. They showed me everything I missed out on growing up as an only child, from sharing clothes to being chased up the stairs. But they also provided a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen when if felt like the world was on my shoulders. I had a teacher in high school who always said if we ever had a load that became too much to bear, to let her carry it for us. Del and Katy, you unwittingly became the people carrying seven additional loads and, for that, I will never be able to thank you enough. Which brings me to the other resident assistants. Morgan, Belin, Colleen, Siena, Talia and Marisa: you are my heroes. We’ve gotten through sleepless nights, allergy attacks and, in the words of Belin, “built a community.” I look up to you all every day and am grateful daily that someone had the foresight to matchmake the McGreatest group of key-jinglers I’ve ever met. I wish we had more time together, because a year will never be enough. I could write so much more about how much you have meant to me, but I just want to say that it’s been an honor to serve alongside you. Cheers to Hall of the Year, ladies. I realize it sounds like in my four years at Notre Dame, I’ve never left my dorm. But trust me, there are no shortage of female role models the moment you step out under the permacloud. My Moreau teacher, Tami Schmitz, exudes love like no one I have ever met and supports every endeavor I have embarked on in the last four years like it’s her own. She’s been my personal cheerleader every step of the way and if every student could walk away from Notre Dame with some of the joy she brings into her job every day, the world would be a better place. Dr. Liz Kerr is the engineer all women in the field should aspire to be. Thank you for being a pseudo-mom to the CEEES department, for keeping us all on the straight and narrow and making sure we all graduate (something more questionable than you might have thought it would have been at the start of the semester) and for getting us employed. But to me, personally, you’ve been so much more than an adviser. You’ve proven that work-life balance exists in engineering and welcomed me into your home. Thank
you for being an inspiration to the female students in the department and been a bad--- along the way. And now, I’ve reached The Observer. I’ve spent countless hours in the basement of South Dining Hall, in press boxes, in gyms and locker rooms in the name of filling the paper. And it’s all been so incredibly worth it. When I joined the sports department as a freshman, it was referred to as “the sports patriarchy,” only sort of in jest. But over the last four years, as I rose through the ranks of the department, the breakdown has shifted and I am so proud to leave the department in the hands of a matriarchy. Ellen and Charlotte, you have come so far in the short time you’ve been writing and I am so proud to have had any involvement in your time at The Observer. I cannot wait to watch you take the world by storm and see what you come up with. And, of course, Courtney. Watching you produce a minimiracle every day as editor-in-chief was a true inspiration. It was like watching someone fulfill their destiny, but, at the same time, you took your destiny into your own hands and helped us leap over everything that came at us last year. You sacrificed so much for The Observer, but never gave up what you believed in, no matter how many people asked you to do so. I can’t wait to take New York with you. And I’ve got to take a deep breath after all of these. Because honestly, none of it seems real yet. It seems like I’ll walk into McGlinn or Fitzpatrick or the office next week and someone will ask me to unlock a door or turn in an assignment or fix the printer. But with the help of all these ladies, I know I’ll be successful when I walk out of Notre Dame Stadium and into the real world. So yes, Abigail. Hopefully this all answers your question. Girls should run the world. These girls, specifically, should run the world. Elizabeth Greason is graduating with a degree in civil engineering. After graduation, she’ll head home to New York to watch the Mets inevitably blow their good start to the season before beginning work with Skanska Koch because no one loves bridges as much as she does. If you agree that Muffet McGraw deserves a statue on Notre Dame’s campus, feel free to reach out to her at greasone21@gmail.com The views in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Notre Dame: perfectly imperfect Lucas Masin-Moyer Assistant Managing Editor Emeritus
How do you move on from something you’ve spent your whole life looking forward to? For most of my time at Notre Dame, it’s been a running joke among my friends that “Lucas has been a Notre Dame fan his whole life,” but honestly, it was much more than a fandom — it was a sometimes all-encompassing desire to one day come to South Bend. Growing up, I had a big ND painted on my wall; I’ve been coming to games here every year since I was six — a streak unbroken even when I was abroad in Ireland — and in an interview at the end of high school about my experience with teachers and administrators, when they asked why I had done so many extracurriculars throughout my time, I had to regretfully inform them I did not, at the time I joined it, have a burning passion for Academic Decathlon, but that frankly, “I wanted to go to Notre Dame.” I think they appreciated the honesty. So when I got to Notre Dame for the first time, I expected every moment to be great, and a lot of it was. In my first couple of weeks in South Bend, I watched Notre Dame take down Texas under the lights, attended lots of milkshake Masses, having far more wholesome Thursday nights than I would later in my college career — and, despite not finding a future spouse at Domerfest as I was told was the expectation, I made some of the best friends of my life that night, people who would walk with me through every up and down. But it was in these inevitable downs that I always felt even worse, as if I was not living up to the expectations
of four years of non-stop joy that I had always imagined my Notre Dame experience to be. And it wasn’t until I left Notre Dame for the first extended period of time since I arrived that I was able to shed these expectations. In August of 2017, I sat in a park across the street from a run-down hostel of an old cobblestone street in Barcelona, crying and panicked under the single street lamp, calling my parents and talking to friends seeking refuge from the fear of being thousands of miles from home and the sadness of being away from Notre Dame. The next day, still in a state of panic, I sought any activity that would bring me some sense of normalcy, and I found it in a traveling David Bowie exhibit that had made its way to the city. I was fully prepared to go there alone to calm down in the company of the music and memorabilia of one of my favorite musicians. But one of my friends — who frankly I don’t think had much of an interest in Bowie outside of my frequent rhapsodizing about his music — volunteered to ditch what the group was doing that day to join me. It was in that moment that I had a revelation about my college experience I should have long before. Notre Dame wasn’t great because of the physical space it inhabited, though there are lots of great things about it. Notre Dame was great because of the people I had met there who would be by my side through it all. I realized in that moment, in one of the more imperfect moments of my life, that my Notre Dame experience didn’t have to be perfect as long as I had good moments, and people there to share the good times with. It’s this realization that made my last three semesters at Notre Dame, though far from perfect — anyone who has read a story in this paper that I edited can tell you that — truly the best times of my life. And because I had these
experiences, I am able to move on past them. Because I had Notre Dame, through all its highs and lows, I am able to move past it. That doesn’t mean I won’t miss my time here or lose love for Notre Dame (apologies to my future wife and children for all the plans I will surely blow off to watch football for 12 Saturdays every year), but by opening up to whatever experiences were presented to me here, I was able to look back on my time here with few regrets and fully enjoy it for what it was, not what I had imagined it to be. Now of course this is a little disingenuous — I’ll be back here again in two weeks to start summer classes for ACE. I could never quite kick the desire to stick around here a little longer. But I know that no matter how far I move away someday — in what is about to be one of the most cliche sentences I’ve ever written in this paper — Notre Dame will always be with me and no matter where all the friends I’ve made along the way go, whether it be in California or Colorado, Washington state or Washington, D.C., Kansas City or Eswatini, I know they’ll be there in some way or another. Lucas Masin-Moyer is graduating with dual degrees in American Studies and political science. Following a summer of classes, he will be teaching with Notre Dame’s ACE program, teaching fifth and sixth graders in Minneapolis. He thanks every single person who has made The Observer such a meaningful part of his experience at Notre Dame and can be contacted at lmasinmo@nd.edu The views in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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The observer | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
LETTERs TO THE EDITOR: FOUR YEARS IN REVIEW
Notre Dame family
A letter from Fr. Jenkins
We recently attended the memorial Mass for our son, Jake, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Notre Dame has always been a very special place for us. After learning of our son’s passing, we were concerned that returning there now and in the future would bring us sadness. That concern was alleviated for us during our recent visit. The Notre Dame family has gone above and beyond to help us get through this. From the arrangement of our trip, the Mass and the assembly at the Grotto with the men of Siegfried, we felt not only the presence of God, but also that of the Notre Dame family. Mere words cannot describe our appreciation for the prayers, love and support. We love Jake and know a lot of you do, too. We are humbled to know he touched so many lives in his short 20 years on this earth. Now, we all take that experience and continue our journey to heaven. May God bless and keep us all the days of our lives. Love thee Notre Dame.
Dear members of the Notre Dame community: With the plight of Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) now attracting attention at the highest level of government, it is both timely and urgent that we express unqualified backing for a critical piece of legislation. The BRIDGE Act (Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy Act), which has broad bipartisan support, would codify protection for our DACA students and classmates. I urge members of this community — faculty, staff and students — to contact their representatives to ask for swift passage of this legislation. Respectfully,
Jerry and Janet Scanlan class of 1982 Nov. 13, 2015
Fr. John Jenkins University President Feb. 18, 2017
We live in hope On Wednesday, Sister Mary McNamara — the rector of Breen-Phillips (BP) Hall — was called home to our Lord. This loss is devastating to all who loved this incredible woman — her community of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word; her BP residents, past and present, whom she shepherded fearlessly and tenderly for the past six years; her family and loved ones; and the entire Notre Dame community. Sister Mary came to BP during my sophomore year at Notre Dame. We connected instantly as born-and-raised Clevelanders with a mutual love for our city. At the beginning of that school year, I began experiencing frequent panic attacks, the latest development in my experience with anxiety, depression and OCD. Despite only knowing me for a few weeks, Sister Mary accompanied me through this difficult time with grace; when I decided to take a medical withdrawal to address my mental health, she organized a short prayer service with the hall staff. She prayed for my healing and safe return to Notre Dame, and she was instrumental in ensuring I would be able to live in BP upon my return a year later. Over the next few years, I had the great pleasure of working with Sister Mary as the liturgical
music commissioner for the hall and as a Resident Assistant in my senior year. Last year, she invited me to serve as the piano accompanist and vocalist at her golden jubilee, a celebration of her 50th anniversary as a Sister of the Incarnate Word, and I visited with her when I returned to campus. Sister Mary was all that I aspire to be and more — a strong, proud woman of God, compassionate to the most vulnerable among us and feisty as hell. She delighted in the daily joys, which she saw better than most of us. She was a no-nonsense leader who earned the respect of all she encountered by simply living her vocation. She had a giggle that spilled out whenever something tickled her funny bone, and her sense of humor was unmatched (for example, she informed our hall staff that the initials of her order, the “Sister of the Incarnate Word” (SIW), really stood for “Send Irish Whiskey”). She was the quintessential rector, pouring out her gifts in the service of the community. Perhaps it is cliche to say, but Sister Mary was like a mother to me. She accompanied me through the most challenging time of my life, sharing in my grief and pain. She welcomed me home with open arms. She encouraged me to share my gifts
with my community and invited me to share them with hers. When I returned to Notre Dame after my medical withdrawal, my mom told me to remember that I would always have a mother looking out for me from atop the Golden Dome. Really, I (and all of the members of the BP community) had a sassy, smiling nun caring for me and the entire community with tough love and a heart of gold. Sister Mary frequently stated, “We live in hope.” Sometimes, this comment came after a resident had lost their keys for the 10th time or the kitchen was left in disarray yet again. But this is how Sister Mary lived, and it is how she will be remembered — a woman of hope who placed her trust in the Lord. I am confident that Sister Mary is at peace with God in heaven. Somewhere, a prayer is ending, and as a chorus of “Amen” rings out, Sister Mary is smiling slyly as she adds, “and A-Woman.” Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. Maggie Skoch class of 2016 Feb. 7, 2018
The iced coffee manifesto Those unacquainted with O’Shag likely don’t know of the tiny cafe nestled by the building’s DeBart-side entrance. It’s called Waddick’s, and its carpeted interior and rustic oak furniture give off an aura befitting the lovechild of a library and a hunting lodge. At any given point there are probably a handful of Arts and Letters students with their noses in books and their hands on coffees. Speaking of, it is undoubtedly the best coffee spot for your buck on campus, and pairing one with their famous bacon, egg and cheese croissant is a breakfast fit for a king — or at the very least a history major looking to burn some flex points. It is also in danger of being disgracefully stripped down from a full cafe to a one-machine, one-cashier operation. Waddick’s is much more than a coffee shop; it is the embodiment of Arts and Letters. You are bound to bump into one of your friends, classmates or professors there, and the genial atmosphere ensures the type of banter that builds genuine investment in each other’s academic endeavors and personal lives. Intellectually stimulating or not, the face time Waddick’s fosters as an Arts and Letters hub deepens both the college’s and Notre Dame’s senses of community. Of course, people can (and do) gather
at other establishments. However, when the time comes for all of us to sit our kids down and indoctrinate them into the cult of Notre Dame, I doubt any of us will recount fondly our time spent at Modern Market or Starbucks. Certainly we enjoy these places, but subconsciously we understand that they are transactional, merely a means to an end. The things that really imbue our Notre Dame experiences with color and meaning are our local, homey hangouts, from Nick’s Patio to the Backer. Waddick’s is no different. You’re greeted and served by one of your fellow students or the amiable Vicky. If you’re there as often as I am (unlikely), they might even assign you a title (Iced Coffee Guy over here). With familiar faces behind the counter, folky-pop playing over the radio and quirky decor, Waddick’s just feels like a slice of home. Sure, I’m biased because living in Carroll means it’s usually not worth trekking back between classes. But I’m willing to bet that the 451 people who have signed the “Save Waddick’s!” petition thus far feel that same bit of home as well. The proposed changes ultimately amount to reducing Waddick’s to something like the cold, impersonal a la Descartes stand in Jordan because Decio and Duncan make it redundant. With the petition’s
hundreds of signatures and an ungodly line into the Great Hall between every class period, it is hard to believe that Waddick’s has suffered much from the alleged competition. I do think everyone agrees that putting additional seating where the art gallery is would be a welcome change, but eliminating most of the offerings and staff save for the absolute bare minimum is an unnecessary degradation of an adored hole-in-the-wall. With another tuition hike this week, it seems that Our Lady’s University is cash-strapped yet again. It would be shameful for the administration to dismantle a cherished student haunt while simultaneously asking for even more from us. Every year, our campus plays witness to the establishment of a new, palatial institute bearing the name of one of our dynastic families. In light of such prolific development, that funky cafe in O’Shag stands as a poignant testament to late Assistant Dean Waddick’s dedication to his students and as a tiny reminder that Notre Dame is a school, not a corporation. Francis Hagan junior Feb. 28, 2018
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The observer | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
LETTERs TO THE EDITOR: FOUR YEARS IN REVIEW
For the custodian who died in the parking lot On Thursday, Sept. 20 at 6:34 a.m., Michael Adamek, a 57-year-old custodian at the University of Notre Dame, was found unresponsive in the Hesburgh Library parking lot. Moments later, after the arrival of the Notre Dame Security and Police and Notre Dame Fire Department EMTs, Adamek was pronounced dead. That morning, Adamek explained to his supervisors that he was not feeling well and was instructed to go home and get some rest. This is particularly unfortunate as Michael Adamek seemed to never even leave the parked position in the library lot according to ABC57’s news coverage of the occurrence. With the St. Joseph county coroner on the scene to make an attempt to determine the cause, Michael Adamek died right in our “home under the Dome.” Before I go any further with this letter, I must ask, does this news sound familiar to you? Did you know that a custodian died right in the librar y parking lot last week? And for those of you who heard the news, did you even know the name of the lost worker? For many of you, I am sure the answer you are using to answer all of these questions is a consistent ‘no.’ But how can this be? How could one of our own, within our supposed Notre Dame family, die without our knowledge? I believe that the answer lies with the University itself. This University has not shown ver y much of any action to recognize the loss of Adamek from the Notre Dame family. On the day of his death, Notre Dame’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications released a note for the event of Adamek’s death and inserted a quote allegedly from University President Fr. John Jenkins
sending a prayer to the Adamek family. Was this the only way that his loss of life was published on this campus? Well two days after his death was posted in the South Bend Tribune, Adamek’s coworkers were notified of his death, and all was back into its regular rhythm. In contrast, when a student dies, a Mass, detailed email is sent out all over campus describing the loss of a considerably beloved member of our Notre Dame family. How can this be? After Adamek’s 37 long and hard years of working as a University of Notre Dame custodial worker, earning little pay (especially in comparison to the fortune that the University’s professors make), and even less appreciation, the best way for the University to recognize his ser vice and time was a brief note by one of the University’s offices and an email to his coworkers. So, does the University not care about its custodial, culinar y and blue-collar workers? Notre Dame is known for being a Catholic institution, and with that comes an obligation to adhere and mirror the standards of the Catholic Social Teaching. One of the principles outlined in the Catholic Social Teaching is the Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers. This principle describes how work is more than simply making a living but provides an avenue for humanity to actively participate and interact with God’s creation. Within this Catholic value is also the discussion of the rights (to a safe environment, fair wages, etc.) and respect that all workers require from humanity. In all honesty, it doesn’t seem to truly believe it at all. At Notre Dame, custodial workers are not
valued in the same way as other members of the Notre Dame family. Constantly they are looked down upon by students and, at times, faculty alike as “other,” not fitting a particular, misconceived view of what type of person belongs in the “home under the Dome.” Their wages are not arguably fair and stay relatively stagnant. As the University’s professors and other faculty members receive considerably larger pay quantities, many custodial workers never exceed about $20 an hour. Does this sound like a system that recognizes these custodial workers’ interactions with God’s creation? The answer is no, yet the University’s lack of concern towards one of their custodial workers dying right under the light of the Dome itself is not surprising. It is the University’s responsibility to recognize all of its members in the Notre Dame family. W hether they be a student, professor, faculty or staff, each member is called by God to be valued and respected. With that in mind, I would have to say that Michael Adamek deser ves more than a hidden news line. Adamek deser ves an email blast to all of the University’s students and faculty in addition to a prayer ser vice recognizing the loss and praying for God’s guidance and condolence to the Adamek family. It should be acknowledged that a member of our Notre Dame community has passed and has now found a home brighter than our Dome, and not forgotten in brief articles and co-worker emails. Selwin Wainaina senior Oct. 2, 2018
Hall presidents respond to housing policy Dear Division of Student Affairs, As former hall presidents and vice presidents, we can testif y to the fact that Notre Dame’s unique residential life is one of the best parts of the University experience. Because we deeply care about dorm life and the pivotal role it plays in the lives of the entire student body, we would like to address the “Residential Life Enhancements” that the Division of Student Affairs sent out Thursday. We are specifically disheartened about the new policy to “Differentiate On-Campus and Off-Campus Experiences.” This policy states that “students who choose to move off-campus will no longer enjoy all of the rights and privileges of residents (e.g. including participation on hall sports teams and presence at hall dances).” Our primary issue with this policy is that it is inherently exclusive and directly contradicts the goal of fostering genuine community. The primary purpose of residential life is to form undergraduate communities that are “inclusive of all members,” yet this new policy is overtly ostracizing integral members of this very community. If seniors are not allowed to be a part of the dorm community because they are off campus, then we are now confining community to a building, not the people. The residential hall experience is much more than living in a building, and its community includes everyone who has ever called the dorm their home. Alumni, off-campus students and on-campus students equally make up the dorm community and culture. As presidents and vice presidents, we have worked hard to make it clear that there are no requirements to be a member of our communities. We strive to model our community like a family,
and whether those family members live on or off campus, they are still family. This policy is in complete opposition to our efforts. This policy would revoke substantial hall programming. Participation in things like interhall sports and dances allow students to stay connected with the people they have lived with, even if they are not in the same building anymore. These teams are not only special for the seniors who have been on them for many years, but they also foster invaluable relationships between upperclassmen and underclassmen. They bridge together the Notre Dame community in a unique way. It is important to consider the many dorms that already struggle trying get enough people to field an interhall team. By barring off-campus seniors from playing, it will potentially prevent some dorms from participating in interhall sports, which is a disappointment for anyone in the community who wants to play, not just those who move off campus. We agree with the administration’s desire to create more equity between the dorms, but this specific policy would actually put smaller dorms at a disadvantage compared to the larger dorms in activities like interhall sports and gathering large groups for hall dances. Excluding off-campus students is detrimental to both hall communities and the students being excluded. This policy disregards the reasons why students choose to live off campus. Many students move off campus due to financial reasons even though they love their dorm community. We are then restricting those individuals from staying in touch with a core community they feel a part of and discriminating against them based upon their socioeconomic status. The policy also excludes students who move off campus for reasons related
to their identity (i.e. racial minorities, LGBTQ+, religious minorities, etc.). During this past year, Residential Life encouraged the hall governments to combat the seven percent statistic, which says that 7% of students do not feel welcomed by any community on campus and do not feel like there is a place for them here at Notre Dame. This plan of segregating offcampus seniors will only add to this statistic. We support the Division of Student Affairs’ goal of keeping communities together, but the method of excluding off-campus seniors is not an “incentive,” it is a punishment. Punishing students for living off campus their senior year by taking away their rights to be part of their hall community will not motivate underclassmen to remain on campus for the right reasons. Under no circumstance will it create a more welcoming environment. This policy will cause resentment or apathy towards residential life as a whole. Ultimately, this policy is killing the community the Division of Student Affairs is trying to cultivate. As members of the 2018-2019 Hall Presidents Council, we strongly ask the Division of Student Affairs to reconsider the policy to “Differentiate On-Campus and Off-Campus Experiences.” Sincerely, Courtney Sauder president of Lyons Hall 2018-2019 sophomore April 14, 2019 To view the complete this of hall presidents and vice presidents who signed their names to this letter, visit ndsmcobserver.com
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The observer | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
ND Women’s Basketball | 35-4, 14-2 ACC
Irish unable to complete comeback against Bears to repeat as national champions By CHARLOTTE EDMONDS and ELLEN GEYER Managing Editor and Sports Editor
Despite falling just short of a back-to-back national championship, the Irish had one of their most elite teams in program histor y — shattering records both indiv idually and as a unit. Under Naismith Hall of Fame head coach Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame made a deep tournament run and sent five players to the W NBA draft, recording the most prolific scoring offense in the nation for the first time in program histor y, amassing 3,454 points across the season and averaging 88.6 points per game. The squad was also the best offense in program histor y, led by all-time leading scorer Arike Ogunbowale along w ith fellow starters Jessica Shepard, Brianna Turner, Marina Mabrey and Jackie Young. The starting five led the countr y as the only group
to have each player averaging at least 12.5 points per game, accounting for 90% of the team’s overall offense. Further, the starting unit collected 10,230 career points between themselves, setting the record for most among five starters in the histor y of Div ision I basketball — men’s or women’s — w ith the next closest group over 1,700 points below them. Despite facing the hardest schedule in the countr y, the Irish won their sixth-straight ACC regular season title, hav ing claimed the honor ever y season since joining the conference in 2013. In addition to hav ing the best-ever scoring offense, the team broke three other records, recording programbest numbers in assists (804), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.51) and rebounds (1,726). Indiv idually, the Irish boasted three record see W BBALL PAGE 31
ANNA MAson | The Observer
Former Irish guard Arike Ogunbowale drives into the paint past a defender during Notre Dame’s 82-81 loss to Baylor in the national championship game on April 7 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Football | 12-1
National title hopes dashed in Cotton Bowl By HAYDEN ADAMS Associate Sports Editor
ANNA MASON | The Observer
Irish rising senior quarterback Ian Book rushes with the ball during Notre Dame’s 22-17 victory over Vanderbilt on Sep. 15 at home.
After opening the year as the No. 12 team in the country, Notre Dame — and its starting quarterback — began the season with high expectations. Questions were raised after senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush, despite leading the Irish to nine of their 10 wins in 2017, struggled toward the end of the season as the team’s playoff hopes collapsed. Junior quarterback Ian Book’s late-game heroics in the 2018 Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day added fuel to the f lame of the quarterback debate. However, Wimbush earned the starting spot in spring practices and seemingly affirmed that decision in the season opener. College GameDay came to South Bend for the first time since 2012 for a marquee home matchup against rival Michigan. The hype was amplified by the fact that the teams had not played since Notre Dame (12-1) defeated the Wolverines (10-3, 8-1 Big Ten) 31-0 in 2014. It was also a green-out game for the fans, the river lights were turned green, and South Bend mayor
Pete Buttigieg temporarily renamed Michigan Street to “Fighting Irish Drive.” Senior slot receiver Chris Finke said that the atmosphere around the matchup permeated the team as well. “The Michigan game was obviously a huge one; we’ve got the entire offseason building up to it,” Finke said. “We had Michigan on our minds for a really long time, and it was a home game to start the season against a really good team, and we had College GameDay there, so everyone was pretty jacked up to play. And I think it set a good tone for us to continue to the next week and … keep going.” Wimbush went 12-22 passing for 170 yards, with one interception and one touchdown, a 43-yard bomb to Finke in the first quarter, as the Irish defeated the Wolverines 24-17. Despite a strong seasonopening win, concerns were yet again raised as the offense went stagnant in the second half, managing only three points. Those concerns were intensified as the offense still left much to be desired in the following games. Notre Dame, jumping in the
rankings to No. 8 following the win over Michigan, scored only 24 points against Ball State as Wimbush went 17-31 for a career-high 297 passing yards but also threw three interceptions. Junior safety Jalen Elliott had two key interceptions to help the Irish escape with a 24-16 victory over the Cardinals (4-8, 3-5 MAC), and the defense saved the team once more against Vanderbilt the following week. After Wimbush’s early struggles, Ian Book took over the reins at quarterback and immediately invigorated the offense against Wake Forest, leading the Irish to a 5627 drubbing of the Demon Deacons. Perhaps just as important though, according to Finke, was Wimbush’s gracious relinquishing of the quarterback spot, which allowed the offense to rally around Book. “Obviously it was a little weird ’cause, you know, you’ve got a guy who was starting all last season and then won three games in a row, and they decided to take him out,” Finke said. “But … Brandon see FOOTBALL PAGE 33
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The observer | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
ND Volleyball
Irish wrap up transition year, miss playoffs By HAYDEN ADAMS Sports Writer
Fresh off a 2017 season in which they won 22 games and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012, the Irish found themselves in a period of transition this season, losing six seniors and adding a new head coach. However, what hurt Notre Dame (16-12, 10-8 ACC) more than anything else, according to head coach Mike Johnson, was the number of injuries sustained as the season progressed. “If there’s anything that of course couldn’t be foreseen, it was the number of injuries to key positions and key players down the stretch,” Johnson said. “Those were tougher, but I was proud of the way we kept battling and kept competing.” This season marked Johnson’s first as head coach, taking the mantle from former Irish head coach Jim McLaughlin, who left the team due to health reasons. The Irish went on to win six of their first eight games, and their first eight wins of the season all came as 3-0 sweeps. However, the accumulation of injuries took its toll. They were still competitive all year and were swept only twice, once against No. 12 Michigan and once against eventual ACCchampion No. 14 Pittsburgh. Johnson praised his team on their resilience throughout the year. “In those final weeks where we were pretty banged up, [but] we competed hard, we fought hard, we maintained our belief in ourselves and we went for it,” Johnson said. “As a program if we can continue to play with that mindset and continue to do that as we progress and get better, I believe the future for
W Lacrosse Continued from page 52
winning by convincing fashion. The team continued to have success, but dropped more games as the year progressed and the competition got tougher while running the gauntlet of ACC play. All but two of the eight ACC teams ended the year ranked in the top 20 in the final poll of the year. Notre Dame posted a 5-2 record in ACC play, which put the team in a threeway tie for second place with North Carolina and Syracuse. Notre Dame had an early exit from the ACC Tournament, losing to Duke in the quarterfinals by a single goal. The team had defeated Duke 15-7 two games earlier during regular season play. Despite the difficult ACC Tournament, the team still qualified for the NCAA Tournament due to its strong
this program is very bright.” In spite of all the injuries the Irish accrued, Johnson saw a silver lining to the difficulties. “The injuries definitely were [turning points], but in an interesting way I think they could also be a turning point for this program in the long term in a very positive way,” Johnson said. “Down the stretch, we were playing a number of people in different positions. … Then also we relied even more heavily on our young kids to perform well.” Freshman outside hitter Charley Niego led the Irish with 384.5 points, and right side hitter Sydney Bent, also a freshman, was second with 329.5 points. Freshman setter Zoe Nunez also had a strong debut for the Irish, finishing fourth in the ACC in assists and assists per set. Johnson says he expects great things from Nunez in her career. “I thought Zoe did a wonderful job. I already think she’s one of the best setters in the ACC, and my goal for her is to be the best setter in the country,” he said. ”A setter really has a leadership capacity to it and she embraced that role, and she did a great job for her freshman year.” Despite the setbacks the team faced, the Irish still finished sixth in the ACC and led the conference in both opponent hitting percentage and digs for the second-consecutive season. They were also third in blocks per set and fourth in total blocks, even more impressive considering that the team finished only 13th in sets played. The stellar Irish defense was stabilized by senior libero Ryann DeJarld, who, came off a 2017 season in which she set
year. Notre Dame was placed in the Midwest bracket and played in Evanston, Illinois, at regional host Northwestern University. Notre Dame defeated Stanford in the opening round of the tournament, before dropping in the second round to the Wildcats. It was the second loss for the Irish on the year to Northwestern, which was the only team to beat Notre Dame at home — whether it be at Loftus Sports Center or Arlotta Stadium — this season. While the squad struggled in postseason play, this season was one of the most successful for the women’s lacrosse team in recent memory. Part of this success is due to the seniors on the squad — Giacolone, Proctor, Lynch, attacker Nikki Ortega, midfielder Makenna Pearsall, midfielder Jenn Casadonte and midfielder Sydney Flynn — due to both their role on the field and creating team culture.
CONNERY McFADDEN | The Observer
Irish freshman setter Zoe Nunez sets the ball during Notre Dame’s 3-1 victory over Wake Forest on Oct. 5 at Purcell Pavilion. Nunez led the team with 1,113 assists on the year and made the All-ACC Second Team.
the program record for digs in a season and was the first Irish player to be named to the All-ACC first team. In 2018, she became Notre Dame’s all-time leader in digs with 2,340 in her career. For her efforts, DeJarld was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year, the only Irish player to ever win the award. Senior middle blocker Meg Morningstar also had an impact on the defense, finishing fourth in the ACC in both total blocks and blocks per set. Morningstar’s 1.42 block per set mark was good for 16th nationally. Johnson lauded his
seniors for the consistency they brought to the team. “One of the identities of this program has been that our strength has been in our defense,” Johnson said. “Ryann was a very strong defensive player; so was Meg and so was [senior middle blocker] Rebecca [Nunge], and [senior libero] Kelly [Byrne, who] had a good serve that could pressure people and help us defensively as well. So in that regard, each of those guys really held down the defense.” While the seniors depart this year without making the NCAA
tournament, Johnson said that their legacy is still remarkable for how they’ve helped bring the program forward. “It’s important to remember that this senior class came into a program that was in need of changing,” Johnson said. “And we are certainly a better program than we were four years ago. This team is different than we were four years ago. The challenge going forward is to build upon what those guys did and to take this [further].” Contact Hayden Adams at hdams3@nd.edu
Observer File Photo
Irish sophomore midfielder Andie Aldave changes direction during Notre Dame’s 16-4 victory over Louisville on March 2 at Loftus Sports Center. Aldave was named to the All-ACC First Team this season.
Sports
W BBall Continued from page 27
breakers, with three broken records among them. Most notably, Ogunbowale became Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer, finishing her collegiate career with 2,626 points between her four years. Another elite scorer, Mabrey became the leader in 3-pointers made, netting 274 in her career. On the other end of the f loor, Turner became the new leader in program blocks with 372 and total rebounds with 1,048, earning ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors for the third time in her career along the way. The other two starters, Young and Shepard, joined Ogunbowale to secure AP All-American honors. Going into the season looking for a repeat and entering the NCA A tournament with a No. 1 seed, the Irish had a target on their backs the entire season — something McGraw recognized. “I thought coming into this year, it was the first time we were ever preseason No. 1, and that was a big difference for us,” she said. “I think the team handled it well — I think the workload, the intensity, I think everything was really good. We never had to worry about them ever taking the day off — they really knew what their goals were and they were really focused all year long.” Despite their elite efforts, the Irish faltered a few times, suffering three losses throughout the regular season to UConn 89-71 on Dec. 2, to North Carolina 78-73 on Jan. 27 and to Miami 72-65 on Feb. 7. “I thought the expectations got heavy on our shoulders at times — the Connecticut game to start with, when our expectation level wasn’t met,” McGraw said. “What we thought was going to happen didn’t happen, and we got frustrated. We learned a lot from that, we went on. Then we lost to North Carolina, kind of another bump in the road. Then losing at Miami, I just started thinking, ‘We’ve got to relax and have fun again.’ I think we were just so tense all the time, knowing that we’re supposed to win, we’ve got to win. And I think then maybe the pressure of being No. 1 was off us, because it was like, we’re not going to be the number one seed now, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot too many times.” Regardless of a few missteps, Notre Dame had a regular season filled with thrilling moments, beating their opponents by an average of 23.6 points and recording a field goal percentage of .508, good for fourth and second nationally, respectively. With such success during the year, McGraw noted her squad
ndsmcobserver.com | FRIDAY, May 17, 2019 | The Observer
was ready for the postseason, but their forward-thinking did sometimes prove to be a problem. “We couldn’t wait until the NCA A tournament. We wanted to just get past all these regular season games — ‘Let’s just move on, let’s get to the good stuff,‘ and that I think was probably our biggest problem,” McGraw said. Making up lost ground after their losses was extremely important, but McGraw noted it was not something any one player could do by themselves. “I think it was a team effort,” McGraw said. “I mean, all five of them really knew. They depended on each other — it wasn’t just one person. Anybody was capable of doing great things, and I think they all realized what we needed to do.” Although their starting five were a cohesive unit, the bench also played a key role in Notre Dame’s success this year, with players like freshman forward Abby Prohaska and sophomore forward Mikayla Vaughn playing an important part in the team’s tournament run. “I thought Mikayla Vaughan had a great game first round,” McGraw said. “The first game she had [was] just shy of a double-double, and so I think that was great for her confidence to see what she could do coming into the season next year, kind of stepping into a bigger role this year. And then Abby Prohaska, I thought she gave us good minutes all year long, she gave us that energy off the bench, just hustle plays normally, but then she had a huge basket in the Stanford game that I thought made everybody relax. … It was such a great play and her face was lit up with joy, and I think that just took the pressure off them, and from there, we really, really played well after that.” In the NCA A tournament, the Irish won five games to reach the final, playing in three different locations. First, in Purcell Pavilion, Notre Dame took down Bethune-Cookman and Michigan State, winning 9250 and 91-63, respectively. The squad did not have to travel far for the subsequent Chicago regional, where they bested Texas A&M 87-80 and Stanford 84-68. The Irish then made their ninth Final Four appearance — the fifth most across all teams at the Division I women’s level. In Tampa, history repeated itself as Notre Dame beat UConn in the semifinal for the second year in a row, posting a comefrom-behind victory of 81-76, a win which was sealed by a block from Turner. “Bri’s block was key,” McGraw said. “I felt like that was the turning point and there was very little time left — I think there was maybe just around a minute left. So,
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ANNA MAson | The Observer
Former Irish guard Jackie Young takes the ball upcourt during Notre Dame’s 81-82 loss to Baylor on April 7 in Tampa, Florida. Young was picked first overall in the WNBA draft by the Las Vegas Aces.
when she had the block and we got the ball back with the lead, I thought that was probably going to be the game.” After besting the Huskies, the Irish advanced to their second national final in as many years to face the Baylor Bears, led by center Kalani Brown. On the big stage, Notre Dame was unable to complete their second-half comeback, ultimately falling 82-81. “It was a great season, to come to the national championship game when everyone
expected you to be there. Sometimes I think it’s harder to achieve what people expect rather than being the underdog and do what we did the year before,” McGraw said. “So, I thought it was a great accomplishment for this team to get back, to be in the game — a game we felt like we could have won, certainly could have done a couple things differently along the way. It wasn’t that last shot that we lost the game, it was what happened for 40 minutes.
“The last two years have been exceptional for this group and I’m just so proud of them. What they accomplished statistically, no one will ever do that again. They were just an amazing group. Five of them taken in the draft, I mean, they set so many records that I don’t think will ever be broken.” Contact Charlotte Edmonds at cedmond3@nd.edu and Ellen Geyer at egeyer1@nd.edu
ANNA MAson | The Observer
Former Irish forward Jessica Shepard goes up strong with the ball after coming down with a rebound in Notre Dame’s national championship defeat to Baylor, 81-82 on April 7 in Tampa, Florida.
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Hockey | 23-14-3, 11-11-2 big ten
ND makes solid run during NCAA Regionals By COLIN CAPECE Sports Writer
After back to back Frozen Four appearances in 2017 and 2018 — including a run to the national championship game last season — Notre Dame certainly appeared to be a contender in the Big Ten once again entering this season. However, after losing eight players from last year’s team, this year’s team would look much different from those of previous years. With nine incoming freshman, head coach Jeff Jackson began the season with one of his youngest squads in recent memory. With such a young group, Jackson made sure to give his team some important advice ahead of the season. “Every team is different, and the guys that have been through this before have learned some valuable lessons, but with this year’s team being a lot younger, we wanted to focus on keeping them in the moment,” Jackson said in an interview. Playing one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, the Irish (23-14-3, 11-11-2 Big Ten) certainly learned how to focus on one game at a time this season. After dropping their first two home games of the season, a No. 1 against No. 2 matchup with last year’s national champion Minnesota Duluth, Notre Dame responded by winning nine of their next 12 games,
including victories over Big Ten foes Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State. Despite success in the regular season, the team was at its best in the postseason. After the Irish defeated Michigan State in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament, freshman forward Michael Graham’s overtime winner gave the Irish a 2-1 victory against Minnesota in the semifinals. Junior forward Cam Morrison scored the eventual winner one week later against Penn State to help the Irish clinch their second straight Big Ten title in front of a sellout crowd at Compton Family Ice Arena. In the NCAA tournament, Morrison again netted the winning goal to lift the Irish to a 3-2 overtime victory against Clarkson. Notre Dame’s tournament run ultimately came to an end in the Northeast Regional Final with a 4-0 defeat against UMass. Jackson mentioned the development of his young players over the course of the season proved critical for Notre Dame’s playoff success. “As the season went on, I thought that the young guys collectively started to buy into their specific roles and did a really good job in those roles,” Jackson said. “Each freshman did a great job of contributing in his own way, and that’s probably the most important lesson they could have learned, especially as we approached
the end of the season.” Jackson also said his experienced upperclassmen helped the Irish stay calm and collected in a number of big moments down the stretch. “I think that’s definitely where your experience shows up, and for a lot of our veteran players that have been through playoff runs the past two years, those experiences have really helped them mature and allowed them to be patient and focused in those crunch time moments,” he said. “Whether we were in a tight game, down a goal or whatever the scenario, those guys didn’t panic, which certainly had a positive effect on the rest of the team.” One of the themes of the 2018-2019 season for the Irish was battling through the adversity a long season often brings. In addition to some of the ups and downs provided by a difficult conference and non-conference schedule, the Irish endured a number of injuries this season. The team lost senior Joe Wegwerth for the season to a knee injury in early January and played extended periods of time without Morrison and Cal Burke. However, Jackson said his squad did an outstanding job of finding other players to step up and contribute despite the injuries to key players. “New guys got new opportunities and took advantage of them, which was really a positive for our team,” Jackson said.
“It really allowed other guys to take a bigger role, which when more guys got healthy at the end of the year, gave us more depth and allowed us to go into the postseason playing some great hockey.” In addition to providing strong leadership in critical moments, Notre Dame’s juniors and seniors have proved to be highly influential over the entirety of their college careers. This year’s senior class was the first to reach the NCAA tournament in all four of their years with the Irish, and Jackson spoke about what they have meant to Notre Dame hockey. “Success always boils down to your leadership group, and our upperclassman have really had a positive impact on our culture,” Jackson said. “Our culture has certainly been strong over this four year period, and each time it has been because our leadership has carried over from one year to the next. Each time those guys have done a great job of making sure we live up to the standards we have created for ourselves as a program and have made success a priority here.” Bobby Nardella and Andrew Peeke are two of the leaders from this year’s team who will be moving on to play professional hockey next year. Nardella had a standout season serving as a primary offensive facilitator for the Irish, leading the team in points with eight goals and 26 assists.
The First-Team Big Ten selection and Second-Team All-American is the first defenseman in Notre Dame history to lead the team in scoring. After a four-year college career, Nardella signed a two-year contract with the Washington Capitals this past April. “Bobby was certainly crucial offensively for us, but also committed to playing defense for us when he needed to,” Jackson said. “I am certainly proud of the way he played this season.” Peeke, who served as the team’s captain this season, also made an offensive impact for the Irish, scoring 24 points with 21 assists. He will forgo his senior season next year after signing a contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. “Andrew did a great job leading our team as our captain, but also just in the way he played the game,” Jackson said. “He played some of the best hockey of his career in that stretch run, which is a real positive sign as he moves on to the NHL.” Jackson also achieved a personal milestone this season, capturing his 500th career victory on the same night his team clinched the Big Ten championship. Jackson now ranks second in wins among active coaches, and is just the 13th coach to win 500 games at the Division I level. However, for Jackson, the game meant more than any personal accolade see HOCKEY PAGE 45
FENCING
Irish fall short of three-peat, take bronze By CHARLOTTE EDMONDS Managing Editor
Having a top-ranked target on its back for the majority of the season, Notre Dame looked to continue its reign of dominance under head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia by three-peating at the national championship. While the team backed up its title for much of the regular season, a slow start and missed opportunities down the stretch ultimately deprived them from hoisting the gold. While Kvaratskhelia was certainly disappointed by the team’s third-place finish, he was proud of his team’s perseverance and stability, which he credited with building the prestige of the program. “Regardless if you win the national championships or you [don’t] win the national championships,” he said, “that means you have enough reserves and have built up enough strength that you are in that position to be one of the top teams. And now arguably we are one of the most stable teams in the
last few years on the national scene.” The Irish started the season looking every bit the national title contender they claimed to be, going undefeated through three invitationals. The men’s and women’s team only ceded one and two points, respectively, in the remaining two invitationals through January. The competition heated up in February. At the Northwestern Duals, the women swept the field but the men suffered their first significant hit, losing 3-4. On Feb. 23, the Irish traveled to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, for the ACC Championship. Both teams avenged their second-place finish last season to claim the conference title. “We kept the momentum going from the last year going to the early stage of the season, and the transitions for the freshmen were pretty seamless,” Kvaratskhelia said. “What we struggled with, and it’s not making excuses, but we [were] plagued by the injuries throughout the year with our starting lineup kids. … We
applied the same tactics, our same kind of strategic preparation for the teams of the previous couple of years, and this team was different. Something moving forward, we’ll learn that we should have, as the coaches and head coach, detected those tangibles and [we’ll] make the kind of necessary changes, even with the injuries, to be able to compete and win the national championships. There’s a lot to learn from the last year.” At the NCAA Championships in Cleveland on March 21, the Irish struggled out of the gate, finding themselves in fourth place at the end of the first day. However, day two brought some positive takeaways as sophomore Nick Itkin and senior Axel Kiefer claimed first and second in foil, respectively. This was the second-straight title for Itkin who, along with several other teammates, intends on taking next year off to train for the Olympic trials. Kvaratskhelia said although the absence of stars like Itkin certainly hurts the program’s chances of competing for a
national title, he’s focusing on the roster available to him. “Maybe we’ll have the most athletes take the time for Olympic trials coming up next year,“ he said. “Again, for the athletes that are returning, it will be an opportunity to show their skills and their abilities. And for the coaches, we will have to be really resourceful and crafty and make sure we qualify and we put ourselves in a position that we’ll still have a chance to fight for the nationals next year.” While the women tried to close the gap on the third day of competition behind solid performances from their freshmen and senior epeeist Amanda Sirico, they remained in third place — trailing Columbia and Penn State — heading into the final day of competition. The Irish ended the championships in third place, with Sirico and freshman foilist Amita Berthier claiming second and third place in their respective weapons. Meanwhile, senior Sabrina Massialas claimed fifth in foil to round out the top-five for
Notre Dame. Kvaratskhelia spoke highly of the senior’s contributions, crediting them with playing a major part in the recent dominance the program experienced. “We averaged I don’t know how many first-team AllAmericans,” he said. “We had four-time [All-Americans]; Axel Kiefer [was] all four years an AllAmerican; Sabrina Massialas, all four years, All-American; Tara Hassett, four-year starter. So this was a solid group who will be absolutely missed because without them there’s no way we have two NCAA championships and a top-four finish. Those guys were the backbone of our success for sure.” Kvaratskhelia also said this offseason has provided necessary time for critical reflection among his athletes and coaching staff. “Tighten up all the things, we’ll make sure we are heading into the season a lot better prepared,” he said. Contact Charlotte Edmonds at cedmond3@nd.edu