The Heights, Feb. 27, 2023

February 27, 2023

BC Omits Legacy Data From Common Data Set

By eliza Hernandez Projects Editor

Like many of its peer institutions, Boston College considers “legacy status” in first-year admissions, according to Grant Gosselin, director of undergraduate admission.

But, BC is the only comparatively ranked college in the

Greater Boston area to omit its consideration of alumni relations—whether students have parents who attended the college—in its 2021–2022 Common Data Set.

“The use of legacy admissions, when practiced [responsibly] and as a part of a larger recruitment strategy, contributes to Boston College’s success in enrolling a student body from a wide range

of backgrounds and talents,” Gosselin said in an email to The Heights

The Common Data Set (CDS) is a collaborative document that compiles standardized data from participating higher education institutions concerning their demographics, student life, expenses, and admissions. According to the CDS website, every institution can

choose what to include in its CDS.

“Each of the higher education surveys conducted by the participating publishers incorporates items from the CDS as well as unique items proprietary to each publisher,” the website reads.

“Consequently the publishers’ surveys differ in that they utilize varying numbers of items from the CDS.”

While Harvard University, Tufts University, Wellesley College, Brandeis University, and the Berklee School of Music all revealed in the CDS that they consider alumni relations, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northeastern University reported they do not.

See Legacy, A2

Eagles Advance to Hockey East Semis

By isaBella Calise Heights Staff

By Olivia JOung News Editor natalie arndt Assoc. News Editor

The Boston College Police Department (BCPD) is currently investigating reports of fraudulent credit card activity following purchases of online tickets for campus events, according to an email University administrators sent to the BC community on Friday.

“The reports concern transactions involving online tickets purchased through AudienceView’s website in January and February of 2023, and do not pertain to tickets purchased in person at the Robsham Theater Box Office, or for tickets sold by BC Athletics,” the email reads.

The tickets were purchased through the University ticketing website, which is hosted by the third-party vendor AudienceView, according to the email. AudienceView said the fraudulent activity resulted from a security issue that occurred within the company.

“In a notice to Boston College, AudienceView confirmed that a security incident involving consumers’ credit card information had occurred at their organization, which affected individuals at several colleges and universities that use their service,” the email reads.

By Juliana Parisi Heights Staff

Nicknamed “the odds father” and the “priest of sin,” Rev. Richard McGowan, S.J., is Boston College’s resident gambling expert.

But this does not mean he spends his weekends betting and wagering.

Instead, he spends them doing quite the opposite.

McGowan studies how gambling, as well as other “sin industries” such as tobacco and alcohol, impact the economy and whether or not the growth of these industries poses harmful societal implications.

Over the course of his career, he has published several books

exploring this topic, including The Gambling Debate and Government and the Transformation of the Gaming Industry.

“It’s not these theoretical arguments about tobacco and gambling that Father McGowan examines—it is how they impact everyday people,” said Jennifer Griffin, a professor at the University of Loyola Chicago and former colleague of McGowan. “He understands the importance of regulation, not just reliance on voluntary behaviors from organizations.”

In recent years, McGowan’s studies have focused on online sports gambling.

McGowan said the internet makes gambling easily accessible

Boston College women’s hockey has lost to Connecticut in all three of its meetings this season. And on Saturday, the No. 15 Eagles faced off against UConn in the Hockey East Tournament Quarterfinals for the fourth time in the past five seasons, with a trip to the 2023 semifinals on the line.

“Every game is a new game against them, and we’ve beat them

[for] years,” goaltender Abigail Levy, who recorded 33 saves, said. “I think it was just our time. I think we took our beating this year, so we gave it right back to them.”

The Eagles (20–14–1, 16–11–0 Hockey East) snapped their three-game losing streak against the Huskies on Saturday behind Katie Pyne’s two-goal performance.

See Hockey, A12

Students Report Fraud Meet BC’s Resident Gambling Expert

gambling

and increasingly addictive, which poses a large risk for younger fans of high school and college sports throughout the United States.

“There’s numerous articles about what happens with addiction, especially addiction among young males,” McGowan said. “So that issue I’m very concerned about and whether public policymakers are going to take that into consideration when they legalize sports gambling.”

But McGowan is not a gambling prohibitionist.

He believes humans have an innate desire for risk—the adrenaline from pulling the lever on a slot machine makes a gambler’s heart pound.

“Lots of people can enjoy

gambling with no problems,” McGowan said. “Lots of people can drink with no problem. Public policymakers have to be concerned about how they’re going to deal with the addiction problem with any product that can cause addiction.”

So to reduce the chances of people forming gambling addictions, McGowan said those promoting gambling should advertise the risk of addiction more openly. McGowan added that the state should also inform the public of gambling’s risks, especially around occasions when sports gambling spikes, like the Super Bowl.

University to Debut Lifelong Learning Program in Jan. 2024

By natalie arndt Assoc. News Editor

The University will introduce Boston College Companions—a yearlong immersive program for adults looking to continue their education, deepen their spirituality, and reflect on their future—in January 2024, according to a BC News release.

“BC has been working on

Opinions

creating a program for several years and we’re excited to enter the lifelong learning space in a way that aligns with our mission and commitment to formative education,” Margaret Laurence, director of initiatives for formative education at BC, said in an email to The Heights.

The program will seek to provide a well-rounded educational experience on campus for 15 to

20 participants, also referred to as fellows.

“Fellows will take courses with students across the eight schools and colleges to create their own learning opportunities,” Laurence said. “There will also be a cohort-specific curriculum. The Fellows will go on a Pilgrimage to learn about BC’s Jesuit heritage.”

Rev. Richard McGowan, S.J., studies the economic implications of

and other “sin industries,” including alcohol and tobacco.

This Week’s Top 3 Events

A Look Into Legacy Status in Admissions at BC

According to Gosselin, BC did not report whether or not it considers “alumni/ae relation” due to the inherent ambiguity of the term.

“Neither responding to the prompt ‘alumni/ae relations’ as ‘considered’ or ‘not considered’ would have been an accurate response to that broad category,” Gosselin said.

Peter Arcidiacono, a professor at Duke University and testifying expert in the upcoming Supreme Court affirmative action case, said he better understood the impact of legacy admissions after conducting research that examined admission preferences for legacy and athlete students at Harvard University.

“I think there are definite benefits to legacy admissions in the context of loyalty to the university and things of that nature,” Arcidiacono said. “For myself, the distrust it creates in the system, you know, outweighs that.”

Arcidiacono said universities that consider legacy status want to keep their admissions processes as secretive as possible to avoid public scrutiny.

“Because if you have the legacy admissions in part to get more donations and such, you know, the fact that those donations are tax deductible seems a little odd,” Arcidiacono said. “I think if the public was really aware of what was happening with legacy admissions, there’d be a lot more scrutiny.”

Gosselin said colleges with highly selective admission processes, like BC, can consider legacy status without diminishing the academic quality of the students they select. Gosselin also clarified that the consideration of “alumni/ae relations” does not extend to applicants who are siblings, cousins, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews of BC alumni.

“Most colleges and universities strive to keep alumni/ae connected and engaged with the institution for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that these accomplished and successful individuals might inspire talented young people to

explore the colleges they attended,” Gosselin said.

But the issue of legacy admissions becomes more complicated with religiously affiliated universities like BC, according to Arcidiacono. He said that both legacy and religious preferences disproportionately favor “rich and white” applicants.

“I don’t have a problem with a Catholic school giving preferences for Catholics because they’re trying to create a particular culture, you know, where religion is seen in a positive light,” Arcidiacono said. “I don’t see that same sort of argument with regard to other sorts of legacy admissions, particularly one that, say, strongly correlates with class.”

Madeline Chang and Jesse Julian, both MCAS ’26, said they did not know BC considered legacy status when they applied to the University. Although they both said they did not feel personally impacted by this admission factor, Chang and Julian said they believe legacy preferences may create unfairness in undergraduate admission.

“If you have students who are getting in that aren’t qualified to attend the school and are just getting in because of their legacy, I think that’s entirely unfair to other students who are more qualified, and just didn’t have a parent who had the privilege of going to college,” Chang said.

Following the ‘Varsity Blues’ college admissions scandal—where dozens of wealthy families used bribes and false achievements to get their children admitted into elite colleges—a 2020 Wall Street Journal report found that between 2004 and 2020, the percentage of the nation’s top 250 institutions that considered legacy as an admission factor dropped by seven percent.

Julian said this shift away from legacy consideration helps promote applicants’ merits, rather than allowing them to rely on family connections.

“It also helps immigrant families and new families get into the system, so [college] is not just limited to the upper-class families that have

already been going for generations,” Julian said.

Nnenna Okorie, MCAS ’26, also said eliminating the consideration of legacy status allows universities to focus more on the individual applicant.

“I feel like if your parents went to the school you’re applying to and if the school doesn’t consider that as a factor in admissions, that’s just showing how much the school sees you as a person and not as a child of your parents, if that makes sense,” Okorie said.

Especially with the possible overruling of affirmative action, Arcidiacono said he hopes more universities consider eliminating an applicant’s legacy status as a factor in the admissions process.

“If affirmative action falls, I think legacy preferences have to fall,” he said. “It would not be sustainable to not allow for racial preferences, but then give big bumps for the children of alumni.”

Gosselin said that while BC considers if a student has an alum parent, the University still equally prioritizes attracting students from all ends of the socioeconomic

spectrum. The University’s recent partnership with Questbridge—a non-profit program that helps high-achieving, low-income students gain admission and scholarships—is one example of this larger strategy, Gosselin said.

“Our recent partnership with QuestBridge is one example of this larger strategy,” Gosselin said. “Through our QuestBridge partnership, we identify high-achieving students who thrive at Boston College, but would be unable to afford to attend without significant financial aid.”

The enrollment of each entering class is a highly complex process that requires a multifaceted recruitment strategy—and colleges do not focus on just one population of students, according to Gosselin.

“The composition of Boston College’s undergraduate population today (35% AHANA, 10% international, 13% Pell Grant recipients, 11% first generation, 48 states and 66 foreign countries) provides evidence that diversity is not diminished by the enrollment of legacy students,” Gosselin said.

Julian said she appreciates BC’s

efforts to bridge possible connections to first-generation applicants and acknowledges the difficulty of balancing the University’s acceptance of first-generation and legacy applicants.

“If we’re finding that more people who come from BC legacies are applying than there are first gen, then it’s hard to find that balance because I don’t want to cut off people just because they have a legacy at that point,” Julian said.

Thinking ahead toward the future of admissions—especially with the Fair College Admissions for Students Act and other bills that oppose the consideration of legacy status—Arcidiacono said he is optimistic that unfair admissions can be constrained.

But, even if restrictions are placed on legacy preferences, Arcidiacono said universities need to be more transparent about their data.

“The more secretive it is, the more you can favor the groups that you want to favor, you know,” Arcidiacono said. “Yeah, I think I think in my view, a much better system is to have everything be much more [transparent].” n

Students Report Fraudulent Credit Card Activity

Credit Cards, from A1 Britton Smith—whose credit card information was stolen after buying an online ticket—woke up the morning of Feb. 14 with two texts from his billing provider, alerting him to a charge at Walmart as well as a series of other purchases he did not make.

“One was like a $400 purchase at Viasat … that got declined and then a $2000 purchase at Lowe’s, which was declined,”

Smith, CSOM ’24, said. “And then I received an email as well on my BC email, saying that I’d been signed up for like a Milo’s membership or something like that.”

Looking back at his prior purchases, Smith said the only one that stuck out as a potential cause of the suspicious card activity was a recent charge from the Robsham Box Office for a ticket to the ALC Ball on Feb. 1.

“But that didn’t really click until my mom saw on the BC

parents Facebook that a bunch of other BC students have apparently gotten their credit card info stolen,” Smith said. “So, I looked through Herrd, and, yeah, I saw a bunch of other people who had the same experience.”

Emily Hyder, MCAS ’23; Maddy Mitchell, CSOM ’23; and Kayla Vidal, MCAS ’23, were all notified of fraudulent charges to their credit cards after purchasing tickets to the 100 Days Dance from Robsham Box Office.

“The Wednesday after [the dance], I got a notification from my credit card that said that someone was trying to spend $375 at Walmart. com,” Hyder said. “So I called, and I canceled the card, and then I went on to my statement online, and it said that someone had just spent $50 on Amazon and also bought an Amazon Prime membership.”

Mitchell first noticed a fraudulent charge on Feb. 16 for an $180 purchase in a Walmart in Bentonville, Ark.

“Obviously, I was not in Arkansas,” Mitchell said. “So I texted my mom and basically just ended up … reporting the charge as fraud and canceling my debit card because it said it came through my debit card … and issued myself a new one.”

By Tuesday, Mitchell said she began hearing about students who had similar experiences.

“A lot of other people were also saying charges from Walmart in Arkansas and obviously like various other ones as well … so I realized that it was connected to a bigger thing and not just a personal thing that I had dealt with,” Mitchell said.

Vidal received texts from her bank account notifying her of the fraudulent charges on the night of Feb. 22, two weeks after she bought a ticket for the 100 Days Dance.

“I got a text overnight that

was like please verify these claims,” Vidal said. “A couple of them were the ones … that I have made but the last couple were the ones from Walmart. And I think it was $152 that they charged on my card on my account to Walmart.”

Vidal said she realized the charges were related to her purchase through Robsham after hearing how other students were affected.

“I didn’t really use my card much,” Vidal said. “So like the common denominator in terms of what people have been thinking, for me, would just be the dance. I didn’t charge it anywhere else.”

According to the email, AudienceView is currently in the process of identifying a list of those potentially impacted by the security issue and will communicate directly with them either through letter or email. For the time being, online ticket sales through AudienceView will be suspended until the issue is resolved.

“We regret that some members of the BC community who purchased online tickets for campus events through this vendor’s platform have been affected by this security issue,” the email reads. “We encourage you to look out for correspondence from AudienceView in the coming days, and follow the company’s recommendations to protect yourself from fraudulent activity.”

MADDY ROMANCE / HEIGHTS ARCHIVES

BC considers alumni/ae relations in admissions, according to Gosselin, despite lack of confirmation from its CDS.

Legacy, from A1

Companions, from A1

According to the release, BC will be joining other top universities by launching this new adult learning program.

“Boston College Companions builds on established adult learning programs at other leading colleges and universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and Notre Dame, by offering distinctive components of Jesuit spirituality and pedagogy that will help participants grow in discernment and sense of purpose,” the release reads.

panions website.

“The pillars of the program are the easiest way to sum up the benefits: renew purpose, explore discernment, [and] deepen spirituality,” Laurence said. “To expand on the pillars … Fellows will have time to reflect on their experiences and discern a sense of calling for the next chapter of their lives.”

In addition to academic classes, guest lectures, and weekly discussions, fellows will also be able to participate in retreats, service learning, guided conversations, and spiritual direction, including a trip to Spain and Italy to learn more about Jesuit tradition, according to the release.

“The Fellows will be together for the cohort-specific curriculum, which includes the immersive experiences in Boston, as well as the retreats and pilgrimage,” Laurence said. “Dinners and social gatherings are part of these programs – and no doubt Fellows will plan additional things as a group. Fellows will be part of the larger community and are welcome to participate in lectures, art exhibits, and all that BC offers.”

The three pillars of the program will be purpose, discernment, and spirituality, according to the BC Com-

Laurence said BC’s goal when designing the program was to make sure it fit with the Jesuit tradition at

BC.

“The team that created this program has always focused on ensuring the program fits in with BC’s mission and our Jesuit heritage,” Laurence said. “BC helps students (faculty and staff too) to integrate mind, heart, body, and soul so as to live life fully.”

BEN SCHULTZ / FOR THE HEIGHTS

of lifelong education for

Incorporating intergenerational learning into BC’s campus will provide undergraduate and graduate students with the chance to connect with fellows and learn about their professional experiences, according to Laurence.

“Intergenerational learning will enrich our campus – both in and out

of the classroom,” Laurence said. “We expect the Fellows will be able to draw on their previous experiences and extensive networks to engage with members of the campus community, and in turn they will benefit from time spent with faculty, staff, students, and alumni.” n

Panel Reflects on Impacts of Russia-Ukraine War

By adiTya rao Heights Staff

Gerald Easter, chair of Boston College’s political science department, said that after thousands of deaths in Ukraine, a question arises surrounding how the country will rebuild itself.

“Here we are, a year later, where the numbers in terms of casualties and fatalities are in the hundreds and thousands,” Easter said. “And one wonders how difficult it will be for a coherent,

substantive Ukraine nation to exist again on these lands.”

Professors from the political science, history, and the Eastern, Slavic, and German studies departments gathered on Thursday night, exactly one year after Russia first invaded Ukraine, to reflect on the impacts of the war.

Easter said the Russia-Ukraine war was caused by multiple factors, including a conflict over Ukraine’s identity

“It is a confluence of factors which have brought us to this point,” Easter said. “The first one is internal to Ukraine: this is a war over the identity of the nation.”

Maxim Shrayer, a professor of Russian, English, and Jewish studies and the director of BC’s Eastern European studies minor, spoke about the role that religion plays in the war.

“You have this sentiment where religious leaders in Ukraine are coming behind the war, and speaking about

the war not only as a patriotic war … but also as a religiously justified war,” Shrayer said.

Ukraine is also fighting against lasting Soviet nationalist policies, according to Shrayer.

“This is not a war of Ukraine’s patriotic liberation against Putin’s Russia and the Russian invasion,” Shrayer said. “It is also a war in which spirits of the Soviet’s, and specifically Stalin’s, nationalist policies are continuing to find a final balance.”

Easter said Ukraine’s desire to involve other nations in the war, combined with Russia’s power, could result in a stalemate situation, similar to North and South Korea.

“At this point, maybe Koreanization is the more likely outcome,” Easter said. “On the Russian side, they’re just going to stand there and pound. And Ukraine’s hope is to expand the war into a wider conflict and bring in other nations.”

Devin Pendas, a history professor, explained that Russia’s invasion in Ukraine broke many international laws, as the state used illegal forms of violence.

Interdisciplinary panel discusses the implications of the ongoing war in Ukraine on Thursday night.

By Lucy Freeman Asst. News Editor

Christie Louis, this year’s recipient of the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. scholarship, said she first encountered King’s work in her fifth-grade history class, but she did not begin to understand the meaning of his words until later in life.

“It wasn’t until I found myself deeply troubled and conflicted with the racial climate in the United States during the summer of 2015, that I began my personal journey to understanding the radical words of MLK that have too many times been pacified to fit the white perception of him,” Louis said.

Louis, MCAS ’24, was announced as the winner of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Committee’s 41st annual scholarship on Tuesday night.

The scholarship is awarded to junior students who have demonstrated academic excellence, community service, leadership in extracurricular activities, and involvement in the African American community and issues surrounding African Americans both on and off campus, according to the committee’s website.

As the recipient of the full schol-

arship, Louis will receive up to $19,000 toward her senior year tuition. The other four scholarship finalists—Kaylee

Arzu, Srina Lacet, and Ashley-Rae

Stewart, all MCAS ’24, and Osasenaga Owens, CSOM ’24—will receive a $3,000 scholarship. Additionally, all finalists won a $1,000 gift certificate to the Boston College Bookstore.

When she considers the major challenges the United States continues to face regarding race and social justice, Louis said one issue she hopes to address is maternal health, particularly among Black mothers.

“Although I believe it is my personal mission to give back to the community that has given me so much in all areas of social justice and racial equality, I feel a deep-rooted call to maternal health as it pertains to Black mothers in the United States and Haiti,” Louis said.

Louis said she is a first-generation college student who is originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She spoke about the unequal treatment Black mothers receive during childbirth, particularly in the United States and Haiti.

“In the United States alone, Black mothers are four times more likely to die during childbirth compared to their white counterparts, due to overt

racism and inadequate health care in urban communities,” Louis said.

Today, one in 80 women in Haiti today die from childbirth- or pregnancy-related issues, according to Louis. She shared that her grandmother was forced to give birth at home because the nearest clinic in Haiti was a oneday walk by foot.

“Subsequently, Haiti’s maternal mortality rate remains the highest of any country in the western hemisphere,” Louis said.

Louis said her cousin was denied pain medication in the United States during childbirth because she did not speak English. So, she hopes to create change through volunteer work and her future career.

“I intend to be the one who does everything in my power to change the system,” Louis said. “I’ve dedicated all my service work and my career aspirations towards achieving this vision.” Louis is a volunteer at Rosie’s Place, a women’s shelter in Boston that provides food and shelter to women. Louis also serves as the events coordinator for the Haitian Association, the AHANA+ caucus coordinator, and co-leader of the Black Women Matter Retreat.

She also plans to work at a non-

profit organization this summer to help analyze and put an end to racial bias in the delivery room.

“I’ve accepted a position at TeamBirth, a nonprofit organization spearheaded by public health officials in clinical positions to analyze birth plans at 10 hospitals throughout the state of Massachusetts to ensure the elimination of racial bias during a Black mother’s delivery experience,” Louis said.

In the future, Louis hopes to become an obstetrician so she can support mothers in underserved communities.

“It does seem to be remarkably widespread in occupied territories, which suggests at least some level of tolerance on the part of the military hierarchy, if not making it an actual policy,” Pendas said.

According to Pendas, it is unlikely Russian military officers will be held accountable legally, which could affect peace negotiations.

“International indictments can be harmful to peace negotiations, because they give perpetrators—especially elite-level government officials—incentives to keep fighting, if peace means prison,” Pendas said. “On the other hand, if you use that as a negotiating chip, it has the potential to be useful.”

Even though Russian military officers are not currently on trial for their war crimes, Pendas predicts that justice could come decades in the future.

“There is likely to be large-scale and ongoing projects of international justice that will play out over decades for these mid to low-level perpetrators,” Pendas said. “We see this ongoing with perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide … who end up on trial for crimes back in the ’90s.” n

BC to Launch Lifelong Learning Program in 2024 Christie Louis Wins Annual MLK Jr. Scholarship

“Beyond BC, I hope to become an OB-GYN serving primarily women in underserved communities to ensure that every mother is provided with equitable access to a safe childbirth experience,” Louis said.

During her acceptance speech, Louis thanked her family and the other Martin Luther King, Jr. finalists for their support. She also acknowledged her family in Haiti and said the award was not just for her, but also for them.

“I also stand on the shoulders of people back home,” Louis said. “… So, I hold them with me and I carry them with me.” n

Christie Louis wins the annual MLK Jr. scholarship on Tuesday evening.

ADITYA RAO / HEIGHTS STAFF

The BC Companions program emphasizes the importance

adults.

“The team that created this program has always focused on ensuring the program fits in with BC’s mission and our Jesuit heritage.”

NEWTON

Business Leaders Endorse Split Vote on Override

By COnnOr siemien Newton Editor

The Charles River Regional Chamber recommends that residents vote no on question one and yes on questions two and three during the override vote on March 14, according to Greg Reibman, the chamber’s president.

“We’re asking the mayor—we’re asking the city—to hold the line on

expenses right now,” Reibman said.

“There aren’t just two sides—there’s a middle and we want to make sure everybody understands that.”

Newton residents will vote on three override questions regarding a proposed $15 million tax increase during a special election on March 14. The ballot will include one operating override question, which—if it passes—will permanently increase Newton’s taxes by $9.175 million a

year for general operating and capital expenses. The other two ballot questions deal with debt overrides, which would temporarily raise taxes by $2.3 million and $3.5 million to cover the reconstruction of Countryside Elementary School and Franklin Elementary School, respectively. The chamber released a statement explaining how it came to endorse this position, which said that voting yes on question one—which

would allow a permanent tax increase in the city—is a step too far.

“Ultimately, we’ve concluded that while the city’s need for revenue is genuine, we cannot fully endorse the mayor’s requests because of the financially devastating impact a tax increase could have on many of our businesses and commercial property owners,” the statement reads.

John Rufo, the chair of the chamber’s Board of Directors, said the process of reaching this conclusion was challenging, but the board members reached the correct position.

“I thought the action that we took was really correct,” Rufo said. “There’s a really good reason to support the two school votes, and at the same time it’s so critical that we balance out what our small businesses are doing.”

Rufo said speaking with business owners gave crucial insight on how to approach the ballot questions.

“I think we made it really clear that it’s not an easy decision, or an easy thing by any means to figure out how to do this,” he said. “We listened to our small businesses and, boy, they

are really challenged—especially the restaurant owners—but we also see this incredible connectivity between a good school system and a really vibrant, healthy business community.”

When Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced the override election, Reibman cited broad economic issues affecting the city and the country—like inflation—as deterrents of supporting question one.

“We recognize that the city has been facing some of the same economic challenges that residents have—inflation, wage pressure, utility bills, all these many other factors have made it more difficult to run the city,” Reibman said. “So we weighed that with our, you know, responsibility to our members, responsibility to the business community.”

Rufo said the chamber aimed to have a position that was balanced and took into consideration a variety of factors.

“So, again, I think we really tried to balance it … and come up with an approach that advocates for our businesses, as well as acknowledges the community needs. n

Grandma's Kitchen Cooks Up Taiwanese Cuisine

By Brendan O'Friel Heights Staff

Customers sink into a cozy and homey atmosphere as they eat authentic Taiwanese dishes at Newtonville’s newest restaurant, Grandma’s Kitchen.

“People are surprised when they find out there’s actually a real grandma in the kitchen,” Andy Ma, an employee at Grandma’s Kitchen and nephew of owner Shiu Chin “Grandma” Chang, said.

Chang is originally from Taiwan and moved to the United States in 2000. She has relished the opportunity to give her customers a taste of Taiwanese cuisine, according to Ma.

Ma said business has been steady since the restaurant opened in November, which he credits to its customers and location.

“We’ve had a lot of nice, loyal customers who spread the word for us, telling their friends and family,” Ma said. “With the foot traffic and [Newton North High School] nearby, I think it’s been pretty fortunate for us.”

Chang briefly retired after a 28-yearlong career in the restaurant industry, during which she owned restaurants in California and worked at her daughter’s restaurant, Dolphin Bay, in Brighton. But, she decided to go back into busi-

ness, opting to open up Grandma’s Kitchen in Newton, according to Chang.

“It didn’t suit her, retirement,” Ma said. “She would always say she felt like she was just watching the TV and falling asleep and letting the TV watch her.”

Chang, whose infectious smile makes customers feel welcomed, receives joy from watching people enjoy the dishes she prepares, according to Ma.

Chang discussed the name of her restaurant through Ma, who translated what she said from Mandarin to English.

“All the grandkids, whenever they want to go see grandma, it’s always Grandma’s Kitchen,” Chang said.

Chang has two grandchildren aged 12 and 10 who also help around the restaurant, according to Chang.

Most dishes on the menu are $12 or under, with generous portion sizes. Ma said he had a difficult time picking his favorite thing on the menu, as he enjoys many of the dishes the restaurant serves.

“Most nights, it’d probably be the braised beef noodle soup,” he said.

“Recently, it’s been the spicy wonton

noodles … it’s hard to get away from that one. And then, just for a quick snack, the popcorn chicken.”

Among the shareable appetizers, the popcorn chicken, spicy wontons, and beef pancake are particularly popular among customers, according to Ma.

The popcorn chicken, seasoned generously with salt and pepper, is served hot and crispy, in varying degrees of spice—from not spicy to mild to medium to hot.

The beef pancake, a scallion pancake wrapped around braised beef with hoisin sauce, offers a sweet and savory taste.

Lovers of spice may instead choose to begin their meal with the spicy wontons, made with pork.

Grandma’s Kitchen also offers a unique appetizer dish—golden blueberry wontons. These wontons

are crunchy on the outside and have a soft, sweet blueberry cream cheese filling on the inside.

Another sweet appetizer option is the fried mantou, fried Taiwanese buns drizzled with brown sugar syrup and condensed milk. Like the blueberry wontons, these are both crunchy and pillowy soft on the inside, perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth.

When it comes to soups, Ma said customers at Grandma’s Kitchen especially love the beef rib noodle soup and braised beef noodle soup. Both are served at the customer’s desired spice level. Hearty and flavorful, these soups are perfect for a cold winter’s day.

There are also numerous dishes served with rice—chicken cutlets, pork chops, fried fish, and the scallion omelet.

The restaurant offers a variety of

beverages to accompany customers’ meals, including avocado, mango, strawberry, and taro milk. Grandma’s Kitchen also serves imported sodas from Taiwan. One, in particular, is called Hey Song Sarsaparilla, which is said to have a similar taste to root beer.

There are many options for green and black teas and milk teas. Ma, who is in charge of making drinks, does an excellent job making their boba tea, which originated in Taiwan.

For Chang, owning her restaurant and being responsible for all the food coming out of the kitchen gives her more excitement and pleasure than retirement ever could.

“For her, it’s kind of just doing what she loves,” Ma said. “You know, if we’re busy, if we’re not, you know, she’s still happy.” n

$51 Million Awarded to Local Cultural and Art Groups

B y s hru T hi s riram

Assoc. Newton Editor Mass Cultural Council (MCC) provided 5,218 grants worth $51,063,360 for long-term pandemic relief to cultural and art organizations across Massachusetts, including several Newton businesses like Newton Community Pride (NCP), Historic Newton, and the New Art Center, according to a release from MCC.

“MCC has been great to us,” Blair Lesser-Sullivan, executive director at NCP, said. “They give us smaller grants for our events, but this grant is gonna be so helpful for us to do even more for the community. And to just really come out of COVID and put so much art and culture and joy into the world

and into the local community.”

Unlike other grants that require organizations to explain their need for financial assistance, MCC based money allocation solely off businesses’ financial records, according to Lisa Dady, director of Historic Newton.

This was beneficial because it is clear there were long-term negative financial impacts from the pandemic on businesses, Dady said.

“When they took a look at those numbers, they saw in the time of those three years exactly what happened to our bottom line and how hard it was for us to navigate through the pandemic,” Dady said.

“So I think MCC, you know, really recognizes that by offering this now, when we're still trying to kind of climb out of it.”

These grants are for unrestricted operating dollars, according to Dady.

“So the wonderful thing about this grant program is it's for unrestricted operating dollars, which are the hardest types of funds for us to apply,” Dady said. “And so that means it can go anywhere.”

The size of the grant is unprecedented for organizations like the New Art Center, according to its executive director Emily O’Neil.

“It's not common to get grants in that amount,” O’Neil said. “You know, we got the largest allocation that the MCC allocated, that was $75,000. It is not common for an organization like the New Art Center to get $75,000 in unrestricted grants.”

The COVID-19 pandemic

limited opportunities for businesses like NCP that often rely on fundraising events as a major source of revenue, according to Sullivan.

“We rely heavily on our business sponsors and partners, and all of them were hurting as well,” Sullivan said. “So it was really hard to get the funds that we used to get, and then we didn't have the programming to fund. We were struggling a little bit before, because everybody was hurting and we rely on corporations and individuals to help fund our programming.”

Historic Newton’s biggest expense is paying staff salaries and wages, according to Dady.

“We’re very much driven by the talent and intellect of our staff,” Dady said. “They're the ones who bring the public programs to the

public who teach the school groups when they come into the museums and staff the desk when people come visit the museums.”

Dady said she hopes to use most of the money from the grant to balance Historic Newton’s operations budget.

“So it will go into our operating budget, which heretofore, we were seeing that we're going to have a challenge balancing that budget, and we got 30,000 from this program, which is a game changer for us,” Dady said. “That is making me much more reassured that we're going to end the year with at least a balanced budget.”

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

STEVE MOONEY / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

The Charles River Regional Chamber announced its position after its board spoke with officials and business owners.

The spot’s name comes from Shiu Chin “Grandma” Chang, who has 30 years of experience in the industry.

STEVE MOONEY / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF

McGowan Studies Economic Implications of Gambling

“The state probably needs to put out something saying ‘If you have a gambling problem, here’s some of the things you can go get help,’ rather than just a quick 800 number at the end of a commercial,” McGowan said. “The state has to buy some advertising to do that.”

McGowan said he emphasizes the importance of practicing moderation when gambling not only because addiction can lead to economic troubles but also because addiction can negatively impact people’s spirituality and relationship with God.

“If you drink too much alcohol, you know that there’s a problem here, and you might think about how you have to give up giving alcohol in order to use all the gifts God gives you,” McGowan said. “Well, the same thing with gambling and other things like that.”

The Society of Jesuits is known for helping those in need of guidance when afflicted with addiction, McGowan said.

The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous were also created by a Jesuit priest and reflect the Jesuit aim to help others, he said.

in the realm of business ethics, which Griffin said has pushed him to the forefront of economic discussions.

“He looks at conflict and controversial industries and is a clear, forthright thought leader in making ethical decisions in contested environments,” Griffin said. “He’s just a wonderful human being.”

The Jesuit aims of spirituality, education, and service are extremely important to McGowan, he said.

To dedicate himself to these goals, he hosts daily masses, writes, and teaches economics, and he served as a board of directors member of the National Center for Responsible Gambling.

McGowan is also a leading voice

In addition to his many other duties, McGowan travels annually to El Salvador with a group of nine BC economics students.

The purpose of this trip is to study the economics of the area, but McGowan said the trip ends up being a spiritual experience for the students as well.

“What I want students to see firsthand is the effect of microfinance,” McGowan said. “You see the poverty that’s there and you can see how these poor Salvadorians are very grateful for all the gifts that they have. The poor really are a lot more grateful about things and we take so many things for granted.”

Gerardo Diaz-Bazan, BC ’11, attended one of McGowan’s El Salvador trips during his time as an economics student.

Diaz-Bazan was an international student, originally from El Salvador, so he said the trip was extremely transformative because it motivated

him to return back to El Salvador after college.

“Coming back and kind of applying this to my everyday life was really cool and amazing and kind of helped me to also become a lot more optimistic, a lot more focused on things that I wanted to do down here,” Diaz-Bazan said. “That played a huge role in me deciding to come back home after college.”

Although Diaz-Bazan does not

take special interest in the industries of gambling, alcohol, or tobacco, he said he is still inspired by McGowan’s work in El Salvador and back in Boston.

“I wanted to be—I don’t want to sound cliche—but, an agent of change here, and I just wanted to bring all that I learned back home,” Diaz-Bazan said.

As a member of the Society of Jesuits, McGowan said he always strives

to be an agent of change—his research aims to help people reach their highest potential, which he said frequently can be inhibited by addiction.

“Jesuit spirituality says, in the first week of the exercises, how loved you are by God,” McGowan said. “Lots of times we don’t use the gifts of God very well. You have something better that you should and could be doing. You can always be better than an addicted you.” n

What Your Favorite Girl Scout Cookie Says About You

B y E lla S ong

Asst. Newton Editor

W ill M artino

Asst. News Editor

Colorful boxes filled with sweet treats are in the hands of nearly every student on campus this week as the long-awaited Girl Scouts have arrived to sell their cook ies. Whether you’re tasting Tagalongs at lunch, devouring Do-si-dos in bed, or savoring Samoas in class, we’re here to tell you one thing: what your favorite Girl Scout Cookie says about you.

Adventurefuls

If you’re indulging in these caramel-drizzled brownie cookies, you live the lux life and you’re brutally out of touch with the real world. You proba bly pretend you’re in a Lindt Truf fle commercial every time you take a bite of one of these, and you store the box in your canvas tote bag for safekeeping.

Caramel Chocolate

Chip

If these oat flour–based

cookies are your favorite, you’re probably gluten-free and I don’t know what it says about you other than that.

Do-si-dos or Peanut Butter Sandwich

These cookies are dry as hell, and so are you. Like Dosi-dos, you’re not the most interesting or exciting choice, and that’s okay!

Every good group needs a few practical and logical individuals to balance out the chaotic ones.

Lemonades

Reaching for a box of Lemonades reflects a deep psychological desire to reject the norm, which is a good thing. You reb el against the Thin Mint–pushing establishment, embracing the weird and having fun while doing it. Kudos to you!

Lemon-Ups

These zesty cookies are embossed with little inspirational messages, so chances are you’re not doing

too hot if you’re reaching for one of these. Work on finding better sources of positive affirmations than citrus-flavored shortbread.

Raspberry Rallies

Raspberry Rallies are a new addition to the Girl Scout Cookie roster, so putting this on the top of your list can mean one of two things: You’re either easily excited … or extremely flaky (probably both). Make sure to return to this article and reread when your favorite cookie inevitably changes.

Samoas or Caramel deLites

Shortbread cookie, caramel, toasted coconut, chocolate drizzle— these cookies are a little chaotic and so are you, but not always in a good way. You haven’t cleaned your side of the room in months, and you always abandon the group during a night out.

S’mores

Here,

empowerment, Big Cookie has perverted the universally loved s’mores combo, commodifying the spirit of campfires and summertime. These cookies taste like profit-driven banality, so if these are your favorite, you are likely a corporate plant, soulless and vacant as you sell out the human spirit for one more dollar.

Tagalongs or Peanut Butter

Patties

The peanut butter and chocolate combo is always a safe bet. These cookies are unproblematic and basic, so with these as a favorite, you’re probably used to taking the road well-traveled. But don’t be afraid to spice things up once in a while!

Try a Raspberry Rally, wear a wacky outfit, start a conversation with a classmate you’ve never spoken to— whatever stirs the pot.

Thin Mints

These light, crispy treats are a Girl

Scout classic—and the most reliable indicator of character. If you swear by Thin Mints, you likely emulate the refined, sophisticated energy that comes with having good taste (just ask Reese Witherspoon).

Toast-Yay!

These are the bizarre choice, and you like to think of yourself as a little bit quirky. When someone asks whether you like pancakes or waffles more, you answer “French toast!” just to be different. You’re not, sweet cheeks.

Trefoils

For those who aren’t wellversed in Girl Scout Cookie discourse, Trefoils are something of a controversial favorite to have. In a world of Thin Mints and Samoas, the Trefoil is a bit lackluster but grounding. You’re probably a pillar to your friends, and I commend you for it—but perhaps you could be more adventurous with your cookie choices. n

Rev. Richard McGowan, S.J., studies how gambling and other industries like tobacco and alcohol impact the economy.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEE PELLEGRINI

Gambling, from A1

“He looks at conflict and controversial industries and is a clear, forthright thought leader in making ethical decisions in contested environments.”

“What I want students to see firsthand is the effect of microfinance.”

By Tushar Nazmul

For the Heights

Boston College has an abundance of beverage options, from smoothies at Mac to shakes at the Rat, but I’m personally partial to coffee. And like me, most BC students are coffee lovers. But when we’re craving caffeine, we rarely find ourselves getting coffee from the same spot.

BC has many places to fulfill your coffee cravings, so here’s what your favorite spot says about you.

If You Prefer the Chocolate Bar

If the Chocolate Bar is your preferred coffee spot, then I am very pleased to announce that you are correct—the Chocolate Bar is in fact the best spot to get your cup of joe.

The welcoming feeling from the staff and the constant energy from everyone passing by in Stokes South create the perfect atmosphere. Because a lot of my friends have classes in Stokes, I usually run into a lot of people I know as I’m getting my caffeine fix.

Receiving a warm “hello” or wave from a friend or classmate always brightens my morning. The Chocolate Bar makes you feel like you are part of a community here at BC.

If You Prefer Hillside Cafe

If Hillside is your favorite coffee spot then you are almost correct—Hillside comes the closest to matching the Chocolate Bar’s vibes. The constant crowd and fast-paced feeling in Hillside give you an adrenaline boost no matter what time of day you go there. For students who live on Lower Campus, it is a great and convenient place to get your caffeine.

But, if you are a freshman, you probably feel out of place.

If you are a freshman and Hillside Cafe is your favorite spot at the University, then you are basically walking all the way to Lower Campus to get the same coffee you could have gotten at the Chocolate Bar.

If You Prefer College Road (CoRo)

If CoRo is your preferred coffee destination on campus, you have picked a solid choice. But I have one question for you—why do you isolate yourself? Unlike other coffee locations, CoRo is separated from the bustle of students going from class to class, so running into a friend at CoRo is a rarity.

CoRo is a great study place as it is more quiet than the Chocolate Bar and Hillside, so sometimes it provides a nice shift in energy.

By ellie Crowley Heights Staff

When Kayla Wooley first came to study at Boston College, she had no intention of working in senior care after graduation.Having grown up in a family who worked in the business of nursing homes, she said she was ready to move on to something else entirely.

“I grew up working in my family business of nursing homes really since the seventh grade,” Wooley, BC ’17, said. “Senior care was not cool back then. Every family dinner conversation has been around senior care since I can remember.”

Now, Wooley is the founder of StaffOnTap, a company that connects long-term care providers in Connecticut with temporary nurses.

When nursing homes need someone to fill in on a shift, they can book nurses directly through the StaffOnTap website.

When determining what to study in college, Wooley said she decided to pivot to working with children and enrolled in BC’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development after spending so much time working with the elderly through her family’s business.

“I started at BC in the school of education, and I took the classes and I was so bad at them,’ Wooleysaid. “I just didn’t like them.”

As she reevaluated her academic plan and searched for a new future career path, Wooley decided to take a course called Death and Dying.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so interesting,’ because it was about senior care and end of life,” Wopley said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I know this space really well. I’m good at it and I actually find it really interesting.’”

No longer set on abandoning her family’s area of expertise, Wooley returned to the world of senior care with full force. She switched into the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, where she minored in medical humanities, which she said allowed her to focus on health care.

“BC definitely changed my perspective and gave me the opportunity to explore a route that I probably wouldn’t have if they didn’t have those classes available,” Wooley said.

After graduating from BC, Wooley got a master’s degree in public health at Yale University and then moved on to get an MBA at Cornell. Wooley participated in the Blackstone LaunchPad program at Cornell University, which provides students, alumni, and faculty with entrepreneurship mentorship and support.

In this program, she developed the idea for her business. Because she observed a shortage of health

If You Prefer The Market on

Lower Campus

If your preferred place to get coffee is The Market on Lower Campus then you definitely like to multitask during your coffee run. Coffee is not your main thought, and you like to grab a cup on the go rather than planning your day around your coffee. Although it does not have a chatty cafe atmosphere, The Market is advantageous because you can get coffee while running errands and picking up some snacks to bring back to your dorm.

If You Prefer Legal Grounds

on Newton Campus

If your favorite cafe is Legal Grounds then, as an Upper kid, I am sorry you’re sequestered on Newton Campus, and I hope the bus app does not glitch too much. Even though I spent my freshman year living on Upper Campus and only went to Newton once, I hear that Legal Grounds and the overall atmosphere in Stuart Dining Hall help create a special community and unique bond among Newton freshmen, which is something I can admire.

care workers within the senior care industry, Wooley said she began to think about how she could connect temporary nurses to long-term care providers.

When Wooley first came to Felix Litvinsky, the managing director of the LaunchPad program, with her business proposal, he said he immediately recognized how she would be solving a problem within the health care industry.

“With all due respect to doctors, it’s the nurses that really carry the heavy burden,” Litvinsky said. “And there’s always a shortage and burnout rate. So [I thought] here is an opportunity, where someone can match the need. So to me, it was a win-win.”

Litvinsky encouraged Wooley to find additional support for the program, which led Wooley to conduct research on the nursing industry—she aimed to figure out why nurses were leaving senior care and what it would take for them to return, she said.

“I spent 10 months doing customer discovery, interviewing hundreds of nurses, as many nursing home administrators and owners as I could to figure out on the nurse side,” Wooley said. “I mean, just during the pandemic, I think almost 250,000 caregivers left nursing home jobs, so like 14 percent of their workforce.”

Throughout her time in the

Blackstone LaunchPad program, Wooley said she built her business by researching the market, creating a business model, and forming a pitch deck.

Yet, when she graduated from the program, she was still unsure of her future path. She could not decide whether she wanted to pursue StaffOnTap or work for her family’s business.

“I was graduating in four months and I needed to say, ‘Either I’m going to graduate and do this business full time, or I need to figure out what I’m doing because I need a job at the end of this,’” Wooley said. “I took a couple of weeks to be like ‘Okay, what do I want for myself? What are the opportunities out there right now?’ And at that point, I decided I’m gonna go full throttle into this business.”

Wooley officially launched StaffOnTap in March of 2022, and she said the business has grown substantially since then.

“We started in March with one nurse at one nursing home, but now we have 100 nurses, 32 nursing homes, and we’ve done almost a million in total sales,” Wooley said. “So that’s helped a lot, being like, ‘Hey, this isn’t just an idea in our head—we actually have traction. That makes it a lot easier for people to jump on for investing.”

As the pandemic exacerbated the preexisting staffing shortages in nursing homes, Wooley said her company seized the window of opportunity by offering a potential solution to the problem.

Despite StaffOnTap’s general success since its launch, Wooley said she faced many challenges as a first-time business founder and learned to have tough skin as she pitched her business to potential investors. To push through, she said she has leaned on support from other founders and mentors.

“Being a first-time founder has its benefits, and it also has weaknesses,” Wooley said. “You don’t know what you don’t know. I couldn’t have done this without my support system, and also other founders. One thing I love about the network of entrepreneurs that I didn’t necessarily expect is that

If You

Prefer

the Rat, Mac, or Lower

If you say your ideal coffee spot is one of the dining halls then you are simply lying. Hey, I am not judging you. We’ve all had to get rid of our meal plan money before, and Eagle Bucks definitely do not last all semester. But let’s not lie to ourselves—the coffee from the dining halls does not come close to the coffee you can get with your Eagle Bucks. Plus, the chaos of the dining halls make them inconvenient spots for a quick coffee run. n

What Your Preferred Coffee Spot Says About You StaffOnTap Fills Gaps in Senior Care Industry

other founders are so supportive. I think we all know it can be isolating.”

Litvinsky still serves as one of Kayla’s mentors, and he said one of her strengths as an entrepreneur is how much she values mentorship and advice.

“Kayla’s coachability was invaluable during the startup process,” Litvinsky said. “Her ability to manage constructive criticism and apply all the best advice to strategy and execution of her business plan [was] above par.”

Jake Cooper, an investor in StaffOnTap and a fellow CEO, shares a similar respect for Wooley’s entrepreneurial work ethic.

“She leads by example,” Cooper said. “She’s very deeply involved at an execution level and in everything that she’s doing. In all the work that she’s doing, she comes across as extremely humble. She’s motivated and tactical, and someone who I would be really excited to work for.”

Cooper is familiar with entrepreneurship himself as a co-founder and CEO of GrowTherapy, a platform that helps therapists launch their own practices, and he admires Wooley’s ability to navigate the space.

“I’m so excited about Kayla as a founder,” Cooper said. “She is an amazing combination of mission-oriented, hungry, in the weeds, but also strategic. A lot of things that rarely coexist together. But I think she balances them well.”

Given StaffOnTap’s success in connecting dozens of nursing homes with new nurses thus far, Wooley said she has big plans to continue carrying out StaffOnTap’s mission by expanding out of Connecticut and into other states in the Northeast.

“My goal is to be the number one temp staffing agency for nursing homes,” Wooley said. “Over the next couple years, we want to scale big and quickly while maintaining that quality. The big reason we can maintain that quality when other agencies haven’t been able to is because we’re in those nursing homes. We know this industry. I’ve been in it forever.” n

I’m sure you have heard the saying “busy as a bee.” But have you ever stopped to think about what it really means? It’s a nod to the worker bees in a hive colony of bees—usually honeybees—who collect pollen and nectar for the hive. Bees are indeed industrious, visiting around 4,000 flowers to make just one tablespoon of honey.

To use another colloquialism, bees work smarter not harder. And in this instance, I think humans could benefit from taking a cue from the animal kingdom—after all, we too are animals.

Worker bees aren’t just machines. They don’t buzz around working nonstop all day, despite what their name might suggest.

Bees take breaks, and they do so intentionally and frequently. Even for the most elite worker bees, activity levels spike and dip consistently, indicating they too partake in strategic periods of rest.

Some bees work during the day, taking breaks at night (like us!). Others work around the clock, but take repeated breaks throughout.

What’s more, bees choose their battles wisely. If there’s a cold snap or strong winds or lots of rain, they take the day off to not waste their precious energy and time battling the elements. This way, they maximize efficiency and save energy for days with more ideal conditions for gathering pollen.

I was first exposed to these bee behaviors in my Behavioral Ecology class and found

Busy as a Bee

myself immediately entranced. Weirdly, I felt a strong camaraderie with bees. As it turns out, honeybees have a fixed lifetime capacity for spending energy. So, instead of just working themselves until their cute little wings simply can’t fly anymore, they maximize their energetic efficiency on each journey, weighing how much nectar they should take from each flower and how long they should fly for, and a key part of boosting this efficiency is taking breaks.

When I am studying, I often feel that I hit a similar wall of energetic capacity where I simply cannot stand to read another sentence. That’s usually when I call it a day and begin the trek back from O’Neill. But—unlike I was taught to think—bee behavior tells us this journey home should not be thought of as a walk of defeat. I think that we, like bees, only have a capacity for so much work in a single day. In my experience, pushing past this limit results in burnout that is hard to come back from, even after watching hours of brain-numbing reality shows or sleeping all day.

As it turns out, research actually supports my hypothesis. Taking frequent intermittent breaks while studying or working, like bees do when collecting nectar, is not only beneficial for our own health, but it is also beneficial for our learning.

Going for a quick walk or even getting up to grab a drink is refreshing for your brain. It allows you to focus better when you sit back down, and it enables you to memorize information better than if you hadn’t taken a break.

There’s even a substantiated study method called the Pomodoro technique, which advocates for 25 minutes of work followed by a five-minute break until the task at hand is complete.

When studying, your prefrontal cortex is doing all the heavy lifting. It is working hard to keep you focused and help you problem

solve. Most importantly, it is enabling you to resist the urge to check your phone or email. The longer you work, the harder it is to resist these impulses and the more brain power and energy it takes to keep working.

Bees know there is a point where they could keep collecting nectar from a flower, but they would be expending the energy needed to then fly back to the hive. So when humans reach the point where we know we won’t gain anything from pushing onward, we should simply stop! Let’s take a cue from bees by acknowledging our capacity and allowing ourselves to take a break and recharge.

My experience of hitting a wall and feeling burnout is common and has to do with a lack of meaningful breaks. When our brains take short breaks throughout the day, studies have shown that our stress is reduced, our performance is increased, and there is less need for a long recovery following the workday. Taking small breaks every day over the course of a year is proven to increase overall energy and vigor on a long-term scale. And who couldn’t use a little extra energy?

Working for hours straight is absolutely draining. Bees don’t do it, and their success in foraging is a life-or-death situation as they search for their every meal. So, why do we burn ourselves out so often while studying and working when it’s not even conducive to learning?

Bees have been around on this planet a lot longer than we have (try their 120 million years compared to our measly 300,000). So, it’s safe to say that we could stand to learn a little about working from their few extra millions of years of evolution. With this in mind, try taking a break—even if it is for only five or so minutes. I guarantee that afterward you will feel more equipped to tackle whatever it is life has to throw at you.

Cause of Death: Utter Humiliation

Author: Of course, I had to come back to this beautiful bookstore. Though getting here was a bit of a struggle with my flight delay.

Me: Yes, I saw! [Mentally, I was thinking of how this author had posted on Instagram about her flight delay, but I neglected to mention that reference.]

Author: Oh, haha…

Me: Sorry, I just realized that that sounded creepy.

just carefully constructed and designed to avoid the very bane of my existence: humiliation. For all the energy I put into avoiding such a horrible feeling, I ended up falling into the pit anyway. And … it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

views of The Heights

Spring Break, Finally!

After seven straight weeks of classes, many Boston College students are already feeling incredibly burnt out. The combination of midterms and freezing cold walks to class have left us exhausted, and Spring Break could not be coming at a more opportune time. Whether you are headed to sunny Florida, windy Canada, or home to the comfort of your own bed, this break is well deserved. Take a few moments to breathe deep, talk to your loved ones, and get a little extra sleep—this is our time to rest up and prepare for the second half of the semester!

Pups on Campus

Sure, BC might only bring therapy dogs to campus during finals, but many people walk their adorable puppies around campus. There’s nothing that brightens our days like seeing cute, curly-haired, tail-wagging puppies running toward you as you hike to the library. These little moments of joy warm our hearts and bring smiles to our faces on otherwise chilly days. So, when dog memes and TikToks just aren’t doing it for you, try taking a “puppy walk” around campus and see how many you can spot.

Before the heavens decided what would befall me last Friday, I thought I was invincible.

Well, maybe not invincible, but at the very least, I had enough self-confidence to trust that whatever Friday had in store for me wouldn’t leave me in shambles. I was very wrong. You see, Friday was supposed to be an exciting day. One of my favorite authors was visiting Boston while touring the country for her new book release, and I had managed to snag a ticket to her book signing before the event sold out. I loved the first hour—I relished the opportunity to listen through the interview and Q&A portion of the event, awestruck that my favorite author was truly standing in front of me.

It was only when the time came for the book signing that things began to take a turn for the worse. As I waited in line, I felt a pit of nerves in my stomach. I had never gotten the opportunity to meet one of my favorite authors before, and I was feeling very intimidated at the thought of having a one-on-one conversation with her. I scrambled to think of conversation starters ahead of time, but in my worried state, my mind was hopelessly blank. Needless to say that when the time came for my book to be signed, our conversation went something like this:

Author: Hi! Nice to meet you. How are you?

Me: I- I am fine—even better now that I am here!

Author: Aww I am happy to hear that.

Me: Thank you so much for coming to Boston!!

Author: *Slightly chuckles and plasters a smile masking faint concern.*

Me: *Stammers on my words and backs away slowly without saying goodbye.*

I sincerely apologize for any second-hand embarrassment that reading the above dialogue might have given you. I don’t think I need to explain how painful it was to experience firsthand. I felt like my soul had abandoned me amid this encounter, flying as far away from me as possible as if to say, “That girl—she is not me. I am not her.”

Yes, I am blowing this two-minute embarrassing encounter out of proportion. But in the moments after it occurred, I struggled to admit that it actually happened. I told myself every inspirational slogan I could think of: “Embarrassment is a choice,” “There is no happiness without suffering,” and “Embarrassment is where growth happens.” But I realized, after repeating them over and over again, that I was doing everything in my power to avoid sinking into a pit of humiliation that I maybe should have sat in for longer.

As much as I hated how much I had embarrassed myself, it was somehow sort of … refreshing.

My ego had shattered. The locks and bolts that kept my artificial outward persona in place had crumbled. In this moment of utter embarrassment, my true and more fallible self stuck out its imperfect head.

It wasn’t until this awkward moment that I realized just how much I try to avoid embarrassment on a daily basis. I finally acknowledged that my outward persona was

The experience left its mark on me, but not in the way I expected. While I like to joke that this moment scarred me for life, I believe it actually sent me down a rabbit hole that I needed to explore. Life has a way of shredding apart your ego to remind you that the best version of yourself is not the most perfect one. Rather, you are at your best when you’re being authentic. It is very easy to swap our honest imperfections with more impermeable exteriors, but we become much more confident and self-assured when we refuse to mask our unflattering qualities.

My moments of blubbering foolishness were a simple reminder that authenticity doesn’t always look pretty. It can manifest in the form of nervous ramblings and lackluster social skills. My anxiety-ridden fangirling need not be the cause of my disappearance from society.

The next time that you find yourself in a mortifying situation, I would like to offer you some e-tissues in advance. I won’t tell you that embarrassment isn’t real, or that you should shake off your crappy experiences, or that you can pretend they didn’t happen.

No. I would advise that you savor the moment for the authenticity that it pushes you into—as unpretty as it is. In the whirlwind of hectic schedules that college fosters, it becomes harder to uncover experiences that truly remind you of who you are. Embarrassment, for all of its unpleasantness, has a way of doing this effortlessly.

So, while you may mourn the loss of your dignity (as I did at my author meet-andgreet), I have a funny feeling that you will learn to love the person you find underneath all the embarrassment.

Housing ... Again

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, spring semester forces thousands of Eagles to approach the infamous “housing question” each year. Whether you are a freshman attempting to curate an eight-man suite, a sophomore dividing your friend group between Gerald Road and 2150 Commonwealth Ave., or a junior praying for a coveted Mod, the chances of housing going seamlessly are always slim. There’s bound to be a drop of drama and at least a few tears as the process commences. With the overthinking starting way in advance, the “housing question” has already been infiltrating the minds of BC students for weeks. We at Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down wish you the best of luck as you play the boggling mind game that is BC housing.

Slipping, Sliding, and Sometimes Falling

The snow blanketing Gasson and covering the trees in an icy glow is oh so beautiful. Still, this weather has its downsides. The gray slush that soon forms on the ground is far from a happy sight. As we trudge through campus, the least of our worries is our soaked socks and shoes. The paths not yet shoveled and salted cause us to slip and slide our way around campus, occasionally falling down the stairs. These treacherous paths make all of our days that much more difficult or potentially embarrassing. So be careful and consider walking with a buddy—you’ll either both stay up or fall down together.

Alli HArgrove

PunnyA KAlAPurAKKel

The opinions and commentaries of the op-ed columnists appearing on this page represent the views of the authors of those particular pieces and not necessarily the

GRAPHICS BY PAIGE STEIN AND ALYSSA ANDERSON / HEIGHTS EDITORS

Alli Hargrove is a columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at allison.hargrove@bc.edu.

BC’s Demonstration Policy Needs To Be Updated To Serve Student’s Free Speech Rights

Boston College needs to ease its policies and restrictions on student demonstration to better support its students’ free speech rights.

Section 11.10 on student demonstrations in BC’s Student Code of Conduct forbids students from hosting any demonstrations without approval from the administration in advance. Students are also not allowed to disturb any dayto-day operations of the University through their demonstrations or hold events that “adversely impact the mission of Boston College, especially its Jesuit, Catholic dimensions.”

These statutes contradict BC’s self-defined “longstanding commitment” to its students’ freedom of expression. These rules should be amended to provide a more welcoming environment where students feel comfortable voicing dissent.

BC has a long history of hosting controversial student protests. In the late 1960s, BC community members held protests and counter-protests against Dow Chemical Company’s efforts to recruit BC students, as the company provided napalm to the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.

And in the 1970s, UGBC organized a schoolwide class strike in response to the U.S. bombing campaign in Vietnam, in which approximately 60 percent of arts and sciences students did not show up to their classes for days. BC would not allow these protests under its current Code of Conduct, which prohibits any demonstrations from “disrupting the ordinary operation of the University.”

Protests did not stop after the nationwide unrest of the Vietnam era. In the late 1980s, students worked with recent alumni to protest BC’s denial of full professorship to prominent feminist theologian Mary Daly. Since then, BC students have protested subjects ranging from the Iraq War to racial injustice.

But things are different now. In October 2021, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranked BC at 151 out of 154 in a list comparing free speech climates on university campuses.

Interim Associate Vice President for Student Engagement and Formation Claire Ostrander said in an email to The Heights that only one student demonstration was registered with the office in the last year.

Yet, there are a variety of student organiza-

tions—registered or otherwise—that regularly and openly oppose BC’s institutional choices.

Climate Justice at Boston College (CJBC), for example, opposes BC’s investment in fossil fuels. When the group hosted a protest where pro-divestment messages with vulgar language were sent to University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., the University sanctioned the group.

On the other hand, BC does not even recognize Students for Sexual Health (SSH) as an official University organization, and it has routinely banned the group from distributing contraceptives on campus. As an independent organization, it would not be allowed to host student demonstrations on campus.

Groups such as CJBC and SSH show that there are dissenting student voices that want to change the University for the better. But protest policies shielded by a veil of cherry-picked “Jesuit Values” undermine students’ abilities to advocate for themselves and others. As such, the policies set out by the University may deter student attempts to register a protest if they do not want to sit down to a meeting with a BC administrator.

To get a protest approved by the University, students must meet with the associate vice president for student engagement and formation and provide detailed plans about the event. Organizing and conducting an unregistered demonstration can result in the University punishing student demonstrators.

Section 11.10 on Student Demonstrations in the BC Student Code of Conduct further prohibits demonstrations that go against the Jesuit, Catholic mission of BC.

But these same Jesuit, Catholic “dimensions” that BC cites in its Student Code of Conduct do not limit student activism at peer institutions. Unlike BC, the demonstration policies of Georgetown University, Marquette University, and Loyola University Chicago—all institutions founded in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition—possess no explicitly Catholic restrictions on student demonstrations.

In fact, the demonstration policies of Georgetown University and Loyola University Chicago cite their Jesuit, Catholic traditions to justify students’ rights to free expression.

Georgetown University’s Speech and Expres-

sion Policy explicitly states that “to forbid or limit discourse contradicts everything the university stands for” and that “Georgetown’s identification with the Catholic and Jesuit tradition, far from limiting or compromising the ideal of free discourse, requires that we live up to that ideal.”

In Loyola University Chicago’s Community Standards, the university states that “discourse is essential for the University to uphold the Jesuit mission of ‘service of faith and promotion of justice.’”

What’s more, at Georgetown students do not have to receive approval from the administration before staging a demonstration. Although they might be penalized for refusing to adhere to the schools’ Speech and Expression Policy, no advance notice is required to stage a demonstration.

Additionally, following a 2015 on-campus demonstration calling on the university to revise its demonstration policy to become more inclusive and accessible, Loyola updated its policy in numerous ways. Among these changes, students no longer have to receive formal approval for demonstrations.

For BC to cite its Jesuit, Catholic identity as an excuse to censor certain student protests places it in contradiction with the policies of peer institutions adhering to the same faith system.

BC should review its demonstration parameters in its Student Code of Conduct to make registering student demonstrations a less intimidating process. BC should either clarify what is meant by “its Jesuit, Catholic dimensions” in section 11.10 or remove this clause altogether.

In limiting the rights of certain groups to protest on campus, BC actually goes against the Jesuit, Catholic practice of disputation—the teaching that “between faith and reason there can be no fundamental conflict”—and the value of the autonomy of reason—that is, free thought—as laid out in Georgetown University’s Speech and Expression Policy.

As an institution seeking “to be the national leader in the liberal arts” and “to support students in their formation,” BC has a responsibility to its students to allow a variety of demonstrations and live up to other Jesuit, Catholic peer institutions by respecting the fundamental right for its students to protest freely.

CHEN / HEIGHTS STAFF Cayla Barnes jumped into the arms of sophomore Abby Newhook to celebrate the win against the Huskies on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023.

Christie Louis, the recipient of this year’s

Luther King, Jr. scholarship, gave her acceptance speech in the Yawkey Center Murray Room on

The BC theatre department presented its play, Blue Stockings, written by Jessica Swale and directed by Patricia Riggin, in Robsham Theater on Friday, Feb. 24, 2023.

IN F

‘Quantumania’ Underdelivers Kang as Its New Villian

By Jack Weynand Heights Staff

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania checks all of the boxes of a typical Marvel epic—mostly great CGI, a witty sense of humor, and a formidable villain. This go-round, however, feels like Quantumania is too small a film for such an ambitious plot.

Whereas Quantumania succeeds in its message of family and loyalty, it asks too much of the audience to take the film—and its villains—seriously.

The third installment of Marvel’s Ant-Man series follows titular heroes Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) as they struggle to find a heroic purpose after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Ant-Man’s daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), tries to help people in her own way by leading a research effort to further explore the quantum realm, which is a subatomic world largely unknown to man.

Cassie’s research goes horribly wrong when her exploration device malfunctions, transporting the en-

tire Ant-Man family to the quantum realm. Once there, the bug-themed heroes have to stop Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) from wreaking havoc on the multiverse.

Like the first two Ant-Man films, Quantumania reminds us that AntMan is first and foremost just a man behind the mask. When he isn’t donning the costume, Scott Lang is a devoted and loyal father who is willing to go to great lengths to protect the people he loves, which is clear within the core of the film.

Family dynamics are built off love and trust, but the dynamic between Scott and Cassie has somewhat evolved in Quantumania. While they still crack jokes and are each other’s best friend, the difference now is that Cassie wants to help people like her father does as Ant-Man, and Scott’s role as a father makes him reluctant to let Cassie into the world of superheroes.

Though Cassie and Scott’s new relationship is fun to explore, many Marvel fans expected Quantumania to deliver through one particular character: Kang the Conqueror. Majors delivered a stellar acting performance, but in some ways,

the film’s plot let the iconic comics’ supervillain down.

In a sense, Quantumania felt like it was meant to introduce Kang to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) rather than use him correctly for this movie. Majors portrays him a s a force to be reckoned with, but Kang’s actions don’t reflect the threat that he should pose. It makes the stakes feel lower in this Ant-Man film.

Kang has access to technology centuries ahead of our time, and he holds the key to a device that can literally travel through the multiverse. His failure to use these advantages in an effective manner undermines his legitimacy as the “next Thanos” for the MCU. That being said, Kang is expected to return in Loki Season 2 and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty there’s still a chance for him to live up to expectations.

What really makes the film disappointing is how Quantumania expects audiences to accept some of the MCU’s craziest assertions.

Full disclaimer—in a world where a snap can wipe out half the population and characters travel between dimensions, some liber-

MOVIE ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quan-

ties need to be taken. The audience needs to keep an open mind. Quantumania tests those boundaries like never before in the MCU.

It felt stupid when a group of technologically advanced giant ants showed up out of the blue to help fight Kang. The countless different species of aliens with different powers was a wasted concept, especially when they were only used for comedic relief. Even the film’s ending felt like a Band-Aid that left some audience members somewhat confused, and it worked to further undermine Kang as a menacing figure.

Kang deserved to leave a mark on the Ant-Man family—and on the MCU as a whole. His failure to

leave Scott and the audience shaken is an upset for fans and casual viewers alike.

What Kang needs is a moment like Thanos in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. When Thanos snapped his fingers and made half of our beloved heroes disintegrate, the audience was stupefied in disbelief. As Kang struggles to fend off a hoard of large ants, viewers can’t help but laugh at his inadequacy as a supervillain.

If the audience is expected to take a film like Quantumania seriously, then the film should have taken more care in how far from typical MCU reality that it was willing to go. n

CARAMEL Establishes Himself in BC’s Music Scene

By Paterson tran Assoc. Arts Editor

While students on Boston College’s campus may have heard the name Angus Williams, MCAS ’25, his stage name, CARAMEL, is even more recognizable.

“The distinction between CARAMEL and Angus is that Angus wears different hats,” Brian Kazinduka, MCAS ’25 and CARAMEL’s music collaborator, said. “He is curating events, diving, making music—what’s special about him is that, without any filter, [he] can be a voice and put on display his talent.”

CARAMEL self-produces music with a mix of influences, ranging from alternative dance to Afropop. He said he has aspirations of becoming a full-time musician. Apart from creating music, he is a diver on BC swim & dive and was the organizer of Living In Color , a two-part series of Black performing arts events for Black History Month.

CARAMEL released his newest single, “GONE BY THE MORNING,” on Spotify on Jan. 27 following the release of his debut album, Traveler , on Nov. 19, 2021.

In “GONE BY THE MORNING,” a pulsating beat adds a layer

of depth over CARAMEL’s lyrics about leaving a love interest. The final verse, written by Kazinduka, shifts with an entrancing percussive rhythm to end the track.

“Red is your color you knew / I won’t be using this suit / Baby this is our consequence / Used to be my best friend,” CARAMEL sings.

“GONE BY THE MORNING” is representative of CARAMEL’s evolving musical skill and production, as he continues to release music and grow as an artist. In this track, CARAMEL explores using a new rhythm style and having Kazinduka co-write the song.

CARAMEL and Kazinduka became friends at BC while playing basketball and then began collaborating.

“I took a lot of trips to Newton [Campus] and went to [CARAMEL’s] dorm, at the time he did what he could with limited space and equipment,” Kazinduka said.

“Angus is most definitely someone who is passionate about a music career and I would love to contribute as it continues to grow.”

CARAMEL said his love for music began with a classical music education in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. Once in high school, CARAMEL started playing around with GarageBand and ulti -

mately decided to start making his own music.

“I started singing more and more,” CARAMEL said. “I’ve always been singing ever since I was young, just like in my grandma’s car. Then I started working with a couple really close friends that I call my brothers that are now in college too.”

CARAMEL is currently working on a new EP, Roadtrip. According to CARAMEL, it will feature alternative dance pop sounds and a strong emphasis on percussion.

He said he is working on experimenting more and honing in his skills as an artist, which will distinguish himself from other up-and-coming musicians.

CARAMEL expressed the feeling behind writing the lyrics to the newest addition of his steadily growing discography, Roadtrip

“What makes ‘unique songwriting’ is being true to what you’re writing about,” CARAMEL said. “It shows in what comes out. It’s all about what you’re feeling and being able to express that in the best way you know how.”

Beyond his sound, CARAMEL’s uniqueness lies in the grassroots nature of his how he publicizes his music. As a sophomore at BC without a professional team, CARAMEL has surrounded himself with friends who build a community around their passion for music and help promote his work.

After meeting her at a music marketing competition at BC, CARAMEL began working with Jessie Chang, CSOM ’23, his manager.

“For an artist to be successful, they need three things—they need talent, they need passion, and they need a good work ethic,” Chang

said. “I feel like Angus has all three of those things … he really wants to use his music to reach diverse audiences, and his music has a lot of soul behind it.”

Through utilizing social media and performing locally, CARAMEL is maximizing the amount of ears that his releases receive beyond Spotify, according to Chang. Chang said she meticulously plans promotions with CARAMEL for his media presence and music distribution.

“Knowing your brand is really important because it shapes the way you create different strategies, as well as the kind of music you present,” Chang said.

According to CARAMEL, he has set many long term goals for his music career. He said he hopes to sing at larger venues and work with more well-known artists in the future, both in music production and performance. Outside of his own music, he said he would like to help highlight other artists and curate events on a larger scale.

CARAMEL said patience is a key factor in having success in breaking into the industry. Since

The National’s new single “New Order T-Shirt” reads like a poem. Set to an acoustic guitar and dreamy drum fill, the lyrics recall nostalgic and painful memories of a past relationship while paying homage to the new wave ’80s band New Order.

Traveler ’s release in 2021, he has made changes to how he promotes and markets his tracks, including onboarding Chang and prioritizing social media posts.

CARAMEL said there are limitations of being a student artist, especially while studying at BC, but he aims to make the most of his resources and support from those around him.

“I think that Boston College itself, when it comes to performance art, lacks a little bit,” CARAMEL said. “But, I think that through artistic groups like the Music Guild, for example, even dance groups are keeping the artistic front going.”

Despite the obstacles he currently faces, CARAMEL said he is optimistic about continuing to evolve his style and experiment with genres in his sound while at BC and beyond.

“There are limitations, but that would be everywhere,” CARAMEL said. “It’s how you work with people, what you choose to do with your art, where you perform, how you perform. You see that there’s definitely resources available—it’s just how you use them”. n

The urban Spanish hit “TQG” is a post-breakup song in which Karol G and Shakira realize their self-worth. The duo’s synergy and vocal chemistry, along with personal lyrics about its public breakups, makes this specific track stand out on Karol G’s new album.

Keeping with the band’s cultivated goth-shoegaze sound, “Love Song” by Softcult begins with light, breathy vocals and mellow reverberated guitar. The song picks up in the chorus as the band harmonizes “I get so carried away,” alluding to the all-encompassing love the singers feel.

Softcult “Love Song”

The National “New Order T-Shirt”

Karol G and Shakira “TQG”

VAGRA / HEIGHTS EDITOR CARAMEL said he is optimistic about evolving his style and experiment with genres.

B.E.A.T.S. Honors Black History

By sofia torres Asst. Arts Editor

Before Black Experience in America Through Song (B.E.A.T.S.) even got on stage for its annual Black History Month showcase, there was already a commotion in the crowd— audience members chatted loudly, mingled, laughed, and occasionally screamed the name of one of the group’s members. Many audience members seemed acquainted with one another, and there was such a sense of camaraderie in the crowd that onlookers might have believed that the purpose of the night was solely to gather in that room—not to watch a cappella.

But when the eight members of B.E.A.T.S walked onto stage, the crowd redirected their attention and excitement toward the a cappella group.

B.E.A.T.S, Boston College’s only a cappella group that centers exclusively on music from Black artists, hosted its annual Black History Month showcase in Fulton 511 at 6 p.m. on Feb. 18.

All members of B.E.A.T.S wore black and stood in front of a chalkboard as a backdrop, which was adorned with fairy lights and had the words “Fight For You” written on it in cursive. The stage setup was simple, yet elegant. There was nothing flashy about the group’s choice of wardrobe, which made it easier for the audience

to focus on the meaningful lyrics it sang and poetry it recited.

B.E.A.T.S. began preparing for the Black History Month show during the fall semester. It differentiates from other a cappella groups in its mission to only perform music by Black artists, and Black History Month was an opportunity for B.E.A.T.S. to continue celebrating Black art and culture.

“Happy Black History Month,” Silvia Ballivian, president of B.E.A.T.S. and MCAS ’23, said to begin the show.

Ballivian and Meena Menon, vice president of B.E.A.T.S. and MCAS ’25, stepped forward and introduced themselves and the rest of the group’s members.

After a brief welcome, B.E.A.T.S started its show as it always does— singing ”Lift Every Voice and Sing,” commonly known as the Black national anthem. The audience rose to their feet for the first powerful performance of the night.

Next, Shea Schindelar, MCAS ’25, carried with the empowering mood of the show by soloing on Destiny Child’s “Independent Women

Part 1.” Schindelar’s confidence and dynamic stage presence matched the song’s self-assertive lyrics.

Later, all members left the stage as Schindelar and Menon remained to duet “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations. Menon’s and Schindelar’s voices harmonized to create a sweet and romantic tone.

Throughout the show, audience

members moved to the beat of each song, mumbled some lyrics, recorded and took pictures with their phones, and cheered for the performers.

Tara Balan, MCAS ’25, then took the stage to recite a poem by civil rights activist and writer Maya Angelou. For her recital of “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,” the crowd went silent, indicating it was entranced by the striking lines.

“I’ve got a magic charm / That I keep up my sleeve / I can walk the ocean floor / And never have to breathe. / Life doesn’t frighten me at all,” Balan said, transmitting courage through her voice.

Ballivian and Menon dueted “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. The chemistry between both singers was evident in their performance. The audience clapped with the jolly beat of the song.

Ballivian and Menon hugged each other at the end of the song as the other members walked back on stage.

Menon also recited a poem she wrote in her senior year of high school titled “Solidarity.”

Menon explained that she wrote this poem after many people from her hometown died from police brutality. The personal poem again made the crowd completely silent as Menon’s heartfelt lines filled the room.

The group’s last song was “Fight for You” by H.E.R., which inspired the title of the show. Menon explained the importance of the song, as it acknowledges life’s hardships while highlighting the need to look toward the future.

To finish, the group gathered in a semicircle and bowed, and the audience cheered louder than it had all night.

“We wouldn’t be here without your support,” Menon said. B.E.A.T.S closed its showcase by thanking the audience for attending. n

TV ‘Planet Sex’ Released Feb. 14, 2023

Delevingne Explores World Views on Sex

By Leah stitzeL Heights Staff

Its name alone might spark apprehension among potential viewers, but Planet Sex goes above and beyond its title, exploring everything from beauty standards to monogamy in our seemingly sexually complicated world.

English model and actress

Cara Delevingne uses her new docuseries to show viewers that modern views on sex aren’t as complicated as we think. Released on Hulu on Valentine’s Day, the show’s six episodes dive into relevant sexual and societal issues in a comprehensible way.

Traveling everywhere from Tokyo, Japan to Johannesburg, South Africa, Delevingne looks at how different cultures, countries, and individuals think about love. Much of her focus is on LGBTQ+ identities, and she touches on her personal experiences of struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality in the spotlight.

As society becomes more accepting of the queer community, shows that tackle these issues have become increasingly common— but many fail to draw in viewers from outside the community. Planet Sex is different, inviting everyone to join the conversation.

The show is filmed in the style of a travel diary, depicting a slew of people and places that are defining modern sex culture. Delevingne’s vulnerability and humor are a comforting guide to a tricky topic. She interviews a spectrum of people, from researchers to drag queens to politicians. She also weaves in her own story. Her admitting discomfort at being new to the LGBTQ+ community and feeling out of place but still publicly showing her pride puts the viewer at ease.

Early on in the show, she lovingly describes her journey as “all a bit of a hot mess,” a description that most have related to at some point in their romantic lives. Through her experiences, Delevingne pushes her comfort zone and teaches viewers to face the messiness headon.

On one excursion, she visits a festival for LGBTQ+ women in Palm Springs, Calif. Despite being out and proud at 30, she discusses how internalized shame and stigma surrounding homosexuality have stopped her from previously attending any event like this. She discovers, along with viewers, the importance of community. Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

Tran: AI Will Improve Creativity in Modern Art

By Paterson tran Assoc. Arts Editor

An empty text box and the bolded word “Generate” make up the minimalist user interface of DALL-E, a deep learning engine created by OpenAI, the same developers of ChatGPT. With a simple command, DALL-E can generate dozens of variations of any requested artwork in seconds.

As I set out to write this column, I made DALL-E present me with these three images:

Before hitting “Generate,” these three exact images did not exist—not even in my mind. DALL-E took the few words I wrote in the prompt— such as “80s style Polaroid photo” and “four purple bears dancing around a fire with one playing an accordion”— and brought them into existence.

Artificial intelligence uses code to source and bring to life combinations of images, art styles, and abstract ideas, typically generated by human intelligence. Similar to how different people have their own idea of what love, music, and emotion would look like visually, DALL-E can bring to life its own imagined

pictures of these abstract concepts. The model can create the simplest of line drawings to complex photorealistic portraits. Limitations to what DALL-E is capable of are difficult to discover within the deep learning model.

The implications behind AI’s growing abilities can be seen as disastrous. Among those affected by the growth of artificial intelligence are graphic designers, small freelance artists, and book illustrators. While businesses can save the cost of hiring an artist to create logos and event posters with AI, the new landscape of art puts many out of work and others in fear of a total AI art takeover.

Although critics have reassured readers that AI art will not threaten the art industry, their reasoning boils down to the idea that human art is irreplaceable, and that AI art will pass as a fad because of AI programs’ limitless ability to create art. Because AI art is so easily created, none of it is valuable.

I, however, believe DALL-E is here to stay, and it and other art-generating AI programs will only better the trajectory of creating art.

after decades of

remorse and controversy over contemporary art, AI art may be the push the art world needs to steer artists toward new sights that DALL-E cannot replicate.

While DALL-E mainly creates tired digital art fit for Etsy throw pillows and social justice infographics on Instagram, its existence will push artists to finally enchant onlookers with more nonconformist creations. This leaves engines like DALL-E to eternally play catch up to artists’ imaginations, and moreover, push art away from a stylistic standstill.

New artificial intelligence is able to mock contemporary art quicker than a critic with a paintbrush. Once it realizes the ability of DALL-E to replicate art, the industry will not be able to hide behind mere abstracted meaning, forcing artists to look to push themselves stylistically.

When art suprematist and historian Camille Paglia originally hailed secularism as the cause of the laziness of contemporary art, AI art was an imaginary threat. In Glittering Images, she argued that there is a new scarcity of artists like Andy Warhol, who employed his Eastern-Rite Catholic roots to create a Byzantine-like art for the modern pop world. Pop art was spared from being criticized as shallow because of driving contextual passion and inspiration. Today, passion that is derived from ideas like spirituality is purged from contemporary art. Her reaction today may parallel the idea of AI being the final realization to the art world’s fear of disrepute. Where complacency has plagued art for decades, perhaps the introduction of AI may lead to a dramatic shift.

Returning to the three images I had DALL-E create at the start of

the column, there is one qualifier to be made about how the AI engine makes the art.

The text box displays an example prompt that someone can type for DALL-E to generate.

The example suggests to the user to be specific in the style of art that they want the engine to create, such as replicating an “Impressionist oil painting.” Doing so lays the central misunderstanding of OpenAI’s purpose and capability for DALL-E. Instead of taking over art with its own creations, DALL-E can only mimic human creativity.

But only to an extent.

To put DALL-E to the test, I told it to make a fourth image to mimic my favorite artist’s style. Ernst Kirchner dominated expressionist art in the early 20th century with broad stroke depictions of extravagant German life, replete with a cool palette and eerie atmosphere. It’s safe to say what DALL-E produced looks nothing like it.

DALL-E proves its use in helping those curious enough to see how far their imagination can go in

words. The hard part when using a tool like this is when you already have the visual idea in your head. The technology ends up being disappointing when it fails to create the exact image you had imagined while typing the prompt.

Like ChatGPT, the use of AI generated art can be a double-edged sword. In both programs, the potential for moving society away from contentment and complacency is clear.

The use of AI will create a necessity for aspiring writers and artists to move away from falling into the same repetitive or uninspired work. The saying “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” applies here, as technology has come up with a way to finally break the tired pattern of art. This shift will be inevitable as AI becomes fixtures in our technologically advancing world.

I predict and hope for a new movement that will arise from the introduction of AI art. What that style of art will look like will at first be unrecognizable to us—that is the highest sign of creativity. n

SOFIA TORRES / HEIGHTS EDITOR

B.E.A.T.S. performs a variety of songs at its Black History Month showcase.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DELL-E

SPORTS

Hockey, from A1

Pyne’s overtime game-winner secured BC the 4–3 victory over UConn (18–13–4, 12–11–4) and a spot in the semifinals.

“I’m so proud of this group,” Pyne said. “We’ve been going all season and it just shows we have no quit.”

BC started to create opportunities halfway through the first frame with cross-ice passing, but fell short against the persistence of the Huskies’ defenders, who were constantly disrupting passing lanes. The Eagles’ third line, however, picked up the energy, creating turnovers and forcing UConn to reset. And with less than two minutes left in the period, defender Alexie Guay sent a pass to Cayla Barnes, who fired it back to Guay for a shot from the point.

Waiting backdoor, Caroline Goffredo came across the ice to tip in the loose puck to put BC ahead 1–0. It was Goffredo’s second goal of the season after missing time due to injury.

“To see her finally put one in— and one that meant so much—was really good for her,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “I thought that the whole line, especially in the first half of the game, were getting pucks low and creating offensive opportunities from that. They worked hard together and I think that’s what made them so successful.”

The first period ended scoreless,

and it wasn’t until freshman Brooke Campbell took advantage of a defensive zone turnover 10 minutes into the second period that action picked up. Campbell located a rebound from Christina Walker to rifle the puck past Levy, leveling the score at one. BC, however, responded quickly.

Abby Newhook set herself up with a pass to Barnes, who sent a back-

hand pass back to the sophomore in the low slot. Newhook found an open space in front of the net to tip the puck in for her 19th goal of the season to give BC a 2–1 lead at the 11:50 mark.

But the Huskies rebounded at the 17:20 mark, as Jada Habisch notched her fourth goal against the Eagles this season after firing a near-side shot to the post. The puck popped

off the body of Levy and snuck past the goaltender to tie the game at two. After intermission, UConn returned to the ice in the third period with ste ady offensive possession, registering 11 shots and leaving BC without any for the first five minutes. The Huskies struck when Habisch sent a cross-ice pass to an undefended Campbell, who landed the shot to hand the Huskies their

first lead of the game at the 14:52 mark.

“I always have hope in this group,” Levy said. “They can pull crazy things out of their bag of tricks. I never think we’re losing until that buzzer goes off.”

The Eagles, once again, responded quickly. Less than 90 seconds later, Hannah Bilka gathered the puck from the boards to send a pass to Guay. Guay fired a shot from the top of the point that found Pyne, who knotted the game at three by poking the puck past UConn goaltender Tia Chan.

“I was so fired up, no matter if I scored or not,” Pyne said. “In between periods, I was so hyper. So, just going out, I think that gave me the extra adrenaline that I needed.”

No team could score before the buzzer sounded, and they entered overtime neck and neck. The Huskies outshot the Eagles 33–30 in regulation.

Just over three minutes into the extra period, Newhook sent the puck up to Pyne, who skated through the remaining defense. Pyne landed a shot on net at the 2:39 mark to hand BC a 4–3 victory and secure the Eagles a spot in the semifinals.

“We have a group in this room that can do something special,” Crowley said. “This is just the next step in the cog. Obviously, UConn’s been a thorn in our side here for the last little bit. It was nice to pull out this win.” n

but Ostman stopped it, adding to his save total.

By Luke evans Asst. Sports Editor

No. 4 Boston College lacrosse’s difficult schedule continued with its fourth straight ranked matchup of the season, as the Eagles opened up ACC play against No. 10 Duke on Saturday.

“I think these girls want the best of the best all year round because it just requires them to play at such a high level all the time,” BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein said. “And we can never take your foot off the gas. So this is the part of what it’s like to play here.”

Entering the high stakes matchup, Duke held a 15–5 all-time series lead over BC (3–1, 1–0 Atlantic Coast). But the Eagles are quickly chipping away at that lead—having now won four of their last five contests against Duke—and Saturday’s 17–8 statement victory over the Blue Devils (3–1, 0–1) added to that total.

“I think we just had a tough fundamental game last weekend,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And it was a great opportunity to learn. And the girls embraced a really hard week of practice and hard messages from the coaches and they got a lot better.”

The Eagles wasted no time establishing a lead over Duke, as Cassidy Weeks found the back of the net under a minute into the first quarter. The early score set the tone of the game, as the Eagles never conceded their lead.

Kayla Martello, Mallory Hasselbeck, and Mckenna Davis joined the scoring in the first quarter, recording a goal each, while goalkeeper Rachel

Hall let in just one goal, anchoring BC’s defense.

“I thought Rachel was such a leader today,” Walker-Weinsetin said.

“She kept her composure, she made all the saves that she needed to make plus a few extra and I just think the defense really embraced the adjustments that were made this week and they played as a unit and that’s when they’re, to me, the best defensive unit in the country.”

After penalties—which led to free-position goals—plagued BC in its matchup on Feb. 19 against then-No.

5 Northwestern, the Eagles stayed disciplined and allowed Duke just three free-position shots in the affair.

Just like in the first quarter, BC scored early in the second, as Jenn Medjid tallied her 10th goal of the season 1:30 into the quarter to put BC up 5–1.

Duke responded with a goal of its own which brought it back within three, but Belle Smith answered at the 11:07 mark. A foul on Sydney Scales gifted Duke its first free-position attempt, and Lexi Schmalz capitalized, cutting BC’s lead to 6–3.

After the goal, however, the Blue Devils went on a 17-minute scoring drought which allowed BC to extend its lead.

A late Weeks goal at the end of the first half put the Eagles up 7–3, and BC picked up where it left off in the third quarter.

Hall continued to put on a defensive clinic, acting like a brick wall in the second half. After her fifth save of the contest, BC cleared the ball and marched down the field. Medjid potted her second goal of the game to put BC up 8–3 at the 13:37 mark of the third quarter.

Four minutes later, Duke sent a barrage of shots in Hall’s direction, but the Eagles forced a shot clock violation. In a perfect example of strong defense leading to strong offense, BC cleared the ball and again trudged down the field for a Martello goal to go up 9–3. Three minutes after that, Davis put the Eagles up 10–3.

Duke ended its scoring drought with 2:10 to go in the third quarter, and the Eagles went into the final quarter up six goals.

After early fourth-quarter goals gave BC a 12–4 lead and appeared to ice the game, Duke went on a scoring frenzy, recording four straight goals in just over four minutes.

Despite backup goalkeeper Shea Dolce entering the last three games for at least one quarter of play, Walker-Weinstein decided to keep Hall in for the entire game, even after Duke’s run.

“You know, we have a plan, we’ve got two incredible goalies and we make, you know, some decisions in advance, and some decisions in the moment,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And the two of them, Rachel and Shea, have been incredible to each other and they compete but they support each other and that’s all we can ask for.”

A Martello goal stopped the bleeding with 5:54 left in the game, and the Eagles tacked on four more insurance goals.

“I just think these guys sometimes forget how experienced they are,” Walker-Weinstein said. “And I just said to them to take a deep breath, and smile, and let their shoulders drop, and just be calm, and remember how to play at this level and they did such a great job.” n

Boston College Maine

1 2

Boston College men’s hockey took 32 shots on goal in the finale of BC’s season series against Maine on Saturday night, but Maine’s Mike Richter Award semi-finalist goaltender Victor Ostman played like a brick wall, stopping all but one of them. BC (12–14–6, 7–10–5 Hockey East) battled hard against the Black Bears (15–13–5, 9–9–4) in a game with eight total penalties and plenty of missed opportunities at a packed Alfond Arena. Despite a late surge in the third frame, the Eagles failed to filter the puck into the net and fell 2–1. With the loss, BC has now lost its last five games played in Orono, Maine.

Before Saturday, the Eagles recorded a 6–3 loss to Maine on Friday, and Maine previously defeated BC 3–1 on Feb. 10.

“The effort was there,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “We did a lot but we just gotta find some way to get the pucks in the net.”

The first period alone included four BC penalties—the same amount of total penalties the Eagles recorded on Friday night. But BC killed those penalties with precision, so much so that Maine only capitalized on the last penalty of the period—a faceoff violation on Trevor Kuntar.

Between the 11:48 mark and the 15:50 mark of the first frame, Maine outshot BC 11–1 before Nolan Renwick scored the Black Bears’ first goal on the man advantage.

Although BC went down a goal, Renwick’s tally happened to be Maine’s only power-play goal of the night, as it went one of five on power-play opportunities. The Black Bears’ 20 percent conversion rate on Saturday night was in stark contrast to their 66 percent conversion rate the night before.

The Eagles’ only shot in that time span was a Lukas Gustafsson breakaway shot 14:38 into the first period,

The Eagles jumped onto the ice with more momentum and coordination in the second period, but it didn’t reflect on the scoreboard until over 13 minutes into the frame.

BC failed to convert on a power play 5:37 into the period, and at the 11:40 mark, Maine notched another goal—with Grayson Arnott redirecting Lynden Breen’s shot on BC goaltender Mitch Benson. But the Eagles’ surge finally paid off just over two minutes later.

At the 13:38 mark, Cutter Gauthier entered Maine’s zone and fired a shot through Ostman’s five-hole—the only shot the netminder let hit the back of the net all night. BC kept its deficit at one goal through the end of the second frame.

The Eagles outshot Maine on goal 20–5 in the second period, displaying a sharp reversal from the first.

BC played even harder in the third, by getting gritty and filtering pucks out of corners. But Ostman’s goaltending shone through.

Gauthier missed a wide-open one-timer 3:11 into the third frame, and just over two minutes later, Mike Posma rang a shot off the pipe. Once again, Ostman saved a Marshall Warren slapshot at the end of another BC power-play opportunity.

“We’re battling, we’re just not scoring very easy right now,” Brown said. “Just hard to rely only on the power play but doing a lot of things right.”

The Eagles pulled Benson out of the goal with 2:17 remaining in the game, but Ostman unwaveringly defended his crease. BC took shot after shot but missed each opportunity.

“Until the 6–5, they weren’t point-blank chances,” Brown said. “In the 6–5, we had two really good looks there.”

Connecticut

Boston

Boston

Gakdeng’s 22 Snaps Eagles’ Six-Game Losing Streak

By souraBh GokarN

Copy Editor

Entering its final game of the season having lost 11 of its last 12 games, Boston College women’s basketball desperately needed a win on Sunday against Wake Forest.

Over the matchup’s first 10 minutes, however, the Eagles’ recent woes seemed unshakeable, as they fell behind by double digits with 2:44 left in the quarter.

Even point guard Taina Mair—who averaged 23 points over her last two games amid a standout rookie season— couldn’t crack the Demon Deacons’ stifling defense.

But BC kicked into gear in the second quarter, surging to a 14–0 start in the frame. Led by a season-high 22 points from Maria Gakdeng, the Eagles (15–16, 5–13 Atlantic Coast) spoiled the Demon Deacons’ (14–15, 5–13) senior day and picked up a much-needed 73–63 win.

“Everybody lifted each other up,” BC head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. “And that’s what you got to do in this conference to get a win.

Everybody’s got to really play together.”

The win also snapped BC’s sixgame losing streak and helped end the Eagles’ regular season on a positive note, according to Gakdeng.

“It was a good way to end the regular season,” Gakdeng said. “We’re all in good spirits now, so going into the ACC Tournament I think we’re going to be really ready.”

Wake Forest needed just over three minutes to claim an early 10–3 lead after Mack Maier and Jewel Spear each drilled a 3-pointer.

The Demon Deacons continued to pour it on and rode a 12–2 run to end the first quarter and go ahead 26–13.

Perfect from the field, senior Kaia Harrison led the way for Wake Forest in the first 10 minutes, scoring nine points and dishing out three assists. Mair turned the ball over four times in the first quarter.

“We had a really bad first quarter,” Bernabei-McNamee said.

But Ally VanTimmeren kept her squad afloat in the second quarter, scoring eight points amid the Eagles’ 14–0 quarter-opening run.

A JoJo Lacey 3-pointer at the 4:46 mark of the second quarter knotted the game up 26–26, forcing Wake Forest

head coach Megan Gebbia to call a timeout. The Demon Deacons had yet to score in the second quarter up to that point.

“I think that just sharing the ball was a big thing,” Gakdeng said. “I think once we got into that … we started having shots fall, and that’s when we picked up.”

BC grabbed its first lead of the game just over a minute later via a Mair jumper.

Lacey added another 3-pointer with 1:18 to play in the first half, sending the Eagles to the locker room ahead 33–32.

BC’s lead could have been larger, however, had the Eagles not left six points on the table with 4-of-10 firsthalf free throw shooting.

Despite BC’s second-quarter surge, the Eagles could not extinguish their turnover woes. Wake Forest made them pay, scoring 11 points off BC’s 11 first-half turnovers. Shooting struggles continued for Wake Forest in the third quarter, though it found offensive success drawing fouls and knocking down free throws.

Mair picked up her fourth personal foul late in the quarter, but Gakdeng— who put up 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the third quarter—carried the

scoring load. The sophomore center dissected the Demon Deacons’ interior defense and dominated the paint.

“It was just already in my head to step up,” Gakdeng said. “So that’s just what I did.”

Gakdeng scored a reverse layup with five seconds remaining in the third quarter to put the Eagles ahead 51–49 entering the final 10 minutes.

Freshman Kayla Lezama set up the Eagles’ basket by drawing a charging foul on the previous play.

“It was a huge momentum swing for us, and I was so proud for [Lezama], because she works hard everyday,” Bernabei-McNamee said.

Gakdeng stayed hot in the fourth

quarter, scoring six straight points to open up some breathing room for the Eagles as the clock winded down.

Improved free throw shooting proved to be the difference, as BC nailed 10 of its 14 fourth-quarter attempts to seal the victory.

The win—despite BC’s shaky first quarter—marks a sign of optimism as BC begins preparing for the ACC Tournament, Bernabei-McNamee said.

“We’re really excited about the fact that we still haven’t put four quarters together again,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “We haven’t done that in a while … so we’re kind of looking forward to, you know, ending on a really high note in this ACC Tournament.” n

Eagles Stay Hot, Sweep Weekend Games

By Nick Fursey For The Heights

Entering the weekend, Boston College baseball was riding a three-game win streak, with two wins coming over Pepperdine last weekend and one over Bucknell on Friday.

But just a year ago, the Eagles were in a near opposite position. After winning its first game of the 2022 season, BC went 1–4 over its next five games. This

year, the Eagles (5–1) continued their hot streak, defeating Rutgers (2–4) 6–4 on Sunday and Canisius (2–2) 3–0 on Saturday. Throughout this five-game stretch, BC’s offense found its form, averaging nine runs per game.

In Sunday’s contest against the Scarlet Knights, Joe Vetrano opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with a sacrifice double play to put the Eagles up 1–0. Rutgers responded quickly with a run in the bottom of the first and second inning to take a 2–1 lead.

Despite facing a deficit, BC did not crack under pressure like it did in its

first game of the season. The Eagles responded with two runs of their own in the top of the third inning with RBI singles from Patrick Roche and Nick Wang to retake a 3–2 lead. Vetrano added his second RBI of the game with a single through second base to give BC a two-run cushion.

Still, Rutgers would be silenced. The Scarlet Knights tacked on two runs with a homer in the fifth inning and a Jordan Sweeney double that scored a run in the sixth inning. Despite its offensive success, Rutgers’ pitching—which has plagued it to start the season—let it down once again.

Roche provided the final lift for BC with a double that drove in the Eagles’ fifth run in the top of the sixth inning and a sacrifice fly ball that scored their sixth and final run in the eighth inning.

Although BC’s pitching was shaky at times, Eric Schroeder secured his first win of the season with two earned runs through four innings, and Andrew Roman allowed two hits and no runs in the final three innings.

On Saturday, the Eagles’ pitching corps carried them in their matchup against Canisius, as BC won its first game of the weekend with a 3–0 shutout victory.

Right-handed pitcher Chris Flynn started the game and earned his second win of the season, notching 10 strikeouts in six innings throughout the contest. The Golden Griffins managed only three hits against Flynn.

The game remained scoreless until the sixth inning when Cameron Leary blasted a home run to center field to give BC a 1–0 lead. The home run marked Leary’s second of the year.

Barry Walsh followed with a single to the right side, sending Wang to third

base. Adonys Guzman then grounded into a double play, but it allowed Wang to score BC’s second run of the game.

The final blow was Vetrono’s solo home run in the top of the seventh inning, giving BC a three-run cushion that was enough to secure the win.

Relief pitcher Julian Tonghini replaced Flynn in the seventh inning and continued BC’s shutout performance. The right-hander allowed zero hits and zero runs and struck out three batters in the victory to earn the save. n

BC Goes 2–3, Dunning Shines in Joan Joyce Classic

By MadelyN lawlor Copy Chief

Heading into the weekend, Boston College softball had played two straight tournaments in Florida. On Friday, the Eagles took on their third Florida tournament, this time in Boca Raton in the Joan Joyce Classic.

BC started the tournament with a shutout 6–0 loss to Wisconsin in the first game of a Friday doubleheader.

The Eagles (8–7), however, responded with a 2–1 win against Florida Atlantic.

On Saturday, the Eagles dropped their second game of the tournament, falling to Florida Atlantic 4–3, and then their third with a loss to Villanova 5–0 in their second Saturday game. BC finished the weekend on a strong note with a 5–1 win over the Wildcats.

After losing both games on Saturday, BC rebounded on Sunday with a decisive 5–1 victory over Villanova (6–9) behind strong hitting and dominant pitching from Abby Dunning.

The first runs of the game came in the third inning. Maddy Carpe reached third base on a passed ball and a Kali Case single. Hannah Silke then reached first base on an error and scored Carpe. A wild pitch then sent Case home, and Abigail Knight and Nicole Giery each smashed in singles

that drove in two more runs to put BC ahead 4–0. BC cushioned its lead in the fifth inning. Knight scored after Erika Andal sent a single to the left side to bring the score to 5–0. And while the Wildcats scored one run in the top of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly, the deficit was too much for them to overcome, and BC came away with the win.

Dunning struck out six batters through seven innings, giving up only four hits in the outing.

Saturday evening had nearly the reverse outcome, as the Eagles lost to Villanova 5–0. The Wildcats were powered by two Ryan Henry home runs. Henry knocked a three-run homer in the second inning to give Villanova a 3–0 lead, and followed

that up with another home run in the sixth inning to drive in two more runs.

BC struggled offensively, managing only two hits and scoring zero runs. Despite recording nine strikeouts, pitcher Halie Pappion still gave up six hits and five runs.

After defeating Florida Atlantic (9–6) Friday afternoon, BC failed to replicate its success on Saturday, losing 4–3. Florida Atlantic took a 3–0 lead in the fourth inning that started when Susannah Anderson hit Olivia Peterson with a pitch. Becca Jones then singled and Zoey Jones hit a double which brought Peterson across the plate for the first run of the game. A Riley Ennis single knocked in the other two runs. But the Eagles fought back, scoring two runs in the fifth on two throwing errors to come within one.

Knight chopped a single in the top of the seventh inning to drive home Case and tie the game. The game, however, didn’t stay tied for long. Florida Atlantic’s Sommer Baker blasted a triple out to center field to open the bottom of the seventh inning, and first baseman Darien McDonough committed a field error that allowed Baker to score the winning run and hand BC the loss.

Friday afternoon also featured Dunning’s pitching, as the sophomore

struck out seven batters and allowed only two hits in seven innings.

The Eagles managed to squeak out a 2–1 victory on Friday afternoon behind Dunning’s performance to split the series with Florida Atlantic. BC opened the scoring with two runs from singles by Giery, Andal, and Maycee Hilt in the top of the fourth inning. But the Eagles then gave up a home run to Sara Berthiaume in the bottom of the fourth, cutting their lead to one.

Dunning maintained the lead for BC, only giving up one more hit in the fifth inning, and the Eagles walked away with their first win of the tournament.

BC lost 6–0 to Wisconsin (6–6) in the first game of the tournament Friday morning. Brooke Kuffel hit a home run in the second inning to give Wisconsin a 1–0 lead and then hit an RBI double to center field in the fourth inning to put the Badgers up two. A sacrifice bunt by Peyton Bannon in the fourth inning increased the Badgers’ lead to 3–0.

Wisconsin doubled its run total with a three-run seventh inning to close out the victory. Susannah Anderson pitched 6.1 innings and gave up seven hits and six earned runs while throwing only two strikeouts in the loss. n

Abby Dunning threw 13 strikeouts in the Joan Joyce Classic.

Maria Gakdeng scored 22 points and eight points on Sunday afternoon.

KENNETH CHEN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Joe Vetrano, pictured above, registered three hits this past weekend.

CAROLINE CANNON / HEIGHTS STAFF