Community celebrates Jersey Kebab reopening after immigration raid
GRACE O’MEARA ’27 News Reporter
Hundreds of people lined up outside Jersey Kebab, a restaurant in Haddon Township, New Jersey, to celebrate the release of owner Emine Emanet after she and her husband, Celal Emanet, were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in February.
The couple moved to the United States from Turkey in 2008. Celal was granted a temporary R-1 visa for religious workers and was waiting for the outcome of his permanent residency application when the couple was arrested by ICE Feb. 25.
Members of the community in South Jersey donated over $327,000 to an online fundraiser to pay for legal fees and support the family after the restaurant closed when the Emanets were arrested. Celal Emanet was released shortly after being processed, but Emine Emanet was held in the detention center for two more weeks before she, too, was released.
To show their appreciation, the family hosted a celebration March 30 to thank their customers, said Muhammed Emanet, the couple’s son, who was 10 years old when the Emanets moved to the U.S. in 2008. Attendees were treated to a free meal of lamb, chicken, rice, tzatziki and baklava as a thank-you gesture from the Emanet family.
Muhammed Emanet said while the food initially brought people to the restaurant, the support during difficult times is what he believes truly matters.
“To see the fact that all the love we put out there through our food, which brought this entire community together, and our energy and everything that we’ve shared with these people over the last five years, it’s just been an experience of a lifetime,” Muhammed Emanet said.
Haddon Township Mayor Randall
Teague, one of the many people at the event, said the community’s response to the couple’s detention is a testament to the Emanet family.
“They are an integral part of our community, whether it be the business itself or just their outreach to our community and those in need or could use some help,” Teague said. “They would offer them food, and they were always out there to offer their help and assistance to our community.”
The family’s story reached beyond Haddon Township. Boris Robulco, from New Brunswick, said he traveled to show his support after hearing about it from a local friend.
“This is actually the second time that I’ve been here,” Robulco said. “I’ve been here a couple of years back, but honestly, to come here and to see just the outpour of community support for these guys, it’s really inspiring.”
Isis Williams, president of the Haddon Township Equity Initiative, a nonprofit that supported the Emanet family after their arrest and release, said she hopes the Emanet’s experience shows the community how important it is to show up for one another.
“We’re like one big family. It doesn’t take much for people to realize that at any moment, it could be them; it could be any of us in this scenario,” Williams said. “We just hope that if it was one of us, someone would show up for us in the same way.”
Lori Weinberg Leonard created the GoFundMe fundraiser after hearing the family’s story. Leonard said she had experience running successful fundraisers in the past and wanted to give her assistance, having dined at the restaurant before and experienced the Emanet’s generosity.
“My favorite quote is, ‘I always wondered why somebody didn’t do
something about that; then I realized that I am somebody,’” Leonard said. “I try to live my life that way and always be open to being that someone, especially in terms of an injustice.”
The HTEI focuses on creating and supporting “a sense of belonging” in the community, especially so that “historically marginalized members feel seen, heard, respected, and celebrated,” according to its website.
Pip Haxby-Thompson, HTEI board member, said he hopes the support shown by the community serves as an example for others.
“I hope that whatever has been put out there about this community here, it’s reflected in other communities around the U.S. as well,” Haxby-Thompson said. “They can see it and mirror what we’ve done to show support where they are.”
The HTEI hosted a letter-writing event March 2 to advocate for Emine Emanet’s release. These letters were printed, notarized and presented to the judge to call for her release.
Through both the restaurant’s success and his family’s hardships, Muhammed Emanet said he has gained a deeper understanding of resilience. He said the challenges of being an immigrant shaped his perspective.
“Being an immigrant does have a lot of challenges to where you can either let those challenges drown you out, or you can use it as motivation to persevere through,” Muhammed Emanet said. “It will build your character up. You always just continue doing the right thing.”
Hawk Hill counseling services moving to new residence hall
VINCENT KORNACKI ’25 Managing Editor
St. Joe’s Counseling and Psychological Services is moving to Sister Thea Bowman Hall in the fall 2025 semester, bringing the CAPS space to a more centralized location on the Hawk Hill campus compared to its current location in Merion Gardens.
The new CAPS center will be about double the size of the Merion Gardens space, with 17 rooms and an expanded capacity to help students, said Scott Sokoloski, Ph.D., director of CAPS.
“My greatest priorities were to create a space which would be welcoming to students and one that would provide opportunities that we don’t currently have,” Sokoloski wrote in an email to The Hawk.
In fall 2022, Sokoloski, then-newly appointed director of CAPS, was presented with the unique opportunity to give input on the design for the new CAPS center. He said he advised the architects on how to lay out the center’s rooms and made suggestions for “the color scheme, furniture types and sizes, soundproofing, and lighting, all of which can affect how warm and welcoming the space will be for students.”
Some of the opportunities provided by the new center will include a group space that will host group therapy meetings, a wellness room for patients to perform wellness activities in isolation and a conference room.
“In our current CAPS space, we are largely unable to accommodate these crucial mental health and wellness
activities, which will supplement the important work that we do to support students through our therapeutic services,” Sokoloski said.
Alongside creating new opportunities for students, Sokoloski emphasized the accessibility of the new center, especially compared to the current Merion Gardens location, which will be closing at the end of the spring 2025 semester.
“We have received frequent feedback that Merion Gardens is too far away from their classes or residence halls, which makes it more difficult to attend sessions in person, even though the SJU shuttle stops at Merion Gardens,” Sokoloski said. “I believe that by making it easier for students to come see us, we will be able to better help students who might otherwise have decided it was too difficult or time consuming.”
Sokoloski also said the new location will allow CAPS to take a more active role in campus events and activities.
The center will also feature a mural, the design of which will be revealed when the center opens in the fall. Created by Becky McIntyre ’17, the mural will depict imagery that is a union between St. Joe’s culture and mental health.
McIntyre, a sociology and Spanish major during her time as a Hawk, has previously worked with St. Joe’s and 10 other Philadelphia Catholic colleges and universities as the resident artist for the Synodality in Catholic Higher Education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia initiative, which represents students participating
in the Synod on Synodality, an initiative started by Pope Francis to build a more united and active church.
McIntyre emphasized the importance of creating a welcoming environment in places that align with her personal values.
“When I say ‘yes’ to projects, I make sure that they’re aligned with my values of supporting pieces of art that promote education, that promote justice, that promote conversation and dialogue and creating safe spaces,” McIntyre said.
As part of her creative process for making the mural, McIntyre asked for input from the St. Joe’s community.
“Usually I come into a project looking to build relationships with whatever community I’m working with and gaining
their perspectives on what they would want to see, what would engage them, what they want to feel, what they want to encounter in a space,” McIntyre said.
This input came from multiple brainstorming sessions with students and faculty, where participants could offer ideas verbally or draw their own concepts.
Dominic Rossi ’25 and Darian Krug ’25 both participated in a brainstorming session as part of their work with St. Joe’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Rossi, president of the St. Joe’s chapter of NAMI, said McIntyre’s process helped focus on CAPS’ mission.
GRAPHIC: STEPHANIE SAVELA ’25/THE HAWK
The restaurant front of Jersey Kebab, located in Haddon Township, New Jersey, covered with supportive notes, March 30. PHOTO: GRACE O’MEARA ’27/THE HAWK
Measles outbreak spreads to Philadelphia
JACOB PEIFER ’25
Special to the Hawk
The U.S. now has at least 600 measles cases reported in 21 states, including Pennsylvania, according to an April 4 update issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 481 of these cases have been reported in the South Plains and Panhandle areas of Texas, with a second measles-related death of an unvaccinated child reported by the Texas Department of State Health Services April 6.
According to CDC guidelines, the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination remains the most important tool for preventing measles, a highly contagious viral infection.
St. Joe’s Student Health Center Director Eileen Bevilacqua, RN, wrote in an email to The Hawk that “the risk of contracting measles after vaccination is very low. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97% effective in preventing measles.”
St. Joe’s Immunization Policy states that students must submit their immunization records to the Student Health Portal in order to register for classes. Two doses of the MMR vaccine, given on or after the first birthday, and separated by at least one month, are required.
Bevilacqua said the Student Health Center is preparing for a possible case of measles on campus by preparing a list of students who have not provided documentation of receiving two doses of the MMR vaccine.
“These students may have waivers or exemptions for medical or religious reasons,” Bevilacqua said. “They will be contacted proactively to explain if a measles case is identified on campus, to provide education about exclusion requirements the school must enforce and to encourage vaccination.”
Preliminary data from the CDC indicates between one and nine measles cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York City and New York State. The Philadelphia Department of Public Health confirmed a person had a case of measles in South Philadelphia in mid March, believed to have been contracted during international travel.
RELOCATING” FROM PG. 2
“[McIntyre] was really able to listen to all of us,” Rossi said. “Even people that aren’t artistic, like me or some other people there, were able to write down their ideas and still have that engagement. It’s important because the emphasis of CAPS is on the students and their well being, so the mural of CAPS should be student-based.” Krug, events coordinator of the St.
Julia Lee-Soety, Ph.D., associate professor of biology who teaches immunology and molecular genetics, said that measles is one of the most infectious diseases.
“It’s airborne, so if you walk into a room and somebody with measles had just been coughing, you could pick it up,” said Lee-Soety. “It’s more infectious than covid, more infectious than HIV, and also flu.”
Measles was declared eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, according to the CDC, meaning there was no continuous spread of the disease for over 12 months, even though cases and outbreaks still occur every year in the U.S. The majority of cases have been among people who are not vaccinated against measles.
According to 2024 data from the CDC, “vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners has decreased from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7% in the 2023-2024 school year.”
Even though the MMR vaccine is very effective, undervaccination can still lead to outbreaks, said Shantanu Bhatt, Ph.D., professor of biology.
“[Vaccines] are really, really important tools in medicine to be able to fight off pathogens so that we don’t have these
Joe’s chapter of NAMI, agreed that both the new center and the brainstorming sessions emphasize CAPS’ focus on students.
“The fact that they are emphasizing that they want students to feel comfortable and this to be a space where people can come to and not feel stigmatized or ashamed to talk about [mental health] makes it really great,” Krug said.
Sokoloski said McIntyre’s focus on the
outbreaks and then they don’t graduate to epidemics or pandemics,” said Bhatt. “Many of the pandemics, or epidemics, that we’ve seen, quite a few of these have been because of outbreaks that started off in unvaccinated areas and then proliferated from there.”
Bhatt said vaccine hesitancy can be traced to false claims made by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in a 1998 article in the medical journal The Lancet. In the article, Wakefield and his co-authors falsely linked the MMR vaccine to autism spectrum disorder.
“The biggest problem, and we continue to experience that to this day, is that 1998 paper that was published by Andrew Wakefield, where he falsified data and linked the MMR vaccine to colitis,” said Bhatt. “That really decreased the vaccination rate, increased the occurrence of measles.”
Lee-Soety said Wakefield profited from his paper which was surrounded by ethical issues.
“It turned out to be a lie,” said Lee-Soety. “He put out that lie and still firmly believes it because he’s a snake oil salesman. He has monetary gains from propagating the lies.”
community was key in St. Joe’s decision to bring her on for the project.
“[McIntyre] believed it would be meaningful to design a mural with input from SJU students, which is a part of her creative process that she has used often in her career,” Sokoloski said. “That idea is what convinced me, and the rest of the university, that she was the right artist for this project.”
In 2011, the medical journal BMJ published a series of articles debunking the 1998 Wakefield article, which was later retracted by The Lancet, stating that “clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on this damaging vaccine scare.” Ten of Wakefiled’s co-authors eventually retracted their interpretation of the data for their study.
In Philadelphia county, about 97.5% of seventh-grade students and 97.1% of 12th-grade students have received at least two doses of the MMR vaccine, according to state data for the 2023-2024 school year. The CDC recommends the first dose of the MMR vaccine for children at 12-15 months old, with a second dose typically given at ages 4-6 years old. Adults and teens should also be up to date on MMR vaccinations with either one or two doses (depending on risk factors), unless they have other presumptive evidence of immunity to measles, mumps and rubella. MMR vaccination is especially important for healthcare professionals, international travelers and other specific groups, according to the CDC.
The new center, with the mural on display, is expected to open with the rest of Sister Thea Bowman Hall at the start of the fall 2025 semester.
This article is part of the Philly Mental Health Initiative, a collaboration initiated by The Temple News student newspaper between Philadelphia-area student publications covering mental health on our campuses.
Department of Public Safety reports (March 29-April 4)
March 29
No incidents to report.
March 30
Public Safety notified of a larceny theft at Sourin Residence Center. Public Safety responded, a report was taken and the incident is being investigated.
Public Safety notified of a vandalism incident at Villiger Residence Center. Public Safety responded, a report was taken and the incident is being investigated.
March 31
No incidents to report.
April 1
No incidents to report.
April 2 No incidents to report.
April 3
No incidents to report.
April 4
Public Safety notified of a minor disturbance across from Villiger Residence Center. Public Safety and the Philadelphia Police Department responded, and a report was taken.
GRAPHIC: CARA HALLIGAN ’25/THE HAWK
“CAPS
‘Silent Sky’ takes center stage
KILEY O’BRIEN ’25
Assistant Features Editor
The department of music, theatre & film and the SJU Theatre Company will be performing their production of “Silent Sky” April 10-April 13.
“Silent Sky” is a play written by Lauren Gunderson that depicts the true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt, played by Delaney Shur ’27 in the St. Joe’s production. Following her achievements, the audience is taken through Leavitt’s personal journey as she battles societal stigmas against women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics during this time.
Laura Pattillo, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and director of “Silent Sky,” said one reason she chose the play is because of its relation to St. Joe’s and the strong presence of women in STEM, thanks in part to the university’s merger with University of the Sciences in 2022 and the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences in 2024.
“It connects so well with both our Jesuit tradition and the programs we have recently welcomed to SJU,” Patillo said.
Benjamin Russell ’27 plays the role of Peter Shaw, a fictional character who is responsible for overseeing women working in the Harvard College Observatory where Leavitt is placed. He develops into a romantic interest for Leavitt later on.
Russell said Shaw represents the perspective of men in the early 19th century and their relationship with women’s ambition.
“He is the only man in the show, which is very intentional,” Russell said. “He partly represents the patriarchy at the time, and the whole premise is Henrietta is trying to discover the truth of the world, and that is stopping her.”
Jayla Stephens ’28 is cast as Annie Cannon, a pioneering astronomer who also works at the observatory and acts as a feminist voice and mentor to Leavitt in the show.
Stephens said she anticipates the “thrilling” feeling of being on stage, enjoying each step of the production process.
“Whether it be a simple prop or the full-blown lighting design, what was envisioned by Lauren Gunderson on paper is in front of my own eyes,” Stephens said.
“The stage is my safe space, and it looks absolutely amazing.”
April 5 marked the theatre company’s tech week, where the production was run through from top to bottom, navigating the costume changes and set design.
Meghan Clark ’27, who is cast as Williamina Fleming, Leavitt’s coworker who adds humor to the production, said the preparation is fatiguing yet fun, bringing the castmates closer together.
“We have a long and tiring week ahead of us, but we are fueled by our excitement,” Clark said.
Russell said he is looking forward to viewers seeing how the production connects to today’s world, including timeless themes that can resonate with anyone.
“It’s a beautiful show because it not
CROSSWORD: Cinema city
GAVIN KUEBLER ’25
Assistant Features Editor
Across
2.“Muppets Take _______,” a 1984 classic family film where the Muppets gang tries to debut their stage act in the big city.
3.“Viva _______ _______,” a rock ’n’ roll musical starring Elvis Presley.
4.“_______ _______ Cop,” a 1984 police thriller featuring Eddie Murphy.
5.“_______ Buyers Club,” a 2013 drama about a man who is diagnosed with AIDS, starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner.
8.“_______ed,” a 1915 Charlie Chaplin silent film.
9.“Straight Outta _______,” a 2015 biographical movie covering the hip-hop group N.W.A.
only parallels these actual, deep problems in our world, but it actually helps us grow as people,” Russell said. “I think everyone is looking for their place in where they are, and I think that’s relatable for everyone.”
Clark said she is most excited for the performance to bring light to women who have been neglected in their careers in the past.
“These women’s discoveries have made an indelible mark in the field of astronomy,
yet I never heard their names before this show,” Clark said. “I hope that the audience can appreciate the brilliance of these women who have been largely ignored by history.”
Delaney Shur ’27 is the social media manager for The Hawk.
Down
1.“_______ Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” a 2006 race car comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.
6.“An American Werewolf in _______,” a 1981 horror spoof mashing two prior film titles.
7.“Sleepless in _______,” a 1993 rom-com with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
Jayla Stephens ’28, Delaney Shur ’27 and Meghan Clark ’27 star as Annie Cannon, Henrietta Leavitt and Williamina Fleming in the department of music, theatre & film and the SJU Theatre Company’s production of “Silent Sky.” PHOTO: ZACH PODOLNICK ’26/THE HAWK
Refocusing on old technology
Digital point-and-shoot
MONICA SOWINSKI ’26
Sports Reporter
Generation Z’s preference for old technology is helping boost sales of point-and-shoot cameras.
After being decimated by the smartphone market, camera sales have risen steadily in the last three years, according to 2024 Camera and Imaging Products Association data.
But the rise in point-and-shoot cameras — compact digital cameras that don’t have interchangeable lenses — has stemmed from a resurgence in using older technology to capture fun and flashy candids.
Allie Harrer ’27 borrowed her aunt’s Olympus Tough TG-6 digital camera on vacation in 2023 and never stopped using it. Harrer said she prefers taking photos on her digital camera because the candid shots with her friends always turn out better. She said she also likes the time and date stamp on the photos.
“When you use the flash on your iPhone camera, it’s too bright, or it’s too dark,” Harrer said. “I feel like my camera’s right in the middle. It’s the perfect amount that takes the perfect pictures.”
The simple press of a button makes point-and-shoot cameras popular among consumers. They don’t require any prior or specific knowledge about cameras.
Lily Rokita, an employee at Unique Photo in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood, said customers often come in looking for a straightforward camera, and the point-and-shoot delivers.
camera make a comeback
Many of these customers are in their late 20s to 40s, she said.
“People don’t understand that the second you get interchangeable lenses, the cameras are just going to be physically bigger, even if they’re still tiny,” Rokita said. “It’s a different genre of camera.”
Chris Fascenelli, Unique Photo’s store manager, said he has seen a huge rise in requests for point-and-shoot cameras since spring 2024. They’ve been on the rise ever since the re-emergence of the Fujifilm X100V camera that was released in 2022, Fascenelli said. Its popularity is linked to TikTok and Instagram reels.
When Fujifilm’s X100V1 released in early 2024, Unique Photo still had backorders from the X100V. Another popular option, Fascenelli said, is Canon’s G7X Mark III, which has been consistently sold out.
“The demand has been fierce,” Fascenelli said. “Manufacturers, even now, months later, are struggling to keep up with the demand.”
Harrer said everyone she knows is getting a point-and-shoot camera. One of her roommates recently purchased one after seeing the result of the pictures on Harrer’s camera.
“It’s definitely a big thing,” Harrer said, adding that she often shares the photos she takes on an Instagram account she made solely for her point-and-shoot photos.
The cost of digital point-and-shoot cameras can vary, but those buying a digital camera for fun tend to purchase used digital point-and-shoot cameras for around or under $200.
Jackie Neale, adjunct professor of photography at St. Joe’s who also teaches at the New York Film Academy in New York City, has been running her own photography business for 30 years. Neale said digital cameras have come a long way. They used to be unable match the high resolution and quality that film cameras offered, she said.
“It was always pixelated,” Neale said. “It was always full of noise. No professional photographer was ready to adopt that technology. They didn’t want to.”
Neale isn’t the biggest fan of digital point-and-shoot cameras because their
Rising to the occasion Finding community in baking bread
TAYLA EVANS
My social media Explore pages are full of bread-making content. I could scroll for ages through posts and accounts dedicated to this carbohydrate.
Some of that popularity still seems to be riding the coattails of the covid-19 pandemic. When the 2020 lockdown began, people turned to new outlets for their restlessness; Google searches for sourdough hit a peak in popularity in early April 2020.
After seeing social media posts from other St. Joe’s faculty members, April Lindner, Ph.D., professor of English, decided to jump on the bread-making bandwagon herself. It was an activity she came to enjoy, alongside a community of fellow faculty bakers.
“It’s kind of magical,” Lindner said. “You start with these ingredients. They’re almost nothing — water, a little bit of salt, little bit of flour. And then you’ve got this amazing thing. It’s more of a mood lifter for me.”
Ruben Mendoza, Ph.D., associate professor of decision and system sciences, was part of that university group, too. He loves baking sourdough for a lot of reasons: the taste, the freshness and making his wife happy. He enjoys the process, too.
“Once you catch on to the little tricks, it’s a lot simpler than it seems,” Mendoza said. “It’s work, but when you do something, and you do it well and you do it with pleasure, it feels fantastic.”
I wanted a taste of that happiness, too. But my own experience with bread-making is minimal, and that’s only if you count banana bread, which is technically a cake. Sourdough seemed too hard a task to surmount, so when I decided to make bread for the first time,
I went with sandwich bread to match my novice abilities.
As a broke college student, I decided on a recipe from The Practical Kitchen to minimize costs. I used Target gift cards to pay for the flour and instant yeast. My roommates lent me the oil, salt and honey.
Sarah Fine, Aramark nutritionist and dietitian at St. Joe’s, said cost and time can be important factors for students like me who want to make their own bread.
“The cost of homemade bread depends on the type of bread you are making but may be comparable in price or less expensive than store-bought bread,” Fine said. “However, this can be very time-consuming, which may deter college students away from making their own bread.”
One of my first time investments was converting the recipe from grams to volume. After that came the work of baking. I combined instant yeast, flour and salt in a large bowl, and the oil, water and honey into a smaller bowl. After whisking the dry ingredients together, I poured the wet ingredients in and began to stir.
Once the ingredients started to come together, I began kneading. But the ingredients didn’t form into the consistency the directions called for. I tried splashing more water in and mixed until the dough came to be the mostly correct texture. It wasn’t as smooth as I was hoping, though, and didn’t stretch much.
I set my dough aside in a greased bowl, covered it with a kitchen towel and let it rest for an hour and 15 minutes. Then, I placed the dough into a greased pan and waited another 30 minutes. I set the oven to 375 F and sliced the top of the loaf to help it expand. After an additional 30 minutes, it was finally time to go into the oven.
lower resolution isn’t adequate for commercial photography. But she understands why some people enjoy using them, especially if the end goal is to showcase photos on social media.
“It doesn’t really matter what camera you’re using. If you have a good eye, if you have a story to tell, if you have good composition and aesthetic, it doesn’t even really matter about that quality,” Neale said. “The point-and-shoot cameras offer something to the aesthetic that the artist is looking for, and I encourage the use of it.”
As the timer counted down 35 minutes, I finally got to experience something Lindner and Mendoza said: One of the best parts about baking bread is the smell that fills the house.
I eventually opened the oven door and carefully pulled out the loaf. The top was lightly browned with a crisp edge. It smelled even better up close.
After letting it cool, I sliced the bread open. The inside was oddly pale in color, but I carried on and bit into the first slice.
It tasted, well, not great. It was a little too doughy, rich and flavorless, probably due to the faulty conversions I did. As they say, though, you live and you learn.
My roommates shared their ingredients with me, so I decided to share the bread
with them. I sliced it into three sections and watched as my friends bit into the crispy crust before sinking into the doughy middle. Their reviews were far more pleasant than the tasteless loaf deserved.
Truth be told, it did taste of something. It tasted like the trip to the store to buy ingredients and using the Target gift cards given to me out of love. It tasted like the pan my partner’s grandmother let me borrow, an action that symbolized her giving me a part of her kitchen. It tasted like the three women who had become my home, sharing their salt, honey and oil with me. It tasted like community.
In times like these, what’s a better taste than that?
A photo of a beach in the Dominican Republic Allie Harrer ’27 took using her aunt’s point-and-shoot camera PHOTO: ALLIE HARRER ’27
’27 News Reporter
Tayla Evans’ ’27 sourdough loaf sits on the stove of her Rashford apartment. PHOTO: TAYLA EVANS ’27/THE HAWK
‘There were glass ceilings everywhere’
How Claire Smith became the first woman to cover an MLB beat
MIA MESSINA ’25 Sports Editor
Before she was the first woman journalist to cover a Major League Baseball beat, Claire Smith was a Penn State college student unsure of what she wanted to do.
During the nearly three years she was at Penn State, the now 71-year-old Smith studied pre-law, political science and then history before dropping out. The one thing she knew for certain: She loved baseball.
“It preoccupied my leisure time,” said Smith, who grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and rooted for the Dodgers. “In the back of my mind, unbeknownst to me, I thought, ‘Well, I’d like to work in baseball.’”
Smith’s father, William Smith, eventually sat her down and asked what she wanted to do. Baseball, she told him.
“‘Well, do it. Let’s do it,’” Smith said her father replied. “‘Go back to school. We’ve got you on this. Just get back in school and go after what you want.’”
So, Smith returned to higher education studying public relations at Temple University. As part of the curriculum, she took a journalism course with Jacqueline Steck, then-professor of journalism and director of undergraduate publications. A “proverbial light bulb” went off, Smith said.
“If I was a journalist, as opposed to public relations, I could write my own ideas and have my own voice,” Smith said. “And that’s when I decided, there and then, to pursue being a baseball reporter.”
While taking night courses at Temple, Smith also freelanced, covering whatever the Bucks County Courier Times needed in order to gain journalism experience. But she knew being a sports reporter at the Courier Times was a long shot. At the time, no women or people of color were on the
Courier Times’ sports desk. Smith said she knew she wouldn’t be able to convince the editor to give her a chance, so she left the Courier in 1979.
Smith’s next stop was The Philadelphia Bulletin, but she still wasn’t given the opportunity to cover sports. When she told the managing editor at the time, Craig Ammerman, that she would be leaving the Bulletin to cover high school sports for Newsday, Smith was moved to the sports desk within the week. There, she covered University of Pennsylvania football and women’s college basketball.
When the Bulletin folded in 1982, Smith ended up at the Hartford Courant in Connecticut, where she wrote feature pieces on the Mets. That summer, in 1983, the Courant’s Yankees writer, Clemson Smith, was out with a knee injury. Claire Smith was asked to step in until he returned.
Once Clemson Smith was cleared to return, Jim Smith, the sports editor at the Courant, told Claire Smith he would lose his job if he took her off the beat. So, Clemson Smith became the beat writer for the Celtics while Claire Smith remained with the Yankees full-time, becoming the first woman to cover an MLB beat at any publication in the U.S.
Not only did Smith go on to fulfill her dream but she helped to forge a path for other women, and in particular, Black women like her.
Karen Turner, J.D., a former associate professor of journalism at Temple who worked with Smith, said while women like Smith didn’t have anyone to look up to in their journey, especially women of color, Smith is that role model for
the women pursuing a career in sports journalism who came after her.
“It’s important to be able to see yourself, and so the fact that she has been there, been in the business since the 80s, you know that it’s possible,” Turner said. “For those people who didn’t have a role model, didn’t have someone who was there, that was really, really difficult, and she was one of those pioneers who didn’t.”
Turner said there is an important distinction to be made when looking at the strides women have made in sports journalism: intersectionality.
“We cannot forget that when we’re talking about these strides, the strides that women have made in sports, that we are not just talking about the collective of women,” Turner said. “We really have to look at the differences in the achievements of white women and the achievements of women of color because they are still very different.”
In 2021, 2.1% of the entire staff at Associated Press Sports Editors newspapers and websites were Black women, according to the most recent APSE report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida. White women accounted for 13.8% of staff.
A league of her own
What initially surprised Smith about her beat was the friendliness of the players’ wives, especially because she had been warned about the opposite. After talking to Gretchen Randolph, the wife of Willie Randolph, Smith fine-tuned her approach. She would first ask Gretchen Randolph how she was or ask about the Randoph’s kids. She would try not to interrupt dinner.
“Our way of approaching things
differently than some of our male counterparts proved to be very helpful,” Smith said.
Smith was also struck, but not surprised, by the acceptance she felt from Black players in the locker room.
In 1982, the newly-formed Association for Women in Sports Media held a convention on the West Coast. Ronnie Lott of the San Francisco 49ers, who would go on to be a Hall of Famer, was there and was asked why Black athletes were more receptive to women journalists.
“His answer, it still resonates with me till this day,” Smith said. “He said the Black athletes understood what it was like to walk into rooms and be instantly hated, and so they gravitated towards us in a helpful, understanding way.”
Smith held the Courant’s Yankees beat writer position from 1982 until 1988 before becoming a national baseball columnist. She remained with the Courant in this role, while also being promoted to assistant sports editor until 1990. From 1990 to 1998, she was a national baseball columnist for the New York Times. When she adopted a son, Smith moved back home to the Philadelphia area and became a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer until 2007. After that, she became a baseball content editor for ESPN, where she stayed until 2021.
During those busy years, Smith was a two-time Pulitzer nominee, a recipient of three New York Times publisher awards and, in 2016, was named the recipient of the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Career Excellence Award. She was the first woman and the fourth Black person to receive that honor. In 2017, she received the “Robie Award” for Lifetime Achievement by the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
Smith emceeing the Association for Women in Sports Media banquet featuring three commissioners.
GRAPHIC: MIA MESSINA ’25/THE HAWK
Smith and her son, Joshua, at Yankee Stadium after Smith threw out the ceremonial first pitch in 2017.
Giving voice to Black players
But even with all of her accolades, Smith said her proudest accomplishment was giving voice to the Black former players who were shut out of baseball. In the late 1980s, it was rare to see Black players further their careers by becoming general managers or members of the coaching staff.
“It was really one of the scourges of baseball, in that there were glass ceilings everywhere, and you very seldom saw African Americans given any more than lip service,” Smith said.
One incident from 1987 stands out. At the time, no MLB team had a Black general manager. On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis told Ted Koppel on Nightline that the glass ceilings in baseball existed because Black people didn’t have “the necessities” to be general managers or owners.
Smith wanted to address issues like this
one as a columnist, and she is proud she was able to do so.
“Having a byline in The New York Times gave me the bandwidth to reach a lot of people in baseball and to keep the focus on something that I thought was very important,” Smith said.
Paying it forward
In July 2021, Smith returned to her alma mater as an assistant professor of practice for Temple’s Klein College of Media and Communication. She also became the founding executive director of the Claire Smith Center for Sports Media at Temple.
In spring 2022, Smith joined Turner in regularly co-teaching “The Influence of Sports Media on Modern Society” until Turner retired after the spring 2023 semester.
Turner said having two Black women teaching a predominantly white and predominantly male classroom was important for the handful of women, and women of color, in the class with an
interest in sports.
“We were hoping that with having that kind of representation in the front of the classroom, maybe that would also encourage more women to get involved in the program,” Turner said.
Turner said Smith’s career as a professor helps shape the next group of aspiring sports journalists.
“She has so much to bring to the table of the experiences that she had, being a pioneer, and also seeing how the challenges that still exist, recognizing that things have gotten better,” Turner said.
Young women in the sports industry like Gabriella Bamford ’22, MBA ’23, a marketing and retail coordinator for the MLB at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex, are recipients of that pioneering journey.
Bamford recalled growing up watching the Red Sox with her grandfather and never seeing female play-by-play announcers or color analysts. Now, things are starting to change as more women begin to appear in
these positions.
“Women bring another dimension to any sort of meeting, any sort of industry, especially one that’s been male-dominated for so long,” Bamford said.
This other dimension, Smith said, is a strength, allowing her and other women covering baseball beats to bring a holistic approach to the way they cover the sport and its players.
“I see them in a more three-dimensional way,” Smith said. “As human beings, as husbands, as fathers, as players who might be hurting because they were slumping, or their careers were coming to an end or they were feuding with the manager — just to see more of the humanity.”
This article is the fourth story in a series focused on women in college sports media and the issues they are facing.
Smith interviewing CC Sabathia, who will enter the Hall of Fame this summer.
Claire Smith with Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax and Dodger s Steve Garvey. PHOTOS COURTESY OF CLAIRE SMITH
Smith accepting the “Robie Award” for Lifetime Achievement by the Jackie Robinson Foundation in 2017.
St. Joe’s alum returns to coach men’s soccer
TESS MARGIS
Features Reporter
St. Joe’s men’s soccer named Tim Mulqueen ’88 the new head coach in December 2024 after finishing their season 4-12-1.
Mulqueen, who was a goalkeeper during his time as a Hawk, has more than three decades of coaching experience. Before returning to St. Joe’s, he was recently the inaugural head coach of Memphis 901 FC, a USL Championship team that played in Memphis, Tennessee from 2019-2024 before relocating to Santa Barbara, California. Mulqueen was also an assistant coach for the 2008 United States Men’s Olympic Soccer team in Beijing.
Mulqueen said his experience around high-performing coaches and athletes in a professional setting has helped prepare him
to coach at a collegiate level.
“I’ve tried to take the lessons of accountability, discipline and structure that are successful at the highest levels and apply it to our team here, and the boys have been great,” Mulqueen said.
Mulqueen’s experience as a student-athlete at St. Joe’s has also helped him put himself in his players shoes.
“Having gone here, I know what a St. Joe’s student is responsible for in the classroom and athletically,” Mulqueen said. “There really hasn’t been a learning curve in that area for me, having gone through this as a student-athlete here.”
The team tied 1-1 with Lehigh University and beat Villanova University 2-1 in their first two exhibition games of the spring.
Junior midfielder Luke Johnson has been on the team since his first year and said the team “had to take a good look in the mirror and see where [they] wanted to go” after the end of the fall 2024 season.
Johnson said the addition of Mulqueen and his vision was clear in the effort and talent the team showed on the field during these two games.
“It’s really been great,” Johnson said. “The hard work from the guys, it’s truly something to see.”
Tim Lazorko ’16, who was named the team’s assistant coach in 2024, said Mulqueen’s professional experience has already made a difference in the team’s culture.
“The guys, in everything they do throughout the day, they’re taking a
professional approach to it,” Lazorko said. “I think [Mulqueen] has really pushed that on them, whether they want to be pro soccer players or whether they want to be professionals in the real world of businesses or doctors or whatever they may be.”
The team hasn’t been close to a record of .500 since 2018, when the team ended with a record of .528. Mulqueen said, at the bare minimum, he hopes to get back to that in the fall 2025 season. Beyond that, he wants to make the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
“There’s a lot of hard work ahead of us, and I don’t want to put unnecessary
expectations on the team,” Mulqueen said. “What I hope for is that we compete very hard every day and that we represent St. Joe’s to the best of our ability.”
Johnson has a positive attitude going into next season and said he believes the team will make the A-10 Tournament.
“I think the culture and the talent that we’re going to bring to the field next year is going to be something this program has never seen before,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a real kick-start to Saint Joseph’s men’s soccer and what the years in front of us can really bring.”
Men’s lacrosse excels with transfer’s ‘tremendous vision’
MIA MESSINA ’25 Sports Editor
Before the start of this season, fifth-year attack Richie LaCalandra hadn’t played a full season of college lacrosse since 2022. Now, he’s the second leading scorer for St. Joe’s with 38 points through 10 games.
“I always knew I’d be back out there sometime,” LaCalandra said. “Getting this year back and being able to play and get out there has been huge for me, and it’s been what I’ve been looking forward to the past two years.”
LaCalandra started his career at Long Island University in 2020, where he was named Northeast Conference Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022. He transferred to Ohio State the offseason before the 2023 season, but played just four games before getting hurt and hitting the portal again.
After transferring to St. Joe’s from Ohio State, LaCalandra needed an NCAA waiver, a waiver he wasn’t granted, to play for the Hawks in 2024.
“We got to spend a year getting [him] into our systems and being a scout team player for us, which was awesome, having someone of his ability on the scout team,”
head coach Taylor Wray said. “We knew that he was going to be a difference-maker for us this year. It wasn’t really a surprise to our coaches or the returning players on the team. We’re just happy to have him eligible and able to be out there on game day.”
Wray, who described LaCalandra as a “dynamic playmaker,” said he’s seen how the graduate student has become more comfortable within the offense in recent games. His teammates have become more comfortable with him, too, which helps the Hawks’ offensive production — and LaCalandra’s point productions as well.
“He’s got tremendous vision,” Wray said. “If guys can get themselves open, Richie can get them the ball, and he’s done a good job of that so far this year.”
LaCalandra’s stats prove that. He leads the team in assists with 18 and is tied for second in goals with 20. LaCalandra partially attributes that success to finally getting to play a full season.
“I didn’t want to look back or say, ‘I should have done this, I should have done that,’” LaCalandra said. “Now, it’s go time, and now I just got to show the world, and we got to show the world as a team, who St. Joe’s is.”
After the Hawks’ three all-time leading scorers in Carter Page, Levi Anderson, and Matt Bohmer graduated at the end of last season, having LaCalandra eligible for this season helped erase some of that loss, Wray said.
“It would have been great to have him last year, but we’re even more fortunate that he’s around this year and playing at the level that he’s playing at,” Wray said.
An 11-10 loss to Massachusetts March 29 snapped a seven-game winning streak for the then-No. 15 Hawks. LaCalandra, who tallied four goals against the Minutemen, said St. Joe’s knew the game would be “a dogfight.”
“I think UMass just stole one from us,” LaCalandra said. “It’s a good time to take a loss now in the first game of A-10 play and lick the wounds, get the wound healed for down the stretch for later in April.”
St. Joe’s has moved back into the win column with a 15-3 win over St. Bonaventure April 5. The Hawks are now 8-3 on the season and 1-1 in Atlantic 10 play.
Before the loss to the Minutemen, LaCalandra had at least five points in each
of the five previous games. He was A-10 offensive player of the week honors three times in four weeks.
The now-No. 19 Hawks will take on Hobart April 12, with LaCalandra two points shy of 200 for his career.
But despite an experience he “wouldn’t trade for the world,” LaCalandra would be willing to deal his accolades for one thing: another A-10 championship.
“At the end of the day, I would trade all those points, all those goals, anything for another A-10 ring, and I think that’s just the main focus,” LaCalandra said. “I’ve had some accomplishments from the outside, but personally, we haven’t done what we set out to do in the beginning of the season, and that’s win an A-10 conference championship.”
An earlier version of this article was first published by the Philadelphia Inquirer April 4 as part of the Inquirer’s college correspondent program.
New head coach and former St. Joe’s goalkeeper Tim Mulqueen ’88 returns to coach at his alma mater.
’26
Fifth-year Richie LaCalandra is currently the leading scorer for the team with 38 points through 10 games.
Fifth-year Richie LaCalandra is a dynamic playmaker who leads the men’s lacrosse team in assists.
PHOTOS: JACK BILOTTA/SJU ATHLETICS
Mulqueen coached the 2008 U.S. Men's Olympic Soccer team as an assistant coach.
PHOTOS: ANNE POTTER ’25/SJU ATHLETICS
The new era of St. Joe’s women’s basketball
The 2024-25 season marked the end of an era for the St. Joe’s women’s basketball team, and a successful one at that. The Hawks finished with a 24-10 record, placed second in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and reached the second round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament. Unfortunately, with that success came significant loss.
The team graduates a core class of seniors and fifth-years in Talya Brugler, Mackenzie Smith, Kaylie Griffin, Julia Nyström, Emma Boslet and Paula Maurina. In addition, star junior forward Laura Ziegler and sophomore Lizzy Gruber have entered the transfer portal. After losing no players to the portal last year, the Hawks are losing more than half of this year’s roster and will look extremely different next year.
Despite losing three of the top 10 scorers in program history, the Hawks should still have hope. A strong young core and esteemed head coach Cindy Griffin ’91, MBA ’93, will look to keep the program in contention in the A-10.
One of the most important returning players is rising junior guard Gabby Casey, the only consistent starter from last season left on next year’s roster. She averaged 7.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per
game while shooting over 40% from the field and over 35% from 3-point range. With an increased role, her numbers are bound to rise, and her high school résumé shows she’s up to the task.
As a senior at Lansdale Catholic High School, Casey averaged 21.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 4.1 steals per game, leading her team to a 29-2 record and a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 4A Championship. She earned many honors, including her second Catholic League MVP, MaxPreps Pennsylvania High School Basketball Player of the Year and Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Player of the Year. Casey also broke her school’s all-time scoring record for both boys and girls. With the potential to become the primary scoring option next year, Casey is poised to be a leader in the next chapter of Hawks basketball.
Another key rising junior is guard Aleah Snead, who will most likely step into a starting role after serving as the first off the bench this past season. Snead was named the A-10 Sixth Woman of the Year this season. She averaged 6.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting over 50% from the field. Most impressive, Snead tied with Ziegler for the second-most offensive rebounds on the team (56), despite having over 200 fewer total rebounds, which is
Hiking is supposed to be relaxing, peaceful, even rewarding. That’s what I kept reminding myself on my first-ever hike, lost somewhere in Wissahickon Valley Park on a warm Thursday morning in mid-March. When I set out to try two of the best-rated
a true testament to her hustle and desire to win.
Another notable returner includes Griffin, the program’s longtime head coach who has led the Hawks to 422 wins, an A-10 title and multiple NCAA appearances. Next season will be her 25th season at the helm for the Hawks. Rising sophomore Rhian Stokes looks to build on her 5.7 points per game from her first season, and rounding out next year’s core are junior Emi Devenie (returning from a knee injury), rising
Navigating nature
sophomores Meja Jägerskog and Lauren Greer, four incoming first-years and Penn State rising sophomore transfer Jill Jekot, whose sister Katie Jekot ’21, MBA ’22, had a 1,000-plus points career for the Hawks and is eighth in program history in assists. Though the program is saying goodbye to some all-time greats, the future is now and is ready to continue the winning tradition on Hawk Hill.
A first-time hiker’s adventure in Wissahickon Valley Park
hikes in Philadelphia, “Wissahickon Park Orange Trail to White Trail” and “ForbiddenDrive and Orange Trail Loop,” I was also trying to understand the appeal of the most popular outdoor recreation activity in the U.S. That popularity shows no sign of stopping. The number of people hiking in the U.S. continues to increase
by 1.5% annually, according to Outdoor Foundation’s “2023 Outdoor Participation Trends Report.”
Wissahickon Valley Park is a forested urban watershed park that contains over 50 miles of trails spanning more than 2,000 acres. There are multiple trails ranging from easy to difficult with diverse terrain and wildlife.
The landscape has a community, Friends of the Wissahickon, that helps maintain its beauty for public enjoyment. This nonprofit organization helps prevent erosion, annually plants trees, hosts community volunteer work, provides job opportunities and sets up guided hike events for beginners.
“I think exercising can be so boring, but it’s fun to go out on a hike. You can make it as easy or hard for yourself,” said Claire Brennan, FOW communications coordinator.
Joy spread through me as soon as I arrived at the park to find that there was a parking lot, so no parallel parking was required. With my Owala bottle and phone in hand, I walked over the gravel roads and onto the grass trail. As someone who struggles with directions both in cars and on foot, the wooden signs along the path were much appreciated. But the running shoes I chose to wear may not have been the brightest decision for those rocky trails.
“Wear proper shoes. You need traction,” advised Jacob Walsh, a hiker I met at the end of the trail.
In March, the trees were bare but the view was still admirable. By view, I mean the sight of glimmering rocks along the ground as I made my way through the trail, mostly looking down due to the fear of spraining my ankle on the uneven ground.
What made me finally take in the environment as a whole was the sound of the Wissahickon Creek. It drowned out all my overthinking of where to step next and
helped me relax. I walked over what looked like a nature-made bridge with its rounded, cylinder-like platform and searched for a route to get closer to the stream. I made my way downhill through the muddy grass and closer to the water. Thankfully, the perimeter of the river had dry gravel to sit on, and the embarrassing chance of the back of my pants getting wet was slim.
Sitting on the tiny, rough pebbles was a bit uncomfortable, but the sound of the water rippling as it traveled down the stream was soothing enough to forget about it. I closed my eyes to focus my hearing on the melody nature had to offer. Once I felt content, I went back up and continued the original trail.
Marisa Miller, FOW program assistant, said it’ws almost impossible to get lost for too long in the park, but I have a way of making the impossible possible. My original plan was to hike the Orange Trail. I somehow finished in front of the sign that read “Forbidden Drive.”
The experience I had during the hike was lovely, and when I reached the end, I felt accomplished. It was different from the satisfied feeling when completing a task because there was no pressure to finish. It was freeing to do something without the weight of consequences that may arise if it had not been done.
Miller said that is what she loves about hiking, too.
“You’re always going to see something new,” Miller said. “There’s always going to be some cool wildlife, some hawk flying above that just helps you feel gratitude for the place that you’re in.”
CRYSTAL DANG ’25
Special to The Hawk Crystal Dang ’25 on a hiking trail in Wissahickon Valley Park. PHOTO COURTESY OF CRYSTAL DANG ’25
EVAN THEOHARIS ’27
Special to The Hawk
GRAPHIC: MIA MESSINA ’25/THE HAWK
GRAPHIC: STEPHANIE SAVELA ’25/THE HAWK
Editorial: Vaccines are essential to protecting public health
Thanks to modern vaccinations, not much thought has been given to measles in the 21st century. However, just because we don’t often see measles in our local community does not mean the threat of the disease has disappeared. When vaccination rates drop, contagious diseases spread more easily.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 16 measles outbreaks in 2024 — up from just four in the previous year — with 271 individual cases in 2024. Already in 2025, there have been 607 cases, as of April 3, 97% of which have involved unvaccinated individuals or those with an unknown vaccination status.
This rise in measles cases should serve as a wake-up call: Declining vaccination rates put everyone at risk for catching deadly diseases. Measles in particular is extremely contagious, posing a significant threat to college campuses, including St. Joe’s.
Vaccination is not just about individual protection against a disease; it keeps our entire community safe. Some students, faculty and staff may be unable to receive vaccines due to medical reasons, such as autoimmune disorders. That’s why, to protect others, it’s vital for those who can get vaccinated to do so.
St. Joe’s vaccination policy for students demonstrates its commitment
to ensuring the safety of its community. The policy is not about dictating individual health decisions. Instead, it holds everyone accountable for ensuring the health and safety of others. By staying up to date on vaccinations, members of the St. Joe’s community create an environment in which outbreaks of contagious diseases are less likely to occur, keeping campus safe for all. Being vaccinated not only protects yourself but also those around you. Everyone has an important role to play in safeguarding public health. Do yours.
We need to hug our grandparents more
CARTER KARPINSKI ’25 Columnist
I usually try to write something fun in my columns, but, this week, I want to write something important to me. My grandmother passed away not too long ago. We called her Mimi. I’m not sure why — probably an Italian thing. It sounds Italian, and she definitely fits the mold of an Italian grandma: loud, opinionated, always keeping you in line. She could be brutal. I hated it when I was younger, but now, I miss it more than anything. An obituary in the local paper was $500, so instead, here’s my opinion: We need to hug our grandparents more. But really, I just want to say: I miss you, Mimi. I’ll miss you forever. You gave me the confidence to go to school and be who I am. Thank you.
Mimi was an extrovert in the truest sense. She made friends everywhere. She never missed a birthday or holiday. Even in the hospital over my birthday, she promised to get me something when she felt better. She just never did.
Not that Mimi was the best gift-giver. She definitely gave gifts, but they were usually Walmart clearance items or QVC specials. The clothes were always tacky. If she had it her way, I’d have dressed like a duck hunter, and my sister would’ve looked like Snooki.
Mimi’s mantra was, “Don’t ask if you don’t want to hear it.” Beneath her unfiltered honesty, though, was fierce love. If she teased you, it meant she cared. If she gave you a hard time, it meant she loved you.
Dementia is cruel. There is no cure. All you can do is make someone comfortable. For Mimi, that meant having the same conversations over and over. She’d always ask if I got my
report card, and I’d explain they don’t really do those anymore. Then she’d try to give me five bucks to ask a girl to the movies. I never had the heart to tell her movies don’t cost five bucks anymore. Sometimes, the conversations felt like torture, but I’d have them again in a heartbeat.
Losing my last grandparent is strange. I’m officially a grand-orphan. It feels like I’m stepping into a stage of life I’m not ready for. But I know Mimi would be proud of me, no matter what. If your grandparents are still around, please go hug them. If they’re too far, call them. Tell them how school is going. One day, you won’t be able to.
The song of environmental justice
Remembering Rachel Carson
NICOLE
“The sedge has withered from the lake, and no birds sing.”
Environmentalist and writer Rachel Carson quotes this line from a poem by John Keats in her monumental 1962 book “Silent Spring.” I see Carson as a figure who stands unchanging and dignified, despite surrounding detonation. In her lifetime, Carson breathed the air of environmental justice with every exhale. She should be remembered as the bedrock that holds the ground in place, despite leaching chemicals and landing exploding grenades.
Born in 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania, Carson was a female trailblazer in the environmental movement. She attended the Pennsylvania College for Women, now Chatham University, studying zoology and genetics.
The Great Depression prevented her from further pursuing her doctorate, as she had to work full-time to support her family. However, in 1936, Carson became the second woman to be hired
by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. Nine years later, in 1945, her supervisor encouraged her to climb higher and seek better opportunities, as her work was incredibly impressive. But there were extremely few jobs for natural scientists at the time, since nearly all money was devoted to nuclear warfare in the wake of the Manhattan Project. That same year, Carson learned of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane — DDT — a horrifically harmful pesticide. Nicknamed the “insect
bomb,” DDT was used as an insecticide for soldiers and is the central topic of “Silent Spring.”
April 14 will mark 61 years since Carson’s passing. In 2025, decades after her death, we again find ourselves surrounded by so much conflict and uncertainty. I like to think that the air of justice is still out there and something that’ll never go away. It is the same tugging and tightening in the airways that Carson felt when she awoke, and no birds sang.
BOWEN ’26 Columnist
GRAPHIC: CARA HALLIGAN
Cory Booker takes a stand A 25-hour and five-minute speech
PRESTON THOMAS ’28 Columnist
On March 31, Sen. Cory Booker began his over 25-hour Senate speech “with the intention of getting in some good trouble.” The speech was the senator’s way of criticizing America’s current state, calling out the so-far embarrassing job Donald Trump has done as president and expressing the concerns of everyday Americans — reading letters from “terrified people.”
While Booker’s speech was not a filibuster, a political tactic in which members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation to delay a decision,
it was a pivotal moment in recent politics. Recently, it seems as though Democrats have completely lost direction of where to move from here and Republicans are allowing the president and executive branch to do whatever they please. On top of all of that, it seems like America is more divided than ever.
Booker touched on many topics during his day-long speech. Issues like Trump’s economic disaster class, Elon Musk, using money to influence the government, the cutting of entire government programs without the consent of Congress and many other concerns. His speech set the record for the longest speech in Senate history at 25 hours and five minutes.
An ironic thing about Booker’s record-breaking speech length is
that the past record holder was Democratic Sen. Strom Thurmond who, in 1957, gave a filibuster opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1957 that lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes. It only feels fitting that a Black man broke the record of a racist attempting to preserve the plight of Black people in America.
During a time when the Democratic Party seems to be completely out of the loop, defeated and unsure, Booker looks to restore hope in the party. He seems to have taken up the unofficial role as leader of the Democrats, and now we must watch and see where Booker and the party move from here in their attempts to combat what looks like democracy backsliding into an authoritarian regime in America.
We can’t afford to eliminate the Department of Education
TALARICO ’27
The Department of Education was created in 1980 to improve educational access and quality across the nation. Its core mission has always been to ensure all students, regardless of their background, have equal opportunities to receive a quality education. This mission became even more vital as the American education system faced many new challenges. Today, the department’s work is more crucial than ever.
The Department of Education’s creation was a direct response to growing educational inequalities, which particularly affected marginalized groups. In the 1960s and 1970s, civil rights movements revealed how unequal education was for Black, Hispanic and low-income students. The Department of Education was tasked with
addressing these issues, ensuring equal access and providing federal funding to support schools that needed it most. The department’s establishment was a crucial step in raising equity and quality of education across the country.
Currently, the Trump administration has pushed to cut funding to the department and even eliminate it altogether. The administration argues education should be managed more locally, without significant federal interference. While the Department of Education hasn’t been fully dismantled, these efforts — specifically President Donald Trump’s March 20 executive order aiming to return power over education to families — create uncertainty and undermine the department’s ability to support public schools. Critics say reducing federal involvement would magnify the disparities in education, especially in underserved communities.
The Department of Education remains
essential in helping set national educational standards, provides federal funding and enforces policies like the Every Student Succeeds Act. As global competition grows, a strong education system is crucial to America’s future. The Department of
Education plays a pivotal role in ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed, and reducing its influence would only weaken the nation’s ability to compete on the global stage.
The ground under their feet fell The Myanmar-Thailand crisis and the silence of the U.S.
The world was shocked March 28 when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand, killing over 3,000 people and displacing thousands. The usual global responders, such as India, Russia and the United Kingdom, rushed in to help.
Most shockingly, China wasted no time, sending over medical teams, personnel and 13.76 million dollars in aid — and the United States? A stagnant 2 million dollar pledge and a three-person search and rescue team that couldn’t even get visas in time to be useful.
Americans and the world itself are shocked by our lack of response. In past disasters, we were the leaders in relief efforts, yet now we are twiddling our
thumbs while China strengthens its hold in regions that have previously worked with American leadership. It’s not just an embarrassment — it’s a glaring sign of how far America has fallen in global humanitarian efforts.
“Why,” people ask? Because our government has slashed international aid funding and deprioritized disaster response as a whole. With cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development and the administration more focused on political popularity than actual leadership, the U.S. has been left ineffective when crises strike. Thus, Washington sits on their hands while Beijing takes action.
The world notices when we stop showing up. When America steps back, someone else steps forward. If this administration cares at all about maintaining our global influence or, more importantly, saving innocent human lives, this disregard for life is a wake-up call
that the government must rethink its current stance.
GRAPHIC: CARA HALLIGAN ’25/THE HAWK
ANASTASIA KUNICKA ’28 Columnist
GRAPHIC: CARA HALLIGAN ’25/THE HAWK
BIANCA
Columnist
GRAPHIC: CARA HALLIGAN ’25/THE HAWK
The benefits of calisthenics
An addition to your workout regimen
SAHR KARIMU ’26 Hawk Columnist
Including physical exercise in your life is a wise way to preserve your health for the future. In college, many of us are doing this by using our on-campus gyms, participating in club sports or taking up individual activities like jogging or running. Weightlifting is an excellent way to maintain your physical well-being and, in tandem, boost mental health, but there is another form of training that also has wonderful benefits for your health: calisthenics.
Calisthenics is resistance training with your body’s own weight. Pull-ups, sit-ups and push-ups are all included under this umbrella. The major appeal of this form of exercise is that it improves fitness without the need of external weights. It is free and has no barrier to entry. Body weight training also helps with flexibility, coordination and balance.
Despite the lack of equipment, there are ways to build strength by modifying your exercises through changes in angle and tempo. For example, when doing push-ups, you can shift the angle at which
you press, or slow down your count to feel a deeper muscle contraction.
These modifications mean your training regimen can be tailored to your individual needs. If you’re looking to lose weight, you may do more cardio. If you’re looking to gain strength, you could introduce some weighted equipment to your calisthenics exercises to increase intensity. For instance, you could hold a weight in each hand while doing lunges or wear a weighted belt while doing pull-ups.
Whatever the case may be, I believe a healthy addition of calisthenics into one’s gym regimen can be beneficial to a training schedule. You can implement pull-ups on a back day to maximize lat growth or push-ups on a chest day to prime your chest muscles and feel the squeeze during your main exercises for this muscle group. In the pursuit of a healthier body, calisthenics is both an excellent beginner-friendly option and a great addition to a training regimen that will polish your weightlifting results.
GRAPHIC: CARA HALLIGAN ’25/THE HAWK