BLACK AND WHITE BUZZ

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PHOTO BY ALEXANDER NESBITT

Luke Ventola ’23 of Friar Divers stands on dry ground after completing his open water certification dive at Bigelow Hollow State Park in Connecticut in October 2019.

Immersed in another world

UNDER WATER IS THE ONLY PLACE the close-knit Friar Divers want to be. Founded in fall 2013 by Danny Hentz ’17, the scuba diving club is 31 members strong — 16 women and 15 men — though it’s currently on pause due to the pandemic. A total of 101 students have been certified as divers, through campus classes and training, as well as open water dives in salt and fresh water — all overseen by instructors from Enfield Scuba & Watersports in Connecticut. Advanced-training trips to places like Florida and the Grand Cayman Islands are another club enticement.

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Dr. Rachael E. Bonoan with a swarm of bees

Diamond tribute emerges from independent study

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER the founding of the Providence College baseball team, and 22 years after the team’s final game, Thomas Zinzarella ’21 (West Hartford, Conn.) has created a 27-minute video tribute to the Friars. Zinzarella’s documentary, created through an independent study with Rev. Kenneth Gumbert, O.P., professor of film studies in theatre, focuses on the Friars’ final season, when they won the BIG EAST title and qualified for the NCAA tournament. Among those interviewed: former coach Charlie Hickey, former athletic trainer John Rock, now PC senior associate athletic director, and players Marc DesRoches ’99, Scott Palmieri ’97, and UConn transfer Mike Scott.

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Defensive decorating

In December, DR. RACHAEL E. BONOAN, assistant professor of biology who studies insect pollinators, discussed with The New York Times recent research on “fecal spotting,” a phenomenon in which Southeast Asian honeybees put animal manure around the entrances to their hives to ward off giant hornets in the genus Vespa. This genus includes 2020’s infamous “murder hornets.” “We think of bees visiting pretty flowers and collecting sweet nectar,” she told The Times. “This is the complete antithesis to that.”

Bluegrassloving friars

DOMINICANS AT PROVIDENCE COLLEGE and elsewhere have taken their love for music to a charts-worthy level. The Hillbilly Thomists, including associate chaplain Rev. Peter Gautsch, O.P. and assistant chaplain Rev. Justin Bolger, O.P., are a bluegrass band of friars that released its second album on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas in January. “Living For the Other Side” was briefly ranked #1 for new folk releases on Amazon. The Thomists even have their own website (hillbillythomists.com) and video. In fact, inspired by the band, several PC Dominicans took to the streets around campus in a golf cart during the fall semester to play, sing, and spray holy water for COVID-19-weary students.

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INSPIRING cover art

ART BY ANJEL NEWMANN, a PC master’s in urban teaching student and graduate assistant at The Center at Moore Hall, graced the cover of the February 2021 issue of Motif, a Rhode Island arts and entertainment magazine, in honor of Black History Month. Newman is director of programs at AS220, a Providence arts non-profit. She was chosen to be the face of the arts organization for a mural by artist Shepard Fairey.