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Volume 51, Issue 120 | wednesday, april 19, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Students celebrate Easter at Vatican City University, College students studying abroad gather to attend Mass celebrated by Pope Francis By KATIE GALIOTO Assistant Managing Editor
ROME — The alarm was set for 4 a.m. on Easter morning. Juniors Annie Richelsen, Elizabeth Crimmins and Derek Meyer — all studying abroad in Dublin for the semester — got up, got dressed and began the trek to St. Peter’s Square with a couple other students from the Ireland brigade. The group arrived at the Vatican and got in a line around 5:30 a.m. It was another 4 1/2 hours before Easter Mass began, celebrated by Pope Francis in front of the historic basilica. But the early wake-up was worth it, Crimmins said from her seat some 20 rows back from the bottom of the basilica’s stairs. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing,” she said as thousands passed through security checks and flooded into the piazza
beneath Bernini’s colonnade. About 130 Notre Dame students signed up to attend Easter Mass in the Vatican City as part of Campus Ministry’s Holy Week Pilgrimage, junior Claire Kramer, student minister for the Rome Global Gateway, said. Of those students, about 30 participated in the full-track pilgrimage — a four-day trek allowing them to visit churches and sites across Rome in the days leading up to Easter Sunday. “Even though I’m staying here, I felt like I was on a vacation in Rome,” Kramer said. “I’m pretty sure we walked like a half marathon every day. I was exhausted by the end, but it was so cool to see all these special places on Holy Thursday, on Good Friday.” The program included trips to Rome’s four papal basilicas, a walk up Scala Santa — the stairs which, according to Catholic see EASTER PAGE 5
Groups analyze mock election By NATALIE WEBER News Writer
BridgeND, Student Government, NDVotes and the Center for Social Concerns hosted a discussion called “How Did ND Vote?” on Tuesday analyzing the results of a post-election survey of students conducted by the Center for Social Concerns (C.S.C.), as well as data from the mock election held before the presidential election. According to junior, Clara Yang, a student assistant for the C.S.C., the C.S.C.’s survey had a response rate of over 30 percent and gathered almost 3,000 responses. Sophomore Prathm Juneja, the current student government chief of staff, helped organize the mock election and said it had about 857 participants. “Of the overall sample [of the C.S.C. survey], we have 61 percent undergraduate students, 47 percent are female, 22 percent are students of color and 61 percent are Catholic students,” Yang said. Sophomore Aileen Markovitz,
NEWS PAGE
also a student assistant for the C.S.C., said this year, more students voted third party than in past presidential elections. “I just want to point out one thing in particular with the 2016 vote — you can see we have a much higher third party vote, at 18 percent, versus between two and four percent in the other years” she said. Surveyors noticed various demographic differences which correlated with how students chose to vote. “In the College of Arts and Letters and Architecture, there’s a higher percentage of Clinton supporters, while in College of Business, more students tend to support Donald Trump,” Yang said. Markovitz also said there was a marked difference between genders when it came to candidate choice. “There’s a really large gap in between the genders. Females are voting 70 percent for Clinton, see VOTE PAGE 5
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KATIE GALIOTO | The Observer
Junior Elizabeth Crimmins watches Pope Francis deliver his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” Easter message. The pope celebrated Easter Mass in Vatican City and traveled through the crowd in his popemobile.
Saint Mary’s announces co-valedictorians Observer Staff Report
Elise deSomer, a studio art and English literature double major from South Bend, and Brianna Kozemzak, a computing and applied mathematics major from Eagan, Minnesota, have been named co-valedictorians of Saint Mary’s class of 2017, according to a College press release. The two will deliver a joint address at this year’s Commencement on May 20.
According to the release, deSomer studied object-oriented ontology with professor of art Krista Hoef le, and her work was featured in the summer 2016 edition of Courier, a College publication. She will also earn an English writing minor. Kozemzak, a chemistry minor, plans to pursue a Ph.D. in bioinformatics with the help of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which
provides three years of tuition for promising science and engineering students. Kozemzak is the second Saint Mary’s student to receive this fellowship, according to the release. Kozemzak’s senior comprehensive project analyzed DNA sequencing data to identify new approaches to understanding genetic factors that increase susceptibility to diseases such as cancer, according to the release.
Student awarded scholarship Junior Becca Blais was awarded the Truman Scholarship, an award given to college juniors with plans to attend graduate school who then work to make a difference through public service, according to a press release
from the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Blais, who currently serves as student body president, is a political science and peace studies major, originally from New Smyrna Beach, Florida. “I’m incredibly honored to be named a Truman Scholar,” Blais said in an email. “I am
excited for all of the opportunities in store ahead, and I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for everyone who has supported me in this process.” The 62 new Truman Scholars were selected from among 768 candidates, according to the release.
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Observer Staff Report