Print Edition for The Observer for Wednesday, February 23, 2022

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE KLAERS | PHOTO COURTESY OF BENGAL BOUTS CAPTAINS

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INSidER

The observer | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

Vasquez Continued from page 4

on their time there, and read their reflections to the team this season to share the experiences past boxers had.

He added that he is ecstatic for the return of the tournament and all the excitement that comes with it.

“It’s a nerve-wracking feat, being in front of the entire campus, but it is such a cool feeling to be in there in front of your friends, family and those who have supported you along the way,” Vasquez said. “It’s one of the coolest traditions that Notre Dame has. I don’t know what I would do without it.”

Having the tournament back in person has also benefited fundraising, as the club has already raised around $151,000. Vasquez shared that the club has never reached $100,000 that fast, let alone over $150,000.

Unfortunately, Vasquez will not be able compete in the tournament because of a history of concussions, some of which are not related to boxing, he said.

“I wish I was competing. I think, personally, I have improved a lot since sophomore year when I last boxed,” Vasquez said. “I think as a boxer, I can prove a lot, and I wish I could put that to the test in the ring.”

Despite not being able to compete, Vasquez said he has stayed motivated by teaching inexperienced boxers. He said he also looks forward to cornering lots of boxers throughout the tournament.

“I am going to be cornering almost all night, and that’s super rewarding to me because I love this sport, and I am going to be cornering guys that I have worked with since day one,” Vasquez said. “I will

be giving them technical feedback between rounds, but I also will be extremely loud and lighting a fire under their belt.”

Looking back on his first year, Vasquez remembered the profound impact the captains from that season had on him. Vasquez shared a memorable experience when the club had to go to the Monogram Room of the Joyce Center for a difficult workout led by one of the captains.

Vasquez recalled doing a difficult ladder workout that took around 30 minutes, and he and his teammates were completely exhausted by the end. The captain who was leading the workout, however, was not happy with the effort put forth by the guys, and he made everyone do the workout again.

He shared what this experience was like for him.

“For the first 10 minutes [of doing it again] I was thinking to myself, ‘I hate this guy and I am not going to finish this,’” Vasquez said.

“But then, you get to a point where you look around and realize we are here together doing this, so we might as well rally together and do this. And we did. That’s the beauty of the club ... You can make so many great things happen by having strength in numbers.”

The team always chants “Strength in numbers” in Bangla at the end of practice.

“Hearing that chant the other day made me realize that guys care about helping each other out in the program,” Vasquez said. “Whether it’s a coach, whether it’s a fellow boxer, whether it’s a manager, we care about each other and that’s why we have so much success. Our relationships extend beyond the ring.”

Contact Nate Moller at nmoller2@nd.edu

Seniors Continued from page 4

the club.

“People go to the dining hall after practice together, or they come in early, they work together...,” he said.

“The guys will go out of their way to help anybody else, just for the love of the club or the sport or just for helping a friend out. So, it’s just been really awesome. The guys are all great.”

Being a captain has allowed Cameron to help more of his teammates improve this year, he said.

“A lot of times in boxing, it is individual and you’re working on yourself and you can’t really get better unless you put in the work yourself.

But as a captain, there’s a lot of times where you don’t have that opportunity and you’re helping others because that’s kind of your role,” he said.

“It’s just been honestly even better for me. I [have] learned so much more teaching other people and it’s just a ton of fun to help people out and get people better at boxing even if I have so much more to learn.”

After having a year without a tournament, Cameron is looking forward to the upcoming Bengal Bouts this week, despite the nerves that come with it.

“I think there is a lot of pressure to do well, when you’re the one teaching kids how to box, you know, having a kid that you taught all year just beat you,” he said. “The people don’t expect that. But obviously, it happens all the time. Because these kids are good. So, yeah, I’m nervous, but I’m super excited. I mean, it’s been a while since I’ve been in the ring.”

For Cameron, Bengal Bouts is about more than boxing. It’s about the mission to Bangladesh and improving as a person outside the ring, in addition to inside the ring.

“I can always be better.

Nobody’s ever the best boxer, nobody’s ever the best at fundraising,” he said. “Nobody’s ever the best at what they do.

We’ve got to just keep pushing, trying to be better every day.”

Max ‘Putin’s Ukrainian Nightmare’ Chuma

Courtesy of Bengal Bouts Captains

The 2021-22 Bengal Bouts captains prepare for the start of the club tournament, which begins Thursday in the Danke Ballroom.

Maximilian Chuma, a senior captain of Bengal Bouts, formerly from O’Neill Family Hall, hails from New Hope, Pennsylvania. Chuma joined Bengal Bouts his sophomore year and has since grown to love the brotherhood and mission of the Bengal Bouts.

“Being able to call myself a Notre Dame boxer, I think, is a title that is earned and never given ... And that comes in many different shapes and forms, you know — you don’t have to compete in the tournament to be a Notre Dame boxer,” he said. “It’s just that

dedication and that support of the mission, so I think, as a whole, just knowing that I was a part of something that great will be my fondest feeling that I walk away with.”

Chuma said being named the marketing captain of the Bengal Bouts felt like an honor. His time as captain has thus far been a fulfilling experience and one of reflection, he said.

“Knowing that I did rise to that occasion, I challenged myself and I stuck with it...,” he said. “And there’s tough days, but you walk out with the best friends that you could ever imagine and a club that will stick with me for the rest of my life.”

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges to the club, but Chuma explained how they have persevered.

“We set a very ambitious goal of $250,000 to raise for this year,” he said. “And I think that lit a huge fire under the guys because we want to let people know that the 92nd year was the year [in which] we rose from the ashes of COVID and were able to have not only a successful tournament, but we carried on the mission more than anyone would expect us to.”

While Chuma will be facing other boxers in the ring in the upcoming Bengal Bouts tournament, he also has an enemy outside the ring he is unafraid to send a clear message to. The enemy: Putin.

A second-generation American citizen whose four grandparents were Ukrainian refugees during World War II, he has adopted the nickname of “Putin’s Ukrainian nightmare.” His first language is Ukrainian, he attended Ukrainian school through senior year of high school and he is currently the vice president of the Ukrainian society of Notre Dame, he said.

“Given the situation in Ukraine right now, Putin just announced ... that he will be invading Eastern Ukraine and the separatist regions, I think it’s very fitting that I hold a name that is true to my heritage, true to my family’s heritage and their story,” he explained.

He said he is hoping to use the nature of the tournament to send a message.

“I am not afraid of the political debates that surround my family’s home country,” he added. “And, you know, home is something worth fighting for. My culture is worth something worth fighting for.”

Hayden Hoekstra A senior captain from Loomis, California, Hayden Hoekstra, formerly from Morrissey Hall, said he has found a mission he believes in and a lifelong community in Bengal Bouts.

“I’ve forged some great friendships that I’m gonna cherish for the rest of my life, with other captains, but honestly with everyone else in the club as well,” Hoekstra said.

The pandemic posed a challenge to Hoekstra last season, but he looked forward to being captain this year and reuniting with the club fully in person, especially as a captain. “[Being a captain] has just been a great way to kind of get out of COVID, be able to interact with so many different types of people and be [a] role model for some people — it’s just been really cool,” he said. “During COVID, you’re so disconnected from people, and then being a captain, I feel like I could connect with so many other people. So, it was really rewarding.”

Hoekstra has not competed since sophomore year, due to the pandemic, but he said he is looking forward to returning to the ring.

“I couldn’t be more excited.

Honestly, last time I competed was sophomore year.

And I’ve had a lot of work to do since sophomore year,” he said. “So, I’ve been thinking about it, really, since that last fight. All the work I’ve been putting in is going to come out very nicely. It’ll be fun. I got my eye on the prize.”

Hoekstra, who plans to be a pilot in the Navy, emphasized that ROTC and Bengal Bouts share not just physical and workout aspects, but also values of leadership and service.

“There’s some similarities that I’ve really fallen in love with. The biggest thing I noticed is that it’s an internal sport for the most part,” he said. “So, everything I put in today is kind of all I got — I don’t have a teammate to come and help me out in the ring. It’s kind of all or nothing. It’s the same way in the military: You got your buddies that will be there for you all the time. But at the end of the day, it’s kind of your opportunity, your job to put out to them. And I’ve really felt kind of challenged and also just a lot of growth from the club in that atmosphere.”

The Bengal Bouts’ commitment to service is something that Hoekstra said he holds close, especially as a ROTC student.

“With joining the military, this has really shown me that a lot of things we do in life are for other people, and it’s really rewarding,” he said. “So, ... just turning what I’ve b een doing here into what I’m going to be doing for the country is probably one of the big things I’m taking from Bengal Bouts.”

Contact Erin Drumm at edrumm@nd.edu

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Volume 56, Issue 50 | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

Task force examines diversity Report serves as strategic framework for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts

By ISA SHEIKH Staff Writer

Courtesy of Notre Dame Board of Trustee’s Task Force on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Compared to other private universities, minority students at Notre Dame report less satisfaction with the climate for minority students.

This January, during Notre Dame’s “Walk the Walk Week,” commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and building inclusion on campus, University President Fr. John Jenkins sent a campus wide email regarding progress on campus regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

“The University’s efforts regarding diversity and inclusion continue, guided by the strategic priorities articulated in the recent University Trustee Task Force

Report on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” Fr. Jenkins wrote in the email.

He announced that following the task force’s recommendation, the University’s Office of Strategic Planning and Institutional Research (OSPIR) is conducting an inventory of DEI initiatives across the University.

In August 2020, amid the nation’s so-called “racial reckoning,” the University announced a task force aimed at advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at Notre Dame.

News Writer

The a nnua l “Show Some Sk in” product ion is set to premiere Thursday, Feb. 24. The show w i l l be a performa nce of a col lect ion of monolog ues w ritten a nd submitted a nony mously by members of t he t ri-ca mpus communit y.

The monolog ues sha red a re stories about ident it y a nd dif ference in our communit y.

Topics covered include race, gender, disabi lit y, sex ua l orientat ion a nd more.

The show w ill be performed at t he Pat ricia George Decio Theat re in Deba r tolo Per forming A r ts Center at 7 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 24, Friday.

Feb. 25 a nd Saturday, Feb. 26, a nd Sunday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets f or t he show a re ava ilable for purchase on t he Deba r tolo Per forming A r ts Center website or at t he door as space permits.

Sophomore Sa m Capodicci, a n actor in t his yea r’s show, sa id t he see EMERGE PAGE 5

News Writer

A recent partnership bet ween the Universit y of Notre Dame and the Boys and Girls of St. Joseph Count y has garnered attention and recognition from the Boys and Girls Club of America.

In collaboration w ith

NEWS PAGE 3

the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph Count y, the Office of the Executive Vice President’s Universit y Enterprises and Events (UEE) formed a 12-week program that allows members of the Boys and Girls Club bet ween the ages of 15 and 18 to gain paid work experience and hospitalit y skills

see CLUB PAGE 5

see COVID-19 PAGE 3

Courtesy of Nandini Tangpuz and K. Mae Harkins

Actors Niah Tangpuz, Savannah Carr and Jaz Sindelar (left to right) pose for a promotional photoshoot for ‘Show Some Skin.’

VIEWPOINT PAGE 6

through employ ment at various establishments on campus.

A working relationship has long ex isted bet ween the Universit y of Notre Dame and the Boys and Girls Club, but both groups are looking to expand this pre-ex isting partnership, said Ashley Zingo, UEE director of

SCENE PAGE 9

News Writer

employee engagement, and Jacqueline Kronk, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph Count y.

Recent staffing shortages prompted Zingo to create a program that taught young adults of the St. Joseph Count y

see TASK FORCE PAGE 4

Notre Dame partners with Boys and Girls Club of America

By LILYANN GARDNER

By EMMA DUFFY

T he COVID-19 pa ndem ic has ta ken over col lege ca mpuses in t he last t wo yea rs.

Not re Da me has inst it uted cou nt less sa fet y precaut ions in place to remedy t h is issue, a nd now, t he impact of t hese measu res is being st ud ied to test t he ef fect iveness of t he Un iversit y’s overa l l response.

T he resea rch was conducted by t he Ch i ld ren’s Env iron menta l Hea lt h In it iat ive (CEHI) — a g roup fou nded in 1998 to resea rch a nd remedy env iron menta l issues, especia l ly t hose a ffect ing low-income a nd m inor it y com mu n it ies.

“We made t he decision to hold in-person classes last yea r, when ma ny ot her inst it ut ions were sh if t ing ent irely on l i ne, because of ou r com m it ment to ou r st udents,” Ma r ie Ly n n Mira nda, for mer provost a nd cu r rent d irector of t he CEHI, sa id in a n ema i l. “A s ever yone at Not re Da me k nows, we d id a lot of testing wh ich created a lot of data. T hat put us in t he u n ique posit ion to sha re what we lea r ned f rom ou r in-person ex per ience w it h ot her u n iversit ies a nd w it h t he publ ic hea lt h com mun it y more broad ly.”

In response to d iscou rse su r rou nd i ng Not re Da me’s vaccine requ irement, t he repor t a imed to f ind t he impact of h ig h vaccinat ion rates w it h in t he ca mpus com mu n it y. T he CEHI saw its dut y to conduct t r ustwor t hy resea rch to help ot her inst it ut ions ma ke infor med decisions in rega rd to vaccine ma ndates on college ca mpuses.

“T he a im of t he paper was to deter m ine t he associat ion bet ween vaccinat ion coverage a nd t he levels a nd

Students to present new ‘Show Some Skin’ installment

By MEGAN FAHRNEY

ND featured in study

HOCKEY PAGE 16

TRack & FiELD PAGE 16

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ANDREW MARCIANO | The Observer

Several inches of snow cover God Quad on Thursday of last week, following a couple days of rainfall and 40 degree weather. Students can expect warmer weather and occassional showers over the next week as winter progresses through the end of February.

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Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Irish Jig Dance Lesson LaFortune Ballroom noon - 1 p.m.

Learn the traditional Celtic dance.

Artful Yoga Snite Museum of Art 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Relax and recharge with yoga in the galleries.

“A Conversation with Marcus Freeman” Mendoza College Jordan Auditorium 11 a.m. - noon Free public lecture.

Drive My Car (2021) Browning Cinema 3 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Screening of Japanese film with four Oscar nominations.

Basilica Mass Basilica of the Sacred Heart 10 a.m & noon All are wecome to attend.

Glee Club Performance LaFortune Ballroom 6 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Performance features international songs.

Theatre: “Cyrano” Philbin Studio Theatre, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Buy tickets online.

Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra Leighton Concert Hall 8 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Tickets available online or in DPAC.

Theater: “Cyrano” Philbin Studio Theatre 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Classic play performed with a modern musical twist.

Organ Recital: Renée Anne Louprette DeBartolo Performing Arts Center 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Tickets required.

News

ndsmcobserver.com | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | The Observer

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Community-based Spanish course explores importance of diverse books in early education

By CLAIRE REID News Writer

Professor Rachel Parroquín’s 30051 Spanish course — a community-based learning course offered through the Center for Social Concerns — is unique among college courses at Notre Dame. Students are required to read at least 1,950 minutes of children’s books during the semester, and they spend one class period each week volunteering at a local elementary school.

The official title of the course is “Once Upon A Time: Children’s Literature and Community Connections,” but it is often referred to as the “LIJ” course. LIJ stands for “literatura infantil y juvenil,” Spanish for children’s literature.

Students in the course meet twice a week in the classroom to critically study various aspects of Spanish children’s literature, including diversity, representation and educational equity. Then, for an hour each week, they apply what they learn as Spanish reading buddies for students in the two-way immersion (TWI) Spanish and English program at Holy Cross School, an elementary school in northwest South Bend.

Parroquín started teaching the course in 2016 after developing it for over two years. A Spanish and elementary education major in college, she spent the early portion of her career teaching in elementary schools in Mexico and the U.S. “I did a lot with children’s literature as an elementary teacher, and it’s something I just love,” she said. “Doing the LIJ class was a way for me to combine three different

COVID-19 Continued from page 1

spread of the SARS-CoV-2, even in the presence of highly-transmissible variants and congregate liv ing,” Miranda said.

To measure this association, the researchers tracked testing data across the spring 2020 semester at Notre Dame, totaling 196,185 saliva-based tests for 14,894 indiv iduals.

The researchers emerged w ith conclusive results, finding a significant negative correlation between vaccination status and COVID-19 cases — meaning that as vaccination numbers rose on campus, case numbers declined.

These numbers suggest Notre Dame made the right choice in mandating the vaccine, Miranda said.

things that I really enjoy — Spanish, children’s literature and community-engaged learning.”

A large portion of the course is spent discussing the importance of selecting children’s books that feature diverse characters and perspectives.

Parroquín said this is particularly important at Holy Cross, where the student population is quickly becoming more diverse.

In the TWI program, students receive 90% of their classroom instruction in Spanish and 10% in English from preschool through third grade in order to build a strong academic foundation in Spanish. Beginning in fourth grade, Spanish and English are used equally.

Prior to the implementation of the program in 2017, Holy Cross was a traditional, English-only Catholic school that primarily served white families. Dr. Katy Lichon, an associate professor in the University’s Institute for Educational Initiatives, cofounded the TWI program with Dr. Luis Fraga, director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, in response to 10 years of declining enrollment at Holy Cross.

“The Latino population is the fastest-growing population in our Catholic Church, so in many ways, it’s the future of our Church,” Lichon said. “If Catholic schools are to continue to thrive, they need to find innovative ways of inviting and serving Latino children.”

The TWI program not only attracted Spanish-speaking families, but also a diverse

range of English-speaking families, including Notre Dame families and residents of the westside South Bend neighborhood where Holy Cross is located.

According to the school’s immersion coordinator Clare Roach, about half of TWI students come from Spanishspeaking homes and the other half from English-speaking homes. Since the implementation of the TWI program five years ago, the school’s population has grown by over 160 students.

“Now, the school’s demographics are basically 30% white, 30% African American, 30% Latino and 10% mixed race,” Parroquín said. “If you still only have books that represent white families … many kids don’t see themselves represented.”

Additionally, she said research has shown it is important that all children are exposed to diverse perspectives in literature so that they achieve a rich and balanced understanding of others and do not develop an overinflated sense of the importance of their own culture.

Branden Kohnle, a junior political science and Spanish double major, worked in a childcare center for five years prior to taking the LIJ course last semester. Although a highlight of his job was selecting books for and reading to the children, Kohnle said he had not fully considered the importance of diverse children’s literature before working with his reading buddy at Holy Cross.

One afternoon, Kohnle shared a story called “Los

“The study shows a strong statistical association between the rapid vaccination uptake on campus and a decline in COVID cases on campus in the second half of the 2020-2021 school year,” she said. “The results validate Notre Dame’s decision to require vaccinations.”

The authors of the study recognized that there were limitations in their research that may require further analysis, acknowledging that the results only show an association, not causalit y.

Still, the CEHI concluded their results “support the decision” to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations at colleges and universities across the countr y.

“At this point, many universities have mandated vaccines. Some are still considering it. We believe this study adds to the body of

effectiveness of the COVID vaccines,” Miranda said.

And although the paper was only published this month, it has already gained a significant amount of attention and recognition. According to data science company A ltmetric, over 3,200 people have v iewed the article since it was published Feb. 3, landing the paper in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by the company.

Miranda said the goal of the research was to make a difference.

“Notre Dame seeks to be a force for good in the world.

This research was a way for us to tr y to be such a force — it was part of our obligation to ser ve the world,” she said.

Contact Emma Duffy at eduffy5@nd.edu

Invisibles” with his reading buddy. The story features a middle-class girl who moves with her family to a lower-income neighborhood after their financial situation changes.

Understandably upset at first, the girl eventually embraces and works to brighten her new community.

“The kid I was working with … came from a working-class family, and he was able to connect and talk about his own experiences living in that kind of situation,” Kohnle recalled. “It was cool that he got to see himself represented in the book.”

Inspired by this experience, Kohnle returned to the childcare center over winter break and had a conversation with its director about the center’s need to increase its selection of diverse books.

Roach said Holy Cross teachers have reported students making great progress in literacy with the help of individualized reading support and enthusiastic mentorship from LIJ students like Kohnle.

Parents are also excited about the reading program, Roach said.

“They like knowing that college students are interacting with their children in meaningful and fun ways,” Roach said. “The more college students the children know, the more they can envision themselves one day being a college student.”

Fabiola Dominguez, a mother of four, has a third grader and a preschool student in the TWI program.

The family speaks Spanish at home, and Dominguez

enrolled her children in the program to help them retain and strengthen their Spanish fluency. Her third-grade son Nathan worked with a reading buddy from the LIJ course last semester and enjoyed hearing his buddy’s stories about Notre Dame.

“The program helped [the children] because the [Notre Dame] students motivated them to read,” Dominguez said in an interview in Spanish.

“It helped the children to have a mentor so that they do not give up and continue studying.”

Lichon’s daughter Mary, an avid reader, also felt encouraged by the program last semester. As a parent, Lichon said it felt like a “complete win” each time Mary came home enthusiastic not only about engaging with a text, but also teaching her Notre Dame reading buddy new Spanish vocabulary.

“There were instances where some of our Holy Cross students were teaching some words to our students from Notre Dame,” Lichon said.

“It’s a really good feeling for a 9-year-old to become the educator. It’s really empowering.”

For Parroquín, moments like these are what make community-based learning such a beautiful experience. In fact, she tells her students to expect these moments.

“The Holy Cross students are our teachers,” she said.

“We are learning from them as much as they are learning from us.”

Contact Claire Reid at creid4@nd.edu

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The observer | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

Task Force Continued from page 1

The task force published a report in June 2021 that includes more than 54 pages chronicling context of the University’s current standing with issues of race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

It also offers new observations made by the task force and a strategic framework for “substantive and long-term process.”

In his announcement of the trustee task force, Fr. John Jenkins said that there is “much to be done.” Jenkins called for “[improving] the experience of our students from underrepresented groups, [enhancing] the diversity of our faculty and staff and [deepening] conversations and understanding about race and justice.”

Appointed members of the board of trustees reflected corporate executives, former government officials and administrators. Byron O. Spruell, the president of league operations for the National Basketball Association (NBA), chaired the task force.

Rev. Robert A. Dowd, who serves as the religious superior for the Holy Cross Community, was also among those appointed. Fr. Dowd, the assistant provost for internationalization and an associate professor of political science, said some might be too quick to dismiss the trustee effort.

“Some people might look at something like this and brush it off it as a passing fad and argue that there are task forces created all the time and ask ultimately what what do we have to show for them, but I think this effort is different,” Fr. Dowd said.

He said the task force’s efforts align with the University’s Catholic mission. “[We] wanted to get a sense of where Notre Dame is at and how we could do better, and how we should be focusing our efforts. In order to be a place where everyone feels at home, a place where everyone feels a sense of belonging. Basically, we were taking stock of where we are as a Catholic university and how we can really more fully live up to our ideals,” Fr. Dowd said.

‘Too many people feel like they don’t belong’: The University’s history as context The task force’s report recounts the history of the indigenous Pokagon Potawatomi people, and how “early European missionaries joined [them] to defend their human rights and dignity” against their expulsion during the Trail of Tears. Rev. Benjamin Petit, one of those missionaries, is buried in the Log Chapel on campus.

The report says that Notre Dame has always “had as its purpose to serve groups

who were marginalized,” recalling the education of “sons of Catholic European immigrants, often excluded from other educational institutions.”

They also cite Rev. Theodore Hesburgh and his advocacy for the U.S. Civil Rights Commission from 1957 to 1972, as well as his decision to admit women to the University, and reform the leadership structure of the Board.

In the foreword to the book “Black Domers,” which sought to capture the experiences of Black students at Notre Dame, Fr. Hesburgh wrote that “besides the addition of women, the most dramatic change in the character of Notre Dame’s student body in my lifetime has been the growing racial and ethnic diversity. This change, achieved through great and deliberate efforts, has benefitted not just black students but all of our students … All of these efforts … have been undertaken for the sake of justice.”

The task force report also says that the persistence of “race-based and socioeconomic disparities … some because of unjust stereotypes, insensitivity, or ignorance, others because of past policies, practices, and decision-making” are also parts of the context, as are disparities present in American society, which “place undue burdens on many Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff of color.”

‘We did a lot of listening’: The task force’s process The task force met more than 25 times and held listening and outreach sessions with faculty, students, staff, rectors, administrators and alumni, as well as conversations with University leadership including Fr. Jenkins, recently retired provost Marie Lynn Miranda and trustee board chair Jack Brennan.

Fr. Dowd recalls the extensive listening sessions and meetings, held primarily over Zoom in the midst of the pandemic.

“We listened to various constituencies: students, staff and alumni of historically underrepresented groups, and it became clear that we just have a lot more work to do that,” Fr. Dowd said. “Too many people feel like they don’t belong. Too many people feel like they are on the margins.”

They also undertook an “extensive process of data collection and analysis,” working with OSPIR. ‘We all want Notre Dame to play a more effective role’: Task force report lays out observations The task force report shares data taken from Notre Dame, as well as the federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.

Together, the data summaries find that the University has maintained a trend of increased ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. This past year, Notre Dame welcomed its most diverse first-year class to date, a trend expected to continue.

This increased diversity is particularly strong among Latino and Hispanic students, who have gone from 5% of the student body in 1990 to 11.5% today.

The report notes that Latino and Hispanic management and staff also have increased as a percentage of the total, as well as tenured and tenure-track faculty. In 1990, 4% of the faculty was Latino/ Hispanic, while they make up 5.7% today.

Further, the percentage of international students have almost tripled over the past 30 years from 2.1% in 1990 to 5.7% in 2020.

The report also notes increased diversity among graduate students. In the 2010–2011 academic year, 6% of the doctorates awarded by Notre Dame were earned by U.S. underrepresented minorities. Nine years later, that number rose to 7.5%. U.S. minority students earning law degrees grew from 21% to 27% over that same time period. For all business master’s degrees there was a smaller shift from 12.3% to 13.5%.

The task force does not herald all data as progress, however, and the report says that “significant improvement is essential.”

Black student recruitment is one area of improvement emphasized in the report.

In 2020, 6.6% of Notre Dame’s undergraduate student body was Black or African American, including all those identifying with two or more races, one of those races being Black. However, only 3.4% of undergraduate students identified solely as Black or African American, placing Notre Dame in the bottom quartile of the Association of American University (A AU) private institutions.

In addition, 2.4% of Notre Dame’s faculty identified solely as Black or African American, up slightly from 1% in 1990. This also places the University in the bottom quartile of the A AU private institutions.

Further, Asian American undergrads have declined as a percentage of the undergraduate student body from 7.3% in 2009 to 5% in 2009, ref lecting a trend identified in other elite institutions.

In 1990, 6.2% of Notre Dame’s faculty identified as Asian American, and in 2020, 11.9% of faculty identified as Asian American.The University is also below the median of A AU private institutions with regards to the percentage of Asian American faculty.

Fr. Dowd discounted notions that race should not be a primary concern when evaluating students.

“Especially for those of us here in the United States, the sin of racism has been something that we continue to struggle with,” he said. “Notre Dame must play an important role in overcoming those inequities. I just think that race is an extremely important issue in this country, and we all just want Notre Dame to play a more effective role in addressing the problem of racism.”

The report also includes some statistics on low socioeconomic students (LSES) and overlays that data with stats on race.

In 2020, 52.5% of all Black students, 31.2% of Hispanic/ Latino students 17.1% of Asian American students are LSES, compared with only 5% of white students. The task force report argues that this “often [makes] it even more difficult for these students to feel at home at Notre Dame.”

In terms of socioeconomic diversity, the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants attending Notre Dame is lower than at peer institutions, placing the University once more in the bottom quartile of the A AU private institutions.

There is also a disparity between LSES and non-LSES in terms of completing a degree on time with 85% of students who were both Pell and firstgeneration graduating on time, compared to 94% of students who were neither.

“We want to do better at serving students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds,” Fr. Dowd said.

Fr. Dowd also pointed out that socioeconomic diversity is not the same as racial diversity.

“It’s important to distinguish between the two,” he said. “Even though there may be some overlap when it comes to promoting racial diversity and socioeconomic diversity, they are distinctive, and I think it’s important to recognize that.”

Finally, the task force utilized survey data from the national Undergraduate Senior Survey, pulling results from Notre Dame students and contrasting them with national averages.

Compared to peers at other institutions, racial and ethnic minority students at Notre Dame were far more likely to be satisfied with the sense of community on campus in every year of the survey.

However, when asked about their satisfaction with the climate for ethnic and racial minority students at Notre Dame, those same students answered consistently lower than students at other institutions. That percentage has trended downward since 2010, hitting 53% in the 2020 survey.

Among graduate and

professional student responding to the statement, “I feel a sense of belonging at Notre Dame,” 78% of white students responded favorably, as compared to 62% of Black or African American students, 67% of Hispanic/ Latino students and 75% of Asian American students.

The task force report summarizes the qualitative and quantitative observations as a list, elaborating on each bullet point with thoughts.

The report says that “inclusive culture matters,” that Notre Dame minority students “feel uninvited” and that the University’s allocation of funds has led to “uneven resources.” It argues that Notre Dame must “close the gap between aspirations and reality,” that there is “momentum and hope” and that “it’s everyone’s responsibility.”

Task force offers strategic framework The task force ultimately lays out a “strategic framework” with five points that they elaborate on in more specific terms, but they do not make specific policy recommendations.

The elements of that framework are to increase representation, strengthen a culture of inclusion and belonging, hold ourselves accountable, be a force for good in the world and commit adequate resources.

“We wanted to make sure that we weren’t just reacting and taking a band-aid approach to Notre Dame’s challenges, but that we were pointing in a direction that would lead to long-term sustainable change,” Fr. Dowd says.

Fr. Dowd says that by allowing executive leadership to develop specific policies in order to meet this framework, policies will be more targeted and coordinated.

“We provided information to the University so that the administration would be able to develop solutions that in the long run, make a difference in the life of the University and student body. And the Board of Trustees then will do its best to assess the progress that the University makes in this regard,” Dowd said.

Fr. Dowd believes that this effort will have long lasting implications. “The trustees really care about this issue,” he said. “They really care about making Notre Dame a place of inclusion and a place that is appropriately diverse.

I think Fr. [Jenkins] cares about this deeply, as well as the other executive leaders of the University. And I think that there’s a real commitment to being transparent about the goals, and about our progress towards those goals moving forward.”

Contact Isa Sheikh at isheikh@nd.edu

News

Club Continued from page 1

community hospitality skills while simultaneously finding a solution to the University’s employment difficulties, she said.

“We kind of hit this dip with staffing,” Zingo said. “Actually, the whole world has. So, we were looking at new and creative ways for us to bring in new staff to the University.”

Zingo said finding employees was not the only goal of the partnership.

“We quickly realized that it wasn’t really just about the staff.

It was about asking how we create these long-term relationships, and then how we help those in our community,” she said. “Our goal is to really prepare the students for the workforce and provide them with learning opportunities.”

The 12-week program found great success when it began in January with nine Boys and Girls Club members being accepted and taking part in three different employment rotations.

The first rotation began with Boys and Girls Club members working in North and South Dining Hall.

Emerge Continued from page 1

actors a re able to ex plore t he stories a nd g ive voice to t hem.

“Honest ly, I’ve never seen a product ion like t his a ny where else,” Capodicci sa id. “It’s not a f ict iona l script, [t hey a re] rea l experiences t hat people go t hrough on ca mpus ever y day.”

The t heme for t his yea r’s show is Emerge. It hopes to ref lect on how we a re adapt ing physica l ly, polit ica l ly a nd emot iona lly a fter t wo yea rs of immense cha nge due to t he pa ndemic.

Senior Na ndini Sadagopa n, execut ive director of t his yea r’s show, sa id t he word “emerge” refers to not on ly coming out f rom t he pa ndemic, but a lso to communit y members’ t ra nsformat ions f rom t heir ex periences.

“We hope t hat people wa l k away f rom t he show hav ing emerged into a communit y t hat is more col lect ively interested in uplif t ing a nd celebrat ing dif ferent voices,” Sadagopa n sa id.

“Show Some Sk in” has r un ever y yea r for over a decade. For t he past t wo yea rs, t he show was v ir tua l. The actors recorded t heir monolog ues, which were compiled into a v ideo.

Sadagopa n sa id t he in-person per forma nce is preferable to v ir tua l

ndsmcobserver.com | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | The Observer

They have since moved on to their second rotation, which includes retail dining jobs at Hagerty Family Cafe in the Duncan Student Center or at Subway in the LaFortune Student Center. The third rotation will conclude with work alongside the catering department.

Kronk, who has worked with the Boys and Girls Club for just over 10 years, highlighted how meaningful the program has been for the individuals involved.

“I think it’s really unique, the way that Ashley [Zingo] and her team have interacted with them on a very personal level,” Kronk said. “Our teams feel that and they respond to that, and they feel invested in [it]. It turns out when you care about people and you treat them well, they’re going to want to do good things for you, and they want to rise for you.”

The personalized interactions between UEE and the Boys and Girls Club go beyond employment, however.

Learning events are put on every week to encourage the young participants to expand their knowledge of the workforce and hospitality. The teens

involved have been given lessons on resume-building and will have the opportunity to shadow and learn from one of Notre Dame’s executive chefs later this week.

The innovation behind this partnership and the work of the Boys and Girls Club members are the main factors that have led to the program’s national recognition by the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Zingo and Kronk have both shared their enthusiasm about the program’s success.

“Notre Dame does amazing things everyday, and sometimes they really go unnoticed, so I think it was really good to have it highlighted and to show that we are community partners and that’s important to us,” Zingo said.

Kronk, on the other hand, honed in on how the recognition bolstered the confidence of the Boys and Girls Club and how it solidified the importance of their efforts.

“I think the kids were really excited to be recognized in this fashion, but I also believe that they know they’re worthy of this,” Kronk said. “They’re patting themselves

on the back a little bit, and they should be, because they’re remarkable, and the sky’s the limit for them.”

UEE hopes to continue this partnership into the fall of 2022 in order to promote engagement between young adults in the South Bend Community and Notre Dame, Zingo said.

Kronk said she hopes Notre Dame students, faculty and staff will pursue volunteer opportunities with the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph County following the success of this work experience program.

“It’s really easy to get caught up in the Notre Dame bubble and to get mired in what we’re doing and focused, but there are mutually beneficial opportunities to get outside of that bubble and to get involved and engaged,” Kronk said. “When you invest in young people, it really does make our community a better place.”

Volunteering opportunities can be found on the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph County website.

because audience members a re sitt ing right nex t to one a not her in person, which facilitates discussion of t he stories presented a nd t he issues t hey touch on.

Four t h-yea r junior Tony Perez ser ves as t he stage ma nager for t his yea r’s product ion a nd acted in t he v ir tua l per forma nce in 2020. He sa id t he in-person per forma nce prov ides a ver y persona l ex perience for t he audience.

“I t hin k one of t he

specia l t hings about ‘Show Some Sk in’ is we get our actors to form such deep connect ions w it h t heir monolog ues,” Perez sa id. “I t hin k t hat rea lly shows when you’re in t he audience of a ‘Show Some Sk in’ per forma nce.”

Capodicci sa id at t he end of t heir Sunday rehea rsa ls, t he actors listen to a spea ker a nd have a discussion on a topic related to ident it y.

“Hav ing discussions on t hese topics helps us empat hi ze w it h t he

w riter more a nd do just ice to t he stor y,” Capodicci sa id.

Perez sa id ma ny of t he monolog ues a re submitted by people of color, queer people a nd t hose f rom low income backg rounds.

“For me, ‘Show Some Sk in’ is ver y specia l a nd wonder f u l because it’s one of t he few t imes, especia lly on a ca mpus li ke Not re Da me, t hat people who norma l ly a ren’t comfor table spea k ing out get to do so,” Perez

5

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sa id.

Sadagopa n sa id t he show g ives t he audience a n oppor tunit y to recog ni ze t heir ow n blindspots a nd to ga in perspect ives on impor ta nt topics t hey may not have had before.

“It a l lows for a collect ive sha ring or holding of a stor y t hat may be too pa inf u l for a person to hold on,” Sadagopa n sa id.

Contact Megan Fahrney at mfahrney@nd.edu

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The observer | wednesday, february 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

Cherish the real

Inside Column

Being a twin is hard Emma Kirner Graphic Designer

Being a twin is hard.

I am so grateful for the “Aww, twins!” reactions that I have received over the years, but that visibility comes with the weight of comparison.

I have spent minutes standing side to side with my sister, feeling a sinking feeling in my stomach as another person stood with their hands on their knees, eyes searching, pointing out the smallest differences in our faces. To this day, I know my face is more oval-shaped than hers, I know I used to be a little bit shorter and I know even how we breathe differently. Furthermore, due to spending 14 years of my life dancing in tights and a leotard, I can’t help but compare my body to hers. Even as a 10-year-old, I took pride in a comment made by the ballet shop owner that my “shoulders sloped more” and I was “smaller” than my sister when I stepped out of the dressing room in a leotard. It sucks to not only hate the way your body looks in the mirror every day based on ballet body standards, but to take back the smallest shred of self-confidence on the horrible hope that you could be the “prettier” twin.

Every now and then, I wear makeup, knowing my twin doesn’t.

Sometimes I think that my personal image is the only thing that will provide me power over how people see me, and it hurts my heart. Why can’t other people just try harder to get to know me? I should be clear that getting to know me does not mean verbally listing all the visible differences between us. I can see the difference in someone’s eyes when they are looking at me to compare me to my sister, versus when they are looking at me to really know me.

There is also a lot of invisibility that comes from being a twin. You constantly don’t know if the people around you know who you are, and hope that if you are mistaken for your twin, you at least give other people a good impression.

One of the hardest things for me was hearing my dance teacher, who I had known for 14 years, not know whether I was Emma or Claire, and it was really heartbreaking. I thought that I had made an impact, not only as a dancer, but as a leader in bringing the community together as a family. The worst thing to realize is that perhaps no one ever really is sure who I am, so every interaction they have with me is one marked by uncertainty. And it feels like neither of us individually exist. It is kind of like floating in a world where your identity isn’t yours, but just some mesh of everyone’s experiences with “the twins.”

I always feel a lot of guilt around complaining about being a twin, because then I feel that people will be even more scared to get us “wrong,” and would then rather avoid us than saying hello. I even heard one person say to my face that “I was scared because I didn’t know which one you were, but I would have said hi if I knew.” I would much rather you try and fail at my name, or just ask, rather than give up and call me “Clemma” like one of my high school teachers who completely threw out any respect for us. Even if you know me pretty well, it can be hard, especially with masks, and it makes sense to get confused. I also get other twins mixed up sometimes, it’s only human.

We are both 5-foot-5, double majoring in English and VCD, play the violin, dance ballet and are in all the same clubs. That’s a ton of similarities. But, if you really got to know us, you would see that Claire loves baseball caps, playing the guitar, doesn’t like spontaneity or change, drinks black coffee and has a calmer energy, like a sea of lilac flowers. In eldest-child fashion, she is way more level-headed than me, and always does scary things first, like getting shots at the doctor’s office.

Meanwhile, I am incredibly inspired by musical theater despite my singular theater experience, and hype up my latest obsessions of artists and movies too high, until my sister has to say “that really wasn’t that good.” I like to play pretty melodies on the piano, sip lavender tea and radiate a gently energetic personality, like when the sky turns a pinkish blue at sunset, not ready to give up on the possibilities of the day. In middle-child fashion, I sing “One Hand One Heart” with my younger brother despite Claire’s annoyance, haphazardly twirl around the kitchen while doing the dishes, and once listened to Greta Gerwig’s podcasts for a week instead of listening to music, because I was (and still am) obsessed with the idea of creating something beautiful for an audience through screenplay writing or design. We both love giving really good hugs, and I hope to never go a day without one from my sister.

Hopefully, now that you have dug a little bit deeper into what it means to share a smile with another person, you can see that being a twin is harder than it looks. However, the biggest struggle of being a twin is also the biggest gift. I get to share my life with someone who is always there for me, and who will always know who I am.

You can contact Emma at ekirner@nd.edu The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Madeline Law Trivial Matters

Spring break is not in two weeks.

It can’t be. I still have two papers, a rewrite, a project and two midterms to tackle, not to mention rehearsals and work and … oh yeah, going to classes. All in 14 days.

Did I stress you out? My bad. I stressed myself out, too.

Despite these thrilling tasks awaiting me, I was procrastinating away on Saturday morning in a friend’s room after a long week. Said friend was putting away laundry and decided to introduce me to a podcast called “The Newest Olympian” by the hilariously engaging Mike Schubert.

I thought the name sounded familiar. If you did too, it might be because you have also discovered his first podcast, “Potterless,” in which listeners join Mike as he reads the “Harry Potter” series for the first time at the cynical age of 24.

“The Newest Olympian” is exactly that, but make it “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” by the fantasy-mythology-YA genius Rick Riordan.

My friend hit play on the first episode of “The Newest Olympian” as I poked around my column idea notes for this week’s inspiration.

Five minutes in, Mike was absolutely delighted that the first chapter of “The Lightning Thief” (the first book in the series) is titled “I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher,” and I had the overwhelming desire to promptly abandon all responsibilities and just be a kid, sitting in a cozy place, escaping into that childhood favorite.

But I’m not a kid. I’m a college student, sitting on the floor of a dorm room, grasping at motivation as it floats away like a red balloon. Or a blue balloon. Or a lavender balloon with polka dots.

As I’m distractedly fighting the urge to escape, I find a journal prompt I had jotted down: “What book setting would you live in if you could?”

A side note: If you don’t know me, the one thing to know is that I’ve spent my life with my nose in a book. Nowadays, it’s more often textbooks, unfortunately. Rory Gilmore said it best: “I live in two worlds; one is a world of books.”

So naturally, I immediately started browsing my mental library for the best book setting to live in, and I found myself among my childhood favorites. You know, the ones that would make the world slip away, taking with it any chores and homework and the occasional annoying sibling? Like the “Percy Jackson” books.

The aforementioned podcast was still twittering away, drifting in and out of my conscious listening.

What would it be like to live in that mid-2000s New York City, sidequesting with the good-naturedly sarcastic narrator that is Percy Jackson?

Would I get to be a demigod with cool abilities?

Would I heroically fight for the survival and make heartwrenching decisions and defend my city in combat of mythological proportions?

Wait.

Fight for survival? Heartwrenching choices?

Combat?

Swap out the swashbuckling fiction and put those words under a news headline and I suddenly question the rationale for that literary escapism.

Fair warning, the rambling is about to get real.

Why do we ask these questions about what book we’d want to move into? Would we rather face the collapse of a home and loss of family or friends than take an exam?

It’s a sobering thought. Those things are really happening for people today, and they don’t have magical powers. If you actually had the option to trade the mundane obligations of exam-taking and essay-writing for the uncertainty and danger of those fantastical adventures, would you?

I’m asking some maybe too-serious questions, I know. But it got me thinking. I am blessed to not have my survival threatened daily or have to make heartwrenching choices in my own life. So why do I enjoy reading books with those things?

I guess the most obvious difference here is that in books, it’s made up. It’s fiction. It’s romanticized and written with a light hand to feed our human desire for demonstrations of perseverance, of loyalty, of compassion and of love.

All things our fictional friends find and demonstrate in the midst of their battles. What we hope to find and demonstrate in our lives.

Now let’s take a step back.

That journal prompt doesn’t ask what book plot we’d like to live through, though. It asks what book setting we’d move to. If we could have the exhilaration of adventure and magic and camaraderie without the life-threatening encounters, then what are we waiting for?

We may not wish for those heavy-duty issues when we spend a minute thinking about it.

There is, however, something to be said for the badassery we’d feel while wielding a sword or flying through the clouds.

The next time you read a book of fiction, maybe a childhood favorite, take a minute to let your suspension of disbelief fall away and imagine what the world would be like for real. Imagine it happening in your town. On your campus.

Would you still want to live in it?

Cherish the real.

And then throw that suspension of disbelief right back up because that’s why the author wrote that story — to take you well away from reality and leave your heart full of those human intangibles of perseverance and loyalty and love. Come back to the world and find a way to show them in your own life.

Make it real.

Conquer these next two weeks.

Madeline Law is a Saint Mary’s junior from Petoskey, Michigan. She studies English literature and communication studies with a minor in theatre. If you can find her, she’ll either be adding books to scattered to-read lists or rereading old favorites. Reach her at mlaw01@ saintmarys.edu and send book suggestions.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Submit a Letter to the Editor: viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.com

The observer | wednesday, february 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

7

Looking four-ward Eva Analitis Below the Surface

Second-semester seniors are pretty uniquely situated compared to the rest of the student body. Having successfully survived seven semesters of college courses, we are hardly daunted by an eighth. There’s a confident ease about us as we spend our remaining undergraduate days ambling around the quads and along the lakes, roaming the halls of the buildings in which we took our most formative and memorable classes and finally setting foot in those building in which we’ve never been — just to say we now have.

We’re cherishing our waning weeks living so close to all the friends we’ve made over the past four years, aware that some of us might never live in such a communal setting as college ever again. We’re venturing off campus more, too, to make sure we’ve savored all that South Bend has to offer, leaving no local coffee shop untried and no park unattended. As we take our final steps around campus as students, we have one foot out the door, looking forward to postgraduate adult life. Some of us are all set for next year, with a job lined up or a spot in graduate school, while others are finalizing plans — or at least planning to make plans.

The most distinctive feature of the second semester of senior year, however, is our class schedules. Those taking a full course load are few and far between.

Many of us have completed our major(s) and are either finishing up a minor or simply taking extra classes that spark our interest or seem useful for the future.

The typical second-semester senior is enrolled in only three or four classes, and some as few as one or two.

This usually works itself out to having at least one day without any classes at all. In my case, Tuesdays and Thursdays are open. Sure, we all have that one friend who’s taking twenty-one credits, but for the most part, this final semester has been our lightest one yet.

And it’s been good — the effects of ample time for leisure are noticeable. I’ve seen the gleam return to my peers’ eyes that was so bright when we first set foot on campus as first-year students but that was gradually dulled by the grueling work of our core college years, amplified by the pandemic and junior year job applications and graduate school entrance exams. We have time now. We’re enjoying ourselves. We’re engaging with the community. Sure, part of this is a natural perk of having put in the work for the prior seven semesters and having secured plans for after graduation. So, the situation is somewhat unique to being a second-semester senior. But some of this could — and should — apply to all students. We don’t need to trudge through seven semesters of our college experience to merit enjoying the eighth, to truly have time to embrace South Bend, friendships and campus life. We should have more time to do that every semester.

This is why it’s time for Notre Dame to institute a four-day school week. There are two forms that such a week could realistically take: We’ll call them the “43” and the “2-1-2.” The first option includes four days of classes in a row and a three-day weekend. Some of my peers have lived in a “4-3” world for years and rave about having free Fridays every semester. I, for one, never had the luxury of a three-day weekend in prior years (though I have taken a few of the enviable 8 a.m. classes in place). The benefits of the “4-3” week are quite enticing. You have Friday to tie up loose ends from the week and take care of essential tasks and then enjoy the evening and the entire Saturday that follows. Then, Sunday is for relaxation, and you can sprinkle studying into these days however you’d like. A three-day weekend allows you to ease into and out of the weekend, rather than blinking and finding yourself already at the start of a new week.

An alternative with an equally compelling allure is the “2-1-2,” attending classes Monday and Tuesday, taking a break Wednesday and resuming classes Thursday and Friday. Such a schedule makes the

week more digestible and would enable us to put a better foot forward in our classes that fall later in the week after a Wednesday recharge, rather than starting off strong on Monday but fizzling out to absent-mindedness and drudgery as the week goes on. The heart of the argument for the four-day school week is not that we students are lazy, looking to cut academic corners wherever we can and seeking to minimize the “school” part of college, but quite the opposite: Concentrating our classes over a span of fewer days lets us better concentrate on them. Rather than spreading our classes out over five days and feeling as though we’re in a perpetual state of school, in which we don’t have much urgency to maximize effort because we know we’re stuck here a while, knowing instead that we have a more limited number of school days and a break in the middle of them or a lengthy one at the end incentivizes us to give it our all while we are in class. And I must add, if it is “lazy” to want to spend a substantial portion of your life engaging with friends, hobbies and your community and taking care of yourself, then I’ll gladly except the label of “lazy.”

Between the “4-3” and the “2-1-2,” both forms of the four-day school week have their advantages, and I don’t have a particular preference for either as things stand. But there’s one thing I know: the “5-2” has got to go. It’s easy to keep things as they are when every other university operates on a five-day school week, but Notre Dame has the opportunity to be forwardlooking here. Take a chance. Give it a try: One experimental semester of the four-day class week. Once you do, I’ll bet you won’t ever want to go back.

A former resident of Lyons Hall, Eva Analitis is a senior majoring in political science and pre-health. Even though she often can’t make up her own mind, that won’t stop her from trying to change yours. She can be reached at eanaliti@nd.edu or @evaanalitis on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Discipline for freedom Mikey Colgan Collegiate Crossroads

Growing up, I always resonated strongly with the common sentiment: “Why would I willingly do something that I don’t enjoy?”

To be honest, it can be difficult to argue against this reasoning at times. When considering the two options of walking 10 minutes in the snow to lift weights for an hour or sitting in your bed and enjoying a TV show, there’s no doubt in my mind that the TV show would be more enjoyable. This can also be applied perfectly to diet. If I can choose between dry dining hall grilled chicken or some Taco Bell, I will obviously prefer the taste of Taco Bell.

With this rationale, I ate a lot of crap and I watched a lot of TV throughout middle and high school. However, as I reached college, I began reevaluating decisions of this nature. In this evaluation, I came to realize a key factor in these decisions is the scope of time you are evaluating for your choice. Yes, a TV show is a more enjoyable, relaxing hour. And yes, Taco Bell will taste significantly better. However, once you expand the timeframe of your decision to include the effect years down the road, it gets more interesting.

When thinking about the effects down the line, I struggled to conceive how I could align my decisions towards a clear overarching goal or vision. As a young college student, it is virtually impossible to envision a crystal-clear end goal for your decisions to lead towards. Not only is it hard to know what you want your life to look like down the road, it is impossible to predict changes in your preferences

or outside variables that will affect you by chance.

Because of my unclear future, I have often struggled to win the “don’t watch TV because going to the gym is better for you” argument.

This decisionmaking dilemma can extend from health to work ethic in the classroom to how you spend your time on the weekends. For years, I’ve gone back and forth trying to carve out a clear enough vision to fix this issue, but I’ve failed time and time again. If you’re able to see a clear enough vision, good for you. However, if you’re in the same boat as me, I was recently exposed to a solution to this dilemma.

Similar to my last column, a former Navy SEAL provided me with a fantastic mindset to adopt.

While David Goggins lights the fire in your soul, Jocko Willink provides the rationale for a life of discipline. In his ramblings on YouTube, Willink addresses the question of why he continues being extremely regimented after his life in the Navy. He answers that being disciplined must come from the desire for freedom.

At first, I could not wrap my head around this reasoning. How would discipline relate in any way to freedom? However, after watching more of his videos, it became clear. By becoming more and more disciplined, you gain greater control over your actions and can direct yourself towards a variety of higher ends. This “freedom” is then captured in many ways. Through discipline, you have the freedom to do what you believe is best for you in spite of outside pressure or immediate desires. Because of this self-direction, you then have the freedom to reach heights you want to get to most in life. Instead of wasting time on frivolous pursuits, discipline

allows you to align all of your actions towards actual goals.

Now relating to my point on being unsure of where you want your life to end up, these goals do not need to be permanent or 20 years down the road. They can be for freeing up time to spend with friends the next week or learning about a career you think could be the right future for you.

In addition, while discipline is key, I’m not saying you should never enjoy the present. That would be ridiculous. However, I believe that discipline is what ultimately gives life purpose. Without discipline, you would be a blob watching TV until you died. You would accomplish nothing and your life would have no meaning behind it.

As dreary as it sounds, it’s true. With so many forces pulling you in different directions in life, discipline is what allows you to control the path. And when difficult events occur in your life (they will), discipline is what forces you to keep it together, be strong for your friends and family and continue pursuing higher ends. Now with that said, I urge you to practice discipline to gain freedom in your life. I’m trying to do the same and it’s a process.

However, with time, it can bring a drastic change to your life.

Mikey Colgan is a sophomore from Boston, Massachusetts, studying finance and Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics (ACMS).

He is an avid college basketball fan and resides in Morrissey Hall. He can be reached at mcolgan2@nd.edu or @Mikeycolgs15 on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.

The observer | wednesday, february 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

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Let’s keep this Lent a secret Devin Humphreys Law, Life and the Lord

Next week sees the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

This means that for 40 days, not counting Sundays, the Church will enter her yearly period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

So how are we to join our brethren in this observance?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) lays out the five precepts of the Church, laying out the “very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort” (CCC 2041). The fourth of those precepts reads, “You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church” (CCC 2043).

What are these days of fasting and abstinence? We turn to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which notes that “[a]bstinence from meat … is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday” (Canon 1251).

Wait … all Fridays? As in throughout the year?

Yes, meatless Fridays are still very much a thing in many other nations , but each national conference of bishops “can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast,” according to the Code of Canon Law. And in its Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence in 1966, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops did precisely this, declaring first that “the obligation both to fast and to abstain from meat … still binds on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday” and “we preserved for our dioceses the tradition of abstinence from meat on each of the Fridays of Lent,” but proceeding to “emphasize that our people are henceforth free from the obligation traditionally binding under pain of sin in what pertains to Friday abstinence, except as noted above for Lent.”

While we the faithful are called, on non-Lenten Fridays, to substitute “other penitential observances” if we decide not to abstain from meat, and more generally to understand that “Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is the entire year,” this means that Catholics in the United States have been dispensed from our obligation to abstain

from meat every Friday throughout the year.

So, to review: We fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and we are bound to abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent. All Catholics above the age of 14 must abstain from meat on the proper days. Catholics between the ages of 18 and 60 must fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (Code of Canon Law 1252). That’s all more or less straightforward.

But what about that personal devotional practice of “giving something up for Lent”? Well, dear reader, allow me to stand on my soapbox of the week: In a season whose spirit is one of penance, let us not fall into the temptation to engage in one-upmanship.

Here’s the dilemma. Jesus tells us, rather emphatically, that when you fast, you are to “anoint your head and wash your face.” But how often do we tell other people what we’ve given up for Lent?

Sometimes we don’t even mean to do this. Take my Lenten experience two years ago as an example. I decided to give up any dark-colored pop (call it soda if you’d like; be wrong if you’d like), but since anyone who knows me knows just how locked in my food and drink preferences are, opting for a beverage not of a root beer or Cherry Coke variety was bound to arouse suspicion. Inquiries were raised, and I was thereby compelled to reveal that I had given these things up for Lent. I “received my reward,” to finish off Christ’s exhortation. A word of advice that I probably need to take for myself too: Lent is not about proving ourselves to other people.

But Lent is also not about giving up the bad tendencies of our lives. What? Scandalous! I hear your preliminary outrage, dear reader. But do read on. Yes, it’s not the worst idea in the world to use Ash Wednesday as a springboard for bettering ourselves for the rest of our lives. Still, there are two pitfalls for the unwary in giving up a bad habit (like gossip, negativity or worse things) for Lent.

Since Lent comes to a temporal end at Easter, either (1) we succumb to the temptation to pick up that bad habit when Lent is over, which really misses the point, or (2) we continue not doing that bad thing, which is great, but then we’ve really given that bad thing up for good rather than just for Lent.

But worst of all, the concept of giving something up for Lent causes us to overly temper our collective joy when

something awesome happens to fall during Lent. All the social conventions surrounding whether someone who has given something up for Lent should accept their exclusion from certain aspects of collective celebration in the name of heightening their penance, or whether someone with a Lenten celebration should temper down their celebration because it’s Lent, cause me to utter a groan of exasperation.

Maybe the solution is to lean into Jesus’ command that we anoint our heads and wash our faces when we fast. My challenge to you this Lent is this: Whatever you give up, keep it a secret. Tell no one what you’re doing or when you’re doing it. And let’s ban the six-word phrase “I gave that up for Lent” from our vocabulary. If someone offers you the thing you gave up? Accept it, appreciate your community of people and let that indulgence, connected with your penance, cause us to grow in love and service of God and each other.

Of course, don’t go seeking this kind of thing out; that misses the point too. And none of this advice applies to the things we all do as a greater Catholic community to commemorate Lent (fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, or abstaining from meat on Lenten Fridays), since if someone asks why we do those things, that’s a critical evangelism opportunity. In those situations, we can explain that Christ suffered and died for our sins to free us from the bonds of death, so we unite our small penitential Lenten sufferings to His big ones. What’s the difference? When we boast about our personal Lenten practices, we become like the people that Jesus decries for making a show of their fasting. But we can claim no real credit for doing what the Church asks of us during Lent — as the Catechism says, it’s the “very necessary minimum.” So may this Lent be filled blessings and many secret penances!

Devin is a member of the Notre Dame Law School’s class of 2023. Originally from Farwell, Michigan, he is a 2020 graduate of Michigan State University’s James Madison College. In his free time, he sings with the Notre Dame Folk Choir and discusses the legal developments of the day with anyone who will listen. Inquiries into his surplus of law journal articles and note ideas can be directed to dhumphr2@nd.edu or @DevinJHumphreys on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Why it feels so embarrassing to be a Good Girl Julianna Conley In My Own Words

Last year I was participating in a virtual internship when, in a classic Zoom silence-filling tactic, we were asked to share what we had for breakfast. The grid on my computer lit up with choruses of “toast,” “yogurt,” and “pancakes,” everyone nodding politely but with relative disinterest.

When I shared that I ate cereal for my early morning meal, though, another boy in the call unmuted himself and said “Aww … how wholesome.” Though hardly a noteworthy statement in most circumstances, his comment immediately got under my skin. To me, it cemented what I already knew: I’m a goddamn puppy.

Coined by my former roommate and fellow Observer podcaster, Bridget Kelley, the term “puppy” explains the plight of us “wholesome” folk, where people always interact with us as if we’re “adorable” rather than an equal.

Admittedly, the “puppiers” aren’t trying to be condescending, but they carry themselves with a certain worldliness and talk to puppies in a way that establishes us as decidedly not.

When I was a sophomore Welcome Weekend Ambassador, I introduced myself to every freshman I could, excited to finally join the ranks of the cool upperclassmen. Inevitably, at the first lunch, the freshmen I so generously graced with my presence put me back in my place, cooing and calling me cute. At my on-campus job calling alumni, I earned a reputation for long conversations. One day, when discussing why I always seem to ring

up the chatty Cathys, a coworker informed me that my call length likely stems from my “innocent voice,” since people “feel bad hanging up on a child.” When classmates see me at bars, they still react in shock at my presence, despite my going out fairly regularly.

I know I’m not alone in being bothered by a goody-twoshoes classification. Who can forget the classic episode of Good Luck Charlie where Teddy Duncan learns she’s been nicknamed G.G. for “Good Girl” and decides to skip school to prove she can be bad? We’ve all sung along to Grease’s “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” mocking Sandy’s naivete. Time and time again, our on-screen heroes taught us that a squeaky clean reputation only signified a lack of experience. That being cute is mutually exclusive with being sophisticated. That puppies are inherently uncool; that bulldogs are at the top of the food chain and leather pant-clad Sandy will always earn the guy over the poodle skirt-wearing girl at the beginning of the movie.

Last year, fed up with my public puppy persona and languishing on my best friends’ futon, I announced it was time to take drastic measures. “Caroline,” I said, “I’m just going to have to smoke opium in the middle of South Quad.” Ignoring the inherent puppy-ness of selecting opium as my drug of choice (“What are you, 19th-century Chinese royalty?”), I ultimately decided a public spectacle proving my worldliness wouldn’t create the effect I wanted. Even if opium was cool, with my luck, I’d come across as one of those babies in Zoot suits. An adorable mini mobster rather than a respectable drug addict.

On the last day of fifth grade, my teacher had our class write anonymous affirmations to each other. When I unfurled my scroll of praise, all of them said some

variation of “smart” and “nice.” Comparing my compliments to those of my friends, I felt devastated that they received an assortment of accolades while I seemed to earn only the most basic of kudos. Assuming nice meant bland and smart meant stuffy, I decided to “rebrand,” making an effort to downplay my knowledge and become ditzier in an effort to earn laughs. To this day, I consider my humor one of the defining characteristics of my personality.

True, no one was asking me to change. No one told me anything was wrong with the way I was. But to an insecure, shy girl who desperately wanted to fit in, I couldn’t help feeling that if only I was like “them” — if only I was funnier or edgier, if only I could give them some reason to know me — they’d realize I really was cool and fun.

They’d realize they liked me.

Now, reflecting back on all the additions and adjustments I’ve made, all the times I’ve accommodated the expectations of the people around me, I wonder who I’d be if I hadn’t taken to heart every comment people made about me.

Last week a friend asked me if I was going to the 86 days senior dance, I typed “damn right,” changed the ‘m’ to an ‘r’ and pressed send.

Julianna Conley is a senior studying sociology and prehealth studies with a minor in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy. Though she is forever loyal to Pasquerilla East B-team athletics, Julianna now lives off campus. She can be reached for comment at jconley4@nd.edu or @JuliannaLConley on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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The observer | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

By MATHEUS HERNDL Scene Writer

It's no secret that I have a "thing" for double albums.

For me, double albums generally represent bands at the height of their creative ambitions and displaying the best of their technical skills. This is why records like Clash’s "London Calling" and Swans’ "Soundtracks for The Blind" are some of my all-time favorites, not only because of their grand scale but also because they allow artists to write longer and more unconventional songs.

However, when I heard that Indie folk band Big Thief's new LP would be a double album, I was skeptical at first, as I was never a huge fan of their music. I have memories of listening to their 2019 release “U.F.O.F” and finding it rather dull, later jokingly describing it to my friends as “boring sleepy time music.” For me, Big Thief followed too many of the tired Indie folk tropes popularized by the likes of Elliott Smith, Fleet Foxes or Sufjan Stevens but without their deep lyricism or technical virtuosity. Because of this, I began listening to this record expecting either another “U.F.O.F” or some pretentious “Wall-esque” rock opera. Fortunately, the terribly titled “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” is anything but that.

Despite its long tracklist of 20 songs, the album clocks in at a modest 1 hour and 20 minutes, under the hourand-a-half-mark that seems to have become standard in the last decade. With most of the tracks being under the 5 minutes long, this record’s pacing still feels snappy, even

By ROSE ANDROWICH Scene Writer

“Marry Me” had every potential to be a good movie. The two leads — Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson — should have made romantic comedy a shoo-in for success. However, the movie itself was severely lacking. The plot point upon which the movie was based was unrealistic at best. It involved a single dad trying to seem less boring to his daughter, Lou. So far, so good. The only problem is that this attempt at appearing interesting wouldn’t usually result in a marriage.

Similarly, the idea of Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson), the dad in question, marrying Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) because it was the right thing to do, just didn’t sit well. Perhaps, romantic films don’t have to be works of complete realism. However, I think that viewers can find some plots easier to understand than others (and this was not one of them).

One thing that interested me about the marriage between Charlie and Kat was the insistence from Charlie that his daughter Lou (Chloe Coleman) shouldn’t meet Kat. To me, this suggests that the marriage between them is not real.

Other characters deemed Charlie’s actions to be somewhat cynical, but I think that he was actually being realistic in this scene. One of the best aspects of Charlie’s character was arguably his attitude of practical realism, especially when it came to the odds of marriage. An example of this is when he begins telling Kat the statistics for marriages that end in divorce, then

despite the slow tempo of many of the songs. The album also seems to lack a unifying concept or story. Instead, it appears as a collection of independent but catchy folk tunes that explore a variety of themes ranging from love and loss to hope and joy.

Sonically, “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” seems like an amalgamation of Big Thief’s previous 2 records. Most of the tracks contain the lo-fi indie sensibilities of “U.F.O.F” — which are, themselves, reminiscent of Elliott Smith or Phoebe Bridger’s early work — but they are interspersed with more upbeat indie-rock influenced songs akin to those in “Two Hands” (another previous Big Thief album). Big Thief also spends some tracks experimenting with other genres: examples of such experimentation include the shoegaze/dream pop track “Little Things” or the use of a Cassio Drum machine in “Wake me up to drive.” The production here also varies dramatically with some tracks like “Promise is a pendulum” incorporating the lo-fi folk aesthetics of their previous works while others like “No Reason” feature lush reverb drenched guitars and crisper production.

For me, the true strength of this album lies in its songwriting and lyrics. Frontwoman Adrianne Lenker has a true talent for writing both lyrics and melodies that sound both ethereal and intimate which are complemented by her reserved yet emotional singing style.

On the other hand, I feel that her high pitch, Sufjan-style delivery works better in some cases than

others. In the title track for example, her voice sounds breathy and weak which I don’t particularly like. In other tracks like “Promise is a Pendulum” her voice is mixed so high that it sounds like she’s whispering in my ear.

And almost every double album, Warm Mountain does suffer from the occasional track which could’ve been trimmed out. The opener “Change” is Big Thief at their blandest and tracks like “Heavy Bend” and “Dried Rose” don’t add much to the record.

Overall, I am impressed with this album and while I wouldn’t say that it turned me into a Big Thief fan, I am keen to see how their sound develops going forward and would certainly consider it as a contender for album of the year.

proceeds to recite the odds of successful remarriage. The fascinating part was that Kat held a different view than Charlie — she still believed that, despite the odds, things could work out.

Charlie’s cynicism towards marriage is somewhat misleading, however, considering he married a complete stranger. He justified his marriage by saying that it wasn’t real, but it still felt like a bit of a cop-out.

The Bastian storyline was another aspect of the movie that was a flawed portrayal. Bastian (Maluma), Kat’s fiancé and onstage partner, cheated on her with her assistant only to come back into her life when the two were nominated for a Grammy. The bothersome part was Charlie’s worry that Kat would go back to Bastian even after he cheated on her. I believe that this shows the flaws within their relationship. Even after things became “real” between the two leads, Charlie still doubted that a celebrity could actually choose him.

This premise seems like it would be more of an issue toward the end of the movie, especially as Charlie begins to disagree with Kat’s lifestyle. He criticizes her initially saying that everything in her life is a sponsorship, but this storyline is later dropped to focus in on Kat’s lack of self-sufficiency.

Ultimately, neither Kat nor Charlie undergoes enough character development to end up as a plausible couple. Maybe that’s the point of today’s romantic comedies — that is, creating unrealistic couples. But there must be a way for this to be done better. Take a look at one of Jennifer Lopez’s earlier films, “Maid in Manhattan,” which was done in a much more

believable way, with both of the main characters’ attractions expressed clearly. By contrast, “Marry Me” seems content to leave the success of Kat and Charlie’s relationship a mystery.

All my critiques of the film aside, there were elements that I liked. Take Parker (Sarah Silverman), Charlie’s friend, was a very funny and interesting character. Still, I think it would’ve been fulfilling for Kat to say a few words to Parker’s ex-boyfriend.

The final scene where we get to see Lou overcome her fear at the Mathlathon after choking at the previous math finals was fulfilling to see. This fulfillment was diminished, though, when her math team lost in the finals. Likewise, the film itself falls short despite its more enjoyable moments, failing to live up to the potential of its talented lead actors.

Contact Matheus Herndl at mherndl@nd.edu

“Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You” Artist: Big Thief Label: 4AD Favorite tracks: “Simulation Swarm,” “Certainty,” “Little Things” If you like: Sufjan Stevens, Elliott Smith

Contact Rose at randrowich01@saintmarys.edu

“Marry Me” Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson Director: Kat Coiro If you like: “Maid in Manhattan,” “Cars”

MAKAYLA HERNANDEZ | The Observer | peacock tv, Free creatives

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The observer | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

By MARCELLE COUTO Scene Writer

A well-defined crime scene, a group of suspects with plenty of motives for murder and a stellar cast. “Death on the Nile,” the new adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel, certainly shares many of the same ingredients that made “Murder on the Orient Express” such a success, but this version of the story is immediately set apart from the 2017 film by its hero’s state of mind.

In his version of the character, director Kenneth Branagh seeks to present a detective with an intense personal side and a more humane manner of intervention. These traits are central to the works he has chosen to adapt: “Murder on the Orient Express" and “Death on the Nile.”

In both versions, Branagh modifies characters, narrative paths and the order of important events in the original stories. In the present case, the changes operated in two ways: Some seem to have been an interesting choice, while others simply mischaracterize the work, taking away the essence that a given scene should have. “Death on the Nile” is somewhat conceptually anachronistic, just as “Murder on the Orient Express” was.

Diegetically, “Death of the Nile” takes place in 1937. The excellent costumes don’t hide it, as well as the production design of the work, which recreates the time period the plot takes place in. Aesthetically, the film is coherent and beautiful. The photography, signed by Haris Zambarloukos, is harmonic and warm, and the filters are well used. These visual elements are on par with what one might imagine of a story set in Egypt in the second half of the 1930s.

By AYDEN KOWALSKI Scene Writer

The twin theses of “Cyrano” are professed in the opening number, a ballad performed in shadows: our heroine alone and accompanying herself on the piano as admirers emerge from the woodworks of the set. “All they know is what they see,” she laments, a promise of her deconstruction from the town heroine to a human being. Another task the show sets for itself is proclaimed by the chorus, calling out, “Give us a show, Cyrano.” Both the woman and the show deliver.

Produced and reimagined by the department of film, television and theatre, “Cyrano” follows its titular poet and swordfighter through a journey of unrequited love.

Cyrano pines for her friend Roxanne from afar, but Roxanne has her sights set on an attractive and poorlyspoken man named Christian. Cyrano agrees to write love letters from Christian to Roxanne, secretly drawing on Cyrano’s own feelings. Roxanne falls in love with the soul shown in the letters. While it is traditionally Cyrano’s large nose standing between him and his lover, Cyrano is a heroine in this play, which means there are other potential barriers the audience can infer from this reimagined relationship.

The brilliant script, written by director and associate professor of film, television and theatre Matt Hawkins, makes several wonderful changes to the classic story, such as transforming one exchange of insults into a quasi-rap battle with hype men behind the inept loser. The decision to reinterpret this love story gives the play a special weight, as

The impasse, however, is in the script. Characters behave in a way that feels out of place and, worse, far from the essence of Agatha Christie’s book, which is a problem for the film.

In general, adaptations can take two directions in terms of the orchestration of the text. The first choice is fidelity. In these adaptations, the departures from the source material are limited and an attempt is made to maintain the soul of the original. The second choice is change, which can occur in varying intensities. These settings can generate amazing results if the changes are consistent with the universe and, more importantly, if they are able to maintain what characterizes the original. Of course, there are also works that make changes, but seem to adapt an entirely different work.

In other cases, the changes onscreen serve a stylistic and narrative vision that has nothing to do with the original, but seek to marry the changes with the original. This is the kind of Agatha Christie adaptation Kenneth Branagh makes, but he is only partially victorious in his endeavor.

Certain continuity choices are strange for a film with an investigative plot — for example, the endless dance scene at the beginning. The murder of Bouc (Tom Bateman), a character that is not even in the book, is problematic and entirely out of place. The plot loses a very important person but still makes room for a shameful inversion of the script at the end, referring to hiring Poirot to investigate Rosalie Otterbourne.

I dislike the fact that Poirot shaved off his mustache at the end of the movie, but we know it is something planted from the beginning. The opening scene itself has nothing to do with the book and isn’t relevant to the plot. Nonetheless, it is

part of the film’s thematic completeness about love, opening and closing the film as if indicating a cycle.

“Death on the Nile” is on the ropes of quality. Visually, it’s an impressive piece of work. Narratively, it has its good moments, but they are interrupted by the production’s questionable choices and ​​incoherent changes to the source material. It is a work with solid identity and a stacked cast, but not everyone is put to good use. The director spends too much time with banal things in the first part, taking time away from the investigative process that does not exist here.

I do enjoy the buildup to the murderer’s reveal.

Branagh’s performance in this sequence is exquisite, but it’s a pity he used Agatha Christie’s cherished novel to invent a “Poirot origin.” The central discussion, however, remains in the air. And once again, the crime of passion and lines about “doing anything for love” are among the justifications or explanations for bloodshed.

there are many people today who, like Cyrano, feel that the external constraints of their community inhibit them from sharing their true feelings.

The production is incredible. The set’s chief element is a wooden ring with a roof that wraps around most of the stage. The show takes full advantage of this height, building out the world with gawking spectators watching a sword fight from above or realizing the dazzling distance between characters. The sword fights in this show are breathtaking in their realism, with no stiffness in the actors’ movements or emotions as they flow through the choreography. The action has also been constructed to surround the audience, as the combatants whirl through the ground-level pit within the ring. In one memorable scene, mysterious assailants rush out into the pit at our heroine from every direction, which throw the audience into the frenzy, anxiously cheering on Cyrano.

Senior Grace Thomas’ performance as Cyrano is superlative. In addition to dancing with her blade and playing the piano, she draws the audience fully into the emotional swoops of her character, at times unshakably confident and at other points utterly heartbroken and shattered. One of the highlights of the whole show is her performance in a duet, as she stands unseen behind Roxanne as the latter sings for Christian. Cyrano howls out her inner monologue, embedding her spare cries of “I want you” and “I love you” with a slashing heartache that burns the moment in the audience’s memory.

Christian’s character is wonderfully realized by junior Nic Meringolo, both very funny (his original ode to Roxanne is

the comedic peak of the show) and greatly compelling.

Meringolo portrays Christian’s weighty decision in the middle of the second act with resonant compassion and sincerity. Additionally, senior Macy Mateer’s performance as Ligniere, an aspiring poet in awe of Cyrano, gives the show its musical highlights. Her raucous drinking song in act one could have turned the DPAC crowd into a mosh pit, but her piano ballad in act two was easily the show’s best song.

“Cyrano” is electric. Its grandeur only complements its compelling characters, whose story is simultaneously welltold and contemporary. It is a human spectacle that knows how to answer the chorus’ call to give them a show: to show us a human being and let her pain and passion move us.

Tickets to “Cyrano” are available to purchase through the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center website, or in person before each performance.

Contact Marcelle Couto at mcouto@nd.edu

“Death on the Nile” Directed by: Kenneth Branagh Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Ridley Scott, Armie Hammer If you liked: “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Knives Out,” “Clue”

Contact Ayden Kowalski at akowals2@nd.edu

“Cyrano” Director: Matt Hawkins Starring: Grace Thomas, Nic Meringolo, Macy Mateer, Elizabeth Maroshick When: Feb. 17-20, 23-27

EMMMA KIRNER | The Observer | Image sources: IMDB, ND DPAC

Classifieds

ndsmcobserver.com | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | The Observer

Crossword | Will Shortz

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Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: A positive approach to life, love and happiness starts by following your passion. Take hold of your future, and delve into something that brings you joy. Explore your talents and express your desires. Take a leap of faith by putting your heart and soul into what you want to achieve. Take responsibility and be grateful for the success you achieve. Your numbers are 3, 12, 22, 28, 32, 36, 41.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Observe, assess and respond with compassion.

Nurture relationships instead of building a wall of separation. Be willing to adjust and compromise, but don’t let anyone take advantage of you. An open dialogue will help you maintain peace and justice. Do what’s best for everyone.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Change things up, and everything will fall into place.

Be open to suggestions and eager to put muscle behind your dreams, hopes and wishes. Share your feelings, and be willing to try something new. Love and romance are favored.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Set reasonable goals that you can achieve by yourself.

Depending on others will lead to disappointment. Don’t get caught up in an emotional situation that causes problems at work or can affect your position, reputation or peace of mind.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Dig in and enjoy. You’ll discover talents you didn’t know you have and make connections that can change your life. Pay attention to what others say and do, and the information will lead to personal growth and self-improvement. Nurture meaningful relationships.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Recognize what’s going on around you, and participate in what’s beneficial. Don’t make a change or sign up for something for the wrong reason. Follow the path that empowers you to reach your goals, not one that tends to stifle your plans.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You can make a difference if you concentrate on positive change, assist those who require help and look on the bright side of any situation. Take physical action and push for what you want to achieve. Create your success.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): An intellectual approach will outweigh physical action. Anger will not help you bring about positive change, but kindness and consideration will encourage others to see things your way. Be reasonable and ready to move forward alone if necessary.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Communication can make or break a deal or plans you want to pursue. Be open to suggestions, and accept changes that encourage others to feel comfortable. Home improvements and creative projects will help you overcome emotional setbacks.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Keep your life decisions simple, direct and doable. Use intelligence regarding money matters and when dealing with a friend, relative or peer who is out of control or in a negative space. Innovative suggestions and hands-on help are favored.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Jump in and make the changes that will brighten your day, surroundings and relationships with those you love and respect. How you deal with others, and the incentives you offer, will alter the path you follow.

Live, love, laugh and be merry.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): A reserved attitude will help deter an emotional situation. Go about your business and immerse yourself in projects that ease stress. Refuse to let what others do or say put you in a funky mood or lead you into an unwanted battle.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Look over your money situation, and adjust to ensure you can afford your lifestyle. Be cautious when it comes to shared expenses and joint ventures. Balance and integrity will make a difference when working alongside others.

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The observer | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

Sports Authority

Sports Authority

What’s next for Juwan Howard?

Method Hagan Sports Writer

This past Sunday, Michigan head basketball coach Juwan Howard got into an altercation with the coaching staff of the University of Wisconsin. The incident followed a 63-77 loss for Michigan at the hands of the Badgers. During the game, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard called a timeout with 15 seconds left on the clock and a doubledigit lead. Doing so, he broke one of basketball’s unwritten rules.

Howard took offense and attempted to snub Gard after the game, when the two coaches would usually meet at half court for a handshake. Howard’s actions upset Gard, and a verbal altercation ensued. The two were eventually separated by players and coaches, but the incident was not over yet.

As others led him away from the skirmish, Howard attempted to strike Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft. Now, Howard has been suspended for the remainder of the regular season.

This has been an extremely frustrating year for the Michigan men’s basketball team. Last year, the team won the Big Ten regularseason championship and was one game away from the Final Four.

They were ranked No. 6 overall in this year’s preseason AP Poll and were expected to be a legitimate title contender. The team has not lived up to these expectations.

The Wolverines currently have a mediocre record of 14-11. So far this year, they have sustained doubledigit losses to their rivals Michigan State and Ohio State. Michigan fans started the season hoping for an NCAA Championship — now they’re praying that their team just makes the tournament.

But the Wolverines’ schedule is extremely difficult down the stretch.

In the next two weeks, they will have to face several top-25 teams including Illinois and Iowa. I find it very hard to believe that this year’s Michigan team can still make the NCAA tournament.

Despite the struggles of the team, the University of Michigan now has a much bigger problem on its hands. Their head coach has displayed a clear lack of leadership and control. What Howard did on Sunday is nearly unprecedented in the history of Division 1 college basketball. Can you imagine someone like Coach K or John Calipari trying to punch an opposing head coach? It just doesn’t happen.

Of course, players will fight from time to time. It would be crazy to think that a group college-aged men would never lose their cool, especially when you consider they’re in the heat of competition.

But the coach? The coach is supposed to be the stoic leader. The coach acts as an example of how to compete hard and do things the right way. He is the father figure.

What Howard did on Sunday goes against all of this. He behaved the very way that most coaches would admonish a player for behaving.

Now, he and his players have to pay the price.

I can’t believe Howard didn’t get more than what will end up being a five-game regular-season suspension. At the very least, he should have been suspended through the postseason, if Michigan even has one. It will be a bad look for the University of Michigan to have Howard back on the court this year.

It shows a lack of leadership and control on the part of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel and the entire athletic department.

Nonetheless, Howard should feel lucky that he is getting away with just a suspension. Many believed there was a real chance that he could be fired. The incident that occurred on Sunday was not the first time that Howard has exhibited a lack of control over his emotions. Howard was ejected for a verbal altercation with Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon last year.

That argument took place during a Big​Ten Tournament game against the Terrapins. Coaches and players held Howard back as he charged out at the opposing coach. Allegedly, people heard him screaming at Turgeon, “I’ll f*cking kill you.”

Given his previous misconduct and this Sunday’s incident, many in the Detroit and national media called for Howard’s firing. I can’t blame anyone for thinking that Howard should have been fired after what he did. Yet, I understand why he wasn’t.

Howard may have some issues with his temper, but the truth is that he is an outstanding recruiter.

Michigan had the No. 3 overall recruiting class in 2021 and is already ranked as No. 7 overall for 2022, according to 247Sports. In a world where the recruiting process has become extremely difficult and complicated, Howard has found a way to get talented athletes to play for the University of Michigan. That is what kept him around.

Howard has not apologized for Sunday’s incident, and I doubt he ever will. Whether or not that’s right or wrong doesn’t really matter. What matters is that that’s who Juwan is. He’s passionate, petty, stubborn and sometimes acts too much like the very players he’s coaching. However, he gets kids to want to play for the University of Michigan.

In my opinion, keeping Juwan Howard is a risk. Who knows if he’ll have another incident like this and embarrass the University of Michigan once again? Yet, it’s a risk the University of Michigan decided to take, and I can’t blame them.

Contact Method Hagan at mhagan3@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The

Zwiller: Explaining Dak Prescott’s slump Thomas Zwiller Sports Writer

On “The Dan Lebatard Show with StuGotz,” Dan and the Shipping Container posed the question: Does ESPN cover the Dallas Cowboys because the Cowboys are famous, or is Dallas popular because they are so widely covered? It is an interesting chickenand-the-egg problem (I honestly think it is a result of the team’s popularity, but that’s for another day).

Another chicken-and-egg problem asked by my friend, a diehard Cowboys fan: Is Dak Prescott good?

This seems like a somewhat ridiculous question. Of course, Dak is good! However, when my friend asked the question, he was curious to see if Dak was good because of his offensive line and weapons or if he made his offensive line and weapons good.

That strikes me as an interesting question. It feels nearly impossible to separate a QB from his weapons; the two have a dependency on each other that feels unique.

But why not try?

A brief overview of Dak Dak had a cap hit of 17.2 million in 2021 (8.2% of the cap) and will have a hit of 34.5 million in 2022 (16.3%). This season, Dak had a QBR of 54.6, down from 73.1 the year prior and 71.9 the year before that.

A disappointing year indeed from the odds on favorite to win Comeback Player of the Year, but not an indicator of Dak being a poor player by any means.

In fact, by adjusted passing, Dak was an above-average player (slightly). The problem with limiting the analysis to Adjusted Passing is that it is still a team stat, so it is not helpful beyond giving context to a QBs overall season.

QB RTG So the first place I decided to look was at Dak’s individual Passer Rating (RTG) and compare it to the availability of his wide receivers. Dak had an average RTG of 104.98, with performances all over the place.

I compiled a list of his belowaverage performances (Weeks one, two, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 15) and compared the availability of wide receivers to their availability in above-average performances (Weeks three, four, five, six, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17 and 18).

CeeDee Lamb (22nd by ZLO) missed just week 12, an above-average performance. Amari Cooper (32) was a DNP in Weeks 11 and 12, one of each. Micheal Gallup (79) was a DNP for Weeks two-9,

with two and 9 below but the rest above. Cedrick Wilson (88) missed Week 13 (below), and Noah Brown (252) missed Weeks one, 14-16 and 18, so one down and the rest above.

So realistically, there is not an ironclad trend unless you want to argue Micheal Gallup being gone made Dak improve (sort of like Baker Mayfield and OBJ).

The next best place to check seemed like the offensive line; maybe if Dak is getting pressured, it leads to a drop-off in play.

Pass Block Win Rate Using ESPN’s block metrics, I took the Cowboys pass block win rate and compared it to each opponent’s pass rush win rate to develop an expected pass block for each game. For example, Tampa Bay has a Pass Rush Win Rate of 43%, and Dallas has a Pass Block Win Rate of 58%. That would lead to an expected pass block of 15%.

In that game, Dak had an RTG of 101.4, so slightly below average for his season. This made sense, given that Dak was playing against a somewhat above-average pass rush. This genuinely excited me until I ran the rest of the numbers.

Some of the games where Dak should have had the best protection resulted in a few of his belowaverage games (Denver, NYG and NO).

And when he should have had his worst protection, he played some of his best games (Philly, Carolina and Philly).

According to his PFT Splits, Dak performs better when he has less than 2.5 seconds in the pocket versus more than 2.5.

DVOA So, I thought of one last way to look at Dak’s overall performance compared to his defensive opponent: DVOA. I essentially did the same thing with the pass-rush win rate. And once again, it yielded nothing.

There were a few games where Dak played against a good passing defense and played poorly, like in Week 13 against the Saints, but he often played above average against an excellent passing defense in Week six vs. the Patriots.

The inverse is true; he had an above-average performance when he played against the Cardinals in Week 17. And against a poor passing defense like the Chargers, he played below average.

the field from 10 yards or deeper; anything on the left side 10 yards or shallower, he was average. The inverse is true on the right; the closer to the LOS, the better. Dak struggles throwing right by the pocket in the middle of the field is above average right above the LOS and then average in the deep middle.

That did not tell me anything like I had hoped it would. For example, with Tua, his map shows he dominates the short left side of the field. The farther right you go and the deeper you go, the worse he typically performs. That’s mainly because the Dolphins ran an RPObased offense.

So, to answer my friends’ question, I honestly think that this is just Dak. He will have ups and downs throughout a season, but is largely inconsistent and depending upon circumstance.

Kirk Cousins However, what I did find interesting during my research was how comparable Dak is to the Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins.

By averaging out the two Adjusted Passing scores, they both wind up being 112.

I think that Dak is a good QB, just like Kirk, and considering they were both taken in the 4th round, they are incredibly valuable.

However, I think Dak has been inconsistent is because he needs a perfect set of circumstances like Kirk does. The two are game maintainers; not winners.

When trailing in less than four minutes, Kirks RTG drops to 97.3, and with less than two minutes, 88.3. For Dak, his RTG drops to 95.3 with less than four minutes left and 87.6 with less than two.

Game winners, like Matthew Stafford, who, when trailing with four minutes left, see their QBR jump. For Stafford, it goes from 130.4, and with less than two left, 118.5 (up from 102.9).

So in conclusion, I do genuinely think Dak will continue to be a good player and put up good numbers. With this Dallas defense, the Cowboys could even win a Super Bowl.

But I think Dak is going to be joining Kirk in the second-tier QB realm.challenge to Bengal Bouts, but not one that could impede their commitment to their service mission.

Next-Gen Stats I tried one last method.

Turning to Next Gen Stats, I pulled up Dak Prescott RTG vs.

League RTG map.

DAK was better than average when throwing to the left side of

Contact Thomas Zwiller at tzwiller@hcc-nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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sports

Wilson Continued from page 16

A laina Brady and sopho-

more Sarah Flight each placed in the top five in the women’s high jump event.

Schmidt took third w ith a jump of 1.71m, while Flight and Brady each marked 1.61m to place fourth and fifth, respectively.

Freshman Kendall Burgess also placed third in the women’s long jump w ith a mark of 5.70m.

Notre Dame also dominated on the track. In the 60m finals, junior Shae Douglas claimed fourth place w ith a time of 7.63.

Distance runners also posted stellar performances. Freshman Charlotte Turesson and junior Emily Eberhart placed second and third, respectively in the 3000m w ith times of 10 :11.82 and 10 :13.19.

The men also took second and third in their 3000m race, as juniors Henr y Chapman (8:17.43) and Nicholas Mota (8.17.81) claimed second and third for the Irish.

ndsmcobserver.com | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | The Observer

Other top-10 ranked performances came when graduate student Bashir Mosavel-lo finished the 800m w ith a time of 1:48.24 (taking fourth) and senior Olivia Niziolek ran the mile in 5: 06.43 (placing tenth).

However, it was the DMRs that stole the show. The women’s team of graduate student Erin Sullivan, freshman Jadin O’Brien, graduate student Kaitlin Ryan and junior Olivia Markezich placed second w ith 10 :57.84.

This time set a new school record in the event and put them at third in the NCAA. The men’s team — consisting of senior Samuel Voelz and graduate students Ma x Fr ye, Tim Zepf and Yared Nuguse – claimed the top spot, also setting a school record, w ith a time of 9:21.73. They are now second in the NCAA. The team’s achievements come ahead of their ACC Indoor Championships show ing Thursday through Saturday in Blacksburg, Virginia, where they w ill seek to continue their success.

Tennis Continued from page 16

before surprisingly falling to eventual national champion TCU in the semifinals, and they w ill be hungr y to avenge their disappointment

against the Irish. Up until that loss, the Buckeyes had been enjoying an incredible start to the season, having dropped just two total points in a string of 11 consecutive w ins, which included nine shutouts.

This dominant stretch of play came against top-tier competition, as five of those shutout victories came against teams currently ranked in the top 10 nationally, including a 4-0 w in against No. 2 Tennessee.

Ohio State has a trio of players ranked in the top 16 nationally in singles, in Matej Vocel (No. 6), JJ Tracy (No. 11) and Cannon Kingsley (No. 16). It w ill not get any easier for the Irish in doubles, either, as the Buckeyes have the top two doubles pairs in the nation w ith the duos Paid Advertisement

of Robert Cash-Matej Vocel and Justin BoulaisJames Trotter.

W hile Ohio State appears to be a difficult matchup for the Irish on paper, their loss on Monday showed that they can be beaten, and Notre Dame w ill tr y to take advantage of their weaknesses in the same way that TCU was able to.

Playing at home could provide a critical edge for the Irish, as their 5-1 home record is indicative of how tough of a place South Bend is for opponents to play at this season.

Notre Dame enters the week w ith a record of 7-2 on the back of two consecutive shutout victories. In their last time out, the Irish earned a decisive 7-0 w in over Western Michigan while not dropping a single set, and they w ill look to maintain that excellent level of play this week.

Senior A lex Nef ve has been a standout for the Irish this season, as the two-time A ll-ACC honoree’s performance has him ranked as the

13

# 81 singles player in the nation. Notre Dame w ill be counting on a strong show ing from Nef ve against the many highly-ranked players from Michigan and Ohio State that they w ill be facing off against.

The matches this week offer a chance for the team to make a statement heading into conference play, as they w ill face Georgia Tech in their ACC opener on March fourth.

Nothing w ill come easy for Notre Dame this week as they take on two teams currently playing at a ver y high level, but the Irish’s play in recent weeks suggests that they w ill be ready to compete as they look for ward to an opportunity to grab two big w ins.

Notre Dame plays Michigan on the road at 6 p.m. on Thursday before returning home on Sunday to face Ohio State at 3 p.m. in the Eck Tennis Pav ilion.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

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Sports

The observer | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

Juniors Continued from page 3

as a boxer. As a captain, it’s k ind of my role to set an example for ever yone else, and, come in day in and day out,” he said. “I think there’s a strong sense of culture and tradition w ith a club that gets passed dow n over time.”

COV ID-19 has presented a cha llenge to Benga l Bouts, but not one that could impede their commitment to their ser v ice mission. “[The Bangladeshi people] are going through a whole different pandemic than we are in the sense that they don’t have the financia l support and the support from the government and the support from their schools that we have here. We ta ke it for granted that we’re a lmost returning to norma lcy here, but it’s still ver y much a different world there,” Phillips said.

Even while study ing abroad in London this semester, Phillips continues to support the team from a distance.

“I was there for a ll the girls’ season, training them, and then sw itched to training for the boys’ season,” he said. “I love going to work ever y day w ith the guys, the girls and the coaches; they’re like a second family to me. So I miss my friends and I’m itching to get back for next year.”

The Benga l Bouts have taught Phillips that “it ta kes a v illage.”

“We’re a ll ver y aware that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, in the sense that none of us could indiv idua lly

Edwards Continued from page 3

for the Bengal Bouts mission is obvious, as evidenced by his self lessness and w illingness to devote the majority of his time to the success of the club. Edwards became especially connected w ith the mission through his interactions w ith Father Paschal Sarker, a Bangladesh Holy Cross priest ser ving as the main contact for the Bouts’ philanthropy. Edwards received an introduction to Father Sarker outside of the club, w ithout even realizing it.

“He and I ironically had a class last semester called the Irish Novel, so I knew Father Sarker but I didn’t connect two and two,” Edwards said. “One day he comes to practice and I’m told we are going to be working w ith him and essentially have him be the main guy for the missions in Bangladesh since he’s closer in prox imit y.”

Edwards and the rest of the

the guys that I’ve been working w ith get that experience and get to prove to themselves menta lly that they’re there; they can accomplish more than they ever thought possible. A nd that’s what keeps me there ever y day for four or five hours. It’s seeing those little moments.”

Outside the ring, Murray studies business ana ly tics in the Mendoza College of Business and psycholog y in the College of A rts and Letters.

A junior from Point Lookout, New York, Christian Murray of O’Neill Family Ha ll is a junior captain of Benga l Bouts focusing on technique. Over the past three years, Murray has become committed to the mission of the Benga l Bouts and to helping other boxers improve a longside him, inside and outside the ring.

Murray recognizes being a junior captain as a major accomplishment and cited prior captains as an inspiration to him.

“W hen you show up on the first day of practice, you show up in the Stepan Center, and there’s eight captains in front of the room. A nd ... you do a super hard workout and you’re

dy ing through it,” he said.

“A nd they’re out there, eight guys in the front of the room leading it, and they’re getting through it like it’s nothing for them.”

Murray reca lled how he became a junior captain of the Benga l Bouts.

“Last year when I got the ca ll from our president, A lec, that he wanted me to be captain, it was one of the happiest moments that I’ve had. I k new I had been picked by some of the people that I respected most out of anyone and from people that I never thought that I could be any thing like,” he said. “For them to say, ‘We see something in you, and we think that you could help lead this club’ — that just meant the world to me.”

COV ID-19 has posed new cha llenges to Benga l Bouts, but the club has endured many obstacles across its histor y, Murray said.

“Last year was what rea lly made me understand what ma kes Benga l Bouts specia l.

Benga l Bouts has been around for 92 years; ... it’s been around through world wars; it’s been around through Vietnam, a bunch of big events in histor y. It didn’t stop w ith COV ID and it’s not gonna stop for rea lly any thing. We’ll a lways find a way to get it done,” he said.

Murray said he is excited about the Bouts, but a lso feels a bit of pressure.

“I had the opportunit y to work w ith the women’s tournament in the fa ll ... and even when they lose, even when someone lost a fight ... they’d say, this is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. “A nd I hope

Bengal Bouts leadership quick ly got close to Father Sarker and learned how much of an impact the club makes in Bangladesh.

“You can raise an extra $300 and absolutely drastically change someone’s life,” Edwards said. “Just hearing it come from Father Sarker was ver y impactful and changed my approach to how I perceive this club. I always felt kind of awkward asking for money at first, but now I think of it like I’m just a prox y and channeling these donations for people that need it. That money means a lot more over there than it does here.”

Edwards remembers a particular time w ith Father Sarker last semester in which he and a few others went over to Moreau Seminar y for dinner and Mass. The two found some common ground and made plans to reconvene after the Thanksgiving holiday.

“At dinner, Father Sarker and I started talking and somehow we got on the topic of hunting,” Edwards said. “I was telling him how,

being from Houston, I hunt deer, and he was saying how he knows a good dish from Bangleish. He said he would make me a deal: ‘you hunt, I cook.’ So over Thanksgiving break I shot a deer then we shipped it up here and we went and had dinner over at Saint Mar y’s w ith the Sisters from Bangladesh as well.

We had a massive feast and hearing all their stories was indescribable.”

Edwards was touched by the stories he heard from the sisters that night and found it valuable to hear about the missions from the people who directly w itnessed them.

“It becomes tangible when you hear it firsthand,” Edwards said. “The fact that all the effort, all the hours, all the donations all came to fruition that night, I was able to tell that we made a difference. Rather than just box ing, it became lives changed. That shifted my approach and I really locked in on getting donations.”

Looking into the future

after he leaves Notre Dame, Edwards recognizes the lessons that being a member of Bengal Bouts has taught him. Humility, persistence, and resilience, among others, are just some of the values Edwards w ill carr y w ith him throughout life.

“This isn’t a club for people w ith big egos or anything,” Edward said. “A lso, persistence and being resilient are two things I’ve learned. I think that’s something that translates to any thing in life: to be persistent and keep moving for ward even when it is difficult, when you don’t want to, or when it’s hard.

How to get hit in the face and forget about it the second after it happens.”

Edwards certainly admires his fellow boxers and has a deep appreciation for the club. In addition to his majors in Political Science and Economics and his minor in Constitutional Studies, Edwards has given his all to Bengal Bouts and looks for ward to the upcoming competition.

“This club means a lot to me,” Edwards said. “I’ve

fundraise a ll this money on our ow n,” he said. “We’re well aware that we have to do this together through a tournament, through the production process ... so it’s holding each other accountable.”

Phillips v iews Benga l Bouts as a unique opportunit y at Notre Dame.

“I’m never gonna forget the opportunit y. Notre Dame represents a school of opportunit y for me. A nd I’m extremely luck y and priv ileged to be here. The way for me to share that is through volunteering and ser v ice and the whatnot.

But, you k now, Benga l Bouts is the way I can do that through fundraising, and sharing the gift of opportunit y w ith people in Bangladesh,” Phillips said.

Outside the ring, Phillips studies finance in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

Christian Murray

Evan “Milk” Molca Evan Molka is a junior from Milburn, New Jersey living in Keough Ha ll. A junior captain this year, Molka is focused on the fundraising of the club.

Molka said Benga l Bouts tries to keep their mission of serv ice at the front of their minds during the training season.

“Something we do ever y Monday is something we ca ll ‘Mission Mondays,’ where we feature some aspect of the charitable mission that we have. So this year, we’ve had some past Benga l Bouts captains and a lumni come back and ta lk about their experiences when they went to Bangladesh and actua lly met the people that we’re impacting over there,” he said.

Molka said he has found a communit y of likeminded people at Notre Dame through the Benga l Bouts.

“Our team is one of the best communities I’ve found here at Notre Dame,” he said.

“It’s a group of guys that are rea lly, truly committed to a cause greater than themselves. ... Most of us rea lly do

care about the mission and our greater role in the club.

A nd it’s just great to see a ll these humble guys committed to getting better themselves and work ing w ith one another.”

The Benga l Bouts have taught Molka that “it’s not about you,” which goes hand in hand w ith his role as an ROTC student.

“We sort of stress during these workouts that at the end of the day, it’s not rea lly about you,” he said. “It’s not rea lly about how well you do in the tournament.

Ever ybody wants to do well in the tournament. I do.

Certainly, I want to be a champ come the end of it.

But at the end of the day, it’s about putting on a good show for people to watch so that they’re encouraged to pay that money to send ha lf way across the world to Bangladesh.”

Molka emphasized that Benga l Bouts truly is a team sport.

“It’s not rea lly about you; it’s about how you can impact others and improve the world that you live in,” he said. “A nd that was something that I think was rea lly instilled in me in Benga l Bouts.

I think I’ve definitely grow n a lot in that area through Benga l Bouts.

Without Benga l Bouts, I definitely would not be in the same place I am today.”

Outside the ring, Molka studies aerospace engineering in Notre Dame’s College of Engineering.

Contact Erin Drumm at edrumm@nd.edu

never been attached to something at Notre Dame more than this and there’s nothing that compares.

It’s been the most rewarding and valuable component of my Notre Dame experience so far and wouldn’t have it any other way. This whole club, especially my sophomore year, gave me a sense of purpose when I needed it most. Fighting for something larger than myself and seeing that I’m making a difference is incomparable.”

You can catch Edwards and his fellow Bengal Bouts teammates in the ring starting w ith Prelims on Februar y 24th in Dahnke Ballroom.

Quarterfinals w ill take place March 1, followed by Semifinals on March 26 and Finals on April 1. A ll rounds w ill be live-streamed. Donate to Bengal Bouts and benefit the Bangladesh missions directly through a boxer or by visiting the Bengal Bouts Mobile Cause Page.

Contact Madeline Ladd at mladd2@nd.edu

sports

Playoffs Continued from page 16

Goaltending Goaltending is always the most important aspect of playoff hockey, but for the Irish it is especially important. At times this season, the Irish have had two of the best goaltenders in the country in graduate student Matthew Galajda and junior Ryan Bischel. Both goaltenders have not been consistent, though, and each has had a couple of horrible games this season.

To look at this inconsistency in the net, let’s look at the last month of the season. In a midJanuary game against Boston College, Galajda had a career game against Boston College where he made 40 saves and allowed only two goals. Galajda then faltered a week and a half later against Minnesota, getting pulled from the game for Bischel after allowing three goals in the first period.

Bischel would go on to start the next three games, allowing only four goals over that span and playing some of the best hockey of his career. That all changed two weeks ago against Wisconsin, though, when Bischel allowed three goals on just five shots in the first period against Wisconsin. Bischel was then pulled for Galajda, and Galajda has gone on to start the last three games for the Irish, playing sensationally.

I anticipate the Irish sticking it out with Galajda going forward. He has the experience and talent necessary to be successful for the Irish in net, but it will be problematic if he plays like he did against Minnesota this year. Galajda has never played in the NCAA Tournament either, which could be a major concern for the Irish. The goaltender position is definitely an area of concern for the Irish, and they will look to further solidify their starting goaltender in this weekend’s regular season finale against Michigan.

Continued dominance on penalty kills Arguably the biggest strength of the Irish this season has been the play of their defense on the penalty kill, killing 91.53% of penalties. That penalty kill percentage is good for the third best in the country. Power play goals are huge momentum boosts for teams and being able to kill off penalties in the playoffs will be vital for the Irish. The Irish have proven that they have the defensive unit to tough it out and kill lots of power plays this season, and they will surely be tested going forward. Graduate student Adam Karashik and freshman Jake Boltmann among others have been superb this year, and they will need to continue to play well into the playoffs.

This weekend’s series against Michigan should be a good indicator for how the penalty kill

ndsmcobserver.com | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | The Observer

unit will play for the Irish in the playoffs, as the Wolverines boast a top-ten team in power play percentage goals.

Consistent scoring Although the Irish have scored 3.47 goals per game and rank seventh in the country in offense, they have gone through spurts this year where it has been difficult for them to score. To see this, let’s look at a run of three games in the middle of January. In the first of these games, the Irish scored only one goal against Ohio State despite having 39 shots on goal. The next game, however, the Irish offense exploded in its best game of the season to score eight goals against Boston College off only 33 shots on goal. Then the following game against Minnesota, the Irish offense cooled off again and only scored one goal on 29 shots.

Although junior forward Max Ellis has been sensational for the Irish this season with 16 goals, the Irish have relied heavily on Ellis’ production throughout the season and have struggled to score at times when he has had an off night.

If the Irish are going to go far in the playoffs, they will need to get continued production from seasoned scorers in junior Trevor Janicke, sophomore Landon Slaggert, sophomore Ryder Rolston, junior Jesse Lansdell and senior Graham Slaggert as well. Having this depth and having a variety of scorers in the playoffs could be what determines the success of the Irish this season.

No lapses in play For whatever reason, this team has had a few games where they just simply don’t show up. Whether it was their 3-2 loss to RIT, 3-1 loss to Niagara, 4-1 loss to Ohio State, 5-1 loss to Minnesota or 5-3 loss to Wisconsin, the Irish team just did not look like themselves in those games. Being motivated to play in the playoffs shouldn’t be an issue, and I anticipate the Irish showing up for every game, but if they have one of these letdown games in the playoffs, their playoff run will be short lived.

What to playoffs

expect

in

the

The Irish can be one of the best teams in the country if everything comes together at the right time. I anticipate the Irish winning their quarterfinal series in the Big Ten Tournament and then having a great chance at winning their semifinal game too. They simply don’t have the consistency to make a run at the Big Ten title, though.

In the NCAA Tournament, the Irish should have the talent to win their opening game, but I don’t see them advancing to the Frozen Four because of the lack of consistency among this team.

Contact Nate Moller at nmoller2@nd.edu

W Bball Continued from page 16

against Louisv ille, the offense proved well-paced.

A ll five Irish starters reached double figures on the scoresheet, w ith Miles leading the way w ith 18. Notre Dame was able to successfully establish themselves underneath the hoop, w ith the Irish doubling up Georgia Tech in points in the paint (44 to 22).

They also out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets 49 to 35, as Maddy Westbeld and Maya Dodson dominated dow n low.

The Irish look ahead to a week of rest before a t wo-game homestand that w ill close out their regular season.

Next week the Irish welcome a

struggling Clemson squad to South Bend, and then a Louisv ille team that’s fighting for the conference title. Unsurprisingly, the Louisv ille game can be expected to hold a special significance to Ivey’s squad.

The Cardinals dismantled the Irish in the first meeting bet ween the teams this season.

Purcell Pav ilion has been a fortress for Notre Dame this season. The Irish are currently 12-0 at home. In the elite company of No. 1 South Carolina, No. 3 Louisv ille, No. 8 Arizona and No. 9 Michigan, they are one of the five Power 5 Conference teams to be undefeated at home this season. Notre Dame has consistently

15

played their best basketball in South Bend (the most prominent example being an upset w in over No. 4 North Carolina State earlier this Februar y). It won’t be a surprise if Louisv ille faces a much more serious upset bid from the Irish next Sunday, especially since they w ill travel to Purcell for the final game of the season.

Notre Dame women’s basketball w ill be back in action next Thursday as they face the Clemson Tigers at Purcell Pav ilion. The game w ill tip off at 8 p.m. and w ill be broadcasted on the ACC Net work.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@ nd.edu

ND Women’s Lacrosse

Irish fall to Vanderbilt, look to regain momentum

By JACK SIRIANNI Sports Writer

This past Sunday, the No. 4 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team (1-2) fell 12-14 to prev iously unranked Vanderbilt (2-0).

This breaks a five-game w inning streak the Irish held in the series. W hat started off w ith an Irishdominated first quarter quick ly turned around on Notre Dame.

Coming out hot, sophomore attack Madison A hern scored t wo goals back to back w ithin the first three minutes. This was quick ly followed by another Irish goal from junior midfielder Madison Mote.

Half way through the first quarter, junior attack Cailin Field scored unassisted, pushing the Irish 4-0.

W hile the Commodores started to come back w ith t wo retaliating goals, sophomore midfielder Kasey Choma and Mote closed out the first quarter w ith clear Irish domination 6-3. However, this would be the last time the Irish outscore the Commodores.

It was the second quarter when Vanderbilt started gaining their speed.

W hile the Irish outshot the Commodores, Vanderbilt scored three goals in the second quarter, quick ly closing the gap. However, w ith 14 seconds left A hern scored the only Irish goal to keep Notre Dame’s lead going into the half.

A lthough the Irish started

off hot, the Commodores were able to keep a consistent scoring pace throughout the entiret y of the contest. The third quarter saw t wo initial unassisted Commodore goals before Mote found the back of the net and tied it up. Scoring went back and forth, w ith a Vanderbilt goal and then an unassisted one from Irish junior midfielder Hannah Dorney.

It wasn’t until the last t wo minutes that Vanderbilt took an official lead w ith a goal from senior attack Maddie Souza. The score was 10-9 Vanderbilt going into the fourth quarter.

W hile the fourth quarter was closer than any prev ious one, the Commodores still outscored the Irish 4-3. The start of the fourth quarter was slow. Once scoring began, though, at the 11-minute mark, it was consistent to the end. Vanderbilt found the back of the net first, but only a minute later Irish sophomore attack Jackie Wolak returned the favor. This was followed by t wo Commodore goals, and then by t wo Irish ones from Dorney and Wolak.

With four minutes left in the contest, the Irish were only dow n by one goal.

But at 2:40, graduate student Diana Kelly received a yellow card which Vanderbilt took advantage of. With a little over a minute left, the Commodores scored the last goal,

ensuring a v ictor y w ith a final score of 14-12.

A lthough Vanderbilt outscored the Irish, Notre Dame out worked them in almost ever y other categor y. Notre Dame outshot Vanderbilt (26-19), grabbed more ground balls (22-14) and won more draw controls (18-12).

A hern had the leading number of shots, while she and Mote both earned a hat trick in this contest. Freshman midfielder Kelly Denes won 10 draw controls and Dorney led the Irish w ith four ground balls.

However, Vanderbilt’s defense proved worthy as they earned more turnovers (21-19) and Commodore junior goalkeeper Paige Gunning out-saved Irish senior goalkeeper Bridget Deehan 11-3.

A lthough this is a tough loss for the Irish, they hope to rebuild w ith a series of three home games against top-10 teams: No. 5 Northwestern, No. 3 Sy racuse and No. 10 Virginia.

Notre Dame was ranked fourth in the preseason. But after losses to Michigan and Vanderbilt, they have dropped 12 spots to No. 17.

The Irish return home on Februar y 23rd to host the Northwestern Wildcats. The game starts at 7 p.m. and w ill be available on ACC Net work Extra.

Contact Jack Sirianni at jsirian@nd.edu

16

The observer | wednesday, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

ND Women’s Basketball

ND Track & Field

Irish snag major road win at Georgia Tech

By J.J. POST Sports Writer

Notre Dame women’s basketball dispatched Georgia Tech on the road Thursday night, taking dow n the Yellow Jackets 71-66.

In a season where a young, energetic core has often been heralded as the Irish’s greatest strength, it was experience that proved pivotal in what may end up being a crucial road v ictor y for a Notre Dame squad. The Irish are seeking a double bye in the ACC tournament and are hopeful for home games in March Madness.

Follow ing an empt y possession to end regulation, head coach Niele Ivey made an unconventional sw itch in the lineup. She opted to bring senior Dara Mabrey to the forefront of the offense instead of traditional freshman point guard and national

Irish break records at Alex Wilson Invitational

leader in assists Oliv ia Miles.

In front of a loud McCamish Pav ilion crowd, the senior answered the call in a big way. Mabrey posted six of the Irish’s 11 total points in overtime. Now, Notre Dame returns to South Bend w ith their first road top-25 v ictor y of the season.

Despite a strong overtime finish, the game wasn’t w ithout struggles for the Irish. The squad only found themselves play ing an extra frame after being outscored 22-12 in the fourth quarter.

Georgia Tech spent the quarter charging back from a 10-point deficit at the end of the third.

But in a game where Notre Dame hoped to respond from one of their worst shooting performances of the season over the weekend

MAX PETROSKY | The Observer

The Irish had another record-breaking weekend in South Bend as Notre Dame hosted the annual A lex Wilson Inv itational, and their final regular-season meet, at Loftus Sports Center Saturday.

Graduate student Rachel Tanczos and sophomore Michael Shoaf continue to make their names know n this season, taking a first and third-place finish each.

Tanczos won the weight throw w ith 22.54m, while Shoaf took third in the weight throw w ith a mark of 20.08m. In the shot put, the t wo f lipped places. It was Shoaf who came out on top (19.48m), while Tanczos came in at third (15.95m).

Throwers were not the only field athletes to experience success on the day.

Freshmen Madison Schmidt and

see W BBALL PAGE 15

Irish freshman Sophia Rooney races during the annual Alex Wilson Invitational Notre Dame held at Loftus Sports Center on Feb. 19.

see WILSON PAGE 13

Observer Sports Staff

HOCKEY Column

ND Men’s Tennis

Moller: Keys to success for Irish in the playoffs

Team prepares for tough matches

By NATE MOLLER

By MATTHEW CROW

Sports Writer

Sports Writer

The 2022 Big Ten Hockey Tournament is less than two weeks away, and although the Irish have a crucial final regular season series against Michigan this weekend, it’s time to look at the keys to success for the Irish in the Big Ten Tournament and hopefully the NCAA Tournament. The Irish currently sit at ninth in the country, so they should make the NCAA Tournament, assuming they can play decently against Michigan and win their quarterfinal series in the Big Ten Tournament. As far as Big Ten Tournament seeding goes, the Irish will be the fourth or third seed. If they get more than one point against Michigan this weekend, they will earn the three seed.

Here are the keys to success for the Irish as they head into the playoffs:

Notre Dame men’s tennis faces off against t wo nationally ranked opponents this week in a critical stretch of their non-conference slate.

On Thursday, the Irish play No. 20 Michigan on the road. The Wolverines (4-2) are looking to build on their strong start to the season, as they enter the match on the heels of a 4-1 w in against conference rival Illinois.

Michigan’s only losses have come in hard-fought road matches against No. 6 Wake Forest and No. 16 Har vard, w ith both ending in 4-3 defeats.

Though the season is still young, Michigan’s play in the midst of a difficult nonconference schedule has show n that they have the talent to compete w ith anyone in the countr y, and they w ill prove a difficult test for Notre Dame. Michigan is led

see PLAYOFFS PAGE 15

MAX PETROSKY | The Observer

Irish graduate student Adam Karashik skates toward the goal in the Feb. 5 match against Penn State at Compton Family Ice Arena.

by sophomores Gav in Young and Jacob Bickersteth, who both rank among the nation’s top 100 singles players, as well as the eleventh-ranked doubles pairing of Nino Ehrenschneider and Andrew Fent y. After starting the year 0-2 on the road, the Michigan squad w ill look to take dow n the rival Irish in the safe confines of Ann Arbor, where they have been undefeated this season. For Notre Dame, the match w ill prov ide valuable road experience, as they have played just one away match this year (a 5-2 w in against Middle Tennessee State).

After Thursday’s match, Notre Dame w ill return home to take on #1 Ohio State on Sunday. Ohio State (11-1) entered last weekend’s ITA Indoor Nationals as the number-one seed

see TENNIS PAGE 13

insider

ndsmcobserver.com | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | The Observer

3

Club Junior Captains

Junior captains prepare to enter the ring

By ERIN DRUMM Sports Writer

The Benga l Bouts club is look ing for ward to a successful tournament this week, in no sma ll part because of the leadership of the senior and junior captains.

The junior captains have collectively stepped into leadership positions this year, citing former and senior captains as a source of inspiration to them.

W hile the COV ID-19 pandemic prevented the tournament from ta k ing place last year, it did not prevent the team from fundraising for the Holy Cross missions in Bangladesh.

However, the Benga l Bouts’ junior captains have been preparing for the tournament since the fa ll and are excited to ma ke their return to the ring this week.

Read about each of the junior captains and their experience in Benga l Bouts below, and watch the tournament on Feb. 24, Mar. 1, and Mar. 28 at 7 p.m. in Da hnke Ba llroom in Duncan Student Center.

Tickets to indiv idua l rounds are available for purchase at the door for $15, as well as an “a ll-events pass” for $40.

Students may a lso purchase a ll-events passes from Benga l Bouts participants for $20.

Greg “Falcon” DeFalco A junior from Long Grove, Illinois, Greg DeFa lco of A lumni Ha ll joined the Benga l Bouts as a first-year. Initia lly interested in the box ing and competitive aspect of the club, DeFa lco soon became committed to the mission of Benga l Bouts and ser v ing the Bangladeshi communit y.

“Our main purpose is raising money for the Holy Cross missions in Bangladesh,” he said.

“A nd what that means is, for the northern part of the countr y, the more rura l part of the countr y, there’s a fairly large Catholic minorit y there who doesn’t get great representation from the government.”

Like many of the current boxers, DeFa lco has not been to Bangladesh himself because of the COV ID-19 pandemic, but he spoke about the many ways the Benga l Bouts have ser ved the Bangladeshi communit y.

“We funded technica l schools that are now self sufficient,” he said. “We’ve built a whole communit y, a school ... and things like that for education

in these rura l v illages.”

The club’s philanthropic mission increases motivation inside the ring, DeFa lco said.

“It rea lly helps you push yourself when you k now that the extra money I raise and the harder I work, a child’s getting educated, someone’s getting fed,” DeFa lco said.

In addition to finding meaning in the mission of Benga l Bouts, DeFa lco has a lso found a communit y.

“Box ing is looked at as a ver y indiv idua l sport and k ind of a vain sport. I don’t agree w ith that,” DeFa lco said.

DeFa lco said that while the team is ver y competitive inside the ring, the communit y is still ver y supportive.

“It’s k ind of fun, because you go in the ring for a spar and you and a guy beat the hell out of each other for si x minutes,” he said. “A nd then you’re friends, and then you go get food or something. So it’s an interesting communit y.

I think a ll the guys are rea lly there for each other.”

DeFa lco said he has found junior captain to be a fulfilling role this semester. “[Being a captain has] been a rea lly, rea lly big dea l for me this year. I remember my

freshman year, I was so intimidated by those guys. ...

You think they k now ever ything and they’re there a ll the time,” he said. “A nd they’re a lways work ing out. A nd so I had some rea lly great mentors my freshman year, and I just kept being dedicated. A nd eventua lly I got the nod to do that this year as a junior captain and then next year as a senior captain.”

Dedicated to the Benga l Bouts, DeFa lco t y pica lly spends three to four hours at the ring on weekdays and Saturdays.

“I just get to see ever y thing that goes on behind the scenes, cornering guys for a couple hours a week, answering questions, work ing w ith guys in there, and you got to rea lize that a lot of the guys are look ing up to you, looking up for adv ice on how to fight, or just how to dea l w ith ner ves,” DeFa lco said.

Outside the ring, DeFa lco studies electrica l engineering in Notre Dame’s College of Engineering.

Jack Phillips A junior captain from Collegev ille, Pennsylvania, Jack Phillips of Knott Ha ll joined Benga l Bouts his

freshman year, quick ly becoming committed to the mission of the Benga l Bouts and fa lling in love w ith the camaraderie offered by the club.

“I think like most people in the club, I had a background in high school sports before Notre Dame and k ind of missed that team aspect and camaraderie that we a ll had grow ing up ... and you just can’t replicate that in the classroom or just hanging out w ith friends, so Benga l Bouts are just a form of of hea lthy competition,” Phillips said.

Phillips was encouraged to join the club by current Benga l Bouts president A lec Vasquez.

“He recognized that the club would be good for me and I just k ind of fell in love w ith the communit y and the second family that we have there,” Phillips said. “The club stands for so much more than just box ing, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Being a junior captain has given Phillips a new perspective of the club.

“Being a captain gave me a chance to step back and consider how I can develop more than just my indiv idua l sk ills see JUNIORS PAGE 14

Club Vice President Thomas Edwards

Vice President Thomas Edwards embodies mission through persistence and dedication

By MADELINE LADD Sports Writer

Senior and former Knott Hall resident Thomas “Tex” Edwards has been ser ving as Vice President alongside senior Aidan “Ace” Beck lund from Dunne Hall for the 2022 Bengal Bouts season. Edwards has given much of his Notre Dame career to Bengal Bouts and exemplifies what it means to be truly dedicated to a cause. His stor y is one of persistence, resilience, and true heart.

The Houston, Texas, native began his journey w ith Notre Dame as a Gateway student freshman year, living at Holy Cross and taking a few classes at Notre Dame. His friend convinced him to check out Bengal Bouts one day, but the freshman Edwards was soon dismayed to learn that registration was not open to Gateway students.

“W hen it came time to sign up on IM Leagues they said I couldn’t do it because of liability issues,” Edwards said. “So, I was like ‘alright

I’ll see you guys next year.’”

Despite the initial rejection, Edwards tried again his sophomore year, this time as an official Notre Dame student. With no boxing background and only some high school w restling experience under his belt, practices proved to be ver y daunting for Edwards.

Nevertheless, through sheer determination and support from upperclassmen, Edwards soon acclimated to the high-intensity environment.

“Practice was really hard,” Edwards said.

“But I learned that coming for the first day isn’t the hard part; it’s coming for the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth. After time it all blends together and you’re able to stick through it.

Practices became easier and I fell in love w ith the program. I really looked up to the captains, like Ryan Smith and Parker Revers, when I was a sophomore.”

Little did anyone know in these first few daunting days of practice that the quiet, yet hardworking

kid would turn into a 2020 tournament champion.

This moment, one Edwards considers his proudest, was a time where he truly was able to keep his foot on the gas and never let up.

“I remember when I first put my name dow n to actually be in the tournament I didn’t think I’d make it past prelims,” Edwards said. “I told my parents about it and they liked the idea of me fighting for something much larger than myself and I had told them how much I loved the camaraderie. So, they did love that but weren’t too keen on getting to watch their son get punched in the face. They wanted to come to the prelims, but I told them to not even come because I probably wouldn’t even make it past there.”

Edwards certainly did make it past prelims, and all the way to the final round at that. In each bout, his opponent was a grade or two older. Though he weighed in the lightest in his 147-pound weight categor y, he emerged victorious

after four hard-fought bouts.

Edwards’ title sophomore year ignited a fire w ithin him that not even COV ID could stop. He continued to practice his box ing at home and aspired to become more involved w ith Bengal Bouts.

“Ever since I won my sophomore year I never stopped training at all,” Edwards said. “W hen I went home, when we had COV ID and ever y thing, I went to the store and set up a water bag and just kept on training and never stopped.”

Coming back in his junior year, Edwards continued to attend practice despite the absence of a seasonend competition. Bengal Bouts did not have an official tournament last year due to the pandemic, yet the club still held practices that were open to members.

“It was always the same 20-30 guys at practice,” Edwards said. So I ended up getting close w ith all of those guys who had been there consistently.”

This year, Edwards has

taken on leadership and mentoring roles in addition to his ow n fighting. As Vice President and Practice Coordinator, Edwards has had his hands full managing the ins and outs of the club. It is all hands on deck for Edwards ever yday, as he spends 20+ hours a week in the pit and deals w ith both administrative and physical tasks.

“I’ve almost put school on the back burner because this is all I really care about,” Edwards said.

“A lec and I spend a minimum of three hours a day in the pit and then spend another four hours a day outside emailing potential donors, organizing the tournament, reaching out to people and making sure they’re donating, selling tickets, and sending emails. It’s a lot of work but I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t care for this club as much as I do.”

Edwards’ fer vent passion

see EDWARDS PAGE 14

4

The observer | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com

Club president Alec Vasquez

Beyond the ring: Vasquez builds community

By NATE MOLLER Sports Writer

Courtesy of Bengal Bouts Captains

Irish senior and Morrissey Hall resident Alec “El Chupacabra” Vasquez leads the Bengal Bouts as club president for the 2021-22 school year.

Serving as the president of Bengal Bouts this season, Alec “El Chupacabra” Vasquez from Morrissey Hall has worked relentlessly to prepare the club for its first tournament in two years.

Vasquez said he is excited to see the hard work of his club come to fruition over the course of the tournament and raise money for the Holy Cross mission in Bangladesh.

“We have two goals. One is to raise as much money as we can for the Holy Cross mission in Bangladesh, and the other is to help guys become the best boxers they can be,” Vasquez said. “If we had a third goal, it would be to get guys in shape and really empower them on a fitness level, and I think we have done that as well.”

Vasquez said the most rewarding part about being president is helping inexperienced members learn how to box.

“They have really made a commitment to perfecting their craft.

We have so many guys that came in this fall, and their jab looked awful then,” Vasquez said. “And we just kept working with them, and now some of those guys are the ones that have had the most success in their spars and can have the most success in the tournament.”

One of Vasquez’s favorite parts

of the club is the team aspect of the club, he said.

“Boxing is an individual sport, but our club incorporates a lot of team aspects,” he said. “We have guys that stay late working with each other, eat dinner with each other and text each other at night.

We have formed a really great community, and I think that’s why the club has so much success. We all come together and work hard, and we all understand that we are doing this for a cause bigger than ourselves.”

The club is committed to the Holy Cross missions in Bangladesh, a country the size of Illinois with a population of over 160 million people — a population density that makes it tough for many people to receive access to school and higher education.

Usually, captains of the club go to Bangladesh to better connect with the mission and learn about the Bangladeshi culture, but that hasn’t been possible with the pandemic.

Despite this, Vasquez said they have found ways to connect with the Bangladeshi community. He linked up with Fr. Paschal Sarker, who is from Bangladesh, last fall by going to dinner and mass with him.

This January, Vasquez had the opportunity to go over to the Saint Mary’s campus with Paschal

and meet some students who went to Notre Dame University Bangladesh and who are now getting degrees from the University of Notre Dame.

“We have learned a lot about their culture,” Vasquez said. “They cooked a ginormous feast for us at the end of January, and we had a great time learning about their stories and how we can help them going forward as a club. The biggest thing right now is COVID relief, flood relief and continuing to fund the room and board for students who want to go to Notre Dame University Bangladesh and the professors there too.”

Catholics represent roughly 0.2% of Bangladesh’s population, and they often lack opportunities for education and faith development as a minority group. The Holy Cross mission seeks to help Bangladeshi Catholics find success and practice their religion, he said.

“It really gives this Catholic minority a chance to break out of that social mold, make something out of their life, and maybe even come here and study like some of them are doing,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez has also re-connected with captains from previous years who got to travel to Bangladesh. He had each of them write a reflection

see VASQUEZ PAGE 2

Club Senior Captains

Captains speak on brotherhood and service

By ERIN DRUMM Sports Writer

The boxing club at Notre Dame was started by Knute Rockne in 1920 as off-season conditioning for his football team. However, the Bengal Bouts truly found their identity when they began serving the large minority Catholic community in Bangladesh in 1931. The Congregation of Holy Cross runs schools, churches and healthcare facilities throughout Bangladesh and all of the Bengal Bouts fundraising benefit the communities they serve.

The Bengal Bouts motto, “strong bodies fight, that weak bodies may be nourished,” coined by Dominic “Nappy” Napolitano, the 19301931 boxing coach at Notre Dame, is still revered by the Bengal Bouts today and reminds them of their commitment to the Bangladeshi people.

The Bengal Bouts have set their fundraising goal at $250,000 this year and have been fundraising and preparing for the tournament since the fall. The mission of the

Bengal Bouts is at the center of their community and drives the spirit of the club throughout the year.

The Bengal Bouts senior captains have been leading the team in preparing for the tournament and fundraising for the Holy Cross Congregation missions in Bangladesh all year and are anticipating an exciting tournament this year.

Watch the tournament on Feb. 24, Mar. 1 and Mar. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Dahnke Ballroom at the Duncan Student Center.

Terrance Cameron A senior from Oyster Bay, New York, Terrance Cameron, formerly from Sorin College, has taken on a captain role in his fourth and final year with the club. Joining the club his first year at the recommendation of his resident assistant, Cameron said he quickly fell in love with the Bengal Bouts and their mission. As a captain, Cameron has embraced the social aspect of Courtesy of Bengal Bouts Captains

see SENIORS PAGE 2

Irish Bengal Bouts 2021-22 junior and senior captains from left to right: (top row) Alec Vasquez, Terrance Cameron, Hayden Hoekstra, Max Chuma, (bottom row) Aidan Becklund and Thomas Edwards.