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Volume 56, Issue 34 | Friday, December 3, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
A Carroll Christmas returns after hiatus Carroll Hall’s signature holiday event to feature karaoke, cookie decorating, horse-drawn carriage By AIDAN O’MALLEY Scene Editor
This Saturday, Carroll Hall w ill host its signature holiday event, A Carroll Christmas, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Started in 1998 as a replacement for the Carroll Haunted House, A Carroll Christmas takes its name from the classic Charles Dickens novel, “A Christmas Carol.” “It just came about because, as our name suggests, it might be a natural fit,” said junior Will Forsen, president of Carroll Hall. “We kind of sw itched up the order there.” 2020 sw itched up the
order, too. Due to the adjusted academic calendar of the fall semester, residence halls closed before Thanksgiv ing — leav ing no time for A Carroll Christmas. “It was not wholly unexpected,” Forsen said. “If we weren’t allowed to have dances, there’s no way we were going to be allowed to have Carroll Christmas.” That’s because the event tends to draw large crowds. “Freshman year, we probably got around 800 people,” Forsen said. This year, he estimated there w ill be a few hundred. “It should be a good year see CARROLL PAGE 3
Senate discusses CCC funding By HEAVEN CARTER News Writer
The student senate kicked off their last meeting of the fall semester Wednesday evening on the second floor of the LaFortune Center. The agenda for the meeting consisted of a presentation from the Class Coordination Council (CCC) on funding and a debate regarding the need for the presence of priestsin-residence in dorms.
Student body vice president Matthew Bisner opened the meeting with a prayer. Senators then heard an update regarding ND Central — a new program that seeks to help students stay informed about events on campus so they can be more involved. Starting January, students leaders will be able to enroll in the system. From that point on, the usage see SENATE PAGE 4
SMC to sponsor writing event By CRYSTAL RAMIREZ
Associate News Editor
The Michiana Writers’ Center, a local communit y organization, w ill host its annual Get Inked Teen Writing Conference on Saturday. The annual conference, which is usually held in person at Saint Mar y’s College, w ill be held online for a second time due
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to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference is open to students from 7th to 12th grade and w ill feature breakout w riting sessions, key note speakers and four young adult ( YA) authors. Education professor and Get Inked founder Kathy Higgs discussed the benefits and drawbacks of hosting see INKED PAGE 3
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Courtesy of Vaibhav Arora
A horse-drawn carriage will transport students from the Grotto to Carroll Hall ahead of A Carroll Christmas. Carroll traditionally lights up a large “C” made of Christmas lights across the front of the building.
Pangborn Hall residents build new community By ISABELLA VOLMERT
Assistant Managing Editor
A sign in the foyer of Pangborn Hall reads “Go and Do Likewise” in the style of the iconic “Play like a Champion Today” sign located inside Notre Dame Stadium. Fr. Bill Dailey, the rector of Pangborn, said he put the sign up to establish a motto and mission for the newly re-established dorm. “Once a tradition is begun at Notre Dame, it can feel just as much a part of tradition as the lady on the dome,” he said. After more than five years of serving as transitional housing, Pangborn Hall is once again a permanent fixture of residential life. This past semester has seen the residents, hall staff and hall council of the re-founded men’s residence hall come together to build a Notre Dame dorm identity and start their own traditions. Griffin Laszlo, a sophomore computer science major and president of Pangborn Hall, said there was a sense of uncertainty at the beginning of the year before the residents began forming floor identity and hall council committees. Since
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then, he has seen a significant change in attitude in the residents that are now a “tight-knit community.“ “Seeing kids proud to be in the dorm couldn’t satisfy me any more,” Laszlo said. “Originally, it was all Joe and I. The biggest thing was that turning point where kids were able to see us getting so excited about it that it made them want to be excited about it.” A former member of the Gateway Program from Sea Girt, New Jersey, Laszlo said he and vice president Joe Oberlies decided to run to “make an impact” on the dorm’s residential culture and the larger perception of Pangborn on campus. “I want an excited reaction when I tell people what dorm I’m in,” Laszlo said. “We are the underdog on campus.” A major factor in building the dorm’s sense of community this year was the large number of Gateway students and Driscoll Scholars that transferred into Pangborn, Dailey said. Attending the Moreau First Year Experience class and sharing the Gateway program
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experience gave Pangborn residents “a little bit of a head start … they were plugged into Notre Dame academically and socially,” Dailey said, who was a resident of Pangborn Hall during his first undergraduate year in 1990. Dailey said he has never “sugar coated” to the residents that Pangborn has a reputation for being an older, cinderblock building dorm. However, he said their attitude was what could change that. Hence, he started the tradition of hitting the sign by the front door. “‘Go and do likewise’ is a theme of neighborliness and community and is our rallying theme individually and collectively as a dorm,” he said. Laszlo said Dailey’s commitment to Pangborn’s community has made a significant impact on the success of the hall council and culture in the dorm. The dorm’s current makeup of 115 residents consists of a majority of first-years, with less than 20 upperclassmen. With the capacity to hold 171 residents, Dailey expects the dorm to be see PANGBORN PAGE 4
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