THE INDEPENDENT
TO UNCOVER
NEWSPAPER SERVING
THE TRUTH
NOTRE DAME, SAINT MARY’S
AND REPORT
AND HOLY CROSS
IT ACCURATELY
VOLUME 58, ISSUE 59 | FRIDAY, APRIL 5 2024 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM
Notre Dame team wins at ACC prize venture competition By L ia m Price Ne w s E d itor
Last week Notre Dame juniors Brian George and Luke Blazek competed in the ACC InVenture Prize competition for student entrepreneurs at Florida State University. At the competition, the pair took home the “people’s choice award” for their navigation app startup, “Rotorua.” George and Blazek, along with Tom Vazhekatt, a junior at the University of Texas, Dallas, co-founded the company in
2022. The app uses artificial intelligence to determine the most efficient route when traveling to multiple locations. The InVenture Prize competition, with teams representing all 14 ACC schools, began last Monday with a 10-minute virtual question and answer session with judges. On Tuesday, the competitors then made the trip to Florida State where they had dinner with a guest speaker and the other competitors, before practicing for the
competition. After visiting the Florida State entrepreneurship center in the morning and fine tuning their presentation in the afternoon, George and Blazek took the stage at 7 p.m. to present their startup. Each team gave a two-minute pitch for their company and answered questions from the judges for one minute. The event was televised nationally on PBS. Voting for the people’s choice award took place via text message. Each college team was assigned a two
letter code that anyone watching could send to cast their vote via text. For winning the award, George and Blazek will receive a $5,000 grant for their startup. The pair thanked the Notre Dame community for their support. “They rallied behind us to help us secure the people’s choice: students, alumni, teachers, everyone,” Blazek said. George expressed similar sentiments. photo courtesy of Luke Blazek
See VENTURE PAGE 2
Notre Dame juniors Brian George (left) and Luke Blazek (right) won the “people’s choice award” in the ACC InVenture Prize competition in Tallahasse last week.
Spanish Club hosts dance club, promotes diversity on campus By Ay nslee Del lacca SMC Ne w s Ed itor
The Saint Mar y’s College Spanish Club hosted a Latino Dance fundraiser Thursday evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Haggar Parlor. Spanish professors Jennifer Z a c h m a n , Ruth SolarteH e n s g e n and Marelys Valencia taught various styles of Latino dance i n c l u d i n g cumbia, salsa, merengue and bachata. S t u d e n t s who attended the event were asked to give a $3 donation at the door, and any student enrolled in a
Spanish modern language class was eligible for extra credit. Junior Madison Sexton, the treasurer of the Spanish Club, said the fundraiser was held in order to fund more events in the future. “We wanted to… get our name out there as a smaller club on campus and make it an event for not just Spanish speakers, but ever yone,” Sexton said. As a Spanish major as well, Sexton finds it important for herself and other students to learn more about and celebrate all types of cultures and
languages, especially within theSpanish-speaking world. “I think it’s important to embrace other cultures and to understand more about the people you’re living side by side with,” Sexton said. “And for me, Spanish is a beautiful language. I’ve been learning since I was in second grade, and I just kind of fell in love with u nd e r s t a nd i n g Spanish, being able to have an opportunity to explore other cultures in the Spanishspeaking world and being able to communicate with
people in my community.” During the event, the professors would also take turns brief ly explaining the culture and origins of the different styles of dance. Valencia, who is originally from Cuba, has taught Spanish for the past five years and enjoys introducing students to Latin American culture. She cited the College’s mission statement of learning and community as part of the reason to expose students to global culture, global politics and daily life. “For me, bringing a little piece of Latin
America to this college is ver y relevant and pertinent. So our mission is really focused on internationalizing the exposure of our students and the campus itself,” Valencia said. “We cannot create global citizens, we cannot educate global citizens, if our students are not exposed to this sort of engagement with other functions as part of a way to create a culture of confidence, not only through language, but also through all different aspects of the culture of any society.”
Aynslee Dellacca | The Observer
NEWS PAGE 3
VIEWPOINT PAGE 6
SCENE PAGE 9
MEN’S LACROSSE PAGE 12
WOMEN’S LACROSSE PAGE 16