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Volume 53, Issue 66 | thursday, december 6, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com
Residence halls celebrate the holidays ND dorms honor the Christmas season with annual celebratory traditions, including decorations By GENEVIEVE REDSTEN News Writer
Across Notre Dame’s campus, there’s an unmistakable feeling that Christmas is in the air. Many dorms are celebrating the holiday season with unique traditions. Last week, many Carroll Hall residents could be seen sporting elf costumes, advertising the dorm’s highly-anticipated Carroll Christmas, which was held Saturday. Junior Garrett Rethman, Carroll’s president, said he looks forward to the event every year. “It’s a good event to get people to come to Carroll,” Rethman said. Carroll’s Christmas tradition, a signature event for the dorm, first began with a tree lighting but has since expanded to include indoor activities. The event now offers visitors cookies, Santa’s Workshop,
karaoke and a horse and carriage. “When I found out I was in Carroll, one of the things I read about was [that] Carroll Christmas is the big tradition,” he said. “It’s like the last big, fun event before finals start. We put a lot of work into it leading up to the event, and then it’s really rewarding to have lots of people come from across campus to enjoy the work we put on for them.” The women of Cavanaugh Hall share many Christmas traditions, including a tree lighting and a section-decorating competition, but their biggest event is Cavanaugh’s annual Christmas pageant. Junior Emma Brady, Cavanaugh’s president, said that faculty families and South Bend residents come to watch Cavanaugh’s see CHRISTMAS PAGE 3
Observer File Photo
The classic “O” wreath adorns the side of O’Neill Family Hall during the time leading up to Christmas. O’Neill is only one of many dorms on Notre Dame’s campus to participate in holiday traditions.
Dorms close for residents University unveils over break, receive upkeep tunnel project By ANDREW CAMERON News Writer
As students pack up to go home for winter break, many wonder: “What happens in the dorms over break?” As all students are required to vacate the halls at the end of the final examinations period, few students, if any, have been inside a dorm during this
annual three-to-four-week vacancy, and what goes on during this time remains a mystery. “Many of the residence hall common spaces, including kitchens, restrooms, et cetera, are cleaned over break,” Kimberly Kolk, the assistant director of space planning and logistics for the Office of Residential Life, said in an email. “Occasionally,
maintenance and residence hall improvement projects are scheduled during break as to provide minimal student disruption during project completion.” While winter maintenance and improvement projects may vary from dorm to dorm, Kolk said, all residence halls adhere see DORMS PAGE 3
The Local Cup hosts annual caroling event By Maeve filbin News Writer
At The Local Cup, a hot cup of coffee means so much more when it’s been paid for by a generous neighbor. A volunteer-run community-based coffee shop, The Local Cup contributes to Near Northwest Neighborhood, Inc., a community development corporation located in the near northwest neighborhood
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of South Bend. The Local Cup’s “Pay-It-Forward” model ensures that “every patron, regardless of how much they add to the jar, is welcomed and served warmly,” according to the shop’s website. Annie Maguire, a Saint Mary’s junior, has been working at the shop for three years, and said her time there is more than just an after-school job. “The Local Cup has provided a home for me in South Bend,” she
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said in an email. “It is an outlet for social engagement and community engagement that has changed my experience at Saint Mary’s College immensely. I am grateful and proud to be a part of the Near Northwest Community of change-makers.” The shop’s unique payment model allows customers of all income levels to become regulars, see CAROLING PAGE 3
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By MAX LANDER News Writer
Twenty-three minutes. That is how long it would take a hypersonic aircraft traveling at Mach 6 to travel from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. The country’s largest quiet Mach 6 hypersonic wind tunnel was unveiled on Friday on campus in the hopes of achieving sustained hypersonic flight. The wind tunnel, located at White Field Research Laboratory on Notre Dame’s campus, is one-of-a-kind. According to professors in the aerospace department, it is currently the largest of only three quiet tunnels in the country and is capable of simulating Mach 6 speeds, which is equivalent to about 4,604 miles per hour. The size of its test chamber, its technical status as a “quiet” tunnel and its capacity to simulate Mach 6 speeds make the new wind tunnel not only one of a kind but also incredibly valuable for aerospace research into hypersonics. Unlike supersonic flight,
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which refers to travel at speeds faster than sound, hypersonic travel refers to movement at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5, and above. “The space race vehicles are all hypersonic vehicles, so we’ve known the basics for a long time and so we can do one-time-use flight vehicles that need to arrive safely,” Thomas Juliano, assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, said. “But what we want to be able to do is fly the same vehicle many times.” Juliano explained that a more complete understanding of the way air flows and distributes heat through friction onto different surfaces and shapes at hypersonic speeds is a key to making sustained hypersonic flight with reusable aircrafts possible. The new wind tunnel will help researchers accomplish this. The tunnel looks like a metal pipe approximately 300 feet long, Thomas Corke, an engineering professor from the department see TUNNEL PAGE 3
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