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Notre Dame names valedictorian
By SOPHIE HANAWALT Notre Dame News Editor
Notre Dame has named Clare Cullinan valedictorian of the Class of 2025. She is the first valedictorian from the Keough School of Global Affairs and a member of the first class of undergraduate global affairs majors at Notre Dame. The Walsh Hall resident will graduate summa cum laude with a 4.0 grade point average and has been on the dean’s list every semester.
When Cullinan found out she was being considered for valedictorian, she was surprised because she’d always pursued what she was passionate about at Notre Dame without any expectations.
She shared that in writing her speech, “[She wants] to leave people with the message that this community has been incredible, there’s so much good here, but at the same time, we can take everything from here and bring it wherever we go next, creating communities wherever we go,” she said.
Cullinan, who grew up in South Bend, initially entered the University as a math and economics major, choosing to switch to global affairs instead in a move that set a theme for her time at Notre Dame: learning to embrace ambiguity and being willing to be a beginner.
“I started with mathematics and economics primarily because I really like quantitative problem solving, but unfortunately, that’s not always the way the world works and I realized I needed to think qualitatively as well,” she said. When Cullinan came across global affairs, the major was still very new. After enrolling in the introductory global affairs course, she still wasn’t sure if it was right for her, but that changed when one
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of her advisors, Elly Brenner, pointed her toward the course, International Development in Practice, with professor Steve Reifenberg. The course sparked her love for the major.
“Global affairs has been such a wonderful opportunity. It’s always been about the people, which is why I love global affairs,” she said. “When I signed up for this major, I didn’t know what it would look like ... I only knew that the professors were really passionate about it and they really cared about this stuff, and I’m so, so grateful that I chose it.”
She has since proceeded to take every course professor Reifenberg offers, in addition to researching with him and serving as a teaching assistant (TA) for one of his courses, The Art and Science of Human Flourishing. She labeled Reifenberg as a “huge mentor.”
Her research with Reifenberg is supported by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, where Cullinan is a developing researcher. Through this program, she’s been able to research the concept of accompaniment in international development. She noted how much of a positive impact that all of the professors, mentors and other students she met through the Kellogg community have had on her.
Cullinan also earned a minor in studio art, which she fell in love with after a ceramics class she took as a freshman and later, with the encouragement of Fr. Martin Nguyen, a studio art professor, decided to continue taking art classes.
“He is just a truly phenomenal human being and a great professor … just one of those people that’s constantly trying to lift others up and make you laugh,” she said.
Cullinan’s greatest takeaway
from Notre Dame has been learning to value and prioritize people just as much as academics.
“Ultimately, that’s what I’ll be walking away with. I have been given an incredible global affairs degree and I’ve loved studying studio art. You can’t beat the academics here, but my favorite part of being at this place has been the people I’ve gotten to know throughout my time here,” she said.
Cullinan spent much of her time outside of class with Notre Dame’s Folk Choir, which she claims is the best community on campus. She joined the choir during her first weekend of freshman year and even elected to join a choir during her semester abroad in Dublin because of how the choir has been a big part of her life.
“Rehearsal every week is kind of my happy place, it’s the place where I get to hang out with my friends and be with all of the people that I love so much, while singing,” Cullinan said.
Cullinan also worked on the student core team for the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, a newer institute on campus, where she helped to form a new apprenticeship program focused on ethical leadership.
“Being able to contribute to a new student group on campus was awesome … We met and talked about what it means to be an ethical leader and how we can cultivate that here on campus and in each of us,” she said. Cullinan expressed gratitude for Adam Gustine and Allie Griffith, who guided the group throughout the year as they explored virtue-rooted leadership.
Because she grew up in South Bend, Cullinan shared that for the longest time, she told everyone she didn’t think she would go to school at Notre Dame. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I loved Notre Dame,” she said. “You really can’t beat this place and there’s nothing like this community.”
After graduation, Cullinan will continue her work with the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good as an intern coordinator with the Signature Course Fellowship program. Then, she will embark on a year of service as a teacher, choir director, campus minister and “maybe a basketball coach” at Our Lady of Tepeyac High School, a Catholic, all girls high school in Chicago, through the service organization Amate House.
Cullinan discussed how much her parents have supported her during her time here. They both attended Notre Dame, but she shared that they “really wanted Notre Dame to become [her] own.” She gets dinner with her sister, a freshman in Walsh, and her brother, who is a junior here, frequently.
Contact Sophie Hanawalt at shanawal@nd.edu.
Salutatorian to deliver invocation
By SOPHIE HANAWALT Notre Dame News Editor
Bennett Schmitt has been named salutatorian for Notre Dame’s Class of 2025. Schmitt, an environmental sciences and applied and computational mathematics and statistics (ACMS) major, earned a minor in energy studies while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average. He will graduate summa cum laude from the College of Science.
For Schmitt, Notre Dame was a lifelong dream that nearly wasn’t in the cards. Schmitt described how, when it came time to apply to colleges, he knew his parents had just put his older brothers through college and he understood that Notre Dame probably
wouldn’t be an option.
This changed when he received a scholarship from the Lily Endowment which would fund his full tuition at any school in Indiana, enabling him to attend Notre Dame.
When Schmitt went back to his elementary school with his graduating high school class to open their time capsule, he found that he had written that in 20 years he wanted to be a Notre Dame student. Schmitt reflected on his moment as he expressed how much of an honor it was to be named salutatorian, noting that while the math was off, he had aspirations of attending Notre Dame before he can even remember.
This appreciation was a catalyst during Schmitt’s
time at the University.
“Notre Dame quickly became this possibility and coming here opened up so many opportunities and doors that I would not have thought even existed. I tried to just embrace all of those experiences, try as many things as possible,” Schmitt said. Schmitt was drawn to environmental science after growing up on a farm in Jasper, Indiana, sparking a lifelong passion for environmentalism and sustainability. His love for math led him to ACMS. He was involved in research throughout his four years at Notre Dame, beginning with a solid state chemistry lab his freshman year. He stayed over the summer to work in this lab before deciding he wanted to move to the environmental science space, switching his major from chemistry to environmental sciences. Still, he noted how much
Courtesy of Clare Cullinan.
Clare Cullinan, a global affairs major, maintained a 4.0 gpa during her time at ND.
Courtesy of Bennett Schmitt. Bennett Schmitt is an environmental sciences and ACMS major from Jasper, Indiana.
Adm. Grady to address graduates
Observer Staff Report
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the print edition of The Observer on March 19.
Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman and acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will deliver the commencement address for the class of 2025’s graduation. The commencement ceremony will be held May 18.
A 1984 Notre Dame graduate, Grady is currently the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. He has also been recognized by the U.S. Navy as the longest-serving surface warfare officer on active duty. Grady was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2021 to became vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He became acting chairman on Feb. 21 after President Trump fired then chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. Grady’s selection is not without precedent. Notre Dame’s 2016 commencement speaker was Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In a press release, University President Fr. Bob Dowd said, “A true American hero, Admiral Grady has demonstrated tremendous courage, visionary leadership and outstanding dedication to public service over his distinguished career, which spans more than 40 years. It is a privilege to have him address our graduates who will, no doubt, be inspired both by his words and by his example.”
The commencement address will be Grady’s second speech on campus this academic year.
In September, he spoke on peacebuilding and diplomacy in conversation with former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See and former U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly as part of the 20242025 Notre Dame Forum, “What do we owe each other?”
According to the press release, Grady “continues to give back to his alma mater, supporting Notre Dame’s fencing team … mentoring the University’s Naval ROTC unit, and serving as a guest speaker for Notre Dame’s International Security Center.”
The announcement was made over two months later than last year. In 2024, Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees selected outgoing University President Fr. John Jenkins to deliver the commencement address, a decision that drew criticism from some students.
This year, students and members of the Notre Dame community argued for and against inviting President Donald Trump to speak at commencement.
A number of former presidents have spoken at Notre Dame graduation ceremonies, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
In 2017, then University President Fr. John Jenkins did not invite the newly elected Trump to speak, opting instead to invite Vice President Mike Pence, who delivered the address.
In 2021, Jenkins invited Biden to speak at commencement, but he declined.
Former Irish president to speak
Observer Staff Report
Former president of Ireland Mary McAleese will deliver the commencement address during Saint Mary’s College’s 178th graduation ceremony on May 17 on Le Mans Green. This will be her second visit to Saint Mary’s, after speaking at an event sponsored by the Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership in 2015.
“We are honored to welcome Dr. Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland, back to Saint Mary’s, 10 years after her first visit,” Conboy said. “She has continued to build bridges as an advocate for justice, particularly around issues important to women. And her emphasis on peace-building is as important now as it ever was.”
Saint Mary’s College will also award McAleese with an honorary doctorate degree in law.
McAleese, who served as Ireland’s eighth president from 1997 to 2011, was the nation’s first president to come Northern
Ireland and worked towards peace-building and reconciliation with her homeland during her tenure. She is currently a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international organization of present and former women prime ministers and presidents. She also is the chairperson of the European Union High Level Group on the modernisation of higher education and patron of the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology in Cambridge, England.
After serving as president of Ireland, McAleese pursued a doctorate degree in canon law from Gregorian University Rome, adding to her master’s degree in canon law from National University of Ireland. McAleese is also the recipient of numerous awards including the Tipperary Peace Prize.
Sister Helen Prejean will receive a doctorate degree of humane letters for her work against the death penalty, including her
“Dead
A comic book adaptation of the book will be published later in the year and is based on her role as a spiritual advisor to two convicts on death row. The book sparked a
nationwide discussion on abolishing the death penalty and was given its own movie in 1995 that won an Academy Award. It was later rewritten into an opera that premiered in 2000 and a play in 2002.
As a recipient of various honorary degrees and a nominee of the Nobel Peace Prize, Prejean pushed
the Catholic Church toward opposing executions. Through her meeting with Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis, she contributed to the Church’s revision of the Catechism in 2018 on the death penalty. Now, she continues this see PRESIDENT PAGE 9
book
Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate.”
Saint Mary’s College selects four valedictorians
By BERHAN HAGEZOM Saint Mary’s News Editor
Seniors Katie Clem, Molly Minick, Piper Ogden and Bridget Walicki have been selected as valedictorians for Saint Mary’s 178th commencement ceremony. All four seniors will be speaking at the event.
Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, Clem wanted to continue dancing in college after high school and connect with the academic side of the subject. She decided to attend Saint Mary’s to be able to shape her education through the College’s interdisciplinary self-designed major, majoring in arts innovation and leadership through this program and adding a second major in religious studies and theology.
“I knew I would have an opportunity to study dance and then also bring in some of those other subjects that I think support dance studies really well, like psychology and social work. Also, because I grew up dancing, I grew up in a community of women … and I knew that I wanted more of that in college,” Clem said.
However, she said she felt something was still missing from her academic journey.
“I found that the language of psychology and social work was not enough to talk about the depth of the dance experiences that I was having. So
at the end of my junior year, I decided to add a second major in religious studies and theology because I felt like I needed that perspective as well,” she said.
Her senior research comprehensive project was a ballet performance she led, directed and performed in alongside eight other dancers in December. She continued her project this semester with a film version of the performance alongside additional side projects.
“To support that, I also did a [senior research comprehensive project] in religious studies and theology, thinking about spirituality and dance and how [dance] can help you express things that words can’t. I’ve had two research grants as well, both of which were looking at psychology and dance and how dance therapy can be helpful for survivors of sexual trauma,” Clem said.
Throughout her time at Saint Mary’s, Clem has been involved in a variety of dance organizations on campus. Her main focus has been the Dance Ensemble Workshop, the College’s student dance company. She has also been a member of the Saint Mary’s dance team as well as TransPose, a tri-campus dance group, for two years.
She recommends students explore different areas of
study outside of their majors and take full advantage of the liberal arts education provided by Saint Mary’s. “Bring different pieces of knowledge together because I think that’s where the most exciting research and creativity comes from,” she advised.
Clem will attend Harvard Divinity School through an interdisciplinary program. After receiving her master’s of divinity, she plans to work in nonprofits tailored towards dance and dance therapy and start her own dance collective.
Minick, originally from Juneau, Alaska, chose Saint Mary’s because of her dad, who went to Notre Dame.
“He was technically a Saint Mary’s student for a year, because when he went [to] Notre Dame, there was no Ireland study abroad program for them, so the way that they did it was … through Saint Mary’s,” Minick said. “He did choir at Saint Mary’s and he took classes at Saint Mary’s, so he was really connected ...
Lots of his friends that were Saint Mary’s students were women that I grew up around and they’re all kind of doing really awesome stuff now.”
Minick switched her major to political science at the end of her junior year and has a double minor in anthropology and history. She chose to pursue a political science degree to better suit her pursuit of a career in Arctic policy.
“I was really lucky in that the political science department is super supportive with [switching majors], and they’ve really worked to make that work for me,” Minick said.
Her senior comprehensive research project was focused on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its implications in the Arctic region. She analyzed the impact of the Convention on the United States, which is not party to the agreement.
“I was interested in that because in the Arctic [the Convention is] a really important thing, because it
determines how far away from a state’s land border countries can interact with the water. So when it comes to Arctic shipping routes, which are becoming very important with the melting sea ice, this is a very important convention. I looked at how countries and states in the Arctic are interacting with this convention and what it means for the United States to not be part of it,” Minick said.
She also worked with Nell Haynes, assistant professor of global studies, to research the effects of artificial intelligence in the contemporary world of art.
Minick was also president of the political science club and participated in the collegiate choir for all four years under Nancy Menk, who is the same choir director her dad had when he was a student.
For current and incoming students, she recommends
Holy Cross College designates valedictorian
By SOPHIE HANAWALT Notre Dame News Editor
Holy Cross College has named Bradley Szotko their valedictorian, a business major originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan who achieved a 3.99 grade point average in his time at the College.
For Szotko, the defining aspect of his time at Holy Cross was the close-knit nature of the school, allowing him to build personal connections with professors and countless friendships during his time there.
“The small community at Holy Cross, that’s what I live for,” he said.
Szotko found out that he had been named the valedictorian of his class when Mike Griffin, the College’s provost, pulled him aside as he exited the dining hall one night to share the news.
He described being valedictorian as “a huge honor.”
“I’m so happy that I can
represent Holy Cross in this way,” he said, noting that he “never could have imagined the amount of opportunities [he] would take part in at Holy Cross that [he] likely would not have taken part in had [he] gone to a larger school like Notre Dame.”
Szotko added that he “lacked the confidence” to take advantage of the opportunities at Holy Cross when he first arrived on campus, but has since been encouraged by the small community to push his boundaries and grow in and out of the classroom.
He grew up a Notre Dame fan, but after doing everything he could for his application, Szotko was not accepted. Instead, he was offered a pathway program to complete his undergraduate degree at Holy Cross with a guaranteed seat to earn a master’s degree at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.
Szotko shared that he came to Holy Cross with the intention of potentially transferring to Notre Dame. Instead, he said, “I ended up just kind of falling in love with it over here. And I still got to go to all of the games and that kind of fun stuff, so it just worked out perfectly,” he said.
“I didn’t realize how much more I would thrive at a small school like
Holy Cross compared to a larger school like Notre Dame until I was in it and living the Holy Cross experience every day,” Szotko said. “The lesson I hope people take from my journey to valedictorian is that the most important thing about the college experience isn’t the brand name of your school or the size of the student body, it’s the ways that it embraces you and works with you to make you a stronger scholar, citizen, leader and disciple.”
He chose to study business with a focus in finance because it came at the intersection of his interests in both working with people and numbers, later adding minors in political science and marketing because they sparked his interest and paired well together.
Szotko discussed the impact that the small classes at the College had on him, especially in the political science department, as the minor was introduced very recently. He enjoyed having the same 10 to 15 people in his classes each semester with similar professors, saying the relationships they built with each other made debates especially fun. In the minor, even as students had different opinions, “everyone really respected each other,” Szotko said.
Clyde Ray, assistant professor
of politics, left a particularly profound impact on Szotko, who took six classes with him throughout his years at the College. He also noted that the support of Steve Varela, the new chair of the business department and professor Linda Thorpe Gordon, who he attended eight of her classes classes and were crucial to his success at the College.
The highlight of his academic experiences came when he was able to participate in the Holy Cross Small Business Institute, working on consulting projects for both a local mental health nonprofit and a microbrewery.
Outside of the classroom, Szotko served as the president of the College’s Student Government Association (SGA) during his junior year and vice president senior year. Szotko switched between these two roles with his four-year roommate and close friend, Joseph Stokes.
“We do enough together that we have people call us ‘Broseph,’ as if we’re just one unit … I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention him,” he said.
During his time with student government, Szotko met regularly with the College’s President Marco Clark and spoke at the Board of Trustees meetings to advocate for the student body directly to
administrators.
He additionally served as a residence assistant (RA) for two years as well as a campus tour guide. During his time in Legacy Hall, formerly named South Hall, Szotko greatly improved the dorm’s culture.
Szotko shared that dorms at Holy Cross do not often have extremely strong communities due to the suite style nature of their rooms, which encourage residents to keep to themselves and students moving between the dorms each year. Szotko helped freshmen adjust to college life while fostering significant growth in the dorm’s community.
Szotko was also confirmed during his time at Holy Cross.
“I’ve grown a ton here at Holy Cross and given how different I am now than I was when I came in in a good way, it’s just been kind of a gradual process, just experience after experience,” Szotko said.
In the fall, Szotko will begin his masters in finance at Mendoza. He hopes to then pursue a career in finance before shifting to nonprofit work focused on inclusion for people with special needs.
Contact Sophie Hanawalt at shanawal@nd.edu
Courtesy of Katie Clem, Piper Ogden, Molly Minick and Bridget Walicki.
Katie Clem, Piper Ogden, Molly Minick and Bridget Walicki (from left to right) were named the valedictorians of the Saint Mary’s class of 2025. They will each speak at the College’s 178th commencement ceremony.
Courtesy of Bradley Szotko. Bradley Szotko, a buisness major, will speak at commencement.
To Our Compassionate Care in Medicine Minors
Jamil Mohammed Allan
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Lauren Marie Bisignani
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ND seniors report first postgrad destinations
By SOPHIE HANAWALT Notre Dame News Editor
As seniors have begun to report their first destinations after graduation, associate vice president for career and professional development Ryan Willerton share that the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development expects similar trends to previous years.
As of May 12, 74% of graduating seniors had reported their first destinations. Willerton shared that within six months of graduation, the Meruelo Center expects the data to show that 67% of graduates are employed, 21% are pursuing advanced degrees, 4% will be doing service work, 2% are completing military service and 2% seeking employment. The remaining 4%
are seniors who chose not to report their first destinations. He noted that the last percentage will hopefully be lower, but some seniors do not follow up on the center’s outreach, which means they must assume for the data that they are still seeking employment.
Willerton noted that different industries operate with different hiring timelines, as recruitment for investment banking and consulting is accelerated, but jobs in other industries don’t open for recruiting until the summer and fall after graduation.
He added that popular employers from previous years have continued to hire Notre Dame graduates, often working with the Meruelo Center’s team to recruit. Employers including
Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, Lockheed Martin, Amazon, Procter & Gamble, JPMorgan, Cornerstone Research, Microsoft and IBM have each hired at least four graduating seniors.
Discussing these hiring trends, Willerton wrote, “Notre Dame students continue to excel with interpersonal skills. The ability to work alongside people from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints is a skill that many employers seek across every industry. Our unique residential model, study abroad opportunities, clubs and many other activities have helped prepare our graduating seniors to enter the workforce.”
At least three graduating seniors each have been accepted into graduate programs at Harvard
University, Yale University, University of Cambridge, Northwestern University, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Vanderbilt University, Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University University of California, Berkeley, among others. Willerton noted that the Center has noticed some law schools and medical degree programs “want students to explore the field and get work experience before committing.”
“The last few months have been challenging for some seniors, particularly those interested in government-related and government-funded work. We have also seen some employers scale back hiring a bit,” Willerton
wrote. “The good news is that there are plenty of employers still hiring, even with a fluctuating economy.” He added that the majority of graduates do not stay at their first destination for more than a few years, rather “A first destination is just that – a first destination … Our advice is to secure a meaningful first destination and then work hard to pursue your aspirations, while also leveraging the Notre Dame network.”
Willerton noted that the Center’s support does not stop immediately after graduation, rather theycontinue to work with seniors until they find a “meaningful first destination.”
Contact Sophie Hanawalt at shanawal@nd.edu
Saint Mary’s seniors discuss future plans
By AYNSLEE DELLACCA Assistant Managing Editor
As Saint Mary’s College ushers the next class of graduates out into the workforce, seniors shared their gratitude for their experiences at Saint Mary’s as well as their excitement for their postgraduation plans.
Kaitlyn King, a nursing major from Naperville, Illinois, looks forward to working at the Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. King will work with the nationally ranked hospital’s neurology and endocrinology units as a registered nurse. Originally, King had not planned to enter pediatric care, but she thanked the nursing department for helping her step out of her comfort zone and find the right path for her.
“[When] I had my pediatrics rotation, it just came so naturally to me. And I’m so thankful Saint Mary’s pushes you outside of your comfort zone so you can experience everything. I feel like a lot of the new grads know exactly where they eventually want to end up,” King said.
She found her passion for nursing in high school while volunteering at a nearby hospital. While observing various roles in the hospital setting, she
concluded that nursing was the right path for her.
“What I love about nursing is that it’s more so focused on caring for the patient than curing them, and I love to care for people,” King said. “You get this very unique privilege as a nurse to be with patients throughout these moments of transition from birth to death and everything in between. So it’s a very unique position to be in as a healthcare provider, and I absolutely love it.”
While attending Saint Mary’s, King said she appreciated the community she found while playing lacrosse for three years as well as the tight-knit group within the nursing program.
“I can’t speak highly enough about our program here. We have a very high first-pass rate for the NCLEX-RN exam, and that’s just because they drill into us how important studying is, but also, you can spot a Saint Mary’s nurse a mile away,” King said. “Through all my interviews my senior year for jobs, I’ve always been complimented on my confidence and my ability to ask the tough questions and speak up for myself and not be afraid to put myself out there.”
Chloe Westrate, a philosophy major with concentrations in law,
ethics and politics and minors in English literature and French, plans to pursue a doctorate of law degree at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass. There, she plans to focus on appellate law and hopes to one day become a judge.
Westrate knew entering college that she would continue into law school, but didn’t believe she’d attend one of the highest ranked and oldest law schools in the nation. When she received a voicemail announcing her acceptance, Westrate felt it wasn’t “something you could put a price tag on.”
“I applied to a pretty decent mix of schools, and Harvard was kind of a shot in the dark, we’ll see how it goes, type of thing,” Westrate said. “I had offers from a couple of other schools with pretty significant scholarships, so in my mind, I thought I’d just take the full ride because student debt is scary. But the more that I thought about it, the more it felt like just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I really couldn’t pass up.”
During her time at Saint Mary’s, Westrate was a writing and French tutor at the Writing & Tutoring Center as well as an intern with the Dialogue and Democracy Summer Institute.
Westrate felt these experiences not only helped prepare her for law school but were positive and uplifting communities she enjoyed dedicating her time to. Though she completed her senior year in December, Westrate feels excited to be back on campus to walk and reflect on her time as an undergraduate.
“I think I’m really going to miss how small Saint Mary’s is. I think I was really fortunate that, in my four years, I built really strong relationships with all of my professors,” Westrate said. “I think I’m going to really miss walking around seeing your friends in the dining hall or running into professors in Spes [Unica Hall]. I think that the way that there’s so many opportunities for community is something I’m really going to miss.”
Tess Hayes, a religious studies and theology major, said she feels at peace with her decision to stay on campus by working as a marketing and communications specialist. As a student, Hayes worked in the marketing and communications office, and she believes it will be a smooth transition after graduation.
“I’m looking forward to beginning my career here with people that care about this institution ... I
need to be deeply rooted in a mission of a place, and it’s something I need to believe in,” Hayes said. “And you know what? I believe in Saint Mary’s. I believe in the people that run this place. I am now one of those people that helps run this place.”
Hayes said this opportunity also allows her to continue perfecting her podcast, “The Stories of Our Sisters: A Living History,” on which she discusses the lives and stories of the sisters of the Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Cross.
“My life has been absolutely transformed by [this] experience, because it allowed me to apply what I was learning in the classroom in my engagement with the sisters,” Hayes said. “Many of them are now some of my closest and dearest friends and have showed me what it’s like to ‘be church’ and not just know that church is a place. It’s something you have to go and do and be the good news and the good light.”
As Hayes begins the third season of her podcast, she says she wants to focus on welcoming and inviting different perspectives onto the podcast.
Contact Aynslee Dellacca at adellacca01@saintmarys.edu
Br. Bednarczyk to address Holy Cross grads
Observer Staff Report
Brother Paul Bednarczyk, C.S.C. will deliver the commencement address at Holy Cross College’s 58th Commencement Ceremony for the graduating Class of 2025. Bednarczyk is the superior general of the Congregation of Holy Cross and is the first brother to serve as the superior general of one of the Catholic Church’s clerical institutes. In a press release, the College wrote that Bednarczyk “brings an
inspiring legacy of faith, education and service to this year’s Commencement.”
After beginning his formation at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., he took his first vows in 1979 at Sacred Heart Church in Vermont and his final vows at St. Joseph Center in New York. He graduated from Stonehill College with a bachelor’s degree in English and from Fordham University with a master’s degree in religion and religious education, the press release shared.
According to the press release, Bednarczyk spent 12 years as a teacher, campus minister and administrator at Notre Dame International School in Rome and Bishop McNamara High School in Maryland before shifting to a leadership role in vocation ministry for the brothers of the Holy Cross.
He then served as vocation director for his province and then executive director of the National Religious Vocation Conference, founding the National Fund for Catholic
Religious Vocations during his time in the role. In 2016, he became the first general assistant and vicar of the Congregation of the Holy Cross before his election to superior general.
“I am delighted to be invited by Holy Cross College to give this year’s commencement address. Given the many challenges that our world faces today, I desire to bring to the graduates a message of hope for themselves and the world they are about to enter,” Bednarczyk told the College.
Holy Cross College President Marco Clark discussed the work and virtues of Bednarczyk made him an ideal commencement speaker.
“Following the example of Jesus, Brother Paul has spent his life in ministry working with zeal to make God known, loved and served. Brother Paul is the embodiment of the virtues that we espouse at Holy Cross—a lifelong scholar, courageous citizen, virtuous leader and hopeful disciple,” Clark said in the press release.
Saint Mary’s seniors present research projects
By BERHAN HAGEZOM
Saint Mary’s News Editor
Saint Mary’s hosted their annual research symposium May 1–2 with a scholarship showcase in the Cushwa-Leighton library at 4:30 p.m. The full kickoff of the symposium began at 5 p.m., with different students presenting both art and literature displays.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Regina Hall and Haggar College Center, students presented their research projects that they have worked on throughout the year on topics ranging from health sciences to social concepts. Five panel sessions were held throughout the day on 45 to 90-minute intervals where students could sit in and listen to different presentations.
Senior Molly Minick presented with three other students at the first panel session on “Indigenous Identities in the 21st Century” with Nell Haynes, an assistant professor of global studies. Her presentation explored “Alaska Native education and the Perspectives on It.”
Minick explained that her personal background as an Alaskan
and her understanding of what education looks like in Alaska inspired her research. Because her father works at the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy program, she was able to contact people working and structuring Alaska Native education for her research.
“My main research was interviewing and talking with individuals who were involved in it, because there is a performance gap between Native and non-Native children in education in Alaska. My questions were, ‘Why is there this gap? What’s being done to close this gap?’ A lot of that is centered around making Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous education a priority,” Minick said.
Minick said that she met with the coordinator of Native student success at an Alaskan institution to further understand what success looks like for Alaska Native students.
She hopes that students can understand the value of knowing the community they surround themselves with. She expressed that “even if you’re not going to work in what you’re learning about … it’s
important to understand anyway.”
After graduation, Minick will pursue a master’s degree in Arctic and northern studies with a concentration in Arctic politics and policy from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Senior Caroline Dutton presented at the fourth panel session in Haggar College Center on “‘The Whole World is Radioactive’: Nuclear Narratives in the American Southwest [1945-1963].” She worked on this project for her senior comprehensive project within the history department.
Dutton said that her research was about the negative health effects of nuclear testing. She compared the effects to the narrative that residents were given by the government, as individuals living near testing sites were told they were safe.
She began developing the project in August with Jamie Wagman, a professor of gender and women’s studies. Dutton looked through materials produced by the government to examine how it portrayed nuclear war to the general population.
“The most interesting part to me was getting to look at civil defense materials and all these different ways that the government was talking about nuclear war. In my opinion … they were trying to scare people basically,” Dutton said.
Dutton said that this research helped her to refine her academic interests and guide her future endeavors. After graduation, she hopes to pursue work at a museum or in education.
Senior Sami Pajak and sophomore Peculiar Emmanuel-king presented a biology project titled “Using a convolutional neural network for pollen grain identification in the Michiana region.” They worked with Morgan Carr-Markell, an assistant biology professor, to observe how machine learning can be implemented in biology.
Pajak shared that throughout the research, the most interesting aspect was looking at the application of different pollen into various plants.
“It was really important for me to keep track of it early on what was important for putting into my senior research proposal and my
report … What I found really interesting in my research was just how different and unique pollen for all these different plants were. I’ve looked at hundreds of different pollen grains themselves over dozens of species and just seeing how different they can be, even within common species that are pretty closely related … was really incredible,” Pajak said.
She hopes that students can see the positive benefits of using artificial intelligence for conservation efforts. She also hopes that her research lessens concerns about the growth of AI overall and inspires other future biologists to further develop this topic.
“I think the research symposium is a great way for students to be able to show the research they’ve done. For biologists, we have our own research presentation day, but not all majors have that … Being able to have this space to be able to share what they’ve learned and what they’ve found, I think is wonderful,” Pajak said. means,“ she said.
Contact Berhan Hagezom at bhagezom01@saintmarys.edu
Seniors commit to giving back after ND
By ANNELISE DEMERS
Associate News Editor
As their classmates prepare for law school, medical school and other corporate careers, seniors Clare Cullinan, Regina “Regie“ Hammond, Dylan Taylor and Luke Strawn are heading into communities across the country to serve.
“Th
Each is pursuing a post-graduate service program rooted in education, ministry and social impact, and each credits their time at Notre Dame for shaping the values that led them to this decision.
Cullinan, a global affairs major and studio art minor from South Bend, will serve through Amate House in Chicago. She will teach and serve as a campus minister at Our Lady of Tepeyac High School, a girls’ school in the Little Village neighborhood.
Cullinan has also been named valedictorian of Notre Dame’s class of 2025.
“I’ll be teaching a senior service course involved in theology and religion and all things campus ministry,” Cullinan said. “I’m also hoping to be a choir director and a basketball coach.”
She was drawn to the program because of its emphasis on community and inclusivity.
“Amate means ‘to love’ in Latin, and their catchphrase is ‘putting love into action,’” she said. “You live
President
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work by consoling inmates on death row, speaking about the death penalty and working with families of
in community with others who are serving across different sectors — not just education. I loved that diversity of experience.”
Cullinan said her understanding of service shifted while at Notre Dame.
“I’ve struggled with the definition of service, because for so long we thought of it as one person in a hierarchical relationship giving to someone of a lower standing,” she said. “But what I’ve learned here is embracing the concept of accompaniment — walking together, being willing to be vulnerable and recognizing I don’t have it all figured out.”
Hammond, a neuroscience major with minors in sustainability and Latino studies from Nashville, will teach fourth through eighth grade science at Assumption School in San Leandro, California, through the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) Teaching Fellows Program.
“I really enjoyed my SSLP,” Hammond said, referencing Notre Dame’s Summer Service Learning Program. “It was formative. It helped me realize how much you can gain from giving — and not receiving a lot.”
Hammond said she was especially drawn to ACE for its holistic approach. “You don’t have to be Catholic, but having that foundation — the moral grounding of caring for your neighbor — really
murder victims.
Sylvia Acevedo will receive an honorary doctorate degree in science. She has piloted a wide r ange of careers, starting as a rocket scientist at NASA; a tech executive at IBM, Apple, and
matters,” she said. “Formation as a person and as a teacher are equally important.”
She hopes to take away both professional and personal growth.
“One thing I struggled with in college was organization,” she said. “And it’s essential to teaching. I’m really excited to strengthen those skills.”
Taylor, a science preprofessional and English double major from Houston, will also join ACE, teaching high school chemistry in Jacksonville, Florida.
“I’ve always wanted to go into education and ACE gives me a chance to do that before medical school — or maybe instead of it, who knows?” Taylor said. “It’s about developing compassion and giving back.”
Though he was hesitant at first, Taylor said he realized that a more winding path could be just as valuable.
“Life is way too short to try to get to the finish line,” he said. “Do what your heart is telling you. It’s not a race to the end.”
Taylor said the placement wasn’t what he expected — but that only affirmed his decision. “On my ACE application, I said the two places I didn’t want to go were Florida and Louisiana,” he said with a laugh. “And when they told me Jacksonville, I felt a sense of relief. Like, this is where I’m supposed to be.”
Dell; then as a White House Commissioner for early childhood education and leadership. Acevedo also served as the chief executive officer of Girl Scouts from 2016 to 2020, where she accomplished the
He hopes to bring energy both inside and outside the classroom. “I’m hoping to do maybe some football coaching,” he said. “I might not be the most athletically gifted, but if I can bring some energy, I’ve succeeded.”
Strawn, a neuroscience major, will teach middle school math and science in Atlanta through ACE.
“I think being a Catholic school teacher in this day and age is really important,” Strawn said. “You wouldn’t be at a place like Notre Dame without a teacher who made an impact. I want to be that person for someone else.”
Strawn attended Catholic school from kindergarten through high school and two of his English teachers left a lasting impression.
“They pushed me and helped me get to Notre Dame,” he said. “They’re why I want to give back.”
Strawn’s excited and nervous about the work ahead.
“It’s not easy to be thrown into a classroom of middle schoolers, especially having never taught before,” he said. “But I think it’s going to be a really beautiful process.”
Strawn sees teaching as an act of humility and openness and he’s open to where the path leads.
“Service is something that is uncomfortable, but you do it because you have the courage to
“largest programmatic expansion” for the nonprofit organization and oversaw over one million STEM badge achievements awarded to Girl Scout members.
Acevedo earned her bachelor’s degree in industrial
go into something fearful, knowing the impact can be greater than yourself,” he said. “I do plan to go to med school, but I’m also open to the fact that I may end up loving teaching.“
Despite varied majors, placements and long-term plans, all four students share a commitment to presence, compassion and accompaniment.
“Doctor means teacher in Latin,” Strawn added. “Sometimes the most powerful thing a doctor — or anyone — can do is say, ‘This is difficult, but I’m going to walk with you through it.’”
Taylor hopes to gain humility. “At Notre Dame, it’s easy to pat yourself on the back,” he said. “But ACE is a reminder that it’s not about you — it’s about making sure everyone in your classroom has a voice.”
Hammond is excited to grow. “I’m just so excited to get to know the community and the students,” she said. “And I’m hoping to be as much of a force for good as possible.”
Cullinan summed up the group’s spirit. “Each relationship you have is another person who contributes to the common good — and that’s what being a f orce for good really means,“ she said.
Contact Annelise Demers at ademers@nd.edu
engineering from New Mexico State University and was one of the first Hispanics to earn a master’s degree from Stanford University. She has also been listed on Bloomberg’s Top 100 Influential Latinos and Forbes’ Top 50 Women in Tech.
59 graduating cadets complete ROTC program
By SOPHIA TRAN Associate News Editor
After four years of hard work and determination, the 59-person ROTC class of 2025 will be recognized at their graduation.
On May 17 in the DeBartolo Performing Art Center’s Leighton Concert Hall, a ROTC commencement ceremony will culminate the cadets’ journey through Notre Dame’s ROTC program, which recently received recognition from the Department of Defense as the country’s top Army ROTC institution. The ceremony will mark the beginning of the students’ careers in the U.S. military as they transition from cadets to second lieutenants.
Within the ROTC Army branch, 22 cadets are graduating, 21 of which will be commissioned in May and one in October, after the completion of Cadet Summer Training. 20 cadets attended Notre Dame, and two attended Saint Mary’s College.
From ROTC’s Navy, 20 Navy ensigns (ENS) and seven Marine Corps second lieutenants will graduate.
From Air Force, 17 cadets will graduate, 15 from Notre Dame and one from each Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross.
As the ROTC community prepares for the cadets’ transition ceremony, ROTC instructors reflected on their feelings of pride while being witness to the growth of this cohort.
Lt. Col. William Kobbe, a professor of Army science, reflected on ROTC’s Army class of 2025. “I’m most proud of each of these cadets for their willingness to accept the challenge of coming to Notre Dame and participating in Army ROTC,” Kobbe said. “They individually have their own ‘why Notre Dame’ stories, but they will graduate and commission as teammates. They made me a better Army officer in the process. This class gives me great hope for the future of our Army and our great country.”
Officers in other branches similarly expressed their pride in the class of 2025 for their drive and spirit.
Capt. Lindsey Brewer, an assistant professor of aerospace studies, shared how she believes the class will “impact people in the deepest ways as leaders.” Teary-eyed as she shared her thoughts, Brewer discussed how she has been “really humbled” by the caliber and character of the cadets.
Lt. Adrian Navotas of the Naval branch noted how proud he was
to witness the cadets’ Service Assignment Day where “100% of the midshipmen” got into one of their top three choices for warfare communities. Such communities account for a variety of different careers including surface warfare officer, submarine officer, naval aviation, SEAL and naval reactor.
Beyond the officers, the cadets themselves harbor excitement for their service upon graduation. Air force cadets Tyler Leonard and Meghan Lehane shared their different approaches yet similar drives as they graduate from ROTC.
Leonard, an honors political science major, was selected to participate in the Air Force ROTC Education Delay-In Program, through which he will attend Duke Law School as a juris doctor candidate.
“I joined ROTC with the desire to become a judge advocate general, or JAG officer, which is a lawyer in the Air Force,” Leonard explained. “In ROTC, I think that the leadership roles that they put us in, being in a close-knit community that’s both personal and professional, puts you in those situations that require ethical decision making. Every experience highlighted by the interpersonal relationships that I’ve had in this program set me up well to ask the
right questions.”
Lehane is an aerospace engineering major. She will serve as a 62EX-B developmental astronautical engineer at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
“[My interest in] space hasn’t really been due to clubs or anything academic tangent to my actual studies, but through ROTC, I’ve been able to have what we call professional development training,” Lehane said. “I’ve looked into things like satellite training and studying a foreign language.”
The cadets noted how the ROTC community is evident beyond formal training or courses. Lehane served as vice president of Harmonia and noted how supported she felt when fellow cadets showed up to her performances.
At home in Arizona, Leonard frequently participates in hot pilates. His enjoyment of the workout led him to start a pilates group on campus.
“I started a pilates workout every week in Duncan for ROTC students,“ Leonard said. “I just love to be able to take something that’s really a part of my daily routine at home and to share it with other people and see the community building that can come from working out.”
The cadets highlighted how
their strong community has allowed them to persevere through challenges. According to Leonard, he found himself being pushed to become a better leader after taking on a position leading 20 cadets and learning to adapt to individual needs.
Cadet Sian Mignot is a Saint Mary’s student in Army ROTC. Following graduation, she will be commissioned to the reserves in a unit in Tallahassee, Florida.
“My great grandfather served in the Korean War,” Mignot said. “I was born in Korea. My dad’s still in, and there was something about the way he told his stories, the way he would describe his service, and he gave me, at one time, a piece of the Berlin Wall with barbed wire.”
Mignot is the first female in her family to serve in the military. She hopes to be a role model for her younger sisters.
“[The piece of the Berlin Wall] just spoke so great to me that it made me want to serve,“ Mignot said. “My sophomore year is when I contracted, and I am a very emotional person, and I definitely cried afterward when I gave a speech.”
Contact Sophia Tran at stran@nd.edu
ND seniors receive prestigious fellowships
By SOPHIE HANAWALT
Notre Dame News Editor
Each year, Notre Dame students utilize the support of the Flatley Center for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement (CUSE) to apply for and win prestigious fellowships and scholarships.
Elise Rudt-Moorthy, associate director of national fellowships for CUSE, shared that 49 seniors won prestigious fellowships during their time at Notre Dame this year. As of May 13, five seniors have received Fulbright awards, but others from the group of Notre Dame’s 31 semi-finalists are still waiting to hear whether they have been selected as finalists.
Emma Powers, a biochemistry major with a data science minor from Bloomington, Minnesota, received three scholarships during her time at Notre Dame. The Lewis Hall resident was awarded the competitive Gates Cambridge, Gilman and Barry Goldwater scholarships while participating in the CUSE Sorin Scholars program, an application-based scholarly engagement program.
The Gates Cambridge scholarship offers 80 students from outside of the UK the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Cambridge on a full-cost scholarship. Through the Gilman Scholarship, the U.S. Department of State awards recipients scholarships to intern or study abroad. The Barry Goldwater scholarship, endowed
by the Department of Defense, awards scholarships to students pursuing research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.
“Coming into Notre Dame, I knew I was entering an elite academic university with the top students in the nation. I could never have expected to receive any of these nominations or scholarships. My freshman year self would be in awe of where I am today,” Powers wrote in a statement to The Observer.
Powers expressed her gratitude for CUSE in supporting her in winning these scholarships, especially the support of advisor and assistant director of scholarly development for CUSE Emily Hunt.
She began working on breast cancer research under Laurie Littlepage, a Campbell family associate professor of cancer research, in the Mike and Josie Harper Cancer Research Institute beginning in the spring of her freshman year. She described the yearlong experience as solidifying her passion for and confidence in pursuing biomedical research and what provided her the foundation to compete for and receive her scholarships.
In the fall, Powers will attend the University of Cambridge to earn her Masters of Philosophy in Medical Sciences (Oncology) through the Gates Cambridge Scholarship before pursuing her Ph.D.
Kayle Lauck, a political science
major with minors in philosophy, politics and economics, along with education, schooling and society, earned a Harry S. Truman scholarship in 2024. She was also recognized as a 2024 Udall Undergraduate scholarship honorable mention and a 2025 Fulbright alternate. Originally from South Dakota, Lauck lived in McGlinn Hall.
Lauck expressed her gratitude for her CUSE advisors.
Lauck shared she applied for the Truman scholarship, which recognizes students committed to public service careers, because it aligned with her goal to return to South Dakota to advocate for rural communities, tribal relations and sustainable agriculture.
The scholarship will help to support her graduate education, her current plan for which is to pursue a joint J.D. and doctorate in history with a focus in rural development as it pertains to Native American law and agricultural policy, she shared.
Lauck, a Kellogg Institute for International Studies International Scholar, worked with professor Debra Javeline to research resilience and recovery in international development during her time in the program.
Luack won the John Roos Award for best thesis in American politics for her work analyzing the role of interest groups in shaping rural development policy.
Lauck also co-founded the Agricultural Student Association (AgSAND) with Hannah Dahl,
another student.
“We saw the need for a space where students could discuss agriculture and food systems and worked with the Student Activities Office for two years to establish this organization. Through AgSAND, I‘ve been able to moderate events discussing agriculture at COP28 and bring together students interested in sustainable food systems,” Kauck wrote in a statement to The Observer.
After she graduates, Lauck will teach writing at Maȟpíya Lúta Owayawa middle school on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota while she applies to graduate schools following her marriage to her high school sweetheart in June.
After graduate school, she plans to return to South Dakota to “help tribal members navigate federal and state agricultural programs and continue [her] work with the nonprofit I founded with my friend and classmate at ND, Johnny Blote, called South Dakota College Connections.”
Raleigh Kuipers, a global affairs and Spanish major with minors in civil & human rights and European studies, earned the Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service.
Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kuipers completed the Gateway Program at Holy Cross College before moving to Lewis Hall.
The Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service,
created by the Obama family and Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, is a two-year leadership development and scholarship program which aims to empower 100 college students from across the United States to pursue careers in public service. Recipients of the scholarship are provided an up to $50,000 scholarship in addition to career coaching, networking opportunities, mentorship and leadership training. Kuipers traveled to Chicago in the fall of 2023 for a weekend of workshops with the program’s second ever cohort, as well as the Obama Foundation’s Democracy Forum.
Through Voyager, the program’s initiative which provides recipients $10,000 and Airbnb credits to pursue an internship or self-designed experience during the summer before their senior year, Kuipers traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico to conduct research on feminist foreign policy in addition to improving her Spanish and Portuguese skills. This research informed her senior thesis, which she wrote, “explores the extent to which 11 feminist foreign policies engage with peace and security issues.” Kuipers was also an International Scholar, working with Clemens Sedmak, professor of social ethics, to research topics including resilience in Ukraine
Dawson Kiser looks back on presidency
By ANNELISE DEMERS Associate News Editor
As senior Dawson Kiser prepares to graduate and begin a career in consulting, he’s looking back on his year leading Notre Dame’s student body.
Kiser, a management consulting major with a theology minor from Tampa, Florida, says it’s difficult to choose just one moment he’s proudest of from his time as student body president.
“I think for me, there’s two things,” he said. “One is it was so cool to see our [student government department] directors grow as people and as leaders, and to know that Maeve [Miller], Allison [ O’Connor] and I played a part in that, helping them become better versions of themselves and better leaders.”
He also highlighted his administration’s policy achievements on student life issues.
“I was really happy with both the events and policy we were able to get, especially things like the laundry, improvements to the dining halls and RecSports,” Kiser said. “That was something we got a lot of feedback on from our student life survey and it was a gratifying moment to follow through on those things.”
Kiser credited his role as student body president with helping him grow personally, especially in prioritization, time management and intentionality.
“It made me a much more intentional person … I would like to think that in the way I built my relationships, it really helped me with just the value that relationships hold to me,” he said.
He also shared that the position pushed him to grow in selflessness.
“There were things I would have rather done if I wasn’t president, like spending more time with friends,” Kiser said. “But I don’t regret any of the time that I spent, because I did it out of love for Notre Dame and because I wanted to serve.”
Kiser acknowledged that student government work often happens behind the scenes — and on timelines that don’t always match the academic calendar.
“We put on great events like Flick on the Field, Dorm Day, the Black Excellence Dinner and Voter Awareness Week,” he said. “But with policy items, a lot of times it requires close collaboration with administrators, who are just on a different timeline than us as students. We’re here for four years; many of them
have been here 10, 20, 30 years.”
Still, he said the groundwork laid by past leaders and relationships with administrators made this year’s progress possible.
“There was a lot of great work done in previous administrations that even allowed some of the things we wanted to happen to come to fruition,” he said.
Asked about his legacy, Kiser was quick to shift the spotlight away from himself.
“I’m not really worried about my personal legacy. I never did any of this for that,” he said. “I just hope that through the work I did as Dillon Hall president, vice president of junior class council and student body president, I left Notre Dame a better place than I found it.”
Kiser said one tradition he’s especially proud of is Dillon
Hall’s Rockne Rally, which he helped bring back and is excited to see continue. “That one has a special place,” he said.
For younger students, he offered advice on authenticity and faith.
“Be authentically yourself and know that that’s enough for your school, your friends, your future employer,” Kiser said. “And my Catholic faith is something that’s super important for me … No matter where someone is in their faith journey, I would just encourage them to give it a really intentional chance.”
Kiser ended his interview with a farewell to the Notre Dame community: “God bless you. Go Irish. It’s been a great four years.”
Contact Annelise Demers at ademers@nd.edu
Notre Dame to award six honorary degrees
Observer Staff Report
At the 180th University Commencement Ceremony on May 18, the University of Notre Dame will recognize achievements in science, law and literature by honoring six individuals with honorary degrees.
According to a University press release, recipients include oncologist and hematologist Rafat Ansari, former managing partner of Jones Day Stephen Brogan, author and political commentator David Brooks, medical scientist Teresa Lambe and novelist Alice McDermott. A sixth honorary degree will be conferred to Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman and acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who will deliver this year’s commencement address.
Sister Raffaella Petrini, the
president of the Pontifical Commission and the Governorate of Vatican City State, was also set to receive an honorary doctorate of laws but decided to defer the honor until next May following the passing of Pope Francis.
Ansari will be named an honorary doctor of science. Originally from Pakistan, Ansari came to the United States to attend medical residency at Indiana University. Ansari works as an oncologist at Michiana HematologyOncology, PC. In 1984, he founded the Hoosier Cancer Research Network, a nonprofit that specializes in early phase oncology clinical trials. Inspired by his daughter, Ansari also created the Sonya Ansari Center for Autism with his wife in 2008. The center serves children with autism and their families in South Bend. Ansari worked with the University of
Notre Dame to found the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs. Ansari was also inducted into the South Bend Community Hall of Fame for his contributions to the community.
Brogan, who will receive a doctorate of laws, is the former managing partner of the international law firm Jones Day. As a managing partner, Brogan expanded the firm’s commitment to pro bono work. He graduated from Notre Dame Law School and has served as a member of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees since 2007. He was a member of the University’s Board of Fellows from 2020 to 2024.
Brooks is a renowned author and op-ed columnist for The New York Times. Originally from Toronto, Brooks began his career as a police
reporter in Chicago before joining The Wall Street Journal in 1986. He joined The New York Times in 2003, where he has written about politics and culture while advocating for democracy and civic virtue. He has written six nonfiction books and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010. He will receive an honorary doctorate of laws.
Lambe will receive an honorary doctorate of science for her critical role in developing a COVID-19 vaccine. As a principal investigator in the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine program, Lambe led the preclinical studies and research required for regulatory approval. According to a University press release, “The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is estimated to have saved more than 6 million lives in 2021 alone.” Currently, Lambe’s
research centers on developing and testing vaccines against outbreak pathogens like the Ebola virus. Lambe serves as the Calleva head of vaccine immunology at the University of Oxford. She will also deliver the Graduate School’s commencement address.
McDermott will be honored with a doctorate of letters in recognition of her nine New York Times-bestselling novels and collection of essays. McDermott received the National Book Award for her 1998 novel “Charming Billy” and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times. She is a member of the New York State Writers Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. McDermott also maintained the Richard A. Macksey professor of the humanities position at Johns Hopkins University until 2019.
Saint Mary’s holds first-gen pinning ceremony
By AYNSLEE DELLACCA Assistant Managing Editor
On April 17, First Gen Family, a student organization at Saint Mary’s College, held their first-ever pinning ceremony for first-generation seniors at Stapleton Lounge, where faculty and students were invited to watch. A pinning ceremony bestows pins on students to wear on their graduation robes at commencement.
The event was followed by a cookout that was co-sponsored with the Black Student Association. While the pinning ceremony is a new event, the cookout is not. The cookout is held annually for first-generation students in the tri-campus community to connect and interact with each other.
Christin Kloski, director of student equity at SMC and the advisor for First Gen Family, described the importance of the pinning ceremony and of recognizing first-generation students’ milestones.
“So often we hear more about the barriers of first-gen students than their assets, and so I think this pin just really showcases that sense of ‘I did it,” Kloski said.
During the ceremony, attendees were given pamphlets that included responses from seniors about what they are most proud of, their favorite memory of Saint Mary’s and advice for other first-generation students.
Senior Jaida Beasley, a physics major with a minor in mathematics and a member of First Gen Family, said she was most proud of the space Saint
Mary’s provided her to “grow intellectually, emotionally and physically.”
“My past four years here, it’s been nothing but a blessing, even in the moments I didn’t recognize it. The school and its community has not only filled my cup to overflow, but has given me the resources to understand how I can use my cup to fill others,” Beasley said.
For the ceremony, underclassmen and faculty members gifted the seniors their first-gen pins after a few congratulatory words.
Kloski said she felt excited to plan the first pinning ceremony for first-generation students.
“Students used to just come to my office and pick up a pin and a booklet that celebrates all the first-gen students who
are graduating,” Kloski said.
“So many of our seniors talked about how awkward and uncomfortable it would be just to pick up a pin. It doesn’t seem so celebratory. It doesn’t seem like it’s a big honor, so we wanted to do a mix of a very relaxed, but also celebratory [ceremony] for our seniors.”
Afterward, a cookout was held outside in Belles Backyard in place of a reception to create a more casual feel for the event, Kloski said.
“When we have things that celebrate [graduation], you realize how big of an impact it really is and how big of a community [it] is, because a lot of people don’t know we have almost 400 to 500 active first-gen people on campus,” junior Corde -
lia Vazquez, 2024-25 president of First Gen Family, said. “I think it’s important to have these spaces and give those voices to those who should be recognized for these big accomplishments.”
Beasley says she found support in First Gen Family during her time at Saint Mary’s and feels grateful to the club for preparing her to “tackle life.”
“I can’t count on both hands how many times it just felt almost impossible to get through sometimes, and First Gen Fam has always been a place where, especially this year, I can go and just relate to others and get the resources I needed,” she said.
Contact Aynslee Dellacca at adellacca01@saintmarys.edu
Saint Mary’s CFAM awards seniors for service
By BERHAN HAGEZOM Saint Mary’s News Editor
The Saint Mary’s Center for Faith, Action and Ministry (CFAM) held their CSC Mission Awards and Senior Recognition ceremony April 30 from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Stapleton Lounge. The ceremony has been held annually since 2018 in honor of Sister Rose Anne Schultz. A total of 17 seniors were recognized by CFAM, with 10 of these seniors receiving additional awards for their work in mission and service.
Daniel Horan, director of the Center for the Study of Spirituality, led the introduction of the ceremony with the history of Schultz and her contribution to Saint Mary’s. Following this, Nicole
Invocation
he appreciated assistant professor Adam Jaffe of the chemistry department’s support in shaping his research experience.
He went on to participate in research more closely focused on clean energy storage, materials for clean energy, and carbon cycling in grassland ecosystems. He also conducted research on green hydrogen while abroad in Dublin.
Professor Antonio Simonetti, who he researched with for the longest, has been a huge mentor for Schmitt. Schmitt took several of his classes and said he “learned so much from him.”
He has now been
Saint Mary’s
they “make the most of every second.”
“Make sure that you’re taking advantage of everything that Saint Mary’s has,” she added.
After graduation, Minick will be attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks for a master’s program in Arctic and northern studies with a concentration in Arctic politics and policy. She hopes to work in international and foreign policy within the Arctic region.
Ogden, originally from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, chose Saint Mary’s for the small campus and the opportunity to be in small classes. She also said that the education program at the College allowed her to develop her own professional interests.
“I came in knowing I wanted to study elementary education
Labadie, director of CFAM, offered an opening prayer.
The 17 seniors acknowledged in the ceremony included Mary Bakke, Lucy Brown, Sincere Cannon, Katie Clem, Caroline Dutton, Kitty Enright, Maggie France, Olivia Gleason, Tess Hayes, Elle Houin, Brigid Hull, Sarah Jannings, Abbie Kawalec, Ellen Kevin, Ruby Meza, Jean Ochoa and Piper Ogden. The physical awards students received were made in the SPARK Lab, a makerspace on campus.
Brown also received the Sister Kathleen Anne Nelligan, CSC Award for Ministry for her work as an ecumenical outreach intern. France was given the Sister Olivia Marie Hutcheson, CSC Award for Service in the Health Field.
working with professor Ryan Sensenig in an ecology lab, providing a grounded perspective on ecology and human relationships.
His favorite class experience was from ND Energy’s Puerto Rico seminar he took during his junior year, a course focused on the challenges Puerto Rico’s energy grid faces and potential solutions such as distributed energy and microgrids. The trip culminated in a trip to Puerto Rico.
Schmitt was heavily involved in Student Government’s Department of Sustainability throughout his time at the university, spending his senior year as the director of sustainability. He described this role as a balance between policy and programming, engaging students while collaborating
… You get so many different field placements throughout your time here and I knew that if I was going into teaching, I really wanted the opportunity to spend time in the classroom and really confirm that this is what I wanted to do,” Ogden said.
Ogden spent her senior year as president of both the Education Club and Fiat Club, a Marian ministry group.
During her sophomore and junior year, she was a member of Dance Marathon, an organization that fundraises for Riley Children’s Health. At the Center for Faith, Action and Ministry, she spent multiple years organizing weekly Eucharistic adoration and arranged a Eucharistic procession last fall.
“My involvement in all of these clubs have really just allowed me to grow in my own confidence [and] grow in my own understanding of other people’s experiences to
The Sister Maria Concepta McDermott, CSC Award for Service in Education was provided to sophomore Cadence Hoekman. Kevin earned the Sister Christine Healy, CSC Award for her service with women as a Beyond the Belle site leader at St. Margaret’s House.
The Sister Olivette Whalen, CSC Award for General Service was presented to sophomore Gabby Juhasz for her work with CFAM, including as a sustainability intern. Gleason received the Patricia Arch Green Award for her work with Center for the Homeless in South Bend.
The Jane O’Rourke Bender Award ’67 was also given to recognize senior students who submitted artistic pieces that reflected on their
with administrators on sustainability initiatives.
During his time with the department, he led a project on energy at the University which examined how the University is transitioning towards renewables for its carbon neutrality goal, collaborating with people in utilities and administrators before sharing the information with students.
Schmitt works as a calculus and linear algebra tutor at the Learning Resource Center as well as a teaching assistant for biostatistics and a freshman biology lab.
Asked what the biggest life lessons he learned during his time at Notre Dame was, Schmitt discussed how switching labs when he realized he couldn’t envision a career in the chemistry
become a more well-rounded individual as I prepare to teach full time,” Ogden said.
For her senior research comprehensive project, she student-taught at Beiger Elementary School in Mishawaka during the spring semester of her senior year. Her work included making a portfolio with different lesson and unit plans along with an assessment cycle, for which student researchers would need to identify a need in the classroom, develop a pre-assessment, create lesson plans and then deliver a post-assessment.
Outside of Saint Mary’s, Ogden was part of the National Council of Teachers of English and traveled to Columbus and Boston in the fall of her junior and senior year, respectively. She said these experiences allowed her the chance to engage in a professional learning community with thousands of
spirituality and consideration of the gospel with themes on forgiveness, service, compassion and social justice. Enright won first place and Clem earned second place. Cannon and Ochoa tied for third place.
Meza was named Mission Student Worker of the Year from her work as the operations coordinator for CFAM. Hull was given the Mission Impact Award for her service as the liturgy and music intern in CFAM.
Following the distribution of awards, Saint Mary’s President Katie Conboy provided closing remarks. She thanked staff and students for their work throughout the year.
“To all our awardees, your work, your dedication to
research he had been doing taught him to not force himself into any box or path.
“Learning to follow my passions and what gives me energy is one thing that really helped me think about what I was most excited to learn about and figure out what that would look like as a career,” Schmitt said.
He encouraged students to lean on the good people, whether that’s their friends or professors, on Notre Dame’s campus when they don’t know how to find their place.
Schmitt’s favorite memories at Notre Dame were studying abroad in Dublin and the last memories of senior year. “At the last football game, when we sang the alma mater for the last time with everyone in the stadium, it was
other teachers.
“I learned a lot about new practices, best practices and how I can improve my own teaching. Within each of those years that I went to the conference, I also participated in a round table session called ‘The Future Is Now,’ that was specifically for undergraduate and graduate students studying education,” she said.
Ogden will be graduating with her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and minors in math and reading. After graduating from Saint Mary’s, she will begin a master’s program through the Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers program at Providence College, through which she will receive her master’s in literacy and will concurrently teach third grade at St. Michael’s School in Fall River, Massachusetts.
She advises students to “say yes to every opportunity that
helping others is simply inspiring … You’ve made an impact on others, you’ve changed lives, you’ve provided hope in our very complex world and a world that sometimes feels a little bit hopeless. My own hope is that you will continue to answer that call to serve others, whether you’re going home for the summer or you’re graduating from Saint Mary’s and beginning a new path in life,” Conboy said.
Sustainable Farm manager Matthew Insley concluded the event with a closing prayer and blessing. A cookout dinner was provided to all attendees at the ceremony following its conclusion.
Contact Berhan Hagezom at bhagezom01@saintmarys.edu
just one of those moments that made me step back and think, wow, I enjoyed this so much over the last four years. I’ll miss it, but also it’s given me so much in the people, the lessons, the experiences and I’ve grown so much,” he said.
Following graduation, Schmitt will spend eight weeks researching in Kenya with Sensenig before pursuing his masters in urban sustainability at Trinity College Dublin through the Notre Dame Naughton Fellowship. He is excited to study “community resilience and how we build communities and cities that are equipped to deal with the impacts of climate change.” in Austria.
Contact Sophie Hanawalt at shanawal@nd.edu
presents itself. Every day offers new surprises and new opportunities. Of course, as college students, it’s very overwhelming, but I found that just saying yes to things offers you so much.”
Walicki, originally from Jackson, Michigan, will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in accounting and will serve as an audit associate at the accounting firm KPMG in Chicago.
At Saint Mary’s, Walicki has been the treasurer at the College’s pickleball club since 2023 and was a study abroad peer advisor following her study abroad experience in Maynooth, Ireland. She also served as the campus ambassador for KPMG, through which she assisted students in finding and obtaining accounting opportunities.
Contact Berhan Hagezom at bhagezom01@saintmarys.edu
ISABELLE
By NAISCHA PURI Scene Writer
Former TikTok darling Addison Rae recently released her latest single “Headphones On,” an ethereal, wispy-feeling tune that, paired with the album art for her upcoming body of work, is an overt tribute to 2000s and 2010s icons including the likes of Britney Spears and Lana Del Rey. The lyrics tell a story about escapism through music, putting our headphones on to block out the struggles of the real world: “Guess I gotta accept the pain / Need a cigarette to make me feel better / Every good thing comes my way / So I / So I put my headphones on (I put my headphones on) / Listen to my favorite song (Listen to my favorite song).”
This release comes after a string of singles in anticipation of her upcoming self-titled album “Addison,”
which is scheduled to be released June 6 through Columbia Records. The preceding songs — “Diet Pepsi,” “Aquamarine” and “High Fashion” — have been critically favored and well received by fans, and so have the music videos that accompanied them.
This, however, is not Rae’s first taste of the music industry. In 2021, she put out the pop song “Obsessed,” which was largely met with public distaste. After taking a break from releasing music and sparking buzz around her name through leaks and demos, she came out with an EP called “AR” featuring bubblegum pop tracks such as “I got it bad” and “2 Die 4.” The latter features Charli xcx, the British electro-pop musician and frequent collaborator of Rae’s, who saw her own rise to the mainstream and critical acclaim with her latest album “BRAT.”
As Addison Rae creates her dreamy it-girl aesthetic,
which takes major inspiration from her best friend and creative consultant Lexee Smith, and develops her musical craft, the rebrand calls into question if she can successfully shed the TikToker image that impacted her first attempt at making music so negatively. It seems the generally hateful perspective has changed. All four of her most recent songs have tapped into the culture and been a hit in my books. She has been intentional with every single detail of her projects — be it fashion, aesthetics, lyricism, visuals, artwork, genre or social media output. While I am not totally sure if there will be a time when her TikTok roots will be forgotten, I can confidently say I am excited to watch her grow as a musical artist and to see where this journey will take her.
Contact Naischa Puri at npuri@nd.edu
By PETER MIKULSKI Scene Editor
There’s a new pope, I’m told. That’d be a good excuse to print a piece about “Conclave,” except I think we’ve all had our fill of invective and counter-invective about that movie. Hence, we’re left in search of other pope-themed content. (To be fair, Leo XIV is a Chicagoan, so maybe the most fitting way to celebrate his election is with a rewatch of “The Blues Brothers” or “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” instead.)
I think now is as good of a time as ever to revisit “The Young Pope,” a series about the Vatican released on HBO in 2016 which starred Jude Law and Diane Keaton. It spawned a minor media kerfuffle upon its debut — the National Catholic Register wrote, “Many Catholics are rightly upset about the scandalous anti-Catholic new HBO show called ‘The Young Pope’” — but people have mostly forgotten about the series, aside from Law’s “absolute love and total devotion” monologue, which you might’ve seen reposted on your short-form video outlet of choice.
On the one hand, “The Young Pope” was bizarre. A lot of the criticisms which “Conclave” received from Catholics but didn’t at all deserve can instead be applied quite rightly to “The Young Pope.” Whit Stillman (who — despite having directed “Metropolitan,” which the National Review ranked the third-best conservative film — now spends his days posting libbed-out Boomer memes about
Donald Trump on X in an ironic twist of fate) used the term “late-model HBO porn” for “The White Lotus,” and while that’s an unfair assessment of “The White Lotus,” it totally fits “The Young Pope.”
“The Young Pope” is late-model HBO porn par excellence. To director Paolo Sorrentino, everything is an excuse for full-frontal nudity and dimly-lit fornication, but he doesn’t even have the guts to commit to smuttiness. He relegates a large chunk of the edgier footage to vague, meandering dream sequences which leave the viewer unsure about whether these scenes actually happened. That’s a cop-out, I think.
Late-model HBO porn isn’t just about sex, though — there are plenty of other ways to make middlebrow and self-indulgent television. For instance, “The Young Pope” revels in showing things like cardinals and nuns smoking cigarettes and the pope working out for shock value. A penchant for shock, a tendency to whack the viewer over the head with significance-laden imagery, plagues the show in general. Additionally, James Cromwell and Scott Shepherd (Law’s mentor and friend respectively) go big with their performances but fall completely flat.
Additionally, while “The Young Pope” likes to gesture at theology (i.e. recycling the same St. Augustine quote in several episodes), these scenes are written in a thin and sentimental way which didn’t work for me. A writer should never try to make a character smarter than he is, they say, because he won’t be able to sell it, and that’s precisely the trap which the “The
Young Pope” falls into. Law’s character, Pope Pius XIII, is depicted as an ecclesiastical wunderkind, but his writing never really fulfills this expectation — platitudes and brooding, that’s all he has to offer. On the other hand, I enjoyed “The Young Pope” regardless. Law is fun to watch, and while his lines aren’t insightful, they do fall nicely on the ear. Keaton’s performance is also unimpeachable; when Law’s character is at his most annoying, she keeps the show watchable. The cast of Italian cardinals, with their stereotypical behaviors and farcical scheming, play a big part in lightening up the show too. (Sometimes their accents were so thick I literally couldn’t make out what they were saying, but that’s the director’s intention, no doubt, so I didn’t turn the subtitles on — people are too precious about understanding every word these days.)
Although it’s sometimes glib and grating, I like that “The Young Pope” takes big swings. Sometimes that means striking out (e.g., the show’s corny attitude about cigarette-smoking and Pope Pius XIII’s white papal tracksuit), but there’s more dignity in that than in getting walked, and sometimes it means hitting homers like the gonzo needle drops, the unforgettable opening credits, the b-roll of nuns playing soccer, the absurd orphanage flashbacks, the New York side plot and the cardinal in love with the Venus of Willendorf.
Contact Peter Mikulski at pmikulsk@nd.edu
Five more minutes
Katie Muchnick Managing Editor Emerita
I am in a cafe in Chicago, reluctantly writing my last piece for The Observer on my phone. I have tried everything to avoid this moment: turned it in late (sorry, Abby), “forgot” my laptop in South Bend, painted my nails though I knew I would be writing by hand. Kate Casper and I nearly stopped into the Glossier store on our way just to delay the inevitable. Not yet. Five more minutes.
This semester, I have avoided contemplating my graduation to the point of stupidity. I did not try on my white dress until hours before graduation photos. I pretended my last orchestra concert was another Friday-evening interruption of my going-out plans, not possibly the last time I will ever perform after 18 years. I have no idea what I will say to my friends — my constant companions over the last four years — when the moment comes next Monday. I am certain my emotional procrastination will rear its ugly head, but not yet.
The thing I miss most about freshman year, looking back, is the way we used to talk to each other before class. We were so desperate to make friends, so uncomfortable in our new solitude, that ten minutes of mindless chatting before Principles of Microeconomics felt like a life raft. Where are you from? What are you studying? The words meant
nothing, usually. Still, when I see Paige from Spanish or anyone from my GGL dialogue, I remember their kindness and their curiosity from those liminal pre-lecture moments.
Upperclassmen don’t talk to each other before class as much. We have our friend groups — solidified in dorm rooms or extracurriculars — and feel little pressure to expand an already burgeoning social circle. This pattern is especially noticeable during senior year. When everything is intensified by the threat of leaving, why bother becoming best friends with the freshman in your English seminar?
I seem to have forgotten this unspoken rule in my final semester. But instead of distracting myself from the uncomfortable truth of my departure, it only means more goodbyes. Not just to my closest, loved-you-since-freshman-year friends, but to Catie from class. To my darling quartet. To each of the bright, optimistic underclassmen’s faces at The Observer. It kills me to leave you all behind.
I may pretend these new connections were inevitable, just part of living at Notre Dame. But I suspect I’ve been trying new things — confiding in new people — to avoid visiting my old haunts for the last time. That doesn’t mean the last time won’t arrive, obviously, but maybe I won’t realize it’s happening until it’s gone. I don’t know the last time my mother picked me up as a child, but it happened. I don’t know the last time I spent hours chatting in Welsh Fam or stayed after a meeting at The Observer office or watched too much “Modern Family” with my roommates, but it will
Like everyone who has written a final commencement column before me, I’m finding the task of putting the last four years into words much more difficult than I anticipated. For someone who is always scribbling away in her journal, I thought this final college assignment would be quickly checked off but I’m still staring at “write inside column” penciled into my planner. If I flip the page of my notebook, graduation looms.
Transitions like this are so hard for me. I hate the uncertainty of what comes next. One of the first things I wrote down for this column is that I want to linger in the in-between a little longer. I want to bask in the last weeks of senior year forever. I want to press these quiet days on campus when time seems suspended, while also moving all too quickly, into the pages of a scrapbook. One last run around the lakes. One last hangout in the 7B lounge. One last late-night production shift in the SDH basement. One last twirl around Newfs. At the beginning of the year, I would have been the first to tell you I was excited to graduate. I felt ready to go and that my time at college was up. But, really that was a lie. As 1975 frontman Matty Healy put it, “You couldn’t be more wrong actually. I’m unbelievably sentimental.”
I’m so unbelievably grateful for the person I have become at Notre Dame and to all of the people who helped me grow. I finally feel like I can truly be myself and I feel thankful to have found people who love me no matter what.
There are more thank yous than I
can fit here (word count limits, you know how it is), but I will try my best. To Shannon for being my first friend and letting me watch Euphoria in your quad, to my Mom for letting me cry about physics and getting my heart broken, to Dani for never giving up on our shared NYC dreams, to my family for all your support, to V and Laura for always making me smile, to Mary for changing my life and to everyone at The Observer for being my people.
If you know me you know my favorite movie is “Little Women,” and I always find myself coming back to rewatch it during different eras of my life.
I feel like Jo March now more than ever. I now know what she meant when she said “I can’t believe childhood is over.” In response to that Meg says, “It was going to end one way or another. And what a happy end.”
Most of the time I feel like Joe. I don’t want this chapter to end, I can’t believe I’m an adult now, and I’m scared for what’s next. But, there’s a part of me that knows Meg is right. If it has to come to an end, this is the end I would choose over and over again.
Caroline is graduating from Notre Dame with a degree in environmental science and a minor in journalism. This summer she will be interning on the opinion desk at The Dallas Morning News. Send your book recommendations (yay for leisure reading time) to ccolli23@alumni.nd.edu and follow her on Substack @cabbychronicles. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
happen. Maybe it already has. Only the hope of “not yet, not now” keeps me afloat.
I have prepared to miss my friends, my classes, the lakes. I can imagine the dull ache of nostalgia — a pain so steady and underwhelming it becomes my new companion. I have prepared to miss you, but not to say goodbye.
A senior in my favorite poetry class last fall, when asked about her weekend, responded so earnestly: “I made a new friend, so I haven’t been able to get anything done.” I think about that moment often, the courage it takes to say something so simple and so true, to admit what each act of kindness from each new friend really means. This is my own attempt at her honesty: I love you all. I love this place even when it feels too small. I miss you already.
The only way to say goodbye is one person at a time, one last time after the other. I see these moments on the horizon, but I choose not to face them. Not yet. Give me five more minutes. In my mind, we are still scared freshmen, talking before class.
Katie Muchnick is a senior from Evansville, Indiana, graduating with majors in English and economics and a minor in journalism. She served as the Managing Editor for The Observer. You can contact her at kmuchnic@ nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
On quitting
Panethiere Graphics Editor Emerita
In November of 2021, fresh off Thanksgiving break and in the limbo between it and my first round of college finals, my computer had a tab open to the Common App, my cursor waiving precariously over the “submit a transfer application” icon.
My first year of college can be eloquently described as a complete dumpster fire. College was not supposed to be awful. I was supposed to like my classes, feel smart and maybe even have a robust social life. A wave of harsh reality came swiftly and took no survivors: you are not as smart as you think you are, and not everyone wants to be your friend. These two things are truths that I am now entirely acquainted with, but my experiences leading up to college did not set me up for success with these truths in mind.
In no way, shape or form did I belong at Notre Dame. At least that’s how I felt.
I had never wanted to quit something before: I had endured high school jobs that I absolutely hated (looking at you, my two-year stint at the doggy daycare), taken courses which I had no interest in solely to improve my college admission odds and had seen every challenge as an opportunity for growth. After that semester? No longer.
I sat alone in my quad at my desk nestled quaintly under my lofted bed and I thought about what I was doing. I heard the utter joy in my dad’s voice the day I got into Notre Dame resonating in the back of my head. I recalled the feeling of my heart beating out of my chest when I submitted my enrollment deposit a few short months before. Where did my former self who never threw in the towel go? Did I leave her in my hometown of Saint Louis? I needed to call my mom and get her to overnight ship the old Marissa to me.
I had all the materials prepared: my recommendations, my essays, my reported transcripts. But something kept me from that final submission. Maybe it was God (as I learned throughout my time here that He would be the most important person I would come to know) or maybe my stubborn-seventeen-year-old persona reared
her head one more time in an act of defiance, but I never clicked submit. I closed the tab and went right back to studying for General Chemistry I.
I left finals defeated and I went home certain that my time at Notre Dame, while not over, was certainly not getting any better.
As my friends can attest, I usually hate admitting when I am wrong. But in this one case, I am so glad that freshman-year Marissa was the most wrong she had ever been (and hopefully will ever be again). My spring semester took a complete 180-degree shift. I liked my classes, I was marginally succeeding and I finally connected fully with people that I still hold dear to my heart four years later. Notre Dame did not quit on me; my preconceived expectations set me up for disappointment.
Now, it was up to me not to quit on Notre Dame. It took countless courses, sleepless nights and a good deal of patience from those around me over the years to cultivate my love for the Golden Dome and all that comes with it. And now, as the sun sets on my time as an undergraduate, I can acknowledge how important it was that I did not quit — but I think it is more important to recognize those who did not quit on me.
To my best friends hailing from the hallowed halls of Lyons, you turned college into the beautiful place I always dreamed of. To Isa Sheikh and Christina Sayut, you forced me into having the coolest job of my life (that I was very ready to quit at many points and chose not to … see the growth there?). To Mom and Dad, you told me quitting was not an option, and you were right. While I could wax poetic and name every person who gave me a chance throughout these four years, I will refrain for the time being and end with this:
Thank you for believing in me. This diploma is just as much yours as it is mine.
Marissa Panethiere is a senior chemistry and Italian double major from Saint Louis and The Observer’s Graphics Editor emerita. She has an affinity for making noise, putting off her homework and spacing out on her walks to class.
Theviewsexpressedinthiscolumnarethoseofthe author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Marissa
An obit for the office
Isa Sheikh Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
Down in the basement of South Dining Hall (SDH), from the men’s room to the entrance to our beloved newsroom, the walls are marked with arrows and the letters “DEMO” in permanent marker for demolition. It’s a pity, not only because the image that’s been published of a renovated SDH seems to perpetuate a soulless modern architecture that infects campus with white walls.
South Dining Hall will still be a beautiful building with its façade. But it’s losing The Observer’s offices, which administration has decided will be continuing its journey at Hesburgh Library.
“When any industry is new, they build cathedrals to it,” is something Lorne Michaels once said about 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
That’s what it felt like as an wide-eyed (delusional) freshman coming down into the now-“old” Observer offices in the basement of South Dining Hall. Upon further thought, it may not be true that the “industry” of student journalism was new. The Observer itself had existed for 30 years elsewhere on campus. But to those of us who walked into that office perpetually entranced by its walls, it was a sort of cathedral.
People who have seen the office might object to my dramatics. On its face, it was a grimy, old cellar, and many jokes were made about potential disease in the ceilings and furniture. But to those of us who developed a relationship with this space that may have come that the expense of our grades, we fell into some trance.
The walls were papered with old issues and awards, and jokes from years of production nights. There were notes from Pulitzer Prize winning alums and letters from Fr. Hesburgh, and it was always priceless to see how happy a freshman got when they added something to our increasingly flammable walls. Walking into the office felt aesthetically like entering the past (at least the 1990s). Many of the things in the things in the office were lost to time, and it was impossible to tell whether something in the drawers had been there for three years or three decades (or older, like a bottle brought over from the LaFun office). Sometimes, an afternoon conversation would by interrupted by a phone call coming through the fax machine. At three in the morning, working a production or back shift, it certainly felt time above ground did not matter.
Functionality was also questionable. At least in the last four years, there were way too many computers on the desks, and somehow none of them would work at the same time. That was navigable, with the bounties of functional cable TV, boundless Diet Coke, the eclectic collection of chairs and the conversations you got to have in the office with a constellation of people who played some part.
As a (personality hire) Observer friend once pointed out in a post-board meeting storytelling session, she had dropped first and last names constantly, and not once did it ever come back to haunt her in her real lives above ground. At The Observer, everyone had other social circles, different people in their Instagram posts. We were factually work friends, living out a separate sphere of our college lives. And this one belonged to us, with a place we could show off to friends, to family.
Legends of Observer past tell that “before there were cameras,” enterprising student journalists (who graduated a long time ago) would take breaks from work for karaoke up in the Oak Room (singing Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow”) or hold conference calls with administrators in the emptied-out dining halls. Some are rumored to have even observed the kitchens and pantries. Perhaps, worst of all, there was an old challenge in which alpha male Observer journalists would pee in every urinal along the wall in the bathroom, in one go.
But that’s history.
Long live The Observer. Rest in peace, our office.
You can contact Isa Sheikh at isheikh@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
For the mother of a graduate
Isa Sheikh Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
“Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know.” Bang. Pretentious quote. Four years ago, that strategy worked for my college application personal statement. It probably shouldn’t have.
In the period leading up to graduation, I’m forced to recall such moments in hopes of being “reflective,” but honestly I’ve felt a certain alienation as one milestone has fallen anticlimactically after another. The days came and went, plagued by intense senioritis and the necessity to finish things. Retiring after seven-and-a-half semesters with The Observer, submitting my senior thesis after two years of work, attending my last classes after four years and convincing the last few professors to give me passing grades. Days fade in my memory as I pass through this liminal period, unsure whether that’s a light at the end of the tunnel or … unemployment?
Four years ago, I picked up the Welcome Weekend edition of this very paper on move-in day and the front-page graphic informed me that of the 23,642 applicants to Notre Dame’s class of 2025, I personally had been chosen to be here. Forgive me for my main character moment, it was the start of college. Sometimes, winning a lottery can be deeply disconcerting. But I settled to realize that we get lucky sometimes, especially with modern college admissions, which is increasingly like playing a game of darts in a completely dark room.
Sometimes the dart hits bullseye, but its timing isn’t the best. When I was applying and committing to colleges, it had been two years since my mom died in a traffic accident halfway through my high school education. Grief weighed on me, as did California’s prolonged pandemic lockdowns. Two years of responsibility and deafening silence in every corner of our house. It was perhaps a selfish decision. Members of my family told me it would be wiser to stay at home. But luck had knocked at my door, and I was in no state to say no.
The four years went by since I ran away to the Midwest, and the pomp of graduation approaches. “Just a moment / Right before all the song and dance,” Tame Impala croons over the speaker in my room again and again. Many times, I have feared this moment, the end of my Notre Dame life. I have been immensely privileged as a student here, on funded trips eating poké on the beach in Hawaii and sleeping under the stars on a dogsledding trip in Minnesota. I’ve traveled the world reading old letters in grand reading rooms on the University’s dime. I’ve had the privilege of complaining about a dining hall where ice sculptures make regular appearances, to be awestruck weekly by a dome gilded in gold, of seeing the magnolias bloom by LaFun. I’ve had the privilege of incredible conversations. I had the privilege of being cussed out as part of the press in the Notre Dame locker room while players undressed and/or sobbed after our loss in Atlanta. My luck has continued, it seems, most of the time.
And so if most of this was luck, or at least persistent grade inflation in the College of Arts and Letters, I’ve found it difficult to be excited this year about graduation and all the LinkedIn posts that seem to come with it. By some indiscernible accident or gift from God, I was better at reading and writing than some other kids, so I got into college, and then I managed to pass my classes for four years (thanks, again, in part to grade inflation). Are congratulations truly in order? Not to me.
My mom, Shabana Patel, was born in 1977 in Vadodara, India, immigrating to San Francisco when she was six. Life was not kind to my mother. Soon after the move to America, she lost her own mom to breast cancer when she was a child. With her father living mostly in India, she and her siblings lived with extended relatives, going to school without lunch while her relatives stuffed cash under the mattresses. My grandfather died when she was 21, leaving her entirely parentless and dropping out of San Francisco State University. Despite this, by the time she was reunited with her parents, my mom changed her small corner of the world, as evidenced by the hundreds of people at her funeral and the school that bears her name in West Africa.
For someone who had been through so much, hundreds remember my mom for her joy. The guests at fundraising parties she hosted for one cause after another, the countless teachers, parish goers, police officers, firefighters, neighbors, librarians and homeless people my mom fed with her cooking. No chef will ever walk this planet with better food than my mother’s, and she served it with a spirit of pure generosity, an American Muslim eager to build bridges and accompany suffering.
My mom was dyslexic, something she learned after getting tested at City College after watching an episode of “The Cosby Show.” Despite never earning her college degree, my mom was always committed to learning, academically, spiritually and otherwise. At the time of her death, she was enrolled in our local community college. As a little kid, I missed her and asked her to stop classes when she resumed community college for the first time. She did. I’m forever sorry to my mom for my puerile mistakes.
My mom continued to have faith in education as a cornerstone of the American dream. She imbued this in her children early on, along with faith in Islam and pride in our heritage. Without many resources, my mom did everything she could to give us the childhood and opportunities she hadn’t had. She made us voracious readers by taking us to the public library and making sure the weekend TV stayed on PBS. Despite being most comfortable in English, she decided to speak with me only in our native tongue when I was young so I could be bilingual. She homeschooled us for a couple years when she wasn’t satisfied by our neighborhood options. She encouraged us to keep asking the questions we wanted to ask. My childhood was often difficult, but my mom made almost every day fun. And when I went to school, I never went without a home-cooked lunch, a midday revelation in Lock-n-Lock Tupperware.
She raised me with my father, for the first dozen years in a small hotel in San Francisco, attempting to shelter us from the fact that we lived above noisy strip clubs. They had married in India, where my dad grew up, and he moved to America soon after I was born. Life in India was very different for my dad, and education was a far-off prospect. He started driving a rickshaw young to support his family. When I was a kid, my dad kept driving, now taxis in San Francisco all night. He still works a driving job in Sacramento, where my parents bought our American dream suburban house. He recently told me how proud he is to be coming to graduation. It will be his first time visiting campus.
I think about the years of driving my father has endured and the thousands of miles this man has traversed. The sacrifices he made to move hemispheres. I know that my graduation is his accomplishment, as it is my mother’s. I can stop my self-indulgent moping about the meaninglessness of graduation, because it’s really not about me.
There have been moments when the “luck” at Notre Dame has felt so profound that I have recognized it for what it was. How did I possibly get here? Time and again, my mother’s prayers had brought God’s grace into the workings of my life. “So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?” the Qur’an asks in Surah Rahman, my mother’s favorite chapter. But not all gifts are easy to recognize.
The dead mom thing didn’t always feel like a “favor” from Allah. But in college, I’ve had some time, away from my homework, to think about some ideas. One of them, courtesy of an interview with amateur Catholic apologist Stephen Colbert, has echoed in my head. “What punishments of God are not gifts?” Colbert says.
“It’s a gift to exist. It’s a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering. There’s no escaping that,” he explained. If I had not been running from my mother’s death, I would not have gone as far as Notre Dame. Even then, I couldn’t have gotten there without her lessons or her prayers for my success. God’s plan can be mysterious and hard to follow. So, as I graduate, I thank the creator for all of it. And I forward all congratulations to one of His favorite people, my mother.
You can contact Isa Sheikh at isheikh@nd.edu. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
The Observer: observed
spot a few empty Diet Coke cans in the room.
Liam Price Viewpoint Editor Emeritus
The Observer is kind of like something you eat like a dog when you first get into it. And then after some time, you realize it tastes like s---. But by now, you are into it, and it has become your own little baby to take care of. You now run a department and have a senior thesis to write. Only now there are, as a law of nature, new dogs — energetic freshmen — eating away. And when you get to graduation, you realize that they aren’t eating away at your baby, but they’re eating away at your s---. And good for them. God bless energetic underclassmen.
I am being melodramatic — what you can use is description. You don’t want to know why you are reading The Observer if you have already chosen to read it. You want to know what The Observer can tell you.
The Observer’s office was always a good place to show somebody you wanted to impress. It has been narrated many times in Viewpoint’s inside columns, but it is harder to describe it: I can only try.
Located in the basement of South Dining Hall, its only neighbors were the women’s restroom to the west and the pungent 10-urinal men’s room to the east. Walking in, you would see an uneventful ad office to the right and Deb’s desk and the editor-in-chief’s office to the left. A few more steps, though, and you would have seen the room we worked in.
We often said we worked at “the paper,” and our office always reflected that. Prior to the moving process, at least 80% of the wall was covered in paper. Old clippings, notes, pictures and copies of our paper filled the space. The hodgepodge of computer desks was always layered with template drafts, and you could always
The room was big, both spacious and cramped with rolling chairs: First was the Viewpoint computer, and hence the space we thought of as “the Viewpoint section.” News was always, while I was a student, caved away to their left. To Viewpoint’s right was the printer. Behind Viewpoint was Scene. Behind the printer was the Top Five desk, where your mistakes sometimes got caught, and other times you got to go home early. Behind Scene was Sports — people I honestly never, except for Tyler Reidy, thought to be very interesting.
There was no door to the next room over, an equally large room where we almost never worked, but almost always met. The table layout here would shift around, but there were always very old editions of the Irish Insider lining the inside wall. On the opposite wall, there was a “sex couch” (though I had never heard of anything happening there, for all you eyebrow raisers) and a supposedly sacred whiteboard and more Insiders. There was a water cooler, a (free) coffee machine, snacks in one corner of the room and the photography office in the other, which was next to the musty AME office.
I always thought the AME office had an exciting abundance of random s---. I once found a recording device with interviews from a decade ago stored on it. There was no juicy or sexy reporting — it sounded about as boring as all the interviews I ever conducted. But it was cool and historical to me. It made my use of Otter.ai transcription services feel like cheating. I also took a table from that office once, which I’ve used for a bookshelf/coffee table concoction in my Alumni Hall single. Finally, there was a water gun that I once sprayed directly at Andrew Marciano’s ear. There was always so much in the office — it is one
of those places I would be happy to continue describing and rambling about to anyone who would care to listen.
There is no “typical” Observer experience, however, partly because the sections all favor different types of employees. But the reality is that the paper will find a job for you if you are crazy enough to commit to it.
And I’m glad I was. The Observer has been a cool place to work. I’ve met cool people in that nasty office, readers of worldly things and basking in all the pretentiousness that comes with it. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Peter, Peter, Peter and Ryan Peters, the “proud father” of our current editor-in-chief. I’ve enjoyed making a fool out of myself whenever production shifts got awkwardly quiet. And I’ve enjoyed the sense of purpose I experienced working as a student journalist.
To tell you the truth, I’m not sure if I served The Observer as much as it served me. Every job interviewer and friend has heard me talk about it.
Yet to describe it, I must say simply that it takes the work of hungry dogs to keep this paper going, even though the result is sometimes less a cute and shiny newborn baby than its soiled diaper. But The Observer will test you and your limits, even if you are Isa Sheikh.
So, for those stressed-out scriveners who will carry this paper in perpetuity, listen up, pups. I have one imperative: stay hungry. It’ll serve well both you and our collective s---.
Liam Price is a senior from Lambertville, New Jersey, graduating with majors in political science and English. Next year, you can find him teaching ninth grade English in Philadelphia through the St. Joseph’s University ACE program. You can contact Liam at lprice3@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
A reminder to all the seniors
Abby
Hernan Viewpoint Editor
The past year has contained many special memories, from Fr. Robert Dowd’s inauguration to playing in the National Championship. As an underclassman, I look forward to the next two years. While I cannot understand what it feels like to graduate college yet, I know what it is like to be an ambitious first-year, nervous about what their college experience will look like. Every Notre Dame student experiences a canon event their first weekend on campus — Welcome Weekend. While every student’s experience is different, I will try to best encapsulate the exhaustion and stress that Welcome Weekend brings.
Friday
The first couple of days of the Notre Dame experience are one of the most exhausting things someone can encounter. On the first day, you spend carrying in all your luggage, and as you slowly start putting up your decorations, you realize that your room will not look like those Pinterest boards you have been saving. You either were blessed to have air conditioning, or you walked into your dorm room and figured out that the Midwest can get surprisingly hot in August. Then, you meet your random roommate and passiveaggressively suggest that you want the bed closer to the window. While you unpack all of your clothes, you guys slowly try to figure out what living together for the rest of the year will look like. It is the average “I like to stay in, but I also like to go out,” or “I like to keep things clean,” which, if you are me, is an absolute lie.
As you continue unpacking, you will realize you need to make multiple trips to Target, because while you were buying cute little fairy lights to hang around your bed, you forgot to buy essentials like a trash can or towels. Then, you walk over to the big tent on South Quad that is serving hot dogs and make awkward conversation with your roommate’s family. Eventually, you walk
over to the “University Welcome” in Purcell and cram into the only seats you can find.
A lot of people you do not recognize now, but soon will, come up and speak. After you leave Purcell, it is time to open Apple Maps and wander back to your dorm. There, you will go down to the basement and play icebreakers with the other people in your dorm. Trying your hardest to remember names and faces, you will participate in some bonding activities while you cling to your roommate. After a long and very, very exhausting day, you get to spend your very first night in a Notre Dame dorm.
Saturday
The next day is just as exhausting. Now, your parents are gone, and it is time to integrate into your new home. You get to go to your first lecture series. I wish I had something substantial to say about this, but honestly I cannot even remember attending one.
Later, you are kind of on your own for awhile. You get to go to more events and master reciting your Notre Dame introduction. Everyone you meet belongs to a different dorm and all the names start to blend together. It took me about a year to figure out Farley and Flaherty were different dorms.
The two most memorable parts of Welcome Weekend’s Saturday happen at night: the class photo and Domerfest. For the class photo, you put on your dorm t-shirt — which is most likely the ugliest color you’ve ever seen — and begin the walk over to the stadium. Everyone shouts chants as they walk over that you will most likely never hear again. Then, you are packed into a random formation in the weirdly hot and humid South Bend weather. Finally, they take the photo and in a couple days, it will be posted on the Notre Dame Instagram. As you tap through Instagram stories reposting the photo, that is when it sets in how many random people you followed over the summer.
After, you go to Domerfest. Someone told me that you meet your lifelong friends at Domerfest, and in
hindsight, I realize that was probably a joke, but firstyear me took it to heart. I was so nervous and really felt the pressure to meet as most people I could. It is the most overwhelmed I have ever felt outside of DeBart, and I have left some exams not feeling too well. After I settled down and started to realize that I did not have to meet everyone I could, I was able to slowly enjoy Domerfest. I met a girl in my dorm and she was from the same state as me, which is all it takes to form a strong friendship with someone during Welcome Weekend.
Sunday
Sunday is the least planned day of Welcome Weekend. This is a nice time to finish setting up your room and text the random people you met yesterday if they want to get lunch. Everything is starting to feel a little more real and thinking about taking your first college class is exciting and nerve-wracking. The most important part of Sunday is the class trip to the Grotto. Despite getting hot wax spilled on you, the Grotto visit is one of the nicest parts of the weekend. It gives you time to self-reflect and think about what your next four years will look like. Everyone takes home a candle after the visit. I lit mine a couple months later, the night before my first 8 a.m. Stepan Center calc exam (one of many).
Despite the mild disdain for Welcome Weekend, the weariness of initiation is forever a bonding experience between you and your classmates. As you say goodbye to the past four years, think about how you felt your first-year, chanting with your dorm and trying to meet as many new people as you can. You have come a long way.
Abby Hernan is a political science and applied and computational mathematics and statistics student from Orlando, Florida. She is currently The Observer’s Viewpoint Editor and would like to dedicate this article to all the outgoing seniors. You can contact her at ahernan@ nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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FOOTBALL
Third-year magic: Irish reach CFP title game
By NOAH CAHILL Sports Editor
Former athletic director Jack Swarbrick believed that the 12team playoff would benefit his program by improving its chances at the postseason and providing an opportunity to host a playoff game in Notre Dame Stadium. Experiencing the third-year magic felt by many Notre Dame coaches before him, head coach Marcus Freeman did just that, leading his group to the National Championship game for the first time since 2013. After falling short against his alma mater, Ohio State, in the title, Notre Dame finished the 2024-25 season with a 14-2 record.
A defining early-season stretch
The Irish undoubtedly had the season opener marked in their calendars: a trip to College Station, where over 100,000 Texas A&M faithful would pack Kyle Field for the Saturday night matchup. After weeks of questions surrounding an inexperienced offensive line, Notre Dame came in and shut down the Aggies while doing just enough offensively to eke out a 2313 victory. At that point, it was the greatest win of the Freeman era.
In his first two seasons at the helm, Freeman endured devastating losses. The win against Texas A&M felt to many like a turning point. However, fewer than seven days later, Notre Dame fell to Northern Illinois in one of the most stunning upsets in program history.
“You go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in the tale of two weeks,” Freeman said
after the game. “We’ve been here before. Now it’s time to get it fixed.”
What Freeman had shown through his first two seasons was the ability of his teams to respond to adversity. One week later, on the road against Purdue, his group once again came up with a response, overwhelming the Boilermakers from start to finish in a 66-7 drubbing. However, with aspirations of hosting a playoff game in December, the Irish needed to do much more than beat a 1-11 Purdue team. With a second loss almost surely eliminating them from the 12-team field entirely, they needed to be perfect.
Notre Dame returned home in week four to face another MidAmerican Conference opponent in Miami (OH), whom they defeated 28-3. The win set the stage for a crucial matchup against then-No. 15-ranked Louisville. A loss would end the season before October, leaving ample time for some tough conversations. Surviving several mistakes in the chaotic clash, Notre Dame pulled out a pivotal win. The Irish were fueled by the playmaking of graduate safety Xavier Watts, who nabbed his second interception of the season and broke up a fourth-down pass to crush the Cardinals’ comeback attempt.
Taking care of business
On paper, the Irish would be clear favorites in each of their remaining seven games. Go 7-0 in those games, and the dream of hosting a playoff game would become a reality. But while Freeman’s team had shown resilience in the past, they struggled to handle success. Could this group win the games it needed to win?
Flash forward to the end of the regular season, and the answer was a resounding yes. Notre Dame would put together a nine-game winning streak to finish the year at 11-1, outscoring opponents 31686 on the run. They decimated Stanford 49-7 before handling a formidable Georgia Tech team in a 31-13 victory a week later. Navy stood no match for the Irish, who forced a whopping six turnovers in the 51-14 win. They then came out of the second bye week to crush a dejected Florida State team 52-3.
The road was not without obstacles, however. To that point, defensive injuries were mounting, as junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison suffered a hip injury after the Stanford game, joining graduate defensive tackle Jordan Botelho and sophomore edge rusher Boubacar Traore on the sidelines for the remainder of the season. After a 35-14 win over Virginia, the Irish prepared to face an undefeated Army team the following week, still without graduate defensive lineman Howard Cross III, who remained with a left ankle sprain from the Florida State game. They rose to the challenge, however, producing a blowout 49-14 win and setting up a win-and-in game against USC. But despite a disappointing season, the Trojans came to play, putting up more points on the Irish defense than any other opponent. But as they drove to tie the game late in the fourth, sophomore cornerback Christian Gray caught and returned an interception 99 yards to the house. Watts secured another pick and took it the length of the field on the ensuing drive, punching Notre Dame’s ticket to the CFP.
The two turnovers put an
ND MEN’S BASKETBALL
exclamation mark on an incredible season from defensive coordinator Al Golden’s unit. It finished first in turnovers forced, first in pass efficiency defense and third in points allowed. The Irish started to find their footing on the other side of the ball as well. Albeit against light competition, the group put up 39.8 points per game, which ranked third nationally. Leonard came into his own as the year went on, forming one of the most dynamic backfields in the country alongside sophomore Jeremiyah Love and junior Jadaraian Price. The threeheaded monster combined for 2,321 yards and 36 touchdowns on the ground, with Love riding a 12game streak of games with a rushing touchdown. He would go on to break the program record with his 13th straight against Indiana.
A magical run
The stage was set in South Bend for the first-ever College Football Playoff game played on a college campus. After a deflected interception on their first offensive drive gave Indiana great field position, two plays completely flipped the momentum. Watts picked off a pass at the two-yard line before Love busted a 98-yard touchdown run on the following play. From there, Notre Dame never surrendered control, leading by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter. Indiana did some window-dressing with a pair of late touchdowns, making the final score 27-17.
The first real test awaited Notre Dame in the next round, as it prepared to face SEC champion Georgia. As they had all season, the Irish dominated the middle eight, turning a tie game into a commanding lead in the span of a few plays. After graduate kicker Jeter knocked in a 48-yarder, graduate edge rusher RJ Oben forced a strip-sack fumble to take the ball right back. Starting at the 13-yard line, Leonard wasted no time taking advantage, as he connected with graduate wide receiver Beaux Collins in the end zone. To open up the second half, graduate wide receiver Jayden Harrison took the kickoff from his two-yard line all the way to the house, extending the Irish lead to 20-3. Their defense continued to suffocate Georgia, closing out the game with a 23-13 victory to set up a semifinal matchup with Penn State.
The Irish were outmatched in the first 30, falling down 10-0 after a statement 15-play, 90-yard touchdown drive by the Nittany
Lions with a few minutes left in the half. Then, an unlikely hero emerged. Junior quarterback Steve Angeli, filling in for the banged-up Leonard, led a field goal drive to put the first Notre Dame points on the board before the break. The second half was full of fireworks, with both teams trading scores until the Nittany Lions took the ball with the game tied at 24 and 47 seconds remaining. That’s when Gray came up with the biggest interception of his career, and maybe Notre Dame football history.
“To be honest with you I really didn’t think about anything after I caught the ball,” Gray said. “I just knew I was just blessed and I just felt God over me after I caught the ball.”
After killing the rest of the clock, Jeter had a kick from 41 yards to win the game and take the Irish to the National Championship. He nailed it.
Decimated by a long list of injuries, with graduate defensive tackle Rylie Mills added to the list after going down against Indiana, the Irish ran out of gas against Ohio State. After a gutsy opening drive touchdown that drained 9:45 from the clock, Notre Dame gave up 31 unanswered points. They launched a furious comeback in the third and fourth quarters, cutting the lead to eight and forcing a 3rd-and-11 on a drive that had to be a stop to keep the game alive. However, the Buckeyes iced it on that very play when Will Howard hit superstar wide receiver Jeremiah Smith on a sideline shot for the first down. Despite the valiant effort, the Irish fell 34-23, ending their season at 14-2.
While it was without a fairytale ending, the 2024-25 season will be an unforgettable one for the Notre Dame faithful. Losing Al Golden and multiple defensive stalwarts next season won’t be easy. Neither will losing starting quarterback Riley Leonard. With that said, head coach Marcus Freeman has cemented himself as the man for this job and has shown what his team is capable of achieving.
“The outlook of Notre Dame football is extremely high,” Freeman said to close his postgame press conference after Ohio State. “As long as the people in that locker room that come back understand what it takes, the work these guys have put in, there’s a lot of success in our future.”
Contact Noah Cahill at ncahill2@nd.edu
Irish showing improvement under Shrewsberry
By HENRY LYTLE Associate Sports Editor
Finishing the season 15-18 overall and 8-12 in the ACC, Notre Dame men’s basketball built on head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s first season with one more conference win and two more wins overall.
Battling injuries and a challenging schedule, Shrewsberry’s group have a lot they can build on heading into 2025, including the return of sophomore guard Markus Burton, the ACC’s leading scorer. The Irish began the season 5-0
with three wins in Purcell Pavilion. The most impressive win of this stretch came against a Georgetown team that began the season 12-2 overall. Notre Dame handed them their first loss of the season up to that point, winning 84-63 and controlling the pace all game. They shot an efficient 59% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range in the victory. The first loss of the season came on Nov. 22 when they fell 84-77 to Elon at home. The Phoenix had already taken on ACC opponents North Carolina at the start of the season, falling 90-76, but would get their first win against the conference since 2005 against the Irish. After opening the game strong with a 46-41 halftime advantage, the Notre Dame defense
MARIELLA TADDONIO | The Observer
Senior quarterback Riley Leonard (center) holds up an orange in celebration after Notre Dame’s 27-24 defeat of Penn State in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Satdium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Jan. 9, 2025.
could not stop Elon in the final two minutes, despite a 25-point effort from sophomore Markus Burton.
The Elon loss preceded a difficult slate of games at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, where the Irish would take on three tournament teams. The tournament began with Rutgers, who sported Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, two projected top-5 picks in this year’s NBA Draft. Just minutes into the first half, sophomore star Marcus Burton suffered a knee injury, promptly sending him to the locker room. The Irish were forced to make adjustments, but stuck around with a talented Rutgers team, taking a 35-34 lead into halftime. The two teams seesawed back and forth in a battle for the lead in the second half. Trailing for the final three minutes, graduate guard Matt Allocco hit a clutch 3-pointer to send the Irish to their first overtime bout of the season.
Allocco scored a season-high 24 points on six 3-pointers against the Scarlett Knights, but his final attempt from beyond the arc to win the game rimmed out.
The week did not get any easier, as the Irish battled then-No. 6-ranked Houston, the future National Championship runner-ups. The Cougars dominated a struggling Irish offense without Burton, cruising to a 65-54 win. Notre Dame then lost to Big East championship runner ups Creighton 8076, before finishing the week with a 69-48 loss to Georgia, who also made the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs held the Irish to a seasonlow in the contest. After dropping five in a row and falling to an even 5-5, the Irish needed to get back on track ahead of conference play.
HOCKEY
When asked about responding to losing streaks, Shrewsberry said, “So after every game, every loss, whatever losing streak, you gotta look at that first. Are we doing what we’re supposed to do the entire time at the right level? If not, let’s do that first, and then let’s try and change the other things.”
The Irish began conference play hosting Syracuse at home. Sophomore guard Braeden Shrewsberry scored a season-high 25 points on six 3-pointers while senior guard J.R Konieczny added 15 off the bench to help the Irish begin conference play on the right note. They managed the 69-64 win even in the wake of Burton’s injury absence.
The Irish tallied two more non-conference victories against Dartmouth and Le Moyne before embarking on a stretch that included UNC at home and a trip to eastern North Carolina to face NC State and Duke. The Irish lost on a heartbreaking 4-point play to the Tar Heels as Allocco fouled Elliot Cadeau on a last second 3-pointer that he drained before sinking the game-winning free throw. This game was Markus Burton’s return from injury. They lost on another blown second-half lead away at NC State before falling 86-78 to the Final Four-bound Duke at Cameron Indoor. Cooper Flagg recorded a freshman ACC record 42 points, as every Irish defender was helpless against the College Player of the Year and likely No. 1 overall pick. This stretch sat the Irish at 7-9 overall and 1-4 in ACC play, but with a much easier stretch awaiting.
Notre Dame finished the month of January 3-1 to bring their ACC record closer to .500, but started to falter during a pivotal stretch in February going 2-6 during the month. The wins were both
critical and exciting for Irish fans, but the defeats were unfortunately just as memorable. They earned a hard-fought, double-overtime victory away against Boston College that saw Burton’s put up a season-high 32 points. It would be Shrewsberry’s first overtime win.
Next, the Irish returned home to take on four consecutive difficult opponents, a run they began with a loss to Louisville. The game was remembered for what happened off the court, as Shrewsberry slammed the microphone postgame yelling, “A lot of people have given up on this team. They’ve given up on me.” He went on to add, “I’m so invested in winning, so invested in this program, so invested in our players, that you know, if I feel any type of way that like those guys are being attacked or being slighted or shorted, then I’m gonna defend them.”
Even after the impassioned speech, his team’s prospects did not improve. The Irish suffered the worst defeat of the season next game against Southern Methodist University. After falling down 5025 at halftime, they lost 97-73 and substituted all the starters out in the first five minutes of the second half. Things did not get any better when Braeden Shrewsberry injured his hand, taking him out for the remainder of the season. The injury absences of he and Burton, who missed a combined 15 games, hurt the prospects of a successful season.
The Irish would close the year on a better note, highlighted by a four-overtime thriller against Cal in which Markus Burton added a career-high 43 en route to the 112110 victory, closing out the regular season in Purcell.
Shrewsberry said: “[This year] I don’t think we had the same grittiness and toughness that we had
the year before. I thought we needed to be a better offensive team while taking for granted that we were going to keep those same defensive principles.”
The Irish earned the No. 12 seed for the ACC Tournament after finishing with an 8-12 conference record, setting up a First Round matchup with Pitt, a team they had just beat 76-72 at home on Feb. 22. The game and season came down to a critical final possession with the game knotted at 54. Junior forward Tae Davis was fouled as time expired and sank the decisive free-throw to secure the 55-54 win and punch his team’s ticket into the next round against North Carolina. The game against a red-hot Tar Heels team did not resemble the competitive first meeting between the two, as the Irish lost 76-56 and ended their season. UNC, who was fighting for one of the last four spots in, showed far greater urgency in the resounding victory.
The Irish were led all season by ACC scoring leader Burton, who put up 21.3 points per game.
Burton also tacked on 3.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting 44.2% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range. Davis took a huge leap for the Irish improving to 15.1 points per game along with 5.3 rebounds, finishing as the 17th highest scorer in the ACC. Junior forward Kebba Njie led the Irish on the glass with 5.9 rebounds per game. As a team, the Irish were 13th in offensive scoring and 11th in defense within the ACC, dropping significantly from their second place spot in defense the year before.
Looking ahead, Notre Dame have put together their highestranked recruiting class in program history, headlined by Jalen Haralson, who ranks No. 19 in
ESPN’s top 100. They also added Ryder Frost and Brady Koehler, who sit at No. 79 and No. 94, respectively.
“I think those guys are going to be really good players,” Shrewsberry said. “I think physically a couple of them are going to be college ready right away. They have college level bodies as high school seniors. Now it’s about slowing the game, process, and thinking down and letting them adjust to college and going to class at Notre Dame.”
The Irish are expected to lose Davis and Konieczny to the transfer portal, but have added Carson Towt, who averaged 13.3 points per game at Northern Arizona and notably led the entire country in rebounds per game with 12.4.
“We use the transfer portal for need,” Shrewsberry said. When asked about the players who are sticking around, Burton the most notable among them, Shrewsberry added, “We invest so much in our current players that they feel good about Notre Dame, the education that they’re getting here. They feel good about our basketball program and where they think it’s going. They feel good about their role on the team. And they feel good that they’re getting better as players and they’re growing as people.”
With a great recruiting class, help in the transfer portal and core returning stars, the Irish will hope to be over .500 for the first time since 2022-23 next season.
“In order to do that [having a winning ACC record], the other guys that are staying have to make a huge leap,” Shrewsberry said. “The way they are working right now, I’m pretty confident that they will.”
Contact Henry Lytle at hlylte@nd.edu
New head coach Brock Sheahan takes the helm
By RYAN MURPHY Sports Writer
A page is turning in the Notre Dame hockey history books.
After 20 years with legendary head coach Jeff Jackson at the helm, a new era arrived last month when the team introduced alumnus and former associate head coach Brock Sheahan as its next head coach. Jackson’s tenure brought unprecedented success for the Fighting Irish, but a disappointing 2024-25 season leaves Sheahan’s group entering the summer with urgent questions to answer.
A legend retires
Jeff Jackson never wanted his final season to be about him. By all accounts, he got his wish until the end of the year, when the Irish rightfully celebrated him at his last home game, where he reached a milestone 600 wins.
“Jeff, you really, more than anybody, have put Notre Dame hockey on the national map as one of the true powerhouses of hockey,” athletic director Pete Bevacqua told Jackson at a press conference on April 9. “We’ll never be able to
thank you appropriately or enough for everything you’ve done for Notre Dame hockey.”
There wasn’t too much else to celebrate during the 2024-25 season, though. The Irish finished with a 12-25-1 record, their worst in Jackson’s 20 years behind the bench. They also failed to make the NCAA tournament for the third straight season. They were out of the running early on after losing seven straight games in November, going on to split a home conference series with No. 54-ranked Lindenwood at home in January and win just four of 24 Big Ten conference games.
That’s not to say there weren’t any bright spots, though. The team competed at some special venues, including SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, over Thanksgiving and outdoors at Wrigley Field in Chicago just after New Year’s.
A handful of players also had standout seasons. Sophomore forward Cole Knuble became the first Irish player to average over a point per game since Alex Steeves in 2020-21, tallying 39 points in 34 games, nearly doubling his point
total from last year. Senior forward Justin Janicke enjoyed the best season of his career, scoring a career-high 15 goals, including eight on the power-play. Junior netminder Owen Say, a transfer from Mercyhurst, kept the Irish in several games, posting a .929 save percentage. He parlayed his play into an NHL contract with the Calgary Flames at the year’s end.
Janicke and Say join 11 senior and graduate students departing Notre Dame after this year. Among the departures are graduate students Grant Silianoff and Zach Plucinski, who spent the last five seasons at Notre Dame. Silianoff was a key depth forward, while Plucinski served as a defensive anchor. Five more four-year seniors will graduate as well, including three singleseason graduate transfers. In all, Notre Dame will lose 1,295 games of college hockey experience this offseason.
The Sheahan era begins Just a week after the end of the 2024-25 season, Sheahan officially took the reins of the Irish hockey program.
The story of his tenure doesn’t
begin there, though. To find that, you’d have to go back to 2012-13, when Sheahan was wrapping up his East Coast Hockey League career with the Ontario Reign. A 2008 Notre Dame graduate, Sheahan discussed with his wife, Ashley, a Saint Mary’s College graduate, what would come next.
“I said, I think I could be the next head coach at the University of Notre Dame, 10 or 12 years from now,” Sheahan recounted in his introductory press conference on April 9.
A decade later – after stops at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., the United States Hockey League’s (USHL) Chicago Steel and the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves – that day finally arrived.
“The opportunity to lead Notre Dame hockey is a dream come true for me and our entire family,” he said.
Sheahan very clearly holds Notre Dame close to his heart. As a player with the Irish from 2004 to 2008, he helped Notre Dame to its first Frozen Four in 2008. He also met his future wife while at Notre Dame and returned to start
his coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach in the 2013-14 season. Sheahan came back to Notre Dame as an associate head coach prior to the 2023-24 season.
“I believe Notre Dame is the best of everything,” Sheahan said. “There’s one place, one place I want to coach in college,” he said.
Teams that Sheahan previously coached found success when he held the head coaching job. Promoted midseason to head coach of the Chicago Steel in the 2019-20 season, his team won the regular season title the next two seasons and the league championship in 2021. Sheahan reached 100 wins in just over two seasons with the Steel and compiled a 35-29-5 record in his lone season with the Wolves.
Irish face offseason questions
Sheahan assumes the top job at an Irish hockey program that has not finished above .500 since the 2021-22 season, their longest stretch without a winning season since between 1999 and 2003. The
