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Volume 53, Issue 106 | thursday, march 28, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Holy Cross elects Martinez and Horn The student body elected the candidates, on separate tickets, as president and vice president By Jackie Navarro News Writer
Holy Cross junior Ivan Martinez and sophomore Rylee Horn were elected as student president and vice president for the 2019-2020 term, following an election held Tuesday. The results were announced to the College community via email Wednesday afternoon. Martinez and Horn did not run together but individually won the popular vote to secure their respective positions. Due to the fact that they didn’t run as a collective ticket, Martinez and Horn both acknowledged that the
beginning of their term will likely be spent getting to know each other and creating a plan for the next year. “I feel like we’re both pretty approachable people and people shouldn’t have problems coming up to us about issues,” Horn said. “… I feel like we have relatively wellknown names around campus. … We haven’t had much [time] to figure [things] out yet but hopefully in this upcoming week we will.” Martinez explained that running for SGA office allowed him to create an impact on the College community. He credited his role in Latinos Unidos, the Holy Cross Latino Student
Alliance, as inspiring him to run for a higher student leadership position. “Once I joined junior year to be a senator I [saw] the impact I could have and once I started doing more events for Latino Unidos that impacted the school, … I wanted to run to have a bigger impact.” Martinez said. Horn and Martinez both said that they want to continue building on the work that has already been done at Holy Cross. Horn said that continuing to expand Holy Cross’ branding is a part of her vision for next year. “I think branding not only
JACKIE NAVARRO | The Observer
see ELECTION PAGE 4
Junior Ivan Martinez and sophomore Rylee Horn were elected student body president and vice president by the popular vote on Tuesday.
Obergefell examines the role of courts and his marriage By MARY STEUTER Assistant Manging Editor
Three plaintiffs from the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in the United States, shared their story in front of a full audience in the Law School’s McCartan Courtroom on Wednesday. Jim Obergefell said the lawsuit began soon after he and
his husband, John Arthur, decided to marry in 2013, when the civil rights case United States v. Windsor ruled in favor of tax breaks to same-sex married couples. “John and I decided that for us, if we’re gonna get married, we will do it only when it carries legal weight — only when our government will say, ‘John and Jim, you exist. We see you. You matter,’” he said. Obergefell said he was at
the hospital with Arthur, who was dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease, when news of the decision broke. “Here was this moment in time we had always hoped for,” he said. “I leaned over, hugged and kissed John, and said, ‘Let’s get married.’” The two married that July, Obergefell said. A few days later, Al Gerhardstein, see OBERGEFELL PAGE 4
Saint Mary’s hosts fair for graduating seniors By MARIROSE OSBORNE News Writer
Saint Mary’s seniors are about to take the leap from college into the world of adulthood. To better prepare them for that world, the College hosted its annual graduation fair Wednesday. The President’s Office, Campus and Community Events, graduate programs, Career Crossings
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and the Saint Mary’s Alumni Recruitment Team (SMART) all had tables at the fair for senior students to explore post-graduate options. Donna Botka DeFrees, an administrative assistant for the Office of the President, said the goal of the fair is to prepare graduates for life after schooling and to make sure they know about the
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support system provided by the College and its alumnae. “It’s important to us that graduates have the exit information they’ll need for life past Saint Mary’s,” DeFrees said. “We want them to stay connected and be well-prepared ahead of time to graduate, finish their see FAIR PAGE 4
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PEMCo prepares to perform ‘Guys and Dolls’ By CLAIRE KING News Writer
If you ask senior Clare Strickland, PEMCo’s executive producer, how she balances majoring in Neuroscience with overseeing the spring show “Guys and Dolls”, she would respond: “That’s a funny joke! We simply don’t sleep.” If you ask sophomore Alison Croucher, the director of the upcoming spring show, “Guys and Dolls,” how she manages to stay motivated between her Film, Television, and Theater course load and 24 hours per week of PEMCo rehearsals, she would respond: “Pure adrenaline and exhaustion at this point is what keeps me going. I don’t even have time to get a coffee.” Being a full-time student and also part of PEMCo, an entirely student-run and selfsustaining musical theatre group, is no small feat. “Balancing is hard. There’s no way you can have 24 hours
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of practice a week, have the amazing, glorious social life you want, and do well in academics and extracurriculars,” sophomore Roni Mansour, the music director of the spring show, said. Mansour, majoring in Music and English with a minor in Musical Theater, has had to learn to wear many different hats, along with the rest of the PEMCo team of around 50 members, including four producers, 21 cast members, 16 pit members and countless other people who have contributed to the show. Directors, producers and cast members alike, might find themselves running from a physics lab or an art critique to rehearsal. With that in mind, it can be a challenge to put together a show with so many different schedules and the routine distractions and stressors of everyday college life. “You leave everything at the door when you walk in see MUSICAL PAGE 3
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