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Table of Contents 7 8

Editor’s Letter and Staff List

South Forty Map

Tips, Tricks and Myths

St. Louis sports guide

Catching up on WashU Sports

A guide to mental health

An introduction to this year of Studlife

Things to pack A list of niche things to pack for college

A glimpse of on-campus life

Advice from former ﬁrst-years

Navigating the teams and traditions of St. Louis

Getting to know a top Division III sports program

Learning the available resources during your time here

Welcome Class of 2026 The University Libraries are here to support your academic success. We offer: •

Vast collections of books—including textbooks—and journals found onsite and online

•

Expert, helpful subject librarians ready to assist with your research needs

•

Numerous remote resources including off-campus database access, research guides, and 24/7 chat help

•

Book talks, workshops, film screenings, speakers, and other events

For more info, visit library.wustl.edu/students

34 36

Forest Park map and guide

Best study spots

Making the most of the gem across the street

The St. Louis Metro Two states, one city, thousands of strangers

An inside look into our favorite places to work

45 Under the radar majors Expand and explore your interests

48 Navigating the Delmar Loop The sights and sounds of a quick trip off campus

50 St. Louis food guide

A tour of the the staples and spots of the city

Meet the staff Short bios about the people who produce StudLife

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

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STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

A letter from the editor Hello! I’m Julia — this year’s Editor-in-Chief. First of all, congrats on getting into Washington University and making the great choice of making the Midwest your home for the next few years of your life. Within these pages, you’ll ﬁnd tips for the transition into life at WashU, advice on how to make the most of St. Louis, and stories of people who have already come to call WashU home. It’s our hope that Starting Line will help get you excited for the year to come and make the transition to college at least a smidge easier for you. As with all of our print editions, so many people worked behind the scenes to make this paper possible, including our managing

team, our design team, our heads of illustration and photo as well as our writers. Thank you to everyone who put time into making this paper possible, and thank you to whichever parent of yours told you that you got something in the mail from the University. I would be neglecting my duties if I didn’t put in a plug for joining StudLife. Student newspapers are at the frontline of holding university members accountable for their actions, showcasing the fantastic work and accomplishments of our community and serving as a platform for students to hone their journalism skills. If any of those buzz words sound interesting

to you, StudLife might be one of the communities you should try out this year. Journalism isn’t just for English majors, although we certainly love all you bibliophiles! A love for journalism stretches anywhere from a passion for photography, design, or illustration, to a general drive to ask questions and spotlight amazing people in your community. I heard a journalist once say that all journalists, in some way or another, possess a restless need to keep asking questions and learning about the world. If that sparks your interest, come check us out when you get to campus! We hope to meet some of you soon!

Have a lovely rest of your summer, Julia

Julia Robbins | Student Life Robbins is entering her junior year and her ﬁrst year as Editor-in-Chief of Student Life.

Our 2022-2023 Senior Staff Julia Robbins Editor-in-Chief editor@studlife.com Via Poolos Managing Senior Scene Editor scene@studlife.com Jamila Dawkins Reilly Brady Managing Senior Forum Editor forum@studlife.com Clara Richards Managing Senior Sports Editor sports@studlife.com Ved Patel Managing Chief of Copy copy@studlife.com

Sarah Wang Managing Senior Design Editor design@studlife.com Annabel Shen Senior Scene Editor Kellen Wang Emily Hu Head of Design Gracie Hime Cathay Poulsen Chief of Copy Holden Hindes Senior Photo Editor photo@studlife.com Kamala Madireddi Jared Adelman Senior Multimedia Editor multimedia@studlife. com

Tuesday Hadden Head of Illustration Ani Kesanapally Head of DEI dei@studlife.com Brian Cui Head of Business Development Tony Tong Senior Web Editor Paige Steuber Senior Web Designer Adrienne Levin Coleman General Manager a.coleman@studlife. com Sarah Huff Advertising Sales Manager huffs@studlife.com

Copyright © 2022 Washington University Student Media, Inc. (WUSMI). Student gĿĲĚ Ŀƙ î ǛŠîŠČĿîŕŕǋ and editorially independent, student-run newspaper serving the Washington University community. Our newspaper is a publication of WUSMI and does not necessarily represent the views of the Washington University administration.

Cover Design Tuesday Hadden

Layout Design Sarah Wang Kellen Wang

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Niche things to pack for college soda is your best friend here. Dump a box on the spot, and leave. It’ll suck the upchuck out of almost any fabric, sparing you a lot of agony.

Ved Patel, Julia Robbins and Noah Vermes Managing Chief of Copy, Editor-in-Chief, and Junior Business Development Head

Baking Soda Unless you’re planning on baking, I doubt you’d even consider buying baking soda for your dorm room. However, after I learned how to use baking soda, it has been ever so helpful. If you didn’t know, baking soda has the ability to absorb and nullify vile odors. Age-old dorm carpet starting to smell funky? Shake baking soda all over the carpet, leave it for a

Brita Pitcher day, and vacuum. Smell’s gone. Burn something in the microwave? Spill some food? Shoes got some musk? Baking soda ad nauseum. On the topic of nausea: nobody wants to be cleaning vomit in college, but many of us end up doing it anyways. Baking

You’re human, so you probably drink water. If y you’re going to live in a dorm, getting drinking water will be mildly annoying — most buildings only have one set of water fountains, usually on the bottom ﬂoor. Compound that annoyance over multiple trips each day, and you have a problem on your hands. That’s why a Brita pitcher is amazing. Not only can you store water in your room (or keep it cold in your fridge), but you can also just ﬁll it up from the sink — huge timesaver. Fun fact about St. Louis: it has great tap water (even won “best tasting city water” in 2007), so the sink is a-okay!

HDMI Cable (plus whatever dongle your computer needs)

This was probably one of my most-used items freshman year. Most dorms have TVs in at least one common room, which makes for a great hangout spot, especially if you aren’t going to keep one in your room/ suite. Regardless, there will probably be situations where you want to project your laptop screen onto a TV or a literal projector. An HDMI cable (plus requisite dongle) is the tool for the job. It’s really annoying to have to borrow one from a neighbor, so make sure to pack your own. Plus, if you bring a second monitor for your desk, which I highly recommend, you’ll need one anyway.

Lawn Chair If you’re from the Midwest, you’re intimately familiar with lawn chairs, which are a true cultural staple. T They’re fantastically versatile and ﬁt into an easy-to-carry bag (bougie points if you get one with leg rests). Need an extra chair for a movie night? Boom! Want somewhere to sit while you study in Forest Park? Boom! Want somewhere to keep the laundry that you really, rreally don’t want to fold rright now, but will deﬁnitely ((not) get around to folding tomorrow? Boom! Lawn chairs — the Midwest is really onto something with these bad boys.

Costume Items Pull that cowboy hat out of the top shelf in your

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE closet; dust off those suspenders from your short stint as a clown in ade; eighth grade; ﬁgure out where ast put you last litter your glitter …and eyeliner…and y to get ready e’s party! There’s a pretty e decent chance that you’ll be going to a party at some point with a theme like “retirees in Florida” or “emo 2000s girl who bumped into Britney at a train station in Hollywood,” and we want to make sure that you’re prepared. Okay, the y won’t themes probably be that speciﬁc — ey are, although, if they now please let us know because we wanna come. Themed parties certainly are quite the rage in college. Having a waiian spare Hawaiian shirt won’t hurt anyone and will only make your time in that senior’s basement all the more fabulous.

Frisbee You’ve seen the overdone college-students-tossinga-frisbee-on-a-quad photo — probably more than once. It’s a cliche for a reason. When the weather is warm, there’s nothing better than tossing a disc on Mudd Field between classes. If you have a frisbee that lights up or glows in the dark, you can even hit the ﬁeld at night. It’s a great way to hang out, be a little active and touch grass, which you’ll desperately need to do if you’re studying indoors.

Stain Remover To stain is human. Bringing some stain remover to douse that mess with is quite helpful for making sure that your

favorite shirt or o pair of pants isn’t p ruined ru forever. forev You can also become al tthat person who other people w think is put-together th if you’re able to offer up your stain remover when someone else is in a tough situation. And it wasn’t the great Tide Superbowl commercial that made us think about this — it’s just something we all need in this messy life of ours.

Art Supplies You’ll make a pal, so You bring a little f riendship string to really lock that relat relationship down with ah homemade bracelet. O Or bring yarn and lie to yourself that you’ll e eventually learn how to c crochet if it sits in your c closet for long enough. A Alternatively, water co colors are lovely to bring to Forest Park for a moment to live out your Sam Fox dreams while never remembering the correct paint-to-water ratio. Your paper will be damp, and that’s something you’ll come to love. Regardless of how good your ﬁnal art project ends up being, the process is really all that matters — unless you’re getting a BFA — so just have fun and enjoy a little creative reprieve f rom academics.

Handheld Vacuum In the words of my roommate, “I assumed if I was careful, I’d be ﬁne, but that is not what happened.” I’m sure we’ve all convinced ourselves that we are neater than we imagine, but the occasional crumb will inevitably pop up now and

then. A handheld vacuum is a great way to clean up the remains of a movie night, dorm dinner, or casual get-together. I can’t es tell you how many times my roommates or I have hand-vac” used the dorm “hand-vac” to straighten up, especially before or after having e over. Trust people e, when you me, need to clean up in a pinch, you’d ather not have rather to scramble to ﬁnd the one um that vacuum n the exists in building (and that may not even work).

of my life as a college student. And sure enough, those morning lattes and afte afternoon cappuccinos add up. To avoid the lines, save some meal m points, and not have to lleave your dorm rroom, roo ro o I recommend gett getting a Keurig to m make coffee. Now, I do still get coffee when I am on camp campus, but having the th option to make it o on my own has save saved me both time and money. Recently, Rec too, I’ve b been drinkin drinking tea instead of coff coffee, and my Keurig has been a great way to make hot water instantly, especially in a dorm room. The “slim” option, too, ﬁts perfectly on a dresser or fridge.

Blackout Blinds (or a cat eye mask from Claire’s) The shades at WashU are great for waking up to the morning sun but don’t do a ton in the way of actually blocking out the sun. If you’re someone who’s sensitive to light when you sleep, investing in blackout dea for blinds is a great idea actually keeping your room dark in the morning so that you can sleep in till ten minutes before your earliest class. Or, if you’re like most people and aren’t going to spend money on blackout blinds, buy an eye mask. The cat laire’s eye masks from Claire’s are deﬁnitely the best for d, but I’m gaining street cred, oring one sure that some boring i k if would also do the trick you’ve lost your ability to love whimsy.

Keurig Coffee Maker For me and many others, coffee is a huge part

Illustrations by Annabel Shen. Tuesday Hadden and Sarah Wang

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Home sweet home:

A glimpse into life on the South Forty Julia Robbins | Editor-in-Chief 1. Mail Room

2. Basketball Courts

Mail: we love it. You love it. It’s just a lovable thing. Anyway, Hitzeman’s got your mail needs covered. You’ll get an email whenever a delivery arrives for you, but just be wary of getting your hopes too high because there’s always a chance it’s a postcard from an organization that you don’t care about.

For all hoop lovers, these courts are golden. Play pick-up with f riends when the weather is nice, get some f riendly rivalries going, and if you’re a true baller, light the courts up in the dead of winter when it’s def initely a bad idea to be outside in a t-shirt.

Map by Tuesday Hadden | Head of Illustration

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Tips, Tricks & Myths: 3. Bear’s Den You’ll likely be eating most of your dinners at Bear’s Den (BD) your ﬁrst year on campus, which will be great because it’s incredibly convenient for ﬁrst-year housing, and there are a bunch of tasty options to choose from. BD has vegan, vegetarian, halal and kosher selections, and brings in local food options during the week to spice up their menu.

4. South 40 Fitness Center Especially during the winter months, the walk to the Athletic Complex (AC) can sometimes feel a bit far. When that ﬁve-minute walk to the AC sounds like a mile to you, head to the South 40 gym, which has weights, cardio machines and that ultra-sweet convenience we all crave.

5. Paws and Go Cereals, ice cream, milk, butter, chocolate, you name it. If you need any essential items for baking, snacking or a quick to-go meal, Paws is bound to have something that can meet your needs.

6. Bear Necessities The name’s clever enough to take at least one trip to this store, but the merch will have you coming back. While the main campus bookstore has more options, Bear Necessities has a completely different selection to peruse, and it might just be the place you ﬁnd your next favorite hoodie.

7. Clocktower

You’ve likely seen the Clocktower on a postcard or advertising brochure from WashU — now, get ready for it to be the only place you’ll call your Ubers to and the main place you’ll meet up with friends to head out to campus or on a wild romp about town.

8. Ursa’s Nite Life

Ursa’s hosts nightlife programming on weekends for some substance-free fun right on the 40. Check out its Instagram for information about their events, like silent discos and game nights.

9. Habif Health and Wellness Center Habif is conveniently located on the South Forty, which means you have access to top-notch medical care right next to your dorm. Doctors and nurses are here to support you for any mental or physical health needs that may arise.

Advice from former ﬁrst-years

First-Gen, Low-Income Students’ Guide to WashU Hussein Amuri Junior Sports Editor Navigating college is tough, but here at WashU, it’s even tougher if you are a firstgeneration, low-income student. As a first-gen student like many of you, I’m here to give you a few words of advice based on the experiences of me and my friends, in the hopes that it will ease your transition to college. First of all, my advice to all of you is to be proud of that identity. A high percentage of the people that study at WashU come from backgrounds that were rich in resources. Even though that is the case, you should never feel like an outsider just because of your identity. Being a first-gen, low-income student at WashU isn’t an obstacle; it’s a blessing. As members of the WashU Class of 2026, your stories add something valuable to not only your class, but also to the greater WashU community. You earned your spot, and it’s time to claim it. College is expensive. Beyond just paying for the actual education and residency, it’s inevitable that on many occasions you will need to make some financial sacrifices. But in the event that you don’t have the means to do so, there are a lot of resources available to help you. And that is my second point: during your time here, take advantage of all the financial aid opportunities WashU has to offer. To start, the Student Success Fund is one place many WashU students go when they are in need of financial assistance. Administered by the Office for Student Success, the Student Success Fund seeks to provide emergency financial assistance to students in order to enrich their educational experience. Situations that qualify for financial assistance include accidents, illness, medical copays,

school admission tests and employment interviews. If you are ever in need of resources and assistance, do not hesitate to reach out to the Office for Student Success. Another crucial fund that aims to alleviate the financial burden placed on low-income students is the Mental Health Fund. Run by both the Office of Student Success and the Student Union, the Mental Health Fund seeks to support low-income students who wish to take care of their mental health but don’t have the means to fund it. This fund helps pay for costs such as copayments for therapy, counseling, transportation and even medication. Mental health is a huge issue on college campuses, and WashU is most definitely not an exception. And on that note: remember to take care of yourself. A lot of us come from families and communities that are counting on us to succeed because we are the first to reach this academic stage. But fulfilling all of their expectations can take a toll on our mental and physical health. So when you get on campus this fall, do you. Because it is by doing you — by studying what interests you — that you succeed for yourself, your family and the community that raised you. You will be challenged rigorously here at WashU. So it is important that, as you embark on your college journey this fall, you seek academic support early on when the going gets tough. Because the truth is, the going will get tough. In classes, take notes and ask questions. Attend every office hour that you can squeeze into your schedule because, personally, I learned more there than I did in the classroom. Utilize study groups and collaborate with classmates. Outside of

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classes, WashU has various academic services such as the Writing Center and the Math Help Room. Utilize them, too, because the fact of the matter is that in college, the learning pace is fast, and keeping up is key. If you are a member of the Deneb STARS community or TRIO, read their emails and utilize their academic services. But lastly: have fun. College is a unique time for all of us, regardless of background. You are going to meet so many

amazing people here that will instantly become your best friends. You will laugh together, cry together and love together. Yes, you are here to study, but don’t let that dominate your life. Ten years from now, you won’t remember that essay on Black feminism that you are going to write, or that hard Chemistry ﬁnal you will have to study for. But you will always remember the memories you are going to make with your friends.

Last year’s campus activism, and why first-years must continue it Reilly Brady Managing Forum Editor For last year’s edition of Starting Line, I wrote about the importance of campus activism and the need for the incoming class of first-years to not only learn about the demands of past classes, but also to continue that work as they join our campus community. This year, I ask the same of the class of 2026 — to learn about the activism of last year and to prioritize advocacy as you become a member of our campus community. And it’s not just last year’s activism that is important — many of these topics have been built upon for many years by community members that have now graduated, yet their desires for the betterment of our campus have not yet been fulfilled by the University. As I reflect upon issues highlighted by previous

activism, I have noticed an emerging pattern — continued advocacy from the student body that is met by the University with little response or with the creation of a committee that produces no tangible action. For example, the University’s public safety committee, formed in September of 2020, released a report in February of 2021 to address concerns surrounding the involvement of the Washington University Police Department in mental health calls, outlining recommendations for a plan of action. In order to secure more non-WUPD mental health crisis support, the University planned to partner with Behavioral Health Response — but when that partnership fell through, progress seemingly stalled as well. So yes, the University has often fallen short of the promises. But when

Zoe Oppenheimer | Student Life A September protest at the Chancellor’s house is monitored by WUPD.

students join together and speak up for marginalized communities on our campus, the importance of mental health care or other essential topics, the University does hear us, whether they address students’ demands or not. The creation of committees, however ineffective, shows that when students speak up, the University does listen — so don’t hesitate to use your voice to continue holding the University to task. Each incoming class must build upon the last, continuing to advocate for our student body. In the 2021-2022 academic year, student activists continued the advocacy of previous years and also addressed topics that, throughout each semester, arose with more prominence. Students continued to advocate for the separation of WUPD from mental health calls as well as other concerns surrounding police violence and the presence of WUPD on and off campus. Students emphasized the need for better and more readily available mental health care on our campus and facilitated a conversation on the subject through a workshop hosted by Uncle Joes. Through vigils and protests, students continued to examine the presence of Greek Life on campus, raising concerns about a history of racism, classism and sexual violence within Greek Life on WashU’s campus and beyond, as well as other harmful and exclusionary forces. After Islamophobic hate speech and threats that were directed towards Muslim students at WashU following the removal of the 9/11 memorial ﬂags surfaced online, the student body organized an academic strike for the protection of Muslim students, as well as a protest noting Chancellor Martin’s failure to condemn the Islamophobia circulating online. During a semester in which anti-trans legislation and “Don’t Say Gay” bills were introduced across the country — including in Missouri — students advocated for queer equality and the protection of

LGBTQIA+ students through petitions, town halls and marches. On May 6, WashU’s Planned Parenthood Action Group (PPGA) organized a rally after the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft decision that indicated intent to overturn Roe v. Wade, calling on the University to take a stance in support of abortion rights. After the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe on June 24 and the subsequent law enacted in Missouri banning abortion except in medical emergencies, PPGA and WashU students have continued to call on the University to take an official stance supporting reproductive rights and take action by fulfilling students’ demands. Other organizers called on the University to divest from various sources of harm, such as war profiteers and fossil fuels. After the white supremacist vandalization of the Black history mural in the Underpass, a community statement denouncing white supremacy and expressing disappointment in the University’s response received hundreds of signatures from students and student organizations alike. A student petition highlighted the need for change within the Disability Resources (DR) office, expressing frustrations with communicating with DR to access essential accommodations. Though many of the previously described topics have not been addressed by the University or have been met with words but no action, the University has made some progress in response to student demands. In October of 2021, the University began its partnership with TimelyCare, which offers ondemand online mental health care services to students. However, this partnership is only one step in the process towards the prioritization of mental health on campus. Students continue to need more in-person care with less

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Student Transitions & Family Programs Connecting people, programs, and resources

Welcome to the WashU Community Don’t forget to check out all of the programs and resources in store for you: • Bear Essentials • Get Your Bearings • Bear Beginnings: Fall Welcome • Parent & Family Orientation • First Day • Bear Bulletin e-newsletter

• • • • •

Website: transitions.wustl.edu newstudents.wustl.edu families.wustl.edu

WUSA programming Family Webinar Series First Year Finale Sophomore Year Experience Parent & Family Weekend

Email: transitions@wustl.edu Phone: 314.935.5040 families@wustl.edu 844.935.5050

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

academic environment that pushes students to constantly work and study rather than care for their mental health. The University also became need-blind for this past admissions cycle as well as future admissions cycles, an issue that students had been continually advocating for in previous years. Again, the switch to need-blind admissions, an already longawaited change, is just the beginning of creating a more inclusive and equitable campus for low-income students. Beinga part of the WashU campus community is more than just enrolling in classes or attending orientation events; it means advocating for your fellow classmates. And that community extends beyond our WashU bubble as well; we are guests in the broader St. Louis area, and it is essential that we listen to St. Louis activists and attend protests and events when possible. It is okay if you don’t know where to start. As ﬁrst-years, campus activism as well as other aspects of campus life

can be — as I discovered in my own ﬁrst-year experience — incredibly overwhelming. As you join the campus community this fall, ﬁnd time, if possible, to start your activism by attending one rally, one meeting, one vigil. You can also start through research — read up on past advocacy on campus and in St. Louis, look up the words you don’t know and take the time to listen to and learn from community members. While the University may not always meet the needs or even acknowledge the demands of its student body, we must continue to support each other. There are resources to do so, often provided by fellow students — WashU’s Student Union, for example, introduced the Activist Equipment Supply, which offers materials such as posters and megaphones free for student activists to borrow, demonstrating support for student activists. Especially after a year that left many students feeling unsafe or uncared for on our campus, advocacy must be prioritized.

The mythical “best four years” Jasmine Stone Junior Forum Editor So this was it. Excitement poured through the South 40 as emotional parents navigated the impossible traffic, and sidewalks bustled with students already familiar with the cherry blossom trees and sun-drenched lawns. The welcome signs and directors of traffic, the loading bins and eager movers and even the three flights of stairs — with no elevator — in Rutledge Hall all collectively seemed to scream, “Welcome to the best four years of your life!” But when Washington University was no longer a fancy flier, no longer a humble brag to casually mention in conversation, but instead my reality, panic slowly seeped in. Somewhere along the way, I felt I had forgotten to grow into the freshman-incollege version of myself. In all the whimsy of getting into a prestigious university, I forgot to prepare myself for my new chapter. Suddenly, I was in a brand new place with brand new people, and I had forgotten to do the reading. Somewhere along the way, there was supposed to be this overtaking of confidence, this outpouring of originality and flair, and I certainly hadn’t imagined there would be a period where I felt less sure of myself than I was in high school. I mean, I had made it in after all, and wasn’t that proof enough that I belonged? Unfortunately, knowing this doesn’t spare most from the throes of imposter syndrome, but it can help to know that you aren’t alone in feeling this way. Most are expectant of a heavy academic workload upon starting college, but not nearly as many are as mentally well-prepared to address its many challenges. Especially

regarding students that leave home for school, having to build new bonds while familiarizing yourself with a new area isn’t easy, and it can be unexpectedly overwhelming. Making an effort to be around others and to join your desired activities while designating a significant amount of time to things that bring you joy are as vital as your academic achievements. Such heavily weighted expectations of what college has to offer can often make these feelings worse, and while your time here may very well be the best time of your life, acknowledging that college will be a transition filled with a plethora of good, bad and in-between will make for a more holistic view of what’s to come. Ultimately, I wish I could say that I now have it all figured out, but if I’ve learned anything, it is that I don’t — and that’s okay. Should you find yourself asking, “Who am I in this world of people, all compacted into this beautiful campus?” know that the answer may not come soon, but that there is as much joy in the search. Don’t be afraid if “finding yourself” happens in waves. Don’t be afraid if who you are today is a completely different person from who you are next year or even next week. The part where you become that ideal adult isn’t a singular part of your story, and it definitely isn’t something you’ll have accomplished by the beginning or end of your freshman year. Allow yourself to love who you are today as hard as you cling to who you want to be tomorrow. In your first year of college, you may not figure out exactly who you are meant to be, but you can be sure that wherever it leads you in your journey of self-discovery is an adventure specially crafted for you.

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The Devil wears Shein: Woes of remaking your college wardrobe Jamila Dawkins Managing Forum Editor I hate it when people ask me where I got my outfit from. And no, it’s not in the “refuses to share where she got her outfit from in a fierce attempt to gatekeep her own fashion sense” way. The actual reason is that many — maybe most — of my clothes are from cheap fast-fashion brands. I arrived on Shepley Drive as I’m sure many of you incoming first-years will: with several tote bins full of Forever 21, H&M and Shein-chic, ready to finally “express my true self.” The ethics of the production of fast fashion is a unique combination of awful. The industry is built on exploitation, from the workers (in many cases, children) creating garments for 16 hours a day

in unventilated, unlivable conditions, to the planet itself. The production of fast fashion results in more carbon emissions “than all international ﬂights and maritime shipping combined” — and after it’s produced, it collects in our landﬁlls by the tons. On a less worlddevastating (but still very harmful) level, fast fashion also turns the habit of actively stealing from other artists and designers into a common and lucrative business practice. Smaller designers that foreground ethical, quality garments have, time and time again, been outpriced by cheap knockoffs being sold by Shein, Forever 21, Zara and Old Navy. Now, the ethics of fast fashion are hard to care about when you are 16 and have 1) a fresh $25 Visa gift card from your grandma

and 2) the desperate need (characteristic of you being a 16-year-old) to express yourself in every waking moment and through every inch of your body. Now a 20-year-old with better-developed morals (though the bar was low), the temptation to buy a new $7 Shein top is much harder for me to justify, and the prospect much less alluring. My wardrobe remains largely the same, though, even as my perspectives have changed — and thin Shein jeans and scratchy Forever 21 tops, stretched and patched up over the years, make up a significant portion of it. So, when someone loves my outfit of the day and the truth is, my outfit of the day is effectively bleeding the planet dry, what do I say? A lot of people assuage their guilt from partaking in fast fashion by arguing that so long as you use the pieces you buy — wear them for a long time and don’t throw them

out immediately — you are in the ethical clear. Americans throw out 81 pounds of clothes each year, and even if you’re donating it, much of that gets thrown out, incinerated or shipped abroad. If you’ve bought fast fashion, keeping it and wearing it as long as it can possibly last mitigates your contribution to the global landfill, like reusing plastic shopping bags. (Wearing fast fashion also simulates the sensation of wearing plastic shopping bags, so it’s definitely fitting.) This relieved my guilt for a time, but it doesn’t change the fact that the garment was produced by inhumane labor, that paying for it incentivized these brands to continue their plunder of every natural resource and that wearing the clothes is effectively free advertising for more consumption. Further, it remains uncomfortably true that, for a long time, the impulse that drove me to

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buy the clothes in the first place, the frenzy that still awakens over a cheap price — were put over obvious and overwhelming harm. I was willing to consume at any cost — which is to say, at the cheapest price, and at the cost of everything that should matter more. What’s more, the main (embarrassing and insufficient) justification of expressing myself wasn’t even coming true: rather than creating outfits for myself, I was buying dreams off of size 0 Zara mannequins — shirt, skirt, shoes and all. In the throes of fast fashion, convincing myself I was standing out, I was more homogenous than ever, chasing after the trends evolving at breakneck speed and never quite keeping up with them. So yeah — even now, as I try to express my own style through the wardrobe I’ve accumulated, it’s embarrassing to admit where some of the pieces

in any given outﬁt come from. But that’s not a bad thing — in fact, those of us who know better (which includes me, and now, you!) and can choose to buy ethically could stand to let our consumption practices weigh on us a little harder. We have to confront the thing in us that, irrespective of need, wants more clothes — that is entertained by $400 Zara hauls on TikTok. The Spirited Away No-Face in us that consumes mostly thoughtlessly, and when thoughtfully, with ready forgiveness. Because the apathy that I felt, that so many feel, about labor exploitation happening in another country, or global catastrophes happening a few years into the future, is inexcusable. It’s true that college is your place to start new, to be a truer you. For those who do that through clothing and are looking to make every new entry into their wardrobe an ethical one: follow your

gut. A lot of fast fashion brands try to use words that have become diluted of all meaning — like “sustainable” and “ecofriendly” — to escape the negative branding. If you’re buying a new garment and the price feels like a steal, it probably is. Certain fabric types can also be a hint to unethical practices. Many crochet pieces, for example, can only be produced by hand, so if you see a crochet piece being sold at a price that couldn’t pay someone for the hours of labor it required to make (along with marketing, packaging and other costs), take that as your sign to leave that piece on the rack. Keep a lookout for synthetic fabrics like rayon, viscose and polyester, which are produced at great cost to our environment and us. For inexpensive options, try thrifting — there are several Metro-accessible options (like Goodwill, Salvation Army and Found by the Pound) around campus.

As much as I would love to regard my wardrobe with the conﬁdence and self-righteousness of Miranda Priestly, it’s something that I’m not proud of. It’s a history of my life — a short collection of memories, hand-medowns and shortcomings. I can’t change the history it represents, but I can make every new memory something that I’m proud of, and so can you.

Jamila Dawkins | Student Life Jamila Dawkins wears a thrifted sweater and a beanie from Shein.

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

The diamond and the ﬁeld: A guide to St. Louis Sports

The Cardinals:

Take Me Out to Busch Stadium Yaacov Broidy Contributing Writer Welcome to St. Louis. We take our Cardinals very seriously here. No, I’m not talking about the state bird of Illinois, I’m talkin’ the pride and joy of Busch Stadium; I’m talkin’ baseball, baby. Whether or not you are a fan of the sport, attending a Cardinals game is one of the many pleasures of living in St. Louis! They’ve got everything: if you’re in Sam Fox, Busch Stadium’s architecture is some of the most beautiful in all of baseball. If you’re in McKelvey, you will probably love calculating advanced baseball metrics like wOBA, OPS+ and FIP (don’t ask me what these mean, I’m not a math major). If you’re in Olin, maybe you’ll network with CEOs of the many local businesses

invested in the Cards. And if you’re in ArtSci, idk man. Not to mention the Cardinals are vying for a World Series title this year! That means every game is meaningful in the months of August and September. This is compounded by the fact that this year is likely the ﬁnal season of future Hall of Famers Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina. Luckily, as the older legends move on, they pass the torch to exciting young players like Dylan Carlson, Tyler O’Neill and childhood besties Matthew Liberatore and Nolan Gorman. So, what’re you waiting for?! Use your U-Pass and take the Blue Line east towards the Stadium stop and bask in the history and camaraderie with your fellow St. Louisans in Cardinal Red.

has since reached over 60,000. The new Centene Stadium in Downtown West — currently under construction with seats and grass recently added — will only hold approximately 22,500 fans. Despite the overwhelming demand, the team has pledged to keep prices for at least one-third of season tickets below $40 per game. Over the last few months, CITY SC has announced various personnel signings. The team tapped successful New York Red Bulls assistant coach Bradley Carnell as the club’s ﬁrst head coach and has signed four international players thus far, most notably Swiss goalkeeper Romain Bürki from German club Borussia Dortmund. Moreover, the club has committed to developing the St. Louis community. Shirt sponsor Purina, stadium sponsor Centene, and beer sponsor Anheuser Busch are all major St. Louis-based corporations committed to the team’s success. The stadium’s construction

will be privately financed, preventing the burden from falling on taxpayers. Food options will include local St. Louis businesses, and the club’s STLMade for Soccer initiative will offer discounted or no-cost group tickets to local organizations promoting youth development and community engagement. While St. Louis waits for the first team to begin play in 2023, the club’s youth team, St. Louis CITY2, is off to a strong start in the new MLS Next Pro League. Led by captain and former first-round MLS Superdraft pick Josh Yaro, CITY2 has won five of their first seven league matches and looks set to challenge the league leaders. The team’s debut game in Hermann Stadium at St. Louis University drew a sell-out crowd of 6,012 fans. The electric home atmosphere demonstrated St. Louis’s appetite for professional soccer and will surely carry the first team through their inaugural season next year.

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis Inches Closer to Long-Awaited MLS Franchise

Justin Lewitus Contributing Writer Even though its players will not take to the pitch until 2023, St. Louis CITY SC has generated considerable buzz in the St. Louis area. St. Louis’s soccer history goes back decades, with the city producing ﬁve of the eleven American players who defeated England in the 1950 World Cup. Accordingly, since Major League Soccer’s founding in 1996, the city has been hungry for a team. In August 2019, this dream

became a reality when stakeholders from St. Louisbased companies Enterprise Holdings and World Wide Technology, led by Carolyn Kindle Betz, announced the ﬁrst majority female-owned franchise in MLS history. St. Louis’s passion for the sport reverberated around the soccer world in September 2020 when 30,000 people signed up for season tickets within the ﬁrst 15 minutes of seats opening up to the public. That number grew to over 50,000 after 24 hours and

Photo courtesy of Student Life The Cardinals play at Busch Stadium located in downtown St. Louis.

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

Beware of the bears: Clara Richards, Hussein Amuri, and Andrew Kastelman Sports Staff Maybe you don’t know anything about Washington University sports. Maybe you know that we compete in Division III and have a wide range of sports, ranging from women’s golf to football. You might even have walked past Francis Field on your tour, and your tour guide pointed to the bright green turf and said something about the 1904 Summer Olympics. Alternatively, maybe you’ve been recruited to compete for WashU. Maybe your second home will be the Athletic Center, where you’ll spend hours and hours in the weight room. Regardless of how much background you have on the Bears, Student Life Sports is here to ﬁll in the gaps. We cover everything from weekly games to new hires within the Athletic Department. Fall sports provide a wide range of sports opportunities for you to get engaged with WashU athletics. From football games under the hot sun on Francis Field to watching evening soccer beneath bright lights, WashU games provide a perfect avenue to sit back, relax and watch the Bears compete.

Football In many ways, last year’s football season felt like a transition year. It was head coach Aaron Keen’s ﬁrst season coaching for the Bears, and it was the ﬁrst season back after their 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19. But a lot has changed for this team since last season, especially after

going 7-4 last fall. Going forward, Keen has set the tone for his team — he expects it to be competitive with the very top tier of competition in Division III. Offensively, the Bears are bringing back many key pieces, who have gained valuable experience from last year. The offense is led by second-year QB1 Matt Rush, a senior, who threw for 2829 yards and 27 touchdowns. The team of receivers also gained valuable experience last season, including senior Cole Okmin, junior Collin Hoyhtya and sophomore Collin Goldberg. Rush has been intentional about the chemistry that he’s been building with his receivers, so he’ll expect to build on the momentum and past experience that his receiving corps has. Last year, the Bears' defense was senior-heavy and loaded with fifth-years and seniors with an extra year of eligibility. Three out of the first four players with the highest rushing average were seniors, and the senior class was responsible for 75% of the yardage. Similarly, 63.6% of the team’s total tackles were from the former senior class. It’s not only an absence of players in the lineup that could impact the team— this year also represents a big turnover in leadership. The upside is that there’s a host of underclassmen who are excited to get touches and who are hungry to prove themselves. The players say that this season will test their versatility as well, and Keen will likely be moving players around to fill different roles early on. Key matchups that will indicate the strength and ability of this team include North Central and Wheaton, teams that both took trips to the NCAA championships

and handed WashU two solid losses last season.

Women’s Soccer The women’s soccer team will have a familiar face returning this fall as Jim Conlon is back as Head Coach after a oneyear stint at Grand Valley State University. Prior to his season at GVSU, Conlon led the Bears for 13 seasons, including to their National Championship season in 2016. The Bears are coming off a strong season in which they won the UAA Championship with interim coach Stephanie Gabbert, but they were eliminated in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, falling to University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in penalty kicks. While star defender Gabbie Cesarone and leading scorer Erin Flynn are both graduating, the Bears will retain a stable core that includes junior midfielder Tyler Wilson, who was second on the team with five goals, and junior goalie Sidney Conner, who recorded 10 shutouts. Rising junior midfielder Jessica Greven thinks

Previewing WashU Fall Sports Conlon’s return could take the Bears to the next level. “If I had to choose one word to describe the next season, it would be ‘excited,’” said Greven. “I mean, we've got so much potential, so many opportunities. Coach Conlon is the best person I can think of to drive us into that new season.” The Bears will play their home games at Francis Olympic Field, and the team is expecting to compete for a national championship.“The big picture is [that] we want to win a national championship,” said Greven. “This program is a program that focuses on the details. We're going to put in the work every single day.”

Men’s Soccer After one of the most exciting and rewarding seasons it has had in years, the WashU men's soccer team will be looking to repeat its terrific 2021 campaign this fall season. Last year, everything went right for the Bears. They finished the season with a record of 13-3-1 and took home their first University Athletic Association (UAA)

Elle Su | Student Life Matt Rush looks around at his options against North Central; WashU struggled in the matchup, eventually losing 59-20.

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE In the process, though, the team showed the potential of the underclassmen, who it hopes will step up in the absence of star Michaela Bach, who graduated in 2022.

Curran Neenan | Student Life Jess Shapiro makes a pass against Wheaton (Illinois).

conference title since 2012 and their first outright title since 1999. In a season defined by all-around great defensive displays game-in and game-out, the Bears managed to register 12 shouts and allowed only nine goals scored in the goalpost, making them the best defensive team in UAA. The Bears registered a 0.883 save percentage, the fourth best in the entirety of the division. Rising juniors Owen Culver and Reece Nicholson will be key players to watch this fall. Last season, Culver was tied for the most goals in the team with eight (alongside current St. Louis City FC professional Sergio Rivas), and he finished second in team assists with four. A sensational dribbler of the ball and a talented goalscorer, he will be looking forward to repeating his terrific 2021 MVP campaign in the fall. You cannot talk about the 2021 WashU men’s soccer team's success without discussing the defensive catalyst that made itso formidable, and Nicholson was at the heart of that defensive engine. A commanding centerback, Nicholson will also be looking to repeat the success of his 2021 campaign, where he started 16 out of 17 games for the Bears. If you talk to any member of the 2021 WashU men’s soccer team, they will tell

you that their 2021 season’s success was due to team effort. This year, the team will have to fill in the gaps of departing upperclassmen who were keys to the Bears' first outright conference title triumph in over 20 years. Rivas, who would be a rising senior, is now playing professionally for St. Louis CITY2 as a midfielder. In addition, senior goalkeeper Matt Martin will have graduated after playing 2576 minutes and registering 104 saves. Martin was arguably the best goalkeeper in the UAA last year and one of the best goalkeepers in DIII. A literal giant in the goalpost, Martin made 66 saves for the Bears in 2021, the third-most in the UAA. Key matchups include the WashU vs the University of Chicago game, an already competitive game that holds the additional stakes of a conference rivalry.

Volleyball Last season, the Washington University women’s volleyball team was handed a disappointing loss in the UAA championship, coming in fifth and getting into an early deficit that they could not recover from. The team was relegated to the consolation bracket, where they dominated the University of Rochester in the fifth-place match game.

The team’s roster contained 18 players in 2021, and it went 18-9 and 4-3 in the conference. It had four seniors on the roster, and last season, Bach was a major contributor and a leader to the youthful team. Bach was named an all-UAA player and was consistently a top player for the Bears, recording 802 kills in her career as a right side and outside hitter. However, the Bears have a host of underclassmen who hope to step up. They gained valuable experience last year that head coach Vanessa Walby will be counting on this year. Senior Alaina Bohrer, a outside hitter, recorded 238 kills and led the team in assists. In addition, promising sophomores include Jasmine Sells and Zoe Foster, and the rising junior class also has strong

showings with middle blockers Paris Nix and Faith Phillips showing their potential during the time they got on the court. The WashU’s women’s volleyball team has historically been a national contender. In 2016, the team was the NCAA runnerup champion, and it took the national title in 2007 and 2009 under former coach Rich Luenemann. Current head coach Walby has been at the university since 2014 and holds a 170-47 record (0.783). Since 2017, though, the team has not accrued the same results against nationally ranked competition, and in that same timespan, they have not gone past the second round of the NCAA tournament. The team hopes to improve its record against conference opponents and continue its resurgence back to the top of Division III.

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STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

Golf WashU only has a women’s golf team, and it has a relatively lengthy season, with tournaments both in the fall and the spring. The coaching staff has experienced some turnover, with former head coach Mary Swanson departing the team. But since then, interim coach Dave Reinhardt has stepped into her shoes with team-positive results. Over the spring, the Bears finished in tenth place at the NCAA after not qualifying the previous year, a promising sign of things to come. The good news for this team is that they return all their players. Annie Mascot was named the 2019-2020 Division III WGCA Player of the Year, and she set the WashU single-season record for scoring averages. She finished sixth individually at NCAAs and was an All-American athlete. In addition, standout freshman Sydney Kuo was first team All-American, and she was consistently one of the team’s lowest scorers. With so many important pieces returning for this team and Reinhardt having gained more experience, the Bears are in an ideal place to improve on their national finish and continue to build momentum for the program.

Cross Country WashU cross country is always a national contender. To call it a cross country powerhouse doesn’t even capture the extent of the runners’ dominance — the men’s team has only finished outside the top ten once since 2009. On the women’s side, the team has won two national championships since 2011, and it hasn’t finished outside the top five in the nation since 2013. Head Coach Jeff Stiles has demonstrated his ability to produce nationally ranked cross country runners, and

this year shouldn’t be any different. Track performances are not always a direct corollary to performance in cross country. Still, if the men’s mid-distance and distance performances during the spring are any indication, this team has the potential to be a serious threat. While it will lose a significant senior presence on the team, the team’s top-placed finisher at the national meet, Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff, will return. Cullen Capuano, another returner, had a particularly strong spring campaign on the track, earning a UAA title as a sophomore in the 10k. As the top-placed WashU finisher at the UAA championships during last year’s cross country season, he has shown a competitive kick and will be another contender for the position of top WashU runner. Overall, Stiles will be looking to also build on the momentum of this team’s first national title at the 2022 Indoor National Championships, a landmark accomplishment for this program. The women’s team has a slightly higher hurdle to overcome, having graduated the three top-placed finishers at the national meet. Kiera Olson, Sophie Young, and Emma Walter all finished within the top forty places at the 2021 NCAA national meet. Coming closely behind them are three juniors who will hope to step into their shoes. Emily Konkus, Lindsay Ott, and Ella Behrens will all be experienced seniors, with trips at the national meet under their belt. Konkus had a strong showing at the WashU Distance Carnival in the 5,000 meter race, running a 34-second, personal-best time, and she ran to an All-American finish in the 1500 at the outdoor national championship meet. Behrens was similarly competitive this year, finishing fifth in the 5k at the WashU distance carnival. The question for this team will be if it can step up to field a team of five competitive runners instead of a strong top three with an expensive gap in between runners four and five.

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New additions: Andrew Kastelman Junior Sports Editor In an effort to continue its branding of Division III sports combined with Division I facilities, Director of Athletics Anthony Azama announced the University’s plan for a new sports performance center in April 2021. The 7,000-square-foot center will be located within the existing athletic complex by the sports medicine area, in a currently unused space dubbed the “shell space.” With this addition, which is aimed to be completed by fall 2022, the University is looking to build towards the future of WashU Athletics both for current student athletes and future recruiting efforts.

An Athletic Department press release stated that the center will contain 16 Samson rack stations, a 30-by-5 yard turf area for training exercises and a state-of-the-art air conditioning system. The new space will ﬁt up to 80 athletes, an expansion from the prior weight room. The athletic department has not publicly announced how they plan to repurpose the former weight room space. For student athletes currently competing for the Bears, the new project will have an immediate quality on their team lifts and strengthening. “Having a bigger space to do our workouts is huge,” said senior softball player Katie Gould. “We have to

share the current small weight rooms that we have with other teams. It’s super crowded, and it’s hard to get the weights you want.” Now, she said, having the new facility will allow them to push more weight and be more comfortable in the weight room, with less risk compared to the current space. “You don’t want to get injured by a weight coming at you,” Gould said. “Currently, there’s a lot of obstacles to training and getting in the work that we need.” For larger teams like football, the new facilities will make team practices exponentially easier since it will allow space for all their players. “It just adds

Sports Performance Center to be added to the Athletic Complex, student-athletes cautiously optimistic a lot of excitement for us,” said rising junior football player Collin Hoyhtya. “I definitely feel like we could use the upgrade, and I think everyone’s really excited to keep applying ourselves to the game in a new facility.” This addition comes on the heels of the renovation of the varsity softball and intramural field, a multimillion dollar project that was completed days before the beginning of the Bears’ season. The new field includes synthetic turf, a new press box and ADA seating. The new sports performance center is the next step in Azama’s vision for updated facilities and elevating the brand of the WashU Bears.

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE Alongside the immediate impact for current varsity athletes, the addition of the facilities will have long-term impacts on the recruiting process, with coaches being able to show polished, new facilities to attract incoming f reshmen. “You better believe that we’re going to use that this summer as a recruiting pitch,” said head baseball coach Pat Bloom. “Ultimately, things like that—they’re not just a nice showpiece. They also tend to attract the type of kids who really want to get the most out of their athletics experience. It sends a message to the kids that athletics really matters here.” With men’s basketball also promoting Division I facilities alongside their 26 NCAA tournament appearances, the social media platforms of individual teams have been piggybacking off of this announcement to increase their recruiting appeal.

Funding for the new center came from both external fundraising and internal money f rom within the department, and Azama has had to juggle the competing needs of the different teams. The decision to set aside funding for the new sports performance center, he said, was an easy one. “Typically, what the Athletic Director would do is look at what the guidelines [are] to determining the priority of projects,” Azama said about his rationale. “Sometimes it’s [asking] ‘Does the project impact multiple rosters? Will the project help in recruiting? Will the project help enhance the student athlete experience?’ And then you have an opportunity to address equity, and that will rise above all else.” When reﬂecting on what the teams lost during the pandemic, Azama sees the creation of these two new facilities

as promising ways to move forward after the athletic cancellations of the fall and spring seasons last year. “This is an exciting opportunity to be at Washington University,” Azama said, reﬂecting on having four athletes explore potential professional careers in the past two years. “This stuff we’re trying to do for these athletes is the least that we could do.” Still, at least among some student-athletes, there remains uncertainty about some projected elements of the project, including the location of the new space and the timeline. Older players have been hearing promises of a new sports performance center since their recruitment visits and have yet to see it actualize, so some have told the underclassmen to not get their hopes up.

optimism”; he trusts Azama’s commitment to the athletic program. Regardless of where he is, Smith will be putting in the work to be successful in the fall anyway. “If we get that new facility next fall, that’ll be awesome. If we don’t, it still looks awesome,” he said. “Regardless, we’re always gonna make it work. I mean, this is Division III, right? Regardless of what type of facilities you have, you have to have the mindset that you’re just gonna go in and grind because you love it.” Managing Sports Editor Clara Richards contributed reporting.

Sophomore football player Johnathon Smith described his outlook as “cautious

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Photo contributed by WashU Athletics A rendering of the new space shows the planned expanded facilities.

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STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE national issue.

A guide to mental health Olivia Poolos Managing Senior Scene Editor The one commonality among the several mental health services on campus was the message that all of them, unprompted, voiced to the ﬁrst-years: “We are here. Use us!” Listed below are ﬁve of the mental health providers offered to undergraduates. While ever-evolving and not perfect, they are there to support you. Use them!

Habif Mental Health and Wellness Center Habif Health and Wellness offers mental health counseling throughout the academic school year. After an initial consultation, students can

schedule up to nine free counseling sessions. Director of Mental Health Services at the Habif Health and Wellness Center, Dr. Tom Brounk said that the department is equipped to handle a variety of conditions and concerns. “We can provide support and necessary treatment for students that are experiencing a wide range of mental health concerns, anxiety being the top one,” he said. Brounk said that it takes ﬁve to seven days for an initial appointment. Historically, however, students have been critical of long wait times for follow-up appointments for Habif mental health services, often due to a perceived lack of stafﬁng. Brounk pointed out that the shortage of counselors is a

“The pandemic has created a significant increase in the need for mental health professionals. There was already that need prior to the pandemic [...], and the need has only increased,” he said. One position that Habif has struggled to fill is eating disorder specialists. Ideally, Brounk said, Habif would have three. But it only has one. “We’re increasing the training for staff that don’t necessarily consider themselves to be experts. However, they can certainly support students that are less complex in terms of their needs for treatment,” he said. Habif is short-staffed, which increases wait times, partially due to counselors leaving midyear to pursue more lucrative careers. “We’re finding that many clinicians are able to open up a private practice and [...] fill that private practice quite easily,” Brounk said. As of the end of the 2021-2022 school year, Habif had a combined 13.6 full-time counselors.

Habif is the University’s main health and mental health resource. It will offer hybrid appointments come fall.

According to Brounk, they are hoping to have more approved slots soon. Brounk emphasized that Habif does provide crisis counselors with more ﬂexible hours. “So [if] a student is needing to talk to somebody on an urgent basis, we are able to meet that need,” he said. Habif has also started a new strategy for scheduling: Rapid Access Counseling. At the end of last semester, Habif erased many of the existing mental health appointments and instead allowed all students to sign up for appointments 16 hours in advance. While this move was more unpopular with already-established students, Brounk said that overall, students reacted positively to more open slots. While the speciﬁcs of Rapid Access Counseling may change in the next year, Brounk said that the idea is most likely here to stay. Students will sign up for an initial appointment but must schedule followups when appointment slots open, the day before. Habif counseling services

Holden Hindes | Student Life

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE are meant to be shortterm, and the team tries to outsource longer-term care to outside providers. On their website, Habif offers a database of inarea therapists; they also employ a Care Manager, who can answer questions about insurance or speciﬁc counselors. Students have also historically demanded that Habif employ counselors of diverse backgrounds, speciﬁcally counselors of color and LGBTQIA+ counselors. Brounk said that they keep this goal in mind while looking for new hires, but have mainly found success when employing TimelyCare, an online counseling service. “We know [...] through some very good research that what helps students of color [and] students f rom marginalized communities is having [...] staff members that represent [those communities],” Brounk said. This summer, the

Habif Mental Health department is focused on transitioning from an online format to a hybrid one.

Group Therapy Aside f rom one-on-one counseling, Habif Mental Health services also offers group therapy. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 126 people utilized group therapy, which can be skill-based or experiencebased. Groups surrounded issues that many students face, such as loss, stress or familial tension. Dr. Kristin Miserocchi, a Habif Staff Psychologist and Groups Coordinator for Habif, says that many students are wary of joining a group at ﬁrst due to anxiety around sharing intimate details of their lives. “It feels pretty scary to imagine being in a room of strangers and talking about [your] deepest, darkest, most personal difﬁculties and struggles,” Miserocchi said. She says that oftentimes, group

therapy can be more beneﬁcial than one-onone sessions. “One of the biggest beneﬁts in group therapy is the ability to connect with other people in a way that you don’t get in individual therapy,” she said. “You get the opportunity to develop deep, intimate connections through vulnerability with other people in the group. [...] That in and of itself is therapeutic.” Unlike Habif counseling, students can join as many group sessions as they want for any group that interests them. Most meet once per week. This fall, Habif will be offering a variety of groups, including Lavender Circle for students identifying as LGBTQIA+, Living with Loss and My Not-SoPerfect Family. Others can be found at the Habif website under “Group Therapy Services.” Since 2020, group sessions have been held on Zoom, with 8-12

participants at a time. As COVID protocols continue to change, Miserocchi said that there is a possibility of a hybrid model of meeting, depending on student discretion.

TimelyCare Washington University has utilized TimelyCare, an online mental and physical health care service, for over six months now. The service was chosen in October of 2021, aided by research done by Student Union. TimelyCare is meant to ﬁll the role of an after-hours provider for students looking for care outside of Habif’s weekday 8:30 a.m-5 p.m. hours. The service is also a supposedly faster way to access mental health care when appointments at Habif ﬁll up. “A lot of our students have had concerns about being able to [...] see a counselor in a way that is more immediate,” Dr.

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

Kirk Dougher, Associate Vice Chancellor for Health and Well-Being, said. “TimelyCare opens that up to not necessarily unlimited potential, but a much broader range of appointment opportunities for students to be able to get in to see somebody.” While the medical appointments offered by TimelyCare are unlimited, there is a cap of 12 visits for mental health care per year. TalkNow, a service on TimelyCare for 24/7 emotional support, is unlimited. In the last academic year, 1053 students utilized TimelyCare. Dr. Anna Gonzales, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, worked with TimelyCare to negotiate a contract. She signed for an initial trial of one year. In October, faculty will discuss whether or not to sign up for a longer period. Dougher said

that the extension of a contract is likely. “Students have reported really liking it,” he said. “And they’ve got a nice diversity of [...] life experience [and] racial and ethnic diversity in their providers that we’ve seen so far, so we’re hopeful that that will continue to expand as well.” Dougher recommended that ﬁrst-year students, upon arrival to campus, register for TimelyCare services and download the app. “Regardless of whether they think they will use TimelyCare or not,” he said, “Because what we know for sure is [that] when they need TimelyCare, they’re not going to ﬁll out the registration and download the app. If they’ve got a cold, they don’t have the energy. If they’ve got a mental health issue, they don’t want to take the time.”

Uncle Joe’s

they called about for however long they like.

Uncle Joe’s is the peercounseling organization for the undergraduate student body. The service has both a 24/7 phone line and drop-in hours to their ofﬁce under Gregg, 10 p.m.-1 a.m.

If the person prefers an in-person format and the ofﬁce is open, they can enter through the basement of Gregg and wait for one of two onduty Joes to direct them to an ofﬁce.

This year, seniors Colleen Avila and Ruchika Kamojjala are co-directors of Joe’s, the name that they use to casually refer to the organization.

Kamojjala and Avila emphasized the two main pillars of Joe’s: the service is completely conﬁdential, save any issue that threatens harm to the student or others, and no problem is too big or too small to talk about.

They both joined their freshman year due to a desire to help people, and in Avila’s words, because she was always “the mom f riend, or therapist f riend.” A typical visit to Uncle Joe’s can play out in one of two ways. A user can call the phone line, where the line will direct them to leave a message with their phone number. Within 15 minutes, an on-call Joe will call back. From there, the student will chat with the Joe about the issue

“If you just want to talk for like 10 minutes and rant about your exam, feel free to do that,” Avila said. “We are not only here for crises. [If] you feel the need to talk at any point about anything, however small it seems, we’re here 100%.” Uncle Joe’s is a onetime-per-issue service. A user can call as many times as they would like

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE about different issues, but can’t count on Joe’s for continuous care for one issue. “We’re not really meant

to be a long term service in any way. We just don’t have the capacity for that,” Kamojjala said. This year, Uncle Joe’s

received block funding from Student Union, meaning it is fully funded for its submitted budget. Avila and Kamojjala hope

that this means they can provide more training and outreach for the student body as well as increase accessibility to Uncle Joe’s services. To contact Uncle Joe’s: Phone: (314) 935-5099 Email: unclejoeswu@ googlemail.com

Relationship p and Sexual Violence Prevention Center The Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center, most often refered to as RSVP, will see anyone with an issue under the Relationship or Sexual Violence (RSV) umbrella. Holden Hindes | Student Life Uncle Joe’s is a student-run crisis line. They are available for students to call 24/7, and have an ofﬁce open 10pm-1am during the academic year.

The number of therapists employed at RSVP has

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doubled from two to four in the last academic year. Assistant Director of RSVP, Camellia Williams said that with these numbers, there are minimal wait times for appointments. “I think we have case loads that are manageable right now,” Williams said. “I don’t think that there have been opportunities where we’ve had wait lists over the past year.” RSVP is a survivorfocused organization that refers out issues that it doesn’t cover or can’t fully provide for, such as mental health issues that are unrelated to RSV. However, Celeste Yann, a therapist at RSVP, emphasized that therapists are open to initial meetings with students to help them ﬁnd the best support for their needs. “Even if someone isn’t sure — ‘Does this rise to me seeing a clinician at RSVP, or should I be going someplace else?’ — we’re

happy to provide those resources. We’re happy to provide support in the interim,” Yann said.

both in-person and via Zoom last year, a model which RSVP is planning to continue this fall.

Appointments can be made through email (rsvpcenter@wustl.edu). In the email, students should clarify which level of urgency the appointment requires, from Consultation up to Emergency, the highest level.

Along with counseling for survivors and RSV issues, RSVP engages with members of the community for preventative training and bystander intervention. The overarching goal, Williams said, was to reduce the need for reactive care following an incident.

In addition to scheduled meetings, a counselor is always available on triage hours in the ofﬁce, located on the fourth ﬂoor of Seigle. “Someone is always available to take a walk-in, or immediate access or crisis call,” RSVP therapist Matt Fanning said. Though there is no limit to the number of appointments a student can schedule, the center typically sees a student for a semester, with onceper-week appointments. The service was available

“The hope is that we won’t be needed on the campus of WashU — that we won’t have to serve in this kind of role as being responsive,” Williams said. RSVP also works closely with the Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Hotline (SARAH), a student-run group that is one of their main referral services.

Resources Habif Ofﬁce Hours: Nathan Dardick House, Lower Level Monday to Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: (314) 935-666

Uncle Joe’s Ofﬁce Hours: Basement of Gregg, South 40 Every night; 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. 24/7 Phone: (314) 935-5099 Email: unclejoeswu@ googlemail.com

RSVP Ofﬁce Hours: Seigle Hall, Suite 435 Monday to Friday; 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: (314) 935-3445 Email: rsvpcenter@wustl. edu

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Welcome to WashU! Be challenged Be surprised Be captivated

0LOGUHG /DQH Kemper Art Museum

Free and open to all

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

The gem across the street:

How to make the most of Forest Park Julia Robbins | Editor-in-Chief

Map by Tuesday Hadden | Head of Illustration

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1. Forest Park Golf Course There probably aren’t many students who golf in Forest Park, but at least a few take the Park up on this resource for a bit of relaxation during their busy lives. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to let your golf days pass you by, all you’ve got to do is cross the street and start thwacking away.

2. Missouri History Museum

If you want to know more about Missouri than you do right now, take a trip to the History Museum, where you can learn about the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis or the expedition of Lewis and Clark. And for any history buffs out there, make sure to stay updated on new exhibitions that the Museum hosts, like a recent one on the role of St. Louis in the automobile industry.

3. Grand Basin Anyone who’s been to Art Hill has seen the Grand Basin, the small body of water that runs throughout part of Forest Park, but they likely don’t know the name of it. Now you do! Not only is the Grand Basin stunning to look at, but you can also rent canoes, kayaks and paddle boats from the Boathouse at Forest Park to have a tranquil hour-long journey on the water.

4. Art Hill Sitting on Art Hill can help lend a moment of serenity and peace to anyone’s day. Not only is Art Hill renowned for its aesthetic beauty, but it’s the perfect spot for your sledding ﬁx during snowy winter days, your picnicking excursions during the spring and fall, and a healthy dose of people-watching all year round.

5. St. Louis Art Museum The St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM) offers free entry to anyone who stops by. SLAM sits at the top of Art Hill and is home to around 34,000 pieces of art. If you’re looking to wow a date, take a stroll to the museum through Forest Park on a nice day to check out their exhibitions and special collections, and wear a beret to really seal the deal.

6. The St. Louis Zoo The St. Louis Zoo is free for admission, is home to more than 14,000 animals and carries out internationally recognized conservation work and scientiﬁc research. With almost 500 species of animals, you’ll be bound to ﬁnd some creature that makes you smile and appreciate the awe-inspiring Animal Kingdom.

7. Skating Rink The Steinberg Ice Skating Rink is a short drive or Metro ride away from campus and is the perfect adventure on a cold winter day. Adult admission with a skate rental is 10 dollars, and we’d recommend going during off-peak hours to avoid the long lines.

8. St. Louis Science Center For anyone who loves science, technology or experimental environments, take a trip to the St. Louis Science Center at some point during your four years in St. Louis. You can venture to the Planetarium where you can look up at a simulated night sky, or check out the bridge above Highway 40 where you can peer down at all the cars racing below. Regardless of what you do, you’ll have a great time getting hands-on in the world of STEM outside of your Bio 101 class.

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The St. Louis Metro: Olivia Poolos Managing Scene Editor Before coming to Washington University, I heard a lot of the same rhetoric about St. Louis. If people weren’t asking me “Where is St. Louis, again?” they were telling me about how dangerous the city is, cautioning against venturing too far off campus. For the majority of my freshman year, I heeded this advice, straying only occasionally from even the South 40 (it was peak COVID, to be fair). One of my friends recently compared campus to a cruise ship. She isn’t wrong — much like a thousandpassenger, all-inclusive boat, campus has pretty much everything you might need for your passage through college (or to the Bahamas). Dining halls? Check. Classrooms? Check. Air conditioning, a gym within ten minutes of any dorm, enough coffee to give an elephant a heart attack… check, check, check. Some days, I realize I haven’t stepped off the 169 acres that comprise WashU for weeks. Though you’re technically no worse for the wear staying within the bubble, I believe my inertia narrowed my worldview that ﬁrst year. On the days that I have the urge to feel more like a genuine St. Louisan, I try to walk through neighborhoods aside from Clayton and talk to other people aside from fellow college kids. One of the best places to do so is the Metro. Hundreds of people ride, often those without easy access to cars. In my opinion, the Metro is one of the best structures the city has to offer. Traveling as far west as the airport and stretching east into Illinois, it’s not only convenient, but also allows me to pretend I am a typical

resident of the city, not just a directionally challenged West Coast transplant. So on one windy Thursday, I headed to the depth of Big Bend station, hoping to ﬁnd a few people willing to chat. I am certainly no expert voice on transit, nor on St. Louis. But what I can do is hold a microphone (read: my horribly cracked iPhone 7, opened to Voice Memos) to people I hope have more authority on the Metro and their city than I do — everyday riders.

Pat As I stepped on, I was greeted with ﬂashes of red — jerseys, baseball caps and scarves. Unbeknownst to me, it was Opening Day for the Cardinals. I was drawn towards a pair of middleaged men decked out in scarlet paraphernalia, loudly guffawing across the aisle to each other. I sat a row in front of one man and twisted backwards in my seat to go through my typical “approaching strangers for a journalistic endeavor” spiel, face plastered into a smile, hands up and disarming. “Hi, I’m a student at WashU, and I write for the student newspaper. I’m writing a piece on the Metro and its riders — can I interview you?” The man, with salt-andpepper hair and square glasses, agreed. He told me his name was Pat. Unsurprisingly, Pat and his constituent were headed to the Cardinal’s game. He was not a frequent rider, he told me, but was having a great time that day. In fact, he had just met a new friend! “I don’t even know your name,” Pat said, reaching across the aisle for the other man’s hand. “Scott,” the second one replied. To me, Scott explained: “I

played a song that we all love, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, Guns N Roses, and then we just kinda clicked.” “This is awesome,” Pat agreed. I let Pat contradict me about when the Metro was established (he said shortly after 2000; it was 1993), but when he started chatting to me about my major and what music I liked, I decided it was time to move on.

Mckayla Moving back in the train car, I boldly seated myself next to a young woman energetically engaging with a couple across from her. “You got two stops, girl,” she said after I ran through my pitch. Mckayla, though warm and instantly charismatic, avoided directly answering a lot of my questions. She told me she worked as an overnight nursing assistant in Clayton, but only laughed when I asked where. “How far do you have to travel to get home after you get off the Metro?” I asked. “Oh, not far,” she said, waving her hands, before telling me I had one more stop for questions. Mckayla assured me that she felt pretty safe riding the Metro at night, a seven on a scale of 1-10. “I’m safe everywhere, girl. Everybody should feel safe with me,” she said. “I have people’s backs, and I’m big on safety — I don’t let anything happen to other people. I don’t witness stuff.” As she slid past me to exit, I launched a ﬁnal question. “What are you doing with the rest of your day?” “I’m buying shots! I got a new job! Shots for everyone!” Mckayla said, grinning.

Two States, One City, Thousands of Strangers “That’s great!” I enthused. “What job?” “Oh, you know, my new job…” Her voice trailed off, and she waved me goodbye, facing the incoming platform. One of the women she was talking to before I interrupted, with cherry-red hair and rainbow earrings, leaned over to whisper to me as she departed. “She didn’t want to tell you where she lived or worked because that guy was listening,” she said. Guy? What guy? Before I could ask, red-haired lady left. Looking around, I realized the car had emptied considerably. “Hey, baby,” said a deep voice from somewhere behind me. Oh. That guy.

That Guy I spun around in my seat to face a man who looked like he was in his late 20s, with tattoos covering the backs of his hands. He was standing about two feet away, staring directly at me. “You’re very pretty,” he continued. “You got a boyfriend?” “Yup,” I answered, trying to exude a conﬁdence I didn’t really feel. Suddenly, my own rating of how safe I felt was rapidly sliding downwards, from a starting six to a low three. “I don’t see a ring on that ﬁnger, though. I’d give you the world, honey.” “Uh-huh,” I mumbled, heart beating fast. I had been here before, chatted up without my interest or consent. As a young woman traveling alone on the Metro, I was already halfexpecting an interaction like this. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s happened before. I looked around desperately for another

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STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

woman. I found none. Instead, I locked eyes with a man sitting across from me. He smirked and looked away, seemingly amused by my predicament. It was enough. I half-walked, halfﬂung myself to the seat in front of him and whipped out my phone. “Want to be interviewed?” I asked.

Kennedale Martin The man across the aisle, wearing a reﬂective orange construction vest, introduced himself by full name. It takes Kennedale Martin two hours to get to work each day via public transit. He works at a construction company that would be 25 minutes by car, but with the Metro and a shuttle that’s always late, it takes more than four times that to commute. If he had four more free hours in his day, Kennedale would use it to sleep. But he refuses to sleep on the Metro. “There’s all type of weird people here. I gotta watch myself every second,” he said. Just a few weeks ago, Kennedale watched one man pull a gun on another, after the guy accidentally knocked the ﬁrst one’s phone out of his hand, cracking it. “Everyone shifted to the back of the bus, and the dude got off the train. The police came on the train looking for him, and they pointed straight towards me because I’m Black. I couldn’t do nothing,” he said. Luckily, a Black lady sitting near him convinced the police that Kennedale wasn’t their guy, and the police didn’t arrest him.

Kennedale is pessimistic about changing the system — the one that scaffolds racism — or even just improving the public transit system. “It might not be possible in St. Louis,” he said.

Johnathon 20 minutes into my ride back towards campus, I spotted one of many security presences on the train, in the form of a very tall man wearing a bright yellow jacket and holding a walkie-talkie. Johnathon is good at his job. He started only a year ago, but is well-suited to the task of holding the peace on the Metro. Johnathon is an Air Force veteran, a black belt and at least 6’4”. Though he’s an acclaimed ten on the 1-10 safety scale, he uses his words more than takedown moves when it comes to confrontation. “It’s all about the way you talk to people. You have to talk in a proper manner,” Johnathon said. “If they are hostile, you walk away. It’s not our environment to approach a hostile person. It’s not gonna be a good look on our end if we are acting like them.” That doesn’t mean, however, that he hasn’t had to pull out a few moves when necessary. Johnathon told me that the craziest situation he had seen thus far was a ﬁght between two men. “They weren’t abiding by our rules,

weren’t listening to us. They came at us with the knives. We had to mace them. We had to contain them,” he said. As a good audience member to this story, I gasped. “What were you thinking in that moment?” “Life,” he said. “He could’ve gotten me in the throat, could’ve gotten a vessel.” Still standing, however, Johnathon is enthusiastic about his Metro future. As of right now, he spends 70 hours per week on the trains and isn’t planning to stop anytime soon. “My job is safety. Making sure our passengers are okay — [that they] have everything in place, intact, to get where they need to go,” he said, smiling wide.

People I Wanted to Talk to but Didn’t I approached or was approached by a grand total of ﬁve people during the duration of my ride. There were dozens more I crossed paths with, often observing them from afar. Two were men, one wearing a crown of tree branches, the other holding a sprig of small white ﬂowers. They stayed on the train for one stop, then got off and immediately embraced a woman with a colorful headscarf.

Another was a man with thick, calloused palms and scraggly blond hair tucked into a beanie and under a hood. He didn’t have a phone or earbuds, instead looking mournfully out the window for twenty minutes. The last person I saw before the train pulled into Big Bend station was a young woman with small round sunglasses and white Nike sneakers with electric yellow swooshes. We locked eyes as she sat down, and she smiled. The world outside WashU is larger and closer to the reality of city life than campus by a large margin. The city is in the University’s name, but you have to take initiative to experience it. This isn’t to say that every rumor about danger in the city is wrong — just that there are ways to circumvent it while still connecting to a broader community. Keep your head up, eyes open, and travel with someone else. Two hours later, I was back on campus. The presence of people over the age of 25 not carrying briefcases receded into the background as my head spun with stories and quotes and images of concrete neighborhoods. As I stepped back onto manicured lawns, the faint scent of Peet’s coffee hanging in the air, one thought fought its way to the forefront: Back to the cruise ship.

“Has something like that happened before?” I asked. “All the time,” he said. “I walk down the street and [the police] get a call that somebody [is] walking and looks suspicious.” When he sees the police, Kennedale doesn’t necessarily feel unsafe, but he deﬁnitely doesn’t feel safe, either. “It’s unexplainable,” he said.

Holden Hindes | Student Life The Skinker Metro stop is just east of campus, and connects to a large network of train stations stretched east-west across St. Louis

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The best places to study on campus Third Floor of Seigle

Holden Hindes | Student Life Siegle is one of the main academic buildings for the Social Sciences on campus and is also a go-to spot for students looking to work with their friends in empty classrooms at night or on weekends.

I’ve harped on this before, and I’ll do it again: the third floor of Seigle is hands-down the best place to study. It’s probably not the most productive, or even necessarily the most comfortable, but the ~aesthetic~ is where the top floor of Seigle shines through. Certain classrooms (305!) have floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Mudd Field. Sitting on the wooden window bench while writing an essay and watching the sun go down over throngs of students tossing frisbees and passing soccer balls will give you that ‘I’m-at-

college’ feeling like no other study spot. For the smallest chance of being interrupted, I’d suggest weekend afternoons or weekday evenings as the peak Seigle hours. For maximum academia, grab a cup of coffee or tea to sip while you work. –– Via Poolos | Managing Scene Editor

Olin Library A Stacks I’m a huge proponent of not working where you sleep, so I will study literally anywhere except my bedroom. My favorite place to crank out assignments

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Holden Hindes | Student Life As you go higher up or lower down in Olin Library, you’ll ﬁnd increasingly quiet ﬂoors for working.

is the Olin Library A Stacks (one floor down from ground level). You get prime library wood-n-books aesthetic, plus the old paper musk. It’s usually quiet, but desks are in decently high demand. Since you’re in Olin, you can grab a snack or coffee at Whispers, snag anything you need for a research project, or use amply available printers and scanners. If you really need a break, head down one floor to the B Stacks, where you’ll find some really niche stuff — my personal favorites are Illinois coal industry records from the 1800s. — Ved Patel | Managing Chief of Copy

Mudd Field Hear me out — there’s no better place to study on campus than Mudd Field on a nice day. We spend so much time in the air conditioned hallowed halls of the University, and that’s not always a good thing. So when I have to do the loads of readings that weigh down my backpack or procrastinate writing a paper, I’ll park myself under a tree and force myself to write. An unexpected beneﬁt to not having outlets is that it forces me to prioritize my computer battery and be more productive with the time I have left, so it provides a natural constraint. Another huge unexpected beneﬁt

Holden Hindes | Student Life On a nice day, Mudd Field is busy with people playing games, eating meals, hammocking and oftentimes failing to focus on work.

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Holden Hindes | Student Life Bytes Cafe is located in McKelvey Hall, one of the newest buildings on campus, and serves Starbucks drinks and food for your midday hankerings.

Holden Hindes | Student Life Whispers is located on the main ﬂoor of Olin Library and is often teeming with students looking to socialize, work and grab a bite to eat between classes.

is that you’ll probably see at least one (and up to ﬁve) adorable dogs. What could be better? — Clara Richards | Managing Sports Editor

Whisper Booths I think I became part of the booths at Whispers at some point in the Spring semester based on how

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much time I spent plunked on their comfy benches. Whispers is the café on the first floor of Olin library that boasts one of the liveliest and brightest atmospheres on campus. Light pours in through the windows, and the iced lattes are sublime. If you want a booth, you should either arrive at 8:30 in the morning when the library opens, or lurk around and wait for someone to hustle to their next class and leave their booth open for the next guest. Whispers is not for those seeking solitude or silence in their work environment, but it certainly provides a stimulating atmosphere filled with conversations between friends and wonderful opportunities to meet new friends. — Julia Robbins | Editorin-Chief

McKelvey Hall There are three things I need to be productive: a nice cup of coffee, a comfy chair and quiet. McKelvey Hall, located on the East End of campus, offers all three. I spent most of my reading week and finals period sitting on the first and second floor of McKelvey. Equipped with outlets and natural light, tables in McKelvey provide nice views of Tisch Park and quick access to Bytes, a coffee shop that sells the usual Starbucks fare. Should Bytes not be open or not have what you want, there’s a Kaldi’s across the street and Parkside nearby. I was surprised by how much I accomplished during a study period here. Yes, the East End can be a walk from the Village or the South 40, though I personally enjoy

Holden Hindes | Student Life Every campus needs their Hogwarts-esque library, and the East Asian library is WashU’s, replete with chandeliers and a beautiful wooden ceiling.

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Olin’s latest and greatest. Cheers to the newest members of the Olin community! Ryan Achenbach Peter Adams-Agresti Adeyinka Adepoju Sachi Agarwal Sanghyun Ahn Shalom Ajiginni Safiya Alexander Jared Allen Erin Amankwaah Andrew Baggio Rachel Bai Matthew Baumann Samuel Beasley Stephanie Bergman Lucas Bernicker Nicole Blake Rebecca Blum Daniel Bojmel Asia Brantley Margot Braun Andrew Breton Nicole Briceno Kathryn Bridges Daniel Bruns Quocnam Bui Anika Busick Hollis Carey Kyle Catry Kevin Chen Caleb Choi Hae Chung Jeffrey Cisneros Nduwimana Claude Anna Cochran Arie Cohen Avery Colombo Danielle Cornick Tenzing Dekyong Andrew Deng

Theresa Doan Olivia Dobrenko Amber Edmonds Grace Ehlert Abigail Endale Case Fagan Chen Fang Gabriel Figueiras Molly Flicker Odin Flores Margaret Foley Leighton Gajwani Joseph Galicot Mayrin Garay Yanes Fikreabe Getachew Simran Ghosh Nathan Golovcsenko Andrew Grisack Daniel Haas Rami Hahami Jiabei Han Betsy Harris Christopher Heron Isaac Herrera Caiden Hill Emma Hinckley Anna Hodell Joshua Holt Hannah Holzer Simon Horowitz Tarvino Houston Chi Hsieh Nejra Idrizovic Michael Jacobs Dheer Jain Tanvi Jammula Hallie Jeffers Clay Kain Ashley Kalb

Samuel Kaplan Benjamin Katz Rahul Kavuru Daniel Khen Joonmyeong Kim Katherine Kirchdorfer Pavan Datta Kolluru Benjamin Kolontyrskiy Akhila Koneripalli Carmen Kossakowski Ajay Krishnaney Diana Lake Lleyton Lance Alexandre Lassoued Jordyn Lazar Davin Lee Lauren Leff Isaac Lendechy Ashley Lin Christine Ling Gisela Liu Elanna Lloyd Kristin Loftus Samuel Logerfo-Olsen Bangxi Lu Cecilia Ly Karyssa Mack Isaac Malkin Jared Mantell Ziang Mao Grayson Martin Emily Martinez Esmeralda Martinez Mata Celine Mazloum Adam McLellan-Cassivi Morgan Mednick Saanvi Merchant Jonathan Merlin Mason Mezel

Welcome BSBA, BUCS and transfer students.

Kannon Minnis Emily Mischke Cosima Munzi Olivia Muse Malcolm Newmark Ethan Nili Brianna Nitsberg Andy Ochoa Amy O’Connor Yosef Oliff Ryan Painter Pranav Palakodety Joey Pan Juhye Park Jalen Patel Brent Pennington Caroline Pietrick Joseph Poole Fernando Quintana Amelia Raden Maieasha Rashid Danny Ren Jackson Resin Christian Robinson Alisa Rosenblat Deven Rozario Jonah Satyr Nicholas Scarpelli Charles Schach Samantha Schantz Julia Schnipper Morgan Schrier Avery Seo Eva Shahab Diaz Eli Shereshovech Adam Shumway Jeremy Slaten Aaron Spektor Melanie Spitzberg

Edward Strong Megan Suarez Arwyn Sullivan Melanie Heyu Sun Nathan Szpak Kai Taft Rohan Tatikonda Bradley Taylor Michelle Tellez Brian Thompson Evan Tompkins Sandra Tougnon Samuel Toy Isha Vasil Jack Vein Sonja Wagner Eric Wang Hyun Jeong Wang Kai Washington Jane White Curtis Willi Grace Williams Alexander Wiltshire Ryan Wood Tianyi Wu Wenyu Xiong Wanyun Yang Yasmir Young Jiahao Zhang Junwei Zhang Yijia Zhang Cathy Zhao Yi Zheng Kendra Zhong Fang Zhou Alex Zimmer

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a walk to clear my head, listen to music and get me in the right frame of mind to study. I especially recommend this to the non-engineering students (like myself) who might not have made the trek out otherwise. — Noah Vermes | Junior Business Director

East Asian Library Some people really like to study in aesthetic places. If you are one of these people, the East Asian Library has you covered. Located in January Hall, slightly east of Olin Library, this library is a smaller, yet incredibly beautiful space. It’s a little tricky to ﬁnd for the ﬁrst time, but when you enter, you’ll be greeted with a sprawling room with massive windows, vaulted wood ceilings and walls lined with full bookshelves. The East Asian Library looks the part of a musty university library, minus the

actual mustiness. Best of all, there’s plenty of space to work. The majority of the room is ﬁlled with long wooden tables and matching chairs, and it’s never packed. The main area of the library is usually pretty quiet, but if you have a group project to get done, the East Asian Library also has a reservable study room. This is undoubtedly one of the coolest-looking study spots on campus and well worth a visit.

to your dorm room, which makes the Music Library a convenient place to study. This one is actually a librarylibrary - there are a few tables to study, which are almost always unoccupied, but the vast majority of space is dedicated to music and music-adjacent material. If you play an instrument, you’re gonna love the fact that the

basement of the Gaylord Music Library has tons of sheet music and scores you can check out, as well as a few practice rooms. All in all, it’s a great spot to study if you want to get out of your room, but don’t want to walk to campus. — Ved Patel | Managing Chief of Copy

— Ved Patel | Managing Chief of Copy

Gaylord Music Library If you aren’t tired of studying in libraries, here’s another good one (closer to the South 40): the Gaylord Music Library. If you ever walk back from campus via Wallace Drive, you’ve deﬁnitely seen that weird brick building across the street from the DUC. Unlike most other spots on this list, it’s probably fairly close

Holden Hindes | Student Life The Gaylord Music Library is one of the hidden gems of the library system on campus and is conveniently located in the South 40, where all ﬁrst years live.

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Under the Radar Majors Alice Gottesman Junior Scene Editor **Note: Grades (like Sophomore or Senior) refer to the grade of the source at the time of their interview (Spring Semester 2022) Washington University has a reputation for being a fantastic school for students interested in pre-health programs, known both from students and rankings. While that is absolutely true, this school’s excellence extends beyond its premedical programs. There are over 100 ﬁelds of study here and ways to incorporate diversity and multidisciplinary interests into every schedule. Here’s a look into a couple of departments and programs that offer interesting classes and may have ﬂown under your radar.

The Classics Department Professor and Department Chair of Classics, Dr. Cathy Keane explains that both the Classics and Ancient Studies majors are housed in the Classics department. She deﬁnes Classics as a study of “everything that has to do with the ancient Greeks and Romans. That includes languages, literature, cultures, history and material culture.” There are many ways in which the study of Classics becomes an interdisciplinary endeavor and an exploration of different cultures. Keane notes that at WashU especially, the department

has options for all interests — from theater to medicine. She also noted that the department is invested in their students. “We, the faculty, get to know our majors…we like to mentor them…and to help them be the best they can as a major or minor. That individual attention is always appreciated,” Keane said. Sophomore Roy Claverie, a double major in Classics and Political Science, found his way to the subject through an interest in Latin, which stemmed from high school. He shares that studying Classics “really shows you how much our modern world is intertwined with our ancient world.” Despite Claverie coming to the subject with some foundational knowledge from high school about ancient languages, both he and Keane reiterate that no prior knowledge is needed to dabble in the department. “You don’t need to know any of the languages. You don’t even need to know about the [cultures] to take a class within Classics. They’re super open to [bringing] you along for the ride, regardless of whether you have prior knowledge,” Claverie said.

Earth and Planetary Sciences: Geochemistry While WashU students are no strangers to science, the Earth and Planetary Sciences department incorporates ﬁelds such as geology and mineralogy to their studies. Recent

Geochemistry alum and Instructional Assistant, Andrew Guertin explains the subject as being more than studying rocks from millions of years ago. “We’re talking about issues like climate change, environmental contamination… understanding how biology coexists with the inorganic, the geology. It’s really central to a lot of environmental issues today,” he said. Guertin came to college knowing he was interested in science, but did not want to follow a pre-med track. He found his way to Earth and Planetary Sciences and was extremely happy with the class sizes and niche subjects he was able to focus on. “In a small department, you get to really customize what you want to learn and how you want to learn,” he said. One of nine majors in his class, Guertin emphasized his appreciation for the individual attention and opportunities he received from the professors and researchers that he was able to work so closely with. Guertin encourages all students to look into the wide variety of courses offered in all different subﬁelds of Earth and Planetary Sciences. “Learning is all about ﬁnding what gets you excited…I would encourage people, at the very least, to take some of the nonmajor courses from the department, focused on solar systems, or national parks or climate change.”

Art History and Archaeology Senior Alyssa Mehnert, a Classics and Art History and Archaeology double major, was interested in archaeology and chose to pursue that passion through the Art History department because

she wants to “work with stuff that’s already been found.” She’s found that Art History teaches her how to observe the world visually with more depth and introspection. Mehnert highlights the critical thinking skills she has gained from her majors and expresses gratitude for the Art History department’s supportive environments and individual relationships with students. She adds that much of this is possible due to smaller class sizes. “They will go out of their way to make sure that you have the best time, and you learn the most, and that you are [as] successful as possible,” Mehnert said. Mehnert reiterated that professors directed her to beneﬁcial summer programs and other resources, and she felt that they had her best interests at heart. “The Classics and Art History departments have done so much for me,” she said. “A lot of these smaller departments have a ton to offer.”

Anthropology and Archaeology Still Earth-related, but in a different way, Anthropology, as deﬁned by the department, is “the appreciation of and commitment to understanding all aspects of human diversity, past and present — [it] is devoted to the proposition that the diversity among humankind is comprehensible and enriching.” Archaeology professor Dr. David Freidel describes the subject as one interested in the way people live. “[It is] the challenge of trying to understand other people’s realities as they see the world through the experiences they have and the places they live [in],” he

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said. “This is the study of culture, which is the shared realities that people create in society.” At WashU, archaeology can be explored through either the Art History department or through the Anthropology department. Freidel believes in the importance of both learning about a multitude of cultures and gaining an understanding of the past. “There is no lockstep relationship between the past, present and future, but it is the case that many generations of human beings, who have occupied the planet before us, have left a record that we can deduce [narratives from] inside of history and that we can understand a little better how things are today,” he said. Freidel emphasizes the immense opportunities available through anthropology and archeology at WashU, citing everything from lab work to studying abroad.

“If you like puzzlesolving, if you like being engaged — the sorts of high-end deduction and discernment of how things work in the world mechanically — then archaeology can be very attractive as an experience in the classroom and [an] experience in the laboratory and [an] experience in the ﬁeld,” he said.

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies While many people have heard of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS), they may not have an understanding of how truly interdisciplinary the ﬁeld is. As Dr. Rebecca Wanzo, a Professor and Chair of the Department, points out, “It’s hard to think of one subject that isn’t affected by questions of gender and sexuality.”

Welcome!

Wanzo estimates that around 250 students take an introductory WGSS course each year, demonstrating plenty of interest in the subject. One misconception about WGSS that arises is that not everyone thinks they relate to the subject matter, or that the courses are “about hating men.” Wanzo pushes back on this misconception. “Everyone has a gender or genders, and that affects the way they move about in the world,” she said. “Thinking about questions of sexuality also [governs] a lot of things and relationships in the world. So, I think people can ﬁnd a class and issues that are important to them if they look at our curriculum.” There are multiple tracks a student can take through the WGSS department, whether they are interested in a health route, a political route or something else entirely — once again afﬁrming the interdisciplinary nature of

the work. Wanzo reiterated that this ﬁeld relates to everybody in different ways, and the coursework and subjects are applicable to a wide breadth of professions. “We’re trying to teach people to look at the world differently. I think [one thing] our students [...] have in common is [that] they’re really interested in making the world a better place,” she said. While these students and professors cover a wide range of majors, subjects and programs within Washington University, the resounding message from them is to experiment — to try things out, take electives and explore the diverse and interdisciplinary options the school offers. The next time you ﬁnd yourself registering for classes, check out departments you may not have heard about, reach out to professors and don’t be afraid to try something new.

The College of Arts & Sciences and the Office of Graduate Studies in Arts & Sciences are excited to have you join our community. You can visit our offices in Cupples II on the first and second floors.

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Staying in the Loop:

The most frequented places on Delmar Julia Robbins Editor-in-Chief Noah Vermes Junior Head of Business Development

1. Corner 17 Corner 17 is a very popular Chinese restaurant on the west end of the Loop. Its wide variety of menu items includes bao and wontons, and the restaurant offers an open and bright atmosphere. Be sure to arrive early or order for pickup, as the restaurant does f ill up quickly on the weekends!

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2. U-City Farmer’s Market Make sure that the Market is open before you walk over to the Loop, but on many Saturdays throughout the year, the Farmer’s Market is a lovely place to spend a weekend morning. Go out there and have fun getting your f resh produce f ix while mingling with parents trying to keep track of their kids.

4. Found.Vintage There’s a handful of places to thrift close-ish to campus, and Found.Vintage is definitely one you should check out. Not only will you find your typical shirts and pants, but you’ll also come across a rack of exclusively camouflage items and some quite random flame retardant coveralls.

5. Blick 3. Blueberry Hill Not only does Blueberry Hill have you covered for diner classics — your mozz sticks, burgers, chef salads, etc.- but it’s also got you set for your music f ix. The “Duck Room” in the back of the restaurant pulls in local and international artists to come serenade the small masses on the Loop. The Duck Room also plays host to “KWUR week” during which a slate of WashU artists jam out on the stage.

Some people are born artists, some people become artists, and some people just look in awe at Sam Fox students. For whoever you are, Blick has the art supplies you might need when you randomly hit a creative spurt of energy during the semester.

6. United Provisions United Provisions is an international grocery store on the Loop that boasts a fantastic selection of grocery items and grab and go items. If you’re looking for sushi, pad thai or fried rice to pick up when you want a change from the on-campus selections, deﬁnitely check out “UP.”

7. Thai Country Cafe Thai Country Cafe is a cool Thai restaurant with a fun ambiance. Popular menu items include curries and different varieties of f ried rice. Located in between the Lofts and the Moonrise Hotel, this restaurant is easily accessible and a great place to eat!

8. Fork & Stix Fork & Stix offers a calm and intimate environment to enjoy Thai food. Located on the eastern edge of the Loop, Fork & Stix is worth the walk for its delicious pad thai and curries. Fork & Stix is a much smaller restaurant than others on this list, so it may f ill up on certain days.

Map by Tuesday Hadden Head of Illustration

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What to do (and mostly eat) in STL Barbeque Being the carnivore that I am, I’ve tried to visit many of the top BBQ joints in St. Louis since coming to the University. If you are staying close to campus, visiting Salt + Smoke is a must. While there are likely plenty more amazing spots that I have yet to try, the convenient location right on the Delmar Loop is hard to beat. Ordering a plate of “burnt ends” –– the charred pieces of smoked brisket –– with a side of their white cheddar mac is sure to be a deliciously filling meal. Another great option is Sugarfire Smokehouse, which has multiple locations throughout the city. My personal favorite is “The Carolina” –– a sandwich with creamy coleslaw and a mustardbased sauce. You can get the sandwich with any of their meats, but in my opinion, the pulled pork works the best with the rest of the flavor profile. The last place to check out is Pappy’s Smokehouse.

Holden Hindes | Student Life Corner 17 is a favorite among students looking for bubble tea, noodles, dumplings and a variety of other Chinese food.

Founded in 2008, Pappy’s has been open for just over a decade, making it the oldest restaurant of the three. Pappy’s is the place to go to get a beautiful slab of ribs with authentic, homemade sides (including fried corn on the cob!). For all the brisket connoisseurs and rib fanatics coming to

campus, Pappys has plenty of amazing options to choose from. Jared Adelman | Senior Multimedia Edtior

Corner 17 There is almost nothing more terrifying than the transition to college — you

move away from friends, family and everything you’ve ever known to pursue something you’ve never experienced before. One of the best ways to ease yourself into living in St. Louis and attending WashU is food: St. Louis has a lot to offer in terms of great eats, and Corner 17 (which you might already know about) is one such place. Corner 17 boasts an extensive menu — including anything from handmade wontons in chili oil to noodles and Kung Pao Chicken. The restaurant also offers an extensive selection of boba teas, from their classic Corner 17 milk tea to passion fruit tea.

Holden Hindes | Student Life For those looking for St. Louis style barbeque a short walk from campus, dive into Salt and Smoke for your burnt ends and trashed wings cravings.

The day before my parents were scheduled to fly home and leave me at WashU forever (that’s how I felt at the time, anyway), we ordered dinner from Corner 17. My mom ordered their three-cup chicken, my dad ordered their potato beef stew and I ordered their handmade wontons in chili oil. Of course, we also ordered boba. I remember feeling scared as I sipped my fruit tea in the back of the rental car and then comforted as we feasted in the small hotel room. As I started getting emotional after I finished my final

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wonton, my mom gave me a hug and said “Don’t worry, you won’t be alone. We’ll be here for you.” (And then I proceeded to bawl my eyes out — but the point is, food creates special moments.) I now often order food from Corner 17 to eat with friends — their food is amazing, and it has helped to soften the blow of the Great College Transition. If your parents come to the University with you — or if you’re coming alone — be sure to check out Corner 17 for a comforting taste of your home-away-fromhome. Cathay Poulsen | Chief of Copy

Nature This might be cheating because, technically, Lone Elk Park isn’t in St. Louis. However, if you know someone with a car, it’s only a 25-minute drive from campus, located in St. Louis County. The park is 546

Sarah Wang | Student Life The Johnson Shut-Ins are a welcome getaway from the water-less city of St. Louis, if you can ﬁnd someone with a car to take you! (Sarah Wang/Student Life).

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE acres and features a few different lengths of trail. My favorite is the White Bison trail. At three miles, this trail is the perfect length for a pleasant morning excursion and takes you face-to-face with herds of elk multiple times. If you want more of a challenge, the park’s longest trail is over 12 miles. On your way out of the park, you can pass the bison area, driving past the park’s dozen-ish bison, whose relatives were acquired from the St. Louis Zoo in the ‘70s. For being less than a half-hour from campus, Lone Elk Park is a great option for natureand-animal lovers who want a quick day-hiking trip –– just remember to give the animals lots of space! Via Poolos | Managing Senior Scene Editor

Johnson Shut-Ins Let me be clear — calling the shut-ins a ‘thing to do in St. Louis’ may be a bit of a stretch. The Johnson ShutIns are a solid two hour drive away from campus, located in Lesterville, a small rural town. However, they’re well worth the trek. With a lack of natural bodies

of water near the city, the shut-ins are a welcome reservoir of cool, burbling rivers that occasionally merge into larger pools of water. Certain areas are deep enough to jump into from the surrounding cliffs, about 10 feet high. A favorite of WashU students when the weather turns warm, it isn’t uncommon to run into classmates if you’re there on a weekend afternoon. Make sure to pack sunscreen, bug spray and a few dollars cash for the one-dollar shaved ice cart. Olivia Poolos | Managing Scene Editor

Art Museums There are some great art museums in St. Louis and even on campus! I’m sure you and your parents have heard about the Kemper –– right on the East End of campus –– but did you know the museum holds student exhibitions as well as special visiting exhibitions from world famous artists every year? If you’d like to see work made by your undergraduate classmates and art professors, look out for exhibitions at the Des Lee

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Holden Hindes | Student Life The Kemper Art Museum, nestled in the East End of Campus, is notable not just for its exhibitions, but also for the striking reﬂective panels on its exterior that face Tisch Park.

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gallery owned by WashU located in downtown St. Louis. There is also the classic Saint Louis Art Museum, or SLAM. Located in Forest Park, SLAM sees over half a million visitors every year, and for good reason –– they have a huge variety of art, offering a cycle of new and exciting exhibits year-round. Tuesday Hadden | Head of Illustration

Tower Grove Farmers Market From April to November, the place to be on a Saturday morning is the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market. Located in — you guessed it — Tower Grove, the market offers over 60 vendors selling anything from organic broccoli to hand-woven baskets. Both a “thing to do” and a “thing to eat,” the market also allows food trucks to roll up for the afternoon for hungry shoppers. If you’re craving a main character moment and want to

support local businesses, I’d highly recommend setting your alarm a little earlier one Saturday to head up to Tower Grove. Just don’t forget your reusable bag and a few dollars in cash, since not every vendor accepts credit cards! Via Poolos | Managing Scene Editor

Shakespeare in the Park This is a time-honored St. Louis summer tradition. For a good chunk of the summer, Shakespeare in the Park puts on almostdaily productions of notable Shakespeare plays on the east side of Art Hill. If theater isn’t your “thing,” I’ll let you in on a closely-guarded secret: Shakespeare in the Park is free! It’s literally ﬁrst come, ﬁrst served! If you’re around while a production is running, you have no excuse to miss it, especially considering Art Hill is only a short walk from campus. Ved Patel | Managing Chief of Copy

Sarah Wang | Student Life The carefully curated and tended to Botanical Gardens are worth the $14 for admission.

Forest Park Chances are you’ve heard of Forest Park. It’s the go-to place for runners, dog walkers and people looking for a shady walk amongst tree-lined paths. For WashU students, it’s also the place we first think of for picnics, nature-ry photoshoots and sledding. Especially in winter months, where students often stay holed up in heated dorm rooms, trying to limit their exposure to the freezing temperatures outside, Art Hill in Forest Park is the one place where you will consistently find peers. On snowy days, the famous hill is filled with families, community members and college kids, all flopping belly-first onto cardboard boxes or cheap plastic sleds. I learned, from trial-anderror, that hand warmers and hot cocoa afterwards are essential components of this experience. So, as much as you will want to stay in bed and binge your favorite Netflix show when it snows in January (and believe me, I know the feeling), I’d highly recommend suiting up and sliding down Art Hill instead. Olivia Poolos | Managing Scene Editor

Sarah Wang | Student Life On summer days, Art Hill in Forest Park is the perfect place to watch the sunset. In winter months, the slope is perfect for sledding with friends.

Botanical Gardens The Missouri Botanical Gardens are on almost every “What to do when you visit St. Louis!” list that pops up on Google. To be fair, the gardens are a gorgeous getaway from the more urban, concrete atmosphere that you’ll ﬁnd almost anywhere in the city, and deserve their spot on those compilations. With dozens of sprawling acres of horticulture, strolling through the botanical gardens is a rejuvenating way to spend a weekend (or summer) afternoon. Beauty, however, comes at a price. Tickets are $14 on a typical day, which while not wildly extravagant, can be a lot to shell out for a college student. You may feel better about spending money when you realize that the gardens are also used for scientiﬁc research and are part of St. Louis’ effort to practice and teach sustainability. And, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 7am to noon, admission is free for St. Louis residents. Even if you only go once, the Botanical Gardens are worth every penny of the price of admission. Olivia Poolos | Managing Scene Editor

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Staff Bios The Student Life staff is made up of 26 undergraduate editors and many more reporters, photographers, designers and other staffers. Some of us have been involved in student journalism since middle or high school, while others stepped into the office on the third floor of the Danforth University Center during sophomore or junior year of college without any relevant experience and have not left the paper since. These short biographies serve to introduce our staff so that you can get to know a bit more about the people who produce Student Life. If you’re interested in joining the staff, you can visit our office, email join@studlife. com or fill out the interest form at studlife.com/get involved.

Julia Robbins Editor-in-Chief Julia is a junior f rom New York City and can most likely be found on the f risbee f ield or in a hammock tied to those incredible stumps on Mudd Field. She’s majoring in Global Studies but the Religious Studies department has her heart. She found her love for journalism in middle school and has been writing and reporting ever since. Her favorite spots on campus are Whispers at 8:30 in the morning and anywhere outside when it’s above 60 degrees outside.

Via Poolos Managing Scene Editor (Oli) Via Poolos is the Managing Scene Editor. She’s a junior majoring in PNP (she’s even held a brain once or twice!) and minoring in Writing. She started writing news for StudLife as a f reshman but quickly found the Scene

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section. Though she now splits her time between both sections, she most enjoys writing and editing long-form features. Outside of Studlife, you can f ind her training for her f irst ever triathlon, climbing or geeking out about the latest This American Life episode. This year she’s hyped to recruit a large Scene staff and spend many, many funf illed hours in the StudLife off ice!

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Jamila Dawkins Managing Forum Editor Jamila Dawkins is an English major and a rising senior in absolute denial that she is soon to leave WashU for good. She went to her f irst StudLife meeting in the second semester

of her f reshman year, and now having spent three years as a writer and editor, it seems she kinda likes it. She is always up to discuss her favorite webcomics and international dramas, and despite being a New York state native, no — she does not know where the #3 train stops. This year, she’s hoping to graduate and… well. Really, that’s it.

Reilly Brady Managing Forum Editor Reilly Brady is a rising junior majoring in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, minoring in Writing and trying to f igure out if she wants to add another subject to the mix. Reilly has been writing and designing for StudLife since the start of her f irst year at WashU and is excited to have joined the team of managing editors this

year, in addition to her role as a Senior Forum editor. While StudLife fulf ills her love for both writing and art, her love for music is instead found through her participation in the Ghost Lights a cappella group. If not in the StudLife off ice or at the 560 for rehearsal, Reilly can be found eating a taco salad in the DUC, making the long trek to Bytes for a pink drink or working her way through all of the variations of Wordle instead of studying in the library.

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Clara Richards Managing Sports Editor Clara Richards is the Managing Sports Editor for Student Life. She’s currently a junior majoring in English and Political Science with a minor in Writing. She f irst got involved in StudLife as a f reshman and has

stuck around ever since; at this point, she knows an impressive (and useless) amount of trivia about the WashU Bears. Outside of class, you can f ind Clara hunting for the best bagels in St. Louis or Facetiming her dog. This fall, she’s excited for her f irst season covering fall sports, and she’s honored to continue the legacy of the best sports section in Division III.

Ved Patel Managing Copy Chief Ved Patel, a Junior f rom Cary, Illinois, is a pre-med majoring in Microbiology and Philosophy of Science and minoring in Biomedical Physics. Ved joined Student Life as a Junior Copy Editor in Spring 2022 with the intention of writing music reviews, but ended up sticking around for the community. Besides StudLife, he does

Sarah Wang Managing Design Editor Sarah is a rising junior majoring in Communication Design with a minor in Human Computer Interactions. In love with

cardiovascular research at the Med School and works as a TA for Gen Chem Lab. He is also involved in a smattering of pre-med clubs, pep band (clarinet) and enjoys spending time outdoors (hiking, hitting rail-trails or just reading in a hammock). Ved is an insufferably pretentious music addict, and will accost you with a recommendation for whatever obscure new band or artist he picked up that week (most recently Roadrunner Glockboyz Tez thanks Zachary Robinson).

making art, doodling, and listening to new music, you can f ind her at the East End 99% of the time, fueled by matcha lattes f rom Bytes and the microwavable food f rom Ettas. The other 1% is spent at home, watching crime TV shows, cooking questionable tasting food, and cuddling with her soon to be adopted cat.

Annabel Shen Senior Scene Editor Annabel Shen is a rising junior majoring in Computer Science, minoring in Bioinformatics, and on the pre-med track. Annabel joined StudLife for an outlet to express, write and draw — something she

does not typically get to do in her classes. Besides StudLife, Annabel is on Washington University’s Figure Skating team, loves to run and is learning soccer at the moment. She is also independently learning Korean on the side to support her addiction to K-dramas and K-pop songs. Annabel is always hungry and will oftentimes be spotted munching on either chocolate or sweet potatoes.

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Kellen Wang Senior Design Editor Kellen is a rising junior f rom New Jersey majoring in Communication Design and Computer Science. He f irst started designing for StudLife at the start of 2022, looking to work with a fun and collaborative group.

Outside of Studlife, Kellen is a part of AIGA, WUXD where he also gets to do cool creative activities. He enjoys listening to folk/ soft rock (favorite band is Bread) and jazz (no Bee Movie jokes allowed). In rain or shine you can either f ind Kellen reliving his glory days on the basketball court or advocating how the Subway Spicy Italian is the best oncampus food item.

Emily Hu Senior Design Editor Emily is a junior majoring in Communication Design

and minoring in HumanComputer Interaction and Psychology. When she’s not making new playlists or stalking Friend Activity on Spotify, she can be found making art, journaling, or trying new rollerblading tricks!

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

Gracie Hime Chief of Copy Gracie is a junior f rom Springf ield, Missouri, double majoring in English and PNP with a minor in Political Science. Gracie

loves all things music and entertainment, so StudLife’s Cadenza section made her feel at home in the paper. Outside of StudLife, Gracie can be found out in nature, rock climbing, playing instruments or searching for new coffee shops to obsess over. Rumor has it that Gracie has one of the best duck calls in all of Missouri.

Holden Hindes Cathay Poulsen Chief of Copy Cathay Poulsen — a rising sophomore from Springville, Utah and Chiayi, Taiwan — is unsure of what she wants to major in, but has interests in ﬁelds ranging from English to Math. Cathay spent the fall semester of her freshman year hiding in her room until she ﬁnally found the courage to apply for a position as Junior Copy Editor at StudLife the following semester. She loves grammar-related editing and has a lot of fun doing it, and she also loves helping people improve their writing without overly

altering their voices. Besides StudLife, Cathay often hangs out at Taiwanese Students Organization events, is a member of the newly-created Student Advisory Board at WashU, and she will be a Calc II PLTL leader starting in the Fall 2022 semester. In her free time, Cathay likes playing Overwatch and Stardew Valley, hanging out with her cat (who likes to sabotage her work by sitting on her laptop), and reading fantasy/ sci-fi books. She also loves following competitive figure skating — if you’re (un)lucky, she may just start ranting to you about the current state of women’s figure skating (while simultaneously telling you to watch Yuna Kim’s incredible performances).

Senior Photo Editor Holden is a senior f rom Portland, Oregon majoring in English Literature and Creative Nonf iction Writing. Having started with StudLife photography

their f reshman year, they are excited to continue taking photos and help other people take photos. They will be avoiding the St. Louis sun this summer by scooping ice cream, beginning a thesis, going to movie theaters and cooking hearty meals, which would be much more enjoyable in cold weather.

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

Jared Adelman Senior Multimedia Editor Jared is a junior f rom Encino, CA majoring in Political Science with minors in Economics and Religion and Politics. After running his own podcast and producing a mini-series for StudLife last year, Jared is excited to explore all that audio journalism has to

Kamala Madireddi Senior Multimedia Editor Kamala Madireddi is a senior multimedia editor. She is a junior f rom St. Louis majoring in Psychology and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She joined StudLife as a f reshman

and helped out with the weekly podcast. When she’s not working on the paper or doing work for school, Kamala is probably watching sitcoms (she’s currently binge-watching Scrubs). She’s looking forward to working more on the weekly podcast and other multimedia projects, and she can’t wait to meet people interested in all things multimedia!

Brian Cui Head of Business Development Brian is a rising senior born and raised in Dalian, China. At the age of twelve, he immigrated to Westwood, MA and is now majoring in

Tuesday Hadden Head of Illustration Tuesday is a junior f rom Lexington, Kentucky majoring in Communication

Design with a minor in Art History. Tuesday has been illustrating for Student Life since the fall of 2021 and is starting as Head of Illustration this year. She enjoys grandma hobbies such as crocheting and embroidery.

offer. His favorite podcasts include This American Life, The Daily, Up First and almost everything Serial Productions has created. Elsewhere on campus, you might f ind Jared giving an admissions tour or commentating WashU football games on the radio. In his f ree time, Jared loves to follow all professional sports (especially soccer) and muse about the greater political and philosophical questions of our time.

Communication Design and Computer Science with a minor in Human-Computer Interaction. Brian joined StudLife as a photographer and is transitioning into business development this year. Outside of StudLife, Brian enjoys watching the Celtics and playing no limit Texas Hold’em.

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE

Tony Tong Senior Web Editor Tony is a rising junior f rom Harbin, China double majoring in Computer Science and Economics. Interested in the website

Paige Steuber Senior Web Designer Paige is a rising junior double majoring in Communication Design and Computer Science. Likely to be found at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room or The Pageant, Paige loves

backend, Tony discovered StudLife in his sophomore year and found its website intriguing. Aside f rom StudLife, Tony is commonly found power walking around campus, chatting about computer specs and pummeling his tablet while playing rhythm games.

live music and screaming at the top of her lungs. If not there, you can f ind her at her permanent residence, the East End. Outside of StudLife, Paige is a Computer Science TA working with classes f rom 131 to 247. Paige is excited to support StudLife on the technical side and looks forward to the challenges and opportunities being on this team will provide.

STUDENT LIFE | THE STARTING LINE