At the 38th annual Danforth Campus Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration, audience members gathered in Graham Chapel to hear various speakers and choirs address themes of responsibility, resilience, and justice, in accordance with King’s lessons.
The event was co-hosted by senior Hussein Amuri, President of Student Union (SU), and sophomore Spencer Snipe, Co-President of ABS.
The event’s theme focused on responsibility, specifically King’s quote: “Ultimately, individual responsibility lies not in the external situation but in the internal response.”
Harvey Fields — Ph.D., Director for Missouri Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation and Associate Dean for Student Success — spent over 17 years at WashU. In his keynote speech, Fields explained that King delivered a version of his sermon that appealed to the public by emphasizing his commitment to the social gospel.
“King’s message focused on individual responsibility, and he provided the impetus for his evolving and enlarging engagement in the movement for civil rights,” Fields said. “As any good traditional Baptist minister would do, Dr. King connected the message of personal responsibility to the personage of Jesus Christ.”
Fields acknowledged that President Donald Trump was being inaugurated on the same day.
“However we may feel about the election of the president, it was an orderly transition of power,” Fields said. “That says something about democracy and that says something about the possibilities and opportunities we have to leverage democracy for our purposes, our goals, and our needs.”
Snipe also talked about the inauguration, emphasizing the need to focus on King’s legacy.
“If anything, it makes everything we talked about that much more real and powerful, especially given the text messages that students have received in the last couple weeks telling them to go back to plantations,” Snipe said.
Snipe’s mention of texts is a reference to racist messages that Black students across the country received saying that they had been
“selected to become a slave.”
Fields connected the messages to the hatred King received.
“The threats that he received, the beatings he endured — [I hope] people realize he intentionally experienced those things and still came out with a perspective that what he was doing was for the good of humanity, and that becomes a really great testimony to him and his character,” Fields said.
Next, Snipe introduced the WashU Chamber Choir’s performance of “Wade in the Water,” explaining that King often used music to underscore the message of the Civil Rights Movement.
Sophomore Reece Gray, a member of the Chamber Choir, noted the deep historical roots of the song.
“‘Wade in the Water’ references how the slaves would have to wade through water to avoid dogs catching their scent,” Gray said.
He added that he really appreciated being able to go to events like the commemoration.
“It’s really eye-opening to hear amazing speakers like Dr. Harvey and all these people from a different culture than my own,” Gray said.
Chancellor Andrew Martin asked the audience to reflect on individual and collective responsibility.
“If you read the sermon, you know that Dr. King encourages his listeners to take personal responsibility for their actions, to resist making excuses, and to transcend the circumstances that challenge them,” Martin said.
Martin also applied King’s lessons to WashU students.
“Every student at WashU has opportunities to explore their values and to understand more about their
WashU apprehensive as Trump reassumes office
country and its relationship with the US government, but generally, it will definitely be harder getting permission to not just study but to live in the US.”
Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, members of the WashU community have expressed uncertainty and concerns over proposed policies of the new administration that could impact large groups of students and reshape University practices.
J.D. Burton, Vice Chancellor for Government & Community Relations, indicated that the University is taking a wait-andsee approach toward the Trump administration.
“We’re always paying close attention to what’s happening in Washington,” Burton wrote in a statement to Student Life. “This is especially true anytime a new administration is taking office. There are always federal issues that are important to higher education and to WashU, and we will advocate in areas that will have a direct impact on our mission.”
Faculty and students alike expressed concerns over how international students may be affected by the Trump administration. Multiple U.S. universities, not including WashU, released statements in recent months advising international students to exercise elevated levels of caution.
One junior international student from China—who wished to remain anonymous due to her pending citizenship application—spoke about the anxiety international students such as herself have felt since Trump secured re-election.
“I have friends who wanted to go abroad or back home over break but chose to stay [in the U.S.] because they were scared about their status being removed,” the student said. “I am scared of [my visa] being revoked because of how long my family has tried to get citizenship. If Trump hadn’t been elected president in 2016, I would have gotten my citizenship in 2017 or 2018.”
‘capital R responsibility’ to the world and in doing so they will begin to take more ‘lowercase r responsibility’ for their actions,” Martin said.
Senior Assistant Dean of Advising Wilmetta Toliver-Diallo emphasized the need to also think of the larger civil rights movement and remaining injustices.
“We honor the thousands of nameless and faceless others whose sacrifice made the gains of the movement possible,” Toliver-Diallo said. “Today we are faced with new challenges. Our nation is polarized, our systems remain unjust, and there is unrest in many parts of the world and in our country, where women and children bear the brunt of the violence.”
Following Field’s keynote address, the Commemoration Committee presented two awards.
Legacy Jackson received the “MLK Youth Service Award” in recognition of her volunteer work and the new creation of the community service organization Little Legacies. Dr. Flint Fowler received the “Rosa L. Parks Award for Meritorious Service to the Community” in recognition of her work transforming the lives of young people and their families in St. Louis.
The Rev. Callista Isabelle — Director for Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life — provided the event’s closing remarks, followed by the most prominent freedom song of the Civil Rights Movement, “We Shall Overcome.”
“This is our season to call out racism, homophobia, xenophobia, any force that threatens to dehumanize, because we are still striving to live out the dream that Dr. King put forth,” Isabelle said.
The anonymous student also warned that the Trump administration may act as a deterrent to prospective students who plan on applying to U.S. universities.
“You have to think about the financial commitment these international families are making as they send kids to these schools that don’t offer much aid,” the student said. “Making that kind of financial commitment is difficult under this political uncertainty.”
Matteo B. Ciarbonetti — a thirdyear Italian exchange student in his final year of college — echoed the anonymous student’s sentiments about prospective international students.
“[Some] students wouldn’t even be able to apply for a college in the States because it could be harder to find a sponsor for the visa,” Ciarbonetti wrote. “I really think that it could depend on your home
Others, like seniors Will Gunter and Celia Rattner — Washington University Political Review (WUPR) Editors-in-Chief — said that they hoped WashU would take steps to protect international students.
“If any student does find themselves in an issue with immigration services, I hope that WashU will be there to advocate for them,” Gunter said. “I mean, it’s a school with an amazing number of resources.”
Many college communities have also expressed concern over the potential for the Trump administration to identify and subsequently deport undocumented students through the use of Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) data or reinterpreted Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guidelines.
Andy Sobel, Professor of Global Studies, said that such moves may impede WashU in its efforts to foster a diverse intellectual community.
“One of the great aspects of the US university system is the recruitment of talent from all over the world, fostering exploration, discovery, intellectual collaboration, creativity, and invention of new ideas, insights, [and] inventions,” Sobel wrote to Student Life. “Erecting barriers to such flow of talent and ideas will have costs.”
Among his proposed policies, Trump has threatened to strip accreditation from U.S. universities that continue Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
Rebecca Wanzo — Chair of the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies — expressed grave concern over an executive order signed by President Trump that restricts certain rights of transgender individuals and legally defines gender as being aligned with biological sex at conception.
“The Executive Order suggests that transgender and non-binary people should not exist,” Wanzo wrote to Student Life. “If that perspective wins out in public policy, it will obviously affect our trans and non-binary students, staff, and faculty at Washington University.”
Wanzo also said of the threat the Trump administration potentially poses to various fields of study, including her own.
JUSTIN OCKUN COBY RINKE STAFF WRITERS
Performers from Lion Dance rehearse for the 2025 LNYF show.
ISABELLA DIAZ-MIRA | PHOTO EDITOR
NATALIA JAMULA STAFF WRITER
ANAELDA RAMOS | ILLUSTRATION EDITOR
SCOTT ZARIDER | CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
WashU community members gathered in Graham Chapel to honor the enduring legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Remembering Ardan Carlisle
First-year Ardan Carlisle died Dec. 19, 2024, from an undiagnosed medical condition at 18 years old. He is survived by his parents, Mike and Lada Carlisle, along with his older brother Evan.
Ardan was an Arts & Sciences student majoring in Mathematics, who also explored his interests in music and the humanities. His family, professors and friends remember him not only as a prodigious musician and a brilliant mathematician, but also as an extremely humble and compassionate person.
In high school, Nolan Miller, a classmate, invited Ardan as a first-year to play in his band of seniors after hearing Ardan play in a jazz class they had together.
“Something about how Ardan played the keyboard really spoke to me,” Miller said. “Ardan was very quiet, but whenever they would play the keyboard, it’s like their emotions were being transmitted, as if he wasn’t communicating with words, but with music.”
Ardan, who used both he/him and they/them pronouns, grew up in San Antonio, Texas. His family moved to Bowling Green, Ohio when he was in seventh grade. He first demonstrated signs of his intellect at age three, when he started playing music by ear on the piano. At age six, he taught himself algebra and physics after becoming fascinated with the idea of time travel.
By the end of sixth grade, they had already completed AP Calculus BC and several other AP courses, so they began taking classes at nearby Bowling Green State University throughout middle and high school. Ardan amassed over 150 college credits before graduating from high school.
Elainie Lillios, Professor of Composition at Bowling Green, first encountered Ardan when he enrolled in her upper-level music technology course as a sophomore in high school.
“Ardan was one of the smartest, most-capable students I have ever taught, and outperformed many of the university students,” Lillios said. “He used his intelligence to bring people together, rather than to separate him from others. I never got the feeling that he thought he was better than anyone else.”
Lillios, who was one of Ardan’s favorite teachers, had always looked forward to seeing how he would better the world.
“I always thought Ardan would go on to be one of those great minds of the future,” she said. “His loss is a profound one for people who knew him, and also for the people who I know would have benefited from his scientific discoveries and developments.”
Ardan’s suitemate — first-year Adi Solomon — mentioned that they enjoyed relaxing by watching the show Breaking Bad and jamming out to music.
Beginning at the age of three the age of three, firstyear Ardan Carlisle taught himself to play on his family’s Bösendorfer piano.
Ardan rarely talked about their mathematical prowess, but Solomon got some rare glimpses into their abilities.
“I would happen to run into them in the library reading extremely complex math books for fun,” Solomon said. “They talked about math in a spiritual way, like seeing God in numbers and the beauty in the world via complex numerical patterns.”
Aside from Ardan’s expansive intellectual capabilities, Solomon found their genuine kindness towards others to be their most impressive trait.
“I can’t imagine them doing anything mean. They were so kind, so gentle, and gave such great hugs,” Solomon said. “[One time], I had class very early in the morning and I had put my clothes in the washer, and then Ardan put them in the dryer and took them upstairs for me [without my asking].”
Ardan, affectionately described as a “walking Spotify” because of his perfect pitch, once taught himself Japanese over the summer between fifth and sixth grade. At WashU, he was working to become fluent in Russian by reading entire books in the language.
“He was very, very secretive and introverted and sometimes felt as if his talents weren’t worth sharing,” Mike Carlisle said. “He would enter into national music composition competitions, and placed in several of them, but he would always remain anonymous. He wasn’t interested in status or material gain — he just wanted to see how people would react to his music.”
Alan Chang — Assistant Professor of Mathematics who taught Ardan in Introduction to Analysis, a 400-level course — noted that Ardan was an exceptional student.
“He completed all of my exams in less than a third of the allocated time and answered every question correctly,” Chang wrote in an email to Student Life.
“On one of my midterms, I included a fun and tricky bonus problem designed to challenge even the strongest students. Ardan was the only one of my 62 students to solve it.”
William Lenihan — Teaching Professor of
‘Educate
and Elevate’: ABS
events during Black History Month
This February, the Association of Black Students (ABS) has a lineup of events centered around education and elevating Black students at WashU. From a Super Bowl watch party to a panel with Black law professionals, sophomore and ABS President Spencer Snipe hopes to engage the whole WashU community this month.
“When we first met as an Executive Board last spring following our election, we made it imperative to have meaningful and consistent programming throughout the year,” Snipe told Student Life. “Our Black History Month plans are a testament to this mission.”
Event schedule:
Black Hair Roundtable
Ursa’s Fireside, Feb. 3, 6-8 p.m.
In collaboration with the Black Men’s Coalition and the Black Women and Femmes Collective, ABS will be hosting a community discussion about how to style hair for social and professional settings, as well as how racial stereotyping can occur through hair.
General Body Meeting
Simon 018, Feb. 4, 6-8 p.m.
ABS hosts monthly general body meetings for the community to have time with ABS’ Executive Board to discuss future events and general sentiments of the Black community at WashU.
Super Bowl Watch Party
Hamsini House (House 5, Fraternity Row), Feb. 9
Music, and Director of Jazz Performance — met Ardan when he auditioned for Jazz Combo, a selective performance group at WashU.
“I noticed immediately that he played with a sense of understanding of the music that is uncommon for someone his age,” Lenihan said. “He had a sense of knowing that made it musical and expressive.”
Aside from Jazz Combo, Lenihan relied on Ardan as a pianist for select performances in the community, including at a charity event and at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
Apart from the music they rehearsed, Ardan enjoyed experimenting, including with musical compositions they wrote and new foods they tried.
“We can’t talk about Ardan without talking about the experimental — it’s like, if you aren’t trying something new, you’re not living. That was Ardan’s life,” Mike Carlisle said.
While at WashU, Ardan tutored fellow students in a variety of subjects, and in high school they volunteered at a center for children with developmental disabilities. They objected to the designation of the children as “disabled” and said that the children just didn’t conform to contrived societal standards.
“To Ardan, each individual was as an instrument in a grand symphony, each contributing his, her, or their unique voices,” Mike Carlisle wrote in a eulogy delivered at Ardan’s memorial service. “I pray that those who were granted the privilege will help his song propagate forward and allow their voices [to] contribute to the grand symphony Ardan longed to hear.”
Professor Lillios emphasized how Ardan’s curious and experimental personality allowed him to live a vibrant and fulfilling life.
“Life is short and precious, and Ardan, in the brief time that he was on this Earth, had a big impact on his community and lived a very positive life. While he worked very hard, I know he embraced life with vigor,” Lillios said. “A big takeaway for me is, how are we spending our time? Because he spent his time learning and experiencing as many things as he could.”
Football fans are invited to join ABS — along with Hamsini, the WashU Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition, and the Black Men’s Coalition — to watch the Super Bowl with snacks and good company.
RSVP Sexual Assault Awareness
Ursa’s Fireside, Feb. 10, 6-8 p.m.
This awareness event will center around educating people on how to avoid and report sexual assault on campus, in collaboration with the Relationship & Sexual Violence Prevention (RSVP) Center and the Black Women and Femmes Collective.
This panel will include Black lawyers from private and public sectors, Black law professors, and Black law students, and is geared towards Black undergraduate students who are considering going into the field of law.
For students with a body of creative work they want to share, ABS will be hosting an event in collaboration with Noir and the Sam Fox Black Students Network so that students can display their art.
Black Love Event
Simon 1, Feb. 13, 6-8 p.m.
Just before Valentine’s Day, ABS invites students to ask themselves the question, “What does ideal Black love look like?” This event, hosted alongside the African Students Association (ASA), is a space to discuss as a community how to form and maintain genuine relationships, both platonic and romantic.
Keynote Speech - Speaker TBA
Graham Chapel, Feb. 14, 6-8 p.m.
ABS will be hosting a keynote speaker event with a guest speaker who will address important themes of Black History Month. The speaker will be announced on ABS’ socials later this month.
Defend The Dream:
Gephardt Civic Action Week — ACLU Volunteer Drive
DUC Table 5, Feb. 19, 11 a.m to 2 p.m.
As part of their service work, ABS will be tabling for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri in order to gather volunteers who will help uphold constitutional rights.
Navigating Black Athletic Success
TMR Room — Sumers Rec Center, Feb. 25, 6-8 p.m.
The final event slated for Black History Month is a collaboration with the WashU Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition to help guide Black student-athletes on how to use their experience here at WashU to find success in their professional life.
For more information about Black History Month events at WashU,students can look at the ABS website and Instagram page, as well as the Cross-Cultural Connections’ calendar of events.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CARLISLE FAMILY
ELIZABETH STUMP NEWS EDITOR
Students participate in an activity at the Association of Black Students (ABS) retreat.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WASHU ASSOCIATION OF BLACK STUDENTS
FORUM
Towards the end of last semester, on the weekends, there was one place you could count on me being — Francis Field, watching the
WashU women’s soccer team absolutely dominate. As the soccer season carried into the cooler months and my halftime snack went from a hot dog to hot chocolate, excitement in the stands grew. With the team’s sights
set on the program’s secondever national championship, every playoff game brought higher stakes. Would the Bears keep up their unbeaten regular-season streak? Would they make it to finals? Would they surpass their runner-up
placement from the year before?
But I noticed, when I left the bubble of the bleachers, something strange happened. It was like the Bears’ incredible run wasn’t happening at all. There was little fanfare about their remarkable successes, and when I did hear someone talking about an upcoming game, it was almost always an athlete on another team.
When I talked to friends about the women’s soccer season, they often had no idea that the team had even been doing well. So here I am, to make an argument that many have made before, to tell you that this is the semester you need to start being a die-hard WashU sports fan.
I could relay statistics for days about how a stronger sports culture fosters community, a sense of belonging, and institutional pride. But I don’t think I need to — we all know the feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves. We feel that camaraderie in extracurricular clubs, in struggling through exam prep with classmates, or even when everyone descends on Mudd Field for WILD.
Standing in a crowd as everyone focuses their nervous energy on a moment that will make or break the whole season is as good as it gets. And trust me, those moments happen here. Take, for instance, last year when the men’s basketball team
sank the game-winning shot in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with two seconds of overtime left on the clock. It was a nail-biting finish that sent the Bears to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2009, and sent the crowd straight to storm the court.
If WashU teams were constantly struggling to get a win under their belt, I would understand the indifference. But our teams are just plain good
In fact, every winter sports team at WashU is currently ranked in the national Top 25. Women’s soccer wasn’t the only team to win big this year — the women’s track and field team took first at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Our women’s and men’s basketball teams both made the NCAA Tournament last year, and the latter entered conference play fifth in the nation. Individually, our athletes set division-wide records, earned coveted national awards, and hit major career milestones.
I don’t believe the popular narrative that WashU students are, at baseline, too dorky to care about sports. Instead, I see the problem as a lack of social momentum that brings people to watch the games. Attending sports games is part of a larger culture, and the less enthusiasm we see from the people around us, the less likely we are to care about making the effort. As members of this community, I think it’s more than time to turn that around.
Students often lament, understandably, the death of third spaces where they can socialize in an affordable and accessible manner, while continuing to overlook games for what they can really be. Want to socialize but still go to sleep early? Watch a basketball game and be in bed by 9 p.m.? Not old enough to go to bars? The only ID you need at the Field House is your WashU-issued one. Hate paying for an Uber to Pyramid events? Students get into all home varsity games for free. And I wouldn’t be doing my job as a Student Life editor and enthusiast if I didn’t note here that we make it easy to stay updated and invested in the world of WashU sports, with game recaps, Athlete of the Week interviews, and long-form pieces about interesting sports news. We cannot continue with this age-old excuse that WashU simply isn’t a sports school. It’s uninspired. So set the culture yourself — wrangle a group of friends, dig up a green or red shirt, and bring the energy. There are only two things necessary to make a college into a “sports school”: great athletes and great fans. WashU athletes have shown us, time and time again, that our school has the first part in spades. So, when are we going to finally show up with the second?
ANNA DORSEY
STAFF ILLUSTRATOR
To many, it took a few days after returning from Winter Break to register that something was missing from Mudd Field: multiple beautiful, tall trees whose shade we lounged under just a few months before.
After the 2025 Commencement, Mudd will officially close down for construction, adding to the pre-existing noise and the obstacle course of maneuvering around the construction site of Riney Hall. Planned renovations include the addition of a few pathways across the field, many more trees, and better lighting during the night.
Amidst plans for major changes to this campus cultural touchstone, students have received minimal information about the approaching construction. The only notice has been an email from The Record sent to the student body mentioning the “Mudd Field makeover,” an email that went to several students’ spam folders.
Most WashU students probably have at least a couple of memories of lounging on a picnic blanket with friends, kicking around a soccer ball, or tossing a frisbee on the green space. Many have also attended events on the field, like the Fall Activities Fair and Art Mart, which contribute to community engagement and a lively campus atmosphere.
Brookings Quadrangle used to function like Mudd Field does today, hosting
Goodbye, Mudd Field
Spring WILD among other quintessential WashU programming. Mudd became the primary community gathering space because it’s a larger, more central area.
Bottom line, it’s kind of heartbreaking to imagine all of these events moved into the basement of the Athletic Complex, a way smaller field like the Swamp, or eradicated completely. Nothing truly replaces the centerpiece of the Danforth Campus.
With such fondness in mind, the three-year period of construction is daunting. Those memories of last fall will likely be the last memories any current sophomores or juniors have on Mudd; even current first-years will only have one semester with the newly-renovated field. Not only will construction eliminate a relaxing gathering space for the student population, but it will undoubtedly cause a mess and ruckus right in the center of campus. For the next three years, get excited as the view of our beautiful Mudd Field turns into a true mud field.
Students need time and information in order to prepare for changes they have no say in. Major changes like these will undoubtedly affect students’ daily life. Path blockages exacerbate rushed transitions between classes, and the noise of machinery and loss of campus green space has the potential to raise stress levels at the University.
Students with disabilities already struggle to
navigate a largely inaccessible campus. Incoming students with disabilities may have to incorporate this construction project into their decision to come to WashU. This is all compounded by the fact that most current students will graduate before the finished project is available for them to enjoy and benefit from.
In WashU’s own words, “Mudd Field is an essential part of the WashU student experience.” But for the next three years, the heart of campus will be reduced to yet another inaccessible pile of dirt.
The Student Life Editorial Board calls upon WashU to more publically provide further information so that students can properly plan and prepare for the incoming Mudd Field construction project. Additional information should include what changes to expect in the coming years as well as plans for accessibility and alternative accommodations during the years of construction.
Staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of our editorial board members. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of the senior staff.
River Alsalihi, Junior Forum Editor
Jordan Spector, Managing Forum Editor
Laurel Wang, Senior Scene Editor
Nina Giraldo, Editor-in-Chief
Avi Holzman, Editor-in-Chief
Alice Gottesman, Managing Scene Editor
Kate Theerman Rodriguez, Junior Forum Editor
Quinn Moore, Managing Newsletter Editor
Elizabeth Grieve, Senior Scene Editor
Kate Westfall, Design Editor
William Fieni-Thies, Junior Forum Editor
Lewis Rand, Managing Sports Editor
Ava Giere, Copy Editor
Sydney Tran, Head of Design
1st Place:
It is EXTREMELY unlikely that the ice would freeze around the raccoon in such a rigid rectangular prism.
Griffin Walsh, Casual Student Life reader
2nd Place: Bunny in block of piss.
Frankie Lynch, Caption Contest Enthusiast
3rd Place:
We must piss on ice-block-bunny to free him from his icy-tomb.
Frankie Lynch, Caption Contest Enthusiast
SYDNEY TRAN | HEAD OF DESIGN
SCENE
KATIE HANSON | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A Beyoncé bit, a marathon, an empty seat — the ways in which best friends meet and cement their friendship status can appear just about anywhere. While friendships are sometimes surface-level, routine, or circumstantial, best friendships are a separate tier, reserved for mutual number-one status. Maybe they’re the first person you invite to lunch, or the one you always call with news (good or bad), or the person you just miss the most when you’re separated. Regardless, that person is special in a way understandable only to the two people involved. Before a friendship enters this sacred territory, it starts with an ordinary moment.
CANDICE & HAILEY
Sophomores Candice Baek and Hailey Kim met each other early on during orientation week their first year — so early, in fact, that the other grades had yet to arrive on campus. During move-in, they both heard about a party on the South 40’s central field (known as the Swamp), where many first-years were getting to know each other.
By that point, Baek had grown tired of the generic name introduction. To her, it felt like every conversation started with an endless round of names, hometowns, and planned majors. So, to make things interesting, she vowed to her new acquaintances that
she would choose a different name for every introduction she did that night. When she met Kim, she waved and said, “Beyoncé Baek.”
“You were so adamant about it, I just went along with it,” Kim said to Baek between laughs. “There was no point in arguing with her.”
During their second semester, the two began to get closer. Their first semester was marked with shared meals in BD, spontaneous hugs, and a growing sense of trust leading into their second semester. By the spring of their first year, they had reached best friend status. After a night of gossiping over ramen post-fraternity
party, each saw the other as their best friend. It helps that the two share a dedication to spontaneity. They do everything from eating at Waffle House to crossing off their bucket list items, like watching “Single’s Inferno,” making a TikTok compilation of their friendship with clips from every year of college, and playing the “Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza” card game. Oftentimes, it’s just the two of them, doing these random activities and catching up.
“We have different sets of friends, but we always end up coming back to each other to hang out and tell each other everything,” Baek said. “We don’t have to see each other every day to maintain our friendship.”
And yes, Kim still has Baek’s contact in her phone as “Beyoncé.”
WYATT & VANCE
“This’ll work,” thenfirst-year Wyatt Fox thought when he plopped his gallon-sized water bottle on the desk and sat down next to fellow firstyear Vance Yanney on the first day of College Writing last spring. Quickly, the two hit it off, chatting easily and leading the class’s “fun, bubbly” dynamic.
“There was something special in that classroom,” Fox said. “What you hear about College Writing is that those classrooms can be so sterile. But we got a good community out of that classroom, and that set the tone for our friendship.”
Fox credits their shared outgoing nature and enthusiasm for talking to strangers as reasons for their initial friendship. They like to “beep bop off each other,” while doing shared activities, like exercising together. Yanney points to their mutual athleticism as another major cornerstone of their friendship.
Last year, Fox called Yanney on a Wednesday with an extraordinary request: asking to run the St. Louis Marathon that very Saturday after WILD. Yanney said yes.
They did a two-mile “shakeout run” at the gym a few nights before. Yanney gave Fox a blue
Adidas shirt and a pair of racing shoes (a few sizes too small for Fox), which he still has. During the race, Yanney, a competitive runner, ran the first few miles with Fox before moving ahead. He then napped on the grass by the finish line and waited for Fox. Fox finished the marathon and upheld their shared promise. Yanney looks at the race as their “defining moment.”
“He’s the only person that I could possibly think of in my entire life that I know that you could call three days before the marathon, ask if they want to run the marathon no training, [and] they would say yes, and follow through,” Fox said. “We did it.”
The race represents their shared commitment to “finishing what you start” and upholding promises, per Yanney. From the race to now and everything in between, Fox looks at Yanney as an exemplar of being respectful, passionate, and hard working. The two call themselves “serial hacky sackers” and “pool sharks” (a meme-inspired term for their dedication to playing pool). When there’s a day they spend without each other, they right their wrong before the day ends.
“It gets to the point where if I haven’t seen him all day, at 8 or 9 p.m. at
night, I’ll call him or he’ll call me,” Yanney said. “We’ll just talk for 30 minutes to an hour about the day or if anything crazy happened.”
The funny thing is that even with all their shared values — communication, focus on family, spirituality, work ethic — they have almost no overlap in media consumption. They have a joke that if one of them has seen a movie, the other certainly has not. They even have a playlist, called “Cultural Overlap,” with songs that they both like and know. The seemingly random playlist ranges from the Spanish version of “Hotel California” to Nelly’s “Just a Dream.” The playlist’s length? Six songs.
“We have built our cultural overlap brick by brick,” Fox said. “We eventually made a very little village, one house, no church. No Irish Pub.” Yanney chimed in: “A tiny two-shelf library!”
Vibrant colors, exciting acts, and lively music will soon light up the stage at Edison Theater this Friday (Jan. 31) and Saturday (Feb. 1) when students take center stage for the Lunar New Year Festival (LNYF), a yearly celebration of East Asian and Southeast Asian cultures.
The LNYF team is composed of a 23-person Board of Executives and an even larger 150-person performance team. This year’s theme — “Interwoven” — is a nod to the Year of the Snake.
“What we really want this to represent is bringing in people from all different backgrounds, interweaving together as a part of a community,” Francisco said. Months of preparation and rehearsals will pay off during three two-hour shows in Edison Theater.
“You guys get to see our one weekend of show. But for us, planning for the show starts right after the show ends. Starting from May all the way through the summer until our show in January or February, we’re constantly working on it,” senior and Executive Director Emily Shen said.
LNYF showcases 15 total acts, including three new to this year’s show: Vietnamese Fan, Chinese Umbrella, and Chinese Contemporary. The show combines dance, percussion, and trick acts. Other notable performances include Samulnori standing drums, Taekwondo, and Tinikling dance.
“We decided to do Chinese Umbrella just because we wanted to try and showcase a different style of Chinese dance,” Shen said, adding that because it is her last year, she wanted to try something new.
Seniors Vivian Nguyen and Tietchan Dang — Vietnamese Fan choreographers — began their process this past summer by researching music, formations, and choreography.
Vietnamese Fan is a four-minute dance routine performed by eight dancers, and highlights Vietnamese culture through costumes, accessories, and unique movements.
“We are excited to showcase a different part of our culture than what people usually think of Vietnamese culture as,” Nguyen said.
Different from the Lotus Dance — another act highlighting Vietnamese culture — Vietnamese Fan places a larger emphasis on showcasing each dancer independently, as opposed to a group performance. Audience members can expect to see intricate tricks woven throughout the performance, such as fan-tosses, jumps, and fan-kicks.
“In this piece, we really wanted to highlight each individual dancer and their moves. The dancer is able to create the picture themselves,” Dang said.
During costume design, Nguyen and Dang intentionally diverged from the Ao Dai, a traditional Vietnamese dress. Instead, Nguyen and Dang chose the Ao Yem, a distinct traditional Vietnamese garment, and selected a jade color for the shirt to symbolize the Year of the Snake.
“We wanted to let everyone know that there is more to ... Vietnamese garments than just Ao Dais,” Nguyen said. “We decided to go a different route to showcase a different side of Vietnamese culture.
Since it’s not the traditional garment, it’s something that maybe a lot of people haven’t
seen before,” Dang said.
Nguyen and Dang hope that audiences will leave their dance with better exposure to Vietnamese culture and that the dance will spark an interest in learning more about it.
“I think it is valuable for people to start getting more interested in Vietnamese culture, even more than just the music,” Nguyen said.
LNYF also features acts such as Lion Dance, which senior Matthew Du has been a part of since his first year, progressing to choreographer during his junior year and the production’s Art Director his senior year.
“The Lion Dance was a connection to my culture. I think that was one main thing that really drew me to it. It is very exciting, very radiant,” Du said. “I think being with other people who also feel the
same way about the dance, and how it connects to their own culture, is something that's been important to me.”
First-year Annie Zhao is performing in Chinese Umbrella, and while she remembers the auditions as “pretty nerve-wracking at first,” the community that Du described is one of the reasons she decided to join LNYF.
“We're there to celebrate Lunar New Year and showcase each particular dance form … It's very welcoming, and everyone's there just to have fun,” Zhao said.
Audience members who are interested in trying the artforms they saw on stage may have a chance later in the semester to attend workshops based on the show’s acts.
“We want to really involve the community, involve people who might not necessarily
have a background in dance or performance,” Francisco said.
Attended by WashU community members and St. Louisans alike, LNYF supports a different charity with show proceeds each year. This year, all profits from ticket and merchandise sales are going to St. Louis Queer Support and Healing (SQSH).
“[LNYF] is a great way for us to not only connect back to our heritage as performers, and be able to showcase that to the WashU community, but also connect with the greater St. Louis community,” Shen said.
The show opens Friday at 7 p.m. and runs through Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
You can purchase tickets via this link or by visiting the box office at Edison Theater.
and Atom!’:
Over the past few weeks, articles and reports have been published about this month’s “planetary alignment.” This celestial event is at its peak this week, and can be seen from WashU’s Crow Observatory, weather permitting.
“Alignment” is technically the correct term for what is happening this month, but not the way you might imagine it. The term evokes an image of all eight planets of the solar system lined up like ducks in a row. The image of celestial objects forming a straight line is actually called a “syzygy” (said like “si-zuh-gee” — and very fun to say aloud). While it’s exciting to imagine, the real thing looks quite different.
Here’s what’s really happening: Throughout the rest of January until midFebruary, there will be a “planet parade” in the sky across North America. Six different planets, along with Earth, will lie on the same side of the sun, making all six observable in the night sky simultaneously.
Four planets — Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn — will shine bright enough to be visible with the naked eye, while the other two — Uranus and Neptune — will be much dimmer and only visible using powerful telescopes. Although WashU’s oncampus telescope may be too old to clearly show planets like Neptune and Uranus, it offers the community a chance to view the closer planets in detail.
Senior Jordan Mackie, the manager of Crow Observatory, encouraged students, staff, and members of the public to come view this astronomical event using the University’s 165-year-old telescope.
“[The observatory] is for everyone. The whole idea is to share how fascinating and amazing the night sky is with other people,” Mackie said. “We’re one of few public observatories within a hundred-mile radius, so it’s really important that Crow exists, but it’s not often talked about.”
Mackie’s first visit to the observatory was accidental. “The way I actually found Crow [Observatory] was after taking a chem exam downstairs. It went horribly. I wandered around and climbed the stairs until I found myself there,” she said. “It became a place to relax, learn some things, and put life in perspective,” Mackie said.
A cold winter and the beginning of a new semester can be a stressful time for WashU students. But events like this month’s planetary parade are important reminders to pause for a moment and simply look up.
Dancers from the Chinese Fan performance rehearse for the 2025 LNYF show.
ISABELLA DIAZ-MIRA | PHOTO EDITOR
Performers continue to rehearse Lion Dance rehearse for the 2025 LNYF show.
ISABELLA DIAZ-MIRA | PHOTO EDITOR
More dancers from the Chinese Fan performance rehearse for the 2025 LNYF show.
ISABELLA DIAZ-MIRA | PHOTO EDITOR
SPORTS
Women’s basketball turns conference form around, beating Rochester and Emory
After starting the season with a record of 1-2 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play, which saw the Bears fall from No. 13 to unranked in Division III standings, the WashU women’s basketball team fought for two straight conference victories this past weekend. On Jan. 24, the Bears defeated the University of Rochester 86-76, and two days later, they traveled down to Atlanta, beating Emory University 67-56. WashU is now 3-2 in UAA play as they reach the halfway point of their two-month stretch of consecutive conference games.
Graduate student Jessica Brooks described the two big wins as “a turning point” in the Bears season.
“I think it was definitely a turning point … You know, being WashU, everyone wants to beat WashU no matter the sport, no matter the competition,” she said. “So I think we kind of made it a point that we weren’t going to keep this losing streak going.” Against Rochester, the Bears displayed clinical shooting and strong defensive skills. The game was characterized by a strong first quarter, where WashU scored 39 of their 86 points.
After the game’s first points, scored by the Yellowjackets, the Bears grabbed the lead and never trailed once the rest of the game. While Rochester also enjoyed a high-scoring first quarter with 27 points, they were never able to significantly cut into the advantage the Bears built.
Head Coach Lisa Stone praised her team’s initiative from the very start.
“We just really had good pace, a great energy from the jump,” she said. “Defensively, we were locked in, and we’ve had a really good week of practice … That’s [the] best quarter of the year by far.”
While the Yellowjackets closed the scoreline down
to a difference of seven in the fourth quarter, the Bears were able to not let their lead get any smaller than that. Sophomore center Lexy Harris led WashU in scoring with 21 points as well as in rebounds with 11, a statistic the Bears controlled 38-23. WashU’s defense limited Rochester to a field-goal percentage of 37.3%.
“I thought we did a good job of knowing our personnel and trying to make them do something they didn’t want to do, but [Rochester’s] a very wellcoached team, and they hung around and threw a little pressure on us to play the game and try to make it close,” Stone said. “But we had enough.”
Two days later in Atlanta, the Bears had to fight a more closely contested battle that featured 15 lead changes. In the first half, neither team was able to extend their lead by more than five points, but the Bears went into halftime up 27-26.
“I think at halftime, Coach Stone came in and told us we had 13 turnovers, which is ridiculous and … we just can’t win games having that many turnovers,” Brooks said about the team’s first-half performance. “So I think that stat was a rude awakening, but a very honest one that we knew we could do a much better job at taking care of the ball, taking great shots.”
Going into the third quarter, the Bears took that next step. WashU began to establish a significant advantage, with two free throws from sophomore guard Alyssa Hughes to put the team up by nine points. However, by the end of the quarter, the Emory Eagles clawed back to finish even at 50-50. A pivotal fourth quarter started closely, with both teams trading points back and forth.
But with a little under four minutes remaining in the game, the Bears responded with a 9-0 run to
see the game out. Capped off by a converted free throw by sophomore guard Catherine Goodwin, the team finished the game at 67-56, grinding out a big win.
“We just really, really defended and rebounded well. It was really fun to watch, to close out a game [...] in the style and the way we did it,” Stone said about the win. “I mean, we had a lot of different people doing great things.”
With 19 points, Harris shared the lead in scoring for the Bears with Brooks. Brooks and junior forward Nailah McBeth combined for 33 rebounds, and while neither team had the most productive day offensively — with both teams shooting under 40% from the field — the Bears scored 36 points in the paint to the Eagles’ 24.
“I’ve never met a leader like Jessica Brooks. She leads on the court, leads off the court. She’s all-in as a fifth-year senior. It’s really impressive,” Stone said. “And Lexy draws a lot of attention and stays pretty level-headed. She gets doubled- and triple-teamed a lot of times.”
After this away conference trip, the Bears return home, looking to build further momentum in another duo of UAA games. They will take on Brandeis University on Jan. 31 in the annual HardyStrong game.
Two days later on Feb 2, they’ll take on New York University for National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Looking ahead, Brooks and the team remain focused on approaching their challenges one at a time.
“We don’t want to look too far ahead to postseason or anything like that, because we have to take care of Brandeis,” Brooks said. “After we take care of Brandeis, we’ll take care of NYU … and I think everyone has that mentality of, ‘It’s one practice at a time, one possession at a time.’”
The No. 6 WashU men’s basketball team traveled along the East Coast this past weekend, beating the University of Rochester 99-82 on Jan. 24 and then No. 2 Emory University 81-63 on Jan 26. The win over the Emory Eagles marks the first victory for the Bears against a Top 10 team this season. The Bears are now on a fourgame winning streak and improve to a record of 14-2 overall and 7-1 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play.
“We’re excited about getting two really quality road wins,” head coach Pat Juckem said. “It’s tough to win games in UAA, and in particular on the road, so that requires a great focus and toughness.”
The road trip this past
Grudzinksi wrote in a statement to Student Life.
“Down the stretch, our focus was on defending without fouling, staying disciplined, and making sure we closed the game the right way.”
Grudzinksi, who set a new season high with 20 points — seven more than his previous high-score this season set on Jan. 4 — brought WashU’s lead back up to 20 with a dunk with just over two minutes left in the game.
“First half was slow for me offensively. I was also playing on two early fouls,” Grudzinksi wrote. “It was when my teammates and coaches started signaling for me to shoot the ball, that changed my mindset — I started looking at the basket first. In the second half, the court opened up a lot more in transition, and the confidence from my team-
— it was any man’s game.
“We withstood the early punches [Emory] threw, and hung in there and assimilated to the pace of the game,” Juckem said. “[Emory is] physical, and they’re a terrific rebounding team, and so if you don’t meet their physicality, you know you’re in trouble.”
In the second half, WashU outplayed Emory, amassing more steals and rebounds. With less than seven minutes left in the game, the Bears led 59-55 and went on to a 12-0 run.
“We only have a few home games left, so I would just encourage our Washington community to come on out and support [our] teams.”
weekend demanded a great deal of travel time, as the trip spanned over 2,000 miles.
“Big picture, [we’re] pleased with not only the wins, but really the quality of play,” Juckem said. “I thought we executed our plan pretty well in both games, a variety of contributions from across our players.”
Throughout the Rochester game, WashU led from start to finish, a lead that went up to 20 points twice in the second half. However, with six minutes left in the game, the Bears’ lead decreased to 10, forcing Juckem to call a timeout to tell the team to stop fouling.
“The biggest issue was fouling — that’s what kept them in the game for most of the night,” junior Will
mates and coaches really got me going.”
Grudzinski finished the game with a field-goal percentage of 70 and a three-point percentage of 75. Senior Hayden Doyle matched his season high score of points scored — which was set on Jan. 19 against Carnegie Mellon University — with 26 points in 32 minutes.
During the Rochester game, junior Yogi Oliff checked in for the first time since December, now fully recovered from a fractured hand. Despite only being cleared for one practice before the four-day road trip, Oliff played 16 minutes against Rochester and 22 minutes against Emory, scoring a total of 15 points this weekend.
“I think [that] anytime I get to play, I’m very happy — but especially when [coming] back from an injury [spending] time on the sideline,” Oliff said. “It’s just really fun being on the court and competing with my teammates.”
In Sunday’s game at Emory, the Bears and the Eagles were neck-andneck for the majority of the game. Going into halftime, the Bears were up 36-33
“I think at the end of the day, it came down to defensive stops,” Oliff said. “We just got stop after stop.” Oliff also stressed that both on and off the court, every player played a part in this weekend’s wins. For example, first-year Connor May contributed off of the bench in Atlanta, with 21 points and 13 rebounds — new personal season high scores — in 29 minutes.
The Bears will face Brandeis University and No. 6 New York University at the Field House on Jan. 31 and Feb. 2, respectively.
“Like in tennis, it’s really important to hold your serve — it’s really important to get [our] home win,” Oliff said. “We take a lot of pride in winning at home … When [we’re] able to be at home … [we] have to really take advantage of that.”
While every home game is important to win, Friday’s game against Brandeis will recognize the life and legacy of Justin Hardy, a WashU student who played with Stage 4 stomach cancer before passing away in May of 2022. This year’s game will be especially important, as it will be the last HardyStrong game with WashU players who were Hardy’s teammates.
“We only have a few home games left, so I would just encourage our Washington community to come on out and support [the men’s and women’s basketball] teams,” Juckem said.
CHRISTIAN KIM JUNIOR SPORTS EDITOR
ELLA GIERE | CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
ANNA CALVO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
No. 1 women’s and No. 21 men’s track and field notches seven Top 3 finishes at 2025 Bob Teel Invitational
LEWIS
The No. 1 women’s and No. 21 men’s WashU track and field team notched seven top-three finishes against Division I and Division II competition at the 2025 Missouri Bob Teel Invitational on Jan. 25.
The meet — hosted by the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri — consisted mainly of D-I and D-II schools, such as D-I Mizzou, University of Memphis, and Eastern Illinois University, and D-II schools like Missouri Southern State University.
Competing against high-caliber programs pushed the squad to put up nationally impressive performances, according to junior George Bourdier.
“It was pretty mindblowing just to see some of the caliber they’ve got of athletes,” he said. “The other guys provided a high level of competition for us that we were able to rise to the occasion. We had some really big performances that I think were pushed out of us by the level of competition we experienced there.”
No. 1 WashU women’s team
Senior Ebun Opata led the Bears, winning the high triple jump with a 12.54-meter jump. Her
performance the ninth-furthest jump in Division III history. Opata also found success in the long jump, jumping 5.62 meters for second place — the 10thfurthest mark in D-III this season.
In the pole vault, senior Yasmin Ruff placed first with a jump of 3.95 meters, her best so far this season and the second-highest mark in D-III. In the field events, junior Jenae Bothe also found the podium in the shot-put, finishing third with a 14.25-meter throw.
On the track, WashU’s depth was on full display. Junior Jasmine Wright placed fifth in the 60-meter run, with less than a hundredth of a second separating the Top 4 finishers. In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Lauren Gay placed eighth with a time of 9.16 seconds, the ninth-fastest time so far this season nationally.
The Bears also found success in the distance events. Senior Izzy Gorton and sophomore Caroline Echols placed third and fifth respectively in the 800-meter run. Gorton’s time of 2:15.03 is currently the fifth-fastest in D-III, and Echols’ 2:16.18 sits at eighth on the list.
For Gorton, the result was particularly special since she had only run for two days after taking two weeks off before the meet.
“I was surprised that it went the way it did,”
she said about the race. “But I feel like when you take time off, it’s more of a mental game … It’s hard to trust yourself to be able to give the same as you could before, so I was really excited to compete.”
In the mile, junior Jillian Heth finished fifth with a time of 4:57.72, and senior Virginia Pridgen tied for seventh with a time of 4:58.15. Both times are in the Top 5 nationally.
In the last 4x400-meter relay — consisting of firstyear Hailey Weir, junior Kylie Spytek, sophomore Cate Christopher, and Gorton — the team finished fifth with the fastest time in D-III so far this season: 3:50.15.
Gorton attributed the relay’s success to the team’s depth.
“We’re just so deep,” she said. “We have so many good 400 runners. Our B-Team is great, our C-Team is great. And we always run like a bunch. We just had a really great fall [season] this year … so now it’s time to show that off.”
No. 21 WashU men’s team
Led by senior Tommaso Maiocco, the Bears swept the Top 3 spots in the men’s pole vault. Maiocco’s 5.05meter vault shattered his personal best set at last year’s NCAA Championships. Sophomore Peter Lichtenberger and Bourdier finished in second and third respectively. Lichtenberger’s 4.90-meter jump was just 0.05 meters off of his personal best set last January. First-year Zachary Duckworth rounded out the Bears’ efforts in the pole vault with a 4.15meter jump. Maiocco’s efforts place him at the second-highest mark in D-III, behind Centre College’s Logan Issacs. Lichtenberger’s mark is seventh in the nation currently.
Bourdier credited the pole vault squad’s success to their size and their training throughout the season.
“It’s really nice when we go to a meet and there’s 10 of us in total,” Bourdier said. “That’s pretty big for a vault squad, and so when you go to those meets, especially meets that are a little more high stress … you’ve got a level of comfort and confidence that I think most athletes from a smaller group won’t be able to find.”
For Bourdier, his 4.60meter jump was not his only Top 5e finish, as he also finished
fourth in the 200-meter run with a personal-best time of 22.23 seconds.
Bourdier credits his success in the 200-meter run to Stephen Fleagle, the jumps coach who also helps him train for track events and the pole vault — a unique combination of events, especially at the collegiate level.
“What I like about the team is, they’re willing to try out new things and see what works, and to try and put people in places where they could possibly succeed,” Bourdier said. “They don’t keep you in a box or confined to what you’ve been recruited for.”
In the 60-meter hurdles, first-year Liam Elliot placed sixth with a personal-best time of 8.94 seconds. In the distance events, another first-year had a strong showing: William Ruszkowski placed sixth in the 3,000-meter run. Junior Oliver Witt finished six seconds ahead of him, placing fifth. Ruszkowki and Witt’s times were both personal bests.
Two runners placed in the Top 10 in the 400-meter dash, with junior Carson Page and first-year Benjamin Kruger placing ninth and 10th respectively, with just 0.18 seconds separating the two. Page’s time
of 51.38 seconds was a personal best, beating his previous best time of 51.51 seconds set last February. In the final event of the night — the 4x400-meter relay — WashU’s A-Team consisting of sophomore William Frohling, junior Brandon Brazil, senior Elvin Binagi, and Kruger placed fourth just 0.24 seconds behind a team from Missouri Southern. In the 800-meter run, Frohling placed ninth with a time of 1:56.95. WashU’s mark in the 4x400 relay is currently the eighth-fastest in Division III.
WashU has four more meets before the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships and the NCAA Championships in March. Bourdier hopes to use these smaller meets to prepare for the championship meets and push himself in the pole vault and sprint events.
“My coach always says, ‘If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done. ‘You’ve got to push yourself in ways you’ve never done before and kind of [be] uncomfortable with what you’re doing until those things become comfortable,” Bourdier said.
