Tag: Hannah Langley ’21
Providence College Students Take on Hollywood
by The Cowl Editor on January 18, 2018
News
by Hannah Langley ’21
News Staff
Lights, camera, action! For four days towards the end of winter break, several students visited Hollywood, California to explore the ins and outs of the entertainment industry, exposing them to potential internship opportunities and future careers.
The trip began seven years ago as a group effort between the Office of Institutional Advancement, the Center for Career Education and Professional Development, the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Film, and Todd Slater ’97. This year, 10 Providence College students, consisting of both juniors and seniors with an interest in the film and entertainment industry, attended the trip along with Fr. Kenneth Gumbert, O.P., Ms. Patti Goff, and Mr. Paul Calle. The idea of this trip is to help PC students interested in working in Los Angeles in the future understand what opportunities are available and the realities of working in Hollywood.
The group flew out to California on Sunday, January 7 and spent the next three days visiting several sites, including Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, the set of Criminal Minds, Sunset Gower Studios, Walt Disney Studios, and the Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The PC students got to see the inner workings of these studios, including sets, famous actors, writing and filming sessions, pitches for new ideas, and the creation of advertisements. By watching and interacting, the students got a better understanding about how different parts of the entertainment industry work. Many also made connections while on the trip, including William Oser ’19.
He noted his enthusiasm saying, “I got to network with people at various studios such as Sunset Gower Studios and Sony, which allowed me to set up relationships and hopefully an internship […] this summer!”
These eye-opening and connection building experiences are exactly why Slater reached out to the school to start this program, as the trip “open[s] doors and help[s] students pursue their dreams,” according to Patti Goff, Assistant Vice President of Integrated Learning and Administration in Student Affairs.
Throughout the trip, the students and staff also got to connect with PC alumni who too had gone on this trip several years back. These alumni are now successfully working in different fields in the entertainment industry and living in Hollywood. Meeting with these recent alumni, including Tara McLaughlin ’13, now the Manager of Creative Advertising at Focus Features, a branch of Universal Studios, was a particular highlight for Goff.
She noted, “Seeing alumni of the program, taking the risk of moving to Hollywood and working in entertainment, and knowing the PC in Hollywood program helped them to do that, is extremely rewarding.”
Jamie Fugere ’18 talked about how they met John Bowab, a 1950s PC graduate and director of television series such as Full House and The Cosby Show. She noted how “this trip made [her] realize how willing Providence College graduates are to helping out recent grads who are looking to start a career in the industry in L.A.”
The trip began in 2012 and plans to be continued for years to come. Goff considers the trip to be a “valuable program” for those students looking for a future career in the film or entertainment industry.
Fugere said, “It was one of the best experiences of my life, and knowing that I have made these connections has made me extremely confident in pursuing my dreams.”
Oser commented on why he loved the trip, saying, “[it] gave me the confidence that our school is looking out for the little guy or the underdog, I definitely felt support for my career on this trip.” Hopefully, one day, all of these prospective Hollywood industry workers will see their dreams fulfilled and maybe even their names in lights.
Dirigo Honor Society Organize Toy Drive
by The Cowl Editor on November 30, 2017
Campus
Student Leaders Put On Annual Santa Shop for the San Miguel School
by Hannah Langley ’21
News Staff
With the Christmas season upon us, the season of giving has begun, and the Dirigo Leadership Honors Society is promoting this Christmas spirit by hosting their seventh Annual Santa Shop program on Dec. 6.
This program is an initiative to benefit the families of the San Miguel School, an all-boys Catholic middle school in the Providence area. These boys, ranging from ages 10 to 13, come from predominantly Latino, low income families, where most parents cannot afford to buy their children presents for Christmas. For this reason, the members of the Dirigo Leadership Society and the Providence College community decided to give back by creating a toy drive.
For seven years now, PC students have contributed to the Santa Shop by donating new Christmas gifts for the boys. The Santa Shop is especially unique from other toy drives, as the Dirigo Leadership Society sets up a “toy store” on the PC campus with all the newly donated presents, allowing the parents to shop around with their sons for Christmas gifts.
Shannon Grady ’18, a member of the honor society, said that she loves this aspect of the drive, commenting, “Rather than just being given toys as a donation, the parents get the full experience of shopping for their sons for Christmas and picking out what they think their sons will like best.” Kevin O’Neill ’18, another member, noted that he loves the Santa Shop, not only “because it gives kids the opportunity to have a really exciting Christmas,” but also because it reminds the PC community that “Christmas is more than gifts [and], especially at a young age, this toy drive really does impact them.”
The drive is one of the largest events the Dirigo Leadership Honor Society takes on during the year, making it a tremendous amount of work for all those involved. Not only do the students from the society coordinate multiple fundraisers, but they also have to organize the entire event from logistics to marketing to outreach.
Delina Auciello ’18 stated that being a leader for such an important and large event takes a lot of hard work from everyone involved, especially since the members of the Dirigo Leadership Honor Society are involved in many other campus events.
She said, “I am so lucky to be in a group of such dynamic and hard-working leaders. We could not do this without each other.” Auciello stressed, however, that it is not just up to the leaders; it is the PC community that helps make it happen through their donations.
Collections for the drive will be taking place several days in the next week before winter break. The members of the Dirigo Society request that students take some time out of their day to go down the street to buy new gifts for the boys, including toys, games, sporting equipment, books, DVDs, gift cards, winter hats and gloves, or cash donations that the society will use to buy these items. For anyone who missed the bake sale and donation table in the Slavin atrium this week, the Dirigo Society will also be taking donations at the tree lighting on Slavin Lawn on Dec. 4.
Donations can also be dropped off in the Center for Orientation, Transitions & Leadership, which can be found in Slavin 106, until Dec. 4.
The Santa Shop, co-sponsored by children’s outreach and the English as a Second Language club through Campus Ministry, will take place on Dec. 6 in the Campus Ministry Center at 5:30 p.m.
Those setting up and running the program are looking for student volunteers, especially those who can speak Spanish, to help out with assisting the families by helping the parents shop for their children and wrapping gifts. Any students who want to volunteer can reach out to anyone on the Dirigo Leadership Honor Society.
PC200: Creating PC’s Next Strategic Plan
by The Cowl Editor on November 16, 2017
Campus
by Hannah Langley ’21
News Staff
With 100 years of Providence College in the past begins a new century of PC history waiting to happen. Members of the PC Strategic Planning Steering Committee have already started planning out the future by beginning PC200, an initiative with the goal of improving and developing the PC experience for future generations to come.
The committee is currently working with nearly 1,100 members of the PC community, including 300 whom are students, to create and finalize the PC200 strategic plan. According to Michael Botelho, associate vice president for financial and strategic planning, the committee is focusing on “enhancing the student experience at PC” by improving certain areas, such as affordability and inclusion, while maintaining the Dominican and liberal arts tradition of the school.
Prior to PC200, the school’s most recent strategic plan was enacted in 2011. This plan included developments to the core curriculum, accreditation for the business school by the AACSB, the completion of the Ruane Center, and a successful fundraising campaign by the Office for Institutional Diversity.
As Father Brian Shanley, O.P., stated in an email to the PC community several weeks ago, the goal for the new plan is to create “an inclusive, caring, academically stellar community” that “understand[s], enrich[es], and support[s] the College’s Catholic and Dominican heritage” in both curricular and extra-curricular ways. The PC200 plan is being designed specifically for the next 10 years at PC, but it is also, as Botelho put, “charting the course for continued success and prosperity for the next 100 years.”
The strategic plan has two main goals – to enhance the academic lifestyle of PC by giving students an accessible and affordable education that they can use to be successful in life, and to promote diversity and inclusivity within the school community.
While no clear plans have been finalized about how these goals will be put into action, the committee is working extremely hard on creating a plan that will not only benefit those at PC now, but those who will attend PC in the future. The committee has used this year for research and development, looking into improving common areas of higher learning, such as technological improvements, facility usage, and demographics. Members of the PC student body have been included in the planning through surveys and meetings.
Kevin O’Neill ’18, a member of the Student Advisory Committee, attended a meeting held by the Strategic Planning Committee earlier this year. He noted his enthusiasm about the plan’s goals, saying how he not only appreciates the plan’s focus on Dominican tradition, but also how “it appears […] there will be a large focus on supporting all students through a variety of means.” The committee is hoping for the completion and approval of the plan by the Board of Trustees in June 2018. By this time, clear actions and incentives will be established and be put into effect in the next 10 years at PC.
As previously stated, the committee is using this academic year for researching, creating goals and initiatives, and strategizing ideas that will be implemented in the future. At this time, students can participate in the PC200 strategic plan by going to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PC200 and filling out a quick five question survey that focuses on the main goals established by the committee.
With the help of PC students, faculty, staff, and alumni, the committee strives to have a successful plan for not only the next 10 years, but for the next 100 years in Friartown.
Playing Devil’s Advocate
by The Cowl Editor on October 5, 2017
Campus
by Hannah Langley ’21
News Staff
Have you ever wanted to ask the friars at Providence College a question concerning the Catholic faith or Catholic beliefs, but something stopped you? Maybe you were scared or too embarrassed; maybe you figured you already knew their answer, so it would be pointless to ask. This is the exact reason why Father Dominic Verner, O.P., and Father Bonaventure Chapman, O.P. ,began a discussion group called Devil’s Advocate.
This program, which only began several weeks ago, allows students to ask questions anonymously by placing their questions in a mailbox or sending them through email. It was originally started by Fr. Dominic as an addition to a discussion group he began last year called “Why Catholic?” He wanted to start a discussion group in which he and another friar could discuss and debate questions, but could not find the right opportunity.
While he enjoyed “Why Catholic?” he wanted, he said, “something a little more interactive.” He believes it is “very helpful to understand an argument if you can see it objected to and hear the replies and see the give and take of a debate,” which is exactly what Devil’s Advocate accomplishes. Fr. Dominic saw a chance for his idea to come to fruition with the arrival of Fr. Bonaventure at Providence College this year, and the idea of Devil’s Advocate came to life.
Devil’s Advocate is unique from other discussion groups as it allows one of the friars to answer commonly asked questions about the Catholic Church while the other friar acts as the “devil’s advocate” and refutes the claims given. These questions range from all sorts of topics, including God’s existence, evils in the world, achieving perfect happiness, and if the Jesus’ death on the cross was the best way for God to save us. As part of the Dominican tradition, Fr. Dominic and Fr. Bonaventure are open to discussing any question students may have, for, as Fr. Bonaventure so eloquently stated, “any statement we have is deep down an answer to a question.”
The week before the meeting on Sept. 25, the priests received many questions regarding the hurricanes and natural disasters that have recently devastated people all over the world. This became the main topic of their debate, answering the question, “How do we handle natural evils with the existence of God’s providence?”
The fathers flipped a coin to decide who would be the devil’s advocate, and the coin toss went to Fr. Dominic. For 10 minutes, Fr. Bonaventure debated on the behalf of Catholic belief, while Fr. Dominic argued against his reasoning. Afterwards, the two discussed the question with the group of students to get their insights on what they thought and answered any questions they might have had about the debate.
The discussion lasted about an hour, but it seemed the students who attended obtained a better awareness about God’s role in nature, and they enjoyed the debate. Brian McIntyre ’21 said the discussion was a good chance to talk to the friars, and he liked having the opportunity to have an open discussion with them about the Catholic faith.
Trevor Wakefield ’21 commented, “I like how it’s not just them lecturing about their beliefs, it’s getting their beliefs challenged and responding to them.” While this was only the second week of the program, Fr. Bonaventure and Fr. Dominic aspire for this discussion program to be, as Fr. Dominic stated, “a place [students] can come and bring their honest questions and objections to tenets of the Catholic faith.”
Devil’s Advocate takes place every Monday night at 8:15 p.m. in Slavin Center LL01. Mailboxes for the submission of questions can be found in Slavin outside the Campus Ministry meeting room (near McPhail’s) or in Campus Ministry, which can be found in the basement of St. Dominic Chapel.
The 8th Annual Friar 5k
by The Cowl Editor on September 21, 2017
Campus
Alumni, Students, Faculty, and Friends Run as One Friar Family
By Hannah Langley ’21
News Staff
It was a beautiful Saturday morning at Providence College when hundreds of students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, and family gathered early in the morning to run the Friar 5k. Standing amongst all the commotion, one could truly feel the excitement and energy in the air.
As the horn blared and the marching band began to play, signaling the start of the race, the crowd surged forward in one big wave. The sound of cheering, feet hitting the pavement, and hearts pounding filled the air, everyone united by a common goal—to finish the 3.1 mile run.
The Friar 5k began eight years ago as an initiative to help fund the National Alumni Association Scholarship, an honorary scholarship given to a select few students every year. This year, the event was sponsored by numerous organizations, including United Natural Foods, the Bentley Foundation, United Healthcare, Slam Collaborative, and Federal Hill Pizza, who provided an Italian dinner the night before the race in McPhail’s.
Starting at the front entrance of Harkin’s and ending on the Ray Treacy track, the runners and walkers were taken on a tour through, not only the city surrounding the school, but through much of campus itself. Father Brian Shanley, O.P. ’80, noted his excitement about this, saying, “This is the first time we’ve run that much through the campus…we want people to see what we’ve done.” Student volunteers and sports teams lined up along the streets to cheer people on, and many people also flooded from their residential homes to support, watch, and applaud everyone who ran past.
Since its beginning, the race has continued to grow in popularity. This year over 600 students registered, along with several hundred others, including faculty and an overwhelming number of alumni. There were alumni represented from several decades, either taking part in the run or just coming to support the school and everyone involved.
One particular couple, members of the classes of 2002 and 2003, met when they were students here. They are now happily married and have two kids, one of whom was pushed in a stroller by her mom for the whole race. They have come to the event since it began eight years ago, and when asked why they like to come, their answer was simple, “We wish we still went to school here… [it’s] our chance to reminisce.”
This desire to revisit the school and remember their past experiences at PC is why so many alumni remain involved and active in the school’s events and fundraisers, including this one.
The race was followed by a series of events on Slavin Lawn, such as a Dunkin’ Donuts game, autographed team pictures by members of the Providence College Men’s Basketball Team, an inflatable obstacle course, and refreshments all around. This fun-loving, exciting atmosphere is what has made the Friar 5k such a popular annual event during PC’s St. Dominic’s Weekend celebration.
Coach Ed Cooley, head coach of the men’s basketball team, noted, “St. Dominic’s Weekend, a lot of alums come back…I just like the energy and excitement around… it’s a common gathering where people smile.”
This overall sense of community is what struck everyone at the event and what has made people look forward to it year after year. As Fr. Shanley said, “[The race] brings together the community… there’s a bunch of alums here, students, faculty, staff… [it’s a] day to celebrate the community.”
The event was not only exciting for returning members of PC, but for freshmen as well. As hundreds of freshmen ran through the streets and on campus with their families and newly made friends, they too were aware of the strength of the community. As put by Kelly Galeota ’21, “not only [was the race] a great way to be part of the Providence College community, but to be part of the community around us…we became one.”
It is this overarching idea and feeling of unity and commonality among all the members of the race and the surrounding neighborhoods in Providence that has made the race such a fun experience. The Friar 5k continues to be an event to look forward to every year, even after graduation.