Tag: Kyle Burgess ’21
Rebuilding the Gulf: Campus Ministry Gives Back in the Big Easy
by The Cowl Editor on January 16, 2020
Campus
by Kyle Burgess ’21
News Co-Editor
This past week, eleven Providence College students had the opportunity to experience Southern Hospitality while serving the communities of New Orleans, LA during the annual NOLA Immersion Trip. The program is sponsored by Campus Ministry and allowed the volunteers, accompanied by Pamela Tremblay, campus minister director of service, immersion & social justice, and Fr. Peter Martyr Yungwirth, O.P., to aid in the continuing rebuild of the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction as well as gain an appreciation for the unique culture and people that call NOLA home.
Per Campus Ministry’s website, the primary focus of the program’s mission “is both a general response to the Gospel call to do justice and a specific response to the reality of post-Katrina New Orleans, LA. The NOLA Immersion has at its core a commitment to the dignity of the human person, lived out by accompanying our neighbors in the journey toward justice.”
Students on the NOLA trip would encounter these neighbors in many areas that were not only devastated by the hurricane, but also by government neglect. The State of Louisiana failed to provide adequate aid to residents of places like the Lower Ninth Ward due to its vast poverty, and instead bought out houses to rent to victims.
Outside aid such as Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, which broke ground in 2007, constructing new, environmentally-friendly houses inevitably backfired as well, with the structures being deemed “defective” because of electrical, plumbing, and ventilation issues.
Touring communities such as the Lower Ninth Ward gave a sense of purpose to the students’ mission and inspired them to go about their work with great enthusiasm to make a difference. Students worked to bring justice through a wide variety of projects, including house repair and construction, providing food for the homeless, sorting out clothing donations for displaced young adults, and even helping on the administrative side of outreach centers in preparing Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for managers.
Friars found every job they partook in highly rewarding as they were able to directly interact with the people they were serving. The volunteers quickly grew on the residents in the shelters they worked at, eventually greeting each other regularly on a first-name basis and conveying shared interests in the other’s life story. Additionally, Friars were able to work alongside members of other outreach programs that were operating in other boroughs of New Orleans such as the St. Bernard Projects.
When not serving in the Harry Thompson Center or constructing homes, these Friars could be found taking in all the sights and experiences that the city had to offer. Highlights of these side trips include the Whitney Plantation, Joan of Arc Parade, the Katrina National Memorial Museum, and the Studio Be Art Gallery.
Students even got the chance to watch former Friar Kris Dunn ’16 and the Chicago Bulls take on the hometown New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. A group dinner of traditional New Orleans cuisine followed, and students were treated to local fare of jambalaya and King Cake while meeting with PC alumni from the area.
“The faith and sense of community that we were welcomed into was incredible,” recalled Caitlin Gleeson ’22. “We all learned a lot about New Orleans that we did not know before we came here. I never realized the lack of relief with its ties to government corruption and to continued racism in the state, but we could still see the impacts of our work in helping to serve others.” For those who took part on the trip, the experiences they brought back to Friartown are ones they will not soon forget.
Bursting the PC Bubble: Wildfires Engulf Australia
by The Cowl Editor on January 16, 2020
National and Global News
Kyle Burgess ’21
News Co-Editor
With the start of the new decade, Australia continues to find itself under siege from a large swath of wildfires that continue to spread destruction across the country. The fires originally broke out in July of 2019, however the Australian government has struggled to contain the blazes despite outside assistance from American volunteers.
A total of 28 people have already died as a result of the fires and over 3,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged in the state of New South Wales (NSW) alone, making it the place that has been hit the hardest since the fires’ onset.
Many have cited extreme heat, dry-lightning, and climate change as causes for the flames that continue to envelop bushland, wooded areas, and national parks like the Blue Mountains. Additionally, NSW has charged 24 people for deliberately setting bushfires and another 183 for fire-related offenses since this past November.
It does not help that Australia is also simultaneously suffering from one of its worst droughts in history. A recent heatwave swept the country in December with some areas registering temperatures north of 104 degrees fahrenheit.
Per CNN, “Some of Australia’s largest cities have also been affected, including Melbourne and Sydney—where fires have damaged homes in the outer suburbs and thick plumes of smoke have blanketed the urban center. Earlier in December, the smoke was so bad in Sydney that air quality measured 11 times the “hazardous” level. These fires come in all shapes and sizes, enveloping isolated buildings and neighborhoods, or entire country sides.
The worst wildfire incident on record in the country remains the 2009 Black Saturday Fires in Victoria in which 173 people were killed. However, with firefighters continuing to experience difficulty in battling the flames and drier conditions expected, further fatalities and destruction are not impossible.
To Reverend Wilson Miscamble, C.S.C., these natural disasters have a personal significance. Reverend Miscamble is from Brisbane, and while his city and family have not been directly threatened by the fires, he recalled that they were on everyone’s minds while he was back home for the holidays. “The attention of all Australians was focused on the fires and the destruction they have caused. The current fires have now caused the deaths of around 30 people, including a number of the courageous firefighters battling these blazes. Additionally, there has been the loss of much livestock, wildlife, and property. Both Sydney and Melbourne (Australia’s two largest cities) have suffered from serious smoke haze.”
Despite the destruction, Reverend Miscamble cited the courage of those who chose to battle the flames. “In the midst of the tragedy of these fires what struck me most was the resilience of the Australians affected, as well as the determination of the firefighters, most of whom are volunteers, in their efforts. There was also appreciation for the international support, including firefighters coming from the U.S., to assist our local efforts.”
Aid has also poured in from Jeff Bezos who has pledged to donate $690,000 to combat the spread of the fires, as well as Brighton and Hove Albion FC starting goalkeeper Mat Ryan, who has vowed to donate $500 for every save made by a Barclay’s Premier League goalkeeper this past weekend. As the summer drags on in the Land Down Under, the Australian government will look to new strategies in quelling the flames before more magnified damage can be inflicted.
Featured Friar: Maggie McKenna ’20
by The Cowl Editor on December 5, 2019
Campus
by Kyle Burgess ’21
News Co-Editor
According to ESPN, the odds of making a half-court shot on a basketball court are roughly one in 100. However, for Maggie McKenna ’20, all it took to be that one was her closest friends, her lucky sweater, and a dream.
The road to this moment began five years ago and almost 1250 miles away in her hometown of Orlando, FL. Having seen her older brother leave the Sunshine State to attend Syracuse University, McKenna wanted to follow in his footsteps to attend college out-of-state and set her sights on universities in the Northeast. She credits her father as the one who put Providence College on her radar, as he believed that her decision to enroll there would be based on the men’s hockey team’s success against Boston University for the championship title in 2015; the rest was history.
“In addition to the luck and destiny of the hockey team’s success, I truly fell in love with PC after experiencing its culture of family, Dominican spirit, and all-encompassing curriculum at Accepted Students Day,” McKenna added. “In the end, I chose PC because it was the only place that felt like home despite being over 1,000 miles from my hometown.”
Since then, McKenna has made the most of her experience at her home away from home. She is extensively involved in many organizations such as Admissions Ambassadors, freshman orientation staff, and women’s club basketball. McKenna is also a member of the liberal arts honors program and has travelled with fellow honors program students to the settings of her DWC books like Florence, Italy.
Aside from her club basketball commitments, McKenna boasts a growing collection of intramural t-shirts, already having won four this semester alone. Additionally, McKenna feels fortunate to have made so many friendships in her four years at Friartown and take in all it has to offer. “Some of my favorite PC memories include living on second floor Ray as a freshman, finding my accounting study squad as a sophomore, going to the Big East Tournament at the Garden as a junior, and living on Eaton Street with my six best friends as a senior.”
McKenna plans to spend big this holiday season with her recent winnings. “The first thing I’m spending my $5,000 on is Christmas presents for all my family and friends. The rest is going into my postgrad savings account.”
When asked about potential strategies for future shot-takers, McKenna responded, “Wear your lucky sweater, imagine you’re shooting anywhere but the Dunk, bring all your best friends to cheer you on (it helps a lot with the nerves), and, most of all, believe in yourself!”
While reflecting on her PC experience, she wished to offer underclassmen some sage advice to get the best out of their own four years. “My best pieces of advice for underclassman are to be patient and understand that while the four years can sometimes be tough (especially academically), as years go on everything gets so much better—friends, memories, possibilities, etc. I encourage all underclassmen to get involved in as much as you can and soak up every last experience as it goes by faster than you could imagine. “
Following her graduation from PC this May, McKenna plans to travel the world as well as her home state of Florida while preparing for her CPA exam. She will then trade in balmy beach days for northeastern winters once again when she moves to the tri-state area with her PC roommates in anticipation of working as a public accountant at RSM International.
Bursting the PC Bubble: Arctic Blast
by The Cowl Editor on November 14, 2019
National and Global News
by Kyle Burgess ’21
News Co-Editor
The weather outside is looking rather frightful for many east coast residents as they brace for an Arctic blast set to shatter nearly 300 cold temperature records, providing a winter wonderland atmosphere two weeks before Thanksgiving arrives.
The coldest winds of the season are to blame for this dramatic drop in temperature, rolling across the Great Plains and towards the Atlantic Ocean. These winds are causing sub-zero readings in Minnesota and temperatures barely reaching the teens in Texas before moving on to bombard New England, the Deep South, and everywhere in-between.
In anticipation of the freeze, CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward warned that some places in the East could experience temperatures on Wednesday afternoon up to 30 degrees below average. The National Weather Service echoed such sentiments, claiming that there was “potential for widespread record cold morning low temperatures and record low afternoon high temperatures” across the central and eastern United States.
Wintry conditions have already begun to take their toll in several states, like a fatal car crash in Osage County, KS that was the result of a driver losing control of their vehicle due to the icy highway and colliding head-on with an SUV, killing an infant and injuring three others. Missouri has also experienced its fair share of slip and slide conditions, leading to dozens of crashes.
Meanwhile, air traffic has been hit just as hard, with NBC reporting that around 2,000 flights at O’Hare International Airport had been delayed or canceled as of Monday afternoon with one plane sliding off a runway. Incoming flights experienced an average of six hours delayed with passengers for outgoing flights having to wait as long as 16 hours.
It just so happens that PC found itself in the bullseye of the storm’s path, with the heaviest snowfall expected in New England and the Great Lakes region as of Monday evening. Some locations were told to prepare for more than a foot of snow, although this was not entirely unexpected. Enhanced lake-effect snow was set to produce higher snow totals as freezing and windy conditions form over a not-so-cold lake, providing the perfect source for snowfall.
Bursting the PC Bubble: California Wildfires Continue to Run Rampant
by The Cowl Editor on October 31, 2019
National and Global News
by Kyle Burgess ’21
News Staff
Thousands of California residents have found themselves on the move as sweeping wildfires continue to engulf both ends of the state. This recent string of wildfires comes after a relatively quiet year in which no major wildfires occurred from May through mid-September, the typical California wildfire-causing dry season.
The tinder box conditions that breed such fires are the result of extremely dry summers that turn trees and leaves into fuel as well as strong winds which spread the fires across entire forests at a rapid pace. This process has been exacerbated by historically-strong winds throughout California as well as human involvement, with fallen power lines possibly to blame for two of the most recent fires.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) admitted that power lines may have started two wildfires over the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area, causing widespread electrical blackouts to prevent their spread by further fallen power lines in the face of high winds.
PG&E also reported to state regulators that these fires “match blazes that destroyed a tennis club and forced evacuations in Lafayette, about 20 miles east of San Francisco.”
Per CNBC, “at least 900,000 power customers…were in the dark at the height of the latest planned blackout, nearly all of them in PG&E’s territory in northern and central California.” Less than half of these customers had their services restored by this past Monday, with some 1.5 million people in 29 counties expected to experience their own blackouts in anticipation of strong winds.
At the same time, the Kincade Fire in Northern California continued to spread, covering a new total of 75,000 acres with firemen only able to contain 15 percent of the blaze. One spokesperson for Cal Fire, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, claimed that it would take “weeks, if not months” to battle back the flames.
Some 180,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes in anticipation of Kincade’s flames, with the roads around Santa Rosa, CA packed bumper to bumper with cars trying to flee. High winds bringing gusts of more than 102 mph have fanned destruction across Sonoma, as 3,000 people continue to battle the blaze that has already destroyed nearly 400 structures, including the 150-year-old Soda Rock Winery.
The fires’ rapid pace and direction is difficult to predict, with some residents getting short or even limited notice of their paths. One BBC correspondent who quickly found himself in the way of The Tick Fire near Santa Clarita noted, that “My partner was in the house and had just seconds to get out, to pick up the dog, throw the dog in the car—gently—just get out. It happened that quickly and all our neighbors did exactly the same thing.”
Meanwhile, another fire threatens to engulf the famous Getty Center just outside of Los Angeles. The Getty Fire has so far covered 618 acres and destroyed eight structures, according to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The blaze, which was only 5 percent contained, also partially destroyed six other structures. An investigation into possible causes of the fire are currently underway. Arson has not been ruled out.
In addition to the Getty Center itself, many high-end homes in the Los Angeles area are at risk to the wide-sweeping flames, prompting further evacuations. Celebrities such as LeBron James were evacuated from their houses along with students of Mount Saint Mary’s University near UCLA.
As firefighters continue to slowly keep the blazes under control across the state, the destruction left in the fires’ wakes has prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state-wide emergency as 43 of California’s 58 counties are under “red flag” warnings with ideal conditions for the flames to spread.
photo courtesy of flickr.com
Bursting the PC Bubble: Barcelona Strike and its Impacts on PC Students Abroad
by The Cowl Editor on October 24, 2019
National and Global News
by Kyle Burgess ’21
News Co-Editor
The city of Barcelona, Spain erupted into flames on Friday night as local protestors responded to the recent arrests of pro-independence movement leaders by the Spanish government.
Participants in the riots did more than simply voice their displeasure at their current political situation, resorting to burning garbage bins and hurling objects at police forces long into the evening to ensure that they were heard and seen.
Many of these protestors had been out demonstrating since Monday after nine politicians were handed prison sentences spanning nine to 13 years for their involvement in a similar independence movement two years ago.
Former Vice President of Catalonia Oriol Junqueras received the longest sentence of 13 years in addition to being banned from public office for the same length of time under charges of “sedition and misuse of public funds.”
Catalonia itself, the region of Spain in which Barcelona is located, shares a long and complicated history with the central Spanish government in Madrid. The 7.5 million people who call the region home identify with a different cultural background than their Spanish counterparts, speak their own language called Catalan, and at one point were even their own separate kingdom.
This all changed, however, when the Queen of Aragon gave her hand in marriage to the count of Barcelona back in the 12th century, bringing about the Kingdom of Aragon.
The name “Aragon” would be familiar to American history students as King Ferdinand, one of the chief patrons of Christopher Columbus’ famous 1492 voyage along with his wife, Isabella, came from this region as well.
The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella also involved a political marriage of Aragon/Catalonia into Castile to form the modern country of Spain. Since then, however, Catalonia has felt it is constantly on the short end of the stick, bearing heavy tax burdens to this day because of the wealth that Barcelona brings in as a port city.
Such financial impositions were only compounded during the reign of dictator Francisco Franco from 1939-1975 in which the region lost the special autonomy it had enjoyed since the days of Columbus, although this was restored following his death.
Now, Catalans feel that the same oppression they experienced under Franco has returned in Madrid and are looking for a way out of their union with Spain altogether.
The result was a region-wide referendum back in 2017 with the majority of Catalans voting to declare independence that October. Their declaration was promptly nullified by the Madrid government who sent in riot squads to qualm street protestors and restore order, a strategy they mirrored this past Friday.
The images of burning dumpsters and police shooting tear gas into crowds of protestors have stirred much attention across the globe towards the Catalan independence movement, with local and national politicians addressing an international press.
“This cannot continue. Barcelona does not deserve it,” Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau told reporters in reference to the nearly 500 injuries and 150 arrests made over the course of the week.
At the same time, the Spanish government has insisted that the Catalan regional government make stronger efforts in condemning the riots. Spanish Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska claimed, “We have gone five days in which there has not been a firm condemnation of violence.”
Catalan Interior Chief Miquel Buch has asserted that “the images of organized violence during the night in Barcelona have overshadowed the half a million people who demonstrated in a peaceful and civic manner to show they rejected the verdict [against independence].”
Back home in Friartown, the Center for Global Education along with Providence College’s Office of Public Safety is adhering to the constructive advice provided by the U.S. Department of State to ensure the well-being of all 260 PC students studying abroad both in Barcelona and across the globe in other hot spots such as Santiago, Chile and Quito, Ecuador.
They have worked directly with study abroad programs such as CEA, CIEE, and IES in permitting students to miss class without being penalized should they feel uncomfortable travelling in the current environment. Students are also constantly updated with maps of the city showing where demonstrations are set to take place in addition to being placed on a “call list” through which the U.S. embassy can provide important updates as needed.
“It was a challenging 96 hours,” Dean of Global Education Joe Stanley and Assistant Dean of Global Education Grace Cleary admitted in referring to the developing outbreaks Friday, “but we have strong health and safety policies in place. Most of the demonstrations have been peaceful with fringe groups burning dumpsters and causing trouble, but we have been in constant contact with stakeholders such as the Office of Public Safety, General Counsel, Public Affairs and Communications, Dean of Students, and our academic centers abroad. We also rely on information from our partners overseas, as well as the Department of State and the Overseas Security Advisory Council.”
“I do feel safe here as most of the protests have been nonviolent,” explained Jeff McCormack ’21, who is currently studying abroad in Barcelona. “The school has been in contact with us students here in Barcelona and has contacted our families as well. We are constantly being updated by our program, the U.S. embassy, and PC as to what demonstrations are occurring.”
In addition to disrupting the regular morning commute for many Barcelona natives and PC students alike, these protests have also directly impacted the highly-anticipated El Clasico showdown between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, with league officials postponing the game until the situation between Catalonia and Madrid is resolved.
“Striving to Go Backwards”: History Department Hosts Dr. Paul Gilje in Book Discussion
by The Cowl Editor on October 10, 2019
Campus
Nicholas Crenshaw ’20/thecowl
by Kyle Burgess ’21
The Providence College history department was fortunate enough to host a very special guest for lunch this past Friday, October 4 at an informal question-and-answer session held for students and staff of the department in the Center for Teaching Excellence in Feinstein Academic Center.
Dr. Paul Gilje, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and an alumnus of nearby Brown University for graduate studies, was the George Lynn Cross Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Oklahoma. His areas of expertise include the American Revolution and the dawn of the American republic, publishing multiple award-winning books which span both eras.
Now retired from his classroom obligations, Gilje is free to explore one of his favorite periods of American history, the presidential election of 1800, or as it referred to by historians, “The Revolution of 1800.”
The significance of this election in particular was its novelty in the peaceful transition of power between two opposing political parties as John Adams’ Federalists handed the White House over to Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republicans.
However, unlike most books that focus ad nauseum on the political aspect of this unprecedented change, Gilje is looking to paint a different picture from the perspective in what he refers to as “little-shot” history.
“Classroom textbooks are the result of historians in the late 19th century picking and choosing what they wanted to write about and focus on,” Gilje explained. “That’s what I like to call ‘big-shot’ history. My research revolves around people who do not feature in their writings which I refer to as ‘little-shot’ history.”
In particular, Friday’s lunch revolved around a snippet of “little-shot” history from a chapter entitled “Love, Sex, and Power” in his upcoming book about the Revolution of 1800. Gilje dives into the history of the Bingham family, one of the wealthiest clans in America at the turn of the 19th century headed up by patriarch, clandestine Patriot privateer, and Federalist Senator William Bingham.
Right in the midst of the growing feud between Federalists and Republicans on the eve of the election, Bingham found himself consumed by his own familial breakup over his daughter’s elopement with the Comte de Volney, a French aristocrat who had seduced young Maria Matilda Bingham for her father’s money after he lost his own fortunes in the French Revolution. Their scandalous marriage was soon discovered and on the lips of Philadelphia high society, much to William and his wife Anne’s chagrin.
Gilje was able to tie the young lovers’ story back into his own by explaining how William Bingham, despite his Federalist loyalties, was able to push an annulment through a Republican state legislature as men on both sides of the political aisle recognized the importance of familial patriarchy over everything else.
In addition to providing a new perspective to one of the most important eras in American history through a male-dominated society, Gilje explained that the story of the Count and Countess de Volney brings out the humanity of historical figures. “We need to talk more about sex in history,” he stated. “I don’t want people to be shocked when they read this passage and say, ‘They did that too?’”
One of the questions Gilje constantly asked himself was, “What can I access?”
The process of uncovering this Romeo and Juliet story was an arduous one. Gilje would spend much of his time scouring through newspapers and court documents within The Library Company of Philadelphia, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731.
Whereas many younger historians today use the first result from an online database word search, Gilje believed in the importance of following a trail of sources with one piece of hard evidence connecting to another in order to create an entire story to share with others. His research efforts also made the story come to life as he walked down the very same streets and past the same houses he read in his research, inspiring him in his mission to capture the moment he was researching.
The luncheon concluded with a question-and-answer session open to both students and faculty about the book, along with a variety of topics related to both history as well as Gilje’s belief in the importance of “striving to go backwards” so that we might learn from those who came before us.
Career Center Scheduled for a Major Makeover: PC Alumnus Donates towards Slavin Renovation
by The Cowl Editor on October 3, 2019
Campus
photo courtesy of providence.edu
by Kyle Burgess ’21
News Co-Editor
Providence College is set to unveil yet another addition to the rapidly-growing number of student facilities being erected on campus.
This facility in particular, a new center for career education and professional development, will look to assist students as they prepare themselves for life beyond the gates of PC and enter into the workforce. Funds for the building are courtesy of Jim Chirico ’80 and his wife, Bridget.
The new career center comes as phase two of the Ruane Friar Development Center project, spearheaded by generous donations from Michael A. Ruane ’71 & ’13 Hon. and his wife, Elizabeth.
Phase one of the project, the Ruane Friar Development Center, opened its doors in September of last year as a training facility for the PC Men’s Basketball Team, including two practice courts, some upgrades to Canavan Sports Medicine Center, and a student-athlete café.
This state-of-the-art career center will include a résumé bar outside of the center, where students can work with career and peer coaches to review and refine their résumés, as well as other documents or electronic profiles. It will also have interview rooms equipped for telephone and video interviews, keeping up with recruiting trends by providing students with a quiet space for internship and job interviews, even when interviewing remotely.
Student feedback has indicated that dormitory rooms do not always provide the best environment to conduct interviews, and administrators have begun this initiative in response.
There will also be a presentation room where all career-related workshops and programs will be held so that students can have a designated space that they can go to for all of their career development needs and information.
“Adding a state-of-the-art career center will provide both students and career coaches with the physical space and technological resources needed to support this work and allow us to grow even further,” explained Patti Goff, associate vice president for integrated learning and administration. “The staff in the Center for Career Education & Professional Development have been doing great work with a grassroots approach for years, and their success has been evident in increased student traffic in Slavin 108.”
Goff also noted how the Slavin 108 staff has been able to increase diversity in the employers that recruit PC students. “Increased career and networking connections with alumni, record breaking attendance at career events like the expos and the addition of a robust Professional Skills initiative, including Microsoft Excel certification, that is just taking off.”
In addition to enhancements to the Center for Career Development itself, ’64 Hall in Slavin Center is also expected to expand, along with an enclosed concourse connecting Slavin Center itself to Alumni Hall as well as Concannon Fitness Center.
Chirico, current president and CEO of Avaya, a global telecommunications and collaborative technology company, pledged $2 million to the initiative which was then matched by an anonymous donor.
“It’s important for students to have the best preparation to understand what makes them attractive to an employer, how they can be successful in their search, and the criteria to look for in their first job,” Chirico explained during a press conference revealing phase two of the project. “Bridget and I are investing in the Center for Career Education and Professional Development to prepare students to launch their careers, and to help them find careers in which they can succeed.”
The revamped career center in combination with a liberal arts education is what many, including Chirico, believe will be a major contributing factor to success for PC students following graduation.
Beginning to See the Light(houses): PC Rings in New Academic School Year with Convocation Ceremony
by The Cowl Editor on August 29, 2019
Campus
Kyle Burgess ’21
News Co-Editor
An assembly of students and faculty gathered in Peterson Recreation Center on Monday, August 26 to celebrate the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year during the annual Providence College Academic Convocation.
The students, many of them first-year undergraduates who had just undergone a full weekend of freshman orientation activities, looked on with their orientation leaders as professors, clad in ceremonial garb for the occasion, took their seats following a Friars Club escort.
Following the opening procession, invocation of the Holy Spirit, and singing of the national anthem, Father Brian Shanley, O.P., president of Providence College, offered a warm welcome to the Class of 2023 and the PC community.
He echoed the themes of the principal speaker Rev. Gregory Boyle, S.J.’s book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion in his address, reminding students of the blessings they have received in their ability to attend Providence College.
“You have to be able to imagine lives that aren’t yours,” Fr. Shanley echoed, noting how it is the individual responsibility of all to ensure that marginalized groups both inside of PC and out are included in all aspects of society.
After Fr. Shanley’s opening remarks, Student Congress President Kelsey Christianson ’20 spoke about her own freshman year experience and the importance of finding role models that promote self-discovery and self-care during the college experience.
Reiterating the words of Steve Pemberton during his commencement address at last year’s senior graduation ceremony, she emphasized the existence of “lighthouses” in people’s lives as they “direct, correct, and protect” those who look up to them. In a similar sense, Christianson looked up to the upperclassmen in Student Congress as her mentors throughout her PC career and explained that she gained valuable insight as well as a new group of close friends.
Rev. Boyle then took the stand, relating the day’s themes to the personal connections he made with the characters in his book.
He shared multiple stories in which he saw how marginalized persons behave towards outsiders as well as each other, noting how at one social service function a woman had asked one of the gang members he had brought to the talk from his Homeboy Industries community outreach program why he joined.
The former criminal, covered in tattoos from head to toe to the horror of passersby at the airport the previous night, explained through tears and stage fright that he wanted his children to learn from his mistakes and not end up as he did. The woman then sobbed and called him one of the nicest and most genuine people she had ever met, and wished that his children would emulate their father when they grew up.
The event concluded with the recognition of new, full-time faculty members as well as the recipients of various scholarly and service-related awards before a reception and question and answer session with Rev. Boyle.
“After a weekend of icebreakers and settling into a new college environment, this was a great way to settle into the academic and religious aspects of the school year,” explained Josh Sears ’23. “It provided a small break on the first day of classes and helped gear us for what lies ahead.”
Wishing a warm welcome home to all residents of Friartown both new and old.
Featured Friar: John Stablein ’19
by The Cowl Editor on May 2, 2019
Features
by Kyle Burgess ’21
News Co-editor
Four years of being a Friartown resident has come and gone in the blink of an eye for John Stablein ’19.
Between his commitments to Student Congress, Senior Ring Weekend and Senior Week/Commencement Cores, and his involvement in the Dirigo Leadership Honor Society as well as the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, it is easy to see how time seemed to fly by.
Stablein, hailing from Huntington, Connecticut, cites his service in congress as his most cherished experience here at Providence College for bringing him together with his closest friends on campus.
After joining the organization in his sophomore year, “Stabs,” as he is commonly referred to by friends and acquaintances, joined the Student Life Committee as a Sodexo representative.
He took up this position again his junior year, learning to juggle it along with his new responsibilities as treasurer of the class of 2019.
Towards the end of junior year, Stablein decided that his final year on campus should be spent in an executive position from which he could institute financial reforms that would ensure funding for student events.
Running on this promise, Stablein won the position of Executive Treasurer at the beginning of this academic year. “I have learned so much from working closely with the Office of Student Activities and Cultural Programming and the Office of the Dean of Students,” Stablein explained.
“I would like to thank both of those offices for having a significant impact on my professional development and growth, especially throughout this year.”
Looking forward to life beyond the gates of PC, the finance and health policy and management (HPM) double-major will take up a data support and solutions position at a healthcare software company back in his home state of Connecticut.
He believes that this opportunity is the perfect combination of his majors and will propel him to a career of working face-to-face with future clients instead of behind the computer screen.
In addition to reminiscing about his career as a PC undergrad, Stablein offered invaluable advice to incoming freshmen as well as the underclassmen he leaves behind.
“Above all, enjoy every single minute at PC. This school has truly become my second home since the beginning of my freshman year and it forever will be. Go out as much as you can and, most importantly, have fun because before you know it, it will be time for graduation.”