Photo Blog

On a cold and blustery Sunday, when most students were inside studying and keeping warm, it was hard to miss Allison Rancourt ’17 of West Stewartstown, N.H.; Mark Lies ’17 from Greenwood Village, Colo.; and Diana Hurtado ’17 from Tucson, Ariz., standing outside the Hogan Campus Center in their fancy black dresses and duds. The trio was waiting for their ride to Boston, where they and other members of the Holy Cross Chamber Singers had been invited to perform at a private party. The group contains about 20 members and is directed by David Harris. Photo by Suzanne Morrissey

Created and organized by Holy Cross student Jeff Reppucci ’14 (below, right), Working for Worcester is a citywide project that mobilized hundreds of student volunteers from across Worcester, as well as folks from sponsoring companies, including Unum and The Hanover Insurance Company. After registration and speeches at the morning kickoff event at the Hart Center, groups dispersed to about a dozen work sites to construct new and renovate outdated family spaces, play areas, libraries and more. With tens of thousands of dollars donated, along with supplies and skilled labor, Working for Worcester garnered regional media attention.

At the kick-off event at the Hart Center, College President Rev. Philip Boroughs, S.J., (above left) spoke to the gathered crowd. (Photo by Dan Vaillancourt)

Volunteers posed for a group shot at one of the work sites, the Goddard School of Science and Technology, which serves 586 students from Kindergarten to 6th grade. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

One of the Goddard projects was prepping community garden boxes with fresh soil. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

At the Elm Park Community School, volunteers painted murals and gave the library and cafeteria a lift. They also installed playground equipment. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

Artists like this Crusader seemed to be having a blast at their work site. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

At the Worcester Youth Center, the girls’ dance team and a variety of after-school dance programs used a large empty space with a cement floor as their “dance studio.” The cement floor, in particular, was very limiting and possibly harmful to dancers’ knees. Working for Worcester volunteers prepped the space to receive a new, professional-quality hardwood dance studio floor AND a surround-sound corner-mounted speaker system. Walls got fresh paint, mirrors were hung around the perimeter, and a ballet stretching bar was installed on the west side of the room. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

The NROTC battalion got its hands dirty at South High School, where a lot of debris and brush around the grounds needed to be cleared to make way for upgraded outdoor play spaces and new plantings. (Photo by Matthew Atanian)

Over at The Belmont Street School, volunteers chalked out and painted basketball, hopscotch and four-square courts to make better use of a paved outdoor area. (Photo by Dan Vaillancourt)

As a warm spring day turned into a misty evening on April 19, Asian Students in Action (A.S.I.A.) presented ExplorAsian 2013. The popular event featured music and dance performances, student testimonials and an impressive buffet of Asian cuisine. All proceeds from ticket sales were donated to Kiva Microfinds, a nonprofit group connects thousands of people to borrowers and partner institutions around the world, working together to create opportunity and alleviate poverty with loans as small as $25. (Photo by Stephen Albano)

Student organizers for the evening event included

Left to right, front row: Stella Wan ’14 (in beige dress), Tery Vinh ’15, Ingrid Rivera ’13, Kim Khuu ’13 and Kharisha Laroco ’15 (holding umbrella)

Left to right, back row: Amy Cao ’15, Andrew Cavicchi ’14, Chapin Evans ’14 and Ian Jones ’15 (Photo by Stephen Albano)

Tery Vinh ’15 and Amy Cao ’15 dressed as empresses from the Tang Dynasty. (Photo courtesy Amy Cao ’15)

Each year on Holy Cross Cares Day, alumni and students go out into their communities and help with a cleanup or other work project. This year in Worcester, students tackled cleanup in Middle River Park along McKeon Road (across from the lower athletic fields) and alumni cleared brush in Cookson Park just off College Street. The day began with a kickoff breakfast, speakers and registration at the Hart Center, after which volunteers from both groups walked to their sites to begin working.

Photography by Matthew Atanian

Faculty, staff, families and students gathered in the Hart Center for the annual Presidents’ Review, a ceremony during which the midshipmen and Marines of the NROTC unit present themselves in formation to the presidents of the three Worcester institutions in the NROTC consortium: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester State University and the College of the Holy Cross. Before the formal review, awards were given to outstanding ROTC students by administrators and members of the local military community. Afterward, students and guests gathered for a reception in the main hall of the Hart Center.

Photograph by Deb Endyke P13

Midshipman 3/C James D’Angelo ’15 poses with his parents, John and Suzanne of East Williston, N.Y., at the reception. D’Angelo won the 1st Lt. John Power Memorial Book Scholarship for outstanding non-scholarship student. Named for Worcester native Lt. John V. Power ’41, who was killed in action in World War II and awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, the Memorial Book Scholarship was presented to D’Angelo by Allison Power O’Neil, Lt. Power’s great niece.

Midshipman 3/C Marcus Antonellis ’15 (third from left) of Groton, Mass., earned a certificate and scholarship for outstanding contribution to the sophomore class. Here, he poses at the Hart Center reception with his parents, Tiffani and Jim (far left), his fellow NROTC mates Midshipman 3/C Bennett Rogers ’15 (third from right) of Ridgewood, N.J., and Midshipman 3/C James D’Angelo ’15 (second from right) of East Williston, N.Y., along with D’Angelo’s mother, Suzanne.

Naval Science instructors Lt. James Lee (left) and Lt. Anson Isaacs pose with the ceremonial bell that is rung as each of the review ceremony’s VIP guests arrive and are announced, as they would be if they were boarding a Navy vessel. Lt. Lee explained the origins of the Presidents’ Review at the beginning of the ceremony: “Present day reviews in the Naval service have their basis in both history and tradition. The massed formation of troops on one long line at close interval made possible the concentration of firepower from muzzle-loaded muskets,” he said, adding that the line of battle in those earlier times looked much like the parade formation guests see at the Presidents’ Review today.

Photography by Suzanne Morrissey

On Feb. 14, the Holy Cross Relay for Life hosted a Mr. Valentine competition. The “pageant with a purpose” consisted of 15 male students on campus and each competed to be Mr. Valentine. “There were four parts to the pageant: evening wear, beach wear, a question and answer section, and a talent portion,” shares Jacqueline Saltarelli ’15, one of the student organizers. “In addition to being judged on this criteria, each contestant also received points for the amount of money they raised.”

The event raised in total $1277.90. All proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society. “We expected about 150 people, but we exceeded our expectations. Three hundred people attended the event,” says Saltarelli. 
 
Manny Mendoza ’14 hosted the event and the winner was Logan Silver ’15. The other 14 contestants included:  Anthony Curro ’14, James Balardi ’13, Joseph Terranova ’16, Andrew Dorman ’13, Kibbs Fortilus ’13, Brandon Nunn ’13, Javonee Cotton ’13, William Camarda ’15, Connor May ’15, Chalmer Swanson ’13, Kody Onyiuke ’13, Osvaldo Reza ’15, Kalif Raymond ’16, and John Frank ’16. 

This year’s Holy Cross Relay for Life will take place on April 26.

The contestants answer questions on stage.

Contestant Andrew Dorman ’13 dances for the talent competition. 

Contestant Kalif Raymond ’16 shows off his talent.

The judges table: from left, Ann Zelesky, athletics; Chuck Stanley and Sandy Burke, both from student affairs.  

Logan Silver ’15 is crowned Mr. Valentine.

The Delilahs, an all-female a cappella group from Holy Cross, sings holiday songs at the White House.

Photography by Michael Glynn

Scores of students, faculty and staff attend a “fishbowl” discussion on affirmative action in the Rehm Library. The discussion was preceded by a talk titled “The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action” last month.

Featured participants included, from left, Patricia Giglio ’14; Margaret Freije, associate dean of the College; Thomas Landy, director of the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture (moderator); Antonio Willis-Berry ’13; Kendy Hess, Brake-Smith Assistant Professor in Social Philosophy and Ethics; Darrell Byers ’83, director of development at WBUR; Christopher Theobalt ’13; and Ariel Jimenez ’13.

Professor Hess makes a point during the discussion.

Theobalt, a political science major with an Italian minor from Garden City, N.Y., takes part in the discussion.

Photography by Chris Ryan, S.J., and Nick Markantonatos

Midshipman 2/C Calvin Joewono ’14, of Berkeley, Calif., and his date Maya Nicole Welch ’14 enjoying the annual O’Callahan Society Dinner in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom. (The O’Callahan Society, named for Holy Cross professor Rev. Joseph T. O’Callahan, S.J., the first Navy chaplain to be awarded the Medal of Honor, encourages and cultivates the traditions associated with the Jesuit, liberal arts education of military officers.) “The dinner was a wonderful experience to connect with former and current military alumni. This year we had the opportunity to commemorate the Special Warfare community, and it was a great experience to talk with SEALS,” Joewono said.

From left, O’Callahan Society Dinner keynote speaker, rear admiral Garry Bonelli, deputy commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, and his wife Marti with Ann and Capt. Thomas Kelley, USN (Ret.) ’60. Kelley is a Medal of Honor recipient for his service in Vietnam. During Bonelli’s speech to about 300 guests in Hogan Ballroom, he discussed the combat and non-combat duties of the Navy SEALs, as well as the care given to returning SEALs and their families.

Photography by Glenn Parry