Holy Cross Magazine

Articles

Student Composers Get Immersive Opportunity With Grammy Artists

1 month ago | magazine.holycross.edu | Billy McEntee

When Julianna Stratton ’26 discovered that she had been accepted into a program in which she would learn about and compose music for film with award-winning professionals over spring break, she was excited — and a little daunted. “For all of us, it was a leap into the unknown,” the music and neuroscience double major said.
Elliot Barron ’25 Finds Harmony Between Music and Business

2 months ago | magazine.holycross.edu | Billy McEntee

If you’ve enjoyed live music around Mount St. James, there’s a good chance Elliot Barron ’25 played a part in making it. He’s the president and a quads player in HC Bands, a percussionist in classical ensembles such as the Wind Ensemble and orchestra, and a drummer in student-led jazz combo groups. “The music I play is all about versatility,” Barron said. The same could be said for his academic interests.
Lifelong Love of Mozart Leads to New Look at ‘The Magic Flute’

Feb 4, 2025 | magazine.holycross.edu | Billy McEntee

Professor of music Jessica Waldoff started playing the violin at age 7. She was familiar with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from her first lessons and music playing in her parents’ home, but did not truly fall under the composer’s spell until her mother’s friend took her to see the now classic 1975 Ingmar Bergman film of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”“I was completely enchanted by it,” she said. “I wanted to know more.”That hunger has been a driving force in Waldoff’s career.
Holy Cross Seeks to Diversify Academia Through its Future Faculty Institute

Jan 28, 2025 | magazine.holycross.edu | Veer Mudambi

It was the pride flags that sparked a conversation. “That we had pride flags and pronoun pins at our table surprised some people,” said Patricia Feraud-King '15, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for faculty and staff at Holy Cross. She was running the College’s table at the Institute on Teaching and Mentoring in New Orleans, a four-day conference designed to support scholars from underrepresented communities who hope to one day join the faculty at a college or university.
Swimming Beyond Fear

Jan 28, 2025 | magazine.holycross.edu | Elaine K. Howley

No one ever told her it would be easy. But they didn’t say it would be quite this hard. The forecast had improved marginally, but the weather was not looking good on Sept. 6, 2024, when Laurie Craigen ’99 finally got the greenlight to make an attempt at fulfilling a lifelong dream — a solo swim across the English Channel. This 21-mile, cold-water marathon swim would complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, a feat achieved by fewer than 375 swimmers in history.
Development Without Displacement: Preserving Worcester’s Green Island Neighborhood

Dec 4, 2024 | magazine.holycross.edu | Veer Mudambi

As far as William Domber '27 was concerned, commercial development in Worcester’s Green Island neighborhood could only help the city. “From everything I was hearing, it was a good change, going to bring in new jobs, new infrastructure, and just make the city look nicer,” said Domber, an economics major who hopes to work in commercial development when he graduates. Revitalization, as the process is known by developers and municipal governments, can certainly deliver all these benefits.
How Do We Handle Cancel Culture?

Nov 18, 2024 | magazine.holycross.edu | Veer Mudambi

At first glance, cancel culture appears straightforward: A person thought to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is ostracized, boycotted, shunned or fired — and often thoroughly renounced on social media. But it’s not always so simple. “Bill Cosby or Michael Jackson, these people had tremendous impact on their fields.
From Campus to Capital

Nov 18, 2024 | magazine.holycross.edu | Veer Mudambi

Caroline Hanson ’27 says higher education isn’t utilizing their best experts when it comes to student mental health — the students themselves: “If you’re going to talk about youth mental health, why would you not listen to the youth?”A psychology major from Lowell, Massachusetts, Hanson is chair of the new Coalition for Student Wellbeing, (C4SW) a nonprofit run by students across the U.S. who desire to help colleges and universities better understand young adult mental health.
Divided Democracy - The Past is (Frighteningly) Never Dead

Nov 13, 2024 | magazine.holycross.edu | Thomas Martin

What is likely to be our fate as a divided democracy on fire with volcanically hostile political rhetoric and deadly attacks on one another? What should we try to do to save our nation and ourselves? What if we fail to tamp down the ferocity of our divisions, to prevent the shattering personal and economic losses that we can impose on each other?
Immigration Opinions: They're Generational

Oct 8, 2024 | magazine.holycross.edu | Veer Mudambi

For many families, arguing around the dinner table is almost as much a Thanksgiving tradition as turkey. Family members who assemble will try to make conversation, usually turning to current events or the issues of the day. Opinions will differ — often widely — and voices may be raised, all while bystanders try to make themselves heard asking if someone will please pass the gravy. Victoria Nash ’21, a third-year student at Suffolk University Law School, remembers this very well.