Senior receives Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Senior Ryan Lash was one of 29 American students recently awarded the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, enabling him to pursue a master’s degree next year at the Univ-ersity of Cambridge.Lash, a medieval studies and anthropology major, is the first Notre Dame student selected for this honor since the program was established by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000.More than 800 U.S. students applied for the highly competitive scholarship in 2009. According to the program’s Web site, scholarships are awarded to students “on the basis of a person’s intellectual ability, leadership capacity and desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society throughout the world by providing service to their communities and applying their talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others.”These scholars must also have exceptional research skills and knowledge of how their research can be applied to global challenges.Lash said he is excited about the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic.“The interdisciplinary program gives me the opportunity to continue studying what I am interested in without having to pick only one particular aspect of my interests,” Lash said. “I will study the language, history and archeology of medieval Britain and Scandinavia.”Lash was encouraged to apply for the highly selective scholarship by several faculty members because of his impressive research skills and academic success.“Ryan has blended his broad interests in the medieval world with specific interests in literature and material culture in sophisticated ways that belie his age and experience,” said Thomas Noble, professor and chair of the History Department and former director of Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute, in a press release. “He combines intelligence, a taste for hard work and a disinterested love of learning and grace.”According to the press release, Lash has fully utilized Notre Dame’s resources that support undergraduate research, field and international study. His projects include archaeological fieldwork at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, travel in Great Britain and Ireland for a research paper on medieval castle architecture in elite identity formation, study of medieval history, literature and archeology in Notre Dame’s Oxford program, as well as an upcoming research project at Bective Abbey in Ireland. As a result of these projects, he has also co-presented research papers at academic conferences in several countries.Lash is quick to credit University advisors for their assistance in the application process.“My faculty advisors were very helpful in encouraging me to think about what I really wanted to do,” he said. “They supported me and dissuaded me from thinking the scholarship was out of reach.”Lash is looking forward to utilizing the many resources of the renowned University of Cambridge and hopes his work will contribute to a better appreciation of the relevance and influence of representations of history.“I admit that medieval studies can’t help humanity in the same way that medical or scientific research might,” he said. “But my work has relevancy and will, I hope, contribute by allowing us to better appreciate the challenges, complexities and consequences of public representations of the past.”
Comments Published on February 11, 2019 at 9:34 pm Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman Sam Swart couldn’t take it anymore. She had spent four years waiting to play Syracuse lacrosse, and 2017’s fall ball would be her first opportunity in Orange. But that was ripped away from her and the rest of SU. She couldn’t play lacrosse, swipe into team facilities and had limited contact with her teammates.So one day during the isolation, the freshman ran toward the back of Ensley Athletic Center. She hopped a fence to get on a multipurpose field. When Swart made it on the turf, she remembered thinking to herself: “I need to be on the field, it’s everything I live for.”Last season, the majority of Syracuse’s fall ball season was cancelled due to a mumps outbreak between the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. The Orange missed out on extra practices, tournaments and team bonding opportunities. Syracuse rushed into the 2018 season, and in result, it posted its first losing season in program history. Head coach Gary Gait said there was a correlation.After a “weird season” that began with mumps and ended with a 9-10 record, No. 11 Syracuse (1-0) went back to its normal schedule this fall. And its performance on Friday against Connecticut in the first eight minutes showed the importance of the early season prep it lacked last season.“Not having fall ball last year wasn’t the best,” junior Emily Hawryschuk said. “But now we have a feeling of how we work together. We have that mesh.”AdvertisementThis is placeholder textLast year’s team was met with a formal meeting and emails about a suspension of fall ball. They had to FaceTime their tutors instead of meeting with them in person. Swart and goalkeeper Hannah Van Middelem got a gym membership at Planet Fitness to stay active, keeping a “pact” with each other to stay ready for their eventual debut.Susie Teuscher | Digital Design EditorIn the beginning of January, SU traveled to Florida to train after receiving a NCAA waiver that allowed them to begin practice two weeks early. At times, Syracuse’s early games felt like the beginning of fall ball, Gait said. It opened its season down two goals in the first half against a less superior opponent in Connecticut and struggled until the second half started.In close games, the Orange didn’t have the “mesh” to finish. It went 2-5 in one-goal games and dropped three of four overtime contests. “We were definitely not playing our best lacrosse,” Gait said.“When every other team in the country has fall, it’s weird for us,” Hawryschuk said on Jan. 22. “It’s weird going together the first couple of weeks in the fall then just having it taken away from us.”In the 2018 preseason, sophomores like Swart and Molly Carter were experiencing the fall action for the first time. The focus was on basics, getting rid of “sloppy play,” Gait said. The team wanted to cover simple things like draw control and clears while Gait struggled to teach his team how to finish.“It’s the building blocks of your season,” senior defender Alexa Radziewicz said. “Just having that extra time as a team. On the bus, traveling, getting to understand them on field.”On Friday, Syracuse remembered the way it started against UConn the season before. Gait called it a reflection of its season as a whole. The 2019 season-opener would be different.SU’s midfielders swarmed UConn high, and when they were beat, enough defenders dropped to stifle the Huskies’ attack. Offensively, midfielders spaced around the net and gave each other room to operate. They made easy passes, resulting in higher percentage chances.Its eight-goal outburst in eight minutes, which topped UConn’s offensive production all game (6), was a realization for what Syracuse could become, Gait said, with ample time and preparation this time around.“We actually had a chance to look at each other and see what we could do,” Hawryschuk said. “It’s refreshing.”
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