Latest news with #UniversityofNotreDame


RTHK
19 hours ago
- Sport
- RTHK
Kaylin Hsieh says this is her best fencing season yet
Kaylin Hsieh says this is her best fencing season yet Kaylin Hsieh described this latest University Games win as the perfect conclusion, marking both her first and last appearance at the event with a gold medal. Photo: RTHK Fencer Kaylin Hsieh said on Monday that this is her strongest season yet, following her successful title defence at the 2025 FISU World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. The 24-year-old claimed the women's individual epee gold, securing the first gold medal for Hong Kong, China, at this year's event. This victory mirrored her win at the previous Games in Chengdu back in 2021. Speaking upon her return, Hsieh, who is currently ranked fourth globally, described her rapid rise in the rankings as surreal. However, she emphasised there remains significant room for improvement and that she can continue pushing her limits. Reflecting on the past year, she mentioned numerous new challenges and changes requiring adaptation, highlighting her recent graduation from the University of Notre Dame, her return to Hong Kong as a full-time athlete and the start of work with a new coach. Despite these transitions, she said she felt she had handled them well. She described this latest University Games win as the perfect conclusion, marking both her first and last appearance at the event with a gold medal. "I think this is a really great confidence boost because I never really thought I could achieve the goals or the rankings I have now so quickly, and seeing it happen is just really surreal and it just makes me feel like anything is possible, not just for me, but for any one of us as Hong Kong athletes," she said. "Especially for fencing, I hope that gives confidence to the younger ones, the younger and up and coming, because this is just the beginning of a whole new chapter for Hong Kong's history." Looking ahead, Hsieh confirmed her focus is now set on the 2026 World Fencing Championships, which Hong Kong will host, and on pursuing a medal at next year's Asian Games in Japan. She also noted an evolution in her fencing style over the years, attributing it more to mental growth than physical changes. "Of course, the physical is always there. Like, I'm really strong, I'm really fast, but being able to think, and also to do what I think, that's the hard part, and I think that's more of the mental aspect, so the mindset," she said. "I feel like in the recent competitions, I've been more confident, even though sometimes it's normal for me to feel stressed, feel nervous before a competition. But I think I've handled these emotions a lot better than I was before. "Hence, I'm able to perform well this season, and this has been my best fencing season so far, and I'm really glad that the previous work that I've had has been paying off."


RTHK
19 hours ago
- Sport
- RTHK
Kaylin Hsieh says this is her best fencing season yet
Kaylin Hsieh says this is her best fencing season yet Kaylin Hsieh described this latest University Games win as the perfect conclusion, marking both her first and last appearance at the event with a gold medal. Photo: RTHK Fencer Kaylin Hsieh said on Monday that this is her strongest season yet, following her successful title defence at the 2025 FISU World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. The 24-year-old claimed the women's individual epee gold, securing the first gold medal for Hong Kong, China, at this year's event. This victory mirrored her win at the previous Games in Chengdu back in 2021. Speaking upon her return, Hsieh, who is currently ranked fourth globally, described her rapid rise in the rankings as surreal. However, she emphasised there remains significant room for improvement and that she can continue pushing her limits. Reflecting on the past year, she mentioned numerous new challenges and changes requiring adaptation, highlighting her recent graduation from the University of Notre Dame, her return to Hong Kong as a full-time athlete and the start of work with a new coach. Despite these transitions, she said she felt she had handled them well. She described this latest University Games win as the perfect conclusion, marking both her first and last appearance at the event with a gold medal. "I think this is a really great confidence boost because I never really thought I could achieve the goals or the rankings I have now so quickly, and seeing it happen is just really surreal and it just makes me feel like anything is possible, not just for me, but for any one of us as Hong Kong athletes," she said. "Especially for fencing, I hope that gives confidence to the younger ones, the younger and up and coming, because this is just the beginning of a whole new chapter for Hong Kong's history." Looking ahead, Hsieh confirmed her focus is now set on the 2026 World Fencing Championships, which Hong Kong will host, and on pursuing a medal at next year's Asian Games in Japan. She also noted an evolution in her fencing style over the years, attributing it more to mental growth than physical changes. "Of course, the physical is always there. Like, I'm really strong, I'm really fast, but being able to think, and also to do what I think, that's the hard part, and I think that's more of the mental aspect, so the mindset," she said. "I feel like in the recent competitions, I've been more confident, even though sometimes it's normal for me to feel stressed, feel nervous before a competition. But I think I've handled these emotions a lot better than I was before. "Hence, I'm able to perform well this season, and this has been my best fencing season so far, and I'm really glad that the previous work that I've had has been paying off."

Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
The university courses where students make friends – and the ones where they don't
When UNSW social science student Amali Bridgen attended her first class on campus, she was excited to find her people. But she soon realised not everyone showed up to lectures and, if they did, they weren't focused on making friends. 'When you're in class, people are there just to learn,' she said. 'We have such short terms as well, they only last 10 weeks … so we don't get that much time to form long-term connections.' Half of undergraduates in some degrees report struggling with social connection, according to a Herald analysis of data from the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching 2023 survey. Students say the convenience of course content being available online has come at the cost of connecting with their peers. Fixed-cohort programs such as medicine and pharmacy, where students move through classes together, had the highest scores for social connection. Degrees in teaching, arts and humanities scored poorly, as did, unsurprisingly, institutions with large online course offerings. University of Notre Dame education expert Emeritus Professor David Geelan said, in previous decades, most students could survive on study support payments without a need to work, so would therefore spend more time on campus. 'You would spend social time with your peers in your class after, and outside in between classes, whereas now it really is, drive into campus, attend class, go back to work,' he said.

The Age
2 days ago
- General
- The Age
The university courses where students make friends – and the ones where they don't
When UNSW social science student Amali Bridgen attended her first class on campus, she was excited to find her people. But she soon realised not everyone showed up to lectures and, if they did, they weren't focused on making friends. 'When you're in class, people are there just to learn,' she said. 'We have such short terms as well, they only last 10 weeks … so we don't get that much time to form long-term connections.' Half of undergraduates in some degrees report struggling with social connection, according to a Herald analysis of data from the Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching 2023 survey. Students say the convenience of course content being available online has come at the cost of connecting with their peers. Fixed-cohort programs such as medicine and pharmacy, where students move through classes together, had the highest scores for social connection. Degrees in teaching, arts and humanities scored poorly, as did, unsurprisingly, institutions with large online course offerings. University of Notre Dame education expert Emeritus Professor David Geelan said, in previous decades, most students could survive on study support payments without a need to work, so would therefore spend more time on campus. 'You would spend social time with your peers in your class after, and outside in between classes, whereas now it really is, drive into campus, attend class, go back to work,' he said.


Atlantic
4 days ago
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Atlantic hires Jake Lundberg as first staff archivist and historian, and Drew Goins as senior editor
Today The Atlantic is announcing two new staff on the editorial team: Jake Lundberg, a staff writer who is The Atlantic 's first in-house historian and archivist; and Drew Goins as a senior editor. Jake joins The Atlantic from the University of Notre Dame, where he was a director of the undergraduate history program and an associate teaching professor since 2016. Drew comes from The Washington Post, where he was most recently the creator and writer of the Today's Opinions newsletter and host of the Impromptu podcast. At The Atlantic, Drew will help think through strategies to develop and strengthen relationships with readers. Below is editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg's note to staff announcing Jake Lundberg: For the first time, The Atlantic will have an in-house historian and archivist. This dream job is being filled by a brilliant academic and writer named Jake Lundberg, who comes to us from the University of Notre Dame, where he has been director of the undergraduate history program and an associate teaching professor since 2016. The creation of a special staff writer role for an Atlantic historian has been a goal of mine for many years. One reason this role took so long to fill is that we were inundated with interest, and we were forced to plough through an enormous number of candidates (though it would also be fair to say that Jake stood out as soon as he came to our attention). A little background. A friend of mine, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., says that America is the only place on Earth where the expression 'That's history' means, 'That's irrelevant.' He is, unfortunately, correct. We suffer as a nation and as a culture because we don't know where we come from or how we got here. It's extraordinarily important, particularly now, to fight against the forces of willed amnesia and pernicious propaganda, and ammunition for this fight can be found in The Atlantic 's 168-year-old archives. Jake is a great person to unearth the riches of our history, and history generally, and to contextualize what he finds. He has a PhD in History from Yale with an emphasis on American culture, ideas, and media, and is the author of Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood. (Here's a delightful 1930 accounting of Greeley's life, with an emphasis on his Civil War years, written by William Augustus Croffut, who died in 1915. Why this piece appeared 15 years after the author's death is a mystery for Jake to solve.) Jake has already written for us; here's his excellent piece about the 11-year-old girl who was most likely responsible for Abraham Lincoln's iconic facial hair. Our effort to bring the archives to life that has already achieved excellent results, thanks in good measure to the work of Shan Wang. Her perpetual digging uncovered A Century-Old Byline Mystery, about the unknown writer who foreshadowed the Titanic disaster. She is a key leader in our newsroom who helps connect our work, old and new, to Atlantic readers. Shan will continue her archives work, of course, in addition to fulfilling her many other leadership responsibilities. Below is an announcement about Drew Goins, from managing editor Bhumika Tharoor: We're thrilled to welcome Drew Goins as a senior editor! Drew joins us from The Washington Post, where he was most recently the creator and writer of the Today's Opinions newsletter and host of the Impromptu podcast. He will report to me, and will be helping think through strategies to develop and strengthen relationships with readers. To start, he will be focused on how we can use trivia to create new and engaging experiences for our audience—something he is well positioned for as a Jeopardy! champion. Drew is from North Carolina and graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied journalism, music, and Hispanic linguistics, the latter of which has resulted in a lot of strong thoughts on vowel placement, if you ever have a spare hour and a half. I'm sure Drew will feel right at home here at The Atlantic, and not only because he's in good company with fellow Jeopardy! stars. We're excited for him to bring his talents, and fun facts, to our team. The Atlantic has welcomed a number of editors and writers this year, including managing editor Griff Witte; staff writers Tom Bartlett, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Idrees Kahloon, Tyler Austin Harper, Quinta Jurecic, Nick Miroff, Toulouse Olorunnipa, Ashley Parker, Alexandra Petri, Missy Ryan, Michael Scherer, Jamie Thompson, Josh Tyrangiel, Caity Weaver, and Nancy Youssef; and senior editors Jenna Johnson and Dan Zak. Please reach out with any questions or requests.