Wendell Walsh ’77, ’80J.D. stabbed the future Pope Leo XIV. Walsh played Brutus to Robert Prevost’s Julius Caesar in 1969 when they were freshmen at St. Augustine Seminary High School near Holland, Michigan. Yearbook-photo evidence of the stabbing appeared in the South Bend Tribune in May, along with Walsh’s memories of the young man who would become the Holy Father. “Early on in our high school years, Bob set an example of how to treat everyone with respect, how to remain calm and work hard when school was a challenge, how to get along,” Walsh, a South Bend-area attorney, told the Tribune. “Few are good at all of those things at the tender age of 14.” . . .
Six Notre Dame alumni were named to this year’s Forbes magazine 30 Under 30 list that recognizes rising stars in key industries. Kevin Mekulu ’18M.S. (health care) has developed an AI-based screening technology called DementiAnalytics that replaces a 30-minute paper test by intaking a combination of speech, eye tracking and vital signs to produce a cognitive assessment in less than five minutes. As co-executive director of New York University’s Center on Violence and Recovery Krystal McLeod ’21J.D. (education) takes a restorative justice approach while training communities nationwide to combat domestic and dating violence. Former Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush ’19 (sports) co-founded MOGL as a marketplace to facilitate name, image and likeness deals between businesses and athletes. Zachary Brown ’25 and Liam Redmond ’25 (transportation) met in a dining hall line and commiserated over the cost of ride-shares. Redmond wondered if students could drive students for cheaper fares than available services offered; Brown, a computer science major, developed a ride-sharing app, Yelo, to facilitate that. Over 40 percent of Notre Dame students used Yelo during the 2023-24 academic year, and the company is now expanding to other university communities. Royce Branning ’18 (social media) co-created the Clearspace app to reduce the lure of social-media scrolling and other digital distractions by allowing users to set time limits or complete healthy activities before opening other apps on their smartphones. . . .
Ann Hanlon ’01 is among the leaders reimagining Atlanta-area infrastructure to improve transit in the traffic-heavy region. As executive director of the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts, Hanlon oversees projects that local businesses and property owners can fund through a voluntary tax. One step toward creating walkable, bikeable access to work, shopping and entertainment is PATH400, a 5.2-mile greenway that Hanlon is seeking to extend from the city’s northern suburbs to the downtown core, GeorgiaTrend magazine reported. . . .
Staff Sergeant Arthur Rambo ’68 died in Vietnam, a war he could have avoided. Refusing the exemption available to him, Rambo said, “If I don’t go, somebody will have to go in my place,” and enlisted in the United States Army. Married with a young daughter at the time, he was soon deployed. On November 26, 1969, his unit was attacked, and the 24-year-old, who had earned a chemical engineering degree at Notre Dame, was killed in action. More than half a century later, his hometown of Libby, Montana, has recognized Rambo’s sacrifice by naming the State Highway 37 bridge over the Kootenai River in his honor. Fondly remembered as a baseball player, talent-show competitor and choral singer, Rambo was “looked up to” in his community even before his military service, Keith Kidwell of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post told KPAX-TV in Missoula. . . .
A new documentary explores the career of the late artist William Schickel ’44, whose work includes paintings, sculpture, architectural and furniture design, and stained glass. Quest for Beauty premiered in February at Asbury University in Kentucky. Inspired by his Catholic faith, Schickel’s art focused on the sacred, including a collaboration with Thomas Merton on the renovation of Gethsemani abbey in Kentucky, as well as the “Living Water” sculptural fountain at the Grotto. As director David Whitaker said in Asbury’s announcement of the premiere, the artist’s “quest for beauty bridged gaps and barriers, creating spaces that inspire deeper contemplation and connection with the Creator.” . . .
Behind the global success of the U.S. women’s national ice hockey team stands head coach John Wroblewski ’03, a former Fighting Irish right wing. At the April world championships in the Czech Republic, the U.S. team captured its second title under Wroblewski with a 4-3 overtime win against Canada. As the national team’s coach since 2022, Wroblewski has led the United States to two silver and two gold medals at the annual international competition. . . .
Kenya Young ’94 took over in May as president and CEO of Louisville Public Media in Kentucky. Young, who spent nearly two decades in leadership roles at NPR and New York Public Radio, oversees a range of news and music programming, financial operations and community initiatives. “At a time when trusted local media is more essential than ever,” she said in the announcement of her hiring, “I’m committed to ensuring LPM fulfills its mission to provide independent and courageous news, music and experiences that serve the needs and aspirations of Louisville’s multifaceted communities.”