Livvy Dunne has been all over the place lately cheering on boyfriend and Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes rocking amazing fits, but this time she went to cheer on his former college team the LSU Tigers in the College World Series in an unreal jersey.

Dunne, 22, recently posted how she misses LSU Gymnastics by showing off an insane double-backflip maneuver. While her final season ended in disappointment due to a knee injury, she’s now spending her time with all kinds events not just Skenes’ games. She did the “Riders Up” call for the Kentucky Oaks while in competing pink dresses with sister Julz Dunne, and then did the full splits on the runway for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s event in Miami, Florida.

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Dunne has been on several of Skenes road trips of late, and even joked about the brutal MLB travel schedule in a TikTok video.

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She took a break from Skenes but went to another baseball game: LSU in the College World Series for Saturday’s matchup with the Arkansas Razorbacks — and she did so in style. Check out her Skenes LSU jersey in the front and Pirates in the back. She wrote, “party in the front business in the back .”

She also has the U.S. flag on it for patriotism. Skenes was an Air Force cadet and has a strong connection to the military.

What an awesome tribute and a way to root on Skenes’ former college team — a team he helped win the CWS in 2023.

— Enjoy free dish of rich and fabulous players with The Athlete Lifestyle on SI —

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Americans across the country took to their city streets Saturday to participate in the “No Kings” and “Kick Out the Clowns” protests — State College was no different.

The No Kings Day of Defiance is an effort to reject authoritarianism and “show the world what democracy really looks like,” according to its website. Kick Out the Clowns reflects “the absurdity of the MAGA regime and the clowns who lead it,” according to the Women’s March, which spearheaded the nationwide effort. Both protests countered President Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington D.C.

The “No Kings” protest began at 1 p.m. in front of the Allen Street Gates, drawing hundreds of community members and children of all ages. American, Pride, Palestinian and Ukrainian flags flew as protesters held signs reading, “It’s so bad, even introverts are here,” “No kings, no dictators since 1776” and “Fight for truth today.”

Protestors yelled chants like “Hey, hey, ho, ho, billionaires have got to go,” “This is what democracy looks like” and “This is not normal.”

One protester, Kimberly Wilsoncroft, said she wanted to use her voice when and where she could.

“I always like coming out to protest when I can,” Wilsoncroft, a graduate student at Slippery Rock University, said. “It’s just nice to feel that hope.”

She said it’s important for people to use their First Amendment rights as they’re currently “under attack.”

“Students are being bagged off the street for writing things in their college newspapers,” said Wilsoncroft, referring to Rumeysa Ozturk, who was detained by ICE after co-writing an op-ed for Tufts Daily.

Luke Dubec said it’s troubling for him to see the state of the country under the current president.

“I feel like the tyranny is being treated as the new normal, and I don’t want that to continue,” Dubec, a graduate student studying psychology, said. “I’m glad that, across all 50 states, everyone is making clear that this is not normal and it’s not okay.”

Dubec said he also attended the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and was met with discouragement then, as well as on Saturday. Still, he said it’s important for people to participate in them.

“I think that it’s important for people to realize that this kind of peaceful protest is what democracy is all about, and what our freedom of speech is all about,” Dubec said.

During the protest, organizers would walk around the crowd chanting and allow attendees to take the megaphone for a moment and share sentiments with the crowd.

Immediately following, the Kick Out the Clowns protest started in the same place at 2 p.m. A speaker discussed the current war between Ukraine and Russia while sharing stories, playing music and educating the crowd.

Benjamin Kelsey, from Knoxville, Tennessee, was visiting State College over the weekend and decided to come out to the protests.

Kelsey said people have “a breaking point” when it comes to funding cuts to essential government services.

“We have a kid, and we have nieces and nephews, friends and family and everybody that needs protection,” Kelsey said.

Kelsey said he hopes the series of national protests today can show how deeply unpopular what’s going on truly is and that people aren’t just going to sit by idly and watch what happens.

Lauren, who preferred to go by her first name only, shared this sentiment, saying the county’s marginalized communities, single mothers and those with disabilities are struggling, and “it’s not okay.”

“We should be protecting our people, not making it so hard to live,” Lauren said.

Community member Brianna Woomer said she is currently pregnant and has a daughter at home as well, and that being a woman in this country now is a “joke.”

“I want a world and a country where my daughters can grow up the way they should,” Woomer said.

During the protest Lauren held a sign with a Mark Twain quote: “It is curious that physical courage should be so common and moral courage so rare.”

“We never have a lot of moral courage… There’s so many people out there that are hurting and they just turn and look the other way,” Lauren said. “We should all be united and love each other. I was hoping this would remind people that moral courage is just as important as physical courage.”

MORE BOROUGH COVERAGE

By: Dan Richeal

TEMPE, Ariz.—The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) announced its men’s regional awards. Dartmouth’s Alex Knox-Jones and Carlos Guerrero Alvarez earned regional awards.

Knox-Jones was named ITA New England Region Most Improved Player. In his senior season he had a 9-7 record in dual single matches while being 14-6 in doubles play. Knox-Jones played in multiple positions this season for the Big Green as he won matches in third, fourth, fifth, and sixth singles while also winning doubles matches in first, second, and third doubles. He finished his career with 116 career wins.

Guerrero Alvarez was named the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Leader & Sportsmanship award. Guerrero Alvarez was the first singles player for the Big Green this season and won seven matches in dual matches. Throughout the season he had a 20-15 record in both tournament play and dual match format. Following the season, he was named to the CSC Academic All-District Team, he closed his career with 106 wins at Dartmouth.

He was about 90 minutes from playing in the biggest game of his life.

But if Connor Hellebuyck was nervous, he was doing a fantastic job of hiding it.

It was March 29, 2012 and UMass Lowell was set to face perennial national power Wisconsin in an NCAA Tournament hockey game at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H.

The sun was shining and the 4:30 p.m. puck drop was approaching. Some 50 feet outside the arena, a group of River Hawk players, 8-10 or so, enjoyed a beautiful late afternoon day.

Positioned in a circle, the players took turns heading a soccer ball and trying to keep the ball from hitting the ground. They were laughing and right in the middle of the action was a smiling Hellebuyck.

When the game started, the unheralded freshman goaltender stymied the Badgers before a crowd of 8,049. By game’s end, the scoreboard read UMass Lowell 6, Wisconsin 1, and Hellebuyck had calmly turned aside 31 shots. The only shot that sailed past him came on a Wisconsin power play.

The next night, a larger crowd turned out. The majority of fans were supporting the University of New Hampshire. The Wildcat fans made plenty of noise, but Hellebuyck was unbeatable, turning aside 28 shots to pace UML to a 2-0 win and leading the River Hawks to their lone Frozen Four appearance in Pittsburgh.

On Thursday, now a seasoned professional, Hellebuyck learned he had been named the winner of the Hart Trophy as the MVP of the National Hockey League. Everyone who follows hockey knew he was a lock to win his third Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender.

But MVP? The best player in hockey? Wow, that’s heady stuff and quite the journey for Hellebuyck, who wasn’t a blue chip recruit when he committed to Norm Bazin and UMass Lowell.

Just a few seasons earlier, Bazin had inherited a program on thin ice. The River Hawks were coming off a nightmarish five-win season.

Hellebuyck produced two fantastic seasons at UML before turning pro and joining the Winnipeg Jets, the team that had drafted him.

As a UML freshman, Hellebuyck played in 24 games. He compiled a 20-3-0 record and posted eye-popping numbers of 1.37 (goals against average) and .952 (save percentage) and came within a bounce of the puck of leading UML to the national championship game.

In Pittsburgh, playing in the national semifinal, UML was outshot 47-18 by Yale, but Hellebuyck gave his team a chance, allowing the River Hawks to overcome a 2-0 deficit and force overtime. In OT, Yale pocketed the winner.

As a sophomore, Hellebuyck was again otherworldly, leading the River Hawks to the regional final and recording a 1.78 goals against average and .941 save percentage. He became the first recipient of the Mike Richter Award as the NCAA’s top goaltender. Somehow, however, he wasn’t even a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.

Hellebuyck opted to turn after his sophomore season. He continued his strong play in the American Hockey League and his success continued when he was called up the NHL by Winnipeg.

Winnipeg isn’t a destination for NHL stars. In fact, free agents rarely even contemplate playing there. But Hellebuyck is the major reason the Jets have been a more than respectable franchise and this season Hellebuyck guided the team to the most points in the league during the regular season.

In being named the Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy winner, Hellebuyck became a rare double winner. Goaltender is often described as the most important position in hockey, but rarely is a netminder a Hart finalist, never mind a winner.

To win the Hart Trophy this season, Hellebuyck beat out high-scoring forwards Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton) and Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay), the other finalists. Offense sells and people love to see the likes of Draisaitl fill up nets with pucks.

Draisaitl and Kucherov will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame when their careers are over. They’re likely to be joined by a 6-foot-4 goaltender from Commerce, Mich., who accepted a scholarship offer from UMass Lowell when few schools were knocking down his door.

Draisaitl was drafted third overall. Kucherov was selected in the second round. They were supposed to be stars.

Hellebuyck? He was taken in the sixth round (130th overall) by Winnipeg in 2012. Hellebuyck had to grind away in the minors and prove himself before he was given a chance to play in the world’s best league.

The most valuable player in the planet’s best hockey league for the 2024-25 season was developed at UMass Lowell.

Think about the NHL’s top stars. Connor McDavid. Draisaitl. Kucherov. Nathan MacKinnon. Cale Makar. Sidney Crosby. Just to name a few. That’s a staggering amount of talent. And they were beaten out for the NHL’s top individual award by a guy who wasn’t guaranteed to play in college at the Division 1 level.

Pretty cool story.

The Broad College of Business announced a series of curriculum updates last week, including a transition from a Bachelor of Arts in Business to a Bachelor of Science in Business starting fall 2025.

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs Richard Spreng said that, after some analysis, administrators found that most business colleges across the country either grant a B.S. or a Bachelor of Business Administration, so they decided to make the change.

He said he’s not sure of the history of why MSU has been granting a B.A., but it never should have been the case. 

B.S. degrees are generally granted for degrees that require more quantitative analysis, and the new change “better reflects what the curriculum has always been,” he said.

Course updates

Spreng said the degree name is just a change in nomenclature. But in terms of curriculum, the college announced the introduction of four courses to the list of requirements: ITM 208, ITM 210, BUS 200 and BUS 400.

The ITM courses, Information Systems and Algorithmic Thinking for Business and Business Analytics respectively, are replacing CSE 102 and ITM 209, two technical courses previously required for the degree. The changes were made in favor of courses designed more for business students, Spreng said.

The new requirements are the same amount of credits, only it now integrates the Python and Excel skills taught in the CSE class with a business-oriented curriculum as opposed to a computer science course.

CSE 102 was also previously a requirement to be accepted into the College of Business, so the change in curriculum brings it in-house, Spreng said.

Teagan Dixon, the instructor for the ITM courses, is enthusiastic about the courses.

She said that, through talking with students over the years, she’s found that they often have a disconnect in their understanding about why they’re taking a Python course as a business student, namely in how that is going to be applicable in their jobs.

By teaching the content in an ITM course, she said she’s able to more clearly relate the subject to other business topics. 

She also hopes to help students use generative AI to assist them with tasks.

“I think that students need to learn to use it, not as a crutch, but as a tool that’s going to empower them to do more,” she said. “And I think if we can get them to learn how to do that, it’ll be extraordinarily powerful in the marketplace for our students when they’re competing against other business schools to get jobs.”

More broadly, Spreng said Broad is looking to integrate AI into various courses as opposed to having one standalone course on the subject. 

Another course, BUS 200: Foundations of Business: Cross-Functional Perspectives and Practices, is a new three-credit introductory course designed to help students get a baseline understanding of various fields in business. 

Spreng said that, while graduating students tend to be very knowledgeable about subjects in their major, they tend not to fully understand how various fields work in tandem with each other.

He also said the course is designed to provide information to students on careers in their chosen fields. 

BUS 400: Preparing for Professional Success: Transitioning from University to Career, is a new one-credit course being introduced that is designed to help graduates transition from student life to professional life.

Spreng said the course follows feedback from alumni and employers who have said that students need more socialization in the professional world.

Outside requirements

In addition to their course requirements, the new curriculum updates have both added and taken away additional requirements for the College of Business.

Students are no longer required to take nine credits of courses outside the business college, of which Spreng said that the university-required general education courses students take already provide the holistic education the nine credits were meant to provide.

He said this gives students more flexibility when choosing business courses to take.

Additionally, the business college is also revising the integrative, non-curricular requirement for students. Over the course of their undergraduate years, students now have to accrue points in one of six pillars: global mindset, entrepreneurial mindset, philanthropic mindset, strategic leadership, culture and community and ethical mindset.

Spreng said Points are earned by attending certain lectures or doing certain asynchronous tasks, all of which are tracked through an app.

“These are mostly things that we’re already doing. It’s just encouraging students to take advantage of some of those [opportunities],” he said.

Where Lightning’s Victor Hedman Finished In Norris Trophy VotingThe final voting results for the Norris Trophy were released on June 11, and without much surprise, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar won the award. The 26-year-old had an incredible season with the Avs, scoring a career-high 30 goals and recording 90 points in 80 games.