The University was active across the country and around the globe in 2016, and Strategic Content was there to document the work. All told, the team logged more than 34,000 miles covering Notre Dame this year. Here are some of the big stories that took us off campus:
A Transformative Journey: Notre Dame Experiences Life at the Border: Just two days into the new year, our team traveled with a group of Notre Dame students and faculty, as well as members of the South Bend community to Tuscon, AZ and Nogales, Mexico. The group participated in a community-based learning immersion seminar to examine the issue of immigration through the lens of Catholic social tradition. The story uses rich imagery and touches of movement – time lapses and video – to support the text that describes their journey.
Unearthing the Secrets of a Star: A week after our team returned from the border, they headed north to South Dakota to a gold mine now serving as a high-tech laboratory. They joined a group of Notre Dame nuclear astrophysicists who are looking to replicate the reactions that take place during the formation of stars. The lab – the Sanford Underground Research Facility or SURF – is located approximately a mile underground, and is serviced using the infrastructure originally built to haul gold out of the earth. This piece captures the visual aesthetic of the mine, which is itself a character in the story – the researchers are doing their work in this setting to protect from the sun’s cosmic rays.
Fr. Jenkins Reflects: Our Compass Points South: In March, a photographer accompanied University president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. who led a delegation to South America to build and strengthen relationships on that continent. The delegation visited Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Our University photographer sent back photos, video and updates as the feature piece was built one day at a time. We repeated the process for a similar trip to Mexico led by Fr. Jenkins in July.
Crossroads of the Americas: We sent a team to cover a conference of Church leaders convened in Havana, Cuba by Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies. The conference examined the significance of Pope Francis’ visits to the U.S., and for one ND student who made the trip, the journey had special ancestral significance.
Steps in Time: In November, a team member joined with the Notre Dame – Saint Mary’s Irish Dance Team as they traveled to Belfast, Northern Ireland to compete in the 2016 All Ireland Dance Championships. The story takes a look at the often unseen world of Irish dance, and its role in these students’ lives.
The StratCon team also turned up in Columbus, Ohio; San Antonio, Indianapolis and more to cover the life and work of the University. We’re already making plans to document the breadth of the Notre Dame experience in new ways in 2017, and we couldn’t be more excited.