The Rev. Lawrence Blake, Campus Ministry director, spoke on Campus Ministry updates and the Data Science and Analytics Club was approved at the Undergraduate Student Government general council meeting Thursday, April 30.

Guest Speaker: Lawrence Blake

Blake gave an update on the Campus Ministry department and how it has adapted to change since the university moved online.

“It has been a really busy couple of months, but very different for me and for all of us,” Blake said. “Most of our staff have adapted readily to the change.”

Campus Ministry has been live streaming daily Mass on its Instagram and Facebook pages, and the department has been “getting a good response” from the streams.

“On Easter Sunday, we had over 300 people signed in to view (Mass),” Blake said.

Blake also gave an update on VISION, a program offered to St. Thomas students where they can go on “service and cultural immersion trips” throughout the world, explaining how it could be different next year should there be any travel restrictions.

“For instance, if we’re not permitted to have any international travel, we might be able to do the VISION program domestically, so they’ve been talking about that to see what that would look like,” Blake said.

Blake also gave an update on the new Iversen Center for Faith, set to open next fall.

“All of the drywall is up,” Blake said. “We’re bringing in the carpet squares to lay down in the office.”

Blake said the Campus Ministry department will move into the center from its current space in Anderson Student Center on May 18.

“Our staff is busy packing up boxes at Anderson to get ready to move over to that new space,” Blake said.

New Club: Data Science and Analytics Club

St. Thomas students Nate Brossard and Liela Brown presented a new club proposal before the general council.

Brossard and Brown hope their club, Data Science and Analytics Club, will “create and add to a strong internal and external St. Thomas data network.”

“What we hope this club does is create an environment for cooperation between St. Thomas’ existing and new data community,” Brossard said.

Adam Revoir, legislative affairs senator, showed support for the club.

“I definitely think that data analytics is definitely a growing and popular subject,” Revoir said.

The club was unanimously passed by the council.

Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.