Student Life

Collin Maher, who completed his first year in the College of Arts & Sciences, died on Friday, May 15, 2026. He was 19 years old.

Collin’s friends remember him for his open invitation to “talk to me.” His dorm balcony on the top floor of Dauten Hall was always filled with conversation, laughter, and the country music he played from his orange-and-white Turtlebox speaker.

“He invited everyone to his room, and he made it a place that we could meet one another and enjoy each other’s company,” rising sophomore and Collin’s friend Jei Han Hall said. “The common denominator between my best friends was that he created those friendships for many of us.”

Collin loved late-night Waffle House runs with friends. He loved anything by Chris Cornell. He loved doing impressions, even if they weren’t always spot-on. And, most of all, Collin loved people.

Read the full obituary at https://www.studlife.com/news/2026/05/30/remembering-collin-maher

✍️ Tanvi Gorre
📷 Photo courtesy of Nathaniel Shalam

Artist The Kid LAROI headlined the spring 2026 WILD performance on Friday, April 24. MKTO was one of the openers alongside WashU band The Underpass.

Photos captured by Alex Dering, Bri Nitsberg, and Ella Giere

Editors’ Note: Our Special Issues Editor, Amelia Spencer, is involved with Sharing with A Purpose (SWAP) but only influenced the generation of the topic, not the stance of the editorial team.

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Another highlight was “Never Go To Bed Angry,” which introduced the concept of a “sound sommelier” and made audience members realize that they might just need a human Alexa in their lives. “Baseballfather,” Krupnick’s favorite sketch, had the crowd roaring with laughter as little Timmy transformed from a young tee-ball player to an artificially-enhanced baseball pro.

The show’s recurring segment, “Semester in Review,” covered hot topics on the WashU campus and led the performance into its 15-minute intermission. From The Kid LAROI’s impending WILD performance to Mizzou’s up-and-coming theater program, the “Weekend Update” style sketch provided a summary of many once-viral-on-Sidechat subjects.

In addition to on-stage sketches, the show also featured several prerecorded video sketches. One sketch, co-written by first-years Hannah Dorval and Will Benjamin, detailed one woman’s series of disastrous first dates.

“The fact that it was a video sketch made it so that there could be very quick changes in the scenes, which would not have been possible in a regular stage sketch,” Benjamin said.

The show’s sketches were interspersed with performances from the KOC band, which played instrumental versions of popular songs. In between sketches, the audience danced along to covers of “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, “This Love” by Maroon 5, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, and more.

While the line to get into a KOC show could take anywhere between two hours to thirty minutes, each night’s packed performance is proof of its popularity. The show is a representation of the myriad of talent within the student body.

“I’m so grateful that people come and wait for so long,” Malik said. “I hope everyone who wanted to see it [could] see it.”

Read more at https://www.studlife.com/scene/2026/04/26/and-thats-our-show-kids-on-campus-wraps-up-another-semester-of-laughs.

✍️ Lily Rulnick
📸 Courtesy of Alexa Marcus

Five minutes before an interview, a presentation, or a first date, students make the same quiet calculation: Do I look ready? This small question carries a lot of weight. For many students, the answer begins not in a dorm room mirror or in a classroom hallway, but in a barber chair at Bear Cuts, WashU’s on-campus salon and barbershop that has steadily woven itself into student life.

At first glance, Bear Cuts looks exactly as promised. It is centrally located on the South 40 near all the student businesses and it is clearly designed for students. You can book online and leave with a fresh cut in under an hour. But beneath that simplicity is something more intricate. Bear Cuts is not just a place to get a haircut, but rather a student-run system shaped by behind-the-scenes work and coordination.

Inside Bear Cuts, the atmosphere reflects the intersections of academic and personal life at WashU through interactions in the barbershop.

Read more at link in bio.

✍ Miki Canak
📸 Lexi Azrin