Despite the initial oppositions that many students and faculty presented a year ago when the parking passes became mandatory, people are generally now accommodating of the $8.50 ∑it costs to park on NECC’s campus.
There are still outliers who refuse to pay for parking sheerly on principle, one anonymous student stating, “it’s too much to keep track of: books, tuition, supplies, parking. They should put it all under one bill.” This is a luxury that even most private schools don’t enjoy.
Parking passes helped fund the sanding of the parking lots during the winter, a necessary action, due to restrictions on using salt as an ice deterrent because of water-body proximity issues.
“It’s not that big a deal as long as it’s helping keep students safe” said Luke Miller, 22, a current student at NECC.
Parking pass payments also helped to fund repairs in the pavement.
For new pupils, the parking pass doesn’t come as much of a shock, particularly since many other schools, such as UMass Lowell, or North Shore also require paid passes to park on campus.
“I was finishing my last semester when they began issuing parking passes, and I was a little peeved there was yet another thing I had to pay for,” said Coty Markee, 23, alumni of NECC.
When parking passes became required, students were frustrated that there were no free lots available close to campus.
As a result of the parking passes, traffic through the back lot at the Science Building has significantly increased, security reports.
Due to the ticketing program and threats of being towed, students who still refuse to purchase passes have now found themselves parking on the opposite side of the Haverhill campus from most classrooms, saving their eight dollars and walking a little farther to class.
I attended NECC for three years. For two, I was on staff at the Observer.
During those two years, those four semesters, I met people from all walks of life. I worked in Athletics, did orientations for Student Engagement, was friendly with Public Relations. I knew almost everyone.
Fast forward three months since graduation, and it’s like starting all over again.
I came to the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Aug. 29. I was terrified to start over again. I didn’t have any friends that came here, I didn’t know anyone here beforehand and I didn’t really know what to expect. I was afraid of class difficulty. I was afraid to fail.
As it turns out, those were silly fears. Let me say one thing about the transition to a living at a four-year school: if you try hard at Northern Essex, really try, classes are no different.
NECC helped me skip a required 300-level course. The journalism program, Mary Jo Shafer especially, prepared me as well as anyone could have.
I’m taking four journalism classes and so far everything we’ve gone over, Mary Jo has already taught me.
While the academic side of school is similar, the social aspect is where everything gets crazy.
Living at school is such a different experience than attending a community college.
At NECC, I had my share of friends around campus. It’s such a small school that having two or three people in the same few classes isn’t uncommon.
While my biggest class is only 30 people, all of my suitemates are in the large lecture-style classes that can boast higher than 200.
For someone who had around 25 students in every class for three years, that boggled my mind.
Transferring in also unfortunately puts students at a disadvantage. Everyone in my year has had two years of getting to know each other.
Whether they met in class, at a game, or at a party, it seems like everyone in journalism knows everyone else. In a way, it’s the same thing at NECC. But trying to break in and show them what you have is harder.
It’s been a month, and I’m enjoying it. I miss Northern Essex.
I learned a lot there and made many friends that I still cherish. But the challenges of UMass Amherst are something I welcome with each passing day.
NECC taught me how to break apart and excel. In a month, I’ve found an on-campus job, an internship and started writing for the campus magazine.
If you’re patient, NECC will teach you to do it too.
NECC is upgrading myNECC in order to bring you increased functionality and access to student accounts. In order to do so, tech will be taking down myNECC starting at approximately 8 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 6. Service should be back up by Friday, Oct.10 and may return sooner. Information in myNECC will still be accessible; there will be providing a page of helpful links in place of the myNECC login.
Scooptopia has a barn theme and serves many frozen treats. | NECC Observer
As you walk in through Entrance K at NECC’s campus at Riverwalk, just down the hall is the newly opened Scooptopia. Greeted by bright colors and an outdoorsy theme, Scooptopia offers a variety of ice creams, gelato, and sorbetto all homemade!
Owners’ Karen Small and her husband Frank opened Scooptopia in 2011 where it originated in Downtown Java Joe’s at Methuen Square in Methuen, Mass.
They had a one year lease in Downtown Java Joe’s, and left when the lease was up and the shop then became Gemma’s Cafe.
Since they left, Karen and Frank never stopped looking for a place to reopen their business.
“We never left the business, we just had no place to go. We had all of our equipment, and were just keeping our options open,” says Karen.
Karen came upon the space where the Coffee Cann used to be. It was a decent size area, and had the amenities that could fit their equipment.
“I saw the space, talked to my husband, then contacted The Riverwalk to lease the space,” says Small.
Right away Karen and her husband got to work, and construction went underway in January.
“My husband sketched out what we wanted. A farm theme with green grass,” says Small.
They hired an architect who helped to find a tin roof and reclaimed wood. They put it together and it turned out the way Karen and Frank wanted it to be.
When first walking into Scooptopia the customer is greeted by the counter in the form of a barn with the tin roof stretching outward, and with wood above.
Surrounding the walls is wood, and to the left is what appears to be a barn window. To the right is a mural of an ice cream sundae floating down a chocolate river with mint chocolate chip grasses.
Above the barn is blue paint to represent the sky, and green tile to represent grass. A cheerful and happy atmosphere.
“We wanted to bring the outside indoors, and it was lots of fun designing and putting it all together,” says Small.
Scooptopia finally opened in the beginning of summer in June. The hours of operation as of right now are Monday through Friday noon to 8 p.m.
“In the future, we hope to expand to the weekend, but as of right now we are holding steady,” says Small.
Scooptopia offers many different flavors of ice creams, sorbetto, and gelatos. The flavors are always changing month to month to keep it fresh, but will always have the basics such as chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry.
There are also specials during the months. This October, Scooptopia is offering Caramel Apple,Candy Corn, Pumpkin Whoopie Pie, Sweet Potato Marshmallow, and possibly Roasted Garlic.
“We are working on a Surprise Trick-O-Treat Bag flavor. It will be everything you would normally get in a trick-o-treat bag such as Hershey’s, Kit Kat, M&M’s, Milky Way, and so on. It is just finding the right flavors with it not being too much,” explains Small.
Scooptopia gets their ingredients locally, and internationally.
“We get our whoopie pies, and fruits from Mann’s Orchard, for the sorbetto and our whoopie pie flavor. The rest of our gelato material is imported from Italy,” says Small.
Many people do not know the difference between the three frozen treats. Ice cream is made with cream, unlike gelato which is made with milk.
Some people believe that sorbet, and sorbetto are the same thing, but they are not. Sorbet is made with milk, and sorbetto is fat free and dairy free, made with water and fruit. The menu offers gluten free treats which are marked by a pink star next to the name of the flavor.
The prices are reasonable for students, staff, and outside patrons who come in. A small gelato priced at $3.50 and a small ice cream, or sorbetto priced at $4.25. With reasonable quantities, they offer a small sample spoon to try out their different flavors.
“I want this shop to be different. I want to stand out, that’s why I’m always trying to make new different flavors such as Roasted Garlic, Biscotti, and Dill Pickle. It’s a unique process, but it is a lot of trial and error,” says Small.
Reopening Scooptopia, has been a fun process for Karen and Frank. It took lots of effort, but they’re now being rewarded for the hard work.
“I love owning the shop, seeing the customers, and catering to their needs,” says Small.
Scooptopia is located in the Riverwalk at Entrance K down a short hallway.
