Daily Archives: October 8, 2014

Features

Veterans and service person organization

 

The NECC Veterans and Service Person’s Organization held its first meeting on Friday, Oct. 3 at noon. The organization plans to meet bi-weekly in SC213 of the Behrakis One-Stop Center. Anyone is welcome to join the club. 

There are a lot of veterans and service persons attending, working or teaching at NECC that are silent about their time in the service or their involvement in it. 

A goal of this organization is to bring awareness of veterans’ presence on campus and provide a safe haven for them to talk about their experiences, both in the service and out of it, as well as their own personal college experiences at NECC.

The meeting started off by going over what the purpose of the organization is, which is to be a beneficial organization to all veterans, service persons and relatives. To provide information on benefits mandated by federal, state and private agencies, and to have group support, fellowship and comraderie. 

The constitution of the organization was review during the meeting. It states that the club is open to everyone, and that the goal is to make people aware that there are veterans on campus.

During the meeting, attendees went around and introduced themselves as either a student or staff member, and their military experience. Once the formalities were finished, the veterans shared their experiences at NECC as well as some experiences in the military. A sense of comraderie could be felt among those in the room.

The club is run by Jeff Williams, an army veteran who is the Veteran Service Coordinator on campus, and  Justin Merced, an English and Biology major at NECC. Merced is also an army veteran of 6, and he served in Iraq for 15 months and the infantry for 3 years. He finished his military career in the army reserves for 2 years. 

Merced decided to get involved with the club because he had been in student senate, and the student leadership developer program, but he didn’t see much available for veterans.

“I thought to myself, there’s nothing for veterans here,” said Merced. 

“I see vets walking around, and they’re silent just walking down the hallways going about their business, and I thought why not have a community where we can be ourselves, not just show up and leave.” 

“My main goal for the clubs is to create a safe space for veterans and service members to come and ultimately have a space where they can be themselves, where they can talk about their own issues.” said Merced.

One of the main points discussed in the meeting was the lack of awareness about veterans on campus. This poses a problem for the club in particular. It cannot become a registered club at NECC unless there are at least 10 signatures on the sign up sheet. 

Not only does this jeapordize the success of the club, but it contributes to the ongoing silence of veterans on campus. 

If students and staff were more aware of the presence of veterans on campus, it may make for a better overall college experience for those veterans.

“Increasing visibility of veterans on campus is also a goal of mine, so people know we’re here, and so people ultimately respect the veteran community because we are here. Like I said before, it’s an invisible population,” said Merced.

“Honestly, it’s been pretty shoddy. I’ve had instances where I was pretty open about being a veteran. After just a matter of a few weeks I really stopped sharing it because people looked down on the military, and it’s a huge issue that I’ve run into with students and staff.”

Ideas were thrown around to help the club gain more popularity, such as introducing merchandise, like challenge coins, to establish identity. 

They have a Veteran’s Appreciation Day with guest speakers. The challenge coins would be presented for academic achievement. 

The club is limited by its lack of resources. The club hopes more involvement could helo them gain available resources, both human and capital. This could provide more opportunities for veterans and service people involved. 

More funding could help provide future work study programs for veterans with the GI bill and other potential fun gatherings for veterans and their families who are a part of the club.

Another point mentioned in the meeting is that there are veterans that work full time during the day and take classes at night, so it is more difficult for them to get involved with the club if they desired to. 

Jeff Williams who is the advisor of the club, stressed that a goal of the club is make the Veteran Center, located in the Behrakis One-Stop Center SC216, a comfortable space for veterans to hang out and do homework or just unwind. 

“Don’t feel like you can’t come in there and hang out just because I’m working. The space is for the veterans on campus, and I just happen to work in there. That’s the message that we want to send. The more traffic that we get, the more it reinforces that message so that people will take advantage of the space,” said Williams.

Sports

Women’s basketball gearing up for season

 

NECC women’s basketball coach Brent Bass has been working since last winter to bring a competitive women’s basketball team to the floor for the 2014-2015 season.  Coach Bass, in his first year as the head coach, has been recruiting at high schools all over the area over the past year in hopes of bringing in new talent.

Bass spent a lot of time speaking with local high school coaches and asking about players they have who are interested in attending NECC.  High schools in Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, Haverhill and southern New Hampshire were all contacted.  Bass also attended various summer leagues and camps for high school players, hoping to scout recruits for this year and possibly the 2015-2016 season.  Over this past summer, Bass has spent time following up with many of these recruits and gauging their interest in the program.

In addition, Bass has taken advantage of the many open houses that NECC offers, and he has gotten plenty of exposure for the program, which has been an issue in the past.  Coach Bass’s goal is to make the program more visible not only around campus but also in the community.  He understands that there are other programs for these players to choose.  Bass even admits that he has lost a few recruits to nearby Middlesex Community College and other Division III basketball programs, which he says is “just a part of the game.”

“There’s a lot of options out there, so you really have to sell the NECC product to these girls.  That means education and basketball,” said Bass.

Coach Bass has plenty of work still to do with his team.  Once he has a satisfactory amount of players to commit, which he hopes will be 10-12, he has to make sure that those commitments are kept.  Bass knows that, as community college students, there are many other commitments, such as a job or a family, that can take priority over basketball.

In response to this, Bass is making an effort to make the team much more accessible for the players.  One way he is doing this is with the flexibility of practice times.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, which are known to be heavier schoolwork days, Bass runs practice later in the day at 7 p.m.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the lighter workload days, practice begins at 3 p.m.  In addition, the will be practice on Saturday mornings.

Bass hopes that this staggered practice schedule will help those players who may have work after class some days during the week, or have one day where classes run until the evening.  This way, all of the players will be able to make it to some practice over the course of the week, even if they can’t make it to every single one.

As far as the way practices are run, coach Bass has a system that he’s been using in his years as an AAU coach in the area.  He has a simple playing philosophy that he is always repeating: “defense, rebound, and run.”  In order to play this style well, Bass focuses on many different skill work drills, such as dribbling and passing, in order to help ensure ball control.  Ball control is a large part of Bass’s game plan, as well as a tight, clamp-down defense.

Bass is a big proponent of playing smart basketball.  His practices are very regimented, focused on building up players’ fundamentals and learning to execute plays.  He also knows that basketball is a game of running and jumping, so conditioning is a big part of his preparation.

“I think it’s one of the more physically taxing sports out there, and you need to be able to run,” said Bass.

Practices are fast-paced, changing between drills with little rest, and consist of various cardio-workouts and team drills.

Practice begins on Monday, Oct. 6 in the Sport and Fitness Center.  This gives the Knights just over a month to prepare for their first game against Lincoln Technical Institute on November 8.  This season, the schedule is heaviest in the months of November and January.  The Knights kick off the season with six games before Thanksgiving break, and there are 10 games in January once winter break is over.

Coach Bass uses his past experiences as a coach and instructor to help him lead the Knights this year.  Bass has been an AAU instructor and coach since 1999.  In those 15 years of experience, he has been a coach for the Bay State Blizzards programs and has also coached various ages from both genders.  Bass came to NECC in 2012 as an assistant coach, and took over the head coaching position in the summer of 2013.  He knows that the key to getting good players is selling the school as well as the program, and he’s already been doing so.

“I would love to build a program here.  It’s going to be a quality program that will represent the school well,” Bass said.

The test begins on October 6, when Bass and his new recruits begin their preparations for a great 2014-2015 season.  With a tough schedule on the horizon, the hard work is going to have to begin right away.

Lawrence

The Border of Lights Vigil

 

There was a calm and respectful silence around a row of candles resting on a ledge of the Robert Frost Fountain on the night of Oct. 3 just Lawrence City Hall. Students and teachers involved with Bread Loaf Teacher Network stood together at the Border of Lights candlelight vigil. All over the world there were people quietly raising awareness of the injustice of the events that took place on Oct. 3, 1937 between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The vigil started off at the El Taller restaurant on Essex St at 7 p.m. Students that have been a part of the Bread Loaf Teacher Company stepped forward to talk about their experiences visiting Haiti, sharing written thoughts and emotional poetry about the treatment of Haitians, as well as hope for a more civil relationship between the two countries.

On Oct. 3, 1937 a massacre took place in which thousands of Haitians were rounded up in Dominican Republic territory and massacred. Estimates of casualties have ranged from one-thousand to twenty-thousand dead.

The vigil has been held every year for the past three years to commemorate those who died and to promote peace between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Lou Bemieri is the director of Bread Loaf Teacher Network, an organization that works with Julia Alvarez, a Dominican-American author and influential public figure to organize the vigil each year.

“It raises awareness of two things: the massacre of the Haitians and the treatment of Haitians by government. It’s been hidden and buried and people don’t want to talk about it,” said Bemieri.

Nathan Baez, a Life Science major, stood in front of the room in El Taller reciting his deepest thoughts he had while in Haiti.

“We all have that idea of Haiti, you know it’s a third world country. Every day up until my departure somebody told me ‘oh be careful you’re gonna get sick or watch out you might get robbed,’ and before my trip I was kinda nervous. As soon as I landed I realized how much of a lie everything was. None of it was true, it was smiles everywhere. For the amount of poverty that goes on over there all the smiles I saw was amazing. It makes you question the poverty we face here in America.”

Baez shared his experience in prose.

“Sold me fruits in the morning, the taste of fresh pineapples and mangoes take my senses to a place only God can manifest. Yesterday was eye-opening. The linguistic workshop is proof that our written words and language hold power. As I led the journey down self expression the path is lit up by love, passion and pride of the people of Haiti. I am humbled by the culture that my grandfather was raised in and being on this island I’ve never felt more connected with my roots as a black man. I’m curious to what knowledge today will bring, what insight I may gain now open to the lessons I’ve yet to learn,” said Baez.

Baez’s experience in Haiti made a  permanent positive mark on him as a student and person. “It’s an essence of remembrance, an event to remember what happened at the massacre of the Haitian people by the Dominicans. I mean, I’m part Haitian, actually being there changed my perspective on my culture, my skin,” said Baez.

Baez illustrated how profound of an effect being immersed in Haitian culture had on him in a poem titled “Who Am I.”

“I am the one who brings light from my dark vessel. I am the palm trees dancing in the wind, in the homeland of my ancestors. I am peace, personified in my daily actions. I am water, flowing through the rivers of change, nourishing the land and people who tend to it. Human like you, but unique like the codes of my DNA,” said Baez.

The way Baez expressed himself and his thoughts while in Haiti was reflective in his writing.

“I wouldn’t say improve, it just inspired new ways of thinking, new concepts to work into some of my writing, new perspective on my history. Before going to Haiti, I didn’t think it was possible that my family had ties to slavery. It [hit] home knowing that my grandfather’s great-great grandfather was a slave. At the same time, the slaves of Haiti liberated themselves. They took their freedom back. That’s the most inspiring thing about it.”

Another student who stood the speak was Marquis Victor, who shared a room with Baez in Haiti. His deep poetic thoughts earned snaps and a hushed silence as he spun his poetry into vivid stories of his experiences while in Haiti.

“Paradox. Internally combats switching sides, to use privilege, oblige use acceptance, oblige as gunpowder two punks sawed off and blast back like when the oppressor lined up dark skinned rebels with my bloodline. Sunshine shines on dry patches of red. In my head, I could be mahogany, ebony, a touch of burgundy.”

In my head, I could be a potato farmer yawning in the morning on the Irish countryside, pale skin spotted porcelain sent to the ghetto of New York, drinking ocean. Deep, thralling poverty like bad medicine inundated, sedated by the Anglican. Who am I but this ravenous history stirred in a pot. Who am I but the dark and the light reflected through a prison?” said Victor

Other students such as Mary Lozardo, who identified herself as a Dominican from Lawrence, shared her thoughts with the room from her experiences in Haiti.

“I will say, that I am shocked at how little we, and I do include myself in this because I still have so much to learn, my place, culture and people who are so close,” said Lozardo.

“I am nowhere near ready to say goodbye so see you soon. (in regards to Haiti) Last night I had to say goodbye to Christina and of course, I started to cry. I know this wouldn’t be our last time plus I keep it with me wherever I go but it’s still a bittersweet moment. She’s left in my heart. I still have so much to learn, I can’t even begin to describe how proud I am, all the education I’ve taken with me.”

Such opportunities for students to visit Haiti and experience such an empowering and educational experience is made possible through the Bread Loaf Teacher Network. The organization is based out of Pennsylvania  with meetings held all over the country and world to make trips like this possible, as well as advocate social justice and promote education.

“We’re an educational network but we are really driven by social justice,” said Bemieri.

This particular vigil was held in Lawrence through both Bemieri and Richard Gorham, associate director of Bread Loaf Teacher Network and English Chair of Lawrence High School. Although the organization does not get a ton of funding, it still makes trips like this and educational experiences possible for students.

After both students and teachers spoke to the small crowd sitting in El Taller, they made their way with candles down Essex street to City Hall to hold the candlelight vigil in front of the Robert Frost Fountain. They took pictures and shared memories of Haiti while remembering those who lost their lives in the massacre.