Monthly Archives: April 2021

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Speechapalooza 2021: Coming to a screen near you

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Northern Essex Community College’s 7th annual Speechapalooza event will be held virtually for the second year in a row due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

It will be held over a span of three days, April 30, May 1, and May 2 on YouTube @ https://youtu.be/3x4ccIZPVJk.

Speechapalooza was created in 2015 and sponsored by NECC’s Liberal Arts: Communications/Journalism Program and continues to be organized by students enrolled in Principles of Public Relations (COM113).

Since its debut, the event has celebrated student speakers involved in Public Speaking or Public Presentation-intensive classes.

The students prepare and give speeches about a variety of topics to a wide audience.

Last year’s Speechapalooza was in the midst of planning when the pandemic hit, so students had to shift gears to keep the event alive.

They were also able to tie in fundraising for NECC’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund which is planned for this year’s event as well. Speech submissions are currently being accepted for review until April 19.

If you are interested in taking part of SPEECHAPALOOZA 2021: VIRTUAL VOICES, please send a video of you performing your 5-10 minute speech to speechapalooza2021@gmail.com.

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Celebrating Earth Day

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With Earth Day here on April 22, many people celebrating. Personally, I think that every day should be celebrated like Earth Day, because it’s not like the Earth only comes around once a year! However, let’s look at some ways that NECC students can celebrate this year in person, and remotely.

Sadly, due to the pandemic there are more virtual celebrations rather than in-person, but that isn’t stopping you from masking up and stepping outside!

Some ways to celebrate this year could be to clean up some town or state parks that may be close by.

There are many state parks in the surrounding towns that definitely are in need of some TLC this time of year. There is a state park in Newburyport that you and some friends could visit for a hike and try picking up some trash you find along the way! If trees aren’t really your style there is also Salisbury, Seabrook, or Hampton beach that are very nice to visit and in between some trash grabbing there are also some huge shells to find.

These beaches are about a 20 minute drive from the Haverhill campus, and the Maudslay State Park in Newburyport is about 15 minutes away.

There are virtual celebrations all across the nation that can be found online, too. But if celebrating in your house on your computer isn’t really your thing, then you could always set up a zoom meeting with your friends and start planting some flowers or vegetables in the comfort of your own home or backyard. Personally, I think that I might reach out to some of my friends that go to NECC and set something like that up.

There are also ways to celebrate Earth Day all year long. Some ways to celebrate or just be more environmentally conscious overall could be to start recycling more. Yes, your household may already recycle, but do you wash your cans out before putting them in the bin or did you know that the plastic tops on water bottles cannot be recycled? There is always more room for growth and learning.

Some other ways to recycle are to make DIY’s out of the things you recycle. For example, the individual egg holders in egg cartons are great for propagating a plant or starting a new one altogether, or a painted vegie can make a great pencil holder or a pot for a plant. You could also start using reusable water bottles instead of the plastic ones, or if you are using the plastic water bottles you can refill them a few times before recycling, instead of just letting them pile up in your room until your mom finds out. There are recycling bins that can also be found all over the campuses, so be diligent in what you’re throwing away.

Celebrating Earth day for the 51st year in 2021 is going to be different than the 49 years before the pandemic; however, there isn’t a wrong way to spread awareness of how we’re affecting the environment or little ways we can help. Unless it is violent awareness. Then chances are it’ll be a wrong way to spread awareness. Stay safe this Earth Day, mask up and spread awareness.

 

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Spreading Alzheimer’s awareness in the community

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The Alzheimer’s Association is partnering with NECC to spread awareness about Alzheimers.

The association is inviting NECC, students and their families to participate in an event called, “Know The 10 Signs of Alzheimers.”

The event will be held over a webinar and will be hosted both in Spanish and in English. The event for Spanish speakers will take place during the 26th of April at 6:30 to 7:30 PM. The event for English speakers will take place during the 27th of April at the same time.

The Alzheimer’s Association offers many other services.

Leonor Buitrago, an employee who works for the association says, “We offer educational talks in Spanish about the disease and about care in the different stages of the disease.”

The association also offers support groups, family consultation services, and many more services as Leonor Buitrago told me.

Caroline Hamilton who is studying psychology at NECC, says that she hasn’t given Alzheimer’s much thought since her family doesn’t have any genetic predispositions to it.

However she did say, “I think the public should be well informed on these types of issues.” She added that it was important to understand those issues and the challenges faced by those who have Azlheimers.

Sarah Sanford, another student who is majoring in writing at NECC says that NECC could benefit from events like this to help themselves out and their family members. “I think NECC should have more events like this,” she added.

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Students react to NH’s mask mandate being lifted, NECC officials share school’s plans for fall

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As of April 15, New Hampshire no longer mandates that residents wear masks in public places. While the state has lifted the mandate, NH Governor Chris Sununu said he still encourages people to wear a mask.

“A state mandate does not have to be in place for us to know that wearing face covering when we’re unable to maintain social distancing is just a good idea,” said Sununu. “It’s recommended by public health.” Sununu said this doesn’t stop towns, cities and businesses from requiring it on their own.

The Center for Disease Control recommends that people wear masks in public settings, at events and gatherings, and anywhere they will be around other people. Since November 2020, Massachusetts has made masks required in all public places; even where social distancing is possible.

After hearing about the NH mask mandate being lifted, some NECC students wanted to share their opinions.

“Obviously, it won’t be safe to stop wearing a mask next week,” said Zoey Lauria. Lauria is a New Hampshire resident that graduated with an Associate’s in Science Biology from NECC in December 2020. Now, she works in the STEM department while continuing her degree at UMass Lowell.

Lauria said she’s concerned about the message this sends to the population. “People who previously doubted masks will probably point to the lifting of the mandate as justification for not wearing them in public,” she said.

She said she worries it may give people a “bit of false hope” about the state of the pandemic, and that at this time, lifting the mandate is ”totally inappropriate.”

Yamina Valdez, a Mass. resident and Journalism and Communication major at NECC, said that she probably won’t wear a mask while shopping in NH. “If they don’t mandate it, I won’t wear one,” she said.

Valdez said that she wonders why so many people are getting sick and dying despite mask mandates being in place. “I feel that it’s not too soon (to lift the mandate),” she said. “People should have a choice.”

The CDC recommends wearing masks to prevent the spread of covid-19.

Zachary Cutter, a Mass. resident and Journalism/ Communications major was concise. About vaccines and mask wearing, he said, “look, just go ask your doctor at the end of the day.”

At NECC, masks will remain mandatory. “There’s no plan to get rid of the mask mandate at any time in the next year,” said Audrey Ellis, Director of Student Success Management.

Currently, it is not required for students to have to be vaccinated in order to attend in the fall.

“At this time, I am not anticipating a requirement for students to have been vaccinated to come to campus,” said Bill Heineman on March 29. Heineman is VP of Academic and Student Affairs. However, Heneman noted that “it’s not impossible” for the vaccine to be required at some point. He said he strongly encourages people to get the vaccine because it will “enhance the safety and health of everyone you come into contact with on campus.”

On April 20 the presidents of the state’s 15 community college, through the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges, released a statement saying vaccines would not be mandatory at Massachusetts community colleges in the fall.

“…. the community colleges are not contemplating COVID-19 vaccine mandates at this time,” the statement said. “ It is essential that we meet the needs of all of our students, who are often from the communities hit hardest by this pandemic and facing disproportionate access to the COVID-19 vaccine. And now, it is more important than ever to prioritize equity, and creating additional barriers for our students would go against our critically important mission of open access for all. “

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PACE progam hosts virtual registraton event

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The most unforgettable and exciting time of the year is here, the start of  the Summer and Fall registration at NECC.

The PACE Program held a virtual event for advance registration on April 5, online via Zoom meeting, Program staff were there, available to help students chose classes. Staff met with each student indvidually with a focus on academic advising and counseling.

While attending the event, Sheila Corsaro, a PACE academic advisor said , “we will randomly choose one student who attends to receive a special prize.”

Everything started with a student one on one counseling, going over the Degree work and tracking academic progress.

Then, they discussed their academic plan by selecting the right courses needed to complete their overall degree.

The Zoom meeting lasted about 15-20 minutes.  Jessica Rocker, Transfer Advisor Pace Program, -TRIO-student support services helped host the event and announced the winner to receive the special prize at the end.

As the event went along, student had the chance to converse about their school goals such as transferring to a four –year universities to further their educational career.

The Pace program encourages their student to continue with education and seeks to aid them with process of transferring.

Finally, the event end at 3 p.m. having the PACE students already set with their classes schedule for Summer and Fall semester.

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Panel highlights careers in journalism/communication

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The Center for Liberal Arts hosts Career Panel events from timeto time to connect students with professionals in the liberal arts community.

The purpose of thisevent is to have the liberal arts students listen in on how these communication professionals were able to achieve their level of success starting off on the same path as the students tuning in.

The event also allows students to ask any questions they are curious about and to give the students insight on the endless job opportunities the Liberal Arts program has to offer.

The past few career panel events had special guests speaking about their careers from all different types of liberal arts professional backgrounds. The guests consisted of Kristen Bell,Eduardo Crespo, Lisa Valela, Tracy Majka, Ted Priestly, Zenova King, Mike Alongi, VeronicaVozzolo, Luftar Von Rama, and more.

All these guests spoke upon their experiences working in the film, marking, and journalism industries which helps give young liberal arts students insight on what possible careers they can look into once they finish completing their degrees.This event is open to all students but more so specifically to liberal arts majors.

Students canc atch these career panel events by keeping their outlook email post notifications on for theCenter for Liberal Arts email so they can get be notified of advertisements of the career panele events once they are planning to host the next one.

Michelle Colbert-Mason who is a Journalism/Communication Arts major in Northern Essex Community College said “I’ve received virtual flyers/invitations for many of the center events. I consider attending them but so far I have only attended one which was a career panel for Journalism/ Communication Arts students.”

Email is the best way for students to be aware of these events but you can also get you updates on the next career panel event through the Center for Liberal Arts social media pages and their website.

All these events at the moment can be accessed through zoom.

When speaking to the students who have attended the career panel events they had nothing bu tpositive things to say about the events.

“The most recent career panel event I attended was great! My favorite speaker was Zenova King since she used to work for Jay-Z and is currently YG’smanager who are two rappers I am familiar with,” said Rachel Anderson a Communication Arts/Journalism major in Northern Essex Community College.

“I just joined a zoom call this past week from the center of liberal arts. It was a Q&Awith some producers and local journalists which was really informative and inspiring,” said Faith Barrett, another Journalism/ Communication Arts major.

The career panel events has brought awareness to the broad selection of careers, liberalarts students can look forward to pursuing in the future. You can get updates on the next event ontheir events website (https://www.necc.mass.edu/current-students/academic-centers/center-for-liberal-arts/liberal-arts-center-events/) and on their social media handles @neccliberalarts.

 

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Students take on virtual escape room

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With the exit doors locked and just an hour to escape a horde of the undead, our (virtual) fate was all but sealed. Luckily, the post-apocalyptic world had never seen the likes of such crafty community college students as ourselves.

On April 8 2021, I, as a reporter for the Observer, along with fellow NECC students, played through a virtual Zoom-session escape room. Escape rooms challenge players to explore and solve riddles, puzzles or whatever else stands between them and the exit. Of course, we had to do all of this before the hour-long timer ended.

Escape Experience, a business physically located in Chattanooga, TN ran our game.

It worked over Zoom like this: an Escape Experience employee wearing a body-mounted camera acted as our eyes and ears. We gave them directions – like “search that cabinet” or “check the cadaver’s pockets for clues” –  in real time.

We were also given a video-game-like digital version of everything our player found in the room. That way, we could inspect them in detail on our screens.

After getting oriented, the six of us were split evenly into two groups. Mine was destined to play through “Vaccine: search for the cure.” Our escape room was set in a fictional post-apocalyptic world where most humans were lost to a zombie outbreak.

We were tasked with finding the vaccine a scientist had been working on in a barnhouse. But there was a catch – we only had an hour before the undead would catch up with us.

Led by my brave companions Krystal Oller, an early childhood education major, and Carolay Suarez, a biology major, we entered. The door shut behind us, and the timer began to count down.

Once we restored the room’s power, the lights revealed bloody handprints, locked cabinets and cryptic messages on the walls. Through a combination of teamwork and wit (and a couple of hints) we managed to escape with the cure.

The other team played an entirely different escape room with a different theme, layout and puzzles. Thiers was called “The Inheritance.” When we reconvened after escaping, everyone said it was a fun experience.

Zachary Cutter, a journalism major, said it was a good team building exercise. He said he liked the way it “made me think outside of the box.”

Toni Pavao, an Early Childhood Education major, was a detective, team members said. She was inspecting their clues and taking notes (two full pages to be exact) so her team could give their player commands.

Stephanie Haskell, Coordinator of Student Activities at NECC, organized the session and reserved our time slot. She also played on Cutter and Pavao’s team.

After hearing such positive feedback and enjoying the experience herself, Haskell mentioned that student life might do this again in person once covid restrictions allow that to be done safely.

 

Campus Life
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The academic centers in Northern Essex Community College have been coming up with different ways on how to keep the student body engaged with theschool virtually.

The Center for Liberal Arts particularly has hosted many zoom events for students to participate in if they chose to. Events the center hosts vary fromregistration workshops, cultural awareness conversations, career panels, historical events andmuch more.

The goal of the center is to provide professional and eventful resources for the students to be able to make the most out of their academic life right from the comfort of theirown home.

Although it has been difficult for the center to get most of the liberal arts students to participat eand join the events, they have been grateful for the students who do decide to join and utilize thecenter like they want them to.

The center sends out emails regarding their events to the students almost on a daily basis as well as promoting their events on social media and on the Center for Liberal Arts website. Many students have been able to view the advertisements the center has put out regarding theevents they host.

Unfortunately, the pandemic has made it subsequently difficult for the center and the students to be able to find a set schedule that works for everyone to be able to make it to the events since the students are now busier throughout their day.

Though, students like Isae Grullon, a Journalism and Communication Arts major in Northern Essex Community College suggested that the centers should create a calendar a few months in advance on the events they potentially are going to host so that the students can clear their schedules ahead and have time to participate in such events.

Grullon said that “there was some events that I wish I was able to participate in but unfortunately since I was busy with work it made it hard for me to make it to the events, you know? I know it’s hard to cater to everyone’s schedule but maybe if they were to somehow be able to make a calendar on the events they are going to host in advance then it might be easier for the students who are busy to plan around those events and attend them.”

Though there are a few obstacles students and staff have to overcome that interrupt them from fully attending the events, it is evident that the students believe that the events the center hosts are super helpful and beneficial when they are able to fully participate in them.

Another student, Phineas Sparrow, who is also a Journalism and Communication Arts major in Northern Essex Community College said that “the Center for Liberal Arts is a great place for students to be able to network and meet other students and professionals. Even though students may not be able to participate in every single event, I do think it’s important to at least try attending one.”

Many students like Sparrow attest to the fact that the events the Center hosts are convenient for all liberal arts students to interact and meet with other liberal arts students and staff members to network and help each other out.It may be difficult for students to find the time to participate in all the events the center hosts.

But “my advice would be for students to find one day each month of their choosing, to pick an event they want to attend so that they can make the most out of the center,” said Zachary Cutter another Journalism/ Communication Arts major.

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A healthy lifestyle can affect mental health

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Mental health connects to physical health. The connection between mental and physical health is fundamental,  linked to each other. Your mental health and physical health must remain stable. Northern Essex Community College students recently expressed their opinion on the topic.

Jocelyn Avila-Frias said “Yes, I decided to start my fitness journey for my physical health but found that it helped my mental health even more. The gym is like therapy.” .

What are the benefits of physical health?,  Avila-Frias says, “I feel better emotionally and physically.”

There are many great things about having good physical health. It reduces your health risk. Heart disease and stroke are two of the leading causes of death in the United States. Exercise helps you sleep better at night and fights insomnia to make sure you are sufficiently tired at bedtime. The stress-relieving effects of exercise help your mind and body. Relax so negative thoughts don’t keep you awake for hours at night.

“I think it’s important to feel good, can’t feel good physically if you do not feel good mentall,” said Avila-Frias.  Feeling physically good is just as important as feeling good mentally. your mental health plays a  role in your general well-being.

What are the best ways to gain physical health? Avila-Frias states, “To me, it is eating healthy and staying active.” Eating healthy and staying active can improve your mental health. It helps people maintain their bodies the way they want it. Everyday functions and promotes optimal body weight and can assist in disease prevention.

Mirrorajah Metcalfe is a student from Northern Essex Community College. She is from Las Vegas and currently lives in Haverhill MA. Her Major is Journalism/Communications. She says “physical health helps me to clear my mind and overall allow my body to feel much strong and healthier. I can focus better, and I am in a happier mood after going for a run.”

Metcalfe states “it helps me release any negative energy or bodily tension I might be carrying around from stress. Helps me to relax and reduce my thoughts and actions.’’  Physical activity can help relieve stress and tension. Physical activity and most people also note an improvement in general well-being over time as physical activity becomes a part of their routine.

What are the best way to gain physical health? Metcalfe says there are many forms of physical exercise and some may work differently for others. Examples include yoga, running, the gym dance, swimming even daily masks daily walks are a good source of exercise.”  Exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and helps your cardiovascular system work more efficiently. And when your heart and lung health improve, you have more energy to tackle daily chores.

What are the benefits of physical health? Working out helps her feel more awake, said NECC journalism student Mariam Saldivar of Lawrence. Other benefits include losing weight (if you need to) can help with confidence with your body but can also make you feel more accomplished,” she said.

“For me, it’s important because I’ve always had self-esteem issues,” she said. “Currently, I’m working towards losing weight, and I feel more accomplished every time I get closer and closer to a healthier weight. I think it’s also important during these times.’’

The good news is that high self-esteem can be good for you if it’s the healthy kind; the bad news is that high self-esteem. Be bad for you if it’s the unhealthy narcissistic kind (the grass greener).  Self-esteem will naturally fluctuate. The important thing is to get it to a place where it’s relatively stable are genuinely feel good about yourself.

”Easy workouts would be to run or even jump rope,” said Saldivar. “Cut out all the junk food too. But it’s hard than people think. You have to a lot of determination.”

As much as it may stress you to think about exercising. Once you start working out, experience less stress in every part of your life helps your mental health improve.