Daily Archives: April 18, 2023

Sports

Student athletes can learn valuable lessons through participation

 

A person who is proficient in sports and other forms of exercise is considered an athlete.

All over America throughout history much of our youth has been driven to participate in a sport while they are growing up.

I really want to stress that I think you can learn a lot of valuable lessons when doing a sport that you can use in all the phases in life.

Being involved in a team environment builds character and gives a young adult the sense of basic social skills that can be used while growing up.

Youth sports is kind of a family atmosphere, just like when at an occupation you need to learn how to work with your coworkers, when involved in a sport it is the same thing.

There is a sense that if someone goes down it is your responsibility to get them back up. Being involved with any type of sports can develop a lot of leadership skills also. Being able to talk to a group of people and direct them through a task that needs to be done is easier said than done.

The beauty of playing sports throughout your whole life is that at the start it is purely for fun, but like everything in life it gets more serious over time.

Once everyone reaches about the middle school level and are really molding into themselves is when things get a little more serious. The sports become a little more competitive as more of the kids get better at what they are doing.

Coaches get more serious and start to expect more from student athletes. School teams mostly have cuts so not everyone can make it.

This process I would have to say is probably the hardest part of growing up as an athlete. Right then and there they need to decide if this what they really want. Not only are they going to have to dedicate their time, but their body. Playing sports is not easy on your body especially when you are a kid, and your boy is still not even fully developed. There is a risk of injury and if you play a contact sport there is a pretty high risk of a head injury which is extremely severe.

As the athlete moves on to high school this is where you are playing to win now, and you are most likely representing the school that they go to and the town that they live in. I had the chance to be the manger for a lot of teams growing up and I can guarantee you there is no better feeling then running out with your teammates in front of the whole town and under those Friday night lights. Being an athlete in high school truly is a really hard task. Not only do practices run longer and every single day, the coursework load from your classes must be taken care of also. Your routine to be honest is wake up go to school then go to practice come home do all the homework you were assigned and then shower and go to bed then do it all over again. It is exhausting mentally and physically, but at the end of the day if you love the game, it should be worth it to you.

The first two years of high school athlete is really a preparation for when you will be an upper classman and playing for the varsity team. Freshman and Sophomore year is more about building bonds that can last for all four years when you are playing in more meaningful games. Not that junior varsity games are not important because they are this is where you continue to build relationships with teammates, but not only that you have to develop your skills at the sport and if you want to have an important part on the varsity team you really have to perfect your craft.

A lot of people are asking is this all worth it in the end? To those people I say yes!

If you had success at the varsity level in high school, there is a good chance that you can continue your athletic career at a college. This is not an easy task at all, and I don’t want anyone to think it is. To play sports at the collegiate level is extremely hard and getting an offer from a school is not an easy to do either. The reality is most people are not division one athletes and it is hard to reach this level. This does not mean you cannot go to a division 2 or 3 school or even a community college to continue to play the sport you love. Starting at a two-year community college is honestly a great idea. For example, here at Northern Essex Community College we offer a bunch of sports, and this is a great way of getting seen by other colleges you may want to finish at.

One of my best friends growing up, Anthony Caggenoli, was an extremely talented football player growing up ever since he was 10. To be honest he was probably the best football player I have ever seen. He was born gifted with that athletic ability and to see him grow into the player he is now has been an honor. Anthony plays division 3 football at Endicott College, and he is the starting running back.

I even got Anthony to answer some questions for this report because he is a great credible source when it comes to this stuff. My first question to him was what does he find the biggest struggle being a college athlete?

Anthony responded with, “you know waking up at 6 in the morning and putting all of that athletic load on your body that early has to be the toughest part, but it does prepare you for the rest of the day which I enjoy”. Next, I asked him if the best part of being able to play football at Endicott? His response,” Being able to go to school on a scholarship really helped me out and my family because I am now lucky enough to leave college with a little debt and without football this would not have been possible.

The bottom line in life as an athlete is not an easy thing to do even if you are not a professional. These kids at a young age sacrifice their bodies, time, social life’s, etc. just to play a game that they love, and I believe that is the beauty of it. Sports is an extreme positive to someone’s life because they can take all these lessons and use them in their everyday life. Having a teammate mentality can only make you more successful in life because you know how to work well with others!

Sports

Athletes growing up

 

When you are a young child and you are growing up, depending on your interests you might want to get involved with a sports team.

As you see other people and friends start to grow into themselves and maybe start to play sports you might find yourself interested too. A lot of people think it takes just a couple of easy steps to play a sport, you just sign up and show up, well that is not the case.

When you decide to play a sport, you need to really take a lot of things into factor.

Time, health, and money are all involved with playing a sport growing up and when you do sign up for a sport you are putting all these things at risk.

First, I want to start off with one of the most important things in life that we must manage which is time.

As you are growing up you start really struggling on managing your time and what aspects of life the time should be focused on.

With the struggle of separating time, with school, family and your social life adding a sport to this will take away a lot of you time for this type of stuff.

When playing a sport there is always some sort of practice and as you get older, and the sport gets more serious there is a high chance that you will be practicing every day during the week.

From my personal experience, middle school is when coaches feel that is needed to start having practices every day after school.

With this demand there becomes some issues that might interfere with other aspects of your life.

Let’s say you as a student struggle with doing your homework and getting assignments in on time, having a practice every day is really going to affect your work.

The problem with this is that most schools have a specific standard on grades when playing a sport. Most school’s do not allow students athletes to play if they do not maintain a certain GPA, or a system where they must get certain letter grades.

When I was in middle school, I was the team manager and everyone on the team was expected to always be passing every class or you could not play.

If any of your grades did end up going below a 70 you would be asked to get the grade back up or you wouldn’t be able to play, in my case, manage.

So before signing up for a sport you should really think about your education first because at the end of the day that is what is most important.

Also, you cannot forget that playing a sport is going to take time from you being at home with your loved ones or going out with your friends on the weekend.

So, it is important to make sure you have your priorities straight before committing to anything.

The next thing you really must think about when signing up for any sport, whether it involves contact or not, is your health.

As a young adult it is extremely important to keep your body healthy when it concerns broken bones, torn ligaments, concussion, etc.

Playing a sport does put you at a risk for injury and depending what sport it can be more serious.

For example, if you want to play football you have to understand you are signing up for the one of the most dangerous sports you can play because of all the contact.

The thing that bothers parents the most I think when letting their kid play football is the high risk of head injury.

According to Dr. Jaycie Loewen, “Statistics show that about 20% of all high school football players experience brain trauma every football season and that football is responsible for more than 60% of concussions in high school sports” according to an article in Cognitive FX.

So, as you can see signing up for football does put a risk to your physical health. This is something you really must decide if you want to put your body at risk, for the rest of your life.

The main problem is that most of these injuries tend to linger with you for the rest of time that could lead to surgeries and multiple complications.

Lastly you must think about the financial state you are in when you are signing up for a sport.

Like I said earlier a lot of people tend to make the mistake and think they can just sign up for a sport and show up, but that is not the case.

First you must think of the organization you are playing for.
If it is not a school team there is mostly a startup fee for playing the sport which can really range depending on how serious the organization is.

For example, if you are playing for an AAU team you are most likely paying a lot of money to play, or your parents are depending on the situation. That is only the start.

The next important thing we need to think about is equipment.

Sports equipment is extremely expensive no matter what sport you are playing.

A survey done by NBC news shows, “Americans also spent more than $33 billion on athletic equipment and $19 billion on gym memberships over the past year, according to the survey.

In all, consumers shelled out more than $100 billion on sports-related purchases in the last 12 months” according to an article in CNBC.

So before signing up parents should make sure that they are financially stable enough to put their kid through a certain program.

To conclude my friend Evan Leblanc who is a former student at Northern Essex Community College took some time out of his day to answer some questions.

Although Evan did not play any sports at NECC, he played varsity football at Central Catholic, a local high school in Lawrence.
I started the conversation with me explaining how I would be asking questions concerning the risks of playing a sport.

My first question to him was, when did he begin to realize that the sport, he was playing was so dangerous and could affect his life?

Evan answered with, “I really didn’t realize how dangerous football was until we started to practice in high school. We were one of the top schools at football, so coming I was expecting us to be hitting each other a lot, but it was the opposite.

“Our coach felt it was too dangerous to hit during practice and was left for the games.”

Next, I went into asking him how much money he think his parents have spent on him on his equipment.

Evan answered immediately with, “A lot, especially for me because as a kid I began to grow faster than the other kids so I would constantly be finding myself needing new cleats, shoulder pads, and even a helmet, so yes we were constantly spending money every couple of months, but my parents really didn’t mind it because they knew how much I loved playing football.”
My last question to Evan was it worth all the time he lost with friends and family, everything he dedicated to the sport?

Evan responded with, “Absolutely it was worth it I made some of the best memories of my life playing football, I would not change it for anything.”

The bottom line the decision to play the sport is up to you.

If you have a certain love for the game, where you just find yourself happy and smiling while playing than the risks might be worth taking.

It is just important to know all the risks before committing to a team that needs you.

 

Opinion, Sports

Making a case for a new Sports and Fitness Center : Accessibility, condition of building and fields could be improved

 

After high school a lot of student athletes who decide that they want to continue their career in athletics begin the process of choosing a school.

When choosing a school, as I wrote about in my last article, there are many different things you must think about before deciding where to go.

One of the most critical things must be the school’s athletic facility and complex.

The sports and fitness center is where most athletes would be spending their time if they were to play a college sport.

Between practices, meetings, games, and other events concerning the sport most of the time you will be in there.

I want to focus in on our school Northern Essex Community College. A lot of athletes decide to come here to either save money or build up their athletic resume by playing here.

Here at NECC we offer a lot of different sports to our students as an opportunity to continue to do something they love while being at college.

Here at our campus in Haverhill Massachusetts, we do have our own sports complex for out teams to practice and play games in. It is over 50 years old and has many renovations that need to be done.

The sports complex here at NECC is an important part of our campus because without building D we wouldn’t really have a space for athletics, which would probably force us not to offer sports, which might even bring the school’s applicant’s down.

The sports complex is still in use and there are games that are still being played there but we do need multiple renovations if not a whole new building.

Some of the problems with our current sports building include the lack of accessibility for students like me who are in a wheelchair — it might be hard to maneuver in certain spots of the building.

The plumbing, electrical, and mechanical systems are all out of date which is a huge problem because this could cause damage to the building if one of these fails.

This would cause a lot of issues with the sports teams here at NECC because they would have nowhere to practice or play.

Our next problem is right adjacent to our sports complex we have our baseball field, softball field, and an asphalt track that suffers from draining issues and does not meet the campus’ needs.

The good news is that we are taking steps to fix this problem that we have on our beloved campus.
WHAV News, a nonprofit news organization we have in Haverhill stated, “Northern Essex Community College is turning to the private sector to potentially address about nine million dollars in deferred maintenance at its more than 50-year-old Sports and Fitness Center and surrounding athletic fields at its Haverhill campus.”

I believe this would be a great investment for the school that would even help them.

Building a new Sports and Fitness Center would raise the eyebrows of student athletes looking to continue their athletic career at a community college.

The next positive, I believe, is the new Sports and Fitness building can offer is a safer place to practice and play games with all updated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work.

Also, the renovation of the fields, in my opinion, is huge. Not only will this bring in more athletes to our school and sports programs, but I also really think it might bring in some more local fans near the area. A brand-new field is something to check out.

At the end of the day the main concern for our student athletes here at NECC is their health and their well-being.

With the new fields I do feel we might have less injuries to players concerning their ankles and parts of the lower bodies due to the old grass.

I did take some time to go out and look at the field and I do have to say the conditions in some spots are very poor.

My fear is someone running to go catch a fly ball and getting their ankle caught or twisted in a spot in the field where there might be a little dip in the surface or somewhere where the dirt isn’t as strong and maybe their cleat digs in.

Also, while talking about inside the Sports and Fitness building, a new flooring would be great for the basketball teams because they would have better traction.

I also would really like the building to be fully accessible to all students.

I have been around a lot of Sports Complex’s in the area, and I would say most of them, if not all of them, are accessible.

I took some time to reach out to my friend Eric Mello who is a basketball player who is highly considering coming to NECC to continue his education and maybe play for our team if he has a chance.

I wanted to ask him a couple of questions about our school and maybe the possibility of a new Sports and Fitness center.

My first question was what made you look at NECC?

Mello stated, “I was mainly interested in NECC because of a recommendation from my high school guidance counselor. She explained to me how at NECC everyone is helpful and it is a real family environment which would make me comfortable.”

I asked him next if he would want to play basketball here?

He quickly answered, “Yes, of course if I got the opportunity to play at the school. I would, but I know it would take a lot of time, effort, and dedication especially after the type of season they just had.”

My last question to Mello was if we were to put a new Sports and Fitness Center in would this be a benefit to you?

Mello explained, that “if a new Sports and Fitness center were to be put in the school my interest would probably go up, just because I know where I will be spending most of my time, it is brand new, and will have all the newest and best equipment to get me game ready.”

Overall, I do think that a new Sports and Fitness center with some field accommodations are needed at our school because before you know it the building and fields may become so bad that they are unusable.

I believe the college would get many more student athletes to apply because as Mello explained, the thought of being in a new building with new equipment sounds quite convincing.

Northern Essex Community College would be a great spot to do new renovations for our athletes because we have not had anything major done for over 50 years.

With the support of our school and local supporting businesses we can make this happen.

 

Arts and Entertainment

The pandemic’s effects on entertainment media

 

On Thursday, March 19, 2020, the first state-wide stay-at-home order was issued. States all over America quickly followed suit in an attempt to stop and or slow down the spread of COVID-19.

With so many people at home, families naturally flocked to the television to keep themselves entertained during lockdown and to keep up with world events. We live in a day and age where streaming services dominate our current day media space, and when COVID-19 hit, there was a noticeable increase in their uses. Why have people gone to streaming services in particular?

According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) 62 percent of Americans felt more anxious than they did at this time (Oct. 21 2020) last year. When participants of the public opinion poll were asked what was causing them the anxiety, the top two reasons were related to the Pandemic and how it would affect aspects of their life.

To escape the chaos and stress of everyday life, people looked for a form of escapism: a different world to melt into. Several million people found it in the form of the amazing shows found on streaming services like Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix.

According to statista.com, in the first quarter of 2020 the number of Netflix subscribers jumped from 61.04 million to 69.97 million from fourth quarter 2019 in the U.S. alone. And that isn’t even the biggest jump.

When we look at variety.com’s numbers for the newly created Disney+ it’s number of subscribers jumped to 86.8 million from just over 10 million in the span of November to October of 2020.

However, COVID-19 hasn’t been too kind to traditional Hollywood. California became the first U.S state to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, shutting down movie production and traditional forms of media production in the process. This caused any anticipated movie releases to be delayed by months, and even years in some cases due to the lack of availability of staff, and actors. Even if a studio did have the manpower to film a movie or TV show, you can’t film if your actors aren’t allowed to be within 6 feet of each other.

Granted, filming for movies was finally authorized in June of 2020, however production for movies was impacted, with film crews needing even more rules and regulations than ever to ensure all actors and crew remain healthy throughout the duration of filming.

The production side of things aside, movie theaters may not be able to recover from the Pandemic. Since most movie producers are allowing straight to streaming service releases of their movies, this has ruined any reason for people to risk going out amidst the pandemic to see any new movies. AMC’s stock price has been on the decline since 2016, but in 2020 people saw the stock price drop even lower.

We see movie stars like Zendaya making movies successfully amidst the early days of the Pandemic. Companies like Disney not breaking a sweat thanks to their investment in streaming services legitimizing the medium even more. Hollywood as we knew it before the Pandemic is gone, and the Hollywood we see after the chaos of COVID-19 will be a sight to behold.

Campus Life, Home Page News Bytes

Enjoy more down time with more management time

 

We use time management skills in our everyday life. “Work smarter not harder”, said Krista Digloria at the Weekly Knight Workshop (WKW) hosted by Orientation Team Members, Tiffany Esmerio, Digloria, and Student Ambassador, Jordana Cepeda.

The time to get organized workshop was held on April 4 on zoom at Northern Essex Community College.

“Managing your time efficiently takes trial and error to figure out what works best for you,” Digloria says.

Krista likes getting her work done in the morning, but Tiffany Esmerio works better in the evening.

Do not procrastinate!

Get your work done so you will have more time to relax. Plan your week out and write down all the things you want to get accomplished that week. Include personal, work, homework, and mandatory tasks.

“The thing that helped me was to keep on top of things by staying organized, a lot of college students sometimes stay up late doing schoolwork due to being busy all day,” Digloria said.

Some tips to overcome procrastination, do the hardest work first and get that done right away. Set goals for the day and the week.Set deadlines and put them on your calendar and work with a classmate. Hold each other accountable.

Make sure you get your rest.

The more sleep you get the more productive you will be. Avoid studying late at night. Try to avoid multi-tasking unless you feel confident about the tasks. Study for small periods of 30-40 minutes. Divide large tasks into smaller ones. Work hard and take 5–10-minute breaks and set a timer.

You do not want to get work overload which could lead to someone quitting the assignment or job. Decide which is the most important thing you want to complete today.

Use the Academic Coaching at NECC to improve your time management skills.

Time management will improve your grades and allow more time for doing other things you enjoy.

“I was very disorganized when I started a semester last year, I was assigned to an academic coach and they helped me with different organization skills,” said Cepeda.

It does not matter if you want to do your homework in the morning, afternoon, or night, just figure out what works best for you.

Calendars remind you when to do your homework, work schedule and personal tasks.

Calendars can be informative and keep you organized. You can set reminders.

After completing a task, make sure to check off what you completed. Checking off things you do will help keep you organized.

One way of organizing the subjects or activities in your calendar is by color coding. By doing that, it will help you stay organized.

Hang up the important information on the refrigerator or other places that you see a lot to remind you what you need to do. Set alerts on iPhone, Outlook, Google etc. Have realistic expectations on your limitations and time. It would be extremely hard to do five assignments and study for tests then go to work for a five-hour shift.

“It will take time to get organized, but over time you will manage your time better to get things done faster and efficiently,” said Esmerio.

You do not want to have assignments hanging over your head.

Enjoy your weekends by getting assignments done earlier in the week. Figure out what techniques work for you.

Arts and Entertainment

Climate Action: Inspiring change

 
A painting
Xingfeiyan Liu’s painting “Clean.” Photo by Caroline Magner

In a world where climate change has already negatively affected all living things so much, what does the future hold in store for us?

The Peabody Essex Museum tackles this question in their exhibit, ‘Climate Action: Inspiring Change’, on view until June 25 in the museums Art and Nature Center. The answer that visitors will walk away with is not necessarily a pessimistic one, although it can be gleaned that change is a vital part of saving our future; changing our mindsets and actions, in both big and small ways, to treat our planet nicer.

The twenty-nine artists whose works are featured in this exhibit do exactly that, inspire change. “We can solve climate change… It’s not all doom and gloom!” says one of the contributing artists, Jada Mensah.

A variety of mediums, such as woodwork, paintings, photography and more can be found throughout the exhibit each sharing some depiction of how climate change has affected us and our planet, but more importantly a glimmer of hope. Like in Xingfeiyan Liu’s painting, “Clean,” which portrays two young people collecting trash from the ocean.

“Replanting Resilience” painting by Jill Pelto.
“Replanting Resilience” painting by Jill Pelto. Photo by Caroline Magner

The theme of hope permeates “Climate Action,” leaving visitors with an inclination towards making more eco-friendly choices rather than inescapable feelings of impending doom. “Overall, I hope that they come away with an emotional response to the topic, whatever that may be to them,” said Jill Pelto, one of the contributing artists. “I want people to feel a connection, an engagement to the stories I’m telling about our world in my art.”

Pelto’s art is unique because she uses a combination of data research on climate change and watercolors and drawings of landscapes. Pelto’s painting “Replanting Resilience” at first glance is simply of people walking in a field with trees in the distance and fish swimming in a pond below. But upon further inspection three line graphs can be located. The line in the wooded area represents the increase of U.S. adults who supported policies to protect the environment.The line on the hill represents an increase in National Wildlife Refuge acreage. The line along the pond water represents sea level rises with two additional lines rising from it showing projections for the future.

While the message of hope is conveyed in one way or another by the artists, they each are also stressing the importance of the issue and how action is necessary to make a change for the better.

“We don’t need to be perfect about it or hard on others, it’s about doing the things we can to make a change,” Pelto said.

In addition to the art, the Peabody Essex Museum made efforts in assembling this exhibit to be as environmentally friendly as possible by using energy-efficient lighting, recycled walls and cases, as well as the use of Ecoboard which is a 100% recyclable product, for the graphics and labels.

 

Features, Slider

Plagiarism and how to avoid it

 

The NECC Library is hosting a continuing series of workshops to help students define, identify and avoid plagiarism when completing assignments. One workshop was held on April 11.

Susan Leonardi, an Instruction and Research Librarian at Northern Essex hosted a zoom call and discussed the importance of the use of resources that NECC offers.

The main goals and purpose of the presentation on how to avoid plagiarism are to locate and use the links NECC offers, be able to define plagiarism and what it means in the United States, especially at NECC, learn how to work around plagiarism whether intentionally or unintentionally done, and identifying the departments on campus that can help you detect and avoid plagiarism.

What is plagiarism? Everyone has heard the term most of their educational careers and to be wary of it. The definition is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.

Northern Essex’s definition is “the use of any other person’s research, images, words or ideas as though they were your own, without giving appropriate credit to the original source.”

Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty — completely disrespecting the integrity of someone’s work whether it be an essay, a photo, or art.

Instructors are required to provide students with a clearly written definition of plagiarism in their course syllabus. Students are responsible for understanding what plagiarism is in each of their classes.

Avoiding plagiarism takes time management, writing strategies and citing!

“Our library sources offer you the tools to source your essays without needing google,” says Leonardi.

More often than not students discover the tools NECC offers later finding regret in wishing they knew sooner they could have used them making writing an essay or research project much easier. These tools are closer than you think if you enter necc.mass.libguides.com. The NECC library offers various ways to help, down to even choosing an essay topic if you struggle with that. Essentially you are offered research. An example of some of the tools this site offers is a Citation Guide:Help with APA, MLA, Chicago, Integrating Sources Into Your Paper. Offering handouts and worksheets, citation managers too. You can even chat with a live NECC librarian helping you with how to maneuver the site and how you may look for certain information in regards to your research.

Making a visit to the tutoring and writing center is something that Leonardi also often recommends to students. You can make a visit on either campus, make an appointment and ask for the help you need.

NECC works tremendously hard on making sure their students have all the tools to succeed in their future, education, and careers. You can always book an appointment on Navigate as well.

In regards to plagiarism and questions students may be wondering, the reporter asked Leonardi’s thoughts on the future of education in regards to online sites available to students like chat.gpt, grammarly, and cliffnotes, quizlet, google and the internet in general, Leonardi soon dove into how it may be a structural problem within our education system for students to find the need to have to copy answers to their essays and research.

This could mean that it may not be the student’s fault, nor the teachers, but the curriculum.

With students finding the need to cheat there are many factors in place as to why. This could range from whether a culture of cheating is normalized after solely learning online or students being fundamentally dishonest or unmotivated, to students being under high pressure who are overwhelmed by their academic and outside life workload, to universities needing to reevaluate students’ academic work loads, etc.

Though the future of education will always be a discussion on how to work around our adapting society with adapting technology. Leonardi says “Our library offers great tools that copy and pasting from google can’t always do for students sometimes. When they need to cite their sources and doing so in the correct format …l like an encyclopedia it covers a vast amount of information, it can offer you ideas going into research topics if you are having trouble starting out…it is sort of the researcher starter kit for students.”

Skills like distinguishing between opinion and analysis and avoiding vague generalities as well as focusing on a core theme for your paper are all that Leonardi believes take practice through time as a developing student taking on assignments.

“I would say that there are so many places and people you can look to for help like the writing center, your professors, librarians, are always here to help. Don’t ever be afraid to ask questions,”

Features

Balancing work and school by finding jobs close by

 

It is no secret that college is expensive, and many students have to work while enrolled.

In Haverhill, however, there are some full-time students who find it a mutually beneficial relationship to be working close to school, and at small local businesses.

20-year-old student, Nicole Sabando, works as a waitress at the Bradford Village Square, located only 10 minutes off 495 from Northern Essex Community College.

Sabando explained “…I thought it would be a great opportunity to make some money close to campus. It also works out because I only go on campus a few times a week so I can work more hours.”

Sabando graduated from NECC last year and now attends classes at UMass Lowell.

She added “Diners are usually quiet during the week because of school and work, but I’ve tried my best to spice up the marketing,” she laughed,

“I use my knowledge of social media to get more business around here. I run the Instagram page for us.”

Bob Lapierre, the new owner of the Bradford Village Square, appreciates the work Sabando is doing, while balancing her school life, too.

Lapierre said “I find it amazing what these kids can do these days with social media — it has been incredibly crucial to our business. I also appreciate that I can give work to students around the Haverhill area. A few on our crew are college students, and I admire them infinitely.”

Lapierre is a Haverhill native. He did not go to college, but he expressed much admiration for students in school, having children who furthered their education and understanding the struggle from a parent’s perspective.

Sabando is a student majoring in Journalism, but she sees herself in a career involving Public Relations, as well.

She expressed “I’m getting more experience to put on my resume as well, by being the self-proclaimed social media manager here. I’m learning about demographics, how to advertise, and how to gain more media attention for the business. Overall, it has been very successful so far.”

Another student and server at the Bradford Village Square, Chloe Tuccolo, agreed with Sabando.
Tuccolo said “I have almost always worked at local businesses, and I find them to be much more accommodating to my class schedule than any corporate business.”

Tuccolo works most weekends at the diner because unlike Sabando, she has class commitments most days of the week.

“Somedays, I just need time to get all my homework done, or study for exams. But I still need to work. I had a hard time finding a job that would work around my schedule till now. And it’s awesome that it’s in Haverhill.”

Lapierre also brought up the issue of small businesses working through COVID-19 and the ever increasing prices to running a restaurant.

He said of this “You know, I think eating out has become less common with the fear of coronavirus. But these young kids bring in more business, I’ve found. They tell their friends and their classmates about it, and our customers are changing. I’m seeing more and more young people coming around—it’s awesome. Our waitstaff is the highlight of the place.”

Many small businesses in Haverhill have felt the effects of the pandemic, and so have students themselves.
Lapierre believes “Our students are the future. They’re innovative, motivated, and so creative. They’re also tech-smart, which I am not. I’m proud to employ the future of the Haverhill community, and they’re able to afford their education.”

News, Slider

Students continue to reflect on cyberattack

 

As most students attending Northern Essex Community College know, a few weeks ago at the beginning of March, the school underwent a cyber attack on its systems causing panic that personal information about staff and students were accessed from the systems.

For many students, the stress of not knowing if their personal information was accessed was made even worse by the stress of

Blackboard and the NECC portal also being down, where students turn in assignments, sometimes on a daily basis.

For some, like Meg Groff and Janie Dunn, it wasn’t a big hindrance, Groff saying “It didn’t have a huge impact on me because I don’t take that many classes, but it was frustrating not being able to use blackboard. It was kind of surreal thinking about a cyber attack. Felt like something out of a movie.”

Dunn said “Personally I didn’t have a bad experience with the cyberattack. I received all the emails and was like, okay, and instead of doing homework I went to work. It was honestly nice not having to do homework each day. “

For others like Lexi Tavares and Kaily Burke, it was pretty frustrating.

When talking to Tavares, she said “It was incredibly frustrating, with the already multiple snow days and spring break being the following week, it made me feel like I was doing remote work for most of the beginning of the semester.”

Burke said, “My classes were already decently behind the syllabus schedule with all the snow days. I had my second of four exams pushed to be after spring break for two different classes, and that long a wait for an exam can kind of hinder your performance if your understanding has gotten a bit stale. No one in my classes had access to their online homework, which meant we couldn’t do it if we wanted to. There was no way to be productive or take advantage of those days off.”

Most students interviewed for this story said they felt as though the school handled it the right way with Groff, Dunn and Tavares all coming to this conclusion.

In response to this Groff said, “I feel like the school handled it as best they could. They kept everybody updated and I appreciated that.”

Dunn said, “I thought the school handled it really well and did a great job updating us on what was going on and when school would be back open or closed.”

Whereas Tavares said, “I believe for the safety of staff and students, I understand why school was closed, however, the longevity of this cyberattack was definitely affecting my motivation and completion for school work.”

When asked the same question, Burke stated, “No, I don’t think the school handled it the right way. Not only because we were kept in the dark, but I honestly think it could have been prevented. Navigate was susceptible to this happening because security could have been taken more seriously. We all ended up facing the consequences.”

Burke, was asked an additional question as well, as they also work in the math center of the school as well as being enrolled in classes. When asked how the whole cyber attack situation affected their job on campus and if it was a stressful situation to deal with, Burke said, “I work in the math center. Everyone who came in to see me was as behind as I was. Feelings appeared to be mixed. I think most were more concerned about their private information being leaked than anything else, but needless to say no one was happy.”

Needless to say, emotions and feeling around this situation on campus were very mixed.

Features

Chief Hobbs reflects on community policing

 

Chief Hobbs from the Northern Essex Community College Public Safety Department values community engagement.

“Building relations within the community to address their needs and help them improve the quality of life is a core value of policing” Chief Hobbs said as he sat across from me, calmly with a comforting smile and demeanor.

The focus has to be and should be on ensuring the community is safe. The future of policing is important especially as society changes.

However, it has also become more difficult locally and nationally to recruit new police officers. The goal has to be to find ways to attract police officers that not only enjoy working in the law enforcement environment, but are committed to building and working within the community. Municipalities, colleges and universities have a huge task of working to protect people’s identification as well as cyber Security. There are many steps and involvement in securing information technology. Protective measures are needed to be put in place and continued to be upgraded

“This also includes working with the partners in our community about awareness and knowing the current trends,” says Hobbs.

“The goal of policing is to continue to work together to address the issues of the community and keep it safe.”