Monthly Archives: April 2023

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.”

 

Campus Life, Slider

Students get a chance to let their voices be heard: Public Relations students invite you to the 2023 Speechapalooza event

 
Flier for Speechapalooza event
Photo courtesy Principles of Public Relations class

Northern Essex Community College students are excited to announce the upcoming Speechapalooza event, which will take place on April 20, 2023.

Speechapalooza is an annual event organized by students from Professor Kim Lyng’s Public Relations class, where students can write and recite their own speeches in front of a live audience.

This year, the students are taking the lead in organizing the event, which includes everything from logistics and promotion to hosting and ensuring a smooth running on the day of the event.

Speechapalooza will take place from 1 p,m. to 2:30 p.m. in Lecture Hall A in the Spurk Building, located at 100 Elliot St. in Haverhill.

“Speechapalooza is always such a fun and valuable experience for students in the Public Relations course. It gives them the chance to apply skills they’ve learned in the classroom to real-world events,” said Lyng. “I love to see their excitement and I always encourage them to put their experience down on their resume as they worked so hard to create a professional level event that they should be proud of.”

The event will feature speeches on a variety of topics, and attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy pizza and win prizes.

Speechapalooza is open to all students who would like to submit a speech.

If you are interested in participating, please email the event’s Executive Event Coordinator, Shawn Hood at

NECCSpeechapalooza@gmail.com with your name and speech topic by April 16.

You can find more information on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

News

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown shares life story with NECC students

 

Scott Brown served as United States Senator for the Bay State from 2010 until 2013. Brown rose to the Senate after running a successful campaign against former Attorney General Martha Coakley during the special election for Sen.Ted Kennedy’s seat, who had died in August of 2009.

Before his tenure as a senator, Brown served as a property assessor and selectman for the Town of Wrentham, and as a state representative and state senator. After successfully winning the United States senate seat in 2010, Brown served until 2013 before Senator Elizabeth Warren succeeded him.

Brown most recently served as the Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa from 2017 until 2020. After his time as ambassador, Brown was appointed as the Dean of New England Law School in January of 2021. Brown served as the dean until August of 2021 before departing New England Law school, after deciding that he may want to give thought to another run for public office.

Senator Brown highlighted how his rocky childhood led to a successful career in politics.

Brown dealt with both sexual and physical abuse as a child. Brown was arrested during his early teenage years after shoplifting several record albums and appeared in front of a judge at the Salem District Court, Judge Samuel Zoll, who he has credited at turning his life around. Judge Zoll ordered the young Brown to write a 1500 word essay on if his siblings would like seeing him play basketball in jail, as Brown has been an avid basketball player throughout his life.

Brown currently coaches the girls’ varsity basketball coach at Amesbury High School.

Brown went on to graduate from Wakefield High School in 1977 before attending Tufts University and graduating Cum Laude in 1981, with a Bachelor of Arts in History. While attending Tufts, Brown was a star basketball player and was a captain during his senior year.

After graduating from Tufts, Brown graduated from Boston College Law School in 1985 with a Juris Doctor.
Brown’s biggest advice to Northern Essex students? “Read the bill.”

The advice came from the former senator’s first vote at the national level. Brown was known as an independent thinker and a bipartisan law maker. Brown’s vote in 2010 to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” helped sway fellow Republicans to vote no as well, successfully ending the policy to end the ban on gay members in the military.

Professor Richard Padova of the global studies program helped plan the event. Padova has hosted several elected officials on campus and teaches courses about American politics, including Quest for the Presidency, which is taught every four years during presidential elections.

When asked what his students biggest takeaways should be after listening to the former senator, Padova said, “To get insight from someone who has worked in different positions in government, to listen to their experiences, their insights, and their perspectives instead of just listening to me in the classroom.”

Padova focused on the outside speakers and the value they bring to a college like Northern Essex, “I think it is important for students to listen to outside speakers who are involved in government and politics, business, or arts and to have them interact with students and give students a chance to interact with them and hopefully broaden their horizons.”

Amy Callahan, Dean of Liberal Arts was also present for the event. She echoed Professor Padova’s remarks saying, “It gave our students a wonderful opportunity to ask questions and to demonstrate their interests, knowledge, and concerns about current affairs. I was impressed by the questions asked by our students.”

Callahan also went on to discuss the importance of having outside speakers who are apart of the political process,

“The biggest takeaways for me regarding the event with former Senator Scott Brown were the opportunities for our students to learn more about democracy and the vital democratic process in our country.”

Students also asked what the Senator’s future political plans are, to which he answered, “I have one more run in me.”

Home Page News Bytes, News

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown visits NECC

 
Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown stands at a podium and speaks in Lecture Hall A in the C building
Former U.S. senator and ambassador to New Zealand Scott Brown visited NECC on April 10 as part of Professor Richard Padova’s GOV101 class. Photo courtesy NECC Newsroom

On April 10, NECC students, faculty and staff were invited to join GOV101 in listening to former U.S. Senator and U.S. Ambassador Scott Brown speak in Lecture Hall A on the Haverhill Campus.
Professor Richard Padova had some assistance from Liberal Arts Administrative Assistant Tammy Foster to get this event to happen. Padova had Scott Brown come in for his GOV101 class but wanted others who attend Northern Essex Community College to benefit from his presentation as well.

“I was looking for someone who is a good speaker, who has worked in a couple of branches of government and able to share their personal experiences with students, and someone who does not have to travel far and incur travel expenses.” Padova on why he chose Scott Brown.

The event started at 9:30 a.m. on April 10 and ended at 10:45; allowing Scott Brown to tell his story on how he got into politics and answer questions from the audience.

Students would introduce themselves to Brown and then ask questions. There were questions on climate change, transgender rights, and what is next in his political career.

Erin Magner, a student here at Northern Essex studying human services states that she attended for her GOV101 class but would have made time to come voluntarily if it wasn’t required.

“I’m very excited! I voted for Scott Brown … for Senator of Massachusetts. I think this event is beneficial to gain more knowledge on politics” says Magner.

The former U.S. Senator and U.S. Ambassador stayed after his presentation to answer any personal questions and take pictures with the audience.

Professor Padova states “I’ve brought many speakers to campus over the years, mainly from the field of government and politics, and I’m sure that I’ll continue this. I feel very strongly that this helps to round out a student’s education; in other words, being able to also learn outside of the classroom and interact with people “on the frontlines” from the world of government and politics.”.

If you are looking for more events like these, tune into the Northern Essex Community College homepage under the Event’

category.