All posts by Matt Gingras, Editor-in-Chief

Opinion

Opinion: Transition

 

UMass Amherst is so different.

I attended NECC for three years. For two, I was on staff at the Observer. 

During those two years, those four semesters, I met people from all walks of life. I worked in Athletics, did orientations for Student Engagement, was friendly with Public Relations. I knew almost everyone.

Fast forward three months since graduation, and it’s like starting all over again.

I came to the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Aug. 29. I was terrified to start over again. I didn’t have any friends that came here, I didn’t know anyone here beforehand and I didn’t really know what to expect. I was afraid of class difficulty. I was afraid to fail.

As it turns out, those were silly fears. Let me say one thing about the transition to a living at a four-year school: if you try hard at Northern Essex, really try, classes are no different.

NECC helped me skip a required 300-level course. The journalism program, Mary Jo Shafer especially, prepared me as well as anyone could have. 

I’m taking four journalism classes and so far everything we’ve gone over, Mary Jo has already taught me.

While the academic side of school is similar, the social aspect is where everything gets crazy.

Living at school is such a different experience than attending a community college. 

At NECC, I had my share of friends around campus. It’s such a small school that having two or three people in the same few classes isn’t uncommon.

While my biggest class is only 30 people, all of my suitemates are in the large lecture-style classes that can boast higher than 200. 

For someone who had around 25 students in every class for three years, that boggled my mind.

Transferring in also unfortunately puts students at a disadvantage. Everyone in my year has had two years of getting to know each other. 

Whether they met in class, at a game, or at a party, it seems like everyone in journalism knows everyone else. In a way, it’s the same thing at NECC. But trying to break in and show them what you have is harder.

It’s been a month, and I’m enjoying it. I miss Northern Essex. 

I learned a lot there and made many friends that I still cherish. But the challenges of UMass Amherst are something I welcome with each passing day.

NECC taught me how to break apart and excel. In a month, I’ve found an on-campus job, an internship and started writing for the campus magazine.

If you’re patient, NECC will teach you to do it too.

 

Editorial

Summer finally upon us

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Monday signified the last day of classes for the spring 2014 semester. For many students of NECC, they will be walking away from the Haverhill or Lawrence campuses and move on to a four year school.

Many students will take summer classes. Some will move on and head straight to work. There’s no “right” way to move on from school — everyone has their own plan. The important part of those plans are to stick with them and to fight for what you want to do.

For those who take advantage of a summer off, make it count. Go to the beach if you want. Go every day. Go hiking, go boating. It may be the last chance you have to goof off, and you’ll want to make the most of it.

The time spent in school can be an amazingly positive time as long as you want it to be. Like everything, your perception and opinion will make the difference in how you react to it. Take finals seriously, and when they’re done, the time spent goofing off will feel even better.

Things will change very fast for everyone. Many of us are headed to four year schools, where the comfort of small classrooms and personal relationships with professors may be a thing of the past. The drive to class will now be the walk over from the dorm for people who are moving away to school.

NECC opens a lot of doors. If you take advantage of those openings, your college experience will be significantly better. Not only for your years at NECC, but the years you spend elsewhere.

Make the most of your vacation, if you’re taking one. If you take summer classes, have fun with them. NECC keeps a lot of their services open during the summer, so head over to the gym or math center and get involved.

Don’t let yesterday’s mistake cost you tomorrow’s success. Say “so what?” Shrug it off, keep your head on your shoulders and things will work out.

The only one who is going to do things for you is ultimately you. Have fun, take class, personal life, and work seriously.

NECC is a good place. I had fun here, and met a lot of great people. They put me in a great position to succeed.

Photo Gallery, Sports

A year after stopping short, Desjardins crosses the Boston Marathon finish line

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Professor Linda Desjardin in her boston marathon shirt.s
Professor Linda Desjardin Photo courtesy of NECC Newsroom.

The tragedy of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings is something that hasn’t been wasted on those affected by it. Runners that day were thrown into a warzone. It was well documented that people who had just run 26.2 miles continued on to hospitals to donate blood. The City of Boston shut itself down to pursue two suspects in relation to the bombing.

NECC professor Linda Desjardins ran in both the 2013 and 2014 Boston Marathons. In fact, the 2014 race was her seventh Boston Marathon, and her 14th marathon in total. Running has always been something that Desjardins used to get away and to feel free.

“I started running in 1977. I ran four marathons in between ‘81-’83,” said Desjardins. “Then I stopped competing altogether, but I kept running.”

In fact, when she turned 60, she decided to run a half marathon just because it was a nice day out. She signed up the day of the race and surprised herself with how she did. “ I didn’t think anything of it and I ended up winning my age group,” she said.

2014 was a different environment than past Boston Marathons. Desjardins said that security made the event feel more strict and tight than it had in years past. “We couldn’t carry any kind of bags. We could only have what we were wearing,” she said. “You couldn’t check a bag with things you might want like a cell phone, a jacket, your car keys; you had to keep it on you. There were security checks to get on the bus, to get off the bus and to get in to Runner’s Village.”

What the race added in security, it more than made up for in support. Once Desjardins hit the ground running, she said the crowd was incredibly supportive. “This was my seventh Boston, and I have never, never seen so many people,” she said. “It was like being in a big parade for 26 miles because people were 10, 20, 30 deep in key areas. It was incredibly well supported.”

In 2013, Desjardins was stopped short six-tenths of a mile before the finish line. She had completed more than 25 miles before the bombing had forced her to stop short. When she got to that spot this year, Desjardins said she expected to cry.

“I thought when I got to where I was stopped last year I was going to burst out crying,” she said.

“I was thinking, ‘How can I run and cry at the same time? I don’t know if I can.’

“When I hit that spot, I was all prepared to be sad, but instead I got the biggest smile on my face and I couldn’t wipe it off,” she said. I just thought, ‘I’ve got this! I’m finishing this, and I’m finishing in style!’”

Desjardins will never forget the tragedy of the 2013 race; it would be impossible to. However, with the running of the 2014 race and all of the people there in support, it’s easier for her to look forward.

“I didn’t think it was going to provide closure, but it really did,” said Desjardins. “Like, 2013 is in the past. I’m going to remember it, but it’s not going to hang over me like a dark cloud like it has over the past year. I feel like I ran past it. I feel like we took back our marathon, I really do.”

Sports

Knights’ Smoske catches fire

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A year ago, Harrison Smoske had caught one game in his life. Flash forward to the end of NECC’s 2014 season, and Smoske has been the Knights full time catcher. The Burlington High graduate has impressed not only his coaches this year, but his teammates as well. His offense speaks for itself, as Smoske is hitting .349 with a homerun, 14 RBI and leads the Knights with 14 stolen bases. Entering the season, though, it was a question of how he would hold up behind the plate. For that, Smoske has done just fine.

“Honestly, I think I’m doing pretty well,” said Smoske. “Definitely after Florida I gained a lot of confidence. Our pitchers can throw, I can catch, let’s do this. It got easier.”

The effort that Smoske has put in all year hasn’t been wasted on his teammates. Despite never catching, his pitchers have found him to be a natural to throw to.

“He hasn’t caught in a while and he’s been working his butt of in practice and done a good job,” said Dan Peters, one of NECC’s sophomore pitchers. “His work ethic is phenomenal.”

Smoske has been one of the most consistent players that NECC has had this season. He slumped early in the season, going hitless in five straight games. After that, though, His batting average dipped from a season-low .143 on March 18 to a blistering .384 on April 24. In the Knights’ first conference game of the season, Smoske homered against Quinsigamond for his only four-bagger of the season.

The competition difference between high school and college was something Smoske says was minimal.

“Compared to high school, honestly, it’s been the same or a little bit worse. I saw better pitching in high school. That’s about the only difference.”

The Knights catcher has been one of the most energetic pieces of the team since Florida. His electricity on the basepaths is just a taste of what he’s normally like.

“He’s very intense and has a lot of energy,” said Peters. “He brings a lot of energy to the field and it’s fun. I like that about him, it’s funny.”

Currently, NECC sits at 16-11 and enter the NJCAA Region XXI Regional Tournament on May 9. In each of the past two years, NECC has won regionals and went down to Texas to compete in the NJCAA World Series. Smoske thinks a three-peat is inevitable.

“I think Texas is a definite. I think it’s a definite,” he said. “I don’t see us losing to Massasoit. If we have McAuliffe or Beckwith on the mound, I don’t see us losing.”