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How students plan to spend Halloween during COVID-19
As Halloween begins this upcoming holiday season, many celebratory plans have been negatively affected (or even canceled) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dressing-up in costumes for communal “Trick-or-Treating” and attending chilling “Haunted Houses” are only a couple among the countless cancelled festivities of this beloved Holiday, causing a sense of despair among many —especially within the NECC community. Despite hardship, students have found several safe, alternative ways in which to spend and appreciate their Halloween of 2020.
Jeremy Isabelle, a journalism and communications major whose favorite candy is Almond Joy, typically loves visiting the bloodcurdling haunted houses at Canobie Lake Park — enjoying the thrill of being chased by loud chainsaws.
Isabelle reminisced on a childhood memory of the gothic, Victorian-style house near the street of his home, of which was always particularly frightening during fall season.
This year, Isabelle will be pumpkin carving in attempt to keep alive the holiday spirit. When asked if he feels that COVID-19 will cause a long-term effect on the celebration of Halloween, Isabelle stated, “I feel bad for my sister, she’s only a sophomore in high school — and for future generations.” Isabelle believes that social distancing will “encourage future people to be more conscious of personal space.”
Bryan Fernandez, a journalism and communications major whose favorite candy is gummy worms, proclaimed his love for Halloween while disclosing his annual ritual of watching his three favorite scary movies: “Monster’s House”, “Cabin in the Woods”, and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Fernandez normally spends his Halloween dressing-up in costumes and partying with friends. This year, he will instead be galivanting social-distanced style — a “Netflix Party” over group facetime.
Fernandez and his friends plan to simultaneously watch scary movies on Netflix while using technology to collectively practice social distancing. As multiple households interacting with each other could potentially increase the risk of virus spread, Fernandez says that he doesn’t think “trick-or-treating” will come back for a long time. “It sucks for the children—It gives kids their first taste of independence. Halloween is an important part of childhood,” said Fernandez.
Although many traditional Halloween activities are at high-risk for coronavirus spread, there are still various others that can be enjoyable alternatives.
Alternative activities such as pumpkin carving, scary-movie marathons, virtual Halloween costume contests, and/or having a family “Haunted-House-Candy-Scavenger Hunt”, are all ways in which to celebrate safely. Both Isabelle and Fernandez have remained positive in discovering new ways to enjoy the holiday. How will you spend this spooky season?
Educators discuss the challenges of online learning
Since March of this year, students have had to adjust to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But teachers and professors have had to adjust as well. While many educators at NECC have taught online classes prior to 2020, they are now forced to adjust their teaching to exclusively online, which presents its own set of challenges.
Patricia Portanova, an English professor at NECC, says, “I think the most challenging part is creating engagement and connections with students. Because we aren’t able to actually physically be in a room together, it’s really hard to get a sense, I think, of personality, a sense of good will, because so much of our interaction is through text on a screen or brief videos. It’s very transactional or one-way as opposed to sort of a back and forth communication between students and faculty.”
Thomas Greene, also an English professor, agrees, “The hardest part is connecting with the students. It’s just not in our nature to learn this way in the way that it is in our nature to learn from a live person in the same location,” he said.
Greene further explains that humans struggle to learn online due to socio-biology and evolution. “Humans evolve in certain environments, and then the behaviors that we feel comfortable with are based on what our ancestors did,” he said. “And so ancestrally, humans have been communicating face-to-face for 200-300,000 years in some form of language. Writing is a relatively new technology, only about 6,000 years old. If someone wants to learn something, like a practical skill, wood working, or yoga, they don’t want to learn it from a book. They want to learn it from a person who can demonstrate and explain and answer questions and coach.”
The challenges for educators are not felt at just the college level. Teachers with younger classes feel pressure as well. Brendan Molloy, an eight grade English Language Arts and Civics at Hunking School in Haverhill, is working under a hybrid learning model with students spending two days a week in school and three days learning remotely.
Molloy describes it as, “On a given day, I’ll have somewhere between 9 and 15 kids in front of me and then somewhere between 9 and 15 kids at home on their computer. And so, I’m both facilitating the remote learning and teaching the kids that are present in the building and trying to maintain continuity within my units in designing active instruction for the two days that they’re with me and then more self-guided remote facilitated work for the 3 days that they’re home.”
“There are a lot of difficulties in this,” Molloy explains. “One of the major difficulties is that I have now over a decade’s worth of curriculum that I’ve designed that I’m happy with. And trying to rewrite some of my materials that are tried and true to sort of fit this new rhythm is interesting. The other thing that’s a little complex about it is trying to figure out the right balance of which content should be prioritized for in-person and what content can be left to remote.”
Molloy not only has to structure lesson plans for students, he also has to respond to feedback from his students’ parents.
One of Molloy’s challenges is, “Finding the right balance of meeting diverse student needs. I’ve heard from parents who are overwhelmed by the amount of work that I’ve given and are having a hard time keeping pace. And I’ve heard from parents who are concerned that I haven’t provided enough work to their kid and that they don’t have enough work to do in the day. That’s sort of emblematic of the difficulty in walking this tightrope of not overwhelming students with work while also providing enough rigorous material to keep parents and kids occupied and satisfied at home.”
Greene agrees with Molloy that setting up an effective curriculum is critical for student success, “A big part, I think, is course design. The course has to be set up in such a way that it’s not creating an additional obstacle. The learning is already hard enough. Creating more obstacles in the way is just making it worse.”
All three educators agree that a key to success for both students and teachers is effective time management.
“I think that self-time management has been really challenging for students, and for faculty, to be fair. I think the stress of the pandemic makes it really hard for anyone to think clearly, to be productive, to get organized, so I think we’re all collectively struggling with time management and getting things done,” says Portanova.
For NECC students, resources are available for those struggling not only with their classes, but for those dealing with the current learning environment itself.
Portanova explains, ““The first piece of advice I always give is to contact your faculty directly and just let them know what’s going on in your life. We are all going through a lot right now and direct communication is very important. Faculty are very empathetic towards students’ situations and what they’re going through and so if you can just let faculty know that you are struggling, they’re going to do their best to help you. The second piece of advice, I would say, is to take advantage of our student support services. Academic coaching is fantastic. They’re amazing at supporting students who are struggling with time management and getting work done. We have writing tutors, ESL tutors, we have fantastic librarians. We have excellent counseling services on campus. We have basically any type of student support you can think of. And everyone is here to help students be successful.”
Julia Child: Larger than life, in stature and legacy
Julia Child’s culinary journey really began to materialize in the 1950’s, when she was settling down in France with her husband, Paul Cushing Child. Julia attended the renowned Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in France and then began contributing to a cookbook with two French chefs she befriended. It was with these fellow chefs that Julia taught cooking classes to the French people while adding to her arsenal of recipes and knowledge of food, particularly the French cuisine.
Before attending Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in 1951, Julia Child majored in history at Smith College. This was nearly twenty years prior to her foray into her culinary education. After graduating from Smith, Julia Child worked in intelligence, communicating highly classified content about various operations for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Julia was directly responsible for helping to create a successful shark repellent for the OSS by means of cooking and releasing said repellent underwater to deter sharks from venturing near mines. I had never known that until I researched her more and I think that that is fascinating. Overall, Julia Child had a wide and thorough range of education in her background. You could say that she was extremely disciplined as an individual due to this.
In my opinion, I would say that Julia Child IS the culinary industry, and that her hand in the history of food as it exists in our culture today is of the utmost influence. I do not want to sound precocious, as a 31 year old who people probably think has no clue. But, growing up with my grandparents, more specifically a grandmother who at one time ran a catering business, and raised me with a truly great food awareness, I can say confidently that Julia Child is one of the most important culinary figures in our world’s recent history.
Julia Child brought classic French cuisine to the tables and televisions of mainstream America. Julia Child was the conduit in which the American people could satisfy their growing interest in the French culture and their food. Techniques and concepts of cooking that were for so long seen as inaccessible and daunting to people all over the world were now made less intimidating by the instruction of the talented and knowledgeable woman chef. It didn’t hurt that her personality and perspective were so endearing. She was cheerful, personable, humble, funny, and candid, which helped to kind of ease readers and viewers of hers into this less anxious space where they were able to achieve the same type of results in the kitchen as she did.
I am drawn to Julia Child’s contagious spirit. The thing I love the most about her, or that I find the most interesting about her, is her sense of humor. Obviously, I look up to her as a chef and a mentor. Honestly. I watch “The French Chef” reruns or clips of her online, and I know I will get the best start to finish demonstration on whatever dish or technique she is showcasing. Her culinary legacy is undeniable and why we all watch her or use her as a point of reference in our own culinary journeys. However, to me personally, I think it is so amazing and rare that none of the regimented, undoubtedly stressful years of her time in the Service or cooking in France had a detrimental effect on Julia or her spirit. In a world where hierarchy exists, and at a time when women had even less rights, Julia Child, in all of her six feet and two inches, always managed to smile, laugh, talk to us as if we were in her kitchen with her, telling us it would all be okay. She didn’t take herself too seriously, and I respect her for that, as well as for many other reasons. Food is special, and it can be intense at times, but if you can’t enjoy yourself while you are doing it, then what is the point?
I think Julia Child exemplified that spirit and showed us that with a little hard work and a good attitude, anyone can make magic in the kitchen. And if you drop a chicken on the floor, it isn’t the end of the world…Just wipe it off or something, no one will ever know.
Editor’s Note: Nicholas Rossi wrote this as a paper for a Culinary Arts class and recently shared it with the NECC Observer. We welcome student submissions, feel free to send them to observer@necc.mass.edu.
COVID-19’s effects on the college experience
Covid-19 has undoubtedly changed every aspect of modern life, and education is no exception.
Due to the current global pandemic, schools and administrators have been forced to make tough decisions regarding the reopening of schools this fall.
All Massachusetts schools were shut down last March, initially only for two weeks but eventually through the end of the year.
When it came to different universities and high schools, there was no universal reopening decision. Many Massachusetts universities opened up to some extent, but some have remained completely online, such as Northern Essex Community College.
According to NECC student, Xander J-Fowler, “It doesn’t really feel like… college,” because he is unable to study oncampus.
Most first year college students look forward to the physical classes and new environment, but Fowler said he feels like “it’s just been the same as high school.”
By not being able to have on campus classes, though for students’ own safety, it is hard to feel as though these recent graduates are truly moved onto the next aspect of their lives.
Merrimack College freshman and former Northern Essex student, Kylie Stuart, said “online classes have mostly affected [her] academic plan rather than [her] normal everyday life.”
Stuart was used to attending college full time, in person, when Covid-19 initially hit the United States.
Other schools have moved forward differently than NECC, but with very different circumstances, and some students at other universities weighed in on what their lives currentlylook like as well.
Ellen Nickodemus, a freshman at the University of Miami, when asked about safety precautions stated “Some teachers don’t wear masks in class,” regardless of the risks.
Alongside the leniency inside of the university, Florida has much less regard for the seriousnessof this illness, she said. Nickodemus stated that “there’s a lot of tolerance in Florida for people disobeying the laws,” and that people constantly walk around high traffic areas, maskless.
Massachusetts schools, including Northern Essex Community College, seem to be the strictest when it comes to newly implemented rules surrounding the global pandemic.
Looking forward, hopefully schools will be able to open back up in a safe enough manner for the American people, but until then it seems as though many Massachusetts schools will remain online.
Welcoming the reopening of the MFA
The Museum of Fine Arts has always been a place for people of all ages to gather and dive into their vast collections of paintings, photographs, fashion pieces, short films and the occasional live performance arts.
With the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic putting everything that required people’s physical attention on hold, the social gathering of these people ceased.
For the past several months students with a fascination for the arts haven’t been able to actually walk past the infamous Appeal to the Great Spirit statue seen from Huntington Ave and spend the day devouring the artifacts within the museum’s walls, however the museum has finally announced its reopening on September 26th.
To students like Mackenzie Pike, first year Boston University student, who believes there’s nothing quite like roaming the halls of the M.F.A, this is great news!
“I always looked forward to the familiar pieces that I had become more and more drawn to each visit, as well as the excitement of a new exhibit.” says Pike.
As a NECC student myself, I wanted to learn more about how our school plays a role in the University Membership program we’re apart of and how other students like me can benefit from it.
After reaching out to Director of Libraries, Michael Hearn, I was informed that just three years ago our school had begun the Pozen Community College Program which, thanks to Bob and Liz Pozen, allows NECC students free admission to the museum. “The Pozen Community College Access Program is now part of the University Membership Program, and students, faculty, and staff still receive free general admission by presenting a valid college ID.” Hearn says.
For those who feel comfortable visiting the museum in person, remember to wear a mask, keep a safe distance between yourself and the workers, bring your student I.D, and enjoy what the M.F.A has to offer.
COVID trumps sports
Throughout the last six months, our daily plans have taken a heavy turn around in one way or another, and it’s clear that we’ve had to make adjustments that we’re not quite accustomed to.
At NECC, all classes are remote for this fall semester, and teachers and students have been forced to be in a situation where they thought they wouldn’t be in 12 months ago, wherecommunication and questions aren’t as straight-forward as before.
The effect COVID has had on people has affected people both positively and negatively.
Sports is an example of this, where interaction is key for their roles as coaches and athletes.
Coaches atNECC have had their fair share on this new experience.
“Remote learning has been extremely difficult for me to navigate. It is much more difficult tocorrect errors, mechanics and see how they perform during a training session,” says Nelson Desilvestre, Head Track Coach of NECC.
“It has become more imperative that the athletes train on their own. They need to have themotivation to do the workouts without the structure of an organized practice. This makes itdifficult for me to evaluate and teach the athletes.It is much more difficult to correct errors, mechanics and see how they perform during a trainingsession. All in all, it has been frustrating and not nearly as fun as it used to be.”
These COVID regulations has been a roller coaster ride for hard-working coaches nationwide,and Desilvestre has been unfortunate to be on the receiving end of these COVID problems.
“COVID has caused many distractions and cancellations. We now are at a standstill not knowing what is coming next. That creates problems in motivation and setting goals because there is nodate to work towards and be ready to compete.”
Although the pandemic has been a sad reality for the majority of coaches, this isn’t the case at allfor all coaches.
“From an esports coach’s perspective, I believe COVID-19 and remote learning have made mycoaching experience easier overall.” claims David Arivella, Head Esports Coach at NECC.
“I had already been managing our esports players in an online environment using Discord in thepast. Students are now more likely to be on their computers doing classwork so I can easily reachthem all throughout the day.”
COVID and its effects on jobs
During the pandemic, Covid-19 has not only affected in person activities for school, but has also had its effect on jobs as well.
Many businesses have had their share of shutdowns and closures during the pandemic, causing workers to have had months with no employment. Massachusetts has been one of the hardest hit, with some still being left with no job. There have still been some businesses that are still feeling the effects of the pandemic and haven’t had a startup yet.
“We’re not sure when we’re going to open back up,” says Andover resident David Kailton, who currently works at Boston’s Improv Asylum. “It’s been closed since everything shut down in March, and I’ve had no work. But We’ve had some virtual meetings and things are looking up for a reopening soon, ” Kailton said.
Boston has been one of the unluckiest cities, with many places still shutdown to this date. Businesses being shut down have left employees out dry, and some have even had to search for work elsewhere. But luckily for workers in other places, this has not been the case. Some workers have been able to also receive unemployment to aid them while they were out of work.
Justin Mburu, an electrical engineer and NECC student, has been able to work a few months now after being out of work due to the pandemic. “The unemployment checks were very helpful for paying things off” Mburu said. “Now with work being back, I’m able to earn my hours for engineering. We were out for a few months which set me back a bit, but now I’m back on track.”
Mburu is also juggling work with his engineering class, which the pandemic has caused the class to be fully virtual. Mburu says the virtual classes have their perks but also have some disadvantages as well.
CJ Leblanc, a current worker on the Massachusetts railroads for the company Keolis, had a similar story. Although being hired three months before, Leblanc stated that he “had to wait until Aug. 17th to start work” due to the Covid pandemic.
“ I was ecstatic to start work since I really needed the money like everyone did. But with everything that’s been going on with Covid, a lot was shut down, and I had to patiently wait to start my job” CJ stated.
Covid still has left a huge sting on some businesses and has caused some employees to still be left unemployed all of these months. Things have looked bleak for some and may not know how long the wait will be. But for others, those effects have subsided. With a few regulations, things are mostly back to normal life for them.
“ Everything since my first day has gone smoothly at work” CJ contentedly said. “Hopefully the pandemic doesn’t interfere too heavily with our jobs again.”
Students and faculty reflect on a remote semester
Going all the way back to March, students nationwide have had to master the art of online classes. Fast forward to present day this is still the case and it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
Many local schools have opted for completely online or hybrid for the time being.
Northern EssexCommunity College has made the entire first semester online for its students.
I spoke to some students and professors about how they feel about everything being online.
The overall response I got was it’s not ideal, but they are working through it the best way they see fit.
Eli Duff, a freshman majoring in Human services stated “After having an online and virtual outcome forsenior year, I was grateful for some experience and trust in my online school abilities! With collegecourses, activities and events being held online, it has truly been a difficult and enlightening situation. Ihave always loved being with people and being able to interact with others face-to-face but with thisnew adaptation, I have been shown a new obstacle that I am willing to take on! Seeing across what hashappened, there are many new online methods and wonderful ways that have allowed us to completesimilar tasks as we may be used to.”
The school has done a lot to help its students up to this point. They have made it, so studentshave access to Wi-Fi hot spots on campus. They have had students go to campus and pick up muchneeded supplies. Even with the added resources from NECC students are still finding it hard to stayfocused and motivated on their schoolwork.
“I find myself having to lock myself in my room some nightsjust to get my work done.” Says Freshman Matthew Glynn.
The struggle kids are facing currently is likely not to shift much. Northern Essex posted on theirwebsite the plans for the spring semester. They state that the spring semester will begin on Jan. 22 ofthe new year. The new semester will have some classes on campus, but it has been limited to the classes that need to be in person such as lab classes.
Each student I have spoken too have said that they wouldrather be in person. Alicia Clogston a nursing major, says “So personally I don’t like everything being online because I don’t learn as good and having to basically teach myself everything is harder and I honestly don’t think teachers are putting as much effort in. I prefer in person. As much as I hate actuallygoing to class it’s a lot easier to learn with the teacher right there in front of you and taking noteswhereas staring at a computer screen.”
Being online is not the only stress in student’s lives these days. Due to the schedule being what you want to make it, kids are now having to balance home and school in the same setting. Many students working have picked up more hours or even other jobs to fill their empty time, and now haveto throw in being a teacher to themselves. Situations like these are likely to influence the work ethic ofstudents as well as the mental health. Some are handling it by being able to to still develop a clear divide between the two.
Patricia Portanova, a professor in the English department sates ‘I am coping with work/life balance in the same ways that I hope our students are- by creating a structured daily schedulewith manageable deadline, dedicating a space for work in my home, logging off at the end of each day,and creating space for down time to focus entirely on my loved ones and self-care.”
It’s clear that everyone is experiencing this in all different ways, but it is also clear that everyindividual is working through it to their best abilities, as well as helping each other through these tryingtimes
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death imparts a sense of loss and apprehension in many people.
On Sept.18, 2020 the nation suffered the loss of long time Justice of the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away due to complications from pancreatic cancer. Even before her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993, Justice Ginsberg was a well-known advocate for gender equality and women’s rights, voting within the court to end gender discrimination, for women’s rights to body autonomy, and for the right for LGBTQ+ individuals to marry.
Upon hearing the news of her death, many people across the nation shared their fears that Justice Ginsberg’s legacy would be destroyed by the clear division of the nation, and a last-minute appointment before election day.
Darlene Hurley, the daughter of two NECC graduates, a Public Health Advisor and Healthcare Consultant, who met with Justice Ginsberg and attended multiple Supreme Court hearings said, “I think RBG’s death is a tremendous loss for all women in America. I think that RBG knew that it was important for women to have the ultimate say over their own bodies, and not the government, policy, or law.” Regarding the nomination of a conservative Republican Justice before election day, she said “ I think that the possible replacement that is being put forth as President Trump’s nominee may very well change the landscape of a woman’s right to choose what she does with her own body. I do fear that because of that, we may backslide into a time where women with lower socioeconomic status may be most affected.”
On Sept. 26, eight days after Justice Ginsburg’s death, President Trump announced Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Since President Trump’s announcement of nomination, there has been backlash from Democratic party members and members of the public, all saying that the nomination is too close to the election.
Shane Rodriguez, a local attorney, and a professor at the Massachusetts School of Law, said “I have been following the Barrett nomination, and the rushing through of her confirmation, and I think that Barrett is the polar opposite of Ginsburg and her legacy. She opposes almost everything that Ginsburg believed in, and would significantly set back women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights.” On Barrett’s conservative stance and her lack of impartiality, he said “ She strongly opposes, and even goes on the record to say that she supports the recriminalization of homosexuality, as well as taking financial donations and supporting Alliance Defending Freedom, a group that supports the sterilization of transgender individuals so that they may not reproduce. She often brings her religion into her judicial decisions and because of her devout Catholicism and her conservative nature, she would very likely vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, which would get rid of a woman’s right to an abortion under any circumstance. She completely dismisses the separation of Church and State, and that is a danger to our democracy.”
In 2016, when Justice Antonin Scalia died, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland nine months before the election. Members of the Republican party said at that time that it was too close to the election to nominate and confirm a new Justice, and that the newly elected President should nominate the replacement. Now, the Republican party is saying the exact opposite, that an acting President is well within their right to nominate someone no matter how close it is to the election. Joe Woods, an NECC alumnus, who attended Supreme Court hearings and got to see Justice Ginsburg in action in the late 90’s, said “I think that a Trump appointment of a replacement severely jeopardizes all of the gains made in women’s rights, as well as LGBTQ+ rights. Unfortunately, the President is within his legal right to make an appointment, though, when the Democratic party held the presidency in similar circumstances, the Republican party position stated that it was unfair to make an appointment so close to the election. Even though the Republican Party’s emblem is an elephant, the present Republican party seems to have a short memory, as they currently espouse a totally hypocritical stance.”
