Tag Archives: Student life

Arts and Entertainment, Features

Students Hold Summer Music Festival

 

Young musicians show off their new skills

 

The harmonious sounds of the 5th Annual Summer Music Festival, directed by Christina Dietrick, permeated TC103 in the Hartleb Technology Center on August 14.

Dulcet melodies drifted into the hallways as parents proudly watched their children demonstrate their musical talents.

The festival this year was held from Aug. 9 to Aug. 15. The artists presented their hard work after a grueling but enlightening week of musical camp.

What started as just a fun program for aspiring musicians to hone their talents has turned into an annual music festival event.

Director Christina Dietrick became a part of NECC through Michael Kramer, a previous faculty member of NECC who performed as a guest pianist for the festival. He brought Dietrick to NECC after a change of direction in his path, by becoming a mathematics teacher. Leaving his piano class expertise, he chose Dietrick as his replacement.

“I wanted my class piano course to go to somebody who I knew was very competent, and I graduated with Christine from Boston University,” he said.

We both did our master’s and doctorate’s there at the same time,” said Dietrick.

Dietrick has been the piano teacher at NECC since 1994, as well as the music faculty at Mount Wachusett Community College, Indian Hill Music, and is the founder/director of the Chopin Conservatory of Music on the North Shore.

Her other notable accomplishments include her performances both in the United States and Europe as a soloist in concert, as well as with orchestras performing on a plethora of stages including Jordan Hall, Alice Tulley Hall at Lincoln Center.

He regularly performs at the New York Public Library and Chopin Society of New England.

The Annual Summer Music Festival began 5 years ago when Dietrick received the opportunity to organize a music festival from chairman Kenneth Langer.

“First it started with just being a piano camp, but then I said, why don’t I make it chamber music? So I brought in two colleagues. First it was Alice Holstrom, then it was Caroline Reiner-Williams, and then her husband Angel Hernandez-Dominguez joined us 3 years ago,” Dietrick said.

Both Reiner-Williams and Hernandez-Dominguez performed alongside the students at the festival, adding even more life to the pieces. Both artists are of the highest caliber in their musical talents.

Reiner-Williams, who plays the violoncello, received her undergraduate degree in cello performance at age 19, and has gone one to complete her master’s degree in cello performance at the Longy School of Music.

Having toured Canada, England, France, Russia, Spain, and Portugal and being a member of the Boston Youth Symphony, she now spends her time as a faculty member at Brooks School in North Andover, Fay School, Indian Hill

Music Center, and Joy of the Music Program. Reiner-Williams also founded the Nashaway Trio with her husband Hernandez-Dominguez and pianist Roy Imperio.

Her husband Hernandez-Dominguez graced the stage with his exceptional talents on the violin and viola.

His accomplishments include his studies of violin at Manuel Saumell Conservatory in Havana. From there, he has been a part of the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, the Queretaro Philharmonic, and performed as a soloist on many occasions.

He currently teaches violin and viola at Brooks School in North Andover, Cushings Academy, and the Shrewsbury MA Public schools. He also builds and repairs violins.

From Brahms to Mozart, the artists’ renditions of classical music transformed TC103 into a music hall. The performers varied from all ages, from 4 to 14.

“I put on (Disney’s) ‘Fantasia’ one of the days we had camp, and all the kids ran to the practice room because they were so eager to practice their skills,” said Dietrick.

For more information about the music department, contact Ken Langer at klanger@necc.mass..edu.

 

Features

Tarah MacGregor, a face of NECC

 

Tarah MacGregor. an honors student with a definite voice

 

 

23-year-old Tarah MacGregor has been a student at Northern Essex for five years. Her ready smile has made her popular among the students and faculty, and you can often hear her laughing in the hallways as she goes about her many projects.

McGregor has taken her college experience to a higher level by getting involved in activities that she is passionate about.

Home-schooled until age 13, MacGregor loves science and travel. The latter passion drew her to Italy, Belize and Ecuador with the study abroad program, which is directed by professor Marcy Yeager.

“I’ve been on more trips with Marcy than any other student,” MacGregor laughed.

Besides annual international trips, MacGregor supplements her NECC education as the student ambassador for the honors experience.

As such, she works closely with Honors Coordinator Ginger Hurajt, as well as all the other honors students, to help facilitate the most rewarding experience for everyone involved. McGregor has the outgoing personality needed to fill this role as the honors committee representative, and she infects those around her with positive energy.

The Honors Experience is designed to boost a student’s academic standing by allowing any class to be designated as an honors class with the completion of an additional project related to that subject.

The project is self-directed, but must be approved by Hurajt and the class professor.

MacGregor stressed that while the project has to relate to the subject, there is a lot of freedom for a student to choose whatever might be interesting to them and relate it to the class material.

The student works closely with the professor throughout the semester to develop a research paper and project that will be presented at the end of the semester to both the class and the honors board. The class then appears on the student’s transcript as an honors class. Along with two honors classes, the honor student will participate in a poster session, an honors colloquium and a service learning project.

MacGregor is very familiar with what it takes to successfully complete the program. She said that the requirements are not really overwhelming, but she recommends that people fulfill only one requirement per semester and spread it out over three semesters.

She said, “I always tell people to work a couple of hours a week writing or researching, since they have the whole semester, and they will be fine.”

As an honors experience student herself, MacGregor has taken some of the honors colloquium classes. These are mixed-discipline classes, some of which repeat and others that are offered for only one semester, depending on student interest. MacGregor said that the classes that focus on composition and the sciences tend to be well attended, including Women and Mythical Literature, taught by Hurajt. Other classes which heavily examine issues of philosophy and psychology — such as The Pursuit of Happiness and Searching for Euphoria — may only draw a handful of students and run for one semester only.

“It’s important for new students to find out about (the Honors Experience) right away,” said MacGregor. “Some will only be here for four semesters, and they need three of them to complete this.”

The completion rate for students taking two or more honors requirements in the same semester are significantly lower. “Maybe only about 40 percent,” MacGregor said.

Scholarships are among the benefits of completing the program, as is guaranteed acceptance into the honors program at any Massachusetts university when transferring.

Honor scholars have their own lounge on campus with a computer and printer and they receive special recognition at graduation.

More information about the Honors Experience can be found at www.necc.mass.edu/academics/enrichment/honors/, or you can visit their Facebook page at Northern Essex Community College: Honors Experience. Messages left on that page will be directed to Hurajt or MacGregor.

For more information about the study abroad program, go to www.necc.mass.edu/academics/enrichment/study-abroad/ or contact Marcy Yeager, myeager@necc.mass.edu.

 

Features

Please Don’t Feed the Geese

 

Geese are creating a nuisance for the groundskeepers

 

Traffic comes to a stop on Kenoza Street more and more often these days to let the geese cross the road.

“There’s a good amount of geese. I think there’s two main groups,” says Steve Shepard, who works for the NECC Grounds Department on the Haverhill campus. Shepard thinks that the problem has gotten worse this year.

A group of geese is actually called a gaggle.  According to the Mass Wildlife website, gaggles of geese have been passing through for centuries along their natural migration route.  Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, a relocation project was begun to move the geese further inland, apparently for hunting purposes.

Since then, the availability of secondary food sources and changes in weather patterns have caused a change in the behavior of the geese.  While some groups still fly south for the winter, many geese have found that is no longer necessary and have become year-round residents of many of the nesting grounds that they populate.  

Since each full grown goose can produce as much as a pound of droppings each day, sanitation problems can develop in areas where the population is particularly large or bold, and once geese become established in an area, they are reluctant to give it up.

“The geese have been causing trouble with (the athletic fields), too,” said Shepard. “They seem to be getting used to our tactics.  Like, even the decoys don’t work, they just walk right by them sometimes.”

Evidence of this can be seen in the form of droppings all along the athletic track, just mere feet from where a styrofoam coyote watches on. “We’re trying everything, everything short of air horns,” said Shepard.

When asked about how they prepare the athletic field before a game, Shepard said that they use leaf blowers for both the grass and the sidewalks, but sometimes they have to resort to shovels to clear the mess.

The geese make their home at the Haverhill reservoir just across Kenoza Street but they have found abundant grazing available on the NECC grounds. “It’s between here and around where the reservoir is.  I believe they have some sort of sound cannon that they can use to push them, and then they usually come back here… so it’s kind of us sending them back and forth to each other.” Shepard laughed.

Shepard said that he thinks the school will have to do some research to find out what other people are doing.  “We definitely have to change our tactics. They’re getting used to everything,” he said. “We don’t want to hurt them, but we don’t want them in places where they cause a problem, or traffic, too.”

Currently, there is only one chemical treatment on the market approved to deter geese.  One company in Everett provides a dog handler and a border collie to patrol the grounds and chase the geese away for a starting rate of $10,000.  

The hope is that with the beginning of the school year bringing an increase in human activity around campus, the geese will be more reluctant to spend their days here.  Shepard asks that you please do not feed them.

Shepard said, “I’ve been here two years now and I didn’t think we were going to be at war with geese.  That wasn’t in the job description.”

For more information about geese, visit the MassWildlife website at http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dfg/dfw/.

 

Opinion

Letter to the Editor

 

Dear Editor,

 

I’m a recent NECC alum, and I came back to campus a few weeks ago to visit some teachers and friends. When I was walking across campus with my friend to get to her class, I noticed the police recruits, who had just moved onto the NECC campus the year I graduated, were practicing combat routines on the quad in between B and C buildings.

 

I was alarmed that they were practicing these loud and disruptive activities in the proximity of classes, in a space where small children from the daycare center play and take walks, and in a space where students eat lunch and socialize.

 

The recruits should be practicing these loud routines far away from classrooms and students because they can be disruptive to a learning environment and can cause anxiety and panic attacks in students with conditions like general anxiety disorder, agoraphobia and PTSD.

 

I was also not pleased to find out that the recruits regularly book Lecture Hall A to the point where it is becoming very difficult for student clubs to use the room for academic meetings and events. Lecture Hall A is an important space for events, especially for the Liberal Arts, and the students at NECC should have priority.

 

I can only hope that Lane Glenn, David Gingerella and Bill Heineman will address the students’ concerns with respect and prompt action.

 

Sincerely,

Faith Gregory

Communications and Political Science Alumna

Former Editor-in-Chief of the NECC Observer

Former President of Contemporary Affairs Club

 

Features

Veteran’s Day Celebrations at NECC

 

NECC will be celebrating Veteran and Military Appreciation Week from Nov. 9 to Nov. 12.

On Monday, there will be a panel of veterans answering questions about transitioning from military life to student life in TC103 and L244 at noon. This event is closed to faculty, staff and veterans.

“Darkness and Light,” a documentary focusing on post-9/11 veterans by Thi Linh Wernau, will be shown on the Haverhill campus Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Lecture Hall A. The Sports and Fitness Center will simultaneously be holding a basketball game to honor veterans. During the game, there will be a fundraiser for Operation Hat Trick, an organization that helps support wounded soldiers and their families. Veterans and military service members alike will be honored during halftime.

On Wednesday, the college will be closed in honor of service members past and present.

To wrap up Veteran and Military Appreciation Week, there will be a luncheon honoring student, faculty and staff veterans and military service members in TC103 from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Anyone interested in attending the film or the luncheon should contact the Student Engagement Center at (978) 556‐3731 or engagement@necc.mass.edu to RSVP.

The Veteran Service Organization meets every other Monday at 5:30 p.m. in SC213 in Haverhill.

Campus Life, Features

NECC Bake Sales

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NECC students, staff and faculty continue to show support for the community. In the spirit of Halloween, student organizations held bake sales on both the Lawrence and Haverhill campuses last week to raise money for charity.

The Community Outreach Group hosted their semi-annual bake sale in the Spurk lobby with proceeds going to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “We typically raise between $200 and $300 each time we have a bake sale,” said COG representative Lisa Pasho.

COG will be hosting their Winter Wonderland bake sale on Wednesday, Dec. 2, in the same location.

“We’re still figuring out who the money will go to,” said Pasho.

COG meets every Monday from noon to 1 p.m. in room C116 on the Haverhill campus and invites all students who would like to get involved in helping the community.

The Clinical Laboratory Sciences Club, along with faculty advisors Brenda Salinas and Stacy Ayotte, raised funds for the Bread and Roses Soup Kitchen during a double bake sale in the iHealth and Dimitry buildings on the Lawrence campus.

In addition to hosting a blood drive at Holy Family Hospital on Nov. 17 and 19, the CLSC will be conducting a food drive to benefit Bread and Roses and will place receptacles for non-perishable food items on both campuses through Nov. 20.

Features

Seasonal Depression

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With half of the fall semester gone and winter fast approaching, NECC students may find the “winter blues” hard to avoid.

According to the American Psychological Association, Seasonal Affective Disorder is estimated to affect ten million Americans and is more common in women. SAD usually starts to set in around daylight savings time and continues until spring. The decrease in daylight can cause a wide range of symptoms that lead to a depressed mood.

Also, spending more time indoors can bring on feelings of boredom, agitation in relationships and feelings of hopelessness. Unfortunately, in severe cases of SAD, the affected individual can have thoughts of suicide.

Jetting off to a tropical locale would be a surefire way to ease symptoms of SAD. Of course, with the cost of living and tuition on a constant rise, college students have to rely on more practical regimens for keeping their spirits up.

“Tanning salon, all year for some vitamin D,” said NECC student Rhiannon Hardy. “I look better and it increases my mood.”

Psychology Today suggests that spending time with friends and family is crucial to one’s emotional well-being. Even snuggling with your dog or cat can help ease depression.

“I like dressing my cats in costumes and posting the pics on Facebook,” said Melissa Dow of Amesbury.

Although these methods have been proven to help in low to moderate cases of SAD. However, severe symptoms may be harder to treat without the use of therapy or medications.

Students who wish to seek professional help with SAD are encouraged to visit NECC’s Counseling Services office for assistance: on the Haverhill Campus, Room D117 in the Sports and Fitness Center; on the Lawrence Campus, Room L115 in the John R. Dimitry Building.

 

Campus Life

The struggles of the photography industry

 

Lance Hidy, director of the Art Design & Photography Department at Northern Essex, says low enrollment is causing photography classes to be cancelled.

“I wish there was a way students could spread the word,” Hidy says. As someone who has always had a passion for the arts, I would love to be able to take more photography courses, if only they would fill.

Hidy’s background has led him to have a lifelong passion for the arts. “As a child, I learned reading through comic books,” he said. “I would look at the pictures and that’s how I would figure out the storyline.”

Because of this, he started to read more and more about photography, as well as watching Disney animated movies and television shows.

NECC offers six courses in photography, and can also help students obtain internship opportunities in the field. Some of the internships offered are a yearbook company where a student gets to edit photos, community theatre where they get to experience taking real headshots. Some are even paid! I think this is an amazing idea, because photography is such a hard field to get into. Not only do you get to experience the real world, but network and gain connections that can help your future in the industry.

NECC student Lissangy Rodriguez has had a passion for photography since her sophomore year of high school.

“I had an absolutely phenomenal instructor named Brian Trainor, who made me start to see the world as an opportunity for art,” she said. “My sophomore year of high school I had friends that were graduating and in the need of senior portraits. . . They were incredibly dismayed they had to pay $200 for their portraits, so I then offered to take their photos, which made me realize that this is my true calling.”

Since then, Rodriguez has started her own photography business. The biggest struggle of obtaining a business is defending her price; some people tend to undervalue the craft, which can make it difficult to make a living.

“This is a strange cultural norm that makes some people believe art is not as valuable as it really is,” she said. As someone who is an artist and working on obtaining a sturdy organization, it’s one of the hardest jobs to keep steady customers and compromise on a reason price.

Rodriguez has grown her company by social media and word of mouth.

“I absolutely love making (my customers) all feel great about themselves,” she said. “I try to make every photoshoot an experience.”

 

Features

Smarthinking: Online Tutoring Services

 

Smarthinking is a free online tutoring service available to any student registered at NECC.  This service is not staffed by NECC tutors, but is actually a separate business which was purchased by the Tutoring Center.  There are over 2,500 certified expert tutors worldwide.

The service has been available at NECC since 2008 and is an effective way for online students or students with busy schedules to find academic support.  You don’t even need to register to access Smarthinking.  Simply log in with your NECC email and student ID number to get access.

The maximum time students can use Smarthinking for each semester is four hours.  This may not seem like a lot of time, but considering that most students use it for essay submissions, it actually lets students submit five essays per semester, each for a 45-minute charge.  If needed, you can contact the Tutoring Center when you run out of hours and they will assist you with finding the help that you need.

“In general, the students have been very satisfied with it,” said Lynne Nadeau, the Director of Tutoring Services.

The second most popular feature on the website after essay submission is the Drop-In Tutoring contact.  This allows students to chat with a tutor via “whiteboard” to get help on a specific subject.  Nadeau suggests that students go in prepared, knowing exactly what they need help with, in order to avoid using up excess time.

The tutoring is offered for a variety of subjects.  Algebra, nursing, biology, Spanish, and reading name just a few of the subjects Smarthinking offers tutoring for.  Accounting and sciences are among the most popular subjects.  Additionally, the website offers links for academic resources.  These provide study guides and tutorials for several subjects and don’t use up any of your allowed time.  You can also view archives of past study sessions to study for exams.

Overall, Nadeau said she has seen “quite an increase in students who use the services in the past couple years.”  She believes this to be a “generational thing,” as more students are enrolling in online classes and spend more time on computers in general.

Features

Student Loan Debt Burdens Learners

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debt
DonkeyHotey
Financial experts urge NECC students to start reducing their loan debt while still attending school.

According to U.S. News, the average college student graduates with around $30,000 in student loans.

Students who have entered into an unsubsidized loan may not be aware that they can start making payments on the 4.7 percent interest portion of the loan as soon as the money has been disbursed to their school. Therefore, if a full time NECC student was to finance their entire associate degree through unsubsidized loans, at around $1,800 per semester for two years they would end up paying approximately $10,000 in full term loan payments.

However, many students eagerly accept the full amount offered so that they “get money back,” not looking ahead to realize that by the end of their debt repayment, that extra money that they used to buy Christmas gifts or new clothes has just brought their academic debt up to around $13,000.

“I worry about students getting into long-term loans,” said NECC Professor James Sullivan. “You do want to establish credit, but once you start opening credit cards, it seems like magic money. But you don’t want to spend what you don’t have.”

On Oct. 13, just six days after many students received financial aid refunds, NECC held its third annual bank fair on the Haverhill campus. Although they were giving out free pens and plenty of literature on various types of accounts, many of the banks who participated in the fair do not offer student loans. With high tuition and the general cost of living, it may seem ironic for a college student with little to no disposable income to be putting money in the bank for later.

However, establishing a checking account (no matter how low the balance) could help students develop stronger budgeting skills.

“It’s hard to do but you have to live within your means,” said Sullivan.

“You’ve got to stay on top of any and all loans right from day one,” said NECC graduate Lisa Morelli, now CEO of Andover Federal Credit Union. “I can’t tell you how many times my members accidentally miss their student loan payment because they don’t read letters from their lender… because they’ve been getting the same statement since they graduated ten years ago. But the truth is, their account was transferred to another lender who did not have their account set up properly.”