The Mount Observer

20 PAGESVOLUME 9, ISSUE 3NOVEMBER 5, 2014

By Ellen McGahanMount Wachusetts

Community College is experiencing a budget downfall that will last for at least the next few years. It is primarily due to a drop in enrollment from high school gradu-ates and non-traditional students

According to Dr. Dan-iel Asquino, President at MWCC, It’s a combina-tion of a decline in high

school graduates; which is due to a lull in birthrates for individuals under the age of 19; and a decline in non-traditional student enrollments due to an im-proving economy which is allowing people to return to work and not school.

“In our area, there are about 13 school systems - within all those systems the number of graduates

Budget downfall is not a crisis

Construction on the new science wing is scheduled to begin in March 2015.Observer photo/ELLEN MCGAHAN

By Ellen McGahanBe prepared, Mount Wa-

chusetts Community Col-lege is about to be taken over by loud obnoxious people who wear hard hats and are armed with drills. You might have no-tice some of them already lingering on the low-lining roofs which is a prelude to something much bigger; a massive construction proj-ect that will bring MWCC into the 21st century.

The roofs, which are a separate project, are due to be completed in Decem-ber and a whole new con-struction crew will embark on the Mount during the holiday break; to start ren-

Multiple construction projects to begin this fall

ovations in the Haley build-ing (main building).

The updates, in the Ha-ley building, will start with the ceiling tiles being taken down for the safe removal of asbestos, so students can expect to see miss-ing ceiling tiles on the first floor when they return from break. It will be a mess for a while. School officials will do what they can to keep the noise under control by implementing, a quiet zone during, certain times of the day.

Other updates include bringing the college up to code with ADA (American Disabilities Act) require-ments. According to Robert

Advising Center provides more than just registration helpBy Joshua Lyford

Mount Wachusett Com-munity College's current advising center was built in 2011 and with the current economic and financial climate facing American's

Observer photo/JOHN MOSSEYStudent Advising Center, room 116.

seeking education, the staff wants to make sure that students know they are here to help.

Sue Blain has been an

LaBonte, Vice-President of Finance & Administration at MWCC, the handicap ac-cessibility issues on cam-pus need to be address. The ramp out front, of the college, and the ramp in the common area are all too steep for ADA require-ments. The ramp in the theater is also too steep; which is one of the reasons they are making a new en-trance into the theater

Classroom 125 is not handicap accessible and the classroom is useless. The plan is to remove the steps leading up to the room; also they will level

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November 5, 20142 Observernewswww.mountobserver.com


THE MOUNT OBSERVERVOLUME 9, ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Editor: Bryan Nolan Assistant Editor: John Mossey Graphic Designer: Mike Shortsleeve [email protected]

Contributors:Ellen McGahanJoshua LyfordAna LindstenJuliann ChlebecekRonda ChristieMichael FryeThomas Hill Jr.Sam Armstrong Adviser: Susan Goldstein

Address: Room 191, MWCC, 444 Green St., Gardner, MA 01440

E-Mail: [email protected]

Telephone: 978.630.9260 The Observer reserves the right to edit and condense all submissions. The MWCC Observer is a member of the College Media Advisers, Inc. Printer: Athol Daily News

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Bryan NolanGetting away from screens

in our fast-paced, technology driven world can seem like a daunting task. Technology is usually at the center of every aspect of our lives, whether it’s work, school, or social-izing. Society has come to depend on technology in a way that some think is det-rimental to people’s ability to hold meaningful conversa-tion, focus, and form rela-tionships.

A few English 101 and Psychology classes have turned this idea into an as-signment, challenging stu-dents to take a “technology fast” and go 24 hours with-out using technology. The assignment is derived from a study conducted by the In-ternational Center for Media & the Public Agenda, which asked 200 students at the University of Maryland to go 24 hours without technol-ogy. The study found most college students were not just unwilling, but unable to function without using tech-nology.

“I am not able to go any-where without my phone. Every time I’m talking with my friends or family I am always texting or snapchat-

Students challenged to go 24 hours without technology

ting,” said Brittany Griffin, a student in an English 101 class who had this assign-ment.

According to the study’s website, A Day Without Media, “The major conclu-sion of this study is that the portability of all that media stuff has changed students’ relationship not just to news and information, but to fam-ily and friends — it has, in other words, caused them to make different and dis-tinctive social, and arguably moral, decisions.”

Professor David Wyman has been using this assign-ment as an essay prompt for the past two years and has been keeping record of how many students can, and cannot, complete the 24 hours. Over the past two years, 124 students have done the assignment, with only 34 being able to suc-cessfully go 24 hours with-out technology.

In a poll of Professor Wy-man’s current two English 101 classes, 22 out of 37 students had to plan for the assignment, mostly due to work or school, and only 10 out of that 22 were success-ful. 15 out of the 37 didn’t plan for the assignment and 11 were successful.

Anders Hederstedt, a Computer Information Sys-tems major taking a five course load, said “being in five classes that require technology severely lim-ited the times I could even attempt the assignment.” Hederstedt said, “Technol-ogy tends to make people more monotonous and ob-ject focused rather than sim-ply enjoying what’s around them.”

On the contrary, Kristen Vance, a General Studies Allied Health student, didn’t have to plan for leaving technology behind. “I don’t use a lot of technology. I don’t have a Facebook and I spend most of my time out-side,” said Vance, “I think technology is destroying our society. People are more apt to text the person beside them than hold an actual conversation. Technology is consuming the lives of mil-lions but no one notices be-cause we’re all nose deep in our phones.”

Professor Tina Wilson, a Computer Information Sys-tems professor who is con-stantly surrounded by tech-nology, feels a strong need to get away from it once in a while. “Although I am always attempting to move forward by learning new computer languages or how to make apps,” Wilson said, “it is the time without technology that I cherish the most. I make time to enjoy quiet moments kayaking, sailing, waling in the woods, or photograph-ing wildlife. That’s what re-charges me.”

Despite her need to get away from technology ev-ery once in a while, Wilson says she is not sure she would want to get away from it completely. I don’t use Facebook or Twitter or other popular social me-dia accounts,” Wilson said, “but, I do prefer to read the daily news from a variety of sources like NPR, the BBC, or the New York Times on-line. I think that the key is to utilize the technology in a way that adds value to your life instead of distraction.

Hunger is not a gameBy John Mossey

On November 20th, there will be an event tak-ing place called The Hun-ger Banquet. In this event, there will be one hundred tickets ($1 each) given to students, and these tick-ets are based on what food distribution looks like in the world. Fifty tickets will represent low income meals, thirty will represent middle income meals, and twenty will represent high class meals. Tickets will be traded in for chips which will determine what income meal you will be having, which is completely ran-dom for every student.

There will be speakers throughout talking about issues of hunger. Daniel Soucy, the Chair of Civ-ic Engagement, will talk about philosophical issues concerning hunger, ask-

ing questions like, “Why do people go hungry?” Later, Julie Capozzi, a Sociology Professor, will discuss so-ciological issues and will look at poverty from a local end.

Later in the event, stu-dents will be given an iden-tity based on their income class, and will be asked to “introduce themselves”. This will give students a better idea of what world poverty looks like, and will help raise awareness on the matter. For example, one low income indentity could be a Guatemalan coffee farmer who makes $2 a day. A middle income identity could be a Ukrai-nian teacher.

“Students can have blinders which society can lend to; they don’t see

November 5, 2014 3Observernewswww.mountobserver.com

By Bryan NolanWhat kind of impact do

you think our dependency on technology has on our ability to communicate with each other?

A very strong impact, mostly because we’re los-ing the ability to actually interact with each other. We’re losing the ability to talk, and we’re actually los-ing the ability to write. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten a research paper, not just an essay, but a research paper, with text talk, people shortening words as if they were tex-ting. The other reason we’re losing the ability to write is using the computer with spell check. We rely on spell check but it only tells you if words are spelled correctly, not if it’s the correct word or not. You type some series of letters and the computer says I think you meant to type this word and students just keep going without ac-tually thinking about if it’s the right word.

I see all of these as nega-tive impacts on our ability to communicate. I was in-volved with a project with the college and they re-structured some courses, and I was asked by the powers that be here some-thing along the same lines, how can we better educate our students? I said are you asking me how we can make the courses easier, or are you asking me how we can make the students work harder? The answer is that we want them to work hard-er, but I feel like the answer really is how can we make it easier so the students will

Professor David Iannaccone shares thoughts on technology

keep at it? I don’t think we should be

making it easier. College should be hard, we’re sup-posed to make you work at it. We shouldn’t be spoon-feeding our students. Our students are losing the abil-ity to write, because they don’t have to write, they can find anything they want online. They’re losing the ability to research because they can go on Google and Wikipedia. These are all forms of communication that our students are losing because they rely too much on electronic devices.

How do you think tech-nology is impacting our ability to form relation-ships?

In a way it’s enhancing our ability to be in relation-ships, we can interact with people from all over the world. That’s a huge plus, that’s great, I can sit down at my computer and get involved in a conversa-tion with someone halfway across the world without having to travel or pick up my telephone. The biggest area that I see this as being such a benefit is for our sol-diers going overseas. The fact that they can skype with their family and actu-ally see them, granted it’s not the same as being in the same room, but it’s way bet-ter than getting a letter.

The areas where technol-ogy is hurting us: we are by nature social beings, we are genetically hard-wired to be social beings. If you look at our earliest ancestors, the cavemen, the cavemen that chose to live together, survived, those that chose

not to went by the wayside. Natural selection, Darwin’s theory, tells us that those genes got passed on, so today we are still social be-ings. We do better when we are with others like us and technology is allowing us to meet a lot of our needs without that social aspect

There was an interesting commercial a while back, it was some app that you could put on your smart phone that could allow a half dozen people to all be texting to each other, like group messaging but peo-ple just join the conversation and leave, I don’t remem-ber exactly what the com-mercial was for. It started with a young woman who is texting with her friend, then another fried chimes in and pretty soon there’s five or six people sitting in their rooms texting each other. Then it goes back to the first young woman and her phone rings and she answers “Oh hi mom, how are you, I’m fine. I’m just hanging out with my friends today.” Wait a minute you’re not hanging out with them, you’re not even in the same room with them, how can you be hanging out? And that’s what we’re doing, we’re hanging out from dif-ferent places. We don’t get that social connection any-more and that’s unhealthy. That is going to hurt us as individuals and it’s going to hurt society in general. The long term effects of this iso-lation that we’re placing is going to eventually bring our society to a point where we’re not even communica-tive anymore, and that’s go-ing to be problematic.

By Ana LindstenThe Barre Center of Bud-

dhist Studies (BCBS) offers students from any college or university a program about the traditional Bud-dha’s teaching. Meditating and practicing Buddha’s teaching offers students multiple benefits academi-cally: cultivating the mind-fulness and the emotional

Program increases academic success

intelligence. The coordina-tors of these courses are Mu Soeng ( Zend Monk for 11 years) and Andrew Olendzki ( PhD) senior scholar at BCBS.

The Buddhist Stud-ies Certificate program is geared for college stu-dents. Five College Bud-

By Juliann ChlebecekOver the past month, the

Green Street Café has fall-en victim to a series of theft problems, but according to Front of the House Super-visor, Tracee Bergeron, it has been happening for the last two or three years.

Bergeron had her suspi-cions about theft happen-ing in the café about four years ago when she start-ed working there. “It wasn’t until recently when we started comparing sales that we noticed a difference in what we were making to what we were selling,” said Bergeron.

After careful consider-ation, Bergeron took action by requesting that a cam-pus police officer be pres-ent at both the breakfast and lunch rush. Bergeron said that having the police present at those busy times has helped dramatically.

No students have been caught yet, but some have been questioned. “Most of the times that we have sus-pected someone of steal-ing was during the break-fast hours. A staff member would report to me, and I would ask the student po-litely if we had missed any item to be rung up,” said Bergeron.

Observer photo/JOHN MOSSEY

The sign hanging outside the Green Street Cafe at MWCC.

Thieves Among Us

In the near future Bergeron would like to work closer with the cam-pus police to train her staff members to be more ob-servant to theft and train in ways that the staff can help prevent theft. Bergeron does not think that it would be necessary to change the way they present the food. She just feels that the staff needs to be more ob-servant of the customers coming in and out.

She explained that some of the dead giveaways are usually hiding in “blind spots” from staff, open backpacks, suspicious looks, and exiting the café through the wrong side.

When questioned about the motives behind the theft Bergeron said, “I don’t know why students would steal. If it was because they couldn’t afford something, there are options on cam-pus that are available to students where they could get assistance with food. I hope it’s not for ‘fun’.”

themselves in relation to the rest of the world. We’re part of an interconnected global economy, the ac-tions we do on a daily ba-sis affect other people and we should all be aware of this,” explains Soucy. “You come to know yourself bet-ter by seeing yourself in perspective with the rest of the world.”

According to Soucy and

Hunger<<<continued from page 2 Shelley Errington Nichol-

son, Director of Communi-ty Learning Center for Civic Learning and Community Engagement, there was a faculty summer institute which demoed the idea of The Hunger Banquet at Keene State involving teachers at both MWCC and at Keene and the re-sult was a success. Instead of using entrees like the November event will have,

the teachers and faculty had appetizers instead. “The faculty and staff really got into it and saw the ben-efit of their students going through a similar exercise,” Nicholson explains.

The Hunger Banquet will take place on November 20th from 12:30-1:30 in the South Café. Tickets are $1 each and all the proceeds will go to the SOS Pro-gram.


Observer photo/BRYAN NOLAN

November 5, 20144 Observerprofileswww.mountobserver.com

By Ronda ChristieJoyce Miller, a ceramics

professor at Mt. Wachusett Community College, has been successful in bring-ing innovative techniques to the art of ceramics, spe-cifically the outdoor firing techniques used on cam-pus. MWCC uses electric kilns, outdoor trash can kiln firings, and coming soon to MWCC: raku firing.

When an opportunity arose for funding, Miller applied for a grant to bring the art of raku to MWCC and create an outdoor kiln firing area for ceramics. The Innovation Fund grant allows for a 12x24 concrete platform, a shed for stor-age, and a small, humble propane fueled raku kiln as well as a shallow pit area for wood shavings to be built by the gym. This area will also allow space for the trash can firings that are performed by the students

MWCC professor expands the horizons of ceramicsin the Ceramics I course, under Miller’s guidance.

Raku firing is different from other outdoor firing techniques because the pots are glazed with spe-cifically designed glazes for raku and pieces are re-moved from the kiln while they are still red hot. Many types of glazes are used to achieve very different re-sults as the pot withstands dramatic temperature changes when it is smoth-ered in damp sawdust. “No two pots come out the same,” Miller said.

Three years ago, Miller contacted the Snow Farm New England Craft Pro-gram in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, in hopes of setting up field trips for MWCC students in the Ce-ramics II & III course. Miller said Snow farm was very receptive to the idea.

Raku is offered to ceram-ics II & III students in addi-

tion to the traditional glaz-ing/ firing techniques. The field trips to Snow Farm to do raku firing have taken place the past two years. Students in the course contribute a small fee and some funding from the art department or the MWCC Foundation has made the annual field trips a success. Students learn a great deal about the raku process and enjoy working collab-oratively. “Several ceramic students donated some of their beautiful pieces to support the MWCC Foun-dation,” said Miller.

However, not just MWCC students will benefit from the addition of the new out-door ceramic firing area. Local high school students, from surrounding areas, may have the opportunity to partake in future field trips to MWCC to participate in the outdoor trash can firing and may also have the op-portunity to learn the raku process. “While on campus

they will be given a tour of the Art Department and get the chance to see for them-selves what MWCC has to offer,” Miller said.

Isabella Bourque, an ad-vanced ceramics student at MWCC said, “Being a

part of the raku firing last semester completely trans-formed my thinking about ceramics and all of its pos-sibilities. I will never forget anything I learned through the experience and I hope to do it again sometime.”

Observer photos/RONDA CHRISTIEAbove and below, students in various stages of creating their ce-ramic pieces and the finished products.

By Juliann ChlebecekTattoos have been a

means for people be-ing able to tell a story or memorialize someone or something through art. For first semester Liberal Arts major, Eli Contis, most of his tattoo art ironically has no meaning.

Contis attributes his tat-toos to the group of friends he had growing up. "It was almost like a brotherhood," he said. It was a way for Contis to be accepted by his friends when he was not feeling accepted by the world.

Located on his right inner bicep is the quote, “How strange it is to be anything at all”. According to Contis, this is the only tattoo he has that carries meaning. "It helped me get through a time where I was ques-tioning the meanings in life," he said. At that time Contis was depressed and not living at home, and that caused him to question what life was throwing at him

Currently Contis has twelve tattoos, all of which he does not regret, and has already put thought into his next tattoo. He wants to get "bad ass" tattooed on his buttocks, so that when he's old and his nurses give him a sponge bath there will be something to laugh about to make it less awkward.

When asked about his most memorable tattoo experience, Contis recalls the time he got a coffin on his leg at age 17. His mother was not happy with him at the time, so he and his friend went to an unpro-fessional for a tattoo. He

November 5, 2014 5Observerstudentswww.mountobserver.com

Student recalls his 12 tattoos

walked to the center of his town with a swollen bloody leg waiting to be picked up by a family friend because he had no other way home. The next day he realized that the banner under the coffin looked as if it said "steep wett" rather than "sleep well." It was a learn-ing experience for him, and he admits that it is not a good idea to get unprofes-

sional tattoos.Contis' advice to anyone

thinking about getting a tattoo is sweet and simple: "Make sure you are alright with what is on your body because it's there for life." Contis plans to continue at MWCC for a second se-mester before transferring to UMass Amherst and will study to become a thera-pist.

Observer photos/JOHN MOSSEY

Eli Contis has 12 tattoos, but only one that carries meaning.

Observer photos/JOHN MOSSEY

Katherine LaPierre, 18, is taking a total of 10 classes this semester.

Aspiring student reaches farBy John Mossey

In the city of Leominster, there is a girl of 18 named Kath-erine LaPierre. LaPierre has been homeschooled since her freshman year of high school.

LaPierre currently works at Hannaford’s, and is taking four college classes at MWCC as well as six AP homeschool classes, making a total of ten classes this semester. Next semester, she will be taking six AP classes and two college classes. LaPierre is shooting high and has no intention of stopping her education until she receives a PHD.

Outside of being homeschooled, Katherine has volun-teered at a cat shelter, is part of a competitive science fic-tion writing team, and is now the treasurer for the MWCC Hiking and Recreation Club. LaPierre does not miss the high school social environment and prefers being home-schooled. “Yeah, you can make friends in high school but I’ve kept the same friends since 6th grade, and it’s not diffi-cult not going to school with them or maintaining our friend-ships.”

LaPierre came to MWCC because she could not take AP Physics in her homeschool program, and she also wanted to take math classes in person. Since she is a Dual-Enroll-ment student, LaPierre cannot declare a major but if she could, she says she would major in pre-engineering.

After two semesters at MWCC, LaPierre hopes to at-tend a university in the pacific north-west, and maybe even in Canada. “I’m not really sure yet, but I definitely want to study either engineering or physics.”

When asked what her dream job would look like, LaPierre responded saying that she would want to be a researcher for physics, preferably in a university setting so she help aspiring researchers as well. “I definitely want a PHD and won’t stop going to school until I get one.”

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November 5, 2014 7Observeropin ionwww.mountobserver.comNovember 5, 20146 Observernews


By Joshua LyfordThe International Business

Honor Society, Alpha Beta Gamma, offers students great benefits–and promis-ing rewards upon gradua-tion–but, like many clubs, they struggle with member-ship.

Alpha Beta Gamma was established in 1970 to rec-ognize academic achieve-ment in business students enrolled in two year schools. With its headquarters in Val-halla, NY, the society cur-rently has over 62,000 mem-bers worldwide.

Carrie DeCosta is from Leominster and is the cur-rent President of the Mount Wachusett Community Col-lege chapter of Alpha Beta Gamma. She was elected during the 2014 fall semes-ter, the first she spent with the society. A paralegal ma-jor, she returned to school full time during this year's spring semester.

The MWCC chapter cur-

Honor Society short on members, many eligible

Sonia Patota, Off-Campus Program Coordinator - MWCC, Division of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education email: [email protected] • Elms: 413-265-2336 • MWCC: 413-313-3322 • Fax: 413-265-2459

More information at www.elms.edu/mwcc

Gardner Campus Open HOuses• Thursday 11/6, 4-7 p.m. Board Room

• Thursday 11/18, 4-7 p.m. Board Room

• Tuesday 12/16, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Transfer Table

Find out more about our accelerated 20-month bachelor’s degree completion programs:

• RN – BS • PSYCHOLOGY

WILL YOU NEED A BACHELOR’S DEGREE TO MOVE FORWARD IN YOUR CAREER OR FULFILL YOUR GOALS?

The Elms College bachelor’s degree completion programs offered at Mount Wachusett Community College meet all general requirements of Elms College. Essentially, you earn a degree from a private institution in a location convenient to you.

Attend a session and we will waive your application fee. Be sure to bring your unofficial academic transcript. Financial Aid is available!

rently has just eight mem-bers, four of which are club officers. This number repre-sents a small portion of the 250 MWCC students eligible to join.

“What we're finding is that people think that it's either a fraternity or spam,” DeCosta explained. “I'll admit when I got that first email, I said 'delete.' I didn't want to be a part of a sorority, but then I looked into it a little more. It really is a good program.”

Alpha Beta Gamma of-fers some significant perks to students looking to distin-guish themselves in the job market. Students are recog-nized at graduation, present-ed with a certificate and can also receive letters of recom-mendation from the society itself. Potentially most sig-nificant to students however, is the $150,000 a year that Alpha Beta Gamma offers a year in scholarships.

“So many people gradu-ate with the same major,”

said DeCosta. “When you get out in that market and you're looking for jobs, you need something that makes you stand out.”

In order to be considered for the society, students must be enrolled in a busi-ness program at a two year school and maintain a 3.0

GPA within their business classes as well as with their overall average. If a student's GPA dips, they are immedi-ately removed from the club. While it can be daunting to consider, DeCosta looks at it as an additional motivator to work as hard as she can.

“I take a lot of pride in ev-

erything I do,” DeCosta said. “I have a lot of pride in being president and I don't want to lose that title because I slipped up in class. It gives me motivation to work hard-er and do more.”

Members of Alpha Beta Gamma commit to pub-lic outreach and helping those in need. They carve pumpkins with children at Gardner's Hope House, a non-profit founded to aid female and youth victims of domestic violence. They run a Thanksgiving food drive and a Christmas drive for the underprivileged and they will soon be assisting Princ-eton's NEADS, a nonprofit that trains service dogs for the deaf and disabled.

“It's about getting out in the community and helping those that maybe can't do things for themselves,” De-Costa said. “Small things like raking leaves and cav-ing pumpkins, these are little things that mean a lot.”

By Ronda ChristieReturning to school as a non-traditional student was a

bit intimidating to me because I had been out of school for twenty plus years. I have dyslexia and learning disabilities that have shaken my confidence in my own abilities, and I had never heard of “works cited” or an “annotated bibli-ography.” If not for the Academic Support Center (ASC) offered here at MWCC, I would not have accomplished many of my assignments.

According to Karen E. Shultz, Director of Academic Support and Testing Services, the number of students served is as follows; Math Fall ‘13: 175, Math Spring ‘14: 143, Writing Fall 13: 247, Writing Spring 14: 192, Subject tutoring Fall 13: 146, and Subject tutoring Spring 14: 109. This does not include the number of students using e-tu-toring assistance provided in these areas. These numbers are all separate; a math student may also be coming in for writing and therefore could be in both counts.

“Feedback from students is positive. Students tell us that the tutors help them to better understand the material and help them to understand how to navigate the textbook or course companion webpages,” says Shultz.

The ASC is an essential tool in any student’s school bag, offering walk -in Writing and Math tutoring as well as subject tutoring for more specific classes such as Account-ing, Computer Technologies, and Biology from about 60 employed tutors. The ASC also offers e-tutoring, which is online and can be accessed from home. There are also supplemental instruction tutors who sit in on some core classes. Because of the ASC services available to all the students at MWCC, there is no reason not to succeed.

Whether it was English, Math, Accounting, or even Computer Technology, there was always someone avail-able to assist me. I found the tutors to be knowledgeable, compassionate, and patient. They helped in building my confidence and trust in my own abilities, and as time went on, I would sit in the ASC and whether I needed help or just needed reassurance, I knew I could ask a tutor.

To me, the tutors at MWCC are the unsung heroes of my success since they helped to relieve some of my fears, doubts, and insecurities that I had when I first came to college. I recently graduated with high honors, and I now have the confidence to continue my education. I am extremely proud that I had the insight to see that if I need help, I am able to ask for it—so if your professor suggests that you see a tutor, I would advise that you listen.

ASC offers tutoring on the Gardner, and Leominster Campuses. Their Gardner hours are Monday-Thursday: 8am to 6pm and Friday: 9am to 3pm; their Leominster hours are Monday and Tuesday: 9:30am to 4:30pm and Wednesday and Thursday: 12pm to 7pm. These are the current fall hours and are subject to change. Check http://www.mwcc.edu/lib/asc , call 978-630-9333, or stop in to ASC, located in the library, for more information.

Letter to the EditorBy Bryan Nolan

I have always been be-fuddled by how people in this country can consume so much and waste so much when so many are in need. People stand in lines for the next great new iPhone while other people stand in lines for a cup of soup so they’ll last another day.

People love new things, things they don’t actually need, that don’t actually

Consumerism kills : World hunger is solvable

have much value other than proving social status or satisfying a feeling of inadequacy. People nowa-days feel their things tell others who they are, that things make the entirety of their value as a person. When there’s more new things, the old new things get thrown in the dump-ster.

According to the En-vironmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans

generate roughly 14 mil-lion tons of food waste every year, which is about 106 pounds of food per person. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), over two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.

This amount of waste and over consumption is amaz-ing when 21,000 people die every day from hunger


This is a plea to all the people who have an inner Eng-lish teacher in them. We here at the Mount Observer, welcome all suggestion; whether they are critical or com-plementary in nature – matter of fact, we need them; as we are students who are learning as we produce the pa-per.

You can contact us by email [email protected] or you can drop off your ideas to our sugges-tion box which is located next to news room (rm. 109).

Please let us know who you are, so if any questions arise we will be able to contact you. Remember, we are students and we need to ask questions to learn. Anony-mous letters read like they are meant to be an insult and nothing more.

Thank you,From the news team at The Mount Observer

From the Observer Staff

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Construction<<<continued from page 1out the common area by re-moving the ramp and steps that lead down into it.

Classroom 125 will be-come the new advising cen-ter; it will have all glass in front. “It’s going to become a nice advising center and the area where it is located now, will become a general purpose room that will seat a 100 people,” said LaBon-te. The multi-purpose room will have a big space that can hold future debates, blood drives, lectures and any other special events.

That way the common area remains only for the students and all the special events can be moved be-hind closed doors. LaBon-te said, “The whole idea of the common area is that it will become the center of the college, and it’s going to be more prominent as the hub of the college.”

Also, the old elevator next to the common area, will close, it is not up to code either; because you can’t fit a stretched out stretcher in there. There will be two new elevators built. One will be located in theater and the other will be found in the new science wing.

In addition to these renovations, accessibil-ity improvements will be made to the LaFontaine Arts Center. There will be a new theater entrance, an elevator located at the far end for handicap access and new ramps. According to Jon Wyman, Associated Vice-President of Facilities Management at MWCC, this part of the project is due to begin the summer of 2015.

Women have become the majority of the population

at MWCC and new bath-rooms will be added. The restrooms were originally built in the 1970’s to house the larger male population.

“There are 29 women’s fixtures now in Haley. There will be 52 women fixtures plus three new uni-sex restrooms when we are complete,” said Jon Wyman, “The locations are being changed also to make them more evenly spread around the building and more accessible.”

On March 2015, con-struction on the new sci-ence wing is scheduled to begin. Wyman stated, “This 44,000 square foot facility will provide 8 new STEM classroom/labora-tories, 4 lab prep rooms, 24 new faculty offices, and an informal student study space. A new 2,300 square foot, greenhouse, comple-menting the nearby science addition serves as another classroom/laboratory.”

The building will be used for students who are pur-suing careers in science, technology, medical and STEM fields. The labora-tory/classrooms will have interior glass walls so any-one can view the students in action.

The architecture designs are created by Architerra Inc. of Boston, MA. “We’re designing the labs to be especially safe, welcom-ing, and exciting,” says architectural principal El-len Watts of Architerra Inc. “There’ll be no intimidat-ing black bench tops and dark oak. These labs will be light and airy… and col-

orful. Moreover, the new Science Addition will offer some of the best student study spaces on campus. We want every student to be drawn to studying sci-ence and technology; the future of our society de-pends on it.”

The new greenhouse will have temperature control and automatic watering/irrigation system. This will be located right next to the new science wing. In ad-dition, the present Murphy Conference Room will be relocated to the first floor of the wing. According to Wyman, completion of the project is set for the sum-mer of 2016.

As for the parking lots and roadways, this year they are going to do the study, next year it will be the design and the follow-ing year - there will be all new parking lots and road-ways, according to Dr. Daniel Asquino, President at MWCC.

Wyman said, at this mo-ment, there hasn’t been any decision on what to name the new science wing; nor are there any plans on what will be replacing the existing science rooms. Only time will tell.

Students, who are inter-ested in architecture and would like to know more about this project, are en-couraged to contact Jon Wyman with any questions they may have.

Observer photo/ELLEN MCGAHANBlue prints for the new science wing feature glass-walled classrooms, large common area. At right, workers fixing one of the roofs.

MWCC makes plans for lost maple treesBy Ellen McGahan

The three maple trees that have adorned this property for years are due to be removed this coming spring.

School officials are try-ing to preserve the maples by using the offspring that might have fallen from the trees. “I was asked by Jon Wyman to find out if there are any saplings to be saved,” according to Alan Cumming, Head of Grounds Section, “noth-ing was found at the base of the trees, so I came up closer to the building and I found some maple sap-lings there; I’m not 100% sure if they came from those particular maple trees.” It would be hard to tell because there are so many of them along the front of the property.

“We haven’t transplant-ed the saplings yet, be-cause we don’t have a

Observer photo/ELLEN MCGAHAN

Utility trucks surround maple trees awaiting their removal.

safe location picked out and that’s all I am waiting for,” said Cumming. “In order to transplant them you need plenty of wa-ter and the right location; you can’t put them into a holding area.” They need to be planted in one spot to see if they will grow.

The trees can’t be sim-ply moved to another place on the property. They are too big and their root balls are massive. It will cost too much money to move them and the school is on a tight bud-get.

The plans for the trees, once they’ve been cut down, are to send them to a saw mill where they will be cut into lumber. School officials are hoping that the lumber will be use-able so they can hopefully incorporate them into the new science wing - pos-sibly as furniture.

The Mount Wachusett Community College Diversity Committee announces the President’s Commitment to Diversity Scholastic Competition. This competitive award provides funding for one (1), three-credit class offered by MWCC, for winning students to use during the spring or summer 2015 semester. Awards will be presented to up to three MWCC students. These scholastic competition awards are intended to support student candidates who will be recognized for preparing papers, posters, essays, re-search work, art work, or other original, creative work related to issues of diversity or identity, such as those involving disability, race, socioeconomic status, veteran status, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and national origin and the value such diversity brings to the learning and working environment. Completed application and project to be considered should be delivered to the Division of Human Resources and Payroll prior to 4 pm on November 14, 2014.

For the complete guidelines and application, visit the iConnect main page, or contact Maria Gariepy: [email protected]

Press release

By Ellen McGahanOne might ask, if the

school is experiencing a tight budget, how can they come up with money for a massive construction proj-ect?

The money for the new science wing has already been approved through the Higher Education Bond Bill. Governor Deval Pat-rick signed this bill back in 2008. Mount Wachusetts Community College’s allot-ment of that bond bill was 37.1 million for the new science wing and renova-tions to the Haley Build-ing (main building); and an additional 5.5 million was allotted for repairs for the roadways and parking lots. You can read more about this bill at http://www.mass.

Despite tight budget, MWCC is able to afford construction

gov/bb/cap/fy2013/exec/hreport_10g.htm

MWCC doesn’t have con-trol over any of that money. The Division of Capital As-set Management (DCAMM) actually owns the build-ing. The Mount is just one of 5,000 commonwealth properties that they are re-sponsible for; DCAMM is managing the money for this project. Read more about DCAMM at http://www.mass.gov/anf/proper-ty-mgmt-and-construction/oversight-agencies/dcam/

According to Robert La-bonte, Vice-President of Finance & Administration at MWCC, “technically, we are just tenants here – it’s their building project – we are the customers they are building it for.” DCAMM is

responsible for projects that exceed 2 million and the Mount is responsible for anything below that amount.

The construction on the roofs is a separate project. The school was allotted an extra 1.5 million to fix all the roofs that cover the one story sections of the main building. “For this project, DCAMM used money from what is known as deferred maintenance”, Labonte said, “deferred mainte-nance simply means, if you don’t fix it than your build-ing is going to fail – then you’ll be out of business.” DCAMM has 30 million a year in deferred mainte-nance – it sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t, Labonte added.

have dropped and will continue to drop for an-other few years by about 20%,” said Asquino. “The enrollment in the north-east is going to decline about 9.5%.” All colleges are feeling the effect.

Asquino added that the Mount has experienced a 4.3% decline FTE (gen-erates money by rais-ing credit hours), and we budgeted for 5% which puts us ahead of budget for this year.

High school graduates only make up 40% of our population, said Asquino. Students, who have been out of school for a couple of years or more, make up the rest. Traditionally com-munity colleges gain sub-stantial enrollment when the economy is down or in a recession; people have a tendency to come back to college to be retrained. Right now, the economy has improved so the non-traditional student enroll-ments have declined.

Enrollment may be down but there is a plan in place. “The strategy is to take advantage of the op-portunities”, Asquino add-ed, “we know the reality is the reality, we are going to thrive - we are going to survive, we are in process of developing a new mar-keting enrollment man-agement plan which will clearly define our different markets k-12, non-tradi-tional student, veterans market and developmen-tal metrics and strategies under each one.” The school had anticipated the enrollment decrease.

“Right now we are not cutting any staff, we don’t anticipate that we will be reducing full-time – we have a lot of efficiencies in place, said Asquino. “Good news is, the Board of Trustees has said, de-spite enrollment decreas-es there will be no fees or tuition increases in the next year or two.”

“We are not in financial difficulty and we have

Budget<<<continued from page 1 worked, over the years,

to build up reserves – a little rainy day fund – and it’s raining, said Robert LaBonte, Vice-President of Finance & Administra-tion at MWCC. “That be-ing said, we are still trying to preserve that fund, so for this coming fiscal year (which began in July) we have a balanced budget with no plans to use any of our reserve money through this year.

LaBonte added, we did some rough calculations and they suggest that next year could be a problem if we don’t get more money from the state, if our en-rollment doesn’t change, and if we don’t take some cost cutting initiatives right now; we are looking ahead - and the ship is not sinking.”

There could be some hard choices that need to be made like the possibil-ity of closing one of the MWCC campuses. “It’s possible as those leases become due in the next few years we may rethink them, said LaBonte. “We don’t have any plans to make any definite moves there. Whenever cuts are made to the budget the college preserves aca-demic integrity. Accord-ing to LaBonte, “we don’t steal from the classroom to balance the budget.”

When things are tough rumors will fly, the bud-get issue sparked many rumors on campus. One in particular was that the Mount is having a budget crisis that might result in the school having to close their doors or even worse; Fitchburg State University might have to take over.

When Asquino was pre-sented with this specula-tion he said, “No – it’s not going to happen; and he added, rumors travel at an astounding rate of speed and they are often distort-ed; those are the charac-teristics of rumors.”

I guess it’s safe to say, we can consider this ru-mor squashed.

academic advisor special-izing in careers since the center opened in 2011. She has seen the econom-ic factors grow increasingly burdensome to students and, according to her, the rate of increase to cost in education, both public and private, has increased more steeply than overall inflation. The pressure to go to college while caring for a family and maintain-ing a job, or several jobs, can weigh heavily on stu-dents.

“I think the economy has really beat up on the stu-dents,” Blain explained. “It's very hard to hold one or two jobs while taking more than a course or two.”

“I want students to know what the resources are that available to them,” she added. “They can always find their way back to the advising center for help, we're a resource and we're here to help them.”

In addition to economic factors being a difficult bar-rier for students and po-

Advising Center<<<continued from page 1 tential students, Blain says

that focusing your educa-tional and career desires in one direction can also be a struggle.

“I think zeroing in on a major, making sure that is what they want and find-ing their own path is a big question,” she said. “It's all a part of the journey, but there are limits to financial aid if you wander forever.”

These are both issues that Blain can relate to on a personal level. She came to MWCC herself in 1980 as a single mother, where she received an associate business degree in 1982.

“I needed to get an edu-cation to take care of my kids,” Blain recalled. “I did a business major, but that wasn't really the thing.”

From there, Blain's path wound through psychol-ogy courses at Worcester State College–which, as it turned out, also wasn't the “thing.” She would later receive her bachelor's de-gree in mathematics at the college. She ran a math lab at MWCC for years, had a period of teaching

and advising at alternative and prison schools and received her master's de-gree in mediation and ap-plied conflict studies from Vermont's Champlain Col-lege in 2010. All told, she has worked at MWCC, in one capacity or another, for over 30 years.

“I have an attachment to the students and to my col-leagues,” said Blaine. “ I really like to work with stu-dents and I really like that I can both advise and teach, each one helps the other.”

According to the aca-demic advisor, the purpose of the Advising Department is to empower students to take charge of their edu-cation and get the most out of their experience at MWCC.

“We try to have mean-ingful conversations with students and to really un-derstand what it is they are seeking and to facili-tate them on that journey,” she said. “Advising is here for students, whatever the question is. We either know the answer or can get the answer for them.”

Question of the Month : Wealth Inequality, Upward Mobility

10 ObserverEqualitywww.mOuntObserver.cOm

For the November Question of the Month, students were given a choice of five bar graphs that illustrated the wealth distribution in the United States. The graphs broke the entire population of the United States into 5 income groups, each 20% of the population, and represented how much of the entire country’s wealth that income group owned. Students were asked to choose the graph they thought most accurately illustrated the country’s wealth distribution. They were then asked to choose which graph they think the wealth distribution should look like. The graphs looked as follows : Perfect Capitalism

Capitalism

Socialism

What it actually is!

America during the Great ProsperityPoor

est Richest

November 5, 2014

Harvard Business Professor and Economist Dan Airely conducted a similar study in which he asked 5,000 Americans to first guess at the distribution of wealth in the United States, and then lay out what they thought would be the ideal distribution of wealth if they were to enter society and be placed randomly in a class.

11November 5, 2014www.mountobserver.com

observerEquality

What is your idea of the American

Dream?To live happily and not worry about money, home, food & health (35)Whatever you desire/material-istic/financial stability (22)Great career, marriage and kids (14)Everyone has an equal oppor-tunity to achieve success (11)

Achieving your goals in life (9)Anyone can do or become any-thing they can imagine with hard work & Determination (6)To live free and die trying (4)The right to an education, free-dom of religion and speech (4)The American dream is a dead concept and should be aban-doned/resembles what media want you to think (3)Having a job living within my meansLiving in an exotic location with a celebrityHenry Thoreau’s way of life

Do you think educa-tion is still the way to achieve that dream?

Why?Yes, so many opportunities are open when you educate your-self (40)Yes, you can’t have a decent life w/o it (good paying job, nice home....) (25)Not always, there are other op-portunities outside of education

to achieve goals (17)No, a college degree doesn’t promise you anything (9)Yes, but the cost of an educa-tion is a problem, it doesn’t al-low everyone to have a chance (6)No, getting education is a debt trap (5)No, the school system doesn’t focus on facts/not fair opportu-nity for all (3)Yes, because of new age tech-nology, education is needed No, you can find your dream through God

Jamison luhntJarvWhat is your idea of the american dream?To live free or die trying.

do you think education is still the Way to achieve that dream? Depending on what you see freedom as, it will control what you need to do to achieve your dreams.

JoE WilliamsWhat is your idea of the american dream?The American Dream is a fulfillment of achieving goals against all odds.

do you think education is still the Way to achieve that dream? Education is the gateway to opportunity.

Patrick lamiErWhat is your idea of the american dream?The American Dream is whatever you desire it to be

do you think education is still the Way to achieve that dream? Yes, because you can’t have a decent life in today’s world without an education.

BrookE coulomBE-morganWhat is your idea of the american dream?Being able to have a successful life, with the ability to achieve all of the goals you have made for yourself in life, is my idea of the American Dream. Unfortunately, it is getting harder for people who are absolutely qualified and have worked extremely hard to get where they hope to be financially and emotionally to actually do so.

do you think education is still the Way to achieve that dream? There are some people that are able to become successful through a different avenue besides schooling. Education and degrees are what most job fields put a high focus on for job qualification. WIthout a degree or higher education, getting “dream job” or a desired job is much harder.

Photos by Michael Frye

For more information and sources, please go to our website - www.mountobserver.com

November 5, 201412 Observeropin ionwww.mountobserver.com November 5, 2014 13Observeropin ion


By Ronda ChristieGiven the current competi-

tive job market, your resume needs to be well-polished and professional. It is critical that your cover letter catch the eye of the employer im-mediately so as to entice them to read on. Patricia J. Brewerton M.S., Coordinator Career Planning and Place-ment at MWCC assists stu-dents in creating resumes and cover letters necessary to land a job in today’s com-petitive job market.

Brewerton said the num-ber one thing students need to keep in mind is to target

Catching the eye of the employer in the current markettheir resume to the needs of the employer. It is impor-tant to understand the de-tails and requirements of the job posting and to check out the web site of the em-ployer, researching mission statements and products lines and/or services unique to that employer. It is also a good idea to Google any press releases for any cur-rent trends particular to the employer and the job they are seeking.

Some skills to consider in-cluding in your resume are the technical skills that are often learned in the class

or hunger-related illness, about 15 every minute, ac-cording the data collected by the UN. Even more maddening is the fact that the UN estimates it would cost only $30 Billion per year to end world hunger. This sounds like a large number, but put into per-spective, the US spends around $630 billion a year on defense, enough to end world hunger 21 times.

To some people, spend-ing that much on defense, instead of saving hungry people, including children, from death, might sound alright, so as another ex-ample, according to Ap-ple’s revenue data, the iP-hone brought in over $30 billion in a single quarter this year.

According to Amnesty International USA, banks

Consumerism<<<continued from page 7 have foreclosed 8 million

American houses since 2007, while 3.5 million homeless shiver in the cold. According to the EPA, 14.3 million tons of cloth-ing were thrown away in 2012. Americans also gen-erate over 200 million tons of garbage every year.

The facts are grim, but there are many ways you can help. The Center for a New American Dream is a non-profit organization that provides resources, data, and programs to solve not only poverty, but a large array of issues including consumerism, inequality, and the environment.

The three main programs are “Redefining the Ameri-can Dream,” which ex-plores alternative economic models and the psycholo-gy of the American Dream, “Beyond Consumerism,”

room as well as soft skills that are learned on part-time jobs, service learning experi-ences, or volunteer positions. These soft skills can include customer service skills, team work, developing a strong work ethic, leadership skills, time management skills and the ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment, suggested Brewerton.

When including activities in your resume, Brewerton said to ask yourself, “how does this activity or skill benefit the employer or set me apart from the competition?”

Brewerton said, “The hard-

By Bryan NolanMayor Tom Menino, 71,

passed away October 30, 2014 after battling cancer. Mayor Menino had been Boston’s longest serv-ing mayor, serving for 20 years, until announcing in March 2013 that he would not seek a sixth term.

In 2001, Governing mag-azine named Mayor Meni-no Public “Official of the Year” for effective neigh-borhood development in Boston. Mayor Menino was often called the “Urban Mechanic,” encouraging leadership, development, and cooperation in neigh-borhoods. The Cities Are Neighborhoods program has been used as a model by other cities as a result of its effectiveness.

In 2007, Mayor Menino launched the Boston Bikes program. According to the city’s website, “It seeks to make Boston a world-class bicycling city by creating safe and inviting conditions for all residents and visitors. Boston Bikes focuses on improvements in all five universal bike planning areas: Engineer-ing, Enforcement, Educa-tion, Encouragement, and Evaluation.”

In 2008, the City of Bos-ton was ranked as the third

Remembering Boston’s longest serving Mayor

greenest city in the United States by Popular Science. Mayor Menino released an updated Climate Action Plan on Earth Day 2011. The plan sought to reduce community greenhouse emissions 25% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.

Mayor Menino was not only loved by the people of Boston, he made the time to personally meet many of them. In 2012, the Mayor’s approval rat-ing was reported by the Boston Globe at 82%. In a 2008 poll conducted by the Boston Globe, 54% had reported personally met the mayor.

In September 2013, Mayor Menino unveiled Bringing Boston Home, a three-year plan designed to reduce the number of people living on the city’s streets by 50%. When an-nouncing the plan, Mayor

Menino said, “We cannot rest until every Bostonian has a place to call home.”

Shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013, Mayor Menino carried the spirit of Bos-ton, saying “We are one Boston, no adversity, no challenge, nothing can tear down the resilience in the heart of this city and its people.”

According to his official biography, Mayor Meni-no was a man who took tough stands, “Early in his tenure, Mayor Menino re-fused to march in South Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade because gays and lesbians were not includ-ed—and then, a few years later, hosted the state’s first wedding celebrations for gay couples.”

According to Ellen

est resume to write is the first one.” But there is help! You can contact Patricia Brewer-ton by email at [email protected]. Provide the times you are available and Brewerton will get back to you with an appointment.

When asked what advice she would give to students

who have never written a re-sume, Brewerton said, “Give it a shot.” Get in touch with the Career Services resourc-es available on campus that can assist you in getting started. Resume workbooks and packets are available by stopping in room 135, Patri-cia Brewerton’s office on the Gardner campus.

dhist Studies is affiliated with BCBS; also, the pro-gram is for any colleges or universities. It is an in-tensive program with two weeks of classes.

The program is divided into two parts: (1) medita-tion and (2) studies. Mu Soeng, program director and resident scholar of BCBS, said, “the program varies according to the ex-periences of groups, and divided into meditation practices and theories.” The course consists of two hours of meditation ex-tending the practice longer in the weekend, four hours of classroom work, an hour and a half of small group discussion.

The program, offers ac-commodations for a single room for two weeks living on the center, three nu-tritious vegetarian meals with a nutrition, and also has available coffee, tea, breads, and fruit. The cen-ter is handicapped acces-sible. It has an ample gar-den for walking meditation. The students get to meet other students from differ-ent colleges and this offers the opportunity to share, socialize, and interact pe-riod.

Mu Soeng also added that to take this intensive program, students are re-quired to have some back-ground in teaching Bud-dhism. BCBS offers the preparation to any group of students from college, who are interested in taking this course. According to Mu Soeng, when the student decides to take this pro-gram, it’s a step in the right direction to be successful academically.

The meditation affects the body, producing a chemical condition. Mu Soeng said, “When the body is calmed

Meditation<<<continued from page 3 and the mind is calmed,

it produces the natural chemical, the stressful things that you think about it will disappear, because the dopamine, endorphin and serotonin will increase, and these chemicals give the balance to the body.” He explained when the stu-dents begin to practice this kind of meditation, the sys-tem begins to start to work correctly; the stimulation of the body will produce it naturally all the time.

According to the Cen-ter, the multiple benefits of practicing meditation and Buddha’s teaching in-duces the coordination of the mind with the physical body reducing stress. The practicing of mindful, gen-erous, compassionate, and non-clinging behavior and holding any physical and emotional condition helps to get the coordination and the alignment of the body.

In addition, the center of-fers other courses, work-shops, retreats, and self-study programs. Olendzki said that BCBS has a vari-ety of programs for teach-ers, psychologists, and therapists, and for begin-ners to introduce the teach-ing of Buddhism.

BCBS is a nonprofit or-ganization. The donation of people gives the oppor-tunity to other students to reach their goal because BCBS has scholarships are available for students who need the support. The Center is 250 years old and used to be a farm. The whole place includes about 90 acres. The visitors may enjoy walking in the gar-den of BCBS. It was built especially for meditative walking and has a beautiful view because the Center is located in a higher part of the town.

which provides recourses and tools to create new social norms about how to have a high quality of life and a reduced ecological footprint, and “Collabora-tive Communities,” which attempts to build stronger communities that increase ecological sustainability, and foster greater livability and economic vitality.

The Borgen Project is an-other non-profit focused on poverty and hunger. Their website provide quick links to information on an array of issues, plans to solve those issues, and ways anyone can help. There is actually a page with 30 ways you can help. The Borgen Project also has a number internships, many of which involve either telecommuting or working from home.

Mayor Menino and I were in office together for six (6) years. Over the course of that time I probably met with him about 10-12 times. Being the Mayor of Boston and serving for such a long time, you automatically de-fer to him, but he never let you defer. He never had an air of arrogance or entitle-ment about him. Whether you agreed or disagreed with some of his stances or policies, he was always genuine and kind.

On the day of his passing, I posted a picture of Mayor Menino and me holding his bat/cane the Red Sox gave to him. The story behind the picture was that we were together at a May-or’s event in Boston and I asked him if I could “get a picture”. He replied “You really want a picture with me?”, and I told him “I’d

Gardner Mayor Mark Hawke shares memory of Menino

like to get a picture with the bat/cane, but you can be in it too if you want.”. He laughed and pulled me in for a picture with him and the bat/cane.

The largest influence he had on me was showing me that no matter the posi-tion, no matter the power, just be yourself, be genu-ine and have fun.

Mayor Hawke and Mayor Meni-no holding Menino’s bat/cane the Red Sox gave to him.


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November 5, 201414 Observertechwww.mountobserver.com November 5, 2014 15Observertech


Annie at Theater at the MountTickets are still available for performances on November 28 & 29 and Decem-

ber 5 & 6 at 8pmSENSORY-FRIENDLY PERFORMANCE OF ANNIESaturday, December 6 at 2PMThis special performance is specially catered to individuals with sensory-input

disorder, autism, and other developmental, cognitive and physical disabilities and their families. To provide a supporting and welcoming environment this dedicated performance includes:

Lower sound level, especially for loud or jarring soundsReduction of flashing or strobe lights or lighting focused on the audienceLights remain on at a low level in the theatre during the performanceAccommodated house rules: audience members are free to talk and leave

their seats during the showExtra staff and volunteer supportDesignated “Quiet Room” and “Take a Break Space”Social Story and Plot Summary available to prepare for the eventThis is a judgment-free, fun experience for the entire family!

Press release

Parker, executive director of Project Bread, Mayor Menino would be there ev-ery year he could for the Walk for Hunger.

In an interview with MassLive, reflecting on his 20 years as mayor, Mayor Menino said, “We’ve ac-complished a lot in 20 years but you can never be sat-isfied. You always can do more. If we have the sta-tus quo, that means we’re moving backwards. I want the city to continue mov-ing forward on education, creating more jobs, a safer city, equality throughout the city of Boston. Those are things that are ongoing for us in the city.”

In one of his last tweets one September 15, Mayor Menino said, “You’re only enemy as an elected offi-cial is yourself if you’re not being honest with people & not doing your job. The media isn’t the enemy.”

“ As Boston’s longest-serving mayor, Tom helped

make his hometown the vibrant, welcoming, world-class place it is today. His legacy lives on in every neighborhood he helped revitalize, every school he helped turn around, and every community he helped make a safer, bet-ter place to live,” President Obama said in a statement upon news of Mayor Meni-no’s death.

Current Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said Mayor Menino “was a leader on policy issues that shaped the Boston we know today: from the environment, to youth engagement, to in-novation, to crime preven-tion. But more than any-thing, he was a man of the neighborhoods. He held a profound understanding of the direct and immedi-ate impact that munici-pal government can have on people, and made it a great priority to ensure that government served people, and not the other way around.”

Menino<<<continued from page 13

Microsoft might get it right with next year’s Windows 10By Bryan Nolan

It seems Microsoft has a tendency to do things wrong the first time and get it right the second. Anyone actually remember Win-dows ME (2000), the pre-decessor to XP? PC World Magazine had named it the "Mistaken Edition" due to its lack of stability. Then XP was released a year later and made the world spin again.

A couple years later, Mi-crosoft decided trying a new concoction, called Vis-ta. Again, Vista was poorly received due to stability issues, speed, and user interface. Another couple years and out came Win-dows 7, satisfying the ma-jority of the general popu-lation once again.

Once again, Microsoft wanted something new and released Windows 8. Between it's new, com-pletely redesigned Metro interface, and it silently screaming the words "Buy a touch screen!," Windows 8 was quickly despised by the majority who upgrad-ed. Many refused to even upgrade.

Enter Windows 10, though not scheduled to be released till 2015, the Technical Preview, an ear-ly, under-development ver-sion for developers, was released on September 30. Despite the apparent inability to count to 10 and the quiet move to compete with Apple's OS X 10, Win-

Windows 10 brings back the familiar start menu, with space for smart tiles.

dows 10 seems to have set things right again.

Best News : you can easily use a mouse and keyboard again, though there is a feature for hybrid laptop / tablet devices. The familiar Windows desk-top and Start bar are also back, with not dual desk-top environment switching between a classic desktop experience and a Metro experience.

The Start menu now in-cludes an area for smart tiles, and the start bar still includes the desktop search familiar to Windows 8. The Windows App Store is also still carried over from Windows 8.

Though it's still early in development, Windows 10 is full of new and improved features. First of all, win-dows are no longer stuck in full screen mode. They can be dragged and resized like previous versions of Windows, and snapped to the corners or sides of the screen. The window snap feature has also been im-

proved, providing sugges-tions to fill the remaining screen space.

Anyone familiar with modern Linux distros will also feel right at home. Windows 10, finally, has multiple desktops, mean-ing you can arrange win-dows and apps a certain way, create a new "virtual desktop," arrange some more windows and apps, and then switch between the two views. Windows 10 will also be getting it's own Linux-style, command-line package manger, One-Get, which allows you to install packages, or pro-grams, and then update all of them with one single command.

Microsoft aims to re-lease Windows 10 as a multi-device OS, running on everything from desk-tops, to smart phones and tablets, to enterprise-level data centers. As this is still only in the early stages of development, it seems Microsoft is finally on the right path.

Ubuntu features a Mac-like HUD with full desktop and integrated internet search.

Linux a viable upgrade for old computersBy Bryan Nolan

The mention of Linux, an open source operating sys-tem that usually comes in many different flavors, or “distros,” might make most think of mainframe servers or geeks in their basements surrounded by command line driven screens.

This is no longer the case anymore, as the modern distros of Linux, such as Ubuntu, have come a long way, developed by a large open source community, to becoming a user friendly al-ternative to pricey Windows upgrades.

The development of Ubuntu is overseen by a company named Canonical, though many updates and patches are developed by the distro’s large community of developers and software testers. Ubuntu is one a bi-annual release schedule, with Long Term Service re-leases every two years.

The latest release of Ubuntu in October displays an OS that is very little like the typical idea of a Li-nux distribution. There are

also many different flavors of Ubuntu, usually either geared for different user interface environments or older machines.

The main flavor of Ubuntu features a mature desktop environment called Unity. Unity consists of a desktop, like any other, an applica-tion panel on the left side of the screen, and a top panel where notifications are dis-plays.

Unity also has a Mac-like HUD display, where you can search both your com-puter and the internet for applications, files, and me-dia. You may also have one or more “virtual desktops” where you can arrange win-dows and applications, then switch between the different views.

The combination of the HUD and multiple desk-tops makes multitasking a breeze. You can set up one desktop for homework, an-other for research, another for social apps, etc. Sim-ply switching between the

desktops with an easy to re-member keyboard shortcut, you’re just as productive on a single screen as you would be with three.

As Ubuntu is open source, it also comes with many free applications, with thou-sands more free to down-load through the app “store.” These preinstalled apps consist of LibreOffice, a free and complete office suite with most of the same func-tionality as Microsoft Office, Rythmbox, a music player similar to iTunes, Gimp, a drawing and photo editing application that easily rivals Adobe’s Photoshop, and many more.

The turn off for many us-ers is the lack of support for main stream applications. Microsoft and Adobe prod-ucts, for example, will not work with Ubuntu. There are however many free alterna-tives that can easily do the same thing, if not better.

For gamers, Ubuntu has long been impossible due to the lack of support from many game manufacturers. However, recently, Steam, a popular gaming engine, has been fully ported to Li-

nux and is fully available on Ubuntu. There are many other works in progress for porting mainstream games in the near future.

Finally, and possibly most importantly, is Ubuntu’s abil-ity to play well with older machines. With Windows XP support being axed by Microsoft, many XP us-ers are left being forced to upgrade to an unpopular Windows 8. Many XP us-ers may not even be able to upgrade to Windows 8 as their machines are too old and not supported. This is where Ubuntu really shines, running smoothly on even computers from the early 2000’s and possibly even further back.

Ubuntu has also moved toward the mobile device market, starting with an In-diegogo campaign to raise fund for the Ubuntu Edge. The campaign was not a success, though it quickly became the talk of the tech industry, attracting backers from enthusiastic individu-als to companies as big as Bloomberg. Ubuntu still has plans in the works to move into the mobile market in the coming future.

Ubuntu<<<continued from page 14


There is an App for everythingBy Bryan Nolan

Since the dawn of the in-dustrial revolution, technol-ogy has been developed to enhance and facilitate the lives of common people and develop a prosperous, complex society. Today, technology runs our world. It is the tireless, pulsing, bustling force that rushes through the veins of our so-ciety, conducting everything from the world’s economy, to the waging of wars, to the consumption of information, to even the interactions with our loved ones, like a grand symphony orchestra play-ing a never ending concert.

As people, running from place to place, from meet-ing to meeting, from class to work, race to keep up with the pace technology has set, they learn to forget what an intermission is like; a break from the hustling and bustling and constant distractions that have be-come the bulk of everyday life.

Luckily, there’s an app for that. ( OFFTIME ) is an app that sits in the background of your phone, monitor-ing how much you use it. It gives you insight to which apps you use the most, how much time you spend using them, who you contact the most, and how much time you spend talking to them.

The app calculates, be-tween all your apps, texts, and even screen unlocks, how many precious minutes are spent looking at your phone. It gives you a daily

score, based on other us-ers, which is then graphed out each day to show how much you use your phone over time.

Aside from simply moni-toring your phone usage, ( OFFTIME ) allows you

to, well, take off time. You can create different pro-files to match your goals, whether you intend to focus on work and block out all non-essential contacts and apps, focus on only family, or completely “unplug.”

November 5, 201416 Observerentertainmentwww.mountobserver.com November 5, 2014 17Observerentertainment


You can easily set the amount of off time you would like to take, and ( OFF-TIME ) keeps track of all those distractions you miss while you are taking a break. The app will even auto respond to texts, emails, and other messages to inform others you are taking off time.

You can even allow the app to force you to take off time by not allowing you to end it once you start your off time. Of course, you can select important and emergency contacts that the app will not block out.

While you could simply turn your phone off, ( OFFTIME ) allows you to cus-tomize how you disconnect. Once your off time is up, you can go back and view any missed calls, texts, or messages. You can even view how many minutes off time saved you from looking at your phone.

An app for everything<<<continued from page 13

By Juliann ChlebecekIs McDonalds not cutting it for you

anymore? Are you looking to dine somewhere other than your typical chain food restaurant? Search no more because located in downtown Gardner at 74 Parker Street resides the Gardner Ale House. Their hours of operation is Monday through Wednesday 11:30 AM to 10 PM; Thursday through Saturday 11:30 AM to 11 PM; and Sunday a Brunch Buffet from 9 AM to 1 PM, and dinner 12 PM to 10 PM.

The menu ranges from finger foods such as nachos, chicken fingers, and mozzarella sticks, to fork and knife meals such as seafood, pasta dishes, steak meals, and many more variet-ies of food.

It is more on the pricy side here, but still pretty affordable for most. The prices range from a $2.50 cup of the soup of the day to a $22 Surf ‘n’ Turf which includes 12oz. certified Black Angus, plus grade NY strip cooked to order with broiled scallops in white wine and butter, served with a lemon wedge and brown butter smashed red skin potatoes and the vegetable of the day.

If you are looking to order a sub-stantial meal, you should get the Ale House Steak Salad. This $12 dish consists of teriyaki steak tips grilled to your liking on top of fresh greens sur-

rounded by red onions, green and red peppers, cucumbers, bacon bits, and blue cheese crumble on top.

The serving sizes per dish are fairly large. Most come with a couple sides, but if not, then you could order an ap-petizer or add on a side to your meal. If you need time to digest your food there are multiple ways to occupy your time.

Of course at the bar are televi-sions so you won't miss your favor-ite sports team playing, and for those of you who are of age the Ale House offers their own brewed beer. Also to the back of the restaurant is a small stage for local bands to play live mu-sic. The ambiance of the Ale House is very warm and comforting with lights strung above on the ceiling, and lo-cal art on display for sale. The staff is friendly, and the service is up to par. Although, the wait for my food, this particular time, was just a little longer than I would have liked.

Depending on what night and what band is playing at the Ale House, the interior is not normally noisy. There is back room seating that you can re-quest if the band playing that night is too noisy.

Overall I would give the Ale House an eight out of ten, with strengths in atmosphere, food, and parking, but a weakness in service. It is definitely a hidden gem in the city of Gardner.

Gardner Ale House Brewery and Restaurant, a review

Observer photo/BRYAN NOLAN

The Gardner Ale House Brewery and Restaurant is located at 74 Parker Street.

Observer Comics “FMG” / By Thomas Hill Jr.

By John MosseyNovember is going to be a

big month for cinema as two highly anticipated movies are coming out: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One and Christopher Nolan’s Inter-stellar. Both of these movies are going to be worth a trip to the movies again and (fingers crossed) may possibly bring faith back to the dying breed of Hollywood Cinema.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One: Direc-tor Francis Lawrence is back again for round two in The Hunger Game series. After the phenomenal The Hun-ger Games: Catching Fire, Francis has upped the ante with Mockingjay by splitting the final book into two mov-ies. All the same actors and actresses are back including Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hem-sworth as Gale Hawthorne, and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy. New cast members include Natalie

November to have promising releases for cinema

Dormer (Game of Thrones), Lily Rabe (American Horror Story), and Julianne Moore (Magnolia). One of the biggest questions concerning this movie and Part Two is how Francis looks to incorporate Philip Seymour Hoffman’s

character (Plutarch Heavens-bee) since the actor’s death. According to Francis and The NY Daily News, Philip had filmed most of the scenes for both movies that he needed to be in. He says that there are a few scenes he did not

complete, but most of those scenes contained no dialogue for Hoffman’s character; for the scenes that did include dialogue, they will simply have another character say the lines instead. Francis did not want to use CGI or a ro-

bot version of Hoffman out of respect for him. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One comes to theaters and IMAX November 21st.

Interstellar: Director Chris-topher Nolan has a slew of movies under his belt that can be considered nothing less than excellent. Nolan has di-rected and wrote the screen-plays for Inception, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Next on his list is Interstellar, star-ring Matthew McConaughey (True Detective, The Wolf of Wall Street), Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises, The Princess Diaries) and Michael Cane (The Dark Knight, Sec-ondhand Lions). In Interstellar, mankind has found a worm-hole in space and will attempt to stretch the borders of hu-man space travel through this wormhole, and ultimately conquer vast distances in an interstellar voyage. Interstel-lar will hit theaters and IMAX on November 7th.

November 5, 201418 Observernewswww.mountobserver.com November 5, 2014 19Observerhappenings


Student Life ActivitiesFall 2014 Leadership for Life Program A series of eight short presentations on topics that will help you feel more comfortable and be successful at Mount Wachusett Community College. From the first one in September to the last one in December, leadership for life will help you. Upcoming workshops are held: Nov. 7, 12, and Dec. 3 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. The workshops are held in the Murphy Conference Room (with the following exceptions: Oct. 24 at the Wachusett Village Inn; and Nov. 7 at Stop & Shop). Walk-Ins welcome.

Student Photo ID Dates Nov. 3 & 13, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm and 4:30 pm – 6 pm in Room 149, Gardner Campus. After November 13, student photo IDs will be taken by appointment only. Contact Kathy in room 149 or at 978-630-9148 between 9:30 am and 2 pm or Sandy in room 151 or at 978-630-9133 between 2:00 pm and 5 pm.

Mon., Nov. 3Student Photo IDs being taken: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm and 4:30 pm – 6

pm in Room 149, Gardner Campus. Student Government Association Meeting – 12:30 pm, Room W11.

Meeting open to all.

Tues., Nov. 4Groove Demo – come join in on the Groove, 12:30 – 1:30 pm, South

Café.

Thurs., Nov. 6 Intramural Activity—Basketball, 1:30 – 2:30 pm, Fitness & Wellness

Center. Must have athletic sneakers to participate. Contact Paula Rich-ard at [email protected] for more information.

CATS Programming Meeting (Campus Activities Team for Students), 12:30 pm, Room W12. Come JOIN IN ON THE FUN of planning special events for MWCC students. Open to all MWCC students.

Fri., Nov. 7Movement Activity—Group Groove, 9:15 am, Fitness & Wellness Cen-

ter. Must have athletic sneakers to participate. Contact Paula Richard at [email protected] for more information.

Wed., Nov. 12Movement Activity—Group Kick 9:30 am, Fitness & Wellness Center.

Must have athletic sneakers to participate. Contact Paula Richard at [email protected] for more information.

Thurs., Nov. 13Film: VALENTINE ROAD, 12:30 pm, North Café. On February 12,

2008, in Oxnard, California, eighth-grade student Brandon McInerney shot his classmate Larry King twice in the back of the head during first period. When Larry died two days later, his murder shocked the nation. Was this a hate crime, one perpetrated by a budding neo-Nazi whose masculinity was threatened by an efeminate

gay kid who may have had a crush on him? Or was there even more to it? Looking beyond all the copious news coverage of this tragic event, Valentine Road tells the story of two victims: the deceased and the murderer. With keen insight, the film connects the human wreckage of Larry’s and Brandon’s troubled lives - both physically abused, both from broken homes, and both searching for a sense of belonging.

Intramural Activity—Volleyball, 12:30 – 1:30 pm, Fitness & Wellness Center. Must have athletic sneakers to participate. Contact Paula Rich-ard at [email protected] for more information.

Student Photo IDs being taken: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm and 4:30 pm – 6 pm in Room 149, Gardner Campus.

Mon., Nov. 17Student Government Association Meeting – 12:30 pm, Murphy Room.

Meeting open to all.

Tues.., Nov. 18 and Wed.., Nov. 19Ping Pong Tournament – 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm, Lion’s Den Student

Center. Pre-registration required: sign up in the Lion’s Den, room 149, or room 151. Must be available to compete on both Nov. 18 and Nov. 19. Sponsored by the Student Life Office.

Wed.., Nov. 19The Dating Game—12:30 – 1:30 pm, North Café. This workshop

uses games, prizes, group activities and discussion to help participants gain the knowledge and skills to identify and maintain supportive, caring relationships. All are welcome to attend.

Thurs., Nov. 20 – LEOMINSTER CAMPUSTrucker Hat Craft Workshop – paint/decorate a trucker hat (while sup-

plies last), 12 noon – 1:30 pm, room 113, Leominster Campus. Spon-sored by the Student Life Office and CATS.

Mon., Nov. 24Film: HONOR FLIGHT, 12:30 pm, North Café. "Honor Flight" is a film

about four living World War II veterans and a Midwest community com-ing together to give them the trip of a lifetime. Volunteers race against the clock to fly thousands of WWII veterans to Washington, DC to see the memorial constructed for them in 2005, nearly 60 years after the War. Sponsored by the Office of Veterans Success and the Student Life Office.

Intramural/Movement Activity—Open Gym Time, 12:30 - 1:30 pm, Fit-ness & Wellness Center. Must have athletic sneakers to participate. Contact Paula Richard at [email protected] for more informa-tion.

Tues., Nov. 25Film: WE SHALL REMAIN, 12:30 pm, North Café. We Shall Remain

is a five-part documentary series about the history of NativeAmericans spanning the 17th century to the 20th century. It was a

collaborative effort with several different directors, writers and produc-ers work. We will be showing part 1, “After the Mayflower.” In March of 1621, in what is now southeastern Massachusetts,

Massasoit, the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to nego-tiate with a ragged group of English colonists.

Mon., Dec. 1Film: WE WERE HERE, 12:30 pm, North Café. We Were Here is the

first documentary to take a deep and reflective look back at the arrival and impact of AIDS in San Francisco. It explores how the City’s inhabit-ants were affected by, and how they responded to, that calamituous epidemic. Though a San Francisco-based story, We Were Here extends beyond San Francisco and beyond

AIDS itself. It speaks to our capacity as individuals to rise to the occa-sion, and to the incredible power of a community coming together with love, compassion, and determination.

Student Government Association Meeting – 12:30 pm, Room W11. Meeting open to all.

Wed., Dec. 3Winter Fest Fair, Commons Area, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm. Featuring the

raffling off of more than twenty decorated wreaths and also theme bas-kets. There will be several vendors selling a variety of items. Spon-sored by the Student Life Office and Student Services.

Thurs., Dec. 4Winter Fest Fair, Commons Area, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm. Featuring the

raffling off of more than twenty decorated wreaths and also theme bas-kets. There will be several vendors selling a variety of items. Spon-sored by the Student Life Office and Student Services.

Mon., Dec. 8Student Government Association Meeting – 12:30 pm, Murphy Con-

ference room.

Thurs.., Dec. 11It’s Your Birthday Celebration – beginning 12:30 pm, Lion’s Den Stu-

dent Center. Come and celebrate the birthdays of students, faculty, and staff that have a birthday that falls in November, December and January. Enjoy a free piece of cake (while it lasts). Sponsored by the Student Life Office and CATS (Campus Activities Team for Students).

Events held on the Gardner Campus unless otherwise noted. Check out the student life web page at mwcc.edu/studentlife for infor-

mation on MWCC clubs and organizations, student photo ID dates and times, and much more. Also, check out the on-line MWCC calendar at https://iconnect.mwcc.edu for more college events.

By Joshua LyfordAcademic Counselor

Craig Elkins has endured his fair share of hard knocks, but in a speech delivered to Mount Wa-chusett Community College students on Wednesday, Sept. 24 he explained how he learned to channel negativity into an environment for posi-tive educational growth.

Elkins is an Academic Counselor and Title Three Student Success Special-ist at Mount Wachusett Community College, and while he showed incred-ible promise throughout his formative years, it wouldn't take long before he found himself fighting an uphill battle.

Born in Fitchburg into a working class family on May 9, 1984, Elkins was interested in soak-ing up as much informa-tion as he could. Instead of watching cartoons like his peers, he was more interested in the Discov-ery Channel and National Geographic.

“Everybody has their own path,” said Elkins. “Since birth, I have been interested in knowledge.”

In those early years, El-kins was a veritable intelli-gence gathering machine. He was active during his time at Fitchburg's Crock-er Elementary, where he would briefly advance past his peers in mathematics class and join Odyssey of the Mind, an international education program that tasks students with utiliz-ing problem solving skills and critical thinking.

Unfortunately, the trou-ble started as early as the sixth grade, when El-kins began school at B F Brown Middle School in Fitchburg where–accord-ing to Elkins–he “got into some trouble” and greatly reduced the force of ef-fort behind his education. Leaving High School, he had an unsavory 1.9 GPA.

Faculty profile: Academic Counselor Craig Elkins

Elkins had decided his goal in life would be to attend Plymouth State University, but his GPA made the dream impossi-ble. According to Elkins, a guidance counselor at the college told him that he would never achieve a four year degree and that he should “start work-ing full-time at Market Basket.” This prompted a second attempt to join the college, which ended similarly.

Elkins refused to let these events slow him down and he used the negative energy to fuel his will to succeed. He was accepted to Fitchburg State College and earned a 3.0 through an 18 credit course load. Finally, on his third attempt, Elkins was accepted to PSU.

There were setbacks along the way, but he eventually graduated from the school with a Bi-ology Degree with minors in both sociology and an-thropology and later re-ceived a Masters Degree in Education, Leadership and Management. With these degrees in hand, Elkins was finally ready to start helping those who, like him, have the poten-tial to be great, but may need a nudge in the right direction.

“You just have to be hon-est with whoever, when-ever,” explained Elkins. “I try to have these honest conversations with stu-dents. I don't try to sugar coat it.”

“You just have to be honest with whoever, when-

ever. I try to have these honest conversations

with students. I don’t try to sugar

coat it.”Craig Lyford

MWCC Academic Counselor

Smoked out

Observer photos/SAM ARMSTRONGStephanie Pelletier, 19, and a freshman majoring in photography, notes that there are no seats or benches in the smoking area. “I don’t get why the college wouldn’t put in benches while constructing this gazebo,” she said. “It seems like a no-brainer to me. I hate sitting on the ground.”

By Sam ArmstrongAs knowledge in heart

and lung health grows, so does the amount of anti-smoking advocacy. While there may be legitimate reasons to ban smoking from public places, it still raises the question of how smokers are treated. Is it equal treatment? Is it fair? Most would agree that mak-ing smoking an outdoors activity is a good idea, as second hand smoke can be harmful, and the effects to air quality are negative. However, are the accom-modations that are provid-ed at Mount Wachusett to the adults who have made their choice to smoke to-bacco adequate, or even comfortable?

Are smokers treated fairly?

Most signs like this one pictured here at the MART Bus Stop are taken quite sarcastically by the individuals who actually use the “State of the art smoking arena.”

Puzzle solutionssee more photos page 20>>>

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November 5, 201420 Observerstudentswww.mountobserver.com

Smoked out (continued)

As pictured here on a bright and sunny day, the smok-ing area, or the “butthut” as it is often called, seems inviting and friendly. It is not just a place to smoke cig-arettes, but a place to socialize with friends as well.

Kyote Oxford, 23, studying liberal arts at The Mount, has also expressed his displeasure with the absence of seating in the smoking area. “It’s also going to get very cold,” he said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do when the snow comes.”

It is often suggested by smokers that Plexiglas panels be installed seasonally to the sides of the smoking area to prevent wind and harsh weather from entering.

Observer photos/SAM ARMSTRONG

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