The Sexuality and Gender Alliance Club (SAGA) has been on campus for at least four years. The club focuses on establishing a community within itself. Most meetings consist of games and other activities that assist with their goal. Members also put effort into understanding and educating themselves about the LGBTQ community.
SAGA holds numerous fundraisers and bake sales throughout the year to help with their finances and establish more of a presence in the college.read more
If you’ve been on campus long enough, you’ve seen some of the events that our school stages. From holiday parties to Open Club Enrollment Day, Campus Activities Team for Students (CATS) is behind the scenes, making it happen.
“If you’re ready to plan events, want to earn a lot of volunteer hours, want to see stuff happen on campus and have tons of fun, then come join CATS,” said Brittany Stephenson, a Fire Service Tech/EMT major and Club President since 2016.read more
By Christine Nelson | Observer ContributorPhoto By Christine Nelson Professor Collene Thaxton with service dog Puma
You may have seen Professor Collene Thaxton and her service dog Puma together on campus, both at Gardner and Devens. You may even have Thaxton as an instructor, as she is a Professor of Nursing. Thaxton has Type I diabetes. Puma is a service dog; his job is to let Thaxton know when her glucose levels are too low or too high. I was lucky to interview them both while Puma was off duty.read more
Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) is hosting a character breakfast on Saturday, April 7 from 8:30-11am. In the South Cafeteria of the Gardner Campus. This event has been hosted by PTK on campus for 4 years. According to PTK, it is “a breakfast filled with everyone’s favorite characters, from fairy tales, cartoons, and beyond. Family fun to enjoy. Proceeds will support hunger alleviation programs in North Central Massachusetts.”
Kaitlyn Fales, PTK secretary and one of the volunteer managers of the breakfast said, “Anyone can be involved. It’s not restricted to PTK members, anyone can volunteer.”
The club is looking for many volunteers from campus to help out with the breakfast. Fales said, “We need about 30-40 volunteers from wearing costumes, working the raffle, doing ticket sales, to serving the food.” There is a set up shift from 7am-8:30am, and clean up shift from 11:30-1pm that also needs volunteers.
Volunteers will be accepted up until the day of the event, but for costume wearers, volunteers need to be collected by March 26 and 27 to be fitted for their costume. Spaces for costume wearers will be limited or unavailable after that.
Costume wearers need to stay in character and entertain the kids, as well as help serve guests. Fales said, “People dressed up in costumes are the largest amount of volunteers we need…
We have different themes going on throughout the breakfast like Alice in Wonderland.”
Pre-sale tickets will be available around spring break and cost $7 for ages 12 and older, $5 ages 2-11, and children 1 and younger are free. Tickets purchased on the day of the event are $10 for ages 12 and older. According to Fales, “All proceeds will go to benefit local food pantries.”
To get involved, contact Kaitlyn Fales (kfales1@mwcc.edu) or Lisa Ferrara-Caron (lferraracaron@mwcc.edu), who are both Volunteer Managers for this event.
In 2017, we are a world filled with technology, lights, screens and distractions. While technology is a very useful tool, it can easily become an enemy to a clear mind and mental health.
Nancy Regan saw students struggling with anxiety, stress and depression when she started her career at the Human Health Services on the Gardner campus in April of 2014. Regan had also witnessed some of her closest friends turn to hiking as an outlet while feeling depressed, stressed, or anxious. They claimed that being in nature was a cure-all for their ailments.
Regan was immediately hooked on hiking after trying it and she is passionate about the outdoors. Through personal experiences, Regan knew that outdoor activities, such as hiking, did wonders for her mental health and seeing students struggling was painful. It was then that she decided to start the Hiking Club in September, 2014. read more
Professor Stevens and his daughter. Photo courtesy of Stevens’ family
On April 26, every member of the Mount Wachusett community was saddened to learn of the death of Professor Edward Stevens. Stevens was a MWCC faculty member for 51 years of his life, teaching various courses in science, electronics, and mathematics.
According to the faculty page on the Science Department’s website, Professor Stevens wrote this about himself: he enjoyed gardening, skiing, swimming, hiking, reading, and playing tennis. Stevens believed that emphasizing to students how science is involved in everyday life was very important, which is why he taught science courses, according to the faculty page. read more
Dr. James Vander Hooven, the incoming President of Mount Wachusett Community College. Photo courtesy of Courtney Wentz
Dr. James Vander Hooven, MWCC’s incoming President is officially taking over on March 18th.
Vander Hooven previously worked at Landmark College, a four year school in Vermont, but he has worked at two community colleges in the past. He was President for four years at Tohono O’odham Community College in Arizona and Lakes Region Community College in New Hampshire as Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. He said, “Community colleges is where my passion is.” read more
Hiking a mountain can be a tough obstacle for some, but it is also a way to relieve any stress one may have or even just to clear one’s mind. For Nancy Regan, who works in Health Services on the Gardner campus at Mount Wachusett Community College, this is a way of life. She hikes nearly every weekend and does it year round.
“I love it. For me, it is exhilarating. I consider it a lot of soul-searching that you can do when you’re out in nature and I think it’s great for anyone,” said Regan, who is currently in her third year as the advisor of the MWCC Hiking Club.read more
By Liam Scanlon | Observer Contributor
Aliza Miller
Most students at Mount Wachusett Community College may know Aliza Miller as their math professor. She teaches a wide range of levels of math classes. She is a Project ACCCESS (Advancing Community College Careers: Education, Scholarship, and Services) Fellow with the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC). She posts a Math Problem of the Week on the whiteboard outside her office.
Aside from her work with the math department at The Mount, she is also the Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies at The Mount, has traveled all around the world, and is an artist. Miller has lived in New York, Kaohsiung (in Taiwan), Montreal, Vermont, and here in Massachusetts.
Miller taught English in Kaohsiung through HESS International Educational Group. She came into the country without knowing how to speak Chinese. It was a ‘huge culture shock’ she recalls.
She had to learn to drive a 90cc scooter aggressively through crowded streets. She eventually had to learn some traditional Chinese characters. There were vastly different landscapes within 50 miles of each other. Karaoke was a big deal. After a week of training, she was teaching.
She taught students from the kindergarten level to junior high level. She has kept in touch with some of her former students through social media. One of her students, whose English name is Vivian, is now an aspiring dancer living in London.
What she misses most from Taiwan is the food. It isn’t the karaoke or having to drive aggressively on a 90cc scooter in crowded streets, but the ‘fresh,’ ‘legit,’ food available at almost any hour. She could get fresh food at a night market on her way home from teaching late night classes.
Miller has decorated her current home with artwork featuring origami and geometry. She has a flock of origami cranes following the path of a huge Pythagorean Spiral on one of her walls and a flock traveling along a sine curve on another. She does Bonsai Origami. Her office also has some origami artwork.
Like most professors here at the Mount, Miller is more than what meets the eye in her classes.
Traveling across the United States on tour with a popular musician is something not many people can say they have done. The rock star lifestyle is not fit for many, especially with what goes on from day to day while traveling from state to state.
Imagine not being able to take a shower for over a month while being stuck on a luxury tour bus traveling around the U.S having the time of one’s life? For Travis Collier, 21 a graduate of North Middlesex High School in Townsend, the time spent touring was well spent.read more
