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Posts tagged as “campus life”

(Archive March 2017) Animating an Income

By editorialteam on September 10, 2024

By Joshua Needham | Social Media Editor

Sarah Payson

Sarah Payson, a 21-year-old Media Arts and Tech major at MWCC, juggles a job while going to school, like many other students, but her job is a bit more interesting than most. Under the name Sango Nanami, Payson runs a YouTube channel with over 45,000 subscribers. 

The channel itself started nearly 10 years ago as an account to save videos to playlists and make favorite lists, but in 2015 things took off. Payson’s specialty lies in animations, and when she made an animation based on the highly popular game Five Nights at Freddy’s views and subscriptions skyrocketed.  read more

(Archive March 2017) Falling Behind and Bouncing Back

By editorialteam on September 10, 2024

Advice for Students That Fall Behind in Their Work

By Joshua Needham | Social Media Editor

The start of a new school semester is much like celebrating New Years. Everyone makes resolutions that this semester will be better than the last. However, even with the best laid plans for success, sometimes falling behind is inevitable. Between poor health, family emergencies, or just plain forgetfulness, sometimes students fall behind in their work and it can be hard not to just give up.

So, you’ve fallen behind? Getting caught back up won’t be easy, but there are some tips and tricks to help you save the semester. MWCC’s Retention Specialist, Joyce Kulig, says the first step is to talk with your professors. Kulig suggests that the first step to correcting the issue, is making it known between you and your professor that you understand you’ve fallen behind. Especially if you’re early in the semester, focus on working with your instructor(s) to figure out an action plan going forward to help you get caught up and stay caught up. Making the issue known early on can help take some of the stress out of catching up and can really make the difference between success and failure for some students. read more

(Archive March 2017) MRT Students Experiencing Course Planning Problems Due to Low Registration Numbers

By editorialteam on September 10, 2024

By Bryon Harris | Observer Contributor

Some students of the MRT program are experiencing troubles with course planning. Students are having to take semesters off before returning to the main subjects of their degree. This can cause financial problems for students who planned to earn their degree within a certain span of time.

This issue is caused because the main content of the MRT degrees consist of lab courses, which are for the most part only offered one semester out of the year. With this design, if a class is not offered, or gets canceled due to having not enough students, these students must then wait until the class is offered again, which might not be until a year later. Having a gap year between these sequential, hands on courses can leave students out of practice and behind when they finally get to take the next course. read more

(Archive March 2017) Decrease in Student Enrollment Increases the Role of Grants in MWCC Department Budgeting

By editorialteam on September 10, 2024

By Kelly Cacciolfi | Observer Contributor

With decreased enrollment, the demographic of students that is ever changing and budget restrictions, both Robert LaBonte, Vice President of Finance and Administration and Jason Zelesky, Dean of Students said that they have tough jobs of doing the best for the overall student and retention of those students here at MWCC.

 LaBonte has been at MWCC for 22 years. Raised in the Gardner area, LaBonte said, “I feel this is the best place for me; my position is challenging as I am responsible for running the Finance and Administration Office, Cafe, Fitness Center, Theater, and the Facilities Department.” LaBonte said, “It’s like running a large company with a lot of separate businesses within, and MWCC is the parent company.” read more

(Archive March 2017) Spring Construction in the Gardner Campus Parking Lot

By editorialteam on September 10, 2024

By Liam Scanlon | Observer Contributor

A series of roadblocks to keep drivers off of the more heavily damaged section of the parking lot.

Reconstruction of the Gardner campus parking lot will begin during the 2017 spring semester. This includes renovation of the roadway connecting the parking lot to Matthews St.

The design will not be finalized until later in the month. John Wyman, Associate Vice President of Facilities Management, has released some information concerning the project.

Due to the need for parking spaces in the spring semester, preliminary construction will be on a small scale. Full scale construction will start during the summer and the lot is scheduled to be finished before the fall semester. read more

(Archive February 2017) A Little Fix Here, a Little Fix There

By editorialteam on September 5, 2024

By Santiago Ferreira Vila | Observer Contributor

Construction. The one nightmare that affects almost every commuter, whether it is just a simple (or not so simple) one-lane closing, or an entire street wiped out. Mount Wachusett Community College has a student body of about 10,000, according to its website, and every one of those students are commuters. Construction, unfortunately, makes the effort of driving to the school difficult. Whether it be the Gardner, Leominster, or  Devens campus.  read more

(Archive February 2017) Time to Work, Time to Study

By editorialteam on September 5, 2024

By Santiago Ferreira Vila | Observer Contributor

Wake up. Go to class. Come home. Go to work. Do homework. Repeat. That is the life of many students at Mount Wachusett Community College. Financial aid may help students who are having trouble being able to pay off classes, but there is still the matter of personal purchases and bills students need to pay off as well. Many jobs can either be flexible with the students schedule while others may snarl at the fact that the job itself isn’t the student’s number one priority.  read more

(Archive February 2017) Letters to the Editor: Thoughts on Student Loans

By editorialteam on September 5, 2024

Dear Editor, 

One topic that comes up frequently in connection with higher education is the crushing burden of student loans. It is massive and growing all the time. The bigger question might be, is that smart public policy? I would contend that it is not. 

One of the economic effects is that students are taken out of the consumer pool for many years or decades by crushing debt that prevents them from buying a house or other goods which reduces demand and economic growth. When it happens to millions of people you can bet that hurts the economy.  read more

(Archive February 2017) Themed STEM Murals to Inspire New MWCC Science Building

By editorialteam on September 5, 2024

By Liam Scanlon | Observer Contributor

Photos by Liam Scanlon

*All shots taken by Liam Scanlon  using the panorama capture function of a cell phone.

The first floor labs are for natural science classes. The mural is a shot of the sun through a layer of foliage.

The murals on each floor of the new STEM wing were recently displayed. Each mural is themed to match the labs taught on each floor.

The second floor labs are for biology classes. The mural is an illustration of a DNA helix in shades of blue and white.

The classrooms in the new wing are devoted to STEM classes, but there are also study spaces on the top two floors, which are open to all students. Whether in the devoted STEM study rooms or using the new furniture in the hall of the wing, students may study during operating hours. read more

(Archive February 2017) Michelle Valois’sBook of Poetry

By editorialteam on September 5, 2024

By Nicholas Velillari | Observer Contributor

MWCC English Professor, Michelle Valois, expressed her struggle with throat cancer in a poetry book she wrote, titled, My Found Vocabulary, which released January 1, 2015.

Valois had throat cancer starting back in 2011. Because of the aggressiveness of it, she was unable to speak for some time, which made it hard to communicate with friends and relatives. When she got her voice back, My Found Vocabulary was a title she coined for a poetry book.

“I didn’t do much writing during treatment,” states Valois. “Poetry was unusual for me to write in general.” However the majority of her poems in her book focus on voice loss. read more