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Posts tagged as “isolation”

Do You Have a Minute for Mental Health?

By editorialteam on February 13, 2023

“Melissa’s Mental Health Minute” Videos Still Making the Rounds, Even After COVID Lockdown

By Alondra DeLeon Guimaraes | Observer Contributor

Melissa's Mental Health Minute

Destressing can be quite challenging sometimes. Sometimes it’s viewed as an inconvenience, another chore to add to the to do list, or it can feel too time consuming. This perspective is often observed among the students and faculty at Mount Wachusett Community College, but it’s actually easier than one would think. The Mount’s mental health counselor, Melissa Manzi, partnered with the Dean of Students, Jason Zelesky, and the marketing department to launch a vlog series on YouTube called Melissa’s Mental Health Minute for this very reason during the pandemic.  “Our challenge was to find ways to connect to our students,” Dean Zelesky explained. “Having the remote infrastructure was not easy for our students especially during the COVID-19 shutdown.”  read more

I Am One in Four

By editorialteam on December 16, 2022

Student Shares Personal Journey to Remind Others “You Are Not Alone”

By Annabelle Kennedy | Observer Contributor

One in four American women will have an abortion by the time they are 45 years old, and I am one of those women.

 I had an abortion when I was 28 years old. I feared having a child. I was not in a place where I was mentally or emotionally ready to be responsible for another life. I was living in a small apartment in Allston at the time, had two roommates and a job as a waitress, and I felt incredibly alone and ashamed.

The baby’s father and I hadn’t been dating for long, and he wasn’t ready to have a child either. I decided that I could live with the decision of not having a child and regret it, more than I could live with the idea of having the child and not providing a loving, stable home for them.  read more

Be Well at the Mount

By editorialteam on November 8, 2022

Mental Wellness at Any Time and on the Line

By Cody Nathanson | Assistant Editor

With the rollout of MWCC’s new “Be Well at the Mount” program, students can expect an easier time accessing mental health services on and off campus alongside a new host of options that give greater control to their mental health.

As of September 8, MWCC teamed up with mental health service and wellness provider Christie Campus, a Massachusetts-based company currently supporting over 70 campuses and just over 600,000 students across the U.S. The 30-year-old health insurance company now turned mental health provider, is still relatively new in the venture, only having made the switch back in 2018. read more

U.S. Immigration Court Dates Delayed Indefinitely, Hopeful Immigrants Held at Bay for Years

By editorialteam on October 6, 2022

Political Activist Explains the Pain in Waiting

By Bushrah Namirimu | Observer Contributor

The Statue of Liberty

U.S. immigration courts have hit a historic backlog jam not seen in decades, generating multiyear delays for immigrants seeking asylum, according to a report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

According to a Jan. 18 report from TRAC Immigration, there were almost 1.6 million “pending cases…at the end of December 2021…the largest in history.” TRAC also reported that “wait times” for an asylum claim hearing were averaging “58 months or just under 5 years.” read more

Burnout Through a Magnifying Glass

By editorialteam on March 3, 2022

MWCC Mental Health Counselor and Student Discuss Burnout and its Contributing Factors

By Maddie Willigar | Assistant Editor

Though many may be familiar with the term “burnout,” what may be unfamiliar is the variety of factors that can contribute to it and the various ways it can be experienced in the body.            MWCC Mental Health Counselor Melissa Manzi and student Cami Stephens share what burnout is, what factors could contribute, and advice on how to overcome this issue.

            According to Manzi, during the beginning stages of burnout, people may find their thought process becoming more limited, causing them to shut down new ideas quicker than normal. She explained that though burnout symptoms can overlap with symptoms of depression or stress, burnout is a different experience that is dependent on someone’s environment, whether that be school or work. read more

Students at Home: William Coleman

By editorialteam on May 14, 2020

By Claire Higginson
Observer Contributor 

William Coleman is in his second semester of classes. He’s a dual major in Film and Allied Health. He’s taking four classes this semester: Government, Film Studies, Self-Promotion, and HCOP. He doesn’t have a good environment at home so it’s not ideal for him to be there all the time, so he’s staying at his friend’s house in order to get the work done. He said that his homework hasn’t been hard, and the online format is easy to understand. He misses going to school though to see his other friends and attend his classes.  read more

Students at Home: Vera Terrance

By editorialteam on May 11, 2020

“[I’m] taking 4 classes this semester. Online classes are so boring; I really miss the 1-on-1 interactions with teachers and students. I don’t think I have any worries regarding my grades; my teachers are doing a fine job shifting everything online.”

Vera Terrance, Environmental Studies Major

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: 2020 Commencement

By editorialteam on May 10, 2020

President and Dean of Students offer insights into upcoming virtual ceremony

By Claire Higginson
Observer Contributor

Due to the spread of COVID-19, MWCC has not only decided to shut down classes for the rest of the semester, but all in-person activities as well, including the Commencement Ceremony for the Class of 2020. 

“The decision not to have an in-person commencement was the most difficult decision I’ve had to make,” said MWCC President James Vander Hooven. 

“I never imagined a scenario where we would not have an in-person commencement, however, given the circumstances we are facing, I can see no other option that will maximize the health and safety of our students, their families, the faculty, and staff.” read more

Students at Home: George Brown

By editorialteam on May 9, 2020

By Claire Higginson
Observer Contributor 

George Brown is in his last semester and is part of the graduating class of 2020. He is majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies and is taking four classes: Guitar, Computer Information Systems, Social and Political Philosophy, and Pre-Calculus. 

He said that working from home is fine, as most of his work was already submitting online assignments. However, he is very disappointed in the cancellation of the graduation ceremony. He believes that the ceremony did not have to be cancelled but rather postponed because it means a lot to students and families.  He also said he misses getting lunch on campus the most.  read more

Students at Home: Juan Pedraza

By editorialteam on May 7, 2020

By Claire Higginson
Observer Contributor 

Juan Pedraza is finishing his first year of college. He’s in his second semester as a Biology major and he is taking three classes: Biology II, Chemistry II, and aHealth Career Opportunity Program  (HCOP) seminar. He’s having to take the lab portions of these classes online as well, which proves to be difficult as he enjoys the hands-on learning aspect of labs. Instead, his teachers give him question to answer as a lab report to take the place of the required in-person lab. Pedraza has never done online classes before, so initially the change was weird for him. However, he said he has gotten accustomed to the format and is still doing very well in his classes and at home. read more