March 29, 2024

March

Administrators Forum sparsely attended

By Dylan Pichnarcik Asst. News Editor

University administrators met with SGA on March 1 at the biannual “Administrators Forum” to discuss student concerns. The meeting was hybrid, with some administrators joining via Zoom.

In attendance was President Nancy Niemi; Iris Godes, dean of strategic enrollment; Lorretta Holloway, vice president of Student Success; Dan Giard, director of facilities; Michael Newmark, director of dining services; Jerome Burke, director of the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE); Emma Laurie, program coordinator of the CIE; Assistant Dean of Students Ra-

chel Lucking; University Police Chief Joseph Cecchi; Sergeant Harry Singh; Glenn Cochran, associate dean of Student Life and Housing; Dale Hamel, executive vice president; Ann McDonald, general counsel; Dean of Students Meg Nowak-Borego; Provost Kristen Porter-Utley; and Eric Gustafson, vice president of Development and Alumni Relations.

According to Student Trustee Ryan Mikelis, the Administrators Forum has resulted in several changes on campus, including an accessibility ramp to the Center for Academic Success and Achievement and baby-changing stations in Dwight Hall and the Athletic Center.

The students in attendance were

by students

Mikelis, SGA President Evelyn Campbell, and senators Cesar Matos, Billy Hubert, and Jeremy McDonald.

With only a few representatives from the student body in attendance, Campbell stated she and members of SGA tried to “close the loop” and collect concerns through the SGA “Got a Concern?” boxes on campus.

The first issue raised anonymously and discussed by Campbell was student interest in transportation to and from off-campus sporting events through the Student Transportation Center (STC). The issue is currently being researched by Senator McDonald.

Authors and Artists discuss standardized testing and new dimensions

By Jack McLaughlin Arts & Features Editor

Arts & Ideas welcomed Katherine Schielder and Marcus Greene to the Heineman Ecumenical Center March 27 for a discussion on their works.

The event was part of the Linda Vaden-Goad Authors and Artists series and was sponsored by Arts & Ideas.

Schielder spoke first, with her discussion focused on her new publication “Renegade Teacher: Inside School Walls with Standards and the Test.” This writing is focused on the national test found in public schools, and offers her insight into it.

With her experience as an assistant superintendent, she also studies the test annually to observe changes to how it’s evolved since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her discussion began with an overview of her career experience, which started with teaching at a school in Providence and progressed to School System Curriculum director in Massachusetts.

Speaking on those roles, Schielder said “both jobs were challenging, and also very rewarding.”

Schielder’s talk included a presentation which began with a look at how American public education was in the past.

Her presentation showed images of students learning in the early 1900s, and talked about how there would be classes of hundreds of students with teacher isolation - which is the potential stress and burnout that can happen for teachers.

She then talked about her writing, and explained to the audience a talking point in her work is how students can benefit from schools adapting to the needs of students.

“If school can focus more on changing how school works better for all, we can more easily rise to the new bar of No Child Left Behind,” Schielder said.

NENPA pg. 4 EXP CONCERNS pg. 5

/

COVID-19 LEARNING pg. 6 OVERFLOW pg. 6

Dylan Pichnarcik / THE GATEPOST (Left) Iz Shields, Liv West, and Raffi Elkhoury at FSAB Trivia Night at the Ram’s Den Grille on March 25.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST FASHION pg. 10

pg.

E ditorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Sophia Harris

Associate Editors Maddison Behringer

Ryan O’Connell

Copy Editor Emma Lyons

News Editors

Kaitlin Carman

Adam Harrison

Asst. News Editor

Dylan Pichnarcik

Opinions Editor

Izayah Morgan

Sports Editor

Adam Levine

Asst. Sports Editor

Riley Crowell

Sophia Oppendisano

Arts & Features Editors

Raena Doty

Jack McLaughlin

Asst. Arts & Features Editors

Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriguez

Owen Glancy

Bella Omar

Photos & Design Editor

Adrien Gobin

Asst. Photos & Design Editor

Alexis Schlesinger

Illustrations Editor

Ben Hurney

Asst. Illustrations Editors

David Abe

Emily Monaco

Staff Writers

Dorcas Abe

Jesse Burchill

Liv Dunleavy

Kristel Erguiza

Izabela Gage

Paul Harrington

Dan Lima

Heather Nuttall

Andrea O’Brien

Staff Photographers

Meghan Spargo

Rachel Tolmach

Staff Illustrators

Marcus Falcão

Kyle Walker

Advisor

Desmond McCarthy

Asst. Advisor

Elizabeth Banks

By Dylan Pichnarcik Asst. News Editor

Gatepost Interview

Jennifer Dowling

Outgoing Arts & Ideas Chair and Professor of Art

What is your academic and professional background?

My education has primarily focused on art and design, and those pursuits have been important to me since I was young. I studied fine art at UNH as an undergrad and received my M.F.A. in visual design from UMass Dartmouth. I have been teaching at FSU since the mid-1990s, and prior to that, worked in Boston doing contract work in user-interface design, animation, learning systems, and web development.

What do you most enjoy about being a professor?

The genuine creativity and curiosity of my students is what motivates me as a professor. The ability to elicit fresh ideas and instill motivation, so they are interested in learning and exploring new things, is exciting and enriches my teaching.

What medium do you focus on?

I like working with and teaching design and digital technology, but artistically, I prefer traditional media paint, colored pencil, pastel, collage, and mosaics combined with computer software approaches. I refer to it as ‘hybrid art’ that has a reciprocal relationship. Working in one realm influences and affects the other.

What has been your biggest accomplishment while serving as Arts & Ideas Chair?

What do you hope is the future of Arts & Ideas?

I anticipate that Arts & Ideas will become more relevant in the educational and intellectual lives of our students as they seek to challenge their perspectives on a myriad of topics in and out of the classroom. This will inevitably lead to engaging conversations about concepts they are exposed to as they develop their philosophies, identities, and goals.

I am eager to teach the RAMS 101 Freshman Foundation course I proposed for the fall, entitled “Real or Digital? Creativity and Artificial Intelligence.” The relevance of this topic and its implications are significant right now. It will be fascinating to teach and learn from this incoming class of students since they are already using AI regularly and the capabilities will impact their educational experiences and future careers

What event has been the most meaningful to you?

The film screening of “She Said” in November was rather powerful, especially the discussion with Megan Twohey afterward, who was one of the New York Times journalists spotlighted in the movie. This investigation revealed Harvey Weinstein’s abuse toward women that opened the door to the #MeToo movement. The way the story was told resonated with me and left a lasting impact. It was frustrating to watch yet empowering at the same time.

100

Fax:

As a former Arts & Ideas committee member, I was eager to take on this role last September to help shape the event series, and I feel it has evolved successfully under my leadership. The new theme of Vitality & Vision for the 2024-2025 series is particularly appropriate for the period in which we live. The event schedule that we have organized and planned for next year is robust, with a variety of noteworthy and thought-provoking speakers and artists. I have consistently promoted the events throughout the year to encourage attendance by using social media posts and stories, email blasts, and other marketing strategies, and this has led to increased interest.

What future projects are you working on?

What can students expect from a future class with you?

My students are engaged throughout the semester with hands-on digital media projects while learning many topics and gaining useful skills. I am fair, open-minded, and encouraging with realistic expectations and solid experience. I try to help and support their creative ideas and unique pursuits, and regularly assign design projects with local clients to provide valuable “real-world” experiences.

Courtesy of Jennifer Dowling

SGA addresses negative experiences with EXP

By Adam Harrison News Editor

SGA discussed concerns about club event funding and communication with the Center for Student Experience (EXP), and reviewed issues brought up in the Fall semester that were addressed or fixed at their meeting on March 26.

Vice President Raffi Elkhoury opened the meeting with all senators in favor except one who abstained.

Senator Raena Doty said she was one of several students who attended the College Media Association Conference in New York City.

“I’m very concerned with some of the ways that the Office of Student Experience handled this trip,” she said.

Doty said the bus for this trip was leaving on Wednesday, and the students weren’t given the time it was leaving until Tuesday morning.

“We only got this after our assistant advisor went up to EXP and asked in no uncertain terms to have the time,” she said.

She said after they arrived in New York City, they found the hotel had not been paid for at around 5:20 p.m., which is after office hours for EXP.

“If our Editor-in-Chief, Sophia Harris, hadn’t had Kayleigh MacMaster’s personal phone number, we would not have been able to reach them,” Doty said.

Because of the removal of petty cash from clubs, students on this trip weren’t able to receive a stipend for food ahead of the trip and instead will be reimbursed afterward, according to Doty.

“That kind of assumes that we have the money in the first place to be paying for food,” she said.

Senator Jacob Sargent said having only a single financial caretaker who is the only one authorized to make purchases for clubs leaves room for errors, and because of this, the financial portion of EXP “is critically flawed.”

He said there was a period before spring break when the person handling finances for EXP was on vacation, and no purchases for any clubs were able to be made at all.

“From my own personal experience, organizing PAX East for Comic Book Club - which is a joint event with Gaming Club as well - we were nearly unable to get the remainder of the tickets

for the event due to this vacation.

“And there was scrambling on the other portion of the EXP office to figure out the situation in a timely manner before spring break occurred, and this could’ve completely torpedoed that event,” Sargent said.

He also brought up a similar inci-

to access for clubs and organizations? Why was petty cash removed? These are all important questions - I’m not the person with the answers to those questions,” he said.

swers to these questions out to the student organizations because it’s al

dent regarding a bandana event held by Cosplay Club, for which the club put in a funding request during this period and it was not processed, which delayed the event because they were unable to purchase the items they needed.

“A small portion of the office is controlling the singular card, which if that person is out at any point, completely shuts down any funding for any club at any time, from group five, to group three, to group one, and that is a major concern,” he said.

Elkhoury said these are very important topics to talk about. “Why is there only one card? Why is that hard

Weather

Sunday night Mar. 31

Partly cloudy, with a low around 30. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph.

Monday April. 1

Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Northwest wind around 10 mph.

Monday night April. 1

A chance of rain after 2 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tuesday April. 2

Rain likely, mainly after 9 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45. East wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

In Student Trustee Ryan Mikelis’s report, he listed concerns addressed in the last Fall semester that have since

He said there was an issue regarding stolen property in the game room brought up, and EXP implemented a sign-out sheet to prevent stolen prop-

“There was a need for a more open dialogue with the Palestinian and Israel conflict, which the CIE worked to implement open forums and a greater open dialogue, as well as hiring Muslim-identifying members to work in

Mikelis said they talked about commuter-lot shuttles “helping to basically bring commuters to and from campus. … That’s a capital project in the works,” courtesy of Executive Vice

He said at the safety walk last semester, they determined a ramp was needed at CASA because the accessibility was difficult. Since then, a ramp has been installed by Facilities.

“We had a need to address a greater knowledge of the planetarium - in general, more use of the planetarium. Since then, they’ve had a grand opening and they’ve been featuring student artwork and the staff’s, and that’s on behalf of the planetarium staff,” he said.

Mikelis said they brought up the installation of baby-changing tables in Dwight Hall and the Athletic Center.

“It’s addressing a need of a group of students that’s often overlooked - that being parents - which was funded by SGA and implemented by Facilities,” Mikelis said.

ready difficult to be a student leader, especially with having to manage additional responsibilities like these.

Rachel Lucking, assistant dean for campus engagement, said it was a Commonwealth of Massachusetts decision to distribute the authorization to use the corporate card for club activities and the decision to remove petty cash, not the individual universities.

“Giving your feedback helps [the business office] come up with other solutions for you. …They’ll find a way. So I would talk to Sara. I’ve felt all the frustrations that you have felt, but I would talk to her,” she said.

There were concerns about food waste in the dining hall, and since then, Dining Services has implemented Ramsey Bags and has worked with an outside agency to take unused premade line food to make sure it is used efficiently instead of being thrown out, he said.

Mikelis said, “New gym equipment is important and is also a capital project in the works - again, that’s on behalf of Dale.”

[Editor’s Note: Raena Doty is an Arts & Features Editor for The Gatepost]

Forecast provided by the National Weather Service www.weather.gov

Tuesday night April. 2

Rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. Northeast wind around 15 mph.

Wednesday April. 3

A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45. Northeast wind 15 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Wednesday night April. 3

A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. North wind 15 to 20 mph.

Thursday April. 4

A chance of rain. Partly sunny, with a high near 45. Breezy, with a northwest wind 15 to 20 mph.

CONNECT WITH ADAM HARRISON aharrison3@student.framingham.edu

Gatepost Archives

Student Trustee Ryan Mikelis during an SGA meeting.

Admin Forum

Continued from Page 1

McDonald said, “[STC] would be very happy to accommodate that. … So starting in the fall, they will be starting with one shuttle and then scaling it up if needed.”

He added the manager of the Student Transportation Center was helpful and enthusiastic about the idea.

Senator Matos raised a student concern to Residence Life Director Cochran about the accommodations for students living on campus.

Matos said the student was concerned that “students who had mental health issues or personal issues of any kind were being placed into a certain bucket within certain residences on campus.”

Cochran responded by saying that resident accommodations are filed at the time of applying for housing. The information is then sent to Disability Services, which reviews the accommodations and determines with a representative of the housing office what accommodations are needed.

After a student requests accommodations, the information is saved and

the student only needs to resubmit documentation if their needs change, according to Cochran.

Campbell discussed her concern about the lack of student involvement on campus. She noted that there were four students at the meeting in a room full of administrators. She added, “We have had that struggle within student government. I think we have seven senators.”

Campbell announced that SGA has discussed including club representatives on SGA to voice the concerns of each club.

According to Campbell, this was discussed during the second annual Northeastern Student Government Summit hosted by Bryant University, which Mikelis and Campbell attended.

Mikelis commended the event, saying that many SGAs do not have working relationships with their administrators and the presence of administrators at different FSU campus events is indicative of their support of students.

Godes said she would be looking into data that is available through the University regarding student involve-

ment as an enrollment tool. Godes said targeting high school students with interests in extracurriculars that are currently offered would be helpful so “they know coming in that these [clubs] are available and taking advantage of those things and getting involved.”

Senator McDonald discussed the importance of events in residence halls. He said they are frequently underattended.

He also discussed increasing working relationships between faculty members and students. “I’ve heard from other members of SGA that they want to see the professional contacts of their professors and access their networks because they are within the field they are trying to study in.”

McDonald said this would be a tool for students to gain internships and connections within their prospective industries.

President Niemi said, “We’re working on that - it’s one of our biggest strategies. … The opportunity should exist for everybody to create that infrastructure.”

The final issue discussed at the

Administrators Forum was raised by Senator McDonald, who discussed his desire for “an abbreviated honors program” that would make it easier for transfer students to receive Commonwealth honors. McDonald said as a transfer student, it is difficult to complete the Honors Program because of FSU’s four-credit system.

McDonald said some universities have an abbreviated program that allows transfer students to complete the requirements of their honors programs.

Vice President Holloway asked if schools within Massachusetts had a similar system. It would be “interesting to see if other schools [in Massachusetts] did something like that.”

Because the Honors Program has stipulations set by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, FSU does not have control over the requirements of the program.

CONNECT

WITH DYLAN PICHNARCIK dpichnarcik@student.framingham.edu

The Gatepost wins second-place NENPA award

By Sophia Harris Editor-in-Chief

The Gatepost won four awards in the New England Newspaper and Press Association’s Better Newspaper Competition on March 23, including second place in the New England College Newspaper of the Year contest.

NENPA is the professional trade organization for newspapers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island.

According to the organization’s website, “Our goal is to help newspaper professionals successfully fulfill their mission to engage and inform the public while navigating and ultimately thriving in today’s evolving media landscape.”

NENPA represents and serves more than 450 daily, weekly, and specialty newspapers throughout the six-state region.

The awards in the college division of the competition were for material published during the 2022-23 academic year.

Bowdoin College’s The Bowdoin Orient won first place and Boston University’s The Daily Free Press won third place in the New England College Newspaper of the Year contest.

This is the second year in a row NENPA has recognized The Gatepost as one of New England’s best college newspapers.

The Gatepost won second place in the Editorial Writing category.

Leighah Beausoleil, ’23, won third place in the In-Depth Reporting category.

Beausoleil said, “Winning awards this season made me feel so grateful for all the experiences I had on The Gatepost.”

She added while working on The Gatepost, “Many late nights were spent going over stories again and again until we are sure they are of the best quality for the campus community.”

Beausoleil said, “Student journalists work so hard to serve their community and they don’t always get the recognition they deserve.”

Beausoleil added, “I’ve often wondered to myself if perhaps I could’ve spent a little bit more time outside the four walls of McCarthy 410 during my time at FSU.

“However, now working on a pro-

staff produces every week,” she said.

McKenzie Ward, ’23, won third place for column writing for “An Unethical Solution,” published on February 3, 2023.

Ward said she was “ really moved” by her column.

She wrote about a piece of legislation that was introduced by the Massachusetts House of Representatives regarding a program in which people

fessional paper, I wouldn’t take back a single second.”

She said, “Every experience on The Gatepost has prepared me for the job I always dreamed of, and now I have it.”

Beausoleil is the editor of the Dartmouth Week.

She said Framingham State is an institution “certainly worthy of some recognition.”

She added that winning awards such as second place in the New England College Newspaper of the Year contest only serves as a testament to the value of this experience.

“While winning individual awards is a great way to boost your resume, I can’t help but remain in awe of the professional-level work The Gatepost

in prison could donate their organs and get reduced sentences.

“I just thought it was completely unethical … and I decided to write it and I think it was a really great piece and really advocated for those who cannot advocate for themselves right now because of the position that they are being put in,” Ward said.

She added, “I was really excited to win, especially after graduating from college.”

Ward said, “I went into The Gatepost not thinking I was going to be a writer. And now, I’ve been in three different award ceremonies and gotten first place in two of them and now third place, so I’m super excited about how successful my career at The

Gatepost was.” She said, “This just really reminds me about what Desmond told us allthat nobody who’s joined The Gatepost has regretted it because even after college, it just reminds me of how much of a family I had during my four years at FSU.”

Emily Rosenberg ’23, who contributed to the editorial that won third place said, “It’s always awesome to see The Gatepost be recognized!”

Rosenberg said, “Especially seeing the front cover of an issue I remember so vividly next to two incredibly prestigious newspapers as the second place winner of college newspaper of the year was a really proud moment.”

She said, “The editorial we were recognized for, “Let go of these logos,” was an editorial Leighah and I wrote in the car. The majority of it I typed out on a Google doc on my phone as we drove some of her stuff home.

“That is a very fond memory, and I particularly remember Desmond laughing at jokes I came up with at the beginning of the editorial and him saying it could possibly win an award.”

She said, “After graduating, this was also a celebration of all of the wonderful memories I made at The Gatepost.”

Rosenberg added, “When I joined The Gatepost, I was not expecting to be recognized for my writing - I was just hoping that I could contribute to my community and hopefully make some people think.”

“The Gatepost being recognized as one of the top college newspapers in all of New England is truly a testament to how incredible Framingham State’s journalism minor is, despite it having only two professors. Desmond and Liz work so hard! It also shows how much students can learn and grow as journalists just by being on The Gatepost,” Rosenberg added.

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA HARRIS sharris9@student.framingham.edu

Courtesy of Desmond McCarthy

SGA addresses possible addition of club representatives

By Adam Harrison News Editor

SGA reviewed and voted on capital projects and discussed the potential addition to SGA of club representative positions at their meeting March 12.

Dale Hamel, executive vice president, began the meeting by listing and describing each option on the capital projects list that the senators voted on.

“This is the annual process … where we have people identify different capital adaptation and renewal projects, and there’s a whole process you have to go through. It’s reviewed by Facilities, and different people weigh in - we essentially identify a list of projects to get different constituents’ input into what to get funded for the upcoming fiscal year,” he said.

Hamel said they begin this process early in the year in order to get funded in time for summer projects, and “we’d like to do as many of these as possible during the summer, so they’re not destructive during the academic year.”

Senators were able to rank their choices from 1 to 28 in order of highest priority.

The total estimated cost for all of the projects is $900,000 and there is currently about $370,000 set aside, Hamel said.

“We will then compile all the balance [votes] from three different constituent groups from students, the budget and planning committee … and from executive staff. Then we put those on a graphic and see which projects essentially rise to the top,” he said.

Hamel requested that the senators complete and submit their forms before spring break ended.

President Evelyn Campbell and Student Trustee Ryan Mikelis attended a Northeastern Student Government conference held at Bryant University to meet with other universities’ SGAs to discuss and share ideas.

Campbell asked, “How do you guys [other university SGA representatives] have people that continue to be a part of your student government? Because I think that’s a kind of struggle we have - especially as a predominantly commuter school.

“Most of the colleges were talking about how they don’t - they just completely abolished their senate and instead had club representatives.”

She said club members would have one person representing them on the student government level, be able to advocate for their clubs, and serve on student government while building an understanding of how student government connects to student organizations.

Vice President Raffi Elkhoury said, “I think in my time in SGA, one area of improvement has been involvement with student organizations, and I think it should be a lot higher because what we do in SGA is serve students and student organizations.”

A large portion of the regulations that are in the SGA constitution are for organizations, so it’s important for the student organizations to know what is going on, he said.

“The goal here is to create a coalition of clubs to talk and work together, and the idea would be to alternate

… and meet every two weeks as the members of Senate who are not club representatives, and the other week as club representatives,” Elkhoury said.

The benefits for clubs include getting uniform information to all clubs, increasing collaboration among clubs, developing a sense of community on campus, and receiving assistance from SGA during club leadership transitions, he said.

Elkhoury said they want to incentivize club representatives to come and suggested potential monetary awards for clubs and leadership retreats. “No comment from EXP whether this could be funded by them or not,” he said.

He said they could also do a club feature each week on Instagram, and club shoutouts at the meetings.

Senator Raena Doty said, “I really like this idea. Part of the reason why is not because I don’t love SGA, but part of the reason why I’m on SGA is because I think it’s good to have a person from The Gatepost to create that conversation.”

She said it will give club representatives opportunities to advocate for themselves without overcommitting to other SGA duties.

“Being a senator means that you’re supposed to be a part of SGA, and you’re not necessarily bringing what else you’re doing on campus. You’re not bringing that you’re president of another club or whatever to the forefront of your time at SGA. So, I think it gives people a chance to be involved,” she said.

Campbell said this will be important for years to come, because a change

like this won’t happen overnight.

Creating a club representative role would also allow an eager club member to get further involved in both SGA and their own club, and would be a good stepping stone to higher roles in their club, she said.

Senator Jeremy McDonald said this could lead to more club-on-club interactions. “If you put two people who might not otherwise interact with each other in the same room, they can plan events, and we can help them plan events - we can work with that.”

Elkhoury said he planned on excluding group six clubs at first to not add additional responsibilities, but “the more we’ve been talking about this idea, the more I think that it will serve group six the most.”

Doty asked, “Would this be a required role for clubs? And would this be a separate role from their eBoard, or could any member take on the role?”

She said that a club president could take complete control and not foster trust with the other members of the club and take the responsibility for themselves, but a general member might also not have the necessary information to properly represent their club.

Senator Tony Sims said that any person in the club should be able to represent. “I think we’re severely limiting ourselves by giving this job to one person specifically when I think it could be handled fairly well by any person.”

Elkhoury said the roles of eBoard and gBoard vary significantly depending on the club.

“Every single student at FSU is a gBoard member of Student Government, so, you wouldn’t be like - Oh! Let’s just have Billy Bob Jones come represent SGA if that was the thing we were doing,” he said.

“That being said, I don’t know if it’s our job to step into the club’s internal politics.”

Campbell said if this got approved and was voted into the constitution and bylaws, Gina Pacitto, student experience program coordinator, would serve as a guide to help them make the right decisions on who to have as a representative, and to help that representative make the choices that would benefit their club the best.

Pacitto is “well equipped and informed to help clubs make this decision per their constitution. So if clubs have to make edits based on this being an approved process, then Gina would work with all those clubs to say - ‘Hey, I’ve been working with you for X amount of years already. I understand what your needs are,’” she said.

[Editor’s Note: Raena Doty is an Arts & Features Editor for The Gatepost]

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST

OP/ED

THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL

The learning curve of COVID-19

January 22 marked the four-year anniversary of COVID-19’s classification as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Nine months ago, COVID-19 was declassified as a global health emergency by the WHO on May 8, 2023.

Despite only being considered a global emergency for three years and three months, COVID-19 continues to affect every part of our daily routines.

Many students find themselves living in limbo between the end of the pandemic and the start of their post-pandemic lives.

Most students are struggling with burnout, navigating interpersonal situations after a lack of socialization during the pandemic, and transitioning back to the classroom.

Many are left with questions such as, “Will we ever get back to normal?”

Unfortunately, students need to realize that this is not possible.

We are left with the life we had before the COVID-19 pandemic and the life we have now - after.

Many students still struggle with dedicating their attention - both online and in the physical classroom - to taking important notes or resisting the urge to multitask during lectures. Many students have not attained the academic level expected of them in college.

Going back to in-person learning also requires a return to a certain classroom etiquette.

Participation continues to be a difficult balance, with too many students remaining silent or dominating the class conversation. Attendance, too, has been a struggle for many.

Current students are lacking in social decorum because of the lax environment they experienced in high school online classes.

Many college students now don’t have the skills necessary to meaningfully engage in classes and build strong relationships with their professors and other students in this new social network.

This prevents them from being able to get

Have an opinion?

the most out of their courses, which results in increased anxiety. This disconnect starts in the classroom and radiates outside into students’ engagement with the entire campus community.

Clubs and activities across campus are struggling because students have a lot on their plates right now.

Although it may seem overwhelming in the short term, making an effort to attend classes, build relationships with peers and professors, and participate in campus events will be socially and mentally rewarding in the long term.

After all, it’s the whole reason why we are here!

The Gatepost Editorial Board understands and endorses the high academic standards expected of university students, including here at FSU. However, the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, and the disruption caused to our model of education, will not disappear quickly.

Everyone has felt like skipping a class or has spaced out on a Zoom call. We are all still adjusting to our new normals and learning how to be students in a post-COVID-19 world.

If you feel like you are struggling to keep up in your classes or find yourself unable to focus, please reach out to the Center for Academic Success and Achievement (CASA) at academicsupport@framingham.edu, or visit your professor during their office hours if you feel you’re falling behind.

Professors, you have to be more empathetic than ever to students. Make an effort to know them on a personal level - not just as another name on a class roster.

Incorporate social engagement into your classroom. It is needed now more than ever.

Students, create personal connections in the classroom that can branch out into the entire campus community.

It all starts with you showing up. Show up for yourself, your community, and your classes.

Feel free to email it to: gatepost@framingham.edu

Opinions should be about 500 words. Anyone can submit. We look forward to hearing from you!

The Gatepost Editorial reflects the opinions of the newspaper’s Editorial Board. Signed Op/Eds reflect the opinions of individual writers.

Overflow

By Alexis Schlesinger Editorial Staff

We all live with urges. The urge to pursue a talent or a passion. The need to become “we” rather than “you and I.” The pull to travel to different ends of the earth.

More. Fulfillment in otherness. In the addition to ourselves.

When faced with these urges, some of us wonder if it’s something calling out to us. Some believe in a fate of sorts.

The will of the stars.

Others wonder if it’s greed. Inherent human nature to “want” more.

“I should work on myself.”

“You should focus on yourself.”

“I should learn to be content.”

“Now should you really be pursuing that when you’ve got so much going on?”

“You need to take some time to figure yourself out.”

“Why do you always look for more?”

“Be grateful.”

It is inherent human nature. To want. To pursue. To yearn. To urge.

We pour this feeling back into ourselves, shove it down, as we mistake it for greed.

It is not wrong to want more. It isn’t wrong to want more when you haven’t gotten the entirety of yourself.

Working on yourself, and contentedness with who you are, can coexist - the same way you wish to coexist with what you urge for.

There is a caution to have when you are not whole. You have to recognize that gaining more outside yourself will not complete you. That must be done on your own.

But it is enhancement. It is addition. It is gain.

It is a lemon hanging off the rim of your glass of ice water. You can still have a perfectly good glass of water without the lemon, and it will hydrate you all the same.

The lemon will add flavor. It will satisfy you. It will complement the refreshment of the ice cold water with its light citrus.

You’ll ask for a lemon with your water, and the waiter will smile and say “of course.” The restaurant offers free refills on ice water - with lemon. There is an endless supply of it at no cost to you.

When there is so much of it, there’s no reason to limit yourself to just one glass if you’re still thirsty when you’re done.

Why, when there is so much out there, should we limit ourselves out of fear of being “greedy?”

Give in to your urges. Allow these urges to bring you to give to others. Give, and continue to give, and you will receive back.

Think of the way rivers flow into lakes, and back again into themselves. Rivers flow into waterfalls, down ravines, into the oceans.

Water evaporates and becomes the rain. It is spread across the world.

It travels. It gives to the earth. It causes growth. It keeps living beings alive.

It separates into small individuals, then comes back together to create something larger.

Something larger like the oceans and lakes that carry countless living things. Water allows it all to coexist.

It gives and gives until it receives back. It receives back gratitude and knowledge that it has created something much larger than itself.

Like the rain, you will come to find you can no longer be contained. You will have poured too much into a bucket too small. The consequence of pouring only into your own bucket.

Pursue your urges. Whether your heart tells you to travel, to pursue a new career. Whether it wants you to treat yourself after a long week, or begs you to ask that girl out.

It is not greed.

Don’t be afraid to love loudly, and with purpose. The cycle will continue. Allow yourself to overflow.

Campus Conversations

By Izayah

Morgan,

Opinions Editor “What is your favorite spring activity?”

-

-

“It’s

raining right now. I like to walk around in the rain.”

Penny Pasto, freshman

“Definitely sports like baseball, football, and basketball.”

Jerell Grooms, sophomore

“Standing outside when the weather is nice.”

- Evan Stone, freshman

“My favorite spring activity is definitely Sandbox.”

- Oscar Rubyck, sophomore

“Probably just being outside.”

- Savannah Santiago, freshman

“I like to walk.”

- Keilani Louis, freshman

SPORTS

Softball hits career milestones in Florida

Sophia Oppedisano Asst. Sports Editor

The Framingham State softball team returned from Florida with a 4-4 record after playing four doubleheaders against opponents from New York, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts.

Framingham began the Spring Games series by splitting a doubleheader with a win against Plattsburgh State and a loss to University of Wisconsin-River Falls March 17.

Talia Duca, a sophomore catcher, and Eliza Carignan, a freshman utility player, hit their first collegiate home runs in the win over Plattsburgh. Duca batted 2-for-2 with three RBIs and Carignan went 3-for-2 with two RBIs.

Senior pitcher Ally Moran earned the win in the circle against the Plattsburgh Cardinals, throwing a complete game. This first win for the Rams was

one of Moran’s three throughout the week.

March 18 brought another split doubleheader for the Rams starting with a loss to University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Rams held the line in a 3-2 win against Buffalo State University in game two, as Marina Cadena, a freshman outfielder, drove in the game-winning runs early on in the matchup.

Cadena went 3-for-3 with two home runs and five RBIs in a 17-4 win over SUNY Brockport March 19. She also went 3-for-3 and hit her first collegiate home run in a 7-2 win over Smith College March 19.

She was awarded both MASCAC Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week March 25.

Brooke Grassia, a junior middle infielder, also found success against SUNY Brockport as she collected her 100th career hit.

“It was a fun week of achievements all around for the team. The personal things are fun but it’s being able to appreciate them with those around you that make it all worth it,” Grassia said.

Grassia went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, helping to secure the win for the Rams over the Brockport Golden Eagles.

The Rams’ win over Smith College featured two home runs by Captain Gwendolyn Carpenter, a fifth-year. Captain Caroline Hughes, a senior, earned the win in the circle after throwing a complete game.

In addition to the accomplishments of the players, Head Coach Larry Miller surpassed the Framingham State softball coaching mark for victories with his 195th win for the program coming against SUNY Brockport.

“Milestones like that are great - it’s a testament to the expectations we’ve built in the program and being able to recruit high-quality student-athletes,” Miller said.

“I actually had no idea it was coming,” he added.

Miller has been the head coach of the Rams Softball Program since 2015. He has led the program to five MASCAC Tournament Championships, four MASCAC Regular Season titles, and five NCAA Tournament appearances.

Miller said part of his job is to prepare the team for those moments.

Coming home from Florida, Miller said the goals of the team are to stay in their rhythm and get their reps in.

He said the team’s goal returning from Florida is “to be right around .500. We’re playing a schedule meant to challenge us. We’re playing some really good teams and we want to see what we’re made of.

“We play a solid and fundamentally sound game,” Miller added.

The Rams concluded their trip with losses to Endicott and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

After returning to Framingham, the Rams split a doubleheader against Emmanuel College March 27 with an 8-2 loss and a 4-3 win on the back of a walk-off home run by senior first baseman Kelsey McGuill.

The Rams now hold an overall record of 5-7 with conference play commencing against Bridgewater State University April 2.

Stats sourced from fsurams.com and MASCAC.com

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA OPPEDISANO

soppedisano@student.framingham.edu

Three Rams recognized on conference sportsmanship teams

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) announced the 2024 Winter Sportsmanship Teams March 20.

Each sport has a sportsmanship team of six players - one from each team in the MASCAC - who were cho sen by their coaches, according to a MASCAC press release.

Framingham’s Bryan Thompson, Patrick Colgan, and Jenna Tavanese earned a spot on the men’s basket ball, men’s ice hockey, and women’s basket ball sportsmanship teams, respectively.

Thompson, a senior, said it is an honor to be chosen for a spot on the team and said he appreciates everyone on the Framingham men’s basketball coaching staff.

He said sportsmanship is about being a leader and building people up.

Thompson said it is “making people bet-

ter around me and also being there for others, even on the other team.

“Sportsmanship means a lot to me because I was just always taught to bring someone up and always help on the court and off the court,” he added.

“I try to help my teammates by just showing them and just being me every day, so they can see how to lead, show good sportsmanship, and pick people up,” Thompson said. Colgan, a senior captain, said, “It feels really good to have been selected by our coaches for this honor.”

He said sportsmanship is a “respect for the game.

I believe that if you respect the game, then the game will respect you.

“Sportsmanship breeds competition amongst athletes in a lot of great ways. The more respect you have for the game and for your opponent, the more you’re willing to battle,” Colgan added.

As a graduating senior, he said, “I know that my teammates will continue to pro mote positive sportsmanship because the locker room is full of good guys

EmilyMonaco/ THEGATEPOST

“Positive cul promote positive and positive people positive sportsman- ship,” added Colgan.

Tavenese, a senior captain, said, “It’s an absolute honor that Coach Paschal selected me to the sportsmanship team this year. I always am my teammates’ number one fan, so for it to be recognized is amazing.”

She said, “To me, sportsmanship is not only loving the game you play, but fostering a love for your teammates

and coaches outside of the court. … [It] is not only rooting for my teammates, but picking them up when they are down. Sportsmanship is about being the loudest one cheering on your teammates.”

Tavanese said she promotes sportsmanship on and off the court by encouraging her teammates to cheer for one another, “no matter what situation we are in.

“Outside of basketball, I check in on my teammates to make sure they are OK. We built such a strong culture where you can see sportsmanship is evident,” she added.

As a graduating senior, she said, “I hope my teammates continue to cheer everyone on and promote a positive attitude on and off the court. It’s important to have a strong culture where girls are supporting girls.”

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Brooke Grassia at bat during 2023 season.

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Ally Moran pitching during 2023 season.

Emily Monaco / THE GATEPOST

Women’s lacrosse comes home with six-game win streak

Izabela Gage Staff Writer

Despite starting the season with losses to Babson College and Endicott College in February, the Framingham State Rams bounced back and now have a 6-2 overall record.

Junior midfielder Molly Lanier said, “We lost to two very talented teams, which gave us the opportunity to learn that we can keep up with highly skilled teams above our conference.”

Before traveling for spring break, the Rams beat Plymouth State, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Canton University, and Johnson & Wales University.

Lanier added, “Our momentum was strong going into Florida with the 4-2 record. We were excited and pumped to continue showing the teams how hard we play.”

They came home from Panama City Beach, Florida with a six-game win streak.

Sophomore goalkeeper Isabella DiMare said, “We are pretty prepared for the upcoming games. Especially since we are on a six-game win streak, our goal is to keep that win streak going and be regular season and MASCAC Champions.”

The Rams beat the Western New England University (WNE) Golden Bears March 18.

The Golden Bears scored the opening goal, which was countered by Framingham senior attacker Hannah Guerin with three goals in the first.

The quarter ended with the Golden Bears scoring their second goal.

WNE opened the second with two goals, which were answered by Guerin with a goal 36 seconds later.

Lanier scored a free-position shot, bringing the score to 5-4. The Rams scored again 4 minutes later.

With 3 minutes left in the quarter, Guerin scored, and within 9 seconds, senior midfielder Brandi Core netted another one.

Both goals were met by the Golden Bears by the end of the second, but the Rams finished with an advantage of 8-6.

Framingham scored three goals in the third and WNE only scored one.

The Rams and Golden Bears traded goals to open the fourth quarter, making the score 12-8.

The Rams followed with three goals, outscoring the Golden Bears’ two. Framingham won the game 15-10.

Framingham State crushed Keene State College in Florida March 20.

After 6 minutes of no goals from either team, the Keene State Owls finally scored two, but that was matched by Framingham scoring five goals within 2 minutes.

The Owls scored again, but the

Rams responded with three more goals before the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was slower-paced, with one goal by the Rams and two by the Owls.

Two goals were scored by Keene in the third, but Framingham doubled it by scoring four.

By the fourth quarter, the score was 13-7, and it stayed consistent as the Rams and Owls both earned two goals.

The Rams once again scored 15 goals. The Owls came up short with nine.

Guerin secured six goals and two assists in the win against Keene March 20, tallying 200 career goals. She has set a new program record for career points, currently at 289.

Guerin has earned MASCAC Offensive Player of the Week for the third consecutive week, and DiMare was named Defensive Player of the Week March 18.

The entire team did not know of Guerin’s and DiMare’s awards until after the first game against WNE, according to DiMare.

“Everyone was ecstatic when we found out, but I don’t think it changed the motivation of the team. We are always motivated to play to the best of our ability and improve while doing it, no matter what!” she added.

The Rams planned to play against Eastern Connecticut State University

March 26, but the game was postponed to April 10.

Framingham faces the Fitchburg State Falcons on home turf for their second MASCAC matchup March 30.

Stats sourced from fsurams.com and MASCAC.com

CONNECT WITH IZABELA GAGE igage@student.framingham.edu

Baseball snaps early-season losing streak

By Riley Crowell Asst. Sports Editor

The Framingham State Rams returned from their eight-game Florida trip with a record of 0-8, playing two doubleheaders and four individual games against teams from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The Rams got off to a hot start on the trip, scoring in the first inning of the front-end of their doubleheader against the Western New England Golden Bears, thanks to junior shortstop Steven Burbank’s triple and a subsequent wild pitch.

Ram batters senior third baseman JC Espinal, graduate utility-man Robert Johnston, and sophomore catcher Johnny Lynch all collected two hits in the game.

Framingham’s bats fell quiet for the rest of the game. The team dropped the first game of the doubleheader with Western New England 11-1 March 17.

Framingham sophomore pitcher Joshua Sunderland pitched five innings, allowing only one earned run and striking out seven Golden Bear hitters.

Errors in the field were costly for the Rams. Three Golden Bear hitters reached base on errors, all of whom came around to score.

Framingham fell 4-2 in the second game of their doubleheader with Western New England.

The Rams faced off against the Presidents of Washington & Jefferson College in a doubleheader March 18.

Framingham’s offense erupted for seven runs in the sixth inning of the first game, powered by RBI hits from

Johnston, junior infielder Daniel Robichaud, and junior outfielder Lucas Basile, to take an 11-5 lead.

The Presidents’ lineup countered with a seven-run inning of their own in the bottom of the seventh inning, securing a 12-11 walk-off victory over the Rams.

Washington & Jefferson won the second game of the doubleheader 9-0.

Framingham strung together an impressive offensive performance, but it wasn’t enough as they fell to the Clarkson University Golden Knights 12-9 March 20.

Senior outfielder Ryan Boyle and Espinal each recorded a double and a triple, and had multiple RBIs for the Rams in the loss.

“From last season to this season, I have tried to remember everything that I have been coached in the past and take it into this year to make me the best hitter that I can be,” Boyle said.

Framingham’s offense scored six runs on ten hits in their matchup with the Amherst College Mammoths March 21.

Johnston and Lynch both turned in multi-RBI games at the plate for the Rams.

Two three-run home runs, one of them being a walk-off, propelled the Mammoths to a 9-6 victory over Framingham in extra innings.

The SUNY Maritime Privateers recorded 16 hits, including two home runs, and had four hitters contribute multi-RBI games to catapult them to a 17-3 win over the Rams March 22.

Basile and Burbank tallied multihit games for Framingham, but SUNY Maritime’s offense proved to be too much.

The Rams scored five runs on eleven hits, including a solo home run by Robichaud, but surrendered 10 runs to the Pointers of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in a 10-5 loss March 23.

Framingham returned home to chilly Massachusetts for an away game against the Lesley University Lynx March 26.

The Rams amassed 11 runs on nine hits on their way to their first victory of the season, an 11-9 win over Lesley.

Framingham’s offense put together a balanced attack, with six different hitters tallying RBIs in the game, and senior catcher Jared MacLeod hitting a solo home run.

Despite the slow start for the Rams, players remain optimistic about the remainder of the season.

Sophomore center fielder Shane Costello said the team is “feeling confident and prepared for conference play.

“Expect a competitive season out of us,” he added.

Boyle said, “We are still confident that we can turn things around come conference play.

“The FSU community can expect the baseball team to make a playoff appearance and hopefully make a deep run,” he added.

The Rams hold a 1-9 record after their first 10 games, and travel to Bridgewater for a MASCAC matchup March 29.

Stats sourced from fsurams.com and MASCAC.com

CONNECT WITH RILEY CROWELL rcrowell@student.framingham.edu

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Molly Lanier setting up for a draw control during 2023 season.

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Ryan Boyle at bat during 2023 season.

ARTS & FEATURES

Reimagine Fashion sponsors sustainability with business owner spokespeople

By Bella Omar Asst. Arts & Features Editor

The Framingham State Fashion Department hosted a panel of guest speakers for the Reimagine Fashion and Sustainability competition on March 7 in the McCarthy Center Forum to discuss the topic - “Diversify my Relationship with Fashion: Recycle, Upcycle, Resale.”

The upcycling competition is sponsored by MadaLuxe Group and The Council on Diversity and Inclusion at FSU and will provide students with the opportunity to showcase their designs at the annual FSU spring runway show and win various prizes.

Fashion Professor Ruirui Zhang opened by introducing the panelSamantha Marino, a recycling coordinator for Bay State Textiles; Jillian Clarke, founder and CEO of Roboro; and Ian Drake, the owner of Diversity Consignment.

Drake thanked attendees and said, “I’m hoping that what I’ve learned and what I’ve done up to this point can inspire some of you guys and maybe create some change in the world. Because I think that the world is an ever changing place and it needs more creativity. And that is hence our purpose, which is to challenge social norms and inspire creativity. So that’s what we strive to do.”

The consignment entrepreneur then spoke on his time at West Virginia University where he studied biology until he moved back home to Quincy to “do something practical.”

Drake then began nursing school and a job at a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts, but he “was always into fashion. I was always into clothing, and my favorite brand was Polo,” he said.

He said he utilized his local Goodwill to find affordable Polo brand pieces and after he became satisfied with his personal closet, he was inspired to start reselling.

“I was just like, why don’t I grab these things and then try and resell them. You know, there’s got to be someone else out there that would rather buy it from me instead of sifting through all the minutia,” he said.

“And so I started an eBay store and I started selling this stuff on eBay,” he added.

Drake said he soon quit his job at Dunkin’ Donuts and found a South Shore space for rent to open his first consignment shop that focused on menswear.

He said, “The problem was it just had no exposure. Plus, I’m still in school, it’s just me and this crazy life, working and going to school. Pretty much 16 hours a day.

“But that was a learning experience for me. And it taught me a lot. It taught me a lot about what I wanted to do and what I didn’t want to do, but

I needed something better,” he said.

Drake said when the pandemic struck, “it was a really, really good time to sit and reflect and think about what opportunities might be out there.”

Looking to move out of the South Shore, he said he began to search for new spaces available in buzzing Jamaica Plain. “It’s very artistic, very creative, and a lot of exposure too. It’s a busy place,” he said.

price. … So as far as sustainability is concerned, I don’t know how it could be more sustainable. You know, nothing is going to waste, everything is going back,” he said.

Drake explained that his favorite aspect of owning Diversity Consignment is “getting to connect with people and have collaborations with people who are like-minded,” but he also touched on how he continuously navigates the “outright hate” he has

“[I was] incredibly discouraged by the amount of waste that I saw on movie sites, everything from my department costumes to catering to scripts. I was shocked at this industry that has more money but couldn’t come up with more sustainable solutions.”

- Jillian Clarke Founder and CEO of Roboro

“I’m like, ‘What is lacking here?’ They don’t have a consignment shop. They have thrift stores, which is great because I would go to those thrift stores. I love those thrift stores. But they did not have a consignment shop and there’s a difference between a

received for his pursuits.

He ended his portion of the panel by saying, “So I hope when you guys graduate, that you either find your purpose in life, and you create some true lasting change, because it’s needed, and I want to live in a world where

to one of the company’s textile recycling boxes where anyone can donate their unused fabrics.

“We have drivers that go out every single day to each of our collection boxes. They pull a 20 foot trailer behind them and go from box to box emptying them. Our program is based around rebates. So when we work with schools and towns, we’re able to pay them a rebate based on the amount of weight of the textiles that we collect in each location,” she said.

Bay State Textiles has warehouses in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Puerto Rico and services about 95% of municipalities in Puerto Rico.

Paul Curry launched Bay State Textiles in 2005 after years of working with Japanese retailers on exporting textiles and clothing and developing pilot programs for collection in the U.S.

Later, Curry traveled to Puerto Rico, “where he saw that there was a massive problem of basically just a lot of unwanted textiles with nowhere to go,” Marino said.

“There were no programs in place, laws or anything that regulated recycling or anything like that. So [Curry] was able to develop a pretty similar program there and launch our sister company which is PR Textile Recycling in 2015,” Marino added.

She continued the company’s mission is “just to divert as many textiles as possible from the waste stream while giving back to communities at the same time. Currently, we’re partnered with over 100 school districts, over 600 individual schools and over 150 municipalities. We have 800-plus ones across Massachusetts alone. And last year in our facility we processed over 11 million pounds.”

“So I hope when you guys graduate, that you either find your purpose in life, and you create some true lasting change, because it’s needed, and I want to live in a world where things are different, and where things are creative.”

- Ian Drake Owner of Diversity Consignment

thrift store and a consignment shop,” he said.

Drake then presented the history of consignment shops, and how “it’s a very community oriented way of doing business.

“The people who bring [products] in get a percentage of the selling

things are different, and where things are creative.”

Marino was then introduced and provided an overview of Bay State Textiles and the textile recycling business.

FSU, along with several other schools and municipalities, is home

Jillian Clarke then took the floor to talk about her brand Roboro.

A Massachusetts native, Clarke earned her bachelor’s degree from UMass Amherst and went on to become a costume designer in Los Angeles soon after.

She said she was inspired to begin her upcycling design and service studio after being “incredibly discouraged by the amount of waste that I saw on movie sites, everything from my department costumes to catering to scripts. I was shocked at this industry that has more money but couldn’t come up with more sustainable solutions. It was just quick turnaround. Just throw it out, throw it out,” she said.

After her first few iterations of the brand Roboro was born in 2017, Roboro being the Latin term for “to give physical and moral strength to.”

CONNECT WITH BELLA OMAR

Professor Vreven’s revolutionary teaching style

By Izayah Morgan Editorial Staff

A student walks into Professor Dawn Vreven’s academic advising hours in her office located at 250 O’Connor Hall.

There, they find themselves having to take a statistics course to graduate. The student tells Vreven they took psychology as a major so they would not have to do statistics because they cannot do math - or at least they believed so.

Vreven said she frequently has students come to her office for advising, dreading having to take a statistics course as part of the requirements to graduate from the psychology program.

Vreven said she used to have a very similar thought process in her undergraduate years, and she can empathize with the students.

However, she said as a graduate student, she learned she could do math. And this knowledge helps her teach statistics to students, she added.

To get people to understand why this shift happened, she talked about her undergraduate work at Michigan State University, where she took placement tests for both math and English.

She said she entered college and did not do so well on the math placement exam, so she came into that se-

mester already with the mindset that she could not do math at the university level.

“And for a while, I believed it,” Vreven said.

However, Vreven said while completing her master’s and Ph.D. degrees “something clicked.

“I learned that we could understand statistics conceptually. We don’t have to get lost in the picky little details, right?” she said.

In her experience, students can understand the concept of what she’s trying to teach, and then the math part will come a little easier, Vreven said.

Vreven said this was her philosophy when it came to teaching students.

If students can understand the foundations of statistics, the math portion will come much easier and faster, she said.

“I really get a kick out of teaching it that way because many do not expect it,” Vreven said.

The second aspect she focuses on is class collaboration. Students are always on the move and teaching the class content to one another, Vreven said.

Fellow colleague and Professor Anna Flanagan described Vreven’s teaching style as very interactive with the students, allowing them to have their voices heard.

Flanagan said she has had the opportunity to watch Vreven in action

multiple times over the past 15-year period they have known each other.

She said Vreven is highly engaged with students and always wants to ask them questions and to hear them speak.

“She has high energy, and that rubs off on her students. I think that’s important to have,” Flanagan said.

Psychology major Andelis Celestino, a sophomore and a for- mer student of Vreven’s, said when coming into college she already had a negative view of math in general because of her experience with math in high school.

As a psychology major, she said she was overwhelmed once she learned she had to take a statistics class. At first, this was true. She came in with a negative connotation that she would not understand the information, and it would just fly out.

Celestino said as the weeks went by she started to feel more and more

comfortable in the class.

Celestino said because of Vreven’s teaching style, students are able to connect with her. Since Vreven was her authentic self, students were able to see her as more than a professor.

“I started to pick up on how she portrayed herself as a human. That’s the one thing that drew me into understanding things and keeping my attention,” Celestino said.

Vreven stated creating a relationship and maintaining it with the students was the best way to get them to learn.

She said communication is a crucial part in understanding what the student is going through and helping them.

“There’s communication in the way she teaches, and that’s all teaching is - communication,” Celestino said.

CONNECT WITH IZAYAH MORGAN imorgan@student.framingham.edu

CASA talk puts spotlight on first-generation students

By Heather Nuttall Staff Writer

The Center for Academic Success and Achievement (CASA) hosted author and English Professor Jennifer De Leon to discuss her written works and her experiences as a first-generation college student on March 27.

De Leon began by asking attendees to introduce themselves with their name, and a fact about themselves that was not immediately visible. Responses varied, including one person

who could speak Spanish and another who had built their own guitar.

She then started her talk, briefly describing each of her published books. De Leon said her first book“Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education” - was an anthology of essays by Latino writers, reflecting on their experiences in college.

“I didn’t know anyone who had gone to college, so I craved a chorus of sisters’ voices that I could lean on, right? And so I put this book together and I’m really proud of it,” she said.

“Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From” is a young adult novel that tells the story of Liliana Cruz, a first generation American LatinX student, as she balances family struggles with racist incidents at her predominantly white school.

De Leon described her parents’ childhoods in Guatemala. She said her mom would come home from school, take off her uniform and give it to her sister, who would then run back to school before it ended, allowing them both to access an education.

Raised in the Framingham suburbs from the age of 2, De Leon said she began to feel split into two versions of herself, and would fit in by code-switching.

“It’s also a time where I felt like I started to become two Jens - white Jen and Latina Jen,” she said.

Although she thought she would feel different when she got to college,

De Leon said she struggled with imposter syndrome during her first semester. She wanted to go home, until a phone call with her mom motivated her to carry on.

“I thought, how can I run faster? How can I work harder?” she said.

De Leon went on to discuss imbalances in the publishing industry, and emphasized the power of storytelling in breaking stereotypes.

“I’m just so grateful to you all for being who you are, and being here and working to help students thrive, right, not just survive,” she said, ending her talk.

Later, De Leon stressed the importance of supporting first-generation college students.

“There are a lot of invisible rules that first-gen students might not be aware of,” she said. “And by making them visible and creating these spaces where we can share and ask questions, we feel less alone and then it can chip away at that impostor syndrome.”

She said that her experience as a first-generation student had impacted her writing style.

“I always felt that many books I read were written in this kind of secret code, and it’s like I didn’t have the answer key, you know? And so the way I write, or try to write now, is with clarity - honesty, vulnerability, and clarity,” De Leon said.

LaDonna Bridges, dean of Student

Success and Persistence and director of CASA, said FSU is working to build community amongst its first-generation students.

“Too often first-gen students are positioned from a deficit lens - like, oh, they don’t have this or they don’t have that - and there’s so many things that they bring that might not check the boxes of what we would expect some students to bring, but they have such strong things that they bring to the table,” she said.

Bridges added that as a student, she’d found it difficult to fit in at an elite institution that didn’t acknowledge its first-generation students.

“I learned how to hide my background. I didn’t want to talk about where I came from,” she said.

Gen-One Next Level, a first year program for incoming students, allows students to join a RAMS 101 class that is just for first-generation students, taught by first-generation faculty.

Bridges said it is an honor to serve students from more working-class backgrounds.

“There’s always more we could do to create a sense of community or sense of belonging, and I’m so proud of Gen-One Next Level, that we get to do that through those first-year seminars,” Bridges said.

CONNECT WITH HEATHER NUTTALL hnuttall@student.framingham.edu

Raena Doty / THE GATEPOST

Jennifer De Leon at her event titled “Can Six Words Tell Your Story?” March 27.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST Professor Dawn Vreven in her office in O’Connor Hall March 28.

Authors and Artists

Continued from Page 1

The discussion was opened up for attendees to ask Schielder questions. One attendee asked for her thoughts on whether students are not taught to critically think anymore.

This question stemmed from the attendee’s experience as a teacher, hearing from their students that they only read segments of books and not complete stories, and their work does not have critical thought when discussing the readings.

Schielder answered this by telling the attendee there’s been a concern that “testing has hurt good teaching in schools.

“My problem is that I haven’t seen that. I’ve been observing hundreds of classrooms … and I haven’t seen that happening,” she added.

She also brought up her concerns with the implementation of technology in school districts, and mentioned that “if a kid is just seated in front of a computer and seems to be busy, that he’s thinking and learning.

“But who knows what’s going on while they’re doing that,” she said.

Schielder focused on the main concern of the attendee’s question, and reassured them that as long as teachers implement reading deeper than just segments, and have in-depth discussions about the work with their students, “they’re going to be able to do good on that test,” she said.

“And that’s what happens at the top prep schools, private schools, and it still has to be happening in schools. If students are saying that, that’s definitely not what should be happening,” she added.

She also discussed how she’s discovered teachers do not like evaluations and talked about how important they are especially when catching problems like the one the attendee proposed.

“If a principal’s coming in and helping a teacher do a better job of teaching, evaluation’s good and should be able to catch a problem like that,” Schielder said.

Another attendee asked Schielder about their thoughts on the digitalization of the SATs, and her response commended the new program that can help students study for the exam “if they use it well.

“They can check their answers and find out ‘Why is that chosen now as the correct answer instead of what I chose?’” she said.

She talked about an experience she had with a student in a program she ran, who was unable to get into her dream college because of her low SAT scores and talked about the unfairness of the questions on the exam at that time.

“There was one whole series in the SAT test that was pure vocabulary. Years ago that was eliminated, but that was really unfair at the time. It was operating under the belief that smart kids know big words, and that’s not necessarily true,” she said.

“The SAT is getting better over

time,” she added.

Marcus Greene

Artist Marcus Greene spoke next. His work explores the formal construction of imaginary spaces, something he takes an interest in. His artwork ranges from nature and physical science to the suggestion of passages to other dimensions.

He described his presentation as a “greatest hits” of his art, which he has produced for the last 35 years.

Greene’s journey with art started when he was studying pre-med in the 1970s, and found it gave him the ability to “indulge whims as well as deep philosophical questions,” he said.

At the age of 23, he began taking classes at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he said he felt “lucky to have found myself.

“I was surrounded by some of the best realist and figurative painters in the country as students - some people who are pretty famous now.”

While he found himself getting good at those types of art, he was drawn to abstract ideas. He directed attention to the presentation, where the painting “The Creation of Adam” was being compared to the abstract sculpture “Broken Obelisk” by Barnett Newman on-screen.

“An image like the one on the right, the sculpture by Barnett Newman, could portray the same idea as Michaelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam,’” Greene said.

Greene then spoke of his own work, and their inspirations. One piece, titled “The Sixth Day,” is a painting composed of a clear sphere that contains red liquid at the bottom of it against a black background.

He drew inspiration from his child-

hood for “The Sixth Day,” citing his fascination with gyroscopes and the impact of watching the film “The Wizard of Oz” at a young age.

In reference to “The Sixth Day,” Greene told a story of when he was teaching art in St. Louis when he originally painted it, and was asked by a friend if he was inspired by a medieval painting titled “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymous Bosch, which featured a spherical shape similar to his own.

“I did not remember having seen this when I painted the painting. But who knows? Maybe I did,” he said.

Another one of his paintings that he focused on was titled “Dark Star, Dark Matter,” which featured a series of colors creating a series of different shapes and patterns all enclosed in a circle.

While Greene presented this piece, he mentioned that many of his painting’s titles are inspired by music, and said not all of his titles hold deep meaning.

“Sometimes the titles are really important to me, and sometimes they’re not. I play a little fast and loose with the titles,” he said.

Greene’s painting “Finisterre,” which he described as “the edge of the earth,” was painted on a door that he purchased from Home Depot. The painting consists of a dark background, with white grid lines connecting throughout that create a pit toward the right of the frame.

“I like the wood’s hardwood surface. They’re hollow-core doors and they’re lightweight. They’re large but easy to move around,” he said.

Another painting of his was inspired by a garden at Indiana University, where he and his wife Eileen

lived while he taught there. The university allowed them to garden while they lived there, and a video he took of his wife gardening served as inspiration for the painting.

Following this, he showed pictures he took of an Indiana University ngraduation video between 1985 and 1988, and explained the low quality of the pictures came from how home videos were shot back then.

“Video was literally on tape. And when you point a camera at a monitor and take screenshots like this, this is how they come out,” Greene said. “It’s not like that in this digital era.”

After his presentation, Greene opened the discussion to questions from the audience. An attendee was fascinated by his work with doors, and asked if there was a metaphorical purpose to purchasing the doors from a store like Home Depot.

Greene said on the surface level, there isn’t any, but likes the idea it can be interpreted as metaphorical.

“It is purely practical that there is a nice hard surface then a canvas. Plus, I like the shape. I like the panorama, and the practicality of their lightweight and transportability,” he said.

One attendee was curious if and how spirituality has any influence on him and his artwork.

Greene said while he isn’t religious, he was raised as such and “it just becomes part of you.

“By the same token, I love painting so much. And it really is this kind of sublime thing, you know. I feel so indulged to have been able to spend my life in that.”

CONNECT WITH JACK MCLAUGHLIN

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

Katherine Schielder (right) speaking at the Linda Vaden-Goad Authors and Artists series event March 26.

Digital Humanities discusses race and Shakespeare

By Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriguez Asst. Arts & Features Editor

The Center for Digital Humanities held the latest installment in the Race + Digital Humanities Invited Lectures Series in the Heineman Ecumenical Center March 27. They hosted David Sterling Brown, who gave a presentation on the intersection of race and digital humanities in the study of Shakespeare.

Brown wrote a book called “Shakespeare’s White Others.” He said it is an academic book, but it is also one that people without college education can read, such as his parents. He added he is a first generation college student, and the first in his family to earn a Ph.D.

He said it was important to him that his parents can still be part of his audience because they represent people who could “come into Shakespeare through my book, or through this art gallery.”

Brown explained that the conclusion of his book, which includes a letter he wrote when he was 18 years old and being racially profiled by the police, has a connection to Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors.”

He said the connection was that “when people are not allowed to be in control of who they are - instead the world is telling you who you are or who the world perceives you to bethat’s very dangerous.”

Brown read to the audience a section of the conclusion about the fear that death could come at any time just because he’s Black. He said, “I grew up, and sometimes still live, wrapped tight in anxiety with the fear that the bullets will find me because of whatever I’m doing while Black.”

He paused in his reading to explain that he was finalizing the book during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. He recognized how chaotic the world was at the time, but refused to let these ideas die with him, he said.

Afterward he continued his reading, getting into his experience of being racially profiled. He said he lived on a road that has never been a oneway street, yet officers kept stopping him and accusing him of going the wrong way.

In the letter Brown wrote at the time, he said he wanted the situation to end “before the what-if’s become reality.”

One time, he added, he shared the letter anonymously with his students. He found it “eye-opening” that his students focused less on the situation and more on the tone of the letter, critiquing the way the writer addressed the problem. This quickly changed when he revealed to them that he wrote it, Brown said.

He said the experience showed him how people respond differently to situations when they know someone and what they’ve been through versus when they don’t.

One goal of the book, Brown said,

was to make people think about how he could have easily become another victim of police brutality. He emphasized that if that happened, the book alongside everything else he’s done since then would not exist.

He added, “There’s a lot of lost potential that happens in this world when we have to lose people to senseless acts of violence.”

Brown emphasized a connection between Shakespeare’s plays and “metaphorical Blackness.” He focused on “Macbeth,” explaining how several characters in the play, especially Macbeth himself, are a portrayal of Black-

comfortable talking about race in this format, Brown said. He added people are usually afraid to say the wrong thing or hurt someone’s feelings. In this format, he said, the students can be in whatever place they feel most at ease in real life, like a dorm room. They may even see him as one of the many available avatars, he added, if he had his camera off.

He welcomed everyone in the audience to join him in the gallery, if they wanted. All that’s needed is a computer and the website, davidsterlingbrown.com. From there, click on “VRV Exhibition” to enter the gallery.

“I grew up, and sometimes still live, wrapped tight in anxiety with the fear that the bullets will find me because of whatever I’m doing while Black.”

- David Sterling Brown Author of ‘Shakespeare’s White Others’

ness in ways that “perpetuate the casualness of anti-Black racism and that sustained a centuries old myth of white superiority.”

He said Macbeth starts the play as a “respected member of the dominant culture” but over time becomes someone with “‘black and deep desires,’ and that’s a quote from the play.”

He said the best way to experience the gallery would be with virtual reality goggles, but it is not required.

In the gallery he turned on the music, an orchestra composition by composer Anthony Davis. Brown said the composition was inspired by a traffic stop Davis experienced.

Brown explained that Davis is a

ing the clarinet, Brown said. He added it represents the experience of a police stop. He said he felt the need to put it in the gallery because, as a scholar he mentioned in his book asserts, “We not only see race, but we also hear it.”

Brown said he did not write his book expecting to solve these problems, but he is working toward that goal. He said he wrote the book to highlight the problems, and “what people do with the highlighting is up to them.”

Brown started taking questions from the audience. One participant asked if the mentioning of the body throughout the presentation was related to Shakespeare. He said it was in one aspect, especially since Shakespeare focused on the body frequently in his plays.

He connected this question to another he has thought about before, “What does it mean to just say Black bodies versus Black people, right? What does it mean to name the Black person who was killed?” He answered this himself, saying it is dehumanizing because we’re more than just our bodies.

Another participant asked if the virtual method of teaching he uses works better than just using the text. Brown answered it depends on the types of learners in the room and the type of course it is. If they are firstyear students, he said, getting them grounded in the text is a helpful first step.

Someone else asked if there was any educator who inspired him to educate others. He said, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes.” He explained how one of his teachers was a community activist who helped him get scholarships.

“When people are not allowed to be in control of who they are - instead the world is telling you who you are or who the world perceives you to be - that’s very dangerous.”

- David Sterling Brown

Author of ‘Shakespeare’s White Others’

Brown presented the “David Sterling Brown Gallery,” a virtual reality art gallery created to complement the book in an immersive and interactive way. He said he teaches his students through it, as the gallery can hold up to 50 people at a time.

His students seem to feel more

Black man, and his wife had noticed that the officer had his gun drawn already. His wife stopped Davis from getting out of the car, Brown said, and the situation could’ve gotten significantly worse than it already was.

In the composition, the rest of the orchestra instruments are interrogat-

He added he used to work for a nonprofit that focused on providing education to low-income communities. He said in that job process he learned “how ZIP codes in this country determine people’s educational access.”

From this experience, he said, he realized how much that teacher helped him get a good education. He said, “She significantly changed my life.”

Another participant commented on Brown’s students’ response to the letter, saying how in order to be listened to you have to word everything the right way. Brown added on to this, saying, “When you shapeshift for others, you are detracting from the authenticity of yourself.”

He added people learn how to navigate the world when they see the difficulties and figure out a way around them.

‘Poor Things’ is rich in quality

By Jack McLaughlin Arts & Features Editor

By Owen Glancy Asst. Arts & Features Editor

“Poor Things” released on Dec. 22, 2023 after receiving a ton of praise during its festival run, making especially big waves at festivals like Cannes and TIFF.

Being the latest film from director Yorgos Lanthimos, this is unsurprisingly extremely strange. Lanthimos has always had a penchant for a more off-kilter tone and nonsensical plots, but “Poor Things” takes this to a whole other level.

This film follows the journey of Bella Baxter, the result of an experiment done by her adoptive father Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe.

The role of Bella Baxter is perhaps one of the most challenging for an actor to get right. She essentially has the brain of an infant, but the body of a grown woman. This is a result of her pregnant mother throwing herself off a bridge at the film’s opening, only for the baby’s brain to be transplanted into the mother’s body by Godwin Baxter.

Emma Stone absolutely kills this role. She is every bit as awkward and naive as she should be, while also retaining her dignity and identity. Much of the film would not be what it is without Stone’s phenomenal performance, so it comes as little surprise that she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Dafoe’s performance was spectac-

ular, despite not receiving an Oscar nomination. His presence on screen is always a weird mix of intriguing and bizarre - you always want just a little bit more of him.

He is almost always shown surrounded by his other experiments in his intricately designed home.

The production design really emphasizes this odd tone. The backgrounds have this painted, almost storybook look to them that transport the viewer effortlessly into the Victorian world that the characters inhabit.

Right from the first frame, the exquisite production design is immediately apparent with the unique title cards that ease you into the bizarre world you are stepping into. This is the biggest sign that you are in for an un usual adventure, and that odd vibe is carried for the next two hours and 21 minutes.

did the prosthetic work on Dafoe made it look absolutely incredible. It never looks unrealistic, and Dafoe’s performance seals him as the best-looking character in the film.

Jerskin Fendrix’s Oscar-nominated score elevates every scene it’s featured in. The opening track “Bella’’ perfectly captures the vibe of the film and accompanies the bizarre scene it’s featured in with such excellence.

It’s not just the painstakingly designed sets that give this film its signature look, but also the immaculate makeup and costume design.

Each of the characters are given immense detail when it comes to their makeup and hairstyling. Bella’s design is striking and will stick with you long after watching, but her design comes nowhere close to how they made Dr. Godwin Baxter look.

Godwin’s character has intense facial disfigurement, and the team that

The film’s feminist themes are undeniably excellent. Unlike many “feminist” films nowadays with their bland protagonists who were born perfect and incapable of failure, “Poor Things” instead dares to ask what if our protagonist was actually a realistic portrayal of what women go through? From her desire to leave Godwin’s house at the start of the film, to her desire for sexual freedom in the second half, Bella Baxter remains a realistic and relatable female character throughout the film’s runtime. Her wants and desires all seem to go against what the patriarchal society wants from her, but despite this, she continues to push forward, carving a path that’s entirely her own.

By the end of the film, Bella earns that title of unstoppable girlboss that so many female protagonists struggle to attain. You’d be hard pressed

to find a more satisfying scene than the ending of this film, which will undoubtedly make anyone, regardless of gender, feel powerful and uplifted.

The film made a big sweep at this year’s Academy Awards. It took home the awards for Best Actress, Costume Design, Production Design, and Makeup and Hairstyling.

It easily deserved all of these accolades.

“Poor Things” was not the film that many expected it would be, but it quickly became one of the most beloved films from last year anyway. Yorgos Lanthimos managed to create what is simultaneously one of his strangest and most approachable films in his entire filmography.

It just further proves that 2023 was one of the best years for film in recent history, with big name directors releasing masterpiece after masterpiece. “Poor Things” stands up there with films like “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” as some of the best in recent memory.

Rating: A+

Spectacularly bizarre

CONNECT WITH JACK MCLAUGHLIN jmclaughlin7@student.framingham.edu

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‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ - beating a dead ghost

By Jack McLaughlin Arts & Features Editor

“Ghostbusters” as a film franchise has been struggling to figure out what to do with itself since the release of the beloved classic in 1984.

Between a direct sequel, a reboot that focused on new characters, and another reboot completely ditching that concept, this series always feels like it’s floundering in a desperate attempt to regain the huge audience it originally had.

Finally, in 2021, they managed to make “Afterlife,” which didn’t polarize audiences like other installments and used a familiar template of bringing back old cast members and familiar imagery in an attempt to monetize the audience’s nostalgia for the original film.

“Frozen Empire” marks the fifth film in this series, serving as a sequel to “Afterlife.” The story reunites us with the Spengler family, who now live in the iconic firehouse busting all the ghosts that haunt New York City.

Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) is barred from working on the team following an incident with the city’s mayor due to the concerns of having a teenager working on the team. Meanwhile, a mysterious orb is discovered by retired Ghostbusters founder Ray

Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) that has sinister intentions.

And from there, the film plays out exactly how you would expect it to.

It’s all here - the return of the original Ghostbusters team, spooky ghosts, and freaky little marsh mallow creatures that attempt to distract you from the film’s dark truth.

None of it feels fun.

Maybe it’s be cause we as an au dience know this type of movie template - it’s been popular ized for almost 10 years now. Since “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” there’s been this race between film studios to capitalize on the nostalgia of their huge franchises that have long since seen their peaks.

existed halfway through writing the script. His subplot being boiled down to just being frustrated about being slimed by a ghost is annoying yet absolutely hilarious that they can’t give

They somehow manage to make Paul Rudd, an actor that exuberates so much charisma and charm in anything he’s in, one of the most forgettable leads who feels like he’s just there to be on the poster so people get excited to see him.

two-thirds in, so does it really matter?

If I had to give this product any positive feedback, it would be that they nailed the pacing of this. A brisk flash in the pot that lasts under two hours made watching this a much more bearable endeavor. If it were any longer, I think I would’ve fallen asleep.

It does sound like I am going off on this movie. No, “Frozen Empire” is not inherently a terrible movie. It’s watchable and has a vague sign of life somewhere in it.

No performances stand out - everyone serves the story adequately and offers nothing unique to the table. It feels like the only actors having fun in this, for the most part, are those from the original film.

The new actors, Finn Wolfhard especially, are given little to nothing to do and feel as if the writers forgot they

The character with the most to do is Phoebe, but it’s not explored nearly as much and instead we’re given long, painfully drawn out scenes of characters like Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani) delivering some of the most poorly written comedy which is a far cry from the roots of the original film.

It doesn’t matter how much money they gave Bill Murray - he looks like he just randomly showed up to set one day, threw on a Ghostbusters uniform and winged it. He manages to get the one joke in the film that made me genuinely laugh, but it happens over

It is, however, a perfect representation of what makes most blockbusters so uninteresting to watch.

This is a long-dead franchise that’s a ghost of what it once was. Huge films like “Barbie” and “Dune” are distancing the audience’s attention to this predictable formula for movies, and it’s time studios like Sony get the clue.

Rating: D

Hauntingly mediocre

CONNECT WITH JACK MCLAUGHLIN jmclaughlin7@student.framingham.edu

Emily Monaco / THE GATEPOST

Ben Hurney / THE GATEPOST

Puzzles

ACROSS

1. Compete in a sprint

5. Pic-sharing app

10. Permanent record, in a way

14. It becomes another name when “L” is moved to its front

15. Apple device?

16. Peacock or bull

17. I’m stuck!

19. Lose it

20. Voice above alto

21. Cut (o )

23. Equal: Pre x

24. “Dr. No” actress Andress

26. Big bags

28. Eclipses, in the ancient world

31. I’m not a kid anymore!

33. College party barrel

34. T-Mobile, e.g.

35. “Enough!”

39. “Good lord, not again”

42. Salsa percussion instruments

46. Preface to a texted take

47. I’m a big deal!

49. Olympics boat

51. “Lather” follow-up

52. Oppose

54. “Revolutionary Love” singer DiFranco

55. Pronoun related to dis

57. Works with what’s at hand

61. Messy pile

63. I’m on a roll!

65. “___ to my surprise...”

66. “Howdy!”

67. Used WhatsApp, brie y

68. Lhasa ___

69. Sherlock’s sister

70. Tears roughly

DOWN

1. Accelerates with “up”

2. Potatoes, in Indian cuisine

3. Farmers’ network, brie y

4. Evasive play in football

5. App symbols

6.”For sure!”

7. Show promoter’s dream letters

8. Revealing biography

9. Singer Guthrie

10. Texting tech

11. Requesting to make an entrance

12. State whose motto is “North to the Future”

13. Share on X

18. Rowboat propellers

22. “Just kidding!”

25. Golf ball’s position

27. Eager and then some

28. Signs o on

29. Convened

30. Self-motivated people?

32. Zodiac feline

36. Campaign-funding orgs.

37. Vexed

38. Musical Mahal

40. Punk music o shoot

41. Saldana of “Star Trek”

43. Hiker’s water holder

44.Obama health law’s initials

45. Bygone in- ight atalog that’s now online

47. e Creator, in Hinduism

48. “Stand in a row!”

49. Word a er “pound” or “cup”

50. Sailor’s a rmative

53. Girl Scout cookie, or an island country

56. Arthur in tennis history

58. Pre x with “ nal”

59. Like some holes and pockets

60. Casino statistics

62. Vietnamese soup

64. ___-bo

Puzzle

SGA table at “Women’s Wellness Day” March 13.

Painted rocks at “Women’s Wellness Day” March 13.

Attendants of the “Phenomenal Women Celebration” March 27.

Students at “Women’s Wellness Day” March 13.

Dr. Melinda K. Stoops giving the Keynote Address at the “Phenomenal Women Celebration” March 27.

Photos by Meghan Spargo, Staff Photographer