The Equinox 5.9.19

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THE EQUINOX The student voice of Keene State College

Vol. 72 , Issue #26

Thursday, May 9, 2019

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Commencing a new tradition

President Treadwell gifts medallions to graduating seniors RACHEL VITELLO

News editor Keene State College graduating seniors will be receiving a new gift at this year’s commencement ceremony.

Gold medallions will be handed to each senior on the day of commencement before they walk to Fiske Quad.

This is the first year these have been given to graduates.

The idea for the medallions began last year with discussion of not giving hoods to graduating seniors any more. KSC President Melinda Treadwell worked with student government to come to the decision that it would be better to replace that tradition with a new one, rather than not doing anything at all.

“I met with student government, talked to student listening sessions about it and through those discussions we decided a different type of tradition would be better,” Treadwell said. “Students helped in formatting this. We brought in a couple different ideas and then the student government unanimously approved and said go ahead with what we were thinking about.”

The KSC Bookstore, the President’s office and their chosen vendor, Catania Inc., all worked together to choose the final look of the medallion. According to KSC Bookstore manager Drew Nichols, the art for the medallion had to go through two or three adjustments before settling on the final one. The main component of the medallion design is the iconic KSC arches/gateway.

“As you look at it now, it’s kind of zoomed out so you get the full view with the bricks and curves. Originally the full phrase ‘Enter to learn, go forth to serve’ was on the ring but it’s now just ‘go forth to serve’ because it’s commencement; this is the end. This is the ‘go forth to serve’ moment,” Nichols said.

Commencement Coordinator Barbara Preston said including the image of the arches was also a significant decision.

“We landed on the gates because it

is such an integral part of your time here. The other day there was a student in front of the gateway with her gown on and wearing her sash and one of her friends was taking her pictures. That happens all the time.

Choosing the gateway to be on it was mindful and purposeful because it is something that means a lot to students here,” Preston said.

Ultimately Treadwell had the final say on the design. The medallion was also chosen as the new tradition because it is intended to be more useful to students after commencement than the original hood was. Treadwell hopes that students can use them to hang in their office or decorate their apartment. The medallions are also more sustainable and affordable, being about one-third of the cost of hoods.

“Hoods are problematic because they’re very expensive. It almost doubles the cost of the gown. They’re also not recyclable, which the rest of the gown is. That’s something that’s important to Keene State and our mission working towards zero waste,” Nichols said.

KSC intends to continue this tradition the upcoming years. The President’s office also welcomes feedback from students once they see the medallion.

“It would be nice to know what students think of it afterwards, how they feel about it and if it’s meaningful to them. The feedback we’ve had so far has been positive,” Preston said.

Commencement is on May 11 on Fiske Quad. Graduates will receive their medallion in the gym before walking. This is done so no graduates forget to bring it or lose it before the day of commencement.

“I’m excited to launch a new tradition,” Treadwell said. “It’s meaningful for me because I want the President’s office to thank the students in some way for their commitment to the college. It feels right.”

RACHEL VITELLO

News editor Keene State College is experiencing a budget shortfall of about 2.3 million dollars. According to the Vice President for Finance and Administration Susan LaPanne, this is due to a few different reasons.

“We’ve been having financial difficulties primarily because enrollment drops so precipitously.

It’s hard to cut away expenses as quickly as the student population decreased,” LaPanne said.

However, for this academic year KSC President Melinda Treadwell said the shortfall is caused by an over-awarding of financial aid. This issue stems from a higher yield of students than the college anticipated.

“We’re projecting a shortfall because we awarded more financial aid than we budgeted. That is because we’ve yielded more students than we ever have,” Treadwell said. “I explained to the Board this is a good expense to have. It’s not about operation, it’s not being unbalanced or revenue not hitting where we said we’d be.

It’s about—we put more into packages than we’d planned.”

Graduate tuition fees and continuing education tuition fees being down also contributed to the shortfall.

“We’re addressing that and working to make sure students don’t suffer; that we aim our

» SEE BUDGET A2

BRIEF

Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.

SEBASTIEN MEHEGAN / EQUINOX STAFF

Former KSC employee dies at home KIANA WRIGHT

opiNioNs editor On Thursday, April 25, prior Keene State College Residence Director and recently employed Keene Police Department officer 30-year-old Jeffrey P. Sawyer died in his home suddenly. There was a Celebration of Life held in his honor on Wednesday, May 1 where his loved ones and friends, including KPD, reflected on his life. Jeffrey Sawyer (Mr. Sawyer), his father, said, “Well over 300 people were there… so many people that came through. [There was the] police department, police academy, UML (University of Massachusetts Lowell) [and] Keene State and they all had something positive to say.”

Sawyer was well known as a resident director at Keene State College from July 2015 to September 2017. Senior biology and secondary education major Kaitlyn Jones is a resident assistant that had Sawyer as an RD her sophomore year and he supervised her for a month

during her first year of being a resident assistant.

“He was a phenomenal RD and supervisor with great wisdom, heart, and an unforgettable sense of humor. I felt very blessed to be on his staff, even for a short while, before he left to become a KPD officer,” Jones said. Jones went on to say that after becoming a Keene Police Officer he was still involved with the college. “He did make several appearances on campus afterwards to help with events and move-in,” Jones said.

Mr. Sawyer said, “He loved his job even though it was frustrating at times. But he did enjoy it. And it seems that he really connected with students and the people that worked for him.”

Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Kent Drake-Deese had Sawyer working underneath him for quite some time. “Jeff was an excellent Residence Director who made it his business to try and be fair with his residents and a great source of

support for his Resident Assistants,” DrakeDeese said. “Personally, Jeff had a great sense of calm about him that enabled him to easily rise above any drama or conflict. He was an accomplished trumpet player and was always very interested in a wide range of topics which made him very easy to talk with.” Speaking for himself and the rest of Residential Life, Drake-Deese ended with, “His absence is felt throughout our staff.”

Sawyer had been employed since September 11, 2017 at the Keene Police Department where he worked closely with Beards for Bucks. According to currentobituary.com, “Jeff participated in Beards for Bucks which benefited Child Advocacy Centers in NH. In his memory, contributions may be made to Monadnock Region Child Advocacy.”

Mr. Sawyer said, “One of the ongoing themes with him, and it was something that I heard from everybody who came to the memorial service and who walked through the line and talked to me, said that he wanted

Top Headlines

Index Section A: News .................1-3 Opinions ...........4-5 A&E ..................6-8 Associated Collegiate Press

Section B: Student Life...1-4 WN....................5 Sports............6-8

Budget falls short

A4: Keeping students at Keene State A8: Mixed reactions B1: Evacuate the building B8: The winning continues

to make a difference. And he really impacted a lot of people’s lives.”

The Keene police department declined to comment.

Legacy.com has Sawyer’s entire obituary posted. “To send a condolence or for more information, please visit peabodyfuneralhome.com,” the website reads. There you will also find resources like support groups if needed.

Mr. Sawyer said, “He was the most awesome, awesome son a father could ever have, very proud of him.” He went on to say that anyone who knew his son personally can email him at trumpet57@comcast.net with a story they would like to share or even if they would just like to send their support.

Kiana Wright can be contacted at kwright@kscequinox.com.

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Score’s closes temporarily RACHEL VITELLO

News editor Local bar and popular weekend spot for Keene State College students Score’s bar and grille has closed its doors temporarily. On Thursday, April 25, an individual with a suspected fake ID was able to get into the establishment, according to a Facebook post by Score’s.

“Last Thursday night we had an individual with a questionable ID get in. We are working with the State of New Hampshire to determine details, and how to proceed.

We look forward to reopening soon,” read the post.

A Score’s employee could not be reached for comment. At this time it is uncertain when Score’s will reopen.

Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.

Contact Us Newsroom: 358-2413 Executive Editor: 358-2414 Advertising/Business: 358-2401 Newsroom: Questions? Contact pthapa@kscequinox.com or emcnemar@kscequinox.com

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News / A2

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Capital projects in the works

BENAJIL RAI / MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR

KSC is currently working on multiple long-term projects to improve the quality of campus RACHEL VITELLO

New editor Out with the old, in with the new. Keene State College has a six year capital plan in the works to improve life on campus. Some of these capital projects include creating a business hub on campus, new turf field replacement, renovations for Elliot Hall and Joslin Hall, among other projects.

Capital projects are large-cost, largescale plans the college creates and uses funds-based accounting to bring to fruition.

Vice President for Finance and Accounting Susan LaPanne said that this money can be used only for specific projects and cannot be delegated anywhere else.

“What that means is there are streams of cash that come in from different sources.

Those sources are just like a personal situation. You have maybe an allowance from parents, income that comes to you from a job and you maybe have other sources of income; that is fund accounting,” LaPanne

said. “Sometimes those revenues come in with strings attached. You can only use this money for this kind of thing.”

For capital projects, those different streams of cash can include gifts and grants, KSC reserves, USNH funds, funding from the state or from the Higher Education Funding Authority (HEFA). The money that comes in for the capital projects is entirely separate from the college budget.

One capital project that is now being completed is the new Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies wing that was built in the Mason Library. A capital project that is currently in the works is creating a Monadnock business hub on campus. KSC is hoping that funding for this will come from the state.

“There was a discussion about one year ago in regards to local companies being interested in KSC developing a program in optics. We’ve had interest from five different companies. One of the things they don’t have is a workforce who is ready to join

their engineering departments. We have a lot of potential didactic training that would feed nicely into optics,” LaPanne said.

Upon this came a desire for a makerspace. KSC seemed the obvious place to host it because of the students and faculty that can work with the corporations who would come on campus to develop the optics program. Monadnock Hall was identified as a potential site for the makerspace in about two years.

“I made a presentation to the governor. In his budget he recommended the full request for the Monadnock business hub,” LaPanne said. “It got struck down in the legislature.

The legislature is negotiating with the governor to make the budget palatable to both sides. We believe they’ll find agreement with this. If they don’t, we’ve heard there are others interested in developing the Monadnock business hub.”

Other projects include renovating and updating Joslin Hall, Carle Hall and Elliot Hall. The hope with Elliot Hall is to make it

a one-stop destination for student services that has an easy flow to it, making everything easy for students to find. Turf replacement for the lacrosse and field hockey fields is another project. However, the capital plan is not set in stone.

“One of the things that happens with capital budgets is that things happen, priorities change and the capital budget changes.

This is not cast in concrete. It’s foolish to do something when an emerging need arises and it’s more important and more urgent,” LaPanne said.

In fact, KSC President Melinda Treadwell made adjustments to the original capital plan to make it more exclusive to student buildings and activities.

“I shuffled the capital projects a little bit last year. Hale building was at the front of the list. This building (Hale) has come entirely off and I’ve moved athletics and student buildings like Elliot, Joslin, Morrison, we’ve accelerated those. That was purposeful to make sure we’re investing in

student spaces, athletics and maintenance,” Treadwell said.

Although priorities on campus are likely to change and there may be setbacks to some projects in the future, students can still expect to see changes and upgrades to many areas on campus. From athletic fields to academic buildings, the capital plan’s goal is to maintain what the students like about KSC while still keeping campus updated, safe and efficient.

Director of the Physical Plant Frank Mazzola did not respond to request for comment.

Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.

BRIEF

Welcoming a new USNH Board member RACHEL VITELLO

News editor The University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees has not seen a representative from the Keene area in decades, according to a recent press release. Keene city councilor and local business owner George Hansel has been appointed to the Board.

Hansel was nominated for the position at the Executive Council meeting on April 17 by New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. The Executive Council unanimously confirmed the nomination.

“I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to contribute to the continued success of the University System of New Hampshire. Not only is higher education one of our best tools for addressing workforce development, high quality public universities are critical to attracting and retaining the young people we need to help our economy thrive,” Hansel said.

The Board acts as the governing body for the four institutions within the University System, including Keene State College. Responsibilities for the board include: Hiring the university presidents and assessing their performance, establishing tuition rates and reviewing academic programs.

The 29 members of Board of Trustees includes

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the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, ten members appointed by the Governor and Executive Council, seven alumni-elected members, two student-elected members, the Commissioner of Education, the Commissioner of Agriculture, the presidents of the University System’s four colleges and universities and the Chancellor.

“Keene State has new energy and an amazing new leader in President Melinda Treadwell.

I look forward to supporting her and the entire KSC community in any way I can. More broadly, I’ll work hard to ensure that New Hampshire’s public universities are accessible, competitive and accountable,” Hansel said.

KSC President Melinda Treadwell is also a member of the Board.

“He really wants to hear the student perspective of how the Board could be more effective and what he can do as a Board trustee to amplify the voice of students. He’s really engaged on campus and he cares about creating opportunities for students,” Treadwell said.

For more information about this, Hansel can be contacted at 603-903-3677 and at gsh@georgehansel.com. Information regarding the Board can be found at https://www.usnh.edu/trustees.

Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.

“I’ll work hard to ensure that New Hampshire’s public universities are accessible, competitive and accountable.”

-George Hansel

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY GEORGE HANSEL

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News / A3

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Honoring Don Carle

PUJA THAPA / ADMINISTRATIVE EXECUTIVE EDITOR

A memorial service was held in Norma Walker Hall to honor KSC alum Don Carle, who died in February. Friends, family and colleagues shared stories of Carle and reminisced on his life.

Family and friends gather for a memorial service RACHEL VITELLO

News editor On Saturday, May 4, a memorial service was held for deceased Keene State College alumni and former faculty member Don Carle in Norma Walker Hall. Carle died on Thursday, Feb. 21 at the age of 92.

Carle was an active figure on campus dating all the way back to his birth.

Carle was born at Keene State College in Elliot Hospital, now known as the Elliot Center and also grew up in one of the first residences on Appian Way. Carle was a student athlete at KSC and graduated with a degree in Education. He later became KSC’s Alumni Director in 1977 until 1988. After retiring, Carle remained an active supporter of Owl Athletics and co-founded the Keene State College Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame. Carle also has an academic team award named after him.

At his memorial service, friends, family members and colleagues spoke about Carle’s life, his contributions to the college and his enrichment of other’s lives.

BUDGET cont. from A1

financial aid to students who need it and earn it. We’ll go on from there,” LaPanne said.

An active step the college has taken was reducing the supplies budget, salary and wage budget and services budget. According to LaPanne, in the last year the salary and wage component has been decreased by 4.5 millions dollars. One of the college’s goals when dealing with this budget issue is to make sure students are affected as little as possible.

“We fully expect some of that financial aid will be maintained but we’ll decrease costs elsewhere. Students are not going to feel the brunt of that. We know how to calculate it in a much more granular way than we’ve ever done it before,” LaPanne said. “A year and a half ago we had a 14 million dollar structural deficit.

Now we’re within a million dollars of being good. If you can do 14, what’s one million? We can handle it.”

With the college working on multiple capital projects in the coming months and years, many beg the question of how that is possible with a budget shortfall. The money for capital projects comes from a different source than the school budget.

“Plant funds are a revenue stream.

It has strings attached and those strings are that the only thing you can use them for are capital assets, which

KSC President Melinda Treadwell opened the service and shared an anecdote of Carle cheering for her and the women’s basketball team during her time as an undergrad student athlete.

“He was Keene State in many ways. His legacy here was deep. It was wide. I can only hope to love this campus as much as Don did,” Treadwell said.

A prayer was led by Campus Minister Cynthia Cheshire. Active KSC alum Norma Walker worked with Carle on the alumni association and was a friend of his. She recalled Carle’s time working behind the registration table at alumni events.

“He seemed to know every alum who walked through the door. He would welcome each of them with a ‘hi,’ a handshake and a warm smile. He was always so involved talking they finally did not schedule him behind the table any more. They decided he’d be more helpful as a welcoming committee of one,” Walker said.

Walker also noted how a bench in Carle’s honor is placed right outside of the entrance of Norma Walker

could be large-cost replacements or large renovations or anything over a certain dollar amount that is going to extend the life of a building or other asset,” LaPanne said.

For example, painting a room is not capital, it’s maintenance. However, adding a room is capital. The funds for the capital have been saved or granted for exactly that purpose and that purpose only. Whereas the operating funds, where the school has a shortfall, that situation impacts everyday operations, like painting a room.

“When you can extricate those two things (funds), that’s when people are not walking around saying ‘We have a budget shortfall and yet we’re doing this crazy building. Did we really need to add this when we have a budget shortfall?’ and the answer is it’s really two different things,” LaPanne said.

Despite the current budget situation, Treadwell is confident the college will be able to get back on track.

“We’ll adjust it for next year and we’ll get back on budget next year,” Treadwell said. “It’s not going to be a long-lasting big issue and it’s not going to be a gap in our operations.

I’m frustrated that we drifted but I don’t think there was any way for us to project that students would come in higher numbers than we forecasted.”

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Hall, so the two remain close in that sense.

Carle’s sons David Carle and Jim Carle also offered reflections. David explained the significance of World War II in his father’s life. He also shared an anecdote of Carle coming to Merrimack Valley High School where David worked and speaking with students about the war and his experience. Jim reminisced on how Carle enjoyed going out to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse in Keene because many KSC students worked there, giving him the opportunity to strike up conversation with them about mutual love for the college.

Carle’s brother Ken Carle also spoke and shared stories on growing up with Carle. Carle always took him to Boston sports games and included him socially. To this day Ken still has an affinity for Boston sports thanks to him and his brother’s trips to the games.

Other speakers included the other co-founder of the KSC athletics hall of fame Ron Butcher. As Butcher could not be in attendance, Director of External Relations Steve Fortier read Butcher’s reflections on his

behalf. Former alumni relations staff member and KSC alum Mike Maher who was a colleague of Carle’s also spoke. Maher shared stories of Carle offering his plentiful information on KSC and his confiding to Maher about his lack of recognition on campus as years went on.

“I told him that this was a different life path and the people who knew him on campus were now a new generation who knew him for different reasons. While he wasn’t recognized as a former alumni director, he was recognized as Keene’s biggest fan. He had a new identity that was maybe more important,” Maher said. “He was better than a Google search when it came to anything connected with Keene State.”

Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.

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NEWS EDITOR RACHEL VITELLO (781)812-7461

Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com.

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OPINIONS

Opinions / A4

Thursday, May 9, 2019

EDITORIAL

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Keeping students at Keene State

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Making sure students stay all four years As almost 700 Keene State College students graduate during this year’s commencement, in just a few months, hundreds more will be entering. But the real question is, “Will they stay?” College isn’t for everyone, but once you make the decision to go, maybe even to Keene State College in this circumstance, you can only pray that it’s what you expected.

According to the Keene State College 2018 to 2019 factbook there are about 3,500 students enrolled here.

And first year students make up over one third (36 percent) of KSC’s student body. Money, diversity, reputa-

THE EQUINOX

tion and the environment around the campus all come into play when these students apply to start their college career. As current KSC students teaming up with faculty, staff and other student leaders to do everything we can to help these first years get comfortable and get involved is huge.

It is not a shock that many people drop out within the first couple months, first semester and even after a year or two. And the college should be doing everything in their power to find out why, because it does effect our funding and the school’s reputation. We need

To contact the Equinox, e-mail pthapa@kscequinox.com

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students who are enrolled here already, some of the complaints are from students who have just finished orientation. These students should ask about activities that the school offers before they enroll, to see if Keene State is best place for them. And if they give it a try and can’t see themselves here at all, then we wish you the best.

EQUINOX NEWSROOM

Equinox Staff: Eli Felix, Izzy Harris, Emily Carstensen, Iris Pruletti, Haleigh Patch, Amanda

Opinions Editor Kiana Wright

to make sure when accepted students come on campus they know where they are going to be taking classes if they choose this school, they need to know where they’re going to eat, and especially where they would live. Admissions staff makes such an impact on incoming students so they need to make sure the student knows why they’re here - and that this is where they belong.

Many of the students that say Keene State is boring are not participating in the activities that the college has to offer. While some of these complaints come from

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Opinions / A5

Thursday, May 9, 2019

STAFF COMMENTARY

Putting it off some more ANGELIQUE INCHIERCA

Social MEdia dirEctor The last two weeks have been full of events meant to bring fun and entertainment to the students at Keene State College. But now, as my exams have finally approached me, I am left to wonder if it was really worth it.

This week in particular, the Social Activities Council held Keene State Calling. But was the call really so important? I personally love the ideas and efforts given to try and give us students a good end to the semester, but I found it entirely distracting and in all not as fun as it could have been if there were more students participated.

As the end of my second year here is approaching, I have seen a strong pattern in social lives and campus involvement. My opinion still stays the same; students don’t care to participate. I have seen clubs and organizations hold events that are open to the public, but only a select group attend, and usually it is the people running it.

Of course this is not the case for every event, but student involvement has been plummeting since technology began to rule our lives.

I’ve heard many students, professionals and staff display their worries about the subject.

Did I go to the comedy act? No, but I would have if I didn’t have to pay money. Sure, I was also working but why would I spend money to go see someone I can look up on Netflix or Youtube for free? And while many of my peers who went to the hypnotist show came back with smiles stretched across their face, I still feel as though every academic

conference I have attended brings a hypnotist. Instead, I could’ve been working on my final projects or studying for the big exam I’m about to take. My friends tried to humor me by saying, “This was not like others though, it was like RatedR.” Maybe it was fun, maybe it

would have been a nice escape from the load of stresses on our mind. I cannot speak on behalf of every student when I say I wish the school was more original in its event picks.

One event that sounded really fun was Thursday night’s Glowfest.

I wasn’t able to attend but the idea

sounded extremely exciting. Sure, I was nervous no one would attend but I would have still made an appearance after work. The problem is that one of my friends expected me to skip work to attend the event.

After many conflicts with my friend, I started to think about the pres-

STAFF COMMENTARY

Sex Ed for all LGBTQ

OLIVIA CATTABRIGA / ART DIRECTOR

Including LGBT students in ‘the talk’ COLETTE RINKER

Equinox Staff I didn’t know what the word ‘gay’ meant until I was fourteen.

My LGBT education and experience growing up in my pre-teenage and early teenage years was, to put it frankly, nonexistent. My mom and dad never mentioned the LGBT community when they gave me ‘the talk.’ When I took health class in eighth grade and we had the ‘sex ed’ lesson, samesex relationships weren’t even mentioned on the PowerPoint.

I do have to mention that I was homeschooled from kindergarten to seventh grade, entering the public-school system in eighth grade. It wasn’t until I entered the public school system that I even heard the word ‘gay.’ The shocking truth behind this entire experience is that my experiences were no different than most of my peers at the age of fourteen. I wasn’t even aware of my own feelings toward my sexuality until I joined my high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) during my freshman year. After four years of involvement with my high school’s GSA, and then on my own to this present day, I have become more comfortable with my own sexuality. I finally feel at home in my own skin as a bisexual woman. I have been able to come to terms with how I feel.

And the most important part? After four years of questioning and self-discovery, I’ve found that my sexual orientation is valid. It is something that not only makes me feel complete as a human being, but it brings me comfort that I am finally not afraid to tell my peers, my significant other, or my family.

This is a part of who I am as a human being.

My journey of discovery could not have been possible without organizations like GSA’s, or Pride Clubs, or GLSEN. Even then, I wasn’t able to begin learning about myself and who I am until high school. We didn’t have any resources available to me in middle school, or even earlier during my homeschooling years. Initially, I had to figure all of this out on my own. And that was terrifying. Picture this scene: High school me, spending countless of hours combing through pamphlet after pamphlet, website after website, all in order to find the answer to the question: Why am I different? I want my voice to be heard. Education about the LGBT community, even today, is lacking. It is barely a whisper in our high schools, it is but a passing thought in our middle schools.

We are making strides, but we need to make them larger.

When I first entered high school, our GSA was strong and had a mix of allies and members of the LGBT community. At the end of my senior year, the club was almost nonexistent.

In our high schools and middle schools today, ‘gay’ is used more often as a slur than it is as a valid identity. Students aren’t able to fully accept themselves until they reach college, and even then, it’s terrifying to deal with both the college transition process and the fact that you are finally learning to love and accept yourself as who you truly are. Students need awareness. We need it earlier and we need it to be stronger.

We need more LGBT oriented sex education in our schools.

We need to learn how to be safe too. We need ‘gay’ to transform into an identity in our schools and in our communities.

We need change.

Colette Rinker can be contacted at crinker@kscequinox.com

dents that feel drowned by work, these distractions at the end of the day may seem like a great destressor but I feel it could also go the opposite way. I’m nervous that these specifically dated and very time consuming events could be worse for those with anxieties. The looming exams that are now here and the sheer fact that now you wished you had those extra five hours of sleep. You compromised your sleep and health so now you’re stuck at two in the morning the night before that 40 percentof-your-grade test is to study “just a little longer.” My friends are staying up to study and finish projects, but what they don’t realize is they could be damaging their mental and physical health at risk.

Many counselors and psychologists warn students about the effects of lack of sleep, mass amounts of stress and other important health habits. I think if the school held allday events similar to Student Government’s Carnival then students would not feel pressured to spend more than an hour or two of their day to relax before work or studying.

This would also help them be able to sleep at earlier times.

I wish everyone luck on their finals but also urge them to remember to take care of themselves. Nothing is more important than your physical and mental health, even if it means you won’t be attending SEBASTIEN MEHEGAN / EQUINOX STAFF an event that will most likely be sure that was being put on me to replayed again next year. skip my necessary duties to attend Angelique Inchierca can be contatan event that really wouldn’t help ced at ainchierca@kscequinox.com my academic journey. Then I started to wonder if my peers felt the same.

I often hear students say they suffer from the ever disastrous Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). For stu-

STAFF COMMENTARY

Start composting KAIT WEST

Equinox Staff When someone asks me how I believe we’re going to fuel the future I answer, “by composting.” Composting is the simple transformation of organic matter through decomposition into soil-like material. It’s one of the easiest activities and also one of the most important when talking about sustainable living. According to the documentary “Wasted,” “About 40 percent of food in the United States is wasted, and about 90 percent of food scraps end up in landfills leaching methane.”

Also it states that, “One head of lettuce can take up to 25 years to decompose in a landfill.” It is deeply disturbing to think of how much food goes to waste that can actually be used in a beneficial way. With the help of microorganisms breaking the material down, more nourishment is added to the soil and can be used to replenish garden beds. Composting requires nothing more than a little patience and mindfulness when looking at your left over or old food as a helpful boost for something new to grow instead of it just being trash. Be careful in considering what is waste and what is not.

Carbon and nitrogen are two essential elements for creating perfect compost. Carbon is used as energy for these microorganisms, and nitrogen as a form of protein creates an ideal environment for these microorganisms, and speeding up overall decomposition reactions. Composting starts with the collection of food scraps, including green and brown matter. You can compost anything including leaves and yard scraps, newspapers, eggshells, coffee grinds and tea, as well as fruit and vegetable scraps. It’s important to keep a compost pile under the right water and temperature conditions, and to

KIANA WRIGHT / OPINIONS EDITOR

keep the pile turning regularly.

These are all simple things that you can find in your kitchen, and the overall amount of food waste going to landfills can significantly decrease if more households are on board with being more efficient. With just a few kitchen scraps and some patience, you can have the happiest garden possible.

Here in our own Science Center courtyard on campus, we have multiple outdoor compost piles. Students and faculty have the opportunity to add anything they want to the compost pile. We encourage everyone to participate in help building it up with really healthy nutrients! Since these piles have been breaking down for months with continuous turning, we figured that the start of spring time would be the best to start sifting through, pulling out the most nutritious parts of the compost pile, and letting the bigger pieces continue to break down. This spring, in the gardening club, we have already started replenishing our garden beds with this fresh compost. Throughout the whole year, we collect plant matter from the greenhouse,

which makes exceptional compost. We are very excited to transport plants from the greenhouse into the courtyard, and are expecting great results with this healthy new soil that we have revitalized.

It is important to educate people on the benefits and simplicity of composting overall.

Like I mentioned, tons of food end up in landfills each year that could be used more beneficially in a more natural state. It has the ability to break down, instead of being mixed in with plastics, toxins and the unnatural things that we see in landfills today. With all of the inorganic materials in landfills making the overall process of microbial functions unable to behave naturally, it is no wonder why they cause such an environmental problem today.

Composting is an important thing that we can all do in our backyard. It can successfully help mitigate food waste problems around the world and help replenish gardens of all sizes.

Kait West can be contacted at kwest@kscequinox.com

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Thursday, May 9, 2019

Highlighting hardworking film students

Jacqueline's movie mania

PUJA THAPA / ADMINISTRATIVE EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Beginner and Intermediate classes hold a film festival JOSEPH GUZMAN

artS & EntErtainmEnt Editor Filmmakers, friends and family entered the Putnam Theater Thursday, May 2, at 7:00 p.m. to view the creations of the beginning and intermediate film classes for those within the major. This showcase highlighted five different production classes and their diverse styles: Animation, 16MM, Video Production 1, Cinema & Diversity and Creative Digital Non-Fiction. 20 different films were shown by 23 different filmmakers ranging all the way from first years to two graduating seniors, Satoko Saito and Gabriel Vasquez-Billin.

Co-Head of Film Faculty Irina Leimbacher said, “The Film Festival of beginner and intermediate films is done a bit differently each year. For instance, some years all faculty participate in the selection committee, some years just a few, and last year the selection was done by a class I was teaching, so the students in the Film Curating course actually selected and organized and ordered the films in the screening. So there is no one way, but essentially we start with asking the professors to nominate two to four films from each filmmaking class they taught the entire year. This year we looked at somewhere between 35 and 45 works

and selected 20. The idea behind the festival is that all levels and all classes be represented in some way and that together the program showcases the talents and diverse approaches, concerns and topics of our students.”

First-year Justin Wood said,“The name of my film is ‘CUT.’ I meant the film to be a look at the internal struggles of editing for many late hours at a time. While filming only took one to two days, editing took a few weeks to completely finish a cut that I was satisfied with, and one that I thought would accurately portray what I was trying to convey. My favorite genre to create in is abstract horror, as I feel I strongly relate to many of the images I can visualize putting onto screen. A story is always there when creating a film, but most interestingly as with all of my projects is the fact that the final cut of what I make never quite looks like how I first envisioned it.”

Wood also enjoyed the work of another filmmaker, Saito. Wood said, “My favorite film of the showcase was ‘Blurred Portrait’ for how it displayed the differences of individuals but ultimately showed how much they had in common.”

Keene State Junior John Kelleher said, “The name of my movie is called ‘Namaste’ and my film is about the Global Engage-

ment class’s trip to Nepal. ‘Namaste’ is a Nepali word that has a few different meanings but the general meaning is ‘I am pleased to meet you and I wish blessings upon you.’ That was the main way people greeted us when they met us and that's how we greeted them back so I thought the name would be fitting.”

Kelleher said the film presented him with a different type of process than the traditional production style.“I actually didn’t have to shoot anything for the movie because all of the footage was taken on cell phones on the trip from me and other people in our group took while we were in Nepal. I did interview with other people in the class, so that and the editing and setting up the interviews all took around three months,” Kelleher said.

“There actually was a process kinda figuring out what this movie was going to be about. I didn’t just wanna have it be a step by step high collection of all our trips. That's kinda what most trip videos are like. Like ‘oh we went to this place and this place,’” Kelleher said. “I kinda wanted [it] to be about the emotions and experiences of the trip, not just the itinerary of where we went. I started working on it more, got more feedback from my teacher, and certain themes begin to pop up, espe-

cially when people started doing the interviews. I started exploring the benefits of travelling to other cultures and learning about other cultures. [...] Also initially, I just wanted to have the student interviews be the only ones speaking but I decided they shouldn’t be the only ones and I started looking for as much footage of the Nepali tour guides and as much footage of them speaking and I tried to put that in the film so I could give them a voice as well. I figured since it was a story about another culture It shouldn’t just come from the white American describing the other culture, I wanted to provide an important voice for those people as well.”

Leimbacher said that the goal of the screening was to represent the breadth and diversity of production that year, and said,, “When I came here, the faculty was just starting to feel that there were too many films and that it would be more useful to do a selection of them and shape those into a program that would be of interest to all students and their friends/ families etc. [...]

So it has been about 8 years that we have been creating an 80- 90 minute selection of works for the Film Festival.”

Joseph Guzman can be contacted at jguzman@kscequinox.com

Hypothesizing the disappearance of the internet

SOREN FRANTZ / PHOTO EDITOR

Faculty and director Doug Wilcox and performers sit after performing on Thursday and Friday, May 2 and 3, answering audience questions.

Faculty Doug Wilcox helps put on the performance of "Meshnet" CRISTIAN VALENTIN

Equinox Staff Last week, six Keene State theatre and dance majors along with their faculty advisor Doug Wilcox wondered whether their senior capstone production, Meshnet, could successfully deal with the question, “What would happen if the Internet was to disappear overnight?”

On Thursday and Friday, May 2 and 3, they had their answer: Yes. Keene State sophomore Tyler daRosa said he enjoyed the show and could not pick a favorite part. “Oh god, my favorite part of the show? I know it’s kinda weird to say but probably the whole thing, just because it touched on something that is so important. I loved the movement, how they had scenes that were just movement and they didn’t have to say anything but you still understood what was happening. You understood everything that was going on in the show but not everything needed explaining, I thought it was very well done,” said daRosa.

Audience and KSC faculty member Trinity Nay said she believes the performers did an admirable job. “I

thought the combination of the movement pieces and the more traditional verbal scenes, what I would consider traditional acting, transitioned the journey because there were so many vignettes that it tied the story together well,” said Nay. Wilcox said that he was proud of the work every student put in, proud of how they went from nothing to something, and proud of how they were willing to take risks.

The six seniors who performed were Ashley Gage, Erika Kucks, Heather Hunt, Anthony Gentile, Isaiah Lapierre and Jacob Lavoie. The performance told its story in a non-linear format that included various movement pieces, speaking portions, and performers playing different characters at different times.

This performance has been in the making since the beginning of the semester and the seniors said they truly feel that they’ve grown together from the process. “I learned how to deal with difficult situations interpersonally. We also dealt with creative differences and would reconcile them in a positive way to make something we can all be really proud of,” said Hunt.

Kucks agreed with this and believes that they have

not just grown in many ways,“I think now that we have this whole performance about to go up, time just slipped by, but we used it so creatively. During the week it was very helpful to have two classes but we also all met most Sunday nights and got together and grew outside of the classroom as well.”

According to the performers, these risks included thinking of ideas that they thought might look or sound stupid but suggesting them anyway and even making changes the day of the performance.

Crew members in the performance include Stage Manager Anna Fialho with Genevieve Joly working the light board and Cassidy Herrick running the sound board.

The performance was held in the Redfern Arts Center Wright Theater from 7:30 p.m. to around 9:30 p.m. There was also a talkback after the show that allowed audience members to ask questions.

ANGELIQUE INCHIERCA / EQUINOX STAFF

Someone Great: Review JACQUELINE PANTANO

Equinox Staff Netflix’s new original movie “Someone Great” presents a simple straightforward plot with great performances, and a sincere depiction of the end of a love story instead of its beginning. “Someone Great” truly captures the sensation of mourning and loss which comes from the end of a chapter in life.

Jenny (Gina Rodriguez) just broke up with her long-time boyfriend Nate (Lakeith Stanfield). She’s leaving New York City, where she went to college, met Nate and her best friends Erin (Dewanda Jackson) and Blair (Brittany Snow). She’s moving to San Francisco. It’s time to say goodbye to everything she’s known and grown to love.

Jenny plans a night in NYC, one last night. She needs one more to remember all that’s been, to be sad it’s over, but to rejoice that it happened. One dialogue captures the film in its entirety. Jenny is talking to Matt (Peter Vack), a guy she had a crush on her freshman year of college. She tells him it’s all his fault; she wouldn’t have met Nate if it wasn’t for him. At the end of the conversation Matt tells her he’s sorry. Jenny, however, changed her mind. She says: “Don’t be.

You’ve helped me find Nate.” Matt tells her she’s been blessed with a broken heart. Being sad when something is over means you’ve been happy because it has happened. That is life, in all its beauty and all its sorrow.

Jenny is exuberant, sad, in denial, in love, angry, and broken hearted. It always rings true, sincere and honest. The love in Nate’s eyes is real and perceptible. You can feel it penetrate your skin as he looks towards the audience, actually looking at Jenny. The sadness in both their eyes is deep, you can sink in it. That is exactly how sadness and loss feel; it’s a sinking dark hole. “Someone Great” is bittersweet. It’s not sad, as both their lives are not over. It’s not despair that you feel. It’s melancholy and nostalgia.

This review is for the Equinox, a college newspaper. “Someone Great” is about the journey you take, in your heart and soul, as you leave a place where you’ve grown. Jenny met her friends in college. Jenny met her boyfriend in college. Jenny met New York City in college. Jenny met Jenny in college. This one last day is to remember who she is and who she’s become. That Jenny that once was is gone. Yet, she will live forever in Jenny’s memory, with her the love she shared with Nate. If you’re graduating, “Someone Great” might be the companion you need. If there is still time, it might remind you to enjoy it, to live in the now. If you’ve graduated a while ago, “Someone Great” will be a journey across your memories in the shadow of Jenny doing the same.

“Someone Great” holds an 83 percent rating based on 42 reviews on site aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. “Someone Great” is not a masterpiece of cinema. Yet, it is a pleasant story. It is well built and well-acted, but most importantly, its sincere and incredibly relatable.

Jacqueline Pantano can be contacted at jpantano@kscequinox.com

Cristian Valentin can be contacted at cvalentin@kscequinox.com

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Thursday, May 9, 2019

Transforming the N.O.C.

WKNH

Music madness

LAURA ROMANIELLO / EQUINOX STAFF

Hiding Places CORALINE SEKSINSKY ANGELQUE INCHIERCA / SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR

A Keene State College student painting her mural in the Night Owl Cafe in the Student Center.

Students are painting iconic album covers around the Night Owl Cafe BENAJIL RAI

MultiMeDia Director The Night Owl Cafe (NOC) on the second floor of the L.P. Young Student Center at Keene State College will never be the same again: It is transforming into a vibrant space.

A class called Color Design and Mural Painting is working throughout this semester to paint murals in the NOC. The class includes 20 students that are art and other majors. Keene State Art Department professor Molly Fletcher is teaching the course and leading the mural project. Fletcher said, “It’s mostly just about music, pop culture, and iconography. I am thinking about iconic albums that don’t need words for us to necessarily know what they are.”

Environmental Studies and Communication major Kristine Danielson said, “Everyone is making different murals for different famous albums, covers and people with music and we thought what the NOC is about.” Danielson said that David Boldly, Andy Warhol, Warren Hill and Ann Halen are some of the musicians that are being painted in the NOC. The same class painted a mural in the staircase of the Redfern Arts Center last semester.

Senior Studio Art and Graphic Design major and teacher’s assistant for the class Angela Jenks said, “I think the new location is pretty awesome.”

Fletcher said the location was offered by the

Coordinator of Student Activities and Organizations Britany Gallagher. Fletcher added, “She has said, you know, ‘we were looking for some way to liven up the Night Owl and make it look a little bit like what it is which is a music venue, an entertainment space.’

And she wanted it to be very Keene State driven. We took a little bit of Keene State and added a pop culture twist to it. So we have a little bit of both things which I think worked out pretty well.”

Gallagher said, “A few years ago when I first got here, the Night Owl Cafe and the Game Room [were] both actually painted varied shades of blue and yellow. And it was interesting to me that even though those are two super popular common spaces in our Student Center at Keene State College, where school colors are red and white, it wasn’t a lot of red and white going on.”

Gallagher said that she always had a plan to get together with art students and paint those spaces.

Student worker at the NOC Hannah Stella said the mural paintings have brightened up the NOC, making it more inviting. “They ( the paintings) are a really good addition here. They also show the type of energy that’s in here that people bring because there is also game nights and all sorts of fun things always going on in the NOC. And I think that the paintings that they are doing in here just kinda portray that and that gives a better feel when you walk in,” Stella said.

Fletcher said the class started working on the

mural painting right after the spring break.

“Because they are non-majors, we have to go over the basics of composition, color theory, foundations of design, and so the whole first half of the class is geared towards the foundations of designs and then switched gears, and then we have gotten here,” Fletcher said.

Jenks said for art majors, this class gives more experience and broadens their horizon.

Danielson said she really enjoys doing something that is completely out of her element.

She said, “During the day I am learning about global warming and climate, science-based things and then after this, I get to switch to more art-based things. That’s a nice end to my day.”

Fletcher said, “Even though we are all different ages and from different backgrounds, we all still kind of figure that out together.”

Fletcher has been teaching the foundations of design at KSC for the last nine years, and she is involved in a Peace Paper Mural Project, a Walldogs Mural Festival that is happening in downtown Keene this summer.

The mural at the NOC will be completed next Thursday, May 9, 2019.

Benajil Rai can be contacted at brai@kscequinox.com

Percussion ensemble performs composition from students ERIN MCNEMAR

MaNagiNg executive eDitor The student composers closed the year out with a bang as they joined forces with the Keene State College Percussion Ensemble for their final recital.

On Thursday, May 2, family and friends filled the Alumni Recital Hall to hear the groups perform both original works and rhythmic pieces. The evening began with showcasing many of the student composers as faculty members performed their self-composed music. The first composer who presented was junior and music technology major Brandon Curcio. “I had to write [the piece] for a class so I guess I came up with one idea and fleshed it out a bit and then I added on extra layers of harmony,” Curcio said.

Curcio’s piece, “The Burden of the Orb,” was performed by staff and faculty members Craig Sylvern on the baritone saxophone, George Robinson on the vibraphone and Christopher Evatt on the piano. Curcio said he enjoyed hearing his original music brought to life through the performance. “It’s pretty cool, especially haring the faculty playing it because they’re incredible. It has the most potential in those hands,” Curcio said.

Overall, Curcio said he was happy with how his piece came out and how it was performed for the audience. “I think it came out really good.

There was nothing that caught my attention [for] being wrong.

I would think if anyone noticed it would have been

me,” Curcio said.

Fellow composition student and junior Kirsten Becker also showcased an original work in the recital. Becker’s piece, “Water’s Edge” featured KSC student Madison Shimko on flute and Becker herself on piano. “I had a semester's worth of lessons once a week with my composition teacher. I took me six weeks to write the piece and probably 20 hours of work went into it. I composed by sitting down at my piano with a piece of staff paper,” Becker said.

Becker said she originally wrote the song for piano but she thought it would sound beautiful if she added a flute part to it. It was then that she approached Shimko, who is one of Becker’s good friends in the music department, and asked if she would be willing to play the piece with her. “We had about three rehearsals to get it worked out,” Becker said.

Becker was one of two composers that performed their original work on stage themselves. “I actually get more nervous performing my own piece onstage because there is an added pressure of not only you being the performer but also being the composer. You’re thinking in two worlds at the same time. You want to audience to understand the idea of the piece as well you don’t want to mess it up. I got more nervous than normal,” Becker said.

Despite getting nervous, Becker said she was proud of how her performance came out. “I think there are always things as a performer you want to change, but overall I was really happy with how it

KSCEQUINOX.COM

WKNH Music Director You ever just find exactly what you need at the moment you need it? The feeling of completion to a moment that can be provided by serendipity. I was writing a paper for my finals, just sloggin through it. The words didn’t seem to come easy. My contempt for school, work and writing what other people tell me to write, is boiling over. I decided to hit the bandcamp daily’s as a girl would do when she hates school as much as she would hate a crossbow bolt in the shoulder.

Seeing a familiar record cover, something I had peeped on Instagram a month or so back, I clicked. What I clicked on shot bolts of light through my body. My wounds healed, my mind cleared, and I no longer hated school. Thank the universe for good hip hop.

What I had clicked on was billy woods’ (lowercases on purpose) new album “Hiding Places,” produced in its entirety by Kenny Segel. Now for the intros. billy woods is a New York-based underground rapper, one half of rap group Armand Hammer. He’s a jagged rapper, he doesn’t really do soft all that much. Even when he tries, there is just too much swagger and force in his flow. His voice cuts and bends through and around Segel’s production. Now Segel is an L.A beat scene empresario. He’s been making his bones for 20 year now, as of late he’s become the go-to beat man for some of the most raps most daring figures in hip hop (Rory Ferreira and Busdriver), as well as a solo beat maker in his own right.

The formula is simple. One MC, one Producer, one album.

This allows for the two to get familiar, to achieve new heights of intimacy and cohesive aggression. There are a surprising amount of messily distorted guitars and crashing cymbals on this hip hop album, these frequencies tend to obfuscate vocal performance and our pop gloss understanding of what hip hop can be (cymbals and guitars both tend to gobble mid range in a mix viciously, the same frequency range as the human voice). Segel’s mixing and production work keeps everything contain. At moments it all still feels like it will spin out of control. But Kenny has you. For all the organic melodic choss, the bass lines bumb and the drums knock.

And in this certainty, woods can rap with assurance, and he does. Rapping about subjects broad and understood. His vocabulary and dizzying flow have perhaps obscured the meaning, or perhaps it is not up to me to decide his poetics or their metaphor. In any case, they are rapped amazingly, with conviction and a def sense of urgency. This record has no bad spots. It has one of my favorite lines I have heard all year. “I want to be alone at your home/ I want to suck the marrow out your bones/ I want to show you what I learned from the worst people I ever Know.” That is the level of his language.

That is where this record lives. Listen to it.

Coraline Seksinsky can be contacted at cseksinsky@gmail.com

SOREN FRANZ / PHOTO EDITOR

On Thursday, May 2, the student composers and percussion ensemble performed in a combined end-of-the-year recital. The ensemble performed the student composers's

came out,” Becker said.

After intermission, the performance showcased more of the KSC Percussion Ensemble. First-year Paulryan Chipman said this was his first time taking Percussion Ensemble as a class. “It’s one of the many ensembles a student can take.

You can either take ensemble for credit or no credit, I wanted to get the points. I absolutely love it,” Chipman said.

Chipman said he wanted to take the class after seeing the group perform last semester. “They were playing with lighters and actual fire and attacking each other with stands. I thought ‘I want to do that.’ You didn’t end up doing it this semester but I’m going to try to get the fire back,” Chipman said.

During the first part of the evening, the percus-

sion ensemble played contemporary pieces composed of sounds such as rubbing drumsticks on the floor of the stage and blowing into conch shells. “We had those really contemporary pieces that we played in the beginning. Those sounds we found from the heart. People were scratching their nails on chalk boards and that was the sound coming from the heart,” Chipman said.

The ensemble’s last piece was composed by KSC Senior Geoffrey Edwards, “What is Heard, is Felt.” Chipman said learning that piece was his favorite part of the experience.

“My favorite part is getting to know the composers we had been playing with through the music they have given us. Getting to work with Geoff on this last piece was the best. To get

the composer right there with you is groovy,” Chipman said.

Chipman said a lot of work went into making sure the concert was a success. The group spent a lot of time practicing outside of class, according to Chipman. “We wanted to make sure the concert was extra special and had an extra little kick in there. The last couple weeks we tried to make it absolutely perfect for you guys,” Chipman said. “I think the show went fantastic.

Lots of pats on the back for me and the guys and gals. A lot of good things.”

Equinox Music Choices $uicideBoy$ Carrollton

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com

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ARTS ENTERTAINMENT

A&E / A8

Thursday, May 9, 2019

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Mixed reactions Spring Concert does not live up to expectations JOSEPH GUZMAN

Arts & EntErtAinmEnt Editor The Mabel Brown Room was stuffed with eager college students looking to see one of their favorite Artists/Celebrities perform here at Keene State when opener Flipp Dinero and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie took the stage Friday night, May 3 at 7:00 p.m.

First-year Tina Clay said, “The first song that I heard by A Boogie was 'drowning,' and when his new album dropped it was so good, everyone was talking about and I looked at it and got into it. Which made me look into his older songs.” Clay said that she loves his music.

“I’ve been listening to him and being a ‘fan’ you could say since Christmas,” Clay said. She added that she prefers to listen to fellow rapper Lil Skies. The songs she was mostly excited to see were "Look back at it," "Love Drugs and Sex," and "My s---.” Both “Look Back at it” and “Love Drugs and Sex” are on Boogie’s newest album “Hoodie Szn” and “My S***” is on his mixtape “Artist.” Clay said she thought the whole event was good. "I definitely expected a lot more from him and he was alright live,” Clay said.

Sophomore Henry Hobson said, “ The performance was weak, he didn't even rap on beat and he was barely even trying to lip sync.” He said that he was introduced to Boogie by a friend who showed him the song “Look back at it” and how he was excited to see it live. Hobson said he mainly showed up for the opener of the concert more than the headliner. Hobson said, “I’m not a fan, I Iike Flipp Dinero more.” Hobson added, “I didn't see the end of it because I left early since we were disappointed with his performance and since he was so late.”

Freshman Dan Schumann said he was on the more casual side of Boogie’s fanbase, and said his favorite song by Boogie was his early 2017 hit single featuring Kodak Black “Drowning.” Schumann said, “I thought the performance was really good, but he could’ve actually sang along more instead of letting it just play behind him.”

One similarity that Clay, Hobson, and Schumann had was all said that they had left the performance early before Boogie was finished with his set. Schumann said he didn’t see the end, “...The wait for Boogie was long but definitely worth it. People were getting very rowdy and upset because of the wait.” Schumann even said that one of the most interesting things that happened were the fights that broke out during Dineros set. Schumann said, “The fights were mostly between some crazy [people]... pulling hair and swinging at each other. One was so bad Flipp stopped for a minute to tell them to chill.”

This concert had already started some controversy around Keene State due to the number of tickets sold and concerns about whether or not it would be safe to fit that many people in the Mabel Brown Room.

(For details please refer to “Anxious tensions are rising” April 10, 2019, or http://kscequinox.com/2019/04/anxious-tensions-are-rising/ ) Some students had a positive experience of the concert, but many did not.

Joseph Guzman can be contacted at Jguzman@kscequinox.com

LUKE STERGIOU / EQUINOX STAFF

A Boogie wit da Hoodie performing in the Mabel Broom room on Friday May 3 with opener Flipp Dinero at 7pm.

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STUDENT LIFE

Student Life, B1 Thursday, May 9, 2019

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Evacuate the building Fire alarm goes off during Operation Glow JACK HANSON

Student Life editor Strobe lights were not the only lights flashing in the Student Center last Thursday.

The Social Activities Council (SAC) held an “Operation Glow” party on May 2 in the Mabel Brown Room (MBR).

The event was free and advertised as an EDM (electronic dance music) party with glow paint, foam, lasers, etc.

The doors opened at 9 p.m. with the line extending from the MBR to the Atrium conference room on the first floor. But a little after the event started, the fire alarms in the building went off causing everyone to evacuate.

The students who wanted to attend the event or were participating in it were asked to back away from the building and make a line if they were interested in going back in. SAC volunteers, student center employees and campus safety worked together to deal with the situation and calm students down. The workers at the door used a megaphone to give out instructions or updates but were met with booing and slurs coming from some of the students.

Apart from the larger crowd, there were also small groups of students observing the situation. One of those students, Sarah Flynn-Billiel said she was “a little concerned and a little disappointed in the student body for reacting so crazy to a student event where a fire alarm went off.” Flynn-Billiel was in the back of the line trying to get into the event before the alarms went off and said she did not feel comfortable going into the larger crowd when the building was evacuated.

Of those in the larger crowd, students expressed their frustration in the situation.

“This is kind of like really screwed up and honestly I pay a lot of money to go to school here because I don’t have a scholarship and it’s kind of making me really mad,” said sophomore Claire Russell.

Another sophomore, Jay Dering, was mad about the physical condition of some students and himself, “We went in there and everything is okay, we went in on time and apparently in twenty minutes the foam or the bubbles set off the fire alarm and we are all covered in water and foam and bubbles and now we have to sit out here in New Hampshire in forty-five degrees. We are all soaking wet and it’s just like a liability,” he said. Dering also said the college should have known about the event and did nothing to prevent the

situation from happening.

But according to Britany Gallagher, Coordinator of Student Activities and Organizations and faculty advisor for SAC, the proper precautions were taken prior to the event.

“A couple of months ago we had reached out to Keene Fire Department, we knew that the plan was to have fog and haze and we knew there was a possibility that the fog and haze, even though its water-based could set off the fire system. So, we had the electrician come today and disable the fire alarms systems in the hallways on the second floor but we did not do that on the third floor. The third floor is what tripped the fire alarm,” she said.

John Bates, Fire Prevention Officer for the Keene Fire Department, confirmed that it was the fog and haze that set off the alarms on the third floor.

Bates also said that the Operation Glow staff was told not to use the fog or haze machines following the alarm going off.

As far as how SAC and others dealt with the reactions from students, Gallagher said the behavior displayed was nothing unexpected. “...We expect there to be students who show up belligerent. We expect there to be students who get upset when something doesn’t go exactly the way they expected it to,” Gallagher said. “So it’s just one of those things. We have those conversations beforehand.”

Campus Safety denied the request to be interviewed.

The doors reopened after the fire department cleared the building and the event ended a little past eleven.

After the event, students shared what they thought.

Sophomore Amber Hobbs said, “it was a distraction from finals before finals,” and said it stopped the urge of a lot of students to go to house parties and have fun on campus.

“We didn’t expect it to be this good… this was an 11/10, everyone had so much fun, we were going crazy and the music was great,” said sophomore Katheryn Szwed.

If you would like any more information about SAC or Operation Glow you can contact Britany Gallagher at Britany.Gallagher@Keene.edu Jack Hanson can be contacted at jhanson@kscequinox.com

SOREN FRANTZ / PHOTO EDITOR

On Thursday, May 2, The Social Activities Council (SAC) held Operation Glow. The event took place in the Mabel Brown Room in the Student Center and was part of the group’s event Keene State Calling.

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STUDENT LIFE / B2

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Classwork turns to real work

Students present their spring semester work WILLIAM PATTI

Equinox Staff In the TDS center on Friday, May 3, over 85 Keene State students from a variety of different programs presented posters on research projects they completed this semester.

Subjects being represented on the first floor included Biology, Nursing, Bio-Chemistry and the SPDI program. Up on the second floor students were presenting posters from Business Management, Computer Science and Art classes. The projects being presented displayed what these students have learned in their respective courses throughout the semester and showcased their newfound knowledge. This event also allowed students to learn about subjects they would normally never learn about in their major and creates an opportunity for the students being showcased to practice presenting their work in front of others.

Dean Colistra presented an image processing research project and was asked what he thought of the event and everyone’s presentations, Colistra said, “It was great to see everybody come out and show us what they’ve been working so hard on for so long.

I’m glad with the turnout and the event was organized very well.”

Caitlin Perry, who was presenting a biology project, had this to say about her project. “In Genetics, we had the chance to study a

model organism and maintaining the organism in the lab. I chose the microscopic worm C. elegans, and my poster highlighted the importance of the worm in genetics, as well as a relevant case study,” Ferry said. “It was fun to be able to showcase something that I had worked so hard on, but it was also interesting to talk to others about the subjects of their posters as well. It is overall a great opportunity to learn from others and practice professional skills.”

Trisha Schuman was presenting a project on genomic bioinformatics and said, “This is real world work really, were hoping to get our data into the NCBI, which is the repository that contains the human genome and several other known genomes. Our goal is to put our data in there for other researchers and scientists to access, study, and build off of.”

Many students attending the event were walking around and learning from their fellow students and about new subjects.

Others were practicing their public speaking skills by presenting their work to colleagues and peers.

William Patti can be contacted at wpatti@kscequinox.com

BENAJIL RAI / MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR

Above is senior Caitlin Perry presenting her findings from a biology project at the poster presentation for the School of Science, Sustainability and Health in the TDS center on Friday, May 3.

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STUDENT LIFE / B3

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Hypnotist Show

JACK HANSON / STUDENT LIFE EDITOR

Hypnotist Dan Candell came to Keene State last Wednesday, May 1. The event started at 7:30 p.m. and was held in the Mabel Brown Room. The event was put on by the Social Activities Council (SAC) as a part of their week-long program, Keene State Calling. Candell’s show is rated R and had students do a variety of different activites and performances. Pictured above is first year Frank Heckler hypnotized on stage shaking Candell’s hand for an activity.

Loans after college Future plans Skate park receives funding ALYSSA WISNIEWSKI

Equinox Staff

JACK HANSON

StudEnt LifE Editor

Students struggle with their debt

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/ A RT D IR EC

TO R

William Patti can be contacted at wpatti@kscequinox.com

B R IG A

Although a college education can open up several doors for students after graduation and make it easier for them to get jobs they desire, many students leave college with several thousands of dollars of debt.

This can lead to financial struggles for college graduates because even though having a degree in your field may earn you higher paying jobs, or at least a wider variety of positions to choose from, it can take several years to fully pay off student loans and due to interest rates, graduates can end up trapped in a cycle of regenerative debt.

According to CollegeDate.com the average cost of an education from a state college in the United States ranges from $9,970 a year for in-state residents and $25,620 a year for students who come from out of state. In a report from the Institute for College Access and Success, the average student loan debt in New Hampshire is $34,000. With expenses like this, college loans end up leaving college graduates with crippling debt that compounds as time goes on.

Although students can ease this financial stress by earning grants and scholarships and taking advantage of financial aid programs, unless a near-full scholarship is earned, it’s likely the student will still require loans to pay for their education.

With a bachelor’s degree normally taking 4 years to complete, out of state students can rack up close to $100,000 if not more in student debt based on the data provided.

Keene State Alumni Tyler Wilson was interviewed about how he feels student debt affects alumni. “Finding work out of college that pays well enough to pay student loans, rent, food, and allows you to put an adequate amount into savings is near impossible. College debt is the reason so many students get a late start moving out and making a life of their own that doesn’t require relying on others,” he said.

Another Keene State Alumni, who preferred to remain unnamed, was interviewed and asked how student debt has affected them since graduating. “I pay over one thousand dollars a month in student loans and I most likely will for at

least the next 15 years. On top of that I have to pay everyday, recurring expenses such as gas, food, toiletries, cell phone bill, etc. Due to my student debt I don’t see myself having enough money to afford a comfortable lifestyle anywhere in the near future,” they said. “It’s truly ironic and unfortunate that my education, something that is supposed to help one succeed and get ahead in life, would ultimately put me in the position to fail from the start.”

Student debt is becoming an epidemic in America and is putting graduates all over the country in financial turmoil.

Although it may seem that a college education is the most important thing, one must consider the financial burden it entails and find what plan works the best for them.

C AT TA

Equinox Staff

O L IV IA

WILLIAM PATTI

The Tony Hawk Foundation (THF) is providing a grant to the town of Keene to help renovate the skate park.

According to tonyhawkfoundation.org, the motto of the organization is, “A charitable, nonprofit organization, the Tony Hawk Foundation was established in 2002 by its namesake, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk. THF promotes and provides advocacy training and funds for high-quality public skateparks in low-income areas throughout the United States that promote healthy, active lifestyles, and to International programs that enrich the lives of youth through skateboarding.”

The foundation gives out grants all over the country, ranging in amount. Keene is receiving a grant of $10,000 and will allow the town to make several renovations to the park.

However, local families and organizations have been teaming up to renovate the park further.

Community member Sean Zimmerman said him and his mother have recently been receiving donations and getting volunteers to help renovate the skatepark. “We’ve raised $95,000 so far. $10,000 of that has come from the Tony Hawk Foundation,” he said.

Zimmerman said his goal is to update Keene’s original skate park and to make it look more appealing, “I think people will see that this park is better. We really want the park to look good. I feel like it will have a big impact on people not just from around the area. I think it will attract many people in the area.”

Zimmerman said his mother is a huge contributor to the cause, “She plans a lot of events and [is] applying for donations and grants, and we have a lot of other help from volunteers spreading the word and helping with events,” he said.

Zimmerman said they are hoping to have the park finished by next summer.

Matthew Maguire, a sophomore at Keene State, said he is very excited about the new skate park, “Its huge, my hometown park just recently shut down so a new skate park here would be awesome.”

Maguire said that with a new skate park, more Keene State students will have the opportunity to learn how to skate. “If they had that starting ground at the skate park where its brand new I think it would push them to start skating,” Maguire said.

Another sophomore at Keene State, Jacob Seymour, is also a Keene native and has been

going to the skate park since he was younger.

Seymour said that the new skate park could bring the community together.

“I think it would be great for the community to have a park that feels more inviting to kids and new community members. I also think Keene State College students would use it too,” he said.

The park is currently located on Gilbo Avenue and is open to the public 24 hours.

If you would like more information about the Tony Hawk Foundation you can find it at tonyhawkfoundation.org Alyssa Wisniewski can be contacted at awisniewski@kscequinox.com

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STUDENT LIFE / B4

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Looking to make extra money & work flexible hours?

Join the Keene State Dining Catering Team!

We are looking to hire several KSC Students for part-time and on-call catering shifts for the 2019/2020 academic year. Not work study.

No Experience? No Problem!

Onsite Training Available Email Dorothy McCoy, Catering Director at Dorothy.McCoy@ keene.edu for more information.

Many M

ns S o lution

Collaboration Nations & States: Channel Your Inner Engineer!

Engineering: Committees of People: Committed People:

Integration of available people, places & things for the betterment of people, places & things.

When all is said and done… more is said than done.

Together can achieve any & everything… they set their minds to.

Living Priorities: A. Health is Wealth B. Drinking Water is a World-Wide Right!

C. Good Food is Good *!

D. Clothing manufacture can be a surprisingly high impact process E. Shelter is Comfort F. Mobility of Mind, Body & Spirit G. Entertainment! It’s PARTY Time!!! [ YAY! ] COMFORT ZONE X – TRANSITIONAL SHELTER (PROJECT NUMERO UNO) - 3D PRINTED - SOLAR POWERED - WATER CATCH & WEIGHTED - AIR FURNITURE - BUILT-IN FEATURES (POWER/SHELVES/HEAT/COOL)

Typical Project Development Stages: 1. Euphoria 2. Disillusion 3. Panic 4. Search for the guilty 5. Punishment of the innocent 6. Distinction for the uninvolved [ Good luck with that! ]

Successful Project Development Stages: 1. Characterize problems/Identify opportunities 2. Do feasibility studies where necessary 3. Define system interfaces 4. Design 5. Implement 6. Test & Document systems [ Give me data or give me death! ]

NOW HIRING: Copy Editor Do you like bei ng Is y rig ht? our g ram ma r im pec cab le?

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Stage 1: Worldwide Earth Data Integrity Project Foreign & Out-Of-Staters – We need your data!

In-Staters – We need your help!

Are you available? www.ManyMoonsSolution.com

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World News/ B5 Thursday, May 9, 2019

WORLD NEWS

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Death penalty abolishment vetoed

Governer Chris Sununu faces a likely override by lawmakers HOLLY RAMER

AssociAted Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a bill Friday to repeal New Hampshire's death penalty for a second time, though lawmakers are likely to override his decision in the fall.

Sununu, a Republican, vetoed the bill in Manchester, the state's largest city, surrounded by police officers and other law enforcement officials at a community center named in honor of Officer Michael Briggs, who was shot to death in the line of duty in 2006.

"This is common sense. New Hampshire has always exercised great prudence, great responsibility in its application of the death penalty. I firmly see, along with many folks across the state, this bill is an injustice not just to Officer Briggs and his family, but to law enforcement and other victims of violent crime across the state," Sununu said. "I cannot thank those standing behind me enough. They put their lives on the line every single day.

Every day they walk out that door and put their lives on the line. They don't ask a whole lot, but they do ask for our support."

New Hampshire's death penalty applies in only seven scenarios: the killing of an on-duty law enforcement officer or judge, murder for hire, murder during a rape, certain drug offenses, or home invasion and murder by someone already serving a life sentence without parole.

The state hasn't executed anyone since 1939, and the repeal bill would not apply retroactively to Michael Addison, who killed Briggs and is the state's only inmate on death row. But death penalty supporters argued courts might interpret it differently, however, giving Addison a chance at life in prison.

Londonderry Police Capt. Patrick Cheetham spoke of a recent 15-hour standoff at a Manchester hotel that ended in three deaths. One man was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement outside the hotel, while two others were found dead inside. All were wanted on drug charges.

"The violence that we see in New Hampshire, against not only New Hampshire's police officers, but against its citizens is not going away. While we live in one of the safest states in the country, the opioid and fentanyl crisis continues to plague not only this city but the entire state," said Cheetham, past president of the New Hampshire Police Association. "Now is not the right time to repeal the death penalty, and I stand here today supporting gov Sununu, we stand here today supporting gov Sununu and we ask that you stand with us as well."

Briggs' widow, Laura, attended Friday's ceremony and spoke at a public hearing on the bill in April, in part because her son is now working in law enforcement. Other relatives of murder victims, however, testified in favor of the bill, as did retired prosecutors, clergy and former death row inmates who were exonerated and released.

Sununu, a Republican, first vetoed a death penalty majority needed to override a veto. repeal bill last June, and the Senate lacked the votes to Sununu told officers Friday to press lawmakers to override it in September. But momentum grew after sustain his veto.

Democrats won control of both the House and Senate "What the first vote was is not necessarily what the in November, and an identical bill passed both cham- second vote will be," he said. bers this year with more than the necessary two-thirds Thirty states allow capital punishment, but in four of

them, governors have issued moratoriums on the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Twenty states have abolished or overturned it.

Health Care Workforce

Gas prices up slightly in northern New England ASSOCIATED PRESS

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Gas prices have risen slightly in northern New England.

The latest GasBuddy price reports show prices rose nearly 2 cents per gallon in Maine last week, to an average of $2.83. In New Hampshire, the average price is $2.76 per gallon, up a cent in the last week. Prices in Vermont were up under a penny, at $2.79 per gallon.

The national average price of gasoline has risen 1.3 cents in the last week, averaging $2.89 a gallon.

The national average is up 14.3 cents per gallon from a month ago, yet stands 9.1 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

HOLLY RAMER / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Supporters of a bipartisan bill to invest $110 million in New Hampshire's health care workforce display placards and applaud while gathered outside the Statehouse, in Concord, N.H., Monday, May 6, 2019, a day ahead of the Senate Finance Committee's first public hearing on the state budget. Advocates estimate there are roughly 2,000 vacancies in hospitals, community health centers, nursing homes and other health care settings across the state.

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Sports / B6

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Hitting and pitching

LUKE STERGIOU / EQUINOX STAFF

Keene State College sophomore pitcher Olivia McGrath has a .440 batting average on the season. She is also posting a 4.42 ERA, with 22 strikeouts on the season for the Keene Syae College softball team.

Olivia McGrath has the highest batting average for a pitcher on the KSC softball team CAILLA PRISCO

Equinox staff Being a softball pitcher means a lot of the pressure of the game falls on your shoulders, but being a great pitcher, a great hitter and a team player is an even more immense pressure. Sophomore Olivia McGrath is carrying just that as she follows in senior Molly St. Germain’s footsteps as one of the Owls’ starting pitchers next season.

Not only has McGrath excelled in pitching, but she currently has the third highest batting average on the team, following sophomore Cassie Woods and St. Germain.

St. Germain says that McGrath’s pitching has improved skill-wise, “[McGrath] has improved in the sense of she has more control with her pitches, she can

make them do whatever she wants and she also had a year to figure out the college strike zone. That is one of the more difficult things to figure out sometimes and she’s worked very hard.”.

There are stereotypes that pitchers can’t or won’t hit, but Keene State players have broken every one of these stereotypes.

“I would say overall her batting average is high for any player. It’s even more awesome that she has this average while also being a pitcher. Olivia is a good example of [the] broken stereotype,” said St. Germain.

McGrath finished her sophomore season with 23 hits, 53 at-bats and seven runs as a hitter.

McGrath said she owes a lot of her success to hard work.

“It definitely came with time and working hard at practice. My swing has changed a lot since coming to

Keene State so it was all about applying my corrections,” said McGrath.

McGrath said that having St. Germain as a mentor and someone to look up to really helped her form.

“I think my mindset has changed this year, and just having more fun while playing. Being on the same team as Molly has helped me trust my abilities, and knowing the rest of the team is there right behind us helps as well,” said McGrath, “She really pushes each player to be their best at all times.”As a senior who has finished her softball career, St. Germain said that McGrath needs to “enjoy the strikeouts.”

“Throw hard, and enjoy these last two years to take in every moment you are on the mound,” St. Germain continued to say that McGrath should “Hold [her] head high and spin the ball like she always does.”

McGrath has big plans for next season, including

getting stronger and more precise.

“I’d like to get stronger as a player. We also have a lot of returners next season so hopefully we can grow as a team and make it to the LEC tournament. That’s the goal,” said McGrath.

Keene State softball finished their season with a record of 13-21 and a LEC record of 7-9. They will lose two seniors from their team including St. Germain and Julie Elwell.

Caila Prisco can be contacted at cprisco@kscequinox.com

INSPIRING OTHERS TO BE GREAT Many Keene State athletes are inspired by professional athletes CAROLINE PERRY

sEnior rEportEr Growing up, young athletes all over the world are inspired by professional athletes.

Athletes have the power to bring people together and to influence others to follow in their footsteps, whether that be in cleats or sneakers.

For KSC athlete Kyle Shadeck, he said that professional athletes have helped him face and overcome adversities in his swim career. “It’s important to have professional role models because they help athletes understand key life concepts such as dedication, sacrifice, and how to work with others,” Shadeck said.

For Shadeck, Michael Phelps has always been one of his most prominent professional role models. Since Shadeck started swimming he has admired Phelps as an athlete, idolizing him for his talent and work ethic. “For starters, I probably would’ve never started swimming had it not been for Phelps. I’ve always been inspired by his sheer mental toughness, no matter what hardships he was going through.

He always handled victories and defeats with such class and grace, teaching me how to behave myself.”

On top of them, Shadeck said that Phelps has also shown him what it takes, training wise, to be successful in his sport. Shadeck said, “He’s taught me to apply that same mentality in my own training.”

Much like Shadeck, senior Connor Johnson also believes that professional athletes provide a dynamic way for young athletes to learn and grow. “I admire all of them because it takes a

certain amount of work ethic to get to that level, but I’d say specifically [I admire] Derek Jeter,” said Johnson.

Johnson said that Jeter has always been one of his favorites because he plays baseball with skill and performs at a high level. Johnson said, “He plays the game the right way and he does everything off the field the right way.”

As a pitcher, Johnson said that every athlete’s a little different, but that being able to improve by watching and following the mechanics and fundamentals of professionals has helped him in his own pitching career.

“You don’t want to model yourself completely after somebody… but I feel like if you don’t have a role model that you’re striving to be like, then you won’t even get into it anyways,” said Johnson.

Junior Sophie Bushey said that many of the professional athletes that she watched as a young athlete contributed to her love for basketball and sports in general. “Born into a family of Boston fans, I was raised watching the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, New England Revolution, and the Bruins,” Bushey said.

As a basketball player, Bushey said, “I became a huge fan of Rajon Rondo when he played for the Celtics. I still follow his career and think he is one of the most intellectual and creative point guards in the NBA.” Bushey added, “And of course, there is no one better to emulate in their dedication to their sport other than Tom Brady. Drafted in the sixth round, number 199, out of college, he has become the greatest of all time.”

Much like Shadeck and Johnson, Bushey said that professional athletes and role models

are important because they show leadership qualities and dedication.

“They are inspirations to all athletes because of the amount of work they put in year round,” said Bushey.

2 3

Caroline Perry can be contacted at cperry@kscequinox.com

“They are inspirations to all athletes because of the amount of work they put in year round,” - Sophie Bushey

OLIVIA CATTABRIGA / ART DIRECTOR

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Sports / B7

Luke’s Kickin’ Column

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Competing after finals

While some sports seasons continue after finals are over, the athletes must stay CLAIRE BOUGHTON

Equinox staff

Revolution Fall To Philadelphia LUKE STERGIOU

Equinox staff The New England Revolution continued their away game run when the team played the Philadelphia Union on Sat May 4.

Philadelphia currently sit in 1st place in the Eastern Conference with 20 points with 11 games played. Union are also tied for points with D.C. United. The New England Revolution sit at the very bottom of the Eastern Conference, with only 8 points after 11 games. So this game was not going to be easy for New England.

The Revolution started off the game with some confidence, with the first chance coming in the 10’. Defender DeJuan Jones tried his luck at a first goal, but his shot bounced off the far post, giving the Union an early scare.

Juan Fernando Caicedo tried to score on the rebound, but Union goalkeeper Carlos Coronel was quick to stop his attempt.

The Philadelphia Union would end up drawing first blood though, as only a minute later defender Jack Elliot was given a lovely through ball by Haris Medunjanin, slotting it cleanly past Revolution goalkeeper Cody Cropper.

The score was 1-0 after 11 minutes.

The Revolution would finally tie up the game in the 35’, with defender Edgar castillo sending in a beautiful ball past the Philadelphia defense to Juan Fernando Caicedo who put the ball comfortably past Union goalkeeper Carlos Coronel to make the score 1-1 just before halftime.

The score would remain 1-1 after the first half, but unfortunately for New England, it was only about to get worse in the second half.

Philadelphia Union’s scoring rampage started when midfielder Ilsinho chipped Cropper to make the score 2-1 in the 47’. Then, 12 minutes later, forward Sergio Santos squeezed the ball past Cropper’s hands, making the score 3-1 with 23 minutes to go.

Santos would double his goal tally only five minutes later after he smashed in a rebound to make the score 4-1. In the 82’, forward Kacper Przybylko smoothly scored off a wonderful pass in the box from Union captain Alejandro Bedoya, making the score 5-1. Six minutes later, forward David Accam comfortably smashed another goal past Cropper, making the score 6-1 and adding to the Revolution’s overall misery.

Overall, this game just showed MLS fans how bad the Revolution really are. We’re struggling with nearly every position, and the players seem very inconsistent with not only their form but whether or not they want to play under Freidel. Let’s just hope we can get a result against Chicago and maybe, just maybe, improve our form even slightly.

Luke Stergiou can be contacted at lstergiou@kscequinox.com

As finals week arrives, along with it comes the end of a long spring semester for most. However, for college athletes, their semester doesn’t end when the tests get handed in.

For athletes participating in spring sports, going home is more often than not postponed by post-season championships.

Paxton Blanchard, a Keene State sophomore majoring in safety and a midfielder for the men’s lacrosse team, recalled what it was like for him and his teammates last year when NCAAs forced them to stay on campus past finals week.

“It was definitely an interesting feeling…” said Blanchard. “The campus was completely dead compared to what we are used to seeing every day.”

Blanchard also recalled the silver lining of staying late.

“Our team hung out together the entire time so [we] just [became] that much closer with the guys on [the] team,” said Blanchard.

However, not everyone sees the silver lining.

Joey Fodor, a Keene State first-year majoring in safety, is currently ranked 15th nationally in javelin, securing his spot in the NCAA Championships in Geneva, Ohio, beginning May 24.

His secured spot at nationals, which also means that he will not be going home until after nationals in late May. “[Staying on campus late] is just going to be living in the gym and then sleeping… all my friends are going to be home and knowing that I can’t go home whenever, [or just] won’t be able to go home for a lot longer than everybody else,” Fodor said.

Staying on campus after finals week is not even the issue for some, however.

Anthony Jennings, a senior at Keene State majoring in safety as well as a member of Keene’s track and field team, qualified for the Open New England Championships in the 4x100 meter relay and the 4x400 meter relay.

The Open New England Championships falls on the same day as he Commencement Ceremony for those graduating this year.

“They’re going to have a separate graduation for athletes,” Jennings said. “I would

SEBASTIAN MEHEGAN / EQUINOX STAFF

Some athletes, like Joey Fodor, have to stay after finals to continue to compete in their respective sports.

rather go to the big one because you only graduate college one time [and] all my roommates are graduating on the normal day, and it just sucks not having to graduate with your friends and insead just graduating with a bunch of other random people.”

Fodor and Jennings will both be compet- one of the NCAA Tournament on May 7. ing at the Open New England Championships on May 11 with Fodor continuing onto Claire Boughton can be contacted at the NCAA Championships. cboughton@kscequinox.com Blanchard will be travelling with the men’s lacrosse team to compete in round

Recruiting for the future AUSTIN SMITH

Equinox staff The collegiate recruiting process is one that is crucial for teams to continue to have success.

Division I teams like Kentucky and Duke have had sustained success by being active during the recruiting process.

Keene State basketball coach Ryan Cain said, “I recruit the best players that we can get.”

Unlike professional sports, college athletes can only play for four years. This means that college coaches are always recruiting.

To recruit players, coaches and current players have to convince the potential commits that their school is the best. Every coach does this differently.

For freshman forward Nyzair Rountree, it was the family culture, “The thing about Keene is the basketball team is like a family. When I got here for my overnight, we were all together.”

This is one of the things that got Rountree to come to Keene State.

Basketball is not the only sport that requires recruiting; all of the coaches have to recruit.

For the lacrosse team, first-year defense man Haeden Finerty said, “I really liked that they had a good education program, which is my big thing. I knew the lacrosse team was a lot of fun, I knew they were really good and I just liked the school in general.” What makes recruiting players to a Division III school difficult is coaches have to sell a player on the team and the school more so than Division I and II programs. Division III schools are not allowed to offer scholarships or any kind of financial aid to an athlete. Gen-

erally this takes the top ranked players in the country out of the question, top players usually go to Division I programs to get full scholarships. Cain said, “We don’t offer any athletic money, so whatever a general student would get to attend Keene State, an athlete would get.”

While the regular season for basketball is 28 games, the recruiting process is yearround. After the high school basketball season ends, most high level players will go on to play in other games. These games can include showcase games, tournaments and AAU games.

These games give coaches many opportunities to watch players and scout them. This also gives players the chance to continue playing throughout the year.

The basketball team has only 17 players on the roster, so coaches can only get a limited number of players. While the roster spots are limited, coaches scout hundreds of players. Cain said, “There have been several different showcases for guys that are juniors, so we probably have a list after this weekend of between 200 and 300 guys.”

All of these players cannot come play at Keene State but the coaches scout players yearround to take a look at who they would like to play for the Owls in the fall.

It is still early in the recruiting process but the coaches continuously look for talented players that can help Keene State’s sports teams continue to thrive. “Recruiting never really stops,” Cain said.

Austin Smith can be contacted at asmith@kscequinox.com

Nutting leads the Owls in

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Cyan Magenta Yellow Black HITTING AND PITCHING, SEE B6

Sports / B8

Thursday, May 9, 2019

SPORTS

COMPETING AFTER FINALS, SEE B7

KSCEQUINOX.COM

THE WINNING CONTINUES

SEBASTIAN MEHEGAN / EQUINOX STAFF

On Saturday, May 4 the men’s lacrosse team won the LEC tournament against Plymouth State University with a final score of 24-10. This is the sixth time the Owls have won the LEC tournament.

RECAP

Becoming six-time LEC champions CAILLA PRISCO

sports Editor The Keene State Men’s Lacrosse team took home their sixth LEC (Little East Conference) tournament championship this week after beating the Plymouth State Panthers 24-10.

Leading the charge was Junior Connor Nolan, scoring two hat tricks during Sunday’s game. He scored the first two goals during the start of the game followed by a goal from Bobby Carey. According to Keeneowls.com the Panthers found the back of the net during the first period and ended it 5-1 in favor of the Owls.

During the second period, John Morgan became the seventh Owl to score, following Dave Weidenfeld, Joe Nutting and Haeden Finerty. Anthony Marcella and Nutting finished the second period to give the Owls a 14-2 lead.

Keene finished their game with a total of 24 goals and won 25 out of the 37 face-offs.

The Owls shots on goal nearly doubled the amount from the Panthers a well as their ground balls.

According to Keeneowls.com Connor Nolan was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, as he finished with six goals and one assist in the final.

Fifteen Owls scored during last week’s game, with 71 shots

on goal.

Keene State ended their season with a record of 11-5 and two new school records including Dave Weindenfeld’s number of assists in a single game and Matt Lemke for number of ground balls. The Owls will be losing six seniors including JJ Downey, Steven Hamel, Chris Morgan, Gabe Cormier, Bobby Carey and Charlie Molloy.

They will continue to the first round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament against Williams College on May 8 with a start time of 5 p.m.

Cailla Prisco can be contacted at cprisco@kscequinox.com

BRIEF

Connor Nolan named Most Outstanding Player AUSTIN SMITH

Equinox staff The men’s lacrosse team are LEC champions once again, after beating Plymouth State 24-10 to collect their sixth LEC tournament win. The tournament’s most outstanding player was Connor Nolan. Nolan was selected as the most outstanding player after he notched six goals and one assist. Nolan said, “Honestly it was a team effort, I was taken way off guard by this, we all played well together.”

The team won the tournament after going undefeated in LEC games. Coach Mark Theriault said, “For us, at the beginning of the year we talk about what our goals are, definitely winning the LEC’s is a goal we have.” After winning the LEC tournament the Owls have made their way into the NCAA tournament.

Nolan said, “We executed the game plan and we came out and we showed that we’re meant to be number one in this conference.” The Owls have gone undefeated in the LEC for their seventh straight year.

Going into the tournament, Theriault said, “At this point everyone is really good, so you know we’re excited to hear who we’ll play tomorrow night, I think from there, we just start preparing tenaciously for our game either Tuesday or Wednesday.”

Austin Smith can be contacted at asmith@kscequinox.com

“We executed the game plan and we came out and we showed that we’re meant to be number one in this conference.”

-Connor Nolan

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