The Equinox 12.14.17

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Vol. 70, Issue #14 Thursday, December 14, 2017

THE EQUINOX

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The student voice of Keene State College

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Service dog setback KSC junior threatened to lose her job for having a ‘fake’ service dog JESSICA RICARD

News editor Although often described as adorable and calm, service animals are known to assist individuals with disabilities, such as those who experience anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, blindness or deafness. Service animals also assist students with disabilities on college campuses around the world.

Keene State College junior and Resident Assistant (RA) in Monadnock Hall Alexandra Esandrio said she was forced to step down from her job as an RA at the end of this semester after claims had been made, labeling her service dog, Joy, as “aggressive.”

According to Esandrio, however, there is no way this could be the case.

In the beginning of the year, she said she initially brought her pitbull beagle mix to campus as an emotional support animal (ESA).

Typically, ESA’s are covered on campus by the Fair Housing Act and have to be acquired because of a disability. “There has to be a connection between what the animal provides and symptom relief of the disability,” KSC Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Gail Zimmerman said.

Once Esandrio’s anxiety and panic attacks began to increase at the start of the school year, she said Joy was really intuitive about it. “She kind of already knew what to do, so I decided to take that a step further and start service dog training with her,” Esandrio said.

Part of Joy’s first training, Public Access Training, involved Joy attending a KSC class.

After bringing her to class for about a week, she said a student reported Joy as a “fake” service dog. Following the report, Esandrio said Campus Safety came to her classroom, told her she had been “busted” and “caught” with a fake service dog and was put on probation and given a conduct hearing.

In effort to refute this statement, Esandrio said she met with the Office of Disability Services (ODS) to express how much Joy helps her.

“I talked to them about her training and how she helps me and what she’s doing and everything and they said service dogs are a great thing, continue doing what you’re doing and sent me on my way.”

However, Esandrio said ODS did not inform her of any additional documentation or doctor’s notes needed to consider her a full service dog. She said ODS just required her to keep Joy in her room. “They just said, ‘Okay, she stays in your room, we’re not going to consider her a full service dog yet,’ which is understandable because she is in training.”

Director of Disability Services Jane Warner did not respond to request for comment.

Zimmerman said certified service dogs are regulated and covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), businesses and organizations that serve the public must allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals into all areas of the facility where customers are normally allowed to go,” according to nh.gov.

However, Zimmerman said service dogs in training are covered by state statutes, and New Hampshire gives service dogs in training the same rights as certified service dogs.

About a month later, Esandrio said a custodian in Monadnock Hall reported Joy as being aggressive and charging at him. Additionally, she said her Resident Director (RD) told her Joy was growling and showing her teeth at residents on the third floor, and since there are no cameras on each individual floor, all she had to go off of was what the custodian had said.

“I said, ‘That’s not possible, she’s with me at all times,’” Esandrio explained. “She has undergone extensive stranger behavior testing… and ODS has a copy of that.”

According to the KSC website, “Both service dogs and assistance animals must be under the full control of their handlers, be in good health, and not be unruly, disruptive, or threatening.”

Esandrio said Joy did not show aggressive qualities. In fact, Esandrio said she is often described as docile and does not show aggressive behavior.

Service animals are defined by the ADA as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.

Sometimes, miniature horses can be trained to do the same types of things as well.

SEE KSC CELEBRATES WINTER HOLIDAYS, B1

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Since I can’t have her, I’m actually failing the first class of my entire life.

Alexandria Esandrio KSC junior and RA

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SEE DON’T LET PEOPLE’S OPINIONS RUIN YOUR BREAK, A4

SEE BEHIND THE DANCERS, A8

SEE SERVICE DOG, A2

ETHAN PLATT / EQUINOX STAFF

Alexandria Esandrio (left) and Joy (right) are a service dog in training team. Joy helps Esandrio through anxiety and panic attacks on a day-to-day basis.

KSC alumna gives $200,000 for future students ALEX FLEMING

equiNox staff Back in 2009, when current Keene State College seniors were starting to think about the new and exciting world of high school, Mary C. Leonard retired from KSC. After her retirement, she went on to live for eight years before passing away in February 2017. Her service and dedication to KSC continues, even in death. Upon her passing, Leonard left an estate gift to KSC’s endowment association to establish two scholarships for KSC students.

Leonard’s name still lights up faces at the KSC Office of Disability Services (ODS). Director of Disability Services Jane Warner worked alongside Leonard during her

21 years at KSC. When interviewed, Warner pulled out a thick scrapbook. The book was full of pictures of Leonard with the ODS staff, her husband and other people she met throughout her life. “We were like her family here,” Warner said.

Warner said Leonard started in KSC’s Aspire program, but then came to ODS, where she coordinated alternative testing. Leonard went around campus and delivered exams to students and made sure professors delivered exams to ODS. Warner described Leonard as a dedicated social butterfly. “She worked until I think she was in her 80s, so talk about somebody who was really dedicated to the college and its mission.”

Leonard and her husband had no children. Warner said she would work all day and then go to her home in Walpole, New Hampshire, to teach piano and voice for the remainder. “She was an excellent pianist, just beautiful,” she said.

Warner said, in Leonard’s eyes, her students were her children. “We used to joke that God didn’t give Mary children, but he gave her a whole heck of a lot of them when she started teaching piano.”

Warner said ODS is currently working out the details for Leonard’s scholarship. They are hoping to provide the scholarship by the spring.

An endowment fund is an investment where colleges

Index

Top Headlines

Section B: Section A: News .....................1-3 Student Life............1-4

A4: New Senate bill’s tax cuts A7: CFON ends semester B2: Students and community service B8: The constraints of basketball season

Opinions ................4-5 Time Capsule.............5 A&E............ ...........6-8 Sports.....................6-8 Associated Collegiate Press

SEE RUNNING AROUND THE SEASONS, B8

SEE ENDOWMENT, A2

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News / A2 SERVICE DOG Cont. from A1 Joy is trained to alert Esandrio to panic attacks by lowering her to the ground and performing deep pressure therapy to stop hyperventilation to prevent her from passing out, she said. Additionally, Joy performs what’s called tactile touch stimulation when Esandrio goes into a dissociative state, which makes it difficult for her to know what’s real and what’s not. Joy has the ability to bring her out of that state, ground her and bring her back to reality.

But after having a panic attack in her boss’s office, Esandrio said Joy was unable to assist her with these tactics because she was told Joy was not allowed to leave her room.

After having a meeting with the Director of Residential Life Kent Drake-Deese, Esandrio said she was asked to step down from her job as an RA because of the accusations made against Joy. “I got forced to step down from being an RA at the end of the semester and they told me that Joy had to leave campus by Sunday [Dec. 3]... once again, nobody was really listening to the truth.”

Director of Residential Life Kent Drake-Deese did not respond to request for comment.

Esandrio returned to ODS once again, where she said they told her they did not remember her telling them Joy was a service dog in training. “However, I did and they told me she can’t leave my room until she’s a full service dog… So the stories are kind of all over the place and nobody’s really on the same page on the school’s side.”

She said ODS then gave her the proper documentation, and once she obtains a note from her doctor, Joy will be considered an official service dog in training from KSC. “This all could have been avoided if, in the beginning of the year, when I went and talked to them about it, they recognized her as that, but instead they just told me she had to stay in my room.”

Since Joy has been confined to her room, Esandrio said her anxiety and panic attacks have significantly increased. “Now that Joy’s not allowed to come with me to class because [ODS] said she’s confined to my room, I have had to leave class on, I’d say, at least three occasions because of panic attacks,” she said.

“Since I can’t have her, I’m actually failing the first class of my entire life.”

As someone on the Dean’s List, an RA, an employee of the Night Owl Cafe and the Game Room and dedicated mission worker in the Dominican Republic over the summers, Esandrio said she loves school and considered herself a “nerd.” Failing a class is something she has never done before. “[The school has] kind of been trying to prove their point to me, instead of listening to my concerns and helping to make my experience here better. It’s kind of been, ‘You didn’t submit the paperwork, then you don’t want to work with us,’ when in reality, I went to them, and they didn’t give me paperwork for a service dog in training.”

One of Esandrio’s biggest supporters,she said, is first-year Kylie Murphy. Murphy said, “[The school is] picking the wrong battles. There are students here who are doing drugs and getting away with it, and then they’re trying to take away a service dog.”

As of now, Esandrio said the Director of Residential Life Kent DrakeDeese told her everything is “on hold,” meaning she still has her job and Joy can remain on campus for the time being. Definitive answers, however, she said are still unknown.

Esandrio has started a petition, which has attracted more than 71,000 supporters both nationally and internationally, in an effort to help Esandrio keep her service dog in-training on campus to assist her through everyday life. It can be found at thepetitionsite.com.

In terms of support, Esandrio’s residents, as well as others from other areas of Monadnock Hall have made posters, shared the petition online and recruited friends from other states and countries to sign it in support of helping her to keep Joy here on campus. “If you walk around Monadnock...there’s posters up everywhere that says, ‘Alex brings us Joy,’’’ Murphy said. “We’re just trying to bring awareness to it.”

Jessica Ricard can be contacted at jricard@kscequinox.com

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Moon observed from KSC Astronomy students conduct research with high grade telescope KATHERINE GLOSSER

EQUINOX STAFF Stargazing is one of many activities people like to do at night. People often find stars and planets visually appealing and fascinating. To astronomers and physicists however, stargazing is a way of understanding our universe and its influence on earth.

Throughout the year, Keene State College students are given the opportunity to look at the stars through a high grade telescope by the astronomy department. Associate Professor of Physics Dr. Steven Harfenist has been showing students the moon and stars since fall of 2014.

Harfenist said although he is a physics professor, he has always loved astronomy, and over the past three years, about 30 astronomy students have cycled through the program at KSC. He said one of the ways he can interest more students in physics and astronomy is giving them a chance to stargaze. “The public telescope observing is just our way of doing outreach, getting people interested, getting people into astronomy, taking the astronomy minor or even into physics. You never know,” he said.

Astronomy students do not use the college’s telescope to just stargaze. They use it for their research andto capture digital images of the stars. After they analyze the stars, the students put their data into the Journal of Double Star Observations, which takes primary star work from amateurs and publishes it. The journal, which has been around since the 1960s, has about 120,000 documented stars and data from all over the world. The telescope students mostly use to do the public telescope sessions, known as the Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain, can see as far as Saturn.

KSC junior Earth and space major Ian Ross said he has been participating in astronomy research for the past year or two. He has also helped with setting-up the public telescope sessions. Ross’ main research is working on analyzing binary star systems and doing work to update the catalog, which requires a lot of imaging of binary star systems that have not been looked at in a while. Ross said he does not only practice astronomy during his studies, he does it in his own time as well.

Ross said he has his own stargazing equipment and contracts with local summer camps and sets-up workshops to teach kids about what they see through the telescope. Ross said astronomy touches on all sciences and not enough people take the time to stargaze. “Astronomy is such a cool and wonderful science. It would be great if more folks spent more time outside just looking up and paying attention to what’s going on,” said Ross.

KSC first-year math physics major Nicholas Garber said he has been to a few of these telescoping sessions. He said his work with physics got him into astronomy and having more people in the astronomy program will aid in discovering more celestial bodies. “There’s a lot of stars out there and having a lot of people working together to really map out our universe is really important because there’s going to be far too many stars and not enough people to really look at them all,” said Garber.

One of the goals Physics Professor Harfenist said he has in giving students who are not studying astronomy or physics the chance to look through the telescope is to get people into astronomy. Even though the most recent telescoping session was cancelled because of the cloud-blocked moon and stars, Harfenist said the event has been generally very well-received. Harfenist said one of the previous public telescoping sessions attracted between 150 and 200 students. “I think that students are able to see the connection between some of the basic physics and what they would see in the sky and what they can measure. I think that it provides them with a tangible example of how it works in real life,” said Harfenist.

Garber said he enjoys seeing the stars and exploring some of the mysteries that come with it. “I really like what’s out there; it’s so fascinating to find things we can never explain.”

Katherine Glosser can be contacted at kglosser@kscequinox.com SEBASTIEN MEHEGAN / ADMINISTRATIVE EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Keene State College provides students opportunities to observe the moon, stars and planets through a high grade telescope throughout the school year.

Grounds gears up for winter ALEX FLEMING

Equinox Staff Snow can mean a lot of different things on a college campus.

Some feel joy because winter has finally come, some feel rage and despair because winter has finally come.

But on a college campus, the most common feeling is hope: hope that classes will be canceled.

Much to the chagrin of KSC students, the Keene State College Grounds Department will help keep classes going this winter, thanks to their Snow and Ice Response Plan.

The first thing a visitor sees when they enter the Physical Plant/Grounds meeting room in the Whitcomb Building is a flat screen TV projecting a Doppler radar.

“Everyone on the crew is addicted to the weather,” said Assistant Director of Physical Plant/Grounds Bud Winsor.

Winsor helps formulate a plan to maintain the parking lots and sidewalks on campus each time a snowstorm rears its head over Keene.

Winsor said KSC Grounds receives its weather information from the Doppler radar and New Englandbased Precision Weather Services.

The radar shows large green blobs drifting over the eastern hemisphere of the United States.

Grounds can see storms coming in from literally miles away.

“We don’t get many surprises like we used to in the old days,” Winsor said.

Winsor said when Grounds thinks a snow storm is coming in, his crew will go out and pre-treat campus’ sidewalks with a special spray.

The spray is called “Magic-0.” It is made up of recycled brewery items and potassium chloride.

Winsor said Grounds likes to use Magic-0 because it is less corrosive on his equipment and campus sidewalks.

Campus Gardener and Grounds crew member Joe Britton said spraying the sidewalks used to be a good omen for students.

“The students would see us spraying that out and they’d automatically think that school was cancelled the next day. It was the funniest thing.”

Winsor and Britton said Grounds uses Magic-0 to mitigate the first few inches of snow and stop it from turning into ice.

“It becomes slush, not ice,” Winsor said.

According to KSC Snow and Ice Response Plan [S&IRP], the first step Grounds takes after or during a snowstorm is opening up the campus for daily operations.

This starts at four in the morning and goes to nine a.m..

Grounds opens up and clears all of KSC’s main roads and parking lots.

Grounds also clears all the main sidewalks and entrances to all campus buildings.

Grounds then continues to clean up, salt and plow throughout the storm.

According to the S&IRP, there are 17 pieces of snow removal equipment that help with the process.

These range from push-operated snow blowers to sidewalk plows equipped with rotary brooms to 1-Ton stake body

trucks with 8’ plows.

Winsor said the last step is trucking the snow away.

Students may be happier if Grounds just let the snow come down to facilitate a snow day, but to Winsor and Britton, this is a matter of public safety.

KSC Senior and commuter student Dylan Rychlik said he thinks Grounds does a good job cleaning up.

“I’ve never had any issues,” he said.

Winsor and Britton said Grounds’ worst nightmare is an ice storm.

“If I can go through the winter without one of those, I’d be happy,” Winsor said.

Britton said these are especially dangerous because once ice forms, it is really hard to get rid of the ice when it is raining.

“If you have ice and you’re trying to put salt on it, it sits there. It really isn’t as effective,” Britton said.

Winsor said some ice storms make it impossible for Grounds to work fast enough.

“Sometimes I see people fall and slip and I feel sick about it,” he said.

“We really do put a lot of thought into [snow removal] and we do want students to be safe,” Winsor said.

Alex Fleming can be contacted at afleming@kscequinox.com

LAURA ROMANIELLO / ART DIRECTOR

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Thursday, December 14, 2017

‘Tis the Season of giving Big Brothers Big Sisters hosts holiday toy drive MOLLY SPOONER

a toy drive for the Christmas season or just simply raising money for an organization.

According to Koster, the toys they collect are typiOne of Keene State College’s clubs is giving back to cally for children between the ages of five and 13, which the community in a big way this holiday season. is usually elementary and middle schoolers.

Big Brothers Big Sisters, a club dedicated to giving Koster said they collect toys for that age group back to the community, has recently started running a because those are mostly the ages the New Hampshire toy drive.

Big Brothers Big Sisters organization Vice President of the KSC chapter of Big Brothers deals with.

Big Sisters sophomore Kayla Koster said, “This is our The mission of second year doing the toy drive. It turned out really Big Brothers Big Siswell last year, so we are hoping for another good turn- ters is to give college out.” students the opporThe toy drive started the week after Thanksgiving tunity to get out into break, she said. the community, meet Koster explained that all the toys Big Brothers Big young children, be Sisters collects goes to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of matched with them, New Hampshire. spend time with They then give the toys away, according to whether the families need it. Koster said, “The club doesn’t get to see what families the toys end up going to, but we know that they are given to the New Hampshire program and they distribute them.”

Koster explained they are a community service-based club, so giving back to the area of Keene is something they enjoy doing.

“We always do a fundraiser,” Koster said, whether it is a canned food drive for Than ksgiving,

Equinox Staff

them and become their mentor. Koster said the mission of the club is really to mentor kids throughout the community.

“Giving back is what we like to do,” said Koster.

Since giving back to the community is one of the main missions of the club, the toy drive helps the club succeed in that.

Sophomore and secretary of the club Allison Mahan said, “Big Brothers Big Sisters chose to do a toy drive because we feel that it is amazing to give children the opportunity to have toys during the holiday

season.”

Sophomore and treasurer MacKenzie Crowley said, “I think the toy drive is something amazing for children and families, as it helps them during the holiday season that can be difficult. This relieves stress off of the parents and allows the children to have a great experience.”

Crowley said, “The toy drive means alot to me because I feel all children should have the chance to have an amazing Christmas. I know this can be a difficult time for parents and families, so it is amazing to be able to help out with that.”

Mahan said, “Personally participating in the toy drive makes me so happy. Being able to help others especially around the holiday season is amazing.”

According to Koster, during the holiday season, Big Brot hers Big Sisters is really aiming to make a difference and give families who can’t afford to purchase toys the opportunity to still get them.

“It’s the season of giving, so knowing that we can give back to our community is always a blessing,” said Koster.

Molly Spooner can be contacted at mspooner@kscequinox. com

LAURA ROMANIELLO / ART DIRECTOR

Student research proposed

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Off-campus sexual Academic Excellence Conference committee reviews assault reported candidates for spring semester conference SEBASTIEN MEHEGAN

adminiStrativE ExEcutivE Editor

RACHEL VITELLO

Equinox Staff The Academic Excellence Conference is an opportunity for Keene State College students to show off their hard work in their respective fields of interest with their families, peers, KSC staff and other Keene community members.

The AEC also helps students gain real-world experience with submitting proposals for professional presentations. On Monday, Dec. 4, proposals for the AEC were due.

According to the KSC website, it is important that the student’s abstract is clear and concise.

The abstract should outline what the work aims to accomplish, what the benefits of this research are and what steps or methods were used to meet the goal.

KSC faculty and staff work together to review the proposals from students.

Assistant Professor and Academic Technology Librarian Irene McGarrity said, “Reviewers are partnered up and given 7 to 10 abstracts to review. We try to pair reviewers with different disciplinary backgrounds to allow for rich cross-disciplinary conversations to occur during the review session.” This prevents bias for certain areas of research, she said.

The types of presentations that can be given varies. McGarrity said, “Students give a variety of presentations, ranging from dance performances, to oral presentations about research findings, to art exhibits.”

An example of a student who chose to do a dance performance as their presentation is KSC senior and theatre and dance major Amanda Untracht.

“I made a dance piece called ‘Brink of Control’ and it got chosen to be brought to the dance department’s spring show, An Evening of Dance… I decided to submit my work since I had put so much research and time into it over the fall

ENDOWMENT Cont. from A1

get money to fund scholarships. Instead of the college paying out a scholarship once or twice to a couple of students; the bulk of the endowment is invested so it can grow and benefit students for many years.

Associate Vice President for Constituent Relations Rod Miller said Leonard developed the plans to establish the endowments in 2014.

He said she made one in her name and in her husband’s name.

semester,” said Untracht.

Participating in the AEC helps students practice their public speaking skills and how to organize a presentation. Untracht said, “I think that submitting my piece to AEC was extremely beneficial because I got another chance to show my work, and it allowed me to speak about it beforehand. I would highly suggest submitting work.”

Untracht also submitted a dance film for this upcoming AEC. After abstracts have been submitted, they go through the acceptance process.

McGarrity said, “Abstracts are designated with one of the following three statuses: accepted, accepted with revisions, denied. After the review, students are provided with the rubric the reviewers used, as well as written comments that address all of the revisions that need to be made… Once the student makes the changes, they resubmit their abstract. At that point, the Academic Excellence Conference Committee (AECC) reviews the resubmission and makes a final decision.”

Students will know their final status two weeks after the resubmission deadline.

For students who are interested in participating in the AEC in the future, according to the KSC website, students should begin working on their abstracts with faculty/staff in October. Information sessions and workshops take place throughout November before the deadline. Students who receive undergraduate research grants are also encouraged to submit a proposal.

The AEC will take place on Saturday, Apr. 14, 2018 when students will present their work.

Program Coordinator Kim Schmidl-Gagne did not respond for request of comment on the AEC.

The agreement Leonard made was that upon her passing, two payments from the money available in her estate would be equally split to establish two endowment funds. Miller said the title valued $200,000. “That money has gone into the Keene Endowment Association.”

The Keene Endowment Association is a non-profit 501-C3. Miller said the association is run by a mixture of alumni and community leaders who gather funds and invest them to benefit the college.

“They exist only to benefit the college through these endowments… Their principle responsibility is to keep the endowment growing and provide the condition of payout,” Miller said.

Rachel Vitello can be contacted at rvitello@kscequinox.com

On Mon. Dec. 11, at around 1:00 a.m., a female Keene State College student was allegedly sexually assaulted on Marlboro street.

Campus Safety Director Jeff Maher said Residential Life staff and Campus Safety had received a report from a female student saying she was being assaulted.

“The college contacted [the Keene Police Department] to alert them that we had received this report so they could be aware and be on the lookout in the area of where the assault occurred,” Maher said At 4:11 a.m., Campus Safety sent an alert to KSC students’ email.

Maher said, “Given the nature of the report, and the fact that we were unable to determine whether there was a continuation of risk to

Miller said usually, the endowment starts payingout to students a year after the association receives the funds. That way, the principle will be kept intact and the fund will be able to grow even larger.

Miller said last year, KSC endowments paid-out 4.5 percent of their principle, which refers to the original sum of the endowment plus its earnings.

Miller said the Keene Endowment Association currently has a market value of eight million dollars invested.

Director of Strategic Engagement for the Alumni Center Marilyn Shriver said Leonard was smart about how she invested.

“One thing she also did before she passed away,

other students… we issued the alert.”

Maher said as soon as Campus Safety was notified of the assault, steps were taken to ensure the health of the female in question.

“Obviously the safety of our students is a paramount concern and so first and foremost we want to make sure that the affected student receives whatever care she required… So really those pieces are put into place as quickly as possible and then we coordinated with our law enforcement partners.”

Maher said.

Maher said the assailants were describes as “two white males approximately 25 years old. One of the males had facial hair.”

The Keene Police Department did not respond when contacted for comment.

Sebastien Mehegan can be contacted at smehegan@kscequinox.com

while setting aside money for the endowed scholarship, but she also provided annual gifts so her scholarships could be awarded right away.”

Miller and Shriver both said Leonard was welcoming to conversations concerning the fund.

Miller said, “Even though we’ve only been here for three years and the endowment was established before, we took over some of the responsibility for maintaining contact with her and keeping her informed because she clearly loved Keene State College.”

Alex Fleming can be contacted at afleming@kscequinox.com

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OPINIONS

Opinions / A4 Thursday, December 14, 2017

EDITORIAL

KSCEQUINOX.COM

Don’t let people’s opinions ruin your break Going home for winter break should be a relaxing time for students. After the stress of finals week, all students want to do is go home and leave the tension from the semester behind. But when their family members constantly ridicule them about their education choices, relaxing can be difficult.

Seeing extended family over the holiday season inevitably means being asked how school is going. Often times, family and friends can be judgemental about Keene State College as an institution.

People outside of the KSC community view the school as a “party school”, when in reality any other college campus that is not a community college has parties as well.

When students tell others they attend Keene State College and are then given a response along the lines of, “what do you major in, partying?” It can be discouraging. Some people cannot seem to get past the fact that an outburst like the Pumpkin Festival est occurred years ago when the school itself has moved on.

People who go to more expensive schools assume that just because they pay more money for their education, KSC is “easy”. Just because Keene State College is a more affordable option compared to other colleges and universities does not mean it is not a legitimate school.

Having supportive friends and family who encourage you to make the best decisions for yourself and your future is extremely important.

If you are passionate about your major, then family and friends should push you to do the best that you can and not question your motives; even if they do not fully understand why you want to do something.

By receiving criticism such as, “What are you going to do with a degree in that” students might view their academic choices negatively. If students receive encouragement from friends and family, they will feel

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better about their decisions.

When people know they have a strong support system behind them, they are able to face their challenges head on and know that no matter what, they have someone to back them up. It is also crucial to keep in mind that everybody does not have the same opportunities.

Not everyone has the chance to attend college and receive a degree in their area of passion and that is important to remember.

It can be frustrating when family and friends critique your schooling experience when they themselves did not attend college and it feels as if they are speaking out of terms.

But, it is important to be proud of the decisions you make for yourself and the accomplishments you achieve throughout your college career.

Being empathetic and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is a good quality to have that will keep you grounded and help you stay humble.

At the end of the day, use your experiences to benefit others and always do what makes you happy and do not let what others think of you impact the way you view yourself.

STAFF COMMENTARY

New Senate bill’s tax cuts will not benefit students COLIN MEEHAN

Equinox Staff Let this serve as a reminder to all of us: the people who rule this country do not care about you. On Dec. 2, the Senate passed a tax bill which will have drastic effects on the state of the country. It includes a tax cut on the rich, the destruction of the already small inheritance tax, a meager tax cut to poor and working families and a decrease to the number of taxpayers who are eligible for donations.

For college students, it’s going to be even worse. The decrease of eligible taxpayers will affect smaller colleges which rely on gifts, rather than state funding. The proposed tax on endowment earnings would set a troubling precedent for future increases. The House version of the bill has a tax on tuition waivers that colleges provide to employees and graduate students. The bill will also limit state and local taxes that can be deducted, which means that public schools will have a harder time getting funding and teachers won’t be reimbursed for the school supplies they buy. Republicans are also look-

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ing at reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, which could cut higher education programs even more. This would affect all public schools, including Keene State College.

All of this makes a point, which the left has been hammering home, so much more obvious: the rich do not care about the wellbeing of the poor. The Republicans, regardless of their previous opposition to Trump or not, voted for this bill; which showed exactly how much they actually care about the people of this country. So-called “principled conservatives,” or “moderate republicans,” such as Sens. McCain and Collins, voted in favor of the bill. Despite their opposition to Trump, they lack actual humane principles. The rich sponsors of the party, while not directly affecting the votes, have most certainly affected the content of the bill, along with Republican cooperation.

What should be even more frustrating is the lack of serious opposition in the streets to the bill. Democratic focus was instead on, “actually, this will increase the deficit”, rather than, “this will kill people, you monsters.” The Democratic Party, though staunch in refus-

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ing to vote for it, did not offer sufficient reasons why the people should care and how we will suffer the consequences of it.

The bill itself is a perfect representation of the contradiction of American politics. Defenders of the rich and powerful will scream and groan when someone makes fun of Barron Trump, or another rich kid, yet will endorse legislation that could be deadly to many Americans. Being mean online or using rude rhetoric is awful, but supporting legislation that can kill is politics. These contradictions are a poison on our discourse, and any emotion or care of another human being is deemed rude by the “sensible” minority. That is why any left-wing political coalition that wishes to win must be willing to be vulgar to the rich and their cronies.

We shouldn’t be afraid of accusing those who support inhumane policies or committing atrocious personal acts of being monsters. We shouldn’t be worried about the feelings of the rich families who wish to create a world of entitlement for a few and misery for the rest. If a politician is a pedophile, we should call them a pedophile. If a politician is endorsing social

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murder through economicEquinox policies, weStaff should call them a murderer.

In 1922, Italian liberal Piero Gobetti wrote an article titled “Eulogy to the Guillotine,” where he argued the success of Italian Fascism was due to the lack of a genuine revolution in his country. For Gobetti, fascism was the “autobiography of the nation,” and that, “a nation that believes in class collaboration; a nation that renounces political struggle, on account of its own sloth… is a catastrophe, and it is an indication of a decisive infantilism, for it marks the triumph of facility… of optimism.” While we are not dealing with fascism, we are dealing with an enemy which sees human life as meaningless, and promotes collaboration between the classes in order to hurt them more. This nation needs a revolution, and one that will correctly deliver justice against the enemies of humanity, at that. Only then will a genuinely humane society be seen here or anywhere.

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STAFF COMMENTARY

STAFF COMMENTARY

New voting restrictions

FDA’s attempt to limit nicotine use is the right move

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I cannot imagine dedicating so much time towards being so angry that I would try and take away their rights like this.

Izzy Manzo Equinox Staff

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VOTE HERE

LUKE SWEENEY / EQUINOX STAFF

House Bill 372 targets out-of-state student voters IZZY MANZO

Equinox Staff Like myself, almost half of Keene State College’s students come from out-of-state. Another fact is the Republican and Democrat parties are not exactly best friends.

There is a correlation between the two, I promise. Because Donald Trump is secretly a middle school bully in a fancy suit, he has made more than a couple of outrageous claims to justify him losing the popular vote, and a few of them have been aimed at New Hampshire specifically. Last November, he bitterly claimed (through Twitter) there was “serious voter fraud” in New Hampshire. In February, he said thousands of people were bused from Massachusetts to New Hampshire to cast illegal votes. Besides making me laugh, neither claim was backed up by any actual evidence.

In New Hampshire, a college student can vote if they have a valid out-of-state ID, but due to Trump’s recent cries that the election was rigged, New Hampshire Republicans have started cracking down on college students.

House Bill 372 states that a person can only vote in New Hampshire if they are considered a resident, which entails registering your car and getting a New Hampshire driver’s license. Between getting a new license, state fees, municipal fees and a couple of nonsensical administrative fees thrown in there for good measure, registering can cost upwards of $143, according to Slate.

That’s $143 more than I would like to spend just to be able to vote. I am almost positive a majority of fellow broke college students can back me up on that claim. Supporters said the bill is just to “correct” problematic language in the current law and to make sure people have a strong connection to the state they’re voting in. Opposers were still quick to point out that it would only suppress voting and make it more difficult for out-of-state students to cast a ballot.

The legalities of our friend HB 372 are a little murky; according to Slate, the New Hampshire Constitution allows “every inhabitant of the state of 18 years of age and upwards… an equal right to vote in any election.” Placing a burden on someone’s right to vote can only happen if it advances the state’s interest, which this certainly does not.

I am honestly impressed with the amount of effort that went into this. I like the idea of a couple of Republicans so irate over the fact that they could possibly lose an election that they had to jump through hoops to prevent a couple of frat boys from voting for Bernie in 2020. That being said, this is mostly in response to college students being held responsible for Hillary winning in New Hampshire last year, and it is childish for someone to even consider taking these measures to prevent people from voting. I cannot imagine dedicating so much time towards being so angry that I would try and take away their rights like this.

This is all over a candidate who still lost the popular vote, by the way, which I think is fantastic.

Trump, being the actual president of the United States, isn’t enough for those who voted for him – it’s the fact that he lost the popular vote that is grinding their gears. This is nothing but a desperate attempt to blame anyone but the guy who would probably marry Andrew Jackson if he could.

Izzy Manzo can be contacted at imanzo@kscequinox.com

STAFF COMMENTARY

LISA RUSSO

Equinox Staff A recent article in The Washington Post is shedding light on a nationwide problem occurring everyday: nicotine use. Now most people, like myself, associate nicotine with a cigarette. As a kid, a program referred to as Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or referred to as Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E, used to visit my classroom and issue warnings of what happens if you smoke a cigarette. It was always an evil person trying to make a more innocent person take one through peer pressure. Nowadays,, similar strategies are used on a more global scale. An example would be commercials on YouTube ads briefly mentioning how tobacco companies target a certain group of people. Another example I think of is a commercial that airs on teenage/young adult-focused channels such as MTV or vh1. The commercial shows a young girl listing all the things she is agreeing to as if she is a signing a contract and at the end of the commercial the contract/list rolls up into a cigarette before she begins to smoke it.

I bring up these examples because people are beginning to really attempt to make a change when it comes to lessening deaths caused by nicotine use. The article published in the post, “Quitting smoking is hard. FDA wants new nicotine-replacement therapies to help,” breaks down the different ways a smoker can lessen their nicotine intake. I have always been supportive of the idea of nicotine-replacement, not only because it is better for those around smokers, but for personal reasons as well. My brother and my father are smokers. I would estimate that my brother smokes one pack day, whereas my father smokes at least two packs a day plus a vape that has nicotine in it as well. Reading the statistics of those who die because of tobacco really upsets me because of the way my brother and father constantly smoke. For years I have tried to get them to get off of smoking cigarettes because of the long term effects.

The interesting thing about tobacco companies that produce cigarettes is that they have always ignored the fact that their product is so dangerous. Years ago, an idea of nicotine-replacement would be laughed at by other people, but now more so than ever it is important to start backing therapies that help nicotine users get off the deadly substance which subsequently does horrible things to their bodies.

The FDA is taking charge and starting these new committees to combat the use of nicotine. According to the article, it is stated, “the FDA would require reductions in nicotine in conventional cigarettes to make them minimally addictive or non-addictive.” This is groundbreaking to me because that would mean that each year deaths would decrease due to tobacco use. Not only would this change how people view smoking cigarettes because smokers would have other options, but decide other options for the same type of tobacco use. It is my opinion that it could lessen the amount of cigarettes consumed and smoked for personal use but could possibly decrease second hand smoke as well.

Although the idea of new ways of nicotine-replacement could be very much effective, the only thing I would personally worry about is that people who do not smoke would use vapes that have nicotine in them without trying to find ejuice without nicotine in it and wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. I think no matter how the FDA goes about promoting these new therapies, people will still find a way to use a tobacco product for recreational use instead of therapeutic. The difference between therapeutic and recreational meaning users who are not trying to get off of nicotine addiction. However, I sit back and wonder: is there any harm to instituting these new therapies that could really help? I always think that trying to establish easier ways and really doing the best to find a better solution to helping someone get off of what I think is a very harmful substance for a person to be ingesting into their system is worth trying. It’s better to try and fail instead of doing nothing at all.

Lisa Russo can be contacted at lrusso@kscequinox.com

Smaller ink usage will leave less of a print on Earth ZOEANN DAY

Equinox Staff People around the world are constantly coming up with new and innovative ideas regarding sustainability.

New ways to go about our day-to-day lives, making our actions more environmentally efficient, are always at our fingertips. Sylvain Boyer, a French graphic designer, has done just that. He has created a way to redesign logos for big companies using less ink, making the printing process of logos more environmentally friendly, as well as financially efficient. Printer cartridges are recyclable, but realistically speaking, most of them are thrown away and end up in landfills across the world.

If less ink is used by big corporations such as McDonald’s, Nike and Starbucks (all of which Boyer has redesigned logos for), this issue can be decreased significantly, meaning big things for the environment.

Boyer’s idea has the potential to partially solve this issue. His campaign is known as “Eco branding” and it is a sustainable way for companies to use less ink and decrease the footprint they leave on the environment.

He has redesigned some of the most famous logos using less ink, which would save companies close to 10-39 percent of ink.

The changes he makes are barely noticeable, but can reportedly make a big difference on a larger scale. He said, “We used the tools of the offset printing industry, which allow us to calculate very precisely the rate of printed surface. Then it’s only mathematics.” Not only does his idea make changes for the environment, but it will also save companies millions of dollars in the long run. According to a story done by CNN, printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids in the world and “it can cost between $13 and $75 per ounce ($1,664 to $9,600 per gallon).” So as you can imagine, decreasing the amount used by big companies for logos will make huge changes financially. Boyer calculated the savings that one company would make, and the results were shocking.

Boyer said, “Last year, Starbucks produced about 670 million paper cups, with its logo printed on each one. We can estimate that a single logo print could cost $0.15 and use 0.06 ml of ink.

Our redesigned logo uses 38 percent less ink, or 0.0228 ml per cup, which could save nearly 4,000 gallons of ink a year. “ After doing the math, that could equal savings of up to $40 million. If every company, both big and small, used Boyer’s method, millions of dollars could be saved in addition to decreasing the amount of plastic ink cartridges ending up in landfills. Boyer’s method is not the first of its kind to have surfaced. Several individuals, as well as companies, have discovered ways to utilize certain fonts and types of ink in order to decrease the effect printing has on the environment.

One of these, A Dutch company called SPRANQ works with sustainable fonts, and developed an application known as “Ecofont” which can be used by businesses to save up to 50 percent of their ink usage.

In addition, a teenager in 2014 discovered that by switching fonts, the government could save millions through their printing needs. Despite the benefits to this campaign, companies and brands are likely to react to this poorly, given that the essence of the brand is expressed through the logo.

By altering it, companies might be faced with ethical dilemmas when it comes to the morality of the company and what its logo stands for. This could be an issue Boyer’s campaign would have to face; however, in the long run, these changes would make a huge impact on the world we live in. The ground we stand on is one of a kind, it feeds and protects us and we only get one.

Doing everything in our power to save the planet we enjoy is an important cause to fight for. Taking care of our home is an obligation everyone has, and Boyer’s campaign is a huge step forward for the environment.

Zoeann Day can be contacted at zday@kscequinox.com

LAURA ROMANIELLO / ART DIRECTOR

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Thursday, December 14, 2017

Students perform original works MERIDITH KING

Equinox Staff Every concert is usually filled with wonderful music played by talented musicians. Do you ever wonder where that music actually comes from, and who writes it?

Oftentimes, you never will have the chance to meet the composer. However, on Friday, Dec. 8, each and every piece performed in the concert that night was composed by someone who was in attendance of the Student Composer showcase.

The composition students of Dr. Heather Gilligan, Christopher Swist and Dr. Andrew Smith put on a diverse performance.

Sophomore music composition and vocal performance major Tyler Martin opened up the show with his piece titled “Alleluia.” This was his first piece in a composition recital, and he said opening the show was a little nerve wracking, but he thought it went very well overall.

Martin said the inspiration behind “Alleluia” was to blend old styles of music with more contemporary styles. “I sing a lot of old music in my voice lessons and ensembles and I really like it,” Martin said. “But I also really like modern and contemporary stuff, so I thought that I would try to combine them both, by using melody that sounds really old, but on top of really modern chords.”

Martin, a tenor, performed his composition alongside Matthew McGinnis, tenor, Geoffrey Edwards, bass, Christian Terry, bass and Kirsten Becker, who played the piano. He said the choice to perform his own composition was because he knew he could sing the parts that he wrote, as well as the limited amount of male singers available in the program.

Following Martin, nine other student compositions were performed. Audience member and senior trumpet performance major Joseph Conti thought the night’s performances were amazing. “I always love to see what the students are doing here, especially because there

COLTON MCCRACKEN / EQUINOX STAFF

Student musicians performed works written by students. The event was held in the Alumni Recital Hall on Fri., Dec. 3.

are students that you didn’t even know composed,” Conti said. “Then you find out they have these amazing talents to actually write music.”

Conti said the last piece, “Blood of Moon and Thunders’ Echo,” composed by student Alex Wilderman, really stood out to him. The piece was broken into two parts, and used lighting and percussion to convey its’ story. Wilderman said it was inspired by his viewing of a blood moon over a lake, followed by a thunderstorm

rolling down the mountains over the lake.

Dr. Heather Gilligan, who taught some of the students who had pieces in the composition recital, thought the performance went great.

“The students performed well, it was an interesting variety of pieces,” Gilligan said.

Gilligan explained that while students can write compositions for instruments they themselves play, as a few of the student composers did, they are encouraged

Strings, flute, clarinet and ensemble

to write compositions for instruments they do not play as well. “What we teach in the composition classes or lessons is the orchestrations associated with essentially characteristics of instruments,” Gilligan said. “Whether you play them or not you should be able to write for them, so sometimes they purposefully write for instruments they don’t play so that they can branch out.”

Meridith King can be contacted at mking@kscequinox.com

LAST WEEKS SOLUTION

BENAJIL RAI / MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR

On Saturday , Dec. 9, the Sting, Flute and Clarinet Ensembles performed in the Alumni Recital Hall. The Clarinet Choir began the concert, followed by the Flute Ensemble and the String players.

Poems by Isabel

i awoke today and the room was spinning again, felt the ground shift below me and blankets wrap around me, trying to suffocate memories of the night before. i remember your arms like castles (last night they were mine) and i swear i felt you pressed against me put on repeat like the first time, touched me so good. you made me forget i was d y i n g. it’s the third night you visited my bed, please don’t wake me up. that’s the problem with us wide eyed girls with loose lips and cigarette daydreams.

We feel it too hard or feel nothing at all.

-i.t.

Isabel Tisdale is a sociology major who found her love of writing after a fourth grade poetry project. Since then, she spends her time writing poems and creative non-fiction as a way of self- expression.

Her inspirations include Rupi Kaur, Christopher Poindexter and Warsan Shire.

She uses her life experiences to write poetry, with a strong emphasis on the use of motifs, symbols and imagery.

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A Capella winter concert Chock Full O’Notes ends semester on high note ERIN MCNEMAR

Arts & EntErtAinmEnt Editor VANNESSA NICHOLS

Equinox stAff On Saturday, Dec. 9, the Keene State College acapella group Chock Full O’Notes performed in its’ winter concert.

Featuring modern artists such as Imagine Dragons and also turning back the clocks to NSYNC and Michael Jackson, the concert showcased a diverse repertoire of largely student-arranged music.

KSC senior Erin Conti, who has been in the group since her sophomore year, was one of the members who arranged a piece that was performed. Arranging your own piece is not an easy task, Conti explained.

“Sometimes the way you write an arrangement or think something’s going to sound is different from when you actually hear everyone do it. If it’s not as full as you think it was going to be, you have to adjust parts.”

Having three of her works showcased, Conti expressed the difficulty the group had with learning one in particular. “I actually arranged three songs that we’re doing, and one of them isn’t

an original but it’s an adaptation of one in Chock Full O’Notes means to her. that I found. It’s a mashup of Gravity by “These guys are like my family on Sara Bareilles and Run to You by Pentacampus. Like we’re all each others’ attonix. It was just really difficult for us to campus family, and it’s just like a really get down and we weren’t sure we were awesome group of people. I’m so grategoing to finish it.” ful to be a part of it.”

Despite having difficulties prior to While the connections made the concert, the mashup was well-liked between the group members could last by the audience. Sophomore Janis Gaud- a lifetime, singing and performing acareau communicated it to be her favorite pella music can be a challenge. Using no song performed during the afternoon. instruments, and having all the voices “It was amazing, and it gave me chills,” come together as one is tough to do well.

Gaudreau stated.

Conti explained how you have to Over the course of the recital, auditrust the other group members as well ence members were asked to donate as how the methods of learning the to the group’s fundraiser. By donating, music can be hard. audience members were given tickets to “You have to depend on just your put into a bucket, to select which new voices. A lot of the times for our group member of the group they wanted to see in particular we don’t learn the sheet get pied in the face. If $100 was raised, music, we just learn by listening. all of the newbies would get pied. By the Having to rely on just your ears and our end of the evening, the group reached own voices can be difficult,” Conti said. their goal of $100 and all of the newbies This was the last concert for Chock were met with a pie in the face. In addiFull O’Notes this semester, but perfortion, senior Sophie Katz was pied as mances will start again in the spring. well. Katz is the only senior who is leaving this semester.

The group of musical individuals Erin McNemar can be contacted at have become extremely close during emcnemar@kscequinox.com their time together. Junior Morgan Sulham expressed the bonds made Vannessa Nichols can be contacted at between the members and what being vnichols@kscequinox.com

Percussion ensemble brings the beat MERIDITH KING

Equinox stAff To many, percussion is a unique part of music. From feeling the beats of a drum in your chest, to hearing the sounds of the vibraphone in your ears, percussion performances can be involved with more than one of the senses.

On Thursday, Dec. 8, the Keene State College Department of Music presented the Percussion Ensemble, which was directed by Keene State College Resident Artist Christopher Swist, as well as Music Lecturer and Percussionist Amy Garapic.

The performance started off in a non-traditional way to that of most ensemble performances, with all the spotlights off and the stage illuminated only by colorful swirling projections.

Four percussionists performed a piece titled “Mångata,” written in 2016 by Kyle Krause.

The title is a Swedish word for the “road-like reflection of moonlight on water,” something portrayed in the swirling lights that were used to illuminate the musicians.

The performance began with three different pieces performed by three different combinations of musicians and percussion instruments in the first half of the performance, then a short intermission, followed by three more pieces and an encore piece.

Each piece performed was unique, varying in style and composition, often employing everyday found objects as instruments, such as keys on a keychain, various tin cans and ceramic bowls and plates, alongside more traditional percussion instruments.

Swist said the sustainability of percussion is special. “Some people just don’t have money to buy instruments, so young percussionists in countries all around the world need

to resort to [creating instruments out of found objects],” Swist said.

First-year Cailyn Brochey was the only female in the percussion ensemble and said the performance went “great.”

“Everyone gets super into it, they’re just having a good time,” Brochey said.

Brochey said she is drawn to the hands-on aspect of percussion and how she can get into the rhythm.

In each performance within the ensemble, the musicians were constantly moving between instruments. “It’s a lot of fun,” Brochey said. “It always keeps you on your toes, I’m never bored. You’re always busy and always going.”

Swist mentioned how this was not always the case in the past.

“In the far past, percussionists specialized more. You would have a cymbal player, a xylophone player and they really didn’t move around,” Swist said. “But in this era of multitasking, it’s pretty common.”

On using those non-traditional found items as instruments, Brochey said, “It’s more challenging than most would think, you really don’t think it’s that hard until you actually get to it, but after awhile it all becomes a lot of fun and you learn a lot from it.”

First-year Music major Siobhan Cooper loved the performance.

“It was a lot of fun. It definitely got me moving in my chair,” Cooper said.

In the last piece before the encore, in La Samba, a circa 1983 piece composed by Ray Obiedo, the percussion ensemble was joined by flautist Callie Carmosino.

During this piece, tin cans were passed out among the audience to make their own music with the ensemble.

“I was super impressed with the percussion ensemble. They always do a good job but this was a great

ANNA MAGEE / EQUINOX STAFF

GERALD

ALFIERI / EQUINOX STAFF

Creations in the Carroll House

ANGELIQUE INCHIERCA / PHOTO EDITOR

Students, faculty and staff created a variety of ornaments for a contest. The winner received a $50 giftcard to Margaritas.

Sculpture students build works for exhibit ERIN MCNEMAR

creation by senior Sam Stephenson. The work was made of two televisions surrounded by plants. Stephenson explained that he got the idea from looking at an art organization called St. Heron.

In an exhibit that ran from Dec. 4-8, Keene State College students in “[St. Heron] had an installation with a bunch of plants and then one the Sculpture II and Sculpture III classes were able to showcase their cre- single TV in the middle. Then I sort of started looking into the way that ations in the Carroll House. plants communicate. Actually, I was sort of thinking, ‘What would plants Filling three rooms with unique pieces of artwork, the sculptors say to us if they could talk?’ Then I found out that plants do communiobserved as fellow students, facility and some community members cate with each other through chemicals.” marveled at their pieces. As the crowd at the Carroll House amassed, Continuing to explain how plants communicate with each other, Stecompliments about the sculptors could be heard from all over the exhibit. phenson described how the use of the television tied into his concept. “I One specific sculpture that sparked the interest of many observers was a just wanted to sort of simulate [plant communication] in an environment sort of combining nature with something super man-made, like the TVs.” Although it was not being presented at the time, Stephenson said that one of the televisions was supposed to display a binary code, as well as play a spoken poem. “[The poem is] a direct translation of what the binary code is, so it’s sort of trying to bring together that connection of communication between humans and between plants.”

Reporting that Stephenson’s piece was her favorite in the exhibit was junior and art major Rachel Stearns. Although she did not have any pieces on display, Stearns said she took the Sculpture I class last fall. In light of this, Stearns expressed admiration for the challenging tasks that goes into making intricate sculptures. “I know building things is kind of difficult, and just making everything come together and look okay is something that takes a lot of practice.”

In addition to the presentation of sculptures, on Wednesday, the KSC Art Department sponsored an ornament show that ran in Carroll Hall alongside the exhibit.

Students, faculty and staff were all invited to enter the contest with the hope of winning a $50 giftcard to Margaritas, located in downtown Keene. All ornaments entered in the contest were available for the purchase of $5, with proceeds going towards Hundred Nights shelter.

Junior Christopher Mitchell entered his ornament depicting Santa Claus on a spaceship with the jets represented as reindeer. Mitchell explained that when he was stuck on an idea, a phone call to his mom gave him inspiration.

“I called my mom and I was like, ‘Hey, what’s a cheap, cool kind of idea that I could do?’ She said, ‘Do something more modern. Don’t make something more old-school, kind of go out of the box.” From there, Mitchell found himself in the art studio making Santa into an astronaut.

Through the organization of the KSC Art Department, campus and community members were able to spend an afternoon observing what the sculpture students have been up to this semester.

Arts & EntErtAinmEnt Editor

ANGELIQUE INCHIERCA / PHOTO EDITOR

Students created a variety of sculptures for the exhibit.

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com

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BEHIND THE DANCERS

Students present their talent in the 2017 choreography showcase ERIN MCNEMAR

Arts & EntErtAinmEnt Editor Dance is a form of expression. Having the ability to not only tell a story, but create is a form of art.

In a two-day performance presented on Dec. 7 and 8, Research in Choreography students were able to showcase their creativity through the movement of auditioned dancers.

Prior to the performance, all 17 choreographers came to the stage for some well-deserved recognition.

According to choreography student and junior Jordan Pierce, over the course of 12 weeks, student choreographers spent around 230 hours auditioning dancers, casting, teaching and observing fellow choreographers. The choreographers prided themselves on the fact that they were able to make use of all the dancers who auditioned.

Each dance showcased a style of contemporary motion. Through the students’ expressions and movement, the pieces conveyed messages from heartbreak to hope. First-year Emma Johnson commented on how the portrayal of emotions came across as an audience member. “You could definitely feel the dancers emotions,” she said, and continued to credit the choreographers for their work. “You could feel that the choreographers did a lot of hard work and put time and effort into a lot of them.”

Sophomore Alayna Massie, who performed in the showcase, explained what went into creating the intricate dances. “We’ve been rehearsing since September, three days a week.” Massie also expressed that she is no stranger to dance, having been a dancer for 12 years. Although she has declared her major in chemistry rather than dance, she has still found time to be involved with the KSC dance department.

While the Mabel Brown Room, located in the Lloyd P. Young Student Center, was filled with excited friends and family of the performers, some audience members were just interested in seeing what the dance department had been working on this semester. Johnson explained her reason for coming to see the showcase and said, “I came here just to get out of the dorm and see what was going on. It was something to do.” Although her intention for coming was just a way to get out for the night, Johnson expressed her eminent enjoyment of the show. “I thought it was really good. I think it’s awesome that they did this. I think it’s good they did a two-night thing, because I couldn’t come last night, but I think it’s good that they gave multiple options for a lot of people to come. I’m just very happy that they had a really good turnout, because it seems like all of these students put a lot of effort for it. I’m glad they had a good audience.”

While the choreographers and dancers received a great amount of recognition for the success of the performances, people often forget to give credit to those who help-out backstage. First-year Kiara Byron, who operated the light board on Thursday and Friday, explained the difficulties of working backstage. She said, “What’s most difficult about it is the stress when something goes wrong because you have to find a way to fix it in a very fast way. If you don’t do it fast, the audience catches on to the fact you did something wrong. It’s all about the audience. You’re trying to make the experience best for the audience.”

The 2017 Choreography Showcase was a successful two-day event for the dance department, filling the Mabel Brown Room both nights.

Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com BRENDAN JONES / EQUINOX STAFF

KSC students performed in the choreography showcase held on Dec. 7 and 8 in the Mabel Brown Room in the Lloyd P. Young Student Center. There were 17 choreographers in total.

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STUDENT L FE

Student Life / B1

Thursday, December 14, 2017

KSCEQUINOX.COM

KSC celebrates winter holidays

Keeping with tradition EMMA MEHEGAN

Equinox Staff Homesickness and nostalgia are familiar adversaries in the life of most residential college students. Some students find themselves seeking the comfort and familiarity of traditions, especially around the holidays.

For students like Keene State College first-year Victoria Bergstrom, this means an impromptu gathering of close friends to celebrate Sankta Lucia Dagen — or Saint Lucia’s day — and Finland’s 100th birthday.

According to Sweden.se, “the Lucia celebrations represent one of the foremost cultural traditions in Sweden, with its clear reference to life in the peasant communities of old: darkness and light, cold and warmth.”

First-year student Gabriel Vasquez-Billin, a close friend of Bergstrom’s who attended the celebration, said Bergstrom’s connection to her Scandinavian roots are very important to her. “She’s very, very patriotic about that whole Nordic area: Norway, Sweden, Finland, all that,” he said. “I think it was absolutely wonderful that so many people showed up for this little last minute celebration that she put on for something that she cared so much about. And even though there wasn’t much there, she put in a lot of work,” VasquezBillin said.

“My father is Swedish and my mother is Finnish… so I’ve just kind of always grown up with it,” said Bergstrom. “It was important to me to share, you know, what I’ve grown up with… just really showing what my culture is about.”

Vasquez-Billin said his father was born in Tenancingo, Mexico. ”I’ve been able to visit Mexico once… meet my cousins, which was great,” Vasquez-Billin said. “We speak a lot of Spanish in the household…

for special events like birthdays, holidays, family-gettogethers, my dad absolutely loves making nopales, which is cactus, guacamole, of course, pico de gallo… his Mexican food.”

Vasquez-Billin said traditions like these require family to be present, making it hard to connect while away from home. “We haven’t celebrated it for a few years because we’ve kind of grown up a little,” Vasquez-Billin said.

KSC Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity, Dr. Dottie Morris, talked about her experience with the importance of connecting to one’s cultural background while away from home., “I think it’s one way to know who you are” Morris said.

“Any time there’s a chance to celebrate, I think it really does help people reconnect with home.”

Morris, however, said she finds her comfort in supportive friends, and encourages others to be supportive, “Even if, you know, you go somewhere, you come back with just a dessert that’s reminiscent of their culture and give it to them… or if you say hey, you know, can you teach me how to cook something from your culture… that kind of pulls people together,” Morris said.

“I grew up in the south… and even though I’ve lived in New England almost twenty years now, there are certain times of the year… for example, Mardi Gras…

There’s just very few opportunities to celebrate Mardi Gras in the way that it’s celebrated in New Orleans… I miss being connected… and it has helped when people have said, ‘oh, let’s go down to North Hampton, they’re having Mardi Gras.’” Morris said, “I’m saying it helps some people because it helps me.”

Emma Mehegan can be contacted at emahegan@kscequinox.com

ALL PHOTOS BY ANGELIQUE INCHIERCA / PHOTO EDITOR

Students gathered for an impromptu celebration of Sankta Lucia and Finland’s 100th birthday.

Multicultural holiday celebration ANGELIQUE INCHIERCA

Photo Editor With the semester coming to an end, many students are preparing for their travels before winter break begins. However, some clubs at Keene State College still have events planned as an added stress reliever during finals week.

On Friday, Dec. 8, KSC’s Common Ground Multicultural Club held a holiday celebration.

The event included holiday themed foods and drinks (eggnog, pastries, jerked beef, apple cider, etc.), music of all varieties and small activities based on the different celebrations.

Each table at the event featured one of the five traditional festivities.

Common Ground filled the tables with symbols and descriptions of the different holidays’ origins.

Christmas, Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, and Sankta Lucia’s sections all held familiar items such as a mini Christmas Tree, Candle light, Minora and clay dreidels, and Lucia’s Crown.

Kwanzaa’s table was a bit more

interactive. Beside the Kinora and description, the club decided to create a Unity Wreath out of guests’ paper hand cut-outs to signify the diversity and unity among the school and holidays of that evening.

KSC senior and Intern to the President’s Office for Social Media Coordination Connor Bell said in an email “the location of the wreath is TBD,” but it can be expected to be placed around a well-populated area for students, faculty and visitors to have the ability to see its significance for the college.

KSC junior and club Vice President Kate Chestna said that she spent the night decorating gingerbread-men cookies, coloring holiday-themed pages, and hanging out with friends.

“I celebrate Christmas,” Chestna said, “I don’t think anyone on our E-Board celebrates Kwanzaa or Hanukkah, but the other three are celebrated by at least one of us.”

She believes the celebration is a good way to show KSC what the club’s passion and purpose is in a fun event for all KSC students.

Chestna said, “I was talking to Melinda Treadwell, the Interim President, and she was talking to us about wanting to do this [event] next year.”

KSC junior and club President Brianna Neely said that Common Ground holds similar events year round. “Right now we have the holiday celebration going on, we are going to do a slam poetry in the spring, [and] in the fall we did something for Día de los Muertos...”

Neely said that the club goes on trips and tries to “encourage and spread diversity all over campus.”

She hopes that these “more public” events will promote the club and create interests in students to join the club.

After several attempts to contact Melinda Treadwell, she was unavailable to confirm or comment on the matter.

Angelique Inchierca can be contacted at ainchierca@kscequinox.com

TOP LEFT PHOTO BY SEBASTIEN MEHEGAN / ADMINISTRATIVE EXECUTIVE EDITOR // REMAINDER PHOTOS BY ANGELIQUE INCHIERCA/PHOTO EDITOR

KSC Holiday Celebration showcased events of five holidays taking place in the month of December.

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STUDENT LIFE / B2

Thursday, December 14, 2017

KSC students to travel for community service COLBY DUDAL

Student life editor Over 800,000 men, women and children are homeless each night across the U.S., according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

One in nine people worldwide suffer from chronic undernourishment, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.

According to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, one out of every six discharges in the U.S. are from children 17 years old or younger.

This year for winter break, three groups of Keene State College students will go on Alternative Break to help others and educate themselves about issues that are faced by many people every day across the country.

The group Hunger and Homelessness will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio.

Senior Casey Matthews is a leader of the group and said they will have opportunities such as helping in a soup kitchens, shelters, clothing pantries and more.

“The biggest thing I keep pushing is, it can happen to anyone. 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness per year,” said Matthews.

KSC has a partnership with Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homelessness, and Matthews said the group is hoping to do anything they can to help.

Matthews said she had previously gone on an Alternative Break to Asheville, North Carolina, and the Grand Canyon to help with park services on environmental stewardship.

“After doing different types of service projects, I came home and tried to incorporate what I learned there into my daily life,” said Matthews.

She mentioned, after learning more about homelessness in America, she has become more aware of homelessness in the Keene area.

The group Food Security and Sustainable Living will travel to a 26-acre farm on an island in the middle of Nicaragua to learn about food sustainability said junior Lauren O’Brien, one the group leaders.

According to KSC’s community service webpage, “Participants will have the chance to explore permaculture design, natural building, chocolate making and more… Afternoons will be spent in workshops, volunteering at a community center and exploring the sights and culture of the surrounding area.”

O’Brien said that she wanted to lead an alternative break this year after going on a trip her freshman year to the Dominican Republic, involving the water crisis.

“It’s good for us to get away from typical college break. We have so much privilege that it’s good to put to good use. We get to educate ourselves on food sustainability and food security and bring it back to KSC,” said O’Brien.

A third group is traveling to Memphis, Tennessee, to spend time with children who are in the hospital.

Sarah Parece is a senior and one of the leaders of the group.

Parece said the group will be at the “Le Bonheur” hospital, which is French for happiness, to do arts, crafts, watch movies and much more to help the children forget why they are there.

“For them it’s important to have someone other than a doctor or parent... It means a lot for kids to have someone to talk to who is around their age,” said Parece, who mentioned the best part of the trip is seeing the smiles on the childrens’ faces.

Parece said the previous Alternative Break trip she went on was the reason she changed the direction she wanted to go for her major.

Parece was a psychology major who was also studying education, now she is focusing on psychology and plans on getting her master’s degree in Child Life.

The KSC website said these servicebased projects will help students learn about issues that are currently happening in the community and enhance the growth of the students who are going on the trip.

Colby Dudal can be contacted at cdudal@kscequinox.com

TOP LEFT PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY CASEY MATTHEWS // REMAINDER PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY JESSICA RICARD / NEWS EDITOR

KSC students took previous alternative break trips to places like the Grand Canyon, Pittsboro, North Carolina and Boston, Massachusetts.

Annual winter celebration returns to student center

BRENDAN JONES / EQUINOX STAFF

KSC students attended the annual winter celebration in the Lloyd P. Young Student Center on Wednesday, Dec. 6. The event included food, cardboard cutouts and holiday music. The food included a chocolate fountain, pretzels, strawberries, cotton candy and cookies. The event is put on by the Student Center staff each year around this time. The event took place from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m..

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STUDENT LIFE / B3

Thursday, December 14 2017

Behind the lens of the camera The dynamic between two KSC film majors and close friends SEBASTIAN MEHEGAN

want to help people. “Whenever I could make a film like a ‘Hey happy birthday’ film someone would say ‘That’s amazing that made my week’ and I’m like ‘I While some would not move onto the production did that’ and that’s awesome,” Pappas said. administrative executive editor

phase of their ideas, Keene State College sophomore film majors Alex Miller and Alex Pappas have no problem planning, executing and producing their work.

Alex Pappas

Pappas said he started as a wedding videographer, but didn’t enjoy it. “Some people were so fake.

As I was making the videos, someone would say, ‘Oh smile for the camera,’ and when the camera went down they’d say, ‘Oh screw off,’ and I thought it was the fakest thing,” Pappas said.

Following his videography business, Pappas said he began making and selling protein cookies at gyms in his home town. He stopped selling them when he returned to KSC for the fall semester because he said not enough students were interested. Pappas’ next idea was a food delivery service, “I started delivering cookies, cakes and other kinds of food.” He said many people responded positively to his service and he is using the money gained from that to fund his new app.

Pappas said his and Miller’s next project is a film collaboration app. The idea is for the film department, to create an interface where film students can easily find and contact potential crew members or actors for any given project.

Pappas said he has been doing film projects since he was six years old. His earliest experiences with film involved an editing system called Dazzle. With this piece of equipment, Pappas made Lego stop motion videos.

Pappas’ KSC Film Lecturer Ted White said, “Many people consider film a literature even though film has technology that’s a part of it and so I like it when students are looking into creative arts to inspire or stimulate their film making.”

Pappas said his interest in film stems from his

Alex Miller Miller said he has been working with Pappas since they met the second semester of his first year. Miller said during his first semester, he worked with people who brought him down. “I was struggling to find someone who would be doing more things. I met Alex at the end of last year and that was really helpful. He kind of gave me some faith in this program again,” Miller said.

Miller said many of the students he met voiced their hope to move to Hollywood and become famous.

“The reality of the situation is that’s not what happens.

You can’t just say ‘Hey I graduated [from] Keene State, hire me.’”

With many visiting filmmakers, Miller said the one thing he learned is to produce as much work as possible at school. “Once you leave you won’t have the same resources as you had at school,” Miller said.

According to Miller the dynamic of the working duo has him as the idea sparker, while Pappas takes the idea to the next level. “He’s more talented with the camera. I actually want to go into script writing and directing,” Miller said. “I’ll pitch him something and he helps both produce and direct it.” Miller said the dynamic just came naturally to them.

White said during the time he had Miller and Pappas in his class they and their other group members launched into their ideas quickly. “It was one of the best films that’s ever been made in that class I would say,” White said. “They were very enthusiastic.”

Sebastien Mehegan can be contacted at smehegan@kscequinox.com

SEBASTIEN MEHEGAN / ADMINISTRATIVE EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Alex Miller and Alex Pappas are two film majors at Keene State College. The duo began working together the second semester of their first years.

Safety club schedules vote for E-board ALYSSA SALERNO equinox staff

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) group on campus will finally be holding an election to appoint new e-board members in the beginning of the upcoming spring semester after a failed election in the spring of 2017.

ASSE is an international organization for safety students which said it helps students network to future employers and develop their professional skills.

Mason Robbins, a KSC 2016 graduate, was the president of ASSE in the spring of 2017. The group decided to use SurveyMonkey, an online survey service, to tally the results of the election.

“There were a few areas that were not explored thoroughly enough to realize that SurveyMonkey, in the capacity that we were using it, would not be a fair voting process,” said Robbins.

He said that anyone with the link to the survey could vote so they had no way of knowing if only members of the organization were voting. There was also no way of knowing if a person

voted more than one time.

“Once it was brought to our attention we addressed it properly. We went to our advisor saying we had to redo what we just did because there was a problem with it,” said Robbins.

At the same time, Robbins said, the student involvement office in the Student Center was notified.

At that time, the ASSE student chapter was told their bylaws had not been updated with the college since 1989. The group was then forced to comply with the bylaws set forth nearly 30 years later, which did not allow for electronic voting methods, even if they were done properly.

Chair of the Safety Department and Advisor to the group, Wayne Hartz said, “There’s been an ASSE student chapter here for a long time… and just about every year the chapter would apply for the best chapter of the year award and that required updated bylaws.”

“So those bylaws had been updated consistently, however, the bylaws that went to the student center had not,” said Hartz.

Nevertheless, the ASSE student

chapter struggled to find a way to get the elections done before the year was up.

The bylaws set forth in the 1989 version stated that a written ballot needed to be posted before the date of the election, a timeline whichw would have put the group out past when classes were in session in the spring of 2017.

ASSE got back in the fall 2017 semester, the eboard had in place interim positions and set out with the goal of writing a new set of bylaws to give to the college.

Along with a new advisor, the ASSE student chapter took the semester writing updated rules to make sure a mistake like this would not happen again.

“The new bylaws haven’t been accepted yet,” said the new advisor of the ASSE student chapter, Brian Bethel. “[ASSE is] reverting back to the old bylaws with paper ballots.”

Even still, Bethel said the elections are going to be held early in January, at the beginning of the spring 2018 semester.

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com

LAURA ROMANIELLO / ART DIRECTOR

Students facing stress during finals week IZZY HARRIS equinox staff

Long hours at the library, stress eating and flash cards galore; welcome to 2017 finals week.

As the semester comes to a close, many college students are familiar with the stress that finals week brings.

“I have projects as well as final exams. Trying to balance studying while working on projects is stressful,” said first-year Caroline Hentz.

Hentz said finals week is, “better than I expected, it’s not as stressful as I was expecting it to be. I was expecting certain types of finals from each class, and [professors] do what they will think will test their students instead of following some school-wide regulation.”

Other students, such as junior Meredith Souza find finals week to

be very stressful.

“I’m a double major so trying to juggle them both is hard,” said Souza.

As for study methods, Souza said she uses index cards, study sheets and rewriting her notes.

Souza said, “I’m always in the library at least two hours a day. I kind of make every week like finals week, where I know I need to be on top of my game.”

Contrarily, athletic training major Sabrina Budington said she does not feel more stressed during finals week.

“I had so much more work during the school year compared to now and I don’t have any more assignments due.”

ANNA HEINDL / EQUINOX STAFF Several students also expressed concerns on how finals affect their stresses her out particularly during Likewise, KSC student Hunter final grades. finals week is “the stress of trying to Cinq-Mars said, “For a lot of classes Hentz said something that keep my [grade point average] up.” you’re getting a final that is worth

30 percent of the course, it really is a heavy burden.”

On the other hand, Budington said that she has good grades right now, so it is not as stressful for her.

KSC’s Assistant Director for Outreach in the Counseling Center, Forrest Seymour said, “The idea of a test can trigger anxiety.”

Seymour said, “The fact that [students] are being tested, regardless how well they know the material, can really trigger the anxiety.”

Each student manages their stress in a different way.

Some students like Cinq-Mars said they go to the gym to deal with stress, while other students like Souza and Hentz said they listen to music.

One way to reduce stress is to self-coach and talk yourself through things.

Seymour said an example of this

would be to say to yourself, “I’ve done all the studying I can do,” and reminding ourselves that we have taken tests before and we have done okay.

Seymour also said the human body’s ability to retain information when it is tired decreases.

“I can say, with a good deal of confidence, that staying up all night in order to try and observe more information is probably not an effective strategy.”

While studying for finals, Seymour said he suggests students get, “plenty of rest, eat well and get some exercise. All of these things suffer when people have to cram for exams and taking care of those things can reduce stress.”

Izzy Harris can be contacted at iharris@kscequinox.com

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STUDENT LIFE / B4

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Interested in Writing?

Humans of KSC

What holiday do you celebrate and what is the silliest tradition your family does?

“New Years. For now, no, but back home [to Rwanda] we use to only eat meat on New Years, usually beef.

We would be waiting all year for that day. Waiting a long time for that day.”

Contact Colby Dudal Student Life Editor

(603) 489 - 3347

Umutoni

“We celebrate Christmas, but we also recognize Hanukkah for the Festival of Lights. It has nothing to do with Christmas, but it does have something to do with the coming Messiah. A fun thing our family always did was a jigsaw puzzle between Christmas and New Years. We would gather in the living room and finish it that whole week. We still like to! Last year I did one, a 2,000 piece that my son got me… and I had one piece missing in the end.”

Kathy

to do your holiday shopping MONDAY - FRIDAY City Express runs 8:00am-5:00pm Campus/Community Shuttle runs 7:30am-7:30pm

The City Express stops at 7 locations on campus and can take you holiday shopping at Monadnock Marketplace, Riverside Plaza, West Street Shopping Center, and more!

KSC students and staff ride free with ID All City Express vehicles are ADA accessible and are equipped with easy to use bike racks. For more information or a complete schedule, visit cityexpress.org or call 352-8494. TTY use 711.

What’s your Plan?

Dining Service Hours Thursday 12/14 Lloyd’s and Bean & Bagel All Other Dining Locations

7AM to 6PM OPEN Regular Hours

Friday 12/15 Zorn Dining Commons Lloyd’s and Bean & Bagel All Other Dining Locations

7AM to 6PM 7AM to 2:30PM CLOSED

Saturday 12/16 and Sunday 12/17 All Dining Locations

CLOSED 8AM to 2:30PM CLOSED

Now’s the time to adjust your Meal Plan or add a Plan or s rin i you need to

8AM to 2:30PM CLOSED

Students living in traditional campus housing may change their Platinum-level Plan by increasing the Meal Plan Dollar amount of their Plan.

Monday 12/18 Thursday 12/21 Lloyd’s and Bean & Bagel All Other Dining Locations

Friday 12/22 Lloyd’s and Bean & Bagel All Other Dining Locations

Saturday 12/23

Monday 1/1

All Dining Locations

Tuesday 1/2

CLOSED

Friday 1/12

Lloyd’s and Bean & Bagel All Other Dining Locations

8AM to 2:30PM (M-F ONLY) CLOSED

Saturday 1/13 All Dining Locations

CLOSED

Sunday 1/14 Zorn Dining Commons Lloyd’s and Bean & Bagel All Other Dining Locations

Noon to 7:30PM Noon to 10PM CLOSED

Monday 1/15 (Martin Luther King Day) Dining Commons Lloyd’s and Bean & Bagel All Other Dining Locations

10AM to 8PM 10AM to 10PM CLOSED

Students in campus apartments, living off campus, and commuting may change to any plan but must maintain or increase the Meal Plan Dollar level on their selected Plan.

Internship keeping you away from campus during meal times? Use your Meal Plan to have us prepare bagged lunches for you. For information on our Bagged Lunch Program, stop by the Owl Card Office.

Make an informed decision. View your Meal Plan status online in the Owl Card Portal get.cbord.com/owlcard. Install CBORD GET Mobile on your iOS or Android mobile device.

Understand your commitment. Review the Meal Plan Contract online for details and deadlines regarding Meal Plan Changes and submit your Meal Plan Change or Order at keene.edu/office/dining.

keenestatedining.SodexoMy Way.com

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Time Capsule / B5

TIME CAPSULE

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Call for financial aid cuts Theory of past education secretary is still applicable ABBYGAIL VASAS

Copy Editor/timE CapsulE Editor The price of higher question is one of the biggest problems facing young people today, and financial aid plays a major part in that. Concerns over how to pay for college is a hot-topic of discussion at Keene State College, as it was at this same time in 1986.

Education Secretary at the time William J. Bennett called for reform of federally-aided higher education financial aid. He unrolled a plan to eliminate federal subsidies to some loans and establish a repayment program based on how much money college graduates are anticipated to make.

The Equinox article included a statement made by Bennett, reporting college costs had risen 150% since 1975, and the reason was too much available student aid.

The article also reported that Bennett’s proposition was greatly disliked by the American Council on Education (AEC) and members of the council spoke-out against Bennett. Vice president of legal affairs for AEC at the time Charles Saunders said not only was there no evidence that college costs were increasing due to excess financial aid, but “The cuts to federal student aid have contributed to institutional [decisions] to increase tuition.”

The article also quotes thenspokesperson for ACE Bill Kroger,

who said, “What Bennett is doing is rationalizing further attempts to reduce student aid.”

At that time, the Reagan administration had proposed cutting over $2 billion from higher education. According to a 1986 New York Times article, the presidents of over 50 colleges and universities across the nation converged on Washington D.C. in April of that year to lobby against the proposition.

In a joint statement from the college presidents, they expressed that the cuts would lead to three million students struggling to pay for higher education.

There is actually a topic still talked about in modern financial discussions known as the “Bennett Hypothesis.” The name was based on an op-ed Bennett wrote for the New York Times in 1987, titled, “Our Greedy Colleges.”

In the piece he wrote, “If anything, increases in financial aid in recent years have enabled colleges and universities blithely to raise their tuitions, confident that Federal loan subsidies would help cushion the increase.”

He noted that, beginning in 1980, the cost of college was increasing at a faster rate than inflation.

Bennett’s hypothesis believes that if there is a lot of available federal aid, then colleges will be more willing to increase the price of tuition because they think that the aid will allow for it.

Today, we are again in a time

where tuition is increasing and financial aid doesn’t seem to be enough. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average cost of tuition, room and board full-time at an undergraduate four-year college in 1985 was about $11,548 (that is $5,160 in 2016-dollars). In that same statistic, the average cost of college in 2015 was $25,409. This means in the past 30 years college tuition has increased 120 percent.

According to the same source, the average salary of a person with an undergraduate degree in 1985 was a little over $20,000, and in 2015 it was about $50,000.

Here at KSC, the Financial Aid office offers government-backed aid in the form of Pell Grants and the SEOG. The Pell Grant is a federal program to assist in the furthering their education, and eligibility criteria is determined by the federal government.

SEOG is the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, which is made available based on extreme financial need and the student who is applying must be enrolled at least half-time.

Abbygail Vasas can be contacted at avasas@kscequinox.com

ABBYGAIL VASAS / COPY EDITOR/TIME CAPSULE EDITOR

Statistics from the national Center for Education Statistics

KSC HISTORY

1987: Holiday Spirit at Keene State College ABBYGAIL VASAS

Copy Editor/timE CapsulE Editor Just a little while ago on Nov. 30, the Equinox published an article about Keene State College’s 31st Thanksgiving Basket Drive. At this time 31 years ago the Equinox reported on KSC’s first successful Basket Drive.

The college collected about 80 baskets in 1986 for the Community Kitchen. The event also included a holiday ceremony on the Monday before Thanksgiving. In the L.P. Young Mabel Brown Room students, faculty and recipients got together and celebrated. The event concluded with a collective singing of the song “America the Beautiful.”

KSC was also involved in a charitable Christmas organization called G.I.F.T.S., which stands for Good Intentions Fulfilled Through Sharing. The program called for donations of gifts to distribute to children of low-income families in the area. The college had collected over 200 gifts so far.

According to 2015 data from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), 28 percent of children in New Hampshire are living low-income households. The NCCP said that a family of four (two parents, two children) is estimated to need about $48,072 to meet their basic needs; that income level is twice the amount of what the U.S. Census defines as the “poverty threshold” for a four-person family ($24,036). The NCCP also showed that 52 percent of children in low-income households have parents who are either unemployed or have at least one working

part-time.

With the cost of living so high and the incomes of over half of the parents state-wide so low, it is understandable that some parents struggle to buy presents for their children. According to the American Research Group, in 1985, people planned on spending about $300 on Christmas gifts; in that same study it showed that in 2017, people are planning on spending over $900 on presents. For a family only making $48,000 a year, who also have other things to worry about such as paying their rent or mortgage to keep a roof over their family’s heads, paying their bills to keep the lights and heat on and making sure they have enough food to keep their children healthy. Spending close to a thousand dollars on presents simply isn’t in the budget.

Students who are feeling generous this holiday season and want to help a family in need can donate to the Keene Community Kitchen on campus by exchanging non-perishable foods for library fine forgiveness. They can also participate by Big Brothers Big Sisters’ toy drive, which is being run for its second year.

Aside from campus, there are other ways you can donate to a good cause over the holidays. There are a few programs, such as the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree and the Toys for Tots foundation both serve to distribute donated gifts to children who may have gone without presents this Christmas.

Abbygail Vasas can be contacted at avasas@kscequinox.com

KSCEQUINOX.COM

NATIONAL HISTORY

Bill of Rights signed into law ABBYGAIL VASAS

Copy Editor/timE CapsulE Editor The Bill of Rights, also known as the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, became official on Dec. 15, 1971 when Virginia became the final state to ratify it.

The Bill of Rights is the cornerstone of our nation and the amendments included in it can potentially affect every american citizen. The first amendment protects our right to free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble and the right to petition the government for a “redress of grievances.” The second amendment protects our right to bear arms, saying, “ a well regulated militia being necessary to the safety and security of a free state.” The fourth amendment protects our right to be secure in our persons, properties and belongings against unwarranted searches and seizures. The fifth amendment protects us from being held for a crime unless indicted by a grand jury, being deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law or being compelled to be a witness against ourselves (this is also known as the right to remain silent). The sixth amendment secures our right to a quick and public trial and to an attorney. The eighth amendment prevents excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishments.

Most Ahmerican citizens will probably encounter one or more of these amendments throughout their lives. We should all be thankful for those basic guidelines that protect us in our everyday lives because it could be much worse. We cannot forget that in some places, people cannot practice religion as freely as it is practiced here. In some places, the military police could pick you off the street one day with no concrete evidence or reasoning. Here, we get the right to a trial with a judge and a jury and an attorney; but in other countries, the accused may never be seen again.

Let’s all take a moment on Friday to apprciate the Bill of Rights and the freedoms it grants us.

Abbygail Vasas can be contacted at avasas@kscequinox.com

ABBYGAIL VASAS / COPY EDITOR/TIME CAPSULE EDITOR

Statistics from National Center for Children in Poverty.

ABBYGAIL VASAS / COPY EDITOR/TIME CAPSULE EDITOR

Eating disorders affected women in the 80s and still do today ABBYGAIL VASAS

Copy Editor/timE CapsulE Editor Eating disorders have been written about several times by the Equinox throughout the years. Illnesses such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa seem to be ever-present issues on our campus and in this nation. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) over 30 million people across the U.S. suffer from eating disorders.

In 1987, the Equinox published an article titled “anorexia and bulimia, addictive diseases” which featured Tara Zimmerman, the Director of Counseling Services at the time, and a recovering bulimic named Lisa. The article opened with Lisa defining addiction as, “A state in which you want and need something so bad, and then, once you have it, you realize you don’t want it anymore.”

Zimmerman explained that eating disorders were caused by women’s changing perceptions of themselves. That statement holds true today. Women’s body image plays a huge roll in how they treat themselves. Anorexia nervosa is when some women, in an effort to stay “thin,” starve themselves or do not give

their bodies enough calories. Some others have bulimia nervosa, which is when they go through a cycle of uncontrollable bingeing followed by purging to rid themselves of the guilt or the mistake they thought they made by binge eating.

According to the Walden Center for Education and Research, 20 percent of college students reported having, or previously having, an eating disorder. 91 percent of female college students reported trying to control their weight with dieting.

While maintaining a healthy diet is important to keeping a “good” body weight, it is important to keep in mind that some diets can be unhealthy. Those diets are the ones that push your body to its limits, the ones that require you to consume too much or too little of something, such as the “Hollywood diet,” where one essentially survives throughout the day on small snacks, or extreme cleanses or detox regimens.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a few things you should never do when trying to lose weight are starvation, fasting or low-calorie diets, replacing foods with supplements, or cleanses/detoxes.

Fasting can be dangerous because although you will lose weight, starving your body of calories also

causes a loss of muscle-mass and slows your metabolism. This actually may cause your body to start gaining more fat than muscle, to try and store as much energy as possible. The CDC advises adults to not go below 1,200 calories per day without consulting their doctor first.

The CDC warns against taking supplements that offer miracle results, saying “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” The article noted that, unlike prescription drugs, supplements are not required to be proven safe or effective for consumption before being put on the shelves. If you are thinking about taking any weight loss supplement, ask your doctor first to be sure it’s the right decision for your overall health.

Although detox and cleanse regimes do help you lose weight, it’s mostly water-weight and the negative effects outweigh those short-lived perks. They can lead to the loss of too much fluid, leaving you dehydrated and with an electrolyte imbalance. According to an article by Live Science, which featured the director of sports nutrition at the University of California, Davis, Liz Applegate, juice cleanses or liquid diets can be extremely unhealthy. She noted that they tend to be low in protein. Protein helps build the immune system and regenerates muscles. Applegate also noted that

juicing fruits and vegetables removes most of the fiber from them. However, fiber is essential for a healthy digestive tract.

She also said that a lot of people who participate in juice cleanses often complain of unwanted side effects such as headaches, fatigue, difficulty thinking, moodiness and stomach pains. Applegate also noted that there is no proven, scientific evidence that these cleanses or detoxes actually work. One of the perceived benefits of doing a cleanse is that it gives your digestive system a break, but according to Applegate, “The digestive system operates every day to digest foods, and it doesn’t need any rest.”

If you or someone you know may be suffering from an eating disorder, please seek medical attention whether it be from your doctor, the Center for Health and Wellness or the Counseling Center. Taking extreme measures to control your weight hurts rather than helps. Regardless of what the media portrays, no two bodies are alike, and no one should be expected to look like something they aren’t to be accepted as attractive.

Abbygail Vasas can be contacted at avasas@kscequinox.com

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Sports / B6

Patriots Column

Thursday, December 14, 2017

RECAP

Men’s basketball jumps over Southern Maine CAROLINE PERRY

SportS Editor Last Saturday, Dec. 9, the Keene State College Owls went up against the University of Southern Maine coming out on top 73-58, with their sixth straight victory. Junior Ty Nichols led KSCagain, scoring 25 points, 18 of which were in the second half. Nichols added six rebounds, six assists, and four steals to the list to finish up his night. Senior Dizel Wright also had an impact on the scoreboard, recording a total of 11 points. Wright made that a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, as well as having two assists and one steal. First-year James Anozie put up 14 points and nine rebounds for the Owls, while fellow first-year Miguel Prieto made it into the double digits with 12 points himself. With a slow start for both teams, KSC finally found some fuel after first-year Sidi Diallo free throws put the Owls on the board at the 15:56 mark.

The Owls set a match to the slowness, as two minutes

CAROLINE PERRY

SportS Editor In week 14 the New England Patriots (10-2) went up against the Miami Dolphins (5-7).

The struggle on the field was evident as the Patriots trailed 0-6 at the end of the first quarter mark.

The Patriots offense was set on neutral, as quarterback Tom Brady failed to complete a single pass in the first quarter.

DeVante Parker was able to get an interception for the Miami Dolphins, discouraging Pats Nation.

However the Patriots ability to make great turnarounds has always been in their history, so going into the second quarter there was very little worry.

In the second quarter the Patriots got back into Miami territory, as Tom Brady set up a 46-yard field goal for Stephen Gostkowski.

Beforehand the Dolphins were able to get a crucial third down, which helped Jarvis Landry get into the end zone.

Going into the halftime mark the Patriots trailed 10-13. After halftime, Patriots fans were ready for a quick turn around, but they received the exact opposite.

In what some would say the worst performance seen from the Patriots in the 2017 season, the New England team struggled further in the third quarter.

It all began to fall apart as the Miami Dolphins scored two touchdowns on their two drives in the third quarter.

Jay Cutler was able to find Jarvis Landry, for yet another touchdown, which increased the dolphins lead.

The Patriots defense failed to do anything. Prior to these two final plays of the third quarter, quarterback Tom Brady found Danny Amendola on two consecutive plays for a total of 32 yards.

Tom Brady has never had the best of records against Miami and the score at the end of the third quarter indicated that it wouldn't be getting much better either.

The entirely rough third quarter made Patriots fans all around cringe, but with still one quarter left, hope was alive. Going into the fourth quarter the Patriots trailed 10-27.

Looking for a turnaround, Tom Brady worked to find spots, successfully getting the Pats into the red zone.

With the help of a play-action pass to James White who was running a flat route, New England moved up.

With only ten points away the Patriots looked for opportunities, even attempting an outside kick.

But to no avail the Patriots took a 20-27 loss.

Now at week 14, the Patriots need to look forward now and prepare themselves for week 15.

No more losses are needed in the Pat nation.

Caroline Perry can be contacted at cperry@kscequinox.com

later Anozie finished a lay-up, making the score 9-3. Nichols extended the advantage to 12-6 after a three point shot at the 11:07 mark. However, the Siberian Huskies found a spark, ultimately leading both team into halftime with a score of 29-27, the Owls trailing. After half, KSC raised their shooting percentage and hustled to get back on top. Sophomore Ben Olson tied the game at 32-32 after a lay-up, and from there Keene went back and forth with Southern Maine, neither team finding as many scoring opportunities. Keene eventually broke away for a 51-49 lead, never relinquishing their position. Ultimately the Owls outscored Southern Maine 46-29 in the second half, redeeming themselves after a slower first half. The Owls’ next home game will be Saturday, Dec. 13 at 3:00 p.m.. They will take on the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

Caroline Perry can be contacted at cperry@kscequinox.com

JAKE PAQUIN / EQUINOX STAFF

Junior Kyle Santoro makes his way upward toward the hoop past Southern Maine defenders, finishing at the hoop, in last Saturday’s game.

CONSTRAINTS

I am out of season. You also get a break every day from the madness of school work, to just play the game you Cont. from B8 love and have some fun” added Thach.

All in all, Thach said that the biggest thing she has basketball only. This is a period in time where you can taken away from playing basketball in college is being get a lot better individually and as a team,” said Thach. part of a team, which requires trust within each other She added that only having a week off has impacted on the court and off the court. her time spent with her family, because she is only with “This alone is what builds team chemistry and it's them for a week, instead of four weeks, but that because a great feeling being able to create a family away from of this, has has learned to not take her time with them home,” said Thach.

First-year Jordyn Burke and sophfor granted. omore Sophie Bushey were unable to comment after Like Gonyea though, Thach thinks that basketball attempts at contact. is very much worth it. Thach said that she does think Despite the constraints that basketball season may that basketball is very much worth it even though it is create, the basketball team endures them and works time constraining because she is on a set schedule every hard, as all KSC athletes strive to do. day during the season, so she learns to manage her time wisely.

Caroline Perry can be contacted at “I have seen a big difference in my grades and my cperry@kscequinox.com studying habits when I am in season compared to when

Interested in hitting the slopes this December?

Check out the local ski areas near and in Keene!

>Mount Snow >Granite Gorge Ski Area >Crotched Mountain Ski & Ride >Wachusett Mountain Ski Area >Berkshire East Mountain Resort >Magic Mountain Ski Area >Mount Sunapee Resort >Stratton Mountain Ski & Summer Resort

FUN FACT

Did you know that the Keene Fire Department is pairing up with Keene State College in order to promote good health for students and athletes?

Are you interested in writing for Sports or The Equinox?

Caroline Perry

(802) 522-4738

Athletes of the Week HOPE WALSH

JARED HANNON

Senior WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

Junior MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Jared Hannon received the title of Keene State Athlete of the Week for his impressive performances in the Smith Invitational.

Hope Walsh received the title of Keene State Athlete of the Week after registering an NCAA B-cut at the MIT Invitational.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY KSC ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY KSC ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT

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Sports / B7

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Six athletes receive LEC awards Luke’s Owl athletes from various sports recieve awards before winter break SIMON BURCH

equinox Staff Several Keene State College athletes were recently honored with the Little East Conference (LEC) Athlete of the Week award.

These athletes come from a variety of sports and were chosen for their performance in their respective sports.

Four of the athletes honored are members of the track and field team, Anthony Jennings, Clinton Mungeta, Jared Hannon, Taylor Bisaillon.

KSC senior Hope Walsh a member of the swim team, and KSC juniot Ty Nichols, who is on the basketball team, were also honored.

Junior Taylor Bisaillon received the LEC award for her performance in the 600-meter run crossing the finish line just in front of teammate Alexandria Papadimoulis with a time of 1:48.52.

Bisaillon said that winning the award was an honor, and it was nice being able to represent her school at the event.

She said that it was her first time running the 600-meter event which made the experience all that much more interesting.

Bisaillon said that since this was the team's first meet everyone was, “breaking out the rust busters,” but that everyone competed very well.

She also said that everyone has made good progress and is better at this point than they were last year.

Bisaillon said that her coaches have done a good job of preparing everyone and that she is excited to see how everyone will improve over the season.

Another track and field athlete and junior Anthony Jennings, said that he is looking forward to postseason.

Jennings, who earned the LEC Athlete of the Week award for his participation in the 4x400-meter event, said that off-season preparation, including running cross-country, helped him improve a lot.

Jennings competed in the 4x400meter event along with Hannon, Clinton Mungeta, and Brandon Castor.

The relay “A” team completed the race with a time of 3:37.26, which Jennings said is six seconds better than last years team.

Jennings said that the coaching staff is pushing the team well this year. He also said that he thinks the team can go far this year if they keep working hard.

Jennings who also runs in the 400 open, 200, 500, and the 600 says that the team is in the process of coming together.

He said the coaches have put the athletes through a few hard workouts so far this year, which he knows will help prepare them for the postseason.

Senior Hope Walsh was awarded with her second LEC Athlete of the Week award of the season.

Walsh was given the award for her NCAA B-Cut time while taking third in the mile at the MIT invitational.

Walsh completed the race with a time of 17:28.73, which is currently the 20th fastest time held in Division III this season.

Walsh said she was surprised but excited when she found out about the award. She also said that her senior year has made juggling her responsibilities for the swim team a bit harder.

But that she feels the MIT meet was a turnaround for her, and that she felt she was starting to feel the payoff for all her hard work this season.

Walsh said that everyone who went to the MIT meet did a great job, and she has seen “a ton of improvement since the start of the year.”

Walsh said that she thinks the swim team can do very well this year, aiming for their 12th win in a row, or as the team calls it the “Dirty Dozen.”

Walsh also said that her coach eased the players into practices a bit more this year than usual which she thinks has helped some of the younger swimmers.

Walsh said she is looking forward to NCAA post-season and thinks the team is going to be very strong throughout the rest of their season.

LUKE STERGIOU

Senior photographer

Toronto FC Wins MLS Cup 2017

Simon Burch can be contacted at sburch@kscequinox.com

EMILY PERRY / EQIUNOX STAFF

BRIEF

Swim and dive team finishes up fall term JACEY CHAVEZ

equinox Staff For Keene State College swimming, the fall season has come to an end with their invitational meet at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and thus the focus is shifting for the athletes to the winter season that will take off on Jan. 10.

In the moment it is obvious that the swimmers are looking forward to getting some time off for winter break, but even before the rest of the students return to campus, the swim and diving team will have two meets under their belts.

They are set to take on Roger Williams University on Jan. 10, followed by Bentley University on Jan. 13.

This will be coming after the rather average fall season for KSC, on the men’s side they came off of losses to Boston College, and Wheaton College, however they saw wins against St. Michael’s and Colby Sawyer College.

The women’s program followed the same result line, and both had some hiccups at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Invitational.

Kickin’ Column

One of those hiccups was the illness that struck standout 200 meter fly and 400 Individual Medley swimmer, Kyle Shadeck.

Shadeck, a sophomore, put on a great performance for the season opener, where he won three individual races and was integral in the relay he competed in.

Upon talking with Shadeck he called the fall season average but he said he “had some breakthroughs in training and in dual meets so (he) was able to learn some things,” despite his sickness for the MIT meet.

He said, “For the winter season I am hoping to fine tune some of the smaller details of my events such as my turns and breathing pattern, as well as making sure I'm staying healthy for the entirety of the rest of the season.”

Some goals that Shadeck talked about for himself and the team consisted of qualifying for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships in March and for the team, placing in the top three at New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association (NEISDA) in February.

Although lofty, these are very attainable goals for Shadeck and his team, however they must all be dedicated and willing to push through the long and draining season that is the swim and dive one.

With meets occurring from October through March, the season asks a lot from the athletes both mentally and physically.

With very early morning practices, long hours, and the need to stick to a regulated food plan, the swim and dive schedule is not a forgiving one.

For the future of the program, it is clear that if they are able to continue recruiting at the caliber they have been, that it will prove to only grow in its success under Coach Chris Woolridge.

Shadeck was able to describe his coach as, “a great coach that knows how to bring the best out of people, and I have grown quite a bit as a person and as an athlete thanks to him in just the year and a half that I've been here.”

Woolridge, a KSC graduate himself, took over the position of head coach after a year as the interim head coach, in July of 2016.

He is coach for both the men and women’s programs and looks forward to the upcoming winter season after the winter break.

Jacey Chavez can be contacted at jchavez@kscequinox.com

EMIILY PERRY / EQUINOX STAFF

On Dec. 9 2017, Toronto FC avenged last year’s MLS Cup loss and beat the Seattle Sounders 2-0 to win the 2017 MLS Cup. With the help of MLS coach of the Greg Vanney, Toronto FC became the first club in MLS history to win the Domestic treble: the MLS Cup, the Canadian Championship and the Supporters Shield.

The club that was once called “the worst club in MLS” a few years ago has now proved to be arguably the best club in MLS history.

Straight from kick off at BMO field, Toronto looked very lively and hungry for vengeance. The whole team looked incredibly solid on the field while Seattle looked shambolic and disconnected.

Toronto was constantly running through Seattle’s midfield and put pressure on the defence constantly.

Within the first 10 minutes, Toronto had already recorded two shots on goal, with Sebastian Giovinco coming close to scoring in the 10th minute.

Giovinco proved to be vital to this game, creating many chances and coming close to scoring plenty of times during the first-half.

Coach Greg Vanney changed the lineup for this game, returning to a 4-4-2 diamond formation instead of the previous 3-5-2. This move had been met with some skepticism, especially since the team had played with the 3-5-2 formation for the majority of the 2017 MLS season.

In the end, this formation change benefitted Toronto immensely, as the team dominated possession throughout the game. Toronto’s dominance was shown at half-time as there was barely any stoppage time added. The score was 0-0 after the first-half.

At the start of the second-half, Toronto still had the same intensity and still dominated Seattle.

Giovinco once again had another close chance of scoring in minute 63, but Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei denied his shot with a fantastic diving save.

For the first hour, Frei was a brick wall between the sticks. He was very dominant, making several key saves for Seattle, making it very difficult for Toronto to score.

But in minute 67, Frei was broken down as Jozy Altidore scored on the counter attack, passing Frei with ease and slotting it in the back of the net. After the goal Seattle’s defence struggled to withstand Toronto’s attack.

The second goal came in stoppage time as Victor Vázquez calmly placed in a deflected shot to solidify Toronto’s lead in minute 93.

The game ended 2-0 and Toronto avenged their MLS Cup final loss from the previous year, causing BMO field to erupt with joy.

What Greg Vanney has done with this team is incredible. From being one of the worst teams in MLS not too long ago to now being called the best team in MLS history, the team has certainly come a long way.

With the likes of Justin Morrow, Steven Beitashour and Victor Vázquez, the team has been rejuvenated into a well-oiled machine that is unstoppable.

Vanney has also proven why he is the best coach in MLS this season and how vital a manager is to a team like Toronto FC. Luke Stergiou can be contacted at lstergiou@kscequinox.com

The KSC swim and dive team finishes out their fall term strong and looks forward to what the season has to hold after winter break. Both coaches and athletes are excited.

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SPORTS

Sports / B8

Thursday, December 14, 2017

KSCEQUINOX.COM

Running around the seasons

Two year-round athletes look to improve upon success ALEXANDRIA SAURMAN

Managing ExEcutivE Editor Being a student athlete is no easy task, but it’s even more challenging when the athlete performs year round.

For a small group of students at Keene State College, their fall and spring semesters consist of both getting an education and playing sports.

While also completing majors in management and economics and safety studies, juniors Jared Hannon and Taylor Bisaillon are two of the year-round atheltes. Hannon runs on the cross country team in the fall, and Bisaillon plays on the soccer team.

This season, the two student-athletes have already made strides at the Indoor Track and Field team’s first invitational meet.

Hannon and Bisaillon placed first in a few of their respective events at the non-

scoring invitational at Smith College on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Hannon came in first place for the men’s long jump with a jump of 6.63 meters, according to KSC’s athletic website. He also earned second for the men’s 200 meter dash, running 23.56 seconds.

Bisaillon took first for the women’s 600 meter run with a time of 1:48.52 minutes, and tenth for the women’s shot put, throwing 9.61 meters.

In addition, both athletes ran a 4x400 meter relay. For the men’s 4x400, Hannon placed first with a time of 3:37.26 minutes.

The group Bisaillon was in earned second, running 4:21.81 minutes.

It was the team’s season opener, and was described by the Cross Country and Track and Field team’s coach Tom Pickering as a “rust buster.”

“No one’s done any track events for over six months. You’re just allowing athletes to get back into the swing of being on

the track and getting a feel for the events,” Pickering said. “So we're using it kind of almost like a practice.”

After just the first meet, Hannon has already broken his personal record for the 200 meter dash.

He shaved off almost 0.2 seconds, going from 23.7 to 23.56 seconds. “It’s always looking like a good season when you start out already beating your best from last year,” Hannon said.

Bisaillon said she is at a good starting point for shot put, throwing farther now than at the same time last year. She also ran the 600 meter for the first time. “I won that event, which was really cool because I thought I was going to die,” Bisaillon joked.

Hannon and Bisaillon both said they have goals for this season, and are working to accomplish them.

Hannon hopes he’ll make it to the National Collegiate Athletic Association

(NCAA) Championships this year for the long jump or 400 meter dash.

Pickering said Hannon is a three-time conference champion for long jump and is close to beating the school record.

If he does, Pickering said, Hannon “will be in the conversation for making nationals.”

“Jared is one of our top student athletes at Keene State, and so we expect a lot out of him,” Pickering said. “He is a real leader. He is the guy that pushes the other guys. He’s the guy that gets other guys fired up.”

As for Bisaillon, she and the Assistant Coach for Cross Country and Track and Field Nick Athanasopoulos will be working to train her for a heptathlon – one event comprised of seven smaller events: 100 meter hurdles, 200 meter dash, 800 meter run, long jump, high jump, shot put and javelin, according to International Association of Athletics Federations’ website.

“I think it's really cool that I can run but also throw a lot. A lot of track athletes just have their one thing and they stick to that,” Bisaillon said. “I just think it’s the biggest challenge an athlete can have because you're literally doing everything… it's crazy.”

Pickering said both Hannon and Bisaillon are “top student athletes,” and always do what he and Athanasopoulos ask.

Athanasopoulos added to Pickering’s comment, saying, “They do a good job leading the team through practices. [They] always [have] positive mindsets.

They’re good examples for the other teammates.”

The next Indoor Track and Field meet will be held at Dartmouth College on Sunday, Jan. Alexandria Saurman can be contacted at asaurman@kscequinox.com LUKE STERGIOU / SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

First-year Jared Hannon and junior Taylor Bisaillon highlight the KSC Track and Field team at their season opener and Smith’s Invitational. Both KSC athletes look forward to what the season has to hold.

The constraints of basketball season

The women’s basketball team reveals the stress behind a shorter break CAROLINE PERRY

SportS Editor Winter is around the corner and with that comes the much needed winter break that all students and athletes look forward to. The ability to get away from constant school work for an entire month is often the much needed push during finals week, however, with basketball season in full swing, this poses problems for the women’s basketball team. With basketball season being particularly more demanding than some seasons, the women’s basketball team only gets one week off for winter break, returning three weeks earlier in order to practice and have games. This early return takes time away from family and even individual time, said first-year Tamra Gonyea.

When Gonyea heard that she would only have

a week off for winter break, she admitted she was sad and that it was unfortunate. With moving away from home and now being submerged in basketball season, Gonyea said that it has taken a toll on her family time. “Having such limited time has affected my family time, and it does stress me out. I feel like as soon as I am settled at home I have to pack up again. I also went from being with my family all the time to seeing them every few weeks if I am lucky,” said Gonyea. The stress from being apart from her family increases even more as the effects of basketball settle in. Gonyea said that she thinks basketball is definitely one of the more demanding sports.

“It’s very physical and takes a toll on your body, but it’s also a very long season,” said Gonyea. However, even with the toll that it has taken on her family life and her own individual life, Gonyea said that bas-

ketball is more than worth it. She admits that it’s a lot, but she has learned a lot about herself and how not only physically tough, but mentally tough she is. “I think basketball keeps me focused and disciplined. You also become a part of a family & make some of your best friends through your teammates.

The coaches also help a lot and are willing to do more than just coach your game, but get help if it’s needed in the classroom too,” added Gonyea.

Sophomore Hien Thach said that her thoughts on only having a week off is much like a love-hate relationship. Tach admits that it stinks not being able to spend more time with her family and friends at home, especially during the holiday season, but that having the team here at KSC during winter break has perks as well. “We are able to just focus on basketball and SEE CONSTRAINTS, B6

JOEY SULLIVAN / EQUINOX STAFF

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