Issue 12, Spring 2018 - The Quadrangle

the Quadrangle THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MANHATTAN COLLEGE | SINCE 1924

Volume XCVII, Issue 12

www.mcquad.org

APRIL 24, 2018

Q10 T HE QUAD T EN

2018’S T EN MOST INFLUENT IAL GRADUAT ES

PAGES 10-11

A QUADRANGLE INVEST IGAT ION

Tumultuous Past, Uncertain Future INSIDE CHEM-E’S TURMOIL AND REBIRTH Rose Brennan & Stephen Zubrycky Editor & Managing Editor

Spring Fest is “Better With You” Jesse McCartney (left) and Marc E. Bassy (right) performed at this year’s Spring Fest.

FULL WEEKEND COVERAGE BELOW AND CONTINUED ON PAGE 15.

NAOMI KITANO / COURTESY

Taylor Brethauer & Rose Brennan Editor-in-Chief & Editor

Manhattan College’s annual Spring Fest was held this past Saturday, April 21. The day, full of fun activities and a BBQ on the quad, lead up to a concert in Draddy Gymnasium. This year, students voted in Student Engagement’s Instagram contest for pop artist Jesse McCartney to perform.

With a slight change to the schedule, students found themselves soaking up the sun before the concert. In years past, the concert typically proceeded the BBQ and games on the quad.

As usual, there were inflatables on the grass, including the ever-popular mechanical bull, where students gathered around to cheer on their friends.

Inside of Smith Auditorium were photo backdrops painted by student Samitheus Savinon and her classmates. Savinon proposed the idea at a student government assembly meeting a few weeks prior.

“There are some students that I know that are hands-on and want to be creative. We want to have backdrops of areas that will remind us of the sixth borough [to take pictures

IN NEWS:

Inside the new sports media production major on p. 7

in front of]. So they’ll be designed around Jasper pride [...] and we’ll plan a hashtag to tag the pictures with too,” said Savinon at the March 28 meeting.

The inflatables were deflated and the food was taken away as the concert time loomed near.

Around 2:15 p.m., the student body began filing into Draddy Gymnasium, anxious and excited to see the man whom many called one of their first childhood crushes.

This particular Spring Fest was unlike any other. Student Government and The Office of Student Engagement had been teasing a second “surprise” artist since the announcement that McCartney would be headlining.

It seemed that the students forgot about this excitement in the moments leading up to the show, as they kept chanting, “Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!”

But then, the second artist took the stage: up and coming singer/songwriter Marc E. Bassy.

Bassy opened with some crowd pumping songs, yelling out “let’s go Manhattan College!” and other expletives.

But the surprise performance seemed to be lacking, as several students were seen exiting the gymnasium during this time. Others were shocked that

IN FEATURES: Father Tom meets Pope Francis on p. 8

Bassy had made the surprise appearance and were dancing along to his songs.

Bassy finished up his set around 3:00 p.m. with his most popular hit, “You and Me”, after which stagehands began to prep the stage for McCartney’s arrival.

Between the set change, vice president of commuter affairs took to the stage to make a few announcements.

She began with a clever play on McCartney’s most popular song, “Beautiful Soul”, by saying to the crowd: “let’s hear it for all of those beautiful souls out there.”

She reminded seniors about the upcoming senior fair and also mentioned the upcoming commuter carnival.

Finally, the moment had arrived: McCartney took the stage and the crowd erupted into screams and cheers of those whose childhood fantasies were being fulfilled at last.

McCartney took to the stage with his hair slicked back, sunglasses on. He played some beats on a launchpad instrument, a square device with buttons that play back different sounds and tones. Eventually, the sounds began to form __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

“We don’t talk about the department.”

These were the words of Ava, a current student in Manhattan College’s chemical engineering department, who has been given a pseudonym to protect her identity.

Over the course of the past year, The Quadrangle has spoken with more than a dozen current and former students like Ava about the recent state of the chemical engineering program. In addition, The Quadrangle has received input from chemical engineering faculty members and top administrators at the college.

In the past five years, chemical engineering, or “Chem-E” as the department’s members call it, has been marked by uncertainty, division, student action and a widespread lack of student confidence in technical skills and abilities required in the job field.

It is through this article that The Quadrangle aims to separate fact from rumor, shedding a light on the cryptic happenings of the chemical engineering department and what they mean for the program’s students.

A Brief Chronology of Chem-E Once ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top five chemical engineering programs of its kind in the U.S., and regarded as one of the college’s finest programs, the department has continuously struggled since 2013.

In the five years since, chemical engineering has cycled through six department chairs and swapped out half of

IN A&E:

English professor speaks at Agape Latte on p. 14

its faculty. Of the seven current full-time faculty, four are new to the program this academic year, including Department Chair Sasidhar Varanasi, Ph.D. According to multiple students, this uncertainty in staffing began with the departure of Eric Huang, Ph.D. in the fall of 2013. That same academic year, then-Department Chair Ann Marie Flynn, Ph.D., went on medical leave for Spring 2014.

During this time, James Patrick Abulencia, Ph.D., was elevated to interim chair. Flynn’s absence extended into a sabbatical in Fall 2014, during which Gennaro J. Maffia, D.E., was made interim chair of the department. Upon Flynn’s return the following spring, she was not reinstated as chair.

It was around this time that students began to notice a change in the quality of their education.

“Professors weren’t teaching whatever they needed to teach,” 2015 graduate Ray Lumokso said. “The standard that they were holding us to was not the same.”

In Fall 2014, the program, along with the four others in the School of Engineering, was evaluated by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). After evaluations had concluded, ABET determined that two of the five programs, one of which was chemical engineering, would receive follow-up evaluations two years later during the fall of 2016.

During Fall 2016, rumors __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

IN SPORTS:

Maeve Parahus named to Ireland all-star team on p. 17

Opinion & Editorials

2

the Quadrangle

#SaveStudentNewsrooms

Volume XCVII, Issue 12

Taylor Brethauer

The Editorial Board

The Quadrangle received an email this past week from a one Melissa Gomez, an editor-in-chief at the University of Florida. Their studentnewspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator is organizing, in their words, “a day of action to educate the public on issues student-run newspapers face.” Their campaign is called #SaveStudentNewsrooms.

The Quadrangle wholeheartedly stands with The Independent Florida Alligator and their amazing movement.

Why? Because in a time like the one we are in, true journalism is the most essential tool any one of us can have. We are a

APRIL 24, 2018

Taylor Brethauer Editor-in-Chief Stephen Zubrycky Managing Editor

Editor-in-Chief

Jack Melanson News Editor

Haley Burnside Joseph Liggio Asst. News Editors

Megan Dreher Features Editor

Lauren Schuster Asst. Features Editor

Rose Brennan Arts & Entertainment Editor Managing Editor

Alexa Schmidt Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor

John Jackson Sports Editor

C. Garrett Keidel Asst. Sports Editor

RikkiLynn Shields Catherine Goodyear Social Media Editors

Anja Pollozi Photography Editor

Alyssa Velazquez Production Editor

Samantha Walla Asst. Production Editor

Gabriella DePinho

Gabriella DePinho Michevi Dufflart Web Editors

Mohsin Ahmed Shannon Gleba Copy Editors

As my freshman year wraps up, I’ve taken time to reflect on different aspects of my year and think about what advice I would give to incoming Manhattan College freshmen.

One facet of my life here that I’ve reflected on has been the Arches program; as I’ve thought about it, I’ve come to realize I would not over-enthusiastically recommend it to incoming freshmen.

I was a nervous wreck when it came to all aspects of the impending doom of college, so being in Arches allowed me a few extra days to get accustomed to the campus and to move in on a less hectic day. I got paired with a great roommate who has become a great friend; having her as the first person I got to know on campus was the best thing I got out of Arches.

To me, that’s where the benefits of the Arches program ends.

The program is advertised as creating “community among freshmen Jaspers” yet advertisements diverge from personal experience. While there might be community among members in Arches, “Arches” turns into a defining and dividing identity label between Arches students and Non-Arches students.

So maybe there’s somewhat of a divide between students in Arches and not in Arches, but surely there’s a strong sense of community within the program?

In Arches, friend groups quickly form between some and yet, there are always students who are left out of this; while those friend groups that formed fast may change fast, the students left out of these

Abby Crowell Distribution Manager Thomas Callahan Faculty Advisor About The Quadrangle A tradition since 1924, The Quadrangle is a news organization run by the students of Manhattan College. We strive to cover news around campus and the greater community, publishing weekly in print and daily online. Our goal is always accuracy, relevancy and professionalism.

The opinions expressed in The Quadrangle are those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board, the College or the student body.

Join The Quadrangle The Quadrangle’s staff holds weekly open meetings on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. in Kelly Commons Room 412. All are welcome to come and join the club.

Connect with The Quadrangle

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THE QUADRANGLE

part of something much larger than ourselves. Not only is The Quad part of a storied history at our own college, but we are one of hundreds of student-run newspapers around the country publishing hard-hitting, important stories at any one time.

Student journalism matters, regardless of the story. We are lucky enough at Manhattan College to not face censorship too often. But we can’t get it right every single week. Some stories are often met with criticism, concerns or questions.

Our inbox is always open for letters to the editor. We keep a fair balance in conversations between the newspaper and the community. Our publication is something I am constantly proud of every single week since I have started.

When I think about the problems other college’s newspaper’s face, it is troubling to think of a community being stripped of an important piece of journalism from their daily lives. But not only are college newspapers necessary to any university, the opportunity to be a journalist on any campus is also a compulsory skill set that students should always be available to all undergraduate students. I carry that title with pride.

I invite you to join us-- myself, my newspaper and other newspapers across the country-- to save student newsrooms. Read the stories of college journalists from all over at savestudentnewsrooms.com.

Arches Needs To Undergo Renovations Editor

initial interim friendships may feel shortchanged by what the school advertised to them.

Not everyone is suited to be anyone’s best friend, but even in those first few days, everyone wants at least one person to smile at them or sit with them at a meal, but not everyone in Arches gets that.

I struggled to make friends at first but many of the good friends I’ve come to make are also in the Arches program; though this seems to invalidate my previous point, it actually shows how large the program is.

There’s four floors of residents and eight or nine Arches classes each semester. The program boasts its ability to foster community between Jaspers but with a program so large, it’s hard to build the tight-knit community the program claims.

The size of the program also makes it harder for students in the program to meet all the other students in the program. For students (like me) who initially struggled with friendships, it wasn’t because they didn’t fit in, it’s because they hadn’t met their people yet.

While there is a service requirement expected of each class, the standard is not quite standard. Some students have to complete six to ten hours of service on their own, whereas other classes complete one to two hours; some students in the same class complete different amounts of service hours.

For the students who were excited for the service aspect of the Arches program, this uneven distribution of work and expectations can be a let down.

The program is advertised for its city trips, friendship building, service-based learning, and as a great way to get into the “best” dorm on campus. Arches’ advertising at

open house and accepted students days should be about the academic program, rather than it being a great way to get into the newest dorm on campus.

This notion that Lee Hall is the “best” dorm is another dividing aspect of Arches vs.

Non-Arches students. While Lee is currently the newest dorm the campus has, it is not necessarily the “best” being that each dorm on campus has its own unique atmosphere.

The focus of Arches should not be the dorm building or the trips into the city, but rather it should be about students doing valuable community service and having interesting educational experiences.

If the program refocuses itself on stimulating classes, engaging educational experiences and valuable community service projects, the students signing up for the program would be doing so with a vested interest in the program’s key elements. Right now, what should be the key focus of Arches is treated as secondary.

The fundamental core ideas of the Arches program are great but I think in the years that have passed since its inaugural year, those core ideas have been lost.

I ultimately do not regret my decision to be part of Arches but I feel I had high hopes that were not met because of how Arches was advertised to me. Whether changes in the program or advertising are made or not is not up to me, but from the inside looking out, from the present looking to the past and to the future, I believe that renovations of some kind would lead to positive growth of the program.

APRIL 24, 2018

Opinion & Editorials

¡Puerto Rico se Levanta!

Alyssa Velazquez Editor

I remember sitting in my classes that day, with my phone out, refreshing a webpage every few minutes. I was watching my island slowly be consumed by a force of nature far stronger than I could have ever imagined. Watching the deep red circles, being projected by the weather doppler radar, crawl from the east side of the island to the west. Slowly watching my family’s hometowns be engulfed in what they call the storm from hell.

This was Sept. 20, the day Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico. Weeks passed until I was able to hear from my family, until I was able to hear that they were still alive.

Months passed until I was able to see them alive, to finally believe what I heard.

At the beginning of March my family and I had to travel to Puerto Rico due to a family emergency. After traveling 12 hours, my uncle, parents, brother and I finally arrived to a hospital in Mayagüez, which is a city on the west coast of Puerto Rico. That’s where we met my grandmother and aunt, who have been running on their last ounces of energy after speaking with doctors, looking for answers and praying for a miracle.

Six months after the hurricane had hit the land, the brute force and unforgiving ways has lasted, forbidding the people of the island to reach what they

know as normalcy. This force was no exception for my family.

Hour after arriving to Mayagüez, my brother and I were asleep in a hotel room located minutes away from the hospital. That’s when we received the call, the call that carries the news we hope to never receive.

Even if we try to forget about this call, it will come ringing through our minds, beckoning to be remembered, to remind us that in the end death is inevitable for everyone.

Even upon reflection, the whole ordeal and week following the death of my grandfather seemed surreal. Even right now, I still believe he is working on his land, taking care of his plants and crops, and sipping an ice cold beer while swaying in his hammock, being blanketed with the warm rays that descend from heaven.

He may not be doing that in Puerto Rico, but maybe somewhere beyond that point where the sky kisses the ocean, he is.

He could be doing all of this and maybe more in a place that we cannot see or touch or even believe.

After well over a decade of yearning to go back to a place I’ve only experienced once in my twenty years of life, I finally got what I wanted, just not in the way I wished to have experience it. When tears dripping from the faces I’ve grown to love have dried, when the condolences are nothing but a hum, when the sweet smell of flowers has turned sour and the beauty has wilted away; the mind clears and reality sets

back in.

Puerto Rico is still in need.

After more than 2 billion dollars and months of hard work the island is still struggling. Being limited on resources, from something as simple as drinking water to the lack of medical aid, Puerto Rico still needs help.

According to an article reported by CNN on April 6, over 200 schools in Puerto Rico have closed due to a drop in enrollment, leaving many students without a school for the academic year of 2018-19. This decision was made primarily due to the fact that many students are either leaving the island with their families to go to the United States or to aid their families at home.

Seven months after the hurricane had hit the island, Puerto Rico was finally close to restoring power for every resident on the island. However, on Apr. 18, power was once again lost for all residents. This island-wide power outage was a result of a crane hitting one of the transmission lines. This is remnant of when a tree fell on a power line a week before, causing half the island to lose power.

As people pack up and travel to the United States, entire towns and villages are being abandoned. What was once known to be brightly colored pueblos are now ghost towns-serving as a dim reminder to the people of Puerto Rico of what their home once was. As I walked around the pueblo of San Sebastian, there were few people out and many buildings

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The square of San Sebastian’s pueblo that was once filled with people is now desolate.

ALYSSA VELAZQUEZ/ THE QUADRANGLE closed. The only stores that had their doors open were food stores, some clothing stores and gift shops.

As you moved further from the center of the pueblo square more and more buildings were boarded up and the colorful paint that once lit up the entire block became more and more dim.

Although this is the Puerto Rico I see now, this is not the Puerto Rico I will see in the future, this I’m sure of. Even with everything that has happened there are still people who stay to rebuild the island to its former glory. “¡Puerto Rico se Levanta!” was the phrase that consistently reminded me about the determination my family and the rest of the residents of Puerto Rico has. From being

written on the rear window of cars to painted onto abandoned buildings in beautiful murals, reminding the people that their home will rise once again to the beauty it once was.

I may have only visited the island twice in my life, I may not know my entire family who lives there, I may not speak spanish, but I am sure of one thing.

Regardless of all of the things I am not, I am still a Puerto Rican. I will still be proud of where I’m from and support my family and the island in any way I can.

I hope to see the Jasper family, regardless of where they’re from, continue to show their support for their fellow citizens.

Paris, France 2016-2017 Study Abroad Reflection Alia Flanigan Contributor

I decided to study abroad in Paris, France just after learning one year of French in college.

When I arrived in August, I was only supposed to stay for the fall semester. However, as soon as I arrived, I already knew that the time would be too short. I extended my stay an additional semester, allowing me to be fully immersed in the culture there. When my program, MICEFA put us in a hostel the first week, I got paired with a girl from NYC. We quickly became friends and decided to get an apartment together that same day. We found this adorable french apartment with two floors and a spiral staircase right across from Notre Dame cathedral. As soon as we saw the staircase, we knew we found our new home. We quickly friended other people from our program and Parisians.

I went to Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP) for most of my classes. It was a small private

school in the 6eme arrondissement right near Saint Sulpice.

For me, it was a five minute metro ride or a 20 minute walk. When it was warm out, I would walk over to my university and stop in Pierre Hermé and buy some macarons or a pastry for the walk home. I got to take some really interesting classes such as Conflict Analysis where we looked at conflicts in regions all around the world and analyzed the reasons and resolutions. ICP did not provide french learning classes for beginners so I had to take French Grammar and Modern French with french students. The French school system is very different than in the United States. The professors in France lecture for three hours once a week with one final exam at the end of the semester. They do not offer after-school assistance or even an email to ask questions. Adapting to french standards was a bit hard because we were used to the hands-on system American schools provide.

The biggest culture shock

for me was how fast the French speak. After just one year of learning french in college, my language skills were just below conversant. I was able to acknowledge french and try to respond, but most of the time they would reply back in English. This was a bit frustrating for someone who is trying to learn to speak french. Luckily, I had friends that helped and books I read to help my reading skills. Mostly everyone in Paris spoke English but if you did not say Bonjour to them, they would not help you.

During my stay in Paris, I got to travel to many different countries and cities and experience different cultures. If I wasn’t exploring Paris on the weekends, I was exploring the rest of Europe. My friends and I went to Verona and Milan exploring the origins of Romeo and Juliet. We wrote to Juliet asking for advice and a month later we received handwritten responses. I was able to ski the German Alps during winter break and go to Eastern Europe for spring break. Fortunately,

France had so much to offer us during our time there. I got the opportunity to row a boat in Versailles, smell the flowers in Monet’s garden in Giverny and dance in a techno-parade in the streets of Paris. There were always events going on around the city which kept us busy. There was a famous store named Colette’s that had a 20th anniversary “beach” party with a river of plastic balls where we could jump in and relax on watermelon and flamingo floats.

Paris always kept us on our toes.

One of the best parts of this diverse city was the food. Right down the street from our apartment was a little fondue restaurant called Heureux Comme Alexandre. We ate there for Thanksgiving, New Year’s and any event that we felt like celebrating. Every morning, we would go around the corner and buy a freshly baked baguette or a croissant for breakfast. On Saturdays, the market was open and everyone would buy their fresh produce and meats there along with some

flowers freshly picked.

The Eiffel Tower sparkled every night and reminded us of the beauty of the city. One of the great wonders of Paris is how much history and art it offers on every street. There is always a museum or an old church on la rue. Maybe it was the street Picasso painted his paintings, or Ernest Hemingway walked down. Right near my apartment was Shakespeare & Co where you can see famous books while looking at the Notre Dame.

To say goodbye to Paris was a hard moment. On my last night, my friends and I sat by the Seine and listened to the jazz music playing down the river. We relished in the memories we made over the year and the friendships we had. We talked about people we met and clubs we danced at. We laughed over how many times we went to Le Chat Noir and how this was our home and will always be. Even though I left Paris, my heart never did. I have a feeling, I will return and maybe it will be for good that time.

News

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THE QUADRANGLE

Inside MC Chemical Engine __________________________ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 surrounding the program’s re-accreditation consumed the department. Despite this, much of the faculty and administration were confident in the program’s ability to maintain its accreditation.

Tim J. Ward, Ph.D., the school’s dean, said he had “absolutely no doubt” in the program’s prospects.

“It’s very difficult once you have ABET accreditation to lose ABET accreditation,” Ward said. “ABET is not here to punish a program. ABET is here to make programs better.

If you listen to ABET, if you follow what they’re saying, if you work with them, they’ll work with you.”

Maffia’s tenure as interim chair concluded with the hiring of Chien-Pin Chen, Ph.D., who was installed in the fall of 2016, following a survey process among the department’s faculty, students and board of advisors. It was during this time that the program received its follow-up visit and was ensured accreditation until Fall 2020.

Chen departed the college after one semester due to personal reasons, and the department was back to square one.

Following Chen’s departure, the position of chair was filled by Moujalli C. Hourani, Ph.D., assistant professor and former chair of civil engineering, for the Spring 2017 semester.

“We felt he was the right person for that time for the department, in terms of providing the leadership that was necessary,” said William C. Clyde, Ph.D., provost and executive vice president of the college.

“There was some concern

The Reynolds Retreat, a lounge located in the chemical engineering department. STEPHEN ZUBRYCKY / THE QUADRANGLE

about having a civil engineer in, initially, but I think...pretty quickly into the spring term, they appreciated... what he could bring.”

Varanasi, formerly of the University of Toledo in Ohio, was hired last fall to serve as co-chair alongside Hourani.

Varanasi then became the sole chair of the department this spring.

Division in the Department As new faculty members cycled in and out and student frustration reached a fever pitch, fault lines took shape between factions of students and faculty.

“It felt like there was two teams, and we never had that,” Liam, a 2015 graduate who wishes to remain anonymous, said. “We spoke up and felt there was a lot of retaliation from the teachers.”

Lumokso agreed.

“It was at that point where there was like, a separation, between the students and Dr. Flynn on one side, and then all the other teachers against the students and Dr. Flynn,” Lumokso said.

According to Liam, this division could have been caused by failure to appoint adequate professors in the department.

“The wrong people were hired, and it caused division in the department,” Liam said.

Students in the department had particular issues with thenassistant professor Joseph Menicucci, Ph.D. Notably, he had asked students if Flynn was “harassing” them.

“He proposed to ‘eliminate any contact she has with students’ by he [sic] testifying against her,” wrote Hector, a member of the class of 2017 who wishes to remain anonymous, who was approached by Menicucci regarding Flynn.

“Although it did not mention it directly, the conversation strongly suggested termination.”

After Hector and another classmate met with Menicucci on another occasion, he ultimately decided not to pursue further action, and instead informed Flynn of what had occurred.

“I ended up having to defend Dr. Flynn which was one of the hardest things that I had to do but I ultimately went through with it because I believed that [Menicucci] was in the wrong for placing students in tough moral predicaments,” Hector wrote.

Hector’s experience with Menicucci was not unique.

Nicole Palmieri ‘16, ‘17 was also approached by Menicucci about Flynn.

“He asked me if Dr. Flynn was harassing me,” Palmieri said.

Menicucci, who declined a

request for comment, is no longer an employee of the college.

However, Hector also accused Flynn of sowing division in the department.

“She’d just talk about irrelevant class material... and it was mostly about... why the department’s bad, why the administration’s bad, why Dean Ward isn’t doing what he’s supposed to be doing... basically diminishing the reputation of Manhattan College, in particular, Manhattan College faculty,” Hector said.

Flynn denied the claims made by Hector.

“Did what was going on in the department come up in class? Of course it did. It was all students cared about, asked about and talked about,” Flynn said. “Did it consume my life and my classes? Absolutely not.”

Flynn was not only named as a possible player in the division in the department, but as a victim as well. Upon her return from a leave of absence in Spring 2017, she was targeted in two break-ins.

The first occurred in late February, in which an unidentified person defecated in the trash can in her office. Flynn was not made aware of this incident until two weeks later.

On March 2, Flynn discovered she had been targeted again. In the aftermath of the second break-in, Flynn noticed an odd smell upon entering her office, finding a rotten banana in the top desk drawer.

“I do not buy or eat bananas,” Flynn wrote in the email.

Flynn also noticed some of the binders in her credenza had been turned upside down, and that several had been stolen.

Upon further investigation the following day, she discovered that binders containing heat transfer and transport exams, kinetics and transport course notes and a binder with “personal, confidential documents” had been taken.

In addition to the missing binders, Flynn also noted that a Cartier Ballon Bleu watch had also been stolen.

“My goal is that transparency will minimize potential embellishments and inoculate the sensationalism of the story.

More importantly, information ensures that everyone’s safety remains the first priority,” Flynn wrote.

Student Take Action Feeling that their education was in jeopardy, many of Chem-E’s students decided to take action, airing their grievances before administration both in direct meetings with upper-level college administrators and on paper in numerous documents. These documents were distributed among chemical engineering faculty and college officials, as well as ABET.

This flurry began in April 2014, coming in the form of a memorandum signed by 50 chemical engineering students.

Tyler-Kate “T.K.” Starzyk ‘15 was a junior at the time the memorandum was written and distributed to college president Brennan P. O’Donnell, Clyde, Ward, Flynn, Abulencia and Michelle McGrath, a member of the chemical engineering board of advisors.

“We felt we were really getting, I guess, shafted in what we were paying for, so [the class of 2015 was] kind of heading the charge,“ Starzyk told The Quadrangle over the phone.

The memorandum held several condemnations of the department. For instance, one student wrote, “I am not learning anything in Kinetics except how to read graphs,” while another complained, “In Spring 2014 there was a complete drop in quality of effort put in by

_________________________ “We felt we were really getting, I guess, shafted in what we were paying for,” T.K. Starzyk ‘15 said.

teachers.”

It was that spring that students began to meet regularly as a department with college administrators, including both Clyde and Ward. Clyde estimated about six to eight meetings were held in total.

“There were several meetings that were going on with the provost and with… the series of department chairs that were coming through at the time,” said former student James, who wishes to remain anonymous. “During all this time, we were coming up with questions or concerns about the department we were trying to get answered.”

According to Clyde, these meetings continued until Spring 2016.

Student activism in the department continued that summer. Concerned with the quality of their education, as well as the pending follow-up visit with ABET in the fall, then-rising juniors Emma and Oliver, who wish to remain anonymous, called the director of ABET, Michael K.J. Milligan, Ph.D.

On their first attempt, Emma and Oliver were not able to get in contact with Milligan, According to Flynn, this was to be expected because, “that is akin to picking up the phone and saying, ‘I’d like to talk to the Pope.’” Instead, they left a message with Milligan’s executive assistant.

Ultimately, they were able to speak with Milligan directly, who expressed concern for the department.

“One of the first things [Milligan] said to us was, ‘Why haven’t you transfered?’”

Emma said. “[He said] ‘if any small amount of this is true, you guys should not have the accreditation.’”

Milligan’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

That fall, then-senior James distributed a survey amongst the classes of 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The survey asked respondents to offer thoughts on faculty members, administrators and courses. Ninety-six students responded.

The survey questions were emailed to students with instructions, which began, “So most of us are aware that the accreditation of the department has been put at risk over the last two years […] None of us can afford to have paid for a degree from a department that is no longer accredited.”

On a scale of 1 to 10, respondents in the class of 2018, on average, rated their “ability to design a system, component or process to meet desired needs” a 4.8. Class of 2015 respondents averaged a 6.4. Respondents rated the department’s quality of teaching a 3 out of 10. About 75 percent of respondents said they would not recommend the department to a high school student or freshman in the School of Engineering.

The results were compiled into a 620 page report, which was then emailed to 155 students, handed to the ABET evaluators during their interim review that fall and given to Clyde and Chen, who was chair at that time.

“The results were discussed,” said Clyde, who believed the integrity of the survey was problematic. “If I compare it to the course evaluations that we give, I know how they’re given. We can control which students took them.

We manage that process with great integrity. So we’re sure exactly what it is we’re getting, so that we can try to interpret it knowing that we think it’s good data.”

According to the report, the survey was conducted and the data was compiled free of faculty intervention. The report reads, “The data of this survey has not yet been shared with any of the faculty or administration as to not influence or alter the responses from them.”

The latest instance of student activism came at the hands of Palmieri, who circulated a petition last spring, which called for the reinstatement of Flynn as department chair.

Palmieri was motivated to do so by the Spring 2017 appointment of Hourani, a civil engineering faculty member, as the chair of the chemical engineering department. Palmieri believed the position rightfully belonged to Flynn.

“I believe that the department chair of chemical engi-

News

APRIL 24, 2018

5

eering’s Turmoil and Rebirth neering should be a chemical engineer,” Palmieri said. “And it felt like a slap in the face to all of us who had begging for Dr. Flynn to come back.”

In Palmieri’s estimation, the petition gathered roughly 90 signatures. Palmieri sent the signed petition via an anonymous email account to Clyde and Ward, as well as some chemical engineering faculty and members of the board of advisors.

“In my mind and in the minds of many others, everything would’ve just been fixed if they made [Flynn] chair again,” Palmieri said. “To be honest, from the second she left the second semester of my sophomore year, everything just went downhill and got worse and worse.”

While circulating her petition, Palmieri noted several students who felt that they would be putting their grades at risk by signing it. According to Palmieri, one student felt the need to withdraw from the petition after signing it due to fear of retaliation.

“They were terrified of their teachers finding out and failing them,” Palmieri said. “We had scary situations where people were absolutely retaliated against.”

Hector, who took a class with Menicucci, recalled an incident where he believes he was retaliated against because he had told Flynn of his earlier conversation with Menicucci.

“The next test I had from him, I had a zero. And I was just shocked,” Hector said. “I got a 90 and a 100 on the last two tests. And just to see a zero, no partial credit at all...I lost words at that point.”

The Quadrangle has not found further evidence or proof of this claim.

Palmieri’s campaign did not have the unanimous support of the student body.

“I thought that what Dr. Hourani was going to do was going to be fine and that there’s no necessary need for Dr. Flynn to do it,” Paul, a current junior who wishes to remain anonymous, said. “There are strong people other than Dr. Flynn.”

Palmieri said that Flynn was never consulted on this matter, and that she urged the petition’s signatories to exercise discretion in discussing it.

Flynn eventually discovered the petition about three weeks after it began circulating.

“I appreciated the students’ support and I was happy they believed I did a good job as chair, I knew the administration would spin it to say I had put them up to it,” Flynn said in an email statement to The Quadrangle.

Lack of Student Confidence Upon graduation from the

chemical engineering program, several recent graduates had difficulty finding employment in chemical engineering and had to search in other similar fields.

Lumokso, who currently works in environmental engineering, felt he had difficulty finding a job in chemical engineering because he felt his foundation in kinetics was lacking. “[Kinetics] is the class that would separate a chemical engineer from a mechanical or environmental engineer or a water supply engineer...the fact that you would be able to distinguish different reaction

_________________________ “[My experience at MC] led me to not want to be a chemical engineer,” Hector, a recent graduate who wishes to remain anonymous, said. rates that go on in a process,” Lumokso said. “I can’t do that, and I think that’s one thing that kind of steered me towards the environmental field. Because that’s something I’m not capable of, and that’s something I did not get out of going to school [at MC].”

Starzyk, who is employed in the oil and gas industry, thinks her MC chemical engineering education put her at a disadvantage when compared to her peers in the field.

“Although my current role has not been super technical, I’m working with refiners all the time. And if I could actually have had quality education to really get the foundational chemical engineering principles, it would’ve made it a lot easier to be quicker on my feet and respond to the group and issues that I’m working with,” Starzyk said. “If I ended up in the refinery, [...] I would be severely behind the other chemical engineers.”

Hector, however, pursued an entirely different career path, and is now employed at a non-profit tech start-up. He asserted that this choice was because of the lackluster education he received in the department. “[My experience at MC] led me to not want to be a chemical engineer,” Hector said.

Other students, including Palmieri, chose to pursue graduate school in lieu of an entry-level job. Palmieri originally wanted to be a teacher, but was encouraged to pursue chemical engineering by her parents. Upon graduating with her bachelor’s degree, Palmieri had intended to combine these interests by pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in hopes of becoming a professor.

By the time she received her bachelor’s degree in 2016, Palmieri had come to the con-

clusion that she would be unable to pursue further education at another institution because she felt unprepared by the undergraduate education she received at MC. “Because of these professors who did not teach me these fundamental courses, I am unqualified to get a Ph.D.,” Palmieri said.

One of the fundamental concepts that Palmieri says she missed out on was distillation, which is typically incorporated as part of the Separation Process Design courses. Palmieri’s professor, however, did not include it.

Palmieri was not the only student affected.

“We did not learn any sort of distillation,” James said.

“My [current] job literally [revolves] entirely around that.”

Both Varanasi and Paul, who is currently enrolled in the course, said that the current Separation Process Design courses discuss distillation.

Students also critiqued the rigor of the college’s Process and Plant Design Courses.

“I had an interview in October... and I was talking to some of the other students that were there... and we were talking about our senior capstone, and one of the girls that was there... she was like, ‘Oh, you guys have it so easy...our professor gave us the plant and we had to design it’...but we...only had [to design] a certain part of it,” Matthew, a current student who wished to remain anonymous, said.

He continued.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘What’s the purpose of a capstone when we only get a small part of the plant?’ In an interview, I’m going up against other people... and... her senior capstone is already levels above my senior capstone,” he said.

Liam agreed.

“I don’t know what the heck our capstone was,” he said.

Varanasi defended the

course.

“What we are teaching in [...] process design to our students isn’t inferior to what the courses are elsewhere in the country,” Varanasi said. “As far as the content and the techniques and the technology, it is no different, in fact much better, than the [...] process design class that’s offered in many other schools.”

The Future of Chem-E Despite persisting challenges, the college’s faculty and administration believe that the program has begun to turn the corner. Much of this has been attributed to the appointment of new faculty members.

“I believe the department’s in the strongest shape that it’s been for a very long time,” Clyde said. “We’ve brought in some very strong faculty with very strong connections to different industries, which create pathways for students into those industries, and can ensure that our preparation of the students is appropriate to those industries.”

“The department, in the last one year, has, including me, four new faculty that have joined,” Varanasi said, calling it a “complete makeover for the department.”

New additions to the faculty this year include Samiul Amin, Ph.D., who previously served as the assistant vice president for research and development at cosmetics giant L’Oreal.

“He’s going to spearhead our cosmetic engineering specialization in [the] chemical engineering program,” Varanasi said.

Richard F. Carbonaro, Ph.D., formerly of the civil engineering department, has also joined the faculty. Carbonaro, an environmental engineer by education and trade, became an associate professor of chemical engineering last fall.

“He is an outstanding, gifted teacher, no doubt,” Varanasi

said of Carbonaro.

“Working with Dr. Carbonaro has been a blessing. He goes in, he tells you what you have to do, it’s working,” Paul said. “[With] Dr. Varanasi, [ ...] you feel like an engineer coming out of his class. Dr. Flynn, similarly.”

“We are getting a good education,” Paul said. According to Paul, morale in Chem-E is also on the upswing, as it heals “from the thought that there’s something wrong with the department.”

“As a junior class… we’re fairly large… we’re one. And that isn’t necessarily what we were the past year,” Paul said.

The college has plans to expand computer laboratory space for chemical engineering this summer, including a new computer lab to be housed in the present location of the Reynolds Retreat adjacent to the department offices.

In addition, the chemical engineering lab on the fourth floor of Leo will be subdivided into five separate labs: four to be used for research and one undergraduate lab. Lab space specifically for the department’s cosmetic engineering program is also scheduled to be added on the third floor.

According to previous reporting from The Quadrangle, chemical engineering has recently worked on outreach in Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria last September. Maffia and a team of new students came up with a way to supply clean water to Colegio De La Salle, a K-12 school located in Anasco.

Varanasi is optimistic about Chem-E’s future, and the people who the college has brought in to define it.

“I believe in this department,” Varanasi said.

News

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THE QUADRANGLE

Official Calendar Changes Due to Snowfall Catherine Goodyear Editor

The academic calendar is available to students one semester before the start of the new school year. This year’s calendar had a few extra dates incorporated to make up for the Wednesday classes missed due to the snow days on March 7th and March 21st.

Carla Fraser, Associate Registrar, said, “The faculty were sent two make-up dates for the snow closures, Sat. April 14th and 21st. There has been a positive response to both make-up sessions.The Saturday dates were an option for the faculty if they wanted to make up the course time, but it was not a re-

quirement.”

The Provost’s office approved of adding two optional class days on Saturdays, one of which is taking place the same day as Springfest.

Meaghan McAllister, a sophomore, International Studies and Economics major, is one of the students who will be attending classes on the Saturday of Springfest.

“Personally, I don’t mind it for myself although it is a nuisance to have class on a Saturday for the people who have other responsibilities and therefore have to be penalized by losing vital information in class but at the same time I don’t blame my professors,” said McAllister.

The faculty were also given the option to assign extra work to make up the days missed, such as readings, online work and other activities that require similar amounts of work time to the time lost.

“Two dates were chosen since there were two Wednesday closures. All future Saturdays had other student and faculty obligations, like Mission Month and Senior Reading days,” said Fraser.

Some students like sophomore, civil engineer major Leicy Ortiz-Jupiter, were not pleased with the idea of classes on Saturday.

“I have solid mechanics on Saturday and it was because of the snow day. I feel like it’s

annoying especially since the weather is going to be good plus I’m a commuter so it’s a hassle. If they gave us a doodle sheet to sign up days possible while in school that would’ve been good for me personally. Sometimes I’m stuck at school until four, sometimes even more or even skype a lesson or video tape the lesson it would’ve been perfect because coming on a Saturday is the worst because MTA does lots of construction on the weekend,” said Ortiz-Jupiter.

McAllister wants the school to come up with a better solution instead of Saturday classes like having a system in place in future academic calendars.

“I think if we were given

more reading days at the end of the semester where we could just take away from one or two of those to catch up on our work would have worked better for everyone,” said McAllister.

Like Ortiz-Jupiter and McAllister, other students offered suggestions like reverting the Monday schedule on Wednesday April 4th to a normal Wednesday schedule.

“The Monday schedule on Wednesday was a requirement for the semester, not an option for a makeup session. These decisions are made by the Provost office, as the academic calendar, and any changes to it, are approved by the Provost office,” said Fraser.

Equal Pay Day Brings Gender Awareness Victoria Hernandez Senior Writer

Equal Pay Day is celebrated in April. The symbolic day strives to raise awareness of the gender pay gap that affects women across race and ethnicity. The date for 2018 was April 10 in the United States. This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year, the exact day differs both by year and by country.

Said pay gap starts early with what you choose as your college major. According to a Glassdoor report, majors that tend to lead to higher-paying jobs are dominated by male col-

lege students and majors that feed into lower-paying jobs are dominated by women.

The gap shows that women earn just over 80 cents for every man’s dollar, with the gap increasing significantly for women of color. If you break it down by race and ethnicity, the gap is even worse. According to Lean In organization, Black women are paid 38% less and Latinas are paid 46% less than white male colleagues.

Manhattan College students are not exempt. Stefania Kartsounas, Communications major, is a Senior just weeks before graduation.

“I am hopeful but I am also realistic. I am confident I will be making similar money than

my male counterparts but I am almost certain I will not be making more” Kartsounas said.

When asked about what women could do to improve their situation and advocate for equal pay in the workplace, her answer was simple.

“Women need to do their research and know their worth.

They need to demand what they feel they’re entitled to” Kartsounas said.

But it’s not enough to simply know your worth.

In an exclusive interview with Catt Sandler during Equal Pay Day, the former E! News host gave a similar advice to young women entering the workforce.

“You gotta start high or

you’re gonna be playing catch up for your entire career” Sandler said. “Get prepared, know the statistics that are out there, create and define your worth and use that to your advantage early on” According to an American Association of University Women study, women with the same major as men still graduate to a pay gap. Potential reasons could include gender discrimination itself.

“Experimental evidence confirms that many people continue to hold biases against women in the workplace, especially those who work in traditionally male fields” the study shows.

Another reason could be

salary negotiation.

“Men are more likely than women to negotiate their salaries. In part, this difference may reflect women’s awareness that employers are likely to view negotiations by men more favorably than negotiations by women,” the author said.

Gender, race discrimination, failing to negotiate or not, women are still falling behind in the workforce and it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. The World Economic Foru said it would take 217 years for disparities in the pay and employment opportunities of men and women to end.

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News

APRIL 24, 2018

MC Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi Participates in Regional Meeting

Shannon Gleba Editor

During spring break, Manhattan College’s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi took a trip to Wilmington, DE to compete in the 2018 Atlantic Coast Regional Meeting.

The meeting was held from Mar. 16-17. Ahmed Goma, Ph.D., brought eight members of the honor organization for financial information students and professionals to the meeting.

“Our mission is simple for Beta Alpha Psi,” said Andreia Ferreira, a graduate student and the current president of the chapter. “We try to inspire and support excellence by providing opportunities for service, professional development and interaction among members and financial professionals, along with fostering lifelong ethical, social and public responsibilities.”

Beta Alpha Psi has been a staple at MC since being granted a chapter in 2006. MC accepts accounting, finance, and CIS (computer information systems) students. That differs from other colleges which only accept accounting students.

For a student majoring in one of those three fields to be accepted into the prestigious honor society, they must have a minimum 3.0 GPA, take at least one upper-level course in accounting, finance or CIS toward their major and log a required amount of hours by participating in the chapter’s professional and service activities.

“We do have an hour requirement that you have to go to, but you can check your hours [and] the majority of students do go to more than they need to go to just because it’s interesting and it’s beneficial,” junior Michelle Lapreay said.

The fact that the students are not only willing, but

Manhattan College’s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi competed in Launching into the Next Century and Branding your Chapter.

ANDREIA FERREIRA/COURTESY

eager to participate in these activities is something that stands out to Lapreay.

“The people in Beta Alpha Psi are there because they want to be there,” Lapreay said.

“They don’t just do the hours because they have to. They want to work hard and that’s a great environment to be apart of.”

Beta Alpha Psi helps these students get acclimated to the professional world while they’re in college and before they’re officially apart of it.

By the end of their college careers, BAP members often get jobs with help from all the professional events they learned from, all the volunteer opportunities they grew from, all the network events they made connections at and all the skills they picked up from their presentations at conferences.

“BAP is a club and an honor society and what makes it great is that there’s so many events throughout the year that BAP sponsors or co-sponsors with other clubs,” faculty advisor Aileen Farrelly said. “You can see that students are really getting a lot out of their college career, because not just are they going to classes, but they’re going to these events.”

The chapter puts a lot of work into all their events as well as in their preparation and participation in the Regional Meeting.

The preparation begins in September when MC submits three abstracts to the international organization of BAP. While the abstracts are

7

Beta Alpha Psi accepts students in accounting, finance, and computer information systems.

ANDREIA FERREIRA/COURTESY due in January, MC makes sure to get them in early by four months.

If the abstracts are approved, they get an email notification to let them know which categories they will compete in for the Regional Meeting. Once they know what they’re competing in, they go over the guidelines of what they’re looking for and then create a presentation that is eight minutes long with two minutes for Q&A. Last year they competed in three categories and came out with one second place finish and one third place finish.

This year they competed in two categories: Launching Into the Next Century and Branding Your Chapter. Out of a total of 10 colleges, they ended up placing third in the Branding Your Chapter competition.

“With all that hard work we ended up placing in third in the Branding Your Chapter category which we were very proud of since we competed against nine other colleges and universities who were very good in a very competitive environment,” Ferreira said. “And it all goes to show that hard work really does pays off.”

From her time as faculty advisor for BAP, Farrelly is able to see just how much the members of Beta Alpha Psi grow from the time they join.

“The growth of the students is astronomical just from being involved, and in the beginning all they have to do is show up,” Farrelly said. “But you can see them grow dramatically. And these presentations and these conferences, it’s unbelievable what they can do.”

New Sports Media Production Position Elizabeth Metsch Staff Writer

The Communication department is in the process of hiring an added position in order to help create a new offering and learning opportunity for students after the MAAC Conference signed a contract with ESPN. Thom Gencarelli, Chair of the department, shared that the MAAC’s “eleven member Colleges will provide intercollegiate athletics programming for ESPN’s new WatchESPN Internet channel and mobile app.”

Because of this new ESPN service, the Communication department was asked if they could support the initiative by creating an academic program in which students would produce the games and events for live streaming.

This not only brings a new

offer to MAAC sports fans, but gives a new chance for students to develop in an area which the college has never before provided. Arshia Anwer, a full-time faculty member of the department, explained that the program is unique because it will exist as a concentration within the major, rather than being its own major or own school entirely.

Anwer explained, “Various students across all the concentrations have an interest in athletics and sports production or sports media, especially people in Broadcast or Journalism.”

Many athletes receive Communication degrees, and she believes the concentration will largely appeal to that demographic as well.

Gencarelli explained that this new position will be responsible for not only teaching the courses related to the concentration, but will also “ultimately be responsible for the

excellence of the concentration and the work the students do in it - which does mean ensuring that the product we create for WatchESPN will be as professional - as broadcast-quality - as it can possibly be.”

As for where they are in the process? Though an incomplete hiring process is confidential, Gencarelli was able to share some insight. Approximately fifty applications were received, of which six received phone interviews, and three were offered to come teach demonstration classes.

“We’re looking for someone that’s either worked academically or profession in sports and media who will fit into the style of a Communication department in a Liberal Arts school,” Anwer explained.

Students are afforded the opportunity to sit in on the demonstration classes and give feedback which is highly considered and valued in the

decision making. While all the demonstrations went well, few students attended them according to Gencarelli who expressed disappointment in that these demonstrations provide students a chance to voice their opinion, and to really see the talent of the applicants in actions, and yet it is not fully taken advantage of.

Anwer offered, “Perhaps less students attended because their is not an existing population of this concentration.

When demonstration classes occurred for the Journalism professor opening, more students attended because we have students in that area of study already.” However, she believes the concentration will be popular once it is up and running.

Hopefully, the new position will be filled by the upcoming fall semester so that students may enroll in these classes as a concentration, or as electives.

Students must work their way through the concentration courses in order to ultimately reach the “Advanced Sports Media Production” class where students will have the opportunity to fully produce pieces for the college and ESPN. “If everything stays on track, this first production should occur in the spring of 2020,” said Anwer. The department is eager to provide this offering to students, and hopes students will be just as excited to enroll in the various courses, even just to enrich their background knowledge for a separate concentration.

A new concentration and learning experience is always exciting. And, it’s good to see the college take initiative to grow and help enhance students’ experiences here.

8

Features

Father Tom Meets the Pope

Taylor Brethauer & Tara Marin

Editor in Chief & Senior Writer It’s not something you see every day: Manhattan College’s very own Father Tom, shaking hands with Pope Francis. The picture popped up on the timeline of many student and faculty Twitter timelines recently.

Father Tom had traveled to the Vatican, which explained his absence from Sunday evening mass the week prior.

Father Tom is a member of the Missionaries of Mercy, a group of priests that the Pope called together during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. There are 1,200 members around the world.

“We had special permissions to hear confessions and to forgive sins that were reserved to the Holy Father normally. So this group acts on the Pope’s behalf around the world, and also to preach about the idea of mercy, have days of recollections, and get the world out about God’s love and mercy in the world,” he said.

After the Jubilee Year ended, Pope Francis saw the value in the ministry and asked some of the priests to continue, and Father Tom was one of the 895 priests who had their faculties continued, many of which are in Europe. In the United States, Father Tom is one of 150 priests who are members of the Missionaries of Mercy, and one of three in New York State.

Going into the trip, Father Tom was hopeful about meeting Pope Francis, but wasn’t sure if he was going to get the chance.

“They didn’t tell us how many people were going to be in Rome, so I thought it would be a couple hundred.

We started on Divine Mercy Sunday with Pope Francis, and there were 500 of us there, so I said, ‘okay it’s a big group’ and I figured we were not actually going to meet him individually, but some people might,” he said.

Luckily, Father Tom was wrong—Pope Francis wished to meet with all 500 priests that day.

“On the day we met with him, he spoke for an hour and when he ended his talk, the head of the council told us that he wanted to meet us all individually. So we each got a chance to greet him,” Father Tom said.

Father Tom reflects on their few moments together with fondness and thankfulness.

“It was phenomenal. He spoke to us all in Italian, and my Italian is not great, but we had translators. I thanked him in Spanish, and he thanked me in Spanish, which was helpful. I wanted to express my gratitude for the things he was doing for the church and the world, and his response back was thanking me and all of us for helping to carry out his message.”

Father Tom left the interaction feeling “awestruck, humbled, and honored.”

In the Pope’s speech to the 500 members prior to meeting them, he emphasized the importance of “mercifying” the world. Father Tom explains: “He was really continuing what the theme of the Jubilee Year was about, and a theme in his Papacy. He takes the word ‘mercy’ and makes it into a verb—he says it’s about ‘mercifying’ the world, so bringing that sense of God’s mercy as an active principle for people to experience and to know.

He spoke to us about making sure we have that feeling for

THE QUADRANGLE

Father Tom was given the opportunity to meet Pope Francis through his involvement with the Missionaries of Mercy, a grou of priests called together during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. @FRTOMF TWITTER / COURTESY ourselves and encouraging us to find ways to keep being the presence, and providing that insight and support for people, knowing that that’s the way God wants us to relate to him.”

Two days prior to meeting Pope Francis, Father Tom heard him speak in St. Peter’s Square, which was a humbling experience in itself.

“I didn’t go into the whole experience thinking it would be as emotional as it was, but then even on Divine Mercy Sunday, the first full day we were there, there was a huge mass in St. Peter’s Square. At the end of the mass he went off-script—it’s always a little more interesting to hear what he says off-script—and sadly,

Father Tom was given the opportunity to meet Pope Francis through his involvement with the Missionaries of Mercy, a grou of priests called together during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. @FRTOMF TWITTER / COURTESY

it was right when the incidents in Syria were really boiling up.

In the midst of his comments, he encouraged everyone to pray for those who are facing the violence and struggling, and then he also pointed out our little group to the side and thanked us. And it just felt really personal. You know, it was sort of a realization that this was an important thing for him and his vision of the Church, so having a sense of gratitude for that, really feeling like it’s an opportunity to be a part of something that he wants to see happen,” Father Tom said.

Father Tom also reflected on what he admires Pope Francis for most.

“I think that he’s trying to

really bring a human experience to the church. It’s hard being in a position like his, when you’re filled in this realm of ceremony and decrees, trying to make sure people realize that even though the church is this major institution, that there are a lot of these teachings that are important in finding this oneon-one contact with God. What makes his papacy special is that he teaches the church and fills it with knowledge and history and awareness, but all of that is meant to be at the service of people’s experience with God, not the other way around. It’s oriented towards finding that faith and living it, rather than the structures, and the rules, and everything else.”

Father Tom was the only person affiliated with Manhattan College to go on this trip, but he returned from it with a deeper understanding of how he wants to bring the Pope’s message to our campus.

“One of the big parts of the trip, along with the ministry of confessions, was spreading this message about letting people have this feeling that they can find their relationship with God, or come back to it if it’s been awkward or off-putting.

So I think one of our major actions is having mission days, retreat days, days of recollection.

I think with the upcoming year I’d hope to start implementing those kinds of opportunities to celebrate the sacraments, but also to experience that relationship. I think it’s so important for students in these college years to have a relationship with God that’s their own,” Father Tom said.

Features

APRIL 24, 2018

9

Islam Awareness Week on Manhattan College Campus RikkiLynn Shields Editor

Not only does Manhattan College’s Muslim Student Association sponsors weekly Jummah prayers facilitated by the Muslim Chaplain on campus, holiday celebrations, and other cultural events throughout the year, MCMSA also hosted a variety of events throughout last week, the week of April 16th, in accordance with Islam Awareness Week.

With the framework of Islam Awareness Week in mind, MCMSA worked to showcase their theme of Taking Back Our Narrative throughout each and every one of these events.

While many would assume that the Muslim community consists of mostly Arabic or South Asian people, the Muslim-American community is, in fact, the most ethnically diverse faith community in America.

Part of not only Islam Awareness Week, but also the MCMSA is to highlight and showcase the diversity within the Muslim community.

Rabea Ali, a management and marketing double major and current president of MCMSA wanted to bring more awareness and change to MCMSA almost immediately after becoming a member.

“I was a part of the eboard unofficially last year and ultimately felt like much more could be done and thus took on the leadership with the goal of building this inclusive community on campus while educating the campus about Islam and bringing together the Muslims,” Ali said.

As president, Ali just about handles the bulk of everything, along with the help of her six e-board members and over fifteen unofficial members.

Amanda Lazkani, a chemical engineering major from Staten Island became a part of MCMSA after Ali announced to her that she would be president this year. As one of Ali’s friends, Lazkani knew she had to get involved.

“My friend, Rabea Ali, had been an active member her freshman year, and when she told me she was going to be President this year, I knew it was something I had to be a part of. She had all of these amazing ideas to promote MSA and make it an honorable club on campus. MSA’s standards this year is nothing compared to last year’s executive board members. The event coordinating has been top notch and the turnout for all of their events has been extremely encouraging. I am a huge supporter of this organization, and I always try my best to promote their many events that they offer

A whiteboard in Thomas Hall allowed students to share a message of solidarity while educating others about Islamophobia.

MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION / COURTESY throughout the semester. You can say I am their biggest fan!”

Lazkani said.

On Monday, April 16th, MCMSA led a Town Hall meeting addressing misconceptions about Islam, which took place at 4:30 PM in the Kelly Commons 5A. This was not only an education session but also an open forum discussing the misconceptions regarding the Islamic community. Lazkani spoke at this forum, and addressed diversity and representation in Islam.

“Some ideas I brought up were how Islam is one of the most diverse religions in the world, where I spoke about a personal story regarding this. I was once questioned as to how my skin can be white but also be Muslim. I got a lot of praise for bringing this up because people need to be called out on responses like this. I also spoke about the association of terrorism and Islam, and briefly discussed what the hijab means and represents in Islam,” Lazkani said.

Jannat Iftikhar, a junior radiation therapy attended the Misconceptions in Islam forum on Monday.

“There were a bunch of different presentations discussing misconceptions and problems based on culture and religion.

It was nice because a lot of people came to discuss the importance of being aware of these problems in our everyday lives, and gaining that understanding from a different point of view,” Iftikhar said.

On Tuesday, April 17th, MCMSA tabled in the Thomas Hall vestibule to educate peo-

ple about Islamophobia, while also encouraging students and faculty to write on a whiteboard they provided, to add their own message of solidarity.

That night, A Night with a Muslim Hip Hop artist took place in Hayden 100. Both Alia Sharrief and Miss Undastood represented Muslim women in hip hop by performing some of their own songs.

“I was the photographer for the night, trying to capture everyone’s smile in the audience, and Alia’s amazing performance. Alia was very conversational with everyone and created a tight-knit group. She discussed how she overcomes the stereotypes that people have towards Islam, and who and what influenced her to become an artist. She is truly a musician who is proud to represent her faith. We all had a laugh and really enjoyed our time with her,” Lazkani said.

Throughout the week, MCMSA is also hosted a panel of Muslim students from Manhattan College, the College of Mount Saint Vincent, Fordham University, and NYIT. There was also a film screening of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the third Interfaith Jummah prayer of the year, and a 40 minute film about sexual assault in the Muslim & Desi communities.

With this past week being MCMSA’s first official Islam Awareness Week, the true passion and involvement that the entire eboard and all of its members have shows through every single event that MCMSA put on throughout the entire week.

“Closing off the semester,

the MSA will have its usual weekly programming of Office Hours w/ the Muslim Chaplain and Jummah Prayer. IA week was our closing events for the semester but we will absolutely be back with more next semester for sure. We’re always involved in a bunch of things such as Mission Month Day of Service or the HGI Education Center events we support or really anything CMSA puts on!”

Ali said.

For all of the e-board members and other members of MCMSA in general, Islam Awareness Week was an amazing week full of screenings, events, panels and more, showcasing all of the diversity not only on the Manhattan College campus, but also within the Muslim community itself.

“Islam Awareness Week has been such a touching event that I am so honored to be part of. This means the world to me because people will finally view Islam through the right lens.

Personally, I was finally able to share my story with Manhattan College, and open up about my experience and how being a Muslim woman has taken me through many obstacles in life, but has also been a very rewarding and unique journey,” Lazkani said.

For anyone looking to get involved in MCMSA, Ali made it clear that “the MSA is an inclusive club of all people of all backgrounds! Anyone can join and we welcome anyone.”

“You can join our email list by shooting us an email at muslimclub@manhattan.edu or hit us up on social media @ manhattanmsa on FB and IG

as well. As for getting involved with the eboard and planning, all eboard meetings are also open to the public so feel free to drop by with ideas and suggestions. Feedback on events is always wanted and welcome!”

Ali said.

While this may be her first year as president, Ali sure has proven to the Manhattan College community, as well as the community, the passion she upholds for not only her faith, but also the equal representation of everyone.

“To me, IA Week means many things. For one, it is our first annual and truly the year the MSA has made its presence known on campus in a postTrump world for in my opinion as Muslims we no longer have the privilege to sit around and let this Islamophobic world go by and this rhetoric to get pushed in everyday life and so we truly amped up our programming and addressing education and awareness. IA Week was the culmination of this semester’s work and events and honestly represents the building of an inclusive community on campus whilst educating the general MC population as well as taking back our stories and no longer letting people speak over us or for us but rather speaking for ourselves. I actually had IA week in mind when I first began my role in the MSA as president and so it truly also means it finally is happening and it is honestly something I’m incredibly proud of myself and my executive board both official and unofficial,” Ali said.

Features

10

Q10

Kirsten Battacchio

Angela Benevenia

Micaela Bishop

Alannah Boyle

Cam Cullen

T HE QUAD T EN

THE QUADRANGLE

The Quad 10 is similar to Time Magazine graduating class of 2018 were

Kirsten Battocchio had an unorthodox beginning to her college career. Instead of going straight from high school to college, she served in the U.S Marines, from 2009 to 2015.

Following the end of her military career, Battocchio chose to attend Manhattan College as an international studies and government major.

Then, student veterans were a part of an organization known as the Veterans Academic Learning Opportunities Realized (VALOR).

VALOR has since evolved into the all-encompassing organization known as the Student Veterans’ Organization (SVO), of which Battocchio served as the president this year.

It was under Battocchio’s leadership that the college was opened the Veterans’ Success Center last fall.

“Everybody really believed in our cause and believed in us enough to support us and it’s been a really good space for us to not only host meetings at some times, but to become closer

with each other. It’s been good for morale,” Battocchio said.

In Battocchio’s time with SVO, the student population has grown from around 40 to over 100 students.

“She is fabulous. She is, without a doubt, one of finest people I’ve ever worked with.

We built upon what we had been doing and then expanded under her leadership,” said Stephen Kaplan, Ph.D., director for veterans success at MC. Battocchio’s influence is also on the national level.

She was a finalist for Student Veteran of the Year and was involved in a national art project revolving around telling the story of veterans through portraits. Battoccio’s portrait will be displayed in an upcoming gallery at MC this fall.

Battocchio plans to attend graduate school for two years in the Georgetown School of Foreign Service’s security studies program. She hopes to remain in public service.

When Angela Benevenia arrived on campus in 2014, she had only two improv classes under her belt.

Improvisational comedy was something that Benevenia thought she could excel in.

That her campus have an improvisational comedy troupe was a prerequisite, and it was Manhattan College’s Scatterbomb troupe that acted as a primary driver in her decision to become a Jasper.

Benevenia auditioned for Scatterbomb her fresh-

man year, and got the part.

Since then, she has become a fixture and leading woman of the comedy troupe.

Benevenia credits her quick wit and comedic skill to her family..

“My family’s hilarious, my brothers are so funny,” Benevenia said. “I’m really, like, not the funniest person in my family.

“Probably more than anyone at Manhattan College, Angela is like a huge influence on me,” junior Kevin Donald, a fellow member of Scatter-

bomb, said. “Just seeing how deeply she cares about the things that she’s involved in has really motivated me to get that involved in campus.”

In addition to Scatterbomb, Benevenia has also brought the funny at Coffeehouse, where has performed stand-up comedy routines.

She also contributes to Manhattan Magazine, works as a writing consultant and is the secretary of the English honor society Sigma Tau Delta.

Benevenia was involved

in the Lasallian Summer Research Scholarship program, where she did research on author Junot Diaz, who penned her favorite book, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” She presented her research at a conference at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn.

After graduation, Benevenia plans to attend graduate school in pursuit of a master of fine arts and doctoral degree, in the hopes of ultimately becoming a professor.

Micaela Bishop did not expect to spend four years at Manhattan College.

Bishop had had an unconventional high school experience, which included a year of private tutoring as part of the Miss Teen New York International program.

When she arrived in 2014, she planned to get in and get out in three years with a degree in government.

During her freshman year, Bishop started to become involved in student government, becoming an active member

of the social life committee.

One year later, she’d be the Sophomore Class Representative. After another, Vice President for Commuter Affairs. And then, Student Body President.

“I feel most honored and privileged to have actually been given that experience,” Bishop said of her career in student government.

Bishop’s administration has notched several accomplishments this year, including raising the campus minimum wage to that of New York State, turning “Quadstock”

into “Quadchella” and fundraising for disaster relief in Texas and Puerto Rico.

“She’s been a great asset to the college for this past school year, in terms of her being proactive on different initiatives that student government started this year,” Assistant Director of Student Engagement Michael Steele said. “It was amazing working with someone like her.”

Bishop also played in a part in the reincarnation of the Government and Politics Club in 2015 alongside senior Ryan

Quattromani. She has acted as its Vice President ever since.

Bishop ultimately decided to stick around and finish in four, taking on a second major in economics.

“I’m really happy that I stayed and I think it’s kind of given me the ability to have another year to become a better student,” Bishop said.

Bishop will work at the Bronx District Attorney’s Office after graduation, and plans to attend law school in hopes of becoming a criminal defense attorney.

Alannah Boyle sums up her experience at MC in one perfect word: snowball.

“I think [my involvement on campus] just kind of snowballed like it does on a small campus, with the more people you know, the more things you find out about and the more you get involved,” said Boyle.

Boyle was a member on the women’s lacrosse team when she was a freshman at MC, but left the team a few months into the school year. Getting involved, in her words, was “by accident.”

This then sparked

her role in Campus Ministry and Social Action.

“My RA at the time during my freshman year sort of sensed the direction she saw me going in and so she nominated me to be a CRS ambassador,” said Boyle.

In her junior year, she also began to balance being a resident assistant the past two years in Jasper Hall.

She credits her RA position for allowing her to enter situations in a different way. However, she believes she has benefitted the most from her residents.

“I have learned a lot from

my residents in different, various ways in how they approach their problems. I really enjoy being around my residents and that is really exciting for me,” said Boyle.

Boyle has been the point student for the creation of the Lasallian Women and Gender Resource Center, which is expected to begin on campus next semester after she graduates.

The idea came when Boyle, Tori James ‘17 and Olivia Smith ‘17 had the idea of creating a women and gender club. But Jordan Pascoe, assistant professor of philosophy,

told them that what they were thinking was a resource center.

“Long story short, the three of us and Dr. Pascoe formed a committee comprised of administrators, faculty and students to sort of tackle some of our concerns and our goals,” said Boyle.

Much like the upperclassman did for her, she is also passing along the leadership position. In the coming years, Reilly Rebhan, Gabriella Ramirez and Noor Azeem will be stepping into the roles of Boyle, James and Smith.

“Cam’s Corner” was only intended to be seen for Cameron Cullen’s COMM 350: Field and Post Production course.

“It started as a homework assignment and I had enough momentum [...] and a running show that I translated it to my senior year and it allowed me to restart MCTV through that,” said Cullen.

Cullen, who has been attending MCTV general interest meetings since his freshman year, understood that the club needed some reviving.

He believes “Cam’s Corner”

was a big influence of that.

“I think the best part of MCTV right now is that we have a big number of freshmen and sophomores that are not only communication majors, I think we have engineering majors too,” said Cullen.

He is also thrilled that the club is now holding elections for an executive-board for this club, in order to fill those positions being left behind by graduating students.

The club has plans of releasing their new show, “Waking Up”, during the

upcoming finals week.

Cullen has also had a big impact in Greek life on campus.

“I was chapter president of Alpha Phi Delta fraternity in 2017 [...] Being involved with a fraternity, not only are you worried about the pledge process and getting a good group of guys together who can bring this past their college days, you’re also concerned with getting involved on campus like good fundraisers [for philanthropies],” said Cullen.

But overall, he balances his on-campus responsibili-

ties with his expectations as a resident assistant in for Arches students in Lee Hall.

As for the future, Cullen is in the process of planning what will come next.

“I think I’m going to be pursuing a Master’s probably in 2019. Right now I’m looking at schools in the city with a Master in Fine Arts.. being a video production guy. I think I can put a dent in the TV industry, if I could say so myself,” said Cullen.

Features

APRIL 24, 2018

11

e’s 100 Most Influential People list, except on a Manhattan College-scale. The ten following members of the e chosen by the executive board of The Quadrangle as some of the best and brightest seniors MC has to offer.

Interviews compiled by Rose Brennan, Taylor Brethauer, Jack Melanson & Stephen Zubrycky.

Patrick Estanbouli’s resume is a mile long, but for all the right reasons.

One of his biggest roles thus far has been his position on the student government executive board as the vice president of residential affairs.

“I’ve focused on listening and trying my best to fix major and minor issues in the residence halls as well as help SGA in creating events and programs that all students, residents and commuters, could enjoy together,” said Estanbouli.

His position has him focusing on aspects that impact the lives of resident students such as exam week relaxation programs, Horan elevator repairs and implementing printing kiosks in the residence halls.

Estanbouli is also an RA in Jasper Hall.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have such an amazing group and family of residents in Jasper that have really helped me foster a home environment in which all of us are there for each other. Furthermore, I’ve really fallen in love with

the family that is established amongst the RA’s who are an increasingly diverse group of leaders and involved students who really care about each other and the MC community,” said Estanbouli.

Another key aspect of his leadership roles and personality is his position for the new art club, Sanctus Artem.

“You can’t describe Pat without talking about his art, because the man is one of the most creative people I’ve ever met. Not only is his work astounding, but it [matches] his

character,” said Tara Magee, co-president of Sanctus Artem.

Estanbouli is proud of the work the club has shown to the MC community.

“We’ve been able to pull of an extremely successful first annual SA Art Show in the fall which involved students, alumni, and faculty/administration,” said Estanbouli.

Estanbouli will be moving to Houston to help design a STEM center. He hopes to return to academics for a Master’s in Fine Arts or Communication Design.

Kayla Grimme will be a name the athletic department won’t soon forget. Grimme, a member of the women’s basketball team at Manhattan College, has been a strong and key team player for the team throughout her career.

Grimme’s recent major achievement was reaching 1,000 points since she’s been on the team, a title not many Jaspers achieve. She then went on to finished the season as one of just two Manhattan women’s

basketball players to reach the 1,300-point and 900-rebound thresholds in their careers.

Her focus helped her reach that amount, along with the teammates she has been with since the beginning.

“I think it’s really exciting when we can really get a two-man game going and I can get those good passes back out to her,” Grimme told the media about teammate Imani Tatum after the MAAC tournament opener against

Iona. The team won 55-39 on March 1 and moved onto the next round to face Marist.

Despite the team’s hard times, Grimme has been appreciative of her time on the team, which has brought her great successes. Those include being named to the All-MAAC Second Team this past year and All-Metropolitan and All-MAAC Third Team the previous year.

“I think it’s very gratifying to, now that I’m in my fifth

year, seeing a lot my hard work paying off [...] at the end of the day, I wouldn’t be in this position at all without any of my teammates,” said Grimme after a game this season to The Quadrangle. “Either getting me the ball or pushing me harder in practice everyday.”

While the women’s basketball team gets better every year, Grimme will be a tough member to replace.

Ally Hutzler is no stranger to The Quadrangle. The newspaper’s former Editor-in-Chief for the year of 2016, Hutzler has been an important member of the newspaper staff since starting on the staff her freshman year as part of the Quadrangle scholarship program.

“I am so proud of the work we’ve done to keep the campus informed and keep record of the awesome accomplishments of our students and staff.

I also have been involved in

athletics since day one, watching the progression of the swim team and was named captain for this past season,” said Hutzler.

Breaking records left and right, Hutzler has had a breakout season on the swim team, breaking her own school records in 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke: swimming 57.85 seconds and 1:06.08 respectively at the most recent MAAC championships.

During her time with The Quadrangle, balancing being

her student-athlete and a fulltime reporter, Hutzler has produced many stories for the paper. Her most notable column, “The Freshman Files” gave Hutzler a Quaddie Award nomination her freshman year.

“I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in a few different things on campus and being able to meet the most amazing people,” said Hutzler.

But overall, her time as editor-in-chief solidified her nomination for

the first-ever Quad 10 list.

“Getting this Quad 10 nomination, alongside so many greatly deserving candidates, is the perfect way to end my four years here. These accomplishments never would have been possible without Manhattan’s supportive community and I’m so thankful for the people who helped me along the way,” said Hutzler.

A recognizable face on campus, Ryan Quattromani has his hands full with his many leadership roles on campus.

“Since enrollment, I made it my mission to make Manhattan College better than when I first stepped foot on campus, and I feel I was successful in my mission. Serving our community was difficult times and required commitment and sacrifice which is why I particularly appreciate this recognition.

That being said, there are many other students deserving of recognition. We should have a Quad 1000,” said Quattromani.

A people-person on cam-

pus, Quattromani is most often seen in Horan Hall, where he is a resident assistant.

But he is also a strong proponent within student government, where he has served on both executive board and as an assembly member.

“I gave it my full attention and treated it as a job at times.

It is also worth noting that my participation in Student Government adversely affected my academic performance at times. Obviously, spending nearly twenty hours per week working on Student Government tasks/issues was difficult on my academics at times. This

is something I learned to manage over time, but was not a deal-breaker for me as a student leader,” said Quattromani.

Balancing his responsibilities benefited him in the long-run, allowing him to work alongside student body president Micaela Bishop to bring about the biggest change on campus students have seen in years: the minimum-wage resolution.

“This year I heard concerns from many students regarding the on-campus student employment wage. In an effort to truly serve the community, I worked tirelessly for

nearly five months to ask college administrators to increase the student employment minimum wage from $9/hr. to that of New York minimum wage.

This required multiple meetings with college leaders, passing a proposal through Student Government, the Senate, and eventually approval

by President O’Donnell and the Board of Trustees. I am really proud that I was successful in my endeavor. I know it made a significant difference in the lives of students.”

Rich Williams has overcome major limitations in order to finish up his basketball career. A member of the men’s basketball team since 2013, Williams spent the year of 2016-2017 as a medical redshirt, meaning he would not step foot on the court until he was cleared the following year.

The 39th member of the Jaspers’ 1,000-point club, Williams has always played a key integral role on the men’s team, regardless of the game.

“He came to me a week ago and said, ‘Coach, I think we’re a little flat when we go to the bench. What do you think about me coming off the bench and trying to get some life and spark to us,’” Head coach Stephen Masiello said in an interview with The Quadrangle back in 2015. “I think that says a lot about his character that he wants to do what’s best for the team. So, it was his idea and I think you’ve seen our bench production go way up now with

him coming off the bench.”

Most recently, Williams’ energy was playing in the inaugural 3-on-3 tournament alongside teammate Zane Waterman and two other players from MAAC schools.

One of Williams’ favorite parts of his basketball career was the Sixth Borough.

“To end in that way…was phenomenal,” Williams said after senior night win against the Quinnipiac Bobcats. “And to have it here with the great

fans was icing on the cake.”

Williams’ last appearance with the full Jaspers was seen during the MAAC Tournament in Albany, N.Y. at the beginning of March.

The team lost in the quarterfinal against the Iona Gaels.

“It’s been an unbelievable time. If I could go back, I’d do it all again,” said Williams to media at the time.

Pat Estanbouli

Kayla Grimme

Ally Hutzler

Ryan Quattromani

Rich Williams

Arts & Entertainment

12

THE QUADRANGLE

TX Hopes to Share His Original Music with the World ROCK THE QUAD Gabriella DePinho Editor

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for clarity.

On a sunny Friday afternoon, I was hanging out on the quad, talking to my brother and his friends as I waited to interview Terrance “Terry” Bouyer for this column. Bouyer is a freshman computer engineering major who commutes to MC who writes and produces his own music. He and I had been going back and forth for a while trying to schedule this interview, so I was excited that we had finally settled on a date, time and place.

The quad was bursting with life: there were students throwing a frisbee, others having a chill jam sesh, others reading and doing homework and still others were just taking it all in.

When I finally met Terry, his personality matched the atmosphere on the quad: fun, laid back and super inviting. I had been hoping to do the interview and listen to him sing on the quad, but since there was so much noise outside, we moved into the chapel.

Sitting down in the chapel, Terry and I got started but the interview felt more like a conversation with a friend. It took a couple tries to get the right video for the column, but in between there was laughing, casual chatting and figuring out how to work the camera.

When we were wrapping up, I felt like I had made a new friend. Terry is just like his music: open and honest and definitely worth getting to know.

The Quadrangle: So, to get started, do you have a stage name or go by your name?

Terrance Bouyer: Yes I do.

It’s TX. TQ: Where did that come from?

TB: I made it up. I was in the shower thinking of different names. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a fake full name like “Bryan Adams” just because I feel like a lot of singers use their name-name like Phillip Phillips and Ed Sheeran, like a first name and a last name and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be known like that. I feel like when you have a nickname, you’re a little bit more cool. So I did TX cause I felt I could do a little bit of both. I feel like when you say “TX” you don’t really know what to expect but I feel if I was like “Terrance Richards” or something like that, people would be like, “oh, he’s a singer.”

TQ: How did you start mak-

ing your own music? When did you start writing your own songs and how did you end up where you are now?

TB: Well I was told by my sister that I’d always make up songs when I was two or three years old. But in my own memory, I would watch Hannah Montana at like six years old and I thought her life was so cool. I love all her songs, my parents would get me every CD and after the first one with “I’ve Got Nerve” and “Who Said” and “Best of Both Worlds,” I just started writing my own songs in my school notebook.

At the time, I didn’t know instruments or know chords or keys or pitches or what those things were but I have this thing where a certain pitch puts a color in my head so that’s how I would remember how the songs would go. Underneath each lyric, I would write the color so I could remember the key or how to sing it. A lot of them sounded like Hannah Montana songs. My sister would hear it and be like, “did you copy Hannah Montana’s song?” and I’d be like, “well, I was inspired.”

I wasn’t creative enough to do my own thing. I never stopped writing songs, but I didn’t really think about it too much until high school. I mean in middle school, my dad got an iPad and that was like the coolest thing ever, and on the iPad there was GarageBand, so I would mess around with that, but I wasn’t writing songs. High school came around, and I actually had a hard time at home, and I had a crush on someone at school and they were manipulative, which put me in a really dark place. I started to like cut myself and get these suicidal thoughts and stuff, and I was talking to my friends saying, “this is the only way I know how to express myself and relieve my pain” and they were like, “you need to find a new way” so I started writing songs. The first song I wrote was very, very sad and I don’t know if I’ll ever release it. I love the song, and I think it’s beautifully written but I don’t want to contribute to anyone’s depression. That’s when I started writing my own songs. A year after that, during my sophomore year, I was like, “I want to start making music again” so yeah. There’s a song I wrote called “Believe In You” and I got on GarageBand and put some piano to it and that just went on and on. After a while I realized I loved this; I loved making the instrumental, writing the songs. TX, where that came about, was when I wrote a song about relationships with my parents and my family and stuff called “Choco-

late Ice Cream” and I put that on SoundCloud just to see what people thought, and I just put my name as TX. Wait, no, actually, I put out a minute or so song before that just to see how people would react and everyone in my high school loved it and I got 500 plays and at the time that was more than expected. Then, I put out “Chocolate Ice Cream” and I put out a few other songs after and they got really good responses.

TQ: Who would you say are your musical influences?

TB: Ooh that’s a tough one, there’s so many! I have different people for different things.

When it comes to songwriting, the people I look up to the most are Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith - I love his lyrics - Adele is another big one. When it comes to actual music and instrumentals, it depends on what kind of music I want to make. If I want to make more of an R&B, rap kind of sound, I’ll listen to Metro Boomin or Big Sean or blackbear.

If I want more of a pianoish type song, Adele again because Adele is always sad. Biggest [influences] vocally with singing, Ariana Grande, Sam Smith, Adele again. Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Adele, I look to for most things.

TQ: Do you have plans for your music or is it always going to be a side project of yours?

TB: I would love to see it go somewhere. In terms of plans, right now it’s hard because of computer engineering, so I took a break from it. I put out a couple songs in early January, but I haven’t put out anything since then because school became crazy, especially with Calc 2. Plans though, I have a lot of plans, whether they actually happen, I don’t know.

I’d love to put out an album; that’s what I’m actually working on right now. I don’t know when it’ll come out or if it will because it’s so much time that goes into it and I’m still a beginner and I’m still learning everything. It’s very complicated, especially with the technical stuff with recording and making it sound professional.

But I do plan to put out an album, hopefully, before the end of this year. I’ve been working on it, almost every day now that school is ending, I’ve been back into it. Other lans, I would love to perform with other artists, like my friends from high school, there are other SoundCloud artists and rappers and singers and we all still keep in touch. So I would love to collab and perform with them. I’m not sure where I see this going; I do this because I love it. I’m not trying to become famous but, of course, that would be nice.

Terry Bouyer, a freshman computer engineering major, began writing songs during high school during a tough time. @TERR.YY INSTAGRAM /COURTESY I’ll be content either way if only a couple friends heard my music or the whole world heard it. I mean I’d love if the whole world heard it but I’d still be happy if only a couple people or Manhattan College or my high school class knew my music.

Right now, it’s a side thing or it always will be, at least until I graduate. I always tell myself, if anything I have computer engineering as a backup in case music doesn’t work out.

TQ: Do you have a favorite lyric you’ve written?

TB: Ooh, that’s hard because I’ve written so many songs. I think in 2017 I wrote about 100… I think the song I like the most is a song I wrote called “Beautiful.” The lyrics are “You move the caterpillars out my mind to where they’re safe from crowded thoughts and can metamorphosize” and I thought that was pretty creative because people say butterflies in their stomach. So it’s like the caterpillars in my mind are the attraction and you move them away from my crowded thoughts, because I overthink everything, and can metamorphosize, well, into butterflies…

I think that pops to my mind because it’s overall a beautiful song; it’s not talking about sex, not talking about drugs, it’s just about love, about wanting to spend your life with someone. Sometimes songs will just come to me and I won’t always relate to them or they won’t come from experience because at the time I had never had a relationship. I thought it was very poetic and had a lot of imagery TQ: Do you play a lot of instruments? How many?

TB: I play none.

TQ: How many can you like pull off when you’re recording?

TB: With making music,

it’s a virtual piano and you can change the sounds to be a violin, a trumpet, a flute, a drum, anything, so that’s how it is. So I don’t know an instrument and I just know what works well together and I have good musicality. I do know the trumpet, but I never see that being useful in my music.

TQ: Saxophones got big on the radio in music for a while a few years ago but now they’re gone again. You never know.

TB: True, true. I do know trumpet, I learned in middle school. Guitar, I know one thing on it; I tried learning for a whole year but I literally just could not get my left hand to obey me because I use my right hand, my dominant hand, to strum. Piano, I could learn if I wanted to but I never have the time to sit down and practice. I do want to learn piano, guitar, violin and drums, not even because I like the drums but because I feel like it would be cool to say “Yeah, I know the drums.”

TQ: Anything else about your music that you want to share?

TB: Check it out and I hope the songs relate to the people that listen to them.

Scan the QR code above to watch an exclusive performance from TX Hopes.

APRIL 24, 2018

Arts & Entertainment

13

Maybe Heaven is Other People THE BOOK NOOK

Megan Dreher Editor

We all have different ideas of what the afterlife may be, or if there is an afterlife at all.

While our own demise tends to be one of the most mundane facts of life to think about, author Mitch Albom addresses it ever so gracefully in his novel, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.”

The book, dedicated to his uncle, is only an “attempt” at what Heaven may be. His wish though, is that whatever version of Heaven that does exist is one that accepts those, like his Uncle, who felt unimportant here on Earth. In Albom’s version of Heaven, everyone will recognize the interconnected nature of our lives, and that everyone is loved by someone.

“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” begins, as you might have expected, at the end of Eddie’s life. He was an old, somewhat grumpy man that worked as the head of maintenance at a place called Ruby Pier. Eddie hadn’t done much else in his life besides fixing the amusement park rides at Ruby Pier, besides going off

to fight in the war as a young man. While he loved Ruby Pier, he often wished he could have made more of himself, and he lived with that regret until the day he died.

On his 83rd birthday, Eddie was killed while trying to rescue a little girl from the impact of a malfunctioning amusement park ride. A gruesome end to an extremely average life, but Eddie’s journey was most certainly not over yet.

Eddie awakens in his afterlife uninjured and energetic and surprisingly calm. The first person he comes across in this new place is named Joseph Corvelzchik, a man with argyria who used to work at the sideshow attraction at Ruby Pier when Eddie was a young boy. Joseph tells Eddie that he has died, and that he will now begin a journey through the five stages of Heaven. At each stage, Eddie gets to meet someone that has had a significant impact on his life, or that he has had a significant impact on theirs.

Along with Joseph, Eddie encounters his former Captain in the army, a diner waitress named Ruby, his late wife Marguerite, and a young Filipina

girl named Tala. Through this journey, Eddie realizes how his life has intertwined with each of these individuals, and how even in the most unlikely circumstances, we play a part in the company we keep.

There is a significant lesson to learn from each individual that Eddie meets, and I believe that each lesson is one that every reader can take away and apply in their own lives. For the longest time, I had been looking for a book that would provide some moral or spiritual enlightenment. In the shuffle of this fast paced life, it’s easy to forget the relationships we have established, and ignore the ones we have not. Either way, we have something to learn from everyone.

I would recommend this book over, and over, and over again. It’s a beautiful way of discovering your own self worth, through the eyes of an individual who believed he had none.

As a firm believer in the rather cliche mantra, “Everything happens for a reason,” I have found that though Eddie didn’t realize his own impact on the world until after his death, it’s never too late to realize your own impact on the world. Albom’s idea

“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” was published in 2003 and describes Albom’s concept of heaven.

RIKKILYNN SHIELDS / THE QUADRANGLE of Heaven is an uplifting one, finding the goodness in other

people and finding the good in yourself.

Senior Performer Seeks to Combine Academic and Musical Interests PERFORMER PROFILE Aleksandra Lozanova Contributor

David Cartolano, a senior at Manhattan College, is an evidence that when you are doing what you love, nothing is impossible and that you should never give up your passions.

Originally from Yonkers, N.Y., Cartolano is currently majoring in exercise science and minoring in music at Manhattan College. He is also president of the college’s Music Ministry, and is active in the MC Singers as well. But what is the common link between all of those things and how he is able to manage them all?

Cartolano started off his life wanting to be a musician.

He has been singing, playing instruments and dancing all his life. However, while he was in high school, an internship program changed his life and helped him to find his new passion.

“In high school, I took a career and finance course, and

physical therapy popped up on some of the questionnaires.

So I got myself an internship through a program at my high school at the local physical therapy clinic. It changed my life. I knew I wanted to be a physical therapist,” he said.

After he knew what he wanted to do in his life, choosing a college was not a difficult decision for Cartolano.

“Manhattan College was right for me after the seventh tour. I liked the small class size and very friendly professors, and honestly you know when you know,” Cartolano said. “I knew early on I wanted to apply to MC and only MC. It was the place I like the most, so why would I waste my time applying to other schools?”

After being admitted to the exercise science major at Manhattan College, Cartolano did not give up on his passion for music. He joined the Jazz Band, as well MC Singers. He has also been part of the Manhattan College Players.

Being an exercise science

student and a performing artist at the same time helped him to learn that he has deep love for both and simply cannot have one without another.

“As I was going through college, I felt like I was a performing artist being crammed into a science textbook. And on the flip side, when I was playing gigs and doing various performing arts events/clubs, I felt like an exercise science student being crammed into a music textbook,” he said.

Cartolano love for both music and physical therapy helped him to find his new dream; a dream that can make a difference in the world.

“My future goal is to build a health clinic for musicians, by musicians. I feel that would be more authentic to my purpose and to my future patients,” he said. “Not only that, I want to have an online database for musicians whether they be vocalists or instrumentalists or dancers can find information to help themselves take care of their bodies. There is a lot

Cartolano will be attending Columbia University following his graduation in the spring.

DAVID CARTOLANO/COURTESY of information out there, but is very disorganized and sometimes comes without a proper research base. I want to change that.”

Cartolano will keep follow-

ing his dreams in New York City after his graduation this spring, as he will be attending Columbia University Medical Center for his Doctor of Physical Therapy.

Arts & Entertainment

14

THE QUADRANGLE

“When I Thought I Could Fly”: Cristina Pérez Jiménez on the Power of Quiet Tara Marin Senior Writer

On Wednesday, April 18th, Cristina Pérez Jiménez, Ph.D., delivered a lecture at the last Agape Latte of the semester.

Jiménez is an assistant professor of English, with a specialty in Hispanic Caribbean and U.S. Latino/a literatures and culture.

Students came out to the event for the cupcakes and pizza, but stayed for Jiménez’s eloquent, inspirational, and hilarious speech. Jiménez wanted to share formative experiences with her audience, stories which they wouldn’t know about her just from sitting in her classroom or working alongside her.

“I’m sharing some personal experiences that I’ve never spoken about publicly, so this is the first time I’ve talked about these things, and reflecting on them has been an interesting experience for me,” Jiménez opened.

The talk, which Jiménez titled “When I Thought I Could Fly”, may at first sound like a metaphor, but Jiménez clarifies that she intended this to be literal: “I really thought I could fly. I am a literature professor, but I do not mean this in a metaphoric sense, I do not mean this as a figure of speech… and no, it was not drugs. I really thought I could fly.”

For six collective years, Jiménez lived in communities of

people who spent many hours each day practicing “advanced meditation” with the goal of eventually levitating, or flying.

She admits how outlandish this sounds, and explains that what brought her to this place in life was something we all can relate to: teenage angst.

“I just had a lot of angst. I was rebellious. Teenagehood is just a difficult period, we all kind of struggle through our teenage years, very few people remain unscathed. It was like that for me. I think a lot of teenagers want to fit in, and it’s a period when we’re leaving behind the child and becoming the adult, and that process can be rocky—we don’t yet have a grounded sense of self, we’re trying to figure out who we are, we’re hormonal, and it is difficult,” Jiménez said.

She also reflected on what set her apart from other teenagers, in that she didn’t want to “fit in” to conventional ideas of life.

“I was consumed—obsessed really—with the big existential questions of life. Why are we here? Why is there so much suffering in the world?

Why do we have poverty on the scale that we have? Why are there wars? What’s the point of life? What kind of life do I want to lead? Is there hell? Is there reincarnation? I really wanted to live an expanded life,” she said.

In her search for selfhood, Jiménez knew that she wanted to lead a unique life, and that

Cristina Pérez Jiménez shares her search for selfhood with students at the final Agape Latte of the semester.

TARA MARIN /THE QUADRANGLE

she didn’t want to be like her parents. What influenced her most was books.

“I read dangerously and precociously, I read all of these books, a lot of pseudo-philosophical and spiritual works that make me cringe a little bit now, but as a teenager, reading about these ideas opened a different world to me than what was available in my immediate surroundings,” Jiménez said.

Amidst this reading addiction, Jiménez discovered a box of her father’s old copies of works by Herman Hesse, a German author best known for his novel Siddhartha.

“I read and re-read them, I was obsessing over the idea of the Buddha. [...] I just remember reading, every night, about human learning and the pursuit of the life of the mind, and I had all these questions and all this yearning,” she said.

Jiménez grew up in a middle class family in Puerto Rico, and attended an all-girls Catholic school. She admitted that she still wonders, had her school had a campus ministry that was engaged with social action, whether or not her existential teenage angst could have been channelled into meaningful social action.

“But it wasn’t that kind of space,” she said. “It was this conservative space of Catholicism, you know, religion classes were about moralizing right versus wrong, and being at an all women’s school, they were always policing women’s sexuality, and I didn’t find a space there for me to really deal with the existential disquietude and recklessness that I was feeling.”

However, she would soon find that space.

Jiménez’s father, who was a transcendental meditation instructor, had taught her to practice as a child, so meditation was something she was familiar with as she grew up.

She also noted that when her parents divorced, she realized that meditation became an even prominent aspect of her father’s life as he was coping with the divorce. When Jiménez was a sophomore in high school, he suggested that she go to a meditational boarding school in North Carolina.

Jiménez didn’t have to think twice: “I wanted to get out, get out of my life. I wanted something different. So I just said ‘yes.’”

Jiménez flew to the Heavenly Mountain Spiritual Center in Boone, NC, home to the Blue Ridge Mountains. She explains that there were two communities of monastic women and men on opposite sides of the mountain who were dedicated to the pursuits of higher states of consciousness and enlightenment. Jiménez attended “The Ideal Girls School” on the

compound, which focused on education for enlightenment.

She was one of eight students.

“I was just a regular teenager and suddenly landed in this all-women community, where we spent a lot of time in silence and meditating, and it was all really strange, but it was also very beautiful. There was just a serenity, a quietness, a sense of tranquility,” Jiménez said.

“I don’t think, as a fifteen year old, that I had really had the opportunity to just be quiet, to just be still, to just be. That felt very healing in some ways,” she said.

One of the beliefs at the spiritual center was “to create heaven on Earth”, which made Jiménez feel like she was part of something larger than herself.

Part of this involved learning an advanced flying technique, which involved transcending the laws of nature.

“This wasn’t super powers, it was just unfolding our unbounded potential. That’s really how I saw it, and that became a part of who I was and how I understood the world. But I got so absorbed in the rhythm and routine of life that everything outside blurred a bit,” Jiménez said.

Her group only left the compound about once a month.

Jiménez describes one of her memories from a time when they went to Walmart.

“We all wore Indian saris, and I just remember people pointing and going ‘those are the cult members!’ and I finally saw myself the way they were seeing me. And that was the first moment that I thought, ‘what am I doing? What am I wearing?’ and then this man came up to us and said, ‘if you ever need rescue, I’m a taxi driver, here’s my phone number. Call me,’” Jiménez said, to which the audience erupted in laughter.

While there were only a few girls at the Ideal Girls School, Jiménez explains that they were still very much like every other high school girl.

“Sometimes we would put towels under the door so we could turn on the light and stay up talking to each other and gossip. [...] One night we had the clever idea, ‘why don’t we do something fun? Why don’t we have the taxi driver pick us up? So we called him and told him, ‘we don’t need to be rescued, but we want to have a little fun.’ And he was like, “sure!’” she said.

The group snuck out to meet the taxi-driver, their saris hidden in the bushes. Jiménez laughs as she recalls the story: “It was actually quite dangerous. We were really wild—we went bowling. There were some local high school kids bowling next to us, and they were very curious about us.

They said, ‘Here’s our number,

give us a call!”

The group continued to sneak out, but eventually got caught.

“I was made to feel like I had done something awful, and it was really kind of traumatic for me. I had found this space where I felt so good, so tranquil, so welcomed, so at peace, so myself, for the first time ever.

And I had somehow breached the trust,” Jiménez said.

The entire group was kicked out, and because of this, the school shut down. Jiménez returned to Puerto Rico and as a senior in high school, she attended the same Catholic school she had left as a freshman.

“I sort of a lived a double life. I was a normal teenager and I didn’t tell anyone about the kinds of experiences I went through, I would go home and I would practice meditation.

There were like two ‘me’s’ living life,” she said.

Jiménez decided that she wanted to return to another meditational community for college. She attended Maharishi University in Fairfield, Iowa.

She explains that it felt good to be surrounded by people who had similar passions and goals, yet she was unsettled by the inequality that she witnessed in the community.

“I started to notice a lot of classism within the community… people that donated a lot of money had roads named after them and were somehow more liked. [...] Yet there were parents who had left everything and dedicated their lives to the university, and were living in these really crappy houses, and it made me sad when I visited them,” she said.

Jiménez also experienced a struggle with the constant focus on enlightenment and happiness. She found herself asking questions like, “What about anger? What about sadness? What about hate? What about these other feelings, that are not love and unity?”

“There was no space for me to explore that range of human experience, and slowly, I became more and more disaffected,” she said.

Jiménez began reading radical feminist works, as well as Karl Marx. She began questioning everything, and eventually left Maharishi.

“My process of dissociation was very gradual. I suddenly wasn’t meditating as long, and nothing happened. I was so worried that something bad would happen if I stopped meditating. Nothing bad happened,” she said.

Jiménez would later go on to receive an impressive __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

APRIL 24, 2018 __________________________ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 the opening of his recent hit, “Leavin’”, that utilizes dial tones of cell phones. The crowd went crazy once they realized what he was doing.

To the delight of the crowd, McCartney sang a lot of his tried-and-true favorites, including “How Do You Sleep?”, “Shake” and “Body Language.”

McCartney, whose new studio album is in the works, also played his newest song “Better With You”, and an unreleased song, “Wasted”, which McCartney said he had not played live in New York yet.

He then began to search the crowd for a girl to bring up on stage. And much to junior Christina Brancoto’s delight, he chose her. McCartney sang “The Stupid Things.”

After Brancoto’s appearance, McCartney played one more song then departed the stage, much to the audience’s confusion. Students looked at each other asking, “Is that it?”

Luckily, a few moments later, McCartney came back onstage and asked the audience, “Oh, did we forget something?”

The concertgoers screamed and, as expected, McCartney launched into his smash-hit, “Beautiful Soul.”

After the concert, The Quadrangle had the opportunity to speak to McCartney for

Arts & Entertainment a brief interview.

McCartney has been on a “college tour” lately, as he was previously at Saint Cloud State University in Saint Cloud, Minn., the night before.

When asked about the difference between a college show and a regular concert, McCartney said, “It’s a two-man show, so actually, musically, it’s a little different, because right now it’s just...my guitar player and I, and for my regular tour, I generally have all of my guys up there with me. But what is really cool is I get to see all of the… collegiate crowd, which is...a different reaction from the normal audience. Stereotypically, college students are the most fun and having the best time at the shows.”

When it was announced in January in a Quadrangle Exclusive announcement that McCartney would be headlining Spring Fest, director of student development, John Bennett, mentioned that McCartney had been one of the fastest artists to respond in recent years. “[The college] called and apparently, there was an influx of fans who wanted to see me here,” said McCartney. “And I love that I get to do these shows. It’s like where the heart of my fans are and I want to play the music if they want to hear it.”

Ultimately, the concert was a hit with many students, claim-

15

ing McCartney was a great performer and getting to dance with their friends to songs they grew up with. McCartney feels the nostalgia strikes an important cord with his fans.

“There’s a part of this show that tickles the nostalgic bone in some ways. So a lot of people have this 2004 rush all over again, especially with songs like ‘Beautiful Soul’ and ‘She’s No You’, or some of the older ones. So I think that it’s just a snapshot of wherever that person was in their life.”

__________________________

TOP: Marc E. Bassy surprises MC students before the headlining act.

CENTER: McCartney serenades Christina Brancoto during his song “The Stupid Things.”

BOTTOM: McCartney finished his performance with his smash hit, “Beautiful Soul.”

NAOMI KITANO / COURTESY _________________________

McCartney held his microphone to the crowd as an opportunity for students to sing along.

NAOMI KITANO / COURTESY

Cristina Pérez Jiménez on the Power of Quiet __________________________ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 number of degrees: a B.A. in English from Manhattanville College, an M.A. in Comparative Literature from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and three degrees from Columbia University: an M.A., M.Phil, and Ph.D. in Latin American and Iberian Cultures and Comparative Literature.

Jiménez reflects on her formative years prior to academia: “I feel that when I look back, it feels like I was another person, another human being.”

Yet Jiménez closes with a statement that encourages her listeners not to label themselves, or others, as “just one thing.”

“That existential quest for meaning was something that was very much a part of me.

And in general, as we move throughout the world, I think it’s really important to recognize that we’re not just one thing. We tend to put people in one category, but in a way we’re shaped by many yearnings, by many longings, by many aspirations, by many things. I think something very positive can come from interactions with other people if we think of them as ‘this, that, and…’ and you should always have that ‘and’, that question of, ‘what else is beyond this person?’” she said.

Senior Alannah Boyle, an active member of Campus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA), reflected on the speech with heart: “I thought Dr. Jimenez’s talk was incredible, especially as my last one as a senior. As soon as it was over, I turned to my friend and said how upset I was that I had never taken a class with her. Her talk remind-

ed me of the importance and necessity of personal growth and self-reflection.”

Conor Reidy, a staff member of CMSA who organizes Agape Latte, was thrilled to invite Jiménez to their last event.

Like Boyle, he was also blown away by her lecture. “‘When I Thought I Could Fly’ reminded us all of two important lessons: none of us are a single story, but an amalgamation of experiences. And in the hectic fast paced environment of daily life on a college campus, it is vital to find space and time for quiet, reflection and introspection in order to connect with the inner self,” Reidy said.

In her closing remarks, Jiménez explains that she has changed her perspective on life to encompass a broader understanding of the wide array of emotions and experiences ev-

ery human goes through—not just the good ones.

“This isn’t very uplifting, but I don’t believe life is bliss anymore. I think life can be very painful, life can be very unfair and conflicted, and difficult, and yet I think those experiences of difficulty, fear, anger and disillusionment… there is some beauty in that this is part of the range of human experience. So I ask all of you, and I try to remind myself in moments that seem to be very difficult [...] that if you’re able to step out, and see it [life] as a range of experiences, and contextualize it within a larger frame. I say to ‘step out’, but I also mean to step in,” she said.

Jiménez explains what she means by “step in.”

“I did take something very good from my experiences. I value quietness and stillness.

I think it’s something that we

sorely need in this world, in our lives. Now, I’m a junior faculty member on the tenure track, I’m a new mother, I want to write my book, I’m managing finances and taxes, we have all these things that can make life become really overwhelming.

We can become so caught up.

I think it’s really valuable and really helpful if we consciously make space and time to just have quietness and stillness.

Hours meditating is a ridiculous extreme, but 10 minutes, 15 minutes, of just sitting, just witnessing. Whether it’s prayer, mindfulness, contemplation, just quiet time. I really can tell you that it’s something that has served me really well, even though I learned it in this extreme context, it’s become part of who I am, and I really encourage you to just take time to just be.”

Arts & Entertainment

16

THE QUADRANGLE

Performing Arts Spring Concert Alexa Schmidt Contributor Asst.Editor

Friends and families poured into the Chapel of De La Salle and his Brothers to attend the Spring Performing Arts Concert on Sunday, April 22.

The MC Orchestra, Manhattones and Singers performed an array of musical pieces at the annual concert.

The MC Orchestra, directed by Gwendolyn Toth, Ph.D. performed five songs. The orchestra consisted of violins, violas, cellos, one double bass, flutes, oboes, clarinets, and French horns.

Sophomore Naomi Uy, who joined Orchestra in her freshman year, spoke about what the preparation for the concert entailed.

“Tons of rehearsals. We rehearsed every Monday night from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., and we had some makeup rehearsals because we lost a lot with the snow days. We had some sectionals, some string stuff, athen full orchestra stuff” she said.

Her personal favorite piece to perform was “Bagatelle #1.”

“A lot of it is chromatic which means it sounds weird, like it sounds wrong to the ear, but it ends up being really pretty when all the pieces are put together,” Uy said.

The Orchestra started its performance with Mozart’s classic, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525”, which contained onen additional movement. They then played Antonin Dvorak’s “Bagatelle #1”, followed by Johann David Heinichen’s “Concerto in G major, S. 214”, which contained four movements. Abigail Adams and Maria Nieto played violin and oboe solos, respectively.

The Orchestra then played

Arvo Part’s “Spiegel im Spiegel”, in which the flute and xylophone complimented each other for the entire duration of the piece. The last song, Mozart’s, “Symphony #41 in C major, ‘Jupiter’ K. 551”, with one additional movement, was the grand finale to the band’s performance. It really captured what the orchestra could play, and highlighted Dr. Toth’s capabilities as a conductor.

After a quick change, the a cappella group, Manhattones took the stage. They started with Amber Run’s “I Found”, with solos by Erin Keating and Alexander van Vollenhoven.

In the last minute or so, they added in some stomping and snapping to emphasize the beat. The next song, “Happy Together”, by The Turtles, was one the entire audience knew.

As a happy-go-lucky song, it lifted everyone’s mood.

The last song they performed was Adele’s “Make You Feel My Love”, with solos by Stephanie Butron and Jeffrey Liebowitz. They did an incredible job to capture the song’s intended meaning and raw emotion.

After that, MC Singers was the last group to perform, directed by Andrew Bauer.

Senior Siobhán Noonan, and junior and president of Singers Erin Plitt, talked about the semester-long preparation for the concert.

“Singers prepares every Wednesday of the semester in Thomas Hall in the performing arts room. We get started on rehearsals right away at the beginning of the semester, sometimes removing and adding music to the program as we go along. This semester was tricky because of all the Wednesday snow days and breaks, so we ended up supplementing with extra rehearsals on Monday nights,” Noonan said.

SMC Singers was the last group to perform during the Spring Concert. To end the concert they sang Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time” and Carly Simon’s “Let The River Run.” ALEXA SCHMIDT / THE QUADRANGLE “After the preparation that we’ve had to go through because of all the snow days, it’s been nice to see, especially as the president, the extra effort people have been willing to put in to Singers just to get our music to the best quality that we can. We have a lot more classical stuff than we normally don’t have, so I feel like the calibre of music that we’re doing is just higher than what we’ve done in the past,” Plitt added.

Bauer spoke about what songs are chosen for the concert. This will be his seventh.

“One thing that’s unique about the performing arts department at MC is that our members, which are students, have a very big say in what the repertoire is. Many, many times we draw from the student’s suggestions, or reportraire for pieces. Sometimes they will be pieces they did in high school, or in the past in other groups.

Other times, students will hear

something and say ‘oh, wow, we have a good choir, we can do that piece’,” Bauer said.

He continued.

“They listen to that and bring it in. And if I think it’s a good fit for us, technically, and as far as constraints of time, I try to incorporate the student’s ideas. I often tell people to email me stuff, email me ideas because we learn so much from the students and that’s a big treasure for us as educators,” he said.

At the concert, Singers started out with three Mozart pieces from his Vesperae solennes de confessore. They included “Dies Irae”, “Lacrimosa”, and “Laudate Dominum”, all sung in Latin.

Noonan had a breathtaking soprano solo in “Laudate Dominum” and did an incredible job, judging by the audience’s reaction. Her voice was strong and clear, and the audience was captured by her performance.

The last classical piece the group did was Eric Whitacre’s “Water Night”, which sounded great inside the chapel. To wrap it up, Singers then performed Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time”, and Carly Simon’s “Let the River Run”, which got people dancing in their seats and singing along.

The concert closed with the performers greeting their friends and families, and many said the concert was a success.

Bauer himself has been very pleased with Singers, and their growth over the years that he’s directed the group.

“The quality of the group has certainly gotten higher since I’ve been here. I think there’s been steady growth.

We’re always trying to challenge ourselves by doing repertoire that’s maybe just a little bit out of our ability and makes you better when you try to approach things like that,” he said.

Orchestra played on Apr. 18 in Smith Auditorium, they were the first to perform at the Spring Concert. (left) Junior Erin Keating performed her solo with Manhattones. (right) ALEXA SCHMIDT / THE QUADRANGLE

Sports

APRIL 24, 2018

17

Maeve Parahus Named to Ireland All-Star Team Elizabeth Metsch Contributor

Former Jasper Maeve Parahus graduated from Manhattan last year and has moved to Ireland to play for the Institute of Technology, Carlow, while attaining her graduate degree.

Maeve was a four-year scholarship player for the Manhattan College women’s basketball team. She was both a leading scorer and senior captain.

A Dean’s List and three-time MAAC All-Academic Team member, Parahus was also the 12th player in program history to hit 100 three-point shots and played in all 121 games during her career.

Maeve has always brought a great energy wherever she went. Women’s basketball head coach Heather Vulin commented that “You could always count on her for a smile. We used to call her joy because she just had a great, joyful spirit.”

She continued saying, “[Maeve] was always a good sport and could laugh at herself when she did something silly or made mistakes. But, her level of commitment was always there. She really bought into the efforts me and my staff were making to change the culture of the team.”

She invested in the program and what it means to be a Jasper. The team was like a second family to her.

Mikki Guiton, a fifthyear player for the team and Maeve’s freshman year roommate, shared that “being a Jasper means everything to Maeve. She’s always had a big presence not just on the court, but in the classroom too.”

Coach Vulin repeated this sentiment explaining how Para-

hus had close relationships with many of her professors and was a part of the StudentAthlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). She was a local girl and always had a good grounding and awareness of herself.

However, college wasn’t a completely easy adjustment.

As someone so close to home, Parahus had a great support system. She couldn’t recall a home game that either of her grandpa’s missed. Coach Vulin remembered Parahus’ first home game of her senior year where “she must’ve had over 30 family members and friends in the stands.”

However, Parahus stepped out of her comfort zone when she went to Ireland.

“When I was actually offered to become a Victory Scholar I knew it was my chance to really become independent and step out of my comfort zone,” Parahus said in an email statement.

“The main reason I became a part of this program was because I truly believe in their mission with inspiring young children through sport. As a future physical education teacher, this opportunity I believe will prepare me for success in the future,” she continued.

Therefore, she decided to continue to her basketball career in the Victory Scholar Program. The MAAC has sent other students into the “Sport Changes Life Victory Scholars Program.” This year, seven of the twenty-five scholars were from the MAAC. They all have the opportunity to achieve their master’s degree, while mentoring youth in Northern Irish communities.

Guiton explained how Parahus is a bit of a homebody and very family-oriented. Though

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she excelled at Manhattan, college definitely had a transition phase for her.

As a result, Guiton says Parahus was a little reserved at first about applying to the Victory Scholar Program abroad.

However, her coaches pushed her to apply, thinking as a good basketball player, student and citizen, she would be the ideal candidate.

Parahus has family that is originally from Ireland. Her heritage paired with the amazing opportunity to continue receiving a free education and playing the game she loves motivated her to ultimately apply and make the move to Ireland.

Since heading abroad, she has been loving every second of it and staying active. However there was a bit of an adjustment period. Coach Vulin shared that though she has been a bit homesick, Parahus has stayed busy and positive and is making the most of the experience while it is available to her.

On transitioning to life in Ireland, Parahus wrote, “Talk about a different world!”

The hardest things to get used to for her were the accents, driving on the other side of the road and missing out on daily breakfast sandwiches and iced coffee (her personal favorites). However, she is getting used to Irish fish and chips which is now one of her favorite foods.

Now, an average day for Parahus starts with class in the morning and “After that, I would go volunteer for the community coaching basketball.

Once I finish coaching, I have practice with my Super League team,” she shared. Following that she typically enjoys a meal and some relaxation time with

After graduating from Manhattan College, Parahus moved to Ireland to play for the Institute of Technology, Carlow, while working toward a graduate degree.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY her teammates.

She has been able to come home a couple of times. One of those times was for Christmas when she visited the women’s team along with her family. The other time was to surprise her family for Easter.

While she was home over her Christmas break she attended a couple games, which her team appreciated a lot.

“The common thread is that she is missed,” Coach Vulin said. “Everyone loves Maeve.”

Her family has been able to alternate flying out to visit her a few times as well.

Additionally, she worked for the Belfast Classic Tournament in which the Manhattan men’s basketball team competed in.

Parahus explained that although she has loved her time in Ireland, so much so that Guiton has a hunch she might extend her stay, she is

excited about ultimately coming home. She is really excited about starting her career as a physical education teacher and coach which has been a goal of her’s for many years now.

She has a passion for inspiring youth and keeping them active.

“I love being a positive role model on and off the court. Living an active lifestyle is something I believe in,” Parahus wrote.

Her master’s degree will be in sports performance and will help support the degree she received from Manhattan.

It will be interesting to see if her basketball career continues further abroad, or if she decides to settle down and stick to that plan. However, for now, the All-Star player and former Jasper seems to be doing just fine living in the moment.

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Jasper Dancers Participate in 2018 Nationals Dan Molina Senior Writer

A bus waited early in the morning for the Manhattan College Jasper Dancers to depart towards Daytona Beach and compete in the National Dance Alliance Collegiate Championship on Apr. 3.

After an intense year of training, and balancing their time between schoolwork, rehearsals and each of their personal lives, for three days their minds would be thinking of only one thing: Dance.

The team, led by their coach Kaitlyn Marquette and their three captains Alexa Iaquinto, Sydney Furboter and Sharilyn Uyehara, put their hearts and souls into the preparation for the competition. Even if they all agreed that their performance was the best one in the history of the program, the judges didn’t concur and the team did not go through the finals.

“Nationals is difficult because you never know what [the judges] are looking for,” said Marquette, who has been coaching the team for almost five years. “I believe there are a lot of subjective opinions. It’s not like we go to a basketball game and shoot some hoops

and hope to get the highest score. This is very: The judges like you or the judges don’t like you, and you just have to go down there and hope that… they’ll like you.”

After four years of leading the team towards a very successful path, Marquette believes that the only formula there is for her success as a coach is to look back at last year’s competition, analyze what went wrong and replicate what went well. She has also discovered that athletic ability has as much importance to their performances as their skills to dance, so she has invested more time to develop strength and conditioning with the members of the team.

However, this is only a small portion of what has led the team to become more and more successful over the past two years. For Alexa Iaquinto, senior and veteran captain of the team, the program is completely different to what it was when she started four years ago.

“Our dynamic has changed mentally, physically and emotionally compared to freshman year,” said Iaquinto.“We didn’t have the same work ethic, we weren’t pushing ourselves as hard. Now, we’ve gotten to the

point where we can see what we’re capable of and we always want to push pass that.”

One of the main difficulties for Marquette as a coach, is to receive new dancers that come from completely different backgrounds and schools, and help them become a cohesive unit that work and think as one. Compared to last year, this year’s team had more veterans, which allowed them to be more confident and supportive amongst each other.

“The thing I enjoyed the most was definitely the girls and the relationship I have with all of them,” said Veronica Valerio, senior member of the team.

“I say it all the time, it’s so fulfilling to do something that you love with people that you love, and they just make everything so much easier and so much more fun.”

As a result of all the time they spend together, their companionship exceeds the boundaries of the practice time, and the members usually share more time of their days with the other members than anyone else.

As every cycle, it has an end, and some of the members of the team are graduating in May. After four years of being on the team and sharing so

many memories, some of the members will take home invaluable experiences and learnings.

“The biggest thing I’m taking away from this experience is learning how to work with different people that have different personalities,” said Sharilyn Uyehara, one of the senior captains of the team.

For Furboter, the biggest thing she’s taking home is what her experience as a captain and leader of the team for the past two years taught her.

“I’d never experienced a type of leadership in anything I had done, so being able to take a roll in something like that shaped me into a potential leader,” said Furboter. “I don’t know where dance is going to take me, if I will ever be a coach or anything like that. But Kait has changed every aspect of dance for me, I have such a greater passion and love behind it that I hadn’t before.”

Even if many of the seniors are leaving, and the team has to reinvent itself, the current members and their coach are confident about the program and how successful it will be in the next couple of years.

“Like one of our teammates said when we were coming back from the competition:

‘The Jasper Dancers are a force to be reckoned with,’” said Furboter. “Maybe this year didn’t go as planned, but that just proves how much more next year’s team is going to want it, and fight for it, and give their all. I see a lot of success in the future and that’s exciting” For their coach, her mindset is similar, and she believes that this year was just the start of a great legacy of dancers.

“This year, my expectations are through the roof,” Marquette said. “These girls are hungry, they are fueled by not doing as well as we have hoped, so my expectations for them are, from day one, to get in there with that mindset: we did not do as well as we wanted last year, and we are not letting that happen again.

“I think we danced great, and we are not going to give up. We are not looking at this as a failure or that we lost in any way. Just because the judges didn’t give us a trophy doesn’t mean we weren’t successful.

We are not giving up. And you can put that in writing: Jasper Dancers will be the best they have ever been 2018-2019.”

Fabian Peña: A Journey From Cuba and a Dream of Playing in MLB JASPERS TALK Victoria Hernández Morales Senior Writer

Manhattan College junior Fabian Peña started playing baseball when he was seven years old in Cuba. He joined his parents in the USA for better opportunities and a better future. That better future would be achieved by fulfilling his one goal: becoming a professional baseball player in Major League Baseball.

Peña, like any other kid, started playing in the streets.

“My grandpa taught the game to me,” Peña said. “We always played together. He took me to the local team in Cuba.”

However, he transitioned from the rusty Cuban streets to playing for the Cuban national team in Venezuela really quick.

Growing up, he looked up to Alex Rodriguez and Salvador Perez. His ultimate idol though, was Derek Jeter.

Playing in Cuba and transitioning to an American team in the United States wasn’t easy.

“In Cuba everyone plays

callejero, more aggressive,” Peña said. “Here, everyone follows the rules, remains calm and [does] their job.”

Despite those differences, Peña has succeeded tremendously and even he downplays his achievements when asked about all the titles he has received. Some of these achievements include being named to the First Team All-MAAC twice and being on the Johnny Bench Award Watch List twice. He was also a Freshman All-American, MAAC Rookie of the Year, Northeast Region Rookie of the Year and 2018 MAAC Preseason Player of the Year.

“It boosts [your] confidence,” Peña said. “It makes you feel like what you’re doing is actually paying off, like all the hard work has a meaning behind it.”

When asked about his success and achievements, Peña touched upon the confidence he has in himself, while staying humble.

“I didn’t know about all these achievements until I got them” Peña said. “I trust my game. I’m confident in what I

do. I know I can do it if I put my mind to it” He can be easily considered the team’s most valuable player and his teammates are very supportive of him. At the same time they even consider him the “team clown.” How does he manage the pressure to perform and put on a happy face?

“It’s just my personality,” Peña says. “It’s my job to keep everybody loose and bring a good sense of humor. It just happens naturally.”

Has everything ever been this good for the 21-year-old?

According to him, baseball is a game of failure.

“You’re gonna fail more times than you succeed,” Peña said. “There’s just minor setbacks that you can deal with one day at a time. At the end of the day all you can do is learn from it.”

Amongst all the setbacks, and many more successes, Peña realized he could make it to the next level early on.

“I always dreamed and pictured myself playing at the next level, being a professional baseball player,” Peña said. “I came

Peña’s list of achievements include MAAC Rookie of the Year and 2018 MAAC Pre-season Player of the Year.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY to college with a mindset.”

He sees college as a way to show off his talents and as simply another step closer to going pro.

“Going to the Cape and performing well in front of the scouts set me in the path of being looked at and the possibility of being drafted.” Peña said.

But apart from baseball, what does Peña do?

When he’s not practicing with the team or on his own, his passion are video games.

If baseball wasn’t an op-

tion in his life, he may be playing more video games, but he wouldn’t be playing another sport.

“I am an athlete in the whole sense of the word, but I don’t think I would play any other sport,” Peña said. “I don’t know if I could play basketball because I’m not tall. I don’t know if I would play soccer because I’m not that fast.”

Baseball fits just right, or like Latinos would say: “Como anillo al dedo.”

Sports

APRIL 24, 2018

19

Track and Field Standout and Resident Assistant Ire Bozovicar JASPERS TALK Taylor Brethauer & Stephen Zubrycky

Editor in Chief & Managing Editor A senior kinesiology major from Slovenia, Irenej “Ire” Bozovicar has a lot on his plate.

From being a model studentathlete on the track and field team to balancing the job of resident assistant, he is a recognizable force to be reckoned with both on the field and off.

Bozovicar was recently named MAAC Field Performer of the Week at the beginning of April after recently hitting a personal best in shot put with a distance of 54.18 meters. Bozovicar sat down with The Quadrangle and talked about what he expects out of his last few weeks as a Jasper.

The Quadrangle: How did you get into track and field?

Irenej Bozovicar: I was actually playing volleyball for the majority of my life, or, I think, maybe eight years before. Then I kind of quit volleyball and discovered there’s an option to get a scholarship in America, so one of my friends did it and he went to Virginia Tech, and I was like, ‘Oh damn, that’s a really good thing, so I guess I can try to be good in track and

field as well and eventually get a scholarship.’ I started throwing discus, maybe I did for like two and a half years, or maybe one and a half years, and then I came here.

TQ: What made you decide to come to MC? IB: Definitely New York City. Also, Coach [Dan] Mecca.

He had really good athletes in the past, so, it was kind of a given, and I [...] really wanted to go to America and it was the first offer that I got, like, one of the first offers, so I just jumped on it straight away. Didn’t even think.

TQ: How has your education the past four years helped your athletic career?

IB: Well, since I’m exercise science, that really helped me, especially injury prevention, and stuff like that. What kind of exercises to do, [...] my freshman year, we didn’t have a strength coach, so the gym was actually in this little area of Draddy, and sometimes I have to figure out what I’m going to do by myself. A majority of the times, also with coach’s help and that really helped me in that regard.

TQ: How have you balanced being an RA with being a successful student-athlete?

IB: Sometimes it’s really

Bozovicar cites his education in exercise science as beneficial to his athletic career, especially regarding injury prevention.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY

hard because, you know, RA schedules. Sometimes you can be on duty like four times a week, five times a week, especially if there is weekend duty and you have an incident. You didn’t get enough sleep, just like I did yesterday. But, sometimes it’s relaxing. But it’s honestly not as bad as I thought it would be. It’s definitely doable.

TQ: You’ve been having a great season so far. Describe that feeling of hitting your personal best.

IB: So, I hit my personal best in South Carolina, and that throw was kind of really aggressive, and after that throw, I was previously up for regionals.

The regionals is like the Top 48 go to another meet after. So I was happy with that, but after that meet [...] I looked at the video… I felt good.

TQ: What is your mentality when going in an event? How do you prepare?

IB: I used to have this whole ritual… cold shower, whatever music, going from really aggressive music to more, like, smooth music, like when the actual competition starts.

That’s just because for discus especially, you don’t want to be tight. Like, for shotput, you kind of want to be more aggressive. But, as it comes to discus you want to be loose. Lately, honestly, I feel like, I don’t know why, I feel like I don’t need that. So I didn’t do it, and it kind of worked, so I guess I stopped doing that. But yeah, the day before, I always eat a lot of food.

TQ: How does it impact your teammates when you perform this well in the season?

Does it inspire them?

IB: Yeah, definitely, word goes around. I like that about Go Jaspers and Manhattan College, that it’s not a huge achievement if you look at international levels, but it’s still not that bad and you get recognition for everything like that,

Irenej Bozovicar began his track and field career after qutting volleyball, setting an American scholarship as his goal.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY so it motivates me a lot and I think it also motivates them in the same way.

TQ: And vice versa, how do you feel your team has impacted you as an athlete and a student?

IB: Yeah, definitely had some teammates that I’ve been living with since my freshman year. And just, mostly throwers that I live with. And, it’s just the lifestyle we all live. Also [going] to practice together. And we live together. [...] We still discuss lifting. We follow a bunch of throwing Instagram accounts where we compare videos of throwing. [...] It helped me a lot, especially [the] social kind of perspective. I made a lot of friends that way.

TQ: What else are you hoping to accomplish as the season ends and MAACs begin?

IB: Well, now that I qualify for regionals, the only next

level is nationals, so to do that I would have to throw like 56 [meters] at regionals to make top 12 in the region [and] then top 24 in the whole nation go to nationals. So, it’s two meter increments still, which is not that bad. People [beat personal records] by like six meters in some meets, so I feel like if I just do what I do and let the time, or, the clock tick, or whatever, I’m going to hit a big one.

I feel like this is nowhere near where I can be.

TQ: After four years at MC, what does it mean to you to be a Jasper?

[I] didn’t really know from the beginning what that means.

But it’s just that loyalty to your teammates. Just going to practice, every practice, go full hard, do everything you can do. Bleed green.

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20

THE QUADRANGLE

A Victory to Remember: Women’s Lacrosse Senior Day

Seniors pose on Manhattan College’s home field, Gaelic Park, before the commencement of their senior game on Apr. 14.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY

Michevi Dufflart Editor

Milestone achievements were made on Saturday Apr. 14 at Gaelic Park when women’s lacrosse celebrated their annual Senior Day. Graduating a class of eight seniors, each had the chance to play and partake in one of the Jaspers’ most successful wins this season.

The game, played on a sunny day against the Siena Saints, filled the stands and led the Jaspers to a 17-10 win.

Attacker Sarah Lang and midfielders, Molly Flores and Kara Hodapp were three of the

eight seniors that contributed to the game-winning effort, while also securing achievements of their own.

Appearing in 33 games over her four years, Flores notched her first-ever career goal against the Saints and celebrated with a shimmy on the field as La Bamba by Los Lobos played in the back.

“It was awesome...It’s like one of those things that you work hard and you do all the time in practice, but in a game it’s different and it means something. It was very cool and exciting and very fun,” said Flores.

Hodapp, also a second-year captain, scored her career-high

Kara Hodapp (right) and Sarah Lang were two of the eight seniors who helped secure the win for the Senior game.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY

21st goal in the first half of the game.

Of this achievement Hodapp said, “It’s a really cool accomplishment because everyone is a superstar in high school and then you come to college and everybody’s the same level of play, so for you to be able to stand out in a certain way like that is a really good accomplishment.”

When thinking back on the game, both agreed that the day was very memorable and a reminder of how thankful and lucky they feel to be part of their team.

“We always say family on three and yell it on three …” said Hodapp.

This emphasis on family is also shared by the team’s other captain, Sarah Lang. Now a member of the 100-point club, and 19th overall in all time scoring, Lang reflected on her own accomplishments in an interview with GoJaspers.com after the game.

“I couldn’t have gotten here without the help of my teammates. Any milestone that I reach is a milestone for everybody else so I’m just thankful...I wouldn’t want to experience this type of joy and happiness with any other group of girls,” said Lang.

In addition to the achievements of these three seniors, attackers Melissa Vogelgesang and Maddie Regal scored their

first goals of the season contributing two of the nine goals scored by seniors in the game.

On the defensive end, Julia LoRusso and Katie Tucker also aided in preventing the Saints from entering the scoring zone.

Goalie Liz Pierson saw two saves in the second half of the game.

Of the eight seniors, six are out of state, making it challenging for some families to watch

__________________________

“ I’m just thankful...I wouldn’t want to experience this type of joy and happiness with any other group of girls,” said Lang. _________________________

games. However on Senior Day, family and friends were able to witness the hard work of these seniors and take part in a Jasper win.

“It was extremely rewarding to see [my senior teammates’] hard work be put on display in front of all their family and friends,” said Lang.

Coach Katie McConnell also said, “You can’t ask for a better senior day, every senior contributed.”

Although these eight Jaspers are closing out their careers on the field, they encourage the rest of their teammates to keep pushing forward.

“The talent, the potential is there and it just keeps getting better and these underclassmen are going to keep pushing this program in the right direction,” said Hodapp.

Looking back and reflecting on their time, Flores and Hodapp both mention taking away many life lessons from being a student athlete. For Hodapp, the events of Senior Day are the pinnacle of what hard work means. It is also the one word Hodapp used to sum up the culmination of her four years at Manhattan.

“When [the current seniors] came in, [women’s lacrosse] didn’t really stand out and we didn’t have much support, but for the past four years, we have worked really hard to make a name for [the team]… and it was all worth it. Some days are harder than others, but that’s what you’re going to get,” said Hodapp.

As the class of 2018 closes out their careers at Manhattan, they leave a precedent for the rest of their teammates to follow and build off for next season.

“It’s kind of crazy and it’s been a ride, but I don’t regret it for a second,” said Flores.