WOOF ISSUE 10

Name Here // 1

breaking new grounds How NU students created the first edible coffee bar

gpa vs. resume Which one carries more weight?

bach to basics How Groupmuse is changing party music

from sea to jewelry L.Alexandra Designs: a nautical accessory business

WOOF | winter 2014

PRESIDENTs Liam Synan & Kristen McCleary

EDITORs-IN-CHIEF Shelby Sih, Kelsey Zimmerer & Jamie Ducharme

CREATIVE DIRECTORS Cara McGrath & Erinn Scammon

MARKETING DIRECTOR Sofia Rojo del Busto

webmaster Hannah DeYoung

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Social media director Jordan Mandell

WEb Photo Director Katie Williams

Section EDITORS Chris Benevento, Lautaro Grinspan, Scott Oldano & Monica Vallejo

WRITERS Mariam AlMarzouq, Chris Benevento, Jamie Ducharme, Lina Fahmy Abdalla, Christie Macomber, Kristen McCleary, Rachel Petri, Liam Synan & Natalie Warther

DESIGNERS Michelle Balaban, Sami Bartlett, Leah Corbett, McKenna Curtis, Lautaro Grinspan & Courtney Springer

PHOTOGRAPHERS Alli Anastas, Leah Corbett, Zoe Gregoric, Willy Hlaing, Jackie Keffas, Waiyan Min & Joanna Odorisio Cover Photography by Katie Williams

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CONTENTS front

Bon Appetit

COver Story

Culture

Focus

04 From Sea to Jewelry 06 NU Dialogues 07 What’s Streaming Now

08 Keeping It Fresh

10 Breaking New Grounds

12 Defeating the Online Dating Stigma 14 Bach to Basics

17 Home for the Holidays?

18 GPA vs. Resume

interested in joining our staff?

EMAIL US |

nuwoof@gmail.com

Visit our site | woof-mag.com WOOF | winter 2014

4 // Front

FROM SEA TO JEWELRY: Creating L.Alexandra Designs Written by Lina Fahmy // Photos by Joanna Odorisio

WOOF | winter 2014

One of the things Northeastern University prides itself on is offering endless possibilities of combining majors, minors or even creating your own field of study. This flexibility has enabled many unsure students to find their own route, and discover what they are passionate about. Lauren Knollmeyer, a senior at Northeastern, is the ultimate example of that student. Knollmeyer entered Northeastern undeclared, and tested multiple majors in an effort to figure out where her interests lay.

After realizing that neither engineering nor environmental studies captivated her interest, she decided to take a break from school, move to Nantucket and figure out who she was and what she was interested in.

“I wasn’t happy with Northeastern, I wasn’t too sure of the path I was on,” Knollmeyer said. “So I moved to Nantucket; it seemed like the logical thing to do.”

After two months of waitressing, an opportunity arose and she took on a managing job at a small boutique. “That’s actually how everything got started,” she explained. Knollmeyer was in charge of selling little elastics which were ridiculously popular and sold out quickly. “I had made at least a dozen packets of hair elastics and they were gone within two days.”

The success of these simple hairbands was appealing enough to spur Knollmeyer’s interest in the homemade accessories. As a result, she decided to create her own business: L.Alexandra Designs. The Nantucket native then started integrating knit headbands and scarves to expand her collection, inspired by the beach. In addition, Knollmeyer also created little décor pieces by using beach shells and natural waste.

Perfect for Knollmeyer’s nautical accessories, Nantucket is notorious for producing thousands of scallops each year. Fishermen pull out the meat and dump the beautiful shells into a pile in a parking lot. The jewelry designer discovered these piles and jumped on the opportunity to incorporate them into her own line. After carefully cleaning them,

“I loved turning something foul smelling to something pretty”

Knollmeyer would give the shells a quick polish. “I loved turning something foul smelling to something pretty,” she explained.

The designer’s interest in environmental studies is probably what kicked off her love for repurposing waste. “It’s like incorporating a local charm almost,” she said. “Everyone sees the scallops and thinks of the beach.” She is an avid believer in the ‘think globally, act locally’ motto. In fact, Knollmeyer has always wanted to create some sort of positive environmental changes. This is what sparked her interest in policy-making, and led her to pursue a political science dual major.

The Husky also praised the importance of her business administration minor. “Had I known [a lot of the information] when I first started out my business, I would’ve had a much more organized start,” she admitted.

So where is Lauren Knollmeyer now? You can find her taking environmental economics, American Government and financial accounting classes — and trying to graduate within the next year. As for L.Alexandra Designs, Knollmeyer is in the process of saving money to ultimately open her own shop and bring more cool and trendy accessories to Boston.

WOOF | winter 2014

6 // Front

NU DIALOGUES Written by Chris Benevento // Photos by Zoe Gregoric

It could be said that if you are on campus during the summer while attending Northeastern, you’re doing it wrong. For a price only slightly higher than taking summer classes, Northeastern students can embark on five-week journeys around the world through the university’s Dialogues of Civilizations program. These faculty-led, theme-based excursions are not just an excuse to go abroad, they are worth class credit as well—specifically, the equivalent of one summer term of classes.

Each year, Northeastern adds exciting new dialogues to the list, covering a plethora of topics and fields. Woof has reviewed the numerous Summer 2015 additions and picked the six most intriguing programs. Take a look and get out there. After all, getting class-credit for hiking up a glacier sounds a lot cooler than sitting through a lecture in Richards.

The final deadline to register for these dialogues is January 26th; however, spots are filled on a rolling basis, so get on it!

ICELAND — Time Machine Ever been to Iceland? No? Well, now’s your chance. Beginning with a road trip covering three quarters of the island nation, this Dialogue is based heavily in photography. Students will study the effect of the Icelandic landscape on art over time. However, don’t assume that this means you will be in the studio all day. Students will have opportunities to hike (yes — on a glacier), whale watch and, of course, enjoy the famous geothermal baths.

USA — Inequality, Poverty and the Social Responsibility of Business Touching down in Detroit, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, Northeastern’s first-ever United States dialogue will explore the growing inequality and poverty levels within our borders through hands-on experience in some of the hardest hit areas. The program will focus on the role of big businesses in rectifying the current situation by addressing the hotly debated social responsibility of firms. Students will gain an understanding of the economic hardships faced in various parts of the country and also get an inside look at the tools businesses have to alleviate them.

ITALY — Beyond Food, Fashion and Ruins Taking cues from the Renaissance, this Honors-only Dialogue will try to diverge from the typical attractions in Italy and approach the Mediterranean country from a different angle. Beginning with the early innovations of the Renaissance, the program will follow the advancements that have come about since. This means tours of Lamborghini and Ferrari factories, studying cathedral construction and experimenting with glass making. If you want to see Italy as more than just a piece of history, and understand its role in the global economy, then this Dialogue is for you.

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ENGLAND & FRANCE — Exploring Fashion in London and Paris We’ve all been there: Sitting at home watching “The Devil Wears Prada” and wondering why that can’t be our life. Well, now, for five weeks, it can! New this year, the Exploring Fashion in London and Paris program is giving students the opportunity to spend time between the two capitals focusing on nothing but fashion. Students will take a retrospective look at the fashion trends of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and get an inside look at fashion trend forecasting in the fashion capitals of the world.

SENEGAL — Doing Development, Encountering African Culture and Politics The small West African nation of Senegal has become known for its fully functioning democratic system in the face of poverty and hardship.

This five-week program would enable students to understand how it has achieved this success through hands-on experience working on NGO projects, living in homestays and excursions to numerous cultural locations. Anyone interested in African development in the modern world should check out this Dialogue.

LITHUANIA, LATVIA, ESTONIA — The Baltic States Before and After Communism A little off the beaten path, this Dialogue will offer a unique perspective into the post-Soviet Baltic landscape and examine the consequences, good and bad, of the fall of the Soviet Union. Anyone who is interested in the recent events in Ukraine or wants to learn about what the transition from communism to capitalism means for everyday people should check out this program. This Dialogue will provide a modern snapshot of these former Soviet states and attempt to portray an accurate depiction of life during the Soviet Era.

WHAT’S STREAMING NOW Written by Christie Macomber // Photos by Willy Hlaing

It’s 8 p.m. After a long day of classes a student plunks on the couch, puts his feet up and reaches for his laptop. He puts on his headphones, eager to stream an episode of his favorite TV show. That episode quickly becomes five episodes, which quickly becomes the entire season, which puts him at 12 a.m., his blank homework still sitting next to him.

This modern norm contrasts with the historically iconic image of American entertainment: a group gathered around the TV in anticipation of their favorite nightly program.

Though this was once standard, most students are now increasingly finding alternative methods of entertainment, straying from the television sets that were once a fixture in the American living room.

According to a three-year study by online newsletter MarketingCharts, television viewing in 2014 by people ages 18 to 24 years old has decreased by 21.7 percent since the company’s 2011 poll. As television viewing continues to decline among the college-age demographic, where are students now getting their entertainment?

Many are turning to Netflix, which allows subscribers to stream movies and television shows on their electronic devices for a monthly fee.

“I get most of my entertainment through Netflix, and I mostly watch it on my laptop unless my roommate and I are all watching and then we’ll watch on the TV. It’s convenient and I like having so much to watch all in one place,” said sophomore English major Rowena Lindsay.

“When it comes to shows, I definitely use Netflix. It’s so much more convenient. After I do my homework it’s like 1 a.m. and I don’t want to wake my family up by turning on the TV. Netflix has all the classics,” echoed middler

Khadija Noor, an international relations major.

The ability to watch a particular episode or show instantly, rather than waiting for it to appear on TV at a designated show time, is a big appeal of online sources like Netflix or HuluPlus.

This need for instant gratification has been translated into how the current generation seeks its entertainment, looking for ways to watch the desired program right when they want to, rather than wait for its designated show time on television, or even to take the time to search for a physical disk. “I know a lot of people who find links to watch stuff for free online and I think between that and prevalence of Netflix and Amazon Prime and other streaming video sites, the trend is definitely moving away from physical entertainment forms like DVDs,” Lindsay said.

“binge-watching […] is the ‘new normal.’”

Platforms like Netflix have not only changed where students get their entertainment from, but also how they view it. Netflix’s website boasts the claim that binge-watching (which it defines as watching two to six episodes in one sitting) is the “new normal.” The company backs this statement up with a poll it conducted in 2013, which found that of those surveyed, 61 percent reported binge watching

TV shows and movies regularly. The same survey also found that 73 percent of Netflix users reported having “positive feelings” toward their binge-watching habits.

Online mediums are also often less expensive than purchasing a TV. A Netflix subscription currently costs $8.99 a month, while the average cost of a 32-inch TV is $435, plus the regular cost of cable access.

This cost-effectiveness can be particularly appealing to the college-age demographic.

“I use Netflix because it is convenient, inexpensive and they have my favorite TV shows. Then I can also watch the new, interesting shows that they have to offer, too,” said junior psychology major Christina Neville.

Additional online entertainment mediums such as HuluPlus and YouTube allow for viewing programs and short video clips on a laptop, tablet or mobile device. For a demographic that primarily lives in small dorm rooms or shared apartments, the ability to save space that a television would otherwise occupy is key. According to a 2012 article from the New York Times, Is this Living Room Big Enough For My TV?, the average TV sold in America in 2011 was 38 inches.

When the same quality and quantity of television entertainment can be available in a pocket-sized device, many students have found the choice to be clear. Mediums like HuluPlus, YouTube and Netflix are here to stay.

WOOF | winter 2014

8 // Bon Appetit

KEEPING IT FRESH This Season's Produce Picks Written by Mariam AlMarzouq // Photos by Waiyan Min

As the wintry winds and hectic holidays fast approach, now more than ever is the time to choose meals that provide nourishment and comfort to keep you going. Luckily, this season’s produce offers a huge variety of flavor, texture and recipe options to keep your plate colorful and filling.

So, don’t go into hibernation yet: hide those delivery menus and instant ramen noodles because ‘tis the season for warm and hearty foods to get you through the coming months.

WOOF | winter 2014

First, let’s talk butternut squash. This type of winter squash has a sweet and nutty taste similar to that of pumpkins, but let it ripen and its pulp turns a deeper orange and tastes richer and sweeter than its Halloween cousin.

Butternut squash is heart-friendly, low in fat and high in fiber. It also has a huge amount of good-for-your-bones potassium and vitamin B for proper functioning of the nervous and immune system The most popular variety, the Waltham Butternut, originated locally in Waltham, Mass.

Even as the last of the foliage disappears, consider keeping around fall favorites like apples and pears. These staples come in all forms and can add a burst of flavor to any winter recipe. Bonus? Apples and pears pack in fiber, vitamins and energy-producing nutrients that your body needs to replenish in the cool seasons. They are full of vitamin A and C, which contribute to eye and skin health, as well as iron and magnesium to keep you full.

From the cabbage family, we have broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, which are low in fat, high in fiber and full of phytochemicals. Plus, the nutrients found in these vegetables help support eye and skin health and protect the immune system.

So, what can be made from these fresh fruits and vegetables in season? Here are some delicious, easy-to-make recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Bon Appetit // 9

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

by Food Network // Time: 60 minutes 1 (2-3 pound) butternut squash, peeled and seeded 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 medium onion, chopped 6 cups chicken stock Nutmeg Salt and freshly ground black pepper Cut squash into 1-inch chunks. In a large pot melt butter. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add squash and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove squash chunks with slotted spoon and place in blender and puree. Return blended squash to pot. Stir and season with nutmeg salt, and pepper. Serve.

BOP’S BROCCOLI CAULIFLOWER SALAD

by AllRecipes // Time: 55 minutes 5 slices of bacon (or more to taste) 1 head fresh broccoli, diced 1 head cauliflower, diced ¾ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese ¼ red onion, chopped ½ cup creamy salad dressing ½ cup white sugar 2 tablespoons white vinegar Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain bacon slices on paper towels and crumble.

Stir broccoli, cauliflower, cheddar cheese, and onion together in a large bowl. Whisk creamy salad dressing, sugar, and vinegar together in a separate bowl until sugar is dissolved; pour broccoli mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate salad for at least 30 minutes. Stir crumbled bacon into salad just before serving.

APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL

by Spicy Spoonful // Time: 15 minutes ½ cup whole rolled oats 1 cup water ½ medium sized apple, diced 1 tablespoon brown sugar ½ cup 2% milk ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 tablespoons granola In a small saucepan, boil the water. Add the oats, lower the heat to medium-low and cook covered for about 5-8 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed into the oatmeal.

In the meantime, heat a small saucepan on medium-low. Add apples and brown sugar, and caramelize until the apples are softened, stirring frequently. This should take about 2 minutes. Add apple mixture to oatmeal. Stir in the milk and cinnamon. Spoon mixture into a bowl and top with granola. Serve immediately.

WOOF | winter 2014

10 // Cover Story

Breaking New Grounds

How Northeastern Students Made the First Edible Coffee Bar Written by Jamie Ducharme // Photos by Katie Williams

WOOF | winter 2014

Cover Story // 11

“None of us had any idea what we were doing; we were cooking in a Dav A kitchen.”

Josh Belinsky doesn’t even like coffee. Nonetheless, the second-year entrepreneurship and marketing student is riding his caffeine high straight to business success as part of New Grounds Food.

By now, the company’s founding story has been told everywhere from Boston.com to Buzzfeed and the Washington Post: Johnny Fayad and Ali Kothari, then freshmen business students, were tired of sacrificing either coffee or breakfast as they rushed to make it — often unsuccessfully — to an 8 a.m. financial accounting class on time. Unable to fit both caffeine and food into their already rushed mornings, they decided to combine them.

“They couldn’t get their breakfast and their coffee at the same time, so they said, ‘Why not just eat our coffee and grab it and go?,’” explains Belinsky of the now third-year students. The two made it their mission to make a coffee-infused nutrition bar, and New Grounds Food was born.

Fayad and Kothari began formulating a recipe and building the business, and Belinsky joined the team a few months later. (They also recently hired a second-year student, Wendy Chu, to help with marketing.)

“None of us had any idea what we were doing; we were cooking in a Dav A kitchen,” Belinsky remembers. “But once we realized that we had something, we started looking into food scientists and manufacturers and now we have a manufacturer out in Washington state making our bars for us.”

Getting to that point wasn’t easy. Belinsky admits that the company’s first recipe molded after two months because they mistakenly added water to the recipe. “We had no idea what we were doing; you can’t do that when you have a food product,” he says, adding that they hired a food scientist soon after to help create and test the bars. “We looked into it and we changed the recipe completely.”

He says the company also struggled to be taken seriously due to the ages of its members, often opting to simply avoid mentioning their student status unless absolutely necessary — or if it could be used to their advantage. “We’ve really been using the college kids thing to try to get lower prices,” Belinsky says. “Not everyone does [offer discounts].

Sometimes it scares people away, but for the most part people are willing to help, and a lot of people that got to where they are based on their entrepreneurial spirit like the fact that other young entrepreneurs are trying to do something.”

Today, with a safe, successful recipe in hand — the bar is raw, vegan, gluten-free and contains an entire cup of fair trade coffee — the company is selling directly from its website thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $40,000 and ended in November.

Belinsky says the group isn’t stopping there, though. A goal for the near future is adding flavors beyond the original mocha latte, which they will partially decide based on a vote from Kickstarter supports, but in the long term, they want to make New Grounds Food a household name.

“We’re going to sell directly through [our website], cafes in the Boston area and just kind of grow organically and then eventually, down the road, go retail like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods and places like that,” he says. “That’s kind of the goal, and then maybe even get picked up by someone like Starbucks or something like that.”

All future plans aside, reaching the company’s current success, Belinsky says, took a lot of support from Northeastern and its student organizations. In fact, Fayad and Kothari originally launched New Ground through IDEA, Northeastern’s Shark Tank-like business accelerator, and Chu and Belinsky came to the group through the Entrepreneurship Immersion Program, a group that matches students with fledgling businesses.

“I can’t say enough good things. Northeastern has really helped us,” Belinsky says. “We’ve had a really good backing from a lot of the organizations on campus. A lot of the organizations that have helped us are student run, including something like Scout [a student-run design studio on campus] where they did our packaging and design and things like that.”

And of course, in addition to support from Northeastern, the foursome behind New Grounds Food will continue to rely on good, old-fashioned effort and hard work. “It’s definitely a tough balance, but you figure it out and I think I’ve learned a lot from it,” Belinsky says of being an entrepreneur while in college. “Having to balance school, sports, friends and trying to launch this business has been crazy and probably has added a lot more stress to my life than I need, but it’s been worth it and I love it.”

It may take a lot of hustle, but at least no one on the New Grounds Food crew will have to worry about a caffeine source for those inevitable all-nighters.

WOOF | winter 2014

12 // Cover Story

defeating the online dating stigma An Op-Ed by Natalie Warther // Photos by Jackie Keffas

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Culture // 13

At one point or another, we’ve all found ourselves sitting in a dimly-lit waiting room immersed in a Lifetime movie about online dating. Girl joins chatroom, girl meets boy, girl drives to meet boy, girl mysteriously disappears and is murdered by her Catfishing lover. With this all-too-common dramatic storytelling sequence, it’s no wonder most of us are secretly paranoid of the mysterious world of technology-mediated dating. Instead of embracing advances in online dating with emerging applications such as Tinder and Hinge, many young singles continue to fear these platforms and criticize their active users. The brave souls who actually engage in human interaction with individuals they’ve met via online platforms are the daring outlaws of society, putting themselves at risk of kidnapping, murder or even worse, judgment from their peers.

I’m here to question the validity of this social stigma. No matter where you fall on the scale of online dating paranoia, we should all be aware of the facts. According to data published by the Washington Post in August 2014, the online dating industry collects annual revenue of $1.2 billion. Of the 54.2 million single people in the United States, 41.2 million have tried online dating, meaning that about 40 percent of single folks in the United States engage in the practice. This year, 20 percent of current committed relationships began online, according to the article.

Boston was recently ranked by Match.com as the ninth best city for online dating, emphasizing that the young college community has begun to actively look for mates online. If online dating has worked for so many people and is growing at such a rapid pace, why is there still such a strong social stigma against the use of these platforms?

For sophomore student Brianna Sedor, it is the appearance-based matchmaking process which makes the experience seem ego-driven.

“Using photos of myself to tell people who I am feels life self-promotion, and I don’t think

pictures can show my personality,” Sedor said. While many others seem to share this reservation, according to the Washington Post data 64 percent of online dating users report common interests as being the most important factor, meaning that the photos have less of an impact than most believe. Yes, posting photos of yourself and describing yourself may feel shallow for some, but I say the same could be said for self-promotion based interfaces such as Instagram and Facebook. Of course it would be ideal for us to all to fall into Prince Charming in the light bulb aisle of True Value and jet off into the sunset in his convertible, but life is not so simple for the 40 percent of us single folk who have tried online dating. While we’re waiting for the horse-drawn carriage to pull up, would it be so horrible to dip our toes in the vast pool of mediated dating?

Once we are comfortable with this idea, the question then becomes, how do we as a society beat this social stigma? The first step in my opinion is to open the conversation so that more individuals understand how widespread and common online dating has become. If you are one of the 40 million Americans using online dating, do your best to be open and honest about your experiences with peers. In talking with others, I’ve noticed individuals are much more likely to be open to the idea of online dating if someone they trust has reported having a positive experience.

Share your stories with pride, rather than feeling ashamed of your matches.

Additionally, understand that there is no shame in creating a profile even if it’s just to satisfy your curiosity. No one is forcing you to actually go on a date, but having your profile in the large pool of young singles can only help to open doors and raise your confidence.

Whether it’s the lipstick you wear at the bar or the filter you put on your Tinder profile picture, we all want to advertise the best version of ourselves. Receiving compliments on your outfit at a party has the same effect as receiving one on your photos from an online dating match. These positive interactions

make us feel good about ourselves, and we are fortunate to live in a world where compliments can be shared across multiple platforms. I believe we should encourage each other’s efforts to increase these types of positive connections and interactions in our daily lives.

A crucial step in defeating the social stigma behind online dating is acknowledging that creating a profile is simply a form of keeping up with the times. To quote my pee-wee soccer coach, “If you’re not ahead, you’re behind.” While I was never very successful at applying this advice to my professional soccer career, I’ve learned to apply it to my view of emerging technology. I still have nightmares about technological advances turning us into heartless robots, but I also respect the need to advance with the times. Staying current allows you to be able to engage with your peers on a different level than if you do not engage with what’s happening in the world, and what’s happening in the dating world right now is technology-mediated dating. At some point, we have to consider that using these applications is simply being resourceful, and while it’s not guaranteed to work, it simply can’t hurt.

So if you’ve had little success in finding love but are still a bit skeptical about turning towards technology for help, consider this: Online dating is what you make of it and you are in complete control to use it to whatever degree you like. Whether you create a Tinder profile to check once a week or you have a different Match.com date everyday, the truth is we’re all in this together and there’s a chance your soul mate is waiting just a few swipes away. So I dare you to un-silence your Tinder notifications, share your success stories and advertise yourself however you like, without the fear of being judged. Go ahead, be empowered by the possibilities. Give someone a compliment, share an experience with someone new and skip the drunken failed attempts at love at the bar. Who knew you could possibly find love sitting at home in your sweatpants binging on “Gilmore Girls” and Ben and Jerry’s? The times are changing, our thumbs are at the ready and it’s time to get swiping.

WOOF | winter 2014

14 // Culture

Bach to Basics HOW GROUPMUSE IS CHANGING PARTY MUSIC Written by Kristen McCleary // Photos by Alli Anastas

If you were to open your “party” playlist, what would it include? Top 40 and classic rock, and a few 90’s throwbacks, maybe. Beyonce, Ke$ha, Luke Bryan, Skrillex, The Black Keys? What if you tried Bach, Brahms, Debussy and Mozart? If you find your artists changing from Pitbull to Pachelbel, you may have heard of the living room concert phenomenon known as Groupmuse.

WOOF | winter 2014

“Groupmuse is an online platform that directly connects classical musicians in the area with people in the area with living rooms and offices,” said founder Sam Bodkin. “It’s about creating plentiful opportunities between people in the community to get offline and get together to enjoy something beautiful and significant.”

Groupmuse is a network that arranges classical musicians in the area to play concerts in living rooms, basements or any space with a willing host and audience. By joining the Groupmuse network, you can RSVP to events in your area, or opt to host one in which case you’re paired with a Groupmuse representative who helps you along the way. Donations from attendees for the musicians are strongly encouraged, and they’re free to host. You set a guest list limit, reserve spots for your friends and Groupmuse does the rest.

“Now people can listen and connect with [classical music] on their own terms,” Bodkin said. “It’s just great, great music. Groupmuse is not some magical thing. There’s just these people who are capable of incredible things, and here are these people who would enjoy these incredible things, and now we can bring it to them.”

In the almost two years since its creation, Groupmuse has put on over 250 events in Boston, and over 400 nationwide. It is active in 15 cities, with the most well-established networks in Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. Bodkin credits Beethoven’s Groβe

Fuge, Op. 133 as the catalyst for his deep love affair with classical music. After listening to the piece in the basement of a friend and cellist, Bodkin said he decided to devote his life to the

“THIS IS THE WAY IN WHICH YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULD BE LISTENING TO CLASSICAL MUSIC. PERIOD.” cause of classical then and there. He took a year off before college to pursue Couchsurf, a website he created to allow travelers to crash on couches of fellow network members, and in the process, make a friend in the same city.

Couchsurf originated the “network” idea that would later be incorporated into Groupmuse.

“It really opened my eyes not only to humanity but also to the power of the Internet and the power of it bringing people and connecting people together,” he said.

In 2010, Bodkin fell in with a group of talented friends from New England Conservatory. While attending a party at a friend’s home in Allston and watching the musicians in the room play and party simultaneously, he decided that this was the

Culture // 15

way to bring his love and the experience of classical music to others in the same connection-based platform as Couchsurf.

After he graduated from Columbia in 2012 and moved home to Newton, Mass., Bodkin began to develop the idea and put on the first official Groupmuse in January of 2013.

“It was everything I was looking for out of my experience of being a young person,” he said, “because it was a massive party—it was partying and flirting but it was great talent and a great piece of art all come together.” As the only non-musician in the room, Bodkin said he thought, “This is the way in which young people should be listening to classical music. Period.”

“WE PUT OUT SNACKS, SOME WINE AND LET THE PERFORMERS DICTATE THE FLOW OF THE NIGHT.” Though college-aged people may seem to be a classically disinterested demographic, Bodkin credits the wave of interest to a lack of preconceived negative associations with classical music. The generation before them would have linked classical music with their parents—now, college students are more open to the idea, including those at Northeastern.

“A lot of the music universities in the area are composition-centric, and there exists a

small group of those students at Northeastern, as well, in the music composition major…they love Groupmuse because the performances are classical pieces they’re studying or listening to while they develop their own craft,” said Joey Lafaytis, a fourth year music industry major and former president of the on-campus Greenline Records. “I think that same kind of interest trickles out to the other exploratory, creative minds at universities that are creating their own art forms.”

Lafaytis, who has been both an attendee and a host, said he heard about Groupmuse through members of Greenline, and the word “spread like wildfire.”

“I chose to host [a Groupmuse] because I really believe in what they’re doing and wanted to support it. I’m a music major; I’ve committed a lot of my young life to supporting artists and it’s rewarding to see others building similar types of communities,” Lafaytis said.

“Everyone I knew wanted to come to my Groupmuse and thankfully I have a big enough place that they could. We capped the night off at 50 people, but there were definitely more than that,” Lafaytis said. “We put out snacks, some wine and let the performers dictate the flow of the night: a longer piece, one intermission and a shorter piece followed by a party that went later into the night. There were people of all ages, and even an older

couple who set up nicely on a table-converted makeshift love seat.”

Not For Sale, a year-old Northeastern club that raises awareness about human trafficking, held a Groupmuse in November at a member’s house. Club President Nicole Hicks said that

WOOF | winter 2014

16 // Focus

when she first mentioned the idea, “a few people were like, ‘what a strange, hippie thing to do,’ but once you explain it, people catch on. It’s literally a house party with classical music in the background.”

Not For Sale also arranged for their event to dually function as a fundraiser with help from Groupmuse’s Boston executive, Ezra Weller.

Hicks said Weller encouraged her to talk to the musicians, who all were “really nice about it” and agreed to split the donations from the night with the club. Hicks said that hosting was very easy and that people shouldn’t be hesitant to do it themselves.

“It’s such a simple process the whole way through that I think if people knew how easy it was more people would do it. It’s literally just, ‘here’s a date, here’s how many people I want,’ and they send a band to you.”

One Northeastern alumni loved the idea of Groupmuse so much that she decided to get

“I DECIDED TO GET INVOLVED WITH GROUPMUSE ABOUT 15 MINUTES INTO ATTENDING.” involved beyond hosting or attending. Emily Chiapiniello, who graduated in May 2014 with a dual degree in environmental studies and international affairs, attended her first Groupmuse in September of 2013 and now works for the company with Bodkin in New York City.

“I decided to get involved with Groupmuse about 15 minutes into attending,” she said.

“It was a captivating combination of all of the things I like to do when I go out, taking place in a particularly warm and intimate setting.

There was phenomenal music being played brilliantly by the musicians that performed, there were a bunch of young kids partying in someone’s apartment and there was a genuine sense of meaningful interaction with the

people there that I frequently found missing from the typical bar scene.”

Chiapiniello went on to say that she believed that due to the experiential learning basis of the education provided at Northeastern, students are more open and willing to try new things. This, combined with the word-ofmouth nature of Groupmuse, contributed to its success around Northeastern.

“It gives a purpose to coming together and being with people besides just congregating in the same space to drink and talk and play games. You’re going to a party for a reason, there is something specific and tangible that

A Woof Farewell

Au Revoir, Adios, Arrivederci & Peace Out We would like to congratulate Kristen McCleary on her accomplishments here at NU and on her graduation this semester. We cannot thank you enough for your dedication to this magazine and how far you have brought us during your time as Editor-in-Chief and President of Woof. Good luck and we’ll miss you!

WOOF | winter 2014

you are coming together to experience,” she said. “Even if classical music isn’t anything you’ve been interested in before, college is all about expanding your horizons and being exposed to experiences that you’re both not used to and excited by or interested in trying.

Groupmuse does all of these things.”

Bodkin agreed with Chiapiniello saying that Groupmuse has found such success in the original environment it provides. “The concert hall will never be cool,” as he put it, and by taking classical music outside of that environment and into the party next door has garnered unparalleled interest.

“It’s like look, it’s a Friday night. We aren’t asking you to go to the concert hall,” Bodkin said. “Go to the party you were already going to go to, and we’ll bring the string quartet.”

Focus // 17

Home for the holidays?

Written by Rachel Petri

The sudden appearance of Christmas trees lining campus walkways. The glow of the Menoreh in Krentzman Quad. Festive Starbucks to-go cups atop every desk in Snell Library. For many Northeastern students, these December traditions signal the end of finals and the opportunity to travel home for the holiday season. However, Northeastern is comprised of students from 122 different countries, 16 percent of whom are international students — ­­ and who cannot simply hop on a bus to go home. Considering the brevity of the winter intersession and the exorbitant costs of flights, rather than head home for the break, many international students bring their holiday traditions to Boston.

Spending time with family can be a large part of what people look forward to as the holidays approach. Melania Gomez, a senior from Venezuela whose home is in Spain said, “Holidays, for me, is being with my family.”

She tries to get home at least twice a year, but depending on her co-op schedule she is lucky to go home for either summer or winter break.

Now that her family has moved away from her original home of Venezuela, Gomez’s relatives are all over the world. For Gomez, this distance means a departure from the big family dinners she grew up with. Many times her busy schedule doesn’t allow her to get home for her favorite holiday traditions, such as lighting fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Yet Gomez acknowledged, “still somehow and someway my whole family is with me.” And now whether it’s Thanksgivings in Philadelphia with her great aunt or staying in Boston with friends to celebrate, “it has slowly started to feel like home.”

To Gomez, living off campus in an apartment with her cousin helps make her feel closer to home. The two cook their favorite traditional meals and make sweet holiday treats like brigadeiros, a Brazilian chocolate truffle, that

remind her of her childhood. Little comforts like this have helped Gomez through the holidays away from her big Latin family.

Gomez is not the only one who has struggled to make it home for the holidays.

Nimra Aziz, a middler from Pakistan, has not been home in a year and has never been able to return home for the holidays. “I cannot even imagine spending so much just to go back for a week,” she remarked. “Tickets are crazy expensive and it takes 22 hours to fly back. It’s really not that easy for holidays.”

Aziz’s favorite holiday is Eid, a day on which Muslims celebrate the conclusion to 30 days of fasting during the month of Ramadan. Similar to Christmas here, Eid is a day when Muslims around the world demonstrate a common goal of unity. While American students receive almost a month off to celebrate the winter holidays, Aziz has never been able to go home to celebrate this important Islamic tradition during her time at Northeastern.

“It is the small familiarities, like food and people that make the distance easier. With its breadth of international students, Northeastern hosts a community where support and unity are never out of reach.”

Aziz said the hardest part for her on this day of unity, “is knowing that everyone is there together — and you can’t be a part of it.” To alleviate this feeling, Aziz will visit her grandmother in Cambridge. To celebrate, they wear the traditional shalwar kameez, which she describes as a three-piece dress,

along with colorful chooriyaan, or bangles.

Once dressed the part, they cook a traditional dinner, which includes everything from kofta kabab to naan and kheer topped off with methai for dessert.

Similarly, Jenny Gao, a fourth-year senior from China, loves to make large, delicious dinners to celebrate her favorite holidays.

“The Lunar New Year is my favorite,” she said, noting that she loves to cook traditional Chinese foods like jiaozi, which is a round dumpling that signifies family reunion, to feel at home. While her rigorous college schedule means Gao is never able to be home with her family for this February holiday, she and her friends always celebrate. “We will buy a lot of things and cook a big delicious meal together,” she explained.

When Gao came to Northeastern it was her first time in America, and now she only returns home once a year. After three years in Boston, she said she is currently comfortable here because of the people she has met.

“The environment is very free,” she said.

“People don’t judge you, so you can be very comfortable.”

Over shorter breaks such as Thanksgiving, Gao is able to visit family in Seattle and New York, but there are other holidays, like the Lunar New Year when she cannot. Despite being able to only go home once a year, Gao has found comfort celebrating with her new Northeastern family.

It may be a tough acclimation for these international students to be so far from home, especially during the holidays, but students like Gomez, Aziz and Gao have proven that many students can find family miles away from home. It is the small familiarities, like food and people that make the distance easier. With its breadth of international students, Northeastern hosts a community where support and unity are never out of reach.

WOOF | winter 2014

18 // Focus

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Written by Liam Synan

Here at Northeastern, our campus culture is all about employment. Every October, the university sidewalks are swarming with nervous suit wearers, rushing between co-op interviews and classes, often emphasizing the former at the expense of the latter. Students are often told that employers view experience as paramount, so in order to nail those interviews, academics may take a backseat for the month. There’s no question that a beefy resume is going to help land that dream job after graduation, but most students still fret plenty about their grades as well.

After all, your grade-point average is the ultimate determination of your worth and value as a student, so its importance really can’t be overstated…

Internships, traditionally slightly less competitive than full-time opportunities, are in high demand at Cigital. “We get about 60 applicants for most internships, whether it’s software security or development,” Stitt said.

So of course, with such a large group, they’re going to start whittling the list down with GPA, right? But if it were as simple as picking the highest number, a computer program would have replaced human resources long ago.

There’s a lot more to it than that. According to Stitt, even when compared to an outstanding academic, if an average student “has worked at any of our competitors, or lists their attendance at industry wide networking events and the outstanding student does not, they’re our choice.”

Or perhaps it can be, and is. While it is a convenient metric, it varies considerably between schools, majors and professors.

As such, an intelligent recruiter is looking at a lot more than just that number to inform her decision. According to Jen Stitt, an HR manager and talent recruiter at the software security firm Cigital, what employers are really looking for is engagement.

Stitt went on to say that, “If they regularly attend OWASP, but only have a 3.2, then I’ll still look at that resume over the 3.8 or 3.9.”

OWASP is the Open Web Application Security Project, a large non-profit organization focused on the development of open source security software, and a common entry point for students interested in software security.

WOOF | winter 2014

Companies are interested in what value a candidate can add to their firm, and academic performance is only a small part of that picture. For Stitt, it ultimately comes down to the candidate’s practical abilities.

“There’s just never been a decision based solely on GPA,” she said. But its not just HR managers in the software industry that are targeting practical skill sets. At Metis Communications, a public relations firm headquartered in Boston, experience reigns supreme in the recruitment process as well. Christina Andrade, a member of the recruiting team said, “We give every resume a chance regardless of their GPA. We are more concerned about what experience they have and what their references have to say about them.”

Tina Mello, a co-op coordinator in Northeastern’s science department, reports a similar trend for careers in the sciences. For co-op and full time employment alike, “there are only a small number of companies that specify a GPA, and the highest it might be is a 3.5.” Experience in the student’s field is a strong differentiating factor too, but Mello

Focus // 19

stresses the opaqueness and variability of the hiring market, emphasizing several times that the balance between academics and experience “depends on the job.”

That’s not to say there is no benefit to academic success. At the beginning of a candidate’s post-graduation career search, Mello said, “the higher GPA is likely to get more attention, of course, but the opposite is not true.” A student’s GPA takes on outsize importance only when there’s little else on the resume to inform the employer’s decision.

“If you have no work experience, what metric can the employer use?” Mello said. “But 10 years out, they don’t care at all.” It’s much easier to overlook lackluster academic performance when the candidate has already demonstrated his or her value in several different professional settings. In that sense, the co-op program provides a lot of value, especially for students with an average or worse academic record.

And employers are noticing. For Stitt in Cigital recruitment, the premiere Boston area schools are Northeastern and Tufts. “They are somehow getting much more relevant internships, much more so than any of the other area schools,” she explained. And the relevance of these internships is the clear deciding factor. “It’s not the prestige of a school like Harvard or MIT that draws our attention,” she said. “Instead, what we ask is, ‘How can they apply their knowledge to meet our company’s needs?’” When the candidate has already shown an ability to apply his knowledge in an industry setting, the recruiter has some assurance that he is capable of more than academic success.

a big impediment. Bigger than it was five years ago, and much bigger than ten years ago,” she said. The numbers don’t lie: According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an individual with a high school diploma is nearly twice as likely to be unemployed as someone with a bachelor’s degree, and will likely make less than 60 percent of the salary of someone with a bachelor’s degree.

This gap only widens with a more advanced terminal degree. PhDs and other professional degrees make its holder three times less likely to be unemployed than someone with a high school diploma, and the holder’s expected salary is more than twice as high. While employers are not overly concerned with academic success, they are concerned with the terminal degree the candidate has obtained.

The first step to securing the benefits of postgraduate education is to be accepted into a masters or doctoral program. Mello emphasized that universities have much different recruiting priorities than typical employers. “In grad schools, no ifs, and or buts, they weed you out [by standard

measurements],” she explained. She acknowledged that there are “many things that aren’t reflected in GPA,” but clearly stated that “academic programs are going to use academic measures.”

HR managers may be looking at what practical value you’ll add to the company, but a university wants to know whether you’ll be an academic success. They view your previous track record as a strong indicator, so for those planning to pursue advanced degrees, one’s GPA must indeed be safeguarded. For the more competitive graduate programs, however, academic success won’t be enough to differentiate a candidate, so pursuit of the same relevant experience is essential.

Ultimately, it comes down to balancing practical and academic concerns, and trying not to let one slide too far at the expense of the other. Luckily for Northeastern students, academics can be placed on the back burner for six months at a time and the practical experiences that employers value so highly can be pursued with gusto. For those looking to pursue graduate education or work in competitive industries, however, classes should be more than just a bothersome six months between co-ops.

That’s not to say there’s no value to a prestigious degree or a high GPA, which still give students a leg up in some fields.

According to Mello, “certain employers, especially in more competitive fields like finance and consulting, are likely to use standard measures out of necessity.”

She went on to say that other employers may view hiring only candidates from certain schools or with certain academic honors “as a point of prestige,” and pointed out that it can be particularly difficult to overcome “an employer’s well-established standards.”

She mentioned that such hiring practices only occur “in limited circles,” and are less likely to be used in developing fields like graphic design and software development.

One might be tempted to think that since employers place much more weight on practical abilities than academic standards, the degree itself is unimportant. Stitt disagrees. “If you don’t have a degree now, it’s

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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