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(04/10/18 3:40am)
By Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
The College got a taste of Asian nightlife at the first annual Night Market, hosted on Green Lawn by the College’s Japanese Student Association, Korean Student Association and co-sponsored by the College’s Asian American Alliance on Friday, April 6.
The Night Market’s perimeter and nearby trees were decorated with strings of lights. A brightly lit up stage hosted numerous acts, like singers and dancers, that represented different aspects of Asian culture. Activities, such as seeing a fortune teller or getting a caricature, were also available to students.
Tents surrounding the stage offered street food from various Asian countries, including China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
“We made sure everyone represented a different country,” said Yani Aldrich, a senior sociology major and president of the KSA. “We made sure every activity had a cultural basis and that the food represented their country’s culture.”
A barbeque wafted the smoky smell of grilled pork. Students could also taste bubble tea, Vietnamese coffee, spring rolls, sushi and more.
Planning the event took five to six months, according to Nikki Huang, a senior nursing major and president of the College’s Asian American Alliance.
“We starting planning probably in like October, November because (this event) is the first of its kind,” Huang said. “We just needed a lot of time to think about where we want to have it, what kind of events, what activities (to have).”
Huang said that the clubs wanted to create their own event, that would be fun for attendees as well as help their organizations stand out.
“JSA and KSA are new clubs, they’ve only been around for two, three years,” Huang said. “Each Asian club had their own specific big event … so they kind of wanted to integrate some of their own culture into a big event.”
Christine Papas, a junior mathematics major and president of the JSA, said planning a brand-new event for the first time was stressful, but she knows that all the work paid off.
“I think it’s completely worth it just because multiculturalism is not something that is found abundantly at TCNJ, so I think it was a great opportunity to show the campus what the rest of the world is like,” Papas said.
Students acknowledged and appreciated the effort that went into planning the event’s activities.
“I feel like all in all if you can get a turnout that’s like this, which is pretty decent, especially on a Friday night, I think it’s pretty good,” said Amanda Pegher, a senior biology major.
Papas and Aldrich were pleased with how the event turned out.
“I’m happy. It came together a lot nicer than I thought it would,” Papas said. “Only because we’ve never run an event like this, or any sort of event, we were worried about whether or not things would actually fit into place and would work, but it turned out a lot better than I ever expected it to be.”
In the future, Papas foresees JSA and KSA incorporating more multicultural organizations into the Night Market.
“There are a lot of cultures on this campus that people may not be entirely familiar with, but I think this is actually a really good opportunity to invite people to see what it’s like,” Papas said.
(03/06/18 12:25am)
By Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
Whether one is training to run a 5K, a half marathon or a marathon, distance running takes time, hard work and dedication. This summer, two students of the College are going the extra mile by running across the country to help fight cancer.
Alana Okun, a junior self-design major in classics, and Vaishali Ravikumar, a junior in the seven-year medical program, will run in the Ulman Cancer Fund’s 4K for Cancer from June 13 to Aug. 4. Participants will run for 49 days across the U.S., passing through cities including San Francisco, Chicago and Boston.
The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults is a nonprofit organization that supports young adults who have been diagnosed with cancer and supports their loved ones with funding and aid, such as care packages.
“I thought it’d be a really awesome thing to do before med school, to see all the United States and do something that I really love … and help a bunch of people in the process,” Ravikumar said.
Both Okun and Ravikumar have dedicated their time not just to preparing for the run that lies ahead, but to fundraising for cancer patients and their families. Participants are responsible for meeting a minimum fundraising requirement of $4,500 in order to participate.
Ravikumar’s fundraising page and Okun’s fundraising page are currently at about the halfway mark toward this fundraising goal. After reaching out to family members and friends for donations, Ravikumar and Okun have started to reach out to companies and small businesses to provide additional donations.
“I think it’s really cool that we get this opportunity to not just run for ourselves, but also run to help others and make a difference,” Okun said.
None of the money Okun and Ravikumar raise will be used during their 49-day run, as all of the money will go directly to cancer patients. It will be up to them, along with the rest of the group, to cover their own expenses throughout the trip. The group will be asking for donations from small businesses and restaurants for their meals, according to Ravikumar and Okun.
A group of 30 individuals, dubbed Team Boston as a nod to the team’s final destination, come from all across the country. Although Team Boston has a GroupMe, a Snapchat group and other means of virtual communication, they will not meet in person until they begin their run.
“We spend 49 days completely with them, so it’s going to be interesting. They all seem really awesome and I’m excited to get to know them,” Ravikumar said.
Ravikumar and Okun were both introduced to the UCF by friends in their respective hometowns. While they are friends at the College, they signed up to run across the country with the UCF together purely by coincidence and both joined Team Boston before either one realized the other was participating.
Coordinators are available to help participants prepare for the run, and make sure that each person will be capable of keeping up with the group’s pace. Okun explained that on Jan. 1, training logs were sent out so participants to can keep track of their progress to see if they are “on par” with the rest of the group.
“These training logs also provide an idea of how many rest days to take and a general idea of what you should be doing to prepare for this run,” Okun said.
Each participant is expected to run an average of 13 miles per day, though participants can run anywhere between 6-16 miles a day, according to the UCF.
The group will also be traveling with two vans and will be split up during the day, according to Okun. One group drives ahead while the rest of the group runs until they meet up at a lunch destination, and then the roles are reversed for the second half of the day.
There will be 10 rest days interspersed within the 49-day marathon, during which runners will have the opportunity to visit hospitals and meet cancer patients, according to Okun. Participants will also have a chance to give out scholarships with the money that is raised.
“We present the scholarships to the cancer patients,” Okun said. “We’re actually in the process of reading through the applications … and we get to decide who gets to be the finalists.”
The run from from San Francisco to Boston will give Okun, Ravikumar and the rest of Team Boston a chance to meet new people, have new experiences and make a difference for families that have been affected by cancer.
“I think it will be a really cool perspective to actually be in the towns and not see them as a tourist … you get to really interact with the community ... I’m really excited about that,” Okun said.
(09/26/17 5:20am)
Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
The first weekend of fall was warm and sunny — perfect weather for parents to reunite with their loved ones and tour the College’s campus.
The College’s cheerleaders lined the walkway leading up to the Brower Student Center on Saturday, Sept. 23, as parents filtered in for Parent and Family Day.
Beginning at 9 a.m., families explored the various opportunities the College has to offer for its students — including student organizations, academic buildings and the sports facilities.
Some of the day’s events included a forum with President R. Barbara Gitenstein, a campus tour and a study abroad information session.
Susie Orecchio, the director of administration and operations for Student Affairs, coordinates parent and family programs at the College.
“We really hoped to create an environment that’s both informational as well as social,” Orecchio said.
One of the first events offered was the forum with President Gitenstein, providing an opportunity for parents to learn more about the College’s president and ask her questions personally.
Amandalis Barrood, a sophomore music education major, and her parents David Barrood and Sonia Rosa-Barrood, attended the forum with Gitenstein.
“For me, its learning and keeping up, keeping myself informed so that I know how to best make suggestions or (give) advice,” Rosa-Barrood said. “At the end of the day my daughter has the final word, but if she wants my input, at least I know that I’m knowledgeable enough in what the school is doing in order to give my advice if she needs it.”
Although being away from family can be difficult, Rosa-Barrood is confident her daughter’s receiving the best education.
“I can see how students want to come to come to TCNJ because of everything positive that’s been going on,” she said.
Later in the afternoon, families had the opportunity to talk to the Parent Family Association executive board, which consists of “parent and family members of both current-year students through all class years as well as a few alumni parents,” according to Orecchio.
In addition to visiting their kids, parents were able to meet other parents of students at the College.
Families met with one another to discuss their shared experiences at the College, and could learn new things from different perspectives.
“We want families to seek TCNJ guidance, but this is also a great way (for) people to see other TCNJ families and to socialize with them,” Orecchio said.
The activities and information were a plus, but many families were eager to reunite after a significant time apart from each other.
Although families reunited for a short period of time, memories were made to last a lifetime.
(09/18/17 11:39pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
Internships can serve as a valuable learning tool for college students, but not all of them provide the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on Capitol Hill alongside our nation’s leaders.
This past summer, a student from the College traveled to Washington D.C. to partake in the Terjenian-Thomas Assembly Internship Program at the Armenian Assembly of America.
Shant Bekarian, a senior psychology major, was one of 14 college students selected to spend eight weeks learning about the policy-making process in the nation’s capital.
The organization has helped more than 1,000 participants learn in-depth about their Armenian heritage while finding careers in D.C. such as in congressional offices, government agencies and media outlets, according to the Armenian Assembly of America’s website.
The internship involved several office tasks, researching and writing memos, and other responsibilities.
“One special aspect of the Terjenian-Thomas Assembly internship is the alumni who visit the interns and share their own experiences and advice,” said Danielle Saroyan, public affairs associate at the Armenian Assembly of America.
The Armenian Assembly of America states that the internship program is open to all college students of Armenian descent. After securing the internship, students are given responsibilities and tasks that coincide with their education level and performance ability.
Joseph Piatt, the internship program director, said that it is important in providing students with real-world experience and creating future leaders for the Armenian-American community.
“We do this particular program to develop the next generation of leaders and build our contacts in D.C. through positive work and connection,” Piatt said.
During his time with the Armenian Assembly, Bekarian spent six weeks interning at the Office of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with representative Robert Avedisyan.
Bekarian also had the opportunity to work on Capitol Hill with representatives Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.
“I got a huge insight into the U.S. political system and how politicians think,” Bekarian said.
Some of the additional activities included meeting with senators and other government leaders in their offices in Capitol Hill.
In those meetings, interns could talk to America’s elected officials about current events and topics that are important to the Armenian-American community.
“Lecture Series” were also offered as a part of the internship program for students to ignite discussion about Armenian-American issues and what can be done to resolve them.
“Here at the Armenian Assembly, we advocate year-round promoting public awareness of Armenian issues, including national reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide, foreign aid to Armenia and Artsakh, and a peaceful resolution to Azerbaijan’s aggressions against the citizens of Artsakh,” Saroyan said.
According to the Armenian Assembly of America, its main objective is to “secure universal reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide.”
On April 24, 1915, the Young Turk government organized the genocide of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian Assembly of America states the genocide lasted from 1915 to 1923, and “resulted in the deportation of nearly 2,000,000 Armenians, of whom 1,500,000 men, women, and children were killed.”
“(The Armenian Assembly) wants to get the Armenian genocide recognized in the U.S.,” Bekarian said.
One of Bekarian’s many assignments was to make a digital copy to preserve the information about the genocide.
Although working an unpaid internship isn’t always ideal, Bekarian said that his experience made everything worth it in the end.
“My roots play a huge role in my life,” he said. “My strong ties to the Armenian community are why I decided to take an unpaid role in D.C.”
As he took on new challenges, learned about U.S. policies and fought for change, Bekarian was able to gain a new perspective.
“Working for a non-profit really opens yours eyes, and you see a really humane side of people. People really looking to make a change,” he said.
(08/29/17 4:05am)
By Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
Graduate and undergraduate students at the College had the opportunity to travel to Lisbon, Portugal this summer to learn about counseling and drug addiction.
Courses offered included “Substance Abuse and Addiction: Individual, Family, and Society,” and “Treating Addiction & Co-Occuring Disorders.”
This was the fourth year graduate students at the College had the chance to visit Portugal while learning about drugs and addiction, and the first for undergraduate students.
Class sessions lasted seven or eight days and took place at St. Julian’s, an international school located in Carcavelos.
Being a short distance from Lisbon and the beach allowed students to enjoy weekends exploring away from the classroom.
Luke Thompson, a graduate student studying school counseling, expressed why the class was important to him.
“I wanted to take a course related to substance abuse because it is such a salient subject in the school setting,” Thompson said.
International students who also partook in the study abroad trip brought different perspectives to the group.
“I learned along both my on-site peers as well as international students from Mexico, Taiwan and China, who all share their own perspectives,” Thompson said.
Through coursework and various field trips around Portugal, students were able to learn how drug policies in other countries differ from the U.S.
“We really get a global perspective when we take the course in Portugal,” said Sandy Gibson, an associate professor of counselor education and faculty leader of the trip.
According to Gibson, the U.S. is the only country that allows pharmaceutical companies to market to the public, allowing Americans to access more prescription medication than needed.
In addition, the U.S. also has the largest incarceration rates. Many prisons in the U.S. are privatized and can give donations to politicians to make sure that the prison system continues running.
“We are taught really negative things about people who use drugs,” Gibson said.
There is negative stigma surrounding drug users because Americans are unaware of the circumstances behind drug use, and there is a lack of understanding in the U.S. about the origins of addiction, according to Gibson.
This situation, almost anywhere else, is very different. In Portugal, Law 30/2000 was enacted in 2001 to decriminalize drug use.
Prior to 2001, drug use in Portugal was “considered a criminal offense punishable with imprisonment up to three months or a fine,” according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
Since 2001, if police catch someone with a modest amount of an illegal substance, and that person is not suspected of having any other offences, they will be redirected to a commission.
Comprised of a lawyer, doctor and social assistant, the commission offers treatment and aid, however it will not force an individual to accept help.
This policy has its limits— if a person has a “greater than personal amount” of drugs in his or her possession, more severe actions will be taken.
Portugal’s approach to looking at drug abuse has served as a model for other countries, making it a perfect place for students to witness how a government functions with a policy that decriminalizes drug use, according to Thompson.
“The site visits helped illustrate Portugal’s values related to addiction: that it is a public health concern, and not a criminal justice one,” Thompson said.
Studying abroad in Portugal has allowed ample opportunity for students to expand what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it to real life scenarios.
“I love seeing (students’) perspectives change,” Gibson said. “Students have a new mindset when it comes to drug addiction, and are quicker to sympathize than to judge. Classes like (this one) help students take a look at addiction from a new perspective.”
(04/18/17 7:39am)
By Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
Amnesty International hosted a Syrian Refugee Crisis Lecture on Wednesday, April 12, in which three College professors presented different aspects of the Syrian refugee crisis. The audience learned about the origin of the Syrian civil war, the devastating health implications it has had on civilians and refugees, and why this human rights crisis needs to be addressed.
“This is the worst humanitarian disaster of our time (and) has caused untold suffering for Syrian men, women and children,” according to the United Nations.
As of March 2017, 5 million people have left Syria and there are 6.5 million Syrian citizens displaced, according to CNN.
Political science Professor Miriam Lowi, public health Professor Carolina Borges and religious studies Professor David Rech discussed this and presented the complicated and challenging aspects of this crisis.
Lowi talked about the conflict in depth and explained why citizens are fleeing Syria after a civil war that broke out in 2011.
In Syria, south of Daraa, middle school children wrote graffiti on the walls on March 2011, agreeing that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime needed to be stopped. The government response to this anti-regime act was extreme and violent, according to Lowi.
Peaceful demonstrators of multiple ethnicities protested between March and August 2011, Lowi said. Al-Assad’s regime sought to divide the populations “by planting fear” in different communities and making them suspicious of each other, according to Lowi.
This regime bought people off and released prisoners known for religious fanaticism to create chaos. The Free Syrian Army is a militia that wants to get rid of the regime and establish a democratic society, although this group struggled to find the support they needed from outside of the country.
Lowi also explained the difference between ISIS’s and the Syrian people’s goals: ISIS wants to unite all islamic countries into one while the Syrian citizens want the regime gone.
Another aspect of the Syrian refugee crisis is public health, according to Borges. Men, women and children are suffering in the middle of war-ravaged areas, and most refugees don’t have access to the basic necessities that they need to stay healthy.
“There’s no guarantee refugees will get access to health services they need,” Borges said.
As of 2015, there are 73 refugees registered in New Jersey out of a total of 1,682 refugees that came to the United States, according to the Refugee Processing Center, which is run by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
Based on refugees that have come into America, health professionals saw what diseases and public health issues with which this population is dealing.
The most prominent health conditions afflicting Syrian refugees are anemia, diabetes, hypertension and mental illness, according to Borges. Refugees also face problems with primary health needs, immunizations, women’s health, mental health and communicable diseases like HIV, syphilis, tuberculosis and hepatitis B or C. Syrian citizens are more likely to develop diseases after living in harsh conditions and are often caught in the middle of traumatic situations that are not healthy for a person's mental state.
Rech focused on viewing the refugee crisis as a human rights issue that could happen anywhere. He questioned terminology of the “Syrian Refugee Crisis” and particularly thought the word “crisis” was not fitting, stressing that people go through little events that can be considered crises everyday, while what is happening to Syrian citizens is murder and injustice.
“Amnesty International is an apolitical organization dedicated to promoting human rights and that means that we have to promote awareness when human rights are being violated,” said Usha Trivedi, the current president of the College’s chapter of Amnesty. “I am so glad with the success of this panel, and I hope TCNJ Amnesty continues to host school-wide awareness-themed events in the future.”
After the panel, the professors and members of Amnesty gave students the opportunity to write letters to refugees offering support.
“The last part of our event was a letter writing campaign, where we wrote letters to our local representatives to urge for the voices of the refugees,” said Trivedi. “This is because activism directly comes from awareness."
(04/17/17 7:21pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
About one in five women and about one in 13 men are victims of sexual assault on a college campus, according to national statistics cited in “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses.
While the College’s Anti-Violence Initiative has been tackling this issue year round, April marked its Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
AVI peer educators, interns and volunteers informed the campus community about the different aspects of rape culture on Tuesday, April 11, at AVI’s second annual Day to End Rape Culture.
The expo-style event allowed students to walk around the Education Building as they learned about a range of topics, including slut shaming, rape jokes and sexual objectification.
“I love that (students were) able to learn about different aspects of rape culture,” said Jovia Ferris, a junior communication studies major.
Aside from providing helpful information, organizations including Residential Housing and Education, Campus Police and Counseling and Psychological Services, also provided students with helpful resources for sexual assault survivors, and friends and family of survivors.
At one table, sophomore math major Rebecca Conn gave a presentation about the objectification of women.
“People don’t understand the power they have as consumers or individuals (and) they don’t think that they can stop these huge problems, but they can,” she said.
Conn showed students advertisements that clearly portray women as objects, one ad even depicted a woman as a table.
“It’s a very prominent problem, but it’s easily solvable,” Conn said.
Consumers must use social media to draw negative attention to the objectifying ads, until the company takes them down, according to Conn.
With more than 500 students in attendance, the event had an impressive turnout.
“(The event) wasn’t mandatory by any means,” said Rachel Murphy, a Student Anti-Violence peer educator and a junior political science major. “Last year, we had 400 mandatory people come, but we surpassed our goal without having anyone mandated to come.”
While Day to End Rape Culture is AVI’s biggest event during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the organization also planned several events including the Teal Party, Love Letters to Survivors and Denim Day.
AVI has worked year round alongside Title IX to bring sexual assault awareness to the College, including a recent viewing of “The Hunting Ground.”
Jordan Draper, Title IX coordinator, wants students to be aware of the resources that are available.
“Some people consider it to be a private matter and something they want to deal with on their own, and that makes complete sense because anything sexual is very personal,” Draper said. “It’s just to make sure that when these people are ready to talk about it, that (they know) there are always resources and options for them.”
Draper wants students to understand the definition of sexual assault.
“Most people assume that sexual assault is just penetration. At TCNJ, (sexual assault) is considered to be non-consensual sexual contact,” she said.
If students are unaware that what happened to them can be considered sexual assault, they will not report the incident and “most students don’t report (their assaults) because they don’t think an issue is serious enough,” according to Draper.
Draper and AVI want to spread awareness to the campus community, so students feel comfortable seeking resources, regardless of how minor a sexual assault incident may seem.
“I want every student at TCNJ to know what AVI is, what Title IX is, what sexual assault is and then once we get that, we can dig a little deeper and be able to say, ‘We know that there’s a problem, how do we address it. What can we do?’” Draper said.
(04/02/17 6:44pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
Imagine learning about farm animals, the food industry and the nonprofit sector all while living away from home and sticking to a strictly vegan diet.
This is exactly what Caitlin Flynn, a senior journalism and political science double major, did last August when she interned for Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
The nonprofit organization serves as a safe haven for rescued farm animals in need of rehabilitation.
Farm Sanctuary, which also has locations in Los Angeles and Orland, Calif., looks for employees, volunteers and interns who care about animal rights.
Fitting the part, the company hired Flynn as a human resources and communications intern over the summer.
“I found out about (the internship) because the president (and co-founder), Gene Baur, was on ‘The Daily Show’ a year or so back,” Flynn said.
After watching the show, Flynn decided to purchase Baur’s book, where she found “the organization to be compelling and worthwhile.”
Flynn is one of the many students that have interned with Farm Sanctuary.
Nonprofit organization serves as a safe haven for rescued farm animals (envato elements).
Each year, the New York location provides a number of internships for students all over the world interested in nonprofits, communications, public relations and more.
While Flynn worked in an office, the nonprofit also searches for shelter interns to provide hands-on care for the animals.
Additionally, the internship can span anywhere from a month to three months, but according to Farm Sanctuary’s website, interns who stay longer have greater opportunities.
“(The New York location averages) around 90 individual participants in our program annually,” said Holly McNulty, the director of resources and volunteer programs at the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen.
The 175-acre sanctuary also gives interns housing for the duration of their stay and provides volunteer interns an educational opportunity.
“Interns have many learning opportunities, whether from conversations with staff or during weekly education presentations,” McNulty said. “We strive to help our interns use what they gain from their experience to continue to advocate for farm animals and encourage participants to identify how they can incorporate this into their daily lives moving forward.”
While students gain educational experience through presentations and discussions, they also gain life experience by immersing themselves in the farm’s culture. Because the nonprofit is focused on supporting and protecting animal rights, interns are required to commit to a vegan lifestyle during their stay at Farm Sanctuary out of respect for the animals.
“I think the best thing about the program is it pushes for progress, not perfection,” Flynn said.
Farm Sanctuary brings awareness to issues facing farm animals and the issues of factory farming, which takes a toll on farm animals and the environment, as “raising so many animals in one place pollutes our land, air and water,” according to Farm Sancutary’s website.
Farm Sanctuary is not a factory farm, and because none of the farm’s animal products are consumed, interns get to experience life on a farm that respects animals.
The cows are not milked, according to Flynn, and the chickens produce eggs at their natural pace, unlike most farms that feed chickens hormones to increase eggs production.
Flynn also said the animal rights organization has led her to be more conscious of her eating habits.
“(My experience) made me more mindful of my day-to-day decisions,” Flynn said.
Interns are not the only group of people interested in Farm Sanctuary. In fact, the nonprofit has earned attention from comedian Jon Stewart, his wife Tracey, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and actress Emily Deschanel.
“We have regularly worked with celebrities throughout our 30 years — from creating PSA’s to participating in our events to being active on our board of directors,” McNulty said.
Due to the efforts of Tracey and Jon Stewart, who proposed the idea last October, Farm Sanctuary will open a new location in Collingsworth, N.J., in 2018. Last year, the couple bought a farm with the intention of partnering with Farm Sanctuary. Since the new location’s approval, the Stewarts plan to work with the organization throughout the process.
“We are working with them in the early planning stages — such as permitting and site development — but hope to be open to the public sometime in 2018,” McNulty said.
While the new location does not yet have plans to create an internship program, the nonprofit will eventually have volunteer opportunities, McNulty said.
Whether an intern or volunteer, the experience at Farm Sanctuary is unlike any other.
“(Farm Sanctuary is) a great nonprofit organization and is a nation-wide entity that influences pop culture, legislation and the food industry,” Flynn said. “It is the kind of relentless organization that I think many of the politically and socially active students (at the College) would appreciate.”
(02/13/17 10:52pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Staff Writer
Usually a spot to study in-between classes, the Bliss Hall Lounge transformed into an intimate space for writers, readers and performers on Friday, Feb. 10, for INK’s annual open mic Valentine’s Day Coffeehouse.
In addition to coffee and donuts, the College’s creative writing club treated the audience to literary performances focusing on love, heartbreak and more.
From 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., speakers could take the floor and read — or sing — any work they chose, whether it be a poem written that day, an original song or even an interesting Reddit feed.
Alena Woods, co-president of INK and a senior English major, encouraged everyone to speak up and read. She read several interesting written works and shared some of her own poetry.
“We always hold a coffeehouse right before Valentine’s Day,” Woods said. “This is one of our more popular reading events, along with slam poetry event.”
INK is responsible for hosting and organizing several events throughout the year for individuals to express themselves through written work. Two of its most popular coffeehouse events are centered around holidays: Valentine’s Day and Halloween, according to Woods.
Other on-campus reading events include the Student Reading Series in April, the Visiting Writers Series and the Goods.
“Our primary goal is to provide a creative outlet for student writers and readers of prose and poetry,” according to INK’s tumblr, and that goal was achieved at the Valentine’s Day Coffeehouse.
The audience felt welcomed to share their poems, songs, lists, stories and more.
For many participants, this was their first time sharing their work or volunteering to read in front of an audience.
“I’ve never really read (my own work) before today,” said Ian Gray, a freshman English and special education double major. “I pretty much only write, and then I put it on a blog sometimes, (but) today was really fun.”
In addition to reading his own poetry, Gray displayed his musical talent by singing Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon.”
Kendel Stiles, a sophomore political science major, first encountered slam poetry during high school.
“I got so into it,” Stiles said about seeing another student practicing “awesome” slam poetry at a club meeting during high school.
“The next day I looked up all the slam poems online, and I started practicing other people’s works. And I started writing poems for just the purpose of doing slam poetry,” she said.
Stiles read several times at the coffeehouse, and her experience with slam poetry was evident.
While the audience members were encouraged to share written works, original or not, the relaxed setting allowed audience members to avoid participating and, instead, enjoy listening to others read.
“We had an amazing turnout,” Woods said, “It was a great time.”
“(Tonight) was awesome,” Stiles said. “There were so many good vibes (that) came from people just singing to talking about heartbreak and love and everything else.”
The Valentine’s Day Coffeehouse was an opportunity for students to meet and learn about each other.
“Poetry has a way of connecting everyone,” Stiles said.
(10/16/16 5:32pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Web Editor
October is a busy month jam-packed with midterms and events like Homecoming and fall break. As busy as this month might be, it is arguably one of the best times to start planning for the upcoming year. Am I saying that you should start your New Year’s resolutions in October? Of course not, but you should start looking into internships.
An internship is not a necessity unless your major requires you to complete one (like journalism). However, it is certainly a wonderful opportunity to get real-life experience before entering the workforce. It puts you in a position where other members of the staff rely on you and you are a part of something greater than yourself. It’s not like college, where a lot of assignments are individual and you are the only one affected by your performance. In the workforce, people depend on you to deliver.
Where can you find an internship that interests you so you can get that kind of experience? According to a Forbes article from 2015, two places to start looking for internships are LinkedIn and Glassdoor. A different Forbes article from 2016 also lists internships.com and Indeed as solid sources.
LinkedIn is a way to search for internships and connect with employers, while the other sources provide search engines to narrow down what criteria you’re looking for in an internship based on your skills. For internship search engines that specialize in media internships, look at Mediabistro or Ed2010. Another option is to look directly for the business you’re interested in online. Some company websites offer direct links to employment or internship opportunities.
The College provides resources to help students find internships, including the Career Center and LionsLink. Professors, advisers and alumni are valuable resources and connections, as well.
One of the easiest ways to secure an internship is through a connection. I landed my first internship after a family friend recommended me for the job. If you know anyone that works for a company that interests you, reach out.
The best part of an internship? It can help you narrow down what career you ultimately want. There is no reason to return to a place if you were not happy there. It’s perfectly normal to realize that maybe a company, or career, is not right for you. On the other hand, if you find that your internship led you to the path you hope to pursue, then you might have your foot in the door for a real post-college job.
It’s important to keep in mind that internships are jobs and are not personal. If you are not picked for the internship you want, it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find something else. It takes time and dedication to look into internships and you need to be prepared for rejection. The reality is that internships — especially paid ones — can be extremely competitive.
Maybe an internship isn’t something you’re interested in, and that’s OK. It’s good to keep an open mind and explore different kinds of options.
Whatever you hope to accomplish in 2017, especially next spring, October is a great time to start planning for it.
(09/28/16 2:22pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Web Editor
An artist’s easel, complete with a canvas and a still-life subject, and a sleek, black Steinway & Sons piano sat onstage in Mayo Concert Hall — a perfect setting to learn about the Alexander Technique.
This semester’s second Brown Bag, titled “The Alexander Technique: For Health, Happiness, Self-Expression and More” and hosted by the Department of Music, focused on how musicians and artists can learn to use this technique to alleviate physical tension to improve their abilities.
William Barto Jones, who has been a fully certified Alexander Technique teacher for the past eight years, explained and demonstrated how this technique can benefit all different types of artists and people, alike. Barto is no stranger to the arts — besides serving as a teacher, he is a pianist, singer and former New York City opera vocal coach.
Barto provided examples of some well-known individuals who practice or have practiced the Alexander Technique, such as George Bernard Shaw, John Dewey, Madonna, Paul Newman, Judy Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch.
The century-old Alexander Technique has to do with learning to decompress the body and be conscious of simple movements that can provide bodily relief. Lessons are usually 45 minutes long, in which certified technique instructors guide students through the process so they can become aware of the compression in their body and learn to release it. The technique can also improve breathing, circulation, digestion and more.
It was created by Australian actor F.M. Alexander, who suffered from chronic laryngitis and invented this technique to improve his health. It has “(helped) instrumentalists and singers to perform with less stress and likelihood of injury,” according to The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique on the technique’s website. This technique is also about “(reeducating) the mind and body” to renew energy for other activities.
Rebecca Zhi, a senior fine arts and biology double major, described the technique as “good and relaxing.” Jones demonstrated the technique with Zhi and went through a typical lesson. All Zhi had to do was stand, lie down, then sit up and stand again. These basic movements, with Jones specifically focusing on releasing any compression in Zhi’s neck and back, demonstrated how the technique improved these daily functions.
Jones needed to guide Zhi through the technique and encouraged anyone interested in attempting the technique find an instructor. Once an instructor goes through it, then the student can figure out what their problem areas are and how to improve them.
“F.M. Alexander figured it out on his own,” according to Jones. He added that “(having) experience (with an instructor) will give people awareness (to figure it out for themselves).”
Jones asked Zhi to sit up afterwards and she was visibly sitting up straighter. Then he asked her to return to her painting and to feel the difference. “I feel more comfortable,” Zhi said. Jones asked Zhi afterwards to tell the audience how she feels working on her painting after trying the Alexander Technique. She described it as “interesting, more relaxed and less tense.”
After demonstrating with Zhi, Thérèse DeGenova, a senior music performance major, preformed J.S. Bach’s “Sonata No. 1, Presto” on her violin for the audience. Although Jones didn’t have the time to work on the technique with DeGenova, Jones aided students this weekend in an effort to bring the technique to anyone interested. Eric Vanderzee, a senior music performance major, who knew about this technique prior to this Brown Bag, said he planned to attend Jones’s next session to learn more.
Every individual is different, and they are going to feel where the compressions are, Jones said. In the discipline, an instructor begins to see where the problems are for each person based on what art form they practice.
Jones has experienced the benefits of the technique. He hasn’t had a cold in about two years and, since practicing the technique, he now stands taller. According to Jones, the technique is a way to solve body problems and is a way for the “mind and body to work together” as one.
(09/20/16 2:57am)
By Jennifer Goetz
Web Editor
Alzheimer’s: a disease without a cure that 5 million Americans live with, and is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Thanks to the efforts of the College’s Sigma Kappa sorority this past year, the Alzheimer’s Association will receive over $5,000 for Alzheimer’s research and treatment.
This Sunday, Sept. 18, Sigma Kappa hosted its fifth annual Driving Out Alzheimer’s Car Show, where the campus and Ewing, N.J., community came together to support the cause. The precarious weather turned into a beautiful day after a light drizzle in the morning.
Parking lots 3 and 4 were filled with vintage cars of different models, shapes and colors from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“People know more about the event this year,” Sigma Kappa President and senior secondary education and English dual major Courtney Kalafsky said. “It’s been a lot easier to get community involvement.”
Ewing resident Bill Tucker said he was looking for car shows online when he discovered the Driving Out Alzheimer’s event. He brought his magenta 1934 Ford, one of the day’s standouts.
The involvement this year even went beyond the community. Alumna Georgianne Barlow (’76) brought her le mans blue 2007 Corvette Geo 6 from Warwick, N.Y., to attend. Billy and Helana Farley traveled from North Brunswick with their 2013 Ford Mustang Boss 302.
“I was looking for car shows and when I found out this was for Alzheimer’s, that was it,” Billy Farley said. Many of the car owners and general attendees had been affected by Alzheimer’s in some capacity.
This year, the car show raised over $3,000 for Alzheimer’s research. The fundraising efforts went beyond the sorority to include other organizations and vendors who attended the event and donated a portion of their proceeds to the Alzheimer’s Association.
There were many categories of car awards. Bill Corti took home the award for Best Pre-1960 car, with his 1963 Corvette. Best Post-1960 car was a 2005 Ford Mustang. Bill Farley clinched the award for Best in Show with his 2013 Ford Mustang Boss 302, while the Most Memorable award went to Bill Tucker for his 1934 Ford.
The award for Sigma Kappa’s Choice, though, went to Bill Kraft’s 1955 Studebaker.
The annual car show was the largest event for Sigma Kappa’s Ultraviolet Week, during which the sorority held a number of programs to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s.
“I think the response has been really great,” Kalafsky said. “People really come behind the event because everybody knows somebody affected by it, and a lot of campus members appreciate that it’s free to get in. We try to make it as welcoming as possible.”
Sophomore special education major and Ultraviolet Week Chair Julianna Bottiglieri organized and ran all of the week’s events with the help of Claire Achilly, a junior secondary education and math dual major and the vice president of Philanthropic Services. The pair started planning for Sigma Kappa’s Ultraviolet Week as early as August.
The events included a media memory game show, bake sale, beach volley tournament, awareness tabling and a memory chalkboard on which students of the College were invited to write their favorite memories.
“The TCNJ Community is the reason we were able to raise as much money as we were,” Bottiglieri said. “People were so supportive, whether it was coming out to our Media Memory Game Show and participating alongside the contestants or buying one of our adorable elephant ribbon pins. Every little bit of support counted.”
Alzheimer’s disease is the national philanthropy for Sigma Kappa. Many of the sorority’s members here at the College have been impacted by Alzheimer’s in one way or another.
“About a third of our chapter have family members or a close family friend who is affected by Alzheimer’s,” Kalafsky said.
Even those who had not been personally affected were touched by the Ultraviolet Week events.
“When we had our Memories Making their Mark event, a board got filled with memories that people never wanted to forget,” Bottiglieri said. “Thinking about how many people lose the memories of the best days of their life is shocking. It just made me want to work that much harder so no one else has to worry about losing what makes them who they are.”
(05/04/16 3:01am)
By Jennifer Goetz
Nation & World Editor
On the night of Sunday, April 22, eight members of the Rhoden family were killed “execution-style” as they slept in four different homes in Piketon, Ohio, according to CNN.
In addition to their bodies, authorities discovered hundreds of illegal marijuana crops on these properties when conducting their investigation. The preliminary autopsy results were released for the eight victims and they were shot 32 times in total, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. The victims were all shot more than once, except for one, and the most gunshots on a single victim was nine.
Some victims were bruised, as well, and according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, a 911 caller claimed that two of the victims looked as if a person “beat the hell out of them.”
The Washington Post reported that the victims were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr., Kenneth Rhoden, 44, Gary Rhoden, 38, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden, 20-year-old Clarence ‘Frankie’ Rhoden, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley and 19-year-old Hannah Rhoden.
Three young children were spared, including Hanna Rhoden’s 4-day-old infant daughter and Gilley’s baby.
According to ABC News, authorities said that the deaths must have been planned in advance and the attack was a “sophisticated operation.” Attorney General Mike Dewine spoke at a news conference on Sunday, April 24, and said that the killings were a “pre- planned execution.”
ABC News reported that Dewine believes the investigation will take time. Currently, there are around 215 law enforcement officials working on this case, according to The Washington Post. The Pike County Sheriff’s office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation have received over 300 tips, according to a news release from the Attorney General’s Office.
Gary Rhoden’s funeral was held in Kentucky on Thursday, April 28. Gilley’s funeral was in Otway, Ohio, on Saturday, April 30, and the six others were held on Tuesday, May 3. ABC News reported that the community is mourning the loss of the family, who no one suspected to have ties to illegal marijuana crops.
Dana Rhoden was a nursing assistant. Chris Rhoden Jr. was a student at Pike County high school. Hanna Rhoden had just taken time off of work to be with her new baby. According to CNN, Piketon, a rural Ohio community, is “tight-knit” and other residents were surprised and shocked to learn that the Rhodens had illegal crops of marijuana on their properties.
Dennis Tschudy, a Piketon resident whose 15-year-old daughter was friends with the young Chris Rhoden, told CNN, that “You would never have seen them portrayed this way.”
Pike County is split into two by U.S. 23, a north-south highway. This road is close to cities such as Cleveland, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh. These populous areas are where drug trafficking is more common, so Pike county would be a prime supplier.
This investigation is still underway and ABC News reported that authorities have yet to identify any specific suspects or any concrete motives.
(04/19/16 9:30pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Nation & World Editor
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided on Thursday, April 14, to permit folic acid in corn-masa flour. This is a B vitamin that is thought to prevent birth defects, The Seattle Times reported. Folic acid has been used to enrich wheat and rice flours.
Corn-masa can be found in tortillas, taco shells and corn chips and is considered to be a Hispanic staple food (masa means dough in Spanish), according to the FDA press release.
According to the new rule in the Federal Register, this vitamin should be at a level no higher than 0.7 milligrams per pound of corn-masa flour.
The Seattle Times reported that Susan T. Mayne, director of the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said, “What we are saying today is we are confident in the safety of this addition to the U.S. food supply.”
The Seattle Times also reported that research done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that an average of 40 “neutral-tube defects” in Hispanic women every year could be prevented. Neutral-tube defects “are birth defects affecting the brain, spine, and spinal cord,” according to the FDA press release. The Seattle Times reported that folic acid is “cheap, safe and stable in grain products” and could help reduce birth defects, such as spina bifida and anencephaly.
Corn-masa flour isn’t the first product to be fortified with folic acid. According to NPR, folic acid was required to be in “bread, pasta and breakfast cereals” and since then, the number of babies born in the U.S. with neutral-tubes has decreased by about 1,300 babies a year, or 35 percent.
Many groups were supportive of the choice to add folic acid, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the National Council of LA Raza and the Spina Bifida Association, according to the The Seattle Times.
These same groups first rallied to get folic acid in corn-masa flour products in 2012. They petitioned the FDA four years ago, according to NPR.
The fortified corn-masa flour with this vitamin added will be available next September, according to Felipe Rubio, a Gruma company spokesman, The Seattle Times reported.
(03/29/16 4:08pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Nation & World Editor
Sen. Bernie Sanders won all three presidential contests on Saturday, March 26, taking the delegates from Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, and is trying to catch up to Hillary Clinton’s lead.
In Washington and Alaska in particular, Sanders performed very well, winning by a significant percentage. Sanders won Washington, the biggest prize of the night, with 101 delegates at stake, the New York Times reported.
He won by 72 percent there (a larger margin than his campaign predicted), by 70 percent in Hawaii and by 82 percent in Alaska, according to National Public Radio (NPR).
The three states were all expected to be won by Sanders. According to the New York Times, all three states have a small percentage of black and Latino voters who have supported Clinton over Sanders. Sanders has been favored by young and liberal voters, but will need to make headway in states that are more ethnically diverse in the next couple of Democratic presidential contests, according to NPR.
The New York Times reported that, as a result of these victories, Sanders is likely to gain greater online donations that will help fuel his campaign going forward. These donations will be able to help fund advertisements in states such as New York or Pennsylvania, which are holding primaries next month. These states have a significant number of delegates at stake, so the extra money will only help him appeal to them.
There are 2,382 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination and although Clinton has maintained a comfortable lead, these wins are keeping Sanders in the race to the presidency. NPR reported that Clinton leads Sanders 1,243 to 975 in the pledged delegate count and 1,712 to 1,004 overall, when superdelegates are included. Sanders has to win all the states he’s projected to and more to get the nomination.
Sanders will need 58 percent of all the remaining delegates to secure a pledged majority and this is what is campaign is focused on (since super delegates can change their allegiances). His campaign will try to maintain the momentum from these victories to the presidential contests coming up in the next few weeks, according to NPR. Republicans didn’t hold any caucuses or primaries on Saturday, March 26. Both parties will be holding contests in Wisconsin on Tuesday, April 5.
“We knew things were going to improve as we headed west,” Sanders told his supporters in Wisconsin at a rally on Saturday night, according to CNN. “We are making significant inroads in Secretary Clinton’s lead and…with your support coming here in Wisconsin, we have a path toward victory.”
(03/01/16 9:48pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Nation & World Editor
It’s taken months, but according to the New York Times, Italy’s Senate approved the first-ever law accepting civil unions on Thursday, Feb. 25. However, there was no mention of same-sex couples’ legal rights to adopt any children.
The bill, which passed 173 to 71, originally included the “stepchild” clause, but it faced strong opposition from center-right parties and by the Catholic Church, according to the New York Times. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi agreed to eradicate this clause to ensure that the bill would pass.
The Guardian reported that Interior Minister Angelo Alfano was strictly against the stepchild provision, but ultimately backed the bill after it was taken out. Some parties in the Senate would not have voted to pass the bill if the stepchild clause was included, according to the Associated Press.
Even if one of the parents had the children biologically, the other partner couldn’t adopt them.
“Between ‘everything never’ and ‘nothing today,’ it’s better to do a little piece now,” Renzi said about family law reforms in a radio interview with the Associated Press. He expects that this bill is the first step to real change for same-sex couples in Italy. According to the Guardian, this was the first significant win for gay rights in Italy’s history.
The bill is now set to go to the lower house in Parliament where it will be either passed or denied in upcoming weeks, even though the outcome appears to be favorable, according to the New York Times.
According to BBC, Italy is currently the only country in Western Europe with no civil partnerships or gay marriage. Last year, the European Court of Human rights decided that Italy had violated same-sex couples human rights by not allowing them to have legal protection. Thousands of people came out to march in cities across the country last year to support same sex couple rights.
Even though many believe this bill is a step in the right direction, not everyone shares this optimistic outlook. As president of Italy’s Rainbow Families, which is an LGBT parent’s association, Marilena Grassadonia told the New York Times during a phone interview that this is “a useless and empty law — they can scrap it.” Grassadonia went on to speak for her organization, “as parents, we challenge anyone to accept a law that hurts our dignity and our children.”
Aside from recognizing the civil union of same-sex couples, the New York Times reported that it also gives civil rights to unmarried couples. These civil unions are expected to have the same rights married couples have.
(02/23/16 10:02pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Nation & World Editor
The encrypted iPhone that belonged to Syed Farook, one of the attackers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings, has caused a legal battle between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Apple. The FBI requested a court order to ensure that Apple will help break into Farook’s phone, since it could potentially contain valuable information on him.
On Friday, Feb. 19, the Justice Department insisted that legal action be taken against Apple for refusing to cooperate with their investigation of the San Bernardino attack, the New York Times reported.
ABC News reported that the FBI wants Apple to disable the iPhone’s ability to lock someone out after 10 incorrect password attempts. This would enable the government to keep guessing the password to get through to Farook’s phone. The Justice Department may believe that Apple is thinking of its own “marketing strategy” before thinking of national security, according to the New York Times.
On Saturday, Feb. 20, Apple said that law enforcement officials missed the opportunity to back up the phone when they had the chance, according to CNN. Apple engineers insisted that had the phone been backed up onto a computer, they might have had more access to its content, CNN reported. However, this option was out of the question when the FBI attempted to change the iPhone’s password and was locked out.
According to CNN, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has explained to customers that in order to work with the FBI, Apple would have to develop new technology that would give them the ability to hack into an Apple iPhone. He sent a letter to his customers early on Wednesday, Feb. 17, and explained that prosecutors were demanding to have Apple engineer a “back door” that would allow the FBI to break into the iPhone.
The New York Times reported that prosecutors have argued that Apple has exaggerated the difficulty of creating this new technology and believe that this should be similar to an update.
The court battle between Apple and President Barack Obama’s administration has lead to a large dispute over two sensitive topics: privacy and security.
CNN reported that tech companies, such as Google, Twitter and Facebook are behind Apple, but many politicians, such as presidential candidate Donald Trump, are not.
An internet rights group, Fight for the Future, has sided with Apple in this dispute and plans to organize protests both nationally and internationally, according to ABC News. As of Saturday, Feb. 20, protests are being planned near FBI headquarters in favor of Apple’s policy for privacy.
Despite the circumstances, the Justice Department maintains that “This is not the end of privacy,”according to the New York Times.
Apple has until Friday, Feb. 26, to respond to in court, and according to CNN, this case could potentially appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court.
(02/16/16 9:00pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Nation & World Editor
Scientists confirmed on Thursday, Feb. 11, that they heard and recorded two black holes colliding together, according to the New York Times. Using tools such as lasers and mirrors, according to National Geographic, scientists have been able to “directly observe gravitational waves,” or “a wrinkle of time in the space time continuum.” This discovery supports the last aspect of Einstein’s theory of relativity, the New York Times reported.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) listened to two colliding black holes, one 36 times larger and the other 29 times greater than our sun’s mass, that are thought to be 1.3 billion light years away, according to the New York Times. These two “L-shaped antennas” (located in Washington and Louisiana) vibrated from the force of these gravitational waves and reached a pitch of a high C before suddenly stopping. The sound was nothing more than a “chirp” in space, the New York Times reported.
“We have detected gravitational waves,” David Reitze, executive director of the LIGO project, told journalists in Washington, D.C., at a news conference, according to BBC. “It’s the first time the universe has spoken to us in gravitational waves,” Reitze said according to National Geographic. Both of these antennas needed to vibrate at the same time in order to be considered a gravitational wave.
Einstein first predicted the presence of gravitational waves in 1916. They are only produced after extreme events, such as the collision of two black holes, National Geographic reported. They are violent enough to warp space and cause it to expand and contract. The New York Times reported that Einstein’s theory managed to change the way scientists view the universe — as something that can be morphed and changed when an event such as this occurs.
Black holes are, according to National Geographic, regions of “intensely curved bottomless spacetime.” They are so dense that the gravity they emit traps nearly everything in sight, including light. Alan Weinstein, a leader of LIGO at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), describes a black hole as a “kind of roiling mess of curved space, rapidly changing.”
These two black holes spiralled out of control until they eventually collided with each other, National Geographic reported.
The three scientists that have been leaders in the LIGO project are Kip Thorne of Caltech, Rainer Weiss of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ronald Drever, formerly of Caltech and now retired in Scotland.
“We are not only going to be seeing the universe, we are going to be listening to it,” said Gabriela Gonzalez of Louisiana State University, a spokesperson of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, according to National Geographic.
BBC reported that this research was published on Thursday, Feb. 11, in the Physical Review letter, a peer-reviewed, scientific journal with more than 1,000 authors. BBC also reported that this discovery could potentially win these scientists a Nobel prize.
(02/02/16 9:32pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Nation & World Editor
Not everyone is open to sharing their feelings, but senior interactive multimedia major Niveda Harishankar has created an app that will make it easier for students to express themselves.
The new TCNJ Wellness app, released in early January, directly connects students with resources and information to help them feel better. It even has the potential to save lives.
The app is designed to help students cope with emotional stress, depression and more. It aims to easily connect students to campus resources so that they always have a place to turn.
According to TCNJ Today, Harishankar is a recipient of the Andy and Maria Polansky Scholarship Endowment, which provides fellowship awards to students who have shown model leadership and a “commitment to enriching the community by applying their talent and skills in communication, media and technology.” She was given a $1,000 scholarship to attend the HOW Design Live conference in Chicago that introduced her to other designers and helped her pursue this project, according to the same article.
She got the idea for the TCNJ Wellness app in her mobile computing class when thinking of a final project, and now that project has manifested into an app currently available for Android devices.
The app features four different tabs.
“One section is all about quotes, which is linked to a Twitter page called (@TcnjWellness),” according to Harishankar, who created the Twitter page.
Quotes with pictures are uploaded to provide a little pick-me-up for those checking the app. The Twitter page, which someone else from the College will take over after Harishankar leaves, also provides a way for the College to directly connect with students.
The video tab contains videos of TED Talks, as one of the goals for the app is “uplifting video repository,” Harishankar said. She explained that the College is also able to add videos to the app.
Another part of the app is the mood tracker, “so you can keep an ongoing track of the way you feel,” Harishankar said.
App users can add what they’re feeling, why they’re feeling that way and then rate their mood, Harishankar said. People can also look back on all the different moods they’ve experienced since the last time they added a mood, according to Harishankar.
It provides data points that display how a person’s mood has shifted over time. Not everyone is open about his or her underlying feelings, so this app provides a way for students to express themselves and track their moods without having to speak with someone face-to-face.
The app also includes a strategies checklist, or things to do to keep one’s spirit up. This section is devoted to actionable steps, like keeping a gratitude journal — a way to keep track of things you have for which to be thankful — or meditating, according to Harishankar.
The app also directly connects students to resources, such as the number to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and other hotlines aimed at providing assistance to students if they need it.
“When you’re feeling vulnerable, you want to reach out to someone,” Harishankar said. “If there’s no light to show you the way, then you might not do it.”
The app was inspired by a classmate of Harishankar’s who died by suicide a few years ago.
“You feel the loss of a person,” Harishankar said. “It was really impactful to me and I thought maybe I could take some of those principles and make it concrete and address a real problem that’s on campus.”
Harishankar hopes to see the College and future interactive multimedia majors expand on what she has started.
(02/02/16 9:14pm)
By Jennifer Goetz
Nation & World Editor
Mosquitos exist in warm temperatures, and CNN reported that the warming waters and changes in precipitation patterns, referred to as “El Niño,” have had an effect on the recent spread of Zika in the western hemisphere. As of Monday, Feb. 1, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global public emergency due to this virus, according to BBC News.
The Washington Post describes El Niño as a phenomenon that occurs every few years that causes extra warm temperatures by the equator around late December. As a result of humid, warm temperatures, mosquitos thrive and so does the Zika virus, the New York Times reported.
The mosquito-borne virus has been a serious problem for Latin America and the Caribbean and it continues to spread rapidly. Brazil, in particular, is considered to be the center of this epidemic, according to the Washington Post.
“Meteorological factors certainly play an important role in determining the global range of the virus-transmitting Aedes (aegypti species of) mosquitoes and how competently they can transmit a virus,” said Andrew Monaghan, a research scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric research, CNN reported.
According to CNN, the current El Niño episode began around mid-2015, and the United Nations has said that El Niño may trigger an “increase in vector-borne diseases including dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus due to increased mosquito vectors.”
The New York Times reported that this virus is related to “dengue, yellow fever and West Nile virus.”
For some, the Zika virus has no lasting effects, but officials are particularly concerned for pregnant women, as the virus has caused a birth defect known as microcephaly, according to the New York Times. This is when a baby’s head is unusually small when they’re born, and since a baby’s head is still forming the first year of life, babies are affected based on the part of the brain that has been damaged, according to the New York Times. The usual amount of microcephaly reported is somewhere around 300 cases a year, but according to the New York Times, this year there has been around 4,000 cases.
The Washington Post reported that the side effects of this virus include, fever, rash, joint ailments and other flu-like symptoms.
The New York Times reported that the virus, which was first discovered in Uganda’s Zika forest in 1947, is common in Africa’s and Asia’s history, but not in the western hemisphere’s.
This is why the virus has been able to move so quickly—our immune systems are not prepared to combat it.
The New York Times reported that because of the winter conditions in the tristate area, people have no risk of contracting the Zika virus in the New York area. The New York Times reported that WHO has stated that the Zika virus has “exploded rapidly” in the Americas and warned that, by the end of the year, four million people could be affected.