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(05/03/16 9:16pm)
By Caleigh Carlson
Correspondent
“Sit back, relax and enjoy what Synergy Dance Company has in store.”
These words echoed from backstage to the seats in Kendall Hall as audience members began to make themselves comfortable on Sunday, April 24. The spectators recognized that they were about to witness the Synergy Dance Company’s 16th Annual Spring Spectacular at the College. Aside from that, they had little knowledge of the wonderful dance performance they were about to experience.
The recital opened with a dance choreographed by the seniors of the company. As the girls strutted their stuff to “Fame” by Lady Gaga, they showcased some of their best moves. Every arabesque was pointed and every dance member was in sync. With each dance, the technique became more apparent. There were a few additional dances that were choreographed by the seniors on the team, whose commitment to Synergy was fully demonstrated during the show.
Senior sociology major Alyssa Scull was one of the seniors who spoke about her role as an upperclassman. When asked how being a part of the Synergy Dance Company has affected her time at the College, Scull tried to hold back tears. Her expression was a reflection of the senior members’ dedication to the team as a whole.
“Sorry if I get emotional,” Scull said. “I joined the Synergy Dance Company my sophomore year and it introduced me to some of my best friends. It’s so nice to have an outlet that allows you to de-stress and be surrounded by some of your favorite people.”
Scull was one of the production managers on the team. The Spring Spectacular would not have been possible without the work of her and her fellow Production Manager Teagan Nurnenberg, a sophomore deaf education and mathematics double major. As if that was not be enough to keep Nurnenberg busy, she has also been an essential part of the Synergy Dance Company.
“It’s really wonderful because everyone is so supportive,” Nurnenberg said. “We dance because we truly love it, and that is what makes it so enjoyable.”
The Spring Spectacular offered a variation in both the styles of dance and choices of music. The songs ranged from classics, like “I Put a Spell on You,” to contemporary pieces by Sam Smith and Justin Bieber. The dance styles included modern, ballet, hip-hop and tap. This diversity led to much satisfaction from the audience, keeping them curious about what they may see next. It was clear that the company put a lot of thought into the order of the dances — dedication that can be further attributed to the immense preparation they put in for the show.
Junior nursing major and co-Captain of Synergy Dance Company Erin O’Connor spoke about this preparation.
“In the fall semester, we work on strength and technique generally twice a week,” O’Connor said. “When spring comes around, we concentrate on preparing for our annual recital, which requires a lot more work. (In the) two weeks before the show, we had rehearsal every night.”
As a captain, she expressed the joy it brings her to choreograph dances for the show.
“I think the most rewarding part about getting to choreograph is seeing my ideas come to life,” O’Connor said. “My dancers are so cooperative and that always makes my job easier.”
The event’s final dance was introduced with a few words from sophomore biology major Anil Salem, who won “TCNJ’s Got Talent” last year.
“As we always say in the Synergy Dance Company,” he said. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
(05/03/16 9:11pm)
By Emily Laskey
Correspondent
Only few art forms truly unify a group of people in the soulful, intimate way that music has the ability to do. At the College, music performances have provided opportunities for many talented student musicians to share their craft to a vast audience of peers, family members and faculty, while telling stories and illuminating connective emotions through song.
The TCNJ Brass Ensemble, TCNJ Brass Quintet and TCNJ Concert Band took to the stage in Mayo Concert Hall on Thursday, April 28, for their semi-annual performance to showcase the pieces and features they have worked on throughout this semester. All three ensembles came together to create a unified atmosphere between the music and the audience, showing the ways in which music at the College transcends artistry by telling stories that evoke the human experience.
The concert opened with the TCNJ Brass Ensemble, directed and conducted by Adjunct Professor of music James W. Hala. The performance featured a small, uniform group of musicians who played three songs for the audience. Each piece was presented with a vocal introduction by one of the performers, which provided an easy transition between songs that helped to set the context from piece to piece. They began with two movements of the collective piece “Of Kingdoms and Glory,” which tells the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Queen Guinevere and a dragon. The plot became evident through the symphonic transitions of key and tempo, supported by sophomore trumpet soloist Noah Brown, who played the part of the dragon. These particular selections helped to create a clear story for the audience, as the thematic melodies were played to represent people and actions.
TCNJ Brass Ensemble concluded its performance with “Tent of Terror,” the first movement from “A Little Russian Circus,” which created a suspenseful circus presentation through a lively tempo leading up to the finale. The ensemble had then set the stage for the next performances by TCNJ Brass Quintet, which comprises only five student musicians.
TCNJ Brass Quintet, also directed by Hala, featured five talented brass musicians, each holding their own part throughout two self-conducted pieces. The first, “Organ Sonata No. 2,” was originally written for the organ, but was impressively performed by the quintet and each individual’s part carried and unified the harmonies. Although only five musicians participated, the sonata sounded as though a full band was playing. Their concluding piece, “Adagio for Strings,” told a heartwarming story through the legato transcendence of sections that flowed into one another through minor and flat key signatures, setting the somber, soulful tone. Just before the intermission, the audience was left with the lingering feelings of connection and peace, brought upon by the immense talent of the College’s student musicians and the way their music had spoken volumes.
To open the second half of the show was the TCNJ Concert Band, directed and conducted by Marian Stewart, which featured a much larger, diverse group of musicians. Brass, string, percussion and wind were all combined to create a grand and complex collective performance. Highlights included a classical Tchaikovsky piece entitled “Marche Slave,” a familiar melody frequently featured in television and film, and most recently in the video game “Fallout 4.”
“Marche Slave” brought classical music to the modern day, connecting the historical piece to a top video game in which audience members can relate.
“It felt like I was experiencing a part of history as I played it,” said freshman physics major Jake Syetta, who played the alto saxophone with TCNJ Concert Band.
Overall, the concert had not only presented a beautiful showcase, but also an upstanding example of the many musical opportunities offered at the College.
“Music is something I’m really passionate about,” said freshman physics and secondary education dual major Samantha Staskiewicz, a percussionist for TCNJ Concert Band. “We all have that drive to be there and perform each piece. I love that performing is really a unifying experience.”
TCNJ Concert Band ended the night with the contemporary piece “Strange Humors,” a significant contrast to the other songs. The usage of the djembe, an African drum uncommon to the U.S., added an interesting layer to the finale of the concert and further allowed for the music to reach its audience at its ultimate potential.
The well-rounded musical presence and opportunity on campus became evident in the sole conviction of the incredible performance. Combining musical performances with lyrical storytelling, the entirety of the concert expressed the talented artistry of the College’s student musicians that truly resonated with the audience throughout the evening.
(05/03/16 8:25pm)
This week, WTSR Assistant Music Director Nelson Kelly highlights some of the best new albums that the College’s own radio station, 91.3 FM WTSR, puts into its weekly rotation.
Band: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Album: “Nonagon Infinity”
Hailing From: Melbourne, Australia
Genre: Izard Core (Psychedelic Fuzz Jam)
Label: ATO Records
Put on your traditional Aboriginal garb and bust out your favorite kangaroo because fuzz-rock royalty from down under is back and better than ever. “Nonagon Infinity” pushes the limits of fuzzy garage rock as King Gizzard strives for originality and innovation within the admittedly stale genre. What makes “Nonagon Infinity” stand out from past Gizzard albums is its seamless flow. Each song transitions into the next perfectly to form an album that, as a whole, is cohesive and consistent, but still manages to catch your attention and satisfy fans listening to the individual tracks. Thus, “Nonagon Infinity” is a two-pronged audio assault of fuzz. The first prong hits you hard all at once, while the other hits you with pieces like the Zords from “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.”
Must Hear: “Big Fat Wasp,” “Gamma Knife,” “People Vultures” and “Wah Wah”
Band: Nothing
Album: “Tired of Tomorrow”
Hailing From: Philadelphia
Genre: Dream Punk
Label: Relapse
When asked what one word would best describe Nothing’s sound, most people would respond with “LOUD,” though some wise guys might say “silent.” “Tired of Tomorrow” is the follow-up album to 2014’s “Guilty of Everything,” and it came just as everyone’s eardrums have finally recovered from the tremendous wall of sound that album delivered. The band picked up right where it left off with this album, from the hard-hitting chords of the lead-off track, “Fever Queen,” to the mourning arpeggios of “Eaten by Worms.” The sheer volume of these songs creates more than the shoegaze-y sound that these guys are going for. The absolutely brutal guitars over thunderous drums and bass convey the pain and struggle that singer Domenic Palermo’s soft, soothing voice cannot. “Tired of Tomorrow” shows Nothing moving more toward a very mature, heavy sound that will hit you hard and stay with you long after you listen.
Must Hear: “The Dead are Dumb,” “Vertigo Flowers,” “A.C.D.,” “Curse of the Sun” and “Eaten by Worms”
(05/03/16 5:02pm)
By David O’Keefe
Correspondent
From the foyer to the chapel, rich soaring vocals, humming bass lines and thumping drums filled the College’s Spiritual Center on the evening of Friday, April 29.
Gospel United Ministries hosted its 2016 Gospel Extravaganza, blending messages of Christian faith with the energy of a rock concert. Featured non-student performers included Ahmad Sanon, Will Morris, Alissia Neal and Fresh Fire. Many of the performers were also College alumni.
The congregation was nearly as loud as the performers as they offered a choir of voices singing along with the songs.
Freshman biology major Alexa Sanchez said that gospel wasn’t her preferred genre of music and that she had originally attended to offer moral support for a few of her friends who were performing that night. However, when she attended a rehearsal, she said, “It really spoke to me.”
The music resonated not only with Sanchez, but with the majority of the crowd who remained on their feet with hands held high in the air as the show continued deep into the night.
The Gospel Extravaganza began with an impassioned prayer. The solemn contrition that typifies a sermon or prayer was instead replaced with an energetic atmosphere that was displayed by the crowd. During breaks in between the musical acts, participants stood up to greet and hug their neighbors or to pass around a wicker collection basket in which people placed money. The environment was one of jovial celebration.
Faculty adviser Benjamin Akuma, when not performing with his band, Fresh Fire, walked around the chapel inviting people to raise their hands and feel the energy of the performances.
For others, the night was also extremely personal. Alumna Alissia Neal (’06) began her performance by speaking about her struggles while in school.
“It was a place of great darkness for me,” she said.
Neal said that she struggled with self-worth and academic pressure. According to Neal, she was able to eventually navigate those turbulent waters by leaning on the strength of her faith.
The night ended with a joint performance with all the College alumni who had performed earlier in the night. The energy was as palpable at the end of the three-hour show as when it began.
(05/03/16 5:34am)
By Rachel Ralston
Correspondent
The cold rain that washed over campus on Thursday, April 28, left many students bundled up and groggy. But one person didn’t let the gloomy weather get him down — Nico Mclaughlin. Instead, he ran up to the counter at Piccolo Pronto with a wide smile on his face and a white lab coat that said “Future Scientist” on the name tag. On top of his head was a bright red knit hat.
The 4-year-old is currently battling a rare autoimmune disorder known as Evans Syndrome. On Thursday, Mclaughlin and his family visited the College for Superhero Day, hosted by the College’s Love Your Melon (LYM) crew.
LYM is a student-run apparel brand that raises awareness for children fighting cancer. It was founded in St. Paul, Minn., by college students Zachary Quinn and Brian Keller, both of whom were determined to help improve the lives of these kids.
The pair is now in charge of LYM crews at 736 educational institutions, according to their Website. LYM crews across the nation sell T-shirts, baseball caps and even scarves, but the signature product for the brand is their knit beanies. The company’s mission is to put a hat on the head of every child battling cancer. For each hat sold, another is donated to a childhood cancer patient.
In September 2015, junior art education major Emily Vogel founded a LYM crew at the College. Vogel serves as the crew’s captain and has worked hard to sell LYM apparel to her peers and raise awareness for the organization over the past year. On Thursday, she dressed up in a Batman costume with an LYM beanie that matched Mclaughlin’s.
“I was inspired to start (an LYM crew) because a friend of mine joined a crew at his school, and that was how I heard of it,” Vogel said. “I read the mission and thought it was awesome. It’s amazing how fast it grew because at the end of the year, there was a huge spike in the number of college crews. I’m glad I started one here when I had the opportunity to because now, in our region, it’s really popular.”
LYM co-Captain Julia McKinnies, a junior special education and English double major, dressed as Superman for the special day. Sporting a red cape and beanie, McKinnies smiled and laughed with Mclaughlin and the other LYM crew members as they ate together at Piccolo Pronto. McKinnies even decorated the restaurant chairs with smiley face balloons tied to the back, just for the young boy.
“Having the opportunity to meet a little guy like Nico and get the chance to make him smile is my favorite thing about being on the crew,” McKinnies said. “To get the chance to do something that they love for them, I think it’s awesome.”
After they finished eating, the crew headed to the Science Complex to fulfill Mclaughlin’s dream of being a scientist. Upon arriving, Mclaughlin was greeted by junior biology major Izzy Distefano, who wore a lab coat just like his. Distefano took him on a tour of the Biology Building before the crew set up a station where he could conduct some science experiments.
According to Vogel, the College’s LYM crew organized the day’s activities so that Mclaughlin could catch a glimpse of a day in the life of a student studying the sciences, which he hopes to do one day. For Vogel, LYM is about giving young cancer patients moments of beauty throughout their childhoods, which should be carefree, but sadly, cannot be.
“Today was so magical,” Vogel said, her face lighting up. “Someone he was close with passed recently, and how do you handle that when you’re so young? It’s interesting for me to see his perspective. He’s still so young and says he wants to go to school for science to find a cure for ‘All of the world so that no one gets sick ever again.’”
(05/03/16 5:22am)
By Ashley Thomas
Staff Writer
The College’s Association of Students For Africa (ASFA) is bringing culture, food and buoyancy to a campus with diversity on the rise. The association was started in 2014 by five friends who hoped to bring a piece of home to campus for students who couldn’t find it elsewhere.
“It created a home away from home for many of us,” senior business management major and Event Coordinator Esther Osei said. “It created a space for many students who come across the continent of Africa to share their experiences.”
As hard as college can be, having a place where students can feel understood by their peers can make the road to success that much easier. According to Osei, ASFA is able to help bridge the gap for struggling students.
“I got involved with ASFA because of the family-based atmosphere the club showcases,” sophomore chemistry major and ASFA Public Relations Officiant Oreoluwa Nubi said. “I come from an African home, and seeing this club on campus made me feel like I was at home and super comfortable.”
The organization currently has 46 active members and puts on a number of programs throughout the year.
“For students who aren’t African, it (gives) them a platform to learn about our experience and, at times, the similarities resonated with their culture,” Osei said.
ASFA events serve as large social functions where students are given the opportunity to learn about African culture from their peers. Events like Africa’s Best Dance Crew and the annual Akwaaba banquet are anchored in bringing the college community together, as well as spreading positivity throughout campus.
The second annual Akwaaba banquet was held this year on Saturday, April 23. The Decker Social Space was packed with students and faculty that night, most of whom fully adhered to the dress-to-impress policy and were eager to see what ASFA had planned for this year.
Judging by the number of people dancing, the organization did not disappoint. Performers donned traditional African garb, which they showed off in the event’s Best Dressed Runway Show.
The five-hour event included music, spoken word poetry and keynote speakers. The ASFA dance team gave a bold performance that landed them a standing ovation from the crowd. A chair-climbing guest performance by the Zuzu Acrobats Inc. troupe from Kirkland, Wash., only added to the overall liveliness of the night.
“This event serves as our welcoming platform to the entire TCNJ community,” Osei said. “We are extending ourselves and saying, ‘Come get to know us and the culture we love.’”
Events like Akwaaba are just a slice of what ASFA brings to the College. According to Orsei, the organization’s mission is to increase awareness of African culture and help diversify the campus environment.
“I really want this organization to make strides in continuing to break down stereotypes and help others celebrate and enjoy the African culture,” Nubi said.
Akwaaba means “welcome” in the West African country of Ghana, according to Nubi. By naming its annual banquet after the word, ASFA hopes to emphasize to students one of the organization’s main points — that all are welcome to join.
(04/26/16 7:48pm)
By David O’Keefee
Correspondent
A third-grader walks to his elementary school in the heart of Trenton, N.J. Bright yellow evidence markers draw his eye to the gleaming metal jackets of spent shell casings as he makes his commute.
Anthony Messina, a retired detective, described the scene of a shooting that took place along the same route children take while walking to school. Messina is fond of using movie analogies to illustrate his points, but what he described was not taken from a movie scene.
“The world needs good teachers because in this day and age, there are a lot of young people who are a rudderless ship,” Messina said.
Messina, now retired and serving a second term on the Ewing Township Board of Education, spent 26 years as a law enforcement officer. During that time, he said he watched gang activity explode across New Jersey’s urban centers.
That is why the College’s Student New Jersey Education Association (SNJEA) reached out to Messina, who lectured in room 115 of the Education Building on the evening of Wednesday, April 20.
Senior elementary education and English double major Julia Albretsen, who serves as president of SNJEA, said that before the presentation began, she heard a version of the night’s presentation Messina had previously given at a middle school. Based on that, she hoped that his words would have an impact that night at the College.
Others seemed unfamiliar about the subjects Messina would broach. Sophomore special education and sociology double major Becky Freeborn was keen to hear Messina speak, but expressed unfamiliarity with gang activity in the locations she was has been in herself.
Ewing, N.J., has a reputation for being a sleepy suburb, but Ewing’s border is not a barrier that insulates the town from gang activity, according to Messina.
“The light turns green and you’re in (Trenton),” he said in reference to Parkway Elementary School, located in Ewing.
Much of the presentation focused not just on the rampant growth of gang activity in Trenton, but its increase throughout New Jersey.
In 1995, he said, drug dealers were independent. That independence faded as organized criminal gangs rose to power in the early 2000s, according to Messina. An explosion of violence punctuated the emerging presence of Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings and other gang organizations in New Jersey.
He compared the suddenness with which these organizations appeared to an infestation of cockroaches.
“If you have a presence, you have a problem,” he said. “If you see one cockroach, it’s a problem.”
But according to Messina, in the early 2000s, law enforcement officers, educators and community leaders saw the presence, but didn’t see the problem until it had already festered into an infestation.
Messina said that he sees an abundance of youths indoctrinated into gangs. As a detective, he saw kids coerced into joining a gang, especially those of low socioeconomic standing tempted by money or the promise of belonging to a family unit.
According to a 2010 State Police survey titled “Gangs in New Jersey,” 46 percent of municipalities across New Jersey that reported a gang presence said that gangs were also present in the schools.
“It was really eye-opening,” Freeborn said after Messina cited that statistic.
As the presentation reached its conclusion, Messina spoke of educators being a pillar in the effort to reduce criminal gang activity. Because teachers spend so much time with students, they form a special rapport with their young pupils and can come to recognize warning flags that a child might be associating with known criminal elements before it’s too late to make a difference, according to Messina.
The presentation concluded the same way it began — by Messina pointing out that “the world needs good teachers.”
(04/26/16 4:32pm)
By Emily Solinski
Staff Writer
Providing the College with a compilation of acts showcasing Asian culture and heritage, the Mystique of the East production was held on the evening of Saturday, April 23, in Kendall Hall.
Encompassing 14 different acts stemming from a variety of Asian cultures, this year’s Mystique of the East was styled in the theme of “The Hunger Games,” with each “district,” or act, bringing its own talent to the stage. The districts included performances from TCNJ Taiko, Maglalatik, Sher Bhangra, TCNJ Jiva, Tinikling and TCNJ Saathiya, among others.
Organized by the TCNJ Asian American Association, Mystique of the East has been in production for the last 24 years. As such, it the largest student-run culture show here at the College, according to a note from the chairs who worked on the event’s production.
From drumming to dancing to rapping, each performance displayed its own distinct flare from various Asian cultures.
Donning coconut shells tops, the male dancers of Maglalatik presented a traditional Filipino war dance. The group incorporated the practice of hitting the shells against one another to create a fast-paced beat, which is a signature aspect of the customary dance. By simultaneously working contemporary hip-hop songs into the act, the performers were able to connect their culture to that of modern day.
“Believe it or not, we only put about three hours into choreography and practicing our routine,” said Dave Nacianceno, junior finance major and the act leader for the group Maglalatik. “Our act has a lot of comedic elements in it, so we actually prefer it to not be extremely polished — it adds to the effect.”
The comedic elements incorporated into the performance elicited laughter from the audience, as dancers added modern moves, like the whip, to the traditional dances.
Keeping to more of a traditional routine was TCNJ Taiko, a Japanese drumming ensemble formed at the College in Fall 2007. The group performed during the opening and closing acts of the show.
TCNJ Taiko opened with a fun and energetic piece and closed their act with a more powerful piece titled “Ikusa,” which depicts the hostility seen in battle, according to the show’s playbill.
The show included a variety of other talents, from a Korean hip-hop solo to a fashion show featuring clothing from Asian cultures including those of China, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Pakistan and India.
Collaboration within the Pan-Asian Alliance provided the opportunity for the various clubs to come together to form the Mystique of the East production, which successfully blended Asian cultures together in an way entertaining to all students who attended.
(04/26/16 4:32pm)
By Abby Burns Correspondent
The schools of Engineering and Science recently co-sponsored a presentation by Columbia University mechanical engineering Professor Hod Lipson in Mayo Concert Hall. On Wednesday, April 20, Lipson spoke to a group of students and faculty at the College about his research on self-aware and self-replicating robots.
He started his lecture with a story of how he got to where he is now at Columbia University, saying that it took years and “a lot of serendipity and research.” He co-authored the award-winning book “Fabricated: The New World of 3-D Printing” and directs the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, where he discovers new ways to make machines that are creative and innovative.
Lipson focuses his research on evolutionary robotics, a branch of robotics that uses processes inspired by biological evolution to “breed” new robots, rather than design them manually.
While researching robotics, Lipson learned the one major weakness of all robots — their inability to adapt to change. From then on, he made it his main goal to create robots that are self-aware and able to adapt to the world around them.
The first two approaches Lipson discussed to building these self-aware robots were the “adapting in simulation approach,” in which the robotics scientists evolve the controller in a virtual simulation before trying it in reality, and the “adapting in reality approach,” where the scientists evolve the controller in reality with no virtual simulation. After trying both of these approaches to building new robots, Lipson found problems with each — the first resulted in a “simulation-reality gap,” as the virtual simulations did not perform the same in reality, and the second approach took too much time and resulted in worn-out robots.
Instead, Lipson combined the approaches to make the “simulation and reality approach,” which is essentially a cycle of evolving and collecting data. The first step is to evolve the virtual simulator, then evolve the robots and try it in reality to collect sensor data — what the robot does and feels. The data is used to breed better simulators and the cycle continues until all of the necessary data is collected.
Lipson used this approach to build a four-legged robot, which had to be self-aware and figure out how to move on its own. It took a few days of trial and error for the robot to learn about itself.
“It does not know what it looks like. It wouldn’t even know if it was a snake or a tree,” Lipson said.
However, after four days, it figured out that it had four legs. Lipson played a video of the robot forming a self-image — learning what it looked like without being programed to do so. The audience watched in amazement as the robot learned how to move forward on its own.
Next in the video, Lipson decided to test how the robot performed with damage recovery by removing one its four legs. Remarkably, the robot’s dynamics changed and it adapted to find a new way to move forward without the leg.
In an interview on columbia.edu, Lipson discussed what it felt like to watch a robot he built be self-aware.
“It’s always surprising to see new systems evolve or learn on their own,” Lipson said. “Seeing a robot learn to do something you didn’t program it to do is a pretty amazing experience.”
During the lecture, Lipson also discussed the artificial intelligence software he created called Eureqa, which finds equations and mathematical relationships in data. The software is available for anyone to download on nutonian.com — the Website aimed at professionals looking to accomplish the work of data scientists — and is used by thousands to detect difficult calculations in large amounts of data. Machines with this software can formulate hypotheses, design experiments and interpret the results to discover new scientific laws.
Robots and machines that can model themselves have huge practical implications in the real world, Lipson said, and he hopes to continue to evolve self-aware robots over time. He believes that he is on his way to creating the holy grail of robotics, which would be a robot that is self-aware right out of a 3-D printer.
“I don’t know if we’ll get there in my lifetime, but we’re on the path that will eventually lead there,” Lipson said.
(04/26/16 4:27pm)
By Cara DiMaggio
Correspondent
On Friday, April 22, TrentonWorks Gallery held its Community Art Exhibition, which featured the artwork of students from the College alongside those of artists from Paul Robeson Elementary School, Trenton Central High School, the Trenton Community A-Team and many more local groups.
“The idea is that we’re engaging the community, we’re bringing together TCNJ students with our community partners,” said TrentonWorks Gallery Program Assistant Raj Manimaran, a senior interdisciplinary business major and Bonner scholar.
The exhibit was organized by a team of Bonner community scholars from the College’s Bonner Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, as the group actively learns about the role arts play in urban development efforts.
“It really connects with our work as Bonner scholars, too, because a lot of our Bonners serve at these sites, so it’s just all integrative and you also have some TCNJ students here, some Trenton community artists, so it’s really trying to bring all those worlds together into one space,” Manimaran said. “It’s an experience for TCNJ students to see so many types of work and for Trenton students to see so many types of work, so it’s really like an educational experience for all of us.”
All of the artists featured in the exhibit were asked by Bonner to provide a piece of artwork that they felt showcased their artistic styles and abilities. The types of pieces that were chosen varied from artist to artist. The pieces were created with a range of supplies, from Sharpie markers, pastels, charcoal and watercolor, and featured diverse mediums such as limestone sculptures and photography.
The variety of art helped create an atmosphere of individuality while still showing how art has the ability to bring people of different ages and communities together. For both the youth of Trenton, N.J., and College students alike, the exhibit provided a special opportunity that allowed for them to present their artwork in a new fashion.
“I picked the first painting I did this semester. I just really liked it,” said junior art education major Nicole Miller, whose acrylic painting, “Wonder,” was featured in the exhibit. “I think it’s cool because we’re so used to seeing each other’s stuff in the art building at the TCNJ campus, so it’s cool to see it in a real gallery. I’m excited to see my own artwork in gallery and check out all of my friends’ stuff, as well.”
The gallery, located in downtown Trenton, is the College’s center for community engaged learning and research based on the arts. The exhibit attracted a large audience of artists, their family members, friends and teachers, as well members of the public.
In concurrence with the exhibit’s purpose to serve as a way of bringing together multiple local communities, one of the displays showcased artwork that the Bonner scholars had actually worked with Trenton students to create. These pieces came from the Bonner Institute’s Art Day, hosted annually, during which the students from the Academic Sports Academy come to participate.
The Bonner Institute’s mission for this year was to demonstrate the ways in which art can be found in different aspects of school — including history, literary, iSTEM and mathematics, by leading multiple interactive workshops.
Artwork from three of those workshops was displayed in the exhibit. Among those, the history workshop focused on artwork inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Mulberry Tree,” while the literacy workshop was centered around a book called “The Dot.” The math workshop featured the creation of art through lines of symmetry.
A different display featured artwork done by teens at Prevention Education Inc. Kids, a probation program in Trenton, in which they were asked by the Bonner Institute to write a word that described who they are, what they stand for and what they wish for, not only for themselves, but also for the public in attendance.
Through participation in these different activities, the children of Trenton were able to learn more about art and its relation to everyday life. They were also able to experience how art serves as an important means of expression that can be shared with others.
(04/26/16 4:27pm)
This week, WTSR assistant music director Nelson Kelly highlights some of the best new albums that the College’s own radio station, 91.3 FM WTSR, puts into its weekly rotation.
Band Name: Marco Benevento
Album Name: “The Story of Fred Short”
Hailing From: Woodstock, N.Y.
Genre: Indie pop
Label: Royal Potato Family
Backed by session players like Dave Dreiwitz from Ween on bass and Andy Borger from Tom Waits & Norah Jones on drums, it is no wonder that Benevento has put together such an excellent, dancey, interesting album. His songs are extremely heartfelt while still maintaining the catchiness and danceability that makes for great indie pop. Punctuated with keyboard samples and Casio drum machine rhythms (stacked on top of Borger’s steady drumming), the songs on “The Story of Fred Short” provide for an entertaining and captivating listening experience. Interestingly enough, this is the first time Benevento plays guitar on one of his albums and only the second time he’s sang on his own album, which makes these tunes even more impressive since he does a great job at both.
Must Hear: “In the Afternoon Tomorrow,” “Dropkick,” “All Other Dreams” and “Heavy Metal Floating Upstream”
Band Name: The Bones of J.R. Jones
Album Name: “Spirit’s Furnace”
Hailing From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Genre: Indie folk
Label: Self-released
Jonathon Linaberry, better known as The Bones of J.R. Jones, is back after 2014’s debut album, “Dark was the Yearling.” “Spirit’s Furnace” combines all the mellow chill of indie folk with the thumpin’ heaviness of blues rock. This eclectic collection of folk jams is quite indicative of the recording process, as Linaberry traveled across the country to California where he crashed at friends’ houses and recorded in several studios throughout the state. These raw, salt-of-the-earth tunes are sure to have you blowin’ into a jug or playing xylophone on the ribs of a malnourished cat in no time.
Must Hear: “The Heat,” “Hammers and Nails,” “Bless Your Soul” and “Dry Dirt”
(04/26/16 4:25pm)
By Cara DiMaggio
Correspondent
The TCNJ Environmental Club hosted its annual Earth Week from Monday, April 18, to Friday, April 22. The week was filled with five days of activities and events, which culminated with the celebration of Earth Day.
This year, the club decided to focus on sustainability. Between one and three events aimed at educating the student body on environmental issues and providing them with potential solutions to use in their daily lives were held each day.
“Sustainability is a term that is often thrown around,” said Melissa Natividade, a sophomore journalism and graphic design double major and member of the TCNJ Environmental Club. “But really, sustainability is reducing your footprint, both on a communal level like this and on a personal level. So reducing meat consumption is huge. Another thing is reducing light usage, and reducing the amount of water you use is huge, as well.”
On Monday, April 18, the club showed a screening of the documentary “Cowspiracy.” The celebrated film explores how much energy goes into the production of meat and the impact the meat industry has on the environment.
Later in the week, chemistry Professor Michael Aucott discussed the importance of reducing the amount of harmful emissions released into the environment. While some of the events held throughout the week were more serious, others allowed students to play games and tackle environmental issues in a more lighthearted manner.
During the environmental festival and energize event, students were able to pot plants, design reusable bags and make bracelets out of recycled materials. Those in attendance were also given the opportunity to make personal pledges to go green.
Various organizations participated in and co-sponsored the weeks’ events, including the environmental festival, Bonner bike sale and campus-wide clean up. The latter event marked the end of the week and was arguably the main attraction.
“We have everyone sort the trash and recycling into two separate bags. Then they bring it back and we weigh each bag separately on a scale and tally up the weight,” said Eric Mauro, a senior electrical engineering major and president of the TCNJ Environmental Club. “We actually do this every other Sunday and keep track of the amounts so we can figure out how much garbage we picked up at the end of the year.”
Participants in the Earth Week clean-up collected 28.2 pounds of trash and 13.2 pounds of recycling from the campus grounds, according to Mauro.
While the week provided students with a fun way to get involved in environmental issues on campus, the TCNJ Environmental Club hopes that students will apply what they learned during the week to other communities as well.
“Our main goal is to spread the word and get people to think about their actions and how they’re impacting the environment,” said Katie Dickson, junior chemistry major and vice president of the TCNJ Environmental Club. “Focusing on the small steps that people can take without changing their lifestyle is important.
“Of course everyone has heard ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,’ but within that, we want to try to promote ‘reduce’ and ‘reuse’ over ‘recycle,’” Dickson said. “It would definitely be more effective to reduce our waste and reuse what we already have. We do education throughout the semester, but I was really surprised to see how little people actually even knew about the rules of recycling.”
The TCNJ Environmental Club believes that small, incremental action can lead to lasting impacts and hopes the message of sustainability will stay with students.
“We’re wasting so many resources, and resources are limited,” Mauro said. “So we’re trying to just make it so that we can be better off in the future by saving resources (now).”
(04/26/16 4:23pm)
By Jillian Santacroce
Staff Writer
An average Friday night for many college students often consists of going out with friends, hitting up local bars or just staying in for a movie night with roommates. However, for some, this Friday night was different
On Friday, April 22, 10 teams gathered in room 212 of the Education Building for Student United Way’s third annual PB&J Race. The beat of popular, remixed music roared as students filed into the space to find their designated stations. Loaves of bread topped each table, plastic knives and latex gloves were set for each participant and jars of peanut butter and jelly were allotted for each pre-registered group.
During this year’s event, students from the College took an hour out of their Friday night to assemble PB&J sandwiches for the local community. In addition to Student United Way, a number of other campus organizations participated in the event. The different teams worked quickly to make as many sandwiches as possible in the given time and ensured that members of the Trinity Cathedral Food Pantry of Trenton and the Rescue Mission of Trenton would have a quality meal to look forward to.
“I joined Student United Way because I wanted to have a voice,” junior early childhood education and English double major and Student United Way President, Raffaella Soriano, said. “Student United Way wants to engage our school community with our local community. Whether people realize it or not, they are making a difference — even if it’s just one person’s breakfast.”
The hour-long event was split into four parts: the resource round, a second round during which every table was responsible for assembling 30 sandwiches, the creative round and another resource round.
During the first resource round, each group was tasked with finding out what was wrong with its table’s set-up and had to “rob” other tables to gather the necessary supplies. The second round forced participants to stand on one leg or use one hand while putting together the sandwiches.
Students were then given five minutes before the start of the third round in order to brainstorm ideas for the creative round, where they were given free reign to make personalized sandwiches just for fun. The night ended with another resource round, in which Student United Way challenged each table of students to make as many sandwiches as possible within the allotted time.
Members of the host organization were stationed at the head of each team’s table. The results showed that Sigma Kappa sorority won the first round and Latin sorority Chi Upsilon Sigma won the second round. The third round went to Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity with Phi Alpha Delta fraternity winning the final round.
Freshman psychology major Kayla Loukides participated in the event with other members of one of the College’s community service organization Circle K.
Loukides said that she enjoyed the event because it gives a chance for students of the College to come together for a good cause.
“We get to make a direct impact on our community,” Loukides said.
This year marked the third time Student United Way has hosted the charity event, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Soriano said she has big hopes for the next PB&J Race. She would like to increase publicity for the event next year so that more students are encouraged to take part in the competition. Soriano said she would like to see at least 20 teams compete and has considered making the event a day-long affair.
(04/26/16 4:23pm)
By Salvatore Ferraioli
Correspondent
When you hear the term “Greek life” around campus, the first thought that comes to mind generally involves fraternities and sororities. What you may not know, however, is that there is a Hellenic Society on campus dedicated to Greek culture and cuisine. On Thursday, April 21, the organization hosted its fourth annual Greek Fest.
Dozens of students gathered in room 212 of the Education Building to celebrate Greek lifestyle with authentic food, music and dancing. The Hellenic Society spared no expense when it came to showing the campus community all that Greek culture has to offer. The room was decorated with Greek flags and blue and white balloons, as well as with photographs of Greek landmarks.
An extensive buffet was offered featuring a dozen different Greek items, such as Greek lasagna, pastitsio, spanakopita spinach pie and dolmades, which are stuffed grape leaves. Baklava pastries complete with nuts and syrup were served for dessert, alongside shortbread butter cookies, known as kourambiethes.
“As a proud European, it’s definitely cool to see this kind of stuff on campus,” freshman business major Alec Lipanovski said.
The real treat, however, was a live performance from the TerpsiXorians Hellenic Dance Group of New Jersey. The group specializes in Greek folk dance and performs at festivals, weddings and other cultural events.
The group’s 45-minute routine at Greek Fest showcased traditional Greek dance moves and apparel. Six men and seven women performed for the audience. Live music was played during the dance by two others, one of whom played the clarinet while the other played a hand drum. The men sported dress shirts and vests during the performance, while the women wore colorful dresses and matching headdresses.
“It’s a great way to connect to the culture,” said 23-year-old TerpsiXorians member Dean Petikas, who has been doing Greek dancing for eight years and is a third-generation Greek American. “That’s hard to do without speaking the language.”
Toward the end of the routine, the TerpsiXorians invited the College crowd to join them. Members of the Hellenic Society quickly got up and joined the dance circle, clapping and stepping along to the beat of traditional Greek music.
Katerina Lallos, a freshman psychology major and TCNJ Hellenic Society member, said many of the freshman involved in the organization met in youth group during high school. The Hellenic Society allows them to stay in touch with their heritage, as well as one another.
“It’s just a fun way to stay connected,” Lallos said.
The Hellenic Society is open to those “Greek by blood or Greek by heart.” The purpose of the organization is to share and celebrate Greek culture with the rest of the campus community. While Greek Fest is the organization’s only yearly event, its members encourage anyone interested in Greek culture and learning more about it to attend their weekly meetings.
(04/26/16 4:19pm)
By Natalie Nunez
Correspondent
Daniel W. Crofts, a former history professor at the College, held a student panel discussion on his book, “Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery: The Other 13th Amendment and the Struggle to Save the Union,” on Thursday, April 21, in room 106 of Loser Hall.
The panelists — all former students of Crofts who helped edit the book — offered their critiques of Crofts’s novel and raved about how amazing and inspiring Crofts was as a professor. They also spoke about the impact he had on their experiences at the College.
In his book, Crofts said he made a point to depict history in a realistic sense, as opposed to portraying what students are typically taught in their textbooks.
“We are admirers of Lincoln,” Crofts said when discussing what history meant to him.
The panelists had positive feedback about Crofts’s depiction of history.
“(The book is) the perfect combination between the familiar and unfamiliar in history,” panelist and senior secondary education and history dual major Stephanie Pappas said.
The hidden history that most people do not know is the part that stood out the most to Crofts’s students after reading the book. It pushed them to “search for a history that Americans can be proud of,” panelist and senior elementary education and history double major Sarah Drozd said.
In his book, Crofts highlighted many key aspects of the Civil War and offered a new side of history that most people would never tell.
Each student in his Fall 2013 class, HIS 460, Reading Seminar in History: Modern North America (Abraham Lincoln), read the book in manuscript form and Crofts took each student’s opinion into consideration when revising. He made a point to take notes regarding what his students wanted to see in the final form of the book.
Crofts’s book also provides a detailed physical description and background for all of the significant historical figures during the Civil War.
“As a historian, I believe we cannot underestimate the lesser known figures who played such big roles,” Drozd said.
Drozd, along with the other panelists, believed their involvement with this book taught them the importance of questioning history, and that their participation in the panel brought a new understanding of the time period and how they will learn about history in the future.
(04/26/16 4:18pm)
By Khadijah Yasin
Correspondent
Junior interactive multimedia (IMM) majors Chris Lundy and Ryan Laux both received the Polansky Fellowship. The grant will be used to fund two basic filming and editing seminars led by the duo that will be available for both the College and Trenton, N.J., communities.
Their seminars are now possible because of the $2,000 grant donated to the Department of Communication Studies by Andy and Maria Polansky. The donors started this fellowship with the hope that their money would go toward endeavors focused on engaging the community — something the recipients’ proposal embodied.
According to Laux, neither he nor Lundy are new to the world of filmmaking and editing.
“I started doing videos and animation stuff when I was around 12 or 13,” Laux said about his journey into film. “I wanted to learn how to do it, so I did a lot on my own time. In high school, I went to an academy school… and I learned… all of the programs we need to know kind of ahead of time,” Laux said.
Similarly, Lundy said he started very early on, with his video camera attached to his hand and constantly filming. He even started up his own YouTube channel with his friends called TheBCNnetwork, which has almost 500 videos and a following of nearly 10,000 subscribers. This is where Lundy began an extensive process of editing his own videos, which has carried through to college.
Lundy and Laux’s proposal is not the first time their work has been recognized and praised. They are in charge of developing footage for the College, such as the well-known “Welcome to TCNJ” video. They also created short films for competitions like Campus MovieFest, which their team won last year in the category “Best Special Effects” for their film “Paramnesia.”
“This year… we made our film ‘Lucidity,’ which premiered on (Monday, April 18)... and we won top four again,” Lundy said.
According to Lundy, this means their team gets to move onto Terminus, the national version of Campus Moviefest, in which they will compete with colleges all over the country.
This recognition has led to even more opportunities for both of them, including an internship at DreamWorks Animation this summer, where they will be producing videos for the Brand and Marketing departments in Hollywood, Calif.
As for their upcoming seminars, this duo hopes to share their filmmaking skills with the College and Trenton communities.
“Our proposal was to do a video workshop… for the main purpose of teaching people that are not too familiar with video and video editing the technical aspects of it (and) to give them the tools basically to make a video to tell their story,” Laux said.
According to Lundy, this knowledge can be utilized by College students and the general public as a promotional tool or just to send that person’s message.
“It’s an extension of the things that we do,” Lundy said. “We always use film and video to tell all of our crazy stories… (and) our favorite part about it is the emotion we get from people watching it… so when you apply (your story) told through that format, it could actually make a difference.”
The tool of filmmaking can be very powerful and can help the community have an impact on the rest of society, Lundy said.
According to Laux, this seminar can be expected sometime during the Fall 2016 semester and may be split into multiple days. It is completely free and available to everyone in the College and Trenton communities.
(04/26/16 4:06pm)
By Camellia Carbonaro
Staff Writer
In the fall of 1838, Georgetown University’s early presidents, Thomas F. Mulledy and William McSherry, organized a large slave sale in an effort to pay off some of the college’s debts that were incurred under their poor leadership. Two hundred and seventy two slaves (consisting of men, women and children as young as two months old) were forcefully loaded onto human cargo ships and sent to Washington, D.C., where they were put up for auction and sold off to plantation owners, according to the New York Times.
Last fall, a large protest erupted at the university’s heart after the reopening of its student residence buildings, Mulledy and McSherry halls. Georgetown students demanded that the college change the names of the residence buildings so as not to commemorate these men. In addition, activists asked for the creation of plaques for the slaves’ unmarked graves still on campus, an annual program to openly explore Georgetown’s slave-related history, and mandatory diversity training for professors. Due to financial constraints, however, Georgetown President John DeGioia announced in November that while the school will not be able to meet all of the protest demands, it will change the names of the buildings to Freedom and Remembrance halls, as requested, according to Georgetown’s Website.
Georgetown is one of many premier institutions coming under fire for its past ties to slavery. Calhoun College, one of Yale’s 12 residential colleges, was also met with protests after it was discovered that it was named after John C. Calhoun, one of the 19th century’s foremost white supremacists who promoted slavery as a “positive good.”
Similarly, Duke and East Carolina universities had to recently remove the name Aycock from their buildings because the man they were named after was another white supremacist, the New York Times reported. Vanderbilt University also tried to change the name of its Confederate Memorial Hall, but was legally stopped by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who paid for the building’s construction.
The New York Times reported that for universities established in the 18th and 19th centuries, a link to slaveholding is unavoidable. Most of the Southern institutions were built and tended to by slaves. Jody Allen, a visiting professor of history at the College of William and Mary, explained how we tend to not realize the fact that churches, businesses and universities owned slaves because it’s not openly shared, according to BBC. Mark Auslander, a history professor at Brandeis University, said universities like to focus on “their abolitionist, anti-slavery history and not talk about their connection to slavery” partly because of embarrassment, but also because they know that if the truth came out, a race war would ensue.
Within the last decade, historians have begun to unearth these ill-shaped roots, forcing some institutions to answer for what they had previously ignored or denied.
CNN reported that, in 2003, Brown University was the first college to publicly acknowledge its relations with slavery. In order to do so, its university president, Ruth Simmons (the first African-American to lead an Ivy League school), created The Committee on Slavery and Justice, composed of faculty, students and administrators who were tasked with investigating and preparing a comprehensive report about the university’s historical relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. The committee discovered that 30 members on Brown’s governing board at some time or another had owned or captained slave ships, as well as accepted donated slaves from wealthy parishioners to help with the university’s construction. The Brown family itself had owned slaves and engaged in the slave trade, with the exception of one abolitionist family member. Upon learning this, Brown set out to repair and improve relationships with their neighboring communities by setting up an education fund for children in Providence, R.I., and building a memorial for the enslaved.
In the words of Adam Rothman, a historian at Georgetown, “the university itself owes its existence to this history.” Rather than deny its past, Georgetown is looking to acknowledge what happened and try to make amends. In the end, it comes down to the question of whether or not the college is doing enough.
As of now, the New York Times reported that the Georgetown administration is working hard with its professors, students, alumni and genealogists to find the descendants of the 272 slaves and to determine what has to be done to make things right. Among these reparative possibilities, the administration is considering everything from a formal apology to scholarships for the descendants.
(04/26/16 8:52am)
By Daniel Kleinbard
Correspondent
In honor of Autism Awareness Month, organizations from the College worked together in an effort to spread awareness for autism and raise funds that would aid those with the condition. Alpha Xi Delta (AXiD) sorority and the student organization Best Buddies planned a series of events throughout the month that allowed students to learn more about the developmental disorder and give back to the cause.
AXiD hosted a week of events, starting on Monday, April 4. Each event worked to raise money for the sorority’s philanthropy, Autism Speaks. During the week, the sisters of AXiD could be found around campus selling Autism Speaks bracelets and ribbons, as well as distributing puzzle pieces containing facts about autism. The sorority also held a bake sale in order to raise additional funds for the non-profit organization.
The philanthropic week concluded with a soccer tournament, Kicks For A Cause. The tournament, which was set to generate the most money of all the events, was postponed to Saturday, April 23, due to inclement weather.
In addition to their Autism Awareness Week, the sisters of AXiD co-sponsored several events with Best Buddies throughout the month of April.
“It was a really great experience,” said Johnna Ellis, a junior deaf education and English double major and philanthropy chair for AXiD. “Best Buddies reached out to us, and we were really excited to partner with them to raise awareness and support for the same cause.”
The two groups organized their own events for the month, but co-sponsored and supported one another. One of the more impactful events Best Buddies hosted during the month was a lecture from the award-winning speaker and author, Kerry Magro, in the Library Auditorium on Monday, May 18.
Magro, who was diagnosed with autism at age four, visited the College to speak to students about the struggles of growing up with autism while wanting to find true love. In the lecture, Magro discussed how autism continues to affect children as they mature and become adults, which many people fail to comprehend.
“Children with autism will become adults with autism,” Magro told the packed audience. “You need to be ready for that. It does not stop at age 21.”
Magro also revealed some alarming statistics about the large-scale impact of autism. According to Magro, there are over 70 million people living with autism worldwide, 500,000 of whom will reach adulthood in the next decade.
AXiD has already raised over $4,000 for Autism Speaks in this semester alone, according to Ellis.
“I’m honored to be a part of the cause,” freshman elementary education and iSTEM dual major James Fiocco said after participating in Kicks For A Cause. “Through this event, I was able to play the sport I love and contribute to a cause that means so much.”
Members of Best Buddies and AXiD were happy to see that their events brought the campus community together for a good cause.
“Getting to raise money and support for an organization that does so much is a rewarding experience,” Ellis said. “When we get to see the effects of all our philanthropic efforts, it makes all our hard work worth it.”
(04/19/16 9:30pm)
By Danielle Silvia
Staff Writer
Coral reefs are in danger because of climate change, especially the recent El Niño effect (when the waters by the equator are unusally warm) and overfishing in these sea environments, according to the New York Times.
Fish, however, also offer a solution to this widespread issue if fishermen lower their fishing rates, according to Nature World News. For instance, if fishermen know about moderately to lightly fished reefs and how many fish to catch then they can protect the oceans. Instead of taking every fish they catch, fishermen can determine which fish should stay in the ocean and which should be taken home for supper, lowering the rates of overfishing, ultimately protecting the oceans.
Fishing is not the only problem with a solution. Coastal developments that typically destroy ocean life, including coastal reefs, are becoming very common all around the world. According to the Washington Post and New York Times, about 75 percent of coastal reefs are being threatened by such means of extinguishing the land around them. Coastal developments include taking parts of the coral reefs away for scientific research, establishing settlements over the area of coastal reefs, as well as simply removing parts of the coastal reefs for safekeeping or pleasure. Coral reefs can only flourish in very clear water, and polluting the ocean in terms of fishing, littering or even dumping waste into bodies of water negatively influence the water quality, obviously degrading it, thus forcing coral reefs to not live in clear water. Each of these actions is equally as dangerous to coral reefs as the next, and currently, not much is being done to preserve them in this manner.
With respect to the climate changes affecting how the coral reefs are changing, most sources agree that the warmer the temperatures in the ocean, the more that coral reefs tend to die off quicker. The main reason that this occurs is that algae become lifeless in the coral and, in turn, bleaches coral, or, in other words, whitens the coral reefs in color. Coral bleaching has been occurring since around the 1980s, forcing the reefs to diminish in color and truly lose what makes them unique, their vibrancy and beauty. It causes them to die off.
The pollution damaging coral reefs has ignited on and off since around 2002. According to The Guardian, “If the rhetoric from marine biologists is to be believed, then the Great Barrier Reef is now in the grip of a “bommie apocalypse.”
Today, 10 percent of all of the world’s coral reefs have already been demolished. The Philippines holds the world record for the most destruction done to its coral reefs, as over 70 percent of its coral reefs have been destroyed.
(04/19/16 5:35pm)
By Danielle Silvia
Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., was the tragic site of a massive shooting in which two members of the student body killed 12 people, including fellow classmates and teachers, in a matter of about 50 minutes. This Wednesday, April 20, marks the 17th anniversary of that horrible day.
April 20, 1999, was a normal day for many students at Columbine. Many were about to leave class and have lunch, do some work in the library or spend social time with friends around the school. Two seniors, worshippers of hate, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, dressed in all black, entered the school with firearms and became the perpetrators of the incident before dying by suicide. The boys claimed to have been bullied over the years and this was their way of getting revenge, according to their parents in a Denver Post article from Nov. 22, 2000.
Those who died include 11 students and a teacher. Many of the students were shot in the library. The killers taunted many of their victims before killing them, witnesses told the Denver Post.
The tragedy struck the nation very harshly, as many turned on their televisions and were shocked to see the news. Viewers who tuned-in saw traumatic scenes such as a window sign in a classroom that read, “1 Bleeding to Death,” which was placed there by students to inform emergency responders of the chaos and was aired on the news, according to a Denver Post article from Nov. 22, 2000. The nation was shocked to see the damage that two students could do to the people they worked with every day.
Today, many of us here at the College are too young to remember this fateful day, but it is very important for us to honor those who died, as well as those who helped save lives. Many people helped comfort the victims as they were dying or helped find people a hiding spot during the attacks. Today, the citizens of the U.S. at large should look back and aspire to act with the bravery that those who helped had.
The school still stands today, surrounded by a beautiful memorial honoring the innocent victims at Columbine. Many students who died in this attack were about to graduate and enter college or pursue other goals, according to another article from the Denver Post on Nov. 22, 2000. They never got the chance to, and today, people should not take for granted how precious life really is.
There is still gun violence in the world today, but more importantly, there is still hatred being spread around the world. The Columbine shooting event came from so much hatred that should never have been felt. Those who perished had no reason for their lives to come to such an abrupt end. People around the world will always have differences in religion, backgrounds and morals, but it is so important to live fully and not focus on the differences.
Those who died missed many chances to improve the world. Someone could have grown up to become president, find a cure for cancer or find a way to travel back in time. There were so many vital lives that were stolen in the course of the tragic event.
Many people have witnessed tragic events in person or witnessed them psychologically by watching the aftermath on the news. No matter the circumstance, it is important for us to remember these events throughout history and honor those who perished.