Oct 13, 2017 | News |
By Cheyenne Judkins – Contributing Writer
The recent unexpected high temperatures affecting Farmington have forced students to find methods to stay cool.
Marissa Chamberlain, a junior Elementary Education major, said, “I think it’s crazy how hot it’s been. I don’t remember it being this hot all summer, so it’s weird to be worrying about heat at the end of September.”
Although residence halls on campus aren’t equipped with AC units, students have found a variety of ways to stay cool. Danielle Cote, a senior Community Health major, said she constantly has a fan on in her room and goes to Giffords for ice cream and Dunkin for iced coffee regularly to fight the heat.
“It’s like a five minute walk from campus to Heaven,” said Cote about Giffords. “Not to mention there’s a student discount I just found out about and I’m a senior!” She described the heat as “crazy annoying” and said she’s dying for the cold weather.
“This heat makes me want to go grocery shopping just to hang out in the freezer section!” Cote said.
While Cote says ice cream is a great method to fight the heat, Joe Brichetto, a senior Secondary Education major and the Student Senate President, stated that the best method he’s found is eating frozen yogurt. He also believes the Sandy River is a relaxing place to go to cool off and dip his feet in the water.
Brichetto described the Sandy as “ another beautiful hangout spot that accentuates Farmingtons focus on incorporating the joys of nature into our campus life.” Brichetto said he doesn’t go to the river often, but when he does he usually throws a disk around and said, “it usually ends with me cursing about it being 90 degrees in September.”
Chamberlain also spoke about the river and agreed it was a great place to relax. “If it’s really hot, my first thought is to go to the Sandy,” Chamberlain said. “My friends and I like to listen to music, lay out and swim. It feels good to just relax and not think about school.”
Although Chamberlain, as well as many other students, have expressed concern about the heat and having to leave their fans on 24/7, Chamberlain still seems to prefer the heat over the weather she knows is just around the corner.
“I’ll take it over snow,” she said of the nearly 90 degree weather.
As long as temperatures are high, UMF students will continue to be found at the Sandy River until dark. “It’s nice by the river even in the fall,” said Cote. “It’s a good place to go for walks in the evenings after class.”
Oct 13, 2017 | News |
By Andrew Devine Editor-in-Chief
UMF recently hosted campus and community members for a UMF Roundtable discussion of the issues that arise around “Statues, Memorials and Memory.”
The United States has been reckoning with its past these past few months, occasionally at a full-throated yell. The debate over the removal of the Confederate statues in Charlottesville and other cities has brought to the forefront difficult questions about what we wish to memorialize and why.
This event was sponsored by the UMF Division of Social Sciences and Business and the International and Global Studies Program. Scheduled UMF faculty participants included: Linda Beck, Linda Britt, Allison Hepler, Luke Kellett, Sarah Maline, Jean Oplinger, Jesse Potts, Michael Schoeppner and Anne Marie Wolf.
This panel was open to discussing that beyond Confederate memorials, other conflicts, such as the Vietnam War, are also controversial in the way they are memorialized. In an interview prior to the event, Professor Chris O’Brien, chair of the UMF Division of Social Sciences and Business, reviewed the planning for the event.
“The way that [roundtable events] work, if we’re good, is that they are responsive to immediate questions,” said O’Brien. “[Planning] actually happened after Charlottesville.”
There was a diverse crowd in attendance with representatives from the university, UMF students and community members. Hunter Kent, a UMF sophomore and Anthropology major, said this was a good thing.
“It’s interesting to hear other people’s perspectives of current events,” Kent said. “I have gone to several of the roundtables before and I found that they were really helpful and informative.”
One of the leading organizers of the roundtable event series, Nicole Kellett, Associate Professor of Anthropology, was part of a report done on the event by WABI TV5, Bangor.
“We really want to get the word out to bring other people into the fold, to hear diverse perspectives,” said Kellett. “Sometimes there can be an echo-chamber in university settings.”
Silence and uncertainty snuck into the conversation. O’Brien would describe this as the distance between the commentators at UMF and the monuments being discussed.
“It’s easy if one only thinks of confederate memorials, and one is located in Maine,” said O’Brien. “We’re proud of what Maine did during the Civil War; the confederate memorial question is somewhat distant. I think of memorials more broadly. There’s some real questions about what we choose to memorialize and why.”
Following the event, Michael Schoeppner, Assistant Professor of History, said the event went well.
“I think it’s a healthy part of democratic politics to reexamine which stories deserve greater recognition in our contemporary discourse,” said Schoeppner.
To a similar degree, Kellett concluded in her separate interview that “it’s not a debate, it’s not looking at proving any particular stance, or having an answer by the end; but really to engage with the complexity of the issues.”
Oct 13, 2017 | News |
By Alicia Davis – Contributing Writer
UMF students in Relay For Life are prepare for the busy year ahead.
Relay for Life is a portion of American Cancer Society that raises money for cancer awareness, cancer treatment, provide housing near hospitals and more. The big event for Relay For Life occurs at UMF in April at the FRC, where teams walk around the FRC all night and fundraise to support children and adults with cancer.
In the fall, Relay holds an event called Kickoff. Meredith Laliberte, one of the co-chairs for Relay, said Kickoff is an event for students to find out more about Relay and become educated about the event.
Members of ALD
Kickoff helps Relay find new members, and get more people involved with their club. “People are able to sign up for Relay at Kickoff, or they can form their own team,” said Laliberte. “We do not know the exact date of Kickoff yet, but it will be at some point before second semester.”
This will be Laliberte’s third year with Relay at UMF. “We show a slideshow at Kickoff to show past Relay events, and we have themed activities at Kickoff. At last year’s Kickoff there was ornament and cookie decorating,” said Laliberte.
Brianna Fowles is the secretary for Relay For Life, and this will be her third year with the club. “We have decided that Relay’s theme this year will be Dr. Seuss. We will come up with different decorations and foods to have at the event that go along with this theme,” said Fowles.
Everything that Relay does this year will go along with the Dr. Seuss theme. “Teams at the Relay event will also have tables to fundraise, and teams’ tables typically match our theme at the event,” said Fowles.
From L to R: Heather King, Brianna Fowles, and Danielle Cote.
(Photos Courtesy of Loren Marshall)
Josh Beckett, a junior, has been a part of Relay for three years now at UMF. “I relay because two of my best friends from high school are cancer survivors. Many of my friends have parents or siblings who have beaten cancer or who are currently fighting. It’s so important to me to help raise awareness and to help those who are currently battling cancer. It’s also important for me to show that an ordinary student at UMF can help make such a huge impacts,” said Beckett.
Relay is always open to accepting new members. “Making teams for Relay is easy. We always table for the event, and are open to explaining what Relay is to anyone who is curious,” said Fowles.
Relay has meetings most Monday nights at 7pm, Roberts 107. If anyone has any questions about Relay for Life, they can contact Beckett, Fowles or Laliberte.
From L to R: Meredith Laliberte and Sage van Eekhout at the Fall 2017 Club Fair. (Photo Courtesy of Loren Marshall)
Oct 13, 2017 | News |
By Devon Hall – Contributing Writer
The Happy Hands Sign Language Club is attempting to gain traction as their constitution is reviewed by the Student Senate. With many clubs already on campus, it can be difficult to create something new. Happy Hands plans to do just that with a club based on lessons in ASL as well as Deaf culture and grammar.
If approved, the club meetings will most likely begin with a discussion of any upcoming events being put on by the club or the Deaf community and then continue with a short lesson in ASL and some interactive practice in conversation. Meetings will most likely take place Thursday evenings.
Elizabeth (“Iggy”) Prescott, the hopeful President of the club, says she first noticed students’ interest in casually learning sign language while she was at summer experience. During the week, she participated in a talent show where she signed along to the song “This Is Halloween”.
“My original plan was to run the club like a class” said Prescott. “But then I figured that it wasn’t suitable for a bunch of students to try to go to another class”.
The club would most likely commence next semester if the constitution goes through. In order to introduce the community to ASL and advertise the club, Prescott plans to orchestrate signing events, during which any interested club members will sign along to songs ,“depending on how people take to it,” Prescott said.
In the event that Happy Hands is approved, club officials will be determined by vote. Prescott says the club currently has a pretty strong following.
“Most of the clubs I’ve been to have had 6 to twenty people” she said, “but there’s already thirty people in our Facebook group”.
Prospective secretary Emily Mokler, a Junior who recently transferred from SMCC, was introduced to ASL by Prescott during summer experience. “At mealtimes we chat and she teaches me words and phrases in ASL, which is really fun” she said.
Mokler says she mostly enjoys learning basic words and phrases, “so I could at least have a basic conversation.” She has enjoyed it all the more in learning with Prescott, since “there’s actually someone to sign back with!” Mokler also noted that she hopes learning ASL will help open doors and increase career opportunities down the road.
Learning sign language is not without its quirks, as Prescott admitted, “Sometimes when I’m tired, I start to sign when I’m talking”. Prescott says she also finds herself playing ASL fingerspelling games when she’s in the car, trying to spell words on street signs quickly before they pass her by.
Interested students can find out more by contacting Prescott or Mokler.
Oct 13, 2017 | News |
By Elina Shapiro – Contributing Writer
UMF’s Technology Commons is being renovated to be more student and faculty friendly; it will now have more office space for staff in the Global Education and internship departments, added classrooms/co-labs and a lounge for students to study and collaborate with each other.
This project is being done in two halves. “We started the construction late spring/early summer, and because of money involved, we’re kind of ‘phasing it.’ So right now we’re going to do the first phase which is the right hand side of the hallway,” said Laurie Gardner, the chief business officer at UMF.
The right hand side, which will include the lounge as well as co-lab space and some offices, should be done within the next month. “Knock on wood, I am hoping, depending on furniture, we should probably see that open mid to late October,” said Gardner.
Because the left side includes finding a place for the computer lab, that part will take longer to start. “I would love to get that done soon, but we have to re-locate a classroom first. That’s going to take some time to do,” said Gardner. “Worst case scenario, we’re looking at this time next year for it to be open 100%. Best case, we’ll be able to do it quicker.”
The tech commons has been a popular spot on campus for students to do homework and print. “I have been there [to work] on assignments, I’ve gone there for classes, and I’ve gone there just to print out assignments for other classes, so it’s a pretty universal, ‘one stop shop’,” said Bryan Eldridge, a junior Elementary Education major. “I think that it’s a great spot for both students and faculty and I think [the Tech Commons] is very heavily used by everyone on campus.”
Many students utilized the Tech Commons when other places weren’t conducive to studying. “I am wondering when it’s going to be all done,” said Kelsey Dunn, a senior Early Childhood Education major. “It was a place I’d get the majority of my homework done. Having Tech Commons open is a good backup for when the study room [in the residence hall] is occupied and the library is closed.”
The goal of renovating the Technology Commons is to make it a space where all of campus can mingle. The renovations will include the addition of a lounge, more classrooms/co-labs, offices for student advancement as well as offices for global studies.
“[We are] making it a space where students can come and work together and create opportunities for themselves” said Laurie Gardner, the chief business officer at UMF. “We’re going to develop, what I think, will be an exciting area.”
