Page 1 May 2017

Volume LVI Issue 3 The Student Newspaper of Passaic County Community College, Paterson, NJ May 2017

VISIONS P C C C ’ s

By Sha’Cora Wells

On April 27, 2017, from 6-8pm at the Hamilton Club the Passaic County Community College Foundation held its 25th Annual Scholarship Gala. This foundation was established in 1976 to provide student scholarship support to PCCC students. Their mission is to allow deserving students, many of whom have overcome both financial and personal challenges the op-portunity to pursue a college education.

In attendance were, PCCC President/Dr. Steven Rose, Senior Vice President Jacqueline Kineavy, President/CEO of Accurate Box Company Inc. Lisa Hirsh, Events Coordinator Caroline Lederer, Founder/ Executive Director of the Poetry Center Maria Gillian, SGA President Ramona Padilla, SGA Vice President Tabitha-Anne Bloodsaw. Donor representatives from PSEG, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Investors Bank, and many more were also there to show their support.

On April 25th at PCCC’s main campus lobby the Nursing Program have held it bone marrow registry drive open to all on campus. The event’s purpose was to build up a registry of bone marrow donors. Working in conjunction with Be the Match Foundation, the nursing department of PCCC coordinates the event on campus. The event has two tables on by the entrance to Academic Hall and another in the Broadway Gallery. At the tables are nursing students and staff volunteering their time to work the tables. As part of the training for such an event, it be-comes part of a project they do to learn about Be the Match and bone marrow transplants through an online orientation. At the tables nursing students will have someone take 4 cotton swabs on the inside of cheeks to gather DNA and other data. That data will be used to determine if when the time comes they will be a match for someone. Also, the person is required to fill out a Donor Registration and Consent for Testing application. On the front, it asks questions con-cerning age, commitment, health, and ques-

tions on willing to donate. Inside the appli-cation ask for basic information like name, address, telephone number, and ethnic back-ground. The information is important because when a donor is found, you will be contacted when the donor has a match. The theme of the event is “Will you Marrow Me?”. Bone marrow transplant for many individuals is a last resort option when chemotherapy or radiation treatment longer works. For a bone marrow transplant to work the donor must be an exact match to the pa-tient’s bone mar-

On April 7, 2017, the play Trifles and the premiere of Hidden Voices was performed at the Passaic County Community College-Wana-que Campus. The plays were performed April 4,5,6, 7, with the closing night at 8:00 pm. The plays were directed by R.G Rader, Director and Associate Professor of English/Coordina-tor of the PCCC The-ater Program. The plays were part of the The-ater’s program cel-ebration of the opening of the New Black Box Theater. The Performing Arts Program (Music, Theater, Visual Arts) was rep-resented in this celebration with the student artwork on display in the New Student Lounge The music in the play was written and Performed by Music Ma-jors, Grisel Castro, and Shane Consal-vo, for the second play Hidden Voices,

finally, the actors on stage that night, three of them are Theater Majors as well.

Scene Design & Costume De-sign were made by Professor Rader and the cast, lighting & sound design was produced by Christopher Muel-ler. The actors for Trifles were Pruvi Pierre as Mrs. Hale, Katherine Tapia as Mrs. Peters, Joshua Pasqua as Henry Peters, Sheriff, Michael Fortuna as Lewis Hale, a neighboring farmer, and Isaiah Lopez Burnett as

Hard Work Doesn’t Go Unnoticed

Trifles & The World Premiere of Hidden

Voices

“Will You Marrow Me?”: PCCC’s Bone Marrow Registration Drive

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By Lismery Luna

By Matthew Redling

News.............................Pages 1-3 Art................................Page 3 Features........................Pages 4 -5 Business........................Page 7 Editorials......................Pages 8-10 Letters to the Editor.....Page 10 In Brief.........................Pages 11-12

In This Issue

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From left to right: PCCC Nursing students, Sandra Kolin-sky and Rosana Galeano, were among the nursing students

who actively encouraged others to become donors - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

PTK recipients (left to right), Jennifer Greco, Tonya Clayton, and Katherine Tapia.

Page 2 May 2017

Many students currently enrolled in college decided to pur-sue their degree so they could earn more money than those that did not further their education. When picking their field of study, careers such as medicine and law might pop up at first as a safe option. These careers, however, are in high demand by students, since they are commonly associat-ed with high pay and job stability. Nursing, for example, gets more applicants than vacancies avail-able, and the waiting list is endless. But traditional careers are not the only ones to offer these benefits. There are emerging dis-ciplines that have proven to be in-terestingly challenging, in which a constant demand for innovation and creativity is regarded as essen-tial. Biomedical engineering is an example of such disciplines. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) department at Pas-saic County Community College (PCCC) acknowledged the many opportunities students might have in this field due to its high pay and high demand in the work market. Therefore, they invited Dr. Alev Erdi from New Jersey’s Sci-ence and Technology University (NJIT) to give a presentation to get students acquainted with biomed-ical engineering. The presentation took place on February 22nd, 2017 in the Paterson Room at PCCC’s Paterson campus. This talk was organized to help students learn about what bio-medical engineering is about, what biomedical engineers do, and how to become one.

Biomedical engineering has been around for a long time – with smaller but significant in-ventions such as platform shoes and crutches. However, it has only come to notoriety in the last years, with the advent of technology, which has helped it flourish. Advances in biomedical engineering were commonly as-cribed to the already-established fields of either medicine or engi-neering, without a clear distinction or linkage between them. Rapid evolvement in tech-nology, however, has helped bio-medical engineering gain a name of its own and be recognized as an interdisciplinary specialization that aims to merge the best of both medicine and engineering princi-ples. Prof. Russell Gambino from the STEM department noted the changes biomedical engineer-ing has underwent. “Biomedical engineering is classic prosthetics, but also prosthetics where people build components into the human body. It’s a kind of engineering that needs biology to act with the consideration that a healing body may need technological help to function.” Prof. Gambino continued, “Stem cells, for example, let the body rebuild, but the person may still need an implant to walk again, and of course, an implant on itself amounts to nothing without a body that’s ready to accept it. In bio-medical engineering, medicine and biology are equalized. They need each other, they complement each other.” Since this is a relatively new field that evolves constantly,

it is not overpopulated, and offers a high pay. The Bureau of Labor placed its median annual salary at $86,220 in 2015, an amount that is expected to steadily grow by 23% from now to 2024, which is much faster than the average for all oc-cupations. Dr. Erdi shared some facts on it, “Many students are now fa-voring this field [biomedical en-gineering] for many practical rea-sons. The pay is high, and the job is exciting.” Dr. Erdi continued, “Even students that decide to study medi-cine are leaning toward it. Many of them are taking biomedical engi-neering classes instead of pre-med courses because it makes them more competitive. Biomedical en-gineering is very prestigious and has been gaining notoriety lately. People are needed to work in the field, to create, to innovate.” The field of biomedical en-gineering is ideal for those who are excited about applying engineer-ing principles to the human body, its biology, and the mechanics of its functioning. Working as a biomedical engineer provides the opportunity of solving issues that hinder the proper functioning of certain body parts, and also enhancing existing body functions. This is done by applying engineering concepts and tools to the medical and biological fields. The usage of microscopic robots on surgeries is an example of how this field has revolutionized the outcomes of medical practices. Surgeries can now take place with-out the surgeon having to directly manipulate the patient’s body. This

allows for smaller incisions, less bleeding and risk of infection, and a faster recovery time. MRIs, pacemakers, and prosthetic implants are also among the many contributions bioengi-neers have made. Currently, students who finish their associate degree at PCCC can look to transfer to Rut-gers University, NJIT or other in-stitutions in New Jersey to pursue this career. PCCC has an articulation agreement in place with NJIT, which eases the transferring pro-cess. Another advantage that NJIT offers is its accelerated and re-search programs in biomedical en-gineering, so students can choose which track suits their goals better. The STEM department at PCCC hopes that Dr. Erdi’s presen-tation will make students aware of the possibilities this field affords, and motivate them to explore it. Mr. Carlomagno Ontaneda, the STEM Pathways coordinator at PCCC, stated that “Biomedical engineering is so interesting, such a fascinating field. It’s so much more than just engineering be-cause it deals with our biology.” Mr. Ontaneda continued, “It’s one of the highest forms of engineering, very respected and with a high pay. Here, at the STEM department, we want to see our students succeed and are thrilled at any good opportunity they get, like exploring this field.” For more information contact Prof. Russell Gambino at rgambino@pccc.edu or call 973-684-4829, or contact Mr. Carlo-magno Ontaneda at contaneda@pccc.edu or call 973-684-8092.

News

Biomedical Engineering, Piecing Up a FutureBy Katherine Tapia

SGA Town Hall Meeting:They say Goodbye, We say Hello

On April 20th 2017, the April Town Hall Meeting, spon-sored by SGA called their meeting to order, by Speaker Pruvi Pierre at 1:23 pm. The meeting was held in the PCCC Theater, on the main campus in Paterson, while broadcasting in the conference room in Passaic and the ITV on the Wanaque campus. The first speaker was Ramo-na Padilla, President of SGA, and gave her updates. Those were up-dates for the elections committee. President Padilla detailed some of the process- three candidates were running for these positons on SGA- President, Vice-President, Speaker of SGA, and other positons avail-able.

SGA had the results that were to be revealed at the SGA Ath-letics Awards dinner, that evening. Also, they had a meeting with President Rose last week, where SGA discussed their goals for the year. One of the goals was the mediation room on campus, as the President Padilla previously mentioned in the February town hall meeting. The Facilities Department is working on getting the mediation room set. As soon as SGA gets the info needed, they will tell the stu-dent body more about it. Next Update was the tran-sition from current SGA members to new members this May. SGA will be with incoming and outgo-

ing SGA members throughout the month of May, where they will discuss what it’s like to be an SGA member, being part of the Execu-tive board, what roles do members play, as expected from the Execu-tive board as well. Those who are included, will get emails pertaining to the matter. Throughout the meeting, Current Members of SGA gave their Farewell speeches, first being President Padilla: “I want to say goodbye; it was an honor serving as Presi-dent of the SGA for this academic year:2016-2017. I had a great expe-rience, where I learned how to be

Faculty Staff Advisor: Dr. Christine Redman-Waldeyer

Co-Editors-in-Chief: Lismery Luna Katherine Tapia

Layout: Albert Bustos

Contributing Writers: Tabitha-Anne Bloodsaw Leslie Rivera-Enriquez Martina Frasca Lismery Luna Matthew Redling Jarryn Solis Julian Solis Katherine Tapia Sha’Cora Wells Kwaisi Wright

Contact us at:visions@pccc.edu

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On page 7 of the March 2017 edition of Visions, the following sentence was published in the article “Orange is for Love”: “…almost nobody wore orange that day…” We would like to add that the administrators at Passaic Academic Center, members of the Center for Violence Prevention at the Paterson campus, and members of the Office of the Student Activities and Student Affairs, as well as some students did wear orange on February 14th, 2017.

RETRACTION

By Lismery Luna

Page 3 May 2017News/Art

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Trifles & The World Premiere of Hidden Voices George Henderson, City Attorney.Despite the distractions’ and ba-bies crying, the performances of each actor was spectacular and the show went on. Each actor portrayed a mar-velous version of the characters in the play, with each actor commit-ting to the character whole-heart-edly. The play Hidden Voices, is a compilation of a series of landay poems, a two-line verse of nine and thirteen syllables spoken or sung by Pashtun women of Afghanistan. They sing or speak the lan-days privately and secretly to each other to communicate a confirma-tion of their life of pain, joy, love, lust, sorrow, and celebration that they each feel but cannot commu-nicate openly in their society. The play, Hidden Voices, included two sets of landay poems, are written by two cotemporary

female poets, Mary-Jane Grandi-netti and Arabella Nemeth, while the other poems are anonymous because of the secretive spoken nature of the landay poem. In the pamphlet each audi-ence member received there were notes for the second Play-Hidden Voices: Most of the landays in Hid-den Voices are anonymous, having been spoken or sung by Afghan women during the time of the So-viet occupation of Afghanistan and collected by Afghan poet, Sayd Bahodine Marjrouh in the collec-tion of poetry Songs of Love and War. Whether known or anony-mous, these women share with us the power of the poetic voice and affirm how that voice can offer in-sight to who we are and how we live as individuals, as a society, as a people. The cast of Hidden Voices

were Grisel Castro as First Muslim Woman Singing, Aileen Castro as Second Muslim Woman Singing, Lillian Santelli ad Third Woman, Pruvi Pierre as Fourth Woman, Katherine Tapia as Fifth Woman, with Isaiah Lopez Burnett, John Pasqua and Michael Fortuna play-ing the Various Male Roles. The music set the tone for Hidden Voices, with the First & Second Muslim woman singing part of their lines, each time they stop, the scene would change with an incredible piano instrumental. As an audience member, I felt the pain, joy and love each of the woman on stage were portray-ing, the music was an excellent ac-companiment. Three of the actors, Isiah Lopez Burnett, Michael Fortuna, and Lilliana Santelli are part of PCCC’s Theater program, with the option of Liberal

Arts-Theater option. This degree is intended for those who want to gain the skills and knowledge and plan to pursue a B.A or B.F.A in Theater and Per-forming Arts or enter entry level careers in theater arts, acting, com-munications, teaching and other re-lated fields. Required courses include Acting I, Acting II, Intro to Theater and Modern Drama with a Human-ities Elective of the prospective choice. In addition, the prospec-tive can choose one course of the following Creative Writing, Intro to Film Appreciation, and Intro to Shakespeare. The program is located on the Wanaque Campus, if interested contact Admissions at 973-684-6868 or Professor R.G Rader di-rectly, at 973-684-6413.

SGA Town Hall Meeting:They say Goodbye, We say Helloa leader how to act with integrity, and be neutral in situations where it was uncomfortable to be neutral. I had a really great experience, and I believe I did the best to keep the requirements my position requires. “I hope that next year, you will get nice, great and productive President that will advocate for you guys and accomplish some goals, and some changes in our school” SGA President Padilla stated. President Padilla called Vice President Tabitha-Anne Bloodsaw to the podium next to give her updates. Again, Vice President Bloodsaw mentioned that SGA spoke to President Rose last week. However, another topic was men-tioned- gender neutral bathrooms on campus. Vice-President Blood-saw gave the numbers for gen-der-neutral bathrooms on all four campuses: none in Passaic, one in Wanaque, a few in Paterson, and one in the Public Safety Academy in Wayne. Everyone will be sent a list of the locations for these restrooms. For clubs/activation of clubs, SGA has voted in the Justice Club and although they have had events on campus, they are now officially a club. The Justice club will have an interest meeting next fall, for those who are interested and aren’t graduating, this spring. Vice President Bloodsaw gave her farewell, also “Thank you all for a great semester, a great year. It’s been a pleasure serving all of you, and I will miss all of you, so thank you.” Vice-President Bloodsaw called Treasure Ameye next to the podium to give his updates. First Update, was SGA has been try-ing to promote school spirit on campus, with starting up the SGA

scholarship again. In the past, SGA has had a scholarship for its students, how-ever it hasn’t been running since Treasure Ameye was a part of SGA. So this year, His goal was to raise money for a scholarship. At their first event, selling cups and chips they raised 171 dollars. In the second event, they raised 184 dollars. The total was brought to 355 dollars, so they will choose someone who meets all the requirements for the scholarship soon. “Hopefully, as time passes on, we will get more money raised for future students,” Treasurer Am-eye stated. SGA has heard students concerns about having the game room closed on campus, so they spoke to the Director of Facili-ties and they are in the process of putting the final touches of a new space on campus. “We apologize that it’s tak-ing time and it hasn’t been open all year, but there has been some changes and now we are trying to bring you guys the best place, on campus, so that is the reason why it is taking so long. We are hoping for an opening, for the next fall. I can’t wait for you guys to see it. There a still some minor things to be done, but once that’s taken care of, it will be open,” Treasurer Am-eye stated. “I am going to miss you guys” Treasure Ameye, added as his farewell. Finally, Treasure Am-eye called Speaker Pruvi Pierre for her updates. “As far as the speaker up-dates go, I want to say that, when I first began [as speaker of SGA] in September, fall semester, it was very challenging. We had to phys-ically start from the ground up,” Speaker Pierre verbalized

“Now, in this moment, looking back, we have done a lot things; as far as getting organized, and as the Speaker & Senators, working together as one, creating strategies to become better assets to the students. I want to give my time to Asha and Malik and Robert [the senators]. They have been the biggest help ever, always there,” Speaker Pierre expressed. Speaker Pierre said to the Senators: “I can’t tell you a time that they’ve ever let me down. So I want to let you two know, that I am thankful to have you guys, and it’s sad that it’s over. But I will never forget what we have done, but it’s been a lesson to the things I will be doing in the future” Senators Griess and Asha gave their speeches as well. “I want to say thank you to you [speaker Pierre]. You lead me, as a Senator. She showed me what I need, and if I ever messed up she made sure to say its fine and lead me back on track. Also, it was awesome being here as well, work-ing with my fellow SGA members. Thank you for the opportunity,” Senator Asha said. “First of all, thank you Ra-mona and all fellow SGA mem-bers, the E-Board as well. But be-cause, delivering and achieving the goal is not easy—It’s always not easy, especially with all of us be-ing full time students, and we all know how it’s really hard to keep your grades up and to achieve all the goals. It was just an awesome experience for me,” Senator Griess expressed. “I was a leader in the mil-itary, but there is nothing to com-pare to be a leader in regular so-ciety; it’s so much different. Yes, I learned a lot, but I learned much more by talking to the students as a senator. We have a really beautiful

group of students here. Not only that, the faculty, is also really great too. I really want to say it again: Every one of the members of SGA, and the E-Board has delivered so much and has taken the Senators to another level. Thank you very much,” Senator Griess stated. President Ramona Padil-la gave some closing statements. “So, our term hasn’t ended yet; we end our term on June 30th. We are saying goodbye, because this is our last town hall meeting, but that doesn’t mean we are going to be gone. So, if you need anything, we still have time”If anyone has any questions or concerns, any issues that you are experiencing; the SGA office is open. If you need a description of our goals, or how we accomplished our goals, if you are interested in joining, SGA offices are open.Anyone interested, can be part of the SGA, either in a club or part of SPC—please reach out to us. Just come into the office and ask. Senator Griess added on final remark, “I just want to say, probably our time has come, but that doesn’t mean that the mission, just stops at that point. We have a really great student that could con-tinue to the way that we started from the beginning. So, don’t just feel that those people are just born for that mission—you could be as far as we were before, or you could be as active as we were doing to our best”. “For those in PTK or plan-ning on joining, they are looking for committee members to be part of the honors in action and the col-lege project. Also, they are look-ing for a secretary,” Vice President Bloodsaw added. Speaker Pierre called the meeting to end at 1:38 pm.

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Page 4 May 2017Features

Professors Reveal Your Story is Best Part of Their Experience

By Leslie Rivera-Enriquez

Do you remember the last embarrassing, emotional, or pro-found thing you might have said in a class? Do you ever reminisce and wonder what impression it might have left on your professors? Four adjunct professors at the Passaic Campus were asked about the most memorable lectures they have given and what made them so significant. Thankfully, they didn’t bring up your embarrassing or per-sonal stories. Rather, they admired and cherished the sheer humanness of your experiences and shared just how they have affected them. Jose Manuel Gonzalez, Student Development Specialist and Adjunct Professor has been a faculty instructor for about 29 years and in his career, has taught freshman orientation, seminar, and currently, College Success. For him, talking about each of his student’s goals and moti-vations for being in college is the most interesting topic of discus-sion in his class. “[E]very student in the room has a different approach to what their goals are and what mo-tivates them...They dedicate so much time in the classroom and money but why exactly are they pursuing what they are pursuing? That for some students is very sim-ple but for other people it can be an emotional exploration,” he said. Being at the receiving end of an emotionally or comically charged story can be a bit surpris-ing, to say the least. Professor Gonzalez sum-marized his reaction to these sto-ries as “shock[ing]” because some students are more “...tactful and reserved in the way they express themselves…” than others who share more openly. What he believes prompts these responses from his students is “The opportunity to talk. You take it from somebody that has low self-esteem finally [having their confidence boosted] in a class that opens an opportunity for expres-sion, and that can be the same for boys as it for girls.” As a result of hearing so many different stories Professor Gonzalez admitted, “Nothing sur-prises me anymore.” The most significant lesson he has learned from listening to his students tell their stories is “We’re really human. It’s good to see that the human condition is still alive. We live in such a closed society, an anti-social society. It’s good to see that there are still some people out there that open up their expres-sions. It’s good to know it still ex-ists,” he explained. Professor Gonzalez encour-

ages that instructors “Welcome it [sharing the student’s story]. Some professors might not want to dwell on deep interpersonal connections with their students [but] I think that is pretty much what the students are looking for,” he said. Patricia Medeiros, Coor-dinator of Enrollment Services at the Passaic Campus and Adjunct Professor of College Success and Intro to Human Services, has been teaching since 2009. Her most memorable lec-ture consists of emphasizing to students that being imperfect and facing struggles is acceptable and normal, as well as sharing her own story as an example. “As a human services in-structor you try to convey to the students the differences of people that they will come to interact with in a social work setting and some-times you have to show them that as an instructor in that field that it’s ‘OK’, you don’t have to be perfect, there’s no such thing as perfect. We all have baggage; we all have is-sues.” In her Intro to Human Ser-vices class Professor Medeiros of-ten shares the story of her experi-ence with postpartum depression during her last pregnancy. “Sharing that made me stronger because in the beginning I would share it [and] get very emotional but every year that I would share it with them they were amazed [and would say] ‘You had that, really? But you’re a teacher you shouldn’t have that’ but yeah we’re human so it was like thera-py. The more I spoke about it the more I wasn’t embarrassed with it, the more I got stronger. The more I share my experience with oth-er people the more they can feel ‘It happened to her, ok, so I’m al-right’ and that’s what I like. That was an epiphany I had while I was teaching Human Services,” she ex-plained. It is understandable for anyone who shares a personal part of themselves with a group of peo-ple they don’t know very well to feel uncomfortable and be afraid of judgement. Professor Medeiros feared that “The students are going to think that I shouldn’t be teaching. I felt that [they] would [think] that I’m not qualified to teach” if they believed she was still struggling with the personal issue she shared, even though at the time she had al-ready overcome it. However over the years of continuously telling her story to her classes, Professor Medeiros’ perspective on it changed because she realized that “The students here are so open minded; they don’t see

me just as an instructor—they see me as a human and I enjoy that. I believe with having a diverse cam-pus setting here helped me and them share personal things in the classroom,” she explained. The kind-hearted and sym-pathetic reception from her stu-dents is likely due to her “... hon-esty. Not holding back, they ask questions about it [my struggle]. Once I opened [up to] them about my past, my experience, they were allowed to ask questions [like] ‘How did I feel when it happened? What happened, what did [I] do, how did [I] get help, how did [I] feel [about] getting help? [Was I] embarrassed?’ Some of them were saying ‘you’re Hispanic we don’t ask for help’ so for me to say ‘Yes, but I knew I needed help’ they were like ‘Wow’. So it was good for both parties to understand that this is something that’s serious and that it needs to be spoken [about] more to the people in our commu-nity,” Professor Medeiros said. It became evident to her that “[My students] are compas-sionate, eager to learn, eager to change.” Professor Medeiros’ ad-vice to other instructors who wish to share a part of themselves with their students is: “Before you share have a good feel in the classroom and always, always explain to the students that what is said in the classroom stays in the classroom not just for you but for other stu-dents as well because if they want to share [it’s] to make them feel comfortable and honest. You can’t go with something emotional the first day of class...You have to feel the trust because trust is the key or the foundation of a relationship. Don’t share right away.” Winster Ceballos, Coor-dinator for Administrative & Ac-ademic Services at the Passaic Campus and an Adjunct Profes-sor for College Success and Intro to Business has been teaching for nine years . The lecture he finds most interesting to teach each semester is “Ethics, because there is no right or wrong answer so students are always confused and very interest-ed to see the outcome of how one thing could be right for you and could be wrong for me. And how if you do one thing it can change the scheme of the whole situation. So Ethics is always a fun chapter to deal with,” he explained. His reaction to this lecture “...changes per semester per class. I always try to push the envelope a little bit more with different ques-tions depending on how they react to the different situations that we have in class. So it’s interesting to

see how some people see it black and other people see it white,” he said. Professor Ceballos believes the variety of responses he gets from his students is likely due to “[how] the [student’s] culture deals with the situation, ... the way they grew up, ...what they see everyday in their homes, on TV, and even in school.” From this lecture Professor Ceballos has learned that “Every-body is different and everybody has a different view of things and we have to be able to understand everybody’s point of view,” he ex-plained. The best advice he offers to instructors who find themselves in similar situations is “Just to listen. Listen to their students- and we don’t want to change their point of view—we just want to make sure they understand how things need to be viewed or how things are in reality,” he said. At the end of the day, Pro-fessor Ceballos would not change anything about how the lecture pans out. “It’s always interesting to see the way that they react when they see that what they thought was right could be right, but could [also] be wrong for somebody else.” Treya Lynch, a Student De-velopment Specialist and Adjunct Professor has been teaching first year seminar courses, what we call ‘College Success’ here at PCCC, for the last nine years. The first day of class is what she considers to be her most interesting lecture of ev-ery year. “I always like the first day because I do a few icebreakers for the students to get to know each other and I always share my story, my personal college story and it’s nice to see the students interact,” she said. “I always do a lecture called “True Life: I’m In College” and I give the students real life scenarios that they have to act out in groups. They have to resolve it using re-sources that I’ve taught them and problem solving skills,” Professor Lynch explained. What makes it most memo-rable for her is that “Every year it’s interesting to see how the students create their own take on it. Every year it’s completely different de-pending on the group of students.” Her reaction to this lecture every year never changes. “It always makes me smile because I see how my shy students are coming out of their shell. And I always challenge them to do so.” The greatest lesson Profes-sor Lynch takes from this lecture is

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Page 5 May 2017Features

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Professors Reveal Your Story is Best Part of Their Experience

that “Our students have more similarities than they do differences.” Interestingly, Professor Medeiros and Professor Gonzalez share the same qualm with the execution of their lectures regarding the time management of their trajectory. “If class is finishing and there’s mo-mentum I would just continue it a little further because you probably won’t be able to get that momentum back next week...It’s like if you light one match the whole box can go and when the whole box starts going let it go, let it burn,” explained Professor Gonzalez.

“When a topic gets heated or becomes too emotional” Professor Gonzalez prefers to intervene “when I see there is a little bit of agitation within the group dynamic of a class-room.” The quality of the human condition and its sensitive yet powerful nature is what makes the relationship between students and instruc-tors so significant in a classroom setting. The unique experiences each student contributes to a class discussion and how they connect and ap-ply the lessons being taught to their own lives is what makes the college experience significant and memorable not just for the students but es-

pecially for the professors as well. If given the opportunity to go back to those moments to change something and alter its outcome, Professors Gonzalez, Medeiros, Ceballos, and Lynch would not change a single thing. So don’t hesitate to share your story in class. Remember that your words have an im-pact on your instructors as well as your peers and together, conversing and sharing these ex-periences, both professors and students can get a whole lot more out of a class lecture than you would imagine.

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Dan Yaccarino: Work on What You Dream of– “The books that we read as kids impact us forever.”

As a parent, it is critical for me to be involved with the lives of my children. My hope is to instill a good foundation in them, and help them foster a love for learning that will last a lifetime. However, as a student, I find this task challenging at times. Students at Passaic Coun-ty Community College – and quite frankly, all over the world – who are parents, may be able to re-late to this. With so many things to juggle, not letting studies get completely in the way of getting involved with their children’s lives becomes a difficult task to per-form. Recently, I had the oppor-tunity to attend an event at my children’s school that made me realize that there are actually quite simple – yet meaningful – ways to stay abreast of our children’s lives. This rediscovery came in a traditional, low-technology way: a newfound love for reading. It was two o’clock on a damp Friday afternoon on March 24th, 2017. Children’s author, Dan Yaccarino, was getting ready to talk to a group of children in a public school in Clifton, New Jer-sey. As always, his purpose was to encourage children to dream, and have the courage to live their dreams. As a professional illustra-tor and author, Dan Yaccarino has dedicated his life to children’s lit-erature. He is very conscientious of the weight of his work, and ac-knowledges the great responsibili-ty he has toward families. He wants children to en-joy his books, inspire curiosity on them, and also engage them in a lifelong journey of love for learn-ing. “The books that we read as kids impact us forever. I feel that, as a children’s illustrator and author, I have a big responsibility toward children and their parents. I mind every word that I write, ev-ery image that I draw,” Yaccarino shared. Mr. Yaccarino emphasized the importance of children’s litera-

ture and parental involvement. He believes that parents play a crucial role in their children’s lives and that when they read to their chil-dren, a special, magic bond is cre-

ated. He acknowledged that this may not be an easy task. Chil-dren’s books oftentimes rely most-ly on pictures to tell the story. Par-ents then need to pair the language they use to describe each page to an appropriate level. This makes the story understandable for chil-dren, and also turns reading into a learning experience. Also, to make the most out of it, parents need to be connect-ed with the child inside of them. Spontaneity and an animated read-ing engages children, and is ap-pealing to them. Children should be brought into the experience and have an active role on it. “Children’s books are the beginning of loving reading for life. When my children were grow-ing up, my wife and I would read to them every night. They chose the books themselves, which got them very excited about it,” Mr. Yaccarino shared. He also stated that it is key that parents act as a role model for their children. This could be beneficial in nurturing a passion for reading and learning in young minds.“My wife and I read for pleasure, so our children watched and mod-eled after us. The same is true for any other family. If you want your

children to become readers, you have to become a reader yourself first,” Mr. Yaccarino said. Mr. Yaccarino also offered some advice for those wanting

to develop their passion for chil-dren’s literature. To him, it goes beyond obtaining a college degree. It is a compromise, and a lifelong journey of learning. “Formal education will give you a good foundation, but you have to supplement it beyond the classroom. It’s not only about making it a career. It’s a constant research. You have to dedicate your life to it,” Mr. Yaccarino stat-ed. Mr. Yaccarino also noted that writing books for children is much different than writing books for adults. He set picture books as an example. In them, the scene, color, and thinking are described mostly by pictures, not words. The challenge, as he sees it, is to write about what is not shown on a pic-ture. “Don’t write everything, use few written adjectives and ad-verbs because the illustration does that for you. That gives parents the opportunity to be creative when reading to their children,” Mr. Yaccarino advised. For those interested in be-coming children’s literature writ-ers, Mr. Yaccarino suggested to read as many children’s books as possible. This provides emerging writers with a sense of structure and rhythm. However, he also

stressed the importance of being open to other kinds of literature from which to draw inspiration. Mr. Yaccarino acknowl-edged that the creative process is different for every person. “I write my picture books with a picture because the pictures tell the story. The words come after. Also, the last thing I do is the cover because it’s very important to me,” he stat-ed. Mr. Yaccarino continued explaining, “If you see the cover and it catches your eye, then you will stare at the book a little longer. If you look at the book a little lon-ger, you are more likely to touch it. If you grab it in your hands and touch it, then you are more likely to open it. And if you open it and start reading it, hopefully you will like it and get something good out of it.” He also stated that while he respects other children’s literature authors and their work he is not in-fluenced by them. “I have read many great children’s book, with great au-thors, but if I draw my inspiration from them, what do you think my work is going to look like? It would not be original,” Mr. Yacca-rino shared. Mr. Yaccarino continued, “I prefer to get inspired by peo-ple out of the realm of children’s books. I can find inspiration, for example, in science. I like to think of things that are interesting, cool, funny, and even weird when I put them in my books.” Dan Yaccarino has over twenty years of experience as an author and illustrator. The mes-sage he carries with him wherever he speaks is to persevere, and have the courage to live one’s dreams. He shares with the audiences how much he loved to draw as a child, and how he continues to work to be the best that he can be. As he stated, “Just keep reading. You can work on what you dreamt of as a child. You can do the thing that you like when you grow up.”

Author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino, after speaking to children at a public school in New Jersey - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia.

By Katherine Tapia

Page 6 May 2017News

Hard Work Doesn’t Go Unnoticed(Continued from page 1) The event started off with many hugs,

passed hors d’oeuvres, and live music by our very own Professor Samuel Ayala. There was an enormous variety of desserts made by the Culinary Program in Wanaque with the assis-tance of Chef Instructor Philippe Kaemmer-le. However, if you did not want to spend too much time at the dessert table you could go upstairs and bid at the silent auction. All the items in the silent auctions were donations from different departments with-in PCCC as well as outside donations. There were bids being taken on general admission tickets to the Bronx Zoo, a “movie at home” gift basket from Columbia Bank, a signed football from the New York Jets, a beach bas-ket from the English department, and many many more. As the Gala went on people were asked to give their opinions on what they felt

about the Gala. Michel Pierce of the Carpenters Union stated, “We give to the students here to help them build a stable foundation; we want them to know that we support them and want to see them succeed.” SGA President Ramona Padilla stated, “This is my second year coming. This event is awesome. It’s great to see the com-munity and faculty come together to donate money to fund scholarships for students. This helps students feel good.” Later into the Gala President/Dr. Steven Rose gave a speech on how thankful he is for all the sup-

port the foundation has received. He goes on to say how unfortunate it is that many do not get the opportuni-

ty to pursue a college education due to financial situations. Many cannot afford it and financial aid has turned them away. However, with the help of the foundation and their many “friends” he hopes to send hundreds more students through the doors of colleges. Professor Gasparino was then asked to come up and present the

Completion Scholarship Awards sponsored by Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society for two year colleges and The PCCC Foundation. Phi Theta Kappas mission is to recog-nize academic achievement. Phi Theta Kappa stands on four motives: service, scholarship, fellowship and leadership. The two founda-tions made a collaborative effort to come to-gether and provide scholarships for students. After viewing many applications the awards were narrowed down to three fortu-nate recipients. These recipients were Kather-ine Tapia, Jennifer Greco, and Tonya Clayton. These women accepted their awards proudly. Former scholarship recipient Tabitha-Anne Bloodsaw, English major, SGA Vice President, and member of Phi Theta Kappa made a touching speech that impacted every-one in the audience. Tabitha had begun to ex-plain how she almost didn’t complete her very first semester here at PCCC. After learning that her parents would no longer fund her ed-ucation she decided to transfer to PCCC after speaking with a family member. With no job and no money, Bloodsaw still did not qualify for financial aid. Bloodsaw explained how she had to travel at least an hour and a half everyday to come to PCCC due to living in Manhattan. Bloodsaw begun to feel discouraged and con-sidered dropping out and just working full time until she learned about a scholarship op-portunity from her history professor, Professor Collins. The deadline was approaching and there wasn’t much time. After learning that she fit the requirements she applied and got the scholarship. Tabitha will be continuing her educa-tion with hopes to go to law school to become either a prosecutor or defense attorney. She hopes to later come back and inspire other stu-dents to achieve their goals. The 25th Annual Passaic County Com-munity College Scholarship Gala was able to raise more money to open the doors to other deserving students that want a college educa-tion and achieve their dreams. Congratulations to all the recipients from this night’s event.

Former scholarship recipient Tabitha-Anne Bloodsaw, English major, SGA Vice President, and member of PTK

Subtle music played by Professor Ayala and fellow musicians enriched the gala night experience - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

From left to right: Culinary Director Louis Hernandez and Chef In-structors Angela Brown, Steve Levitt, and Philippe Kaemmerle delight-

ed attendees with their creative delicatessens - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

Gala attendees share a merry time at the dining area - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

Miguel de Jesus and Rayniery Gomez, both former presidents of Phi Theta Kappa

- Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

President Rose stressed the importance of academ-ic completion - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

PCCC Culinary Arts Program created delicatessens for the gala - Photo taken by Lismery Luna

Page 7 May 2017Business

Business Students Compete in Rutgers Competition

By Tabitha-Anne Bloodsaw

On Friday, April 7, 2017, PCCC stu-dents traveled to Rutgers University Business School-Newark to participate in the New Jersey County College Case Competition, sponsored by M&T Bank. The purpose of this event is to invite stu-dents from New Jersey county colleges to pres-ent a case study on real-world business issues and companies. Eight county colleges attended: Bergen Community College, County College of Morris, Essex County College, Hud-son County Community College, Ocean County College, Passaic County Community College, Sussex County Community College, and Union County College. Seven business administration students were chosen to present and attend the competi-tion based on their GPA, in-class performance, and commitment: Samantha E. Soto, Mark A. Medina, Juliana H. Reade, Esteban Ortiz, Eric Rudden, Anthony Sampayo, Feliz Rodriguez, and Michael D. Leiva. The students were ac-companied by Professor Kourani and Professor Cox. The business depart-ment received the case study on February 15th and had to submit their PowerPoint pre-sentation to the competition on March 24th. The students and their professors had six weeks to prepare for the event, meeting twice a week. “They spent weeks and weeks and hours prepar-ing for this,” Professor Kou-rani stated. The event began at 8 A.M. with check-in and

breakfast, and ended at 5 P.M. with the Awards Reception. In between, participants had the op-portunity to take trips to the local museum, net-work with other students, and tour the Rutgers campus. At around 12:30 P.M, PCCC students went into one of the lecture halls to present their case study on a mock social media compa-

ny entitled “Friend Face Social Network.” The case study was to analyze “Friend Face” on a marketing, finance, and management level. The students presented for twenty minutes in front of seven judges from different companies and organizations, such as M&T Bank and Merrill Lynch. The college did not win first place, but all of the colleges were awarded $500 for par-ticipating in the competition. “Although they did not win, they did a very good job,” Professor Kourani exclaimed. “There were little mistakes in the pre-sen tation. It was a great experience and the students applied everything they learned from us.” Professor Cox shared the same immense pride in his students, but also shared the prepa-ration for the competition was “time-consum-ing.” “We met every Friday for four hours, re-hearsing and preparing. It was about a 40-hour commitment from the business department fac-

ulty,” Professor Cox com-mented. Professor Kourani backed his statement: “We met over spring break to practice. The students did not have a spring break.” Esteban Ortiz, a busi-ness administration major, also shared the same feelings about the workload. “Re-hearsal was time-consuming and put a lot of pressure on us to memorize the presen-tation. The competition was

(Continued on page 10)

Visions Staff (left to right), Advisor Dr. Christine Waldeyer, Editor Katherine Tapia, Reporter Sha’Cora Wells, and

Editor Lismery Luna Professor Walter Behr - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

Professor Gasparino, Phi Theta Kappa Advisor - Photo taken by Lismery Luna Mr. Tom Moore and Ms. Maria Marte at the

Silent Auction - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

Professor James Sanders was part of the committee that selected the scholarship

recipients - Photo taken by Lismery Luna

Rayniery Gomez, former Phi Theta Kappa President - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

More Photos of The 25th Annual PCCC Scholarship Gala

Page 8 May 2017Editorials

Learning Done by Thinking

Should there be a real threat, how safe are we

on campus?By Katherine TapiaBy Martina Frasca

By Kwaisi Wright

College students often state their opinion that professors don’t teach exactly what is on exams and say they have to teach themselves. Although students may feel like a professor is not doing their job or seems like they don’t know what they are talking about, often that is not the case. What most students don’t realize is that many Professors don’t teach everything because they want students to critically think instead of easy learning and feed informa-tion to them. Dr. John Taylor, author of “Think again: A philosophical ap-proach to teaching.” Expresses, “Education would be more success-ful, and more enjoyable, if less time was spent teaching to the test and more time was spent teaching stu-dents to think for themselves.” Tay-lor continued by saying that in 2012 “in a recent Cambridge Assessment research survey, 87% of lecturers said that too much teaching to the test is a major factor contributing to students being under-prepared for degree-level study.” The philosophical approach to teaching is through open discus-sion with students and making them find answers themselves. In the stu-dent’s point of view, the discussion that goes on in the classroom is expected to be known and is most likely to be on the test. Even though that may be true, Professors know what to do for their part but to go along with that students are expected to do their part as well which may include reading the textbook that gives fur-ther information on a subject that

may be helpful and included in the test as well. It’s no secret that reading and studying has declined in many people’s lives due to the rise of the digital age which is more distrac-tion and for some procrastination. If students don’t see the need to read the text book and rely on the profes-sor, many do not read. Short answers tests are used mostly to test a student’s knowl-edge and depth of understanding the subject unlike multiple choice where a student can guess based off of little or no memorization. This is why student’s love multiple choice, but usually what happens is after the test is over students tend to for-get everything and don’t retain any knowledge. In fact some students tend to express to their professor or oth-er classmates that they wish they would get the test quicker before they forget everything. Another student’s point of view is that teachers are obligated to answer any questions asked. In some cases, it is necessary but to some professors before answering and giving their opinion, putting the question out for an open discussion towards students is a critical think-ing method that can imply that there is more than one answer. Students should come to school because they want to learn not because they have to. Profes-sors having students engage and be more involved may get students to be more interested and teach them-selves further—maybe even when not trying to prepare for a test.

Students of Passaic County Communi-ty College face the issue of not having proper academic scheduling advisement in their first semester. This institution is supposed to help students get their degree in a time span of two years but some students have been attending PCCC for more than that. This is due to the lack of proper aca-demic scheduling advisement. There should be some general orientation for beginner students so they can be told exactly how the system works and what they are required to do. If the case is that they already do have orientation for beginner students, they should advertise it more and get the word out there. Some may argue that it’s the student’s fault for not asking questions or research stuff like that because they are adults and should take responsibility for themselves. Some would say that they should have gone on the school’s web-site and looked it up. The fact of the matter is some students don’t put enough effort in deal-ing with certain things and looking up their ori-

entation dates is one of them. Sure, it is our responsibility as students to seek out this information but some students didn’t even know about the existence of the ori-entations. If we don’t know about the orienta-tion, how will we know that we are to find out when and where it is being held. So, in this case it’s not that we are lazy or aren’t responsible and chose not to attend orientation, it’s more like we had no knowledge of there being an orientation in the first place. As students of PCCC, we are required to take College Success. This is a course that basi-cally teaches you about certain things in life in the real world as well lessons concerning college life. Some of these college life lessons include calculating your GPA, the different studying methods, reading the degree audit and using the school’s website. Focusing on the point about learning to use the website—College Success is the only course that puts any real focus on that topic. So maybe information about orientation was sent as an announcement on the website

or in the student’s email—that method would be inefficient because a student doesn’t use the website until they start classes and some don’t quite understand how to do certain things on the website until they take the College Success course and some students don’t do the college success course until their second semester. Another factor of this lack of proper ac-ademic advisement is that the institution doesn’t have sufficient amounts of academic advisors. Thus, other professors who can help students register for their subjects are asked to do so but the downside to that strategy is that the profes-sors don’t possess the proper knowledge about the various majors so they aren’t able to provide proper academic advisement to ensure that the student is taking the right path. They are only able to ensure that the students are registered for the upcoming semester. If the current system isn’t working, shouldn’t something be done about it?

March 8, 2017. Students, professors and staff members on campus moved towards the exit. But people inside the Gateway Center and at the library took more time to notice what was happening because information about the situation was delayed. A man’s voice screaming “Get out!” was heard coming from the library aisle. Some stu-dents ran, but others remained in their seats, and did not think it was an important matter.

Then, two professors ran as well, heading for the exit. Right after this, some emergency lights flashed imperceptibly. Al-most immediately, more joined the stampede toward the exit. Students as well as pro-fessors and staff members were confused. They tried to make sense of the situation. Many knew by then that something se-rious was occurring, but nobody could point out exactly at what it was.

A security guard yelled at people to get out and evacuate the building. However, his voice got lost amidst the crowd yell-ing. “There is a bomb! Run!” a woman shrieked. Everyone ran as fast as they could. Once they reached the door, however, they could not get out. They were stuck by a group of students taking selfies at the door.

A courageous professor – we really thought at that time that there was an actual bomb on campus – did what the security guards failed to do. She stood by the door, asked students to stop taking pictures, and moved ev-eryone out of the exit door. She stayed there until she got most of them out. As awesome as her ac-tion was, it begs the question.

PCCC Needs Improvement in Academic Advisement

(Continued on page 9)

Students continue to take pictures and record the event from a doubtful safe distance - Photo by Katherine Tapia

Page 9 May 2017Editorials

Is Technology Use Bad for Classrooms?By Julian Solis

The organization of AESNJ (Alliance of EOF Students of New Jersey) has always done a remarkable job in catering to our community all throughout its years. During its lifespan, the group has always worked its hardest to help out others in need, and during the month of April, their motivations were no different, this time giving out items to the community via care bags. This idea was first thought of back in early January, a time when the group was think-ing of new ways to help out the community. It was a regular meeting that concluded with the idea of initiating a partnership with the Salva-tion Army that involves handing out numerous care bags filled with an assortment of goods. The campus of Passaic County Commu-nity College was tasked with handing in a spe-cific type of item collected from students who were willing to donate: Chap Stick. Especial-ly in the recent cold and windy environment, the AESNJ had decided that there were many people out there who needed this as well as the other items. After speaking to Brandyn Veal, a fel-low member of the AESNJ organization as well as a tutor for the EOF lab at the PCCC cam-pus, I was provided with much insight on the group’s methods and goals. “Our group here at the PCCC campus was not the only ones who participated in this giveaway. Over the course of 2 months, we’ve managed to reach out to many different col-

leges for their support. The schools of Rutgers, Union County Community College, and Seton Hall decided on joining our efforts. Over here, we’ve asked around campus and tried gathering a total of 150 chap sticks of any type, as long as they were unused, to include in the bags. With our combined efforts, our goal was to form 150 bags, each with 15 items from across these dif-ferent schools.” This of course was not the only instance of the group providing community service, as they already have built and maintained a history around it. The AESNJ is well-known for their community service and how they actively make connections to different colleges, high schools, and community agencies, which effectively promotes the idea of community partnerships, much like this particular event. As mentioned, the AESNJ does not only exist on the PCCC campus, but also all around the state of New Jersey, hence the name. Veal continues, providing further details on the event. “The actual giveaway took place on the day of April 1 after much gathering and preparations. A total of 25 people, students and faculty alike, all came together to pack every item of each school into the bags. Thanks to ev-eryone’s efforts, we managed to pass our target and get up to 154 bags.” “In the end, it was a big success for our EOF students showing that we can all come to-gether and do something big. We plan to contin-ue making this a yearly thing within our group

to show support with our community.” This is an organization that caters to the EOF community all around the state. Their pur-pose is for the development of programs which help boost the welfare for the EOF students; welfare that exists in a social, political, or even educational way. They do this by hosting nu-merous events, much like this one, in an effort to build the necessary resources in improving their effectiveness at meeting students’ needs. A plan of theirs is to provide leadership training to the students of different colleges, whether they are EOF or not, to improve their ability to with cooperate others in a work en-vironment as well as strengthen self-empower-ment as a whole. This is of course very helpful given the upcoming futures of the students and how many are now being introduced into the world of work. This giveaway is a prime exam-ple of boosting one’s teamwork skills as many of these schools are working together for the same goal. What took place during the month of April was only one of the many events that this group has done. To this very day, the AESNJ still continues to show the community some support in varying ways. In fact, the AESNJ is currently holding elections for multiple positions, meaning that even you can become a member and help out society.

how safe are we on campus?

Students stand at the parking lot, waiting for the bomb threat to be resolved - Photo by Katherine Tapia

Students, professors, and staff members were evacuated to a relative safety, too close to campus - Photo by Katherine Tapia

Disorganization reigned among students, professors, and staff members - Photo by Katherine Tapia

Are we really prepared in the event of an emergency or actual threat? Can we afford not to? Was a lack of planning and organization the problem? The security guard that went all the way inside the library to evacuate professors, students and staff out to safety, was a hero. However, it would have been more efficient and safe to an-nounce by speakers what was happening and let people know that they needed to take the escape exits, which brings up a second point. Professors, students and staff at PCCC never engage in drills. Everyone is unprepared and does not know the safest exit to take, or the fastest way out in the event of a real emergency. Students were so unprepared that some ended up seeking ref-uge in the parking lot and the bridge that connects it to the college. Everyone is grateful for the bravery of our security guards, but surely some planning and organizing is critical. It could, certain-ly, come in hand.

(Continued from page 8)

Page 10 May 2017Editorials/Letters to the Editor

By Jarryn Solis

Grading one’s instructor is nothing new to colleges, as it is present in many. This type of procedure even takes place at the Campus of PCCC where in the middle of a class, students are in-terrupted from their day’s lesson to take some sort of evaluation on their professor’s teaching perfor-mance. This evaluation, given by each student, may take a short and almost thoughtless amount of ef-fort to complete, but it may take a great effect. It is important to know that since each student writes their own personal critique, in which want-ing to stay anonymous is an op-tion, this can be a big issue. Given the fact that while some students earn their A’s, some on the other hand, will feel as if they had been unjustly graded and deserve better. It can be a feeling akin to vengefulness as a student will use this one opportunity to “get even”

in a way with their professors. It doesn’t help given the fact that these evaluation sheets do not require one to write down their name, meaning that a student can write down the worst claims and defame just as they please with the safety of remaining anonymous. Should colleges really al-low the possibility of secret libel towards their professors? In actuality, the fact that professors do get these type of evaluation papers about them can prove to be somewhat of a benefit. While it is true that there is a pos-sibility of vengeful students want-ing to get payback for whatever the professor has done, we must not forget that this is not simply the case with most students. In a typical grading sheet such as this, there is a guarantee that some students won’t even care about it, simply writing whatever it is to make them get through it in the quickest and laziest

time possible. Then there is also a group of students who try to be honest about it, writing what they person-ally do feel the professor is like. But most importantly, stu-dents who only give nothing but praise do play their role as well. As you should know, these evaluation sheets not only contain short and brief responses to questions about how they feel the professor can can improve, but there is also numer-ous multiple choice questions that make up the bulk of it. The multiple choice ques-tions consist of ratings, usually 1 to 5, on specific things that their professor does in a lesson. In such cases, some stu-dents will actively answer in the most positive way possible, which can either be in an act of generos-ity or possibly as a reward if the teacher grades them in a benefi-cial way. On top of this, there is a chance that students who feel their

professor is too easy and lenient on them will try to answer positively on purpose so that the lack of chal-lenge on them continues. Overall, the way these evaluations are makes it so that students can answer dishonestly for their own personal gain. A pos-sible solution for this can be that colleges should ban students from staying anonymous when submit-ting their feedback. In this way, the college can check whoever puts an extreme answer then view the student’s grades to see if it is linked in a way. If a student who is just performing very poorly academically is clear-ly trying to get back at a professor, it should be possible to know and vice versa. In the end, it is easy to see how these professor evalua-tions can be effective, but just not how it is today.

PCCC Needs Improvement in Academic Advisement…the way these evaluations are makes it so that students can

answer dishonestly for their own personal gain.

I am currently a student at Passaic Coun-ty Community College and I park in the parking garage. Every time I park in the red lines for the school, I am always scared that someone may hit my car and get away with it because of the reckless driving I see on my way to a parking spot. This reckless driving mainly involves the students who do the short while speeding leave no space for the person coming up or down. It is a serious danger hazard, which many people have not paid much attention to. As I have heard from students is that some are scared of just walking in the parking garage, scared that someone may accidentally hit them. Therefore, from what I know and seen, I have not noticed any cameras in the parking deck where there should be, especially at night. Also, there are moments where every-one gets out of class, gets in their car and are ready to leave for the day but usually something disturbs that process. First, there are some peo-ple who seem to still be confused that there are

two entrances which can determine on which floor you parked in, so that makes it really hard to find your car if you’re a new student there or a visitor. This should be made clear with a sign by the elevators stating that there are two en-trances and that one side only goes to specif-ic floors. Second, the disturbances on the way out can be caused because of the regular traffic, the window device not reading correctly, or the ticket machine breaking. The parking garage is opened to all peo-ple, which at the end of the day is going to cause traffic but that’s not the humongous problem on the plate, the problem is when the equipment from the parking garage begins to fail. It could be the window device not being read properly which causes a person to back up their car and move forward again until the bar opens, which could take a while and cause problems for the people behind you and causing traffic. The worst wait I had to experience thus

far, is when a person with a ticket inserts it into the ticket machine and nothing happens, the bar is stuck in the same position it was before. This itself is a problem as they wait there for a few minutes trying to figure out what is go-ing on, meanwhile the cars start piling up and then finally someone comes out to try to fix it and takes around another 7-10 minutes to fix it leading to stress and aggravation for people who were waiting in the parking garage and just wanted to get home. The parking garage definitely needs new equipment in order to have protection for the all of the people that park there and for a better flow of traffic. As a student this situation is an every day process for me and would love to have it fixed.

Sincerely,

Ingrid Medrano

Letter to the Editor,

Ongoing Parking Deck Issues

nerve-wracking, but overall it was a great expe-rience that I can take with me for the rest of my life.” Mark A. Medina, who is also a business administration major, remarked on the opportu-nities he was offered after participating in the competition: “It was a really fun experience. I got to network with students from Rutgers and I met a lot of nice, great people.” One of the highlights for the students at the competition was meeting Viral Mistry, who is currently an accounting major at Rutgers

Business School, and a 2016 PCCC alum. Eric Rudden, a business administration student at the Wanaque campus, shared his ex-citement about the competition. “I felt honored to go. Rutgers is my top pick school, and I en-joyed seeing the campus and talking to Rutgers students.” Professor Kourani stated, “Students were happy that they visited Rutgers and got to see the future building and classrooms they will study in.” Rutgers Business School-Newark is the top public business school in the Tri-State

area, according to U.S. News and World Report; many business majors aspire to attend Rutgers Business. Although the competition was a great success for the college, the business department is still debating on whether it should participate in next year’s competition. “We are thinking about it,” Professor Cox commented. “We have to evaluate it, as it was a heavy commitment from all of the faculty members.”

Business Students Compete in Rutgers Competition(Continued from page 7)

Page 11 May 2017In Brief

Congratulations to Shea Award Recipients Josh Copeland and Zenya Koproski! The Shea Award was established in memo-ry of Professor Robert A. Shea, a Founding Faculty Member of Passaic Coun-ty Community College, the Faculty Association estab-lished The Shea Memorial Scholarship Award. This award commemorates the dedicated and committed academic service of Prof. Shea, especially the after class-tutorial time he spent with his students of Mathe-matics. It is awarded an-nually to a selected PCCC graduate, in recognition of outstanding service to the College as well as the larger community in which the student resides. Also, in recognition of academ-ic achievement, a GPA of at least 3.00 is considered. Historically, a cash award has been presented to this student who gives strong

indication of continuing and pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree. Josh Copeland has a 3.9 average, is a member of TRIO and Phi Theta Kap-pa, and a volunteer at Eva’s Village. After PCCC, Co-peland plans on attending Rutgers with an English or English/double major with a focus on Creative Writ-ing. He also plans to be a writer. Zenya Koprowski has a GPA of 3.977 and is pursuing her AS degree in Business with a concentra-tion in Accounting. This academic year Koprowski was the WAC Public Rela-tions Officer for Phi Theta Kappa and the Co-Chair of the Honors in Action (HIA) Hallmark committee. As WAC Public Relations Officer, Koprowski has worked very closely with Phi Theta Kappa’s Vice President to build momen-tum for membership at the Wanaque campus.

Shea Award Recipients

(Continued from page 1) “Will You Marrow Me?”row. How to test for match it is based on ethnicity and ancestry. This procedure is a very important prospect for those suffering from blood cancers and diseases. Other than the volunteers reaching out to students from the tables, they also made their presence in the halls and classrooms. In one class Nursing professor Marissa Cruise and nursing students spoke to the class to encourage them to register to donate and how bone marrow donations make a difference in someone’s’ life. They also explain the process in order to clear up that bone marrow donation is not painful for the donor as many believe it to be. At the tables those who did participate in registering to donate bone marrow did so with fulfillment. One person did so for a more personal reason, that really set the importance of donating bone marrow. Natcha DeJesus was only at the school to become a student at PCCC. She hap-pened to see the event going on and happened to register to donate bone marrow. She lost her three-year-old son to Leuke-mia, who is just out of the many people nation-wide who could use such a treatment. For her reasoning for registering, “to be closer to my son,” said DeJesus. Those who went to register did to give back and hopefully one day be a match for a pa-tient who needs this option. Student Farjana Yeasmih registered due to a past experience. She lost blood during labor and received a blood transplant. “I want to give back,” said Yeasmih. Miguel DeJesus, a PCCC Alumni, reg-istered to donate bone marrow back in 2014. “Nothing is more precious than life itself”, said DeJesus.

Race and ethnicity matter for bone marrow re-cipients. There is a need for more minorities to register. There is little diversity among donors and for donor registry only 9% are Hispanic/Latino, 8% African-American in comparison to 73% Caucasian. The Bone Marrow Registry Drive is rel-atively new at PCCC. Started last semester, and has future plans to continue. The event has re-ceived 167 new bone marrow donors. For more information on how to become a bone marrow donor and make a difference please visit bethe-match.org Basic information and statics on bone marrow registry and exemptions. The event had 167 new donors registered. Held at PCCC Main Campus, corradiated by the Nursing Program and Be the Match Foundation. • About 500 people nationwide lose their battle to cancer per day• For transplant to work, a patient must re-ceive identical bone marrow cells from a donor• Only 30% of bone marrow transplant pa-tients obtain a match from a family member• There is very little diversity among do-nors• Donor registry percent: 73% are Cauca-sian, 9% Hispanic/Latino. 8% African America, 7% Asian, 3% multiracial, 1% Native Americans• Ages to donate are 18-44• Exemptions to donate are history of cer-tain cancers, HIV/AIDS, autoimmune diseases, Hepatitis B/C, transplant recipient, stroke/heart disease.• There are two ways donate: blood and bone marrow extraction• A donor can change their mind at any time. For more information please visit bethematch.org

Students are encouraged to become donors - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

Nursing students Eugene Usmak and Tania Perez also joined in the efforts of creating

conscience on the importance of becoming a donor - Photo taken by Katherine Tapia

Page 12 May 2017In Brief

Food Service Training Program Graduation

Marcos Salazar Exhibit

On Tuesday March 28th, 4 students graduated from the food service training program here at Passaic County Commu-nity College. The occasion took place in the Paterson Room from 1-3pm. The training program is an introductory course in the culinary arts. The four graduates were Kelton Webb, Elona Cook, Tyleaka Price, and Abdel Hamoad. Visit our April issue for full story, “Food Service Train-ing Program Graduation: A time to move forward at”:(http://www.pccc.edu/uploads/76/51/7651dba53762fcd-83cbd6b58d6dfa13d/April-2017-Visions.pdf)

On the Paterson campus of Passaic County Community College, there was a display of fine lines, a distinctive pattern, accurate images of real places and a touch of uniqueness on the walls outside of the cafeteria in the Broadway Gallery. This display was none other than the artistic stylings of Marcos Salazar who displayed his art from February 28 – April 6, 2017. Salazar

commonly works with mixed media art and his a reception launched his art exhibit, “The Storm before the Calm,” on March 30 To read the full story visit our April issue, “The Storm before the Calm: PCCC Student Displays Art” at: http://www.pccc.edu/uploads/76/51/7651dba53762fcd-83cbd6b58d6dfa13d/April-2017-Visions.pdf.

Culinary Art Graduates

Students appreciate Marcos Salazar’s art.Artist Marcos Salazar at his art exhibit.

The English Department recently announced their Spring Release of the “Literary Panther Journal” Issue #5 celebrating their 5th year of publication. The jour-nal showcases student talent in-cluding poetry, short story, essay, art, and photography. To see the full manuscript visit: http://www.pccc.edu/prospective/academics/academic-departments/english-de-partment/literary-panther-journal. Marcos Salazar, PCCC Graphic Design Major, provided the design and vision for this year’s cover art titled “The Calling.” Also featured are the collected works of:

Poetry by Rachael Bakunas, Janelle Dizard-Britt, Katheryn Morales, Lismery Luna, Miguel Romero, George A. Schupp,

Nicole Sweetman, Katherine Tapia, and Veronica Viera.

Short Story by Rachael Bakuna, Janelle Dizard-Britt, Becca Girar-din, Jose Lopez, Katheryn Morales, George A. Schupp, and Katherine Tapia.

Essay by Ben Crossley.

Art and Photography by Jean Paul Chavez, Gisselle Guerrero, Rosa Huitzitzilin, Dwight Lem-onius, Sheila Loftus, Nelson Marti-nez, Ricardo Mejia, Noelle Millner, Melissa Montesano, Marcos Sala-zar, Jessika Sarmiento-Mendoza, Alexandra Sevillano, Adaliz Tabar, Katherine Tapia, Omercan Tecaog-lu, Emiliia Watson, Ny’sheia Wil-liams, and Kwaisi-Wright.

The 5th Edition of the Literary Panther

Rosa Huitzitzilin, “El Agua Es Visa”Mixed media, 20 x 16 stretched canvas

Alexandra Sevillano, “Apple” Graphite, 9 x 12”

Noelle Millner, “Mountain Reflection”Photography

Nelson Martinez, “Owl”illustration

Melissa Montesano, “Tea Party”mixed media, 18 x 24”

Emiliia Watson, “Gristle”watercolor, 22 x 30”

Featured Artwork