By Kevin Hayes | Observer Contributor
With an HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system that has sections more than fifty years old, facilities management and students are both quick to acknowledge the daily in-classroom consequences that the current HVAC infrastructure at the Mount presents. In terms of dollars, the financial implications could be staggering. However, there is also a cost for students, inhibiting their potential ability to focus in the classroom, which could put pressure on the college to move sooner rather than later.
By Elysian Alder | Editor-in-Chief
In February of 2022, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) found that private drinking water wells in homes along Bean Porridge Hill Road in Westminster had PFAS levels 50 times what state regulations consider safe to drink. “PFAS have been found in at least 169 public water systems in 95 cities and towns, and most of them have exceeded the state’s legal limit,” explained Madison Latiolais, a community organizer working for Community Action Works, an environmental nonprofit based in Boston that provides training and resources to communities and individuals with environmental concerns. “Westminster has some of the highest levels of PFAS in Massachusetts,” she added. The contamination concerns in Westminster prompt the question: How does Mount Wachusett Community College address water safety?
By Kevin Hayes | Observer Contributor
Alessandro DiVito, a 20-year-old student at MWCC majoring in English with a concentration in professional writing, shows promising talent as a writer. DiVito, who works as a youth mentor over the summer, is already well on his way, having three books currently in progress. Centered on sci-fi and time travel, their titles are: The Adventures of Jerry Rodger, Tyrone’s Multiversal Adventures and Mabel’s Uncharted Adventures.
But DiVito didn’t just wake up one day and say, ‘I think I’ll be a writer or mentor young people someday.’ His passion stemmed from his experiences with adversity. DiVito persevered through childhood bullying and a horrific stalking-like encounter with an older student when he was in the seventh grade, DiVito was in search of some way to deal with this trauma. Fortunately for DiVito, he has a close, supportive family. He also stumbled into a program called Thriveworks, which he found out about through the THRIVE Center at the Mount.
By Kent Yang | Staff Writer
Since the early twentieth century, electronic waste has existed alongside technologies such as telephones and radios, which utilized vacuum tubes. However, at the time, there wasn’t much concern for the environment regarding electronic waste. It wasn’t until 1976, when the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) went into effect, that the disposal of e-waste into landfills became illegal. The purpose of the RCRA was to protect the environment and human health from the toxicity and hazards of waste disposal.
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