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Posts published in “News”

Do You Have a Minute for Mental Health?

By editorialteam on February 13, 2023

“Melissa’s Mental Health Minute” Videos Still Making the Rounds, Even After COVID Lockdown

By Alondra DeLeon Guimaraes | Observer Contributor

Melissa's Mental Health Minute

Destressing can be quite challenging sometimes. Sometimes it’s viewed as an inconvenience, another chore to add to the to do list, or it can feel too time consuming. This perspective is often observed among the students and faculty at Mount Wachusett Community College, but it’s actually easier than one would think. The Mount’s mental health counselor, Melissa Manzi, partnered with the Dean of Students, Jason Zelesky, and the marketing department to launch a vlog series on YouTube called Melissa’s Mental Health Minute for this very reason during the pandemic.  “Our challenge was to find ways to connect to our students,” Dean Zelesky explained. “Having the remote infrastructure was not easy for our students especially during the COVID-19 shutdown.”  read more

Feeding the Bookworms

By editorialteam on February 13, 2023

How Does MWCC Provide for its Prospering Community of Readers?

By Elysian Alder | Assistant Editor

The New Books shelf in the MWCC Library.

Collections and Instructions Librarian, Matt Raymond, says that the Mount’s LaChance Library has recently purchased “over 800 new books,” adding to an already substantial inventory of “about 30,000 titles.”

The selection process is a meticulous and thoughtful one. Although Mount Wachusett Community College does not currently have student life organizations dedicated solely to literature or book clubs, there’s no shortage of avid readers willing to offer up suggestions or requests to the collections librarians like Raymond. read more

What Does Self-Care Mean to You?

By editorialteam on February 13, 2023

Students and Faculty Share Their Personal Methods for Destressing

By Alondra DeLeon Guimaraes | Observer Contributor

Woman sitting on a bench.

The end of the semester is the time more than ever to look for different strategies to succeed and finish strong which includes self-care. According to MWCC counselor Melissa Manzi, self-care is to help you get through the difficult things in life. “Does it help? I think yes!” she cheerfully emphasized. Luckily, some students and faculty were able to provide some insight on this method.

Yaneliz Montez
Yaneliz Montez

“Self- care is a time of reflection for me,” said Yaneliz Montez, a health sciences major student at MWCC. “In the midst of life, one tends to forget about themselves and feel disconnected. They can eventually lose themselves,” she reasoned further. When Montez is not studying or in class, she works as a bartender and is a single mom. read more

Pizza with the President

By editorialteam on February 13, 2023

Providing Opportunities While Strengthening the Community

By Stella Sarefield | Observer Contributor

President Vander Hooven and students in the Student Center.

On Thursday, February 2 2023, President Jim Vander Hooven was seen talking to both students and colleagues during the ‘Pizza with the President’ event in the student center.

When asked what this event is and why it is important to the college and student life, the Dean of Students, Jason Zelesky explained, “’Pizza with the President’ is a very informal event designed for students to get an opportunity to get to know the President.” Zelesky also shared that there are other events held by the Office of Student Life where students can speak with the President, “There were a couple each semester, one casual and one formal.” read more

Remembering Megan Bower

By editorialteam on December 16, 2022

Sincere, Charismatic, and Adventurous, Bower Will Be Dearly Missed By All Who Knew Her

By Isabelle Mascary | Assistant Editor

Megan Bower was an Automotive Technician student at the Mount who unexpectedly passed away on September 22. Born and raised in Littleton, Massachusetts, she was passionate about her dreams, family, friends, and, most importantly, helping others. She had a major impact on those she met. Although she has passed on, there is something we all can learn from her story. She was not just another young woman that passed away from an unfortunate accident, she was a beam of light, gone too soon, but her story will live on and help the lives of others, just as she lived. read more

MWCC’s THRIVE Center

By editorialteam on December 16, 2022

Providing the Support Needed to Help Students Thrive

By Annabelle Kennedy | Observer Contributor

From 8am-4pm, Monday- Friday,  MWCC’s Thrive Center is open and ready to help with any problem you may have to provide support and help you succeed.

Upon walking into the Thrive Center, you will be greeted by administrative assistant, Gwen Budzinski, who also happens to be a MWCC student majoring in Human Services. When the Thrive Retention Center was first thought of it was based on the idea that everyone can succeed at school when provided with tools and support.  read more

A Policy in Honor of Professor David Wyman

By editorialteam on December 16, 2022

Good News for Students Taking ENG 098

By Josilyn Straka & Isabelle Mascary | Assistant Editors

Students needing to retake the ENG 098  course are now able to do so without the use of their financial aid and instead have the fee waived through the new David Wyman ENG 098 Course Repeat Policy.  The policy is named after the late professor David Wyman who started this course retake idea back in 2017 as he was an advocate for the policy and worked hard to pass it, along with the English Department.

As quoted from the course catalog, “Fundamentals of Writing is designed to help the basic writer recognize proper usage of grammar and mechanics.  Students will be introduced to the writing process and will produce at least five essays.  Other forms of writing included are journaling, free-writes, and active learning exercises emphasizing student success skills.  A grade of  “C” or higher is required for advancement to the next course.” read more

I Am One in Four

By editorialteam on December 16, 2022

Student Shares Personal Journey to Remind Others “You Are Not Alone”

By Annabelle Kennedy | Observer Contributor

One in four American women will have an abortion by the time they are 45 years old, and I am one of those women.

 I had an abortion when I was 28 years old. I feared having a child. I was not in a place where I was mentally or emotionally ready to be responsible for another life. I was living in a small apartment in Allston at the time, had two roommates and a job as a waitress, and I felt incredibly alone and ashamed.

The baby’s father and I hadn’t been dating for long, and he wasn’t ready to have a child either. I decided that I could live with the decision of not having a child and regret it, more than I could live with the idea of having the child and not providing a loving, stable home for them.  read more

Be Well at the Mount

By editorialteam on November 8, 2022

Mental Wellness at Any Time and on the Line

By Cody Nathanson | Assistant Editor

With the rollout of MWCC’s new “Be Well at the Mount” program, students can expect an easier time accessing mental health services on and off campus alongside a new host of options that give greater control to their mental health.

As of September 8, MWCC teamed up with mental health service and wellness provider Christie Campus, a Massachusetts-based company currently supporting over 70 campuses and just over 600,000 students across the U.S. The 30-year-old health insurance company now turned mental health provider, is still relatively new in the venture, only having made the switch back in 2018. read more

The Play That Goes Wrong…Gone Right!

By editorialteam on November 8, 2022

Theater at the Mount‘s October 16 Performance Sells Tickets and Laughs

By Elysian Alder | Observer Contributor

On Sunday, October 16— the day of the Theater at the Mount’s final production of The Play That Goes Wrong,pulling up the website to purchase tickets for the show revealed a pleasantly surprising fact: tickets were selling, and they were selling fast.

Within ten minutes, the total number of tickets remaining went from 87 to 62, and that didn’t even account for the tickets that would doubtlessly be purchased on-site at the box office. To put those numbers into perspective, the website for Theater at the Mount stated that the theater can seat a whopping total of “515 people in 15 unobstructed rows.” read more