With the conclusion of March came the conclusion of 2015’s National Women’s History Month, and the recognition of two members of Keene State College.

Women throughout the state of New Hampshire gathered at KSC on March 25, to celebrate the 25th annual Outstanding Women of New Hampshire ceremony.

For over 35 years, the National Women’s History Project [NWHP] has worked to highlight females to “encourage girls and young women to think larger and bolder . . . Knowing women’s achievements challenges stereotypes and upends social assumptions about who women are and what women can accomplish today,” according to its website.

This year’s ceremony honored four local women who demonstrate outstanding advocacy, while also recognizing their diverse accomplishments.

KSC President Anne Huot introduced each of the four recipients, noting “how important it is to continue to honor the accomplishments of wonderful women.”

Huot explained that, as KSC president, she falls into a profession that represents less than 30 percent of all presidents in the U.S., recognizing that gender equality still has a ways to go.

The first recipient of the night, junior Kerrianne Thomas, was nominated by her peers at student-run radio station, WKNH.

“Every time I have the opportunity to witness our students being their creative selves and putting themselves out there, I have a great sense of pride about what it means to be a student at Keene State College, what it means to earn a degree that is fundamentally founded in the liberal arts, and fosters that creative spirit,” Huot said as she began to introduce Thomas.

As Thomas accepted her award, she explained how her high school fears of inadequacy quickly turned into success during her time at KSC.

Within the first two weeks of her first year at KSC, Thomas found her passion in working with WKNH, the radio station on campus that she now co-manages.

“I’ve worked very hard to get where I am today, and I’m extremely grateful to be rewarded in such a special way like this . . . I love what I do here at Keene State [College] and I love the woman Keene State [College] has made me,” Thomas said.

KSC’s Peggy Rae Johnson was the next outstanding woman to be highlighted, being introduced as “a passionate crusader for the arts, theater and students.”

Johnson, whose colleagues referred to her as “a legend in educational theater,” has put on over 30 productions in her time at KSC, including writing and directing the “No Zebras No Excuses” play for freshman orientation each August.

Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff

Johnson’s acceptance was brief, but earned her a standing ovation from the crowded Centennial Hall, as she began her speech saying, “My parents had two daughters officially. Unofficially, I was my father’s son.”

She went on to explain how her father shared with her the knowledge that the world was open to her own choices — until it was time for her to go to college.

“It was in college that I became acutely aware of the role of gender in our society,” Johnson continued, “That was where I was told that, as a theater major and more importantly as a woman, I was expected to work twice as hard to be considered half as good.”

Johnson said she was proud to be a part of the journey of women who are helping to contribute “to the growth of theater, our culture and to our political perspectives.”

The next honoree, Sarah McKenzie Hoskins, accepted her honor on behalf of those she dedicates her time to help.

“I accept this honor on behalf of survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and the hidden witnesses — the children who, most often, hide when their worlds are turned upside down again and again. I am amazed and humbled by their strength, bravery and resilience,” Hoskins said.

Ending her acceptance, Hoskins turned to the audience to provide a few final words.

“I see all these young women and young men here, and I want to say to you, ‘Be strong, be bold and go for it,’” Hoskins concluded.

The last recipient of the night, Terrie Norelli, took time to highlight her newest program, the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation — a merger of several women’s organizations in our state.

“I think if each of you closed your eyes and tried to envision here in New Hampshire a place where there is social, economic, political and gender equality, you would see what we see,” Norelli said. “Because our mission is to seek opportunity and equality for girls in our state through research, education, philanthropy and advocacy.”

The ceremony concluded with words from Senator Molly Kelly, reading a letter from U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who was unable to attend. Shaheen wrote that it is critical for women to realize their full potential in order to achieve growth as a nation.

The theme for this year’s NWHP was “Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives,” a title that accurately fit each recipient, as noted by one of the speakers.

These four women joined the nine 2015 national honorees, of whom were acknowledged through a continuous slideshow as students, faculty and citizens from across the state filtered into Centennial Hall.

These nine women were later honored again through an oral performance by KSC theater majors Kara Girardi and Danielle Roberts. Girardi and Roberts took turns paying homage to the honorees, reciting the words of each woman who have collectively sought to bring positive change to society.

Alexa Ondreicka can be contacted at aondreicka@kscequinox.com

With the chaos that surrounded Keene’s 24th annual Pumpkin Festival came the accompanied national exposure from various news stations, online news outlets and social media sites.  

Media coverage spread well across the U.S. with stories appearing across seas as well.

“My heart really hurt yesterday [Oct. 18]. I think we got such bad attention … We were in the news for all the wrong reasons. I think it was a really small amount of people who ruined it for a lot of the student body,” Keene State College Senior Kathleen Kanaley said, speaking on the riots that flooded the City of Keene that Saturday Oct. 18.

CNN, BBC.com, The Boston Globe, ABC News, FOX News, WMUR, MTV.com, The Huffington Post and USA Today were among the many stations and websites that reported on the actions of rioters outside of the Pumpkin Fest area that Saturday.

The New York Times featured a story briefly describing the riotous behavior that engulfed the streets of Keene, as Jess Bidgood wrote, “Video and photos posted to social media on Saturday and Sunday showed revelers knocking over street signs, setting boxes on fire, standing triumphantly atop an overturned car and chanting obscenities at the police, who moved in formation to disperse them.”

News traveled as far as Colorado, California and even extended worldwide as rt.com, a site that delivers the “latest news and current events from around the world,” posted an article that allowed access in the U.K. and Russia.

Riots were also featured on Time.com, The Denver Post and The Los Angeles Times.

“I just think social media is blowing it out of proportion — almost one hundred percent. The fact that I’ve heard that Pumpkin Fest has reached Russia, or Colorado or even national news, I mean, that’s pretty ridiculous,” Ashley DeFilippo, a senior at Keene State College, stated.

WMUR reported that “Police from as far away as Laconia, UNH and Massachusetts responded [to the riots] along with New Hampshire state police and Keene police.”

“Police in riot gear used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse a large crowd at Keene, New Hampshire’s 24th annual Pumpkin Festival Saturday night,” according to CNN.

“Dozens of individuals were arrested, and ambulances were summoned to deal with myriad injuries,” Alex Heigl wrote in a People.com article on Oct. 19, describing the New Hampshire riots.

Matt Pearce of The Los Angeles Times also reported on the destruction as he wrote, “A quaint pumpkin festival in New Hampshire ended with tear gas, street fires and at least one flipped car on Saturday as mobs of college students and young people turned parts of the town of Keene into a free-for-all.”

A GoFundMe page has since been made for the owner of the flipped car, who was identified as Tyler Bagdonas.

“All my friends said Pumpkinfest is a blast and that I should head up there, so I was pumped … I was walking around with my friend during the later part of the night during the riots when I saw my car was flipped over and totaled for no reason,” a DJ from the weekend quoted Bagdonas on the GoFundMe page.

Bagdonas continued to describe his unfortunate situation as he said, “I go to school full time and work 25 hours a week making $9 dollars an hour, and for me, my car was my only good asset. My policy with my insurance company does not cover me for the damages and I need my car to get to work 35 minutes away and to then commute to school after.” As of Oct. 21, the page had been shared 4,900 times and had raised over $4,200 dollars. The goal was $3,800.

Tim Smith / Equinox Staff

Matthew Paskov, vice president of Phi Mu Delta at Keene State College, spoke at an all-campus forum held in the Mabel Brown Room of KSC late on Oct. 20.

Paskov noted that KSC students cannot go on acting like the social media coverage that occurred is abnormal.

“The fact that this is the first time we got media coverage for it [riotous behavior] is kind of astonishing. We can’t pretend like this is a one-time view,” Paskov said.

The Keene Pumpkin Fest had already made national news several months prior, as Stephen Colbert reported on the City of Keene’s decision to obtain a Lenco Bearcat on his show “The Colbert Report.”

According to The Boston Globe, John Oliver also covered Keene’s Bearcat on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” “where he bemoaned in August the military arming of police forces,” Globe writer Jaclyn Reiss wrote.  Reiss noted that Oliver’s audience laughed at the “terrorism threat” the City of Keene cited as the reason for the Bearcat.  “Good luck out-maneuvering that, teenagers with baseball bats,” Oliver said.

While many news stations and online journalists covered the occurrences of the event, many people took to social media sites to express their opinions regarding the actions of the rioters.

A Facebook page named KSC Students Shine was created by an unknown Keene community member the day of the festival, stating its purpose as “Keene residents coming together to assist ALL involved accountable.”

The page’s popularity grew significantly within 24 hours of its creation, gaining well over 2,000 likes by late Sunday evening.

The page became a place for venting and opinions from people involved and people who were not, with many arguing over who exactly is to blame.

Photos of rioters and any destruction that resulted from the riots were posted in an effort to identify the people involved.

Members of the page researched and posted the names of people shown and included their current residential location and affiliated school.

A woman listed as Amanda Heger tracked down one rioter who tweeted that he “flipped a car.”

Heger then found his employer and his employer’s phone number and sent this message to them, accompanied by a photo of the tweet: “This is a tweet from one of your loser apprentices that he flipped a car in Keene [New Hampshire] over the weekend at the Keene Pumpkin Festival. Thought you should know how mature he is!”

Keene State College President Anne Huot released a statement Oct. 19 that said the college is “actively working to identify the individuals who participated in unlawful behavior, and those who are identified will be held accountable.”

The statement continued, “We are reviewing images, videos, media coverage, social media postings and information we have about off-campus residences. The most serious offenders will face interim suspension, followed by conduct action up to and including, expulsion.”

It was suggested by a Boston Globe witness and several people on the KSC Students Shine page that much of the damage that occurred was not in fact caused by KSC students.

Screenshots from the app Yik Yak, an anonymous social media app much like Twitter, began to surface depicting “yaks” from the University of New Hampshire.

Several of the messages read, “Everybody’s ragging on the Keene riots but the truth remains that a large portion of the kids rioting were from UNH,” and continued with, “Straight trashed Keene this weekend and then came home to our beautiful campus.”

Twitter saw a different angle on the riots, as pictures of the destruction and chaos spread rapidly.

“It was high comedy. Twitter had great fun with mocking and calling out the foolishness of the white pumpkin rioters,” Chauncey DeVega stated on AlterNet.org.

These tweets eventually lead to comparisons between the riots outside of Pumpkin Fest to that of Ferguson, Missouri.

The account @bassem_masri tweeted on Oct. 19, “#WhitePrivelege is alive #pumpkinfest or #PumpkinRiot had no purpose #Ferguson has important purpose #Justice #WTF.”

Twitter account @callmetrademark added several hours later, “The kids at #keenestate threw beer cans at cops and got arrested. Mike Brown threw his hands up and caught SIX shots.”

In an article on politicsusa.com, Justin Baragona commented on the comparison in what he labeled “Media’s Overt Racism.”

He wrote, “As was pointed out by many on Twitter, the amount of damage caused in a few hours by drunk students far outweighs what has occurred in Ferguson over two-plus months … Let’s face it. The racial disparity in the coverage is obvious and, quite frankly, sickening.”

AlterNet.org’s DeVega connected back to the hashtag #whiteprivilege, writing, “Saturday’s riots by white college students at Keene State College’s annual Pumpkinfest is a priceless example of white privilege and white racism as a type of social practice and habit.”

DeVega continued to discuss the differences between the media’s portrayals of Ferguson and Pumpkin Fest and the responses to both.

“Black folks who are protesting with righteous rage and anger in response to the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson have been called ‘thugs’ and ‘animals,’ … Privileged white college students who riot at a pumpkin festival are ‘spirited partiers,’ ‘unruly’ or ‘rowdy,” DeVega wrote. While many continued to argue over who is to blame for the riots, some sites chose to highlight the Campus Cleanup event that took place early morning on Sunday, Oct. 19.

“Meanwhile, hundreds of students, appearing to be far more than the number participating in Saturday’s riots, volunteered Sunday morning to clean up the Keene State campus and surrounding area in response to a Facebook post,” Jeremy C. Fox of The Boston Globe wrote.

Fox stated that a student approached an out-of-state resident who sought to enjoy the festival with her step-daughter and said, “I just want to formally apologize for what happened.”

Facebook and Twitter saw KSC students and Keene State College’s own accounts publishing statuses of their own, urging the world to recognize KSC as more than the face-valued destructive town.

“I feel like it’s giving Keene such a bad reputation. But they’re [the media] not looking at anything Keene’s done in the past year that’s over-the-top or amazing, so for this negative thing I think the media is just taking the wrong things from it,” DeFilippo said.

Posting photos from the campus cleanup, Keene State College wrote on their Facebook page,

“We’d like very much to show the world that Keene State is a valuable asset to our local, regional and global communities.”

The page joined others in sharing a Boston Globe article from Oct. 19 covering the cleanup, noting that, “This is the Keene State that we know.”

Alexa Ondreicka can be contacted at aondreicka@keene-equinox.com

Videos of a street lamp being shaken down, people overturning a car, police barricades, helicopters and text messages telling people to go home manifested at this year’s annual Pumpkin Fest, as festivities located around Keene State College took a turn for the worse this past Friday and Saturday Oct. 17 and 18.

In the Keene Police log from Saturday Oct. 18, several disturbances, liquor law violations and requests to keep the peace were cited, with arrests made.

Although no numbers have been confirmed, CNN affiliates in a CNN article reported “dozens of arrests” and the Southwest New Hampshire Mutual Aid Dispatch Center reported “multiple ambulances being sent to the scene.”

Early Saturday morning mass text messages were sent out from the college to the student body, urging students to return to their residences.

“The number and size of gatherings tonight are unsafe conditions placing you and local residents in harms way. Please return to your residences immediately,” the messages read, “Ongoing distributive behavior will result in significant disciplinary action. The current situation is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

The text messages ended with numbers for the Keene Police Department and KSC Campus Safety being provided, asking students to “look out for each other.”

Kelsey Osborn / Contributed Photo

The events on Saturday escalated as the day progressed, with The Boston Globe citing bottles thrown, street signs being uprooted and things being set on fire.  The article stated witnesses said “police responded in force, with canine units, SWAT gear, tear gas, tasers and pepper spray.”

CNN quoted New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan in a released statement which read, “State and local public safety officials are on the scene and have been working closely together to defuse the situation. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide any assistance necessary to Keene.”

A witness quoted in an article from The Boston Globe suggested that a majority of the destruction was caused from out-of-state visitors as they stated, “Thousands of students and visitors pour in from out of town for the event, and witnesses said most of the disruption was caused by college students from surrounding schools, including the University of New Hampshire, the University of Rhode Island and University of Massachusetts.”

However, President Anne Huot noted that she and the college are “mindful that Keene State students played a part in this behavior,” and stated that individuals involved will be held accountable for their actions.

“I am saddened and disheartened at the events surrounding this year’s Keene Pumpkin Festival,” President Huot said in the released statement, “Despite the concerted efforts of organizers, city officials, police, and Keene State College, there continued to be disruptive behavior at parties in multiple locations around the city, injuries, and property damage.”

President Huot continued, “Yet, despite the well-coordinated plan and best intentions of so many, including weeks of communicating to students parents, meetings with landlords, and coordinating efforts with local and state authorities, together, we were unable to influence the outcome of this event that was predetermined a year ago.”

“This is an issue that we can only solve together and we, at Keene State College, are eager to renew in earnest the conversation that leads to meaningful change,” Huot said.

At least 75 to 100 students, faculty and Keene residents arrived early to campus on Sunday morning, Oct. 19 to help clean up the campus and city streets, according to KSC student Marisa Morrison. Morrison was eager to shed light on the reasoning behind what was dubbed “Campus Cleanup.”

“I think it’s important that we show the public that we do love this town and this community and a majority of the damage done was not done by Keene State students and that we can shed light on the bad things that happened by doing what we can to fix it,” Morrison stated, “It hit a lot of people hard that this isn’t just a tradition to the college but it’s a tradition to the families in the area and knowing that that might not happen anymore is heartbreaking. That’s why we did it.”

See this week’s Oct. 23 edition of The Equinox for more coverage on Pumpkin Fest and its aftermath.

From late-July to late-August, many people began to notice Facebook friends dumping buckets of ice water over their heads, with videos to prove it.  

Dubbed the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge,” soon people without Facebooks — parents, siblings alike — also joined in on the newest internet “fad” that had swept the nation.

The challenge, in short, requires those nominated to dump a bucket of ice water over their heads or donate money to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis [ALS] Association.

Also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, ALS is a “progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord,” according to the ALSA.org website.

While the fundraising part of this challenge was originally severely overlooked, sentimental and eye-opening videos from ALS patients and families themselves began making their way around the internet, prompting millions of Facebook users and even celebrities to get involved and make donations.

However, with no way to guarantee a person actually donated money, challengers often got by without lifting a cent out of their pockets.

Sean Crater / Webmaster

“Although probably eighty-percent of the people doing videos have not been involved in donating a cent, it is undeniable that the videos have spread awareness to the point that the ALS foundation has raised millions more than they have in a long time,” Arian Deihim, said ,

Deihim appeared to be right on that point.

As of Sept. 4, the Ice Bucket Challenge assisted the ALS Association in raising $108.4 million over the course of 30 days—a drastically different number from the $2.8 million the association had made over the same amount of time the year prior, according to their ALSA.org website.

“Every advertising company in the country is kicking themselves for not thinking this up first,” Deihim said.

But what was it about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that made it so successful?

Why did it strike so many people’s attention?

In a Forbes.com article, contributing writer Rick Smith suggested that there are three easy explanations: it was big, it was simple and it was selfless.

“Big ideas get noticed; Selfless ideas inspire action; Simple ideas write us into the story,” Smith wrote.

Smith continued, “Understand how to make your ideas big, selfless and simple and you will be able to control growth.”

Senior and Environmental Science major Marisa Morrison suggested that it was the originality of the challenge that led to its status of international sensation.

“I think it went viral because it was a different way to raise awareness, it wasn’t just—’oh look at this sad video and give us your money’; we don’t respond well to that. We respond to things that are outrageous. That’s why I think it worked so well,” Morrison said.

Every success story, however, comes with its fair share of controversy.

Much of the criticism found on the Internet surrounding the latest phenomenon raises questions regarding where the money being donated is actually being spent.

On their ALSA.org website, the ALS Association has clarified that they spend a total of 79 percent on programs and services.

If any supporter, it clarifies, would like to see 100 percent of their donations go towards research, all they would have to do is check a box on their online donation form, or call and request it personally.

Junior Emily Fennes, president of Circle K, Keene State College’s on-campus organization for volunteer work and fundraising, had her own input about the challenge.

“Even though some people may argue that the challenge is pointless because there is not a 100 percent donation rate, the ALS Association has still seen a dramatic increase in not only monetary donations but most importantly awareness and support,” Fennes said.

The ALS Association’s website also provides a clear and simple pie chart depicting how all of the donated money gets separated.

In 2014, 7 percent of their money went to administration, 14 percent to fundraising, 19 percent to patient and community services, 28 percent to research and a total of 32 percent to public and professional education.

As President of Circle K, Fennes said she believes that the use of social media in fundraising efforts is something that is unavoidable in today’s society.

“I think we live in a world where technology and the media are a huge part of our lives,” Fennes said.

Fennes continued, “For a group, whether it’s a small group on a college campus or the ALS Association, getting the word out about a cause is simpler with the help of social media.”

Morrison shared a similar opinion, noting that the use of social media not only helped tremendously in the fundraising for ALS, but also in raising awareness on a disease that was before unrecognized.

“I think that using social media as a gateway to spread knowledge is the best thing about it when [it’s] done for good and not politics, or something that can be offensive,” Morrison said.

Morrison continued, “People are going to oppose it because there will always be those people who don’t want to do what everyone else is doing, or they think of things, like ‘Oh, well why is this only for ALS? There’s millions of other illnesses out there,’ and they have a right to that opinion,” Morrison said.

Deihim also understood the controversial conversation that surrounds the challenge today, suggesting the possibility that the good intentions of the Ice Bucket Challenge were masked by the internet sensation.

“I think the main thing that is upsetting people is that ALS is a serious disease, but the ice bucket challenge has become this kind of viral joke and people have lost sight of the fact that the original purpose was to raise money for the foundation,” Deihim said.

At the end of the day, the Ice Bucket Challenge brought awareness of ALS into the lives of anyone connected to social media.

Fennes admitted that without the challenge, she doubted many people would have known about this disease at all.

Fennes explained, “Before this challenge popped up all over our Facebook home pages, how many of us actually knew that this neurodegenerative disease inflicts pain on about 30,000 Americans currently, or even what ALS is?”

Fennes continued, “I can honestly say that I did not, but the constant posts that raised awareness to millions of people made me realize how important [it is that] we spread the awareness about not only this terrible disease but others as well.”

Alexa Ondreicka can be contacted at aondreicka@keene-equinox.com.

As the 2013-14 Keene State College catalog year comes to a close, it allows  students time to reflect on the past nine months.

For seniors, time to reflect on their last year before entering the “real world.”

For freshmen, with their first year of higher education coming to a close, time to reflect on the major changes and challenges they’ve faced—the good, the bad and the learning experiences.

The transition period between home and college often proves difficult for many and for exercise science major Marissa Costello, this experience was no exception.

Erin D’Aleo / Graphic Design Editor

“I remember it was like the first week, I literally cried every night because I missed my parents so much, and my brothers,” Costello said.

Costello was joined at KSC by her twin, management major Rebecca Costello, both freshmen on the KSC women’s soccer team.  They both noted that with the help of their teammates, their transition into college was made easier.

“My experience here coming in as a freshman…I was kind of nervous to join the soccer team because it seemed like they were already like a family and I was kind of like an outsider. But they were wicked nice, they took me and my sister in immediately; they made us feel right at home,” Marissa  said.

Marissa and Rebecca, both students from Meriden, Connecticut, said that a large part in their enjoyable transition was the city of Keene itself.

“I love Keene. I really don’t want to go home. I love the people here, I love the friends I made, the memories and stuff.  I can’t wait to go back and see my family — that’s the only thing…I miss my family because we’re two hours away. But here, I just love it. I love the school, I love the atmosphere, I love my teachers and everything,” Rebecca said.

Marissa added that she enjoys the home-like feel Keene provides.

“Downtown Keene is just so nice, like [during] Pumpkin Fest…the town is kind of a family. It’s a lot homier than a city or out on a farm,” said Marissa.

Aryanah Haydu, a freshman nursing major, spoke on behalf of freshmen as a whole and said, “Yeah, it’s definitely a big adjustment at first. A lot of people are not sure exactly what they want to do, so it’s difficult to decide I guess, until you’re actually in it and you’re taking the classes and figuring everything out.” Haydu continued, “I think by the end of the year you definitely figure out what you’re interested in and not.”

Haydu, however, was not as comfortable at KSC when she first started the year, saying she had originally planned on transferring. “I did apply to a few different schools, because I’m in the nursing program currently and I wasn’t positive about it here so I wanted to look at other options. But in the end I didn’t really want to have to start all over and I liked the people that are here so I decided to stay,” Haydu said.

Haydu stated that much of her unsettlement was due to her major, saying that her parents “kind of pushed me into it [nursing].”

“[KSC’s nursing program] is relatively new, so I was looking at kind of more-esteemed programs at bigger schools, but then I decided I liked the size of this school, I liked the people that I met; the campus. I got used to everything. So, I think I’m just going to switch my major instead,” Haydu said.

The transition into freshmen year was more difficult for Education major Erin Severns to bear.

“The transition for me was not as easy. Even though I’m only two hours away, being away from family was very hard at times,” Severns said.

She has since decided to transfer out of KSC, not due to academic dissatisfaction.

Severns added, “My classes were all very good and I had great professors, especially my first semester. I hated feeling so distant from my family.”

For other freshmen, KSC was just the right fit.

Heather Wittmer, education major, said her adjustment was easier than others, despite being seven hours away from her home in Long Island, N.Y.

“It was very easy for me to adjust. Me being seven hours from home I thought it would be a lot more difficult, but everyone was very welcoming and made me feel very comfortable here,” Wittmer said.

Wittmer continued to note that finding balance between academics and leisure time is key and said, “My course load wasn’t bad. As long as you keep up with your work and go to class it isn’t difficult to maintain.”

Wittmer continued, “Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean it’s one big party all the time. You need to take your academics seriously, or these next couple years are going to be challenging.”Satisfied, Wittmer, like many others at the college, plans on returning to KSC in the fall for the second 2014 semester. “My first year here was awesome. I made a lot of friends and met a lot of great people. The experience was more than I expected, in a good way of course. I couldn’t have asked for a better first year,” Wittmer said.

Alexa Ondreicka can be contacted at aondreicka@keene-equinox.com.

As April 21 marked the beginning of Earth Week on the Keene State College campus, it also marked the milestone of an achievement for some members of the community.

“What we have accomplished is — since they’ve been installed — we’ve averted over 400,000 bottles from being purchased and recycled and all of the energy involved in that,” Diana Duffy, coordinator of energy and administrative services said.

The 400,000-plus plastic bottles that have been saved from being purchased are all thanks to the bottle-filling stations that have been implemented into fifteen buildings across campus, according to Duffy.

“I think from a sustainability point of view, [the goal] was to encourage people to use their own bottles; to stop the madness of buying bottled water,” Duffy said.

Duffy continued, “So much of bottled water is tap water anyway, that is being shipped and trucked. The energy that we even spend just on moving water when we have pretty good water right here in Keene [is important].”

Campus Sustainability Officer Mary Jensen said she hopes this accomplishment will help to bring awareness of Keene’s own water consumption.

Jensen said, “I want people to be conscious of water in general. You know, we’ve got a huge drought going on in California still, and we’re using up aquifer water in other parts of the country quicker than it can be replenished. We can live without oil — we cannot live without water. We need to be more thoughtful and careful about the water that we use and how we use it.”

A major step in creating this awareness for those on campus are the bottle-fillers located throughout campus.

Relatively new, these bottle-fillers help to not only provide a healthier  alternative than bottled water, but also reduce the number of plastic bottles that are continuously hurting the environment.

According to Jensen, Campus Ecology implemented the first on-campus bottle filler back in August of 2011, in hopes of creating a lasting legacy on the campus. Jensen said, “They [Campus Ecology] started talking about what their options were, and I was at another school where I saw one of those bottle-filling stations and suggested that as a legacy project.”

Jensen also noted the first bottle-filling station was completely paid for by Campus Ecology; a cost that typically runs from $1,000 to $1,200.

Cassidy Hunkins / Equinox Staff

According to Jensen, many other residential halls have also followed suit, offering to cover the cost in hopes of getting a bottle-filler in their own buildings.

“I see students coming back from Walmart with cases of bottled water, and it’s ridiculous because the water in Keene is good,” Jensen said.

Jensen continued, “I hate bottled water because it’s expensive, it’s not tested as well, it’s bad for the environment and it creates litter.”

Bill Rymes, Supervisor of Plumbing and Heat Plant Operations, confirmed that KSC’s water supply is actually a much better option than others.

Rymes said, “We have great water in Keene. The water that comes into the campus buildings is from the city of Keene. It [the water] comes from two different sources: underground wells, and a reservoir in the next town over in Roxbury, New Hampshire. The water goes into a water treatment plant from the reservoir. So it goes through this whole process, then it goes in through all these machines and we filter it off with the final filtration and make sure it’s all good and clean.  So, then people are using a healthier alternative which is, you know, reusable plastic bottles.”

Jensen said she hopes to bring awareness to students of KSC, an idea supported by many programs in the college.

Junior Michelle Luu said her professor speaks of the college’s green campus often.

“In my class right now [Global Environmental Change] we’ve talked about how they’re [KSC] trying to be aware and conscious of getting organic foods for the D.C.,” Luu said.

She continued to note that Keene is a city that makes a conscious effort to be more eco-friendly. She said, “The city does too. We’re talking in class how there’s bad smog in the winter, but Keene is trying to be more eco-friendly and healthier for the environment.”

Kristen Hunyadi, a senior political science major, acknowledges KSC’s efforts towards a green environment.

“I think we do more than a lot of colleges, I know the TDS building is super eco-friendly. And I think they do a good job at raising awareness,” Hunyadi said.

The idea that Keene, and even New England, is a very environmentally sound place to live is one that Jensen hopes students will realize during their years there.

Jensen said, “We’re really fortunate here in this part of the country and this part of the world; we have lots of water, so we’re not cautious about our water because we see it everywhere — we’ve got rivers, we’ve got lakes — it feels very rich in water. But you know we do have really good water here, and we want to encourage people to be drinking the water that’s available because it’s less expensive, it’s tested more frequently than bottled water is — drinking water is good for you, it’s a healthy thing to do.”

Jensen continued, “But people leave Keene and then go out into the wider world. I always feel like our job, especially in sustainability, is to educate students on what their behaviors are like so that when they go out into the world, they’ve got some know-how into how the rest of the world works.”

Alexa Ondreika can be contacted at aondreicka@keene-equinox.com.

When the Common Ground Multicultural Club joined with Multicultural Student Support and met at the beginning of the year, their goal was to expand the student body’s minds on multiculturalism and diversity.

That’s when Harpreet Kaur, a Keene State College nursing major, suggested they bring the Holi event to KSC.

Brittany Ballantyne / Administrative Executive Editor:
Holi is a Hindu color festival that took place on Keene State College Campus Thursday, April 17. Students threw colored powder into the air that symbolized forgiving their past mistakes.

Holi, otherwise known as the festival of colors, is an ancient Hindu ritual that typically takes place at the beginning of each spring.  Kaur described Holi as,  “A festival of colors; they [participants] throw powdered color at each other and they celebrate the coming of spring and the harvest. Before Holi, they threw a bonfire just to get together and celebrate the food that they gathered throughout the winter and the food that they will plant during the spring.”

Yadap Rijal, a freshman architecture major, is an experienced player in Holi, as he grew up in India.  “I’ve played it before. I was born and raised in Nepal and I played it there every year,” Rijal said.

Rijal continued, “Every year, whenever it happens, you just gather around with your friends and two groups of friends really just go at it tagging each other with colors and the other friend gets mad at you and tags you back with a color.”  Rijal explained this would normally occur right outside his house and along the streets.

The members of KSC Multicultural Student Support may not have been able to have a traditional Holi festival along the streets of Keene, but their display was impressive just the same.

On Thursday afternoon they met on the Lloyd P. Young Student Center lawn and kicked off the Holi event.

Traditional Indian music played over the speakers while bags of powdered colors were provided to the students who chose to participate; a number which increased as the event occurred.

Throughout the next hour students joined in at the chance to throw the colors into the air which, according to Kaur, symbolizes letting go and forgetting the past.

The goal is to move on and welcome the thought of a new beginning—all aspects of the festival which were explained by Kaur and Rijal as they MC’d the event.

Brittany Ballantyne / Administrative Executive Editor:
A ‘Holi’ participant is covered in colored powder during the color festival outside the student center.

I even saw students who had not planned to attend the event stop from their daily route past the student center to join in, whether they were properly prepared in their attire or not.

“I didn’t know what was going on. I was walking by, I got clobbered in the face with what tasted like athlete’s foot mixed with flowers and I was like, ‘Alright it looks like this is what my next stop will be for the next forty-five minutes,’” said KSC student Kevin Fry. Fry said he joined the crowd of colors despite his attire of a flannel and khaki pants.

Like Fry and myself, students were drawn in by the array of flying colors dancing through the air and the sheer happiness exuberated from the crowd.

I didn’t see many people who were able to pass by without stopping in awe, quickly capturing pictures with their phones and questioning what was going on.

“We’re having a blast out here. Look around, everyone’s smiling, we got this crazy food we’re eating, we got dancers coming up from Boston. It’s all the right kind of messages that you want from when you go to college,” Fry said, who  also said he was impressed with the array of Indian food provided as well as the New England Bhangra dance group.

The New England Bhangra Group travelled in from Boston to entertain the crowd with traditional Indian folk dances.

Fry continued, “You gotta give credit where credit is due to a festival as mindlessly joyful as this one is.”

Kaur found me afterwards extremely pleased with the event, despite a few behind-the-scenes rough patches.

She stated, “I think it was a success. There were a lot of people who participated. The dancers came in late, but everybody still got to experience another culture and that was what we wanted.”

Brittany Ballantyne / Administrative Executive Editor:
KSC students hand out colored powder at the Holi Festival of Colors on the student center lawn, Thursday, April 17. The event also featured the New England Bhangra dance group from Boston, who performed traditional Indian folk dances.

This was true even for those who did not participate.

Multiple students came up to me and other participants asking what was going on and what it meant. This foreign culture was suddenly being spread across campus in a unique and memorable way.

“It was unbelievable.  I don’t know how many other campuses in this country do this — literally, I was going from one place to another on campus and you get swept up in this visceral, physical representation of this cultural procreation,” Fry said.

Sandra Garcia, coordinator of Multicultural Student Support at KSC, said that while they try to differentiate the cultures they choose to highlight each year.

“I think this one we would like to do every year.  It’s a lot of fun, and I think it brings a different aspect of different cultures,” Garcia said.

Fry agreed and said he hopes Holi returns for many years to come.

Fry said with the access to technology available today, we are able to experience cultures from across the globe right in our own backyard.

I think it’s important to acknowledge the growing diversity that so many people are still unaware of.

Fry said it well —“We do live in a diverse place. A lot of people think of New Hampshire as ‘Oh, kind of a snow town, a lot of white people,’ but it’s getting increasingly diverse. And the more you delve into those cultures and subcultures, as tiny as they may be, the more beautiful we always end up finding out they are.”

Alexa Ondreicka can be contacted at aondreicka@keene-equinox.com