The Community Kitchen in Keene is looking for donations of food from their wishlist. The Mason Library has decided to give students a mutually beneficial incentive to give back to the community and pay any outstanding fines they might have accrued throughout the semester.

Access Services Manager at Mason Library Jeff Kazin found Food for Fines at a place where he worked previously. The purpose of the program is simple, to give food donations in exchange for overdue fines on anything that you can rent out from the Mason library.

Emily Perry / Equinox staff

The fines usually are pretty small, said Kazin, the maximum fine a student can accrue is ten dollars. Although it is rare, if the library decides to take the fine to the bursar’s office, a hold can be put on their student account.

“One of the benefits of the Food for Fines program goes beyond the food that people who need it get but it’s also a benefit for students because the way we do it is designed to be a ‘good deal’ so to speak,” said Kazin. “Ultimately the way it’s supposed to work is that we will get food from the students for the Community Kitchen and they get a break on their fines.”

Kazin said that even though a bag of ramen and a canned vegetable is usually less than a dollar, students get a full dollar off their fines, which works out to being a money saver and also a charitable act.

It is not just students who are getting involved in fulfilling the Community Kitchen’s wishlist, various departments in the college donated Thanksgiving baskets this year.

Executive Director of the Community Kitchen Phoebe Bray, said, “I think [food for fines] is a great idea. It’s non judgemental… It’s just an awareness raising thing. I don’t think the average person actually realizes how hard it is if you are on a reduced budget… So we just help people stretch their budget so they have enough food.”

While the American Farm Bureau Federation reports a decrease in the amount a Thanksgiving dinner cost families this year, the numbers still add up to about five dollars per person for only one meal. That can be incredibly stressful to families who are lower income, said Bray.

Students looking to go beyond simply donating cans, can visit the Community Kitchen and sign up for service hours.

Coordinator of community service Jessica Gagne Cloutier said, “Anything like that can continue to stock the kitchen in particular is really important.”

She said that this time of year people are more willing to give to groups like the Community Kitchen because of the giving spirit. “Having enough to carry them not just through the holidays, when people maybe are more likely to give, but also through those months when people are not very likely to give is really important.”

Their need has grown, she said, “So it’s really great to be able to find ways for our campus to engage with the community in ways that are really critically important that meet people’s basic needs but also have some reciprocal benefits for our students.”

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com

The Holiday Lantern Market and Bazaar came to Keene State College’s L.P. Young Student Center for the first time on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Angelique Inchierca / photo editor

Around 50 vendors from all over New England set up booths selling different antiques, vintage clothing, repurposed furniture, health and beauty products and holiday gifts.

Proprietress of Vintage Label Co. LLC and Fourth Generation “Picker” Maria Amarosa hosted the event.

She said she was searching out venues for a holiday event when she came across the Student Center.

She said the venue fit just what she was looking for.

“These events are true to my heart but they also are to just bring back what vintage and holiday decor and antiques mean to people… I build a relationship with so many vendors that it made sense to bring an event like this to New Hampshire,” Amarosa said.

By mid afternoon, Amarosa said she was excited by how well the event was running.

“I was sceptical at first because I didn’t know what to expect… But everyone is so supportive and so in awe,” she said. “The students are fabulous and so respectful… I couldn’t ask for much better.”

Amarosa said she would be looking to bring the event back in the upcoming years.

Angelique Inchierca / photo editor

Sarah Stanley works at one of the booths featured at the fair.

Bird Brain Vintage is a vintage clothing boutique based out of Massachusetts.

The booth had everything from vintage t-shirts and sweaters to costume pieces and old trinkets.

Stanley said, “There’s been a lot of foot traffic, a lot of people looking at stuff… My mom really likes to sell to college aged kids because that’s the kind of people who wear the clothes she likes so there’s been really good responses. I think one of the most expensive pieces sold was to a college student.”

Stanley said she liked the venue and that it was very open and welcoming.

KSC Conference and Event Service Manager Misty Kennedy said she is in charge of finding events and renting out spaces to people looking to bridge the gap between the community and the college.

“It’s extremely important [to get students involved in these types of events],” said Kennedy. “One of the largest messages that we gave to Maria and her team, were two things. We needed to make sure that not only would students feel welcome and this might be something that would be of interest to them. But also, it could not impede them if they weren’t.”

Students and staff members did not have to pay the entrance fee to get into the Holiday Lantern Market and Bazaar.

“We are always asking ourselves how do these events benefit the students and the current culture and the community we build,” said Kennedy. “Because we always want to be connecting the mission and vision of Keene State and the student body to what is going on in the community.”

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com

Ingredients:

Alyssa Salerno / Student Life Editor

• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 6 tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 oz. jar cheese wiz or sauce
• 2 packages chopped broccoli (thawed and squeezed)
• 3 eggs well beaten
• Bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Fry onions in 4 tbsp. butter
2. Add flour and water once the onions are slightly browned
3. When the mixture has thickened add the cheese sauce
4. Combine the broccoli and the sauce
5. Add in the eggs
6. Mix super well so every broccoli is covered in eggs and cheese
7. Pour in greased casserole dish
8. Top with bread crumbs mixed with the remaining butter
9. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45-50 minutes

Tips:

• This is a great side dish but if you want, you can add chicken to it to make it a full on dinner.
• This does not last a super long time in the fridge but it can be frozen

Otter Brook State Park – 10 minute drive from campus

Laura Romaniello / Art Director

Great for sightseeing and walking, but not so much for hiking. There is a beach up the road past the dam that is nice for laying out in the sun.

There are a lot of good places to explore here. You can walk out on the dam itself or walk to the end of the road and down to the water. Wear sneakers though, there is a lot of tall grass. Good for all people regardless of hiking experience.

Monadnock State Park – 35 minute drive from campus

This is a serious hike. Do not start the hike at noon unless you bring a flashlight because you will be hiking down in the dark. Give yourself a solid five or six hours to complete this hike. It’s a long one, but it is so worth it, the views are breathtaking. Good for people in moderate shape, if you are not you will make it to the top with a little determination but you will be sore the next day.

Rhododendron State Park – 25 minute drive from campus

This state park has a few hiking trails but honestly it is mostly leisurely walks. When the flowers are in bloom, parts of this park are fragrant and absolutely beautiful. There are a ton of different trails so you never have to take the same one twice. Good for all people regardless of hiking experience.

Pisgah State Park – 40 minute drive from campus

This park has a little bit of everything. You can hike, walk in a leisurely way, have a picnic, bring your dog, the options are pretty endless in New Hampshire’s largest state park. There are some great sight seeing opportunities at the pond and you can even canoe there. Check out their website for other recreational activities that they allow. Good for all people regardless of hiking experience — check the trail maps before heading out, there are a few longer more difficult hikes

Chesterfield Gorge Natural Area – 15 minute drive from campus

Short but moderately difficult hike (you will be fine, you are as healthy now as you will ever be.) Beautiful views of the gorge. Not necessarily a waterfall but lots of cascading water. It’s a very short but rewarding hike and will clock you in at less than a mile of walking. Good for all people regardless of hiking experience.

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of dried split peas
• 8 cups water
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 medium celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 ham bone with ham
• Carrots (as many or a little as you like) chop them into bit sized pieces
• Directions:

1. Boil the peas in the water for a few minutes and then turn the burner off. Let the peas sit in the water for an hour or two.
2. Add the onion, celery, pepper, and the ham and bone.
3. Bring to soup to a boil then reduce heat and let it simmer for an hour or until the peas are soft.
4. Add the carrots and let it simmer for another 30 minutes.

Tips:

• The longer you cook the soup the more the peas will soften so you can play around with how long you cook it.
• Stir the soup every 20 or so minutes so the bottom of the pan does not burn.
• You can freeze whatever you are not using immediately.

Picking the right major right out of High School can be as hard as it is stressful for a lot of students. Questions race through students’ minds as they try to juggle what they love to do with the amount of money they are spending on higher education. Students also have to think about getting a guaranteed job once they graduate, and if they get a position, how much money they will make from this job.

Anna Heindl / Equinox Staff

Keene State College is one of the many Liberal Arts Colleges in the country. It offers 41 areas of study, and a majority of those are not considered Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs. Sometimes though, once a student has picked their major, their parents express concern about their child’s choices for the future.

Junior Erika Kucks is a theater major with an acting specialization. “I’m at a Liberal Arts College and everyone has different interests, [acting] just happens to be mine… My dad said I was going to be a starving actor and if that’s what I’m going to be then that’s what it’s going to be.”

Kucks has changed her major a few times since coming to KSC and most recently was an elementary education major. She said she needed the change because her major did not make her happy.

“It does worry me and I get stressed about what’s next after college,” said Kucks. “But I think I have so many opportunities.”

Sophomore Rachel Maragnano is a film production major and went through a similar situation with her parents. Maragnano said the way she was able to get them to come around was by having a dinner with her professors and talking about what film production looks like in class and what her options are after college.

“They’ve been kind of excited since then. My mom is also really nervous about it, because she thinks no one can get a job from [film production], but it helped them see that a lot of our film graduates do go on to get good jobs.”

Maragnano said that no matter what the major, “you can definitely show [parents] that what you are doing can actually be important work.”

KSC Academic and Career Advisor Beverly Behrmann said that students shouldn’t worry too much about finding a job that exactly fits their major, as long as they are able to market the skills they have learned during their time in college.

“I hear from recruiters all that time that your major isn’t necessarily important–it’s your experiences. It’s your skills that you bring to the table,” said Behrmann. She said that these “transferable skills” are what employers look for in students that makes them employable.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified four must-have career ready competencies for college graduates. They include critical thinking and problem solving skills, professionalism and work ethic, teamwork, leadership and communication skills, as well as computer skills.

The Office of Academic and Career Advising offers a wide range of options for students to learn about how to market themselves to employers. On top of that, many events they hold throughout the semester is to get students to work on their resume and get them connected with potential employers, they also offer one-on-one resume help.

“I understand the stress and anxiety a parent may have about their child getting a degree and not knowing what to do with it.. But if a student is pushed into something they don’t want to do, there is a potential there for them to fail,” said Behrmann. “If they do something they really love…And they are able to express what they have learned, I’m going to value that as an employer. I’m going to see that you have taken your experiences and you can translate them to the real world context and that’s what is important.”

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com

A half-mile swim, 15-mile bike ride and a three-mile run, a sprint triathlon is just the beginning for one KSC student who has dreams of winning a national race next summer.

Luke Stergiou / senior photographer

KSC first year Aiden Jasmin woke up one morning this summer determined to run a triathlon that was just two weeks away. He had never trained for this type of event before, but had a passion for biking and running. He knew if he set his mind to it, he could do it.

“He’s a really cool person. He’s the type of person who wakes up and says, ‘In two weeks, I’m going to do a triathlon,’ and do it and do well,” said his mother, Heather Jasmin.

Aiden’s parents got him a bike for his high school graduation present. Aiden said he quickly picked up biking, and not only was he good, but he really enjoyed it.

Heather said that for a few weeks, Aiden was talking about doing biking races and then all of a sudden, he just picked a triathlon race that was two weeks away and started training.

Luke Stergiou / senior photographer

“One day, he just said, ‘I think I’m going to do a triathlon,’” said Heather, “and we said, ‘Well that’s a great idea, but you’ve never swam,’ and he said, ‘I can practice.’ So we would go out and practice with him. We live near a lake, so we would go out and the first few times he was like, ‘You’re right, I can’t do this,’ but he kept at it.”

Heather said that this is not a new mind-set for Aiden. “He was like 14 and one day he said, ‘I think I’m gonna go on a run,’ and he had never been before and when he got back, I was like, “You were gone a long time,” and he said he had run to the town over and back. So I got in the car and measured it and it was about seven miles and he had never run before.”

First-year student at St. Lawrence University Matt Manwaring said him and Aiden were running buddies in high school. Manwaring had run a few triathlons before convincing Aiden to compete in the Surry race with him.

“He’s a pretty strong athlete. It takes a lot,” said Manwaring. “He comes out of a decent swim and you never know what to expect with his biking and running because he can really go.”

Luke Stergiou / senior photographer

Over the course of the summer, Aiden competed in four triathlons. In a race he ran in Lowell, he qualified for the National Olympic Triathlon next summer. If he comes in the top 20 in his age group for that race, he could be on his way to International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships in Switzerland.  Aiden played sports growing up, his mother said, and he ran in high school, but she never thought he would go on to be such a high-performing triathlon runner. She said she is so proud of him.

As far as training goes for Aiden, he said he likes how every day is a little different. He said, “Mainly, it’s going to be a lot of swimming and running. Right now, I’m the best in biking, so I’m going to focus on the things that are going to get me to compete with the more elite athletes in the country.” The next race he runs will be an Olympic length triathlon, consisting of a 0.93 mile swim, a 24.8 mile bike, and a 6.2 mile run.

His mom worked with him at Keene State College over the summer. “He would bike home,” she said. “He would work eight hours and then bike home and it’s not a nice 17 miles, it’s all uphill.”

All the training is worth it though, Aiden said. “It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy it. It’s different than other sports because every day you get to train with something different. Today it was running. Tomorrow it will be biking,” Aiden said.

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com

Tuesday, Sept. 12 started the first of many  Career Speaker Series talks. The focus of the first night was on B corps, which are for-profit companies that are certified and held up to strict standards when it comes to their environmental impact, how they treat their employees and their transparency.

Alyssa SAlerno / Student Life Editor

KSC Director of Corporate Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, Daniel Henderson started the talks three years ago. “I felt that students didn’t really know what opportunities existed.. I’ve been reaching out to these businesses so they can learn more about Keene State and we can learn more about them and that’s where opportunities are created,” said Henderson.

The talks are held on the second floor of Rhodes Hall in room 203. There were close to no seats left empty on the first night. KSC senior Harry O’Donoghue said he went because he was interested in learning more about B corporations. “It’s the future of the world. Renewable energy is going to be really popular in the upcoming years and I was interested to know how they treated their employees,” O’Donoghue said.

There were four B corps that came in to talk to students. Director of Market Development at ReVision Energy, Dan Weeks said talking to college students about the growing trend of B corps is something he feels passionately about. “I really think we are way overdue to rethink capitalism,” said Weeks. “So any chance I get to try to convey some of that to folks who are making important life decisions and thinking about where their future is going to be, whether it be with a conventional corporation or a B corp or a non-profit or whatever, I want to urge you as strong as I can to think deeply about it.”

The full schedule and all the speakers are listed on the Career Speaker Series page on keene.edu. The series is held nearly every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. and will be hosting many multi-million dollar companies.

Henderson said he encourages students of all ages to come and interact with the speakers. “Try to come up with some questions. Questions get noticed,” said Henderson. “It doesn’t have to be the best question ever, but the fact that you’re thinking and curious will mean something to people… if it’s something you might be interested in, come with a resume and hang around afterwards. [Companies] are here because they want to recruit students who go to school here.”

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com

Academic and Career Advising held its first event of the year: helping students polish resumes and look for internship and job opportunities.

The career clinic was the first of many events this year aimed toward helping students get jobs after college.

Alyssa Salerno / Student Life Editor

To get students started, Louise Ewing, a career advisor at the office of academic and career advising, said, “[Students] can ideally bring a first draft of a resume. It doesn’t have to be anything wonderful, just a description of things that they’ve done, and it doesn’t have to be just paid employment… so if they do a first draft, that’s a great place to begin.”

Ewing said that oftentimes, students wait until their last year of college to use Academic and Career Advising’s services, but that coming earlier in your time at Keene State can really help students along in their studies.

Academic and Career Advising is open every weekday and offers appointments to students for a variety of reasons, such as getting jobs or internships before or after graduating college.

Career advisors can even help students find what career path is the best for them if they do not know what they want to do after college.

“I hope that students come to visit us early and often,” said Ewing, “not just wait until senior year to come and talk to us because there’s so many wonderful things that they can take advantage of to help them clarify what they want to do once they graduate and we can help them with that.”

Along with career counselors, the career clinic invited Kristin Mehalick, the cooperative internship coordinator at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation and 2011 KSC alumni to talk to students about potential internships and help with their resumes.

“Feel free to contact me,” Mehalick said. “I offer cover letter and resume support and then we work on your application together and I send it to the business and they reach out to the students for an interview.”

At the Career Clinic, Ben Fredericks, a KSC master’s student, said, “I want to boost my resume up as much as possible, so when I get out of my master’s program and back in the career field, I can be a little more marketable.”

Fredericks said he is looking for an internship to fill up his time and also to help him gain real life experience for when he graduates.

“Resumes are your first introductions,” said Fredericks. “It’s really the pinnacle point of if someone is actually going to give you the time for an interview or if you’re just another nobody that has the same stuff as everyone else.”

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com

In most states, it is illegal to have a gun on school property. Now, in North Carolina, lawmakers are opening up to the idea of having gun safety education classes offered as a high school elective. This is a great bill, and all high schools should think about implementing a gun safety course into their curriculum.

House Bill 612 proposes a comprehensive firearms education course in which students will learn the, “history, mathematics, and science related to firearms and firearm safety.” Law enforcement officials and firearm agencies will help to create the curriculum. It is important to note that the bill strictly prohibits the presence of any ammunition to ensure the safety of the students and instructors.

samantha moore/ Art director

It is so important to take care of a gun properly and is something that often gets overlooked and first time gun owners forget about. For example,  Gguns can not be shoved in a closet for three years then used without cleaning them thoroughly. This can cause the gun to misfire and, in extreme cases, can lead to death.

Opponents of this bill say that high school students are too young for such a class. Under federal law, however, people over the age of 18 can buy shotguns and rifles. To put that into perspective, most people turn 18 before graduating their senior year of high school.

This course could be really groundbreaking for future generations of students. In 2015, there were 489 deaths in the United States due to unintentional firearm discharges. Many of those being people under the age of 25.

This course would not be designed to promote gun use or promote students to bring guns to school;, rather, it would teach them how to be safe around guns if they ever were put into that situation.

In high school, health class covers everything from pregnancy prevention, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) and drug awareness, to CPR certification and how to do the heimlich on a person who is choking. I think it would be so smart to add a section on gun violence awareness and gun safety o. Or even have an entire class for students to take if they plan on owning guns and using them. It makes sense. It is something these kids may be exposed to and it’s important to equip them with knowledge that could save their life.

Ignorance is not bliss in this case. Anyone who has ever held and shot a firearm can tell you that the first time is always a little intimidating. In the hands of a user, guns have the power to take a life. It is horrible how many fall victim to gun violence every day. It is even worse to allow more people to die because they are not educated on how to properly handle and take care of a gun.

Alyssa Salerno can be contacted at asalerno@kscequinox.com