Page 1 October 2017

By Katherine Tapia About fifteen Passaic County Community College(PCCC)studentsshowcasedtheirartattheBroadwayGalleryinthePatersoncampus.ThestudentsweremembersoftheGraphicDesignandFineArtsClub. Marcos Salazar, who recently graduated PCCC lastspring,organizedthisproject.ProfessorArdraSpectorwastheadvisor. Thepurposeofthisassignmentwastouseinkandrecy-cledmaterialstoexploreold-schoolgraphicdesignstyles.Somestudentsgotinspirationonline,andsomedesignsfromtheirowncreation.Theartistswereall self-motivatedandexcitedaboutthisproject. Salazarsaidthathe“lovesink”andwantedtosharewithotherstudentswhathehasexperiencedthroughhisworkwithit. “Touse ink,youhave tohavea lotof control. Iwantstudents to have a strong connectionwhen they’re doing thiswork…They never hung up art before, but theyworked veryhard to frame it.Everybodyworked together. [Bydoing this]they’regettingrealexperienceintheartworld,”Salazarsaid. T h einkblocktech-nique is veryversatile andrequires con-c e n t r a t i o n ,attention todetail, and pa-tience to mas-ter.Broadly, thefirst step is tochoose an im-age. Then, theimagegetscopiedtoapieceofwoodusingcarbonpaper.Afterthat,averydetailedcarvingprocessisstarted. Thecarvingprocessisintenseandmaytakedaystocom-plete.Ifrushed,thecarvingmaynotyieldthedesiredresults.Itmustbedonewithmuchprecisiontosecureanaccuratewoodblock. After that, the wood block is dipped in ink, and thenpressed onto old recycled paper. Students used repetition, allthroughouttheirpapers,forthisexhibit. Although the wood block used per work is the same,everystampmarkisinimitable.Sometimes,onlysomedetailswere highlighted.Other times, the saturation seemed uneven,darker,orlighter.Suchplayinhuesandshadesmadetherepre-sentationofthewhole,ineachoneofthepieces,unique. Salazarexplainedsomeofhiswork.“Theinspirationforitwas,asthetitlesays,self-love.Itillustratestheheartofaper-son.They’rehuggingthemselves.I’vebeenfocusingalotlatelyonmyhealth,mywelfare, justa lotof self-love, somyworkcomesfromthere.” ArtistNelsonMartínez,Vice-President of theGraphicDesignandFineArtsClub,alsotalkedabouthisthreeartworks. “Thefirstoneis‘Muerte.’Ienjoydetails,andthesugarskull has lots of it, especially the eyes, forehead, and teeth. Ilikeitssymmetrytoo.Thesecondoneis‘BeautifulNightmare.’Thisonewasnotframedintentionally,toengagetheaudience.Iwantthemtotouchit,feelit.Ilikeitsdetailsandthestorybe-hindit,howonlygooddreamspassbyandthebadonesfall down. I finditpeaceful.” Martínezcontinued. “Thethirdoneis

Block Print: Work of Love and

Patience

Volume LVII Issue 1 The Student Newspaper of Passaic County Community College, Paterson, NJ October 2017

VISIONS P C C C ’ s

OnMay31,2016, from6:30-8:30pm at the cafeteria and Patersonroom alumni of the Human Servicesand professors gathered together tocelebrate thesixteenth An-nual HumanServicesAlum-ni Reunion.Thiseventwasdesigned tounitethemem-bersandformermembers ofPassaic Coun-ty CommunityCollege.Thefaculty helpedprepare this reunion with a dinner.Duringtheevent,thealumniandpro-fessors stood by a podium and gave

speechesofinspiration.Inattendancewere,ProfessorMichael D’Arcangelo, Professor Jen-nifer Gasparino,Antonio Rivera, and

many othersgathered at thereunion.Theeventstartedoffwithalumni walk-ing throughthe entranceandheadingto-wards the caf-eteria,manyofwhich recog-nizedeachoth-er. ProfessorMichaelD’Ar-

cangeloaswellasothersgreeted justabout everyone that walked throughthedoor.

Returning Home: Sixteenth Annual Human Services Alumni Reunion

By Miguel Romero

News.............................Pages 1-4 Editorial.......................Page 2

In This Issue

(Continued on page 3)

(Continued on page 2)

Prof. Gasparino brought a positive and vibrant message to attendees. Photo by Katherine Tapia.

TheAmerican Sign LanguageClub organized several events andactivities for the week of September25-30, in the Main Campus, Broad-way Lobby. Known as Deaf Aware-nessWeek,thismonumentaloccasionshines a light on theAmerican DeafCulture. Forthefirstday,Monday,

September 25th, the American SignLanguage club had an “ASL Festi-val” event where students can learnmore about the Deaf culture, Deafpeople,andAmericanSignLanguage.Theclubhad several carnival-themedgames where anyone can participate.FromSpin theWheel to Roll

Deaf Awareness Week: Language and Deafness

as a Cultural IdentityBy Wildre Paulino

Left to right, Katty Ogden, Wildre Paulino, and Nicholas DiPillo

(Continued on page 3)

Artist Nelson Martínez, proud of his work. Some of his work is unframed, so viewers can touch it and directly interact with it. Photo by Katherine Tapia

Page 2 October 2017News/Editorial

Faculty Staff Advisor:Dr.ChristineRedman-Waldeyer

Editor-in-Chief:KatherineTapia

Associate Editor:StephanyHeilbron

Layout:AlbertBustos

Staff Writers:MartinaFrascaStephanyHeilbronMiguelRomeroKatherineTapia

Contributing Writers:WildrePaulino

Contact us at:visions@pccc.edu

On Friday, September 15, 14 stu-dentsfromtheHonorsProgram,alongwiththe program and trip coordinators, Prof.MarcYeungandProf.AlexandraDellaFera,hadafunapplepickingoutingatDemarestFarmsinBergenCounty.Theorchardwasa short 20-minutedrive fromcampus,yetacresofappletreesmadethegroupofstu-dentsfeel liketheywerein thedeepcoun-tryside.Fromtherustichayrideintotheor-chardtopickingfromtherowsofcountlessapplevarieties,studentsenjoyedfillingtheirbagswith a fall favoritewhile even eatingsomealongtheway! This free trip is one of several thatthe Honors Program offers to its students.The program aims at heightening its stu-dents’culturalliteracy,inadditiontoitsac-ademicpurpose. Formore informationontheHonorsProgram,pleasevisitwww.pccc.edu/honorsprogram.

Back row left to right: Ethan DeRose, Jared Jankowski, Kiara Vega, Jennifer Medrano, Brenda Noriega, Susana Sosa, Ritesh Kumar Rana,

Reema Akash , Erica Russelman, Jessica Ariza, Jasmine Castillo, Prof. Yeung

Front row: Prof. Della Fera, Hailey Votroubek, Peace Okoko, Leslie Rodriguez

Graphic Design and Fine Arts Club members with advisor Professor Adra Spector at the exhibit reception.

Photo by Katherine Tapia

kindle.Thiswasadifferentturn.Ithaslessdetails,somethingoutofmycomfortzone.Still,Ienjoyedit.”Professor Spector, advisor of the GraphicDesign and FineArts Club, said she waspleasedwiththededicationwithwhichstu-dents hadworked, and the self-motivationtheyhadshownintheproject.Shealsocon-sidered thisavaluable learningexperienceinbothhands-onworkandcreativity. “Iwantstudentstofeelthattheycan

expressthemselvesandbecreative.Thisisa high-quality exhibit that could be easilydisplayedanywhere.There is somuch tal-entamongthestudents,”ProfessorSpectorsaid. Theexhibitwillbeondisplayedun-til November 18th, 2017. For informationabout the Graphic Design and Fine ArtsClub, please contact Professor Spector ataspector@pccc.edu.

Block Print: Work of Love and Patience

OnAugust30th2017,PassaicCountyCommunityCollegewel-comedbackcurrentandnewstudents toanother schoolyear.Studentswhohavebeenhereknowthepreparationandroutinetheyneedtohaveasuccessfulsemester,howevernewstudentsarestillfiguringoutthedif-ferencesbetweenhighschoolandcollegelife. Highschoolandcollegeroutineshavetheirsimilaritiesbuttheyalsohavealotofdifferencesthatstudentsarenotawareofwhenwalkingincollegedoorstherefirstday.Thetransitionfromhighschooltocollegecanbeashocktosomestudentswhoarecominginfromexpectingwhattheythoughttheyknewanditturnsouttobesomethingcompletelydif-ferent. Amajordifferencefromhighschooltocollegeisthefactthatstu-dentshavemoreindependenceandalongwithindependencecomesmoreresponsibilityasanadult.Studentshavetheopportunitytoplanouttheirowntimemanagement,takeresponsibilityandprioritizetheiractionsbe-tweentakingclasses,studying,andcompletingtheirhomework. Studentsshouldalsotaketimetocommunicatewiththeirprofes-sors.Thecontactwithteachersinhighschooliscloserandmorefrequentwhereasincollegeitislessfrequentandstudentsmustmaketheeffort. Ahighschoolclasshasalimitedamountofstudentsgraduatingfromeachgradeandit’smostlikelythatstudentswillknowthemajorityoftheirclassmates.Collegestudentsareinanewsituationeverysemes-terwithlittlecarryoverfriendshipgoingfromclasstoclass.Studentsareintroducedtonewclassmateswithachanceofstartingnewfriendships. Procrastinationmighthavebeenapartofmanyhighschoolstu-dents’ liveswhen it came to homework andmayhavebeen easier forstudentstogetawaywith.Althoughitisstillpossibletoprocrastinateincollege,itishardertokeepupwiththeassignmentsandreadingsasthesemestergoesforwardwhichmayaffectyouroverallperformance. TextbooksweretreatedanduseddifferentlyinhighschoolthantheyarehereatPCCC.DependingontheProfessor,atextbookisusuallymandatoryandneededtocompleteassignmentsandtests. Since textbooks are needed and are often expensive, studentsshould take advantage of the opportunity they have with them. Eventhoughtextbooksmaybeapriorityinaclass,manystudentsdonottaketimetoreadandlearnfurtheronthematerialandexpecttoreceivetheinformationfromsearchingforitonlineorinaclasslecturewhichisn’talwayspossible.

Collegelifeteachesstudentstheskillsandresourcestomovefor-wardwiththeiracademicsaswellasimportantlifeskillswemaynotgetinhighschool.

High School Seniors to College FreshmanBy Martina Frasca

Honors Apple Picking Trip

(Continued from page 1)

Page 3 October 2017News

(Continued from page 1)

theDice, thesegamesbringout the com-petitorsideofanyone.Pamphletsandpriz-esweregivenoutas tokens forparticipa-tion. The following event took placeonWednesday,September27th.TheASLclub is conducting an “ASL Restaurant”bake sale fundraiser.Approximately threeyears ago, in Toronto, Canada, a restau-rant called “Signs” opened to the public,inwhich customerswould have a picturemenu;customerswouldsigntotheDeaforhard-of-hearing waiters their meal order.This concept was used by theASL clubwiththeobjectiveofencouragingstudentstouseAmericanSignLanguageasiftheywereorderingatthisrestaurant. ThepurposeofDeafAwarenessWeekistoincreasepublicawarenessofDeafissues,peo-ple,andculture.Therefore,theASLClubwouldlike to share the history of theAmericanDeafCultureand theoriginsofAmericanSignLan-guage. TheAmericanDeafCulturehasexistedforalongtimeandcanbetracedtothe1800s.Its foundationoriginated in1815asa resultofthreeindividualswhocametogetheralmostac-cidentally:Mason Fitch Cogswell, a frustratedbuttenaciousparentwhosedaughter,AliceCog-

swell,becameprofoundlyDeaffrommeningitisat theageof two,ThomasGallaudet,anoratorandminister,andLaurentClerc,abrilliantandambitiousDeafteacherinParis,France. Withthedesiretocommunicatewithhisdaughter,CogswellassignedThomasGallaudettovisitpartsofEurope,withthegoalofbring-inga teachingmethod forhisprofoundlyDeafdaughter, Alice. After visiting several schoolsin the British Isles, Gallaudet traveled to Par-is,FrancewherehecameacrossLaurentClerc.Laurent Clerc was a thirty-year-old instructorwho had been teaching French SignLanguage(LFS)toDeafchildreninParisforover10years.ThetwogentlemenlatercamebacktotheUnited

Stateswith thegoalofbringingsign lan-guagetoAmerica.Afteraboatvoyageofoneandahalfmonths,GallaudetandClercarrivedatNewYork. EstablishedApril15th,1817,theAmer-icanSchoolfortheDeaf,formerlyknownastheConnecticutAsylumfortheEduca-tionofDeafandDumb,wasthefirstschoolto implement sign language in Hartford,Connecticut.Soonafter,otherinstitutionsbeganteachingtheFrenchSignLanguagedialectLaurentClercintroduced.Howev-er,astimecontinued,thisdialectevolvedintowhatweconsidertodayasAmericanSignLanguage.ASLhas longthenexist-

ed.As of today,AmericanSignLanguage is arecognizedandanofficial languagethroughouttheUnitedStates.Acrossthecountry,overtwomillionDeaf,Deaf-Blind,andhearingindividualuseASLonaneverydaybasis. To summarize, theAmericanDeafCul-tureistheheartandsouloftheDeafcommuni-tyand itspopulation.To them, theyhavebeenblessed with their native language, AmericanSign Language, which has been passed downthrough generations. It is because ofASL thatcountless Deaf people can get together, relax,andenjoyeachother’scompany.

Deaf Awareness Week: Language and Deafness as a Cultural Identity

Onceenteringthecafeteria,attendeesweretosignin.Therewerethreesign-inoptions.Aftersigningin,attendeespro-ceededtopickalocationwheretheywerego-ingtostaystationaryaspreparationwasbeingmade. Before the speakerspresented theirspeeches,manyinattendancegreetedeachoth-erwithagreatsenseofgratitude.ProfessorMichaelD’Arcangelowasthefirstspeakerofthenightandgaveaninforma-tivespeech.Hefocusedontheopportunitiesanindividualmayreceivebybecominganalum-nus.ProfessorMichaelD’Arcangeloremind-edtheaudienceofcertificationprogramaswellastheupcomingelections. Professor JenniferGasparino spokeshortly after Professor Michael D’Arcangelo.Shefocusedonhowitisimportanttogivebacktothecommunity.Shestated,“Itisanamazing

experiencetogiveback.”PassaicCountyCommunityCollegehasgivenhergoodopportunities.ProfessorJenni-ferGasparinohopesitcanalsogiveotherstheopportunitiesshehad.AntonioRiveraadvisedthoseinatten-dance of life after Passaic County Communi-tyCollege. Hestated,“AlotoftheeducationworkIdidattheMasterslevelIwasveryfamil-iarwithbecauseofthestuffIdidhere.”AntonioRiveraalsostressedtheimpor-tanceofhavinggoodrelationswithothers.Headditionallystated,“It’sstillallaboutconnec-tions. If you can’tmake connections, you gotnothing.”Afterthespeakerspresentedtheirmate-rial,themajorityofpublicmadealinetopickwhatfoodtheywantedtoeat.Therewasalargeselection of food and beverages that a personcanchoosefrom–manyindividualsseemedtohavelasagnaontheirplates.

Whilethistook place, at-tendees thoughtit would be agood time toconnect withone another. Si-multaneously,they discussedtheir lives andrelevant topicsin society whilethey waited online. Whileseated,attendeesenjoyedtheirmealsasthere-unionwasnearingitsend.Whenitwastimetoleave,attendeesquaintlywentaboutdeparture.

Returning Home: Sixteenth Annual Human Services Alumni Reunion

Prof. D’Arcangelo addresses the audience and thanks them

for their attendance. Photo by Katherine Tapia.

Left to right, Katty Ogden, Daisy Hernandez, Wildre Paulino, Kimberly Vasquez, and Nicholas DiPillo

(Continued from page 1)

Word search puzzle by Wildre Paulino, American Sign Language President

Page 4 October 2017News

By Stephany Heilbron

OnWednesdaySeptember 27, a groupofSGAmembersandstemstudentsmetupintheStudentgovernmentassociationofficeearlyin themorning so that they could leave to gotoWashingtonfortheASGAconferencewhichwasbeingheldinWashington,DC.TheASGAconferenceismeanttohelpstudentgovernmentleadersand those inastudentgovernmentbe-comebetterfortheircampusandstudents. There were students from many com-munitycollegesaround thecountryaswellasuniversities, thefartheststudentscomingfromHawaiiandtheCaribbean. Our school’s student government ar-rivedtoDCmidafternoononWednesday.Onarrival all of the students and advisor MariaMartesetalloftheirbelongingsintheirhotelroomsandwenttogoeatdinneratArtandSouldirectlyacrossthehotel After dinner the group set out andwalkedtoseveralmonumentssuchasLincolnmemorial, National War World II memorial,MartinLutherKing’smemorialandseveralothers.

ThursdayeveningOfficialconferencekick-offSeptember28,2017

On Thursday we went to one of NewJersey’shouseofrepresentative’sBillPascrell’soffice and spoke with Elaina Houser who istheEconomyPolicyAdvisorintheoffice.Ms.Houserexplainedhowthehouseofrepresenta-tivesworksincomparisontothesenateaswellaswhattypesofproblemsareusuallybroughtuptoMr.Pascrellonadailytoweeklybasis. AfterthemeetingwithMS.Houserend-ed therewas a break from 10:30AM to 2:00PM. At 3:00 the groupwenttotheNationalMu-seumofAfricanAmericanHistory,thetriptothemu-seumcausedmanytofeelemotional.Theeventsthatoccurred is an extremelyimportanttimeinthehis-toryofthiscountry. The conferenceofficially kicked off at7:00 PM, the speakerChristopherC.Irvingwhois the executive directorandCEOoftheMillerIn-stituteforLeadershipandDiversity inAmericawas

extremelyenthusiasticandengagedwiththeau-dienceinthebestwaypossible. The first training and roundtable oc-curredthatverynight;Irving,toldeverymem-ber of the audience to leave the current ta-ble theywere sittingat and join another tablewithStudentGovernmentmembersfromotherschools. Networking occurred from the start oftheconference, studentsandadvisors fromallover the country spoke about issues on theircampusesandofferedsuggestionstooneanoth-eronhowtohandleeachpossiblesituationwiththeexperiencestheyhadattheirowncollegesanduniversities.

FridaymorningWorkshopsSeptember30,2017

Friday morning was the beginning oftheworkshopsthatallstudentshadtoattendasearly as nine in themorning. The conferenceofferedsevendifferentworkshopsbythehourwith a fifteen-minute break in between eachone. Eachworkshopwas different from theotheraspresentershaddifferentinformationtogive out to students and different methods ingivingouttheinformation. Some preferred PowerPoint presenta-tionswhile others preferred interactive activi-ties between students fromdifferentschools. For example, ButchOxendine a presenter atmany of the workshopsheld throughout the weekpreferredforstudentstoin-teractwithoneanotherinahypothetical situation thatcould occur with a studentbodymember and an SGArepresentative at any cam-pus.

Afterourschoolendedtheirworkshopsat three-thirty in the afternoon,wewent on atouratCapitolHillandtouredLincoln’slibrary.

SaturdaySeptember30,2017

OnSaturday all colleges and universi-tieshada lightbreakfast atUnionstationandthenwenttoworkshopsat9:30inthemorning. Someoftheworkshopsthatspecificdaydealt with signature programs that a studentgovernmentassociationcouldcreateasignatureprogramthatwouldstandoutforstudentsandforthespecificcollege. Each workshop was designed aroundacertain themebyeachspeaker, forexample,“Death by Committee: How SG CommitteesShould Work” by presenter Chris Jachimo-wicz explained what a committee should andshouldn’tdoinordertoworkproperlyandpro-fessionallyandhowtheyshouldapproachsitu-ationswithaclearandlevel-headedmind. After theworkshopsendedwewent toFranklinDelanoRoosevelt’smemorialanddin-nerwithanotherschoolinthelateevening.

SundayOctober1,2017

On the final day of the conference the groupwentouttoeatbreakfastatanearbyStarbucksand then went to the final two workshops,whichstartedatnineinthemorningandendedat11:30. Severalworkshopsthroughoutthatdaywereethicsworkshops,leadershipskills,round-tables,etc. After leaving the hotel at 12:00 westopped for lunch at a restaurant inBaltimoreMarylandandthencamehome. At the endof the conference everyonelearnedmaydifferentskillsthatcanultimatelybenefitSGAandtheirownpersonsinthelongrunaswellashavingofferedeachstudentadif-ferentsetofmemoriesthattheycanlookbackoninthefuture.

Martin Luther King’s memorial

ASGA DC 17- National Student Government Summit

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