Stonehill Student Meets his Birth Mother for the First Time

By: Stephanie Dyer

Michael Shea drove to Catholic Charities in Bridgeport Connecticut, it was March 6, 2018, and he was there to meet his birth mother.

Michael Shea’s parents told him at a young age that he was adopted.  Now, after turning 18 he was legally allowed to meet his birth mother.

Through Catholic Charities, Shea filled out a form that allowed him to contact Joanna, his biological mother.  The woman who was there at the time of his adoption would also be there at the reunion.  The woman handled all of the paperwork for Shea.

 “It was crazy, very surreal. I drove to the wrong place at first,” Shea said.

            Shea was in line to meet the woman who gave him up for adoption 18 years earlier.

 “I’m super nervous, breathing heavy and there are six people in line in front of me,” said Shea.

            As he stood there, he heard someone say, “Wait, Joanna,” to woman from the front of the line who began to turn around.

 Shea realized at that point the woman turning around was his birth mother.

            “We made eye contact and paused, and I said ‘Joanna, I think I’m your son,’ Shea said.

            Both Joanna and Shea were hugging each other and crying when a woman working at Catholic Charities came over and separated them.

            Joanna was taken by the woman to a separate room and came back to tell Shea that she had wanted their meeting to happen in a private setting.

            “When they brought Joanna to the back room and I was there alone in line, I was freaking out, like what just happened,” Shea said.

            After a few minutes of waiting, Shea joined his birth mother in the back room.

            When Shea walked back to the room Joanna was still crying.

            Joanna then gave details of her life and his birth.

The families lived in Peru but moved to America for medical treatments when Joanna’s father was diagnosed with cancer.  Joanna didn’t know she was pregnant with Shea when she came to the U.S.

            After she gave birth to Shea she said she had to put him up for adoption so she could take care of her father.  A year after, her father died.

            Two and a half years later, Joanna’s mother also was diagnosed with cancer and died.

            She told Shea some details about his birth father and his siblings.

            Shea’s biological father is half Peruvian and half Italian.  While his father lives in Peru, he has two half-brothers that live with Joanna in the U.S.

His birth mother told him soon after her own mother died, she gave birth to Shea’s half-brother, Giovanni who is now 17.  Joanna also had another son, Nick, who is now 9.

Shea, after meeting Joanna, now keeps in contact with Joanna and his half-brothers and plays video games and soccer with the boys.  Joanna, Giovanni, and Nick live 40 minutes away from Shea’s home where he lives with his family.

Shea is planning to celebrate holidays with both his family and his biological family.

“We had a barbeque over the summer at Joanna’s house and my adoptive parents came too, they’re very supportive of me meeting my birth family,” Shea said.

Joanna gave Shea her father’s ring to pass it down into the family and she also gave him the contact information for his biological father who lives in Peru still.

Shea has been in contact with his biological father through WhatsApp, an app that allows people to text and call across continents for no additional charge. He has been using Google Translate in order to communicate with him. 

Shea plans to visit his biological father this summer and wants to meet another half-brother he has who lives in Peru with his father.

Shea said the day he met his birth mother Joanna was beautiful and sunny, “the day we originally planned to meet ended up being terrible, rainy weather, two days later.  I couldn’t have been happier with how that day went.”

Click here to see the video: https://youtu.be/jpzy9Wl9RZo

James Varney Profile

By Nick Schofield

James Varney is a student-athlete at Stonehill College who faces the challenge of being color blind.

Varney has been color blind his entire life, but he has not let that stop him from accomplishing anything, although it can be hard sometimes.

As a member of the Stonehill men’s ice hockey team, Varney has had moments on the ice that he cannot control due to his eye sight.

 “Most of the issues come in hockey, teams often have jerseys with similar color schemes, and while skating at top speed, they are extremely hard to tell apart. So once in a while my teammates might notice me blatantly passing to the wrong team as a result. There are ways to reason around a difficult situation that involve color recognition, of which I'm still learning. It's a process, but I have a ton of help with it,” Varney said. 

Varney has always loved the game of hockey, and refuses to let his color blindness effect the way he plays.

“My coaches were always very on top of the issue while trying to make schedules every year. They were aware of which colors affected me the most, although sometimes coordination of jersey colors could not work, I will often try to recognize the players that I am playing with, and their play style and the way that they skate, rather than just their jersey color,” Varney said.

Being color blind affects Varney both on and off the ice, but with the help of friends and family, he is able to deal with the color contrast in everyday situations.

“This is not really a thing you can overcome. However there are a lot of common things in the world in place that help me, for instance like traffic lights. They are ordered in a certain way so that seeing the color isn’t necessary. I do, however, seek out help from my roommate and mother a lot. I will ask questions asking if certain outfits I am wearing are clashing or not, again it’s not something that you can truly overcome, but familiarizing yourself with different aspects of things, besides color, help to get around the fact they are difficult to see,” Varney said.

Although most of Varney’s time has been dedicated to sports, he is still involved on Stonehill’s campus in several different ways.

The Smithfield Maine native is a junior at Stonehill this year and is member of the Army ROTC program on campus, and has a role as CO-Vice Chairman of the NCAA North East 10 Division. II Student-Athletic-Advisory-Committee.

Through Varney’s three years at Stonehill College, he has always found himself busy, whether it is with sports, classes, or Army training.

“From my experience, the most difficult part of juggling multiple responsibilities has been maintaining attention to detail. When faced with a packed schedule, it's extremely easy to become careless and overlook the smaller details of any given task. A job that I have not completed to the best of my ability is a job that I've failed,” Varney said.

While striving to complete all tasks to the best of his ability, it is important to him to remain mentally and physically strong as well.

“Paying attention to sleep and mental health has been huge for me. It's easy to get bogged down under a heavy course load or multiple obligations, but maintaining good mental and physical health has been crucial in keeping up with everything,” Varney said. 

When Varney arrived to Stonehill’s campus he was brought in to play hockey and be a student athlete, but he knew he was capable of doing more than that.

“I am just extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to meet so many awesome people, and be part of a few incredible groups during my time at Stonehill so far. The experiences that I've had through hockey, athletics, ROTC, and Team Impact have made my time here extremely special, and I'm very fortunate to be part of all this. I am looking forward to doing more in the rest of my time as well,” Varney said.

As a junior on campus, Varney has had a lot of time to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his time at Stonehill. This year he decided to become involved in the Army ROTC program.

This is something that Varney takes great pride in and believes it is a great fit for himself.

“My biggest goal in life has always been to serve my country and the people who I care about. I believe that the military is the best way that I can do that. The values that ROTC and America's Military hold are identical to that of my own, and the material, work, and exercises are exhilarating and fulfilling,” Varney said.

Being color blind has not affected him in anyway so far through all of his Army training.

“It has not affected me at all, maybe eventually something minor will come up, and if so we will have to address that if it happens, but as of now I am fully capable of performing my duties in the Army,” Varney said.

Another new role Varney has been appointed to in his junior year is the CO-Vice Chairman of the NCAA North East 10 Division. II Student-Athletic-Advisory-Committee.

Varney’s role is to help promote the best experience possible for all athletes, by addressing major issues and assisting in the facilitation of any legislation that can support schools in the North East 10 mission. 

Before accepting this position, Varney worked as the president of Stonehill’s Athletic Advisory Board.

 “Through working as the president of Stonehill's Athletic Advisory Board, I've had the opportunity to coordinate a number of progressive initiatives such as, Stonehill's Leadership Academy, and Team Impact endeavors, that showed how much can be accomplished when student-athletes work together toward a common goal. When the position for NE10 Vice President became available, striving to continue this work on a larger scale was an opportunity that I simply couldn't pass up,” Varney said.

The constant drive Varney has to want to succeed has motivated sophomore, Seth Murray to push for excellence as well.

“He is the type of person you want to have on your team. He is always working hard and it makes you better as a player having that constant pressure against you. He tries to make us all better on and off the ice constantly and it has helped me greatly,” Murray said.

Running for the Hills: A Survivor’s Escape of 1 World Trade Center

By Alyssa Manfredi

When the body perceives itself as being under attack, the nervous system operates a fight or flight response. There is no way to prepare for a threat, one can only rely on instincts. Sometimes these instincts will save a life, like they did for Vinnie Hill on September 11, 2001.

Hill was a steamfitter from New Milford, New Jersey. He had worked on and off at the World Trade Center for ten years. In 1993, he had been only a block away when 2 World Trade Center was initially bombed. In fact, he was supposed to be there that day, but stayed late to finish repairing the pipes the night before.

“All of the buildings, you could feel that shake,” he said about that day.

The night of September the 10th, Hill had run 12 miles to train for the New York City Marathon that November. He came into work, exhausted, at 7 AM the next day.

“Man, I just wanna get outta here,” said Hill. Little did he know, it would be one of the longest days of his life.

Vinnie was working on the 34th floor of the North Tower, the first one to be hit. At 8:45, Vinnie climbed down from his ladder and asked his co-workers who was going to get coffee on their break. At that moment, an explosion caused the building to move back and forth. Hill said the floor felt like it was being lifted up a few inches. Vinnie looked across the floor and saw debris falling from outside.

“Someone yelled, ‘head for the stairs’ and I just ran like hell,” said the steamfitter.

Vinnie ran down almost 34 flights of stairs, jumping a few flights at a time to get through. The odor of jet fuel was so strong he had to cover his face.

Though Vinnie personally does not believe in the conspiracy that a bomb went off on the ground floor, he said he felt the explosion from above and from below.

“It was probably just jet fuel,” he said.

His anxiety eased after someone said that the explosion was a plane. Vinnie thought that a plane surely could not cause such extensive damage. Almost at the bottom, him and countless others scrambled down the escalators.

Hill said he heard another explosion and glass walls blew out across the lobby. He said that there were security waving which way to go, and it was amazing to him that people were still doing their job.

“The security guard said, ‘Put your head down and just run. Don’t look back.’” said Hill, and he certainly did.

Hill had been training to run a marathon, never expecting that he would instead be running for his life. He ran to Battery Park, where he finally turned around and saw both buildings burning. It was at that moment that he realized how drastic the situation was. “It’s just getting worse, they’re not gonna be able to put this thing out,” he said.

Vinnie Hill met up with a few friends at the Brooklyn Bridge. They travelled through the city looking for ways to leave for almost seven hours. Fighter jets above the city scared pedestrians who were also trying to get out. Hill did not get home until 9 PM, despite living only 15 minutes from the George Washington Bridge.

17 years after this event, the memories still haunt survivors like Vinnie Hill. He had friends on the 98th floor of the South Building who were killed. Electricians, engineers, and friends working in Port Authority were killed as well. As a way to cope, Hill watched and read anything he could find on the attack.

“I’ve never been the same,” Hill said. When he hears thunder or loud bangs he becomes tense, as if he is reliving the moment when it all started.

It is moments like the one Vinnie Hill had on September 11 where every second counts. The tragedy of that day brought out the strength, endurance, and humanity of many. Hill had to rely on his instincts for every one of his decisions that day, and it is because of this that he is alive today.

Engine Blackouts in the New Bedford Fire Department

By Benjamin Clark

Every minute seems like an eternity in a fire.

When there is heavy fire and smoke pouring out of a building, the New Bedford firefighters do not have much time to think, and have to know there is enough manpower to fight the fire successfully.

When the nearest fire engine is “blacked out” and unavailable, people can die and property can be destroyed in a matter of minutes, fire officials say.

“A ‘blackout’ is when a fire apparatus closes down for 24 hours, and that neighborhood has no coverage.  If that neighborhood needs a fire engine, it has to steal another engine from a different neighborhood, which decreases the response time in that area,” said Michael Raymond, a New Bedford firefighter.

The city of New Bedford has seven fire engines and three ladder trucks spread across seven fire stations, four in the North End and three in the South End.  Each day, the number of firefighters available for duty can vary, but it used to be 40 men.

“We used to be able to hire guys for overtime to get to 40 if some were either sick or on vacation,” Raymond said.  “The city will now take whatever engine has the least amount of guys on a given day, and will shut that truck down and transfer the men on duty to a different station. They go wherever they are needed most, and the chief makes this decision.” 

Under the New Bedford fire union contract, each fire apparatus must have at least four men, but the mayor makes the department black out one engine every day to avoid hiring more firefighters. 

“The chief is in charge of the manpower every morning and night.  He decides which engine is going to be blacked out, and he keeps it on a rotating basis, so that one neighborhood does not have a blacked out engine more often than the next.  He has to adjust the areas of coverage accordingly,” said New Bedford firefighter Peter Clark.

In June 2018, the New Bedford Fire Department released a statement saying that Ladder Company 1 would be relocated from Station Two to the far North End in Sassaquin indefinitely, and will remain out of service because the floors of Fire Station Two in the South End needed to be redone. 

“The project to fix the flooring in Station Two was because we are getting some brand new state of the art fire trucks, and the old floors in that station would not be able to withhold the weight of the new trucks,” said Fire Chief Michael Gomes.

This means that in the meantime, Station Two would be down a truck, and Engine One would park outside the station.  However, for the winter, decisions have to be made about where to keep the truck. 

“Station Two is the busiest station, and with Ladder One being the designated blackout piece since June, they have had to operate with just one engine out of station two,” said former firefighter Tom Mello.  “Engine One has had to park outside ever since the flooring project began, and they have had to clean snow off of it already.  It remains outside because the floor project has not been finished. ”

A fire engine cannot be parked outside in freezing weather due to the freezing of pumpers, fire extinguishers, and leftover water in the hoses.  That means a decision must be made where engine one will be stationed.  This will leave Station 2 unoccupied until the project is completed.  This has led to uneasiness with the surrounding neighbors.

Rosalina Tavares, 62, of New Bedford, lives in the downtown area in the blacked out neighborhood of Station Two.  She has been worried about her safety ever since the move of Ladder One.

“I think it is lousy,” said Tavares.  “It’s too bad that ladder truck can’t be here to help us in the neighborhood.  It will be even more scary when our fire engine moves away from the station too.  I am worried if someone needs them, it will take too long for them to get here.”

Since June, New Bedford firefighters have been worried that the “blackout” will be permanent.

“We are starting to get the feeling that the city will continue to control how many workers we can and cannot have at a time,” said Peter Clark.  “This is a huge issue, and the longer this goes on, the more accepted it has become.  The average citizen does not realize that this is taking place on a daily basis.  The average citizen just goes about their business thinking they have the necessary protection, when in reality, they don’t.”

The city has limited the number of firefighters, and this is limiting the city from finding the answer to this major problem, according to New Bedford EMT Frederick Kalisz Jr.

“The answer is not necessarily always hiring guys on overtime, the answer would be to hire brand new firefighters and bring them onto the job so that there are enough firefighters on the job.  The city of New Bedford has only agreed to carry 205 firefighters as opposed to 236 in past years, and the costs to train new ones, provide health insurance, provide fire gear, and the overall process of hiring them does not come cheap.  It is a difficult situation, but I have confidence that the city of New Bedford will stand alongside the New Bedford Fire Department and figure things out to protect the citizens of this great city,” he said. 

Stonehill College's Dining Hall Opens Up Their Kitchen to Vegan Students

By Maegan Lutinski

Generation Z has made itself loud and clear. Its members are adopting a vegan lifestyle in record numbers, and the college food service industry, an $18 billion a year business,  is listening.

Campuses around the country are responding by changing dining hall menus and increasing vegan options to keep current students happy and lure prospective students to commit -- and Stonehill is no different. The vegan menu at Stonehill College is expanding as a vegetarian diet becomes more popular for its students.

A survey was handed out last week on campus to 20 students and faculty that have identified as following a vegetarian diet, said Campus Dietician Kim Pierce. The survey will collect feedback on current vegan items in the dining commons so that staff can plan for upcoming spring menus.

“The current menu can be repetitive...sometimes I feel like I am eating the same meal over and over again; there are not enough options,” said Clancy Nee, 21, a senior and vegetarian at the college.

Pierce explained the schedule of vegan options as a four-week rotating menu.

“Because it is mostly a ‘build’ menu, many stations can be built to have vegetarian/vegan options,” she said. Students can access this sub menu located on the school website called “What’s vegetarian/What’s vegan today.”

Nee has used this resource to build many of her own vegan dinners.

“You can call ahead of time and have meals made but you have to time it and plan beforehand so the process can be very tedious,” she said.

Nee spoke highly about the new vegan options in the bakery.

“This year they have expanded the dessert section. There are vegan baked goods, such as a variety of cookies and banana bread, which I am really happy to see; some people even prefer the vegan baked goods over the non-vegan options,” she said.

Pierce is excited about the new items the dining commons have added to their vegan menu.

“This semester we have added the plant-based seeds at the salad bar (flax, chia, pumpkin and sunflower) and the non-dairy yogurts (located in the bakery),” she said.

Pierce said these new additions provide sources of protein that can otherwise be challenging for vegans to get in their diet without consuming meat or dairy.

“Vegans just need to be more creative with their protein choices and ensure their meals contain a calcium-enriched item in place of the dairy group,” she said.

Pierce suggests that all students try to aim to get at least two to three different food groups with breakfast and all five food groups with lunch and dinner.  

Sodexo, the college’s food provider,  is also working with a vendor who specializes in "specialty foods" so that the college can continue to meet the demands of students with new ancient grain-based meals.

“We had a sweet pea and freekeh salad just last week,” said Pierce.

The new vegan items are becoming popular for non-vegan students as well.

“Many of my friends who are not vegan even get excited about the vegan cookies and new salad bar options. It is great that all students have access to these items and can practice a healthier diet even if they are not vegan,” said Madison Cotton.

Cotton is not a vegan but said she still looks forward to many vegan items in the dining hall.

“The vegan chocolate chunk cookies are my favorite dessert option that the dining commons has,” Cotton said.

Students also have the opportunity to provide feedback about these new dining options and also contribute new ideas.

“As always, I encourage students to provide feedback. They can do this through the napkin notes (text napkinnote to 82257), by attending the food committee meetings every other Thursday at 1:00pm, or by meeting with me,” said Pierce.

Meaghan Arsenault, a senior at Stonehill College, said the napkin notes have been a helpful way to provide feedback throughout her years at the college.

“I have used the system to add quinoa to the salad bar. It is really exciting to see a request you have made be put into place in the dining hall. I like feeling that us as students have a say in the foods here,” said Meaghan Arsenault, 22.

Nee also suggests an increase in the number of each vegan item made.

“Sometimes they run out of vegan items fairly quickly...since items such as the vegan chocolate chunk cookies are so popular, they should not only look into having more vegan options, but also increase the quantity of the ones they do have,” Nee said.

Why The Youth Aren't Voting

By Alyssa Manfredi

Younger generations that are finally eligible to vote this year are not running to the polls.

One study by the Public Religion Research Institute found only 28 percent of young adults said they would vote in the 2018 election compared to 74 percent of seniors.

So, why are so many young people not voting?

Christopher Carson, 18, will refrain from voting because he does not have enough information about who to vote for or what they are advocating for.

“I don’t have time to figure out which person is the least idiotic nor the motivation so I’m good,” said Carson.

However, taking time to get educated on who is running for office is a click away thanks to the internet.

Ballotopedia.com allows citizens to type in their zip code and lets them see who they are eligible to vote for. It also has statistics on all the people running, including presidential endorsements, views on policies, and corruption charges.

Informative political websites like Isidewith.com let users take a free quiz to see who aligns with their political beliefs.

Charissa Hong, 18, admits she does not know much about the election, but is excited to cast her first ballot.

“It’s super important to vote. Every vote counts and it’s our job as a community to vote,” said Hong.

According to the U.S. Census,18-24-year-olds make up 10 percent of the population.

Rachel Garland, 18, is going to college at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, and is voting by mail absentee ballot.

“It’s extremely important to vote in this—and every—election,” said Garland.

Kathleen Roughgarden of Wyckoff, NJ, will be voting in person on her campus at Rutgers University.

“Everyone’s voice matters no matter what,” said Roughgarden.

Organizations are targeting millennials and Generation Z on social media and TV to encourage them to vote with public service announcements.

One popular public service announcement uses reverse psychology to get young voters excited. It employs elderly “Trump Supporters” telling young people to not vote.

“Climate change? That’s a you problem,” said one woman in the public service announcement.

Jennifer Magaletta is a member of the Board of Education in Hoboken, New Jersey.

“I think that young people should vote because they’re being impacted by all of these decisions.  If you’re not voting, other people are just asking these decisions for you!” said Magaletta.

Gabby Pisacane, 18, will be voting for the first time in November.

“The fact of the matter is that young people are the ones most affected by the officials elected and have the most accessibility to information,” Pisacane said. “It’s so important to educate ourselves and vote on who we want to make decisions on our behalf.”