(Photo: Alyssa Borelli)

by Alyssa Borelli

The  Community Service Office will be offering a new volunteer opportunity, the Rindge/Jaffrey Extended Day Program, to add to its list of children’s volunteer activities.

The program is in need of volunteers to help elementary school children with after school activities.

It is a new opportunity for students to become involved in the local community. The Rindge/Jaffrey Extended Day Program is grant funded.

The program is set to begin on Thursday, February 9th from 3-5:15pm. To sign up for this new program, stop by the Community Service Office, in the Campus Center, or email commserve@franklinpierce.edu.

Franklin Pierce has added four new sports teams for the fall of 2012 to help raise the retention and enrollment rates of the university that have been decreasing since 2007.

Varsity student athletes have a 9-15 percent higher retention rates progressing from freshman into sophomore year, according to President Birge’s August address to the university.

These new sports will include sprint football, men and women’s track and field, and women’s ice hockey. A main reason for the addition of the new sports is an attempt to increase enrollment at the university. “Currently, there are approximately 375 student-athletes in our program that annually have higher GPA’s, graduation rates and retention rates than our general student body,” said Athletic Director Bruce Kirsh.

Photo: Franklin Pierce Athletics Page

Other changes are accompanying changes to new sports.  A new athletic training center and academic center is under construction and will improve the facilities currently in use.

“The new academic center and training facility will be a better facility and offer better academic s to better compete with other schools in the Northeast 10 Conference,” said Christine Levreault,assistant athletic trainer.

With the new athletic training center the number of classes under the health science degrees will be increased.

Currently, the university has 18 existing Division II athletic teams.

FPU Golf Team (Photo: Google)

Previously ranked 10th out of 11 teams in the beginning of the season, the golf team has been “turning heads,” according to head coach Greg Scerbinski, from their stellar performance this season.

The golf team capped off its impressive 2011 fall season with a great finish in the second round at the New England Interscholastic Gold Association Championship.  Senior co-captain BJ Powers and junior Ian Landry led the way for the Ravens with the two best scores on the team.  The team finished 11th out of 34 teams in the tournament.

The golf team has had multiple performances like this including a 1st place finish at the Franklin Pierce Fall Invitational and a 2nd place finish at the NE-10 Championship, one of the better performances in school history.

Scerbinski’s “Big 3″, senior co-captain BJ Powers, senior co-captain Brian Fleckles, and junior Ian Landry are the leaders of the Franklin Pierce golf team.

“They set a real good role for the rest of the team in terms of practice,” Scerbinski said.  “We have a lot of fun but when it is time to perform, it’s time to focus.”

The other members of the five man squad include freshman CJ Konkowski and sophomore Adam Spencer.  Konkowski, who just led his squad to a first place finish shooting a 75, has been really happy with the depth the team has this season.

“Yeah it’s pretty awesome because in the past the team has had one or two good players.  It is a lot more fun when you go into a tournament knowing you have a chance to win,” Konkowski said.

Scerbinski said there was no stand out player, describing their success as “a real team effort.”

The team’s performance next spring season will determine if it will be eligible to participate during post-season play at the end of April.

The team will be honored for its outstanding season on Thursday, October 20th, at halftime of the Pierce Pride field hockey game.

(Photo: Stephanie Lewis)

by Stephanie Lewis
edited by Michael Davies

Despite the rain, students participated in the annual walk, Take Back the Night, to fight and defend women’s safety at Franklin Pierce on October 19, 2011.

The event’s turnout did not disappoint organizers; 29 students and six professors participated. Despite the rain ruining the candle light; the walk started at the Alumni Lounge, after an introduction from Turcotte, and was followed by a discussion back at the Alumni Lounge. At the discussion students were able to speak about personal events and share stories to others.

Take Back the Night is an awareness event to promote women’s rights and fight the sexual violence that occurs to women everyday. Due to the numerous acts of women’s violence, women become scared of the night. By walking around campus with candlelight, women are no longer afraid and have then taken back the night.

The event is an international event and has taken place on campus annually for at least the past fourteen years. This is the first year that Take Back the Night occured in the fall to correspond with the Introduction to Women Leadership course taught by Professor Andrea Bergstrom.

“By having the event during our intro class, we know at least the whole class will be there and we hope that it will be more inviting to the public with more people there,” said Bergstrom.

Bergstrom, along senior Tawni Turcotte, organized this year’s event. Other women from the Women in Leadership program were involved in the planning including Professor Donna Decker and her interns, Rachel Carmody and Val Armstrong.

Turcotte had high expectations after having worked on the event last year as Professor Donna Decker’s intern. Turcotte had said that there was about 15-20 students who had attended last year; however, a majority of the group present were the students in Reality Check who came as performers for the event.

(Photo: Stephanie Lewis)

“Tawni has been terrific.” said Bergstrom, “With her being a senior and having had some experience from last year, she has worked hard to make this a successful event that she is clearly very passionate about.”

Throughout the hour long discussion, women were able to share stories of their pasts and as a whole the group discussed what women were afraid of and the reasons why.

Junior Miranda Mantello attended the event and contributed to discussions. “The unknown is the scariest part for me.” said Mantello. The students within group discussed how not knowing what is around or what is going to happen in fact inflicts this fear.

The students also talked about changes that can be made for prevention of sexual assault, such as training people how to deal with these delicate situations, raising awareness that rape and sexual assault happen so often, fixing the flaws in the criminal justice system that make guilty violators get away with crimes and make report crimes and uncomfortable situation, and most of all education students earlier in high school of these issues and not waiting until it is too late.

“It was really successful, there was way more people, way more discussion, way more focused discussion, and I am very happy with it,” said Turcotte.

The Women in Leadership program plans to continue with this annual event next year. To get involved with the program or next year’s Take Back the Night contact Decker at ReckD@franklinpierce.edu or Bergstom at Bergstroma@franklinpierce.edu.

(Photo: Google)

by Grace Ames
edited by Kristin Carbone

Sistuhs will be having their annual bingo event in Pierce Hall on Tuesday, October 18th at 7 p.m.

The first bingo card is free this year and prizes include: a 19″ plasma screen TV, a Sony video camera, DVD players, an iHome speaker, games, gift cards, candy, gift baskets and more.

Sistuhs President Tania Beliard is confident in the success of the event. “Turn-outs for the past years have been a full house two years ago and about 60 last year. We hope to fill Pierce [Hall] this year,” said Beliard. “Bingo night has been going on as long as Sistuhs has.”

Senior Jimmy McInnis did not win any prizes last year, but enjoyed the event and plans on attending this year. “I didn’t win anything but I got some free snacks. I’ll go this year,” said McInnis.

Sistuhs presented their event to the Student Government Association on October 5th and was approved $740 for prizes and $110 for food for a total of $850.

Paula Slowe, senior class vice president, knows that is a lot of money but fully supports the event. “I think the body passed the event because it has been so successful in past years at bringing many different types of people together. That is what we support as SGA so we know it is money well spent,” said Slowe.

Sistuhs is in the process of planning more events students can look forward to including the AIDS quilt and speaker, which is another annual event. They are also planning on a hot chocolate bar on reading day.

For more information on Sistuhs bingo, contact beliardt@live.franklinpierce.edu or to get involved with a club on campus, contact Bill Beardslee at beardsleeb@franklinpierce.edu.

The field hockey team has made a complete turnaround with the start of the second half of the season, winning more games and breaking records.

With a three and six start to the season, the turnaround started with a strong win against No. 10 in the nation Bentley on Oct. 4 who they beat again eight days later. The Ravens dominated both games winning 2-0 and 4-2 respectively.  In the first game, the Ravens were led by senior goalkeeper Brittany Nyzio.  Nyzio three saves to earn her eighth shutout of her Franklin Pierce career, which set a new program record for shutouts.

(Photo: athletics.franklinpierce.edu)

“Words can’t describe how it feels to break the record,” said Nyzio.  “It means knowing that hard work really does pay off.”  Nyzio is also currently the only Franklin Pierce goalkeeper to earn 20 wins.

Nyzio was not alone in breaking records.  In the team’s next game against Saint Anselm’s, senior forward Tia Levins scored her 26^th and 27^th goals in the 3-1 victory, tying and then breaking the program record for all-time goals.  Levins thanked her teammates for helping her.

“Clearly I wouldn’t be in this position without my teammates,” said Levins.

With the team breaking records and winning games, Coach Meighan Guiney explained that this demonstrates that the team is performing and making strides.  “The two records that have been broken mean two things: we are scoring goals and limiting the amount that go in. That’s always a plus,” said Guiney.

The team now stands at 7-8 with three games remaining.  Even with the tough start, playoffs are not out of the question and the team continues to prepare for the rest of the season.  Guiney said, “If we come into every game with the mindset that we can win and we play 70 minutes there is no reason we should not make the playoffs.”

Levins had similar thoughts on the team’s potential.  “As long as we keep doing what we have been doing, we are sure to make it far,” said Levins.

The team has confidence that goes beyond just making the playoffs.  “We’ve really come together as a team and we’re upsetting the NE-10,” said Nyzio. “If we can hang neck and neck with nationally ranked teams, the Championship is where it’s at.”

(Photo: athletics.franklinpierce.edu)

Both Levins and Guiney attributed the team’s success in the second half of the season to the team coming togehter.  “ We are all communicating better with each other,” Levins said.  Guiney added that this team is “the most well-rounded team – character, personality and skill” since she came to Franklin Pierce in 2006.

Nyzio said, “We started the season playing not to lose, playing to our opponent. Now we’re playing to win, playing to have fun, and making our opponent play to our level, rather than us playing at their level.”

The field hockey team will travel  to Saint Michael’s on Saturday, Oct. 15 for their last away game and their last two games will be at home against Stonehill and Assumption on Oct. 20 and Oct. 22 respectively.

Transcript of Podcast:

by Danielle Russell

Hi I am Danielle Russell reporting for the Franklin Pierce Exchange.

On Saturday September 24^th I attended the Senior Class trip to Mohegan Sun.

The trip consisted of 39 seniors and two chaperons.

The chaperons were Scott Ansevin-Allen, Assistant Dean of Student Involvement and Derek Scalia, Assistant Director of Student Involvement.

This senior class trip is an annual event that usually occurs mid-may during senior days.

The reason for the change was because the class of 2012 representatives decided a class casino trip would be a great way to start off our senior year.

At 1:45pm students began to gather and load the bus for our 2pm departure time.

Once on the road students had the option to pick from a variety of movies and Oceans 11 was the one chosen.

After the two hour ride to Mohegan the students received both a $10 food and a $10 gaming voucher then were let off of the bus.

Students were able to explore Mohegan Sun for the next five hours.

During this time students did a variety things.

They were able to shop, gamble, grab a bite to eat and drink.

Some of the students who decided to gamble did well.

I personally spent $40 to $50 and won $168 on a slot version of wheel of fortune.

Dave Pierce went on the trip with $180 and won $240 leaving the casino with $420.

But other students were not as fortunate.

Kaitlyn Taylor won $20 in her first hand of blackjack, but then I lost it in the second hand.

Kevin Baca brought $60 and was down $48 when we left.

Alex Terril went to the casino with $100 and went back to school empty handed.

Students began to load the bus to return to school at 845pm for our 9pm departure.

The movie for the bus for the way back was 21 which many students wish played before the trip to the casino, not after.

Overall it seemed to be a successful trip for the senior class.

Once again this is Danielle Russell reporting from the Franklin Pierce Exchange.

Thanks for listening!

West of the Border is a new convenience store opening in the next three to four weeks, located on Rt. 119 just past Pizza Pie.

The new store will be opened by the same owner of North of the Border, located on Rt. 202. West of the Border will sell hot food similar to the other location.

(Photo: Colin Dailey)

Students had mixed opinions about the opening of a new convenience store in Rindge. Sophomore Nick Fulciniti, a frequent shopper of North of the Border, said, “I can’t wait for this new store to open.”

Sophomore Kyle McHugh does not share the same opinions. He said,” I don’t understand the need for two stores in the same town that’s this size. I wonder if they could have looked in a surrounding town that could’ve drawn a new market.”

Not only has the location come into question, the service has as well. “I think it’s a great idea and is a welcome addition to the community,” said sophomore Mike Husson. When Husson learned the new store will share the same owners as the existing establishment, he decided it may not be for him.

“The service I have received at North of the Border has been sub par at best.” He added that he could easily shop at any of the other convenience stores closer to campus.

When contacted at the store for an interview, the store’s manager was unavailable for comment. He was also unavailable when contacted later by phone.

(photo: Google.com)

by Danielle Russell
edited by Amanda Panaro

Franklin Pierce University students have similar drinking habits as students elsewhere in the country, according to a national survey and other sources.

Both a nation study of 209,576 college students between 2006-2008 at both two year and four-year institutions (Core Institute 2010) and a Franklin Pierce survey yielded similar results.

Although the questions were different, the Core survey revealed that 83.9% of the students consumed alcohol in the past year and of that 71.2% students consumed alcohol in the past 30 days. The Franklin Pierce results showed that 71.9% of students indicated that they drink.

During the time Franklin Pierce held its survey there were 1,089 students who lived on campus. Four hundred and eight students participated in the online survey conducted by Senior Experience Director Christopher Johnson.

The survey also showed that 13.5% of students indicated that they don’t drink and 14.5% reported that they only drink on special occasions. Johnson said, “Less freshman drink than sophomores, less sophomores drink than juniors, and so on…”

Senior Stephanie Bono responded to these results saying, “I think alcohol is expected on every campus and may seem like it’s a big deal on our campus because of its relatively small size.”

Johnson said, “60.45% of students answered No when asked if, I feel alcohol use is a problem on campus, and 39.55% stated they agreed that to some level it was a problem on campus.”

Sophomore Tony Ettorre explained that drinking is “only [a problem] if it’s abused.”

Franklin Pierce students were also asked why people consume alcohol. The results from the most to least given were as follows: It’s a good way for me to socialize with people, to blow off stress, I like the taste of alcohol, I like the feeling of being drunk, and there was nothing else to do. This question corresponded to the Core survey when they asked a question on the perceived effects of alcohol, 75.4% of their respondents answered it enhances social activity.

Senior Samantha Burnell echoed the report saying, “I like drinking because it’s fun and a good way to socialize with friends.”

In 2010, collegedrinkingprevention.gov released other drinking related statistics, revealing that “599,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol.” One Franklin Pierce student fell into that statistic on Friday September 23rd, when senior Lydia Bucklin cut her foot on glass while out drinking. As a result she got five stitches in her foot.

(photo: provided by Lydia Bucklin)

“I think its extremely dangerous how our school doesn’t clean up broken glass outside. Because of this I have five stitches in my foot and need crutches for a week. Even though I was intoxicated while I took my shoes off, this never would have never happened if people stopped smashing bottles when they drink and the school took care of our grounds more seriously,” said Bucklin.

collegedrinkingprevention.gov also reveled that, “1,825 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes.” The site went on to address alcohol’s effects on academic problems and stated: “About 25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall .”

The results of the school survey were not distributed to students but for more information feel free to contact Christopher Johnson at johnsc@franklinpierce.edu