Elisa Ruiz Martinez

Small audience to Blackbear and Bryce Vine in the Wake the Giant Concert

By Elisa Ruiz Martinez

Quinnipiac Spring Concert took place this Saturday at the Quinnipiac People’s United Center. The 3-hour concert was presented by the Student Programming Board and hosted Blackbear and Bryce Vine as the artists.

Even though SPB’s intentions to bring people into the concert were good, not too many students attended the event.

“I wasn’t really interested in Blackbear, he’s just not someone I want to see perform, and I know two of his songs and stuff like that so it just didn’t appeal to me,” Quinnipiac student Sarah Boulanger said.

“I didn’t know who they were, I was like who’s Blackbear? I’ve never heard of him…” Quinnipiac senior Tommy Yang said.

Although some of the students that went to the concert had a good time, they felt bad for the artists due the lack of audience.

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“I mean I thought it was quite sad at first to walk in and only see half of the audience and no one sitting down,” Quinnipiac student Anna Walmsley said.

Students also mentioned last year’s artist Khalid as a huge success. “When Khalid came it was completely packed, and there was a line outside the door to get in whereas this year there was no line or anything, it was just easier to get in” Walmsley said.

“I was kind of expecting more people going, apparently a lot more people went to last’s year concert Khalid, but it’s also Khalid, everyone knows who Khalid is,” Yang said.

Students like Boulanger hope that next year’s artist will be more appealing to Quinnipiac: “hopefully someone that appeals to Quinnipiac more, Blackbear is someone that was top chart once in 2017 or 16, or something like that, he hasn’t really being around since then, so hopefully someone a little more hipped up I guess.”

Bobcat Challenge, a competition full of differentiated opinions

By Elisa Ruiz Martinez

It’s Bobcat Challenge week but some Quinnipiac students and student athletes are not really sure on whether this competition is the best way to raise money.

Bobcat Challenge is back and with only one day left, but do Quinnipiac student know what it is?

Let’s take a look at what some students said.

“I do not know anything about the Bobcat Challenge. If I had to guess what it is maybe they split up the student body into different teams and had them compete in like fun games or something like that… I’m not sure,” senior Quinnipiac student Kyle Gaughan said.

I also asked senior Quinnipiac student Alessandro Woodbridge and he did not know what it was either. “No, what’s the Bobcat Challenge?” Is it something like, I don’t know, you have to act like bobcats or something, like who can act like the the bobcat, the mouse?”

Bobcat Challenge is a race between 21 Division 1 teams where they compete against each other to see which team can raise more money in only 5 days.

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Student athletes need the support from alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff and fans. However, some player’s personal reactions to this challenge were not as everyone expected

“Okay so I think it’s a bit weird, considering a lot of people are on scholarships here and we come to expect, especially international students, not to be asked for money, you are always told that athletics has a lot of money…” Division 1 Field Hockey Athlete Anna Wamlsley said.

“I actually don’t like the fact that they force us to do it because it’s a donation you shouldn’t be forced to do, and also you are paying for your own traveling and stuff…” Division 1 Golf Athlete Elena Ybarra said.

Another Division 1 Gold player, Queenie Lai also said “I think it is a good idea, but personally from an athlete standpoint, I think it may not be the most efficient way to raise funds.”

The Bobcat Challenge is over with the Women’s Field Hockey team as the winners. They had 465 donors with over $15,000 raised. They will also be receiving $3,000 as their price.

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Hamden town leaders approved to ban single use plastic bags on Tuesday night

By Elisa Ruiz Martinez

Hamden residents have won a hard fought battle against plastic bags. The town council met on Tuesday to whether a ban for plastic bags should be approved or not.

Connecticut towns and cities continue to push towards a ban on single use plastic bags. The latest it’s Hamden where the town leaders voted in approval for the ban on Tuesday night.

“A lot more people are becoming more environmentally conscious, a lot more people are trying to save the Earth, and I myself already don’t really use plastic bags unless I absolutely have to, so it’s a good thing that now Hamden is forcing me to not use plastic bags,” Quinnipiac student Nhung An said.

Some council members say the ban will save the town money from cleaning up plastic bags and help the environment at the same time.

“Everyone starts to do it, especially is forcing people instead of making them make the choice so if everyone starts to get rid of the plastic bags it makes for better environment,” Quinnipiac student Kyle Gaughan said.

“Just in general plastics are very bad for the environment, plastics in any kind of way, and we also use a lot of plastics bags…” An said.

The ban applies to plastic checkout bags of any thickness or size. Some stores in Hamden started this initiative like Tyme & Season Natural Market which stopped using plastic bags six months ago. They offer paper, but encourage customers to use reusable bags.

Most stores have 6-9 months to ditch plastic bags and Quinnipiac students see this as a step forward in the community.

“I think it’s a good idea, I think that it’s a step in the right direction towards going for more green and environmental process and I think that it’s a good start because if Hamden does it then who knows maybe some towns around Hamden would start to adopt the same idea,” Gaughan said.