Quinnipiac – Page 16

The importance of theater in the Hamden school district

By Nicole Kessler

There was an electric buzz that amplified throughout the 600-seat theater at Hamden High School on March 25, as parents, friends, students and teachers all shuffled into the theater talking intimately, waiting for the lights to dim and the show to begin. They had gathered for a musical performance of “Beauty and the Beast,” put on by 38 teenagers, 11 staff members and the Hamden Department of Fine Arts.

The diverse and rich sounds of the clarinet, flute, violin and cello filled the room as the students took the stage and the infamous classical introduction began to bounce off the walls, mixing with the robust harmonies of the performers.

The spring musical is one of the most elaborate and talked-about performances put on by Hamden High each year – and it’s the most expensive.

Photos courtesy Robert Dauster.

The show cost around $25,000 for the four performances including $4,500 to license the Broadway material, according to drama teacher and director, Marydell Merrill.

Despite the cost, organizers say the experience is invaluable.

“We don’t expect most of our kids to be professional actors and they would be silly too because it’s very hard to make a living,” said Eric Nyquist, who is the director of fine and performing arts for the Hamden School District.

“Theater gives the confidence to speak, to stand up and connect their body and voice,” Nyquist said. “It also teaches them how to problem solve, articulate, improvise, memorize lines in a script, learning how to make a scene believable to an audience and learning how to work as a team.”

The program is also preserving despite statewide budget cuts. Other Hamden High elective classes, teachers, programs and other services are at risk for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

“As an advocate for the educational needs of our children, I have done my best to acknowledge our continued fiscal challenges while seeking to move Hamden Public Schools forward,” Superintendent Jody Goeler said in a statement.

If there is a budget crisis, the town is going to have to make some decisions.

“No one wants to see any of it go, but I’m hoping theater still continues to play a major role,” Merrill said. “This school has a large list of amazing elective classes for the kids so I don’t want theater to be cut, but I wouldn’t want some of the other amazing opportunities for the kids to be cut either.”

The Board of Education approved a budget of $88,520,334. This budget reflects a 4.76 percent budget increase from the 2017-2018 school year. Mayor Curt Leng’s recommended education budget was $86,350,000, but the shortfall between the mayor’s recommended budget is $2,170,334 less than the Board of Education’s approved budget.

“As we have done in the past four years, my budget proposal includes a significant reduction in staff in response to declining enrollment,” Goeler said. “With these strategic reductions, we are able to continue to support initiatives and programs that promote success both in school and in life after graduation.”

So how has this affected Hamden so far?

“Everyone is feeling the effects of the economy especially the state of Connecticut. (It) is a bit of a mess right now with the economy,” Nyquist said. “I can’t speak for this year yet because this is a scary budget year.”

Even though this is considered a scary budget year, Hamden High has a solid well- rounded theater program and Mr. Nyquist said he has faith that the arts won’t be asked to take more of a cut than any other program.

“If we cut the theater teacher that would be the end of the program,” Nyquist said. “They try to not cut programs. They try to figure out ways to slice the budget here and there, but at some point, we may have to make harder decisions. I hope not.”

Nyquist doesn’t see the program going anywhere, though.

“Hamden has always believed that the arts are valuable,” Nyquist said.

This is all thanks to the town’s vocal advocates and passionate students.

“(Hamden) would definitely be dry,” Ava Purdue, who played Babette in “Beauty and the Beast,” said. “(Theater) brings life not only to the department but to the school. The support and everyone feeling excited is great.”

Freshman Cristian Castro is brand new to the theater department. This was his first audition ever and first time performing on a stage. He played Lumiere and said that the musical changed his life.

“It’s a very strong program,” Castro said. “The director is amazing, Ms. Merrill, she’s amazing. Our choreographer, she’s very driven. We would have to (do the steps) a million times until we got it right.”

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He said the community is also great.

“There’s so much support for this program,” Castro said. “There are certain expectations that the audience has when looking forward to our performance. Ms. Merrill pushes us and Ms. Gannon is in full support. She knew what we could do and she supports us the entire time.”

This strong foundation starts at the top and filters down from the superintendent to the mayor to the director.

“We have a very supportive superintendent whose daughter (Emily Goeler, executive assistant to the managing director) works at Long Wharf Theater and he’s a musician,” Nyquist said. “He gets it. He really gets that the arts are valuable not just as a bonus but as an integral part.”

The mayor even brought his family to see “Beauty and the Beast” for the Saturday night performance. In his eyes, the show was a success. He loved the performance so much that he texted Nyquist showing his excitement.

Look who I found at Beauty and the Beast at Hamden HS!!!! Mayor Leng and the family. pic.twitter.com/51jxMDkkGO

— jody ian goeler (@SuperHamden) March 25, 2018

“Thanks for everything. The show was amazing. I want to support performances. I don’t want to miss any more shows at Hamden High. Make sure I am kept in the loop,” said Nyquist, while reading a text message between himself and Leng from his cell phone.

In order to keep producing these types of grandiose shows, the department obviously needs financial support. A few years ago, Nyquist was able to increase the production budget.

“They were still working on budgets from 25 years ago when you could do a show for $4,000,” Nyquist said. “We weren’t getting much at all. I was able to a few years ago increase that a little bit. I think it’s something like the middle school gets $7,000 to do their shows the high school gets $10,000 to put on their two shows.”

The musical gets its budget from three different sources. The Hamden Board of Directors, a ‘theater club’ checking account within the school-wide account for Hamden and different sponsors who put ads in the playbill.

One of the sponsors, for example, is Quinnipiac Internal Medicine’s Edward Ripple. Merrill said he donates $2,000 per season — $800 for play and $1,200 for the musical.

There are also some contractual stipend positions for the professional staff. These include Merrill’s directing position, choreographer, musical director, orchestra conductor, costume designer and lighting designer. These positions work one-on-one with the students after hours, mentoring and teaching them during the regular school day.

The investment is well worth it.

“Theater is very important for me now,” Castro said. “That’s what’s on my phone, musical after musical after musical. It’s all that I think about now.”

There’s also a social factor, as well.

“It has made me friendlier,” said Kevin Cathey, who played Gaston. “I’ve made more friends and I’m much more social. It’s very beneficial.”

The success from this theater department also spans far past the confines of Hamden.

Some legendary alumni include Hamden’s Blessings Offer, a songwriter and musician who graduated from Hamden High in 2007. Offer, who is blind, competed on Season 7 of NBC’s “The Voice.” He had four chair turns and ultimately chose Pharrell Williams as his mentor and coach. He now resides in Nashville.

Photo courtesy Linedy Genao's Instagram. — Photo courtesy Linedy Genao’s Instagram.

There’s also 2009 graduate Linedy Genao.

Genao is a triple-threat performer who sang, acted and danced her way onto the Broadway stage.

“Here I am working at my first post-collegiate job, this bank job in New York City, and on my lunch break I went onto Broadway World and saw an open-call audition for the developmental lab for ‘On Your Feet!’ They were looking for Latino singers, dancers and actors,” Genao said.

“I thought to myself, I don’t have to pretend to be anyone else. So I went and was literally shot out of a canon.”

But in 2014, after Genao auditioned four times, she was chosen to take part in the month-long developmental lab for “On Your Feet” Oct. 27 to Nov. 22 in Chicago.

“I received a call from our casting director, it was like a week before Christmas in 2014,” Genao said. “I was outside of my bank job, on my lunch break, walking around New York City and I received that call and I just started bawling my eyes out.”

The director then offered Genao not just Chicago, but also New York City — as in Broadway.

“That was incredible because they could have only offered me one,” she said.

Genao was a featured member of the ensemble and served as the understudy for the lead role of Gloria Estefan, Ana Villafane. She was the first person to step into Villafane’s shoes.

The musical, which tells the life story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, first opened on Broadway Nov. 5, 2015 with preview performances beginning Oct. 5, 2015, at the Marquis Theater in New York City. The show closed on Aug. 20, 2017.

In total, Genao performed on Broadway as Gloria more than 70 times from March 31, 2016 to August 6, 2017 and was a part of the ensemble since day one.

“You don’t have to go to a fancy theater school to pursue what you love,” Genao said. “If it’s in you, meant for you and the right opportunity is there, the right doors will open for you. You can achieve your dreams with little experience.”

Even though Genao has been singing for her entire life, starting off in church, she wasn’t introduced to theater until she entered the Hamden school system, specifically in middle school, but then later in high school with Nyquist.

Before becoming the director of fine and performing arts, Nyquist was the theater teacher and director for 10 years at Hamden High School. He started in 2002 and had the opportunity to watch Genao grow as a person and performer while nurturing her raw talents along with other influential teachers she had at Hamden High.

“That was when I really discovered my love for theater.” Genao said. “Mr. Nyquist is an incredible teacher, even for kids who just do it for fun, he just sees whatever potential you have. He pulled out whatever potential he really saw in me, thank god and it really changed my life.”

Broadway changed Genao’s trajectory.

“The level and caliber of the Hamden Arts are just way higher than anyone would expect,” Genao said. “The Hamden High School theater department isn’t just a high school theater department, it’s so much more than that.”

Nyquist has inspired countless other students and also plays a big factor in the program’s success to this day.

This year for the first time, any student enrolled in Hamden public schools would be eligible to audition for “The Voice of Hamden,” a vocal competition featuring great singing in Hamden.

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“We had 60 kids audition and 10 students were chosen,” Nyquist said.

Ten students from the middle and high schools took part in the Jan. 25 production in front of more than 400 audience members. The show raised $4,000 that went back to the program.

This competition was a Hamden Educational Foundation Event, which builds a brighter future for Hamden’s children. Since 2001, HEF has donated over $590,000. This money benefits Hamden’s students.

The HEF has also awarded 189 Innovative Grants totaling $117,000, which support teacher driven initiatives in all subjects.

“They fundraise all year for the sole purpose of putting it right back into the school,” Nyquist said. “It’s a great, great cause.”

Offer, the competitor from NBC’s “The Voice,” put on an intermission concert for the audience and let the kids sing on stage with him.

Eighth-grader, Mae Valerio, who attends Hamden Middle School, performed “Never Grow Up” by Taylor Swift. She played the guitar and ended up taking home the grand prize.

“Oh yeah, she’s ridiculous. I cried during her song,” said Genao, who helped judge the competition along with Stacie Morgain Lewis and T. Sean Maher.

“It was so cool and such a fun night full of love and joy!” Genao said. “I’ve been back to Hamden High a couple of times beforehand but being back here for this was just awesome. Just knowing that there are other things that Hamden is doing to encourage kids and just expose them is incredible.”

The students in Hamden have the rare opportunity to do what they love with full support from everyone.

Even though practicing and performing could be stressful, most students and parents are eternally grateful, especially those who were given the opportunity to perform in “Beauty and the Beast.”

“I enjoyed it being very strict and focused,” Castro said. “Sometimes it was a little much. Sometimes it was a long day. We would have a five-hour rehearsal and they would be a little hard on us, but it did push us. They did everything the right way. They knew what they were doing.”

Others say it was stressful due to the number of snow days Hamden had.

“We missed eight or so rehearsals including our final dress because of the snow,” Cathey said. “We had field trip days and missed classes to rehearse until 10 p.m. to catch up sometimes. But, it’s a positive thing because the community helps you get through the day.”

Overall, the end result always seems to be worth it.

“(Merrill) is a very serious teacher,” said Corinne Castro, mother of Cristian Castro who played Lumiere. “She demands a lot. It’s a big commitment and you can’t go halfway, but she really pulls fantastic performances out the kids.”

Castro now feels woven into the multi-faceted fabric of Hamden High.

“It’s definitely not normal to say that someone who is on an athletic team who is a guy to be doing musicals as well,” Castro, who plays soccer at Hamden High, said. “I definitely had to ignore people who were saying some stuff on my soccer team, but once I got into the theater program, it was like a whole new family. We aren’t just friends. They take you in and you can’t leave them because they are there for you. It’s truly the greatest thing.”

May weekend brings excitement to Quinnipiac students

By Joe DeRosa

With the final days of April approaching, Quinnipiac University faculty and students are preparing for another year of campus tradition — May Weekend.

“I think it’s a fantastic experience and it brings everyone together,” Andrew Zukowski, a senior finance major, said.

May Weekend, which runs April 26-29, is an unofficial campus-wide event where students engage in celebrations on Mount Carmel and York Hill campuses.

Many Quinnipiac students plan to remain on both of the campuses, but are a variety of events taking place around Hamden that many Bobcats will attend.

Many students are thrilled for the weekend to get started.

“It’s a time where everyone gets time together and it builds a student bond, which I feel like we don’t have,” Zukowski said .

However, with the weekend being so close to finals week, some students are holding themselves out.

“I’m studying all weekend,” Dan Pardo, a junior health science major, said.

Pardo expressed his disagreement with the timing of the weekend, claiming that it’s more inconvenient to students than fun.

“It’s an awesome experience, but my only problem is that it’s right before finals,” Pardo said. “I think it’d be awesome if they pushed it back a weekend.”

While the student body prepares for the weekend, so too is Quinnipiac’s Department of Public Safety.

With the imminent presence of drugs and alcohol, Public Safety plans to step up security all around both Mount Carmel — a dry campus — and York Hill.

Some of the department’s plans include placing more officers at the entrances of both campuses, car and bag checks at the main entrances and patrols around the outside and dorming areas.

The Hamden Police Department will also be on high alert for the upcoming weekend.

With the expectation of many gatherings taking place at houses around the town, police will patrol streets with Quinnipiac-owned housing to shut down any potentially large gatherings.

SGA hosts senior BBQ this Sunday on York Hill

By Cliff Nadel

Quinnipiac Student Government Association (SGA) will be hosting a Senior BBQ on Quinnipiac’s York Hill Campus on Sunday, April 29, from 1-6 p.m.

Thursday from 11 a.m to 1 p.m is the last chance for seniors to purchase a five dollar drink ticket.

Former Senior Class President Austin Solimine and his fellow Student Government Association representatives said they believe there was a lack of a senior tradition at Quinnipiac.

“Once we came into the spring semester we came up with the idea of having a barbeque with alcohol for the senior class only because there is a lack of senior tradition,” Solimine said.

Solimine and SGA teamed up with the Student Programming Board (SPB) and, according to Solimine, it took about three weeks plan the event. This included going through the hurdles with facilities and submitting multiple proposals to Student Affairs before it was approved.

New dean shows promise for future nurses

By Grace Manthey

Lisa O’Connor will be the new dean for the School of Nursing at Quinnipiac University, according to a press release from Executive Vice President and Provost Mark Thompson.

In her 15 years at QU, O’Connor has built a large resume. After becoming an assistant professor in 2003, she then became director and chair of the undergraduate nursing programs and finally the associate dean of the School of Nursing in 2015, according to Thompson.

She has also served on multiple committees and attended several conferences both at Quinnipiac and around the state.

However, O’Conner is more than just her resume. O’Conner is a reference point for her advisees and takes an interest in her students, according to junior nursing major Nina Surabian.

“She is very organized, but most importantly she puts the students and their futures above everything. She has everyone’s best intention in mind and is truly selfless,” Surabian said.

Surabian recently found out she was accepted for a full time position in the intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston this summer. She said O’Connor helped her through the entire application process.

“She took time out of her busy schedule to meet with me multiple times throughout the year as well as following up with me through email. She also provided a reference for me for my job application,” Surabian said.

O’Connor’s position will officially switch over on July 1 following Jean Lange’s retirement, who served as dean since Quinnipiac founded the School of Nursing in 2011.

QU Earth Day speaker sheds light on sustainability efforts in Connecticut

By Rob McGreevy

In honor of Earth Day, on April 20 Quinnipiac University’s Student Programming Board invited Mark Robbins, president of MHR Development, to speak in conjunction with other Earth Day related events.

The models at the April 20 fashion show wore eco-friendly dresses. | Photo courtesy of Hanna Hejmowski

The event opened with an Earth Day fashion show, where models wore eco-friendly garb, and finished with a speech about the role of buildings in relation to environment sustainability.

Robbins talked about his company, which works to improve buildings, and what it does for the environment.

He spoke about the importance of energy efficient buildings and shed some light on how much buildings contribute to climate change.

“Greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels – oil and gas – to create electricity.” Robbins said. “These buildings consume 40 percent of the electricity emitted.”

Robbins made an indirect connection between the electricity consumed and the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

“Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of the national carbon dioxide emissions,” Robbins said. “People say ‘why are buildings emitting carbon?’ well it’s not the buildings that are emitting carbon, but the operation of these facilities – the heating and the cooling of the buildings is coming from power plants that are directly emitting carbon, and also heating the atmosphere.”

MHR has worked on a number of significant projects in Connecticut such as Windermere on the Lake, a 80-acre site in North Stamford. It was originally supposed to be subdivided into multiple housing complexes until MHR stepped in. Robbins said, “it’s a very important site from an ecological perspective.”

MHR prevented the land from being fragmented.

“We wanted to create (a) meaningful habitat,” Robbins said.

So MHR reduced the size of each dwelling unit, expanded the wetlands and made sure the entire site was an uninterrupted habitat. In addition to the ecological measures, every building on the land was optimized to be as energy efficient as possible. The streetlights are lit by battery storage and every house is equipped with a septic tank that converts the discharge into water that, according to Robbins, “is actually cleaner than rainwater.”

The cost of energy in Connecticut is the second highest in the country because it imports most of its energy. According to Robbins, “we’re not fracking here in Connecticut, we’re not refining oil.”

This high cost, Robbins says, brings hope to clean energy industry in Connecticut.

“When people say we’re thinking about doing LED light bulbs or solar panels or investing in combined heat/power equipment and better insulation, the payback here in Connecticut is astronomically better here than it is in the rest of the country,” Robbins said.

Quinnies showcase best of Quinnipiac’s film program

By Sam Prevot

Movie posters, hollywood themed decorations and a makeshift red carpet adorned Quinnipiac’s Echlin theater as students and faculty came together to celebrate the 2018 Quinnies, an annual film festival and award show run by the Quinnipiac Film Society. Students submit any film they’ve created, though within the 10 minute maximum limit, and the short is then screened at the event and entered for a prize.

This year’s Quinnies featured 24 films across all genres. Comedies, dramas and documentaries were all represented in the submissions. Two submissions were from this year’s South Africa trip run by professor Liam O’Brien. Another two were from Q30 Television’s comedy show “Quinnipiac Tonight.”

The event also featured catering by Moe’s Southwest Mexican Grill and raffles for Beats headphones, a TV, various gift cards and a year subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud.

QFS President Connor Carey said the Quinnies is the club’s biggest event of the year and that it takes months to plan. Carey, a senior along with rest of the QFS Executive Board, was pleased with the turnout at the event and sees a bright future for the club.

“It shows a good emphasis on our film program and a lot of interest in the film society,” Carey said. “We had some underclassmen win and seniors win Quinnies, so as long as freshmen keep staying involved like they are I think we’ll definitely be good for the future.”

Professors Becky Abbott, Philip Cunningham and Fritz Staudmyer were the official judges for the event and decided who won awards such as: Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture.

The Best Picture of the day went to Matt Kravitsky for his film “The Better Man.” This is the third year in a row that Kravitsky has won the award. He filmed “The Better Man” while in Los Angeles for the QU in LA program. He said he faced many obstacles while filming his short.

“We only had one day to shoot it,” Kravitsky said. “We were shooting at Joshua Tree National Park, which is illegal … and we didn’t get a permit … We got in trouble by a park ranger who said if we didn’t get out in 15 minutes he’d see us in court. But I’m really happy with how it came out, and it was definitely worth it.”

The two films that stole the show nearly tied for the Fan Favorite award at the end of the afternoon. “On Time,” submitted by Bret Schneider, is a comedy about a man running late for an appointment set to well-known songs. While “Tenacity,” submitted by Zack Carlascio, is a dramatic film about a man who lost his wife in a car accident and has trouble coping with the loss. Tenacity won Fan Favorite by a single vote.

Kravitsky, who has spent four years in QFS, got emotional talking about his experience with the club.

“I don’t want to talk about it I’m going to cry,” he said. “I’ve met all of my best friends and connections at QFS. Now that I’m graduating I’ll probably go to LA and try to make stuff with the people I met in QFS that now live there.”

QFS meets on Wednesdays at 9:15 p.m. in Echlin 101.

Quinnipiac students feel the job pressure with graduation looming

By Victoria Rutigliano

Ryan Devaney

Victoria Saha

Liam Kenney

Nik Griswold

Mike Bonavita

Janine Jay

James Studley

Click each picture to learn more about the graduates.

Purchasing a small home in Wallingford, buying a brand new luxury Audi and the tuition for a private school in Connecticut. What do these all have in common? They cost upwards of $70,000.

This year Trinity College in Hartford raised its tuition and fees to this hefty price tag and it’s not the only school that is increasing tuition.

Quinnipiac Commencement 2017, Credit: Quinnipiac University

For the 2017-18 school year, the price for both tuition and room and board at Quinnipiac University was $63,770 with tuition growing by 6.5 percent from the school year before, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. While 95 percent of students receive aid and 93 percent attain scholarships, this still means most students will be in debt of more than six figures upon graduation, according to NCES.

With the price tag of a degree so high, some students say they feel pressure to major in a field where they’ll make enough money to pay back their loans and may decide to choose a job outside their path to make enough to support themselves.

But many students say they are aware of the costs and still only put some thought into their future salaries when choosing their major, according to a survey of 59 Quinnipiac students.

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In 2017, 43 students graduated from Quinnipiac with a journalism degree.

The average salary for a news reporter in the market size of 151 and higher, which are the stations with the least number of viewers per area, is $26,000 according to the Radio Television Digital News Association. Usually, entry-level reporters must start in a small market in order to build their reputations and improve their on-air presence.

Victoria Saha, who graduated in 2017, is one of these people.

As a multimedia news reporter for WAOW in Wausau, Wisconsin, Saha is an hourly employee making $12 an hour. If she signs a two-year contract after her three month “trial” when she and the station decide if she should continue, she will be making $24,000 a year.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, any salary below $24,120 can qualify for food stamps.

“It’s kind of sad, no?” Saha asked. “That doesn’t really cut it, you know, with taxes and everything. I mean the cost of living here is cheap, but sometimes I feel like it’s not enough.”

Saha applied to more than 300 jobs and was without work from the time she graduated in May until she was hired seven months later.

While this salary isn’t one any student would hope to start out with, Lila Carney, the director of advising and student development for the Quinnipiac School of Communications, said this is something students in this field usually know going in.

“I think students in journalism are aware of the fact that those first jobs in no-mans-land may not pay all that great,” Carney said. “But if you do a little bit of sacrificing eventually you make it to a market where you are making OK money. So that little time that you’re sacrificing is generally a short period of time.”

From the time you are a child, you’re asked who you want to be when you grow up. You’re told to “reach for the stars” and “follow your dreams.” When you apply for college you’re told to find what you love.

But you’re never told that doing what you love could mean a salary where you could qualify for food stamps.

From one end of the communications department to another, Mike Bonavita is feeling the same struggle.

Bonavita, a senior film major, said if you want to make it in film, you know you’ll probably be starting as an assistant or in the mail room.

“It’s basically where you want to be and there’s a lot of success stories that come out of the mail room,” Bonavita said. “In film as a (production assistant) you’re not making much. The film industry is tricky that if you’re really dedicated and you really want to do it you’re going to be working the crappy hours and the crappy days.”

But the job front isn’t just an issue for communications majors.

When you think of someone starting out in acting, “struggling” is probably a word that comes to mind. It’s no secret it’s tough to break into this job.

Ryan Devaney, a senior theater arts major, knows this too.

In his first year out of college he hopes to buy a computer, purchase editing software and get a microphone to start a YouTube channel to play songs.

This stepping stone for him is just one step toward his dream of opening his own theater.

“None of that can happen unless I have a stable income,” Devaney said. “I won’t be able to create my art unless I have a job. It will happen on my off time that I deal with creating art.”

But finding that job is also something he has found issue with.

“Right now I don’t have anything set currently in my mind,” Devaney said. He also knows he has a little more leeway than other people in his major to find a job since his father is a public safety officer at the university and thus he went to school tuition free.

According to NBC News, three in every four millenials, or people born between 1981 and 1996, are in some type of debt, whether this debt be through student loans or credit card debt.

Kevin Daly, an assistant professor of theater at Quinnipiac, knows that the school comes with a hefty price tag which could keep theater majors from wanting to come to an expensive school like Quinnipiac. For this reason, he said the department will be starting a theater three-plus-one program this fall so students can follow their passion in obtaining a theater degree while also graduating with a masters in business.

But working the smaller jobs is no surprise to a theater major, and with just 16 people in the department, each student is taught that in this major, you must follow three points to succeed, according to Daly. Constantly working on your art, networking with people in your chosen industry and using “survivability skills” – like finding a job outside of film to have a stable income – Daly said are imperative to finding a job as an artist.

For this reason, Daly advises his student to double major in other specialties like communications, film or even math to help them find jobs that will pay while also working on their art and networking.

College Major Salaries
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It’s not just a matter of landing a job that pays a livable wage, it may also be a matter of finding a job at all in tight markets.

Liam Kenney, a senior biomedical marketing major, is as worried as Devaney.

“It’s been quite the struggle at this point,” Kenney said. “A lot of the pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, they want experience. It’s difficult to find that experience because we’re entry level people.”

Kenney said once he does nail down a job, starting salaries in his business aren’t what he hoped they would be.

“It’s hard because when you start off in marketing and sales you start off with very low pay,” Kenney said after applying for one job at $45,000. “You don’t make commission in your first year and after your first year they cut you salary by $10,000 because you can start making commission.”

Both Bonavita and Kenney expressed their struggles with finding a job that paid the bills while also making enough to pay off Quinnipiac’s large tuition and student loans.

When students come into school, they often aren’t thinking about finding a job when they graduate because it’s so far down the line. For some majors like with Devaney, Kenney and Saha, a job is tough to find, but with others a job is everything but guaranteed when they graduate.

All majors pay the same tuition, but some have better starting opportunities than others.

In a Quinnipiac survey about majors and salaries, the majority of respondents said they felt very confident they’d attain a job after graduation with only two respondents saying they felt very uncertain about getting a job.

Screen Shot 2018-04-06 at 11.52.32 AM.png — The poll went from one being very likely to five being very unlikely.

The Quinnipiac School of Communications and Engineering might hold classes for both majors, but once the classroom doors close and the jobs start, the majors couldn’t be more different.

Nik Griswold, a mechanical engineering major, chose to major in engineering when he arrived on campus rather than his initial choice of business because there are more opportunities.

“I wanted to get a job so I picked engineering,” Griswold said. “Demand is high, where the world is going to is very (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) based. Everybody wants to be technical.”

Janine Jay, a computer software engineering major already has a job after graduation with Liberty Mutual Insurance in Boston after meeting with a representative at the Grace Hopper Celebration this year in Orlando, Florida.

She chose between three job offers. Jay said while engineering does have monetary benefits and she knew a starting salary was around $50,000 and moves up fast, she went in to engineering because for her, it was just fun.

“While everyone else was taking exams, I was building a video game,” Jay said.

Like Jay, James Studley, a computer information systems major, accepted his first job before his senior year began, accepting an offer to work as a systems engineer for Fidelity Investments in Rhode Island.

According to Studley and Payscale.com, the average salary for a CIS major coming out of Quinnipiac is about $65,000 with a $5,000 signing bonus. Studley will be starting out making $68,500 with a $5,000 signing bonus and will have $2,000 worth of his student loans paid for by Fidelity every year for five years.

“I feel like it made this year, it like took so much stress off,” Studley said. “I would be a lot more stressed right now if I was looking for a job especially with student loans starting up.”

Quinnipiac in Los Angeles program is a professional gold rush for students

By Sam Prevot

More and more Quinnipiac students are turning down the opportunity to travel across the ocean for study abroad. Instead, they are choosing to travel across the country to Los Angeles, California for the Quinnipiac in Los Angeles program.

The QU in LA program launched in 2014. The goal of the program was to send communications students, especially film students, to LA for a semester or summer to do an internship and take classes.

Since the program’s launch, enrollment has increased by 150 percent. 26 students will participate in the program this summer, and about the same will go for the Fall 2018 semester.

The program website boasts many well-known companies where students completed their internships. Some of those companies include ABC News, Disney, Marvel Studios, Miramax, Universal Music Group and Warner Bros.

Senior film major Remy Sullivan spent the Spring 2017 semester in Los Angeles as an intern for a company called More Media. She says the program is important for communications majors to get a taste of what it is like to be in the film or television industry and that influenced her decision to go there.

“LA is one of the top places to be right now I’m the film and television industry,” she said. “Plus I love the city and wanted to get a feel of what it would be like to live there long term.”

Mark Contreras, the new dean of the School of Communications, agrees that going to LA will benefit students in their professional lives.

“The environment (in LA) is just filled with people who do this for a living,” he said. “To me if you’re going to get out of school with a complete understanding of both coasts, it’s a really important part of your life … Our QU in LA program puts a student right in the middle of this maelstrom.”

Contreras credits program director Jameson Cherilus for much of the program’s success. Cherilus is a Quinnipiac alumnus and is the only QU in LA faculty member that is physically in Los Angeles with the students.

Cherilus comes to Quinnipiac twice a year to provide information sessions for students and spends much of his time finding companies that will work with the university to expand internship opportunities for students in Los Angeles. He does all of this without a physical office in California or Connecticut.

“He lives in West Hollywood and his office is his cell phone. He’s very hard working.” Contreras said.

Contreras says expansion of the program is due to a combination of word of mouth from previous participants in the program and the university’s efforts to improve the program and make students more aware of the opportunity.

“I do think there is a buzz occurring largely because of Jameson’s leadership that it’s a really good experience and he’s making it that way,” he said.

There are three students majoring outside of the School of Communications that are going to Los Angeles in the summer. Contreras says this is also a growing trend with the program.

“I think as the buzz continues, more and more students will want to be out there,” he said. “One of the things I want to add as dean is you’ll be prepared but you’ll also have choice and optionality for where you go to work. To me, that’s important.”

Sullivan’s advice to other students that may want to do the program is simple: just go for it.

“Clear the fence and run,” she said. “You will not regret the experience as a whole if you want to be a part of the industry in the future.”

When it comes to future plans for QU in LA, there housing options have already been improved and Contreras is working to get more faculty members out to Los Angeles. But will there ever be a Quinnipiac campus in Los Angeles?

“No, not yet,” he said. “A person can dream … it would take a lot of planning and a lot of fundraising for us to be able to afford a permanent place.”

Hamden recognized as the most underrated city in Connecticut

By Rob McGreevy

Thrillist.com recently published a list of every state’s most underrated city. The list ranges from cities mostly everyone would recognize – like Sacramento, California and Tulsa, Oklahoma – to more obscure cities such as Alliance, Nebraska and Sisters, Oregon.

While there are plenty of cities outside of the sphere of common knowledge, one city on the list should stand out to Quinnipiac students. Connecticut’s most underrated city, according to Thrillist, is Hamden.

The travel blog pegged Hamden as an underdog primarily because of its juxtaposition to New Haven and Yale.

“Hamden is one town away from New Haven, and somehow worlds different,” the writer notes.

According to the author, New Haven’s influence on Hamden can be seen in the brick oven pizza, the classic New England architecture, and even the similarly collegiate atmosphere. The writer goes on to differentiate the towns by bringing attention to Hamden’s “rural charm.” This rural charm includes the nature, the various trails, and of course, Sleeping Giant State Park. However, the writers at Thrillist aren’t the only ones to notice the natural aura of the town.

Quinnipiac graduate student (and one-time Massachusetts resident) Shannon Ryder loves Hamden.

“I’m never, ever leaving so I’m a little biased,” Ryder admitted.

Ryder expanded upon Thrillist’s decision and cited many of the same reasons of the same reasons that they did.

“I think there are plenty of other bigger, better cities in Connecticut but I feel like Hamden is homier than those places. It has the Sleeping Giant and the bike trail which makes it stand out from other cities,” Ryder said.

Not everybody agrees with Thrillist’s assessment, however.

“Honestly, I have to disagree with that. I’ve always said that Hamden is one of the worst places I have ever lived,” Quinnipiac senior and New York native Luke Brenner said. “The traffic between 2-6 p.m. makes it impossible to get anywhere without wanting to pull my hair out. In addition, absolutely nothing is open late besides fast food and rent is absurdly overpriced.”

The scathing review however, did not come without at least a few compliments.

“The only nice thing I can say about Hamden is the locals and staff of the restaurants and bars happen to be pretty nice people,” Brennan said.

Even the most passionately disgruntled Hamden resident can find a bright spot in Connecticut’s new underdog city, it turns out.

From acai bowls to baked potatoes: how food trucks came to campus

By Grace Manthey

As a freshman in Quinnipiac University’s Student Government Association, Camilla Abreu noticed one of the biggest complaints from students was the food on campus.

Then a professor told her about a food truck festival he went to every year and Abreu formed an idea: Get food trucks on campus.

But it wasn’t easy at first.

“It was a lot harder than you think because they need a permit to get on campus and they need to sign all these documents and they need to go through so many people on campus to make sure that they have all the right documents and stuff like that,” Abreu said.

And it wasn’t just the paperwork that was a pain. Abreu said sometimes if the weather wasn’t nice the trucks wouldn’t show up.

“It’s not just like, a thing you can just drop by and do, because at some schools it is like that … But here, like it’s more regulated with public safety and everything,” she said.

Once the food truck owner knew the effort Abreu and her fellow students were putting in to get the food trucks on campus, they became a lot more reliable.

“(The food truck owners) realized that we went out of our way to let people know that they’re coming on campus and that they’re here for the students, and students are expecting them at a certain time. They realized that it was like a bigger, more serious thing,” Abreu said.

Senior Mikaela Canning and junior Tyler Culp were in charge of booking the food trucks for the Wake The Giant concert. They said sometimes getting in contact with the owners is hard, but if they don’t hear from them after a time, they look for another truck.

And luckily for students, at some events they don’t even have to pay the trucks for the food. It’s called a “buyout.” SPB gives the food truck owners an estimate of how many people will be at the event, then the food truck owners tell SPB members how much to pay.

According to Culp, for Wake The Giant, “we bought out 150 (potatoes from the Spuds truck) for this previous concert and were given a set amount that we had pay for it.” Once the truck ran out of the 150 potatoes, they stopped selling.

And while the logistics can be kind of complicated, Canning said one of her favorite food trucks is, in fact, the Spuds truck.

“He’s always so happy to work for us if he’s available and if he’s busy he’ll do his best to fit us in, he’s also very personable. He also works with his dad who is also just as great,” Canning said.

Even though Abreu she’s not in SGA anymore, as a senior she sees the growth of her hard work.

“It was such a struggle, like calling 50 food truck places and only having like, three actually wanting to come on campus. It’s really cool that now it’s a thing that happens all the time.”