HAMDEN, Conn. – With only about three months left, first, second and third-year students at Quinnipiac University are nearing the end of their living situations this school year. Many questions will appear in the coming months, but the most important one on everyone’s mind seems to be centered around differing living experiences.
Many Quinnipiac students trek off-campus for housing in their collegiate career. Quinnipiac offers several housing options, and two for their second-year students located on the Mount Carmel and York Hill campuses.
“Then there’s a bunch of them [student houses] in the neighborhood which could bring up some negativity with families,” local property manager Ari Gorfain said. “The Washington Avenue, School Street, and Whitney Avenue areas are [student] populated, and those are the better places for them.”
Students that choose to remain on campus are entered into a lottery system hosted by the school. This lottery system randomly assigns a number that leads to priority choosing when housing is made available. Students who receive a higher lottery number may be added to another student’s room who holds a lower one.
Quinnipiac recently sent out housing contracts that need to be completed by March 6, 2020. The Quinnipiac lottery for housing opens March 27, 2020, which although an early date, doesn’t deter landlords from acting sooner than the school.
Gorfain was able to touch upon his process of filling up off-campus houses.
“Most of the time it’s friends of friends, and if friends have been at the house and like it, they reach out the sooner the better,” Gorfain said. “It starts all the way from day one of school.”
Some students are reached out to well before the second semester even begins. First year student Matteo Naclerio remembers when he was first approached about off-campus housing.
“I remember seeing a group chat notification about housing,” Naclerio said. “An upperclassmen I met in early September was reaching out to fill houses in the beginning of October. It put me in a weird spot because I was just taking my first exams and didn’t know anything about housing at that point.”
Current third-year Student Justin Arrichiello was extremely opposed to living on main campus. His situation differed from most, as he transferred to Quinnipiac University in the Spring semester of his first year. Arrichiello took shelter at Aspen Glen Apartments with some friends who were renting.
“When housing selections came, they came pretty quick, and that was before I made a bunch of connections with people that lived on my floor,” Arrichiello said. “I would much rather take living with people that I know over having a good housing situation.
A look at the “Hill” living option on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus | Photo by John Morgan
“I slept on his couch instead of sleeping in my dorm room. I brought all of my clothes to Aspen, parked my car at Aspen, kept my toothbrush in his bathroom. I did everything there.”
Gorfain had this to say regarding the benefits of off-campus housing, “I feel like they like their independence more. Kids are growing up a lot faster when they hit their sophomore or junior years, and they want to be in a house with their friends.”
Students that live off campus seem to share similar concerns about transportation. Cars seem to be the main concern, and students seem to rarely be in favor of testing the shuttle system. Third-year students Michael Trezza and Stephen Brisman had several comments regarding the convenience.
“We really wanted to be on our time with driving to campus. We didn’t want to have to wait for shuttles,” Michael Trezza said.
A look at the “Village” living option on Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus | Photo by John Morgan
“I had five of us on York, and thirty of us on the main campus. We just didn’t want to take the shuttles,” Stephen Brisman said. “I didn’t want to hike to the garage [to get my car], when I can just get an apartment and park right next to my door.” Many off campus houses run through a funnel of students. Those who graduate in the upcoming year and/or are moving on from their residence work with their landlords to find possible replacement tenants.
The previous students living in that house attempt to build a level of trust with their landlord, and their landlord a level of trust with those who follow.
Many students are pulled from social media groups, athletic teams, and on campus organizations. The commonality of these demographics revolves around numbers. Landlords have the opportunity to take common interests and put them under one roof.
Whether regarding early activity, random roommates, or transportation and convenience issues, some Quinnipiac students are pushing to get off campus. To them, this appears to be the safest bet when it comes to playing the lottery.
Even 3,000 miles away from Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant’s impact as a basketball player will be felt for years to come.
HAMDEN, Conn.— 2,878 miles. That is the distance that separates Newport Beach, California, the home of the late basketball legend, Kobe Bryant, from Hamden, Connecticut, where Notre Dame High School boys basketball plays Hamden High School.
Over the course of the afternoon, the freshman teams, junior varsity teams and varsity teams from these schools will play each other on the hardwood at the Hamden High School Gymnasium.
Nine hours by flight from New Haven, 42 hours by car, 69 hours by bus. The man who donned the gold-and-purple for two decades, and the young athletes who are playing today, seem to have little connection to one another besides playing basketball.
However, the connection and impact that Bryant has left in the basketball world can be felt today in this gymnasium, nearly 3,000 miles away from where the Los Angeles Lakers play.
> “I wanted to (in basketball), do something for him. He taught me to have fun, be there for my family, and do what you love.” -Elijah Holder”
That ‘Mamba mentality’ that Bryant oozed and trademarked will live on with basketball players no matter where they live of all ages, as Hamden junior varsity basketball player Miles Anderson says, “Kobe is a legend.”
“He inspired a lot of people to play basketball, including me partly,” Anderson said. “I would not say he’s like (Michael Jordan), you know, because he is Kobe. To me, he is a role model, which makes it kind of sad that he is no longer with us.”
Hamden Hall player Elijah Holder following a game versus Notre Dame High School on Monday, Feb. 3, 2020. | Photo by Jason Hirsch
Bryant and eight other passengers on his Sikorsky S-76 helicopter died in an accident on their way to Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. In the aftermath, Millions of sports fans around the globe instantly felt a sense of both loss and devastation.
An athlete of Bryant’s status passing away so young and in such a tragic manner is something that so rarely occurs in sports. Roberto Clemente, Emiliano Sala, Roy Halladay, Thurman Munson and Rocky Marciano are other names that come to mind.
When athletes of such a high caliber die in such a way, two schools of thought can occur: one of them is sadness from the sense of grief, confusion and loss. The other is the inspiration to take what they preached and apply it to yourself.
Elijah Holder, a freshman on the Hamden basketball team and an avid fan of Bryant, will use his sadness as inspiration to apply Bryant’s, ‘mamba mentality’ into his own life.
“He’s in a better place, balling upstairs,” Holder said. “I try to be happy knowing that he is in a better place now. I wanted to (in basketball), do something for him. He taught me to have fun, be there for my family, and do what you love.”
Even with Bryant’s passing, his memory and competitive desire to always be the best will be a message that resonates not just with basketball players, but with people of all walks of life for generations to come.
When Bryant stood in front of the tearful crowd at the Staples Center and proclaimed, “Mamba Out,” the reality is that the lessons and examples set by Bryant on and off the hardwood will never be forgotten. From Los Angeles to Hamden, Bryant’s legacy will not only be remembered, but live on.
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HAMDEN- B&D Deli Works, which has been known for serving Quinnipiac students and Hamden locals for six years, officially closed down on Dec. 21, 2019.
B&D first opened in August of 2013 and was owned by Amy Brejwo. The name came from Brejwo’s two sons, Ben and Dan. Brejwo spent many days and nights building the diner from the ground up, but she was very family oriented and had to step away from the business when it began to take up a lot of her family time.
Mark Mashaw, a resident of South Hamden, was a school teacher at the time Brejwo was looking for someone to take over the deli.
“I was a teacher for 18 years and I was looking for something new,” said Mashaw. “I had always wanted to be my own boss.”
In September of 2018, Mashaw became the new manager of B&D.
“Amy was a super human that could do more in one day than three people,” said Mashaw. “Whatever she had done worked so well, so I wanted to continue to do that.”
It didn’t take long for things to go south once Mashaw took over.
“Amy had created so much volume that everyday people were out the door,” said Mashaw. “Without Amy on the grill and giving directions, we could not keep up with the demand.”
Mashaw was exhausted from the beginning and they quickly lost a lot of regulars within the first few months. Most people that had worked for Brejwo had moved on to other things not long after she left.
Mashaw quickly found himself being very new to the job and having a whole set of new employees as well.
Outdoor dining option at B&D | Photo by Mackensie Judge
“We eventually found our own equilibrium, but at that point I was so in debt and could not pay any of my bills,” said Mashaw. “It was too late.”
Mashaw learned a lot of lessons through this experience that he will take with him going forward.
“I wanted to be my own boss for so long,” said Mashaw,” but what I didn’t think through was how hard it is being everyone else’s as well.”
The closing of B&D came as a shock to most students leaving them questioning if there was anything they could have done to help.
“My friends and I would go every weekend,” said senior Leanna Daniels. “Saturday mornings will never be the same. We should have done more to help such a great business with the nicest people.”
Others will miss the family oriented atmosphere and the delicious sandwiches, especially the most popular sandwich, the Randwich.
“Throughout my five years of attending Quinnipiac, B&D was one of my top places to go for food,” said graduate student Christian Casagranda. “Everything was fresh and made with care, which is something you don’t find too often around here.”
B&D has been bought by two men, Dennis and Dan and will soon be called Funcle’s. It will still remain a diner that serves breakfast and lunch, but it will be more upscale food.
As for Mashaw, he plans on taking the lessons he’s learned back to the classroom in the fall. In the meantime he is catching up on his housework and reading, but he is hopeful that Funcle’s will be the new successful business in the area.
HAMDEN, Conn.- A new health food establishment opened its doors to the Hamden community on Jan. 13. Fresh Greens & Proteins, located at 3450 Whitney Avenue, distances itself from the other greasy food establishments located around the Mount Carmel Campus.
Interior View of Fresh Greens & Proteins | Photo by Pat Hickey
Fresh Greens & Proteins mission statement is to create healthy options so you can eat better, which allows you to feel better and live better. This mission statement is achievable with the wide variety of healthy options, which include a fruit smoothie, shakes, specialty salads, rice bowls, acai bowls, wraps and parfait.
The menu is tailored towards the customers’ needs with the options to create your own of any of the categories listed above. One ingredient that Fresh Greens and Proteins offers that you don’t see too often is CBD. CBD can be added to any smoothie, shake, açaí bowl or parfait.
“I have been waiting for a restaurant that serves healthy food like this to open around main campus for years,” said Quinnipiac University senior Avery Hayes (‘20).
AJ Cooney blending a Cinnabunn Smoothie | Photo by Pat Hickey
The location of Fresh Greens & Proteins is not only close to many local businesses, but it’s also within walking distance from Main Campus and a quick shuttle ride from York Hill to the polling institute. Part-owner AJ Cooney is familiar with the area, and is happy the way that business is currently going.
“Students love the smoothie shakes and the açaí bowls,” Cooney said. “People usually have to go into New Haven to get this stuff.”
What makes this establishment stick out compared to others on Whitney Ave. and in Hamden is the mentality of not only focusing on Quinnipiac students, but the people of Hamden as well.
“I’ve seen a lot of repeat Hamden locals, obviously the students are apart of it, but they aren’t the majority yet,” said Cooney.
If you’re looking for some popular choices, the Rice Bowls, Acai Bowls and the PB&J Protein shake are a must.
Imagine a LinkedIn-style site for college athletes who want to attend a new school. Aaron Falzon experienced the real thing.
“I put my name in,” said Falzon, who now attends Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. “I went to go write my 20-page paper. 30 minutes later I had four emails, two texts and five missed calls, and I was like, what is going on?”
Aaron Falzon warms up for his first home game at Quinnipiac against Albany. (Photo by Liz Flynn)
Welcome to the NCAA Transfer Portal, where the students can enter their name into a system that serves as a gateway to the vast reservoir of colleges seeking top athletic talent.
The NCAA opened the portal Oct. 15, 2018, to give students the opportunity to change schools without the hassle of sitting out a year per long-standing transfer rules.
The portal gives athletes a chance to seek opportunities – the role of college in general. But it has turned into something much, much more, even for mid-major Division I schools such as Quinnipiac.
Quinnipiac men’s basketball head coach Baker Dunleavy has recruited five transfer students, including one through the portal in Falzon. The portal is a profound development for the school.
“The wave of transfers isn’t going anywhere,” Dunleavy said. “It’ll only get bigger. It’ll only get more popular. I think player movement and freedom is something that continues to grow.”
The Good
The Bobcats took advantage of the portal to land Falzon, who previously attended Northwestern, a Big Ten school. Dunleavy found him on the portal and sent one of those emails that overwhelmed the Massachusetts-born player.
Why did Falzon leave a major school outside of Chicago to attend Quinnipiac in suburban Hamden, and play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with its one-bid status for the NCAA Tournament?
“I wanted to go to a place where I have an opportunity to play and have the chance to win a conference championship,” said Falzon of Newton, Mass. “Also, the bonus when I come here is being close to home. Mom and Dad can drive to every game.”
Dunleavy, in turn, saw Falzon as a player who fit the team’s culture.
“For us, we can be really opportunistic with transfers when they fit our culture and our identity and really being disciplined in knowing when that’s the case,” Dunleavy said. “With an Aaron Falzon, that was the case. We were really aggressive to recruit Aaron.”
The Bad
Jaden Daly, a sports writer for A Daly Dose of Hoops, has been covering New York-metro area men’s college basketball for 10 years. Daly has seen both sides of the story: the high-major schools bringing in players that out-matched their competition on the mid-major front and the mid-major schools taking advantage of this chance to recruit the nation’s top talents.
Between grad transfers ,players in the transfer portal and players that have entered their names in the draft teams will look very different come end of the summer. Roster management has become as important as any aspect of coaching for high major programs. @CollegeGameDay
“The lower level schools are losing out because now it’s created a marketplace where if you are a higher major and you’re losing out in recruiting, it’s a ripple effect with the one-and-done’s. You have to go to the next best option,” Daly said.
That next option? Well, it’s plucking the best of the best from conferences like the MAAC. In the portal era so far, Quinnipiac has not been a team that has had to see players leave to other schools. However just three years ago the Bobcats were forced to wave goodbye to their two top scorers in Mikey Dixon and Peter Kiss. Dixon joined St. John’s in the Big East and Kiss is now playing at Rutgers in the Big 10.
Mikey Dixon (left) and Peter Kiss (right) pose together during their freshman year at Quinnipiac. (Photo by QBSN)
This has been the issue for mid-major teams in the last calendar year with the portal.
“If you’re a high major coach, you see a 15, 20 point per game scorer that goes into the portal,” Daly said, “why not take a shot at him? If you’re not able to get a one-and-done like a Kentucky or Carolina or Duke is going to get, you have to find some way to keep up with the Joneses.”
The Jury’s Still Out
On the other hand, mid-major schools need to compete with each other, and Quinnipiac’s program is no different: it needs to find talent flying just below the major-school radar. The transfer portal facilitates that effort.
Jessica Hegmann-Grasso, the MAAC’s associate commissioner said, the transfer portal gives these types of schools, especially in her conference, ways to get a hold of the players they would not be able to typically recruit out of high school.
“The transfer option does benefit the mid-major conferences, like ourselves. Being able to get access to those players that may go elsewhere and then come back to us,” Hegmann-Grasso said, “we do benefit from that.”
MAAC men’s basketball has gained 20 transfer student-athletes for the 2019-20 season, while losing 11 in the portal.
Hegmann-Grasso did point out that we are only in year two of the portal process. There is so much still to come.
“It has only been two years. It’s still new. Like anything else it takes that adjustment period to see how the full reaction will be from it. Right now it’s waiting and seeing.”
One thing that it has already accomplished is it has made it easier for the student-athletes to explore all of their options.
“The process to dealing with the transfers prior to the portal was a lot more restrictive, a lot more interaction and conversation,” Hegmann-Grasso said, “where the portal is now making it a little bit more free.”
Is it free enough? Not for ESPN’s Jay Bilas.
Now, Quinnerly will play as a 24-year old, redshirt senior. For what purpose? The NCAA’s transfer policy is an unholy, unjustifiable mess. If Quinnerly played softball or all but five other sports, he could transfer at semester and be immediately eligible. https://t.co/tju0iA1kGJ
The transfer portal has continued to progress this freedom that the student-athletes desire. Phillip Lamar Cunningham, a professor of media studies who formerly served as co-director of the sports studies program at Quinnipiac University said that the portal, itself, has legitimized the power that the student-athletes can have. Though, he does not believe it has had an outstanding impact on the landscape of college athletics.
Falzon stands with his teammates before his first home game with Quinnipiac.
“The transfer portal, like most NCAA initiatives, is a little late and doesn’t necessarily change much as much as it capitulates to the forces that they already had to give way to.”
Knowing that you have options is an important part of a young athlete’s mindset, and those are really on full display all the time now.
“For a small school like Quinnipiac, the benefits are if you’re an elite college athlete, you are coming home,” Cunningham said. “If you are someone that’s on the cusp of a major conference team but you can’t really break through, you can possibly come here [Quinnipiac] and be a star. We see this in every sport. If you are a star in a mid-major you are suddenly more attracted to more established teams.”
The new rules have led to confusion over the transfer portal’s role. For Hegmann-Grasso and her colleagues in the MAAC’s league offices, they just would like to see it play out a bit more.
“I think it’s just too early to start changing anything because it took a while to get to this point, and to just change it right away?” Hegmann-Grasso said. “I don’t think we do our due diligence of really setting up a system, even though some were in favor for it and some were not.”
It’s just the start of more and more changes in college basketball, and so far, Quinnipiac can call itself a beneficiary. So far.
Discovering the steps involved in creating a dish that goes beyond the recipe
By Alexis Guerra
You’re sitting at a table in a restaurant. Your stomach is growling. You’ve had a long day at work. And you have just enough energy left to chow down on your food. That is, when it finally arrives. For the past several minutes you’ve been teased by platters of burgers, sandwiches, drafts of beer, you name it. Finally, the server pushes open the heavy double doors of the kitchen, with a tray in hand. You lock eyes, hoping that one of those white plates contains your next meal. To your satisfaction, they set the plate of steaming hot wings right under your nose.
Dig in.
Side Street Grille has been in business since 1996.
We’ve followed the journey from waiting to receiving your meal, but what happened before that and what separates the good from the bad in the restaurant industry?
If you were to pose these questions to Hamden’s Side Street Grille owner Dave DeNicola, he’d tell you it takes time and massive amounts of preparation.
It’s an interesting paradox – Earth’s population is growing exponentially, currently estimated at some 7.7 billion people. Why then, does it seem like the world is only getting smaller?
Although it’s on a much smaller scale, the Quinnipiac Bobcats are an interesting example of this phenomenon.
Quinnipiac University is a small private institution in Hamden, Connecticut. Most of the students who attend the school are from the American Northeast, and approximately 97 percent of the student body comes from somewhere within the United States.
However, it’s on the athletic fields where Quinnipiac’s commitment to international recruitment really shines.
In their never-ending search for team success, the coaches of Quinnipiac’s 21 Division-I teams have reached out overseas. International recruitment is a growing part of the collegiate athletics industry, and it’s something that has become a distinct part of the Quinnipiac Bobcat identity.
How do you think an athlete gets recruited? It seems simple enough – a coach finds potential student-athletes, talks to them, watches them play and maybe offers them a scholarship.
That’s not the case for many of Quinnipiac’s international recruits.
Meet Queenie Lai. A junior from Hong Kong, Lai could almost describe her recruitment process as “reverse recruiting.” Lai was an exceptional golfer back home, but wanted a new challenge on the links at a more competitive level. After an admittedly-late start to the recruitment process, Lai took it upon herself to achieve her goal of playing U.S. collegiate golf.
“I had to play in the States for a whole summer of tournaments, state-to-state,” Lai said. “And, I had to contact at least 50 schools and the coaches and introduce myself and ask if they were interested in recruiting me. Eventually, I landed on Quinnipiac and the coach I have right now. He was one of the nicest, and that meant a lot to me.
“I had to do most of the work.”
It’s certainly a much different story than the common assumption of university-paid travel, lavish dinners and unlimited budgets. However, Lai is not the only Quinnipiac athlete with an unconventional recruitment story.
> “I had to do most of the work.”
— Queenie Lai on recruiting
Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
Bianca Strubbe was at a crossroads. After playing field hockey in her native Poland for 14 years, Strubbe needed a break. She traveled to the United States, settling in West Hartford as an au pair. Her love of field hockey not yet entirely quelled, Strubbe went to a Quinnipiac field hockey game at the suggestion of her host family.
After liking what she saw on the field and in the state-of-the-art facilities, Strubbe decided to bring field hockey back into her life. She played and coached at a local HTC field hockey club team, but never would have found college field hockey if not for a friendly co-worker, who informed her that she’d likely be eligible to play in the NCAA.
“I didn’t know that, to be honest,” Strubbe said. “None of my friends or Polish players know that we are very welcome in the U.S. playing in college. We don’t have any agencies, we don’t have any connection with U.S. colleges, so, to be honest, we don’t know that we have the chance to earn our degree and play field hockey here.”
Now in her second year as a graduate student at Quinnipiac, Strubbe has made a seamless transition. She’s the team’s leading scorer this season, and her English has improved immensely, thanks in part to her choosing journalism for her major.
Although foreign students are often taught English, the field hockey team is careful to keep an international influence around to keep their players comfortable.
“It’s good to have someone who has the same accent as me,” Strubbe said. “We feel comfortable, we don’t feel afraid to talk. It’s good to have international students around you.”
Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
> “We don’t know that we have the chance to earn our degree and play field hockey here.”
— Bianca Strubbe
Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey forward Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godboutdidn’t quite have that same luxury. Although she was one of seven international players on the team her freshman year, all Canadians, she was the only one who predominantly spoke French. Fortunately, head coach Cassandra Turnerdid her best to help Coutu-Godbout adapt.
“Cass knew right off the bat that I couldn’t really speak English, so she was very patient,” Coutu-Godbout said. “She sent me recommendations and books to read to practice my English, as well as helping me with all the stuff I needed to do. For me, that’s exactly what I needed. The integration here in the U.S. was pretty smooth because of the coaches.”
Much like Strubbe, Coutu-Godbout wasn’t initially aware of the opportunity she had to play in the United States, albeit for different reasons.
“In Quebec, they want to maintain all the Quebec players in Canada. It’s kind of against them to go to the U.S.,” Coutu-Godbout said. “So a lot of the teams won’t help you get a spot on a (U.S.) team, so I was pretty much doing it by myself.
“The girls (in America) can be recruited at 13, but in Quebec, it’s another world. They want to keep it away, they don’t want you to come here.”
Even though her peers didn’t want Coutu-Godbout to play college hockey stateside, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I really enjoy it here,” Coutu-Godbout said. “I think it’s the perfect choice for me, and I’m really happy about it. I never looked back on it.”
> “In Quebec, it’s another world. They want to keep it away, they don’t want you to come here.”
— Sarah-Eve Coutu-Godbout
Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
How much can you learn about someone through a computer screen? According to the coaches at Quinnipiac, quite a bit.
“This generation is a little different,” men’s soccer coach Eric Da Costa said. “Unfortunately, communication is a little bit harder in terms of getting on the phone and having a phone conversation, so we do a lot of Skype, we do a lot of WhatsApp, FaceTime, just trying to get that time with the guys and figure out who they are, what they’re about, what makes them tick, and (if) that fits into what we do here.”
If Da Costa and his coaching staff have the ability to travel overseas to visit a player, they will. More often than not though, the soccer team recruits its players over the internet due to budgetary and travel restrictions.
“We have to be cautious about how we spend our money,” Da Costa said.
According to Da Costa, it’s easier to recruit international soccer players than Americans.
Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
“Recruiting the American kids is actually a lot more difficult for us,” Da Costa said. “They want the glitz, they want the glamour. They know the differences between the institutions in terms of prestige or popularity, so they look their nose down at us.”
Once coaches have a good experience with a player from a certain area, they are more likely to revisit that region in future recruiting. Take Quinnipiac field hockey, for example. Head coach Becca Main has presided over the program for all 25 years of its existence, and has designated “pockets” of international talent. The team likes to focus its recruiting efforts in areas like South Africa, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain, where several successful players have come from before.
Field hockey is uniquely positioned for international recruiting, compared to some of Quinnipiac’s other sports. According to Main, international players are the preferred recruits for the program due to their added experience.
“(International recruits) have almost 10 years on an American student – they’ve been playing 10 years longer,” Main said. “In general, most Americans have been playing 4-6 years, max. … You get (an international) coming in, they’ve got 16 years (of experience). They’re just better at playing the sport.”
With all of the different languages and cultures on the team, Main tries to make sure that each international player has at least one other teammate who speaks their language. It could be hard to mesh all these different pieces together, but creative thinking from the coaching staff makes it all fit.
“I think the best thing about our international players is that, the ‘groupthink mentality’ – we don’t have that anymore,” Main said. “We have the ability to think outside the box.”
Courtesy: Quinnipiac Athletics
Athletic recruitment is one thing, but these are still “student”-athletes. The players must fit into Quinnipiac’s academic profile, and the admissions department gives very clear outlines to the coaches about what requirements each student-athlete needs to be accepted into Quinnipiac, from English language scores to academic grades.
Andrew Antone, director of international recruitment and admissions at Quinnipiac, says that once the students get to Quinnipiac, the school has several resources to help international students adapt.
“We have a global partners program where students are mentored by upperclassmen, and say, ‘OK, this is how you make the transition,’” Antone said. “We have global education, where they can be with other students. We have an international student orientation, which I think is a big help for them.”
To continue to attract international students, the university has initiated a new “Strategic Plan” that emphasizes globalization among the steps toward becoming the university of the future. Antone believes that the strategic plan will help make Quinnipiac even more appealing to international students.
“Especially with the new strategic plan, I think you’re going to see that number (of international students) grow, given what we’re offering,” Antone said. “The way that we’re looking forward … I think what the strategic plan does is force us to look within and change some of the policies and the way we do things to enhance everyone else’s experiences.”
In all, there are about 70 international student-athletes from more than 20 countries. That may not sound like a lot with Quinnipiac’s student population of over 10,000 and a core of student-athletes almost 500 deep.
To the international players though, it’s not about the numbers. It’s about the experience – an experience that has made Quinnipiac athletics more diverse, and more talented.
“I feel like I’m experiencing the same college experience as other people,” Lai said. “I wouldn’t say it’s any different than how they’re experiencing it.”
Quinnipiac isn’t as well-known as some other Division-I programs. None of the 10 international students interviewed said they knew anything about Quinnipiac before they were first recruited. Once they hear about all the school has to offer them, it’s hard to say no.
“We’ve closed those gaps with this (soccer) facility, obviously our institution, our campus,” Da Costa said. “At the end of the day, an international kid and his family want to go to a place where they’re cared about. They want to go to a place where they can study and play at two high levels. They want to go to a place where they can feel safe – and enjoy.
An unassuming brick building lies in the shadows of Town Hall on Dixwell Avenue. Weeds grow from sidewalk cracks. Construction noise provides a background soundtrack. Inside the building, books — yes, books still exist — fill wooden shelves as people loiter with an unspoken to read a newspaper or assemble a puzzle. Children entertain themselves with toys and books while surrounded by brightly painted animals.
Photo by Marissa Davis
That’s a typical scene in the Miller Memorial Library in Hamden, Connecticut. It’s the main branch of the three libraries in a town of 61,000 people.
The library is named in honor of inventor and businessman, Willis E. Miller. Miller died in 1904 and his widow bequeathed the library to the town. It originally opened its doors in 1952, but has been renovated several times since.
The HPL is centered upon the Miller Memorial Library and two other branches. The two branches are the Brundage Community Branch on Circular Avenue and the Whitneyville Branch on Carleton Street.
But that centerpiece library named in honor of Miller is falling apart according to library officials.
“I’ve been here for seven years and so when I got here I had to take stock of the physical condition of the library,” library director Marian Amodeo said. “Technically we should have a new building.”
Annual reports in 2013 and 2014 point to the main library’s deterioration and problems with the branch libraries.
In 2013, the report noted issues with the phone system and spotty Wi-Fi service.
Photo by Marissa Davis
The 2014 annual report is apocalyptic.
“The exteriors of all three Hamden library buildings are in dire need of repair and attention,” the report stated. “The branch libraries need paint and other repairs to the buildings, and the grounds are an embarrassment. The main library needs power-washing of the bricks, landscaping and other repairs.”
The report revealed that the Miller Library lacked working fire alarms.
The 2017 report furnished equally bad news.
“The poor condition of the buildings and the grounds of both branches is stunning,” the report stated. “Painting, both interior and exterior, landscaping, cleaning, ceiling tile replacement, lighting, carpeting, furniture replacement, driveway and parking lot resurfacing, security and more is needed at both locations.”
The most recent annual report speaks to frustrations with the lack of movement in implementing repairs to both buildings.
Even with its structural challenges, the HPL continues to operate and produce programs for children and families.
“We moved every single thing around in the library in order to make a larger space for the children’s department,” Amodeo said. “This is a town of 60,000 people and the space allotted for children was minuscule so we just tripled the size of the children’s room and made an early learning center.”
Photo by Marissa Davis
Every kindergartner and fourth-grader living in Hamden visit the library for a story-based program and library cards. And the HPL now runs the Hamden Public Schools’ summer reading program.
HPL offers numerous free programs families, according to Marcy Goldman, head of Children’s Services.
“Throughout the year, September through May, we have weekly story time sessions,” Goldman said. “They run for five weeks at a time we do different age groups so that they’re age appropriate and we can incorporate what we are supposed to incorporate into a story time.”
But the library offers more than just story time for children.
“We also have STEM play for preschoolers, so I have lots of different things I buy from Lakeshore that are STEM-related but they’re good for young kids,” Goldman said. “So one of them for instance is a fairy-tale kit. So it’s the three little pigs and they have to practice with the sticks and the blocks that they give them, building the house that’s gonna be the strongest.”
HPL also offers convenient activities for the transient families that reside in Hamden.
“We have playgroups too that are just very casual,” Goldman said. “A lot of parents like that, there’s a lot of people in this community that come to the library that are new to town. We find that there’s a lot of transient people, they come here because their husband or wife is doing their residency at Yale, so they live here for that amount of time and then they move. Those people use the library a lot.”
Funding from the Friends of the Library has been a huge help in getting the HPL children’s department off the ground.
Photo by Marissa Davis
“Then we have fun programs,” Goldman said. “People that we hire once in a while, a lot of the programs we try to do on our own at low cost but when we have larger performers that cost say three hundred or four hundred dollars to come in and do a magic show or something that money we get from the friends of the library so everything here is always free. We don’t charge for anything.”
The library sought to target teens under a special program and even deployed a librarian to that task. But resources really needed to be focused on adult programming after years without that service.
Photo by Marissa Davis
“When I got here the staff didn’t do any adult programming,” Amodeo said. “There used to be a really vibrant friends’ group but they don’t really exist anymore. We all started to do programming and that’s just off the charts in terms of adult lifelong learning problems, cultural series, movies, those kinds of things.”
Hamden’s increasingly diverse population is prompting the library to respond. World Language teachers at the Hamden Public Schools asked the library to get families more involved in programming.
“A few weeks back we had our third world language night where we opened the library just to this group and they come in and we work with the teachers and there’s dinner and activities for the children,” Amodeo said. “We couldn’t be more happy about that because we feel we are working hand in hand to try to acclimate new residents in town.”
Photo by Marissa Davis
As the library director, Amodeo reports to the mayor, Curt Leng and to the five-member library board. The board offers some funding for programs through donations to help fill budgetary gaps. The board funded the purchase of computers to equip a lab where two librarians can offer classes on how to use the machines to the public.
Councilwoman Lauren Garrett is one official who can vouch for the library’s importance in a digital age.
“Personally I feel that libraries need to stay around,” Garret said. “My grandfather for instance, I’m pretty sure he graduated from high school, but he went off into the military, came back, had a family. Never really got much of an education beyond that and he read all the time. He was one of the smartest guys I knew, just because he was so well read. That exists in our society. You’ll find really intelligent people and it’s all because of the library.”
A new website is helping to modernize the library, according to Jessica Dans, the head of technical services.
“I did try to make our website very bright and colorful and inviting,” Dans said. “The thing people say when they come in is how nice the staff is, it’s such a friendly place, they feel so comfortable here. We kind of wanted the website to reflect that. It was a little stuffier before so we wanted something fun.”
“People have to keep in mind that the library isn’t just a bricks and mortar place, it’s a virtual place too,” Amodeo said. “A resident could come in, get a library card, and then never have to come back in here again because they then have access with their cards to thousands of e-books, all or most of our online resources, online magazines.”
The HPL used to be a stand-alone library, but Amodeo was able to bring it into a consortium of libraries rejuvenated the library.
“Because we’re together with other libraries I encouraged my staff to start to sit on different committees, go to workshops and roundtables,” Amodeo said.
Funding problems, however, persist.
“I’ve worked in a variety of different libraries and some had no issues at all with funding,” Amodeo said. “So we were able to be on the cutting edge all the time. And this is not that type of library. It’s just not. You don’t get the funding. So the things I’m telling you we’re doing have already been done by other libraries but for us it’s huge.”
A new challenge emerged last year as budgets went under the ax.
“Last year we received a $30,000 budget cut in February to our materials and that just messed us up completely,” Amodeo said. “And then for this fiscal year they didn’t reinstate a lot of that money. So our material budget was decimated. That’s huge.”
The library’s budget is set by the mayor and Legislative Council.
“What happens is in January each department head creates their own budget request,” Amodeo said. “Then in February you go and sit with the mayor and the finance director and you justify, you argue, for your request. Then after you leave the mayor does his thing…so he cuts. And then in March his budget goes to council.”
Jody Clouse, a council member, said budgets are tight in large measure to commitments to pensions.
“Hamden has been in a difficult position largely due to the lack of funding pensions in previous administrations,” Clouse said. “Added to that strain, Hamden takes a big hit when it comes to education funding from the state which again was cut drastically last year. The current council does its best to make headway on funding the pension, as well as doing our best to make sure our schools and essential services are adequately funded. All this while trying to keep the mill rate as low as we can. Unfortunately that leaves very little wiggle room.”
Amodeo said that the library budget might be around $240,000 for the fiscal year. That money goes toward all of the library materials–books, newspapers, magazines, all audio and visual materials and all online resources for the three branches of the library. Each librarian is then assigned a different section or media and are given a part of the budget.
“For example, I have religion so they give me, let’s say, $1,000,” Amodeo said. “So I do my purchasing based on professional journal reviews and patron requests et cetera. I do my purchasing through the year, so you have a full year. You have four quarters to do that.”
In February of last year, Leng took $30,000 from the HPL materials budget.
“That $30,000 was a pot of money that we were all going to use for our spring purchasing,” Amodeo said. “And then they just took it away. … It was devastating.”
This year the library is working with less than $200,000 as a budget. Amodeo requested a larger budget for the next fiscal year, but will not find out the allotted budget until May 15.
“We have a small friend’s group right now and they run a used bookstore down in the lower level and they give every penny of what they earn to us,” Amodeo said. “That’s how we were able to do most of our programming.”
The HPL system is more than just a place to find books for the community. The libraries are an important resource as well.
“It’s the one place in any town that allows free access to every kind of information source, available to all people, to all residents, no matter what their age, their race, their affiliations, anything. They’re welcome here,” Amodeo said.
The future of the HPL system is dependent on the budget offered to them by the town.
“I would absolutely love to see a robust HPL system that is able to offer programming, services and resources for all ages of the community as well as promoting and celebrating the diversity of our town,” Clouse said. “I think they are doing an outstanding job of offering these things within their limited budget. But in an ideal world, they’d be able to do much more.”
With support from the community it can be shown to town officials that the HPL is an important and valued resource for Hamden residents. HPL strives to better itself in the coming years but is held back due do budget cuts and a lack of resources.
Only time will tell what the future has in store for the HPL.
Dirt roads that went for miles, no dwellings in sight- just a lush grassland lined with hills of blossoming trees– that was Hamden in the 1600s. Once a rural region, Hamden has evolved into a thriving and developing city nearly 70 years later, changing from masses of open farmland to a bustling landscape with buildings on every corner. The engine driving this progression is people.
Hamden center in 1936, courtesy of Dave Johnson
Today, the small town is a developing city on the rise with stores in every corner and residents on every street.
Abandoned cars. Streets closed. Locals forced to walk back to their homes. Holly Masi reflects on the one-year anniversary of the unexpected and destructive tornado that ripped through her hometown of Hamden, Connecticut last May. Masi was fortunate enough to not lose power, but many of her friends that live in northern Hamden did not have that same fortune. Luckily for Masi and other Hamden residents, there is always one reliable outlet for local news and information, even in times of emergency, Quinnipiac University’s commercial AM radio station, WQUN.
“You’re not going to get the same up-to-date coverage on a statewide level, “ said Masi, “The fact that I had local radio to tune into – that was critical to me.”
Masi is unsure, however, of where she’ll turn for guidance when the next major storm or outage hits, as nearly three months ago, Quinnipiac University officials announced that WQUN would be shutting down this summer.
Masi’s petition, which she created in February, has since collected over 1,000 signatures.
In a statement emailed to the university community, Lynn Bushnell, Vice President for Public Affairs, wrote, “This difficult decision was made after careful consideration of our first priority, the needs of our students. The number of students who even consider a career in radio, or want to intern at WQUN-AM has declined sharply, prompting the university to re-examine the prudence of contributing to operate a community radio station.”
The decision to close WQUN sparked anger in the community, which is why Masi, a lifelong Hamden resident and the town’s Zoning Enforcement Officer, decided to create a petition in an attempt to save the station. Since it was created in February, Masi’s petition has racked up over 1,000 supporters.
“When I heard that it was closing, something sunk in me,” said Masi, “It just seemed like one of those decisions that was like, there’s just no way to wrap your head around it. I’ve not run into one person that hasn’t had the same reaction, so I just was sitting at home and I started the petition.”
Her petition pulled support from all facets of the community, from Hamden residents, to Quinnipiac students and even town officials, including Mayor Curt Leng. Mayor Leng even left a comment on the petition in support of the station writing, “This is an incredible community resource, the Public Safety centerpiece, I’m hopeful that the university rethink this shortsighted decision.”
WQUN’s mission statement, which was introduced in 1997 when the station first took to the airwaves.
Though Bushnell cited that the decision to shut down the station was influenced by the changing needs of students, the initial reason why WQUN was established, however, was not for students at all. In fact, according to the station’s original mission statement, it serves to connect Quinnipiac to the Hamden/ New Haven community.
On top of the original mission statement, a 1997 New York Times article further reported that WQUN was designed to connect the university to the community. It stated, “students at Quinnipiac are not the station’s primary audience; rather, the entire New Haven area is, encompassing 15 towns.” In the article, Michael Collins, former WQUN station manager, indicated that the station’s focus would be on “community activities – on positive things.”
According to Quinnipiac’s official website, WQUN has now been serving the local New Haven area for over 20 years. The station also “entertains audiences with a variety of music from the ‘60s through the ‘80s, as well as Bobcats sports, local traffic and weather, and award-winning local news.”
WQUN currently features radio shows like The Morning Show with Ray Andrewsen and Lunch with Landry, which highlight community leaders and elected officials, showcase local small businesses and community events and even broadcast information related to Quinnipiac. Not to mention, the station serves as a source for Quinnipiac athletic broadcasts.
“I am a huge local radio supporter because I know the value that’s in it,” said Masi, “I know the community it cultivates. It helps bridge the gap between the university and the community. It’s a place where everyone can go to get their information.”
Masi’s petition already collected 800 signatures just a few weeks after taking off, which made the decision to shut down WQUN one of the hottest topics around campus moving into President Judy Olian’s “State of the QUnion” address in February.
Quinnipiac administration continued to take heat for the decision at the event, however President Olian stepped up to defend the decision when she said, “AM radio is no longer a very well-listened to outlet. In fact, audience has gone down dramatically for AM.”
Though President Olian argued that AM listenership is down, industry research indicates otherwise. According to Nielsen’s second-quarter 2017 Comparable Metrics Report, Americans tune into AM/FM radio each week more than any other media platform. In fact, 93 percent of Americans over the age of 18 listen to radio every week. Comparatively, 88 percent of Americans watch TV, 83 percent utilize smartphones and only 50 percent use personal computers weekly. Radio is without a doubt America’s top reach medium.
Perhaps one reason for why radio is America’s most popular medium, as the Hamden community proved in its outcry about WQUN, is because of radio’s ability to engage with local audiences. More than eight in ten respondents to a recent Jacobs Media poll indicate that they agree or strongly agree with the statement “one of radio’s primary advantages is its local feel.”
Masi, of course, is one person who values radio’s local feel. “I’m all about being a local person. I only buy coffee local. I don’t really like to go to the chains, so I’m the same way with radio. I might dabble in listening to other stuff, but I always stay true to my hometown people.”
Even industry experts believe in local radio. Steve Chessare is the General Manager of two Cumulus stations in Connecticut, both WICC and WEBE. Prior to working for Cumulus, Chessare spent years working in management roles for several other radio conglomerates, from Greater Media to Clear Channel Communications (presently known as iHeartMedia.) After 34 years of working in the industry, he is still an advocate for listening local.
Steve Chessare, General Manager of WICC and WEBE. Photo courtesy of Radio Ink, the industry’s premiere management and marketing magazine.
“People want to know what’s going on in their communities,” said Chessare, “They want to know what is news that impacts their daily lives. Whenever there’s a natural disaster or a major event, the majority of people turn to the radio to find out what’s going on.”
Community radio stations have the ability to deliver hyperlocal information to listeners that they cannot get from regional or national stations. Stations that broadcast voice-tracked programming that is syndicated across the nation especially fail to localize news for listeners. According to Chessare, local radio is going through a renaissance.
“Right now, local radio is hot and a lot of broadcasters that have turned their backs on the local initiative are now coming back to realize how valuable it is and how profitable it is,” said Chessare, “I think you’re going to see more broadcasters focusing on local radio – live and local, instead of just these big national platforms.”
Although Bushnell indicated in her statement that students are moving away from careers in radio, many Quinnipiac students, including over one hundred members of Quinnipiac’s student-run radio station, WQAQ, and four current student interns at WQUN this semester, feel otherwise.
Marc Regis, one current WQUN intern and WQAQ member, feels that Quinnipiac administrators turned their backs on many students interested in broadcasting when they released the initial statement announcing WQUN would shut down.
“Personally, I feel that radio is incredibly popular at Quinnipiac,” said Regis, “During my four years here, the number of radio shows has grown exponentially. It angers me that Quinnipiac students will no longer be able to use the skills they learned at WQAQ in a low-stakes, professional environment.”
Quinnipiac’s School of Communications does not currently offer a radio broadcasting or concentrated audio journalism-related degree, so students interested in these avenues must pursue them outside of the classroom, through WQAQ or outside jobs and internships.
Another WQUN intern, senior Alessandro Woodbridge from Brighton, England, loves the industry so much that he was willing to work for the station unpaid, after he missed the traditional deadline to apply for a paid semester-long internship.
Woodbridge said that the “community feel” is the reason why he loves radio so much, as he noted he is particularly inspired by Lunch with Landry, a daily midday program hosted by WQUN’s Operations Manager, Pam Landry. The show often spotlights local businesses, politicians or other prominent members of the Hamden community.
“It felt like she was actually helping people and that was kind of a really nice thing about it,” Woodbridge said, “I’m all for helping people. I think it’s a really beautiful thing, it makes you think you’re trying to give back. That’s why I like Lunch with Landry.”
Woodbridge felt so inspired by Landry’s show that he actually plans to work in radio himself following graduation. He hopes to someday host a program similar to Lunch with Landry and be the voice of a community.
“WQUN was literally the perfect opportunity for me to have that radio experience that’s local,” said Woodbridge, “Getting that exposure to that radio environment, knowing how it works, it was so valuable.”
Many former WQUN interns have gone on to have successful broadcasting careers, as Woodbridge hopes to. Kevin Rincon is one former intern who can attest to how the station prepared him for a career in radio, despite the university’s suggestion that students have turned away from these careers. Rincon interned for WQUN through 2010 and currently works for WCBS, an Entercom station in New York City, as an anchor and reporter.
“I had the growing pains at WQUN as an intern there and that really prepared me to hit the ground running when I came out,” said Rincon, “It taught me the persistence, it taught me good work ethic, it taught me to be held accountable. It really gave me the opportunity to be in a professional capacity without being a professional just yet.”
Kevin Rincon, former intern at WQUN and current Anchor/ Reporter for WCBS. Photo courtesy of LinkedIn.
Rincon explained that WQUN prepared him for a range of opportunities in the industry, as he has both worked for traditional terrestrial radio stations, as well as radio startups.
“That’s really a testament to WQUN where I was both prepared to walk into a heritage station, where people have been doing the same thing for decades, and I was also able to help out at places that literally were just trying to find ideas on how to build something from the ground up.”
He, too, is saddened by the university’s decision to close the station.
“I think it’s disappointing because I think it’s shortsighted,” said Rincon. He went on to say, “It’s disappointing because I think there’s more avenues for growth in that field than there is in some other mediums that Quinnipiac is investing in. That’s my take – they obviously didn’t share in that.”
Not to mention, he feels that WQUN’s connection to the community is extremely valuable. As a radio journalist and news junkie, Rincon feels the most valuable aspect of local radio is to be able to hear from local leaders.
“In radio, we have the opportunity to hear someone, to go through what they believe, what they think about certain issues that impact the community,” said Rincon, “It’s a great tool to hear from your elected officials, to hear from your community leaders, to hear from people who make an impact on your community and hold them to account.”
Rincon hopes that Quinnipiac will revisit and reverse their decision, however as the clock ticks down on WQUN’s final broadcast on May 31, it seems unlikely that they will. It should not go unnoticed that Quinnipiac Board of Trustee members have thoroughly supported the decision to shut the station down. The Chairman of Quinnipiac’s Board of Trustees, William Weldon, told the New Haven Register back in March that “to continue to invest in areas that are part of the past is probably not the best use of the resources.”
Though President Olian’s reasoning for shutting down the station appears to be contradicted by recent studies, she has made it clear that the university is unwilling to reconsider. President Olian has since expressed that she intends to utilize the building housing WQUN as a podcast center for next year, however no further information regarding that has been announced yet.
This still leaves Masi and many other community members who have supported her petition unsatisfied.
“What keeps fueling the fire is the fact that we don’t have an answer from the university that actually makes sense – that’s truthful, that supports what we know to be the truth.”
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