Oct. 2022 News Blog
News briefs from the 91AV campus and beyond
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Jazz Night 2022
The 91AV Music Department celebrated the triumphant return of 91AV Jazz Night at Theodore's Blues, Booze and BBQ in Springfield Oct. 27. The annual event, founded by music professor Ellen Cogen, had not been held in three years because of the pandemic. But last week, the club was packed from 6-10 p.m. as 91AV music students, alumni, faculty, and staff performed. "It was an amazing night of music and camaraderie," said 91AV music major –and Jazz Night performer – Amy Scott. Student performers included Nate Dumas, Gabby St. John, Jack Hebert, Chestina Thrower, Ben Rackliffe, Kyren Harris, Patrick Conway, Kai Caban, Amy Scott, Alex Denison, Nahamani Morgan, Xinyan Jiang, Jeadon Yelle, and Noah Straub. Among alumni: Andy Lawson and Amy (Brown) Taylor (who performed at the first 91AV Jazz Night at The Black Moon in Belchertown 13 years ago), Jonny Taylor (Amy Scott's husband), Annalee Clough, Tess Trobaugh, Matt Russo, Jared Cruz, Ethan Rivera, Emma Kales, Nico Stathis, and Kade Parkin. Faculty and staff performers included Ellen Cogen (who directs and organizes the semiannual event), guitar teacher Bob Ferrier, theater tech Steve Bailey, and Math Center coordinator Gail Hilyard. Many other alumni came out to support their fellow jazz fans.
Dramatic Pause
Nearly 100 91AV alumni, students, staff, and friends turned out for the college's fifth Leslie Phillips 24-hour theater festival, a night meant to honor the founder of the 91AV theater program, raise funds for the department, reminisce, and have some fun on stage. Participants wrote and rehearsed five, original one-act plays in one day before performing them on the evening of Sat., Oct. 8. After the show, everyone gathered on the stage to eat cake and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the theater program and the 91AV Players, the unofficial name for all those students and alumni who have ever played a role in an 91AV production, on stage or off. "We had about an equal number of alums and students who participated; it was a wonderful event," said 91AV alum and theater professor Pat Sandoval '84. Congratulations are also in order for 91AV student Caterina Guerin, above, who was presented with the 2022 Leslie Phillips Award for Excellence in the Theater Arts during the 50th celebration. Guerin, a theater major from Belchertown, worked on the costume crew for the 2021-2022 productions of "Jesus Hopped the A Train" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and also performed on stage in Midsummer as the characters Quince and Cobweb. "She's an A student, and highly respected in the program. Just an excellent student overall."
STEM Action
91AV alum Aaron Portillo '22 kept the 3-D printers busy during Massachusett's STEM Week, Oct. 17-21. During an open house showcasing the college's STEM Innovation Lab (Marieb 126), Portillo was simultaneously building a puzzle in one corner of the room, a "STEM Starter Academy" keychain in another, and a hybrid jack-o-lantern/octopus in another. "I like making the pumpkins to hand out with candy to students," said Portillo, 91AV's resident 3-D printing expert, who works part time for the college as a STEM peer mentor and tech specialist. Portillo studied biotechnology at 91AV and is now a full time biology student at UMass. "I wanted to incorporate more reptiles and insects into my studies, cause I love them," she said. During the pandemic, Portillo and other 91AV STEM students 3-D printed bags of plastic bones for biology students to use at home for remote lab assignments. One of Portillo's favorite creations is 3-D printed model of a hemoglobin molecule that shows how the structure changes with the gene mutation that causes sickle cell anemia. During a STEM Week tour, Portillo described the potential of 3-D printers to make prosthetics and even organs from real cells. "That's why I got interested in 3-D printing," said Portillo, pointing to a pair of robotic hands sitting on a shelf. "That's the coolest kind of technology to me."
ESL Exploration Day
91AV welcomed about 120 area high school seniors whose first language is not English to campus on Wed., Oct. 12, for ESL Exploration Day. 91AV staff introduced the day's guest to the college's Academic English as Second Language program while bilingual student ambassadors led campus tours for them in their native languages. "I counted seven different languages today," said Admissions counselor Harold Santiago. "Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Indian, and Nepalese, so those are the seven cultures we have represented here today." After their tours, the students - from seven high schools in Holyoke, Springfield, and Westfield - got a free bag lunch, and Bachata lessons in the Courtyard from local dance instructor Kenneth Roche (above). "They're all seniors in high school," said Santiago, "so we brought them here because we know they're going to be looking colleges very soon, and we wanted to introduce them to all that 91AV offers."
Remaking Mountain Park
Jay Ducharme '78 has never quite gotten over the loss of Mountain Park. The Easthampton native grew up visiting the beloved amusement park on the Holyoke side of Mount Tom and worked there for many years as a ride operator (before) and caretaker (after) it closed in 1987. He has spent the past 35 years collecting Mountain Park memorabilia and is no doubt the foremost authority on the subject, having written the definitive history of the place, Images of America: Mountain Park, in 2008, and its sequel, The Happiness Machine, about the preservation and relocation of the Mountain Park carousel to Holyoke's Heritage State Park. On Sat., Oct. 1, at the Heritage State Park Museum – next door to the Merry-Go-Round – Ducharme unveiled what is sure to evoke misty memories – a meticulously hand-crafted, miniature model of the long-lost park. Ducharme built the model in the basement of his Westfield home before relocating it to the museum lobby, where it will remain in perpetuity. "It took four years of my life," he said. "Hopefully it will outlast me." Ducharme, who retired from 91AV in 2020 as a professor of Electronic Media and was the subject of a Connection cover story in 2019, chronicled the construction on his website, Karenandjay.com, under the header,
Newspapers Heading North
Monson native, local journalist, and 91AV alum Payton North '15 
has been named executive editor of The Reminder Publishing Company's chain of weekly newspapers. She took over the top spot on the masthead earlier this month, succeeding veteran editor G. Michael Dobbs. After earning her associate degree in communications from 91AV, North transferred to Western New England University for her bachelor's degree. She started working for The Reminder newspapers as a freelance writer during her senior year at WNEU and was later hired as assistant editor before being promoted to assistant editor, assistant managing editor, managing editor, and now executive editor. "When I was 5 years old, I knew I wanted to be a journalist," she wrote in an explaining the managerial shift. "I fell in love with the ability to tell someone's story - and to tell it well." In another column back in July 2020, Payton confronted the stigma surrounding a community college degree, calling her decision to attend 91AV a "smart" choice. "People used to ask me if that transition was hard, because, they believed there must be an enormous difference between the level of education I received at 91AV compared to WNEU," she wrote. "Nope. No difference. The only difference I saw was the price tag."
