VOL. 26... NO. 4 TORCHBCC.COM DECEMBER 2017 Missed Connection: WiFi and Service Issues Remain JEREMY NIFRAS CONTRIBUTING WRITER Across Bergen Community College, students are always connected — whether it be for leisurely activities, such as using social media and watching Netflix, or for educational purposes, such as typing an important paper on Google Docs, or checking Moodle for class assignments. In addition, many students call and text each other on a daily B-Wing basis for a variety of reasons. Beautification In the information age, the constant use of the internet and wireless communication is pg 2 a way of life around campus, which makes the growing issue of poor Wi-Fi and cell service much more problematic. The lack of cell service is most apparent in the college’s oldest building, Ender Hall. Itamar Mahal, a student at Bergen who takes a government course at Ender Hall, views the building as a “dead zone” for service. :[\KLU[ZVM[LUZ[Y\NNSL[VÄUKYLSPHISLPU[LYUL[HJJLZZVUJHTW\Z1LYLT`5PMYHZ “The service in [Ender] is the school], you start to lose cell When I do, it’s very slow, and provider you have, whether it never sustained, and we lose service. I know for a fact that I think something needs to be be Verizon, AT&T or others,” it all the time,” Mahal says. around the registration area, improved,” said Ribeiro. Beebe said. “The school needs to install there’s barely any reception Tyler Beebe, the Technical According to Beebe, something to change that over there,” said Kadesh. Systems Manager in Bergen’s Verizon has been working around here.” Hudson Ribeiro, a student IT department, said the to improve the cell service Ben Kadesh, another who frequently comes to the problem with cell service at the Pitkin Center building Measurements student at Bergen, has Pitkin Center library to study, is mostly the fault of the and presumably, Ender Hall. experienced service issues, believes changes need to be providers. He suggests that anyone who of Success even at the main Pitkin made to solve these issues. “We don’t provide the has service problems around Education Center. “Whenever I come here, I cell service on campus, and campus should contact their The further you go [into can almost never get service. it would depend on what provider. pg. 6 *65;05<,+657(., StudentsCHARLIE LEPPERT Learn What It Means to be a Leader LAYOUT EDITOR Early in the morning capabilities, and patience, of Saturday, November 11, forcing them to work as a students boarded a bus at team to accomplish their goals Bergen Community College and respect all of the possible and drove out to Hands In 4 solutions presented by their Youth’s Camp Vacamas in peers, valuable skills in all West Milford. The sprawling student leadership positions. camp is home to obstacle After the activities for the courses, a beautiful lake, and day were completed, students various gymnasiums and broke up into smaller groups to conference rooms. review what they felt they had Every year, the Office of learned that day before coming Day of Student Life offers this retreat together as a whole again to to help student leaders develop express their definitions of Transgender important skills to aid them leadership and what they had Awareness in their leadership roles. This learned. is the first year the retreat has Fritz Batista described been hosted at Camp Vacamas. leadership as “an opportunity Students began the day to help others stand out.” pg. 10 with warm-up exercises as Similarly, Greg Kahanec, a whole before being split a member of the Chess Club, into teams, engaging in team said that leadership means building exercises and trust “putting yourself aside to let exercises, such as trust falls, other succeed.” before lunch. Rafila Naveed, who works After lunch, the individual in the Office of Student Life, groups worked as teams to said he believes a leader is complete various obstacle someone “who makes the courses with both physical and whole group work.” mental challenges. One such This theme of selflessness challenge had a team lined up and cooperation as central to standing on a log, and they had leadership skills continued to line up according to various throughout the group criteria without speaking or discussions. leaving the log. Greg Fenkart, the Another required students Coordinator of Student Life, Students using the “giant skis,” an exercise in cooperation, since every- Bergen Cross to first obtain a tire swing quoted Professor Win Win one on them must move in sync to move them at all. This was just one from the center of a zip line Kyi, the Faculty Advisor to Phi of many team-building exercises. // Erick Moreno Country Finishes where it was suspended, then Theta Kappa Honors Society, them invaluable skills of Student Life and Conduct Strong send each individual team who says “We have two ears leadership and cooperation who advised students that “If member across the zip line to and one mouth, so we should to their leadership positions there is anything you bring the other side of the course listen twice as much as we on campus as well as their back with you today let it be pg. 20 without touching the ground. speak.” everyday lives. a new friend, a new skill, and These obstacles challenged As students took the bus The takeaway from the day all those little things you bring the students’ problem- back to Bergen’s Paramus was probably best summarized with you.” solving abilities, cooperative campus, they brought with by Rachel Lerner, Dean of DREAMers Defend Stress Free Week at DACA Bergen pg. 4 pg. 3 2 EWS N THE TORCH VOLUME 26 ISSUE 4 DECEMBER 2017 NEWS BCCYOO RA KIM Secretary Beautifies B-Wing CONTRIBUTING WRITER If anyone had classes in the B-Wing prior to the spring semester, they would know that the hallway lacked a certain pizazz. Sandra Haan, Secretary of the Mathematics department, has taken the necessary steps to make the B-wing look more lively. There were plenty of plants and pieces of artwork placed around the hallway that made a world of difference. The artwork mostly features scenes from nature, but it is an overall diverse collection. Haan’s daughter helped to contribute some of the paintings. The paintings depict serene surroundings that fill the viewer with peace. Who wouldn’t want to feel a sense of peace on their way to class? Then, there’s the B-wing conference room, which used to have rusting filing cabinets and drab curtains, but both of those pieces of furniture are long gone. They have been replaced by a stunning array of African violets and :VTLYLJLU[PTWYV]LTLU[ZVU[OL[OPYKÅVVY@VV9H2PT a thoughtfully decorated bookshelf. incense sticks and a convenient shelving her job. The next time you walk down the Anyone holding a conference in this unit to put purses or bags on spruced up And who could forget the polished B-Wing, make sure to check out the room will definitely notice the positive the otherwise unaesthetic bathroom. bulletin boards? There’s colorful paper lovely decorations. The difference is change in the environment. When asked why she chose to framing, the posters and advertisements subtle, but makes the environment The faculty bathroom in the B-wing undertake this project, Haan simply on the boards which gives them more much more visually pleasing and has experienced some minor renovations said, “I just wanted the hall to look a of a pop. Not to mention, they don’t overall increased the quality of the as well. The addition of wall decals, bit nicer.” She certainly accomplished look messy from too much clutter. hallway. Bergen Internet Connection Issues “IT isn’t in charge of the cell *65;05<,+-9647(., service; that’s mostly up to the cell He says these students resort to using phone providers. If the providers get their own hotspots or data because they enough feedback from customers about don’t know how to connect to the WiFi problems at Ender Hall, they can reach network. out to us and say ‘We’d like to do “I know some of my ESL students some work on the building;’ and that aren’t aware of how to connect to the it’s worth putting a new cell site over network to begin with,” Karahan says. there,” said Beebe. “Someone should put up a poster Aside from the concerns over around the school that instructs how cellphone service, the Bergen Wi-Fi to connect using their Bergen portal network has also had its own share of accounts. This way, it saves them time complaints and issues. Many students and effort. If you were to walk into the around campus have complained of ESL class and ask around if they’re connectivity issues during the busiest connected to the Wi-Fi, 80 percent hours on campus, which could most would say ‘no.’” likely be attributed to the large amount He continued to say that many ESL of traffic on the network. students require Wi-Fi to finish their “During different times of the homework, as they cannot complete day we have a lot of users. We nearly their work on their own and frequently doubled our bandwidth in the past require assistance. year,” Beebe claims. “The more people Karahan said, “Sometimes ESL stream video, watch Netflix, and play students need help and can’t work on games, the more bandwidth will be grammar-dependent work, such as used. At this point, it’s very rare that essays, on their own without having to we max out […] if that does happen, it go the library.