By Ellen Garnett
Staff Writer
Spring break is coming up, which for some, means taking wicked long naps or traveling to distant shores. The Voice sat down with a few students at Simmons to see what they have planned—from celebrating a great grandmother’s 102nd birthday to visiting Morocco.
Junior Emily Cole will go down to Florida to celebrate the 102nd birthday of her great grandmother, Sylvia Mintz.
“My great grandmother, or Bubby, is the kindest, most extraordinary person I know,” said Cole. “She loves to play bingo, talk with her friends, and reads hours and hours a day on her Kindle! She will celebrate her birthday surrounded by family and friends stretching four generations—from her 102-year-old self to her great-grandson Ryder at age 6, who, funny enough, shares her birthday. She’s an absolutely incredible woman and I wish I could spend every day with her.”
Senior Shen Gao will also visit family—her boyfriend’s family in Portugal. Gao and her boyfriend will make a semi-surprise visit in celebration of her boyfriend’s mother’s birthday (semi-surprise because his father knows about it). During their visit, Gao and her boyfriend will explore the Azores islands, specifically Terceira Island, and its inactive volcano, Algar do Carvão, which has an intricate area molded from dark black lava.
“I like traveling (when I can, financially and time-wise) to explore different cultures, to learn, and see what the people are like,” said Gao.
Senior Lisa Nault will be traveling with Simmons College Radio, The Shark, to the not-so-distant land of New York City for the 77th Annual International Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Conference. At the conference, Nault will attend the IBS radio awards ceremony, as her radio show “Shark Stage” (with co-host Jennifer Ives) is nominated for “Best Radio Drama.” This is not the first time “Shark Stage” has been nominated, and Nault is not new to the scene of college radio. Just last year, Nault and her fellow co-hosts won “Best Specialty Show” for their show “Mix & Match with MEL.”
“It’s truly amazing to see that I’ve reached this point in my life, because if you told freshman Lisa that she would go to IBS for three years in a row, be nominated four times for various categories and win an award in college radio, I would have never believed you,” said Nault.
“I also definitely would not have gotten here without the help over the years of my past co-hosts, Ellen Garnett, Marjorie Atkinson, and Jennifer Ives. I couldn’t have done it without the support of our former Radio Adviser Len Mailloux, who inspired me to try something new and [showed me] that my shows were worth listening to,” said Nault.
This year, The Shark is nominated for nine categories. In addition to her first nomination for “Best Radio Drama,” Nault is also nominated for “Best Use of YouTube” for the same show. The Shark may come back after spring break with a few shiny trophies to display in the radio station, a tribute to the efforts of Len, its former adviser, and Erica Moura, its new adviser.
Sophomore Cynthia Miguel will be visiting Marrakech, Morocco with a friend for a food and nature tour.
“We’re really excited to experience a whole new culture,” said Miguel. “We got together every week when we were planning this and were researching customs, culture and language just so we were educated. My best friend and I are foodies, so we were ecstatic when we saw the food tour [on TripAdvisor].”
Miguel and her friend learned common phrases in Arabic such as “hello”, “how are you?”, “please”, “thank you”, and “excuse me”, which they hope will fit the dialect of the region. For her trip, she draws upon her past visits to Brazil, where her family lives.
Whether you are sitting on the couch all break catching up on your favorite Netflix series or leaving the country for a much-needed break, the Voice wishes you a safe and fun spring break.
