The Springfield Student November 4, 2021
Est. 1910 scstudentmedia.com // @TheSpfldStudent
Volume 136 No. 9
Winners/Finalists for five Society of Professional Journalist (SPJ) awards in 2021
A Mental Health Special Edition This issue addresses the complexity of mental health, and what you can do if you are struggling. (Graphic courtesy of Heidi Schuman)
inside Addressing LGBTQ+ Mental Health, Page 7 Panayiotis Kapanides: The Power of a Smile, Page 4 Get to Know the Counseling Center, Page 8 And more...
November 4, 2021
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Arruda: What A Year Joe Arruda, Co-Editor-In-Chief of The Springfield Student, reflects on the effects of the pandemic on academic burnout. __ By Joe Arruda __ @joearruda9
What. A. Year. It is so hard not to accept the result of the pandemic, the world we are living in now, as “normal.” A mask now impossible to leave without, like your underwear or socks. Remember sitting at a sporting event and being able to cheer loudly without that thing sliding down your face? Or sitting in class where it is possible to understand a professor without their mumbler? We have returned to life as normal – the only problem is that life isn’t normal. It’s not normal to constantly have to worry about contracting or spreading a virus, to have to wear a mask in crowds or to completely isolate yourself from the world at any sign of a symptom. But life has continued
on with that as a reality. And it’s hard. That’s why we wanted to put this special edition together – so that you understand you’re not alone. We’re all “living” through this pandemic, but your situation is not discredited. Everyone is affected differently, and it is important to acknowledge every one of our differences. That is why I’m happy with the work our Special Projects Editors, Hayden Choate and Collin Atwood, did to plan an issue covering mental health from so many different angles. As a senior I find myself overloading my work commitments in a subconscious effort to make up for everything I’ve missed out on throughout the past three-and-a-half semes-
ters. I often have several tasks to complete in one day, leaving little time for sleep. This semester especially, sleep has been my fourth priority. It is important for us all to take a step back sometimes, away from the computer, away from a to-do list. Take some time for yourself. The “best years of our lives” have been plagued and stripped by this virus, but the least we can do is make the most of the time we do have. Our positives are just having things be somewhat “normal” – but nothing is. Recognizing things that we had taken for granted in the past, like being in large crowds or being able to see someone’s full face, really makes you appreciate little things more.
Remember when the men’s basketball team hosted the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2020? That buzzer-beating layup put our entire campus on hold. After that shot fell through Blake Arena stopped. The electricity of the crowd died out immediately and the Birthplace of Basketball housed hundreds of upset college students. Since then, we haven’t needed a basketball game to be upset. Every task or assignment during this Covid period has been overwhelming. I’m really not sure exactly what it is. Maybe we are all just used to the minimized workload of the last couple semesters, when professors understood the effect that the pandemic had on us as students. But now tons
of professors are going about life as normal, when normal still feels so far away. Find a hobby, something that can take you away from school. Reading, going for a walk or hanging out with friends. If you are struggling with burnout, like me, organize yourself. Write down what needs to be done when and manage your days accordingly. If you feel overworked, delegate. There are others who are willing and able to help. Struggling in a class? Go to your professor’s office hours. I actually went to office hours once this semester. It’s an 8 a.m. class – which is impossible to manage when sleep is nonexistent. I Arruda continued on Page 10
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Bannon: ‘Life is all about experience’ Sarah Bannon, a senior, shares how her mental health was impacted in 2020 and how she overame those struggles. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Bannon) ___ By Sarah Bannon ___ Guest Contributor
When I was asked to write this column, I had no idea where to start. Mental health is a topic of conversation that I am so passionate about, so I thought it would be easy. Turns out – it wasn’t. My story with mental health was something I was willing to share; however, summarizing it into an 800-word story seemed impossible. I wanted to inspire others to be an active voice in the community, stand up for themselves, and advocate for mental health everywhere. I wanted to minimize the stigma, and talk about uncomfortable conversations we ignore. According to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. In 2019, 47,511 Americans died of suicide. Nonetheless, those numbers have skyrocketed in the past two years due
to the financial crisis and a global pandemic. These numbers scare me. Losing someone scares me. As the young adults in our generation, we have the potential and ability to change lives and help others going through unimaginable times. I want to make a difference, and this is what I have learned. I believe my future career as an occupational therapist embodies the true Springfield College philosophy; educating the whole person in spirit, mind, and body for leadership and service to others. This is something that I believe is absolutely pivotal to a healthy and happy lifestyle. As I go through my first year of graduate school and read literature from theorists and scholars from long ago, I realized this philosophy is not a foreign one - but one that is critical to teach. As I think back to the
year 2020, I can remember losing myself in all three components of this philosophy. I lost myself spiritually; I had no drive or ambition. I stopped listening to music – something I did everyday. I stopped writing and felt careless as I dragged myself through each day. I lost every ounce of creativity that I had. My body felt weak and I stopped caring about staying physically fit because I just couldn’t anymore. As I drifted further and further away, I became more frustrated with myself. I didn’t have the answers, and sometimes you just don’t. But I really had no idea what I was doing, or what I wanted. I felt like a puppet, going through the motions and further into a terrible episode of depression. I had a lot on the line and I didn’t know which path I wanted to take in terms of my educational career. I was lost. The journey came full circle when I finally recovered and made a speech at my final NSO Circle of Support session with all of the incoming students this fall. I spoke out about my entire expe-
rience, depression, anxiety, psychiatric care and I felt liberated from everything that I had gone through the year before. The best part about the experience was the many people who came up to me and asked for advice or expressed they appreciated the speech. That moment is one that I’ll hold close forever, and look to if I ever feel like I’m at rock bottom again. I was told by a psychologist once that it’s “experiences” that change the brain. Experiences that give us confidence, and that rewire our negative, intrusive thoughts. She said there is no magic fix, and I knew that. But the word “experience” is what truly stood out to me. I pondered on the conversation, and believed it to be such a true reflection. Life is all about experience. So many tiny moments that make up memories that make up a year and then soon a decade. These moments go by fast, and change us for the worse and for the better, but it is up to you to create how you see those moments. Perspective and responsibility are two internal challenges I have
been working on this year. Responsibility for my actions, my happiness, and recognizing the control I have and don’t have over the world. Perspective, because there are so many facets to each situation and experience. We can look at things from so many different perspectives; this has helped me to step back this year. I’ve been realizing the responsibilities I have for myself, and looking at the world from a different angle. I challenge myself and everyone around me to dig deep and offer two internal challenges for the following year. They can be as small as making your bed each day or reaching out for help when you seriously need it. Maybe even confiding in someone you trust. A challenge to teach others about the spirit, mind, and body philosophy - something we should all follow - to speak out about your mental health journey, or even just recognizing your responsibility to be kind and gentle with yourself. We only have so many moments on this journey, but we have the power to create an abundance of growth, lessons, and memories along the way.
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The Power of a Smile
Panayiotis Kapanides improved his mental health by focusing on being himself and living a simple lifestyle. _ By Garrett Cote _ @garrett_cote
Only so much about life are the events that directly impact a person. The majority of it, however, is how that individual reacts to these events; how they respond. Do they choose to let them define who they are, or do they strive to improve in small-scale phases every waning minute of each day? For Springfield College junior Panayiotis ‘Pete’ Kapanides, the answer to that question is simple. “He was the first person I can sit here and say that I learned how to grow around him,” said Kapanides’ best friend, Cam Borges. “We would challenge each other every single day to get out of our comfort zone. To get better. It was special because we were so comfortable talking about our emotions, and we would sit down and do it all the time. It really helped him grow.” During Kapanides’ freshman year on Alden Street, he was blind sided and betrayed by one of the most important people in his life. While visiting his significant other on Valentine’s Day in February of 2020 at Westfield State, he learned she had been unfaithful to him. About a month later,
Springfield announced that there were no plans to return to campus for the remainder of the 2020 spring semester because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was in a deep hole,” Kapanides said. “I was super depressed through all of quarantine, and just waking up every day and having to Zoom all of my classes was awful. The only thing that would get me through the day was working out in my backyard, shooting hoops or going for a run. All of my trust that I once had, was just broken like that.” This sent him on a downward spiral, plummeting towards rock bottom. On top of this, Kapanides was hesitant to leave his Bedford, Mass. home, because his grandparents were living there with no option to fly back to their home country of Greece since the pandemic had become such a real threat. Being trapped in his room seemingly forced him to work on his mental health. It forced him to rebuild himself after offering so much of his time and effort into one relationship. “I had my grandparents living with me, so I
(Photo Courtesy of Panayiotis Kapanides)
couldn’t do much,” Kapanides said. “I wouldn’t even eat dinner near them because I didn’t want to risk anything with COVID. I was going from my bedroom, to the bathroom to outside, just working on myself. I didn’t see anyone for two months until my grandparents were able to fly back to Greece. “Going through that sucked. It was the low point of my life, but I would say quarantine is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me because I was just locked in. I used all that time to myself, and there was no better time for me to focus on me.”
After pondering the thought of not returning to Springfield for his sophomore year, Kapanides chose to give it another shot, and he made the decision to room with Borges in International Hall. Similar to the scenario at his house, there weren’t too many places for Kapanides to go because of the coronavirus guidelines the school installed, so the only option was to sit in his room. His relationship with Borges would soon blossom. “We knew when we just needed to sit down and talk about life,” Kapanides said. “Whether we were playing Madden super close to the screen, or
sitting on our beds looking out the window, we clicked on a different level. I got so into mental health during those moments because I realized that everybody goes through something different.” The strides Kapanides took from his freshman to sophomore year were as big of strides as his 6’3 frame can take - which are huge. One of the first people to notice a difference was his teammate on the Pride men’s basketball team, Daryl Costa. “When he came in as a freshman, he wasn’t that vocal, he was more on the shy side,” Costa said. “But he grew into an incredible leader, and he was con-
November 4, 2021 stantly looking for ways to better himself. Coming off the COVID year, we kind of had a weird gap of people on the team with experience. Pete took that big jump to become one of the definite leaders of this team.” Not only did he become a leader of the basketball team, he became a leader in his community. Kapanides joined the club Minds in Motion (which was co-founded by Borges), an on-campus club geared towards the normalization of mental health struggles. He’s now a member of the e-board, and makes a significant impact during the club meetings. “Pete dove right into that stuff, he loved it,” Borges said. “I didn’t realize how intellectually brilliant he was at first. He would sit down at night and write in a little notebook, so I could see that his brain needed to be picked at certain points. So he would start coming to the meetings, and he got more and more involved each time.” As his sophomore year wrapped up, Kapanides had forgotten about the infidelity of his past relationship, and moved on to a healthier lifestyle. A simplistic one at that. “I just try to be me now, I don’t care what people think,” Kapanides said. “It was hard at first, opening up to my closest friends about what had happened, and I was shaking when I went to tell them. But after I got it out, it felt so good. I grew my hair out, which I never thought I would do, just to show people I don’t care what they think. I’m
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Kapanides is a junior on the men’s basketball team. (Joe Arruda/The Student)
going to be me. I try to live so simple now.” This notion of simple living has been inherited by Kapanides’ Greek family. He used to visit his parents’ old houses every few years in Greece. Nicholas, his father, lived in a home right outside of Athens. His mother, Argoitsa, is from a small village in the mountains. Panayiotis has embodied their cultures, and still uses their practices to this day. “It’s so cool going there, because nobody cares about phones or anything like that,” he said. “Everyone just goes to the center of town at night, eats food and drinks together, and has fun dancing and singing with a beautiful mountain range in the back. The Greek lifestyle is so unique and so simple. I definitely try to take a little piece of that with me.” Nicholas is now a garage manager at Mirak Hyundai, a used car deal-
ership in Arlington, Mass. about 15 minutes outside of Bedford. He’s the first person seen when customers enter the door, and he inspects his clients’ cars to let them know what the issue is before sending them through to the mechanic. Agoritsa works as a lunch lady in the Lexington public school system. She is currently at an elementary school in the district, and enjoys serving the younger children with a big smile on her face. Agoritsa uses her smile to brighten her students’ and coworkers’ moods each day. “My parents are everything to me,” Panayiotis said. “They did so much for me and my brother just to live out the American dream. They probably had the thought to live out the American dream when they came to America, but that isn’t easy at all. They had to work for everything they have, and now my brother and I are fol-
lowing in their footsteps to try and build something in America for ourselves.” He is named ‘Panayiotis’ after the Greek icon ‘Panagia’, and he wears a bracelet every day with Greek icons on it to embrace his culture. In Greece, they celebrate ‘name days’ more seriously than they do birthdays. Kapanides’ name day falls on August 15, and he will typically have an enormous party with a big lamb roast as the main attraction. Panayitois’ older brother, Iordanis, graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2020, and locked in a job as a consultant for a medical technology company in Boston. Panayiotis constantly thinks of his brother, and is proud of what he has become so quickly out of college. “He loves what he’s doing, and it’s awesome to hear about it,” Panayiotis said. “He’s got a five
minute walk from the beach, there’s all sorts of bars and restaurants right there. He’s living a great life, and he’s doing him. I look at what he’s got going for himself and I hope to be as successful as he is. I’m really happy for him.” Now in the fall of 2021, with Panayiotis, who majors in exercise science, more than halfway through his stint at Springfield College, his name has a special ring to it around the community – all because of his willingness to accept every person, and his ability to touch each heart he encounters. “He’s become such an incredible person that his name is now heard all over campus,” Costa said. “Not just in the basketball world, but in leadership all over. There’s only positive things to talk about with him, and I’m so See Smile continued on Page 6
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Smile continued from Page 5
happy to see my brother do his thing. People like him just don’t come by all the time.” Kapanides recently presented a slideshow to his basketball team, highlighting the importance of off the court character and leadership development, for the team to learn and understand. “I brought up the slideshow idea to [Borges] at first, because that’s my go to guy on campus,” he said. “We came up with some good ideas, and it became a really vulnerable moment when I presented it to the team. That was the biggest part of it. We all shared something that nobody knew about them, and it drew us all so much closer.” Kapanides, along with being heavily involved with Minds in Motion, is also a student ambassador on Alden Street and has met a handful of wonderful people in the Admissions Office in return. “My friend asked me to be a student ambassador, so I kind of just jumped right on it,” he said. “I ended up meeting a lot of amazing people in admissions. The cool thing about being at Springfield College is that, people say there are some nice people here, but literally whatever building you go into, you’re going to find a great group of people.” That feeling is mutual. It isn’t just Kapanides having the pleasure of meeting nice people - they also get to meet him. His infectious aura is never
overlooked by anyone he runs into. “The way he treats his friends, teachers, strangers and everyone else is so consistent,” Borges said. “He cares so much about everyone. That’s just who he is. It’s unbelievable. And I know it’s mutual, too.” Trying to rekindle an old flame from the past, Kapanides took to the diamond in September to try out for the Pride baseball team. Following a meeting with head coach Mark Simeone, he learned he wasn’t going to be a part of the roster for this year. Another mental setback, it seemed. But because of Kapanides’ new and improved mindset, this wasn’t a setback. It was another step towards growth. “Before I even thought about basketball, I was a baseball player. I loved to do it more than anything,” he said. “When I got cut, it left me with a first thought of wondering if all that grind I put into it was worth it. I played a lot over the summer knowing I was going to try out, and I picked right back up on how good I was when I was younger. “Getting cut didn’t affect me because I knew my potential, I didn’t need any reassurance by making the team. I put in the work and did everything I could to put myself in a position to succeed. It just didn’t work out.” Despite his love for baseball, basketball was his scapegoat. It was a way to clear his mind.
Kapanides (left) with best friend Cam Borges (right) representing the Minds in Motion Club on Fresh Check Day. (Photo courtesy of Minds in Motion)
He looked up at this old poster in his room, in his house on Wellington St. in Springfield, of LeBron James’ patented chalk toss with a grin - perhaps recalling all of his favorite basketball memories - and dropped his head back down. “I just can’t get away from basketball, man. I can’t wait to coach when I’m older. I know I’m going to. I feel like I could impact so many more lives and do a really good job coaching a team,” Kapanides said. As Borges mentioned, Kapanides loved to write in a little notebook. It
allows him to reflect on where he was, and compare it to where he is now. It allows him to truly appreciate his growth as a person. He reached down into his North Face bookbag, and pulled out his coveted notebook. With a smile as big as ever spanning from one ear to the other, he read the first page that he scribed in the fall of 2020. “Second week of school just finished. Great vibes. Be you,” one entry said. “Took a mental setback this weekend. You know what to do and what not to do, keep yourself accountable,” read another
one. Panayiotis Kapanides is a strong, brave, and caring young man with a contagious personality and smile. He embraced his mental struggles and used them to build character, and now that smile holds a tremendous amount of power. “It’s always been important to me to check in on whoever,” Kapanides said. “It doesn’t even have to be a deep conversation all the time, it could be a simple interaction as I pass by them on campus. It could be something as simple as a smile.”
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Fitzgerald: Empowering the LGBTQ+ community Springfield College senior Nora Fitzgerald discusses the factors that contribute to mental health in the LGBTQ+ community.
(Photo courtesy of Springfield College)
___ By Nora Fitzgerald ___ Guest Contributor
The experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals often negatively impact their mental health and, in some cases, physical safety. We live in a heteronormative society where queer culture is not valued, celebrated, or even understood by those who are not part of the LGBTQ+ community. Surely, there are some places in the country where it is more accepted than others; however, many LGBTQ+ individuals lack the necessary support to be their most authentic selves. According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), 40% of LGBTQ+ adults have experienced rejection from a family member or a close friend after coming out. This, along with other risk factors that LGBTQ+ youth experience, puts the community at a 120% higher risk of experiencing homelessness. NAMI also reports that 40% of transgender
adults have attempted suicide in their lifetime, and LGBTQ+ adults are more than twice as likely to have a mental health condition compared to heterosexual adults. These numbers may be shocking to some, but this only scratches the surface of what individuals in the LGBTQ+ community face on a day-to-day basis. When you consider the intersections of race, religion, socioeconomic status, or ability and sexuality, you’ll find that individuals with multiple marginalized identity markers generally experience higher risk of mental or physical harm when coming out. Everyone’s coming out journey is unique, and different aspects of one’s identity shape the way they perceive the world and the world perceives them. Some people have great experiences sharing their truth, while others face more traumatic realities. It’s important to
remember that coming out is a lifelong process that can be both liberating and intimidating. In some cases, it may not be a safe or wise decision for an individual to come out. This may be due to their living circumstances, fear of harassment or discrimination, or they may just not know how they identify yet. It is crucial to let someone come out on their own terms in order to not jeopardize their safety or wellbeing. An individual can take an entire lifetime to figure out who they are or what they want in life, and sexuality and gender identity are no different. One person may know exactly how they identify early in life, while others may struggle to find security in their identity until later into adulthood. Either way, their identity is valid, and everyone has their own timeline in finding themselves. One way to make
LGBTQ+ youth feel more empowered to come out and be their true selves is to expand our collective understanding of LGBTQ+ issues. Educating people on LGBTQ+ issues can provide clarity to those who may not know much about the community and it can make conversations about identity easier. Here at Springfield College, student leaders are working to incorporate more LGBTQ+ education on campus. Student athletes Lily Gould and Grace Dzindolet organized a group called “Athlete Ally” this year which aims to address the needs of LGBTQ+ individuals within the world of sport. “We really just want to create a space for LGBTQ+ issues in sport to be heard,” Dzindolet said. “Our goal with Athlete Ally is to make Springfield Athletics more inclusive. We want to support LGBTQ+ athletes at our
school, and give everyone the tools they need to be a better ally and teammate to LGBTQ+ athletes.” Athlete Ally is partnering with SGA, GSA, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Minds in Motion for an event next week related to mental health awareness. Archie Messersmith-Bunting, founder of Archie Cares, LLC, will be coming to campus for a conversation around destigmatizing mental health. This event will be taking place on November 10th at 7 pm in Fuller Arts Center. Students are always encouraged to make an appointment with the counseling center in the event that someone is struggling with their mental health. The counseling center can be reached at (413) 748-3345, and in the event of an emergency, public safety can be reached at (413) 748-5555.
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Get to know your counselors The Springfield College Counseling Center is full of professionals who are dedicated and passionate about helping students get through everyday struggles.
__ By Collin Atwood __ @collinatwood17
The life of a college student is stressful enough, but there is no doubt that everyone’s stress levels have gone up since March of 2020. College students, especially, have had to deal with numerous changes in their lives. Online learning, quarantine housing and weekly testing were all new aspects to college that nobody was prepared for. Now that the college lifestyle is somewhat normal again, people are still getting used to the intensity and speed of a normal routine. It’s important that these students have someone to go to when they feel like the stress of college is just too much. Fortunately for the Springfield College community, the Counseling Center on campus is full of counselors who are eager to assist students in processing their everyday problems. “To have someone come into my office and to talk about the most intimate parts of their life and to be privileged to be a part of that is
pretty incredible,” said Paige Getchell, a psychologist at the Springfield College Counseling Center. It didn’t take long for Getchell to realize that she wanted to be a counselor, and help people through their problems. Sharing stories has always been a big part of her family culture. Through those years of sharing and listening to stories, Getchell’s love grew for hearing how people’s life experiences have affected them. “I always really just enjoyed talking to people and was really interested in people’s stories,” said Getchell. “Everyone has a very unique, interesting story, and different perspective.” This passion for listening to others talk about their life led Getchell to attend Roanoke College where she majored in psychology and minored in sociology. She attended graduate school at Loyola University and that’s where her specific interest in counseling adults
(Photo courtesy of the Springfield College Counseling Center)
originated. “While I was there, I really knew that I wanted to work with adults,” Gretchell said. “I had experience working at some outpatient settings, working with different communities [like] the LGBTQ+ community - I worked with individuals who were diagnosed with HIV or facing economic oppression.” After completing her internship and postdoctoral at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
she was offered a job at Springfield College. It was the tight-knit community and amazing staff at Springfield that interested Getchell. The small community at Springfield makes it easier for her to connect with the students and work with them in a long-term way. “There’s just a sense of community here and everyone... we’re all very different, but there’s a sense of family that was really welcoming,” she said. Family is exactly
what gets Getchell through her tough days. After a long day of helping students through the problems that life brings, she could use a little therapeutic time herself. When she’s not at work, she loves spending time with her daughter and dog named Bubba. In her six years at Springfield, Getchell has been a tremendous resource for many students on campus. Her counseling and pure joy in helping others has been the therapy that
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the community needs. Another counselor who has proved herself as a positive resource to many is Jennifer Dashiell-Shoffner. Other than a counselor, Dashiell-Shoffner is a professor and coordinator for the rehab studies program at Springfield College. Dashiell-Shoffner has been at Springfield since the fall semester of 2020, and she was drawn here after meeting the faculty and realizing how genuine and “real” they were. She values a workplace where people can show up as themselves and not be afraid to be who they are. “They were very authentic, very transparent...it felt very real and it was a place [where] I realized I can work in this department and be
Health Edition Mental me,” Dashiell-Shoffner said. Those qualities were important to her because prior to Springfield, she studied and worked at North Carolina A&T State University which is a public, historically Black university. The switch from a public all-Black school to a private, predominately-white college, was terrifying. “I was worried about how I would be perceived in general by the students overall, because I was at a college where I wasn’t different.” Dashiell-Shoffner came into Springfield very guarded because she was worried that as a Black female staff member, she would run into a scenario where a student would mistreat her. As the semester
Jennifer Dashiell-Shoffner. (Photo courtesy of the Springfield College Counseling Center)
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Paige Getchell. (Photo courtesy of the Springfield College Counseling Center)
progressed, she soon realized that the students at Springfield were not the type to discriminate against anyone. “The guard I came in with, I realized I didn’t need it. I got ready for something that I thought was going to happen and it never happened,” Dashiell-Shoffner said. During her time as a student in North Carolina, Dashiell-Shoffner majored in psychology and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree. She continued her studies at Radford University because she was unsure about what she wanted to do for a career. While she was there, she earned her Master’s degree in industrial/ organizational psychology before returning to teach and study at her alma mater in North Carolina A&T. While Dashiell-Shoffner was teaching there, she was also earning her Master’s degree in rehabili-
tation counseling. It wasn’t until she went for her PhD in rehabilitation counseling and rehabilitation counselor education that Dashiell-Shoffner realized she had a passion for counseling. The best way for her to pursue this passion without giving up her love for teaching was to be a part-time counselor, and that’s exactly what she did. After being employed as a professor at Springfield College, Dashiell-Shoffner found herself reading an article in The Springfield Student about the list of demands made by social justice organizations in Sept. 2020. “I saw what the Black student organizations were asking for and one of them was more counselors of color in the counseling center… so I called the director and said ‘Hey, do you still need counselors of color?’” Dashiell-Shoff-
ner said. She was more than qualified and from there, Dashiell-Shoffner became a part-time counselor. She’s now available at the Counseling Center one day a week for about four hours. Dashiell-Shoffner’s favorite thing about counseling is helping students find the solutions to their problems on their own. She describes it as “seeing the lightbulb turn on.” “That’s the best part because then I know we’re doing the work,” she said. Brian Krylowicz, Director of the Counseling Center, is another person that has a passion for helping students through their four years of college. Krylowicz has held his role as Director since he came to Springfield in 2012. Krylowicz graduated from Whittier College Counselors continued on Page 10
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with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1990. His interest in psychology stemmed from a sports psychology class he took in his junior year of college. In his journey of becoming a sports psychologist, Krylowicz attended Texas Tech University where he ultimately would earn his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in counseling psychology. While he was in the program, he was responsible for working at the university’s counseling center. Although he was unfamiliar with the setting, the more he worked there the more he thought that being a counselor is a career that he would enjoy. “I was sent over to go work at the counseling center,” Krylowicz said. “I got some good guidance and away my career went.”
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found myself sleeping through my alarms – like actually, I couldn’t wake up. One time I woke up at 4 in the morning and just stayed up because I was afraid of missing another class and affecting my grade. When I visited my professor outside of their office, they understood. They filled me in
Brian Krylowicz.(Photo courtesy of the Springfield College Counseling Center)
Working in counseling at Texas Tech started a college counseling journey for Krylowicz. He has never been a counselor outside of the college setting – and that’s exactly how he likes it.
“As a therapist you want to work with people that have insight and you want to have people that are looking to change their lives,” he said. “College working is just awesome.” Luckily for Spring-
field, after multiple stops at other colleges, Krylowicz brought himself over to the East Coast for the first time ever to join the counseling center on Alden Street. “When I interviewed
on what I’d missed and helped me understand assignments that were upcoming. The sudden change of pace has made us all remarkably susceptible to burnout at a much faster rate. How three assignments felt in the past, one feels now. The prospect of searching and applying for fulltime jobs, entering the real world and leaving the Springfield College
bubble behind is daunting – to say the least. I have had a wonderful four years here – despite the fact that the pandemic hit in the spring of my sophomore year, and every day since has been full of lost opportunities and experiences. There are so many people, especially at Springfield College, who are here to help us out. There is the Aca-
demic Success Center, the Counseling Center, clubs, our professors and friends who are committed to helping us get through this. Sure we have seen the light at the end of the pandemic-infested tunnel before – multiple times, actually – but it is still so far away. Now, opportunities are beginning to come back again. We are nearing the end of a full fall
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here, everybody seemed to care about the students, and that was a vibe you don’t get at every college,” Krylowicz said. That is exactly what Krylowicz is about. All he wants is to see people on campus smiling and laughing, even through the tough times. “My favorite part is watching people graduate,” Krylowicz said. “I had a great time in college, so part of the reason I like working at the counseling center is I want to make sure as many people as I can also have a great time in college.” The counseling center at Springfield is a valuable resource filled with caring people who want to see the students on campus succeed. Students are encouraged to take advantage of this resource and visit springfield.edu/ student-life/counseling-center for more information.
sports season, approaching the winter when we will again welcome the premier high school basketball showcase in the region and hopefully #shakeblake a few more times. Eventually we will be able to drag ourselves to that light at the end of the tunnel.
November 4, 2021
Health Edition Mental
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Beckford: If we don’t talk about it, we’ll continue to suffer __ By Rowan Beckford __ Guest Contributor
When I sat down to begin writing this piece, I asked one of my brothers for his opinion on the experience of Black people and mental health services; he promptly responded that they were non-existent. He was, of course, being hyperbolic. We have both benefitted, in some manner, from mental health services and are fortunate to have had access to not only that kind of care but the kind of attitudes that encourage the pursuit of those services. But his answer, as joking and exaggerated as it was, did not descend from thin air. One tired joke (tired, though one intuits that the joke is lifted from the common and personal experiences of many) is the idea that therapy is the trifle of white people. Everyone else is to toughen up or manage in some other manner, such as the purported manner in which one is told that their mother or father,
or some other relative, has managed to get by in life. The more dysfunctional they are, the better they have proved themselves as resilient—and without the help of a shrink. Although, if I now recall my experience in public school, many of my peers, Black or not, have confided that the disapproval of their parents prevented them from seeking therapy or some other form of mental health service. None of us were particularly wealthy, which is to say we each represented some gradation of working-class American, or the children of working-class Americans, who couldn’t afford therapy, anyways, if we wanted to go or our parents would let us. So it might be said that therapy is also the trifle of the comfortably well-to-do. Or perhaps of the decidedly middle-aged, too. If you can count your age on your fingers and toes, you have
probably been told (or know someone who has been told) that you are too young for your struggles to be quite so agonizing. After all, what bills do you pay? And, to be fair, the edicts of the naysayers comply perfectly well, rather too much so, with the images and understanding of mental health services prevalent in our culture (that is, the American culture). From Freud to present, the image of psychotherapy has been that of the white and middle-aged and well-to-do. And, even then, the patients of Freud were European or cosmopolitan, artists and poets, Old Money, people whose inner dramas were supposed to be of a different order. By the mid-century, in America, one could be all that but scandalized all the more for it (i.e., Robert Lowell). At this point, it seems mental health services are for no one, a frightening thought especially
Rowan Beckford. (Photo courtesy of the Alden Street Review)
if one has been tracking the pernicious unaccounted for increase of rates of mental illness and loneliness in America; and it is a distressing thought when you remember the casualties inflicted therein. College might be the first place where many young Americans find themselves with access to mental health services and even encouraged to take advantage of them. But what is the student to do who suffers for it? In her essay, “Yale Will Not Save You,” Esmé Weijun Wang recounts and reflects on the disappointing, often infuriating, actions of Yale University regarding the mental health of its student body and local population. And this, by no means, is a problem especial to Yale. In one case, Michelle Hammer, a young woman who attended a different university, found herself in crisis; the actions of
the university police department found her all but under the barrel of a gun—beaten, stepped on, pepper sprayed, handcuffed, and dropped off at a hospital. This all sounds discouraging, even pessimistic, I know, but I say it to clarify—so that we are all vaguely on the same page—what broader and finer problems are facing us when we speak so lightly of mental health and take for granted the privilege of successfully getting that help. If we don’t have these conversations, which cannot help but be trying and uncomfortable for all parties, you and I will continue to suffer unnecessarily, and we will be counted lucky for our still being able to talk about it.
November 4, 2021
Mental Health Edition
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Choate: ‘It’s okay not to be okay’
The Springfield Student’s Special Projects Editor, Hayden Choate, weighs in on the stigma of being in an unwell state of mind, and how people in sports are overcoming it. __ By Hayden Choate __ @ChoateHayden
When talking about our mental health, there is one simple phrase that is extremely important for our entire human population to know. Five words that should not only be spread by word of mouth but plastered on billboards everywhere. “It’s okay to not be okay.” The small phrase has a lot of meaning behind it. Just because you are not doing well doesn’t mean you have to act like everything is fine because it is wrong to not feel good mentally. Admitting that something is wrong is always the first step in fixing Hayden Choate plays for the Springfield College men’s ice hockey club team. (Gillian Dube/ whatever the issue is. The Student) This is not just the case with just mental health tal health but trying to years because not only The phrase has bebut with everything in get rid of the stigma are people prioritizing come more commonly life. known over the last few the importance of men- surrounding mental
health in general. The stigma being that it is better to just bottle up emotions or feelings you are having rather than talking to someone about them. This is not true. Talking to someone about anything will always make you feel better no matter what it is about. Part of the stigma is that it is uncomfortable for people to admit they are not okay and it may be hard for them to confide in somebody that they just do not feel like themselves. This is something that not only needs to change in our society, but needs to become a norm. A norm that admitting to yourself or anyone, “I’m not doing well” is okay, a part of life and most of all a step in the right direction. A lot of times when people realize that they
November 4, 2021
Mental Health Edition
NBA player Kevin Love was at the forefront of advocating for mental health in sports. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)
are not okay is when they should stop to take a step back. They realize that they are going through the motions of their everyday life or they just feel off. This is exactly when the phrase “It’s okay to not be okay” comes into effect. In recent memory, one of the ways our society has become familiar with what it looks like to admit that prioritizing mental health is important has been athletes using their platforms. In 2018, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love came forward pub-
licly speaking about his own mental health. Love admitted that he had been seeing a therapist for months after having a panic attack during a game in 2017. Similarly, Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner came forward around the same time, opening up about his own mental health. Lehner had struggled with suicidal thoughts, drug and alcohol addictions and was diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder with manic phases. The bipolar diagnosis came after Lehner, just like Love, had a panic attack during a game in March of 2018.
There are a lot of other cases of professional athletes using their platform to discuss mental health. We look at these athletes as larger-than-life figures but for them to bring the public’s attention to prioritizing mental health shows that we are all human. One of the biggest moments of an athlete coming forward about their mental health was recently in the summer of 2021. This past summer when the Olympics were held in Tokyo after being postponed a year due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, one of the
big storylines was Simone Biles. The United States Gymnast who competed in her second Olympic games and is only 24 years old, made a statement to the whole world. After putting on instagram that she had been “feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders” from the Olympics, she withdrew from team competition because of her mental health. “I say put mental health first. Because if you don’t, then you’re not going to enjoy your sport and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want to. So it’s OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself, because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are — rather than just battle through it,” Biles said via NPR. On the world stage Biles made a strong statement about the importance of mental health by prioritizing her own. The backlash she was surrounded with after her decision of people calling her a lot of disgusting things but the main one was “quitter”. Although mental health is talked about a lot more in today’s society some people are still ignorant to it. While Simone Biles’ decision was talked about around the globe,
PAGE 13 one day at the surf camp I work at in the summer a couple of kids were talking about it. “Simone Biles is a quitter,” a girl said. “My parents told me Simone Biles didn’t quit, she’s just sick,” another little girl argued. Now, I understand that parents probably don’t want their kids taking opinions from their 21-year old surf instructor but in that instance I had to step in. “She’s not sick, she didn’t quit, she needed to take a mental break from the stress of competition,” I said. What Biles did is not only courageous, but to admit to the entire world watching that she is not okay is incredible. The best thing to do to destroy this stigma that asking for help is embarrassing or uncomfortable is to keep spreading the small but important phrase. “It’s okay, to not be okay.” We’re all human. Give yourself a break. Spread that phrase, someone who has not heard that phrase may need to more than ever.
Mental Health Edition
November 4, 2021
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A mental adjustment The 2020-2021 school year took a toll on many Springfield College students, and they are now getting back to the routine of having fully in-person classes. ___ By Jac St. Jean ___ @jacsaintj
This fall marks the first full semester of in-person classes since the fall semester of 2019. After roughly 10 grueling months of attempting to learn remotely and virtually, Springfield College students are now back in the classrooms and learning in a physical space with others and their teachers right in front of them. One can only wonder how almost a year of learning online has affected the minds of college students, and how they are dealing with being back in an in-person setting. Senior and sports management major Chris Mills had a lot to say about his experience in the previous academic year. “Being in the classroom to me is really important,” Mills stressed. “When I’m on Zoom, especially when you have the camera turned off, I can just be zoned out entirely the whole time. I feel like I wasn’t learning anything at all, almost like paying mon-
ey to sit around.” Mills believes his retention of information took a bit of a dip in the 2020-2021 school year. Although online learning did not affect his grades, it did impact his focus in the “classroom” when he would have to log onto Zoom to learn. Now, having a fully in-person class schedule, Mills has readjusted quickly to the physical classroom setting. “I don’t know if it really affected me much,” Mills explained. “I can catch up pretty quickly. At the beginning maybe Springfield College now no longer has limitations on capacity for in-person classes. (Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics) I was a little bit slower because I hadn’t been in because we didn’t have do work and focus.” a classroom setting in a his sophomore year at that last year. To actuStarting his senior home. while… but being back ally see places filling up year back at Alden “It was like the sein a classroom setting again, it’s nice to have Street, Mills is relieved mester basically endyou kind of had to that experience and be and happy to be in a ed when we got sent catch up.” home,” Mills expressed. physical classroom with around people.” In March of 2020, As a senior, Mills’ his friends in his major. “I remember in a couright before students first two years at “It’s nice to actually ple of my classes I felt left for spring break, Springfield were ones weeks behind on assign- be back and be somePresident Cooper anof a normal college what normal,” Mills nounced that all classes ments. From March to experience. But for April I was checked out, said. “I told my roomwould be conducted students in the Class of mate one day when we virtually for the remain- and I lost all focus on 2024, they are just now were in line at Dunkin work. I was at home and der of the school year. experiencing the typical that it’s actually nice doing nothing. I would Mills returned to his college academic year to be in a line that goes say it had a really big hometown of Hamden, that they did not get the out the door for once, CT, and had to finish up impact on my ability to
November 4, 2021
Mental Health Edition
Springfield College’s signature New Student Orientation was able to be held completely in person this year. (Photo courtesy of Springfield College)
chance to experience when they first arrived as first-year students. Sophomore and English/Secondary Education major Hailley Boutin is currently feeling the effects of her previous academic year that was spent online. As a member of the high school senior Class of 2020 at Belchertown High School, Boutin’s final year in high school finished in a virtual setting. “I had always been
one of those students where doing school work was what I did,” Boutin stated. “I was an honors student and an AP student, so I was always doing work. It was so weird to not be given that expectation anymore.” Boutin’s final months at Belchertown High School were very relaxed. Seniors were not given any real work leading up to graduation, according to Boutin, and she believes that
this combined with her first-year experience at Springfield has affected her and the rest of her graduating class. “It’s definitely weird,” Boutin stated. “One thing that I know a lot of kids in my grade have talked about is that we feel like we don’t know who is in our class, because we were all either online with our cameras off, or we were doing NSO with just the people on our floors… socially it’s
very weird.” Now back to being in-person, Boutin is experiencing a normal college year later than normal. Not only has this been a detriment to social life within her class, but it also has caused many of her former classmates from high school to transfer schools or leave college entirely. “When we got cut off it was [around the time] we were all getting our acceptances,” Boutin explained. “We just picked [our colleges] without talking to teachers or guidance counselors.” Boutin and many other students in the Class of 2024 are struggling to adjust to a college setting. Their preparation in high school that was cut short and lost, along with their initial college year being conducted online, has severely impacted their ability to focus and work in the rigorous curriculum. “I haven’t had a single class on Zoom this semester.” Boutin continued, “so it meant actually getting up and going to class. Being on zoom, you can sit there and pay attention in class and also be doing other stuff, whereas now it’s like ‘I’m in class’. I’ve always loved school and learning, but it was really hard to fall back into sitting and focusing because my attention
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span had just been lost from doing Zoom for an entire year.” Boutin, along with the rest of her graduating class, is currently preparing to register for her spring semester classes and signing up for MTELs. Her experience of online learning at Springfield College, along with that of Mills, has shown the heavy effects of the 2020-2021 academic year. Despite this, both students are still powering through their classes, and are prime examples of how students at Springfield have adapted and overcome the troubling year of learning via zoom. If you or other students are struggling academically, contact the Academic Success Center at tutoringasc@springfieldcollege.edu .
The Springfield Student
Mental Health Edition NOVEMBER 4, 2021
VOL. 136 NO. 9
If you or someone you know is struggling, reach out to the Springfield College Counseling Center:
413-748-3345
