SCENE THE
THE
Spring Issue 2
March 11, 2022
THESCENEFP.COM
www.thescenefp.com
Restaurant guide See pages 4-5
1971 grad’s journey See page 7
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
Drive to help with feminine hygiene
By Nicole DeLapp The Scene staff Menstrual products such as tampons and sanitary pads are considered just as essential as toothbrushes for proper hygiene. However, those products can be expensive and difficult to come by for poor women. There’s even a term for it: Period poverty. This month, the Xi Epsilon chapter of Phi Theta Kappa honor society at Forest Park organized a Period Product Drive to help female students in need obtain feminine-hygiene products. Members realize that the topic has historically been considered taboo and not discussed in public. President Zoraya Piedra hopes to change that. “I plan to get everyone educated,” she said. “To me, it’s nothing disgusting or unhealthy. It’s something natural, and there shouldn’t be a stigma around periods.” Phi Theta Kappa worked with Forest Park’s Student Nurses Association to place donation boxes in six locations around campus. People can drop off sanitary pads, tampons and panty liners through March 23. Organizers planned the drive in conjunction with Women’s History Month in March, but that won’t be the end of it. “We would like to see the drive run at other times, not just during Women’s History Month,” Piedra said. After the drive ends, organizers will distribute the feminine-hygiene products to offices around campus, where students in need can pick them up. They will also replenish supplies when needed. Phi Theta Kappa members meet every other Tuesday to discuss and work on Honors in Action projects. This semester’s project is the Period Product Drive. Piedra and four other officers did a lot of research and met with Forest
See Drive page 2
Photo by Nicole DeLapp
One of the Period Product Drive donation boxes is located in the Forest Park bookstore.
Campus community reacts to repeal of mask mandate By Theodore Geigle The Scene staff Forest Park students and employees have mixed feelings about last week’s decision by St. Louis Community College to stop requiring everyone to wear COVID-19 masks. Math tutor Connie McArthur is among those who welcome the change. “I think it’s great because students have the choice,” she said. “I will continue to wear (a mask) because I have a handicapped brother.” Medical experts have determined that people with underlying health conditions are more susceptible to serious illness if infected with the coronavirus. McArthur has been vaccinated against COVID-19. She believes anyone not vaccinated should continue to wear a mask. Sonograph technician student Krista Atwater, 20, is opposed to the college’s new policy. “I think it’s stupid,” she said. “They should have kept the mask mandate. If we take the mandate away, then we’re going to go back to the way it was in 2019, where everybody is getting sick and is being affected by it. I do not think it’s worth it.” STLCC began requiring all students, faculty, staff and visitors to wear masks indoors and outdoors in 2020, when campuses reopened after a months-long shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chancellor Jeff Pittman recently an-
Photo by Leilani England
Students in the Introduction to Networking class of William Hocker make their own decisions on whether to wear masks, now that St. Louis Community College no longer requires them. nounced that people would no longer have to wear masks at most STLCC locations, beginning March 2. “However, you are still advised to keep a social distance to the extent possible,” he wrote in an email. “For those who prefer to wear a mask, you are welcome to do so without judgment.” A mask mandate remains in effect at a
few STLCC locations, including the dental clinic in the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences on the Forest Park campus. STLCC encourages people not vaccinated against COVID-19 to continue to wear masks indoors, according to Pittman’s announcement.
See Mandate page 2
Free gloves help keep students warm
cold weather. To Hallemann’s surprise, more gloves showed up on the bulletin You could call it an “act of kindboard one day. They had been purness” or a “helping hand.” chased by radiology student Kyle Kim Hallemann, manager of Hahn, 21. Forest Park Academic Success and “I saw they had really nice Tutoring, started spring semester gloves on the board, and I thought by tacking pairs of gloves on a bulit was a good idea,” he said. “Then letin board and inviting students, I saw that they were all gone, and faculty and staff to take them for I thought, ‘Uh-oh, that’s not good,’ free. and I bought my own gloves and “I thought of it during winter put them up there. break,” said Hallemann, 53. “… I “People need gloves and it’s cold always try to think of ways to fulfill outside. I had the extra money and students’ needs.” not many expenses.” Hallemann’s creativity also Between 25 and 30 students, comes in handy when she’s profaculty and staff have taken gloves Photo by Leilani England moting the tutoring center and its from the bulletin board this semesfree services. She has used every- Academic Success and Tutoring uses a bulletin ter. thing from candy to Ramen noodles board to promote its programs and give away gloves. In a few cases, positive feedback to attract students’ attention. work, like to have fun. made its way back to Hallemann. “Need gloves?” read a sign that HalIn January, Hallemann bought several “I thought that it was great,” said Aaron lemann posted on the bulletin board this pairs of colorful, but inexpensive gloves Shelton, 55, a work-study employee in the semester. “Keep warm and get free tutor- for the bulletin board, which is outside the Access Office, who took a pair of lighting.” tutoring center in the Forest Park library weight gloves on a day when his own heavy Hallemann is a former middle-school building. gloves were too warm and bulky. teacher. She knows that young people, even The gloves quickly disappeared, helping “They all disappeared except for one. Evthose who are serious about their school- students, faculty and staff avoid frostbite in eryone is out there with warm hands.” By Leilani England The Scene staff