Education Professor Dr. Danette Day led the Young Falcons in yoga routines in the Recreation Center this morning. The Young Falcons Academy Week is where students from Fitchburg and Leominster public middle schools partake in a week full of activities on campus.

Award-winning filmmaker, Communications Media/Film/Video Concentration student, Tonia Magras presented the premiere of her latest documentary, “More than Our Skin,” at Fitchburg State University on Thursday, Feb. 22.

The film, focusing on five women living with the autoimmune disease vitiligo, was shown at 11 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in Ellis White Lecture Hall in Hammond Hall. Admission was free and open to the public, and guests included cast members and state and local leaders. The film has also been entered into competition at several film festivals. Learn more about Tonia and her film here.

Fitchburg State University Police Program  Interim Police Academy Director Alexandra Wysocki and four of our Police Program students entertained the Young Falcons in the Wallace Gym at the McKay Elementary School. The students got a chance to learn a bit about how important physical fitness, stamina, and cooperation is in the effort to become a police officer. The session ended with Interim Police Director Wysocki inviting the Young Falcons to share what qualities they would appreciate in these soon-to-be officers.

Human Services Professor Kori Ryan recently invited Assistant Director of Study Abroad Nicole Salerno to speak with the Behavioral Sciences students who will be traveling to Croatia with Professor Ryan in March. Students learned about the flights/luggage, passport precautions, money, what to expect, and more.

English Studies Professor Katharine Covino's Literature for Young Adults course, who are reading Fitchburg State University alumni Robert Cormier’s canonical novel The Chocolate War. dug deeper into the story and investigate their questions by working collaboratively with their classmates in the Robert E. Cormier Archive. After an introduction to, and a tour of the Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library Archives by University Archivist Asher Jackson, students began reviewing the abundance of archives related to the novel. 

Students in Dr. Robert Carr's Writings in Aesthetics course work on their group and independent projects. Located at the interface between theory and production, this course is a writing intensive Communication Studies course that capitalizes on this vantage point to critically examine the professional arts comprising our curriculum, namely film, video, graphic design, photography, interactive media, and professional communication. Through weekly readings and writings, seminar discussions, presentations, and a term length qualitative research project, this writing intensive course bridges the theory/production dichotomy. 

This morning, our ever vigilant  Capital Planning and Maintenance (CPM) department, in an effort to complete work on our Antonucci Science Complex, needed to close the portion of North St. that runs through campus. Seth O'Hearn, a Criminal Justice/Fitchburg State University Police Programstudent, through a cooperative program with the Fitchburg Police Department, directs traffic in an official capacity.

Today the university kicked off its Young Falcons Academy week, where students from Fitchburg and Leominster public middle schools partake in a week full of activities on campus. After a tour this morning, these students visited our Recreation Center, learned about clubs and organizations from current Fitchburg State students, social media, visual arts, and more. Here, Fine Arts Professors Petri Flint and Andrea Olmstead lead students in a color-centric project.

 Students in  Communications Media Assistant Professor, Film and Video, Rachelle A. Dermer's Writer's Room course explore collaborative writing for a series. The classroom is structured as a Writer's Room. Students learn about the formation of a Writer's Room, the ways in which they vary, and the hierarchy. Collaboratively, students will write a complete season of a series as a writing team. Each student takes on a specific role on the team. They work as a group to determine the series format (Network, Cable, Streaming, etc.), outline the season arc for the series and then determine how many episodes are required to achieve their narrative goal.

Students in Biology and Chemistry Professor Billy Samulak's Chemistry for Health Sciences Lab work on an assignment in the Antonucci Science Complex. This course is designed specifically for nursing and exercise sports majors and includes the study of selected topics from general chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry.