(Photographed by Media Production Manager Lilly Lafleur)
Staff Writer: Jesse Magnifico
Email: jmagnifico@umassd.edu
Walking down the windowed corridor connecting LARTS to the Campus Center, voices young and old reverberated. As I edged closer, the voices grew louder, more boisterous, and excited. Cheering and laughter swept into the mix. What sounded like board game chips clanked on desks, and when my friend and I reached the door, three small dogs walked inside with Dr. Karen Carnes.
The evidence of raging fun came from inside the STAR Center.
On Thursday, February 22nd, the College of Arts and Sciences Student Transition and Achievement Resource Center (CAS STAR Center) held its “Mix and Mingle” event, inviting students of all grade levels and programs to meet with Deans and advisors, play Connect Four, pet some dogs, grab some food, and make Shirley Temples.
The best part? Compete with the Deans, and you could win prizes. Several students ran out with raffle tickets.
The STAR Center sits in LARTS 222, next door to the Writing and Multiliteracy Center. It is home to advisors, peer mentors, faculty advisors, and wandering students who wish to hang out or discuss their college plans. STAR advisors and mentors can chat with all students from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. They are primarily the resource for Arts and Sciences Undeclared (ASU), ASU Pre-Engineering, and ASU Pre-Sciences students.
The room was filled to the brim with deans, the STAR center gang, visiting faculty, and many students. I couldn’t help but watch an intense game of Connect Four between Guerby Murat, a peer mentor at the center, and a few of his friends. Murat is a senior studying biology, and he also plays on the football team.
He won three games in a row and even more when I finished petting Dr. Carnes’s dogs. The laughter, the hollering, the giggling — they were contagious.
I challenged Lilly Lafleur, Media Production Manager at the Torch, to a few Connect Four games. She not only pestered me to go, but she tagged along to take photos of the event, meet the dogs, and make Shirley Temples. I raged victorious — until we swapped colors. Good job, Lilly, but I still won.
Aside from games, Dr. Carnes’s toy dogs DiDi, MeiMei, and Sadie were a fan favorite.
Dr. Carnes, a foreign language professor for Spanish and French, has expressed that she wishes to get her dogs UMass Passes and therapy licenses so the LARTS building can have its own therapy dogs. Gracie, the STEM lab, lives in SENG, though she sometimes makes the rounds across buildings — but rarely. She primarily tailors her emotional support services to STEM students.
Studies overwhelmingly show that dogs lower stress, even by merely petting them. I can sincerely say that my anxiety about the presentation I had to give at two o’clock that day dwindled to a tiny butterfly in my stomach, if anything at all. I felt more confident than ever before by petting DiDi and MeiMei and feeding them treats. Even Gracie’s patients can attest!
It would be an excellent addition for the LARTS building to have dogs, especially during the stressful midterms and finals weeks. Gracie has demonstrated excellent benefits for STEM students. Maybe UMass Dartmouth can consider a running theme for all the academic buildings to have a resident dog.
Whether or not LARTS dogs are on the way, several of the faculty and deans I spoke with shared their higher-ed and job experiences before landing the positions they’re in now. They added a significant level of relatability that brought them down to earth, in a sense.
Through these very conversations, I began to recognize and truly experience the purpose of the STAR Center.
Everyone goes through troubles and setbacks. College is not easy — not by a long shot — but we get through it because of those who listen to our problems, remind us we’re not alone, and cheer us on.
Dr. Robert Jones, Economics Professor and Interim Dean for the Arts and Sciences, cheers along with the faculty and advisors of the Center, “They’re really, really good,” he attests. But he’s saying more than that. He promises; he knows.
He’s known the STAR Center staff for a long time now.
Talking with him and Monica Gadhino revealed that the STAR Center opened ten years ago in 2014. Before then, there was no thought or idea about a safe space for students to chat about their classes and programs.
Dr. Jones was on the committee that hired Gadhino to run the Center at its inception. Ever since she was the star of the show as the current Senior Coordinator, it has grown over the years to where it stands today, solidified in its eternal residence in LARTS.
The deans who paid a visit had a fantastic time competing and chatting with students as much as their peers. The event was like a humanizing experience, seeing faculty and staff outside their typical settings. It was sincerely reassuring and satisfying to see people just being people, interacting with one another regardless of age differences, titles, and roles.
There was fun for everyone involved.
Gadhino encourages you to stop by the STAR Center whether you feel talkative or need academic advice about your studies.
If you need to schedule an appointment with your ASU advisor, it’s best to schedule an appointment to secure a time slot.