Singers Jeremih and John Thomas perform at UB

Courtesy of chicagodefender.com

Courtesy of thecomplexmedia.com

On Saturday, April 21, the University of Bridgeport resurrected a tradition that disappeared 24 years ago. After months of preparation by the Student Programming Board (SPB), UB welcomed R&B/Pop Singer John Thomas and renowned R&B Singer Jeremih.

Before the doors of the Arnold Bernard Center (ABC) were opened at 6:30 p.m. sharp, there was already a line starting to form outside the doors of the security Post settingscheckpoint. Security, the Bridgeport Police Department and the Concert Staff were all ready for an eventful night. Before the show, Sergeant Jessie Caldwell said that they have a set way of operating, and that “the number of security officers will increase.”

“It’s my first one [concert],” Sophomore and Commuter Maria Jara said, before the start of the show. “I’m excited and pumped.”

Quintesse Rollins said she isn’t a fan of Jeremih but she does listen to his music and went to the concert to enjoy [it].

“I wish more people would come out so we can have another one next year,” she said.

As the seats began to fill up in Merten’s Theater, DJ Chinaman kept the crowd energized with his mixes. The same positive feedback from the audience was received by DJ Spynfo as he spoke to the crowd and got them even more stimulated. The concert started at 8 p.m. and opened up with a performance of rapping and dancing, which included students from UB.

Me and John Thomas

Singer John Thomas was the official opening act for Jeremih. Although this 19-year old from Greenwich, Connecticut’s name is not as well known, he gave the audience a sneak peak to his talent singing just three songs, yet appearing to keep the majority engaged, nonetheless. On stage with him were men dressed in black suits and women in heels, dancing to a very impressive choreography. He exhibited not only his soulful voice, but also his dance moves (like the Dougie, for instance).

John Thomas is currently on tour and said he has visited about 20 schools in the past month and a half, with 12 more upcoming shows. When asked how he feels about being the face that brought the tradition back to UB after a 24 hiatus, he said he had no idea.

“That’s an honor; I’m excited about that,” He said. “I had a good time.”

Thomas also added his appreciation.

“Shout out to UB,” He said. “Thanks a lot for having me; thanks for the love [and] be sure to follow me at JohnThomas7 (Twitter.com/JohnThomas7) and JohnThomasMusic.com.”

Me and Jeremih 

Jeremih appeared on the stage singing and then introduced himself, receiving loud cheers from the audience. He performed several songs, but popular tracks like, “Birthday Sex” and “Down on Me” were clearly recognized by the audience members. He also let the audience hear his new song from his Mixtape called, “Go to the Mo” which is soon to be released. What may have made Jeremih’s performance such a success is that he interacted with the crowd, either by leaving the stage to sing to an audience member, giving roses to some of the ladies in the crowd, or by inviting the two birthday ladies to the stage to be serenated to as he played the piano. The audience sprung to their feet with a lively applause as he began singing “Birthday Sex” to the two students on stage.

“Jeremih did a good job and he can sing live which is good,” Christina Leonard said.

Leonard is a UB graduate and had traveled from Massachusetts with a friend/fellow UB grad to see the concert.

“I enjoyed it; It was really good,” She said. “Hopefully next year, more people will turn out; it was a really good show.”

“It was great,” IDEAL student Ashley Morris said. “I really enjoyed myself.”

Senior and Cultural Committee Chair of SPB Delia Amsterdam said that a lot went into planning this concert.

“We first looked for an agent, once we got that done, we did a survey and narrowed it down,” She said. “Jeremih was the most affordable one in our budget.”

Junior and Student Programming Board (SPB) member Brandon Lleras is a part of the UB Live Committee of SPB said this concert has been in the works since October.

“It was a lot of hard work,” He said.

Lleras believes that what may have helped the ticket sales were the one-day sale a week ago and the purchases made at UB’s second annual carnival earlier that day in Ped Mall.

“It would be nice if it was sold out; but for a 24 years [hiatus] we actually did pretty well on tickets,” Lleras said. “It was a lot of hard work; I’m very happy for SPB in general for all the hard work and everything that we’ve all done.”

Rebecca Romeo is a member of the National Society of Leadership & Success (NSLS) and said her role, as a part of the concert staff, was to help set up, walk around the area and “make sure every section was going well.”

“Hopefully we’ll have another one [concert],” Romeo said.

Sophomore and President of SPB Darren Ganesh said as a committee, they feel very proud, because UB never had anything like this before.

“This is a community thing—it’s UB,” he said in regards to those who did not purchase tickets. “Everyone needed to show support because that’s the only way we can really get to where we want to get, to see bigger and better performances.”

It is currently estimated that 250 people bought tickets to the spring concert.

“Certainly we would have loved if more people attended the show, but for those that were there I think they really enjoyed it,” SPB’s Advisor Colleen Powers said. “It was a great effort for UB’s first concert in over 20 years, and hopefully SPB and the student body can work together to continue to host shows!”

“This is a stepping stone for UB; I think this is the start of something new,” Ganesh said. “I hope that from this concert onwards, the university will see that students really want this and next year we’ll be able to get more funding for something like this because it is something that students want.”

<Article can be found on The Scribe website.>

A lasting UB tradition for seniors comes to an end

After over 60 years of a University of Bridgeport tradition, it was announced on Friday, March 30 that the annual senior event, called Wisteria, has been cancelled. It was not only cancelled for Friday, April 27, but possibly indefinitely.

Wisteria, a formal dance hosted by the graduating class each year is often seen as a means to get everyone (graduating seniors and all others) together one last time for a night of dance, music, food and memories. However, this tradition was forced to come to a halt, due to the lack of ticket sales. Tickets went on sale immediately after Winter Break for $55. Flyers stated that after this date, the price would jump to $65. The price included a round-trip bus ride, dinner, drinks, music and dancing into the a.m. hours. With little signs of sales, the $55 ticket presale price was extended, with March 30 being the cut-off date. However, the 100 tickets that were needed in order for Wisteria to kick off were not sold in time.

The Elite Class of 2012 planned to host Wisteria at Anthony’s Ocean View in New Haven, with the theme being a Masquerade Ball. The venue was booked in November, tickets were on sale in January, and up until [March 30] only 20 tickets were sold.

Wisteria 2012 would have had a Masquerade theme
Photo courtesy of mymasqueradeballmasks.com

“All students were told that we needed to sell at least 100 tickets by March 30 in order to have the event, and that if they paid a deposit, the balance in full would be due no later than April 6, because we had to pay the venue in full by April 9,” Colleen Powers, Director of Campus Activities and Community, said. “So due to extremely low ticket sales the event had to be cancelled.”

Powers believed that it may have been many different reasons why it ultimately led to this.

“Students like to wait until the last minute, but when you book an outside event venue, that is not an option; students were all waiting to see who else was going to buy tickets, but when they do that, ticket sales suffer,” Powers said.

Powers said that the ticket was sold at cost, meaning the student was charges exactly what it cost them for the space, which included drinks, transportation, a huge buffet of food, DJ, dancing, etc.

“There was no markup for tickets; However, we did hear from a lot of students that they just didn’t have the money to buy tickets for it,” she said. “A lot of publicity was done, but there could always be more. It may just be a trend on campus right now that Wisteria, as it is established now, isn’t the type of event students are looking for.”

Senior Delia Amsterdam stated, “As senior Class president I’m very disappointed that I had to make the decision to cancel such a traditional event. After planning this from the time I got elected, it hurts to see that this was the outcome.”

Senior Malakhi Eason, Vice-President of the Class of 2012, believes that the issue wasn’t that Wisteria was not publicized or marketed.

“The issue is that the University of Bridgeport campus is blinded and media driven. So no matter how many flyers are up, emails sent, videos made, or word of mouth being spread; if it doesn’t have to do with booty shaking or cost $5 at the door they are not interested,” Eason said. “College is a place where you grow and are supposed to experience new things but people get so lost in finding something wrong with anything done right, to where it brings the value of things down. 

Eason said that he is highly upset and feels like the Staff/committee of the Elite Class of 2012 has been “working real hard on trying to make this year’s Wisteria the best senior celebration that the University of Bridgeport has ever had.”

According to Eason, the committee spent long nights, weekends, and lunch hours to meet on the behalf of the student body and also, due to this outcome, there will not be another Wisteria.

Wisteria has been a tradition at UB since the 1950’s; Students have seen cruises, dances at a country club and even a roof top lounge dance.

Assistant Dean of Students Edina Oestricher was disappointed to hear that this traditional event was cancelled.

“In the 15 years I’ve been here, it’s the first time that something has been cancelled—that there isn’t a type of end of the year [senior] event,” Oestricher said.

She said that when she first started working at UB, there was the popular “cruises to nowhere,” for several years. However, two years ago there was a situation with overbooking for the cruise, which “may have put a bad taste in people’s mouths.”

The Wisteria of 2011 resulted in very low ticket sales, but the event went on nonetheless. The year prior to that was a case of overbooking , in which some students had to be left behind.

“The overbooking incident that took place two years ago was a crippling blow to the years of legitimacy Wisteria had,” Colin Capaci, Junior and President of the Student Government Association (SGA) stated. “But ultimately, it is not the past to blame, but rather actions taken (or not taken) in the present.”

Eason said that the class missed out on many great things that Wisteria would have provided on April 27.

“They missed out on a good time to celebrate the accomplishments of all the hard work they put in which allowed them to be able to graduate,” he said. “They missed out on a great resort where the food was good and the drinks were free [and] on the best DJ on the radio, Lights, Camera, Action; Not to mention awards, gifts and a live band as you’re eating.”

“For Class of 2012 students who did not purchase their tickets,” Powers said. “I think they missed out on what could have been a very special celebration of your graduation from UB.”

To students who purchased a Wisteria ticket, please visit the Student Center, room 231, for your refund.


<Article can be found on The Scribe website>

Are you being ripped off with your Meal Plan?

College students may agree that money is an important, if not the most important, factor throughout the duration of each semester. When one feels threatened by the deficiency of rightly deserved funds, it is likely to cause confusion and mistrust. Therefore, when numbers of how much money University of Bridgeport students are losing out on emerged, it became an immediate cause for concern.

Students residing on campus are required to choose from four meal plans offered, which accompanies a certain amount of dining dollars on the student’s ID card, for purchases made at the hUB or the Scribe Café. It is very common for students to run out of dining dollars far before the conclusion of the semester and according to Vice President of Facilities George Estrada, he believes that the hUB may be the factor.

“I think that what might be happening—because the hUB is so popular, everyone rushed to use the dining dollar side of their plan,” Estrada said. “The plan hasn’t changed; it’s been the same plan.”

Estrada said that the attraction of the hUB with its dining selections is what has really resulted in students hoping for more on the dining dollars side, as opposed to going into the dining hall.

President of Student Government Association (SGA) Colin Capaci made a presentation to the Board of Directors and was able to convey his thoughts and concerns to the highest level of the university about the meal plan. He had his CFO run the numbers, and looking at the breakdown, there were many inconsistencies.

“Within the top three issues, number one that I hear about is Dining dollars; and not enough dining dollars, or the food is too expensive, or something related to food,” Capaci said. “I love food myself, so I look at my own meal plan and I ran some numbers and looked at how much we put into food in our tuition and compared those two numbers and saw that there was a pretty big gap there.”

According to the SGA breakdown*, on campus students pay $2,800 for food. When the meal plan is broken down mathematically, the following displays the accurate value of each meal plan and its deficit (the amount of money students are losing out on) out of the $2,800:

·         19 meals ($75 in dining dollars); deficit of $534

·         17 meals ($125 in dining dollars); deficit of $645

·         12 meals ($200 in dining dollars); deficit of $1,000

·         8 meals ($400 in dining dollars); deficit of $1,300

*It should be noted that the deficit numbers are based on if a student uses every meal plan and factors such as overhead (labor, facilities, food cost, etc.) are some factors not included in the analysis.

“How much can you spend a day, every day of the semester and have enough dining dollars by the end of the semester? The answer comes out to around $2.25 for $400 dining dollars,” Capaci said. “$2.25 is how much you can spend a day. It’s not enough to get you a Sobe.”

“The most important thing that I want to convey is that the university has zero profit on the food services,” Estrada said. “Food is a pass-through, which means there’s no mark-up whatsoever.”

He noted that whatever the cost of all those meals is, it is covered by the students’ dining package and the contract is called a cost plus.

“Sodexo is not in any way profiting tremendously by doing a major mark-up on food and profiting from the students,” Estrada said.

“When we pay $2,800 for food we expect the value of $2,800 for food,” Capaci said. “And that’s what we’re looking for here; we’re looking to get more dining dollars; more options.”

The Board of Trustees and the President are aware of this, and according to Capaci they are all in negotiation about it.

Estrada said that the President as well as The Board are always very receptive to the concerns of the students.

“What we do know for certain, is that any amount of excess money, which there is, isn’t coming to us, which we feel is entitled to,” Capaci said. “We would understand if maybe there is a couple hundred dollar difference per student, but we’re looking at a thousand dollar differences per student; that’s too much.”

Sophomore Kiyomi Todd said that she feels like she’s being ripped off.

“It doesn’t seem right,” she said.

She almost regrets changing her meal plan to eight meals because then she would have had more options with Marina when the dining dollars run out.

“If you have only $5 to spend, then your option is, like, chicken and fries. The natural foods and the better foods are more expensive but I can’t buy that,” Todd said. “I can only stick to the fast food, and I don’t want fast food every day.”

“As a student I feel cheated,” Capaci said. “I feel like I could be getting more for what I’m paying for, and I love food and I love to eat. There’s no way I’m eating more than $2,800 in three months, but I could be coming close to it and I’m not able to.”

“We want the administration to know that we’re aware of this; and where is [the money] going? What is that money being used for? Why isn’t it coming back to us? I promise you if you give us more dining dollars, you will make more money,” Capaci said.

The General Manager of Food Services Jenn Currier said, “Ultimately, what we want to do is make sure we’re offering the right combination of plans as far as how many meals they’re getting and how many dollars are tied with the meals.”

Currier believes that once everyone sees what the changes in the fall of 2012 are and what the new food choices will be, students will be interested in more meals versus more dollars on their card. She also elaborated on all the major transformations that are to be expected in the campus dining hall and the various options that will be provided next semester, such as healthier food options, a cook-attended salad bar, higher count in desserts, etc.

“Everything that we’ve decided to design for the fall, whether it be menus, types of food, stations that we’re going to offer is all a direct response from feedback we’ve gotten from students,” Currier said.

“Put the pressure on Marina, put the pressure on Sodexo; Let them know that students are aware and not ignorant about their meal plans,” Capaci said. “The numbers that are public information, and we’re not happy with it.”

New Media Class surprises students in Dining Hall with performance

Wednesday, November 16 appeared to be a day like any other on the University of Bridgeport campus. Students filed into Marina Dining Hall upon its 5 p.m. opening and expected to meet up with friends and classmates and enjoy their dinner as usual. However, as soon as 6 p.m. hit, dinnertime at Marina was transformed into something quite unexpected and simply unusual—for UB especially.

As students filed into Marina on that day, they could sense that there was something different. The tables were separated enough so that there was a huge space in the center of the dining room, purple balloons hung from a few chairs near the center and finally, there was a projector that displayed a digital clock on the wall. There were several students questioning the new set-up and others perplexed by the excess amount of students in Marina.

Students in the cafeteria were startled by what appeared to be a loud argument by two young ladies at one table. One of them stood up and flung her chair to the ground and the dining room immediately became quieted as all eyes were on these two students. The argument grew louder and when it appeared as though it might get physical, one of the Sodexo workers separated the fight—pulling one towards the exit of the dining hall.

Flash Mob in Marina Dining Hall

At this point, the lights shut off and when they were turned back on, numerous students were found standing on their chair yelling: “Shout!” at the top of their lungs (to the song “You make me want to shout”). Afterwards, these individuals ran to the center of the dining room screaming and cheering, as everyone else watched in awe and chattered in excitement. Those students then proceeded to imitate kung-fu style kicks towards one another (to the song “Everybody was kung-fu fighting”). At this point, onlookers began to gather around and take pictures and capture this event with their cell phones and cameras. The participants ran in place, then stood absolutely still for several moments and then proceeded to scatter and run around giving everyone a high-five. Next, F.L.O.H. (Future Leaders of Hip-Hop) appeared and gave an impressive performance, with two dancers even dancing on the table tops. All those who participated ran out of the dining hall clapping and cheering—which led everyone in Marina to cheer them on.

Professor Susan Katz’s New Media class surprised all those who were in Marina Dining Hall, eating dinner as usual, with a string of unusual pretenses. This was the first flash mob ever to be carried out at the university and it certainly had many students talking.

Photo courtesy of S. Katz

According to the New Media Flash Mob website, created by Katz’s class, a Flash Mob is defined as an engaging surprise performance that involves harmless confusion to the audience and spontaneity, playfulness and anonymity for the participants. This flash mob in particular was an mP3 flash mob which had the instructions conveniently in the participants’ ears, via their iPod or other mP3 device.

ELI student Luc Minh Thuy Lien who had never witnessed a flash mob before, enjoyed it a lot, even though the fight in the very beginning startled her (as she was at the adjacent table).

“I liked it,” she said. “Everybody was great. People worked very hard to make the show.”

Junior Geralda Moise participated in the Flash Mob and said that was really fun and that it was much better than she expected.

Senior Yaditza LaViera also partook in the Flash Mob and was one of the students in the fake argument that clearly got everyone’s attention from the get-go. She is in Katz’s New Media Class and this was her first time in a flash mob. Preparing for this event was not as simple as many may have thought and as part of the Creative Team, LaViera was in charge of writing the script for the entire event.

“It was a success,” LaViera said. “It couldn’t have been better. I enjoyed it; and we got a lot of feedback from [the spectators].”

Katz has taught the New Media class before, but it had always been online. This was her first non-online New Media class.

“The goal in this class is to do things that were really new,” Katz said. “That nobody had ever tried.”

She described the crowd sourcing projects that her class underwent and the building of a social network which was “really interactive and fun.”

Katz said she started exploring flash mobs on and doing a lot of research about them.

“I’d been researching flashmobs that people are accustomed to seeing, called mP3 flash mobs, she said. “Since last semester I wanted to do this; where all the instructions were in your ear.  ‘Improve Everywhere’—they were our model.”

“It was really fun,” Katz said. “It felt like New Year’s Eve.”

Katz also mentioned that one of the main things she learned is that there is a lot of ambient noise in Marina. While rehearsing, the noise of the students in Marina Dining Hall was absent, but it was a totally different occurrence on the actual day.

“In that venue, I would run a script that wasn’t so dependent on sound,” Katz said. I think it had to be more actions.”

Katz would like to do another flash mob next year but is very uncertain about doing so.

“I don’t want to bore people,” she said. “I’d like to because it’s really fun, but then [I feel that it can be boring] if it becomes class material two semesters in a row and [some of those participants are] in the same class.”

“It was a lot of work, but we had a lot of fun,” Katz said. “There was a lot of people; There were easily 300 people there.”

Katz said that it was a learning experience.

“I think we did a really, really, really good job,” she said. “It was our first flash mob ever done at the school and it’s something that we can all be proud of.”

<Article can be seen on The Scribe website>

UB students “suit up” for their future: The university introduces its first Annual Career Day

The University of Bridgeport Career Services Center and the Save A Suit Organization banded together on Tuesday, November 15 from 3-6 p.m., to launch UB’s first annual Career Day, entitled “Suit Up For Your Future.” A total of 178 students signed up and the turn-out was phenomenal.

Various tables were set up around the Social Room of the Student Center, which served different purposes, such as: Mock interviews with real professionals, Resume reviews, Linked In Photo booth (where students got a professional head shot taken to use on their Linked In profile photo, or in and other professional context), creation of free students business cards and more.

The most highlighted aspect of the event was the opportunity to obtain business attire for absolutely no cost. Suits for both men and women filled the clothing racks that were lined up on one side of the room. Students were found browsing the suits and items, provided by Save A Suit, at their leisure. Students from the UB Fashion Merchandising Department were also available to assist students who were indecisive.

Save A Suit is a nonprofit organization that began just a year ago and its founder, Scott Sokolowski, understands that there are college students who have some pretty basic needs—and one of them may just be appropriate attire. Sokolowski established Save A Suit after interviewing a young individual who was clearly not dressed for an interview. He asked him why he wasn’t wearing a suit and the person replied, “I can’t afford one.” From then on, Sokolowski made it his mission to help kick-start college student’s careers.

“The first 30 seconds is the most important,” Sokolowski said. “I don’t want anyone walking in at a disadvantage.”

Students browsing through the various selection of suits

Tuesday’s event happened to be Save A Suit’s first big event that they have done.  Numerous colleges have been getting in touch with this organization and “calling left and right.”

“I saw a student walk out of here in tears,” Save A Suit Chief Information Officer (CIO) Jessica Ewud said, “Because he got a free suit.”

Ewud also made mention of a student who came in wearing a shirt and jeans, changed his clothes and walked out of the Social Room wearing “his first suit”.

“Every student said ‘thank you,’” Ewud said. “[We received] positive feedback from everyone; and I was amazed how divers this college was and the ability to work together—[It was a] beautiful thing to see.”

“Any student that needs a suit, we want to be able to give it to them,” Sokolowski said as part of the organization’s mission.

Ewud also said that there were no fitting problems. Students were able to come in, try on a suit and if it did not fit to their liking, alterations were done for free by the Fashion Merchandising Department students.

“[This event] was very student oriented,” Sokolowski said. “We want to thank the University of Bridgeport.”

Volunteer Leslie Tracey thought that the Career Development did a great job.

“I think the event is great,” she said. “[It’s our] first big event, so UB is pretty much on the map!”

Tracey said that “dressing well is something that should definitely be studied.”

“Future employers have specifications [on what is appropriate],” she said. “Unfortunately, this is an image world and people are judged by their outer appearance.”

Graduate Student Natasha Day appreciated all the information packets she received from Pitney Bowes (at the Resume table) and she enjoyed several other aspects of the event.

“I enjoyed the mock interview,” Day said. “The fact that they’re providing clothing for those that don’t have the appropriate attire is a good thing.”

Kingsley Udeh, another graduate student, said that he thinks this kind of event should be organized on a semester basis.

“It motivates and boosts students’ confidence in acquiring skills geared toward employability in the larger society,” Udeh said. “I was privileged to have my resume reviewed and restructured by one of the resume reviewing experts. To crown it all, I picked a free well-designed suit and shirt and neck-tie to match.” 

Corporate Recruiter of Pitney Bowes Veretta Bass-Addison said that they reviewed resumes. They sat down with students and helped them with their resumes.

“There is no perfect resume,” Bass-Addison said. “Every resume is unique and you’re trying to sell yourself.”

Sokolowski encourages students to visit www.Saveasuit.org as well as the Facebook page and support this organization.

Career Services is encouraging students to “save the date” and attend the Spring Job Fair on April 4, 2012 in Wheeler Recreation Center.


<View article on The Scribe website>