BY ERICA MILOSH

On October 13^th, Daniels Auditorium hosted this fall’s 13^th annual Academic Majors Fair. As a Professional Development Seminar requirement, freshmen students were required to check out the fair and look into their majors of interest.

Nichols offers twelve undergraduate business majors and five liberal arts programs. Every major—from marketing to mathematics—had a table filled with information and poster boards displaying details about the major, curriculum, and post-graduation job opportunities. Approximately 360 students attended the fair.

Many students wandered about the fair stopping at each booth. It was clear which students were undecided and those who had an idea of what they wanted to do. For example, the sport management table was the most crowded of all 16 tables; Tim Liptrap stood in the center of the flock of freshmen, discussing different avenues of sport management and career possibilities.

First-year student Kate Shannon, a marketing major from Grafton, Mass., contemplated the benefits of sport management. Sport management includes marketing qualities; Kate felt confident that she would learn adequate marketing skills if she chose to change her major.

Kate was also perusing the psychology table, but resolved sport management might be the way to go based on her interests. “The fair is great because I’ve found a lot of good resources and networking connections.”

A few students found their way to the Finance major. Riley Bishop of Charlton, Mass., and Aiden Stuart of Orange, Conn., both became interested in finance through a high school course. Aidan seemed set on finance but was still keeping his options open toward the human resource and accounting majors.

Criminal Justice was another popular booth. First-year student Joe Small of Goffstown, N.H., was certain about his choice to major in criminal justice. He was influenced by family friends who are state troopers and police officers. Joe explained that criminal justice is a strong field to get into.

KC Poplawski, Director of Advising Services, has been involved with the fair since it began. “More students started considering a second major or minor as a result of this event. We noticed a rise in students with a secondary area declared.”

The fair was bustling with activity, and every professor was busy speaking with multiple students at once.  Not only was the fair a great event for freshmen, but for every student. Upperclassmen were stationed at tables to discuss their personal experience in their chosen major. This aspect to the event gave freshmen a realistic idea of what it would be like to pursue a specific area of study. Some second-year students were looking as well; students do not have to declare a major until the end of their sophomore year.

Along with the numerous tables advertising majors, Career Services and the Honors Program both had their own booths displaying benefits and resources.

BY JORDAN D’AURIO

Nichols College’s Conant Library hosted an event Oct.14 called “Entrepreneurial Leadership Fireside Chat” featuring Mark Lambert, a student at Worcester State University and one of the winners of the recent Startup Worcester competition. Mark shared his journey of founding his Landscaping Company, Lambert’s Landscaping.

Mark described for the audience of students, faculty, and staff the ups and downs of balancing a full college course load (he is working toward a Business Administration degree) with managing a successful company.

Mark explained that his ambition and determination started at age 12, when he would take care of his neighbors’ lawns as a favor to them. Throughout the years, his passion for landscaping grew. Eventually, at age 27, he landed a job with his friend’s father. It was here he gained the experience he needed to launch a business.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing; he ran into difficulties throughout the entire business-launch process, but his parents were his greatest mentors and support system. Mark admitted that his greatest weakness throughout the journey was poor time management. He is still a full-time student and also has to balance his personal life with his professional life, which is sometimes difficult. A goal he has set for himself is to improve his time management skills.

To help Mark balance his personal life with his professional life, he hopes to find office space that is not his bedroom once he graduates from college.

He has relied on customer satisfaction and word of mouth to get his company name and reputation out to potential clients; this has been a successful tactic so far.

Mark left the audience with a closing thought, “If you have a dream or opportunity, go out and do it. Risk-taking turns into something really rewarding.”

This inspired me to go out and get what I want in life and to not worry about the risk that comes with it. Though I may not want to open my own business, Mark’s words inspired audience members and me in a personal way. His above quote is one that I will remember and run with as my future approaches me in May.

BY ERICA MILOSH

Nichols College’s Campus Activities Board presented to students a “Minute to Win It” competition Oct. 8 in the lower level of Fels Student Center. A TV game show that aired on NBC from 2010-2014, “Minute to Win It” is a series of minute-long challenges created with basic household items. Many students lounging in Fels opted to play once they saw all the fun their peers were having. The winner of each game was awarded prizes varying from bags of Halloween candy to gift cards and backpacks.

The first game was called “Office Tennis.” Teams struggled to play tennis with clipboards as rackets and crumpled-up paper as a ball. The object was to, as a team, get the paper ball into a trash bin. Teams were decided by random draw.

Other games that followed were “Uphill Battle,” “Baby Rattle,” “Floatacious,” and many more. “Uphill Battle” mimicked a pinball game. The contestant had to keep three marbles from falling off a slanted table using only a spoon. “Baby Rattle” was the loudest game; the object was to shake all the marbles from one empty soda bottle into another.

Although competition was fierce, everyone remained good sports about the games. The tasks may have been simple, but many were far harder than they appeared to be. “Floatacious” required the contestant to stack five empty cans on a plate floating on a bucket of water. This game grew tense as a number of contestants struggled to complete the challenge in under a minute. No one could stack the five cans, so the game was modified to four.

The “Minute to Win It” games were a great way to bring everyone together, and give students the chance to win some great prizes. CAB held this event to give students something fun to do on a Thursday night. Overall, the event was enjoyable for everyone; even students that just planned on watching got so absorbed in the action they, too, wanted to play.