By Diamond Smith
Campus News
As Americans we are a melting pot of different cultures and genealogies. We have embarked on different ideals and have personality traits that make us into who we are and who we choose to be. This process has always been a familiar one for us as individuals in this country, due to our abstract realities; and it could also be hard to define oneself. But cultural identity has always stimulated self-discovery.
Latino Heritage Month has a lot to do with self-growth and a...

In 2020, many lost their social lives due to the pandemic, which made an already difficult environment as a freshman in college that much harder. This was the case for Sarah Park, former president of Kappa Phi Lambda (KPL), who was an incoming freshman to the University of Massachusetts at the time.
Kappa Phi Lambda (KPL), established in 1995, is an Asian-interest sorority at UMass that serves the large Asian community on campus.
“When I heard about Kappa Phi Lambda, I was interested because it...

The 25-year-old Florence resident, now at Hampshire College, won the presitigious Glascock Poetry Prize in 2020 as a student at HCC
Editor's Note: The interview below was conducted by graduating HCC student Diamond Smith '21 for Campus News and appears in the publication's May 2021 issue and on its website under the headline "Meet Marissa Perez, award-winning poet who got her start at community college."  It is republished here with Smith's permission.
In 2020, as a student at Holyoke Communit...

There’s a quiet poise about Latina Bohemian when she speaks—measured, lyrical, as though each word has been considered for its place in the sentence. We met over Zoom, our conversation winding through memory, loss, and the unexpected ways creativity insists on finding us.She expressed that her work begins and ends with the soul. “Mental health, self-love, having faith, rediscovering the love you have for yourself again. That’s the heart of it,” she says, her tone equal parts conviction and warmt...

Its the newest TikTok Phenomenon — In the age of social media, the dichotomy of “Academic Weapon vs Academic Victim” has become a prevalent narrative among many college students. Could embracing imperfection and focusing on personal growth rather than external validation be possible? Can we deal with our academic journey with all these pressures?Not long ago, I spoke before my English literature class, reciting the words of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The words of the play were finely typed...

By Diamond Smith
December 20, 2020
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Nicole Ortiz had already earned an associate degree in business by the time she enrolled at Holyoke Community College (HCC) in Massachusetts in fall 2018.


After graduating from Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, the Connecticut native moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, to be closer to her family. On her travels around the area, something caught her eye – the new HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute in downtown Holyoke.


With two years’ ex...