Broadening Their Horizons

By Cate Jackson
Senior Staff Writer

English students are introduced to the student publication

Walking around the school, Aubrey Moncrieffe, Assistant Professor of Developmental English, saw that students were not taking the chance to check out the student produced publication, Horizons. He surmised that he could include the school paper in his Developmental English class in order to get students interested in their coursework and the community in and around the college.


“I teach a reading class, Fundamentals of Reading, English 003. It is the first level of reading HCC offers,” says Moncrieffe. “It covers dictionary use, understanding the main idea, both stated and implied, using transitions, patterns of organizations, supporting details, vocabulary in context, and inferences.”


It's a pretty unique idea to use other students' work as a teaching tool for a different class. However, Moncrieffe says, “I hate to see the papers just sitting around in the school and not being read. The Horizons staff works hard to put the paper together.”

Horizons is a student run publication on campus that is developed by student staff. It is led by Cody Quinn, the Editor in Chief. The faculty advisor is Steve Mark, who teaches Publications 1, 2 and beyond. Horizons covers all topics, whether its school related, focused on the community around HCC or the world beyond.


“I am heartened that so many of our faculty and staff read the newspaper, announce it in class, and discuss it with their students,” said Mark. “A number of faculty members use Horizons in class, like the English professors who have their students write letters to the editor in response to particular articles.”

This is a big thank you to the students that wrote for the publication, who put in many hours to “both inform and inspire dialogue and debate on the issues that matter most to students,” as Mark said.

Adelina Garcia is in her fourth semester at Housatonic, and is now in English 101. However, she remembers using the paper in her Reading class. “I didn't even know the school had a paper, but I never complained about reading it, because I liked the Arts and Entertainment sections. I especially like the CD reviews.”

HCC student Ricky Montanez jumped in, saying, “I used to HATE my reading class, but I didn't mind reading the paper when we had to. It was cool reading what people my age had to say instead of some big corporate paper like the Post or something, while still being good writing.”

Mark said, “I am proud of how Horizons showcases what our students can really do. It's great to get feedback from alumni or someone in the Bridgeport community who is surprised to see the quality of writing or reporting in a particular piece.”

Moncrieffe goes through the paper and uses articles that students would not only find interesting, but educational. “Last year there were articles on basketball players and one on the World Series....so I used those articles and wrote questions about them,” he said.

He also uses the paper to help with vocabulary, definitions as well as having the students write their own questions.

“We may read part of an article out loud; I will try to elicit the meaning of certain words from the context when the context clearly defines or suggests the meaning of the word,” he said. “Sometimes, I will have students write a few questions about the title of an article. Then I will have them read the article and underline their answers in the article itself.”

Garcia lamented, “It's not so bad when we had to use the paper ‘cause it was almost like a break from reading the book. The book is kind of lame.” Montanez nodded many times in agreement.

“Initially, I will get some complaints, but usually they stop after students realize the range of what is in the school paper,” Monicrieffe said. “Often an article will bring up a discussion which we sometimes get into, especially if there is time.”

Using Horizons as part of the curriculum, such as Professor Moncrieffe does, serves to show students just what they can aspire to do, and may even change their minds about their majors.

When asked what he thought of Moncrieffe using the paper in his class, Mark said, “I think it's fantastic! Of course, it familiarizes more students with Horizons. However, it also gives students an opportunity to learn more about what's going on at HCC, what other students are most concerned about.....it may even inspire a student who's interested in writing to join the staff.”

Moncrieffe said that two of his students, Angelica Lawrence and Daniel Krivokuca, have both gone on to write for the paper. Lawrence was even the editor of the Arts and Entertainment section before she moved on.

If you would like more information on Professor Moncrieffe's class, you can email him at AMoncrieffe@hcc.commnet.edu, call him at 332-5144 or stop by his office in B112. For more information on Horizons, stop by to see Professor Mark in B218, phone him at 332-5065. You can also email him at SMark@hcc.commnet.edu.