A spring sun shone among the ringing of the hourly bell as U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen and her team made their way around the Keene State campus for a tour of the one-year Precision Optics Certificate program.
Shaheen first made a stop at The Equinox office to discuss House Bill 323 with some members of the Equinox staff. House Bill 323 mandates that student identification cards are no longer a valid ID for voting.
Once this meeting concluded, Shaheen and her staff made their way down from the third floor of the L.P Young Student Center where they were greeted by Provost Kirsti Sandy and led to the David F. Putnam Science Center to begin the tour of the optics program. Joining the Senator in the science center was Interim President Don Birx, Chancellor Cathy Provencher, Executive Vice President Nathalie Houder and Professor and Chair of Physics Sarah McGregor among other KSC staff members.
Shaheen and her team were shown two labs used by the optics programs, one on the second floor of the science center where students utilize machinery to create thin films and the other in the TDS Center where students are able to have hands-on experience in precision diamond turning.
Once the tour concluded, Shaheen expressed gratitude for the tour and her approval of the work being done within the program before discussing the lack of priority being given to higher education at the federal level.
“New Hampshire has taken a dark turn in defending education that is not going to be sustainable in the future,” the Senator said. “The fact that [the] legislators and Washington are not focusing on higher [education] is a mistake…There is a bigger problem beyond just transferable programs–there is a problem at the federal level.”
Provencher seconded Shaheen’s statement.
“I have to double down on that, senator,” Provencher said. “In my mind it’s frightening for our future, our quality of life, the economy we enjoy–everything we enjoy in New Hampshire…We’re the oldest workforce in the country [and] we have fewer young people because of birth rates and to cut off education funding, who is gonna fill that pipeline?”
“If you’re a business, is your number one choice going to be to go to the state that decimated higher education?” Provencher asked.
When asked what it meant to him to have the Senator visit the campus, President Birx said that “Shaheen has made a huge difference between Keene and Plymouth. I’m sad she is retiring.”
McGregor took the lead in guiding the Senator around campus throughout the tour.
“I am so excited for her to both have championed us for the initial funds used to make this program possible and for her spending time and coming here to see what has been done,” McGregor said. “I am so proud of everyone in the group who made this visit happen [and] so impressed with our students.”
“It means a lot to be able to show her that we have been able to accomplish what people have doubted,” McGregor continued. “We can help our students and help local industry and build something.”
Matthew Friedas, a student about to gain his Precision Optics Certificate, joined the tour along with one of his classmates.
“I thought it was cool to have the senator be here,” Friedas said. “It’s not very often you get to see any senators, so this was definitely a neat experience.”
“I think it’s cool the funding opportunities that the government has offered,” he continued. “It’s one of the reasons I can be here, so it’s cool to see what other investment is returning.”
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Principal Investigator of the Precision Optics program Jim Kraly took the lead in sharing the diamond turning portion of the program with the Senator and the group.
“[It is] deeply meaningful to have the Senator here,” Kraly shared. “Her support has helped create something that requires significant resources and significant investment. Her office’s support made something possible at [KSC] at a time where we would not have been able to implement what her support allowed us to without that support.”
“Her grant made the creation of this program and training pathways possible and it made it possible in a timeframe that engaged our community [and] showed something new and exciting the college could do through challenging times,” Kraly continued. “[We] started to create the program during the time of the [COVID-19] pandemic–while some institutions were shuttering, we were able to create a new pathway and get the community excited about connecting with the college.”
Shaheen said she hopes to return to KSC in the future to tour some of the other programs the college offers.
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