Endicott College - Observer Newspaper

Some people dream of producing radio shows, others envision themselves designing clothes. Endicott alum Santi DeOleo does both. 

He is the Executive Producer of the Ramiro and Pebbles Morning Show on JAM’N 94.5 FM, and is the President and Founder of Modus Collection Clothing.

Behind the Music

DeOleo’s main job involves keeping the Ramiro and Pebbles morning show on time, as well as managing, organizing, and scheduling the show. Another important aspect of his job is problem solving to keep the studio a happy place. 

“I guess the best description of my job is I am like the White House Chief of Staff, I deal with all the departments. You’re the person that everyone comes to,” DeOleo said.

He works closely with the hosts on the show’s content, and has earned their respect when it comes to booking or declining guests. 

DeOleo, 30, graduated from Endicott in 2002 as a Communication Major. As a student, he interned at JAM’N 94.5 FM. 

“I kind of broke the rules, because I think they say they don’t want you do two in the same spot, so I figured out a way to do almost four at the same place,” DeOleo said.

DeOleo’s goal was to get a feel for every department. First he interned with the morning show and then in the Music Department for the Director. Later he worked for the Promotions Department for both JAM’N 94.5 FM and KISS 108 FM, which at the time were owned by the same company. 

“That’s where I disagree with Endicott on that theory because if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have the job I have now,” he said.

After graduation, DeOleo returned to his connections with the Promotions Director at KISS 108 FM asking how he could help.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be paid, I knew I was probably going to be struggling for a bit, but I knew in the long run that there was going to be a payoff,” he said.

He began interning again, and was put on the street team, although it was still unpaid. Around the same time he got back in working with the JAM’N 94.5 FM on the morning show. 

It was a hard schedule, because of the alternating hours between the two stations, and topping it off the pay wasn’t great. However, DeOleo remained committed and focused on his responsibilities.

At 23, DeOleo travelled to LA to cover the American Idol finales, and the following year the station sent him to the Olympics. 

 That’s when the wheels started turning for him. He started getting paid part-time and working his way up the ladder from Asst. Producer, to Co-producer, and then Executive Producer.

300 Shirts and Counting

DeOleo has fostered a love of fashion since elementary school, when he convinced his parents to buy him the most fashionable jeans.

“Since working on the radio station, you realize that you’re interviewing all these people who had a dream or belief and thought they could just do something and they did it. So I thought, why can’t I do fashion, why can’t I do a clothing line?”

His line, Modus Collection Clothing, opened last month. 

Currently the clothes sell online at http://moduscollectionclothing.com/ and The Boutique at Savas Studios in Boston. 

In the two weeks the boutique has been open, without advertisements, 12 shirts have already sold. DeOleo finds the fact that people bought these shirts just shopping to be promising. 

“Whoever wants to admit it or not, at one time or another you start to doubt yourself and wonder can I really do this?” DeOleo said, “I’m sitting at home with 300 shirts wondering are these going to sell?” 

He also sent 50 catalogs to boutiques across the country that would be good places to expand from. 

Presently Modus Collections is just menswear, but DeOleo has hopes of expanding into kids, women, and underwear. 

“I felt it was important to start with something first and then grow from there,” he said.

He wanted to bring lots of color into the first collection as a method of broadening the scope and avoiding being pigeonholed. DeOleo plans on launching the spring collection with a New York City feel, and has ideas for a collections with an 80’s vibe.

A minimum of six shirts make up the collection for either spring or fall season. In between the two seasons Modus Collections releases limited editions in the summer and winter. 

Around Thanksgiving, this season’s limited edition hoodies should be in stock.

Building the Business

A lot goes into creating a business from scratch: such as an idea, a brand, and then finding the perfect shirt to print on. DeOleo made comfort and fit top priorities. 

“From there it was building a brand around that and doing something different that hasn’t been done, because anyone can come up with a t-shirt, but I want to build a story behind that. Something different, something cool about my line that sets it apart,” he said.

Which is what sparked the idea of the chess piece.

“The chess piece is somehow incorporated into each design and that is our way of marking each shirt and that is our back-story. So in each season each chess piece is always represented,” DeOleo said. 

The business itself required other specific needs: website and content, an in-house printer, and a graphic designer. 

“I can draw, but I needed someone to get the stuff in form to be printed,” DeOleo said.

After that it became a matter of pulling all their efforts together to launch the line into the public sphere. DeOleo stressed how his team needed to have answers to every possible question. He also found importance in social networking as a way to make Modus Clothing accessible to their clientele. 

The name Modus Collection derived from the narrowing down of the idea “Mode of Operation”. DeOleo’s team claimed the chess piece as their mode of operation, also known as “Modus Operendi”. They decided on the term “collection” for aesthetic reasons. 

A Day in the Life

Between working at the radio station and on the clothing line, DeOleo’s days are pretty filled. While he does get tired, he refuses to let that wear him down. 

“I feel like I had free time. Now it’s about establishing the clothing line and still being successful in the radio business and working to make our show great,” DeOleo said.

DeOleo worked hard to reach this point in his life, and for him, it started in his internships.

“Don’t look at it as just an internship, look at it as an audition,” he advises, “If I take on an intern I expect you to be there at 5:30 every single day, and some people don’t always have that motivation.” 

However, for the people who do have that motivation, DeOleo is an example of what they can achieve.

Interns often ask DeOleo about money and what can be made in the industry, but he says that’s not the mindset an intern should take.

“Putting all that stuff aside, and saying I have a passion to work in this business and putting that first because if you don’t have that then waking up at 4 AM is not going to be fun,” DeOleo said.

 He suggests working hard in order to impress, so when jobs to turn up in the future they have an idea who to call. 

“Learn from the people that are there,” he advises, whether good or bad, at least the option is there to learn what not to do. 

The opportunities are there and open to those who excel.

February 3, 2010, Vol. XI, Issue 7

Refurbished Dining Hall Unveiled
Author: Greg Payne

Last semester, various members of the student body sought changes in the food served at Endicott, and as a result, President Richard E. Wylie approved plans for a brand new dining hall, complete with an updated menu, that was constructed over winter intercession, and now graces the upstairs of the Callahan Center.

Construction on the dining hall, overseen by Sodexo district manager Varun Avasthi, began shortly after students left for winter recess, but only after the school was assured that the project could be completed by the time students returned for spring semester on January 24.

"We met in mid-December," said Dr. Wylie. "They said it would take multiple months, and I said ‘If you can't get it done by January 20, I don't want to do it. We'll do it next summer.' Within an hour, they called back and said, 'We'll have it done.'"

The end result is a dining hall that looks drastically different compared to what students last saw before they left for winter break. What was once a very simplistic, bare-bone dining hall with a straightforward table and chair setup, dressed only in a mixture of greens, blues and whites, is now a completely refurbished eating area, featuring a totally new layout, multiple booths, two new exhibition stations, a new salad bar sporting decorative trees, as well as a new lighting system. That lighting system, along with the new color scheme featuring a wide array of blues, purples, greens, and oranges, creates a much different atmosphere, according to Director of Dining Services, Paul Belski.

"You look around and there's orange and blue and purple and green and at first a lot of people were very, very skeptical about that," said Belski. "Then there were the other ones like myself who said,  'No, it's definitely going to work.' I think the lighting at dinner is dynamite. It's just a whole different ambiance.

"What we do at dinner is we shut off the big, fluorescent lights all around the perimeter, and then the room gets fairly dark, and then we just boost up the dimmer. We didn't have a dimmer in the past. So what you actually do is you darken the room and then you brighten up the areas where people are sitting."

The four main collaborators on the project were Dr. Wylie, Belski, Vice President of Student Affairs Beverly Dolinsky and Executive Vice President and V.P. of Finance Lynne O'Toole.

Dr. Wylie acknowledged that the changes were definitely needed, but only if an updated menu came with a new appearance. 

"I walked into the dining hall one day and I said,  'It's boring. It lacks life,'" Dr. Wylie said. "(So) we contacted our food service and Varun said, 'I can spice this up. I can make it exciting.' And we said, 'We're not interested if you don't do something with the menu.' Don't just paint the house, refurbish it. Make it exciting. So, they brought dietitians in."

Belski maintained that one of dining services' main goals was to introduce new menu items that the students were looking for. A student survey that was sent out during the week of finals last semester was answered by a large number of students, and dining services took advantage of that feedback in order to make some of the changes on the menu.

"(Many students) took the time to fill out that survey, so we took that information and that's what we utilized to make some of the different menu changes," said Belski. "(We wanted to know) what types of food students were looking for.

"The things that seemed to be the biggest priorities for the greatest number of students were more variety, longer hours at brunch, healthier choices, and just a concentration on the freshness of the food."

Some of the specific changes in the menu include an Asian noodle bowl at lunch, individual calzones at the pizza station, and omelets available for dinner on Saturdays. However, the changes do not need to stop there. Belski and his staff are putting a heavy emphasis on the suggestion board which is located on the wall across from the soda fountains on the left side of the dining hall, by the conveyor belt.

"We're going to put a bigger bulletin board to the right of (the current one)," said Belski. "So that, as (the suggestions) come in, we'll answer them and then switch them over to the bulletin board, so they can stay there for a while.

"Some of those you can take care of in a heartbeat, if someone wants something like a different flavor of ice cream. Then, if someone wants specific things like chicken patty Saturdays and ice cream Wednesdays, we'll take all of those under advisement. We'll reply so people know where we stand with them. And obviously, we'll look to fulfill as many of them as we can."

While Avasthi was the man responsible for overseeing the entire project, the actual design of the new dining hall was created by Mark Connor of Connor Architecture, located in Arlington, Massachusetts. Connor brought in a handful of his own workers, and also teamed with Endicott's Physical Plant staff to bring the new dining hall to life.

"(Connor) has to get a lot of the credit," said Belski. "He said that he wanted to bring the outside in."

While Connor and his crew designed and built many of the decorations and tables, Physical Plant played a significant role in making sure everything came together on time.

"The Physical Plant department played a big part in the overall success of it," said Belski. "They did the majority of the painting, they did the majority of the electrical, they did all of the heavy lifting, lugging stuff and moving stuff, and then, the ongoing cleaning from the dust and the paint and all of that. Those are people who actually work here at Endicott who did a lot of that work."

So far, reactions from the dining staff, students and faculty all seem to be positive.

"I love the colors, I love the environment and I think it's been a great success," said Dr. Wylie. "The big question is: do the students think that?"

Students so far seem to approve of the changes.

"I enjoy going to the Callahan more now," said sophomore hospitality major Lindsay Lanouette. "I think (the administration) has done a really good job of listening to the student body's opinions."

Sophomore education major, Melissa Learner agrees. "I think it's a much more enjoyable atmosphere," she said. "I love the booths and the new exhibition stations."

While the recent changes cannot help but be noticed, Belski did acknowledge that more improvements are already in the works.

"At this point in time, it's trial-and-error," he said. "This is a starting point and now we want to build on it. We want to continue to bring in new and different things."

The Lies That Guys Tell
By Heidi Moeller

Everything you need to know about a guy, you learn in the first three conversations with them.

It's an interesting statement, and according to one psychiatrist's new book titled, Little White Whys, it's true. Dr. I. Major's book talks about how to steer clear of the lies men are going to tell, because eventually, they are going to tell some type of lie.

There are so many self-help books that try and help women understand the male mind. Do guys really get the credit they deserve in today's dating world? As college students, it isn't so easy keeping a healthy relationship. Each year as Valentine's Day draws closer, sometimes we begin to analyze our relationships and the honesty, or lack thereof, that holds them together.

Guys around campus admit they have lied in relationships before, but they believe they are not the only culprits. Girls lie, too.

Senior athletic training majors Westin Pondolfino and Will Desjardins both agree that it isn't that difficult for girls to understand them.

"Guys are more straight forward with themselves," Pondolfino said. "We are easy to please."

"We don't play mind games," added Desjardins.

However, both of them have lied in their relationships. Desjardins says he has lied to "cover up" small things, and Pondolfino says the lies vary. They could be small, like telling a girl, "You look good today."

Freshman communication major Delroy McDonald admits to having told bigger lies. For example, in one relationship, he told his partner he was "faithful." However, McDonald says no woman will ever understand the male mind completely for one big reason.

"Guys don't even understand guys," McDonald said.

Alcohol and Drug prevention coordinator and advisor to REACH Peer education Lindsey Shrayer works with students in the counseling center. She says the center is available for students who are struggling with any type of relationship issue such as trust, jealousy, communication, or keeping strong during a long distance relationship.

"One big tip to a healthy relationship is maintaining independence," Shrayer said. "Make sure you keep time to spend with your friends and family."

Shrayer also has tips on what to do if you find out your partner is lying.

"Ask why they feel they have to lie," Shrayer said. "Often times people just assume the boy or girl will be jealous, so they lie."

During this Valentine's Day season, take the time to appreciate your significant other for being the honest person they are. Or perhaps, if you need help, stop by the counseling center, which is opens on weekdays at 9:00am.

(From the counseling center)
Info box:
Tips to keeping a healthy relationship:
-Use effective communication skills
-Work at resolving conflict
-Always be honest
-Always bring up what is bothering you
-Maintain other friendships

Health Center Remodeled Over Winter Break
Kelly Cameron

Some extensive changes were made in the Callahan Center over January break, and although the new and improved dining hall seems to be among the latest buzz on campus, the Health Center deserves some serious recognition as well. Physical Plant began renovations on the Health Center at the beginning of the New Year, and although those renovations are not yet complete, one can already tell that what once was just a health clinic is now an inviting and sophisticated office, complete with a reception area. The waiting room is much more spacious, and the back area has been updated to include two separate examination rooms - that are each outfitted with a sink and cabinet units - as well as a medical storage room.

"It's a state-of-the-art, professional, medical office with ample space and two fully equipped exam rooms," said Director of Health Services Elaine Ciampa. "All of the equipment is brand new and we also have on board (nurse practitioner) Rochelle Nazarian, who works the rest of her week with Danvers Family Doctors. Danvers Family Doctors is our authorizing physician office.

"Prior to this, any students that had come from Endicott to Danvers Family Doctors did see Rochelle, so now it's just a continuation of her practice with the Endicott students."

Anyone who had visited prior to this January can attest to the fact that the space was somewhat cramped, and did not really provide much privacy.  The clinic initially consisted of a small waiting area, which led to a modest office space, and then the back room, which served as the examination and treatment space, previously in which curtains served as the only measure of privacy.

According to staff nurse Carol Florendo, R.N., the new layout of the space will help the nurses and nurse practitioners manage their patients more efficiently.  She describes the updates as being, "a big improvement," and notes that the entire staff is thrilled about their new space. The finished project is expected to be unveiled and fully functional by the end of this week. Due to its more organized layout and pleasing appearance, the new Health Center is aiming to make patients feel more at ease.

"This is a practitioner's dream come true," said Ciampa. "The college did everything right. (The administration) took their time; they asked us what we wanted and were extremely forthcoming. Dr. Wylie really puts the students' healthcare on the top of his priority list." 

Endicott Preparing for Relay for Life
By Michelle Spinelli

Endicott is hosting its annual Relay for Life on Friday, March 26. Students, faculty, and local residents from the Beverly area form teams to participate in the 12-hour walk to help raise money and awareness for cancer research and treatment. All night there will be activities and events taking place. There will be a candle light vigil. A few hours of the night will be dedicated to children.

To sign up for the walk, students or faculty can go to www.relayforlife.org/endicottcollege or attend the Relay Rally in the Court Yard Café at 7:00pm on February 16th. All teams should be between eight and 15 people. Because cancer never sleeps, a person from each team is encouraged to walk at all times during the night. If the twelve hours is too long for a participant, he or she can still join a team, raise money and then leave when they need to. If a sports team wanted to make a Relay team, but had a game the following day, it would be permitted to leave.

Last year Endicott's Relay for Life raised over $33,000 with over 200 participants and 25 teams. This year the goal is to once again eclipse the $33,000 mark, while garnering over 300 participants and 30 teams.

"Our goal is between 300 and 350 participants," said Director of Community Service Lauri Rawls. "We had 280 participants last year, which was well over 100 more from the year before. So, 20 more to reach that goal of 300 is not outlandish."

The Relay Rally on February 16th is to begin a countdown for the event itself. This is when teams can come together and begin to raise money and come up with activities to have at their camp.

So, is there pressure to expand on the success of the event last year?