A parking ban was put into place Thursday afternoon for the overflow parking lot behind the New England School of Communications in order to help with an experiential learning exercise.

The Maine Civil Support Team, which is a branch of the military that deals with chemical, biological and radiological attacks, came from their Waterville base up to Husson University to assist the Criminal Justice program with a “Hazmat” exercise.

Six students were able to participate between two demonstrations. Professor Cornel Plebani, the coordinator of this exercise and professor to the students participating, said the exercise is open to all members of the Husson campus. However, the ability to participate and volunteer is only made available to those enrolled in the class. Plebani’s class, CJ435, is an elective and only offered every third or fourth semester.

In one exercise, Husson security found Plebani’s car parked illegally on campus and suspected drugs so they called Bangor Police Department. The police brought in the drug dogs and when they found something, that's when they called in the Civil Support Team. The students were shown how to correctly put on a Haz-Mat suit and, according to Adam Hersey, a senior criminal justice major and a participant, it wasn’t easy.

“First off you take off your shoes, and get into the suit, and it’s really awkward because there isn't a lot of room.”

Plebani thinks there is considerable benefits to experiential, hands-on learning.

“I know of at least one student who did come to me and say: ‘I now know what I don’t want to do,’ and as silly as that might sound, I think it’s a good learning moment. I think it also benefits them to leave the classroom and do things that can extend their reading, lecture and discussion in ways that give it true meaning.”

Kazia Bennet, a senior Criminal Justice/Psychology double major and the only female participant says that being the only girl did have a slight effect on the pressure aspect of this exercise.

“Being the only girl makes it feel like more attention might be on me to perform in an exercise like this as well as the boys. Those suits were huge, and the tanks were pretty heavy. The exercise was still a lot of fun though.”

As to wheter or not this is something they’d like to pursue, Hersey and Bennet have very different opinions. The exercise sparked an interest for Hersey.

“I’ve always loved going for adrenaline, and that’s what it was. Even though it was a mock situation, you’re still handling these chemicals and anything could go wrong at a moment's notice. I live for those type of jobs. It’s something I see myself doing.”

Although Bennet thought the exercise was fun, it was not something she would be interested in doing.

“It was a really fun and interesting exercise, but moving and actually doing things in those suits is hard. I feel like I wouldn’t be able to collect evidence or take photos or anything wearing that. Maybe it would come easier with practice, but it’s just not for me.”

The students aren’t the only ones getting something out of this hands-on exercise. Plebani notices the students' progressing.

“I really enjoy seeing students put into scenarios where they can apply learning. It’s rewarding for me to see them interact with professionals in the community, develop those networks potentially, and then show those community partners that our students are really at the top of their game.”

NESCom was allowed to set up two students to take photographs of the exercise through Larry Ayotte, the Digital Media Specialist. Although photographs were allowed to be taken, there were not allowed to be any video recordings. According to Plebani, the video recording was a bit more of a sensitive issue.

“The students were using equipment we wouldn’t want the bad guys to see. These days with everything going on YouTube and Facebook, and the social media, controlling those sorts of video opportunities is difficult. So from the stand point of the army, they just wanted to make sure this sensitive information, sensitive practices and procedures weren’t made available to the public because the wrong people could take a look at that.”

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