MxCC Hosts Annual e-Cycling Event on April 24

Not sure what to do with your old and unwanted electronics? Middlesex Community College has a free solution on how to dispose of these ancient artifacts, without filling landfills. Just bring your unwanted electronics to campus on April 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. during MxCC’s annual e-Cycling event.

Hosted by the College’s Computer Club during Earth Week, MxCC students, along with students from the Vinal Technical High School information systems technology program, will collect a variety of electronics and computers at the lower parking lot at 100 Training Hill Road, Middletown.

At the end of the day, all items will be picked up by Green Monster e-Cycling of West Hartford, and will be fully recycled for parts. Green Monster has a strict zero-landfill policy, meaning all items it collects are broken down into basic components and passed on to refineries and smelters where precious metals are harvested.  By-products of all electronic components are eventually added to items such as concrete, fence posts, or glass. Green Monster partners only with EPA-compliant leaders in the downstream recycling industry that have been audited.

During the e-Cycling event, MxCC’s Computer Club will be collecting voluntary donations for its annual computer giveaway contest. As part of this program, students donate free computers to fellow MxCC students in need. Last semester, Marquis Bawl and Janet Rider each received a brand new computer as a result of an essay contest.

“Donations of any size are appreciated and are used to offset the cost of purchasing new computers for deserving MxCC students,” said Professor Donna Hylton. “The annual computer giveaway allows the Computer Club to offer much needed resources for students who would otherwise not be able to afford it.”

At the e-Cycling event, anything with a cord or battery will be collected including computers, laptops, modems, toners, printers, fax machines, telephones, cables, server racks, batteries, and mp3 players. However, air conditioners, washers/dryers, refrigerators, light bulbs, or household batteries will not be accepted. For a full list of acceptable items, visit mxcc.edu/ecycling.

MxCC Professor Releases Second Book in “The Unbroken Circle” Series

In his new historical fiction book Freedom Betrayed, Middlesex Community College professor, Victor A. Triay, Ph.D., continues the story of the middle class León family, which is thrown into a tempest of warfare and separation during the early years of the Cuban Revolution.  In Freedom Betrayed, the second installment of The Unbroken Circle series, three of the Leóns participate in the Bay of Pigs invasion and battle Castro’s war machine in order to prevent their homeland from falling under totalitarian, Communist rule. The third and final installment, On Freedom’s Shores is slated for release later this year.

In support of his book, Professor Triay will appear at Russell Library’s Hubbard Room at 123 Broad Street, Middletown on Tuesday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m. where he will be talking about his novel and signing books.

Professor Triay was born in Miami, Florida, to Cuban exile parents.  For over twenty-one years, he has been a professor of history at Middlesex Community College. While Professor Triay’s classroom work focuses on the United States History, Western Civilization, World Civilization, and 20th Century Europe, he has earned a broader reputation as an expert in Cuban exile history.

His parents left Cuba less than two years after the rise of Fidel Castro, so the subject is personal to him – and has inspired him to devote his time and talents towards researching, writing and lecturing on the topic.  He has published three non-fiction books on Cuban exile history, one of which, Bay of Pigs: An Oral History of Brigade 2506, won the Samuel Proctor Oral History Prize in 2001.

Founded in 1966, Middlesex Community College (mxcc.edu) is part of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System. In all it does, Middlesex Community College strives to be the college of its community. By providing high quality, affordable, and accessible education to a diverse population, the college enhances the strengths of individuals through degree, certificate, and lifelong learning programs that lead to university transfer, employment, and an enriched awareness of our shared responsibilities as global citizens. MxCC, recently named a "Great College to Work For" by “The Chronicle of Higher Education,” offers more than 50 degree or certificate programs at the main 38-acre campus in Middletown, the downtown Meriden Center, the shoreline, and online.