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STEM tutoring returns
CLARION citrus college
Online at
ccclarion.com VOL LXXV • Issue 7
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
ED Building takes shape
BY AARON DEL CASTILLO-GUTIERREZ
STAFF REPORTER
AGUTIERREZ@CCCLARION.COM
The STEM Center at Citrus College is offering in-person tutoring in addition to online tutoring to all students. The STEM Center is available on campus from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and via Microsoft Teams from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday. They are also available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m on Fridays on Teams. The STEM Center helps with biology, physics, chemistry, statistics, calculus, general and advanced math. The most popular subjects the STEM Center helps with are calculus, statistics, physics and chemistry. STEM Center Coordinator Cristain Farias s aid the STEM Center has helped a little over 300 distinct students for the fall 2021 semester at Citrus College.
Read STEM, Page 3
LUCY ARGAEZ-CLARION
Horizons Construction Company International builder Isidro Diaz frames metal studs for the construction of the ED Building on Nov. 15. The ED building modernization is the final construction project to be funded by Measure G, a $121 million bond measure passed in 2004. Construction on the ED building construction is 15% complete.
Citrus welcomes lone new faculty
Instructors adapt to COVID-safe classrooms
BY SKYLR SCOTT
NEWS EDITOR
SSCOTT@CCCLARION.COM
Faculty recall challenges of pandemic teaching and share hopes for a safe spring return BY AARON DEL CASTILLO-GUTIERREZ
STAFF REPORTER
AGUTIERREZ@CCCLARION.COM
Some faculty at Citrus College are excited to see their students in the spring semester but are hesitant about coming back because of COVID-19. Vaccines are a big concern for some faculty at Citrus College. English professor Anna Villeneuve said she is excited about being back in person but hopes that most of her students will be vaccinated. “The best thing that we can do to maintain a good learning environment is be vaccinated,” Villeneuve said. Statistics professor Toros Berberyan said he has mixed feelings about teaching in person during the winter semester because it is more common for people to get sick in the winter. “I have a 4-year-old daughter,” Berberyan said. “She can’t get vaccinated, so I’m just concerned that if I go to teaching class, I’m vaccinated, but I don’t want my
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTIN GEORGE
daughter getting COVID-19.” Citrus College ceramics professor Michael Hillman said being fully vaccinated with three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine gives him more confidence teaching his class on campus. “I would hope that everyone who comes on campus would be vaccinated, and I know at this point that’s not necessarily true,” Hillman said. VIlleneuve said she will use safety precautions such as handwashing and using fresh masks every day. She said she is worried about having to tell students to keep their masks on in class with the students’ noses and mouths covered. If a student tested positive for COVID-19 in her class, she said she has online assignments and teaching plans prepared in case a student outbreak occurs. Berberyan said he is excited to come back because he has more of a connection with his students when teaching in person.
He said he is going to take precautions such as regular cleaning, hand sanitizing and social distancing to prevent COVID-19 exposure when he gets back in the classroom. Berberyan said he already has online plans prepared just in case an outbreak of COVID-19 occurs. “I am gonna have everything organized and show the students how to navigate through Canvas so just in case something does happen, we can quickly go to Zoom and find their assignments,” Berberyan said. However Hillman taught on campus this semester and is comfortable with the return because of Citrus COVID-19 guidelines. He also said he is comfortable teaching in person in the spring. “I feel very comfortable that the college is doing what they can at this point to keep everyone safe, and I feel very comfortable in class with the mask on and
Read Adapt, Page 3
Citrus College’s only new full time faculty was shocked when she realized she was the only hire for the fall 2021 semester. “I didn’t find out I was the only faculty hired until convocation day. I didn’t find out until I went to convocation and then my face was the only faculty,” said Aleli Clark, who teaches anatomy. Aleli Clark has been teaching anatomy online at Citrus since the beginning of the fall semester. She was born in the Philippines and moved to Glendale at age 11. Coming from an Asian household, Aleli Clark said her parents pushed her to become a doctor, lawyer or an engineer, but she said she has always preferred to help people in a different way and that teaching is a way to make a lasting impact. Her husband Ian Clark said she enjoys receiving emails from former students and keeping in touch with them. “Nothing makes her happier than getting a text from a former student thanking her for pushing them to do well, or for preparing them well for what they’re working on now, or even just letting her know that she was one of their favorite professors,” said Ian Clark. Aleli Clark combined her love for helping and science together and found that teaching was the best path for her.
“For as long as I could remember, I always really liked science,” Aleli Clark said. “I always liked figuring out how things worked.” Then she realized she was pretty good at it. Her high school physiology teacher at Hoover High in Glendale started a tutoring program where she became the head tutor. This led to her owning her own tutoring business for 14 years starting her junior year at high school. Because she had been tutoring in the science realm for a long time, “it felt natural for me to teach bio,” Aleli Clark said. After high school, she went to Glendale Community College, got her undergrad at Cal Poly CLARK Pomona. She then went on to grad school at Mississippi State University where she got her master’s degree in general biology with an emphasis on genetics and cellular biology. She did this knowing that she’d be able to teach a bit of everything. “I wanted the degree that would give me the most depth
Read Faculty, Page 3
2 Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Opinion
CLARION
Analysis
COVID-19 policy affects enrollment BY SKYLR SCOTT
NEWS EDITOR
SSCOT T@CCCLARION.COM
Spring 2022 registration has begun, and there are still no updates on whether Citrus will implement a vaccine mandate. California has mandated vaccines for students and staff at private and public K-12 schools, Cal States and UC’s. Some community colleges are following the same path, and many faculty are trying to get Citrus to do the same. Surrounding community colleges like Chaffey, Rio Hondo and Norco colleges have implemented a vaccine mandate making Citrus and Mt. Sac colleges the outliers. There is currently no vaccine policy for community colleges. For those that don’t require the vaccine, staff and students have mandatory weekly testing. Whether the Board of Trustees decides to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for the upcoming semester is one issue, but giving students fair warning about their decision could affect their registration decisions. “We are doing everything we can to keep students and staff safe, but this is a complicated issue that keeps evolving,” Board of Trustees President Patricia Rasmussen said. The ethics of a vaccine mandate only becomes more complicated when students’ registration decisions depend on it. Students like Jalen Shay, who is
unvaccinated and registered for on-campus classes for spring, said he might drop out if vaccines are mandated. He also said he wasn’t aware of the faculty petition asking the board for a vaccine mandate. Some vaccinated students like William Zenda, who is also registered for on-campus classes, may be uncomfortable returning to campus “because those who are not vaccinated can catch it and spread it to other students.” The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said because vaccines are not 100% effective, some fully vaccinated people will still get COVID-19. Therefore, both vaccinated and unvaccinated people can spread and catch COVID-19. In an email to campus from Superintendent/President Greg Schulz said that since mandatory weekly testing at Citrus began, 6,412 employee tests have been completed, returning only two positives, and 14,541 student tests with 11 coming back positive. The positivity rate for both students and employees is less than 1%. With the vaccination status of these positive cases unknown, and the lack of data from colleges that have implemented a vaccine mandate, it can still be said that Citrus is relatively safe even without a mandate. Many of the schools requiring vaccines have stopped sharing data on their positive cases. At their Sept. 7 meeting, the Board of Trustees decided that
PHOTO FROM PIXABAY
to physically access any district building, classroom, library, gymnasium, facility, or other indoor setting, students and employees shall either: 1) present proof that they have been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus; or 2) undergo regular testing for COVID-19 infection and produce proof of negative COVID-19 test results. “The Board has the right to implement different requirements, based on the current data and guidance available from state and local public health agencies,” Schulz said.
In the event of an emergency or a change in state guidelines, requirements can change. In their petition, faculty requested to be allowed to teach online if the Board of Trustees refused to mandate vaccines. “In accordance with collective bargaining regulations, the College has developed memorandums of understanding with the Citrus College Faculty Association, on behalf of all fulltime faculty,” Schulz said. The petition was sent after the completion of the winter and spring schedules, which were created with the input of faculty
Vaccine mandate could limit student opportunity BY AARON DEL CASTILLO -GUTIERREZ
STAFF REPORTER
AGUTIERREZ@CCCLARION.COM
Many colleges are mandating students and staff to get the COVID-19 vaccine. While vaccine mandates have good intentions, they could have unanticipated consequences on higher education. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, students everywhere from California have wanted to get back on campus to learn. A vaccine mandate at Citrus would make students have to wait even longer to be allowed back on campus. As of Oct. 22, 2021 there have been 11,014 mandatory weekly tests taken, only five of which came back positive. The small positivity rate shows the success of mandatory weekly testing at Citrus College, and a vaccine mandate is not necessary because of it. Students and staff can get the vaccine if they want to, but they should keep weekly testing available for those who choose not to get the vaccine. Mandating the vaccine
ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTIN GEORGE, CLARION
on campus would create a discrepancy at Citrus College by allowing vaccinated students a chance to learn in person and leaving unvaccinated students with few alternatives. Faculty and staff are petitioning the college to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for every person on campus for the spring
2022 semester. The WingSpan live schedule for spring shows that about 24% of classes will be fully online, meaning 76% of courses at Citrus would require students to be fully vaccinated if the vaccine was mandated. If the school decides to implement a vaccine mandate by the start of the spring 2022
semester, only fully vaccinated students will be able to attend on-campus classes, leaving unvaccinated students stuck with online learning. Citrus College should let unvaccinated students come to campus because it wouldn’t be fair to only let vaccinated students take on-campus classes. Students should not allow the possibility of being stuck with online learning to affect their decision to get the vaccine. While a vaccine mandate may attract new students who want a safer campus, it could also cause a drop in enrollment. Enrollment is already low, and it may drop even more if Citrus College doesn’t provide students an alternative to getting vaccinated. If Citrus wants to keep students enrolled in classes, they should at least give unvaccinated students other options to get an education like continuing to do mandatory weekly testing and prescreening, offer more online classes and offer students the opportunity to attend on-campus classes remotely.
CITRUS COLLEGE
CLARION
Staff Reporters: Aaron Del Castillo-Gutierrez Ashlee Tulk Miranda Palmas
Lucy Argaez Editor-In-Chief Justin George Managing Editor Skylr Scott News Editor Emily Beltran Circulation Manager
Advisers: Patrick Schmiedt Stacy K. Long
and staff. “As a result, faculty and staff may submit an accommodation request to our Human Resources department for consideration,” Schulz said. Schulz said mandatory testing for all, regardless of vaccination status, will remain for the rest of the fall semester and be reassessed following a review of recent campus and countywide data at that time. Currently, all safety measures at Citrus are in accordance with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Cal/OSHA and the State of California regulations.
Letter Dear readers, I would like to apologize for failing to do the Citrus community and the family and friends of Edward Ortell justice with the story that I wrote about his legacy. I failed to sense the impact of the words I had written at the end of the story detailing attempts to contact his family during a time of grief. This story was not written, edited and read over with the empathy it deserved, and caused undue harm and distress on those mentioned. We have since modified the article online and apologized to the family and to others affected by the story. Going forward we will do a better job of ensuring the writing we publish will follow the standards of ethical journalism to ensure we minimize harm and not cause it. We promise to write and edit with more humanity to try to avoid causing harm. Thank you, Lucy Argaez, editor-in-chief
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News
Tuesday, November 16, 2021 3
CLARION
Veterans honored in online ceremony BY AARON DEL CASTILLO-GUTIERREZ
STAFF REPORTER
AGUTIERREZ@CCCLARION.COM
Despite being online, Citrus is finding a way to celebrate those who have served in the military. The 16th annual Saluting Our Veterans event was held on Nov. 4 via Zoom. Citrus College recognized veterans from different branches of the military. The event kicked off with a performance of the national anthem from Azusa Pacific University alumnus Sean Gabel and an address from Superintendent/President Greg Schulz. Citrus student and U.S. veteran Missael Cuevas Chavez was
STEM from Page 1
“Our usage rate is a lot higher because those 300 students visit multiple times,” Farias said. For in-person tutoring, students must check in on the CitrusMobile pre scanning app. Seating is spread out and limited to three students
Adapt from Page 1 knowing the students are getting tested,” Hillman said. Hillman found online teaching impersonal. “It was odd to teach ceramics online but I am glad to be back in person,” Hillman said. He said that students who are taking his class this semester were dedicated and anxious to get back into the classroom.
Faculty from Page 1 and breadth,” said Aleli Clark. She returned back to California after grad school with her husband and currently resides in San Dimas. After owning her tutoring business, she started teaching as a professor at the University of La Verne and part time at Pasadena City College and Norco Community College until she was offered a full-time position at La Verne for six years. Aleli Clark knew she wanted to eventually teach at a community college after seeing the influx of community college students transferring to University of La Verne, knowing many came from neighboring community colleges and wanting to be the initial driving factor to getting students into universities. “My heart is in the classroom connecting with my students,” Aleli Clark said. “I also wanted to work at a place where I would have the greatest reach and with the variety of students that the community college services, I knew that was the right place for me to go to.” She said she wanted to teach at a school like Citrus to be “able to see the journeys of people who return to school after being away for a while or the ones who didn’t have the opportunity to go to school” due to financial issues, family responsibilities, being a veteran or international students. Servicing students that have limited opportunities and having a direct impact on those before they attend a university is why she chose to switch to a community college. Living in San Dimas and
honored at the event. Cuevas Chavez served in the U.S Marine Corps from 2014 to 2019. “During the summer of my junior year at Azusa High School I signed up for a Marine Corps down the street from Citrus,” Cuevas Chavez said. The reason he joined was to challenge himself and create a stepping stone to success. Cuevas Chavez accomplished many things. “I learned so many important lessons including how to foster relationships, navigating through depressional settings, and how to adapt under stressful compliant situations,” Cuevas Chavez said. One of the biggest things he learned is how to adapt to
different environments. Citrus College employee and veteran Barry Kuan was also recognized for his service. Kuan, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for five and a half years, graduated from Azusa Pacific University in 2017 with a master’s degree in leadership and organizational studies. He is now the Citrus admissions and records coordinator. Azusa Pacific University assistant professor Marlon Ware served in the U.S Marine Corps from 1989 to 2016 and was recognized for his service. Citrus Dean of Visual and Performing Arts John Vaughan was the master of ceremonies for the event.
Special guests included Karen Davis, the mayor of Glendora, and Keith Hall, Azusa Pacific University’s vice president and chief diversity officer. Schulz said he was glad that everyone at the event participated in honoring veterans. “I would like to thank everyone who made this year’s Saluting Our Veterans event possible, including our partners from Azusa Pacific University,” Schulz said. Schulz honored the brave men and women who served in the armed forces. “To our veterans: we thank you today, we thank you on Veterans Day, we thank you every day of the year,” Schulz said.
The Valley Veterans Memorial Team stands at ease at Citrus’ annual Saluting Our Veterans event in 2014.
per table. The STEM Center is at the MA building. STEM Center tutor Kelly Sands said a challenge about tutoring online is making sure all the technology works properly because a lot of students struggle due to technological issues.
Most students prefer in-person tutoring, Sands said, but due to health concerns, a lot of students have been using online tutoring. Sands said in-person tutoring is a more personal experience and makes it easier for students to ask questions. Sands likes tutoring at the STEM
Center because she and other tutors can work one-on-one with students and make better connections with them. “Tutoring at the STEM Center is a relaxed environment where the students are able to get the help
they are looking for when it comes to their classes,” Sands said. She tries to have the students work the problems on their own before she goes and helps them, she said. It makes the students feel more confident that way.
“Obviously there is way more connection with the students and you can just look at them and read what they are thinking or what they need,” Hillman said. His biggest challenge, Hillman said, is understanding what students are saying when they have their masks on. “They seem to have been more motivated to be here, so they seem to be a really good group of students that was a little unexpected,” Hillman said.
Hillman said one student in his class tested positive for COVID-19. It was the only positive case in his class throughout the semester. “We did catch someone who was enrolled in the class before they entered campus,” Hillman said. “So just one student in all the months we have been back on campus and they were quarantined at home for seven days and they tested negative and so now they’re back to working again.”
wanting to stay local was a driving factor in Aleli Clark’s decision to take her position at Citrus. “I wanted to serve the community in which I live,” Aleli Clark said. She prides herself on being student-and faculty-oriented and believes that being one without the other can’t work. She believes she needs to familiarize herself with staff and faculty to better benefit her students if she can’t provide the necessary resources. “You can’t be student-centered unless you are also faculty-and staff-centered,” Aleli Clark said. “Because the faculty members and the staff members you work with help you serve your students better and without them you’re a one person show.” Aleli Clark prioritizes mental health and makes herself available to students if they need her. She prefers to be called by her first name in class to seem more approachable to her students. Her husband said she doesn’t like titles and prefers to be called Aleli. “She works really hard to make herself approachable so everyone feels comfortable asking questions and speaking their mind in her classes,” Ian Clark said. Even in an online environment, Aleli Clark says the first thing she does is ask how her students are doing. “She tells us that she is available to help whenever we get confused in some of her lessons,” said Keziah Daguio, a student of Clark’s. “Aleli is not your average and typical professor, she is more. She shows you her enthusiasm in her lectures and she even comforts you when you tell her
you’re about to pull your hair out because of how crazy anatomy is. She is really an inspiring professor.” Aleli Clark likes to reiterate to her students that “my job is to work for you. I’m here to serve you.” She engages her students with relevant lessons about COVID-19 and mRNA vaccines, and creating IGTV videos. “She makes sure we are retaining them and using analogies and imagery to let us fully understand her point/ lessons,” Daguio said. After three months, teaching only online and making sporadic visits on campus, Clark is excited to fully emerge herself in the classroom for the spring 2022 semester. When she interacted with other faculty at a program review Zoom meeting for the natural and physical science division, where faculty go over budgeting, she knew she was at the right place. “It was so nice how collaborative and respectful everyone was with one another,” Aleli Clark said. She said the way everyone came and worked together online made her even more excited to return to campus and experience it in person. “It’s nice to feel really integrated and to see how well everyone got along,” she said. “There was this environment of mutual respect and genuine camaraderie.” She said after having experienced such companionship in an online setting, she can’t wait to feel it in person. “You want to make sure where you’re working is a great place to be, and based on what I’ve seen, I think I’m there,” Aleli Clark said.
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