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SEPT 2017 ISSUE 1
THE FIRE
WITHIN student trustee Yachi Rivas
aspires to represent the Hispanic community in the world of politics PAGE 16
contents
SEPTEMBER 2017 Volume 2 • Issue 1
CAMPUS 12 “Making Connections:” Q&A with Associated Students of Citrus College president Favian Fragoso 20 Q&A: Glendora Trustee Patricia Rasmussen honored as “Community Hero” at the LA County Fair
OPINION 05 United we stand, in factions we fall: Decline in individualism and civil discourse 06 “Good morning. It’s a beautiful day today:” student’s family torn as they lost a family member on Sept. 1, 2001 10 ‘Bee’coming a community: Review of illustrated
FEATURE 16 The Student Trustee Yachi Rivas has a burning passion for politics
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16 the fire within
children’s book by history professor Bruce Solheim
I imagined me, a Latina, in the political world, and I thought it would be amazing to be the one to represent the Hispanic community.
LOGOS C I T R U S
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SEPTEMBER 2017 ISSUE 1 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/ ART DIRECTOR Darius Johari SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER RIchard Gonzalez STAFF WRITERS David Ford Bianca Valenzuela CONTRIBUTORS Emily Hermosillo Connor Phillips ADVISER Margaret O’Neil Logos is produced by communications students and is distributed three times a semester. Views expressed herein do not represent those of the adviser, faculty, administration, Associated Students of Citrus College or the Citrus Community College Board of Trustees. © 2017 Logos Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
0 logos@ccclarion.com f /logosmagazine T @_logosmagazine Tel 626.914.8586 Logos Magazine 1000 W. Foothill Blvd VA 236 Glendora, CA 91741 Cover Image Yachi Rivas Photo by: Connor Phillips
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letter from the editor
Greetings and welcome everyone to Logos Magazine. I am the Darius Johari and I am honored to serve as editor-in-chief for fall 2017. This is my third semester working with Logos Magazine and my second semester serving as editorin-chief. Logos is still fairly new as it was brought back in 2016 from a seven-year hiatus after budget cuts back in 2009. Logos Magazine basically started from scratch after its recover but as a student publication, Logos has been a part of Citrus College since the ‘70s. Serving as editor-in-chief has been a humbling experience and I still have lots to learn from my experiences with college and in the world of journalism. This semester we took a different approach with the magazine as we are always looking for ways to expand and try new things during production. We went back to publishing a monthly magazine for the fall semester. There will be two digital issues, one for the month of September and the other issue will be out in October. Our final issue for the fall of 2017 will be a print issue which is set for release in November. Aside from going back to publishing monthly this semester, we have also set aside focus points for each issue. Our first issue will focus on the people of Citrus college. This issue we featured the Student Trustee, a Glendora Board of Trustees member from Citrus College and the President of the Associated Students of Citrus College. Our next issue will focus on opinion pieces, critical review and
news features and the final print issue will be our best work from the fall semester. In the future, we hope to reach out to other departments for collaborative work. Logos Magazine is about campus, culture and lifestyle and with everyone on board we could truly make Logos a student publication that everyone can appreciate. Every student and faculty member has a story to tell and our goal at Logos Magazine is to be the storytellers through words, art and photography. This is only the beginning as the saga will continue. I appreciate the hard work and dedication my staff, the photography contributors and my advisers have put into making this magazine a reality. Thank you to all of the administration and thank you to Citrus College for believing in the communications department. Yours truly,
Darius Johari Editor-in-Chief djohari@ccclarion.com
opinion
United we stand, in factions we fall The rise of social media leads to a division amongst the American people. There is a decline in individualism and engagement in civil discourse. In a country founded on free speech, it sometimes feels as if people are too afraid to speak. Our society has shown that we cannot tackle issues head on when passions run high. The integrity of free discussion in America seems to be at an all-time low. Although our speech is protected from government censorship, it is not protected from our fellow man or woman's criticisms. It is difficult to argue your point, but it’s much harder to listen to someone else tell you that you’re wrong whether or not its justified. Often times it feels inappropriate to even express an opinion in a public setting. There are those who get attacked on public forums for just saying how they feel. With the rise of social media in today’s world, it’s easy to just surround oneself with items that go along with your ideals. Anyone that opposes your opinions can just be blocked or pushed away to some corner of the Internet. There are some who take it a step further, and go on the offensive against opinions they don’t like, berating and ousting the opinion holder and sometimes even issuing death threats. We as a society need to end the taboo around voicing an opinion. We are making our own coffin shaped echo chambers. People are too willing to label themselves in today’s world. Nobody wants to be ousted in person or social media for taking a stance on what a politician said the last weekend, but they would be willing to retweet a celebrity's opinion saying what they wanted to, but couldn’t. It’s easier to label yourself as a liberal or republican to express your views than it is to make an opinion for each social issue. It lets people have a voice without forming an opinion. Individualism is dying, or at least, on the decline in America. Factions are being created from the lack of unique perspectives. It is our duty as Americans to disagree, an opposing opinion should be the rule or measure on how strong our own views are. While pursuing the path of nonviolence seems idealistic, it worked for Martin Luther King Jr., and it worked in the recent women's rights march. It is troubling that more recent “protests” have devolved into who can
bend the rules more to make a point. In the words of David Milbrandt, It’s cool to gather and protest an issue, but maybe leave the AR-15 and homemade weaponry at home. The right to assemble is only protected if its peaceful, flipping over cars and directly antagonizing opposing groups goes
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for the Political Science Students Association of Citrus, actively facilitates environments for free discussion. Milbrandt believes that civil discourse is fundamental in improving our nation, and that keeping one viewpoint is detrimental to the integrity of a society. In regards to bias and holding an unwaivering view, Milbrandt states that "It's very easy to have that kind of partisan side argumentation on one side or the other...We can discuss these things calmly and openly and recognize that an opposing side can still have a valid point or two." Milbrandt is a strong advocate for free discussion, and holds debates every semester for various topics. Its a daunting task to remain steadfast in the face of hate on either side, its not fun, and you aren’t really rewarded for doing so. But work is work, it is our duty to fix our present to make a better future for the rest of America, and it starts with respect. L
It’s very easy to have that kind of partisan side argumentation on one side or the other... we can discuss these things calmly and openly and recognize that an opposing side can still have a valid point or two.” - David Milbrandt against the core principle of protesting. The most beautiful aspect of free speech is being able to say exactly how you feel, and being able to inspire discussion from it. It Is one of the facets of being an American. The mutual respect between groups should be the foundation of discussion, it shouldn’t need to be said if someone “respectfully” disagrees, it should be implied. A major problem with discussion today is that it is no longer civil. Some people know their personal views as correct, and are likely to not respect the other side to begin with. More and more are we seeing justifications for acts that we as a society know to be wrong. Regardless of any moral highground that may be present it is important to maintain the mentality that we are all equal. Modern day mud-slinging tactics through twitter and Facebook only seek to work against changing our nation for the better. David Milbrandt, Political Science professor and Advisor
TEXT AND PHOTO BY: DAVID FORD
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“GOOD MORNING.
TEXT BY: ANDREW MARC DI GIOVANNA PHOTOS PROVIDED BY: ANDREW MARC DI GIOVANNA
IT’s A BEAUTIFUL DAY TODAY.”
These were Clement fumando’s last words to his wife before the twin towers disintegrated.
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people born after 1995 may have a difficult time remembering the experiences of September 11, 2001. but those who are old enough recall how that day shook America to its core. In the days leading up to the 16th anniversary of the terror attacks on 9/11, I had the opportunity to talk to a few family members who were directly involved with the events in New York and whose lives were forever changed by it. Their urging to others was to never forget the tragedy and to never take anything, especially loved ones, for granted. After applying their advice to life in 2017, I became convinced that it is the remedy that our hurting nation needs. Amidst the widespread and deep-rooted division in the U.S., the answer is not further division--it is to come together, putting differences aside. My cousin, Clement Fumando, was one of the nearly 2,996 victims who died that day. He worked on the 104th floor of 1 World Trade Center for Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., a financial services firm and was one of their 658 employees who was caught above the point of impact. For my cousin, like many others that day, it was just another Tuesday in the office. Earlier that day, the sky formed a beautiful, deep blue canopy above the bustling New York City skyline. Catherine Marotte, Clement’s sister, is a Staten Island native now in her 70s. She described that particular morning as “gorgeous.” Some were running late to work, others were grabbing a quick bite to get them through a busy work morning, and still others had already begun their work day. By 8:45 A.M., thousands of employees were diligently at work in their offices in 1 WTC and 2 WTC; one can even imagine co-workers on the same floor catching 8 | LOGOS | SEPTEMBER 2017
each other in conversation at the water tank in the break room. It’s stunning how a single minute can change everything. 8:46:40 A.M. is the recorded time when American Airlines Flight 11 made impact with 1 WTC, the North Tower, causing a massive explosion. The airplane’s crash into 1 WTC was initially thought to have been an accident; however, a second collision into 2 WTC less than 20 minutes later at 9:03:00 A.M. took away any such hope. That morning, four planes had been hijacked by members of Al-Qaeda in a span of 74 minutes for the purpose of carrying out a carefully orchestrated attack. The hijackers were themselves trained for such a “mission”, and four of the 19 even had professional aviation training. Their targets included the two Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and possibly the U.S. Capitol or White House in Washington D.C. Three of the four targets were successfully hit; the fourth was prevented by the heroism of passengers on United Airlines Flight 93, who stormed the cockpit in an effort to retake the plane from the hijackers. Although their effort failed, the intense conflict inside the cockpit caused the terrorists to lose control. United 93 rapidly lost altitude and hit the ground, thereby preventing the hijackers from hitting their intended target. When the first plane hit its target, the North Tower, most believed that the plane had been distressed and simply struck the
tower accidentally. In response, employees in the South Tower were advised to return to their desks and continue working. Many followed the advice and resumed, while others precautiously evacuated themselves. Once the South Tower was hit less than 20 minutes later, the stairways in both towers were cut off by the planes, trapping everyone who was located above the points of impact. The emergency technology that was necessary to rescue people from the rooftop or horizontally was simply not available. Those trapped above the points of impact alone constitute 67 percent of all casualties that day and 77 percent of casualties in New York alone. Clement’s son, Gregory Fumando, worked half a mile away and felt the blast of the plane crashing into 1 WTC. As soon as he had heard that the building that his father worked in had been hit, he immediately began calling his phone to make sure that he was okay. Again and again he called with no answer, but he refused to give up until he had heard from his father. It was when the South Tower collapsed and a massive wall of dust engulfed his building that Greg finally decided to leave. At that point, his only option to return home was to walk, and so he did. He walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and stopped after 4 hours to find some water. This is when he stepped into a bar and for
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY: (CC) 2001 MICHAEL FORAN Above: The World Trade Center was struck by two passenger planes on September 11, 2001. The attack happened 16 years ago but still lasts as a haunting memory to many affected by the event. Left: Clement Fumando was one of the thousands of victims that died when the World Trade Center was attacked. The last words spoken to his wife were, “Good morning! It’s a beautiful day today. I love you, and I’ll see you tonight after work.”
the first time saw on the news the collapse of the two towers. To this day, Catherine Marotte cannot accept her brother’s death. Her husband and two sons had even gone into the towers while they were burning. She says that she mentally and emotionally cannot handle watching the events of that day on TV, since it takes her back as if she were there again. “I don’t know why it happened,” she said in tears. “Maybe God was just a little short-handed and needed another angel.” Today, Greg is 52 years old and still vividly remembers that day 16 years ago. To this day, nothing has been found having belonged to his father, thereby creating a relative lack of closure. Clement was a dedicated and faithful man. He was married to his high school sweetheart whom he had known since they were both 13. Every morning, he would wake her up to start the day, and on September 11, the last words he said to her were, “Good morning! It’s a beautiful day today. I love you, and I’ll see you tonight after work.” The end of that month would have signaled their 39th wedding anniversary.
Catherine’s advice to this newer generation is, “Remember it, never forget it, and try never to let it happen again.” 16 years later, it’s safe to say that America has still not forgotten the travesty of that day. How can such a tragedy be forgotten anyways? Tens of thousands of people were directly affected, and the pain reverberated throughout the nation and even the world. That’s not something you can just forget. But have we forgotten the love? And do we remember the unity? On September 11, there were no Democrats or Republicans. There was no separation by race or ethnicity. That day, President Bush was every American’s president. The entire world stopped and stared at their TV screens. People all over the world mourned and wept with Americans. At the site, bias and division all but disappeared. As Greg put it, “No one was white; no one was black; no one was any color...It was one human helping another.” Random passers-by bravely risked their lives to save others by rushing into the buildings to pull out as many as possible. “Race and politics didn’t matter,”
Catherine remembers. A sense of unity and patriotism flowed through the veins of every American that day, both in New York and across the nation. In the midst of hate, love prevailed. Let 9/11 serve as a soft and gentle rebuke to a nation that has seemed to have lost its way. At a time when division is fierce and partisanship is most pronounced, remember the time when we put it all aside to help and love each other. Remember the day when everyone was simply human. Never forget what it means to be an American. Never forget those men and women who fought to bring justice to the perpetrators of 9/11. Never forget September 11, 2001. From Berkeley to Charlottesville, the answer is not arrogance or self-righteousness; instead, the answer is to set aside petty differences and to love your neighbor in order to realize a much greater goal. Greg’s final advice: “Learn from this. There are things in life you cannot control. Treat every day like its your last, be aware of your surroundings, and never take anything-never take people--for granted.” L SEPTEMBER 2017 | LOGOS | 9
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‘Bee’coming a community
Illustrated children’s book alludes to bees’ cooperation and work ethic to show how humans can benefit by following their example.
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ome people say don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but I would argue that artists design the cover to represent the contents to the best of their abilities. The warm yellow tone and watercolor paint used to make up the exterior of “Ali’s Bees” makes the reader think of sun, summer and most of all, honey. There are three characters depicted on the cover of Bruce Olav Solheim’s book. Upon reading we come to find they are three partners in a science fair project and budding friends despite the differences between them. The illustration of the children is well done, the artist, Gabby Untermayerova, has successfully made each child unique in their facial features, expression and even body type. The cover art is a lovely representation of the characters, but the back cover is gorgeous and simple. A Golden honeycomb design is surrounded by blotches of yellow watercolor against a white background, and a bee landing on a baseball.
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It is simple, but shows the artist’s skill with still life objects, design and attention to detail, like the tiny hairs on a bee. In this case the cover art does represent the book well. Directly from the first chapter there is vivid imagery of citrus trees, sunlight, honey, and the buzzing of bees. The author does a wonderful job of making the reader smell, see and hear the scene in Ali’s backyard. I grew up in Los Angeles county, Ali’s nostalgia for orange trees is something that takes me back to my memories of childhood. I’m not sure if the passage has the same effect on its target audience, middle schoolers, but in retrospect it is a scene that reminds me of the innocence of childhood. That innocence is quickly shattered when Ali begins speaking with his grandfather about the war in Iraq, his motherland. This is a common conversation for them, Ali thinks of Iraq and his family often. Ali has moments of bliss with his grandfather, smearing honey on toast and watching the bees or excitedly
planning his science project, but the intrusive memories of Iraq sprout up frequently. Solheim does a great service by creating a narrative about these issues, but some segments are clearly instructional. A few scenes feel unnatural, like when the author takes a break from the action to explain the function of an EpiPen, or to define terms himself rather than through the characters. Throughout the story Ali gets bullied, makes friends, and learns how to play baseball all while gaining advice from his grandfather. The artwork inside the book is in black and white, which is the most cost effective option for in-book illustrations, this does not take away from its appearance. Unfortunately the illustrations are small and vary in size. Some are so small it is difficult to see details. Although they are drawn well, having many small illustrations is not necessarily better than having a few, large and dynamic drawings. Having a consistent size for the
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illustrations would have been an improvement to the book. Some illustrations are not shown to their best potential because of their size, the most successful images are about half a page. Depictions of important objects, such as Ali’s photo of his parents, and the prised baseball card he gives to his bully, are useful and emotional visuals for the reader. There are no drawings of Ali’s flashbacks to the war, but there is a depiction of Lupe’s nightmare of ICE deporting her mother while she is powerless to stop them. This is where the book is a success, it is full of representation. There is no cookie-cutter, nuclear white suburban “all-American” family featured. The main characters consist of: a war refugee raised by his Islamic grandparent, a Mexican girl who cares for her mother and siblings after her biological father was deported, and a boy with divorced parents, whose father was injured from serving in Iraq and is struggling to readjust to civilian life. This goes beyond Solheim trying to win points for inclusion, he is making a point of what America is really made of. Showing a man in a wheelchair and how he takes his unresolved rage out on his son is important. Showing a young boy struggling to have a normal childhood despite having intrusive memories of the explosions that killed his parents, is important. Showing a young girl who is confident and cheerful regardless of the responsibilities of being the primary caretaker at her home, is important. Because there are real middle schoolers that will identify with these characters. Children gain empathy from reading. It is astounding that an author can evoke powerful emotions about people and events that never truly happened. Solheim created a story of a refugee at just the right time, school children may need a compassionate approach to the war in Iraq now more than ever. The story’s conclusion draws an allusion to bees’ cooperation, community and work ethic to show how human lives can benefit by following their example. Our main characters present their science fair project about how we need to protect the bees, but it is a metaphor for the larger picture, being compassionate and saving fellow people no matter where they came from, because you never know what battles they are fighting. L TEXT BY: EMILY HERMOSILLO ART BY: GABBY UNTERMAYERNOVA
“ALI’S BEES” BOOK RELEASE, SIGNING AND READING Sunday, September 24 from Noon - 1 P.M.
VROMAN’S BOOKSTORE
695 E Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, California, 91101 Author Bruce Olav Solheim and illustrator Gabby Untermayerova will be
signing their book Ali’s Bees.
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Making President of the Associated Students of Citrus College builds the bridge between the student body and the executive board.
Connections TEXT BY: BIANCA VALENZUELA PHOTOS BY: DARIUS JOHARI
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Growing up, I never really thought I’d be able to go to school since my parents didn’t go to school. No one in my family has ever gone to school, so I thought, okay I’ll just go down the same path my parents did.” -Favian Fragoso
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Q&A What would you like to accomplish this semester as president? Favian Fragoso: While running for president, I never set out any personal goals of mine that I would like to achieve, I leave that up to our wonderful senators, who are elected to represent the students. My role as president is to support them and help guide which way they want to go. I have heard from a couple of senators that they want me to improve relations with the Citrus community and ASCC because they feel like there’s a big disconnect, which I completely agree with. I’ve heard from another senator that they would like to push to get security cameras on campus, because many students don’t feel safe, especially at night, especially with the female students, we see the emails all of the time. People are getting sexually harassed on campus and in parking lots. So, I really think these are wonderful goals that our student government has in plan and I hope that we actually go through with it. What do you mean by disconnect? FF: For many students that come to Citrus, it’s like a commuter school, and I completely understand that many students have other lives going on. They have work, they have responsibilities. And because of this, most students do not know what ASCC is or that there is even a student government. Which I like to compare it with U.S. government, we all know that there is some sort of government that makes up all these rules, but we don’t know who it is, what it is, or even the fact that we can vote to make a change. The last election, I want to say it was upwards of 300, maybe 400 students that voted, and that was actually a high number. And the reason was because of the bus pass. So, when you only have about 400 students voting and you have 16,000-18,000 students enrolled, these are students that may
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have opinions on how to better the school but they are just not being heard. It can simply because they just don’t know that their opinions can be heard by someone who has the power to change them. What are your plans for the future? FF: After getting my Bachelor’s, I’m going to law school, and hopefully becoming an attorney. I’m looking towards doing federal law or constitutional law.
Was running for student government part of your future career plans? FF: No, in all honesty, I didn’t join student government because I was thinking of possible career paths. In fact, when I joined student government I wasn’t really thinking of actually ever transferring. But I did notice that a lot of students had different issues and felt that nothing was being done. So, I started getting involved, I started hearing what was going on in student
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did not, he made it up to junior high. So I would be the first in my family to graduate from college. My father used to work on campus at UC Davis, which is one of the top schools I’m looking into. When the semester is over what would you want people to say about you and what you’ve accomplished? FF: In all honesty, I’m not here to accomplish anything, my job is just to support the student body and our student senators in whatever they want to do. I’m taking the back seat and I’m going to help them in whatever way they want. The ones who are getting the credit are the senators that are going to be pushing and discussing how to better the school, they are the ones that are going to be making all of the changes. I’m just going to be sitting in that meeting room, like the president is supposed to do, and just try to guide the conversation and make sure that procedure is being followed. L NAME: Favian Fragoso AGE: 20 RESIDENCE: Upland, California MAJOR: Political Science
government, and I jumped in. So you weren’t planning on transferring, so what changed your mind? FF: Once I was able to win my seat in student government, I realized that I had so much more potential and I started taking my future seriously. And I started looking at the possibility that you know, maybe I am made for university. Growing up, I never really thought I’d be able to go to school, since my parents didn’t go to school,
no one in my family has ever gone to school, so I thought, okay I’ll just go down the same path my parents did. It worked out well for them and it will work out well for me. The more I look at our situation currently, I think it’s best for most people to start going to school. Are you the first of your family to graduate from college? FF: My mother did finish a high-school equivalence back in Mexico, my father SEPTEMBER 2017 | LOGOS | 15
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The
Fire Within TEXT BY: DARIUS JOHARI PHOTOS BY: CONNOR PHILLIPS
The student trustee, a first-generation high school and college student, aspires to represent the Hispanic community in the world of politics.
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he student trustee could pass for any other Latina that you might run into in one of your Citrus classes, but her story is different. Not only is she a first-generation college student, she is also the first in her family to graduate from high school. Growing up in a Hispanic household was tough for Yachi Rivas, a 19-year-old political science major at Citrus College. She didn’t get out much. She is the oldest of three and did what she could to help her brother and sister. Her parents were strict, she didn’t have the luxury of going out to movies, amusement parks and hanging out with friends as they weren’t financially inclined to give Rivas that freedom. “In the Hispanic community you mostly go to work to help the family out,” Rivas said. Her parents sacrificed their education in order to take care of the family, but they made sure that she would make her way to college. In 2012, Rivas attended Sierra Vista High School where she discovered her passion for student government, developed team leadership skills and traveled the world. Yachi Rivas first found her passion for government her sophomore year while in Aracelie Castillo-Parrales’s World History class at Sierra Vista. The class made a lasting impression on her. Castillo-Parrales was all for women empowerment. She would point out the lack of women in history and politics. Her classroom was decked out with posters encouraging women empowerment. She would have her students analyze news clips and open up discussions about the absence of the female point-of-views. Rivas said her teacher boosted her morale. “I imagined me, a Latina, in the political world, and I thought it would be amazing to be the one to represent the Hispanic community,” Rivas said. “[Castillo-Parrales] told me that I could do it and so I went for it.” Throughout her time at Sierra Vista, Rivas was involved with the Advancement Via Individual Determination program. AVID is a nonprofit organization program that prepares students for college. Through the
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AVID program, Rivas was able to travel. During her freshman year, she went to Europe, including Italy and France. She also traveled to Sacramento, California, and Utah. These trips helped open students up to college opportunities outside of Southern California. Rivas also developed her leadership skills through water polo. After encountering some complications, she created the girls’ water polo team at Sierra Vista High School her senior year. “The process was tough because there was a lot of paperwork and looking into funds for the course,” Rivas said. “A lot of people doubted us because they would say ‘there was already a water polo team,’ but there wasn’t a team just for girls.” After a bad break up with her boyfriend, she lost focus and almost lost hope. Rivas said that Citrus College was the only one that seemed to care and wanted to help. When other colleges turn away from her because of her low grades, Citrus welcomed her. She became the first in her family to graduate high school and get into college. During her first semester at Citrus College, Rivas did what she could to get involved with the student government. She remembers sitting in one of her classes and the Associated Students of Citrus College representatives, Ruben Romero and Vanessa Salinas, introduced themselves to the class. “Those are my people,” Rivas said. “I knew I wanted to be in student government and so I knew I wanted to keep those names in my head.” She had the idea to get involved with student government and the next opportunity when she met Ian Rodrigues in the Student Campus Center. Ian Rodrigues, 22, political science major, is a senator for ASCC and is the Inter-Club Council President. He first meet
Yachi Rivas in the fall of 2016. Rodrigues introduced himself to a table that was playing cards in the Student Campus Center. One of those people at the table was Yachi Rivas in which she jumped on the opportunity to learn more from him about ASCC. “She asked me about my position and how could she get involved with ASCC,” Rodrigues said. “I had told her that she could run for Senator and any other spot that was available or that she could run for Student Trustee.” Although she was unopposed, she would go on to campaign as the student trusteeelect. “I remember in leadership class she had broken down the ASCC constitution and had notes written all over it,” Rodrigues said. “At that point I knew she had something going for her.” Yachi Rivas may come off as quiet and shy at first but she has the passion and spunk like that of Amy Poehler’s character,
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Leslie Knope, on NBC’s political comedy sitcom “Parks and Recreation.” They both play a part innstrong female roles and both share a future with involvement with politics.
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“Yachi took the initiative to learn her role,” Rosario said. “She said she wanted to do something good for the students and so I remember when the mobile food bank was on campus, she made sure she went out and volunteered.” Just like the teamwork and family she saw in her water polo team, she is doing all that she can to establish relationships with not only her people in ASCC but for the students at Citrus. Andrew Marc Di Giovanna, 23, biology major, had first meet Rivas in leadership class in the fall semester of 2016. Di Giovanna had said that she seemed quiet at first but that was because she was observant. Yachi Rivas plans on continuing her education so that she can live up to her parents wanting her to better herself. Rivas doesn’t know which one yet but when she leaves Citrus she plans on transferring to either a University of California or a college in the East Coast.
I imagined me, a Latina, in the political world, and I thought it would be amazing to be the one to represent the Hispanic community.” -Yachi Rivas
Rivas would go on to training with ASCC which was advised by Rosario Garcia, interim student life supervisor. They first met in February 2017.
“I hope to get into a college in the East Coast,” Rivas said. “When you hear about me in the East Coast then you will know that I made my dream come true.” Her end goal is to become a politician. Her senior year of high school she did an internship for Blanca Rubio, a Democratic politician serving in the California State Assembly for the 48th Assembly District. Rivas said that a few representatives went into her class to ask if any students wanted to help campaign for Rubio and so she took the opportunity even though she didn’t have a clue what she was getting into. Despite being the first in her family to graduate high school, Rivas has the drive and passion to push through with her political career goals. “I remember Ms. Castillo would always say, ‘tienes que tener ganas,’” Rivas said. “You have to have ‘ganas,’ that fire in you to want it and I live by that because if you really want it no one’s going to stop you.” L SEPTEMBER 2017 | LOGOS | 19
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Fair Glendora Trustee, Patricia Rasmussen, Ed. D, was recognized as a “Community Hero” during Glendora Day at the LA County Fair on Wednesday, Sept. 20. Rasmussen moved from Alhambra to Glendora in 1972 where she continued her career as an educator. The long-time Glendora resident seemed to have an educator’s life cutout for her from the start. She took on a leadership role as she is the eldest of three siblings, she received a scholarship from the Future Teachers of America while in high school and she is keen on going up in front of people and speaking. Rasmussen holds an Associate of Arts degree in English/journalism from El Camino College, a bachelor’s degree in English from California State University, San Diego, a master’s degree in communications from California State University, Fullerton and a doctorate in educational management from the University of La Verne. She spent 13 years teaching English and journalism for high school and college level students before she would join the Citrus staff as the director of public information. “I joined the Citrus staff in 1983 as the director of public information,
TEXT AND PHOTO BY: DARIUS JOHARI
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“Rasmussen said. “This was my start on a 23-year career with higher education.” Rasmussen would go on to take other administrative positions at Citrus until becoming the vice president of institutional advancement at Mt. San Antonio College in 1997. She served as vice president for eight years and then retired. In 2007 she succeeded incumbent Michael Bevilacqua and became the Citrus College Board of Trustees representative for the city of Glendora. Outside of working with higher education, Rasmussen is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Glendora Kiwaniannes, chair of the Leadership Academy and a former member of Corral 35, an equestrian riding organization. The soon to be honored community hero has a long history of service and accolades to her name. Among her numerous honors, Rasmussen was a recipient of the 59th State Assembly district “Woman of the Year” award, a recipient of the “Women of the Year” for the 29th Senatorial district in 2002, and most recently the Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Gabriel Valley YWCA in 2014. continued >>
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What attracted you to teaching? Patricia Rasmussen: I like getting up in front of people and speaking and of course for a working mom it was great because I had the summers off a and I am able to be with my two children. It was also easier too because I was able to walk to my job site because i was just down the street from the high school. How are things different now from when you were teaching? PR: Now we have all this electronic media and when I was teaching English with these young kids, we were just writing paragraphs and when it came to corrections they were frustrated because they would have to erase the words and the physical aspect of writing. Now you can just hit the delete button when you make mistakes It is so much easier to do that. I wish I could teach English now when everything is expedited. What were some of your teaching methods you stuck with while teaching journalism at Glendora High School. PR: When it came to teaching journalism I really liked the collaborative effort of putting out the paper. I tried to teach them the ethical issues in journalism. The ethical issues of journalism are important and the fact that you have to be accountable for what you write because it is in print for everybody. I remember professor Kamrath from El Camino College saying, “You better get those obituaries right because that is the last thing that is ever going to be printed by anybody about that person.” How would your methods change, if you were to change them, if you had taught journalism in this day and age? PR: I would think that I would encourage them to know that journalism is an important aspect for the work because it is true. Sometimes the truth hurts and unfortunately that hurt comes back at the messenger, the journalists. That’s too bad but where would we be if we didn’t have Woodward and Bernstein and some of these other journalists that put their careers on the line to do the right thing. Another thing I know is an issue is trying to keep a sense of neutrality and making it certain that your feelings are not escaping into print. Where did you move on to from teaching? PR: I joined the Citrus staff in 1983 as the director of public information. I went in for the interview and got the job. This was my start on a 23 year career with higher education. From there I moved up to administrative assistant to the president, where we worked with the foundation. After that I became the administrative dean of planning and institutional advancements and then moved to Mt. SAC as the vice president. And so you left Citrus College to become vice president at Mt. SAC. When did you start back at Citrus as a member of the Board of Trustees? PR: I wanted to run for this board but the incumbent
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kept running and so I didn’t want to run against incumbent Michael Bevilacqua. When he finally stepped down I thought that I was up to run. So I ran in 2006 or 2007 and now I’m in my third term. It took me awhile to finally get over the curve and because now I have to think about the big picture of the institution, so it took me awhile but I think I know it now after 2 and a half terms. What was your first major achievement or award? Can you remember your experience or lead up to getting the award? PR: I would think maybe it was being named “Women of the Year” by Senator Bob Margett. I never expected to get any type of award for the things I was doing but that was a neat honor. They flew us out to Sacramento where we were honored by congress senators, there was a big reception and then they walked us in with our senator into the state senate. They named us off and had our picture taken and it was just unbelievable. Tell me about how you first heard about being recognized as a “Community Hero” for Glendora? PR: I got an email and I opened it not really knowing who the person was, but I knew of the award because I had watched it take place for years and I participated in honoring friends of mine that had gotten the award. When I was notified that I got the award I thought “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I was flabbergasted. Anything you want the student body to know about you? PR: Well I don’t think students know what a trustee is. I don’t think the community knows what a trustee is. So I just want to put it to the ground level. I think the trustees are the quality control aspect of the institution. We don’t run the institution, we don’t do the hiring or firing, we do approval, but what we do it we insure that things work to the degree that they need to be. We watch the accreditation. If we lose our accreditation that’s it and so we are always asking where we are at with our accreditation. We also watch the budget because we see the big picture and we know where the money is going and where the costs are going. I think the trustees are not only involved with quality control but we are always asking questions on how we can help and benefit students because we want students to succeed. L
What do you like most about the
L.A. County Fair? PR: I try to go every year at least once. I really love the floral garden and the animals and I like the new dinosaur park they started last year. I also like going into the Millard Sheets Gallery to see all the kids are work. I stay away from all the deep fried food like the oreos and stuff but I do like going to the Mexican village for tacos.
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SEPT 2017 ISSUE 1 ”.pu sworg eh ecno tsitra na niamer ot woh si melborp ehT .tsitra na si dlihc yrevE“