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Contents
Spring 2022|Volume 62, Issue 10
4
8
2. Letter From the Editors 4. From Incarceration to Liberation A CSUN student’s second chance at success
8. Two Tales of Perseverance
12 12. The Show Must Go On From Ukraine to CSUN, how one student is making it big
16. Farewell CSUN The Sundial’s graduating editors sign off
The journey toward graduation and feeling grateful for the challenge
Cover illustration by Kaitlyn Lavo and Mercedes Cannon-Tran
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
A
year ago, we had an idea to create a compelling magazine issue by issue covering different issues that faced our community. Looking at other publications on campuses, I realized something was missing. There was a void in terms of stories that really homed in on stories that told the stories of our generation. We wanted to do that every issue consistently! I didn’t know what I was throwing myself into. Having 16-to-24-page layouts semi-monthly isn’t easy with a team that is less than 10. We faced many trials and tribulations — however, we persevered and improved with every issue. We learned to adapt with every curveball, we were able to imagine something simple and it takes a very brave team to imagine something and execute it. We executed it over and over again and baby we executed it to become something I would never imagine. After four years of working at The Sundial, it hurts to say this is my final farewell. I am proud of the things we have produced as a team, I am proud of the things I can now take with me into the workforce and along the way I have made lasting friendships that are near and dear to my heart, with a special shoutout to Mercedes for being a dope friend and a doper managing editor. While I am sad to say farewell, and I am even happier to shed light on the students that had to overcome so much to complete their education alongside me. It might be hard now but, day by day we’re ‘making it.’
Michaella Huck
Shannon Carter Editor-in-Chief Carolyn Burt Managing Editor Michaella Huck Print Editor Mercedes Cannon-Tran Print Managing Editor
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Ryanne Mena Community Outreach Editor
Kaitlyn Lavo Photo Editor
Michael Goldsmith Copy Chief
Jordan Puente Sports Editor
Published by the Department of Journalism, California State University Northridge Manzanita Hall 140 18111 Nordhoff St. Northridge, CA 91330-8258
Maia Aslaksen Ian McKay Copy Editors
Troy Barnes Staff
Editorial hello@sundial.csun.edu • (818) 677-2915
Grace Da Rocha Culture Editor Marissa Roberts News Editor
Arvli Ward Publisher Jody Holcomb General Manager Sandra Tan Business Manager
Advertising ads@csun.edu • (818) 677-2998
Because of high production costs, members of the CSUN community are permitted one copy per issue. Where available, additional copies may be purchased with prior approval for 50 cents each by contacting the Daily Sundial. Newspaper theft is a crime. Those who violate the single copy rule may be subject to civil and criminal prosecution and/or subject to university discipline.
W
hat a ride this has been! I came to CSUN in January of 2021 in pursuit of a master’s degree. In my brief time here on campus, I have seen so much change and growth and even experienced some myself. The Sundial has always been a place for creativity and comradery, and it is here I found “my people.” Like many, I have had my fair share of hurdles to overcome on my way to graduation, and I am pleased to say the class of 2022 rose to the challenge. In this issue, we celebrate a few of those graduates by sharing their stories in both words and pictures. I hope the stories of challenges, heartbreak and perseverance inspire others to push on and accomplish their goals, even if they may not be graduating this spring. It has been an honor to work so diligently and produce the magazine this semester, one that the team and I are immensely proud of. To the class of 2022, I say well done! To anyone else still pushing on toward graduation, I say — you got this! Though I am on to my next adventure, I shall never forget my memorable journey at CSUN. Mercedes Cannon-Tran
STUDENT TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES
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Martinez is the 2020 recipient of the Grace Hopper Scholarship courtesy of the AnitaB.org foundation, which helps women and nonbinary people succeed in technology.
Shannon Carter
Shannon Carter
From Incarceration to Liberation A CSUN student’s second chance at success
O
ppression. Uncertainty. Despair. These are the words that Maria Martinez, 35, uses to describe the darkest days of their life. Through resilience, determination and a strong support system, Martinez, who identifies as they/them, narrowly escaped those dark days. Next month, Martinez graduates with a degree in computer science and will soon begin their new career at Disney as a software engineer. Nowadays, Martinez is optimistic and grateful. For the first time in life, they are happy, but that wasn’t always the case. In 2008, Martinez became pregnant and with the support of their partner at the time, decided to have an abortion. That support soon turned to blame and Martinez’s partner ended the relationship. The guilt was too much to bear. The only solution was to mentally escape. Two years later, benumbed to their feelings, Martinez was in another bad relationship and battling a severe meth addiction. Martinez doesn’t like to talk about it. Recalling the events strikes a raw nerve inside. One night, Martinez’s thenpartner drove the two to a firing range to steal guns. However, Martinez was oblivious to what was happening. Martinez stayed in the car the whole time — high, drunk
and absent-minded. It wasn’t until the sound of the sirens and seeing the helicopter tracking the car from above that Martinez realized what was happening. Riding along in the passenger seat that night would cost Martinez six years of their life. While in prison, Martinez’s younger sister, a software engineer, asked her company’s human resource department a hypothetical question. Would they ever consider hiring someone with a criminal background? The answer was yes, as long as the candidate was fully qualified. From that day forward, Martinez was determined. Their sisters enrolled them in East Los Angeles College right before paroling from Folsom Women’s Facility in early 2016. By that fall, Martinez was back in school. “I could finally see the possibility of turning my life around so I pursued computer sciences,” Martinez said. “I didn’t like it at first, it’s a love-hate relationship to this day.” In 2018, they transferred to CSUN and participated in various programs and scholarships that have supported their academic career. But those first few semesters in college were challenging. Adapting to technology and learning a programming language was
overwhelming. They wanted to give up. Things didn’t turn around until Martinez was able to draw a connection between crocheting — which they taught themself while in prison — to coding, that it all began to click. Martinez said crocheting is about understanding patterns and considers it just another language. After sending out numerous internship applications, Martinez struck big by landing a position at Disney as a platform engineering intern in the summer of 2021. Disney extended Martinez’s internship three times before the company eventually offered them a full-time position. “I had to teach myself a lot,” Martinez said. “But I also learned a lot from my mentors at Disney and at the Grace Hopper Scholarship.” Martinez says that it feels like a dream. Although Martinez has defied the odds and “made it,” their mission isn’t over. The women they met in prison — the ones Martinez would eventually call family — became an inspiration to give back. These days Martinez finds joy in supporting and tutoring other former convicts in computer programming. “I made it, but it feels better lifting others up,” Martinez said. “That’s success for me.”
Martinez looks at old drawings that their nephews sent to them in prison.
Right: Martinez joined CSUN’s Project Rebound as a member when it was established in 2020. The organization gave them the tools to be able to transition to a professional environment. Without these lifelines and the mentors along the way, Martinez admits they wouldn’t be here today.
After landing the position at Disney, their stepmother handed down this childhood pendant to Martinez.
Martinez collected a photo album of pictures and mementos while in prison. Martinez said they developed sisterly bonds with the women they met in Folsom.
Right: Martinez opens up about their own personal story in hopes of connecting with other women that have struggled with the guilt of having abortion. “I thought I wasn’t going to feel anything,” Martinez said. “But the guilt was there.” They said talking about it doesn’t take the pain away completely, but it’s a way to ease the emotions. Bottom right hand corner: Martinez has achieved many accomplishments while at CSUN, but says they could not have done it without the help of their sisters and academic mentors.
One of Martinez’s goals is to persuade their supervisor at Disney to formally establish intern opportunities for recently paroled individuals to join Disney’s Professional Internship Program.
Two Tales of Perseverance The journey toward graduation and feeling grateful for the challenge
A
n unlikely duo, but also the perfect team is found among them. It is a Monday afternoon in a small back office of Jerome Richfield Hall, where Isaac Michael Ybarra and Stephanie Barboza are planning out the remainder of their last semester as president and vice president of the American Indian Student Association. Although they walked different paths, they share a link: the desire to serve their Native communities and in turn, better themselves. Ybarra and Barboza are no strangers to facing challenges in pursuit of their education, with each having their fair share of roadblocks. For Ybarra, a film major, higher education ran in the family, so to speak, and he considered himself a legacy student. His father, stepmother, grandmother and aunt all attended and graduated from CSUN. “I was encouraged to not quit and just follow through with my schooling,” Ybarra said. “There’s a lot of experiences and opportunities that I would not have been able to grasp if I wasn’t in school.” During his time at CSUN, one of the opportunities and challenges Ybarra faced was studying abroad in Italy. He was originally scheduled to stay a full three semesters, but was sent back
to the U.S. when the pandemic broke out. “I was a little disorganized and unprepared,” Ybarra said. “I did not want to take a semester off, so I just decided to take an extra semester of electives.” In addition to having his education abroad interrupted, Ybarra also had a brush with danger when he was involved in a serious car accident.
become an active member of AISA at CSUN. Similarly to Ybarra’s story, Barboza has had her fair share of close calls and life-altering events. The Chicano/a studies major who is also minoring in American Indian Studies, shared that her educational journey was not the easiest, but that she feels grateful. “I think at least once a year I was in emergency housing,” Barboza said. “That is something a lot of students face and people don’t talk about it a lot. I think that is why I took on leadership positions at CSUN to advocate for more resources and help.” Barboza also shared that she had dealt with several health issues due to the stress she was facing over classes, housing and her mental health. “A lot of it was learning how to deeply heal and deal with things in a healthy way,” AISA Vice President Barboza said. “I just needed someone to talk to and help. That’s why it was so nice to “My life flashed before my find the Chicano house and the eyes and it made me look at AISA house where we would do things differently,” Ybarra said. healing circles.” “I realized wow, I just survived Besides the barriers that would something and there is a meaning dissuade others from continuing to life, I need to do something their education, both Ybarra and big.” Barboza have stated that they feel It was after his accident that grateful for the chance to grow Ybarra decided to get more and for what the future holds. involved with his community and
“A lot of it was learning how to deeply heal and deal with things in a healthy way.”
8
-Stephanie Barboza
xx
Mercedes Cannon-Tran
Stephanie Barboza in the garden at the AISA house at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022.
Top Left - Isaac Ybarra stands beside a mural in the Chicano/a studies department at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022. Top Right - Stephanie Barboza in AISA house at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022. Right - Isaac Ybarra meets with a fellow student to advise on her Native art project at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022. Far Right - Isaac Ybarra adjusts the lighting for a film project he’s working at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022. Below - Stephanie Barboza outside the AISA house at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022.
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Above - Stephanie Barboza admires a cultural mural outside the art studies department at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022. Left - Stephanie Barboza in AISA house at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022.
Left - Stephanie Barboza climbs an Indian coral tree outside the AISA house at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022. Right/Bottom - Stephanie Barboza and Isaac Ybarra examine the custom sashes and fliers for cultural graduation at CSUN in Northridge, Calif., on April 18, 2022.
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Troy Barnes
Kaitlyn Lavo
The Show Must Go On From Ukraine to CSUN, how one student is making it big
My whole life I’ve been interested in movies and just wanted to be a part of one and behind the camera.
12
G
raduation is the mountaintop that everybody strives for at CSUN. Each has their own mountain to climb to reach that summit, but for some that mountain becomes a crucible for their future. Yuliia Zolina is a 23-year-old CSUN film student from Dnipro, Ukraine, whose journey has finally landed her at that mountaintop. When she was 17, Zolina and her family left Ukraine for San Diego after her father was awarded permanent resident status through a lottery. The Donbas region sat only 160 miles from her hometown, and the widespread fighting that had been going on since 2014 — before Russia’s current full-scale invasion — gave her family reason to leave. Though her father and brother originally came to the U.S. with Zolina and her mother, they eventually returned to Ukraine as Zolina’s father still ran a business there. She FaceTimes her father almost daily to check in as he and Zolina’s brother are mandated to stay in the country during the current conflict. Zolina enrolled at San Diego Mesa College when she arrived,
but faced the daunting challenge of speaking no English. As she was learning the language, she relied on translator apps for everything, even to translate quiz questions while her professors berated her for using her phone. Originally a computer science major when she first arrived in the U.S., her passion for film eventually drove her to change her path in school and enroll into the film program at San Diego City College and then transfer to the cinema and television arts school at CSUN. Zolina’s work on films at CSUN, like “Dahlia’s Monster,” was instrumental to her honing her skills and professionalism in the film industry. Her path also already led her to her first job in the industry as asset ops at Wild Woods Picture and Sound. “My whole life I’ve been interested in movies and just wanted to be a part of one and behind the camera,” Zolina said. “I didn’t treat any projects here as just student projects and not seriously. I treated it like a business and like [it’s my] job. You can’t make a very professional result if people aren’t 100% involved.”
Left: Yuliia Zolina on the set of the student film project “Dahlia’s Monster.” Photo courtesy of Yuliia Zolina. Above, Top: Yuliia Zolina waits for the screening of her and her classmate’s short film to show in Armer Theater on April 15, 2022, on CSUN’s campus in Northridge, Calif. Her and her team produced a short film which included digital affects after utilizing the studio spaces here on campus with green screen technology. Above, Bottom: Courtesy of Yuliia Zolina.
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Yuliia Zolina FaceTimes her father at midnight in the U.S almost daily to check in. She chooses to only contact him in daylight hours in Ukraine for saftey reasons as light at night could give away their position. Photo courtesy of Yuliia Zolina.
Above: Yuliia Zolina and her boyfriend Kyle Stocking met while working on movie sets together. Their appreciation for the craft often leads to going to the movies for date days together. They often make their way out to the Americana AMC to catch the latest movie releases in Glendale, Calif., on April 16, 2022. Left: Yuliia and her family at her high school graduation in Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Yuliia Zolina.
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Yuliia Zolina tries her hand at sound design by stabbing a knife through an head of lettuce. Photo courtesy of Yuliia Zolina.
Left and Above: Yuliia Zolina on the set of the student film project “Dahlia’s Monster.” Photos courtesy of Yuliia Zolina.
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l d ia Sun s Of s Cla 22 20
Left to Right - Michaella Huck, Mercedes CannonTran, Shannon Carter, Grace Da Rocha, Carolyn Burt, Rylee Holwager, Randy Acosta, Jordan Puente, Ryanne Mena, Thomas Bravo.
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