Volume 94, Issue 12
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2013
Syrian American CSUF students speak out on country’s civil war Students share their opinions on the conflict affecting their families ELLIOT LAM & ADREANA YOUNG Daily Titan
While many people read through the seemingly endless stories or watch in dismay at the nearly 24-hour television coverage of the civil war raging in Syria, some Cal State Fullerton students are living through the experience. Ronnie, a junior electrical engineering major, who declined to give his last name out of concerns of potential retribution to his family overseas in the Middle East, said his extended family living in Syria had to relocate after the violence escalated. “My family lived in the capital, so for a long time they didn’t (experience any violence), but recently they’ve been experiencing a lot of violence from the side of the government. It was kind of an eye opener for them, (to have) that kind of thing happen in Damascus,” Ronnie said. “It’s like bombs going off
Left to right: Ronnie, Farrah, Bayanne Kanawati.
in Washington D.C.” Ronnie said some of his family in Syria, including his grandmother, have fled to the United States to escape the war. Similar to Ronnie’s family, sophomore biology major Bayanne Kanawati said her family left the country before the fighting escalated. She said her family was able to relocate to neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, because they originally lived in the capital of Syria, Damascus and had more warning time to get out. Although Kanawati’s family was able to escape, she said some of her friends were not as fortunate.
“A lot of families, like my friends’, that aren’t able to contact (their families) because the electricity is not working,” Kanawati said. “It’s very difficult. Imagine yourself not knowing what your family is going through at the moment.” For some Syrians living in smaller cities around the capital, the fighting began before they could flee to safety. Although the talks of U.S. intervention in Syria are still fresh, the conf lict in Syria has been brewing for decades, Ronnie said. “The kidnappings, the torturing, stuff like that has been going on for a very long time. So it’s nothing new,” Ronnie
MARIAH CARRILLO / Daily Titan said. “People have just gotten tired of it, now they want their freedom, just like us.” Ronnie said he believes arming the Syrian rebels earlier on in the conflict would have been more effective. Farrah, a senior psychology major, who also declined to give her last name due to concerns for her family affected by the Syrian crisis, said her relatives were able to leave before any fighting took place. Farrah is not against U.S. intervention, but she questions whether an intervention would have a positive outcome at this stage of the conflict. SEE SYRIA, 6
NEWS | CAMPUS
Traveling exhibit symbolizes college suicides
Active Minds create backpack exhibit to pay respect to suicide victims SARA HIATT Daily Titan
Students paused to ref lect on college suicides and mental illness at the “Send Silence Packing” event on Thursday. The traveling exhibit displayed 1,100 backpacks near the Titan Walk, symbolizing the number of American college students who commit suicide each year. The exhibit was sponsored by the Jacquelyn Bogue Foundation of Fountain Valley, as well as Cal State Fullerton’s Active Minds organization. Active Minds aims to raise awareness about mental health and suicide affecting college students. The organization works directly with students in efforts to open a dialogue about mental illness and to encourage those who are suffering to seek help. The onset of most mental health disorders begins between the ages of 18 and 24, and one in four students lives with a mental health disorder, according to Active Minds.
The organization hopes to erase the stigma around mental illness and to empower students to engage their peers in the discussion, citing that 67 percent of college students tell their friends about suicidal thoughts, before telling anyone else. “Taking care of your mental health is just like taking care of your physical health,” Maria Marquez, president of CSUF’s Active Minds, said. According to Marquez, reaching out to peers when something may be wrong may help save lives. “Be the person to reach out and to talk to people, if you know someone that’s having a bad day, or big events happen to them, it’s okay to check up on them. Ten minutes of your time could mean the world to that person,” Marquez said. Stress is also a part of mental health, Marquez said. Finding ways to cope with stress, especially as college students, is important, she said. The backpacks were donated by friends and families who had lost someone to suicide, some displaying personal stories of their loved ones. One of the stories displayed
was about Katrina “Kara” Tagget. Tagget was a senior at Michigan State University when she committed suicide in 2008. Tagget hoped to overcome dyslexia and dreamed of attending law school. Although family members described Tagget as outgoing and confident, she suffered from depression and anxiety. Tagget’s friends and family donated a backpack to the exhibit on the anniversary of her
suicide. Hundreds of students took time to read and observe the stories and statistics that were displayed at the somber event. “I read some of the stories and they’re really sad, it touched my heart,” Shreya Kapoor, 21, a mechanical engineering major, said. “I was like, ‘I want to cry here.’” SEE SILENCE, 2
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NEWS | RESEARCH
Grant supports Latino science A new program funded by NSF aims to increase bilingual interest in STEM ABRAHAM JAUREGUI
Daily Titan
A unique project will use “Identidad,” or identity, to advance interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields for Latino students with a $1.5 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will fund research and development towards advancing success of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) for junior high students in Orange County who have been fully immersed in an English-Spanish dual language program. The three year project, titled “Transforming Academic and Cultural Identidad through Biliteracy,” began Sept. 15 and focuses on bilingual Hispanics entering the seventh and eighth grade. This project plans to collect data on students in dual language programs, which are taught in both English and Spanish, in the Anaheim City School District. It will build on the bilinguality of the students to see if the program can enhance the interest and familiarity of math and science by collaborating cultural identity, integrating after-school activities and, most importantly, include the influence of their parents. “The data shows that our schools are not doing as well as we could in terms of serving our Latino students. Especially in the area of science and mathematics. We see achievement is not that strong, and yet we know the potential is there,” Mark Ellis, Ph.D., associate professor of secondary education, said. The project will interview parents about their everyday actions, from home life to work life in order to gain a better understanding of the home life of students and relate it to current and future curriculum. Armando Martinez-Cruz, a Cal State Fullerton mathematics professor and co-principal investigator, said parents don’t know
how to help kids with new school standards. Based on the idea of involving the parents, dual language and cultural identities, MartinezCruz said the project will create a sense of “Identidad,” which will influence activities and ideas that teachers can incorporate into courses. Along with guidance of “Identidad,” the Discovery Science Center is also contributing by sponsoring after-school programs that will support hands on activities and discourse. Ellis, principal investigator on the project, said the success of this venture could lead into possible implementations into other schools within the district and then hopefully into high schools. The U.S. government invests about $3 billion a year in STEM projects in order to compete with other nations. According to the Department of Education’s website, STEM job growth is expected to rise 33.6 percent by 2020. Michael Matsuda, Teacher Support and Professional Development of Anaheim Union High School District, said there will be jobs and opportunities in STEM and believes these subjects need to be implemented in elementary grades and that it is a concern that Latinos are not majoring in these areas. According to a report released by the White House, while the Hispanic population grew 37 percent in the last census, just 2.2 percent of Hispanics earn a first university degree in the natural science or engineering by the age of 24. CSUF is in the process of trying to change these figures and establish a better educational and/or occupational future for the Latino communities. The CSUF project is currently recruiting four students, juniors or seniors, who plan on becoming teachers of either multiple subjects with a math or science emphasis, or single subject math or science secondary education teachers. They are offering a two-year, $5,000 a year fellowship to work with the teachers and also be paid for working with the Discovery Science Center afterschool programs. SEE STEM, 3
NEWS 2
Presentation sells ideas to business majors OPINION 4
Violent video games spark debate FEATURES 6
Local businesses host autism awareness events SPORTS 8
Leslie Bonci’s Active Calorie Diet boosts metabolism FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @DAILY_TITAN
JESSICA PINEDA / Daily Titan
Sophomore April Rios reads one of the memorials for suicide victims attached to one of the 1,100 backpacks scattered around Titan Walk.
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