thecollegian
Issue 2 • Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 • deltacollegian.net
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DACA end creates ‘expiration date’ for students By Francina Sanchez
be disrupted in the same way. Salazar fears going back to a country she doesn’t know to start a new life. Alisson Salazar lives with an expiration date. “I’m hoping I can find another solution, Next spring her Deferred Action for Childhood another path so I can keep going to school Arrivals (DACA) benefits are no longer valid, unless and work,” said Salazar. renewed by the United States government. Hope isn’t lost for students like Salazar. She’s living in limbo. Delta College is helping students in her “What do I do then? My expiration date is March 9,” situation navigate the grey surrounding ALISSON said Salazar, a Delta College computer science major. President Donald Trump’s announcement SALAZAR Salazar has seen family members deported without of the end of DACA. due process. She is hoping her education and life won’t On Sept. 13 Delta College held a student informaFeature Editor
tion and support forum. Associated Students of Delta College Vice President Chris Donaldson said the event at Danner Hall was to inform Delta students on what DACA is and what those who are eligible for renewal should do with the upcoming deadline. The end of DACA impacts as many as 800,000 DREAMers. The campus event brought in speakers with knowledge of the process.
See DACA, page 2
SHARING THE BOUNTY Stockton-based Harvester Farms built to provide consumable resources, educate public in local history By Killian Barnhart Managing Editor
Elzo Williams is one man, but he hopes his ambitions and dreams of social entrepreneurship will take off. Williams, a Delta College student, built Harvester Farms in 2015 at the edge of Stockton with plans of creating an abundance of food to support his goal of donating to the local food shelters and pantries. The project started as a small door-todoor operation, where Williams would ask various fruit-tree owners if he could pick and donate unwanted fruits. “We had no clue what we were doing when we started. We had this passionate dream, mostly mine, but my wife and my daughter have bought into it and a lot of other people have who have who’ve learned about it,” said Williams. “We wanted to prevent waste in the yards and get the food to the food banks and food pantries. The only way to make that a self-sustainable practice for someone who has to work, is to find a way to generate revenue,” One small bump in William’s dream - who was already working full time for Comcast - would also need to take the
Left, Elzo Williams coaxes his pig Bacon out of his pen. Upper right, the Williams’ ducks Puddle Jumper, Tubbs and Bruce relax in their pool. Above, Williams relaxes in the shade after the tour of his farm. PHOTOS BY KILLIAN BARNHART
time to lobby for grants and donations, and function of his farm, but is forced coupled with all of the mathematics by his farm’s youth into a blissful paand management that came with over- tience as he acquires necessary equipseeing the grants, donations, spending ment, tractors included, for expansion. and payments among other things. “Holt of California, a manager over in For Williams, it seemed like the Salida told me that they would bring one sacrifices he would over for hayrides and to need to make for show, which is perfect what he loved were because Benjamin Holt becoming too steep. invented the tractor Then it hit him. here in Stockton and no “Or, be a farmbetter tractor for us to er. Say I have 300 have on the farm than a acres or 500 acres Caterpillar,” he said. let me just shave off One of the ambitwo or four of them tions Williams has is and do something a focus on educating for the community. his visitors about the The thing is, I don’t revolutionary impact For more information know any farmers… Stockton has had in when I was working about Harvester Farms, visit agriculture, includwith Comcast, I met harvesterfarms.org. ing the namesakes of my now landlords numerous buildings which own the land around Delta, such and live next door. They haven’t done as Holt, named after Benjamin Holt, anything with the land, it was inherit- and Shima, named after George Shima, ed in his wife’s family and they haven’t the first Japanese American millionaire used it,” he said. who was nicknamed “The Potato King.” Williams has ambitious designs on Delta’s Tillie Lewis Theatre is also how he wishes to approach the design named after Lewis, who revolutionized
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the canning industry and was called “The Tomato Queen.” “We want to teach people about the history that our community has with agriculture. We invented tractors, we were the first in the nation to grow tomatoes that otherwise only grew in Italy, because of Tillie Lewis. A lot of the names at Delta students have no clue, it’s just a name,” said Williams. However, Williams’ ambitions don’t stop with revitalizing history. He wishes to fence in his fields, plant seasonal crops for donation, education and sale, develop a pumpkin patch, plant a corn maze, create a petting zoo and expand the tonnage he can donate. He hopes to be able to sell his fruits, homemade pies, stinging nettle tea and jarred honey from specialized flow hive. A flow hive specially designed to extract honey safely from the nest like a soda fountains tap. “Everything we grow on the farm, unlike the stuff we’re already picking from people’s homes, is intended to be for educational purposes, and when it’s producing the product whether it’s strawberries or pumpkins whatever, then the purpose becomes to generate revenue for our cause,” said Williams.
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