May 23, 2012

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vaquero alumnus at microsoft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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smoking on campus . . . . . . . . . .

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“battleship” sinks. . . . . . . . . . . 13 graduation list. . . . . . . . . . 16-18

Volume 99, Number 6

May 23, 2012

Board of Trustees Approves Tenure, Computer System

By Angel Silva

EL VAQUERO NEWS EDITOR

T

he Board of Trustees approved nine faculty members for tenure and discussed the new addition of the PeopleSoft Student Education Plan system during Monday’s meeting.

Professors approved for tenure were biology professor Shelley Thai; English professor Alexa Schumacher; ESL professor Glenn Gardner; health sciences professor Jing Johnson; business and life skills professor Barbara Flynn; chemistry professors Asamik Oganesyan and Robert Gellert; library professor Susie Chin; and EOPS counselor Roxanne Rafii.

“Congratulations to all, it’s wonderful to hear such wonderful and rich backgrounds of individuals that we’re attracting at Glendale College,” said board member Anne Ransford.

The nine professors will be officially recognized as Glendale College permanent [See BOT, page 3]

IN THIS ISSUE News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-4 Features.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9 Track Team Feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Entertainment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-14 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 EL VAQUERO ONLINE

Photo by Richard Kontas

VAQS WIN AWARDS AT STATE FINALS: Grace Zamudio, from left, Lilia Asserian, Angela Martinez, new State Champion Cecilia

Nicolas, Alyssa Selve, Justice Shank, Nohemi Martinez and Vladimir Diaz, front, share the spotlight after winning numerous medals and All-American honors Saturday night at the California Community College Athletic Association State Final Championship held at Cerritos College.

Felony Vandalism Defaces Campus

By Alex Gonzalez

EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

D

esks, bathroom stalls and mirrors — some people may not see tagging as a serious crime, but for students who are caught vandalizing campus property, the consequences won’t be pretty.

As reported in a recent Glendale News-Press article, GCC student Joseph Lara was arrested and in court pled not guilty to 31 tagging incidents.

The 19-year-old San Gabriel resident is allegedly responsible for writing “Boris” on school property, such as air conditioner units and in bathroom stalls.

Lara was charged with one felony count of vandalism.

“There is no place for

Photo by Leah Arzu

THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL: Student Joseph Lara,

allegedly the prolific tagger “Boris,” has been charged with felony vandalism.

vandalism on our campus,” said Glendale Police Chief Gary Montecuollo. “We have a zero tolerance approach towards vandalism... If we identify you,

we will prosecute you.”

A campus police cadet noticed the “Boris” tagging on Lara’s notebook. The cadet relayed the information to

campus police, who later led to his arrest and search through his house.

From reports, the “Boris” graffiti has been documented since October and has not ended until April 19 this year, bringing the total damage to an estimated $2,235.

According to student conduct policy at Glendale, if a student violates the rules, including committing vandalism, they are subject to disciplinary actions.

To expel a student, the college president must present the action to the board of trustees, which makes the final decision.

Lara’s enrollment status is still under investigation.

Daniel Padilla, manager of facilities at Glendale College [See Graffiti, page 3]

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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NEWS

El Vaquero EDITOR IN CHIEF Jessica Bourse COPY EDITOR Agnes Constante SPORTS EDITOR John Ferrara STAFF WRITERS

Eric Bourse Jonathan Caballeros Alex Gonzalez Marlon Miranda Tatevik Manucharyan Evan Ramirez Isiah Reyes Angel Silva Kristine Tuzon Tex Wells

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Roger Lai Seneyda Rodriguez

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Jane Pojawa

NEWSROOM MANAGER

Richard Kontas

DESIGN ADVISER Charles Eastman

Volunteers Clean up Classrooms

By Agnes Constante EL VAQUERO COPYEDITOR

T

he Associated Students of Glendale Community College (ASGCC) held a campus beautification project Saturday to improve the appearance of five classrooms.

“I was so happy that we got five classrooms fully done and I was happy with the turnout,” said Suzanna Sargsyan, ASGCC president.

Sargsyan estimated that between 30 to 40 volunteers and about 10 campus organizations participated in the event.

The student government originally planned to beautify 10 classrooms, but the cleanup date, which was initially set for earlier this month, was moved to Saturday.

“Because of the date change we lost people that had originally planned on coming,” Sargsyan said.

Maintenance procedures began at noon, and participants

spent the day scrubbing desks, dusting walls and painting.

“It is hard work — getting all the nooks and crannies of the room and having to make everything look presentable,” said Kevin Dimatulac, ASGCC senator of activities. “It’s a hard job. You get your hands dirty.”

Students and staff were divided into groups and completed various tasks in classrooms in the administration, San Rafael, San Gabriel, Camino Real and library buildings.

Unexpected events occurred Saturday, including a power outage in the student center and fumes from one of the buildings, so volunteers had to move to other rooms.

“It was tough, those things that happened at the last minute. So much was working against us at first, and it took us a little while for us to get started,” Sargsyan said.

Despite the challenges of the cleanup, Dimatulac said working with others to improve the campus

was a motivating sight.

“When you see people work as a team together and you see everyone working toward one unified goal — to beautify the campus — I think that just made you want to work harder,” he said.

There was much positive feedback and support from campus community, including adjunct English instructor Mike Falcon.

“After teaching until 3:30 [p.m.] on Saturday, I came by to peek at my usual Saturday room, LB 210, and I was amazed,” he said. “It was as [if] I had stepped into a room in a brand new building.”

Tzoler Oukayan, student activities coordinator and ASGCC adviser, said that Saturday’s event was timely, as the tough economy makes it difficult for maintenance procedures to be completed.

“It’s so important just how you feel when you walk into a class.

It makes such a difference. We do have a beautiful campus but there’s so many flaws,” she said.

“It was really nice to get students who cared and wanted to make that difference to come together [for this beautification project].”

Sargsyan said she was grateful for campus community support for the project, but that much of it was moral support. She said she wished it were bigger, but that the turnout was good given that it is the first time the student government has done something like this. She hopes the project grows in upcoming semesters.

“The purpose of the cleanup was to improve the environment and maintain a professional environment for everyone on campus,” she said “I think we deserve a nice place to meet and learn, and I think that affects the success of the students in the classroom as well.”

The day began at 11 a.m. with unlimited tacos for lunch for volunteers. Those who attended also received T-shirts.

Agnes Constante can be reached at Agnes_Constante@elvaq.com

FACULTY ADVISER

Michael Moreau

mmoreau@glendale.edu (818) 551-5214 ADVERTISING Jeff Smith jsmith@glendale.edu (818) 240-1000, ext. 5493 Send Letters to the Editor El Vaquero accepts story ideas in news, features, profiles, sports and entertainment from the public. To submit an idea or an article, e-mail the editor at elvaquero.editor@gmail.com or call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5349.

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Letters: Readers Respond to Editorial — ‘Republicans: The Message is Misogyny’ Depiction of Republicans Disputed Within two paragraphs of Ms. Bourse’s editorial in the April 25th edition of the El Vaquero, she had linked the word “Republican” with “misogynistic” (one who dislikes women).

First of all, roughly half of Republicans are women. Also discussed was Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke, who supports having insurance companies cover contraception prescriptions. As far as insurance companies and contraception

Editorial Commended I just wanted to say that I loved your editorial in the current El Vaquero. There is a lot of crazy legislation being proposed in several states against women (forced trans-vaginal ultrasounds for example) and it is quite alarming. Keep up the good work!

Wendy Grove Public Information Coordinator

are concerned, of course the insurance company should pay for contraception, unless the insurance policy is being underwritten by a religious group that opposes it. In that case, the woman should be free to pay for the contraception herself, while getting the benefit of all the other health care services.

In the article, Mitt Romney is criticized for not supporting Planned Parenthood “merely because the organization offers

abortion services.” Being antiabortion is not the same thing as being anti-woman.

Ann Romney is criticized for “not knowing the plight of working and middle class women,” as she chose to stay at home to raise her five sons. It was a Democrat, Jackie Kennedy, who once famously quoted “If you bungle raising your children, not much else really matters.”

Ms. Bourse discussed the name-calling of high profile Democratic women, including Nancy Pelosi, by one outspoken

Letter: Benefits of Phone Apps Dear Editor, I hope that GCC will have courses that teach how to create apps for iPhones/iPads and Android Phones/Tablets.

The ability to create apps for devices is both a timely and important skill for the rapidly changing economy these days.

Courses that teach Android Phone/Tablet or iPhone/iPad app

creation could also attract funding from local businesses or the community.

I feel that GCC could benefit from courses which teach about apps, smartphones, and tablets.

Sincerely, Glenn Griffin Student

conservative. There was not much of an outrage when talk-show host Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a derogatory word for a woman which should not be printed here.

One point to be made here is that the positions of an entire group of people should not be equated with the statements of a few.

Another point to be made is that Republicans are not misogynists.

Kindra Girard Professor of Biology

?

What do you think

Send a letter to the editor at: editor@elvaq.com

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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NEWS

Board Approves Tenure, Classes, Computer Program [BOT, from page 1] staff starting in the fall 2012 semester.

“It’s nice that all of you chose Glendale to be your permanent homes,” said board member Anita Gabrielian.

In order to be considered for tenure, new professors need to have four years of positive evaluations before being recommended to the board of trustees. The Campus Executive Committee, headed by president Dawn Lindsay, met on May 15 to review the list of candidates.

The board also gave an overview of the PeopleSoft Student Education Plan (PSEP) system, which was implemented into the MyGCC system in April.

The PSEP is a mechanism that allows counselors and students

to plan a student’s classes in a more efficient and convenient manner — in other words, an electronic transcript. Currently approximately 550 PSEP’s have been created for students and are in use.

“When the counselor opens it up, they’re going to see the student’s major and educational goal upon entry to the college,” said Dean of Student Services Jewel Price.

According to Price, one of the features that the system offers is the degree audit, which allows a student to compare the courses that they’ve taken at GCC to a list of courses needed to receive different associate degrees or to fulfill Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) requirements.

“From that degree audit the

Property Damage [Graffiti, from page 1]

possessive to their campus so that when they see things or find out says, “he is frustrated” because about things like this, then they when vandalised property is would report it.”

Montecuollo said that replaced with new property, right away the new property “vandalism is something that ultimately has is damaged with a very negative tagging. impact on our “It’s expensive, campus.” time consuming AS police chief, and it’s ongoing.

Montecuollo If it happened believes that a once and then beautiful campus stopped, then it helps students would be great,” succeed and he said Padilla. “I got says that tagging people that wait takes that away. to see the new Photo by Leah Arzu “I don’t think walls repaired or should the new things ZERO TOLERANCE: Students anyone caught tagging will be expected to v a n d a l i z e fixed and come pay for damage to school property anybody’s right back in and and may be prosecuted. p r o p e r t y, in less than two hours they do the same damage.” including on our campus,” said Padilla agrees with Montecuollo “There’s no place Montecuollo that tagging and for it at all.”

The Glendale College police vandalism does not need to be on campus. Padilla “said he respects suggest that if there is vandalism art” art, but does not like it on taking place on school property, students should call (818) 240wall or mirrors.

“I think it’s destructive,” said 1000, ext. 5205.

Padilla. “I think that it does not belong on campus. I would love Alex Gonzalez can be reached at alexgonzo360@gmail.com it if students would be more

Correction: The caption and headline in the April 25 edition, page 13, of El Vaquero misspelled Cory Popham’s name. We apologize for the mistake.

counselor can select courses and add it to the student’s ed[ucational] plan,” said Price.

Currently the degree audit feature only works on IGETC requirements and associates degrees at GCC, said Price.

“You can run a degree audit against Glendale College certificates and associate degree programs, but it will not do transfer because that curriculum isn’t in there,” said Price. “It’s a massive amount of curriculum because every university has different requirements for every major.”

The new system also integrates the course catalog into the system, allowing for easy addition and enrollment of courses, said Price.

A feature to provide students the ability to buy textbooks after enrolling in courses is in the works.

The system plans to take over the current method of course

planning, which is done on a paper sheet with courses. Student trustee Suzanne Sargsyan praised the new method, citing her personal experience with the penand-paper system as stressful.

“Before coming a student at GCC, the first thing I heard was ‘make sure you go and see a counselor, make a plan and stick to that plan so that you can get your bachelor’s within four years,” said Sargsyan. “Throughout the semesters I would go back and I got one every single time. So I have a pile of those. But it would have been so much more efficient if I had it online.”

According to Price, the PSEP is accessible to the student assigned to it anytime.

“I’m so glad that we’re doing this,” said Sargsyan. “It’s so important for the students to have something so accessible to them.”

In addition, the board also approved seven new

courses at GCC, including ARMEN 117 (Armenian for Armenian Speakers III), ENTRE 101 and 102 (Concepts of Entrepreneurship; The Entrepreneurial Mindset), ITECH 201, 202 and 203 (California Quality [CAQ] Electrical Module; CAQ System Diagnostics and System Performance Module; CAQ AC/HP Regrigeration and Air Distribution Module); and PSYCH 203 (Physiological Psychology Lab).

The courses will be taught by Armenian language professor Arevik Mikaelian, Aviation Division Chair Scott Rubke, and psychology professor Daphne Dionisio.

The next board of trustees meeting will take place at 8:30 a.m. on June 12 in Kreider Hall.

Angel Silva can be reached at asilva827@student.glendale.edu

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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NEWS

College Policy is up in Smoke

By John Ferrara

EL VAQUERO SPORTS EDITOR

C

alifornia community colleges were given the authority to impose fines for violations of their campus smoking policies as of January. However, Glendale College is still unable to issue tickets due to uncertainties in how they will be administered.

“The problem with laws sometimes is that they pass them but don’t come up with a procedure … and so that’s what we’re trying to determine.

How do we issue the tickets and who issues the tickets?” said Ron Nakasone, executive vice president of administrative services.

The administration is currently considering two options on how to administer the citations. One is to issue the tickets through the city of Glendale, but the more likely option is processing them internally, similar to parking tickets.

College Police Chief Gary Montecuollo is currently in charge of writing a draft that will be presented to the Administrative Regulations committee, which will outline how the tickets are administered.

From there his draft will go through a process of two separate readings

by Administrative Affairs, which will allow for changes to be made to the draft.

Once ready, the draft will be

sent to the Board of Trustees for ultimate approval.

“My job is to design the policy regarding enforcement. ... We will follow the current system, which is to provide warnings, formally or informally and to cite for littering,” said Montecuollo.

If tickets are eventually administered, which are not to exceed $100, the resulting funds will be allocated, but not limited, to the college police department, education, promotion of the policy, and tobacco cessation treatment options.

“It would definitely benefit the school, and could probably fund some of the cadets and officers,” said Nakasone.

Campus police officers are currently able to issue warnings to those caught smoking outside the seven designated areas.

One officer, who chose to remain anonymous, admitted he’s never issued a warning.

Montecuollo however, says he has personally given many warnings and has found those receiving the warnings to be cooperative in relocating to the proper areas.

The designated smoking areas were instituted following a student survey in 2008, the results of which showed most students would prefer a smokefree environment. Despite the majority vote, those in favor of smoking made up a large enough percentage to sway the

administration into compromising on designated areas.

In fall 2009, a student government survey found that only 37 percent of students thought having non-smoking areas on campus was effective.

ASGCC is currently working on a new student survey that will that will focus on the possibility of a smoke-free campus environment.

“We’re going to Facebook it, were going to send it to the students, and we’re going to be outside recruiting students to take the quick survey to see what they want,” said student government Vice President of Administration Lucy Agazaryan Many smokers, like music major Hasanna Jackson, aren’t happy with the areas.

“I feel they’ve sequestered us off like animals,” said Jackson, while gesturing to a “do not feed the squirrels” sign located adjacent to the designated smoking sign.

The areas have become a bit of a cultural hangout for smokers, each spot with its own vibe.

Area five, located outside the auditorium is composed mostly of music majors. Live music, card playing, and lively conversation take place as they make the best of a less-than-ideal situation, creating an environment that feels more like a hipster prison than a designated smoking zone.

One problem that Nakasone

BUSTED: Policy ambiguities are making campus smoking citations difficult to enforce. has noticed about the smoking sections is that while large parts of the campus remains smokefree, the designated spots create a dense area of fumes that are especially harsh on the senses.

“Before, if people were walking around, it kind of dissipated and wasn’t as strong,” said Nakasone, who would support a smoke-free campus policy if enough students become involved in the process. “If we’re going to do it I think it would be a more student-driven process.”

Santa Monica Community College, College of the Canyons and Pasadena City College all have smoke-free campuses.

“Why not us,” said Agazaryan.

Anyone that witnesses students smoking outside of the designated areas can call the campus police for assistance.

“Absent an emergency call, if somebody says ‘I see smokers here can you address it?’ we’ll send officers there everytime,” said Montecuollo.

Students interested in having their voices heard on the issue, can have the topic placed on the agenda at the board of trustees meetings held every third Monday of the month in Kreider Hall at 5 p.m.

John Ferrara can be reached at jferrar977@student.glendale.edu

Recent News Briefs From Around the World

By Tatevik Manucharyan EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

The following are highlights of global news from May 13 to May 20. The article is based on the “BBC Global News” podcast.

May 13 RUSSIA — Russian aircraft Sukhoi Superjet-100, which was supposed to be a rival to Airbus and Boeing, crashed in Indonesia during a demonstration tour. All 45 passengers aboard the aircraft died.

SOUTH KOREA — The head of South Korea’s largest Buddhist order made a personal apology for the behavior of eight senior

Buddhist monks: A video recording shows them gambling, drinking and smoking.

May 14 MEXICO — Forty-nine people were killed, their bodies dismembered by members of a drug cartel, near Monterrey, Mexico. In the past six years alone, close to 47,000 people have been killed in this area in drug-related violence.

LIBYA — NATO strikes over Libya killed at least 72 civilians, including 20 women and 24 children, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch.

The purpose of the mission in Libya was to protect civilians.

The report urges NATO to conduct investigations into the civilian killings. The laws of war require these investigations according to a Human Rights Watch spokesperson.

May 15 CONGO — A BBC journalist reported on the conditions in the “conflict mineral” mines in central Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo. These socalled “conflict minerals” are materials used in our cell phones, laptops and cars. One prominent example is tin. Miners, which include children, work for very long hours in extremely dangerous conditions in the tin mines. “Conflict minerals” get

their name for spurring conflict and bloodshed across central Africa.

GREECE — The Greek parties elected on May 6 of this year failed to form a coalition government due to disagreements over the implementation of the austerity measures imposed by the European Union. As a result, new parliamentary elections will be held in Greece on June 17.

May 16 BOSNIA — Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Retko Mladic’s trial began in The Hague. Mladic, who is accused of 11 counts of war crimes, including two counts of genocide, was arrested in Serbia

last year after 15 years of life as an international fugitive. The two counts of genocide are the July 1995 massacre of nearly 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and the massacre of Bosnian Muslims over the entire period of the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995.

May 17 GREAT BRITAIN — Cutting spending and reducing debt is key to economic growth, according to British Prime Minister David Cameron. He gave this speech in response to increasing sentiments that austerity measures are failing to heal Europe’s economic ills.

[See World News, page 5]

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

5

FEATURES

Students Weigh Various Transfer Options

By Kristine Tuzon

EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

A

s students prepare their transfer educational plans, many choose to obtain an associate’s degree as part of their goals.

One way students are fulfilling their associate and transfer units is by taking the associate transfer degree requirements. Glendale offers associate transfer degrees in communications studies, mathematics and sociology. It satisfies the 60 transferable units to a Cal State, but the degrees are not always suited for all students.

Academic counselor Troy Davis said Cal State universities in particular want students to transfer with a completed associate in arts or sciences

degree before they begin their major at their campus.

“They [Cal States] give a student a priority of admittance if they have that particular Associate in Arts or Associate in Sciences-transfer degree versus someone that does not.” Davis said.

Transfer counselor Kevin Meza said an associate transfer degree does not guarantee admission to a particular Cal State campus or major; they only give preference.

“I would say it benefits one out of 50 students,” Meza said.

“They’ll [Cal States] admit those degrees to the Cal States, because they know a very few students would be able to complete them.”

Mass communications major Alex Sosa, 23, plans on

transferring to Cal State Long Beach by obtaining an associate’s of arts transfer degree in communication studies.

“It might help me with the whole process that’s going on with the Cal State university that now students need to get an AA so that they can get priority registration,” Sosa said. “So I thought why not give it a chance and it might help me in the future.”

Although obtaining an associate’s degree can be a part of the educational process, it is not necessary for transfer.

“As of now, I would not necessarily encourage a student to get an AA degree, because the Cal States are not really hammering it yet.” Davis said. “So students can have their 60 units of their transferable work and then just

Art Salmanian

by Art Salmanian

apply.”

Biology major Ethan Moser, 18, said he is following the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum, or IGETC, in order to transfer. He said there is no reason to get an associate degree and will continue to get a bachelor’s degree when he transfers.

Another way students are continuing their educational plans is by following the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) application that UCs offer.

Students with a 3.0 GPA or higher can apply to only one UC and fulfill the TAG requirements for a guaranteed spot to their campus.

As students try to figure out their educational plans, both Davis and Meza encourage students to visit their counselor

and career center in order to find out their major and career goals.

Sosa said she has been using the school resources in order to accomplish her transfer aims.

“I have been going to the transfer center at least once every two to three weeks and see my counselor to get my SEP,” Sosa said. “And if I have any questions, I’ll go to the career center to make sure that’s what I want to major on and if not, I’ll ask staff from the school that I know.”

If students would like more information on associate degrees and transfer requirements, visit the transfer and career center in the San Rafael building.

Kristine Tuzon can be reached at ktuzon342@student.glendale.edu

World News Briefs [World News, from page 4] GREECE — Many Greeks are taking money out of the banks, in response to growing fears that Greece might exit the Eurozone. According to reports

by BBC news, if Greece were to leave the euro and revert to the drachma, 10,000 euros in a Greek bank account could turn into an equivalent of 3,000 euros overnight.

May 18 JAPAN — After the shutdown of its nuclear power plants, Japan is trying to find ways to cope with energy shortage. Now the government is asking people, and especially businesses, to cut back on energy use by 15 percent.

MALAWI — There is a socalled “silent crisis” in Malawi – a landlocked African country, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid.

Although there is no famine in the country, a huge number of children are malnourished and therefore, stunted.

May 19 NEW YORK — Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng and his family left China on Saturday on a plane headed to New York.

The event was kept very low key both by China and the United States, as both countries

try to leave behind the incident that threatened to disrupt their diplomatic relations.

ITALY — A 16-year-old girl was killed and others were seriously injured in a bomb blast at a girls school in Brindisi, Italy. It is alleged that the local mafia, Sacra Corona, could be responsible for the blast.

May 20 LIBYA — Abdelbaset alMegrahi, the person convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 270, died in his home in Tripoli, Libya.

ITALY — A powerful earthquake near Modena in northern Italy caused extensive damage to historic buildings in areas including Verona, Bologna, and Venice. Three thousand people were told to leave their homes due to the earthquake.

UNITED KINGDOM — The Olympic torch started its journey across the United Kingdom. It will travel for more than 70 days before reaching its destination at the Olympic stadium in East London.

Tatevik Manucharyan can be reached at tatmanu@gmail.com

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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FEATURES

Budget Considerations Compromise Maintenance

By Eric Bourse and Agnes Constante

EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITERS

O

ngoing state budget cuts have continually hit California’s public higher education system, and the effects have taken a toll on Glendale’s ability to maintain a campus as clean as it used to be.

“Classrooms are cleaned less often than they used to be, at least it certainly appears that way.

The floors are waxed less often than they used to be,” said math professor Steve Marsden. “When there are budget cuts, one thing that gets cut is the support staff that would take care of that.”

Glendale has about 30 custodians that maintain both the main and Garfield campuses.

Twenty-seven are assigned to the main campus, and four are at Garfield. In the past eight years the college has lost six custodians due to retirement.

These positions have not been filled. Instead, 10 general workers have been hired to take the place of these vacancies.

General workers are paid by the hour and do not receive benefits. Unlike custodians, they are not assigned to clean any specific building, and complete

tasks as needed.

Hoover Zariani, president of GCC’s California School Employees Association, the state’s largest classified school employees union in the nation, said having hourly workers affects the quality of cleanliness on campus.

“Having a person assigned to a building just makes it so they take pride in keeping their building clean. Hourly people might just come here, do their work and leave with no spirit of GCC because they don’t have that connection, which is something full time custodians have,” Zariani said.

In addition to maintaining outside grounds, custodians are also responsible for the upkeep of 964,000 square-feet of building space.

This school year, the student government gave the facilities department $30,000 to assist with campus maintenance. Most of the funds were spent repairing vandalism in bathrooms.

Damages in bathrooms have mainly been graffiti on mirrors and scratching in drywalls. Dan Padilla, manager of operations and maintenance, said facilities used funding from the student

government on replacing mirrors for $9,000 and on covering up drywalls, $20,000.

Bathrooms on the first, second and third floors of the San Gabriel building have been tiled.

Suzie Kebachyan, 18, nursing, said she noticed that bathrooms don’t seem well maintained.

“Sometimes when you go into the bathroom and it looks like it hasn’t been cleaned all day,” she said. “There’s paper on the floor and it’s not a surprise when the paper towel dispenser is empty.”

Padilla said bathrooms are cleaned two to three times each day, and that a thorough cleaning is done once a day.

Another area of concern is cleanliness of the cafeteria and other eating areas.

“It’s not a restaurant service here and it would be nice if students and faculty would make sure they pick up after themselves,” Padilla said.

As the campus continues expanding, Padilla said the school is also responsible for the keeping those areas clean.

“That’s where it starts becoming difficult because we have more square footage now and less custodians than we did just a few years ago,” Padilla said.

While the budget has impacted cleanliness on Glendale’s campus, one custodian, who requested to remain anonymous, said the problem isn’t necessarily the budget, but the way in which workers are managed. The custodian has witnessed other workers who take breaks longer than they are supposed to, and who don’t clean up as well as they should.

Zariani has been at GCC for more than 20 years, and though there were more custodial staff earlier in his tenure, he said still thinks the campus is beautiful given the number of people

working to keep it clean.

“I just think all of the custodial staff is really overworked. It’s hard work, cleaning a whole building. So they are doing a phenomenal job, but we really need to get them help.”

With the current budget, Padilla said there is a strong possibility that custodians will be laid off in the future. ”We’re trying our best just to hang on to doing what we can do, but it is starting to get away from us,” he said. “We’re bracing for the worst.”

David Naiditch Presents ‘Our Baby Universe’

By Angel Silva

EL VAQUERO NEWS EDITOR

L

ectures, skepticism, aerospace and more — all are just another part of aerospace and computer engineer David Naiditch’s day-to-day life.

A graduate of UCLA, Naiditch received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics there and received a master’s in philosophy from UC Santa Barbara.

Naiditch got his start as a scientist doing lectures on various topics dealing with cutting-edge technology in areas such as telescope science, nanotechnology, emulating biology through technology (known as biomimetics), and more.

Naiditch continues to do lectures to this day, covering topics dealing with aerospace, upcoming technologies and outer space. “[For example,] I’ve done lectures on photonics, where you use photons (particles of light) instead of electrons; it’s kind of the new wave of computers and electronics,” said Naiditch.

“People are thinking of moving into an area called photonics instead of electronics.”

One of Naiditch’s most recent lectures was held at Glendale College Tuesday and dealt with the early nature of the universe, 280,000 years after its inception began with the Big Bang.

“We actually can take satellite images of the universe as it appeared as a little baby. This was about the time when the universe was a thousandth of the size as it currently is, it was very hot, because it was very soon after the Big Bang,” said Naiditch. “From these images we can actually extract a lot of information about the universe — how it evolved, how old it is, what it’s made of, what it’s future will be, what shape it has, and so on. There’s a wealth of information in these images that scientists are figuring out.”

But it was Ada — a programming language used to program aerospace hardware such as satellites, communications systems, airplanes and more — that was Naiditch’s most-covered subject, with two books on Ada resulting from his knowledge of the language.

“It’s a specialized language that is highly secure, it’s a very safe kind of language. A lot of European and American aerospace firms have used it — it’s a language that’s really specialized to address the needs of aerospace,” said Naiditch. “It’s also been used in the medical industry and in nuclear power – things that have to be very secure or reliable, things that you don’t want to shut down or fail.”

Naiditch also taught as well [See Naiditch, page 7

www.elvaq.com

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

7

NEWS

Frontini Teaches Language, Laughter

By Tatevik Manucharyan EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

B

ack in Bologna, Italy, Flavio Frontini went to college to become a veterinarian. He ended up becoming a professor of Italian language at a different college — in Glendale.

“I didn’t finish the university,” said Frontini. “When I discovered that chemistry was not my friend, I went into the military service and then while in the military service, I took a public exam for a position of accounting reviser.”

As an accounting reviser for the postal system, Frontini was in charge of all the post offices in Bologna — giving them directives that came from the Italian government.

At the same time, he took political science and Russian courses at Bologna University,

thinking of becoming a diplomat some day.

His plans changed after a visit to Vienna.

“I met a group of American students. We became friends, and they told me ‘come to visit us in the United States, so you can improve your English.’”

The idea took root in his mind.

In 1990, at age 32, he did just that. He came to California to study English at Santa Monica College.

At that time, “my English was at the level of ‘me Tarzan, you Jane,’” joked Frontini.

It was at Santa Monica College that he first started teaching Italian when he was asked to tutor a fellow student.

“After the first class, when I saw in the face of the person that he understood … the joy of understanding gave me so much

satisfaction that I didn’t have in the eight years of working for the government in Italy,” Frontini said.

The life of a foreign student was tough, said Frontini.

He didn’t have family in the States, nor did he have any close friends.

Yet after some time, he decided not to go back to his job in Italy and remained in the United States.

He completed his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in Italian literature at UCLA. All the while, he taught Italian language courses at the university.

David Naiditch Lecture [Naiditch, from page 6] during his years after college, but soon found that it wasn’t enough.

Seeking a place where he could apply his mathematical expertise, Naiditch entered the aerospace industry in 1982.

“I was a math major so I wanted to really apply my math and technical skill into an area that seemed to really be expanding,” said Naiditch.

“Aerospace seemed a natural selection to me.”

“We worked on aircraft, everywhere from jet fighters and other kinds of craft, and I was primarily working on the software area, with signal processing.”

Signal processing deals with analyzing data that the radar picks up, said Naiditch.

“The mechanical radar is only part of it,” said Naiditch. “When they get the radar returned, there’s a lot of processing that goes on, software that makes sense of that information when the data gets to the pilot.”

In addition to working with the aerospace industry, Naiditch also writes for the Skeptics Society, a group devoted to questioning and examining various scientific, social and controversial topics.

As a senior scientist for

Skeptic Magazine, Naiditch has written articles on different topics such as debunking scientific fears to reviewing books on science to philosophical entreaties.

“An article I did [examined] H.A.A.R.P. (an ionospheric research facility in Alaska) — a lot of people are very worried about what it might produce,” said Naiditch. “There’s a lot of misinformation about that, so I wrote an article about the different fears about that installation and what it’s actually used for.”

Another topic that Naiditch has talked about and debunked deals with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator used to determine the building blocks of subatomic particles and which people feared would create black holes, leading to the Earth’s demise.

“If [the LHC] could have created a black hole it would be an extremely microscopic, atomic-sized black hole and it would have vaporized so quickly that people couldn’t directly see it,” said Naiditch. “It would just instantly vanish much too fast to start sucking any matter in.”

According to Naiditch, he and the Skeptics Society have common ground when it comes to the values of science.

“I sort of agree with their philosophy, they do a lot of promoting of science and the scientific method, educating the public through the scientific method,” said Naiditch. “The main reason that I work with the Skeptics is to learn about science, scientific literacy for the populations.”

Besides dealing with science, Naiditch has explored the meaning of science and mathematics through a philosophical standpoint. Philosophy deals with issues that affect science and mathematics, but it’s its own discipline, said Naiditch.

“I did study the philosophy of mathematics and the philosophy of science, which deals with the nature of mathematics.”

According to Naiditch, math seems to govern every aspect of nature.

“One of the mysteries right now is why mathematics has been so successful in describing the world,” said Naiditch. “It seems like nature is written in mathematics. Physicists can describe reality using highly mathematical formulas and descriptions.”

Angel Silva can be reached at asilva827@student.glendale.edu

During his years at UCLA, he also founded the language program at the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles.

“The person in charge of the languages at UCLA asked me if I’d like to put together a program at the Italian Cultural Institute. So I started with a friend of mine, also a student of Italian,” said Frontini.

Flavio Frontini He had one semester left at UCLA, when an opportunity to teach Italian at USC presented itself. He took advantage of it, returning to complete his studies at UCLA only two years later.

It was during this last semester at UCLA that he got a call from GCC. The Italian professor was leaving the college, and they were looking for a new instructor.

Frontini interviewed for the position and got the job.

He started teaching at GCC in 2000 and became full-time in 2007.

At first, only two levels of Italian were offered at the college: 101 and 102. Over time, as the popularity of the program grew, it gradually expanded into two more levels, 103 and 104.Frontini’s approach to teaching is key to the success of the program. “[He’s] very dedicated to his students,” said Lourdes Girardi, language division chair. “He tries to engage them in a kind of a familiar, friendly environment, which is great for language. The students feel very comfortable in the class, and then you get a lot more out of them.”

Even outside of the classroom, when administrative decisions have to be made, “his priority is to make sure that the students of the college are taken care of, that things are geared to them, to their benefit,” Girardi said.

From giving away Italian language textbooks and dictionaries to holding special review sessions in the summer, from taking students to the opera and the local Italian restaurant to cooking for them at the end of the semester — Flavio, as his students call him, goes out of his way to make sure that students get

the most out of his classes.

“He is very intelligent and engaging. He makes our class fun with his teaching methods and makes sure we understand the language and the lessons completely,” said Marylu Cortez, 20, an English literature major who is taking Italian 102.

Yet his classes are never strictly limited to Italian language and culture. Discussions about politics, cross-cultural similarities and differences, social problems and the like are also a frequent part of the class.

“What I’m trying to do is…

I’m trying to open a window to the students to show that there is a different way of thinking, of habits, etc.,” said Frontini. “I’m not saying that it is better, I’m just saying there is another one.

It’s up to them if they want to see through the window.”

His classes are also filled with jokes, funny stories and words of wisdom which Frontini always shares with his students.

“My belief in teaching is this: If you go to class and you’re bored, you don’t learn anything.

If you laugh, you remember it,” he said.

Indeed, humor is the most essential attribute of Frontini’s teaching method.

“The first day of class I always say: ‘when you start speaking, A) don’t be afraid of making mistakes. B) if you say something in Spanish, I will start dancing the flamenco….’ And the students feel so relaxed after I goof around, that [when] they realize they’ve said something in Spanish, they start [dancing the flamenco].”

“Or they make a mistake at the board, and they are the first to laugh about their mistake. And that’s the important thing,” said Frontini, “not being afraid of making a fool of yourself.”

It is this comfortable atmosphere of laughter, fun, and friendliness that makes his students leave behind their shyness and learn to speak the language.

“The class is both entertaining and educational. He has a gift for teaching. By far one of my favorite professors,” said Victor Perez, 19, a psychology major who is taking Italian 102.

The only people who, at first, didn’t appreciate Frontini’s sense [See Frontini, page 9]

8

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

www.elvaq.com

FEATURES

GCC Alumnus Lands Job at Microsoft

By Agnes Constante EL VAQUERO COPYEDITOR

S

ince he was 12, Jason Holmes was obsessed with computers.

In high school, the son of Mathematics Division Chair Kathy Holmes decided he wanted to pursue his studies in a mathscience-related field. When he began attending Glendale College in 2007, he figured out he wanted to be an engineer.

Now, he serves as a software development engineer at Microsoft in Seattle.

Holmes took the high school proficiency exam when he was 15 and came to GCC when he was 16, deviating from the typical four years students spend in high school.

“High school was kind of boring,” he said. “The classes I was taking weren’t exactly interesting to me. I wanted a jumpstart into getting into college, so I was lucky to be able to do that.”

The former La Canada High School student spent three years at GCC. He then transferred to UCLA and obtained his bachelor’s in science from UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science in 2010.

He was recognized for his academic excellence at UCLA

by Tau Beta Pi and Upsilon Pi Epsilon, honor societies for engineers and computer scientists.

He went on to pursue his master’s degree in computer science at UCLA, which he received in December 2011.

Rick Guglielmino, assistant professor of physics and one of Holmes’ former teachers, described Holmes as an “outstanding” student.

“What distinguished him, and I think what really makes a difference in terms of students that achieve at the highest level, there’s one common characteristic: not only do they get almost all A’s but they get involved in a lot of extra opportunities,” he said.

A GCC SUCCESS STORY: Jason Holmes has had an illustrious academic journey since graduating from GCC and is embarking on a new career – at Microsoft.

In addition to maintaining his grades, Holmes took on internships at Loyola Mount University, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Qualcomm.

Holmes also received an

award called J Plus, from which he received a scholarship and his internship at JPL. The demands of his major were challenging, Holmes said.

“The classes are fairly difficult and take up a lot of time. Getting that personal balance with doing school is kind of hard, but in the end it paid off a lot,” he said.

“The best part [about my job] is getting to work on all the stuff that I really care about and am excited about, and things I would see in the news or in magazines about products coming out. And now I’m actively involved in that process.”

Starting off his academic career at Glendale put Holmes at an advantage in several ways.

He said it was easier to get into the UC system as a community college transfer rather than straight out of high school, and tuition was more affordable.

Taking general education classes at GCC also saved him from extra work.

“It was great going to GCC first.... It was actually something that helped because I didn’t have to worry about writing papers or anything else once I got to UCLA. I was only focusing on computer science, which is what I

really wanted to do,” he said.

Guglielmino said another advantage to pursuing engineering at a community college first is the greater opportunity for one-on-one attention between students and teachers. He said at four-year universities, there may be hundreds of students in one class, whereas there is a smaller student-teacher ratio at community colleges.

Holmes’ mother said she is proud and thrilled for her son.

“He’s worked hard and he’s been lucky because he finished his degree and had a job right away, and at Microsoft, which was his first choice,” she said.

Guglielmino also declared that getting a job at a company like Microsoft is competitive. He said engineering students aren’t only competing for jobs against their peers locally, but are also competing against graduates from universities nationwide, as well as internationally.

Holmes said engineering can be an intimidating major, but that students shouldn’t be discouraged from the onset of their academic careers from pursuing it.

Agnes Constante can be reached at Agnes_Constante@elvaq.com

For More: online stories, more photos, slide shows and breaking news. To join online forums, discussion boards, comment on articles, and add events to the calendar go to

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

9

OPINION

TV Gives Feature Film a Run for its Money

By Evan Ramirez

EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

F

or years, when a movie star took a job in television he or she was looked down upon.

Taking a role on television could end up killing their career on the silver screen entirely. However, in recent years, the landscape of entertainment has taken a turn in favor of the small screen.

The quality of television is at its highest in decades. Channels like HBO, AMC and FX are producing strong shows on a yearly basis.

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” has captured mainstream audiences’ attention that might have had no interest in the fantasy genre. They were able to do this with high quality storytelling and convincing acting.

In the early ‘90s the independent film movement was booming in large part thanks to Miramax. Directors like Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction,” 1994) and Kevin Smith (“Clerks,” 1994) were getting their big break and distributors, like Miramax, were taking chances on foreign films that would turn out to be modern day classics, such as Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Blue.”

As of late, many critically acclaimed foreign films are having difficult times finding audiences

in the states. Movies like Giorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank,” or Ben Wheatley’s “Kill List,” for the most part, are only being seen by audiences in their country of origin or by hardcore cinephiles.

Though the quality of film might seem to have diminished in recent years, it’s most certainly still present, just a little bit harder to find. This is where television is able to swoop in and capture audiences’ attention.

NBC’s viewership has been down for a couple of years, yet its output of comedies are some of the best on the air.

Shows like “The Office” are running on fumes, but series like “Community” and “Parks and Recreation” are arguably two of the best on television.

The same can also be said for ABC’s “Happy Endings,” as well as the FX animated series “Archer” and the groundbreaking show “Louie.”

What’s puzzling about these shows is that many of them seem like they are almost always in danger of being canceled. This is mostly in large part due to the content that they are putting out.

“Community” is unlike any other series that’s been on the air and the mainstream audience that goes and watches “The Big Bang Theory” will never flock to

Italian Professor [Frontini , from page 7] of humor were the writers and producers of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the show was doing segments there. Frontini was asked to teach Italian to members of the Jay Leno crew.

Leno himself did not take the class.

“First day of class…I started joking with them,” said Frontini.

“But they are writing jokes for Jay Leno, so my jokes fell flat on them. Nobody was laughing, and I was feeling terrible. Then I thought, you know what, we’re here not because I want to become the next stand-up comedian.”

Of course, after a while, Frontini succeeded in breaking the ice in that class as well.

But the real highlights of his career are the success stories of

his college students — like the one who went on to work for the United Nations and another who decided to study in Frontini’s native Bologna.

“These are the satisfactions, the great moments,” said Frontini.

Another special moment in his life was when he taught Italian 104 for the first time. Having a conversation in Italian with students who did not speak a word of Italian three semesters ago — seeing that progress in them was a truly amazing experience, Frontini said.

“I will never be rich. With this job, you don’t get rich. But the satisfaction you get is priceless, really, really priceless,” he said, a smile beaming on his face.

Tatevik Manucharyan can be reached at tatmanu@gmail.com

a show like it.

Lately, in both TV and film, it seems like mass audiences are gravitating toward inferior work, though the same can’t be said about Joss Whedon’s superb blockbuster “The Avengers,” which broke all sorts of records in the past month. Pointing out a quality piece of entertainment that has the ability to maintain a decent sized audience is difficult to find.

A person can flip through channels and, more likely than not, he or she will find an excellent drama. After months off the air, “Mad Men” has come back and is as good as ever, and “Breaking Bad” is still getting the respect it deserves.

Some genres are just easier to find on film. A prime example of this is horror. While the entire genre can be ridiculed for the lack of quality output in recent years, the people over at FX have done a commendable job with “American Horror Story.”

It can be said that television shows have a more difficult time of maintaining quality. There are both positives and negatives to working in film or television, based solely on storytelling technique.

In television, producers, writers and creators have the ability to take shows in completely different directions than seasons before, like FOX’s superb sci-fi series “Fringe.”

Having the ability to tell a story of 22 episodes at 44 minutes apiece also allows for writers to expand characters. This can also be a hindrance, as the overall quality of the product can end up in jeopardy.

This is one of the reasons why cable networks like the previously mentioned FX, AMC and HBO are succeeding. Having to produce series that only put out 10, 12 or 13 episode seasons allows for tighter storytelling.

This can also be tied back to films, as a director and writer only

have a certain amount of time to get everything onto the screen.

It’s going to be hard for a television show to ever match the quality and beauty of a movie like Nicolas Roeg’s masterpiece “Walkabout,” but they can keep trying.

Though the previously mentioned shows and foreign films get critical acclaim from writers and their outspoken fans, walking down the street and finding someone who loves a series like “Childrens Hospital” or a movie like “The Tree of Life” might be a bit difficult.

Each medium has their strengths, and those that put them to good use are often rewarded for their work. Luckily for audiences, choosing between film and television doesn’t have that stigma that often comes with actor’s decision.

Evan Ramirez can be reached at eramire678@glendale.edu

10

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Vaqueros

SPO

Crow

Story by Eric Bourse Photos by Richard Kontas

C

ecilia Nicolas became the 3,000-meter steeplechase California champion at the California State Championships at Cerritos College on Saturday. Teammate Angela Martinez took third place.

Nicolas also broke Glendale’s previous record in the event by finishing in 11:06.26. Martinez finished the race in 11:19.

The Lady Vaqueros were squeezed out of a second place finish by just three points, which came down to the wire in the final women’s event, the pole vault. Laney College became State Champions with 78 points while Cerritos and Riverside both tied for second place with 50 points.

“Our girls did a fantastic job today,” said Head Coach Eddie Lopez. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t have enough athletes in the field events or else we would have most likely finished much higher.”

Grace Zamudio finished in second place in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:12. Nohemi Martinez came in sixth place in 18:21. Angela Martinez finished in eighth with a time of 18:23.

Vladimir Diaz, the only competitor for the Glendale men’s team, battled his way in the final lap for a fourth place finish with a time of 9:34 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final.

“I’m very proud of myself because I didn’t expect that I would make it to the State Championships,” said Diaz, 19. “The race was very competitive from beginning to end so I’m ecstatic that I finished fourth in the entire state for this event.”

Alyssa Selve, team captain of the Lady Vaqs, finished in sixth place in the 1,500-meter final with a time of 4:47.

“I’m bummed about my race,” said Selve, 19. “I normally finish this distance faster but after being sidelined for seven weeks due to an injury, I think I

did a good. The team overall did awesome today so there is still a reason to be excited.”

Lillia Asserian took sixth place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:15.73. Justice Shank finished in seventh place with a 1.60-meter jump in the high jump final.

“We are a close team and we proved it today by giving it our best,” said Selve.

Lopez had high praise for the Lady Vaqs. “The women’s team had an unbelievable season,” said Lopez. “This was the best sophomore group of athletes that I’ve ever coached. It’s going to be very hard to replace Selve, Nicolas and Angela and Nohemi Martinez for next year.”

The Lady Vaqs had a strong showing at the final weekend of the Southern California Championships held at San Diego Mesa on May 12. The Lady Vaqs took second place for the first time in school history.

Shank became the So Cal high jump champion with a jump of 5-feet-7-inches, which broke the previous Glendale record held by Bianca Howard in 1996.

In the steeplechase final, Angela Martinez took second place with a time of 11:21.15 and Nicolas finished third in 11:21.30.

In the 1,500-meter final, Selve took fourth place in 4:42.05 and Zamudio finished seventh in 4:45. In the women’s 800-meter final, Asserian finished third with a time of 2:16.

In the women’s 5,000-meter run, Zamudio took second place with a time of 18:08.

Angela Martinez finished fifth in 18:24.35 and Nohemi Martinez came in sixth in 18:25.53. Nicolas took seventh with a time of 18:32.93.

Eric Bourse can be reached at ebourse741@glendale.edu

www.elvaq.com

ORTS

wn a State Champ

VAQS PLACE AT STATE: Lady Vaquero Cecilia Nicolas, bottom right, blasted the competition grabbing both the State Championship and setting a new GCC record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Vladimir Diaz, far left, pushes hard to a fourth place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, earning All-American honors. SoCal high jump champion Justice Shank, top left, clears the bar on her way to a seventh place finish. Showing off her championship medal, Nicolas, center of the upper right photo, and teammate Angela Martinez, No. 9, who took third place and earned All-American honors.

11

12

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

www.elvaq.com

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

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Film

reviews

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Girl Attempts to Escape Experiments in ‘Black Rainbow’

By Evan Ramirez

EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

W

hen the first trailer was released for Panos Cosmatos’ debut feature, “Beyond the Black Rainbow,” it proved to be one of the most compelling and enjoyable previews in recent memory. Living up to that 90 second teaser seemed like a long shot, and though the film doesn’t entirely work as a whole, there’s a true vision here that’s to be respected.

“Beyond the Black Rainbow” tells the story of a teenager (Eva Allan) who’s trapped in a facility where she loses control of her mind. It’s up to her to escape from the futuristic laboratory where she has lived her entire life.

For his first feature, Cosmatos takes on a highly ambitious project. Overall the film is a treat for the senses. He gets a very strong performance from Allan

and although she has no lines, her portrayal of a trapped character is wonderful.

There are many parts of “Beyond the Black Rainbow” that succeed. Easily the most fleshed out of all of these aspects is the visual style. Cosmatos’ aesthetic is clear from the beginning and by being clear about it, he allows for the visuals to fire on all cylinders.

Cosmatos takes an interesting turn in setting the film in 1983, and then on top of that, having almost all of the sets evoke a futuristic feeling. It’s rare to see a film explore futuristic concepts when it’s set in the past, but it works here.

Oddly enough it seems like “Beyond the Black Rainbow” would have worked better if it pushed aside almost all of the story and allowed itself to give in to the visuals. There is one interesting storyline going on, and it’s mainly the backbone of

BACK IN BLACK: Eva Allen plays a feisty but heavily drugged teenager in “Beyond the Black Rainbow.” the entire picture.

Allan’s attempt to escape from the facility is the most interesting aspect of the film. This takes up most of the last half of the movie and much of it is exceptionally well-crafted. The audience gets to see a lot of the facility and it shows off the highly detailed

production design and sets.

However, there’s the other storyline that’s taking place, involving the man running the show, Barry (Michael Rogers).

The audience is shown how he ended up at the facility in the first place and in turn, how Allan got there, but it ends up being a rather

tiresome diversion.

It’s clear what Cosmatos’ vision is and whether it be style over substance, most of the time it ends up working.

Anyone going into the film looking for an engaging story [See Black page 13]

www.elvaq.com

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

13

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT / REVIEWS

‘Battleship’ Sinks Not as Much as You’d Think

By Angel Silva

EL VAQUERO NEWS EDITOR

M

ovies based on games have flopped miserably, often scoring low box office scores and enraging gamers and filmgoers alike. From video game movies such as “Tekken” (2010), “Street Fighter: The Legend of ChunLi” (2009), and board game films such as “Clue” (1985) films based off games have been criticized for deviating from the original game’s vision and not creating a world that parallels that of the game.

Despite being corny at times, “Battleship” doesn’t fall under this category.

Based off the board game with the same name, “Battleship” stars Taylor Kitsch (“John Carter,” 2012) as Alex Hopper, a jobless slouch living with his brother, Commander Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgård, “Melancholia,” 2011). With his help, Alex joins the Navy and becomes a lieutenant, working under Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson, “Taken,” 2008) in a Hawaiian branch.

Meanwhile, a satellite research base in Hawaii receives a response from a signal sent from Earth five years prior to the start of the

YOU SANK MY BATTLESHIP: But it was on the way down anyway, so it’s no big loss. SUCKA movie. Apparently, something from the far reaches of space got their message — and replied by arriving to take over the planet in morphing warships.

The space battleships (which look like the result a torrid affair between a Pokemon and a Transformer) land in the Pacific Ocean, near the area where Admiral Shane’s fleet and others are practicing naval maneuvers.

The Navy is soon overwhelmed by the extraterrestrial forces, and

Alex finds himself responsible for the remaining naval forces, and for the rest of the world.

The main thing that sets “Battleship” apart from other film adaptations of games is that the game itself is simple — sink your opponent’s ships without the help of radar. This simplicity allows the film to take any direction in terms of story, and the results help “Battleship” avoid the “bad game film” stigma.

There’s a lot of eye candy to go

‘Rainbow’ A Visual Treat [“Black,” from page 12] will be disappointed as it’s not necessarily anything new.

The picture’s color palette is refreshing and a treat for anyone who enjoys Technicolor films. The movie has a real pop, reminiscent of Dario Argento’s “Suspira” and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes.”

Not only is the visual style similar to older films but it could even be compared to Gasper Noé’s “Enter the Void,” which did quite the opposite of “Beyond the Black Rainbow” by focusing mainly on visuals while putting its story on the back burner.

The film reaches across the entire spectrum of sci-fi, utilizing dreary and dark colors and at the same time, adding some impressive shades of red. The editing and cinematography

techniques are a nice touch and these are showcased when Allan attempts to escape.

Along with the visual style, cinematography and color palette, the other strongest aspect of “Beyond the Black Rainbow” is its soundtrack. By seeing the trailer, a person can easily get a sense as to what Jeremy Schmidt, of Sinoia Caves, is going for and it works about as perfectly as possible throughout the movie.

The soundtrack even has shades of Vangelis’ seminal score for Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic “Blade Runner.” Creating a piece of work that sounds anywhere close to one of the most memorable sci-fi scores of all time is an incredible feat, and it’s done nicely here.

Driving isn’t necessarily an enjoyable experience, but the way it can be filmed has always been intriguing. Cosmatos’ includes

a few driving scenes in tunnels, much like a brilliant scene in Andrei Tarkovskiy’s “Solaris.”

There’s a calm sense to them that’s refreshing in comparison to the rest of the movie.

With a defined visual style, strong lead performance, gorgeous cinematography and a brilliant soundtrack, “Beyond the Black Rainbow” succeeds in almost all of the technical aspects.

Much like Disney’s “TRON: Legacy,” its plot falls short of everything else its offering and holds it back from being a new sci-fi staple. If anything, “Beyond the Black Rainbow” has the ability to become a cult classic.

 Evan Ramirez can be reached at erami678@student.glendale.edu

around — from the alien ships to Alex’s love interest and Admiral Shane’s daughter, Samantha (Brooklyn Decker, “Just Go With It,” 2011). The sea battle scenes are creative and flashy, although on occasion too flashy. A note to director Peter Berg: there is such a thing as too much camera glare.

The acting is hollow at times, with scenes where the dialogue feels as if it’s being read off a script. The humor sometimes feels forced, and although there are genuinely funny moments in the film, half of them feel contrived, and some fall flat.

“Battleship” is loud. Really loud. Aside from the explosions, the film features music from AC/ DC, ZZ Top and more. Combined with actual ships used by the Navy, the soundtrack gives off a patriotic air that doesn’t feel too forced or overimposed.

One neat quirk about “Battleship” is the large amount of easter eggs. Footage from

actual TV and online video is used throughout the movie (there’s even a scene with President Barack Obama). A cool little detail involves the shape of the alien’s artillery — they’re shaped like the pieces used in the actual game. Also, Rihanna is in the film, and in one of the scenes she hums one of her songs.

All in all, “Battleship” is a decent attempt at a board game film adaptation that takes a premise with no previous story to it and presents it as a somewhatoriginal story with stunning visuals.

“Battleship” is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, action and destruction, and for language and runs for 131 minutes.

 Angel Silva can be reached at asilva827@student.glendale.edu

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT / SPORTS

Bean Cafe Offers Tasty Snacks on Campus

By Jonathan Caballeros EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

T

he Bean Café, a new coffee shop on campus, has opened up where the old Café Vaquero used to be, and with it brings more than just the average cup of joe.

With Peet’s Coffee being their flagship item, the Bean Café opened up on May 7 for students to enjoy food, drinks and sometimes enjoy the music provided by the student government or a live pianist, amateur or professional.

Although the main product the Bean Café sells is coffee, one thing is certain of this new curio stand: the Bean Café is more than just a quick caffeine fix.

The café has an atmosphere to itself, complemented by the tables and the attractive red umbrellas, matching the look of the shop.

The people on the tables interact with one another, relaxing or chatting, while having a bite to eat or a drink in their hands.

Sometimes the customers can enjoy the music of a very talented pianist nearby, the piano being a courtesy of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Once at the counter, employees are nothing but happy to help customers get whatever they fancy at the moment.

For the summer heat, coffee won’t be their recommendation: a mango smoothie should do the trick. To make it a full meal, a Caesar salad wrap should fill up the consumer with its lettuce, Swiss cheese, Caesar salad dressing and chicken wrapped into one flour tortilla For a snack, a warm chocolate croissant is sweet treat, and as a complement for “Happy Friday,” two cookies on the house.

At first, shrugs were imminent with the realization that the Caesar salad wrap was prepackaged. Once opened, the wrap exceeds what people would think of the pre-packaged foods. The crunching sound of lettuce along with the slight bitter taste of the Swiss cheese complimented the savory taste of the chicken that come together with Caesar salad dressing to perfectly emulate the salad in a single bite.

Switching from savory to sweet, the mango smoothie is not just a sweet treat, but can also make a warm day feel just right. It uniquely gives the meal the right amount of sweet to mix with the slight dark taste of Swiss.

Letting the croissant cool down a bit, the complementary cookies provide a very sweet pick up in between the meal.

It is much sweeter than the mango smoothie, which is to be expected, but the sweetness that the cookies provided were the perfect add in to entirety of the meal.

For dessert: the croissant. The first Photo by Jonathan Caballeros bite made bread BEAT THE HEAT: The Bean Cafe offers many drink options to help cool Vaqueros down on a hot summer day. crumbs fly while keeping the chocolate drizzle on top intact. It was semi-sweet.

The second bite uncovered the chocolate hidden inside and soon after the discovery, the croissant was gone. college’s 85th anniversary. There Participants have a shot With the meal finished there

By John Ferrara are many different spnsorship at winning many tournament EL VAQUERO SPORTS EDITOR was still a reason to stick around options, all of which have the prizes. There will be four the café tables. The pianist was number 85 worked into the price. holes sponsored as “hole-incontinuing on. he ambitious goal is to raise For example, the registration fee one” holes, which offer prizes Kaoko Okuyama kept on playing as much as $100,000 for for one golfer is $385. like a trip to Catalina Island, or the piano, the message on top of the campus when the Glendale Entering the tournament isn’t a new car. These prizes will be the piano saying “Play me, I’m College Foundation tees off for cheap; however, Oakmont is a awarded to any golfer who can yours.” its 30th annual Golf Classic at private club that would otherwise accomplish the challenging the Oakmont Country club on require a membership to golf task of sinking the ball on their The Bean Café: 1500 N Verdugo June 11. The funds would be there. first shot.

Road, Glendale used for college needs as well “Oakmont is a great place to Sponsors can enter a putting as scholarships. play. It’s so attractive because contest before tee-time for a Business hours are Monday The classic began as an it’s a private club and most chance to win a new Kindle, through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 8 athletics department fundraiser people never get to play there, so and dinner will feature a live p.m. and Friday to Saturday, 8 run by directors and coaches, for one day a year they get to play auction, as well as a raffle for a.m. to 3 p.m.. then in 1983 the college’s on a private course,” said Leon. an iPad 2.

Foundation was created and BB&T Knight Insurance Lunch by the pool, hors Credit cards are accepted. adopted the event to benefit the Services has been the grand d’oeuvres and dinner will be school as a whole. sponsor of the event for two offered to all those who enter Recommended food options: “It was one of my first years and has recently signed on the tournament, however a wraps, all for $5.95, croissants projects when I came here in for another three. separate dinner-only package for $2.75.

1999 and I’m happy that it’s “BB&T Knight Insurance is offered for $85. something we continue to Services is very proud of our Tee-off is at 1 p.m. and will Recommended drink options: do and do well,” said sports long term relationship with be a shotgun start.

Mango Smoothie (medium) for information director Alex Glendale Community College,” Anyone interested in $4.05 Leon. said BB&T president Manny entering the tournament should There are about 130 golfers Jonathan Caballeros can be reached at Mashhoud. contact the Foundation Office signed up for the tournament so jcaball942@student.glendale.edu Many Glendale College at (818) 551-5201. far and the foundation hopes to alumni and local sponsors have as many as 144 golfers, continue enter the event annually. which would be a full field.

“In this economy I think that This year tournament’s John Ferrara can be reached at says a lot about the people who price packages will reflect the jferrar977@student.glendale.edu support the event,” said Leon.

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Foundation Sponsors Golf Fundraiser

T

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

15

SPORTS

Vaquero Baseball Falls Short in Regional Playoffs

By Alex Gonzalez

EL VAQUERO STAFF WRITER

G

lendale’s baseball team defeated Mt. San Antonio and Cypress College, but fell short in the last game of the CCCAA Baseball Southern Super Regional, losing to Orange Coast College, missing a chance to go back to the California Community College Athletic Association State playoffs.

After a playoff series victory against No. 12 seed San Diego Mesa, the Vaqueros participated

in a four-team double elimination tournament from May 11 to 13.

The Vaqueros were two games away from entering the state championships and faced Orange Coast College, the nation’s No. 1 team.

The Vaqueros defeated Orange Coast in the first game, 6-3. Glendale closer Kirk Edson allowed 11 hits and three earned runs, but he pitched a complete nine innings.

“When you see a guy like KJ [Edson] for nine innings, it can be very frustrating on their

part,” said head baseball coach Chris Cicuto. “He did a great job keeping us in the game.”

Edson’s offense supported the freshman pitcher early in the game. Center fielder Edgar Montes scored first for the Vaqueros in the third inning.

Shortstop Matt McCallister’s sacrifice pop out to center field allowed Montes to tag third and reach home plate, safely tying the score at 1-1.

The Vaqs added another run in the fourth when first baseman Julian Jarrard hit a home run,

Photo by Alex Gonzalez

CAPTURE THE MOMENT: Pinch hitter Adam Ochart comes in at the top of the eigth and hits a grand slam putting the Vaqueros up 5-4 against Cypress Colllege in the CCCAA Baseball Super Regional.

Vaquero Sports Summaries Scores Softball: May 12 — lost Mt. Sac Super

Regional Playoff series at Cypress 2-1 Baseball: April 26 — lost in final round of Super Regional Playoffs to Orange Coast 16-1

Men’s Golf: May 14 — Mathias Dahl finished ninth in Southern California Regionals

Women’s Tennis: May 10-12 — doubles lost in first round

of State Championship Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Saturday — placed fourth in State

Championship

For more information see: http://www.glendale.edu/athletics/

clearing the left field wall.

The Vaqueros secured their victory when they made four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Montes homered to left field scoring two runs, and Sergio Plasencia and Ruben Padilla added two more before the inning ended.

“Our offensive started to roll a little bit. Montes hit a home run and Jarrard hit a homerun and that sparked us,” said Cicuto. “We were on top of the world. We had a good look at it.”

With the win, Glendale had to play OCC again a half-hour later.

In the second game, OCC’s bats came alive and produced runs early and often throughout the game. Between the fourth and seventh innings, the Pirates were able to score at least three runs per inning, outscoring the Vaqueros 13-1. The final score of the game was 16-1.

“We came in to our fifth game in three days,” said Cicuto. “We knew that our bullpen was going to be worked. I think the Friday game overworked us just a little bit too much.”

On the second day of the tournament, the Vaqueros played back-to-back games. The first game was against Cypress College at Golden West college in Huntington Beach.

The Vaqueros fell behind to the Chargers 4-1 after the top of the seventh inning. But with the bases loaded, Cicuto put in Adam Ochart to pinch hit for the at bat.

With two strikes in the count, Ochart was found the right pitch, connected with the ball and cleared the left field wall for a grand slam “We were fortunate enough to get into that situation with the bases loaded,” said Cicuto.

“Adam has been our power guy all year long. Our hope was to put in our biggest, strongest guy in to put the barrel on the ball.”

The grand slam put the Vaqueros up 5-4, essentially winning the ball game.

With the win, the Vaqueros had to get back on the team bus and travel down to Costa Mesa to play an awaiting Mt. San Antonio College team that had beat the Vaqueros the previous Friday, 7-2.

However, it was a different story on Saturday.

Glendale defeated Mt. Sac 9-2.

From start to finish, the Vaqueros’

bats came alive and scored early and often. Before Mt. Sac could get on the board, Glendale was already up three runs.

Plasencia and right fielder Cameron Gardner scored in the first inning. Another run was added in the second when Jarrard doubled to left center, bringing in McCallister.

Glendale’s starting pitcher David Lira pitched seven innings striking out four. He also allowed three hits and no earned runs.

“When you put David Lira on the mound, he’s probably one of the best competitors I’ve ever seen that has come through this program,” said Cicuto. “He really set the tone.”

Glendale baseball won’t be competing in the State playoffs this year, but the Vaqueros did repeat as Western State Conference Champions and went back to the Super regional play offs.

“Every year you build relationships with the players,” said Cicuto “You take a little bit with you when they leave as sophomores. It was great success and a lot of great stories involved amongst the team.”

Alex Gonzalez can be reached at alexgonzo360@gmail.com

Classifieds Free Pregnancy Tests

Are Available

• V isit or call the Asian Pacific Health Care Venture – a community health center.

• F amily Planning Services (STD Testing, Birth Control Methods, etc.), • E mergency Contraception Pill (ECP), and • F ree Pregnancy Tests (walk-ins available) APHCV 1530 Hillhurst Ave., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90027 (323) 644-3888

To place an ad in the El Vaquero, contact Jeff Smith, at jsmith@glendale.edu (818)240-1000 ext 5493

16

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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GRADUATION LIST

Glendale Community College Candidates For Graduation June, 2012

ASSOCIATE IN SCIENCE DEGREE Laila Adhi ** Dro Aghazarian ** Mariana Aguero ** Yurika Akinaga Brian Alas ** Mohamad Alinejad ** Ashley Aloi ** Alethea Alvarez **(H) Jasmen Amirian Janeta Amirkhanian * Anahit Amirkhanyan * Nabulungi Anderson ** Nargiz Andreasyan Armineh Arakisian Melinda Artoon-Livaskani Greta Avakghahremani ***(H) Melisa Avanesiani (H) Narineh Avedian-Sangbarani Steve Avelar ** Lesly Aviles Gohar Azaryan (H) Any Babayan-Aghan **(H) Jecelle Balmoris-Iglesias Aura Melissa Basa Berhanu Kebede Bedassa Shakeh Beidroosian Karina Beglarova Carine Bekarian *** Siouzanna Benliyan * Anahid Biglarian Diann Boonnaragorn Claudia Bruder-Gavafian Elia Campos Erin Cannon Julna Jerry Carrillo Krista Carrillo Sheryl Lynn Cayabyab Malgorzata Cekala ** Verzhine Chaparyan Kristen Chase **

Kelly Cheung ** Geraldina Chiaramonte Jennifer Suzanne Childress Grace Cho Simranjeet Kaur Chohan Heather Brianna Cook Rosario Conti ** Christy Cormier ** Shelle Crane-McFarland David Cwik (H) Charlene Dato Whitney Lynn Davis (H) Daniel Delgadillo Karen De Los Reyes Jasmen Davoodimasihi * Steven DeArmond Marc De La Torre Noemi Demirchian **(H) Cyntia Dersaroian *(H) Tricia Dobbins * Orion Dragotto **(H) Jaderick Nino Estacio * Andrea Galarza Amalya Galustyan ** Maro Gharadaghi (H) Carmen Gharibian Vanoohy Golanians Nancy Gomez ** Natalie Gonzalez ** Artur Grigoryan **(H) Hasmik Grigoryan * Liliana Guerrero ** Shannon Hankinson ** Anita Hartouni ** Maren Haugen Anahit Hayrapetyan (H) Servart Hayroomiyans (H) Jacob Hernandez *(H) Vincent Hizon De Hoang **

Lily Hon **(H) Diowil Hautea Honrado Jesse Horowitz Volga Hovelian **(H) Hasmik Hovsepyan (H) Nicole Hughes **(H) Janine Jensen ** Joanne Michelle Jose Mary Kappiarumalayil Verjouhi Karapatian (H) Anahit Karapetyan (PACE) Marine Kesabyan Denis Keshishyan ** Adrineh Khachatourians *** Rozik Khachatorians Anet Tabri ***(H) Alina Khachatryan **(H) Venera Khougaeva Konnie Kim Sophia Kim (H) Jaklin Kolestanian ** Mutsuko Kono Richard Kontas Risa Kuwabara (H) Debbie Kwong Quynh Thuy Le Han Lee Arlene Lim ** Sara Lo ** Janette Lopez ** Sara Lopez Han Ly Crystal Ann Mach Edna Marderosian **(H) Karineh Margosian Daniel Martinez Megan Jane McMillan (H) Arlet Mehrabian ** Anahit Melkonyan ** Julio Cesar Mendez

Eleanor Mercado Rima Meserkhani (H) Lusine Minasian Nelli Minasyan (H) Nyree Minatsaghanian ** Zhuleta Mirzakhanyan Shiho Mochizuki ** Dina Najeeb ***(H) Kae Nakamura *** Dro Nazarian ** Ana Nazeri Ruzanna Nikoghosyan **(H) Vahan Nisanian *** Anastasiya Novikava Lilit Ohanjanian Mayra Orozco ** Andrew Palor ** Frances Paminiano Kristine Alexis Pascasio (H) Pooja Patel Carlos Pena Roxana Perez (H) Myla Perkins ** Gor Petrosyan *** Heather Pierce **(H) Sona Proshyan ** Chito Ramirez Rafael Reyes Jennifer Rigby Faith Obre Rivera Christian Ruvalcaba **(H) Hasmik Sahakyan **(H) Batoul Salameh Arsho Salazar (H) April San Diego ** Anna Sargsyan Naira Sargsyan Ara Sarkisian ** Aylin Sarkissian **(H) Heranoush Sarkissian **

Dinah Sarming ** Corinne Scott Armineh Sepanian (H) Seda Shadkam * Karineh Shahkarami Ailin Shamirian Duval Silva (H) Jason Snow Carlos Sosa Hideki Suzuki Tricia Tahara-Stoller (PACE) Masako Takeda ** Jozef Anton Tantoco **(H) Zahara Tayong Tory Topjian ** Edna Torousian-Gharghani (H) Nancy Triana ** Paul Michael Trinidad Joann Trujillo * Lusik Tsaturyan Marisa Tull ** Lucy Tutunjian (PACE) Kumiko Ueda Kathleen Ungamrung Verena Velasco (H) Genevieve Veneracio Andy Villalobos ** Christina Vong ** Katie Watson ** Christopher Wise (H) Ko Chiang Wu ** Armine Yepremyan Avi Gay Zamora (H) Lizette Zamudio ** Kristine Zargarian * (H) Armenoohi Zeinalvand ***

ASSOCIATE IN ARTS DEGREE Norvik Abdalian Edwin Aghajani *(H) Artur Aghajanyan Varduhi Aghajanyan ** Juoliet Aghazarian-Sangbaran (H) Andre Aghazaryan * Olga Aguirre * Vanik Aivazian (H) Naima Akhter Yurika Akinaga ** Katherine Akmakji Armen Akopyan **(H) Khachik Aladzhyan Dina Alfaro ** Celina Alvarez ***(PACE) Gury Alvarez *** Mayra Alvarez-Ramos Ramelya Amikhanian

Artineh Amiriyan Daniel Anguiano Armineh Arakisian Harout Aristakessian * Artak Aroyan (H) Liliana Arrazcaeta * Melani Artoun-Livaskani Amy Arzoian * Ani Asatryan (H) Janet Ashley *** Garineh Assaturi David Avetyan *** Soseh Axian * Sosie Azarian **(PACE) Marian Azizian (H) Arineh Babakhanian Gayaneh Babakhanian ** Maria Badalian ** Meghedi Baghramian-

Moughani Melineh BaghramianMoughani Edgar Baghumian Narine Baghumyan Hrand Baloshian *** Maximiliano Barragan Jesus Barrios Georgeta Beldiman Tacuma Bellford David Bender Siouzanna Benliyan * Anet Bigjany *** Armanoush Boudaghians Christian Briones Brenda Browning Liana Brunsuzyan (H) Lauren Brissette * Brian Buss **

Courtney Camacho (H) Alexis Cambon David Cameron Samuel Campbell Abraham Campos ** Jorge Campos Antonieta Castillo Davit Chtryan * Blanca Collazo Kevin Collins ** Rosenda Colmenares Catherine Anne Constantino **(H)(PACE) Elizabeth Coufal (H) Marie Cozannet * Evelyn Cruz * Carlos Cuadra ** Bruce Cuellar * Tristyn Dawson **(H)

Lina Davoudian * Steven DeArmond Nicole DeCastro Mary Delacruz ** Sooren Derboghsian-Pakajaki Janik Boghderserian Dershky Edwin Diaz Jose Diaz Silva Dilanchian (H) Shannen Dinata Jennifer Dowty Samara Dos Santos ** Karina Duenas ** Narbeh Ebrahimian **(H) Jophinale Elorta * Natasha Elyassi Ani Esmaeilian Anita Eyvazi Celina Fajardo

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

17

GRADUATION LIST

ASSOCIATE IN ARTS DEGREE Jessica Farrell (H) Torey Farwell Jennifer Figueroa * Vivian Figueroa Cynthia Firstman **(H) Amber Follett Brittany Frederick William Fregozo (H) Meina Fujimoto Vardan Galstyan Edgar Garcia Gohar Gasparyan Kalekidan Getachew-Negussie Avetis Ghaghian * Argineh Gherzian Anna Ghlijyan *** Rony Ghookassian * Kimberly Godoy Marybel Goffin (PACE) Nancy Gomez ** Josephine Gonzalez ** Mercedes Gonzalez Pedro Guardado Michelle Gudiel ** Bernardo Guzman Anaeis Hambarsoomian * Romina Hartoonian Shiori Hashimoto ** Susann Haustein Maria Iralyn Henman Trista Hidalgo (H) Scott Seok Woo Hong **(H) Gayane Hovasapyan * Emily Hovendick Brenda Huerta Veronica Huff Thomas Hughes ** Jazmin Hurtado Jose Hurtado

Rita Isayan * Ryotaro Ishimoto *** Emineh Issaian *(H) Kasumi Ishida Alin Jabourian Takae Kadokura ** Naieri Kerkian *(H) Syuzanna Keyribaryan Adrine Khachatrian Narineh Khanbabaei (H) Ani Khashadoorian Edward Khechoomian Anik Khochou * Hyeri Kim * Jin Hee Kim **(H) Vahe Kirakosyan Latoya Kirkland ** Chutpong Klunglukchup ** Mutsuko Kono ** Richard Kontas Gyaneh Krikorian Rudis Lazo Cynthia Leshay Sir Lancelotte Leal * Shinhye Lee * Hannah Li * Jose Madero Michael Magallon (H) Helma Malekian *(H) Paytsar Maleryan ** Karen Majkut ** Ryan Mangrobang Melvena Mann Arpa Manookian Adleida Manoukian *** Gayane Manukyan Melina Margosian Mark Markarian ** Nicole Marino (H)

Michael Martin Beatriz Martinez ** Maria Martinez ** Vergine Martirossian (PACE) Helma Matavosiyan * Andrea Megerdichian (H) Zorineh Megerdichian * Arpineh Menasi * Froylan Mendoza ** Martha Mendoza Joanne Meraz * Julie Michael Lia Mirzakhanian Gayane Mkrtchyan Tina Moiseff (PACE) Iram Montalvo Oliver Moore ** Helen Mora Susana Morales ** Sevana Moradi-Masihi Victor Murillo Anahit Nalbandyan *(H) Lia Navasardyan * Erica Nunez **(H) Aroutioun Oganesian ** Gilbert Ohanian Ani Orujyan *** Marisela Ortega ** Cristal Ortiz ** Joe Pallon Arthur Papazyan Liana Papirian *(H) Timothy Park *** Roxana Perez Aida Pir-Nazary Benjamin Plotkin ***(H)(PACE) Laura Pluemer **(H) Jane Pojawa **(PACE) Daniela Pollard

Alex Ponce ** Anastasia Ponnet (H) Angel Powell Niki Quintanilla Betsabe Ramos ** Joseph Roszhart ** Betsabe Ramos Natalie Renteria Alexandre Nicoli Reyes Cristian Wilberto Reyes (H) Ernest Lysander Reyes Ernest Risenrey Reyes Lidia E. Rivas John Michael Rogers Stephanie Romero Kathryn Rowley Trisha Saban Hasmik Sahakyan ***(H) Brenda Salas Bianca Saleebyan Braven Saleebyan Daria Salmassi ** Veronica Santana **(PACE) Ana Katrina Santos ** Jemima Santiago (H) Selina Sarafian Kristine Sargsyan Suzanna Sargsyan Eddie Satrustegui **(PACE) Nora R. Seclen Ani Setareh * Alise Sevilla Seda Shadkam ** Renia Shahjahanian-Zarand (H) Arpi Shamirzaian Sasha Shellock Taline Shishoian *** Phillip Simpson ** Jenmi Sipaque **

Samantha Sismundo Elona Soleiman-Golpashin ** Jongil Song Woojin Song ** Aaron Szlinsky Eva Stenzel *(H) Armen Tagakchyan * Hideaki Takemoto (H) Mizuki Tamaoki ** Meghrik Telemi Lynette Tippens Sara Tokumoto Angineh Torosiyan *** Marine Tovmasyan Manami Toyanna Katherine Tran Joann Trujillo ** Margarita Tsagoyan *(H) Michelle Angeli Udiong (H) Jessica Wences * Cheryl Whitney Jennifer Woods Amy Wright ** Cassandra Wright ** Cadence Liara Valentine Patricia Vanbeers Jessica Velasco **(PACE) Verena Velasco (H) Adrienne Vesin Amy Vetayases ** Diana Voskanyan ** Nancy Yalley ** Ji Hee Yang Aramik Yarian Hasmik Yelchyan

CANDIDATES FOR CERTIFICATES OF COMPLETION ACCOUNTING Armineh Abarian Arlet Aboulian Arin Aharonian * Martin Aloomian * Gayane Arakelyan ** Grady Carter * Bonnie Chesney ** Ayda Dehbashian Silva Dilanchian Edward Duran Robert Eubanks ** Anetta Grigoryan Sandy Inzunza ** Gayane Khanjyan * Greta Kovakian Joseph Landolph Aya Linares * Byron Linares ** Tatsiana Malyshko-Pitsis *** Marine Manukyan *** Narine Navasardyan *** Dalida Parsekian Tom Perez Seda Shamirian **

Irina Shemetova Shareena Sison Arpik Yaghoub ** Levon Yengibaryan Antonet Yoshioka ** Esteban Zelaya-Velazquez ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Marita Baghdasarian * Adriana Becerra *** Eimos Ceren *** Nerces Kevorkian ** Danny Martinez ** Angela Martirosyan Joaquin Solis ** James Stonesifer Emmedel Vargas ** ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE Jorge Robles James Stonesifer

ADVERTISING ARTS Swetha Basani ** Yui Nakazawa

Saul Jauregui * Maro Karamians *** Iskuhi Keshishyan *** Roobina Malkomyans ** ARCHITECTURAL DRAFTAnush Nalbandyan *** ING & DESIGN Anigh Nikolai ** Roxana Perez (H) Bertha Perez ** Heranoosh Sahakian *** ART Armineh Sarkisian * Swetha Basani ** Karmen Shahbazian * Daniel Caballero ** Jose Sosa Laris Tarverdians-Gharaver AVIATION ADMINISTRATION Anahit Zatikyan *** Edgar Gasparyan * BOOKKEEPING BEGINNING Gohar Azaryan CULINARY ARTS Janik Boghderserian-Dershky Nona Badalyan ** Anetta Grigoryan Ema Baghoumian Manuel Kaloghlian ** Paytsar Baghramova ** Jemma Balyan *** CERAMICS Susanne Chion Daniel Caballero Anush Hakhverdyan ** Marion Held-Bixby ** Kelara Hambarchian Debbie Henson ** Lia Isaghulyan ** Deborah Jenkins ** Eva Pereira **

CHILD DEVELOPMENT/ TEACHER INFANT TODDLER Saori Arimitsu *** Malgorzata Cekala * CHILD DEVELOPMENT/ MASTER PRESCHOOL Melisa Avanesian Narineh Avedian-Sangbarani CHILD DEVELOPMENT/ MASTER TEACHER Angelica Rivera** Vartohi Zakarian*** CHILD DEVELOPMENT/ TEACHER Silvana Dermegerdichian **(H) Sonia Ebrahimi *** Erika Gonzalez ** Adrineh Jahangirikaramians * Elizabeth Jareno Zoya Khachatourian ** Adrineh Khachatourians **

18

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

www.elvaq.com

GRADUATION LIST

CERTIFICATES OF COMPLETION Tawnya Rittenhouse ** Anahit Shahnazaryan Janet Weaver Alyce Wood ** COMPUTER APPLICATIONS AND BUSINESS OFFICE TECHNOLOGIES GENERAL OFFICE Satik Avanesian Irene Gozalians

Marta Munoz** ENGINEERING/ELECTROMECHANICAL DESIGN Argin Babakhanloo * Edmond Tarverdian Miro Zaroukian *

FLIGHT ATTENDANT Liliana Benavidez ** Eddie Bravo ** Alondra Gutierrez ** COMPUTER Ani Haroutunyan APPLICATIONS Kei Kitamura SPECIALIST Risa Kuwabara (H) Gohar Gasparyan Justin Lasin Nasrin Madrid COMPUTER INFORMATION Blanca Meza SYSTEMS Walter Paez * Sero Eskandaryan *** Jef Radino *** Hyuk Lee ** Rachel Ragsdale ** Michael Rando *** COMPUTER Carolina Rosales PROGRAMMER Nelly Telles Kwi Hyun Choi ** GENERAL BUSINESS COMPUTERIZED Armineh Arakisian * ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST Lida Hambarchian ** Arin Aharonian * Kae Nakamura *** Anetta Grigoryan Melina Keshish * GENERAL OFFICE Raffi Malikian ** Anna Abgaryan *** Shareena Sison Greta Avakghahremani ** Satik Avanesian DANCE TEACHING Hermineh Babakhani *** Mark Hunt Anzhel Baghoomian ** Tsubasa Nakatani Armineh Golestanian ** Gayaneh Kazarian DENTAL FRONT OFFICE/ Genoosh Keshishian ** BILLING AND CODING Rofik Minasian Ofik Aghababyan *** Juliet Paijook *** Katrin Besha Anna Sargsyan * Talin Davoodian *** Narine Sargsyan ** Jasmen Davoodimasihi ** Aylin Sarkissian * Armik Esagholian *** Sona Shahijani-Zarneh Arineh Gharibian ** Haykanush Simonyan *** Marine Kesabyan Jasman Vartane ** Verzhine Kocharyan Aida Yeghazarians-Tabrizi *** Hilda Markarian Amalya Shahnazaryan * HOTEL/RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT DESKTOP PUBLISHING Josue Ortiz ** TECHNICIAN

Armineh Meligian COMPLETION OF IGETC DIETARY SERVICE Anoush Akopyan (H) SUPERVISOR Biayna Ayvazian (H) Ubaldo Amaro ** Catherine Charkhroobian (H) Liza David ** Samantha Cismas (H) Yevelina Manisaryan * Polin Derbarseghian (H) Anush Nalbandyan *** Patil Derderian (H) Lara Petrosians * Narek Grigoryan (H) Gino Pineda ** Ani Haroutunyan (H) Barbara Quesada ** Maral Hindoyan (H) Zmrukht Saakyan ** Jennifer Holliday-Torgerson (H) Aiman Ahmed Ibrahim (H) ELECTRONICS AND COMNarineh Khanbabaei (H) PUTER TECHNOLOGY/ Lana Mousessian (H) COMPUTER SYSTEMS Meenely Nazarian (H) TECHNICIAN Ritika Pandita (H)

Mary Panosian (H) Sasha Shellock (H) Sona Teryegishyan (H)

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Jose Deleon MACHINIST Roubik Keshishi * MANAGEMENT Marc Easter * Anna Gabrielyan * David Kenney MEDICAL ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES–MEDICAL FRONT OFFICE Sintia Azizyans Lida Baghdasarian Anet Esmailian Marine Kesabyan Rima Maiel ** Amalya Shahnazaryan Haykanush Simonyan *** Marina Torgomyan MEDICAL BILLING AND CODING Selene Amezcua *** Anita Avanousian Hilda Babajaniances Lida Baghdasarian Marina Bagian Telly Chalabian Anet Esmailian Kima Iskandaryan Elena Karimian Marine Kesabyan Pauline Majarian Sona Mouradian * Vardoui Oganesian ** Sharee Servin *** Amalya Shahnazaryan Haykanush Simonyan *** Hazel Teano ** Lilit Vardanyan ** Liana Yazeryan ** MUSIC Amanda Rodriguez ** PHOTOGRAPHY Gayane Gevorkyan ** PILOT TRAINING Roobik Keshish-Banosi REAL ESTATE Joseph Cordova *(PACE) Richard Coy David Dilbeck ** Karla Garcia-Laverentz Christopher Franz Paul Huld Razmik Mardyan Jesus Martinez Juliana Richards **

Corinne Scott Martin Tran ** Hongming Zhu

UNIX SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR Stanley Ardon *

REAL ESTATE APPRAISAL Debra Budge**(H) (AGS) Paul Huld Richard Kontas Julio Espinoza-Montes*

VERDUGO FIRE ACADEMY Cyrus Alexander *** Jarryn Alexander *** Bryan Andrews *** Jared Armbrust *** Artin Babayan *** Jeremiah Bautista *** Daniel Caldwell *** Ulises Castellanos *** Luis Angel Castro *** Miguel Cervantes *** Blair Chavez *** Brian Cunningham *** Dennis Dailey *** Trayvon Derick-Miles *** Angelina Diaz *** Diego Flores *** Justin Goldberg *** Nicholas Graham *** Brian Gremminger *** Michael Ha *** Charles Hawes *** Chasen Hayashi *** Andrew Hegg *** Ryan Ingraldi *** Andrew Lee *** Daniel Lien *** Kyle Micha Morrell *** Rafael Najarian *** Adam Ocampo *** Brent Pattison *** Kyle Reynolds *** Bryan Rich *** Anthony Robins *** Mario Rodriguez *** Jordan Rojas *** Ryan Smith *** Chad Swift *** Katherine Thompson *** Diego Toapanta *** Kevin Waller *** Donald Warner ***

RECEPTIONIST/OFFICE CLERK Melinda Artoon-Livaskani Satik Avanesian Anzhel Baghoomian ** Aroobina Golboudaghians ** Armineh Golestanian ** Marine Kesabyan Genoosh Keshishian ** Alina Khachatryan ** Sedik Margosian ** Juliet Paijook *** Anna Sargsyan * Haykanush Simonyan *** REGISTERED NURSING Laura Carrillo Verzhine Chaparyan Riel Ortiz RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT Kelara Hambarchian Anigh Nikolai SPECIALIST IN ALCOHOL/ DRUG STUDIES Silva Avoyan Samantha Blake Oscar Felix ** Melanie Henry ** Bunnie Holan * Cory Mitchell Alicia Morandi Craig Robert Sadler Dean Segal Diane Stueck ** Paul Vroom * TAX PREPARER Gayane Arakelyan ** Melita Azarian-Namakerdi * Anna Ghlijyan ** Yervand Mkrtchyan * Silva Tcholokian *** TELEVISION PRODUCTION: VIDEOGRAPHY Melissa Arce ** Shaun Kelly *

WEB DEVELOPMENT David Benson * Melina Gholian Hayk Novrazyan * Todd Saalman * WELDING Mohammed Harun ** Steven Gonzalez Harmik Shahverdi-Araghifard **

(H) Honors

K E Y

(PACE) Project for Adult Education (AGS) Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society * Completed in Summer 2011 ** Completed in Fall 2011 *** Completed in Winter 2012

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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Calendar On Campus ASGCC Student Government Elections — Vote for the Fall 2012 representatives. Today from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Plaza Vaquero. For more information call (818) 240-1000, ext. 3033.

EVENTS Speed Chess Tournament — The Advanced Chess Organization is hosting this open-to-all event. Trophies for first place in beginning, intermediate and advanced classes. Free. May 31 from 2 to 6 p.m. in SC 212.

FUNDRAISING Wrap Express Meal Deal — The Scholars Club is raising funds for future events and scholarships.

Today only, stop in at SM 256 pick up a flyer which you redeem for a discount at Wrap Express.

GCC Rough Riders Power Soccer — Help raise funds to send them to the 2012 Championships in Indiana. Multiple programs available. To donate or for more information call Benny Aviles at (818) 652-9086.

The Get On the Bus Program — The SPARK club is accepting donated children’s items such as crayons, puzzle books and post-

age stamps for Father’s Day distribution. Drop off items at SM 266. For more information call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5384.

from the classical and jazz guitar classes will perform along with the Jazz Guitar Ensemble. Free.

Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in AU 211.

LECTURES

Applied Music Recital — Conducted by Beth Pflueger. Featuring GCC student vocalists and instrumentalists. Free. Auditorium Mainstage. Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Social Science Lecture Series — English professor Bart Edelman will read from his latest collection of poems, “The Geographer’s Wife.” Free. Thursday at 12:30 in Kreider Hall.

DANCE Dance Performance 2012 — Featuring GCC student dancers and choreographers, directed by Dora Krannig and Lynn McMurrey. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Early arrival is advised. No children under 5 admitted. Free. Today and Thursday at 12:20 and 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Dance Theatre, Sierra Nevada Gym.

RECITALS Student Piano Recital — Coordinated by Lucy Nargizyan. Students from the advanced piano classes will be performing. Free.

Today at 7:30 p.m. in AU 211.

For more information call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5829.

Student Guitar Recital — Coordinated by Byron Delto. Students

Chamber Music Recital — Coordinated by Beth Pflueger. Student ensembles from the chamber music class perform. Free. Tuesday at 4 p.m. in AU 211.

CONCERTS GCC Vocal Jazz, Jazz Guitar and the Saturday Jazz Combo Ensembles — The performances will be directed by Clare Delto, Byron Delto and Rory Cowal.

Auditorium Mainstage. June 2 at 7:30 p.m. General admission is $7 and $5 for students and seniors. For more information call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5829.

Jazz Big Band and Saturday Jazz Combo Concert — The performance will be directed by Craig Kupka. Auditorium Mainstage. June 3 at 4 p.m. General admission is $7 and $5 for students and seniors.

MOVIES Friday Flix:

— A screening of

the 1977 film “Star Wars,” directed by George Lucas and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, on Friday. Then, on June 1 the 1976 Sidney Lumet film “Network,” starring Faye Dunaway and William Holden will be shown. Films are free at 12:30 p.m. in SG 334. A discussion facilitated by instructor Mike Petros follows the screenings.

PLANETARIUM Evening with the Stars — “The Rings and Moons of Saturn.” Saturday at 6:30 and 8 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. No late arrivals. For more information, visit www.glendale.edu/planetarium.

ORIENTATION Power Academy Orientation — Learn more about GCC’s Verdugo Power Academy Fall 2012 class. Thursday and June 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. in SF 119. For more information visit www.glendale. edu/power.

ART GALLERY Annual Student Art Exhibition — Features the best in student work painting, drawing, scupture, printmaking, jewelry and ceramics. Runs through June 7. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday

through Thursday. For more information call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5663 or visit www.glendale. edu/artgallery.

MEETINGS Board of Trustees Meeting — Special budget study meeting.

June 12 at 8:30 a.m. in Krieder Hall. Regular monthly meeting on June 25 at 5 p.m. in Krieder Hall. For information visit: www. glendale.edu/boardoftrustees.

ACADEMIC Holiday — GCC will be closed Monday for Memorial Day. Book Buy Back — Bring GCC ID, no reciept needed. May 30 through June 6. Monday through Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Final Exams — Begin May 30 and continue through June 6.

Commencement Ceremony — Free. June 1 beginning at 7 p.m.

Sartoris Field.

Summer Intersession — Walk through registration is open until June 15. Classes start June 18, with late registration available June 19 through 21.

Fall Semester — Must apply by June 22 for priority registration.

Around Town EXHIBITIONS Herb Ritts: L.A. Style — The Getty Center. This exhibition showcases fashion, nude and celebrity photos that successfully bridged the gap between art and commerce. Runs through Aug. 26. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles. Free. Parking is $10.

For more information call (310) 440-7300 or visit www. getty.edu.

Common Places: Printing, Embroidery, and the Art of Global Mapping — LACMA. Featuring three objects from the permanent collection which transform printed works on paper into one-

of-a-kind embroideries. Thursday through Sept. 23. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit www.lacma.org.

36 Views of Mount Rainier: Woodblock Prints by Kristina Hagman — Pacific Asia Museum. The exhibition features an homage to the famous Japanese woodblock printmaker Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and his acclaimed series 36 Views of Mount Fuji. Runs through July 15. Ticket prices and hours vary.

46 N. Robles Ave., Pasadena. For more information call (626) 4492742 or visit www.pacificasiamuseum.org.

The Painting Factory: Abstraction after Warhol — Museum of Contemporary Art. This exhibition explores the recent transformation of abstract painting into a dynamic platform featured in contemporary art. Runs through Aug. 20. 250 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Ticket prices and times vary. For more information call (323) 626-6222 or visit www.moca.org.

MUSIC Chobraty — Glendale Noon Concerts presents Compositions and improvisation by Michael Vlatkovich on trombone and William Roper on tuba. Free in

the Sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of Glendale, 209 N. Louise St. May 16 from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. For more information call (818) 242-2113 or visit www. fbcglendale.net.

sons are offered everyday at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. 2001 N. Fuller Ave., Los Angeles. For more information call (323) 666-5046 or visit: www.myspace.com/runyoncanyonyoga.

WELLNESS

COMEDY

Free Health Clinic — Tuesdays from 5 to 8 p.m. by appointment (limited walk-ins as space allows). 134 N. Kenwood St., third floor, room 330. No job or sportsrelated physicals. For information call (818) 243-2105, ext. 202.

Genge Gharun — Alex Theatre.

Featuring the comedian live for one show only. Performance is in Persian. 216 N. Brand Blvd. June 3 at 7 p.m. Ticket prices vary. For more information, visit www. alextheatre.org.

Yoga in the Park — Runyon Canyon Park. Donation yoga les-

Compiled by Richard Kontas Send event information to: elvaquero.editor@gmail.com

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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

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VAQUERO VIEWS

Dance Performance 2012

Photo by Armen Keleshian

ON POINT: Lead dancer Bong Hoang, a member of the GCC student dance production cast, rehearsing his lead role as the priest in“Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well?� held on Wednesday and Thursday at 12:20p.m. and 8p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8p.m., and Sunday at 2p.m. in the Sierra Nevada Gym. Dance Performance 2012 is directed by Dora Krannig and Lynn McMurrey and features GCC student dancers and choreographers.