EL Tuesday December 5, 2017
RIO HONDO COLLEGE NEWSPAPER est. 1964 Serving the Rio Hondo Community
Volume 55 Issue 14
Military Holiday Celebration At Whittier Narrows
Rio Hondo College’s Final Speech and Debate Tournament RUDOLFO PINEDO Contributor
rodolfo.juarezpinedo277@my.riohondo.edu
NOAH GARCIA/EL PAISANO NEWS To greet the families, Santa came onto the scene in a combat vehicle to hand out free toys., all collected then donated by the Ahavat Torah Congregation. NOAH GARCIA News Editor
noah.garcia3720@my.riohondo.edu
Hundreds of people gathered for the Soldiers and Families Holiday Celebration at the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, Sunday, December 3. Whittier Narrows Park, Representative Solis, Ahavat Torah Congregation, Veterans in Prison post #1(V.I.P.) and Veterans Holiday( a
major financial contributor to the event) all collaborated . The event started with general introductions as well as an award ceremony, separated by a musical performance by kimberly haynes and Hilda L. Solis, who addressed her district and the families present. After her speech the awards continued and recognized dozens of soldiers from the 155th Battal-
ion. After the ceremony the guests were treated to food, drinks, bounce house, face painters and a petting zoo.] A major organizer of the event was Joe Leal, 304 Combat Sustainment Support Battalion 30 actively takes care of soldiers and their families. “These events are very important, because unlike active duty are support system is the community… in
the military we train, train train, but it’s also good to involve our families so that the families can see exactly why their serving and network with other family members … these families glue together and support each other. Because while the serviceman is deployed, mentally so is the family members.” Leal works part time in the organization Continued on page 4
RHC Hosts World Aids Day Booth in Lower Quad OLIVIA VENEGAS Opinion Editor
olivia.venegas4091@my.riohondo.edu
World AIDS day is December 1, but the Associated Students of Rio Hondo College decided to host a booth in honor of World AIDS Day Wednesday, November 29 in order to bring awareness. ASRHC chose this day since more students are on campus Monday through Thursday than on Friday, the actual day. Their motive was to bring awareness about AIDS to as many students as possible. The booth contained the red ribbons that represent AIDS awareness, beverages and cookies to attract students, as well as many forms of contraception such as condoms and birth control. The display included birth control options like the pill, diaphragms, sponges and the female condom. The booth had these items to show that there is
JAMES SPENCER/EL PAISANO NEWS To bring awareness to World Aids Day, the Associated Students passed out condoms and information to students.
more than one way to practice safe sex and prevent AIDS. Members of ASRHC also went as far as demonstrating and explaining how some of these uncommon forms of birth control, like the female condom, work.
Along with ASRHC, human sexuality professor Melissa Rifino-Juarez was on hand and donated condoms to the booth for all students to grab. Professor Juarez was there to answer any questions students had about AIDS and
the many methods of practicing safe sex. “We’re bringing awareness.” said ASRHC member Arlette Raigosa, as she was explaining to students the other forms of birth control. Continued on page 2
Rio Hondo’s forensics speech and debate team was back at it again participating at the PSCFA Fall Championship hosted by Moorpark College on December 1-3. It was the team’s last tournament of the mid-season with Rio Hondo contending against 252 competitors from 37 universities and colleges from all around. In the end Rio Hondo triumphed in achieving two bronze medals and having 6 of our team members in the top 25 in speaking in the tournaments Going in on Friday and Winning a bronze medal, David Flores made our team advance into the eliminations rounds in IPDA debate. In our Parliamentary team ups on Saturday Alberto Sampieri and Rodolfo Juarez-Pinedo also made it into the elimination rounds awarding Rio Hondo with another bronze medal. In a contributing effort, 6 of our team members were some of the top speakers that dominated in the tournament with Alberto Sampieri reaching 4th, Gabriela Rodriguez 9th, Rodolfo Juarez-Pinedo 11th, Frank Ramirez 17th, Samuel Cox 24th, and David Flores 25th. These efforts wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the team’s assistant judges Michael Moran, Patricia Hughes, and Alex Cadena as they were there to judge in the competition and more importantly provide insight and knowledge to the team as they prepared arguments and cases for their rounds Although it’s the last tournament for the semester, the team already has its sight focused on the next back to back tournament to take place in January 2018 in University of Utah.