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WEDNESDAY Issue FEBRUARY 15, 2012 FRESNO STATE
COLLEGIAN.CSUFRESNO.EDU
SERVING CAMPUS SINCE 1922
Students help revitalize ‘Sin City’ The addition of a playground gives children in the area a safe place to play
By Stephen Keleher The Collegian While most Fresno State students were on their way back home after a long fall semester, almost 40 students had different plans: helping build new playground for kids in El Dorado Park, also known as the ‘Sin City’ neighborhood just west of campus. “We were very lucky to have that many students involved b e c a u s e we k n e w eve r y one goes home,” Associated Students, Inc. community organizer and Americorps volunteer Lauren Smoot said. Americorps is the domestic version of the Peace Corps. Volunteers sign on for a one-year commitment and promise to do 1,700 hours in that year. Last year, at
the beginning of her service, Smoot helped start a Facebook page, Revitalize the Fresno State Community. It was the beginning of an ongoing effort to contribute to the community surrounding Fresno State and to help control the crimes that have long plagued the area. In the 80s, university students mostly occupied the apartments located in the 2-by4-block neighborhood. Today, it has become an area dominated by Section 8 housing, but is still home to several fraternities and sororities. Smoot and other Fresno State Americorps volunteers began focusing on programs such as month-
ly Neighborhood Watch meetings, the founding of a satellite branch of the Bulldog Food Pantry, neighborhood cleaning days and even participation in a local property owners’ association. Another idea to help make the community a safer place to live was to create a place for the neighborhood children to p l a y.
“C
reating events for students to be able to serve in the community directly surrounding the university helps them to become safer.” — Lauren Smoot, ASI community organizer Boys & Girls Clubs of America had a trailer in the back parking lot of the church, but the small park surrounding it was treeless and uninviting. Pacific Gas and Electric ag reed to sponsor a playground project using the prefabricated materials from KaBoom!, a national nonprofit dedicated to building playgrounds all over the United States. Once PG&E was on board,
Fresno State students chimed in. More than 250 volunteers came together to build the park on that Saturday in December, and by 5 p.m., it was finished. Three days later, when all of the tape was unwrapped from the construction, kids came and haven’t stopped coming since. See CITY, Page 3
Esteban Cortez / The Collegian
Building a playground in El Dorado Park, aslo known as “Sin City”, is one of the efforts Associated Students, Inc. has made to revitalize the surrounding Fresno State community.
Program offers nursing school alternative By Stacey Luke The Collegian The accelerated master’s p ro g r a m t h ro u g h F re s n o State’s Nursing Department gives non-nursing students the opportunity to become registered nurses, or enter the nursing field with any bachelor of science or bachelor of arts degree. If accepted, students in the program are expected to complete undergraduate material in only 18 months that usually takes most students three years. Upon completing the course work they will graduate in December of 2013 and then pass the exam needed to become a registered nurse. In spring of 2014, the students will then start their master’s degrees and complete the entire program by spring of 2015. They will attain a master of science in nursing with an option of clinical nurse specialist and nurse educator. With this degree, graduates
will be eligible to teach clinicals at the university level, didactic course work at the junior college level or work as a clinical nurse specialist in the acute care hospital setting. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree in a field aside from nursing and complete eight pre-requisite courses. Applicants must also apply for the university and the nursing department. Mary Barakzai, chair of the Nursing Department, said a group of 30 students will be accepted into the program that begins in May. “We look a lot at their professional experience,” said
“T
Penny Lacy, the admissions coordinator for the Nursing Department. “What they have been doing since they graduated plays a huge role in the selection process.” Some applicants may have worked as accountants or lawyers and decided they want a career change. “A lot of it has to do with willing to be a novice again,” Barakzai said. “Giving up that expert role they’ve had for so long.” This will be the third batch of students to go through the accelerated program. “The one thing that people have underestimated is that it
he one thing that people have underestimated is that it is compressed and very fast paced.” — Penny Lacy, Nursing Department admissions coordinator
is compressed and very fastpaced,” Lacy said. The accelerated program is year round with limited breaks, so it is easy to fall behind. “Students know that if they can keep up until the end the rewards are worth it,” Lacy said. “This program is special because students don’t have to have a perfect 4.0 GPA in order to be selected. It is a much smaller pool of applicants,” Barakzai said. Derrick Dill is in his third semester of the entry-level master’s program at Fresno State. This covers the exact same coursework, but is not as fast paced as the accelerated program. Dill received his bachelor’s d e g re e i n k i n e s i o l o g y at Sonoma State. He is on track to become a registered nurse in the three years that it takes a normal undergrad student. After that is completed, he has another three years of school to receive his master’s degree
and finish the program. Even though he took 20 units and played on the college tennis team while receiving his bachelor’s, Dill said the difficultly of the nursing program is incomparable. “I survive day-to-day,” Dill said. “It’s the volume of the work that makes it hard to keep up.” Dill says the class workload is much heavier and that it’s not uncommon to have four exams in one week. The material is demanding for a reason. The nursing students know that in order to be prepared for their career they must receive the proper education. “We’re not flipping burgers. We have people’s lives at stake,” Dill said. Dill is looking forward to the opportunities this career path offers. “You get a chance to give back,” Dill said. “I like helping people — It makes me feel important.”