Furry friends de-stress
MESA speaker delivers
Kromer talks traveling
Two dogs named Bella come to campus to help students relax during midterms — page 3
Community college grad talks about her journey from child immigrant to doctor of rural medicine — page 3
Although she has been all over the world, the reference librarian calls LMC home — page 4
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F.Y.I. Important Dates
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Veteran’s Day — college closed
Nov. 20
By DAMIAN LEWIN
Nov. 9
Last day to drop classes with a “W” appearing on your transcript
Prepare for the HBCU fair The LMC Umoja Club will be hosting the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities Regional Transfer Day Tuesday, Nov. 17. There will be a college fair in the outdoor quad from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and HBCU workshops in Library Room L-109 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. if you plan on attending bring your transcripts. For more information go to http:// www.losmedanos.edu/ umoja/events.asp.
Transfer Day draws closer Los Medanos College will be hosting two transfer events Oct. 27. — Transfer Day will be held in the outdoor quad from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and College Night in the gym from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Representatives from the CSU and UC campuses, along with out-of-state and private universities will be present to answer students’ questions about the transfer process. For more information, or a list of the colleges that will be present, go to losmedanos.edu/transferday.
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dlewin@lmcexperience.com
It was cause for celebration as students, staff and members of the local community gathered in front of the Student Services Building Oct. 8 to recognize the formal signing of the recent partnership between Los Medanos College and LG Electronics Alabama, Inc. As LMC President Bob Kratochvil welcomed those attending the event, he began the ceremony by thanking the company representatives who were on campus to sign the agreement as well as speak to students in the Appliance Service Technology program. “I think it’s an honor that LG Electronics has selected LMC to be the hub of their regional training,” said LMC Director of Marketing Barbara Cella. “Our students will have the opportunity to work on cutting edge appliances,” which, she added, will in turn help those students acquire “cutting edge jobs.” Kyu Moon Yu, president of the company, is the first corporate CEO to visit the campus in forty years according to Appliance Service Technology Instructor Leonard Price. Joining him in their visit to the college was Michael Kozwolski, Director of Field Service and Strategy and Jae Park, Senior Human Resources Manager. “It’s just fantastic the synergy that’s created with this partnership.” said Kratochvil before introducing President Yu to speak to the crowd. The partnership, which not only includes the company donating products they manufacture for the students to train on, but valuable resources such
Experience • Cathie Lawrence
LG Electronics Alabama, Inc. President KyuMoon Yu speaks in front of the Student Services Building Oct. 8 during a ceremony signifying the most recent partnership between the company and LMC. as online learning materials and the ability to sit in on future classes LG will hold on campus to further train their currently employed ser vice technicians. “I’m very happy to come here,” said Yu, joking about forgetting his sunglasses. He acknowledged how he “likes the California sun” then went on to speak about what his company strives for. “We try to fix the broken customer,
not the appliance,” he added. “Make a better life for the customers. You all, including Bob and everybody, are our customers.” A similar sentiment was shared earlier in the day as the LG representatives met with students in the Appliance Service Technology program during their morning lecture. The goal of the visit to the class was to give the students a better idea of what the new partnership will help
provide for them, as well as advice on the future of the industry in which they are pursuing careers. “Thank you Len for having us here this morning,” said Kozwolski, addressing instructor Price by his more commonly known name on campus, adding that their being there was to help “find, develop and build the next generation of technicians.” While speaking to the class about See LG, page 6
Walking toward a common goal By XAVIER VALLE and CASSIE DICKMAN
cdickman@lmcexperience.com
Sign-up and come kick-it The Student Life Office will be hosting a kickball tournament, which will be open to all LMC students, staff and faculty. Teams must consist of 6-8 people and registration is due by midnight Tuesday, Oct. 27, which will be followed by an orientation Wednesday, Oct. 28 at noon at the the softball field. If you want to play but are not a part of a team you can sign up as a free agent and tournamanet organizers will try to find you a team with an open space. Tournament games will be every Wedsneday from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. starting Nov. 4 and ending Dec. 2. Applications are available for download or online submission at http://www. losmedanos.edu/studentlife/ health.asp.
L M C E X P E R I E N C E . C O M
LMC partners with LG CEO and staff come to campus
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
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Experience • Cathie Lawrence
Members of the local community hold up a banner as they participate in Out of The Darkness, a suicide prevention walk held in Oakley on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Los Medanos College’s Alpha Gamma Sigma honor’s society joined Oakley community members in their walk to raise awareness for suicide prevention. The national American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Greater San Francisco Bay Area chapter held one of its Out of the Darkness community walks Saturday, Oct. 10, to for loved ones to commemorate those who have died from suicide and to educate others about this ongoing issue. The community walk,
which was officially supposed to begin at 10 a.m. but actually didn’t take off until at 10:35 a.m. due to a delay in organizing the finish line and getting the participants in place to start walking, kicked off at Cypress Grove Park in Oakley and was accompanied by various festivities, such as barbecuing and local musicians playing music. AGS honors society members attended the walk and helped with various stages of the event – from set up to cleanup – depending on what shift they signed up for, said AGS Vice President Ines Torres, and who that about half of those
See WALK, page 6
Winning arguments down south Debate team earns awards By GARRETT BELME
gbelme@lmcexperience.com
The Los Medanos debate team brought home two awards after competing in the USU National Debate Championship at Claremont McKenna College this past weekend. Team members Grace Babayan and Taylor Gonzalez captured the Community College Champions award, and teammates Genaro Mauricio and Richard Stanfield’s communication netted them the First Year Division Champions award. Debate coach Marie Arcidiacono
expressed her admiration for her team’s efforts. “I’m extremely proud of not just the two teams that placed at the tournament, but of all the teams we traveled down. For many of our competitors this weekend it was the very first time they ever participated in a debate tournament and the energy and excitement they all had toward competing was amazing to witness. We had a long tournament weekend and the fact that on our seven hour drive home the debaters were actively engaged in discussing current events and rehashing the motions from the weekend was awesome. As a coach, I couldn’t have asked for a more productive tournament.” Half of the duet that earned the Community College Champion
award, Grace Babayan, reflected on the moment she and her partner won said award. “Winning the award was so surreal; it almost felt as if I were dreaming. Afterwards, as the reality sunk in, the validation for the hard work my partner Taylor and I had been putting into our practices was so apparent. We didn’t need an award to mark our success, but recognition for our hard work was wonderful to receive,” she said. Debate rookie Genaro Mauricio had similar feelings upon finding out he and his partner would also be winning an award saying, “Winning the award was a complete surprise Experience • Cathie Lawrence to me but my partner Richard and Richard Stanfield (left) and Genaro I were ecstatic to have received an award for our first tournament.” Mauricio prepare themselves for one of See TEAM, page 6 the eight tournament debates.