The LMC Experience May 2012

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Success in the spotlight

Scholarship and Stellar Awards held last Friday By OMAR HAMILTON and DEXTER DUNZWEILER Staff Writer

Students, faculty, friends and family all gathered in the recital hall on Friday, May 11 2012 to celebrate LMC students transferring and earning scholarships. The event was the first in a day of recognition for outstanding LMC students and programs. The energy in the room was electrifying as Interim President Richard Livingston opened the ceremonies. “We lose sight of what student success means…this is what it means,” Livingston said in his opening speech. Livingston praised all the hard work and sacrifices those students made in their journey here at LMC.

Lindy Maynes came on stage and added a bit of humor and warm words in her speech. Maynes joked that when the students being recognized become rich and famous that they will give back to LMC, the students responded “yes Ms. Mayers,” in unison. Maynes ended her time on stage by introducing AGS Vice President and student ambassador Alan Webster. Webster told an inspiring story of how he got to this place at LMC. Webster started at LMC taking a couple of music production classes for fun, but school was nit his main priority at the time. After realizing he wanted to do more with his life Webster became a full time, hardworking, motivated student. Webster got emotional discussing his story. The crowd was all ears as

Webster told his story and gave him a round of applause as he sat down. Following Webster’s speech, the students were recognized. Over 300 students were recognized and over 80 scholarships were presented to the students. Each student was announced individually as the audience applauded each student. The students were all smiles after receiving their award and taking a photo with Livingston before they walked off stage. The awards didn’t end after the scholarships were all handed out. One lucky student received an iPad in the raffle amongst winners. Ervin Herrera initially won the award, but Photo by Irvin Trigueros was not present to receive the award Interim President Richard Livingston presents Gloria Duran with so they picked another name. Erik See AWARD, page 6

the La Raza Staff and Faculty Scholarship.

Creative arts thrive at LMC

Appeals process gives options Grades not always final

New Play Festival is student driven production

By CICELY DIAMOND

By SAMUEL GONZALEZ

Students who disagree with a grade they recieved have the The Student Grade Appeal Process to resolve grade disputes between students and teachers. Grade appeals used to be known as the Grievance Process. “The chancellor of the district office just implemented this change [in name],” said Gil Rodriguez, dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who has been involved in student grade appeals since 1997. He added that the new title is much more student friendly. According to the LMC website, the overall grievance process itself addresses problems related to instructors, employees, grades, unlawful discrimination or harassment, safety, parking, academic status and student services, and complaints regarding these things can be reported through this procedure. LMC student Jonathan Johnson has been through this process in the past with an instructor and said he was successful in getting justice. “The process is simple, you file a student complaint form and basically wait your turn to fight the man,” he said. Johnson filed an appeal against an instructor regarding his reinstatement into a class that he felt he was dropped from without notice. Before having to go through the procedure of taking his issue to the dean, “I was able to sort out the issue with my instructor and got my spot back,” he said. He said he handled his situation on his own informally and “dodged the lengthy process I did not want to go through.” Student Hollie Taylor, experienced a similar situation but had to go beyond the informal procedure, which

Los Medanos College’s third annual New Play Festival, which opens next Monday, is truly a vehicle for the display of student creativity. Everything about the festival, from the plays themselves to the posters used to advertise the show, were created by LMC students. The New Play Festival is the result of collaboration between the English, drama and graphic arts departments at LMC. Students in Barbara Austin’s creative writing class write the plays and Drama Department chair Nick Garcia selects the plays that will be in the festival. Garcia brought the idea for the festival with him from the University of Iowa, which he said is really big into new plays and new play development. “I wanted to bring that here. It’s really important to me to get new voices out,” Garcia said. “I went to Barbara Austin and said if you guys want to write plays we’ll put them up. She loved the idea.” Garcia also got Curtis Corlew’s graphic design students on board to create the posters for promotion of the play. “This is one of the few really campus wide collaborations, it’s turned into a pretty cool event,” Garcia said. “Its still growing and getting better, were still learning.” The New Play Festival runs for three nights and consists of two nights of plays and one night of improv comedy. Four plays will be performed each of Griffith has come to LMC after a four year stint as head softball coach at DVC. the first two nights. Katherine Matuszak’s play “Shift,” about a teenager who tries to seduce an older waitress, is one of the plays that made it into the festival.

Staff Writer

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See GRADE, page 6

Photo by Nina Rosales

Nick Garcia directs Adriana Martinez aand Zack Jensen in a scene from “Happily Ever After,” a spoof on classic tales such as “Cinderella” and “Snow White.”

See PLAY, page 6

ACE streamlines transfer path By KELLIE McCOWN Staff Writer

Paris Coolger was not the best student when she first started Los Medanos College. Her study skills were poor, and her grades were what some would call “less than average.” A combination of the two, along with a 1.9 GPA, caught the eye of Coolger’s academic counselor, who suggested that she join the Academy for College Excellence program. However, Coolger was not interested. Then she received a phone call from the ACE program director Tue Rust, convincing her to check the program out. After the first initial meeting, Coolger was convinced that

ACE was a program she could benefit from. ACE is a full-time community college program that introduces a new vision of academic life to students from diverse backgrounds that are unprepared for higher education. The program assesses a students existing approach to academics and teaches learning skills that increases effectiveness in the student, while promoting self-efficiency and personal goal setting. Now, Coolger has raised her GPA from a 1.9 to a 2.9, with the expectation of it rising above a 3.0 after the Spring 2012 semester. She also now holds the title of vice president of See ACE, page 6

Photo by Sarah Berkson

ACE students prepare their social justice projects which will be presented May 24 at 4 p.m. in the library.

Softball is back this fall

FYI

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Staff Writer

Prepare for finals Finals are coming up next week and students can get finals dates and times from their teachers or from the schedule above. Find the day and meeting time of your class on the left and match it with the letter on the right to find out when your final will be held.

Head softball coach Tim Griffith is looking for experienced and non-experienced players to build a new softball team for the Spring 2013 season. Griffith has come over to LMC after a four year stint as head softball coach at DVC. The fall softball section is now in the college catalog. For more information contact Coach Griffith at 439-2181 ext. 3140 or email him a tgriffith@los medanos.edu.

Attention all anime fans Interested in anime? The Anime club is looking for up to seven LMC students to join them at ‘Fanime,’ an anime convention that runs from May 25 to the 28. Fanime will be held at the San Jose Convention Center. For more information contact the club adviser at cryan@losmedanos.edu.


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The LMC Experience May 2012 by Los Medanos College - Issuu