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Vol. XLIII No. 8
Fremont, California
April 5, 2012
Singer Avril Lavigne drops in at Safeway By MARRA-MARIE MAGSAKAY Staff writer
Eight-time Grammy-nominated singer Avril Lavigne and former 49er great Dwight Clark promoted the kickoff event for People with Disabilities Campaign at the newest Safeway store in Pleasanton on Tuesday. A mini stage encompassed the left entrance and the floral department. Supporters, employees, customers and fans gathered around the area to see the celebrities. The kickoff event began with the lighting of the “Olympian torch,” which was escorted by a Safeway employee and a fire marshal. Each special need employee was honored by a small bouquet of flowers and entered with a round of applause from the crowd. “I wanted to get involved with these amazing people here today,” said Lavigne. The two celebrities competed in a food-bagging contest. Clark won, with the experience of a similar contest. For more than 26 years, the Safeway Foundation raised millions of dollars for its People with Disabilities campaign. This year’s kickoff event
MARRA-MARIE MAGSAKAY/ MONITOR
Canadian punk-pop singer Avril Lavigne stops by a Safeway in Pleasanton to discuss her support of the Safeway Foundation.
excited more fans and supporters. “This campaign began with the suggestion 25 years ago,” said the Safeway Executive Vice President Larree Renda as she distinguished the significance of the fundraiser. “Our employees with disabilities are our most loyal employees. Thank you, Avril and Dwight Clark, for comingout and supporting our cause,” she said. The People with Disabilities campaign had a partnership with Easter Seals and Special Olympics. These organizations give Continued on Page 6
Access denied CSUs must reduce space for transfer applicants
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/ MANIKA CASTERLINE and MANAL BEJAOUI
CSU East Bay is one of 15 CSU campuses that are halting the number of students that will be admitted to the school. By ISABELLA OHLMEYER Online editor
Some 15 California State University campuses will cease Spring 2013 admissions immediately and eight campuses will only accept a few hundred applicants who have their associate’s degree completed at a community college. Those few CSU campuses are San Francisco State, East Bay, Channel Islands, Fullerton,
Los Angeles, Sonoma, San Bernardino and Chico. Along with the admission freeze, students who apply to state colleges for the Fall 2013 term will be put on a waitlist until an election meeting is held to further discuss this plan of action. Chabot College history major, Casey Adams who recently heard the news said, “I’m not the only one who will be outraged by this decision. I
believe the logic behind this is quite futile.” George Escutia Jr., a member of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges also said the move by the CSU puts a further burden on the California community colleges as more students avoid transfer or are dually enrolled. “The hold on enrollment
Grace Kim
Lydia Sim
City’s James Logan High School and was deeply involved at the Hayward Korean Baptist Church where her family currently worships. “Any kid that God would lead her to, that’s where she wanted to be,” said her dad. Daniel Sim said Lydia was an independent girl with strong convictions who wouldn’t back down from when she knew she was right. “In the end, I know she’s in a better place. It’s hard to believe she’s gone. In the end, God has a plan and he needed her to
come to him early,” he said. Ohlone Vice-President of Student Services Ron Travenick said, “Our hearts go out students, staff, faculty and family members at Oikos University and Ohlone College who suffered from this violent act. As educators we all share their shock and concern.” Travenick advised that if anyone should have personal concerns about this tragedy, Rosemary O’Neill will be available for counseling to any students or faculty.
Continued on Page 6
Oikos University shooting claims lives of Tri-City’s Grace Kim and Lydia Sim By MANIKA CASTERLINE Editor-in-Chief
In the largest campus wide shooting since Virginia Tech, Monday’s rampage at Oakland’s Oikos University took the lives of seven students including 23-yearold Fremont resident Grace Kim and Lydia Sim, 21 who was an Ohlone transfer student. The Christian Oikos University where Kim and Sim attended is a reflection of how both young women were perceived by those who knew them. Former Ohlone student Katie O’Brien, who worked with Kim at BJ’s restaurant in Newark, said, “She was one of the few people I was friends with there. She was so kind hearted and full of positive energy. Always smiling and always peppy. She was the sunshine at BJ’s.”
O’Brien found out that Kim was one of the Oikos shooting victims through a mutual former BJ’s co-worker that the two shared. “I can’t believe she’s gone. She had so much more to give to the world. She had so much joy to spread. It’s unnerving how messed up this world is sometimes. I feel horrible for her family and send my deepest condolences to them,” O’ Brien said. While O’ Brien was a host and Kim was a server, they both had a common interest in hot guys. “We had routine about where the hot rich guys would be seated. Anytime I was in the stand she would ask,” O’Brien said. “It made me crack up because most of the time we got families, but on occasion I got a hot guy looking for a table. If she had an opening, I’d seat him in her section.” Kim graduated in 2007
from Foothill High School in Pleasanton and was studying nursing at Oikos. Daniel Sim, 19, who is Lydia Sim’s younger brother and an Ohlone College student, heard about the Oikos shooting when he was on his way to campus from the Sim’s Hayward residence Monday. Their father, Yongmin Sim, called him while he was in class informing him of Lydia’s death. “I broke down right there,” Sim said. Lydia aspired to become a pediatrician, which family members attribute to her love of kids. “Kids love her. When she walked through the door, kids would just run up to her,” Daniel Sim said. Sim was enrolled in a one-year vocational nursing program at Oikos and dreamed of applying to Stanford University for medical school. She graduated from Union