St.A.S.H. house Students Against Student Hunger finds a home for food pantry

Salsa, swing, ballet and jazz are just a few of the dance forms that will be used to “Pierce the Stillness.”

The Pierce College Dance Department will be hosting its annual Fall Dance Concert in the Performing Arts Building from Nov.10-11, and will have a matinee showing on Sunday, Nov. 12.

Dance Instructor Brian Moe will be directing this year’s concert for the first time. He is directing a total of 46 dancers.

“I feel very excited. It's a good challenge coming up in my second year now. Pierce has a lot of dance to offer that people don't know about," Moe said.

Moe joined the Dance Department in 2016. He teaches tap, jazz, modern, dance to fitness and dance production classes.

Kiana Soriano, 21, is one of the 46 dancers participating in the dance concert. Soriano has participated in 7 concerts at Pierce College.

“I think the dance concert is going to go great. We aren't going to fall short on time,” Soriano said. “Things will go as expected because that's how Moe does things. He gets things done with an enjoyable, fun and productive process.”

Bryson Wesley, 21, is performing in 4 dances. He is also choreographing a hip-hop routine.

“I think the process is a little more accelerated,” Wesley said. “I feel that a lot of people are getting what they need to get done quicker, and therefore, we have more time to clean the choreography and make sure it’s presentable on stage.”

Moe has gained the admiration and respect of many dancers throughout his time at Pierce.

“He's an amazing professor and very professional. He has no favoritism,” Soriano said. “He works well with everyone. He's funny, caring and a great person to talk to. A good role model to many. Amazing dancer, and overall great person inside out.”

“Moe is awesome. As a male

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than 6 feet,” Wesley said.

Moe has high expectations for the upcoming dance concert.

“I think that the audience will come and see something they did not know Pierce had,” Moe said. “They will be intrigued and hopefully come and take some dance classes with us, and even participate in next year's spring dance concert.”

According to Moe, the dance concert will have a variety of dances that include modern, African, tap, ballet and ballroom.

The show has a total of 15 dance pieces that dance instructors and student choreographers have put together.

Soriano also has high expectations for the upcoming dance concert.

“I always expect nothing but the best, and it always turns out great,”

Soriano said. “Although, for some reason every fall semester, it seems as if we are running out of time, but it's always a turn around, and it turns out great.” sluque.roundupnews@gmail.com

Moe said that he has no doubt that the audience will come to enjoy a great show, and that they will sell out.

ANNA

CLARK Features Editor @AnnaClarkReport

Food can be purchased at three locations on campus: the cafeteria, student store and the Brahma Cafe. But in a small room in IRIS 910 a pantry filled with goods awaits any hungry student for free.

St.A.S.H., the Students Against Student Hunger club at Pierce College, established a food pantry in Iris 910. As part of the Brahma Initiative, ASO decided to work with St.A.S.H. to resolve the student hunger issue on campus, Efren Lopez, the ASO President, said.

“When the Brahma Initiative was being written, we had in mind to not only create awareness about this issue and create a resource center area, and we also had the idea of creating a food pantry,”

Lopez said.

Lopez said that because St.A.S.H. was already working toward resolving the issue, ASO decided to include it in the Brahma Initiative.

St.A.S.H. President Jordan Rice said that the idea for a pantry on campus came to him when he noticed that there were students struggling with food insecurities.

“It really kind of sunk in when I saw that my friends and I was actually feeling their need,” Rice said. “They had never let on about it. It was always a jovial conversation, but to see that it was so close all that time, it sunk in.”

The pantry, which is stocked with non-perishables, is open to all students. Rice said that there are many ways that students can get food if needed.

“We have multiple forms of contacts, and I’ve been using email as a liaison,” Rice said. “I’ve had counselors that will tell me if someone needs food, or they will reach out to someone in ASO.”

Gisela Tarifa, the Chair of the ASO Community Welfare Committee, said that the committee has been helping St.A.S.H. as part of the Brahma Initiative.