Brahmas take state!

JOSHUA MANES Spotlight Editor @TheManesEvent

It had been 15 years since men’s volleyball hoisted a state title. Over the course of four sets Saturday night, the Brahmas changed that.

In the CCCAA State Championship final, the No. 4 Brahmas found themselves opposite the No. 2 Orange Coast College Pirates, a team they lost to in straight sets back in February. But there was no desire for a parlay or retreat.

“We might not have the prettiest record, but we’re playing the best volleyball when it matters,” Brahmas head coach Lance Walker said. “And that’s a special thing. That takes grit.”

The opening set was a back-and-forth affair, neither team able to take control. The largest lead for each team was two until the Brahmas held set-point at 24-21 before finally taking it 25-22 on a kill by Cole Chea.

“My job is to get the big kills,” Chea said. “That’s all I’m needed for.”

The Pirates fired back in the second set, winning 25-17 in dominant fashion. Orange Coast held the lead in the set from 4-3 on.

The third set started out much like the first with both teams jockeying for position, looking to claim the critical momentum. Seven set points were played until finally the Brahmas came away with a 31-29 win. With only one set between them and a state title, the Brahmas stormed out of the gates, leading by as much as nine points multiple times in the first half of the set. But as you would expect from the No. 2 team in the state, Orange Coast was not ready to fly the white flag. Trailing 19-11, the Pirates fought their way back into the match. A six-point run cut the lead to 19-17, but that’s as close as the Brahmas would allow them to get. Fittingly, the final point came on a kill from tournament MVP Chea, assisted by Bernardo Roese, the conference MVP, a sight that was seen throughout the season.

Chea did not want to let the match go to a fifth set.

“Don’t let it go any longer than it needed to be, that was my mindset,” Chea said. “My sweaty outside hitter was like ‘This is the last shirt I have, you better put it away.’”

Chea finished the night with 21 kills and 25 total points, bringing his totals to 30 and 38 in the two games. Despite the individual honor, Chea stayed humble about his performance.

“I can say easily that other people deserve it more,” Chea said. “I feel like everyone should be MVP right now. It’s a title. I got the big kills, but really, who gave me the sets, who got the passes for the set.”

Joining Chea on the all-tournament team were Morgan Wadlow and Roese. Team captain Roese, who finished the season second in the state in assists per set with 10.11, added 48 assists in the title game.

The title is the eighth for men’s volleyball, and the first since 2003. That 2003 victory capped off a four-year streak of state titles.

At school, professors grade students based on how well they perform on assignments and tests. However, professors also have the option to grade students on participation. Participation shouldn't be included in a course's curriculum. It could give an incentive for teachers to grade students they like with positive scores and others they don’t like with negative ones.

Participation isn't a clear way to grade a student's work ethic. If it is so effective then, students that show higher participation should be

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Email us at newsroom. roundupnews@ gmail.com the ones with the highest grades in class, but that isn’t always the case.

Some professors believe that class discussions can enhance their students learning. Sometimes when a student participates in class they are not contributing to the subject, but rather giving their experiences.

The site, The Bull & Bear wrote, "Such a system threatens to punish some students, while at the same time increases class time wasted on useless interjections."

Speaking out loud doesn't reflect a student's ability to remember the material. Some students give out responses that have no real

DAVID ZAYER Reporter @DavidZayer

meaning.

The site, The Bull & Bear wrote, "Students either go to classes to contribute irrelevant comments for the sake of receiving marks, lose 5 to 10 percent off their final grade because there is no real incentive to attend."

Students grades shouldn't be based around just meeting a requirement by participating.

Specific classes like Speech 101 or Theatre 270 require students to participate in class, but that same standard shouldn't be applied to all classes. Expecting students to respond to a question in class they

Pro: Grouped together

faced with a real life challenge.

When a hard problem is at hand, many perspectives can help solve the issue collectively.

have never encountered can leave them dazed.

Instead, professors should encourage an open classroom where participation isn't mandatory. Participation should be an option for students if they want to ask questions for a deeper explanation on what their professor lectures on.

To encourage students to come to class, professors can have short quizzes that account for small portions of the students grades. This can be done periodically throughout the semester and can focus on the lecture from that day. This would require students to stay

DANIELLE PADILLA Reporter @dcxpadilla

I decided to seek the whole lecture and focus on what the professor is presenting.

Professors can also ask students to keep journals or side notes and turn them in at the end of class. Students can also, give feedback and ask to go in further detail on a specific subject during next class. If professors take away mandatory participation, then students will be more comfortable in their class and will show higher quality in their performance.

Strength is apparent in numbers and it always has been.

Throughout the history of human beings, people have always worked in groups. Therefore, it would only be natural for group work to be assigned in college.

In “The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers,” anthropologists Richard B. Lee and Richard Heywood Daly write that humans as a species are meant to work in groups, and still do.

“Surprisingly, in an increasingly urbanized and technological world, dozens of hunting and gathering societies have persisted and thrive world-wide, resilient in the face of change, their ancient ways now combined with the trappings of modernity,” Lee and Daly wrote.

Groups are able to divide the workload taking away any extra stresses of the task. In a group project, assigning roles and doing research separately can result in a more efficient presentation.

According to The National Survey of Student Engagement, students have more success in college when working in groups.

The data shows how cooperating with others to solve problems prepare students to deal with the real world. This helps students think off-the-cuff when

Depending on a person's personality type, when a professor assigns a group work project, some students may become shy and feel awkward, while others feel encouraged.

Once settled in, regardless of personality, students should feel comfortable that they are a part of a group.

Humans are social beings, therefore individuals who primarily take on tasks can cause one to feel isolated over time.

Better results come from group cooperation. One example of this is the World Wars. Because of their lack of allies, the Germans lost not once but twice.

According to the English Catholic Historian, Lord John Acton, it is possible that a sole individual can be too powerful.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Acton said.

Evidence from human history and statistical data from the present time show that group work is beneficial when assigned in college. Although everyone is different in their own ways and we can all learn something new from one another, as working alone is overall detrimental.

One of the hardest skills a student will ever learn throughout their college career is self-reliance. Therefore, having the crutch of group projects is more detrimental than helpful to a student’s education.

There is always that one student in a group project who is unreliable. For this instance, we’ll name him Tim. Tim has an alright personality, he’s easy to talk to and seems responsible (the key word being ‘seems’).

Fast forward two weeks before the project is due, and Tim is nowhere to be found. There is a worrying empty space in the PowerPoint where Tim’s assigned part should be. All of a sudden, the very seemingly normal classmate has dropped off the face of the planet. It is not until a week before the deadline he resurrects to say he hasn’t done his part due do some mysterious ‘sickness’ that had him incapacitated.

Now it is two days until the deadline and Tim seems to have put more effort into his excuses than his assigned part.

Due to this group project horror story – everyone has no doubt felt, at some point in their academic career, that group projects are ineffectual.

According to a study by Carnegie Mellon University titled, “What are the benefits of group work?” group work is never 100 percent.

Cartoonist: decisions, these materials are free from prior restraint by the virtue of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Accordingly, materials published herein, including any opinions expressed, should not be interpreted as the position of the L.A. Community College District, the college or any officer or employee thereof.

“In fact, group projects can – and often do – backfire badly when they are not designed, supervised, and assessed in a way that promotes meaningful teamwork and deep collaboration,” the study wrote.

While professors sometimes try to integrate failsafe systems such as peer evaluation sheets that count for a grade, this still does not fix the problem. The true issue is that only a couple of students end up doing the work required to get a passing grade; whereas the Tims of the world ride on the backs of their success.

Despite graded peer evaluations, this does nothing to temper the cynicism that is formed during group projects due to the inequality of the workload. Even with group collaboration, college cannot teach a student motivation. The quality of the work will be unequal, therefore, the education received will be unequal among students.

Grand Canyon University’s Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching reports, the act of grading a group project can prove difficult to the professor.

Too often students are lumped together under the term “group work” and are expected to just make it work. These group projects are hardly planned out well enough to suit a variety of students in a way that equally distributes the work load and promotes collaborative learning.

History found in construction

ROSA ORTEGA Reporter @RosaGabOrtega

Public Relations Manager Doreen

Clay said there are about 20 memorial plaques, eight of which have an unknown history, that were found at Pierce during construction.

Pierce College Committee (PCC) members discussed in the April 26 meeting the need for a task force to decide what to do with the found plaques.

President Chair of PCC Brian Walsh said they don’t have enough information about the people that the plaques belong to, but they’re working to find out as much as possible because some of those names are on buildings that are scheduled for demolition.

Faculty decided that those that haven’t been installed should be found a place, but it is necessary to research their history first.

Clay said some of the plaques read “in memory of” and have names of old faculty, but there are no records of the people they honor. Their only guess is that they could be instructors who died during their time working at Pierce.

“There was no internet then, so there’s nothing on the internet. And there’s no written history about that person or why they were given a plaque or who gave it to them or anything. It’s difficult to find information because it’s so old,” Clay said.

During the meeting, Vice President of Administrative Services Rolf Schleicher also discussed crime and said few incidents were reported in April, but bike stealing has been a recurring problem. To help with this, there are plans to install a surveillance system on campus to help regulate the issue.

The board also voted Ryan Patrick Gendron the new vice chair. He will replace Patricia Doeleitzcsh.

Gendron said this new position is a great opportunity to become more involved at Pierce.

“I’m interested in becoming more involved in chair governance,” Gendron said. “I’m excited, and I think it’s going to be a good step for leadership for me.”

Distance Education Coordinator rortega.roundupnews@gmail.com

Wendy Bass said there will be changes to the faculty email, which will be connected to the student information system on July 1. She said if faculty have important emails that they’d like to save, they still have time to sort that out.

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Rodriguez said the replacement has not been selected. He said internal applicants go through a ten-day process. He said the process needs to conclude before July 1, so they can name someone in the role before Burke transitions.

“If we are unsuccessful determining someone from that internal pool, then we look toward external candidates,” Rodriguez said. “I see the process moving very smoothly, and the excellent service that faculty and staff experience, I’m fully confident those experiences and services will continue uninterrupted. It’s an excellent college and it will remain that way.”

In 2016, Burke’s salary as president was $225,935 plus an additional $6,000 and benefits of $43,658, according to transparentcalifornia.com.

During the SOCCCD Board of Trustees meeting on April 30, Vice Chancellor of Human Resources Cindy Vyskocil said that at the start of her new position as chancellor, Burke will have an annual salary of $350,000. That doesn’t include the $100 per month to cover internet and telephone services, $165 per month for cellphone, $625 transportation stipend and $10,000 relocation stipend.

Vice President of Student Services Earic Dixon-Peters said he is confident that the LACCD chancellor will make the right decision, whether to name an interim Pierce College president or search for a new one.

Dixon-Peters also said that he thinks the position as chancellor for SOCCCD is a great opportunity for Burke. “My first thought was, ‘Awesome for her.’ What it shows is that her record speaks for itself,”