ASO wants you to ride your bike to Pierce Bike It provides students with incentives for more sustainable, green options

CAMILLE LEHMANN Reporter @camilleslehmann

Students had a chance to win a prize while helping the environment on Pierce College’s Bike it Day.

The Associated Students Organization (ASO) hosted the event on Tuesday, May 15 and asked students to share a photo on social media with #LAPCBikeItDay.

“Bike It Day is just to encourage people to use environmentally friendlier options to get to school, because I know a lot of people that go to Pierce live really close,” said Erin Baker, chair of the sustainability committee.

ASO is motivating students to take photos of themselves biking, walking, carpooling or taking public transportation to school and post them on social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram with the tag #LAPCBikeItDay to enter the raffle for a chance to win prizes.

They have five available finalist prizes which are, $10 Bookstore gift cards and one available grand prize that is a $25 loaded TAP card. The drawing will be tomorrow, May 16, and it will be announced at about 3:30 p.m.

“We want to influence a culture change here at Pierce. There’s a lot of people at Pierce who aren’t engaged and don’t care. We don’t recycle, and that’s a big issue. We want to shift the students into a more mindful direction in regard to the environment,” Baker said.

ASO president Efren Lopez said that Bike It Day works in conjunction with other programs and plans that are carried out on campus to motivate the school to adopt a more environmentally friendly mindset.

“Bike It Day is part of a big push, at least from this year’s ASO, to really just make the campus more environmentally conscious. This is a long-term development plan with the battery drive, the green grant, and the Preserve Pierce Masterplan,”

Lopez said.

Lopez said that climate change is getting worse, so hopefully when students transfer or graduate, they will be cautious about the wellbeing of the planet. Members of the ASO hope students will learn about sustainability at Pierce College. Their goal for this event is to get students more involved with becoming eco-friendly and commuting to school on a bicycle or carpooling to contribute to a cleaner environment.

Student Engagement Coordinator and Counselor Lara Conrady-Wong said that one of the things ASO really focused on this academic year has been sustainability. Conrady-Wong said Baker is doing a good job educating the Senate on finding more ways of helping Pierce become sustainable.

“She toured other campuses trying to find things that can make a little difference in our carbon footprints,” ConradyWong said.

Low enrollment, no funds

Administration analyses admission rates

REBECCA O'NEIL Reporter @RebeccaRoundup

As the economy sees a decline in employment opportunities, college enrollment tends to increase.

But now, as Pierce’s lowenrollment threatens the college’s financial stability, administrators’ wheels are turning.

“You have to think of it like a business, really. You have to keep things going even though we’re not for profit. We’re not looking to make money, but we’re certainly looking to keep things running,” Salter said.

Salters said funding cuts directly impact facilities, access to teaching materials, class schedules and availability.

“When we have fewer students here, we have to start closing sections of classes. That hurts students at the end of the day because there’s less availability in the time slots that they like,” Salter said. “Maybe they enrolled in a class that got cut right before the beginning of the semester, and now they’re scrambling. It’s just terrible. It’s not an outcome that anyone wants.”

Dean of Student Services William Marmolejo said enrollment concerns extend to the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) Office and beyond.

“We are struggling with enrollment district-wide, not just here

“It’s basically ASO encouraging students to take their bikes to campus or anywhere for that matter, I like it not only because it’s a sustainability effort but it’s also for fitness and at Pierce. In fact, it’s not just in the district, it’s up and down the state of California. We’ve seen the trend the last couple of years when we compare our enrollment from previous years,” Marmolejo said.

Marmolejo said students that remain are taking fewer classes, which further exacerbates the issue.

Salter said Pierce enrollment of non-traditional college students, ages 20-45, is decreasing.

“We’ve had zero percent decline in our high school enrollment. Those students have stayed consistent, if not grown, because of the College Promise program,” Salter said.

Salter attributes the former demographic’s low enrollment to the state’s robust economy.

“Typically, when the economy is in an upward trend and there are lots of employment opportunities, we see a decline like this,” Salter said.

“If there’s a job, I’m going to work.