BESA molds businessmen Organization aims to bring entrepreneurial ideas to life

said that the Finance Committee approved to fund BESA’s idea because they thought it’d be a beneficial experience for the business students.

Making new connections

Academic Senate members had a detailed discussion on WiFi

RICHARD ESPINOZA Reporter @EspinozaReport

Though some of the blue fences have been taken down, campus construction is not complete. However, administration said they are working with what they have to address concerns about phone service and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Vice President of Administrative Services Rolf Schleicher spoke about campus safety for Pierce faculty and students at Monday’s Academic Senate meeting. He updated the senate about the safety improvements that have been made.

Members of the senate were particularly concerned about the lack of cell phone and internet access in the Center for Sciences. Bonnie Lemus, a nursing instructor, said she is unsatisfied with the limited Wi-Fi access.

“They have no cell phone coverage or internet access in the Center for Sciences building,” Lemus said. “Not only does it interfere when being able to making presentations to students, it interferes with emergency access we might need.”

Schleicher said that building upgrades were made 10 years ago, and the CFS was not designed or constructed for cell phone and PC access.

“The world has changed, and everyone wants cell phone and internet access. The problem is that the walls are impenetrable, so there is not enough Wi-Fi in every classroom,” Schleicher said. “We are spending millions of dollars to upgrade.” both practices provide experience and knowledge for the other.

Lemus said that Schleicher was no help to her, and she did not receive the answers she wanted.

“It cleary needs to be a priority, primarily for safety, but also for student access to the internet for educational purpose,” Lemus said. Scheicher also addressed the issue about the blue construction fences. He said that the fences were up too long because of an issue with the contractors.

Through DSES, students can have half-day adaptive sports lesson in the morning or afternoon. At least two instructors assist during the private lessons. All expenses cost about $95, and if needed, scholarships are offered.

DSES Director Laura Beardsley said that physical or mental disabilities should not prevent someone from participating in recreational winter sports.

She said she has learned a lot from working with differently abled people.

“It’s been such an incredible experience because you get to meet and know and understand people whose experiences are completely different from yours,” Beardsley said.

“We had fences on campus since I have been here,” Schleicher said. “They were located in areas near the North of the Mall. I needed these upgrades right now, primarily for students and faculty. I had my crew come in during the break and remove the fences.”

Buying school supplies individually at the office supply store can be expensive and time consuming.

But the Pierce College Business and Economics Student Association (BESA) has a possible fix.

The ASO has given BESA $25,000 to invest in the Pierce Supply Drop, a business idea which will offer boxes filled with a myriad of supplies that meet the basic needs of the typical college student.

BESA plans to purchase 200 boxes to sell by the end of the semester.

ASO Treasurer Matthew Aguilera

“We thought it’d be a lucrative plan, but also a good experience for BESA,” Aguilera said. “It’s a good learning experience for people in that club and for those interested in business and entrepreneurship. They also provide an alternative to purchasing needed school supplies.”

Josh Lipman, the president of BESA, said that the organization will create conveniently packaged and affordable boxes of school supplies to sell at the student store.

He said the student-run, oncampus business venture benefits the student consumers as well as those behind the idea.

“This is such a unique opportunity for students to gain that experience if they are interested in business or plan to start their own company,” Lipman said. “They will be given the opportunity to get hands-on entrepreneurial experience and learn all the lessons that experience teaches, without the personal financial risk that it normally entails.”

BESA asked the Student Business and Entrepreneurs and Investors Group (SBEIG) to partner with them for this business venture. The club’s president, Parker Selby, said he and other members were ecstatic to participate.

“This is something they want to get their hands on. Not everybody has an idea to start a business, so when you have one knocking on the door, I think everyone should take the opportunity to work and learn about it,” Selby said.

Calculators, pens, and notebooks are included in the green camo-print boxes. But Lipman said that once the business picks up traction, they will make boxes catering to specific majors, such as art, with different designs.

Besides the obvious issue of connection, there are problems for professors. Some rely on the internet to teach their lessons.With the implementation of smart boards and large screen projectors in the newer modeled classrooms, some professors have taken to having fully online curriculums. That includes downloading their daily lessons to Canvas for later use, or playing videos from YouTube. But it is hard to get technology to work in a timely fashion due to the spotty Wi-Fi.

A solution to the problem would be to lay down fiber optic cables for Pierce. These cables would take time, money and effort on the part of Pierce to implement, but the result would provide high speed internet with a consistent connection throughout the entire campus no matter where students are located. Pierce has a base of at least 20,000 students a semester, thereforre, a large wireless system is needed. On top of this, Pierce has 426 acres of land that includes parts that are just farm. While it may be easy to say the farmland would not need to be covered, it is missing the point. All of Pierce needs to have functional Wi-Fi to work in harmony. With classes still being held at the farm the need is still there to have a good wireless connection even if it is a small percentage of people using it. this would allow for everyone to have equal access to the internet on campus.

With the farmland aside, most classrooms at Pierce are unable to get a consistent wireless connection. At random times of day it can go from decent to none existent. There is places on campus as well where there is almost none. The Center for Science is a dead zone in most of its areas.

The planetarium has actually no connection to Wi-Fi at all which has caused problems with emergency messages getting to

@camilleslehmann

"Arenovationcenterinmy houseforhomelesspeople. Iwouldalsowanttohelp homelessdogs,soIʼdpaira dogwithahomelessperson."

-Tessa Sanoni, 19, Nursing

Cartoon by Wyce Mirzad students.

This is compounded by the fact that the entire campus is splitting only one gigabyte of data for the entire campus. It’s easier to see the problem when such a small amount is being shared by such a large population.

Pierce is currently facing budget issues, but recently the Wi-Fi systems were upgraded. What the upgrades are, though,