Volume 130 Spring 2019 Roundup Issue 6

Review:

‘Twelfth Night’ strikes comedic gold

Latest Pierce production shakes up a Shakespearan classic

Managing Editor

hen you begin to imagine the illustrious world of Shakespeare most would see witches conjuring spells and lovers wandering the streets of Verona. It is a world so far detached from our own.

However, when placed in mid-20th century Cuba, the words and follies of Shakespeare become natural and hilarious.

Pierce College’s latest theater production “Twelfth Night” is an absurdist look at social norms in an aristocracy if they were all turned upside down. Directed by Esdras Toussaint, the excellent twohour Shakespearean comedy runs through March 31, at the Dow Arena Theatre.

Toussaint presented an interpretation to the classic “Twelfth Night” that an inexperienced director wouldn’t by changing the setting. In Toussaint’s take, the play is set in Cuba around 1950.

This choice of changing the setting and timeframe of the production was intuitive because it cultivates a sense of familiarity and relatability to the characters that most younger audiences of today wouldn’t find in a Shakespeare script.

The opening scene of the production is a showcase of Cuban culture. Dancers grace the stage swaying to the sound of trumpet and guitar with a singer (Hannah Quinn) who makes more appearances as a small character, Feste, throughout the play but takes importance in the opening and closing sequences of the show.

Singing by Quinn is delightful and the dancers who accompany the band set the scene of Cuba as a place of enchantment and wonder.

The set design by Frederica Nascimento conveys the neon color in architecture that is often associated with Cuban building aesthetics. This design reoccurred stylishly throughout the play and gave credence to every location used in the story.

The first story we are introduced to focuses on Viola (Michelle Johnson), a woman who washes ashore with a lost memory. She disguises herself as a man in order to get work but is hired as a servant for the vivacious Orsino (Angel Villalobos). During her tenure serving for Orsino, she falls in love with him.

In one instance, Orsino and Viola sit and listen to a band playing romantic music in Orsino’s quarters. Viola is enamored by Orsino, staring at him. Orsino begins to reciprocate this tenderness by placing an arm around her. Viola then makes a move, she hilariously slaps her hand on his thigh.

Observing the awkwardness in sexual advances between Viola and Orsino, played cleverly by Johnson and Villalobos, is one of the more amusing moments in the production.

We are then introduced to Olivia (Alexa Maris) who portrays a proper and lordship-like character, having

maids and servants on command. Among Olivia’s confidants, we are introduced to Malvolio (Scott Kriloff) who is a servant to Olivia.

Malvolio is one of the shining stars when it comes to the comedic elements throughout the production. Kriloff plays this character similar to an antagonist in a Disney princess movie. He snarls and speaks with such conviction that you hope in the end he gets his comeuppance.

Viola is sent by Orsino to woo Olivia to notice him. Instead, Olivia falls in love with Viola, not knowing she is actually a women. Reactions to the wildness by the sexually

aggressive Olivia by Johnson are laughable, while Maris plays this forceful, hyperbolic and crude woman, who is supposed to be an idol of class, equally enjoyably.

Lastly, staying with Olivia is her uncle Sir Toby (Jon Michael Villagomez), who is encouraging Sir Andrew (Spencer Sharp), his drinking-companion and source of funds, to attract Olivia.

While carousing with Olivia’s fool Feste late one night, they quarrel with Malvolio, and with the help of Olivia’s maid Maria (Michelle Sanchez) and another one of Olivia’s companions Fabian (Tomas Ciriaco),

they decide to trick him. Maria writes a letter to Malvolio, forging Olivia’s handwriting, to make Malvolio think Olivia loves him.

In a classic comedic trope, Malvolio reads the letter aloud with Sir Andrew, Sir Toby, and Fabian watching close by, posing as statues to remain invisible to Malvolio.

The physicality of the three actors as Malvolio reads aloud was evident throughout the scene, providing comedy in how they remain out of sight.

At one point, Fabian is posted on the floor where a bench once was. Malvolio sits on Fabian’s back. The other two scramble to relieve Fabian. They grab the bench and, like out of a cartoon, they bash the bench under Fabian and Malvolio doesn’t even notice.

This scene showcases something that Toussaint added plenty of slapstick comedy throughout the production, which is unlike what’s found in a traditional Shakespeare play. But how Toussaint uses this brand of humor, it completely works by adding a layer silliness to an originally highbrow play.

“Twelfth Night” hopes to smack a big punch in comedic value, but in a play that is centered in Cuba with dialogue that’s rarely used today, Toussaint succeeds at making a play enjoyable for all adult audiences.

The impressive comedic intelligence from the cast and the exceptional lighting and stage design paired with classic comedic tropes tastefully used throughout “Twelfth Night” will show audiences why Shakespeare isn’t only the king of drama, but comedy as well.

You can still catch “Twelfth Night” Friday and Saturday, March 29 and 30 at 8 p.m. and a matinee on Sunday, March 31 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets. com.

Students get a chance to see their professors share their creative talents

changes.

Professors are usually the ones working behind the scenes helping students succeed, but Thursday they had the chance to shine on the stage alongside their pupils.

Pierce College Performing Arts

Department held a blend of faculty and student performances in a diverse array of talent.

Thursday Concerts are primarily led by the music department giving a platform for the work of students in the Applied Music Program.

Spanish voices, guitar strums and actors graced the stage to contribute to the showcase.

At the opening of the show, Performing Arts Department Chair Michael Gend came to the stage to greet the audience. After his greeting, he announced a few more

“I know the playbill says this is a faculty concert, but if you look inside, you’ll notice that a lot of the names are actually our students,” Gend said. “So it’s not just faculty that will be performing for you today. And you’ll also notice that we have more than just music. You’ll see theatre, music and dance in this performance.”

Most performances contained some musical accompaniment, including a sneak preview of a piece from the upcoming production of the musical “In the Heights.”

One of the two pieces that didn’t have a musical component included a piece by student actors reenacting a scene called “Sir Spare Your Threats” from “The Winter’s Tale” performed by Alexa Maris and Jon Michael Villagomez. The Pierce College Choir also debuted a piece called “Give Us Hope,” with solos by Aro Caitlin

and Daniel Miranda. They were accompanied by Victoria Simonian on piano and Sahand Zare on the violin. Several choir members worked as crew and were among the audience members for their

performances.

“I thought it was absolutely fabulous – very creative and diverse,” Tepel said. “‘In the Heights,’ the choreography was great and the kids did a great job. It was all just amazing – put together very well.”

Esdras Toussaint, an adjunct theatre professor, said he appreciates the effort that goes into the concerts.

“I’m not sure exactly who the people that made up the audience were, but I thought the show was very good and I enjoyed it,” Toussaint said. “I love to see the work the students are doing. It was very present on the stage.”

interactive performance of “Give Us Hope.” Debora Tepel is one of the choir members who performed and worked crew. She also had the opportunity to enjoy the other

For more information on free concerts, see the Pierce College website www.piercecollege.edu/ departments/music/concerts. asp or search by department for performing arts.

Roundup

plays the violin

“I thought it was absolutely fabulous – very creative and diverse,”

- Debora Tepel Pierce College Choir Member

Katya Castillo / Roundup

Angel Villalobos

(left) plays Duke Orsino and Michelle Johnson plays Viola, who is disguised as Cesario and acts as the intermediary between Orsino and his love interest, Countess Olivia. in the dress rehearsal of "Twelfth Night' in the Dow Arena Theater at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. on March 18, 2019.

From the desk of the Roundup: Editorial

-Corrections-

Volume 130, Issue 5:

News 3:

The photo caption was meant to describe a photo illustration rather than actual events.

Campus Life 5:

Layla Calderon's name was misspelled in the Streetbeat.

Sports 7:

Jesse Bertel’s name was misspelled in the byline and in the email for the baseball story.

See any errors we missed? Email us at: newsroom.roundupnews@ gmail.com

Many students just aren’t able to afford textbooks. With a regular semester class only being about four months long and a winter or summer session being about four or eight weeks, priorities sometimes need to be evaluated on whether it’s worth spending money on a book that isn’t going to be used again. Often, a textbook is only needed for tests

or for a couple of assignments. Although the library offers a limited amount of reserved textbooks available for a two hour check out, there should be online versions of textbooks that students can access at any time.

Just like the school databases being accessible off campus, if online copies were made available, students who are in need of the textbook at home during the weekend could check out the book

despite the library being closed.

To ensure that students aren’t holding onto the textbooks, the time limit doesn’t have to be raised either. The library can have an automated system that returns the textbook into the system or passes it on to the next student who is on hold.

Speaking of holds, occasionally when a student goes to the reserve desk, they find that the book they needed isn’t available anymore.

Students don’t have time to keep checking to see if the book is back. There should be something like a virtual line that students can place themselves on as the next person who gets to check out the book.

If the library can’t offer online textbooks, then they should have more than two physical copies and there should be a way for students to check them out for 24 hours. A small fee, perhaps $2, can be charged for those who

To IGETC or not to IGETC?

want to keep them out for longer.

This would make it easier on students who face the burden of having to rush to the library after their class is over to return the book before the time limit is up. That would also mean that students can actually take them further than outside the library.

According to Inside Higher Ed, the money students are spending is decreasing, not because the prices of textbooks are but because they’re either choosing not to buy them or they’re using different options.

“This year, 32 percent of students reported using free course materials, compared with 25 percent last year and 19 percent in 2016, according to the NACS data. Just under 60 percent said their professors had provided them with the free materials. About 17 percent of students admitted to perhaps illegally downloading course materials from torrent or peer-to-peer sharing sites, quite possibly in breach of copyright restrictions, though students were not asked to specify.”

Since not all publishers have online versions of their texts available, instructors should think about finding ones that do have that option. Otherwise, they should get on board with using Open Educational Resources (OER). Many teachers have already implemented these into their courses and so should others. If the library does start offering online copies, another $10 can be added to the other fees that students have to pay every semester, such as the ASO or health services one, so that they can access them.

Pro: A clearer pathway for students Con: Working smarter not harder

When it comes to transferring, community colleges have made it quite simple to transition over to four-year universities.

Most college students know that the first two years of school can make or break you.

Students tend to enroll in difficult classes in the start of their educational path without knowing how to balance a proper schedule. They go in with little to no knowledge as to what classes they’re about to take or need to take. Some don’t even have a clue as to what they plan on majoring in.

The Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC), which was implemented in the fall of 1991, has become a solid foundation as to what needs to be tackled and focused on to make successful transfer completion requirements.

IGETC hopes to be as simple as a check-off list for students to follow. The more things you get to cross off your list (sections or

classes taken), the more you know that you are that much closer to moving onto bigger and better things. It gives students less stress knowing that once they are at their chosen university, they don’t have to worry about where they stand, as far as graduation goes.

This plan, if followed correctly, aspires to get students onto the next level in their academic endeavours as quick as possible.

Many students today work or have children and are trying to save as much as possible to keep tuition debt at a minimum.

It keeps our options open for those who don’t know what their majors are.

They can simply stick to IGETC course guidelines until they transfer on.

It is not required for IGETC coursework to be completed at the same college.

According to the University of California website, “Courses taken at more than one California community college may be used to fulfill IGETC. Coursework may only be applied in the area or category it was approved for in the IGETC agreement

at the community college where it was completed.”

The website also states, “IGETC courses must be completed with a grade of C or better. A grade of Credit or Pass may be used if the college's policy states it is equivalent to a grade of C or better.”

Completion of the program allows students to not only graduate, but with the inclusion of the UC Tag program, it also allows students a guaranteed admittance to the UC of their choice.

Congruently, counselors can take advantage of the simplicity of IGETC by using the courses guidelines as guidance for them to map out your next step in classes. Most will have it already filled out for you, so that he or she can go over your progress to transfer. IGETC helps cover all aspects of intermediate college education or different areas of curriculum, which prepares the student for what is to come in a higher level institution.

JUSTIN MIRANDA Reporter @RoundupNews

The Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) education plan makes it difficult for a student to transfer to a UC or CSU because students can lose interest in college.

The current IGETC plan either shouldn’t be required for students to follow or needs to be hugely reworked. The IGETC plan has seven areas that contain a whole mess of courses students need to not only take, but pass with a satisfactory letter grade.

Area 5A is the “Physical Science” section in the IGETC plan and it contains Astronomy, Chemistry, Oceanography, and other physical science courses. For instance, if a student is an English major and took a chemistry course, does the student really need to know the elements of the periodic table? This can lead to the student to not be interested in the course and the student is taking the course in order to transfer.

at school is not interesting. It’s a waste of time and money for students who take unnecessary classes they don’t need.

Rather than an English major taking physical science courses, the student should instead take courses that support their major.

Instead of chemistry, a student could take more writing classes such as journalism or philosophy.

Sure, there are areas that contain English and writing classes, but why not just replace all the unnecessary courses with classes that aid the student’s major? This would help boost interest in students.

They would be taking classes they enjoy and need for their major. According to Scholarships.com, the first main tip for passing college classes is to “take classes you’re interested in.” Students take classes in high school and some of the courses are similar to the IGETC plan.

When students are not interested in a class, they lose motivation and the desire to learn. This can lead students to fail the class, then not completing the IGETC plan and finally not even being able to transfer and complete their major.

According to The Brown Daily Herald, a student survey was taken and shows “38 percent of students drop their courses because the course is not relevant long-term.”.

If the current IGETC plan stays active, then more and more students will be taking irrelevant courses. Some students may never be able to transfer just because unnecessary courses exist in the IGETC plan.

The IGETC plan can be reworked by just by removing courses that students don’t need and instead make students take courses that are similar to their college major so students can enjoy the courses they are taking. The required units to transfer should still be 60 units, but those 60 units of classes should be specified courses for the student’s pathway. nherring.roundupnews@gmail.com

According to livescience.com, 75 percent of students reported that they are bored at school because the material being taught

Advisers:

*

According to the AP Students website, the high school AP Chemistry course shares identical ideas and science practices to the “Chemistry 101” (General Chemistry I) course at Pierce College.

is presented only in the editorials. Cartoons and photos, unless run under the editorial masthead, and columns are the opinions of the creators and not necessarily that of the Roundup. The college newspaper is published as a learning experience

under the college journalism instructional program. The editorial and advertising materials published herein, including any opinions expressed, are the responsibility of the student newspaper staff. Under appropriate state and federal court 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.

Illustration by Melissa Di Tommaso / Roundup

Wellness fair hopes to prevent future health scares

Students get a comprehensive look at how to properly care for their bodies from professionals

JACKSON HAYANO Reporter @hayanojackson

Taking care of your body is important. But to take care of your body, you need to know what areas of health might need improving.

Pierce held its annual Student & Health Wellness Fair on Wednesday, which featured 14 booths dedicated to covering mental or physical health. At each booth, students could participate in different tests and exercises.

One booth, dedicated to lung health, had real pig lungs on display. One lung was healthy, and another was dark black. Each lung would inflate, showing how a healthy lung and a non-healthy one differs in pace and pumping.

Dani Brown, an intern from California State University, Northridge, said that the display shows students the damage that smoke can do to lungs.

“We show them the nonsmoking pig lung versus the smoking one. They’re

really intrigued at the stark difference,” Brown said.

“We’re talking to [students] about prevention that way this

doesn’t happen to their lungs.”

There was a wide variety of tests that students could get, such a blood-pressure readings, eyesight

tests, and nutritional advice based on a students Body Mass Index.

Rudy Alvarado, another intern from CSUN, said that their goal was to raise awareness to the damage that any kind of smoking will do to the lungs.

“Any smoking in general is going to be bad for you. Even second-hand smoke is bad for you and you’re not even inhaling the smoke,” Alvarado said.

Tiffany Gale, a nursing major, was intrigued by the display.

“I think watching the lungs inflate was kind of cool,” Gale said. “It was gross and awesome at the same time.”

Another booth was dedicated towards mental health. Naysan Malakouti, one of the postdoctoral interns who works at the Student Health Center, said that he hopes more students can become aware of the support that is being offered at Pierce.

“I know a lot of students here don’t even know that we exist,” Malakouti said. “It’s important to know that there’s support for anything students are going through. Knowing that they

have this additional support outside of their family and friends is a good thing to have.”

Brance Grace, a humanbehavior science major, said that he learned a lot by attending this event.

“[The event] helped me focus on my health, and on how to change myself and my life,” Grace said. “It was a very educational experience. I enjoyed every bit of it.”

Steven Tan, a psychology major, said that he was going to start improving his health after taking a blood-pressure test.

“I found out that I have high blood pressure,” Tan said. “But I can improve [my health] now that I know all this.”

Adriana Flores, an undeclared major, was glad that she came to this event.

“I got to see my BMI, and got my blood sugar and blood pressure checked,” Flores said. “Some people don’t go to the doctor to get this stuff checked, so I think this event is very important.”

jhayano.roundup@gmail.com

Financial aid obstacles affect thousands of students

Academic Senate addresses verification problems with the FAFSA application process

said that one of his priorities is making sure that students’ financial paperwork is in order.

Rundown Brahma Blotter

Thousands of students are unable to enroll in classes due to administrative hurdles in the financial aid process, which may cause some students to leave school before finishing.

The Student Verification and Los Angeles Promise application processes for financial aid can be confusing. Students are unable to enroll for classes while waiting to be verified to receive financial aid, according to Senate Treasurer Angela Belden.

Vice President of Student Services Earic Dixon-Peters

Dixon-Peters said that around 70 percent of students that owe fees do not return to Pierce College.

Pierce College Academic Senate leaders addressed these issues with the financial aid process at the Academic Senate meeting on Wednesday, March 25.

According to Belden, students who are selected for verification are often already disadvantaged.

“The federal government selects them for verification, which creates another barrier or hurdle for them that they have to then prove some of the information that they provided on their FAFSA,” Belden said.

Dixon-Peters explained that less than half of FAFSA applicants actually enroll in classes at Pierce College.

“We got about 17,000 applications from FAFSA saying that this student indicated that they are interested in coming to Pierce and applying for Financial Aid,” Dixon-Peters said.” Of that 17,000 we only get about 9,000 that are applying to Pierce College and of that 9,000 it would probably go down to about 7,000 that are actually enrolled.”

Dixon-Peters said that a lot of resources are already being allocated to address this problem.

“For those who have an incomplete application, we have a team of people calling them

on the phone, making direct contact,” Dixon-Peters said.

According to Belden the issue is a district-wide problem.

“The district itself is woefully behind and we are still verifying now, in the spring semester, people from the fall semester, which means they didn't get their financial aid disbursement in the fall,” Belden said. “They haven't gotten a financial aid disbursement in the spring, and we're not talking about a few handfuls of students. We're talking about thousands and thousands of students at Pierce College, even tens of thousands.”

When Belden asked what the district is doing to solve this problem

Dixon-Peters responded, “I’m not worried

GINA WONG Reporter @ginabwong99

The concern over the wellbeing of Pierce College students has been a determining factor in making sure the students feel like they are taken care of properly. This ranges from feeding hungry students with the food pantry to looking ahead in the vision for success.

The possible development of a Student Wellness Committee based on the needs of student economic security was discussed at the Pierce College Council meeting Thursday.

Chair of PCC Brian Walsh said he wants to create a committee with council members that can provide assistance to students who struggle with food insecurity, homelessness and health care.

The concept of having a food pantry not just because the state told us to have one, but to benefit the students was one of the first steps that Pierce thought was good, according to Walsh.

“I don’t want to have an improvisational approach,” Walsh said. “It would be good if this committee had in its charter as a part of its mandate to seek outside partnerships with non-profits. That’s something we could do.”

Chair of Modern Languages Department Fernando Oleas provided statistics based on a survey of the nine colleges which includes 230,000 plus students in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).

“62.7 percent of students surveyed experience food insecurity, while 38.3 percent cite very low food insecurity, 55 percent experience some form of housing and 18.6 percent experienced homelessness,” Oleas said.

Oleas said he is in support of forming a task force committee that accommodates the student’s needs.

“If students are hungry in class you can’t concentrate and some students who leave may have a place to sleep and others that don’t is a definite problem,” Oleas said. “So, if we really want to help our students concentrate

about the district. I’m worried about Pierce College directly.”

LA Promise students are also having difficulties with the financial aid portion of the application process, according to Distance Education Coordinator Wendy Bass.

“I have a high school-age student and all his friends’ parents are calling me. I can't even find a breakdown on the website to give them accurate information, especially about the LA promise,” Bass said.

Bass urged the committee to find a solution to this problem.

“The website still says May 1 is the deadline, so we've got to find a way to get those students the accurate information,” Bass said.

jbertel.roundupnews@gmail.com

on education and become active members in our society and move forward in a positive way, we need to do something about this.”

Vice President of Student Services Earic Dixon-Peters said when looking at success rates some students who are coming here to finish their education are not staying on the path and struggles with food issues and housing are part of the reason.

“Some students say ‘I got sick or I don’t have money,” DixonPeters said. “I think having a task force will help us identify some strategies and or ideas that students are experiencing such as why are they successful and why are they not. Then this task force can make recommendations to the cause.”

Walsh said these issues should be broadened under the whole concept of economic support.

“I mean it’s like you can take classes here, but if you don’t have a home and food security it’s challenging,” Walsh said. “So, these concerns are now becoming a part of our mission, whether we like it or not.”

Dean of Institutional Effectiveness Amari Williams brought up the visions for success goals that are hoped to be achieved by 2022 will head to the Senate for approval in April.

“The first goal is that over five years, they hope to see an increase by at least 20 percent of the number of California Community College students who acquire associate degrees, credentials, certificates, or specific skill sets that prepare them for an indemand job,” Williams said.

However, Admissions and Records Assistant Miguel Montanez said this means an increase in the number of educational counselors to accommodate the increase of students receiving degrees to complete their educational goals.

“More staff is going to be needed at the counseling and graduation offices along with more guided pathways coordinators and CTE counselors,” Montanez said.

Reported by: Sofi Matzaganian

Alexandra Rose Klivans/Roundup

Nicole Alfaro and ASO VP Dominic Le Fort try Zumba at the Health and Wellnes Fair in the Great Hall at Pierce College Woodland Hills, Calif. on Mar 20, 2019.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION by Danielle Padilla/ Roundup

The Pierce College Council discussed creating a Student Wellness Committee for students with food and shelter insecurities.

I think, therefore I race

Chairperson of ethics committee helps students race for academic success

HARLEY DAVIS Reporter @ht_davis

Cold weather may not be ideal for bike racing, but it can provide time to slow down and think.

Cara Gillis did plenty of thinking in her snowy hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick, and realized that not only did she enjoy deep thought, but she appreciated that a warmer climate would allow her to continue competitive cycling.

While the bike has been put away since 2012 after a race across the country and having a child, but Gillis keeps exercising her mind as the chair of Philosophy department at Pierce College.

“I’m from a small town in the northeast of Canada,” Gillis said. “You walk everywhere, or ski in the winter everywhere. It’s just a much slower pace of life, compared to Los Angeles. I’m sure there are a lot of places in America that are more small town.”

Before she studied philosophy, Gillis was a biology major in Canada, where the collegiate program at universities is a little different.

“There’s not the same GE [general education] thing that happens,” Gillis said. “I was a biology major and in my first year I had one elective, otherwise they were all biology classes, so I took philosophy.”

Gillis found an internal connection to philosophy, although there were also some interesting classroom activities according to her.

“The professor was juggling at breaks and brought his dog to class,”

Gillis said. “But then the way you question things in Philosophy just clicked in my brain. I would take exams and I would read the question and I would start thinking, ‘Why would they ask the question this

way?’ instead of just trying to write down the answer to a question. So when I saw philosophy in this elective that I just happened to take, I realized that this was how my brain works.”

Gillis felt that her parents would not approve of her changing majors as they were adept in the sciences.

“I switched my major but I didn’t tell my parents for a long time, they weren’t going to be happy,” Gillis said. “They were both science people, and they were kind of engineers. Math really wasn’t my forte, so they weren’t pressuring me down that road, but they really

wanted me to do something science related.”

When she moved here in 2001, Gillis applied to California State University, Long Beach and continued to race while in school.

“I needed a student visa so I applied to Cal State Long Beach at the last minute,” Gillis said. “I knew I wanted a Ph.D. in philosophy, so I did a masters at Cal State Long Beach and then applied to UC Irvine and I raced bikes up until 2012, so even after I was working here I was still racing a full schedule.”

Gillis stopped racing after her pair race in the Race Across America in

Survival of the fittest

Former scoutmaster’s journey to becoming a professor

BELEN HERNANDEZ

Reporter @b3l3nh3rnand3z

For many in the academic field, becoming a professor usually starts in grade school, but for others it can start with a passion for both education and survival.

For English Professor Larry Krikorian, this was just the case.

Before becoming a professor, Krikorian joined the Eagle Scouts in 1967 where he went from cub scout to Scoutmaster. Krikorian’s father, Kirk Krikorian, believed that he should know how to survive if they everywhere to be stranded or lost.

“He thought education is good, but he wanted me to go in the boy scouts so I would learn to do outdoor things that are practical,” Krikorian said.

Before then, Krikorian’s father was a sergeant during World War II.

“He was the top enlisted man. He was a five stripes sergeant and the enlisted men answered to him,” Krikorian said.

Krikorian has many memories of his father’s war stories and the people he met along the way.

“My favorite memory of him was when he would talk about these young guys. He would tell me things when I was a little boy like ‘I used to go to town with those guys’,” Krikorian said. “‘We had a lot of fun and they would write me letters after the war.’ What I

think they wanted was to come to California and work for him. He was never a big shot and he couldn’t give them a job”

Later on in life, Krikorian was able to buy an exact replica of his father’s bomber jacket and even got his father’s patch sewed onto

-Larry

the jacket.

Before teaching at Pierce, Krikorian was a double major in both math and English. He originally was going to do both but a particular math class made him rethink his future.

“I was a math and English major and I went with both until I was a junior. Then one day I was in this really hard calculus class called real analysis,” Krikorian said. “ It’s senior level math and I just thought I can do this. I’m getting As in it, but I don’t like it. I chose reading. I tried to go with what I thought I would be better at.”

After heading over to a roommates house and not getting the job at East Los Angeles College,

Krikorian was surprised to find out he had gotten an invitation to interview at Pierce College.

“I stopped off at this guy’s house in San Dimas. I had rented a room from him and I wasn’t living there anymore. He goes ‘It’s funny you stopped because you got a letter.’ I open it and it’s an invitation to a job interview,” Krikorian said. “I had a summer job. I just begged my boss, ‘Can I just go to this interview? I may get a real job,’ and he said alright. I interviewed on Monday and got the job.”

Now at Pierce, Krikorian loves to teach his students skills they will be able to use out in the real world.

“I think my favorite thing about my students is helping them down the road to get better jobs. Because if you can’t write very well and you don’t know how to read as an adult level you might be held back from promotions,” Krikorian said.

Donna Accardo, a fellow English professor, said that Krikorian has such a strong love and passion for reading.

“Whenever you speak with Larry, it is obvious he has passion for literature. He thinks reading literature is the best way to teach students how to write well and I agree,” Accardo said.

Aside from that, Accardo also says that he has positively impacted the department.

“I think he has always been very generous with his time with newer faculty, he is also opened to helping his colleagues to have the best environment possible,” Accardo said.

English Professor Darren Borg believes that Kirkorian having open availability is what makes him a good professor

“He is not considered an ‘easy A,’ but if students are willing to seek extra help, he is available to them,” Borg said. “His office hours are regularly filled with students who want to become better writers.”

Borg said Krikorian possesses qualities that make him stand out within the department.

“Larry’s best qualities are his sincerity, his love of literature and his courage to speak his mind, even when he may not be the popular opinion,” Borg said.

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2012 to have a child, but still wants to compete in future races.

“I reproduced in 2013 and 2015 so I stopped for that, but now im training again,” Gillis said. “I’m training for the race across America in 2020. I did it in 2012 as a two person team but now I’m doing it solo which is going to be a lot of work.”

Gillis describes how she became an instructor at Pierce.

“I was doing my Ph.D. and my funding was running out because I was racing bikes a lot,” Gillis said. “I saw that there was a job opening here and I applied and got it. I

had my interview and as soon as I finished my interview I had to drive to a bike race.”

Evan Weissman who is currently taking his second class with Ghillis, describes how she keeps her students engaged.

“She does encourage people to participate,” Weissman said. “If they don’t, she’ll do an exercise where she doesn’t pay attention basically forces people to participate so she can’t see who’s raising their hand or who’s not, so it kind of just encourages people to get their voice out there one way or another.”

Philosophy Club President Harut

Tatulyan describes has Gillis takes notice of what students tell her, and wants them to foster deeper thoughts by getting them to ask themselves questions.

“You could always look forward to whatever you talk about,” Tatulyan said. “It’s not going to be one of those things where, you know a lot of professors sometimes you discuss things with them and they’ll just nod and just agree with what you’re saying but Cara wants to try to make you think ‘is this really how you should be thinking about something? Is there more to this topic than your side of the story?’ So she is almost like this philosopher like Socrates who’s asking you, ‘Well what about this?’ She really fulfills that philosopher ideal.” Tatulyan spoke about their future aspirations for transferring, and how professor Gillis was very active in advising them. Tatulyan even went so far as to characterize Gillis as more of a life coach, always ready to discuss a wide range of topics beyond academic success.

“Yeah I don’t always talk with her about academics,” Tatulyan said. “We talk about how to be successful in life, [and] I think as a philosophy major and a philosophy professor there’s a lot to discuss to that end.”

Professor Gillis is also the chairperson of the Ethics Committee on campus, and goes into detail about what it entails.

“Our function is to provide guidance to faculty about situations that might be tricky,” Gillis said. “We have this thing called the faculty code of ethics that basically gives a lot of guidelines on how to navigate those trickier situations, and then when issues come up or there’s a question about what they should do we try and offer some clarification from the perspective of that code of ethics.”

Manny De La Paz / Roundup

Larry Kirkorian holds a WWII photo of his father Krikor George Krikorian at his office in Woodland Hills Calif Mar. 13, 2019.

“I think my favorite thing about my students is helping them down the road to get better jobs.”

Krikorian English Professor

Nick Martinez / Roundup

Cara Gillis holds photos of her bicycle racing in her office at Pierce College in Woodland Hills Calif Mar. 13, 2019. Gillis is a philosophy professor.

'Ex Machina' kicks off festival

Movie screening showcases women empowerment

SUSAN LOPEZ Reporter @RoundupNews

Over the last decades, the role of women in film has slowly changed from the typical protagonist such as a damsel in distress to women with stronger characters capable of taking over the world.

The Department of English and Philosophy presented their film festival with a new series called “Futuristic Women and The Future of Women in Film” this Tuesday, March 19 at the Great Hall focusing on modern cinema and sci-fi followed by panel discussions about the film.

The first movie of this series is titled “Ex Machina,” a film directed by Domhnall Gleeson, which is about a programmer at a huge internet company that is chosen to test a female robot (AI) and it slowly shows to be far more intelligent and persuasive than expected.

After the screening, Pierce professors from the English, Philosophy and Cinema department joined the panel to answer the students' questions about the film.

English professor Brad Saenz mentioned that it was not intentional to choose all sci-fi films for this series but the female roles depicted

in this specific genre was vast.

“Initially, we wanted to do a series of women in film and it was to talk about how the portrayal of women has changed over the decades of cinema,” Saenz said.

Some of the questions that emerged about the film were about the current status of women in film and the way they are portrayed and how their spectrum in films compared to a male protagonist is significantly short.

“Females are still sexualized in film,” Saenz said. “ You’re still going to get a little bit of objectification of a female protagonist today. You have men

that are in their 50s or their 60s and they still play action characters, which you will never get that on the female side. Women are held up to a higher unrealistic standard of beauty than men are not.”

Each semester the department of English and Philosophy partner up to create a new theme for films and one of the goals of this interdisciplinary event is to inspire students to build a sense of community on campus.

“Students should come first to interact with teachers, said Saenz. “Is a good way for them to have a more casual environment to network with their professors

and it’s not in the classroom.”

Philosophy professor Melanie McQuitty mentioned that these type of events also provides students the opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills and be able to create their own opinions about a specific subject such as women in film.

“A lot is about thinking creatively, independently, and critically,” said McQuitty. “ And we want to get students asking questions and analyzing ideas in films so we try to choose topics that are engaging.”

Brittanie Brown, one of the students who attended the screening, commented about the difference between male and female roles.

“I felt like this film was meant to deceive people,” said Brown. “People are less intimidated by women than they are by men so why not make an AI that is a woman. Every time that there has been a man AI, they dominate. They want to take over the world. Women are less antagonizing and softer and programmed with those capabilities so she won’t try to take over the world.”

The second part of the film festival is set for April 23 at the The Great Hall presenting Mad Max Fury Road, which will follow the same program

"I'mgonnajam.I'mprobably justgoingtohangoutinthe backyard.Ialsocompeteas anamateurfighter.Soforthe mostpart,Igottatrainand gotothegym."

Chelsea Westman/ Roundup

Students watch the movie screening of 'Ex Machina' in the Great Hall at Pierce College on Mar. 19, in Woodland Hills, Calif.

Going Above and Beyond the Botany

People pay tremendous amounts of money to find or visit the most beautiful places. What some people don’t know is that they can find majestic sights in the middle of Pierce College.

The Botanical Garden is where different types of wildlife reside, from plants to animals such as bunnies, turtles and birds. Students can get away from busy school life or work by straying off the red brick road that is the Mall to the peacefulness that is the Botanical Garden.

Photos by Christopher Torres, Katya Castillo, Alexis Canelo and Chelsea Westman

Copy by Angeli ca Lopez

Right: Luis Vazquez, a psychology major, takes a knee to look at the turtle at the pond in the Botanical Garden at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 25, 2019. Photo by Christopher Torres.

Rivals get bragging rights

Monarchs beat the Brahmas in blowout

NYSHEKA HERRING Reporter @roundupnews

The Brahmas were defeated by a score of 15-1 against Los Angeles Valley College at Monarch Field in Van Nuys on Saturday, March 23. With the loss, the Brahmas record drops to 6-14, including 2-7 in conference.

Barrett Vonderau started on the mound for the Brahmas, which was his second start of the season. The game was scoreless for the first two innings until a triple and sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning put Valley up by three runs heading into the fourth inning.

“We didn’t play good today, obviously,” Head Coach Bill Picketts said. “We’ve been playing a little bit better, but we just have a lot of inexperience and every little mistake that we make tends to get capitalized on by the other team.”

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Valley hit a three-run home run to extend their lead to six.

In the fifth inning, Vonderau was taken out of the game after being hit on a comebacker. After the game, he said he was alright. He pitched four ⅔ innings and allowed seven runs, but only four were earned runs.

“I didn’t execute a few pitches, as well as a few timely hits, and I just didn’t help my team win,” Vonderau said. “For the next game, I’m going to keep the ball the down.”

Leon Jackson took over on the mound for the Brahmas to try and get the final out of

the inning. He didn’t allow any earned runs in the fifth but another run scored on a throwing error from catcher Zach Kamnikow. In the sixth inning, Valley scored four more runs to push their lead to 11 runs.

In the top of the seventh, the Brahmas offense manufactured their only run of the game after Johnathan Lavallee was hit by a pitch and Ryan Sandberg tripled.

“I barely even remember what

happened, but I believe it was the first pitch or second pitch and I just switched from using a 34 [inch] to a 33 [inch] bat to help my swing a little bit,” Sandberg said.

Jackson Briscoe pitched the bottom of the seventh for the Brahmas, allowing only one run to score, which came on a wild pitch.

Daniel Tobias relieved Briscoe to start the eighth inning and Valley was able to add three more runs to make the score to 15-1.

After the game, Picketts said

Loungin' around Athletes get spot to interact

GEORGE APIKYAN Reporter @ApikyanGeorge

Changes are coming to athetics as athletes will have another option to make sure they are on the course of remaining eligible.

Carlos Woods, the head coach for football, wants to make a lounge a reality so that student athletes can have a space for down time while they juggle their classes and compete.

“People don’t realize that when you’re a student athlete, you have an extra component added into your life. You have so many obligations that you are responsible for and anything I can do to help them relieve some of that stress, that’s what it’s all about,” Woods said.

Woods said he thinks the new lounge should be located by the field house.

“It is a multi-purpose room, we will be able to have meetings there, study halls, and we also have games like chess to keep them engaged if they want. It’s their own little area where they can just decompress for a minute,” Woods said.

have coaches on staff that are professional barbers and they want to donate their time and energy to keep the guys looking good,” Woods said.

Coach Aaron Thaler sees this as an opportunity to give the student athletes the rest they need to perform at their best.

“I think it is a great outlet for our players to come before practice and just hang out and get peace of mind before a game,” Thaler said.

Nolan Bodeau from the baseball team is looking forward to the implementation of a new lounge.

“That would be awesome, sometimes the internet sucks in the library [laughs], so if we had a nice little hang out spot that would be nice. We do not have a a clubhouse here for the baseball players either, so it would be nice to have somewhere to go and get my work done,” Bodeau said.

Bodeau said that he gets his assignments done before the team meets.

the team is trending the right way, even if the score doesn’t reflect it.

“We’re trying to move in the right direction. We’re really young and inexperienced and everything that we do, even if it doesn't look positive on the scoreboard over there, we're ready to move on to the next level at some point in time,” Picketts said.

The Brahmas’ next game will be against the West L.A. College Wildcats at 2:30 p.m.

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The lounge will be open when there is a staff member able to supervise.

“It has to fit in our time schedule and our availability of non practice hours, so these are things we need to factor in for the launch date as well,” Woods said.

The new lounge is also going serve a purpose of giving free haircuts to athletes.

“There is a small part that is vacated in the room. We

I usually have time after class to go do my homework in my car before practice, so to have somewhere to go do it would be awesome. It would be nice for the other teams to meet each other, since we have practice at different time,” Bodeau said.

The student athlete lounge is not open yet but it is being worked on.

“It really depends, there is no set date, some things took priority over this but since we are off season, we can go back in there and organize it to get it to the way we want to,” Woods said.

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Volleyball sheds a pair

Champions lose to Moorpark and Long Beach

FELIPE GAMINO Sports Editor

@fgamino13

Attacking and serving errors proved vital for the champions not to win their games against the Moorpark College Raiders and the Long Beach City College Vikings. With the two losses, the Brahmas dropped to 3-8 in the season and 1-6 in conference play.

For the Raiders game, Pierce showed fight in the first two sets even though they lost the first 25-17 and the second 25-21.

Moorpark wrapped things up in the third winning it 25-14.

Brett Norkus said injuries and missing players affected the team.

“One of our teammates was injured and our starting setter had food poisoning for the game against

Long Beach,” Norkus said. We hope for the next games we have more players coming back.”

Grant Degrasse said the Raiders had a deep lineup.

“Moorpark is a physical team and they took it to us in the serving and every aspect of the game. The moral was still thereand we are trying to find that nitch even though we are in the middle of the season,” DeGrasse said.

For both games, head coach Edison Zhou and Lance Walker were not on the sidelines. Coach Joe Arechiga took over coaching duties.

Things continued to go downhill as they lose to the Long Beach City College Vikings in straight sets (2514, 25-11 and 25-16).

Pierce only scored the first point in the second set. In the other two LBCC took the lead.

Even though the Brahmas would respond, Long Beach would take commanding leads.

LBCC’s Kyle Anema had four straight service aces giving the Vikings a 5-1 lead.

DeGrasse led the Brahmas with 11 kills, one more than LBCC's Miller Davis.

Daniel Grogan, libero, led Pierce in assists with 16 having three more than Long Beach’s Joseph Rocha.

“We could have improved a lot in these two games. For the games coming up against Antelope Valley and Santa Barbara we have to show that we are a different team,” Grogan said.

The Brahmas return to the court Wednesday when they host Antelope Valley College at 6 p.m.

Blake Williams/ Roundup

Hakeem Yatim hitting against Los Angeles Valley College at Monarch Field in Van Nuys, Calif. on March 23, 2019.

Men's Volleyball Baseball

Setting up for continued success

Freshman tries to fill the role of a giant on the court

AMIR MALEKPOUR Reporter @MalekpourAmir

It’s never easy to be a newcomer, especially when you’re replacing a star. Gene Kim, high school all-star setter, has been chosen to replace state champion Bernardo Roese. Going into the season now playing for the Brahmas, Kim said he was made aware of the added pressure to fill Roese’s role.

“There was a lot of pressure because I’ve seen Bernardo play,” Kim said. “I’ve been going to the Pierce open gyms since I was a junior in high school and watching Bernardo play is ridiculous. He’s Brazilian, easily 6 foot 5… he’s just a gnarly dude.”

Kim said his youthful love is what drew him to play later in his educational career.

"I was always in awe of volleyball from a young age. It was playing with my dad growing up that really got me into it,” Kim said. “I played for Crescenta Valley High School all four years. I became captain my senior year of the varsity team and was setting all four years.”

His high school was ranked nationally in the top five hundred and ranked in the top two hundred statewide, but Gene asserts that it culminated in his junior year when his high school ranked

Records

(as of 3/25)

fifteenth nationally. He was selected alongside his fellow Crescenta Valley High School teammate to participate in the seventh annual San Gabriel Valley Boys’ Volleyball All-Star

Match. A game in which the best of the best in the public schools and private schools within the area compete in volleyball as a charity event.

Teammate Daniel Grogan

Brahma of the Week

Daniel Grogan

How do you rate your performance last week?

“The Long Beach game I had a better outing than against Moorpark. I felt that I have improved this season and look to continue to do that in the remaining games.”

What do you think you can improve on?

I want to make sure that I don’t get stuck in a pocket where feel we are doing bad and that is something I can improve on.”

If you weren’t playing volleyball, what sport would you play?

“I would only play volleyball. Also I’m a huge fan of beach volleyball.”

Plans after Pierce?

“Go to a four-year and keep playing volleyball.”

How do you want your coaches and teammates to remember you ?

“Always by my work ethic.”

Brahmas Scoreboard

Softball Tennis

expects Kim to fill in nicely for the Brahmas.

"Bernardo took us to State Championships last semester so Gene's got big shoes to fill, but I've got high hopes for him,”

Grogan said.

Kim explained how helpful his team has been to him during the transition from high school to replacing a championship setter.

“My team has helped me so much in terms of reaching that level of play that Bernardo had,” Kim said. “While I may not have the same physical traits as him, 6 foot 5, thick limbs and everything, they really helped me get the spirit of Bernard. A leader; Someone who could rally the team, someone that could bring them back from being down, and someone that could get them hyped.”

His teammates also helped him understand what it means to be a leader.

“They helped me understand that sometimes you just gotta suck it up, be able to be there for your teammates, be really selfless, and truly appreciate that,” Kim said. “Bernardo was there for his teammates. He was there to hype them up. He was there to give them a set, despite what the past may have looked like. That’s what I try to aspire to be.”

Kim said that he hadn’t reached Bernardo’s mentality until a month ago, attributing it to the vast amount of pressure that comes with adjusting to playing college volleyball.

“College volleyball is definitely

a different mentality,” Kim said. “You have to go for every ball. You have to drop for everything. It’s definitely different.”

Outside and opposite hitter Arman Soltanzadeh said Kim has found a good balance managing his athletic and academic lives.

"He's a great setter. For getting out of high school, he's doing great considering how hard is major is. He splits his time well between class and practice,” Soltanzadeh said. Head coach Edison Zhou talked about the role Kim is taking for the team.

“So far Gene has been good. He's our main setter and he's getting a lot better. He's becoming a leader,” Zhou said.

Even with a 45 minute to an hour drive, Kim said he decided to come to Pierce partly because it’s one of the few schools in the area with a men’s volleyball team. He was also looking for a top program and he found that here.

“There’s two Crescenta Valley alumni that played on the Pierce team here. Now they’re playing D1 in Concordia. That was definitely one deciding factor,” Kim said. “I wanted to choose a school with a team that had a decorated program so all roads lead me here.”

Blake Williams/ Roundup

Setter Gene Kim tosses up a volleyball at Pierce College's Ken Stanley Court in Woodland Hills, Calif. on March 7, 2019.