Volume 130 Spring 2019 Roundup Issue 7

Hate symbol on display

Protester uses a sign with swastika alongside a photo of

Groucho Marx once said that “politics is the art of looking for trouble.”

That seemed to be the case on March 27, when a student showed up with a controversial political sign and then had it thrown into a trash can against his will.

Pierce’s Political Science Society held an event to discuss Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s controversial tweets about Israel.

Jason Aula said he is a conservative Republican who attended the event to display opposition towards Omar.

“I was there to condemn Congresswoman Omar because I don’t agree with a single word that she says,” Aula said. “I wanted to go there and oppose her peacefully.”

Aula brought along a handmade sign that featured a picture of congresswoman Omar and a swastika near her face.

Aula explained that his sign was meant to condemn congresswoman Omar and her policies.

“She’s blaming Islamic countries problems on Jewish folks, which is what the Nazis did,” Aula said. “In my view, congresswoman Omar is acting like a Nazi, and that’s what the sign is about.”

Aula claims that his sign was misinterpreted and that some people seemed to think that he was being pro-Nazi.

“I’m a person of color. I don’t

support Nazis,” Aula said. “I know it’s a controversial sign, but I’m a creative person and I thought that it was a creative way of expressing

my view.”

When Aula arrived at the doorway, he noticed that the discussion had already begun

and decided to wait outside of the classroom rather than go in.

“I didn’t go into the classroom because I had arrived late and

I thought that it’d be rude to just come in,” Aula said. “I didn’t want to walk in on someone speaking, so I chose to stay by the doorway

and listen and express myself with my sign.”

As Aula stood outside, participants inside the classroom noticed his sign and some took offense to it.

One student walked outside and threw Aula’s sign into a trash can.

Aula was startled by the incident and said he felt threatened by the act.

“It was alarming that I was subject to that kind of treatment when I’m just a student seeking to participate in the event like everyone else,” Aula said. “It made me uncomfortable.”

Aula admits that the sign was controversial, but that he does not think this should serve as an excuse to justify violent behavior.

“It’s a First Amendment right,” Aula said. “You can’t destroy someone’s property just because you disagree with it.”

Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls 28 years ago won their first title against the Los Angeles Lakers to start a dynasty like no other.

That same year, athletic trainer Leonard Ramirez began his career at Pierce College.

Almost three decades later, Michael Jordan is long retired, while Ramirez still finds fulfillment in his work.

“I can say it has been rewarding and it's definitely a job that I enjoy coming to. I think that maybe some people go to work and they don't like their job and they just want to get out of it and for 28 years I've never thought that,” Ramirez said.

In 2016, Ramirez was inducted into the Pierce College Athletic Hall of Fame. He was enshrined along with head soccer coach Adolfo Perez, former athletic director Bob Lofrano, umpire Jim Wolf just to name a few of the inductees.

When asked about this accomplishment Ramirez was humbled and thankful for the recognition.

“It tells me that some people at least recognize what I’ve done. I mean, it beats a five year pin or a 10 year pan or a 15 year pin saying, oh, thank you for your service. Whereas doing something like this, people actually in the community recognize you for what you've done,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said the job took up much of his time when he first started.

“My first three or four years, I was working seven days a week during the fall. Because you'd work Monday through Friday, you have football on Saturday and then the bumps and bruises from the game on Sunday,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said all unexpected injury led him to athletic training.

“Well I was first interested in physical therapy, but then when I was going to junior college I got hurt running cross country and track, so I went and saw their athletic trainer and that's where I got interested in rehab for athletes,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez works alongside Rob Horowitz who was an athletic trainer at Los Angeles City College for 20 years. He is entering his 5th year working at Pierce.

Horowitz said the two have a great bond and that carries over to their work.

“Our athletes refer to us as the odd couple, so it's always, always something going on,” Horowitz said. “It's always an adventure with Lenny. It's just funny, we play off each other's jokes real well and we work as a pretty good team. While I usually take care of the more practical side of things, he's a better pencil pusher than I am, without a doubt.”

Student Aliaksnandre Rudzko has been positively impacted by Ramirez’s influence.

“He’s an energetic person that inspires me to do well every day. And he’s also very passionate about work, when I was messing up and making mistakes he would nicely correct me without yelling, which is very important for me,” Rudzko said.

Ramirez plans on quietly going about his work and when it’s time, he wants to enter retirement.

“I've done everything I've needed to do in this field at the college level, at the high school level. I started out with working professional and college camps,” Ramirez said. “I think I've done everything, and so I think these next three or four years, I just want to do my job and when it's time to go, it's time to go,” Ramirez said.

destroy someone’s property just because you disagree with it.”

-Jason Aula Student protester

the desk of the Roundup: Editorial

The anti-vax movement is now one of the top threats to global health as outbreaks of preventable diseases are increasing around the world, including in California, according to the World Health Organization. According to the Student Health Center on the school’s website, “Pierce College does not require vaccinations to enroll; however, some programs may require certain immunizations.”

This is a problem with a simple fix. Pierce should not let students enroll in classes without proof of immunizations unless they have a medical reason that prevents them from it.

In late 2014, 110 cases of measles broke out in California, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). This outbreak, although seemingly small, was a significant increase

for a preventable disease. Of those 110 cases, 49 of them were unvaccinated people, 12 were under-vaccinated, and two were known to be vaccinated.

The outbreak spread to affect students at California State University, Channel Islands and California State University, Los Angeles.

Following this, the CSUs and UCs started to require students to show proof of vaccination against, at minimum, measles and rubella. Some of them require even more for students to enroll.

The Los Angeles Community College District has yet to follow with its own vaccination policy.

With some people choosing not to vaccinate, the herd immunity that protects the people who can’t vaccinate is being weakened. Herd immunity stops diseases from spreading by limiting the number of people it could affect, which means fewer

people would be able to carry it. This also could benefit students just by making them check their vaccination history. The number of unvaccinated children is rising in the United States, according to a study from the CDC.

According to the same CDC report, the number of kids who were not vaccinated in 2001 was 0.3 percent. In 2015, the number grew to 1.3 percent.

While that may seem like a small number, that is more than one person per 100 people. Pierce currently has over 17,000 enrolled students. That would average to 221 people, which is more than enough to spread a deadly disease around the campus.

It would also be easy to say the report is focused on the youth who aren’t students here now, but they will be in here the future, and the college should take the steps to protect the students before a problem occurs.

An argument against requiring them is it could interfere with religious freedom. The counter to that is these diseases are too dangerous to risk an outbreak. There are many private universities who don’t require them, so students against vaccines could go to those.

Pierce should implement this by making new students show their vaccination history before they begin to enroll in classes. Current students should have until the drop date to show their vaccination history.

Since the Student Health Center already offers affordable vaccines to registered students, everyone who needs them would have access. For students with a tight budget, the college could help cover the cost.

According to the CDC, the measles, mumps, and rubella

Should there be more Summer/Winter classes?

vaccination protects people for life, so students wouldn’t have to worry about keeping up with it after the first time. The rise of the anti-vax movement is causing deaths in the United States. Between 50,000 to 90,000 adults die every year from preventable diseases, according to the Alliance for Aging Research. Even one death from a disease we can prevent is too many.

Pierce should not wait for it to cause problems on campus because the college owes its students safety from all forms of danger. Vaccines need to be required to enroll in classes at Pierce and should be enforced in other community colleges around the state of California.

Pro: Abundant courses for success Con: Academic stability is the key

JUSTIN MIRANDA Reporter @RoundupNews

More classes should be added to Pierce College during the winter and summer sessions because it helps students transfer and graduate faster, gives more flexibility, saves money, and keeps students’ brains active.

Students need to complete a total of 60 transferable units worth of classes. Many of the transferable classes are very popular and they are hard to get in to sometimes for students.

According to communitycollegereview.com, one of the main reasons why 60 percent of community college students never transfer is because of overcrowded campuses.

By adding more classes during the winter and summer intercessions, students enroll into those pesky chemistry classes that are usually full during the regular fall and spring semester. This gives students more flexibility when planning their schedule throughout their college career.

If fewer classes were available during these times, that would cause the popular classes to be full, therefore some students won’t be able to take classes they need. If more students had

options to take classes during the winter and summer semester then they wouldn’t have to worry about crashing classes during the fall and spring semester.

One of the most significant benefits of the addition of more winter and summer courses would be a quicker progression out of community college to a four-year institution. A majority of students plan on transferring to higher education and often have a limited time limit to complete their major prep requirements. If more classes were added during the intercession semesters, then that means more classrooms to hold more students, rather than filling a load of students in fewer classrooms.

With more room to breathe in classrooms, instructors will be available to help assist students more easily. This will also help reduce the class sizes for all semesters and help give instructors more personal attention towards students.

If classes seem to be impacted, then students will have a chance to be taking extra classes in another unnecessary semester. When students take classes, they not only pay for the class itself, but other necessities too. These necessities include semester fees, food, and transportation. According to the Pierce website,

an average of $1,098 is spent on transportation during a semester.

If students were given more options, then students wouldn’t have to take an extra semester just because they couldn’t take it during the winter and summer semester. Not to mention this also wastes valuable time for students too.

If more classes aren’t available to students, then students won’t have an active brain during their winter or summer vacation. According to unigo.com, one of their reasons to take summer classes is because it will keep students’ brains active all year round. Most students forget about schoolwork during their vacation and return to their studies with a foggy mind.

If more classes were added during the summer semester, then students have the option to choose to study and focus during the summer keeping their brain active. This will lead to better grades and motivation for the student in the following semester.

Adding more classes will not only benefit students, but instructors as well.

It’s a win-win situation for both students and professors if more classes were available for the winter and summer semester.

jmiranda.roundupnews@gmail.com

GINA WONG Reporter @ginabwong99

Pierce College should not offer more summer and winter classes because these classes are conducted at a faster pace, and the longer class hours may not be ideal for all students.

It is important to remember that these intersession courses are only five-weeks long and because of the short amount of time, multiple lessons are taught in one day as opposed to it being stretched out over two days in the week.

This means students will need to stay focused throughout the whole session and stay on top of their assignments because even though the class is only a month long, it goes by really fast, and before you know it, it’s over.

For instance, if a student took an English class, they would be assigned an essay every week and only have a few days to write it up, as opposed to having at least two weeks to work on it during a regular 15-week semester.

The same can said for tests because in this session students will be tested on the material every week and will not have as much time to study and prepare.

This can take a toll on a student’s mental health because stress levels will rise when they realize

Advisers:

they don’t have much time to complete homework assignments.

Also, studying for exams will be a pain because twice the amount of subject material will be jammed into one test.

According to an annual survey conducted by the American College Health Association, of more than 63,000 students at 92 schools, it found that over the last decade anxiety has overtaken depression as the most common reason college students seek counseling services.

As the results showed, students reporting a feeling of overwhelming anxiety has increased to 62 percent in 2016 from 50 percent in 2011.

In addition, the longer class hours and class meeting days of Monday through Thursday every week may cause trouble for students who have jobs.

This is because for general subjects the classes are three hours long, but when it comes to the science and math courses such as Chemistry 101 and Statistics, they could go on for five to six hours long. Even though a break is given at the halfway point, some students may lose the ability to hold their concentration for the duration of the class.

Meanwhile, attendance is highly essential to a student’s grade in the course and understanding of the material being taught because one missing day is like a missed week in the regular semester.

However, now it seems like students are not that interested in taking summer and winter courses because coming off a stressful fall or winter semester they may want a break.

Another reason why Pierce should not offer more summer and winter classes is that it is struggling with low enrollment numbers in the fall and spring semesters. Instead it should focus on bringing up the numbers in the time where classes should not be cut.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, summer and winter courses were offered to accommodate the students who were unable to get classes in the regular semester which was a huge problem back in 2012.

It also states that Pierce had to offer an abbreviated winter session at one point, leading up to it not being offered the next session due to budget cuts.

Now, the money being allocated towards offering more summer and winter classes should be going toward classes offered in the fall and spring semesters when there are more students on campus.

Keeping courses simple, steady and balanced will ultimately make many students’ lives easier when it comes to meeting their academic criteria.

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 Cameron Kern / Roundup

[PROTEST from front]

Club President Emiliano Acosta said that confrontations like this had never happened at their events.

“This was the first time something like this happened,” Acosta said. “I think because of the nature of the club, we get a lot of people with different views, so it did get a little hectic.”

Aula retrieved his sign from the trash, although he said it was damaged from the impact. He continued to stand outside and silently observe until campus security arrived to question him.

Daniel Levi was one of the students participating in the discussion, and he called campus on Aula. “I called the sheriff because they told me that this wasn’t a free-speech zone,” Levi said. “He had the sign up for everyone to see in class and they were getting uncomfortable.”

Campus security told Aula that he had to take the sign down because he was not in a free-speech zone. Aula obeyed, and proceeded into the classroom to join the debate.

Aula said that the only thing he regrets about his encounter with campus security was that he did not mention

classroom, Aula shared his opinion with the class.

“The first thing I said when I had the opportunity was ‘please look up what an Islamist is,’” Aula said. “Congresswoman Omar is an Islamist, and I think it’s alarming that more students don’t know what an Islamist is.”

Levi said that he was glad Aula joined the discussion.

“He came inside the class and actually talked and showed his opinion on Omar,” Levi said. “Hopefully he’ll come back and share his opinion instead of just standing outside with a sign.”

Aula said that despite the one hostile incident, he had a pleasant experience at the discussion.

Rundown Brahma Blotter

These incidents were reported between 3/24-4/6

how one of the students had damaged his property.

“I should have requested the sheriff to talk to that guy [who destroyed my sign]. I think that it’s a really big problem that someone got away with that” Aula said. “I wouldn’t want the guy arrested or cited, I just want him to be warned not to do stuff like that.”

After entering the

“I think it was a successful event nonetheless because I got to ask the question ‘do you know what an Islamist is?’ I’m sure quite a few people looked up what that word was,” Aula said. “I guarantee at least one person who didn’t oppose Congresswoman Omar before, opposes her now.”

jhayano.roundupnews@gmail.com

Sacramento brings changes to Pierce College campus

Administration worries about the implementation of new assembly bills

classify positions that have normally been held by unclassified workers.

Interim President for Pierce College Larry Buckley had a message for the Academic Senate regarding recent legislation and recent updates to implementing the new state measures.

“You might be old enough to remember the toy called ‘Weebles.’ ‘Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down,’” Buckley said. “Our foundation is fallen down. It weebled and wobbled for a while and [now] we have to have some serious discussion about the future of our foundation.”

“The board rejected the commission’s recommendations about staffing at the board meeting last Wednesday,” Buckley said. “If we do not come up with a permanent staffing plan, there’s a possibility of our child development center and pools having to close as of July 1.”

Buckley also spoke on AB 302. The proposed bill would allow homeless students to sleep in their cars overnight. According to Buckley, a preparatory plan is in development for the measure set to take effect by July of 2020.

He also presented his plan for generating alternative revenue streams by utilizing facilities and equipment as rentals to increase

the mic for a few moments, discussing the plans for upcoming events. According to Le, there will be a multicultural day hosted by the ASO on April 18, open to all students and faculty.

The senate then turned its attention to their listings for academic goals and discussed how to increase enrollment and transfer rates. This conversation moved into a discussion of CTE and residency requirements among students.

Second Vice President of the Academic Senate and Modern

Languages Department Chair Margarita Pillado said CTE and residency requirements are the amount of units a student’s program must be completed at a particular college to achieve residency, which

requirements is that a student must complete 20 percent of the total units for the major,” Pillado said, “and 20 percent for a certificate, to receive it from Pierce College. It is a curriculum board rule, and we are aligned with the board.”

Students attempting to gain a certificate of skill or achievement, or an associate’s degree need to complete 20 percent of their units at the college they receive the award from. That means that students attempting to utilize multiple campuses, even in the same district, will have to be more careful about how many units they split among different institutions.

As the meeting drew to a close Pierce College Outcomes Coordinator Jennifer Moses chose to step down from her position, for reasons related to workload and compensation.

“I told the administration I am unwilling to work for free,” Moses said. “Because the current duties are commensurate with a 0.5 reassigned time, which is like half time, but the administration is only willing to pay 0.4 reassigned time, which would entail me working an extra hundred hours per semester for free…”

The veterinary technology department was also given a few minutes to voice their need for two more cats for their exams, which will include neutering, but will not harm the animals.

For more information on measures AB 302 and 2160, see website: https://leginfo.legislature. ca.gov and use the advanced search with the session year 2017-2018 to get accurate results.

2/19 2:00 p.m.

•Student Incident A male student was harrassing a female student in the cafeteria.

3/25 9:15 a.m.

•Student Incident A road rage incident occurred in Parking Lot 7.

3/25 12:00 p.m.

•Student Incident A male student was harrassing a female student in room 1719.

by: Alexis Canelo Pierce College Sheriff’s Station General Information: (818)719-6450

Emergency: (818)710 - 4311

Say goodbye to placement tests

BELEN HERNANDEZ Reporter @TheRoundupNews

Placement tests are a thing of the past, with the implementation of Assembly Bill 705. AB 705 is a bill that passed in 2017 and took effect on Jan 1 2018. It said that all community colleges will no longer have be required to use standardized testing for placement in English and math. The

The bill gives all colleges until fall of 2019 to have a new curriculum plan for their english and math course.

Pierce college has implemented this change as early as Summer 2019, offering an english and math support class.

Chairman of Mathematics Eddie Tchertchian believes the bill will have a positive effect on students.

“I think the bill was designed to help students succeed. I think the bill was made to help fewer students place lower,” Tchertchian said.

Tchertchian believes that the bill passed on perfect timing but would have liked for colleges to give them a longer deadline to implement the new curriculum.

“I am a huge fan of the bill

and its spirit, however I am not a big fan of its implementation.

I think the timeline was very rushed,” Tchertchian said. “The one year time that students have to complete english and math level classes is a little rushed, three semesters would have been ideal.”

Crystal Kiekel, center for academic success co-chair said the the percentage rate of students goes high once they take away class that they do not need.

“What we are finding is if students have a 2.6 gpa in high school there is a 70 percent chance they success rate if they were to get assets,” Kiekel said.

Kiekel believes that AB 705 is the key for student success because students have a higher success rate in passing the class when going to a higher level class than a lower level class.

“When we looked at the data and saw that only 30 percent of our students are getting through now if we just put them in there, then it is unconscionable to put them through this,” Kiekel said.

Kiekel said that having standardized placement impacts the minors because they are mostly to be place in lower level class.

“We are disproportionately impacting our students of color who are more likely to be place in english 21 and 28,” Kiekel said.

But not all faculty and staff are excited with the change.

AssessmentDirector Curtis Smith feels as this may impact Pierce.

“I worry for our students, the best we could do now with the regulation is we can recommend a support course,” Smith said.

Smith said this can be difficult for students because they may not be ready to take a higher level class.

“Any student with a 1.6 gpa will be put directly into 101 English class with a not saying we highly recommend english 72 as support course, but we can only recommend,” Smith said. “ This can cause students a numerous problems one student may not be ready for 101 so they may not pass it, they’re only allowed to make the attempt three times.”

Pierce College will be offering support classes along with English 101 and math 125 to better help the students. They will also have selfassessment sheets to help guide incoming students on which class they should take.

Reported

Manuel De La Paz Jr./Roundup

Jason Aula protested at the Ilhan Omar discussion at Pierce College on March 25, 2019.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION by Blake Williams/ Roundup

According to the passing of Assembly Bill 705, community college students in California will no longer need to take math and English placement tests.

HARLEY DAVIS Reporter @TheRoundupNews

Bill

“He had the sign up for everyone to see in class and they were getting uncomfortable.”

- Daniel Levi Student

Taking a breather; the mental rest stop Honors student knows how to balance academics and leisure

SUSAN LOPEZ Reporter @susanlo63291265

What do you think is more beneficial for students today: community college or university?

BEAT

“Ithinkitisnotasbadaspeoplethink.Alotofpeople thinkthey'llcomingtocommunitycollegeisonalower levelthangoingtoauniversity.ButIthinkit'sreally

'The Green Book' movie screening

HARLEY DAVIS Reporter @ht_davis

Historical based textbooks about social injustice may be boring to some, but when given a new platform in cinema it broadens its audience, and gives a unique opportunity for students to receive an education in a more enjoyable way.

According to ASO Social-Cultural committee member Stephanie Lopez, offering students a chance to relax with a showing of Oscar winner for Best Picture, “The Green Book”. Directed by Peter Farrelly, the two hour drama was screened in the Great Hall on March 26.

“The social-cultural committee planned this to just have something for students to come to and know that ASO does plan events for students specifically, because we’re here for students,” Lopez said.

Lopez was in charge of the event, but ASO Social-Cultural Committee Chairperson Nicole Alfaro was also in attendance.

“We decided to create another relaxing event for students because we understand that midterms can be super stressful,” Alfaro said.

She also had a comment on bringing someone knowledgeable on the history found in the film in to talk about the movie.

“It’ll be like you’re enjoying, relaxing [with] the movie and then at the same time you’re witnessing things that have happened and how some [of those] things relate to

nowadays and it’s a good way to learn about different issues happening,” Alfaro said.

According to ASO Vice President Dominic LeFort, it was necessary to get faculty approval to show the film.

Professor James McKeever, chairman of history, humanities, philosophy and sociology departments, agreed to not only attend but have an open forum conversation about the film afterwards.

McKeever, an African-American had several comments about the movie and how it’s title was deceptive.

“Part of it I kind of did have a large issue with [like] the fact that if we look at the first half of the movie it is all about the white character and it’s called ‘The Green Book’ about this thing that happened to AfricanAmericans. And then they had to make the protagonist the white character,” McKeever said.

McKeever also expounded on the theme of stereotypes and prejudice.

“Also I don’t know if there were concepts of what it means to be black in the film too,” McKeever said. “Supposedly he’s [Dr. Shirley] not black because he doesn’t eat fried chicken and he acts like he’s never seen it before which is hard to believe for anybody who’s AfricanAmerican.”

Dr. Donald Shirley is the primary African-American character in the film, but is well educated, in contrast to the more commonly educated Italian-American from the city. The movie began around 3:30 p.m

“Yes.Ithinkit’sveryimportantandhelpful.Forme,because myEnglishisnotverygood,it’sveryhelpfultohelpme improvemylanguageandIcanfindnewfriendsfrom differentcultures.”

-ZahraGharehdaghi Undecided

"[“Tobehonest,probablynot.I'vetakenthesameclasses I'vetakeninhighschool.ItdoesmakeitcheaperIguess,but educationwise,probablynot.”

-Mark Sebok Undecided

Quotes and photos by Jesse Bertel and Angelica Lopez

helpfulbecauseit'sapreparationphase.”

-John Abdallah Biology

“Ichangedmymajorlikefourtimes.Sowasimportantforme. Soyoudon'twastealotofmoneyfiguringoutwhatyouwant todo.”

-JeanetteTarr AmericanSignLanguage

Alexandria Rose/ Roundup

Two baby goats enjoy the sun outside in back of the goat pen at the Pier ce College Farm Woodland Hills, Calif. on Mar. 13, 2019.

Photo essay by Cameron Kern

Photos by Alexandria Rose

Despite struggles around the spring sports teams, they each have players who stand out.

Swimmer Mario Marshall set a Pierce record in the 100-yard freestyle at the Pasadena Invitational. He is one of the swimmers who has a chance to go to the state championship in May.

Volleyball setter Gene Kim leads the Brahmas with 177 assists while the next closest player has 21. He has also posted 34 digs. Tennis player Christian Ponce is the best singles player on the team. He won a match in three sets against Santa Barbara City College on March 28.

Baseball players Johnathan Lavallee and Diego Harris are having strong seasons on their path to transfer to a Division I school. Lavallee has pitched 66 innings with a 1.50 ERA and 83 strikeouts. He is also leading the team offensively with a .347/.455/.500 slash line and 17 RBI.

Harris leads the Brahmas in at-bats (96), hits (29), runs scored (19) and stolen bases (16)while hitting .302/.402/.375 and playing

Baseball suffers narrow defeat

Winning streak snapped against the Renegades

JACKSON HAYANO Reporter @HayanoJackson

The Brahmas tried a new pitching strategy that worked as intended, but they were unable to get the bats going against Bakersfield College on Saturday, April 6, at Joe Kelly Field.

The Brahmas used five different pitchers in the 3-2 loss, all but the starter, Jackson Briscoe, pitched only one inning.

“One of the things that I’ve been trying to do over the past few weeks is get [the relief pitchers] out there as much as possible, even if it’s for only one inning,” Picketts said.

Picketts plans to continue using the strategy in future games.

“Right now, with as young and as inexperienced as we are, we’re looking to get pitchers out there and make some progress,” Picketts said. “We need these guys to come back after a day’s rest and go back out there again.”

Briscoe pitched five innings for the Brahmas and allowed three runs. He struck out one batter in the first, but Bakersfield still managed to score giving them a 1-0 lead over Pierce. Bakersfield pitcher, Alejandro Murillo, managed to get three strikeouts in the next two innings against Pierce.

“Their pitcher was good. He throws everything for strikes,” Picketts said. “He shut us down offensively.”

The Brahmas managed to get on base for the first time in the third inning when Nolan Bodeau hit a single to center field.

In the top of the fifth inning,

Bakersfield had one runner on first and another on third. A single drove in another run, making the score 2-0.

Bakersfield loaded the bases on three singles in the fifth inning against Briscoe but only one run scored.

“I got a little tired at the end,” Briscoe said. “My breaking ball wasn’t as sharp and it was missing up a lot.”

In the sixth inning, Daniel Tobias took the mound and pitched a scoreless inning.

The Brahmas got their offense

going in the bottom of the sixth inning after Bodeau walked and Cole Bowers singled. Diego Harris then hit a double towards left field, allowing Bodeau to score, making the score 3-1.

“I knew I had a runner in scoring positioning, and we really

need a run at the time,” said Harris. “So, I was just trying to put the ball in play.”

The Brahmas ended up stranding the tying runs in scoring position.

“We had guys on second and third but we didn’t push another

runner across,” Picketts said. Michael Roth pitched the seventh inning for the Brahmas and Brent Swearingen pitched the eighth inning. Both threw a perfect inning.

Swearingen was on the mound for the first time this season. He struck out one batter and got the other two hitters to fly out.

“I think I did ok,” Swearingen said. “I feel like my arm hurt a little bit more than I hoped, so hopefully I get some instruction on my form.”

In the bottom of the ninth, Harris was hit by a ball and was awarded first base. He managed to get to third base following a passed ball. Zach Kaminkow hit a sacrifice fly, allowing Harris to score the final run of the game. The Brahmas record is now 9-17, including 5-10 in conference play.

Their next home game will come against Los Angeles Mission College on April 12 at 2:30 p.m.

Navodya Dharmasiriwardena/ Roundup

Jackson Briscoe throws a pitch in the game against the Bakersfield College Renegades on Saturday, Apr. 6, 2019 at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif.

“Their pitcher was good. He throws everything for strikes. He shut us down offensively.”

-Bill Picketts Head Coach

Men's Volleyball Baseball

Swim competes at Pasadena Men place third, women

GINA WONG Reporter @ginabwong99

The swim team made a splash in the 19th edition of the Pasadena City College Invitational, a three-day event that had different colleges competing.

Head Coach Judi Terhar said the importance of this invitational was to see where Pierce stacks up against the other swimmers.

“It’s an opportunity to for us to see how everybody in the state of California is in comparison to our team,” Terhar said.

The four women who took participated in part A of 200-yard freestyle relay finished with a time of 1:58.66. The second part of the event the team finished with a time of 2:27.52.

The men than competed and Pierce finished with a time of 1:28.17. The second group finished the relay at 1:47.41.

Nanako Fujikura placed seventh in the fourth heat of the women’s 500-yard freestyle.

While the men, Juo Sato in the same event finished fourth with a time of 5:07.89.

In the women’s 200-yard individual medley, Ava Recchia finished with a time of 2:39.17.

Naomi Anaya got 3:14.12.

Shawn Nevi placed second with a time of 2:22.85. Drew McDonald placed seventh.

In the fifth heat of the individual

Records

medley, Juo Sato finished first but was disqualified.

Going into the 50-yard freestyle, Cassidy Hoffman finished with a time of 31.14 in heat six while Jacob Jepson placed third in the 11th heat.

Mario Marshall placed third in heat 13 with a time of 21.32.

Wyatt Feldman said his main strategy going into swim meets

focusing on what he is going to swim and how he is going to perform.

“It’s a lot of visualization,” Feldman said. “It’s kind of thinking about your race and like closing your eyes and picturing your race for a while.”

In the 400-yard medley relay, the women finished with a time of 5:06.58. However, the men, the first

Brahma of the Week

group finished with times of 3:44.22 and 4:22.10.

Nanako Fujikura finished with a time of 2:16.04 in the 200-yard freestyle. Marshall finished first in the ninth heat with a time of 1:44.06.

Recchia placed fifth in the women’s 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:09.95, while Kyrah Hunter placed sixth at 1:36.62.

The men performed well as Jepson placed first in heat six with a finishing time of 53.43 with Marshall placing second.

Jacob Jepson said going into swim meets his strategy is mainly about composing himself and making sure his mind is in the right

Champions lose in straight sets

FELIPE GAMINO

RICHARD ESPINOZA

Sports and Opinion Editor

@fgamino13 @EspinozaReport

Men’s volleyball headed into the final stages of their season as they went on the road to face Santa Monica College.

The Brahmas lost in straight sets to the Corsairs as they dropped to 3-11 in the season and 1-9 in conference.

Joshua Giron, opposite and middle hitter, said they needed to play with more heart.

“We could’ve passed the ball a little better and we had little mistakes throughout the game that messed us up,” Giron said.

Pierce was down by nine points and then took the lead. However the Brahmas would not hold on and SMC would win the first set.

“They played a lot better than the last time we faced them. They were a great team and a great opponent to play against,” Giron said.

Grant DeGrasse, outside hitter and libero, said they played poorly against SMC.

“We weren’t focused enough and our receiving was not up to par,” DeGrasse said. “We just didn’t put up a good fight.”

Coach Joseph Arechiga said it was a rough passing night.

“We didn’t execute the passes as we wanted to. Santa Monica were efficient from the start and we couldn’t keep up and that was the issue for us,” Arechiga said.

The Brahmas have two games left this season. They will travel to El Camino College to face the Warriors on Apr. 10 before hosting the Moorpark College Raiders on Apr. 12. rjespinoza.roundupnews@gmail.com

Baseball

(as of 4/9) 9 1 7

Mario Marshall

Set a record in the 100-yard freestyle and finished in the top three in several events.

How do you rate your performance in the event?

“I feel very grateful because we had two or three swimmers that were ill, but at the end of the day you have to show up and race.”

Any pregame rituals or superstitions?

"I don't believe in superstitions, but when I was young I will vision how things will go before the meet."

What do you think you can improve on?

"In this world there is always room for improvement. I still swim at age of 37 for a reason. I want to keep swimming and be better each meet.”

If you weren’t swimming, what sport would you play?

“Basketball as a shooting guard.”

Plans after Pierce?

“I'll definetly keep swimming masters and whatever college is interested, I keep my options open.”

Brahmas Scoreboard

Softball Tennis

Richard Espinoza/ Roundup

Judy Martinez swimming in the backstroke event at the Pasadena Invitational on Saturday, Apr. 6 at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, Calif.

Richard Espinoza/ Roundup

Coach Joe Arechiga talks to the players during the game against Santa Monica College on Friday, Apr. 5, 2019 in Santa Monica, Calif