Volume 136 Spring 2022 Roundup Issue 5

Review: 'El Nogalar' shines on stage

BY PAMELA KALIDASAN Features Editor

For some people, home is where the heart is. But not having a place to belong is a struggle that leaves those without that sanctuary feeling lost.

“El Nogalar” (The Pecan Orchard) written by playwright Tanya Saracho and directed by Christian Barillas, is a contemporary bilingual (English and Spanish) adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” where the story is set in Northern Mexico and focuses on the significance of having a home while dealing with repercussions of the drug war. And throughout the story, some characters feel out of place without a home.

In a dramatic monologue, Guillermo Lopez or ‘Memo’ (Alejandro Balderas) expresses how he always found his place near the pecan trees, and explains that he feels sentimental toward them because they remind him of his first love, Matie (Yvonne Caro-Caro).

For Matie, though, the land is a reminder of the women who have previously owned the property and of her unresolved trauma, where Pedro (Jhon Cartolin Leon) brought her son’s

body home after he drowned by the river.

But what truly made this play unique is how the story involves the grittier and usually unspoken parts of life.

Anita (Loida Navas), who is the youngest daughter of Matie, speaks eloquently about her mother’s issues with debt, gambling and mental health, and how her mother had given everything, including Anita’s tuition money, just to come back to Mexico to repeat that chaotic process.

With Matie being financially irresponsible and stuck in a vicious toxic cycle, the land was bound to belong to someone else who would be able to take care of it.

Other actors who have done

well include Amy Solano, who plays Durina, and Stella Ramirez who plays Matie’s older daughter Valeria. Both characters helped catalyze the story and shifted the narrative.

The character Chato (Danni Rabbani), a Mexican cartel member that Memo negotiated with in keeping the land, added an essence of mystery whenever he was silently watching everything unfold from atop the hill.

The set design is detailed to fit the environment, featuring walls with grooves and curves to represent the mountains where Chato talks to Memo from. The rooms were also decorated with traditional clay pots.

The lighting also added a nice touch, with shadows casted by the

pecan tree branches playing an essential motif for the story.

There were some moments where it was difficult to keep track of what was happening, but the drama, twists and nuance are mind-boggling in a good way. This is a must-watch play, and people should attend this production to see how the rest of the story unfolds.

“El Nogalar” will have upcoming shows on Friday, April 1, Saturday, April 2 at 8 p.m., and on Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m., in the Dow Arena Theater.

Academic Senate discusses enrollment

JAYNA KUKLIN Copy Editor/Reporter

Discussions on whether or not

Pierce College is ready for a complete return to in-person classes arose during the Academic Senate meeting on Monday via Zoom.

Academic Senate president Barbara Anderson stated that

California’s state of emergency has been extended under compliance of AB 361.

“It’s in the belief in the District that the Academic Senate will continue to meet remotely,” Anderson said.

COVID-19 cases are going down in the state of California, but Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) members are not quite ready to go back to 100% in-person.

Some professors liked the

idea of keeping meetings online until the state of emergency is lifted.

“I would be in favor of continuing to meet remotely, at least until the rest of the semester so that my colleagues and I don’t have to change the modalities of how we’ve been doing our work,” said Jennifer Moses, a psychology professor.

Anthropology professor Brian Pierson also said he would prefer to stay online because of

his health.

“I’m immunocompromised, and up until just very recently, I finally got the monoclonal antibodies vaccine,” Pierson said. “Prior to that, I wouldn’t have been able to come on.”

The extension of the state of emergency is not the only problem Pierce continues to face.

Enrollment numbers are still dwindling as Interim President Ara Aguiar said that Pierce is

down by approximately 4,300 students.

“Our enrollment is also at 29% pre-pandemic and 30% of last year,” Aguiar said.

Aguiar said that Pierce has been adding more classes, though the number is not as high as before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She also said to not look at the percentages, but rather the numbers.

Aguiar also stated that Pierce’s class average is not

being taken into consideration when counting numbers of enrollment and headcount versus the other eight colleges in the District.

The next Academic Senate meeting will be April 11, at 2:15 p.m., likely on Zoom.

jkuklin.roundupnews@gmail.com

Photo by Nancy Corona

(Right to left) Yvonne Caro-Caro who plays Matie and Stella Ramirez who plays Valeria appear in "El Nogalar," by Tanya Saracho, directed by Christian Barillas, during dress rehearsals at Dow Arena Theatre at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 22, 2022.

Photo by Nancy Corona

Amy Solano as Valeria acts in dress rehearsal for "El Nogalar" at the Dow Arena Theatre at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 22, 2022.

EDITORIAL: From the desk of the Roundup STREET BEAT WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR SPRING BREAK?

Books provide bonding opportunity

The Pierce College Library often holds no more than a handful of students at any given time. Pierce could hold events for students to increase the school’s library population, such as book clubs and tutoring workshops.

Hosting events at the school library would not only put its 80 desks to use, but it would also increase student involvement on campus. Workshops could help boost grades and book clubs could encourage students to make new connections.

California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) library puts on weeklong events where students can participate.

Their library has an annual Banned Book Week when it holds discussion panels on censorship and essay competitions.

CSULA’s library also has a National Poetry month where teachers, poets, authors, and

To Kill a Banned Book

BY SAMMY JOHNSON Reporter

The problem with children being exposed to obscene material via literature all boils down to desensitization.

To limit and decrease desensitization in children, schools should ban books that are inappropriate and violent.

No, it is not theorized by any reputable research organization that children will directly act on violent or sexual activities seen or read about in the media. This subject has been queried and proven time and time again to be completely false.

One such instance of this theory being disproved is a United States Department of Education report that states that only 24% of perpetrators of school shootings had shown interest in violent books.

Children who read a book where someone gets decapitated will not immediately want to go around decapitating people.

However, it is highly likely that a child reading about this aforementioned depiction of decapitation has taken their first steps out of a few dozen towards being used to hearing about violence and, eventually, would just not care about violence anymore.

Children have developing brains, and it is necessary to be raised to be sensitive to “adult” themes as this helps to develop class.

An article by the Institute for Family Studies said that the content consumed can affect the level of desensitization experienced.

“What was once shocking eventually barely registers. Like a drug, the more violence and sexual content we take in, the more of it we need to get the same shock factor.”

This means that children who expose themselves to shocking literature could get desensitized at an exponential rate.

Not only does obscenity in literature cause children to be desensitized at too young of an age, it also can cause children to develop aggressive behavior. As stated before, reading about obscene activity does not cause children to mimic said obscene activity, but it can, in fact, affect the child reader’s behavioral patterns.

A Brigham Young University research team led by Professor Sarah M. Coyne has divided aggression into two types: physical and relational.

The research team conducted an experiment that divided a group of 67 university students in two. Both read a short story about a college freshman

and roommate having a disagreement. The first half of the group read a version of this story that ended with the two college students getting into a physical fight, and the other half read an alternate version that features the freshman filming her roommate breaking the dorm rules and threatening to post the video on Youtube.

The 67 students were all interrupted while reading the story by emails from a “partner” that was actually a computer program. The computer program repeatedly and aggressively told each group

students read poetry. CSULA also celebrates diversity and inclusion with book fairs that educate students on literature from authors representing underrepresented groups. The Pierce Library could host similar events with the help of faculty and staff, with experts in various fields leading discussions and workshops.

Library workshops and events could encourage students to come to campus when they normally may not have a reason to. Hosting in person events could also help Pierce College start to revitalize its campus life post pandemic. Campus events have also been linked to better retention rates and grades for students.

member to “hurry up,” among other things. After finishing the story, each participant played a game with the computer program, sounding a sort of buzzer after winning a round of the game.

The students that read the physical aggression variant of the story were more physically aggressive towards the computerized partner, sounding the buzzer louder and for longer periods of time. So technically, the subject of obscenity in literature boils down not only to desensitization, but also to how it affects behavior. While reading obscene material won’t directly cause children to be serial killers, it can introduce to them a level of aggression and desensitization that shouldn’t be present in people that young. Therefore, it is necessary to withhold certain material from young people whose minds are still developing.

In what seems like a page from Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451,” schools and universities across the United States have banned countless books from their catalog this year.

First Amendment activists have criticized state legislators for banning certain books, regardless of the political side that advocated for the banning. Books are means for attaining more

such a large amount of beloved books suddenly restricted and then banned from access to students.

According to a Guardian article, the American Library Association (ALA) said that from September to November 2021, more than 330 books were reported for banning, which was over double the number for the entire year of 2020.

Both sides of the political aisle have shared their dislike with the book banning. Conservatives claim the act is unlawful because it infringes on the First Amendment, and progressives claim that targeted books tackle topics including past struggles of slavery, bigotry and social injustice, and leads to less awareness and more inequality moving forward.

According to a New York Times article from March 2022, author Laurie Halse Anderson said that attacking the books, authors and therefore subject matter is a means to removing any possibility for discourse.

“You are laying the groundwork for increasing bullying, disrespect, violence and attacks.” Anderson said.

School faculty members and civil rights activists agree that the surge in banning books is detrimental to the health and awareness of America’s next generations.

knowledge, but, more importantly, they are fundamental in bringing awareness to past struggles, problems and losses in history.

According to a Guardian article from March 2022, “Maus” author Art Spiegelman said that banning books leads to cultures erasing memories, which in turn would lead to the cultures doing the same thing again and again.

Without books, we are banning access to resources that may lead to conversation topics including race, gender and inequality. Books are a necessary tool to teach all generations the mistakes from the past and how to move forward in a healthy and peaceful way.

“You can’t ban books unless you’re willing to burn them and you can’t burn them all unless you’re willing to burn the writers and the readers too,” Spiegelman said.

Many American educators and faculty members were shocked to see

According to an Associated Press article from March 2022, Vera Eidelman, staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, said the problem with state legislators banning books because of definitions of vulgarity and the lack of age appropriateness is that our definitions of these topics are “mushy” and are mostly used as an excuse to allow for government control over viewpoints.

Other authors share the opinion that limited access to books only corrupts and fails the next generation of students and members of society by limiting their opportunity for societal growth from our past mistakes.

Some authors argue the position of banning books is led by a feeling of humiliation of our greatest mistakes.

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame,” author Oscar Wilde said.

Quotes gathered by Whitney Evans

Photos by Whitney Evans and Nikki Kober

“Hangoutwithfriends,eat, havesomedrinksandhopefully getsomehomeworkdone.”

-Devon OʼConnel

“OnApril4Iʼllbegettingmy wisdomteethpulled,soI definitelywanttorest,but beforethatIʼmhopingtoenjoy sometimewithmyfriendsand gotothebeach.”

-SandyPalacios

“Itʼscrazy.Iboughtacarrecently andIthoughtIwasgoingto spendlike30bucksongas,and hereIamspending70.”

-Adam Yamashita

Photo Illustration by Jasmine Casanova

Photo Illustration by Cecilia Parada

Benne is back Former Health Center Director returns

BY ANASTASIYA OREL Managing Editor

After 28 years as Los Angeles Pierce College’s Health Center Director, Elizabeth Benne was ready to hang her stethoscope and retire.

With the inability to find a replacement, Benne has returned to campus as the Interim Health Center Director and works parttime hours.

Interim President Ara Aguiar said the process of finding Benne’s replacement was a difficult one.

“Normally those positions you get between five and 10 people, so you end up with a small pool,” Aguiar said. “The job was offered to someone and then the person withdrew their name. We had what we called a failed search, not because we didn’t do our due diligence but things didn’t work out.”

Although Benne has stepped in as the interim, the District is still trying to find someone to fill the position permanently.

“We need someone there with her expertise. It just facilitates a lot of the issues,” Aguiar said. “We wanted to make sure that the contracts that are needed were processed and attended quickly. We have reposted the position and that’s in the process with the District.”

Before her retirement, Benne was responsible for seeing patients and policy-making. Involved in the Pierce College Council and Accident Insurance Committee, she served as a representative for student health interests and said she cherished her job.

“It was the best job I’ve ever had and it abused every facet of my education,” Benne said. “I loved it and the people I work with. Every day was different. You never knew what was going to happen.”

Benne said that aiding students with their problems was one of the highlights of her career.

“What’s become a passion for me is ‘How can I help?’” Benne said. “There’s nothing I love more than the light going on in the students' eyes. That’s what we’re there for, we can educate and we can prevent.”

The COVID-19 pandemic had shifted the workflow of the Health Center and allowed them to transition from inperson to online methods of communicating and helping students. Amidst the pandemic, many faculty and staff at Pierce have had to take leave and have interims serving in their absence.

Benne said the Health Center has been impacted by the leave of staff members. One of the largest areas of help students ask for is mental health.

“We don’t have any mental health providers and we’re so short staffed right now,” Benne said. “I’m overseeing mental health right now but we are moving forward.”

Student Health Center Assistant Bonnie Zahavi said

it was difficult to not provide students mental health resources.

“It was heartbreaking to say to them to try and go somewhere else and often they wouldn’t receive them the way we do,” Zahavi said. “We’re not outsourced so we are all very dedicated to the students.”

Zahavi said that having Benne back as interim has been a gift.

“She’s just amazing at what she does and she knows everybody in the District,” Zahavi said. “We’re like in a bubble, like a family. We love being here and we enjoy what we do; we’re really here to serve the student population.”

Interim President Ara Aguiar said she’s grateful for Benne’s return in aiding the transition.

“She’s helping us with getting antigen tests for students and still serving the students,” Aguiar said. “We need to make sure her work hours do not penalize her because of her retirement. She’s supporting us both virtually and on campus.”

Academic Probation workshop held

BY JOEL ROBLES REPORTER

from your transcript,” Orellana said.

Among the pandemic and Benne’s leave for retirement, the Health Center faculty and staff had to write re-engagement plans addressing when the COVID situation would allow the Health Center to re-open. Health measures had to be taken such as having no contact longer than 15 minutes maskless, breathing apparatuses practices, or not letting a COVID positive person into the Center building due to lack of closed ventilation systems.

Aguiar said the Center is in the process of expanding their candidates to fill the position.

“The plan is to market it more and also do a little bit more outreach to doctorate students and nurses, and see if they would be interested after graduation,” Aguiar said.

With the campus accessible, the Health Center is open from Monday-Thursdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

aorel.roundupnews@gmail.com

Maintaining balance PCC Approves Sustainability Taskforce

The Pierce College Transfer Center held a workshop on March 23 to get students who were placed on academic probation back on track.

Pierce Tenure Track Counselor Diane Orellana said probation is not a disciplinary action, but rather a procedure.

“Probation is not a punishment,” Orellana said. “It is a process used to identify students who are experiencing academic difficulty.”

Orellana said she knows students who have all A’s and are in danger of being on probation.

“I’ve met a student once who had an exceptional GPA of 4.0 but had so many W’s that he was still at risk of getting dismissed,” Orellana said.

There is a difference between academic probation and progress probation.

Academic probation is when students attempt 12 units and their cumulative GPA is below 2.0.

Progress probation is when a student has attempted 12 units and the percentage of all units for which entries of ‘W’, ‘I’, ‘NP’ or 'NC’ exceeds 50%.

There are consequences for being on probation.

At level one probation, or first semester on probation, there are no consequences, but rather a warning.

At level two probation which is two consecutive semesters on probation, students lose priority registration and the CA Promise Grant (BOG).

At level three probation which is three consecutive semesters on probation, students are subject to dismissal.

If students are dismissed from Pierce, they cannot attend any Los Angeles Community College District campus for two semesters.

There are ways to help improve academic standing, including academic renewal.

“Academic Renewal removes up to 30 units of D’s and F’s

BY PETER POLYGALOV Reporter

In Action Item number 19, the Pierce College Council (PCC) approved a motion during the meeting on March 24 via Zoom to create a sustainability evaluation committee.

Pierce professor of architecture Beth Abels spoke to the rationale of why a committee focused on this specific issue is necessary.

“We have a climate challenge in front of us,” Abels said. “Our students are so concerned with student success and we want them to come out and have a planet to live on that embraces their success.”

Abels explained how the initiative came after rapid developments by the district to pass resolutions to focus on sustainability.

“It appeared to some of us that Pierce would be best off knowing what we wanted to have happen and what made sense for our particular local area,” Abels said. “It was a good time to make sure we had a committee that was spending some time thinking about that.”

After thanking Abels for her leadership in this committee, PCC Chair Brian Gendron spoke about the benefits of joining in on some of the task force meetings.

“What I think has been nice to see is that there's an effort to focus on local issues at Pierce in

conjunction with the relationship we have with the district,” Gendron said. “We’re going to be receiving initiatives that are going to, in some ways, mandate how we approach sustainability efforts. If we can get ahead of that a little bit, we can perhaps maintain some of our own control or direction.”

Gendron also said that their approach and discussions toward the issue were not conventional.

“I also really appreciated the discussions surrounding, not just what we might traditionally think of when it comes to sustainability, which of course is important,” Gendron said. “Things like gleaning the curriculum, establishing certain baseline metrics that we’re going

to reach for and have targets.”

Gendron went on to say that if this committee is established, he would reach out to the constituent groups for nominations to fill vacancies in the committee. This would include three student positions.

Vice President of Administrative Services Rolf Schleicher expressed his support for Abels and her participation in the committee while voicing some administrative requests.

“We just ask that we have a bulletin here for a budgeting perspective because again we have a lot of requests through the senate side and PCC side of the organization, yet we budget individually except for maybe where we have project-

Other ways to improve academic standing are course repetition, dropping courses and excused withdrawal.

Communication studies professor Robert Loy said that he would meet up with a student and set up a blueprint for the student to triumph.

“I will meet up with them separately in office hours, discuss their goals, review what went wrong last time, and lay out a game plan to ensure their success,” Loy said. “It’s important for students to know that we are proud of them when that happens.”

Loy also said that whenever a student is going through tough times, it is important for them to reach out.

“Be transparent and upfront about an issue you’re dealing with,” Loy said. “Always remember that your success is our success, so we are invested in helping you through this difficult time.”

Interim President Ara Aguiar said that faculty are willing to help students with academic improvement.

“Go to office hours with the faculty member,” Aguiar said. “Look at ways to maybe consider taking some non-credit courses that can help support studying skills and developing those skills that are necessary so that they can be successful.”

Aguiar said being on probation can be caused by not having the textbooks and many students struggle financially.

“So it’s our responsibility to make sure that the textbooks are available,” Aguiar said. “And that’s why I really support going for online educational resources to support courses because as you know, some students can’t afford it.”

jrobles.roundupnews@gmail.com

based things on grants, so again we need to make sure that we can leverage the district appropriately, “ Schleicher said. “We need to make sure that we talk about how we get things accomplished because the board will have initiatives, but a lot of times, there’s mandates towards the college without any funding.”

Schleicher went on to highlight the importance of aligning tasks with budgeting and district mandates in order to make sure Pierce is competitive while speaking to the importance of this action item.

“We have to be more successful in getting money dedicated and successfully invested and then get the return out of it because if we don’t do that, we are not going to compete

against our sister colleges and the local colleges around here and we have to be very competitive,” Schleicher said.

“And sustainability is a critical thing.”

Ables spoke about some of the challenges and the choices Pierce has to make to align the budget with district mandates.

“We have seen unfunded resolutions coming from the district,” Abels said. “A sustainability officer would be one of those. They suggest each campus has one, but there’s no money for it.”

The decision was passed with 14 members voting in favor and one abstention.

Photo by Rozie Tadevosyan

Health Center Director Beth Benne sits in her office at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 24, 2022.

Screenshot by Janice Cejoco Tenure Track Counselor Diane Orellana speaks during a metting on Zoom on March 23, 2022.

Screenshot by Peter Polygalov

Interim President Ara Aguiar smiles during a Pierce College Council meeting on Zoom on March 24, 2022.

VINTAGE GOODS FOR ALL

On the fourth Sunday of each month, Lot 7 at Pierce College is a treasure trove of vintage goods, where the saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” rings true.

Used books, figures and once beloved keepsakes line the tables. This monthly occurrence attracts the local community to the college’s campus, as well as knick-knack enthusiasts who scour the Topanga Vintage Market for old and new goods.

Karen Holley admires some of the plants branching out in one of the tents at the Topanga Vintage Market in Lot 7 at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 27, 2022.

Leanne Afetian watches over the vintage goods on a sunny day at the Topanga Vintage Market in Lot 7 at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 27, 2022.

A pile of vintage books sits on top of a table at the Topanga Vintage Market in Lot 7 at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 27, 2022.

Rainer Mack picks up and inspects a throw blanket at the Topanga Vintage Market in Lot 7 at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 27, 2022.

Copy and photos by Trisha Anas

Where Will He Ngo? Student actor makes red carpet debut in Pixar's "Turning Red"

Pierce College theater student Topher

Ngo was working on personal music projects and considering applying to graduate programs when he came across a Facebook post looking for boy band singers for an animated project.

He put together a package of his music and submitted it.

Two years later, Ngo was walking the red carpet at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood for the world premiere for Pixar’s “Turning Red.” He appears as Aaron T., the bass vocalist in 4-Town who the protagonist loves. He worked alongside Oscar winning musicians Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.

“I got a text essentially saying, ‘Hey you’ll be getting a call from Disney soon,’” Ngo recalled after he sent his material. “And I got a call and it’s the president of Walt Disney Music [Tom MacDougall]. He’s like ‘Hey, we listened to your audition and loved it. And there’s this film that we’re putting together for Pixar. Three songs and voiceover lines—would love for you to be in it.’”

Ngo, who earned a degree in human biology and medical sociology with a minor in music

industry from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), said the experience cemented his decision to stay on this path of performing.

The red carpet is stable ground compared to his family’s rocky journey to the United States from a war-torn country.

Ngo said his parents escaped Vietnam because of the Vietnam War and the Communist regime taking over.

“They were out on sea for 10 days without food or water and some gruesome stuff happened,” Ngo said. “Then they were stranded in refugee camps in Malaysia and they went to France, and then eventually they wanted a better life so they sent my mom to America and she moved here on an education green card.”

Ngo said he planned to become a doctor just like his parents had wanted, specifically, for his mom who he said he finds inspirational.

“She had to quit going to University of Kansas to become a hairdresser and worked really hard so she could sponsor her parents and my seven uncles and aunts,” Ngo said. “She had to sponsor a lot of people and support all of them over here.”

He then added how her plans of going to medical school halted

because her credits expired and from then on he tried to accomplish what his mom couldn't, but he said he realized that medicine wasn’t his dream to pursue.

“I was like, ‘Okay I’ll do it’, and when I did it, I didn’t really want to be doing this kind of thing,” Ngo said. “So for her to come around and be like ‘I want you to be a doctor, but I see that [performing] is your calling.’”

After finishing his undergraduate degree, he was still unsure of what he wanted to do and he kept working on his music.

He said he decided to join his first acting class in 2020 with Theater Professor and Director Shaheen Vaaz to get a feel of what acting is like and fell in love with the craft.

“I decided to take an acting class here, spur of the whim. I was like just for fun let’s see what happens,” Ngo said. “It scratched a creative itch I didn’t know existed.”

When it comes to his acting, his mentor said that he is very talented and his potential is sky high.

“He’s [a] very generous spirit [and] he gives a lot to the ensemble,” Vaaz said. “He’s deeply connected to intuition, but also to taking direction, so he

can shift and change and do it on a molecular level when he makes a change.”

And following Vaaz, Department Chair of Performing Arts Michael Gend and Michael Sande agree that Ngo brings a lot to the theater table.

“He had a really beautiful piece that he worked with

Shaheen Vaaz on in ‘Facing Our Truth,’” Gend said. “He did a song about George Zimmermanthe lyrics of which were written in the script- and from what I recall, he developed his own music and played the guitar live in performance, which [it] was actually performed via Zoom.”

“He’s a gifted physical actor—meaning [that] his ability to use his body to express humor in that case is really, really good,” Sande said.

Theater Arts Professor Esdras Toussaint said that Ngo will always do his best to support others and work tenfold to make sure everything is refined.

“He’s always there for everyone else,” Toussaint said. “He was always there to help colleagues and he was always the last person to leave. Thirty to forty minutes later, he would be there making sure he got everything right. And then when he got home he worked on the piece over and over again. And when you gave him a suggestion, he took it and then he went places with it.”

Ngo said that although he respects others, he said he’s faced discrimination and disrespect thrown at him, especially within the community that should have supported and accepted differences.

“There is a lot of racism within the LGBTQ community,” Ngo said. “And if I ever meet someone who’s racist, they’ll

make assumptions about me. People will [avoid] or be disgusted towards Asians who are queer, and that’s pretty hurtful.”

He said he’s working on being able to stand up for himself when he is confronted by these situations.

“I want to have abundant compassion with others and understanding but also I need to respect myself and my dignity enough to stand up for myself,” Ngo said. “For me whenever I’m faced with prejudice for being Asian American, or for being queer, I’m allowing myself to have the discourse but also to allow myself to acknowledge that you can’t fix everything.”

Ngo said he’s working on a few projects and because he signed a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA), he can’t release much information about the specific details of the projects.

“I have a couple projects that I just signed on for so I’m going to be in an animated TV show,” Ngo said. “I’m going to be in a TV show that’s going to be coming out later on and I actually came away from this because I might be cast in a Netflix dubbing thing.”

Ngo was awarded first place in the Irene Ryan Scholarship at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and will soon be going on a trip to Washington, D.C.

Photo by Pamela Kalidasan

Topher Ngo smiles in the Performing Arts Building at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 17, 2022.

PAMELA KALIDADAN Feautres Editor

Photo by Pamela Kalidasan

Topher Ngo poses in the Performing Arts Building at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 17, 2022.

Photo by Pamela Kalidasan

Topher Ngo does improv in the Performing Arts Building at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 17, 2022.

Men's Volleyball Baseball Swim Women's basketball Men's Basketball

BY PETER POLYGALOV Reporter

The Pierce College

men’s volleyball team’s woes continued as they dropped their 10th game of the season, losing to the Moorpark College Raiders in straight sets on March 25.

The scores of each set were 2517, 25-15, and 25-12.

Pierce assistant volleyball coach and state champion Farzad Ramin, spoke about the mindset and the energy of the players prior to the game.

“They made a promise and we decided to go 400% energy from the first point to the end, so they did a good job today and it was a good game,” Ramin said.

The second set was even more contentious, with the two teams finding themselves even in points.

However the Raiders found a way as they won set two by a final score of 25-15.

Outside hitter Steven Blugrind reiterated the need for energy and continuous adjustments throughout the game.

“In set two, we had to switch the way we block by switching the areas. What we saw with Moorpark, whenever there was a good pass, it would always come down the middle. That’s why today I was able to get some good touches,” Blugrind said. “I got a pretty good hit.”

The Moorpark Raiders brought energy to the court, chanting and cheering for their fellow teammates. The Brahmas, on the other hand, were relatively quiet,

except for a few bouts of excitement after scoring points.

“In the second set we had a run and we were able to catch up, but in the second set we had spirit, and in the third set I feel like we kind of fell apart,” Blugrind said.

The Brahmas seemed to lose their energy in the third set, losing with a final score of 25-12. Ramin highlighted some of the improvements that he saw from the team over the course of this season.

“I think the energy from the players was the main reason that they played so hard from the first point and I think we had a chance to win,” said Ramin. “The passing

was perfect, the setting was great, so we got much better. That was one of our good games for this season.”

The fan turnout seemed to inspire the Pierce team to take the loss in stride. Pierce opposite setter Jhair Jimenez thanked fans for their support.

“Thank you to everybody who comes and supports it means a lot to us,” Jimenez said. “And the ones who are planning to come, yes, please, we need it. We appreciate any support.”

Michael Soto, the game's announcer who has been covering Pierce sports since 1995, mentioned

Next stop: Hall of Fame

Former athletic director to be inducted in May

BY FELIPE GAMINO Sports Editor

why the Brahmas are having a tough season.

“The pandemic really broke the strength of the program, so (Coach) Edison is left with the worst of a bad situation because he’s starting the problem from scratch,” said Soto. “they’re facing some really powerful teams. In men’s volleyball, you need to hit hard.”

The Brahmas drop to 0-10 overall and 0-8 in conference play. They travel to Santa Barbara City College on Wednesday. First serve is at 6 p.m.

Former head baseball coach and athletic director (AD) Bob Lofrano has a date with immortality as he will be inducted into the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association (CCCBCA) Hall of Fame on May 27.

Lofrano was originally scheduled to be inducted in May 2020, however, the COVID-19 pandemic canceled sports seasons and delayed Lofrano’s induction. He will be honored during the Final Four for baseball which will take place during Memorial Day

weekend in Northern California. Lofrano previously said that Western State Commissioner Jerry White was backing his induction.

When former athletic director Bob Lyons retired from being the Athletic Director, Lofrano took over and was in charge until 2017. During his tenure as AD, Lofrano created the Pierce College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and was inducted into the 2016 class. Lofrano is currently a scout for the Chicago Cubs, which won the World Series in 2016 ending a century-long drought. Stay tuned for more updates.

Getting a glimpse of their new home Prospects meet the coaching staff, get tour of facilities

BY SAMMY JOHNSON Reporter

After a rough 2021 season, it’s back to the drawing board for the Pierce College football program.

On Saturday, March 26, the football program hosted a prospect event, which had aspiring and returning athletes from all over California.

The event also took the future football players on a tour of the campus, where the athletes got to visit places such as the Fitness Center, where they will be working out and training for future games, the Financial Aid Office, the Learning Crossroads building and finally, the stadium that serves as their future staging grounds.

Pierce wide receiver Parker Pelletier said that last year wasn’t all that bad, despite the team going 0-10.

“We all know (last year) wasn’t good. But, what made the program good last year was that we had a lot of returning players,” Pelletier said. “You could say we got the experience, but that hard time honestly brought us closer together. It brought us to become better men and better leaders which gave us pause about the season.”

Pelletier added, “So, you could say how bad the last season was ‘cause of record or how many players we had, but, the struggles helped to make us better people and better players in general, which will make this year as good as it’s going to be.”

Some players come from outof-state, such as wide receiver TeNorris Merkel, who thinks that the welcoming nature of the coaches and peers will certainly help put the Brahmas back in

-James Sims Head football coach

competition.

“I just moved out here from Kentucky and looked for schools, looked into the records, and ended up taking a shot,” Merkel said. “Since I’ve been here, I felt welcomed. They took me in.”

“When I got here, the recruiting process was nothing crazy. They talked to me and let me know what it is and what the goal is. I loved

it. It hit the spot, like, that’s what made me commit and want to come here. Coach [James] Sims is really looking out for us as players and not as a win/loss record.”

Merkel also approves of Sims’ methods of FootBrahma revitalization.

“Sims hired a really great coaching staff. All his coaches are nice and willing to learn with you and teach us as well. It’s just about trusting the process. As long as everyone comes together and everything works out, I see us doing big things this season,” Merkel said.

Sims feels confident that the football team can be saved as long as people come and put in the effort and ultimately, stay.

“I say those that stay will be champions. You know, the ones that come in as freshmen and stay with us for two years, by the second year, if not the first year, they’ll see a difference,” Sims said.

Photo by Felipe Gamino

Head football coach James Sims speaks to the prospects at Ken Stanley Court at Pierce College in Woodland Hills., Calif., on Mar. 26, 2022.

File photo by Joshua Manes Mario Marshall takes his final stroke in the men's 100-yard butterfly in the WSC State Championships at the Santa Clarita Aquatics Cente r on April 19,

Photo by Peter Polygalov

Moorpark College's opposite hitter Miles Judd goes for the kill against outside hi tter Steven Blugrind at Ken Stanley Court in Woodland Hills, Calif. on Mar. 25, 2022. Raiders won in straight sets.

“I say those that stay

champions. You know, the ones that come

File photo by Marc Dionne

Bob Lofrano showing his Cubs ring at the South Gym on April 21, 2017.

He won got this ring by being a scout for the Cubs.