Richland
CHRONICLE Vol. XLII Issue 28 May 3, 2016
Goodbye, Dr. Crawford! Pg. 3
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2 FEATURE
May 3, 2016
Graduation day: nostalgia and happiness BLANCA REYES Mannaging Editor
“Look what Mommy got today! Graduation day is here.” This is what I told my son, Chris, when I finally bought the purple cap and gown that I will wear on May 12. I have always been bad about saying goobye and finishing cycles, but this one is especially hard. I can’t say that I haven’t been waiting for this moment for a long time. I actually feel that it’s time to move on to a four-year university. I am already feeling nostalgic, though, for some of the people I had the honor of meeting. It would be difficult to name everybody, but I will try to mention a few of the great people that I will miss. First at all, I have to start with my second home, the Chronicle. I will never forget the first day there. Everyone involved helped me, in one way or another. These people led me to be where I am now: Tim Jones, my tough and funny photography professor; Larry Ratliff, the best writer and adviser; Steve Noviello, the sweetest and smartest video professor I have ever had; awesome friend and adviser Jack Fletcher; and, of course, Erica Edwards, program coordinator of the Journalism and Student Media department and the person who introduced me to this amazing world, the Chronicle. I am taking not only knowledge and memories, but several awards for sports, news and feaure photography, writing, video and radio from state journalism contests. They also belong to those mentioned above. I feel that you have to have passion and persistence doing your job, but with a good instructor you can reach unimaginable heights. I can’t forget all my friends and predecessors like Kisten Chetty and Rebecca Banks, who helped teach me a lot of things. Of course, to every writer, photographer
and editor who works tirelessly on the paper to make a quality product: It wouldn’t be possible without you guys. I am so honored to have had the opportunity to work with you. Thanks also to every single professor who taught me during classes along the path to graduation. All of them are so special. I would love to thank you by being the best student and person that I can. It was a lesson you taught by your example. Some of the names that come to mind include Patrick Moore (with Abby the wonderdog by his side), Amy Bell with that dark humor that only smart people can have, Amelie Bartolino and her knowledge and sense of humor and Denecia Spence with such a beautiful smile.
Image courtesy Paul Knudsen/Portafoliostudio.net
When I say I will miss Richland people, I am also taking about all the people at Guadalupe Hall. Everybody there helped me to do my job and have fun at the same time, no matter what. I also have to give special thanks to all the head coaches and their assistants, who trusted me to report their teams’ stories. I would like to emphasize how professional they are, that they took my job seriously and never got upset when I had to talk about difficult subjects like defeat. I need to say that although my job is to report and not to take any side, I internally celebrated your victories and suffered your defeats. I will always be thankful for the opportunity that you gave me in preparation for the professional world. The most important thing you gave me, however, is the feeling of being part of your team. Thank you!
One of my most exiting moments: Basketball coaches and players let me be part of their celebration and hold the NCJAA trophy.
Last, but not least, the most important people in my life are my mom and my son. There are not words to describe all the support and love that I have received from you two. I wouldn’t even be here without you. I hope that Chris will enjoy this graduation as much as I will, because he is the one who inspired me to get here and will be the driving force behind my next challenges and adventures. As I said in the beginning, it is hard to say goodbye, but it’s time to move on and meet more wonderful people, accomplish more goals and reach new heights. Know that I will bring a little of you with me, Richland, and I will remember all the things that you taught me. I can’t wait for May 12. It’s graduation day! This is Part 2 of a three-part graduation series.
STUDENT VIEWPOINTS
Staff photo Blanca Reyes
A selfie with my son at the Student Success Awards ceremony.
TRANSFERRING
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How has your experience at Richland been and how do you feel now that you are transferring?
Jose Delgado, 25 Transferring to UTD
Nadia Aliman, 18 Transferring to UNT
Claudia Menjavar, 20 Transferring to UTA
Samantha Soto, 17 Transferring to TWU
“Richland was stressful but not “It [Richland] was much easier “Walking [across the] stage will “Richland has been a second home to me ... I never thought than what I thought ... I’m excit- be my biggest achievement so far impossible ... Besides nervous, [I’d] make it this far, but here I ed to move into a new campus.” ... I will miss Richland because it [I’m] excited to see what’s ahead of this experience.” is my first college experience.” am now.” — Jorge Gomez
S CAMPUS 3
May 3, 2016
Staff photo Ashling Han
Dr. Michael Crawford, who plans to retire later this year, leads The Richland Chamber Singers in one of their performances at Fannin Hall recently.
Music professor leaving on a high note Copy Editor
Dr. Michael Crawford has been in the music field for 48 years, 11 of them at Richland as choral director. Over the last few years, he began to think about retiring. Now, that time has come. Crawford’s official retirement date is Aug. 31. He will continue working this summer doing administrative work – scholarships and recruiting. This week, Crawford will be 70, and that’s what motivated him to retire. “I’m pleased with what we’ve built [at RLC] and so it’s time to do something else,” he said. “I have a church choir that I direct. I want to do more adjudications, festivals and workshops because I’ve done quite a bit of those over the years … now I’ll have more time to do that.” Crawford works closely with Derrick Logozzo, director of instrumental music, who along with him are administrators/teachers. Crawford’s official position is associate dean of performing arts/choral director. “What I love to do is be the choral director,” he said. “I’d rather do that all day long.” Crawford said he has seen so many changes in the music department over the years, such as increasing enrollment, the quality of performers, more students coming to Richland and tremendous support from the administration to upgrade facilities and equipment. In the last couple of years, Crawford said, the music department has added Jordan Kus-
pa and Omar Surillo, who both graduated from Yale University with master’s degrees. “They’ve brought a young energy and a great perspective,” he said. “Jordan has done great work expanding the string orchestra and he also teaches composition. Omar is working more with the music technology program.” Crawford said if there is one thing he has loved about being choral director, it’s the challenge of taking somebody from Point A to Point B – singers and musicians in general, especially at this level because there is such a diversity of backgrounds. “If you would look at my chamber singers, which number about 40, you would see everybody from 18 years old to 70 years old, with a variety of backgrounds,” Crawford said. “I’ve taught on all levels—elementary school, high school, junior high, at a four-year college and I’ve had a professional group.” After having done community college work for 25 years and now on the cusp of retirement, Crawford has come to one important realization: “I’m in the right place. That’s what I’m best at.” Crawford has received an Administrator of the Year award for 2013 to 2014 and an Excellence in Teaching for Associate Faculty award for 2015-2016. Crawford’s family is in tune with him retiring. His wife of 45 years died two years ago, but he has his daughter, Stefanie, and her husband, his son, Sean and his wife, two grandsons and a granddaughter on the way in July. Crawford said he plans to do some adjudications on cruise ships after he retires. “I’ve probably done 30 of them in the last
20 years, but most recently, I haven’t been able to because I’ve had so many things going on,” he said. In a couple of weeks, he’s doing a program titled “Festivals at Sea,” which includes bands, choirs and orchestras on cruise ships. “You don’t get paid, but you don’t pay for the cruise,” Crawford said. “That’s pretty nice. I’ve gone as far away as Hawaii and Alaska, East Indies, a lot of Caribbean.” Crawford says after he retires he will miss working with students and the faculty the most, seeing incoming students with no idea of what they want to do and then seeing them transfer to a four-year school. “It’s really satisfying now for me to go to the Texas Music Educator’s Convention and see my students who are now out teaching,” he said. “When our kids go out to four-year schools, they compete and do as well or better than the native students. That’s not always the case at community colleges.” For Crawford’s first day of retirement, he said he has received this advice from more than one person: Don’t make any big decisions the first year. “Maybe that’s the only thing that I have a little bit of misgiving about because I’m so detailed … this concert is coming up and I have to do this and then I have to do that … and so when it’s all done, I’ll have all this time.” But, Crawford has no doubt he’ll be able to fill it with lots of things, even though he knows it will be an adjustment. Crawford has some advice for music students: “Find something that you love to do
every day and do it as hard and as fast as you can. “The worse thing to happen is, if you’re 21 years old, to wake up at age 40 and think, I wish I’d tried to do that,” he said. Crawford said the great thing about music is, if you end up not doing your day job as a musician, you could still be involved with music as much as possible – sing in the church choir, the community choir, play in the orchestra – whatever you can. “Do your day job – it really doesn’t work the other way around,” he said.
Happy sailing, good guy Michael Crawford is your essential good guy. He is not only a fine, talented musician, he has also been a mentor to hundreds of choristers of all ages at Richland who have reveled under his gentle directon while enjoying the camaraderie of ensemble singing in various forms. His selections for showcasing our choral groups always include some interesting surprises and delightful humor. And as the coordinator of Fannin Hall’s Tuesday noontime recital programs, he’s been responsible for attracting numerous outstanding guest performers to our campus. We will all miss him a lot, but hope he will return often. — Pete Shannon
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JOYCE JACKSON
4 CAMPUS/ENTERTAINMENT
May 3, 2016
Cagey lady: Student gets a kick out of boxing BLANCA REYES Managing Editor
Deborah Kouzmin is not the usual international business student at Richland. Kouzmin came here last year from France and, in addition to academic and wrestling classes, she has other passions: boxing, jujitsu and muay thai. Kouzmin joined the wrestling class last semester because she wanted to improve the technique she started practicing in her home country. “I found about the wrestling class last semester. I saw someone at the campus wearing the wrestling shirt,” Kouzmin said. Kouzmin takes her classes in and out of the classroom seriously because, for her, sports are more than a hobby. “I’m really competitive … I want to do a career. Not the rest of my life because you can’t do that. At a certain point, I will 40 years old and I can’t do that at that age,” Kouzmin said. “I really would like to do a career.”
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“I’m really competitive ... I want to do a career. Not the rest of my life because you can’t do that.” — Deborah Kouzmin For Kouzmin, the constant improvement, especially now, is crucial for her athletic career since a few weeks ago she was invited for the first time to be part of a mixed martial arts (MMA) fight. “It has been four years or maybe little more that I have been practicing all these sports separately, and my main goal was to start a career in MMA. My first opportunity came three weeks ago,” Kouzmin said. One of her coaches and a personal friend is a sports matchmaker in the area, so when promotors looking for an amateur female fighter, her friend offered the fight to her.
Staff photo Blanca Reyes
Deborah Kouzmin, right, practices wrestling with Maripo Gasarabaga at Guadalupe Hall.
“First you go against the same sex [fighter], then it’s about weight. You can use almost every technique that you know in martial arts,” Kouzmin said. Although it is a contact sport and it can be pretty rigorous, there are specific rules that make it safe for the participants. “It is regulated to be safe,” Kouzmin said.
“A Hologram For the King” – Two-time Oscarwinner Tom Hanks headlines this mediocre comedy/ drama about one man’s search for purpose. It runs out of steam from the opening gate. From Tom Tykwer, who directed Hanks in the so-so “ Cloud Atlas” a couple of years back.
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Kouzmin didn’t get a victory in her first bout. She is, however, happy for having the opportunity and she is waiting for the next combat. For Kouzmin the most important thing was that her coach was proud of her performance. “Unfortunately, I lost by decision … But it was really, really fun. I was really nervous before to enter into the cage, but as soon as I entered
“The Boss” -- Melissa McCarthy is Michelle Darnell, a successful businesswoman who gets framed for insider trading. At her side is assistant Claire (Kristen Bell), who gives her a hand by creating a giant cookie empire. Just so you know, this has a plethora of F-bombs.
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“Purple Rain” -- (Bluray, revival screening in theaters) – This was Prince’s moment to shine as a downon-his-luck singer/songwriter stuck in an abusive relationship with his father. At the late rock star’s side, in various degrees, is his love interest, Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero).
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to the cage it was like ‘Oh yeah! This is what I want to do again and again,’” Kouzmin said. There is not another scheduled fight yet for MMA combat, but Kouzmin said that if she finds an opponent, she will step back into the cage on May 7. For more information about wrestling classes, stop by Guadalupe Hall, Room G122.
“Daredevil” -- (New on Netflix streaming) – This is the second season for blind lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), aka Daredevil, who deals with vigilante Frank Castle (Jon Benthal) aka The Punisher, and old flame Elektra Natchios (Elodie Yung).
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“Jessica Jones” ( also on Netflix) – This is the tale of a superhero who does not like her moniker. At all. Actress Krysten Ritter has the right gumption/moxie for the part. TV’s “Doctor Who” regular David Tennant has the worst degree of viciousness as a character known simply as Kilgrave. —Ricky Miller
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May 3, 2016
CAMPUS 5
Student Success Awards
Above: Adviser Joe Johnson, left, from the Male Achievement Program, students Toddrick Johnston, Humberto Martinez, David Juarez, Don Tran and Richland President Dr. Kay Eggleston pose after the award ceremony.
Above: Journalism coordinator Erica Edwards, left, Marta Planells, Blanca Reyes and Dr. Eggleston pose during the awards ceremony. Left: Yusra Alhuraibi is acknowledged for her hard work designing the decorations for the banquet. — Staff photo Jorge Gomez
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Right: Exgona Ferati and Muaz Mohammed dance during the Student Success Awards banquet.
6 CAMPUS
May 3, 2016
Speaker details original date rape AZMAR KHAN Staff Writer
Katie Koestner, who was raped during her college years, was on the Richland campus April 21 to speak about sexual assault. Koestner appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1991 after she became a victim of date rape. “I instantly had a crush on this guy as I saw him for the first time,” Koestner said. Then she started dating him and he took her to a French restaurant on a date. Koestner said things started to change when she invited him to her dorm to dance to some slow music. That’s when the guy took advantage of her.
“Date rape still exists in our society ... a lot of women decide not to speak up against it.” — Katie Koestner “When I met that guy, I never thought he would do that to me and it left me in shock,” she said. Koestner said she was raped despite saying “No” a dozen times.
In her lecture, Koestner included a question-and-answer session with students. Some attendees said they thought the United States was more of a patriarchal society, where men had an upper hand over women. Koestner said certain stereotypes are put on men and women in today’s world. “Date rape still exists in our society, but because of the nature of our existing society, a lot of women decide not to speak up against it,” she said. “The laws regarding the rape should be stricter, as an average rapist goes to prison 17 times after raping,” she said. Koestner concluded her lecture by saying: “Just because a woman is in a relationship with someone or is someone’s wife doesn’t mean that the man owns her.”
RLC celebrates Asian-Pacific heritage AHLAM MARYAM AL MAHROOQ
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Staff Writer
Staff photos Ahmed Al Anany
Above: Domenica Barboza, left, and Ezra Calado perform the national dance of the Philippines during the celebration of the AsianPacific heritage. Right: Student Life Office coordinator Kristi Nealy helps with the bamboo sticks for the national dance from the Philippines.
Students learned about Asian culture through games, cartoons, calligraphy and traditional foods at the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month celebration on campus on April 27. Sponsored by the Office of Student Life (OSL), the event included a dance workshop, as well as a variety of clubs representing the Asian culture. Tinikling, which was part of the celebration, means “the bamboo dance.” It’s the national dance of the Philippines and imitates the movement of tinikling birds as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers. Ezra Calado, vice-president of the Student Government Association (SGA), taught and danced with students in a traditional dance. The event also hosted some Indian cultural dancers. Dance teacher Sarita Venkatraman performed cultural dances called bharata natyam and the Chaendra Chooda. Each one illustrated a special occasion that happened in India. The dancers were chosen from different schools. They met at Richland and danced. “The bamboo dance, tinikling, is a really common dance in the Philippines, so it was great that I was able to share my culture with everyone. Teaching it reminded me that doing it is actually much harder than it looks, but I’m glad people were interested and willing to attempt it even if their feet may get caught in the sticks,” Calado said. Calado advised students to increase their cultural quota and said that experiencing other cultures is a privilege. Students can learn to appreciate the complexity of diversity and identity by attending these events. El Paso Hall hosted the celebration. The dances took place on the cafeteria stage. Many students from different cultures were given the opportunity to learn about different cultures for Heritage Month.
Richland
CHRONICLE STUDENT MEDIA LEADERS Editor-in-Chief Managing Editior Entertainment Editor Copy Editor
Marta Planells Blanca Reyes Ricky Miller Joyce Jackson
ON THE COVER Staff photo by Ashling Han
COVER AND FONTS
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STUDENT MEDIA STAFF Isai Diaz Abraham Igene Quan Tran Ashling Han
Ahlam M. Al Mahrooq Vanessa Myron Bel Khuu Ryan Bingham Duff
STUDENT MEDIA ADVISERS Erica Edwards
Steve Noviello
Jack Fletcher
Larry Ratliff
David Goodloe
Tim Jones
Karin Matz
REMAINING ISSUE DATES May 3 May 10
AWARDS
CMA Two-Year Radio Station of the Year 2015 ACP Best of Show Award 2015 ACP Photo Excellence Award 2015 CMA Newspaper of the Year Finalist, 2014 1st Place – TCCJA Overall General Excellence, 2014 2nd Place - Pinnacle College Media Award, 2014 1st Place - TIPA Sweepstakes, 2005 3rd Place - TIPA Online, 2005 & 2006 ACP Pacemaker Winner, 2000, 2001, 2007 ACP Pacemaker Finalist, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 ACP Online Pacemaker Finalist, 2007, 2008 Over 170 Texas college journalism awards since 2000
CONTACT INFORMATION
El Paso Hall, Room E020, 12800 Abrams Rd. Dallas, 75243 Newsroom: 972-238-6079 E-mail: richanchronicle@gmail.com Advertising: 972-238-6068 E-mail: advertise@dcccd.edu Fax: 972-238-6037
Staff meetings for spring semester: Monday and Wednesday at 2 p.m. in E020 Letter Policy Letters to the editor may be edited for space. They will be edited for spelling, grammar and malicious or libelous statements. Letters must be the work of the writer and must be signed. For identification and verification purposes, letters also must include the writer’s classification (grade level), full name, address and telephone number, although address and telephone number will not be published. Editorial Policy The Chronicle is the official student-produced newspaper of Richland College. Editorials, cartoons, columns and letters are the opinions of individual students and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other individual student writers, editors, advisers or the college administration. © Richland Chronicle 2016
From Lebanon to the Wall of Honor
Staff photo Blanca Reyes
Omar Demachkie wants to become a pediatrician and cure children with cancer.
BEL KHUU Staff Writer
It is perfectly fine to feel lost in college. Being an international student, however, isn’t an excuse for not trying harder to figure oneself out. Omar Demachkie is from Lebanon. He came to the United States not only for a better education, but also to get away from a conflicted country. Demachkie was told to apply for a degree in computer science at Richland because his cousin and her mother were previously enrolled here; however, it wasn’t the field of study he was interested in. “Basically, I didn’t have a major because before coming here I didn’t really care about education. We were poor and, you know, poor schools don’t really focus on students,” Demachkie said. When Demachkie started to take science classes such as biology, he discovered that he liked them. He decided to shift his emphasis to health professions and go for a premedical
major. “Some people challenged me. They told me I’m not fit to be a premed student,” said Demachkie. Demachkie was also told that he couldn’t even be a pharmacist, let alone a doctor. The statement, however, didn’t discourage Demachkie, it only made him try harder to reach his goal. “But through this challenge, I started liking it (my major) more and more. So now, if you tell me to change it, for any reason, I’d tell you no,” Demachkie said. To be an international student in college is challenging. These students cannot just drop classes that are too hard for them or that they struggle in because English is simply not their first language. Despite all that, Demachkie found the thrill in overcoming the obstacles his journey in the United States has thrown at him so far. Demachkie said that learning English was one of his biggest obstacles. He started by taking English for Speakers of Other Languages classes at Richland.
“I started to study on my own, getting articles, newspaper. I was one of those people who would say ‘Who reads the newspaper?’ But I actually was reading it, having like a translator and writing analysis about it, going to my teacher ... I was watching movies with English subtitles, I did anything that I could do. It was the first time that I had to study two hours, three hours a day and I was getting A’s.” With the mentality of getting a premedical degree, Demachkie registered for six classes his second semester at Richland. He was also an active member in Phi Theta Kappa, a two year institution honor society, the Student Government Association and other leadership organizations. This year, Demachkie was voted a Phi Theta Kappa leadership officer. Demachkie wants to be a pediatrician and eventually, travel and treat childhood cancer wherever he is needed. He is currently volunteering at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. “I want to have the power to treat people for free,” says Demachkie. His strong sense of community brought Richland its first student-based green team which took on a lake clean-up project. According to Demachkie, lake cleaning is a job for facility. Students are not allowed to participate. He had to prove that the team would be devoted to the task with clear planning along with a large enough group of volunteers. “It was so hard to get students to volunteer. I spent two weeks, literally, everywhere I have flyers. I go to people to tell them about what I wanted to do,” Demachkie said. He also promoted his project through service learning as well as through different professors. Demachkie gathered more than 40 volunteers. Together, they collected 250 pounds of trash. The green team was finally approved and is supported by Richland President Dr. Kay Eggleston and the administration. The team also held several environmental awareness workshops at the Learning Center titled “Green Campus.” According to Demachkie, many claimed that they were very helpful. Melinda Franklin, instructional lab coordinator for learning enrichment and academic development, whom Demachkie worked with for the workshop, encouraged and nominated him for the Richland Wall of Honor. Demachkie was also nominated by speech faculty member, Sherry Dean. Jon Ewing, religion faculty member as well as Phi Theta Kappa adviser, was on the Council for Community Building committee. It decides which student will get to be on the Wall of Honor. The candidates have to meet three goals: succeed academically, overcome some sort of adversity in personal background or family history and service to the community. “[Even though] I did not put him forward … I was really glad for him, Omar is a very idealistic. I think he is going to do a lot of great things in the future,” Ewing said. Omar made the Wall of Honor with four other current and former students. The ceremony took place April 20.
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Upcoming Events Registration for all students continues for both summer and fall.
Today 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Vocal Honors recital Fannin Performance Hall 7:30 p.m. Spring World Beat concert: “Drumming from Another World” Fannin Performance Hall
Wednesday 7:30 Spring student composer’s concert: “Student in Sound” Fannin Perfomance Hall, Room F102
Thursday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cinco de Mayo celebration El Paso Hall breezeway 3 p.m. “Bless Me, Ultima” (PG-13) Sabine Hall, Room SH117
Saturday 7:30 p.m. -- $10 admission
Richland music scholarship benefit concert El Paso Hall breezeway
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