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Our 165th Year
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Westmont sends off Class of 2021
NEWS-PRESS SPECIAL REPORT
Carp mother builds trust Girls Inc. facilitator shares tips on motherhood during pandemic
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Dr. Sandy Richter looked out at the Westmont College Class of 2021 during Saturday’s commencement ceremony and asked them, “What is the deal with you people?” “As I told my classes more than once, we need to get you off campus before the 10th plague hits,” she told them. “And then came COVID.” In what seemed to be a breath of relief for the 306 students and the faculty and staff, Westmont College held its 2021 commencement ceremony in person at Thorrington Field at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The ceremony allowed two guests per graduate, but was closed to the rest of the public. It was also live streamed on the website.
The commencement was complete with bagpipe fanfare, a Litany of Gratitude, student reflections, scriptures, hymns and, most importantly, diplomas. “When I think about the Class of 2021, I can’t help but hear echoes of James Taylor’s immortal lyrics … ’I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain, I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end,’” said Dr. Richter, Westmont’s Robert H. Gundry professor of biblical studies who delivered the commencement address. She shared a few words on the book of Deuteronomy, referencing when Moses summoned all of Israel and rerecited the Ten Commandments. “You have passed through this liminal space we call college, and this is the last step today,” Dr. Richter said, defining Please see WESTMONT on A2
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“Claudia is a devoted leader — not only in her role as a mother, but also a key member of our staff at Girls Inc. of Carpinteria,” Jamie Collins, executive director of Girls Inc., told the News-Press.
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Elisa, 4, was very excited to start preschool in 2020. That is, until the pandemic hit. When Elisa was faced with starting her first year of education on a screen, Claudia Vargas knew her daughter needed a support system. “I had to tell her, ‘You can’t go to school yet, but there’s going to be a computer so you’re going to see your friends and your teacher,’” Ms. Vargas told the News-Press. “It was kind of hard for her to understand.” However, through all the twists and turns of the pandemic, Ms. Vargas stayed by her daughter’s side to help her navigate the new, isolated world, all the while serving other local youth as a teen facilitator at Girls Inc. of Carpinteria. In that role, Ms. Vargas helps run programming for teenage girls, including health and sexuality, STEM, college-bound programs and more. When Girls Inc. closed its campus last year, she and other staff members helped lead virtual programming and provide emotional support and check-ins for the girls, along with holding workshops in stress management, self-care, remote learning and more. “I was always interested in just working with girls in general because I have a daughter and it would help me prepare for having a daughter and the different environment,” Ms. Vargas said. “I teach them how to be independent, trust their values, be
creative in every way and never give up.” Something the mother noticed about teenage girls during the pandemic was the increasing difficulty for many of them to open up about their struggles as they lacked the ability to be around their best friends. “I feel like girls now — they get judged a lot, mostly physically, but there’s a lot of things,” Ms. Vargas said. “Especially with the pandemic, they lost contact with their friends and they couldn’t hang out. I think it really affected them. They wanted to be with friends and they couldn’t be.” So, Ms. Vargas took on the role of mother to not only Elisa, but many other Carpinteria teens, and even took on the role of a friend for them too. She said that it’s important for young girls to be able to spend quality time with their mothers to build trust and allow them to open up, especially during the uncertainty of COVID19. “Be patient with them,” the mother advised. “Because it happened so fast and a lot of things got taken away from them. As a teen, it’s really hard to have someone to trust, and if they don’t have friends, it’s really nice to be there for our own kids to be patient with them, to open up with them and have communication with them.” Other Girls Inc. volunteers sang praises of the busy mother in light of Mother’s Day, saying she turned around each day and inspired her own daughter to be strong, smart and bold, which is the mission of the organization. “Claudia is a devoted leader
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California population declines in 2020 By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
“I teach them how to be independent, trust their values, be creative in every way and never give up,” said Claudia Vargas, teen facilitator at Girls Inc. and mother of Elisa.
— not only in her role as a mother, but also a key member of our staff at Girls Inc. of Carpinteria,” Jamie Collins, executive director of Girls Inc., told the News-Press. “Her commitment to the growth of our girls has never wavered, even throughout the challenging times of this past year while she was working to ensure her own daughter’s needs were being met amid remote learning in her first year at preschool. We’re so grateful to Claudia for helping us inspire all girls to be independent, step outside their comfort zones and use their voices to make positive change in the community.” Girls Inc. aims to empower girls and women to achieve personal, social, political and economic success, providing long-lasting mentoring relationships, a pro-girl environment and research-based programming. Ms. Vargas joined two years ago. Gloria Flores, the HR and
operations director, told the NewsPress that in those two years, Ms. Vargas became a “trusted mentor.” “She cares about the teens the same way she cares about her own daughter,” Ms. Flores said of Ms. Vargas. “She worries about them getting enough to eat, their friendships, their home lives — all of the things a mom would worry about. She has managed to build strong relationships with one of the more challenging groups during a challenging time.” Kenya Rodriguez, Girls Inc. program director, told the NewsPress, “At Girls Inc., Claudia creates a warm, welcoming space for our girls. She is a patient listener who always asks the right questions to uncover what girls are really feeling.” To learn more about Girls Inc. and how to get involved, visit girlsinc-carp.org. email: gmccormick@newspress.com
For the first time since its founding in 1850 during the gold rush, California’s population fell by more than 182,000 last year, the first yearly loss ever recorded. Figures were released Friday following the announcement from the U.S. Census Bureau that California lost a congressional seat, according to national media reports. Although, sitting at just under 39.5 million, California’s population is still the largest in the country. The decline — 0.46% between January 2020 and January 2021 — represents approximately twice the population of Santa Barbara. The decline is part of a decades-long trend, and experts speculate it’s the result of a number of things, including the pandemic, fewer births, more deaths, a slowing of international migration, jobs and housing costs. State officials predict the population will return to “slight annual positive growth” when estimates are released next year. Declines in foreign immigration accounted for 100,000 less people living in the state, including 53,000 international students who stayed home during COVID-
19; 51,000 Californians died of COVID-19; and 24,000 less annual births occurred. The Public Policy Institute of California released a study regarding who’s coming in and out of the state and found that in general, those who move to California are likely to be working age, employed and earning high wages, and less likely to be living in poverty. Those moving in tend to have higher education levels and higher incomes as well. The vast majority of adults who left California in the 2010s — about 6.1 million people — cited jobs (49%), housing (23%) or family (20%) as the primary reason for leaving the state, according to the PPIC survey. State officials say California might have between 140,000 and 150,000 people move in from other countries in a normal year, but in 2020, it was 29,000. Officials say that is a direct result of former President Donald Trump halting new visas for much of the year. Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco lost a combined 88,000 people in 2020, but major inland cities like Sacramento, Fresno and Bakersfield gained people, which could be a result of people fleeing high-priced coastal cities. email: gmccormick@newspress.com
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i nsi d e Classified.............. A8 Life..................... B1-4 Obituaries............. A4
Westmont College’s Class of 2021 walked across the stage Saturday and received their diplomas.
Sudoku................. B2 Sports ................A5-6 Weather................ A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 10-12-21-22-28 Mega: 12
Saturday’s DAILY 4: 8-6-8-0
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 5-10-19-21-50 Mega: 10
Saturday’s FANTASY 5: 21-26-31-32-36
Saturday’s DAILY DERBY: 09-02-11 Time: 1:41.75
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 12-17-20-21-26 Meganumber: 8
Saturday’s DAILY 3: 1-0-8 / Midday 7-6-9