Volume 79 // Issue 9

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IN THIS ISSUE

STRANGER THINGS 2.0

HOUSING OPTIONS AFTER FIRE

NFL PROTESTS

After a successful first season, does the new episodes live up to the hype? Pg. 6.

The housing market to be dramatically affected after the recent fires in the Northern California. Pg. 8

Athletes react to offensive comments made by NFL owner Bob McNair. Pg. 11

SINCE 1979

VOLUME 79 // ISSUE 9 OCTOBER 31 - NOVEMBER 6, 2017

THE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT RUN NEWSPAPER

Sonoma State student and firefighter relives first days of the fire Ryan Estes, a 17- year veteran firefighter and communications student at SSU, describes terrifying first moments of battling North Bay fires.

@SONOMASTATESTAR

SSU to receive $2.75 million to train Hispanic teachers ANNA BURKE STAFF WRITER

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Kent Porter / The Press Democrat Rincon Valley firefighters rescue a dog from a burning housing complex off Mark West Road in Larkfield, Oct. 9. EDITOR’S NOTE: Ryan Estes is a captain for the Rincon Valley Fire District and a 17-year veteran firefighter. He also is a staff writer for the Sonoma State STAR. The following is his story of what transpired on Oct. 8-9 and the days that followed in battling the North Bay fires. RYAN ESTES

STAFF WRITER

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ire.

The word alone can get attention, but after Oct. 8, fire is no longer just a word in Sonoma and Napa counties; it is an emotion. For those of us in the Rincon Valley Fire District, it all began late that Sunday evening when phone calls and text messages started flying in from coworkers about a fire in Calistoga that was progressing toward Sonoma County. This was followed by phone calls and texts for everyone to report back to their

stations and who was going where to get what fire engine. I got out of bed, left my wife and two kids at home, and drove from Petaluma to the Larkfield fire station on Lark Center Drive off Old Redwood Highway in northern Santa Rosa. I was listening to the emergency traffic on a scanner, trying to wrap my head around what was happening. Authorities had shut down the freeway, and I had to exit at Old Redwood Highway and Mendocino Avenue. A Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office deputy had shut down the northbound direction of Old Redwood Highway, and I ran out of my truck and asked if I could pass. Having known each other, he told me his official stance was no, but he wouldn’t stop me if I drove around him. I hopped back in my truck and headed into a thick wall of smoke, seeing only about five feet in front of me, embers hitting the truck and flames bending across

the roadway. A thought came in my head that I hadn’t made the best decision, but I knew I needed to forge on, and so I drove cautiously to ensure I did not run into fleeing people. “Of course I am not happy you drove into smoke and fire like that, but I have come to expect it from you and your public safety family,” Cherie Estes, my wife, said. “The hardest part was not being able to hear from you and only watching the news.” The smoke and fire cleared, and I could see a portion of Cardinal Newman High School on fire. Fire was also approaching the surrounding neighborhoods. Cars were speeding down from Mark West Springs Road. I heard on the scanner that my Fire Chief, Jack Piccinini, and others were moving the command post to the parking lot of Kmart. See FIRE on Pg. 5

English professor adjusts to new life after Coffey Park fire SUZETTE PLUMLEY STAFF WRITER

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STAR // Erika Peterson Assistant Professor Stefan Kiesbye at a poetry reading in the GMC in March 2017.

fter the devastation of the North Bay fires, some within the Sonoma County community may be asking, “Now what?” This question has no simple answer. However, many who have lost homes in Sonoma County, including students and faculty at Sonoma State University, are managing to process loss and piece solutions together slowly. This hopeful percentage includes Stefan Kiesbye, assistant professor of English creative writing and graduate coordinator for an MA in English. Kiesbye, and his wife, Sanaz, used to live in Coffey Park, a neighborhood in Santa Rosa that lost about 1,500 homes to the fires. The couple and their two dogs currently reside in a small apartment elsewhere in the city. “Too much has to be done quickly, from insurance claims to site visits to setting up new services, and I think that I have hardly begun to digest what happened,” Kiesbye said. See PROFESSOR on Pg. 4

or the first time since becoming a federally recognized Hispanic Serving Institution in February, Sonoma State University will be receiving a grant in connection to the designation, one that’s designed to help recruit more educators. SSU will be receiving $2.75 million in funds to help educate more Hispanic teachers by creating a new program called Preparing Under-Represented Educators to Realize their Teaching Ambitions. The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Education, and is part of $8.1 million in federal funds that has been awarded to CSU campuses such as Sonoma, Sacramento and Long Beach in hopes of minimizing the shortage of teachers in underserved communities. “PUERTA is opening the door to our local Latino community in a way we haven’t been able to do before,” said Kelly Estrada, the leader of the PUERTA project for SSU faculty. The school initiated the PUERTA Project on Oct. 1, and it will run for five years until spring 2022. According to Estrada, Hispanic and Latino students during the academic year, and over the summer at Summer Bridge, will be provided academic support and professional development for all five years of the project. Estrada says the grant has three specific goals. “The first to increase student academic success as measured by persistence and graduation rates. Secondly, to increase the number of Hispanic and Latino students earning a teaching credential. Lastly, to increase the number of students who transfer from a two-year (Hispanic-serving institution) to SSU,” she said. The school designed PUERTA to help those who feel blocked from achieving their goal of becoming an educator and aims to remove barriers that prevent students from pursuing or earning a teaching credential, Estrada said. “It is by conscious design that we developed the PUERTA acronym, as it means ‘door’ in Spanish and serves as a great metaphor for what we are attempting to do with these funds,” Estrada said. “PUERTA funds will be used to provide academic support and professional development in the form of mentorship to Hispanic and Latino students who are considering or aspiring to become future educators.” According to Estrada, only around 10 percent of students that SSU prepares to be teachers are Hispanic. “PUERTA hopes to increase Hispanic and Latino representation in the teacher population,” she said. See PUERTA on Pg. 4

Accreditation visit shows praise and flaws KAITLYN HASS STAFF WRITER

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onoma State University was under the microscope last week. And, no it had nothing to do about media attention and the recent North Bay fires. From Tuesday through Thursday, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges was on campus, meeting with students, faculty and staff in order to reaccredit Sonoma State as a university. The group scheduled five meetings throughout the three-day visit with different groups of people across the university. WASC held the first few general meetings on Tuesday; one with undergraduate students, one with faculty and one with graduate students. The last general meeting was on Wednesday with the staff. The final meeting was held on Thursday, which was open to the campus, and was about the team’s findings and recommendations. “The meetings were really well attended,” Accreditation Liaison Officer Karen Moranski said. “We were able to communicate really effectively despite the fires. Even though it was a process where we were behind on, a lot of people showed up, which shows that our community is very supportive of the institution and has a positive outlook on the future. It really impressed the committee and they mentioned it in the final meeting.” WASC shared some of its findings in the last meeting, which included both praise and places to improve. The positive commendations praised Sonoma State’s freshman and sophomore learning communities, the sense of community on campus, the student-centered environment and the integration of the Green Music Center and academic life. Their recommendations address the need for programs that assess student learning, diversity issues, the IT system and use of technology on campus. See ACCREDITATION on Pg. 4


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