First Copy Free
December 6, 2010 theAccent.org
Volume 13, Issue 6
FIND THE PERFECT GIFT IN YOUR FAVORITE AUSTIN STORE PG. 9
NEW DESIGNATED SMOKING AREAS PG. 3 MATHLETE TAKES FIRST PLACE PG. 4
commuNity → PeoPle
Student waits for second transplant
arts → PerFormiNG arts
Student uses ballet background to explore other forms of dance
19-year-old in need of a new kidney Karissa Rodriguez Photo/Web Editor
Photo courtesy of Juliana Casey
PRE-OP — Student Juliana Casey receives
medication through her IV in preparation for her kidney transplant surgery on April 2. The kidney Casey received is failing, and she will have to undergo another surgery in the future.
GET INVOLVED • Those who are interested or know someone who might be interested in being a donor can contact Methodist Specialty and Transplant Clinic’s donor hotline at (210)575-4483 • Casey’s second kidney transplant will cost her family more than $5,000. To help by donating money to her family to pay for Casey’s medical costs, visit cotaforjulianac.com for more information. • Volunteers are also needed to help plan and implement fundraising activities. Interested individuals and groups should contact Children’s Organ Transplant Association and reach Juliana C. Community Coordinator, Maureen Connors, at 512.335.2950 or maureenconnors@austin.rr.com.
Sitting in a hospital bed and plugged into IV’s and monitoring machines is just another day in the life of 19-year-old ACC student Julian Casey. Over the past eight years, Casey has been in and out of hospitals receiving chemotherapy treatment and dialysis after being diagnosed with lupus nephritis at an early age. Lupus nephritis is a chronic disease where the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign invaders like viruses, bacteria and germs and your body’s healthy tissues, according to the Lupus Foundation of America. Because of this, antibodies attack and destroy healthy tissue. Earlier this year, Casey’s disease caused her to suffer from kidney failure. A longtime family friend, Leslie Kroschewsky, was a match and donated her kidney to Casey who underwent kidney transplant surgery on April 2. Unfortunately, Casey says there were complications with the surgery that led to her needing a second kidney transplant. Casey is currently admitted at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Clinic hospital in San Antonio, TX for complications from lupus. “I had a reaction to the drug that is suppose to make my body accept the new kidney,” Casey said. Due to this reaction, Casey’s new kidney became damaged and will not be functional within a matter of months. “My first doctor told me that my new kidney had only two months, and that was a month ago,” Casey said. Casey and her family asked for a second opinion after hearing this diagnosis and was told that her kidney could last anywhere from one to six months. About 15.7 percent of people who have received a kidney are on the waiting list for another one according to data from the United Network for Organ Sharing which oversees organ procurement nationwide. As of Dec. 2 there are 87,386 people nationwide on the transplant list waiting for a kidney. Despite her struggles, Casey is focused on getting her education. She graduated high school last year and is currently taking a math class at ACC. She is unsure of what she would like to do as far as declaring a major, but likes attending ACC so far. “Its nice going to ACC because I can get my basics out of the way at my own pace,” Casey said. In addition to taking a class at ACC, Casey also works at Crabtree & Evelyn in Round Rock Premium Outlets. Casey remains hopeful that she will receive a new kidney. If she doesn’t receive a second kidney within the next few months, Casey will be put back on daily dialysis. However, the dialysis will tax her body greatly and may complicate her ability to receive another kidney. Those interested in reading more about Casey’s story can visit her blog online at cotaforjulianac.com where she writes about what is currently happening in her life.
Karissa Rodriguez • Photo/Web Editor
LEAP FORWARD — Dance student Alex Crank leaps into
the air in the tilt jump position during his Dance Performance Workshop class. Crank aspires to be a choreographer in the future and has taken dance classes at ACC for three years.
ACC dancer performs in Dance Choreographers’ Showcase Karissa Rodriguez Photo/Web Editor
Gracefully leaping through the air in a tilt jump position and balancing on just his hands in a complex handstand position are just two of the ways dance major Alex Crank creates expression through movement by dancing. For the past three years, Crank has been cultivating his passion for dance in classes taken at ACC. “I started out (in high school) with dancing for color guard where you spin flags on the marching band and you dance and spin rifles. I started doing that, and I found a passion for it. I really wanted to just pursue it and see what else
is out there besides color guard. So I moved on to other forms of dance. Ballet and jazz and modern,” Crank explained. Upon becoming an ACC student, Crank began studying ballet. However, after learning new forms of dances over the years, he has learned that he enjoys jazz and contemporary dancing styles much more than ballet. “Those both have ballet basics in them as far as techniques, but they’re also more free form. You can do a lot more as far as movement and variety,” Crank said. ACC’s dance department offers classes that teach students about various dance forms
See DANCE, pg. 5
News → studeNt GoverNmeNt associatioN
commuNity → rio GraNde camPus
continues New garden full of Texas foliage SGA DREAM Act work Natalee Blanchat
Hilary Shepherd
Staff Writer
The Rio Grande Campus got a little more green as students planted a demo garden near the corner of Rio Grande and 12th street by the front entrance to the main building. The Students for Environmental Outreach planted the garden as the first step toward making Rio Grande Campus a certified wildlife habitat. According to Amy Cunningham, the faculty advisor for Students for Environmental Outreach, the students in the organization plan on meeting with a habitat steward from the National Wildlife Foundation sometime in January to have the garden evaluated and find out what else needs to be included in order to certify the campus. In order to have a certified native wildlife habitat, the project must meet certain criteria while providing for the wildlife. These include protection for the garden, a water source in the form of a bird bath, that the art department has volunteered to create, and not using any chemicals. Fertilizer may be used in the form of natural compost such as vegetables, eggshells and coffee grounds according to Cunningham. “It means that we are modeling how to live in harmony with nature. How to share human spaces to meet human needs and wildlife needs at the same time,” said Cunningham. The garden was planted on Nov. 24 and will include 84 different native plants to Texas. The college provided the soil, mulch, and rocks for the garden. The group was in charge of raising the money to buy the plants. They received thirty dollars in the form of donations, while the rest of the money came from a gift certificate won during this year’s annual Project Build-A-Park sponsored by the Office of Student Life and The Austin Parks Foundation. “We bought everything that is native to this area and tried to find the flowers that would benefit the most wildlife in the area,” said Cunningham who bought
See CAMPUS, pg. 5
Staff Reporter
Adrienne Sparks • Staff Photographer
GREEN THUMB — Amy Cunningham, faculty advisor for Students for Environmental Outreach, rearranges plants to plan out the layout of the new garden at Rio Grande Campus. Cunningham helped plant the garden with students to help certify the campus as a native wildlife habitat.
After publicly announcing their endorsement of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act last year, the Student Government Association (SGA) is now focusing on promoting the act by garnering support from ACC students and administration leaders. The DREAM Act is bipartisan legislation that would give undocumented high school graduates the opportunity to obtain conditional permanent residency provided that they serve for two years in the military or complete two years of education at a higher education institute. The bill, which was first introduced in 2001, was called into the House of Representatives for the eighth time last week, and is currently being debated in Congress. SGA hopes to spread awareness about the hotly debated immigration issue by holding advocacy events in the spring. “We’re trying to create pressure within the school to gain public support for it,” explained Dylan Pera, the vice president of SGA. “That has
always been our goal, and it says so in our resolution.” ACC’s administration recently adopted the resolution, which urged them to support the DREAM Act unanimously because, according to Pera, “it pushes the fundamentals of what ACC stands for.” Along with planning advocacy events, SGA is currently in the process of sending the resolution to state and congressional representatives. ACC is not the only school making an effort to raise awareness. In the past year, there have been a number of protests, debates, hunger strikes, and sit-ins all across the nation. The most recent one happened just last week, when dozens of UTSA students and San Antonio residents urged Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson to vote on the bill by staging a sit-in at Hutchinson’s San Antonio office. “We believe it’s a fundamental right for everyone to have an education, whether they were born here or not. The point is, they are students here, and they should have the right to be educated. Everyone deserves an education. It’s a simple fact of student rights,” said Pera. “And that’s our main goal, to support student rights.”