Eastfield Et Cetera May 8, 2019

Etera Eastfield College

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Volume 50, Issue 13

A wealth of education Graduate, family go from sleeping in their car to finding support, success at Eastfield See page 10 ➤

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Wednesday, May 8, 2019

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The Et Cetera

Record-breaking graduation causes strife with tickets

By ARIA JONES Editor in Chief @AriaJonesETC

Rows of students could be seen leaving Eastfield’s graduation ceremony early as a record number of graduates walked the stage May 4.

At the Curtis Culwell Center, 912 students walked the stage, about 100 more students than the previous year, Sharon Cook, assistant to the president, said.

There were concerns in the weeks prior to graduation that seats may not be available for some students’ families. After a series of mishaps in the Admissions Office, an unknown number of students didn’t receive tickets for their guests to attend the graduation.

The administration ultimately worked with the venue to ensure that family members without tickets would be allowed inside.

Issues began when students who applied for the ceremony received graduation packets without tickets or with fewer tickets than initially promised. Some dual credit students were told about two weeks prior to the graduation that there were no tickets available for them.

Early college student Emely Ortiz said graduation should have been organized better.

“We’ve been talking about this for what, two months? And it’s kind of sad the way they messed that up,” she said.

Ortiz said she was excited to make her parents proud, earning her high school diploma from Skyline High School and a certificate from Eastfield and participating in two ceremonies.

She’s a first-generation college student and the first among her five siblings to complete a college program.

“It feels really nerve-racking because I want to take my parents and my brothers, but they all work and they need their tickets to show that they have to show up to my graduation,” she said. “I just hope everything works out and I can get the tickets to the people I really want to be there.”

She said she was told to wait for her tickets in the mail, but the tickets never came. Then she was told there were problems with the tickets and she may not receive any.

Three days before the ceremony, The Et Cetera received a statement from Eastfield College President Eddie Tealer that read: “Eastfield College Administra-

ANDREW WALTER/THE ET CETERA

Eastfield boasted a record number of graduates this year among controversy in ticket distribution.

tion regrets that a small number of students did not receive graduation packets with tickets for the annual commencement exercise. We are currently working with the Curtis Culwell Center Management Team to ensure all students’ families who did not receive tickets will be allowed in the center.

Those students with incomplete graduation packets have been contacted personally by the Admissions Office Administrator for arrangements regarding non-ticket holders.

We are proud of the largest number of participating graduates in the college’s 48-year history, and welcome the opportunity to celebrate with students and their families.”

The Et Cetera has yet to verify the number of students affected or that they have been contacted.

Dean of Access and Enrollment Patty Young said April 24 that she was working with the administration to solve the problems by April 26.

On the following Monday, the administration had not made any communication to students or employees about the issue and could not be reached for comment.

“We sincerely apologize, and our role is to find a solution as soon as possible,” Young said on April 24.

“We’re asking students to check their emails in the next few days in regard to this situation, and we want them to know that we are standing with them, wanting to celebrate with their family and friends.”

She said that one mistake is that an estimated 50 packets were sent out with six tickets instead of the eight promised in the included letter.

Some packets included no tickets at all.

The remainder of tickets that did not get sent out were included in a pool for students to request extra tickets on a first come, first served basis.

On the Eastfield app, several students were asking others for extra tickets and offering to buy them.

Hermila Cuevas was given two tickets after making a post on the app. When she got her packet, she read the letter and thought she had eight tickets.

When a classmate told Cuevas they got six tickets instead of eight, and she saw posts appearing on the app about tickets, she went back into the packet to count them. That’s when she realized she was short two tickets.

“So I’m sitting here like, ‘Oh no, what am I going to do? I’ve already told [my family] that I have tickets and I don’t’, ” she said.

While some students without tickets were contacted by Admissions Office and told that up to four of their guests would be allowed inside without tickets, others were not.

When Cuevas went to the Admissions Office, she was told to email them, but didn’t receive a response to her April 18 message. Then Cuevas visited the office again April 25,

where she put her name on a list to request extra tickets. She said she was told she would get a response by Monday but didn’t.

Admissions and Records Management announced on the app April 22 that all extra tickets had been distributed and offered two solutions: livestream the event online or have their guests arrive early and take seats as available.

Later that afternoon, they announced a raffle on the app, where students could turn in their extra tickets to the Admissions Office in C-119 between April 22 and 26 for a chance to win a diploma frame and more.

An email went out April 26 announcing the winner who could pick up their frame six to 10 weeks after the spring term when diplomas are ready.

Young said a previous email was sent out asking students to return any extra tickets in order to distribute them, but several students who applied to graduate never received the email.

Computer-aided design instructor Marques Washington said his dual credit students were told about two weeks prior to graduation about the two options they had for graduation.

Washington eventually collected enough tickets for his students.

“If you care, that’s what you do,” he said. “I mean, because I knew they didn’t have tickets. We told these kids

they were gonna graduate, and now we’re gonna tell them that they can’t graduate? No, I’m gonna try to get them tickets.”

His goal was to get them all at least two tickets because some didn’t want to attend when they found out their guests would not have tickets.

He said on April 22 that he’d need 51 tickets for his students.

“I think walking across the stage is very important because a lot of people need to see that,” he said. “Somebody in their family needs to see that.

Even my kids, if they have children, I always tell them ‘You need to walk so your kids can see you walk.’ ” He said the statistics about college success are real, and some of his students may never attend four-year universities.

“Even when you go to high school graduations and see teachers crying or you see teachers get emotional, that’s because they kind of know that may be the best thing that’s ever going to happen for that kid,” he said.

Washington said that while at first, he thought it was his 11 students affected, once he started looking for tickets he realized it was a larger issue.

One of his students even received two packets and was able to give him eight tickets.

He also noticed that many of his early college high school juniors receiving a certificate, who do not typically get graduation tickets, received packets. So he started collecting the tickets, but he didn’t know that other high school seniors didn’t have tickets.

Washington said that he believes the office should have made an announcement.

“I think they didn’t because there’s really no way to fix it,” he said.

“There’s really nothing they can do but try to take care of the ECHS kids.”

Young said one of the issues with this graduation season was that the projection for the number of tickets students would receive was based on attendance in previous years.

She also said the office did something new this year and sent an email asking to confirm their participation, which is how the graduation list was populated.

“Students have worked for the last two, three, four years to get to this point and we want this day to be extraordinary for them,” she said. “So we’re pulling out the stops right now to try to resolve it, and that’s our focus over the next few days.”

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The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Changes to board policies leave some faculty vexed

By SKYE SEIPP News Editor @seippetc

Faculty have until the board votes on June 4 to voice concerns about proposed policies aimed at creating “clear, consistent and equitable changes” across the Dallas County Community College District.

Justin Lonon, executive vice chancellor, said the goal was to evaluate inequities that exist across the district that may affect faculty compensation.

“It’s our hope that aligning us as a district and getting us all on the same page will help us address these inequities,” Lonon said. “And as we move into this work further we’ll be taking a deeper look at load and management issues.”

A draft of the modifications was sent out faculty and staff April 12, read to the board May 7, and will be voted on by the board June 4. These changes are not expected to take affect until fall 2020.

This initiative consists of nine policy changes recommended by the Boston Consulting Group, who after being granted a $1.5 million contract investigated some the findings of the DCCCD Faculty Load Review Group from 2016-2017. After completing their assessment, the consultants aligned with the group on many issues and found other inequities.

The nine proposed changes are: defining a faculty member’s requirements (load) by time spent in instruction (contact hour); make lecture and lab contact hours equal; clearly define what extra service maximums are; define and consistently apply institutional services (time spent grading papers and other duties that come with teaching) and release time (for faculty members in administrative services and need to be released from their regular workload); give a clear definition to part-time faculty requirements; determine course capacities across all disciplines by teacher recommendations; give faculty members teaching an under-enrolled required class full value and finally defining and standardizing compensation across the district for large group instruction.

Faculty Association President Liz Nichols said faculty were initially concerned about cuts to extra service maximums and angst about the language used, as they felt blame for problems in the district was solely being pushed on them.

COURTESY OF THE DALLAS COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

From the draft: All 15 of the initiatives that are in various stages across the district as a part of the Student-Centric Transformation.

“I think a lot of uneasiness and fears could have been addressed way earlier,” she said. “We’ve played some catch up, but I feel good about the relationship that’s been forged between the council and the Boston Consulting Group.”

Nichols, along with the other faculty association presidents across the district, has been meeting with DCCCD Chancellor Joe May once a month to discuss the policy changes and to voice concerns from their constituents. She also said they meet with members from the Boston Consultant Group multiple times a month.

If these changes are approved, the next step will be to set up a number of task forces across disciplines consisting of faculty and various other staff members to begin implementing the policy changes. The policy change is one of 15 initiatives in the district’s Student Centric Transformation and falls under the “strengthening the system” category of the plan.

Nichols said she has tried to keep faculty up-to-date on the changes as they’re happening by sending emails and pushing people to the website to give their feedback. She also set up a meeting for faculty with three Boston Consulting members on April 18, where about 20 out of 153 faculty members attended.

Internal and external reviews The board approved $1.5 million contract to bring on the Boston Consultant Group Dec. 4 to investigate inequities throughout the district.

Government professor Glynn Newman said the issues could have

been solved internally without the help of the Boston Consulting.

“When you’re making a big decision like this you need to know information upfront so you can somewhat hammer through the minutia and figure out if it’s good or not good for you,” he said. “The information that they provided, more and more came out over time, but closer to them making a decision versus us being able to prepare a rebuttal.”

Newman said he does believe that equity is needed across the district, but said each situation should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

While the Boston Consulting Group has been the lead investigator in addressing discrepancies, many of the proposed changes come from work done by the Faculty Load Review Group back in 2016-2017.

The group was a team of faculty, deans and staff from across the district that investigated inequities among faculty in relation to load requirements. The final review was sent to Chancellor Joe May in May 2017 and found the most urgent areas that required attention were inequities among lecture and lab loads, class size inconsistencies and inequities in how release time was awarded to faculty members.

History professor Matt Hinckley was one of the leaders of the Faculty Load Review Group and said that many of these changes are good for faculty across the district.

He said he understands why May brought an outside group to validate the findings of the Faculty Load Review Group report. And after reading the draft said it appears the Bos-

ton Consulting has confirmed many of their initial findings.

“If I had had my way, everything would have been implemented by now, but that’s not how it works,” he said. “There’s a lot of money that will have to be spent to make this [policy change] happen. They’ll probably have to hire a lot more full-time faculty around the district and that costs money.”

He also said the board has to be cognizant of taxpayer dollars being spent before big changes are made and by bringing in an outside group they’re able to verify the findings of the Faculty Load Review Group.

The changes Faculty voiced concerns about the policy changes at town halls and forums back in March, with one of the biggest worries being that the extra service maximum of 14.7 contact hours (or four additional classes) would be cut in half. May said that suggested change would not happen.

The current draft does not propose changes to extra service maximums, instead it proposes clearly defining the current 14.7 maximum as contact hours.

The 14.7 contact hours have been interpreted differently across campuses, with some defining it as credit hours and others as clock hours.

However, Eastfield defines it as 14.7 contact hours per week, which under the draft will be the proper definition. Extra service maximums means that in addition to the five classes that faculty must teach to get 100 percent of their load, the extra 14.7 allows them to teach another

four classes per regular semester.

With relation to the changes to lab and lecture, biology professor Pebble Barbero is glad to see change coming.

“Instead of being in class for fifteen hours, we’re in class for eighteen hours,” she said. “In essence we’re teaching an extra class a semester.

By making lecture and lab equal, we will have the same five classes for our load and that sixth one would be compensated for.” The current policy gives professors who teach a lab a lesser percentage to count toward their load. Where most teachers have to teach five three-hour classes a semester (each class is 20 percent of their load), professors who teach a lab don’t receive the full 20 percent.

Inconsistencies in how release time is defined and awarded is another problem found among campuses.

The draft suggests changing the name from release to reassigned time and clearly defining what that means.

The draft does not define it however, as that will be the job of the task force. Release time is offered to faculty who partake in certain institutional services, like for Nichols being the Faculty Association president. The policy states that faculty who partake in services like this are released from their duties of teaching for however many classes it will take for them to oblige to their other duties pertinent to the district or campus.

However, campuses across the district give different incentives to faculty instead of release time. Some give contracts or stipends to their faculty.

Hinckley said this can be probSee Audit, page 6 ➤

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Wednesday, May 8, 2019

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The Et Cetera

Clearing the clutter As Democratic field expands, 2020 presidential race takes shape Compiled by David Silva, Illustrations by Aldahir Segovia, Julie Cordova and Roxana Santillan Following Donald Trump’s 2016 upset victory over Hillary Clinton (can you believe that was almost three years ago?), members of the Democratic Party have been gearing up to ensure that Trump goes without a second presidential term.

John Delaney (who?) kicked things off in July 2017 as the first Democrat to formally announce a bid for the

presidency.

Since then, 20 more Democratic candidates have announced their presidential bids for 2020, and one Republican will challenge Trump in the primaries.

So before somebody else decides to jump in, let’s take an early look at how the 2020 election is shaping up, based on late April CNN polling numbers.

Wait! Let’s talk Republicans first Donald Trump Current job: President of the United States since 2017 Poll standing: 54% Key issues: Restricing immigration and building a wall along the southern border. Rolling back international trade and climate agreements.

Hurdles: Recapturing moderate and centrist voters who may have been wary of his policies and rhetoric in 2016.

William F. Weld Last job: Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997 Poll standing: 8% Key issues: Fiscal restraint. Immigration reform. Being a voice for mainstream moderates and mainstream conservatives.

Hurdles: Polling shows that most Republican voters don’t even know who he is. He’s running as a conservative but is far left of Trump.

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LIFE&ARTS The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Democratic frontrunners Joe Biden

Bernie Sanders

Poll standing: Leads at 39% Notable work in politics: Beloved by the left as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. Considered a centrist senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009.

Key policies/message: Strengthening protections and opportunities for middle- and working-class Americans. Ensuring that Trump doesn’t “fundamentally alter the character of this nation” by winning reelection.

Biggest hurdles: Recent allegations of inappropriate or uncomfortable conduct toward women haven’t substantially minimized Biden’s lead in the polls, but it still may come back to haunt him. Biden may also be rejected by younger progressives looking for new leadership.

Poll standing: 15% Notable work in politics: Most recently known for his 2016 grassroots primary campaign against Hillary Clinton that electrified many young voters. Longest serving independent senator, representing Vermont since 2006. Self-proclaimed democratic socialist.

Key policies/message: Medicare for all.

Free college tuition. Running on the same platforms he ran with in 2016.

Biggest hurdles: Despite bringing policies like Medicare for all to the mainstream, many of his fellow candidates are running on the same platforms, making him less distinguishable. At 77 years old, he would be the oldest president in U.S. history.

First rounders

Elizabeth Warren

Pete Buttigieg

Beto O’Rourke

Kamala Harris

Current job: U.S. Senator from Massachusetts since 2013 Poll standing: 8% Key policies: Holding big corporations accountable. Ensuring opportunity for working Americans. Free college.

Hurdles: Standing out from the pack.

Luring centrists.

Current job: Mayor of South Bend, Indiana since 2012 Poll standing: 7% Key policies: Make the employment market more dynamic. Stresses his generational identity as a millennial.

Hurdles: Holding on to his early momentum as a rising star. Capturing conservative/religious voters because of his open homosexuality.

Last job: U.S. Representative from Texas from 2013 to 2019 Poll standing: 6% Key policies: Immigration reform. Marijuana legalization. National unity.

Hurdles: Lack of perceived experience. Potential voter fatigue. Previous statements on hot-button issues may scare away centrists.

Current job: U.S. Senator from California since 2017 Poll standing: 5% Key policies: Middle class tax cuts. Civil rights.

Hurdles: Breaking away from the pack.

Capturing progressive voters despite her mixed record in justice system reform as a district attorney and attorney general in California.

Might have a chance Cory Booker Current job: U.S. Senator from New Jersey since 2013 Poll standing: 2%

Who? Amy Klobuchar Current job: U.S. Senator from Minnesota since 2007 Poll standing: 2%

Tulsi Gabbard Current job: U.S. Representative from Hawaii since 2013 Poll standing: 2%

Julian Castro Kristen Gillibrand John Hickenlooper Andrew Yang Jay Inslee John Delaney Tim Ryan

Eric Swalwell Marianne Williamson Mike Gravel Seth Moulton Wayne Messam Michael Bennet

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The Et Cetera

Lawmakers narrow down priorities as session comes to a close all undergraduate programs and report them to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Students in high school dual credit programs would also be required to declare a major when they completed 15 credit hours under the bill.

Faz said SB 25 has a good shot at passing this Legislature. The Senate has already approved it and passed it on to the House.

By JAMES HARTLEY Life & Arts Editor @ByJamesHartley

With 26 days left in Texas’ legislative session, lawmakers’ priorities are becoming clearer.

Isaac Faz, chief legislative counsel for the Dallas County Community College District, said that bills that haven’t moved out of committee at this point will likely die there.

Funding, property tax reform and college credit transfer rules have received a lot of attention from the DCCCD while marijuana, beer and voter ID laws are of interest more broadly.

Property taxes One of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities for the 2019 legislative session is a reform in property tax law.

Senate Bill 2, which would reduce the property tax increase rollback rate from an 8 percent increase to 3.5 percent, was passed 19-12 on April 15.

The vote was a clear divide between Texas Senate Republicans and Democrats, with Republicans all voting in favor and Democrats unanimously opposing.

If governments currently want to raise the property tax beyond the rollback rate, they must hold an election where voters approve the increase. SB 2 would require an election for increases more than 3.5 percent. If voters do not approve the rollback, governments must refund any taxes collected under the rate and rollback the increase to the cap.

Faz said this law would have cost the DCCCD more than $21 million had it been in effect four years ago.

That would have a major impact on the operations of the district, Faz said.

“Overall, we understand saving the property owners want in their taxes,” Faz said. “There are a lot of high property taxes in Dallas, as we understand it. That’s why the chan-

Marijuana

cellor and our board have said whatever the highest amount of exemptions for homestead we want to do it. … I think we’re being really fiscally responsible as the DCCCD.” All Dallas County governments in 2018 offered a 20 percent homestead tax exemption and a $69,000 exemption for residents 65 and older and those with disabilities.

The DCCCD was the second lowest tax rate among Dallas countywide taxes in 2018 at 13 cents per $100 property value.

Parkland Hospital had the highest countywide tax rate in Dallas County in 2018 at 28 cents for every $100 property value. Property taxes don’t only impact homeowners. Landlords pass on property taxes to to tenants through rent. The bill is now in the hands of the House and is waiting to be scheduled for a vote. The House companion bill, HB 2, currently reduces the rollback rate to 2.5 percent.

The House has the option of ditching HB 2 and instead voting on SB 2 since the Senate has already approved it. SB 2 does not exempt the DCCCD from the law but HB 2 contains an exemption.

Faz said he expects Abbott to call a special session of the Legislature to address property taxes if the subject

is not resolved in the regular session.

College funding While lawmakers are considering reducing the property tax rollback rate, the state budget does include additional funding for the DCCCD. Faz said that while the increase, more than the district initially requested, is appreciated, it won’t make up for funding that could be lost by lowering the property tax rollback rate. The DCCCD is currently expecting just under $189 million from the state for 2020 and 2021, $9 million more than the last appropriations. Faz said this could change before the state budget is approved, but that as it stands it will clearly have a positive impact.

“They see the good work we’re doing here,” Faz said.

Transfer rules Senate Bill 25 would help the DCCCD continue to make a positive impact on the community, Faz said.

The bill would make it easier for students to transfer credits from Dallas County colleges to four-year universities across the state, Faz said.

Higher education institutions across the state would be required to develop course recommendations for

Marijuana reform advocates were hoping for decriminalization of small amounts of the drug, but recent amendments to pending legislation simply reduce sentencing. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the bill was dead in the Senate to begin with.

Under House Bill 63, approved by the House April 29, anyone caught with an ounce or less of marijuana would be fined $250. The change came after pushback from law enforcement and some conservative legislators.

Possession of this amount is currenlty a Class B misdemeanor. Under HB 63, it would become a Class C misdemeanor. The Senate companion, Senate Bill 156, has been stalled in committee since February.

Senate Bill 90, which aimed to broaden the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes, has also stalled in committee while its counterpart in the House, House Bill 1365, hasn’t been scheduled for a vote.

Student IDs for voting A bill that would allow students to use their college ID at the polls will likely die in committee, Faz said.

The bill, introduced by four Democrats in February, hasn’t made any progress since being referred to the House committee on elections in March.

Texas’ voter ID laws have come under fire from Democrats as a form of voter suppression and were changed after a court ruling found

that the laws discriminate against black and Latino voters.

Voters can identify themselves at the polls with a government-issued photo ID, a government document showing their name and address, a copy of a current utility bill, an original bank statement, a copy or original government check, a copy or original paycheck, or a certified birth certificate admissible in court to identify them.

Voters who cannot supply these forms of ID can cast a provisional ballot after signing an affidavit stating they are who they say they are.

Government professor Michael Iachetta said the bill was likely aimed at increasing Democratic voter turnout among college students and didn’t expect it to go anywhere in a Republican-controlled Texas Legislature. Iachetta said college students are typically more likely to vote for Democratic candidates.

“There’s a tendency maybe to not understand all that’s involved and maybe vote for a party that you perceive is going to give you a lot of stuff for free,” Iachetta said. “That’s the perception, in Texas at least, that the Democrats are all for freebies for people.”

Craft beer to go Bills allowing craft breweries to sell packaged beer to go were added to a sunset bill allowing the Texas Legislature to review the policies and performances of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

House Bill 1545 has passed the House April 26 and is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate May 7.

Other measures to expand the hours beer and wine may be sold on Sundays.

Craft breweries in Texas cannot currently sell their own bottled or canned beer for consumption off the breweries’ property and sellers must limit beer and wine sales between noon and midnight on Sunday.

Audit uncovers inequities across campuses in the district Continued from page 3 lematic because it’s hard to determine if all faculty across the district are being equally compensated.

Course capacity and determining what constitutes as a large group are two other issues of inequity that were found. It’s suggested that course capacity be established by recommendations from faculty of that discipline across

the district.

Large group instruction doesn’t have a standard on what constitutes a large group, and some faculty receive more or less money when they teach groups based on what their campus deems as a large group.

One example found in the Faculty Load Review Group report was with Richland and Cedar Valley. At Richland, some history classes can seat 55 students, and the faculty member

who teaches that class is awarded more money.

At Cedar Valley, a teacher who has a class of 48 students gets two contracts for that class, meaning they make more money than the professor at Richland.

“From course to course and discipline to discipline it may vary,” Hinckley said. “And that’s OK. And what the Faculty Load Review Group suggested is that faculty discipline determine what’s an appropriate class size.”

Nichols, Hinckley, Newman, Barbero and Lonon all agree the board will likely pass the changes.

Barbero said when the policy changes were first announced she was leery of them like many other faculty members.

“Nobody likes change, but I don’t think it’s going to be a detriment to the faculty,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s going to negatively impact my position, anymore.”

Life &Arts The Et Cetera

Q A

What exactly is the Center for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity?

What we want the center to do for Eastfield is to create programs and resources for students so we can enhance their intellectual and social development, but really to eliminate the barriers that keep them from getting access to things that keep them from being successful when they come here. And we also really aim to create this culture of inclusivity and a welcoming community that cultivates to diversity but creating that to advance learning and advancement for anyone that comes to this college.

Then we also house the food pantry. We recognize that food and security is a big barrier to students being successful, so the pantry is an easy way to provide that resource to anyone that would need it. We also will eventually house other resources for students to come and get the help they need to be successful here.

We just hope that this center can model and create this culture on campus that is similar to the pay-it-forward model, but also provide educational opportunities. We’re doing some professional development and other student programming to create this awareness. I think there’s a lot of fear around this subject, saying the wrong thing or maybe offending somebody. I think the best way to get past that is the introspective side, but also educating yourself.

Q A

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www.eastfieldnews.com

Patel’s diverse life leads back home Ashmi Patel, director of the Center for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity at Eastfield, sat down with News Editor Skye Seipp.

She grew up in Garland and got her bachelor’s degree in religious studies from SMU and later got her master’s from Rutgers University.

She is a practicing Hindu, which allowed her to work an internship at the American Hindu Foundation and to be an editor for Brown Girl Magazine. She moved from Washington, D.C. in November to start working at Eastfield.

“The Alchemist” is one of my favorite books and I read it once a year, or I try to. It’s hard to describe what it’s about, but the reason I like it is that it’s a little abstract in the way that it describes the universe. At the end of the day, the message is that if you want something bad enough the universe will help

Q

And that’s what gave you a background in being able to come here and set up the Center for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity?

What made you choose to move back from Washington, D.C.?

When I moved to D.C. I knew wanted to do my work and get this experience and perspective.

I really wanted to get a different [and] national perspective, but I always knew that I would come back.

I definitely wanted to come back locally and serve the community that I grew up in.

I’ve always felt a responsibility for helping the community that helped me. And my entire family lives here, so I came back earlier than I thought, just to be closer to my family.

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Q A

The institute is a nonpartisan think tank and they have about 40 different programs...The program I worked for was the college excellence program.

We did higher education reform, predominantly in the community college sector, then we did do some four-year work.

That gave me a national perspective into what working for a community college could be, how it’s a hub for the community because it partners with K-12, but it also partners with the business sector. My primary project when I was there was the Aspen Presidential Fellowship.

In about the next 10 years around 79 percent of community college presidents plan on retiring. That’s a huge gap to fill…It gave me a really good perspective on the importance of leadership for cultural change.

Q A

What have your personal experiences been with equity, inclusion, and diversity?

What has had the biggest influence on your life and inspired you the most?

What did you do there?

A

Do a lot of other community colleges already have something like this established?

I was pretty consistently asked if I was a red-dot or a red-feather Indian [as a child]. There weren’t many Hindu kids either… I think experiences that I never fully internalized or made sense of it until I was much older. As a kid, I definitely had a happy childhood, but when you get older you’re like ‘Hmm that wasn’t very nice or shouldn’t have been said to me.’

And back then teachers weren’t getting professional development on how to intervene when things like that were said. It’s exciting to see now that educators are also empowered to intervene when things like that are said and explain to their students why it’s not okay. But also make sure that the student who is being excluded can have an environment that values them.

Q A

Yeah, I think I had a lot of space to learn different things and work with different partners while we were at Aspen and meet really powerful leaders. I think the thing that spoke to me the most was the equity piece and how equity really is underlying in every piece of the institution because we want to serve our students, but we want to make sure they are all getting the outcomes that they deserve. That just kind of ended up being what I wanted to talk about all the time and learn about. So when I saw this position I was super excited.

No, we’re the first in the district. Other colleges in the district are doing this work through committees or they have their champions on campus that are doing this work. They’re definitely doing this work. We’re the first in the district to have a center titled for equity, inclusion and diversity.

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Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Q YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

Ashmi hopes Eastfield can be a place where all students have the tools they need to succeed.

you get it. You just have to keep believing in it. If you work toward something for a long time, then the failures or downfalls can pile up.

Sometimes you have to remind yourself that life is really long and you should focus on the good things that are piling up. That’s one of the books that helps me do that because I try to dwell on the positive parts. I think that the best way to move forward is to know that there’s always hope.

I saw you did some work with the Aspen Institute.

A

You told me progress is slow and you have to be committed to making a change. How do you relay that message to other people?

Well one, I have to remind myself of that all the time. Especially when you believe in something really strongly, it’s often difficult to have the patience to see it come to fruition, as slowly as it might take. I haven’t fully figured it out.

I think it’s a journey for myself to remind myself that progress is slow and on the days when you feel you can’t change anything, you have to remind yourself that you’ve at least changed it for one person. Obviously, I would want to just one day be able to change it for thousands or millions of people, but if I can at least change it for one, then that’s a good start.

And that person will at least pay it forward. I guess my long answer to that is that I’m still figuring it out.

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Wednesday, May 8, 2019

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A true comeback

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

20-time felon finds purpose in charity, servitude, leadership

By DAVID SILVA Managing Editor @DavidSilvaETC

The residuals of addiction and criminality still linger in Sandra Sue True’s conscience.

From her decision to major in substance abuse counseling to clocking in more than 500 hours of community service, her motivating force is to give back to the community that she says she’s harmed.

At 45 years old and with over 20 felonies to her name, True is trying to right her wrongs. In her third year at Eastfield, she’s found herself as one of the most prominent student and community leaders on campus.

“Right now, my life and purpose is my volunteer work,” she said. “I want to lead through service… and inspire others to serve and lead and pay it forward.”

She’s taken her assertiveness, transparency and vigor that helped produce her downfall and used it to aid her charitable actions.

True’s first life-altering crime occurred in 1998, when she came out as a lesbian in the state of Texas.

At that time, state laws criminalizing homosexual behavior could still be enforced, with the landmark Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court decision that made those laws unconstitutional still almost a decade away.

When she and her recently divorced ex-husband’s custody struggle for their two daughters started to get bitter, True’s sexuality was made a focal point in the discussion.

The judge made his stance very clear, ruling that True would not be given any custody of her children because of her open homosexuality.

Losing her daughters put True on a directionless path.

She tried to cope in any way she could.

True’s then-girlfriend introduced her to a remedy: methamphetamine.

True turned her anger and sadness into self-destruction and spiraled into addiction.

She was instantly hooked, and as days turned into weeks and then months of use, her perspective of the world started to change.

True said her downward spiral was so quick, it seemed like it happened overnight.

PHOTOS BY YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

Sandra True tutors a colleague, helps stock the campus food pantry and feeds one of her many bulls.

True says she chooses to stay busy in order to be continuosly useful to her community.

“I was living with nothing to lose,” she said. “I was living to die.”

Then True began to take things a step further.

As her priorities started to orbit closer to her drug abuse, she turned to criminal means to fill her addiction.

She started to get involved with

cooking and selling meth and selling other hard drugs such as cocaine.

True’s life for more than a decade was a combination of intoxication, burning through money, run-ins with the law, attempts to get clean and relapse.

Her arrest led to True attempting sobriety, and she came out of prison

as a reformed person.

She entered a new relationship and stayed clean for about eight years.

“One day she just started to get distant,” Laurie Morris, her partner at the time, said. “Then she told me ‘My life is too boring.’”

Her relapse quickly brought her back to criminality.

She eventually became involved in car theft, credit card scamming and Social Security fraud and very quickly developed a system.

She learned how to recreate license plates and hotwire in order to steal cars more effectively, and she hired people to dumpster dive and steal sensitive information to create fake credit cards and Social Security numbers.

She spiraled downward until her arrest in 2008.

True was serving a 10-year sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, among other charges.

In the first four years of that sentence, which she spent in isolation, True was doing her time with no intention of getting clean.

She was too devoted to her lifestyle and intended to pick up right where she left off.

But following her release into the general prison population, she received an unusual correspondence.

True remembers staring at the letter while in the middle of the mailroom of that Gatesville, Texas, prison and freezing.

She gazed at the bubbly handwriting on the outside of the letter in silence.

At the prison she’s known as someone not to be messed with — a multi-time felon in for an aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and only a recent member of the general prison population. But at that moment, she was weak in the knees and unable to find the strength to lift her hands and wipe her foggy glasses.

The inmates around her took notice.

“Sandra,” one finally asked. “You OK?” True remained silent. She stopped to think.

Her oldest daughter Bobbi was over 18, without the restrictions of her ex-husband.

She finally sits nearby, still staring through her muddled glasses.

“I think this a letter from my daughter,” she replied.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” the inmate asked.

True reached for her glasses and wiped them clean. She looked down See Ex-addict, page 15 ➤

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Harvesting Hope

The Et Cetera

Mother, family use college to build stable future

By SAMUEL FARLEY Staff Writer @SamFarleyETC

The party

KATE ARROWS ENOIRE/THE ET CETERA

Top, Mia Cuevas graduated from Eastfield May 4 after struggling to fight homelessness with her family. Mia Cuevas, 32, and her children Priscilla, 9, Naudia, 11, Alexander, 8, and Hilda, 10, carve pumpkins for the first time on the porch of their trailer in Seagoville, TX, October 20, 2018. Mia likes to find economical crafts for them to do so they can spend time at home and minimize their screen time.

Jacob Cuevas sits in front of 10-year-old Priscilla, relaxed in a big gray chair while his wife, Hermila Cuevas, prepares food for Priscilla’s 10th birthday party. His legs rest on a matching ottoman. He is tired, worn out by early morning classes and the long shifts as a guard supervisor.

He wakes up at 7 a.m. and drives an hour and 10 minutes to be in class by 9 a.m. at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Jacob finishes his classes by noon and then makes the hour and 20 minute commute from Commerce to his job in Dallas where he works 2-10 p.m. He checks his phone’s sleep tracker and sighs.

“I averaged about 3 hours and 45 minutes this week,” he says.

“That’s not bad.”

Priscilla, working to put up decorations, reaches up into the air but her arms are too short.

“Dad, can you help me please?”

He pushes himself up using the armrest and walks around to meet his daughter, taking decorations in his hand. Jacob takes one slow step after the other up the step ladder. As he steps up, he smiles warmly and patiently says, “OK, let me see if I can get it up there.”

Hermila, Mia, to her friends and family, pauses from cooking to herd a couple of overly energetic cats into the kids’ bedrooms.

Mia is a full-time photography student and mother to five children: Angelica, 15, Naudia, 12, Hilda, 11, Priscilla, 10, and Alexander, 9. On a weekend morning when sleep would be a welcomed activity, Mia and Jacob make their kids’ happiness the priority.

Today, the Cuevas family will celebrate with friends and family in their own home, which they bought in 2016. The family’s future is bright, with Jacob planning to graduate in 2020 with a double major in criminal justice and sociology to pursue a career in law enforcement.

Mia graduates from Eastfield this spring with an associate degree in photography. She recently finished a contracting job for the Perot Museum where she took photos of their exhibits, and her next goal is to open a photography business.

For Mia and Jacob, it is almost impossible to believe that only 12 years ago they were homeless and sleeping in their old beat-up two-door Honda Accord with only a handful of blankets to keep them warm.

Back then, the family’s idea of fun was taking trips to White Rock Lake for the day, and the fanciest meal they could afford was seasoned rotisserie chicken from Walmart.

These humble luxuries created an illusion of normal, but they didn’t change the fact that they were homeless. The feeling

of safety and serenity that a home provides did not exist.

On a cold night Jacob had been working as a security guard during the early 2000s. But by the fall of 2006, his employer’s security business tanked.

Then, Jacob’s mother died, adding funeral expenses leaving Jacob and Mia to pay for the funeral. While trying to deal with the grief of losing his mom, Jacob and Mia received an eviction notice saying they had to be out of their apartment by the end of January 2007.

The only glimmer of happiness that Jacob and Mia had during this period was on Jan. 21 when Naudia was born. Shortly after their newborn daughter’s birth, they left their apartment.

“We were so embarrassed that we had lost our apartment that we didn’t reach out to anyone immediately,” Mia said.

About a week later they visited Jacob’s sister to ask for help.

The weather was turning colder and although they had a car, Mia and Jacob didn’t want their young children to sleep in the cold.

“It was supposed to be 30 degrees that night,” Jacob said.

“But she told us that she didn’t want to give up her kids’ rooms.”

Mia pleaded with her husband’s sister to reconsider. “We don’t want your kids’ rooms,” Mia told her. “We can take the floor.”

Despite having 3-year-old Angelica and baby Naudia, neither Jacob nor Mia’s family were able to help them that night.

And so, they slept in the car. For three months the family was homeless. Their version of hotels were well-lit parking lots and truck stops if they could find one.

“There were days that I didn’t sleep,” Jacob said. “I would sit up and make sure no one would mess with us.”

This was how the family lived during what Mia calls “my hell.” There are not many possessions left from this period. The few that remain are notes that Mia made in her diary while weathering this storm.

One passage reads: “Hermila, remember God will always be with you. Never let anyone push you around. Trust your power with God. He will be with you. Love and trust God.” The shooting Mia has always called Jacob her “rock.” They’ve been together since high school, and she can’t imagine life without him. But there have been times when she feared losing him.

While living in the car Jacob found work again as a security guard. During the day while Jacob worked, Mia would take her kids to her mom’s house.

One night while working at a club in Dallas, Jacob was asked by a fellow security guard to help escort a man off of the property. The man was intoxicated and angry, and after Jacob walked him to the parking lot, the man went to his car and got his gun.

He drove by Jacob and the other security guard and opened fire, shattering car windows around them. Jacob returned fire

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Graduates of Eastfield Compiled by Andrew Walter 1 of 3

Michelle Johnson, 46 Substance Abuse Counseling Major

COURTESY ESTHER MORENO/

Mia Cuevas is graduating from Eastfield with an associate of arts and two certificates. After surviving homelessness with her family, Mia plans to transfer to Texas A&M University—Commerce to pursue a photography degree.

as bullets whizzed past him.

“My adrenaline was pumping so hard I didn’t realize I had been shot until I got home,” Jacob said. Luckily for Jacob, his body armor was the only thing struck by the bullet. His back was red, but the bullet didn’t pierce his skin and there was no blood. Mia saw the slug of the bullet lodged in Jacob’s bulletproof vest.

“Oh my God,” she thought. “What am I going to do if he gets killed?”

This question haunted Mia. Jacob was the sole provider of the family and if something happened to him, Mia would have two children to raise on her own and with no home.

The note After three cold months in their car, Mia and Jacob were taken in by Jacob’s father. The family stayed for a week and were grateful to have a roof over their heads. Fortunately, Jacob had made enough money to put a down payment on a new apartment.

But their struggles were far from over.

Over the next nine years, from 2007 to 2016, the family moved nine times. As their family grew, Jacob continued to work hard to keep the family afloat while Mia looked after the kids. But each time that they moved, it seemed that the only apartments they could find were in dangerous areas.

At a complex in North Dallas, Mia witnessed SWAT officers performing a drug raid on a neighbor’s home.

“I opened up my front door, and I see all of these cops with assault rifles,” she said. “One of the cops yelled at me to close my door and stay inside, so we got out of there as soon as we could.”

Even though times were tough Jacob and Mia believed that their luck would improve and that they would find a home to buy.

In 2013, the family finally thought that they had found it.

Mia’s dad and stepmom were taking care of an older woman whose husband had worked with Mia’s dad. Eventually, through this relationship, Mia and Jacob were told they could buy the woman’s home.

The plan was that Jacob and Mia would pay $3,000 to Mia’s dad to buy the home. In return, Mia’s dad would take care of all the paperwork at the bank. For a year the family sent money to Mia’s dad. After losing Jacob’s mom, living out of their car and hopping from one crime-infested apartment home to another, the family would finally have something to call their own.

However, when Mia came home one afternoon, she found a note taped to her door. It was an eviction notice. Confused as to why they received the note, Jacob went to the bank with Mia’s dad.

“We sat down with the adjuster,” Jacob said. “He told me that no payments had been made on the house.”

The money they had been sending to Mia’s dad was not going toward rent. Mia still isn’t sure where the money went.

“Our dreams were demolished,” she said. “I thought we were See Student, page 12 ➤

“

Last year, in commemoration of my time at Eastfield, I got a bee tattoo on my forearm similar to the Harvester mascot. I feel like it represents a lot of things. Bees work hard; they persevere.

I’m in the substance abuse program and I’m in recovery.

Our No. 1 thing is to carry the message. I see it like a bee carrying pollen and preserving nature. My associate degree is one of the first things I’ve completed.

I’m an ex-addict, so my life has been quite turbulent at times. I began at El Centro when I first got out of treatment.

Eastfield is the only DCCCD school that offers a substance abuse counseling degree.

Rhonda Goldberg was in the same program of study I was, and we got really close in 2017. She joined the Human Service Club and every other club I joined. We started a collegiate recovery program.

She was always there supporting me. She had the same passion about spreading the message of recovery. She was registered at Texas A&M before she passed away of a heart attack. She was sober, and married to the love of her life, Marcus Goldberg. She was surrounded by people who loved her.

The impact she made in the recovery community was immeasurable. I gave two of my tickets to graduation to Rhonda’s family. Just don’t give up. It gets difficult trying to juggle everything, but finish your degree plan. I’m glad that I kept going, and I plan to keep going.

”­

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Student finds home at Eastfield

Continued from page 11 done moving, but we weren’t. I cried a lot about that note.”

Luckily they had enough money to move back to the apartments in Balch Springs where they had previously lived. But Mia knew that this cycle could not continue.

Somehow, someway, something had to change.

The Et Cetera

Graduates of Eastfield Compiled by Andrew Walter 2 of 3

Diana Tezock, 26 Pharmaceutical Studies Major

Becoming homeowners Home has always been a hard subject for Mia and Jacob. When she was 16, Mia dropped out of high school to give birth to her first child, Angelica. Both Mia and Jacob grew up in abusive homes, which they left to find a better life together. In 2015 Mia and Jacob rented a home in Pleasant Grove. They were finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. But for Mia she wanted more than just a sparkle of hope, so she decided to pursue her dreams and go back to school.

Mia had not taken a class in 12 years, so she made a promise to herself that once all her kids were in school that she would commit to getting her GED diploma.

The same year that Mia and Jacob began renting their home, their youngest child, Alexander, started kindergarten. After walking him to his classroom and seeing how excited he was to learn, Mia knew it was time for her to get back in the classroom as well.

“I had to go back,” she said. “I didn’t want to be a mom who only cooks and cleans. I wanted to go back for my kids, to show them that mommy can do it, too.”

Mia started in the continuing education program at Eastfield to get her GED diploma. Jacob was supportive of his wife’s goals, but he had tried school before and was unsure about returning. One program had promised Jacob a diploma with full accreditation. But after spending more than $8,000 on classes, the certificate that he received was rejected by every potential employer.

“I wasn’t sure if the program that Mia was taking was legit,” Jacob said. “After I lost all that money, I sat back for a while to see if it was what she said it was.”

One morning while Mia was sitting in the kitchen doing her math homework, Jacob came in, looked at her work and started telling her the answers.

“How are you doing this?” Mia asked.

“I can do those problems in my head!” he teased. “You call that homework?”

Jacob started the GED program shortly after. Both Mia and Jacob not only passed the GED tests but went on to purchase their first home, in Seagoville, in 2016 after completing the program. Since then Mia and Jacob have been taking college courses just like any other college student. Going back to community college has been life changing for Mia and Jacob.

“Before I went back, I was very timid,” she said. “When I would talk to people on cam-

KATE ARROWS ENOIRE/THE ET CETERA

Mia Cuevas studies graphic design and digital imaging. She squeezes her homework in at night while her daughter Naudia does the dishes.

pus, I would have to think to myself, ‘You can do this.’ But now I’m a social butterfly.”

For the kids, seeing Mia and Jacob work so hard inspires them to do the same. Naudia wants to be a chef. Hilda has big goals like her mom.

“When mom puts her mind to something, she does it,” she said. “I want to be a photographer and take pictures like mom does.”

Priscilla wants to be a ballerina and Alexander wants to be in science and engineering. Angelica, the oldest, is interested in computer science and is currently a freshman in high school.

“When we see mom and dad reaching out for their goals, it makes us know that we can too,” she said. “They have worked hard to get back to school, and I think that’s awesome.”

Because of their lives growing up, Mia and Jacob’s childhood dreams were put on the back burner. Life hit them hard, and it’s still not easy. But unlike in the past, Mia and Jacob now pursue their dreams, not to get by, but to actually enjoy life. And at Priscilla’s 10th birthday that’s just what the Cuevas family is doing, enjoying life in their home.

New horizons Months have passed since the party and it is now April of 2019 with only two weeks until Mia’s graduation. Since then, Mia has been accepted to A&M-Commerce, helped design the cover of a book authored by accounting professor Regina Brown and launched her business Mila’s Photography

Design on Facebook. Jacob is also looking forward to graduating next year in the fall.

In the meantime, he is excited about a potential job opportunity with the McKinney Police Department. With all of their kids gathered around them in the living room, Mia and Jacob reflect on what the community college experience has meant to them.

For Jacob, community college has helped him prove the naysayers wrong.

“People that I know never expected me and Mia to get this far,” Jacob said. “They looked at our situation coming from the rough home life that we had, being dropouts, being homeless, and they thought that we would never go back to school.”

As Jacob speaks he flashes that same warm smile he had at the party.

“Well, we did and we’re both going to finish.”

Fighting back tears, Mia fans her face with her hand.

“Are you crying mommy?” Alexander said teasingly.

“I’m not crying until I walk the stage,” Mia said.

Naudia sits down and embraces Mia. Then Mia takes a deep breath.

“Community college gave me the confidence to face tough situations and now I know that I can overcome them,” Mia said.

“When I came to Eastfield, I met so many people who loved and supported me. Each semester that number of people grew like a snowball that turned into an avalanche. I’ll always be thankful that I came to Eastfield.”

“

My sister Durene and I both influenced each other very positively.

She didn’t want to go to community college because she thought it was inferior to a university, and she wanted to go far away to become independent.

I convinced her that Eastfield was a good choice because it was close to home and she could be comfortable.

She influenced me by encouraging me to become more involved. She started the Plant-Based Nutrition Club.

She won Student Leader of the Year last year, and I applied the next year.

I didn’t think I could win Student Leader of the Year, but when she won, that’s how I too knew I could win.

”­

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King of the geeks

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Programming professor builds interest in robotics, loves classroom environment “Right there. Now I can walk into the first day of class and not even care.”

He’d enjoyed it so much that after teaching part-time at Richland for two more years, he applied and was hired as full-time faculty at Eastfield.

By ANDREW WALTER Copy Editor @AndyWalterETC

Computer programming professor David Kirk tells his students that they will receive 20 bonus points on their final project if they present it to the entire class.

Computer science major David Townsend sits at his desk awaiting his chance to present his Star Warsthemed map game.

As the more timid students hurriedly clacked away on their keyboards, scrambling to finish their projects on the last day of the eightweek class, Kirk emphasizes the importance of developing soft skills to his class of mostly computer science majors.

While some students simply followed a basic medieval castle or mansion design for the project, Townsend was one of a handful who let their nerdy creativity shine. His project was a model of Echo Base from “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.”

Before he could present, however, he needed to figure out how he would demonstrate his use of Dijkstra’s Shortest Path First algorithm while presenting. He and the class were used to sitting and coding at their desks on a computer, not standing somewhat awkwardly in front of almost 30 other college students.

Kirk wasn’t worried at all for Townsend. Kirk easily recognized that Townsend knew his way around a computer, and with a little help sharpening his soft skills, Kirk could better prepare him for a dream career at Google, Samsung or just about any other big-name tech company.

“You’ll be impressed,” Townsend said. “All of my tabbing is perfectly done. All my indentions …”

“Oh, well that’s the important thing,” Kirk said as he and the rest of the class laughed.

Kirk laughed because he remembered when he was younger and just as shy as many of the students in the room. It took several years and some chance happenings for Kirk to become more relaxed around people, which is helpful if you want to be a professor.

“When I was your age, I didn’t talk to anyone,” Kirk said to the class.

YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

Computer programming professor David Kirk works on a wooden racecar in his dad’s home workshop.

“You don’t look shy now,” said computer science major MJ Parvini.

“Well this is also my domain,” Kirk said. “If you stuck me in front of 500 people in the big auditorium here …”

“Same. Same,” Parvini said, chuckling nervously.

Kirk has taught computing classes at Eastfield for nearly 20 years.

When he isn’t in the classroom lecturing about programming, he loves to spend his time building: building programs on his computers, building furniture and knick-knacks in his dad’s workshop and building relationships with his students.

Kirk regularly stands in front of webs made of numbers and code, typically dressed in a bright colored polo tucked into blue jeans held up by a leather belt and rocking casual tennis shoes that would make Steve Jobs proud.

“It’s not about wearing a stupid suit,” he said. “It’s about what you get done at the end of the day.”

Coming out of his shell It was the tail end of the ‘90s, and Kirk wanted a change of pace from his job of managing a database at PRC Environmental, an Environmental Protection Agency-contracted company that coordinated with manufacturing plants in Mexico. He was about to try teaching a computing class at Richland College.

“Someone called me and asked me if I could teach this class starting in a week, and I’d never taught a class, and I agreed to it,” Kirk said with a chuckle.

On the first, Kirk wondered why he had taken the job. He was used to working in rooms filled with servers and archives, staring at a computer screen on the average workday.

Five feet from the classroom door, he paced back and forth, peeking into the narrow window to see all the students slouched over their desks.

“I’m gonna walk into this classroom and 25 people are gonna be looking at me, and that just scared the tar out of me right there,” he said.

At home the night before, he hadn’t gotten any sleep. He had printed more than 30 copies of a simple crossword puzzle to give to his students if his anxiety or sweaty palms made him feel the need to step outside.

Inside the classroom, he stood in front of the students for a minute looking around as if he didn’t belong there. Then he introduced himself and began his first lecture as a professor. Fifteen minutes into the class, for some inexplicable reason, it clicked.

He never had to dig those crossword puzzles out of his briefcase.

“After the first day, a lifetime of shyness, I got over it,” Kirk said.

Like father, like son Growing up, Kirk loved to watch his father, Don, go into their workshop and hand-build kitchen cabinets, tables, desks, string instruments and household decorations such as mantlepieces and paleolithic-style tools.

Kirk then added his own personality into the family craft: his love of computers and technology in general.

By the eighth grade, he had bought his first computer with a tiny text keypad and a four-LED text screen. In the 10th grade, he bought a TRS-80 from RadioShack and started learning how to program text-based adventure games.

After his parents moved from Dallas to Sunnyvale and he started working at Eastfield, Kirk would regularly visit his parents’ house on the weekends to check up on them and work in his dad’s 10-by-12 workshop in one section of their three-car garage.

He could be soldering some wiring for his electronics, or handling his dad’s band saw, cutoff saw, sanders and hammers to build a computer table for his home in White Rock.

Don said he doesn’t help his son build much because he doesn’t need it. He only gives him the usual fatherto-son pointers.

“He has his own ideas,” Don said.

“He’s always tinkering with something. People should branch out. He’s an innovator.”

Kirk sees things a bit differently than his father.

When he spent more than six hours a day, three days per week for two weeks building a prize wheel for use at Eastfield festivals and fundraisers, his dad was always there with him. They sanded the edges of the wheel to shape it, drilled in the wooden pegs and painted each section together.

“He definitely helps more than he says,” Kirk said. “Impresses the heck out of me.”

They’ve also built a computer table, desk and bookcase for Kirk’s old apartment. In his old age now, as Don

calls it, he mostly likes to watch his son build larger wood projects while he has taken up whittling 8- to 10inch tall wooden figures of animals, cowboys, Indians and western-style carvings galore to line his handmade shelves.

Humility isn’t the only character trait the father and son share. Before retiring more than 30 years ago, Don worked as a civil engineer for an oil company. He loved surveying, drafting, building furniture and designing the layout of the company offices.

Kirk said he inherited his father’s boredom with management and administrative tasks. They like to get stuff done, not sit in meetings.

“I’d rather dig ditches in the hot summer all day long instead of sit in some conference,” he said.

Electric boogaloo Kirk learned about building furniture from his father. He has taught his dad everything he knows about computers, including how to use Microsoft Word, Excel and Adobe Photoshop.

“I don’t do computers,” Kirk’s 86-year-old father said of his own technical skill.

That knowledge helped Don create a book about the Kirk family’s genealogy.

Kirk figures it’s the least he can do.

If it wasn’t for the 50-in-1 electronics kit his dad gave him for Christmas when he was a kid, he isn’t sure he would be so passionate about technology.

“Buy any kids you know an electronics or science kit instead of dolls or action figures,” Kirk advises.

He was just like many other quiet kids. If he wasn’t reading a sci-fi or fantasy book such as “Ender’s Game” or “Lord of the Rings” sitting in his room, he was studying for school.

He even remembers when his dad built a stereo system from a kit in the ‘70s. Upon hearing Peter, Paul and Mary’s “Early in the Morning” on it, tears streamed down Don’s face. He was thankful for the technology that let him hear one of his favorite songs in the comfort of his home that didn’t come from the radio, one of his own handmade instruments or anywhere else.

Kirk used that same stereo system See Kirk, page 14 ➤

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The Et Cetera

Kirk uses creativity to fuel his class, inspire future programmers Continued from page 13 to listen to his dad’s records after school. He said those times relaxing after school and studying computer programming and hardware inspired him to start going into the workshop with his dad.

The geekdom grotto Much like his youth of studying and gadgets and gizmos, Kirk’s office consists of piles of papers, an Apple II computer sitting between those piles, some of his old woodcrafts and his various robotics projects scattered about.

Next to his office computer monitor are some stones the size of a toddler’s fist that Kirk collected from his trips to Mexico City with PRC Environmental.

One of his robotics projects is the BB-8 remote-controlled droid he spent eight months working on before unveiling it at Eastfield’s fall 2016 convocation.

Another is a basic computer monitor on wheels he dubbed Kirkatron. He started building it in spring 2013 with one of his former students and finished it that summer in his favorite workroom, his dad’s workshop, with his dad.

He unveiled the Kirkatron at the fall 2013 convocation under a feminine guise: the Cookatron, played by assistant to the president Sharon Cook.

“Everything takes five times as long to build as you think it’s going to,” Kirk said. “But the time you spend building stuff is so rewarding.

When you accomplish something, you feel so much better than if you just sit down and watch

for them. I edited their videos of their shows.

We put on some big shows.”

ARIA JONES/THE ET CETERA

David Kirk aids students during his computer organization course.

Netflix all day.”

There are plenty more mementos besides his robotics projects. On an older model iPhone, Kirk had an English to Spanish language learning app called “Lingo Cat.” Whenever he’s at home not working on a side project or grading assignments, he spends his time with his real cat Khaleesi, who was orphaned by Hurricane Harvey.

Starting in 2014, over the course of three years, and with some assistance from Spanish professor Ana Piffardi, he worked on “Lingo Cat” in his spare time. “Lingo Cat” isn’t cur-

rently available on the app store because he hasn’t taken the time to update it to later operating systems of newer iPhones.

Hanging above the guest chairs in his office is a wood-crafted sign with built in lights that looks like the Dallas skyline.

He made it in his dad’s workshop almost 10 years ago. Back then, Kirk was the adviser for Eastfield’s now defunct Fashion Club. Despite knowing nothing about fashion, he made all the props the club ever needed.

“I have nothing to do with the fashion, but I built stuff for them,” Kirk said. “I did a website

Lofty heights It was fall 2017, and Kirk hadn’t seen his former student Marcellus Pelcher in several years, so he didn’t know what to expect of the now 35-year-old software engineer while waiting for him at the Panera Bread near Town East Mall.

After Pelcher arrives and they greet each other, they pick up their sandwiches from the cashier, sit back at the corner booth table and talk just like they used to more than a decade ago in programming class in L-311.

The technobabble that ensued led the pair to discuss the bitcoin craze and how it was like Tulip mania, the phenomenon from the Dutch Golden Age where the price of a single tulip rose up to the average worker’s yearly salary.

Pelcher told Kirk he had worked for Raytheon and Facebook, and that he was currently developing conversational user interface at Google. Kirk couldn’t be prouder of his former student. He had kept up with Pelcher over the years and knew that he was a programming hotshot, but he didn’t know that Pelcher’s soft skills developed enough for him to give presentations at conferences for these companies.

Once their time catching up came to an end, Kirk walked over to the touch screen kiosk to pay for both his and Pelcher’s sandwiches, and the pair headed for the door.

As they walked out the door, Pelcher told Kirk his yearly salary. Kirk was stunned.

“Man, I should’ve made you pay!”

LIFE&ARTS

15

The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Ex-addict becomes campus star Continued from page 9 to confirm the opportunity in front of her.

Bobbi’s intentions were clear: She wanted to reconnect with her mother.

“My dad is really homophobic I guess,” Bobbi True said. “He manipulated me into thinking she was a bad person because she was gay.

Really drove a wedge there.”

Bobbi had taken it upon herself to mend that separation.

True realized that she was being given a chance to have something she thought she would never regain.

She decided that if having her daughter was a part of the equation, she wanted to get clean and make a new life where she would be available to her daughter.

In prison, True started the recovery program and worked toward applying for parole.

She was transferred to a

prison in Rusk, Texas, near Bobbi’s home.

Bobbi had recently gotten pregnant and started visiting True every weekend for over a year.

True recalls watching Bobbi’s stomach grow over the months. After the baby’s birth, Bobbi brought him to meet his grandmother.

During her time at sobriety sessions, True also found success in peer sessions and was advised to get her substance abuse counseling license.

After eight years in prison, True was released.

True’s current life is not without its share of complications.

Following her release from prison True looked to start college to earn her degree, taking classes at Collin County Community College before coming to Eastfield.

But due to her criminal record, she’s unemployable.

She’s recently been denied

a hearing for a non-disclosure agreement that would allow her to work again.

She plans to reapply in a few years.

And True admits that her life after recovery hasn’t been a calm one.

Her schedule is increasingly busy, and she doesn’t intend to minimize her responsibilities any time soon.

Her academic accolades include a 3.95 GPA and three years of being on the President’s or Vice President’s Honor List.

She is also the founding president for PRISM, Eastfield’s LGBTQ student organization, and serves as an officer for the Phi Theta Kappa honor society.

True is also combining her time at food kitchens and homeless shelters to reach 500 community service hours before earning her degree.

On top of her academics, True balances trying to make time for her daughters

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and grandchildren, tutoring and cutting hair for friends.

She spends time caring for her cows, donkeys and dogs, and dealing with her various medical setbacks, including three surgeries in three years to remove a tumor in her intestine.

She has also reconnected with her younger daughter, Brianne and is currently living with her fiancée, Chris Davis.

True said that her life can seem overwhelming, but she sees it less of a burden and more of as a safety net.

She’s comfortable in the chaos. Only four years from her time in a prison cell, she finds it a way to escape from the reminders of her not-sodistant past life.

“My life is like a freight train,” she said. “But it’s not bombarding out of control.

When I was getting high, I was living without a purpose.

But now I live my life with a purpose.”

Graduates of Eastfield Compiled by Andrew Walter 3 of 3

Benjamin Strittmatter, 20 Associate of Applied Science and Honda Certifications

“

[My friends and I] stay at the Motel 6 on Monday nights right off Jim Miller Road instead of driving back and forth to Saginaw.

We’d carpool. We’d take turns driving each week. It’s like a $65 hotel, and we split it three ways. We’ve been doing that every Monday for two years. All the hard work pays off, and you may not see it right now, but you’ll definitely see it in your field, in your workplace when you’re working on cars.

”­

16

LIFE&ARTS

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

HIDDEN GEM

@TheEtCetera

My big fat Greek restaurant

The Et Cetera

Yia Yia’s serves up genuine Mediterranean from an unlikely location

By JAMES HARTLEY Life & Arts Editor @ByJamesHartley

Positioned in a small shopping strip that looks like it might collapse if you lean against a wall too hard, Yia Yia’s House of Gyros’ unassuming exterior is deceiving.

The restaurant’s outward aesthetic couldn’t be less representative of the authentic Greek meals served up inside.

Victoria Kaprantzas and her husband Bill make art out of the food she plates, from dolma, or rice wrapped in olive leaves, to gyros to lamb souvlaki using Bill’s yia yia’s recipes. It’s all made fresh to order in a kitchen where microwaves are forbidden (a sign on the wall opposite the open kitchen even says so) and served up on plastic foam plates.

The small space is decked out in blue and white. Family photos hang on the walls alongside signs reading things like “If you don’t eat meat that’s OK, we have lamb,” and “Make America Greek Again.”

A photo of Bill’s yia yia, or grandmother, hangs in the center of the right wall. A mantle above her image is home to cloves of garlic to ward off bad spirits, an assortment of knick-knacks and a bottle of Windex, a nod to the 2002 comedy PHOTOS BY YESENIA ALVARADO/THE ET CETERA

Top center, a chicken gyro from Yia Yia’s House of Gyros. Top right, Yia Yia’s serves complimentary loukoumades, which Victoria compares to Greek doughnut holes soaked in honey, for dessert. Middle right, a gyro plate comes with lamb, pita, greek onion, cucumber and tomato salad, tzatziki sauce and steak fries. Hummus can be added for $3. Bottom right, Yia Yia’s is a cozy cafe in a holein-the-wall storefront. Bottom center, Victoria Kaprantzas, co-owner and co-chef at Yia Yia’s House of Gyros prepares lamb for a souvlaki at their first location, in Mesquite.

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

The restaurant business is tough, Victoria said, but years of experience owning a chain of Italian restaurants helps.

“The joy that we get from seeing a guest take a first bite of their food and smile and say ‘Oh my god, this is great,’ that’s what we live for,” Victoria said.

The Kaprantzases decided to open Yia Yia’s after returning to the U.S. from Greece — they wanted their daughter, Sophia, to learn Greek so they moved to Athens — and realized they couldn’t find food that felt Greek enough to them stateside.

The main attraction is, as the name would suggest, the gyro. The Famous Original Gyro, made with a mix of beef and lamb and topped with onions, tomatoes, homemade tzatziki and a steak fry on a warm pita, is joined on the menu by

pork gyros, chicken and pork souvlaki in pita, lamb souvlaki in pita and a veggie gyro.

Two years after opening Yia Yia’s in Mesquite in 2014, the small cafe was doing so well Bill moved to open another in Rockwall. The Dallas Observer even featured the restaurant in their top 100 food joints in Dallas this year.

The family is looking for a location for their third store now.

The shop typically sees about 100 guests a day, going through two, sometimes two and a half to three spits of lamb.

All the orders are written by hand and slung down a clothesline in the open kitchen, something Victoria said kids usually get a kick of out.

If business keeps growing at this rate, she said they may have to introduce a point-of-service system.

The food and embrace of Greek tradition won’t change, though, Victoria said.

Yia Yia’s will always be a place for guests to come, bring a bottle of their favorite wine, order food and stay for a while, Victoria said. Just be careful: the large portions followed by complimentary loukoumades, which Victoria calls Greek doughnut holes soaked in a honey-based syrup, may be enough to put you into a food coma.

Sports The Et Cetera

May 9

Baseball vs. Tyler Junior College

4 p.m.

17 www.eastfieldnews.com

JAMES HARTLEY/THE ET CETERA

Infielder Jacob Manaska lunges to get the out at second in the game against Richland.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

SKYE SEIPP/THE ET CETERA

Outfielder Travarus Ansley had a .341 batting average in the regular season.

Harvesters look to turn dull season around in postseason

By SKYE SEIPP News Editor @seippetc

SKYE SEIPP/THE ET CETERA

Pitcher Tyler Stone has thrown 102 strikeouts so far and is ranked second in the nation.

It’s been a mediocre season for the Harvesters, but none of that matters now as they gear up for postseason play on Thursday against the Tyler Apaches.

Eastfield (25-20) have not faced Tyler (37-17) since the Division III District C tournament in 2017, where they lost 9-2.

Coach Michael Martin said Tyler has always been a tough team to go up against, but is confident the Harvesters can put up a fight on the mound.

“It’s going to be a challenge, it always is,” he said.

“They’re one of the better teams in our area, but most years we feel like we are too.”

The Harvesters finished third in the Dallas Athletic Conference with a 14-16 conference record. Martin said the team has been inconsistent in all aspects of the game this season but is confident in his team’s ability to make a run in the tournament.

Eastfield lost the final series of the regular season against Richland on May 3 and will head into Thursday’s game with a 13-3 loss as their last showing in the regular season.

“You don’t dwell on the losses and you don’t celebrate the wins,” Martin said. “You put them behind you and you move on to the next day. When it rolls around on Thursday, it’s a new season.”

Tyler also struggled at the end of the season and lost seven of their 10 last games.

The Harvesters have shown they have plenty of power to generate runs. They are currently ranked sixth in the nation in home runs with 34. They have also recorded 121 extra base hits, landing them in 14th place, while their 101 stolen bases ranks 15th.

Freshman Gabriel Velasquez leads the team in home

runs (8), RBI (44) and slugging percentage (.574).

Behind him is freshman outfielder Travarus Ansley, who has a .511 slugging percentage.

They will have to face a strong pitching core from the Apaches, who hold a 3.88 ERA. Pitching for the Harvesters has been a struggle. They posted a staff ERA of 6.70, compared to last year’s 4.39.

At the forefront of their pitching is sophomore Tyler Stone who has been the team’s ace, going 5-3 with a 3.84 ERA and 102 strikeouts for the season, which rank second in the nation.

“I’ve been able to control my pitches early and let them be effective to not really get in a position where I’m walking a lot of people,” he said. “I have struggled a few times in the early innings, but I’ve been able to find my pitches so I don’t have any trouble early.”

Martin said he plans to start Stone in Thursday’s game. Stone will have a tough team to pitch against, as the Apaches are ranked third in doubles (105) and ninth in RBIs (305).

This year has found the Harvesters in unfamiliar territory compared to last season when the team went 38-14 (.731) overall and had a 20-10 (.668) conference record.

The Harvesters’ conference struggles this season include losing four of their six games against North Lake and five of the six against Brookhaven, including 22-4 and 22-1 defeats at home. They split their six games against Cedar Valley but won four of their six games against both Richland and Mountain View.

Sophomore infielder Jacob Manaska said this year’s team has more newcomers on it, so much of the season has been spent learning how to work together.

“Last year we were just raw and we expected to go out there and win every game,” he said. “This year has been a little different. We’ve had more adversity, so I think the big thing is having to deal with that.”

opinion

18 www.eastfieldnews.com

Etera Award-winning member of: • Texas Intercollegiate Press Association • Texas Community College Journalism Association • Associated Collegiate Press • College Media Association

Eastfield College 3737 Motley Drive Mesquite, TX 75150 Phone: 972-860-7130 Email: etc4640@dcccd.edu Editor in Chief Aria Jones Managing Editor David Silva Visual Arts Editor Yesenia Alvarado Copy Editor Andrew Walter Life & Arts Editor James Hartley News Editor Skye Seipp Web Editor Anthony Lazon Senior Graphic Designer Manuel Guapo Staff Writers Samuel Farley Photographers Rory Moore Kate Arrows Enoire

Saralyn Corey

Videographers Marisol Ramirez Reporters Adolfo Resendiz Olguin Ashleigh Amburgey Kaitlyn Moore Contributors Sarah Ivy

Lauryn Sierra

Graphic Artists Abednego Leal Roxana Santillan Julie Cordova

Aldahir Segovia Jesus Madrid

Editorial Assistant Marie Garcia Tambresha Anderson

Daniel R. Durrett

Student Media Manager Sarah Sheldon Publication Adviser Elizabeth Langton Faculty Adviser Lori Dann The views expressed on the opinion pages and other opinion pieces and cartoons in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Et Cetera, Eastfield College or the Dallas County Community College District.

The Et Cetera is published by a student staff.

Each member of the college community is entitled to one free copy of The Et Cetera.

First Amendment Right Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Letters to the Editor Letters must be typed, signed and include a phone number. Letters will be edited for profanity and vulgarity, Associated Press style, grammar, libel and space when needed. The content will remain that of the author. Letters

ABOUT THE COVER PHOTOS BY KATE ARROW ENOIRE AND COURTESY OF HERMILA CUEVAS AND ESTHER MORENO ILLUSTRATION BY MANUEL GUAPO

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

OUR VIEW

Graduation errors expose ineptitude For a college administration that prides itself on transparency and open communication, waiting until three days before the commencement ceremony to release an official statement about the graduation ticket mix-up was unacceptable.

Several errors at the Admissions Office led to graduation guest tickets not being distributed properly. Using an app to disseminate your message instead of your marketing department or a mass email shows poor judgement. Many students may not have known the college was attempting to fix the issue.

Administration released their statement about the issue only to The Et Cetera, not the public.

Whether this was because of fear, embarrassment or a lack of public relations skills, we aren’t sure, but we know graduation wasn’t handled this way in the past. It shouldn’t be handled this way again. Having a long line of students collecting guest tickets for graduation would’ve been a better decision than mailing tickets.

For many graduates, those who are non-traditional students, first-time graduates or students who don’t plan to pursue anything beyond an associate degree or a certificate, this could have been their only chance to walk the stage. The ticket error and the lack of communication were disrespectful to the graduates and those who pushed them to focus and finish.

Was the administration not contacted immediately about the blunder in distribution? This reinforces the stereotype of an administration that is out of touch. Before administration released a statement to The Et Cetera, an announcement was made on the Eastfield app offering a raffle where students could win a diploma frame and more six to 10 weeks after the end of the

semester for returning extra tickets.

The communication issues might not be administration’s fault, though. The Admissions Office posted on the app that students should email them for assistance.

Many students never heard back. Students did receive a mass email about the diploma frame winner, of course.

Students aren’t stupid, though. Instead of turning in their tickets for a chance at a diploma frame they won’t receive for at least a month and a half, many students sold their tickets on the app for anywhere between $20 to $60.

The college clearly failed its students and community on multiple fronts. We have suggestions to improve.

ANTHONY LAZON/THE ET CETERA The number of tickets given out should be determined by demand and availability of seats, after the registration period ends. Don’t mail out the tickets. Have students pick them up with a deadline. It forces the students to be responsible for the distribution.

With the growing number of early college high school graduates, the ceremony is becoming too long. Just look at how many graduates walked out mid-ceremony. Once ECHS enrollment grows large enough, we suggest having a separate commencement ceremony for them.

Don’t rely on the app for communicating with the student body. Even if not every student reads it, a mass email would’ve been appreciated. Keep the promises you make. If you tell students to email you for options regarding the ticket situation, please email them back.

Perhaps being more person-centered and communicating with the community at large would’ve served the college better during this ordeal.

Immigration completes our country’s melting pot Do you know someone from another country? You probably hear the word immigrant in the news frequently, but are there any immigrants among your close friends? If not, you might be missing out on some valuable relationships.

When I moved to Texas from Oklahoma in 2004, I was already a world traveler. Thanks to my work with a nonprofit organization, I had visited China and Russia. I even spent 10 months in Mongolia. What I did not know was that there was a large international community in my own backyard. I had been in Dallas for a little over a month when I became acquainted with a woman from Costa Rica and a mother and son from Mexico.

Since that time, I have met and befriended people from around the world, I have learned Spanish and

Harriet Ramos @TheEtCetera

my husband is from El Salvador.

Engaging in such a personal way with the immigrant community has been an eye-opening experience that has expanded my personal worldview. For several years I put people in boxes with neat little labels based on their style of dress, religious preferences and political leanings.

I avoided people who did not think like me. As I developed friendships among the international community, I had the opportunity to eat with them, attend birthday parties in their homes and hear their stories.

I have learned that trying to understand someone is more impor-

tant in a relationship than seeing eye to eye in every detail. My husband and I are from different countries, have different cultural backgrounds and we have different first languages. Politically we are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Thankfully, we have been able to talk about our differences, and this has been very good for me.

It has caused me to realize that my point of view is not the only one that counts. While we may not agree on everything, my husband and I still have a harmonious relationship because we work to understand each other.

I have learned that people are people, no matter what country they come from. My immigrant friends have hopes and dreams for their future, the same as I do. They want to succeed and be productive members of society, the same as I do.

When you get right down to it, the differences between me and them are mostly superficial. In the areas that really matter, there is not much difference at all.

Befriending people from other countries has taken me out of my comfort zone, but it has been a rich and rewarding experience and one that I would not trade for anything.

It has increased my awareness for the good things that the United States still has to offer such as relative peace and safety and a higher standard of living than many other places in the world. It has helped me to look for common ground in my relationships instead of focusing on differences. It has given me a greater appreciation for other cultures and the value that they bring to our world.

— Harriet Ramos is a contributor and a journalism maor

OPINION

19

The Et Cetera

www.eastfieldnews.com

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Prescription costs in America continue to cause problems America, land of the free and home of the most expensive drug costs in the civilized world.

Lifesaving medications, such as insulin and seizure preventatives, are often the most expensive.

The more we need something, the higher the price inevitably tends to be.

However, the drugs that are claimed to be quickly becoming “epidemics,” such as painkillers and anxiety medications, can often be among the cheapest in the pharmacy.

There’s a reason for all of this.

Primarily, pharmaceutical companies are just evil.

But let’s explain the specific reasons why and what options a patient may have for reducing their costs.

A major contributing factor to increasing drug costs is taking advantage of the law. Congress passed a bill requiring school districts to have an epinephrine on hand in the nurse’s office for any student with any allergy.

Sounds like a good idea, right?

Except immediately after the law change, Mylan took full advantage and raised the price of the Epipen, which they manufacture, from roughly $100 for two pens to more than $600.

After receiving some well-deserved backlash for this, Mylan was forced to release what’s called a brand-name generic.

Jordan Lackey @TheEtCetera

This means that a generic option is available, but it’s still directly made by Mylan, ensuring that they still receive 100 percent of the profit.

Not too bad a deal considering the generic Epipen is still $300.

Several years back a law passed concerning inhalers.

To put it simply, the previous standard of propulsion agent known as chlorofluorocarbons was banned and replaced by an environmentally safer option known as hydrofluoroalkane.

Sounds fine and good, right? Until you realize that pharmaceutical companies used this as an excuse to repatent and rebrand all albuterol inhalers.

That means no more generics until the new patents expire, leading to higher costs and more profit for Big Pharma.

Familiar with the allergy medication Zyrtec? What about Xyzal? Look at the generic names, Zyrtec (cetirizine), Xyzal (levocetirizine).

The drug company, in this case Xyzal, tweaked the inactive isomer of the drug, and then gave it a new and fancy name.

It’s a dirty trick that leaves one wondering why these tricks haven’t been addressed. Sadly, the answer is simple.

The entity in charge of regulating the pharmaceutical industry is the Federal Drug Administration.

Each year government funding to the FDA gets lower and lower due to something called FDA user fees.

Essentially, these are fees that a pharmaceutical company must pay each time they submit a new drug patent to the FDA for analysis.

FDA fees are almost half of what the FDA runs on.

To put it simply, the corporations they’re supposed to be regulating are providing them with their only real source of revenue.

The FDA is paid for and essentially controlled by the pharmaceutical industry.

As individuals, we have some opportunities to lower costs.

Though not everyone can access it or afford it, health insurance with drug coverage remains the best option.

Drug discount cards on websites like GoodRx or Blink Health can be a godsend for some patients.

Rebates directly from drug manufacturers

Electric cars pricey, save environment Now that electric cars provide a more environmentally friendly option for driving, why do people ages 18-20 constitute only 1.4 percent of the people who are buying, according to a 2017 survey conducted by CarMax? And in the age range 21-29, why is it only 9.1 percent?

Granted, the cheapest electric car is $24,650 (a 2018 Smart Fortwo Electric Drive) and requires three hours to become fully charged and needs specific charging stations outside one’s home.

But with cheaper options like the Chevy Spark, with a listed price of $15,195, yeah, you won’t catch your college student rocking even the cheapest electric vehicle available, let alone a Tesla, anytime soon.

Instead of buying cars that help decrease damage done by carbon emissions, these age groups are opting out for fossil fuel powered vehicles. This is a problem.

Having a vehicle fulfills many needs. It’s an efficient method of traveling. It’s a private area where you can relax to the beat of your favorite song.

It’s a one-way ticket to lover’s lane.

But it’s also a symbol for identity. In today’s world, if someone does not have a car, they miss out on many things.

If they do decide to go out with friends, they do it knowing that they must face the embarrassment of asking for a ride. Their power is gone.

It now lies in the person taking them home.

Owning a car is essentially showing the world that you have it under control, that you’re going somewhere, literally.

But as much as being viewed in this way raises self-esteem, it’s not a good reason for why the world should suffer for it.

While pricing is a factor as to why not many college students

and high school students get these cars, at those Juan Quevedo prices, is it even worth it?

Herandez Maybe not. @TheEtCetera Traveling outside city limits to attend a college or a university might be good reason for owning a car. But what if a parent or a family member already owns one?

They could simply borrow it and use it only when they actually need it.

But with a more environmentally aware population, thoughts like these might emerge: I should go to school in my city or state, that way I won’t have to travel far and use a car; while I am looking to go somewhere to have fun, I should consider local options and now I can go out more often since I don’t have to travel a lot.

Surely enough, cars are needed.

This will not change so long as technology improves how society works.

Getting the electric car would just simplify things. But since it’s costly, we have to be inventive. However, it does not mean lose our integrity.

Nothing is keeping anyone from getting an electric car once they can afford it and have a career.

Not doing so would be showing a disregard for the Earth’s stability and the future generations that will also call it home. If you can get it later, but not now, why not?

It’ll still be OK. —Juan Quevedo Hernandez is a journalism major and contributor at The Et Cetera

apply to some brand name medications, but may be only a temporary fix.

Pharmaceutical companies love a “first hit is free” mentality.

They’ll help out at first, but sooner or later the patient will most likely be left paying full or partial price.

Drug compounding can save patients hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

A pharmacy basically takes the raw ingredients for a medication and makes the drug themselves.

Most large retail pharmacies will not compound due to liability reasons, so this is where we really get to support those little independent pharmacies.

Creams, ointments, tablets, injections, you name it.

There’s most likely a way to compound it for a fraction of the price.

With all this in mind, it’s important to realize the countless variables affecting these drug prices and to vote against legislation and public representatives that can negatively affect them.

There are several tools available to help the individual.

But we must stand together before we will ever see a collective change.

— Jordan Lackey is a journalism major and contributor at The Et Cetera

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

High school students deserve welcoming campus, empathy Dear Editor, The Et Cetera’s decision to publish the April 17 column under the headline “Eastfield invaded by teenagers” was irresponsible.

The large population of Early College High School and dual credit students on the EFC campus should not be made to feel unwelcome by the school’s lone student publication.

The assumption that such a large body of students deserves a “wake-up slap” or that they are generally disrespectful is at best uninformed and at worst actively disparaging.

Personally, I was deeply offended by the insinuations listed in the article: that Early College High School students are responsible for an uptick in litter in common areas — including “used condoms,” that they are somehow responsible for lowered academic standards and that they “pester classmates or co-workers for attention.”

All members of the Eastfield College community should promote an open and welcoming environment for all students, not just members of a particular peer group.

I find it shameful to read something that suggests otherwise in the pages of The Et Cetera.

Sincerely, Jason W. Moore Librarian

20

WRAP-UP

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Awkward Avocado By Abednego Leal

www.eastfieldnews.com

The Et Cetera

NEWS

Briefs Veteran memorial wall Eastfield is honoring Texans who lost their lives during military deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan with a wall filled with the faces and names of those who didn’t make it home. The services members on the wall range from 2002 to 2015.

— James Hartley

Bond election results

The Dallas County Community College District got voter approval for a $1.1 billion bond to improve and expand district campuses and programs.

The bond garnered support from 71 percent of voters

Madpuffy Comics By Jesus Madrid

May 4 and is not projected to cause any increase in taxes.

Institutional education plan

— James Hartley

A draft of Eastfield’s 2019-2020 Educational Plan has been released. The draft is not finalized but includes four goals for the college to improve students’ path to completion, Career and Technical Education programs, student success rates in the classroom and create opportunities for underserved students.

Each college is required to write an Educational Plan as a part of the Student-Centric Transformation plan.

— Skye Seipp

Go transfer to a brighter future.

Begin a journey that will lead you to greater things at Texas Woman’s University. We work closely with you to easily transfer your credits. Learn to lead at TWU.