MONTAGE
The
Serving the St. Louis Community College - Meramec community since 1964 • ACP Award Recipient VOLUME 56, ISSUE 8
WWW.MERAMECMONTAGE.COM
MAY 6, 2021
Two teams, S one dream Photos by: Ashley biundo
STLCC men’s and women’s soccer had to move their fall season to the spring
Top left: Forward megan Barton dribbles the ball past East Central College on May 1. top right: Forward Ahmet Serdarevic, takes the ball from State fair community college on Apr. 21. bottom Left: Midfield Jack Simmons jumps up to stop the ball from state fair college. bottom right: Back defender Abbie Edmundson kicks the ball down the field.
ashley biundo editor-in-chief
TLCC men’s and women’s soccer began their season in the spring instead of their usual fall start. Men’s soccer head Coach, Ricardo Garza said that the team was planning on playing in the fall, but due to COVID-19, they were skeptical and didn’t think they would be playing in the spring. Women’s soccer head coach Jason Howard said that they are taking it day by day and their games are in a shorter time frame. “It’s not 110 degrees. So I mean, I like that aspect of it. It’s different with how condensed the schedule is,” Howard said. “Because we’re playing a lot more games in a shorter duration. But other than that, once the games get going, it feels pretty much the same thing.” Although this is Garza’s first year as head coach for the STLCC men’s soccer program, he said that it is weird and unusual to be playing in the spring but he loves it. “It’s awkward, because we’re going to finish in May, they’ll be off 8-10 weeks, and then we go right back in,” Garza said. “So in the current situation, I love it, because we are playing real games. So I think we’re going to play some really good soccer in the fall because of playing in the spring.”
The pandemic has affected their seasons recruitment wise. “We lost a lot of players that couldn’t come in. They were domestic here in the United States as well as international. I can think of seven off the top of my head right now,” Garza said. “So we put an email out just before preseason of any students interested to play. And we picked up several really decent players.” Garza said that the team is still playing well. Women’s soccer has recruited a few of the girls from the women’s basketball team to play with them, according to Howard. “We are thankful that we are here. The girls get along really well and react positively to just about everything,” he said. COVID-19 has caused issues both athletic-wise and personally for players. “There’s all kinds of different things going on, like in life, like some of the players, families are affected,” Garza said. “We had multiple signings, and they had to back out, because when they signed everything was good. And then within a month or so, their families were laid off. And so, players couldn’t even come because of financial reasons. And it’s affecting everything.” He said that they are blessed to be able to play when there is a lot going on in the world.
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STLCC announces implementation of “Safe Zone” program Two Meramec professors developing program to provide a LGBTQ+ inclusive environment jacob politte Online editor At the end of March, Vice Chancellor Andrew Langrehr announced in an email to all STLCC employees that a sustainable Safe Zone Program is being developed for STLCC campuses. The program will be formally unveiled by the college in the fall 2021 semester. The purpose of the program, according to Langrehr, is “to provide an LGBTQ+ inclusive environment at
our college.” Previous Safe Zone ally sessions have been held in the past by Professors Jeffrey Schneider and Denise Sperruzza. They have facilitated sessions at various locations including the Meramec campus, the South County campus and the Wildwood campus. They have also facilitated sessions at college events like the New Faculty Orientation, All College Day and more. Both Sperruzza and Schneider are in the process of developing STLCC’s
Safe Zone program ahead of the fall semester. Sperruzza, a professor of communications on the Meramec campus, describes the program as a way to create a safe space at STLCC for LGBTQ+ community members. She said that having STLCC be a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community is a personal priority for both her and Professor Schneider. “We saw a need for education and awareness that was not currently being
met by the college,” Sperruzza said. “This is why we joined together to begin facilitating Safe Zone Ally training sessions for the college as volunteers.” Sperruzza said it took some time for STLCC to adopt the program. “At least four years ago, we submitted a proposal offering to create a sustainable Safe Zone Program that would consist of Ally Training and much more. After four years of our
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