The SWC Sun, Fall 2023, Issue 2

Viewpoints

Community

Counselor shortage hurts students Inability to get timely appointments causes frustrated students to waste time and money.

Story Page 4

Arts

Choir reigns in Spain

PREMIER POWWOW

Tracy Burklund’s globetrotting Concert Choir earn standing ovations in some of Europe’s grandest cathedrals.

Gathering celebrates Indigenous cultures

Story Page 8

Story Back Page

AN ACP HALL OF FAME NEWSPAPER

DECEMBER 10, 2023 / ISSUE 2

A NATIONAL PACEMAKER AWARD NEWSPAPER

SABER DEPARTS AFTER VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE

L O C K E D I N A N D U N H I T TA B L E O N B I G STAG E

Sanchez announces sudden exit of Vice President of Academic Affairs following critical Academic Senate resolution

BY ALICIA RIVERO

Photo Courtesy of Fox Sports

KING OF THE HILL—Southwestern College alumnus Kevin Ginkel completed a stellar post-season by starring in the World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

‘BOYHOOD DREAM COME TRUE’ “Looking back, this was a storybook year for me,” he said this month on a zoom call from Arizona. “(Pitching in the World Series) is a blessing.”

KEVIN GINKEL Diamondbacks Relief Pitcher

One time Jaguar mows down Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Trea Turner, Bryce Harper during clutch NLCS and World Series outtings

Controversial Vice President of Academic Affairs Isabelle Saber is out, but circumstances surrounding her departure remain a mystery.

College President Dr. Mark Sanchez announced the departure of Saber in the second paragraph of a global email to college staff without details as to why his hand-picked VPAA and longtime friend was suddenly gone.

“Isabelle Saber is no longer the (VPAA) and Silvia Cornejo will be serving in the acting role through June 30, while we conduct a national search for a new (VPAA),” he wrote. “I personally want to thank Isabelle Saber and faculty for creating structural changes that have positioned the district to better serve our students and communities.”

Saber, who earlier indicated she would sit for an interview with The Sun, did not return multiple emails and phone calls seeking comment.

Southwestern College’s Academic Senate voted overwhelmingly last month to pass a No Confidence Resolution against Saber for what faculty members described as abusive behavior, illegal actions and contract violations, among many other complaints. Academic Senator Andrew Rempt said he felt “relieved” that Saber is no longer with the college.

“I feel we will be free to move forward with our programs and with helping our students,” he said.

“I am relieved because (Saber) was difficult to work with. She created obstacles and did not seem to be faculty friendly or focused on student success. So now that this person is no longer working here, we can go back to what is important.”

Senate leaders took the No Confidence vote results to the governing board Nov. 13. A parade SABER • PG 2

BY JUAN H ESTRADA

K

evin Ginkel was warmed up and ready to go when he got the call from the bullpen. He sprinted to the mound as he had done more than 100 times before at El Capitan High School, Southwestern College, University of Arizona and for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Only this time it was the eighth inning of Game One of the World Series.

The D-Backs were in a tight spot as the Texas Rangers had the go-ahead runners on.

Ginkel looked like it was a Spring Training exhibition, confident and loose, trying not to betray the fact that this was a boyhood dream come true.

He nodded yes to the sign as Texas Rangers fans at sold out Globe Life Field roared. From the stretch Ginkel raised his left leg so high his knee almost brushed the Arizona logo across his chest. A 93-mph sinking fastball shattered the bat of Josh Jung, producing a weak grounder to the shortstop who made the routine play. Inning over.

Another boyhood dream come true.

“Looking back, this was a storybook year for me,” he said this GINKEL • PG 3

Southwestern College’s Academic Senate voted overwhelmingly last month to pass a No Confidence Resolution against Saber for what faculty members described as abusive behavior, illegal actions and contract violations, among many other complaints.

PILOT LAW ALLOWS CA TUITION RATE FOR MEXICAN STUDENTS Photo Courtesy of Arizona Athletics

FIRST JAGUAR TO PLAY IN THE WORLD SERIES Ginkel was an SC Jaguar and University of Arizona Wildcat before becoming a top dog in the Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen this summer. He was nearly unhittable in the post-season.

Local legislators, college leaders say program will strengthen local work force

BY ZEKE WATSON

La frontera just got a little fuzzier.

And attending Southwestern College just got a whole lot less expensive.

Gov. Newson signed into law Assembly Bill 91, legislation that will launch a five-year pilot program to reduce community college costs for low-income Mexican students living within 45 miles of the border.

DEBATERS ERASE BORDERS

AB91 • PG 3

ASSEMBLYMAN DAVID ALVAREZ

Transfronterizas Victoria Gutierrez, Stefany Pagnan are forensics champions. Page 7

NEWS

SABER •

CONT FROM PG 1

Controversial VPAA is out following vote of no confidence by Academic Senate of faculty and staff told the board of frustrating experiences with Saber, including some who said they were “traumatized.”

Professor Tracy Schaelen, distance education faculty coordinator, said Saber was autocratic and “deeply demoralizing.” Schaelen said Saber’s reorganization of the library and learning center was “reckless” and would damage teaching and learning.

Professor Peter Herrera said he resigned from the sabbatical committee in protest of Saber’s actions.

“I was eligible to apply for a year-in-service sabbatical this year, my first ever in 27 years of service,” he said, “but I chose not to do so out of concern of retaliation.”

Herrera said he feared Saber would damage programs he cared about while he was away on sabbatical. He said working with faculty and administrators in the past was “rewarding, productive and respectful until fall of 2022.”

“I have witnessed the work environment within this committee become hostile and toxic due to the actions of VPAA Saber, words that I do not take lightly,” he said. “I found myself having to deal with angry, offensive, threatening and disdainful comments directed at me and the committee members.

The latest such incident occurred during a meeting of the sabbatical committee and representatives from SCEA, where I was yelled at for supposedly ‘violating the contract.’ Your exact words,” Herrera said during the governing board meeting as he faced Saber.

Herrera’s resignation letter cited actions by Saber that were outside of her authority, a charge made by other faculty.

“All of this has taken a toll on my well-being and has affected my work providing my students with the most optimal learning environment,” he wrote.

Bill Kinney, acting dean of the School “I have witnessed of Education, Humanities, Social and the work Behavioral Sciences, defended Saber and environment said he thought some complaints in the No Confidence resolution were not true. within this “Everyone who wanted a sabbatical, committee become got a sabbatical,” he said. hostile and toxic Rempt called remarks like Kinney’s due to the actions “dismissive.” of VPAA Saber, “I mention (the context behind a words that I do not resolution) to counter the (notion) that the vote of No Confidence against the take lightly.”

VPAA was the result of a disgruntled PETER HERRERA, faculty member or a small group of bullies SC Professor who comprise faculty leadership,” he said.

“The very suggestion is disrespectful and dismissive. It attempts to minimize the importance of the resolution by absolving “Everyone the VPAA.” who wanted a Rempt said he has had “too many sabbatical, got a conversations with faculty members who are disillusioned and no longer feel sabbatical.” driven to bring their best ideas to the BILL KINNEY college because they fear their work will Acting Dean of the School be cavalierly and callously abused.” of Education, Humanities, Social “This vote of no confidence is the end and Behavioral Sciences product of that despair as well as their call to have their faith restored,” he said.

Professor Diane Palmer said she was one of the fortunate faculty get a “I would say that sabbatical but criticized Saber for creating proper protocols “chaos and hostility” fueled by “lack of were not being plan and reasoning.”

“I just want to clarify that, although we followed. Policies did get the sabbaticals, the process and the and procedures way people were treated is emblematic of were not being Saber’s methodology in the way that she followed. The does her job,” she said. (faculty) contract Faculty members streamed to the was not being microphone to describe their experiences with Saber and express their concerns. followed. The When it was Saber’s turn to talk during position of Vice the Administrative Reports section of President of the board meeting, she reported that Academic Affairs is enrollment for Spring 2024 was robust supposed to be one despite faculty concerns about the “often that relies on our referred 60-40 plan.” She denied her plan to gradually roll out classes was a 60-40 college’s policies strategy, though she did not elaborate. She and procedures.” thanked Academic Senate President Dr. ANDREW REMPT Jessica Posey and Professor Ruff Yeager SC Academic Senator for their work on the sabbatical process.

“It should also be noted that I have abstained from engaging in the discussions myself and simply limited my role to ob“I’ve had several serving the good work being conducted fruitful and friendly by the sabbatical committee,” she said. conversations Saber said there was good communication with faculty and that she honwith Isabel ored Shared Governance laws while Saber. I found her transforming Jaguar Pathways and the approachable program review process, which some and easy to talk faculty have called “a disaster.” She said to. I have always she agreed with the governing board and found her to be college president’s “priority of putting students first.” a conscientious Rempt said Saber’s comments were professional.” disingenuous and that Saber constantly engaged in overreach outside of her PETER BOLLAND Professor of Philosophy authority.

“I would say that proper protocols were not being followed,” he said. “Policies and procedures were not being followed. The (faculty) contract was not being followed. The position of Vice President of Academic Affairs is supposed to be one that relies on our college’s policies and procedures.”

Professor of Philosophy Peter Bolland said he had mixed feelings about the departure of Saber.

“I’ve had several fruitful and friendly conversations with Isabel Saber,” he said. “I found her approachable and easy to talk to. I have always found her to be a conscientious professional.”

Her departure, though, was inevitable, he said.

“I suppose it’s kind of a natural result from a pretty dramatic series of events that happened this fall,” he said. “The (60-40) proposal (and other) well-documented failures from the point of view of a wide array of faculty leaders, stakeholders and other folks.”

Bolland said he understood why “people were deeply frustrated and would even be traumatized.”

Rempt said he hoped the college could put the Saber era behind it and move forward in a productive manner.

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December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE ARE NATIONAL CHAMPS—AGAIN EDITED BY MORGAN JACOBSON

W

hen Nicolette Luna led her staff to a collegiate Pulit zer Prize as Editor-in-Chief of El Sol Magazine she could not vote. Or drive. Or get a learner’s permit.

Now she can drive.

And now she has led her team to a second college Pulitzer.

Luna’s unprecedented career as a college journalist who is still in high school celebrated another neverbeen-done before achievement when she was named National College Reporter of the Year by the Associated Collegiate Press at its National College Media Convention in Atlanta. She was honored for a portfolio of articles she wrote for The Sun and El Sol while she was a 16-year-old junior at Bonita Vista High School dual enrolled at Southwestern College. Luna is the youngest Reporter of the Year in the 102-year history of the ACP and the first ever high school student.

Luna was named one of San Diego County’s 25 Remarkable Teenagers by the Public Defenders Office at age 16, the same age she won the American Scholastic Press Association Most Outstanding Service to the Community Award and the Society of Professional Journalists Dr. James Julian Award for Community Service – the first time a college student or high school student won the prestigious award created for professionals.

El Sol Magazine has thrived under Luna’s leadership. It is the 2023 Columbia University Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown winner as America’s Best Collegiate Publication, beating out the Southwestern College Sun newspaper, which received the Silver Crown.

El Sol was also the College Media Association Pinnacle Award recipient, SPJ Magazine of the Year, and San Diego Press Club’s Best College Magazine.

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and the city council declared November 14, 2023, Nicolette Luna Day. “Nicolette Luna is an amazing young lady and a great member of our community,” said McCann. “We all appreciate that she brought the National Reporter of the Year award to Chula Vista.”

Southwestern College’s super teen had company on the national stage.

Lesley Garate won the Ernie Pyle Feature Profile Story of the Year award from ACP for her article “Chicano Park’s Guardian Angel.” Edmundo Godinez is the national champion cartoonist for “Here’s Looking at You, Kid.” Emily Ingco, Camila Gonzalez, Razylin Avendano, Alicia Rivero, Liliana Anguiano and Cheri-Ann Inouye also earned national awards from ACP. Liliana Anguino is the former Editor-in-Chief who is currently a junior at UC Santa Barbara. She said the mental makeup of the staff drives its achievements.

“When you have staff members like those we have on The Sun who are hard-working, intelligent and resilient, success follows,” she said.

“Knowing the staff ’s hard work has been recognized nationally is a joy.

The awards only push the team to cover the issues that matter and support the community.”

LILIANA AGUIANO

“When you have staff members like those we have on The Sun who are hardworking, intelligent and resilient, success follows.

RAZYLIN AVENDANO

LESLEY GARATE

CAMILA A. GONZALEZ

EMILY INGCO

SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE SUN

The Southwestern College Sun

EL SOL MAGAZINE XII Pacemaker Award, the collegiate Pulitzer Prize (ACP, Minneapolis) Best of Show (ACP, Minneapolis) National Pinnacle Award, Best College Magazine (College Media Association, New York) Gold Crown Award, America’s Best Student Publication (Columbia Scholastic Press Association, NY) Most Outstanding College Magazine (American Scholastic Press Association, College Point, NY) Most Outstanding Service to the Community (ASPA, College Point, NY) Best College Magazine (California College Media Association, Sacramento) Magazine General Excellence Award (Journalism Association of Community Colleges, Sacramento) Best College Magazine (San Diego Press Club) Best Collegiate Publication (San Diego Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists)

NOTABLE INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

STUDENT JOURNALISM RECOGNITION, 2022-23

Pacemaker Award, the collegiate Pulitzer Prize (Associated Collegiate Press, Minneapolis) Best of Show (ACP, Minneapolis) National Pinnacle Award, Best College Newspaper (College Media Association, New York) Best College Newspaper (National Newspaper Association, Pensacola, FL) Most Outstanding College Newspaper (American Scholastic Press Association, College Point, NY) Most Outstanding Service to the Community (ASPA, College Point, NY) Freedom of Information Award (finalist) (Student Press Law Center, Washington D.C.) Silver Crown Award (Columbia Scholastic Press Association, NY) Gold Medal Award (Columbia Scholastic Press Association, NY)

Best Two-Year College Newspaper (California Newspaper Publishers Association, Sacramento) Best College Newspaper (California College Media Association, Sacramento) Pacesetter Award (Journalism Association of Community Colleges, Sacramento) Newspaper General Excellence Award (JACC, Sacramento) Best College Newspaper (San Diego Press Club) Best Collegiate Publication (San Diego Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists) Student Equity Champions (Southwestern College Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion)

NICOLETTE MONIQUE LUNA

HANNAH RAMIREZ

Nicolette Monique Luna, National College Reporter of the Year (ACP, Minneapolis) Lesley Garate, Ernie Pyle National Feature Profile Story of the Year (ACP, Ernie Pyle Foundation) Edmundo Godinez, National Editorial Cartoon of the Year (ACP, Minneapolis) Alicia Rivero, Liliana Anguiano, Editorial of the Year (ACP, Minneapolis) Camila Gonzalez, Emily Ingco, National Sports Story of the Year (ACP, Minneapolis) Nicolette Monique Luna, National Magazine Design of the Year (ACP, Minneapolis) Razylin Avendano, National Infographic of the Year (ACP, Minneapolis) Cheri-Ann Inouye, National Column Writer of the Year (ACP, Minneapolis) Liliana Anguiano, Camila Gonzalez, Nicolette Monique Luna, National Newspaper Design of the Year (ACP, NY) Nicolette Monique Luna, Most Outstanding Service to the Community (ASPA, College Point, NY) Nicolette Monique Luna, National Future Leaders Trust Scholarship (Las Vegas, NV) Alicia Rivero, National Editorial Cartoon of the Year (professional category) (NNA, Pensacola, FL) Camila Gonzalez, National Award for Best Localized Reporting (professional category) (NNA, Pensacola, FL) Esteban Preciado, National Award for Investigative Reporting (professional category) (NNA, FL) Camila Gonzalez, National Sports Story of the Year (professional category) (NNA, Pensacola, FL) Camila Gonzalez, National Critical Review of the Year (professional category) (NNA, Pensacola, FL) Nicolette Monique Luna, Dr. James Julian Award for Community Service (professional category) (SD Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists) Nicolette Monique Luna, “Nicolette Luna Day,” November 14, 2023, Chula Vista City Council Liliana Anguiano, Hannah Ramirez, Julia Woock, Juan Herrera, Student of Distinction Award, Southwestern College

NEWS

AB91 • CONT FROM PG 1

Pilot program allows Mexican students to pay in-state tuition A s s e m b l y M e m b e r D av i d Alvarez introduced the bill earlier this year at the urging of local college administrators, including Southwestern College President Dr. Mark Sanchez.

Alvarez said the bill will make higher education more affordable for low-income individuals living near the border by allowing them to pay California residency rates rather than international student fees. He said it will also open opportunities for international students to transfer to four-year universities and prepare them for job opportunities that address gaps in industries across the borderlands.

“This was just a very natural step

to take to ensure that future and current students have access to higher education and be able to pursue their educational goals,” he said.

AB -91 will provide a tuition exemption to up to 150 students per academic year.

“This is to remove (those) financial barriers because the students would now be eligible to attend at in-state tuition rates as opposed to a (nonresident) student rates, which is thousands of dollars more than instate (fees),” said Alverez.

At S o u t hw e s t e r n C o l l e g e, nonresident students pay $4,044 in tuition for 12 credits per semester, while California residents pay $552.

Dr. Joel Pilco, director of Binational and International Programs, works with students living in Mexico. “ We are an institution that provides opportunities for everybody, especially students who don’t have the means,” he said. “AB 91 creates an opportunity for education (and) an opportunity for the region to grow professionally.”

Pilco said San Diego County

Photo Courtesy of Southwestern College

INTERNATIONAL COMMENCEMENT—Southwestern College hosted a commencement ceremony in Tijuana in May to honor transfronterizo students.

AB91 will allow non-citizen Mexican students to pay California tuition.

industries such as engineering and biotechnology need more collegeeducated professionals.

“AB 91 is going to be very effective and successful in educating students joining the workforce soon,” he said. “(They can) then opt for jobs on either side of the border. Probably more on this side. That’s the goal. But no matter what, we are one region.”

Sanchez said the borderlands is one community that can be elevated through education.

“I believe (AB 91) creates one binational, educated community that allows for workforce opportunities,” he said.

AB 91 takes effect Jan. 1, 2024.

Sanchez said he envisions a future in which SC could offer courses at universities in Tijuana, pending other evolutions in the law.

“These rules were not written for the communities we serve today,” he said. “AB 91 is just one step in a systems redesign to better serve our communities and to ensure that we’re serving today’s students based on their needs.”

“(I told myself) I’m really good. It’s game seven, these guys are making a trillion dollars and I’m the huge underdog here. They were expected to beat me and that fueled me.”

KEVIN GINKEL

Pitcher Arizona Diamondbacks

Photo Courtesy of MLB

GINKEL

• CONT FROM PG 1

month on a zoom call from Arizona. “(Pitching in the World Series) is a blessing.”

Back in late March Ginkel was not thinking of the World Series. He was focused on getting back to the Major Leagues after some arm ailments led to a pair of disappointing years. His 2023 began in the minors.

“From where I started this season--I was at AAA at one point—to playing World Series, that is incredible,” he said.

Ginkel took a long and winding road to the Major Leagues. A standout at El Capitan High in Lakeside, he graduated with arm injuries and was not drafted. Rather than enroll at nearby Grossmont College he came to Southwestern and its pitching guru/ manager Jay Martel. Ginkel arrived with a good attitude but a bad arm, Martel recalled.

“Kevin had bone chips in his elbow,” he said. “Doctors wanted him to change his mechanics and Ginkel’s a perfectionist on his mechanics. He worked hard to make changes and as the velocity came up, I foresaw him playing pro baseball.”

Ginkel found his groove at Southwestern and was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2014. He did not sign and accepted a scholarship to the University of Arizona. In 2015

Former Jaguar was Dbacks go-to stopper during World Series run

Ginkel was drafted by the Boston Red Sox, but stayed for his senior year at U of A and had a memorable season.

When the Diamond Backs drafted him in 2016 his professional career began.

His MLB debut came on August 5, 2019. He had a strong rookie season in 2020 but struggled in 2021 and 2022 before finding another gear in 2023.

By mid-season he had become the Diamondbacks’ go to guy during late inning, high stakes situations.

Ginkel was nearly unhittable in the playoffs. During one nail-biting appearance against the Dodgers, he struck out All-Stars Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman back-to-back.

One of the biggest moments of the playoffs came in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series.

Ginkel sprinted into the game from the bullpen to face a Phillies rally with the game on the line. Philadelphia had the potential winning runs on base and superstars Trea Turner and Bryce Harper coming to bat. In the legendarily hostile confines of Citizens Bank Park, in a winner-takesall scenario, Ginkel prepared to face a pair of MLB’s best hitters. He retired them both and preserved the lead and the win for Arizona. The D-Backs were going to the World Series.

“It was a special run for me,” he said.

“I was so locked in. I went out there with the mentality that I can beat these guys, regardless of who they are. (I told myself) I’m really good, too. It’s game seven, these guys are making a trillion dollars and I’m the huge underdog here. They were expected to beat me and that fueled me.”

Phillie’s fans were loud as a jet roaring down the tarmac for takeoff, but Ginkel tuned it out.

“All these people don’t think I can do this,” he remembered thinking. “I believe I can.”

Ginkel prevailed over Turner and Harper to end the inning. He returned the following inning to strike out three hitters on 15 pitches.

“Reflecting on it now, it’s hit me a little bit more,” he said. “I’m just grateful (it turned out well).”

Ginkel said he tries to keep it simple.

“I just want to be recognized as someone that wins,” he said. “I take pride in that. I want to be recognized as someone who got the job done in crunch time.”

Martel said Ginkel was also a money pitcher at Southwestern.

“He threw a lot of big games for us,” Martel recalled. “He threw in the state playoffs and pitched a complete-game shutout against Rio Hondo College.

He always wanted the ball. We had to The Southwestern College Sun

“He threw a lot of big games for us. He threw in the state playoffs and pitched a complete-game shutout against Rio Hondo College. He always wanted the ball.”

JAY MARTEL

SC Baseball Head Coach

practically force him out of the game sometimes.”

Rio Hondo is still a favorite memory, Ginkel said.

“That was a really cool game for me,” he said. “We were in the playoffs and the excitement of the first round on the road. It was fun. I went the full nine innings and we won.”

SC Athletic Director Ron Valenzuela said Ginkel is now part of the college’s

legion of outstanding baseball alumni.

“We are extremely proud of the success and achievements of Kevin Ginkel both at and beyond Southwestern College,” he said. “Anything is possible at Southwestern College. If you want to play professionally, that can happen here.”

SC has sent almost 20 players to the Major Leagues, most under legendary former coach Jerry Bartow. Ginkel, though, is a trailblazer.

“Ginkel is the first Southwestern College baseball alum to pitch in the World Series,” said Valenzuela. “Him being on baseball’s biggest stage is a testament to the fact that Southwestern College is a place where a studentathlete’s dreams can come true.”

Ginkel agreed.

“If you have aspirations to do great things and go places, it’s all about the dream,” he said. “You must put in the time. Everybody wants to be the firstround draft pick, but there is a lot of pressure that comes with it. If you love it and want to pursue it, go for it. It is achievable.”

A brief pause, then one final pitch.

“I’d love to get another crack at the World Series.”

Yanelli Zavina Robles contributed to this story.

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

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E D I T O R I A L — S T U D E N T S S U F F O C AT E U N D E R 1 , 7 0 0 - t o - 1 C O U N S E L I N G R AT I O , B E L O W

VIEWPOINTS Editorials • Opinions • Letters to the Editor

MEXICO, U.S. SWAP PLACES ON ABORTION RIGHTS

The mission of the Southwestern College Sun is to serve its campuses and their communities by providing information, insights and stimulating discussions of news, activities and topics relevant to our readers. The staff strives to produce a newspaper that is timely, accurate, fair, interesting, visual and accessible to readers. Though The Sun is a student publication, staff members ascribe to the ethical and moral guidelines of professional journalists.

EDITORIAL BOARD

BY ALEXA LIMA

Editor-in-Chief

Assistant Sports Editor

Emily Ingco

Juan Herrera

A Perspective

Associate Editor-in-Chief

Photo Editors

Nicolette Monique Luna

Camila A. Gonzalez Yanelli Robles

News Editor

Staff Writers

Morgan Jacobson

Holden Ames Jacián Arreola Mary Davis Emily Esparza Anna Espinoza Raul Fontes Blanca Esthela Castañeda García Iyarie Murguia David Murillo Miguel Nicolas Raul Ramirez Allan Vargas Zeke Watson

Viewpoints Editors

Luis Zavala Anahy Gutierrez Campus Editors

Diego Higuera Razylin M. Avendano Assistant Campus Editor

Rebecca Esparza Arts Editor

Alexa Lima

Staff Artists Assistant Arts Editor

Valeryah Lara Sports Editor

Julio Rodriguez

De Luna Abraham Godinez Edmundo Godinez Christina Wolff

ADVISERS Adviser

Dr. Max Branscomb Assistant Adviser

Kenneth Pagano

AWARDS/HONORS National College Newspaper Hall of Fame Inducted 2018 ACP Pacemaker 100 An Outstanding Student Publication of the Century 2022 Student Press Law Center National College Press Freedom Award 2011, 2018 National Newspaper Association National College Newspaper of the Year 2004-2022 Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Awards 2003-06, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012-2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 General Excellence 2001-23 Best of Show 2001-23 Columbia University Scholastic Press Association Gold Medal for Journalism Excellence 2001-23 College Media Association National College Newspaper of the Year 2020, 22

San Diego County Multicultural Heritage Award California Newspaper Publishers Association California College Newspaper of the Year 2013, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2023 Student Newspaper General Excellence 2002-23 Society of Professional Journalists National Mark of Excellence 2001-22 First Amendment Award 2002, 2005 San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism 1999-2022 Directors Award for Defense of Free Speech 2012 Journalism Association of Community Colleges Pacesetter Award 2001-18, 2022-23 Newspaper General Excellence 2000-2023 American Scholastic Press Association Community College Newspaper of the Year

California College Media Association Outstanding College/ University Newspaper

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December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

ILLUSTRATION BY DE LUNA / STAFF

COUNSELOR T SHORTAGE PLAGUES STUDENTS

here are an awful lot of students who have been at Southwestern

College for an awful long time.

And that is awfully frustrating.

Barely 10 percent of us successfully transfer from this two-year institution in three years. The average time to transfer or “graduate” is 5.5 years.

There are many reasons for this. One is that Southwestern College students work between 25-30 hours a week and cannot take a full course load of 15 units. Many of our students are parents or care providers.

Some just want smaller loads because they are English learners or struggle with math.

One of the biggest reasons, though, is preventable and needs to be addressed immediately. Southwestern College does not have enough counselors. Not even close to enough.

Data from the American School Counselor Association indicates that in 2022 the average counselor-to-student ratio in higher education is 1 to 250.

Southwestern’s ratios are dreadful. Special population programs like First Year Experience, Puente, Bayan, Restorative Justice, Athletics and Umoja have ratios of 1 counselor per 437 students. SC’s ratio in general counseling is an abysmal 1 counselor to 1,700 students.

That is not a typo. 1 to 1,700.

Counselors cannot keep up. There is a waitlist that ranges from 800 to 1,200 with an erratic waiting period that can bounce between one week to six weeks. Three is the average.

It is easier to see the mayor, DMV or Taylor Swift than a Southwestern College counselor.

We need access to counselors. A lot of us, frankly, have no clue what to do. Southwestern College students are primary pioneering teenagers whose parents did not engage in higher education. Even if our parents did attend college mom and dad cannot tell us what classes to take to meet our goals. Most of our professors cannot either. The honest ones will not even try.

So, SC students take classes they do not need for transfer or certificates. They take too many units. Most transfer programs require 60 units. Too many Jaguars have more than 100 and still are not eligible to transfer.

This problem is fixable. Southwestern College needs to hire more counselors.

Administrators will act sympathetic then say “Yes, but that is expensive.”

Yes, it is. It is also a matter of priorities.

Now comes the sad part of this saga.

Our college spends millions upon millions of our taxpayer dollars on other things. We have too many administrators already and our college president is trying to create four more administrative positions, each of which costs more than $1 million a year for salaries, staffing, offices, creating a new division, benefits and other costs. That would buy 80 counselors.

We have bureaucratized and ballooned IT, Admissions and several other programs we will not name so as not to hurt people’s feelings. Maybe these new bureaucracies help the college, may not, but can it be argued that they are more important than counselors?

Absolutely not.

Southwestern administrators and governing board members mindlessly drone on about how students are their #1 priority, but their actions do not match the rhetoric. Diverting money into empire building and making employees’ jobs easier does not help students.

Steven Baissa, dean of the School of Counseling and Student Support Programs, agrees that our college needs more counselors. Right now, SC has 24 full-time counselors, 17 of whom are for general counseling, providing guidance to all 22,000 students. The remaining seven counselors work for special programs.

“We are not looking too good,” he said. “Our ratio is one to 1,240. Best practice is to have one counselor for 350 students.”

We appreciate Dean Baissa’s candor and wish him all the best in his efforts to expand the counseling staff. He is already behind thanks to six retirements last year.

“We’re trying to figure out how we can get more hires,” he said. “I’m pushing on that with the vice president of student affairs, with my faculty, and with the department chair.

Just two years ago, the state gave us a lot of money to hire more faculty. We hired almost 40 faculty. Out of that we got around five counselors.”

Since the pandemic SC has experienced steady enrollment growth which further dilutes the lopsided counseling ratio.

The status quo is simply not acceptable. Dr. Sanchez needs to cool his jets on hiring more administrators and reinvest in the foundation of this pyramid which is the students. We need our elected governing board members to steer this ship in a different direction, one that really does put students first.

Let us know when this happens. In the meantime, we will be waiting to see a counselor.

The Southwestern College Sun

Reproductive rights in North America have taken a strange and unexpected turn. In the Constitutionally non-religious United States the Supreme Court has dramatically rolled back abortion rights. In conservative mostly Catholic Mexico, its Supreme Court has formally decriminalized abortion.

Mexico’s court ordered that abortion be removed from the federal penal code. This ruling requires the federal public health service and all federal health institutions to offer abortion on demand to anyone who requests it.

Southwestern College students expressed relief and happiness over the ruling. Transfronteriza Tanya Herrera, 27, lives in Mexico and crosses the border daily.

“I believe (abortion) is a personal decision,” she said. “ If I cannot raise a child and give them a stable home, good education and a good future, why should I be obligated to bring a child to this world?”

This landmark decision reflects a growing recognition in Mexico of a woman’s autonomy over her own body and her right to make choices about her reproductive health. Mexico’s journey toward decriminalization did not happen without challenges, but this represents a critical turning point in the fight for gender equality and women’s rights.

Dr. Gerardo Rios, Professor of Mexican American Studies, said Mexico has trouble with the division of secular and tradition.

“Mexico would like to be more liberal in its economy, government and society, but the trick is negotiating its deep Catholic roots,” he said.

Mexico’s abortion ruling could have a major impact on bordering countries like the U.S. Guatemala and Belize following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Jose Alberto Mendoza, 25, said Mexico will be an example for the world.

“It would make people think if they can do it, why can’t we?” he said. “Whether you are pro or against abortion you have to respect a woman’s choice. They know how their bodies process and what is best for them.”

Thousands of people living near the U.S.-Mexico border cross to Mexico for health services, because of its accessibility and lower cost. Women in the U.S. are likely to seek safe abortions in Mexico, which could impact Mexico’s healthcare system.

This raises the question: How is it that in the “land of the free” women are not free to make their own personal decisions but a country that is predominantly religious and traditionally machismo can respect women’s ability to make decisions about their own bodies? Mexico is clearly trending in a more enlightened and liberal direction, while the U.S.A. is lurching backwards into outdated conservatism.

While there will be ongoing debates and challenges, this historic decision is a testament to the power of advocacy and the resilience of those fighting for gender equality and women’s rights in Mexico and beyond.

Bravo!

VIEWPOINTS

ILLUSTRATION BY DE LUNA / STAFF

The Southwestern College Sun

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

5

VIEWPOINTS

BLIND STUDENT OPENED MY EYES

THINKING OUT LOUD COMPILED BY CAMILA A. GONZALEZ

How do you prepare for Finals Week?

Sighted people often fail to fully appreciate the difficulty faced by blind college students

BY MARY DAVIS

A Perspective ILLYA RANGEL Mechanical Engineering

“To prepare for finals I try to be aware of what is coming up. I try to minimize my distractions by putting my phone aside. I am an auditory and visual learner, so I make sure to read and watch videos to prepare.”

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINA WOLFF / STAFF

JOMAR CARDENAS Psychology Major

“I get to sleep early because I have a long commute. If I don’t sleep right then I am hazy and miserable.

JASMINE GUTIERREZ Film Major

“I like to use flash cards to study for exams.

I will read over my notes and go on study dates with my friends, which usually helps me to concentrate.”

WILLIAM ALVAREZ Undeclared

“During the week before finals I complete any review I have and once I am done with that, I will quiz myself and review it again.”

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December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS CAUSE LASTING SCARS

BY ANAHY J. GUTIERREZ

A Perspective “He is 15 years old,” said the cop, dismissively. “Did you really think he was looking for a serious relationship?”

My attempt to report my abusive ex-boyfriend did not go well. The silence after that question was louder than all the thoughts careening in my mind. Maybe they did not hear me correctly. Maybe they misinterpreted my words.

Reality did not follow the script of my hopes.

“Well then, how can we file a restraining order?” asked my Dad. My high school counselor extinguished my last bit of hope.

“Oh I would not recommend doing that,” he said. “Police take too long to respond or do anything about it.”

I felt I was being treated like a toddler whining about a little pinch to the arm. To the grownups it was just a stupid relationship between two little kids.

I told them about the times he slapped me, kicked me, put his hands around my throat and pulled me by the hair. I never told them about the sexual abuse because I was ashamed.

If they handled my report of physical abuse this way, my heart cannot help but break at the thought of my 15-year-old self also being blamed for the sexual abuse.

The school dean had my Dad and I sign a contract which stated I could not enter a room if my abuser was already there and vice versa. My abuser’s family was given the same contract.

After all he did to me, they expected me to keep out of his way, too.

I wish I could say this travesty of justice stopped there. It was the beginning of the pandemic when performative activism was the newest internet trend. I was scrolling Instagram when I came across a “friend’s” story.

“If I follow your abuser, message me and I will unfollow them,” it read.

“No questions asked.”

“But he’s your best friend,” I replied.

The following words are seared into my memory.

“Are you out for revenge or something? I don’t want to ruin both friendships and I have nothing to do with this.”

I was angry for a long time. How could someone take an abuser’s side?

Why would anyone ever do that?

Why would you post such a thing so dismissive of the victim? These are questions I have asked myself every day. There are no answers. I cannot blame anyone for believing his lies because I fell for them, too.

I still flinch at sudden movements or sounds. I have nightmares and flashbacks. I cannot distinguish the difference between my intuition and my hypervigilance.

Every person I meet is guilty of betrayal until they prove their innocence.

Anger is a raging storm that destroys my heart’s beautiful garden of kindness, love and compassion. I am no longer angry, I am compassionate. I wish him empathy. I hope he can stop the cycle of violence and injustice. Nothing can erase what he did, but my wish is that he has changed.

It took me years to accept that not everyone is living in the past the way I must. I still flinch at sudden movements or sounds. I have nightmares and flashbacks. I cannot distinguish the difference between my intuition and my hypervigilance. Every person I meet is guilty of betrayal until they prove their innocence.

I have lost count of the times I heard, “Why didn’t you just leave?” or “I would never let somebody treat me that way.”

Were it that simple. Abusers are The Southwestern College Sun

masters of manipulation. They know how you will feel and what you will do before you even know yourself.

You are blinded to reality with a false sense of security that they will safely guide you. If they tell you the sky is purple, you will believe it, even if you see the blue sky with your own lying eyes.

None of us know how we would react to abuse until it happens. I hope none of you find out.

That relationship was the most traumatic experience of my life, yet no one knew. No one seemed to believe I had suffered because I still had straight As and a smile painted across my face. I recall a family member saying, “You look happy” with a huge smile on their face, confirmation that I hid the abuse well.

We were only 15 but my abuser knew what he was doing. He isolated me from my friends and family, ruined my self-esteem and scarred me emotionally. He would threaten to kill me and my family. He asked terrifying questions like “What would you do if I threw your dog against the wall?” while laughing sadistically. His age is no excuse. We must not normalize violence and savage behavior just because “he is a teenage boy.”

Reporting him to school officials was terrifying because I had no physical evidence. His words and actions linger in my memory and that is evidence enough.

I still wonder if the adults who failed me at my high school would feel remorseful if they found out I was diagnosed with PTSD? Would that finally make them take me seriously?

My abusive relationship was not me tattling, it was a cry for help. I was ignored.

Domestic violence victims are too often ignored. Particularly teenage victims.

I am sharing this story in hopes that other people will share theirs.

This story is a seed I am planting in my community. It will grow into hope, knowledge, and compassion that I will forever water by helping those with stories like mine.

It’s amazing what you can see once you open your eyes.

For those blessed with sight, hardships and difficulties are easy to overlook - allowing us to turn a literal blind eye to the hazards and barriers that the visually impaired face on a daily basis.

Those challenges are made exponentially more staggering with the omnipresent construction occurring on the campus of Southwestern College.

My first day on campus led me to make an unexpected leap – a transition from sympathy to empathy – for the many hazards that surround us. As an older, returning student with some physical limitations, I use a roller bag to cart my supplies, but naively assumed navigating a campus would be almost as easy as traversing an airport terminal with its smooth, even surfaces.

How wrong I was.

Since I’m a ‘Back Forty’ parker – meaning that due to my classes starting later, I’m resigned to parking on the far South end of campus (seemingly just short of the Jack in the Box lot on Otay Lakes Road), and my first class is on the far north end of campus, I traverse the entire campus each day I’m on site.

On my first day of school this semester, a cursory scan of the campus revealed the lay of the land: construction fencing lining the southeast perimeter, a plethora of warning signs on display, and concrete and metal pilings starting to rise from within the fenced-off worksites. I figured I might encounter a problem here or there, but nothing that would be insurmountable. Events would soon reveal just how blind I was to my visual privilege.

It didn’t take long to encounter my first hurdle a mere 100 feet from where I parked – the sidewalk on the back perimeter of campus. It’s the entry construction driveway for trucks and heavy equipment, and was in wretched condition – chunks broken off, large cracks and gaps, and a one to two inch lip jutting upward waiting to sabotage some unsuspecting cell-phone zombie. I resigned myself to lifting my roller bag and carrying it across the 20-foot wide driveway, thankful that I had the physical capacity to do that. Someone in a wheelchair would not have fared as well.

And while I “saw” the gaps, I had failed to “see” how much we take the gift of sight for granted. Providence was about to change that.

Arriving at my first class, I encountered a young man waiting outside. He was blind and accompanied by a companion (who I assumed was another classmate but later learned was his brother who also drives him to school and aids in his navigation.)

The professor arrived and opened the classroom and I soon awoke. The simple act of entering an unfamiliar room, assessing the layout, and finding a desk was something so routine and comfortable that I failed to recognize what a struggle it must be for people with disabilities, particularly the visually impaired.

While I walked straight in and settled on a desk far into the room, Sean was forced to rely on assistance from his brother to settle in. When the class ended, he was alone and had to extricate himself from the long rows of desks. Watching him exit, I awoke to just how much we sighted folk take completely for granted.

Beginning the journey to my next class, I trekked up a small service road and made a right turn onto a sidewalk, where good-sized, 8-10” decorative rocks lined part of the path. Two of the larger rocks had fallen onto the AWARENESS • PG 9

I N T E R N AT I O N A L B O R D E R L A N G U A G E B A R R I E R S C A N N O T S T O P D Y N A M I C D E B AT E D U O , B E L O W

CAMPUS Campus News • Student News • Profiles

READING EMPOWERS BLIND SCHOLAR

Photo Courtesy of Ryan Wash

TRANSFRONTERIZA TALENT— Stefany Pagnan (l) and Victoria Gutierrez endure hard traveling but are emerging forensics and debate stars who like to compete using Spanglish.

Sean Caballero credits SC faculty for his academic success

BY MARY DAVIS

Team of transfronterizas making a name on national stage

BY JACIÁN ARREOLA

V

ictoria Gutierrez and Stefany Pagnan had no idea their grueling transfronteriza experiences crossing the border daily for school would someday give them an advantage.

Now the Southwestern College debate champions have turned limons into limonada.

Gutierrez and Pagnan reached the semifinals of the Big Tent Online Tournament hosted by Missouri State University and narrowly missed crashing into the finals against major university teams. Karina Sanchez and partner Ian Carlo Soto were also semi-finalists.

A trio of individual speakers also brought home awards, including First Place winner Pagnan. Gutierrez grabbed a Second Place award and Sanchez a Fifth Place.

The team’s success at a national tournament was built on the foundation of prior successes at the Hannie Schaft Memorial Tournament hosted by Southwestern College, according to head debate coach Ryan Wash, a professor of communications.

Competing teams came from USC, Arizona State, CSU Northridge and CSU Fullerton.

Sanchez and Rianne Nabo were semi-finalists and were recognized as the top speakers in their divisions.

“ W h a t a wo nd e r f u l weekend for Jaguar Debate!” said Wash, who also singled out Corie Cheek, Ella DiazMedina, Ana Sanchez and Evelyn Maldonado for “great rounds.”

Gutierrez crosses the border daily to attend Southwestern.

Her debate partner Pagnan transited la frontera daily for years while in high school.

They both said the grueling commutes took a toll.

Waking up at 4 a.m., skipping breakfast and enduring disrespectful Border Patrol agents are part of the routine, said Gutierrez.

“I hate doing it,” she said.

Gutierrez took a bus 32 miles every day from Tecate, Mexico to Southwestern. Her bus stopped at El Cajon, National City and other points before reaching the college. She has been singled out at Customs and Border Protection checkpoints which once caused the bus to leave her behind miles from nowhere.

She eventually convinced a Border Patrol officer to drive her to Southwestern.

“I don’t think it’s fair the way we are treated sometimes,” she said. “I think the process should be a lot quicker. I don’t pass through Otay Mesa but I know the lines there get super long.”

Gutierrez and Pagnan both said they are at an academic disadvantage due to the long lines and incessant paperwork required to cross. They leave

The team’s success at a national tournament was built on the foundation of prior successes at the Hannie Schaft Memorial Tournament hosted by Southwestern College. for school earlier and get home later than most other college students. Competing on the debate team is another layer of stress and exhaustion, they said, but worth it.

Gutierrez also lives under the threat of narcotraficante violence in Tecate where the sounds of gunshots echo throughout the city almost every day and night. Dead bodies on the way to the border are an all-too-common sight.

Assistant debate coach Eric Maag praised the

transfronterizas for their resilience and for using their unique experiences to their advantage.

“They automatically think outside the box,” he said.

Gutierrez said she likes discussing feminism and has drawn wisdom by participating in feminist rallies in Mexico.

“I feel like I can relate to (others),” she said.

Pagnan and Gutierrez have taken the unusual tact of shifting into Spanish and Spanglish during debates.

Their status as English learners is a disadvantage they are working creatively to overcome.

“We know we are not able to communicate the same way (as opponents),” Pagnan said.

Maag says their approach exposes the widely held Amer ic an not ion that everyone is expected to speak English when in reality there are hundreds of thousands of people who are not able to.

People whose first language is not English struggle because of that language barrier. He says some may judge someone with a heavy accent to be less intelligent, when in reality it shows high intellectual capacity to be bilingual.

Gutierrez and Pagnan admit they are crossing a barrier with their bilingual strategy, but they are unconcerned.

They have crossed worse borders and found success.

The Southwestern College Sun

Sean Caballero engages the world differently than most. Blind since age 5, he uses his intellect and deductive reasoning to fill to the gaps.

A self-described eager student, the 22-yer-old bookworm started Southwestern College last Spring after a disappointing experience at UCSD. A graduate of Otay Ranch High School, he lives with his two brothers and mother in Paradise Hills. His love of learning was ignited in elementary school when a teacher a Bay Park Elementary taught him braille.

“At first I just learned the letters, then graduated to finding words within a random series of dots,” he said.

A chance discovery of a room with a repository of books in braille changed his life, he said. His appetite was whetted for the dotted word.

“After that I read constantly,” he said. “Even though I am blind I outperformed students grades ahead of me.”

Caballero credits his love of reading for his successes.

“My parents provided for my physical needs, but it was the authors I read that raised me,” he said.

His love of reading segued into a love for writing. An English major and history buff, Caballero said he has a heart for investigative journalism propelled by his love for writing and commitment to social justice.

“Injustice is everywhere and I have a deep sense of hurt when seeing other people wronged,” he said. “As a blind person you’re encouraged to be dependent.

Sighted people have choices but I never felt I had the ability to choose.

I’ve been forced into situations and had choices made for me.”

Caballero said he aspired to independence and a fulfilling career.

“I’m a big fan of personal freedom,” he said. “I would love to get a writing job, or perhaps radio or podcasting.”

Construction at Southwestern has presented challenges.

“It was a relatively easy campus to learn,” he said, “but the biggest problem for me is that now more people are crowded onto fewer paths.”

One of Caballero’s brothers drives him to school and his guide dog, Buster, serves as his eyes.

“A dog is much better than a cane, which is just a thin stick,” he said.

“Buster guides me and steers me away from most hazards.”

Despite the inconvenience of the construction, Caballero said he enjoys his time on campus.

“I love Southwestern College,” he said. “It’s the best school I’ve ever been to. (Disabled Student Services) helps me a lot, but it’s the teachers who have really made the difference.

At UCSD it felt like they just saw me as my disability, but here it feels like they see me as a person.”

Adaptive technology allows Caballero to participate in daily activities. Things sighted people take for granted – like reading a text message – are made possible for Caballero through the assistance of technology.

When it comes to his fellow students, Caballero asks for empathy.

“I need other people to think about how they would feel if they were in my situation,” he said. “ ‘How would I handle that?’ instead of ‘Oh, a poor person with a disability.’”

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

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S O U T H W E S T E R N C O L L E G E ’ S G L O B E T R O T T I N G C H O I R R E I G N S I N S PA I N , B E L O W

ARTS

“I’ve traveled to different countries but to see how they live in Spain was inspiring.”

— ANGELA GARCIA-SERMEÑO

Campus Arts • Reviews • Community Culture

Photo Courtesy of Tracy Burklund

NO SPAIN, NO GAIN Concert Choir performances in Granada, Seville and Madrid lead to lessons about other lifestyles

BY ANNA TERESA ESPINOZA

S

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE Southwestern College singers performed in English and Latin for the Spanish-speaking audiences, winning them over with talent.

Image Courtesy of Vintage Hardware

outhwestern College singers may soon need new passport books.

Spain is the latest stamp for members of the Concert Choir and Spanish audiences gave their stamp of approval during an SRO tour that featured stops in Granada, Seville and Madrid.

Southwestern’s reign in Spain was anything but plain. Tracy Burklund’s talented team performed in dazzling cathedrals and received standing ovations. SC’s choir joins the Mariachi Garibaldi as international ambassadors for the humble college in the far left corner of the United States.

Joining the Jaguar vocalists was the Saint Rose of Lima Simi Valley choir for three performances coordinated by the World Strides organization. Burklund and her friend Clare Delto of St. Rose of Lima took turns directing with the help of their pianist Dr. Rachel Yoon.

Granada’s’ magnificent Monastery of San Jerónimo de Granada surprised choir members for its stunning beauty and its enthusiastic full house. Angela GarciaSermeño called it a transcendent experience.

“The thing that made it stand apart from everything else was that it was a full house and we didnot expect that,” she said.

Historic Iglesia del Santo Ángel in Seville was an unforgettable venue, said Burklund.

“It had amazing acoustics,” she said. “It was a full house audience and they gave us a standing ovation. That felt so nice.”

Madrid was the site of the grand finale.

Iglesia de San Millán Y San Cayetano is a historical church on top of a hill with no road, Burklund said.

“We all had to hike up in our performance attire,” she said. “The venue was very large and the acoustics were nice. We had a large audience which also gave us a standing ovation.”

Choir members visited several cities and learned about Spanish culture. GarciaSermeño was able to visit the Museo Reina Sofía and gaze upon Pablo Picasso’s epic masterpiece “Guernica.”

“We are in college and sometimes I catch myself wondering ‘Why do I need to learn this? Why do I need to take this class? or Why do I need to write a research paper?’” she said. “I feel like seeing the real thing in person and being in the country where it was painted was illuminating. That is why I need to be well rounded and learn about the cultures of different places. It helps put things into perspective.”

Diane Amore said she enjoyed the comradery of the traveling singers.

“They’re always friendly and joking around,” she said. “Everyone is thoughtful, helping each other, and it’s really nice, that’s why I stay.”

Garcia-Sermeño said she and her fiancé enjoyed a private flamenco lesson. Amore said she was impressed by the lifestyle and values of the country.

“I’ve traveled to different countries but to see how they live in Spain was inspiring,” she said. “Spaniards care so much about their people and everything is centered around families.”

Burklund, the globe-trotting director, has taken the choir to Greece, Australia and France. Performances were done in English and Latin. She said the choir is learning music in Swahili and Zulu for future performances in Africa.

“Iglesia del Santo Ángel in Seville was an unforgettable venue. It had amazing acoustics. A full house audience gave us a standing ovation.”

TRACY BURKLUND, Choir Director

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December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

The Southwestern College Sun

TRACY BURKLUND SC Music Instructor

GLOBAL AMBASSADORS Tracy Burklund has taken the Concert Choir to Spain, Greece, Australia and France.

Singers are learning music in Swahili and Zula in preparation for a tour of Africa.

ARTS

n REVIEW

C

BY BLANCA ESTHELA CASTAÑEDA GARCÍA

OVID tried to ruin the fall dance concert but got stomped.

Ain’t no backdown in Motown.

In a classic case of “the show must go on,” Professor of Dance Dana Maue and her talented team refused to let a little something like a global contagion bring down an early curtain. They kicked aside the vitriolic virus that knocked several dancers out of the “Ain’t to Proud to Dance” concert in the PAC. Passion and pizzazz prevailed.

Inspired by “Motown,” the musical based on the legendary Detroit record label and its founder Berry Gordy, guest dancer/choreographer Kevin “Blax” Burroughs lit up the stage both as the lighting designer and performer. His slick performances and his dancers channeled the soulful precision of The Temptations, whose soaring harmonies and harmonious dancing propelled them into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame.

Choreographer Gina Bolles Sorensen had a tough act to follow, but did so with theatrical works festooned with props, costumes and stagecraft underscoring her ensemble’s tight and athletic teamwork.

Maue blended the angelic voices of a young Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye with flashiness evocative of shows from Harlem’s Apollo Theater during the heyday of R&B. Guest choreographer Shannon Mueller contributed a dreamy dance with hazy lighting and metaphysical movement that drifted the audience into another dimension. (The Fifth Dimension?)

Vyviana Tellez and Michelangelo Sansano excelled in a romantic Latin dance choreographed by instructor Gonzalo Ruelas. Rocking DeBarge, guest choreographer Dylan Banares crafted a playful dance through stylized krumping and aggressive hip-hop steps.

Motown gave was to Mexico when instructor Manny Chavoya presented folklorico’s fancy footwork and flower fields of color. Joy abound and the audience clapped thunderously as one to the percussion steps.

Brilliant music by legends Stevie Wonder, James Brown and Marvin Gaye put wings on the shoes of dancers choreographed by Johana Tapia, Talia Castellanos, Jaami Waali-Villalobos and Faith Jensen-Ismay.

Tina Turner had the final say so with her kinesthetic interpretation of “Proud Mary.” Her raw-to-the-bone vocals and headlong tempo inspired dancers to find another gear.

Southwestern’s Latino, Filipino and White performing artist gave props to their Black brothers and sisters in R&B who pioneered daring new music and dance forms. Motown was a voice from the upper Midwest that thundered across the plains, mountains and deserts of America with relentless creativity and stylized performance.

“Ain’t to Proud to Dance” was equal to the task.

AWARENESS • CONT FROM PG 6

Blind SC student is himself a great teacher sidewalk, forcing me to roll my bag around them.

It took me two or three more steps

PHOTO BY BLANCA ESTHELA CASTAÑEDA GARCÍA / STAFF

MOTOWN MOWS COVID DOWN Untimely COVID outbreak takes down several dancers but not wondrous dances inspired by classic American R&B recordings

after rolling around past them before the proverbial light bulb came on. While I was able to see the hazard and simply navigate around it, Sean wouldn’t have that luxury were he walking by himself.

Passing students must have thought my actions a strange exhibition of OCD tendencies, when in fact it was a lifealtering epiphany regarding my own entitlement (and the accompanying gnawing pang of conscious awareness – that leaving the rocks ‘as is’ could result in a devastating fall for Sean.)

PHOTO BY BLANCA ESTHELA CASTAÑEDA GARCÍA / STAFF

PHOTO BY BLANCA ESTHELA CASTAÑEDA GARCÍA / STAFF

Hoisting them back into their home amongst the landscape cost me only a few seconds and a little exertion. Not doing that could have cost Sean his future health and mobility.

As a prodigal Christian, I have grown to operate under a premise of stewardship – that we should always endeavor to leave conditions and resources as good as or better than we found them.

I challenge readers to embrace that concept and take ownership of the campus, and to actively look around for opportunities where you can make The Southwestern College Sun

PHOTO BY BLANCA ESTHELA CASTAÑEDA GARCÍA / STAFF

a difference to improve conditions for others.

For me, it was moving a few rocks.

For you, it might be simply looking behind you before letting a door close, offering to help someone who is lugging a heavy load, or proactively assisting a classmate when an unverbalized need arises.

We live in a polarized, hurting world, where it is far too easy to dismiss the struggles of others. Conditioned to put our own needs, wants, and enjoyment first, we leave others on

the back burners of life as we focus on ourselves.

I urge you to take off the blinders of self-centeredness and begin viewing life through the lens of service to those around you.

My first day of campus revealed that, in my case, there were actually two “blind” students in that classroom.

One had a physical impairment, while the other suffered an impairment of awareness and empathy.

I may have entered blind, but now I truly see.

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

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M E N ’ S WAT E R P O L O T E A M O V E R C O M E S S L O W S TA R T T O R E A C H C H A M P I O N S H I P M AT C H , PA G E 1 1

SPORTS Campus Sports • Features • Alternative Sports

M A G I C A L M AT C H M O M E N T S :

VOLLEYBALL MATCHES ARE SPIKED WITH FUN The Lady Jaguars regrouped after the first set loss with an awesome start in the second. Middle hitter Hevila Watson broke from the team huddle with fire in her eye and began motioning to the crowd like a deranged cheerleader. She started a slow Viking clap that intensified with speed like a growing snowball rolling down a mountainside.

Fans followed her lead and the once-somnolent gym began to shake.

Southwestern scored five unanswered points as the rattled Riverside Tigers snuck peeks into the frenzy of fans. Setter Yesenia Garcia floated a perfect ball just over the net for an incoming Watson, who was already soaring through the air toward the spot. She hammered the ball like John Henry hammering in the mountains, striking fire and scattering a cluster of Riverside players like dry leaves.

Watson landed in a defiant stance, feet apart, fists raised, voice roaring. Her rejuvenated teammates swallowed her in a group embrace, jumping about in a huddle like the final out of game seven, celebrating the clean kill.

The game was afoot.

Juan H. Estrada

The final home game had Southwestern’s biggest fans in attendance…well, certainly the tallest fans. SC’s men’s basketball team was a forest of fanaticism, supporting the Lady Jags with homemade signs, treetop high fives and admonishments to the student body to join the fun. Their enthusiasm was contagious and the crowd caught the fever. There was no cure.

Blanca Esthela Castañeda Garcia

This time the Jaguars brought the BOOM! A frenzied crowd smelled victory like a golden retriever smells a hot dog that had just hit the ground. Raucous cheered erupted when the Lady Jags scored and feet stomped so hard the Berkeley seismometer spiked. Rumbling raced through the gym like a stampede from Jumanji. “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

BOOOOOMMMM!!!” shook the foundation, threatening plumbing and wiring with each kill.

Juan H. Estrada

“I want to make it pro, then coaching after I retire. I really love the sport.”

NET RESULTS YESENIA GARCIA

Women’s Volleyball Star

Beloved team captain Christina Guerrero announced her departure with a final fatal spike and a spontaneous celebration brought the entire crowd to its feet. There would be no championship this year, but it mattered not to the emotional teammates squeezing their sweaty leader for one final time on the floor. Tearful family clapped and hollered to close the era with a proper sendoff.”

Blanca Estela Castaneda Garcia

Home court advantage was in full effect tonight. Stomping in the bleachers was the drumbeat for hoots and hollers from the crowd encouraged like a manic conductor by Jaguars middle back Kaitlyn Montero from the bench. She created a back-and-forth cheer in the stands, a call and response that cascaded off the walls.

Indefatigable Montero may have been on the bench but was never actually on the bench. Her screams cut through the silent auditorium when the crowd tired, igniting yet another frenzy of support for the team awash in the glorious noise.

Juan H. Estrada

Photos Courtesy of SC Jaguars

QUEEN OF THE MONARCHS—Yesenia Garcia (l, #20) is a master setter known for her deceptive “dump” shots that baffle opponents and dazzle audiences.

UNLIKELY VOLLEYBALL STAR OVERCAME HOMELESSNESS

BY JUAN H. ESTRADA

YESENIA GARCIA Postgame the marvelous setter Yesenia Garcia was asked how she would celebrate the victory. Her response: “Chick-fil-A. Go home, shower, go to sleep.”

Blanca Estela Castaneda Garcia

The Jaguars showed heart and played with intensity, digging out of a sevenpoint hole behind the merciless swerving serves of team captain Christina Guererro.

Lady G steamrolled the Knights with four consecutive stingers that were barely touched…SC completed the come-frombehind victory with six more unanswered points as San Diego City College retreated from the floor for a final time. The Jaguar bench ran on to the court to give rib cracking hugs to exhausted teammates and the bleachers erupted in a volcanic celebration. Coach Reeves was right, winning is more fun.

Juan H. Estrada

“Every team we play, every ref and coach come up to me after games to say, ‘if that girl put everything in it, she could really go far!’ I think Yesenia can do whatever she decides if she puts her mind to.”

TYLER REEVES SC Volleyall Coach

10

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

M

onarches start their early lives in humble fashion before a beautiful transformation.

Yesenia Garcia is a monarch right to her resilient core.

Once homeless and struggling to survive, Garcia has spread her wings as a volleyball star at Southwestern College whose magical passes and fluttering “dumps” cause opponents to mutter some of the words you can’t say on television.

“My dumps. I like them,” said Garcia with a laugh discussing her deceptive ploy.

She tricks opponents by cleverly setting up for a pass but at the last moment redirecting the ball to an undefended area of the opposing court.

Garcia had reason to be down in the dumps when she was a homeless teenager rescued by the Monarch School, a San Diego County Office of Education campus in Barrio Logan for at-risk students suffering housing insecurity and other trauma. Its volleyball team was started about 10 years ago by Southwestern College Professor of Architecture Dr. Diana Arredondo.

Things are better now for Garcia but remain challenging. A determined transfronteriza, Garcia travels three hours from her home in Tijuana to Southwestern College every day. She walks across the international border, takes the trolley, then the bus to campus. All worth it, said the energetic starting setter on the volleyball team.

Her agile hands and spatial intelligence combine for consistently marvelous passes to teammates. Her leaping ability and arm strength VOLLEYBALL • PG 11 The Southwestern College Sun

TYLER REEVES

BUOYANT VOLLEYBALL COACH IS FUELED BY FUN FORCE Reeves predicts ‘Fab frosh’ will be big hitters in 2024

BY BLANCA ESTHELA CASTAÑEDA GARCIA

C

OVID spiked volleyball for a while, but the 2023 Lady Jaguars rolled into a new era, paving the way for a return to normal.

Head coach Tyler Reeves said “normal” is subjective but he and his young team were glad to be back.

There was volleyball in 2021 and ’22, but it was a time of masks, testing and other reminders of global pandemic.

This year was the first taste of real freedom since 2019.

“The masks inside were tough,” he said. “No one wants to wear masks while running and playing and doing exertive things. There were a lot of rules, but we made it work. It’s always better to be playing volleyball than not playing volleyball.”

Playing volleyball is Reeve’s primary training method, he said.

“You don’t get good at playing volleyball by running a mile in a certain amount of time,” he said.

Reeves started as a high school boys coach as Hilltop High School with the JV. Soon he was also the coaching the JV girls at Castle Park. He became coach at Southwestern Coach during the Year of COVID in 2020.

Reeves said he would like to help create a volleyball culture at Southwestern with fun-loving, rowdy fans and loud gymnasiums packed with supporters.

“Good fans always make you play better,” he said. “It may not be a tangible effect you can measure, but it makes everyone feel better and you want to do better. You get that little extra push when the fans are behind you. I appreciate everyone who comes to support the team and I know the players do, too.”

This year has been a struggle, but if the freshmen players return in 2024, Southwestern College could be title contenders.

“Most of these (women) were freshman getting used to the college game,” Reevers said. “I try to help them with time management and making good decisions off the court. Winning is important and it is more fun to win, but the (women) this year are a bunch of great (women) and I want them to have fun playing.

I really think volleyball is the most fun sport you can play.”

SPORTS

VOLLEYBALL

THE METTLE TO MEDAL—Jeff Salinas finished on the podium at the Coach Downey classic in 23:23.1.

• CONT FROM PG 1

Monarch school grad has bright volleyball future

Photo Courtesy of SC Jaguars

GOLAZO GIALLI—All-PCAC striker Gialli Francisco launches a cracker for a score. Southwestern smoked San Diego City College, 8-1

FEMME FURY

Lady Jaguars soccer team an offensive juggernaut behind Castorena, Francisco

BY DAVID MURILLO

S

occer is again “the beautiful game” in Chula Vista.

Southwestern College women crushed San Diego City College 8-1 and followed up with a 5-0 trouncing of Imperial Valley College to stay undefeated.

Alexa Ramirez scored on a cross at 8 minutes for what turned out to be the game winner.

But there was to be more.

Much more.

Yulitz Castorena connected on a header from a corner kick at 19 minutes and Gialli Francisco scored on an almost identical play 12 minutes later.

Julie Yanez scored at the 40 minute mark from outside the square to run the score to 4-0 at halftime.

The Lady Jaguars played keep away most of the second half, scoring their final goal at 59 minutes when Katelyn Romo received a crisp pass from Alyssa Pulido to find the net.

The men also turned in a clean sheet, blanking testy Cuyamaca College 3-0.

Henoc Sambai rocketed the ball into the net following a nifty pass by Roberto Hernandez at 16 minutes. The goal seemed to get into the Cuyamaca player’s heads and definitely got their coach vein popping hot.

As the Cuyamaca coach yelled

at his players and embarrassed them, Southwestern coach Cem Tont was cool as a bowl of acai.

Tont guided his team quietly, confident that the players were well prepared and ready to execute.

His faith paid dividends.

Nick Evans scored three minutes later at 19 minutes and Cuyamaca imploded into full mental meltdown. Penalties piled up and shouting became the soundtrack of the match.

Gael Aguirre scored on a penalty kick in the 67th minute that was the final straw for Cuyamaca. Southwestern’s 3-0 victory was not reflective of its dominance in a match that was the end of a beautiful day for the beautiful game.

MEN FINISH STRONG, REACH PCAC FINALS

BY RAUL FONTES

Southwestern College’s men’s water polo team almost pulled off one of the biggest college sports upsets of 2023 when it faced the Palomar Comets in the PCAC finals.

Almost.

The Jaguars faded during the third period of an exhausting match in a grueling tournament, losing in the finals 17-10. Coach Jorge Perez said a new era may have begun for the scrappy but long-

suffering water polo program.

S C s l i p p e d i n to t h e tournament with a humble 14-14 season record but caught fire just before it got underway.

Ranked fourth, the Jaguars torpedoed all comers until the finale with Palomar.

“We peaked at a great time,” said Perez. “We got close.

Maybe next time.”

A slow star t did not discourage the Jags. After a dismal 4-9 September, they were 8-4 in October. Their momentum carried into the

PCAC Tournament as the team hopped on the back of captain Ethan Hastings, their First Team All-PCAC offensive star.

Hastings lit up Palomar with his bazooka right arm, but it was not quite enough.

Carlos Ibarra and Jorge Serano joined Hastings on the First Team All-PCAC. SC’s water polo women all had three All-PCAC recipients.

Adriana Sammartino was named to the First Team. Aryel Austin and Courtney Hutson were Second Team.

PCAC ALL-CONFERENCE MEMBERS

CAPTAIN CARLOS IBARRA

6

ADRIANA SAMMARTANO

1A

UTILITY

1

JORGE SERRANO

ARYEL AUSTIN

GOALIE

ETHAN HASTINGS

8

UTILITY

12

UTILITY

6

GOALIE

generate powerful strikes.

She is also a serving wizard, hitting knuckling aces and topspin torpedoes that can fuel uncanny scoring runs.

Garcia confessed that volley at first did not appeal to her.

“I hated the sport to be honest,” she said. “I thought it was for girly-girls. But seeing my friends enjoy it, smiling and having fun, made me want to play. I feel like I have the hands. I was always the setter. I want to make it pro, then coaching after I retire. I really love the sport.”

Every summer hopeful student-athletes fill the courts and fields of college campuses for tryouts. Not everyone makes the cut.

Garcia received no special treatment, enduring the eightweek audition process and surviving roster cut downs.

“The tryouts were a summer class,” said Garcia. “Towards the last days of the class, the coach will pull everyone aside individually to tell you if you made the team or not.”

Garcia made it. She said it was a joyful moment. The Monarch had landed.

Her coach Tyler Reeves said he is a big fan.

“Yesenia always brings good energy to the team and has a good time,” he said. “She is a great teammate. She is very supportive to the whole team.”

Einstein once said “genius is concentration” and Monarch School volleyball coach Jesse Piña said Garcia has excellent on-court concentration.

“Zoning in on her strengths is what really made her a very special player,” he said. “Her strengths are definitely her serve and her hands.”

Garcia is also known for her awareness on the court and spatial talent. As the setter Garcia passes with precision and sets up her teammates for success. When opponents least expect it, she pulls a cheeky trick shot that sends the crowd into a frenzy.

“She has great situational awareness,” said Reeves.

Teammates call Garcia “John Cena” on the court. Piña said she has magical stretches.

“She goes on runs where she gets a bunch of points in a row,” he said. “We would say she is scoring because they could not see her.”

College competitions are t ypically scheduled late afternoons and early evenings.

Practice, travel and games can stack up and pull studentathletes away from their studies.

“It’s hard because education is important,” Garcia said. “It takes a lot of time away from studying. Away games always get us home late, especially me, traveling all the way to Tijuana. I don’t always have enough time for my homework. But after practice I try to go to the library to study.”

Garcia is the youngest in her family but the first to attend college. She is a kinesiology major with aspirations to be a physical therapist. She said she hopes to play volleyball at the university level and then turn pro.

Reeves said he likes her chances. He is not alone.

“Every team we play, every ref and coach come up to me after games to say, ‘if that girl put everything in it, she could really go far!’ I think Yesenia can do whatever she decides if she puts (her mind to). She has great hands. If she does well (academically) I think she can play for any university.”

Monarchs are known for traveling far. Garcia is just spreading her wings.

COURTNEY HUTSON The Southwestern College Sun

Photo Courtesy of SC Jaguars

CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNERS RACK UP PR TIMES DURING A REBUILD SEASON

BY ZEKE WATSON

A chilled sky was a dull gray as raindrops splattered on the pavement. Cross-country runners expected an afternoon of sloshing through puddles and caking their running shoes with mud. Coach Lynette Zeckua had different plans—a session of strength training.

It was a well-deserved break for the cross-country athletes coming off a demanding season. The teams achieved collective success, set individual records and formed strong bonds that extended beyond running.

First-year runner Rasilia Thomas was an inspiring leader for her teammates, setting personal records and motivating them with her determination and resilience.

“Quitting’s not an option,” she said. “Earlier in the season, I got a leg cramp and was stung by a bee, and I set a personal record that week. I had a car accident but pushed through and almost matched my SOFIA (personal record) race. There are FAJARDO always setbacks, but my comeback is twice as good as those setbacks.”

Thomas expressed her gratitude for her teammates’ hard work during a tough season which saw the team finish fourth in the conference.

“They gave it their best and that’s all that matters,” she said. “Just having those people there who started with you (is gratifying). We held strong RASILIA no matter if someone was having a THOMAS moment. United we stand, divided we fall.”

Zeckua commended her athletes for their determination, dedication and hard work coming together as a team and making the improvements needed to close out the season strong. Special recognition went to Sofia Fajardo.

“Sophia is always consistent,” she said. “I don’t have any complaints VALENCIO COCO about her. Well, the only complaint is that she’s not going to run track in the spring, but it is great that we are going to have her again in cross country next year. She’s not going to run but fly.”

After receiving a shower of positive feedback from her coach, Fajardo admitted to doubting herself at times.

“I get shy when people compliment me,” she said.

“Hearing that feels good and is nice. I feel like a part of that consistency has been there throughout my life.

So, it’s easier for me to keep consistent with the things I love.”

Jeffery Salinas and Valencio Coco also had notable accomplishments.

Salinas won a medal at the Coach Downey Classic, placing sixth out of 51 runners at 23:23.1. At the So Cal Regionals he set a new personal record, 22:32.3.

Coco, a first-year runner, was the sole member of the program to qualify for state after a time of 21:49.8 in the SoCal Regionals.

“I was injured a lot this season, but my goal was to perform well,” he said. “I trained with a good team, ran with a good team, and even made it to regionals with a good team.”

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

11

BACK PAGE Voices In Our Communities

PHOTO BY CAMILA A. GONZALEZ / STAFF

PHOTO BY CAMILA A. GONZALEZ / STAFF

I N D I G E N O US DA N C E R S, M US I C I A NS US E EV E N T TO C E L E B R AT E C U LT U R E , T E AC H

PHOTO BY JULIA WOOCK / STAFF

FIRST EVER SC POWWOW DRUMS UP EXCITEMENT

I

BY RAUL RAMIREZ

PHOTO BY CAMILA A. GONZALEZ / STAFF

PHOTO BY CAMILA A. GONZALEZ / STAFF

“I think with the powwow, other events, and speakers that we’ll be bringing to campus, we’re really working towards having more Native American cultures highlighted here at the college.

We’re going to be having a powwow next year, in the spring semester.”

t was more than 60 years in the making, but worth the wait.

Southwestern College finally hosted a powwow.

Native America musicians, singers and dancers painted the gritty grey remains of the patio area near demolished Mayan Hall with colorful regalia, hypnotic rhythms and spiritual songs of hope and joy.

First time powwow attendees expressed awe at the spectacle. Standing Rock Sioux dancers wore expressive regalia festooned with mirrors, feathers and gravity-defying headpieces. A team of drummers in chairs circled their table-sized instrument, singing songs both ancient and new while pounding an array of rhythms in precise unison. It was a feast for the senses.

Movement and music connect performers to the land, animals and the Spirit World, according to dancer Chuck Cadotte, a member of the North Dakota Standing Rock Reservation.

“We regard animals as our brothers,” he said. “They’re our relatives, so we’re all related.”

David Salomon, assistant professor of ethnic studies, confidently called the event the First Annual Southwestern College Powwow. He may not even wait the full year.

“We’re going to be having a powwow next year, in the spring semester,” he said.

Indigenous communities honor their culture by socializing, dancing and singing at these events, said Solomon. Powwows offer a space for Native Americans to celebrate and for other people to learn about Indigenous culture. There are hundreds of unique Indigenous cultures of North America, so the Southwestern College powwow was just a tiny representation.

Powwows are not generally associated with the local Kumeyaay People, though they also have gatherings. Local Kumeyaay bands like Barona and Sycuan, however, are longtime and enthusiastic hosts of large intertribal powwows that welcome Indigenous people from throughout Canada, the United States and Mexico. Some of these powwows are held on tribal lands, others in more central locations such as Balboa Park, local college campus and public parks.

Solomon, who identifies as Kumeyaay, has been active for years teaching about local Indigenous culture on college campuses and via regular appearances on KUSI news programs.

“I think with the powwow, other events, and speakers that we’ll be bringing to campus, we’re really working towards having more Native American cultures highlighted here at the college,” he said.

12

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

‘A GREAT DAY TO BE INDIGENOUS’—Native American dancers, singers and drummers from across their nation gathered at Southwestern to share their culture and explain some of their beliefs. Assistant Professor David Solomon, who organized the event, said it was a successful event that drew an appreciative audience.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We acknowledge that the land upon which we sit and occupy today as the current, traditional, and ancestral home of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. Before they were colonized and genocide occurred, Kumeyaay territory was vast and included Baja California to the south, Palomar Mountain to the North, and the Salton Sea to the east. And in fact, included Southwestern College locations of Chula Vista, San Ysidro, National City and Otay Mesa. Without them, we would not have access to THIS gathering or any of the services and benefits our district provides. We take this opportunity to recognize the more than 500 years of demonstrated resilience and resistance in the face of violent actions taken by colonizers in efforts to separate them from their land, culture, and one another. We recognize that even in the face of violent actions taken by colonizers, the Kumayaay Nation continues to be an active, thriving people who contribute to the health and benefit of our region. Let us not only remember but acknowledge, as a conscientious political act, that the land we are on is occupied

DAVID SALOMON PHOTO BY CAMILA A. GONZALEZ / STAFF

PHOTO BY CAMILA A. GONZALEZ / STAFF

Assistant Professor of

PHOTO BY EMILY ESPARZA / STAFF

Ethnic Studies

The Southwestern College Sun

Kumeyaay territory.

AN ACP HALL OF FAME NEWSPAPER

DECMBER 10, 2023 / ISSUE 2

A NATIONAL PACEMAKER AWARD NEWSPAPER

Special Section

SOUTH BAY’S RIVER STYX n AMERICA’S INVISIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER

BY IYARIE MURGUIA TIJUANA RIVER ESTUARY, U.S.MEXICO BORDER—

A

pair of lanky flamingoes bestride the muddy banks of the serpentine Tijuana River as it wriggles toward the Pacific Ocean. Tickled pink by a smorgasbord of snails and riparian delights, the mysterious Florida natives do not seem bothered by the fact that they are somehow on the wrong side of the continent.

When it rains the trouble begins. Untreated sewage enters the Tijuana River and crosses into the U.S., causing serious health issues.

Another mystery is how they can stand the smell.

Beautiful to gaze across at a distance, the verdigris estuary that separates Imperial Beach from Baja California on this day has a gag-inducing reek of sunbaked sewage. A hellish odor evokes

Milton’s River Styx rather than the cherished wetlands that once attracted birds by the millions and birdwatchers by the thousands. It is a struggle for survival.

The estuary is losing.

So is the ocean.

Tijuana’s explosive growth, vast drainage basin, geographic slope toward the border and wholly insufficient infrastructure is a quaternion of disaster for ocean waterfronts and beaches in Southern San Diego County.

Coastline from Imperial Beach to the Silver Strand has been closed all year.

Sewage even closed Coronado – one of the world’s most scenic beaches – most of calendar year 2023.

After 85 years of problems with Tijuana sewage there may be stirrings of

Photo Courtesy of KPBS

‘POKING GOD IN THE EYE’—Tropical Storm Hilary flushed billions of gallons of raw sewage and industrial waste through the Tijuana River Valley near San Ysidro out to the Pacific Ocean at Imperial Beach. Filthy water forced the closure of beaches from the border to Coronado. Sewage spills have been a persistent problem for 85 years.

SPECIAL SECTION

action by the federal governments of Mexico and the United States.

Again.

Maybe.

E nv i r o n m e n t a l i s t s h av e struggled to put the crisis on the radars of Mexican and American officials since the Roosevelt Administration, so the fact that the presidents of both nations have mentioned the problem seems like progress.

Feeble stopgaps, bandages and patches have consistently failed to keep sewage, industrial runoff and trash out of the Tijuana River and out of the ocean. Solutions have all buckled under the massive increases in Tijuana sewage and wastewater that crosses the border in the river or by rolling down hillsides into the U.S. Sewage also enters the ocean from the coastal Punta Bandera treatment plant four miles south of downtown Tijuana and a sprawling but overmatched plant in Rosarito.

Once in the water, the northern coastal counter current steadily moves it north to the coastlines of Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, National City and Coronado.

The most recent sewage spill roared into the ocean like a pungent brown serpent during Tropical Storm Hiliar y in August. An already overmatched and cr umbling South Bay I n te r n a t i o n a l Wa s te w a te r Treatment Plant was damaged and wholly ignored by the torrent of filth that overran it.

A conservative estimate to repair and expand the plant is $660 million. Some experts shake their heads and say the cost will be closer to $1 billion. President Biden’s $300,000 million request to Congress may not pass and may not be enough to create the infrastructure north of the border necessary to collect and treat filthy runoff from Tijuana.

WildCoast founder Dr. Serge Dedina and other longtime advocates for the ocean and beaches say we need to act fast while we have the attention of politicians in Washington D.C. and Mexico City. Soon their gaze will move elsewhere like it has so many times since 1929.

proposal to invest $100,000 for a pipeline to conduct sewage through the wetlands to the ocean is never funded.

1936

A rudimentary treatment plant built west of Monument Road consisting of two 45-foot subterranean tanks.

American farmers and the Palm City Chamber of Commerce vote to approve a flood control plan based on projects on the Mississippi River which would dig a channel parallel to the Tijuana River to conduct sewage straight to the ocean.

1937

Work begins on the project which continues into 1939.

1938

Mexican and U.S. officials approve plan to dump effluent from Tijuana septic tank straight into the ocean rather than allowing it to flow through the Tijuana River Estuary.

1941

Severe late Spring thunderstorms flood the Tijuana River Basin and destroy a 1,000-foot section of the sewage channel. Local officials blame the federal government for “faulty construction” and refuse to pay for repairs.

1944

Photo Courtesy of Surfline.com

1947

Damage and insufficient capacity hamper the primitive Tijuana River Sewage Disposal System. Federal officials say there are no funds available to repair and upgrade the system.

California State Park System refuses to include the Tijuana River Valley and Estuary in the state park system due to sewage from Tijuana entering the ocean at Imperial Beach. State officials call the sewage “a health menace.”

1948

Tijuana has a population of almost 60,000 and the same 1920s septic tank designed for a population of 5,000.

Raw sewage pumped through outfall pipe near Playas de Tijuana straight into the ocean.

NINE DECADES OF DIRTY WATER:

1952

San Diego County recommends connecting Tijuana and San Ysidro to a treatment system planned for San Diego metropolitan area.

Photo Courtesy of Voice of San Diego

1927

San Ysidro residents propose a Tia Juana River Valley Flood Control District in the San Ysidro region. The effort failed.

1954

Bond measure to build San Diego Metropolitan Sewage System fails.

1929

1930

Tijuana, population 11,271, builds a septic tank designed to serve 5,000 residents. The border outpost has no other sewage infrastructure.

1934

U.S. and Mexico officials consider digging a tunnel to conduct untreated sewage and wastewater from the border to the ocean. The tunnel idea collapses under the $60,000 price tag.

By order of the governments of Mexico and the U.S., members of the International Boundary Commission meet in San Diego to discuss sewage in the Tijuana River Basin. American farmers in the San Ysidro area protest the flow of sewage from Tijuana. A

B2

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

1953

San Diego Regional Water Pollution Control Board reports Pacific Ocean near the border “has been seriously impaired for beneficial recreational use as a result of the discharge of raw, undisinfected sewage from the (Tijuana) International Sewage Outfall.”

Relentless Timeline of Untreated Sewage and Inattentive Politicians

Government officials from Mexico and the U.S. meet in Washington to discuss the Ready to Act River Pact to set international policy for the Rio Grande, Colorado and Tia Juana rivers. The governments were not ready to act and nothing came of the meetings.

Mexico and the U.S. sign a treaty related to water use from the Colorado, Rio Grande and Tijuana rivers that gives “preferential attention to the solution of all border sanitation problems.”

American officials and businesses site the treaty for decades to criticize Mexico’s “inattention” to sewage and clean water issues.

1955 Photo Courtesy of SDRCC

Photo Courtesy of WildCoast

Photo Courtesy of Pier South

DESTRUCTIVE TORRENT OF SEWAGE—(top) Looking south at Boca del Rio where the filthy brown Tijuana River empties into the azure Pacific. (above) Tijuana’s vast drainage basin collects untreated in the river which crosses into the U.S. near San Ysidro.

OFFICIALS CANNOT EVEN AGREE ON WHAT THINGS ARE NAMED Digging through the history books and archives to learn about the region’s sewage and pollution issues is a confusing, mind-numbing exercise chockablock with false starts, broken promises, half measures and government incompetence on both sides of la linea.

Then there are the names.

Reporters, politicians and experts have different names for many things, most notably the river causing so much of the trouble.

Depending on who writes the report, the infamous source of the border sewage is the Tia Juana River, Tijuana River or Rio Juanita.

Residents of the borderlands

know the name of the sprawling city south of la frontera is Tijuana, which is said to have derived from the Kumeyaay People’s name for the area, Tiwan, (“near the sea.”)

An early rancher named his spread Rancho Tia Juana for reasons debated by historians. He also named the river that vivisected his property the Tia Juana River. That was the accepted name of the river on both sides of the border for about a century.

American settlers in the area that is now San Ysidro and Imperial Beach named the river and the wetlands near its mouth the Tia Juana River Valley. From the

The Southwestern College Sun

1920s-1960s the river and the river valley were called Tia Juana and Tijuana interchangeably in newspaper accounts and government reports in both countries, thus the inconsistent nomenclature in The Sun timeline published in this section.

Tijuana pretty much won out as the name of the river and its namesake valley by the 1970s, though stubborn old Tia Juana still makes an occasional appearance.

Tia Juana is not a typo, just an anachronism from an earlier time when Spanish, Ipai and English speakers thought they heard something else.

IBWC and Mexican hydrologists authorized to investigate sewage issue.

No report was made.

1958

Tijuana officials agree to “move solid wastes and scum” from it septic tank before dumping contents into the ocean.

San Diego County Health Department oversees an “intensive chlorination program” from May 29 through September 14 when the program exhausts its funding. One week later water quality at beaches was deemed unsafe.

1959

San Diego County Health Department discovers that Mexico is not removing scum and sludge from its septic tank. It is dumped directly into the ocean.

Mexico’s federal government rejects offer to connect to San Diego’s newly expanded sewage system, saying it would be too expensive. Officials say they will pursue a less expensive

SPECIAL SECTION

Photo Courtesy of San Diego Union-Tribune

$500,000 option to build oxidation ponds and reclamation facilities in Tijuana.

Estimated time of completion is nine months. The project is never completed.

Mexico’s federal government assumes responsibility for operating Tijuana’s septic tank. Contents continue to be dumped straight into the ocean.

1960

San Diego health officials announce that water pollution along County beaches “is the worst ever seen.” San Diego Bay is under a “continuous quarantine” and Mission Bay is “heavily polluted.” They blame Tijuana sewage. City and County embark on construction on regional “Metro System” that will end with an ocean floor outfall three miles off coast of Point Loma.

UNIMAGINABLE FILTH AND REFUSE—The Tijuana River is an open sewer, aquatic trash pit and collector for industrial waste. Major storms have washed the bodies of farm animals and humans into into the U.S. and onto the sands of Imperial Beach. Ecoli, malari and flesh-eating bacteria live in the river and the Tijuana Estuary on the American side of the border. Nine decades of finger pointing, underfunded remedies and politicized indifference have allowed the problem to fester.

Tijuana is the

Sixth

largest city in Mexico about the size of Houston, America’s fourth largest city. It is one of the world’s largest cities without a modern sewage system.

1961

Mexico opens a new pump station to transport sewage to a partially completed southbound canal.

1962

Mexico runs out of money to complete the southbound canal. Work stops about 5.5 miles south of the border where raw sewage is channeled into an arroyo then flows across a beach and into the ocean.

Canal is never completed.

Tijuana pump station fails. All of the city’s raw sewage flows across the border. Mexican officials discuss an “emergency connection” to the San Diego Metro System. The connection is not made.

1963

Point Loma-based Metro Water Treatment System begins operations. It includes 27.5 miles of interceptors, two central pumping stations and a new primary treatment plant with a capacity of 88 million gallons a day. Participating agencies include Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, National City, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, El Cajon, Montgomery, Spring Valley and the U.S. Navy. Tijuana opts out.

1965

Atmospheric river storm runoff damages Tijuana’s pump station.

Raw sewage again flows over the U.S. border. The U.S. and Mexico sign IBWC Minute No. 222, a treaty authorizing construction of an emergency pipeline connecting Tijuana to the San Diego Metro System. Less than half of Tijuana homes and businesses are connected to its sewage system. Tijuana uses the valved turnout pipe intermittently until 1975 and more extensively through 1998 when the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant opens.

2.5 M 2M Photo Courtesy of WildCoast

1 .5 M 1M 500 K

1950

1960

1970

1980

THE CENSUS

of Tijuana in 1950 was 11,000, half the size of Southwestern College today.

1990

2000

2010

2020

2030

2023

2,567,999

FINANCIAL BURDEN

HURRICANE HILARY

The United States has shouldered the burden to fix the sewage problem in Tijuana. Since the 1950s, the U.S. has flushed billions of dollars without meaningful progress.

Tijuana and San Diego narrowly missed a head on collision with a category 3 hurricane in August.

The powerful tropical storm, nevertheless, clobbered the region, washing shocking amounts of sewage into the ocean.

Source: worldpopulationreview.com

INFORMATIONAL GRAPHIC / STAFF

The Southwestern College Sun

Photo Courtesy of Imperial Beach Patch

Photo Courtesy of CESPT

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

B3

SPECIAL SECTION

1966

1994

Torrential rain ruptures Tijuana’s main sewage pipe. Sewage flows toward the coast.

Bilbray and local environmentalists – one-time allies in the fight against sewage spills – disagree over “Operation Beaver” tactics that grade landscape to create dikes that block sewage from reaching the ocean. Bird advocates argue that Bilbray and others are destroying habitat for endangered ground nesting Least Bell Vireo terns. “I shall leave no tern unstoned,” replied Bilbray.

Nestor resident David Gomez forms Citizens Revolting Against Pollution (CRAP).

Taxpayer advocates and civic groups argue that the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant is “mismanaged and ill-planned.” They predict the project will fail due to poor construction techniques and lack of oversight.

Sierra Club announces a lawsuit to block construction of International Wastewater Plant arguing it will do excessive damage to the environment.

The plant breaks ground in July. Price tag grows to $388 million. CRAP announces support for treatment plant but insists an overflow canal that would empty into the ocean is also necessary.

1967

Imperial Beach signs an agreement with developers to dredge out the Tijuana River Estuary to build a marina surrounded by hundreds of residential units. Environmentalists call the plan “an utter disaster.” Early planning makes no provisions for flooding or sewage spills.

The marina is never built.

Officials of the Tijuana River Flood Control Project urge Mexico and the U.S. to jointly construct a flood control project in the Tijuana River Valley.

Mexico built most of the project south of the border, but the U.S. never started the northern portion.

1973

Mexico announces plans for an elaborate treatment plant to be located 15 miles southwest of Tijuana. The plant was never built.

1974

San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson discontinues work on the northern part of the international flood control project, infuriating Mexican officials. A subsequent heavy rainstorm washed torrents of sewage and wastewater through the Tia Juana River Valley.

Population increases in and near Goat Canyon and Smuggler’s Gulch on Tijuana hillsides add to the sewage and trash problem by sending material straight across the border. None of the homes east of Playas de Tijuana along the hilly border are connected to the Tijuana sewage system.

1995 PHOTO BY IYARIE MURGUIA

1999

South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant opens.

2015

1975

Mexican news media report a new sewage plant under construction just south of Tijuana. Construction was abandoned before year’s end, leaving the 1935 septic tank as Tijuana’s only sewage collection.

Photo Courtesy of Voice of San Diego

PERIODIC PROTESTS—When sewage washes up on their beaches, residents of Imperial Beach and Coronado turn out to protest. Tropical Storm Hilary fueled a wave of protests. During drought years, however, when sewage does not reach the ocean, protests wane and only a small band of Mexican and American environmentalists continue the battle.

1978

An El Niño-fired storm destroys a pipeline causing raw sewage to spill into Smuggler’s Gulch and across the border into the Tijuana River Estuary near San Ysidro.

1979

Tijuana’s main pumping station experiences a major failure and the open canal washes out 3.2 miles south of the border. About 70 percent of Tijuana’s sewage is routed to the emergency bypass, the rest flows across the border in multiple locations.

1980

One of the largest storms of the century causes the Rodriguez Dam to spill over and massive runoff throughout the Tijuana watershed. Rampaging floodwaters break the 30-inch pipe that has been transporting the majority of Tijuana’s sewage to Point Loma.

More than 15 million gallons a day of Mexican sewage washes through the Tijuana Estuary and out to sea at Imperial Beach. San Diego County Health Department quarantines four miles of beaches from the border to the Naval Amphibian Base on the Silver Strand. Coronado mayor and Hotel del Coronado manager deny reports that city beaches are fouled.

Imperial Beach Mayor Brian Bilbray and some councilmembers and supporters launch “Operation Beaver,” their hands-on attempt to plug the Boca del Rio (Mouth of the River) outlet where the Tia Juana River empties into the ocean at Imperial Beach. Bilbray personally operates a bobcat to scoop up sand to plug the mouth of the river.

He is later warned by the Environment Protection Agency that his actions are illegal. Bilbray unrepentant.

1981

San Diego City Council releases land in the Tijuana River Valley earmarked for a sewage treatment plant for a housing development. It also okays a waiver that would exempt San Diego from complying with the Clean Water Act of 1972 to avoid building a secondary sewage plant to clean water to 90 percent pure before its release into the ocean. Reagan Administration officials signal they

B4

December 10, 2023 / Issue 2

Mexico considers reneging on all previous flood control and sewage management agreements due to economic crisis brought on by devaluation of the peso.

PHOTO BY IYARIE MURGUIA

will support the plan until the project falls through.

Unusually heavy winter rains from 1981-83 bring a series of floods and sewage spills. Some rains are so heavy they wash the bodies of farm animals from Mexico all the way to the sands of Imperial Beach.

1982

A “blue ribbon committee” is formed consisting of representatives from six American government agencies.

Members vow to “abandon short-range thinking to come up with a permanent answer to the problem of Tijuana sewage spills.”

1983

Aquatic hyacinth plants are introduced to sewage collection ponds to break down and consume sewage and toxins. Botanists and biologists warn that the plants could damage the ecosystem if they get into the wetlands.

International Boundary and Water Commission begins work on a 13acre holding pond in the Tia Juana Valley. Resident and elected officials protest, arguing the ponds will breed mosquitos and cause illness.

Water released from Tijuana’s Rodriguez Dam courses through the Tijuana River pushing sewage and trash across the border and into the ocean. Imperial Beach Mayor asks/ demands that Baja California Governor Roberto de la Madrid close the dam’s spillways immediately. Spillways are closed, though reopened a few weeks later, ostensibly for repair work. Bilbray asks the California Governor George Deukmejian and President Reagan to declare Imperial Beach a disaster area.

Bilbray threatens to personally dam up the Tijuana River at the border.

Reagan and Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid meet and declare the two countries will work together to solve the sewage problem. No further action is taken.

Residents and businesses announce plans to build a collection system of “concrete tubs” at Smuggler’s Gulch and Goat Canyon. They are never built.

1984

Blue Ribbon Commission issues report offering “short-term and interim measures.”

Bilbray, without EPA authorization, builds a makeshift dike across the Tijuana River to block effluent and trash from reaching the ocean at Imperial Beach. “When your back is against the wall, you have to do something,” he told a San Diego Tribune reporter.

California Legislature approves $5 million for construction of a “bare bones” sewage treatment plant. Federal government will only contribute $5 million toward the project, which was never started.

Mexico receives a $46.4 million loan from the International Development Bank. American officials immediately begin to pressure Mexico to use it to fix the sewage problem. Mexican officials make it clear they do not appreciate the “intrusion into Mexico’s affairs.”

13-acre sewage collection pond completed. It is designed to handle 3 million gallons of sewage daily.

Imperial Beach Star News article summarizes 50 years of sewage woes.

Health officials propose pumping “vast amounts” of chlorine through the estuary. Environmentalists oppose the idea as a “disaster” that “is bad for the critters.” They also warn about invasive hyacinth plants escaping into the estuary.

The Southwestern College Sun

Elected officials and environmentalists warn against “name calling,” “finger pointing” and “disrespectful rhetoric toward Mexico.”

1987

Mexico opens coastal treatment plant at Punta Bandera, about five miles southwest of downtown Tijuana, in January.

In October the Punta Bandera plant breaks down and sewage escapes into the ocean.

1988

San Diego City Council approves “big pipe,” a 12-foot-wide conduit capable of conducting 600 million gallons a day.

1990

U.S. and Mexico agree to a treaty to build an International Wastewater Treatment Plant on a 75-acres site on the border.

Proponents say it could treat 25 million gallons a day with expansion capacity of up to 100 million gallons.

Local, state and federal officials argue over who is responsible for maintaining sewage collection ponds, so no one does.

1991

Primary construction complete on South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant. U.S. pays most of the $256 million cost.

1992

Hyacinth plants spread throughout Tijuana River Estuary, crowding out native species and providing cover for mosquitoes, which breed in the shade under the leaves. Hyacinth suffocate fish by taking oxygen from the water, threatening the entire ecosystem. Migratory birds blocked from water and food, greatly reducing their numbers.

U.S. and Mexico International Boundary and Water Commission agree to a framework for binational cooperation related to the Tijuana River Basin. No further actions ever made public.

2017

More than 150 million gallons of raw sewage discharged into the Tijuana River, overrunning the South Bay treatment plant and entering the ocean. Beaches from Imperial Beach to Coronado closed.

2020

Congress allots $300 million for the construction of infrastructure to reduce pollution from the Tijuana River.

2022

U.S. and Mexico agree to “reduce transboundary wastewater in the Tijuana River watershed and Pacific Ocean through a suite of infrastructure projects on both sides of the border.” It calls for doubling capacity of the South Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant.

2023

A “substantial” pipe rupture in Tijuana leads to a sewage spill that reaches the ocean and spreads up the coast to Coronado.

A Clean Water Act report concluded that the South Bay treatment plant was only able to remove about 34 percent of sewage and toxins in the runoff it collected.

Tropical Storm Hiliary unleashes torrential rain in Baja California Norte, cascading 3 billion gallons of contaminated water through the Tijuana River Valley and through to the ocean.

Beaches from the border to Coronado were closed for months.

President Biden announces an additional $310 million for augmentation of the South Bay treatment plant, raising the federal contribution to $630 million.

Many experts insist the project will require at least $1 billion.

Research by Imperial Beach doctors Kimberly and Matthew Dickson concludes that people can be sickened by water-borne pollution that dries and becomes airborne. People who have gone in the ocean or to the beach are suffering from many of the same ailments as swimmers and surfers.

Sources: San Diego Tribune, San Diego Union, Imperial Beach Star News, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego Reader, Coronado News, Dr. Steve Schoenherr, South Bay Historical Society, Voice of San Diego, WildCoast, Surfrider Foundation, Sierra Club, KPBS, federal and county records.