A part-time Long Beach City College counselor was fired over an incident that occurred during last year’s graduation.
Counselor Kashara Moore misread a student’s name during the ceremony which caused a stir between the counselor and student.
The student, Karmina Barazza, claimed that Moore purposely elbowed her when she tried to announce her own name.
As seen in hour 3 at minute 27 of the livestream, Barraza is heard telling board of trustee’s representative Herlinda Chico “she elbowed me” referring to Moore. Chico is visibly upset and is seen prompting the stu dent to return to the podium to have her name read correctly.
Efforts were made to reach out to Baraz za for her full side of the story but the stu dent did not respond.
This incident has caused controversy over whether the means of Moore’s termi nation was justifiable.
Faculty in support of Moore created an online petition objecting the termination before it was decided at the Board of Trust ees meeting.
The petition, created by LBCC faculty member Annahita Mahdavi West, stated Moore has been placed on paid leave after she mispronounced the student’s name. The petition defends Moore by saying that the counselor “absolutely did not intentionally elbow the student. There is no evidence of physical assault.”
The petition gained nearly 1,000 signa tures.
Read the documents of the case at lbccviking.com
About 30 faculty members and staff showed up to the meeting dressed in red with green ribbons pinned to their shirt in support of the faculty member and several took to the stand during public comment in support of Moore.
Moore was the last of the speakers to take the stand.
Moore defended her position by say ing, “I would never conduct myself in that
manner and as I stated in the beginning of the investigation the body contact was ab solutely accidental.”
Despite all efforts to keep Moore as a faculty member, the Board came to a final vote of 3-2 to terminate her on September 14, 2022.
“I wanted to take a moment to thank you all. I am grateful that we have been united for a cause, for something that is unjust. Whatever happens let’s maintain
this energy of being one, of being one as a union, of being one for faculty and staff so that we can continue to move our college forward,” Moore said.
The Board’s decision to fire Moore leaves an unsettling feeling amongst staff on how the school will determine fireable offenses in the future.
Long Beach City College recently host ed their seventh annual “Helping Homeless Students Fundraiser,” an event designed to raise money for students who face financial hardships and housing difficulties.
The event was organized by LBCC’s Helping Homeless Students Associate Group, an organization dedicated to help ing students obtain their education while providing them with basic needs.
The fundraiser, which took place on Sunday, included a silent auction, oppor tunity drawings, and first-hand accounts from recipients of the school and organi
zation.
Iona Lincoln was one of the students to give a testimonial at the event. Lincoln, who is also a mother of a two year old son, lost her home to a fire and is a survivor of abuse.
“As a victim of domestic violence, hav ing to co-parent is mentally so draining, but the little stuff that they do help with like gas, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and be ing able to lay my head at certain places as someone who used to couch surf, has been helpful as far as taking that area of stress off of me” said Lincoln.
Unfortunately, many students at the college face similar difficulties that prevent them from being successful in their aca
demic pursuits.
While the organization does provide housing options and basic necessities, there are still some changes that coordinators and recipients wish to enact, as students like Lincoln are still experiencing home lessness.
One of the coordinators who envi sions improvement for the organization is LBCC alumni, Brian Russell, president of the “Helping Homeless Students Associate Group.”.
“It’s my honor to give back and help stu dents reach their dream” said Russell.
He went on to say, “I want to create a housing project for homeless students that have full wrap services, not only housing is
taken care of but if they have mental health issues, if they need glasses, hearing aids, have learning disabilities, we want to help them. That is my vision.”
The organization has been able to help 1,040 students and counting and is recog nized as one of the most valued organiza tions at Long Beach City College.
If you are interested in finding out more direct means of how to help homeless stu dents, contact Jeffrey Sabol (jsabol@lbcc. edu) or Virginia Baxter (gbaxter@lbcc. edu). To donate to the organization direct ly, click here: https://www.lbcc.edu/hhsfund.
Photo by Maisie Vilchis Kashara Morre takes the stand during public comment at the Board of Trustees meeting to plead her case on September 14, 2022. Moore was a part-time councelor at LBCC before she was dismissed by a 3-2 vote by the Board of TrusteesA new digital textbook system has made its way to LBCC’s library this July, which al lows students to check out textbooks in an online format at no cost.
This process, known as controlled dig ital lending, transfers hard copy textbooks into a mobile format so students can utilize specific course books for a limited time.
Controlled digital lending is already be ing used by colleges across the nation and the goal is to be able to make textbook fees disappear.
Vice President of academic affairs, Lee Douglas, has maneuvered the $50,000 budget provided for print textbooks in or der to purchase the DRM software for this system. This software enables the school to copy published works.
Librarian, Jeff Sabol, has taken one of the lead roles in implementing this pro gram and is excited to see it grow. He states, “I believe the future is digital for lending out textbooks.”
The school began officially setting up this program in August, but was lacking in the staff needed to digitize all course books by the start of fall semester. Throughout the upcoming semesters, the library staff will continue scanning textbooks through a high speed book scanner.
Currently there is a limited number of textbooks uploaded to the libraries online resources on the schools website under the ‘electronic textbooks’ tab. Only English and Culinary sections are available on this page. There are six books displayed under English, but there aren’t any e-textbooks
available for culinary classes yet.
While the library completes this dig ital catalog students are welcome to scan required textbooks themselves, and can be given a flash drive if needed in order to ac cess their copy from any computer.
Student Diana Palma used the book scanner for the first time on Sept. 8. Al though this process is available to all LBCC students, there has been little to no adver tising.
Palma says, “My professor introduced it to me as another resource if you don’t have the book, or while you wait for the book. So I took it upon myself to come to the li brary… Reaching out and asking for help is the only way you can find out about these things.”
However, legality questions do come into play in this process, as they do for ev ery process in the professional world.
Currently there is nothing legally stop ping the school library from digitizing an already published book as they have pur chased the DRM software. Unfortunately, there have been concerns from publish ers who might not want their book in an e-textbook form.
For now, these concerns remain con cerns and legally nothing stands in the way of creating costless textbooks for students.
Transferring these paper books to a digital format does require tedious work as each page must be flipped through and scanned one by one.
Sabol describes the process as being as easy as, “You flip the page, hit the button, flip the page, and so on.”
This process has enabled certain schools to have their entire library digitized.
Providing an online system for students to study whenever and wherever they want, truly is the future of education.
This new system is a blessing for Palma as she states, “For me personally, I am a full time student right now and I’m not really working, so I think this is perfect if you’re like economically struggling.”
Sabol advocates strongly for this system as it provides around the clock access to library texts. He says, “There are students who maybe get off work at 8’oclock when the library is closed. They can use these
digital versions 24 hours a day seven days a week.”
There are hopes for having between 30 to 50 e-textbooks by next spring.
The library will begin adding more textbooks to the catalog with high-enroll ment classes in mind, but any professor can get their textbooks digitized sooner by sub mitting a request.
Professors are being encouraged to add links to these books on their canvas page and promote this online lending, so that the process can keep moving forward.
Story By ShelBy tiefenthalerLong Beach City College started off the fall 2022 semester with the added pressure to find alternative food services in the wake of S&B Foods dissolving their contract with the school immediately.
The contract termination was revealed to LBCC only two weeks ago and resulted in the closure of the cafeteria in the E build ing on the LAC campus.
Robert Rapoza, Director of Business Support Services worked very closely with the owner of S&B foods Dave McDonald and stated, “S&B foods did a great job pro viding healthy alternatives.”
Rapoza admits that he has a lot of re spect for McDonald as he worked hand in hand with the school helping to employ special needs people on campus.
Even with the surprise nature of the event, the administration has been swift to instill alternative food options that can par allel and hopefully excel beyond what had previously been offered on campus.
While this may seem like a setback, Rapoza chooses to see this in a different light saying, This process may have come at a good time for LBCC as Building E is set to be remodeled in the fall 2023 semester. This would have led to a change in pace re garding food options either way. These alternatives are a temporary fix to
fill the gap between now and the time when the cafeteria may open back up again.
An email from LBCC went out late last week stating that fresh food vending ma chines operated by Farmer Fridge will be installed on both campuses. These will be in Building E at LAC, and Building GG at PCC. According to the email sent out, fresh meals can be provided for $8.99 - $9.99.
Food trucks will also be implemented around campus. LAC brought in its first food truck on Tuesday in parking lot G. The truck featured Bunz Gourmet Burgers.
Each Monday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., a different variety of food will be offered.
However, these meals range on the ex pensive side when it comes to college cam pus meals. Tuesday’s food truck showed its least expensive item being $15, and the most expensive coming in at $22 per meal.
Both LAC and PCC locations have re opened their Viking Express stocked with grab and go items, sandwiches, cold drinks, and others. These coolers can also be found
in the bookstore.
In an email from the college LBCC says, “These locations are already stocked with snack items like chips and crackers, as well as cereal and instant ramen containers.”
However, in a chaotic turn of events, the LAC Viking Express store was closed Sept. 6 due to an ant infestation, but re opened the next day.
Needless to say, there are a multitude of options for students to find food around campus.
Student Luna Trejo, while looking at the Bunz Gourmet Burgers menu on Tues day says, “I would rather eat food truck food than cafeteria food anyways.”
Unfortunately Rapoza shared that S&B foods is struggling to find revenue. A post from McDonald’s LinkedIn confirms that they are closed indefinitely.
These impromptu circumstances have been matched with speedy solutions and have hopes to bring outcomes that only benefit the students further.
The LAC cafeteria is closed following a canceled contractPhoto by Nick EismaNN LBCC student Diana Palma checks the quality of her textbook scans in the library on Sep tember 8. The better the scans, the better this new study aid can assist her off campus.
“When we take it as a whole and look at it differently, food trucks, Farmer Fridge, and more, they match and exceed what was offered. This will open a new portal of food for students.”
-Robert Rapoza Director of Business Support Services
Long Beach City College kicked off the fall semester by offering students free food, video games, and resources at the “Welcome Back BBQ” on September 1.
Shielding their heads from the heat with their newly acquired textbooks, students formed a long line around the E Quad to receive their choice of a ham burger or a hot dog. The BBQ even of fered vegan burgers, grilling veggie pat ties on a separate grill for students who required a meatless option.
After grabbing a bite to eat, students were free to head over to the gaming truck to play video games or roam the nearby tents to gather information about the school’s clubs and programs.
“The goal is for students to have a smooth transition in school by providing them with the right resources and mak ing them feel like they belong,” said Ka rina Rubio, an EOPS program specialist who was at one of the tents. If students didn’t qualify for her program, she would help direct them to a tent that could offer different resources.
The free food and program aware ness offered at the BBQ falls in line with the college’s latest agenda to provide an inclusive college experience for all stu dents. Whether they are facing economic disadvantages or just attending college for the first time, all were welcome.
The BBQ even inspired some stu dents to join the Associated Student Body, whose members volunteered at this event.
“I want to join ASB this year, I want to be able to volunteer and feel involved and active in the community,” said first time LBCC attendee Romeo Jurado. “In high school I wasn’t able to because ev erything was still mostly online.”
The “Welcome Back BBQ” was a great way to start the Vikings off this fall; it seems we can expect more activities this semester that will keep our students participating in campus life, and in turn begin to cultivate a new inclusive school culture that follows a global pandemic.
Story By Cain CarBaJaL
The LAC A quad was packed Thurs day, September 15, for a Latinx Heritage Month Kick-off Celebration with food, musical performances, and activities.
Bright white tents, papel picado, and celebratory Spanish music greeted LBCC students on campus as they walked to class that afternoon.
The celebration, organized by sever al students and faculty, included stands with clubs and organizations running the length of the quad, as well as a variety of student resources for those in attendance.
Itzel Marin, member of the Social Justice Intercultural Center ran a booth where attendees could draw or collage their own Loteria card, “inspired by any thing they’d like,” she said.
Other booths offered goodies and
freebies, including sweet bread and Latin sweets, as well as lanyards and pins.
Attendees could be seen enjoying a performance by traditional folk dancers in front of LAC’s A building, stunning the crowd with their vibrant regalia and en trancing rhythm.
Concheros, as they are called, dance at celebratory events, always accompanied by energetic music iconic for its magnet ic drum tempo, sound of bells shaking as dancers spin to the beat, and conch shell horn blown by one of the performers.
“It’s definitely lively,” commented Mi chael Eneyew, a volunteer at the event.
Halfway through the event, free pu pusas were announced, and a mad dash for the Pupusa booth began. Students and faculty alike were witnessed waiting in line for a meal, with the line snaking around itself due to sheer numbers. Unfortunate
ly supplies ran out before the whole line could be fed, leaving a few attendees with out food.
This kick-off celebration came on the heels of an important milestone in LBCC history, when in a September 14th board meeting, Board members voted to offi cially recognize National Hispanic-Latinx Heritage Month for the first time.
Apart from marking the official begin ning of Latinx Heritage Month, Septem ber 15 also vitally marks the official day of independence for several Latin American countries, making the day doubly import ant for those who celebrate.
LBCC will be hosting more Latinx Hertitage month events throughout the month.
Photo By Nick EismaNN Concheros perform a cultural dance at the Latinx heritage month kickoff event on September 15. The event is one of the first to start off the month for celebrating Latinx culture.A large glass structure sits quietly near the heart of Little Tokyo, granite stairs lead ing up to its entrance. Its unique shape, and the oversized, spinning Rubik’s cube made up of human faces out front make it diffi cult to miss. This is the Japanese American National Museum.
With LBCC students getting free access to the LA transit system through GoPass, now is the perfect time to take advantage for them to take their student ID and attend as many museums with discounted rates as you can inclduing the Japanese American National Museum.
The JANM, as the name suggests, fo cuses on Japanese American culture. Not only does it host exhibits, it also regular ly puts on events including concerts, film screenings, workshops, and panels with a variety of focuses, not strictly historical.
“We focus on getting our mission to be seen and heard by different communities, not just Japanese people but other groups as well,” said Nicky Woo, a staff member of the museum.
Admission for the museum can be bought online using, JANM.org, prior to your visit or at the door. Student admission is $9, just make sure to bring your school ID.
If $9 still seems a bit pricey, you’re in luck, because JANM offers free admission every Thursday.
Getting there is pretty simple. First, make your way to your closest Metro A line station, from there, ride the metro for 19 stops, which should take about an hour, all the way to the 7th St Metro Center.
Once off, you have two options: ride the bus, or continue on the metro.
If continuing on the Metro, board the B or D line, ride for two stops, get off at Grand Park Station, and walk downhill on 1st Street for 12 minutes, past City Hall until you arrive at South Central Ave. The museum will be right there!
If you continue on the bus, there is still a small walk ahead of you. Head to street level and walk left in the direction of Jol libee, past UNIQLO, towards the corner of 7th St. and Figueroa St then cross the street to your right, where the bus stop comes into view. Board the A bus Eastbound for ten stops until you reach 1st Street/Central Ave. The museum will be across the street.
Apart from getting a free ride, using the GoPass to visit the JANM saves you the hassle of LA traffic.
Traffic in the Little Tokyo area has got ten especially bad recently due to the con struction of a new Metro Station closing many streets down, so now is as good a
time as any to take advantage of LA Metro’s GoPass and go sightseeing.
Once entering the building, a set of stairs comes into view. As you ascend the stairs, a curious display greets you: a gi ant wall of suitcases, carefully stacked to a looming height. It is the “Wall of Suitcas es and Trunks”, a reconstruction of an art piece by Hirokazu Kosaka. A placard notes:
“The importance of Hirokazu’s work
Is that it recognizes that the most im portant things
Are sometimes the simplest.
The space between the heartbeats
And the suitcases that carries
More that people’s belongings”
Just to the right, large glass cases dis playing photos, signs, and other objects signal the beginning of the museum’s first exhibit.
Common Ground: The Heart of Com munity is the museum’s permanent exhibi tion, detailing the history and life of Japa nese Americans all across the US prior to and after the mass evacuation and intern ment that occurred in 1942.
The majority of exhibits in JANM are upstairs,.
1942: Be Here showcases photographs taken by photographers Dorothea Lang and Russell Lee throughout the events of 1942. The exhibit will only be on display
Read about more JANM exhibits at lbccviking.com
from now until January of 2023.
Towards the end of the exhibit, a large, empty room appears. The floors and walls are almost bare, save for a black and white mural of a train dock covering the entire expanse of one wall.
Using an augmented reality camera provided by the museum, this empty room became an entirely 3D rendered replica of many photographs featured in the exhibit.
Walking around the room uncovered different scenarios, and using the camera became interactive as guests were encour aged to walk around and snap pictures, stepping in the shoes of Lang and Lee.
“People are really only used to seeing augmented reality used for video games,” said Warren Schorr, the museum staff handing out cameras. He explained how Masaki Fujihata, the artist behind the ex hibit, hoped to use the technology in a museum setting, wanting to create a new experience for people to truly immerse themselves in history. “It’s a transportive reality that helps people engage with the period in a more real way.”
Photo by Cain Carbajal The Japanese American National Museum on an overcast day where a Rubik’s Cube made of human faces acts as an eyecatcher for the museum. LBCC GoPass is making it easier to visit interesting locations such as the museum.The Vikings had an impressive offense this past weekend, picking up 14 points in the last minutes of the game against Chaf fey to secure the victory.
Chaffey proved to be a tough team for the Vikings to beat. Coming off the first quarter, the Vikings took the lead with a 10-7 score.
Bryce Jones scored in the second quar ter and with Mario De la Tor scoring the field goal, the Vikings gained 7 points headed into halftime.
Chaffey quickly picked up their lost ground, blocking the Vikings from scor ing in the second and third quarters and bringing the score to 28-17 at the start of the fourth.
The Vikings found themselves with their backs against the wall, but nonethe less they persisted.
The Vikings were able to pull off an im pressive offensive in the final minutes of the game.
With less than 4 minutes in the game, Dajon Newman scored a touchdown to push the Vikings to 24 points.
Trennel Ridgley got the final touch down and sealed the victory with just two seconds to spare, bringing the final score at the end of the game to 31-28.
This game is their second home win, leaving them with an overall 2-1 record.
The Vikings are still struggling with some issues this season, a majority of that being penalties and professionalism on the field.
“The discipline wasn’t where it needed to be,” said Head Coach Brett Peabody, “we got caught in some retaliation but this is the kind of win that should carry us forward.”
Spirits seemed to change after the final buzzer sounded off.
“It was a tough one in the beginning but we came through as a team,” said Zachariah
Ruiz, a wide receiver for the Vikings.
“Once we’re rolling, there’s no one that can stop us, we stop ourselves,” said Coach Peabody.
The LBCC Vikings struggled to break down a defensive LA Mission team in a 2-2 draw on Tuesday.
The Vikings tried to initiate the first score as defender Adrian Acevedo took a shot that was heading into the top left cor ner of the net but was saved by the Eagle’s keeper.
Minutes later LBCC would get a penal ty after forward Jose Ventura dribbled into the box and was tripped, and the Vikings were awarded a penalty kick. From there, forward Jesus Moreno slotted the penalty past the Eagle’s keeper into the bottom left corner of the goal to put the Vikings ahead 1-0.
The Eagles would level the game 1-1 in the 12th minute scoring from a free kick placed towards the far post that was headed into the goal by forward Yahav Arviv.
For the remainder of the first half, the Vikings would struggle to break past the Eagle’s defense and create any opportuni ties until the 39th minute registering their
third shot of the game.
Before halftime, LBCC would break through in the 43rd minute as forward Ar nold Giron would get tackled in the box, giving the Vikings another penalty kick. Giron would place the kick into the bottom right of the goal to put them ahead 2-1.
Right on the 45th minute, the Eagles would score again from a poorly defend ed free kick, with the ball crossed to Arviv who scored his second goal in the match and put the LA Mission 2-2 seconds before halftime.
The second half was not in favor of the Vikings, as they couldn’t get through the Eagle’s defense having five shots and only testing the keeper once in the 54th minute which was saved in front of the goal.
“The hardest thing to break are teams who sit back and are very organized, so we have to be creative and dynamic and a little bit more fluid,” said coach Jorge Reye
Throughout the game, the Eagles only registered two shots both resulting in goals compared to the Vikings who had 10 shots in total scoring twice and making the keep
er save one attempt on goal.
This was the second tie in a row for the Vikings and they have already conceded 10 goals in the eight games this pre-season.
“We as a team need to be more unified and work as one. It’s important for us to cheer one another on and hold each other
accountable in order to get the best out of everyone,” said captain and midfielder Jon athan Grado.
The Vikings will be at home again on Oct. 4 in their first conference game of the season against East Los Angeles.
Photo by Nick EismaNN LBCC players face off with Chaffey as they mount a massive offensive in the final minutes of their September 17 game. Photo by Davis RamagE Vikings forward Jose Ventura attempts to dribble past three Eagle defenders on Tuesday.The women’s water polo team contin ued to be a powerful force with a 7-3 re cord, after an amazing performance win ning Wednesday’s game against the Rio Hondo Roadrunners with a score of 22-4.
The Vikings made sure their offensive presence was known right at the start of the clock with Sydney Brouwer scoring their first goal twenty seconds into the game.
They continued dominating the first quarter scoring eight more goals with two from Brouwer, two from Sierra Cavano, and four from Rylie Guglielmotti without the Roadrunners scoring at all.
Defending the Roadrunners from ad vancing with the ball was no problem for the Vikings as the team chemistry was a major contribution to successfully limit the Roadrunners from scoring.
The Roadrunners scored once in the second quarter, once in the third, and twice in the fourth.
“Our team is only getting stronger since we’re all looking out for each other and al ways being positive,” said Cavano.
The Vikings performance in the water was dominant throughout the whole game as nine players made for a combined twen ty-two goals by the end of the buzzer.
Having scored five more goals in the second quarter, the score was at 14-1. By the end of the third quarter, another five goals put the Vikings up 19-2.
The Vikings finished strong, landing
their final three goals and ended the match with a 22-4 victory.
Their aggressive offense seemed to be no match for the Roadrunners as they controlled the game confidently with their smooth ball movement.
The Vikings have been training hard this season and are eager to win which they proved by this overpowering performance.
The Vikings beat the Rio Hondo Road runners 19-7 on Wednesday, gaining them a 1-0 record in conference play.
The Vikings came out with a strong lead scoring seven points in the first quar ter with two goals from Michael Minera, two from Henry Petersen, and additional goals from Nikola Jancic, Jake Leslie, and Itay Batito.
That momentum allowed them to maintain a strong lead over the Roadrun ners, who only scored once in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Nicolas Fedotov scored the Vikings three more goals and Cooper Zuanich scored one, as well as as sisting in Michael Minera’s goal.
Rio Hondo could only put two goals on the board, leaving the score at 12-3 at the
end of the second quarter.
By the end of the third quarter, the Vi kings added another five points to their score; two from Itay Batito, two from Jake Leslie, and one from Claudio Reveron.
Once again the Roadrunners were only able to score once thisw quarter, putting the Vikings up 17-4.
The last two goals for the Vikings were scored by Tony Montes and Mateo Jimenez, with three goals scored by the Roadrunners to end the game.
The final score of the match came out to a Vikings victory of 19-7.
Blake Borders and Isaac Zabukovec, both goalies for LBCC, accumulated 10 saves in total between the two of them.
The Vikings are set to face off against Chaffey at home for the next match on Sept. 28 at 4:30 p.m.
“Our competitive schedule and train ing contributed to our outstanding defense moving into today’s game,” said LBCC head coach Chris Oeding.
The Vikings certainly did not disap point on the defensive side, ending the game with a total of 12 steals and 11 saves, as well as causing the Roadrunners to end with ten turnovers.
It has been more apparent that the Vikings are collectively synced within their gameplans as they continue to carry throughout the season strong.
The Vikings hope to stay consistent throughout the rest of the season heading into their next game on Wednesday against Chaffey at 3:00 p.m.
Photo by Nick EismaNN Caroletta Zandali fights off defense from Rio Hondo as she takes a shot on the goal. The women’s water polo team went on beat Rio Hondo 7-3. Photo by Nick EismaNN LBCC’s Harry Peterson fends off a defensive player from Rio Hondo on their Wednesday game.
Story By Craig roBertS
With food options on campus becoming ei ther scarce or expensive, LBCC must act in or der to provide more reasonable and more effec tive food options for their students on campus.
Recently, the cafeteria in the LAC E building shutdown as the college’s contract was dissolved with S&B Foods, leaving students without an accessible means of getting a meal.
While vending machines from Farmer Fridge will be installed at LAC and PCC and provide meals for $8.99 – $9.99, surely the col lege can do better.
The shelves of the Viking Express which hold the cold foods and more fulfilling meals are often empty, meaning that without a proper facility for meals these empty shelves could like ly extend to the vending machines.
This leaves students with less than healthful foods and not even proper meals.
One solution to this problem is providing food waivers for students to be able to purchase their own meals of choice from a store nearby.
Just at a glance, an at least moderately healthful and full frozen meal could be pur chased for around $4 from Ralphs, Target, and other similar nearby stores.
It would also help provide food at home and overall quality of life for students. A higher quality of life should not only help students suc ceed but also the college.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many online-only students.
If those students struggle with food, espe cially healthful options in the face of rising food prices, there are services such as HelloFresh and Blue Apron where contracts could be explored to help provide these services to students that need them.
These services are constantly looking to ex pand their reach, with HelloFresh already pro viding 15% off to all students for 52 deliveries.
Long Beach City College has several options and a heap of money from MacKenzie Scott to help improve student equity, making for an ob vious and potentially more rapid response to the situation that helps more than just the stu dents on campus.
Even though the fate of this donation has already been decided, a portion should still be reallocated to serve the changing needs of stu dents on campus.
Small actions such as this are part of the long game in terms of truly improving students’ campus experience and it starts with not asking students to break the bank just to eat a proper meal.
This situation gives the college a chance to reassess how it handles food for students going forward, which should be a goal of the college.
Editor-in-chief: Maisie Vilchis
Managing Editor: Craig Roberts
News editors: Nick Eismann
Jeanette Lem
Shelby Tiefenthaler
Lifestyle and Opinion editors: Drew Martinez
Desary Vailencour Matthew Walker
Sports editors: Emily D’Amico Soderek San Staff Cain Carbajal Juleah Corzantes
Lesly Gonzalez
Cesar Gonzalez-Mata Marco Haynes Paul Jimenez
Jacqueline Prado Davis Ramage Veronica Towers
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Adviser: Walter Hammerwold
Photo and online adviser: Chris Viola
Photo by Craig roberts
Most of the shelves at the LAC Viking Express have dry small meals and snacks that aren’t quite the healthiest. With the cafeteria closed, students aren’t left with affordable healthful options on campus.