Keely DamaraManaging Editor

Pasadena City College, as a member of the Pasadena Area Consortium, created 27 new noncredit adult edu-cation programs this fall after receiving a grant from the state for just over $1.5 million.

The state appropriated $500 million in the 2013-2014 budget through the AB 86 Adult Education Block Grant to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and the California Department of Education to allocate funding for adult education. Of this, $1.5 million was allocated to the Pasadena Area Consor-tium—which consists of the Pasadena Area Community College District, Pasadena Unified School District, Ar-cadia Unified School District and Temple City Unified School District.

The grant funded the creation of new courses be-ginning this fall in career technical education, English as a second language, workforce preparation for the developmentally disabled and elementary and secondary education – which includes GED courses and adult

basic education courses.All of the new program offerings are entry-level, with

the main goal of either preparing students to transition to credit programs at PCC or into entry-level jobs.

Ofelia Arellano, dean of academic affairs, said that these noncredit courses are a starting point for adults in the community to start a new career path or build on prior experience.

“The big difference between noncredit and credit programs is that we design very basic introductory train-ing for entry-level jobs,” said Arellano. “If you want the more advanced training, you come to credit.”

Catherine Cheng teaches the Basic Graphic Design CTE class, which consists of two, eight-week sections that cover everything from the history of graphic design to learning software programs used by working professionals. She has 13 years experience as a graphic designer, seven of which she spent working for PCC until she was offered a position teaching this fall.

“I’m basing my curriculum and my methods of

Rachel HoStaff Writer

A total of 126 credit sections have been given the axe by the PCC Academic Affairs office this semester, rendering more than three thousand previously available seats unavailable to students.

Insufficient enrollment was the reason for the cancellation of 71 of these classes, which ran the gamut from Marine Biology to Jazz Dance to Television Production. In addi-tion, nine classes—seven of which were mathematics classes—were nixed as the school was unable to find instructors for these classes.

Contrary to popular belief, bud-get cuts are not necessarily the driv-ing force behind the cancellation of classes, which is a decision that the school officials say they do not take lightly. Instead, it is resource alloca-tion that forces the school to scrap courses with low demand, according to Paul Jarrell, dean of instructional support.

With this give-and-take shift in resources, the school was able to create 66 new sections this semester for in-demand courses such as En-glish, Political Science and Psycholo-gy. Out of the 66 new additions, 19 are Large Group Instruction classes that accommodate approximately a hundred students each. Many of these additional classes filled up in a matter of days and most, if not all,

of these classes are late-start classes. A total of 3,023 new seats were added to replace the 3,284 potential seats that were removed.

The fate of a class is dependent upon its context, where factors such as if it’s offered on a regular basis and if there are many more sections that offer the same class affect the decision whether to keep or scrap it. There is a benchmark

of a minimal enrollment rate of 60 percent, which is also taken into consideration.

When a class is on the brink of cancellation, the procedure is not as simple as scratching a timeslot off a schedule.

“The dean of the instructional area will talk to the instructor and they will discuss what will be the implications if they [were to] cancel the class,” Jarrell explained. Among topics that are typically discussed in this situation are alternatives for stu-dents and if there would be a better timing later in the term to offer the class again. Should the class be canceled, the school will encourage professors offering the same class to open seats to students who have been impacted by a cancellation.

“None of these was driven by a budget from the standpoint of, ‘we’re running out of money, we have to cancel those classes,’” Dr. Jarrell said. “It’s really about making the best use of the money we have

CO U R I E RPasadena City College

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM

VOLUME 112ISSUE 03

Katja Liebing/CourierDancers of the Aztec dance group Yankuititl perform at the Villa Parke Community Center in Pasadena on Sept. 16. The City of Pasadena invited the public to celebrate Latin American Independance Day at Fiestas Patrias at the Villa Parke Community Center.

Fiestas Patrias: Celebrating Latin American Independence

ENROLLMENT page 2

Give and take of canceled classes

Serving PCCSince 1915

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

PCC expands free adult education

Kristen LunaEditor-in-Chief

Soon after school officials received news in early July that the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) placed PCC on probation, members of shared governance came together to try to form a solid plan to avoid the loss of accredita-tion.

The ACCJC included nine recom-mendations in their external evalua-tion report. Each recommendation addressed areas within the school that have been problematic. These recommendations include areas of shared governance and communi-cation, implemented planning, ad-herence to institutional policies and overall institutional effectiveness.

Kathy Scott, associate vice president of academic affairs and accreditation liaison officer, worked with accreditation faculty leaders Stephanie Fleming and Kris Pilon over the summer to form the Ac-creditation Task Force (ATF), which has approximately 10 members with Scott leading the committee.

“[It] was created to deal with the accreditation recommendations,” Scott said. “[We] met three times and put together work groups to deal with each of the recommen-dations … We worked and created some initial steps for each recom-mendation.”

According to Scott, those work groups are currently being populated with members of the faculty, classified staff, managers and students within the Associated Students.

The ATF has also created a “ten-tative calendar” for how to fix all recommendations so they are able to meet the October 2016 deadline. Each group will be required to put together their own tentative plan with steps targeting the specific recommendation they are managing by September 25 and form a draft

First steps toward accreditation

Graphic by Daniel Valencia ACCREDITATION page 2

WOMEN’S SOCCER WIN 5-2Lancers hosts SBVC and come out ahead

FREECLASSES page 2

PCC STUDENT AND SUPERMOMFull-time student, president of the Paralegal Association and mother

CAVA ROCKS OUT AT ZONA ROSALatin-afro-cubano-world-beat-fusion band puts their own spin on music

SCENE: ART ON CAMPUS! Courier photographers document all mediums of art around campus

teaching the way my favorite teacher taught me in college,” said Cheng. “Which is, you’re not only giving a lot of information from the book, you’re also giving them real life experience with real life jobs and projects so that way they can get, pretty much, my 15-year career condensed into 16 weeks.”

Cheng said that she has a wide variety of students with different backgrounds, expe-rience levels and interests in her class and that the skills she teaches can be used to find entry-level work in graphic design – like free-lance work, marketing and the growing field of online media.

Some of the programs cater to bilingual students, such as the VESL programs—or vocational English as a second language—by simultaneously teaching them occupational skills while also covering job-related vocabu-lary in fields such as childcare, housekeeping and construction.

Carolyn Corrie is an instructor for many of the VESL programs, including the new childcare program. She believes the VESL

programs are a good opportunity for adults who have already taken ESL classes to im-prove their vocational vocabulary.

“I think that the VESL programs can work with people who already have some profes-sional training in their countries but don’t have the appropriate English skills to really find those jobs here,” said Corrie.

The grant also pays for a job developer to work with partners in the community to help students connect with job prospects after finishing their programs.

The mission of California Community Colleges is not only to prepare students for transfer to four-year institutions or to teach them skills to enter into the work force, said Arellano, but to also “provide focused edu-cation for adults, as well as lifelong learning opportunities in noncredit programs.”

Currently, 3,168 students are enrolled for the fall 2015 noncredit courses, but the classes are “open entry, open exit”—meaning there is no cut-off date to enroll. There are also late start classes this fall that begin near the end of October.

You can find the noncredit program appli-cation online on the Community Education Center website.

on Nov. 1. “Our goal is to create a rough looking draft by December,”

Scott said. “We’ll come back after the break and we’ll start finishing up whatever we didn’t do. We have to get the report through all the governance committees and we’re hoping to get this done before everyone leaves for the summer.”

According to Scott and Superintendent-President Rajen Vurdien, the first recommendation regarding integrated plan-ning will be the most challenging recommendation to tackle.

“You have to show certain elements for each recommenda-tion,” Vurdien said. “For example, one of the recommenda-tions says that we need to have a planning cycle. We have that

planning cycle integrated within the budget cycle. The budget decisions have to come out of that plan so you have to be able to show that you have all that.”

The Integrated Planning Model (IPM) is designed to ensure that the process for planning, budgeting and the allocation of resources for all faculty, departments and divisions are trans-parent and understood by all.

At the Sept. 14 Academic Senate meeting, Ryan Cornner, associate vice-president of planning and innovation, presented the new integrated planning model and stated that “the need for an integrated planning model that determines the budget has been recommended for PCC since 1986.”

Vurdien said that the plan would need to be fully imple-mented by the end of spring.

“Unless we can get through one full cycle with the [model]

before we break for summer, you can rest assured that we will remain on probation,” Vurdien said.

The Oct. 16 deadline is 13 months away, which seems like a long time. But given the reality that faculty are not on campus a few weeks in the winter and a few months during the summer, the work they do while on campus is crucial given the deadline will come in a blink of an eye.

“What we have to do is make sure that we’re organized,” Scott said. “That everybody understands the timeline and are part of the groups. That people step up and participate. None of [the recommendations] are insurmountable, they’re all doable. We just have to have the will and we have to work collaboratively and respectfully. I feel confident that we will have a report when it’s due and we will have addressed these recommendations as best as we possibly can.”

Contributed by John Orona

to service as many students as we possibly can.”

Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Kathleen Scott concurred, adding that “we don’t cancel classes lightly. We look at it very carefully and we do try to cancel as early as we possibly can so students have the time to find something else.”

Part-time student Joseph Law’s first semes-ter at PCC started on a rough note this term. His meticulously-planned schedule fell apart when he showed up to his basketball class on the first day of school only to learn that it had been canceled.

“The cancellation of the class caused a time gap [of two and a half hours] on Mon-days and Wednesdays so it was an inconve-nience,” Law said. He added that he would not attempt to take this class again.

After a class is canceled, affected students are usually informed via email—sometimes via phone—and options and alternatives will be brought to their attention.

However, in Law’s case, he was not aware that his class had been canceled until the first day of class. Jarrell suggested that this could be because of the disruption of the school’s email server in early August, where students were unable to receive emails through their

go.pasadena.edu accounts. While action was taken to contact affected students via phone, he admitted that there could have been some students that were missed out because the office could not ascertain whether the classes were canceled before or during the window of the email server’s downtime.

“It is important that students check their email and [check that] they have phone numbers that are accurate on file because we do make an effort to contact students to let them know,” Scott said.

PCC is seeing an increasing number of available seats in recent semesters as losses from state budget limits several years ago are being recovered. For example, on the first day of the fall 2015 term, there were a total of 2,804 more seats than on the first day of the fall 2014 term. Judging from the current trend, it is likely that the number of seats offered will continue to grow in the future.

“In an ideal world, we would be able to match the student’s demand down to the seat but it is very difficult to do,” Jarrell said. “Stu-dents’ lives are impacted by whether they can take a class this term or next term and that’s a hard one to judge so we try to be as respon-sive as we can during the time right around registration to see what classes fill rapidly.”

“It is our goal to try to create a schedule that best serves the needs of the students,” Scott added.

NEWS September 24, 20152 COURIER

ENROLLMENT

ACCREDITATION

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

FREECLASSES

Graphic by Daniel Valencia

MONDAY, SEPT. 14Disturbing the Peace: A professor report-

ed that two of her students in C325 had a verbal altercation during class. One irate male student entered her class and started yelling at one of her students. The irate student left and was seen pacing back and forth in the hallway on the third floor. Campus police were con-tacted and checked the student for warrants/wants with none issued.

Bicycle Theft: A student reported her white/blue Cannondale bike was stolen from the bike racks located south of the L-build-ing between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. The Student claims the bike is worth $900. A report was taken and the bike not found.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 15Theft: A student stated his textbook was

taken from a secure locker on the fifth floor of the R-building on Sept. 14 at 4 p.m. A report taken and the book not found.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 16Transient: Campus police found a transient

sleeping in the men’s locker room shower in the W building and led subject off campus.

Burglary: Bookstore staff flagged down a cadet and stated that a person wearing a bur-gundy sweater and blue jeans walked out of

the bookstore with four to five books without paying. The suspect took off eastbound towards the west side of the C-building, north towards the mirror pools and then the south side of the E-building where the suspect was detained. The subject was escorted back to Campus Police and was checked for warrants/wants with positive results. Subject then trans-ported to the Pasadena jail.

Disturbing the peace: Campus police received multiple calls regarding a male interrupting classes in session by being loud and possibly drunk on the second floor in the Center for the Arts building. The subject entered a class in CA-203 where he was detained and escorted to Campus Police for being drunk in public. The subject com-plained of pain in his ribcage while in custody. Pasadena Fire Paramedics were notified and arrived on scene to treat the subject. Subject was then transported to Pasadena Police Jail for booking.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 17Vandalism: The parking permit machine

was tampered with using an unknown tool.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 18Transient: Campus police reported a female

transient wearing a blue dress was soliciting for money at the north side of the Piazza.

BLOTTER

Continued from page 1

Katja Liebing/CourierTeresa Deukmedjian is helping J Carmen Lopez during her bilingual Com-puter Keyboarding class in the Villa Parke Community Center on Sept. 14. The class is one of many tuition free courses that is being offered by Pasadena City College’s Noncredit Division.

OPIN ION September 24, 20153 COURIER

Letters to the Editor

The Courier welcomes letters to the editor.

Letters should be about 300 words and may be

edited by Courier staff. All letters must contain your full name and a correct daytime phone number.

Letters can be delivered to the Courier office in CC 208 or sent by email to

luna.courier@gmail.com

Corrections

The Courier staff endeavors to ensure accuracy in all

aspects of its reporting. If you believe we have made an error, please contact us at (626) 585-7130 or via

email toluna.courier@gmail.com

© Copyright 2015

Courier. All rights Reserved.

VOICESWhat do you think of the

controversy surrounding Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who

refused to issue licenses to same-sex couples?

“I think it’s extremely unfair. She has the will to grant people rights to certain things and she shouldn’t be imposing her own moral beliefs

or religious ideologies on others because she’s a government official.”

Alonso Chavarria, sociology

“I think your religious beliefs and the law should be completely separate. It’s okay for her to believe that gays

getting married is wrong but her job is to marry people. She can’t stop

doing her job when the law says that gays can get married.”

Genevieve Armstorff, geology

“I believe that people have the right to be happy with whoever they want to be with. If they are happy that way, they are happy. I feel like homosexual

couples appreciate marriage more than heterosexual couples.” Justine Sanchez, undecided

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I’m all for it and it doesn’t

bother me but some people just refuse to let that go. I think it was wrong for them to put her in jail.”

Patience Madayag, political science

“If [couples] would find someone else that would issue the license to them then that would respect both

her beliefs and theirs and things would be okay.”

Philip Silao, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship club

Editor-in-Chief Kristen Luna

Photo Editor/Managing Editor

Keely Damara

Online Photo Editor Katja Liebing

Asst. Online Photo Editor

Eric Haynes Social Media Editor

Amber Lipsey

Online Editor/Fea-tures Editor

Mick DonovanNews EditorJohn Orona

Opinion Editor Hannah Gonzales

Lifestyle Editor Monique LeBleuSports Editors

Ahmad Akkaoui and Christian Rivas

Scene Editor Erica Hong

Design Editor Samantha Molina

Staff WritersEricka Bernabe, Anthony

Carter, Alex Chhuon, Julius Choi, Melody

Congote, Lilith Garcia, Andi Harding, Rachel

Ho, Erica Hong, Timothy Mably, Kelly R. Murillo, Elissa Saldana, Arielle

Taccad

Staff PhotographersIrma Carrillo, Nate

Fermin, Anthony Galin-do, Monique LeBleu,

Alexis Luengas, Kristen Luna, Samantha Molina,

Josie Rodriguez

Faculty Adviser Nathan McIntire

Photo Adviser

Tim Berger Advertising Manager

Daniel Nerio

COURIER Serving PCC since 1915

Phone: (626) 585-7130 Fax: (626) 585-7971Advertising (626) 585-7979

Office: 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., CC-208Pasadena, CA 91106-3215

The Courier is published weekly by the Pasadena City College Journalism Department and is a free-speech forum. Editorials and comments are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the institution and its administration,

student government or that of the Pasadena Area Community College District. The Courier is written and produced as a learning experience for student writers, photographers and editors in the Journalism Department.

Be Heard

Catching up with Common Core? Christian RivasStaff Writer

Since its establishment in 2009, the Common Core State Standards

initiative has faced criticism from teachers and parents alike. While the Common Core Standards weren’t fully implemented in classrooms until earlier this year, many fear that the material is already overwhelming for students.

Heather Kays wrote an article featured in The Washington Times expressing her distaste for the Com-mon Core Standards.

“The Common Core State Stan-dards are academically mediocre at best, according to professors, curric-ulum experts, child psychologists and many teachers,” Kays wrote. “That is especially true for the younger grades—specifically, K-3—where a mountain of information will be hammered into these young students even though there is evi-dence such practices do not lead to academic gains that last as students get older.”

While I understand it’s difficult to introduce such a heavy workload on younger students, the fact of the matter is that everyone else is already doing it.

Every three years, 15 year olds in developed and developing countries take The Program for Internation-al Student Assessment (PISA) as a measure of literacy, math and science comprehension. The U.S. ranked 35th out of 64 countries in math and 27th in science, according to the PISA results from 2012.

If the U.S. wants to remain competitive with China, which ranked first in mathematics, and Japan, which ranked sixth, they have to hold their K-12 students to the same standards.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) offers an in-depth look at the results of the PISA and it doesn’t look pretty.

“While the U.S. spends more per student than most countries, this does not translate into better per-formance,” the report found. “For example, the Slovak Republic, which spends around USD $5,300 per

student, performs at the same level as the United States, which spends over $11,500 per student.”

So if the money the U.S. is spending on education isn’t work-ing, what will? Ideally, the Common Core Standards.

These standards would imple-ment a system of learning that requires K-12 students to think critically, as opposed to filling in the bubble that sounds like it’s right.

Common Core Standards will teach students how to solve a problem, explain how they got their answer and find a different way to get the same answer. This allows students to really understand what they’re learning and also increases the likelihood of them using that knowledge for the later years of their education.

The end game for Common Core Standards would be to better prepare students for the extremely competitive work force in the Unit-ed States. It’s also an opportunity to keep jobs in the U.S.

Perhaps the biggest mountain politicians in the 2008 presidential election had to climb was finding a way to get Americans back to work. The problem was that there were jobs, but big businesses felt that outsourcing jobs was not only the smartest choice economically, but the safest bet.

Year after year, it is only getting harder for people seeking employ-ment in the United States to get hired due to their lack of education.

The time where high school teens left their parents house to find a ca-reer is far behind us. A high school diploma is no longer a sufficient level of education for employers.

The Common Core Standards aim to mold a generation of students with a higher level of education to pursue degrees that would allow them to compete with other powerhouses in the fields of English, science and mathematics.

Whether or not this initiative pays dividends is yet to be seen, but I believe Common Core is the step in the right direction for America.

Alex ChhuonStaff Writer

With 20 percent of eligible third through eighth graders passing on

the standardized exams last spring, the recently adopted Common Core standards have come under fire.

Common Core, a programs adopted by 45 of the 50 states sets national standards across the entire country as opposed to having 50 different standards controlled by each state, was originally passed to improve the overall test scores of students across the country.

According to a report by The Learning Curve, published by Pear-son and written by The Economist, America ranked 20th in educational attainment in 2014.

Countries like Korea, Japan, and China ranked highly across the board in the education department. What these countries have in com-mon, besides being in Asia, is that they have a set a more united nation-al standard as individual countries that their students strive towards day and night.

Thus, the logic to Common Core is to reach a similar educational level by following these countries in standardizing a set goal across all 50 states. It is difficult to compare the educational levels of states due to the differences in curriculum nation-ally. As such, by gathering the states under one educational banner, they should to work towards a higher level together.

At first glance, this theory seems sound as the best way to learn any-thing is by copying.

However, copying doesn’t work when the test we have is a different form.

Although, the United States and these Asian countries had students taking the same test, the fundamen-tal issues with the education system and culture are an entirely different monster to wrestle than those in Asia.

Common Core is an answer that will not translate well from Chinese, Korean and Japanese to American English.

With Common Core, teachers must adhere to a rigid curriculum

that stymies the teacher’s creative freedom as they will be forced to de-vote time to teaching the Common Core curriculum.

The driving force of Common Core is the idea that the United States has dropped off from being one of the leading influences in education. But the idea that America was once the very epitome of the educational system is false.

According to Diane Ravitch, a re-search professor, American students came in 11th out of 12 nations on a national test in 1964.

It would be foolish to call the American education system stellar, but it does have its strengths that these Asian countries do not pos-sess.

“The ideal Shanghainese student is like a sea sponge blindly absorbing any and all information and spewing it all out during the tests,” Saga Ringmar of The Guardian wrote.

What the rigorous curriculums of China, Korea and Japan promote is the memorization of scientific facts, mathematical equations and even aspects of literature.

Many of these Eastern students may possibly spend double the time studying that American students do. In Korea it is the norm for students to attend private institutions at night wto remain competitive.

However, what these countries lack is what America has in spades.

Creativity and critical thinking are underdeveloped in these students who are forced to do worksheet after worksheet in not only school, but their school after school.

“Asian nations struggle with out-moded instructional practices and an over-reliance on high-pressure examinations -- and they continue to look to America for clues in cultivating innovation in teaching and creativity in their students,” Vishakha N. Desai, president of the Asia Society, wrote on CNN.

Common Core may not be the solution to America’s issues, but it is a good starting point. Reaching the standard level of these Asian countries is probably impossible, but the idea of improving our standards holds merit. However, we should not do so at the cost of our creativity.

Cartoon by Mick Donovan

NO YES

Reporting by Ahmad Akkaoui Photos by Keely Damara

SCENE4 COURIER

Kristen Luna/CourierGraphic design student Tony Gallardo, 48, working on a class assignment in the Screen Printing Fundamentals for Sales and Marketing course held in V106. GRFX 134A is a hands-on certificate.

Josie Rodriguez/CourierNicholas Conrique, an architecture student at Pasadena City College, drawing in between classes on Wednesday Sept. 16..

Josie Rodriguez/CourierCynthia Butler, Pasadena City College Biology student, working on clay cups for her ceramics class at PCC on Wednesday Sept. 16.

EVERY

RTISTWAS FIRST

ANAMATEUR

A-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“

”

September 24, 2015 5SCENE

Josie Rodriguez/Courier Paint brushes and other tools used by the ceramics students at Pasadena City College on Wednesday Sept.16.

Kristen Luna/CourierStudent Chris Yanez has a work in progress in the Screen Printing Fundamentals for Sales and Marketing course held in V106. GRFX 134A is a hands-on certificate program that teaches students screen printing and digital imaging. He is taking the class for fun.

Josie Rodriguez/CourierCynthia Butler, Pasadena City College Biology student, working on clay cups for her ceramics class at PCC on Wednesday Sept. 16.

RTISTWAS FIRST

AMATEUR-Ralph Waldo Emerson

”

Ericka BernabeStaff Writer

The Villa Parke Community Center was filled with hundreds of adults and children celebrating Latin Ameri-can independence on Tuesday.

Every year during the month of September, the center hosts Fiestas Patrias, a festival where people celebrate the independence of 18 countries starting with Mexico.

“Fiestas Patrias allows for the community and the city of Pasadena to bring together multiple generations, anywhere from toddlers, infants, adults and seniors to celebrate the Latin American culture and heritage,” said Pasadena recreational service specialist Yurica Montes.

The event started with an “El Grito,” which is the calling for independence followed with the Mexican national anthem.

Each room was filled with colorful paper flowers, piñatas and decorations relating to Latin culture. Kids had a variety of cultural games and entertainment to choose from such as creating stenciled posters, face painting, pin the tail on the donkey and cultural games like loteria and el burro.

Every year, a royal court for Fiestas Patrias is held at Villa Parke. Each young girl in the cultural pageantry was asked questions about her heritage and the day conclud-ed with three being crowned as princesses.

A live music performance by Ignacio Hernandez y su Mariachi had the audience wanting more, the young girls of Ballet Folklorico Nahuatzen danced on stage with their beautiful traditional dresses, and the Aztec dancers had amazing metallic costumes with large feather head-pieces.

A Pasadena local, Yesenia Orozco, came to the event with her grandchildren, Christian, 1, and niece Angela, 5.

“This is my first time coming here with my grand-children,” Orozco said, “It’s great to expose the younger generation to their cultural roots and watch them have fun. California was once Mexico, and the Mexican pop-ulation is big here and Independence Day is important to us.”

The community center has held this event for over 20

years.“I’ve been working here 15 years and we’ve been

doing this every year,” said Edna Mejia, the community relations representative. “I’m pretty sure the people who worked before me did it too.”

The city of Pasadena’s Human Services and Recre-ation Department sponsored the free festival. It has been held specifically at this center because the population it serves is 80 percent Latino.

Monique LeBleuLifestyle Editor

Down the narrow side alley next to the Zona Rosa Café, “Latin-af-ro-cubano-world-beat-fusion” band Cava put their spin on some 60s, 80s, and 90s songs for die-hard music lovers enjoying the Playhouse District earlier this month.

Glowing and happy, lead singer and percussionist Claudia “Cava” Gonzalez Miranda sits astride the Cajón, a traditional Peruvian per-cussion box, and croons lullaby-like while gently stroking the anticipated new life that’s growing in her belly.

Cava, who also plays the guiro, taiko, jarana and maracas percussion instruments, formed the band in 2006 fresh off another called Do-mingo Siete, where she commonly covered bolero and Afro-Cubano “Son” style traditional music.

“My influences are Celia Cruz to Billie Holiday to Michael Jackson,” and even 80s Latin-jazz based ska-reggae band, The Skatalites, said Cava. “It’s a really wide spectrum of sounds. But I started with mariachi, and that’s the reason why boleros are my forte.”

Walter Miranda, Cava’s husband and a keyboardist and vocalist with the band as well, is a PCC alum that studied architectural design and then later music and jazz standards under professor Bobby Bradford.

Cava credits her music education to family support, musical influenc-es, aural training and practice.

“We’ve been training all our lives, since we were inches tall,” said Cava. “It’s a lot of ear training, which is a master class for most musical students. I was raised on really fine music and musicians.”

“My mother’s part mulatta and my father’s full Jalisco-raised Mexi-can and had a beautiful voice,” said Cava, attributing them as the inner

source behind the rhythm and soul of her music.

Audience members were quick to stand up and dance in the snug and breezy alley next to the café to the infectious rhythm of Cava’s music on a hot Sunday.

Sisters Jacqueline and Daisy Chilin made a special visit to the cafe when they heard the band was playing on Sundays and danced to their favorites.

“Mi Malasuerte is one of the lively ones. It just makes you want to move,” said Jacqueline, PCC alum who transferred from the Child Development Blended Program and is now doing public service with families for the city of Los Angeles.

“I like the intimate feel of the outdoors and it’s a just a good thing to have in a cafe,” said Daisy of the alley play space. Daisy, also, PCC alum, political science, transferred and now works for the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services.

“We just came to enjoy some Sunday afternoon music. My sister introduced me to Cava,” said Jacqueline. “We went to see them at the Levitt Pavilion [years ago] and they were awesome. She has an amazing voice.”

Wishing to leave the limelight for his sister Cava, Gabriel Gonzalez spoke briefly after joining the lively ending of the day’s performance.

“Well I’m what you call a hired gun in this scene,” laughed Gon-zalez. “I’m Cava’s older brother and we’ve played in different bands through the years.”

Cava’s older sister and PCC alum, Martha Gonzalez, sings in the Grammy award winning band Quetzal.

“All our children are performers. And our children, they all sing,” said Cava, whose 16-year-old daughter is actress Mia Xitlali.

In continuing the tradition, the three siblings plan to do a story and music performance piece called Caminos y Canciones next year. In it they will share their history of growing up with music in Los An-geles, including memories of their time at the once popular variety show Noche de Variadades, former-ly held at the Million Dollar Theater downtown.

With a voice she finds uncom-monly deeper than contemporary vocalists, Cava’s finale is El Yerberi-to Moderno, a traditional favorite by Celia Cruz that she calls her “Hollywood Bowl” song to be ready for when that day comes.

Cava plays Sundays at the Zona Rosa Café from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

L IFESTYLE September 24, 20156 COURIER

El Grito sets celebratory mood

Katja Liebing/CourierEmie Vega, of the Aztec dance groupYankuititl, dances at the Villa Parke Communi-ty Center in Pasadena on Sept. 16.

Latin rhythm lives in band’s blood

Monique A. LeBleu/CourierCava and drummer Adam Topol of the band Cava play in the Zona Rosa Cafe adja-cent alley on Sept. 13.

Christian RivasCo-Sports Editor

Following a loss to Mt. San Jacin-to Friday, the PCC women’s soccer team bounced back with a huge 5-2 win Tuesday over Glendale at Robinson Stadium.

The Lancers looked out of it at kick-off and Glendale scored early on in the first half. This seemed to have woken the Lancers up and they looked like a completely different team the rest of the game.

The Lancers equalized with a beautiful goal by freshman forward Sandra Ambrosio, but a draw was the farthest thing from their mind after losing Friday. The Lancers wanted this win, and it showed.

Just before the half ended, defender Michelle Morales and the Lancers got the go-ahead goal.

The Lancers hoped to go into the second half with the same confi-dence in attacking the net.

Co-captain Rachel Schroeder opened up the scoring in the second half giving the Lancers the insur-ance goal they needed to secure this win.

Schroeder nearly secured a brace on the evening, but her shot from outside the box late in the second half hit the crossbar.

The Lancers didn’t let up follow-ing Schroeder’s goal.

The net seemed to look ten times bigger to the Lancers and Leila Farazdaghi made a good game into a blowout.

But even with the Lancers’ three-goal cushion, Glendale was looking to attempt an almost impossible comeback. With less than 20 min-utes on the clock, Glendale caught the defense sleeping and curled one

in off the far post to decrease the deficit to two.

The Lancers weren’t taking any chances and forced the ball down the wings for another goal.

Some crafty footwork by Faraz-daghi to beat the defender led to a cross in the box to a wide-open Elena Hueze. Hueze’s goal was the fifth and final of the game.

Coach Reggie Rivas was delighted with the way his team played.

“At halftime we talked about having high energy, high work rate and they came out and scored three

more goals in the second half so I

was very pleased,” said Rivas.

A large part of the win had to do

with how well the Lancers spread

the field. The wingers, Ani Heme-

lians and Leila Farazdaghi, were

dominant throughout the game.

Their pace was too much for Glen-

dale to handle.

Rivas credits his coaching staff

for the adjustment.

“My coaches, coach Kyle and

coach Heidi, both recommended

putting Leila out on the wing which

was a great change they saw,” said

Rivas.

Farazdaghi echoed what coach

Rivas had to say about the team’s

stellar performance in the second

half.

“In the beginning we were off

to a rough start but after halftime

we talked together and we came

back and played a lot better,” said

Farazdaghi.

While it was just a preseason

game, Schroeder believes the team’s

competitive nature had something

to do with their opponent.

“We really wanted this win,” said

Schroeder. “It was a cross-town

rivalry at home and we had a decent

crowd today so we definitely wanted

to come away with the win.”

The Lancers play their final pre-

season game away against Fullerton

College at 4 p.m.

Keely DamaraManaging Editor

Lancers volleyball swept Rio Hondo and Glendale at the Orange Coast Quad Tournament in Costa Mesa this past weekend in what were their first away games of the season.

Coming off of their first loss last Wednesday against Ventura, middle blocker Kendra Logan, a third-year red shirt sophomore, said they were determined to follow through during the tournament games over this past weekend.

“We learned a lot from it. I think we realized that we can’t just let up on teams,” said Logan of their loss on Wednesday. “I know I was getting beat on blocks and stuff like that and we were also getting beat on serve receive a lot, but other than that we were doing pretty well.”

Their first tournament match was against Rio Hondo and the Lancers

won 3-1, giving up their second set 22-25 but coming back and shutting down Rio Hondo in the last two sets 25-15.

Coach Kari Post said that soph-omore middle blocker Chy’Annea Hodges was a powerhouse over the weekend, with two digs, three solo blocks and 10 block assists against Rio Hondo.

“I think that overall for the whole weekend Chy’Annea Hodges—she just shined— she blocked the ball like a beast,” said Post.

The Lancers women felt confi-dent playing Glendale, but freshman setter Hannah Clarke felt that they needlessly gave up runs later in the game, even though they swept them 3-0.

“We played our game, the first set, very well—that’s when we actu-ally got our runs —but we kind of gave up a lot of runs,” said Clarke. “I feel like the only thing we need to work on is getting consistent in playing our game.”

Post said that although there are

a lot of experienced players on the court this year, a lot of them are returning from a season off so it still feels like a new team.

One of her goals for her first year as head volleyball coach is an even record this season. Right now they are 4-1.

Post is excited to see how the Lancers women perform at the Pierce Invitational this weekend against teams like Pierce—the No. 2 team in the state, along with Foothill.

“The big thing for us is that we’re going to have to be able to serve receive,” said Post. “Passing the ball is one of the biggest consistencies that we’re going to have to face. We’re going to be playing teams like Pierce and it’ll be fun to see how we match up to them. I think we are very close if not just as good as them.

The Lancers are headed to Woodland Hills this Friday for the two-day Pierce Invitational in Woodland Hills.

SPORTS September 24, 20157 COURIER

Lancers volleyball sweeps Orange Coast Quad Tournament

Irma Carrillo/CourierChy’Annea Hodges makes an overhead pass against Rio Hondo College for the win at the Quad tournament hosted by Orange Coast College on Saturday.

Eric Haynes/CourierSophomore midfielder Rachel Schroeder battles it out with a Vaquero during the womens’ soccer game against Glendale Community College at PCC on Tuesday.

Lancers look great in win over Glendale

Men’s Soccer: 0-5-1 (Overall)@ Santa Ana - T, 1-1@ Santiago Canyon - L, 2-0@ Chaffey - L, 1-0v. Rio Hondo - L, 2-0v. San Bernardino Valley - L, 1-0v. San Diego Mesa - L, 5-2

Upcoming Games:9/25 @ Cuyamaca, 4 p.m.9/29 v. Mt. San Antonio, 3 p.m.(SCC Opener)

Women’s Soccer: 2-3 (Overall)@ Santa Ana - L, 2-1v. Moorpark - L, 5-1@ San Diego City - W, 3-0@ Mt. San Jacinto - L, 3-1v. Glendale - W, 5-2

Upcoming Games:9/25 @ Fullerton, 4 p.m.9/29 @ Mt. San Antonio, 4 p.m.(SCC Opener)

Volleyball: 4-1 (Overall)v. Mt. San Jacinto - W, 3-2v. Citrus - W, 3-0v. Ventura - L, 3-2Orange Coast Quad Tournamentv. Rio Hondo - W, 3-1v. Glendale - W, 3-0

Upcoming Games:9/25 - 9/26 Pierce Invitational10/2 v. LA Trade Tech, 6 p.m. (SCC Opener)

Water Polo: 2-3, 0-1 (SCC)@ Chaffey (SCC Opener) - L, 14-3El Camino Tournament v. LA Valley - L, 16-5v. El Camino - W, 16-0

Upcoming Games:Cabrillo Tournament9/25 v. Cabrillo, 8:30 a.m. v. West Valley, 2:10 p.m.9/26 v. Ohlone, 8:00 a.m. v. De Anza, 12:35 p.m.

Football: 0-3 (Overall)@ El Camino - L, 31-23v. Grossmont - L, 51-0@ LA Harbor - L, 24-23

Upcoming Games:9/26 v. Canyons College, 6 p.m.(SCFA NNC Opener)

Cross Country:Upcoming Meet:9/26 Rose City Running Classic, 9:30 a.m.

SPORTS RECAP

Ericka BernabeStaff Writer

She describes herself as a “go getter” and there is nothing that can stop this supermom from achieving her goals.

Twenty-six-year-old Amanda Mu-rillo of El Sereno has no problem juggling being a full time student at Pasadena City College, President of the Paralegal Association, and being a mother to her seven-year-old daughter Alexis.

Murillo has been intrigued with law ever since she was a young girl. She is currently in the process of earning her A.S. degree in politi-cal science and also her paralegal certificate. Her dream is to go to Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and stay local.

As president of the Paralegal Association, Murillo does her best to make sure the club participates and gets exposure in a variety of activities including interacting with the community and participating in food drives.

“We like to get together and create activities surrounded by things a paralegal would do in the work field or get them exposure to the environment, such as field trips

to the court house and field trips to the L.A. Law Library,” Murillo said.

A member of the club, Diana Suarez, said she was hesitant to join until she met Murillo.

“Students are enriched with the knowledge and ability to communi-cate with all Pasadena City College students and of the Paralegal Program, and offers this in the most positive way,” Suarez said.

The association also runs the Law Day event at PCC, which has been around at PCC since the 70s. Although the club only meets once a month, Murillo has many plans for the club for this semester.

“I’m so impressed with Amanda. The club currently looks extremely well organized and is hosting really impressive events much more so than we did back then,” said Pro-fessor Marc Angelucci, who was the former president of the club in the early 90s.

Her secret of handling her busy life is multitasking. Everything she does is planned and written down on her planner, which is something that helps her keep organized with her life.

“I combine my work. I’m always going super fast with everything that I do and I don’t watch TV,”

Murillo said.She also is the admin to her

club’s Facebook and Instagram page (PCCParalegals) that she checks on at least once a week.

Murillo is family oriented and that is the main thing that keeps her going.

“Family is my drive. I lead by

example. I am blessed to live the life that I live,” Murillo said. “My mother, my father, my sister, my aunts, my grandmothers have been great teachers to me. A little bit of them, I carry within me. So I lead by the example I was taught.”

Growing up she was told she would never be anything, yet here

she is doing everything. And she has advice for anyone who feels they cannot succeed.

“You can have anything in this world, just as long as you want it,” she said. “If you put all of your energy and perseverance on what you truly want without giving up, you can achieve it.”

FEATURES September 24, 20158 COURIER

• Car Accidents• Lemon Law• Immigration ~ LOW FLAT FEE

• Car Accidents• Lemon Law• Immigration ~

www.premierjusticelaw.com ALL CONSULTATIONS FREEALL CONSULTATIONS FREE

J P R E M I E R

J U S T I C E L AWP L1-800-515-37301-800-515-3730Need A Lawyer?Need A Lawyer?

Susan Lee Yu, Esq. Susan Lee Yu, Esq.facebook.com/csudhtwitter.com/dominguezhills

CSU Dominguez Hills | (310) 243-3422 | 1000 E. Victoria Street | Carson, CA 90747

You have a world of ideas.Let’s hear them.

At CSU Dominguez Hills, our students represent many cultures. And share multiple perspectives. With one of the nation’s most diverse campuses, including a thriving international community, we encourage our students to embrace their individuality. While preparing them to collaborate in a global workforce.

CSUDH.EDU/International(310) 243-3422

U.S. News & World Report ranks CSU Dominguez Hills among the most ethnically diverse universities in the West.

CSUDH_Ad_PasadenaCC_Courier_Fall2015.indd 1 9/18/15 4:47 PM

Supermom, student, club president, parent

Kristen Luna/CourierParalegal studies student Amanda Murillo studying in the Shatford Library on Friday, Sept. 11. Murillo is a single parent and president of the Paralegal Association. She is in her second year in the paralegal studies program and working towards her associate’s degree in political science.

PCC One zooming in on rising TV news starsJulius ChoiStaff Writer

Lancer Lens held auditions to find new hosts for Pasadena City College’s daily news show, PCC One, on Thursday.

This is the second year in a row that Lancer Lens has held auditions open to anyone who was interested in landing the host position. In years past, the hosting gig was only open to students who were enrolled in television and radio classes.

“This is a great opportunity for those who want to pursue a career in broadcast journalism as well as those who want to build more confidence performing in front of a camera,” said PCC One producer David Steiman.

PCC One is PCC’s official daily video program that informs stu-dents of the events that are taking place at school and what is going on involving the school itself. The show is broadcasted on television all around campus in building hallways. Every episode of the show can also be accessed online on PCC’s YouTube page.

The host selection is a two-step process where the applicants first go inside of the recording room and read from the script that is on the teleprompter. From there, every applicant’s audition is uploaded onto Facebook for the public to decide who performed best.

The top five applicants with the most votes on their audition video will land a spot as a host for the en-tire 2015-16 academic school year.

A few students who auditioned for the role said that landing this opportunity would have a huge impact on their future in years to

come.“I looked at this as a good way

to gain experience for performing in front of a camera because I am a dance and theater arts major,” said Jessica Lavren Taylor, a second year student at PCC. “I wanted to test myself and I wouldn’t normally do and step out of my comfort zone. This will allow me to be more well rounded and learn new skills.”

First year PCC student Keno Deary Jr. saw this audition as a step closer to achieving his goal of land-ing his dream job.

“I had a really good time during my audition,” said Deary Jr., a first year communications major. “In the future I hope to be a sports broad-caster and this is one step closer to reaching my goal. The more hours you put into your craft, the better you will become.”