vol. 67 edition 2
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CURRENTThe American River
@ARCurrent/ARCurrentcom @ARCurrentVol. 67, Ed. 2
ARCURRENT.COM CAMPUS PULSE: ARC STUDENTS REACT TO THE FATAL SHOOTING AT FELLOW LOS RIOS SCHOOL SAC CITY COLLEGEPAGE 10
September 16, 2015
GOS”:FORMER ARC FASHION PROFESSOR GERRY OTIS SIMPSON REINVIGORATES DEL PASO WITH POP ART PAGE 7
SAC CITY SHOOTINGFatal shooting at Sacramento City College on Sept. 3 leaves Los Rios District shaken, looking for answers
GUNMAN AT LARGEKiller of Sacramento City College
student Roman P. Gonzalez has not yet been apprehended by police
ALTERCATIONFight between four men preceded fatal shooting, according to SCC
public information officer
Bus passsubject to voteFEES WILL INCREASE IF PASSES ARE KEPT
By John [email protected]
Like many other students, Romy Ewing regularly catches the bus and light rail to travel be-tween Los Rios campuses to get to her classes. That may change, however, if students reject a mea-sure up for a vote on eServices on Sept. 22 and 23 that would renew the universal transit pass until 2021.
The universal transit pass (UTP) currently allows Los Rios students to travel on all Sacra-mento Regional Transit (RT) light rail and buses for a fee ranging from $5.54 to $16.62 per semes-ter paid by all students as part of their registration fees.
The contract between Los Rios and Regional Transit ends in No-vember 2016, after which there will be no UTP unless students approve Measure A.
“(UTP) is so great because so many people have no other way of getting to school,” said Ew-ing. “It’d be a shame if someone couldn’t get to school because of something like that.”
Measure A would increase the fee students pay for the UTP to $2.10 per unit, capped at 15 units. A student taking 15 or more units would pay $31.50 per semester, compared to $16.62 now.
The fees would no longer be covered by the Board of Gover-nors (BOG) fee waiver, according to Juan Miguel Blanco, adviser for the Associated Student Body stu-dent government.
“That’s going to cause some difficulties for some students,” said Blanco. “That’s the honest truth.
“It is an ultimatum. Either stu-dents agree with the proposed agreement or students lose the bus pass.”
RT aims to increase the aver-age fare for Los Rios students from 15 cents to 57 cents a trip.
If the cost falls below 50 cents per trip then, according to the draft terms for negotiation ap-proved by the RT Board of Direc-tors, RT can decide to terminate the agreement with a notice of one year.
Another change from the cur-rent agreement is that students taking three or less units would no longer be eligible for the UTP.
“Many disabled students take between two and three units,” said Laurie Jones, an American River College student who serves as treasurer for Region 2 of the Student Senate for California
Above photo by Ashlynn Johnson / Below photo by Barbara HarveyAbove, Davida Trejo, mother of shooting victim Roman Gonzalez, mourns her son’s death on Sept. 3. Below, a memorial for the victim grows at SCC.
RT | PAGE 2MOURNING | PAGE 3ALERT | PAGE 3
ALERT: Students voice concern over time taken for ALERT message to be sent
By Kameron Schmid and John [email protected]@gmail.com
When Sacramento City College student Darling Perry left her bi-ology class at 3:50 p.m. on Sept. 3, she decided to ride her bike to the grocery store before going home. As she neared Freeport Boule-vard, she saw police cars rac-ing toward the school with their lights on.
As it turned out, the route she normally would have taken home was the scene of a fatal shooting just minutes after she left cam-pus.
“Usually I bike right through where it happened in the park-ing lot,” said Perry. “Normally, I’m
MOURNING: Sacramento City College grieves and reflects after fatal shooting
By Barbara Harvey and John [email protected]@gmail.com
As students, faculty and staff at Sacramento City College came together to mourn, new informa-tion has come to light about the victim of the fatal shooting on campus Sept. 3.
Roman P. Gonzalez, 25, was a first-year SCC student, but had previous run-ins with the law, ac-cording to the Sacramento Bee.
According to the Bee, Gonzalez pleaded no contest to a charge of assault with a deadly weapon in 2006 and served six months of a two-year sentence. He was taken into police custody twice after his release on parole.
OUR ‘WORST NIGHTMARE’FIRST-EVER SHOOTING AT A LOS RIOS COLLEGE LEAVES DISTRICT RATTLED
ON THE WEBFor complete coverage of the fatal shooting at Sacramento City College and the
response from the Los Rios District, go to ARCurrent.com
Page 2 NewsSeptember 16, 2015
Editor-in-ChiefJohn Ferrannini
Managing EditorsCheyenne DruryMatthew Peirson
News EditorLena DoBynes
Sports EditorsNicholas CoreyKevin Sheridan
Arts and Culture EditorJoseph Daniels
Scene EditorsEmily ThompsonAshley Nanfria
Opinion EditorsAshlynn JohnsonMychael Jones
Multimedia EditorKameron Schmid
Web EditorBarbara Harvey
StaffNoor AbasiJose Garcia
Johnnie HeardMatthew NobertMichael Pacheco
Joe PadillaIris Page
Karen ReayJordan Schauberger
Matthew WilkePaul Xayphone
AdviserWalter Hammerwold
Photo AdviserJill Wagner
POLICYThe Current is produced by the students of College Media Production, J410-413. All opinions are signed and not necessarily endorsed by the Current staff. All letters and articles appearing in the Editorial, Opinion or Forum sections are not necessarily representative of the Current staff or American River College policy. All articles are the property of the Current. Letters must be typed and can be submitted by mail, e-mail or in person at the following addresses:
The American River Current4700 College Oak DriveLiberal Arts, Room 120Sacramento, CA 95841Phone: 916-484-8304Fax: 916-484-8668E-mail: [email protected]
PROUD MEMBERS OF THE CNPA & JACC
american rivercurrent
STUDENT GOVERNMENT APPOINTS MEMBERS TO MOSTLY EMPTY BOARDSASBNOTEBOOK
RT: Measure would renew pass until 2021CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Community Colleges.RT said it is working now to ad-
dress these concerns.“The concern relative to dis-
abled students enrolled in three units or less has recently come to our attention,” said Rosemary Covington, the assistant general manager of planning and transit system development for RT, in an email. “We are working with Los Rios staff to address the issue.”
ARC student Bruce Rand said that allowing only students with more than three units at the school to have a UTP may encour-age students to take more units at ARC.
“This seems quite important,” said Rand. “It gives encourage-ment for students to bump up their units a little bit.”
Students taking three units or less, however, would be eligible for a discounted monthly RT pass, which is currently priced at $100 but would be $50 with a discount.
Students taking three or less units have also been deemed in-eligible to vote in the election.
“The reason why that’s hap-pening is according
to the education
code, if you’re not impacted by this measure, (the Los Rios dis-trict is) allowed to say you don’t get to vote,” said Garrett Kegel, the student senate president.
Jones critiqued the decision to limit the election to students who are taking more than three units.
“(The district is) saying they won’t be impacted but they will
be because they don’t get a bus pass,” said Jones. “That’s a bit in-teresting.”
Included in the agreement is a flat $10 fee that any student dur-ing the summer session can pay for a UTP lasting from their first to last day of classes. There is cur-rently no UTP during the summer months.
Cameron Weaver, the Los Rios student trustee, expressed his frustration with Measure A.
“We’re kind of in a situation where we don’t have a choice,” said Weaver.
Jones agrees with Weaver’s sentiment.
“They’re playing hardball. It’s take it or leave it,” Jones said. “If we don’t pass it, there will be no student passes at all. It feels a little odd.”
According to RT, Los Rios stu-dents accounted for 4.4 million rides on buses and light rail in the 2014 fiscal year. RT claims that if approved, the new agreement could increase their revenue by $1.4 million in the first year.
RT said the move to limit the UTP to students taking more than three units is an effort to cut down on fraud.
“Limiting pass sales to students enrolled in more than three units is designed to remove what has become an incentive for individu-als who enroll in classes for the sole purpose of obtaining a lower fare on RT,” said Covington. “No RT passenger pays the full cost of a transit trip and any form of fare abuse helps reduce the percent-age of the cost of a trip paid by our riders.”
John Ferrannini / [email protected] American River College students hurry to board the No. 1 bus near the cor-ner of College Oak Drive and Orange Grove Avenue on Aug. 31.
By Jordan [email protected]
The Associated Student Body has appointed members to both the Clubs and Events Board and Stu-dent Senate as they continue to find their footing to start the year.
CAEB swore in Mary Stedman as vice president, which brings the total leadership board to three students.
With five positions still vacant, CAEB President Justin Nicholson mentioned that he has received several packets and hopes to be filling out the board’s “skeleton crew” soon.
Student Senate has had more luck filling out their board and has
appointed four new Senators.Kevin Phan and James Cor-
twight were appointed during Thursday’s meeting and David Hylton and Laurie Jones were appointed during the previous week’s meeting.
ASB has, as a whole, unani-mously endorsed the universal transit pass Measure A. The mea-sure will increase the fee students pay for UTP to $2.10 per unit, cap-ping at 15 units.
The board approved to allocate $300 to print business cards for the Senate members.
“Business cards are the best form of advocacy that we can have,” said Tamara Dunning, who acted as ASB student senate presi-dent last year.
The board also allocated $300 a piece to fund the printing of bike locker forms and advertising for the Measure A vote on the uni-versal transit pass to encourage students to vote yes. Both bills passed by a vote of 4-1.
“I think that things are being done out of order,” said Sen. Jones, who voted against both bills.
“I’m not against what the bills are doing, but we need to find out how the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) is going to divide funds be-tween Student Senate and CAEB before we approve to fund these bills,” she said.
The board approved a resolu-tion in response to 138 reported crimes on campus between Janu-ary and March 2015.
The resolution calls for educa-tion on crime and sexual assault prevention, implication of more technology, allocation of resourc-es and collaboration between the ASB and administration.
CAEB is planning a Club Day for September 24 that will have a “Let the Games Begin” theme.
ARC awarded federal grantsBy Jordan [email protected]
American River College was awarded three $1.1 million grants which will be used to benefit the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), Journey and Veterans Project programs on campus.
The money was awarded to the campus in July by the U.S. Depart-ment of Education through the Federal TRIO program. The TRIO program is designed to reach out to underprivileged students.
ARC is the only school in the Los Rios district to receive a TRIO grant.
ARC President Thomas Greene outlined how the money from the grants will be spent.
“It goes towards workshops, tutoring and counseling, field trips to four-year colleges and pays for the administrators of the program,” said Greene. “The students really receive a wrap-
around service.”The Journey program, which
was established in 2010 follow-ing another federal grant, pro-vides services and support for low income first-generation stu-dents who are seeking a degree or looking to transfer.
Betty Low, project director for the Journey program, described the work Journey does as a way for students to utilize the re-sources on campus so that they can be successful.
“We’ve spent the last five years identifying students, working with them one-on-one and pair-ing them with peer tutors,” said Low. “We really focus on incom-ing freshman students so we can prepare them for what college culture is like, what classes are like and what professors expect.”
Jon Jordan, a student who went through the program and has now returned as a math tu-tor, compared Journey to the AVID program found at most high
schools.“Journey is my AVID,” said
Jordan. “Without (Journey) I wouldn’t have knowledge about transferring or information about four-year colleges like UC Davis and Sac State. Now, as a tu-tor, I’d be lost in the dark trying to help new students if it wasn’t for the program.”
Low is eager to put the money to good use and explore more options for the students in the program.
“The big push now that we’ve got the new grant and we’re good for the next five years is to ramp up and start doing new things,” said Low. “We get the opportunity to open the box and be like ‘look at this stuff’ and explore what it all means and what is actually an option for them.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Low added. “We get to be like a cheerleader on the sideline for these students as we watch them succeed.”
In the fall of 2014, ARC was in
the process of reapplying for the the Journey program and, due to the success that Journey has experienced over the past five years, the Department of Educa-tion decided to write grants for the STEM and the Veterans Proj-ect programs as well.
Both programs will use the awards to support low-income and first-generation students. However, the STEM programs focus more on students who show an interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
“It provides a resource for the other colleges in the district,” said Greene about the grants and what it means for the other com-munity colleges in the district. “It strengthens our ability to collab-orate and that goes both ways.”
ARC is in the process of plan-ning a proposal for three new grants in the education talent search branch of the TRIO pro-gram for early next year.
ON THE WEBFor weekly coverage of the
Student Senate and Clubs and Events Board meetings, go to
ARCurrent.com
Page 3News September 16, 2015
Mourning: ‘You don’t expect that to happen here’CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The Sacramento Police Depart-ment is investigating whether the shooting was connected with gang activity.
Police arrested SCC student Rico Ridgeway, 24, early Sept. 4 for his role in the altercation that led to the shooting. Ridgeway was transported to the hospital after the shooting with minor injuries which did not require treatment.
Ridgeway, who was held on a parole violation, was seen in a video of the incident trying to give CPR to Gonzalez as he lay on the ground moments after the shooting.
The suspected shooter, de-scribed by police as a male, wear-ing a white shirt and cargo shorts and Tongan has not been appre-hended by police as of press time.
Police said that Gonzalez and Ridgeway were involved in an al-tercation with two other men in a faculty parking lot. Ridgeway
allegedly stabbed an SCC student, who was taken to the hospital but is expected to survive.
Then a fourth man shot Gonza-lez and Ridgeway, killing Gonza-lez and wounding Ridgeway.
Ryan Walker, an employee at the nearby KFC, was walking on campus with his girlfriend, an SCC student, when he heard gun-shots.
“I heard six to seven gunshots and (my girlfriend) asked ‘What’s that?’ I said ‘gunshots’ and she didn’t believe me. That’s when across the street we saw a bunch of people standing around. There was a heavyset white fellow lying down and they were trying to re-suscitate him ... We saw another skinny fellow walking around panicking. I think that was (the victim’s) friend.”
Vienna Montague, news editor of the Sac City Express, was in disbelief as news of the shooting spread.
“We kind of all thought it might
be a hoax at first because it’s im-possible to imagine that there’s been a shooting on your campus.”
SCC student Tyler Cole was in the library when he learned of the shooting.
“I got a text from my mom ask-ing me if I was OK … I was sitting in the library checking the in-ternet, and very soon there was a post from KCRA saying three people got shot. Quickly after, one was reported dead.”
Cole remained in the library during the lockdown.
“We were on lockdown for about an hour and twenty min-utes, and then the cops came in and cleared it, building-to-build-ing, and eventually let us out,” said Cole after being evacuated.
A memorial was erected at the spot in the staff and faculty park-ing lot where Gonzalez was shot.
“RIP Flaks,” was spelled out in tea candles and surrounded by flowers, balloons and empty bottles of Hennessy. “Flaks” was
Gonzalez’s nickname. Family and friends were gathered around the memorial, but declined to com-ment.
Students were invited to an open counseling session with Los Rios counselors and police chap-lains on Sept. 4 from 9 a.m.–2 p.m. Others attended a “love in” at the nearby quad—an event or-ganized by Supervisor of Admis-sions and Records Kim Goff as a way for the Sacramento City Col-lege community to come together and process their emotions.
“It was a traumatic event and we have a history of coming to-gether after something happens that is either really good or really bad,” Goff said. “So, it just seemed like the right thing to do.”
Goff noted that the community was still very much in mourning the day after the shooting.
“People are sad. People are re-ally sad. You know, someone lost his life. These things, it’s one of those things where, ‘Oh, it always
happens somewhere else.’ Now it’s happened here.”
Student services employee John Cornejo taped posters around campus with encourag-ing messages like “Times like this bring us together” and “Panther family.” Cornejo said that the mood on campus was “somber.”
“A lot of students aren’t show-ing up because what happened,” said Cornejo. “You don’t expect that to happen here.”
Los Rios Chancellor Brian King described the shooting as a “nightmare.”
“It’s your worst nightmare to find out that something has hap-pened to one of our students on one of our campuses,” said King.
King reiterated, however, that he is proud of how the SCC dealt with the shooting.
“Many people here who didn’t know how great their risk was put themselves in harm’s way to help students and others get to the right place,” said King.
Alert: District to review policiesCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
right there at that time.”The shooting, which Los Rios Chief of
Police Cheryl Sears said began at 3:56 p.m., sent the campus into a lockdown, but most staff and faculty at SCC had to figure that out for themselves, rather than receiving an alert from the school.
“We didn’t know what was going on,” said Barbara Izzo, an employee at the li-brary. “We had no communication. All I heard was ‘Oh, there’s a lockdown,’ and I had 400 students on the second and third floor.”
In most cases, students and faculty agree that the email and text alerts about the lockdown came around 4:40 p.m., roughly 45 minutes after the shooting. Those on campus were unaware of the nature of the shooting, if the shooter was on the loose and what they were supposed to do.
Biology professor Virginia Meyer said on Friday that she and a fellow professor had to call the police themselves and tell them what they knew, at which point they were told to get all the students inside their building and lock the doors.
The only problem with that was the main entrance to Lillard Hall is set in an open position in the morning, and can only be closed and locked with both an allen wrench and the key. Meyer said the mo-ments where they struggled to close the door were frightening.
“It took us a while to figure out,” she said. “It was scary because we were try-ing to get students in and get them behind locked doors and safe.”
Meyer’s husband, Robert Meyer, was working in Shingle Springs when he was called by his wife and told that there was an active shooter on campus. When he learned of some of the problems the school had during the lockdown, he be-came angry.
“If it had been someone coming on cam-pus to do real harm, instead of probably a gang thing, that could have been a disas-ter. And not having a tool to lock the door? Ditto. It’s ridiculous,” he said.
All told, many on campus on Sept. 4 ex-pressed frustration at the delay between the shooting and the alert being sent out.
“I was really mad,” said Izzo. “My son called me at 4:04 p.m., and I didn’t get a notification from the school until 4:40.
“I think that they weren’t prepared. You have to contact 24,000 students.”
According to Scott Crow, American River College’s public information officer, the ALERT text message system used at Los Rios colleges started “at least four to five years” ago.
The ALERT system is designed to inform students, faculty and staff about emergen-cies on campus. It is run through W.A.R.N. Command, a Tennessee-based company that runs emergency alert systems.
According to Rick Brewer, SCC’s public information officer, the response took 45 minutes to ensure accurate information and to follow district protocol.
“We were waiting for the exact, right information,” said Brewer. “We were not about to put our erroneous information just to be wrong.”
Brewer said that once the credibility of the shooting was established, Los Rios Chief of Police Cheryl Sears was informed and she decided with Laduan Smedley, the vice president of administrative services, to put the school on lockdown and told him to send out the alert.
“It takes a few minutes. This is not some-thing that takes seconds,” said Brewer. “I called the company that does the alerts and dictated the message and they sent it out at the earliest available time.”
Crow said that students can sign up for the ALERT system when they apply to a Los Rios college, when they fill out their
supplementary enrollment form before each semester or at any time through their eServices accounts.
Messages can be tailored to particular campuses or even groups of people on campus. Even students who do not sign up to receive text messages receive similar alerts on their Los Rios Gmail accounts.
“It really depends on the situation,” said Crow. “There are different lists (for) day students, night students (and) different places.”
According to data kept by the district, the system was used for “serious” mes-sages four times between April 2014 and Thursday’s shooting.
Only one of these was for American River College, when in January, students, faculty and staff at the Natomas Center were informed about an individual with a weapon in the area.
Chief Sears agreed with Brewer’s assess-ment of why it took 45 minutes to send the text message alert.
“We waited until we had a specific fact to send out,” she said.
Not everybody got the alert at the same time, according to Sears.
“Some people got the email first, some others got the text first. And people got the alerts at various times,” said Sears. “When you’re relying on technology, it’s hard.”
Barry Kalar, an administration of justice professor at SCC, agreed that relying on technology brings its own challenges. He said he was informed of the shooting at about 4:40 p.m.
“The problem is that when I’m teaching, I’m not looking at my phone,” said Kalar. “One of my students got it on her phone and said ‘Oh my God, we’re in lockdown.’”
Los Rios Chancellor Brian King said that the speed of the ALERT system was some-thing he intends to look at.
“It’s never quick enough,” said King. “The need to get the response out quickly is there, so that’s one of the things that we’ll examine. What can we do to speed that process?”
King announced on Sept. 9 that J.P. Sher-ry, the general counsel for the district, is tasked “to coordinate an external review of the timeline of events (on Sept. 3) and propose recommendations to strengthen preparation for possible future incidents as we move forward together.”
Barbara Harvey / [email protected] Meyer, the husband of Sacramento City College biology professor Virginia Meyer, and Mary Robinson, an employee at the college’s library, hug at the “love-in” held at the Quad at SCC on Sept. 4, 2015, the day after a fatal shooting occurred on campus.
Page 4 SportsSeptember 16, 2015
Athletic center reopensBy Matthew [email protected]
Student athletes once again have a place to call their own with the reopening of the Dusty Baker Center, which closed its doors almost three years ago.
During its closure, athletes had to go to general counselors. The center was originally closed in part because it was too small.
Now that the center has re-turned, there are full-time and part-time athletic counselors to help students achieve their academic and athletic goals.
The center also wants to help
clear up any confusion as far as eligibility and financial aid are concerned.
The overall goal of the center is to “help with the academic side of the student athlete,” said Olga Prizhbilov, a student personal assistant at the center.
The center also hosts work-shops for eligibility, time man-agement, study skills and “de-stressing.”
The center has held 16 workshops over the sum-mer during the evenings to work with the athletes busy schedules.
The workshops were hosted for the football team to help
them with time management and study skills.
“It helps when counselors know about your academic and athletic goals,” said cross-coun-try runner Anthony Sanchez.
The center will also be offering incentives to individual athletes and teams that obtain a certain GPA throughout the year.
In addition, the California Com-munity College Athletic Associa-tion Scholar Award will be given to any athletes that fulfill the re-quirements for the award, which require that athletes maintain a GPA of 3.2, play at least two semesters and are recommend-ed by the faculty representative.
On top of helping with academic concerns, athletic counselor Diana Allie said the center also “advocates for main-streaming athletes.”
Mainstreaming helps athletes get out of the comfort zone of only being in contact with fellow athletes and helps them become apart of the ARC community as a whole.
Allie said that the center understands that the “life of student athletes is a sense of urgency.”
Already multiple coaches have signed up their teams for work-shops and the staff is hoping to see many more join.
O-line features ‘players’ coach’CRABTREE WANTS ‘PHYSICAL IDENTITY’
By Johnnie [email protected]
American River College offensive line coach Josh Crabtree is used to being versatile.
Hired in 2013, Crabtree was a two-sport athlete in high school, starring in both football and base-ball.
Afterward, Crabtree played both sports at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“It was the kind of school where if we didn’t beat you on the field we knew we would beat you in the classroom,” said Crabtree.
By age 23, Crabtree started teaching at his alma mater, Bear Creek High School in Stockton, be-fore moving to Sacramento where he coached baseball and football at Sheldon High School in Elk Grove for 11 years.
Crabtree reconnected with ARC’s football head coach Jon Osterhout. They originally met in coaching classes together.
“Things kind of fell into place personally,” said Crabtree.
Crabtree said he feels optimis-tic about this year’s offensive line, even saying that this offensive line could be better than last year’s.
Led by the returning starting tackles Max Harrison and Rafael Aguilar, the offensive line will utilize a zone blocking scheme to open up holes for its running game.
It is a physical identity that Crabtree said will help wear a team down.
“Physical run blocking is what every coach wants: to control the clock and grind a team down,” said Crabtree. “We run a spread offense, so when four wide receivers trot onto the field peo-ple assume we are a finesse team.
“But we try to maintain a physical identity.”
Harrison credits Crabtree for making him a better all around player.
“Coach Crabtree is an excel-lent coach,” said Harrison. “He changed my mindset about football.”
Harrison said he believes in coach Crabtree’s approach to the game.
“I bought into his system and believe in everything he stands for, which is hard work and execution,” said Harrison.
Crabtree’s players not only be-lieve in his system but they be-lieve in him as a motivator and as someone who gets the best out of his players.
“He is a players’ coach, but ulti-mately he is not here to be my best friend,” said Aguilar. “He’s here to push me day in and day out for me to be the best version of myself.”
Crabtree plans to put the offensive line’s skills on display Saturday, as ARC hosts San Joaquin Delta College (1-1) at 6 p.m.
Barbara Harvey / [email protected] from left, cross-country runners Stephen Gibson, Anthony Sanchez, Leo Ochoa and cross-country coach Rick Anderson visit the giveaway table at the reopening of the Dusty Baker Center on Sept. 1. The center helps student athletes manage issues including eligibility and financial aid.
Former athletic dean returnsBy Kevin [email protected]
Even though he had been away from American River College for years, Bruce Werner made sure he checked the box scores for every sport.
Werner, who was ARC’s dean of athletics from 1979 to 2001, has re-turned as the school’s interim athletic director until Nov. 1 in place of Greg Warzecka, who retired last month.
Having spent 22 years at ARC, Wer-ner said he became connected to it.
“It was great. I love this place,” said Werner. “Good people, good stu-dents.”
Prior to coming to ARC, Werner was a football and tennis coach for Chabot College for 13 years, and won an award for coaching and adminis-tration.
Werner said he enjoys working with students as a mentor, teacher and as a “sounding board for people with problems,” even having a re-union in June for his 1966-1967 men’s tennis team.
“(Those were the) best years of my
career. You’re working with students everyday,” said Werner. “Coaches have a special relationship with stu-dents. You develop some bonds with people that last for years and years. What happens to a team is really meaningful and it stays with them for a long time.”
While at Chabot, Werner and nine other faculty members founded an education center that eventually be-came Las Positas College, according to the California Community College Athletic Association.
Werner said the job he has allows him to become invested in the pro-gram as a whole.
“When you have a job like mine, you become invested in (ARC’s) pro-gram and its people,” said Werner. “I got a lot of good friends of mine here and I’m still interested in how they’re doing.”
Adaptive PE instructor and current women’s golf head coach Raye Maero, who was hired by a committee that included Werner, described him as being a “good guy.”
“It was my first community college job, so he was instrumental in help-
ing me become a good professor. (He was) very clear in what he expected of people and he gave us good info on how to improve,” said Maero, adding that he often encouraged his staff to be on committees and to go to confer-ences.
Maero also described Werner as being a very enthusiastic person who people want to work hard for.
“(He’s) so enthusiastic it’s conta-gious,” said Maero. “The staff is happy he’s our interim right now.”
Werner was part of a successful at-tempt to block the defunding of com-munity college PE classes in the early 1980s and was named the Physical Education Administrator of the year.
According to assistant athletic di-rector and men’s track and field head coach Rick Anderson, Werner was al-ways involved in various fundraisers around ARC.
This included being a part of the “hoop it up” fundraiser, which came to ARC in May 2000.
“(He’s) different than anyone we’ve had,” said Anderson. “He’s the kind of dean that believes he should be part of everything.”
Bruce Werner, who was the dean of athletics from 1979 to 2001, has returned as an interim until Nov. 1 following the retirement of Greg Warzecka.
INTERIM DIRECTOR ‘SO ENTHUSIASTIC IT’S CONTAGIOUS,’ SAYS WOMEN’S GOLF COACH
Page 5Sports September 16, 2015
SPORTSUPDATES
MEN’S WATER POLOThe team has started its season 0-2 after a tournament at Merced Col-lege. Its next game in tournament will be on tomorrow in San Luis Obispo. It will begin regular season action Sept. 23 at Diablo Valley Col-lege, and open at home in October.
MEN’S SOCCERThe team has started its season 0-4-1, tying Cerritos 1-1 on Sept. 6. In its most recent match, the team lost to City College of San Francisco 2-1 on Saturday. ARC next faces a road match versus 4-1 De Anza, , who is coming off a 3-1 win over Mt. San Antonio College.
MEN’S CROSS-COUNTRYARC ranks third in the state and defeated first ranked Mt. San Antonio College by 20 points to win the Fresno Invitational. ARC placed five runners in the top 11, including sophomore Abdul Hamid, who ranked third with a time of 20 minutes and 57 seconds.
WOMEN’S CROSS-COUNTRYSophomore team captain Jenica Dodge won the overall 5K title in the Fresno Invitational with a time difference of thirty seconds between her and the second place finisher. ARC placed seventh overall among competitors, with a total score of 222.
WOMEN’S WATER POLOThe team has started its season 1-3-1 after an 8-7 loss against Mt. San Antonio College in the River Rage Tournament on Saturday. Only in its win against Cerritos College did it score double digit-points in a game this season, with 10.
VOLLEYBALLThe team has started its season 5-3 with a win at San Joaquin Delta College on Sept. 12 during the Delta Classic Tournament. It defeated Delta in three games in the match by scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 15-9. It’s next home match will be Friday against Porterville College.
UPCOMING HOME GAMES09/16 Men’s Soccer vs. Napa 4:30 p.m.09/18 Volleyball vs. Cabrillo 5 p.m.09/18 Women’s Soccer vs. Fresno 5 p.m.09/19 Football vs. San Joaquin Delta 6 p.m.09/26 Volleyball vs. Butte Noon09/29 Men’s Soccer vs. Santa Rosa 4 p.m.09/30 Volleyball vs. Santa Rosa 6:30 p.m.10/02 Women’s Soccer vs. Modesto 4 p.m.
Joe Padilla / [email protected] West College attacker Nicole Van Leeuwen blocks American River College utility player Rya Minow during the water polo match on Friday.
Women’s soccer makes a splash
By Johnnie [email protected]
Poor field conditions didn’t deter American River College’s women’s soccer team in its 2-0 win against Yuba College, result-ing in the team’s second consecu-tive shut out Friday.
Several pockets of water were spread out throughout the field, making for a slippery play sur-face.
The condition of the field was due to a “required testing for the new (water) well,” according to Scott Crow, ARC’s public informa-tion officer.
“The conditions were kind of rough today, our passes weren’t able to finish because the pud-dles would stop them, so that was pretty difficult,” said sophomore goalie Stephanie Doss.
ARC started slow in the first half as Yuba got three early shots on goal, all of which were deflect-ed by Doss.
“The first half we played like we had already won the game,” said ARC head coach Paul Arellanes.
“The second half we played with a little more urgency. A little
more desire,” Arellanes said.ARC picked up its pace as
the match continued, with the team’s exchanging shots on goal throughout the latter part of the first half.
Yuba was aggressive in the of-fensive zone but was unable to score despite four shots on goal.
“We played a pretty good game, we’re starting to come together as a team,” said Doss, who fin-ished the match with two saves.
ARC forward Amanda Holtzen scored the game’s first goal in the first half
“I think we played pretty well as a team, now we’re ready for Fresno,” said Holtzen.
ARC forward Theresa Cooper scored the game’s only other goal in the second half on an assist from defensive player Whitney Pickard.
Arellanes said he is optimistic and looking towards the team’s next game at Fresno City College.
“It’s been a good week,” said Arellanes. “We’ve got two shut-outs, one at West Valley 1-0 and now one here 2-0, and now we’re getting ourselves ready for Fres-no next Friday and league (tour-nament) after that.”
Matthew Wilke / [email protected] City College’s Stephanie Menqula makes a splash after falling on the water-logged soccer pitch during ARC’s 2-0 win on Friday. Theresa Cooper, 14, had one of ARC’s two goals in the game, helping ARC advance to a 3-1 start.
ARC SHUTS OUT THIRD STRAIGHT TEAM DURING MATCH ON WATER-LOGGED PITCH
Page 6 SportsSeptember 16, 2015
ARC rebounds from lossBy Kevin Sheridankevinsheridan56@ gmail.com
After losing its opener at Modesto Junior College by 31 points, American River College’s football team stands at 1-1 after defeating De Anza College 38-2. It will try to move above .500 Saturday at home as it plays San Joaquin Delta College (1-1).
Day and night differenceAfter getting blown out by MJC
in the road opener, ARC was able to balance itself with a 38-2 win over De Anza College.
ARC failed to move the ball on offense in the first half against MJC, but scored three touch-downs in the first half against De Anza.
After rushing for just 26 yards on 30 carries against MJC, ARC ran for 189 yards on 39 carries against De Anza, 131 of which came from running back Armand Shyne.
“The O-line played exceptional in regards to opening holes for De Anza,” said ARC football head coach Jon Osterhout. “We put a lot on our O-line to carry our football program.”
After the Sept. 5 loss, both ARC coaches and players blamed a poor week of practice for its performance, and both noted a better week of practice as a de-termining factor in the win.
“It was one of those things where we had a good week of practice … these kids didn’t think they could practice at the level we are now,” said ARC offensive line coach Josh Crabtree.
Osterhout said the team will get ready to face SJDC.
“Good win. We’re going to en-joy it tonight and get ready for (SJDC),” said Osterhout. “Win-
ning is the greatest deodorant.”
QB recovers after poor startARC starting quarterback Ji-
had Vercher rebounded from a poor start against MJC where he threw one interception and one lost fumble by throwing for three touchdowns against De Anza College.
Vercher, a sophomore trans-fer from Sacramento State, has a 60 percent completion rate for the season and 460 yards, four touchdowns and one intercep-tion.
According to Vercher, the Sept. 5 loss against MJC helped to focus the team.
“It turned the switch on,” Vercher said. “It made us realize you’re not guaranteed anything. You got to earn everything.”
Fresh faces on defenseARC lost many of its defensive
stalwarts from a season ago, most notably defensive tackle Jordan Carrell, who transferred to the University of Colorado, and linebacker Austin Paulhus, who transferred to the Univer-sity of Nevada.
These transfers have meant that many new starters have had to quickly settle into roles in ARC’s defense, which ranked 6th in the state last season, giv-ing up 19 points and 264 yards per game.
In last week’s win over De Anza, freshman defensive line-
man Anthony Luke had a sack, an interception and five total tackles.
Freshman linebacker and cap-tain Jordan Kunaszyk, who was a medical redshirt last season, has 23 tackles through the first two weeks, which ranks third in the state, and a sack.
“We lost a lot of sophomores.
We lost a few defensive starters due to academics, and one injury. It’s a new team,” said Kunaszyk after ARC’s 41-10 loss at MJC.
After two weeks, ARC’s de-fense is ranked in the middle of the pack at 28th in the state out of 69 teams, giving opponents averages of 306 yards and 21.5 points per game.
Barbara Harvey / [email protected] defensive lineman Anthony Luke brings down De Anza College running back Trevon Harris during ARC’s 38-2 win against De Anza on Sept. 12.
Offense critical in 38-2 winFIVE TDS LEADS TEAM TO VICTORY
By John [email protected]
American River College’s offense found the end zone five times in its 38-2 victory over De Anza College in its home opener. The offense also racked up 390 total yards, 189 of which came on the ground.
Quarterback Jihad Vercher credited Saturday’s win to the offensive line.
“Shout out to the O-line. It starts with those guys,” said Vercher.
“The reason we had all those big passes is because they were blocking their a**** off.”
Less than three minutes into the game, Vercher hit wide receiver Jonathan Lopez for a 26- yard touchdown to give ARC a 7-0 lead.
Vercher added that the mindset changed after last week’s loss at Modesto Junior College.
“Nothing changed as far as practice wise, we just had a different mindset,” said Vercher.
Osterhout said that the team sticks to its process.
“There’s a standard with how we play, how we practice, how we train in the weight room. We just screwed things down tighter and it showed on the scoreboard,” he said.
Doug Grush, the team’s offen-sive coordinator, agreed with that assessment.
“Guys were teed off about losing last week and we had a good week of practice,” said Grush. “De Anza put more pressure than people expected, but our guys didn’t flinch.”
Late in the first quarter, Vercher threw a shovel pass to running back Armand Shyne for a 43-yard touchdown.
The second quarter saw Vercher throw for a 13-yard touchdown run in by wide receiver Khalil Hudson.
Shyne rushed for an 11-yard touchdown near the end of the first half, which gave ARC a 31-0 lead going into the half.
The final touchdown of the night was also scored by Shyne, who ran it in from 55 yards out with 6:08 left in the third quarter.
Shyne also credited the offensive line for giving him the opportunity to score.
“(The line) opened it, I read it,” said Shyne.
“I just want to thank my line-men. That’s all really.”
Offensive line coach Josh Crabtree said that the players are getting better with timing and practice, but warned against becoming too confident.
“They’re learning that what was good enough in 12th grade isn’t good enough on the junior college level,” said Crabtree.
Crabtree also warned against the challenges ahead.
“What we do now, in week two, doesn’t have anything to do with week eleven,” he said.
Barbara Harvey / [email protected] River College wide receiver Khalil Hudson celebrates in the endzone after catching a touchdown pass from quarterback Jihad Vercher during ARC’s 38-2 victory over De Anza College on Sept. 12.
Winning is the greatest deodorant.
JONOSTERHOUT
“PLAYERS ANSWER 41-10 DEFEAT AT MODESTO WITH 38-2 ROUT OF DE ANZA COLLEGE
Page 7Feature September 16, 2015
PAINT THE TOWN
GOS”By Emily [email protected]
Despite his recent success, painter Ger-ry Otis Simpson, better known by his art-world moniker GOS”, only ever picked up a paintbrush for the first time as a way to decorate his walls cheaply.
“I just have fun,” Simpson said. “I started painting because I couldn’t afford to buy art that I really like, so how do I cover my walls? With art I create myself.”
But what began as the result of thrift has evolved into a blossoming career. The former American River College visual mer-chandising professor opened his own art gallery this summer on Del Paso Boule-vard to a crowd of over 300, and has made waves in the art world with his colorful, pop art depictions of African-American life.
Simpson gets his ideas for his paintings from his everyday life. He first started with kids (based on his own), which are still a focus of his art, as evidenced by his “Let The Children Play” series, a collection of paintings depicting children in urban en-vironments at play.
Years after picking up his first paint brush, his works have been featured on TV shows like “90210” and on permanent dis-play in various locations including the UC Davis Medical Center. One of his personal favorite paintings, “Pop Icon Float Like A
Butterfly,” just came back from being on display at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
Originally from New Jersey, Simpson has been involved in creative ventures since he was a child, including music, modeling, photography, and notably fashion mer-chandising—the reason he came to Cali-fornia in the first place.
After winning a trip to California through a fashion contest, Simpson began working in San Jose as a stylist for Nordstrom.
Simpson moved to Sacramento to work as a merchandising manager when Nor-dstrom opened at Arden Fair Mall, and it was there that he met ARC interior plan-ning and design professor Marie Cooley.
“I met Gerry and was blown away by his knowledge and personality: I knew he would make a great teacher,” said Cooley.
Cooley hired Simpson as a professor of visual merchandising and fashion promo-tion for ARC’s fashion department. He held the job for 10 years before leaving to pur-sue other interests, but was transforma-tive to the program during his time there.
“(Simpson) taught our VM class for many years and brought it to a wonderful, para-professional level … People who were regulars at the Oak Cafe would arrive early just to look at the window displays from Gerry’s classes,” Cooley said.
Eva Meisner-Bell, a student personnel assistant in the Career Center and former colleague of Simpson’s, says she found
“something that was very touching about his art,” and appreciates the “cultural nu-ances that he makes it a point to add to his art.”
Simpson remembers his time at ARC fondly. He said that teaching at ARC will al-ways be one of the things he is most proud of—and fashion is still a large part of his life, as is apparent when browsing his gal-lery.
The sharply-dressed Simpson has filled his space with brightly colored paintings, mannequins, and figures. The walls of the Del Paso “galletique”—a portmanteau of “gallery” and “boutique” he uses to de-scribe his space—are lined with shelves meticulously decorated with trinkets in a way only a merchandiser could.
For now, Simpson’s main goal is to bring more artists into his space to showcase lo-cal up-and-coming artists and reinvigorate the Del Paso artist community.
The community of artists in Del Paso Heights was once bustling, but after the murder of a gallery owner in the late ’90s and the development of artist housing in midtown, the scene mostly moved down-town.
Like his many personal reinventions, Simpson now hopes to help reinvent the community, and wants his “galletique” to be a catalyst for resurrecting the cultural spirit of Del Paso.
“I want to be what makes Del Paso come back alive,” Simpson said.
Barbara Harvey / [email protected]” stands before his piece “Pop Culture Icon Float Like A Butterfly,” a portrait of Muhammad Ali that recently came back from display at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
Barbara Harvey / [email protected]’s “Untitled,” an acrylic work featuring his signature circles, hangs in his “galletique.”
FORMER ARC PROFESSOR BRINGS LIGHT TO DEL PASO ART COMMUNITY WITH COLORFUL POP ART PAINTINGS
Barbara Harvey / [email protected]’s “Up, Up and Away,” an acrylic on canvas painting from his “Let The Children Play” series, shows GOS”’s signature style.
Page 8 Arts&CultureSeptember 16, 2015
By Iris [email protected]
The American River College theater department is currently rehearsing for an upcoming musical, “The Music Man,” that features a con man who at-tempts to trick a small town into thinking he’s a band organizer.
The musical won five Tony Awards when it made its run on Broadway.
“It’s family entertainment,”
said ARC professor Sam Wil-liams, who is the director of the production.
Williams chose “The Music Man” for having a large lineup of characters. This allowed him to cast more students for roles.
“It’s going have a whole lot of beautiful scenery,” said Williams. “A whole lot of humorous acting, a whole lot of dazzling dancing. It’s going to be grand.”
Student actors said they are enthusiastic about this year’s
play.“When you see the barber-
shop quartet, you’re going to fall apart,” said Zackary Tucker, who has been selected to play the mayor of the city. It will be his first play at ARC.
“We put a lot of work and time into the show,” said student actor Deon Taylor. “It’s going to be awesome because there’s a lot of talent in the show.”
The play is written by Mere-dith Willson. He also is known for
writing the musicals “The Un-sinkable Molly Brown”, “Miracle on 34th Street” and “1491.”
Taylor, who has been in previous ARC plays, said that he likes that Williams is allowing the actors to develop their char-acters themselves.
“He leaves it up to us and respects our craft as well as we respect that he can tell us what we’re missing,” said Taylor.
“The Music Man” will make its debut on Oct. 9.
A con man comes to ARCKaren Reay / [email protected]
“The Music Man” cast members rehearse choreography for the upcoming show. The show is directed by ARC professor Sam Williams and opens Oct. 9.
‘THE MUSIC MAN,’ A TONY-AWARD WINNER, IS SET TO OPEN ON CAMPUS THIS OCTOBER
Vocal jazz group to recruit studentsENSEMBLE TRAINS FOR NOV. 4 CONCERT
By Jose Garcia and Paul Xayphone [email protected],[email protected]
Arthur Lapierre, the vocal jazz ensemble director, held auditions for American River College’s advanced vocal jazz ensemble to seek students with an enthusi-astic sound for their upcoming performances.
Auditions for the advanced jazz ensemble were held Aug. 25 in the music department for a con-cert that will open on Nov. 4.
“You have to work hard to be on the jazz ensemble, that’s the negative,” said Lapierre.
“The positive is that you will have the skills to hang at a big school.”
Students were given a week to prepare for the audition.
Everyone auditioning had to sing in four-part harmony to a song titled “There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens.”
Students who are selected are expected to make a two semester commitment.
Colin Ingraham auditioned for the part of tenor in the ensemble.
“I’m immersed in music this semester because it’s my passion and I’m pursuing it now,” said In-graham.
The audition not only drew the attention of students with a passion for singing, but also attracted a professional singer.
Beth Duncan is a professional singer from Sacramento who has been a recording artist for over 30 years and has been focusing on jazz exclusively for 15 years.
“I was nervous while audition-ing. You’d be a fool not to be in a competitive situation like that,” said Duncan.
Julia Merris-Miche, a student who sang on the beginning jazz ensemble for a year and a half, said she auditioned so she could show the progress she’s made over the last year.
“I was nervous going into it but I had the upperhand, because I knew what the audition piece was going to be, and I spent two weeks before school started getting familiar with the piece,” said Miche.
Auditions are usually held in the fall semester for an entire year, but students who want to join the jazz ensemble are welcome to talk to Lapierre about joining.
“I would like to work with any student at ARC who loves to sing. Come on by and sing in our award winning ensemble,” said Lapierre.
The Nov. 4 concert, the 8th An-nual Jazz Solo Vocal Series Con-cert, will begin at 8 p.m. in the ARC Theatre. Admission is $10.
School honors late professorKANEKO GALLERY DEDICATES ART SHOWCASE TO THE MEMORY OF ARTIST ALBERTSONBy Joseph [email protected]
When he first discovered late American River College profes-sor Jim Albertson’s paintings, art professor Mick Sheldon said that his initial reaction was that he hated them. However, he said he grew to love them after they stuck in his mind for years.
Albertson died from natural causes in July. He had lived in Sac-ramento since 1989 after living in Oakland.
ARC’s James Kaneko Gallery, curated by Sheldon, is hosting an art show dedicated to Albertson through tomorrow.
“He was the smartest man that I know,” Sheldon said. “Jim Albert-son knew everything about art.”
Albertson’s work was described by several faculty members as having roots in realism, but often his work would appear dream-like, and even possess nightmar-ish qualities.
Kewpie dolls and African art could also be seen playing fre-quent roles in Albertson’s work as well.
“He would be the guy who would drag in a box filled kewpie dolls, because he would collect kewpie dolls from the state fairs and carnivals, and he would col-
lect African art,” Sheldon said.Art professor Jodi Hooker
agreed with Sheldon’s high as-sessment of Albertson.
“If I was out on second Saturday, and I would see him and his wife at a gallery, hearing his comments about the work, and the questions that he asked and the thoughts he had about the work of any artist
out there were just super spot on, and intriguing and very bright,” Hooker said.
Some of the art professors said that Albertson was the type of professor who did not just teach new concepts to students, but to professors as well.
Because of that quality, Sheldon said that he believed Albertson
should have been teaching at a university.
“He would give you two cents about movement that was hap-pening, or maybe about a work that everyone was looking at,” said Mattson. “I always felt he was always going to be a wealth of in-formation, and a wealth of knowl-edge.”
Noor Abasi / [email protected]“Table Land/On the Edge” by the late ARC art professor James Albertson is featured at the James Kaneko Gallery until tomorrow. The first Kaneko show of the school year was dedicated to Albertson’s work.
Page 9Scene September 16, 2015
TAKETHISCLASS MUP 323: Latin Jazz EnsembleBy Michael [email protected]
Student musicians interested in both honing their craft and learning a unique style of music have a great opportunity in the two unit MUP 323: Latin Jazz En-semble course taught by Dyne Eifertsen.
“Latin Jazz is unlike any other course that is offered here at ARC,” said Ian Ellis, who plays trombone for the ensemble. “It’s more about feeling and soul than it is about technical playing, but at the same time you have to be able to play at a high technical level.”
Influenced by the Latin jazz en-semble that was offered at Sacra-mento State University, American River College music department head Dyne Eifertsen started the group in 2007.
“As I heard the Latin jazz en-semble, then directed by Steve Roche, we shared some music and started the Latin jazz group here,” said Eifertsen.
The main intention of the course is to serve as an en-try point for students to start
getting used to Latin jazz so they can gain the skills needed to play in ensembles at a university.
“Oftentimes I will pick tunes that are not basic, but easier, so that jazz musicians that maybe are not used to Latin music can at least understand the format of the charts,” said Eifertsen.
The skill levels between the students in the class vary, which leads to its unique learning envi-ronment.
Commercial music major Nick Stinson enjoys playing with the skilled musicians that the class attracts.
“There are a lot of trained people already in the class, so it’s a very different vibe when compared to high school,” Stin-son said. “They do not have to be glued to (reading) their music. They are able to create their own unique sound and paint a picture with the music.”
Enrollment has been has been relatively high since the course was first offered.
Although having previous ex-perience on an instrument is highly encouraged, it is not a requirement, and anyone with
a willingness to learn will be taught an instrument.
The course serves as an alternative to more traditional
music styles, such as symphonic band or studio jazz, and fulfills both elective requirements.
The ensemble performs sev-
eral concerts as well as some out-side gigs throughout the semes-ter, often performing in tandem with the studio jazz ensemble.
Matthew Wilke / [email protected] Louie Goodenough, right, practices on his saxophone during professor Dyne Eifertsen’s Latin Jazz Ensemble class. The class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:25 p.m. to 1:15 p.m., including lecture and lab.
Coffee war brews at ARC
By Ashley Nanfria and John [email protected] [email protected]
As caffeine-loving students
may have noticed, there is a coffee war brewing at American River College.
Peet’s Coffee & Tea opened a new location in ARC’s portable village on Aug. 24 and hosted a taste test on Sept. 2 to pro-mote their brand and encourage students to ditch the lines at the long-established Starbucks in the Student Center.
Singh said that she has to make sure advertisements for the Peet’s will not be too close to the Star-bucks.
“I can’t have posters too close to the Starbucks, because they’re rivals, but they will be in the food court,” she said.
During the first week of school, Starbucks remained the coffee shop of choice for most
students on campus, with the lines particularly busy in-between classes.
“Starbucks is so convenient because I study here,” said Nicole Skrinnik, an accounting major. “I know that Starbucks gives a 50 cent refill for iced coffee.
“I usually prefer Peet’s, to be honest.”
Convenience was diminished by long lines, however.
“Usually the Starbucks line is busy and takes a really long time,” said Shohreh Ebrahimian, an economics major, who was buying Peet’s. “They raised the prices in the Starbucks. There’s less of a line here.”
Singh said that the Peet’s was opened on campus to provide access to coffee and food for peo-ple far from the Student Center.
“In the (southeast) corner (of the campus) they needed something,” said Singh. “It’s far away from the student center and they needed food service. Peet’s serves coffee, so they would be
best there.”Both the employees who work
at the Peet’s and Starbucks shops on campus are employed by Aramark, the food service provider for the campus.
Another place to buy coffee on campus opens today. The Oak Cafe, a student-run restaurant on the northwest corner of campus, serves brews from the Portland-based Boyd Coffee Company.
Still, in the Student Center, business major Ana Azad remains brand loyal.
“I come here because it’s Starbucks,” Azad said.
ESTABLISHED STUDENT CENTER STARBUCKS FACES A BATTLE WITH BRAND NEW PEET’S COFFEE & TEA IN THE PORTABLE VILLAGE
ON THE WEBWhich do you prefer, Peet’s
or Starbucks? Take our online poll on the front page of our
website, ARCurrent.com
By Ashley [email protected]
American River College has welcomed 29 new faculty members this academic year, the largest amount in years. The New Faculty Academy (NFA) program plans to meet every Friday morning to provide faculty with relevant and meaningful group activities to prepare members for the years ahead.
This year-long program incorporates teaching strategies and offers support designed to enhance student learning and to facilitate the transition of faculty mem-bers into their new roles.
The meetings started as a way to help the new faculty interact with different
departments on campus by using team building exercises and introducing the resources ARC has to offer.
The group believes being able to build healthy relationships across disciplines is key to overall collaboration and will lead to student success.
The NFA program has been around for a couple of years, but has gained more trac-tion this year with the enthusiasm of a new coordinator, business technology profes-sor Heidi Fuller.
Fuller is very enthusiastic about the year ahead and the new group’s energy.
“I am proud to be a part of an institution that is willing to invest in professional de-velopment for meaningful and long-term institutional impact,” said Fuller.
“As an educator with 28 years of teach-ing experience, I take great pleasure in the collaborative process where I am able to incorporate my extensive background and innovative spirit to merge understanding.”
The first meeting of the group was on Aug. 28. There was a great turnout of fac-ulty, counselors, librarians and teachers. They discussed what their goals are and what led them here to ARC.
Necole McRae, a student speaker at the meeting, used communication skills to break timid teachers out of their shell.
“They are very nervous, just like stu-dents on the first day of school,” said McRae. “I used communication and con-versation pieces in which only some of the teachers could talk and the others had to
listen, then later switch off.“At first the teachers seemed nervous,
but once they got a conversation flowing between them that’s when I started to see a change. They started to realize how their experiences matched up with those of oth-ers.”
Open group discussions and activities are what the program hopes to bring the faculty closer as a unit, who they are and what they value are important concepts that power the minds of these new mem-bers.
“Meeting the new faculty was fun. They are a very optimistic wolf pack,” said Bill Lester, a new Humanities professor. “Be-fore I was a lone wolf but now I am part of something, a wolf pack.”
New ARC faculty members unite, form ‘wolf pack’
Kameron Schmid / [email protected] student orders and waits for coffee at the new Peet’s Coffee & Tea. Lines are often shorter at Peet’s than at the Student Center Starbucks.
Page 10 SceneSeptember 16, 2015
“I think they are prepared, but there are so many factors to put in, like what if the shooters are wearing masks or they have snipers? You can’t prepare for everything.”
-RHYSWACHTLER Welding
CAMPUSPU SEL“I feel fine coming to ARC. I used to go to Sac City ... I think if it were to happen here the cops will be prepared but it is generally a nicer area here anyway.”
-RICHARDMENDOZA Kinesiology
“I don’t think that the staff and police are prepared here because it is hard to prepare for a sudden crazy person.”
-RONNIEDENA Chemistry
“I feel like you can’t necessarily be prepared unless you go through the situation and have experience with that.”
-TRESHONWOODS Biology
IS ARC PREPARED FOR A SCHOOL SHOOTING?
By John [email protected]
Between mornings forecasting the weather on KCRA-TV news and afternoons teaching a weath-er and climate course at Ameri-can River College, meteorologist Dirk Verdoorn plans to have busy Mondays and Wednesdays.
“I was interested in teaching. I’ve been interested for a long time,” said Verdoorn. “I was in-vited to ARC to give a presenta-tion once and while I was here I expressed an interest in teaching a course.”
Verdoorn is teaching Geog-raphy 306, a course that covers weather and climate. He said it connects well with his on-air per-sonality.
“This is what I do,” said Ver-doorn. “I love that part of my job, going on TV and talking about what these things mean.”
He said he is making flyers to publicize the class.
Verdoorn has been a meteorol-ogist with KCRA-TV news since 1998.
KCRA Chief Meteorologist Mark Finan said he enjoys work-ing with Verdoorn.
“Dirk is great to work with. He is very dedicated to the science of meteorology and to getting things right,” said Finan. “He does any shift we ask him to and he never complains about anything. He enjoys his job, his profession.”
Verdoorn was born in Stockton and attended community college there.
Verdoorn later went to the Uni-versity of Utah and was set on ei-ther going to graduate school or working for the National Weather Service until budget cuts made him reconsider.
“I thought ‘is there anything else I can do with my degree?’ I had a course where I met a local TV meteorologist,” said Verdoorn. “Me and a friend went there, got a feel for it, and I ended up going a few times a week and helping out.”
Covering the weather for the morning news, Verdoorn said he wakes up at 2:30 a.m. for the 4:30 a.m. broadcast. He said that teaching an afternoon course fits into his schedule.
“I’ll be able to go to ARC, teach from 1:30 p.m. to 2:50 p.m., go home and see my kids when they
get home from school,” he said.ARC professor Hugh Howard,
the chairperson of the Earth Sci-ence department, said that he is looking forward to working with Verdoorn.
“The atmosphere is an in-credibly complex earth system, and we are pleased to have Dirk
Verdoorn take the helm of our Weather and Climate course,” said Howard. “His nearly two decades of service as KCRA-TV’s meteorologist, together with his outstanding service to the com-munity, make him a highly desir-able addition to ARC’s Earth Sci-ence Department.”
Courtesy of Dirk VerdoornDirk Verdoorn, who has been a meteorologist for KCRA-TV since 1998, is teaching Geography 306 at American River College this semester. The course covers weather and climate science.
Weatherman turns professorEARTH SCIENCE DEPARTMENT SAYS TV METEOROLOGIST IS A ‘HIGHLY DESIRABLE ADDITION’ TO THE CAMPUS
By Cheyenne Drury and Ashlynn [email protected],ashlynn.johnson1295@ gmail.com
The Health Center started to offer sexual health and reproduc-tive services on Sept. 1.
These services will be offered from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Services such as STD testing for men and women, pregnancy test-ing, birth control and emergency contraception will be provided by Women’s Health Specialists (WHS), an organization that offers women-run health care and provides information.
Students are asked to schedule an appointment for these ser-vices.
Michelle Arnott, a full time
registered nurse who works in the Health Center, elaborated on the staff and their availability to students.
“I really want students to know that there is a Health Center on the ARC campus with two full time RNs here to help them and I encourage students to stop in, say hi to us and check out what services we offer,” said Arnott.
“If there is a service that a stu-dent needs that we can’t provide here, we will do our best to refer them and point the student in the right direction.”
Arnott elaborated on the im-portance of students taking advantage of these services.
“According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in 2014-2015 the flu vaccine prevented an estimated 7.2 million flu-as-sociated illnesses,” said Arnott.
“That same year, the flu vac-cine prevented an estimated 3.1 million flu-associated doctor vis-its.”
Getting a flu shot translates to students missing less days of in-struction and not spending extra money or time on visits to the doctors.
WHS decided to become involved with ARC after its predecessor Planned Parenthood withdrew their services.
According to Arnott, there was a high demand for sexual health and reproductive services after Planned Parenthood left.
The director of ARC’s EMT program Dr. Grant Godd encour-ages the support for sexual health services.
“Some of the services might be sensitive to some people. The reality is we have students that
have no healthcare,” said Godd. Students like Emma Petrova
were unaware that the campus offered such services.
“I didn’t know about them,” said Petrova.
As for other upcoming health announcements, the Sut-ter Visiting Nurse Association will be giving flu shots at the Student Center in community room on Monday from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. with a $25 fee, payable by cash or check.
Also, students can help them-selves and others by donating at the blood drive on Sept. 29 and 30 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. in the staff parking lot nearest to the parking structure.
“We very much support any student and faculty who can par-ticipate in the blood drive,” said Godd.
Sexual health services offered on campusBy the numbers:
10-3Times that the Health Center is availble for STD testing on
Tuesdays.
7.2Number in millions of flu related illnesses prevented by the shot
between 2014-15.
25Cost in dollars for a flu shot in
the Student Center.
Dirk is great to work with. He is very dedicated to the science of meteorology and getting things right. He does any shift we ask him to and he never complains.
MARKFINAN
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ON THE WEBFor more profiles on the
professors of American River College, go to the scene section
ARCurrent.com
Page 11Opinion September 16, 2015
CURRENTEDITORIAL ALERT TOOK TOO LONGIN LIGHT OF SAC CITY SHOOTING, DISTRICT NEEDS TO CHANGE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
Students: vote for bus passesBy John Ferrannini andAshlynn [email protected] @gmail.com
Voting to renew the universal transit pass (UTP) agreement be-tween the Los Rios district and Sacramento Regional Transit (RT) on eServices on Sept. 22 and 23 would benefit all students, wheth-er they take the bus or drive.
Measure A, which is up for a vote by students on eServices next Tuesday and Wednesday, would renew the contract until 2021.
The controversy comes from how this measure is different from the current agreement.
For example, if Measure A pass-es, students taking less than three units will not be eligible for a UTP during the fall and spring semes-ters.
Perhaps the most impactful change is that the fees for the UTP, which every student pays at reg-istration, would double for some students.
Currently, students pay be-tween $5.54 and $16.62 a semes-ter, or between $2.77 and $8.31 if they use the Board of Governors (BOG) fee waiver.
With the passing of this mea-sure the price would be increased to between $8.40 and $31.50 for students taking 15 units or more, no longer covered by BOG.
It would be better for students if the fees weren’t increased.
Nevertheless, this is the choice we face: either increased fees or students have to pay the full price of a bus or light rail ride: $2.50.
Even for the students who drive this measure is beneficial because it would bring money to the col-lege for support programs and services.
The college’s funding is based on enrollment. The school is given money by the state up until a cer-tain level is reached.
If the school has two consecu-tive years where enrollment is below the cap, the cap is moved down to reflect that.
American River College enroll-ment is down this semester.
Considering that Los Rios stu-dents accounted for 4.4 million RT boardings in the 2014 fiscal year, it is reasonable to say that RT is a major part in helping many stu-dents get to and from school.
Without this essential lifeline, the amount of students enrolled would drop and affect the entirety of the school’s programs.
As much as Measure A doesn’t fulfill everyone’s wish list, it is the best choice for us as a student body to make.
Speak up or your grade will sufferBy Cheyenne Drurycheyennemdrury@ gmail.com
The long awkward silence after a teacher asks for student volunteers is an all too famil-iar experience for many college students, and while getting people actively involved can be productive, it is often forced and anxiety-driven.
Mandatory class participa-tion should be a part of K-12 course curriculum, but once the individual starts paying for their education it should no longer be a requirement and furthermore it should not count toward a percentage of the college students’ grade.
Professors should make it an expectation that their students add to class discussions, but not through an involuntary action.
It is not new information that this generation’s social skills are changing due to the increased use of social media and techno-logical devices.
According to a controlled experiment carried out by a team of UCLA scientists, sixth grade students who went five
days without any means of using social media or techno-logical devices did exponen-tially better at reading human emotions than a group of sixth-graders from the same school who did not go without such.
It is then fair to say that for the healthy development of chil-dren with regard to social skills, class participation and more ex-posure to social situations are reasonable requirements for their educational journeys.
On the other hand, once an individual reaches the college level, they will have had over a decade of enforced class participation and will have been exposed to countless hours and situations in which they had to think on the spot and use their best judgement when answering questions.
Any education after high school is voluntary and gener-ally speaking students are pay-ing out of pocket to further their education.
American River College students pay $46 per unit and to be considered full time a student must be enrolled in 12 units.
As a full timer that amounts to $552 per semester, not including other fees and payments.
It is highly subjective to count participation as a percentage toward a final grade, especially since there are so many ways to participate in a class beyond vocalizing an opinion.
Students can be actively engaged in a discussion through note taking, reading along with the material, listening to their professor or other students speak and by simply paying attention and processing the information.
There is also the issue of causing more tension and dis-comfort for students who are naturally more introverted and while speaking aloud is essen-tial for building social skills, it does give an advantage to those students who are more inclined
to vocalize their thoughts in a classroom setting.
In a recent study on core curriculum syllabi at Seattle University it was found that over 93 percent of their courses required class participation.
The study revealed that professors generally do not provide instruction on how to improve participation, the interpretation of student behavior is often times subjective and difficult to assess and it is hard to justify participa-tion scores.
There were some sugges-tions for professors on how to create more friendly and comfortable environments for students to speak, includ-ing having them speak on homework from the previ-ous night, which would allow them to have thoughts already prepared and even increasing the ‘wait time’ between the time of the question and the time of the response.
Regardless of these help-ful approaches it still remains problematic to make participa-tion an area that is critiqued and counted toward a final grade.
When an emergency alert sys-tem takes 45 minutes to alert you of an emergency, there is no point in having one.
The Los Rios ALERT text mes-sage system did not send out an alert until about 45 minutes af-ter a shooting on Sept. 3 that left one dead and two injured in one of the campus parking lots.
Many of the students, staff and faculty on campus were com-pletely unaware a shooting had occurred at all, let alone that a campus-wide lockdown should have been taking place.
At the time, it wasn’t clear to everyone that the shooting was probably an isolated incident, not a rampage shooting.
Panicked word spread on campus, with many students first hearing of the altercation through outside sources such as friends and parents.
The district promotes the ALERT system as a way for stu-dents to be quickly notified of ongoing emergencies. Students can sign up on eServices.
The number of steps that pol-icy dictates take place before a text message can be sent, how-ever, makes quick notification impossible.
After the chief of the Los Rios police is notified, they speak with the vice president of admin-istrative services for the campus.
If those two decide to send out an emergency message, the school’s public information of-ficer dictates the message to W.A.R.N. Command, a Tennessee company.
This number of steps is so cumbersome in an emergency situation that those who were
part of that process are not those who bear responsibility. Rather, it is the poorly conceived policy for all Los Rios schools, including American River College, that is at fault and has to change.
Now that a Los Rios college has, for the first time in the dis-trict’s history, seen a shooting on campus, new options for emer-gency communication need to be explored.
Los Rios Chancellor Brian King has instructed the district’s law-yer, J.P. Sherry, to propose recom-mendations for the future.
It is up to us as students - and as voters - to make sure that the Los Rios Board of Trustees and
King follow up on recommenda-tions and turn them into con-crete action.
There are many options, not all of which involve newer tech-nology. Each of these has its own cost. High school and elementary school classrooms have public announcement systems for cam-pus wide announcements. At ARC, this would provide a quick way to alert students, faculty and staff of an emergency.
There is no lockdown drill on the ARC campus. Every year, several colleges and other orga-nizations participate in the Great California ShakeOut, a statewide earthquake drill.
Going through the motions of locking down the campus would bring any issues and problems to light so that things can run more smoothly during an actual lock-down. Video tutorials through the ARC website could help people who can’t be present for a campus drill.
With the number of people be-ing killed on college campuses each year steadily rising accord-ing to U.S. Department of Educa-tion statistics, from 15 in 2008 to 23 in 2013, the need for a sensi-ble system to alert students and faculty of emergencies is needed now more than ever.
Barbara Harvey / [email protected] Sacramento City College student’s phone shows a time-stamped message from the Los Rios district’s emergency message system coming about 45 minutes after the fatal shooting that occurred on campus on Sept. 3.
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It is highly subjective to count participation as a percentage toward a final grade.
PARTICIPATION IN CLASSES SHOULD BE REQUESTED, BUT NOT MANDATED FOR CREDIT
Photos by Cheyenne Drury and Kameron Schmid
Chalk It Up, a non-profit organization that focuses on art education for children, held its 25th annual art festival in downtown Sacramento on Labor Day weekend. Artists who made their mark on the surrounding sidewalks of Fremont Park paid in advance for their drawing spaces—a square of sidewalk could be purchased for
$150, but more ambitious artists purchased two or more for their murals.
CHALK IT UP!
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM CHALK IT UP, GO TO THE ARTS AND CULTURE SECTION OF ARCURRENT.COM
A realistic depiction of a heart with wings tagged with “Billings Art” is displayed at Chalk It Up from Sept. 5–7. Drawings completely covered the sidewalk encompassing Fremont Park.
Folsom Lake College student Julia Flippo works on her hyper-realistic close-up chalk drawing of a young girl at Chalk It Up’s 25th annual art festival Labor Day weekend in Fremont Park.
A drawing of a dog coming out of a pool stands out at Chalk It Up. There were instructions in front of the artwork that explained where to stand to view the image in 3D.
John Steensland, a former American River College student, adds finishing touches to his chalk drawing for Chalk It Up. He said he liked the way the texture of his art looked on the pavement.