The environment is facing many problems that can be prevented by an alteration of your daily routine. Considering the fact that we are a school by the beach, the Long Beach City College community should join the movement of no single-use plastic.
The process can begin with the removal of plastics that include bottles, utensils, and food packaging products on campus, instead of creating more waste everyone should invest in reusable products.
Plastic straws are one of the top ten items that are found in the ocean. By refusing them, there will be a significant decrease of pollution and the endangerment towards marine life.
There are many alternatives to plastic straws such as stainless steel, glass, bamboo, and paper.
The LBCC Viking Grill already provides paper straws in place of plastic straws, and other single-use products made of biodegradable and recycled materials. This small effort will go a long way in the future.
By making a statement of no plastic, students will realize the importance of sustainability.
If every student is encouraged to make a shift to non-plastic they will reduce the amount of enormous waste that is discarded plastic which ultimately ends up on the street and ocean.
Additional switches that can be made include grocery bags, utensils, and water bottles.
According to Eco-Cycle, one of the largest non-profit recyclers, the average person uses nearly 40,000 straws in their lifetime. This contributes to the 500 million that are used per day in America alone.
In an effort to raise awareness on the detrimental outcomes of plastic pollution, a ban went into effect on October 1st throughout the city of Los Angeles.
All restaurants in Los Angeles are prohibited from providing plastic straws unless requested by a customer.
This process began in April of 2019 on Earth Day where restaurants with 26 or more employees would be restricted from providing straws unless requested. This restriction eventually expanded to all restaurants in the city.
Minimizing our carbon footprint on our own seems out of reach, but if all LBCC students did something such as using reusable water bottles or a metal straw we will be one step closer to helping our environment.
Every Halloween the department members of LAC will take part in a faculty wide costume and Halloween decorations contest and the IITS department members have been leaving a lasting impression on their coworkers.
“We have won I think over the past three years, we’ve won various awards. If I’m not mistaken last year we won best group costume. The year prior to that we won, I think we won overall Halloween decorations and I think we were nominated the year before that,” said Jonathan Tejada, Help Desk Support specialist.
Tucked to the side of the school library is the IITS office where Jonathan Tajada can be found immersed in his work at his desk, surrounded by framed comic book covers, superhero movie posters, an Ironman figurine and other super hero decor.
“I’m very much into pop culture. I love collecting comic books, reading comic books, something that kind of falls into the Halloween decorations and stuff. I’m very much into going to conventions and a lot of the times me and my children will dress up and do cosplay outside of Halloween. So it kind of, around this time I’m kind of, I’m in my element,” Tejada shared.
Every Halloween, the various departments of Long Beach City College put together costumes and decorate their offices to display their skills and show off their appreciation for the holiday.
Jonathan explained how a panel of people manage the faculty Halloween contest and visit the participating departments, judge them on their costumes/decorations and decide the winner.
“Historically, various departments have become really competitive when it comes to their Halloween decorations and it’s gotten more elaborate with every year,” said Tejada.
Technical Support Specialist Jamie Sweet shared his thoughts about his co-workers passion for the holiday.
“After the economic collapse in 2008, there was a lot of… we’ll just call it bad morale, on campus, for everybody. Enrollment was low, people had been laid off, a lot of the managerial positions were wiped away and never came back,” Sweet said.
“Things had to change because of the economic reality and, you know, change is hard, forced change is even harder… nobody likes to see stuff like that happen so it was just like a thing that kinda bummed everybody out and I think as a result… the managers that were left and the administrators that were here kinda, started to look for ways to bring people back together.”
Sweet went onto explain how during that time, the administrators put together events for staff to participate in to keep their spirits up. For a couple of years, the administration hosted an event called the Spring Olympics, where staff would get together and compete against each other playing olympic-style games like “cornhole” or have free throwing competitions.
“So then, somewhere around the same time that the Spring Olympics came to being… the administrators at the time announced that they were gonna come around and judge peoples Halloween decor… and that’s probably, I would say, where it all began,” Sweet added.
Within the last few years, the IITS department was able to showcase their skills on year by dressing up as different members of the Adams Family. Another year, the department put together a Frankenstein family theme for their costumes and decorations.
“Our designs are very detailed… it’s not just like oh, ‘they did something on the wall’, you actually see the little details that they do and they actually focus on those little things… Every single thing that they usually do has a meaning to it,” said Associate Dean of Information Technology Services Hussam Kashou.
“One year we had a Frankenstein type theme and it sounds kinda weird but Mayra kind of built a shelf where she took pictures of all our team, 360 images of our heads and then she put ‘em in jars and put colored liquids in it so it was kind of like we were being experimented on.”
The IITS department has won best Halloween costumes/decor for their department for multiple years in a row but it is left unsaid what their costume theme is for this year and whether or not another department will take the win.
Costumes and decorations aside, the faculty Halloween contest means more to the staff than the contest itself.
“A lot of the feedback that we get typically is positive and it’s fun. It’s fun for them to come through and kind of see the amount of work that goes into doing this and it kind of boosts morale, I feel,” Tejada expressed.
“Just give it a try. You never know, it might be something that you really enjoy and I think you’re never too old or young, really, to dress up for Halloween. It’s a fun holiday.”
For student technical aid services, the IITS department can be called at (562) 938-4357 or e-mailed at helpdesk@lbcc.edu.
From serving our country to serving our community, ex military armorer Elijah Harris is Umoja’s newly appointed club president who wants to give back through basic needs and social awareness.
“Basically the name. It means family. They always treated me like family ever since I came in. That’s why I want to help out the community because you know, it’s family. I joined last semester and I became president this semester,” Harris said.
As a student of Long Beach City College, Harris wants to strive toward helping people in the school, the city and neighboring communities.
Feeding and giving shoes to the homeless, food drives, beach and street cleanups and Meals on Wheels are on the schedule. Umoja has volunteers to help pack and deliver food for the elderly alongside checking for any signs of elder abuse.
Long Beach City College will collaborate with the Umoja club in Cerritos College, partaking in an upcoming forum in November.
“It’s a social awareness forum. It’s an event where we teach high school students and the people of the community, you know, they need to know their rights. We’re going to teach them about the Census 2020, social issues and the church. We’re going to have a class on human trafficking, police and community relations. How to talk to the police because we don’t want nobody to become a hashtag,” said Harris.
Harris joined various clubs before sticking with Umoja at the of end last semester. Working with his co-members, Harris strives to fulfill his position as Umoja president.
“At first I wasn’t feeling it. At first I was in other clubs, I can’t really name them because I don’t want to give a bad rep. But it just wasn’t what I wanted. They didn’t have the same values as I do. Umoja, it did last semester but we didn’t have the people. Luckily, this semester, we got more people. We got Clyde who’s good in the financial area. Then we got Isaiah, who’s our vice president. We got more and more people coming in each day so it’s different,” said Harris.
Umoja club Vice President Isaiah Dedrick and Umoja club Treasurer Clyde Jackson were present and expressed how they felt to hear Harris’s words.
“I’m just glad to be working with Elijah. I think that he has a really good vision and we have the same vision too. I have never really run into somebody that has the same vision as me so to finally find somebody who has the same ways of doing things and just wants to take action rather than just wanting to talk about things, that’s what I like about him. That’s why I have no problem being his vice president,” said Dedrick.
“Very appreciative, very humble. I feel what he was feeling, you know coming to school, well college in general. I had lost motivation because I just didn’t get used to the program, well not just not the program but how school is ran in college. I like the freedom of it but having that freedom kind of makes me get off course,” said Jackson.
From the time he started elementary school, all the way up to college, Harris did not see his future going anywhere if he only continued to study. Over time, school became less significant to Harris and he saw no future with education at the time.
Being in school since his primary years, Harris did not feel the need to stay in college. Schooling became insignificant to him at that point. Instead of hitting the books, Harris spent his time partying. At 18 years old, he decided to enlist in to the military.
“When I was 18, I started a semester but I didn’t do that good. Like I didn’t go to college and I didn’t take it that seriously. I went to the military, I got a view that education is important. Education is how you get respected. If you want to be a high ranking officer, you gotta have a degree and they’re the most respected in the military. So for me, it was like, you know, I want to go back to school so I can get my education and get respected.”
Elijah Harris sitting on the fountain at the Liberal Arts Campus quad. Photo by Arlene Hawkins.
Harris served the military for three and a half years and worked as a unit specialist, an armorer and drove trucks. He was discharged a year ago and has returned as a college student. When it came to the topic of his choice to join the military, it was not positively viewed upon from his family.
“We didn’t want him to go to the army in the beginning. Nobody was with that. It was his own decision. We favored that he go to school in the beginning. We are just happy he came back safe,” said Russell Waters, uncle of Harris.
“Nah they weren’t, they weren’t with it but they are proud of it right now. They’re happy with it. Because of how I came out, I came out more mature,” said Harris.
Coming home from the military brought joy to his family as they were able to welcome home a refreshed and changed Harris.
With the decision to go back to school, Harris chose Long Beach City as his choice to get things started for his academic path. Although, as a Long Beach native, he chose LBCC for a special reason.
Aside from being a Long Beach resident, Harris’s uncle came to LBCC back in the 1960’s.
Harris’s uncle, Johnny Calloway, passed away last year in June. Harris stated that his uncle has done a lot for Long Beach and is inspired to follow his footsteps.
“I didn’t talk to him a lot about LBCC but I heard a lot about him. Like he was big in Long Beach and I think he has a section in a museum for him. That’s what my grandma said. Some museum in Long Beach, a history museum,” said Harris.
History extends into Harris’s life as he is a nephew of a deceased LBCC alumni and wishes to teach history in the future.
“Love history. Love reading about history. Love reading about Marcus Garvey and Malcom X, ancient civilizations, everything,” said Harris.
“I want to be a history teacher. Most likely middle school or high school.”
Harris already planned out which schools he wishes to transfer to after community college to help him reach his goal.
“I’m trying to transfer to University of California Santa Barbara, University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, Morehouse College, or the University of the Virgin Islands,” the Umoja club president proclaimed.
As the beginning of a semester approaches, students may be filled with anxiety over the wide array of tasks that they must complete before that first day.
According to Long Beach City College student, Gregg Lee, Lisa “Duckie” Duckworth is one of the few Long Beach City College assistants who are willing to give a legitimate helping hand.
“It’s been a challenge for us because we had to move out of the neighborhood. Right now I live 70 miles away and I’m trying to finish my college degree at LBCC,” said Lee.
Culinary and dietary major Gregg Lee currently lives in San Bernardino with his wife Jennifer.
Each trip to and from LBCC reportedly costs him about 50 dollars.
“She went over to check if I had an appointment for that day because I never got an email and it’s just a small favor, but she goes out of her way to take care of things,” said Gregg Lee.
Gregg needed to enroll in two more classes in order to graduate from LBCC and the process leading up to registration was far from simple.
“My husband Gregg is still going to school out there. In my personal opinion, they’ve been giving him the running down like they do a lot when it comes to graduation,” said Jennifer Lee, Gregg Lee’s wife and LBCC Alumni.
Jennifer had the idea of contacting Duckworth for assistance with Gregg’s scheduling issue, as she had known Duckworth from when she was previously a student at LBCC.
“Duckie is always there for people with disabilities,” said Jennifer.
“It’s just really, really, really nice that somebody is actually there as empathetic as that woman is still helping people with disabilities,” said the LBCC alumni.
According to Jennifer, Duckworth is not only exceptional with her role in DSPS, she is infatuated with it.
“They’re going to have to take her out kicking and screaming before she leaves that job.”
Gregg and Jennifer are just a few of many students that have been passionately assisted by Duckworth.
Lisa Duckworth declined to comment, citing HIPAA, the Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act and FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Both acts were designed to protect student rights and ensure them privacy.
Puentistas honored their Latinx heritage with a Puente sponsored piñata making event, that invited members joined in creating their own piñatas by using balloons, colorful tissue paper, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and construction paper.
On October 15th, at the LAC-campus in room T1200, ready-made Paper-mâché balloons were provided for Puente members who were encouraged to begin decorating them to their own liking.
In Latinx culture, piñatas are commonly used for celebrations like birthday parties or baptisms and are traditionally filled with candy, toys, fruit or peanuts.
Modern day piñatas are available in varying shapes and sizes, but can also be made into traps filled with flour and confetti.
Puente Counselor Vidal Vargas gave a presentation on the piñata which included information about the origin of where they came from and what uses they had.
“The origins of the piñata go back to the 13th century, it was observed in China by Marco Polo who was an explorer. The Chinese had figures of different animals and filled them with seeds then broke them celebrating the New Year, to bring them luck for the rest of the year,” said Vargas when introducing the piñata.
“Marco polo then brought it to Europe, first introduced in Italy then making its way to Spain. The origin of the word piñata comes from pignatta and means clay pot in Italian. It was changed to be a religious concept, which Spain called Piñata Sunday,” said Vargas.
One of the crafted piñata’s from the Puente sponsored piñata making event. Photo by Savannah Gomez.
The piñata also has origins within the Aztec culture. Celebrating the Aztec God of War, Huitzilopochtli, they would break a clay pot filled with colorful feathers and tiny treasures as an offering. The Mayans played a game blindfolded as they hit a suspended clay pot by a string.
First year Puente students, Giselle Flores and Darlin Ramos attended the event to honor what the piñata represents in their own cultures.
“It’s a thing of our culture like at every birthday party we always have a piñata, it symbolizes our culture and ethnicity,” said Flores on the piñata’s importance.
Ramos shared how she enjoys the piñata as something in both their heritages.
“No matter where you are, something we have in common is the piñata so its like unity between two cultures,” said Ramos about the piñata being present across many Latinx cultures.
The Puente-Sponsored piñata making event ended with Vargas bringing the members outside to partake in hitting a Frida Kahlo inspired piñata filled with candy for attendees to try and break through to get to the candy filled center.
Correction: The headline was corrected to clarify the titles between Alyssa Jones and Donnell Jones.
Long Beach City College’s new Associated Body President for the Fall 2019 term, Alyssa Jones, said she wishes to start off her semester doing her best as president during her time in office.
ASB is a student run facility that creates an environment suited for LBCC students who come and go.
Because of the constant turn around, it is a wonder if students care whether or not their ASB cabinet members have personal relations towards each other.
Unknown to most, Student Trustee Donnell Jones and Alyssa Jones are married to each other. Jones does not speak of her marriage because she believes that personal life should be separated from professional matters.
“So, it is kind of funny. This will be our second term serving together. Last year, we were both in ASB. I was in a different position and he was also serving as Student Trustee. I think it’s nice because we both kind of laid out that foundation that we have our personal relationship, and we have our professional relationship” said Alyssa Jones.
Alyssa and Donnell Jones both met during high school in theater class. They dated for five years before getting married in 2012. Alyssa Jones is a sociology major and Donnell Jones is a philosophy major.
ASB cabinet members have shared positive comments about the couple.
“I do not mind honestly. I find it awesome because now we have two people who can work together in certain situations and on certain policies or action items. They both have their own point of views, they both have their own perspectives, but it is really interesting knowing that even though there are a couple, they still manage to collaborate with one another, ” said ASB Secretary Caesar Fiero.
LBCC Nursing Major Alicia Chhoy share her feelings on the couple.
“I feel like it is really cool because the president can provide extra opinions that maybe single people don’t really have. She is able to provide for them and is easy for her to relate. For her to understand where married individuals are coming from and struggle or responsibility that comes from being a married couple,” said Chhoy.
Both Alyssa and Donnell Jones take their roles in ASB seriously and focus on making school experiences better for students while engaging in political practice for themselves.
“When we step into office hours as student leaders, we step aside from personal standpoints. On a personal level, as a couple, yes there are some benefits from working together. On a professional level, not really. It is all about balancing our professional life and our personal life” said Donnell Jones.
Correction: The headline was corrected after multiple typos.
Long Beach City College freshman quarterback Derrach West totaled 310 yards in the air, giving the Vikings a win of 33-9 against the East Los Angeles Huskies on Sat. at their first game back since bye week.
Saturday’s game, titled ‘Pink Game,’ was specifically dedicated to breast cancer awareness month, as all the players wore some form of pink in respects to survivors.
The Vikings started off the first quarter with a seven-yard run in the Husky’s endzone by West to place the Vikings’ 7-0.
West was a major component in the Vikings win against the Huskies, scoring two out of the four touchdowns of the game.
The defense had major plays as well, keeping the Huskies at zero until the last two minutes of the game.
Long Beach City College went into halftime with a shut-out score of 13-0, leaving East LA with not much room to make a comeback.
West was pleased with the overall performance of the team, but thinks they can still be better.
“Let’s just say it was a decent game. We did pretty good, but there is still always room to improve and get better,” West said.
Viking running back Talaun Patton lead the team 85 yards on the ground, averaging a gain of 5.7 yards per attempt.
Coming into the second half of the game, the Vikings didn’t let up the pressure on the Huskies with another touchdown made by Patton, extending their lead to 20-0.
Photo by Syan Haghiri/Viking Staff. Zack Leets hurdled on a drive that put the Vikings up.
However, penalties are still an issue for Long Beach City College, having a total of 17 penalties, giving the Huskies 189 yards to make an advancement.
“I thought we played up to our standards. Getting this win was important for us, so I’m pleased how we played overall, but penalties are something we really need to work on going into next week’s game,” Head Coach Brett Peabody said.
The Huskies were finally able to put themselves on the board during the fourth quarter, but by this time the Vikings already had too much of a lead.
Long Beach City College finished with an 18-yard run into the endzone by freshman running back Saeed Galloway, finalizing the game with a score of 33-9.
Cornerback Malik Welch was satisfied with the win against the Huskies but still sees room for improvement.
“We can always do better overall as a team. We started out a little slow this game, but were eventually able to pick it back up. Next week we’re going to be coming out completely opposite,” Welch said.
The Long Beach City College Vikings will return to the field Saturday, Oct. 26 at Bakersfield College.
Due to lack of advertising, a vast majority of Long Beach City College students are unaware of campus radio station KLBC, and this needs to change because being a liberal-arts campus means inclusion of all arts in an effort to allow our academic environment to thrive.
Much like the glory days of radio, the Long Beach City College radio station, KLBC, seems to be forgotten by most, if not all on campus.
If you were to ask a random LBCC student if they are aware of our radio station, the chances of them actually knowing about it is slim to none.
That’s not to discredit the students currently enrolled in the program nor those who happen to be members of the radio club, but due to the lack of representation about campus, knowledge of the station could easily escape students in the very building that hosts KLBC.
KLBC’s production studio and classroom is located in the east wing of the I-building, on the northwest side of LAC campus, along with some offices, music classes and the TV studio we also have on campus.
Being in the far corner of campus isn’t a very good way to get noticed, but then again, few would be able to point out where the journalism program is located and even fewer would be able to do so without the banner hanging outside of the P-building.
Speaking of banners, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a poster, flyer, or any kind of advertisement for the radio station around campus like I’ve seen for real estate or career and trade education.
Photo by Abrielle Lopez. KLBC radio is Long Beach City College’s student-operated radio station, working toward breaking new music from local artists and offering hands-on experience to students interested in a career in radio communications.
Advertisements can go a long way, I’m sure if you ask students about real estate they would be able to tell you that anyone is just a semester or two away from earning their broker and or sales certificate of completion.
Simply having posters around campus, flyers on bulletin boards, and maybe even a message on our LED display on Carson street can go a long way to raising awareness and possibly listenership.
Times are changing and many students, including myself don’t usually listen to the radio unless its a Breakfast Club clip on YouTube or Howard 100 on SiriusXM.
KLBC is fully aware of the change in radio culture and has been streaming online for several semesters now.
Having some technical difficulties with domains as of late, KLBC is in the process of reestablishing their presence on KLBC.org making it as convenient as it can be for possible listeners to tune-in.
Imagine being able to tune into a radio show of your liking knowing its based on campus and ran by students just like you. That could be what inspires someone to pursue radio, not knowing it was something they had an interest in, possibly creating a future radio legend.
Though creating legends is far-fetched, it’s what liberal arts is all about: the liberty to explore what piques your interest and even the liberty to explore what you didn’t realize piqued your interest, all in the name of a thriving academic environment.
With KLBC on the rebound, it is an optimal time to show your support by giving a listen or even joining their club.
The discovery of graffiti that included the words “shooting” and a date in a women’s restroom at Long Beach City College was originally reported on Monday, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
The graffiti was reported by a student to a faculty member who contacted the Long Beach Police Department, Public Information Officer Jennifer De Perez said an email.
The vandalism was described as handwritten graffiti in a stall at a women’s restroom at the Liberal Arts Campus, and indicated a threat of violence.
Lieutenant Omar Martinez declined to comment on what specific women’s stall was vandalized.
It is currently unknown when the graffiti was written.
The Long Beach Police Department has determined the threat to be non-credible but is continuing to investigate, according to the email.
Additional visible police patrol will be deployed around both campuses throughout the week.
According to Martinez, the graffiti has been removed to not create additional concern.
The email was sent at 2:04 p.m. by The Office of the Superintendent-President.
The Viking News will update this story as more information becomes available.
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