Home Blog Page 200

Opinion: Journalism department needs help, LBCC should step in

Marissa Lopez
-
0
Opinion: Journalism department needs help, LBCC should step in

The Viking news is a student run website contained with events and stories that relate to student life, yet you don’t ever see the school website feature the Viking News, or link to the Viking News website on the home page. The Long Beach City College homepage needs to promote the student-run paper since the Viking’s sole purpose is to report and write stories for students on topics and events students would be interested in.

There are currently over 24,000 students attending LBCC, on the LAC Campus there are several computer labs with free access that give students hundreds of computers, most of these computers either default load to the main LBCC website, or have easy access to the LBCC website.

Even potential students that are thinking about attending LBCC either out of high school or just looking to come back to school, have to go through the LBCC website at some point.

It’s almost undeniable that most students have to go through the school website at some point or another, which means that the site gets a ton of traffic, intentional or not. 

Then when looking at what sort of content is on their front page, you see that it’s mainly towards either student related events and activities or student created content, but you see nothing about the Viking News.

If the LBCC website promoted its own school newspaper along with their own public relations reports of events and stories, not only would this provide a big boost to the amount of exposure the Viking in terms of web traffic, but it would also potentially expose a lot more students to the journalism department and what sort of work journalism students do on a day-to-day basis.

Some might say, “Well the school has no obligation to feature the Viking News on the website.”

It’s a valid point, the school is not obligated to post anything that they post. It’s curated content that is chosen by the web designers or whoever decides what content is going to go up.

Even getting to the Viking website is fairly un-intuitive as you have really two ways of getting there through the LBCC website itself. 

First, being through the search function, which if you don’t know the correct keywords to use it could be hard to find. Even upon finding the page for it it looks awfully bland and has little to no information on how the paper is made, what classes they are or how it helps an aspiring journalism major.

Second, is going through the “Explore Our Programs” tab and with that you have to go through the following clicks:

Explore Our Programs > Communications > Journalism > ?

So really there is only one way, because once you navigate to this page there is no way to get to the Viking website from here.

How about the more technical side of things? How realistic would it be to incorporate some sort of feature on the website and whose shoulders would it fall on?

It’s difficult to know for sure the skill and experience of whoever the school gets to do their web design, but upon examination of the website’s source code it appears to be written in the “HTML” web language, which is basically the type of code web designers use in order to design websites. 

Though, LBCC.edu is relatively easy to navigate, finding the information you need can be a bit nuanced sometimes but it works for the most part and it has an appealing design.

In contrast with the Viking’s web design which is much more robust, simple and has a very “information first” approach which is to be expected from a journalism website.

Jordan Ambra, an online programmer, explained that web languages are harder to code than more typical languages, he says the brain is accustomed to visual-cues opposed to visual software language like HTML/CSS.

Despite the workload, LBCC should consider promoting the Viking News more extensively. I don’t think it would be a good look to cancel the Journalism program due to lack of exposure.

The Journalism program at LBCC is seemingly always having to cut corners every semester in-order to keep enrollment up and the school should be making an effort to keep the program afloat.

LBCC might be underestimating the benefits of having a booming journalism program on campus. Things like the paper being a legitimate news source for student and faculty alike being able to promote on-campus events, informing students about important resources, reminding of upcoming deadlines, and more.

The Viking News offers a unique benefit of being extremely student relatable as it is 100% student run and student focused. Something the regular LBCC website could use to it’s advantage by working with the Viking in order to shed light on important topics and get students the information they need.

There are several different approaches to it, at least in terms of web design.

First, and probably the most technically intensive task, is to create a sort of custom widget for the front page about the Viking. It could have “The Viking’s Top Stories” or constantly cycle out different stories from the week or just highlight what’s big in the newspaper right now.

Another could be to feature Viking news articles on the homepage periodically when something important gets published. A bit simpler, but the periodical promotion could go a long way.

Finally and possibly the least impactful, but including some sort of link on the homepage saying something along the lines of, “Want to keep up with student events on and off campus? Visit the Viking News [Insert Link]” just something that isn’t buried beneath several layers of links, searches, and an uninteresting webpage.

The Journalism department shouldn’t have as low as enrollment numbers as it has currently when it has been such an important part of the school’s history and could be a bigger part of it’s legacy.

President Ambassador gets ready for transfer while raising three children

Anyssa Staine
-
0
President Ambassador gets ready for transfer while raising three children

Student and mother of three Jennifer Baker opened up about her experience as a single parent while pursuing her academic goals.

During Baker’s third pregnancy, she attended counseling at the Women’s Shelter of Long Beach on two separate occasions.

Baker received therapeutic help from a clinical psychologist who influenced her to become a therapist herself and work toward her Phd or Sci.D in psychology.

Baker said the reason for restarting her education is so she can become a therapist because she said she enjoys talking and helping people.

“Me going back to school was to help people. Me going back to school and being with these groups with these women that  are all types of different socioeconomic backgrounds that have, you see people with these different mindsets and I wanted to go back to school because I was never encouraged in school. I didn’t graduate. This was a really big deal for me to graduate because I didn’t graduate,” Baker explained.

Before coming to LBCC, Baker worked as a hairdresser after giving birth to her first son. She chose to go to beauty school after her first attempt at LBCC when she was a young adult.

Due to a neck injury from a yoga accident, Baker was not able to be a hair consultant anymore.

With the support of her family, Baker decided to take a second chance to earn her degree during her third pregnancy.

“I feel like mom going back to school is good because she would tell me a lot about how she screwed up while she had me. I stopped her from going down any darker and deeper. I feel like this is her redemption,” said Noah Baker, the eldest son.

When Baker returned to her studies in Spring 2017, she had a hard time adjusting to academic life and said she was skeptical about whether she would make it through the first semester.

“I felt like I couldn’t do it. I had to start over in pre algebra and remedial english and my son who has autism had like…I could remember being in class and the school calling me, telling me that he’s suicidal. A lot of the abuse that happened, my oldest son experienced, his autism and the trauma overlapped and so, can I be in this class? I can remember taking my first final and my son had just gotten in trouble or something had happened and it’s just like, how am I going to do this?” Baker shared.

Baker’s three sons are her eldest Noah, her second child Herman and her youngest, Andrew.

Not long ago, the family found out that Baker’s eldest son is diagnosed with Apsergers. She does help her eldest son, Noah, work with his autism by having him attend therapy.

“Sometimes I want to cry and scream because it’s just something super overwhelming at times because his school, he has a lot of school issues when they call me and tell me what’s going on, it makes me upset. Sometimes at him, sometimes at that school, sometimes at his autism. It’s terrible. It’s very challenging to balance that, “ Jennifer Baker explained.

President Ambassador Jennifer Baker looking off while sat on a bench at Rosie the Riveter park in Long Beach. Photo by Tyana Sallis.

Going back to college has allowed Baker to grow as an individual and become a better parent to her children.

Baker spreads out enough time to spend with her children individually so that none of them feel alone.

Despite finding it difficult to make time, Baker works through it all because she said she knows she cannot afford to leave school because she wants a better financial stability for her family.

“I had to pay for someone to watch the baby so I could do and an hours worth of homework. I have to take him to doctors appointments and therapists. I have to go to a meeting for all my kids or for [Noah and Herman] at the school,” Baker said.

Most of the time, Baker receives support from her mother Linda Baker when she needs somebody to assist her with her sons.

“It’s very challenging. [Andrew’s] quite a handful. I try to redirect him or move him around an we walk the dogs 2-3 times a day. I try to do my best and let her do her homework and stuff,” Linda Baker expressed.

Baker is as an LBCC president ambassador. She applied for the ambassador position five weeks after she returned to and she gave birth to her third child, Andrew.

“There’ll be school events and we get to go volunteer. I get to have a voice in things that I feel that are important for the college students like it gives me a bigger platform to help students out or my fellow peers by telling them the events that the school puts on/ There’s a lot of special resources that the school has. I think that people are really shy or embarrassed or don’t know. So I’m able to help in the leadership role. I get to be able to meet the Long Beach Foundation, the people that create scholarships,” Baker explained.

One of the opportunities the ambassador position offers is the 4th grade tours program that LBCC arranges on each Friday.

Baker talks with the children and provides them with information about the College Promise 2.0, how they can utilize the college promise and learn the process of working through the college semester.

Mindful Vikings Episode 4 – with Mike Munoz

abel reyes
-
0
Mindful Vikings Episode 4 – with Mike Munoz

In this episode of Mindful Vikings, reporter Abrielle Lopez sits down with Mike Munoz, Long Beach City College’s Vice President of Student Services.

The two discuss the social climate surrounding mental health in men. Masculinity, gender roles, socio normative ideologies, and mindfulness. 

We hope you enjoy this episode of Mindful Vikings. Please like, subscribe, and share our content if you feel called to. 

As we approach the end of the Fall 2019 semester, Mindful Vikings would like to thank you for tuning in to our content. See you in the Spring! 

Opinion: Big trucks need to be mindful when parking on campus

Marissa Lopez
-
0
Opinion: Big trucks need to be mindful when parking on campus

No one likes an obnoxious parker, especially when a huge truck tries to squeeze into a compact parking spot, to avoid this common issue,  LBCC should enforce new rules for the LAC parking structure specified for drivers of non-compact cars. 

The main problem is that big SUVs and large trucks tend to park themselves on the opposite ends of a row, blocking the corner view, making it impossible to see what’s on the other side.

When a big car is parked at the end of the row, it becomes a visual obstacle for drivers who are turning opposite of each other. 

The white lines on parking spaces exist for a reason, it’s basically a guideline on how drivers should be parking within the lines by length and width. 

Many truck drivers don’t consider the fact that a majority of the parking spots are more suited  for compact cars, rather than much larger vehicles anyways.

Stacey Toda, Associate Director of Communications and Community Engagement, said that most students tend to not follow the rules, but they are finding ways on how to fix the issue.

As LBCC exploring new ways to fix the problem, the department can consider changes such as, designating a specific parking spot based on the size of the car, like the opposite to a compact spot, but only this time it would be a mandatory rule that is punishable with a ticket. 

That way, it would be essential for students to park in their appointed spaces giving students no other choice, but to respect such rule. 

If students’ don’t follow the guidelines they would have to pay the consequences of not doing so.

It may seem unfair, but this issue can easily prevent an accident from occurring and make parking in the structure a lot easier.

Of course, not all the cars that are compacted are the same size, but that doesn’t give truck drivers the right to make themselves fit in a parking spot, where they clearly don’t fit. 

The Wall Street Journal mentioned that taller trucks and SUVs often block views, park at weird angles and make it difficult to get in and out.

Not saying that having a bigger car is a bad thing, but drivers need to be wise and considerate when deciding where to park their vehicle.

The level of safety within the structure could potentially increase now that cars will be more aware of what’s coming towards them.

This change will not only benefit compact drivers, but can also benefit truck drivers as well by avoiding getting their vehicles hit.

Vikings fall short against Chargers 78-73

Arlene Guerrero
-
0
Vikings fall short against Chargers 78-73

Unable to maintain their momentum in the second half of the game, the Long Beach City College Vikings lost 78-73 to the visiting Cypress Chargers.

Vikings’ starting guard, Jace Bass was instrumental, playing all 40 minutes and dropping 37 points to go along with 3 steals, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. 

Guard Kester Ofoegbu also played the entire game and dominated the boards, contributing 12 rebounds and 16 points in the Vikings’ loss on their home court.

The Vikings took a 10-5 lead against the Chargers early in the game, and despite the 9 turnovers they had, were able to end the first half with a 7-point lead.  A pair of free-throws made by guard Miles Denmion at the end of the half helped solidify the Vikings’ 36-29 lead.

Sophomore guard Aaron Jelks of LBCC was phenomenal defensively, rendering the Chargers’ starting guard, Demetri Mariolis, scoreless. Jelks also forced 3 turnovers by Mariolis who only played 12 minutes.

Strong as they were in the first half, the same Vikings that went into the locker room at the end of the first half were not the same Vikings that came back to start the second half.

“We did not play well,” Head Coach Barry Barnes said. “But Cypress did.”

The Chargers outscored the Vikings 21-15 in the first 8 minutes of the second half, bringing the game within one point.

During a 30-second time-out called by the Vikings, Barnes discussed a trap defense to stop the Chargers, but that strategy would be rendered useless as the teams battled back and forth for the next 7 minutes, the score tied at 65 with less than 6 minutes left in the game.

“We got comfortable with the lead and took it for granted,” Vikings guard, Jelks said.  “After that they came and took the game from us.”

The last 5 minutes of the game were crucial for the Vikings as they had a lot of missed opportunities to score.  Bass missed 4 free-throws including 2 in the last 24 seconds of the game.

A turnover a piece by Bass and Jelks within the final minutes of the game would result in two made baskets to help boost the Chargers over the Vikings.

“I should have made those [free-throws],” Bass said after the game.“I was mad at myself.”

The Vikings are looking to build trust and solidarity between themselves during the remainder of the preseason and are hoping for a successful conference season.

The Vikings are going against Oxnard College in the Santa Barbara Classic on Dec. 12.

PCC’s game room offers a place for students to de-stress

Jordan Parks
-
0
PCC’s game room offers a place for students to de-stress

Playstation, Gamecube, Game Cards, and a soccer table are some of the most played games by students at the PCC student union.

With the stress of finals this whole week, the student union at PCC has created a space where students can take a break while studying to play some video games.

Some students are combating their unease by visiting the student union where they are able to play a variety of video games or utilize the lounge to hang out with friends or take time to themselves. 

Jose Reyes is an engineering major and student of LBCC and uses his free time to play videos games at the game room in the student union. Reyes said he is in the process of transferring to Cal State Long Beach. 

“I love being here. I have met so many friends in the game room. Every time I’m going to take a test, I come here first, I play for a few minutes and then I go to take my test,” Reyes said. 

Rodrigo Gonzalez also shared his thoughts about his experience in the game room.

“I can consider myself addicted to video games. I come here everyday. I don’t care what others say, I love to play video games. I have my own console at home but I also play here. I don’t think I’m wasting my time because I’m passing all my classes,” Gonzalez explained. 

LBCC students at the Pacific Coast campus spending their break in the game room before they return to class. Photo by Brandon Galo.

Gonzalez said that he is concerned about the students that fail their courses because of the amount of time they spend in the Game Room playing Super Smash Bros or Yu-Gi-oh cards. 

“I have seen friends in the room for almost 5 hours. I don’t ask them how they are in their classes because I don’t want them to get mad. I think it’s beneficial to play cards or games for a little bit but when you play for hours you might neglect your responsibilities,” Gonzalez said. 

The student union allows students to use the available facilities that the PCC offers. They are also allowed to bring their own games to play as well.

LBCC student Michael Cruz expressed his point of view about the game room. 

“I know that a lot of people think we are weird because we spend hours playing games but it is part of life. We are not bad people, we just love games,” Cruz said. 

“My dad recently gave me the new Mortal Kombat video game. I’m so happy. I’m pretty sure many people are against this room but it is a way to escape from stress and finals. I prefer being here than smoking marijuana outside.”

Student support staff have acknowledged that some students do spend a lot of time in the student union. 

Students like Brian Alamina believe the game room is convenient for students and their schedules. 

“I think it is awesome because you’re able to play with your friends. Also, you met new people. All my friends in school are from this place, they like me how I am. To be honest I’m so grateful because PCC has this amazing student union,” Alamina said. 

Brian Alamina playing one of his favorite video games, in the game room at the Student Union at PCC. Photo by Brandon Galo.

With the game room, students now have the convenience to wait there during their breaks before they return to class which also helps students interact easier with staff. 

The PCC Student Union and game room are available for any and all students who are looking for a place to unwind during finals.

Moving the conversation of mental health with movies

Anyssa Staine
-
0
Moving the conversation of mental health with movies

A small collection of short films that had a strong emphasis on mental health issues were shown at a movie night event hosted by Art with Impact.

Seth Pickens who works with Art With Impact hosted the event to bring the Mental Health Movies forum to colleges nationwide. Small discussions with the audience where held along with a panel at the end.

“I’m just a small part of the team but [Art With Impact] is a nationwide non profit organization who put this workshop together in colleges all over the country. For me personally, it’s been a wonderful journey. Just to share the movies to get the conversation up around art and to be with the students on the campus today has been a great process,” Pickens said. 

Three short films were shown that focused on different aspects of mental health, such as eating disorders, sexual harassment and childhood trauma. 

The first film played was “A to Z” by Fenny Wang and Karishma Antia. “A to Z” is a stop motion film where the protagonist saw hurtful words strung together while eating alphabet soup. 

The second film was “Touch Me, Don’t Touch Me” by Lucie Rachel where two men portrayed the raw emotions of sexual harassment through interpretive dance.

The final film was titled “Little Elizabeth” by Elizabeth Ayiku, and gave a representation of acknowledgement and moving on from a traumatic past due to sexual harassment.

With the different types of mental health issues highlighted in each film, attendees discussed and spoke about each theme portrayed through each film.

“It’s critical that we get this word out to the college students about lowering stigma around mental health because college students are old enough to have these difficult conversations. But still young enough to learn, and grow and change. It’s vital that we get stigma reduced on campuses,” Pickens said.

A panel of people who assisted those with mental health issues gathered after the viewing and discussion of each film.

President of the Active Minds club Kristofr Clement was one of the panelists. Clement attended a similar event last semester as an audience member and returned as a panelist for this semester.

“I really like the films. I felt like they gave me different introspective of different struggles that I haven’t gone through which is like, well for me personally, for the movies that were mentioned, like childhood trauma, sexual assault, the eating disorder. I feel like I can sympathize with all the themes to a degree but it makes me aware of how intense people feel in these issues,” Clement said. 

At the panel, Clement shared his personal story about his self awareness, coming out and how difficult it was for him to fully accept his sexuality and own persona. Because of his upbringing around Mormon culture, he was only introduced to conservative thinking and beliefs.

“I just hope [the audience] takes away at least take away some understanding of how they are not alone or to be more sensitive or synthetic to the people who may have struggles. I think to expand their minds upon what falls under mental illness because some people it feel like mental health has been thrown around like ‘Oh that’s a separate entity. I don’t have a mental illness or I don’t need a mental wellness,’ Well, in reality, everyone deals with it. It’s a daily thing, it’s essential to being human,” said Clement.

Clement said he believes that feeling stressed or having anxiety toward compulsive behavior is not something to be ashamed of and that there is help out there. 

“I would advise people who are seeking out therapies to know to listen to themselves and know what they’re looking for within therapy and what goals they have coming out of it,” Clement said.

“A good resource is the students because if the students know outside resources here in Long Beach or anything local, I feel like that’s a good resource. Students themselves might know more than others about other particular about mental health,” said Maria Rodriguez, the Student Ambassador for Health.

To learn more about mental health or to watch any of the films mentioned, go to https://www.artwithimpact.org/.

CBEST study group prepares prospective educators

Anyssa Staine
-
0
CBEST study group prepares prospective educators

The California Basic Educational Skills Test, also known as CBEST, is an exam that tests basic reading, writing and math skills of aspiring educators who plan to have a career in teaching.

The Future Teachers Club presented seminars at the LAC library on what to expect for each portion of the CBEST exam. 

Club adviser and assistant professor of reading Melanie Levy talked about the most effective ways to prepare for each part of the exam.

The exam is split into reading, writing and math sections and consists of 50 multiple choice questions for math and reading, while the written portion requires two short essays.

Because the time limit for the exam is four hours, Levy broke down how time should be spent on each section to avoid running out of time, especially for the writing section. 

The first essay analyzes a given situation while the second essay instructs the exam taker to write about a specific personal experience. Both parts require a bit of brainstorming, outlining and writing, which can become time consuming. 

“I don’t have a very nice name for it, but I call it a brain-dump. Just imagine a dump truck or a trash track, and that’s where I dump all my ideas onto the page,” Levy said.

Vice President of the club and aspiring history teacher Cristian Cardenas explained how his method may be a bit juvenile but very effective.

“I like bubble graphs, it may be a bit archaic or childish, but I feel like it’s worked for me from kindergarten all the way up until two weeks ago,” Cardenas said. 

Because the reading portion of the CBEST exam is made up of 50 multiple choice questions, Levy encouraged the group to read the questions thoroughly before reading the prompt passage.

Future Teachers Club literature. Future Teachers Club CBEST prep meeting on Nov. 20th, 2019. Photo by Talia Coeshott.

“The test administrators aren’t counting on you to understand the passage thoroughly, but just enough to answer the question,” Levy said.

The second meeting doubled as the future teachers club’s end of the semester meeting. With finals around the corner, members thought it best to not ask members to meet any later in the semester, Cardenas said.

In the second meeting, they spoke about the achievements of this semester as a club and their goals for next semester.

Club adviser and Teacher Appreciation Coordinator Megan Kaplinsky talked about wanting more than just club members to attend a spring round table event for Latin X and men of color in education. They would also like STEM students of any gender and ethnic background to attend so they can recruit those who many consider teaching as a possible career path.

“We want more than just our club coming, we want all of our education students from the STEM fields coming too because we want them to consider teaching in the back of their heads,” Kaplinsky said.

The Future Teachers club will meet in the same L-165 room in the library next semester every Thursday from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m..

Stargaze into space from Long Beach City College

Alexis Turner
-
0
Stargaze into space from Long Beach City College

Students and community members experienced a stargazing night and explored the wonders of space activity at the Planetarium nights event.

The planetarium consists of a thirty-five foot diameter hemispherical dome, which helps students visualize the planets, constellations and other astronomical matter. 

The astronomy departments main purpose is to reach out to extend its accessibility to the community and for students to learn more about the world above with a variety of movies the department staff has ready for audience members to watch. 

“The shows are preceded by a talk geared to audiences of all age groups. It gives adults a chance to experience what an astronomy class is like and also spark curiosity in the minds of young children,” assistant professor for mathematics and astronomy Jorge Ramirez said.

This semester, the astronomy department has demonstrated four shows in the planetarium, all in the D Building with free admission.

The planetarium nights show seemed to be a success with the demonstrations. Majority of the audience members were students and the rest consisted of community members. 

“It was a great immersive experience that not only had amazing images, but was also very informative of the history of astronomy. Being able to see images of earth and the universe in a planetarium room setting was captivating,” LBCC student Alondra Ramirez said. 

The event gave an in depth visual scene where students and the community could comprehend the mysteries of space with ease. 

The department put on at least two back to back shows to accommodate those who speak English or Spanish. For the Friday night show, it started at 6:15 p.m. and was demonstrated in Spanish and then demonstrated again at 7 p.m. in English.

While the staff plans to expand the planetarium nights for a much diverse language setting, professor of Astronomy and Physics Loredana Vetere explained more about the expansion.

“I acquire the movies also in other languages such as Italian, French, and German so that even other departments like the language department can enjoy them,” Vetere explained.

The Planetarium Nights program event was supported by the astronomy department and many of the astronomy professors would like to expand their programs and bring in new ideas for this type of curriculum.

Faculty and staff get some well deserved time off

Anyssa Staine
-
0
Faculty and staff get some well deserved time off

Faculty and staff from both LAC and PCC mingled over refreshments, a photo booth and musical performances by LBCC’s students held by Long Beach City College’s Superintendent President Reagan Romali.

The annual event signified Romali’s appreciation for the hard work of the faculty and staff throughout the year. 

“We started it three years ago as a way to say thank you to the faculty and staff and administrators for working so hard all year. We started it my first year here and it just raised the spirits as a way to say thank you,” Romali said.

Romali originally hosted a cookie exchange where faculty and staff brought cookies for everyone to swap and bring home while socializing.

“In the past, we did the cookie exchange, but we decided to just tone it down a little bit and do a holiday open house,” explained Executive Assistant to Human Resources, Susan Salazar.

Colleagues socialize over sweet treats and entertainment performed by LBCC students. Photo by Talia Coeshott.

Faculty reported and favored the open house over the cookie exchange for its relaxed appeal.

“This is the first year we’ve done this,” said Human Resources Specialist Gloria Wilson.

LBCC’s Jazz Combo, Brass Quintet and Carolers performed holiday favorites and standards throughout the event. 

A booth was placed by the entrance of the lobby for faculty and staff to drop off packaged goods that would be donated to the Viking Vault for students of LBCC. 

Associate Director of Communications Stacey Toda shared her positive feedback on the holiday open house.

“It’s good to see everyone outside of the meeting rooms, conference rooms,” Toda said.

The event took place in LBCC’s Liberal Arts Campus T Building lobby on December 3 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.. 

1...199200201...262Page 200 of 262