Long Beach City College hosted a cultural event that consisted of dance groups, outside organizations, informational academic booths, and free tacos to commemorate Latinx Heritage month on Sept. 18 in the E-Quad at LAC.
Heritage month officially kicked off when Guadalupe Pasillas, Student Success & Support Program Supervisor, introduced a group of Zumba students and their instructor from LBCC.
The students performed as the instructor encouraged spectators to join.
Traditional Mexican folklore dance performers from the outside organization Latinas Art Foundation were present as well.
Among the performers were Lourdes Perez, Noemi Brito, and Patricia Martinez who described their pride for their Latinx heritage.
“For me being Latina means having honor, being a hardworking woman that nothing is impossible for,” Perez said in spanish.
The Latinas Art Foundation performed a folklore dance in honor of Purépecha, an indigenous group from Michoacan, Mexico.
Photo by Lavonte Guerra. Women from the Latinas Art Foundation perform a folklore piece honoring Purepecha, the indigenous women of Michoacan, Mexico.
Students from the LBCC Dance Department performed zamba, a traditional Argentinian dance.
Second year LBCC student and zamba dancer Daisy Rosales said she is glad LBCC is acknowledging Latinx heritage and the importance of acknowledging different groups of people.
“It’s amazing to learn about different cultures, not just to learn about where I come from-where my family comes from,” said Rosales.
Several people took to the stage to welcome everyone and to the kick off event including Superintendent-President Dr. Reagan Romali and Board of Trustees member Vivian Malauulu.
Malauulu shared a little bit about her culturally diverse family and jokingly compared her family parties to United Nations summits.
Academic and student life booths like Honors, DSPS, Transfer Center, and CalWorks were present.
General counselor and PUENTE Program coordinator Vidal Vargas said the future of Latinx people not only at LBCC but in the world is bright and powerful.
“At the end always come back to your community as leaders and as mentors- to give back,” said Vidal.
The Long Beach City College Puente program hosted their first event of the semester, Noche de Familia, held in the form of a potluck with students sharing foods that hold symbolic meaning to their families.
Vidal Vargas, Puente program counselor, welcomed Puente members along with family and friends to the event that took place on Tuesday September 24th at the LAC-campus in building T1200, celebrating puentista’s and their educational supporters.
“The majority of the plates that you will see out there will have little short paragraphs or maybe a sentence that students wrote about the significance of the food,” Vargas said.
Vargas then introduced Vice President of Student Support Services Mike Munoz as a recipient of the Puente program and part of the Puente team alongside other LBCC Administrators.
“I was a puentista myself, when I started community college I had a daughter who was six months old and I went back to school when I was nineteen years old but I was lost and confused and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life,”
“The Puente program at the college that I went to really illuminated a pathway for me – a pathway out of poverty,” Munoz said about the guidance he received from the Puente program during his speech.
Puente counselor Vidal Vargas speaking to Puente students and parents about upcoming events at Noche de familia. Photo by Savannah Gomez
Puente students attending the event engaged in the festivities of community building while enjoying tasty food like ceviche, conchas, and beverages like agua fresca de piña.
First year student and Puente member Leslie Solis shared similar sentiments regarding the Puente program’s ability to help students on their paths to success.
“It’s beneficial in the sense that they push me to help lead me on the right path for transferring to a university,” Solis said.
Noche de Familia connected parents with information on the programs upcoming agenda like providing information regarding their scheduled tour of the University of California San Diego, also encouraging parents to support their student puentistas.
Student speaker and current Puente student assistant Valeria Padilla, gave words of encouragement to new Puente students.
“Whatever happens don’t fear what’s in your path, if you’re scared of success and what’s next then you wont get too far so don’t dwell on that,” said Padilla.
Puente English Instructor Darya Myers ended the night with a reminder on what the Puente program strives to do for LBCC puentistas.
“The mission of our Puente project is to increase the number of educationally under served students to enroll in four year colleges and universities” Myers said.
On September 19, Long Beach City College welcomed current and high school students to an introductory panel for the 2019 Health Career Summit where aspiring medical students spoke with representatives for schools such as UC Davis and Western University.
The summit’s panel was held at LAC in room T-1100 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and was followed by a small gathering in a room across the hall where the audience met with advocates for various medical programs, schools and talked to members who spoke at the panel.
Marcia Parker, senior director at LBCC, organized the event.
“This is something that’s really important to me because I didn’t have a lot of career role models for myself growing up and so I always said if I ever got the opportunity to do that for someone else and to provide role models for others, I was gonna do so,” Parker explained.
The panel introduced Nataley Morua, a pre-health student who shared her experience in the audience in LBCC’s 2018 Health Career Summit.
Photo by Jorge Hernandez. LBCC Pre-Health Student Nataley Morua talks about her experiences on campus and in the 9 week summer program partnered with CSULB bridges to Baccalaureate at the Health Professions Career Exposure Summit on September 19, 2019.
Throughout the summit, Morua was able to meet and be mentored by pediatrician and 2018 panel member Dr. Nathalie Fernando.
During her journey as a pre-health student, Morua joined 9-week summer program, partnered with CSULB, Bridges to Baccalaureate.
The program allows its members to join a lab during the 9 weeks and conduct research in the lab.
“…At the end of the 9 weeks, there’s this really fun poster presentation, where you along with everyone else in the program get to show the research that was conducted that summer. It’s honestly just a really fun experience where knowledge is shared,” Morua told the audience.
The panel featured various members of the medical practice from pharmaceutical work to biochemistry, and even veterinary ophthalmology.
Each panel member shared experiences as medical students, the diversity of professions and specializations in the medical industry while sharing some of what to expect when diving into the world of medicine.
Dr. Ricky R. Norwood, a family nurse practitioner, talked about his past regarding the U.S. military before starting off as a nurse and building his career.
“That’s how I became a military officer, by going to nursing school and after I finished nursing school, I got a direct admission to the army and I became a nurse,” Dr. Norwood told the audience.
“And I became a real good nurse because my grandmother told me that I was gonna be a nurse. Because when I went back home from vacation in the army and I said, ‘Hey grandma, I’m gonna be a nurse,’ she said ‘And you’ll be a good one too’,” Norwood said.
Photo by Jorge Hernandez. Students listens to USC Clinical Instructor of Family Medicine Lillie Hudson (left) about her experience as a physician assistant and Public Health Practitioner during the Health Professions Career Exposure Summit on September 19 2019.
The panel concluded with LBCC counselor Ruben Page explaining to the audience the importance of staying on academic track and transferring students to their ideal college.
Joseph Nguyen, a second year pharmacy student from the Keck Graduate Institute School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, advocated for the KGI booth during the post-panel gathering.
Nguyen talked about his experience as a pharmacy student and the difficulties of gaining work experience in the medical field.
“Do the best you can to get your foot in the door. By that I just mean, get some type of work experience specific to the medical industry that you want to be apart of. So for me, I became a pharmacy technician because I wanted to go to pharmacy school. I know that some of these jobs do require a lot of experience in general. It’s hard to find a job, I’m gonna be honest with that. Becoming a pharmacy tech, I applied to like twenty different places before I got like one single interview and thank god that interview was the actual job I got,” Ngyuen said.
“Never give up but try to get that experience, but in all honesty, it’s okay if you don’t as long as these admissions chairs see that you’re trying. I see a lot of my classmates, they weren’t pharmacy techs, but they took initiative, they were proactive and they got their pharmacy tech license,” Ngyuen explained.
The 2019 Health Career Summit panel, organized by Marcia Parker, was made with the intention to encourage and help aspiring medical students on their path to success.
The panel provided an abundance of information about certain medical professions and programs.
There is an app titled MiMentor that connects medical practitioners to students who seek mentorship.
It is not said whether or not there will be a 2020 Health Career Summit.
Dr. Norwood added, “Don’t give up. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again. The only failure is not getting up. As long as you get up, that means you’re moving, okay? You can’t go through something if you don’t keep moving.”
After a disappointing turnout last year for college students, the Long Beach City clerk’s office was doing everything possible to get students registered to vote on National voter registration day.
“Last year was not a big turn out,” said Long Beach City Clerk Specialist Lynsey Lascano.
“I think it was just like 90 people, so we’re trying to bump that number up.”
This time, the Long Beach City Clerk’s Office was handing out incentives to everyone who registered to vote, such as: phone wallets, buttons, pencils, pens, lanyards, and stickers.
In 2018 the Long Beach City Clerk’s Office was heavily focused on pre-registering high school students, but fell quite short on registered college students.
“We were able to pre-register 600, so the goal this year is over 750,” Lascano said. “90 of that 600 was from Long Beach City College, but the rest were from the high schools.”
“We’re part of the President’s Ambassadors, we’re here just kind of helping out,” said Edgar Garibay, a Long Beach City College student and member of the President’s Ambassadors.
President’s Ambassadors is one of three leadership development programs at LBCC offered through President’s Partners For Promise.
“We’re kind of like direct liaisons to President Romali,” said Garibay. “Our goal is to be active on campus, like at events on campus, be present helping out in as many ways as we can.”
“I’m a little more liberal,” said Lewis Andres, a Long Beach City College student that had just registered to vote. “My liberal parts are from just getting to know what people have gone through and what’s fair and equal to each other.”
Two voter registration booths were set up at the LBCC Liberal Arts Campus from 9 am to 4 pm.
The city was eager to collaborate with students that found themselves on the political spectrum and had a handful of assistants at their booths.
Due to the recent natural disasters that have taken place, the United States is currently in desperate need of donor blood.
Long Beach City College students had the chance to help, as The Red Cross Foundation hosted a blood drive at the Liberal Art Campus.
“Because we have flooding in Texas and we have hurricanes that have happened we’ve lost over 750 blood drives because of those disasters,” said Lisa Love, Senior Account Manager for The American Red Cross.
Blood drives can be vital to the support of struggling citizens across the US, and even the world.
“We’re trying to fill in the gaps and every donation saves three lives,” Love said.
The goal on Tuesday was to get a total of 68 pints of blood.
This was the only blood drive in Long Beach on Tuesday, according to Love, but The American Red Cross will be changing locations on a daily basis throughout Long Beach.
“We do as many blood drives as we can possibly do,” Love said.
Students were constantly in and out of the Liberal Arts Campus Student Center to donate blood.
“I’ve been donating blood since I was a sophomore in high school,” LBCC student Aislynn Valadez said.
“I’ve been doing it for a while so I might as well do it again and help people.”
Every once in a while the most common, but most useful of all blood types would come along and contribute to the cause.
“I’m O+,” said LBCC student Christina Hernandez. “So I usually tell people that I can help them but they can’t help me.”
“My blood is universal, obviously, so whenever I can donate, I donate,” said Hernandez
“I’ve been donating for 10 plus years.”
O+ blood types have neither A or B antigens on their red blood cells, but both A and B antibodies in their plasma, therefore A+, B+ and AB+ blood types can receive O+ blood.
The auto technology program at Long Beach City College now offers accredited courses that can lead to a degree and free classes for the average student with a desire to learn their way around a car.
The auto technology program is now apart of LBCC’s trades as they make their return to the 2019 fall semester.
Other trades such as horticulture, construction technology, and metal fabrication are all making a return this year as part of LBCC’s return of the trades campaign.
LBCC has a comprehensive catalogue of courses ranging from something as simple as an intro to auto technologies to a course on light diesel engines or emissions control.
Each course has a lecture portion where the history, current state and industry’s standard practice of the subject is discussed.
The lab portion allows students to be hands on with equipment and cars. Students can apply what they have learned outside of class to their lectures.
Lectures take place in classrooms while the labs are held in a garage. The garage offers more than enough space for several school owned cars and all the equipment needed for the program.
“We’ve got all the room we need and then some,’ automotive professor Danny Tan said.
Depending on a student’s desired outcome, the program can be completed in as little as a semester and then an associate’s degree can be earned in two years.
Careers in the automotive field vary but most if not all require a certificate from the National Institute of Automotive Service Excellence or ASE.
Formed in 1972, the ASE’s main goal is to improve the quality of vehicle service and repair by testing and certifying technicians.
The ASE test runs you through information learned in each course and is geared toward helping you pass and becoming an ASE certified technician.
View of LBCC owed vehicles and various equipment for the Auto trade program garage in building JJ at PCC Campus. Photo by David Lewis.
Beyond the accredited courses in the program, there are also courses offered to students of LBCC for free.
These courses will not earn you credit but will teach you the basics of car service and maintenance in an effort to improve automotive literacy.
These courses were offered in the summer and are currently being offered in fall. The latest course of the semester starts in November.
Tire lubrication and brake services will all be taught in the auto literacy program as well as an introductory course titled intro to auto technology, where students learn the basic functions of a car.
The semester has just started and students are already making plans for their future with cars.
Jason Cerda is newly enrolled in the program and joined because of his goal to restore his own vehicle himself with the knowledge he will learn.
“I just can’t wait until she’s back to feeling brand new,” Cerda said.
Gilbert Espinoza is another student excited about the class. Espinoza’s brother, who used to work for the program, lead Danny Tan to one of his three auto repair shops. Espinoza’s brother now owns the shop and encouraged his brother to follow suit.
“I just want a corvette,” Espiznoa expressed.
Both automotive programs take place and are taught at the PCC Campus in the JJ building.
Last semester, disabled students had a 90% student graduation increase and the Disabled Students Programs & Services at Long Beach City College is to thank for the sudden increase.
DSPS works with teachers and staff to make sure that the proper accommodations are met so that students with disabilities are able to learn to their fullest extent and gain the most from LBCC.
Maria Ek-Ewell, the DSPS Director and someone who has worked with DSPS extensively, is happy with the increase of DSPS students graduating, but throughout her time here, Ek-Ewell was unhappy with the difference in student graduation rates.
“Our DSPS students were not graduating at the same rate as our non-DSPS students,” Ek-Ewell said.
Ek-Ewell suggested that the increase could be traced back to the hard work and dedication of the faculty, staff and student workers.
According to Ek-Ewell, a majority of the 90% increase was also due to the unexpected and sudden increase of enrollment in the DSPS program.
DSPS currently has 2,492 students, according to Ek-Ewell, and have expectations that their graduation numbers will continue to grow.
DSPS once only had six students graduate, and Ek-Ewell ensured that the numbers will never be that low again.
“That hurt our feelings at DSPS because we felt like we should have had more than six handicap students graduating,” Ek-Ewell said.
“We’ve made the proper adjustments to make sure that the graduation numbers for handicap students will never be that low again.”
DSPS is currently working to keep those numbers of DSPS students going up by doing a lot of outreach to students to ensure that students are getting every bit of information as possible and having the proper accommodations.
“It’s really a multi-prong approach of really wrapping the student in a support blanket that helps them give all the things they need,” Superintendent-President Reagan Romali said.
DSPS Counselor and Learning Disability Specialist, Veronica Njoku, reaffirmed that the faculty are the foundation of DSPS.
“It took me by surprise that there was a large increase, but I felt this year there was going to be an increase,” Njoku said.
Rogelio Diaz, a current DSPS student, is planning on joining that 90% increase after discovering he wants to become a cybersecurity networker.
“It’s pretty awesome because people like me, people with disabilities, are achieving something great by graduating,” Diaz said.
The DSPS office at LAC is located at A-1134 and the PCC office is located at GG-107, their hours are from Monday – Thursday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m every Friday.
Long Beach City College is using the QLess app for the second time this fall semester, while the time-saving line system works relatively well, there are steps that LBCC can take to ensure it reaches its full potential for users.
The initial intention of implementing the Qless app was to make scheduling an appointment more convenient for students.
Students time is valuable as they juggle their classes and life outside of school.
QLess didn’t end up completely eliminating lines because of how many students need to speak with a counselor or advisor, especially during the first few weeks of school.
The idea of the app is great although the technology behind it sometimes doesn’t always work.
Sometimes the wait times given to students are inaccurate, they receive the text that they are next in line and show up to the office and still have to wait in line, it defeats the whole purpose of the app.
Also, when signing in for QLess, users must select the reason why you are requesting an appointment and the selections can be very vague.
If LBCC widened the selection options the app may be able to assist students better.
During the first week of the semester, there are hundreds of students that are desperately trying to make change in admissions, financial aid, and at the cashiers office.
So the concept of having an app that regulates the lines for you rather than having to physically wait in line is a brilliant idea.
The software system just needs some time for students to get used to the system until it reaches full potential.
LBCC should work on expanding their reasonings for visiting the offices and making sure their wait times are accurate and maybe QLess will be more receptive in the Spring.
Domonique Lewis studied nursing at Long Beach City College during the late 1990s but after facing some complications in her academia, she dropped out.
“I moved down to Long Beach from Pomona, interested in new avenues. I wanted to go into healthcare and the nursing program was filled. I could not get into anatomy physiology to save my life and I gave up. I found myself giving up,” Lewis said.
Lewis explained that during her time at LBCC, she would have liked it if the school provided a better mentorship/counseling program.
“A lot of times when you went to see that counselor, it was just, ‘you want to be a nurse? Okay, you need four of this, three of that,’ and that was it. You didn’t even know. You didn’t even know how everything worked,” Lewis explained.
The Long Beach City College 2019 job fair took place on September 10 and Domonique Lewis is now a Project Analyst recruiter for southern California Plum Healthcare.
Plum Healthcare is a company that provides post-care services with 57 facilities around California and Nevada. The company manages skilled nursing in long-term care facilities.
Domonique Lewis stood ready to assist eager potential employees with information regarding her booth for Plum Healthcare.
“We have opportunities in clinical and we have opportunities in non-clinical, accounting, finances, and so on. We believe that we can teach anyone how to do a job. Right? But we’re looking for someone who has what we consider the ‘Plum’ parts. That really cares about people,” Lewis explained.
Customs Border Patrol Officer and recruiter Samuel Soto shared some of the requirements needed to join his line of work.
“We have various types of requirements from age or ages, anyone 18 years old to 40 years old unless they’re a military veteran then there’s no age requirement. As well as they’re a U.S citizen, no felonies you know, no crazy misdemeanors, things like that, but just general good person,” Soto said.
Jordan high school graduate and job fair attendee Dontay Brown talked about his potential plans for the future after highschool.
Nicolas Lippa (left) and Domonique Lewis (right). Lippa approached Lewis’ booth to ask Lewis about Plum Healthcare. Photo by Anyssa Staine.
“I wasn’t sure. I wanted to wait. I was gonna go straight to the army but I was too nervous,” Brown said.
After Lewis’s time at Long Beach City College, she decided to join the military for a more organized lifestyle.
“It was difficult at first but it was one of the best and most rewarding decisions that I’ve ever made in my life. It gave me structure, created a foundation, it gave me meaning and purpose, it made me feel good and proud of myself that I was able to accomplish something because so often I was starting a class and not finishing it, I was starting and stopping, starting and stopping, constantly and trying to re-evaluate my life,” Lewis said.
The former LBCC student then dove into the world of IT after leaving the military, she spent her time interviewing IT applicants and was later presented with a full time opportunity to jump back into healthcare.
“My supervisor said, ‘you know, you would be perfect for that, you have a good personality, you’re talkative, you can do this’ and I was like, ‘no, no, just keep me.’ I was scared. I was scared to step out of my comfort zone,” Lewis explained.
Lewis expressed how her former supervisor Candice Matsura was a huge inspiration to her.
“I cannot speak enough good words about her. She really was my biggest champion. You know, when I was self doubting myself. She believed in me,” Lewis said.
Aside from recruiting or working on projects for Plum Healthcare, Lewis uses her free time with either fitness or traveling with her husband and three children.
“Just really, taking it day by day and living in the moment,” Lewis said.
“I get a lot of people that, you know, who were like me and that’s what I mean by I can see myself on the other side of the table. I see myself within them. Who is intrigued by healthcare, but don’t know where they want to go,” Lewis explained.
Lewis is currently involved with the San Diego Chamber of Commerce to not only learn and understand what is going on with healthcare today, but also to take what she learns to help guide students who want to get into healthcare.
“I want to paint the whole picture, I don’t want to just fill a slot. I want to give you an entire career,” Lewis said.
Correction: Quotes with English professor Jason Casem were removed after he challenged their accuracy.
For all writing enthusiasts and lovers at Long Beach City College, two literary pioneers and a novelist will stop by LAC to pass on their knowledge to students.
Tim Powers, writer of On Stranger Tides which was later adapted for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, will be one of the three authors coming to LBCC.
Frank X. Gaspar, multiple award winning author for his works Leaving Pico, A Field Guide to the Heavens, and Stealing Fatima will also visit.
James Blaylock, a Long Beach native, has written six novels and over 30 other short stories and novellas.
Both Blaylock and Powers are pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Steampunk is a sub genre that focuses on the aesthetics and technology of the 19th century industrial machinery.
The popular TV show Doctor Who incorporates certain steampunk elements in its episodes, as well as the 2011 film The Three Musketeers and Tim Burton’s 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Two of the authors that are coming to Long Beach City College are steampunk pioneers, a genre that launched into popularity because of Jim Blaylock and Tim Powers. Photo by Jorge Hernandez.
The event will be at the Liberal Arts Campus and will feature readings, workshops and book signings.
Along with being an author, Blayock taught creative writing at Chapman University and previously served as director of the Creative Writing Conservatory at the Orange County School of the Arts.
Creative Writing chair at LBCC, Natalie Burgess, put together the event to expose students to the professionalism of writing.
According to Burgess, this event has been in the works for a long time and worked with the LBCC Foundation to make the event happen.
For Burgess, a future get for her is Tayari Jones, who wrote An American Marriage, which received multiple outstanding nominations and awards.
The Literary Voices will be on Friday, Sept. 27th. Readings will be in the T building in room 1200 and workshops and signings will be in the P building.
Frank X. Gaspar will start at 10 a.m., Tim Powers and Jim Blaylock will start at 2 p.m..
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