LBCC students pose for portraits at the LAC quad on Halloween 2018.
Financial aid workshop offers help on FAFSA and Dream Act applications
A mother out of the two that attended the financial aid workshop at the LAC library had assistance filling out financial aid forms correctly to avoid paperwork problems she had last year on Wednesday.
Workshops are an outreach to help anyone who has questions about FAFSA or Dream Act applications.
Prior workshops have only received a handful of students. In the past, some have had no more than five students.
“Throughout this time, students are more worried about midterms and upcoming tests; but this is a great opportunity for the student to get one on one access and be assisted page by page, step by step and screen by screen,” said financial aid specialist, Ben Chase.
The Financial Aid Office offers various workshops at the LAC and PCC for students who are enrolled, or will be enrolling with more assistance.
“Our hallway is pretty small and lines get long quickly, and many students don’t feel comfortable going over secret stuff,” said Chase.
Students may have delays in their disbursements if not filled out correctly.
Student Priscilla Diaz, whose disbursement was delayed in a previous semester, intended to avoid the delay and any trouble again.
“I just became a mother and this is my first year back in school. I’m trying to get as much help as possible and do things correct this time. I’m getting myself situated with being a student and mother, and this workshop saved me trouble I had last semester later on in the semester,” said Diaz.
Although the same amount of money will be given to the student, if there is deficiency in the applications, the delay may affect the student as far as not being able to purchase the course materials in a timely manner.
“We love helping students and we want them to know we are trained,and here to help them while supporting them throughout the process,” said specialist Trelton Spencer.
Although it is a bit of a hassle on being able to have a computer lab accessible, the department does hope to continue to host these workshops for the students throughout the semesters.
“We would really like a better turnout to have more students attend and actually understand what can be offered and we’re focusing what we can do to get a better turnout and maybe even consider a time during lunch or partnering up with classrooms,” said Spencer.
Students are welcome to come to the future workshops that are in the process of being planned in November.
Students celebrate Día de los Muertos at LBCC
The celebration of Día de los Muertos was brought to LBCC on Thursday, as the culture and tradition were explored in a lecture sponsored by the Foreign Language Department.
Guest speaker Gregorio Luke, the former Director of the Museum of Latin American Arts, explained the traditions of Días de los Muertos including placing the deceased favorite drinks, food, and items to be displayed on the ofrenda or ritual altar.
The altar displayed at the lecture was constructed by a group of Spanish students and was dedicated to anyone that had died of violence from a bullet.
Luke expressed the importance of adding personal things and not making the ofrenda a competition.
“It changes the conversation completely,” said Luke. “If you have little kids or grandkids, and someone passes away and is never mentioned again, it is very helpful to talk about it.”
Building an ofrenda serves as a symbolic way of remembering the deceased by spending the time to collect the items they enjoyed in life.
Another tradition is to arrange flowers surrounding the altar to guide souls and create a path, usually leading to a church or home.
“Every religion tries to give us an explanation of death, an idea of what happens with death,” said Luke. “If you want to know how you’re going to be, how you’re going to look, you can just touch yourself and feel the skull. You can feel the death that we all carry inside.”
LBCC student Sarah Cobos comments on how Luke explains the way the Mexican culture views death.
“The way that he (Luke) compared the European side of death and the Mexican way of celebrating and not taking it so seriously was interesting because sometimes death is not something we often talk about here,” said Cobos.
The papel picado banners, papers that are cut up to display different designs and patterns, add vibrant colors in the towns celebrating Días de los Muertos.
“Sometimes people didn’t have the right idea on what it was about, and in the past have even confused it to some kind of Halloween and now we need to emphasize the importance of the remembrance of those who have passed on and keeping that memory alive of our ancestors,” said Department Head of Foreign Languages Cynthia Quintero.
Students enrolled in Spanish courses with professor Veronica Alvarez, and professor Mejia Lopez will have an altar display in the quad at LAC on Thursday.
Fashion Network club provides career opportunities for fashion design majors
The Fashion Network Club is an organization for fashion design majors to have an awareness of the upcoming events and opportunities that are coming up in their industry.
President Becky Annella, who was also elected the last term, won first place in senior collection in the thirty-eighth LBCC Fashion Show.
“It benefits students by getting them involved in the fashion program and letting them see what is going on and so they don’t miss trips and opportunities that we are doing,” Annella said.
Kimberly Triche-Harris is the official secretary of the club and is responsible for sending emails and updating students on current news in the fashion department.
“It’s an opportunity to network and get inspirations from other members,” Triche-Harris said. “It’s really nice to talk to people and to know what is going on in the fashion world.”
The Fashion Network Club is also responsible for the biennial fashion show at LBCC. “When there is a fashion show, my role is really important,” Annella said. “I was president and treasurer, I was in charge of the money and making sure we had everything paid for and coordinated and make sure everyone is doing the job they needed to do in the fashion show.”
There is a variety of events coming up in the fashion department including trips to New York City, Las Vegas, and various scholarships and internships workshops.
A recurring topic in the meetings is the New York City trip that will take place in spring break 2018, which includes 16 students and two chaperones. The students will have the opportunity to visit and tour many fashion-related companies.
Last year, students had a chance to visit the Tommy Hilfiger Flagship, Nili Lotan, and Banana Republic.
Vice President and fashion design major Cindy Monge has attended the field trip last year and shared her thoughts on how the trip was beneficial to her studies in fashion.
“Before I went to the trip, I already took a lot of classes here and so here it’s you’re learning the information, but when you to New York I actually had everything I was learning confirmed,” Monge said.
They also discussed the possibility of a trip to the Magic Tradeshow in Las Vegas on Aug. 2019. The trip will be held for three days and two nights for 20 students with one instructor, which was made available for them because of a grant.
There is going to be a Cal Poly Pomona field trip on Friday that will be open for any fashion department student who wants to visit the fashion program at Cal Poly Pomona.
Halloween themed open mic has serious message
The students in the English Majors and Minors club hosted their monthly poetry open mic on Thursday, Oct. 25, outside the M building, except this time around it was Halloween themed.
With the current widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in the #MeTooMovement, club member M.C. Rebecca Rose recited an original poem titled “To Be Beautiful,” which is based on sexual assault and harassment.
“I wrote it because we were doing a sharing circle and I wanted to write something inclusive for all the people who might come and who have experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment,” Rose said.
Religion was another topic that was discussed by club member Tanya Ervin. The poem she presented in the event was titled, “Women of Religion” and was inspired by spirituality, according to Ervin.
“I was thinking about religion and how it ties in with how people act sometimes,” Ervin said. “The words just popped in my head and was stuck in my head until I wrote it down.”
Other club members who presented that day were inspired by their personal history. For instance, club president Damon Moore
Inspired by their personal history, club president Damon Moore shared an excerpt titled “Fountain of Misguided Youth.”
His story sheds light on misguided children and women, who often are faced with misconceptions from others about who they are.
“I have lived in certain areas where you try to do normal stuff but your environment gets in the way,” Moore said “I am close to a lot of women and I’ve seen misconceptions of them. Women that have suffered from abuse or have been through things. I take that into account”
Ervin also manages the club’s Instagram account and soon hopes to create a YouTube channel to post the open mic events. For now, the club can be found on Instagram @emmc_lbcc.
The club organizes an open mic to give aspiring writers a platform to share their work.
“We feel like its an event the school should have,” Moore said. “It gives writers a chance to get exposed to reading in front of people. I feel all literature is meant to be read out loud.”
Rose also agreed with the club president on the importance on sharing their work at an open mic.
“We just try to promote English, which is often very overlooked,” Rose said. “We do open mics to give people a platform to share.”
Students are welcomed to participate and listen in the next open mic event, which will be on Nov. 8 from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the grass area between the N and M building at the LAC.
Unofficial student organization continues its club rituals
Despite that the members of the International Christians Church Club missed the fall deadline for an approval of an official adviser for the organization, they still choose to continue their club rituals.
Students who are part of the unofficial club gathers Monday through Thursday at the LAC quad at noon. During the weekends, students meet at the City of Angels International Christian Church in Long Beach.
Although the group missed the club registration deadline, it does not stop them from being passionate about coming together and spreading their knowledge about the bible.
They are currently fundraising to send missionaries to Atlanta and are expecting to complete it by next year.
Campus leader and Cal State Long Beach alumni Levi Pettigrew do not currently attend LBCC, yet Pettigrew takes the time out of his day to convene bible study at the college.
“I treat it like a full-time job,” Pettigrew said. “I want everybody to come to the knowledge of the truth to be saved.”
Pettigrew mentioned that he wants to get criticized by those who are against them, he used Bible verse Timothy 2 3:12.
Club participant Soloman Hardie is not a student at LBCC, however, he is willing to spread his knowledge of the Bible at the college four days out of the week.
“The Bible is everything,” Soloman said. “It’s not optional it’s necessary, it’s a privilege to have it. It’s (the bible) is where I turn to for my answer, it’s part of my identity.”
Biology major Majorie Ibasco, joined the group in her second year at LBCC. “I wanted to be saved, to be part of the light, I wanted my relationship with God grows stronger,” Ibasco said.
Ibasco grew up in a Catholic household, with a mother who has fully supported on her religious views.
The group plans to continue gathering for the rest of the semester until they sign a club registration form for next semester.
Vikings lost in the last minutes of the game 1-0 against Mt. San Antonio
At the last minutes of the game, unassisted forward Alyssa Gomez from Mt. San Antonio College scored a goal, defeating host Long Beach City College Vikings with a score of 1-0 on Tuesday.
Though the Vikings were strong on offense, they were vulnerable during the last few minutes of the game, resulting in their loss.
Vikings’ freshman forward Britanny Caudillo remained persistent throughout the game as she managed three shots and blew out the Mounties’ defense in every opportunity she had.
Vikings’ goalkeeper was able to save two out of three attempted shots from the Mounties, making Mounties’ record become 7-8, while Vikings become 6-7-1.
Both teams’ defense stayed firm throughout the game. Vikings’ sophomore defender Sophia Corrales felt proud of her defensive collaboration.
“We did a really good job, defensively. I did a good job. Offensively, we didn’t really take the chances that we should’ve had at the other’s team area” said Corrales
Players were seen under pressure, Hannah Brady from Mt. San Antonio College received two yellow cards at the first and second halves of the game. The Vikings had no penalties.
Despite losing, Vikings’ head coach Eduardo Nunes is confident about his team and hopes for a result that could benefit them at the next game.
“Though we’re hurt, we were really good. We always stayed in the area, we had good chances, so now we just got to reward ourselves with a goal,” said Nunes.
Just as her coach, Vikings’ forward Allison Casillas stayed positive and confident for their next game.
“We outplayed them, the whole game. We need more goals next game, we just need to get more physical, get to the ball. We’re coming together and we’re staying positive,” said Casillas.
The Vikings played, and won, their next two games against both Norco and El Camino and will play at Chaffey on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
Demonstrators protest against a conservative event held at CSULB
No arrests or injuries were reported after protesters gathered outside against an event held by the conservative group Turning Point U.S.A. at Cal State Long Beach on Tuesday.
The protesters are known as the anti-fascist group Antifa, and were mainly dressed in black with bandannas covering their mouths.
“Here on campus there’s been a lot of chatter on both sides, different groups opposing Turning Points and posting on social media that they are going to show up,” said CSULB Public Relations Director Jeff Bliss.
The group held up signs outside the event and chanted, “No KKK. No fascist. No Trump,” while declining to comment to the press.
“Campus Clash” was hosted by the founder and Executive Director Charlie Kirk and accompanied by Candace Owens, who is known for her strong support of President Trump and her criticism of Black Lives Matter as a black woman.
The event filled the venue that holds up to about 230 seats with a line of people who wanted to attend waiting outside due to capacity reached.
President of Turning Point U.S.A. LBCC chapter Daniel McCullough shared the same frustration in response to the protesters as other Campus Clash attendees.
“They have every right to protest but it’s a little annoying if they’re trying to just disrupt the whole thing,” said McCullough. “The whole point of Campus Clash was to extent a Q&A and that includes debating so I think they should have come in instead of planning to go and sabotage the event.”
Turning Point USA promotes the notion of limited government and free markets through its college campus visits nationwide.
McCullough shares that members of the LBCC chapter have not seen much dispute against them.
“On this campus we haven’t really run into too many problems, except occasionally getting yelled at by one extremist,” said McCullough. “We even participate in debates when it comes to tabling, a lot of people are respectful even if they don’t agree with us it’s only at places like Cal State Long Beach where tabling at places with a lot of young college students is where we have issues.”
The Turning Point U.S.A. LBCC chapter of about 30 members meets Thursdays at noon in the main Quad for those interested in joining.
For any more information on the chapter contact tpusalbcc@gmail.com.
Vikings lose their first homecoming game in five years to the Renegades
Penalties and turnovers contributed to the Vikings football team’s loss during the homecoming game against the Bakersfield Renegades 22-17 on Saturday.
This was the Vikings first homecoming game loss in five years, Head Coach Brett Peabody was not happy with the game’s outcome.
“I don’t like obviously the result because I hate to lose but I was proud of the way the team fought and competed,” said Peabody, “the defensive got us the ball back with a chance to go score and win the game and we just didn’t get it done.”
Quarterback Jonathan Murphy rushed for five yards in the first quarter giving the Vikings their first touchdown.
Renegades Quarterback Jacob Irby completed a 70 yard pass to wide receiver James Holland scoring Bakersfield’s first touchdown.
Kicker Nathan De Jager also scored three extra points for Bakersfield by a field goal from the 43 yard line. Renegades took the lead after the first quarter with a score of 10-7.
Running back Coach Jeff Evans felt the Vikings should have worked more as a team, “We have had our separation at times however some of those issues also come from individual players within the team. We are learning that trust,” said Evans.
The Vikings came back during the fourth quarter with a touchdown made by running back Mason Bowen and a completed field goal by kicker Delgadillo bringing the score to 22-17.
The Vikings fought hard but could not score any more points allowing the Renegades to take home the victory.
Running back Pierre Robinson wants the team to score more when given the opportunity, “We don’t score when we get in the red zone. Our offensive needs to score in the red zone,” Robinson said.
Quarterback Coach Sean Flynn worries about the Vikings chances for playoffs, “We need a lot of help. It’s virtually impossible for us to make it now but we still have a chance at a bowl game,” said Flynn.
“We really just shot ourselves in the foot. We moved the ball down the field at will and it was a couple costly turnovers and costly penalties that were all on our end. It was us stopping ourselves which ultimately cost us this game,” said Flynn.
The Vikings are set to play against Moorpark Raiders at Moorpark College on Saturday.
Dialogue creating a safe space for LGBTQ community held at the Board of Trustees meeting
LBCC’s recent integration of preferred name and new online resources that could benefit the LGBTQ community were presented by Student Support Services to the Board of Trustees and students on Tuesday.
This was inspired by a recent resolution adopted by the board on Sept. 12 to help create a safe space for those who identify as gay, lesbian, trans, and non-binary.
“Within that resolution, LBCC declared a commitment which include not only commiting to equitable learning achievements for all students, but really recognizing LGBTQ students within that statement of equitable learning and achievement for all students,” Dr. Mike Muńoz Vice President of Student Support Services said.
In the near future, students will be able to select a preferred name on Oracle that will appear on items such as a student roster, Canvas, and even a Viking ID card.
Executive Director of the Long Beach LGBTQ center Porter Gilberg spoke of this new policy after the presentation.
“It is a simple outline that says if you have a name that is different on your ID that you actually go by here are the steps that you can take so we can address you as you want to be addressed. LBCC was the only district out three major school districts here that did not have a preferred name policy,” said Gilberg.
LBCC’s website has already been updated to include a LGBTQ resources page to help students get the info they need to enroll, and include support students can find both on and off campus.
The resources include The Queer Space club located at LBCC, the LGBTQ center in Long Beach, and more including mental health services for students.
The Board of Trustees spoke in support of the presentation while acknowledging the recent announcements made at the White House.
Trustee Uduak-Joe Ntuk voiced his support, “We’re taking a stand and going forward, and saying we are inclusive for everybody, and not trying to erase anybody,” said Ntuk.
“We are taking a different approach and we’re trying to lead by example, and take leadership in a spot that really needs it,” said Trustees President Sunny Zia.
The Queer Space club meets on Thursdays 12-1 p.m. at the T building room T1312. Students can contact the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach at (562) 434-4455.