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A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION Volume 121 - Issue 3
ASO leader hopes to unite campus
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President-elect works to bring students together Kieran MacIntyre Roundup Reporter
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lex Oloo walks into the Associated S t u d e n t s Organization (ASO) office and greets everyone he can with a smile on his face that never seems to disappear. A student standing near the front desk is looking to find information for joining a club, Oloo approaches and asks how he can help. Oloo, ASO president, is working toward making a difference in student involvement at Pierce and is excited for what the semester will bring by involving himself in anyway possible. “Alex is amazing. So far he has put forth as much effort that can be ask of a student if not more,” Christene D’anca, ASO faculty adviser, said. “He attends all the meetings, even the ones he doesn’t need to attend.” Oloo is constantly involved with student affairs and goes to the ASO office almost daily. He does what he is required to do and does more than what is asked of him, D’anca said. “He’s extremely personable, which I really like about him. He is soft spoken but definitely makes his presence known,” D’anca said. When Oloo talks about what he does for Pierce he lights up with an enthusiasm that can be seen only in someone who is truly driven to do good however they can.
“Alex is amazing. So far he has put forth as much effort that can be asked of a student if not more.” -Christene D’anca ASO Faculty Adviser
Oloo has started to work on applications for schools he wants to transfer to, majoring in political science, with UCLA at top of his list. Oloo has interest in going into the field of international relations. Oloo was involved in the student senate for two years before he was elected president in July 2014. He works towards making every students experience a memorable one even if it doesn’t require them to be in a club. “The college has supported me a lot, and it is time to give back to the community,” Oloo said. “To do that was to go for the position and offer my services. I want to better the student life and anyone else who is involved with campus.” Student interaction is his key goal as ASO president and he looks forward to making a difference to all students attending Pierce by finding new ways to involve them in campus life. “I felt every class I take I see people from those classes the next semester and they don’t talk to me as if we had never met,” Oloo said. “I want to improve upon that and make it so we can all talk to each other and enjoy the school.”
Oloo has not only gotten help from the other ASO officers, but from Pierce administration as well. “The support from the admin is quite amazing, even in the first four weeks,” Oloo said. “We want to help [administration] achieve their goals that can help us all.” Oloo wants to increase the number of students attending government meetings and create activities that are beneficial for the students such as lectures and get the faculty involved to help students understand what they need to do as students to better the college, Oloo said. While working to build a stronger relationship between students and Pierce, Oloo is receiving the support from faculty members on campus. “He’s great, very organized and very attentive to student needs and concerns and I look forward to working with him the rest of the semester,” said Curtis Smith ASO faculty adviser. Oloo has shown to be a student with drive and an output of positivity that doesn’t hide a president overwhelmed, but a president ready to take it all on if not help in anyway he can.
Alex Oloo, is the new Associated Students Organization president.
Diego Barajas / Roundup
Pierce receives state money
$1.9 million given for new hires and other needs Jaël Allen Roundup Reporter
Diego Barajas / Roundup
Ramin Yousef Zamani and John Del Valle jam together infront of the Mall on a concrete table. The two men decided to play music together after the last time they met, Del Valle said.
Pierce College will receive $1.9 million from the state for new hires and instructional equipment, Pierce College President Kathleen Burke said at the Academic Senate Meeting on Monday, Oct. 6, in the Great Hall. New custodians and an additional custodial supervisor will be paid for with $1 million while maintenance and instructional equipment will use the remaining $900,000. “This money has been given to us and we want to spend it now because we don’t want it to go away,” Pierce College President Kathleen Burke said. The custodial staff has seen a lot of turnover in recent years, according to Burke. “When we go into that budget downturn, that is the population that does not get replaced,” Burke said. “And that’s how our custodian ranks get quite thin.” Burke already approved new hires because of the incoming money. Five will be custodians, and one will be a custodial supervisor, Burke said. “I’m glad it’s happening,” Custodial Supervisor Charles Carter said. “It’s well overdue.”
Kate Vaughn / Roundup
Kathleen Burke, president of Pierce College, presents the College Administrative Report. Other colleges in the LACCD have a larger custodial staff than Pierce, and they are better able to deal with campus upkeep, Carter said. “It is a problem when you don’t have enough people,” Carter said. With a lot of ground to cover, Pierce supervisors need to prioritize what areas on campus get taken care of. “Restrooms are priority,” Carter said. It’s been a long time since Pierce hired new custodial staff, Carter said. It will interview for the new custodial positions beginning Friday, Oct. 10. In other news, Admissions and
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Records will hire more staff to process the upcoming wave of newstudent applications. “Now it is time to start bringing the number of people in Admissions and Records back up,” Burke said. “They’ve got more applications to process and more students to process.” Members of the senate expressed hope that new hires in Admissions and Records would speed up its various services. But Pierce’s Wi-Fi needs immediate attention, according to Instructor of Computer Applications and Office Technologies Joe Perret. “It just sucks,” Perret said. “It’s just so bad.”
Brahmas stuck at the half
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