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A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Woodland Hills, California Volume 124 - Issue 12
Page 6,7: Vignettes Dance Show
Roundup
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
Canvas soon to replace Moodle
Pierce officially makes campus wide transition from Moodle to Canvas KELLAN BRADLEY Campus Lifestyle Editor kbradley.roundupnews@gmail.com
Mohammad Djauhari / Roundup
Riders exit the newly opened Expo Line at the Downtown Santa Monica station on Monday, May 23. The Expo line connects at the 7th Street Metro Station and allows people living in the San Fernando Valley to visit Santa Monica using public transportation.
A cheaper way to the beach
Expo Line opens up San Fernando Valley residents to the coast SAMANTHA BRAVO News Editor
F
sambravo.roundupnews@gmail.com
or the first time in 60 years, the light rail connected Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles when “Phase 2” of the 15.1 mile Metro Expo Line opened Friday, May 20. The line is named “Expo” after Exposition Boulevard. The extension will continue 6.6 miles west to Colorado Avenue and 4th Street, and provide faster more reliable public transportation. Rick Jager, Metro
communications manager, said the new extension will shorten commutes and increase capacity. “Now people can utilize the Orange Line to the Red Line and transfer to the Expo,” Jager said. “It makes a great connection to downtown.” This extension will allow passengers to be able to enjoy a ride from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica in about 50 minutes and avoid the I-10 freeway. The estimated cost is $1.5 billion and was funded by the 2008 Measure R. Expenditure Plan, which increased sales a half-cent in Los Angeles Country
for 30 years. That helped finance new transportation projects and programs for the city, according to Jager. The funds included cost for a modern design, construction, utility relocation, light rail vehicles, and real estate, according to the Metro website. Phase 2 includes 7 new stations along the westside, Exposition Park, Jefferson Park, West Adams, Culver City, Century City and West L.A. Dave Sotero, communications manager for Metro media relations, said The first Phase of the Expo Line opened in 2012, and the
second phase took four years and stayed on budget. The extension will give anyone, including students, the ability to go to the beach in just over an hour from the North Hollywood Redline station. The Redline connects with the Expo Line at the 7th Street Metro Station. “We expanded the Expo Line from Culver City,” Sotero said. “I think this line is going to be useful and reliable for students to get around.” Kim Upton, a senior public communications officer, believes college students can save time and money using the Expo Line.
A message of dedication and overcoming obstacles Commencement speaker and undocumented immigrant turned Goldman Sachs vice president now advocates for others MAX SULLIVAN News Editor msullivan.roundupnews@gmail.com
Undocumented students cannot apply for federal financial aid or school loans, but that did not prevent one Mexican immigrant from working her way to become vice president in the Structured Products Team at Goldman Sachs. Julissa Arce, 33, is this year’s guest graduation commencement speaker on June 7 at 6 p.m. in Rocky Young Park. Arce graduated with a degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin, where she commuted every weekend by Greyhound to San Antonio and sold funnel cakes to pay for school.
Photo courtesy of Julissa Arce Julissa Acre is a former vice president of Goldman Sachs and is the speaker for the 2016 Commencement Ceremony.
In her junior year, Arce received a 10-week summer internship at Goldman Sachs, which resulted in an accepted offer for a full time job. Arce said she gave much thought on how to stand out and hand wrote thank you notes after her internship. “I was never so conscience of the fact that I’m a woman. I’m a Latina, and therefore this is going to be harder,” Arce said. “I went into it thinking I earned being
here and I’m going to work as hard as I can.” Arce entered the United States on a tourist visa from Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico when she was 11 years old. Her visa expired three years later. After San Antonio built a museum where her funnel cake stand stood, she acquired a forged green card so she could work. “I got the fake documents because if I didn’t get a job, then I
wouldn’t be able to stay in school, because I couldn’t even apply for loans,” Arce said. She has since left Wall Street and co-founded in 2012 the ASCEND Educational Fund, which is a college scholarship program for immigrants, regardless of status, in New York City. Arce said it is one of the few scholarship opportunities undocumented students have. “When I went to college there
“Not only is it good for the environment, it’s easy to take the Expo Line,” Upton said. “From Pierce College, students would hop on the orange line, to the red line in North Hollywood and then the Expo Line on 7th.” There was an online petition with nearly 1,400 signatures that asked transportation officials to give metro trains, “signal preemotion,” meaning lights would immediately change to green, [For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]
was zero resources for undocumented students,” Arce said. “It was a very lonely existence because I never would have even thought of telling anybody that I was undocumented.” Now Arce is more than open with her story, and wrote a book ‘My (underground) American Dream’ that will be released on Sept 13, 2016. She never expected to author an autobiography, but feels you need to be flexible and take advantage of opportunities when they are presented. “The book is one of my biggest, proudest accomplishments in my life,” Arce said. “I try to be as raw and as honest as possible about my journey and the emotions that came along with that journey.” Sandra Delgado, a broadcasting major, is an undocumented student at Pierce who came to the United States from Mexico when she was 4 years old. Delgado believes Arce’s story is encouraging and said she wants to attend graduation to hear her speak. “They think you are just going to be cleaning houses and that is why it is inspiring, because I never never once thought I would be in college, ever,” Delgado said. “That was not the plan for me. It is really inspiring to have someone talk to us and give us hope.” Delgado also questions the motivation for Pierce College to choose an undocumented speaker because she does not think the actions of administration match the message. [Julissa Arce, pg. 3]
According to Distance Education Coordinator Wendy Bass, Canvas will replace Moodle as the new college-supported learning management system (LMS) in the coming weeks after a pilot during spring semester. Everyone will be moved over from moodle by Summer 2016. In a review conducted by the California State Community Colleges Chancellor's Office's Online Education Initiative task force, Canvas was considered the most user-v friendly platform by the students and faculty on the task force. The senate voted that all DE/hybrid instructors need to get re-certified to teach in Canvas. “The statewide committee that was selected specifically for this purpose chose Canvas, and that says a lot,” said Michael Cooperman, member of the Distance Education committee. According to Bass, all classes will get Canvas shells starting in Summer 2016. Moodle shells will no longer be offered, however, you will have access to your old shells for referencing and student data for one year. “I use both Moodle and Canvas, and I think Canvas is a little more elegant and welldesigned,” said David Schamus, chair of the Computer Science and Information Technologies department. According to the Distance Learning Department the adoption of Canvas will position Pierce for participation in the Chancellor's Office's Online Course Exchange, which will make key online courses available to students statewide. Additionally, Wendy Bass states that canvas will be providing tech support nights and weekends when Pierce has no one available. And, because Pierce’s portal will be changing in the coming year, Canvas will become the standard digital front end for all courses, not just the online ones. According to Schamus, Moodle can continue to be used through the Spring 2017 semester. As of Fall 2017 all online courses taught in the college-supported course management system will be in Canvas. Pierce College is obligated by accreditation and federal requirements to systematically authenticate the identity of students who take online courses. [For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]
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