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They’ll sleep where they will build Architecture club to compete in first ever design challenge at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
The students attending the competition are divided into four groups. Each group is creating their own structure.
Evan Henzi, 22, has written an original song with the lead singer of Snow Patrol and starred in a Cannes Film Festival documentary featuring his story.
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to drive the golf carts need to be certified.
“We have to look at the policy more carefully, none of our college’s in our district have ever had carts for emergency transportation,”
Schleicher said. “In fact if someone gets injured we are supposed to call the ambulance.”
Schleicher is looking into purchasing additional insurance if senior staff and the President agree, so they can provide extra coverage because it’s something they’re not funded for.
Accreditation is part of it, for all nine colleges in the district they’re making sure the policy and procedures are well structured to get the information out with a lot more focus on insurance and liability.
“We have board policy and then they crit regulations from that and the regulations help us manage from the board policy more specific,”
Schleicher said. “I just want to make sure everyone was aware it was changing, I wasn’t a part of the decision process, how to implement that policy unfortunately.”
The Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees issued the district policy. The
Henzi came to Pierce straight out of high school and is currently in his fifth year of general education. His plan is to pursue his passions by applying to UCLA next fall as a double-major in ethnomusicology and astrophysics but, on his journey leading up to this point, he felt that his education needed to take a backseat for a while.
Henzi was 11 years old when he entered the music industry. In the beginning he performed covers at miscellaneous events. Henzi went on to sing at the 2007 Young Artists Awards and debuted an original song he wrote for 2008 presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.
However, according to Henzi, his introduction into the music industry was not a pleasant one.
“His name is Martin Weiss. He was a manager for child actors and musicians and my cousin was being represented by him,” Henzi said.
“I eventually began my journey in music with him and he ended up taking advantage of me and sexually abusing me.”
Weiss sexually abused Henzi from the time Henzi was 11 up to
ESC Risk manager, David Serrano highlighted and stated that the campus carts are for operational employees and a few in administration who are certified to use them in the course of their job duties, and no longer for escorting passengers.
The campus was in the process of replacing golf carts due to the high cost of fixing old units and lack of vendor available parts.
Administration who are allowed to operate the golf carts are required to take a class and be certified, which was enforced by Schleicher since he came into office in 2012.
The policy is still in discussion but only authorized personnel are able to use the golf carts, according to Sheriff’s Station team leader Alfred Guerrero, “It’s not my call, It was a district policy,” Guerrero said. “I’m just trying to abide by guidelines.”
Schleicher said the Sheriff’s office is consistently asked for rides from people on campus and must deny them for liability reasons.
Guerrero said cadets who are authorized to operate a golf cart need to go through the same training as the faculty in order to drive them.
“Every injury we get called out, the Sheriff’s department gets called out, to ensure the safety and wellness,” Guerrero said. “That’s why you see all the fire trucks here all the time. I’m not a doctor. I call the professionals.”
Pierce College faculty were unaware this was an issue until they received the policy from Deputy Guerrero.
Public Relations Manager Doreen Clay uses the golf carts to go to meetings and is aware of the policy but is uncertain if it has been established since she continues to see other advisors escorting passengers. “I’m a cart user, but I haven’t been officially informed,” Clay said. “I didn’t attend the PCC meeting, so It’s not clear.”
Student Health Center Director Beth Benne is concerned that the new policy will prevent her from escorting injured students around campus to the health center.
“I find it absurd that if a student sprained their ankle in lot 7 and has to be transported to the emergency room via the paramedics,” Benne said. “When less than five minutes by the golf cart by the cadets would
Pierce College’s very own architecture club will be joining Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in their annual Design Village competition.
This is the first time Pierce College is going to attend.
“Every year, San Luis Obispo’s Design Village has a competition in which schools all over California participate,” said Architecture major Armen Dedeyan. “We each design our own structure, but every year the structure has a theme. This year’s theme is Aura.”
The members are required to build a structure that is big enough for them to sleep in and light enough for them to carry to their campsite.
“They’ll build it, they’ll stay in it and they’ll take it down. It has to keep them all under shelter,” said Beth Abels, advisor of the Architecture Club.
The competition will be held within Cal Poly’s outdoor Experimental Structures Lab in Poly Canyon.
“You sleep in your structure. You have to build it to accommodate all your members,” Dedeyan said.
According to architecture. calpoly.edu, the “Aura” theme explores the metaphysical properties of designed space.
“The metaphysical explanation that Cal Poly gave us is how we interpret what we don’t know,” said Xenia Bran, president of the Architecture Club. “It’s the definition we put behind unexplainable things. That’s what aura is essentially about.”
The Associated Students Organization (ASO) funded an estimated amount of $3,000 to the Architecture Club, making it possible for them to attend the event.
“The ASO funded as much as they could,” Abels said. “The ASO was really excited.”
“The students put together their budget and they applied for it,” Abels said. “The ASO approved to fund it, and more students decided to join.” age 17.
Weiss made himself an influential person in Henzi’s family and had become a family friend, blending business with that personal relationship. By that time, two other people in Henzi’s family were also being represented by Weiss. Henzi felt that he had to speak up and do something about the sexual abuse.
“I came forward when I was 18 after secretly recording an hour long conversation where [Weiss] admitted to abusing me when I was 11,” Henzi said. “I brought that to authorities and Weiss ended up being convicted of sexually abusing just me, even though I know there are other victims who weren’t able to speak out at the time.”
Weiss was sentenced to a year in prison through a plea deal in June 2012. He has been let out since and is registered with Megan’s Law.
“He’s a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, so I feel like that’s, at least, the justice that I was able to get,” Henzi said. “So many people that have been sexually abused don’t get justice because of no evidence.”
The court process and the turmoil
“I’m excited and a little scared because it’s our first time going to a competition. It’s a new experience,” said Bardia Shafiei, construction management major.
“It’s a tradition for architecture programs throughout the state of California to join, and it’s been going on since I was knee high to a grasshopper,” Abels said. “I’ve known about it for a long time, but I never had a group of students who were particularly interested in taking it on until now.”
Abels is looking forward to the knowledge the students will gain from the competition.
“They’re learning major collaborative skills, but they’re also learning about the design process,” Abels said. “They’re learning about how the materials work and the structures, it’s almost everything you could ask for in terms of curriculum.”
Architecture majors who attend the event have the opportunity to add this experience to their portfolios for future references.
“We’re pioneers. Architecture clubs in the past haven’t done anything at all, competition wise” Luis Martinez, architecture major, said. “We’re taking it to the next level and we’re excited about that.” it created was Henzi’s main focus for the majority of his first year at Pierce. Then, in 2013, Oscarnominated director Amy Berg, who was researching sexual abuse in Hollywood and in the entertainment industry at large, approached Henzi. She ended up interviewing him and featuring him in her documentary “An Open Secret.”
Greg H. Sims, CEO of Vesuvio Entertainment, the company responsible for distributing “An Open Secret,” thought that Henzi stood out in the documentary. Sims contacted Henzi to get him involved with publicity for the film.
