ROUNDUP Los Angeles Pierce College
www.theroundupnews.com
Woodland Hills, California
Volume 128 - Issue 7
A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
A cup of Joe before you go CAOT professor volunteers at Mammoth Lakes with Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra VANESSA ARREDONDO Managing Editor @v̲anana & RANDI LOVE Editor-in-Chief @randilove̲29
Making new connections Academic Senate members had a detailed discussion on WiFi RICHARD ESPINOZA Reporter @EspinozaReport
participating in recreational winter sports. She said she has learned a lot from working with differently abled people. “It’s been such an incredible experience because you get to meet and know and understand people whose experiences are completely different from yours,” Beardsley said.
Though some of the blue fences have been taken down, campus construction is not complete. However, administration said they are working with what they have to address concerns about phone service and Wi-Fi connectivity. Vice President of Administrative Services Rolf Schleicher spoke about campus safety for Pierce faculty and students at Monday’s Academic Senate meeting. He updated the senate about the safety improvements that have been made. Members of the senate were particularly concerned about the lack of cell phone and internet access in the Center for Sciences. Bonnie Lemus, a nursing instructor, said she is unsatisfied with the limited Wi-Fi access. “They have no cell phone coverage or internet access in the Center for Sciences building,” Lemus said. “Not only does it interfere when being able to making presentations to students, it interferes with emergency access we might need.” Schleicher said that building upgrades were made 10 years ago, and the CFS was not designed or constructed for cell phone and PC access. “The world has changed, and everyone wants cell phone and internet access. The problem is that the walls are impenetrable, so there is not enough Wi-Fi in every classroom,” Schleicher said. “We are spending millions of dollars to upgrade.” Lemus said that Schleicher was no help to her, and she did not receive the answers she wanted. “It cleary needs to be a priority, primarily for safety, but also for student access to the internet for educational purpose,” Lemus said. Scheicher also addressed the issue about the blue construction fences. He said that the fences were up too long because of an issue with the contractors. “We had fences on campus since I have been here,” Schleicher said. “They were located in areas near the North of the Mall. I needed these upgrades right now, primarily for students and faculty. I had my crew come in during the break and remove the fences.”
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M
ammoth Mountain is the place where Pierce instructor Joe Perret and his wife Nina met, fell in love and got engaged. But after an injury to Nina’s back led her to stop skiing, Joe no longer had a partner in the snow. Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES) was able to get him back on the slopes with others. It also provided him with the ability to help people who may have never thought they would be off stable ground. Perret has been instructing with DSES for about 10 years. “It combines some of the things I really love,” Perret said. “I love the mountains. I love to ski. I love to teach—you put it all together and that’s what I do.” DSES is an organization that aims to make sports affordable and accessible to people with disabilities. Adaptive equipment is used to enable people to participate in winter and summer activities. “We have given them a section of their life back,” Perret said. “They lost the recreational part of their life, and they now have a feeling of accomplishment that, if they can do this, they can do anything.” Executive Director Kathy Copeland founded DSES in 2003. She said there was a need for a separate disabled sports program at Mammoth Lakes. She said the organization is all-
Graduation petition deadline April 15.
Shae Hammond / Roundup
Joe Perret, CAOT instructor at Pierce College, smiles between lessons with his student on Mammoth Mountain in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., on March 30, 2018. Perret is a volunteer ski instructor with Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra, who assist people with physical and cognitive disabilities.
inclusive. Any disability, age, or gender—they can get them out on the hill. DSES instructs more than 400
Shae Hammond / Roundup
Joe Perret and Brenden Steinman secure Russell Johnson into the ski lift on Mammoth Mountain in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., on March 30, 2018.
students, offering over 3,500 lessons a year. According to DSES staff, about 23 percent of students are people on the autism spectrum, and about 20 percent are people who have suffered a traumatic physical injury. “It’s an equalizer,” Copeland said. “People come up here in their wheelchairs; They are used to being on the pavement, and then all of the sudden, they have the world opened up to them.” Perret said that instructing his students at Mammoth provides similar rewards to teaching at Pierce. “The biggest thrill is when it clicks. When suddenly, they get it, and they get that look on their face,” Perret said. “You get the same thing in the classroom. That’s why I enjoy teaching.” Perret said that being a volunteer instructor for DSES has taught him to be more patient. And, in the long term,
“I love the mountains. I love to ski. I love to teach—you put it all together and that's what I do.”
-Joe Perret
CAOT professor
both practices provide experience and knowledge for the other. Through DSES, students can have half-day adaptive sports lesson in the morning or afternoon. At least two instructors assist during the private lessons. All expenses cost about $95, and if needed, scholarships are offered. DSES Director Laura Beardsley said that physical or mental disabilities should not prevent someone from
BESA molds businessmen
Organization aims to bring entrepreneurial ideas to life VANESSA ARREDONDO Managing Editor @V̲anana Buying school supplies individually at the office supply store can be expensive and time consuming. But the Pierce College Business and Economics Student Association (BESA) has a possible fix. The ASO has given BESA $25,000 to invest in the Pierce Supply Drop, a business idea which will offer boxes filled with a myriad of supplies that meet the basic needs of the typical college student. BESA plans to purchase 200 boxes to sell by the end of the semester. ASO Treasurer Matthew Aguilera
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said that the Finance Committee approved to fund BESA’s idea because they thought it’d be a beneficial experience for the business students. “We thought it’d be a lucrative plan, but also a good experience for BESA,” Aguilera said. “It’s a good learning experience for people in that club and for those interested in business and entrepreneurship. They also provide an alternative to purchasing needed school supplies.” Josh Lipman, the president of BESA, said that the organization will create conveniently packaged and affordable boxes of school supplies to sell at the student store. He said the student-run, oncampus business venture benefits the student consumers as well as those
behind the idea. “This is such a unique opportunity for students to gain that experience if they are interested in business or plan to start their own company,” Lipman said. “They will be given the opportunity to get hands-on entrepreneurial experience and learn all the lessons that experience teaches, without the personal financial risk that it normally entails.” BESA asked the Student Business and Entrepreneurs and Investors Group (SBEIG) to partner with them for this business venture. The club’s president, Parker Selby, said he and other members were ecstatic to participate. “This is something they want to get their hands on. Not everybody
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Randi Love/ Roundup
Joe Cardenas, Joshua Paget, Josh Lipman, Ani Keioglian and Luciano Leon, members of BESA, put supplies into one of their supply boxes near the Associated Students Organization at Pierce College in Woodland HIlls, Calif., on April 9, 2018.
has an idea to start a business, so when you have one knocking on the door, I think everyone should take the opportunity to work and learn about it,” Selby said.
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Calculators, pens, and notebooks are included in the green camo-print boxes. But Lipman said that once the business picks up traction, they will make boxes catering to specific
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majors, such as art, with different designs. [For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]
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