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A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Cheer on top
Woodland Hills, California Volume 130 - Issue 9
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
Brief:
English/ Math slashed
The team takes home national title at the Spirit Cheer Competition SUSAN LOPEZ
Features Editor @susanlo63291265
CHRISTOPHER TORRES Photo & Sports Editor @chris_t_torres
D
espite the Pierce Cheer and Competition team losing many players throughout the season, they were still able to make a new addition - a national championship banner. The judges scored the Brahmas routine with zero deductions and were awarded first place at the Spirit Cheer SoCal Finale Nationals in San Diego. Zach Harris, cheer director, applauded the teams’ diligent mentality through an obstaclefilled season and believes that this is the best team Pierce has had in yet. “I think that they understood each other and their strengths and their weaknesses,” Harris said. “They filled in the gaps for each other and really made it more of a family than a team.” The season was not a smooth ascension to the top as they lost a majority of the team during the season due to financial reasons and scheduling conflicts. According to Harris, many of the members that left had key roles on the team and they had to constantly alter the routine every week because of their departure. “We've had to change our routine a lot,” Harris said. “Almost every practice we had to build a new routine, switch something up or add a new member and changing around a formation.
Preview:
Katya Castillo / Roundup Lailah Vestal is lifted during cheer practice in the North Gym at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. on April 22, 2019. The Pierce College Cheer Team won a national title at Spirit Cheer competition in San Diego on April 19, 2019.
When you do that a lot, it's really hard to clean up and organize it.” As the weeks went on and the competition date came closer, Harris said the team put in extra work in the last few practices they had and even switched around
crucial roles for the routine. “Towards the end, we had an extra couple extra practices,” Harris said. “They worked really, really hard to make sure that the stunts that we were working on were solid and we had to change a
few flyers which is a major thing, but we ended up being able to switch our pyramid around and make it work.” While performing the routine on the national stage, Harris admitted that he was nervous but
had the utmost confidence in the girls because of the hours of training they committed themselves to doing. “During most of their stunts I was a little worried, but not too worried,” [For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]
Never stop reaching for the heights
Lin- Manuel's Tony-winning musical celebrates cultural diversity ANGELEICA LOPEZ Photo Editor @angietography Of all the reasons to do the Tony Award-winning “In the Heights,” the most important is how the actors and Pierce College students can relate to the characters and their stories. Written by “Hamilton’s” Lin-Manuel Miranda, it tells the story of hopeful immigrants living in New York’s Washington Heights. While the characters struggle to find a way to leave and live life outside the neighborhood, as the story progresses they realize that they’ve been home all along. The show opens April 26 and runs through May 5 at the Performing Arts Building Mainstage with a split cast. Director Shaheen Vaaz said that although the production of the play has been more difficult because of the added combination of singing, dancing and acting, she thinks the story is what makes it worth it. “I think this is a tough one,” Vaaz said. “It’s also feels easy in some ways because I think it’s a really authentic story.
Katya Castillo/ Roundup (Left to right) Alex Balderas, Trevor Alkazian, Janel "JJ" Javier, and Nic Escalante rehearse "In the Heights" by Lin Manuel Miranda at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. on April 22, 2019.
I’m an immigrant and it’s very much our story. I think the cast, all of us, we just get it.
We get it. We lived it on some level.” Vaaz said that this play as a
whole feels personal to her own story of growing up. “I lived in Manhattan. I went
The Weather Roundup The Pierce College Weather Station has provided meteorogical data to national agencies since 1949 Find out more at piercecollegeweather.com
Wed. April 24 High: 80 Low: 59 Sunny
Thur. April 25 High: 79 Low: 58 Cloudy
Fri. April 26 High: 77 Low: 58 Cloudy
Sat. April 27 High: 74 Low: 58 Cloudy
Sun. April 28 High: 74 Low: 55 Cloudy
Mon. April 29 High: 70 Low: 53 Sunny
Tues. April 29 High: 73 Low: 53 Cloudy
Wed. April 30 High: 77 Low: 54 Sunny
to grad school at Columbia so I was in the area and I was an actor pounding the pavement in Manhattan for many years,” Vaaz said. “I love that f lavor of New York that you get in it. I’m also an immigrant so I understand this like search for home. With musical numbers in both Spanish and English and genres ranging from hip-hop to salsa, Theater Manager Michael Sande said there’s a lot of variety to the play. “It’s just a very ethnically diverse cast and it’s important to us to have roles considering the very ethnically diverse student body we have here,” Sande said. “In our own department we have a lot of Latinx students but there are also people of different ethnicities in this. We have a couple of African-Americans in the play, there’s some Filipinos. Its message is universal. “In the Heights” opens Friday, April 26, at 8 p.m., at the Performing Arts Building Mainstage, and will run April 27 and 28 and May 2-5 with the times varying. [see PHOTO ESSAY on pg. 8]
Students planning to enroll in fundamental English and math courses may be surprised.The Chancellor directed to remove them from the fall schedule. Representatives from the departments expressed opposition to this decision at Monday’s Academic Senate meeting, because it interfered with their transition plans to work with AB 705. The bill “maximize the probability that a student will enter and complete transfer-level coursework in English and math within a one year” Crystal Kiekel, the Center for Academic Success director, argued that there is a major misconception that these courses are part of the English and math sequences. She explained that students will not be placed in these classes as a requirement for transfer as they can have the liberty to take these courses for their development. “We believe students should be able to choose to take a class that will allow them to strengthen their fundamental grammar, learning skills and their arithmetic skills should they choose to do so at any point before or after their transfer sequence,” Kiekel said. Before AB 705, courses, such as English 21 and Math 110/115 were considered two or three levels below transfer level. “So that means that we can no longer place students so low in a developmental sequence because students were sort of dwelling in below transfer level courses for years,” Kiekel said. Chairman of Mathematics Eddie Tchertchian stressed that Pierce College’s mission is to help students gain career and technical proficiency. Tchertchian stressed student equity, student choice, and students having the ability to make better decisions about their courses. “It's important to point that up to 40 percent of our students here at Pierce College are CTE students, career technical education students, so many of those enrolled to gain just a specific skill. Their goal is not to transfer,” Tchertchian said. The Senate unanimously approved a document that expressed opposition to the Chancellor’s direction the stated several reasons for inclusion of the English and math courses. The Academic Senate announced their newly elected president Barbara Anderson winning with 84 votes, while Fernando Oleas had 33 votes according to the Nominations and Elections Committee. “I'm excited to win but also humbled, realizing that it's a really important role to represent the faculty well and the pre-previous presidents have done an excellent job,” Anderson said. slopes.roundupnews@gmail.com
Opinions .................2 News..........................3 Features.......................4 Photo Essay ...................5-6 Campus Life........................7-8 Sports.....................................9-10