ROUND OUNDUP UP www.theroundupnews.com
Woodland Hills, California
Volume 132 - Issue 3
A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
Baseball coach goes global Latest information
COVID-19 update
From Pierce to the Philippines: coaching an international team on Coronavirus BY PAOLA CASTILLO
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ince its first diagnosis in November, COVID-19 (coronavirus) has trickled its way into other countries causing school and business closures. Pierce College, along with other scholastic institutions and universities in California, are discussing the possibility of temporarily closing and moving classes online. Pierce College President Alexis Montevirgen announced that the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) created plans in case a closure is needed but despite preplanning, nothing has been decided. “Everything is changing and evolving, and so is what I'm telling you now,” said Montevirgen. "I may get a call during the evening and we may need to change. That's the nature of the situation.”
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Dept. chairs demand action
President to be given list of complaints and deadline to make changes BY ARIELLE ZOLEZZI After Tuesdays special meeting by the Academic Policy Committee (APC) regarding a vote of no confidence on Pierce College’s three vice presidents, a call of action for President Alexis Montevirgen has been drafted. Department chairs came to a consensus that there isn’t much confidence in Sheri Berger, Rolf Schleicher and Earic Dixon-Peters, but there wasn’t an agreement on how to handle the matter. Led by First Vice President of Academic Policy Michael Gend, the APC voted to refocus on developing a plan that addresses the concerns of the APC members. “We are working on making campus a place where you can disagree with your administration in a collegiate way and not face retaliation as some have,” Gend said. Due to time constraints, the only vice president that was reviewed in the meeting was Berger. The room was divided between those who didn’t believe it was their place to decide whether or not someone loses their job and those who said they want action now. The general agreement in the meeting was that the concerns of faculty and students needs to be addressed. “The biggest thing that I would like to see is an open communication between administration and faculty for our students because we are here to work for our students,” Math Department Chair Edouard Tchertchian said. “It is important that everyone is on the same page during these tough times.” The members at the meeting concluded that they need to come together as faculty leaders to put pressure on administration to make the changes they want to see in the vice presidents via Montevirgen, and if their concerns are not addressed they will take further action.
azolezzi.roundupnews@gmail.com
BY FELIPE GAMINO
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ierce College baseball may only be known locally, but it’s head coach is about to stand on the world stage of America’s pastime. That’s because Bill Picketts will have the opportunity to coach Team Philippines in the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers. Picketts learned about the job through his son. “My son wanted to play for the national team in the Southeast Asian Games,” Picketts said.” So he asked me to contact someone I knew. His name is Oscar Marcelino. “I've never met him in person, so we talked because my son is eligible to play for them, and then the WBC came up and they had struggles qualifying last time in Australia.” Pierce College President Alexis Montevirgen, who's from the Philippines, is excited for Picketts. “It’s a great honor to have our baseball coach being sought out to coach the national team for the Philippines. So, I’m wishing him the best of luck,” Montevirgen said. Montevirgen said there was a possibility for the national team to practice with the current Pierce baseball roster. “It would have been a great opportunity for our athletes to interact with international athletes, but I’m not sure it will come to fruition. One of the challenges we have is the current state of the field,” Montevirgen said. Picketts said his wife is also from the Philippines, so that opened a door for him. He said the team didn't have much discipline in the last qualifiers, which is something he wants to fix. At first, Picketts doubted taking the opportunity because he didn't know how the trip was going to be funded. Once Major League Baseball cleared him to go, he traveled to Manila in January to see the team practice.
File photo by Benjamin Hanson / Roundup Baseball head coach Bill Picketts in the dugout during a game against the Moorpark College Raiders in Moorpark, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2020. Picketts said one of the problems is that they don't play enough baseball in the Philippines. “The college schedule is only 12 games while here we have 40, plus we play summer ball,” Picketts said. “They are right there, but are a couple of years behind so we need to get them back on track.” Picketts said the association wants him to be more involved with developing baseball in the country. He won't be traveling all the time to the Philippines and said it won't conflict with his schedule at Pierce. Interim Athletic Director Susan Armenta said this is a great
opportunity for Picketts. “Whenever a coach or a player can go and get exposure in an international competition, they should take advantage of it,” Armenta said. “It also brings positive publicity to the college and athletics.” Philippines are in Pool Two with Panama, Czech Republic, Spain, New Zealand and Great Britain. Next year's World Baseball Classic had a change in format. In total, 20 teams will now participate in the competition. There are 16 teams that have automatically qualified, and the
remaining four will come out of the two pools competing in the qualifiers. The roster includes Brady and Riley Conlan, Andrew Magno, Yuki Takayama, Chase D’ Arnaud and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow. Picketts said he wasn't too optimistic about getting Tebow involved with the team. “I got his number from a close friend of his, so I texted him,” Picketts said. “After 15 minutes, I said it was a good try, however, he responded and was available to talk. After our conversation, everything
fell into place and he committed to joining us. I am really excited for what he can do, especially helping out the younger players.” The Philippines start their participation in the qualifiers against the Czech Republic. Winner of the game will face Panama, who has a bye in the first round. All games will be live for free on MLB’s YouTube channel. The qualifiers start Friday, but the Philippines begin on March 20 against the Czechs. fgamino.roundupnews@gmail.com
Madi2theMax
Voice actress and YouTuber shares industry advice BY BENJAMIN HANSON
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Benjamin Hanson / Roundup Voiceover actress, YouTuber and cosplayer Madison Brunoehler gets behind the mic in the KPCRadio.com sound booth in Woodland Hills, Calif., on March 9, 2020.
n the drive home from watching “Lilo and Stitch” in theaters with her father, Madison Brunoehler spent the ride to imitate the recognizable voice of the blue, cartoon alien Stitch. Her practice must’ve paid off. Brunoehler has since become a professional voice-over actress, a cosplayer and a Youtuber. "It allows me to be the silly, creative, funny voices that I've always liked doing," Brunoehler said. Brunoehler offered life and career advice at the Media Arts Speakers Series in the Great Hall on Monday morning. Brunoehler has lent her voice talents to video games such as “Five Nights at Freddy's,” “Warhammer 40,000” and “Dread Nautical.” She’s also starred in the web-series “Chasing Shadows” as Princess Ellianna. As a child, Brunoehler dressed up in wigs and costumes she made, and later discovered that other people shared the same creative hobby as her, known as cosplay. "I'm just going to make these characters. I'm going to dress up in all these silly costumes,” Brunoehler said. “Now it's my favorite thing." Her self-run YouTube channel, Madi2theMax, has more than 28.4 thousand subscribers and 300 videos that have generated more than 7 million views. It features live-action impressions of animated characters, cosplay impressions and "Pun-
Pressions," where she reads viewer submitted puns in the voices of cartoon characters. Brunoehler said that while she feels it's okay for others to compromise their ethics, she has lost jobs due to not wanting to lose her morality. "Many times in this industry, the great big scary industry, you will be told that you need to compromise your ethics and personal integrity," Brunoehler said. Media Arts Assistant Professor Ken Windrum, who invited Brunoehler to speak, said she showed students one of the many different paths they could follow after college. "Anybody like [Brunoehler] who can make a living in the media industry is a good example for our students to give them a sense of what careers they might have," Windrum said. Student Sofia Sandoval said she could relate well to Brunoehler. "[Brunoehler] got that opportunity of getting into it and experiencing the whole thing,” Sandoval said. “She found the passion in doing that." In each of her YouTube and TikTok videos, Bruhnoeler doesn’t shy away from her bubbly and enthusiastic personality, which was on full display during her speech. "Hold true to yourself,” Brunoehler said. “Try and figure out who you are and hold true to that, even when everyone else is telling you not to."
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