A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION Woodland Hills, California Volume 138 - Issue 2
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Lots of horsing around this spring
The animals return to the Equine Program, putting professors and students at ease
BY NATHALIE MIRANDA Reporter
I
magine going to a classroom without pencils or books. Now imagine trying to learn about horses without any present on campus. That changed this semester. The horses have come back to Pierce College after being gone for almost three years. Their return is enthusiastically welcomed by the professors and students part of the Equine program who have been struggling without them. The horses were removed from campus when the pandemic hit in 2020 and the school closed. They returned in spring of last year but had not been incorporated back into lessons until this spring semester started. Their absence greatly impacted the Equine program as there were many classes that either could not be taught without them or were very difficult to teach. “It was darn near impossible,” Professor of the horse training class Heidi Paul said. “You really can’t run this type of program without horses.” When the horses left campus the riding classes were canceled and the others that stayed available were run with great effort to teach the students as much as they could learn without horses. This included trying to teach with donkeys who were not very cooperative and many field trips to private properties off campus that had horses. These trips
Photo by Owen Meza.
Instructor Heidi Paul teaches her class at the Equestrian Center at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. on March 3, 2023.
relied entirely on separate contacts Paul and other students had. “Fortunately, we knew enough people between myself and a few students who would allow us on their property to deal with their private horses,” Paul said. “But that’s difficult to pull off.” Students part of the Equine program also suffered with the loss of the horses. Not being able to take certain classes meant they weren’t able to get the credits they needed and their time at Pierce had to be
extended. “I didn’t get the outcome for my teaching goals for the classes,” said Paulina Chairez, an Equine student for over a year. “We kind of were just winging everything,and I feel like I kind of just wasted a semester here. It was just definitely not meeting my expectations as far as my career goals and education goals.” The horses are expected to stay for the rest of the semester, putting both professors and students at ease. “I feel like I can actually graduate
on time because the horses are here,” Chairez said. “I feel like I’m back on track.” The future of the program is still not clear, but with the horses back there are hopes that the program will return to the state it was in before the pandemic. It’s already slowly getting there, the return of the animals sparked more students to enroll in the riding, training and lecture classes. “I would like to see this program start up again to the level it was
previous to the pandemic,” Paul said. “There’s always a waiting list for these classes and people really, really enjoy doing them. It’s for everybody– there’s a lot of people who take them just because it's therapeutic.” Callen David, who started taking classes in the Equine program this semester, did not have to experience the program when they were missing the horses. He gets to start the program the way it was intended to be run.
“I’ve been looking to work with horses for a very, very long time,” David said. “It’s exciting to be here and learn proper technique and etiquette. Learning this whole new Pierce method with the horses is different than anything I’ve ever done. It’s exciting.”
nm.miranda.roundupnews@gmail.
Food, fabulous food
Brahma Bodega collaborates with Pacific Dining to provide free meals
BY MARJAN SHARIFI Reporter
A
ccording to the recently released C a l i f o r n i a Community College #RealCollege Survey, nearly 50% of students are hungry. The Brahma Bodega is trying to fix that. The Pierce College Brahma Bodega is giving away free lunches all semester in partnership with Pacific Dining, a contracter used to run the college cafeteria. While this is not a new program at Pierce, more students are recently finding out about how the Bodega serves the student body. The Basic Needs leaders have come up with a program to assist hungry students. Director of Lunch with the Bodega Geremy Mason, took over the program in October of 2022, which started a couple of years before the COVID-19 pandemic even hit and seemed to have been ahead of its time. It has been assisting and serving the student population since then. “As we’ve been seeing, basic needs
is a hot topic at the moment,” said Mason, who said students are giving positive feedback on the program. “A lot of individuals, not just students, are hwaving difficulties with basic necessities, such as food and shelter.” According to Student Services Assistant Ozzy Portillo, many students getting lunch or dinner on campus may not be realistic as they may be too busy to grab food or are sometimes too financially stretched. “Lunch with the Bodega is a good resource for students on campus that are here all day,” Portillo said. “It’s awesome to be able to offer this to students, and students don’t need to leave campus to buy food.” Lunch with the Bodega started a couple of years back under a different name: Brahma Pantry. The program was managed by Brahma Pantry and Basic Needs lead Darcy Corwin. In order to sign up, students need to be enrolled for one class at Pierce College. They will then have a card made for them and that card can be used for the rest of the semester. After students receive their card, they are eligible to receive other services, as well.
“Once they [students] apply and have a Bodega Card, they get access to all the resources that we have,” Mason said. “So we have the Bodega itself, where they get the Bodega Bites. Those are our two snacks per day that students can come and receive. We also have the take home items. They can also go to Pacific Dining. Pierce College has a partnership with Pacific Dining to provide access for students to receive meals on a daily basis. Students on campus in the evening can go to the bookstore and receive a meal from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. everyday.” The program has a rotating schedule in the cafeteria so there is a lot of variation with what students can choose to eat. The menu consists of, but is not limited to, chicken teriyaki, steak and mashed potatoes with gravy, orange chicken, ravioli, as well as vegetarian options. The program is tremendously successful and popular, currently serving approximately 750 students, while still getting more applicants. Umoja Club President Luna von Dahlern said that she has benefited
from the program in many ways. “I work full time and go to school full time and I don’t have much time to take care of myself,” von Dahlern said. “The Bodega is there for everyone. Everyone should be aware that it is there, even if they say they don’t need it. It’s still there for them.
msharifi.roundupnews@gmail.com Photo by Daniela Raymundo. Pasta boxes served at the cafeteria atPierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif.,on March 6, 2023.
Pools in disrepair [see Sports on pg. 6 ]
Opinions....................................2 News..........................................3 Campus Life..............................4 Features.....................................5 Sports........................................6