EMU STUDENT EXHIBITION PAGE A8
FEATURED TEACHER PAGE A2
A NATIONAL PACEMAKER AWARD NEWSPAPER
VOL. 23, NO. 8 The student publication of Washtenaw Community College
MONDAY, DEC. 5, 2016 www.washtenawvoice.com
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN
CARMEN CHENG
| WASHTNEAW VOICE
Lend a helping hand
(from left to right) Heather Duval, club president, brainstorms with club members Teya Bond and Kamryn Auguste at their Monday meeting on how to help the WCC’s and surrounding communities.
Students reaching out into the community Editor
FRANKLIN
New to campus, but passionately driven, Washtenaw Community Outreach Club is reaching out to students on campus to support their introductory mission, to help end local hunger. Heather Duval, club president, is taking her first opportunity to reach into the community after founding the official school club last month. “This is our fourth meeting,” Duval said. “I am really into giving back to the community and I think a lot of students on campus want to give back, but don’t know the means to do so. Our food drive here makes it easier for people to contribute.” WCOC is sponsoring a food drive with Food Gatherers, a food warehouse based in Detroit, until Dec. 15. “After we finish our first event, we will begin next semester with bake sale fundraisers, awareness nights, where there is a topic like the Flint water crisis and we will have someone come
in and discuss the implications about what is going on, and how people can help solve that issue,” Duval said. WCC’s food pantry also takes donations from students. This continuous food drive on campus may be the next prospective target for the club’s helping hands. “We have a lot of resources on campus that students don’t know about, so we will be spreading the word about those sources,” Duval said. “I like to volunteer and give back,” Teya Bond, club member and digital video production major, said. “One thing I am really passionate about is helping my community, where I can walk and see people being helped. I like that it’s accessible to me, especially our local canned food drive,” Bond said. “I went to Ann Arbor Public Schools and there are people that don’t know there are kids that need tutoring and can’t afford it,” Bond said, “I would like to reach out to help tutor low income kids in our (club’s) future.”
Duval has goals of lifelong servitude, striving to help underprivileged children in her hometown of Ann Arbor. “My main goal is to either work for nonprofits or start my own non profit for minority youth,” Duval said. “There is a program being started up by AAPS that focuses on kids who don’t have access to college accessibility awareness or preparation resources. I didn’t have that, and I know that many first generation college students don’t know about the application process and things like that,” Bond said. Beyond the difficulties of paperwork, some first generation college students are missing out on perks like scholarships, Duval and Bond contended. A trip with the group to offer advice and help students prepare for the transition into college life is an aspiration of Bond’s. “I feel like I might go into working with younger kids or high school students,” Kamryn Auguste, global studies major said. Auguste will pursue French as a major in her next
step towards being an interpreter or translator working with students. Club meetings are an open forum of ideas where club members share ideas for events and ways to help the community. “We brainstorm on the board and narrow it down to what will work the best,” Bond said. Everyone is included in conversation and invited to participate, she mentioned. Duval takes her role as the club’s president seriously, making sure the members are engaged and gaining professional skills. One way she has done this is through demonstrating solid technical writing procedures with sharing documents. She offers an outline for professional emails and structured note taking. “I write up all of my notes and send them out so everyone knows how to take the meeting notes for the club. I want us to pick up on things you have to do in the real world as well,” Duval said, “So, here, you give back but you’re also gaining.”
MOST NEEDED ITEMS
NON PERISHABLE FOOD Low Sodium Hearty Soups (Beef Stew, Chili, etc.) Low sodium canned meats (Tuna Fish, Chicken, etc.) Low Sodium or No Salt Canned Vegetables Canned or Packaged Pasta Rice, Beans (Canned or Dry) Cereal and Oatmeal Granola Bars Nut Butters or Jelly (Plastic Jars) Baby Food & Formula (Plastic Containers) Ensure® & Other Nutritional Supplement Drinks
PERSONAL CARE
Diapers
Toothpaste & Toothbrushes Soap & Shampoo
Disposable Razors
SOURCE FOOD GATHERERS
BY JENELLE
RISE IN REPORTED HATE CRIMES K-12 through higher education campuses affected SUNI JO ROBERTS Contributor BY
A shared recognition and concern for the uptick in hate crimes reported in Washtenaw County brought community members to the Morris Lawrence Building at Washtenaw Community College on Monday, Nov. 21. Washtenaw Community College hosted the fifth session of The Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office Community Education Series, “Strategies for Responding
to Alleged Ethnic Intimidation or Discrimination-Related Incidents in Washtenaw County.” Four different speakers took the stage to speak on hate crimes, hate incidents, and their effects on individuals, children, and the larger community. Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry L. Clayton moderated the event. During the opening remarks Clayton spoke of the timeliness and urgency of this issue, warning about creating divides. “It is really around the climate
that we create for each other as we try to navigate all the difficulties associated with (not just the political environment) just life in general,” Clayton said. “We are better off when we pull together to navigate these things than [we are] separating off into different factions.” Anthony Lewis, with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, explained that a hate crime is not attacking someone because of what they do, or because of who they are, but
because of what they are; that they belong to a targeted group. In Michigan, in 2015, the top biases included: anti-black, antimale homosexual, anti-islamic, anti-arab. Although official FBI crime statistics for 2016 won’t be released for another year, Lewis was able to offer anecdotal data about the increase in reported bias incidences. His office receives calls from locations around the state to report incidences of bias and hate crimes.
“Since Tuesday [Nov. 8] we have had approximately 30 locations of incidences that have been reported to us,” Lewis said. “Normal to this point in the year, we would only receive about 8-10 for a year.” These reports largely came from K-12 school districts. Children are able to submit confidential reports on criminal activities or potential harm to OK2SAY Phone: 1.855.565.2729 Text: 652729 Website: ok2say@mi.gov
Felicia Brabec, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, and private practice therapist shared her advice on helping children cope with the confusion and stress that this election cycle has evoked. Michelle Slocum, an audience member, found this advice pertinent to her work. “The impact on kids has been pretty apparent, recently,” Slocum said.
see hate crimes a3