OAKLAND — Gerald Wallace didn’t just steal the ball from Warriors forward David Lee, he took the game away from Lee and Golden State.
Lee led his team against New Jersey for 43 minutes, until he gave up a crucial turnover and momentum to the Nets, which won 102-100 Friday at Oracle Arena.
This is the first of seven home games the Warriors lost to the Nets since 2005 and the second loss to New Jersey this season.
It is also Golden State’s fourth straight loss as it heads to Los Angeles to play the Lakers on Sunday.
There are 16 games left this season, which concludes at the end of April.
“We didn’t close ’em when we had ’em and it came back to bite us,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “I’m embarrassed and disappointed in the way my team played in the second half.”
Lee was the energy force behind the Warriors all game, but Wallace showed up on a night his All Star point guard Deron Williams was mostly absent as a scorer, but the two New Jersey Nets left the game with an exclamation mark at its end.
After Williams missed his second free throw with 4:08 remaining in the game¬, David Lee came down with the rebound at the baseline.
As Lee was looking for the outlet pass, Wallace came from behind, poked the ball out and made a layup to bring the Nets within three points.
New Jersey took the 102-100 lead with 51.8 seconds left to play. It was the first lead for the Nets after the Warriors took a 4-3 lead less than 2 minutes into the game.
Wallace finished with 24 points on 7-16 from the field. He was 2-2 for 3-point shooting, 8-9 from the free-throw line and the only player to have double-digit rebounds (18). He had five assists, six steals and a crucial shot block to preserve the Nets’ win.
He swatted Charles Jenkins at the buzzer, which would have tied the game and sent it to overtime.
“(Jenkins) was to make a decision off the high pick-and-roll,” Jackson said of the final possession. “He got himself too deep, got in some trouble. Great defense by Gerald Wallace.”
Williams was 2-13 from the field and 1-6 from behind the 3-point arc, finishing with only 9 points. However, he did finish with 20 assists — many of which found their way to Wallace.
Williams even got a block to save his team’s lead with less than 30 seconds left in the game.
Lee finished with 27 points on 12-16 from the field and 3-4 shooting free throws. Rookie Charles Jenkins finished with 18 points and 12 assists.
“It’s a great learning experience to never take your foot off the gas pedal,” Jenkins said. “No matter how much you’re up, it doesn’t matter (until) the clock hits double-zeros.”
The Nets overcame a 19-point deficit, capitalizing on 11 Golden State turnovers and scoring 60 points in the second half.
Lee said the Warriors “collapsed” after the break, which allowed an experienced Nets team (18-35) an opportunity to overtake a Warriors squad (20-30) with four rookies, two of who are in the starting lineup.
“It’s unacceptable,” Lee said. “As well as we played in the first half, we played worse in the second.”
Lee played all but 4:10 of the first half and was crucial in the Warriors’ 51-42 lead.
He had 22 points, shooting 10-13 in the first two quarters.
All six of Lee’s first shots were good, establishing his role and the position in which the Warriors would be the rest of the game. He missed his seventh shot with 50 seconds left in the first quarter.
Williams could not find the basket in the first half, registering only two points, which he made on a pair of free throws midway through the second quarter. But he did have nine assists at the break.
Kris Humphries and Gerald Green finished with 20 points each for the Nets.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Board approves LMC’s Brentwood Center
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on March 21, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
With the approval of the California’s Board of Governors, Los Medanos College’s Brentwood satellite campus will be an official education center starting with the 2012-13 academic year and will begin construction plans for a permanent facility by 2015.
LMC and Contra Costa Community College District leaders met with the 17-member panel, which writes policy for the state’s 72 community college districts, in Sacramento on March 5 for the approval that will increase annual allocations to the district by $1.1 million.
Education centers are off-campus locations offering college courses. The Brentwood Center is the second official center in the district; Diablo Valley College has an education center in San Ramon. Contra Costa College does not have a center, but it has outreach programs in El Cerrito and Hercules.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get the campus on a permanent, district-owned facility,” district Governing Board Trustee John Nejedly said. “It allows us greater stability and control over the location. We can design a facility specifically for our needs rather than the converted space we’re in now.”
The current location of the Brentwood Education Center on Sand Creek Road, 12.6 miles east of LMC’s main campus in Pittsburg, is in an old Lucky Supermarket shopping center.
“Now it’s a community college shopping center,” Nejedly, who represents Southeastern Contra Costa County, said after a laugh.
LMC Interim President Richard Livingston, who has been at the college for more than three decades, said the Brentwood Education Center was founded 14 years ago and moved to its current location 10 years ago. The process for finding a new location, he said, began two years ago.
The center has 11 classrooms and a computer lab, which Livingston said are always occupied and over-enrolled.
To be a state-approved center, campuses need to be planned to continue at least 10 more years, generate at least 500 Full-Time Equivalent Students (FTES), have an on-site administrator and offer programs leading to certificates or degrees through the parent institution.
FTES is the total units taken by all students on a campus, divided by 12. It is the formula used to allocate funding to community colleges.
Tim Leong, district public information officer, said the Brentwood Education Center consistently generated over 500 FTES since the 2002-03 academic year. He said projected enrollment could reach 1,900 FTES by the 2017-18 academic year.
To accommodate so many more students, district officials want to construct a 17-acre facility by the Vineyards at Marsh Creek on the south side of Brentwood by 2015.
The construction would need additional funding through the state, a voter-approved bond or a long-term loan, district Chief Facilities Planner Ray Pyle said.
The building, Livingston said, would have all courses, lab space and equipment required to transfer to a four-year university following an Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) education plan.
For Brentwood residents to take a bulk of those required courses at LMC, they have to drive down Highway 4, which bottlenecks from four lanes to two in Pittsburg, causing traffic congestion.
Pyle said, “It’s a real pain to have to drive on Highway 4.”
With the approval of the California’s Board of Governors, Los Medanos College’s Brentwood satellite campus will be an official education center starting with the 2012-13 academic year and will begin construction plans for a permanent facility by 2015.
LMC and Contra Costa Community College District leaders met with the 17-member panel, which writes policy for the state’s 72 community college districts, in Sacramento on March 5 for the approval that will increase annual allocations to the district by $1.1 million.
Education centers are off-campus locations offering college courses. The Brentwood Center is the second official center in the district; Diablo Valley College has an education center in San Ramon. Contra Costa College does not have a center, but it has outreach programs in El Cerrito and Hercules.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get the campus on a permanent, district-owned facility,” district Governing Board Trustee John Nejedly said. “It allows us greater stability and control over the location. We can design a facility specifically for our needs rather than the converted space we’re in now.”
The current location of the Brentwood Education Center on Sand Creek Road, 12.6 miles east of LMC’s main campus in Pittsburg, is in an old Lucky Supermarket shopping center.
“Now it’s a community college shopping center,” Nejedly, who represents Southeastern Contra Costa County, said after a laugh.
LMC Interim President Richard Livingston, who has been at the college for more than three decades, said the Brentwood Education Center was founded 14 years ago and moved to its current location 10 years ago. The process for finding a new location, he said, began two years ago.
The center has 11 classrooms and a computer lab, which Livingston said are always occupied and over-enrolled.
To be a state-approved center, campuses need to be planned to continue at least 10 more years, generate at least 500 Full-Time Equivalent Students (FTES), have an on-site administrator and offer programs leading to certificates or degrees through the parent institution.
FTES is the total units taken by all students on a campus, divided by 12. It is the formula used to allocate funding to community colleges.
Tim Leong, district public information officer, said the Brentwood Education Center consistently generated over 500 FTES since the 2002-03 academic year. He said projected enrollment could reach 1,900 FTES by the 2017-18 academic year.
To accommodate so many more students, district officials want to construct a 17-acre facility by the Vineyards at Marsh Creek on the south side of Brentwood by 2015.
The construction would need additional funding through the state, a voter-approved bond or a long-term loan, district Chief Facilities Planner Ray Pyle said.
The building, Livingston said, would have all courses, lab space and equipment required to transfer to a four-year university following an Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) education plan.
For Brentwood residents to take a bulk of those required courses at LMC, they have to drive down Highway 4, which bottlenecks from four lanes to two in Pittsburg, causing traffic congestion.
Pyle said, “It’s a real pain to have to drive on Highway 4.”
Presidential finalists make first impressions at forum
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on March 21, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
The mist cleared, the curtains drew and the final four college presidential candidates were unveiled to the campus community, which one of them will permanently lead beginning July 1.
Finalists to replace McKinley Williams, who retired in December 2011 after five years as Contra Costa College president, shared for one hour — and one hour only — their personalities and leadership approaches at an open forum in the Fireside Room on Thursday from 12:30 to 5:15 p.m.
Brian Ellison, Christopher Villa, Deborah Budd and Denise Noldon, college and district administrators from outside of the Contra Costa Community College District, answered questions selected and read by a moderator. Afterward, Williams led each candidate on a tour of the college service area.
Community College Search Services search consultant Kevin Ramirez said no one from within the district applied for the job.
The four candidates, whose names were revealed March 12 and who were selected from a pool of more than 30 applicants, answered written questions submitted by the audience of more than 40 concerned and curious students, faculty, staff and managers regarding in which direction the candidates would steer the college during economic crisis and leadership transition.
“It’s important to come in and learn about who is running as the presidential candidates,” ASU Rep. Mariah Fowler said.
“Schools everywhere are being cut,” the social sciences major said. “Students should be aware of what’s going on for the school to evolve and move on because it desperately needs to.”
Questions and responses addressed state funding augmentations, spending decisions and boosting morale in this era of budget cuts.
But no question asked directly how the candidates would deal with the 60 course sections that will be reduced next semester, the $1 to $1.5 million that will be cut from the college’s $25 million operational budget or the $10 per unit increase to student fees starting during the 2012 summer session.
District Chancellor Helen Benjamin, CCC president from 1999-2005, and the college Screening Committee, a shared governance committee including each constituency group on campus, met Monday to discuss the forum.
Dr. Benjamin’s final selection will be made by April 11 and presented to the district Governing Board for approval May 23. The new president’s term would begin July 1 with the start of 2012-13 academic year.
The search for the college’s 13th president started in September 2011 and cost $17,500, Community College Search Services Senior Partner Al Fernandez said.
The last president from outside of the district was Dr. Doreen “Candy” Rose, who came from Mission College in the West Valley-Mission College District in Santa Clara, in 1984.
Dr. Rose was president until Benjamin replaced her as interim president in December 1997. Benjamin was the district’s first African-American college president and was later unanimously selected by the Governing Board to become chancellor in 2005.
“All four (candidates) left great impressions. The chancellor has her hands full,” said Governing Board Trustee John Marquez, who represents CCC’s service area in the district. “(The candidates) all brought different perspectives.”
Dr. Ellison, the first to speak Thursday afternoon, is the vice president of instruction and student services at San Diego Continuing Education, a mostly noncredit institution, and began his career at Merced College as a psychology and sociology professor.
Ellison was stiff and the only speaker not to take the microphone from the stand anytime during his hour. He stood with his feet together and his palms flat on the lectern.
He said the CCC mission statement, which emphasizes Career Technical Education (CTE), academic skills and transfer — and strategic plan are comparable to his tasks at SDCE in the San Diego Community College District.
“Those are two fantastic documents,” said Ellison, a graduate from San Diego Mesa College. “They’re easy to embrace and support.”
Immediately comfortable in front of the audience and camera taping the forum, Dr. Villa made his audience laugh within a minute or two, which was the first time during the forum.
The data-driven Fresno City College vice president of student services spoke second, is from Los Angeles and has worked at higher education institutions for more than 30 years.
“There is tremendous diversity here,” Villa said. “I thrive on that. I like it.”
He said he and his wife went for a drive around San Pablo and West County before the forum and saw the different regions of the service area.
“From that experience, I’m very excited about applying here,” he said.
After Villa’s hour, Dr. Budd, Peralta Community College District vice chancellor of educational services, took the floor.
Budd has been in administration since starting her career as an athletic director and physical education teacher in the Alameda Unified School District in 1989.
Budd said despite the deteriorating higher education budget in the state, it is a time for imaginative solutions to help student services.
“Sometimes crisis creates innovation,” she said after the forum, walking across the Amphitheatre from the Fireside Room to the Student Life Center. She then introduced herself to the ASU Board and took Williams’ tour.
Dr. Noldon, the vice president of student development and enrollment management at Folsom Lake College, about 28 miles east of Sacramento, closed the forum.
At the end of her hour in the spotlight, the Berkeley High School graduate said, “I hope you get a person to take you to the next level. If that person is not me, I’ll be watching from afar to see how well you do.”
After she spoke, she walked across Padilla Plaza and waited for Williams, whose mustache has grown into a beard with patches of grey and white since retiring.
Williams became president in 2006 after serving a year as interim president and coined the phrase, “Contra Costa College, a premier community college right in your own backyard.”
Noldon said she shared a vision for CCC with Williams, dropping the familiar line, “premier community college.”
Questions at the forum were submitted to Business Services Manager Mariles Magalong, head of the Screening Committee, before they were selected and read to the candidates by Ramirez, the moderator.
He said more than 40 questions were submitted and he tried to group them by themes.
Ramirez asked questions to reveal the candidates’ dealings with budget issues, leadership styles and embracing a diverse campus, but did not ask about how or which cuts they would make.
The mist cleared, the curtains drew and the final four college presidential candidates were unveiled to the campus community, which one of them will permanently lead beginning July 1.
Finalists to replace McKinley Williams, who retired in December 2011 after five years as Contra Costa College president, shared for one hour — and one hour only — their personalities and leadership approaches at an open forum in the Fireside Room on Thursday from 12:30 to 5:15 p.m.
Brian Ellison, Christopher Villa, Deborah Budd and Denise Noldon, college and district administrators from outside of the Contra Costa Community College District, answered questions selected and read by a moderator. Afterward, Williams led each candidate on a tour of the college service area.
Community College Search Services search consultant Kevin Ramirez said no one from within the district applied for the job.
The four candidates, whose names were revealed March 12 and who were selected from a pool of more than 30 applicants, answered written questions submitted by the audience of more than 40 concerned and curious students, faculty, staff and managers regarding in which direction the candidates would steer the college during economic crisis and leadership transition.
“It’s important to come in and learn about who is running as the presidential candidates,” ASU Rep. Mariah Fowler said.
“Schools everywhere are being cut,” the social sciences major said. “Students should be aware of what’s going on for the school to evolve and move on because it desperately needs to.”
Questions and responses addressed state funding augmentations, spending decisions and boosting morale in this era of budget cuts.
But no question asked directly how the candidates would deal with the 60 course sections that will be reduced next semester, the $1 to $1.5 million that will be cut from the college’s $25 million operational budget or the $10 per unit increase to student fees starting during the 2012 summer session.
District Chancellor Helen Benjamin, CCC president from 1999-2005, and the college Screening Committee, a shared governance committee including each constituency group on campus, met Monday to discuss the forum.
Dr. Benjamin’s final selection will be made by April 11 and presented to the district Governing Board for approval May 23. The new president’s term would begin July 1 with the start of 2012-13 academic year.
The search for the college’s 13th president started in September 2011 and cost $17,500, Community College Search Services Senior Partner Al Fernandez said.
The last president from outside of the district was Dr. Doreen “Candy” Rose, who came from Mission College in the West Valley-Mission College District in Santa Clara, in 1984.
Dr. Rose was president until Benjamin replaced her as interim president in December 1997. Benjamin was the district’s first African-American college president and was later unanimously selected by the Governing Board to become chancellor in 2005.
“All four (candidates) left great impressions. The chancellor has her hands full,” said Governing Board Trustee John Marquez, who represents CCC’s service area in the district. “(The candidates) all brought different perspectives.”
Dr. Ellison, the first to speak Thursday afternoon, is the vice president of instruction and student services at San Diego Continuing Education, a mostly noncredit institution, and began his career at Merced College as a psychology and sociology professor.
Ellison was stiff and the only speaker not to take the microphone from the stand anytime during his hour. He stood with his feet together and his palms flat on the lectern.
He said the CCC mission statement, which emphasizes Career Technical Education (CTE), academic skills and transfer — and strategic plan are comparable to his tasks at SDCE in the San Diego Community College District.
“Those are two fantastic documents,” said Ellison, a graduate from San Diego Mesa College. “They’re easy to embrace and support.”
Immediately comfortable in front of the audience and camera taping the forum, Dr. Villa made his audience laugh within a minute or two, which was the first time during the forum.
The data-driven Fresno City College vice president of student services spoke second, is from Los Angeles and has worked at higher education institutions for more than 30 years.
“There is tremendous diversity here,” Villa said. “I thrive on that. I like it.”
He said he and his wife went for a drive around San Pablo and West County before the forum and saw the different regions of the service area.
“From that experience, I’m very excited about applying here,” he said.
After Villa’s hour, Dr. Budd, Peralta Community College District vice chancellor of educational services, took the floor.
Budd has been in administration since starting her career as an athletic director and physical education teacher in the Alameda Unified School District in 1989.
Budd said despite the deteriorating higher education budget in the state, it is a time for imaginative solutions to help student services.
“Sometimes crisis creates innovation,” she said after the forum, walking across the Amphitheatre from the Fireside Room to the Student Life Center. She then introduced herself to the ASU Board and took Williams’ tour.
Dr. Noldon, the vice president of student development and enrollment management at Folsom Lake College, about 28 miles east of Sacramento, closed the forum.
At the end of her hour in the spotlight, the Berkeley High School graduate said, “I hope you get a person to take you to the next level. If that person is not me, I’ll be watching from afar to see how well you do.”
After she spoke, she walked across Padilla Plaza and waited for Williams, whose mustache has grown into a beard with patches of grey and white since retiring.
Williams became president in 2006 after serving a year as interim president and coined the phrase, “Contra Costa College, a premier community college right in your own backyard.”
Noldon said she shared a vision for CCC with Williams, dropping the familiar line, “premier community college.”
Questions at the forum were submitted to Business Services Manager Mariles Magalong, head of the Screening Committee, before they were selected and read to the candidates by Ramirez, the moderator.
He said more than 40 questions were submitted and he tried to group them by themes.
Ramirez asked questions to reveal the candidates’ dealings with budget issues, leadership styles and embracing a diverse campus, but did not ask about how or which cuts they would make.
‘Everything’s on the table’
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on March 14, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
There is no one way to describe the state’s economic situation or its impact on morale at Contra Costa College.
Faculty members are frustrated, managers are overwhelmed and most students say it just plain sucks.
“This semester, I signed up late and couldn’t get in the (math and business) classes I wanted,” business major Isamu Scott said while sitting against the back wall of AA-118 before his Math 118 class Monday.
WebAdvisor shows 44 students enrolled in the class, which has a maximum of 40.
“It sucks,” he said with the hood of his gray sweatshirt pulled over his short black hair. “You’re in doubt the whole time. You don’t know how long you’ll be here. You don’t know if you’ll get the things you need. It sucks.”
The 2011-12 academic year is the fourth straight year of budget cuts to CCC, its district and all of the 112 California community colleges, which serve 2.5 million students each year.
Further cuts are planned.
To close a $21.3 million districtwide funding shortage this year, 68 classified staff positions were eliminated or redefined starting July 1, 2011.
About $4 million of CCC’s nearly $25 million operating budget for the 2011-12 academic year was cut at the same time, but additional cuts followed. Two mid-year trigger cuts and a deficit dropped on the community college system resulted in an additional $840,000 deficit funding for the college in 2011-12, CCC Director of Business Services Mariles Magalong said.
She said the trigger cuts, caused by a statewide revenue shortfall mostly from student enrollment fees and property taxes not reaching projections, pushed a $120,000 deficit to $450,000 for the college. When the state announced an additional $149 million shortage Feb. 21, Magalong said it “ramped up” the deficit, almost doubling it to $840,000 at CCC.
“It’s very difficult to keep having to manage these cuts,” she said. “It’s so overwhelming to me.”
The next year, 2012-13, will be the fifth consecutive year of cuts. In each of those years, the state Chancellor’s Office has required colleges to budget for fewer students.
The budget reductions make all programs and services vulnerable to cuts.
“Particularly in this budget climate, everything’s on the table,” CCC Interim Vice President Donna Floyd said.
Dan Henry, CCC interim president, said in 2011-12 the college has more than 6,000 Full-Time Equivalent Students and needs to get that number down to 5,475 for 2012-13.
Henry said that goal is a hedge position resting between two projections reliant upon the outcome of November’s statewide tax measures. If the tax initiatives pass, an FTES goal of 5,585 will be adopted, but if voted down, CCC would have to readjust for a goal of 5,274.
FTES, calculated by taking the total number of course units in which all students at the college are enrolled and dividing that number by 12, is the number of units required of a full-time student. FTES is how the state allocates funds for community colleges.
Henry said at least $1 to $1.5 million would be taken out of the operating budget for the next academic year and the college’s budget for serving students will be cut further.
“This many years of significant cuts is unprecedented in my career that’s pushing 40 years,” said Henry, 63, who started teaching in the district in 1973 as a math professor at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg. “We’ve had difficult times before, but never year-after-year cuts.
“It’s really taking a toll on the college,” he said.
To meet that budget in the fall 2012 semester, the college will offer 60 fewer course sections, Dr. Floyd said.
And the cuts will continue until at least 2013-14, regardless of whether the tax measures pass in November.
The only thing that has not been reduced is the cost of student fees, which will increase in the summer by $10, costing students $46 per unit. Last year’s $10 increase was enacted to increase state revenues, but instead created $107 million of the surprise $149 million revenue shortage because more students became eligible for Board of Governors fee waivers.
The number of courses offered has decreased and staffing was reduced this year to the minimum needed to keep the college running.
“It is painful not only for staff, but for students,” district Director of Communications Tim Leong said. “(There will be) either (fewer) courses or less services or a combination of both.
“I wish I could give you some positive spin on it,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re faced with some difficult budget decisions.”
This spring, CCC offers 43 sections fewer than in the spring 2011 semester, a 5.8 percent decrease, according to the Office of District Research.
Those records also show a 4.7 percent decrease in FTES at CCC from last spring.
Faculty workload on this campus dropped 8 percent this semester compared to spring 2011, research shows. Workload is also called Full-Time Equivalent Faculty and is calculated in the same manner as FTES.
The only increases to college statistics were the seat count and productivity.
District Senior Dean of Research and Planning Tim Clow said seat count is the number of students enrolled in each section and productivity is FTES divided by workload.
The seat count difference between the two spring semesters is an increase of 2,075 students this semester and an improved productivity of 4.7 percent in 2012, Dr. Clow said.
“(CCC) still got 2,000 more cheeks in the seats, yet cut back 43 course sections,” Clow said. “That’s a huge amount.”
Cutting sections reduces the budget and the chances of registering for necessary classes to graduate or transfer to a four-year university on schedule.
“I just feel sorry for students,” said CCC senior administrative assistant Shondra West, who has worked at the college for 12 years. “Coming from Admissions and Records, processing graduation evaluations, I know how difficult it is to sit out a semester.
“You have to put everything on hold. It’s difficult in every aspect,” she said. “I’m sympathetic for students. It’s challenging to stay on track with graduation or to transfer.”
West, Classified Senate President, said there are no district plans to cut additional staff next year after nearly 70 staff members in the district were let go or had their titles redefined at the beginning of this academic and fiscal year.
“We’re down to the bare bones left to do the work,” West said. “I feel confident that we’ll be able to maintain the staff we have so far until the district informs us otherwise.”
Faculty, part-time professors in particular, however, are afraid for their jobs, which continue to demand more from the instructors.
Tristan Saldana teaches two English 1C courses this semester and both sections of his Critical Thinking and Advanced Composition classes were overenrolled. A critical thinking course is required to transfer to a University of California or California State University.
He said 45 students showed up for both of his classes, which are planned physically and academically for only 30 students.
“There was not enough space in the classroom and it was over the enrollment limit (set by the English department),” he said.
“Stress definitely increases from a student perspective and an instructor point of view,” he said. “When there aren’t enough sections offered because of cuts, students are waiting for next semester; it slows progress down.”
For instructors, he said, it is an overburden, which administrators are sensing.
“I feel some frustration,” Floyd said. “Many faculty have been taking way more students in their class than the class (maximum).
“The question is raised: Do we stop taking students over the max?” she asked. “It’s frustrating because there is no definitive answer for that.”
Saldana said more anxiety is added because he does not know if he, a part-time professor at CCC for two years, will have a job next semester as a result of the inevitable budget cuts.
“It is day-to-day, semester-to-semester, moment-to-moment,” he said. “Part-time instructors live with the moment-to-moment (reality) of not knowing if they’re going to have a job (next semester).”
Daniela Castillo, a nursing major in the same Elementary Algebra class as Scott, said their class was so full the first few days of instruction that students sat anywhere there was an empty area available to them.
“There was a crowd of people,” she said. “They were sitting on desks, sitting on chairs and sitting on the teacher’s chair.”
She said as courses continue to be cut, the problem worsens.
“It is harder to concentrate in classes (that are) more full,” she said. “Classes would be more full (with next year’s cuts). It sucks. It’s scary.”
There is no one way to describe the state’s economic situation or its impact on morale at Contra Costa College.
Faculty members are frustrated, managers are overwhelmed and most students say it just plain sucks.
“This semester, I signed up late and couldn’t get in the (math and business) classes I wanted,” business major Isamu Scott said while sitting against the back wall of AA-118 before his Math 118 class Monday.
WebAdvisor shows 44 students enrolled in the class, which has a maximum of 40.
“It sucks,” he said with the hood of his gray sweatshirt pulled over his short black hair. “You’re in doubt the whole time. You don’t know how long you’ll be here. You don’t know if you’ll get the things you need. It sucks.”
The 2011-12 academic year is the fourth straight year of budget cuts to CCC, its district and all of the 112 California community colleges, which serve 2.5 million students each year.
Further cuts are planned.
To close a $21.3 million districtwide funding shortage this year, 68 classified staff positions were eliminated or redefined starting July 1, 2011.
About $4 million of CCC’s nearly $25 million operating budget for the 2011-12 academic year was cut at the same time, but additional cuts followed. Two mid-year trigger cuts and a deficit dropped on the community college system resulted in an additional $840,000 deficit funding for the college in 2011-12, CCC Director of Business Services Mariles Magalong said.
She said the trigger cuts, caused by a statewide revenue shortfall mostly from student enrollment fees and property taxes not reaching projections, pushed a $120,000 deficit to $450,000 for the college. When the state announced an additional $149 million shortage Feb. 21, Magalong said it “ramped up” the deficit, almost doubling it to $840,000 at CCC.
“It’s very difficult to keep having to manage these cuts,” she said. “It’s so overwhelming to me.”
The next year, 2012-13, will be the fifth consecutive year of cuts. In each of those years, the state Chancellor’s Office has required colleges to budget for fewer students.
The budget reductions make all programs and services vulnerable to cuts.
“Particularly in this budget climate, everything’s on the table,” CCC Interim Vice President Donna Floyd said.
Dan Henry, CCC interim president, said in 2011-12 the college has more than 6,000 Full-Time Equivalent Students and needs to get that number down to 5,475 for 2012-13.
Henry said that goal is a hedge position resting between two projections reliant upon the outcome of November’s statewide tax measures. If the tax initiatives pass, an FTES goal of 5,585 will be adopted, but if voted down, CCC would have to readjust for a goal of 5,274.
FTES, calculated by taking the total number of course units in which all students at the college are enrolled and dividing that number by 12, is the number of units required of a full-time student. FTES is how the state allocates funds for community colleges.
Henry said at least $1 to $1.5 million would be taken out of the operating budget for the next academic year and the college’s budget for serving students will be cut further.
“This many years of significant cuts is unprecedented in my career that’s pushing 40 years,” said Henry, 63, who started teaching in the district in 1973 as a math professor at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg. “We’ve had difficult times before, but never year-after-year cuts.
“It’s really taking a toll on the college,” he said.
To meet that budget in the fall 2012 semester, the college will offer 60 fewer course sections, Dr. Floyd said.
And the cuts will continue until at least 2013-14, regardless of whether the tax measures pass in November.
The only thing that has not been reduced is the cost of student fees, which will increase in the summer by $10, costing students $46 per unit. Last year’s $10 increase was enacted to increase state revenues, but instead created $107 million of the surprise $149 million revenue shortage because more students became eligible for Board of Governors fee waivers.
The number of courses offered has decreased and staffing was reduced this year to the minimum needed to keep the college running.
“It is painful not only for staff, but for students,” district Director of Communications Tim Leong said. “(There will be) either (fewer) courses or less services or a combination of both.
“I wish I could give you some positive spin on it,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re faced with some difficult budget decisions.”
This spring, CCC offers 43 sections fewer than in the spring 2011 semester, a 5.8 percent decrease, according to the Office of District Research.
Those records also show a 4.7 percent decrease in FTES at CCC from last spring.
Faculty workload on this campus dropped 8 percent this semester compared to spring 2011, research shows. Workload is also called Full-Time Equivalent Faculty and is calculated in the same manner as FTES.
The only increases to college statistics were the seat count and productivity.
District Senior Dean of Research and Planning Tim Clow said seat count is the number of students enrolled in each section and productivity is FTES divided by workload.
The seat count difference between the two spring semesters is an increase of 2,075 students this semester and an improved productivity of 4.7 percent in 2012, Dr. Clow said.
“(CCC) still got 2,000 more cheeks in the seats, yet cut back 43 course sections,” Clow said. “That’s a huge amount.”
Cutting sections reduces the budget and the chances of registering for necessary classes to graduate or transfer to a four-year university on schedule.
“I just feel sorry for students,” said CCC senior administrative assistant Shondra West, who has worked at the college for 12 years. “Coming from Admissions and Records, processing graduation evaluations, I know how difficult it is to sit out a semester.
“You have to put everything on hold. It’s difficult in every aspect,” she said. “I’m sympathetic for students. It’s challenging to stay on track with graduation or to transfer.”
West, Classified Senate President, said there are no district plans to cut additional staff next year after nearly 70 staff members in the district were let go or had their titles redefined at the beginning of this academic and fiscal year.
“We’re down to the bare bones left to do the work,” West said. “I feel confident that we’ll be able to maintain the staff we have so far until the district informs us otherwise.”
Faculty, part-time professors in particular, however, are afraid for their jobs, which continue to demand more from the instructors.
Tristan Saldana teaches two English 1C courses this semester and both sections of his Critical Thinking and Advanced Composition classes were overenrolled. A critical thinking course is required to transfer to a University of California or California State University.
He said 45 students showed up for both of his classes, which are planned physically and academically for only 30 students.
“There was not enough space in the classroom and it was over the enrollment limit (set by the English department),” he said.
“Stress definitely increases from a student perspective and an instructor point of view,” he said. “When there aren’t enough sections offered because of cuts, students are waiting for next semester; it slows progress down.”
For instructors, he said, it is an overburden, which administrators are sensing.
“I feel some frustration,” Floyd said. “Many faculty have been taking way more students in their class than the class (maximum).
“The question is raised: Do we stop taking students over the max?” she asked. “It’s frustrating because there is no definitive answer for that.”
Saldana said more anxiety is added because he does not know if he, a part-time professor at CCC for two years, will have a job next semester as a result of the inevitable budget cuts.
“It is day-to-day, semester-to-semester, moment-to-moment,” he said. “Part-time instructors live with the moment-to-moment (reality) of not knowing if they’re going to have a job (next semester).”
Daniela Castillo, a nursing major in the same Elementary Algebra class as Scott, said their class was so full the first few days of instruction that students sat anywhere there was an empty area available to them.
“There was a crowd of people,” she said. “They were sitting on desks, sitting on chairs and sitting on the teacher’s chair.”
She said as courses continue to be cut, the problem worsens.
“It is harder to concentrate in classes (that are) more full,” she said. “Classes would be more full (with next year’s cuts). It sucks. It’s scary.”
Federal law limits Pell Grant eligibility
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on March 7, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
David Baker is the last of his kind.
The business major in his second semester at Contra Costa College is a high school dropout receiving financial aid.
He passed the required assessment test, called the Ability-to-Benefit (ATB) test, when he was a student at Central New Mexico Community College, qualifying him for a Pell Grant through FAFSA. He passed the test again when he came to CCC.
But beginning July 1, a high school diploma or its equivalent will be required for new students to receive federal aid.
The 2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Dec. 23, 2011, significantly changes requirements for federal aid qualifications.
The goal is to limit federal funding to students who have not earned a bachelor's degree, taking college-level courses.
Included in the law is a mandatory high school diploma or its equivalent for students enrolling in college for the first time after July 1, 2012.
Students without a high school diploma or its equivalent who qualified for a Pell Grant and attended college prior to the implementation of the new law in July will still have the ATB option until their six-year duration window expires.
The changes also include retroactively reducing the duration of a student's eligibility for federal aid from 18 full-time equivalent semesters to 12 and increasing the award maximum per year to $5,550.
Pell Grants account for the majority of government-funded student aid at CCC, district Senior Dean of Research and Planning Tim Clow said.
"The largest, single-most important financial aid is Pell Grants," Dr. Clow said.
At CCC, 2,887 students are receiving nearly $10.4 million in Pell Grant funds this academic year out of about $11.3 million total in student aid from the state and federal governments, Clow said.
CCC Interim Dean of Students Vicki Ferguson said the changes will impact the college's community tremendously.
"It is really going to be devastating to that population that doesn't have a high school diploma or GED," she said.
Clow said that of the 1,395 new students at CCC in the 2011 fall semester, 761 self-reported they had a high school diploma and 100 more said they had a GED.
A diploma is not required for admission or graduation from CCC. The ATB test was implemented in 1996 as an alternative for students without a diploma or its equivalent who needed federal aid.
CCC matriculation services coordinator Kenyetta Tribble said students can keep retaking the ATB test until they pass it.
The ATB test will still be allowed for returning students — those who have received a grade (A through F, I or P) within two semesters of applying for Pell Grants.
She said passing the ATB test would place students in Math 115 and at the reading level for either English 142B or 110A and a writing level for English 142A or 139.
The ATB test was one of two options for students without a diploma or its equivalent. They could also receive federal aid by completing 6 units or 225 hours of college instruction.
But starting this summer, those options are gone.
African-American studies major Re Thomas said her brother at Laney College in Oakland did not qualify for financial aid this semester because he did not graduate from high school.
As a result, he took out loans and worked part time to pay for his classes.
"It made him decide he wouldn't go back next semester because they told him he could still not get financial aid," the first-semester student said. "It makes students feel undeserving because they don't have a high school diploma or GED.
"It's not right," she said. "You can't flip burgers without a degree."
Sitting in the Student Services Center in front of the Financial Aid Office on Thursday, Thomas said federal aid should be available to everyone who needs it.
"Education should be offered to everyone, especially with financial aid," she said. "Not everybody is financially set to pay for books, pay for classes and pay for transportation."
Baker said the changes to Title IV funding "help America," but student services managers disagree.
"It's huge. It's a huge impact," Ferguson said.
"Contra Costa is known as meeting students where they are and assisting them through the process to academic success," she said. "It's a roadblock."
College managers agree students would be stuck. They would be unable to pay for their education without a job, but not be able to get a job without an education.
Admissions and Records Director Michael Aldaco said, "That's scary, really scary.
"It's a huge burden on students who look at Contra Costa as a last resort," he said. "It's tremendously unfair."
ASU President Rodney Wilson said the policy is not balanced.
"It's a continued rationing of resources Instead of serving those most in need, we (as a state) only want to serve those who already have the resources," he said.
David Baker is the last of his kind.
The business major in his second semester at Contra Costa College is a high school dropout receiving financial aid.
He passed the required assessment test, called the Ability-to-Benefit (ATB) test, when he was a student at Central New Mexico Community College, qualifying him for a Pell Grant through FAFSA. He passed the test again when he came to CCC.
But beginning July 1, a high school diploma or its equivalent will be required for new students to receive federal aid.
The 2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on Dec. 23, 2011, significantly changes requirements for federal aid qualifications.
The goal is to limit federal funding to students who have not earned a bachelor's degree, taking college-level courses.
Included in the law is a mandatory high school diploma or its equivalent for students enrolling in college for the first time after July 1, 2012.
Students without a high school diploma or its equivalent who qualified for a Pell Grant and attended college prior to the implementation of the new law in July will still have the ATB option until their six-year duration window expires.
The changes also include retroactively reducing the duration of a student's eligibility for federal aid from 18 full-time equivalent semesters to 12 and increasing the award maximum per year to $5,550.
Pell Grants account for the majority of government-funded student aid at CCC, district Senior Dean of Research and Planning Tim Clow said.
"The largest, single-most important financial aid is Pell Grants," Dr. Clow said.
At CCC, 2,887 students are receiving nearly $10.4 million in Pell Grant funds this academic year out of about $11.3 million total in student aid from the state and federal governments, Clow said.
CCC Interim Dean of Students Vicki Ferguson said the changes will impact the college's community tremendously.
"It is really going to be devastating to that population that doesn't have a high school diploma or GED," she said.
Clow said that of the 1,395 new students at CCC in the 2011 fall semester, 761 self-reported they had a high school diploma and 100 more said they had a GED.
A diploma is not required for admission or graduation from CCC. The ATB test was implemented in 1996 as an alternative for students without a diploma or its equivalent who needed federal aid.
CCC matriculation services coordinator Kenyetta Tribble said students can keep retaking the ATB test until they pass it.
The ATB test will still be allowed for returning students — those who have received a grade (A through F, I or P) within two semesters of applying for Pell Grants.
She said passing the ATB test would place students in Math 115 and at the reading level for either English 142B or 110A and a writing level for English 142A or 139.
The ATB test was one of two options for students without a diploma or its equivalent. They could also receive federal aid by completing 6 units or 225 hours of college instruction.
But starting this summer, those options are gone.
African-American studies major Re Thomas said her brother at Laney College in Oakland did not qualify for financial aid this semester because he did not graduate from high school.
As a result, he took out loans and worked part time to pay for his classes.
"It made him decide he wouldn't go back next semester because they told him he could still not get financial aid," the first-semester student said. "It makes students feel undeserving because they don't have a high school diploma or GED.
"It's not right," she said. "You can't flip burgers without a degree."
Sitting in the Student Services Center in front of the Financial Aid Office on Thursday, Thomas said federal aid should be available to everyone who needs it.
"Education should be offered to everyone, especially with financial aid," she said. "Not everybody is financially set to pay for books, pay for classes and pay for transportation."
Baker said the changes to Title IV funding "help America," but student services managers disagree.
"It's huge. It's a huge impact," Ferguson said.
"Contra Costa is known as meeting students where they are and assisting them through the process to academic success," she said. "It's a roadblock."
College managers agree students would be stuck. They would be unable to pay for their education without a job, but not be able to get a job without an education.
Admissions and Records Director Michael Aldaco said, "That's scary, really scary.
"It's a huge burden on students who look at Contra Costa as a last resort," he said. "It's tremendously unfair."
ASU President Rodney Wilson said the policy is not balanced.
"It's a continued rationing of resources Instead of serving those most in need, we (as a state) only want to serve those who already have the resources," he said.
Opinion: Don't know Don't care
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on March 7, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
A person who speaks three languages is called trilingual, and two is bilingual.
However, to speak one language is called being American.
This joke paints with a broad brush this country's views of foreign languages and, while it is hyperbolic, it reflects the United States' perception of those outside its borders and others looking in.
Americans undervalue foreign languages. It is obvious when looking at the level of funding, time of instruction and the politicians representing the American citizenry.
More than half of the world's population speaks at least two languages, François Grosjean writes in his book "Bilingual: Life and Reality." But only 10 percent of Americans, about 50 million people, are multilingual.
By systematically producing a "monolinguistic" populace, a message is sent to other countries that "If you don't speak my language, I don't care what you have to say."
In this age of globalism, everyone should be at least bilingual and American schools and politicians need to support multilingual education.
Even in California, one of the most diverse places in the world, foreign language learning is not a priority.
It is not at Contra Costa College and definitely not in California high schools.
The state's Department of Education does not require foreign language studies to graduate from high school. Instead, it requires one year of foreign language or a performance or visual art.
Nonetheless, the department does not reinforce foreign languages.
Only 10 states have high school foreign language requirements and two-thirds of all graduates never studied a foreign language.
However, California's public universities have foreign language requirements for incoming freshmen.
The UCs require two years of the same foreign language in high school for incoming freshmen and transfer students, but the high school courses also count when transferring. The CSUs do not have a foreign language requirement for transfer students.
The systems do not require all students take additional foreign language courses to graduate once accepted.
But speaking a second language is not like riding a bike.
For one to remain proficient in reading, writing and conversation, it takes focus and practice.
The two years spent in high school learning fruits and vegetables from a poorly recorded instructional cassette are long forgotten after four years in college unless that six-year-old shopping list is glanced at periodically.
Although there are 120 sections teaching 11 languages throughout the Contra Costa Community College District, the variety of language courses available at CCC is abysmal.
CCC offers two languages in eight sections: seven in Spanish and one in Mandarin (Chinese 120).
The course title is not even the name of the language. This is also the case at Los Medanos College where its two Tagalog courses are called Elementary Filipino I and II.
The campuses most like CCC in the district are LMC and Diablo Valley College centers.
DVC's San Ramon Center offers 10 sections in Spanish and sign language. The Brentwood Center has six sections of the same languages.
Spanish is the only language with more sections than sign language.
Forty-four sections of Spanish are offered across the district on all five sites. Sign language is taught in 19 sections on every campus in the district but CCC. Twelve sections of Japanese are held at DVC in Pleasant Hill.
Of the three most popular languages in the district, Spanish is the only one offered at CCC.
DVC exclusively teaches six languages in the district: 12 sections of Japanese, six of German, four of Russian, two of Arabic and one of Persian. Nine sections of Italian and 10 of French are offered between LMC and DVC.
The variety of courses throughout the district represents not only the variety of residents in the area, but also their diverse interests.
The desire of students to communicate across cultures is strong, but the support from politicians is lacking.
In 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said it was "embarrassing" that he was not multilingual.
Since Franklin Roosevelt, 67 years ago, the U.S. has not had a multilingual president. Jimmy Carter spoke "un poco" Spanish and Bill Clinton studied German, but the last two presidents could not speak any other foreign language, even though George W. Bush was governor of Texas and Obama was a senator in Illinois, states with high Spanish-speaking populations.
Voters need to stop electing politicians who do not promote multilingual education from elementary school through college.
The arrogance of isolationism and the appreciation of ignorance continues to manifest itself.
Like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the president's chief foreign affairs adviser, laughably said in 2008, "'Sí se puedi' [sic] is right. Yes we can."
A person who speaks three languages is called trilingual, and two is bilingual.
However, to speak one language is called being American.
This joke paints with a broad brush this country's views of foreign languages and, while it is hyperbolic, it reflects the United States' perception of those outside its borders and others looking in.
Americans undervalue foreign languages. It is obvious when looking at the level of funding, time of instruction and the politicians representing the American citizenry.
More than half of the world's population speaks at least two languages, François Grosjean writes in his book "Bilingual: Life and Reality." But only 10 percent of Americans, about 50 million people, are multilingual.
By systematically producing a "monolinguistic" populace, a message is sent to other countries that "If you don't speak my language, I don't care what you have to say."
In this age of globalism, everyone should be at least bilingual and American schools and politicians need to support multilingual education.
Even in California, one of the most diverse places in the world, foreign language learning is not a priority.
It is not at Contra Costa College and definitely not in California high schools.
The state's Department of Education does not require foreign language studies to graduate from high school. Instead, it requires one year of foreign language or a performance or visual art.
Nonetheless, the department does not reinforce foreign languages.
Only 10 states have high school foreign language requirements and two-thirds of all graduates never studied a foreign language.
However, California's public universities have foreign language requirements for incoming freshmen.
The UCs require two years of the same foreign language in high school for incoming freshmen and transfer students, but the high school courses also count when transferring. The CSUs do not have a foreign language requirement for transfer students.
The systems do not require all students take additional foreign language courses to graduate once accepted.
But speaking a second language is not like riding a bike.
For one to remain proficient in reading, writing and conversation, it takes focus and practice.
The two years spent in high school learning fruits and vegetables from a poorly recorded instructional cassette are long forgotten after four years in college unless that six-year-old shopping list is glanced at periodically.
Although there are 120 sections teaching 11 languages throughout the Contra Costa Community College District, the variety of language courses available at CCC is abysmal.
CCC offers two languages in eight sections: seven in Spanish and one in Mandarin (Chinese 120).
The course title is not even the name of the language. This is also the case at Los Medanos College where its two Tagalog courses are called Elementary Filipino I and II.
The campuses most like CCC in the district are LMC and Diablo Valley College centers.
DVC's San Ramon Center offers 10 sections in Spanish and sign language. The Brentwood Center has six sections of the same languages.
Spanish is the only language with more sections than sign language.
Forty-four sections of Spanish are offered across the district on all five sites. Sign language is taught in 19 sections on every campus in the district but CCC. Twelve sections of Japanese are held at DVC in Pleasant Hill.
Of the three most popular languages in the district, Spanish is the only one offered at CCC.
DVC exclusively teaches six languages in the district: 12 sections of Japanese, six of German, four of Russian, two of Arabic and one of Persian. Nine sections of Italian and 10 of French are offered between LMC and DVC.
The variety of courses throughout the district represents not only the variety of residents in the area, but also their diverse interests.
The desire of students to communicate across cultures is strong, but the support from politicians is lacking.
In 2008, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said it was "embarrassing" that he was not multilingual.
Since Franklin Roosevelt, 67 years ago, the U.S. has not had a multilingual president. Jimmy Carter spoke "un poco" Spanish and Bill Clinton studied German, but the last two presidents could not speak any other foreign language, even though George W. Bush was governor of Texas and Obama was a senator in Illinois, states with high Spanish-speaking populations.
Voters need to stop electing politicians who do not promote multilingual education from elementary school through college.
The arrogance of isolationism and the appreciation of ignorance continues to manifest itself.
Like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the president's chief foreign affairs adviser, laughably said in 2008, "'Sí se puedi' [sic] is right. Yes we can."
Student-protesters fill Capitol
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published on AccentAdvocate on March 5, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
SACRAMENTO — Students are mad as hell and they aren't going to take it anymore.
Protest organizers said 10,000 community college and university students from all of the state's higher education campuses, including about 90 from Contra Costa College, rallied against budget cuts and student fee increases during the annual March in March rally at the Capitol on Monday.
"We march today with the purpose to give voice to the other 364 days of the year," San Jose City College student Karrawinds Salters said in front of the Capitol. "Education is our right."
The two-hour-long, multifaceted "Fund Our Future" demonstration started with a march from Southside Park downtown, leading to a rally with speeches in the Capitol Mall. Students were also lobbying state legislators inside the Capitol to stop cutting education.
The ASU contracted two yellow school buses, which took at least 35 protesters in each, for the protest while another 10 ASU representatives followed in a van.
"(State lawmakers) are trying to cut a significant portion of (CCC's) budget," ASU President of Clubs Mikhael Bunda said. "The ASU has a responsibility to students and represent what students need."
More than a half-billion dollars has been cut by the state from community college budgets in the 2011-12 academic year.
The state initially cut $313 million from its 112 community colleges at the beginning of the year. Then, two mid-year trigger cuts reduced funding by a combined $102 million. Last month, the state was caught off guard by a surprise $149 million deficit, which also has to be settled by the end of the semester.
These cuts are in addition to student fee increases from $20 per unit in fall 2007 to $46 per unit starting this summer.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said at the rally that the cost of higher education has tripled in the last decade and doubled in the last five years.
University of California Associated Students Sen. Sydney Fang said, "It's upsetting to see the state balance its budget on the backs of students. We need to find sensible solutions and revenue for education and public services."
Leaders from the community college, Cal State University and UC systems all spoke at the rally on the West Steps.
"I don't see UC, CSU or community college students (protesting). I just see students," Cal State-Stanislaus ASI President Mehran Khodabandeh said. "The only way we can have any change happen in this system is to be united."
The group presented a unified front throughout the day and asked everyone to update their Twitter page with the hashtag #supporthighereducation.
During the mile-long walk from the park to the Capitol, student-protesters shut down traffic with the help of police and made noise so all of downtown Sacramento knew the rally was happening.
"I think (the protest) sucks," California Labor and Workforce Development Agency employee Michael Wiesenburger said as protesters marched past his office at 722 Capitol Mall, two blocks from the Capitol building.
Leaning on a black cane under a large mold of the California state seal, wearing black sunglasses over his prescription glasses and smoking tobacco from a black and brown pipe, Wiesenburger, a Navy veteran, said, "These kids could be in class or go out and get a job.
That's what I did when I was their age."
Even members of the Legislature who supported the march heard opposition during the rally.
When Speaker of the Assembly John Peréz, author of the Middle Class Scholarship, spoke in front of the Capitol, students broke into a chant.
Promoting his legislation to close corporate loopholes and reduce the cost of attending a UC or CSU by two-thirds for middle class students, the chant wanted Peréz to back up his claims.
"We have to keep the promise to our students," he said.
Students replied, "Show us! Show us!"
SACRAMENTO — Students are mad as hell and they aren't going to take it anymore.
Protest organizers said 10,000 community college and university students from all of the state's higher education campuses, including about 90 from Contra Costa College, rallied against budget cuts and student fee increases during the annual March in March rally at the Capitol on Monday.
"We march today with the purpose to give voice to the other 364 days of the year," San Jose City College student Karrawinds Salters said in front of the Capitol. "Education is our right."
The two-hour-long, multifaceted "Fund Our Future" demonstration started with a march from Southside Park downtown, leading to a rally with speeches in the Capitol Mall. Students were also lobbying state legislators inside the Capitol to stop cutting education.
The ASU contracted two yellow school buses, which took at least 35 protesters in each, for the protest while another 10 ASU representatives followed in a van.
"(State lawmakers) are trying to cut a significant portion of (CCC's) budget," ASU President of Clubs Mikhael Bunda said. "The ASU has a responsibility to students and represent what students need."
More than a half-billion dollars has been cut by the state from community college budgets in the 2011-12 academic year.
The state initially cut $313 million from its 112 community colleges at the beginning of the year. Then, two mid-year trigger cuts reduced funding by a combined $102 million. Last month, the state was caught off guard by a surprise $149 million deficit, which also has to be settled by the end of the semester.
These cuts are in addition to student fee increases from $20 per unit in fall 2007 to $46 per unit starting this summer.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said at the rally that the cost of higher education has tripled in the last decade and doubled in the last five years.
University of California Associated Students Sen. Sydney Fang said, "It's upsetting to see the state balance its budget on the backs of students. We need to find sensible solutions and revenue for education and public services."
Leaders from the community college, Cal State University and UC systems all spoke at the rally on the West Steps.
"I don't see UC, CSU or community college students (protesting). I just see students," Cal State-Stanislaus ASI President Mehran Khodabandeh said. "The only way we can have any change happen in this system is to be united."
The group presented a unified front throughout the day and asked everyone to update their Twitter page with the hashtag #supporthighereducation.
During the mile-long walk from the park to the Capitol, student-protesters shut down traffic with the help of police and made noise so all of downtown Sacramento knew the rally was happening.
"I think (the protest) sucks," California Labor and Workforce Development Agency employee Michael Wiesenburger said as protesters marched past his office at 722 Capitol Mall, two blocks from the Capitol building.
Leaning on a black cane under a large mold of the California state seal, wearing black sunglasses over his prescription glasses and smoking tobacco from a black and brown pipe, Wiesenburger, a Navy veteran, said, "These kids could be in class or go out and get a job.
That's what I did when I was their age."
Even members of the Legislature who supported the march heard opposition during the rally.
When Speaker of the Assembly John Peréz, author of the Middle Class Scholarship, spoke in front of the Capitol, students broke into a chant.
Promoting his legislation to close corporate loopholes and reduce the cost of attending a UC or CSU by two-thirds for middle class students, the chant wanted Peréz to back up his claims.
"We have to keep the promise to our students," he said.
Students replied, "Show us! Show us!"
Error allows go-ahead score
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published on AccentAdvocate.com on March 4, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
NAPA — Comet shortstop Daniel Farias sat alone against the back wall of the dugout thinking about his pivotal error.
The freshman misplayed a ground ball in the eighth inning to give up the go-ahead run in a 4-3 loss at Napa Valley College.
Farias tried to field NVC right fielder Kevin Coffee's line drive without his glove, but dropped it, allowing second baseman Rupert Watson to score from third base in the pivotal inning.
"He is usually reliable," Comet coach Marvin Webb, who was ejected in the sixth inning, said. "Today, I don't know."
Farias declined to comment after the game.
Starting pitcher Dominic Quilici began the eighth inning for the Comets (5-7 overall, 1-1 in the Bay Valley Conference) and got the first out, but walked the next two batters, which triggered the coaching staff to bring in reliever Adam Boyd.
Boyd's first pitch was a ball to Coffee. The next one, Coffee drilled between second and third base, which Farias could not handle, allowing Watson to jog home from third base.
Second baseman Michael Chambers turned a double play on a Storm fly ball to end the inning, but the Comets were deflated after giving up the lead to NVC (7-7, 1-1 BVC).
Storm starting pitcher Trevor Diskin finished the game by sitting down the last three Comet Batters.
He forced Comet batters Daniel Skinner and Cameron "CJ" Doorn into ground outs and sat down Doorn with a looking-strike out to end the game.
The Comets play Solano Community College at home on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
"We just didn't play up to our potential," Quilici, a freshman, said. "I think when coach got thrown out, our intensity really stepped up."
The Storm regained momentum after the late-game error. The infield-umpire ejecting Webb ignited the Comets for three innings.
Leading CCC 3-0 in the sixth inning with one out and a runner on second base, Diskin snagged center fielder Tyrone Bowie's hit and made the throw to first baseman Matt Barsetti, trying to beat Bowie's headfirst dive at the bag.
The umpire called him out.
Wearing a shiny blue helmet, a navy windbreaker and white baseball pants, Webb strutted from the third base foul line toward the pitcher's mound to dispute the call.
"The guy was clearly safe. It wasn't a bang-bang sort of play," Webb said. "The umpire said he was in the air."
During the argument and without warning, Webb said, he was ejected after accusing the umpire of blowing calls in the first five innings.
Webb's ejection, however, brought life to a game that was as quiet as it was slow.
For the rest of the inning, the two teams tried to make more noise than the other dugout after each pitch called their way.
"It was a well-played game," Storm coach Bob Freschi said. "Both pitchers did a great job."
Diskin, a sophomore who pitched his second complete game of the season, retired CCC batters in order in the first four innings as well as the ninth.
After Webb was tossed, however, the Comets scored a run in each of the next three innings and caught up to the Storm by the middle of the eighth.
"It was just a wake up call (to) wake everybody up a little bit," Webb said. "We were sleep-walking."
Chambers, designated hitter and pinch runner Charles Lyte and Bowie worked their way around the bases to score in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, respectively.
Bowie, who had the game-tying run in the eighth, was walked in four pitches and matriculated from bag to bag.
With Mark Mills at the plate, Diskin tried to pick Bowie off at first, but the ball got away from Barsetti, allowing Bowie the time to steal second base and then third.
On a 1-1 count, Mills hit a single to shortstop Richie Rhodes. Rhodes threw to catcher Ryan Rudstrom for the tag out, but the ball went wide right, giving Bowie room at home to tie the game.
"Coach woke us up in the sixth inning," Bowie said. "We fed off that."
Two batters later, left fielder Angelo Simmons was about 10 feet short of giving the Comets the go ahead run with two outs later in the inning.
The sophomore got behind a pitch and hit a long ball to centerfield, but it landed in the warning track and bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double.
But with two Comet runners in scoring position, Lyte hit a ground ball and ended the inning with Mills and Simmons stranded on base.
Webb said the team needs to prepare mentally for the game and stay focused, evaluating the game after each play.
"(We need to) really see that (with) every pitch we have to adjust to the situation," he said. "Hopefully, they'll see they're not good enough to just pull their jock out and play the game."
NAPA — Comet shortstop Daniel Farias sat alone against the back wall of the dugout thinking about his pivotal error.
The freshman misplayed a ground ball in the eighth inning to give up the go-ahead run in a 4-3 loss at Napa Valley College.
Farias tried to field NVC right fielder Kevin Coffee's line drive without his glove, but dropped it, allowing second baseman Rupert Watson to score from third base in the pivotal inning.
"He is usually reliable," Comet coach Marvin Webb, who was ejected in the sixth inning, said. "Today, I don't know."
Farias declined to comment after the game.
Starting pitcher Dominic Quilici began the eighth inning for the Comets (5-7 overall, 1-1 in the Bay Valley Conference) and got the first out, but walked the next two batters, which triggered the coaching staff to bring in reliever Adam Boyd.
Boyd's first pitch was a ball to Coffee. The next one, Coffee drilled between second and third base, which Farias could not handle, allowing Watson to jog home from third base.
Second baseman Michael Chambers turned a double play on a Storm fly ball to end the inning, but the Comets were deflated after giving up the lead to NVC (7-7, 1-1 BVC).
Storm starting pitcher Trevor Diskin finished the game by sitting down the last three Comet Batters.
He forced Comet batters Daniel Skinner and Cameron "CJ" Doorn into ground outs and sat down Doorn with a looking-strike out to end the game.
The Comets play Solano Community College at home on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
"We just didn't play up to our potential," Quilici, a freshman, said. "I think when coach got thrown out, our intensity really stepped up."
The Storm regained momentum after the late-game error. The infield-umpire ejecting Webb ignited the Comets for three innings.
Leading CCC 3-0 in the sixth inning with one out and a runner on second base, Diskin snagged center fielder Tyrone Bowie's hit and made the throw to first baseman Matt Barsetti, trying to beat Bowie's headfirst dive at the bag.
The umpire called him out.
Wearing a shiny blue helmet, a navy windbreaker and white baseball pants, Webb strutted from the third base foul line toward the pitcher's mound to dispute the call.
"The guy was clearly safe. It wasn't a bang-bang sort of play," Webb said. "The umpire said he was in the air."
During the argument and without warning, Webb said, he was ejected after accusing the umpire of blowing calls in the first five innings.
Webb's ejection, however, brought life to a game that was as quiet as it was slow.
For the rest of the inning, the two teams tried to make more noise than the other dugout after each pitch called their way.
"It was a well-played game," Storm coach Bob Freschi said. "Both pitchers did a great job."
Diskin, a sophomore who pitched his second complete game of the season, retired CCC batters in order in the first four innings as well as the ninth.
After Webb was tossed, however, the Comets scored a run in each of the next three innings and caught up to the Storm by the middle of the eighth.
"It was just a wake up call (to) wake everybody up a little bit," Webb said. "We were sleep-walking."
Chambers, designated hitter and pinch runner Charles Lyte and Bowie worked their way around the bases to score in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, respectively.
Bowie, who had the game-tying run in the eighth, was walked in four pitches and matriculated from bag to bag.
With Mark Mills at the plate, Diskin tried to pick Bowie off at first, but the ball got away from Barsetti, allowing Bowie the time to steal second base and then third.
On a 1-1 count, Mills hit a single to shortstop Richie Rhodes. Rhodes threw to catcher Ryan Rudstrom for the tag out, but the ball went wide right, giving Bowie room at home to tie the game.
"Coach woke us up in the sixth inning," Bowie said. "We fed off that."
Two batters later, left fielder Angelo Simmons was about 10 feet short of giving the Comets the go ahead run with two outs later in the inning.
The sophomore got behind a pitch and hit a long ball to centerfield, but it landed in the warning track and bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double.
But with two Comet runners in scoring position, Lyte hit a ground ball and ended the inning with Mills and Simmons stranded on base.
Webb said the team needs to prepare mentally for the game and stay focused, evaluating the game after each play.
"(We need to) really see that (with) every pitch we have to adjust to the situation," he said. "Hopefully, they'll see they're not good enough to just pull their jock out and play the game."
Daniels, 81, immaculate mentor dies
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Feb. 29, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
"Joy is the fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow." — Helen Keller, author
Many current students at Contra Costa College were not alive when former counseling department chairperson B. Wayne Daniels retired in 1992.
Even fewer on campus know the 36-year CCC employee and 2005 Hall of Fame inductee's first name was Bobby.
But for those who knew Daniels, his flawless fashion and perfect pronunciation, his legacy continues.
"Going to (CCC) saved my life," said Gloria Gideon, who worked with, and for, Daniels at CCC and the Neighborhood House of North Richmond. "Being around people like Wayne made all the difference for me."
Daniels, 81, died Feb. 15 in his Berkeley home after suffering a stroke. His church, the McGee Avenue Baptist Church, hosted his funeral Saturday.
Stephanie Huie, who worked with Senior Helpers, an in-home care service, said Daniels also had Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Baji Daniels (no relation) came to CCC as an English professor in the late 1960s and took away the impression Wayne Daniels always tried to project.
"He personified my image of what a college professor is," she said. "His attire was impeccable, as was his speech."
Wayne Daniels wore thick glasses to correct for his far-sightedness and a suit and tie each day to distinguish himself from, and set an example for, students.
He drove a small, boxy MG sports sedan, a British car that was in his collection of classic cars.
And he spoke clearly, directly and eloquently, with an almost British accent, despite growing up in the South.
"He was a well-dressed, articulate individual," former Governing Board trustee Tony Gordon said.
He remembered him as, "The Arkansas-native who spoke with an English accent."
Daniels was the youngest of William Henry and Willie Floyd Daniels' 11 children, born June 9, 1930 in Pine Bluff, Ark.
He spent the first 21 years of his life in Pine Bluff, 45 miles south of Little Rock. In 1947 he was Merrill High School's valedictorian. Then he headed to Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff) on a full scholarship and graduated with honors in May 1951.
In 1953, Daniels earned a master's degree in sociology from UC Berkeley and then served two years in the Army before returning to the East Bay.
He taught at Berkeley's Willard Junior High School for a year before being hired as a part-time sociology professor at CCC in 1956.
In 1960 he began working at the college full-time as a professor and counselor.
Dr. Gordon met Daniels in 1964 when Gordon arrived as an automotive services instructor, but worked alongside Daniels from 1970-80 as a counselor and preceded him as department chairperson.
"He was the first black counselor in (1960) and the first to work with the foreign students," Gordon said. "He was really committed to the job."
Daniels also took on the task of making sure students progressed and continued their education after CCC.
He co-founded the Career Center with fellow counselor Lillian Cole while nurturing and expanding the Transfer Center.
"It would be a fitting tribute if the Transfer/Career Center became the Wayne Daniels Transfer/Career Center," CCC psychology professor Steve Greer said.
Greer began working with Daniels in 1970 as a counselor and stayed in touch with Daniels.. He found out years after they met at CCC that the two were cousins, sharing a grandfather, and went to the same family reunion.
"After almost 20 years (of retirement) I'd still call him for information and direction," Greer said.
Former CCC director of Admissions and Records Jeanette Moore said Daniels helped her get a job on campus when she was a freshman in 1973.
She worked her way up in the Admissions and Records Office, from "the lowest position up to the highest," retiring in 2004 as dean of enrollment services.
"When I think about my 32 years working at the college and I think about my experience and those people instrumental in my beginning, Bobby Wayne Daniels was one of the top five individuals who helped me become who I am today," she said.
Daniels helped those off campus as well.
In the late 1960s he became the head of the Neighborhood House of North Richmond's Board of Directors and took the organization in a new, community-led direction.
He also became a mentor to Gideon, a UC Berkeley student on a work-studies program at NHNR in the mid-60s.
The NHNR was founded in 1954 by Quakers, a religious group which supports pacifism, to address the needs of, and give support to, local residents.
"When Wayne came to the North Richmond, he didn't quite agree with the direction the Neighborhood House was going," Gideon said. "Wayne felt the people who lived in North Richmond needed to have a greater role in what's going on at the Neighborhood House. He was a pretty controversial figure."
Gideon said there was a fear North Richmond would "explode" into riots like in Watts, Detroit and Washington, D.C. had in the 60s.
"It was a revolutionary time in the world at-large, in the United States and in North Richmond," she said. "He was one of the pivotal people in terms of what was going on in Richmond at the time."
He earned a lifetime achievement award from the city of Richmond for his work.
But through the turmoil of the Vietnam War and the resistance to the Civil Rights Movement, Daniels enjoyed helping people and got the most from his life.
He collected cars, including two or three Mercedes-Benz models, Gideon said, and he loved to dance.
"He enjoyed the best things in life," she said. "When he laughed, you could see a real laugh, a real smile.
"When I think of Bobby, I think ‘joie de vivre' (joy of life)," Gideon said. "He just lived life to the fullest no matter what he was doing."
"Joy is the fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow." — Helen Keller, author
Many current students at Contra Costa College were not alive when former counseling department chairperson B. Wayne Daniels retired in 1992.
Even fewer on campus know the 36-year CCC employee and 2005 Hall of Fame inductee's first name was Bobby.
But for those who knew Daniels, his flawless fashion and perfect pronunciation, his legacy continues.
"Going to (CCC) saved my life," said Gloria Gideon, who worked with, and for, Daniels at CCC and the Neighborhood House of North Richmond. "Being around people like Wayne made all the difference for me."
Daniels, 81, died Feb. 15 in his Berkeley home after suffering a stroke. His church, the McGee Avenue Baptist Church, hosted his funeral Saturday.
Stephanie Huie, who worked with Senior Helpers, an in-home care service, said Daniels also had Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Baji Daniels (no relation) came to CCC as an English professor in the late 1960s and took away the impression Wayne Daniels always tried to project.
"He personified my image of what a college professor is," she said. "His attire was impeccable, as was his speech."
Wayne Daniels wore thick glasses to correct for his far-sightedness and a suit and tie each day to distinguish himself from, and set an example for, students.
He drove a small, boxy MG sports sedan, a British car that was in his collection of classic cars.
And he spoke clearly, directly and eloquently, with an almost British accent, despite growing up in the South.
"He was a well-dressed, articulate individual," former Governing Board trustee Tony Gordon said.
He remembered him as, "The Arkansas-native who spoke with an English accent."
Daniels was the youngest of William Henry and Willie Floyd Daniels' 11 children, born June 9, 1930 in Pine Bluff, Ark.
He spent the first 21 years of his life in Pine Bluff, 45 miles south of Little Rock. In 1947 he was Merrill High School's valedictorian. Then he headed to Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff) on a full scholarship and graduated with honors in May 1951.
In 1953, Daniels earned a master's degree in sociology from UC Berkeley and then served two years in the Army before returning to the East Bay.
He taught at Berkeley's Willard Junior High School for a year before being hired as a part-time sociology professor at CCC in 1956.
In 1960 he began working at the college full-time as a professor and counselor.
Dr. Gordon met Daniels in 1964 when Gordon arrived as an automotive services instructor, but worked alongside Daniels from 1970-80 as a counselor and preceded him as department chairperson.
"He was the first black counselor in (1960) and the first to work with the foreign students," Gordon said. "He was really committed to the job."
Daniels also took on the task of making sure students progressed and continued their education after CCC.
He co-founded the Career Center with fellow counselor Lillian Cole while nurturing and expanding the Transfer Center.
"It would be a fitting tribute if the Transfer/Career Center became the Wayne Daniels Transfer/Career Center," CCC psychology professor Steve Greer said.
Greer began working with Daniels in 1970 as a counselor and stayed in touch with Daniels.. He found out years after they met at CCC that the two were cousins, sharing a grandfather, and went to the same family reunion.
"After almost 20 years (of retirement) I'd still call him for information and direction," Greer said.
Former CCC director of Admissions and Records Jeanette Moore said Daniels helped her get a job on campus when she was a freshman in 1973.
She worked her way up in the Admissions and Records Office, from "the lowest position up to the highest," retiring in 2004 as dean of enrollment services.
"When I think about my 32 years working at the college and I think about my experience and those people instrumental in my beginning, Bobby Wayne Daniels was one of the top five individuals who helped me become who I am today," she said.
Daniels helped those off campus as well.
In the late 1960s he became the head of the Neighborhood House of North Richmond's Board of Directors and took the organization in a new, community-led direction.
He also became a mentor to Gideon, a UC Berkeley student on a work-studies program at NHNR in the mid-60s.
The NHNR was founded in 1954 by Quakers, a religious group which supports pacifism, to address the needs of, and give support to, local residents.
"When Wayne came to the North Richmond, he didn't quite agree with the direction the Neighborhood House was going," Gideon said. "Wayne felt the people who lived in North Richmond needed to have a greater role in what's going on at the Neighborhood House. He was a pretty controversial figure."
Gideon said there was a fear North Richmond would "explode" into riots like in Watts, Detroit and Washington, D.C. had in the 60s.
"It was a revolutionary time in the world at-large, in the United States and in North Richmond," she said. "He was one of the pivotal people in terms of what was going on in Richmond at the time."
He earned a lifetime achievement award from the city of Richmond for his work.
But through the turmoil of the Vietnam War and the resistance to the Civil Rights Movement, Daniels enjoyed helping people and got the most from his life.
He collected cars, including two or three Mercedes-Benz models, Gideon said, and he loved to dance.
"He enjoyed the best things in life," she said. "When he laughed, you could see a real laugh, a real smile.
"When I think of Bobby, I think ‘joie de vivre' (joy of life)," Gideon said. "He just lived life to the fullest no matter what he was doing."
Martinez remembered, joyous nature missed
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Feb. 8, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
It never took Edwin Martinez long to make friends.
When Cesar Peña and Miguel Alizaga came to their first Automotive Fundamentals class this semester, they both saw Martinez's friendly face and knew the class would be a little less stressful with him there.
"He was always laughing, smiling, making jokes and lightening the mood," said Peña, who has known Martinez for 9 years.
Martinez's recognizable and memorable smile stretched across his face with a charitable personality to match.
His long, wavy black hair, which he was growing out for a second time as a donation to Locks of Love, bounced off his shoulders while dancing with family, joking with friends or while he was kicking around a soccer ball between classes or during a game.
Alizaga talked to him that Monday, Jan. 23, about last semester when the two met and how Martinez effectively disappeared from classes and the Contra Costa College soccer team, but also how this semester could be different.
After the three-hour class in the Automotive Technology Center, around 4:30 p.m., Alizaga let Martinez borrow his phone to call his older sister, Jenny, for a ride back to their apartment complex on 21st Street in Richmond between Barrett and Macdonald avenues.
"I said, ‘I'll see you tomorrow if I don't see you after I use the bathroom,'" Alizaga said. "When I came back out, he was gone."
That was the last time Edwin Martinez was on the San Pablo campus.
Martinez was killed 2 1/2 hours later in front of his Richmond apartment complex before he and his sister could come back to CCC for night classes.
‘Senseless, stupid'
Martinez, 22, and his sister were sitting in their car at 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 23 in front of their apartment complex at Nevin Avenue and 21st Street in Richmond ready to return to CCC for night classes when an apparently random shooting ended his life.
"It's a senseless, stupid tragedy," said Nancy Rupprecht, Martinez's first automotive services professor from the fall.
Martinez was shot twice while in his sister's car. Police pronounced him dead at the scene.
His death was not only sudden and surprising, but also unbelievable to some.
"I thought it was a joke (when I heard)," said Martinez's oldest sister, Karla Manis.
Manis was away from her phone, feeding her baby, when she said she had a feeling she was missing a call.
She walked to the other room, picked up her phone and went to her contacts list and found her brother's name and number saved with a picture of him.
"I was calling him when (Sabrina Raj, his girlfriend) called back," Manis said. "She started crying."
After Raj explained what happened, Manis drove to the apartment complex to see her brother, the youngest of three siblings.
"I came here and it was true," Manis said. "I saw the cop and (then) Edwin in the car with the tape around him."
Competitive spirit
Martinez was born May 4, 1989 in Houston, Texas to Patricia Martinez and Francisco Ramos.
After bouncing around the East Bay, including Berkeley and Oakland, the family moved to San Pablo in 1996 and Edwin Martinez was enrolled at Riverside Elementary.
He started playing soccer soon after, his aunt, Ericka Martinez, said, at 7 years old for the youth soccer team La Rosa in Richmond.
Next, Edwin Martinez played in the San Pablo league and was on the Panthers with his nephew Dennis as well as his CCC classmate, Peña.
Martinez continued to play soccer growing up and played his last two years at Richmond High School until graduating in 2008.
His uncle, Carlos Martinez, said Edwin Martinez loved soccer and the World Cup and he hated to lose.
He was on the Comet men's soccer team in the fall, but had to come late to practice because his automotive classes ran about a half-hour into the start of practice, CCC coach Rudy Zeller said.
"He was on the team for four to six weeks and for about five games," Zeller said. "He was quiet, I didn't even know he had a sister."
Zeller said Martinez was on the fringes of the team and stopped coming to games and practices around September, the same time he stopped coming to Rupprecht's automotive classes.
Jamal Alzanbaai, sophomore center defender for the Comets, gave Martinez a few rides home last season and was just as surprised by his death as everyone else who knew him.
"He didn't seem to be around a bad group of people," Alzanbaai said. "When you make friends you can tell what kind of crowd of people they hang out with. I knew he wasn't into anything dangerous like that."
Hands on
Martinez came to CCC after taking a few years off from school to work.
He worked at Little Caesars until he got a job at D-Tech Auto Repair on Macdonald Avenue in Richmond, Ericka Martinez said.
Edwin Martinez's new job as a mechanic put him to work using his hands and inspired him to get back into school.
When he was 5 years old, Martinez went with his aunt to a flea market at the Oakland Coliseum and an $11 electronic gun with lights and sounds grabbed his attention.
"He destroyed it," Ericka Martinez said. "It only took from the flea market to the house in El Cerrito. He said, ‘I want to see all the lights and where they're coming from.'"
But, Manis, his sister, said, "He knew how to fix it."
She said her brother was intelligent, but had a tendency to not do his homework up to his abilities.
"He was really smart," Manis said. "He would slack off, but he could've been an honor student."
Daniel Dereon, owner of D-Tech Auto Repair, across from Lavonya DeJean Middle School, said Martinez always wanted to know more in the 1 1/2 years he worked there on-and-off.
"He wanted to learn everything," Dereon said. "He could make a lot of things in his life."
Carlos Martinez said his nephew would love to show off his skills to friends, offering to fix their cars for free.
"He went all the way to Berkeley to fix a car," Martinez said. "He wasn't charging, just wanting to do it.
"That's how he was."
It never took Edwin Martinez long to make friends.
When Cesar Peña and Miguel Alizaga came to their first Automotive Fundamentals class this semester, they both saw Martinez's friendly face and knew the class would be a little less stressful with him there.
"He was always laughing, smiling, making jokes and lightening the mood," said Peña, who has known Martinez for 9 years.
Martinez's recognizable and memorable smile stretched across his face with a charitable personality to match.
His long, wavy black hair, which he was growing out for a second time as a donation to Locks of Love, bounced off his shoulders while dancing with family, joking with friends or while he was kicking around a soccer ball between classes or during a game.
Alizaga talked to him that Monday, Jan. 23, about last semester when the two met and how Martinez effectively disappeared from classes and the Contra Costa College soccer team, but also how this semester could be different.
After the three-hour class in the Automotive Technology Center, around 4:30 p.m., Alizaga let Martinez borrow his phone to call his older sister, Jenny, for a ride back to their apartment complex on 21st Street in Richmond between Barrett and Macdonald avenues.
"I said, ‘I'll see you tomorrow if I don't see you after I use the bathroom,'" Alizaga said. "When I came back out, he was gone."
That was the last time Edwin Martinez was on the San Pablo campus.
Martinez was killed 2 1/2 hours later in front of his Richmond apartment complex before he and his sister could come back to CCC for night classes.
‘Senseless, stupid'
Martinez, 22, and his sister were sitting in their car at 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 23 in front of their apartment complex at Nevin Avenue and 21st Street in Richmond ready to return to CCC for night classes when an apparently random shooting ended his life.
"It's a senseless, stupid tragedy," said Nancy Rupprecht, Martinez's first automotive services professor from the fall.
Martinez was shot twice while in his sister's car. Police pronounced him dead at the scene.
His death was not only sudden and surprising, but also unbelievable to some.
"I thought it was a joke (when I heard)," said Martinez's oldest sister, Karla Manis.
Manis was away from her phone, feeding her baby, when she said she had a feeling she was missing a call.
She walked to the other room, picked up her phone and went to her contacts list and found her brother's name and number saved with a picture of him.
"I was calling him when (Sabrina Raj, his girlfriend) called back," Manis said. "She started crying."
After Raj explained what happened, Manis drove to the apartment complex to see her brother, the youngest of three siblings.
"I came here and it was true," Manis said. "I saw the cop and (then) Edwin in the car with the tape around him."
Competitive spirit
Martinez was born May 4, 1989 in Houston, Texas to Patricia Martinez and Francisco Ramos.
After bouncing around the East Bay, including Berkeley and Oakland, the family moved to San Pablo in 1996 and Edwin Martinez was enrolled at Riverside Elementary.
He started playing soccer soon after, his aunt, Ericka Martinez, said, at 7 years old for the youth soccer team La Rosa in Richmond.
Next, Edwin Martinez played in the San Pablo league and was on the Panthers with his nephew Dennis as well as his CCC classmate, Peña.
Martinez continued to play soccer growing up and played his last two years at Richmond High School until graduating in 2008.
His uncle, Carlos Martinez, said Edwin Martinez loved soccer and the World Cup and he hated to lose.
He was on the Comet men's soccer team in the fall, but had to come late to practice because his automotive classes ran about a half-hour into the start of practice, CCC coach Rudy Zeller said.
"He was on the team for four to six weeks and for about five games," Zeller said. "He was quiet, I didn't even know he had a sister."
Zeller said Martinez was on the fringes of the team and stopped coming to games and practices around September, the same time he stopped coming to Rupprecht's automotive classes.
Jamal Alzanbaai, sophomore center defender for the Comets, gave Martinez a few rides home last season and was just as surprised by his death as everyone else who knew him.
"He didn't seem to be around a bad group of people," Alzanbaai said. "When you make friends you can tell what kind of crowd of people they hang out with. I knew he wasn't into anything dangerous like that."
Hands on
Martinez came to CCC after taking a few years off from school to work.
He worked at Little Caesars until he got a job at D-Tech Auto Repair on Macdonald Avenue in Richmond, Ericka Martinez said.
Edwin Martinez's new job as a mechanic put him to work using his hands and inspired him to get back into school.
When he was 5 years old, Martinez went with his aunt to a flea market at the Oakland Coliseum and an $11 electronic gun with lights and sounds grabbed his attention.
"He destroyed it," Ericka Martinez said. "It only took from the flea market to the house in El Cerrito. He said, ‘I want to see all the lights and where they're coming from.'"
But, Manis, his sister, said, "He knew how to fix it."
She said her brother was intelligent, but had a tendency to not do his homework up to his abilities.
"He was really smart," Manis said. "He would slack off, but he could've been an honor student."
Daniel Dereon, owner of D-Tech Auto Repair, across from Lavonya DeJean Middle School, said Martinez always wanted to know more in the 1 1/2 years he worked there on-and-off.
"He wanted to learn everything," Dereon said. "He could make a lot of things in his life."
Carlos Martinez said his nephew would love to show off his skills to friends, offering to fix their cars for free.
"He went all the way to Berkeley to fix a car," Martinez said. "He wasn't charging, just wanting to do it.
"That's how he was."
Gunman murders student
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Feb. 8, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
A 22-year-old automotive services student was shot and killed on his day first day of class this semester in front of his Richmond apartment complex.
Edwin Martinez, who first enrolled at Contra Costa College last fall, died Jan. 23 when he and his older sister, Jenny, were heading back to campus just before 7 p.m. from their apartment on Nevin Avenue and 21st Street.
Richmond Police Detective Tim Gray said Edwin and Jenny Martinez, born about a year apart from each other, were in her black four-door Toyota Corolla at 6:45 p.m. and were preparing to come to school for the evening when they heard four to five gunshots a block away.
They ducked down into their seats as the shots from Nevin Avenue and 22nd Street rang louder with each shot, working their way closer to the next block and their car.
As the two stuck their heads up to see if it was safe to leave, Laquian Morrison, the 31-year-old suspect arrested for Edwin Martinez's murder, allegedly fired a second round of shots into the car. Two bullets hit Martinez in the passenger seat, Gray said.
Before he died, Gray said, Martinez reached over to his sister in the driver's seat, grabbed her arm and said her name, "Jenny."
Gray said Martinez's sister then panicked, driving around the corner, not knowing where to go, and ended up back at the apartment complex.
Richmond police dispatchers were alerted of the gunfire by the city's shot spotter system, Detective Nicole Abetkov said, to which officers responded and made contact with Martinez's sister.
"He was in the passenger seat and pronounced dead at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds," Abetkov said. "There is nothing showing specifically why (the suspect) shot at the car."
Gray said Morrison was arrested three nights after the shooting, on Jan. 26, on suspicion of murder. The investigation, however, remains ongoing.
"It's pretty simplistic, as far as the facts that occurred. What's not clear at this point is the why," Gray said. "We don't know that he was a target. We're just as puzzled about why as anyone else."
Gray said there are unconfirmed reports of Morrison initially firing at a white or light-colored car on Nevin Avenue and 22nd Street when the vehicle and suspect turned right toward the apartment complex. After the car evaded the suspect, Abetkov said, he turned and fired at the Martinez's car.
"It's an unfortunate incident," Abetkov said. "These people didn't deserve this."
Martinez enrolled in automotive services and athletics classes at CCC last semester.
Automotive services professor Nancy Rupprecht and men's soccer coach Rudy Zeller said Martinez started the fall 2011 semester, but disappeared about halfway through, in September.
"One day he didn't show up, he didn't answer his phone — it was discontinued," Zeller said.
"Next thing I hear, on (Jan. 24 or 25), he's dead," Zeller said. "I was just blown away."
Martinez is the second of Zeller's players to be killed since last spring. Andrew Manriquez, 19, was gunned down at 10:30 p.m. on April 8 in Richmond.
"It's an insane world," Zeller said.
The day after Martinez was killed, his automotive services professor, Lucile Beatty, set up an alter to keep Martinez on her students' minds.
On Jan. 24, Beatty announced Martinez's death to her class and they shared a moment of silence.
"I love teaching, making connections with students," Beatty said, tearing up. "For that to be snuffed out, it's a shock to the system."
A 22-year-old automotive services student was shot and killed on his day first day of class this semester in front of his Richmond apartment complex.
Edwin Martinez, who first enrolled at Contra Costa College last fall, died Jan. 23 when he and his older sister, Jenny, were heading back to campus just before 7 p.m. from their apartment on Nevin Avenue and 21st Street.
Richmond Police Detective Tim Gray said Edwin and Jenny Martinez, born about a year apart from each other, were in her black four-door Toyota Corolla at 6:45 p.m. and were preparing to come to school for the evening when they heard four to five gunshots a block away.
They ducked down into their seats as the shots from Nevin Avenue and 22nd Street rang louder with each shot, working their way closer to the next block and their car.
As the two stuck their heads up to see if it was safe to leave, Laquian Morrison, the 31-year-old suspect arrested for Edwin Martinez's murder, allegedly fired a second round of shots into the car. Two bullets hit Martinez in the passenger seat, Gray said.
Before he died, Gray said, Martinez reached over to his sister in the driver's seat, grabbed her arm and said her name, "Jenny."
Gray said Martinez's sister then panicked, driving around the corner, not knowing where to go, and ended up back at the apartment complex.
Richmond police dispatchers were alerted of the gunfire by the city's shot spotter system, Detective Nicole Abetkov said, to which officers responded and made contact with Martinez's sister.
"He was in the passenger seat and pronounced dead at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds," Abetkov said. "There is nothing showing specifically why (the suspect) shot at the car."
Gray said Morrison was arrested three nights after the shooting, on Jan. 26, on suspicion of murder. The investigation, however, remains ongoing.
"It's pretty simplistic, as far as the facts that occurred. What's not clear at this point is the why," Gray said. "We don't know that he was a target. We're just as puzzled about why as anyone else."
Gray said there are unconfirmed reports of Morrison initially firing at a white or light-colored car on Nevin Avenue and 22nd Street when the vehicle and suspect turned right toward the apartment complex. After the car evaded the suspect, Abetkov said, he turned and fired at the Martinez's car.
"It's an unfortunate incident," Abetkov said. "These people didn't deserve this."
Martinez enrolled in automotive services and athletics classes at CCC last semester.
Automotive services professor Nancy Rupprecht and men's soccer coach Rudy Zeller said Martinez started the fall 2011 semester, but disappeared about halfway through, in September.
"One day he didn't show up, he didn't answer his phone — it was discontinued," Zeller said.
"Next thing I hear, on (Jan. 24 or 25), he's dead," Zeller said. "I was just blown away."
Martinez is the second of Zeller's players to be killed since last spring. Andrew Manriquez, 19, was gunned down at 10:30 p.m. on April 8 in Richmond.
"It's an insane world," Zeller said.
The day after Martinez was killed, his automotive services professor, Lucile Beatty, set up an alter to keep Martinez on her students' minds.
On Jan. 24, Beatty announced Martinez's death to her class and they shared a moment of silence.
"I love teaching, making connections with students," Beatty said, tearing up. "For that to be snuffed out, it's a shock to the system."
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Opinon: Packed Gym rallies support for Capoot
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Dec. 7, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
The Gymnasium had a postseason feel to it Thursday night.
Fans, athletes and police filled the arena's blue bleachers and erupted with applause when the Contra Costa College women's basketball team came onto the court.
The game against intra-district rival Los Medanos College would finish the first night of the 18th annual Comet Classic tournament and was the home opener for the Comets.
All the bodies in the crowd — from college President McKinley Williams to a number of former and current Comets of various CCC teams — were there to support the Comets and try to make up for the absence of one man.
The 0-2 home team was about to enter the tournament with thoughts more important than getting its first win of the 2011-12 season.
This game was about rallying support for a team trying to rebound from heavy loss.
It was the team's first game since the Comets lost consecutive games at the Mission College on Nov. 11-12.
It was the first game since guard Jamie Capoot's father was killed on Nov. 17.
And it came just one day after Officer James Capoot's emotional funeral service at Vallejo High School, where he coached the girl's basketball team to a section championship.
Capoot, a 19-year veteran of the Vallejo Police Department, died Nov. 15 when a bank robbery suspect shot and killed the 45-year-old former Marine.
Jamie said her dad was not only her biggest cheerleader, but also taught her how to play ball at 10 years old.
"It was totally different," Capoot said Friday after the Comets were eliminated from the tournament after losing two games. "My dad was my biggest fan. For him not to be here is really tough."
Capoot led the Comets all weekend, finishing with 27 points against LMC and 30 against the Saints. She shot 14-20 from the free-throw line against the Mustangs and 16-19 on Friday.
Because of those performances, she made the all-tournament team.
The Comets lost both their games this weekend, however. The Mustangs went on to the semi-finals with a 64-47 win over CCC and Mission beat the Comets in the consolation bracket, 88-69.
But the outcome was merely secondary to the emotional battles the Comets have been going through since ending practice two weeks ago with news of the death of Capoot's father.
And as she left campus after Friday night's loss to the Saints, ending the Comets' play in the tournament, she cradled the blue and gold all-tournament trophy she won in her left arm and fought back tears after an emotional three days. She then smiled while talking about being able to get on the court again.
"Considering the circumstances, (playing) was fun," Capoot said wearing one of the many memorial T-shirts made since her father's death. "It's outstanding how much support my family's had the last two weeks."
CCC women's basketball players, and close to 50 former Comets and coaches, stood side-by-side stretching across the baseline during a pregame ceremony to honor James Capoot, many wearing shirts with "RIP Jim Capoot VPD 497" on the front to honor the badge number Capoot wore.
There were signs honoring him on both ends of the court, including a hand-painted sign that read, "Ooh-Rah Capoot!" one of the family's favorite U.S. Marine Corps yells, hanging under the American flag, appropriately enough.
This is a favorite slogan of his middle daughter Jamie, 21, who ended her statement at her father's memorial on Wednesday, "Semper Fi, devil dog. Ooh-rah."
For the women's basketball team, this season has become about more than wins and losses.
This year, with a six-player team and starting the season 0-4, making the playoffs is improbable.
This season is now about a team staying together through each game and not giving up on each other.
These Comets, with a championship pedigree, are held to a high standard and this obstacle for the team is immeasurable. But, as they say in the Marines, "No excuses, sir."
It was an attitude Jim Capoot taught his daughters.
The team is going to stick it out and charge on, Jamie Capoot said, "Like my dad always told me to."
The Gymnasium had a postseason feel to it Thursday night.
Fans, athletes and police filled the arena's blue bleachers and erupted with applause when the Contra Costa College women's basketball team came onto the court.
The game against intra-district rival Los Medanos College would finish the first night of the 18th annual Comet Classic tournament and was the home opener for the Comets.
All the bodies in the crowd — from college President McKinley Williams to a number of former and current Comets of various CCC teams — were there to support the Comets and try to make up for the absence of one man.
The 0-2 home team was about to enter the tournament with thoughts more important than getting its first win of the 2011-12 season.
This game was about rallying support for a team trying to rebound from heavy loss.
It was the team's first game since the Comets lost consecutive games at the Mission College on Nov. 11-12.
It was the first game since guard Jamie Capoot's father was killed on Nov. 17.
And it came just one day after Officer James Capoot's emotional funeral service at Vallejo High School, where he coached the girl's basketball team to a section championship.
Capoot, a 19-year veteran of the Vallejo Police Department, died Nov. 15 when a bank robbery suspect shot and killed the 45-year-old former Marine.
Jamie said her dad was not only her biggest cheerleader, but also taught her how to play ball at 10 years old.
"It was totally different," Capoot said Friday after the Comets were eliminated from the tournament after losing two games. "My dad was my biggest fan. For him not to be here is really tough."
Capoot led the Comets all weekend, finishing with 27 points against LMC and 30 against the Saints. She shot 14-20 from the free-throw line against the Mustangs and 16-19 on Friday.
Because of those performances, she made the all-tournament team.
The Comets lost both their games this weekend, however. The Mustangs went on to the semi-finals with a 64-47 win over CCC and Mission beat the Comets in the consolation bracket, 88-69.
But the outcome was merely secondary to the emotional battles the Comets have been going through since ending practice two weeks ago with news of the death of Capoot's father.
And as she left campus after Friday night's loss to the Saints, ending the Comets' play in the tournament, she cradled the blue and gold all-tournament trophy she won in her left arm and fought back tears after an emotional three days. She then smiled while talking about being able to get on the court again.
"Considering the circumstances, (playing) was fun," Capoot said wearing one of the many memorial T-shirts made since her father's death. "It's outstanding how much support my family's had the last two weeks."
CCC women's basketball players, and close to 50 former Comets and coaches, stood side-by-side stretching across the baseline during a pregame ceremony to honor James Capoot, many wearing shirts with "RIP Jim Capoot VPD 497" on the front to honor the badge number Capoot wore.
There were signs honoring him on both ends of the court, including a hand-painted sign that read, "Ooh-Rah Capoot!" one of the family's favorite U.S. Marine Corps yells, hanging under the American flag, appropriately enough.
This is a favorite slogan of his middle daughter Jamie, 21, who ended her statement at her father's memorial on Wednesday, "Semper Fi, devil dog. Ooh-rah."
For the women's basketball team, this season has become about more than wins and losses.
This year, with a six-player team and starting the season 0-4, making the playoffs is improbable.
This season is now about a team staying together through each game and not giving up on each other.
These Comets, with a championship pedigree, are held to a high standard and this obstacle for the team is immeasurable. But, as they say in the Marines, "No excuses, sir."
It was an attitude Jim Capoot taught his daughters.
The team is going to stick it out and charge on, Jamie Capoot said, "Like my dad always told me to."
Bond funds GA lift project
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Dec. 7, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
Installation of an elevator in the 40-year-old Gym Annex Building is scheduled for next year, finally making its second floor accessible to students with disabilities.
Half a million dollars from the 2002 Measure A bond will go to putting a prefabricated lift in the northwest corner of the GA Building, by the tennis courts, district Projects Manager Burl Toler said.
He said it's been an idea floating around for years, but only in the last five to six months has it been seriously considered.
"Finally we've had an architect do design work," he said.
Contra Costa College Buildings and Grounds Manager Bruce King said the all-in-one elevator unit will be "easier to shove in" on the side of the building by the tennis courts and have the project completed before fall 2012.
The GA Building is the only two story building on campus without an elevator and one classroom on the top floor, GA-50, is used by the physical education department to hold lecture-based classes needed to transfer or graduate.
Yasuko "Sue" Abe, disability support services manager, said two Health Education 120 courses, required for transfer to UC and CSU, were relocated this semester because GA-50 was inaccessible.
"I don't think there should be a barrier just because you have a physical disability," said ASU President Rodney Wilson, who serves on the Measure A Citizen's Oversight Committee. "You have the same rights as someone fully able-bodied."
This has been an issue since the college began holding classes in the building, but the number of the courses held in that room has been changed to accommodate mobility-impaired students.
In fall 2007, six of the eight health education sections at CCC were held in GA-50.
As an alternative, the course is held in other large lecture rooms, including LA-100 and in the Music Building.
However, the M Building is under construction this semester and its sections were moved to the Humanities Building left vacated by student services moving to its new building.
"We didn't have a choice (in classrooms this semester)," Abe said.
Physical education department Chairperson Beth Goehring teaches one of the two courses moved from GA-50 and said the installation of an elevator in the building will be wonderful.
"I've been requesting one (elevator) for at least 10 years," she said. "We have a classroom we are using for lecture for health, but it is difficult for some students to make it up the stairs without an elevator."
Goehring said most offices in the building are located on the second floor as well, increasing the level of difficulty for students to reach their professors during office hours.
Interim Vice President Donna Floyd said there is more to getting the elevator installed than just shoving it into place, but remains optimistic it will be completed on schedule.
She said the steps to completion include a bidding process, approval by the Governing Board and then construction.
"I'm hoping that it is a little bit more than just the elevator," she said. "But I don't think we have the budget to support the design that includes a redesign of the building the elevator will be on."
These plans include architectural changes to the GA Building to extend the current roofline to accommodate the elevator shaft as well as a ramp into the building.
"It is important that we provide access for all of our students and make the building more accessible," Floyd said.
Installation of an elevator in the 40-year-old Gym Annex Building is scheduled for next year, finally making its second floor accessible to students with disabilities.
Half a million dollars from the 2002 Measure A bond will go to putting a prefabricated lift in the northwest corner of the GA Building, by the tennis courts, district Projects Manager Burl Toler said.
He said it's been an idea floating around for years, but only in the last five to six months has it been seriously considered.
"Finally we've had an architect do design work," he said.
Contra Costa College Buildings and Grounds Manager Bruce King said the all-in-one elevator unit will be "easier to shove in" on the side of the building by the tennis courts and have the project completed before fall 2012.
The GA Building is the only two story building on campus without an elevator and one classroom on the top floor, GA-50, is used by the physical education department to hold lecture-based classes needed to transfer or graduate.
Yasuko "Sue" Abe, disability support services manager, said two Health Education 120 courses, required for transfer to UC and CSU, were relocated this semester because GA-50 was inaccessible.
"I don't think there should be a barrier just because you have a physical disability," said ASU President Rodney Wilson, who serves on the Measure A Citizen's Oversight Committee. "You have the same rights as someone fully able-bodied."
This has been an issue since the college began holding classes in the building, but the number of the courses held in that room has been changed to accommodate mobility-impaired students.
In fall 2007, six of the eight health education sections at CCC were held in GA-50.
As an alternative, the course is held in other large lecture rooms, including LA-100 and in the Music Building.
However, the M Building is under construction this semester and its sections were moved to the Humanities Building left vacated by student services moving to its new building.
"We didn't have a choice (in classrooms this semester)," Abe said.
Physical education department Chairperson Beth Goehring teaches one of the two courses moved from GA-50 and said the installation of an elevator in the building will be wonderful.
"I've been requesting one (elevator) for at least 10 years," she said. "We have a classroom we are using for lecture for health, but it is difficult for some students to make it up the stairs without an elevator."
Goehring said most offices in the building are located on the second floor as well, increasing the level of difficulty for students to reach their professors during office hours.
Interim Vice President Donna Floyd said there is more to getting the elevator installed than just shoving it into place, but remains optimistic it will be completed on schedule.
She said the steps to completion include a bidding process, approval by the Governing Board and then construction.
"I'm hoping that it is a little bit more than just the elevator," she said. "But I don't think we have the budget to support the design that includes a redesign of the building the elevator will be on."
These plans include architectural changes to the GA Building to extend the current roofline to accommodate the elevator shaft as well as a ramp into the building.
"It is important that we provide access for all of our students and make the building more accessible," Floyd said.
Opinion: Fat dependency
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Dec. 7, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
Happiness only costs $1.
It can be found under the golden arches with over a billion served, and is available in all flavors.
Ice keeps it chilled and if there is not enough to quench one's thirst, there are free refills.
And customers can never have enough as they walk away feeling temporarily euphoric and satisfied. But they'll be back.
The quick smile from that first hot, salty french fry becomes a look of disgust as fast food addicts wonder why they continue to shove the potato sticks down their gullet.
The craving may have started as an annual treat, but a craving becomes a habit and, before long, it becomes an addiction.
Tasting, chewing, and smelling specific flavors release certain chemicals in the brain, creating a chemical dependence similar to drugs like cocaine.
The salty, fatty, sugary instant regret that is fast food is a key contributor in childhood obesity not because of the toys it offers with its kids meals, but because the grease-soaked dish with the iced sugar water is received in the brain as a happiness meal.
As humans evolved, grazing their ways across the continents, their tongues also adapted to different flavors.
The tongue has a particular affinity for salts, sugars and fats.
When ingesting food with these particular flavors, John Hopkins University neuroscience professor David Linden wrote earlier this year, the brain's pleasure centers overload with dopamine when eating energy-dense, fatty and sugary foods.
This is the same reaction from stimulants.
These pleasure signals are received as highly rewarding and, in turn, become addicting.
It has become so easy to get that fix, it is no wonder childhood obesity and diabetes has increased in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Not only do adults go out for a quick Coke and fries before bed, but some will bring their children along.
When that kid's meal comes out, though, it has major affects on that child's development.
Not only does the meal provide no nutritional benefit, it reinforces the addictive behavior, especially when combined with a caffeinated drink, another stimulant drug.
The high sugar content in the soft drinks, food and condiments, create a chemical dependence.
When a person habitually drinks caffeinated beverages or eats foods high in fat or sugar, one can experience withdrawal symptoms, including headache and irritability within 12 hours and they can last up to five days.
Introducing children to these chemicals at a young age is dangerous.
Whether it is fast food, candy or sodas, refined sugars have a negative impact on a growing body and mind.
Raising children in a world of late-night drive-thru pleasure windows is positive reinforcement of addiction.
The nutritional benefits are non-existent, but it also creates a culture of conditioning.
Instead of eating a piece of fruit or a vegetable, which has the nutrients all humans, young and old, need to survive, drive down to the local burger shack for a milkshake because it will make one feel better.
Although natural foods have natural sugars, glucose, in them, the flavors taken in provoke a response greater than the purest honey could aspire.
Fast food addiction has a number of health risks attached to it.
Obesity, diabetes and heart issues are the most prominent, but depression, withdrawal and acne also surface as a result of the addiction.
These are contrary to the environment in which children should be raised.
Fast food has become an American staple and its industry knows how to attract and retain new customers each day.
They keep showing up younger each day because the price of happiness is cheap and the result is so sweet.
Happiness only costs $1.
It can be found under the golden arches with over a billion served, and is available in all flavors.
Ice keeps it chilled and if there is not enough to quench one's thirst, there are free refills.
And customers can never have enough as they walk away feeling temporarily euphoric and satisfied. But they'll be back.
The quick smile from that first hot, salty french fry becomes a look of disgust as fast food addicts wonder why they continue to shove the potato sticks down their gullet.
The craving may have started as an annual treat, but a craving becomes a habit and, before long, it becomes an addiction.
Tasting, chewing, and smelling specific flavors release certain chemicals in the brain, creating a chemical dependence similar to drugs like cocaine.
The salty, fatty, sugary instant regret that is fast food is a key contributor in childhood obesity not because of the toys it offers with its kids meals, but because the grease-soaked dish with the iced sugar water is received in the brain as a happiness meal.
As humans evolved, grazing their ways across the continents, their tongues also adapted to different flavors.
The tongue has a particular affinity for salts, sugars and fats.
When ingesting food with these particular flavors, John Hopkins University neuroscience professor David Linden wrote earlier this year, the brain's pleasure centers overload with dopamine when eating energy-dense, fatty and sugary foods.
This is the same reaction from stimulants.
These pleasure signals are received as highly rewarding and, in turn, become addicting.
It has become so easy to get that fix, it is no wonder childhood obesity and diabetes has increased in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Not only do adults go out for a quick Coke and fries before bed, but some will bring their children along.
When that kid's meal comes out, though, it has major affects on that child's development.
Not only does the meal provide no nutritional benefit, it reinforces the addictive behavior, especially when combined with a caffeinated drink, another stimulant drug.
The high sugar content in the soft drinks, food and condiments, create a chemical dependence.
When a person habitually drinks caffeinated beverages or eats foods high in fat or sugar, one can experience withdrawal symptoms, including headache and irritability within 12 hours and they can last up to five days.
Introducing children to these chemicals at a young age is dangerous.
Whether it is fast food, candy or sodas, refined sugars have a negative impact on a growing body and mind.
Raising children in a world of late-night drive-thru pleasure windows is positive reinforcement of addiction.
The nutritional benefits are non-existent, but it also creates a culture of conditioning.
Instead of eating a piece of fruit or a vegetable, which has the nutrients all humans, young and old, need to survive, drive down to the local burger shack for a milkshake because it will make one feel better.
Although natural foods have natural sugars, glucose, in them, the flavors taken in provoke a response greater than the purest honey could aspire.
Fast food addiction has a number of health risks attached to it.
Obesity, diabetes and heart issues are the most prominent, but depression, withdrawal and acne also surface as a result of the addiction.
These are contrary to the environment in which children should be raised.
Fast food has become an American staple and its industry knows how to attract and retain new customers each day.
They keep showing up younger each day because the price of happiness is cheap and the result is so sweet.
Tuition jumps evident as state raises fees
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Dec. 7, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
For decades, higher education in California was seen as a right to its residents.
Students graduated from high school, which they went to for free, and went on to one of the two four-year university systems in the state paying low tuition fees, or they could go to a two-year college before transferring, cost free.
But those days are long gone as the cost of attending college continues to climb year-to-year.
Community college fees are presently at $36 a unit and will likely be raised to $46 by summer 2012, and this year, for the first time, California State Universities received more funding from student tuition than state allocations.
This trend began during a dip in the state economy in 1983, five years after California's tax revolution and the passing of Proposition 13 in 1978, when the state Community College Board of Governors started exploring ways to fill the revenue gap.
The quick solution was to charge all the students coming to the classroom an emergency fee until a turnaround in the economy.
Art department Chairperson John Diestler, who has been in the California community college system as a student and professor since before the fee implementation, said everyone looked at California and wanted its system in their states.
"We were the envy of the country, but it wasn't sustainable," he said. "It was a nice plan, but we couldn't hold to it. This is what we have now."
Nearly 30 years later, the state, its system and students are in a similar situation: Jerry Brown is the governor of California, again, trying to expand a receding economy, again, and lawmakers are closing a monetary gap by digging into the pockets of students, again.
"California has always been considered the land flowing with milk and honey. California was the place to go to dream big," Contra Costa College Interim Dean of Students Vicki Ferguson said. "Now California is having to live within its means."
Dec. 10, 1982
As part of the state's Master Plan for Higher Education signed into law by Gov. Edmund Brown, Jerry's father, in April 1960, student tuition was banned, allowing all Californians to attend its community colleges free of charge.
But in 1978, voter-approved Proposition 13 was enacted, capping property taxes at one percent, which over the next five years turned a $3 billion budget surplus into a $3 billion deficit by 1983.
As Gov. Jerry Brown was preparing to leave the Capitol in 1982, community college programs were cut trying to fill the fiscal vacuum left by Proposition 13.
The Board of Governors, at a meeting in San Francisco on Dec. 10, 1982, voted 14-1 to, for the first time in the state, make students pay for courses at two-year colleges.
According to the Board of Governors policy recommendation, a flat $5 fee was to be imposed and "limited to (the) 1983-84 (academic year) on an emergency basis" to make up for the state's $1.5 billion deficit that was predicted to double by the end of that fiscal year.
The decision drew hundreds of protesters and the meeting in San Francisco had to be shut down because of the overflow crowd.
Then-Contra Costa Community College District Chancellor Harry Buttimer told The Advocate after the 1982 announcement, "I think it would be unlikely that the tuition-free system would return. Once fees are in, I think the best we can hope for is that they won't go up."
He was half right.
He was correct to be skeptical of the board's one-year recommendation for fees and expectations of a rebounding economy.
Twenty-eight years after the implementation of an "emergency fee," costs continue to climb.
Current Chancellor Helen Benjamin said California residents expected higher education, at least at the two-year level, to be free.
"People in state see it as a broken promise," Dr. Benjamin said. "It's a promise the state has not been able to keep."
By the numbers
There have been 11 fee changes since the implementation of the $5 fee in 1983-84, and they are now up to $36 per unit.
State Vice Chancellor for Communications Paul Feist said legislators and Gov. Brown decided before this year's budget passed that if a certain revenue level was not met by Dec. 15, the Department of Finance could impose a $10 increase to community college fees as well as make a $102 million "trigger" cut, having a mid-year impact on the spring budget.
"The probability is high we don't have the revenue to avoid triggers," he said.
The $10 increase would be the ninth fee increase in 12 changes that appear to come sporadically.
"It creates an uncertainty about your future, which creates additional amounts of stress on students," CCC ASU President Rodney Wilson said. "If our Legislature would make the certain decisions — they may not be the best political decisions — but if they make these decisions, it would (create) certainty in our future."
The flat $5 rate increased to $6 per unit in 1991 and it has increased more often than not ever since.
The only three decreases in fees were in 1998-99, 1999-2000 and in spring 2007. Fees dropped one dollar in each of the '98 and '99 school years from $13 per unit to $12 and again to $11 before the new millennium.
The $11 per unit fee stayed for four years until it jumped in 2003-04 to $18.
Fees have doubled since then, despite a reduction in 2007.
In 2004-05, a year after they increased nearly 64 percent. Fees jumped up again to $26 per unit before dipping to $20 in 2007.
Since that last bottoming out, there have been increases of $6 and $10 per unit, respectively, in fall 2009 and 2011.
The increases from $11 to $18 and again to $26 per unit in 2003-04 and 2004-05 were the largest increases from year-to-year.
"When fees doubled, almost doubled, it seemed to be without rhyme or reason," CCC President McKinley Williams said. "(Access to) education is being nickel and dimed (away). I think there is something really wrong about that."
Bargain price
Although California's fees continue to rise, they are still the lowest in the country and well below the national average.
According to the College Board, public two-year colleges charge, on average, $2,963 per year in tuition and fees.
The state allocates between $4,000 and $4,500 per Full-Time Equivalent Student to colleges from its general fund each year. One FTES equals one student taking 12 units.
Ferguson said when she moved to California in spring 2003, when fees were $11 per unit and ready to jump to $18 in the fall, students were getting ready for a march on Sacramento to protest the fee hike.
As a newly hired adjunct counseling professor, she said people from around campus would ask her about the situation in Alabama, her home state.
"It was cheaper to live in Alabama, but college was $70 to $80 a unit," she said.
Diestler said even as fees creep toward $50 per unit, even if it doubled to $72 per unit, California would still be the cheapest deal in the country and still would not significantly contribute to bringing the state back into the black.
"It's a drop in the bucket," he said. "They'll (students) never pay for what they get until it's in the thousand dollar (per unit) amount."
For decades, higher education in California was seen as a right to its residents.
Students graduated from high school, which they went to for free, and went on to one of the two four-year university systems in the state paying low tuition fees, or they could go to a two-year college before transferring, cost free.
But those days are long gone as the cost of attending college continues to climb year-to-year.
Community college fees are presently at $36 a unit and will likely be raised to $46 by summer 2012, and this year, for the first time, California State Universities received more funding from student tuition than state allocations.
This trend began during a dip in the state economy in 1983, five years after California's tax revolution and the passing of Proposition 13 in 1978, when the state Community College Board of Governors started exploring ways to fill the revenue gap.
The quick solution was to charge all the students coming to the classroom an emergency fee until a turnaround in the economy.
Art department Chairperson John Diestler, who has been in the California community college system as a student and professor since before the fee implementation, said everyone looked at California and wanted its system in their states.
"We were the envy of the country, but it wasn't sustainable," he said. "It was a nice plan, but we couldn't hold to it. This is what we have now."
Nearly 30 years later, the state, its system and students are in a similar situation: Jerry Brown is the governor of California, again, trying to expand a receding economy, again, and lawmakers are closing a monetary gap by digging into the pockets of students, again.
"California has always been considered the land flowing with milk and honey. California was the place to go to dream big," Contra Costa College Interim Dean of Students Vicki Ferguson said. "Now California is having to live within its means."
Dec. 10, 1982
As part of the state's Master Plan for Higher Education signed into law by Gov. Edmund Brown, Jerry's father, in April 1960, student tuition was banned, allowing all Californians to attend its community colleges free of charge.
But in 1978, voter-approved Proposition 13 was enacted, capping property taxes at one percent, which over the next five years turned a $3 billion budget surplus into a $3 billion deficit by 1983.
As Gov. Jerry Brown was preparing to leave the Capitol in 1982, community college programs were cut trying to fill the fiscal vacuum left by Proposition 13.
The Board of Governors, at a meeting in San Francisco on Dec. 10, 1982, voted 14-1 to, for the first time in the state, make students pay for courses at two-year colleges.
According to the Board of Governors policy recommendation, a flat $5 fee was to be imposed and "limited to (the) 1983-84 (academic year) on an emergency basis" to make up for the state's $1.5 billion deficit that was predicted to double by the end of that fiscal year.
The decision drew hundreds of protesters and the meeting in San Francisco had to be shut down because of the overflow crowd.
Then-Contra Costa Community College District Chancellor Harry Buttimer told The Advocate after the 1982 announcement, "I think it would be unlikely that the tuition-free system would return. Once fees are in, I think the best we can hope for is that they won't go up."
He was half right.
He was correct to be skeptical of the board's one-year recommendation for fees and expectations of a rebounding economy.
Twenty-eight years after the implementation of an "emergency fee," costs continue to climb.
Current Chancellor Helen Benjamin said California residents expected higher education, at least at the two-year level, to be free.
"People in state see it as a broken promise," Dr. Benjamin said. "It's a promise the state has not been able to keep."
By the numbers
There have been 11 fee changes since the implementation of the $5 fee in 1983-84, and they are now up to $36 per unit.
State Vice Chancellor for Communications Paul Feist said legislators and Gov. Brown decided before this year's budget passed that if a certain revenue level was not met by Dec. 15, the Department of Finance could impose a $10 increase to community college fees as well as make a $102 million "trigger" cut, having a mid-year impact on the spring budget.
"The probability is high we don't have the revenue to avoid triggers," he said.
The $10 increase would be the ninth fee increase in 12 changes that appear to come sporadically.
"It creates an uncertainty about your future, which creates additional amounts of stress on students," CCC ASU President Rodney Wilson said. "If our Legislature would make the certain decisions — they may not be the best political decisions — but if they make these decisions, it would (create) certainty in our future."
The flat $5 rate increased to $6 per unit in 1991 and it has increased more often than not ever since.
The only three decreases in fees were in 1998-99, 1999-2000 and in spring 2007. Fees dropped one dollar in each of the '98 and '99 school years from $13 per unit to $12 and again to $11 before the new millennium.
The $11 per unit fee stayed for four years until it jumped in 2003-04 to $18.
Fees have doubled since then, despite a reduction in 2007.
In 2004-05, a year after they increased nearly 64 percent. Fees jumped up again to $26 per unit before dipping to $20 in 2007.
Since that last bottoming out, there have been increases of $6 and $10 per unit, respectively, in fall 2009 and 2011.
The increases from $11 to $18 and again to $26 per unit in 2003-04 and 2004-05 were the largest increases from year-to-year.
"When fees doubled, almost doubled, it seemed to be without rhyme or reason," CCC President McKinley Williams said. "(Access to) education is being nickel and dimed (away). I think there is something really wrong about that."
Bargain price
Although California's fees continue to rise, they are still the lowest in the country and well below the national average.
According to the College Board, public two-year colleges charge, on average, $2,963 per year in tuition and fees.
The state allocates between $4,000 and $4,500 per Full-Time Equivalent Student to colleges from its general fund each year. One FTES equals one student taking 12 units.
Ferguson said when she moved to California in spring 2003, when fees were $11 per unit and ready to jump to $18 in the fall, students were getting ready for a march on Sacramento to protest the fee hike.
As a newly hired adjunct counseling professor, she said people from around campus would ask her about the situation in Alabama, her home state.
"It was cheaper to live in Alabama, but college was $70 to $80 a unit," she said.
Diestler said even as fees creep toward $50 per unit, even if it doubled to $72 per unit, California would still be the cheapest deal in the country and still would not significantly contribute to bringing the state back into the black.
"It's a drop in the bucket," he said. "They'll (students) never pay for what they get until it's in the thousand dollar (per unit) amount."
Police Services cancels safety workshop
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published on AccentAdvocate.com on Nov. 17, 2011.
Police Services Lt. Jose Oliveira paced up and down the Fireside Room alone at 1 p.m. Wednesday waiting for anyone to walk through the door.
The walls of the empty room echoed the conversations and occasional shrieks coming from the Amphiteatre and Student Dining Room and Oliveira canceled the unattended "Playing It Safe" workshop at 1:15.
"People really do feel safe on campus," said the lieutenant who has covered Contra Costa College for 16 1/2 years. "If there was a lot of concern and outcry people would be here."
This was the second safety seminar Oiveira has hosted this semester and he said the two covered the same material – robberies.
Four students were robbed by Oct. 5, and that number has not increased, near campus so far this semester. Oliveira also said the number of laptop thefts were higher at other campuses in the district than at CCC.
Less than a dozen total people came to the first workshop of the semester, which was only advertised through an email sent through the campus email, InSite Portal, on Oct. 4.
Notification for this month's event included an email sent out last week as well as signage across campus posted by Student Life Coordinator Kelly Ramos and student police aides, Oliveira said.
Oliveira said Police Services will have more of these events in the spring, starting with three seminars during the third week of the semester and one a month afterward.
"That time of the semester there are a lot of people on campus used to going to orientations," Oliveira said. "Better luck next time."
Police Services Lt. Jose Oliveira paced up and down the Fireside Room alone at 1 p.m. Wednesday waiting for anyone to walk through the door.
The walls of the empty room echoed the conversations and occasional shrieks coming from the Amphiteatre and Student Dining Room and Oliveira canceled the unattended "Playing It Safe" workshop at 1:15.
"People really do feel safe on campus," said the lieutenant who has covered Contra Costa College for 16 1/2 years. "If there was a lot of concern and outcry people would be here."
This was the second safety seminar Oiveira has hosted this semester and he said the two covered the same material – robberies.
Four students were robbed by Oct. 5, and that number has not increased, near campus so far this semester. Oliveira also said the number of laptop thefts were higher at other campuses in the district than at CCC.
Less than a dozen total people came to the first workshop of the semester, which was only advertised through an email sent through the campus email, InSite Portal, on Oct. 4.
Notification for this month's event included an email sent out last week as well as signage across campus posted by Student Life Coordinator Kelly Ramos and student police aides, Oliveira said.
Oliveira said Police Services will have more of these events in the spring, starting with three seminars during the third week of the semester and one a month afterward.
"That time of the semester there are a lot of people on campus used to going to orientations," Oliveira said. "Better luck next time."
Destined for success
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Nov. 16, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
Jonathan Wheat had to trade in his football cleats for books to realize the importance of practice.
From the athletic arenas to speech and debate stages, the 21-year-old political science major at Contra Costa College has let little keep him from reaching his goals. But he, so far, may have been his own biggest obstacle.
"I was born into a successful environment," said the Salesian High School graduate and the youngest of four athletic siblings. "At first, I took it for granted — that I can do it without hard work."
But, like he learned running sprints as a wide receiver for the Pride football team and its basketball team's guard, practice is preparation for game time.
"You practice to get ready for the game," he said. "In school, I didn't always make that happen."
Now, as he appeals to transfer to Cal State-Sacramento in the spring, Wheat appreciates the time it takes to prepare before performances.
"Practice, hard work and preparation; it takes dedication to your education to be successful," he said.
Wheat played football for a year at College of Marin before hurting his back. While he was focused on school, but traveling to COM from El Sobrante, Wheat came back to CCC in 2010 and shifted his focus from the playing field to the classroom.
"It was the first time I wasn't playing sports or involved with sports. I didn't have that competition in my life," Wheat said. "I channeled that competitive energy into school."
After a year away from competition, Wheat joined the speech and debate team this semester, but brought the same competitiveness, leadership and dedication he had for sports.
"In sports, you've got to have practice. (Wheat) knows how to practice," said Alfredo Serrano, Wheat's debate partner. "He gives time to the speech team and when it gets to the game or tournament, he's ready. His dedication rubs off on you."
At this semester's first tournament at Santa Rosa Junior College, a first for many competitors on the team, Wheat won first place in extemporaneous speech and was recognized as top speaker.
Wheat joined the team after taking a speech class in the summer. He said professor Marie Arcidiacono, convinced him to join the team and he thought it would help him eventually get to law school.
Michele Escalada, who has been on the team for three semesters, said she first saw Wheat make an impromptu speech earlier this semester and knew he needed to be on the team.
"Little did I know he already was (on the team)," Escalada said. "I saw something in Jonathan we could really go into competitions with. I really believe in Jonathan."
She said Wheat joined the team for personal reasons — growing his knowledge base and improving his speaking and critical thinking abilities — but he also wants to help the team.
"He is on the team to be a part of the team," she said. "He can do a lot of stuff on his own because he has talent, but he has a strong sense of community."
And although she has been on the team longer than the older Wheat, Escalada said he is a leader during preparation for and while at tournaments.
"He pulls us together as a team to win it together," she said. "In terms just of going against other schools, he represents CCC very well."
It was this reason one of Wheat's professors recommended he speak at All College Day in August.
As one of four students invited to speak to all staff, faculty and managers from CCC, Wheat articulated the concerns and thanks of the college's students.
Wheat met college President McKinley Williams before the day and left an impact.
"I was impressed with him. He clearly cares about people," Williams said. "He understands the trials and tribulations on students; he's empathetic.
"I don't see anything standing in his way of being successful."
The largest obstacle currently is transferring to a four-year college.
Wheat applied to CSUS and the University of San Francisco for the spring 2012 semester, but is now appealing to get into CSUS.
He has to show he has a skill enhancing the CSUS environment. His thesis is communicating past religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Being on a team with a variety of ages, races and religions, in addition to growing up in West County, Wheat thinks that is one of his strong suits.
After he gets his degrees, Wheat said he wants to embark on political or corporate law, but finish his career working for nonprofit organizations to help low-income youth sports leagues.
"I think sports teach a lot of people," he said. "I found it really easy to connect with people (through sports)."
And his teammates support him all the way.
"Jonathan Wheat is someone who is going places," Escalada said. "Not only for himself, but for his family, career and education. It has been good knowing him because of that."
Jonathan Wheat had to trade in his football cleats for books to realize the importance of practice.
From the athletic arenas to speech and debate stages, the 21-year-old political science major at Contra Costa College has let little keep him from reaching his goals. But he, so far, may have been his own biggest obstacle.
"I was born into a successful environment," said the Salesian High School graduate and the youngest of four athletic siblings. "At first, I took it for granted — that I can do it without hard work."
But, like he learned running sprints as a wide receiver for the Pride football team and its basketball team's guard, practice is preparation for game time.
"You practice to get ready for the game," he said. "In school, I didn't always make that happen."
Now, as he appeals to transfer to Cal State-Sacramento in the spring, Wheat appreciates the time it takes to prepare before performances.
"Practice, hard work and preparation; it takes dedication to your education to be successful," he said.
Wheat played football for a year at College of Marin before hurting his back. While he was focused on school, but traveling to COM from El Sobrante, Wheat came back to CCC in 2010 and shifted his focus from the playing field to the classroom.
"It was the first time I wasn't playing sports or involved with sports. I didn't have that competition in my life," Wheat said. "I channeled that competitive energy into school."
After a year away from competition, Wheat joined the speech and debate team this semester, but brought the same competitiveness, leadership and dedication he had for sports.
"In sports, you've got to have practice. (Wheat) knows how to practice," said Alfredo Serrano, Wheat's debate partner. "He gives time to the speech team and when it gets to the game or tournament, he's ready. His dedication rubs off on you."
At this semester's first tournament at Santa Rosa Junior College, a first for many competitors on the team, Wheat won first place in extemporaneous speech and was recognized as top speaker.
Wheat joined the team after taking a speech class in the summer. He said professor Marie Arcidiacono, convinced him to join the team and he thought it would help him eventually get to law school.
Michele Escalada, who has been on the team for three semesters, said she first saw Wheat make an impromptu speech earlier this semester and knew he needed to be on the team.
"Little did I know he already was (on the team)," Escalada said. "I saw something in Jonathan we could really go into competitions with. I really believe in Jonathan."
She said Wheat joined the team for personal reasons — growing his knowledge base and improving his speaking and critical thinking abilities — but he also wants to help the team.
"He is on the team to be a part of the team," she said. "He can do a lot of stuff on his own because he has talent, but he has a strong sense of community."
And although she has been on the team longer than the older Wheat, Escalada said he is a leader during preparation for and while at tournaments.
"He pulls us together as a team to win it together," she said. "In terms just of going against other schools, he represents CCC very well."
It was this reason one of Wheat's professors recommended he speak at All College Day in August.
As one of four students invited to speak to all staff, faculty and managers from CCC, Wheat articulated the concerns and thanks of the college's students.
Wheat met college President McKinley Williams before the day and left an impact.
"I was impressed with him. He clearly cares about people," Williams said. "He understands the trials and tribulations on students; he's empathetic.
"I don't see anything standing in his way of being successful."
The largest obstacle currently is transferring to a four-year college.
Wheat applied to CSUS and the University of San Francisco for the spring 2012 semester, but is now appealing to get into CSUS.
He has to show he has a skill enhancing the CSUS environment. His thesis is communicating past religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Being on a team with a variety of ages, races and religions, in addition to growing up in West County, Wheat thinks that is one of his strong suits.
After he gets his degrees, Wheat said he wants to embark on political or corporate law, but finish his career working for nonprofit organizations to help low-income youth sports leagues.
"I think sports teach a lot of people," he said. "I found it really easy to connect with people (through sports)."
And his teammates support him all the way.
"Jonathan Wheat is someone who is going places," Escalada said. "Not only for himself, but for his family, career and education. It has been good knowing him because of that."
Committee discusses safety issues
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Nov. 9, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
Each set of eyes on campus sees it with a different view.
Faculty members see dangers students do not. Students spot those missed by managers.
Utilizing the different perspectives of all the constituencies at Contra Costa College to solve safety concerns is the goal of the Safety Committee.
"It's a higher priority than anything — safety on campus," Buildings and Grounds Manager Bruce King said. "Everybody is committed."
ASU Sen. Corri Maloney, who represents students on the committee, said she joined to help spread information on safety.
"People don't really know what they (the Safety Committee) are doing, but they see violence going on," the 19-year-old political science major said.
She said students can take measures to reduce their exposure to robberies on campus.
"Violence-wise, so you're not so vulnerable to robbers, keep your heads up and walk in pairs," Maloney said.
"For night classes, use the (police aide) escort service," she said. "A lot of people don't ever use it."
But whether it is crime prevention, emergency preparedness or the risk of tripping on a crack in the floor, it comes up at the Safety Committee's monthly meetings.
Police Services officers, managers, members of the faculty, classified staff and students each have a voice in the shared governance committee, as per Assembly Bill 1725.
"Get as many view points in the room as possible," Academic Senate President Wayne Organ said. "We are very dedicated to that concept."
The committee does not reach decisions by majority. Its members do not vote on resolutions, but have to reach a consensus.
Once all dissenting opinions are satisfied, suggestions and recommendations are passed on to the College Council, of which the Safety Committee is a sub-committee.
The Safety Committee has so far focused on holding evacuation drills in different buildings each month this semester, Organ said.
Because of the different perspectives on the committee, he said, its members decided department chairpersons should be notified before evacuation drills.
"Department (chairpersons) need to know what's going on," Organ said.
It would be uneconomical to hold a drill, for instance, when students are in a lab handling materials meant for a one-time use.
Stopping the lab for a drill would leave the department with incomplete assignments and wasted instructional tools.
A district voice was on the committee until budget cuts in July eliminated Police Services Officer Teddy Terstegge's districtwide emergency preparedness coordinator position.
Although still employed with the district, covering Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, some of Terstegge's responsibilities "fell through the cracks," Police Services Lt. Jose Oliveira said, when his position was cut.
One drill in which Terstegge planned for the district to participate was the Great California ShakeOut on Oct. 20.
No one at CCC participated in the organized drill on the same day two earthquakes centered in Berkeley shook the East Bay.
The epicenters of the magnitudes 4.0 and 3.8, respectively, sat just west of the Hayward Fault, which runs though the CCC campus.
"In hindsight, we should have (participated in the drill), regardless of the earthquakes or not," Safety Committee Chairperson Mariles Magalong said.
Each set of eyes on campus sees it with a different view.
Faculty members see dangers students do not. Students spot those missed by managers.
Utilizing the different perspectives of all the constituencies at Contra Costa College to solve safety concerns is the goal of the Safety Committee.
"It's a higher priority than anything — safety on campus," Buildings and Grounds Manager Bruce King said. "Everybody is committed."
ASU Sen. Corri Maloney, who represents students on the committee, said she joined to help spread information on safety.
"People don't really know what they (the Safety Committee) are doing, but they see violence going on," the 19-year-old political science major said.
She said students can take measures to reduce their exposure to robberies on campus.
"Violence-wise, so you're not so vulnerable to robbers, keep your heads up and walk in pairs," Maloney said.
"For night classes, use the (police aide) escort service," she said. "A lot of people don't ever use it."
But whether it is crime prevention, emergency preparedness or the risk of tripping on a crack in the floor, it comes up at the Safety Committee's monthly meetings.
Police Services officers, managers, members of the faculty, classified staff and students each have a voice in the shared governance committee, as per Assembly Bill 1725.
"Get as many view points in the room as possible," Academic Senate President Wayne Organ said. "We are very dedicated to that concept."
The committee does not reach decisions by majority. Its members do not vote on resolutions, but have to reach a consensus.
Once all dissenting opinions are satisfied, suggestions and recommendations are passed on to the College Council, of which the Safety Committee is a sub-committee.
The Safety Committee has so far focused on holding evacuation drills in different buildings each month this semester, Organ said.
Because of the different perspectives on the committee, he said, its members decided department chairpersons should be notified before evacuation drills.
"Department (chairpersons) need to know what's going on," Organ said.
It would be uneconomical to hold a drill, for instance, when students are in a lab handling materials meant for a one-time use.
Stopping the lab for a drill would leave the department with incomplete assignments and wasted instructional tools.
A district voice was on the committee until budget cuts in July eliminated Police Services Officer Teddy Terstegge's districtwide emergency preparedness coordinator position.
Although still employed with the district, covering Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, some of Terstegge's responsibilities "fell through the cracks," Police Services Lt. Jose Oliveira said, when his position was cut.
One drill in which Terstegge planned for the district to participate was the Great California ShakeOut on Oct. 20.
No one at CCC participated in the organized drill on the same day two earthquakes centered in Berkeley shook the East Bay.
The epicenters of the magnitudes 4.0 and 3.8, respectively, sat just west of the Hayward Fault, which runs though the CCC campus.
"In hindsight, we should have (participated in the drill), regardless of the earthquakes or not," Safety Committee Chairperson Mariles Magalong said.
Chevron boosts sciences
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Nov. 9, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
Banking on the future of science careers in West County, Chevron Corporation donated $100,000 to the Contra Costa College Foundation to serve science education in local secondary schools.
Six East Bay nonprofit organizations, including CCC's 20/20 Vision for West Contra Costa County Unified School District students, received oversized-novelty checks totaling $1 million from the Richmond-based energy company on Monday.
College President McKinley Williams opened the ceremony in a filled Fireside Room before introducing district Chancellor Helen Benjamin, both lauding local science efforts.
"Jobs in these various fields will be most abundant," Dr. Benjamin said. "(This grant) contributes to our future and the future of our young people. It makes a difference in the lives of our students and the community."
The 20/20 Vision program allows WCCUSD students to take science and math courses otherwise not available to them at their own middle or high schools, Center for Science Excellence Director Joseph Ledbetter said.
Dr. Ledbetter, who wrote the grant proposal with others in the CSE, including Dr. Seti Sidharta, estimates 150 WCCUSD students will complete two college science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses and 50 will pass the California High School Proficiency Exam by the end of 2012.
"The key is getting students prepared to go into college level courses and not have to take any remedial courses (when they get to college)," Williams said.
The CSE began nearly 15 years ago from a Department of Defense grant to increase the numbers and success rate of low-income students in the STEM field.
"CSE focuses on students at Contra Costa College. I've always felt CSE has an outreach," Ledbetter said. "Chevron has given us a chance to do some of that outreach."
The Chevron California Partnership began investing in local economic development three years ago and split its donation to include education in the STEM fields overtime.
The other organizations to receive a slice of the million-dollar pie were the West Contra Costa Unified School District and the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, which Chevron donated $200,000 to each. Solar Richmond, Catholic Charities of the East Bay and The Stride Center also received at least $159,000.
"Economic growth and education go hand-in-hand. We are happy to contribute $1 million," said Chevron Vice President Nigel Hearne, pausing for applause, "to some terrific organizations on many levels in our community."
Although most people came to the event to celebrate and relish in Chevron's donations, a group of fewer than 10 protesters from the Richmond Progressive Alliance protested the event.
Standing outside the front door of the Fireside Room, the small group demonstrated and handed out fliers pointing out Chevron made nearly $8 billion last year and is presently pursuing a lawsuit to receive a $100 million refund from Richmond and Contra Costa County.
Banking on the future of science careers in West County, Chevron Corporation donated $100,000 to the Contra Costa College Foundation to serve science education in local secondary schools.
Six East Bay nonprofit organizations, including CCC's 20/20 Vision for West Contra Costa County Unified School District students, received oversized-novelty checks totaling $1 million from the Richmond-based energy company on Monday.
College President McKinley Williams opened the ceremony in a filled Fireside Room before introducing district Chancellor Helen Benjamin, both lauding local science efforts.
"Jobs in these various fields will be most abundant," Dr. Benjamin said. "(This grant) contributes to our future and the future of our young people. It makes a difference in the lives of our students and the community."
The 20/20 Vision program allows WCCUSD students to take science and math courses otherwise not available to them at their own middle or high schools, Center for Science Excellence Director Joseph Ledbetter said.
Dr. Ledbetter, who wrote the grant proposal with others in the CSE, including Dr. Seti Sidharta, estimates 150 WCCUSD students will complete two college science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses and 50 will pass the California High School Proficiency Exam by the end of 2012.
"The key is getting students prepared to go into college level courses and not have to take any remedial courses (when they get to college)," Williams said.
The CSE began nearly 15 years ago from a Department of Defense grant to increase the numbers and success rate of low-income students in the STEM field.
"CSE focuses on students at Contra Costa College. I've always felt CSE has an outreach," Ledbetter said. "Chevron has given us a chance to do some of that outreach."
The Chevron California Partnership began investing in local economic development three years ago and split its donation to include education in the STEM fields overtime.
The other organizations to receive a slice of the million-dollar pie were the West Contra Costa Unified School District and the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, which Chevron donated $200,000 to each. Solar Richmond, Catholic Charities of the East Bay and The Stride Center also received at least $159,000.
"Economic growth and education go hand-in-hand. We are happy to contribute $1 million," said Chevron Vice President Nigel Hearne, pausing for applause, "to some terrific organizations on many levels in our community."
Although most people came to the event to celebrate and relish in Chevron's donations, a group of fewer than 10 protesters from the Richmond Progressive Alliance protested the event.
Standing outside the front door of the Fireside Room, the small group demonstrated and handed out fliers pointing out Chevron made nearly $8 billion last year and is presently pursuing a lawsuit to receive a $100 million refund from Richmond and Contra Costa County.
Minimum enacted for credit
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Nov. 9, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
Summer Cayton went into the Bookstore for a snack on Monday.
The nursing major picked out an iced tea and an energy bar, took them to the register and read her total: $2.58.
But because she never carries cash and due to a new policy on credit card purchases in the Bookstore, Cayton left the line and grabbed another energy bar to bring her total above $3 — the store's new minimum for credit card purchases.
"I don't think there should be a minimum," Cayton said. "I don't think people should control the amount we want to spend on our card."
Since Nov. 1, the Contra Costa College Bookstore enacted a policy to only accept cash on purchases less than $3 to offset card usage fees the store has to pay anytime a card is used.
Nick Dunn, Bookstore supply buyer, said the minimum is to make up for the 23 cents charged to the business for each card swipe.
"I've got no choice," he said. "The buck is being passed on to (the Bookstore)." He said regardless of the quantity of items or dollar amount bought or sold, each time there is a credit or debit card transaction, the Bookstore is charged a fee.
"We sell Scantrons for 23 cents plus tax. We make nothing," Dunn said. "Essentially, this (minimum) will offset that fee."
There was a similar fee five to six years ago, he said, but it was not enforced. House Resolution 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, took effect in July 2010 and allows payment processors to establish a purchasing minimum of $10 for credit transactions.
"It was initially $5, but I thought $3 was fair enough," Dunn said.
Dunn and textbook buyer Darris Crear said they sympathize with those trying to buy a Scantron, blue book or pencil before a test, but said others come in to the Bookstore several times a day for small purchases, like candy or soda, throughout the day and always charge the items.
"It's a bit ridiculous," Dunn said.
There is an ATM in the Student Services Center, across Martin Padilla Plaza from the Bookstore, but Dunn said most either ignore or are unaware of it.
"Options are there, but people don't want to use it," Dunn said.
Notices of the policy change were posted throughout the Bookstore in October, but that caused confusion over how and when the policy switch would affect patrons.
Some worried the policy was in place a month early, others thought it was a $3 charge to use their cards, cashier Colleen Garland said.
"When they realized that wasn't the case, I got a lot fewer comments," she said.
After reading the policy, Garland said, some threatened to never return to the Bookstore.
"I (was helping a customer and) pointed at the sign and someone said, ‘That's terrible. I'm never coming back here again,'" she said. "‘You're charging me $3 to use my debit card?'"
Dunn said it is a common misconception to confuse the minimum for a transaction fee.
Summer Cayton went into the Bookstore for a snack on Monday.
The nursing major picked out an iced tea and an energy bar, took them to the register and read her total: $2.58.
But because she never carries cash and due to a new policy on credit card purchases in the Bookstore, Cayton left the line and grabbed another energy bar to bring her total above $3 — the store's new minimum for credit card purchases.
"I don't think there should be a minimum," Cayton said. "I don't think people should control the amount we want to spend on our card."
Since Nov. 1, the Contra Costa College Bookstore enacted a policy to only accept cash on purchases less than $3 to offset card usage fees the store has to pay anytime a card is used.
Nick Dunn, Bookstore supply buyer, said the minimum is to make up for the 23 cents charged to the business for each card swipe.
"I've got no choice," he said. "The buck is being passed on to (the Bookstore)." He said regardless of the quantity of items or dollar amount bought or sold, each time there is a credit or debit card transaction, the Bookstore is charged a fee.
"We sell Scantrons for 23 cents plus tax. We make nothing," Dunn said. "Essentially, this (minimum) will offset that fee."
There was a similar fee five to six years ago, he said, but it was not enforced. House Resolution 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, took effect in July 2010 and allows payment processors to establish a purchasing minimum of $10 for credit transactions.
"It was initially $5, but I thought $3 was fair enough," Dunn said.
Dunn and textbook buyer Darris Crear said they sympathize with those trying to buy a Scantron, blue book or pencil before a test, but said others come in to the Bookstore several times a day for small purchases, like candy or soda, throughout the day and always charge the items.
"It's a bit ridiculous," Dunn said.
There is an ATM in the Student Services Center, across Martin Padilla Plaza from the Bookstore, but Dunn said most either ignore or are unaware of it.
"Options are there, but people don't want to use it," Dunn said.
Notices of the policy change were posted throughout the Bookstore in October, but that caused confusion over how and when the policy switch would affect patrons.
Some worried the policy was in place a month early, others thought it was a $3 charge to use their cards, cashier Colleen Garland said.
"When they realized that wasn't the case, I got a lot fewer comments," she said.
After reading the policy, Garland said, some threatened to never return to the Bookstore.
"I (was helping a customer and) pointed at the sign and someone said, ‘That's terrible. I'm never coming back here again,'" she said. "‘You're charging me $3 to use my debit card?'"
Dunn said it is a common misconception to confuse the minimum for a transaction fee.
Distant athletes converge
EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published in The Advocate on Oct. 26, 2011. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.
Finding players for the football team, even those from the East Coast, has been relatively easy for Alonzo Carter.
"They all kind of recruited each other," the second-year Comet coach said in his office browsing through emails from players who want to play for him at Contra Costa College.
"They made first contact," he said. "They reached out."
Phadrae White, one of 24 out-of-state players on the Comet 2011 roster, wanted to keep playing football after finishing at Boca Ciega High School in Florida.
The St. Petersburg native said leaving his home and traveling 3,000 miles to come to Contra Costa College under coach Carter was his best opportunity to play football and continue his education.
"He (Carter) was my best opportunity to go to a good college," White said.
So when White heard about Carter's successful 2010 season (4-6 overall, 2-2 in the Bay Valley Conference), White and two of his Boca Ciega teammates, defensive backs Avion Brown and Jovonte Johnson, notified Carter they wanted to play at CCC.
Now living in a San Pablo house within walking distance from CCC, White found a new home in the Bay Area.
"Basically everybody on the team all grouped together," White said in his southern tone. "It's a brotherhood. We all bonded together and turned into one big family."
The Comets are 5-2 overall in 2011 and won their first conference game with three more left to finish the season.
Although players agree there was tension when all they first came together, the common goal of winning games and seizing the opportunity to play college football became a common goal for the 70 players on the team.
"We all mesh pretty well, but it took a second," said sophomore defensive back Isaac Goins, who grew up in Hercules and went to El Cerrito High School. "People from here looked at the people from over there and asked, ‘What are they here for? What are they about?'"
He said some players from the East Bay wondered if the out-of-state players would take their starting positions or if they would eventually take over the entire roster.
"Contra Costa is supposed to get Contra Costa players first," he said.
But in October, a few games into the season, Goins said the players learned more about each other and their playing styles and those worries disappeared.
Sophomore quarterback Jeffery Anderson, who almost went to American River College in Sacramento before committing to CCC, said it does not matter where his teammates come from as long as they focus on the same goal — winning.
"It's more people, more talent with out-of-state (players)," the Dixon High School graduate said. "They ain't coming all the way out here to not do something."
They came to CCC to contribute to the newfound Comet football tradition of winning.
"They're finding a way to help us win week in and week out," he said.
Playing for a successful team under a coach who can get them to the next level is a high selling point for those from out of state.
Carter's ability to turn around a wretched program that won four games last year, matching the win total of the four previous seasons combined, increased the number of athletes recruited from out of state to 22 this year from just two in 2010.
"(Winning) helps a lot," Carter said. "Everybody wants to be affiliated with something positive. There has been nothing positive affiliated with the football team in a long time."
Carter's abilities to send players to the next level also piqued interest with many of the players. Eleven players from last year's team were recruited to Football Bowl Subdivision and Division I universities.
He also had 14 football players on the Dean's List for keeping a high grade point average.
Running back Rashad Hall, who committed to University of Colorado out of Oak Ridge Military Academy in Virginia, came to CCC this year because his SAT scores made him ineligible to play in the NCAA.
"(The coaches at Colorado) mentioned Contra Costa with Carter," he said.
"I felt pretty bad about the SAT thing," Hall said. "At (CCC) I have a second chance to get my grades up before going to Colorado."
Transferring students is a main goal for Carter.
When Carter first met with college President McKinley Williams and Athletic Director John Wade they told him they didn't care if the team finished seasons 1-9 as long as students graduated.
Carter has more than held up his end of the deal and exceeded expectations for wins. As Williams plans to end his 21-year career on campus in December, Carter said he told him, "I kept my promise and we're not going 1-9. I don't do that."
By raising CCC's reputation throughout the state by establishing a program that can win games, Carter also boosted its recognition across the country.
Whereas these recruits from Florida, North Carolina and throughout the South and East would have gone to City College of San Francisco, College of San Mateo or Laney College in Oakland, Carter's 2010 second-place finish in the BVC helped him gain attention from students who, for one reason or another, did not go to a four-year university for school or to play football.
"There's no junior college (football) in Florida, but there's football, " Carter said. "A lot of young men on the East Coast want to play at the best junior college in California."
More out-of-state players came to CCC from Florida than any other state, with five. Four players came from North Carolina and three came from Alabama, Louisiana and New Jersey.
"Down South and on the East Coast there is no junior college football. They have prep schools," Carter said. "There are a bunch of guys from Florida looking for somewhere to go."
Competition for out-of-state players is fierce and CCC is not the only team in the BVC with a significant percentage of its roster from outside the Golden State.
College of the Redwoods, which the Comets beat 42-13 in their first conference game this season, has more out-of-state recruits, 38, than its 33 players from California.
Shasta and Yuba colleges, who CCC finishes its season against, have 22 and 29 players from out of state, respectively.
Solano Community College, where the Comets play their second conference game on Saturday, hosts the fewest out-of-state recruits in the conference with five, including one player from Tonga.
Comets like freshman wide receiver White, sophomore line backer Tate Mustin, the only Comet from Tennessee, and change-of-pace quarterback Lamar McKnight, one of three players from Jersey City, N.J., all came from states with different time zones, but have adapted to the changes.
"There are lots of Southeastern guys," Hall said. "We all bond, we have the same accent."
Finding players for the football team, even those from the East Coast, has been relatively easy for Alonzo Carter.
"They all kind of recruited each other," the second-year Comet coach said in his office browsing through emails from players who want to play for him at Contra Costa College.
"They made first contact," he said. "They reached out."
Phadrae White, one of 24 out-of-state players on the Comet 2011 roster, wanted to keep playing football after finishing at Boca Ciega High School in Florida.
The St. Petersburg native said leaving his home and traveling 3,000 miles to come to Contra Costa College under coach Carter was his best opportunity to play football and continue his education.
"He (Carter) was my best opportunity to go to a good college," White said.
So when White heard about Carter's successful 2010 season (4-6 overall, 2-2 in the Bay Valley Conference), White and two of his Boca Ciega teammates, defensive backs Avion Brown and Jovonte Johnson, notified Carter they wanted to play at CCC.
Now living in a San Pablo house within walking distance from CCC, White found a new home in the Bay Area.
"Basically everybody on the team all grouped together," White said in his southern tone. "It's a brotherhood. We all bonded together and turned into one big family."
The Comets are 5-2 overall in 2011 and won their first conference game with three more left to finish the season.
Although players agree there was tension when all they first came together, the common goal of winning games and seizing the opportunity to play college football became a common goal for the 70 players on the team.
"We all mesh pretty well, but it took a second," said sophomore defensive back Isaac Goins, who grew up in Hercules and went to El Cerrito High School. "People from here looked at the people from over there and asked, ‘What are they here for? What are they about?'"
He said some players from the East Bay wondered if the out-of-state players would take their starting positions or if they would eventually take over the entire roster.
"Contra Costa is supposed to get Contra Costa players first," he said.
But in October, a few games into the season, Goins said the players learned more about each other and their playing styles and those worries disappeared.
Sophomore quarterback Jeffery Anderson, who almost went to American River College in Sacramento before committing to CCC, said it does not matter where his teammates come from as long as they focus on the same goal — winning.
"It's more people, more talent with out-of-state (players)," the Dixon High School graduate said. "They ain't coming all the way out here to not do something."
They came to CCC to contribute to the newfound Comet football tradition of winning.
"They're finding a way to help us win week in and week out," he said.
Playing for a successful team under a coach who can get them to the next level is a high selling point for those from out of state.
Carter's ability to turn around a wretched program that won four games last year, matching the win total of the four previous seasons combined, increased the number of athletes recruited from out of state to 22 this year from just two in 2010.
"(Winning) helps a lot," Carter said. "Everybody wants to be affiliated with something positive. There has been nothing positive affiliated with the football team in a long time."
Carter's abilities to send players to the next level also piqued interest with many of the players. Eleven players from last year's team were recruited to Football Bowl Subdivision and Division I universities.
He also had 14 football players on the Dean's List for keeping a high grade point average.
Running back Rashad Hall, who committed to University of Colorado out of Oak Ridge Military Academy in Virginia, came to CCC this year because his SAT scores made him ineligible to play in the NCAA.
"(The coaches at Colorado) mentioned Contra Costa with Carter," he said.
"I felt pretty bad about the SAT thing," Hall said. "At (CCC) I have a second chance to get my grades up before going to Colorado."
Transferring students is a main goal for Carter.
When Carter first met with college President McKinley Williams and Athletic Director John Wade they told him they didn't care if the team finished seasons 1-9 as long as students graduated.
Carter has more than held up his end of the deal and exceeded expectations for wins. As Williams plans to end his 21-year career on campus in December, Carter said he told him, "I kept my promise and we're not going 1-9. I don't do that."
By raising CCC's reputation throughout the state by establishing a program that can win games, Carter also boosted its recognition across the country.
Whereas these recruits from Florida, North Carolina and throughout the South and East would have gone to City College of San Francisco, College of San Mateo or Laney College in Oakland, Carter's 2010 second-place finish in the BVC helped him gain attention from students who, for one reason or another, did not go to a four-year university for school or to play football.
"There's no junior college (football) in Florida, but there's football, " Carter said. "A lot of young men on the East Coast want to play at the best junior college in California."
More out-of-state players came to CCC from Florida than any other state, with five. Four players came from North Carolina and three came from Alabama, Louisiana and New Jersey.
"Down South and on the East Coast there is no junior college football. They have prep schools," Carter said. "There are a bunch of guys from Florida looking for somewhere to go."
Competition for out-of-state players is fierce and CCC is not the only team in the BVC with a significant percentage of its roster from outside the Golden State.
College of the Redwoods, which the Comets beat 42-13 in their first conference game this season, has more out-of-state recruits, 38, than its 33 players from California.
Shasta and Yuba colleges, who CCC finishes its season against, have 22 and 29 players from out of state, respectively.
Solano Community College, where the Comets play their second conference game on Saturday, hosts the fewest out-of-state recruits in the conference with five, including one player from Tonga.
Comets like freshman wide receiver White, sophomore line backer Tate Mustin, the only Comet from Tennessee, and change-of-pace quarterback Lamar McKnight, one of three players from Jersey City, N.J., all came from states with different time zones, but have adapted to the changes.
"There are lots of Southeastern guys," Hall said. "We all bond, we have the same accent."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
