The Breeze vol. 29 Iss. 92
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Chaffey Title IIi Grant P031C160027
Contents 3. Contents
22. Archaeology Alive
4. Directing Science
24. Fossils and Clay
6. Shifting Exposure at Chaffey
26. Skeletons of the Past
7. Improving Environmental Standards
28. Info Graphic
8. Dings and Dents
32. Challenging Computations
30. Changing Physics
10. Mystery in the Adventure 12. Defying Odds 14. Parasitic Science 16. From Intern to Published Researcher
34. Passion for Conservation 36. Streams of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory 38. US Forest Service
18. When Worlds Collide
40. COPE Health Scholars
20. City Council’s Recognition of Sharabyani
41. Importance of Networking
Chaffey CollegeTitle III Grant P031C160027
Welcome back to Chaffey College! My name is Emmanuel Vargas, the new Editor-in-Chief of The Breeze. I’m excited to start off this year with a fresh vision, staff, and audience to help create a newspaper magazine. We are ready to start off this year with a special edition of The Breeze. This issue is focused around Chaffey students who completed Chaffey’s STEM internship during the summer. A big shout out to the four journalist that committed to reporting the truths of Chaffey College and the team that works behind the curtains. “Magazines are about trust and partnership: We, the editors, will strive always to keep engaged; you, the readers, are free to engage with us or to reject us.”- Stefano Tonchi
Editor-In-Chief Emmanuel Vargas @NirVarize Managing Editor (Print) Raylene Camerano @Shaeleneaugst Managing Editor (Online) Ryan Gibson @RyGibSports Online Editor-In-Chief Brody S. Salazar @Brody_Salazar Photo Editor Josh Gutierrez @joshgut1098 Features Editor Kyle Smith @_Kyol News Editor Sonia Sexton @SextonSonya Sports Editor Charles Okpala @CharlesOkpala12
A&E Editor Lee Carrillo @L_carrillo21 Opinion Editor Nadine Hautea @NadineHaleUSA Life & Style Editor Victoria Malley @ttthictoria Chief-Content-Officer Katie Priest @mxkatie Baseline Editor-In-Chief Chris Sainz @Chrissainz_ Baseline Managing Editor Austin Smedley @AustinSmedley1 Copy Editor Christopher J. Rochon Newsletter Editor Kenya Staley @KenyaStaley
Multimedia Producer Ciara De Alba @CiaraDealba Social Media Editor Kiara Jerez @araxkia Journalism Staff Students of Journalism 30 & 31 General Manager Emmanuel Vargas @nirvarize Lab Techs Katie Priest Christopher Rochon Brody Salazar Giselle Garcia Ocampo Faculty Adviser Michelle Dowd @michelledowd2 Journalism Coordinator Neil Watkins @Neilwatkjns Journalism Program Asst. Hector Solorzano Castillo @Hectoriaaa
The Breeze is published up to eight times a semester by the journalism students at Chaffey Community College, 5885 Haven Ave., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737. Telephone: 652-6934/6936. Opinions expressed in this publication are the responsibility of the student newspaper staff and should not be interpreted as the position of the Chaffey College District, the college or any officer or employee thereof. Letters and guest columns for or against any position are welcome. Letters should be kept as brief as possible and are subject to non-substantive editing according to guidelines established by the Associated Press. The Chaffey Breeze is a member of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges and the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
Cover by: Jazmine Martinez
Linda Lamp speaking to an intern. Photo by Brody Salazar.
Directing Science
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Brody Salazar
rom 3D printers to summer internships, Chaffey College Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Grant Director Linda Lamp has brought waves of change in her 12 months leading the department. Although she has spent a year leading the department, eight of those months were being spent as an interim director before she applied for the permanent position. As grant director, Lamp used a budget of $3.875 million to establish a “Makerspace,” expand the “living lab” curriculum, incorporate predictive analytics and organize the summer STEM internship. According to Chaffey College Dean of Math and Science Theodore Younglove, Lamp often does not “give herself the credit she deserves” despite being a large part of the program. He goes on to describe her as being “critical” to the process of realizing how to accomplish their goals. “Her contribution is huge,” Younglove states. “She’s making a gigantic difference on the grant, and in math and science. She prefers to work in the background and not say anything, but I think she deserves some credit.” Lamp has been a part of the science department for 13 years, and in that time she has built up many
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@Brody_Salazar connections at Chaffey. Although she did not know it, these connections would later come to serve her when she became the STEM grant director. Lamp cites the bonds she formed as some of the many reasons for her accomplishments in her new position. One such accomplishment includes establishing the Makerspace, which contains 3D printers, robotics, virtual reality and various “kits” to be used for testing different projects. Although the Makerspace provides many services for Chaffey students, it was difficult to find an area that was capable of supporting it. In addition, there was difficulty with staffing the Makerspace, as there would not be enough money in the budget. However, Lamp discovered there was an empty space in Chaffey’s Rancho campus Math Success Center and used the area for the Makerspace. “We had an instruction specialist that was running the Math Success Center,” Lamp explains. “And when we were looking for a space for the Makerspace, he said, ‘Why don’t you put it inside in one of our rooms in there? Because hopefully it will draw students into the Makerspace, and they’ll have to walk through the Math Success Center.’”
Another achievement of Lamp’s includes expanding Chaffey’s living lab curriculum. Living lab refers to science activities that involve participation, such as the Burrowing Owls Festival hosted by Chaffey College’s Chino campus. These types of activities often prove useful to more kinesthetic learners, as it provides a hands-on experience that you otherwise would not receive. According to Lamp, the experience has even been enough to change the course of some students’ paths. She claims one student decided to dedicate themselves to wildlife conservation because of their brief time with the burrowing owls. “There’s data that shows,” says Lamp, “if you’re in a classroom, and you have a professor, they’re lecturing... To support that learning, if you take the students outside and actually show them what they’re teaching you in real life, it really supports that learning.” Encouragement to living lab curriculum extends beyond the activities themselves. There is an annual “Living Lab Symposium,” which Lamp describes as a place for the professor and faculty to share the different activities they have held, and how it has helped the students. Although Younglove had more of a hand in its creation, Lamp also shares some credit for the incorporation of predictive analytics with the Math and Science department. Lamp describes it as an assessment created by a research analyst working with faculty to create a way to determine which students might need more help. Lamp claims this will help students earn their degree or transfer. “The sooner you get to students who are struggling, the better their chances at success are,” says Lamp. Lastly, the STEM internship required the most work, as it involved coordinating with different locations to allow Chaffey students to conduct their research. Lamp emphasizes how important the team working beneath her was in this process. According to Younglove, each essential member of the team was picked by Lamp. Each site had different needs to be met, and some were more difficult to meet them than others. The most common difficulty faced was getting all of the locations to agree despite host liability. In addition to coordinating with the locations, Lamp also handles the distribution of funds in ways
other intern programs might overlook. Lamp, recognizing that many Chaffey students need to support themselves, did not want to leave the students with only the experience of research. As a result, she ensured that intern involved with the program would be paid minimum wage. To determine who was accepted into the internship, Lamp and her team created a scoring rubric loosely based off of one Mt. San Antonio College uses for their program. After being selected, students would be ranked and choose their top three locations they would like to visit. Lamp emphasized the impact the internship has had on some students, citing how some interns have changed the course of their education based on their experiences. One student, Samantha Negrete, got a paper published and was invited to speak at the 87th Annual Conference of Mosquito and Vector Control in San Francisco after her internship at the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District last year. One of the reasons Lamp applied for the permanent position was because she wanted to make sure she could continue seeing the programs she worked on grow and positively affect students.
“I’m really hoping that our college will institutionalize, meaning that they’ll continue these programs, even though the grant will end in 2021,” states Lamp.
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Kenya Staley @Kenyastaley
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ehind every project are the people who help put it together and for the past three years Ted Younglove has assisted in spearheading the STEM internship program. Younglove’s vision for the program has grown significantly since it started three years ago. He stated that his role in the internship has not been at the forefront, “I helped start it by selecting a few places to put interns. My role in the grant is more of the statistical and predictive modeling, which is a different component. With the internships I do want to get more involved next summer because one of the harder areas to find internships is math.” He mentioned that it’s vital for him to find math centered internships next year because they’re usually only offered to post-grad or ph.D students. However, he expressed the importance of adding a statistical surveying group internship rather than a math internship focused on teaching because not everyone is interested in curriculum.
Younglove was inspired to partner with the journalism program by his own history with writing. As a former journalism major at the University of California, Riverside he understood the importance of allowing the two programs to work closely together not to mention, the exposure the students would get for their hard work. “What we wanted was experiential learning where you make scientists by making them do science. The internships are very extensive, so you can completely change someone’s life or they might discover they don’t even enjoy what they’re doing.” Through personal experience, Younglove recognizes the potential importance of internships. He expressed his gratitude for the sites that have gone above and beyond for the interns. Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden offered Tiffany Larrabee and Jocelyn Gonzalez additional hours this summer so they could really immerse themselves in botany. This is the ideal internship experience Linda Lamp and Ted Younglove set out for. Prior to the
summer program, Chaffey College faculty took the extra steps to screen potential internship sites for any red flags that pointed to an unsuccessful internship. It was vital interns were not subjected to solely running errands, getting coffee or doing anything that didn’t fall underneath experiential learning. It’s clear that everyone behind the program is passionate about seeing Chaffey students evolving through their careers.
“Being able to provide our students a worthwhile experience is what we set out for so we’re happy that’s what we’ve gotten,” Younglove concluded.
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Improving Environmental Standards Story By Ryan Gibson @RyGibSports
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errick Varnes is a twenty-two-year-old electrical engineering major with the intent to transfer to Cal Poly Pomona’s engineering program in the spring of 2020. Alongside him, Daniel Soto is a twentyyear-old civil engineering major that expressed interest in entering the field of structural engineering. Soto wants to work for a city government before utilizing his degree in engineering in the private sector. Soto plans on transferring to either the University of California, Los Angeles or the University of California, San Diego after spending one more year at Chaffey College. These two Chaffey College interns have worked side by side throughout the entirety of the UCR Bourns/ CE-CERT internship program this summer. Every vehicle and every engine is put through an emissions test before hitting the road. These tests are analyzed, compiled and used to evaluate the environmental impact that subject will have. These tests are conducted at places similar to UCR Bourns/C-Cert. The Bourns College of Engineering, Center for Environmental Research and Tech-
nology (CE-CERT) is the largest research facility at the University of California Riverside. According to their mission statement, the facility’s goal is “to be a leader in environmental education, a collaborator with industry and government to improve the technical basis for regulations and policy, a creative source of new technology, and a contributor to a better understanding of the environment.” The group works to
“address society’s most pressing environmental challenges in air quality, climate change, energy and transportation.” Vehicles are placed on a dynamometer, more commonly known as a dyno. The dynamometer is essentially a vehicle treadmill used to keep the subject in place while testing equipment is
hooked up to the tailpipes. dynamometers are hooked up to their own supercomputer that reads, records and summarizes the emissions of the subject vehicle. The emissions test records the output levels of oxides, carbon, and other emissions that each vehicle emits during a period of time. “The oxide output and the carbon output goes into this whole graph that shows the entirety of the different oxide and carbon outputs and all the different percentages of the various emissions from whichever engine or vehicle,” said Varnes, “They are also testing the RPM output of each subject and the horsepower of the subject to compare and contrast.” The researchers at Ce-Cert use this data in a report every year to analyze each producer’s environmental impact and compare it to that of their past products. In doing this, the facility is able to regulate the emissions of different vehicles in order to ensure our environmental standards continue to improve alongside our technological advances as a society.
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Stephen Adilukito examining parts for any damage.
Dings and Dents Brody Salazar
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hile the noise of machinery and cutting metal fills the area of one building, the interns of Aeronautics and Commercial Tooling have a much more quiet and detail-oriented environment. Aeronautics and Commercial Tooling is focused on creating reproduction tools, but are shifting their focus on creating parts because of the consistent work they provide. As interns, Ryan Molina and Stephen Adilukito is assigned work in the detailing building, where they work with the tools. They are not tasked with operating heavy machinery or running the waterjet, but he does manufacture several small parts for planes. Because of their size, the job calls for an extreme attention to detail. Even the smallest dent can lead to the whole part being scrapped. This is because every part is “supposed to go up in the sky” according to Molina. They have to check every side of every piece, for dents, cuts that are too deep and other abnormalities. If there are, hundreds of dollars worth of products could go to waste.
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@Brody_Salazar
“There’s just an expectation of quality, and they just trust that it will be done,” says Molina.
Some of the larger parts come in bins full of dry ice to make them easier to shape. However, this also means they have to work quickly. A lot of the work they do is more analog, requiring the use of a hammer or mallet, but occasionally they have to use a power sander. Molina claims the work is more of a focused environment, not one involving a lot of stressful, fast-paced work, despite how “important a lot of the work is.” However, Molina and Adilukido do not always have something to do. These lulls are what Molina describes as his least favorite part of the internship. Because the employees are often busy with work the interns are not ready for, they sometimes do not have time to direct the interns and tell them what else needs to be done. According to Adilukito, although the employees might have a lot of work to do, if there is a question or a mistake, they will gladly help the interns and show them how to whatever they are having difficulty with.
“They’re all nice,” says Adilukito. “Like I said, they’re all willing to lend me a listening ear. When I ask questions, they reply back with sincerity, and they reply back with knowledge that I haven’t remembered before. If I make a mistake...like someone did make a mistake on their end, so I listen in and glean on how I can improve myself.” Both Molina and Adilukito feel like they have learned a lot from the Aeronautics and Commercial Tooling and will look to bring the skills learned there to their lives outside and future careers. Although Molina plans to make prosthetics, he believes what he has learned in detailing will be very helpful. However, this skillset is directly applicable to Adilukito, who is currently studying to enter the field of aircraft maintenance.
Adilukido showing a dent in a part.
Parts made by Molina and Adilukito.
Ryan Molina speaking of the use of the waterjet. Photos by Brody Salazar.
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Mystery in the Adventure Kiara Jerez
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rom climbing inside attics to exploring in their workplace finding taxidermy animals, there was always something new to explore for the students at the San Bernardino County Museum. The students worked in Exploration center in which they took live animals into their own hands and cared for them. From snakes, roaches, to turtles and a bunny, they were surrounded by animals in the workplace. During the first few weeks as interns, they found old boxes that were preserved and old filled with bird nests, they had to organize them with labels and store them in a safe keeping environment. They used marble seal to keep oxygen out of the boxes. The bird nests were for research and kept in an old condition in the past, so storing the nests in boxes will keep them in better condition after being decomposed after a century. Students Benji Jose Aguilar and Mimi Karen
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@araxkia
Billiones crawled their way into the attic of the museum to locate taxidermy animals (or mounted specimen) . Taxidermy animals were hunted for pleasure, and then donated over the course of several years. The two were protected by using tavik suits to prevent the dust and fight against the cold in the attic. In the attic, the taxidermy animals were stacked, the condition they were in weren’t the best to help preserve them. “It was like an adventure, because I don’t think anyone has been up there really, in decades,” says Aguilar. All of the students worked together to locate all of the taxidermy heads in the attic by using a ladder which measured approximately 10-12ft high. The students had to retrieve each head and move them to the proper environment in which they were safely stored. The heads come from sizes of large and extra large, from rhino heads to an african buffalo’s head.
“I was hesitate to pick them up because for a moment I thought they were going to reach out and bite me because they looked very real. The heads are half my size, so I couldn’t imagine how they would look with their body and how they were even killed,” says intern Billiones. The museum is no longer accepting donations of taxidermy heads because they can be donated from trophy hunters and it will be illegal to accept the heads without paperwork. Taxidermy heads are still being kept at the museum’s warehouse in mold from the land where they came from. Despite how small the San Bernardino County Museum is, there is a lot of valuables to discover. “There’s so much money that gets put into a museum. It’s good to be exposed to that, especially if you’re going to work in the field,” says intern Melissa Suthar. “When you come to a museum, you’re all like oh this is interesting, but nothing that it makes you really surprised or in awe, but you’re in the back and below you’re doing things that’s keeping the museum up and running it’s interesting because it’s something people can’t
see only you and a few certain other people get to know more in deeper information,” Billiones explains her experience being an intern at the museum.
“I like going to the museum a lot so it let’s you appreciate it more, it’s not just set up it allows you to see everything behind the scenes,” says Jose Aguilar.
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DEFYING ODDS KENYA STALEY |
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@KENYASTALEY
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idden in the corner of what seemed to be a makeshift research center, Paul Ruiz and Reginald Sauls worked diligently on their project at the University of California, Riverside. The pair excitedly dove into the purpose of their work at UCR, studying six-million year-old tropical oysters with the help of their supervisor, Bridget Kelly. Kelly, a third year PhD candidate at UCR, spoke highly of her two interns, citing she could not be luckier to have two students who are independent and driven. “The endgame is to understand the paleoecology of this ancient shoreline which represents the Gulf of California when it extended as far north as Riverside County, about 6 million years ago. We are ultimately interested in the growth of the species, one of our interests is conservation paleobiology, which is a way paleontologists can inform or predict any modern or future crises in biodiversity,” explained Kelly. Kelly, Sauls and Ruiz all explained the vast importance of paleontology, and how research findings about the past could ultimately affect our future. The oysters hold a significant amount of information about the Gulf of California. Moreover, they hold the potential to give researchers a glimpse into the past and future of our climate, for example, evidence of significant long term changes in weather patterns in a specific region. Sauls and Ruiz both described how tedious and complex it is to detect these patterns. However, the work of paleontologists is vital to the work of other environmental scientists Both Ruiz and Sauls both admitted they were quite nervous about the internship. They yearned to acquire as much knowledge as possible. Everyone on the team exuded an immense amount of pride in the
work they do. Sauls, who plans on becoming a middle school science teacher, said the internship has been great for networking and finding out what specific work they enjoy. “Bridget’s been great because if we show an interest in something she’ll show us exactly what we need to do and who to speak to to get further into that field and that’s exactly what you want from an internship - someone who’s there to support you and guide you to your own version of success.” added Sauls. While praising the faculty in the science department, Ruiz confessed he was not always sure of his career path. Ruiz endded up in Chaffey’s STEM internship program after years of debate about which career path he wanted to take. Years after enrolling in Chaffey, Paul has finally found his niche as well. “I just had great professors at Chaffey, my faculty advisor was Anna Foutz and she was amazing. I sat with her over the course of a few days and I had so many questions but when you see a professor who loves teaching and what they do for a living it makes you think ‘Oh maybe I can do this too,” said Paul, who jokingly added that he would like to have summers off too. Paul spoke openly about the struggles of being an earth science major. “The science field is rough because you have to take a lot of math. That’s kind of the hump for most students, getting over the difficult general education course. Unless you’re a math sauvant, these high-level mathematics courses. Unless are going to possess some sort of difficulty or frustration.” This narrative is all too common for STEM majors, but Ruiz and Sauls are dedicated to defying the odds and overcoming their obstacles.
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Parasitic Science Brody Salazar @Brody_Salazar
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lthough parasitoid wasps are multicellular organisms, there is one species so small, that some bacteria are larger than it. University of California, Riverside’s Department of Entomology currently researches this species and attempting to classify them. Chaffey College student Houssam Nassser is an intern at the program and assists in the molecular work concerning the wasps so they may be further studied and classified. Currently, the lab is studying Chalcidoidea wasps, which lay their parasites in other wasps. The wasp that lays parasites smaller than single cellular organisms is known as mymaridae. It can be as small as 0.013 millimeters.
Krissy Dominguez showing DNA sequences.
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Houssam Nasser using a centrifuge. Photos by Brody Salazar.
Even though many people do not think of molecular information as being closely related to the topic of entomology, it occupies a good deal of the lab’s time. This is because the molecular work isolates and examines gene regions and can be used to properly identify the insects, especially in relation to others, and understand them. “We’re taking specific gene regions,” says Nasser’s supervisor Krissy Dominguez, “and… we do PCR, we also do next generation sequencing techniques, and we build phylogenetic trees, so like trees of life. We learn how these really important biological control wasps are related to one another. And that gives us a heads up on their evolution and an understanding host associations, behavior, all of which are critically important to agriculture in California and releasing natural enemies to go after pest insects.” Despite the development of molecular work, morphology is still a part of entomology, so the department employs both methods of study, albeit with less of an emphasis on morphology.
A large parasitoid wasp.
“You use a bunch of different chemicals, I would say, or reagents, and one of them is polymerase,” says Nasser. “You have the original DNA template, right? So, what you do through this process is you make copies of this one single DNA...the reason why you do that is, when we do the sequencing they have to be amplified so the machine can handle them.” Once the DNA sequences have been duplicated via PCR, it is sent to a different lab where it goes through the process of sequencing, which is used to identify what nucleotides are in the DNA. When the process is finished, the information is sent back, and the lab analyzes the genes of other insects for comparison. Nasser describes the whole internship as being enjoyable, in part because he was given tasks that he enjoyed, but he finds PCR to be his favorite. He appreciates that he is learning new skills that he can use later in life both in university and his desired career. “In general, overall, the internship is not difficult at all. It’s fun,” says Nasser.
Dominguez stated the emphasis for the internship was on the former rather than the latter because it would apply more to him. Nasser’s interest in molecular work is of both personal and occupational. He describes his work with genetic material as being beneficial to him as both a biology major and someone interested in the medical field. “We are made of cells, and our cells have DNA, right,” says Nasser. “So, I have to get familiar with how to use this DNA because there is a part of medicine called pathology…They look at the different cells, and they use DNA sometimes to diagnose either new diseases or a normal disease, but you can’t detect it unless you studied DNA. So DNA is everywhere in the medical field.” Nasser’s work in the lab involves DNA extraction, cleaning and polymerase chain reaction, or PCR. PCR is a method of duplicating a segment of DNA and is a necessary step in examining DNA, as it helps the machines process the data.
Nasser incubating specimens.
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From Intern to
Published Researcher Ainaz Sharabyani, a bio-chem major at Chaffey College found herself in the quintessential college experience.
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Sharabyani observering Southern House mosquitos
Southern House mosquitos in a jar
Kenya Staley @kenyastaley
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hile interning at the West Valley Mosquito Control District, Ainaz Sharabyani participated in several different projects all focusing on the comparison to the susceptibility of the southern house mosquitoes, also known as Culex quinquefasciatus, from the field to the laboratory reference colony of the same species. According to their website, the West Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District is a public health district dedicated to the management of disease causing insects and animals. This is where Sharabyani spent her summer studying the pyrethroid resistance in Culex quinquefasciatus from different ecological niches. Mosquitoes are widely known for their ability to spread contagious diseases such as the West Nile virus, malaria and yellow fever. Thus, the West Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District has the mission to manage and survey animals and insects that spread disease. “The mosquito either makes mutations or creates a new enzyme to breakdown the permethrin, so they won’t be responding to it. Therefore, if any resistance develops we want to know how, when and what’s the dosage level. So, we started setting traps in different four eco zones: an urban, suburban, agriculture, and riparian area.” Sharabyani shared. “Pregnant mosquitoes are attracted to infusion water, which is just rabbit food and water. Once we placed the infusion water in a plastic tub, we’d wait a day to then collect the
eggs and take them back to the lab in order to watch them hatch and become adults.” she continued. Their project hypothesized that the mosquitoes would have least susceptibility to the pesticide for the riparian area. Once back in the lab, Defying the typical internship experience, the internship program gave Sharabyani the opportunity to write a 24 page report for the Journal of Economics Entomology. While studying with the West Valley Mosquito Control District and her mentor Dr. T. Steven Su, it remained clear Sharabyani gained an abundance of knowledge. Despite a busy schedule, Ainaz executed what most interns only dream of. After weeks of rigorous work in the field, Ainaz felt she received an exceptional learning experience this summer. Although she had no prior expertise in mosquitoes before her internship, she displayed an abundance of knowledge through her research and findings. Nevertheless, she emphasized none of it would be possible without the support of her mentors at West Valley Mosquito Control District. Additionally she was invited to present her findings at the Annual State of California Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California Conference in January in San Diego. Sharabyani expressed an immense amount of gratitude for the opportunity to dive into a field she was unfamiliar with prior to the internship.
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WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE KIARA JEREZ |
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@ARAXKIA
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geology major and a pre med major cross paths to take upon an experience they never thought they would encounter before. Working at The San Bernardino County Museum, opened the eyes for two students Tyler Tillmon and Albino Esparza. For the first few weeks, it was difficult to know what was expected from the museum and what to do with the comparative collections. A comparative collection makes it useful to locate artifacts in the museum. Right off the bat, the students learn museum practices. One important factor the students avoided is having sulfide mixed in with the Paleo collections would cause pyrite rock onto the specimen. “By us organizing more in a better fashion would help to preserve the museum collection in the long run,” Esparza explains. The key factor to organizing the collections were to have other researchers take a look at the specimen in a more well ordered fashion. It will also maintain an efficient environment to better preserve and consolidate the collections and fit more collections in the near future. The usage of the google spreadsheet came in handy when inputting important data about the collections. Throughout their journey as interns at the museum, they learned about important key factors for real life situations. One of the most factors the students learned from the museum is the importance of networking. Esparza had the opportunity to volunteer at a geology convention The North America Paleontological Convention (NAPC) at The University of California, Riverside. Esparza met with paleontologists
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and he was introduced to conventions. Esparza was invited to attend the Geological Society of America (GSA) convention in September through STEM research program. Held in Phoenix, Arizona, the GSA is hosting an annual Geology convention. The convention features 28 courses and workshops and will allow people from different parts of the world come together and network and learn more about Geology in the real world. Esparza shares his experience being an intern at the museum as the “highlight of his summer”. Out of his comfort zone being a medical student and introduced to Geology for the first time during this internship, Tillmon explains how it is important to be acknowledged on many different subjects outside of the medical field. “It was cool to be introduced to a different world of something I would probably would have never been introduced to, unless I took this summer opportunity. When I first got into it, I told myself to have a good attitude about it, and then I had a good attitude about it and I thoroughly enjoyed it” as Tillmon describes his thankfulness. With the help of their museum curator, Crystal Cortez, the students cultivated life skills to use in the real world. Things like how to write a curriculum vitae, organization and communication skills. Cortez
helped the students become comfortable and engaged in the learning material. She guided the students towards achieving their goals and teaching the information they needed to pursue their journey as interns. “I did learn a lot of things about minerals, fossils and comparative, but I did learn a lot of different skills mainly. The biggest thing was organizing and critical thinking because Crystal was asking for help a lot of the time. We would bounce ideas off of each other and learned good communication skills. Like it was just really cool like how she wasn’t demanding and she kind of let us be independent,” expresses Tillmon. When two worlds collide, a brand new experience opened many doors and new opportunities for Tillmon and Esparza. With their passion, this was an unforgettable learning experience for both. “There is a lot of fossils there, that is a part of the experience there and to show the public that the museum has a lot to offer than just the exhibits at the museum,” shares Esparza.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LINDA LAMP Tyler Tillmon and Albino Esparza showing off the collections at the The San Bernadino County Mueseum
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City Council’s Recognition of Sharabyani Nadine Hale-Hautea @NadineHaleUSA
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rior to coming to America, Anaiz Sharabyani would sneak around the hospital where her mother worked as a midwife, catching glimpses of procedures and witnessing how patients were treated with empathy. Sharabyani’s application for Chaffey’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Summer Research Opportunity Program was accepted, and she decided to intern at West Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District as part of the program. Most community colleges do not offer a similar program. Graduate-level students apply to internships at this level and Chaffey’s students are working alongside them. The program’s goal is to encourage students to obtain higher degrees and make it easier for them to transfer. Interns would be able to do so by being exposed to field research and going hands-on with projects. Although some interns are transferring to Berkeley, that level of performance is not a minimum for potential interns to succeed. To be eligible for these internships, candidates need to submit a STEM Summer Research Application with its cover sheet signed, a Personal Statement Form, a letter of recommendation from faculty, and unofficial transcripts. Thanks to Chaffey College Title III HSI STEM grant, each internship lasted eight weeks with pay. On Oct. 2, Sharabyani attended the Rancho Cucamoga’s City Council meeting. Due to Sharabyani’s research, the evening’s agedna read “recognition of Chaffey College student.” Mayor L. Dennis Michael spoke words of acknowledgment in front of her parents, sitting near the front row in the audience of community members. Her findings earned her a sponsorship to participate in the upcoming Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC) Meeting.
Board members honor Ainaz Sharabyani. Photos by Nadine Hale-Hautea.
During an interview on Oct. 10, Sharabyani admits the first day interning for Dr. Steven Su was intimidating. Given a week to read 20 pages, there was an expectation to learn the content’s terminology and procedures. She recalled the classes she took, such as Biology 61, while studying the molecules in pesticides’ organic chemistry. Her studies, including Biology 62, provided her the advantage while attempting to understand the mosquitoes’ anatomy and balancing the terms she had yet to learn. Graduate level assistant Jennifer Thieme mentored her the first two weeks, but from then on Sharabyani worked predominantly alone. She continued to work with the expectation of producing graduate level papers. Each year, the program grows in the number of students it partners with. She received advice from the pre-med faculty advisor, her professors, then her mentor at MVCAC, who encouraged her. She showed up to classes, studied hard, and now has a second internship lined up at a hospital.
“Try to make connections with people...who will convince you that you are able to do important things in life and [get] involved with professors, classmates, and faculty,” she said.
Mayor L. Dennis Michael honors Sharabyani.
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photos by: Raylene Camerano Josh Gutierrez Isaiah Goltara Tiffany Larrabee
Want to write for the Breeze? Enroll in Journalism 30 The Breeze is a student-run news magazine looking for motivated students to tell stories and further their multimedia repertoire. For more info, contact us at thebreeze@chaffey.edu or 909.652.6934.
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The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: Archaeology Comes To Life Ryan Gibson @RyGibSports
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inside the museum. Using a mini t the Natural History jackhammer, she carved the Museum of Los Angeles fossil from its jackets and excess County, Chaffey aggregate. Granados is a biology College student Nancy Granados major with the intent to change is an intern for the paleontology her major to either anthropology department. The department is led or archeology. She is doing this by Maureen Walsh. The Natural internship to gain direction for History Museum of Los Angeles what she wants to do with her County explores three main sites: degree. Gueorgui Gueorguiev, an the Gnatalie Quarry in Utah (Late astronomy professor at Chaffey Jurassic), Beasty Wild, NM (Late College, is the faculty facilitator for Cretaceous) , and the Augusta the interns at the Natural History Mountains of Nevada (Mid Museum of Los Angeles County. Triassic). “They spent the first week During extraction, the working with the Illustration and archeologists hammer out space Digitalization Specialist, Stephanie around the fossil, which creates Ramowitz,” said Gueorguiv, “They room to form a cast around had to identify the bones from the the fossil called a “jacket.” The newly excavated site the museum jacket is composed of plaster has been working on for many and aggregate to increase its years.” The project required them strength, they then flip the fossil to record the exact placement over to safely remove the fossil and position that the bones were from the earth. Upon extraction, found in at the field site. Nancy the fossil is brought back to the and the other intern created an Natural History Museum of Los accurate image of the subject using Angeles County where its logged, Adobe Illustrator, then placed the mapped and prepared for curation. graphic onto a “master map” of the Preparation is the extraction of the excavation site. actual fossil from the jacket it was The master map is a log of extracted in. After this, fossils are the sizing, discovery location and identified, dated and curated into placement of each bone at the site. the collection. The map is not only indicative of During my visit, Granados discoveries on site, but an in-depth was preparing a sauropod fossil analysis of its topography and
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discovery history. The interns were tasked with taking the paperwork that the excavated bones come with and determining how and where to position the graphic on the master map. The newest project the team at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is taking on takes place in Antarctica. The dig team spent a number of weeks in Antarctica, recovering unique jackets to excavate, research, curate and map over the years. Granados is a biology major with the intent to change her major to either anthropology or archeology. She is doing this internship to gain direction for what she wants to do with her degree. Gueorgui Gueorguiev, an astronomy professor at Chaffey College, is the faculty facilitator for the interns at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
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FOSSILS AND CLAY
The Western Science Center. Photos by Brody Salazar.
By Brody Salazar @Brody_Salazar
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rom rolling clay to gluing fossils back together, Arturo Fuerte and Kimberly Ibarra, the interns of the Western Science Center, have a variety of tasks to perform. Fuerte and Ibarra often alternate between the two tasks, depending on how busy the museum is. Much of what the interns do often involves what they describe as “floor work,” a daily activity for them. Floor work refers to work done in the museum and often requires rolling clay, speaking to guests and helping children find casts of fossils that are buried in small pits of sand. Although Ibarra is not fond of the time spent there, Fuerte claims he views the floor work as “putting in your dues.” He claims to “understand” floor work
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must be done in order for them to do lab work. “They’re a nonprofit,” says Fuerte, “and not as many people are interested in working on the floor… It would be a lot better working in the lab, but like I said, I understand.” When the interns are not busy with floor work, they spend their time in the lab going through the process of piecing together fossils. They receive fossils that are numbered based on the number of fossils there are. The interns do paperwork before, during and after piecing them back together. They must then clean them as best they can while remaining gentle, often using a brush and water for dirt that is close to the fossil.
Kimberly Ibarra.
After the fossils have been cleaned, the are pieced back together. They use a glue to put the fossils back together. Fuerte states: “It’s like the hardest puzzle you’ve probably ever done.” Arturo describes it as something they get to regularly do, provided there are little to no guests. If there are a small amount of guests, the interns can prepare a fossil but have to go back on the floor around every 15 minutes and clean up the mess children made. “As you can imagine,” says Fuerte, “you know, you might not have all the pieces [of fossil] there, or some pieces might be really small. You’ll never be able to--I don’t know about never because there are some very talented people--in my case, at least, I would never be able to put something like that together.” Although Fuerte is a geology major, he finds there are certain aspects of the internship that will help him in his chosen
Arturo Fuerte.
field. For instance, identifying the age of a fossil found in a layer of rock can be a faster method than counting strata.
“My major’s geology… I never really had an interest in paleontology. I wouldn’t do it as a career, but I definitely have more of an appreciation for what they do because it’s really difficult.”
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SKELETONS OF THE PAST KIARA JEREZ |
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@ARAXKIA
locate wrapp air p artifac condi in the to pre maint them. “So them take f see h them called acid f in inv proce Some paper the ar autho Some the p indivi On museu “So huma and te Patric furthe about Th in the motiv exper every don’t be arr cool t know being
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ver the course of several years, the museum received boxes filled with artifacts from the earliest B.C. and A.D.. As students locate the packages, they work with artifacts that are wrapped in plastic bubble wrap. Bubble wrap contains air pockets and an acidic environment. Acid in the artifacts deteriorates and leave them in an unstable condition. When archaeologists discovered the artifacts in the 1970’s, they couldn’t figure out a system in which to preserve the pieces. The students are responsible for maintaining a better condition and preservation for them. “So what we do is we take those boxes, and we’ll take them out. Recording the number, photographing them, take four different pictures at different angles, scale to see how big they are too and we’ll record them, put them on a sheet of paper, upload them online to a site called Argus. We wrap them back up in paper that are acid free and place them in an acid free box. Once it’s in inventory, we make sure that’s ok, and we’ll start the process again on another box,” Tyler Case mentions. Some of the artifacts were displayed onto a piece of paper, the students then needed to clean the glue off the artifacts to conserve them. Argus is a website which authorizes anyone to store photographs and inventory. Some artifacts photographs haven’t been updated in the past 50 years. The photographs will help other individuals see the artifacts in a better quality. One discovery the students found working in the museum are bones embedded in some of the artifacts. “Sometimes we get bones, and we don’t know if their human or funnel. So we have a skeleton expert come in and tell us if it’s human remains or funnel,” says intern, Patricia Garcia. With the help of the skeleton expert, will further the students progress in storing the information about the artifacts more accurately and up to date. The anticipation and the surprise on the findings in the boxes, is what keeps the students engaged and motivated to learn more. “It’s definitely been a cool experience, it’s awesome. All the stuff we get to handle everyday, the stuff we get to see. You pull a box and you don’t know what is going to be in that box. There can be arrowhead, sorts of different bones, I like rocks so it’s cool to see some cool rocks in there. So you really never know what you’ll find in the box, it’s cool,” Case shares being an intern at the museum.
PHOTOS BY KIARA JEREZ Collections at the San Bernardino County Museum can be found in The Anthropology section.
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CHANGING PHYSICS KIARA JEREZ |
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@ARAXKIA
Cont of P on ex impa In proce the U 2s ex “T shedd bigge the p out w of a its ch did b 2000 found on in broke going to fig will h solve which expla Th surro lot of for th the h is use curre future On work a po cham being eleme evapo inside point
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urrounded by steel machinery, dedicated students, Audrey Vasquez and Miriam Conteras at UCR’s Department of Physics and Astronomy work on experiments that can create an impact in physics. In the laboratory, a scientific procedure that was worked on in the UCR laboratory are the 1s and 2s experiments. “This is aimed at hopefully shedding light on one of the biggest problems in physics, called the proton radius puzzle. Turns out we don’t really know the size of a proton which is defined by its charge radius. We thought we did but in experiments in the mid 2000’s, there was a discrepancy found. So something funny is going on in physics right now, it’s a little broken so we don’t know what’s going on. A lot of people are trying to figure it out and this experiment will hopefully shed light on it and solve the proton radius puzzle which would be a huge discovery,” explains curator Marcus Asaro. The laboratory is entirely surrounded by steel machinery. A lot of the machinery is being used for the 1s and 2s experiments. With the help of their magnetic field, it is useful to the experiments that are currently being tested on and for future research. One of the projects the students worked on is they maintained a power supply for a tellurium chamber. “The power supply is being used to heat up heating elements which are designed to evaporate the tellurium metalloid inside a sealed glass cell. At that point we use lasers to perform
spectroscopy on the gas,” says intern, Vasquez. The data will be collected from the interactivity between matter and the electromagnetic waves. Inspired after visiting Northern California and different universities, Contreras explains her experience from the trip. It motivated her to become more experienced in work and research. Keeping her options open, she hopes the STEM program can open opportunities for her and know what major she’s interested in. “I know I would like to do something in the science field, but I don’t know if bioengineering like I want to know that’s exactly what I want to do. When I saw the different positions they had in the program, this is the one that interested me. Hopefully with this program, I will know if I like this research thing or not,” explains Contreras. The main goal the students have is learning more about the different processes in physics. Becoming more aware about the material and applying it to hands on research is their goal during this internship. “There’s been class I’ve taken at Chaffey and I’m already seeing how some of the information I’ve learned is already applicable here. It’s given me a little more background on the topic,” explains Vasquez. Vasquez and Contreras enjoyed the STEM research program brought them together to perform research, become more familiar with physics and help construct their future careers.
PHOTOS BY KIARA JEREZ Miriam Contreras, Audrey Vazquez, and Marcus Asaro pose in front of the steel machineray in the laboratory at UCR.
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CHALLENGING COMPUTATIONS
Blessing Nwugo. Photos by Brody Salazar.
Brody Salazar
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t UCR’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, interns Teddy Calderon and Blessing Nwogu have gone from working with microprocessors to designing cases to be built by a 3D printer. The case, the current project the two interns are working on, is for a device that measures the wavelength of light. When it is finished, it will be used to determine the health of avocado trees by reading the light they emit. Because of the nature of the project, all of their time working is spent on a computer, something that proves helpful to them, as they both have majors involving computers. Calderon is a math and computer science major, and Nwugo is a
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@Brody_Salazar computer information systems major. Calderon and Nwogu describe the internship as a challenge, but one that came without any bad experiences. Whenever the two have difficulty with something, others in the department would help with their problem. Calderon describes the people they have worked with as being “amazing people” from a professional standpoint. The interns are not given answers when they have questions. Instead they have to solve the problem themselves, but they are shown how they can solve the problem. According to Nwugo, the department members “take time to explain on the white board.” They lead them to the answer, but let them solve it on their own.
Teddy Calderon.
Not everything they were asked to do is something they expected. Sometimes the interns would be given a task that involves subjects they were not taught yet. One such example of a time when they faced such a difficulty was when Calderon had to learn to light an LED light bulb. “As simple as it sounds, I didn’t know how to do that,” says Calderon, “besides a physics class I had taken before where I have a regular circuit board. I was told, ‘Hey make this light work using your computer.’ So things like that, just small little things, would surprise me.” Another task that proved challenging was designing the case. Nwogu describes building the
case as challenging because of how accurate the measurements had to be, as well as inexperience with the design program. “I’d used one before, but it was my first time using a different one,” says Nwogu. “The first time using it, I really did not go so in depth… I just, like, brushed through it, but it’s like my first time actually building a case. I would say it’s something that’s challenging, but not something that’s impossible.” Both Nwogu and Calderon describe the internship as something they can learn from, with Nwogu claiming the most valuable thing she learned being how to analyze problems. “From the beginning of the project,” says Nwugo,
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A Passion for Conservation Kenya Staley @kenyastaley Photo(s) by Tiffany Larrabee
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ith a summer like California’s it’s difficult to imagine anyone spending the entirety of their days in scorching heat but that’s exactly how Chaffey College students Tiffany Larrabee and Joselyn Gonzalez have spent their time at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden. Located in the hills of Claremont, California Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden is home to over tens of thousands of plants over their 55 acres. Although it’s beauty is open to the public 7 days a week, the garden spends a significant amount of time and resources on plant conservation and research. “Everyday of the week we do something different, some days we’ll be in the herbarium and other days we’ll be out in the field collecting specimens for research. The herbarium is really special because it holds so much information that can later be used to study things like climate change.” Larrabee mentions. The herbarium is filled with over 1,200,000 specimens and approximately 7,000 species that get imaged and added to an online database where botanists around the world can
access their information for further research, thus playing an important role in the gardens function. The herbarium is mainly home to California native plants; however, the abundance of specimens is also home to plants from Mexico, Australia and other dry regions. It remained clear with everyone at RSABG that research and conservation play an enormous role in their mission. According to their website, “Staff, students, resident scientists and postdoctoral fellows contribute directly to the overall research program at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.” At the core of their work is constant learning and understanding through the likes of several different resources. Through inventory, monitoring, research, horticulture, restoration and seed bank programs RSABG is diligently working to conserve California flora. The main function of the nursery is to grow the plants for the 90 acres of the botanic garden. Botanists continuously collect seeds, cuttings and other necessities to bring back to the nursery to propagate and grow. Once they’re ready to be planted, typically in the fall or winter, the plants are
transferred to their designated spot. Phytophthora prevention, also known as, RSABG’s best management practices is vital for the success of the nursery. Phytophthora is essentially a gardens worst nightmare. Invisible to the naked eye, this plant disease causes weakness and a slow collapse to a once healthy plant. If a plant is infected with Phytophthora and released into the garden it has the ability to rapidly destroy an entire ecosystem. Nursery manager Bryce Kunzel expressed the importance of the garden is to create a home for native California plants to thrive thus being able to restore other parts of California that are damaged due to wildfires, urban development, drought and other challenges to biodiversity. Moreover, Larrabee and Gonzalez were not confined in their studies to RSABG. They were both overjoyed to share how much opportunity they received from traveling out of town to the Sierra Nevadas and other areas rich in biodiversity.
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Streams of the Rocky Mountain Ryan Gibson
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naiz Ruiz spent ten months living on a small commune in the Rocky Mountains that houses staff members of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). The laboratory is located in an abandoned mining town called Gothic, Colorado. In 1924, Dr. John Johnson visited Gothic, Colorado and witnessed a rare amount of diversity in the local ecosystems. Johnson began return trips to Gothic with students to study its ecology. In 1928, RMBL was officially founded and has been heavily researched ever since. Ruiz worked for RMBL as an intern over the summer. She was housed in a cabin in the woods with over ten other girls and no indoor plumbing. Her least favorite part of the experience was “not being able to shower every day.” While Ruiz’s least favorite part of her time at RMBL was not being able to bathe on a daily basis, the most challenging adjustment she had to make was to the elevation. The laboratory is located at 9,500 feet in elevation and the research the team conducts takes place anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000
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@RyGibSports
feet in elevation. Chaffey College is elevated at 1745 feet above sea level. Ruiz cited the roughly 8,000 foot difference in elevation as her most difficult experience in transitioning from living in suburban California to the RMBL. “Every day I got to wake up inside of nature. You walk outside and you see so many different types of wildlife” stated Ruiz, “When we would go into town, you would see deer walking through the streets.” The future ecologist worked along local streams, collecting samples of water containing different species of caddisfly. As caddisflies are collected, they are documented and reinserted into the habitat. After that, they are observed and analyzed along with other species of caddisfly. Scientists are looking for the ways in which the different species interact with each other. They want to see if the different species will lift one another up or if one will tear the other down, and the ways in which each group responds to cohabitating with the other. Ruiz and her team at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
found that one species of caddisfly migrated to a deeper level within the streams. While there is less oxygen for the caddisfly, the other caddisfly species living directly above them are unable and unwilling to go after them that deep in the stream. The team found that the species living above began to hunt other species of caddisfly, so those caddisflies moved to where the dominant species could not get to them. They found that these particular subjects did not coexist, but instead one dominated the other while the other adapted to avoid its new predator. “I would never have been able to do this if it weren’t for Linda Lamp,” said Ruiz, “Without her, none of this would have been possible. I would recommend this internship to any student at Chaffey that has the opportunity to.” After ten weeks, Anaiz returned from her internship the Saturday before the 2019 fall semester began.
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US Forest Service Kenya Staley
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@kenyastaley
f it hasn’t been made clear yet, each student apart of the STEM research opportunity program has had an extremely unique experience with their particular area of study. This was especially the case for Iris Garcia, Alondra Garcia, Hasha Palerm and Cole Barron, who each gave powerful testimonies describing their passion for conservation and grateful attitude for their experience. For two of the students apart of the U.S. Forest Service group, they began the internship with a trip to Placerville, CA where they attended the Western Forest Genetics Association annual seminar. During the seminar, Alondra and Iris Garcia gained an understanding of forest conservation and seed banks. According to their website, “the Western Forest Genetics Association (WFGA) comprises professionals, researchers, and students involved in forest genetics issues in the western US and Canada.” As a college student, attending a conference full of professionals may be intimidating but Iris Garcia revealed that she felt extremely welcomed and supported by everyone at the conference. So much so, many of her colleagues attending the conference encouraged her to join the forest conservation community.
During the following weeks, the rest of the group continued their internship hiking and scouting areas for Sugar Pine trees. White pine blister, a pathogen affecting many of the pine trees in our forests, causes serious disease and possible death in trees. Moreover, they spent several hours over the summer using ArcGIS, a geographic information system used to compile data and map geographic systems. Iris Garcia further explained, “Some sugar pines have been found to be naturally resistant to this pathogen, so the focus was to harvest seeds from Sugar pines in order to find the genetic component that makes them resistant and figure out if they can manipulate that genome in other species, or perhaps cross hybridize them to grow naturally resistant trees” During the entirety of their internship, they each supported their supervisor Arnaldo Ferreira in his collection of samples while simultaneously grasping the urgency of forest conservation. Iris Garcia, who now studies environmental horticulture and urban forestry at the University of California, Davis, expressed her immense gratitude towards Chaffey’s STEM program, “This experience definitely helped me focus my own interests and introduced me to future opportunities as a student at UC Davis.” she continued, “My biggest takeaway has been the fact that there are research opportunities and careers in almost any biological subject imaginable.” Photo by Iris Garcia Yosemite
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Mary Freeman in front of Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park Photo by Iris Garcia
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COPE Health Scholars KIARA JEREZ @araxkia
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reating patients with respect and kindness was not an issue for intern, Tyler Tillmon. Tillmon was issued to work for Riverside Community Hospital, as a COPE Health Scholar intern. The COPE Health Scholar program extends from California to Hawaii, giving the opportunity to students in the medical field to explore hospital settings. Prior to the internship, it was clear to Tillmon he wanted to pursue in the medical field, “I think it’s something that attracts you more into medicine, or away from medicine because there’s a lot of people who say they want to become a doctor or a nurse and they actually get into the hospital and they realize it’s not for them or it’s meant to be. And that’s what it did for me. It makes me more hungry to become a physician,” says Tillmon. Tillmon is dedicated to making patients feel at home and comfortable in and admits it was a humbling experience. After a sympathetic encounter with one of his patients, it pushed Tillmon to work hard towards his career and goals. Overtime the patient turned out to become ill and turned to Tillmon begging for help. “Yes I want to help you, yes i will be able to have the knowledge to do that, or the medicine to do that. It helps motivate me.” Although working with patients took a toll on Tillmon’s time, he knew ways to balance both career and school life. While working at the hospital, his main focus is to help patients versus at school, his main focus were on his studies. With the mindset, it helped him to flip a switch when it was time to care for patients and when it was time to focus on his school work. Tillmon was a part of the emergency department. In the emergency department, students needed to go door by door and make sure their patients had meals, water, baths and anything that was needed to make their stay more comfortable. Tillmon explains the interaction between himself and his patients are important especially in the state of mind the patients are in. “Patient care is the most important thing. The way you talk to patients is going to change the way they talk back to you the way they respond to you trying to help them, and the way they want help.” “Being able to be the person that’s there for them, means a lot,” says Tillmon.
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BRODY SALAZAR @brody_salazar
During his internship, Tillmon witnessed a death in the hospital and the affects on their families. Tillmon admitted it made his heart heavy and affected him emotionally. Despite witnessing a hard death, he continued help patients and create a bond with them and their families. He included that he made meals for his patient and their family. “Even at times when I get frustrated with a patient, sometimes you’ll have to look past it and think what do I do this for? Is to help others, I think that’s the most cliche thing to say but you’re there to help others in ways other people don’t want to help them. My care for patients has been the same since day 1, the care and appreciation for patients,” says Tillmon. Becoming an intern at Riverside Community Hospital showed Tyler Tillmon how significantly far helping people can go and the bonds you can create with the people you come across with.
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IMPORTANCE OF Kenya Staley
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few weeks before Vaneza Rodriguez embarked on her journey navigating a summer internship, we spoke about her expectations and nerves surrounding the process. It was evident through her dialogue that Rodriguez wanted to gain as much knowledge as possible. “I’m also very excited to hear about other people’s journeys and how they got to where they are today. I have been given a great opportunity and I want to take advantage of it.”, Rodriguez admitted. “One thing that I was nervous about before getting started was not knowing what to do. I got a sense of calmness during the internship orientation when one of the speakers said that we don’t know and we are there to learn.” she continued,
“I am a very shy and reserved person, this internship is completely out of my comfort zone and I’m excited to see how it helps me grow.”
@kenyastaley California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.” Depending on who needed help, Rodriguez spent time completing either plant surveys or carnivore reportsBeginning her days bright and early, Rodriguez would sometimes even travel two hours to her destination and spend up to 6 hours on a boat assisting with research. “The description for my site was exactly what I was looking for. I knew that I didn’t want to be in a lab or office all summer. On my second day at my site I was hiking gear ready for the day out on the field.” Although Rodriguez admitted to being shy, she immersed herself in ensuring she made great, lifelong connections. Rodriguez mentioned that networking was the most vital aspect to her experience. She wanted to leave the internship feeling like she had chosen the right major and had a handson experience. Thankfully, she ended her time with California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife extremely fulfilled. Excited for her future, Rodriguez encouraged her fellow students at Chaffey College to always keep a lookout for new opportunities in their field to take part of.
Chaffey College student, Vaneza Rodriguez spent the majority of her summer on a boat researching with California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. According to the website, their mission is to “manage
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Aerospace & Commercial Tooling, CA Department of Fish & Wildlife, COPE Health Scholars Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens, Raymond M. Alf Museum, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, San Bernardino County Museum, University of California, Riverside: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Department of Earth & Planetary Science Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Entomology, College of Engineering, Center for Environmental Research and Technology, US Forest Service,West Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District, Western Science Center
