The Grad Issue Amarillo College's News Source Since 1930 Volume 92, Issue 5
acranger.com
December 9 2021
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Graduation speaker aims to inspire Commencement ceremony to take place Dec. 17 By RAYGAN LOPEZ Editor-in-Chief
As graduation nears, Amarillo College officials have chosen one student to speak at the 2021 commencement ceremony Dec.17 at the Amarillo Civic Center. “We look for a student who has been impacted by the college or a student who has an uplifting story and is interested in sharing their story with other students,” Bob Austin, vice president of enrollment management, said. “I think the real value in having students speak at the commencement is all of the people in that coliseum who haven’t been to college, who might be thinking about college, who have children that want to go to college, is that they will all hear the passion in the voice of a student who is graduating from Amarillo College and feel inspired,” Austin said. Lucerito Gallardo, a social work major, will speak at the graduation ceremony at 7 p.m. “I want to inspire students and give them hope with my own testimony,” Gallardo said. “I want to address the high school students or even the 60-year-old dad in the stands who both have always dreamed of coming to college but felt like they were never good enough because they had bad academics in high school or middle school,” she said. “Just sharing my testimony of how I struggled and me now. I want to speak life into them,” Gallardo said. Gallardo’s parents were only 14 and 17 when she was born. She said they did all that they could to support her despite being so young. “I want to break those chains in my family,” Gallardo said. “I had my son in 2015 and he pushed me to be the best person I can be. I want to be an example for him and give him a head start in life,” she said. Gallardo said she has been impacted by several of her professors. She also credits The Writers’ Corner for always helping her. Cassie Montgomery, director of outreach services, taught Gallardo’s speech class. “Lucerito embodies everything we know about our students at Amarillo College,” Montgomery said. “She’s incredibly driven, she’s passionate about learning and her reason for being here is something bigger than herself. She came to AC to be a driving force for her son to realize that college is a viable option for him, and as a result, she has proven since day one that she belongs here too.”
SHAWN McCREA | The Ranger
AC officials propose solution for student success Officials consider plan to provide low cost phones, internet By RYLEE MOORE Page Editor
Amarillo College officials are working with T-Mobile to provide students with low-cost phones and internet access, said Dr. Tamara Clunis, vice president of academic affairs. “We are in the process of vetting a vendor to offer our students low-cost telephone, text and unlimited data hotspot plans,” she said. “If approved, as a recommendation by the president’s cabinet, the board of regents would ultimately vote for approval. The program will operate in the same way as our laptop rental program. The student will basically ‘rent’ a phone from AC. It will come with a dedicated phone number for telephone calls and text
messages and an unlimited data hotspot. Each phone will come with a case and screen protector,” Clunis said. Any student on and off campus would have access to the program. She added that the unlimited data was selected specifically with online students in mind. The phones will also be pre-configured with AC applications such as AC Connect, Blackboard and AC’s website. AC officials began work on the proposed plan after the Advocacy and Resource Center reported that students often request help with the cost of internet access. “It is a significant barrier that was magnified during COVID,” Denese Skinner, vice president of student affairs, said. Skinner said the need for
connectivity began long before the pandemic moved students to online learning. “Before March of 2020, it was not uncommon when our campus was closed to see students sitting around campus outside if the weather was nice or parked in their cars close to campus to have access to our Wi-Fi.” The COVID pivot to remote learning caused the need for internet access to skyrocket. “Once COVID impacted AC, it became increasingly obvious that many of our students did not have the internet access they needed to easily interact within the new ecosystem of virtual learning. For some students, they had to drop their internet service due to loss of income as a result of
reduced hours at work or job lay-offs,” she said. Both Skinner and Clunis said this phone plan would benefit students tremendously, especially those who can’t afford internet, since the lack of connectivity creates a significant barrier to student success. “The charge is approximately $33.00 a month and the student can charge a semester’s worth of service to their financial aid account or pay cash,” Clunis said. “The student is required to renew their ‘rental’ each semester until they graduate. When a student is purchasing their books for the semester, they can renew their phone agreement,” she continued. The phone would be provided at no cost, but the
students would pay for the monthly service. Because this plan would not be available through the public, students would not be able to transfer their number. Amy Tucker, a nursing major, said, “That would be amazing,” but some students said they were concerned about privacy issues. Tre Byers, a mass media major, said he’s worried about how much control AC will have over the phone once they’re handed out to students. “Safety and comfort to support an ideal learning environment is an important consideration,” said Clunis, adding that she would like students to let her know if the low-cost phone and internet proposal appeals to them.