Cong ra grad ts s! Amarillo College's News Source Since 1930 acranger.com
Volume 92, Issue 12
May 5, 2022
Anti-racism on campus By CASEY NICCOLI
Student Reporter
Osyris Padilla
Anthony DIller
Graduation speakers encourage connections By JO EARLY Online Editor
Amarillo College officials have selected two students to speak at the spring commencement ceremonies May 13 at Hodgetown Stadium. Anthony Diller, a respiratory care major, will speak at the 3 p.m. ceremony for the health services, industry and public service communities. “It’s not just my day, right?” Diller said. “This is the day of so many hundreds of other people and the culmination of so many hundreds of other lives and stories that have come to this precise moment. These things could have gone any thousands of ways, but they all lead to this moment right here.” Diller wore a bracelet he received from an instructor in his first week of college that states “success is the only option.” The phrase left an impression. “The idea that this is important,
this isn’t just something that you can just take all willy-nilly and walk away from whenever you feel frustrated,” Diller said. Osyris Padilla, an education major, will speak at the 7 p.m. ceremony for the business, creative arts, computer information systems, education and liberal arts communities. According to Padilla, it’s difficult to keep track of everything she has been involved with on campus, even for her. “I am in Blue Blazers, Presidential Scholars, Phi Theta Kappa and Student Government Association,” she said. “I was also peer mentor, I am involved in multiple committees such as the financial aid committee, my own committee that I had during the school year for SGA,” Padilla added Padilla said her club mentors and peers were a source of motivation during her AC journey. “I have an amazing support
system,” she said. “It just goes with how involved I am. All the friends that I’ve made in the clubs. Every single one of them are my support system.” Padilla encouraged students to make connections. “Definitely get involved, even if it’s just attending events and getting a free T- shirt or getting free food,” Padilla said. “Enjoy your college experience. Try to enjoy it as much as you can.” Diller had similar advice. “I imagine it can be intimidating for anyone - coming straight out of high school, all the way up to someone who’s in their fifties trying to go back and get that degree or that certificate,” he said. “There’s such a communal atmosphere at the school, and people are excited to be here. The best advice I can give is to really commit yourself. Dive in and make those connections.”
Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, president of Amarillo College, wants to show how a top five rising star community college can be a beacon of light in the fight against racism. But Lowery-Hart admits that he’s still learning what that looks like. “I think we’re trying to figure it out. I think the first step, and that’s really where we are, is just learning how to talk about race,” he said. “It’s a topic that we are scared to address. It’s wrapped in language that some don’t understand and because they don’t know what words to use, they just avoid the conversation altogether,” said Lowery-Hart. In 2020, in response to the death of George Floyd and other racial injustices going on in our country, AC’s faculty and staff went through implicit bias training in order to fulfill the goal of becoming anti-racist as part of AC’s strategic plan, “which as a concept, is pretty amazing,” Lowery-Hart said. “Implicit bias training is just to help us explore ourselves and to analyze our own lived experience and who shaped it and who is shaping it now. For instance, if you say you want to be anti-racist, but the people that inform your worldview and shape your experiences look exactly like you, it’s hard to understand what someone else’s lived experiences are,” explained Lowery-Hart. Melodie Graves, associate director of advising and a See ANTI-RACISM, page 3
AC will offer free online health care this fall Plan includes both mental, physical health
By ANDREW TERRY Page Editor
The Amarillo College board of regents has approved a contract to provide students and their dependents with telehealth services for both mental and physical health appointments at no cost to the students. The board made this decision at the regular board meeting April 26. “My goal is for this to start over the summer, but there is a possibility that it might start in the fall,” Jerrod Hinders, AC Counseling Center coordinator, said. According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, telehealth allows doctors to provide care without an in-person visit and is done primarily online through a computer or mobile device. “With the intensity and the level of distress our
students are under, we need to do something now,” Denese Skinner, vice president of student affairs, said. “The volume of clients is dramatically up and the severity of what they’re coming in with is dramatically up.” Students will be able to choose a mental health counselor that fits them best by giving them options to filter counselors based on what languages they speak or if they are faith-based, according to Hinders. “Students can schedule appointments on their time and when they need,” Hinders said. Currently, the Counseling Center is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, but telehealth services will be available at all hours and every day of the week which will create a more equitable environment for students who may not be
able to come to appointments during the times the Counseling Center is currently open, according to Hinders. “We had a large demand before COVID, but now due to COVID and the stressors that have been put on everyone’s life, the demand is crushing,” Skinner said. In 2021, the AC Counseling Center was able to provide service to 231 students according to Hinders. With the new telehealth program, about 7,500 AC students, as well as their dependents, would be eligible to use the services. Unlike the current on-campus counseling services, the new telehealth resources would be available to students who live outside of the state and even to international students. According to Hinders, the physical health aspect of the plan offers services that students could receive from a See HEALTH CARE, page 3
Photo Illustration by ANDREW TERRY
AC’s new telehealth program allows students without insurance to see licensed doctors and therapists at no cost. Students will also receive a discount card if they are prescribed any medications.