VOLUME 90 | ISSUE 9
March 5, 2020
Classes behind bars open doors By STORMIE SANCHEZ Staff Reporter
At 5 a.m., eight men in matching white outfits file into a sparsely equipped classroom. On the wall there is an old green chalkboard. In the middle of the square of tables is a malfunctioning projector. The equipment is old, but it works. The men are inmates at the Clements Unit Prison in Amarillo. They will spend the next six hours studying and working on car engines. They are the first students in the diesel mechanics classes that Amarillo College began offering at the institution in January. The inmates, who pay for the classes, say they are eager to gain employable skills for when they are released. “I want to make sure I don’t come back to this place. I’ve been here since 1986. I want a legal way to make a living,” said William Curry, a student in the class. According to a national research, people who have access to an education in prison are 43% less likely to end back up in prison than those who do not. “This gives us an opportunity to do things the legal way,” Curry said. “This is knowledge we can always use.” Paul Montgomery, the instructor for the course, said that when it comes to anything technical, more people are retiring than entering the fields, leaving a demand for skilled laborers. “As far as skills go, they are going to be super employable. We go over a lot of real-world scenarios,” Montgomery said. The students share stories and go over homework while they wait in line for coffee. It feels like an ordinary morning in an ordinary shop class. “The students pay for classes just like AC. Each class is 9-18 days and worth three credit hours,” Montgomery said. Linda Muñoz, the dean of technical education, said these education classes are offered to inmates who are eligible for parole in two years or less, and will lead to associate of applied science (AAS) programs once these inmates are released. “Eventually we would all love to see that there are full AAS program there. Right now, we’re just starting with this one program and building other programs,” she said. Many of the inmates in the diesel class have spent the majority of their lives in prison. For most, education never seemed like an option. “I never saw college as something that would happen in my life. I’ve been here for 30 years,” said Keith Swindall, a diesel mechanics student at the prison. “I’ve hurt a lot of loved ones in my past. This gives me a chance to make up for some of that, especially my parents and my kids.”
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Students react to closing Estimated Palace Losses
By LAUREN EBBEN and JESSIKA FULTON Staff Reporters
Palace Coffee is seeking an early end to its contract with Amarillo College, and students say they have mixed emotions. Kitawny Molina, a nursing major, said the coffee shop is a popular study spot. “It kind of makes me wonder where all the people that go there to study will go,” Molina said. Other students agreed, saying they use Palace as a place to hang out and study. “I usually meet my friends there, so I’ll be sad to see it leave. Hopefully it’ll be the same atmosphere so I can still chill with my friends in between classes,” Christian Clay, a civil engineering major, said. According to Mark White, the executive vice president and general counsel, the main struggle for Palace is its location and accessibility.
2018
2019
2020
On track to lose
-$40,000
-$29,000
-$29,000 *As reported by Mark White, executive vice president and general counsel
Illustration by DANIAR ONOZ
“Because this coffee shop is located in the center of our campus, we are getting very little neighborhood and/or other city traffic to the coffee shop. Parking is a barrier,” he said. The coffee shop has also had low traffic from faculty on campus, according to Russell
www.facebook.com/acrangerpaper
Lowery-Hart, the AC president. “The faculty were the ones that requested the coffee shop and they’re the ones that aren’t using it, so we’ve got to figure out how to engage them,” said Lowery-Hart. In January, the shop even changed its hours due to lack of business in late afternoons. www.acranger.com
Some students said they were not bothered by the shop closing. Kylie Jennings, a mortuary science major, said she has visited the shop from time to time, but the closing is not that big of a deal. “It honestly doesn’t affect me a lot. It does concern me for the people who use the space,
but AC is such a great school, so I’m sure they have many other places for students to go,” Jennings said. No decisions have been made on what will replace the coffee shop, but several students said they have ideas. “Maybe it could be an extension to The Burrow where we could have more activities for students. Maybe a pool table or air hockey would be cool,” Molina said. Other students said they are hoping for a similar cafe. “AC is always trying to expand so maybe a new AC coffee shop is in the near future,” Jennings said. Johnny Mize, the vice chair of the board of regents, said he’d like to see the college find a solution. “We spent a lot of money on making that space,” Mize said. “We want this to be a good venture for both of us.” The coffee shop will remain on campus until at least May of this year.
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