Campus News Fall 2018 Issue 3

Page 1

Volume 76, Issue 3

Single copy free - additional copies 50 cents

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

www.elaccampusnews.com

Veteran STEM program receives $1.6 million grant BY NOE ORTEGA Staff Writer East Los Angeles College Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics department was rewarded with a $1.6 million grant for veteran students. The grant is set up for the next five years for veteran students to earn STEM degrees and transfer to four-year Universities. The National Science Foundation, a government agency that focuses on research toward science and engineering, awarded the grant to ELAC STEM. “This is a grant that we’ve been working on for three years. This is not something that’s put together in a month. So of course when we got the grant, we were very happy, but it’s very important to know that this was a team effort,” said Director of STEM Armando Rivera. The grant was a collaboration between ELAC STEM, the Veterans Resource Center and the University of California, Los Angeles. Rivera said that he knew he had to recognize his flaws, because he wasn’t an expert in Veterans Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychology or research. He then turned to Jessica Peak, the Counselor and Coordinator of the VRC and Gerard Wong, a professor in UCLA’s school of engineering for help.

“I have veteran students that are the best students in terms of discipline because they come with that background. If you tell them they have homework, they do it. If you tell them to study, they study, but these students deal with a second layer. An emotional, deeper layer, like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” said Rivera.

“As a STEM dean, we know that counseling is perhaps one of the most important components in student success.” ARMANDO RIVERA Director of STEM

Rivera said that their main focus is going to be in biotechnology and engineering areas. Though the grant doesn’t provide money for veteran students directly, they could receive money by attending a summer program in collaboration with UCLA’s school of biomedical engineering. Twelve of ELAC STEM’s best students will be picked to participate in this summer program at UCLA. The participants will be taught by graduate students who are veterans. The program also allows ELAC STEM students to dorm on the UCLA campus for the

time that they’re in the summer program. Another form of payment that veteran students can receive from this grant is by taking a two-week review of a STEM class during spring or fall semester. This is where veteran students can get a review by the professor that’s going to be teaching that class. With this review, students who show up will have advanced knowledge of what they will be doing in that class before the semester starts. These classes won’t have a letter grade, and the students who attend for the two weeks get paid. Rivera said that these workshops will start in August. Rivera said that he would like to improve counselling for all students by bringing together the counselors from ELAC STEM and the VRC. Before bringing them together, Rivera plans on having both counselors from STEM and the VRC to go through trainings for dealing with veteran students. “As a STEM dean, we know that counseling is perhaps one of the most important components in student success. To know when to take a class. To know when to drop or add the class To take it in the spring or the fall semester,so that students can have a good transfer process. Good comprehensive counseling is essential for student success,” said Rivera.

LACMA launches ‘Family Day’ at VPAM LUIS CASTILLA Staff Writer Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Vincent Price Art Museum started their monthly “Family Days” Saturday. LACMA gave a free exhibition tour of “Mariana Yampolsky: Photographs from LACMA” and an art workshop at VPAM. The partnership is the result of “On-Site: Neighborhood Partnerships with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,” an ongoing initiative to make LACMA’s collections and programs more accessible to Los Angeles County communities. The tour centered around Mariana Yampolsky’s black and white photography of Mexico’s scenery and indigenous people. Yampolsky was a photographer born in Chicago in 1925. She later moved to Mexico City in 1945, at the age of 25 and became a Mexican citizen in 1954. In Mexico, she started out as a printmaker for “Taller de Grafica Popular,” a collective of graphic artists dedicated to social and political ideas. Yampolsky transitioned from engraving to photography in 1948, primarily focusing on Mexico’s scenery.

News Briefs

The VPAM tour guide, Gloria Westcott, said that an important theme of Yampolsky’s photography is contrast. Although her photographs are in black and white, Yampolsky used different textures.

“Wescott said that Yampolsky tried to capture indigenous people doing everyday activities to give the viewer a glimpse into their lives.”

Elements such as a stone wall and a cloudy sky are captured in “Al Filo Del Tiempo” to create contrasting images. In another piece, “Pies de Angel,” Yampolsky uses a skull to contrast the darkness of the dark doorway it is sitting in. These “double conversations,” as Westcott called them, can be found in most, if not all, of Yampolsky’s

CN/LUIS CASTILLA

HALLWAY OF FRAMES—Artist Mariana Yampolsky’s black and white photographs are showcased at the Vincent Price Art Museum in a partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art photography. She also used this technique to photograph the people of Mexico. Westcott said that Yampolsky tried to capture indigenous people doing everyday activities to give the viewer a glimpse into their lives.

UC transfer program deadline

Eligible applicants must visit the Transfer Center for guaranteed transfer admission before Sep. 30. For more information email transfercenter@elac.edu or call (323) 265-8623.

“Her use of distance and angles makes theirs an ‘elevated indigenous culture,’” Westcott said. After the tour, visitors were asked to participate in a workshop where they took pictures on their phones to try and replicate some of the techniques Yampolsky used.

These pictures were then printed out and given to the participants. LACMA’s next Family Days at VPAM are Oct. 27 and Dec. 1 from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The events are free and visitors are asked to bring their whole family.

Club Rush at South Gate campus

Club Rush continues at the South Gate campus on Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information contact main campus F5-212 (323) 265-8742 or the ASU cubicle #4 (323)568-5818.

The exhibit, itself, is on display until Dec. 8. Admission is free and open to the public. VPAM is open Tuesday to Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. and Thursdays from noon to 7 p.m.

Scholarship deadline Sunday Applications for fall ELAC Foundation scholarships are available at www. elacfoundation.com until 11:59 p.m on Sep. 30.


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