ELAC Campus News Spring 2023 Issue 15

Men’s basketball beats Harbor, heads to state championship

BY JONATHAN BERMUDEZ Staff Writer

The men’s basketball team heads to the state championships in San Jose after winning the Southern California Regional finals against LA Harbor College 99-91.

The Huskies started off strong, scoring within the first minute of the game.

The first score was achieved by Corey Cofield, number 11, scored the point with a layup. He followed that with another layup.

Within the first minute of the game, the Huskies were ahead by six points.

Harbor showed resistance by being the first team to score a 3-pointer.

The shot was made by Harbor’s number 1, Demetrius Douglas.

Both teams scored multiple layups and a slam dunk.

The teams battled hard during the first period, but the Huskies maintained the lead the whole time. By the end of the first period the score was 42-37.

After the halftime the Huskies came back a different team.

The energy they started with in the first period disappeared and Harbor scored multiple points. They missed multiple shots and committed multiple personal fouls. Harbor kept a close game with the Huskies multiple times in the second period.

The Huskies played hard to keep the lead, but Harbor proved to be a strong opponent.

In the game, Cofield started to argue over a foul that was called by the referees.

Huskies coach John Mosley, kept his players calm despite many showing frustration over the calls being made.

Academic Senate votes no confidence on District IT

BY JUAN CALVILLO Staff Writer

The Academic Senate unanimously voted no confidence Feb 28 in the Los Angeles Community College District’s Office of Information Technology after issues with the college’s website.

The resolution asks for some very specific items to be addressed for further website changes.

• That before District IT makes substantial changes to the college website not requested by ELAC (East Los Angeles College) users, District

IT will request the ELAC college president to convene a special ELAC shared governance committee that District IT will use to guide the process for updating the college website;

That this special ELAC shared governance committee will have representatives from the Academic Senate, Collective Bargaining Units and the Associated Students, as well as a sample of ELAC users of the website, including but not limited to Distance Education (Virtual Campus), Career and Academic Pathways and Counseling; and

• That this special ELAC shared governance committee will be an ad hoc committee that will meet as needed before, during, and after the District IT website updates.

A vote of no confidence is the highest level of criticism the ELAC Academic Senate can place on an individual, process or policy.

Jeffery Hernandez, Academic Senate president, said the vote was on the policy of the migration of the ELAC website.

Hernandez said the main issues with the migration are centered on the fact that the district OIT had not kept in mind the stakeholders at ELAC. These stakeholders include students, faculty and staff. He said certain key pieces of information were needed when it came to the college website that seem to have not been added.

Carmen Lidz, LACCD vice chancellor, said the website redesign initiative project proposal was won by a company called Sensis. The contract, which was an overhaul of the nine community college websites and the district website, cost $1,291,000 and started with the content review phase on September

30, 2021. Lidz said the colleges were asked to finalize any reviews they had of the content by June 31, 2022.

“During the content review portion of the project, each college was given an opportunity to review all of their old websites and identify which pages to delete, which need to be kept but require revisions, and what new content needs to be added,” Lidz said.

Hernandez said the various departments did exactly this. In a letter he sent to the district he said the OIT process was followed and yet there is still a good amount of information missing. One of the examples that Hernandez, and other faculty have talked about, is the fact that a main page listing the college’s departments was not in place.

Lidz said all the sections that were chosen to be kept or migrated to the new site during the content review portion have been moved, and that a department page was in the works.

“Upon faculty request, a departmental landing page listing all College departments is being created and will be live on March 1. [It is] currently being validated by the College, but on track to be published,” Lidz said.

As of March 1 the ELAC website has a listing of the academic departments. This listing is located in the Academic drop down menu on the main ELAC webpage.

Lidz said missing content has been noticed not only on the ELAC website but on other sites within LACCD. She said these situations have been the result of people not being familiar with the new structure of the website.

“A design decision was made to focus the navigation on the Career and Academic Pathways [webpage] - since we were told that is how students look for information and the departments are under that,” Lidz said.

Steven Koletty, Anthropology, Geography and Geology department chair, said the website is just bad.

Koletty said the process of the migration has undergone many years of work not only from himself but from the former chair. He said in November 2022, he was asked by the district to designate an author

and editor for the website. The position is focused on managing the website. After submitting this information, the author has had issues getting access to the website.

Randy Adsit, Earth Sciences associate professor, is supposed to be the author of the Anthropology, Geography and Geology department website. Adsit said if students are looking for information it can be difficult. Before the addition of a main page for the departments, it was difficult to find specific departments. He said even if you find the information of the department, the page is lacking.

Koletty said professor names, class information and descriptions are missing from the main department site. Koletty said it’s hard to engage with students about future events due to the lackluster website. He said the California Geographical Society will hold an event in April, but the department doesn’t exactly know how students will get engaged without information on the website. He said the lack of ability to use the website as a tool to get to students creates issues with student connection.

“It was not what it was promised to be. It’s not what we engaged in,” Koletty said.

Adsit said the issues on the ELAC website are happening elsewhere. He went to the website for Los Angeles City College and clicked on the Academic Departments section. He clicked on the Chemistry Department and the department’s site came up. He went back to the Academic Departments and clicked Earth Sciences and was once again taken to the Chemistry Department’s section of the college’s website.

Adsit said he contacted the district OIT looking for help to access the website to do his job as the site’s author. He said he did end up getting access to author the website, but the department website doesn’t really exist at the moment. Adsit received access within 48 hours, but he said the website and the work going on is inadequate.

The ELAC website may have information missing and lack of access, but these are just some of the issues that directly affect

During this period there were so many personal fouls, it felt like most of the points were penalty shots.

However, both teams were still able to pull off impressive shots.

Harbor scored multiple 3-pointers that brought them closer and closer to becoming the dominant team.

Huskies player JT Langston, number 20, made a slam dunk and Noel Scott, number 2, made multiple jump shots.

Toward the end of the second half, the score kept teetering back and forth. The Huskies would get the lead, but Harbor would surpass them.

With six seconds left in the game ELAC was able to tie with Harbor by scoring a free throw.

Both teams couldn’t score due to the time that was left. This lead the game into overtime.

The second half ended with a tie 82-82.

At this point, the crowd stood up from their seats in anticipation of the game. Overtime had the entire audience in the stands going. The tension from both the audience and teams on the court was palpable.

The Huskies and Harbor teams started overtime playing harder than normal time.

Jon Sanders, Huskies player number 10, broke the tie by making a 3-point jump shot.

The Huskies continued making big shots and widened the lead with Harbor.

This put them at 91-84 with Harbor only able to score a layup. Harbor would score, but it wouldn’t be enough.

ELAC kept the lead and, by the end of overtime, the score was 99-91. The state championship game will be in San Jose on Mar 9 at 1 p.m.

students at ELAC. There were also issues with the website that directly related to the Brown Act and Title 5 on Education.

Hernandez said information and documents from the Academic Senate that should be accessible to the public under the Brown Act were inaccessible until recently. He said information should be easily accessed by the public; this includes things like committee motions and policies.

He said the Academic Senate will seemingly be given access to make improvements to the Academic Senate website. He said this is something that has been previously complained about, and seemed to have been resolved. Then the recent migration set everything back as before. One of the Academic Senate website sections asks for single sign-on, SSO, or login information and is titled “Quick Links for LACCD Employees.”

“The label referencing the SSO login was…misplaced on this page and should not have been there,” Lidz said.

Hernandez said most of the content that should be accessible to the public currently is.

“The Senate and Senate [Executive] agendas should be publicly accessible per the Brown Act, and they are. However, the links to other Senate committees were incorrectly placed in the employee-only section and that appears to be in the process of being corrected,” Hernandez said.

He said a request like a department listing, which was asked for in early January, should not take so much time to accomplish.

The Academic Senate’s proposal focuses on the idea that ELAC’s website is a local resource and should have insight from those that are local to ELAC. He said Title 5 requirements specifically about shared governance are key for a resource like the website. Title 5 is a California code of regulations that governs education.

Lidz said the district wide website project is currently stabilizing. She said this is the time to make tweaks that will coincide with what content owners need.

“We need to be mindful that the college teams had to review the content on 16,000 web pages and some things may have been missed during that review and final validation. Our Web Services team continues to work with the college’s web content owners to make any refinements needed,” Lidz said.

Emmy Award winning producer reveals what to do to get into the entertainment industry

BY MARISSA VALLES Staff Writer

The current need for diversity in the entertainment industry is opening doors for people of color.

Linda Morel is an Emmy Award-winning producer. She said relying on creating and fostering connections with people heavily outweighed looking for entertainment jobs online.

She said this during the “Finding Your Way When there is no Road Map” workshop on Wednesday. The event was held in the Proscenium Theater. Morel said she, like the audience members, was a person of color and encouraged them to not see outside factors such as race or gender as a roadblock.

Although production crews have been dominated by white men in the past, Morel said the industry has become more conscious of the need for more diversity.

“Right now is a great time for any person of color to get into this industry because there is an industry-wide understanding that this is a systemic problem,” Morel said.

The demand for women and people of color to fill production jobs has risen dramatically in recent years.

“If you’re really interested in getting started, talk to your teachers and ask if they know anybody who might be looking for a production assistant. Since we live in L.A, chances are you know somebody who knows somebody else who is in the industry.” Morel said.

It can be difficult to break into such a competitive industry, but Morel said to remain confident in skills learned and to be eager to work.

“You need to ask for what you want in this business. You may get a bunch of no, but you’ll eventually get a yes. If you’re confident and show that you really want to work, somebody is going to give you an opportunity,” Morel said.

Morel didn’t have any connections to the film or TV industries while growing up and didn’t study set management in college like some of her peers. Her lack of education in the field was something she said she felt insecure about while competing for jobs.

“My struggle came from feeling like I wasn’t really equal with people who went to film school and had all this education,” Morel said.

Morel is now a line producer, which means she manages the budgets of productions. When she first started out, she worked as a production coordinator. As a production coordinator, she worked with everybody on set, from producers to the camera crew. She said those types of office jobs are so important because they allow people to not only build connections, but to work up close with each department on set.

CN/MARISSA VALLES

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB BERNAL

LET ME FLEX—Linda Morel holds her award-winning Emmy after her workshop inside the Proscenium Theater.

“It was not what it was promised to be. It’s not what we engaged in.”

STEVEN KOLETTY Anthropology, Geography and Geology department chair

BASKETBALL—Huskies player makes a big time play to extend the lead.

Migrants seeking asylum face new restriction

BY LEONARDO CERVANTES Staff Writer

President Joe Biden’s administration has decided to add restrictions to legal pathways for migrants looking to cross the Mexico border into the United States.

The new restrictions greatly impact migrants applying for asylum.

Migrants will be required to apply for asylum throughout the countries they travel on their way to the U.S. Migrants claiming asylum will have to schedule an appointment at a U.S. port of entry in each country.

If they come to the U.S. they can still apply for asylum, but most who cross illegally will be sent back. This will make life difficult for migrants trying to improve their life.

Not only are the new asylum rules stricter, but they are also likely to slow down the approval process of migrants.

Many of these migrants need

immediate safety but will be subject to these unfortunate new regulations. These new immigration policies will deeply affect those migrants who are turned down. If their lives are in immediate danger they are not likely to have an option of to return to their country and will be forced to stay in Mexico.

Salvadoran and Guatemalan migrants, neighboring countrymen, that are turned down will likely decide to live along the U.S.Mexico border for their safety.

Title 42 is a public health policy that allows the U.S. to expel any noncitizen during a health crisis.

Title 42 was utilized during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been in place ever since. The administration announced Title 42 will end May 11.

Biden’s plan will take effect once Title 42 restrictions are lifted.

“Between March 2020 and January 2021, when the Trump administration enforced Title 42, U.S. border officials recorded 552,919 migrant encounters, 83%

of which resulted in expulsions,” said PEW Research Center.

During the Biden administration, the U.S. has reported more than 4 million migrant encounters, roughly half of which turned into Title 42 expulsions, according to government data as of the end of October 2022. Biden’s administration will likely continue to see similar if not increased numbers.

“The rule would apply to single adults and families seeking asylum, but there would be an exception for children and teens who are unaccompanied. There are also exceptions for asylum seekers who are facing an imminent threat to their lives or have a medical emergency,” the Department of Homeland Security said.

Those that are seeking asylum must prove their case at the border, which can be difficult for the migrants to do.

People seeking asylum at the border are subjected to security and criminal background checks.

Then they go through a lengthy

process involving multiple government agencies in order to prove that they have a fear of persecution.

Migrants seeking asylum are all looking to get out of a bad situation.

However, it will now be up to the lawmakers to decide if their reasons for seeking asylum are valid or not.

“Noncitizens who are subject to the rebuttable presumption, do not rebut the presumption, and do not establish a reasonable fear of persecution or torture in the country of removal will be promptly removed,” DHS said.

Biden and his administration should be looking to lower restrictions on migrants seeking asylum instead of enforcing stricter rules.

While a few migrants may unneccersarily seek asylum to enter the U.S., many come with the intention to be able to provide security for their families.

A lot of migrants flee because they aren’t able to afford their daily meals due to poor economy in their home countries.

The overwhelming majority are seeking asylum because they come from a rough background or their life is in immediate danger. It’s a sad reality that many migrants migrants in sincerely lifethreatening situations .

“Those ordered removed will be subject to at least a five-year bar to reentry and potential criminal prosecution if they subsequently re-enter without authorization. Those ordered removed also will be ineligible for the parole processes available to nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela,” DHS said.

Unfortunately, these new restrictions will lead to increased hardship among migrants seeking a safer life. The new proposed restrictions have already come under question and will likely be challenged in court once the until Title 42 restrictions are lifted.

Decision to eliminate tobacco sales could save lives

BY LEONARDO CERVANTES Staff Writer

California lawmakers’ brilliant proposal to eliminate the sale of tobacco products would save thousands of lives.

Assembly Bill 935 would implement a phased tobacco ban by prohibiting a tobacco retailer, as defined, from selling tobacco products to any person born on or after January 1, 2007.

One of the most addictive and harmful legal products sold in the United States could finally come to an end this spring. Developing an addiction worsens a person’s lifestyle and personal relationships with loved ones.

While every adult should have the right to purchase what they please, lawmakers would be saving the next generation from themselves.

Smokers are at greater risk to develop life-threatening diseases, such as lung cancer.

Smoking addiction impacts people in many ways. It affects their dating life, long-term health, looks and lifestyle.

Overcoming addiction is one of society’s most difficult tasks and nicotine addiction is amongst the worst.

Whether it be an eating addiction, drug addiction or alcohol addictiononce a person is addicted, they must overcome many obstacles.

“Nicotine has been proven to be as addictive as cocaine and heroin and may even be more addictive.

Many people who smoke develop nicotine dependence, which makes quitting all the harder, especially when they try to stop smoking on

their own,” University of California San Francisco Medical Center said. Kids and young adults are impressionable. If they see their favorite cartoon or movie character smoking, it can cause curiosity and the youth might imitate them when they grow older.

Tobacco companies have also marketed candy and sweet flavored tobacco products to encourage young adults to try smoking.

In 2022, California prohibited tobacco retailers from selling most flavored tobacco products. However, flavored premium cigars, hookah and loose-leaf pipe tobacco were excluded.

Even if AB 935 isn’t passed, small price increases is an alternative means of reducing nicotine addiction that lawmakers could pursue.

Raising the price of tobacco products annually through incremented taxes would have consumers second guessing their next purchase.

Although those with a strong addiction might continue to purchase tobacco no matter what.

Young adults with limited budgets would be more inclined to spend their money on a meal rather than a pack of cigarettes.

Tobacco even affects people’s love lives. Some partners can’t help looking down on their smoking partner when the ramifications are well known.

This can lead to a hard time maintaining relationship,which can lead to an increased sense of loneliness. Increased feelings of loneliness can lead smokers to smoke more, furthering the harm

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to their bodies.

Smoking tobacco is among the deadliest vices one can have. Smoking affects nearly every organ in the body and can lead to deadly diseases.

“More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smokingrelated illness. Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths,” CDC said.

Unfortunately, even civilians who mind their business and don’t smoke, can be affected due to secondhand smoke.

“Secondhand smoke exposure contributes to approximately 41,000 deaths among nonsmoking adults and 400 deaths in infants each year,”

CDC said.

It’s unfair for nonsmokers to alter their lifestyles and hobbies to get away from smokers. In order to be safe and not exposed to secondhand smoke they are forced to alter their daily routines.

Nonsmokers are pressured to leave a park early or choose not to eat at a specific place because smoking is allowed.

“In adults who do not smoke, secondhand smoke exposure can cause coronary heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and other diseases. It can also result in premature death,” CDC said.

If this law were to pass, not only will it save the upcoming generation from themselves- but it will also make sure they don’t harm those who chose not to smoke.

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CN/SOLEIL CARDENAS

Students encouraged to apply for scholarships

BY BEATRIZ GARAY Staff Writer

The First Year Experience has information on scholarships for students who might need financial help for school.

Rafael Sanchez, Success Coach and ELAC Alumnus, and Alfonso Garcia-Godinez, Peer Navigator and ELAC student, hosted an online workshop to explain the scholarships available for students. They went over how scholarships work and what the requirements are to receive the available scholarships. They also spoke about grants and how they are different from scholarships.

Scholarships are a “payment” made to support students’ education, awarded on the basis of academic or other achievement.

“Grants are a payment made to support a student’s education based on who that student is,” GaricaGodinez said. There are grants that do provide financial help to students based on what ethnicity they are, having significant financial need, or living in certain locations.

Sanchez said requirements

vary for each scholarship. Some scholarships require students to have a certain amount of units in order to be eligible, while others require students to have a certain GPA and units.

A 3.0 GPA can usually allow you to apply for scholarships but sometimes scholarships only require having a 2.0. According to the hosts, a minimum GPA of 2.0 is rare in scholarship applications.

Certain scholarships require students to have a minimum of 24 units when applying. It’s important to read the guidelines some scholarships have to be able to apply for them.

Some scholarships are also based on students being part-time or fulltime. Sometimes part-time students don’t receive their full award. If students are full-time they get the full awarded amount the scholarship offers.

There are also scholarships that are for specific majors. Students majoring in subjects such as engineering and psychology have access to specific scholarships.

Sanchez and Garcia-Godinez said that some scholarships require

a letter of recommedation. They said it’s rare for scholarships to ask for one, but it helps if you build connections and relationships with professors and bosses if you have a job. Building these relationships will help with asking for letters of recommendation.

Grants are based on answering a prompt in an essay format.

“Usually depending on how well written the answer to the prompt is, that’s how likely students will receive the award from the grant,” Sanchez said.

Another available scholarship is the Hybrid Award. This scholarship takes account of students academic/ extracurricular achievements and requires students to belong to a certain demographic.

Overall, Sanchez and GarciaGodinez encourage students who need the financial support to look into the scholarships and grants. It’s free money awarded to students that students don’t have to pay them back like student loans.

Students who are interested in scholarships and grants or have questions can email fa_ scholarship@elac.edu.

Academic Senate meeting focuses on part-time students

BY SIENNA HENNESSY MACHADO-HILDAGLO

Staff Writer

The Academic Senate discussed resolution ideas for the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges’ Spring 2023 Plenary session on Mar. 3. The ASCCC website says the plenary sessions are used to

inform senate officers and faculty of hot topics, receive training to strengthen effectiveness, select representatives and officers and provide the Executive Committee direction through state resolution and voting processes.

Academic Senate President Jeffrey Hernandez said he wrote a resolution for the ASCCC spring plenary that recommends

reconfiguring state metrics of student success to remedy the lack of priority part-time students face based on recent reports. He said some part-time students’ goals may not align with the Guided Pathways two-year completion model.

Media Arts and Technology Chairperson Robert Aaron Lyle said he cautions the senate not to make

New members welcomed during club rush

BY TERESA ACOSTA Staff Writer

Students played volleyball, video games and dressed up for photobooth pictures during Tuesday’s club rush event in the E-3 quad. Each semester various clubs set up booths to try and entice new members to join their club. This Spring was one of the best attended and most interactive events in recent years.

The automotive club brought a bright green vehicle to display and offered students the chance to join them for their next competition. The Mariachi Club had a three-piece band performing traditional Spanish music. With the biggest display of the event, the Game Club hosted a giant trailer that housed six TV and game console setups to play anything from Wii Sports to Call of Duty Black Ops III.

The South Gate Campus will have its club rush event on Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m.

too much of correlations based on limited data.

South Gate College Counselor Sokie Quintero said the senate should consider bringing back local alternative programs that would help part-time students, such as the no longer active Parent and Community Engagement program.

Counselor Alice Figueroa said she hopes the resolution will help

the part-time students she works with who are unable to be full-time.

Hernandez also said he requested that the ASCCC Legislative Committee consider a resolution recommending the inclusion of local academic senates in a bill planned to be proposed by the the Student Senate for California Community Colleges.

The SSCCC has plans to propose a

bill to exempt student organizations and committees from the Brown Act. The Brown Act is intended to provide public access to meetings of local government agencies. Representatives for Architecture, Art, Engineering and Technologies and Public Safety Affiliates were absent.

RESOURCEFUL —Members of the Veterans Club in the E3 Quad during the club rush. The club encourages social contact for student veterans who feel like it’s hard to fit in.

CN/JUAN CALVILLO

AND LYRICS —The Mariachi club invites students to bring a part of East Los Angeles culture to campus. The club plans on treating meetings like they’re a music class.

CN/JUAN CALVILLO

Pitching errors give Huskies shutout victory

BY OSCAR MARTINES Staff Writer

The baseball team rallied behind pitcher Francisco Dominguez’s dominating performance to take the series 2-1 against Los Angeles Harbor College in a 6-0 victory.

Dominguez pitched for all nine innings, only allowing LA Harbor to connect with five hits in 100 pitches, and striking out 10 players in the process.

LA Harbor struggled to find an answer against the Huskies pitcher, who only allowed the minimum batters for six straight innings.

The Huskies started off hot in the first inning, with Dominguez striking out two players and getting rid of the third with ease.

At the bottom of the first, the Huskies took advantage of the errors made by LA Harbor pitcher Jonathan Largaespada.

After center fielder Alex Solis walked and took second base after a pitching error,

shortstop Richard Ponce landed a bunt to move to first base and allowed Solis to reach third.

After Largaespada walked another player, his next pitch hit second baseman Ruben Hernandez, allowing Solis to score the first run of the game.

Largaespada’s troubles would continue after walking yet another Husky, giving Ponce the chance to score and increase the Huskies’ lead.

Largaespada continued the inning by striking out a player, but on the next play allowed designated hitter Gavin Vogel to hit an RBI groundout to shortstop.

That put catcher Michael Easter in position to score and extend the lead to 3-0 for the Huskies.

Dominguez would make quick work of the LA Harbor batters in the top of the second inning.

In the bottom of the second, Largaespada’s woes reached a breaking point as the first

batter he faced was hit by one of his pitches.

The next two Huskies batters would land singles to load the bases, putting them in a position to increase their lead.

Following a strikeout, Hernandez would hit a groundout RBI to third base, allowing third baseman Michael McIntire to advance to home plate, giving the Huskies a 4-0 lead.

Largaespada’s night came to an end after once again hitting another player with a pitch; he played for 1.2 innings, allowing three hits and giving up four runs.

LA Harbor pitcher DJ Orona came in to close out the inning.

The next few innings were uneventful, but included an impressive highlight of Dominguez striking out all three players in the top of the fourth inning.

The Huskies once again took advantage of pitching errors in the bottom of the fifth inning.

With two outs in the inning,

Orona was unable to close out, walking one player and allowing first baseman Daniel Vierra to hit a double to center field.

When it seemed as though things could not get worse for Orona, a wild pitch flew past his catcher, giving Vogel the opportunity to run from third base to home plate abd

increase the score to 5-0.

Orona would yet again throw another wild pitch, paving the way for Vierra to score another run for the Huskies and grow the lead to 6-0.

Orona would be retired in the bottom of the sixth inning after allowing another Husky to walk.

Orona ended the night

having played 3.2 innings, allowing two hits and two runs.

The rest of the game saw Dominguez continue his stellar performance, retiring the next few innings facing the minimum batters he could.

The Huskies’ record improves to 5-12, with a 3-3 record in conference play.

Three Huskies participate in American College Theatre Festival

BY TERESA ACOSTA Staff Writer

Every year, The Kennedy Center holds the American College Theater Festival, a national festival that invites over 200 theater students from various colleges and universities.

COURTESY OF IMDB

Romance film recreates first love magic

BY BRENDA DE LA CRUZ Staff Writer

“Of An Age” reminds viewers of the nostalgia and heartache that often accompanies a first love.

Thom Green and Elias Anton lead the cast as the pair.

The tale of two lovers who share an unexpected but powerful connection within the span of 24 hours follows Kol, an amateur ballroom dancer, and Adam, the attractive college bound older brother of Kol’s friend.

The two meet unexpectedly and soon share an instant attraction.

Set in the summer of 1999 in Australia, the film follows the pair as they get to know each other during an eventful day.

The movie evokes a sense of simplicity when it comes to life, but it also does not shy away from complex issues.

These issues include love, bullying and fitting in.

The story’s use of quick bonds will resonate with viewers, especially in how the movie uses only one day in the characters’ lives to show the impact they have on each other.

The bond shown in this film shows exactly that, that sometimes one simply knows it’s the real thing.

It’s real and raw, and just what life is truly like for many.

Love is beautiful and can happen with anyone, despite sexual preferences.

Despite the beauty of love, the film also shows the barriers and obstacles that come with these emotions.

“Of An Age” brings all of this to the big screen.

A romantic film filled with giddy scenes full of flirtatious banter between the main characters.

The movie will make viewers think back to their first loves and relationships with a smile.

This year three students from ELAC were selected to participate in the festival for their respective categories: Julia Chavez in dancing, David Rangel in acting, and Alexis Castro for props.

There are various categories represented in the festival.

They include acting, design, directing, playwriting, stage management, dramaturgy, arts leadership, and theater criticism.

Chavez applied two weeks before the Musical Theater Initiatives that were held along with the Irene Ryan acting competition.

She was among 20 other dancers to perform in an ensemble dance number at the Musical Theater Dance Showcase and Cabaret. She sent out her headshot and acting/dance resume and was invited to audition.

Chavez was excited and grateful to show her dance skills surrounded by a group of wonderful and talented people.

This showcase of “true love” is what helps viewers believe the storyline.

Viewers can connect their own experiences to what the movie shows.

This is not a typical Hollywood movie, and that is exactly what makes it work so well.

The entire film is filled with a soothing and timeless soundtrack, featuring millennial age artists such as Tori Amos, Nelly Furtado and The Cardigans.

Written and directed by Goran Stolevski, the film released in theaters February 17.

She performed a short musical theater dance combination that was choreographed by guest artist Corry West.

When asked if she hoped to win a scholarship, she said, “Most definitely! I’d be honored to be awarded a scholarship for my work because I put my whole heart into my craft as an artist.”

Chavez hopes to grow more as a dancer and take pride in doing what she is destined to do in her theatrical journey.

She hopes to gain more courage as a performer that will help her continue to unlock her further potential.

Rangel is in his fourth year at ELAC and it is his first time attending the festival, which was held in Las Vegas.

Rangel was a finalist and won the award for best classical performance in acting.

His partner, Jezmarie Viramontes, won the award for best scene partner.

Rangel said, “It was a great experience and felt a lot of pride when my partner and I made it to the final round and actually won an award.”

Castro applied for the Design and Technical Management side of the theatrical world.

In order to apply, a person must have designed an aspect of the show.

This includes props, lighting, sound, and scenic.

This was his first time applying to the festival and was excited to showcase his work and have the opportunity to meet other theater students from around the region.

Castro gained insight into the individuals who work behind

the scenes in theater around the region.

He met a lot of student designers, professors, and working professionals.

“ I was lucky enough to be given a behind the scenes tour of “Michael Jackson: One.” I received the regional award for props and Student Choice Award. It was great to feel acknowledged for my work.”

The festival gives theater students the opportunity to learn and connect with established theater artists.

There are a wide range of activities that have included workshops and seminars that all students are encouraged to participate in.

There are a number of scholarships and awards given out throughout the week.

The National Festival is broken down into eight regions.

Region eight comprises Arizona, Central and Southern California, Hawaii, Southern Nevada, Utah, and Guam.

It is an opportunity for young student artists who are ready to learn more about their craft.

HUDDLED IN VICTORY—The Huskies huddle up after an impressive victory.

CN/OSCAR MARTINES

CN/TERESA ACOSTA

RECOGNITION OF HARD WORK—Alexis Castro, who had participated in the props category, walks up to receive the regional award for his submissions.

The story’s use of quick bonds will resonate with viewers.