VOLUME 78, ISSUE 18 | WWW.ELACCAMPUSNEWS.COM | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023 | SINGLE COPY FREE - ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
South Gate student becomes semifinalist for Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship BY ANNETTE QUIJADA Staff Writer South Gate Center student Ruby Pichardo is a Semi-Finalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Pichardo is one of 459 students who are semifinalists. The Cooke Scholarship awards community college students who have shown exceptional academics, leadership and determination to finish their bachelor’s degree at four-year universities. The scholarship offers up to $55,000 per year to students. Pichardo grew up in South Central, but currently lives in South Gate. She is a health care worker. She came back to community college during the pandemic and has now been at the South Gate Center for two years.
“When I graduated high school I got into Cal State LA, but unfortunately I got pregnant and I had to drop out. I became a single mom, so I couldn’t go to school, go to work and raise my daughter at the same time. I was only 19,” Pichardo said. She said that in 2020 when courses went online due to the COVID-19 pandemic saw an opportunity to get back into school by taking one to two classes. She is majoring in Administration of Justice and will be graduating in June. After she obtains her bachelors, she’s looking forward to going to law school. Pichardo’s interest in criminal justice led her to being a part of the executive board of the Pathway to Law School Program. She recently had to step down because she became the president
Ruby Prichardo of the Honors Club at the South Gate Center. “The Pathway to Law School Program is amazing. It’s more
than a club, it’s a family. If you’re interested in law school or any aspect of the legal profession, I encourage everyone to apply,” Pichardo said. Pichardo said that a big part of returning to school and continuing her education has been her daughter. “I was a single mom for about six to seven years. I thought about her a lot when I decided to go back to school because I am losing out on time with her. “But I want to show her life gets in the way, but you can’t let that hold you back. If you want to accomplish something, you can do it. “Whether it’s on the timeline you decided or not, it doesn’t matter as long as it gets done,” Pichardo said. ELAC Honors Program Counselor Carmen Soto and Chicano Students professor Dr. Nadine Bermudez were the people who brought the
Cooke Scholarship to Pichardos’ “My advice for students looking attention. to apply for the scholarship is Pichardo said that Professor don’t second guess yourself. Just Bermudez do it because pushed all you never her students know what to apply can happen. “My advice for students for the Just go for looking to apply for the scholarship it. When you a n d schlarship is don’t second put yourself reminded out there, guess yourself. Just do it i t ’s s c a r y them that the scholarship because you never know what and there’s is a great a chance for opportunity. can happen. Just go for it.” rejection. T h e “But also application remember RUBY PRICHARDO process t h e r e ’s a South Gate Campus Student includes chance for a series success,” of essay Pichardo questions, said. students have to advertise The finalists for the scholarship themselves. will be announced late April.
Math student becomes semifinalist for Cooke Transfer Scholarship BY ANNETTE QUIJADA Staff Writer East Los Angeles College Honor student Daisy Corril Castano, becomes the second honor student to be a Semi-Finalist for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Students looking to apply for the scholarship have to write a series of essays and also need two letters of reccomendation. Castano is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math major, she’s studying Mathematics, but is interested in computer science and programming. “I would like to use the math skills I’ve learned here and apply them to data science,” Castano said. She said her love for computer science and programming started in middle school when a teacher noticed she was trying to learn more about the subject. Her teacher at the time told her she was too young to be learning about programs like Python and that ended up discouraging her for a few years. Castano said she thought she had no place in the STEM field because of the teacher who said it would be
too difficult for her. “It wasn’t until my first year in college that I thought about going back to explore and understand STEM. I wanted to challenge myself. I thought I was going to struggle a lot, but the professors at ELAC were really helpful and supportive,” said Castano.
“The tutors there are amazing and they really just want to help out all the students.” DAISY CORRIL CASTANO East Los Angeles College Honor Studnet Castano said there have been two ELAC professors who have stood out to her during her journey, Professor Gia Nguyen and Tiffany Ho. Castano said it’s important to her to have a good foundation and these professors provided that for her. Castano is also part of the
Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement Program (MESA) on campus. She first applied for the program in the summer of 2020 and said she has found a strong support system there. “The MESA program is really good at giving students coursework support. I always go there during finals week and when I have exams. The tutors there are amazing and they really just want to help out all the students.” Castano is looking forward to transferring out this semester. She has her eye on three universities. She is waiting to hear answers from University of California, Irvine, University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles. “My advice for others is to apply to the scholarship whether you think what you have under your belt is enough. I felt like I wasn’t good enough, but it’s better to put yourself out there despite what the results will be. It also gives you exposure to what the process is like. It’s not just about getting the scholarship it’s also about learning from the process,” Castano said.
CN/STEVEN ADAMO
LET ME SHARE YOU SOME STORIES—Patssi Valdez talks about her childhood and growing up in East Los Angeles and recalls being interested in art.
Chicana artist breaks boundaries throughout her career BY STEVEN ADAMO Staff Writer
Daisy Corril Castano News Briefs
Athlete Appreciation Day Student athletes will be celebrated in the E3 Quad with games, giveaways, snacks and a photo booth today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wi t h s t o r i e s o f b r e a k i n g boundaries, Chicana artist Patssi Valdez shared her history during a virtual event last month organized by the Women/Gender Department. The event was hosted by Claudia Rodriguez of the Chicano Studies Department and Nathalie Sánchez of the Vincent Price Art Museum. Valdez shared memories of her childhood, growing up on Record Street in East Los Angeles. She recalled being interested in art as far back as she can remember. She learned about art while a student at Garfield High School. In the early 1970s, Valdez became interested in photography - using a photo booth from the East Los Angeles store called J.J. Newberry’s. While having a friend guard the booth, Valdez would perform numerous costume changes inside in order to photograph herself. The styles she was arranging went well with the L.A. punk scene that was beginning at the time. She said she walked home after school during the Whittier Boulevard moratorium protest, which inspired an early work titled “Self-Portrait with Barbed Wire.”
The photograph was copied using a Xerox machine, framed with barbed wire from stencils using spray paint. The events happening at the time continued to influence her work both an individual artist and as part of the Chicano artist collective Asco, in East Los Angeles. In 1974, along with other Asco members Herb Sandoval, Willie Herron and Gronk, Harry Gamboa photographed “First Supper After a Major Riot,” which had the group enjoying a lunch in the middle of Whittier Blvd. Valdez said nobody knew ahead of time what the other person was going to wear. Valdez said the Asco group used art to address issues important to them at the time, including police brutality, racism and the negative stereotyping of the community. “Instant Mural,” from 1974, is another photo by Gamboa that features artist Gronk taping Valdez to a wall. Valdez said it was in response to all the new murals being made at the time. At East Los Angeles College, Valdez continued to learn art through teachers like Donald Chipperfield, who was a regular supporter of the annual art student scholarship on campus. Valdez shared a copy of
The Skin Of Our Teeth The Skin Of Our Teeth is opening this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the BlackBox Theater. The production is an end of the world comedy. Get tickets in the P2 office today-Friday noon until` 4:45 p.m for $10 or at the door for $12.
her ELAC transcript from 1979, showing a failing grade for Photo 010. Valdez said she hung out with the other Asco members at the Art Department. “I would say it was a time of experimentation and exploration. Thank God for East LA College,” Valdez said. As an homage to the friends Valdez lost during the AIDS epidemic, Valdez created a mixed media spray paint installation at Otis Gallery in 1986. She said it was the first time the gallery allowed spray paint to be used inside. “I just had a lot of friends; lovely, talented, brilliant friends, who I lost during that epidemic.” With the painting “The Little Girl in the Yellow Dress” in 1995, Valdez said she started to feel confident as a painter. With her paintings displayed all over the world, Valdez continues to paint, creating such works as “Pan Mexicano (A Merging of Two Cultures),” “The Aztec Queen,” and “The Passage.” In 2005, she was named “Latina of Excellence in the Cultural Arts” by the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Need to destress? Attend the DIY stress ball workshop tomorrow from noon to 2 p.m. to create your own stress ball. The event will be held in F5-209. Snacks and drinks will be provided.