April 30, 2018

Monday, April 30, 2018

VOL. 51, NO. 14

Truth Conquers All Since 1969

Interim president retires from CLC after spring Diana Panuncial Editor-in-Chief

Rich Haney, the College of Lake County’s interim president from 2017-2018, will be moving to Mesa, Arizona after the spring semester to assume the presidency of Mesa Community College.

Before Haney leaves for MCC, he reflected on his experience at CLC. “The role of the community college president,” he said, “continues to become more demanding as presidents are faced with operating large complex organizations within an environment of limited resources’, “I am proud,” he said, “that CLC has weathered some very difficult financial times while continuing to focus and improve student success outcomes, launching mental health services for students, remaining one of the few public higher education institutions in the state to possess an AAA bond rating, and achieving the highest rating in every category during our recent Higher Learning Commission reaffirmation of accreditation visit.”

“This success would not be possible without the continued support of the faculty and staff from across this fine institution,” he said.

He revisited the ongoing issue of the college requiring all adjunct faculty who teach transfer courses to acquire a master’s degree in order to teach.

“I am glad that the college was able to determine a way to work within the HLC guidelines and provide a path for CLC faculty not meeting the minimum qualifications to continue to teach while working toward meet-

ing the minimum qualifications” Haney said “Many colleges simply terminated the employment of faculty that did not meet the minimum qualifications to teach,” he said. “I was glad we were able to reach a reasonable compromise with the adjunct faculty union.”

Haney said that he was not opposed to using tested experience, particularly for certain disciplines.

“The challenge is developing an objective process that can be defended and does not lead to abuses in the hiring process such as hiring friends and family or others that may not be qualified,” he said.

“For example, I have advanced degrees and perform public speaking and speeches almost every day,” he said, describing his “tested experience,” “but I should not be teaching speech or public speaking classes. I have not been trained or educated appropriately to understand the pedagogy or instructional best practices for teaching speech.”

Haney commented on the speculation that public colleges are adopting a business model that risks their educational mission by cancelling under-enrolled classes or by terminating five programs this past spring.

“In an environment of diminishing resources and increasing tuitions, colleges must be more focused on ensuring that programs are services are meeting the needs of students and stakeholders.

To that end, colleges can no longer support programs that suffer from low enrollment, poor student success rates, poor graduation and transfer rates, low employment and a decreasing labor market” Haney said.

He added that community colleges must focus on maintaining their commitment to “both access and student success.”

“Offering programs that have a history of poor performance with limited opportunity for employment is simply unacceptable,” Haney said. “I don’t believe this risks the educational mission, I believe it allows the college to more appropriately focus our limited resources on enhancing the educational mission of community colleges to be focused on both access and success.”

In addition, Haney spoke on the issue of whether faculty members should be responsible for advertising their own classes, saying that faculty “have access to a full range of services provided by our marketing and public relations department.”

“Faculty members and department chairs know the most about their programs and courses and are usually best positioned to support the development of marketing materials,” he said. “Many faculty members choose to market their courses so that more students enroll.”

Haney also commented on the role of a college president in a time of political uncertainty, specifically on DACA. “Presidents should use their position to advocate on behalf of their students and institutional values and mission,” he said. “I have advocated publically for our many DACA students and will continue to do so.”

“I have had the opportunity to work with many of our DACA students during the last few years and they are some of the most talented and caring individu-

Rich Haney, interim president, will leave May 4.

als I have had the pleasure of meeting,” he said. “They want what we all want and that is the ability to study, work, and contribute to society. I am hopeful that our legislative leaders in Congress and the President will find a permanent solution so that our DACA students can live without fear.”

Haney is currently helping Lori M. Suddick, CLC’s next president, transition to Lake County.

“Dr. Suddick and I have been meeting with various external stakeholders and partners so that we are able to maintain important relationships,” he said. “In addition, I have been busy cleaning out my office, transferring files, and saying goodbye to the many friends I have developed here at the college over the course of my 19 years.”

Regarding the dismissal of David Petrulis and the architectural program, along with four other programs, Haney

Photo courtesy of CLC

commented on whether he hoped to resolve the Petrulis issue before leaving.

“I have been working diligently to resolve many issues before I leave CLC,” he said, “however, I am confident that the College will be successful in addressing any outstanding issues once I leave CLC.” Although Haney is retiring from CLC and many thought he would not continue to work, he said he “has always planned to return to work.”

“I had planned to take 6 months off to travel before starting a new career, however, the MCC position was too good to pass up.”

“I am looking forward to being able to continue serve students,” Haney said.

“I am passionate about the community college mission and believe that education is a basic human right with the ability to improve communities both socially and economically.”

Update on dismissed teacher

Humanities dean retires from CLC

CLC should become voting site

p. 2

p. 3

p. 12

News

THE CHRONICLE Page 2 | Monday, April 30, 2018

Faculty member negotiates future status at CLC Sammie Wilkins Managing Editor

David Petrulis, a fulltime faculty member at the College of Lake County who was dismissed with the termination of its architecture program, has been negotiating his status with the college.

“I was notified about the closing of the program in spring of 2017,” Petrulis said. “The honorable dismissal was only brought up in January of this year.”

Petrulis is currently focusing on returning to CLC after two years to teach computeraided design courses for the college once he gains the proper credentials.

After multiple attempts to contact Craig Rich, President of the Faculty Union, he has not yet spoken out on the situation.

“There is a two year period where I can try to remain here,” Petrulis said. “If I am not successful within these two years, then I cannot remain here.”

Petrulis also said he is talking to the college to come up with a solution.

“We are talking to CLC about it now, but right now it is currently just CAD classes that I would be teaching,” he said.

Isaac Ramirez, a CLC student, said he doesn’t think the dismissal of Petrulis is justified.

“I think he could either get a different position or the college could open up and recommend him to a different school,” Ramirez said. “They should give him something back

variety of factors such as low enrollment and lack of trackability to measure how successful the programs students are once they graduate.

Paul Raasch, another CLC student, said he could compromise with the removal of the programs.

“I think it depends on how much of a benefit those programs had,” Raasch said, “but if the administration feels that they are using too

much for these classes, then I have to respect that, even though these are classes that can be beneficial for certain students.”

Raasch said that if the college decides to keep Petrulis as a faculty member, they must help him find another position.

“If he has proven to be a good employee, then I don’t see any reason to get rid of him,” he said. “However, I do not see what

Graphic by Hannah Strassburger

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rather than just taking stuff away.”

Petrulis was a part of the architectural technology program, one of the five that are said to be cut from the college after this semester.

The other four programs are civil technology, construction management, education paraprofessional, and emergency disaster management.

These programs are being removed due to a

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Contributors: Peter Anders, Jaron Armiger, Brandon Ferrara, Rebecca Martinez, Arturo Ramirez

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News

THE CHRONICLE Page 3 | Monday, April 30, 2018

Dean of Humanities retires after 16 years Arturo Ramirez Staff Reporter

Dean of Communication Arts and Humanities & Fine Arts Roland Miller will be departing from College of Lake County at the end of the Spring 2018 semester.

Miller began his career at CLC as a photography instructor in 2002. This year will mark his ninth year as a full-time dean.

“Some of my favorite things to do as dean is solving problems, attending concerts and plays, honors convocations, art openings, literary readings, and attending scholars’ presentations where they present the research that they have committed time and energy,” Miller said.

“My mission as dean at CLC was to solve problems that were not getting solved,” Miller said. “For this reason, I’ve helped people solve problems through the Three Wishes Program.”

“The Three Wishes Program consists of different departments with different divisions, in which they help you out with three things you have been trying to accomplish,” Miller continued.

“That being said, I’ve been involved in curriculum, recruitment and retention, to searching communities to hire new people, and many other areas.”

“Nothing impacts the quality of education more than the faculty that we hire, and so specifically in this case...I am extremely proud of the full-time faculty that we’ve brought in while I’ve

been the dean,” Miller confides. “The faculty here are so dedicated and driven to keep improving things. I’ve always been impressed by what they do, and they make the rest of us look good.”

“With curriculums and programs, we always work our best to look into your interests, and sees what things you’ve done in your life that have been enjoyable,” Miller said. “From there, we then look into what kind of programs, or careers lineup with each other. It may mean that you get your Associate Arts degree, and then transfer somewhere else, or it may mean that you pick one of our career programs.

If you love what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life.”

“Be perseverant, and how you do that depends on you,” Miller advises.

“Sometimes it’s not easy, but what I would recommend to people is that we have a lot of resources here at the college. We have a lot of good services here: the counseling center, advising center, multicultural center, women’s center, LGBTQ+ center, and we just recently started psych services which is a really good service.”

“Sometimes it’s best to admit when you’re struggling, and not just saying ‘it’s overwhelming, I can’t do it I’m just going to drop my class.’” Miller continues. “It’s better to dig down and say ‘this isn’t working, who do I need to see?’... it’s a matter of being perseverant and being resilient.

Sometimes all you can do is withdraw, sometimes life overwhelms you and that’s

okay. It’s not the end of the world, you can start again the next semester.”

“My job when I come through the door everyday is to ensure student success,” Miller continued. “End of the bottom line, it’s not about signing papers or the curriculum; although, those things would be important eventually, but immediately it’s about student success.”

“What can we do? What

can we change? What can we improve? How can we help students success more and faster appropriately?

All of these services that we have are all geared towards these things...Everyone here is trying to help students to do the best they can,” Miller said.

“I live by ‘presumed positive intent.’ It’s very easy to become cynical and skeptical, and to think people are

trying to pull a fast one on you. If you presumed that the person you’re interacting with has positive intent with what they’re doing, then the interaction goes much better,” Miller concludes. “If you’re assuming they’re trying to pull a fast one on you, then it becomes a negative experience for you. People can pick up on the negative vibrations and they respond accordingly.”

Roland Miller is the Dean of Communication Arts and Humanities & Fine Arts at CLC Photo courtesy of John Tylko

Culinary students invite CLC to reception The College of Lake County’s Grayslake Campus will be hosting the annual Garde Manger reception, inviting guests to enjoy student-prepared dishes while helping raise funds for scholarships on Friday, May 4 from 5:307:30 p.m.

Students in CLC’s hospitality and culinary management program will serve their final projects from a Garde Manger class.

The French term refers to

foods prepared in the cold kitchen, such as smoked meats, sausages, pâtés (finely or coarsely ground blends of meats and seasonings) and terrines (ground blends of meats, vegetables or seafoods and seasonings packed in a loaf-shaped mold).

Additionally, students in CLC’s advanced baking and pastry classes will serve breads and desserts such as chocolate financier with French macaroons.

The delectables are a showpiece of techniques and products students have learned throughout the semester. Beer, wine, signature cocktails and soft drinks will be available for purchase with appropriate ID. Stop by and try some great food prepared by our hospitality and culinary management students, enjoy some great company and let the good times roll,” said Instructor Chef

William Vena.

Admission is $20 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.

All proceeds benefit CLC’s hospitality and culinary management student scholarships.

Tickets are available at the Grayslake Campus, in the Business and Social Sciences division office, Room T302, or in Prairie, the student-managed restaurant in the Lower Level A Wing (during lunchtime

hours only).

For tickets, call the Business and Social Sciences division office at (847) 543-2047. Or contact Prairie at (847) 543-2527 or prairie@clcillinois.edu.

For more information on the hospitality and culinary management program, visit www.clcillinois.edu/ programs/hcm. For details on the Prairie restaurant’s hours and menu, visit www.clcillinois.edu/prairie.

News

THE CHRONICLE Page 4 | Monday, April 30, 2018

CLC celebrates Earth Week with many events Rachel Schultz

News Editor

The College of Lake County’s Horticulture Department hosted a plant sale and vendor fair as part of a series of environmentally-themed events to celebrate Earth Week April 19.

Among the vendors featured was Sitka Salmon Shares, a fisherman-owned company based in Sitka, Alaska.

Sitka Salmon Shares cuts out the normal middle man by delivering fresh wildcaught salmon directly from its fishermen to consumers who are part of its program.

“Our primary focus is our CFS Shares Program,” said Jessie Brown, representing the company. “It follows the CSA model.”

CSA stands for “Community Supported Agriculture.” That means that people pay for a share of a farm’s produce (in this case, salmon), and in return, receive a portion of the produce at regular intervals throughout the season.

The Liberty Prairie Foundation was another organization featured.

It works to train highschool age and college students in internship programs and other job training programs, said Ninett Martinez, an intern with the Foundation.

Their table featured produce from Prairie Crossing Farm, an organic farm in Grayslake, that is owned by the organization, and is where most of the education and training takes place.

“We teach them (the interns) about sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and the importance of it,” Martinez said.

The farm does events for visitors year-long.

It was involved in the Lake County Farm Stroll last fall, along with the CLC Learning Farm and other area farms.

The farm is having a plant sale and open house event from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, May 12.

The CLC Learning Farm, part of the Horticulture Department’s program to teach students about organic farming, sold a va-

riety of early spring plants and herbs like sage, rosemary, various varieties of lettuce, and spinach.

The unseasonably cold weather slowed down the crops this year, said Rosie Schweier, a horticulture student who works on the farm.

“We had hoped to have radishes by now, and our carrots are a little too small,” Schweier said.

Some of the plants grow outside.

“The biggest problem we have,” Schweier said, “is that the hose freezes, so we have to bring it inside and thaw it out.”

The college found ways of coping with the late snow and cold temperatures, though.

“We added heaters to our greenhouses,” said Joe Rushforth, who also works on the CLC farm.

“That allowed us to get a head start on transplanting.”

Gretta’s Goats, a goat farm that sells handcrafted soap and cheese made from goat milk, and Annie’s Apiary, which sold beeswax soap and honey, and Holcomb Hollow, which featured homemade gluten-free, vegan, and dairy-free cookies and

other goodies. wthey are using too much for these classes, then I have to respect that, even though these are classes that can be beneficial for certain students.”

Raasch said that if the college decides to keep Petrulis as a faculty member, they must help him find another position.

“If he has proven to be a good employee, then I don’t see any reason to get rid of him,” he said. “However, I do not see what they could do with him if they are getting rid of the programs, unless he can teach another class.”

Plants growing within CLC’s Horticulture Department.

Photo by Rachel Schultz

CLC libraries should value textbook materials Dear Editor, I am troubled by the process of divestiture of print materials from the Grayslake Campus Library.

First, I am troubled that the library will be undergoing a ‘renovation’ which will reduce library space from the current two floors to one floor.

We should not be devaluating the function of the library in the education of our students.

Not only is it a place for students to access educational materials, but it is also valuable real estate for our students to find a quiet study space within the rather hectic walls of CLC. Often the library is the only retreat some of these students have from chaotic homes, the only quiet space for working on their assignments and for uninterrupted reading.

Secondly, I am troubled that the library is using,

‘best practices’ to get rid of books without identifying for faculty what materials would be removed.

Earlier this semester I went to the library stacks to find books which I have been bringing into my composition classroom for years to illustrate where to find answers to the research questions which we raise in class regarding works of literature.

Imagine my surprise upon finding that very few were left on the shelves.

By not consulting with the faculty about what book resources we need to do our jobs, and which volumes we would prefer the library to retain because of their importance in our field, the CLC Library is effectively cutting itself off from being an integral partner, an extension, of our educational mission.

Yes, many of those resources are now available as electronic resources,

but many are not. And the process of research and reading from hard copy is different from utilizing electronic sources.

A study by Patricia A. Alexander and Lauren M. Singer and published in Business Insider in October 2017 shows that “students learn way more effectively from print textbooks than screens.”

Another reason I find this troubling is that I relied on hard copy resources to show my students an alternative way to research— non-electronic for, not only the technology challenged students, but also because some students feel more comfortable with the physical landscape of text on pages, seeing the actual special relationship of the particular article within the forest of other like articles.

A search of databases for material on an author or a work of literature will

yield a handful of ranked resources, of which most students will select the first few offered.

When searching a literary encyclopedia, the student will see the actual volume of materials on the subject and may winnow down into discovering something new that they didn’t even know to search for.

Many of our students do not have the bandwidth to connect with the internet to do their research electronically from home. And, yes, we offer electronic devices here on campus, but that assumes that our students, many of whom work two jobs and have home obligations, can come to campus to avail themselves of these resources.

Finally, I wonder about the transparency of our divestiture of these College of Lake County materials.

If we wish to get rid of a filing cabinet around here,

we need to go through several steps of publicly advertising the materials and a public auction to sell off CLC property.

I know that we used to have several autographed books by Ray Bradbury, for example, which were probably worth quite a bit.

Who bought them? What price did they pay? Are wholesaler going through our stacks and selecting which books are most profitable for them? What is the selection process for choosing who will purchase these books? I would like to see more transparency in this process.

I hope that we are not settling on, “good enough” for our students just because we are a community college.

Michael F. Latza English Instructor, Editor— Willow Review College of Lake County Comm/Arts Div.

Features

THE CHRONICLE Page 5 | Monday, April 30, 2018

CLC students named to Academic Team Kevin Tellez

Features Editor Two students from the College of Lake County were named to the All-Illinois Academic Team by Phi Theta Kappa early February.

Kimberly Beckus and Bernard Kondenar were recognized with medallions and certificates of achievement at the PTK Awards Banquet on April 11, along with other nominees for other awards from community colleges across Illinois.

Beckus and Kodenar were also nominated for the AllUSA Academic Team, which grants them eligibility to earn additional scholarships from PTK to help fund their educational endeavors.

“The All-Illinois, AllUSA, and the Hites’ trans-

fer award together equal $13,000, precisely the shortfall on tuition to my chosen school,” Kondenar said.

“Being that it was so exact, serendipitous if you will, I feel strongly that I am on the right path.”

“I was chosen for these awards based on my commitment to Scholarship, Leadership, and Service- the tenets of PTK,” he said.

“Being chosen for this award was both an honor and a blessing,” Beckus said. “My education has always been number one for me and I set very high standards for myself. Getting the recognition for my academic achievement makes me feel good and helps me continue to strive for excellence in my field. “ Beckus is a part of many honor societies, such as the

National Society of Leadership and Success, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society.

“I have volunteered for numerous organizations as well as had involvement in community outreach and ministry programs,” Beckus added.

Beckus said that keeping a positive perspective keeps her motivated.

“I take a strengths-based perspective and look for the positive in things,” she said.

“I don’t focus on my shortcomings since that can tend to make me feel discouraged.”

One of the things that Beckus struggles with is a hearing disability.

“I have struggled with learning differences my whole life because of my

inability to hear,” she said, “but that only makes me try harder and push for greater goals. I don’t let my shortcomings hold me back and I always try to feel as equally abled as my peers.”

“My advice to others aiming to win an award like my own would be to never give up and always fight for your dreams,” Beckus said. “If you’re going down a path that isn’t working for you, try another. Reach out to other when your in need and utilize all resources available to you. Be the change you’d like to see in the world. Difficult paths tend to lead to beautiful destinations.”

Kondenar said that another good piece of advice is to take advantage of what CLC offers.

“CLC offers a very diverse variety of ways to meet the

challenges that come with scholarship, leadership, and service,” Kondenar said. “I have taken the equivalent of three degrees worth of classes, over several years, at CLC. My first two, I went to class and then went home.

That experience still comes with a degree, but in terms of personal fulfillment, richness of experience, and creating life-changing opportunities it pales in comparison to what happens when you get involved.”

“If I had to offer a single piece of advice on how to reach the same goals that I have, I would suggest a visit to student activities,” Kondenar concludes. “Talk to Jorge Tennin. When it comes to student success, he is generous to a fault.”

CLC literary publications host annual readings Nick Sinclair

Layout Editor The College of Lake County’s publications of creative works, Willow Review and Prairie Voices, had readings to celebrate their new 2018 editions April 17 and 26.

Willow Review and Prairie Voices consist of poems, short stories, essays, and artwork by CLC students, faculty, and staff, or authors in the Lake County area.

Willow Review is an open submission journal while Prairie Voices is a studentonly publication. Willow Review is a literary journal which has been successful at CLC for 45 years.

Mike Latza, Editor of Willow Review, is passionate about the journal and the world of literature.

“Willow Review allows us the chance to showcase new works, to bring them into the light of day,” Latza said. “Every poem, story, or creative nonfiction work has to be published somewhere first, and we get to do that here.”

Faculty should consider using one or both of these journals as part of their classroom instruction.

Latza believes this could be a great opportunity for

faculty and students, as well as CLC as a whole, to interact with works from our own peers.

“You and your students are supporting CLC student authors and artists,” Latza said. “These published works are models of organization, form, and structure, and can inspire other students to get their own publication credits.”

Despite the limited advertisement of the journal, Willow Review nevertheless extends further than just the CLC community, receiving submissions from all over the US and the world.

“I wish we had more time to get the word out on Willow Review,” Latza said. “However, I only get three hours of alternate load to edit the magazine, and all the other editors are volunteers who give their time graciously, but are otherwise very busy. Still, through the cooperation of all parties and departments, we put out a pretty good magazine.”

Latza stresses the importance of story, and Willow Review further emphasizes, as well as showcases those stories.

“Without story our society would cease to function,” he said. “We give instructions through story, we celebrate

history through story, we pass on culture through story. Without story, wouldn’t TV be a little dull? Support for Willow Review and other writing journals validates our need for story.”

“Willow Review is only $7, and Prairie Voices is $10. About the same cost as a value meal. And will last much longer,” Latza said.

The other literary journal CLC produces is Prairie Voices, whose editor has been Nick Schevera for the past 20 years.

“Prairie Voices is a collection of student writing and art which is published annually in April,” Schevera said. “It represents the diverse voices of the student community of the College of Lake County.”

As a literary enthusiast, Schevera finds it a joy to be a part of Prairie Voices, from reading students’ original work to listening to the group of students who help select the pieces that will be published discuss the merit of each work.

“Prairie Voices is the only CLC student publication that showcases the writing and art of the students here,” he said. “For many students, it is the first time that they are published in a professional journal and this can encourage them to pursue

their writing. Faculty can use the publication in their classes to serve as models of good writing.”

Schevera is very proud of the current and consistently improving Prairie Voices; however, he, just like Latza, wishes it was better advertised to students.

“I would like more faculty to encourage their students from all disciplines -to submit their work,” Schevera said. “Many have the idea that the journal accepts only creative writing - but all sorts of writing is accepted.

I would also like more faculty to attend the annual

reading and reception.”

Besides submitting a piece, students can also get involved with selecting the pieces by contacting Nick Schevera at 847-543-2959 or nschevera@clcillinois. edu.

Schevera would provide students with the submissions in early December and they will read and make their choices over the winter break.

The 2018 editions of Willow Review and Prairie Voices are now available to purchase at the CLC Bookstore.

Charlene Walkanof reading her piece “Dog Days.”

Photo by Nick Sinclair

Features

THE CHRONICLE Page 6 | Monday, April 30, 2018

Bonnie Heleniak, 18, from Ingleside, is a first-year student at CLC who embraces her sexuality through creativity despite facing struggles coming from a small town.

Photo by DIana Panuncial

Student finds peace with own sexuality at CLC Diana Panuncial Editor-in-Chief

A College of Lake County student uses creativity to express her identity and her sexuality after struggling with living in a small town.

Bonnie Heleniak, 18, of Ingleside, is a first-year English major at CLC. Originally from Johnsburg, she first took college classes at McHenry County College.

“I didn’t like the campus at MCC much and I already knew a lot of people going there,” Heleniak said, “so I thought going to CLC would be a way to start new.”

Heleniak is currently taking English 222, CLC’s Creative Writing class.

“I want to be an independent writer,” she said. “It’s really the only thing that I enjoy and am good at.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a writer,” she said. “When I was younger I would get notebooks, and instead of writing in them for school, I would write stories.”

She said that writing stories is what she wants to do “even if it isn’t a ‘smart’ decision.”

Heleniak writes in every

genre, but her main interest in science-fiction or fantasy writing. She is currently writing a book titled “Perfect Kingdom.”

“It’s about a very isolated little kingdom with a queen who has gone through a lot,” she said.

Heleniak said the book is about the queen’s journey as people try to take over her kingdom, which is the only “magical” kingdom in her universe.

“When I first started it, I wrote it in between classes, so I wrote it in a notebook,” she said. “I had about 30 handwritten pages. Now I have an ongoing Word document.”

The idea first came to life in Heleniak’s high school creative writing class. The book features two queens as love interests, which Heleniak thought was a minor detail until her teacher failed her because of it.

“I had to redo the story,” she said. “It was because they were gay, but that was just a detail. My teacher was like, ‘You can’t have this in here if it’s not the central conflict.’”

“All I could think of was that she wouldn’t tell me

that if the characters were straight,” she said.

Heleniak said that living in Johnsburg was “awful” because of its political climate.

“Everyone politically was just the exact opposite of me,” she said. “It’s difficult when people in your town can be homophobic because I’m bisexual.”

Heleniak said that she had always known she was bisexual. She told her friends as a freshman in high school, but didn’t come out to her mother until she was a junior.

“I have depression and anxiety,” she said, “so when I had a depressive episode and my mom first noticed, it really scared her, because she didn’t know how to help me. She brought me to a therapist and I didn’t want to go.”

Heleniak said that when she got to the therapist, the therapist immediately told her that she should “get married, have children, and live on a farm with them” in order to get over her depression.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know about that. I’m pretty sure I’m gay,’” Heleniak said.

“And then the therapist didn’t talk to me for the rest of the time.”

“At the time, I still hadn’t told my mom I was bi, so I was an awful, crying mess on the way home,” she said.

“I was trying to tell her that I couldn’t go back to that therapist and she was asking my why I couldn’t go back.

So I told her it was because I was bisexual and she didn’t know what it meant.”

“It was awful, a vulnerable spot, and she on top of that didn’t know what it meant,” Heleniak said. “I know it came from a good place, but it was just not a fun time.”

Now, Heleniak is out and more accepting of her sexuality. Her mother is also supportive.

She finds that going to CLC has taken a “weight off her shoulders.”

“My grandpa on my mom’s side took classes here a couple of years ago,” she said. “He told me, from a good place, ‘Be prepared to see a lot of girls holding hands. It’s a whole new world, it’s gonna be good for you.’ It’s just so fundamentally different here.”

“It’s not a difference you’re consciously aware

of, but it’s different at its roots,” Heleniak said. “I don’t have to word things carefully. In high school, I could’ve never written an essay about gay culture. I would immediately fail.”

She said that optimal selfexpression is the best way to understand yourself.

“If you’re somewhere where you have to filter your creativity or your sexuality, or even just a whole list of things that make you who you are,” she said, “then you’re not giving yourself justice.”

Heleniak said that it’s important to use your voice through a positive outlet to stand up for yourself, especially when it comes to sexuality.

“I think that being comfortable with your sexuality has a lot to do with accepting that it’s a part of who you are,” she said. “It’s sort of the same as saying that I love music. It’s a fact. If people don’t know about their sexuality or don’t have a positive outlet towards it, then if I have a voice, I might as well use it in my writing or through creativity.”

Features

THE CHRONICLE Page 7 | Monday, April 30, 2018

CLC beekeeper can’t stop buzzing about passion Juan Toledo

Opinion Editor

Passion doesn’t begin to describe Edward Popelka’s relationship with bees.

Recently, Popelka helped the coordination, design, and construction for CLC’s 2016 horticulture course, which was recently named an affiliate of Bee Campus USA, a distinction granted

by Bee City USA, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that recognizes college campuses’ efforts in promoting bee conservation and the role of pollinators in maintaining food supplies.

But CLC’s resident beekeeper has been developing a bond with these tiny black and yellow buzzers for eight years.

“I started treating my allergies in 2005. I bought honey from a dude across the street for about 3 years, but he ran out,” Popelka

said. “By 2009, I decided I wanted to be beekeeper so I took classes here at our college, Beekeeping 101, with Larry Krengel.”

Popelka tried acquiring a taste for the honey from local farm stands, but wasn’t satisfied with their quality.

“That’s when I said, ‘Ed, if you wanna know where your honey comes from, you gotta be the beekeeper,’” Popelka said.

And, by 2010, Popelka had attained his first two hives.

“I drove to the mountains of Nashville, Tennessee because I wanted the climate (for the bees) to be very similar to ours,” he said.

“I wanted to meet the beekeeper, I wanted to talk to him, I wanted to know if he loved his bees because if he was just in it for the money then it wouldn’t be worth the trip.”

Popelka has befriended his bees ever since.

“I’m listening to them, I’m introducing myself to them,” Popelka said. “Bees see you in infrared, they can see our heat but they smell your breathe, so they can differentiate us by the carbon dioxide we expel.”

“I love our bees, and they’re teaching me so much,” he said. “They’re getting me out in nature.

Sometimes they get me to slow down a little bit.”

In tending to the bee population, Popelka has learned to value the bee population’s contribution to our ecology, and the what human related activities are doing to offset their influence.

“Bees hate monocultures, and we are famous for creating monocultures like golf courses,” Popelka said. “It’s an environmental nightmare. We all do it because we think it looks pretty, but the best thing you can do for the bees in your yard is to let your weeds grow.”

“Don’t plant flowers, especially buy flowers from ACE hardware, Menards or Lowe’s,” he said, “because it’s most likely laced with neo-nicotinate based pesticides, so know where you’re getting your pesticides from, but plant more trees.”

Popelka also encourages everyone to put forth an effort to help protect the bee population, but warns anyone who seeks to one day become a beekeeper to consider the responsibilities that come along with it.

“I think there’s a common misconception that beekeepers are doing a great service to society if you’re getting bees and keeping bees, but you could be doing just the opposite,” Popelka said. “A beekeeper that isn’t attentive could be making it worse for all the other beekeepers.”

“I was very selective about where I got my bees from,”

he said, “and if you’re going to get bees, be super uber selective of where you get your bees from because it’s so easy to get bad bees.”

Popelka also uses the excess wax from the honeycombs to make a variety of utensils like candles and wax paper, which he claims helps decrease his plastic consumption.

“Plastic is ruining our planet,” he said. “We have to cut it out. We have to make better choices. I’m done with plastic.”

Popelka initially used plastic frames for his hives, but soon discovered his bees hate plastic frames.

“I can put this plastic frames over their head, and they’ll be like ‘dude what are you giving us?’” Popelka said. “I’ll have to coat the plastic with bees wax before they’ll even touch them. It’s like I have to force them to do it, and sometimes they’ll leave.”

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A&E

THE CHRONICLE Page 8 | Monday, April 30, 2018

Three brothers shine at Annual CLC Student Art Competition Daniel Lynch A&E Editor

The 37th Annual CLC Student Art Competition will be featured at the College of Lake County’s Grayslake campus from April 6-May 5.

In a fun turn of events, the competition features incredible work from three brothers who are also students: Ricardo, Antonio, and Juan Guzman.

“During high school I would take every open class period I had to be in the art rooms,” Ricardo, a major in elementary art education, said.

“Art has always just been a huge escape for me personally just to be able to take my mind off everything and just focus on the project in front of me,” he said.

Ricardo entered two pieces in the competition.

“Shattered Thoughts” was

a gorgeous abstract picture depicting a women relaxing against enormous medical pills, the other being a Notan tribal pattern cut with a knife.

Antonio is majoring in graphic design. For his submission, he designed a jeep made out of cardboard for the exhibit.

He described how he worked on it for a three to five hours a day for a week.

“I like to challenge myself,” Antonio said.

He said when someone described how difficult it was to make a car out of cardboard, that’s when he decided that would be the project he would put his work into.

The piece is a certain eyecatcher as visitors enter the gallery. Antonio’s attention to details is especially impressive.

The third brother, Juan, is majoring in digital media graphic design.

Juan was described as the last brother to join the trio in their creative hobby.

Juan won a $50 prize for his 3D cubic landscape depicting an island. He described the challenges in making his piece.

“Some of the process for this project was a challenge since it was my first time using artificial water to create that translucent water effect that I had in mind so I didn’t know how it would turn out,” he said. “There was a lot of trial and error to figure out how the whole project would work out.”

The brothers described their comradery with a mild competitive side that is mostly centered in their support for each other.

“The best part of being a triplet when we are all majoring in some sort of art direction,” Ricardo said, describing their relationship, “is just bouncing ideas off each other or if one of us is

“Shattered Thoughts,” an original piece by Ricardo Guzman.

Photo by Daniel Lynch

stuck on how to do an area of art the other can pitch in an idea or show how to overcome that obstacle.”

The pieces along with

other students are currently on display at the CLC art exhibit and will continue to be until May 5.

Left, 3D cardboard jeep by Antonio Guzman. Right, 3D landscape by Juan Guzman.

Photos by Daniel Lynch

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A&E

THE CHRONICLE Page 10 | Monday, April 30, 2018

Video game adaptation rampages expectations Peter Anders

Staff Reporter

“Rampage” is a science fiction action movie directed by Brad Peyton and based on the classic video game series of the same name released in theaters on April 13.

“Rampage” follows the adventures of Davis Okoye, a primatologist and head of an anti-poaching unit. When one of the gorillas, named George, he is overseeing is sprayed by a chemical from a crashed satellite, George grows both in size and in aggression and begins to cause chaos.

Now, Davis must race against time and an evil corporation to find a cure for George, but the Gorilla is not the only creature that has been mutated by the toxin.

Earlier this year I made a joke online where I asked, “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Rampage was the movie that broke the infamous ‘video game curse’?”

Yet here we are, and I have to say “Rampage” is the best video game movie we have had to date, managing to break the curse and deliver a movie that is barely above average.

But for a film based on a video game, that is an accomplishment.

There is one word that I would argue that explains why Rampage is as fun as it is (well, technically two): The Rock.

Dwayne Johnson is without question, one of the most charismatic actors we have in Hollywood today, and he carries this movie with ease.

Parts of the movie that should not work, such as the friendship between George and Davis, work because of him.

He is always the best part of every movie he is in, except “Doom,” and Rampage is no exception.

His line delivery is always on point, and always delivers the effect it is going for in terms of getting emotions from the audience.

The jokes work when he makes them, the drama is sold by him, the anger is sold by him, whenever he is onscreen, the movie works, which is 90% of the time.

What is in the 10% of the

film where the Rock is not really in the movie?

Well, that is where the film’s problems begin to show.

This film has four credited writers (five, if you want to include the Rock, who has said publicly he worked on it even though he does not get credited in the film).

I suspect this film may have had different versions of the script, and the final result is one where the studio chose all the best parts from each draft and put them together, and the result is some plot threads are handled, oddly.

For instance, early in the movie we are introduced to a team of mercenaries that are referred to by the main villain as “merchants of death” led by Burke played by Joe Manganiello, dispatched by the evil company to “clean up” the situation.

This merc group is introduced and shot like they are going to be one of the villains that is going to face off against David at the film’s climax.

He is named Burke after all, which is an obvious reference to Paul Reiser’s sleazy corporate villain character from Aliens.

Yet his part in the movie last for about, the end of the first act. Total screen time for these mercs clocks at around 15 minutes.

I wonder if in one draft, he would have played a larger part.

I like Manganiello as a villainous character, and

the way they set this team up might as well have them say “Hey Burke, remembered when we stomped on those kitties? That was hilarious.” It just feels tonally unusual.

The villains we do get throughout the movie, Claire Wyden (played by Malin Akerman) and Brett Wyden (played by Jake Lacy), are utter throwaways and hilariously unthreatening.

Never for a moment did I consider them a legit threat to the heroes, even when they are holding our heroes at gunpoint.

The fact that I never understood what they hoped to achieve by being villainous, is a mark against the film.

They could have been easily cut out of the film and the film would be better for it, the monsters are good enough obstacles for our heroes that they feel unneeded.

The heroes we follow are okay. David is thinly written but the Rock manages to make him feel like an interesting character we gravitate towards, even when his backstory is rather obvious.

Dr. Kate Caldwell, played

by Naomie Harris, is developed well enough for the purpose of the film, but I will not remember her in a week from now.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Harvey Russell, an agent of an unnamed government agency, who is endearing due to his performance and good comedic

timing, he fulfills a purpose and he’s fine.

But what everyone comes to this movie to see, is the action and wanton destruction. The film delivers that in spades and it is truly spectacular.

It took me back to older Godzilla movies, but with modern special effects that look phenomenal throughout.

“Rampage” has some surprisingly brutal scenes of carnage, where limbs can be seen being cut off and eaten, and blood is clearly visible on corpses.

I’m surprised that it is a PG-13 film, it is not anything kids can’t handle but it was something that caught me by surprise.

The scenes where the army hilariously gets destroyed by the monsters are great.

The monster designs, while not spectacularly creative (“Annihilation” set a new standard for monster designs, this doesn’t hold a candle to it), are pretty good.

The gator and the wolf are both well animated and are formidable foes for George to face off against.

The last act of the movie feels like nothing but destruction, but it truly a sight to behold.

The movie deviates from the source material, and that is going to probably annoy some people, but I find the whole idea that the movie should be faithful to a video game that has barely any plot (and what plot it does

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars in his new movie “Rampage”

have is stupid) rather hilarious.

Other than name changes and some plot elements being added, it is very faithful I would argue, to the spirit of the games: the games were stupid, and so is the movie.

Just because something is faithful to their source material does not make it any better (see: “Warcraft,” “Assassin’s Creed”).

“Rampage” knows it’s stupid, it knows its schlock, and it does not try to pretend it is anything more than it is.

There is something to appreciate about a movie that does not try to be more than what it is, it just tries to execute it’s goals well.

“Rampage” succeeds where other video game movies fail by being able to stand on its own as a disaster movie and not relying on the game.

It knows what it wants to do, and it uses elements of the video game to get there.

“Tomb Raider” (2018) was the best video game movie made, and “Rampage” is superior to that.

Brad Peyton and Johnson have managed to create the first video game movie that is above-average.

Hopefully this upward trend in quality for game movies continues. Hopefully “Detective Pikachu” (greenlit to hop on the popularity of Pokemon Go), due to release May 10 next year, will be continue the trend.

Photo courtesy of Polygon

A&E

Page 11 | Monday, April 30, 2018

CLC students direct and star in original performance Rebecca Martinez Staff Reporter College of Lake County theater students took center stage at their annual showcase of “Play On!” April 13-21 at the James Lumber Center.

Students did not only star in the three-act play, but they wrote, produced, staged, and directed them as well.

Each part in the play depicted a romantic story, complete with inventive plotlines and amusing dialogue.

“A Relationship-Abridged” by Seth Kramer captured Edward and Abby, played by Dylan Thomas and Jennifer Hinojosa, from the turbulent beginning of their relationship through its explosive end.

Though their hilarious first meeting was characterized by Edward’s poor use of pickup lines, much to Abby’s disinterest, the two still find it possible to form

a relationship.

From their first date and impressions, to their second date and first kiss, Edward and Abby narrate their true thoughts of each other to the audience, effortlessly playing up the comedy as they remain ridiculously honest.

One of the most prominent scenes takes place right when Edward drops Abby off at her house after their date, and the two begin to separate without a goodnight kiss; however, as the two realize their mistake, they run dramatically towards each other, as the classic slow-motion running track played in films sounds behind them, a magenta spotlight surrounding them as they share their first kiss.

“A Relationship-Abridged” was particularly realistic, straight down to the immediate replay of events after each date to Edward and Abby’s friends over the phone.

With the crude dialogue

and interaction between Thomas and Hinojosa, “Play On!” got off to an uproarious start.

“Self Torture and Strenuous Exercise” by Harry Kondoleon, and starring Maria Cervantes, Ben Compton, Edith Graham, and Joshua Pride, resides as one of the more dramatic, soap opera-esque plots of “Play On!” and depicts 2 couples amidst their affairs and inner turmoils.

Opening on dinner between Alvin, his wife, Beth, and close friend, Carl, it’s obvious from Alvin’s first appearance that he’s both eccentric and willfully oblivious towards almost everything.

Believing Adel, Carl’s wife, to be dead, and disregarding the affair between Carl and Beth, Alvin doesn’t accept very many realities.

Once Adel enters the mix, Alvin begins to see some clarity, contrasting with Adel’s paranoia about Carl

and his real intentions.

Essentially, Adel thinks Carl wants to kill her, but is nearly coaxed back into his arms the second she confronts him, and Beth regrets her and Carl’s affair due to his impulsivity.

In the midst of all this nail biting drama, a line “Somebody make something matter,” repeats throughout the scene, and ironically slices through all the theatrics.

“Self Torture and Strenuous Exercise” tells a chaotic, yet engrossing story of conflicting relationships.

“Post-its®️ (Notes on a Marriage)” by Paul Dooley and Winnie Holzman, reigns as the sentimental romantic comedy of the bunch.

The story, told through a series of post-it notes, follows a couple as they grow from basic strangers, to devoted husband and wife, played by Robert Williams, amd Emmalee Berger.

Though the couple experience hardships, like how

their communication had declined down to the few words on a post-it, and the fears of their daughter dating a boy in college, ot even the more mundane burdens, like the lack of milk in the fridge: they persevered.

The couple reaches their elderly years quickly, time passing by unknowingly, and their new dilemmas are retirement and walking with canes.

However, the lasting note of this “Post-its®️ (Notes on a Marriage)” is rooted in the touching finale, when the husband is left widowed by his wife, and left to grieve amid the plethora of post-its littering their kitchen.

William and Berger’s delivery of the final lines of dialogue certainly touched the hearts in the audience, and invoked genuine empathy for the widowed husband, with its “Notebook” level of poignancy.

Just another April morning at CLC. Cartoon by Jaron Arminger 0and Hannah Strassburger

another April morning at CLC.

Cartoon by Daniel Lynch and Hannah Strassburger

Opinion

THE CHRONICLE Page 12 | Monday, April 30, 2018

CLC should push for a higher voter turnout Juan Toledo

Opinion Editor

In March 2016, CLC’s Student Government Association petitioned to make the college an early voting site in hopes to increase student involvement in local, state and national politics.

Former SGA President Connor Mallon understood that the rigorous schedules college students retain can make it difficult to for them to find the time to travel to their local polling place, which is why he introduced the idea to the CLC Board Members.

To my knowledge, this was the first and only time the college had been an early voting site, which is a bit disheartening considering Lake County already has astounding low voter turnout.

During the March 20 Primary Election, of the 439,000 registered vot-

ers, only 22.49 percent participated. And, in 2017, for Lake County’s consolidated election, turnout was at 9.31 percent.

As a result, it seems like the disconnect between the state and its residents continues to have a lasting impact on students without them realizing it.

On April 5 and 10, I asked five students at the Grayslake campus for their opinions on CLC’s $3 tuition increase for the fall semester; in addition to being unaware of the increase, students were also unaware to the reason behind it.

This prompted me to ask each student if they had voted in the primaries this past March, all had said they didn’t vote because of their conflicting schedule, even if they felt they should have.

Since 2015, the college has had to make gradual increases in tuition rates to levy the state’s budget im-

VOTE Graphic by Hannah Strassburger

passe, but in the midst of a financial crisis the college had failed to inform students on how state politics could affect their tenure at CLC. At an institution level,

WHERE

there should be a priority to the college to provide this service to their students. There is an opportunity being missed to have students engage in political discourse that could

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inform them on local issues like the budget impasse.

Politics can sometimes be a taboo topic of conversations, but by adopting this function into CLC’s environment, it could foreseeably ease fragile tensions between political ideologies by opening doors for students to gain different perspective from across the socio-economic spectrum.

If CLC were made an early voting site, it would allow for all registered voters and residents of Lake County that attend CLC to easily and conveniently vote when they come here to class or work.

When the petition was introduced, there hadn’t been any disagreements between the CLC Board Members and the County Clerk’s office to streamline the project.

In order for the college to become an early voting site, CLC would have to establish areas on campus specifically for the early voting and find staff willing to work 30 days a year, 15 for primaries and 15 for general elections, a small task that could very well have a lasting impact on the community.

In the meantime, I recommend students get involved as possible. Read various news and academic sources and stay up to date on current affairs by watching debates this upcoming fall for the midterm elections.

Opinion

THE CHRONICLE Page 13 | Monday, April 30, 2018

New CLC president must remember college’s identity Diana Panuncial

Editor-in-Chief

As the College of Lake County says goodbye to current interim president Rich Haney and transitions Lori M. Suddick in as its new president, the school faces choices that will determine what its identity will be as it enters its 50th year.

Haney will be transferring to Mesa Community College in Arizona in the fall to assume his position as president.

Because the job of a college president is never done, he is leaving behind some unfinished business, just as former CLC president Jerry Weber did last spring.

That unfinished business will now be incoming president Suddick’s responsibility, and it is of utmost importance that she does her best to handle these affairs and ask herself what kind of school this is-and should be.

These affairs include the dismissal of David Petrulis, the full-time and tenured faculty member who was “honorably” dismissed this spring with the elimination of the architectural program, DACA students are also still feeling uncertain and

needing support in the political climate with the U.S. president eager to betray them, the state budget crisis limitations on how the campus can operate.

Above all, these questions will be answered amid increasing speculation that CLC is becoming more like a business and less like an educational institution.

I spoke with Suddick at the beginning of the semester.

Given her answers to my questions, I wrote an editorial about suggestions I had for her as she took office at CLC. In my last article as the Chronicle editor, I’m going to do that again because the challenges are more urgent than they were in January.

Suddick must address the many issues that remain unresolved after Haney’s interim term.

First, the case of Petrulis.

Haney was not able to shed much light on Petrulis’s status after his dismissal, and after several attempts to contact Craig Rich, who is president of CLC’s faculty union, the community is still left in the dark on his status. The current rumor is to expect the worst-- and possible litigation as a result.

If the situation is resolved before Suddick assumes the

presidency, she may not be able to have a say on Petrulis’ status. She may be stuck watching it play out in a court case and with a sense that common decency could have avoided.

If the worst has happened, I hope that she learns from the outcomes and, if ever faced with the same dilemma (hopefully not), that she makes the right decision to find a place for the faculty member who spent 14 years of his life at this college, which loves to tell how warm and friendly it is.

I hope that she notices the way CLC students talk fondly about professors like Petrulis, and how much they care about the professors they enjoy. CLC professors do a good job of connecting with students past handing out assignments and giving grades. They look at this job as more than a paycheck and should be recognized.

Next, the nature of DACA students and their place on campus.

Haney said over email that he has personally and publicly advocated for DACA students, and again, I hope that Suddick does the same and more forcefully. This isn’t a normal dispute. The stakes are high, and the cruelty is toxic.

In our January interview, she said she aims to create a space where DACA students can pursue an education safely and successfully. Although there is no telling the future, I hope that regardless of how the political climate ebbs and flows whether in favor or against DACA students, that Suddick stays true to her words.

She will do that with concrete action. Deeds prove the truth of words.

CLC will also see another increase in tuition next semester, which will continue to restrict the way the college operates.

If the increase in tuition is out of the college’s hands due to the state budget, then the college should begin advocating for students to participate in voting for elected officials.

This can be as simple as making CLC an early voting site again, so that students don’t have to add another item on their to-do list and can participate in elections at school rather than traveling elsewhere.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the president must decide what CLC is-- a school or a corporation.

The speculation that CLC is running more like a business than it is an educational institu-

tion isn’t irrational.

For some teachers and students, the speculation is caused by watching CLC remove bulletin boards and switch to monitors.

For others, it’s watching the college fund new programs while letting the less popular ones die out-- and again, dismissing full-time faculty members.

Even disposing of valuable archives that are part of the college’s history to make new space as people thinking that’s what a corporation would do.

Whatever the college faces next year and however the Chronicle chooses to cover it, I hope that CLC will resist losing sight of its mission as a college.

I hope that the new president talks to students and faculty members and gets to know them as people rather than commodities to be marketed to customers, whom it can bill.

I hope that Suddick values humanity over commodity.

I wasn’t just their customer. I was their student. This is what I hope for the students entering in the fall-- that as CLC adapts to challenges and changes as it must, it will always be what it was to me-- a college.

Graphic by Hannah Strassburger

Opinion

THE CHRONICLE Page 14 | Monday, April 30, 2018

CLC clubs provide a safe place for LGBTQ+ members Jaron Armiger Staff Reporter

For most of us, gender is something we take for granted. It figures into almost every aspect of our daily life: how we dress, how we carry ourselves, how we interact with others, and how others interact with us.

It is so central to our identities, yet almost completely out of our control..Many of us accept the gender we were assigned at birth, and act accordingly.

But some don’t fit into such rigid categories.

I had encountered this questioning of gender a few times through Facebook videos and news outlets but put little thought into it since I didn’t feel it affected me or my identity.

However, while taking a figure drawing class at CLC, I met Io Manjarres, an art

student who identifies as non-binary and/or agender and uses the pronouns them, they, and theirs.

Despite the confidence with which Manjarres presents themselves, their identity was not always so robust.

Beginning in early high school, Manjarres first began questioning their gender.

Dead tired in the doldrums of the high school day, they sighed, “I don’t feel like a girl,” which was immediately met with the reply, “so do you feel like a boy then?”

But Manjarres didn’t, so what now?

Turning to the internet, they discovered the terms androgynous and non-binary, but they “didn’t know anyone like that in real life, so did these terms even count?”

It wasn’t until arriving at CLC and taking Intro to Gender that they first heard

someone else speaking of a gender existing outside the binary.

Then Manjarres discovered the Pride Alliance and began attending meetings.

At the time, Manjarres was still allowing others to refer to them with her/she pronouns, conceding that people would likely use these instinctually.

But members of the Pride Alliance asserted that they would use their preferred pronouns regardless of what was instinctual. “[That] was the instant I realized I could actually identify this way.”

Manjarres is also heavily involved with CLC’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center, an office at the Grayslake campus that serves the LGBTQ+ population.

According to faculty coordinator and philosophy Professor Shanti Chu, the office’s mission is to “create

a safe space to foster knowledge and empowerment of one’s identity and freedom to express oneself.”

As the name suggests, the Resource Center also provides a multitude of resources including access to counseling, sexual health info, and LGBTQ+-related literature or it can just be a place to hang out and do homework.

Recently the Center hosted a talk by actor, artist, author, and social media personality Jeffrey Marsh. Jeffrey also identifies as non-binary.

However, Marsh uses their experience with learning to love and accept their identity as a springboard to talk about how we can all work on selflove and self-acceptance.

Similarly, Professor Chu has used her own experiences living as a woman and living as someone who appears

racially ambiguous, to empathize with the experiences of the students that come to the Resource Center, despite how small her feelings of otherness may be in comparison.

Regardless of whether gender is something you’ve questioned or even put any thought into, we can all strive to foster this same sort of empathy.

Manjarres acknowledges that even within the LGBTQ+ community at CLC, their identity is not common, and so finding perfect empathy is difficult. But, the point is not to know all of the ins and outs of gender and sexuality, but to be open to learning.

As Manjarres says, “You don’t have to understand me, my identity, or my community to respect us.”

AIs may be a risk worth taking in the future Peter Anders Staff Reporter

“One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa. An upright ape living in dust with crude language and tools, all set for extinction.” These are the words spoken by the character Nathan Bateman in the movie “Ex Machina.”

When he speaks of artificial intelligence, he is speaking of machines with the ability to exhibit human-like behavior and personality traits, able to think for itself.

The term “artificial intelligence” immediately sparks images in our minds of destruction, of computers turning hostile, determining humanity as a threat and trying to wipe us out in the process, often via hunting machines, viruses or nuclear holocaust.

“Black Mirror,” “The Terminator,” “Ex Machina,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,”-- the list of media that preys on technophobia of artificial intelligence and intelligent machines is massive.

That constant exposure to such a negative per-

spective can influence the opinions of the viewers in relation to the topic.

It is understandable that entertainment and the media generalize the topic, but it causes irreparable harm to society’s perspective of technology.

Marissa Barnette, a member of the Student Government Association said, “I think Hollywood entertains the idea. Do I think they’ve tainted it?

Probably, in a way.”

“Even personally, I don’t really know about the good things AI could bring versus the bad, which entertainment has shown me plenty of,” said Erin Cullen, a CLC student.

The dangers should be discussed and taken into

heavy consideration, but everything in life is a risk. But every innovation comes with a risk.

to break) stop him from making and changing the way we live our daily lives with it.

A.I. can save lives on the road too, according to the Association for Safe International Travel, nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 deaths a day.

A.I. are infinitely better drivers than people for a large variety of reasons, biggest being that it does not get distracted by factors such as anger or stress and Graphic by Hannah Strassburger thus is less likely to make a rash decision.

When Thomas Edison “We just got rear-ended managed to create the again yesterday while lightbulb, he did not let the stopped at a stoplight in fact that it is essentially Mountain View,” Jacfire in a glass (that is easy quelyn Miller, a Google

spokeswoman, wrote in a statement sent to Ars and other media in 2015.

“That’s two incidents just in the last week where a driver rear-ended us while we were completely stopped at a light! So that brings the tally to 13 minor fender-benders in more than 1.8 million miles of autonomous and manual driving—and still, not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident.”.

Media can influence opinion and perceptions people have in every section of our daily lives.

When we are constantly bombarded with fear, it is hard to not feel scared ourselves.

The best way to avoid generalizing the topic would be to remember that entertainment is just that, and the people making it rarely do research on topic they are writing about, as that is their purpose.

Most of these fears are a list of “what ifs,” and you can’t let that dictate decisions because predictions are very rarely correct, especially in such an evolving field like artificial intelligence.

Sports

Page 15 | Monday, April 30, 2018

CLC freshman named First Team NJCAA All-American A College of Lake County men’s freshman basketball player from Waukegan was named a First Team NJCAA AllAmerican.

Catoni Collins is the only CLC player to receive First Team All-American honors and one of four total All-Americans in CLC men’s basketball history.

The honor comes on the heels of one of the most successful individual performances in Lancer basketball history.

Collins proved himself as one of the best players in the country after finishing the season ranked in the top five nationally in three major statistical categories: third in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 24.8 points per game and 11.8 rebounds per game.

He also finished the season ranked fifth in steals with 3.1 steals per game.

The Lancers finished the season with an overall record of 17-14 and just three games out of first place in the Skyway Con-

ference.

“Catoni had an incredible season,” said Chuck Ramsey, head coach. “He played at a consistently high level all season, combining great ability with tremendous effort.

In addition to the scoring, rebounds and steals, he also led the team in assists. Our entire program is excited for him.”

Nic Scandrett, CLC director of Athletics and Physical Activities, said that Catoni is “obviously a very dynamic player.”

“Coach Ramsey did a fantastic job creating opportunities for him to reach his potential on the court,” he said. “Catoni is now the most accomplished player in CLC men’s basketball history.

We are thrilled for him and his teammates, as they played a big role in this as well.”

In addition to his AllAmerican honors, Collins was the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference player of the year and a NJCAA Region IV First

Team honoree.

He was also named the NJCAA National Player of the Week (Jan. 29 to Feb. 4) after averaging 33 points and 15 rebounds for the week.

“I want to give a special thanks to the entire CLC faculty, Nic Scandrett for giving me a scholarship, Coach Ramsey for allowing me to play on his team and giving me an opportunity,” Collins said. “If it wasn’t for him, none of this would have been possible. Also, Coach Werly for coaching me and pushing me hard every day to be the best I can be. This is a true blessing. I never thought I would come this far, but here I am. I also want to thank my family and friends for their support and the NJCAA for choosing me.”

CLC’s previous AllAmerican honorees are: 2015: Eric Quall (third team); 1993: Eddie White (second team); 1986: Greg Washington (third team).

Collins is the first athlete since 2015 to earn All-American honors Photo courtesy CLC PR

Have A Great Summer! ~ The Chronicle

Monday, April 30, 2018

VOL. 51, NO. 14

Truth Conquers All Since 1969

CLC baseball athlete signs to Trinity University

Brandon Ferrara Staff Reporter

A College of Lake County baseball player recently signed with Trinity university.

Kurtis Sippy, originally from Oak Creek, Wisconsin, chose Trinity International University in order to be closer to his family.

“The recruiting process was a good experience,” Sippy said. “I had several offers from many different schools. It would have been hard to go to some other schools because of the distance and not knowing anyone. I determined that Trinity had the most pros, as it allows me to work with my trainer, John Snelten, for the next two years.”

Sippy chose to begin his collegiate baseball career at CLC for many of the same reasons.

“I chose to go to CLC first because it gave me the best opportunity to im-

prove my athletic ability,” Sippy said. “I was given two extra years to develop my baseball skills more.

In addition, I liked Coach Cummings the most out of all the coaches I was recruited by. I couldn’t have made a better decision.”

Like many college athletes, he wants to be able to balance academics with athletics. Sippy is majoring in accounting and hopes to obtain his Certified Public Accountant license, in addition to bettering himself on the field as a pitcher.

“On the field, I expect to accomplish a lot of good things,” Sippy said. “I know that if I work hard enough, the results will show. I’m excited to see what happens in the future.”

He has played many games as a CLC Lancer and knows what it takes to succeed and what he needs to improve on, and so does the coaching staff.

“The coaching staff has been very helpful to me,” he said. “You know that the coaches really care about you and want you to succeed. I’ve had some tough outings here at CLC, but Coach Cummings and Coach Charbs have always believed in

me. They have helped me fix flaws in my delivery, which made me a better pitcher.”

Sippy holds both an academic and athletic scholarship from Trinity International University, which allows him to improve as a student and an

athlete.

Although he is leaving the CLC Lancers and moving onto the TIU Trojans, Sippy will have a lasting impact on the baseball program and be an example for future recruits.

Kurtis Sippy, CLC baseball player, signed to Trinity International.

Graphic courtesy of CLC PR

CLC athletes share why they participate in sports William Becker

Lead Layout Editor Last year, nearly eight million high school students participated on a sports team. That is the 28th straight year participation has increased, according to National Federation of High School Sports Association.

Roughly 7 percent of those athletes will go on to play at the collegiate level.

The first intercollegiate sports game took place in 1859, but sports didn’t start taking over American society until 1939. That was the first year college games were televised along with Little League baseball being played for the first time.

That generation of children would be the first to be eligible for sports scholarships, which the National College Athletic Association legalized in 1952.

Many students who go on to play at the collegiate or high school level started playing at a young age. CLC student Alex Bairez was put into soccer from a young age by his parents. The game ended up becoming a way to clear his mind and get away from the events of life.

Fellow student Marcos Avelar was also put into soccer at a young age. He enjoyed the game more to have a release of his competitive nature along with using it as a way to develop friendships. While both students

did play the game |they also enjoy watching sports events and being apart of the sports community as well.

This is also the case for CLC students Liam Thrawl.

Thrawl played hockey for his entire life, but when it comes to watching sports, he would rather be at the games. The environment of being at the game with others is extremely energizing to him. Being at the game where the players are is a very different experience then being at home watching it on the television.

This environment is one of the reasons Thrawl enjoys the game and one of the reasons he thinks the games are important. The collec-

tiveness of a city supporting certain sports teams brings everyone together, but that’s not the only reason sports are important.

Bairez said sports are an essential part of society. Not only is it an essential part to bring cities and states together, but it has become and important part of the college today. There are many student who use sports scholarships in order to go to college. If sports were taken away there would be many students who wouldn’t be able to go to college. Not only would take away students, many colleges would lose marketing points, and many students would lose an essential part of “the college experience.” Not only

would the schools, but many fans of the school would lose entertainment.

“I think it is just a way for people to get away,” Thrawl said. “It is just a big part of some people’s lives and not apart of other peoples.

There is music and art for other people. Some people may enjoy that instead of sports. It’s all just a way to get away and entertain themselves.”

While sports are a big entertainment industry, they are ingrained entertainment industry. They affect people daily life, relationships and future. From its origins, the idea grew into a much more important part of the culture than its original purpose.