Jan 19, 2016 by Mustang News

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Make the most of your career fair experience

PHOTOS BY GABBY PA JO | MUSTANG NE WS

Craft your online presence through LinkedIn see page 2

Perfect a convincing elevator pitch see page 2

Take advantage of the current hiring trend see page 3

Orchesis Dance Company to premiere 46th annual show ‘Transcend’ Sabrina Thompson @CPMustangNews

Cal Poly’s Orchesis Dance Company will premiere its 46th annual dance show on Jan. 22 at 8 p.m. in the Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre. Presented by the Theatre and Dance Department, this year’s show, titled “Transcend,” will feature an all-female group of 26 trained dancers in 10 unique pieces. The show’s 10 pieces — created by students, faculty and special guests — feature select styles of ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary and a special African rhythm dance, which is the result of a collaboration with Central Coast Afro Rhythm and Dance. “Transcend” began in the first

UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT | COURTESY PHOTO

UPD fundraising for K-9 unit CHRISTY MCNEIL | THE ATRE AND DANCE DEPARTMENT

week of school, when 70 dancers auditioned to be a part of Cal Poly’s dance company before the students of Dance 3, 4 and 5, and the 26 selected began rehearsing twice a week. Orchesis Director Christy McNeil Chand shared her excitement to showcase a new ensemble of dancers. She described the show as “ephemeral. You will

never get the same exact show as the night before.” The show’s dates are Jan. 22, 23 and 28-30 at 8 p.m., with an extra showing on Jan. 23 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at tickets.calpoly.edu and are $20 for general admission and $12 for Cal Poly faculty and students, seniors, children and groups of 10 or more.

Casey Pontrelli @CPMustangNews

The University Police (UPD) will hold a fundraiser to cover the initial startup costs of a K-9 unit on Saturday, Jan. 30. A K-9 unit would allow UPD to be proactive, Chief of Police George Hughes said. However, the upfront costs of the program are very expensive. It costs $80,000 for the dog, customized K-9 car, training for the

dog and officer, food, veterinary costs and housing for the dog. “There’s just not money in the budget for this,” Hughes said. “We have other priorities.” That’s why the UPD will be raising the funds for this program. The fundraiser will be held at Laguna Lake Park and is called the “K-9 Fun Run.” It will include a 5k and a 10k. There is also an option to make a donation. There have been numerous occasions where K-9 forces have

been needed at Cal Poly, according to Hughes, and UPD has found it difficult to depend on other areas for those forces. “We’ve always had to borrow those resources,” Hughes said. The K-9 forces are used for drug sweeps, preemptive security sweeps, and other similar situations, according to Hughes. “Just (two weeks ago), with the bus bomb situation, we had to borrow the K-9s,” Hughes said. “We pulled dogs from all over the place.” The closest place with a K-9 unit is the security force at Hearst Castle, and Hughes said they had to wait an hour before even starting to search the buses. To participate in the fundraiser, people can sign up on Eventbrite.com under “University Police First Annual 5&10K.” The entry fee is $45, which covers registration, a T-shirt and a barbecue meal at the end.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

CAREER FAIR | 2

Conquering LinkedIn: A guide for new student users Regine Smith @regine321

Hashtags, Instagram filters and Snapchat stories are all social media skills among the repertoire of most college students. But when it comes to LinkedIn, the only social media platform with more users over the age of 50 than in the millennial generation, young people may struggle to navigate the professional networking site. “I think many young people might not even be aware of what LinkedIn is,” said Candy Janiam, a graduate assistant advisor from Cal Poly Career Services. Janiam explained that many students feel overwhelmed when getting started with LinkedIn. “Sometimes students don’t think they know anyone, compared to seeing profiles with 500+ connections; it can be intimidating in that way,” she said. Though intimidating, LinkedIn is not as difficult as it may first appear. Janiam believes that all college students should familiarize themselves with the site, as it can be a versatile tool for career exploration, professional development and most importantly, networking. What exactly is networking? Janiam defines this as “creating connections with people that can be strategic to your professional development.” And with 93 percent of job recruiters using

LinkedIn to find potential hires (according to a Jobvite survey), it is a skill that every college student must learn. “Most jobs nowadays are found through networking ... It’s really important to make connections with people so they can put a name to a face,” Janiam said. “Just turning in an online application isn’t enough anymore. If you create those connections, it’s that extra piece that I feel is critical.” So where does a student new to LinkedIn start? Janiam recommends building your profile little by little. “You can just start out by adding people you know, like professors, classmates, former supervisors, coworkers ... and then it eventually builds over time,” she said. One tool she recommends is a profile checklist. Your LinkedIn profile has one that guides you through the process of showcasing your attributes. As you add more information and create connections, the checklist rates the strength of your profile. For Cal Poly students in particular, the university offers many resources to help students get started with LinkedIn for the first time. Janiam advises to first seek help from Career Services. They offer walk-in appointments with career counselors who can walk students through their profiles. The Career Services website also has valuable information,

GABBY PAJO | MUSTANG NE WS BUILD YOUR BRAND | Students should use LinkedIn as a career tool for job searching, developing professional personas and networking.

including handouts and checklists to aid in the profile-building process. For additional information, Career Services will be holding two LinkedIn workshops in February. “LinkedIn, Resumes & Cover Letters: Just the Basics” will be held on Feb. 11, and on Feb. 19, “Navigating LinkedIn for Begin-

ners” will be hosted. The LinkedIn website also has a webpage specifically for aiding college students: university.linkedin.com. Cal Poly students should take the Learn by Doing motto to heart, and create an online profile. Over time, a strong, marketable profile can be crafted. “A student can start by check-

ing it out and then slowly building their profile,” Janiam said. “It’s just about getting yourself out there and not being intimidated by the process, because you build upon it over time, just like you would a resume.” Eventually, building up the profile will definitely have its payoffs.

“It could be the make-or-break, because if (employers) have an applicant who they don’t know, versus someone they do know through networking, and they have people who recommended them through the grapevine … 99 percent of the time they’re going to choose that applicant,” she said.

Stand out at the career fair with your elevator pitch Prakash Ravikumar @p96kumar

In most interview settings, candidates are given a lengthy interview while employers get to know them

better. However, at the career fair, you only have approximately 30 seconds of face time to make an impact. This is where an elevator pitch will come in handy. An elevator pitch is a short per-

suasive speech used to create interest about you. The pitch should say a lot about you and draw enough attention to hopefully inspire further conversation after the career fair.

The best way to maximize the success of your pitch is to carefully choose your words. In such a short time it’s important to make sure to stay concise, yet unforgettable. According to Allison Gaffey, a biopsychology representative for the American Psychology Association, “The general goal of an elevator pitch is to create a memorable and positive impression. You want to give people something they can respond to, and hope to open the door to further conversation.” It is also important to understand how you are being evaluated. At the career fair, most companies are interested in knowing what qualifications you have and how you will fit in that particular position. If you spend the majority of your pitch talking about something they do not necessarily care about, you will most likely not hear back for a full interview. Probably the most underrated aspect of the elevator pitch is your confidence level. One of the fastest ways to turn off an employer is to act nervous. “There are many natural ways to keep calm, and it’s your job to identify which anti-anxiety mechanisms work best for you,” Andrew Rosen, founder and editor of Jobacle.com, said. “Some people will

be at their best if they meditate before the interview, others would prefer to exercise vigorously to get rid of stress. If you don’t know what helps you relax in stressful situations, your first homework assignment is to figure that out.” Finally, practice makes perfect. Just because you know what to say doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to say it. The more you practice your pitch, the more natural it will become. The end goal is to make it sound like a smooth

conversation, rather than a sales pitch. Also, be aware of your body language. Your body language conveys just as much information to the listener as your words do. Practicing posture in front of a friend or a mirror, can really make a difference when the day comes to give your pitch. An elevator pitch may seem like a daunting task, but it is a useful tool to have at the career fair to keep any employers’ interests high.

GABBY PAJO | MUSTANG NE WS PITCH PERFECT | Impress employers with a short and sweet pitch.

CAREER FAIR | 3

GABBY PAJO | MUSTANG NE WS GROWTH | The Cal Poly Career Fair has continued to grow despite previous setbacks from the 2008 recession.

Years after the recession, the Cal Poly Career Fair is on the rise Amanda Cranston @Cranlynn

Cal Poly continuously defies the odds, earning ranks on lists for academics, sports and bang for buck. During the 2008 recession, Cal Poly continued that tradition, maintaining its base of employers even as unemployment rates grew and hiring lessened. “We are an anomaly here,” Soukita Thipsouvanh, events coordinator for Cal Poly’s Career Services, said. “It hasn’t really affected attendance (of employers) at our events.” Thipsouvanh went on to include that Cal Poly maintained its employer numbers because employers consider Cal Poly graduates good people to hire. While the number of employers remained constant, the number of hires did not. Cal Poly alumna and 2008 graduate, Whitney Szentesi, now employed as the Social Media and Communications Analyst for the county of San Luis Obispo, was among those hit by the recession. “Coming out of college, I worked part time at The Tribune at the copy desk, as an intern,”

Szentesi said. “I was hoping to get hired full time, but at the time, unfortunately, it wasn’t an option.” Graduate school was suggested to Szentesi at the time of her graduation, as a way to postpone joining the diminishing work force and having to repay student loans. According to the Cal Poly 200809 graduate status report, only 51 percent of respondents were employed full time nine months after graduation. That is more than a 10 percent difference between several years preceding and succeeding it. The amount of students attending graduate school remained steady in the years of the recession, only receding recently. According to Dr. Daniel Seiver, a lecturer for Cal Poly’s Economics Department, the recession did have an impact on Cal Poly graduates at the time. “The recession really ended in 2009 and the graduates who had it worst were the graduates who graduated in 2009,” Seiver said. The unemployment rate reached 10 percent in 2009. Students that graduated at that time had trouble finding jobs, especially within their

field of interest. “Many businesses, when times are tough like that, will stop new hiring, particularly of young people out of college,” Seiver said. As Seiver also pointed out, recessions are a part of the U.S. economic system, occurring every 10 years or so. The housing bubble made the 2008 recession hit the job market especially hard. Cal Poly is committed to overcoming these obstacles, and continues to recruit and improve the hiring chances for its graduates, adding more workshops and more networking opportunities as each year passes. “I think the job market is continuing to improve, resulting in a greater number of employers participating in our career fairs, on campus interviews, even our job listings,” Thipsouvanh said. Students are seeing those improvements as the years go by. Computer science senior Oliver Xia has seen the changes in his years at Cal Poly. “The career fair has always had the same big software companies,” Xia said. “These days, smaller companies like Zendesk and Red Beacon also make appearances.”

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

NEWS | 4

How well is Cal Poly prepared for an active shooter? Connor McCarthy @CPMustangNews

It was a Monday morning in April and shots were fired at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Minutes later, the police responded to emergency phone calls about an active shooter on campus. Law enforcement attempted to enter the engineering building that the gunman had chained the doors shut. Officers broke through the main entrance where gunshots were heard on the second floor. As soon as the police arrived on the floor, the gunshots stopped. The gunman, 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho, was dead. In total, 32 students and faculty died in the massacre. Shootings like the one on the Virginia Tech campus eight years ago and the recent mass shooting in San Bernardino are more pronounced than ever. Despite this, some professors and students believe there is a

lack of communication between the administration and different campus rules about active shooting preparation. “The one shooting that got my attention the most was the one that happened at Virginia Tech and that wasn’t very long ago,” statistics professor Heather Smith said. “The student body at Virginia Tech is not dissimilar than the student body at Cal Poly, and so that really did hit home. Something like this could happen at Cal Poly.” Architectural engineering freshman Kaylee Arthur said she doesn’t think the university’s administration is relaying information about campus shootings to students. “It’s frustrating because I didn’t hear about the shooting on that community college campus in Oregon from administration,” Arthur said. “I heard about it later from friends who saw it on Twitter. The administration sent out nothing regarding the shooting and it

frightens me.” Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong did send an email out to staff and students about campus safety approximately two weeks after a shooter killed 10 people, including himelf, at a community college in Oregon. However, animal science freshman Aldo Marquez said he saw the email as a defensive move by the administration. “They were probably getting lots of complaints or questions about Cal Poly’s safety,” Marquez said. “Personally, I think they are trying to put a BandAid on a bullet wound.” According to a study conducted between 2000 and 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, nearly 25 percent of the 160 mass shootings occurred at educational institutions. Due to the amount of incidents that have occurred at schools, University Police Department (UPD) presented an active shooter preparation training on Jan. 14, aimed to-

Charles Raymond Bird pleads not guilty James Hayes @CPMustangNews

SLO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE | COURTESY PHOTO

On Jan. 14, Charles Raymond Bird pleaded not guilty to the charges of felony criminal threats with a hate crime enhancement. Bird, 20, was detained in connection with a death threat made through a fake Facebook account. The threat was made to SLO Solidarity leader and political science sophomore Matt Klepfer in response to demands made by SLO Solidarity. Bird, a history student, appeared in court the morning of Jan. 14 out of custody. He entered his not guilty plea and denied the enhancement of a hate crime. He will remain out of custody until a verdict is reached. The trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 23 at 8:30 a.m.

ward faculty, which was open to all students as well. UPD Chief George Hughes said the presentation given at Cal Poly was the same that is given to all California State Universities (CSU). “I am concerned. It seems like colleges are a target and I really want to know what to do,” aerospace engineering lecturer Bruce Wright said. “It worries me that we can’t lock our classrooms from the inside. We can’t keep people out.” Wright said he had not heard of an active shooter presentation in the last 16 years. However, Hughes said he has held active shooter presentations each quarter for the last three years. According to journalism assistant professor Dan Eller, communication is lacking between

faculty and administration about these presentations. “An email went out to begin with and it had the wrong time on it. So, I am a professor and I planned to bring 21 students with me as part of my class when the email read from 10 to 11 in the morning,” Eller said. “I did notice coming into Chumash Auditorium that the message board above the door was incorrect. It said it was from 1 to 3. It may have discouraged some people from coming.” Professors that have been at Cal Poly for more than a decade, such as Smith, said they have not seen a change in the way emergency preparedness information is communicated to the faculty. Smith said the flaws in the current emergency management plan should be

mandated for teachers to review. “As far as I know, we don’t have mandated training at all for an active shooter type of emergency,” Smith said. “The faculty are asked to participate in training in different kinds of emergencies on campus. There are videos we look at with questions we have to answer, but active shooter is not one of those. It’s mostly issues of natural disasters.” Hughes said active shooting preparation courses are hard to coordinate with all administration and faculty, and are not yet mandatory. “Students, faculty and the administration really need to do something active involving training,” Smith said. “I think we have to recognize we live in an age where we can’t not deal with this.”

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

ARTS | 5

K AT Y BARNARD | MUSTANG NE WS A HUMOROUS START

| Comedy Club hosted guests like Bryan Kellen from NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” for its first show.

Cal Poly Comedy Club leaves audience in hysterics with first show Madi Salvati @MadiSalvati

It only felt a little bit like “The Blair Witch Project” at Comedy Night in Science North (building 53) Thursday night, but only because the stage was the front of a lecture hall and the spotlight was three flashlights duct taped together. Regardless, the Cal Poly Comedy Club hosted a comedy night that had everyone bent over hiccuping with laughter. Approximately 60 students filled

the lecture hall for Cal Poly Comedy Club’s first show. Four comedians took to the impromptu stage and sketchy flashlights like pros, hardly worried about the setup. Three of those comedians were local celebrities that had done shows around town: Aiden Candelario, Mike Zalusky and Evan Fox. Mechanical engineering senior and member of the club Nelson Lin explained Comedy Club was hoping to draw a larger crowd since so many students live on campus and most of the performers were local.

“Cal Poly is kind of transitioning where they want the students to stay on campus all the time,” Lin said. “On weekends, students are usually on campus, so if students need a place to go for a date night (and) they don’t have a car or they’re just looking for something to do on the weekend, they can come here.” The Cal Poly Comedy Club is different from Smile and Nod, as it does not focus on improvised comedy, but rehearsed standup. The comedians that performed on Thursday also included headlin-

er Bryan Kellen from NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” He commented on everything from the awful sound flip flops make to the inevitable dangers of paintball and the time he took an archery class and nearly lost a nipple in the process. Every single person was shaking with laughter; the whole room seemed to light up, especially when Kellen performed. But comedy is not just about making people laugh; it’s about helping people see things in a new light and someone sharing their

own views in a way that might be less rash. Industrial engineering junior and president of the club Owais Sarfaraz commented on this unique aspect about comedy. “Comedy is the ability to see the same things other people see but in a different light,” Sarfaraz said. “If you look at most comedians, all of their comedy is based off of their observations and views, as well as things that we see and do on a daily basis.” Standup comedians especially draw much of their material from events happening in the world today. Aerospace sophomore and member of the club Sean Reilly mentioned how standup comedians like to engage people with what’s going on in the world. “It helps people keep up with current events because a lot of the standup comedy that people do is social commentary,” he said. Comedy Night was no exception and the comedians were constantly engaging the audience by asking them questions and making jokes after the fact. Comedy allows people to see things from another perspective without feeling pushed into it, Reilly said. “One of the beauties of standup is that you can talk about something and have a really extreme opinion on it and make it funny,” Reilly said. “It’s like an accepted way to say something that might otherwise sound really rude.” It’s hard to put on a show without offending someone in the room, but according to Sarfaraz, that’s often how comedy works. At Comedy Night, it was no surprise that a majority of the commentary revolved around college-like themes including sex and drinking. Local comedian and alumnus Evan Fox couldn’t crack a joke without talking about his experience in Yosemite Hall. Participating in Comedy Night not only helps one brush up on their comedy skills, but it can also be a huge confidence booster. Lin explained that doing standup helps with public speaking and

making conversation. “It’s great when you first start and you do so much standup because you are bombing for so long,” Lin said. “And you realize there’s nothing that can get worse than this.” According to Lin, once one gets past those initial trial-and-error runs of testing different jokes and styles of comedy, public speaking and making everyday conversation is a breeze. “The first few times, you’re going to bomb,” Sarfaraz said. “All great comedians bomb — Will Ferrell, Robin Williams — everybody bombs throughout life, but with practice you can ensure the amount of times you fail decreases and the confidence you show increases.” Comedy Club is not just limited to standup comedy — all forms are welcome. “We invite people who prefer written comedy, parodies, sketches, songs — anyone who wants to learn comedy on all aspects,” Sarfaraz said. Learning comedy and how to make people laugh is more than just cracking jokes; it’s about taking everyday events, interactions and observations and making them your own. “Things that appear to be normal and mundane, we make them extraordinary,” Sarfaraz said. “And things that appear extraordinary, we make them normal and mundane.” Lin commented on the rush that happens before a show. “When you’ve waited multiple hours in the back of a dimly lit comedy club to perform four minutes for like five people who you know are probably going to hate you and you still get this exhilarating feeling from it — it’s how you know that nothing else in the world can compare to it,” Lin said. The Cal Poly Comedy Club meets Mondays from 7-8 p.m. and is hoping to have shows every month with different lineups. Locations and comedic styles will vary.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

ARTS | 6

Gender Equity Movement (GEM) Training to tackle gender and social issues in five-week program

GENDER EQUIT Y CENTER | COURTESY PHOTO FIVE WEEKS OF EDUCATION | After discussing gender and social issues for at least four out of five sessions, students who participate in the training receive a certificate of completion from the program.

Annie Vainshtein @annievain

A surge of discussion hoping to curb bigotry and sexual assault has been occuring across college campuses all around America. Programs have been enacted to support those affected and discussions raised in refining the semantics behind trauma and its vernacular. Millions of dollars are funneled into systems aimed to support the af-

termath — what (and what not) to say, how survivors and those involved can report, as well as the reasons why survivors are often coerced not to. But an excess of “practical” prevention and aftermath resources often overlook the shaky foundation precipitating the rooted problem at hand: Why do sexual assault, homophobia, xenophobia, trans violence, etc. even happen to begin with?

Hosted by the Gender Equity Center (GEC) on campus, Gender Equity Movement (GEM) Training is a program dedicated to the rooted discussion of gender, positive masculinity, feminism and social justice, and how they contribute to and perpetuate systemic forms of oppression and maltreatment. Beginning this Friday, Jan. 22, GEM Training runs for five weeks, and is open to all students. A certificate is awarded

at the end of the training for those who complete at least four of the five sessions. Headed by Gender Equity Center coordinator Tammie Velasquez and recent history graduate Mady Aitchison, the training began before the formation of the Cross Cultural Centers — of which the GEC is a branch — mainly in attempts to bridge the gap in communication between the GEC and the rest of campus. “One of my goals was to start creating a community to make sure people knew this was a resource, and that we were here to support underrepresented populations, as well as the campus as a whole,” Velasquez said. Velasquez then reached out to Aitchison, who was a student assistant volunteer for the center at the time. The two collaborated in developing the training curriculum. Designed in the context of discussion, the program functions more as a seminar. Its objective is to discuss the systematic structures that govern over our everyday lives — how gender roles play into how we behave, think, act, etc. In comparison to other similar programs, GEM Training focuses on precursors to assault — how and why we’re

conditioned to think and act the way we do — and how our faulty beliefs can often lay the groundwork for muddied ideas of consent and limited concepts of gender. Even more so, a focus of GEM Training is within intersectionality; students are encouraged to discuss gender in the context of the non-binary, which could mean not only the conceptions of feminism, but how it relates to women of color and/or of low socioeconomic status. Often, the trainings’ content can be heavy, and beginning these conversations isn’t easy. For Cal Poly, groups like this are sparse; however, Aitchison said, those who enter the training are almost always open-minded and willing to learn. Recognizing privilege and respecting others’ experiences and identities are at the core of GEM Training, Aitchison said. “It’s about learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Aithcison said. “And that’s a hard thing to learn — it’s something you have to foster.” Velasquez said privilege is not only a matter of discomfort, but also a level to which we don’t realize how much of it we have, or the way in which it manifests itself to our advantage.

“I don’t think a lot of people are comfortable with learning about these systems that surround us or want to talk about it because they are comfortable,” Aitchison said. “They don’t want to be shaken out of it.” Though this kind of rigid comfort zone is found on campus, a lot of students who identify within the majority may have lived within their own bubbles long before college. “These kinds of conversations aren’t a newsflash,” Velasquez said. “And for a lot of people, that uncomfortable feeling has been around forever.” Students are only now using their voices as tools to talk about topics that were overlooked for far too long, Velasquez said. “Being uncomfortable has always been an issue but nobody talked about it,” she said. Examining privileges and asking questions, however, are important and effective methods to jumpstart change. “There’s definitely been a positive shift,” Velasquez said. “I never thought I would see the shift that has happened, and I’m really proud of the students who are bringing it to light.” Students interested in signing up for training can email genderequitycenter@calpoly.edu.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2016

OPINION | 8

Learning to ride a bike and other adult things

MUSTANG NEWS

Liana Riley @liana_riley

Graphic Arts Building Building 26, Suite 226 California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

Liana Riley is a political science junior and Mustang News opinion columnist. These views do not necessarily reflect the editorial coverage of Mustang News. During my most formative years, the task of learning to ride a bike constantly presented itself to me, and I without fail rejected it each time. It was a mixture of apprehension and fear. I was just never ready to transition from sapling to tree. Now I, a 20-year-old, am bicycle-y challenged, unequipped for the trials of adulthood. This anecdote has value, for I equate this with growing up, mounting the bicycle and speeding away from one’s childhood. So in 2016, I am going to learn how to ride a bike and begin my transformation into a full-fledged adult human being. In many aspects of our lives, most of us still have our training wheels on in one way or another. Maybe your mom still makes your bed when you go home, maybe most of the money in your account is by the way of your parents or maybe you

still don’t know how to pump your own gas. Not to say that these are vices, or even anything to be ashamed of; on the contrary, it is incredibly lucky to be able to afford these types of privileges. This then begs the questions, when does adulthood officially begin? When are we expected to complete the aforementioned tasks ourselves? When we transition from minors to legal adults at age 18? Or age 21, when the alcohol floodgates are open, and we can legally take our first sip? Or even when we turn 25, and we can officially rent a car? Though let’s face it, no one really cares about that one. So then, adulthood becomes subjective, something we can’t measure by law or social construct; you simply are when you are. If adulthood is so subjective, why are we constantly being pressured to achieve this type of self development in college? And often times are expected to know exactly where we are going and how to get there after our impending graduations? This type of self growth should be encouraged in college, don’t get me wrong, but with less emphasis on our immediate plans

for the future and more on how we can evolve as individuals. There is value in knowing what path you want to take professionally, of course, but that is only one element of a multifaceted journey to becoming one’s adult self. The promise of financial independence, buying your own food and even having offspring one day are elements of becoming an adult that are both feared and highly anticipated events in one’s life journey. As college students it is common to hear complaints of a lack of preparedness for the “real world.” Most of us leave college unable to do our taxes, unaware of how to make a budget or even fix a tire. At least I have absolutely no clue about the latter. It took me approximately half a year after I got my license to accurately fill up my gas tank, so maybe my lack of bicycle prowess isn’t so embarrassing. Ideally we would grow up, each of us in due time, when we felt the most prepared to handle the abyss that is the adult world. We would find the jobs that best suited our needs and interests, and spend as much time learning as we felt neces-

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sary to prepare us. However, this type of growing process doesn’t allow for the unexpected: The types of obstacles that are thrown at us and inevitably force us to become adults whether we are ready or not. Everyone is scared, and everyone is unsure about their futures. Uncertainty is a beautiful and terrifying thing, something that can keep you up at night, whether out of fear

or excitement. So in 2016 I will make greater attempts to allow for self growth while also letting myself be open to the possibilities that becoming an adult throws at you. I hereby dub 2016 as the year of the bike. A conscious effort to conquer the things that have been holding you back from growing as a person, whether tangible or not, and triumphing over your “bike,” whatever it may be.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2016

SPORTS | 9

Women’s basketball narrowly defeats Cal State Fullerton Amelia Parreira @AmeliaParreira

The Cal Poly women’s basketball team edged Cal State Fullerton 51-46 on Saturday in its first game of a three-game homestand. Both teams kept it close during the first quarter. After a shortlived 7-6 lead for the Mustangs (9-7, 2-1 Big West), the Titans (2-15, 0-3) came back to end the first quarter with an 11-9 lead. Down at the top of the second quarter, the Mustangs gained more offensive energy with a three-pointer by junior forward Amanda Lovely. However, the Titans extended their lead by responding with a three-pointer of their own. The Mustangs soon regained control as they closed in on the Titans, tying the game at 22. Tied again at 24 points each,

junior forward Hannah Gilbert scored a layup with less than a minute to go in the half. The first half ended with the Mustangs up two points, 26-24. The Titans’ Samantha Logan put Fullerton on top with a three-pointer at the beginning of the second half. Jade Vega made another three-pointer soon after to bring the score to a 33-28 lead for the Titans. The Mustangs threw away a big opportunity to score after losing possession from an errant pass by junior guard Rachel Koehler. However, Gilbert and sophomore guard Gabby Grupalo scored field goals to bring the score back to only a three-point deficit for Cal Poly. Gilbert then scored two more back-to-back field goals and a free t h row w it h less than three

minutes left in the third quarter. Senior guard Lisa Marie Sanchez brought in two more points to put the Mustangs on top 41-39 at the end of the period. Sanchez hit her stride in the fourth quarter, nailing a three at the beginning and finishing with eight of the Mustangs’ 10 points in the final period. She outscored the entire Fullerton team, which recorded just seven points in the fourth. “If my shot’s there, I’m going to take it. (I’m) confident enough that it’s going to go in,” Sanchez said. Sanchez made two free throws to bring the Mustangs to a 5146 lead toward the end of the fourth quarter. “She’s a very good scorer,” head coach Faith Mimnaugh said. “She’s been dealing with the flu all week, so it was a really tough performance for her. I

wasn’t even sure if she was going to play the second half, so (it was) a remarkable, gutsy performance from her.” Despite the win, Mimnaugh said that the team could have played better offensively, especially in its shot selection. The Mustangs shot 31 percent from the field and 15 percent from beyond the arc. “We have a strong contingency of post players, and I feel like we just didn’t utilize them enough,” she said. “We just settled for threes too frequently.” Both Sanchez and Gilbert finished with 12 points for the Mustangs on 63 percent and 50 percent shooting respectively. The rest of the team shot 9-42 (21 percent) from the field. The team moves on to face CSUN on Jan. 21 at 7 p.m.

CHRISTA L AM | MUSTANG NE WS GUARD

| Senior guard Beth Balbierz carves through the Cal State Fullerton defense en route to a 51-46 defeat of the Titans. Balbierz, the team’s second leading scorer, scored four points on the night.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

SPORTS | 10

Men’s basketball scores intense double overtime victory Eric Stubben @ericstubben

The Cal Poly men’s basketball team led for only 1:52 during its game against Long Beach State on Saturday night, but that was enough for the Mustangs to pull off a 96-92 win in double overtime. Led by senior forward Brian Bennett’s fourth career double-double, the Mustangs (79, 1-2 Big West) notched their first conference win of the season and third win against Long Beach State in the last 13 meetings. Dubbed a “blackout game,” the Mustangs, donning their all-black uniforms, gave the second consecutive sellout crowd at Mott Athletics Center all it could ask for. Junior forward Zach Gordon scored the first points of the game. The Mustangs led for the first 18 seconds, but the 49ers dominated the rest of the first half. Led by star senior guard Nick Faust, the 49ers shot 43 percent from beyond the arc and 50 percent from the field overall en route to a 42-33 lead going into halftime. The Mustangs struggled from beyond the arc in the first half, shooting only 22 percent and 41 percent from the field overall. Bennett and sophomore guard Taylor Sutlive both led the Mustangs in scoring in the first half with eight points apiece. Following the storyline of many of their games so far this season, the Mustangs battled back in the second half. The Mustangs finally completed their comeback when junior guard Ridge Shipley hit a three-pointer with 9:30

remaining in the game to tie the score at 61. However, the Mustangs couldn’t break through, and Long Beach State led for most of the second half until a bizarre play stopped possession with 49 seconds remaining. After a rebound by Long Beach State, redshirt freshman guard Josh Martin was called for a reaching foul, but was elbowed in the nose following the reach. The referees conferred for nearly 10 minutes before determining that there were two fouls on the play, one on Martin and a flagrant foul on the 49ers. The 49ers missed two free throws before Cal Poly senior guard Reese Morgan knocked down a pair to cut Long Beach’s lead to 80-77. The Mustangs retained possession of the ball, and Morgan hit a deep three-pointer with six seconds left on the shot clock to tie the game at 80 and send the game to overtime. “I knew they’d switched,” Morgan said. “I figured since he’d switched off, I think it was (Bennett’s) guy, so I think that I knew he had rebounding position, and he had 12 boards tonight, which is huge. And I figured if I take this and miss it, there’s a good opportunity he gets it and it just happened to go in.” Both teams traded buckets for most of the first overtime and neither team scored during the last 1:09 of the period, sending the game into a second overtime with the score knotted at 88. After once again trading points for the beginning of second overtime, the Mustangs finally secured their second lead of the night, 92-91 with 1:34 remaining in the game. Once they had

the lead, the Mustangs held on tight. A jumper by senior forward Joel Awich and two free throws from Morgan secured the Mustangs win. “I think it was a big win for us,” Morgan said. “Going 0-3 is not necessarily ideal. But Beach is a great team. They were 2-1 coming into this. And I think what it taught me a lot is that we can fight.” The double overtime marathon marked the first time the Mustangs had gone into double overtime in a home game since a Feb. 12, 1972 game against CSU Northridge, then known as San Fernando Valley State College. “We know that we can play with anyone in our conference,” Bennett said. “Just because the Big West is so talented this year, every team is so good, and night in and night out it’s gonna be a dog fight like tonight was. And I think it just propels us for success in the future because we know how hard we have to play now and keep playing and we know how it feels.” Bennett led the way for the Mustangs with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Five other Mustangs scored in double digit points, including Awich (12), Morgan (14), Sutlive (11), Gordon (11) and Martin (14). Martin’s 14 points marked his career high. “We were as athletic as Long Beach State,” head coach Joe Callero said. “That’s rare. We have not said that in the past, but over the course of recruiting, we’re starting to show a little more length, bounce and athleticism to make those plays.” The Mustangs return to action next Thursday at 7 p.m. when they travel to Northridge to take on CSUN.

CHRISTA L AM | MUSTANG NE WS THRILLER | Senior guard David Nwaba dunks over two Long Beach State players in a 96-92 double OT win.