Spring Back To School ‘15
It’s been reported that
88
percent
of Cal Poly students...
have jobs or go to grad school within 9 months of graduating.
But this may be false.
see 88 percent, pg 3.
// visit mustangnews.net for the full multimedia story
Monday, March 30, 2015
NEWS | 2
Looking down the road: Kinesiology class helps people with disabilities adapt to physical activity Rosie Guzman Special to Mustang News
Oscar Ruiz was extremely nervous about the bike ride. It wasn’t because he didn’t know how to ride a tandem bicycle. It was because he had never captained a two-person bike with a visually impaired person. The kinesiology junior was scared of having another person’s safety in his hands. It helped that he wasn’t alone. Mitsu Smyth was there to help, which made Ruiz feel more secure. The ride was three hours and the other captain rode with the stoker, Peter Schustack, for the first half. Ruiz chaperoned on another bike, looking out for traffic and clearing the way for the riders behind him. Once Ruiz took over on the tandem for the second half, he said he was so nervous he became shaky on the bike and unable to get his balance. But then Schustack started to talk to him. Ruiz would ask Schustack if he was doing a good job. Schustack assured him he was. Ruiz’s confidence increased. By the end of the ride, they were enjoying their dialogue and the cold chill in the air. Both Schustack and Ruiz are part of a kinesiology class called KINE 407: Adapted Physical Activity. The point of the course is to help people with disabilities increase their mobility. Students also learn about different kinds of disabling conditions and ways to make physical activity more inclusive for those who are impaired. The program started with Dr. Kevin Taylor, head of the kinesiology department. He was thrown into teaching the 407 course when he was hired at Cal Poly in the fall of 1999. Taylor taught 407 for 13 years. He wanted to embody Cal Poly’s Learn By Doing motto, and so
he created three physical activity programs for people with disabilities. The first, Adapted Paddling Program, began in the fall of 1999. It teaches kayaking to those with mobility impairments. The second program, The Friday Club, started the following year. It brings in athletes from the Special Olympics Program to engage in physical activity and discussions with Cal Poly students. The final program, EyeCycle, where Cal Poly students go cycling on tandem bikes with people with low to poor vision, started that same quarter. The goal, Taylor says, is to give Cal Poly students a different perspective about those with disabilities. “The programs illustrate to the students, very powerfully, that participating in physical activity is not only possible, but empowering,” Taylor said. Schustack is a stoker for the EyeCycle program. He rides in the back of the tandem bike, helping pedal along the chosen route with his captain, the rider in front. Schustack has been an avid cyclist for most of his life, despite being visually impaired. He said he enjoys the chance to be riding again. Schustack has always been visually impaired but has gone through various degrees of impairment throughout his life. It wasn’t until about 15 years ago that he stopped cycling by himself. “I really appreciate being back out on the road and breathing in fresh air and all that good stuff,” he said. He’s been in the program for about 10 years now and sees the benefits for both himself and the Cal Poly students. “I enjoy the interaction with the students,” Schustack said. “I consider them to be high-quality students. It’s a win-win for
me and them.” A past captain of the EyeCycle program, Sarah Newland, assists with the program and still keeps in contact with the stokers. “I had a great time in the program and I learned so much. I felt really connected to the program,” Newland said. In class, professors emphasize the importance of putting the person before their disability because it doesn’t define them, Newland said. The EyeCycle program is coordinated by a graduate student, James Aicardi. The main focus is to learn how to ride the tandem bike as a captain, but the students also experience how it is to ride as a stoker. The students ride the bike with a blindfold or with their eyes closed to feel how it is to not be in control. They learn how trust and responsibility are important as a captain, which helps them realize the importance of communicating throughout the ride with the stoker. It comes down to communication and appreciating how everyone is different, Aicardi said. Despite the 10 hours of training the students go through a couple of weeks before going out on rides, they still feel nervous and worried. They fear the unknown, Aicardi said. “But there’s also a sense of success because it’s beneficial both ways, because it gets rid of the fear of going out there and riding,” Ruiz said. There is a realization that the riders are just people and want to be friends, Newland said. She has learned from the stokers and maintains her relationship with them. This can be seen with Schustack’s case every time he meets a student for a bike ride. “I think they are learning how to interact and help those with a disability,” he said. “When
JOSEPH PACK | MUSTANG NE WS OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN | Peter Schustack and kinesiology senior Sarah Delzio go for a ride on bike night.
I come down for a ride, they guide me and orient me to the bike.” The students learn how to communicate with people who are impaired and create relationships with them that wouldn’t have happened before. “I actually had a chance to meet two stokers last quarter for bike night,” Aicardi said. “And when I interact with them and hear positive things about the students, that’s what I take pride in.” In addition to the 30 hours of programming for lab, the students in lecture also conduct a sensory deprivation exercise where the students are placed in a wheelchair for
an hour. A second exercise consists of wearing a blindfold and moving around the school with a cane. “The learning objective is to have students look at their work, their life and society from the perspective of someone who is disabled. Because it will make them a better professional,” Taylor said. “If they can see life from more than one perspective, that is critical thinking.” These programs have affected Cal Poly students and the participants from the community. “I really appreciate that Dr. Taylor had the idea of doing this,” Schustack said. “It’s not something I would have thought of on my own, even
though I like to cycle. I would like to see cycling available in the summer, though.” It seems like Schustack’s wish might be a possibility. There is hope for EyeCycle to become a year-round program. And as for Ruiz? His bike ride ended better than it began. He overcame his fear of riding the tandem with someone. He also saw how appreciative Schustack was. Schustack was grateful for the ride and thanked Ruiz for taking him out and helping him get his exercise. Schustack told Ruiz he was great, despite some problems in the beginning, but it is a learning experience.
Officials say 2-year on-campus housing a goal, but won’t be a requirement Shelley Westerson @shelley_westers
Concerns were raised when President Armstrong was quoted in a Mustang News article early last year saying he had plans to make on-campus housing a requirement for first and second-year students. Since then, questions are circulating on whether or not living on campus will be mandatory for half the student body. “That’s absurd. I hated every second of living on campus,” psychology senior Rebekah Shade said. “If that had been a requirement when I started, I would have been forced to leave Cal Poly after my first year. My sanity would not have lasted two years of that.” The concerns started with the idea of Student Housing South, a project that will be built on the G-1 and R-2 parking lots to house an additional 1,400 students. Preston Allen, the executive director of University Housing, set the record straight, saying, “Students will not be forced to live on campus,” regardless of what Armstrong may have said. The project will make more housing available but not force people to live in it. “The goal is to make housing guaranteed, not mandatory,” he said. “Since we built Poly Canyon Village, we made a promise to first-year students that if they applied to live on campus again they would have guaranteed housing, but with the large influx of freshmen, we
are not able to guarantee that housing anymore.” According to Allen, when parents and future students visit Cal Poly, they look for required housing because if housing is required, it means it is guaranteed. The message he is trying to send is that you are not forced to live here, but if you decide you want to you absolutely will be able to for your first two years of college. “Studies show that if a student doesn’t have to interrupt their focus going from year one to two, they maintain a stronger focus going into years three and four,” he said. The market research conducted by administration found that there is a large demand for on-campus housing. With increasing freshman enrollment each year, Cal Poly expects to have about 12,000 incoming students by Fall 2017. Right now there are less than 7,000 beds available in on-campus residence halls and apartments. The Student Housing South Project is expected to fill that need, as it will free up housing for freshmen by providing second-years with housing. Right now, about 1,800 sophomores live on campus. That number is expected to double by Fall 2017 if 95 percent of students plan to live on campus. The idea is to make Cal Poly a more residential campus where students want to live on campus, so a majority of them do. Not one where students are forced to live on campus. “Even housing for first-years
UNIVERSITY HOUSING | COURTESY PHOTOS BEFORE AND AFTER | Housing South is expected to be completed by Fall 2018. The new residence halls will house 1,440 incoming freshmen.
is not mandatory,” Allen said. “There are always exceptions. For instance, if the student is local and they choose to live at home. We house 99 percent of the freshmen, so for us, to make housing mandatory would not serve a purpose.” Allen says that the new project is not about money. Basically, what they will take in rent from students will go right back into the project since none of the funding comes from the state. The total project cost is about $198 million, and 99 percent of
that revenue will initially come from bonds. The future rent is what pays for the debt service of the bond. “I’m really excited about it. I think it’s going to be a great addition to the campus,” Facilities Planning Project Manager Annie Rendler said. “If I was a student coming back to campus, I would be thrilled to be living there because there are a lot of great components that I think students will find exciting.” The design for Student Housing South has accommodations
for a coffee shop, community room, outdoor grass amphitheater and sand volleyball court. Allen says the goal of officials is to make Cal Poly even more of a campus community. It is a place he expects students will want to live. They envision it being a place where people mostly live on campus and love it. “I think there are benefits all the way around,” ASI President Joi Sullivan said. “Creating spaces where students want to live and be a part of this community is the ideal situation.
Hopefully, as Cal Poly continues to look in the direction of potentially more housing, that’s a mentality that would be really good.” Come Fall 2018, Cal Poly expects to have 65 percent of the student population in on-campus housing. With Student Housing South, there will be the room to guarantee housing to all first- and second-years. Sophomores will have two options: live on campus or find something off campus. Either way, it will be their decision.
Monday, March 30, 2015
NEWS | 3
How many students really get jobs?
Bianca Quider Special to Mustang News
Graduate Cal Poly, land your dream job, earn six figures. Sounds great, right? If only it were true. The most recent Graduate Status Report survey, conducted by Cal Poly Career Services, reports that 88 percent of Cal Poly graduates from 2012-13 either had a job or went to graduate school within three to nine months after graduating. However, that number might not reflect reality due to how the study was conducted, the phrasing of the questions and variation in job opportunities from college to college. Coordinator of the Graduate Status Report, Seth Igarta, also serves as the career counselor for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Cal Poly. Igarta explains the questions asked in the survey. “The survey asks graduates whether they are employed full time, employed part time, unemployed, who is seeking employment, who is not and who is going to graduate school,” he said. “We have seen that this is the best way to do it, but we have proposed to make this survey part of the check-out
process.” The survey is first conducted at graduation and is currently self-reported, Igarta said. This is the first possible problem with the 88 percent figure. “For this survey, you have the selective response rate,” economics professor Jonathan James said. “It’s most likely that the ones who have jobs are the ones who are going to reply.” For instance, James mentioned engineering as an industry where jobs are more plentiful. Because of this, grouping job placement statistics together for all colleges does not give those students in other colleges an accurate representation. Another possible problem with the study has to do with the survey’s wording, James said. “For any survey, the phrasing of the questions really matter,” he said. In the case of this survey, the questions simply asked recent graduates whether or not they had a job, not whether it was a job in their field or if it was a temporary job. This is especially true when it comes to job placement rates among the seven different colleges on the Cal Poly campus. “The current labor market is
challenging for college graduates, mostly because of the depression,” James said. “But some also are easier because of the high demand.” “Engineers are much more likely to find jobs than English majors or philosophy majors,” James said. As far as how the survey is conducted and who responds, the Career Services website states that the survey includes 2,273 responses, a 51.3 percent response rate of the entire graduating class, taken from mail, email, employer and faculty information and LinkedIn. “We try very hard for 6-8 months to get as many responses as we can,” he said. “We always shoot for 50 percent of graduates to complete our survey, and once we get that amount, we are pretty much done,” Igarta said. This means that 49.7 percent of those who recently graduated did not participate in the Graduate Status Report survey, leaving about 2,161 graduates unaccounted for. That 49.7 percent may still be unemployed right now. For senior psychology major Renee Gutierrez, it’s been difficult to find a job she’s interested in after graduation. “I’ve been searching for jobs online and through connec-
tions,” Gutierrez said. “Cal Poly hasn’t really helped me find any jobs in my major.” Gutierrez said she feels Cal Poly and career services tend to give a lot of their attention to engineers but lack in guiding other majors in finding employment. But for students such as Hannah Tappe, a kinesiology senior, Cal Poly has been helpful in identifying a place to continue her education. “Cal Poly reaches out and sends a lot of emails about job
opportunities,” she said. Cal Poly’s philosophy of Learn By Doing will help students later in life because they can put that directly on their applications, which will help them get employed, she said. The reputation of attending and graduating Cal Poly has proved to assist students in securing a job in the past, but this survey’s vague statistic does not clearly represent all Cal Poly graduates. “Cal Poly is one of the few
CSUs that does this kind of survey and has done for 30 years,” Igarta said. From the statistic, career services gauge how well the career services programs are doing and what they should do to change them, Igarta said. “If you look at our CSUs, we are ranked pretty high,” he said. “In terms of students getting jobs after graduation, we are faring pretty well for the state and the UCs.”
College of Liberal Arts offers unexpected courses Lauren Piraro Special to Mustang News
From learning about how the perceptions of the sea have changed over time to the ways in which different cultures regulate the world’s oldest profession, options for captivating liberal arts courses aren’t in short supply
at Cal Poly. Witch Hunt in Europe, 1400-1800 “Women used to be killed by the masses simply for being women,” art and design senior Anya McInroy said. “It’s hard to wrap your head around that, but it was the reality back then and that will
really stick with me for years.” McInroy, who took the class this past winter, has already recommended HIST 306 to friends because of the positive experience she had in the class. History professor Paul Hiltpold teaches Witch Hunt in Europe and developed the course’s curriculum in correlation to
the content he studied at the University of Texas. That class was taught by Brian Levack, an expert on the subject of witchhunts in Europe. Hiltpold says he encounters both surprise and intrigue from students who already have their own assumptions about the historical events that took place at
that time. “Obviously, this historical event is much more complicated than simply saying they burned witches because they were crazy,” he said. “No. These people had very definite reasons for doing exactly what they did.” Hiltpold explores those reasons in his class and takes a multi-
disciplinary approach in understanding the trials and hunts. “From the sciences, to art, to philosophy, government, economics, gender,” he said. “Every sort of perspective you want to take fits into this class.”
see CLASSES, pg 4.
Monday, March 30, 2015
NEWS | 4 CLASSES continued from pg 3 Hiltpold says the course is rigorous regarding class requirements and course material. On the syllabus are required readings of political statements calling to burn more witches and trial transcripts, just to name a few. “The information is intense, and I think my requirements are intense,” he said. “But I think when the experience is over, people look back on it and say, ‘I learned an enormous amount just about human nature.’” If his students leave with one takeaway lesson from his class, it is to always be skeptical. “Whether it is political or economic or philosophical, always reconsider,” he said. “Always understand that people have an agenda, no matter what it is. Think on your own.”
Lure of the Sea When she first signed up for it, history senior Soquel Filice imagined Lure of the Sea to consist of myths and stories associated with sea dragons, mermaids and sailors. “My assumptions about the class were incorrect because Lure of the Sea deals a lot more with how people have related to the sea over time, through going to the beach, traveling over water and trading overseas, instead of just myths and lore,” she said. The course is taught by Thomas Trice, an associate professor of history, who is teaching abroad winter quarter and could not be reached for comment. The class also covers topics such as the historical implications of oceanic events like the Titanic, how it has become such a widely known incident and how Hollywood tends to portray historical events, thus impacting
public perceptions. Filice took the class in 2013 and still retains a significant amount of the knowledge she gained from the course, which has impacted her understanding of history. She recalls learning about the advent of women’s bathing suits in the early 20th century and the ways that this new fashion both stereotyped and gave freedom to American women. History of Prostitution “What is prostitution?” “Should prostitution be legal?” Though these questions may seem easy to answer at first glance, associate professor of history Christina Firpo spends 11 weeks exploring possible answers. “Students like taboo topics,” she said. “Here’s a class that’s very much a taboo topic, but it’s intellectualized. There’s room
for being super philosophical about it, which I think the students like.” Firpo has tailored the class to the history of prostitution within Asia, her area of expertise, and studies the cultural contexts within each society. “I want students to be able to think critically and to think about the implications of all of our policies that are either gender or sexually based policies,” she explained. “Being able to show students how (prostitution) has changed over time is also really important, and also that notion of sexuality being so taboo is key.” History of Prostitution is cross-listed as a history and women and gender studies course, which allows for colorful in-class discussions. “Although this subject matter is often regarded as controversial or illicit, History 421 treats prostitution very seriously, dissecting it mainly in terms of regulation and control in a colonial setting,” history senior Ryan Kadlec said. “Removing this subject from its cultural stigma reveals many interesting historical patterns.” Kadlec, who is taking History of Prostitution this winter, said that students like himself respond well to Firpo’s personal style of teaching.
“She likes to dive into the deepest, and sometimes darkest, depths of history to reveal the secrets of the past that most people would rather overlook,” he said. “This keen interest is apparent in every class that Dr. Firpo leads, which are brimming
welfare. They’re interested in all of these issues.” Hurt tackles subjects ranging from genetically modified foods to agroterrorism. Throughout the course, Hurt incorporates documentaries and guest lecturers to dive further into issues like nanotechnology for students to gain an understanding about how the American government functions within agriculture. “I think it’s very important that American students recognize the American government’s role in agriculture and food policy because this is a democracy,” she said. “If they recognize that their voices as citizens can have an impact on directing agriculture, food and nutrition policy, then they can have more political impacts on those outcomes.” Students appreciate the wide range of perspectives they are exposed to throughout the course. “Our professor likes to make sure that we see both sides of the story,” construction management senior Jacob Ruiz said. “She really breaks it down for you to see how things got to be how they are. I think that’s really important in understanding politics and history.”
This class helped me to realize that things like fashion and commodities are important parts of history ... It also helped me to figure out that I enjoy women’s history most. SOQUEL FILICE
with anecdotes that are always informative and often hilarious.” World Food Systems Political science professor Shelley Hurt says it’s one of her favorite classes to instruct because of the topic and the enthusiasm of her students. “Students today are very interested in food issues,” she explained. “They’re interested in nutrition, the science about food, their health and animal
Monday, March 30, 2015
NEWS | 5
Crashing into spring quarter Tim Wetzel @timawetzel
Spring quarter has finally arrived. The birds are chirping, flowers are blossoming and all the annoying bugs have finally decided to come out and make their presence known. Most importantly, though, hordes of students are scrambling between waitlisted classes, trying to woo their teachers into adding just one more student to their lecture. Most students have to crash a class at some point during their time at Cal Poly. Zach Petrek, a biochemistry senior, has crashed many courses in the past five years. “There have definitely been a number of times I’ve had to crash one course or another,” Petrek said. “It’s really stressful going into the first day of classes not knowing your schedule, especially if you’re supposed to be crashing classes all day.” Petrek isn’t alone in his struggle for classes. Sabrina Canady, an academic advisor for the College of Liberal Arts, says that many students come to her for help when they have trouble getting into impacted classes. “R e g i s t r at i on can be very challenging, especially depending on rotation and what sort of classes you’re looking for,” Canady said. “Some students are trying to save their C and D GE courses because they want to study abroad, but a lot of times there aren’t enough major-specific courses or support courses that fit in a
good schedule.” Jordan Bach, a
biochemistrysophomore, has experienced this firsthand. “One of the most impacted classes I tried taking is argumentative writing,” Bach said. “When we walked in, the teacher just dismissed ev-
times they just have to take that course that may not be their top choice.” So, don’t be too picky and you’ll get your classes? That’s the idea. However, Bach ran into another problem w h i l e picking classes. “This quarter I didn’t manage to get into one of my major classes. It wasn’t because I wanted a particular teacher or time, they just don’t offer the class in spring.” Canady believes these classes are the most problematic for stueryone on the waitlist and said he’d email us in consecutive order if anyone didn’t show up. I was first on that waitlist, but I never got that email.” Though this is common, Canady is confident students can get all the classes they need. She believes that while it is difficult to get classes, students will always end up with required major courses. “Students aren’t always going to get all the classes they want. However, they will get all the classes that they need,” Canady said. “If they want to have class after 10 a.m. every day except on Fridays with one specific professor, then sometimes it’s just not going to work. Some-
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dents. The fewer quarters a class is offered, the more impacted it is during registration. “Major-specific courses that are only offered once or twice a year can be very impacted, so there are tons of courses that get crowded each quarter,” Canady said. “The departments definitely do their best to make sure they know how many students need each class and adjust classes to work with those numbers.” So let’s say you get on a waitlist. How long should you stay before giving up? The answer depends on who you ask. “It depends where I am on the waitlist,” Petrek said. “If I’m on a list longer than seven people, I’ll usually drop the class within the first week. Otherwise I’m just wasting my time as well as the professor’s.” Bach tends to stay a bit longer. “I’ll stay on the waitlist for about two weeks before dropping a class. If I’m on there longer, it usually means the professor isn’t adding anyone,”
Bach said. Canady, however, suggests students stay at least long enough to make a statement. “Just keep yourself on the waitlist, at least until you’ve gone to class,” she said. “The waitlist tells the department what the demand for is for each class and how many students want to take it. It also increases your opportunities in some cases — not always, but in some cases.” When students talk to teachers about crashing, Canady said that they should be considerate above all else. “Be respectful, especially if you’re communicating with instructors,” she said. “Make sure you’re not assuming that a professor will add you to a course. Make sure you communicate why you need this course, but be polite and kind to your instructors.” All three, however, gave identical parting advice: “Be persistent.”
DANIEL DEMPSTER | MUSTANG NE WS CRASH COURSE
| Most students have to crash a class at some point during their time at Cal Poly.
Monday, March 30, 2015
ARTS | 6
6 spring quarter events you don’t want to miss Kelly Trom
@kttrom
1. An Afternoon with Ira Glass April 12, 3 p.m. Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center $41.60 for students at pacslo.org Ira Glass, creator of the public radio show “This American Life”, will share the secrets of great storytelling.
Glass goes through the steps of how the show is created, taking stories from the show, Glass’s live nar-
ration and pre-recorded quotes and sounds to recreate a show before the audience’s very eyes and ears.
LISA WOSKE | COURTESY PHOTO
2. The Bobs April 18, 8 p.m. Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre $30.40 for students at pacslo.org
LISA WOSKE | COURTESY PHOTO
The Bobs feature simultaneously “new wave” and “old school” stylings of an a cappella group. T h e y d o c ove rs u s i ng on ly their voices and body percus-
sion. The group has been performing since 1981 and has worked with a variety of other musical disciplines to create original content as well.
Monday, March 30, 2015
3. Spike Heels May 7-9, 14-16, 8 p.m. Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre $12 for students at pacslo.org The Cal Poly Theatre and Department will take on Theresa Rebeck’s Spike Heels, a play that deals with the entangled relationships of four main characters. Assistant professor Heidi Nees will be directing the play. “One of the things that drew me to the script was that all of these characters seem to be try-
ing to find balance in their lives and as if everybody knows that balance is hard to achieve,” Nees said. “Even when it seems like balance has been struck, that balance can be destroyed by the slightest movement.” The play uses strong language and is suitable for mature audiences only.
ARTS | 7
5. Spring Dance Concert: ‘Onwards and Upwards’ May 20-22, 8 p.m. Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre $10 for students A student-directed performance with more than 200 dancers and all different genres, from classical ballet to hip-hop to Bollywood and everything in between. Ev-
eryone should be able to find some genre that they can relate to, Diana Stanton, faculty a d v i s e r for t h e s pr i ng dance concert and associate professor of dance, said.
“There are always interesting and new ideas from students. It’s really a show about the dancers that are in it. It is always a hit and tickets sell fast,” Stanton said.
KOMUNEWS | FLICKR
4. LaVerne Cox May 14, 7 p.m. Chumash Auditorium Free with Polycard Come hear the “Orange is the New Black” star talk about gender expectations, intersectionality and living more authentically. Cox is the first trans woman of color to
star on a mainstream scripted television show. She has spoken all over the country and has been on news outlets such as CNN, ABC, NPR and more.
LISA WOSKE | COURTESY PHOTO
6. Whose Live Anyway May 28, 7:30 p.m. Christopher Cohan Center $41.60 for students at pacslo.org Improv comedian Ryan Stiles and his comedy troupe bring the magic of the beloved television show “Whose Line Is it
Anyways?” to the Performing Arts Center stage. A night full of audience participation and laughs, see some of the “Whose
Line” games in front of your very eyes plus some new material that has not been featured on the show.
Monday, March 30, 2015
ARTS | 8
DYLAN SUN | MUSTANG NE WS FESTIVAL FEEL
| For the first time, Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) will put on a festival-style spring concert for Cal Poly students at the Sports Complex. The concert will consist of three artists.
On- and off-campus concerts this spring Naba Ahmed @NabaAhmed
Cal Poly students have a plethora of music events to look forward to spring quarter, but it might be tough to narrow them down. To help with the process, Mustang News has gotten the low-down on two of the quarter’s biggest concerts — both on-campus and off-campus. On-campus For the first time, Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) will put on a festival-style spring concert for Cal Poly students. It will include three artists and take place in the Sports Complex. This concert has been in the works for a while, ASI Events student manager Arin Miller said. “There’s a lot of other schools, especially in California, who do something like this and students have been asking for it,” Miller said. “We had a very similar type of concert during (Week of Welcome), which went really well for those participants, so we wanted to do something a bit more large-scale and campuswide.” Students can expect an outdoor music festival rather than the traditional concert, ASI program director Missi Bullock said.
“There will be three artists at an afternoon festival feel kind of concert in an open field,” Bullock said. “Students have been asking for this type of show for a long time, as opposed to something in the Rec Center or that kind of facility.” When Mustang News posted the survey for which artists students would like to see, the immediate student response provided affirmation to continue planning the event, Bullock said. “It was really exciting from our perspective to get over 2500 responses ... it really shows that this is something that students are super interested in and where their interest lies as far as genre and artists,” Bullock said. “That was really our focus in the beginning — to hear what students have to say because we knew we wanted to do it, but didn’t know if we would have the student support.” In preparation for this concert, ASI has been working through all the details and coordinating with local management. As for the artists who will be performing, nothing has been finalized, according to Bullock. “Production and security are the two biggest components that are happening right now in just the setup of the show,” Bullock said. “Then, come the
DYLAN SUN | MUSTANG NE WS MY ONLY ONE | SLO Brewing Co. predicts one of the most popular concerts for students this spring will be Yellowcard on May 8.
artists, so we are making those offers right now and making sure that it is what students want and pursuing people from the survey list.” In order to ensure student support, tickets will be sold for around $5. “We have planned this throughout the year so it is within the scope of our budget, but we are asking students to supplement just a little bit,” Bullock said. “A big component of that was that we wanted a buy
in from students to ensure a little bit of commitment.” Many details — including the ticketing system — are still up in the air. “We have never charged (students) for a ticket, so we are coming up with how that will work whether it be how far in advance we sell them or if we sell them day of,” Bullock said. ASI is working with corporations to have some vendors available. “We are working to have some
vendors out there, to make it have more of a festival feel,” Bullock said. “We are having these discussions now and it’s all in the really early stages but it’s so exciting because lots of people are interested who are coming to us and wanting to be involved.” As for future events for Cal Poly, ASI wants to make the festival an annual concert, similar to UCSD’s Sun God Festival and UCSB’s Extravaganza Festival. “I would love to see this be the first annual concert,” Miller said. “With the popularity of the survey and hearing the buzz, I think it has extreme potential
for something like that.” Off-campus One of SLO Brewing Co.’s most popular concerts this spring will be Yellowcard on May 8, SLO Brewing Co. general manager Monte Schaller said in an email to Mustang News. Yellowcard will be one of the venue’s most popular shows for the college demographic, Schaller said. Yellowcard’s discography spans from 1997 to 2014, meaning the show appeals to college students’ music tastes from both the past and the present. Finch and The Downtown Fiction will open the show, which starts at 7 p.m.
Monday, March 30, 2015
ARTS | 9
Spring weekend getaways How do you plan on spending your free time this quarter?
DAKOTA GREENWICH | MUSTANG NE WS WEEKEND WANDERING | The first weekend of the quarter is the best time for exploring shores. Spend two hours at every beach between Pismo and Cayucos and leave evidence of your presence with sandcastles.
Brendan Abrams @brenabrams
Spring quarter can seem like the longest of them all — summer weather teases us, but schoolwork still needs to be done. This year, don’t wait for summer to arrive. Instead, condense it into these four spring quarter weekends. Weekend 1 After spring break, you’ve just returned from a full week of
sunny beaches, tanning bodies and overwhelmingly responsible partying. You’ve had some practice with that sensually luxurious lifestyle, so why waste your recently reacquired skills? This first weekend is the best time for a high-energy beach party marathon. Or, if that’s not your style, try a spectacular water’s edge exploration tour. The details: Spend two hours at every beach
between Pismo and Cayucos and leave evidence of your presence at each one in the form of a giant sandcastle. For each castle, make sure there is a moat sufficient to protect it from waves and leave one member of your group behind to stand guard for the remainder of the weekend. You know, typical beach party stuff. If you plan it out just right, you’ll be the only one still traveling by the time you get to Cayucos. Lie back on the sand, break
out that cheesy romance novel you don’t want anyone to know you’re reading, and soak in the melodrama as the sun sets on the Central Coast. Weekend 2 Two weeks of the quarter have come and gone, and you’re beginning to realize that, hey, maybe Linear Algebra III isn’t quite the joke class you thought it would be. You start to panic and question your future as you
wallow in your bedroom. It’s OK, hypothetical person! You can come out of there. What you need more than anything is a reminder that everything is going to be just fine. Look no further than the edge of campus. The details: Spend a day out in the cow pastures bordering Poly Canyon and Stenner Creek Road. Adult cows are docile as long as you respect their space. Their calves,
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however, love running around and causing minor mischief. Since it’s spring, you’ll likely get to see plenty of young cows without a care in the world chowing down on the sweet, green grass. It’s a pastoral scene that worried students can learn from. The cows know that everything’s just fine. Why don’t you?
see GETAWAY, pg 10.
Monday, March 30, 2015
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DAKOTA GREENWICH | MUSTANG NE WS ENDLESS EXPLORING | As spring quarter progresses, don’t fall into a monotonous school routine.
GETAWAY continued from pg 9. Weekend 5 You and your friends have become slaves to the school routine. Class, eat, class, sleep, repeat. Snap out of it. The weather is beautiful, and a break from that monotonous drill is in order. Grab a tent and as many people as you think can fit inside and take the easy 25-minute drive out southeast to Lopez Lake for a weekend to remind you that you’re still human. The details: Reserve one of more than 350 lakeside campgrounds and spend two days exhausting yourself. The aquatic opportunities are endless. Feel free to rent a boat and water
ski, or just float around lazily for hours. If you happen to feel 10 years old, take a lake break and spend some time just a couple hundred feet away in the chlorinated waters of Mustang Water Park. Once night falls, break out the s’mores ingredients and have an ’80s a cappella sing off. Trust me. Eight s’mores in, that’s the only musical decade that will come to mind. Weekend 9 You’ve been cooped up in the library for the past 10 hours studying for finals, and you’ve hit a wall. At this point, those masterworks of British literature might as well be written in Klingon. Continuing to study is obviously not going to get you anywhere remarkable, so get up and spend half a day in arguably the most remarkable place in the
area: Montana de Oro State Park. The details: Of all the things to do on the Mountain of Gold, the best for stress relief and mind-clearing purposes might be horseback riding. Rumor has it that there are even some opportunities to ride horses on the beach, just like the lovers in your terrible romance novel. How beautifully cliche. If sitting on top of large mammals isn’t quite your style, grab that mountain bike that’s has been collecting dust in the garage and crank out a few laps on the trails snaking through the park before cooling off in the Pacific. While you’re drying off, refresh yourself with an extravagantly flavored soda you picked up at Rocket Fizz on your way out of town.
Monday, March 30, 2015
ARTS | 11
Soaking in the sun with your studies Madi Salvati @MadiSalvati
Sunshine streaks through the grimy windowsill of your room, begging you to step away from that chemistry homework and get your butt outside. How could you possibly do anything productive on a pristine 80-degree day? Before you can think twice, you grab your roommates and book it to the nearest beach in a flurry of swimsuits, towels and Birkenstocks. There seems to be a bit of “summer fever” hitting the students of Cal Poly, and sadly, it’s not even May yet. Maintaining a school mindset in the summer weather can be more difficult than you think, especially when you go to school in San Luis Obispo. When asked how to go about maintaining this mindset in such beautiful weather, Associated Students, Inc. Chief of Staff Jake Rogers shed some light. “I think it’s just finding the right balance and taking advantage of the fact that we do have that summer weather,” Rogers said. “Go find a place where you can work on your tan and do your engineering homework at the same time.” You don’t have to sacrifice a gorgeous day to sit inside and finish calculus homework. Take advantage of the day and catch some vitamin D while working out logarithmic derivatives. Jake Odello, vice-chair of the University Union Advisory
Board also said that because of the facilities available on campus, integrating academics with recreation is not so difficult. “I think because we have things like the Rec Center on campus, we’re able to tie in the academic piece if it,” Odello said. “People go and work out, then they’ll come down and sit on the pool deck and read one of their textbooks.” The possibilities are endless when it comes to tying academics with the beautiful weather. Studying on Dexter Lawn, in the University Union or by the pool of the Rec Center are all different ways to keep that school mentality while enjoying the sunshine. But if you’re still having issues staying focused, here’s a way to stay grounded. Luke Legins, an agriculture business freshman, plans to stay focused by reminding himself of the mentality hehad at the beginning of the school year. “Remember that spring quarter is just as important as fall and winter quarter,” Legins said. Keeping your mind set on what’s important is a great way to stay focused, even when you have the sunshine in your eyes. As spring quarter unfolds, along with the Tommy Bahama lounge chairs and beach towels, don’t forget to bring along your biology textbook and some sun screen the next time you decide you can’t possibly sit behind your desk any longer.
JOSEPH PACK | MUSTANG NE WS BALANCING ACT
| The possibilities are endless when it comes to tying academics with the spring season’s warm, tempting weather.
Monday, March 30, 2015
OPINION | 12
More than a rooftop Eric Stubben @ericstubben
Graphic Arts Building Building 26, Suite 226 California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
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Eric Stubben is a mechanical engineering junior and Mustang News conservative columnist. These views do not necessarily reflect the opinion or editorial coverage of Mustang News. “The Sunday before dead week started.” It sounds like an old Alfred Hitchcock horror movie. I tried to squeeze out my final moments of freedom before the perils of dead week consumed me by hitting the links — the golf course, that is. As I teed up my worn down Callaway Warbird golf ball onto a jagged, snapped wooden tee, I already felt worn out from losing an hour of sleep and guilty for skipping the morning church service, instead opting to worship Lord Titleist. Per usual, my phone began ringing in the middle of my backswing. Grateful for the excuse for my miserable tee shot, I checked my phone to see what the commotion was about. Normally not ones to text me early on a Sunday, my family had sent some texts inquiring about a local newspaper article titled “9 hurt in garage roof collapse at college party.” “Great,” I thought along with some choice words. “How am I supposed to explain this?” Knowing my family, I knew some would consider the St. Fratty’s Day party the stuff of legends, straight from Animal House. But mostly, I knew I’d have to come up with a crafty explanation to assure the rest that the Cal Poly community is a safe and positive place. In all honesty, before my family started bombarding me with questions about the party, I hadn’t cared much about it. I was relieved that nobody was seriously injured and even more relieved that nobody died. Beyond that, the whole event seemed blown out of proportion. St. Fratty’s Day parties happen every year and aren’t exclusive to Cal Poly … We just happened to make the biggest mistake. But that’s just it … a mistake. After criticizing the event (rightfully so), San Luis Obispo Mayor Jan Marx immediately began emphasizing her wish to ban residents from sitting on rooftops with the exception of roof maintenance or installation. College students are young adults, still maturing. We make mistakes, lots of them. This is the time in our lives where we are supposed to learn from mistakes and not make them again. Because of this, I believe the response from the city government is a knee-jerk reaction to an event they failed to control. If Marx thinks people on rooftops are the problem here, she’s got it all wrong.
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The Right Angle The solution isn’t a mass punishment against residents of the city. In fact, there is nothing harmful about sitting on a rooftop while enjoying a golden California sunset or a casual conversation with good friends. I’m guilty of it, my neighbors are guilty of it and I’d be willing to bet that nearly every college student who rents a house in San Luis Obispo has ventured onto their roof at some point. I’m no expert in city planning or public relations by any means, but my amateur opinion is that Cal Poly students, the Cal Poly community and the San Luis Obispo commu-
nity need to come together to seek a resolution. While it’s unfortunate that it took a potentially deadly event like the roof collapse to bring the city and college communities together, the forum Cal Poly hosted last Thursday highlighted a far deeper issue than a group of intoxicated college students bringing down a roof: Cal Poly students, Cal Poly administration and San Luis Obispo seem to be on far different pages. As Cal Poly tries to increase its student population to 20,000, San Luis Obispo is looking to limit student housing around the city, specifically to prevent
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an “Isla Vista effect.” Without more on-campus housing, where does this divide leave students? More and more, students seem to be finding themselves in old run-down houses near campus, in houses far from campus or crammed into single-family homes that are accommodating far more people than they were built to hold. As the details of the party begin to unfold, we begin to see a much more complex issue than previously perceived. Whether we have a cultural problem here at Cal Poly or too many students decided to make the same mistake at the same time, I don’t know.
But one thing is for sure: The embarrassment of an international spotlight on our mistake was punishment enough. While we have this spotlight shining upon us, we have to do the best we can to create a positive solution from this negative problem. I applaud Cal Poly’s administration for inviting the campus and community to the forum last Thursday. Digging to the roots of the issues we have here at Cal Poly is constructive. Punishing the citizens of the entire city for a small group’s mistake — that’s destructive.
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“You’d have to find a large-teated cow and strap one on.”
Monday, March 30, 2015
NEWS | 13
A student’s journey: Transferring from a community college to Cal Poly Citlaly Santos Special to Mustang News
Computer engineering junior Gerardo Toledo is close to getting the college diploma he always wanted. He can feel it, even though it’s only his second quarter at Cal Poly. Toledo is scheduled to graduate in one and a half years, but his path has been different from that of most students. Before coming to Cal Poly, he spent five years studying at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, working toward admittance to a university. Toledo isn’t alone. In 2013, 46 percent of undergraduates in the U.S. were enrolled in junior colleges, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. Of the students who do transfer to four-year universities, 60 percent receive their bachelor’s degree within six years total, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Community college students bring different experiences to the table, and their success is often influenced by what they learned prior to transferring. Cuesta College Transfer Center coordinator Blake Reed said being a transfer student has its benefits. “Students that come to a community college have to work hard to make sure they get accepted into competitive universities,” Reed said. “Once they transfer, most of them continue to be good students.” One of the reasons Toledo felt prepared for Cal Poly was because of Allan Hancock College. During his time there, Toledo developed skills that helped him adjust to the fast-paced university lifestyle. “The concept of studying hard,
being dedicated and time management,” Toledo said. “I think those are some of the skills that professors at Allan Hancock helped me develop, and that helped me prepare to make that transition to Cal Poly.” The struggles Not only did a community college help him academically, it also helped him be a more responsible adult. After graduating high school in 2008, Toledo learned he didn’t have enough money for a four-year university. With his family unable to help him, he had to become financially independent. “I wanted to use that time (at a community college) to be able to develop a strategy that would allow me to save money and allow me to be more independent so that none of the expenses would transfer or pass on to my family,” he said. Like Toledo, other transfer students have had similar experiences. Liberal studies senior Enedina Hernandez graduated in 2007 from Righetti High School. She initially didn’t think about going to a community college because she was accepted to Cal Poly, but her financial situation made her think otherwise. “I chose Allan Hancock because it’s less expensive,” Hernandez said. “I don’t regret it. I feel high school doesn’t prepare you as well for a four-year university. If I would’ve gone straight to Cal Poly after high school, I would’ve probably dropped out.” Dropping out isn’t a rare occurrence among college freshmen. According to the latest information reported by the Na-
tional Center for Education Statistics, 21 percent of people enrolled as first-time full-time students at a four-year university in 2011 did not return the following year. And only 56 percent of students who start as freshmen at a four-year university will graduate within six years. The stereotypes Regardless of the statistics and success stories, Toledo said there’s room for improvement. “I feel like there are so many community colleges here in California, but not all of them have an optimal level of teaching,” Toledo said. “Maybe that’s why some people think negatively about them.” A recent editorial called “The Community College/‘Real College’ Divide” focused on the stigmas about community colleges. The article begins by describing an incident where a New York educator, who isn’t identified, is speaking to a group of parents and beginning high school freshmen. “‘So that’s the minimum requirement. But here’s what you should take if you want to go to real college — you know, not community college,’” quoted Kristin O’Keefe, the article’s writer. Reed, the counselor from Cuesta, understands where this negativity could come from, but he doesn’t agree. “Maybe some students didn’t apply themselves in high school or they had distractions, but that doesn’t make them any less brilliant. We have amazing 4.0 (GPA) students that just tear it up academically,” said Reed.
see TRANSFER, pg 14.
46%
of undergraduates in the U.S. were enrolled in junior colleges in 2013, according to the American Association of Community Colleges.
60%
of students who transfer to four-year universities receive their bachelor’s degree within six years total, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
NEWS | 14
Monday, March 30, 2015
More than
7,000
new transfer applicants applied to
Cal Poly in Fall 2014. Only
1,422 were accepted.
TRANSFER continued from pg 1. But even a high GPA won’t guarantee acceptance to competitive universities. As colleges become more impacted, students at two-year community colleges are struggling to get into their schools of choice. The acceptance More than 7,000 new transfer applicants applied for Cal Poly in Fall 2014. Only 1,422 students were accepted, and
Toledo was one of them. “I was excited that I made it. I knew that I was going to transfer, but I wanted to be able to choose a good school that would match what I wanted to do,” said Toledo. Trying to decide what he wanted to do was one of the reasons Toledo hadn’t transferred sooner. But now that he’s focused on computer engineering, he has a recommendation for incoming students. “I’d give them the advice to read ahead (of time) materials related to what they want to
study,” said Toledo. It’s been a long journey for Toledo in many aspects. Every day he travels from Santa Maria to Cal Poly. While he’s still getting used to commuting and being on a quarter system, he can already see his work paying off. “The classes are very challenging and difficult because they’re classes or subjects that I was never introduced to, but knowing that I’m almost to that point, almost to achieving my goals, I like that. I like that feeling,” Toledo said.
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Monday, March 30, 2015
SPORTS | 18
Men’s basketball: One and done and onto the next one Nick Larson @njlarson8
A season ago, a No. 7-seeded Cal Poly men’s basketball team defeated UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament, propelling the Mustangs to the semifinals, a tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament berth. The stage was set for a repeat of 2014 — No. 7 seed, 6-10 in conference play, facing the Gauchos in the first round — but Cal Poly could not repeat the dream sequence, falling 54-50 in a close contest on March 12 in the Big West Conference quarterfinals. The first 10 minutes were sloppy by both teams. The Mustangs were only able to muster five points in that span, but tough defense held the Gauchos to just 11 points. UC Santa Barbara’s senior forward, Alan Williams, an All-Big West Conference first-team selection, dominated the first half. Williams dropped in 13 of the Gauchos’ 27 points, taking the No. 2 seed into the locker room with a 27-22 lead. Cal Poly was shaky at best in the first 20 minutes, shooting 29.6 percent from the floor to UC Santa Barbara’s 44.4 percent, but was lucky to be down by just five. “We went into halftime and realized we had held them to 27 points,” Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero said. “(It) felt like if we could hold them to 27 again, keep them under 30, we could grind and create opportunities to get it back down to a two-point game.” Post-halftime, Callero had the Mustangs looking like last year’s squad. Senior guard Maliik Love and junior forward Brian Bennett
IAN BILLINGS | MUSTANG NE WS REPEAT DENIED | The Cal Poly men’s basketball team’s lackluster season ended with a loss to UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Conference Tournament quarterfinals on March 12.
took over the game. Bennett embodied the All-Big West Conference second-team accolades awarded to him earlier in the week, taking on Williams in the post and, frankly, outplaying the Gauchos star. Bennett went off with a game-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting. “My shots were going in early,” Bennett said. “I was just in the flow of the game.” Love, not usually the most potent offensive weapon, came alive in his final game in a Cal Poly uniform. He ended his collegiate career swinging, with the solid stat line of 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. “Maliik Love ... just completely what we want at Cal Poly,” Callero said. “The toughness and dedication.”
Cal Poly kept the Gauchos within striking range, slowly reeling them in throughout the half. Callero caught UC Santa Barbara off guard with 12:50 to play, implementing a full-court press that immediately yielded two steals. “I thought we could change the tempo, energize the team a little bit,” Callero said. “We experimented with it a little bit at their place. We were hoping that we might generate some offense.” After 10 minutes of trailing by a handful points, a jumper by Bennett with 1:57 to go brought the Mustangs within two, trailing 52-50. The last two minutes were chaotic. Williams stole the ball from sophomore guard Ridge Shipley with 1:16 left, but his errant
outlet pass gave the ball immediately back to Cal Poly, who subsequently missed multiple game-tying jumpers. Ultimately, it came down to a single play. Shipley, the hero from a year ago in the Big West Tournament Championship, drove to the hoop with 11 seconds left. The brief opening was quickly shut down by Gauchos guard Michael Bryson, who made a huge block, preventing Shipley from repeating his heroics and alleviating any pending deja vu. “I think it’s similar to last year, as the No.7 seed, we weren’t surprised that we won,” Callero said. “And as the No. 7 seed, we weren’t surprised that we lost.” The loss also marked the final Cal Poly game for senior forwards
Anthony Silvestri and Alberto Ganis, along with senior guard Michael Bolden. “It doesn’t add to the disappointment because it was Santa Barbara,” Callero said. “It didn’t add to the sweetness last year that we beat Santa Barbara. It’s just like, ‘Wow. We made a great run last year.’” In the end, Cal Poly’s season can be characterized as underwhelming. The expectations set by last year’s squad were somewhat unrealistic, but it felt as if they were attainable the entire season. The Mustangs were poised for a breakthrough throughout the year, but it never came to fruition, due, in part, to a handful of injuries. Junior guard David Nwaba dealt with a surgically repaired wrist in
the offseason, mononucleosis and a minor heart irregularity. Junior forward Zach Gordon missed the entire year after knee surgery, as did sophomore guard Taylor Sutlive with the same injury. The Mustangs generally stuck to a six-man rotation throughout the season, exemplifying the lack of depth, but they were still able to keep nearly every Big West game within single digits at the final whistle. Was this season a success? Not exactly. But with the return of stars who emerged this year — Bennett, junior forward Joel Awich — in addition to those returning from injury and transfers who will finally be eligible, the Mustangs are primed for a deep run in the 2015-16 season.
Women’s basketball’s strong season ends in disappointment Mustang News Staff Report @CPMustangSports
In one of its sloppier games of the season, the Cal Poly women’s basketball team was eliminated from the Big West Tournament
by No. 7-seeded Cal State Fullerton, losing 55-48 in Titan Gym on March 11. Turnovers were the Mustangs’ downfall, who committed 16 over the course of the game. The Titans capitalized on the oppor-
tunities, scoring 15 points off of Cal Poly’s mistakes. Forty-eight points is the Mustangs’ lowest total of season. Cal Poly shot 29 percent from the floor — its worst this year. Both teams played poorly —
Cal State Fullerton only shot 33 percent. The two teams combined to go 6-of-32 from 3-point range, with the Mustangs sinking four of those. Cal Poly made a comeback at the end, pulling within three
DAVID E. HOLMES | COURTESY PHOTO SO LONG, SENIORS | The March 11 loss marks the final Cal Poly game for seniors Ariana Elegado, Kristen Ale (above) and Taryn Garza.
points with less than two minutes to play. But the Titans converted on the majority of their free throws, while the Mustangs were unable to sink a 3. Senior forward Taryn Garza finished with a double-double, dropping in a team-high 14 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Ariana Elegado finished with 12 points, while senior guard Kristen Ale finished with six. The loss marks the end of Cal Poly’s season and the last game for Elegado, Ale and Garza. All three seniors earn All-Big West Conference honors in their final season. The Mustangs finish with an overall record of 15-14 but will be disappointed in the way their season ended. The return of Elegado for her final year of eligibility was an incredible boost before the season began. Her leadership and scoring ability provided a spark to a team that lost stars Jonae Ervin and Molly Schlemer to graduation last year. On their way to a third-place Big West finish in the regular season, the Mustangs defeated both Hawaii, who won the regular season title, and Cal State Northridge, the Big West Tour-
nament champion. Elegado led the side in both scoring and assists on her way to All-Big West first-team honors. Looking ahead to the 2015-16 campaign, Cal Poly will be without its three most impactful players as Elegado, Ale and Garza all move on. Fortunately for the Mustangs, they were especially deep this season, frequently using 12 players in a game. Freshman guards Dynn and Lynn Leaupepe will be key going forward. Seeing how the twins develop will be interesting, as next year’s squad will be lacking leadership. Sophomore forward Hannah Gilbert may take over as the team’s most potent weapon. The 6-foot-3 forward’s presence in the paint will be hard for any team in the Big West to defend. Look for junior guard Beth Balbierz to step up as well. Her sharpshooting from behind the 3-point line and her potential senior leadership will be key in the Mustangs’ success. Next season, the Mustangs may lack the stars they possessed this year, but they just might do what the 2014-15 squad could not: make a run in the Big West Tournament.
Monday, March 30, 2015
SPORTS | 19
IAN BILLINGS | MUSTANG NE WS MAGIC MARK | During his sophomore campaign in 2014, Mark Mathias finished batting an overall .386 while scoring 48 runs on his way to becoming the Big West Conference Field Player of the Year.
One step at a time: How Cal Poly’s star second baseman came to be Harry Chang @harrychangmn
Ever since second baseman Mark Mathias could stand, he could play baseball. It became as regular a part of his childhood as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Watching the game, learning the game and even traveling to play it became the norm for the junior from Fremont, California. He made his first trip to Cooperstown, New York, at 12 years old — a baseball rite of passage. In town for yet another tournament, however, a young Mathias did more than just cast a fog of breath on the legendary display cases inside the Baseball Hall of Fame. “We were down three, it was 8-5 in the last inning of the championship,” he recounts. “I remember there was a rule where you could take the designated hitter out and go straight to your leadoff hitter and our coach decided to do that. The leadoff hitter, it turned out, was me. I hit a home run to tie it and then we went on to win the championship.” A crowning moment in the youth of most baseball players, merely a step in the right direction for Mathias. Soon after Mathias began his tenure at Irvington High School, he excelled as an ace pitcher, plus defender and superb hitter. He was quickly noticed by the Area Code team for the Oakland A’s, where he competed against the best in the nation. That’s where Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee and company first noticed him. “I talked to one of the assistant coaches and said, ‘This is a guy that should get a tryout,’ and after that Mark did all the rest,” Lee said. Recruited for his fielding and hitting, Mathias recalls being excited to leave the every-fifth-day duties of a pitcher for the daily play of a position player. But signing the scholarship to attend Cal Poly meant his run as an everyday player would come to an end. Denver Chavez, the incumbent second baseman for the Mustangs who would go on to be taken in the 30th round of the 2013 MLB draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks after a stellar junior campaign, stood in his way. Mathias appeared in just 16 games during the 2013 season, receiving only 40 at-bats and tallying just eight hits and five runs en route to a .200
batting average. “We didn’t know what was in store for him,” Lee admits. “He had the limited playing time freshman year and then went out in the summer to keep training and, again, nothing special. He came back the fall of his sophomore year still, even then, didn’t quite see what he’s turned out to be.” A ro a d b l o c k at f i r s t , Chavez turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the learning Mathias. “I was at the bottom of the totem pole,” Mathias recalls. “I was ‘the guy’ in high school, and I felt like I was always that guy, but I tried to make the best out of it and talk to (Chavez) as much as I could. A lot of the mental aspects of the game that I know now really just came from being around him and picking his brain.” Whatever Chavez told him over the course of the 2013 season worked. Mathias stepped into the starting role at second base in 2014 and exploded for one of the best seasons ever recorded by a Cal Poly second baseman. During his sophomore year, Mathias recorded 210 at-bats and finished hitting an overall .386 — good for 20th in the NCAA — while scoring 48 runs on his way to becoming the Big West Conference Field Player of the Year and being named to the Rawlings All-West Region first team. “He just caught fire,” Lee said. “His confidence level with his baseball skills went to a different level, and it happened very quickly. So, from that point on and the end of the summer following, he just went from a good college baseball player to one of the best in the country.” The play not only earned Mathias NCAA accolades and helped the Mustangs to their historic NCAA Regional-hosting run, but it earned him a tryout to the collegiate USA national team, where he travelled to compete with the best players in the country for the chance to represent his nation in a 28-game summer season. “I felt like a small fish in a big pond,” Mathias said. “There were so many guys who were so self-aware and kind of cocky. But one of my biggest things is staying confident but not showing it too much.” The field, which included some of the biggest names and highest prospects from
college baseball’s most storied blue-blood programs, was not always as aware of him as he was of them. “I went into the tryout and everyone’s asking, ‘Hey, what school are you from?’ and coming from Cal Poly, which is definitely a smaller community, a lot of them asked, ‘Hey, where is that?’ or, ‘Are you Division I?’” Mathias would respond with, “Yeah, we were 47-12 last year, actually, and we were ranked No. 1 in the nation at one point,” and keep grinding on the field. Sixteen days and 16 different hotels later, the tr yout was over and it was finally decision time. The junior from Northern California awaited his fate. “They looked at me and just said, ‘Hey, you made it,’ and, I mean, it was probably one of the best feelings of my life.” Finishing with a .263 batting average, a team-high 19 walks and one of just two players on Team USA to start all 28
games (he failed to reach base in only two of those), the junior more than proved he could hang. But as it sometimes goes, the monumental experience was not without growing pains, and the big step forward in his career was quick ly followed by two steps back. “My throw-
ing arm was just sore around my shoulder all summer, and by the end of it things weren’t getting better, so I got an MRI at the end of November,” Mathias said. “That’s when they found the tear in my labrum.” A pres eas on f irst-team D1Baseball.com All-American, second-team Baseball America Preseason All-American and second-team National
positive manner, and he just continued to lead by example, which is hard to coach, so it was great to see him get the chance to contribute again.” “He’s just a leader. Even when he wasn’t playing early in the season, when he talked, players listened.” Mathias went 2-for-4 at the plate against Bakersfield, driving in one run and scoring three times himself as he helped lift the Mustangs to a 13-2 win, ending a three-game losing streak and helping right the ship of a team that had already been swept twice just two weeks into the season. Now, heading into this past Sunday’s contest against Oregon State, Mathias had notched a .364 batting average, 18 runs scored and an on-base percentage of .432. The junior remains resigned to designated hitter duties. “I just think about what I can work on with the team, you know,” Mathias said of his limited role. “I try to get us wins rather than have us be just a set of individuals, and that’s what I try to promote: just playing pitch to pitch and not thinking too much about the end of the season.” What the end of the season may bring, nobody knows. W h i l e t h e Mu s tangs look to repeat last year’s playoff run, Mathias tries to block out the noise and press clippings of scouts who have ranked Mathias as high as 34th among NCAA juniors for the upcoming June MLB draft, where C h av e z w e nt a n d where Mathias is no doubt headed. But for now, Mathias’ career is back to where it all began. Learning to walk, wiffleball by wiffleball, pitch by pitch, one step at a time. “I try to keep all that as far out of my head as p o s s i b l e ,” h e s a y s . “ I ’m j u s t t h a n k f u l and humbled being where I’m at right n o w, p l a y i n g a t this school, at t h is l e vel, w it h these teammates.” IAN BILLINGS | MUSTANG NE WS
Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-American, Mathias learned he’d spend training camp and at least the first month of the season doing the thing he hates the most: watching his team take the field from the dugout. “I was pretty down because this was supposed to be my year to go,” he said. “It’s a young team this year and these guys know I’m a captain and, yeah, just not a good feeling at all.” Fast forward a few months and a lot of physical therapy later, Mathias was doing everything he could to get back to playing. And while he couldn’t quite use his throwing arm in game play yet, Mathias, in the eighth game of Cal Poly’s season — a one-game contest against Bakersfield at home — was finally penciled back into a starting lineup, leading off as the designated hitter. “He used the setback to become a better player in the long run,” Lee said of the decision. “He always l o o k e d at things in a