Surf the internet waves on these Surface Pros Library offers tech program that rents out academic tools for student success

said. “They will be judged on their delivery, organization, content and speaking style.”

According to Silver, after students have gone through the first round, the top five from each category will move on to the final round in The Great Hall, where they will present their speeches to three judges, their family, friends and other students.

Silver said that the judges for the final round are CSUN’s executive director of speech and debate John Kephart, former Pierce student and speech and debate coach Michelle Brownlee and Pierce College communication studies professor Jennifer Rosenberg.

Silver also said that in the past, many guests have attended the tournament.

“Hundreds of people come to watch,” Silver said. “We’ve had around 300 people attend in the past.”

One of Anderson’s public speaking students Ben Braunstein is competing in the persuasive category at the tournament with a speech about the importance of shop skills. He said in a phone interview that this is his first speech competition.

“I decided to compete because I’m a teacher by profession, and I enjoy the subject that I’m speaking about,” Braunstein said.

He also said that he looks forward to explaining his passion to the judges and to other students, but he’s nervous because contestants aren’t allowed to use technology in their presentations as visual aides.

“I use PowerPoint a lot, so it makes me a little nervous that we’re not allowed to use it in our speeches,” Braunstein said. “It’s a great resource for speeches, but I have to come up with something else.”

According to Anderson, the no-tech rule was established to encourage students to get creative with their presentations.

“Speeches are the vehicle of social change,” Anderson said. “It’s much more than just a field of study.”

ZACK ROME Reporter @datzackrome

The Library / Learning Crossroads is open Monday through Thursday until 7:30 p.m., but for students, schoolwork does not always end at the close of campus.

The library has instituted a program that will allow all currently enrolled students the opportunity to check out a Surface Pro personal tablet for their school work.

The tablets were originally offered to students in need of financial support, in Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOP&S), and veterans who didn’t have the access or means to obtain personal devices for school, according to Librarian Clay Gediman.

“Now, we are expanding the program to anybody at this point in the semester, especially with finals coming up,” Gediman said. “We

Umoja, unity in practice

KARISSA PRECIADO Reporter @karissapreciado

Umoja is the name of a new program that will be offered on campus beginning this summer and will focus on black students’ development.

Adjunct counselor Melody Smith said that the Umoja community is a statewide initiative that has been around for 10 years and is based similarly to other 30-year-old programs. According to Smith, El Camino College has had Project Success, an older program, on their campus.

feel like this would be a good time to open it up to all students.”

The library is offering Surface Pro 3s and 4s, tablets made by Microsoft with a removable keyboard and the capability of a normal laptop.

“It’s more portable than a full laptop, which tends to be bigger, bulkier and harder to configure,” Gediman said.

To check out a Surface Pro from the library, students need to have a school ID and fill out a contract saying they will replace the device if it is damaged.

“If a Pro is damaged it’s about $1500 to replace it. There is a responsibility to checking these things out,” Gediman said. “But what they can do is check these out for a month at a time, at the end of the month bring it in, and we can renew it for another month. This way it helps students keep track.”

Gediman said that the school decided to offer the program to all students so that they would be able to do homework after library and campus hours.

“We noticed that students come

The whole state initiative is based on programs similar to these that have been successful.

Dean of Student Success Kalynda Mclean said that the process of bringing this program to Pierce was challenging, but very rewarding.

According to Mclean, the lead for this effort, began the process with the Student Equity Task Force, who identified a few different equity efforts that they wanted to pursue as a college.

“It is a bit of challenge just because it is a statewide program, and we are adopting it to a statewide network of programs, in addition to launching a brand new program here at the college,” Mclean said.

When Smith obtained her degree from graduate school, she did not know about these programs, but she said she was immediately amazed.

“When I learned about that, I became so excited about it,” Smith to the library to do their homework, and that is fine, but a lot of the other students have no other place to do their homework,” Gediman said. “This program creates a little bit more flexibility for the student, and they are just not limited to what our library hours are.”

Library Department Chair Paula Paggi said she is excited to offer this program to all students because it demonstrates how useful libraries continue to be the digital age. “We are really excited about this program. We are not just a building. The library’s focus is to help you succeed and support you in your studies and classes,” Paggi said.

According to Paggi, the idea for this program didn’t happen all of the sudden.

“The whole idea of getting tablets in general has been floating as conversation for a number a years. We were just worried about funding,” Paggi said. “Distance Education and EOP&S had purchased 30 Surface Pros for veterans and low income students, said. “In your normal history class you do study a little about African American history, but not too much. With this program, you can really go into it, and students will be able to learn more about their history and really get a sense of pride.”

Smith said she loves being a counselor for Umoja and is ready to help black students realize their dreams.

“I’m really excited to have the students build the different skill sets that are necessary to be successful in college, but they are also learning about themselves and making those connections,” Smith said. “Sometimes, it is really about creating a sense of community for not just the students, but the faculty involved, the counselors involved and for everyone involved.”

According to Smith, the goal for the program is to help students transfer, obtain an associate’s degree but they were having a hard time trying to manage that. They turned to the library. We catalog and check things out.”

Chia Lee, a pre-veterinary student at Pierce, visits the library to do homework or study with classmates.

“I think this program is very good because some students have financial difficulties, but some students also don’t have the convenience of their own devices,” Lee said. “I know some people that go to the computer lab here because they just don’t have access to a computer.” zrome.roundupnews@gmail.com by providing the necessary support whether it’s financial, social or educational.

According to Gediman, the library will release the Surface Pros in increments because they are unsure of the demand for the tablets.

“We are going to see how popular these turn out and scale it up from that point. Hopefully, this makes college a little bit easier for students. We are trying to take out the stress of not knowing where to do your homework," Gediman said.

“The end goal is to really give them the tools to be educationally successful to accomplish whatever their goal is,” Smith said.

Chairman of the History, Philosophy and Sociology (HiPS) Department James McKeever, who will be teaching Sociology 11 as one of the learning community courses, said that Umoja is a great program. McKeever was involved with the pre-Umoja program when he as was an adjunct at Los Angeles Valley College.

“I think we do need to address the graduation rates of African American and Latino students because they are the lowest graduation rates,” McKeever said. “I think this is the program that will really help do that.” kpreciado.roundupnews@gmail.com