October 21, 2014

CHRONICLE Richland

Vol. XL Issue 10 October 21, 2014

Ducktoberfest bungee fun: Pg. 7 Student journalists compete : Pg. 8

Ebola update: Pg. 3

Moon cake tradition: Pg. 7

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$3.25 M grant awarded: Pg. 10

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The detection of the Ebola virus in Dallas on Sept. 28 has prompted apologies, school closings, quarantines, paid leaves and Congressional criticism as fears about the spread of the Ebola virus escalate.

Two Dallas nurses who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who died from Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas Hospital, have been diagnosed with the disease.

Nina Pham, the first nurse who contracted the Ebola virus, has been moved to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The NIH facility has one of four biocontainment units in the United States.

Amber Joy Vinson, the second nurse who tested positive for the virus, has been transferred to a biohazard infections disease center at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

In Dallas, the epicenter of Ebola in the U.S., officials monitored dozens of health care workers exposed to the Ebola virus while treating Duncan, who died on Oct. 8.

The health care workers were asked to sign legally binding documents agreeing not to go to public places or use public transportation, according to the Associated Press.

The Dallas County Community College District had some nursing and allied health students who were doing clinicals at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Those clinicals were suspended Oct. 13 to keep allied health students safe.

Dallas County commissioners held an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss petitioning Texas Gov. Rick Perry to issue a disaster declaration, but took no action on the proposal. Instead, they planned to provide written agreements to the 75 health care workers being monitored for Ebola to avoid public transportation and places.

An unidentified Dallas health care worker who handled a lab specimen from Duncan was, at press time, self-quarantined on the Carnival Magic cruise ship out of Galveston and is being monitored for infection, a White House spokesperson said.

The State Department is working to secure transportation back to the U.S. for the woman and her husband. She has shown no symptoms of the disease and has been asymptomatic for 19 days at pres.s time.

A Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas spokesperson called Duncan’s fiancée, Louise Troh, Thursday to apologize for not being able to save him.

“I am grateful for this personal call. I am grateful to God that this leader reached out and took responsibility for the hospital’s actions. Hearing this information will help me as I mourn Eric’s death,” Troh said in an interview with ABC News.

Some members of Duncan’s family said his treatment wasn’t “fair.”

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said federal health officials still do not know how the two Dallas nurses caught Ebola from a patient. In Washington, lawmakers questioned whether the nation is prepared to stop the deadly virus from spreading in the U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, chairman of the House committee investigating the Ebola situation, said it appeared that U.S. hospitals were not ready and health care workers not properly trained or equipped.

Frieden testified Thursday in front of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The revelation that one of the hospital nurses was cleared to fly on a commercial airline the day before she was diagnosed raised new alarms about the American response to the Ebola outbreak.

Vinson’s flight to Ohio while she had a lowgrade fever has caused a flurry of condemnations, questions, paid leaves, school closings and quarantines.

A Cleveland-area school canceled classes in two buildings after learning a staff member might have flown on the Frontier Airlines plane, though not the same flight, as Vinson.

At least seven people in northeast Ohio have been quarantined and monitored because they had contact with Vinson as she traveled to Ohio to prepare for her upcoming wedding. A retail shop she visited was closed.

Three school campuses in Belton were closed because two students traveled on the same flight as Vinson. School officials said school buses were being disinfected.

Frontier Airlines put four flight attendants and two pilots on paid leave for 21 days. A spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic and The MetroHealth System said that some of their nurses and other employees on that flight were also put on paid leave.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry canceled the remainder of his overseas trip last week and on Friday called for a travel ban due to the Ebola outbreak. He also suggested creating a no-fly list for Americans potentially exposed to the virus.

— The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this article.

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ENTERTAINMENT

‘Gone Girl’:

Husband + missing wife = mystery

RICKY MILLER Entertainment Editor

Image courtesy www.hitflix.com

Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and screen wife Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike).

Filmmaker David Fincher always surprises me. Whether it is a story about a man with split personalities (“Fight Club”) or the creator of a daily computer application (“The Social Network”) or a stupid room to hide from some dim-witted thieves (“Panic Room”), Fincher has not steered me wrong yet.

“Gone Girl,” Fincher’s latest, delves into a best-seller by Gillian Flynn as the main thrust of the story. First off, I did not read the book.

Any movie, however, should stand on its own merits.No apologies for a filmmaker like Fincher making his own version of the intriguing tale.

The storyline centers on caring husband Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck, “Good Will Hunting,” “Argo”), who is looking for his missing wife Amy (Rosamund Pike, “Die Another Day,” “Jack Reacher”).

The consensus is that he killed her and hid the body.

Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens of “Hollow Man,” “Mercury Rising”) and officer Jim Gilpin (Patrick Fugit of “Almost Fa-

mous,” “We Bought a Zoo”) are assigned to the case of Dunne and the missing wife.

Boney thinks he is guilty as all get out while Fugit’s officer Gilpin migrates toward reasonable doubt. This aspect takes part of center stage for a little bit, but then Fincher turns the flick into a giant shuffleboard table.

In an odd casting twist, Tyler Perry is an attorney who only takes on the big, high-profile litigations. Think back to the day of Johnny Cochran and the O.J. Simpson trial where the football player was accused of murdering his then wife.

Perry, better known as the Madea persona from a slew of his feel-good family flicks has a whole new identity as attorney Tanner Bolt.

Like his forgettable turn as the title character in “Alex Cross,” Perry exudes the hard-nosed lawyer through and through.

Neil Patrick Harris has a significant supporting role as Desi Collings, an old on-again off-again squeeze of Amy’s. He has an elaborate plan for keeping her safe.

This one has an interesting twist a la an old school femme fatale element thrown into the stew.

Richlandchronicle.wordpress.com October 21, 2014

New superhero show no ‘Flash’ in the pan CHARLIE VANN Staff Writer

The CW Network now has another comic book hero hit on its hands with “The Flash.”

“The Flash,” in its pilot episode, made record numbers in ratings for the network. The first episode had a 1.8 rating with 4.5 million viewers, which puts the series debut as one of the CW’s most watched premieres in six years.

Now, a little refresher of who the Flash is, if you’re not familiar with the DC Comic superhero. The story follows Barry Allen, a police forensic investigator who gets struck by lightning from a thunderstorm caused by a chemical explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs. After being in a coma for nine months, Allen wakes up to find out he not only was lucky to survive the incident, but that he has now gained the great power of speed.

I don’t want to give away too much of the first episode because I think it is one to watch.

But, I can tell you, it was really cool and a little chilling for me to see him put on the red suit that was designed by a S.T.A.R. Lab scientist who is helping him out. It’s very exciting seeing Allen speed through the city.

David Rapaport, the casting director, did a great job casting the show.

Grant Gustin as Allen/The Flash does a really good job portraying this iconic hero. I also like the fact they cast John Wesley Shipp to play Henry Allen, the father. For those who don’t know, he played the role of Barry Allen in the original series back in the early 1990s.

More great casting brought in Jesse L. Martin, (“Rent,” “Law and Order”) to play Detective Joe West. West took in Allen when he was a little boy after his father went to prison for being accused of murdering Barry’s mom.

Once again, not trying to give too much away, but by Episode 2, you can see the emotional bond West has for Barry as a second father to him. I really liked that this was included.

I think “The Flash” will be another CW smash hit that will stay around. For one, the network is great at marketing DC Comics heroes. We’ve seen them strike gold with “Smallville” and “Arrow.” I think it will be safe to say, “The Flash” will be right there with them.

But none of this should be a real surprise because they do have Geoff Johns as a producer. He is a writer for “Arrow” and even produced an animated “Flash” movie. The show is in good hands with his experience in helping bring these comic book adaptions to life.

If you are looking for something to watch on Tuesday nights, give this show a shot.

Image courtesy www.tv.database.com www.highscorereviews.com

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Grade: B-

ENTERTAINMENT

Horror JAIME ZAPATA III Staff Writer

Staff illustration Quan Tran

(Clockwise from top left) “Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Darkman,” “Gremlins,” “The Frighteners.”

Dead ringers TO Die For

RICKY MILLER Entertainment Editor

Warning; oxymorons in use: Horror and comedy.

The following is a list of selected titles where one will be laughing at the stupid scares and inane scenarios. Selected titles for the readers’ watching pleasure.

“Body Parts” (1991) BEric Red is a smart filmmaker. Too bad his only other notable credit is the littleseen “Cohen and Tate” with Roy Schneider (“Jaws”) and Adam Baldwin (“My Bodyguard”). He calls the shot on this one, a goofy hodgepodge of fantasy and science fiction wherein former appendages are handed out like spare parts for a broken Buick.

“Darkman” (1990) B Before Sam Raimi tackled the original Spider-Man trilogy, he delved into this fun comic book inspired ride about Payton Westlake (Liam Neeson, “,” “Taken,” “The A-Team”), a scientist who wants to replicate human tissue. Although not a horror movie per se, it has enough fantasy elements to warrant a spot on my Halloween list.

“Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn”(1987) A Fun as all get out, any movie where a person must lop off their own hand gets bonus points for sheer stupidity. That hand belongs to Ash (Bruce Campbell), a man in the cabin by the woods who fights demons and the undead aplenty “I’ll swallow your soul” and other phrases are uttered by the undead.

“Fright Night” (1985) and (2011)“The Frighteners” (1996) BMichael J. Fox is a ghostbuster-for hire who encounters some evil ghosts running amok in the local countryside. Significant because it was done by director Peter Jackson,

who would go one to direct the entire “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

“Gremlins” (1984) A Small-town America at its finest where three rules must be followed when handling a mogwai. 1. Never expose them to bright light.

2. Never get them wet. Never feed them after midnight.

“Gremlins 2: The New Batch”(1990) B+ A sequel that is more of a satire of itself.

The star of the first film, Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan), is now an architect living in the Big Apple. He encounters a Donald Trumplike bigwig in John Glover’s maniacal Daniel Clamp who sees the gremlins as a marketing opportunity.

“The Host” (2006) B Stupid monster movie from Korean director Bong Joon-Ho. Even though the creature is terrorizing people, a girl oblivious to the action is busy listening to music on her headphones.

“House of the Dead” (2003) CVideo games converted to the big screen do not make good bedfellows. The saving grace on this one was the camerawork from German director Uwe Boll, since he incorporated a 360-degree camera that caught various people fighting off zombies.

Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993) A Even though Burton did not helm this tale, he hired the creative Henry Selick to oversee this enjoyable lavish stop-motion tale about the Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, to oversee his version of Christmas.

“Odd Thomas” (2013) C+ Author Dean Koontz was behind this tale of a short order cook Odd Thomas (Ahton Yelchin, “Star Trek,” “Terminator: Salvation”) who has a clairvoyant way of speaking with the undead.

Since Halloween is coming soon, I thought it would be fun to play some of the best scary video games from the past two years. I’m sticking to my rule of one game per franchise so there won’t be one franchise taking most of the list.

8) “System Shock 2” (1999): This first-person shooter released on the PC and Mac is where a rogue A.I. system takes over a space station and releases an outbreak of a genetic infection. While fighting off these zombies you have to take down the A.I. system and destroy the ship with everything in it. Can you escape in time?

7) “Manhunt” (2003): This game released on the Playstation 2, XBox and PC is probably one of the most disturbing games out there due to the fact that the monster in this game isn’t a Wendigo or any other famous movie monster. It’s you.

You play as a convicted death-row inmate named James Earl Cash killing other sociopath inmates. The acts you’re committing are being recorded by an unknown man named The Director. Perhaps true evil lies within man.

6) “Left For Dead” (2007): This game released on the XBox 360 and PC is a survival zombie story and a co-op. Up to three other friends must fight wave after wave of zombies in order to get to the extraction zone. Can you get out before you hear the witches’ cry?

5) “The Last of Us” (2013): This game released on the Playstation 3 and 4 is a survival horror game where you have to

fight or hide from “clickers” after an outbreak happens while Joel (the player) tries to get Ellie out of a military quarantine zone. This easy job turns out to be a fight for survival when the military and the clickers are on your tail.

4) “Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly” (2003). This sequel on Playstation and Xbox is where twin sisters are dragged into a village where they realize they are trapped in there with tortured souls. This game is unique because you can’t just run from the spirits but hunt them down with only a camera to defeat them. This should be an interesting game.

3) “Amnesia: The Dark Descent” (2010): This PC platform is where the player wakes up in a castle in the 1800s with no memory of what happened. You’re faced with an unknown creature that can’t be killed directly.

The only option here is to run from it and make it out alive.

2) “Dead Space” (2008): This game released on XBox 360, Playstation 3 and PC is where you play as Isaac Clarke, an engineer with a cutting laser answering a distress signal from a ship. After you get on the ship you find yourself facing Necromorphs (space zombies).

Once this starts you have to fight off each one and get out and destroy what created these creatures. Are you up for it?

1) “Silent Hill 2” (2003): This game released on Playstation 2 is known as the most terrifying game of all time. As you’re lured in to Silent Hill by a letter you have received from James Sunderland’s deceased wife, you face horrifying creatures and eventually face Pyramid Head. With the twisted Psyche of Sunderlands added, this game featured a memorable ending for us gamers.

Image courtesy hdwallpapers.com

Richlandchronicle.wordpress.com October 21, 2014

Nightmares on gamer street

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ENTERTAINMENT

‘Rashomon’: The quest for truth JOYCE JACKSON

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Copy Editor

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A savage murder took place recently in Fannin Performance Hall. Yet, the facts of the case and the murderer still linger on in the minds of those who witnessed it.

The murder baffled a sparse audience at the drama department’s production of “Rashomon” Oct. 11. As an intense drama, the 90-minute play produced a somber mood as the story unfolded in three locations in feudal Japan: the Rashomon Gate, a courtroom and a forest. The plot revolved around the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife as they traveled through a forest.

Drama chair and director Andy Long said he chose this particular play because it presents a dilemma as to “What is truth?” and it puts the audience in the mindset of medieval Japan.

The dilemma of “Rashomon” deals with four different accounts of who killed the samurai – done in flashbacks.

The variations were: Tajomaru killed him; the wife killed him because of the shameful rape; the samurai killed himself; or, the woodcutter, as a witness, said the samurai and bandit Tajomaru clashed and rejected the wife.

The audience was enticed into this thoughtprovoking mystery as to which version they believed was “the truth.”

Long could not have chosen a better actor than Jermaine Johnson for the lead role of the ruthless roving bandit,Tajomaru, who proudly bragged about his crimes.

Johnson commanded attention in every scene with his deep, powerful voice and tall, muscular build, which showed off his swift sword-fighting skills.

In one scene, he boasted, “All I wanted was the woman … and hadn’t planned on killing her husband, the samurai.”

Three characters huddled at the Rashomon Gate stage right as the woodcutter told the

Staff photo Blanca Reyes

Kevin Dang plays the role of the samurai who is murdered and Harley Gonzales portrays his wife.

ongoing story: Jabin Lewis played the somber priest while Henser Reyes the woodcutter.

Raied Makhamreh portrayed the outlandish wigmaker, who was thoroughly delightful as the comic relief. His spine-tingling laugh was outstanding and the way he teased the priest and woodcutter by getting right up into their faces couldn’t help but make the audience laugh. Logan Vorster was a deputy.

In complete contrast to Johnson was Kevin Dang as the soft-spoken samurai who was murdered. Dang, in a number of scenes, was short on dialogue since he was tied up to a bamboo stump waiting to be killed in the flashbacks.

Kudos to costume designer Deborah RuizEsparza for the nice selection of colorful attire to fit a variety of different characters; black for the priest, yet contrasting orange and green

outfits between the samurai and Tajomaru as they challenged each other in one breathtaking scene with a superb sword fight where Dang and Johnson each stepped foot by foot at the same time, circling around the stage trying to slash each other.

Harley Gonzales had the obscure role of Kinume, first as the faithful wife of the samurai and later, just the opposite.

Audrey Clark was mesmerizing as the medium who conjured up the dead Samurai’s loud, eerie voice to reveal how he was murdered. However, another scene fell flat when the wife’s mother, played by Jordan Bechtol, wasn’t convincing as she spoke about Kinume and the samurai, but didn’t speak loudly enough to be heard.

While the audience could follow the different versions of the samurai’s murder, they may

have been somewhat confused as to why the baby was important at the end of the play.

Long said that the two roles – of the woodcutter and the wigmaker – are complete opposites and represent the two ideals of men.

“The wigmaker represents selfishness, greediness …whereas the woodcutter represents sacrifice and service.

The wigmaker steals the baby’s blanket and the woodcutter takes the baby home with him to care for him and love him. It’s the faith in humanity of the woodcutter taking the baby that restores it in the priest and he goes back to the temple.

It’s kind of a poignant poetic moment. And in that moment, it’s the woodcutter adopting this little baby that reminds the priest there’s still work to be done.”

Fall faculty recital awes audience with pleasant rhythms PETE SHANNON Staff Writer

During the several brief pauses in the music at the noontime faculty recital held in Fannin Hall’s Arena Theatre Oct.14, you could hear a pin drop. Perhaps because of the intimacy of its seats-on-three-sides layout, where everyone in attendance can also be observed observing, the whole room was rapt to what was going on in the center. And it was quite a show.

Leading off was Richland string orchestra and chamber strings director, music theory and composition instructor and talented cellist professor Jordan Kuspa. His rendition from memory of the “Part IV, Sarabande, from the Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major” was flawless and reminiscent of the great Pablo Casals who made this piece a worldwide favorite.

Next came Derrick Logozzo, featured on the steel pan, with James Driscoll accompanying on bass guitar. They teamed up on two numbers: “Black Orpheus” by Luiz Bonfa and

“Favela” by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Logozzo demonstrated the same amazing dexterity on the pan that Richland audiences are used to seeing and hearing from him on the marimba and drum set.

As he bobbed about and ducked his head, he also simultaneously teased out a wide range of dynamic contrasts varying from excited forte to hushed pianissimo. Logozzo’s faint smile at the end of his performance amid wild cheers confirmed everyone’s impression that he had truly nailed it.

Professor Omar Surillo, Richland piano instructor, followed with a vivid performance of his own composition, a piece called “Delineations” which consisted of five titled bagatelles or light, trifling sections. Surillo alerted his listeners that several major areas of the keyboard were to be employed. With titles like “Down in the Pits” and “Skyline,” it was not difficult to guess what might be coming, but nevertheless it was a pleasant experience to follow the progression of each part and especially to hear several unusual rhythms.

CAMPUS

Ducktoberfest: Food, fun and friends

Richlandchronicle.wordpress.com October 21, 2014

Staff photo Jonathan Johnson

Staff photo Mohamad Firas Shaban

Staff photo Isai DIaz

Clockwise from top left: JosĂŠ Galvan holds on for dear life on the mechanical bull.

Students satisfy their sweet tooth with cotton candy and snow cones on a sunny fall day.

Quynh Pham, left, and Kelly Sonnanstine get some cotton candy.

Staff photo Ashling Han

Natalie Vazquez, left, and her friend Vanessa Salinas play Bungee Run.

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CAMPUS/NEWS

Chronicle staff scores big at TCCJA GABRIEL FLORES Staff Writer

Richlandchronicle.wordpress.com October 21, 2014

The Richland Chronicle won first place in the Overall General Excellence for Division 1 in the state Oct. 10 at this year’s Texas Community College Journalism Association competition held at the University of Texas at Tyler.

It was all part of the TCCJA competition in which the Chronicle staff competed in live journalism contests.

The staff also won with pre-submitted entries published earlier this year, along with a number of placements in the competition.

TCCJA is an annual competition of presubmitted and live contests between community colleges from across Texas.

It’s an opportunity for students to showcase journalistic skills while gaining valuable feedback from peers, in addition to expert insight from faculty and staff from colleges programs around the state.

Other participating schools included Eastfield, Brookhaven, Northlake, Tarrant County and Trinity Valley Colleges, to name a few.

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Dallas Morning News columnist and UT-Tyler alumnus Steve Blow was the keynote speaker.

Blow said community college journalism students were in a great place to begin a career in journalism.

“You’re getting a better foundation right now if you take advantage of it,” he said.

“Write, write, write. That’s how you become a journalist. That’s how you learn this skill.”

Blow hammered home three important points to the students: “Good writing, good journalism and a good life.” He also stressed “short words, short sentences, short paragraphs … short stories.”

Blow said, “If you’ve got a sentence with more than 20 words, you’ve got a sentence that’s hard to read. They need to be under 20 words.”

Blow also discussed gratification and said several years ago, he became interested in it.

“Gratification is that good feeling you get when you do something good in your life,” he said. “You know that feeling, doing your homework, you’ve got gratification. You go see your grandma. You don’t want to go. But

you know it will make her happy.”

Blow said, concerning journalists, “We bring out the truth. There’s gratification that goes with it. Look for that in life.”

Other awards won by the Chronicle staff were: 1st place for column writing – Doris Brogan 1st place for copy editing - Joyce Jackson 2nd place for newspaper layout and design - Lora Advincula 3rd place for column writing – Kisten Chetty 3rd place for sports action photo and an Honorable Mention in feature photo – Ashling Han Honorable Mention for TV news writing Melanie Brandow and Charlie Vann Honorable Mention for feature photo Blanca Reyes The Richland Chronicle staff will compete April 8-11 in the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association in San Antonio against two-year and four-year colleges and universities.

Anyone interested in working for student media is encouraged to stop by the Chronicle newsroom located in El Paso Hall, Rm. E-020.

Image courtesy pulse.ncpolicywatch.org

Midterm elections

Early voting through Oct. 31 Election Day is Nov. 4.

For those who prefer to avoid the crowds, early voting began yesterday and will run through Oct. 31.

Last year the Texas legislature enacted a voter ID law (Senate Bill 14) that requires all voters to show one of seven kinds of picture IDs when they go to the poll.

A federal ruling declared the voter ID law discriminatory and unnecessary Oct. 11. Oct. 14, the Fifth Circuit of Appeals issued an order staying that ruling, citing the time frame of the upcoming election, which would substantially disturb the election process.

The acceptable forms of photo IDs include: Texas driver’s license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas election certificate issued by DPS, personal Texas ID card issued by DPS, Texas concealed handgun license issued by DPS, U.S. military photo ID card, U.S. citizen certificate containing a photo and a U.S. passport.

— The Associated Press contributed to this article.

WANTED Staff photo

Triumphant Chronicle staff members in Tyler (from top): Jack Fletcher, Blanca Reyes, Isai Diaz, Ashling Han, Alexander Taylor, Gabriel Flores, Charlie Vann, Melanie Brandow, Erica Edwards, Joyce Jackson and Doris Brogan.

First Place Editorial writing: Doris Brogan Copy editing: Joyce Jackson Overall General Excellence

Awards won by the Chronicle staff were:

Second Place Newspaper layout and design: Lora Advincula

Third Place

Honorable Mention

Column writing: Kisten Chetty

Feature photo: Ashling Han

Sports action photo: Ashling Han

TV news writing: Melanie Brandow and Charlie Vann Feature photo: Blanca Reyes

Sports reporters Graphic artists Web designers Photographers News reporters Writers Radio hosts TV news anchors

Come by Student Media E-020 richlandchronicle.wordpress.com

CAMPUS

Richland leadership: Take it from the top

Dr. Eggleston, president, considers RLC a forward-thinking, forward-acting institution

DORIS BROGAN Editor-in-Chief

This is the second in a series of articles featuring the Richland leadership team.

Richland’s president, Dr. Kay Eggleston, is understandably proud of Richland as a 2005 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient. To date, Richland is the only community college in the country ever to receive that award.

Richland was honored in Washington D.C. by then-President George W. Bush and the secretary of commerce.

“It was an amazing time,” Eggleston said.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act was signed into law on Aug. 20, 1987. It is the only national presidential award for organizational performance excellence and is awarded in business, health care and education.

“While we … are considered a national and international role model institution, we’re never satisfied with where we are. We’re continually trying to improve our systems, improve our efficiencies, improve our relationships with our students … That’s who we are as an institution,” Eggleston said.

Never content to rest on laurels, Eggleston said, “We want to be part of those who shape

Staff photo Ashling Han

Dr. Eggleston’s goal as president to inspire.

the future. We respect our past and learn from our past, but we are a forward thinking, forward-acting institution.”

Eggleston sees her role at Richland as one of vision and inspiration. Her goal is to inspire

the entire college to mobilize and align itself to a vision directed toward student success.

The American Association of Community Colleges cited Richland in a recent publication for its 21 century implementation of professional development practices. Richland was also cited by the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) for professional development of adjunct faculty.

Richland, in its fifth year as an Achieving the Dream college, has advanced to a national designation as a Leader College. This qualifies Richland to be a national role model mentor institution. The Leader College designation is made for a three-year period.

The Achieving the Dream National Reform Network includes over 200 institutions of higher education and has helped nearly 4 million students achieve their dreams of obtaining college educations, particularly among underserved populations.

Richland was one of 19 U.S. colleges invited to partner with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to help develop the Statway Initiative. Statway is a cuttingedge program that has the potential to change the future of education by changing the way educators think about teaching and learning.

“We find it exciting to be involved in the research and the cutting-edge thinking about how learning occurs,” Eggleston said.

Statway is a program for non-science majors

to complete developmental math in one year through a specifically designed statistics-based course.

Richland received a $3.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor during a ceremony hosted by Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in Washington D.C. on Sept. 29.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant will enable Richland students to gain new job skills in manufacturing and electronics technology programs.

Partnerships between RLC, local businesses and the Veterans-Focused Engineering Technology Project (VFETP) will meet the needs of local veterans and others who seek training to enter or re-enter the local job market.

“With TAACCCT funds, Richland College is strategically positioned to bridge gaps of two kinds: one between the workforce and specialized employment training and the other between the workforce and local employer needs,” Eggleston said.

We have seen the future at Richland and it is now.

Eggleston said the leadership team has helped position RLC at the forefront of education and innovation locally, nationally and internationally.

DORIS BROGAN Editor-in-Chief

The Statway initiative is the brainchild of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the 19 U.S. colleges and universities selected by the foundation for their high performance records. As one of the colleges selected, Richland has been involved with Statway from its inception.

Statway, an abbreviation of Statistics Pathway, was developed as a way for students to progress though developmental math and receive college math credit in one year. The course focuses on statistics, data analysis and quantitative reasoning, necessary skills in many professions.

Statway is intended for students in liberal arts, humanities, social sciences or those completing an Associate of Arts degree.

Thales Georgiou, instructional dean for Learning Enrichment and Academic Development, said certain criteria were put in place for the selection of Statway students. The key components were non-STEM students (science, technology, engineering and math).

Reading requirement must be met. Students had to be able to attend class on campus and commit to two consecutive semesters to complete the course.

“We needed some type of commitment from the students that they would stay the course,” Georgiou said. “We thought if we could get the students to stay the course, suc-

Staff photo Melanie Brandow

Professor Yolanda Manzano lectures during a Statway class at Richland.

cess rates would be enormous. And that’s what we’re finding.”

Georgiou cited a successful completion rate of 62.8 percent in 2011-2012, the first academic year the course was offered and a successful completion rate of 80 percent for the 2012-2013 year.

A report on the Statway program compiled by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University in New York stated that only 18 percent of students assigned to the lowest level of developmental math successfully completed the program.

Yolanda Manzano joined the Richland Statway teaching team in 2012. She said, “What we’re doing in Statway is actually relevant to

what students are doing and what they’re seeing in their daily lives … It’s a whole different way of looking at math.”

The Carnegie Foundation defines productive persistence as a set of behaviors that involves tenacity and good strategies students need to succeed. Teaching and learning strategies in Statway revolve around this principle.

A growth mindset is based on the idea that intelligence is malleable. All it requires is the belief that learning is possible, plus a little hard work.

Richland President Dr. Kay Eggleston said, “This productive persistence concept says that students need to struggle. Sorry. But it is in the struggle, the productive persistence, that true

learning takes place.”

The idea is designed to get students involved in the thought process, thinking, formulating ideas themselves. So far, the results seem to outweigh the previous method of giving students material to ingest, digest and regurgitate on tests.

Georgiou said, “All ideas are valid. The idea isn’t necessarily to have the right answer, but to think, formulate ideas.”

Richland just received a $15,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation to help bridge a gap in the program. Some students are finding the successful completion of the Statway program is encouraging them to take other college math courses.

“I think what has happened is an uninten tional outcome … Students wanting to change their major had to bridge the gap from statistics to college algebra, business math and social science,” Georgiou said.

Richland is in on the ground floor of this learning concept. At the last workshop Georgiou and Manzano attended on the Stanford University campus in California where the Carnegie Foundation is located, there was excitement that “President Obama mentioned productive persistence in a speech and that’s something that’s been a part of Statway from the beginning,” Manzano said. “All of these ideas have now sparked a huge movement …

It’s neat to see that all the stuff we’ve been doing actually sparking a larger education movement.”

Richlandchronicle.wordpress.com October 21, 2014

Statway initiative provides winning formula for growth

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CAMPUS

$3.25 million grant awarded to Richland

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ON THE COVER Left: Shamont Small, on the bungee run.

Top right: TCCJA competition. Middle: Ebola update.

Bottom: $3.25 million grant awarded.

Image courtesy eng-cs.syr.edu

Grant money will enhance Richland tech programs.

International Society of Certified Electronic Technicians (ISCET).

“Every grant focuses on an industry,” Clayton said. Richland selected mechatronics, which is a crossover area between advanced manufacturing and electronics technology.

Students will be able to get associate degrees in applied science, as well as certificates in those fields.

“They will be able to successfully sit for exams to get credentials that are recognized across the country … from NIMS and ISCET,” Clayton said. “Richland will be offering advanced credentialing in manufacturing, so we will not only offer NIMS level one, we’ll offer NIMS levels two and three. We’ll be training people who are highly, highly skilled in these fields.”

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Richland was awarded a $3.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor that will enable RLC to provide state-of-the-art training in its manufacturing and technology programs.

“About five years ago Congress allocated $2 billion for what they call the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program,” Garth Clayton, RLC dean of Resource Development, said.

“We’re able to serve anybody with these grants and we’re focusing on, or emphasizing, veterans,” Clayton said. The Veterans-Focused Engineering Technology Project (VFETP) will help meet the needs of local veterans and others who require training to become employable in the local job market.

The VFETP Program, in addition to associate degrees, will offer certificates in electromechanical maintenance, advanced design for manufacturing and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA).

According to Clayton, SCADA is a very popular field right now. “It’s used in many different industries and it’s used by municipalities, too,” he said. It is used in city water systems, as well as in mall security systems and climate control.

The curricula will follow national accrediting standards from the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) and the

Richland

“Richland will create three credit certificates in advanced design, design for manufacturing and electromechanical maintenance for people who don’t necessarily want or need to get an associate degree.

Clayton said applicants to the programs should have some math skills, but there is help available for those who need to improve their skill. The grant money will buy the expensive equipment needed to be successful and competitive in these fields.

“The things we will be doing with this equipment are highly relevant right now to what industry is doing and it will give us the capacity for training and education that I don’t think anyone else can match in the region.

“Richland is very conscious of quality,” Clayton said.

“Richland will be partnering with 14 Dallas employers, the City of Garland, the City of Richardson and the Metroplex Technology Business Council.

The employment partners have committed to hiring students who complete the program, supporting program development, offering internships and providing on-the-job training for students.

Clayton said that while the program is focused on veterans, it is not exclusive to veterans. “We are able to serve anybody who is interested in entering mechatronics with this grant. We don’t have to turn anybody away. We are making a special effort to reach veterans.”

G.I. Jobs has recognized Richland as one of the top U.S. military-friendly schools.

Cory Loverson, a Richland employee with the Veterans Center, said Richland has the largest population of veterans in the district. It serves approximately 500 veterans and dependent spouses.

Loverson urged veterans to apply for federally funded programs available to them.

“The Hazelwood Act is for Texas veterans.

If you’re a Texas veteran and have more than 191 days of service, you qualify … which will pay for your tuition. It gives you 150 credit hours and is good at any public school,” he said.

Clayton said, “People come out of these programs with an associate in applied science degree and they’re in the middle class. They’ll walk into a job making somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000 a year and they have room to move up.”

COVER AND FONTS

Photos and illustrations: Ashling Han (left), Quan Tran (top right & middle). Image courtesy mbstudent.com (bottom).

Certain cover fonts are provided by the following: http://www.nymfont.com - http://www.bvfonts.com

CORRECTION In the Sept. 30, 2014, issue, page 3 “Richland leadership: Take it from the top,” the total number of acres comprising the Richland campus was incorrectly reported as 43. It should have been 243 acres.

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ACP Pacemaker Winner, 2000, 2001, 2007 ACP Pacemaker Finalist, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 ACP Online Pacemaker Finalist, 2007, 2008 1st Place - TIPA Sweepstakes, 2005 3rd Place - TIPA Online, 2005 & 2006 Over 150 Texas college journalism awards since 2000

CONTACT INFORMATION

El Paso Hall, Room E-020, 12800 Abrams Rd. Dallas, 75243 Newsroom: 972-238-6079 E-mail: richanchronicle@gmail.com Advertising: 972-238-6068 E-mail: advertise@dcccd.edu Fax: 972-238-6037 Staff meetings: Monday and Wednesday 2 p.m. in E-020 Letter Policy Letters to the editor may be edited for space. They will be edited for spelling, grammar and malicious or libelous statements.

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Editorial Policy The Chronicle is the official student-produced newspaper of Richland College. Editorials, cartoons, columns and letters are the opinions of individual students and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other individual student writers, editors, advisers or the college administration. © Richland Chronicle 2014

SPORTS/CAMPUS

T-Ducks get ready for the playoffs

Upcoming Events Today

Noon to 1 p.m.

Reception/Talk by artist David Namasky Brazos Gallery Exhibit through Nov. 7 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Scholarship Recital

Dr. Jerry Wallace Music Scholarship Recital

Fannin Performance Hall, Room F-102

Wednesday

9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Fall Job Fair - 55 employers - free El Paso Hall, Room E-090

Photography Editor

The Thunderducks are preparing for the end of a winning season.

Richland’s volleyball team defeated Northlake College in a hard-fought squeaker, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21, 16-25, 15-7 on Thursday night.

At press time, the Thunderducks were scheduled to play one more game, against Cedar Valley College Monday, before the play-

File Photos

The men’s soccer team is also completing a winning season. At press time, they were scheduled to play two more games before the playoffs, Sunday against Tyler Jr. College and Thursday at 6 p.m. against Mountain View.

The men’s soccer team is one of the strongest in the conference this season as well.

The playoffs for the men’s conference were scheduled for Oct. 27, but the location has not been announced yet.

For more information about the different teams, schedules and results stop by Guadalupe Hall or visit www.richlandcollege.edu/sports.

Friday

Noon to 1 p.m.

Richland Jazz and Jazz Improv Ensembles Cafeteria Stage, El Paso Hall

Oct. 28

Chronicle Issue 11 on newsstands

Richlandchronicle.wordpress.com October 21, 2014

BLANCA REYES

offs, which begin Oct. 22. The school hosting the playoffs is not known yet.

However, the volleyball team is not the only team getting ready for the end of the season. Richland’s women’s soccer team, which is ranked first in the conference and is emerging as one of the favorites to get the national championship, had just three games left before the playoffs at press time.

The first game was scheduled last Friday against Mountain View, the second today at home against Eastfield at 4 p.m. and the last game Friday at 4 p.m. against North Lake .

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Richlandchronicle.wordpress.com October 21, 2014