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TALONMARKS.COM APRIL 25, 2018

@TALONMARKS

VOLUME 62 | ISSUE 19

Senate closes weeks-long discussion

DAVID JENKINS JR.

Finally passed: Associated Students of Cerritos College Vice President David Ramirez explains the legislation to other ASCC senators. The legislation had been on the ASCC agenda for three weeks before approving to fund two students.

Carmelita Islas Mendez

T

News Editor @talonmarks

he Cerritos College Arduino Internship Opportunity Funding has been approved after returning to the Associated Students of Cerritos College senate agenda for a third week.

The legislation will fund two students with about $1,600, including a stipend of $600 per student.

The senate bill was originally presented on April 4, but was brought up twice after the original presentation due to “confusion” and disagreements about how many people to fund said ASCC Vice President David Ramirez.

The legislation was introduced to fund ineligible, AB540 and undocumented students.

The reason for this was because the Arduino internship is fed-

erally funded meaning that the funds could only be received by United States citizens.

The bill, which included many recommendations added over two weeks, was passed after being reverted to the original proposition.

Disagreements arose when some senators recommended to fund six students instead of the two that were initially proposed.

ASCC sergeant at arms Chris-

topher Rodriguez said, “The thing is that it would have been great to have more people.”

He also explained why the number of students was reduced saying that it was due to the budget.

However some senators, including Ramirez, highly opposed the motion to increase the number of students since it meant that participants in the program would only be funded for half of

what US citizens would be.

Ramirez, visibly shaken, relinquished his chair and said to senators, “Do you know what y’all just passed. It’s wrong.”

When senators proposed to revert to the original legislation others opposed the recommendation. They argued that it would mean that time within senate would have been wasted.

Rodriguez agreed with the argument saying, “It was time wasted. The numbers were presented the way they were supposed to in Senate.

“I don’t know people just like to argue the fact that it’s worded wrong or that it should be worded differently, but when it came to the math it was a bit of time wasted.”

Ramirez disagreed saying that he did not think it was time wasted, because it is all part of the learning process.

In the end he said, “It is good to see everyone contribute to the conversation and thinking about things I didn’t see. So I’m happy that the senate was able to see it from different perspectives.”

Rodriguez recommended additional methods of funding, “It would be better if people started using the Cerritos College Foundation a little bit more because it’s a source that not a lot of people use.

The Cerritos College Foundation is an on-campus organization that finds scholarships for various departments.

Ramirez said, “A lot of Arduino projects ... will be presented at the STEM Open House and we will have all of the poster boards there with people talking about them.

“If people want to see what this program really is about and what its done, I’d ask for them to come down on April 27 at 9 a.m. to see these projects.”

Closed for racial bias training David Jenkins Jr.

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Editor-in-Chief @mr_sniknej

he Starbucks on Studebaker and Alondra, across the street from Cerritos College, will be closing on May 29 for additional training.

It will be closed in the afternoon for racial bias training after events in Philadelphia caused debate.

The incident took place at a Starbucks in Philadelphia on April 12, when two black men were put in handcuffs for not leaving the store when asked by police.

The event was caught on camera and uploaded to the Internet for the world to see and many on social media called the event racist.

Starbucks responded by choosing to close 8,000 of it’s stores in the United State for racial bias training.

The manger of the Alondra and Studebaker Starbucks Tracy Brannies declined to comment on the current issue that Starbucks faces.

She pointed to Starbucks’ cor-

porate office for a response.

The two Philadelphia men arrested, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, spoke out for the first time over the weekend on ABC’s Good Morning America.

“It’s not just a black people thing, it’s a people thing.” said Nelson.

In the beginning of this event, the Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross defended the actions of the police.

On April 22, Ross changed his view and apologized for the incident and said “It is me who in large part made most of the situation worse than it was.

“So for that, it is my sincere apology to those two men, and even to these officers and to the other people around this city who I have failed in a variety of ways on this incident.”

Associated Student of Cerritos College President-elect, Kathy Azzam commented on the issue of Starbucks closing 8,000 of its stores including across the street.

“It’s a little tricky because it happened in Philadelphia, so you’d assume that’s the one that needs [racial bias] training, but as a company I believe all of them should go through it, because you’ll never know when the next case will happen.

“What if this happens again?

So I think its important. As an educator we always go to training no matter what.” she said.

She expressed that they might be losing business but the bigger outcome is that they will be learning.

ONLINE Rampage Fails to Break Video Game Movie Curse

https://bit.ly/2vIpwCV

OPINION Coachella needs to be boycotted to teach its bigoted owner a lesson Republicans mess up by voting someone unqualified to oversee NASA The World Wrestling Entertainment surrenders to theocratic thugs

Page 2

COLLEGE LIFE Bringing culture to Cerritos College with Asian festival Bianca Bitches: How to manage a career while being a woman ‘Persona 5: The Animation’ will not leave us cringing for years

Page 3 JASMINE MARTINEZ

Children’s art: Sarahy Jimenez views her son’s art created in the Cerritos College Child Development Center.

Exhibit showcases child creativity Jasmine Martinez

C

Staff Writer @butchmartian

erritos College celebrated Week of the Young Child, April 16-20, through an exhibit showcasing the children’s year long work in the Child Development Center.

The week long event is through the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which promotes highquality learning for young children.

Educators in the Child Development center focus on the Reggio Emilia Approach which values children as competent and capable.

“Woven into the teaching methods are elements of nature,”

said Debra Ward, director of the Child Development Center.

Jerry Ramos, professor of business administration and parent of a child in the program, believes that children getting to decide what they do for a portion of the day allows for creativity, flexibility and the opportunity to find love and passion in an area.

“This is an exhibit about the children’s work,” said Ward, “The interests of the children are put together in small groups and then [teachers] facilitate a project out of [those interests.]”

Substitute teacher for the Child Development Center, Marilyn Hernandez, said teachers make sure to ask open-ended questions to keep ideas flowing and help facilitate their progress.

The core values of the Child

Development Center include strong images of the children being capable of such work, teacher education and support they give to the development of children, parent involvement and valuing children’s thinking mentioned Ward.

Sarahy Jimenez, parent of a child in the program, emphasized her son’s excitement at seeing his work displayed.

“He wanted to come he was like ‘let’s go, let’s go!’” she said, “I think it motivates them to do better and I think it helps them to see their art being put out.”

Ramos said“It [tells] children that it’s okay to explore, and that you can make something, anything beautiful and worthwhile.

I’m extremely proud and I [have] a lump in my throat.”

SPORTS Baseball clinches division title with 14-0 win Shmackem: Come on home Paul George Falcons’ tennis teams win the SoCal championship

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OPINION

Wednesday April 25, 2018

EDITORIAL

NASA gets screwed over by Republicans Alison Hernandez

T

Opinion Editor @alisonshnews

he Republican party needs to get its act together and take away the position of NASA administrator from Jim Bridenstine, a man with no scientific background and who thinks global warming is fake.

On April 23, Bridenstine was sworn in as NASA’s 13th administrator after barely winning the Senate vote, 50 - 49, on April 19th.

The the 50 votes for Bridenstine were all from Republicans, except for John McCain who was experiencing health problems at the time and so he could not vote.

The 49 votes against him were the Democrats and two independents.

Bridenstine is the first member of congress to hold this position and he’s also the worst possible choice.

The man has no scientific background whatsoever, he’s a former Navy pilot that managed the Air and Space Museum in Tulsa which doesn’t mean his capable of managing NASA. He also doesn’t believe in global warming, or at least he denies how much of an impact humans have on climate change despite NASA scientists studying it and providing evidence to the contrary.

How can we be sure a man who denies the information the government program he’s supposed to oversee will lead it in the right direction?

When an everyday person has to apply for a new job they have to have experience in the work that they chose if they want to have any hope of actually getting the position.

The same should apply to people who are nominated for important positions that can actually affect a lot of people, you know like being the administrator for NASA. You wouldn’t let someone who only has experience working

in retail become a heart surgeon now would you.

That’s basically what the Republican party did by voting for Bridenstine in the first place, an unbelievably irresponsible move on its part.

What makes what the Republicans did even more ridiculous is that they were initially opposed to Bridenstine’s nomination.

According to an article by Vox, Senator Marco Rubio pointed out in September that NASA has remained relatively free of politics and that putting a politician in charge “could be devastating for the space program”.

The same article states that Rubio changed his mind and voted in favor of Bridenstine because Robert Lightfoot, NASA’s current running administrator.

Rubio would rather the leadership position be filled, even if its by someone who lacks the experience and knowledge necessary to do the job properly, than leave it empty until someone far better qualified is nominated.

Though with our “great” President Donald Trump still in charge the odds of that happening are basically zero to none given his track record for making logical decisions.

None of this even takes into account the fact that like Trump’s previous nominee, Sam Clovis who was nominated as chief scientist for the Department of Agriculture, Bridenstine has a history of discriminating against the LGBTQ+ community.

Maybe his opposition against same sex marriage and his complaints about the Boy Scouts of America becoming more inclusive, more of his anti-LGBTQ+ commentary and actions can be found on GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project, may not affect all Americans.

But, again, how can anyone think that a man with such outdated ideologies would be able to guide NASA forward as it advances its scientific studies for the future of this country.

He sounds more likely to hinder progress than make it.

RACHEL TULLY/FREELANCE ILLUSTRATOR

COACHELLA HELPS FUND HATE

I

t comes to no surprise that the owner of Coachella is a rich old man that promotes anti-LGBTQ organizations, but that doesn’t stop people from attending his festivals.

Recently 78-year-old billionaire Philip Anschutz has been under fire for donating a sizeable amount of money to three specific charities.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, the National Christian Foundation and the Family Research Council got a cut of Anschutz’s donations because of their aggressive anti-LGBTQ agendas, and extreme pro-gun views.

Not only that but in 2016 he funded $63.7 million in grants to other organizations with the same ideologies just with less aggressive campaigning, he also funds anti-marijuana and climate change denial organiza-

tions.

Now the last thing that anyone ever thinks about when it comes to spending money is who and where their money actually goes to.

If asked, most Americans would probably say that most of the proceeds that come from their consumption of products would go to some rich old white guy.

And it just so happens to be just that for Anschutz.

Not too many people would recognize that name, but he happens to also own Stagecoach, another huge festival also located in Indio, California that’s dedicated to country music, Anschutz Entertainment Group Live, Goldenvoice and much more.

Although it’s almost impossible to escape the long arm of AEG Live, there are alternatives to support artists.

Simply going to their individual shows, benefit concerts or even other festivals that use the profits to better the world.

Now Anschutz amassed a 13.1 billion fortune through his business’ and like some rich people he also gives a tiny fraction of that fortune to charities.

From what’s posted on the Coachella website we can see that some proceeds go to six charities.

It is a bit ironic that a majority of the con concertgoers and artists are either part of the LGBTQ community or have conflicting ideologies with Anschutz, but still shell out the big bucks to attend his festival.

Whether they know it or not artists and concertgoers are helping fund these agendas.

How much do we really know about Coachella besides that it’s one of the biggest music festivals

in America?

Tickets are incredibly expensive starting from $429 for general admission and $999 for VIP, when only a decade ago they were $165 a pop.

Not only that but you’ll also have to think about transportation, overly priced sleeping arrangements, food and water.

The cheapest way to go about it would still end up costing close to a thousand dollars.

Is it really worth it?

At the end of the day Anschutz will still be rich and there will be more Coachellas to come, so why even bother missing out?

Being able to exercise your right to challenge large corporations is the answer.

It started with Anschutz cutting off three organizations, later he might cut more groups off or we might end up boycotting Coachella as a whole.

WWE gives in to misogynistic ideals David Jenkins Jr.

O

GETTY IMAGES

The swear in: Jim Bridenstine speaks while flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, after a ceremonial swearing in as NASA’s new administrator, at NASA Headquarters on April 23, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Production and printing of Talon Marks is partially funded by the Associated Students of Cerritos College.

Talon Marks is a First Amendment publication.

Editorials express the views of the Editorial Board.

Other opinions express the view of the author and are not to be considered opinions of the publication’s staff, the Editorial Board, the advisers, the Cerritos College Associated Students, the college administration or the Board of Trustees.

Facilities and academic supervision are provided by the Journalism Program.

Newsroom offices are located in the Fine Arts Building, Room FA245.

Cerritos College is located at 11110 Alondra Blvd., Norwalk, CA 90650 Telephone numbers: (562) 860-2451, ext. 2618

Editor-in-Chief @mr_sniknej

n April 27 the World Wrestling Entrainment will hold “The Greatest Royale Rumble” event in Saudi Arabia and it has been announced that they will capitulate to the country’s misogynistic views on women by not having them perform that night.

What a spineless move by the WWE, they decided that money was much more important than sticking to their principle of allowing their women athletes to steal the show.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque defended WWE’s position by saying; “You can’t dictate to a country or a religion about how they

handle things but, having said that, WWE is at the forefront of a women’s evolution in the world and what you can’t do is affect change anywhere by staying away from it.”

This is the same old tired cultural relativist babble that is heard whenever the mistreatment of women in the middle east is brought up.

For the past two years, the WWE has promoted and coined the phrase “the women’s evolution.”

The philosophy which meant that women in the WWE are no longer “divas” but instead, are women athletes capable of putting on historic matches just like the men can.

Every Pay-Per-View event, the women’s division tear down

Spring 2018 STAFF

Desmond Byrd

Editor-in-Chief David Jenkins Jr.

John Chavez

the house with their athleticism and great in-ring story telling.

No longer are women matches jokingly referred to as “piss breaks” during WWE’s 2-3 hour events.

What WWE should’ve told Saudi Arabia is that if they want its product to be in-town they have to accept all its talents, not just the men.

It comes to show the weakness in WWE’s ideology, that is, its all for giving its women opportunity for competition in the states, but not places where it would be a real bold stance and meaningful to promote.

Now, to be fair, “Triple H” did say that he hopes that women would be able to wrestle in Saudi Arabia in the next couple of years.

Well, the WWE could’ve made that bold move by having them wrestle anyway.

But of course, through cowardliness and fear of offense they surrendered to a patriarchal theocracy and allow it to suppress the art of wrestling that these women perform.

Funny that “Triple H” says “you can’t dictate to a country or a religion about how they handle things...” but guess what, you allowed a misogynistic country and religion to dictate how to present your product and suppress its art.

This undermines the “women’s revolution” and most importantly, it undermines the “blood, sweat and tears” that gets put into that ring.

WWE, you played yourself!

Staff Writers

Managing Editor Bianca Martinez

Liz Corcoles

Online Editor Jose Flores

Jackelynn Martinez

News Editor Carmelita Islas Mendez

Jasmine Martinez

College Life Editor Carlos Martinez Jr.

Jaxx Mena

Opinion Editor Alison Hernandez

Karina Quiran-Juarez

Sports Editor Jah-Tosh Baruti

Carlos Ruiz

Production Manager Jocelyn Torralba

Malik Smith Cesar Villa

Vol. 62 © 2018 Talon Marks Faculty Adviser Christian Brown Instructional Lab Tech I/Adjunct Alicia Edquist

Journalism Association of Community Colleges Pacesetter Award 2009-2010

3

COLLEGE LIFE

Wednesday April 25, 2018

Community embraces culture on campus

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: what it means to me Bianca Martinez

Bianca Martinez

T

Managing Editor @BiancaMart1955

Managing Editor @BiancaMart1955

he annual Festival of Asian Cultures made its appearance for the fourth time at Cerritos College featuring food and performances by Cerritos community members.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 18, performances could be viewed from the campus amphitheater, while food from various Asian cultures were available for sampling in Falcon Square.

Trustee Shin Liu, who organized the festival said, “I feel right now it’s a global village and now we have people coming from different countries moving here.

“Just in Cerritos, we have so many diverse ethnic people living here, so I want the people to appreciate each other’s culture so we can live in harmony and understand each other, we’ll be happier.”

Liu thinks the festival provides an opportunity for students to explore “these different cultures, different foods so when they go to restaurants at least they know how to order food.”

Some of the performances that highlighted Asian cultures and traditions were “The Third Prince,” a life size puppet show

by Taipei Economic and Culture Office; a Taiwanese folk dance medley by Cerritos Folk Dancers and a traditional Chinese dress show, “Walk in the Rain” by West East International Culture Interflow.

The Cerritos College Chinese Club ended the festivities by performing a lion dance, a Chinese tradition of receiving red envelopes, Hong Bao, from President Jose Fierro and trustee Liu. The red envelopes were intended to give good luck to the Cerritos College campus.

O CARLOS MARTINEZ JR.

Bringing Culture: Performers demonstrate a traditional rain dance at the Falcon Amphitheater on April 18.

The festival gives students an insight about various asian cultures.

Chinese instructor and club adviser Yiran Zhou stated, “I organized this performance in collaboration with Cerritos Chinese School.

“They emailed me and asked me if I had any students interested in doing the lion dance.”

Zhou emailed his students with the opportunity to perform and earn extra credit.

He added that students learning the language should also learn the culture.

“I think this kind of event is really useful, helpful, for students [...] that’s what they did, by doing that, they feel connected with this culture, they further appreciate this culture.” he said.

Students Stephanie Arriaga, Jocelyn Arriaga and Aaron Jaramillo performed in the vibrant red and yellow lion costumes while film major Juan Bustamante accompanied by playing a large traditional drum.

Bustamante said, “It was on our off-time, we would coordinate because it was five of us so it

was kind of tough because of our schedules so we would meet up on Saturday morning at the park with one of the instructors.

“It was funny because you are at the park with a big drum making loud noises and there are kids on one side of the park hitting piñatas and it’s funny because we are all predominantly Latino and you see us in Chinese wardrobe

with the lion, the dragon heads and the drum.”

Bustamante said, “It went really well, it’s loud and it’s colorful, and a lot of movement so it’s kind of a good way to end the festival with the lion dance [...] and then going into the crowd afterwards when you are done so people can take pictures so it was something nice to do.”

CARLOS MARTINEZ JR.

Good Luck: Chinese Club members performed the lion dance at the Festival of Asian Cultures. The dance is performed for good luck.

kay, ladies, with graduation and summer job opportunities right around the corner it’s time to start sending in those applications and prepping for interviews.

Unfortunately, with micro aggression and machismo still being a thing, it will always be a little harder for us to get the respectable titles we naturally deserve and work hard for when applying for a job or trying to get ahead in our preferred career.

It’s time to really give these self-entitled bastards a run for their money and show them that we can handle our own and level the playing field.

Confidence Remember you are capable of anything as long as you have the appropriate amount of confidence and self-esteem.

People take note of confidence. Exude it. Even if you are not entirely confident at the moment, focus on boosting selfconfidence and self-esteem.

Appearance Take pride in the way you look and devote some time to maintaining your appearance.

However, this doesn’t mean you have to feel inclined to show some titties just to get ahead, you don’t have to show boobs to show that you are a bad-ass.

Remember, dress for the job that you want.

If people see that you are tak-

ing pride in who are as a person, then they will realize that you will take that same pride and transfer into your work.

Be unapologetically you Throughout the course of your career, there will always be people who have some type of problem with you.

Let me tell you something, honey, unless you know for a fact that you don’t have a shitty attitude, then it’s not you with the problem.

Some people can not muster the same amount of motivation and determination as you, they will try anything in their power to derail.

Do not be passive You are in charge of how far you will ultimately get in life, but you won’t get far if you don’t care. Passive people do not succeed because they are fine being stagnant.

Work hard Show employers that you are determined and passionate about your job by working hard.

Being a hard worker greatly increases the chances of promotions.

Refrain from mediocrity Name a boring, successful person. Exactly. Let your uniqueness shine. People are naturally attracted to those who are bright and vibrant.

So shamelessly be the creative that you are. Businesses are always looking for applicants with fresh ideas.

Command respect It’s easy to command respect if it’s in your character. People will walk all over you, if you don’t command the respect you deserve.

Last time I checked women don’t have the word “Welcome” branded on their forehead.

Work on commanding respect because this step will always be hard in the social climate we are currently living in.

Phantom Thieves steal hearts in ‘Persona 5: The Animation’ series Carlos Martinez

I

College Life Editor @carlsjrmtz

t’s almost natural to assume that the TV adaptation will suck so bad that it will leave us cringing for years.

“Persona 5: The Animation” is one of the few gems that make adaptations work when they make it on the air.

The anime series based on the popular 2017 video game, focuses on a group of high school students who become the vigilante group, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts, when their powers are awakened.

The series utilizes the same animation style from the game differentiates the setting.

The show uses themes of picaresque and breaking social limits though the use of reds, blacks, and whites when the characters fight.

When the characters are their normal selves, the style of the environment shifts into realism, making their lives at students bland and typical.

Shoji Meguro, lead composer of “Persona 5”, returned to the series and brought back the signature acid jazz sound to the story, adding another layer of excitement when the Phantom Thieves unleash their Personas, or manifestation of one’s personality.

In the series, main protagonist Ren Amamiya, voiced by Jun Fukuyama, retells the story of the creation of the Phantom Thieves to investigators after he is arrested.

The first two episodes focused

BAGO GAMES/CREATIVE COMMONS

Phantom Thieves: Main Characters (Clockwise left): Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Ren Amamiya, and Morgana in their all-out attack formation. “Persona 5: The Animation” is based on the 2017 video game.

on Ren arriving in Tokyo after being placed on probation, meeting his future teammates Ryuji Sakamoto, voiced by Momoru Miyano; Ann Takamaki, voiced

by Nana Mizuki; and Morgana, voiced by Ikue Ohtani and recieving his powers.

Although the first two were a it slow paced, it managed to establish about two hours of gameplay into 30 minutes.

Sunday’s episode showcased Ann and her eventual awakening of her Persona.

In the episode, Ann is suffering, like many students, of the abusive nature of school’s gym teacher, feeling forced to give in just to spare her friend, Suzui, from getting physically abused and cut from the volleyball team.

When Suzui jumps off the school roof, no longer capable of handling more of the abuse, Ren and Ryuji decide to put their plan in motion with Morgana as Ann was listening in from behind.

After getting sent to the Palace and was captured by the shadow version of their gym teacher, Ann was beginning to doubt herself.

With the motivation of Ren, Ann managed to not give in and to awaken her Persona.

The episode has dark undertones such as physical, mental abuse and abuse of power. It also marks the beginning of the character’s journey into becoming the masked crusaders who seek for justice and freedom.

The series manages to retain elements and the style from the source material that makes it recognizable, but it also slowly expands to be its own thing.

Although it is currently a bit slow paced, the series makes up for it through visuals and its sound track.

The show has its English subbed version available through Crunchyroll and Hulu with the next episode airing on May 5.

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SPORTS

Follow us iiiii @talonmarksports

Wednesday April 25, 2018

Tennis wins SoCal Championship Carlos Ruiz Staff Writer @thecarlosruiz

T

he Cerritos College men’s tennis team are now the Southern California Champions and for the first time in the college’s history, they will challenge for the California Community College Athletic Association Dual Team State Championship.

They have had the opportunity to reach the SoCal finals match in previous seasons, but were not capable of moving forward into the state finals.

The Falcons team now, 27-2 overall, won the SoCal regional finals game against the Ventura College Pirates in a 5-0 shutout.

The tennis team swept Ventura College in both singles and doubles, the Falcons seeded No. 1 in the state while the Pirates seeded No. 2.

Following the SoCal win, they will now travel to Ventura College to face the Northern Cali-

Softball

fornia Champions, the American River College Beavers.

The Falcons have faced the Beavers once before on March 29 in a regular season match, in which they came out victorious 9-0.

During the SoCal finals match against the Pirates, the day started with three doubles’ matches that went the Falcons’ way.

With three wins in the doubles under the team’s belt, they went on into the singles’ matches with a steady lead.

The team won two out of the six singles’ matches, but didn’t finish the other four. The Falcons still led the other four matches until the end of match time.

Head coach Quinn Caldaron thought the team showed a great performance and played very well.

“It was really about sticking to the routine and doing what we practiced,” Caldaron said.

Caldaron referred to inheriting the team, “It was a luxury to walk into such a great team

Baseball

Win 6-3 at El Camino College

Win 2-1 versus ChaffeyCollege

April 24

April 24

and a good group of guys and girls. They’ve been more than awesome with how they’ve welcomed me and how they rallied together and stuck together as a team.”

The head coach thinks that if the Falcons play how they did against Ventura College going into the state championships they’ll be just fine.

“Our biggest thing is just staying mentally focused and our skills speak for themselves, so as long as we’re on top of our PHOTO OF KENT HUNTER game PHOTO BY CARLOS RUIZ and ILLUSTRATION BY we JAH-TOSH BARUTI

focus on what we do best, we’re gonna do fine,” Caldaron said.

Freshman Kent Hunter won one of the doubles’ matches, along side his partner freshman Victor Castro.

Hunter gave praise to the team’s over-

all performance in the doubles as they wiped the Pirates 3-0 in that section of the game.

“The doubles were very solid, all three teams played really well. I think it was one of the best [performances] that the entire team has [given] overall,” Hunter said.

Unfortunately Hunter was not able to finish his singles match, but was up a

set and was leading the score toward the end of the match time.

“We have a chance at winning state, both the men and the women’s team,” said Hunter referring to the win against Ventura College.

Freshman Dario Rico won both of the matches he participated in, including the doubles with his teammate sophomore Kwangeun Lee. Rico came out victorious in his singles match, one of the two that completed the actual matchup.

“We came with a lot of energy and a very positive attitude,” Rico said.

Rico says the win was important to the team because they have been on fire and very focused.

“We can get it and we want to get the ring!” Rico said joyfully.

Rico is trying to improve on his nervousness for the coming game against American River College.

He said his nervousness be-

fore his doubles match against Ventura College caused him to play with a disadvantage.

On the same day the Falcons’ women’s tennis team won the SoCal championship for the second time in three seasons.

The Falcons swept their opponent Glendale College 5-0.

They will now travel to Ventura College and face the Northern California Champion De Anza College.

They’ve played De Anza College once before in the beginning of the season and won 8-1.

In 2016, the women’s team defeated De Anza College for its first ever CCCAA team state championship.

The Cerritos College men’s tennis team will head to Ventura College to play American River College for the state title on April 25.

After the state championship match, the Falcons will travel to Ojai, CA for the individual state championship tournament on April 26 into the weekend.

Recent game scores: W. Tennis M. Tennis W. Swimming M. Swimming Win 5-0 versus Glendale College

Win 5-0 versus Ventura College

Fifth place 326 points South Coast Conference Championships

Sixth place 305 points South Coast Conference Championships

April 21

April 21

April 21

April 21

Baseball team claims share of division title Carlos Ruiz

Staff Writer @thecarlosruiz

T

he Cerritos College baseball team won in a 14-0 shutout against the Long Beach City College Vikings closing out the series 2-1.

The Falcons have obtained a share of the South Coast Conference South Division Title. This is the first conference title since the 2014 regular season.

The Falcons are now 28-10 overall for regular the season and lead the South Coast Conference-South Division 14-7 with only two conference games left to play.

It was the bottom of the fifth inning, the bases were loaded as sophomore shortstop Ramon Bramasco stepped up to bat and

with a swing at the fast ball, Bramasco sent a grand slam to the left and out of Kincaid Field.

Bramasco’s grand slam capped off the lead at 14-0.

In the second inning alone, Cerritos scored five runs.

The Falcons stacked another five runs in the third inning.

Sophomores center fielder Nick Penzetta and third baseman Jorge Rodriguez hit singles at the start, followed by a homer to left field by sophomore right fielder Rollie Nichols.

After the home run the Falcons had a blanketed 10-0 lead.

Sophomore pitcher Vincent Fuentes pitched eight innings, as he helped refrain LBCC from scoring.

Fuentes gave away only eight hits and had nine strikeouts, as he improved to 4-1 on the sea-

son.

Head Coach Ken Gaylord was said they played a great outing.

He gave additional praise to the team saying that the pitching and defense was real good and that they swung the bats well.

“They’ve been through a lot and they finished it,” Gaylord said.

Gaylord talked about the loss against Long Beach City College on April 19, he said, “We didn’t play bad, our guys have been doing a great job all year and they beat us by one run, but I mean that’s baseball it’s really hard to sweep.”

Gaylord ended with “We have a long way to go.”

Bramasco said, “We had a big lead and I just wanted to add onto it.”

Nichols was at bat four times,

had three hits and three RBI’s.

“Hitting’s contagious, when we’re all hitting it’s easy to go up there with a lot of confidence...” said Nichols referring to the team’s overall performance.

Nichols described the win as a confidence booster, saying “We’re not done yet, but it’s nice to know that we’re gonna make playoffs.”

He had his third home run of the season and first in the conference.

Fuentes described this game as one of his best pitched all of conference.

He continued, “Pitching eight innings is tough, but you gotta grind it out,” Fuentes said.

The Falcons baseball team are closing out the season with its final conference matchup at Chaffey College on April 26.

JACKELYNN MARTINEZ

Safe: First baseman No. 25 Michael Gonzalez slides onto base in a conference match versus Long Beach City College. Falcons won the game 14-0.

SHMACKEM: All Star Paul George to the Los Angeles Lakers?

Jah-Tosh Baruti Sports Editor @press1800tosh

W

ith his team on the verge of elimination of the first round of the playoffs, Paul George of the National Basketball Association’s Oklahoma City Thunder will surely elect to come home and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

George will be a free agent at

the end of the 2017-18 season and it is presumed that he wants to play for his hometown Lakers.

The fact that George is curently down 3-1 in a best of seven series against the Utah Jazz, with the reigning MVP Russell Westbrook and future Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony as his teammates will be enough of a reason for him to bolt in free agency.

Although OKC will play the next game at home, the odds are against them, as only 11 teams have came back to win a series after trailing 3-1 in a best of seven NBA Playoffs series.

If they go on to lose as the statistics say, it will be an embarrassing defeat for the No. 4 seed Thunder and their hopes of resigning George to another contract.

The Thunder with three All Star caliber players are facing a team lead by a rookie in Donavan Mitchell, potential Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and solid role players.

“I grew up a Lakers and a

BRENDA STAPLES/CREATIVE COMMONS

“Playoff P”: Paul George plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA. He is expected to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, his home team.

Clippers fan. I idolized Kobe [Bryant],” George said.

“There will always be a tie here, a connection here. People saying I want to come here, who doesn’t want to play for their hometown? That’s a dream come true, if you’re a kid growing up on the outskirts of L.A., to be the man in your city.

“But it’s definitely been overstated. For me, it’s all about winning,” George told Sports Illustrated.

The five time All Star has been heavily linked to the Lakers for the past two seasons.

In fact the Lakers President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson, also a former Lakers great, was accused of tampering by the NBA last year and thus earned the Lakers a hefty fine of $500,000.

After playing for the Indiana Pacers for the first six years of his career, George was traded to the Thunder following the 201617 season in a deal that included Victor Oladipo and Domantis

Sabonis heading to the Pacers in return.

It’s time to come on home PG13.

George allegedly told the front office of the Pacers that he wanted to go home and play for the Lakers and that he would not sign an extension with the team, so they ultimately traded him to the Thunder.

There has been recent speculation that the Philadelphia 76ers are George’s newfound top destination, as they have two of the leagues premier young talent in center Joel Embiid and 6-foot-10 point guard Ben Simmons.

No Philly, you can’t have Paul George, he belongs to LA. Get your own hometown All Star.

George will ultimately decide to come play with a gifted passer in Lonzo Ball and rising stars, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma. Where he’ll live out his dream of playing for his hometown team, in front of friends and family in Staples Center for the iconic purple and gold.