Palomar College, San Marcos, Calif. Monday april 26, 2010 Vol. 63, No. 20
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INSIDE
E n t e r ta in m en t
Cash:
‘Death at a Funeral’ should have stayed buried
The inside scoop on getting grants ashley planchon the telescope
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Focus
Entertainment volunteer jobs page
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brian blakely| THE TELESCOPE
Sports Softball team success page
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O p ini o n Chelsea’s Law calls for necessary change page
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Student multitasks school, skateboard brian blakely The telescope
Many students will tell you that it’s hard to multitask hobbies and schoolwork. For one Palomar student, however, mixing his hob-
by, skateboarding, with school is as easy as the basic skateboard trick, the ollie. Alex Pedroza, 21, is a student at the San Marcos Palomar campus, but many people are unaware that he’s also a sponsored skateboarder. Pedroza said that for 10 years, he has been progressing and
learning as a skateboarder every day. “My cousin worked for a skate company when I was little,” Alex said. “He got me into skating and I just never lost interest.” Pedroza currently rides for Utility Board Shop in Poway, Dekline footwear, and gets flowed boards from the Tum Yeto distribution in San Diego courteturn to boarder page
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Palomar College offers ways to increase students’ chances of success as well as help them meet their educational goals through various grants and grant-funded programs. Students can get financial assistance through federal program grants such as the Pell Grant, the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant and the State Cal Grant, all of which require the Free Application for Student Aid, according to the Financial Aid Office. Certain grant-funded programs are also offered at the school to students who are eligible to join them. TRIO is one such program. It provides “innovative and supportive services and programs for low-income, first-generation and disabled students, and their parents,” according to TRIO’s mission statement, listed on the program’s website. The services provided to the students involved in this program are free and designed to increase the college retention and graduation/transfer rates, and to facilitate the process of transition from Palomar to a four-year university. The services provided in TRIO include counseling, awards, financial aid, and scholarship information and guidance. Priority registration, cultural and education activities and workshops are also offered. The program does require an individual be a full-time student (taking 12 units per semester) and maintain a 2.5 grade point average. According to TRIO Coordinator Claudia Carter, the program is “made for those with an academic need.” Another program available to Paloturn to grants page
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steve treboux| courtesy photo illustration
Legos help teach computer programing melina fickas The telescope
A new program at Palomar College uses Lego robots to teach computer programming, school officials said recently. During the first five to eight weeks of the course, students design and build robots out of Legos during lab time. Terrie Canon, Palomar professor and creator of the Survey of Computer Science class, CSCI 108, said that this is the first semester that this teaching method is being implemented. “I wanted them to think like a programmer without using programs,” Canon said. “We find that people are more melina fickas | THE TELESCOPE
visual learners and doing things handson is more rewarding.” Canon got the idea to use the Lego robots in this program because she saw them in the department office and thought she should put them to use in one of her classes. Palomar had previously offered a robotics class at Poway High School, and the Legos were no longer being used. “I’d never built with Legos in my life before; my son had to help me,” Canon said with a laugh. Student Michael Wirt said he likes turn to robots page
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alan chia | courtesy photo