SCENE THE
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Fall Issue 4
December 9, 2022
THESCENEFP.COM
www.thescenefp.com
‘Krampus’ movie review See page 2
Best holiday memories See page 3
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
Child-care center nears completion
Photo by Shengnan Gao
Chess Club President Yasir “Cherry” Ali, left, demonstrates a move for Una Rodgers in the Forest Park Writing Center.
Chess anyone? Club returns to campus By Shengnan Gao The Scene staff The World Chess Hall of Fame is only two miles from Forest Park, so it makes sense for the campus to have a chess club. And now it does. A handful of students have organized the new Forest Park Chess Club. They’re inviting others to join. “I always enjoy the concept of chess,” said Yasir “Cherry” Ali, 19, a network engineering major. “Every move is important. One day, I walked into the writing center, saw a chess board and started playing by myself. That is the moment when I came up with the idea of starting a club.” Forest Park has had both official and unofficial chess clubs over the years. This one is official, according to Campus Life employee Tanya Carr. “They have turned in all their paperwork,” she said. So far, the club has four members. They play from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Seminar Room of the library. One member is general transfer studies student April Green, 19, who is also a columnist for The Scene. “Chess is fun and challenging,” she said. “I like the struggle of the game, like strategizing. You learn from losing. “I’m very excited about the club. I made a couple of friends through chess. It takes a little while to finish a game like chess. It’s a good way to know someone. I hope people can enjoy it.” The club’s adviser is B.K. Kolar, a writing tutor who first brought the chess board to the writing center. Kolar learned chess at age 4 and played on teams in high school and college. “There’s already been more interested people (at Forest Park) than I expected,”
Kolar said. “Quite a few strong players around, and most importantly, there are lots of students who want to learn. “It’s not that difficult to become decent in chess. A lot of students have come knowing nothing and just started playing regularly. Some people who just started playing at the beginning of this semester are already quite decent.” St. Louis has a long history with chess. It began in 1886, when the city hosted a segment of the first World Chess Championship, according to the St. Louis Chess Club website. That club was founded in 2008. Six years later, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution designating St. Louis as the National Chess Capital. “At its core, the game is about successfully navigating life,” according to the St. Louis Chess Club website. “The choices we face as individuals and as a city may not always be as black and white as the spaces on the chessboard. The decision to play, however, is an easy one.” Kolar, the Forest Park Chess Club adviser, teaches classes as a scholastic instructor with the St. Louis Chess Club. “I hope I can do some teaching here (at the college), help people who want to learn,” Kolar said. “Other than that, hopefully I can help cultivate a fun chess atmosphere and focus on our chess community, where everyone is collaborating to improve. “Whenever people are playing games, it is very easy to focus on winning or losing. That’s part of it. It’s fun to win and less fun to lose, but at the same time, losing can be a valuable experience.” Students who are interested in playing chess should just show up for a game and not worry about their inexperience, according to Kolar.
See Chess page 4
By Obersy Robles Valdez The Scene staff It’s been more than 12 years since Forest Park closed its child-care center, causing widespread controversy in the campus community. The college announced last year that it would bring back the center, and officials now expect it to open during spring semester. “Not only is it a teaching center for children, but it is also a teaching center for our own students,” said Julie Fickas, campus president. Fickas was referring to plans for center staff to include students majoring in early childhood education. That will allow them to get hands-on experience in the field. At any given time, the center will be able to accommodate 60 children, including those of students, faculty and staff. “I believe that it’s a great idea,” said biology major Clarisse Gibonio, 18, a student who has a friend with a newborn baby. Workers have been renovating the physical education building on campus for close to a year, turning 10,000 of its 19,000 square feet into the child-care center. The total cost is estimated at $10 million.
The center will consist of a lobby, classrooms, a conference room, playroom and an outdoor playground where the softball field used to be. “It will be organized with brand new signs,” Fickas said. “When people walk in, we want to give that experience of being at home and being in a comfortable environment.” The remaining 9,000 square feet of the P.E. building will provide reduced space for fitness activities, including a yoga room, updated weight room and new gym that is smaller than the original. The indoor swimming pool will remain intact. Programs and services at Forest Park’s child-care center will be modeled after the one on the Florissant Valley campus, according to Mariela Tapia-Alpaslan, St. Louis Community College manager of engineering and design. “The child-care center will have dedicated offices and a conference room for faculty and staff,” she said. STLCC plans to pay for the project with a $4 million Missouri Department of
See Center page 4
Provided photo
College personnel tour the construction site of the new Forest Park childcare center in the physical education building on campus.