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April 7 - May 25, 2014, Volume 57 Issue 7
The Southwestern College Sun
CAMPUS
Voice eterans
CArl bailey
Veterans have much to offer younger college classmates
After 30 years of service in the U.S. Navy I am now a full-time student at Southwestern College. It was my privilege and honor to serve this great country as well as the SWC Student Veterans Organization (SVO). It has been quite an adjustment to go from Master Chief in the Navy to a student on a community college campus. I am learning a lot, not just from the professors, but from my classmates and fellow veterans. One of the things that struck me right away is the diversity. Like my time in the Navy, working with such a diverse group of young people has given me invaluable experiences. My peers have fully accepted the “old guy” sitting in the back of the classroom. Aside from a few “old guy” jokes, I believe we all learn from each other and benefit from being together in a learning environment. I believe students at SWC offer a wide range of viewpoints and ideologies. Most importantly they respect each other. This always makes for a great classroom where different ideas and lifestyles co-exist and thrive. We, the veterans at SWC, add to diversity by bringing our life experiences to the mix and adding valuable perspectives to this school and community. It all started in 2007 when Jim Jones, Veterans Services Specialist, saw a glaring need for more student-veteran involvement in student affairs on campus and in the South Bay community. As a graduate of SWC and SDSU, coupled with his experience as a Marine, Jones knew that a club comprised of student veterans, active duty military, their family members and community advocates, was exactly what our studentveterans needed. SVO was born and the roots of official veteran advocacy on campus were planted. Jones teamed with faculty co-advisor Dr. Chris Hayashi to form a club that served veterans on campus. It became a platform that enables student veterans to support those in need throughout Southern California. U.S. Army veteran David Bonafede became the first president of the organization. VSO was awarded SWC Club of the Year for academic years 200809, 2012-2013 and 2013-14. Retired Marine Tim Walsh is the current president and he had an outstanding year. “There were many tremendous contributions by Southwestern College leadership, faculty, staff and student veterans,” Walsh said. “We honor those who served and continue our veteran advocacy on campus and in the community.” There are some really sharp, experienced veterans who are experts on the workings of the armed services, here at the SVO who enjoy sharing about their service experiences. You never know, maybe one day you might be interested in joining one of the services. Use us as a valuable resource to gather good information. Walsh agreed. “The Student Veteran Organization is comprised of individuals who possess integrity, passion and purpose,” he said. “These three characteristics are ever present in the way in which we carry ourselves on campus and in our neighborhoods. The camaraderie fostered within the SVO mirrors that which is forged during military service. The common shared experience of veterans is an important component of how the SVO accomplishes our goals. This is our campus and just as iron sharpens iron, at Southwestern College veterans serve veterans.” We in the SVO would like to thank SWC for accepting us as valued members of its team. We are ready and willing to help this school grow and become better. We look forward to our continued interactions with our fellow students and staff and are ready to help make this institution of learning a better place for all.
Breaking The News Courtesy Photo
Courtesy Photo
Former NBC journalist, CVPD PIO scores big ratings with SWC students
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Rick Flores/staff
LIVING IN THE LIGHT — Journalism instructor Bernard Gonzales is a philosophical and richly-experienced former anchorman and reporter in San Diego and Los Angeles. Among his favorite interviews were Mother Teresa and Jimmy Stewart.
Story by Saira Araiza / Assistant Arts Editor
ernard Gonzales wanted to be a baseball player when he was a kid, but in college he traded the bullpen for the ink pen. Journalism was the big winner. Gonzales said journalism is more than passion and good words, it is a conviction. “A journalist is someone who is curious about their world enough to go out and find out more about it without bending the rules, violating trust or misrepresenting what they find,” he said. “[They] shouldn’t take the first answer as the only answer. A journalist should be willing to dig deeper. Good journalists dig deeper.” He said being a journalist is being in two of the best things of school — field trips and recess. “In journalism, you get to talk to people that you never at the beginning of the day would thought you would have the opportunity to talk or meet,” he said. “Not only that, you get the opportunity of interviewing them in such a way that you can ask them one of the most impactful, meaningful and deepest questions you can possible think of and they answer you.” A shovel, a flashlight and a pen should be the symbol for journalism, Gonzales said. “[Journalists] are suppose to shine the light in dark places and we’re supposed to show what is special about the light that does exist,” he said. “People find inspiration in things that have light around it and they find meaning when the darkness is exposed so we should be willing to go both ways — in the light and the dark.” A television production class at CSU, Long Beach changed his life. His professor, Victor Webb, an associate
director at CBS television in LA, introduced Gonzales to his first news job. After two months working in news at KCBS, Gonzales said the internship was coming to an end and he decided to look for other positions in the station. “I was bitten by the bug,” he said. “A production assistant job was available in the newsroom, so I applied for that and I got it.” A broadcast news career blossomed from there. After being production assistant for Channel Two, he got his first reporting job at KSPY news in San Luis Obispo. Three months later he was named the Santa Maria bureau chief. Just six months after that Gonzales worked for NBC 7/39 in San Diego. During his second year working for NBC 7/39, he got the opportunity to work for LA FOX News where he stayed for 10 years. “By the time I had worked at FOX, I had been the Orange County Bureau Chief, and anchored the weekend news,” he said. “When I left they offered me the morning reporting position on the number one rated show, but I didn’t want to do it anymore.” With a new dream of becoming a teacher, he returned to San Diego. “I was hired at San Diego State, but I only taught there for a year,” he said. “KNSD offered me their anchor morning position, so I left San Diego State.” Gonzales worked at KNSD for four years, then changed course. please see Gonzales pg. A10
Globe-trotting citizen of the world now home at Southwestern By Aydan Lopez Staff Writer
Dr. Maria Jelaca-Tavakoli has lived in eight countries, has three degrees, several loves and one great career at Southwestern College. Je l a c a - Ta v a k o l i , p r o f e s s o r o f anthropology, came to the United States from Serbia when she was 16 to visit a childhood friends. She said she identifies as a Yugoslavian as a personal statement over the division of her former homeland. “Yugoslavian simply means I’m not really interested in the recent political and religious division that they were pushing,” she said. “Here in America, you are identified by where you were born. I was born in Germany. I spent one chunk of my life in Bosnia, another in Serbia, but I’ve also spent a great deal of my life in Croatia, Slovenia,
Macedonia and Montenegro. So for my particular experience, it’s a very complex classification.” On her last visit to the U.S., JelacaTavakoli said she fell in love and decided to start anew with her husband, an American. “It was a complete serendipity,” she said. “It was nothing planned. I didn’t come here to stay here and I didn’t come here to escape.” After unsuccessfully trying to validate her Serbian chemistry degree in the U.S., she attended San Diego City College and fell in love a second time – with biological anthropology. Dr. Erin Browder, Jelaca-Tavakoli’s mentor and instructor at in Mesa College, said she admires the steps her former student took to restart her educational career. “She’s an exceptional icon of people who start over,” Browder said. “Maria overcame a large obstacle that would have discouraged most people after going as far as she had.” please see Tavakoli pg. A9
Karen Tome/staff
OLD WORLD ROOTS, NEW WORLD DREAMS — Professor of Anthropology Maria JelacaTavakoli is an Erin Browder protégé who has won a legion of admirers at SWC for her intellect and passion.