College Times - December 2020

PAST, PRESENT, STUDENT FUTURE INNOVATION PHOENIX COLLEGE’S HISTORY IN COFFEE TABLE BOOK

POP QUIZ

KUNAL SHAMADASNI CHRISTMAS DREAMS OF MOVIE NONCLOGGING CHALLENGE TOILET PAPER

DECEMBER 2020

EST. 2002

HOLIDAY SHOPPING

Hook & Hunt among 11 places to holiday shop

+

New ASU Arena

contents student life 4

11 Things

Local places to shop this holiday season

success & money 5

Past, Present, Future

6

Student Innovation Challenge

Award-winning author traces Phoenix College's history in coffee table book

Kunal Shamdasani dreams of nonclogging toilet paper

sports 7 Mixed Feelings

ASU students torn on plans for new arena

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POP QUIZ

WE KNOW HOW MANY TESTS AND QUIZZES YOU TAKE, BUT WE THINK THIS ONE WILL BE YOUR FAVORITE. HERE IS A QUICK QUIZ ON SOMETHING POPULAR OR IMPORTANT WE THINK YOU NEED TO KNOW.

What is the highest-grossing Christmas movie of all time?

A. “A Christmas Carol” B. “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000) C. “The Grinch” (2018) D. “Home Alone” “Home Alone.” The Macaulay Culkin vehicle made $476.6 million.

Answer: C. “The Grinch” (2018), which earned $500.5 million surpassing the long-running winner

HEY writers can you put words into sentences? Are you connected to the cool things happening on campus?

2 ECOLLEGETIMES.COM | DECEMBER 2020

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STUDENT LIFE

11 LOCAL PLACES TO SHOP THIS HOLIDAY SEASON E ANNIKA TOMLIN • COLLEGE TIMES

ven though the world is still afflicted with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s the holiday season. There are reasons to buy gifts for one another and spread joy.

Rather than hitting up the everyday haunts, try a few new places, which we’ve supplied below.

#11 TRACY DEMPSEY ORIGINALS & ODV WINES Tracy Dempsey offers completely customizable gift baskets for any price point. Fill a basket with items such as wines, cocktail items, locally made chocolates, coffees and seasonings as well as TDOriginals specialties such as the Originals Bacon Pecan Brittle and sweetand-savory snack mix. Gift givers can shop in-store during a private appointment with Dempsey or pick up the items curbside.

1325 W. University Drive, Tempe, 602.376.9021, tracydempseyoriginals.com

#10 MOMO’S MUNDO Momo’s Mundo is the result of one woman’s love for art, culture and activism. She blends that with her design expertise to bring products that reflect this love to like-minded

adults and children. Trendy shirts incorporate English and Spanish phrases with sizes for the whole family. In addition, the company sells stickers, hats, plush toys and pillows. Momo’s Mundo made soft, unisex “Feliz” T-shirts that are being sold through Los Sombreros.

Available in medium or large ($22.50). momosmundo.com, lossombreros. com/shop (Feliz shirt only)

#9 LOTIONS & POTIONS The feel-good store has scents to match everyone’s feel-good mood. Try a body care package that includes an 8-ounce bath and shower gel, an 8-ounce vitamin ADE lotion, a 1/5-ounce fragrance oil and a 2.7-ounce body spritz ($31). Some of the more than 500 scent options available include Asian amber, firewood, love potion and sugar cookie. Shoppers are sure to find a scent to match even those with discriminating tastes.

420 S. Mill Avenue, Tempe, 480.968.4652, lotionsandpotions.com

#8 FRANCES Simply put, Frances is a modern boutique with vintage charm that offers a curated selection of jewelry, clothing, home essentials and other artisan gifts. Gift options available in-store or online include an Iconic Mixers travel set ($32), a Mister Rogers Vibes sticker ($4), a “Probably Whiskey” enamel mug ($18) and Local Nomad

even a mini Crystal Clear Decongestant bath soak ($10). From baby toys to mildly inappropriate holiday cards, Frances has all that and more.

10 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix, 602.279.5467, shopfrancesboutique.com

#7 GATHER Gather is a place where makers are invited to do just that. They share positive energy, healing remedies and curated gifts for a mindful lifestyle inside a 180-square-foot shipping container in The Churchill in Downtown Phoenix. One of the gift options is a healing care package that includes a 200-milligram hemp bath bomb, a green fluorite crystal and a Palo Santo stick to help cleanse the negativity and purify the air around you ($38).

901 N. First Street, Suite 108, Phoenix, gatherphx.com

#6 WHOZITZ AND WHATZITZ UNIQUE GIFTS It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are looking for, Whozitz and Whatzitz will have it. Its fun and unusual items are perfect for the nerds in your life or the hardworking college student. Locally made art, crafts and jewelry will satisfy anyone’s budget.

1235 E. Northern Avenue, Phoenix, 602.374.5963, whozitzandwhatzitz.com

#5 LOCAL NOMAD Local Nomad is a gifting and clothing boutique that carries handcrafted goods from makers, artists and independent designers from all over the world. Try the mango wood salad servers ($22), El Guapo craft cocktail gift box ($26) or the casa agave pot scrubber ($9).

Local Nomad strives to provide a sense of discovery with its curated collection of thoughtful gifts and apparel.

100 E. Camelback Road, Suite 168, Phoenix, 602.441.4378, localnomadshop.com

#4 MADE ART BOUTIQUE This Roosevelt Row locally owned retail and community space serves up an always-changing array of jewelry, ceramics, prints, cards, soaps and candles. A few gift choices include a cute saguaro mask by Annotated Audrey ($12); a small, taupe ceramic colander made by 4 ECOLLEGETIMES.COM | DECEMBER 2020

Tracy Dempsey Originals & ODV Wines

Mike Farabee ($35) or an avoCATo enamel pin ($10).

922 N. Fifth Street, Phoenix, 602.256.6233, madephx.com

#3 THE MARKET AT SCOTTSDALE QUARTER Presented by the women who created Junk in the Trunk, The Market at Scottsdale Quarter brings together curators, artisans and designers who normally appeared at Junk in the Trunk Vintage Markets.

Vintage items as well as gifts from local small businesses are available at the market.

15147 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 180, Scottsdale, junkinthetrunkvintagemarket.com

#2 CHANGING HANDS BOOKSTORE Changing Hands Bookstore sells more than just paperbacks and audiobooks. Each location displays an array of bath and body products, candles, chimes and bells, greeting cards and other locally made gift items. From cookbooks to plush toys and journals, Changing Hands has loads of choices.

6428 S. McClintock Drive, Tempe, 480.730.0205; 300 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix, 602.247.0067, changinghands.com

#1 HOOK & HUNT Hook & Hunt discounts highly sought-after technology, school supplies, home essentials, furniture, certified designer handbags, camping gear, shoes and interior design décor with perks of Amazon.

The 5,000-square-foot warehouse in Scottsdale is home to hundreds of products from tech giants such as Samsung and Segway along with high-end brands like Louis Vuitton and Hermes. hookandhunt.com CT

SUCCESS

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR TRACES PHOENIX COLLEGE’S HISTORY IN COFFEE TABLE BOOK CONNOR DZIAWURA • COLLEGE TIMES

A

wardwinning author, educator, speaker and community activist Stella Pope Duarte has her roots planted firmly in the Valley.

Born and raised here, she is an alumna of Phoenix College who went on to graduate from ASU. One of many notable Phoenix College alumni, Duarte is a 2009 American Book Award recipient and Pulitzer Prize nominee, among numerous other award wins and nominations.

She has traveled far and wide to not only conduct research for her writings but teach and conduct workshops and presentations on various subjects for the likes of colleges, community centers, businesses and conferences.

It only seemed fitting that she would partner with the Phoenix College Alumni Association on a new coffee table book coinciding with her former school’s centennial. Though celebratory events have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the book—“Our Past. Your Future.

The History of Phoenix College.”—is available to order for $29.

“I’m not afraid of history,” Duarte says. “I have walked the jungles of the Mekong Delta to write ‘Let Their Spirits Dance,’ the story of a young man who was killed in the Vietnam War from Phoenix, Arizona, and so forth; and then ‘If I Die in Juárez’ took me to Juárez

for three years to document the murders of the girls in my book …

“This,” she says with emphasis, referring to the new book, “was 100 years of an iconic community college—the first in the Valley, because the idea of community college was brand new. I think there was only maybe two other—or three other—community colleges in the nation when the people that were coming together to form the college in 1920 decided to see what they could do here in Phoenix to form a college.”

Considering the school’s “enormous history” spanning a century, Duarte figured the only way to pull it off would be to go decade by decade, adding plenty of color and pictures to make it fun.

As part of what she calls a tedious, several-year process, Duarte says she did all the writing, with the alumni association providing the archives and matching the photos with her narratives. The information, she notes, was varied and had to be pared down.

She says she focused on highlights, recounting stories that in many cases had to connect with what was going on in the United States at large during any given era—from the world wars and politicians like Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to pop culture figures like the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel. Other write-ups, she says, acknowledge significant figures on campus, which have included famous coaches, athletes and legislators, among others. She says she could

IMAGE COURTESY STELLA POPE DUARTE

Stella Pope Duarte collaborated with the Phoenix College Alumni Association on a book chronicling the school’s history in honor of its centennial anniversary.

have profiled hundreds of people “because they were that important.”

Milestones include a civilian pilot training program, early computer-aided instruction, social justice programming, decades-long traditions like Bear Day, collegiate athletics and other important educational PHOTO COURTESY STELLA POPE DUARTE innovations.

Stella Pope Duarte is a multiple award-winning author, The book also educator, speaker and community activist. includes a foreword gender,” she says, noting that the from Arizona State Historian parent Phoenix Union district was, Marshall Trimble and a chapter in contrast, segregated at the time. about the future of the school by “Those gentlemen (who founded Dr. Larry Johnson Jr., Phoenix Phoenix College) made a pledge, College’s president. and that has become, I believe, the Now the flagship of the 10 greatest legacy of Phoenix College.” colleges in the Maricopa County When space was running short, Community College District, she adds it was important to pay Phoenix College was founded in tribute to the innovative and 1920 as Phoenix Junior College, a dedicated instructors at Phoenix part of the Phoenix Union High College, some of whom she jokes School and Junior College District work there until their retirement or (which has since dropped the “and Junior College” portion of its name). leave on a stretcher. She calls them “an amazing bunch of people.”

Founders’ Day is September 13.

“I think the faculty, the “It was a very humble beginning,” administration, the volunteers, Duarte recalls. “They started in a all the people that had anything sheet metal shop—a sheet metal to do with the college deserve shop, if you can believe that—an just a standing ovation, because abandoned sheet metal shop that was part of Phoenix Union, because the students can only receive what is given to them through they did all kinds of classes, their educators that are there, commercial classes and all kinds of the coaches, everybody—I mean, career-related classes.” the love that they have for the Tracing back to those days, she students,” she says. says it was important for her to As for the funds from the book? observe and incorporate how the “I don’t want any of them,” school structured itself internally and went on to influence education reveals Duarte, giving a share of the credit to the alumni association in the Valley at large. for assisting in the process.

“How was it bringing these Proceeds from sales will fund innovations into the Valley? What kind of structure was influencing the the new My Future Scholarship, which aims to create educational whole idea of community colleges in equity, access and opportunity the entire Valley?” she says were the for underrepresented students. questions she posed. “Because, see, It is affiliated with the Maricopa the other schools, what happened Community Colleges Foundation. was there was no one to model from “I said I don’t want the money, except Phoenix College.” because the kids are in such need During her multiyear research, right now,” she continues. “There’s writing and publication process, Duarte recalls a nonsegregation policy kids who cannot afford—they don’t even have a job, much less able to within the school as standing out. come back to college. So I told them “What I valued so much was that even in that sheet metal shop, those (the alumni association) let the proceeds go to the students, and educators decided that they would that’s what’s happened out there.” never segregate nor discriminate To order a copy and for additional anyone, that everyone would be centennial celebration information, welcome on the campus, regardless visit phoenixcollege.edu/100. CT of race, of color, of language, of ECOLLEGETIMES.COM | DECEMBER 2020 5

SUCCESS

STUDENT INNOVATION CHALLENGE

KUNAL SHAMDASANI DREAMS OF NONCLOGGING TOILET PAPER ANNIKA TOMLIN • COLLEGE TIMES

A

t the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers hoarded toilet paper out of fear it would sell out.

Now that it’s easily found, UA sophomore Kunal Shamdasani has a pitch to make a cost-effective nonclogging toilet paper.

One day in February, a freshman Shamdasani was walking to one of his campus jobs and saw a black-and-white flier on a vending machine about the Tech Launch Arizona Student Innovation Challenge. Students were asked to submit an idea that could eventually be commercialized.

Tech Launch Arizona is an organization at UA that helps bring technologies and innovations that originated with the university research a meaningful application that leads to commercialization.

The Student Innovation Challenge lets students pitch their ideas to TLA, have the organization fund their experiments and get them on the market.

“Surely enough I had an idea and I went ahead and submitted it,” Shamdasani said.

His idea came from learning that

a flight from his home country of India to the United States had an emergency landing because of clogged toilets.

“I was not personally on one of these flights, but I knew someone on these flights … on an airline where four of the 12 toilets got clogged because of toilet paper,” Shamdasani said. “I was like, ‘Is this a regular problem?’ and sure enough it is.

“Since then, that was what initially gave me the idea to put the proposal in the first place and then to determine if there was such technology available and if this was an achievable goal or not and then put all of those factors into concentration. I felt like it would be a feasible idea to consult.”

Through Zoom, he pitched his idea to several accomplished folks at Tech Launch.

“They were the ones who were supposed to evaluate our idea, and eventually four of us got selected and our ideas were funded by the organization,” Shamdasani says.

Shamdasani did not think he would make it to the final rounds because he was a freshman and a

6 ECOLLEGETIMES.COM | DECEMBER 2020

business major, at that.

“It was pretty interesting when I was first applying. I was sort of selfrejecting in a way,” Shamdasani says.

“I was a freshman in college starting business, so not a lot of relation to dissolvable toilet paper necessarily.

But when I went forth and applied because I was like that is interesting that they considered me to be a finalist.”

Finalists receive a timeline of when they are supposed to have a prototype of their idea and of when they should expect it to go forth in the market.

“Of course, this timeline can and possibly will be extended given how everything is virtual now, and of course these things require experiments that require labs and people, both of which may or may not be open given the scenario now,” Shamdasani says.

“If a prototype is successful and made, we would be wanting to commercialize the product, and for that it would have to be cost effective.”

Shamdasani and the other finalists are eagerly waiting for labs to be open once again to start

experimenting and moving forward.

Shamdasani would like to have a prototype by the end of the year but relies on getting access to labs to complete experiments.

“My favorite part about this challenge is … I was only a freshman in college when I applied, and I am still only a sophomore,” Shamdasani says. “So, it’s been fairly interesting to entrant with such accomplished professionals that are in Tech Launch Arizona or other people from different departments who have been helping or assisting or giving their ideas for a project.

“It becomes a different ballgame altogether when things move out from somebody who is a sophomore in college to somebody who has experience in this superverse.”

As an international student, Shamdasani realizes that his idea could have a global impact and not solely benefit the United States.

“The university, with respect to all of the regulations and all of the precautions that are necessary, the university has been really, really helpful and supportive toward me and with the Tech Launch covering the cost,” Shamdasani said. CT

ASU STUDENTS TORN ON PLANS FOR NEW ARENA CONNOR FRIES • COLLEGE TIMES

A

SU students are on both sides of the fence about a new $115 million arena near the university’s ASU Tempe campus.

The as-of-yet unnamed arena will be located on Packard Drive, north of the Packard parking structure, and will be home to the ASU men’s ice hockey team and other Sun Devil teams.

The 5,000-seat arena will also host concerts and shows when not in use by Sun Devil Athletics.

Sophomore Conor McGill says he’s excited about the facility.

“As a sports journalist, I’m super pumped for the new arena,” McGill says. “Both the hockey and gymnastic programs have worked hard over the last couple of years and deserve an arena of their own.”

McGill says the arena will make a positive impact on the community as well.

“The fact that the arena will be used for other events is great to hear,” he says. “ASU has started to

use their sports facilities more and more for community use.”

Senior Melinda Sawyer is also excited about the arena’s economic and social impacts, even though she’s graduating in December.

“I think, of course, it will be good for ASU,” Sawyer says. “It is giving more space for other stuff, like events and hockey. Just like anything being built, it’s good for the community.”

Other students, like sophomore Annabella Medina, say they believe it is the wrong time to spend millions on an arena.

“The timing seems a little strange to me, but obviously that wasn’t planned,” she says. “I think I’d be more excited about it opening if concerts and games were going on in-person at the moment. I hope it will be good for the Tempe community in the future, though.”

Sophomore Cami Parrish says she’s not excited about the announcement.

“I personally think this is a terrible idea, and I think allocating $115 million toward something that may

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or may not be in use by the time it is built is a terrible idea,” Parrish says.

Parrish says she wishes ASU would put the money toward a campus multicultural center, which has been requested by students, or provide resources to students who are attending classes virtually.

“So many students have been asking ASU for a multicultural center for months now,” Parrish says. “I think it’s a blatant disrespect to the students who are asking for a multicultural center on campus.”

Junior Katelyn Kubly is also concerned.

“I think it’s good, but then again, it would be interesting to see where these funds could have been reallocated to, especially since there are so many students struggling during this time,” Kubly says.

ASU Executive Vice President Morgan Olsen says the arena will be a good addition to ASU and an important part of the Novus

Innovation Corridor.

The Novus Innovation Corridor is a project between ASU and Catellus Development Corp that is expected to bring offices, residential properties, hotels, retail and other types of businesses adjacent to ASU’s Tempe campus in hope of collaboration with the university.

“The potential there is first substantial economic development, economic opportunity for individuals, great for businesses of the Valley and more opportunities for collaboration with the university,” Olsen says.

“Having that type of venue will allow us to attract the best possible student athletes, too. It would be wonderful for their experience. It would also be great from a spectator standpoint, which is the really enjoyable part of life on campus.”

Construction is set to begin in January, and the arena will officially open in December 2022. CT

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SPORTS

MIXED FEELINGS

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