EagleEye
West Hills College Student Newspaper
~December 2022~
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Stay Golden: Free Student Help and Offerings Dec. 15, 2022
By Aliza Sanchez and Elida Sanchez Gutierrez Are you new on campus or a returning student? Here are some services offered by WHCCL. Further information on all the following (and more) can be found on the school’s official website, under the Student Life “Food and Basic Needs” tab. •
Financial Resources
Financial Aid Office – Finances (Located in the Administration Offices) • Basic Needs Assistance Application (Food, housing, basic needs security) • Emergency Grant • Kings County Human Services Agency - General Relief (Offers: KART Passes, Costless Vouchers, Walmart Personal Needs Vouchers, Rental Assistance, Utility Assistance) • Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, VITA
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Student Support Program Resources
Academic Center of Excellence, ACE Labs (In-person and online tutoring in Library) • Workforce Internship Networking Center, WIN Career Services Student Employment • NetTutor available in CANVAS (Professional online tutoring) • Free Microsoft suite with student email • Free 200 prints in Library (Learning Resource Center)
Food Resources & Services
• Golden Eagle Pantry (Located in the Student Union, Student ID required) Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. • Food Distribution Resources • Cal Fresh Application Assistance (Grocery Money)
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Technology Resources & Textbooks
Student Technology Check Out (Books, computers, hotspots, research databases, etc.) • Affordable Connectivity Program (Broadband availability) • OER Resources (Zero Textbook Cost, ZTC) • Follett Bookstore (Online)
Transportation
• Kings Area Regional Transit, KART ($10 discount on one 30-day monthly bus pass) ***Pro-tip; KART bus is free during December • Extended Opportunity Programs & Services, EOPS (KART passes or Gas Cards)
Fellow Eagles ~ Do not let this list intimidate you. It is highly encouraged to
seek out these services and apply where you can. This list is meant to support anyone in need and make their college experience run smoothly. Stay golden. You’ll be alright.
A Letter from the President
Dec. 15, 2022
Happy Holidays, Golden Eagles! You
have made it through what has been an exciting, challenging, and eventful Fall 2022 semester! As I reflect back on 2022 and my first year in the role of President at West Hills College Lemoore, the word that keeps ringing in my ears and rattling around my brain is grateful! I am grateful that you chose to come to college. I am grateful that you chose to continue your education at West Hills College Lemoore. I am grateful for your hard work, energy, and effort that all of you bring every day to the classroom and to our college. I want to encourage you all to finish strong this week and I also want to encourage you to check out, rest up, and do things that fill your cup during the holiday season. We look forward to seeing you for the Spring 2023 semester and don’t forget to register for classes that start on January 17th! Bless you, thank you, and happy holidays to you and your families! JAMES L. PRESTON PRESIDENT
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EagleEye-Dec. 2022
Second Year Opinions
Professors are People Too By Hailee Perez
We Golden Eagles may tend to view our professors in a certain way, where we forget that they are humans like us. We hope this interview
with Jameson Birrell, a math professor at WHCL, broadens our view of professors. A fun fact about Mr. Birrell, his students may not know, is that he can break dance and even do a backflip (has proved it to his students before). Jameson mentioned a guilty pleasure of his, which is supporting his local donut shop by rewarding himself with an apple fritter donut. On Saturday nights he tries to get his younger kids to behave and stay with his older daughters so he can go on a nice date night with his wife. Early on, Jameson knew he either wanted to be a teacher or a firefighter. The 11th grade was when he decided to become a college professor. What makes a good workday at work for Jameson is when students come in prepared, and their homework is completed, and it shows by their performance. He also shared that what helped him get through college was the long Thursday night study groups with his peers. We hope this interview reminds our students that professors are humans too.
Dec. 15, 2022
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By Peter Johnson & Sergio Ferrer Hernandez
or many students, it’s their first year in college. For others, it could be their last or second to last. Some students plan to leave West Hills College Lemoore with an associate’s degree in hand. For others, they have a different idea in mind. I sat down with a couple of students to see where their paths lead them after WHCL. I first spoke with Emily Rocha, who has been an Eagle for two years. Though she still has one more year before she can graduate, Emily’s plan after WHCL is to attend CSU Monterey Bay and major in Biology. When asked about the career she plans to work towards, she stated “At first, I was planning on being a physician’s assistant, but it’s not for certain. Biology is such vast field – there’s so much you can do in it. But as of right now, I’m thinking about being a physician’s assistant.”
Scholarships and Financial Assistance: Take Advantage! By William Burgos & Angel Nunez
Every year, thousands of dollars are being flushed down the drain
Dec. 15, 2022
because students are unaware of the financial opportunities available. There are numerous scholarships to apply for based on your major. Do YOU want your college life to be easier? Here are 6 easy steps to apply now on the West Hills College Lemoore website: 1. Go to https://www.westhillscollege.com/district/foundation/scholarships/ 2.Three campus locations will be presented in blue text. Click on the Lemoore campus. 3. Various scholarships will be listed along with their information. Click on the green “West Hills Foundation Scholarship Application” button to open the application dashboard.
5. Once completed, sign the application by typing your name into the box provided. 6. Click on the yellow button at the bottom right corner that says, “Submit Application”. You will automatically be applied to all the scholarships provided by the college, preventing the hassle of individually applying for each one. West Hills offers trusted scholarship—no scams guaranteed. Take advantage of these to ensure success in your college endeavors. If you are also seeking financial aid, you may want to consider applying for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), a part of the U.S. Department of Education. Apply at https://studentaid.gov/
FAFSA
Scholarships
These are just two Eagles’ plan of attack after leaving WHCL. There are many others out on campus who have similar or different plans.
By Reyes Garcia
Behind the Screen
Dec. 15, 2022
4. Click on “Application” on the left-hand side of the page and complete any requirements.
Another Eagle, Aliza Sanchez, has also been an Eagle for two years. Aliza is an English major who hopes to attend Fresno State University, where she plans to earn a B.A in Literature. She mentioned how it would be nice to study at Fresno State, though she has a backup plan to work in a school. “It would be nice to be a teacher, but I’m also interested in doing clerical work in school offices.”
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Dec. 15, 2022 ave you ever stopped to think about going back in time to change something for the better? Some students would go back and fix a mistake they made, like an embarrassing moment, or prepared for an important assignment. Others wouldn’t want to mess with time at all, but no one has a time traveling Delorean just yet, but something more important than a time traveling car is the input and advice from our West Hills college students. Some second-year students wanted to share their experience with you with the main question being “What piece of advice would you give your freshman self? “. A shy anonymous eagle would like to say, “Trust your instincts and always be on the look for internships, and always make use of the ACE lab. All of us could use some help from time to time”. The ACE (Academic Center of Excellence) is in the library providing tutoring sessions for English, Math and Science on weekdays in person or online with zoom from 12am to 3pm. Joshua with student government mentions “Make sure to upkeep your time management here at school especially for the double students and learn to navigate CANVAS and the West Hills college website along with your email”. To be up to date with the latest and greatest here at West Hills, download the outlook app to be notified of any events or assignments that need your attention. Xander, an eagle from the wrestling team would like to comment “It’d be great to have more students and sports make their way here to West Hills, being an athlete and a 3.0 GPA student can open a lot of doors and incentives for new eagles coming to college.” If there was ever a place for people to bring out their potential or would be here at West Hills. An important note from a mysterious little bird remarks, “Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback before turning something in and be sure to be on top of your work, so don’t procrastinate”. Old habits die hard, but you probably procrastinating those finals, huh? Aaron, another experienced bird from the student government body states “Always be aware of your educational plan with your counselor, and keep in mind how important your midterms are for your class and also, Don’t bite off more than you can chew but know that there’s plenty of opportunity here at West Hills.” Speaking about opportunities here at West Hills, another bashful eagle wants to affirm “Knowing about the scholarships here at college is really going to help your financial stability here at school and at home, so be on the lookout”. For any opportunistic students that are curious about their qualifications just visit whccd.awardspring.com/opportunities and fill out the application and boom you’re done, you’ll be notified whenever you qualify for any of this life-changing scholarships, hell you may even qualify for a scholarship right now so don’t miss out and apply! Happy Holidays!
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Dec. 15, 2022
Where Eagles are Headed After West Hills
EagleEye-Dec. 2022-
By Kile Perez & Monique Garcia With our Eagles basketball season around the corner, we sat down with Coach Jovan to ask just how his team operates and the experience of a player. 1. How do you handle the selection process during tryouts? “The key is transparency, whether the young men know where they stand from the get-go, and having compassion, some guys won’t meet expectations but how do we navigate them through that… We need someone to push us to maximize the potential that God has given us… it’s important for the guys to know who don’t make it that they are still apart of this family…” 2. What are you doing to improve the team? “We have a fearless leader, Andrea Picchi who challenges us every day to be better. It was end of the year recap and she gave us a lot of questions to think about, such as how can I be better? She’s always having her door open because she’s fantastic in the game of basketball. Being able to soak up her knowledge has helped me a lot from a coaching standpoint.” 3. How were you able to keep your team motivated through COVID? “A lot of Zoom calls, but with the Zoom calls we had a lot of special guests, we had Dave Severns from the Clippers who is a player development coach and my coach in college, a couple of D1 coaches from around the country… and we would get on the calls just to see how they were doing, answering questions, lending a hand to them, and allowing them to have a voice through the hard times”. 4. What does the current schedule for a player look like? “The best for us would be the 5 PM slot and on, so it will allow the guys to get to school, go to study hall, getting treatment and then towards the end of the night practice until around 8 and then still have time for themselves and their families”. 5. What do you attribute your success from last year to? “We attribute our success to creating a good culture for most of our program, it started by recruiting the right guys, bringing in the guys who were going to represent what we stood for… being good students and being good citizens”. Coach Jovan answered each question with nothing but praise for his players and staff We look forward to seeing how our Eagles perform on the court and just how far they can soar throughout the season. Coach Jovan left us with a quote worth sharing, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation because your character is who you really are, while your reputation is what others think of you”- John Wooden.