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C M Y K C M Y K

C Y A N M A G E N T A Y E L L O W B

C M Y K C M Y K

C Y A N M A G E N T A Y E L L O W B

EEKLY

TUDENT

OICE

ONTRA

OSTA

OLLEGE

, S

ABLO

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ALIF

SINCE 1950

36 PAGES, ONE COPY FREE

VOL. 92, NO. 23

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009

ACCENTADVOCATE.COM

Diminishing stereotypes,looking past labels

“Ghetto” label, misconceptions far fromtruth; college excels in many aspects

page A2

edit

orial

By Alec Surmani

ASSOCIATE

EDITOR

Look from afar. Decide to visit.Head toward Mission Bell Drive.Step onto campus. Look around.Good start.Explore the buildings. Walk the paths. Poke a head into classrooms.Examine the layout. Explore the possibilities. Getting closer.Take a few classes. Mingle withstudents. Talk with faculty and staff. Learn the ins and outs. Takesome time. Almost there.It becomes more comfortableand lively, larger and stronger. Buteven with all of this, the destinationis the beginning.Who is Contra Costa College?Many have speculated, pon-dered, pontificated, perhaps invain, the answer.Maybe it is a place where diver-sity is paramount.“It slaps you in the face with thediversity all the time,” student IreneThompson said. “It’s operating ona high academic tone, and yet at the

Series explorescampus identity,misconceptions

Finding our face

spotlight

C section

◆

Season in retrospect:

Teams falter in 2008-09

Turning a curious eye:

People, hot trends analyzed

Ethnic breakdown

African- American

25%

Asian

22%

Hispanic

27%

White

17%

Other

This pie graph displays the ethnicbreakdown of CCC students. Thethree largest groups are Hispanics at27 percent, African-Americans at 25percent and Asians at 22 percent.Student population

8,326

College quick facts

Average student age

Ratio of male/female

38 / 62

percent

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SEE IDENTITY:

Page A4

Special report | Pages A6-A8

Who are we

REVISITED

10 years later

source: Contra Costa Community College District

PHOTOS BY CRYSTAL JOY BIS AND ERIK VERDUZCO. PAGE DESIGNED BY JUSTIN MORRISON / THE ADVOCATE

EDNESDAY

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13, 2009

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. 23

Editorials

Defending the name

College elevates abovelabels, misconceptions

ucked away in between the citiesof Richmond and San Pablo sitsthe future for some and a second chance for others.Contra Costa College is where stu-dents and staff of all races, ages and socioeconomic status come together with a common goal — empowerment.Community colleges, including CCC,were once perceived as a place for highschool dropouts and children of fami-lies with low income.We have been able to defy theselabels, however, and change outside perceptions.Famous athletes who once played onour fields used CCC as a stepping-stoneto jump-start their professional careers.Local legends such as gold-medalistsprinter Eddie Hart, Dallas Cowboygreat Cornell Green and Green BayPacker running back Travis Williamsknew and loved this school.While these glory days could berevisited, current athletes do not think twice about attending CCC and highschool coaches direct their talents else-where because of our “negative” imageand the recent decline in relevancy.When others do not take the time tolook past our “ghetto” label, they missout on what we have to offer.Some of these hidden treasures includeour Center for Science Excellence,music, culinary arts and automotiveservices departments.With these award-winning programs,we are making a name for ourselvesand are receiving recognition from the professional world.And it is some of those profession-als who return to CCC after retire-ment to pursue previous interests or be retrained. Our age diversity brings people of all generations together tolearn and understand one another. Italso displays our mission to cater to our community with classes off campus for those whose schedules may not matchup with the average student. Not only do we unite people of allages, but people of all ethnicities. Whilethe belief in different parts of the coun-try is people of different races cannot be friends, the statement falls flat here.Our diversity is one of the first things people notice and something that sets usapart from other colleges in the state.Yet, we would be nowhere withoutour faculty. A community college set-ting allows students to take full advan-tage of the small classroom sizes and establish a more personal relationshipwith their professors.The Advocate randomly surveyed agroup of 100 students, staff and faculty.They were asked what qualities defineCCC. Answers ranged from “diverse”to “hospitable.”So who are we?We are the premier community col-lege in your own backyard.

“CCC is the best thingthat has happened inmy life. It’s opened forme a lot of doors andwill open more doors inthe future.”

Angela Panameno

medical assisting

CampusComment

What defines Contra Costa College?

“The diversity; the waythat people from dif-ferent ethnic groupscome together just forthe goal of educationand how most of us getalong here.”

Jose Pedroza

engineering

“There are a lot of dif-ferent cultures here.That makes stayingand studying here cool,because you get tolearn from different cul-tures and different kindsof people that makeyou a better person.”

Betzabee Nicolas

dental assisting

“It gives hope to stu-dents who want totransfer. It’s a greatcampus and if studentswork hard and youmotivate yourself to dobetter, you can definite-ly transfer to a four-yearcollege.”

Jennifer Chen

business administration

“The diversity, but alsopeople’s willingness tolearn. They’ll get outwhat they put in andtheir efforts will payoff.”

Emily Hanson

culinary arts

“It’s a very safe andhumble place that I findvery relaxing and invit-ing. A lot of positivestudents and facultymembers work here,and I have nothing butgreat reviews about thiscampus.”

Johann Adkins

biotechnology

Quotable

“Truth is proper andbeautiful at all times and inall places.”

Frederick Douglass,

abolitionist, journalist1876

Justin Morrison

editor-in-chief

Brett Abel

associate editor

Alec Surmani

associate editor

Jeff Carillo

sports editor

Cassandra JunielFrancisco Rendon

spotlight editors

Regina SarnicolaLauren Shiraishi

opinion editors

Lamar JamesHolly Pablo

news editors

Brent Bainto

scene editor

Asia Camagong

special projects editor

Isaac Thomas

photo editor

Erik Verduzco

assistant photo editor

Shahruz Shaukat

online editor

Toni Silva

ad manager

Paul DeBolt

faculty adviser

Staff writers

Sam AttalDariush AzmoudehMarika JohnsonJon PinlacDiana ReyesCecilia Urias

Staff photographers

Sam AttalCrystaljoy BisOlivia FriesenCyndy Patrick Desmond SylvaRoman Young

Staff illustrators

Wryan CastleberryJames Heck Cody McFarland

Honors

ACP National NewspaperPacemaker Award1990, 1994, 1997,1998,1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,2004, 2005, 2006, 2008CNPA Better NewspaperContest 1st Place Award1970, 1991, 1996, 1998,1999, 2000JACC Pacesetter Award1997, 1999, 2000, 2001,2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Member

Associated Collegiate PressCalifornia NewspaperPublishers AssociationJournalism Association ofCommunity Colleges

How to reach us

Phone: 510.235.7800ext. 4315Fax: 510.235.NEWSE-mail: advocate@contracosta.eduor letters@accentadvocate.com

Editorial policy

Columns and editorial cartoons are the opinion of individual writers and artists and not that of The Advocate. Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board, which is made up of student editors.

CRYSTALJOY BIS AND ERIK VERDUZCO/ THE ADVOCATE

Newspaper gives newmeaning to future

oday marks a day of great personal accomplish-ment.With both joy and sadness,my tenure as editor-in-chief comes to a close with the publication of this paper.More than just relinquish-ing a title, today also marksthe final publication I willtake part in as a student atContra Costa College.Three years seems likea long time, but it is trulyamazing how fast it can all be over.Three years ago, fresh outof high school, I came to thiscampus with no real inten-tion of going here.My visit to the collegewas on a whim and, really, just to accompany a couplefriends.That seemingly meaning-less visit would completelychange my life.College at the time wasone of the furthest thingsfrom my mind. School upto that point had not reallyworked out well for me.It was not an issue of theactual work, but like mostkids, it was what to study.I had no career goals or plans. There was hardly any-thing I really had an interestin either.The real issue was wheth-er to go to school at all.When my friends told methey were going to visit thecollege, the decision to comealong was based more onhaving nothing to do thanwanting to visit.They were coming to seethe journalism department.Walking into the news-room for the first time wasintimidating — gleamingawards adorning the walls,collages of former staff members and the scope of what the program was doing.To say I knew immediate-ly at that moment that jour-nalism would be my futurewould be a lie, but seeing theroom for the first time wasenough to convince me togive school a try.Twomonthsinto myfirstsemester,my lifehad beencom- pletelyre-evalu-ated.It did not takelong for me toreally throw myself into thenewspaper, and, for the firsttime, I was really beginningto enjoy school. Not only was I enjoyingthe journalism classes, butall of my courses and pro-fessors. School had becomemore than just a tedious ven-ture. It was interesting and enjoyable.It has been almost threeyears since those initial feel-ings of excitement and hopeconcerning my education.It is now three years later,and each of those feelingsare still with me.Coming to CCC has beenone of the greatest events inmy life.This college has enabled me to accomplish goals Ihad never dreamed of. It hasgiven me hopes and aspira-tions.It has given me the oppor-tunity to find out aboutmyself and lay down a planfor my future. Now preparing to transfer to San Francisco State in thefall, CCC will be left behind me. But I do not think it is possible for me to forget this place.It has laid the foundationfor my future by enabling meto find my career path.More than that, it is all the people who have changed mealong the way.As my plans to leave arefinalized and my last few projects are finished, I keepthinking back to just howclose I was to not attendingcollege at all. What a mistakethat would have been.I realize that the futureI now see before me is in place and is not because of my own willpower.If it were not for myfriends getting me to comeand visit CCC, none of thiswould have been possible.Little do they realize, theymade all this possible for me.As we go our separateways this fall, I must saythank you Alec and Brett, because I would not bewhere I am today without both of you.

Justin Morrison is edi-tor-in-chief of The Advocate.Contact him at jmorrison.advocate@gmail.com.

THE ADVOCATE l WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009

A2OPINION

Coming toCCC hasbeen one ofthe greatestevents inmy life.

■

Education

CODY MCFARLAND / THE ADVOCATE

justin

morrison

FORUM

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2009 l THE ADVOCATE

■

Friends

Camaraderie, humor define experience

t is like saying goodbye to anold friend.You know your relation-ship will inevitably change, but comfort is found in thefact that there will always bethe memories, future visitsand the knowledge they haverubbed off on and changed you in ways you will never fully comprehend.I walked onto this campusas one person and am walk-ing out, two years later, as anentirely new individual.Our advisor recently told ustransferees that if we were notsatisfied with our work and felt we had unfinished busi-ness and goals, to stay.But if we were happy, thenwe were ready to make thattransition.After much doubt and sleepless nights debating over whether or not I was con-tent with the job I had done,should stay another year tofigure out what I wanted todo as a career and maybeeven run for editor-in-chief, Ifinally just relaxed and took a look back at all my accomplishments.What I realized is, I amextremely proud of what Ihave done.The number of articles Ihave written is in the hun-dreds, the hours I havededicated too numerous and exhausting to remember and the memories and lessons Iwill take away fill me with somuch gratitude and love it will be difficult to find somethingthat can even compare.And while the “big” eventsdefinitely contributed to myexperience on the paper, suchas our trips to Los Angelesand Sacramento for stateconferences and winning thePacemaker at the nationalconference in Kansas City,what I will really look back onand smile about are the trivial,yet priceless moments.The stupid remarks madeduring class time, sharingstories over crappy pizza onMonday nights, expectantlywaiting to see Paul’s reactionto the next joke being played on him, the delight of wit-nessing a student reading the paper, seeing my byline and mug in print, the inside jokes(Orange Crush, “apple stone,”alpha wolf, “up success”), being able to walk down thehall and greet the president of the college by his first nameand gossip with the secretar-ies, our many adventurousAdvo-events outside of school — I could go on and on.I liked the predictabilityof knowing I would be some-where I loved every Monday,Wednesday and Friday with people I loved.And the people.I will miss writing head-lines with Francisco, Alec’sinfectious laugh, Brent’sdancing, Sam showing some“brotherly love,” my PrinceBee Lamar, talking about“One Tree Hill” episodes withHolly and waiting to hear what Asia will say next.I will miss watching stupid YouTube videos withShahruz and Dariush, teasingJon, Paul’s Diddy awards,Brett’s various outbursts dur-ing award ceremonies, seeingJustin’s familiar face everyday and trips for lunch atTogo’s with Jeff.And I’ll definitely missmy best friend Lauren whoembarked on this entireadventure with me.To all my other Advo-staff-ers, you have also contributed to my experience, so thank you.I have a lot of faith and pride in the talents and abili-ties of those of you returningnext year, and I have no doubtyou will continue on our tradi-tion of great work.Thank you to all the staff,faculty, other students and administrators that have aided me throughout the years.Your friendliness and will-ingness to help has enabled me to grow and feel comfort-able and welcome.This school is truly a dia-mond in the rough and to beone of many who have grownup and been educated here isan honor.Community college has been a real blessing and as Imove on to transfer, I am notlooking at it as starting over, but opening another chapter inmy life, taking with me all thewisdom and good times I have been given.I’ll be seeing you.

Regina Sarnicola isan opinion editor of The Advocate. Contact her at rsar-nicola.advocate@gmail.com.

regina

sarnicola

■

Credit cards

Credit leaves user wary

redit cards have been used for many years for many purposes and continue to help people out of holes, as well assometimes, put them in debt.Being on time to pay your credit card bills is a must if you desire good or excellentcredit scores, which yieldslower interest rates on major purchases such as homes and cars.I have done my best to paymy credit card bills on time, pay more than the minimumamounts due and maintain balances over half the creditlimit, therefore earning agood credit score.What disturbs me in this,however, is no matter howyou do your best toward these efforts, it often seemsto not make a differencenowadays.I have watched investiga-tive news reports regardingcreditors who suddenly seizecards from individuals, closeaccounts of others and, mostcommonly, raise interest ratesor lower credit limits.I thought, this is what hap- pens to others and it cannothappen to me.Unfortunately, it just did.I received a letter fromtwo credit card companiesthanking me for being a good customer and then advis-ing me that they lowered mycredit card limits.I was totally disturbed asone company lowered mylimit to $20 more than theactual balance, which made itover half the credit limit.This is the kind of thingthat reduces your creditscore.I reviewed the statement of the other company and dis-covered they practically did the same thing.This has left me now pay-ing more to get them back toless than half their limits.I sought advice for mydilemma from a consumer credit counselor and dis-covered after speaking withhim thatwhat happened tome is notuncom-mon.Heexplained that becausethere areso many peoplelosingtheir jobs, banks and credit card companiesstrive toretrieveas muchmoney back as possible,not tak-ing intoaccountyour good credit score or loyalty.I told the counselor howwell I took care of my obli-gations, and he explained itdoes not even matter any-more.What do you do whengood is not good enough?Their inconsiderate actionsare very disturbing.They have caused a hard-ship on me, and their actionsmay cause a domino effect,thus adversely affecting myscore.I sought commonality between these two compa-nies with my others and found that their cards areused infrequently and myother ones are used more fre-quently.So, is that it?Perhaps I am being pun-ished for not using the cardsenough, thus preventingthem from making moneyoff interest they could havecharged had I been a morefrequent user.Yet, if one uses their creditcards too much, they will end up with a high credit card debt. Nonetheless, I will not callthe companies to complain,nor worry about other companies doing the same thing.I will continue to do whatI have been doing: making payments above the mini-mum, maintaining low bal-ances and paying on time.At least I will be doing theright thing — even if they arenot.Perhaps something simi-lar has happened to you or someone you know.Think twice before callingyour credit card company,seeking an explanation.My advice is to do all youknow is right to do with your credit card usage and pay-ments.Regardless of what thecredit card companies do,your good efforts will benoted with the credit bureaus.

Cassandra Juniel isa spotlight editor of The Advocate. Contact her at cju-niel.advocate@gmail.com.

cassandra

juniel

■

Accomplishments

Time on teamsinspires growth

have heard many times before that good thingscome in twos.There have been two timesin my life that I have been part of a team, and I spent twoyears on each one.The first one was the highschool swim team, which I joined in my junior year.Many of my other team-mates had been swimmingfor years, and I was one of the few new kids who did nothave experience in competi-tion. Swimming had alwayscome naturally to me, and over the next few months, Igrew to really enjoy being onthe team. When the seasonended, I looked forward toreturning the next year.The following year, manynew swimmers joined, and I became the girls’ team co-captain, boosting my self-con-fidence. The team consisted of people of every grade, fromfreshmen to seniors. Throughcheering each other on duringmeets and throwing in outsideactivities, such as hosting ateam “shave down” whereall the guys shaved their legswhile the girls looked on, weall bonded.At the final all-leagueswim meet, I suddenly feltsentimental upon realizingthis would be my last meet asa high school swimmer.I joined The Advocate inthe fall semester of 2007.Just as I had felt when first joining the swim team, I feltsmall and somewhat intimi-dated by those who had moreexperience. I had little experi-ence interviewing people and writing on deadline. I found myself somewhat intimidated by the older, more seasoned writers. Later, I was promoted to one of two opinion editors,which motivated me evenmore to step up my writing.Months passed, and beforeI knew it, fall 2008 was rightaround the corner. When Iwalked in the door the firstday of that semester, it wassurprising to see at least half a dozen new faces. But simi-lar to that second year on theswim team, my second year on The Advocate was even better than the former.That first year, the news-room was a place where wewould go to class, make a few phone calls and leave. Butduring the second year, asfriendships between my fellowclassmates and I developed and strengthened, we beganto inhabit the room even after class ended. We would gettogether during breaks asregular friends, not peoplewho simply worked together on a paper.The first years I was on theswim team and the newspaper were both opportunitiesto dabble in activities I wasinterested in. The second year was a chance to raise the bar and push myself even harder than the previous season or semester, which paid off.Between my last two swimmeets, I dropped two fullminutes on my event, the 500freestyle. At the journalismstate conference in April, Ireceived an honorable men-tion in the On-The-SpotOpinion Writing competition.I did not come in first place during either competi-tion, but was proud of myefforts regardless.When swim season ended my senior year, I was sad torealize I was about to moveon to another phase in my life.I would miss ditching class tograb a bite before a meet, thethrill of beating my best timesand my teammates, severalof whom I had become good friends with.When I leave the newsrooma week from now, another chapter will close. I will misslistening to ’90s pop musicwhile working on a singleheadline with five other people, cheering and screamingwhenever we win an award ata conference and, most of all,my fellow staffers.I love being on TheAdvocate not just because Ienjoy writing, but because of the talented people who makeup its staff. We are a randomgroup — a mishmash of dif-ferent personalities and inter-ests, but bound together by acommon thread. It may sound cheesy, but I consider us to bealmost like a second family.Both the swim team and the newspaper had their highsand lows and were two of themost rewarding experiences of my life, as I grew not just as aswimmer and a writer, but asa person as well.But just like the swim teamdid after the three swimmersfrom my class graduated, Iknow The Advocate will goon and continue to succeed.

Lauren Shiraishi isan opinion editor of The Advocate. Contact her at lshi-raishi.advocate@gmail.com.

lauren

shiraishi

They havecaused ahardshipon me, andtheir actionsmay causea dominoeffect, thusadverselyaffecting myscore.

JAMES HECK / THE ADVOCATE