City TimesCity TimesServing the San Diego City College community since 1945 Volume 61, Number 1 Sept. 5, 2006www.sdcitytimes.com

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Program helps students overcome personal challenges tosuccessfully move on to some of the nation’s top universities

Trio-Aspire aims to inspire

$870M bond set for ballot

Michael Decandia of City College’s Pacific Nautilus team makes adjustments to the team’s underwater vehicle during competition.Scott Landheer / City Times

By Scott LandheerCity Times

City College faced top schools such as MIT, Cornell and Duke University and became the first community college to compete in the annual AUVSI and ONR Unmanned Vehicle Systems Interna-tional Competition Aug. 2-6.

To enter the ninth annual competi-tion, the team spent nearly three years and $5,000 building an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Team captain Christopher Carter knew it wouldn’t be easy when they began, but he was up for

the challenge.“We knew community college students

have as much potential as their 18- and 19-year-old counterparts at four-year uni-versities,” Carter said. “We could prove to ourselves and others that we have what it takes.”

The first year of the project was spent studying all of the team journals from the past seven years of competition. After that the team got to work designing their submarine. The first design was made from two trash cans, while another was 6 feet long and had to be filled 90 percent full of water to sink.

Twenty designs later, and about a year before the competition, the team decided on the final model. It was much smaller than the first design and a lot lighter. It weighed less than 25 pounds and was one of the lightest in the competition.

The machine the 11 students on team Pacific Nautilus built is designed to sense its surroundings and respond accord-ingly. It was not controlled by a remote, so once it went into the water, it was all up to the machine.

Once a machine is launched, it has 15

Competing with the big fishCity students match marine wits with major universities

Governor signs bill securing college press rights

See FISH, Page 4

See RIGHTS, Page 2

See BOND, Page 4

By Josie SalazarCity Times

The Board of Trustees on July 25 approved an $870 mil-lion bond measure for upgrad-ing City College buildings, to be placed on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.

College and district officials say City College’s old and ailing buildings are currently unable to support the demands and resources for newer technology from students and educators.

City College has an “out-dated infrastructure,” said Barry Garron, the district’s director of public information and government relations.

The board’s decision is in response to district-wide com-pletions of long-term facili-ties master plans that provide detailed redesigns for upgrad-ing City College and other dis-trict campuses.

“We want to do this now as we are a growing college with most existing buildings approaching 50 years of age,” said Terrence Burgess, presi-dent of City College.

“All new and renovated buildings will have built-in technology for Internet access, computer projection, and even satellite downlink in some cases,” Burgess added.

The new bond measure,

By Scott LandheerCity Times

Student journalists at col-leges and universities in Cali-fornia will be guaranteed the same freedom of speech enjoyed by professionals when a new law banning censorship takes effect Jan. 1.

California became the first state to pass a bill of this type when Gov. Arnold Schwar-zenegger signed it into law on Aug. 28. The bill passed the state senate by a 31-2 vote on Aug. 10 and was unanimously approved by the California Assembly in May.

“Having true freedom of

the press is essential on college campuses and it is a fundamen-tal part of a young journalists training for the real world,” Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, assemblyman and sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. “Allowing a school administra-tion to censor is contrary to the democratic process and the

ability of a student newspaper to serve as the watchdog and bring sunshine to the actions of school administration.”

City College assistant pro-fessor of radio and TV Laura Castañeda said college students are not always treated with the same respect as profession-als and have to face obstacles

they wouldn’t encounter in the real world. Although she’s not expecting “miracles at the get go,” she said it sends a mes-sage that budding journalists who are learning the trade of journalism are supported and is glad to see that the issue was

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CityTimesCityTimesBy LeAnn AlvarezContributor

San Diego City College Performing Arts Department announces auditions Sept. 9 for its fall production of “Grease,” to be performed at the Saville Theatre.

The original musical “Grease” debuted in 1978 and was an instant hit at the box office and captivated a variety of generations. “Grease” tells the story of good girl Sandy and greaser Danny falling in love over the summer. But then they unexpectedly discover they’re now in the same high school, and face different obstacles pre-venting them from rekindling the romance they had over the summer.

Artistic Director June Rich-ards’ goal is to recapture the

musical hit with the students of the Performing Arts Depart-ment.

“We are looking for students that not only can dance, but can sing as well,” she said.

Richards said the musical is known as one of the best of all time, and it has set a very high standard for what the depart-ment will be looking for. At the time of auditions, emphasis will be placed on coordination, talent, musical performance and choreography.

The production process will take about two months to com-plete. There are plenty of cos-tumes, props and choreography that will have to be mastered in that time.

Alicia Rincon will work side-by-side with the students teach-ing them the choreography.

“I have over 20 years of expe-

rience teaching dance, and yet with every new project it still brings me delight to work with students,” she said. “All the hard work definitely pays off for both students and faculty when you see the production complete and successful.”

Robert Norberg is the tech-nical director and will be in charge of the stage lighting.

“Believe it or not the stage lighting plays an important role during performances,” he said. “Every movement on stage along with scene changes must be followed closely or the light-ing will be off.”

Duane Gardella is the scenic director and will be responsi-ble for the background setting of the musical. Carol Whaley is the costume designer and will be creating the costumes for the production along with

make-up.“It’s always fun to create cos-

tumes for productions and the students always enjoy my final creations,” she said.

Auditions will be held on Sept. 9 at noon. Students inter-ested are encouraged to bring music to sing and clothes to move well in. Auditions usually run all day so plenty of bottled water is suggested along with snacks.

“Grease” will be performed at the Saville Theatre Oct. 27-Nov. 12. Performances are scheduled Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m., with Sunday performances at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for students, military and senior citizens.

The Saville Theatre is located at San Diego City College, 1313 Park Blvd. Call (619) 388-3676.

Auditions Sept. 9 for production of ‘Grease’

addressed.City College President Ter-

rence Burgess said he very much supports the bill but doesn’t think it will change things on City’s campus. During his six years with the school, the policy has been to not censor student work.

“Students have been very professional and responsible and I’ve been very pleased with the accuracy of quotes and accuracy of articles,” Burgess said. “I trust that students will be responsible and faculty will be as well. We’re very scru-pulous about protecting folks’ rights.”

Since becoming the faculty adviser for the City Times in

the fall of ’03, journalism pro-fessor Roman Koenig said he has never had a problem with the administration trying to censor student work or stop an article from being printed.

While there may not have been a problem at City College, the bill eliminates the uncer-tainty created by a recent court ruling in a case brought up at an Illinois university after an administrator stopped the printing of an article that was critical of the school’s admin-istration.That administrator later created a requirement for the administration’s approval of articles in the student news-paper.

Although that ruling only affected three states in the Midwest, it raised concerns with student press advocates who feared it could lead to free speech restrictions in Califor-nia as well.

RightsContinued from Page 1

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Sept. 5, 2006 City Times 3CityNews

By Sarah GuthrieContributor

n a cramped room at San Diego City College, Yvonne Fernandez stares intensely at her math paper as her tutor walks her through the

fine points of a pre-calculus problem. At 54, Fernandez dreams of completing her community college requirements and transferring to San Diego State University, where she hopes to earn a bachelor’s degree.

To help her achieve that goal, she has come to Trio Aspire, a program on campus that is helping hundreds of students overcome personal challenges and successfully move on to some of the nation’s top universities, including Har-vard and UC Berkeley.

“Working with the Trio Aspire tutors has enabled me to pass my courses,” Fernandez said. “Trying to study at home was hard. There were too many distractions. Trio gives me a space where I can stay focused.”

Students accepted into the Trio Aspire program, which operates from room L-128, receive one-on-one coun-seling, access to computers, tutors and a comfy environment that includes a couch, tables and desks. College pen-nants and motivational posters hang on the walls.

Trio Aspire has a special counseling program for students who have dis-abilities and little income. The program also helps the students who are the first in their families to receive higher education. Trio Aspire also offers special

activities such as going to the Old Globe Theatre and listening to speeches to enrich the minds of students.

Two counselors at the center, Cathy Lopez and Katherine Kraffart, work intensely with about 200 students a semester on transferring out of City Col-lege to the university of their choice.

Lopez says that a typical day in the office consists of several appointments with students, academic advising, career counseling, registration counseling and even personal counseling. The program also helps with scholarships and college applications. The counselors write vol-umes of letters of recommendation.

“The benefit that the student receives is that there is continuity with the coun-

Campus cafes go Fair Trade with coffeeBy A.J. GraybillContributor

City, Mesa and Miramar colleges began selling Seattle’s Best coffee instead of Millstone coffee as of Aug. 11 in response to requests for certified Fair Trade coffee in the campus cafes.

“In addition to changing product and equipment, the employees will also receive training in brewing, pulling espresso shots and making coffee drinks according to Seat-tle’s Best recipes,” said Gayla Pierce, the district’s food ser-vice supervisor.

The new coffee stations will offer two certified Fair Trade coffees including dark and light roasts. The Seattle’s Best blend,

which is the most popular and described as being medium-roasted and medium-bodied while being deeply aromatic, will also be offered in a decaf-feinated blend.

Along with their traditional blend, Seattle’s Best will also offer a variety of flavored cof-fees including Javanilla, Hazel-nut Creme and Cinnabon.

Since the change to Seattle’s Best at San Diego City Col-lege on Aug. 8, the heavy coffee aroma has drawn a very inter-ested crowd of students and staff.

“Seattle’s Best is awesome. It’s much better than the Fol-gers or whatever they had before,” said John McCarthy, also a Mesa College student.

“We have been getting a lot

of compliments,” said Selena Holloway, who works the reg-ister at the City College cafe. “I have a customer that always complains about everything in the cafe and he actually came back to apologize to me because the coffee was so great. I was shocked.”

In addition to changing the coffee, the cafe will also be making the change from Sty-rofoam cups to paper cups with sleeves in response to customer requests.

“Seattle’s Best is a premium coffee with great aroma and taste. We feel that this upgrade in product is a logical next step in the continued development of the espresso operation,” Pierce said.

Joan Holloway makes a drink for a customer Aug. 29 at City College’s cafe, which recently switched to Seattle’s Best as its coffee brand. The change is in response to customer demand for Fair Trade coffee.

Josie Salazar / City Times

Counselor Cathy Lopez (left) and tutor Kate Wilson work Aug. 29 in the Trio Aspire program, which serves about 200 students a semester.Josie Salazar / City Times

Aspiring to succeedProgram helps disadvantaged students reach goals

I

See SUCCEED, Page 4

By Whitney Gruenlohand Stephanie FeesUniversity of Virginia Cavalier Daily

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (U-WIRE) — The College Board recently released its average 2006 national SAT test scores, showing the largest decline in combined test scores in 31 years. This year also marked the first time the new format of the exam, featuring higher level math questions, a writ-ing section, and the omission of analogies, was administered.

The national average scores dropped five points in critical reading and two points in the math section according to Col-lege Board data.

However, Caren Scoropanos of the College Board said the decline in scores is not related to the new format of the exam.

Scoropanos said the decrease in scores could be explained by a variety of factors; however, she speculated that the decrease may be due to a reduction in the average number of times students took the exam.

“This year, there were three percent fewer students taking the test more than one time,” she said, adding that when a student takes the SAT for a second time, their score gener-ally rises by about 30 points.

“So, therefore, (students that only took the exam once) did not benefit from the 30-point gain,” she said. “So when you average that in, that accounts for a lot of the decline.”

According to Virginia Dean of Admissions Jack Blackburn, the SAT is not the sole factor that determines acceptance to a university.

“It’s one of many factors with the most important being the academic record in high school,” he said. “The SAT or the ACT can help, and we strongly rec-ommend any SAT IIs.”

SAT scores are lowestin 31 years

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minutes to pass through the validation gate and then complete three tasks.

At the first station, the machine has to “dock” with a light, which means it must come in contact with the light and push it over. It then has to drop markers into designated bins, and finally, it must surface in the center of one of two octa-gons. The inner octagon is worth more points than the outer.

Being their first year in the compe-tition, the team’s goal was to make it through the validation gate.

City College aerospace engineering student Michael Decandia was closest to the action when the team reached their goal. Power on one side of the submarine had given out and he was on the dock making adjustments until the final sec-onds of the team’s 15-minute time allot-ment. When the submarine finally made it through the validation gate, the crowd cheered.

“I’m very happy, I’m very happy,” Decandia said as he walked up to his supporters and the rest of the team who built the “ultimate underdog.”

“That was exciting,” he said.

The team wrote letters, contacted companies and appeared on the news to raise the money they needed to create their machine and enter the competi-tion. Many teams were powering their submarines with a $5,000 Doppler Velocity Meter, but the team had to try and recreate it for $60.

“As an urban community college, our programs and students are financially challenged in ways the larger schools like the universities of Texas or Florida or MIT do not have to consider,” said team adviser and City College professor Dr. Michael George.

After a three-week-break, the team will start working on their design for next year, but for now they are enjoying their accomplishment of making it to the competition this year.

“This is a great achievement for community colleges, and it is our hope that we will inspire others to do similar things,” Carter said.

FishContinued from Page 1

selor,” Lopez said.She said she is proud of the Trio Aspire

students who succeed. One became editor of the City Times on campus and was very active in student affairs.

“Only 8 percent of community college students who apply to Berkeley actu-ally get in,” Lopez noted “She was one of them.”

Lopez also recalled a young man who seemed lost and overwhelmed as a fresh-man, but after participating in the Trio Aspire program, he gained confidence and was able to transfer to San Diego State University.

Freddy Richards, the program direc-tor at City College, said the students

benefit from the camaraderie of being in the program.

“The big thing about Trio Aspire is that successful students are hanging out with one another,” he said. “It’s the assimilation process.”

Kate Wilson, a student who helped tutor other students in math, science and English this summer, said that “the great thing about Trio Aspire is that stu-dents become another resource to help get through school. A close-knit group develops in the fall and spring semes-ters ... In the school year, I’m here some-times from 7:30 a.m. to 10 at night.”

Trio Aspire is funded by a $272,585 grant from the U.S. Department of Edu-cation. The program is available at other campuses as well as City College, and most transfer students continue with Trio after the transfer process.

For information on Trio Aspire, call (619) 388-3407.

SucceedContinued from Page 3

called Proposition N, follows another bond measure, Propo-sition S, which passed in 2002.

Proposition S, at the time it was passed, was due to a new state measure, Proposition 39. Proposition S was limited to only $685 million, and con-strained the district by this amount to include a list of facil-ities that were urgently need, although the need was greater, according to district Chancellor Constance Carroll.

However, “Proposition S also provided funding for the campuses to develop, under the directions of architectural firms, complete master plans for their total build-up,” she said.

“Proposition N will focus on the buildings that are identified in the campuses’ new master plans,” she said.

If proposition N passes, among the list of City College buildings to be upgraded are the A, C, D, M and L buildings as well as the Learning Rescore Center.

There will also be new build-

ings for Humanities, Business Technology, Engineering Tech-nology and science.

Both Propositions S and, if passed, N will support con-struction for a 10-level student parking structure.

Already in progresses is a surface parking lot on C Street, between 16th and 17th streets, capable of providing 170 spaces. Its completion date is said to be October, according to Carol Dexheimer, vice president of

administrative services.“It is very exciting,” said

Dexheimer in response to the new proposed projects.

“Construction planning could begin immediately and construction would most likely

initiate in 2008,” said Burgess about the projects to be sup-ported by Proposition N.

Summer journalism student Lebby Khemmanivongcontributed to this story

BondContinued from Page 1

Demolition crews work Aug. 31 at the site of future parking and buildings for City College. The site is on C Street at the corner of 16th and 17th.Josie Salazar / City Times

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‘This is a greatachievement forcommunity colleges.’

— Christopher Carter,Pacific Nautilus team captain