What would you do if everything you valued was lost in a matter of hours? For Pierce College special services counselor Leslee Cook, 55, and her faithful cat Karuna, this nightmare has become a reality. Before the sun rose on Nov. 24, a raging fire would decimate her home and everything she held dear.
Desperate people do desperate things. This has never been clearer than it is in the new movie, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.” Philip Seymour Hoffman Stars as Andy Hansen, a drug-addicted payroll manager who has been stealing money from work. His marriage to Gina, played by Marisa Tomei, is falling apart.
As the women’s soccer team ends the season on a great note, there is one player who had the drive and determination to have the team make it as far as they did. Jamie Doyen, a 23-year-old Pierce student has been playing soccer since she was a child. “I have played soccer since I was five and competitive club soccer since I was 10 years old,” said Doyen in an e-mail interview.
The office of head soccer Coach Adolfo Perez is like a soccer shrine; equipped with motivational quotes, trophy’s and pictures of past teams scaling the walls, his love for the game is blatantly visible. As the Pierce College women’s soccer team is finishing up one if its most successful seasons, Perez is ready for next year.
You’ve probably heard it before, “Voting is a privilege, not a right.” Yet many won’t take the time out of their busy schedules to vote. If you are 18 years or older, it’s time to wake up; you need to vote. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the idea of a Voting Rights Act to Congress, which would outlaw literacy tests and poll taxes as a way of determining if a person was fit to vote.
One of the few perks of coming off of a 5-35 season is that it’s hard to play much worse. Injuries and inexperience lead to a very forgettable year for the women’s softball team last season, which is why the team can’t wait to get the ball rolling on the upcoming spring season.
What happened to the simple days? The days when you could sit up until 3 a.m. playing Final Fantasy VIII without worrying about that 20-page paper that is due five hours later. Life has become far too stressful. Every year or so, another new gadget comes along that revolutionizes the way we do everything.
The end is near for a four-year, nationwide study examining how student teaching programs affect new teachers’ approaches to handling classrooms and what skills they learn from the programs. Called “Teaching Teachers to Use Technology: What Works and Why,” the study has been conducted by the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
At a Pierce College Academic Senate meeting, it was announced that Pierce is hiring for a new faculty position. That position is the Distance Education Coordinator, who would help manage the planned increase of online classes offered at Pierce. Finalists have already been picked from a pool of Los Angeles Community College District employees.
As much as I don’t want to let go… I know it’s time. As this semester comes to an end I can’t help but hold back my tears. Tears of thankfulness and pride in my fellow student journalist. We, as a staff, have accomplished many feats, including winning 26 awards at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges conference and competition-something that has not happened in several semesters.
