The Mesa Press

The Mesa PressVolume 55, Issue 2 The Independent Student Publication of San Diego Mesa Collegev v February 28, 2012

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Greening Mesa hopes to ‘green’ Mesa CollegeJOE VILAYRATHNews Editor

The San Diego Mesa Col-lege Biology Department has organized Greening

Mesa: Engaging students in the social, political, and economic dimensions of environmental sustainability, a film festival to enable students to make a posi-tive environmental impact. This event started on Feb. 14 and will be held in G101 from 4-6:15 p.m. on selected dates throughout the semester until April 18.

Greening Mesa is a series of free presentations showcas-ing award-winning documentary films, speakers, and art events to raise awareness about the various dimensions of environmental sus-tainability, underlining the ability of the participants to make a posi-tive impact.

Professors Leslie Sieger and Paul Detwiler of the Mesa Col-lege Biology Department, with sponsorship from the San Diego Mesa College Humanities Insti-tute and help from the Environ-mental Stewardship Committee, organized Greening Mesa.

The festival is focused around the wasteful use and dis-tribution of water, with the goal of inspiring students to be proactive in improving the environment,

as well as preserving natural re-sources and understanding the se-vere damages of prodigal use.

“Professor Detwiler had heard about various campuses going bottle-free because of the enormous adverse environmental impact of single-use plastic water bottles. He thought it would be something Mesa students might be interested in if they knew more about it… Paul and I made a plan of how we might raise awareness through film and art…” Sieger said.

By emphasizing on water, the presentations will also be able to illustrate the consequences of the production, distribution, and corporate interests of the bottled water industry to enlightened stu-dents of the effects of consumer choices, according to the press release.

The event started on Feb. 14 with the showing of the film “Bag It,” which centers on the various environmental and health hazards caused by plastic, has already generated talk of environmental change among the Mesa students that attended.

“Last week we showed “Bag It” a very powerful film about plastics in our environment. Peo-

Mesa students fly far for fashionNICOLE PEREZ-HALLStaff Writer

This spring break San Diego Mesa College Fashion De-partment will be hosting a

study abroad trip to the fashion capitals of the world Paris, France and Milan, Italy. This trip will be from March 29 through April 9.

Adventurers interested in go-ing will experience the many dif-ferent varieties of fashion. They will not only be gaining some-thing new from these countries,

but learning even more about their own.

San Diego Mesa fashion in-structors Andrea Marx and Susan Lazear are more than excited to be going since their last trip was more than 10 years ago back in 2001. It has been hard to get an overseas trip due to budget cuts.

Marx said that they will make many stops including famous op-era house costume shops, fashion

Construction progresses steadily at Mesa CollegeCARLOS GUERREROStaff Writer

Construction is still on the rise as San Diego Mesa College continues to

make efforts in transforming to a state of the art facility.

Several projects are sched-uled to be completed within the next few years, with completions of some facilities this next semes-ter.

“I’m looking forward to the improvements at Mesa. Each and every one of us can benefit from the new facilities,” dance major Erik Molina, 23, said.

Construction continued over the holiday break presenting an updated design. As the Propo-

sition S/N projects are still un-derway, many are wondering its expected completion. Students and staff are looking forward to the future of Mesa College, with more projects still in the works. Construction projects are to last until 2017. With any project, there will be expected delays and problems that will occur.

“The construction progress is going as planned. The biggest challenge we face is construction material deliveries, how to get the large semi-trucks on campus without negatively impacting the flow of traffic. In an effort to ad-dress that issue, we require deliv-eries to be made before 8 a.m.,”

See Study Abroad, Page 6

San Diego Mesa College students visited Lyon, France during a study abroad trip in 2001. Photo courtesy of Andrea Marx

Mesa serves up a lossPage 8

Strawberries brighten moodPage 4

GOP sets enivronment back Page 3

Parking lacks surveillancePage 7

Lauren J. Mapp/Editor-in-Chief

Nicholas Santiago/Photo Editor

Jackie Williams/Contributing Artist


See Green Fest, Page 6

Construction projects continue at San Diego Mesa College as Proposition S/N dollars are put to work. Carlos Guerrero/Staff Photographer

Parking problems plague studentsCURTIS MANLAPIGStaff Writer

See Construction, Page 6

San Diego Mesa College has restricted its “A” Overflow student parking lot back to

staff/faculty parking use only on Jan. 25 that in turn created stu-dent parking problems.

The “A” Overflow lot is lo-cated in the southwestern corner of campus across the street from the A building. The question is why turn the “A” lot into a staff and faculty use only lot while there are more and more students taking classes.

According to Community College Week magazine, Mesa College has had a 13 percent in-crease in enrollment and has the highest growth in numbers in the state of California. More students means more of a need for student parking.

With an influx of students at Mesa College, the school has added the back lot of the Na-tional Guard Armory which has 208 spaces for student use. While the Armory lot was added, there will be certain days that it will be closed to students and with the

change at the “A” lot; it would leave approximately 258 students without parking spaces.

The three main lots for stu-dent parking are mostly full dur-ing the mid morning hours. Jon Wright, 22, undecided major ar-rives at school sometimes two hours early just to get a close spot.

“I get there early because parking is crap at a certain point,” Wright said.

The parking situation can cause students to be late to class, which affects education and may even lead to being dropped from class. The majority of teach-ers take roll at the beginning of class and less parking can cause students to be late, miss material and can result in having a drop in grade. Physical Education major, McCall Penn, 21, endured this the hard way.

“When I got to campus, parking was crazy and after like 45 minutes of not finding a spot, I had to park far away on Boyd Street and was late to class. The

See Overflow, Page 6

Graphic designer Christopher Avila brings digital art to life.

The Mesa PressOpinion February 28, 2012

This publication is produced as a journal-ism workshop for aspiring journalists. All ma-terials, including the opinions expressed here-in, are the sole responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted to be those of the San Diego Community College District. Submis-sions may be made to the address below.

To submit a letter to the editor, please in-clude your name (unsigned letters or letters signed with aliases will not be printed), age, major/profession, college attending (if not Mesa) and e-mail address. Submit your letters to the address below or by e-mail.

The Mesa Press Founded in 1966

7250 Mesa College DriveSan Diego, CA 92111Phone: (619)388-2630Fax: (619)388-2835

[email protected]/themesapress

StaffSerapio AlvarezRodolfo BambillNguyen DoJay GarciaDana C. GriffithCarlos GuerreroNoah N. JohnsonCurtis ManlapigAshley MannRashad MuhammadNicole Perez-HallCarolina SolisBen Somers

Information

Editor-in-ChiefLauren J. Mapp

Sports EditorJeff Ott

Photo EditorNicholas Santiago

Advertising ManagerJustin Wells

News EditorJoe Vilayrath

Features EditorJoe Llorin

Opinion EditorAnnamarie Reynolds

The Word: What inspired you to get your tattoo?

“It explains my heritage and my family history.”

“This is from a manga and anime called Vampire Knight.”

“I drew it for my veteran grand-father.”

“It represents my uncle, my fam-ily and my religion.”

Leeza Viray, 18Nursing

Brandon Santos, 21Business Management

Kayla Davis, 19Undecided

Aaron Estrada, 20Business Marketing

Paul Pratte, 20Biology

“It represents my mother’s back-ground”

Staff Editorial

Proposition 8 rightfully deemed unconstitutional With the ban on same sex

marriage in California being declared unconstitutional in a

recent court decision, society as a whole makes a step further toward true equality for all American citizens.

Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment that was passed in November 2008. This proposition added to the California Constitution that only marriage between a man and a woman was considered valid or recognized in the state of California. Rightfully Prop. 8 was deemed unconstitutional as of Feb. 7, 2012.

Prop. 8 goes against human rights and was an unjust law. If two people are in love, no matter what their sexuality is, they should be allowed to get married.

Everyone should be allowed the same opportunities to love and be loved, to find happiness, and find someone to share the rest of their life with. If they choose to celebrate their love by marriage they should be allowed.

Gay people aren’t responsible for ruining the sanctity of marriage. The United States is ranked first for having

highest divorce rate in the world and that has nothing to do with same sex marriages.

If people like Tiger Woods and Jesse James are allowed to get married and have sexual relations with anyone but their wives, then why can’t we give same sex

partners the chance to preserve the sanctity of marriage that has been tarnished by Woods and James?

People like Britney Spears who had a 55-hour marriage and Kim Kardashian who’s $10 million wedding only lasted 72 days, or Larry king who has been

divorced eight times, these are the people ruining the sanctity of marriage.

Even non-celebrity couples make rash, unplanned decisions about marriage seen in the Las Vegas elopements or weddings of convenience.

Marriage is something people believe in and its power is different to every person. What it stands for and what it means is determined by people individually.

In the end everyone needs to, in a sense, “butt out” of what others are doing and live their lives as they want, with their own beliefs.

Hold out for a hero, not their stunt doubleSERAPIO ALVAREZStaff Writer

In the world we live in today a majority of our youth give undivided attention to the

stars they see on television. They search their Facebook

page, they follow them on Twit-ter, and they even attend their concerts in hope of a physical exchange with these celebrities. Instead students should be focus-ing on the more important figures in life.

“Tyga makes great beats and I love him, he can say the dumbest things and it still sounds good,” Freshman Mackenzi Keene said.

Youth will change the clothes they wear to match the individual they worship, or even

go to the extremes of memorizing the way they dialogue and make it their own.

“I like Lady Gaga, she is so eccentric and different and she is always doing something crazy,” Sophomore Alba Islas said.

The things today that people will do for their “heroes” are ab-surd. Instead of following up on a scientist who spent years of his life involved in studies and research for cancer, America’s youth would rather be talking about which stars are dating who or which celebrity had the excit-ing scandal.

Of all the people trying to do good in the world like Susan

Sarandon who is donating thou-sands of dollars to a school in New York, or Christine Baldwin who teaches at nutritional sci-ences division at King’s College London, currently distributing a product that can boost cancer pa-tients nutrition.

“Well I like Dean Kamen be-cause he invented the Segway in robotics and started robotic com-petitions in high schools across the nation,” Freshman Dave Fil-lion said.

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis was part of a project that granted $30 million to learning programs and projects to help adult ex-offenders to gain valu-

Advising ProfessorChristy Scannell

Logo design by Christopher Avila

If two people are in love, no matter what their sexuality is, they should be allowed to get married.

Kolav

A note from the editor

A response from a student, Adriana Kolav, to our “The Word” column in the Feb. 14 issue of The Mesa Press should not have run.

The Mesa Press staff tries at all times to stay within the bounds of journalistic propriety and ethics, but occasionally there are lapses. This was one of those occasions, and The Mesa Press regrets the decision to run the item.

able job skills, while giving back to their community. People like Solis should be followed on Twit-ter so updates on the progress of their great deeds can be properly addressed.

The hype shouldn’t be about the craziest thing Nikki Minaj did at the Grammy Awards, or how Sean Kingston is coming out with a new album in march, or even Chris Brown’s latest pick-up line.

America’s youth should have real heroes like teach-ers who raise the youth, engi-neers who build the technolo-gies of society, or soldiers who protect our rights and freedoms.

The Mesa PressFebruary 28, 2012 Opinion page 3

LAUREN J. MAPPEditor-in-Chief

With 2012’s presiden-tial election rapidly approaching, the Re-

publican Party is trying to narrow down their front running candi-date to take on President Barack Obama in November, but there’s not one GOP candidate worthy of the title when it comes to keeping America’s environmental future in mind.

Republican primaries thus far have been a four-ring circus starring former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Ron Paul, former Sen. Rick Santorum and former Speaker Newt Gin-grich.

Campaigning has often come down to letting the dirty laundry of fellow candidates air out in the past, but with this winter there seems to be far more mudslinging than ever before in the modern political era.

Whether discussing Rom-ney’s Cayman Island accounts or Gingrich’s alleged extracurricular relations outside his marriages, the campaign trail has been some-what skewed in what is truly im-portant.

Outlandish assertions, such as Gingrich’s plan to build a moon

colony, have also altered views of the candidates from their would-be constituents. Perhaps Gingrich wanted to be an astronaut before falling into the political battle-field, but his failed ploy to lure in a Floridian following made him sound like a madman at best.

All rumors, absurd state-ments and closeted demons aside, the real reasons of whether or not to vote for a candidate should ultimately come down to their views on certain key issues.

In today’s society, one of the biggest issues that people sup-port across political party lines is working toward a more sustain-able future. Unfortunately, the conservative Republican views that these candidates represent are antiquated, unsustainable and would set back America instead of helping the nation to progress for a better future.

If elected president, Paul would fight for offshore drilling, nuclear energy and coal-based fuel with detrimental side effects for the environment. As if it isn’t bad enough that he encourages increasing pollution in lieu of de-creasing unsustainable practices, he also wants to eliminate the En-vironmental Protection Agency, according to RonPaul2012.com.

Romney, on a similar note,

supports increasing the nuclear energy industry as well as domes-tic sources of oil and natural gas, as stated on MittRomney.com. He also wishes to eliminate car-bon dioxide emission regulations from the Clean Air Act, even though such pollutants are major culprits in ozone depletion.

Through another route to-ward increasing domestic energy sources, Gingrich would give rev-enue incentives to coastal states so that they will be enticed to support offshore drilling, accord-ing to Newt.org.

Financing for cleaner energy sources is also part of Gingrich’s energy platform, but like Paul, he also supports eliminating the EPA. If elected, he would replace it with an “Environmental Solu-tions Agency” that would ulti-mately make its decisions based on how it would affect jobs and

energy costs, not of the effects from such decisions on the envi-ronment.

Santorum, like his Repub-lican colleagues, supports seek-ing and extracting domestic fuel sources, such as the natural gas research in his home state of Pennsylvania. He views environ-mentally-friendly regulations and legislation on fossil fuels as an attack against job creation, and wants to remove bans on offshore drilling according to RickSanto-rum.com

President Barack Obama – a reelection hopeful – continues to be the presidential candidate with the platform most strongly asso-ciated with resolving the nation’s energy crisis through sustainable measures.

After 2010’s Deepwater Ho-rizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Obama’s administra-

tion established heavier regula-tions on offshore drilling, accord-ing to BarackObama.com.

Air quality improvement is another one of his top priorities, and at his beckoning the EPA has recently established a ground-breaking emissions regulation proposal for coal and oil-based energy plants.

Increased utilization of re-newable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines as well as research for technologi-cal advances in the automobile industry to increase gas mileage rates positively affect air quality also.

Regardless of one’s politi-cal affiliation, the increased use of fossil fuels and their pollution affect all citizens, and Obama’s measures in his first term make him the most apt choice for work-ing toward a cleaner, safer planet.

Unsustainable campaign platforms make GOP candidates worst choice for environment

Courtesy of contributing artist Jackie Williams

NOAH N. JOHNSONStaff Writer

Society puts too much emphasis on money

Money can be used as a tool or a weapon, but what does the gov-ernment plan to do with it? And

why does a small piece of paper have so much power? I am going to expose the negative side of money and how it influ-enced, made differences, caused poverty, and solved political issues.

The United States of America is one of the strongest countries based on war, mon-ey and politics. Our country is currently in debt, and every minute it will keep increas-ing because of how our government continues to borrow money from oth-er countries.

Money has an incred-ible influence on people’s behavior and most of all how things end up going. For example, in the Great Depression, The United States did not have many resources or money to generate a well functioning country. Some people will tell you that we made it from going into World War II. Even though that may be part of the reason that we are not in debt any more the main reason is to bal-ance the budget until the economy gets back on its feet.

Money is controlling the way that we act and the way we make decisions on things. People need to find an alternate for money so that life does not consist of a chase for the dollar. It has also alternated our country by causing personal debt prob-lems. A lot of Americans don’t have good credit scores because of money; the secret to a credit score is that it really doesn’t matter. How can a company base credit on if you are going to pay something back or request a loan just by a number? If money

is owed then it should not matter if a num-ber will predict if the payment is going to be paid back or not.

“I do not know to much detail about it but I do know that I have seen money prob-lems happen, but I have noticed that they are quick to take money from you,” Mesa College sophomore, Kyle Brown said.

Students also have the same prob-lem with money and debt. Of course in the United States schooling is not free so students have to pay to learn. Money is an issue that affects students pretty hard because the matter of debt. Yes you will

have your degree but af-ter college you owe al-most $40,000 in debt. As a student, I do not have a big issue with money but I still insist that America cost for schooling is too high.

“The one thing I al-ways say is that it is man bringing this pure hell and it is God who is go-

ing to be able to make the final decision. On the dollar bill it says “In God We Trust” but we need to trust in God more than our government,” Mesa College Sophomore Chandler Collins said.

Something that a lot of Americans do not know is other countries are in debt also because of how they borrow from other countries. Another thing that people do not know is every state in the United States is about to be a different value than another state. California is about to have dollars that are a big value in the states of Nevada, whereas the state of Nevada’s dollars wont have the same value in California. Kind of like the money currency with the country of Mexico and the United States. A money exchange value will always be lower than the other.

BEN SOMERSStaff Writer

Mesa is a stepping stone, not a final stop

There’s something special about the stages of education, a staircase of progress that in most cases, deter-

mines the outcome and general direction of millions of lives. Certificates meet proud hands and together, pursue careers, pas-sions, and find quality of life.

A student of Mesa College or any form of higher education has a common goal, a goal of success. A goal to not end up as a drooling inanimate mass, woven into a couch encrusted with bits of macaroni and cheese, downloading cat videos and wait-ing for various limbs to fall off.

California’s educational system has a considerable breadth of opportunities for those who seek success within it. Chief among those are its transfer programs. Programs that if completed, offer access to some of California’s finest educational institutions.

It is clear but unfortunate that many students slip comfortably into the idea that community college is their last frontier. Thinking that they’ll be here forever, not good enough to take their passion for learn-ing to the next step. But surprisingly, that step isn’t a particularly challenging one.

In the 2009-2010 semesters, 3,335 stu-dents from the San Diego Community Col-lege District completed the program and transferred to a four-year university. Of those students attending the one of three colleges in SDCCD, 54-percent came from Mesa College. A large majority of those transfers have been to San Diego State University, followed by the University of California San Diego.

Mesa College has led the pack of SDCCD colleges in transfer rates since re-search began in 2002. Between 2004 and 2010, 46-percent of Mesa students have successfully transferred. Trailing this rate is the SDCCD average at 42-percent, and the state average at 41-percent.

Lauren Mincer, a former Mesa College student, completed the transfer program in 2010 and is currently in her fourth semes-ter as a communications major at SDSU.

“I had the best times at Mesa Col-lege,” Mincer said. “But I thought transfer-ring was just a pipedream. Lo and behold, before I knew it, I was saying goodbye to Mesa and heading to SDSU.”

Mincer worked with her counselor oc-casionally, but not excessively in order to achieve this. “It was so fluid and happened so fast. Seriously, whoever is looking to transfer here, just go talk to a counselor for like thirty minutes. It’s definitely worth it.”

The process of progress in Califor-nia’s higher education is not one made to be easy, but made to be accessible to every-one. Half an hour of time with a counselor can shape someone’s entire life. It’s abso-lutely incredible that these doors are open to whoever has the motivation to push on them.

The inspiration and enthusiasm that saturates a student body is something more respectable than the products of them. A want or will to learn and succeed is para-mount, and very visible in community col-leges nationwide.

It is disappointing that the general consensus about community college stu-dents is one of lethargy. That these stu-dents are capable of attacking academic endeavors with a ferocity no higher than that of creamed corn. Yet the numbers prove otherwise.

In this day and age, opportunities to stride above and beyond the basic educa-tional requirements are about as prevalent as Viagra in Palm Springs, or STDs. Let Mesa College be a gateway and not a fin-ishing line. Remain driven and eager to improve. If it wasn’t for people seeking a better quality of life, we’d all still be Brit-ish, and there’s nothing funny about tooth decay.

People need to find an alternate for money so that life does not con-sist of a chase for the dollar.

The Mesa Pressfeatures page 4 February 28, 2012

Strawberries and blue cheese wipe away the winter bluesLAUREN J. MAPPEditor-in-Chief

As winter – if you can even call it that in San Diego – drags on, it’s easy to start to feel a little de-

pressed, but adding farm-fresh berries and citrus into your diet can help to kick the sadness and get you pepped up for spring.

Just looking at the vibrant red color in strawberries, raspberries and cranberries can lift your mood, but the nutrients pres-ent in berries are also great for one’s physi-cal and emotional health.

Berries are high in anthocyanin, vi-tamin C and quercetin antioxidants mak-ing them great additives to one’s diet to prevent cancer, reduce inflammation and slow age-related memory loss, according to JoyBauer.com. The nutrients in berries also help to reduce both blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Some other health benefits of straw-berries include a stronger immune sys-

tem and they can decrease depression and stress, according to Healthandrelation.com.

Strawberries and raspberries are also considered by some to be aphrodisiacs, another beneficial side effect of regularly consuming them.

With a combination of the bright citrus flavors of clementines and limes with the creamy and pungent taste of blue cheese, lying atop a bed of spinach with early spring strawberries, this salad provides a fresh alternative to the heavy meals of win-ter.

By using the citrus juice as the basis of the dressing in this salad it enables you to decrease the use of oil needed to make a flavorful dressing, so the indulging in blue cheese can be a relatively guiltless delight.

Served with a glass of white wine san-gria, a strawberry-mint mojito or alcohol-free strawberry lemonade, this salad will convince you that summer is already here.

Serves 21 avocado (Paradise Valley Ranch)10 strawberries (JR Organics)4 cups spinach (JR Organics)2 tablespoons dill (Suzie’s Farm)2 green onions (Kawano Farms)2 clementines, peeled (Polito Family Farms)1/4 cup Flora Nelle blue cheese (TasteCheese)

Juice of 1 lime (Schaner Family Farms)Extra virgin olive oil, if desiredGinger sesame salt, to taste (Salt Farm)Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Aspiring local artist attempts to make it big through YouTubeJOE LLORINFeatures Editor

Many of today’s brightest shining stars would not have surfaced were it

not for them lighting up the meta-phorical sky that is the Internet and it is through this medium that the young talent of Nik Bates has been recognized.

Bates is an aspiring rapper and producer, although he is not limited to only tha. He is also an editor and director, showing his ability in his own music videos. Originally from Kanagawa, Ja-pan, he was raised in San Diego, where he would start his music career. At only 19 years old, his journey is only beginning.

Through the eyes of many, Bates lives merely as a student at Southwestern College and a worker at a Vans store at the Pla-za Bonita mall, but when he’s not hustling through his homework or dealing with mass amounts of customers, he’s buried deep into his music. Whether it be writing, creating or remix-ing, Bates is on his musical grind 24/7.

Aspiring to be a famous musician, he already has his hands full. He writes and records his own material, while also edit-ing and producing it.

Bates promotes his music through the power of social networking with the use of popular websites like Tumblr, Sound-Cloud, and YouTube. Currently, he is working on his third mixtape, “Lights On!/Lights Out!.”

Although it is a work in progress, Bates is always looking for ways to im-prove, as he streams all of his music (in-cluding incomplete tracks, which he calls “samplers”) on SoundCloud and Tumblr.

Although he is trying to make his name as a solo artist, Bates likes to col-laborate with his friend Andres Murillo, who is also a rapper. Together, they form the duo known as Are the Kids Alright?, or as they abbreviate it, “A.K.A?.” They have performed locally numerous times and have gained a solid following among

San Diegan teenagers. Bates and Murillo are also part of a group made up of their friends known as The LXST ADLSNTS.

“Everyone has a role in the group, and the main goal of it is to spread our music,” Bates said.

Bates considers his music to belong to the genre of rap, but since rap is such a wide and diverse type of music, he elabo-rated more on the subject.

“My style is hard to explain. Think of it as a mix of indie rap, chill-wave and hip-hop,” Bates said.

As he continues to work to complete “Lights On!/Lights Out!,” Bates remains on the grind. He is not yet known world-wide, but he is always one step closer to making his dream a reality, as he strives to promote and spread his music through the Internet and his performances. He takes up any opportunity to showcase his talents and he remains ever so persistent.

Though currently unsigned, future re-cord producers will only regret it if they pass up on Bates.

In the Spotlight

Column: Locally Sourced Meals

Clementines, strawberries and avocado can bring a touch of summer cheer to the gloomy winter months. Lauren J. Mapp/Editor-in-Chief

Recipe: True Blue Strawberry Citrus Salad

Toss roughly chopped spinach leaves with green onions and dill and divide into two portions.

Top spinach bed with sliced strawberries, diced avocado, crumbled blue cheese and clementine segments.

Squeeze lime juice over the salad and drizzle with olive oil if desired. Season with salt and pepper and serve chilled. –Lauren J. Mapp

Titanic’s fateful journey to always be remembered

ASHLEY MANNStaff Writer

The San Diego Natural History Mu-seum is celebrating the 100th anni-versary of the Titanic‘s iconic sink-

ing by allowing the public to view artifacts that were discovered among the ship’s wreckage on the bottom of the ocean floor.

The Titanic, on its maiden voyage to New York City from England, hit an ice-berg during its journey and sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with 1,517 people dying in the accident.

The exhibit, entitled Titanic: The Ar-tifact Exhibition, which started Feb. 10 and will run until Sept. 9, gives patrons a glimpse into a ship that was labeled “un-sinkable.” The exhibit goes into great de-tail by recreating replicas of the First and Third Class passengers living quarters along with the food menus of each class. It also gives the viewer a detailed history of many people and their association with the famed ship, which includes Captain Ed-ward J. Smith, Bruce Ismay, the managing director of the White Star Line, Thomas Andrews, the man who built and designed

the ship, and a list of famous people of the time including Margaret “Molly” Brown, John Jacob Astor IV, and Benjamin Gug-genheim.

Throughtout the seven rooms artifacts of the wreckage are displayed, including a leather bag, a man’s suit, a math book, and a stack of sixteen dinner plates. These rooms are shown in little to no light in or-der to preserve the artifacts.

The last room visited is the Room of Remembrance, which pays homage to the people who died during the Titanic’s unfor-tunate sinking.

The exhibit contains over 5,500 arti-facts that were retracted from eight years of research and recovery expeditions, which were conducted between 1987 and 2010.

To visit the exhibit, the museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the cost is $27 for adults, $21 for college, military, and youth with a valid identifica-tion. For student groups or parties over 10, the museum asks if you call to get a group price rate.

“I’m down to collaborate with anyone and I’m always up to meet new friends,” Bates said.

Photo courtesy of Angelo Milo

This photo of Captain Smith and an unidentified officer aboard the Titanic is one of the many artifacts on display at the new exhibit, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the ship’s tragic voyage.

Photo courtesy of The San Diego Natural History Museum

A new exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum

The Mesa PressFebruary 28, 2012 features page 5

Small Bar serves up big flavorLAUREN J. MAPPEditor-in-Chief

San Diego definitely doesn’t have a short list of bars slinging craft beers and cocktails, but one of the best

places, despite its tiny size, is University Height’s aptly-named Small Bar, located at 4628 Park Ave.

Red and black ominous walls adorned with elephants welcome you as the juke-box plays hits from The Beatles, Joan Jett and Bright Eyes among many others.

Special cask and beer glass events are regular occurrences at Small Bar, and they are one of the participants of the monthly bus pub crawl throughout Normal Heights, North Park and South Park, known as the “Drink About.”

Once you’ve secured a spot at one of the tables or some prime real estate at the bar, it’s time to order off their extensive drink menu. The mule cocktails in their engraved-copper mugs are fan-favorites, but the blackberry daiquiri, old fashioned and spicy dirty pickle martini are also great ways to quench your thirst.

A rotating selection of beers on tap at Small Bar will always keep you on your toes, and with 42 taps it will be hard to find something you won’t like.

In an IPA-crazed society it can some-times be difficult to find a good pint of brown ale or something flavorful, mel-low and not too hopped up, but Small Bar obliges with plenty of beer options that span the spectrum.

Wells banana bread banana ale, Bear Republic Pete’s Tribute brown ale and the Bootleggers Black Phoenix chipotle coffee stout are all excellent choices if you want

to try something a little different.Hop addicts can get their fix by trying

tap choices such as the Bear Republic Rac-er 5 IPA, Beer Valley Leafer Madness IIPA and the Green Flash Imperial IPA.

Cocktails and beer aren’t the only draws to Small Bar, an eclectic menu of pub fare is also subject to being wor-shipped by regular patrons.

Beer mac n’ cheese is a must try with its three cheeses, Guinness béchamel sauce topped with beer candied bacon and roast-ed cherry tomatoes. The sauce has a bit of a kick embedded in the comforting, gooey mess that reminds you of your childhood.

Fried pickles in their crispy, Anchor Steam beer batter enclosures are the perfect sharing plate for a group of friends, and the ranch dip is a perfect accompaniment.

Small bleu fried shoestring fries, cov-ered in melted Maytag bleu cheese and

Mesa’s theater season kicks off with ‘The Doll House’RODOLFO BAMBILLStaff Writer

The Mesa College Theater presents “The Doll House,” a contemporary adaptation of a late 1870’s three-act

play showing for two weeks at Apolliad Theatre from March 2-4 and 9-11.

This is a “self-empowerment play,” said set designer Bryan Cajamarca, and “one that everyone should watch.” Ex-plaining the play’s literary background, stage director Kris Clark described this as a “classic exploration on society,” and one that helped lead to the prospect of address-ing more social issues on stage, rather than a more traditional melodramatic kind.

Originally written by Henrik Ibsen from his play “A Doll’s House”, this fea-ture modernizes the class rooted domestic problems of their time that focuses on cur-rent themes of equality amongst the sexes

as well as the inclusion of money being more a problem for couples than a solution.

Nora, played by Jaime Sykes, wife to a lawyer who has a new role as bank vice president, now has everything she has ever believed she’s wanted: a beautiful family, a husband who loves and spoils her and as an added bonus, an upstanding social sta-tus with lots of money.

Torvald, played by John Rogers, is Nora’s husband, a gentleman that demands much of his wife. He is the frame of which this play’s tradition is hung and yet he is as much a product of the prestigious life-style he follows. Expectations and hierar-chy are the construct dependent upon the upper and noble classes in which to serve as an unrealistic example representing pure esteem. He has become the new father fig-ure expected to take care of Nora to which

Guinness-infused beer mac n’ cheese combines a classic childhood comfort food and candied bacon with the quintessential stout ale.

Jamie Sykes (left) and John Rogers (right), rehearse for the upcoming production of “The Dollhouse” at the Apolliad Theater.


Smothered in melted Maytag Bleu cheese, Small Bar’s French fries play well with any of their sand-wiches or plated meals.

Fried pickles battered with Anchor Steamed beer at Small Bar are great for sharing with friends and pair well with the Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA on tap.

Photos by Lauren J. Mapp

Restaurant Review

women like her were often raised.These characters are navigating

through expectations from a world that does not venture further than material things. These desires appeal to an ideal very few are able to thrive in. Becoming a model to host the best parties, keep up with the current fashions, above all distinction to which momentum is impossible to keep.

In the case of Krogstad, a money lend-er played by Nick Wigg, whose public rep-utation has been so tarnished by a banking forgery, is unable to help anyone else for fear they might receive an equally bad rep-utation. When asked about the choices that his character made, Nick said it best-” even the bad guys are good guys.” Nora, who works off a scarlet letter loan from Krogs-tad years earlier, unbeknownst to Torvald, gains a new sense of pride and determina-

tion unknown to her and seizes a new role as working woman paying off this loan.

Nora is expected to remain like a type of trophy to be modeled as an accessory amongst her class. It’s not enough for Nora when her sacrifices are not reciprocated by Torvald, and is best described by Ms. Sykes about the imbalance of what women have to do in a committed relationship and a problem at “the heart of what women go through on a daily basis.”

“The Doll House” is directed by Pro-fessor Kris Clark, kicking off the new season of the theater performances of the spring semester. Cast includes Rachel Pfei-ffer as Mrs. Linde, Jeff Chase as Dr. Rank and Krestina Barood as Anna Marie. Annie Hinton is the Director and Production Su-pervisor and Ashleigh Bodie is the Stage Manager.

parsley can be matched with any of the menu’s sandwiches or plates. In case you don’t like all the fussin’, you can also order them naked.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., retreat to a hang-over recovery brunch and indulge in the French toast, omelets or the southern com-fort of biscuits n’ gravy.

Bloody Mary Superior is a smorgas-bord in a glass and the perfect drink to get back on track during brunch. It’s made with their house mix, a splash of Guinness, steak sauce and garlic-chili infused vodka, and then garnished shrimp, beer candied bacon, house-made pickle in addition to a garden’s worth of vegetables.

Definitely stop in at Small Bar if you’re looking for a spot with all the pomp and circumstance of a gourmet pub, but without the pretentiousness.

Nick Wigg rests during rehearsal for the upcoming play “The Dollhouse.” Nicholas Santiago/Photo Editor

The Mesa PressNews February 28, 2012

ple responded strongly to the film and we had some great discussion afterwards and lots of super ideas, mostly from Mesa students,” Sieger said.

Sieger hopes to inspire par-ticipants to think creatively and collaboratively to resolve the issues. Sieger also encourages students to take control of the situation and address the issues directly to better the environment.

“We hope to generate enough interest among students that a student group might develop to continue to help ‘green’ Mesa as well as to make changes in their personal lives and in society as a whole,” Sieger said.

Students will also be able to

exhibit inventive resolutions to these issues through contests that will be held during the event, with a $50 gift certificate for the Mesa Bookstore as the grand prize. These contests are designed to help students be more positively active in environmental change. The contests are:

• 30-Second Film Contest: Create an online video with an environmental message• Chandelier Challenge: Fab-ricate a functional chande-lier made from plastic water bottles • (Re)purpose Fashion Fair: Make a reusable shopping bag/accessory from recycled materials or fabrics for auc-tion, with proceeds donated to environmental causes

Continued from page 1Green Fest

schools where you can take class-es in English or French, fashion shows, fabric stores shown on project runway, and flee markets with only European fashion that you cant find in the US.

Coordinator of the Campus of International Education, Linda Lopez said, “With the economy being so bad it is hard to afford the trip, but none the less students have been signing up for the $7500 trip, and show that even though we are in a recession stu-dents will go,”

Lopez also informs that fi-nancial aid, loans, scholarships, and even fund raising are provid-

ed if the cost of the trip is unat-tainable.

“We want to make sure that all the students who are really in-terested get to be a part of this fun trip,” said Lopez.

Students interested in going must be at least 18 years of age by the date of the trip and have 12 units with at least a 2.0 G.P.A. They are required to sign the Stu-dent Conduct Release Form for safety and rule regulations. At-tendees must also meet with their counselors to ensure good aca-demic status and are encouraged check with the financial aid office for eligibility for scholarships and loans.

Continued from page 1Study Abroad

Continued from page 1Construction

Ron Perez said, Vice President of Administration Services.

The Mesa Quad will be one of the most aesthetic improve-ments to be constructed on cam-pus. The new design will include a large oval grass area with a central plaza located between the new math and science facility. Tree groves and tables will also be included.

Once completed, the campus will be connected by a series of

pathways. Although the central quad will not be constructed un-til 2017, parts on the quad design will be put into effect with each Prop S/N project.

The Math and Science build-ing is one of the main projects still in construction. Completion should be expected in the fall se-mester of 2013. The first two lev-els of the building are expected to be completed in the next two weeks. The construction of class-

next day I got an email saying I was dropped, “ Penn said.

Turning the “A” lot back into student use would be a welcom-ing change for students. Fresh-man, Billy Walters, 19, is in his second semester and also finds parking a nuisance.

“I’m not surprised that the school turned it back into a fac-ulty lot, but they should definitely keep it for student use parking,” Walters said.

As for right now, the “A” parking lot is a barely used fac-ulty lot while students are strug-gling to find decent parking in other areas. For further parking information, go to sdmesa.edu and click on the parking and con-struction link.

Continued from page 1Overflow

rooms will follow once the levels are completed.

The opening of the new stu-dent services center is expected later this year. Interior systems were completed in the building late January as well as drywall and glass guard railing.

A grand staircase and land-scape features will be included upon completion and an addition-al 200 student parking spaces will be available in fall 2012.

Advertise with the Mesa Press!Email [email protected] for

more information.

Mesa Press Word SearchS W B I S A S L P Z J E E J T A M S D YX T C W F D N J R G C L L M D Z I H O MJ Q R L X S W I Y A B K P L U N Z O L BT G I A B Z V X R K B B D P N S H K L CT U Z D W C I N A T I T N E W X E L H UY L R S L B I H J J E X T C O J B R O OR Z Y S D G E E G Z O U G Y I T W R U OO A Q G W P W R O I C N B N Q U X J S TG V O F K I E K R V N I H Q J J S B E TF Q N T Y E M E D I N B X A A I E H Z AJ P Q L N V V J K P E T Z M E S A P I TD P O F B D A A N K V S M C B Q X Q L XY X E P W G V H J A T G R U U P T O S MK S C Z C F O Z A D I M I Y Z N P H S HT T S W M G E W U P M E R Z J O K G P ZF D H Z G R E E N S T R U C T U R E Y SQ F T Z S K E B S C I D F N K C Z O O DS D U T G V H X Y O Z N H V D F Y A O EP W V I Q K Q Z P X V I F M E L L H V QU Q Q R F Z E R S F M Y R I M G E C N D

DOLLHOUSEGREENFEST

GREENSTRUCTUREMESA

RESUMESTRAWBERRIES

SWIMTATTOOTENNISTITANIC

The Mesa Press News February 28, 2012

Evidently the simplest of things can keep you from not only a job, but a ca-

reer as well. Sara Moore is a career counselor and Personal Growth professor at San Diego Mesa College. As well as other advisors, Moore offers counsel-ing in the Career Center located in the Modular Village (MV 20). Throughout February Moore has organized workshops involving the art of résumés and the inter-view process.

“Employers look for spelling mistakes. I was at a conference and every employer on the panel said that they go through each ré-sumé and they look for spelling and grammar errors, and the min-ute they find one they throw them away!” Moore said.

According to Moore, appli-cant’s importance level is repre-sented by the résumé. Résumés should look professional and well organized. The same resumé shouldn’t be sent to every em-ployer that the applicant wishes to be hired by.

“Tailor your résumé to the specific job that you want by re-searching the job and the com-pany,” Moore said, “whatever the requirements are for the position, make sure that is listed on your resume.”

Moore continued to state that potential employees should look up the website for the company

they desire for employment and use key language viewed there on their résumés.

Lack of experience or pre-ferred requirements are an issue for a lot of students. Some stu-dents may want to work at a fast-food restaurant or clothing store but might not have experience in the particular field.

“Do something now that is related that transfers in some way like an internship or volunteering somewhere...A lot of times stu-dents may have more knowledge than experience in a specific field but they may not realize it. They should express this knowledge during the interview,” Moore said.

Moore believes that a lot of students subconsciously under-mine their own future.

“If the job requires you to sell things but you think you don’t possess the personality of a sales-man, then don’t overly pursue it. You can either learn the qualities of bartering or you can look for a job that suits your abilities,” Moore said.

Moore also said that “the ré-sumé decides your interview, and your interview decides your hir-ing potential.”

Keys to acing the interview are preparation, professional at-tire, and knowledge of the com-pany. One underestimated quality of the interview process is confi-dence.

“Research yourself and ask what skills do I have? What are the qualifications? And does it match with my skill-set? After you know the answer about these things, you become confident in your knowledge and in your ap-proach,” Moore said.

Confidence can be found in eye contact, a handshake, and even the tone of voice. These things helped to es-tablish confidence as well as presence.

“These actions say that ‘I’m here! and I’m ready!” Moore said.

One thing that was stressed during the conversation with Ms. Moore was that potential employees should always do their homework and research the companies they’re apply-ing to. During the interview, if you want to ask questions, they should pertain to things you couldn’t easily find on the inter-net.

Students should not be dis-couraged if an interview didn’t go too well, as it is quite common.

“...Dust yourself off and move on. You’re going to hear ‘no’ more than you hear ‘yes’. It’s just the name of the game. Take what you can from it and learn from the experience,” Moore said.

For more tips and informa-tion on upcoming workshops, visit the Career Center at MV-20 of the Modular Village.

Résumé writing tips for the job-seeking Mesa studentRASHAD MUHAMMADStaff Writer

Recently, students at San Diego Mesa College have been experienc-

ing difficulties seeing and/or scheduling appointments with counselors for guidance, due to the lack of counselors avail-able caused by the budget cuts.

Appointments are required to see counselors for long-term educational planning. Although walk-ins are always welcomed, students are encouraged to make appointments to ensure their time with counselors to avoid long wait times. But given the more than 15 counselors and adjunct counselors, the faculty is still un-able to meet the demand of the in-flux of students at Mesa College.

“Thought I could wait, but after an hour and half I had to leave,” Melinda Macmaster said, a Mesa College student who is majoring in psychology.

What students fail to real-ize is what really goes on behind the scenes. There are roughly 25,000 students that attend Mesa College and with budget cuts af-fecting everyone, the counsel-ing department also suffers as the workload is now doubled.

“Not all counselors are under contract...some are un-der a 10 month contract,” said Ailene Crackes, the Coun-seling Department Chair.

This means that the coun-seling office is consistently los-ing a valuable resource that has a direct effect on the students. To put this this into perspective there are currently 17 counsel-ors at Mesa College and they counsel 1475 students each.

“It’s not all 40 hours a week of counseling...counselors co-ordinate so many programs be-hind the scenes,” Crackes said.

There are specific counsel-ors for each type of student at Mesa College. There are athletes that have a specific counselor and there’re programs like Mesa Academy which is designed for African-American students, the Puente Program for Latinos that are going to transfer to a University and MET which is for high school students that want a seamless transition to community college.

“We want everyone to have a fair chance,” said Crackes.

So when students go into the counseling office and see an athlete or a military veteran go before them, it’s because there are counselors available who deal specifically with ath-letic or military veteran affairs.

However, even after schedul-ing appointments, there are still some cases of students who are unable to get the guidance needed in time. Appointments become

back logged and students end up missing deadlines for classes.

“By the time we saw the counselor to find out which classes I needed, it was too late.” Wendi Velasco said, a Mesa Col-lege student who is in the EMT program but has yet to success-fully get into the RN program.

Students are advised to call the Counseling Department at 8 a.m. to schedule time with a counselor, having all paperwork completed prior which may take a few weeks to process. Most of these forms are now available online to expedite the process.

“We have tried other proce-dures in the past...” Crackes said.

Although the appoint-ments are to give students the one-on-one time needed with the counselors for guidance, some students are still left with the void of actual counseling.

“When I set up my appoint-ment, I was talked to like ‘whatev-er’...they just told me to take math and English in the hundred lev-els...they didn’t seem interested at all in helping me,” Hugo Romero said, a Mesa College student who is majoring in Computer Science and would like to transfer to USC.

Students are scheduled a week in advance so like the counselor, the student also researches what he or she would like to accomplish.

Occasionally students make appointments and only come for one thing. This can have a negative effect on the coun-selor because it makes it seem like there is a lack of interest in the student’s best interest.

“They weren’t much help honestly,” Hugo said.

The counselors are there to help the students so it’s in the students benefit to inform the counselor of any concerns, so that the counselors can do their best at rectifying the issue.

“I have professors com-ing from UC’s because they want to counsel at a commu-nity college and they want to help students,” said Crackes.

There are peak times in the semester and students know that when on a time crunch they shouldn’t wait until the begin-ning of the semester or even worse, the end of the semester to address their concerns. With students planning ahead and set-ting aside some time when the school isn’t at its peak hours time it will address concerns that might arise from both parties.

Students can help with the on-going issues with the shortage of counselors is by emailing Pamela Luster, Mesa College President at [email protected] or Ailene Crakes at [email protected].

JAY GARCIAStaff Writer

Since the start of this se-mester, there have been reports of cars being dam-

aged and car parts, as well as cars, stolen on the campus park-ing lot and parking structure.

San Diego Mesa College opened its “Green Structure” in March 2009 and the $31 mil-lion parking facility funded through Proposition S had add-ed a five level 1,100 parking space structure. According to a press release from Mesa, the Green Structure includes solar panels and the structures open design allows it to remain at a cool temperature without the need of a ventilation system.

However, one thing that stu-dents feel is missing from the structure are surveillance cameras.

Stephanie Doan, a 19-year-old business major whose car was hit on the third floor of the structure, feels that surveil-lance cameras should have been installed in the structure.

“If cameras were installed then I could’ve seen who hit my car,” Doan said. “[When] walking to [my] car at night something could happen to me and nobody will know.”

Doan was on campus away from her car for up to six hours on the day of the inci-dent. She said the damage was in the back left corner of her car.

Sadly hit and runs and simi-lar car affiliated problems are nothing new to the Mesa cam-pus. In January there was also a report of a possible hit-and-run in the school crime report, but the involved party has not fol-lowed up on the claim as of print.

Also, last January cata-lytic converters were be-ing stolen from cars, mostly Chevrolet pick-up trucks.

There have also been a few car thefts recently. Accord-ing to the press release from the San Diego Community Col-lege Police (SDCCP), “since the beginning of the Spring Se-mester there have been three vehicles stolen.” The three ve-hicles stolen are made by Honda.

If cameras had been in-stalled in the Green Structure as well as in other parking lots then chances are that students like Doan will not have to deal with the stress of car problems.

To report any suspicious activity call 619-388-6405.

JUSTIN WELLSStaff Writer

Hit and runs common on Mesa College campus

Thursday, Feb. 16• Middle Eastern man, white, facial hair blond, short hair took phone from reported party. • Reported party and man in-volved in domestic violence case on Valentines Day in Rancho Bernanrdo, CATuesday, Feb 21• Dog locked in vehicle in the middle of the lot• Hit and run. No damage reported• Hit and run. Two female drivers one driver hit the other driver’s car with door and left a scratch. Driver of damaged ve-hicle confronted driver and asked for license but she drove off.• Student cut himself with razorblade. Bleeding.• Several calls for students be-ing locked out of their car and needing a battery jumped.

Crime ReportCrime report compiled by Justin Wells

For Feb. 14 to Feb. 23

Mesa’s lack of counselors causes chaos‘It’s not all 40 hours a week of counseling’

The Mesa PressSports February 28, 2012

CAROLINA SOLISStaff Writer

Men’s tennis struggles after a strong end to 2011 seasonJEFF OTTSports Editor

When you set out to do something, most peo-ple might recommend

you come up with a plan; devise a formula on how to be success-ful with what you’re doing. If you use that formula and are unsuc-cessful but keep using it expect-ing a different result, well then you’re insane, clinically.

But what if you are success-ful? What if you’re a head coach? What if your formula keeps get-ting better and better every year?

Does that make you a ge-nius? No. Even better it makes you Head Tennis Coach Michael Hootner.

Coach Hootner took over the tennis program in 2008. Their 2008 campaign was sub-par to his standard of late but there is a silver lining to it. The 2008 sea-son would mark the last time the Mens Tennis team lost a confer-ence match. Since that year, Mesa has won 27 consecutive.

The 2011 season was one of

Freshman swimmer, Alberto Valentin, 19, has only been swimming for three years

but swims as though he is a sea-soned athlete.

He has not been performing long considering how proficiently he swims his event, 100 butterfly, a very challenging event.

He claims he doesn’t get to swim as often as he’d like be-cause he has to work, so he prac-tices a mere 10 hours each week.

Valentin is a model student athlete, who doesn’t let home-work go unfinished even when swim demands more time from his busy schedule. When asked what his GPA is, he guessed it was about 3.2 from last semester.

During his first year of swim at Ramona High School, he went to San Diego’s CIF (California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports in California) for butterfly.

In addition to this feat, he was the only person on his team to make it to finals after CIF. He took fourth place in finals for but-terfly. His goal for this season is to break 50 seconds for his 100 butterfly, but said,

“My best time is three sec-onds away from that, so I have a little work to do.”

Every student athlete faces a wide array of work, practice and studying to do every day, natu-rally there will be less or more favorable aspects of each.

“I really like that it’s an in-dividual sport and if you don’t achieve what you want to achieve, the only person you have to blame is yourself,” Valentin said. This seems to be his mentality about his work and school life too. He claims to struggle with getting in the water to practice at 6:25a.m. each Monday and Wednesday, but after he’s in, the struggle is over.

His motivation to go to prac-tice in the wee hours of the morn-ing and a second time in the after-noon comes from his desire to be, “bronze, buff, and bitchin’.”

Valentin aspires to swim for University of Southern California or perhaps University of Hawaii after he finishes his studies here at Mesa College.

When times get tough for Valentin, he says he keeps pursu-ing being a student athlete by re-membering, “To be the best I can be so I can reach my long term goals.”

White dresses and light colored sneakers stood out against the green

walls of the tennis court as the Lady Olympians stepped out to play their first conference match against Grossmont College on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

The Grossmont women, in black and green, played an ag-gressive match. “They’re a strong team. They hit hard.” Gabby For-tunato of Mesa College said.

As the Grossmont Griffins dominated the game, the Lady Olympians stood their ground. Mesa athletes showed no sign of

Valentin’s ambitious heart belongs to the butterflyDANA C. GRIFFITHStaff Writer

Lady Olympians drop the ball in first home match

Mesa College athlete Chika Yanai served as she competed against Grossmont College at the tennis courts on Feb. 21.

Nicholas Santiago/Photo Editor San Diego Mesa College athlete Alberto Valentin came up for a breath during the butterfly on Feb. 22.

Carlos Guerrero/Staff Photographer

Student athlete Gleb Bilyalo served as he competed against Cerritos College at the tennis courts on Feb. 16.


the ages. Mesa sent two sopho-mores to the state playoffs and won the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference tournament. With that success, Coach Hootner was honored with not only the PCAC Coach of the year for tennis, but Male Coach of the year for all sports.

With such a winning formu-la, who’s to stop them in 2012?

“We’re exctited, we took another step. If everybody stays healthy and we execute our shots and step up in every match, we’ll have a chance to win another conference title,” Coach Hootner said.

It would be their fourth straight title and would give argu-ment for another Coach-of-the-year award.

“We have a deep team this year,” Hootner said. “Anybody could be our number one…..but we could definitely see some changes in our ladder by the time conference rolls around.”

The Mesa Mens Tennis squad

exhaustion or surrender. “You have to be psycho-

logically tough to play this sport well because everything relies on yourself,” Head Coach Patty Peisner said. “[If] you win you can applaud yourself and if you lose you have to evaluate your-self. You can blame it on a bad call here or there but that never changes an entire match.”

The match consisted of three matches of two-player teams and six individual matches.

Of the three doubles match-es and six singles matches, the Grossmont Griffins defeated the Lady Olympians with a final score of 8-1.

20 year old Gabby Fortu-nato, a business & marketing ma-jor, and the number one singles player said, “It’s our first home match. I definitely had a lot of fun in doubles. It was a good first match. It’s only the beginning so we still have time.”

From start to finish, Fortuna-to’s serve was as the winding up of a jack in the box; graceful at its preparation, strong and sudden at its release.

One highlight of the match entails the teamwork of Chika Ya-nai and Sofia Aguais in the num-ber two doubles match. Yanai and Aguais displayed their chemistry and talent gaining a 5 point lead early on in the match. The Gross-mont Griffins aggressively retali-ated and picked up their game. As the match was near its end, the tension between the two teams intensified. Several strong long hits went across the tennis court culminating in the final score 8-6 Mesa.

Chika Yanai, 20, a Business major, has made a significant jump from number six singles player to number two singles player this year.

“She’s got a great work eth-ic, great attitude. She makes no excuses.”Coach Peisner said.

When asked about her fa-vorite quote Yanai said, “Hakuna mattata. It means no worries for me, sort of like shake it off, stay positive.”

As of Febuary 23, the Mesa Women’s Tennis team’s record is 2-2 and it is moving forward.

“We’re just now starting to gel and get on the road,” Coach Peisner said. “We’re all on the same page now and we’re all headed in the right direction.”

opened 2012 season losing 3-6 to Mt. San Jacinto College on Feb. 2. A week later, Mesa came back to beat them 8-1. February 16, Cerritos College came down for a visit. Gleb Bilyalov, who came here from Moscow, Russia, head-lined the team and unfortunately lost his match but Mesa would go on to win the rest of their singles matches.

The very next day, Mesa headed up to L.A. Pierce Col-lege. The Brahma Bulls were too strong for Mesa and the Olympi-ans fell 2-7.

In a sport where it can be seen as an individual one, it’s only fit-ting that their doubles teams be catching headlines. “This is the best doubles teams we’ve had,” said Hootner. “Last couple years I’d be like we really got to get those singles, where as this year if we lose a couple singles, I’m very confident in our doubles teams. Best doubles teams I’ve seen…” The number one team is made up of freshmen Lorenzo Baca and

Giordano Valdez both of whom have good chemistry. “Good chemistry is a big part of doubles, and we’ve got good chemistry,” Coach Hootner added.

The Mesa Mens Tennis team

continues conference play on March 1 at Imperial Valley Col-lege and then on March 6 the Olympians host San Diego City College at 2 pm.

Want your news in The Mesa Press?Email us at [email protected].

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