Serving PCC and the Pasadena community since 1915
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Page 7
Vol. 91, Issue 8
Coach,
Player
Receive
Awards
■ Women’s basket¬
ball player Dionne
Pounds and coach
Joe Peron make PCC
history as receipients
of two national
honors.
Mario Aguirre
Asst. Sports Editor
Lancer sophomore guard
Dionne Pounds was named to the
Women’s Basketball Coaches
Association (WBCA) and Kodak
Junior College All-American
team, becoming the first player in
PCC women’s basketball history to
receive the national honor, on
March 22.
Pounds led the Lancers to a
combined 56-5 record over her
two-year tenure with the Lancers,
while finishing second place in the
state championship game both sea¬
sons.
Pounds became the first player
in women’s basketball history to
break the 1,000 point mark late in
her sophomore season and holds
the position as the all-time leading
scorer in women’s basketball histo¬
ry. During her freshman year,
Pounds got Co-Player of the Year
honors. Earlier in the year, Pounds
was named to the All-State regular
season and All-State Tournament
team. In 2005, Pounds earned the
state’s most valuable player award
honors.
During the 2004-2005 season,
Pounds averaged 16.7 points, near¬
ly four rebounds and three assists.
Pounds played in all 31 regular
season and five playoff games.
She led the team with 3-pointers
and three-throws made while
shooting 87.5 percent from the
field.
Also, Lancer women’s basket¬
ball head coach Joe Peron received
an award by the WBCA. Peron
earned the North Division Coach
of the Year award.
Students Made Voices Heard in Washington
■ Lobbyists from
PCC brought their
message to Congress
earlier this month.
John Avery
Staff Writer
Without speaking a word, PCC
student lobbyists in Sacramento on
April 5 helped to win funding for
student health centers in community
colleges statewide.
Their silent success was but one
of many ironies in a well-organized
campaign by the Health Service
Association of the Community
Colleges. As HSACC president
Lorain Brault observed, “It’s a rare
story when students vote to pay
more.”
Yet community college students
from around the state filled the hear¬
ing room of the assembly committee
on higher education, giving state
assembly members political cover to
unanimously endorse the passage of
AB 982. On April 13 the appropria¬
tions committee also gave the bill
their unanimous support.
Introduced by assembly member
John Laird, AB 982 amends the
education code to remove language
requiring community colleges to
exempt low-income students from
health fees. The HSACC considers
the current mandatory exemption
“unfair and ironic,” because it
forces greater funding cuts to health
centers in poverty areas, hurting the
very students it was intended to
help.
Speaking before the committee,
Laird argued that current law “cre¬
ates a basic inequity, and inadver¬
tently penalizes districts that are
successful.” Under AB 982, districts
would remain free to waive fees for
individual students unable to pay
Lobby
„ л
Page 4
Orlando Pina/ Courier
OUR TEAM: Lobby committee members Juan Carlos Torres, Lucrecia Chan, Eli Scislowicz,
Melissa Nery and Randy Cedillos helped run another good idea up the flagpole in
Sacramento on March 5.
HEALTH WATCH
When Drinking Turns Deadly
Illustration by William Hallstrom/ Courier
Alcohol abuse runs rampant among college students
Kate Murray
Staff Writer
Binge drinking has become a
fatal problem in the United States,
and it is only getting worse.
According to the National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,
alcohol consumption contributes to
about 1,400 student deaths, 500,000
injuries, and 70,000 cases of sexual
assault each year.
College students in the U.S. con¬
sume 430 million gallons of alcohol
annually, enough for each college
and university in the U.S. to fill an
Olympic-sized pool. One in three
college students qualifies for a for¬
mal diagnosis of alcohol abuse,
meaning that an ever-increasing
number of young adults are becom¬
ing alcoholics before they even grad¬
uate. Is this really the way we, as col¬
lege students, want to begin our
lives?
Binge drinking is defined by the
National Council on Alcoholism
and Drug Dependence as the con¬
sumption of five or more drinks at
one sitting for males, and four or
more for females. While these are
obviously large amounts of alcohol,
those who consume that much don’t
seem to consider themselves binge
drinkers per se. In a national study,
91 percent of women and 78 percent
of men who were frequent binge
drinkers considered themselves to be
only light or moderate drinkers.
Perhaps it’s the frightening
amount of brain damage that heavy
drinking causes that is skewing these
bingers’ judgment.
“[Binge drinking is associated
with] an impaired performance in a
working-memory task, which tests
the ability to hold important infor¬
mation in short-term memory to use
it for accurate response,” Theodora
Duka, a professor at the University
of Sussex, said in a news release for
the Research Society on Alcoholism.
Another study conducted at Duke
University found that alcohol
impaired memory and learning abil¬
ities. Last time I checked, learning
was kind of a big factor in college.
According to the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, alcohol reaches the
brain only 30 seconds after ingestion
Drinking *
Page 6
Grad
Speaker
Selected
Linda Rapka
Editor-in-Chief
Acclaimed PCC alumna
Adriana Ocampo will be the
keynote speaker for the 80th com¬
mencement ceremony in June.
Ocampo was selected by the
PCC student body because of her
numerous accomplishments as a
NASA planetary scientist. She has
worked as a research scientist at
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for
the past 28 years and is currently
working on the Mars Odyssey
Project.
Ocampo was selected as a com¬
munity college league distin¬
guished alumna in 2004. This
honor is given to community col¬
lege graduates who are accom¬
plished professionals and con¬
tributing citizens of their commu¬
nities.
“The professors at PCC were all
memorable to me and I am deeply
honored to have been selected for
this honor,” said Ocampo.
Benedict XVI
■ College president
Kossler, a former Catholic
priest, discusses the selec¬
tion of the new pope.
Mario Aguirre
Asst. Sports Editor
Gaining a two-thirds majority vote from
the College of Cardinals, Joseph Ratzinger
was chosen as Pope John Paul II’s predecessor
in the second day of the papal conclave on
Tuesday. Ratzinger, who chose the name Pope
Benedict XVI, is the third person in the last
century to be chosen as pope on the second
day.
The tens of thousands of people waiting at
St. Peter’s square were wondering if the white
smoke coming out from the Sistine Chapel’s
chimney was intentional. The smoke came
out of the chimney at approximately 8:50 a.m.
Pacific time. The bells began to ring just ten
minutes later as it usually does on the top of
every hour. At around 9:05 a.m. (local time),
the bells rang again, confirming the election of
the new pope. It took nearly one hour for
Ratzinger to appear at the balcony overlook¬
ing St. Peter’s Square.
PCC President Dr. James Kossler, a former
priest, believes that the cardinals have elected
an “interim pope.”
“I believe that they feel, given his age and
his previous closeness to John Paul II, that
Benedict XVI will not make any significant
changes,” Kossler said. “I was surprised by
their choice, but I think Benedict XVI — who
by all accounts is a nice man and a brilliant
theologian — may turn out to be a more sig¬
nificant leader than people think. Look at
John XXIII. No one expected anything from
him and he convened the Second Vatican
Ecumenical Council.”
The new pope, who turned 78 last week,
became the oldest pope selected since Clement
XII in 1730. He is also the first German pope
in 1,000 years in the Roman Catholic Church.
It didn’t take too long for Ratzinger to face
controversy following his elections. Ratzinger
admitted that at the age of 14 he was enrolled
in the Hitler Youth Movement against his will.
Kossler isn’t a stranger to the selection of a
pope. He remembers the electric scene at the
Vatican not as a spectator, but as a priest.
Kossler met Pope John Paul VI on a trip with
Cardinal McIntyre, Archibishop of Los
Angeles at the time.
“It was a formal situation. We were taken
up by the cardinal to meet the Pope. We kissed
his ring and said hello and took a picture with
Jesus Gomez/ Courier
“It’s an exciting period for the whole
Catholic world when the pope is select¬
ed,” said PCC President Dr. James
Kossler, a former priest. Mourners paid
respects to Pope John Paul II at Nuestra
Sehora De Los Angeles on April 3.
Pope
Page 4
Students Honored for
Strong Leadership Skills
Chen Scott
Caroline Ikeji
Opinion Editor
Two PCC students
were recognized by the
Phi Theta Kappa
Honor Society on April
7 in Sacramento.
The students,
Shanshan Chen and
Laura Scott, were selected to All-
California teams for their outstand¬
ing academic achievements and
leadership accomplishments. Both
students were named into the All-
California second team. They were
among 55 students that were hon¬
ored at the yearly event.
While in Sacramento, the stu¬
dents attended a luncheon and
were able to meet with State
Senator Jack Scott and
Assemblywoman Carol Liu. The
students were also recognized by
Scott on the Senate floor.
Both students were awarded a
medallion of honor and a certifi¬
cate for their accomplishments.
They were also awarded a $150
stipend by the Community College
League of California.
“For the college to have two out¬
standing students recognized is a
great accomplishment and speaks
highly of academic achievement,”
said Lisa Sugimoto, vice president
of student and learning services.
“I’m proud of them.”
“I was very excited and honored
to have nominated them and for
them to have received the award,”
said Donna Holloway, assistant
director of scholarships and finan¬
cial aid. “It was a very fascinating
experience.”
“I just feel honored and am