Students are halfway through the semester, having overcome parking lot woes, established routines and found their places in classes. Plenty have grunted their teeth at the lack of funding and fallen prisoner to the rising gas prices and a host of other impacts – unemployment, budget cuts, and natural disasters – inflicting students and the community.

As the restraint of success and survival tightens, candidates of opportunities must diversify their self-being. Chabot’s service learning class is the elective that weeds the front row, high score, trending industry knowledge and late-to-lecture students and places them in a higher category of learning.

Over the course of the spring semester service learning, SERV 85, students embrace the idea and history of community service. While the requirements of community service have become just as much a controversial issue as the next, the idea and efforts continue to serve student character and community.

Service learning students are required to complete a minimum of 54 hours for two units or 105 hours for three units. Each student selects a community service site of their interest. The class meets once a week to address community service matters and allow students to reflect on their experiences as individuals and active community volunteers.

This semester students have become a part of animal shelters, convalescent homes, YMCAs, food drives, the George Marks Foundation, Reading Partners and a host of other community impacting volunteering.

These students have found the value and reward in being a part of an act that is beyond their personal interest, daily routine and goals. The class also reviews articles and philosopher quotes that influence the community and introduce new concepts.

One example is Rabbi Hillel, who said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?” Students breakdown statements like that of the rabbi’s and apply them to their life.

SERV 85 student Julia Brusaca understood the rabbi in the sense that one must believe in oneself first. Brusaca also expressed that it didn’t mean to be stuck on the self or have a big ego that prevents people from considering the concerns of others.

“Who am I if I don’t want to step outside of my comfort zone?” Brusaca said. Brusaca’s comfort zone is being a part of three different volunteering experiences that involve the education of young children.

In conclusion of a reflection hour students agreed there is a need to do for the self but also evolve beyond oneself. It takes a certain individual to break routine to involve themselves in someone else’s life. SERV 85 embraces the volunteering need and the folds of experience.

“I feel rewarded … (to) make them laugh and smile at my site,” shared SERV 85 student Kim Endres, who works with the sometimes forgotten elderly.

In a study rating levels of happiness it was found that there is a baseline to happiness. Life events will either put an individual under or over his baseline. A good experience will cause one’s happiness to rise while a bad experience will obviously cause one’s happiness to decline.

However in both scenarios individuals return to their baselines. In conclusion of the study the purposeful experience of volunteering raised the happiness baseline itself.

SERV 85 experience redefines inabilities, abilities to succeed and the gesture to be a part of the success of another. These are the qualities that separate one bachelor from another. Universities and employers are looking for differentiated factors in selecting a worthy candidate.

As the semester comes to a close, consider an experience that will impact you, your community and your future.

Astronomy and Physics Instructor Billy Smith is one of the few professors who are attempting to enlighten today’s Chabot students with what’s happening in the universe. Since the time of Carl Sagan (1934-96) discoveries in science have been plentiful.

Yet in spite of this the current United States ranking is 21st in science and 25th in math. This is even after President Barack Obama put forward his plan for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

Nonetheless here at Chabot, with the help of two other professors, Billy Smith has made it his mission to bring the stars to us.

Read the full story

By Lamyra Hal

Staff Writer

Signs have been posted throughout the campus. It’s registration time for new students and those planning to return next semester.

Registration is parallel to being a voter in an election. The ultimate goal is to make a selection that will be beneficial for the future. However when considering the service learning class titled Learning in Action (SERV85) this candidate has more to offer than units.

SERV85 began in 2006 and originated with two English instructors who decided to offer students extra credit for becoming involved in community service. SERV85 requirements are minimal and benefits are life lasting.

Students must simply select a charity or community involved organization, commit to a few hours, and attend a weekly 50 minute class meeting. SERV85 offers up to three CSU transferable college credits and can enhance one’s transfer applications and resumes.

Originator Clara McLean expressed that “active citizens” are what colleges and industries are looking for. McLean further stated, “Self-directed, independent work is impressive.”

One SERV85 student, Evelyn Carmack, indicated that this class presents “empathy for all humanity.” Carmack passionately stated, “This work has strengthened my self-identity.”

Carmack stumbled upon a program while walking in the Mission District of San Francisco, The Pirate Store with eye patches and all. Carmack revealed that this shop was more than just a novelty store. It’s actually a big organization committed to the community.

The organization side runs programs to help students with their writing.

The program offers workshops, aids in after school tutoring and even serves as a liaison for classroom help, meaning teachers in San Francisco can reach out and receive classroom help when needed.

The Pirate Store, otherwise known as 826 Valencia, is where Carmack became community involved. Carmack spends her hours helping poor or academically struggling students with school work. Carmack realizes that she is only giving up a few hours a week but to the kids “it means a lot.”

In becoming a part of the program Carmack learned that “working with kids, being selfless” is what she is passionate about.

The possibilities of experiences while lending a hand are endless. The weekly 50 minutes of class time offers reflection of the experiences in volunteering.

The class also analyzes ideas like the Chinese proverb that states, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Carmack explained that the proverb is questioning if efforts are “attacking the root or the symptoms.”

Carmack will leave behind the campus for a new adventure but the SERV85 experience will remain a part of her character. It will have given her transferable credits and when colleges review her application letter “active citizen” will be duly noted.

To learn more information contact Clara McLean at cmclean@chabotcollege.edu. To enroll in the class select CRN 31410 using CLASS-Web.

For ideas on where you can volunteer read Josephine Grasso’s article, click here.

Rest rooms are really supposed to be restful (as the name connotes) and not restless. It should be a place of convenience where one can quickly freshen up.
Sadly, Chabot restrooms do not meet this standard, being rather an eyesore.
Even during the early days of the week the restrooms in all class buildings are frequently out of paper towels; empty soap and toilet paper dispensers are not uncommon either.
Surprise at the high volume of traffic doesn’t even excuse the matter.
Enrollment is not a secret among staff, and the fact that a great many of the students will use the campus restrooms should not really be that great a shock.
After spending upwards of an hour in a classroom, students have the right to expect a neat, reasonably clean smelling restroom to use before venturing into the next full session; what they actually find more closely resembles the Port-a-Potty at a busy campground over the Fourth of July!
Even the more “public” areas like the cafeteria are not safe!
Although there are two separate restrooms to choose from, they are pretty much equally disgusting, with paper strewn across the floor and hanging from the toilet bowls.
Students do not totally escape blame here, having either not taken the time to understand the high-tech toilets or perhaps just not caring.
Not only is this a horrific state of affairs for the facilities where we buy our food, it also
affects tutoring, which is located in the same building.
If a student is unwise enough or unlucky enough to have not planned ahead and stopped in another building on the way in, they are faced with two options: either brave the toxic environment previously described, or waste precious learning time running to another building in hopes of finding a more sanitary toilet.
It might be tempting to think that this is only a female issue, but sadly it is not. An overheard conversation among several male students referenced not
only an overall level of filth, but also a chronic shortage of paper supplies as well.
Don’t be deceived to think it only in the library of the cafeteria that this is an impounding problem, check buildings 900, 800,500, and list goes on and on. All have rest rooms which needs to be attended to.
This problem is widespread, and is not limited to the newer or older facilities. Salimah Shabezz, a student of the college, commented on the state of the restrooms on campus. “Dirty.
I use the restroom in the 700 building more. 1700 and
900 building restrooms, they are nasty, there is writing everywhere on the wall with graffiti everywhere. CLEAN IT UP.” Obviously, the issue is known through the student body.
More than one thing needs to happen in addressing this issue. Although some responsibility does lie with the administration to improve bathroom cleaning schedules, students also need to act like the adults they are and respect those who follow them by flushing (or making sure the automatic flusher works) and using the trash cans for their paper waste.

Students who use their cell phones in class are not only annoying and rude, but they show a lack of respect and a lack of class. It makes the ones who do it looks selfish and immature.Instructors at Chabot let their students know from the very beginning that they are to turn their phones off or to vibrate, and every time someone’s phone makes a noise they repeat the instruction. So why is it so hard for students to do it?
Granted, everyone has someone they know or are related to that they want to be reachable by; mothers need to know about emergencies with their children, husbands need to know about emergencies with their wives, and other students need to know about emergencies involving their parents.
I get that. I need to know if someone I care about has an emergency too. There’s this nifty little feature called Caller ID though, so you can see who is calling.
I assume that anyone a student is close to knows their school schedule and wouldn’t be calling unless it was an emergency, so leave your phone on vibrate and check the phone number. If it’s a loved one during school hours, leave the class and take the call. Otherwise, leave the phone alone!
And that goes for texting as well. There is nothing more distracting than someone one or two seats away from you in the direction of the instructor who is texting on their phone under the table! Do you think no one can see you? That glow from the screen catches the eye every time and then the one who sees it starts thinking things like ‘Oh yea, that reminds me, I need to call so-and-so and set
up such-and-such’. For those students who feel it is okay to use their phones in
class – whether it’s texting or not silencing it (or OMG the one who actually answers it) – let me tell you a little secret . . . . some students are actually trying to learn something!
Every time the instructor has to stop a lecture to chastise a student about their phone it not only takes the instructor off their train of thought but it distracts the other students as well. And the ones who do it seem to do over and over again!
Classroom cell use is frustrating to the students who don’t use phones in class, and in my opinion it shows everyone that you don’t care about the rules and that you don’t respect the instructor. Not only that but you don’t respect your fellow classmates!
I’m sorry but that bothers me. Maybe because I was raised in another time and we were taught to respect our elders and others of authority or maybe because it’s just plain rude, either way it shows a lack of class.
Students: get a grip – things are not that important that you need to let a phone call or a text get in the way of your college instruction, or mine.
These days it’s hard for people to get into college and whether you realize it or not, people are not going to get jobs without degrees because of the number of unemployed out there. So this is what’s important, not texting your friend or BFF or your girl or guy or whatever! This is college, a school for adults. Leave high school behind. Please!

Editorial

Today the Academic Policy Council will be meeting from 2:25 p.m. to 4 p.m. “in response to recent reported incidents of student forgery of priority numbers,” as Ming-Lun Ho wrote in a recent e-mail sent to Chabot faculty and staff.

Students are cheating the system and, in fact, cutting the line when it comes time to add classes. One may wonder if students are now hacking the CLASS-Web system. The answer for now is no, at least from what is known. But non the less this in unconscionable.

So how or why would someone do this?

With the rise in unemployment and the delay in a resolution with the state budget, Chabot has been put in between “a rock and a hard place” like many colleges in California. While student enrollment is at an all time high, Chabot is being forced to cut staff and classes until the state of the economy can be resolved.

The lack of classes has led students to think up new ways to get into classes that are already full. Typically, when a class is full students who would like to add show up the first day of class with their priority number. The more units a student has completed the higher his or her priority number.

It was brought to the Spectator’s attention, along with that of many Chabot faculty and staff, that students are so desperate to get into classes they are faking their priority numbers with Photoshop and other software that can digitally manipulate the number.

According to internal e-mail discussions between instructors, some students have been coming to them with odd priority numbers, whether it be because the numbers aren’t aligned properly on their printout or the number they have submitted is unusually high.

What most students don’t realize is that, firstly, the priority number indicates three different things. Specifically, the numbers in the middle represent the number of units one has completed.

Instructor Diane Zuliani noted a student who “handed [her] a print-out, ostensibly from CLASS-Web, with a priority number that not only looked odd, [but] the digits were not correctly aligned. … that indicated she had completed over seven hundred units at Chabot.” Zuliani did not accuse the student but did suggest the student go to Admissions and Records to verify the priority number.

Counselor Jane Church explained, “The number students show is a six digit number which includes the matriculation priority number, which could be a 07. A typical number would look like this: 070459. The middle three numbers represent the number of units completed at Chabot. The last number is a random number. So in the example above the student completed 45 units at Chabot.” This information can be found at http://www.chabotcollege.edu/admissions/registration/priority.asp.

Additionally, once a student is added in a class the individual’s priority number shows up on the roster. So, instructors can see if students are lying later, which would give cause to drop them for fraud.

At this time there is no precedent in the CLPCCD (Chabot-Las Positas Community College District), but if things like this continue the colleges are bound to come up with a set punishment.

At the Spectator we hope a punishment is determined in this recent trend, and will keep students informed when we know more.

For many there are gaps in their schedule or their just having difficulties finding an open class to add. Typically Chabot will post open classes that are searching for students on Class Web, but they haven’t set that up yet. Below are some classes still open and seeking students. Theses classes are as of July 6 at Noon. This is not a guarentee that the classes are still open.

Classweb

Anthropolgy
20443     ANTH     5     Cultures of the U.S. in Global

________________________________________________________
Architecture
22720     ARCH     4A     Arch Drafting Principles I
22721     ARCH     4B     Arch Drafting Principles II
20685     ARCH     8A     Fundamentals of Arch Design I
22719     ARCH     33     3-D Modeling

________________________________________________________
Art History
21831     ARTH     1     Introduction to Art
23062     ARTH     4     Art History-Ancient to Gothic
23063     ARTH     7     Multicultural Hist Amer Art
22443     ARTH     50     Museum & Gallery Techniques

________________________________________________________
Astronomy
21828     ASTR     30     Intro to Astronomy Lab

________________________________________________________
Communications

22403    COMM 1         Fundamentals of Speech Comm
22404   COMM 1         Fundamentals of Speech Comm
22408    COMM 1         Fundamentals of Speech Comm
22370    COMM 1         Fundamentals of Speech Comm
22409    COMM 1         Fundamentals of Speech Comm
________________________________________________________
English
22225     ENGL     25    Asian-American Literature     TR
21099     ENGL     32     U.S. Women’s Literature
20674     ENGL     45     Studies in Fiction
21195     ENGL     48     Literature of the Holocaust
20583     ENGL     101B Reading, Reasoning, Writing II
21220     ENGL     101B Reading, Reasoning, Writing II
21881     ENGL     101B    Reading, Reasoning, Writing II
23118     ENGL     102     Read/Reason/Write-Accelerated
20666     ENGL     102     Read/Reason/Write-Accelerated
20663     ENGL     102     Read/Reason/Write-Accelerated
20593     ENGL     107     Intro to English Grammar
21761     ENGL     107     Intro to English Grammar
22069     ENGL     107     Intro to English Grammar

________________________________________________________
Geography
21922     GEOG     1     Intro to Physical Geography
20672     GEOG     1     Intro to Physical Geography
20673     GEOG     1L     Intro to Phys Geog Laboratory
________________________________________________________
Mass Communications

20246     MCOM     1     Journalism: Newswriting
22895     MCOM     3     Magazine and Feature Writing
21877     MCOM     9    Colloquium-Mass Communications
20244    MCOM     14     Writing & Photo Publication
20245     MCOM     15     Publications/Editorial
22495     MCOM     40     Introduction to Broadcasting
22516     MCOM     41     Intro to Mass Communications
22900     MCOM     41     Intro to Mass Communications
22899     MCOM     42     Writing for Broadcasting
22496     MCOM     44     Radio & Television Announcing
22499     MCOM     50     Radio Studio Techniques
22500     MCOM     58     KCRH Radio Experience
22517     MCOM     59    Adv KCRH Radio Experience
22501     MCOM     68     KCTH Television Experience
22541     MCOM     69     Advanced KCTH TV Experience
________________________________________________________
Mathematics
21461     MTH     40         Concepts of Mathematics
21568     MTH     40         Concepts of Mathematics