Author:pablo

TC Art Exhibit

The annual Art Department Faculty exhibit is currently on view in T-11 M-R 9-4, Friday 10-12. You will love the variety of this year’s exhibit. We have work from Anna Dimayuga, Jon Elsdon and Erin Kaczkowski who are the newest members of our team. Suzanne Acosta is not new, but has returned to teach online sections of ArtH 1500 and you would remember her as Suzanne Bothwell when she taught studio classes for us before. We have some video clips by Jon and some samples of work for Ann’s clients so you can see what working artists create for your viewing pleasure.

Please join us for the reception for the artists Monday, May 4th for the reception. At 3:30 Brian Jean will play the guitar as if it were a piano and Leigh Golling will do a dramatic reading about 4:15.

Taft Ability Partnership Wine Tasting

Dr. C mans one of the tasting tables

Patrons sample various wines

Taft High Jazz Band performs.

The Taft Abilities Partnership Team (TAPT) held its annual Wine and Cheese Tasting event at the Fort, a Taft landmark, on April 30. The charity event benefits the Fort Preservation Society and the Transition to Independent Living program at Taft College.

The event was catered by Taft College’s own Chef Geoffrey Dunham. Featured were hot dishes including meatballs, ribs, and mac and cheese bites, cold items including bruchetta, quiche, veggies with dip, and much more. The dessert table featured white and milk chocolate covered strawberries, crème puffs, churros, and fruit.

Entertainment was provided by the Taft Union High School Jazz Band who performed classic jazz favorites throughout the evening.

Various wineries provided wine for tasting offering a variety of wines allowing patrons to sample their wares. Soft drinks and water were also available

The event also had a silent auction and a bidding auction. Many items were donated by local people and businesses. The evening was relaxing and enjoyable allowing goers to partake of good food, good wine, good conversation,  and good company.

TUHS Jazz Band

Ken Knost tries Chef Geof’s famous meatballs.

Billy White, Darcy Bogle, and Cal Vaughn enjoy the event.

Rolling Chariots Thunder into Town

A Rolling Chariot team member

By Echo Staff Online

Monday, April 27, 2015, the Rolling Chariots Basketball Team stormed into town to face the Taft College All Stars. The All Stars consisting of faculty and students fought heroically against the oncoming tide of the Rolling Chariots. The game was played using wheelchairs.

Hundreds of fans supported both teams with chanting and foot stomping. Most of the audience consisted of elementary school students and Taft College students The event was held to bring disabilities awareness to the people of Taft. The game was sponsored by the Taft Abilities Partnership Team (TAPT) which is an oversight committee to advocate for people with disabilities

The game was won by an overwhelming margin of 8 to 0 (zip, nada, zilch, big fat zero!) by the Chariots devastating their opponents before a rowdy crowd in the Taft College Gymnasium.

Fast break

Lee officiates the game

Fitness Day

Rock climb

Mechanical bull

By Nick Kawano

On April 22, 2015, Taft College held a Fitness Day in the quad.

They had rock climbing, a mechanical bull, and an obstacle course. Many people participated in Fitness Day. Athletes, non-athletes, and even a couple teachers decided to have some fun. They also had a health table to promote healthy aging. It was fun to watch students race each other in the obstacle course to see who would win, watch them ride the bull to see how long they could stay on without falling, and watch students rock climb to see if they could make it to the top.

This was definitely a successful event that took place at Taft College. You can sure that this event will return to Taft College in the future.

Obstacle course

TC Athletics Spring Sports Banquet

BC Planetarium

By Lisa Ybarra

I recently visited the Bakersfield College Planetarium and thought it was very interesting. They offer a variety of shows throughout the semester, but I recommend you plan your visit ahead of time because the shows sell out quickly. The show I went to was called “Earthquakes: Evidence of a Restless Planet.”

For the first half of the show, we were given a tour of the night sky. The Planetarium uses a projector called the GOTO Chronos star projector. The director talked about well-known constellations and showed us how we could find them ourselves in the night sky.

The second half of the show we watched the video “Earthquakes: Evidence of a Restless Planet” which is displayed on the whole dome using a Spitz SciDome projector. The video talked about earthquakes and how and why they occur. It also showed how our planet has changed over the past 200 million years. It ended by showing us how engineers and scientists are working to create better buildings that can withstand earthquakes. This is important for our future because if a big earthquake were to hit there would be less damage.

If you’re into science and space it is definitely a place you should visit. For tickets and more information about the Planetarium visit the BC website.

Photo from BC website

Subtle Beauty: Windwolves Preserve

By Josiah Birkbeck

Kern country has some beautiful spots tucked away far from visitors. One of these spots is Windwolves Wildlife Preserve. Windwolves has been in operation since 1996 and is the largest preserve on the West Coast, boasting 93,000 acres of topsoil management. The preserve has a large collection of wildlife and a visitor can possibly see tule elk, deer, bears, and a large assortment of lizards, snakes and birds. In years with cold damp winters, the flowers in the preserve bloom during the spring in an impressive manner, showing a brighter side than what outsiders usually equate with Kern County.

Visitors can help on volunteer days to assist the park rangers plant trees, clear debris, and maintain the grounds of the preserve; 5,000 volunteer hours are available. There are an estimated 30,000 visitors a year streaming through the preserve seven days a week to enjoy the peace and quiet of the great outdoors. Activities that guests can partake in include night hikes, mountain bike trails, and nature hikes. Students at Taft College may be interested in the internships for biology, environmental, and teaching related degrees that Windwolves Preserve offers.

Additionally, Wildwolves works with cattle and sheep herds to keep the introduced vegetation under control so that it does not cancel out local wildlife and vegetation. The grazing practices also keep the fire risk at a minimum allowing endangered wildlife a place to live without being threatened.

Poet Joseph Lease will visit TC next week!

On Thursday, April 30, from 1:10 to 2:25pm, poet Joseph Lease will give a reading of his work and answer questions in the Cougar Room. Joseph Lease has published three collections of poetry, appeared in anthologies, and been printed in The New York Times​. Students of our creative writing course have been reading his latest collection, Testify, which is available at the Cougar Corner Bookstore. Please invite your students and spread the word to those who enjoy poetry. The event is free and open to the public.

TC Baseball Almost Wrapped Up

By Michael Clites
This season for Taft College’s baseball team has been somewhat of a rollercoaster. After beginning their season with an astounding record of fourteen wins and only four losses, the Cougars have fallen into a bit of a slump. In the middle of March, Taft began a horrid seven game losing streak and out of all the times this streak could have occurred, it happened during the always crucial league games.
But there is plenty of baseball to be played, and the Cougars have many reasons to keep their heads up. After all, sports experts say every good team has to go through a struggle in order to succeed.
Although the season is coming to an end, the Cougars can dig their way out of this slump in no time. With six games left in the regular season, Taft can finish with a total of twenty-two wins and fourteen losses and fourteen of those wins would be league games. What do these numbers mean? Well, the better a team finishes their season, the higher they are seeded in the playoffs.
With plenty of talent on the defensive side of the ball like second basemen Michael Dagg. He seems to have no problem stopping whatever ball comes his way in addition to his terrific ability to get on base and touch home plate a total of nineteen times. There is also heavy hitter Keith Tatum who gets on base thirty-five percent of the time he is at bat with an eye-opening batting average of .330.
All in all, the Taft College Cougars have plenty of time to become a clutch team in order to finish their regular season with a record over .500 and earn a chance to continue on through the playoffs and into the State finals in May.

Texting and Driving Seminar

Kim Fields speaks at texting and driving seminar

By Brenda Magana
Guest speaker Kim Fields spoke about how “texting and driving” took a part of his life away. His 16-year-old daughter, Shaye Fields, passed away on January 16, 2009.
Mr. Fields stated that his daughter wanted to be in nursing and was a fantastic golf player. She was a bright child who unfortunately did not get to fulfill her dreams.
Because of this, Mr. Fields came up with the “4T’s” which mean “Take Time To Think.” Don’t ever be careless and think something like this will never happen to you, and follow Mr. Fields’s wise advice because you never know what can happen.