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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.

Paramount Farms Helping a Community

Pay toys at the park

By Brenda Magana

Paramount Farms is always looking for ways to help out local communities. One community they wanted to help out was Lost Hills. Paramount representatives went door-to-door asking individuals how to make their community better, and well by the looks of it, most of them seemed to suggest the reconstruction of Lost Hill’s Community Park.

Today, the park is nothing like how it was back then. The park includes an artificial turf soccer field with a track around it, a basketball court, a volleyball court, a playground, workout stations, a community garden, and even a miniature water park. There are also two building in the park used for community activities which are provided by Paramount Farms. For instance, some of the activities would be Zumba, movie nights, classes, and much more.

Without a doubt, Paramount did a great job in helping out the Lost Hills community.

Lost Hills Park

soccer field and track

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