Stress

Stress

Stress on the Student Mind

By Gloria Saldivar

One out of four college students reports feeling stressed daily. There are many factors that contribute to this fact whether it is the lack of sleep, the workload, personal problems at home, or even financial problems. The average college student will definitely experience stress and learning how to cope with that stress is very important.

Most college students know of someone that has tried to tackle stress in a wrong and unhealthy way. Coping with it in a wrong way can lead to a downhill spiral that can knock just about anyone off track. Dealing with stress does not have to be difficult; it is actually fairly easy especially when you follow the four A’s: avoid, alter, accept, and adapt.

Avoid: avoiding stress is completely up to oneself. It can be easily done here at Taft College by staying on track with ones school work, keeping in mind that it is making a better student out of you, and there will be less stressful all-nighters.

Alter: we are in complete control of our stressful situations. We have the ability to change the way things are going and try to make them better.

Accept: if for some reason something can’t be changed than accept it. Maybe financial aid is not fully covering tuition. Accepting that and coming up with ways to help pay for tuition is the responsible thing to do instead of complaining about it and making life difficult.

Adapt: learning how to manage time can be rough and it can even take a toll on students if not well prepared. Adapting to the college life is not the easiest thing to do, but it can be done.

Following the four A’s can be beneficial if used to ones’ advantage. Other simple ways to reduce stress is by simply taking deep breathes and clearing the mind for a couple of minutes. Coming up with solutions will be easier once the mind is cleared of all the hectic things going on. Another way is to get the body in motion to get rid of all the tension that builds up during stressful times and get those good ol’ endorphins running through the body.

Dealing with stress does not have to be stressful! (no pun intended) . Cope with it the right way, and you’ll be one step closer to the road of success.

Petroleum Roundtable Initiative

Roundtable Initiative

By Alejandro De Alba

Attention! The West Kern Petroleum Initiative Roundtable is going to be held on March 20, 2014, at 9:00 am in the Taft College Cougar Room, and everyone is invited and encouraged to attend. There is going to be a special guest speaker Omar Garcia. Omar Garcia is the President of the South Texas Energy & Economic Roundtable (STEER).

Garcia is a graduate from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. Garcia holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish/International Business. Omar is a former vice president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, and has over 12 years of Economic Development experience in working for the Texas Governor’s Office.

In addition to his economic development experience, Garcia spent two years working for Bank of America as Vice President of Business Development for their Treasury Management division.

If there is any questions that you may have for Mr. Garcia please feel free to attend the initiative.

Flipping the Classroom

Flipping the Classroom

By Kendyl Chavez

The newest talked about word in the educational world is flipping the classroom. According to Cynthia J. Brame, CFT Assistant Director at Vanderbilt University, proclaims that, ‘“flipping the classroom” means that students gain first exposure to new material outside of class, usually via reading or lecture videos, and then use class time to do the harder work of assimilating that knowledge, perhaps through problem-solving, discussion, or debates.”

For those students who have experience with online classes or even some students who have taken on-campus classes, they have been exposed to this concept. Some teachers have based their class on students watching required lecture videos at home rather than sitting in lecture during class.

Is this method affective? Do students find “flipping the classroom” affective in their learning process?

After talking to some students about their experience with online lecture videos, I found that students are more interested in the quality of the video than how easy it is to understand the lecture. Some students like watching lecture videos on their own time, at their convenience, and there are others who would rather have an in class lecture.

Personally, I have found that some teachers’ approaches to flipping the classroom is boring and pointless. I would prefer to sit in class and listen to a lecture where I can take notes and ask questions rather than be at home and try to understand everything that is being said on my own. For example, I had a class where it was required to watch an online lecture video and take notes as homework; then in class, we were to ask questions on homework problems. I found that this approach was hard and more confusing because of our short amount of time in class and limited scheduled class meetings; there wasn’t much room for asking questions and getting clarification on everything that I needed help with.

Compared to on campus classes, I found that I learned more from the professor’s lectures in class compared to lectures online.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Preparing for Graduation

The Do’s and Don’ts of Preparing for Graduation

By Kaylynn Clark

With many students facing their last semester at Taft College, I have found there to be a major disconnect between what counselors need out of a prospective Taft College graduate and what students know about how to apply for graduation. This can create many unanswered questions for students.  In short, there are many things to consider when graduating.  First, make an appointment with your proper department counselor as soon as possible if you think you qualify for graduation, then refer to a few of my do’s and don’ts of preparing for graduation.

DO

Check your intended major, and if you have taken the classes you need to fall under that major.  Most majors have requirements that need to be fulfilled if you would like to graduate with your associate’s degree. Taking some undergraduate courses at a junior college can potentially save you thousands in tuition costs at a university if you plan on transferring.

DON’T

Take classes for something that does not fall under a potential career opportunity for you, stick to your general education and major requirements. For example, if you don’t plan on being a nurse, then you probably did not need to take those 4 extra science classes. Your counselor should steer you in the proper direction of the classes you can take if you have a career plan!

DO

Ask as many questions as you need to feel comfortable with the graduation process. Make a list of questions you have before you see your counselor. They are there to help you, but only if you ask!

DON’T

Go in to your counseling appointment unprepared. Familiarize yourself with the graduation application papers and your general education requirements. This can save you from feeling confused about the process of graduating.

DO

Know the dates that you must fill out a graduation application. There is a window of time that you must submit your application by. Refer to the Taft College homepage (under the” important dates” tab) for these dates.

DON’T

Submit your graduation application late or forget to turn it in!

Movie Review: The Wolf of Wall Street

Movie Review: The Wolf of Wall Street

By Kendyl Chavez

Over the winter break, The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill was released on December 25, 2013. This movie is based on the true story of Jordan Belfort’s greatest success and fails of his life. The Wolf of Wall Street stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, Margot Robbie as Naomi Lapaglia, Matthew McConaughey as Mark Hanna, along with many others.

This movie shows us how Jordan Belfort got his start as a stockbroker and what he progressively became as the years went on. Belfort’s Wall Street story started when he was in his early 20s and aspiring to become the most successful stockbroker on Wall Street. After the crash of the economy and the loss of the most important job of his life, Jordan Beltfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) aspires to start his own business and uses all of the advice from Mark Hanna to become the founder of his own firm, Stratton Oakmont. Along with his success, Beltfort begins to get caught up in drugs, alcohol, partying, and having affairs with women until his life takes a turn and Beltfort gets arrested for his illegal stock broking actions.

I thought that the actors portrayed the roles of each character to the best of their ability and made the story believable. Each character was different and had different issues, which were played so well that it’s easy for the audience to believe each character. The director showed the side of Wall Street that not a lot of people know about and the affects money and success have on these people. Although the movie showed Beltfort’s story in detail, it was a long movie and kind of dragged on towards the end. I also thought the language in the movie was really explicit and so were the drug scenes. This is definitely a movie for an audience who doesn’t mind a movie about sex, drugs, and explicit language.

The Macaroni and Cheese Festival

The Macaroni & Cheese Festival

By: Lisa Ybarra

Cal State Bakersfield is hosting the Macaroni & Cheese festival on Saturday April 12th. This event is sponsored by American General Media. More than twenty chefs will be handing out samples of gourmet macaroni and cheese. Also more than forty local breweries and wineries will be at the event with their products. This is all included with the purchase of your ticket. Products available for purchase include cheese, olive oils, gelato, and almonds. Musical guests Truxton Mile and Chris Gardner will perform. Guests will be able to vote for their favorite mac and cheese; the top three winners will win a prize. Tickets are 45$ and you must be 21 and over.

New Teacher Profile: Adam Bledsoe

New Teacher Profile: Adam Bledsoe

By Kendyl Chavez

New Teacher Profile: Adam Bledsoe

Along with new students on campus this year, Taft College has also added a new professor to their Cougar team, Mr. Adam Bledsoe. Not only is this Mr. Bledsoe’s first year teaching at TC, this is also his first year teaching at the college level.

Mr. Bledsoe graduated from Cal State University of Bakersfield with a bachelors degree in history and a masters degree in Business. Mr. Bledsoe’s teaching career started at Stockdale High School in Bakersfield, California as a history teacher. After realizing that he didn’t enjoy teaching history as much as he had anticipated, Bledsoe was able to switch into teaching economics due to his Minor in economics. Once he started teaching economics and realized that econ was what he wanted to teach, Bledsoe went back to school to get his business degree.

Years later, Mr. Bledsoe had come to the conclusion that he wanted to expand on his teaching career and try teaching economics at the college level. At Stockdale, Mr. Bledsoe had taught the Honors and AP economics classes which compare to college courses, so he had some experience and an idea of what teaching at the college level would be like. I had asked Mr. Bledsoe at which level did he like better, high school or college, and he said college. He went on to say, “Students in college actually want to be here. High school students don’t seem to care as much.”

After talking to Mr. Bledsoe, students can tell by the way he talks about teaching at his new school that he seems truly happy where he is. Bledsoe wants to continue teaching and the college level and in the next 4 years, he wants to try to get tenured. Mr. Bledsoe wants nothing more than to improve and make his classes more entertaining and active as possible.

I had Mr. Bledsoe for Macroeconomics this past semester and I would recommend him to any of my peers or fellow classmates! Not only is he interested and likes what he’s teaching, he is very helpful and makes everything easy to understand. His classes aren’t full of boring lectures, he doesn’t make you want to be on your phone or leave class to go home. I asked Mr. Bledsoe what his idea of a perfect student would be and he replied, “Someone who is engaged and wants to learn . . .not going through the motions to get a good grade.” Welcome to TC Mr. Bledsoe!

TC facebookPage

Taft College facebook Page

By Alejandro De Alba

Taft College has a facebook page, its called Taft College Alumni and Friends. The page is a great way to stay connected with people from the school past and present as well as keeping up with up coming events that are happening on and away from campus.

Retired Vice President of Instructions Dr. Loretta Lipscomb’s daughter Jessica Gehle started the page. Taft College Alumni and Friends page was started about 3 years ago but was hardly ever used, until Mahea Maui took over and started posting. If you have anything that you would like to be posted please contact Mahea at mmaui@taftcollege.edu, and she will get it take care of it.

There are also two other facebook pages that you can follow for updates, and they are the Taft College TIL Program and Taft College Dental Hygiene Program. Also, be on the look for a Taft College Twitter account; be one of the first to follow and get the word passed around.

How to Save Money during College

How to Save Money during College

Kaylynn Clark

According to National Financial Aid Services, seven in 10 college seniors (71%) who graduated last year had student loan debt, with an average of $29,400 per borrower. To many, this number is daunting, and not an amount they would like to have looming over their heads after graduation. First, there is something you are already doing right, if you are attending a Junior College, as you are already saving thousands in tuition costs! There are many ways to save a few extra dollars, but I have compiled the top 5 money savers for you to consider throughout your college journey.

1. Everyone wants to live on their own or in dorm rooms during their college years to feel freedom for the first time, but studies show that this can add thousands in college debt. In truth, can potentially save over 12,000 dollars a year on living costs alone, if you stay home. To many this is not a possibility, but if you have a local junior college or state university within a few miles from home, it should be considered.

2. Reduce costs of school supplies and shop around. Many are quick to purchase books directly from their school’s book store, but prices are not necessarily wallet friendly or the cheapest you can find. First, shop sites such as amazon.com for those otherwise pricey hardcover books for rent, and compare to your books store. As well, go to your first class meeting without purchasing and see what the professor will use throughout the semester, and what books will not even be opened.

3. Work part-time to help cover costs. Many parents are not able to support their children by covering their college costs. In fact, students that aren’t paying for their schooling is a rarity. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by taking out a student loan, you can try to get a part-time job. In fact, part-time jobs, such as serving, making coffee, or tutoring can really provide some financial relief.

4. Make time to study. I know the hardest one to apply, but also one of the most cost effective. If you are not confidant in yourself in a class that you don’t think you will pass, it is probably because you aren’t studying. I know, I know, it’s so much easier to blame the professors, and retake the class. But, you just now doubled the cost of that particular class by having to retake. Try to pass the first time, and save tons.

5. Know your major before you transfer to a university. If you plan on changing your major, do so at a junior college level before you transfer and have to pay tuition! Seek advice from your counselor, and make choices that count to your dream career!

ASB Visits Seaworld

ASB Scheduled to go to SeaWorld Amid Blackfish and Citation Issues

Kaylynn Clark

The Depratment of Agriculture has decided to cite Seaworld Orlando for violating the Animal Welfare Act recently. The citation is a result of an inspection that occurred January 13, 2014. Months later, Taft College’s ASB has decided to host a trip to San Diego, and attend SeaWorld during their stay, despite all of the negative media attention and controversy surrounding the amusement park. I spoke to Myisha Cutrona, the ASB Advisor, to ask questions about their planned trip.

Kaylynn Clark: Why did the ASB select to go to SeaWorld?

Myisha Cutrona: It is voted on by the executive board, which chooses three to five options to be voted on. Out of the three options that fit our budget, SeaWorld was voted the top choice by our committee.

Clark: The integrity of the theme parks is starting to crumble in the eyes of the public, mostly in part of Blackfish; a documentary that has been very popular this year, as well being cited. Amid all of these issues, many students and student affiliated groups have cancelled their school trips to SeaWorld. Did the ASB discuss SeaWorld’s current standing before choosing the trip?

Cutrona: In fact, we did. I brought Blackfish to the board’s attention. The thing is, many are against it, but many people are for it. We believe it is more of a leadership and peer experience than about the park. It is more of a year-end celebration among students than about SeaWorld.

Clark: The animals of the park, particularly killer whales, have shown proof of intellect, feelings and expressing emotions in the wild in a very effective way. The whales at SeaWorld that have not been bred in captivity have shown signs of distress. Do you think killer whales are suitable for this form of entertainment?

Cutrona: I feel after seeing the movie (Blackfish), it has brought to light many issues. Most of the whales are bred in captivity, and all they know is SeaWorld. I think that if they (the whales) were reacting harshly, it would be something the trainers would see, and would not have them do shows if it does occur.

Clark: How many times has ASB scheduled and went on trips to Seaworld?

Cutrona: Twice since I have been here.

Clark: Were other parks considered, such as aquariums that are known for their conservation efforts?

Cutrona: Personally, I wanted to go to Disneyland, because there are other things to do in Anaheim other than the park, such as Downtown Disney. It was one of our options, but SeaWorld was decided on. When you think of San Diego, SeaWorld is often thought of. It is a place to go in that city. . . No aquariums were considered.

There is a lot of tension on this subject, and objections to a school affiliated trip to one of the most controversial amusement parks of modern record. In truth, everyone agrees that the animals of SeaWorld deserve a flourishing environment free of cruelty and harmful behaviors, no matter of what opinion is held on the matter.

In closing, the ASB has decided to do their trip to SeaWorld, but are welcome to new members with different ideas and suggestions. The meetings of our Taft College ASB are held weekly on Thursdays in the banquet hall from 12:30-1pm. Bring your current student ID with ASB sticker to the meeting as well, to receive admittance. I hope this article brings to light more opinions to be heard at our Taft College ASB meetings.