Just the Beginning: Loss Another Stepping-Stone for Young Pioneers

Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by Colleen Ueichi in Campus, Sports

As the last ticks of the second half wore down on PUC’s 90-63 loss to Cal State University-Maritime, the fans had to remind themselves that for many of the Pioneers, it’s still the first half. Of their careers, that is. The PUC women’s basketball team is stacked with underclassmen, whose sparks of promise were showcased both throughout the season and in their match against the Keelhaulers.

Freshman guard Gabby Alvero showed some of those sparks. The Pioneers jumped to a 13-0 lead in the first half, eight of those points coming from Alvero, who would finish the game with 10 points. Using screens on offense and tight defense, PUC held the lead and worked Cal Maritime the whole first half. But the Keelhaulers did damage on the perimeter, finally going ahead 28-27 with five minutes to go before halftime.

Cal Maritime spent the last twenty minutes building on their 41-31 halftime lead, bursting out of the locker room with a 15-2 run, the same numbers PUC had dealt them in the first half. The dismal period was marked by several questionable foul calls against the Pioneers, and relentless shooting from all over by the Keelhaulers. PUC switched from their zone defense to man, but the top two scorers in the California Pacific Conference proved too much. Junior guard Alexsis Brown recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and senior guard Lauren Westbrook, who was a ridiculous 6-for-10 from beyond the arc, ended up with 28 points. Cal Maritime shot nearly 50% from the field, compared to PUC’s still respectable 38.9%. The Pioneers also had season highs in three-point percentage with 60% and free-throw percentage with 75%.

“[We could have improved] executing on offense,” said sophomore guard Carla Bartlett. “We never got into our sets, so we had a lot of turnovers.”

Amidst the chaos, fans got a look at another face that will carry the team for the next couple of years: Bartlett. She is currently leading the team in the point-guard essential stats (8.6 ppg, 3.7 apg), wreaked havoc on Cal Maritime’s passing lanes, with four steals in the first five minutes of the second half and six total. Bartlett would also finish with 9 points. Fellow sophomore guard Julie Ford added 10, while sophomore forward Devin Tinny racked up 12, and JoAnn Mauries, also a sophomore forward, got her own double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.

Cal Maritime improved to 5-23 overall and 4-8 in the conference, after having to forfeit nine wins, including one to PUC, for inadvertently playing with ineligible players. PUC fell to 5-18 and 2-10. The Cal Pac Tournament, which starts February 24, will be a second chance for both teams, as the winner will advance to the 32-team NAIA Nationals. The No. 6 Pioneers’ first opponent will be in Redding versus No. 3 Simpson University (8-23, 7-5), against whom they are 0-2 on the season.

The end of the regular season warrants a look at next year’s prospects. Of the eleven-player women’s squad, eight are only sophomores (guards Bartlett, Lara Canders, Jalissa Engelage, Ford, and Kay Tangonan; forwards Mauries and Tinny; and center Erin Truex), a group characterized by speed and toughness. Leaders in the five main statistical categories are all sophomores (Bartlett: 8.6 ppg, 3.7 apg; Tinny: 5.14 rpg; Canders: 1.37 spg; Mauries: 0.21 bpg). Alvero adds to the underclassmen mix with a team-high 34.6% shooting on her threes. The upperclassmen have done their part also. Junior forward Vanessa Felder, who hasn’t played since January, was averaging 7.20 ppg and 6.20 rpg up till then. Senior Claudia Balderas, a towering 6-foot center, shot team bests in field goal and free throw percentages (42.1% and 80.0%) among players with a minimum of ten attempts in both categories. The team has notched more wins this season (5) than PUC has had over the last four seasons combined (4), and future records may depend on how the years of playing together will affect the women.

“[The chemistry] is quite balanced,” said Tinny. “Our friendships off the court are similar to our friendships on the court. We try not to bring drama off the court on to it. It’s tight like that.”

Barcenas has high hopes for the next couple of years.

“[Most of them] are going to be in their third year [of playing],” said Barcenas, who shares the bench with assistant coaches Doug Wilson and Jordan Kergan, and team manager Casey Bartlett, Carla’s twin brother. “Plus we have a strong recruiting class for next year. I see us competing for the league championship or actually becoming the league champions.”

Let the second half begin.

Keelhaulers Keelhauled: Pioneer Men Crash CSUM Senior Night

Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by Colleen Ueichi in Campus, Sports

On a night that was supposed to be all about Cal Maritime’s seniors, the Pioneer men’s basketball team stole the spotlight, hanging on for the win in a 67-64 thriller. PUC junior forward Kenny Penn had 16 points and 8 rebounds, while senior guard Brandon Monty scored 15 points, and junior guard/forward Aren Rennacker had 13 to overcome first-place Cal Maritime’s dunk-happy crew.

Cal Maritime set the stage with a pre-game senior tribute, one of the honorees being NAIA All-American guard Andrew Medeiros, whose 14.4 ppg leads the sharpshooting Keelhaulers. But PUC struck first, with electric senior forward Kameron Barnes’s jumper in the first fifteen seconds of the game. Cal Maritime, which has eight players shooting over 40% from the field, scored ten unanswered points while snatching most of the rebounds, thanks in part to 6’7” junior forward David Prendeble, who had seven boards on the night. The Pioneers settled down, boxed out the taller Keelhaulers, and worked the ball around on offense. Momentum see-sawed. At halftime the scoreboard read 27-25, Cal Maritime.

By then the slowly arriving PUC fans made up a good half of the cramped gym, a crowd that went nuts when Rennacker knocked down a three to start the second half. Cal Maritime responded with a barrage of outside jumpers, while PUC prowled the post, and the 6’6” Penn scored six points in a row. Just to mix things up a bit, senior guard Andrew Webster sank two consecutive threes to give PUC a 43-42 lead with just over ten minutes to go, giving fans flashbacks to his buzzer beater three in PUC’s 71-70 defeat of Bethany University. Medeiros drew some charges, keeping Cal Maritime in the game with his free throws. He then sent the Keelhaulers ahead 64-63 on a lay-up, the last of his 26 points, with one minute left.

Their lead was short-lived, as Cal Maritime fouls sent PUC’s top two scorers to the line in that last minute. The versatile Monty (15.11 ppg), made both to bump the Pioneers up 65-64. Despite the fact that it was an away game, fans would have had to look twice to make sure they were in Mayo Hall and not the Covered Wagon. Chants of “P-U-C! P-U-C!” rocked the gym for the last minute, during which the Pioneers played suffocating defense and rebounded the Keelhaulers’ miss, forcing the desperate hosts to foul Barnes with 15.8 on the clock. Barnes (12.52 ppg) easily dropped both of them, giving PUC a much-needed cushion. Cal Maritime missed their last shot, and the final score of 67-64 sent waves of exhilaration through both the players and the fans.

“They really pulled this one off,” said freshman Brita Widmer, nearly hoarse from cheering. “I was nervous but they held it together and made a strong finish.”

“It was excellent!” exclaimed Tony Bell, father of freshman guard/forward Will Bell. “We knew they were going to win, ‘cause that’s how PUC is. People don’t expect much, and that’s when we come up big.”

This kind of enthusiasm in their fans was a huge factor for the players as they shot a season-high 50.8 FG%.

“Our fans made a big difference,” said Penn, who is leading the team in rebounds (7.63 rpg) and is third in scoring (11.47 ppg). “It felt like a home game. We hope to build on [this win] and try to make it to the play-offs.”

For PUC coach Robert Castillo, it was further proof of his belief that his Pioneers are better than their 5-16 overall and 4-8 conference records show.

“We’re wondering where this has been all season,” Castillo said, who patrols the sideline along with assistant coach Chuck Evans. “We always believe we’re better than we play, and we’re happy to take this momentum to the play-offs.”

Castillo’s words ring true. PUC names are sprinkled throughout the Cal Pac leaderboards: Monty fifth in scoring and FG% (42.6), Penn second in rebounds, Barnes first in blocks (1.33 bpg), and Monty fourth in assists (2.78 apg). The veteran-led squad also contains several juniors and underclassmen who could prove vital in following seasons. Rennacker averages 10.62 ppg, many of those coming from his favored three-point range. Sophomore forward Danny Sepulveda is a post presence and has a 54.0 FG%. The lightning-fast Bell and junior guard Manny Gonzales, with his cool head and 42.9% three-point shooting, will step up in Monty and Webster’s absence.

But for now the Pioneers’ focus is on the immediate future. The Cal Pac tournament on February 24 is the next thing up for the No. 5 Pioneers. They will travel to Atherton to face No. 4 Menlo College (9-15, 6-6), a team who has beat them twice this season. Cal Maritime, the top seed (18-12, 9-3), gets a first round bye and will face the winner of PUC-Menlo game. Rematch, anyone?

Who is Madison Johnson?

Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by Peter Katz in Campus, Feature

Madison Johnson is the coolest new girl in Angwin.

As far as anyone can tell, Madison is a faceless, twenty-three year old junior here at PUC.  She also seems to be hugely popular, though apparently, everyone who adds her wonders who she is (really, people?  Really?).  In a matter of three days, Madison managed to get 574 friends, which is rather impressive, given that in four years, I’ve managed only to acquire 226.  Obviously, Madison is the girl with which to hang.

Last night, a desk worker in Andre was called in to the dean’s office, where she was shown incriminating or questionable pictures of herself and others “from her facebook” involving alcohol.  According to the worker, she is “not friends with any RA” on facebook, and she said she had no idea from where these pictures had come.   A few days ago, however, this desk worker became friends with Madison.  The desk worker says that others have been called in, with similar stories.

One post on Madison’s wall alleged that she was “the deans.”  This post no longer exists.  Several facebook stati began announcing these rumors on Friday morning.  Madison has not posted anything on anyone’s facebook, yet.

Eager to figure out who this Madison person was, we gave her a call via Winning front desk, who redirected us to Plant Services, where we were told that Madison “had gone to class.”  When I called back an hour later, a different desk worker told me that, “There is no Madison Johnson.”  We checked our contact list on outlook.com, and the search engine did not find her.  She does not appear on phonebook.puc.edu when searched.  Records and Registration told us that, in fact, there is no Madison Johnson registered this quarter.  Either this means that Madison is taking classes for free, or something is up.

Dean Annette Reibe denied any knowledge of a secret facebook, saying that such an endeavor would “probably be illegal” along with noting that she certainly “does not have the time to sit up at night searching people’s facebooks.”  She did, however, confirm that several desk workers had been called in based on picture evidence emailed to her by a concerned student, whom she understandably refused to name.  This is consistent with information the C2 has been given over the last few weeks involving desk workers and RAs in Andre being called in based on alcohol offenses, and rumors of a “McCarthy-esque witch hunt”—as one former Andre employee put it—in Andre, in which workers have been asked, according to that former employee, “If anyone you knew were to drink, who would it be?”

As of now, there is no directly confirmed evidence that “Madison Johnson” is, in fact, a cover for judicial powers or otherwise investigative people searching for conviction.  If she is a real student, we apologize for the mixup.  If she is not, then this is another element indicative of a culture of fear and incrimination boiling over in Andre, and definite grounds for internal change, and a definite violation of ethics.  Either way, until Madison comes forward, it might be a good idea to “unfriend” her.

The People have Spoken: Election Results 2010-2011

Posted on 28. Feb, 2010 by Peter Katz in Campus, Culture

SA President: Warrie Layon

RVP: Mark Monterroso

EVP: Erin Truex

SVP: Chris David

CC Editor: Divya Joseph

VYB: Aaron Doyle (Although the No Box was actually written in quite a few times)

FB Editor: Amador Jaojoco

DL Editor: Loni Johnston

Peter Katz and Erika Kim would like to thank their myriad supporters who voted for them.  When the time comes, it just might make the difference for you.

Melissa Totton – Social Vice President

Posted on 23. Feb, 2010 by Staff in Campus

Why are you running for this position?
I like being involved with my community and for the last three years my community has been here at PUC. I have tried to get involved in various ways, for example, I’m on the paper staff this year and last year I helped Scotty with various activities. I really want to make a difference and do something on this campus.

What are your qualifications?
The Social VP requires a lot of organization in that you have to be meticulous about planning because you don’t want to schedule conflicting events, you have to plan events that people will want to come to, and simply you need to care. If you don’t care no one else is going to. So, for qualifications I have become well organized. I keep a calendar and am pretty good at keeping track of dates. As for planning events people would want to go to, part of who I am is making sure people are taken care of, I am a people pleaser and want everyone to have a good time. I feel it is important to be sensitive to people’s needs that way. I wouldn’t plan something that I wouldn’t want to go to and in that regard it shows that I care about doing something for the student body and creating something students would enjoy.

How would you like to improve the Social VP position?
I think we have a lot of fun stuff that has been going on this year such as ice-skating and the Welcome Back Party, I think Chris is doing a good job. I can’t make promises about what I would do because it would obviously depend on budgeting and scheduling. But, something I would like to work on is saving money and giving the student more bang for their buck by having more events on campus. If students don’t have to pay as much for an event they are more likely to come.

How often do you plan on having events?
By events I don’t mean a huge party every week, because that’s just not feasible, but I would like to communicate better on the events that are going on. I want people to actually get the message. One thing that I like about this school is that they have clubs where students can find a small group they identify with but I would like to bring the entire campus together so that you can interact with even more people. For example, Game nights, karaoke, and scavenger hunts. Though I would like to be sensitive to conflicts with other campus events I plan on doing two medium sized events a month. Events that are a little larger than the ones that are every weekend. Things that people can get a little more excited about.

How do you plan on advertising for events?
Though methods such as Announce emails are important I am a believer in word-of-mouth. If you look back things like bikini/boxer caroling they don’t happen through the bulletin board they happen through people getting excited and saying “I’m going to be there how about you?” So, I’m hoping to generate an enthusiasm that motivates people.

Do you feel you connect with the student population?
I don’t know every single person and I’m not in every single club but I am sensitive to the needs of others and I want people to have a good time. In that regard, I think that I have the ability to connect to the student population. I am a PUCite and I know what it is like to be here. From classes and teachers to college relationships I am connected to what’s happening and can relate to the students through common experience. Can I connect? It all depends on if I am given the chance to do so.

SA Election Speeches 2010

Posted on 23. Feb, 2010 by Craig Hickerson in Campus, Video

SA Speeches 2010 from Craig Hickerson on Vimeo.

Aaron Doyle – Video Yearbook Editor

Posted on 21. Feb, 2010 by Staff in Campus

What do you view as the role of your office?
My goal is to create a high quality publication that accurately represents the year at PUC.  I hope to include not just the people who put themselves out there, but to include everyone ranging from the hermits who coop themselves in their rooms, to people who work all day, to people who go to all the social activities.  In the video yearbook, I’ll have it separated into the different aspects of PUC life.  For example, I’ll do a parody of the TV show, “Dirty Jobs,” to show the most unpleasant jobs that students have on campus.

I also plan to release updates throughout the year on the progress made on the video yearbook.

What qualifies you to fulfill the role?
I’m a film major, I have made a couple movies and multiple commercials, and I am a writer, so I have a lot of good ideas that are constantly flowing out.

What do you think an SA officer should be?
A person.

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
25 to 30 miles per hour.

What is your favorite color?
Black and blue, like a bruise.

What types of changes do you want to make?
I’m not exactly sure what changes I want to make since Ryan Poledo’s video yearbook (last year’s) was excellent.  It was exactly what the students wanted.  I just hope to produce something of the same quality or higher.

What style of video yearbook can we expect?
My style of video editing is loud and fast, and my filming style is quick.  Film majors will know what that jargon means.  For everyone else, that means “Something that will definitely grab your attention.”

Loni Johnston – Diogenes Lantern Editor

Posted on 21. Feb, 2010 by Staff in Campus

The duty of your office is pretty obvious: make a yearbook.  Do you have any ideas for what you want to do with that?
As of right now, I have some ideas, but with yearbook, ideas change.  It depends on how the school year is progressing and the vibe of the school.  Not only that, but as a designer, you see one idea and it triggers something else, so you just kind of have to weed through the ideas until you find one that makes you feel really good inside.  As far as ideas that I can tell you about … not really, because it’s going to change, so I don’t want to say that it’s going to be one thing, when it’s not.  Something that I’m planning on doing is having a wider variety of writers and photographers for the yearbook; I think with a lot of different perspectives come a lot of different stories and ways of interpreting our year at PUC.

Can you describe your typical design style?
I like clean, and I get excited about design that has purpose and makes sense—things are there for reasons that are clever, or make people really satisfied with the way things look.

For those of us who aren’t as graphically-minded, yearbook might sometimes seem like you just put pictures in a book.  Can you explain what’s really behind all of it?
It’s not just about the placement of things, it’s the whole concept behind it.  A yearbook that has some sort of clever or interesting theme is going to be a yearbook that’s way more successful than something that’s way more successful.  There are different ways of wording things; there’s imagery—visual connectivity.

A lot of my ideas will probably come from what people have done in the past and how I can make it a little more successful.  A lot of times yearbooks don’t focus on sports, but I think sports is one of the things that a lot of people really love about PUC.  I would try to bring that out a little more, makes sure that teams are featured.  I want to capture how we are as a collective group and tell different people’s stories.  Getting other people’s inputs and perspectives will contribute to tell the story of what PUC is like.

Amador Jaojoco – Funnybook Editor

Posted on 21. Feb, 2010 by Staff in Campus

What do you view as the role of your office?
The best way I can explain the role of my office is by explaining the “product” I want to create.

I view the Funnybook as a candid picture of the campus.  In some ways, I view it as a caricature of the face of PUC.  It’s one of the only publications that allows people to really put their individual personalities out there, forming a mosaic of what the PUC student body really is.

Aside from being funny and entertaining, I hope to make it a highly effective publication that acts as both a directory and a picture book. You can expect to not leave it sitting on your shelf collecting dust.

The Funnybook and the yearbook share a number of qualities. They are both kind of like time capsules, but have different personalities. While I see the Funnybook as a caricature of PUC, I see the yearbook more as a family portrait. Both serve important purposes.

Basically, I view the role as an opportunity to bring the characters of PUC to print.

What do you think it means to be an SA officer, in general?
An SA officer is first and foremost a representative of the student body. It is every officer’s job to stand up for what students believe in and want.

What qualifies you to fulfill the role of Funnybook editor?
I love student life, the café, meeting new people and hanging out at the Grind. When I make the Funnybook, I’d like to capture the essence of all the things students love.

On a more practical level, I’m a graphic design major. My educational experiences have given me the skills necessary to make a Funnybook. The publication process is very technical and requires a lot of tedious work and skill behind the scenes to get out to the students. My goal as Funnybook editor is to create a Funnybook that is easy to read, fun to flip through, and aesthetically pleasing.

I used to be the editor of the San Gabriel Academy yearbook from 2004-2005, and my academy won an award for best layout and copy during the PUC Publications Workshop.  In 2005-2006, my academy won the award for Best Overall Yearbook.

I was also the editor of the school news paper my senior year. When I first took over the publication, it was not in a very good state. Although my team’s lack of formal journalistic training and experience brought hardships, we overcame them and produced a quality paper that brought the school good publicity. The experience taught me how to be flexible and how to work with tight deadlines.

I was able to assist this year’s Funnybook Editor, Stephanie Ward, in the creation of the 2009-2010 publication. The opportunity familiarized me with the creation process and gave me insight as to how I might do things differently.

What types of changes would you make?
It’s a secret!  The general principle behind the changes I want to make have to do with functionality—improving the form, availability, and readability of the Funnybook. Of course, it will also look awesome!

What do you hope to get out of this experience?
I hope my level of skill and creativity will bring a successful publication to the eyes of the PUC student body, and hope that the experience will contribute to my growth as a designer and artist.

Divya Joseph – C2 Editor

Posted on 21. Feb, 2010 by Staff in Campus

What do you see as the duty of your office, and how do you intend to fulfill that?
The role of C2 is that we are the voice of PUC, and we tell the stories of what PUC thinks; we tell PUC what’s happening in PUC, and we tell the outside what’s happening at PUC; we put face and color and words to PUC.   Very early on, I realized that I’m very good with people.  I can put people at ease when I’m doing interviews, and I’m able to write a story about anything.  I know nothing about American sports, I’m not going to lie—but I can still write a mean sports story.  I can write it, and I can write it like I know it.  Because of my networking skills I can work far and wide at PUC and put more stories and people out there that we don’t know.

My favorite part of journalism is telling stories; feature stories are my favorite.  I love telling people stories that they don’t know.  One of my favorite stories was the when the Believer’s Club had a rock concert on my high school campus [I went to a public school], and there was this band that had a guy with a poster just waving it up and down.  I went to him and asked him what he was doing—and he was dumb and deaf.  He could read lips, and he told me that their family was on the street; they had turned around and wanted to be a force that was praising god.  So they took their only skill, which was rapping; he couldn’t do that, and he said “If all I can do is get up there and make motions, then I’ll do that in any way.”  I was so fascinated that I could give words to his thoughts.  If I could do that with a mute person, then we can do that with the stories in PUC.  That’s why I feel like my networksing skills and my ability to get to more people will benefit the newspaper.

Obviously, we’re rather invested in what you plan to do with the paper.  What sort of changes do you plan to make?  What do you want to keep the same?
I want to establish the basic different aspects: news, feature, and sports—[teasingly] I can cover sports.  There are endless possibilities with opinion and editorials.  One may think that there’s no news at PUC, but there’s news.  It might be small in quantity and magnitude, but it’s still news to us.  I would write reviews about local places and events.  The biggest thing that I want to establish is to have really good photographs.  They don’t simply say a picture is worth 1000 words for no reason.  I want to bring back pictures into the layout as a big part of our layout.

We’re also rather invested in the website.  What do you plan to do with that?
My first concern is for the newspaper itself. I know print media is a dying art, but I’m kind of old school.  Nevertheless, I do plan on keeping the online, because in order to survive, you have to keep with the trends—and the trend is online.  My full focus will be on the print, however, and then branch out.  I do appreciate what you’ve done, and I do like the website, but my first priority is the print media.  If I could, I would keep that as well.

We’ve been trying to feel out what exactly the school wants, between macro and micro, interviews and editorials.  Where do you plan to fall on that scale, at least, at first?
In the areas of news and feature, we will be micro; we will talk about specific issues: here’s the who, what, when, how.  In the area of editorial, that’s when we can open up and articulate opinions.  I’m not saying I’m reducing the content of opinion and editorial that you’ve had.  They’ve been good, and I am keeping that—but I’m adding to it.  Proportionally—and I don’t know how long the paper will be—news maybe one-to-two pages; feature, maybe two depending on demand;  opinion two-to-three; and sports, one, maybe two based on demand; and then another page of arts and entertainment.

You have some great ideas.  What makes you ready to implement them?
I’ve done this before.  I’ve been editor-in-chief before.  I had to write a story in 9 minutes, once, because we were going to print, and I was covering a game just as it ended.  I know how to factor in the errors that will come.  I feel like this is my second chance at it [being editor-in-chief]; the first time is a learning experience—you’re always learning—but I’m more refined, now.  I have a better chance of making it the best that I can possibly make it.