Beyond Meals: The Sierra College Food Pantry

The financial weight of groceries can cause stress for students and their families. The Sierra College Food Pantry was started as a labor of love by the late Student Life Campus Coordinator, Tim Haenny (1957-2017). Today students and staff carry on the legacy to make sure no student goes hungry. 

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SilverLinings with Johnathan Rutz

Everyone has rough days, everyone has hard times, and everyone is more than happy to share them. But these seem to be all we talk about now! So, in an attempt to bring about more good feelings in everyone, we here at SilverLinings have devoted our show to seeking out peoples’ internal optimists.

We asked people for their real-life silver linings on a range of topics all in the hopes of brightening up the day. So whether you’re listening for a good feeling morning wake-up, or a late-night boost of optimism, you’re sure to find something here in peoples’ SilverLinings.

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Journalism and Communications: Reaching your Dream Career

In this 8:22 minute video, Journalism and Communications: Reaching your Dream Career, viewers hear from KFBK reporter with iHeart Media, Nikka Magahis, and Sierra College Communication Studies professor and consultant, Tara Franks, PhD, on their paths into journalism and communications careers. Each describes their unique journey into an evolving field that touches on radio, writing, multimedia, performance, teaching, and higher-education.

 

Hayley Repetti is a Journalism major at Sierra College. She served on the Editorial Team of Roundhouse News & Review in fall 2020. She plans to transfer to CSU Sacramento in fall 2021 and continue in the major.

Video by Hayley Repetti 

 

Community, Clubs, and Covid

The picture of a student crumpling under the normal pressures of higher education is a worn cliché. Yes, being a college student is difficult in the best of circumstances, but couple the confusion of the freshman experience plus a global lockdown caused by a deadly pandemic and no one would blame a student for caving under the strain. But not Elijah Mendez, a first year history major at Sierra College and an aspiring teacher. He isn’t letting the pressures of COVID-19 overtake him.

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Easing Food Insecurity at Sierra

On the morning of April 14, 1979 in Monrovia, Liberia, residents woke up to an organized demonstration by a group of progressive Liberians. The collective was opposing the rising price of the nation’s staple food, rice. This demonstration led to a massive destruction of property, looting, and even death. All because of the shortage of rice. Still, the government of that time increased the price. Continue Reading

Is it Worth it: College Without the Experience

Thirteen years of schooling spent looking forward to the dream “college life.” Meeting new people, experiencing new things, finding ourselves, and grasping for a small amount of freedom. What none of us expected was a global pandemic causing those 13 years of schooling to lead up to sitting behind screens. Continue Reading

Sierra Football: Winning and Staying Healthy One Day at a Time

Sunny sky and football players lined up in distance, cloud patterns in wavy shapes

Ever since March, community colleges, our country, and the world have been different. The COVID-19 Pandemic has taken its toll on everybody and it will continue to do so until a vaccine is invented. Now that it is right in the thick of football season, when is the Sierra College football team going to play?  With the NFL and NCAA playing on Saturdays and Sundays it raises the question as to when Community Colleges will start playing again.

Given the current state of the pandemic, it is uncertain when sports will continue at the community college level. To get a better perspective, I met with Sierra College wide receiver and quarterback duo, Matt Smart and Qyntyn Pilcher, on Zoom.

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Career and Transfer Connections: Changing with the Times

Many students on campus are already aware of the various resources available at their disposal, such as the library or financial aid. However, one area that less people know about is Career and Transfer Connections. Since Sierra College is a career-based school, it only makes sense to have a team of people who help students with their plans after they graduate. Whether a student wants to transfer or go into the workforce, this team is here to guide them.

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Playing at a Different Level: The Success of the Sierra Football Program at Moving its Players to the Next Level

Four Sierra College Alumni. (Top Left) Brandon Aiyuk WR 49ers, (Top Right) Vince Mayle TE Browns/Cowboys/Ravens/Chargers, (Bottom Left) Devin Gray WR Falcons, (Bottom Right) Devante Bond OLB Buccaneers/Bears. Graphic by Alex Huddleston.

For most young athletes, the dreams and aspirations for their athletic journey end with performing their craft at the professional level. This journey can take many twists and turns. After high school, many highly scouted football players might get scholarships to play at a big name NCAA Division I University.

However, some of those Friday night lights heroes can be overlooked by the big schools and end up starting their college football career at a local community college. From there they have to work as hard as they can in order to be able to transfer to one of those big name schools.

According to the Sierra College Football official website, there have been ninety-three players who have transferred from the Sierra football program to a four year university since 2013. This does not include those who have or are planning to transfer after this year.

Four of these talented players not only made it to the next level, but they achieved their goal of playing at the top level in the NFL. On October 9th, I spoke over Zoom to Sierra’s own head football coach and the biggest fuel tank that pushes this program to its success, Coach Ben Noonan, about what his involvement is with getting these players to the next level.

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Building an Honor’s Society at Sierra College

Students making chalk art

“Congrats! You qualify to join the Honor Society.” This is the email students receive when they have completed 12 units and earned a 3.5 or higher-grade point average at the end of a semester. It’s an email with the potential to set students up for scholarship opportunities, help students develop leadership skills, gain lifelong friends and so much more.

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Study Drugs: Be Informed and Consider the Alternatives

Student holding head behind open laptop

It’s no secret that the college experience has included experimentation with drugs. When I think of drug use on campus, I picture sitting in circles on a grassy hill, smoking joints, trading revolutionary ideas, and experimenting with psychedelics like LSD. Fast forward a few decades and what you get is a complex drug problem that exists in colleges around the country, and the new juggernaut is the prescription drug trade.

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