What’s Up OC?
Volume 6, Issue II Fall Quarter 2017
Multicultural Services Center Quarterly Newsletter
Breast-Friends
In celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness
month, the Multicultural Services Center
hosted Breast-Friends on Tuesday,
October 10th as an interactive way to
convey this awareness to students. We
provided fun and engaging activities such
as the mind-wrecking 19-seconds
challenge and provided students the opportunity to share their
stories and support. Not only were the students given treats and
souvenirs, they also took home some valuable advice and tips
from Cindy Abbay-Lugo, the breast cancer survivor we had
invited to be interviewed. Many of the students (including the
male students) were touched and passed on her advice and
invited their peers to visit our table as well.
By Sarah Samberi
Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
“Festival of Love”
The Multicultural
Services Center took
part in the Halloween
Block Party
sponsored by SGOC
by celebrating Dia De
Los Muertos, a
Catholic holiday commonly celebrated by those of Spanish
descent, on Wednesday October 25, 2017 in the BSC. The
tradition of remembering loved ones who have passed away was
honored by inviting students to write and post Letters to the
Dead on a makeshift alter at our booth. As families usually leave
Global Mixer The Multicultural
Services Center, in
collaboration with
the International
Education, hosted
our first Global
Mixer on Thursday,
October 19th in the
Multicultural Center.
This event gave
students an opportunity to be familiar with
cultures around the world. The room was bombarded with fun
energy: international music blasting from our stereo, students
conversing in different languages, and colorful decorations to
hype-up the room. Maya, Kaleb, and Sunny are our amazing
culinary students who prepared the delicious sweet treats for the
event. Lucky students also took home prizes from the raffle
ticket draw and the prizes were not small!
By Sarah Samberi
Halloween Spook-tacular! The Halloween
Spook-tacular was a
fun and festive
event held by the
Multicultural
Services Center on
Halloween Tuesday
October 31st!
Students played a
variety of games
such as Pumpkin
Put Put, Pumpkin
Tic Tac Toe,
Witches’ Hat Ring Toss, Poke a Pumpkin, Candy Corn Count,
and an array of different puzzles. The lively DJ helped in keeping
up the fun environment. We really appreciate the help that we
received from our awesome volunteers. We could not have
done it without you!
By Cassandra Peeler
traditional food on graveyards as offerings, we served sugar
skull cookies, spiced hot chocolate and sweet bread as treats
for students passing by. All the delicious sweet treats were pro-
vided by our awesome culinary students: Sunny, Ian, Cooper
and Darelle.
By Elizabeth Guerrero
Catching an American Indian Dream On Tuesday
November 21st, the
Multicultural
Services Center
hosted a native
American event in
the Multicultural
Center. Starting with the PowerPoint presentation by
employee and the three volunteers who are Native Americans,
students learned some history about the culture itself. One of
them even made fresh Native American fried bread for the
students to sample from. Students also made their own
beautiful dreamcatchers, taught by the volunteers and our own
employees. All these could not have happened without the
awesome Native American volunteers who helped us all
throughout the event.
By Xiaomei Wu
Fall Quarter Events
Multicultural Services Center Bremer Student Center, Room BSC 117
Phone: 360-475-7680 • E-mail: [email protected]
For detailed information or to become a student leader and help
out for any of our events, please visit us in the Multicultural Services
Center in BSC 117. You may also contact us at 475-7680 or visit our
website at www.olympic.edu/multiculturalservices. SEPTEMBER - Hispanic Heritage Month September 20 - New Student Open House. 11am-3:30pm, BSC. OCTOBER - Italian American Heritage & Breast Cancer Awareness Month October 10 - Breast Friends! 9am -11am, BSC Atrium October 11 - A Taste of Italy. 11:30am-12:30pm, BSC 117 (MSC) October 19 - Global Mixer. 1pm-2:30pm, BSC 117 (MSC) October 23-27 - Disability Awareness Display. BSC. October 24 - Diversity Discussion Series, Panel #1. 1pm-2:30pm, TBA Diversity Challenge
October 25 - Welcome Back BBQ. 11am-1pm, BSC Atrium October 31 - Halloween Spook-tacular 9am-1pm, BSC Atrium NOVEMBER- Native American Heritage Month November 6 -Veterans Display. 12pm-1:30pm, BSC Atrium November 8 - “Magic the Gathering” Tournament. 11am-12pm, BSC Upper Lounge November 10 - Veterans Day Holiday November 13 through 17 - International Education Week November 15 - Non-Student Day. November 17 - Global Night. 6pm-8pm, BSC November 14 - Discussion Series, Panel #2. 1pm-2:30pm, TBA Diversity Challenge Canceled November 21 - Native American Heritage Celebration. 2pm-3:30pm, BSC 117 (MSC) November 23-24 - Thanksgiving Holiday. November 28 - Open Mic. 11am-1pm, BSC Upper Lounge DECEMBER December 1– Student Leaders Celebration Day. 12:30pm-2pm, BSC 117 (MSC) December 5 - A Season of Festivities. 11:30am–1pm, BSC 117 (MSC) December 7 - Hot CC @ OC! 9am-1pm, BSC December 8 - Staff Holiday Celebration, 11:30am-1pm, BSC 117 (MSC). December 11 through 14 - Finals Week! For up-to-date information on events and activities, visit the Olympic
Multicultural Services Center
Leadership Program
The new Multicultural Services Center Leadership
Program is here for the 2017-2018
school year! If you’re ready to take on
new and exciting challenges, increase
your campus knowledge, and build
your leadership skills all while
engaging your student body, then
come visit us in the Multicultural
Center located in BSC 117 and get
SIGNED UP!
Thank you to our awesome student leaders who took
their time to help us out with so many activities—from the
preparation, advertisement, set-up until the event itself!
Without you, our events would not be as successful as
they were
Student Leaders
Global Night
This year’s annual Global Night that was held at the BSC
Friday, November 17 from 6pm-8pm. Sponsored by the
Office of International Education and co-sponsored by the
Multicultural Services Center
Filled with diverse cultural performances from singing,
dancing, traditional martial arts and traditional musical
instruments, the multicultural fashion show also captivated
the audience’s attention well throughout the night. The
scrumptious food served during intermission were
prepared by our amazing culinary students! Thank you to
all student leaders and staff who lent their hands in making
this event happen By Afiqah Abdullah Zawawi
Highlight
Multicultural Services Center Quarterly Newsletter
WANDA YOUNG I started college a little bit over a year ago.
College has been a supportive
environment for me, positive teachers and
staff that help me when I’m scared. I don’t
want school to ever end as everyone’s so
nice here. School has helped me with my
anxiety and my depression and it’s helped
me built my confidence and self-esteem.
The Steps2Success program was my initial
start here in college and Mr. Cameron is a
wonderful teacher—he’s firm, he’s fair,
he’s fun. When I started college, I started
to take the medical receptionist program
because that was my program. I took a
Saturday class in the Intro to
Manufacturing—I liked it so much that I changed my program. I am now
working to get certificate in Composites and if I can keep the funding
I’d like to try to get Associates in Applied Science.
What really helped me is the people I see in Composites
program that has become a family to me. It hurts that I don’t have a
family; I felt like I failed as a woman for not being able to have a child. I
was never encouraged to do boy-type, machine or mechanics stuff or
even to go to college. Men were supposed to do what men do: go to
work and women was expected to stay at home, take care of children
or become a teacher or a nurse. I like coming to school because there
are so many positive people and they don’t make me feel bad for being
a woman wanting to be in Composites or just whatever program I
want to be in, whether the traditional manner or just about anything.
Having a little family in Composites help keeps me going. I know that I
got Jodie and Jayne (in the SGOC) who always have my back and I’m taking the time to meet as many people as I can.
I feel safe here. Something bad happened to me that I don’t
feel safe but school makes me feel safe. No one’s going to hurt me: no
words, no fists, no anything that might make me feel unsafe. The
teachers and staff here nurture your growth and if we get enough
positive pieces of everybody we can make a rainbow on a rainy day.
Nobody judges you for your choice. The only person that doesn’t
believe in me is me so it’s really nice to be a part of this center where I
know I can get some positive support. I encourage people to come
here a lot, it’s a nice place to just get coffee, sit here and engage with
everyone else. I don’t know much about culture so it helps to engage
my brain with stuff that I’m not familiar with, and that’s what school has
helped a lot. It’s been 35 years since I’ve been to school, and I was
afraid that I would stand out because of my age but I’ve never had that
issue here.
A guy I met at Lowe’s, gave me some pointers on school and
that was really nice so I count on the people in my community beside
school to help me get through everyday life. As you get older, it’s
harder to start a new career or start school but this is going to help
me get a better future so I won’t have to struggle so much with finance
and be able to be happy. I had two job lay-offs, a bad relationship and
an identity theft then I fell into an awful depression hole—when I didn’t
even want to get out of bed.
One of my friends suggested that I go to school which lead
me to the wonderful people I met here. Steps2Success does a great
job in integrating school and community—Mr. Cameron though, he’s a
wonderful teacher; Jodie, I’ve listened to her talking to other staff and
what she has to say has made a change and Jayne, when I first started
she took her own time to take over the class covering for Mr.
Cameron when he was away and I know that she’ll always have my
back. The food bank at the SGOC is also very helpful. I’m not
struggling like the other students to have their home and all the
transportation so I count my blessings every day. The storms arrived
but you guys are my rainbow who help me get through every day.
Whenever I got caught behind because of personal issues, I kept telling
myself I want a better life! It’s so easy to get distracted and not want
to better yourself. Steps2Success helped me understand myself and my
learning experiences and to take my own sweet time in learning—I
want to thank Mr. Cameron for this. Christine from BFET also is
always here to listen. This college is just a wonderful place. Always ask
around and communicate to get help.
JAY-AR ARSENIO
I was born and raised here in Bremerton,
so I’ve been here my whole life. I’m here at OC
to get my Associate’s in Arts so I can pursue
my degree in Computer Programming. The
school I’m looking forward to is Washington
State University.
At first, I was kind of intimidated because
high school students going to college—it’s a
pretty different experience and huge change.
OC is a great community college. The people and the professors
here are very helpful and nice, especially Aunty Jodie here at the
Multicultural Center. This is where I spend most of my time and
she’s a big help with a lot of resources and information. It’s
definitely been great and I haven’t had a bad professor once. OC
just feels like home.
It’s definitely changed from when I first started, but the MCS has
been a big part of my campus life here. I’ve done a lot of hanging
out here, bonding with other students and meeting new people.
Also, the community service opportunities that we got from
Aunty Jodie and helping out with the events and knowing about
what goes on around here. There’s a lot of information going
around so you learn a lot when you stay here. The MCR just
feels like home—a place that I can come to and enjoy being with
everyone and do homework when I need to so I think this is a
great place.
Hopefully my future is going to WSU and finishing my degree
there and finding a career that involves computer programming.
This place definitely helped me grow as an individual, as a
student. I honestly cannot wait for the future as I am now more
ready than ever and I’m sure that the future ahead is very bright
for me.
Graduating Students
Multicultural Services Center Bremer Student Center, Room BSC 117
Phone: 360-475-7680 • E-mail: [email protected]
RYAN PASCUAL
I was born in Bremerton, WA and has
practically lived here my whole life. I’m very
interested in music and playing instruments as well
as going to the gym. I am even entering a
powerlifting competition with my friend for fun; it’s
a very great and welcoming community. I am
majoring in Chemistry/Biochemistry and minoring in
Forensic Science.
I have been here for almost 3 years now; the first was to complete
my prerequisites and last year I’ve started taking all the required
Science, Social Science and Humanities classes. The campus
experience I’ve gained here has been pretty good—the teachers
are really serious about getting you to succeed and the staff are all
very helpful. Community college saves money and also provides
you with an amazing learning experience.
I was first brought here to the MSC by my old friend, Randall
during my first year here. I met up with Aunt Jodie and let’s just
say I’ve been here almost every day I’m at college. The MSC is a
really cool place for me to just relax; I can study while listening to
music and whenever I feel bored I can just take a break to go talk
and socialize with other people.
I am planning to apply just every university out there, particularly
University of Washington. I plan to stay close to my parents.
JEFFREY ZENG
I am from Seattle, and I moved here earlier. When
I moved here I was anti-social and so it was difficult for
me to trust people. When I came here and I found all
my lifetime friends, I believe, I can gain trust again. I am
completing my AA right now but trying to transfer to
WSU for Educational degree.
I think coming here is better in motivating me to
do better because you don’t want to be telling your
friends that you failed classes because you’re lazy or didn’t do your
homework. We have resources we can use and a lot of support
too.
I started coming here 2 years ago. The first year I was here I was
in daily and now I still try to be here always. Aunty Jodie has
always been nagging us to do our best here and it’s just nice having
her around. This place feels so homey. I definitely trust a lot more
people now.
I am going to transfer to WSU and will try to get into teaching
Special Education.
New Students
JENNIFER PRICE
I’m from Bremerton and am currently taking
prerequisites to go into Nursing and plans to
transfer to a 4-year university in the Physician
Assistant program.
I have a friend group and we always have
study dates on campus and I’m interested in joining
clubs here in the future. I currently work at the
bakery in Safeway and I just applied to help out the Bremerton
Food Line in between classes with my friend.
I think it’s really fun and I really like it here. I meet a lot of new
people and they have a lot of games that we can play so I can just
hang out here when I don’t have work to do but also a good
place to just study and have lunch at. It’s a good community; no
one is mean and it’s a good environment.
I won a raffle recently! I would love to join more of the events
by MCS in the future since they all look like a lot of fun,
HO-YEUNG CHU (SKYLAR)
I’m originally from Hong Kong. I am 17 years
old and just graduated from high school back
home. I’m here for my studies and currently I
want to finish my IE classes and maybe when I
promote learn some foreign languages, take
Hospitality course, and ask my advisor for help in
taking courses. I want to transfer to university
here because I think the environment is good for
studying and the people are nice.
I want to do something more like volunteering and some other
extra-curricular activities. I want to be able to show my children
in the future photos of what I did and what I participated in
college instead of not having any memories because I focus too
much on studying.
I remember Jodie came to orientation to introduce the MCS to us
new international students and her tone was just so exciting and
interesting which attracted me to come here. I think the MCS is
awesome and I love spending time here.
I will keep on volunteering as a student leader here and maybe in
the future I will look for a job here because I think I can find one
that suit me.
JOSIAH WESTBROOK
I came from Arizona last year but I’ve lived in
Washington before, right up north at Bellingham. I’m
on the basketball team and it’s been good. I’m
majoring in Communications and classes are fun
although the weather could be better. I plan on
staying just this year.
I want to get 4.0 so I can apply to schools, you
know, in case basketball doesn’t work out. I want to
get more involved with school activities so I can get good
recommendations.
The students are really nice, the staff always try to get the
students more involved. The games and the riddle that we have
are cool. They ask people to volunteer and help around so it’s
good.
THERON BRITT
I am on the basketball team and I plan to
graduate with a 4.0 GPA. I came from Hawaii and
have been in OC for almost 2 years now. I’m
currently completing my general AA and want to
major in Electrical Engineering.
OC has been fun, there are a lot of nice
people here and a lot of people that I like to make
friends so it was pretty cool for me. The teachers are fine and I
have enjoyed my two and a half years here.
The MSC is very chill, it has comfortable furniture and I think
that’s the best part. I come here almost every day. It’s a cool place
to hang out and meet different people.
I’m thinking of going back to Hawaii and transfer to a 4-year
university there and probably continue playing basketball there.