The Pathway to Law School 2+2+3 Ini-tiative established in a Memorandum of Understanding, signed last Saturday at the Legal Pathway Summit at the University of California, Davis School of Law, now allows Saddleback College students to have a direct pathway to law school.

“The Community College Pathway to Law School 2+2+3 Initiative is an unprece-dented opportunity to offer advancement in the legal profession for our students,” said leader of Saddleback’s College’s Pathway to Law School and Saddleback instructor Emily Quinlan. “Including diverse populations, par-ticularly those who have been traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession.’

The project is sponsored by the CA LAW, Inc. and State Bar’s Council on Access and

Fairness (COAF), Saddleback College is now accepting applications for the Pathway to Law School 2+2+3 – Legal Scholars pro-gram.

“This program and initiative is a great op-portunity for me, as well as other students, because I look to attend law school in the future,” said Pre-Law Club president Pontus Goeransson. “Some of the universities that

participate in the program are top law schools, such as USC, and having the privilege of re-ceiving special consideration will strengthen my application.”

The program is called “2+2+3” initiative which means students will have to complete two years at Saddleback, two years at the uni-versity they transfer to and three years at their law school. It prepares students following this path for a successful transfer and admis-sion to law school.

Some of the benefits of the program also include financial aid counseling, academic advisement, pre-law advisement, LSAT prep information, exposure to the legal communi-ty, legal internship opportunities, participa-tion in the Pre-Law Society and other law-re-lated support.

“The pathway is intended to provide re-

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The student voice of Saddleback College since 1968

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RAISING FUNDS: Saddleback President Tod A. Burnett speaks about the importance of philanthropic giving to community colleges at the Laguna Cliffs Marriot Resort and Spa.

BREANNA GREENUPMANAGING EDITOR

BETSY JOHNSONPHOTO EDITOR

KSENIYA TARANYUKEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Saddleback College Foundation held its 16th Annual Gala Saturday night in effort to benefit the students and programs at Saddleback College.

The cocktail-style event took place at the Laguna Cliffs Marri-ot Resort and Spa in Dana Point. The gala featured a three-course dinner, entertainment, guest speakers and more importantly—the silent and live auctions.

The gala kicked of with a si-lent auction the night before, auc-tioning off items that included Martini baskets, Anaheim Ducks tickets, local art and even a week-end get away to the Laguna Cliffs Marriot Resort itself. While the live auction featured more luxuri-ous packages like a Palm Springs getaway and a one-week stay in the Caribbean.

Prior to the live auction, au-dience members and donors had the opportunity to hear the ga-la’s guest speakers—one of these speakers was 2015 Alumna and valedictorian Lydia Nataloo.

“Many endure the journey

16th annual gala focuses on students

because they know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, please do not stop supporting us, never get weary about do-ing good,” Nataloo said in her speech. “You may never know that there is another Lydia at Sad-dleback College.”

Nataloo is a native of a small village in Uganda, starting her journey to education by walking two hours to school everyday. She remembers the struggles she had growing up, and in awe of the audience—was the youngest of 28 children. She often only had one meal a day.

“I’m deeply grateful, humbled and blessed to be alive today. In

a world with so many troubles, I’m always reminded that there is a higher purpose for me to fulfill in this world,” Nataloo said in her speech.

Nataloo attributes Saddleback as the base to a lot of her success-es in her life thus far.

“Even after speech today, I look at Saddleback College didn’t jut give me a degree, but changed the trajectory or my life. Not hav-ing a family here, Saddleback became family to me,” Nataloo said.

Organizations like the Sad-dleback Foundation are vital for students like Nataloo. However, a common problem is students are

4

Brazil study abroad set for June

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Saddleback helps pave way to law school

Tattoo no longer taboo 3 Welcome home swallows 6 Regional trains lose millions 3 Gauchos fail to defend title 7

College fundraiser auctions off hockey tickets, tropical vacations and a PGA West golf package

“Some students got at-tacked in the rain forest by the Butt fly, it’s a not a mosquito it is a fly, so unlike the mosquito that has a piercing mouth that goes through your skin to suck the blood, the Butt fly has a chewing mouth,” said Marcelo Pires, Saddleback College in-structor. “They chew through your skin to get the blood.”

“There was a winner who had 100 bites, but some people didn’t get any. You are going to be in a tropical forest, there are going to be animals there that bite and the Butt fly is one of them. That’s not keeping anyone from going, it is part of the experience,” said Pires.

This is the second time do-ing the Brazil Study Abroad program and ore than 30 stu-dents are signing up to get the credits. Because students taking this trip will earn 3.5 credits toward the science re-quirement, many are jumping on board.

From June 12 to 26, stu-dents and instructors will be circling Southeastern Brazil. They will first land in Sao Paulo, then head to Ilhabela, Ubatuba, Paraty and finish in Rio de Janeiro. Students will

either unaware of these services or don’t know where to go. ASG President William Vassetizadeh, who also spoke at the gala rec-ognize that it is a problem among the student body.

“I attend a lot of different meetings and it’s pretty well know throughout the campus that a lot of students struggle with fi-nances,” Vassetizadeh said. “The student government has taken ini-tiatives like the food drive and the holiday toy drive to help some of those Saddleback families.”

While Vassetizadeh says that ASG doesn’t have a direct role

“This is a wonderful opportunity for every student who wishes to pursue a future in law as it provides a clear path to law school”Pontus Goeransson

Wednesday, March 16, 2016 volume 48, issue 6 facebook.com/lariatnews twitter.com/lariatnews twitter.com/lariatsports LARIATNEWS.COM

GENDER EQUALITY AT A STALEMATE?“We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and needed, not overlooked and ignored,” said Sheryl Sandberg

2 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2016 News LARIATNEWS.COM

2+2+3 Initiative helps students on track for law school

KURTIS RATTAYNEWS EDITOR

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The Lariat gladly accepts contributions in the form of guest articles and letters to the editor from students, faculty, staff and anybody else involved in the Saddleback College community. Please submit any articles or letters to lariat-news@gmail.com.

The Lariat offers advertisers many op-portunities to reach a diverse audience through color or black and white ads. For rates, call 949-582-4688 or contact the advertising manager at lariatadver-tising@gmail.com

SADDLEBACK COLLEGE POLICE★BLOTTERThe following are selected in-cidents as reported from the daily media log, courtesy of the Saddleback College Police department.

■ LOT 10Tuesday, March 1, 10:22 p.m.A person was referred for ad-ministrative action for posse-sion of less than 1 oz. of mar-ijuana.

■FA 200Monday, March 7, 6:30 a.m. A burglary was reported on campus in the Fine Arts Bulilding Room 200. The investigation is still active.

■ SCIENCE/MATHTuesday, March 7, 9:44 p.m.A teacher called Campus Po-lice to have a student removed from their classroom. The stu-dent was referred to adminis-trative action.

■ SSCTuesday, March 8, 8:07 a.m.Another instance of burglary happened on campus, this time in the Student Services Center. The person is being forwarded for prosecution.

■ COLLEGE DRIVE WESTTuesday, March 8, 3:16 p.m.A report was taken of a narcot-ics violation. The person was later arrested due to possesion of less than 1 oz. of marjuana, no proof of insurance and ille-gally tinted windows.

■ BUS STOPThursday, March 10, 6:23 p.m.Campus Police were unable to locate a man yelling at another man at the bus stop.

■ PE 400Friday, March 11 11:38 a.m.A report was completed about a skateboard violation . The skateboarder apparently was on the roof of the Physical Education Building.

■ LOT 10Saturday, March 12, 7:41 p.m.A person was arrested in Lot 10 due to reckless driving and no proof of insurance.

■ LOT 9Monday, March 14, 9:15 a.m.A mental health evaluation was done in Lot 9. A person was reported attempting suicide. The report was com-pleted.

Foundation hosts 16th Annual Gala

Professor speaks on pathogens still evolving, threaten world population

in advertising financial aide type services on campus, they effect change by representing the student body.

“The student government—the way we effect change is by rep-resenting students,” Vassetizadeh said. “We are the associated stu-dent government and our goal is to represent students on campus-wide committees, with the presidents, the deans, the administrators, the facul-ty, the staff—and any change that we ultimately want to effect goes through that avenue.”

Saddleback College President Tod Burnett says that out of the sev-en foundation gala events he’s been to, this one has been comparatively successful.

“This is my seventh foundation gala and frankly the gala today is nothing like it was seven years ago—first and foremost we’ve raised three or four times the amount of money,” Burnett said. “The amount of money

net bases is about five times more.”Burnett says the change that he

loves the most is that the gala has started to focus more and more about what is important—the students.

“My first year at Saddleback I went to the gala and they never said anything about students—I don’t think there were really any students there,” Burnett said. “It was really not a good event. We’re very thrilled to bring back to what it’s all about—our students.”

And that is what the gala is all about, helping student succeed at Saddleback College. Students like Nataloo are examples of what the Foundation and the gala can do for student success.

“My story at Saddleback, what I experienced, somebody who heard my story and took care of my debt for almost $20,000,” Nataloo said. “I didn’t even know this person—he didn’t even know who I was, but he just wanted to do something for someone—that is why I do what I do.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

resources and opportunities to traditionally underrep-resented groups who may not have otherwise realized that they too could go to law school,” Quinlan said. “While the Pathway to Law School 2+2+3 Initiative at Saddleback welcomes all students from every walk of life and background, the unique and diverse make-up of the community college student population will ben-efit tremendously.”

Two important things when applying to any law school is the student’s GPA and their Law School Ad-missions Test or LSAT score.

With help and guidance from the Pathway to Law School students will be much better prepared to ap-ply and will have also made connections with the legal

profession and with the ac-ademic counselors who can help and guide them.

“This is a wonderful op-portunity for every student who wishes to pursue a fu-ture in law as it provides a clear path to law school,” Goeransson said. “Unfortu-nately, statistics show that ethnic minorities are largely unrepresented in the legal profession. While Califor-nia’s population consists of 60 percent ethnic minorities, the Californian Bar Associa-tion is made up of 20% that affiliate with ethnic minori-ties.”

The Pathway to Law School program is a way for any student who is interest-ed in law to receive support toward their journey to law school and Saddleback is only 24 out of California’s 113 community colleges participate.

SDSU professor discusses disease

“It remains the leading cause of death worldwide and there are no geographical boundaries,” said Dr. Stanley Maloy during Saddle-back College’s most recent Sci-ence Lecture Series. “Infectious diseases do not obey our borders, and even if we build a big wall, they still wouldn’t obey.”

Former Saddleback College adjunct chemistry instructor Stan-ley Maloy returned to the campus Friday, March 4, to discuss the evolution of microbial diseases, where they come from and why they are so important. Maloy is currently dean of the College of Sciences at San Diego State Uni-versity and founder of Center for Microbial Sciences.

“The death rate from infec-tious disease doubled in the last two decades,” Maloy said. “We found there are new diseases we had never seen before. Antibiotic resistance began occurring at a very high level.”

Deaths in the United States decreased significantly between 1900 and 1960 due to antibiot-ics, vaccines and sanitation, said Maloy. As a result, government decreased funding of infectious disease research, believing the problem was “fixed.”

But they were “very wrong,” he said.

Maloy shared a timeline of in-fectious diseases that had newly

emerged, changed or adapted in some way. The timeline listed a different disease each year and spanned several decades.

Scientists first identified Nipah virus after the 1998 outbreak that infected South-East Asia, causing acute respiratory syndrome and swelling of the brain, according to World Health Organization.

An Ebola virus outbreak dev-astated entire countries in West Africa before reaching parts of Europe and the United States in 2014, according to Center for Disease Control.

For 2015 and 2016, Maloy would include Zika virus and dengue fever, he said. Dengue, or “breakbone fever,” can cause high fever, difficulty breathing, bleeding and a variety of other serious symptoms. Dengue and Zika virus are carried by the same species of mosquito.

The mass production and dis-tribution of food have caused “big outbreaks of disease instead of local pockets.” Additionally, “human disruption of the en-

vironment” is the common de-nominator behind the constant emerging outbreaks of infectious disease, he said.

“We build houses in areas that were previously natural environ-ments, and that allowed Lyme disease and SARS,” Maloy said. “Climate change is allowing the spread of Chagas disease, which was once limited to Brazil. It’s now moving into the southern United States through Mexico.”

The current paradigm for dealing with human disease is to observe, investigate and find treatment. But because human changing of the environment may allow the disease to grow “more effectively,” a different paradigm of treatment may be needed.

Instead of starting surveil-lance of human infectious dis-ease, One Health paradigm be-gins by surveying environments and animals, looking for possible pathogens. Data is then collected and used to help prevent disease outbreaks.

“If we want health of humans

we need to worry about the health of the environment, of animals and of humans,” Maloy said.

One Health is a collaboration of animal medicine, human med-icine and environmental sciences, all of which generally have dif-ferent funding and are researched in different facilities. One Health initiative opens lines of commu-nications between all areas of healthcare.

Very few seats were available in the SM 313 lecture hall, which can accommodate more than 200 occupants. The Science Lecture Series is free of charge and open to the public, however audience participation suggested a majori-ty of chemistry, biology and math students.

“It had a lot of relevance to what we just learned,” said Jai Kahlon, biology major. “He was talking about how genes could be spread and how it effects the en-vironment.”

The program also included a trivia game where students iden-tified molecules and answered chemistry and math problems. Students who answered correctly received copies of books written by Maloy.

“We are now in our seventh series, so its been going on for about six years,” said Sara Sper-azza, who has been organizing the program since it began in the 2009-2010 academic year.

The final lecture in the series, titled “Unlocking Jupiter’s Se-crets- The Juno Project,” will fea-ture Dr. Steven Levin of NASA, who will discuss the Juno space-craft on April 1. Juno is destined to orbit the planet and will help determine size, temperature, and atmospheric composition.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

KURTIS RATTAY/LARIATInfectious: Stanley Maloy visits Saddleback College to deliver a lecture on the evolution of microbial diseases Friday, March 4.

From tattoos to piercings, body art has exploded in our little slice of California called Orange Coun-ty. It’s becoming extremely hard to find an 18-30 year old who doesn’t have some type of expression on their body. Nose piercings have become extremely common with women, both hoops and studs. Tat-too’s are so prevalent that many workplaces do not even require that they be covered up.

Saddleback student Alex Brown, an astronomy major, has a tattoo of a peace sign on her wrist that she got at 18 and a hoop nose ring that she got at 16. Neither of them hold any particular mean-ing to her, she just likes how they look. “I’ve never had to cover it up at work” states Brown, who has worked as a cashier at Target and Petco, both major corporations.

Although Brown has never been treated differently because of her tattoos, she has been treat-ed differently due to her nose ring. She has never been allowed to wear her nose ring at any place she has worked. Even when not working Brown still faces nega-tive feedback. “Old people always look at me like ‘oh my god it’s the antichrist’” she states.

Another Saddleback student Marco Bejarano, a business ac-counting major, has two tattoos. His first is a tattoo of a helm on his

forearm, each grip on the helm rep-resents a different member of his family and the unity between them. The second is a shipwreck on his ankle which serves as a symbol of Bejarano’s love of the ocean, as he is an avid sailor, surfer, and body-boarder. He has never had to cover up his tattoos for work, but he has faced some adversity elsewhere.

“The only time I’ve had any is-sue was when I was signing up for the marines, my ship tattoo was too big and couldn’t be covered with one hand” states Bejarano. It seems as though the military is stuck in the past regarding tattoos, even farther than corporations.

So whether or not your piece of body art means something as inti-mate as your ties to your family, or whether it means nothing more to you than a way to look cool; it’s clear that tattoos have ingrained themselves in our culture. South-ern California is one of the most progressive places in the United States and it shows through our extremely liberal tattoo policies, but other body art like piercings are still discriminated against.

This could be due to the fact that tattoos are permanent and piercings can be removed. If an employee has some originality in the form of a tattoo there’s usually no choice in the matter for the em-ployer, especially if the tattoo is in a difficult place to cover up.

But a nose piercing or earring can be easily removed, stripping the employee of their own ability to exhibit personal expression. Al-though some companies are mak-ing strides in the tattoo department, the discrimination against pierc-ings veers us ever toward the dys-topian corporate controlled future.

Every election season political parties provide American voters with a variety of faces through-out the process only to disillusion them into thinking they actually have a choice. At the end of the process, voters are still left with a false dichotomy to choose from.

The 2016 presidential campaign race has been no different. This year and in the years leading up to the elec-tion both of the prominent political parties, the Democrats and the Repub-licans, have been supporting candi-dates that do not necessarily match the traditional “politician” mold.

At the beginning of the race, multiple people from diverse back-grounds were all trying to win the nomination. The Democratic party has a chance to have the first female president elected with career politi-cian Hilary Clinton and the other can-didate is socially progressive senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders.

Republican voters had even more candidates to “choose” from. For example, Ben Carson is an african american retired neurosurgeon, Car-ly Fiorina is a retired CEO of Hewl-

ett-Packard, Marco Rubio is a young senator with Cuban heritage and Donald Trump is a caucasian busi-ness man and reality television star.

One of the ways the illusion of choice has been presented is through the media coverage of po-litical events. This year’s primary has seen Democratic and Repub-lican candidates participate in 34 debates and forums with 3 more scheduled. Each time millions of Americans watched as candidates paraded themselves on national television as the “right choice.”

As of Super Tuesday, the day in which the greatest number of states are holding primaries, those choices were even more limited. The original seventeen potential candidates for the Republicans now stand at four and the third Demo-cratic candidate dropped out with less than a percent of the vote.

What is more problematic is how confusing our system makes the process. The Electoral College is famous for its complexity but its is just the tip of the iceberg. Caucuses, primaries, delegates and super del-egates are all words that get tossed around this time of year with little understanding of what they are or

how they function.One of the reasons the process is

so convoluted is the different ways each party in each each state de-cides to set the rules in order to con-trol the outcome. While some of the formatting is the same across the states, the lack of consistency be-tween the two parties is confusing.

The major difference between caucuses and primaries is how

votes are cast. In primaries people simply vote by ballot. However, in caucuses, voting is much more intimate and passionate support-ers can go around lobbying for more votes for their candidate.

Going beyond the simple con-trasts of a caucus or primary, each party decides how the votes count differently state-by-state. In the Re-

publican party, all the votes go to-wards the delegates with some states deciding to have a “winner takes all” model and other states keeping the delegates proportional to the votes. The Democrats have an entirely dif-ferent way of counting their votes. In their party there are two types of del-egates. Regular ones and super dele-gates who are important party leaders that are not pledged to the candidate with the most votes from the caucus or primary. Essentially, this means that Democratic party leaders have as much say as the people.

The false dichotomy that is our presidential primary system is only furthered by the fact that citizens have to affiliate themselves with a party to be able to have a say in who can run for president. Registered independents in this country are deprived of the nomination process simply because they do not abso-lutely agree with a party or its ideals.

Ultimately, Americans are left to choose from a liberal Demo-crat or a conservative Republican who have been molded by their parties political ideals in order to win the nomination. While new faces appear every few years, the choice remains the same.

LARIATNEWS.COM Opinion WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 3

editor-in-chiefKseniya Taranyuk

managing editorBreanna Greenup

associate editorNick Nenadnews editor

Kurtis Rattayopinion editorNick Alaimo

life editorMatthew Kirkland

features editorSasha Baharestani

sports editor Angel Gradyphoto editor

Betsy Johnsononline editor/advertising sales

Austin Weathermanstaff writersDominic EbelJacob TathamJordan Rangel

Julia McCloskeyfaculty advisers

MaryAnne ShultsTim Posada

instructional assistant Ali Dorri

contactphone: 949-582-4688

email: lariateditor@gmail.comweb: www.lariatnews.com

address: 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo CA, 92692

“Saddleback’s student-run newspaper since 1968”

Lariat Who’s the real choice for president?MATTHEW KIRKLANDLIFE EDITOR

Body art has left its mark on Southern California

NICK ALAIMOOPINION EDITOR

At the end of the process, voters are still left with a false dichotomy to choose from.

Bring back the trainsKURTIS RATTAYNEWS EDITOR

Every afternoon between Monday and Thursday, Sad-dleback College students circle campus parking lots, burning gas while looking for a place to stop their cars. While students inch their way up Marguerite parkway and around campus lots nine and 10, Metrolink and Amtrak are losing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Both train services pass through Orange County, making stops in Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano. Metrolink’s Laguna Niguel stop is located near Camino Capistrano and Forbes road, directly across the 5 freeway from Saddleback College. The station is about 1.5 miles from the college and bicy-cles are permitted on trains.

Students commuting from cit-ies with train stations like Orange, Tustin, Irvine, San Clemente or Los Angeles might have found re-lief from traffic and campus park-ing lots if the cost of trains were more affordable. Additionally, if Metrolink and Amtrak lowered the cost of fare, their ridership would likely increase, giving some relief to the millions lost.

With gas prices about $2.85 per gallon, a round trip from Los Angeles union station to Sad-dleback College is about $8 for a small sedan like Toyota Yaris or Honda Civic.

Since January 2015, Metrolink began offering 25 percent discounts for students. However, a discounted round

trip from Los Angeles union station to Saddleback College is $18, about the same price as driving a 1999 GMC Suburban.

An Amtrak round trip from Los Angeles to Orange County is about $21. For the same price, a small sedan can travel between destinations about five times.

Metrolink’s total operating loss for 2014 was more than $137 million. The cost to oper-ate the Southern California rail system more than doubled the total operating revenues, ac-

cording to Southern California Regional Rail Authority Com-prehensive Financial Report. Losses in 2013 were slightly less, around $135 million.

The majority of Metrolink’s funding comes from local sales tax, State Rail Bond Funds, State Highway Account Funds and federal and state transit funds, the report said.

The nation-wide rail service Amtrak had a total operating loss of $1 billion in 2014 and about $ 1.27 billion in 2013, according to an independent audit report of Amtrak’s com-prehensive financial statements for 2014. The report was dated February 2016.

“The Company has a his-

tory of operating losses and is dependent upon substantial Federal Government subsidies to sustain its operations and maintain its underlying infra-structure,” the audit report said of Amtrak. “Without the receipt of Federal Government funding, the Company will not be able to continue in its current form and significant operating changes, restructurings, or bankruptcy might occur.”

Unlike New York, Chicago and most European metropoli-tan cities, Southern California’s infrastructure consists more of freeways, highways and toll roads than a passenger rail sys-tem. The shortsighted infrastruc-ture was put in place when gas prices were cheap and climate change was not yet a concept.

California recently passed a $156.4 billion dollar budget to help fund a high-speed rail proj-ect as part of the state’s Cap and Trade Program, according to the Metrolink financial report. The Cap and Trade program targets greenhouse gas emissions in cer-tain areas of California and aims reduce emissions to the levels of 1990. Metrolink, or SCRRA, will start receiving funding for the project in 2015, the report said.

Increased rail infrastructure and the ability to travel free of road rage will likely attract more riders and help dig the compa-nies out of the million lost. But to pull those commuting long distances from comfortable air-conditioned cars, the cost of train fare must rival, or at least compare to the price of gas.

Amtrak loses millions while we sit in traffic

Metrolink’s total operating loss for 2014 was more than $137 million.

Corporations are more forward thinking than military on tattoos

“I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say, ‘Yes, women can.’”Dilma Rousseff

“We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.” sheRyl sanDbeRg

“I’ve never met a woman who is not strong, but sometimes they don’t let it out. Then there’s a tragedy, and then all of a sudden that strength comes. My message is let the strength come out before the tragedy.”Diane von fuRstenbeRg

“I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century.”hillaRy Clinton

“We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.”beyonCé

“Women are the real architects of society.”haRRiet beeCheR stowe

“The idea of being a feminist: so many women have come to this idea of it being anti-male and not able to connect with the opposite sex, but what feminism is about is equality and human rights. For me that is just an essential part of my identity.”lena Dunham

POWERFUL

WOMEN SPEAKUP

Y es, women do it all. From taking gold at the Olympics, despite month-ly physical

setbacks, to working a 24/7 shift, caring for their children, while also taking care of the house and nowadays thanks to progression, bringing home the bacon. Women hold specific traits of compassion, love, understanding, empathy, but don’t think for a second that it stops there. Women have shown incredible strength, grit and re-sistance, that they helped achieve thanks to society. A society that has continuously tried to render them helpless with restrictions and oppression, but it is because of this that women have gained an unbe-lievable resilience that has now been put towards energy of bring-ing justice to their gender.

This month is not only Wom-en’s History month, but in its second week also marked what is recognized around the world as International Women’s Day.

“Today on International Wom-en’s Day, we recommit ourselves to achieving a world in which every woman and girl enjoys the full range of rights and freedoms that is her birth right,” said President Obama.

These “rights and freedom” are still unfortunately just start-ing to see any rise within coun-tries around the world. Some of these injustices have hardly been heard of, discussed in hush tones. However, thankfully in the Unit-ed States where freedom of the press is a constitutional right, and where people of many nations bring stories and word of these is-sues in their country being faced, word can hopefully be spread to which will hopefully lead to pro-gression where it is not yet found.

This lack of gender equality, although being faced everywhere, especially here within the U.S., shows its truest colors in the east, from places such as Ethiopia, to the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia.

Ruth Alemu is a student from Irvine Valley College who was raised in Addis Abbaba, Ehiopia, and recalls many instances of gen-der inequality within the country.

“I’m from the big city, but with most of the other cities, woman can-not go to school,” said Alemu. In most of the farming cities, they don’t have a highschool, where they [girls] can continue higher education, so they just learn up to grade 6 or 7.”

However, she goes on to ex-plain that the government has started to push forth further ed-

ucation for girls, however since this is not a law to be implement-ed, progression is happening “very slowly and not how it’s supposed to be”.

“Education is the main thing helping the progression. She will teach her kids to be more sup-

portive and not radical” and “the government needs to implement more,” said Alemu.

Perhaps this is a reason we can assume attributes to the lack of education with women around the world, because as history has proven with any society, the more the people learn, the smarter they become, and the harder they are to rule.

Something else Alemu man-aged to bring up was the issue of child marriage still happening

within her country, especially ru-ral areas, as it is still happening within the world.

The UN passed a resolution two years ago to end child mar-riage, yet in rural areas and be-yond, girls are still being brought into these young marriages

against their will.Recently even CNN broad-

casted a segment showing young girls around India who live in im-poverished cities where they are offered jobs to help support their family however they end up be-ing forced into endless child labor where they were often sexually assaulted and taken advantage of.

One may start to ask oneself where do these injustices against women and girls start? And where does it end?

Who run the world?

Girls?“Today on International Women’s Day, we recommit ourselves to achieving a world in which every woman and girl enjoys the full range of rights and freedoms that is her birth right.”President Obama

just showing the West what they want to see.

It’s hard to try and refute this statement when there are “1.36 men reg-istered to vote according to the Wall Street Journal” com-

pared to “130,000 women”. In other words, although it

may seem as though progression is underway for women, as with the rest of the world, there is a long way to go.

Another NPR article titled, “Saudi Women Can’t Drive to Work, So They’re Flocking to the Internet” was released on the re-striction of women to drive, and how they have not allowed it to deter them, from what might not

have been a completely obvious thought; going to work. Because as most of us especially here in Orange County and Los Angeles know all too well, jobs are usu-ally reached through commute, which is only made possible through driving.

These women have found ways around this annoying and extreme-ly inconvenient case. To where they’ve taken to one of the most progressive tools today, social me-dia. Many businesses have started being brought up by women both online and spurred through social media, therefore allowing them to run these businesses at home and still in line with rules set in their culture, that prevents them from driving, going anywhere without a “guardian” and having little to any interaction with men.

“There are still challenges. For example, she needs a male driver

to make deliveries. But the wom-en are finding ways to make it happen.”

Women are go getters and problem solvers. No longer sole-ly holding the house down, but now holding businesses down as C.E.Os. Through the progression of gender equality women will be able to bring their strengths to the table and to contribute not only economically, but even socially.

Women are not objects to be ruled over and controlled. There is male and there is female, but each is a human being, apart of this world, contributing their own unique char-acter, traits and abilities to society. Without women, this world would have most definitely have gone un-der flames already. Women have a compassion and love unique to them, but they also have a fight, intuition, strength, and power that is their own.

Looking more into issues of women, we look to Saudi Arabia that is still known today as prob-ably the most gender segregated country in the world, and also a country where many obvious rights and freedoms have still not been received.

As an American teen, there is not a day more awaited then the day a driver’s license is received. To be able to drive on one’s own, has always been connected with the idea of freedom, to be free to drive wherever and whenever and to make as many stops and alter-nate routes as possible. This free-dom that is awaited for so many, and can often be taken for grant-ed, is a freedom and a right that woman in Saudi Arabia still have not had the privilege of receiving.

Many of these rights are some-thing that many women have still not received, this having the most to do with their significant lack of voice in any matter, and it is this voice which starts with voting.

Saudi Arabia is the last coun-try where women have received the right to vote or where wom-en could seek election to public office, and have only begun to really do so within the last year. However, although the idea of being able to vote may seem op-timistic and ultimately showing possible progression, it’s more of the government pulling a fast one.

NPR released an article fol-lowing the first Saudi Arabian elections titled, “After Historic Elections in Saudi Arabia, What’s the Future for Women?” Where former University lecturer Aziza

Youssef declared her point of view on the election as shared by many.

“I’m boycotting the election” said Youssef. “In my point of view, its putting backward the women movement for rights… This election is just— it’s just for the West, it’s not for us… It’s good for our picture in the West” said Youssef.

She goes on to explain how the Saudi regime is putting on the biggest façade and essentially

Go anywhere without a chaperoneDrive a carWear clothes or make-up that “show off their beauty”Interact with menOpen a bank accountGo for a swimCompete freely in sportsTry on clothes when shoppingWIERD ONES:Enter a cemeteryRead uncesored magaizines Buy a barbie

11 THINGS SAUDI WOMEN CAN’T DO In Saudi Arabia, restrictions placed on women by law and cultural norms are some of the worst in the world.

International Women’s Day March 8 helps provide better focus on gender equality issues

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6 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016 Life LARIATNEWS.COM

City celebrates heritage MATTHEW KIRKLAND/LARIAT

FUN FOR ALL: The Fiesta de las Golondrinas or Festival of the Swallows is hosted in San Juan Capistrano every year by the Fiesta Club Association to promote awareness of the swallows returning to the city and participate in the city’s deep culture.

MATTHEW KIRKLANDLIFE EDITOR

COURTESY OF NINA WELCH

IN THE ZONE: Sterling, played by Michael Kaye, exudes his power to the audience through a stare at the studio theatre.

SASHA BAHARESTANIFEATURES EDITOR

Stars amplified in thrilling ‘Mauritius’

BETSY JOHNSONPHOTO EDITOR

San Juan Capistrano residents flocked to the 58th annual Swallows Day Parade on Saturday, March 12. The parade, along with the Mercado Street Faire, is part of the larger Fiesta de las Golondrinas and marks the return of the swal-lows to the city each year.

Attendees of Fiesta de las Golondrinas can walk Mercado street and buy all types of items from local vendors, see horses and community figures in the parade and participate in the cul-ture of the town.

“Fiesta [de las Golondrinas] has been around for many, many, many years and it evolves and re-evolves and comes back around again. I think it is probably the biggest event in San Juan Cap-istrano every year,” said Helen Gardner, secre-tary to the board of directors at the Fiesta Club.

The Swallows Day parade is one of the larg-est non-motorized parades in the nation and is

made possible by a cooperation between city officials and local citizens. Road closures, shuttle busses and countless attendees are all handled by local police and volunteers.

“It’s kind of controlled chaos and its a lot of fun, 99.99 percent of the people are just here to have fun and it’s a great family event, it’s a great community event,” said Lt. Spal-ding of the Orange County Sheriffs Dept. “The Fiesta [Club] Association that puts this on does a great job, they are so pro-commu-nity, pro-San Juan Capistrano.”

The Fiesta Club Association, an orga-nized group of volunteers, hosts the parade and other events every year in San Juan Cap-istrano. A lot of planning goes into the event as it is one of the biggest in the city.

“In May we elect new officers and a new board and decide who is going to chair what event because we have about six or eight events leading up to this,” Gardner said. “So it is a lot of planning and most people who

are on the board have full time jobs and it is just a lot of dedication.”

The parade was not the only event on Saturday, the Mercado Street Faire also took place. Food trucks, clothing vendors and other booths were all in attendance. The faire serves as a great way to support local businesses and provides an excellent re-source for consumers.

“I used to love coming to the parade as a guest so it was a great opportunity for me to be a vendor here as well,” said John Kes-sler owner of Infinity Sauces. “I get a lot of foot traffic and a lot of brand awareness and as you can see the reaction is just amazing, people love the sauces. It’s a great environ-ment.”

The Fiesta de las Golondrinas is a culmi-nation of the efforts of the police, businesses and its citizens as volunteers and attendees. All of San Juan Capistrano comes together on one day to celebrate its deep heritage.

Cavalia presents “Odys-seo,” a traveling show featur-ing 65 horses of varying breeds and nearly 50 performers, now through March 27 under the White Big Tent in Irvine near the juncture of the I-405 & the SR-133 freeways.

“Odysseo” combines eques-trian and stage arts with high-tech theatrical effects under a tent covering a stage about the size of a football field in this 2 hours, 30 minute show. The horses as well as the actors come from across the globe. Along with the riders, the show includes acrobats, aerialists, dancers and musicians.

For the riders, it takes time to develop the artistic relation-ship essential for this type of routine.

“For some horses to be trained it can take years or a couple months, depends on the horse, depends on the train-er,” said Cavalia spokesper-son Joice Truban Curry. “The horse’s age range from 4-16 years old, most riders when they come here they specialize in one or two different things then train as they go.”

The show opened on Sun-day, February 7 with an exclu-sive VIP, star-studded red car-pet gala and on it’s first night, entertained more than 2,000 guests, according to a press re-lease. Due to popular demand, Cavalia recently announced it would extend its stay until Sun-day, March 27, when the show moves to Salt Lake City.

Ticket prices begin at $29.50 for both evening and matinee performances. The entrance is located at 16576 Laguna Can-yon Road. For further informa-tion, visit cavalia.net.

BETSY JOHNSON/ LARIAT

BIG TENT: Equestrian circus hits south Orange County at the juncture of the I-405 and SR-133.

Acrobats, horse back riders and live musicians make Cavalia a can’t-miss show

A play built on female op-pression, dark humor, lengthy dialogues and awkward ten-sions, “Mauritius” manages to overcome the presumed banal outcome of a story line about stamps.

Unfortunately, there were predictable elements in the plot but it was salvaged through the acting of the five person cast.

What could’ve been ex-hausting exchanges between each character was consis-tently brought to life through dynamic expressions and dra-matizing.

“When I heard it was going to be about stamp collecting I thought it was going to be

super boring but there was actu-ally a lot of twists and I do like when I can’t predict the end of a show,” said Jasmine Anderson, Junior at San Juan High School. “I thought the actors didn’t give it away, they really did a great job, keeping those twists for the end.”

This unexpected thriller fol-lows the path of two half-sisters

who came into an inheritance of stamps.

One of the sisters, Jackie, played by Paige Vanderwarker, finds herself in a financial pre-dicament and searches for a way to profit from the stamps.

No sooner than she arrives at a stamp shop she is turned down by the shop owner Phillip played by Keivon Akbari, who couldn’t

care less about a little lady with a book of stamps, but who could blame him.

As the true value of the stamps reveals itself, greed, envy and desperation start to unfold.

Relationships start to be-come built through alliances, however other relationships are brought to ruin.

Arguments are escalated to verbal fights and choke holds, until the starring piece of vi-olence is met, when Jackie is smacked to the floor by her male oppressor, Sterling.

From the get go it seems as though the women hold all the cards. But as Mauritius helps to remind us, even though the odds may be in your favor, if you’re a female you’ll always be out of luck.

However, if you are good with a quick slip of the hand, you could still manage to run away with the pot of gold and maybe even luck out on a new lover like Dennis, played by Conor Shaw as audience mem-bers are excitedly left hoping.

Saddleback College theater students take stamp collecting to a new level

Cavalia ‘Odysseo’

LARIATNEWS.COM Sports WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 7

COURTESY OF MASON KLINKLIFE ON THE WAVES: Klink has surfed exotic locations like Costa Rica, Indonesia and took on 20-feet waves in Hawaii.

COURTESY OF CLIFF ROBINSON

Saddleback loses state title game to SF, again

NICK NENADASSOCIATE EDITOR

The Gauchos defeated Fresno City College in the semi-finals only to fall in the championship

Lyle Hexom’s 21 points and eight rebounds were not enough, as Saddleback College fell to City College of San Francisco, 68-57, in the men’s basketball Califor-nia Community College Athletic Association state championship game Sunday.

The Gauchos suffered only their second lose of the season and saw a 25-game winning streak snapped because of the loss.

If CCSF is familiar to Gau-chos fans, it is because they played them in the football state title game earlier this season. Saddleback suffered the same fate as they did on Sunday in that game too, losing to the Rams, 26-14. Saddleback head coach Andy Ground doesn’t think there is anything to either loss.

“Not at all. It’s too good teams playing and they were the better team that evening,” Ground said.

The Gauchos did not have an easy road to the state title game even though they had home field advantage.

Saddleback played two over-time games, including a come-from-behind win against Fresno City College in the state semifi-nals Saturday, and all but one of their games was within ten points.

“It took a toll on the team, however that’s not the determin-ing factor of the state champion-ship. We might have been a little

tired because of the Fresno game was a tough game to battle back from,” said Saddleback head coach Andy Ground.

Saddleback got the first basket of the game Sunday, but was un-able to capitalize on it and CCSF went on a quick 6-0 scoring run. The game came to a halt in the scoring department after that and midway through the first half the score was only 12-8.

Defense was a key for both teams coming into the contest. The Rams were averaging nearly 90 points-per-game and the Gau-chos averaged 72.5. Both teams delivered on the defensive side of the ball during the game.

“I thought that their defensive game plan was one that they exe-cuted really well,” Andy Ground said. “They got us out of running our offensive sets by their pres-sure. They pressure was good in the full court and it disrupted us and that was the difference.”

When halftime arrived, the Rams had extended their lead even more, to a more comfortable 33-22.

CCSF’s Zachary Copeland and Troy Thompson led all play-ers in scoring, combining for 21 points. Hexom and Breaon Brady led Saddleback, each having six points.

The Rams shot much better than the Gauchos did from the free throw line in the first half. CCSF got to the line 14 times and converted nine points. Saddle-back only had seven free throws and they only made a mediocre two shots.

When the second half began, Gauchos guard Josh Mishler made the first basket, but just like the first half, they were unable to capitalize on it.

The Rams had the momen-tum most of the second half, un-til Saddleback had a small spark

seven minutes in. Gauchos guard Maurice Jones hit a three-pointer to cut the CCSF lead to seven and making it seem like they would take over momentum in the con-test.

Instead, Saddleback forward Daniel Young missed a wide-open put back dunk and the Rams went on another scoring run, this time putting their lead all the way 50-33, their largest of the game, with just over ten minutes to go.

From that point in the game, the Gauchos tried to make one last comeback and they eventu-ally cut the CCSF lead to 58-47 with 3:26 remaining in the game. The Rams’ Keondre Dew hit a three-pointer on the next posses-sion, seemingly putting the game

away. After a couple of desperate

shots from Saddleback, the con-test ended and CCSF won the state championship, 68-57.

Forward Jalen Canty led the Rams with 16 points and nine rebounds and Copeland added a team-high 18 points on three three-pointers. Thompson also made three three-pointers and fin-ished with 12 points.

Jones had a big game for the Gauchos, 13 points and six re-bounds, along with Hexom’s near double double. Brady added ten points and five rebounds. The three players combined for 44 of Saddleback’s 57 points.

“[Hexom] carried us, he really did. He played well and he’s very

talented and a very good play-er,” Ground said. “I just think we didn’t play well.”

CCSF beat the Gauchos in all three shooting categories. The Rams outshot Saddleback 43.1 percent to 39.9 percent from the field, 40.9 percent to 33.3 percent from the three-point line and 65.2 percent to 50 percent from the free throw line.

Saddleback won their fifth straight Orange Empire Confer-ence title this season, going unde-feated in conference play (12-0) and finished with a 31-2 overall record. The Gauchos only lost four games the past two seasons.

“It was a fantastic year. Any coach in America would love to be 31-2,” Ground said.

Saddleback College world-traveled surfer prefers San-O

BETSY JOHNSONPHOTO EDITOR

Mason Klink won the 2016 surf state championship title in the long board division for Saddleback College. Mason has been on the surf team for four semesters and has enjoyed his amazing experience traveling to multiple beaches. Coach Lind-sey Steinreide has also been a big support and source for a push to perform better.

“Lindsay is so supportive and having a world champion long boarder as your coach, makes it so rewarding and pushes me to perform my best,” Klink said.

Klink started consistently surfing in the third grade, when

his dad would come pick him up from school in a motorhome full of surfboards. They would go to San Onofre three days during the week and again on Saturdays and Sundays. Mak-ing it so he wanted to go every day. He became interested in the sport by watching his father and being surrounded by friends at school who surfed as well.

“One of my first toys was a skateboard and growing up my dad was such an inspiration to me it made me want to go surfing with him,” Klink said. “He’d pick me up after school from San Juan Montessori with his board strapped to the roof and sometimes I’d be so upset if he didn’t take me I’d cry. So I’ve honestly been interested in surfing as long as I can remem-ber.”

Klink learned how to surf on a long board and sometimes feels the need to stay loyal to his roots, although he has learned to ride whatever the wave calls for. If it is knee to chest sized,

he prefers to ride a nose rider, but if the waves are bigger he will usually find the board that fits the wave.

Klink started competing at 9 years old and is unable to count the amount of competitions he has been in. While going up and down the coast, he and his family were in the Internation-al Surf Festival and National Scholastic Surfing Association

battling it out multiple times together.“The feeling of win-ning any contest is incredible. It’s so rewarding and gives you great confidence in your abili-ty. Whether it’s the San-O club contest or NSSA State Champi-onships the feeling of winning is so awesome,” Klink said.

Competing against a life long friend and other talented surfers from places like San Diego to

Santa Barbara, this last win was especially meaningful to Klink. The feeling of winning made him want to perform better and push himself even more.

Even though Klink does not plan on becoming a profession-al surfer, he wants a future in business and plans on taking sewing classes to learn about making garments. He would like to intertwine his natural ar-tistic ability and love for surfing into high fashion and runways designs.

Klink has traveled around the world surfing in places like Costa Rica, Indonesia and 15-20 feet waves in Hawaii before. Although those places have been an incredible experience, Klink’s favorite spot is still in his hometown, San Onofre.

“My surf team coach in mid-dle school, Senor Hennings, used to joke that my mom gave birth to me under the shack at Old Man’s. I will most likely end up getting married on the beach there,” Klink said.

Mason Klink has been riding the waves since he was 9 years old

NICK NENAD/LARIATLOSS: Gauchos forward Breaon Brady (No. 34) shoots over a block attempt. Saddleback played a tough schedule in the playoffs and lost to City College of San Francisco in the state title game.

8 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 Sports LARIATNEWS.COM

Saliba ‘shoots’ for pro careerDOMINIC EBELSTAFF WRITER

Chicago-born Hannah Saliba started athletics early in life at the age of 8. She was a three- sport athlete, combining soccer and volleyball before she nar-rowed down basketball as her primary love. When she was old-er, basketball was her favorite sport and she imagined herself becoming a professional player in the future.

Early in her basketball quest, she tried out in Niles North feed-er team and made the cut out of 60 girls. Her frame and agility seems to be a good combination as she stands strong at 6 feet 2 inches. She has a good posterior on the court and is willing to do what it takes to play hard.

“[I’m] excited for Hannah a good player, but a great person,” said Fentriss Winn, head coach.

Her dream was kept alive even though she was moving out of the U.S to Lebanon in 2009. Her basketball career would continue as she found a club she joined called Harlem, that wasn’t that well known. The coach who found her saw she had potential to develop her basketball skills. He became her private coach.

“It was pretty hard for me to move to Lebanon freshmen year of high school because it was a new country, new language, new people,” Saliba said. ”At first it was hard but with time I got used to it and when I got involved in

basketball there it helped a lot with settling in and doing some-thing I love.”

She moved to a better club called Antranik and played on the third division team. After com-peting that season in the sum-mer her opportunity call came in which she seized the moment. This was one of her early biggest moments was getting selected to the Lebanon national team. She earned this honor at the age of 16, beating 80 other girls going for the same opportunity.

“Chicago Sky is one of my fa-vorite basketball teams because Elena Delle Donne is one of my favorite players and I’ve al-ways admired the way she plays the game,” Saliba said. ”If any, I would probably want to play there. Nothing feels better than playing at home.”

Her accomplishments further now her being the starting soph-omore forward at Saddleback College having these highlights and stats in her games. Out of Christian Teaching Academy in Beirut, Lebanon, she played with the 18-under National team before she came to Saddleback College. She played in all 29 schedule for the Gauchos during her freshman year. Saliba aver-aged 8.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, 34 blocks, 20 steals, 22 assist and 206 points as a Sophomore and started playing all 24 games, 28 minutes each.

“I had Cal State Maritime contact me, UCR, San Diego

Christian, Fresno Pacific Uni-versity and I have been emailing back and forth with SDSU,” Sal-iba said.”San Diego State Uni-versity is my dream school so I will do my best God willing to go there and if it works out for me then I could finally say I made it.”

Big plays in critical moments is how I describe Saliba play. She is a hawk on the basketball court with her size and agility. Saliba demands to be doubled teamed to stop her on offense. In the Fullerton College basketball game, she showed how they had to collapse on her play to stop

her. In the December Fullerton game, Saliba came out of the gate quickly and never looked back.

Saliba lead an 11-2 attack in the opening minutes as Han-nah Saliba scored seven points against Fullerton. They had no early answers for the 6-foot-2 forward from Lebanon. Once the Hornets finally clamped down on Saliba, Troncea Ben-nett took over and put the game out of reach. Bennett finished with a game-high of 21 points, scoring eight points in the sec-ond quarter as the Gauchos car-ried a 26-15 lead into the locker

Sophomore Roberto Llevana tackles life’s struggles to better his future

AUSTIN WEATHERMANONLINE EDITOR

From a young age, Saddleback College golfer Roberto Llevana knew he wanted to be successful.

Hailing from Mexico City, Mex-ico, Llevana was born into the sport of golf due to his family and environ-ment.

“I grew up on a country club, so it was either that, swim or tennis, so I started playing golf when I was little,” Llevana said. “My grandfa-ther actually took me to play.”

Going through grade school, Llevana expressed that he had wanted a better education to set himself up for success in the fu-ture. He felt like his calm town didn’t possess the tools he needed to better himself.

After sophomore year, he final-ly put his plan into action to fur-ther his education.

“So one week before school started, I jumped onto a plane to Austin, Texas,” Llevana said. “From there, I started in the schools and saw my future was better here. I went through the process of reg-istering in schools and getting citi-

zenship. I had to go back to Mexico to fix some papers a few times, but it was a fun process.”

After leaving his family in Mex-ico City, Llevana continued playing golf while continuing his studies in Texas. Llevana said he played well at his old high school, but golfing in Texas was more intense.

“Texas high school teams are like division one players,” Lleva-na said. “All of them are playing in like Oklahoma State, Harvard, and other schools. It was really hard to shine.”

Llevana had the opportunity to take sixth place in the regionals tournament. He also played in a few Amateur Golfers Association tournaments, making his presence known in the golfing community. After graduation, Llevana had the option to study at Baylor Univer-sity or move to California and at-tend at a University of California.

“After high school, I wanted to go to California,” Llevana said. “My aunt said she lived next to a good community college with the best transfers to UC colleges. So I packed up and left Texas. Now I am here at Saddleback.”

Llevana has played golf with Saddleback for two years now, having had a taste of both coach-ing styles from the year before and today’s coach, Wayne Westling.

“Last year’s coaches, they were

football coaches so I can under-stand their attention was there,” Llevana said. ”Coach Westling is focused on us. He is amazing.”

Llevana started the 2016 sea-son of with a score of 74, being the only player in the tournament to shoot par on the day. Since the Orange Empire Classic, the team as a whole has placed from sec-ond to fifth. Llevana described

the season as a rollercoaster but hopes to make it to state.

“We can still make it to state, but we have to tighten up our game in these last matches,” Llevana said. “I’ve had my ups and downs. Sometimes I’m bad with some of the clubs in my bag. I am good with my seven iron but I suck with my putter.”

Practice makes perfect, but

mental blocks can affect how a golfer’s round may go that day. Llevana is a shot-by-shot player, only focusing on what needs to be done at that moment. Players often times hit the golfing range, practicing their stroke, but Lleva-na doesn’t go with the crowd.

“I go to the putting green and work on my short game the day before. I try to forget about my long game and focus on the short game,” Llevana said. “I am in the moment. I forget about what is going on, I just focus on the shot I have to do and basically have somewhere I want to be in the match, but basically it’s black. “

Llevana said golf isn’t his life, his education is his highest priority.

“I am studying financial actuarial mathematics, basically measuring risks for businesses,” he said. “My plan is getting a bachelor’s from hopefully UCLA so I can work any-where in the world. It will allow me to go back to Mexico and help.”

Even with the past season and the bad games, Llevana is grateful for his teammates and his overall experience with them.

“I love my team,” he said. “Other schools have some prob-lems between themselves, but we all get along very well.”

The men’s golf team has four matches left until the OEC Cham-pionship on Monday, April 25.

AUSTIN WEATHERMAN/LARIAT

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Saddleback College golf-er Roberto Llevana came to the U.S. to further his educa-tion. Llevana has become a huge impact for the golf team, leading them to the victory of the 2016 season.

DOMINIC EBEL/LARIAT

MAKING PLAYS: Saddleback College guard Hanna Saliba (No. 21) calls for the ball from Gauchos guard Amy Yoshinaga (No. 3) in the middle of a home game.

Saddleback College golfer immigrates to U.S. to broaden his horizons

rooms.Saliba lead the charge for sec-

ond straight win 52-49 over Or-ange Coast. Saliba again opened the scoring in the second half when she made a layup to get the Gauchos within two points at 29-27 with 8:48 remaining in the third quarter. From that point forward the game was on the shoulders of two players, Saliba and Bennett.

The two scored 8 of the final 10 points for the Gauchos while the defense shut down the Pirate offense. Saliba’s layup with 1 minute 48 remaining evened the score at 46-46. Bennett would then get to the free throw line with under a minute remaining, burying both shots.

Gauchos took a 48-47 lead with 57 seconds remaining. Sal-iba would again score on the final possession of the quarter to get the Gauchos within one with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Sophomore Hannah Sali-ba lead all scores 17 points and top rebounder 13 as the Gauchos moved up in the Orange Empire Conference standings.

Since Sabila was one of the 12 players who won gold medals representing Lebanon, she hangs a gold Medal on her neck at the age of 16, committing herself to earn the honor. Now she excels on working hard to achieve her goal to play hard earning a four year College and an opportunity to play at the professional bas-ketball ranks in the WNBA.