Students who find themselves filling the narrow sand-stoned hallways of the K Building, balanced between exhaustion and a not-so-quiet enthusiasm for stringing a cello or screaming a trumpet, often find their music following them home.

As the colder season rolls in, the students of PCC head indoors. Several spots off campus hold sanctuary to them as the weather kicks in.”I really enjoy going to Barnes & Noble on cold days. The atmosphere is quite wonderful, quiet and relaxing. I love just sitting down with a cup of coffee and reading books,” said Alex Ross, 18-year-old child development major.

The United Nations Association Club plans to “lobby local, federal and international officials into taking action” according to flyers passed out by the group during club week.

California community colleges remain under-funded, but will overcome this challenge, said state Sen. Jack Scott, Chancellor-Elect of the California Community college system, at an appearance on campus Wednesday.

Long hours, teething test dates, congested labyrinth sailing around parking structures, and impossible deadlines are what students expect out of the college dance. Often enough, though, students can be found pondering where to seek reprieve in the moments between their schedules; a place to shut off the noise around them and tune out the drumming of lecture and whip.

Prentis Smith, 22-year-old African American studies major, is an aspiring small forward for the men’s baskeball team hoping to drop the “aspiring” bit come spring. “We’re in conditioning now, but I’m definitely planning on playing,” he says.When he’s not hustling around the basketball court, he’s busy with the Black Student Alliance and The ROPE program (Rights of Passage in Education).

PCC has received much scrutiny since the Courier first reported that former PCC football player Darryl Stephens was arrested on a charge of assault on Sept. 2.

A fascinating picture of the presidents of the College Democrats and College Republicans squaring off as if preparing to fight appeared in the Sept. 11 Courier.

The PCC Study Abroad program is offering a two-week tropical ecology trip to Costa Rica where students will discover fundamental principles of environmental science.

PCC President Paulette Perfumo supported allowing registered sex offenders to enroll as students in a news conference with journalism students Thursday.”Community colleges, and actually even four year universities, have always been about helping people rebuild their lives,” Perfumo said.