PCC celebrates centennial with cakes, concerts and candy

Share: A red, rectangular piñata that reads “PCC 100” hung outside the bridge between Lancer Pass and the Quad inside Pasadena City College. Children lined up in a single file to pull down the piñata with thinned strings instead of a bat, with each child pulling a string one at a time for the trap door to open. As the bottom fell out, the children ran towards the floor to pick up as much candy as possible. “This is Latin Heritage Month as well. So …

‘Monsters’ in media: Their trauma is not your drama

Share: Lights are on again in the Menendez home, and everything seems quiet, apart from the sounds of water hitting tiles, and the tense steps of Kitty Menendez walking throughout the house. Kitty opens the door to the bathroom and behind the curtain, it is revealed that there are two people in the shower, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, under the water sharing a kiss. Kitty stands horrified watching the scene, and the Menendez family’s life takes a turn. “The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” …

‘The Bear’ minimum: A few laughs don’t make a comedy

Share: “The Bear,” a critically acclaimed show, broke their previously held record of most Comedy awards won at the Emmys this past weekend. But the show is not truly a comedy. The real comedy was how easily the show scammed actual comedic shows out of several awards, simply by being put in the comedy category instead of the drama one. “The Bear” deals with incredibly difficult and heavy themes. The show has made people laugh at times, at the good times, and sometimes at harder …

‘It feels like the world is calling me’: International students cut through red tape to study

Share: As the weather changes and summer comes to an end, students trickle into PCC for the fall semester, a picture of diversity and inclusivity. As the new school year comes to a start, students from different parts of the world arrive in California to attend PCC as part of the international student program. According to the International Student Center, these students come from countries such as Armenia, Italy, China, El Salvador, France, Mozambique, Korea, Myanmar and more. A few of these students explain that …

Colleges struggle to CAPTCHA fake students scamming millions

Share: Hackers have been using artificial intelligence (AI) bots to pose as college students in online classes for years, in an attempt to scam colleges out of financial aid money. Schemes like these have been tracked as far back as even the early 2000s. Kim Rich, a former deputy sheriff and professor of criminal justice at Los Angeles Pierce College, has been investigating these online bots since 2006. “If a given student received $3,000 in financial aid, and 40,000 bots have infiltrated a given district, …

Survival Guide: Free resources for a successful semester

Share: College can be one of the most terrifying periods in a student’s life, especially because students can feel they are on their own. However students at Pasadena City College don’t have to do it alone. PCC provides many free resources to their students to help them become more successful in their ventures. These resources include counseling, health services, tutoring, and more. Here are some resources PCC has available for their students: 1. The Lancer Care Center Attending college can be a stressful period for …