The Union Vol. 77, No. 6

The Union

SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1946

Bird flu causes spike in egg prices

Cost of eggs soar 150% year-over-year; millions of birds culled from flocks

Kim McGill @KimMcGillLA

The price of eggs across the country, especially in states like California, has left communities reeling from the impacts of inflation and supply-chain issues scrambling for

alternatives and substitutions.

Average egg prices have increased more than 150% since January of last year, rising from $1.92 per dozen eggs to $4.80 per dozen, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture

(USDA), the main cause of soaring egg prices is the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that infected egg-laying hens throughout 2022, resulting in “U.S. egg inventories that were 29 percent lower in the final week of 2022 than at the beginning of the year.”

Women’s tennis canceled after 2022 state title

By the start of 2023, the USDA reported “more than 43 million egg-laying hens were lost to the disease itself or to depopulation (culled) since the outbreak began in February 2022.

SEE EGGS PAGE 4 →

Me, myself and AI

College officials grapple with new challenges regarding ChatGPT software

Matheus Trefilio

@MTrefilio

The 2023 women’s tennis season at El Camino College has been canceled after a delay in the hiring process for a new coach, leaving the team without enough players to compete.

Last year the program achieved a historic win emerging victorious in the 2022 California Community College Athletic Association State Championship for the first time in El Camino College’s history.

Longtime coach Steven Van Kanegan retired from his position last year after 24 seasons of leading both the women’s and the men’s tennis teams, leaving El Camino to find a new coach to take up the position.

El Camino Athletic Director Jeffrey Miera told The Union he was not part of the hiring process but said the delay in finding a replacement coach led to a delay in player recruitment.

“The delay meant that we couldn’t get a recruitment process for this season,” Miera said. “And not enough players came back from last year, so we are not able to compete this season.”

The new coach, Sergiu Boerica, will be replacing Kanegan as the coach for both teams. However, due to the lack of recruitment for the women’s team, the 2023 season will not commence.

Although the situation has been resolved for next year, Miera acknowledged the program’s shortcomings.

As artificial intelligence software gains ground in the academic sphere, educators are divided on its potential impact. Some see it as a way to improve student engagement and personalize instruction, while others are skeptical of its accuracy and impartiality in assessments.

As the debate over artificial intelligence in education intensifies, questions arise about the future of teaching and learning in the digital age.

Released on Nov. 30, 2022, ChatGPT is an AI text generator created by research laboratory OpenAI. The company was founded in 2015 and purchased outright by Microsoft in 2020 after initially investing $1 billion into the company a year prior in 2019.

After its initial release, the company received another $10 billion investment in January, according to Bloomberg.

Although not the first artificial intelligence (AI) text generator to be

created, ChatGPT took the world by storm, rallying over 100 million users in two months.

Universities and colleges raced to discuss the uses of ChatGPT, from some outright banning it for use on assignments to others finding special uses for it. Many are clueless as to how they must respond to the software that has seemingly unlimited academic potential.

“It is a bummer,” Miera said. “Our goal is to help students grow and achieve their own goals, and that was not possible [this year].”

With a new coach in place, Miera has high expectations for the future of the women’s tennis program.

“We will be back next year,” Miera said. “We hope to achieve great things.”

Coordinator for the Reading and Writing Center Christopher Glover said it has never been an educator’s job to “police” students. He thinks ChatGPT can be used as a helping tool for those to generate ideas. Ethan Cohen | The Union

Delfino Camacho and Ethan Cohen @delfino.cam @itsecohen

ChatGPT is here to stay, so let’s use it for good

On Nov. 30, 2022, OpenAI, an artificial intelligence and research company, released ChatGPT.

Short for chat generative pre-trained transformer, ChatGPT is already the fastestgrowing app of all time. To access the new AI, all it takes is to go to the website and create an account.

As of January of this year, ChatGPT was estimated to have 100 million active users, according to ZDNET, a website for business technology.

According to ZDNET, Tiktok reached 100 million users in nine months. ChatGPT, however, took only two months to reach 100 million users.

ChatGPT is growing, and it’s here to stay. Students and professors should use ChatGPT for help and inspiration, but professors should also be careful of students who want to use the new AI to be academically dishonest.

ChatGPT is still in its infancy, with the research on the AI continuing. It is free to use, and anyone can ask as many questions or request as much information as possible. Even with continuing research, people have the option to purchase the premium version of ChatGPT, called ChatGPT Plus, according to ZDNET.

“As of Feb. 1, OpenAI has a ChatGPT pro plan, ChatGPT Plus, which allows users to have general access even during peak times, experience faster response times and have priority access to new features and improvements,” according to ZDNET.

ChatGPT Plus does come at a cost: of $20 per month.

ChatGPT can have its benefits. It can help students with writer's block; that feeling where you don’t know how to begin an essay or if you’re stuck on a certain part.

It can help with generating ideas for that final essay or for the make-or-break semester project.

In other words, ChatGPT isn’t all bad. Reading an essay from ChatGPT is like reading an example essay in an English class that a previous student wrote. The only difference is who wrote it.

However, students do use ChatGPT to be academically dishonest. At Cape Coral High School in Florida, students in the International Baccalaureate Program (IB) have been accused of using ChatGPT.

According to the New York Post, a staffer in the program wrote in an email that students did admit to using ChatGPT.

In addition, staffers in the program were suspicious of some of the IB papers because of the difference in writing style from previous papers.

With some students around the country using ChatGPT to write their essays, it’s not worth it to cheat and be academically dishonest. ChatGPT is young and continues to have many limitations.

ZDNET mentions how ChatGPT can’t answer questions that are entered in a specific way. ChatGPT also can’t deliver a high-quality response to the questions that are answered.

In other words, the response may sound correct, but it won’t make practical sense. ChatGPT also takes a guess on what your question means. This leads to unintended responses that won’t relate to the question.

Another limitation of ChatGPT is its lack of new information when generating responses. ZDNET notes the information ChatGPT has is only up to 2021. This means you can’t ask ChatGPT who won Super Bowl LVI in February 2022.

ChatGPT is not going away. It’s going to grow and get smarter as time goes on.

Now is not the time to ban or discourage its use; now is the time to be aware of ChatGPT and use it for good, not evil.

Even ChatGPT says you shouldn’t use it to cheat, according to ZDNET.

“My responses are not intended to be taken as fact,” ChatGPT said. “I always encourage people to verify any information they receive from me or any other source.”

EDITORS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Khoury Williams eccunion@gmail.com

MANAGING EDITOR Ethan Cohen managing.eccunion@gmail.com

NEWS EDITOR Ethan Cohen news.eccunion@gmail.com

ARTS & FEATURES EDITOR Brittany Parris af.eccunion@gmail.com

SPORTS EDITOR Greg Fontanilla sports.eccunion@gmail.com

COPY EDITOR Anthony Lipari eccunion@gmail.com

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Delfino Camacho SM.eccunion@gmail.com

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Nindiya Maheswari MM.eccunion@gmail.com

OPINION EDITOR Igor Colonno opinion.eccunion@gmail.com

PHOTO EDITORS Ethan Cohen Greg Fontanilla photo.eccunion@gmail.com

STAFF

Eddy Cermeno

Jesus "Jesse" Chan

Khallid Muhsin

Samantha Quinonez

Kim McGill

Matheus Trefilio

Rachel Lampert

Raphael Richardson

Brianna Vaca

Alexis Ponce

Angel Hernandez

Reina Quevedo

Bryan Sanchez

Kai Martinez

Renzo Arnazzi

Irvin Alamo

Taylor Sharp

Senior Staff Writer Senior Staff Writer Senior Staff Writer Senior Staff Writer

Senior Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer Senior Photographer Senior Photographer Photographer Photographer Photographer Photographer Photographer Photographer

ADVISERS

STUDENT MEDIA ADVISER Stefanie Frith sfrith@elcamino.edu

STUDENT MEDIA ADVISER Kate McLaughlin kmclaughlin@elcamino.edu

PHOTO ADVISER Nguyet Thomas nthomas@elcamino.edu

ADVERTISING MANAGER Jack Mulkey elcounionads000@yahoo.com

MISSION: The Union will commit to covering stories that deliver the truth and highlight diversity, equity and inclusion on campus at El Camino College and its surrounding neighborhoods.

EDITORIALS: Editorials represent the views of the The Union's editorial board. Columns represent the views of the writer. Neither are representations of what the newspaper staff, other students, our advisers, faculty or the administration think.

LETTERS AND GUEST COLUMN POLICY: No more than two guest columns from the same person will be considered for publication or online use in the same semester, and 60 days must elapse before a second column is published. Guest columns should generally run 300-450 words. Letters to the editor should generally run no longer than 200 words. All columns and letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and style. They must be free of libel and in good taste. Publication or rejection of any column is at the sole discretion of the editorial board.

CA 90506, and is free to the student body and staff. The Union publishes daily online at eccunion.com.

Luisa Paredes | Special to The Union

Rediscovering Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

How my father’s death led the way to perseverance and change

Greg

Dec. 28, 2020. I was at home watching a documentary on Netflix about Aaron Hernandez, the former NFL star turned convicted murderer when I received a life-changing phone call from an unknown number at 4:47 p.m.

After exchanging pleasantries with a social worker on the other line, the next line of dialogue sent shockwaves through my body.

“I’m sorry to have to be the one to inform you, but your father passed away,” the social worker said on the other line. “He passed away on Dec. 19.”

My dad had been gone for nine days, and I did not know. He was 59-years old.

The woman on the phone said it was due to miscommunication among staff members of the hospital.

I was processing a barrage of different emotions.

After months of personally investigating, I learned a nurse had found him unconscious after suffering a heart attack triggered by COVID-19 in the hospital. My dad had been in the hospital for more than two weeks to receive musculoskeletal treatment, as his joints and muscles had been weakened.

Little did I know my father’s passing would lead me to letters he had written, as I was clearing out his apartment.

After reading several letters he had written over the years by hand and by computer, two, in particular, stood out.

The first letter was an impact statement, documenting the excruciating manipulation, mental, verbal, and emotional abuse he endured from several relatives. Like my dad, I also had been a victim of the same types of abuse carried out by the same relatives.

The second letter, which had been addressed to me, encouraged me to discover happiness in life in a variety of ways. It directed me away from the trauma that haunted me for so long as a result of the manipulation and abuse from relatives.

The anxiety and depression I felt were internally prominent.

Like me, some of those friends of Filipino descent fully understand how demoralizing growing up in a culturally toxic environment can be. In fact, I hate calling it culture. It’s not culture.

Dad acknowledged this and knew, it had also affected some

areas of my life. But, I digress. It’s almost like he was meant to write those letters, only for me to discover them after he passed. For months, I was deep in thought reflecting on the letters and my past, which I understood to a degree, but not fully.

As I reflected back on my dad’s incredible, yet tragic life, I also acknowledged it was time for me to start making the changes he talked about.

The youngest of nine children, dad grew up poor on a farm in the Maguindanao province of the Philippines. In 1978, my grandfather passed away from tuberculosis. Dad also experienced the same feelings of regret after losing his father, the same way after I lost him in 2020.

In 1981, he left the farm to pursue an education in Manila, the country’s capital, leaving his family behind. While working on his education in Manila, he worked in a hospital as a clerk. In 1987, he obtained his degree and eventually moved to the United States by himself.

I took time to understand the

reasons for the generational, toxic patterns of our familial abuse and their hidden agendas, simply because of their harbored feelings of anger against the world.

The intense, rippling effect of regret, anger, and anxiety echoed within the time I reflected on not only my dad’s life but the trauma I experienced as well. I was not angry because he was no longer around, as death is part of life.

More so, angry at the fact that several of our ingenuine, narcissistic relatives proudly prevented dad from realizing his full potential as a human being. In addition, I was angry and disappointed in them because different fields of my life had been manipulated. I knew eventually I had to let those emotions go. I yearned for freedom.

Despite numerous health issues and abuse that dad experienced for over 20 years, which included an already weakened immune system and a brain tumor diagnosis in March of 2000, he still managed to love and care for people the way he did.

When I began digging into my family tree and history on my maternal and paternal sides,

WORD ON THE STREET

The Union spoke with students about the overcrowded issue happening in parking Lot L due to construction.

my dad would tell me stories about my grandparents

Stories I have longed to hear, as he knew how passionate I was about discovering my genealogy.

As we grew distant over the years, dad’s persistence of wanting to be a part of my life was still there, as he was my father.

My one and only father. The never-ending toxicity within the family put a wedge between us. As a result, I lost some years of our father-son relationship. Reflecting on my dad’s life, even in the face of emotional hardship, I realized I had to overcome life’s obstacles, the same way he did.

I did it in the name of taking care of my mental health and exponentially growing as a person.

It was not an easy transition, but I was grateful to leave with lifelong lessons that I knew would serve me for the better down the road.

After almost a year and a half of growing pains, I rediscovered Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which I started a little over a decade ago. However, due to the turmoil among my toxic, extended relatives, along with other commitments, I had no choice but to put a halt to the sport.

11 years later, in a chainreaction fashion, I made the decision to get back into training jiu-jitsu.

Although I had been 11 years removed from the sport, I found myself to be “rusty.”

It felt like I was pushed back to square one, but reminded

myself I wanted this for me, as jiu-jitsu puts you in positions where you can control, escape, or even attack an adversary without injury.

Spending almost a year, I obtained my promotion belt on Jan. 17, 2023. The belt isn’t just any belt. For me, it’s a transitionary period of life. Leaving behind the old, and ready to continue the growth I’ve wanted for so long.

I sought out a sport that emphasized control when being attacked. I found that in jiujitsu early on. Life application that you can translate to any field of your life.

For instance, a 5-foot-2-inch,135 pound person can be pinned down in a physical match by a 6-foot-3inch, 250-pound individual. Intimidating as it may seem, proper leverage and technique will allow you to control such adversaries.

Just like life, the feeling of being trapped is understandably difficult and can be at times, impossible to escape. However, it is about what you do during those times, finding a way to find leverage and technique to face life’s shortcomings and overcome them.

It’s a chess match, keeping your emotions in check.

Looking back, I can only laugh. He would be so proud, as that is what he would have wanted for me.

If only dad were around to see just how independent and free I have become and grown as a person.

To read more, visit The Union website at eccunion.com

“My professors are kind

Greg Fontanilla with a promotion certificate and his promotion belt on January 17 at Gracie University in Torrance. (Photo courtesy of Greg Fontanilla)

Fontanilla @gregfontanilla

Debora Funes, 24 Music major “Ever since COVID hit, there has not been a problem parking.”

Adonis Okaba, 27 Business administration major “We can’t even park next to the police station because we get tickets.”

Sierra Smith Psychology major

“Jiu-jitsu isn’t just a sport. It’s a lifestyle; a way of living.”

Anthony D'Anna, 19 Psychology major “I usually wake up 10 to 15 minutes earlier in order to get parking because it is pretty packed in the morning.”

of strict with attendance so it’s kind of not great.”

Consumers wallets ‘poached’ as egg prices rise

English major and resident of South Central Los Angeles Natalie Ortiz doesn’t eat eggs but is still impacted by the high prices.

“Eggs are in everything,” Ortiz said. “Including pancakes.”

Ortiz, whose family has raised chickens since 2016, currently has one rooster and five hens and collects about one dozen eggs each week from their backyard flock.

“Their names are Drake and Josh,” Ortiz said, alluding to the popular Nickelodeon show. “As a group name.”

She bought less fast food and tried to save on gas and electricity to reduce spending in other areas which has helped cut down costs.

Manager of the McDonald’s on Crenshaw Boulevard near El Camino Jessica Martinez first noticed the egg shortage a few months ago when Martin Brower — the company that operates a McDonald’s Distribution Center in the City of Industry — was using more than one supplier to deliver enough product.

Martinez has been a manager at the Crenshaw location for eight months and worked for the company for more than ten years. In all that time, she can’t remember another food supply shortage like the current decrease in eggs.

“We haven’t raised the prices on our egg sandwiches yet but a

price increase will probably come next month,” Martinez said. “Raising the two for $5 Sausage McMuffin to two for $5.50.”

Even with higher food prices, Martinez hasn’t seen a change in the number of customers as McDonald’s is still more accessible; especially for the students who might have less money to spend.

Egg prices in California are higher than the rest of the U.S. due to Proposition 12, a ballot initiative passed by California voters in 2018, which addressed concerns about factory farming causing animal cruelty.

In addition to other changes, Proposition 12 required farmers to increase space for each egglaying hen, calf and pig by September 2022. Healthier conditions are intended to curtail the spread of disease which are expected to increase both animal and consumer safety.

Farmers and poultry producers have been urged by the USDA to “strengthen biosecurity” by preventing contact with wild birds and their droppings and eliminating contact between flocks even on the same property.

They should also limit access to the property by essential workers and vehicles that have been cleaned and disinfected and provide clean and disinfected clothing and equipment to workers on a daily

basis.

But that could take some time as the economy is feeling the supply crunch after HPAI ; causing many to take notice of the rising prices.

Manager of Sunny’s Donuts & Sandwiches Lan Ngo said she has “noticed the changes in egg prices a lot and also increases in other ingredients,”

Ngo said Sunny’s hasn’t raised their prices, but she now shops at Costco where she can buy larger quantities to save money.

Eddie Garcia of South Central Los Angeles’ Florence Firestone neighborhood and Byron Challoner of Venice were at Sunny’s for lunch. Challoner was first a student at El Camino in 2003 earning his GED and a music degree and eventually transferring to the University of

Southern California to study philosophy.

When he was first at El Camino, Challoner fell in love with Sunny’s tuna sandwich and has been returning ever since.

“I don’t buy eggs, so I haven’t noticed increases in price,” Challoner said.

His favorite egg dish is the K-Pop fries with a fried egg at Lokal Sandwich and Burger Bar in Venice. However, Challoner said the prices there haven’t changed.

Garcia buys a lot of eggs for his family of three, as he likes to cook his eggs with potatoes and make his son omelets.

“I’ve noticed a dozen eggs going from $2.99 to $6.99,” Garcia said. “I still buy the same amount at the grocery store, but I eat out a lot less.”

Last week, the USDA announced that wholesale egg prices will fall 26.8% this year. But the agency also reported a new outbreak was discovered at a commercial farm raising chickens for meat in Pennsylvania, that could wipe out 100,000 birds at that site alone.

If this indicates a new trend in infections, consumers could face lower egg prices but higher costs for chicken in 2023.

It is encouraged to immediately report sick or dead birds by calling a veterinarian. The California Department of Food and Agriculture also has a “Sick Bird Hotline” at (866) 9222473 as well as the USDA hotline at (866) 536-7593.

The suspect was referred for discipline.

Tuesday, Nov. 22, at 5:42 p.m.

A hit and run was reported near Lot L; the case is open and under investigation.

Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 7:28 p.m. A hit and run was reported near Lot F; the case is open and under investigation.

Thursday, Dec 1, at 2:47 p.m. A person was arrested in possession of a weapon and under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the Bookstore. The suspect was arrested.

Egg are priced from $7.49 to $8.99 for a quart of liquid eggs; $6.49 to $9.99 for a dozen shelled; and $28.99 for a carton of 60 at the Albertson’s Supermarket near El Camino College on Feb. 21. Kim McGill | The Union

Jessica Martinez manages the McDonald’s Restaurant at 15810 Crenshaw Blvd. in Gardena, Calif. across the street from El Camino College on Feb. 21, 2023. Kim McGill | The Union

Educators at odds with use of ChatGPT technology

At El Camino College, educators and administrators have different thoughts on the topic, but all agree they can’t ignore the issue.

Initially hired as an English professor in 2016, Coordinator for the Reading and Writing Center Christopher Glover insists the best way to defend against software like ChatGPT is to incorporate it into lesson plans, not to ban it outright.

“Our job has never been to be police,” Glover said. “We’re here to help students become better writers and we’re going to do everything we can to give them the tools that they need to be able to write effectively on their own, maybe with using things like [ChatGPT] as a helping tool.”

AI as an educational tool

In Glover’s eyes, students can use ChatGPT as an artificial thought partner, something to throw ideas against, the same way they would with a classmate or professor to brainstorm or generate ideas.

“If what happens is a dialogue, even if it’s with something artificial, it can lead to a better understanding of that idea, [which]canthenbe communicated in the form of writing,” Glover said.

Glover has confidence the AI software available cannot replace human thought or interaction, citing an English department colleague who shared an article about ChatGPT and joked that their jobs would soon be obsolete. But Glover insists the software, in its

current state, is not there yet.

“Until an AI is a substitute for those things, I think our jobs are safe,” Glover said. “But I think we need to be diligent and honest with ourselves about what it has the potential to do.”

English professor Christopher Page fed the software one of his assigned writing prompts in order to see the text responses it could generate.

Page described the results as “OK” but he wouldn’t call what the software produced as higher education-level writing. Instead, he thinks educators should lean into AI instead of running from it.

“It’s going to push us to focus more on revising our writing,” Page said. “[I think] it’s going to shift us to focus on the critical thinking aspect of reading and writing, the part that a machine can’t do, at least not yet.”

Page believes the software will usher in significant changes in education. Hoping instead of the initial negative “knee-jerk” reactions coming from colleges across the nation, Page thinks there is a benefit to focusing more on adaptation.

“What we don’t want to do is to make writing go backward, we don’t want to say writing has to now be all pen and paper,” Page said. “Our reaction should not be to turn students into suspects, that’s a horrible way to teach.”

Distance Education Faculty Coordinator Moses Wolfenstein, whose responsibilities include teaching faculty how to navigate the online Canvas system, views the emergence of artificial intelligence as a way to step up

the assessment of students with a more unique approach.

Wolfenstein thinks the use of video for more assignments could help educators see “whether or not their students get it.”

“If you give a good assignment that’s got an interesting hook, your students are just more likely to do it anyway,” he said.

In the short term, Wolfenstein is not worried about the use of AI in the classroom and thinks faculty can adapt.

“The sky is not falling yet,” Wolfenstein said. “But ‘yet’ is the operative word. I am very concerned about what AI is going to look like in 10 years; if you look at where we were with AI 10 years ago, nobody anticipated [ChatGPT].”

Academic dishonesty

Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness for the Academic Senate Kevin Degnan understands the reasons why some educators are incorporating the software into their lessons. However, Degnan does not see a legitimate pathway for how to ethically use it within a classroom right now.

“Using an AI to fully write an essay is like getting somebody else to do it,” Degnan said. “It’s artificial intelligence rather than organic intelligence but either way it’s not the individual student’s [original thought].”

Also an English professor, Degnan is not sure he would be comfortable with one of his students using it even to help with the “backbone” of an essay but is always open to using new tools to help students succeed.

At the Reading and Writing Center, tutor Ginger Mallery disagrees with Glover that ChatGPT can be used as a tool to generate ideas rather than holding firm on the position that students will use it to write essays.

“It is 100 percent cheating,” Mallery said. “It is a free way to get a paper completely written for you.”

Tutor Elizabeth King agrees.

“I think it’s dishonest,” King said. “If you’re not creating your ideas on your own, you’re not doing the assignment, are you?

the very least give them an overview… let’s make sure that folks have had an understanding of what’s out there and what the truths are.”

Brown has heard of certain people within the Los Angeles Unified School District calling for an outright ban on the AI software but does not think the board should ever dictate how professors teach at El Camino.

On Friday, Feb. 24, Wolfenstein hosted an online Zoom faculty roundtable as a free-form brainstorming session about what others believe the college should do with ChatGPT. Meant more as a conversation starter, and not a place for definitive policy change, the virtual discussion was attended by over 40 El Camino faculty members.

There is a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism… if you have a model set in front of you it’s hard to create original ideas.”

Preparing for the future President of the Board of Trustees Kenneth Brown recognizes the value of taking a step back before outright banning the software. He said the best thing El Camino and other institutions can do right now is to learn as much as they can.

“The campus community needs to understand that these tools are available for our students and our staff,” Brown said. “So maybe we can just at

“We’re not necessarily looking for answers yet, this is more of a listening session,” Wolfenstein said. “I certainly didn’t come with any answers.”

During the meeting, Wolfenstein admitted he had asked the software itself about some ways educators could “defeat it.”

Some of the solutions the software suggested included asking students to include draft work or assigning nontraditional coursework such as video responses instead of essays.

Wolfenstein said he is currently working with an Academic Integrity Committee student representative and the Associated Students Organization to organize a similar meeting for students to voice their own thoughts.

say that

Thinkers throughout time have had their own thoughts about the evolutions in human innovation. Here are their thoughts:

Plato on written language

"They will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from

Innovations in Intelligence

within themselves, but by means of external marks," Plato said.

Louise-Sebastien Mercier on the printing press

"The printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will

sweep despotism away," Mercier, an 18th century novelist said.

Bill Gates on computers

“The computer was born to solve problems that did not exist before,” Gates said.

Elon Musk on artificial intelligence

I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish. I mean with artificial intelligence we’re summoning the demon," Musk said.

everybody [in the world] is at the stage where we need to learn and talk about it, we need to hear from everybody,” Wolfeststein said. “It’s a big jump, it’s not ‘Data from Star Trek’ yet, but maybe one day.”

Writer's Note: The first two paragraphs were written by ChatGPT

“It is a free way to get a paper completely written for you.”

— Ginger Mallery, Reading and Writing Tutor

Distance Education Coordinator and member of the Academic Integrity Committee Moses Wolfenstein sees the value is having a discussion about the use of AI in the classroom. Ethan Cohen | The Union

Photo illustration Ethan Cohen | The Union

“I would

basically

Arts Calendar

Southern California Brass Consortium

Tribute to Women in Music

Marsee Auditorium

March 12 @ 4 p.m.

$26 general, $10 students

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

Filmmaker Rick Ray Marsee Audiorium

March 13 @ 3 p.m. & 7.30 p.m

$16 general, $ 14 seniors and students (w/valid ID)

Arnold Livingston Geis, Tenor in Recital

Grant Gershon, piano Campus Theatre

March 30 @ 8 p.m.

$26 general, $10 students

Beach Cities Symphony

Featuring Pianist Rosalind

Wong

‘Telling Stories’ exhibition ‘shouts to the wind’

Marsee Auditorium

March 31 @ 8 p.m. Free Concert

Return to Sweden

Filmmaker Dale Johnson

Marsee Auditorium

April 10 @ 4 p.m.

$16 general, $10 students

The Diaspora Project

William Kanengiser, guitar Campus Theater

April 18 @ 7:00 p.m.

$24 general, $10 students

Japan: Land of the Rising Sun

Filmmaker Bent Winebrenner

Marsee Auditorium

May 15 @ 3:00 p.m. & 7:30 pm

$16 general, $14 students (w/valid ID)

Duo Piano Recital

Featuring ECC faculty Polli Chambers & Rafael Liebich

Marsee Auditorium

May 20 @ 5 p.m.

$21 general, $10 students

Nuestras Raices: Noche

Mexicana 2023

Presented by The Nuestras Raices Cultural Center Marsee Auditorium

May 13 @ 7-10 p.m.

Free for ECC Students (w/ ECC ID)

For more information on ticket and event information, visit the Center for the Arts page at elcamino.edu

Samantha Quinonez @eccunionSamQ

El Camino College community members and students are welcome to showcase their creativity in the campus Art Gallery’s “Telling Stories” exhibit.

In an attempt to encourage artists to share their creativity, the latest exhibit, “Telling Stories,” displayed at the El Camino College Art Gallery, will be shown through March 9, along with campus receptions.

Artists showed creativity through painting, puppetry, recipe sharing, quilt making and photography. Michael Miller, director of gallery and museum programming, said El Camino students and community members could showcase their artwork.

“I was interested in the different

ways artists tell stories,” Miller said. “So a lot of what artists do, especially in painting, for example, has a narrative, right?”

Miller conveyed the idea of a message or story that created the narrative for the exhibit.

Joyce Dallal, a retired digital art department professor at El Camino College, said Miller asked her to add one of her artworks to the Art Gallery for the “Telling Stories” exhibit. According to Dallal, the piece’s name inside the gallery is “Homesite City,” from the 1990s.

“When Michael told me about this telling stories show and asked me about putting another piece together, I was thinking about the process of writing and how it’s not easy,” Dallal said. “It's not easy writing the story.”

Dallal said she thought of a piece being built in front of the North Art Building next to the

Art Gallery, “Shout it to the wind.” Dallal said her sculpture is named after a phrase people use when someone has something to say but no one listens.

Dallal has worked on woven structures and has been collecting rough drafts from people to cover the “Shout it to the Wind” sculpture. Dallal said she would continue to take rough drafts that students don't need and plan to finish the sculpture by the exhibit’s final date of March 9.

“I wanted to celebrate that impulse to shout it to the wind and just put it out there, ” Dallal said.

Miller said his inspiration for “Telling stories” was remembering that February is Black History Month and March is Women’s History Month, both having stories to tell.

“Women's History Month on

campus is women who tell our stories, so I think that [it] all kind of pulled together, ” Miller said. “It gave me the idea that I should do an exhibit about how artists tell stories.”

On Feb. 18, the Art Gallary held a reception called “Homesite: A Culinary Performance” reception and the “Wednesday Gang” Outline Group.

“I’m gonna be sharing some ideas around the spice concoction in the Arab world called Zaatar,” Doris Bittar, adjunct professor at California State University San Marcos and former gallerist at El Camino’s Art Gallery said.

Bittar discovered El Camino College through faculty like Joyce Dallal, who invited her to El Camino and connected with her because they are both Arabic-American artists. Bittar struggled with her family because she wanted to be an artist.

“I feel very lucky that I’m able to do that and connect with other people [to] share,” Bittar said. “So, in a way, that is what today is about. It is an opportunity just to be genuinely proud of this, my culture.”

Miller said he wanted people to understand a little bit of how artists’ minds work and tell stories and how people begin to understand the meaning of artwork as a visitor.

“One of the most important things is to have the campus community and El Camino’s community off campus to understand that this is a place where they can come and be creative,” Miller said.

Artist Marsian De Lellis piece ‘Wall Dolls’ consist of 279 dolls, the dolls were on full display during the “Telling Stories” public reception held on Saturday, Feb. 18. The dolls were originally hand-made for a solo puppet-based performance art piece centered on a woman who develops intimate relationships with inanimate objects. Delfino Camacho | The Union

The new exhibit showcases the talents of El Camino students and community members

Michael Miller (Right), Interim Curator and Director of the Art Gallery and the Anthropology Museum, prepares a series of “strange” peanut butter sandwiches including peanut butter and pickles as well as peanut butter and pineapple during the “Homesite: A Culinary Performance” held during the “Telling Stories” public reception held on Saturday, Feb. 18. The sandwiches were favorites of Millers grandfather.

Delfino Camacho |The Union

New center promises safe space for Black students

Brittany Parris @eccunionbparris

Anew space will soon become available at El Camino right past the Social Justice Center, where a small stairwell takes you down to the new home of the Black Student Success Center.

Almost a year since its announcement, the center hosted its “soft opening” during Black History Month on Feb. 22., giving students a sneak peek into the newly renovated space before its regular hours, Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Student Success Coordinator Keiana Daniel said she started working over a year ago. She was officially the space’s coordinator in January 2022.

“I started working on the center last year, and around January, I was officially the coordinator of the space, and then I got the keys to this place around April [2022],” so I’ve been building it since then,” Daniel said.

In 2018, she started as the coordinator for the Guardian Scholar Program, which supports current and former foster youth at El Camino College.

She said the center’s primary mission is to give students a safe environment to learn, grow and be creative.

“Students kind of pushed the advocacy to make sure that there were more spaces on campus for representation purposes,” Daniel said. “The

Black Student Success Center was one of the first centers that had been pushed forward.”

Even in her earlier work, Daniel said she’s all about marginalized populations getting extra help and a place to feel safe.

“That’s my entire job. It’s just to be that bridge,” Daniel said. “I can be that support for students, and give them a space to grow, be creative, things like that.”

Board of Trustees President Kenneth Brown also wants to see students succeed in the goals that they want to accomplish.

“Not every Black student here is here to get a 4-year degree, and every Black student is doing different things here,” Brown said. “Reaching the finish of success is everyone’s objective, but in terms of Black student success, my goal is to see what everyone’s end goal is and see if they get there as close as possible.”

Along with a welcoming environment, the center will also provide a list of services, which includes a snack shack that will provide students with free food in collaboration with the Warrior Pantry.

With the help of ECC Student Equity and Achievement, the center will also work with Pacific Dining to ensure readyto-go meals.

“We wanted to provide something a little more substantial for students, so each week, we’re having food delivered,” Daniel said.

Catch you on the flip side...

“There’s a mixture of a meal bowl, there’s fruit cups, yogurt parfaits and students are helping craft the menu, so we make sure that it is, again, student-centered food.”

Other services will include writing assistance and parttime counselors to help students academically and emotionally.

“One of the main ones that I’m really excited about is our community circles,” Daniel said. “Which is actually just a place for students to come and talk about whatever issues they have.”

Dr. Ken Spears, who works at the Student Health Center, will facilitate the first community circle. The collaboration will provide a therapeutic touch for students who need it.

Kinesiology student Chinedu Adolf-Anokwute welcomes the new addition to El Camino after forming connections with the Black Student Union after returning to campus postlockdown.

“As I was in these programs, I was noticing that we were struggling to find a spot where we could congregate consistently,” Anokwute said.

Anokwute said the opening of the Black Student Success Center will now give the group a consistent spot to meet and has helped bring in an influx of new students who have a

‘Amélie The Musical’

Directed by Daniel Nakawatase Choregraphy by Elizabeth Adamis

Friday, March 10 @ 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 11 @ 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 12 @ 3 p.m.

genuine interest in learning about the program.

“I knew there were black students on campus, but up until this opened, especially one of these opening days, I saw so many people who looked like me that I didn’t even know attended campus,” Anokwute said.

The official grand opening for the Black Student Success Center is currently scheduled late April during Black Student Success Week.

To read more, visit the the Union website at eccunion.com

Show Times

Friday, March 17 @ 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 18 @ 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 19 @3 p.m.

Friday, March 24 @ 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 25 @ 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 26 @ 3 p.m.

Tickets: $25 general - $15 students Campus Theater

Ethan Cohen | The Union

Skateboarder Stephen Alvarado, 25, hits a kick-flip in front of the Music Building at El Camino College on Wednesday, Feb. 22. Southern California hosts some of the best skateparks in the country.

Student Success Coordinator Keiana Daniel poses with a handmade quilt for the Center, during the “soft opening” of the Black Student Success Center” in the Communications Building, on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. Raphael Richardson | The Union

Adjunct Counselor for the Black Student Success Center (BSSC) Cameron Delahousesaye told the Union that Black student success is about being proud of who you are, where you come from, reaching your goals with your head held high during the ‘soft opening’ on Wed. 22, 2023. Khoury Williams | The Union

‘Amélie The Musical’ is based on the 2017 Broadway show and 2001 French film.

Board of Trustees member Kenneth Brown attended the “soft opening” of the Black Students Success Center in the Communications Building, on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. Raphael Richardson | The Union

Warrior Esports Center Levels Up

Professional and casual gamers rendevous at the newly renovated center

Khoury Williams @williamskhoury

Two opposing factions are getting ready to face off against each other across Al Bagra Fortress, a medieval inspired battlefield located in a fictional West Asian country. The first round begins.The sounds of grenade explosions can be heard in the background as bullets whistle through the air, flying past the player controlled character as they run towards the main hall of the fortress.

Spotted by an enemy player, the main operator readies their AK47u rifle, only to be met by an opposing player who guns them down before they could even let out a shot.

The two players at the seated at their desk begin laughing

hysterically.

“Oops, that’s embarrassing! Let me try again,” 19-year-old sociology major Vianka Smith said.

These intense, yet fun encounters on “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” is one of several video game experiences players can enjoy at the newly renovated Warrior Esports Center, located in the East basement of Schauerman Library next to the Makerspace.

While Esports remains a central focus, the center acts as a social hub catering to those unfamiliar with video games; as well as casual and competitive gamers to spend time before or after classes to hang out and take advantage of the space. With a maximum capacity of 25 people, El Camino community members can

reserve one of 20 available gaming computers, one Samsung television, and four support seats dedicated to viewing and observation for up to two hours per day.

While the Warrior Esports Center boasts a wide selection of playable games such as “Halo: Infinite” and “World of Warcraft” the main five supported esports titles are “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” “Valorant,” “Overwatch 2,” “League of Legends” and “Rocket League.”

Business major Casey Nykaza, 19 and computer science major Riley Mayuga, 18, are members of the Warriors’ “Valorant” team. They practice in the Warrior Esports Center every week, participating in tournament games every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

Mayuga first discovered a notice about tryouts for the esports teams through the El Camino Canvas portal.

“I found out [about esports] through the Canvas dashboard. I saw one of the announcements was an esports thing, so I was like, I should join because I really like video games,” Mayuga said.

To both Mayuga and Mykaza, one of the benefits of being on the “Valorant” esports team and being in the Warrior Esports Center is being able to build social connections.

“We both met a lot of cool people and we became friends in such a short amount of time. I

think [Warrior Esports Center] is a really cool experience,” Mayuga said. “It’s a nice place to meet new people and make new friends.”

According to the founder and president of the esports club, Luisa Paredes, the Warriors are currently 2-1 in “Valorant,” 2-1 in “Overwatch 2” and 2-1 in “Rocket League.” The Warriors’ “League of Legends” season will begin on March 6.

Currently, The Warrior’s tournaments are held at home and are often streamed through the WarriorEsportsECC Twitch page. However, there is a plan to host tournaments within the Center itself.

“We’re still trying to figure out in ways to plan those tournaments, and also trying to have more of the foundation set up,” Library student employee

Angel Tapia said. “The room is going to be constantly changing, to get to the point where we want it to be.”

The Warrior Esports Center is open from 8 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. every Monday through Thursday and closes at 4:15 p.m. every Friday. The center is open and available to everyone on campus.

“The [Warrior Esports] Center is open for everybody,” Tapia said. “All gamers and non-gamers are welcome. If [anyone] has an interest to try the game out, they’re all welcome to play. It’s not only for competitive [gamers], it’s open for everybody.”

Sociology major Vianka Smith and her friend Diana Ojeda share laughs after getting “spawn-killed” over a fun and intense match playing “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” at the Warrior Esports Center on Feb. 27. Smith said she doesn’t have access to play video games at home, but she enjoys going to the center to play games for fun. Khoury Williams | The Union

Colorful lights from the high-powered PC’s illuminates the Warrior Esports Center on Feb. 27. All PC’s come with high-teh specs, including an “Nvidia RTX” 3070 graphics card. Khoury Williams | The Union

Studio Arts major, Diana Ojeda instructs her friend Vianka Smith through a match of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” at the Warrior Esports Center on Feb. 27. Khoury Williams | The Union

To read more, visit The Union website at eccunion.com