The Courier Newsletter: Week of October 23rd

Several of The Courier’s editors and staff writers over this past weekend attended the annual Southern California Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) at CSUN, where they enjoyed a day of competitions, keynotes, and small workshops on all things journalism. From AI, to magazine design to the scoops of investigative journalism. But the spotlight for many, was the nineteen awards that The Courier brought back home. Some of the highlights was first place for our print magazine Spotlight’s front cover and first place for an episode the Courier’s podcast team produced. An award of “General Excellence” was awarded to The Courier’s website and its content from spring 2023. Several writers and photographers also won various individual awards, both in the On the Spot competitions and articles also submitted from spring 2023. You can view the full list here on this presentation put together by The Courier: Here

Now that we’ve announced our successes at the Southern California Regional JACC, back to the usual programing of The Courier’s stories from this week. In news, several writers collaborated on a story about the conflict between Israel and Hamas and its impacts across colleges across the U.S. In other news, another writer covered PCC’s upcoming technological upgrades. In Opinion, writers discussed AI, wages, and AI in film. For features this week, a group of three editors profiled the Superintendent-President, a story on arts and the job market, and PCC’s work to foster safe spaces for women of color. In our single sports story this week is a Lancers football game where they won. In lifestyle, writers wrote about spooky LA locations, new video games, "The Nightmare Before Christmas” and SoCal’s most interesting pumpkin patches. The podcast will be out later this week. Below is our top stories from each section and everything else is available at pcccourier.com 

News

In news, Assistant News Editor Ben Avraham, and staff writers Odessa Hairapetian and Vanessa Villegas covered the ongoing war in Israel and Palestine from a local perspective, both considering the toll on local students and Anti-War organizations. They also covered PCC’s walkout and subsequent protests calling for a “ceasefire in Gaza.”

Opinion

In opinon, staff writer Lucca Camillieri wrote about how it was disgraceful that fast food workers are getting a higher wage than healthcare workers, especially as COVID-19 continues to spread, burnout among workers remain high and mental health struggles remain rampant in the healthcare industry.

Features

Editor in Chief Samuel Valencia, Managing Editor David Sosa, and News Editor Seamus Bozeman profiled Interim Superintendent-President José Gómez and discussed his background before PCC, his current plans at PCC and his future once the Board of Trustees finds a new permanent Superintendent-President.

PCC Sports

In sports, Video Editor Dante Estrada wrote about a football game from a couple of weeks ago, after a slow week on the sports front. In the game the Lancers beat Santa Monica College to improve their record to 5-1. However their record now is 6-1, as this story is being highlighted behind schedule.

Lifestyle

In lifestyle, Opinion Editor Emily Velasquez wrote about the most interesting pumpkin patches in Southern California. From the ghoulish to the funny, and the scary to outright amazing. But, all that is suggested is to have fun and grab your pumpkins to carve and scare your friends, family or kids with!

Podcast

The podcast will be out later this weekend, after the usual editor was out doing a midterm! Back to the usual Wednesday night publication next week.

Social Media

Here is a link to all of our social media pages, with a weekly TikTok and other content: https://linktr.ee/pcccourier