Help Wanted: Meet the Three Finalists for Chancellor of ACC

In its 50th year, ACC is already nearing the final stages of its first middle-aged major change. Announced in an email to students, staff and faculty on June 16th was an invitation to meet the three top candidates to succeed Dr. Richard Rhodes in the role of ACC’s supreme position, the Chancellor.

By Nathan Adam Spear

In its 50th year, ACC is already nearing the final stages of its first middle-aged major change. Announced in an email to students, staff and faculty on June 16 was an invitation to meet the three top candidates to succeed Dr. Richard Rhodes in the role of ACC’s supreme position, the Chancellor.

The candidates – Dr. Robert Garza, Dr. Joyce Ester and Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart – have been highlighted as top choices for the position by the selection committee formed after Rhodes announced his departure in January, expressing love for the school but a desire for more time with his family. 

The school’s chancellor – or to put it a little less ‘Star Wars’, the president/CEO – works under ACC’s board of trustees, leading the college district in essentially all major decisions. Understandably, this makes the transition to a new chancellor a pretty big priority for the school and board, with Rhodes’ impressive and record-breaking 12 year tenure coming to an end.

The task of selecting someone to fill these shoes has been put in control of the aptly named Chancellor Search Advisory Committee. A 35 person team composed primarily of community members and ACC’s board of trustees, as well as various associations made up of administration, faculty and two ACC students.

“What I’m looking for is a relational leader who thinks and acts systemically to address the challenges of ACC and builds off our successes,” said Dr. Barbara Mink, sharing her notes for the board of trustees after hosting all three days of the candidates’ Q&A forums at Round Rock and Highland. 

As Chair of the Board of Trustees, Mink is a member of the search advisory committee and has been an active part throughout this nearly six-month long search process. Far from her first chancellor-picking rodeo however, Mink joined the board in 2000, and was originally hired as a dean for the school in 1973 – ACC’s first year of existence.

The Board Chair says that right now, the school could use a chancellor focused on, “internal housekeeping.”

Mink and the rest of the board organized a whole day’s worth of open-invite Q&As at three different ACC campuses for each of the candidates. 

“It’s Austin, people want to be involved,” said Mink, describing the importance of community forums in the search process. Starting up north with a session in Round Rock, each candidate on their respective day had to then travel south for two more stops at Highland and then finally, the South Austin campus. 

Although it’s a busy schedule – and not to mention over 50 miles worth of travel – Mink says that’s probably a good thing for the future president of (currently) 11 campuses to be getting used to.

As each session began to accumulate a size-able and outspoken crowd, some perspective on the chancellor’s importance to the ACC community was given along with the memory of a time before the pandemic. 

Several members of the board and selection committee made appearances; the Sociology Department Chair, Rennison Lalgee, had even referred to the event as a, “who’s-who,” of ACC faculty and staff as he arrived with his colleagues at the recital hall in the Highland campus. 

Robert Garza

The first day of forums introduced Robert Garza to the three campus audiences. Since 2018, Garza has been serving as Palo Alto College’s seventh president. Having around 30 years of experience in higher education, he first began working for the Alamo College District, which PAC is a part of, in 1999 before moving to Dallas College as the president of their Mountain View campus in 2015. 

In his hour of speaking, guided by approved questions from the search committee before taking questions from the audience, Garza made an initial point to learn who it was he was speaking to. Asking for a show of hands, he found in attendance at the Highland Q&A was a large amount of staff, a bit less faculty and only one enrolled student (me, but several more hands went up once alumni were included).

The largely framed but seemingly kind-hearted candidate had a familiar Texas accent and adopted a salesman-like approach to his answers – including light relatable humor, personal history and even a few rhetorical questions too, like: “Who thinks it’s easy to go to college nowadays?” or, “Is anybody a parent?” 

Similar to his previous employment, Garza’s academic history is Texas-centered as well. With a master’s in public administration from UTSA and both a doctorate in educational administration and the V. Ray Cardozier Alumni Excellence Award from UT; it was the bachelor’s degree from A&M in College Station that got a small “woo!” from someone in the crowd.

By describing some of his previous leadership initiatives, he stressed his strengths of collaboration and effective communication with both students and employees as the proper tools for leading the school.

“A chancellor is only one person, I can not say this enough,” worded Garza, “it will take everybody in this room and everybody who is not in this room to work together to help our students be successful in every possible way.”

Garza places priority in reaching out for feedback to target issues directly, and says to do that he currently hosts routine meetings with associations like his school’s staff and faculty senate. He also described his frequent “Whataburger with the president” days where he shares a meal at the famous Texas fast food chain with students or an organization while sporting his Whataburger guayabera.

Garza also has experience in collaboration outside of the school as well; as an example he referred to Alamo College’s involvement with 23 school districts for dual-enrollment programs and AlamoPromise which gives free tuition to students from participating local high schools.

Also during his tenure, negotiations with a nearby Toyota manufacturing site led to securing a work-study program between the under-staffed plant and Alamo Colleges. 

“They donate equipment, they donate money and they hire our students.”  Says Garza, acknowledging the importance of outside partnerships.

Though his authority is limited to Palo Alto College’s one campus, Garza assures that the increase in size at ACC won’t be a totally new experience. The Alamo Colleges are the state’s only current multi-college system, he says, meaning the need to travel and balance multiple locations makes it a similar experience to the multi-campus system here at ACC.

Perhaps due to his awareness of the audience’s demographic, Garza’s desire to increase employee morale was largely emphasized throughout the session. He advocated for hybrid (online and in-person) work days, and mentioned the one hour a week that his current employees get for on the clock “self-care”.

“You know as well as I do that folks are doing it anyway,” he says,  “I don’t want them feeling bad about it.”

Wanting to expand appreciation for the staff as well, the candidate mentioned his current school’s history of honoring good work by planting trees and devoting plaques to outstanding individuals.

“She has worked here for 50 years!” He said, referring to a woman he spoke with earlier who was now in the audience, “What are we going to do to remember her?” 

The room filled with laughter after she quickly responded with her own idea of, “More than a plaque!”

Garza has heavy pride in his Hispanic heritage and is even Board Chair for the Mexican-American Civil Rights Institute, a national organization which he says has a museum opening in San Antonio. 

Even with this cultural pride, Garza emphasizes that, “People are who we need to be supporting, it doesn’t matter what language you speak or what you look like, we’re all human beings.” 

Before adding, “I mean, I haven’t met a robot yet.” 

Joyce Ester 

Garza’s three forums seemed like a tough act to follow; the person to do it was top candidate and fifth president of Normandale Community College (NCC), Joyce Ester. 

In front of a very similar audience to yesterday’s, but at a much quicker pace than Garza’s slightly long-winded points, Joyce Ester introduced herself as having over 30 years experience in higher education – but only after first sharing her story. 

“Serving as president – or in this case, chancellor – is what I do, not who I am,” she says, “and who I am is a child of a single mom.” Understanding the many obstacles that can come in the way of academic success, she says this part of her identity is important for students to know and connect with more easily. 

There are several differences between Ester and her fellow candidates, the obvious two being that she is both African-American and a woman; but a less clear distinction, yet a more important one for some, is that she is the only choice from outside of Texas.

Her academic history, a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California in Santa Barbara and a B.A. in Sociology from Northern Illinois University, led to several faculty and staff positions in California before holding the position of president at both Kennedy-King College in Chicago and later at NCC in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The audience seemed to like her despite the lack of Texas experience – especially after her comparison of a Minnesota native saying, “that’s interesting,” to the Texas equivalent she learned about recently, “bless your heart.”

Not Texan, but she does have experience with large school systems. NCC is the biggest college in Minnesota, and only one of the 30 state colleges and seven universities that comprise the Minnesota State system – all of which are handled by one board and a chancellor.

“It’s really important to look at what our policies and procedures are.” Says Ester, adding that avidly reviewing and renewing policies is another goal she would take on as chancellor, “For many student’s the problem is that we made policies that maybe made sense five to ten years ago that we need to take another look at.”

Similar to Garza; First, knowing the specifics of a problem to advocate for creative solutions is Ester’s strategy for addressing the needs of a community. Due to ACC’s size and diverse needs, she assures that lots of time and the beginning of her tenure would focus on learning and understanding each campus.

She adds that it is important for her to know every campus’ “Jerry,” – a hypothetical person she explains is involved with the school and knowledgeable about its niche details. “[Jerry] knows where all the bodies are buried, and who put them there.”

One example of her history with using data to target change, she highlights, is NCC’s establishment of the “campus cupboard”. 

It was started with only small sustaining snacks, but after acknowledging that around half of the college’s students reported feeling “food insecure”, the “cupboard” – which is actually around the size of a classroom – grew to include basic groceries and even hygiene items at no cost to students. 

She also mentions an initiative taken at NCC to continue providing resources for students while also keeping the Maintenance and Operations department employed during the pandemic. While they weren’t needed at the schools, the worker’s in the department switched to food delivery for food insecure students.

“That was something that came from them,” Ester admits, “but I think my responsibility as a leader then was to empower them, to help them think outside the box and be a part of that process.”

She had a tendency to speak quickly; seeming almost out-of-breath at the beginning of her speech, the audience laughed when she worded a playful apology to the ASL interpreter for her pace – feeling guilty from her history working as an interpreter herself and teaching the subject as an adjunct professor. 

With significantly more time to ask their own, the larger audience than the day before likely wasn’t too upset about the speed she got through the initial questions. 

Some of the concerns regarded handling conflict and the importance of employee wellness. The audience seemed satisfied with her answers of, “[handle] conflict before it becomes a major conflict,” and, “We can’t take care of students, if we don’t take care of ourselves.”

Ester was also asked about her experience with a performance-based funding model, she denied having any but says she understands its existence, relating it to a car dealership saying, “if you’re not selling enough cars, then you’re not working here.”

She says that establishing better “metrics” for a student’s post-performance is important when not using an enrollment-based model, with credits at a community college often leading to multiple avenues beyond just graduating.

After a long history in the field of education, Ester’s retention of energy and passion for the job was evident and encouraging. 

She says, “I love the work that I do, it’s all about access and opportunity for all of our students.”

Russel Lowery-Hart

“I’m standing before you today because I think that higher education, and the bureaucracy that defines it, is broken.” says Russel Lowery-Hart, early on in his forum at the Highland campus.

Even while wearing a multi-colored bow-tie, Lowery-Hart approached his audience with a more serious tone, in contrast to the lighter approach made by his preceding candidates. 

Acknowledging HB 8, which passed legislation in Texas and transitions ACC to receive funding based on student outcomes, Lowery-Hart puts repeated emphasis on the need for a focus on ways to “double graduation rates” so ACC can have the “financial flexibility” necessary to address its employment needs.

He presents his 25 years of experience and nine-year tenure at Amarillo College, as evidence that he’s the one for the job. During his presidency there, which began in 2014, his college’s work at raising the student success rate resulted in it co-receiving the 2023 Aspen Prize for top community colleges, along with Imperial Valley Community College in California.

He says, “[Amarillo College] won that award because we closed equity gaps intentionally and thoughtfully, increased completion from 19 to 60 percent, doubled our graduation rates and deepened learning.”

After seeing an unimpressive success rate early in his presidency, Lowery-Hart focused on finding out the story behind the numbers through the use of focus groups and what he calls, “secret shoppers” – first-time students that were hired to enroll in college and report their experience.

He discovered that, “the top things that were keeping [students] from being successful in the classroom had nothing to do with the classroom.”

Using this observation and other data collection strategies he determined the average student at Amarillo College, located in the Texas city of the same name, is a Hispanic woman with 1-2 children. In an effort to humanize this statistic, he commonly refers to this typical student as “Maria.” 

Focusing on a way to help this large but struggling demographic, Lowery-Hart says he worked to develop Amarillo College’s “theory of change,” which states, “if you can remove a life barrier in an accelerated learning environment and a culture of caring, then Maria, our typical student, will complete.” 

To reflect this theory of change; social workers, poverty training and more emergency aid was implemented to help remove life barriers. He says the school started embracing eight-week classes as well as requiring integrated tutoring to improve both accelerated learning and its availability.

“Maria,” is likely similar to ACC’s demographic in the predominantly-hispanic population of Austin, but Lowery-Hart says that developing values and communicating a “theory of change” that is specific to the needs of ACC is crucial.

“I’m not going to be asking you to be a social service agency, I’ll just ask that you understand your students’ lived experience,” he says.

Lowery-Hart had done some research on ACC as well; looking at the school’s employee climate survey, he determined the need for an inward-focusing leader. 

The 2022 climate survey was conducted to report employee morale and reported negative feelings from faculty and staff regarding the college culture and listed stress as their second largest issue (the pandemic was number one.)

Marilyn, who teaches government at the Highland campus, said that she is “over the moon” to hear about a candidate wanting an internal focus; adding that ACC has a tendency to always be “chasing the next big thing.”

Like ACC, Amarillo College is a multi-campus system but with only six campuses in a 400 mile radius. Even with his experience in handling different locations, Lowery-Hart maintains honesty in his ability to efficiently communicate and become quickly acquainted with each of ACC’s campuses. 

“I think the answer that people want to hear… is that I’m just going to go to every office and sit down to have coffee with you,” he says, responding to a question about handling the school’s size, “but the scale is not going to allow that to happen in the first two years.”

Saying a 3-4 year process is more likely, Lowery-Hart’s strategy for upscaling the school’s impact involves building systems that train middle management to act on their own while using the data they have access to. 

He says it’s important to, “address the unique nature of each campus, but also unify the student experience.”

The audience was receptive to his personal history, providing a heartfelt “aww” when he explained that the “Lowery” and hyphen in his last name comes from his 27 year marriage.

This reaction was then followed by audible surprise from the audience, after learning his adopted son has been Mufasa in the touring production of the Lion King for the past six years. Chris, his adopted son, is a “six foot three, black, gay man,” that Lowery-Hart says changed his life.

“This isn’t the white savior moment, he saved us.”

In his forum at Highland, Lowery-Hart did neglect to mention his academic history: a Ph.D. from Ohio University, an M.A. from Texas Tech University and a B.S. from West Texas State University.

What Next – 

The entirety of the search process is divided into 11 steps, beginning with a request for applications and a long list of candidates from the executive search firm, Gold Hill Associates. 

Step eight – where the candidates participate in several community forums – is complete, and ACC now approaches step nine, which involves members of ACC’s board of trustees reaching out to the current schools of the three finalists. 

The board will use the feedback from these campus visits and the response papers collected from the forum’s audiences to make their final decision.

Roads, Rails and Riders: A Look into the Austin Transit Experience

In 2019, city council unanimously passed the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, detailing a mission to bring the number of people driving alone to work down to 50%. Through interviews and new first-hand experience on public transportation, Nathan Adam Spear tries to see what Austin is doing to make this dream a reality.

By Nathan Adam Spear

Photo by Matthew Mateo

The similarities between Austin and the other metropolises of America grow each year as skyscrapers fill the landscape and more large businesses become our new neighbors in the Texas capital. With Austin’s developments also including an accelerating population and frequently mind-numbing traffic, the city has found the need to develop another big city similarity – public transportation.

Due to the sprawling geography of Austin, and subsequently Austin Community College, high-capacity public transportation networks like the New York subways or the London Underground, have so far refrained from being Austin’s primary public transit style. Currently, Austin takes the bus.

Since its establishment in 1985, Austin’s transit-service, CapMetro, has led the way for Austin’s public transportation through its fleet of 358 buses and 83 routes. ACC specifically has nine of its eleven campuses serviced by CapMetro, the two currently excluded being the Hays County and Elgin locations.

ACC students, faculty and staff are even allowed free access to the CapMetro Green Pass as of 2019, providing unlimited use of CapMetro services. Still, according to a transportation survey in 2019 by ACC’s office of energy and sustainability, only 7% of respondents had utilized public transport to get to campus.

As a long-time member of ACC’s car dependent students, my own experience with public transportation is likely similar to many others – severely lacking. 

My car parked on the curb in Pflugerville Texas, April 29, 2023. Photo by Adam Spear.

The car I’m dependent on – a red Chevy Sonic equipped with several strips of duct tape, a broken taillight and an increasingly unbearable noise every time I push the brakes – continues to fight the title of ‘efficient’ and ‘preferable’ with every use, making other transit options grow more attractive.

It was the evening of April 6th when I began my first public transit journey aboard the route 20 bus headed toward Capitol Station. Besides being within walking distance to its namesake building, Capitol Station also begins my eight-minute walk to ACC’s Rio Grande Campus, the location of my Thursday afternoon American Sign Language class.

My first commute on the bus had a promising start; the recommended stop and route was easily found with the CapMetro app on my phone. Directions to my stops were also on Apple Maps, which has an option for public trip options readily available. My ticket, a local day pass, was also purchased conveniently for $2.50 through the CapMetro app – a temporary expense before I set up the available ACC Green Pass.

Ruby Krimstein, an ACC student and ACCent writer, has experience on the bus that far exceeds my own. Having previously resided in cities like Chicago and New York City which have very developed transportation networks, Krimstein has never owned a personal vehicle or even a driver’s license.  

A CapMetro Bus drives near Highland Station, which services the ACC Highland campus with bus and rail commuting options. Photo taken by Matthew Mateo in Austin Texas, April 25, 2023.

“Everyone would say to me ‘you need to have a car, you’re moving to Austin, this is the time to get your license, this is the time to get a car,’” says Krimstein who, since moving in January, has found these friendly warnings not to be the case.

Splitting her time as an English major between the Highland and Rio Grande campuses, she not only utilizes the bus, but CapMetro’s commuter rail – AKA the Red Line – as well. Krimstein says she has found surprisingly few issues getting where she needs to go from her apartment in east Austin, even compared to her previous experience commuting in more mass transit-oriented cities.

“There’s an idea of Texas being very ‘car-centric’, but I think [public transportation] is more efficient than people realize.”  

The efficiency in Austin has not been without some effort; in 2019, after four phases and two years of brainstorming, city council unanimously passed the Austin Strategic Mobility plan, the first adopted transportation plan since 1995. 

This 358-page citywide plan of action aims to decrease the 76% of the city’s drivers that take a car independently to work down to a bold 50% by the year 2039, with transit ridership increasing to 16%. The reason being to handle the predicted traffic congestion as a result of population increase as well as lower the city’s carbon emissions.

“We are trying to reduce our consumption, there are lots of ways to do it, but transportation has the biggest impact,” says Lonny Stern, public involvement manager for the Austin Transit Partnership, “Choosing to share your trip, even just carpooling, that’s a 50% reduction right there.”

Commuter delay, affordability, travel choice and safety were found to be the primary concerns of the focus group formed by city officials before drafting the ASMP.

Affordability isn’t an issue as an ACC student, but Krimstein is well aware of the occasional delay and feeling of discomfort experienced while using the city’s public transportation. Most especially, though, she finds issue in a “lack of autonomy” from relying on public transit. 

On the CapMetro Red Line, that she uses frequently to access the Highland campus due to its “cleaner” environment, Krimstein says missing a train can sometimes lead to hour-long waits for the next.

A train from CapMetro’s Red Line, which began operations in 2010, awaits departure at the Highland Station. Photo taken by Matthew Mateo in Austin Texas, April 25, 2023.

With the bus’s varying service times and limited travel distance, she says some freedom is lost without owning a car.  Often, events that are on a far side of the city or in a different one altogether are practically unreachable when depending on public transportation.

As for my own maiden bus trip, I fortunately arrived at my stop on time with the bus arriving shortly after to pick me up at the scheduled 5:00; However, frequent stops and a minor delay (after the driver answered a phone call and stepped off for a few minutes) made the future of getting to my 5:30 ASL class on time grow unlikely.

With all this stress for an otherwise roughly 15 minute car ride, I wondered what might make daily-use of these services, when other options are available, appealing.

“I’ve found it’s a good way to see the city,” says Krimstein, “It’s like an effortful journey which can be fulfilling.”

With that I can agree; getting to spend time outside in the community, with my eyes off the road and on the view around me, I find myself feeling unexpectedly content with my place in life and society. As Krimstein says, public transport isn’t so isolated compared to driving independently.

I was nearly finished practicing, ‘Sorry, I’m late’, in sign language when the bus came to its hissing stop at Capitol Station. My relaxing city walk turned into a sweaty urban jog, but I arrived at class on time, slightly damp, but on time.

It was 2020, when voters not only addressed improving the efficiency of its transportation by funding the Transit Enhancement Program, but also approved the planning for a different type of transportation entirely  through funding Project Connect.

Project Connect, supported by a portion of the city’s property tax revenue and run by the Austin Transit Partnership, is primarily focused on the construction of a new citywide light-rail system. The light rail, named for its smaller size, boasts high-speeds with frequent arrival times.

Focused on implementing the light rail without displacing low-income communities, ATP was formed to lead the program and works along CapMetro’s and the city’s ETOD or, Equitable Transit-Oriented Development, strategies as well. 

Initially, Project Connect planned 28 miles of accessible light rail throughout the city and presented these plans in early 2020; But after necessary changes to the rail’s design had accompanied the city’s accelerated cost of living, the original $5 billion cost estimate was doubled, and the vision was replanned.

Lonny Stern (left) , representing ATP, explains the initial plans for Project Connect to a student passing his table for ACC’s Earth week. Photo taken by Adam Spear at the Riverside campus on April 20 2023.

“In a way, we were building our dream home,” says Stern who, I discovered later, is a local realtor. “But now we know we need to start with a starter home and add on to it.”

Stern has been conducting community outreach for ATP since the light rail’s open house in March. Along his quest for public input and as part of ACC’s Earth week, he presented five options for the first phase of Project Connect’s construction at the ACC Riverside Campus.

The presentation was scheduled to include an electric vehicle demonstration, but the weather had other plans according to Amber Orr, the ACC energy and sustainability manager. 

Stern assures that the five more affordable options he presented are just for phase one of the long spanning project, and that the plans promised in 2020 have not ceased entirely, just slowed considerably. For Stern and ATP this brings the issue of finding routes to service first. 

“Some people may look at this and say, I want to go as far as possible, pick the cheapest branch, let’s do that, and there are other folks who are more specifically concerned about where we are serving,” says Stern. 

Focused on implementing the light rail without displacing low-income communities, ATP works along the city and CapMetro’s ETOD or, Equitable Transit-Oriented Development, strategies as well. 

Each of the five options, which fit into a more conservative budget, presented a portion of the original light rail system. The underground and elevated lines that were promised initially were only offered in the shortest of the five lines due to the unexpectedly high production costs of specialized rail. 

ATP’s outreach to ACC’s Riverside location was because one of the presented tracks did not reach far enough to service the campus efficiently; The northernmost reaching option, starting from North Lamar, only went as southeast as Pleasant Valley, whereas the others continued southeast to Yellow Jacket or, in one, all the way to the airport.

With troubles even arising at this year’s legislative session, in the form of House Bill 3899, it seems Austin’s light rail future is still some time away with speed having only increased semi-recently. After the the bill lost steam and the comment period ended May 2nd, it was less than a month later when ATP announced its agreed first phase of development.

“Full steam ahead!” posted CapMetro’s Twitter account announcing their board’s agreement on June 2nd 2023. The plan is a modified version of the five presented by ATP last month. Graphic from @CapMetroATX on Twitter

Most notably, the approved $4.5 billion plan will begin from 38th street down to Yellow Jacket, with a “priority extension” connecting Crestview up north as and from Yellow Jacket directly to the airport.

Last Friday, CapMetro’s Twitter announced that the CapMetro board unanimously approved the adjustments, putting Project Connect finally on the road, or rail, to construction.

Even with this decision being a big step towards the optimistic plans that we were shown in 2020, construction for this first phase will likely not feel much quicker; and several public comment periods can be expected in the meantime.

After acquainting myself with the city’s current transportation options and some of its riders, though a fulfilling experience, it does still have room for improvement with limited distances and varying delays. Austin’s Transit Enhancement Program, voter funded in 2020, provides a place for those of us using the bus to be heard while we wait further for Austin’s transit future.

Vision+Voice Makes a Comeback 

Students share their thoughts at ACC’s revived literary festival.

By Angelica Ruzanova

Humans are storytelling creatures. From cave drawings of star clusters to our fast-paced appetite to connect in the digital terrain today, we discover the world and ourselves through waves of proliferating knowledge. Our curiosity makes us human, and Austin Community College aims to facilitate a space to embrace that. 

On Friday, April 28, the liberal arts: humanities and communications department hosted the annual Vision+Voice Literary Festival at the Highland Campus showcasing poetry and creative writing from K-12 and ACC students. The event included an open mic and an award ceremony for winners of the League of Innovation and Cacciatore projects where each poem was read aloud by their author in the main presentation hall. Winners were individually invited to record their narration of the poems in the PBS studio across the building prior.  

ACC Mascot, R.B, struts his stuff at the presentation hall for the Vision+Voice Literary Festival. Photo taken by Angelica Ruzanova in Austin Texas on Friday, April 28th, 2023.

Moderated by Dean of Arts & Digital Media Perry Crafton, the event introduced special guests from the board of trustees, English and creative writing programs involved in judging the submissions.

Divided into grade levels, the winners received posters designed by ACC Digital Media students who visualized their own versions of each poem with chosen artwork, internally competing amongst themselves as well. 

“We are witnesses to your answer. Your work is published, your voice is heard,” said Board of Trustees member Nora Comstock in her opening speech. 

The festival was at the crossroads of all life paths. Poems from elementary grade poets exhibited raw imagery of the world as students shared experiences from school playgrounds to their thanksgiving dinner tables. Fifth-grader Mateo from Boone Elementary wrote:

“I am the green of the trees
The grass is as still as space
The shining sun with little gold lace

I wonder why the moon and sun are never together
Why the little small voice is always whispering hush

I hear the small breeze
and my breath being released
and the swings in a sea of rust

I see the green mixed with the night sky
of the chairs, the sky blue as a ripe blueberry

I want the yellow roses with rocks and sticks of all colors and the grass to brush my feet as I walk

I am the sky, the clouds, the sun, and moon
I am me”

…while Lyric, a first-grader from Maplewood Elementary, shared: 

“I hit my head
I hit my head
I hit my head
I hit my head

I bit my bed
I bit my bed
I bit my bed
I bit my bed.”

The first through fifth grade category was met with ACC poetry and creative writing winners Shannon Williams and Seth Moloney. Both students read their respective poem and short story to the live audience of faculty and students.

The middle school arrangement explored friendships, maturity and coming of age in this big, complicated world. The faces of these readers had wide eyes as they touched on themes of identity, expectations and losing those around you in the midst of adolescent angst that permeated their words.

“Today, we are reminded of what the world was like when we were young, feeling experiences with new eyes.”

Eighth-grader Stella from Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders read: 

“…It is easy
To get lost here
In this maze of identical streets
The same house
The same yard
Over and over again
Blue and gray

Our world is fading
We are fading into the carpet
That covers old hotel rooms
The random dots on the carpet describe our whole universe
Everything we have ever known
Will be walked over
The carpet
Is the color of soldiers uniforms
The carpet
Is the color of the houses
The carpet
Is blue and gray.”

Then, for dessert, the existential contemplation of high school contestants and their physical and spiritual realities. These poems dealt with the pains and dreams of young adults unafraid to shed their vulnerability as 11th grader Claire from Stephen F. Austin High School expressed: 

“The busy streets filled with cheer
Deep breathes, not a fear
Take a step, unlock the door
Dark sky with waves ashore
The feeling of unreality, it makes me feel fake
Take time for the value
No mistakes

Flying sheeps, counting stars
I want to stay forever where you can’t get scars
Peace and closure, feeling free
Close the door, use the key
Step out into the world where people feel pain
If only dreams were real where there are no complaints.”

The poetry was not solely limited to English work; Jhoselin from Austin Achieve Public High School was one of the winners for the 10th grade category with her work titled “Sentimentos No encontrados.” Part of the goal at Vision+Voice was to celebrate ESOL students through the Transpositions project for those taking English classes at ACC. 

Outside of the presentation hall, the festival featured the first edition of a student academic journal Curiositas designed by Professor Watkins, showcasing composition, research and literary essays from current ACC students.  

The Vision+Voice program began in 2013 but was halted during the last three years due to the pandemic. The festival is a revived opportunity for young poets to become published as they experience an authentic audience alongside writers both younger and older than themselves.

“We need to hear, listen, and connect,” said Creative Writing Department Chair Prudence Arceneaux in her introductory speech. “Today, we are reminded of what the world was like when we were young, feeling experiences with new eyes.”

Interview with Maxine LaQueene

ACCENT Media’s Digital Editor, Foster Milburn, interviews Maxine LaQueene in efforts to advocate against anti-trans laws. Watch Foster and Maxine discuss topics on human rights, the reality of being trans in Texas, the disenfranchisement and abuse that has befallen the trans community, and what we can do at Austin Community College to remain level-headed in today’s highly polarized society.

Understanding Prop A and B on the Ballot

Local elections for the state of Texas take place on Saturday, May 6. Here’s what you need to know before heading to the polls.

by Foster Milburn

What is a Proposition?

A proposition is a form of direct democracy when citizens vote directly on new laws or changes to existing ones. Voters typically place these propositions on the ballot through petitions or legislative action. 

It is not uncommon for supporters and opponents to spend money on advertising in order to influence public opinion on controversial issues. 

What will be on my ballot?

Unlike the November 2022 election, the ballot will be quite short. Educational bonds, the election of city council members, and city issued bonds will make up the majority of the ballot. 

The two most controversial topics are Proposition A and Proposition B dealing with the Austin Police Oversight Act. The propositions are nearly identical in language and are distinguished by the groups they are backed by.

What is Proposition A?

Proposition A is backed by Equity Action, a criminal justice reform group that focuses on racial equity in the judicial system in Austin. It intends to “deter police misconduct and brutality by strengthening the City’s system of independent and transparent civilian police oversight,” according to the election page on the official City of Austin website

What is Proposition B?

Proposition B is backed by the Voters for Police Oversight and Accountability, a group that is funded by the Austin Police Association. In terms of language, it sounds remarkably similar, almost verbatim, to Proposition A. It aims to “strengthen the City’s system of independent and transparent civilian police oversight,” according to its original ordinance. 

In a KVUE interview, Chris Harrons with Equity Action clarified that the primary difference between the two measures, besides the words “strengthening” and “strengthen,” is that Prop A attempts to make it possible for people to file anonymous complaints on a police officer. Voters for Oversight and Police Accountability said in the same interview that their aim is to increase police accountability with a focus on guaranteed due process.

Rewind to Fall 2022, when a group of unknown individuals were seen in West Campus gathering signatures for petitions relating to police oversight that many deemed deceiving due its language.“The City Clerk will not accept any requests to remove your name from the petition, regardless how you were deceived, after the organization behind it has turned in their signatures,” Equity Action said on their website

When casting your vote, notice the group that each proposition is backed by whose mission aligns with your beliefs about police oversight. 

Early voting for the May 6 election ends Tuesday. 

Reflecting on Women’s History Month

ACC International Programs and Office of Experiential Learning hosted Global Storytelling about Women: Empowerment and Disruption panel on March 28 with presentations from staff and students alike. The presenters discussed a variety of topics such as feminine ideals, fairy tales, monsters in literature, and stories of indigenous women in politics.

Story by Ava Vano

Studying Disruptors and Trailblazers

The panel began with Dr. Brenda Roy and her four students speaking about what they have learned in the Women and Gender Studies English Composition II classroom. Roy spoke about the class’s attitudes towards gender and through what perspective she sought to approach that, and explained that the course is designed on“[Using] gender as the primary, but not the only lens to explore course texts.”

In the class, students read a variety of short stories, poetry, essays and watched TED talks exploring women’s stories. Why does this matter? Roy’s goal is to “Center students’ own lived experiences” and to create “embodied citizens outside the classroom,” according to her presentation. 

The “Global Storytelling about Women: Empowerment and Disruption” panel held at the Highland Presentation Hall and moderated by Philosophy Professor and Service-Learning Program Coordinator Linda Cox. — Photos by Angelica Ruzanova

Each of the four students got the opportunity to present their own topics pertaining to the course that they were passionate about. Attendees saw presentations about gender socialization, personal impacts of one’s own gender, thoughts about “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and an analysis of “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid. These students explored what it means to be a woman personally, but also what literature has taught us about womanhood.

Monstrous Women Around the World

The next presentation was “Monstrous Women Around the World” given by Professor Alex Watkins. Watkins spoke about themes of monsters as cultural ideals and how monsters are a way to villainize and disempower certain groups, referencing Jeffrey Cohen’s “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”. 

Professor Laura Elander shares her research and excerpts of her students’ essays during her presentation. Her topic demonstrated the importance of intersectionality in literary text and how difficult it is to navigate literature in higher education today. — Photos by Angelica Ruzanova

A keynote from this presentation was the fourth thesis, “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference,” in which she reflects upon “the other” and our fear of that idea. This is applicable to many different groups of people and is something that is ever present within our media. Overall, through this presentation, the attendees were given the opportunity to reflect upon what people have the tendency to fear and why exactly they do that. 

Indigenous Women in Politics

The third presentation was “Indigenous Women in Politics” by Professor Vanessa Faz. She began the presentation by pointing out the issue of indigenous women going missing every day, and the lack of funding and police presence on reservations that has made this issue go under the radar in many instances. 

On a brighter note, the main point of her presentation was to celebrate the indigenous women that were able to break through the political sphere and were elected into government positions. For example, Deb Haaland was the first Native American woman elected into Congress and to hold a cabinet position, and Sharice Davids followed Haaland to be the second Native woman in Congress. 

Faz points out that there were no Native Americans elected into Congress from 1902 to 2018, making the barriers these women broke down even more impressive. 

Global Cinderella Stories: How Fairy Tales Reflect the Feminine Ideal 

The final presentation was “Cinderella Stories and the Feminine Ideal – How Stories Shape Our Perception” given by Professor Lauren Elander who is a dual credit high school teacher from Round Rock ISD. 

Elander has the unique challenge of teaching high school students and finding texts that all students can see themselves in, expressing that challenge by asking “How am I going to find a text for everybody?” Elander gives students the option to write about texts and material not in the curriculum if they feel drawn to it, giving students the opportunity to find texts they are passionate about. 

The “Cinderella Stories” panel discusses the portrayal of womanhood and what it does to collective psyche. — Photos by Angelica Ruzanova

Elander presented Cinderella stories across all different cultures and what expectations from women are shown through their depiction. Intersectionality is a key concept for the interpretation of texts within Elander’s classroom, and as her students navigate their course material, they are given the opportunity to reflect upon themselves and others. 

Although Women’s History Month has come to an end, we can still find the time to reflect upon women’s stories and the challenges they face through literature. This panel gave several women the opportunity to share their stories and empower other women through the recognition, acknowledgement, and exploration of topics that may otherwise be overlooked. 

The Inner Workings of My Mind: Great Questions Part 1

An essay on being a student with a neurodivergent brain by ACCENT writer Aaron Moeller. This article is part of the Student Welfare Series, exploring the Great Questions program in the ACC humanities department.

By Aaron Moeller

Photo by Matthew Mateo

My brain is an F5 tornado. It spins, twirls me around endlessly, and is highly unstable. After joining college again after three years off, I did not remember how to read or write. I had to teach myself.

I have autism, and seven other diagnoses, including complex PTSD, ADHD, and OCD. I am neurodivergent. My entire life, I had not been civically engaged and did not know how to be. I had yet to start reading my first book. My hands would tremble when I tried to write an essay. My head would spin off my shoulders for any given test. I had lost hope. Why is my brain like this?

Then it happened, during my first semester at ACC. I received my first bad grade: an F on a paper I had spent 15 straight hours writing. I emailed my teacher, Shellee O’Brien, some things I should not repeat.

My ego was destroyed. I tried to read the entire book. I did the work. But I still got an F. Why? I met with Professor O’Brien during our first office hours where I was poised and ready to attack. How dare she not give me a perfect score? I poured my entire life and soul into this; why did I get an F? I demanded a rebuttal from her.

To my surprise, she looked me in the eye and began speaking calmly. She explained where I had skewed off track during my essay, and I realized I was wrong. I knew from her tone that she didn’t try to “win” or have a “gotcha” moment with me. I spoke with her for two hours, not knowing my life would be changed forever because of that call. 

This was the first time I felt I had a teacher who cared about me.

We ended the call with her telling me that I could do anything I set my mind to, and I knew I could count on her. I had finally found a mentor.

After that day, I began my next writing assignment. She had told me not to worry about this old one, and I didn’t. I focused. I sat for another fifteen hours and wrote my following essay. Was this something that I could do now? Could I be a writer? Do I have a voice? Is someone going to care what I have to say?

I turned in my essay and got an A. This was the first A I had ever received since I dropped out of high school at 15. I was ecstatic; this was one of the best days of my life. I went outside and shouted to the sky, “I made it.” Because I did. They were my words on the paper, and for the first time, I was heard.

I quickly went back to Blackboard and checked my history class grade. Fail. I began to sob and mentally retreated into myself. Why was my brain doing this? How can I get my first A and an F simultaneously? Why do I remember everything from the other class but nothing from the one I failed? I made it my mission to find out.

I met with Professor O’Brien again and explained what was happening, asking her what the secret was. She told me it was something called “Great Questions.” 

Great Questions pedagogy is centered around teaching discussion-based texts and creating lesson plans that allow your students to find their voice. This is immensely powerful, especially for a neurodivergent student like me, who knows that the education system was not created for everybody. Great Questions focuses on collaboration, not rote-memorization. It also focuses on the concepts of the material rather than memorizing answers to regurgitate on an exam.

I was still confused. I thought the answer was simple: suck it up. That is what I have been told my entire life. I perfected the art of masking after my childhood trauma. Everyone tells me, “You don’t look autistic,” or “You look so happy.” If only they knew how I felt. If only they knew every single thought that entered my brain.

But I’m not special. Millions of other people feel this daily. They are stuck inside a system that just isn’t made for them. They try to claw their way “out” at their own expense, only to realize there isn’t one.

Professors don’t have it easy, either. They are thrown out of graduate school after getting a degree, with all the weight of the world thrust upon them, alone, like me. They are expected to care for hundreds of students, each with preconceived notions of how a typical class should be. It is not easy or wise to go against the status quo.

Students expect the teachers to make things easy to learn and perfect in every way, which usually means some rote-memorization style teaching method. A rinse and repeat method: memorize this and that, pass the exam, then forget it all. But O’Brien showed me how things could be different. She went against the norm and had the vulnerability to try something new, which changed my life. The secret is that she was active and engaged in my education, a special method implemented in the Great Questions program. 

I know it is not easy. Academic freedom isn’t as good as it is made to seem. Throw in overloaded and stressed students, hundreds of them, with hundreds if not thousands of essays to read, all while keeping a close and tight-knit relationship with the student. It’s practically impossible. Students learn early not to expect much, and teachers are just trying to get by with what they have.

I have a new challenge.

I am challenging professors to challenge themselves. We can all become active readers and writers. Create lesson plans that are discussion based, and allow your students to have a voice, as O’Brien did for me. Give me a chance to realize I am a part of the big picture, and what I say matters. Give me a chance to mess up, and help me back up. Have fun with me.

I know it is hard to try something new, but it is an act of solidarity. In my case, I learned I had a voice, something I never knew I had since I was eleven years old after my offender assaulted me.

But I survived.

Being comorbid with so many diagnoses has challenged me, but I survived. I have faith that teachers will also survive.

Give me a chance to realize I am a part of the big picture, and what I say matters. Give me a chance to mess up, and help me back up. Have fun with me.

After finding my voice, I now eat and sleep better, have become a leader within multiple communities, and am pursuing journalism as a passion for spreading awareness of the disenfranchisement of neurodivergent people. 

Before this, I was stuck inside for three years, extremely cloistered with trauma-induced symptoms. I know Great Questions pedagogy has the potential to change a student’s life forever. It changed mine.

My therapist described my reality as “walking in a snowstorm while everyone around me is on a beach,” and I had never felt more validated.

Growing up and never meeting my father traumatized me and left me seeking guidance, but finding a mentor within my professor allowed me to blossom into the real-life human I am today.

After two years, I will be the first in my family to graduate and the first one to publish anything, and that is possible due to people like my Professor Shellee O’Brien and the Great Questions pedagogy who are willing to try something new.

SXSW: Katharine Manning on Trauma-Informed Workplaces

Mental safety, as is dealing with trauma, is vital to creating a healthy workplace. Katharine Manning guides these topics for employees in the workforce.

by Foster Milburn

As students, we often question what to expect once we enter the workforce, particularly internships. The classes we take in undergrad help us contextualize topics in which we major, but extracurriculars can only prepare us so much for the workforce once we enter it. How can we know what we value in a workplace when we don’t know what it means to be part of a corporate environment?

You have probably seen some of her books regarding empathy in the workplace. She is an advocate for unheard voices, including those affected by the Pulse nightclub and South Carolina AME church shootings, and an attorney who guides the Justice Department through responding to trauma victims. She is Katharine Manning, and she is an author, professor, and attorney.

Through what she refers to as “The LASER Technique,” Manning offers a five-step process for a compassionate response to employees with trauma for managers and anyone overseeing a group of people in the workplace.

The LASER Technique as presented by Katharine Manning at SXSW

The first step is Listening, Manning advises, “don’t interrupt and don’t problem solve; just let [the employee] speak. Make room for that.” 

The second step is Acknowledge – “it is straightforward: ‘I’m sorry,’ or, ‘that sounds difficult.’ It lets [the employee] know you heard them, and they are likely to listen to what you share next,” Manning said. 

The third is Sharing information, “John F. Kennedy said in times of turbulence it is more accurate than ever that knowledge is power,” Manning said. “When we share, we get a little of that power back.”

Step four is Empower. This step is about recognizing that the person in trauma has their own journey to walk. She advises, “you must set boundaries for yourself, but within that, you can give [the employee] tools to take with them on that journey.” 

For example, if the company offers mental health resources, share those with the cohort. Affirming boundaries while offering resources – such as 988– the U.S. new national hotline for suicide and mental health crises –creates a comfortable space for the individual while you guide them in the proper direction.

Step five – Return. By setting boundaries, you’re caring for your mental health while helping the individual facing trauma. It would help if you watched for yourself, and Manning’s advice for that is investing in self-care. “I do a little bit of yoga and meditation every morning. Just do something every day that gives back to yourself,” she said. 

Affirming boundaries while offering resources – such as 988– the U.S. new national hotline for suicide and mental health crises –creates a comfortable space for the individual while you guide them in the proper direction.

This is how we respond, but next is making sure that the people that come to us in the first place are encouraged to do so. “People underestimate how valuable it is to check in on the people in our lives,” Manning said.

From highlighting common incidents such as workplace violence and employee safety, to recognizing needs and developing resources such as miscarriage leave, gender-affirming medical care, or domestic violence, sharing resources is vital. “Do you have these policies within your organization? If not, think about that,” Manning said.

This is the second pillar of trauma-informed workplaces. Manning advises, “make sure you’re getting input from those affected – don’t create a phenomenal gender-affirming care policy without first talking to transgender individuals.” The dormant items will not do anyone any good if they’re sitting on a shelf with no one discussing them.Her book, “The Empathetic Workplace,” describes other pillars in responding to trauma and distress amongst our coworkers and supervisors. Next month, she is launching a course diving deeper into making workplaces more empathetic, thus creating a healthier work environment for all employees. You can check out the website for more details.

Riverbats Call On ACC’s Administration to Act On Housing

“They want us to be like our mascot and sleep under bridges.” The administration’s lack of support enables housing insecurity to persist, student government members say.

by Daniel Sadjadi

Last August, ACC’s Student Government Association (SGA) members presented a recommendation proposal to the Board of Trustees to address the shortage of affordable housing for students. 

The solutions included immediate steps such as creating a housing message board for students to connect with roommates, medium-term solutions such as creating a housing committee and increasing resources for affordable housing initiatives and programs, and long-term solutions such as working with the SGA and community partners to create more affordable housing options. 

The SGA also surveyed ACC students on their financial and living conditions. They received 533 responses and found the following:

  • 71% of students worry about paying rent
  • 61% have faced housing insecurity
  • 12% of students reported facing homelessness
  • 30% of students spend more than 60% of their income on rent
  • 31% report struggling to pay their bills after rent 
  • 20% have received rental assistance
  • 80% say COVID-19 has drastically impacted their ability to work and pay rent
  • 40% of students have been behind on rent
  • 11.3% of students have faced eviction
  • 7 current students surveyed were homeless

According to SGA Senator, Julia Cloudt, upon being presented with this information, ACC’s Board of Trustees asked SGA to return with more data on students’ housing situations. SGA members, who have already volunteered dozens of hours of unpaid time to gather data through surveys distributed in tabling events, classes, and through word of mouth, felt frustrated according to Cloudt.

The main issue for ACC students finding affordable housing is the lack of support from the administration, Cloudt said. 

“We provided them with short, medium, and long-term solutions and there has been a lot of red tape with them not making it easy for us to even get solutions out to students,” she said. “I think one of the main issues is that we brought a lot of evidence to the administration and I think they see it as ‘it’s housing, it’s too big of an issue.’”  

Some of the main solutions proposed by the student government included providing information on affordable housing within a ten-mile radius of each campus and creating an app to connect students looking for housing. However, the administration has not taken any significant actions to address this issue, leaving SGA to deal with it themselves, Cloudt said. 

“We provided them with short, medium, and long-term solutions and there has been a lot of red tape with them not making it easy for us to even get solutions out to students”

Cloudt says that there is a misconception that students are looking for a huge solution to the housing issue, but they are only asking for help to help themselves. Cloudt also expressed that the lack of guidance and support provided by ACC to the Student Government is discouraging. Cloudt believes that the excuses given by ACC might be both legitimate and illegitimate, as there is data that ACC already knows that students are struggling with housing and even homelessness. 

Rent in Austin has increased 93% since 2010 and the majority of students reported struggling to afford housing. Cloudt experienced housing insecurity herself during her senior year in high school and was forced to stay with friends after facing homelessness. She struggled to find work and save up to get her own apartment. Struggling to find housing and a job while homeless made a significant impact on her education as she was unable to attend school regularly during that time.

“I didn’t know where to go. I had no savings. I had no job. No support… I just had to stay with friends while I was looking into getting a job so I could save up and get my own apartment. That was like three or four weeks after me having to just go struggle by myself. I didn’t go to school that entire time. I had teachers reach out to me and call me because they were like, you haven’t been to class. I was using an old iPod Touch, so I didn’t even get the messages until after I was back home. I was real-life struggling. I almost slept at a bus stop one night, but I was so scared for my safety that I walked four miles to my friend’s house, it’s either that or maybe getting raped or assaulted.” 

The lack of affordable housing affects students’ ability to focus on school and their overall well-being, as their basic needs are not being met. The transportation system is also a significant problem for people who do not have stable housing, as many are forced to rely on public transport, which takes away time and energy from their studies.

During a meeting with a trustee, they confirmed that the city fined ACC $1 million for not keeping apartments at Highland campus affordable, said Kay Trent, SGA’s president. At Highland, the Ella Parkside apartment building features 300 units but only 30 of which are reserved for affordable housing. A one-bedroom apartment would set you back $1,400 a month. “You need three or four times the rent to be able to sign off on it… my own teachers don’t make four times that amount. It was beyond affordable housing,” Cloudt said. 

Frustrated by the lack of action, a group of SGA members organized a peaceful protest on campus by putting sticky notes onto advertisement posters for the Highland campus, containing quotes about the high cost of housing and living expenses. The sticky notes were taken down the next day but the group plans to continue protesting and keeping the pressure on the board to address the housing issue.

“The SGA hopes to find solutions within ACC but is also looking to reach out to other sources for help if they continue to be ignored,” Cloudt said. The protest was successful, with the group receiving coverage in a local newspaper.

Trent said that ACC has the money to buy or build student housing, but is choosing not to. She suggested the closed ACC Pinnacle building could be used for student housing instead of converting it into a vineyard for the culinary department. Trent stated that ACC has displayed a lack of care for their students that is reflected in the budget, which is close to a billion dollars but not being used to build affordable housing. 

At one of the Board’s meetings, the topic of the administration’s frivolous spending while ignoring basic issues came up. In 2019, ACC Chancellor Richard Rhodes received a 5% raise which brought his salary to $360,000. SGA members say this money should have been used for student housing instead. Trent also noted that the administration rejected a $20 living wage proposal for ACC employees. 

Trent said that the investments made by the college are not always in the best interest of the students, like offering food services but making them prohibitively expensive to students, such as in the case of $9 ‘grab-and-go’ snack options at Highland.

Trent says that the college should invest more in resources that would benefit students, such as affordable housing for those without families and single mothers. Trent believes that providing a safe and stable housing environment for students would allow them to focus on their academics without being in “survival mode.”

Trent said that the city’s efforts to combat homelessness have not been effective and that the issue has only gotten worse without any permanent solutions. She stated that the city council needs to be more active and work together to find a solution, ‘as everyone is talking in circles about housing but nothing is actually being done to address the issue.’

“I just think that it’s selfish that a city can continue to go on this way. Or they try to push you out of the city, because the surrounding areas – Round Rock, Leander, Georgetown, all of that they still consider that to be Austin. But to live in Austin, you have to give up two legs and a half a year to afford it… Everybody’s sacrificing, like I sold my car because I was like, ‘Well, I can walk to school, I really don’t need a car per se,’ but also I couldn’t afford the gas, and insurance and gas are a big killer, especially if you’re already barely making rent.” 

Providing a safe and stable housing environment for students would allow them to focus on their academics without being in “survival mode.”

For ACC students struggling with housing insecurity or looking for a place to live, the college has a student emergency aid program that gives out a maximum of $500 to help with temporary housing, but there is no one on staff to talk to for more permanent solutions.

Trent has been working since April to address the issue of students not having their housing and other basic needs met. She has been reaching out to different departments for help and working to build bridges between them. She believes the ball is in the Board of Trustees’ court to find a real solution. 

“Nobody’s asking them to build an arcade, a gym, or anything. All those things would be lovely to have, but we just want housing right now… and so it’s just a lot of holding them accountable, a lot of physically going up to the Board of Trustees meetings, being in there, having interviews with people across the city. It’s a very challenging task, but it’s not impossible.” 

She plans to continue the fight, even after she graduates from ACC, to hold the Board of Trustees accountable for not addressing the issue of housing. She is also looking to partner with other organizations to help find a solution.

SGA (Student Government Association) at Austin Community College is a group that helps students with various issues, including housing. They represent 72,000 students on campus. The best form of contact is to reach out to the ACC SGA email address listed below. 

SGA tries to help students who are being redirected endlessly by other organizations on campus. SGA is a group of people who are tirelessly fighting for students and trying to help them. Change can only happen when people become involved, so the SGA encourages students to become involved and reach out to them. You can find more information and volunteer to get involved with SGA here.

Student Government Association Email: [email protected]

Inside ACC’s Professional Nursing Program

The Health Sciences department at ACC has a profound reputation in Austin.

by Foster Milburn

Graphic by Claudia Hinojos

Health science students at Austin Community College are prepared for the fast-growing healthcare industry as the college offers a flexible education pathway, realistic hospital settings, and a high state pass rate. 

A career as a registered nurse might be ideal for students who are driven to help others and are passionate about science. 

Post COVID, the supply and demand for nurses has resulted in a shortage of nurses globally. With the high demand, the pay remains an appealing incentive for entering the work field.

According to Indeed, the average yearly salary for a registered nurse (RN) in Texas is $89,905; a well-paying salary in the field results from the long hours and the emotional pressure of being a nurse. 

At ACC, students have a wide range of options in picking their major or starting a trade-specific program. 

Professional nursing is different from other areas of study as it requires the student to apply and be accepted into the program, whereas other studies are open to students at any time. To be registered in this program, students are also expected to complete a series of prerequisites. 

If a student is interested in nursing, they should go to the ACC website. Professor Abraham, an Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) level two professor, advises: “Definitely, the Health Sciences page is the best place to start.”

One thing to think about prior to considering nursing school is the complexity and dedication required. “What helps is having a realistic goal when starting nursing school,” Professor Abraham said.“Nursing school is a full-time job.” 

That might raise the question of whether you can work outside the classroom to provide income for your living expenses beyond what you receive from loans. “Yes, you can. It will not be easy, but it is possible.” Christina Berger, a level II ADN Student at ACC and a mother of two, points out.

For many students, having a job while in school is necessary. An outside income is a requirement as some live independently or have children. Christina Knighton discussed working while being in the program. “I understand that it is reality, and we can’t not all work. Students have scaled back their hours to ensure they have more time for the program,” she said. 

So, you might be wondering what other options are available. Knighton brings up the option of saving between semesters to have extra income during semesters. “This program is a full-time job,” she said.

With the disclaimers addressed, it would be best to meet with an advisor if a student is still interested in starting the program. It can be something other than Health Sciences, too. 

Christina Knighton spoke about her personal experience with her advisor, “I started by speaking to my advisor, who gave me information about the prerequisites for the ADN program. She helped me stay on track and made sure I met the deadlines for application.” 

The application process can be confusing for students navigating through the steps for the first time. It is much more information than other programs of study because it is specialized and more selective. 

However, that does not mean there aren’t people to help you along the way. Because of having high standards going into the program, the resources continue beyond the application process. 

“Once in the program, there are retention services available that can help with financial aid, study tips, and time management,” Knighton said. 

Regarding the prerequisites, one might ask if they are beneficial to the courses they are required to take. For the professional nursing program, ADN, the associate degree plan requires four prerequisites. If taken subsequently, the classes can be completed in approximately three semesters. 

“Pharmacology and Anatomy & Physiology give you the foundation for going into nursing school,” Knighton said. “When you have a deeper understanding of how the body works, it is easier to understand the disease processes you learn about once in the program.”

Secondly, the other requirement for applying for admission into the program is the HESI exam. The exam is a test that covers the material learned in the prerequisites where students are “tested on knowledge and how you would apply that knowledge in a clinical setting,” Knighton said. 

The HESI Admission Assessment fee is currently at $62.00. The minimum passing score is 75 percent, and the test covers anatomy, physiology, math, reading, grammar, and critical thinking. 

The HEXI exam varies in complexity. “Exposure to NCLEX style questions helps a lot when preparing for the HESI or nursing school exams in general,” Knighton said. 

The NCLEX is the exam taken after completion of the program. “You can find them online, and there are many apps you can download for free,” Christina Berger said. 

To conclude, it is best to speak directly with an advisor if one is considering the Nursing program or any other Health Sciences program. They can give you more personable advice while understanding your circumstances. 

The nursing program here at ACC has an outstanding reputation within Texas and across the country. Austin American-Statesman presented the program with the 2020 Best of the Best Award on Jan. 11 of last year – an endowment worthy of what it offers.