Monthly Archives: June 2018

Digital Media Day

Chabot College teamed up with the Hayward Unified School District for Digital Media Day for High School Seniors on April 27, 2018, in the Event Center. Students from Tennyson High School and San Leandro High School attended the event.

The purpose of the event is for the instructors to showcase the opportunities of the Arts, Media and Communication Department here at Chabot College offer, from Audio, Photo, Game Design, Studio Art, Stop Motion, After Effects, and Television Workshops.  

The students sign up for a workshop based on their interest in the available workshops. Each workshop had a one-hour session for students to preview what it is like taking a class at Chabot.

Tennyson High School teacher Jayne Ruiz who is part of a media academic program called CMMA. She states “I really love how this specific department at Chabot wants to help our students, and for myself to interact in the workshop I can learn with the students.”

Ruiz continues, “ I just love attending to Digital Media Day. I love the after effect class because the students enjoyed doing something very similar to what they are currently learning in the CMMA classroom but applying new techniques that Professor Lothian taught us.”

The majority of the students enjoyed attending the event. They enjoyed the workshops and talked to current Chabot students about their experience here at Chabot. These kinds of workshops really make an impact on high school seniors.

The next Digital Media Day will be in the fall, and hopefully, more high schools in Hayward take the opportunity to attend an event like this.

Romeo and Juliet: A Chabot Theater Review

Chabot theater department put on a production of Romeo and Juliet, beginning with a first performance on the April 12, and the last performance on April 21. The production had a runtime of 2 hours and overall was an enjoyable experience.

I will get the criticism out of the way first. The big elephant in the room is the wardrobe. It flat out was the worst I have ever seen including high school productions. Also, the Nurse played by Joanna Lopez overacted a scene to the point where the focus was entirely on her, I could best describe her performance as channeling Ursula from the Little Mermaid.

And now for what was good. I enjoyed the lewd humor and innuendo the cast added to the classic Shakespearean work. Stand out actors were O’Byrain for his performance as Romeo, Juan Torrez-Cornejo and Curtis manning as Mercutio. All of them had outstanding performances, however, the stand out was Sean Bonggiovanni as Friar Lawrence, who not only did an incredible job acting he had the most believable costume as well, besides maybe the Apothecary played by Lauren Allen.  

I was lucky enough to interview the director Joel Mullinnex. He stated the first play he ever directed was Romeo and Juliet at Chabot. He went on to say that the scene on the balcony when Juliet says “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.” is the “most exalted expression of love.”

Overall I would highly recommend the play which is an accomplishment in its own right considering I do not care for Romeo and Juliet that much. For a 2 hour and 20-minute production it felt entertaining, and it went by quickly.

SFO Architecture Tour

On April, 6, San Francisco International Airport’s Stephanie C. Jaeger, Director of Architecture, Planning, Design, and Construction invited the Architecture Department of Chabot College and its students to visit the International Airport to learn about the different opportunities a degree in architecture will afford them. The tour started at the BART station inside the San Francisco Airport. The participants rode the trolley to the International terminal where Jaeger explained the earthquake retrofitting and how the airport is working towards becoming a zero-emissions facility.

Students got a chance to learn about the people involved in project planning and the visual aesthetics you see when you walk through the terminals. Karess Batkowski president of the Chabot architecture club said, “This tour inspired me, to see how much work they do and how enthusiastic she was. It just makes me wanna learn all I can to get to where Ms. Jaeger is.”

From there the students briefly visited the aviation museum, and library then continued on the trolley to see the project in progress on terminal two, the new control tower and the new office suites for the building and planning staff. I asked David Carrera the ICC representative of the architecture club if this tour gave him more insight into the field that he wants to become apart of “I think the main thing that this tour did for me was lower the intimidation factor that I think we all have to try to get into this field. So getting to talk to the people in charge and see what they do gives us a little boost of confidence.”  

The students arrived back at their starting point as Ms. Jaeger had to head to her next meeting. As the students communed at the end of the tour I was able to talk to Bryon Lindsey a student of architecture at Chabot College and he said this tour really helped push him more to get his degree “It just shows me architects are needed and how they can make an impact on people’s everyday life.”