On October 19 Chabot College  organized a highly successful seminar focused on networking and career development. The event was held in collaboration with a networking organization for accounting and financial professionals Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance (AFWA), emphasizing the importance of networking for career growth and professional development.

“Their goal is to catch students early in the academic pursuits so that they can “groom” them for ultimate job placement in prestigious accounting firms. They were networking, themselves, in hopes of attracting some new members. It worked, too, because a number of attendees said they planned to join the group,” – explained Lynn Klein, Prof. in the Business department of Chabot College and organizer of AFWA event.

The seminar featured key speakers and organizers, including Yelena Melero, Alyssa Bonfilio, and Carolyn Sweeney, who shared their insights and experiences in the field of finance and accounting. The active participation of AFWA members and Chabot students contributed to the enriching and dynamic atmosphere of the event.

“What is a network? It’s creating relationships with people and meeting people that you don’t even know. Coming from Covid, you went from not even wanting to touch someone’s hand or not even wanting to be in person with people,” – declared Yelena Melero, SF Finance Analyst.

The expert says networking is not only learning from others. It is about advertising yourself, and starting to build a personal brand for yourself. The goal of this event is to surround  yourself with like-minded individuals, and also have someone that you can look up to, someone who’s done it before, someone who can give you advice. These are just a few reasons why we need networks. 

During the seminar, various interactive activities were conducted, including a word cloud exercise and a comprehensive worksheet activity, providing engaging discussions on effective networking practices. All the guests were encouraged to dive deeper into the networking strategies and their practical application in real-world life.

“I got to talk with a couple people, so that was cool. Just a quick little networking tip, which I would like to try and do in my own network. But whenever you go work in a coffee shop for work or schoolwork, go to the gym, attend a social event with a friend. You should try to challenge yourself to start a conversation with a stranger every time in this room,” – shared Alyssa Bonfiglio, VP of AFWA with students.

The seminar created an accessible and inclusive environment for students and professionals to engage in meaningful discussions about networking and career advancement. The success of the event was evident through the positive feedback and expressed intentions of the guests to become members of AFWA. 

“The idea to provide value to the students today was just to introduce them to the idea of strategically networking and being thoughtful about what their goals are and who they need to meet to be able to help them reach those goals,” – said Carolyn Sweeney, Managing Director at Century Group.

The primary objective of the seminar was to highlight the significance of networking in career development and to provide valuable insights into building strong professional connections. The collaboration between Chabot College and AFWA aimed to improve students’ networking skills and facilitate opportunities for mentorship and internships in prestigious accounting firms.

‘’Networking is such an important skill to have to make connections with people that could possibly know about job opportunities, to get input and feedback on job search strategies, including interviews, and to basically help students achieve their career goals,’’ – added Lynn Klein.

In a recent resume workshop, held on October 10 at room 146 at Learning Connection Room, students of Chabot College gained valuable insights into optimizing their resumes and handling the complexities of the job market. The event was organized by instructional assistant Patrick Wwamba featuring a skilled Head of HR with eight years of expertise Jaki Rangel. The main goal was to talk about how to get out into the working world, where you can apply, what you can expect, what those steps might be.

“It’s part of, we’re just trying to get students ready and I think the first year of college can be really daunting and especially the reality is a lot of our students need to have to work, have to look for work, whether it’s like on campus and outside of campus and as well don’t necessarily have the skills to or know even how to make a resume. So these are part of a series of different resources or skills that we would like our students to get familiar with because that’s kind of what the world expects them to know as well. Patrick Mwamba,  instructional assistant, Collaborative Space.

The speaker Jaki Rangel, known for her comprehensive understanding of human resource operations, offered guidance on creating resumes tailored to specific roles using networking platforms like LinkedIn.

“When I’m looking at resumes and I’m hiring for roles, that’s what I’m looking at as the first line on the hiring process. I’m looking at the humanity of people more than I’m looking at the specifics of the role because I don’t know what an analysis does. I don’t look at that. But I’m going to focus on why you want to work with us. What do you think you can bring to the organization why you’re looking to fill this role for our company?’ – highlighted HR expert.

The importance of adjusting resumes to match job descriptions using relevant keywords was emphasized by the speaker. She explained how to capture the attention of recruiters during the initial review process by specific tricks.

“If you increased sales a lot, that’s great. I’m happy for you, but I need facts and figures. Was it 10 x? Was it a 30% increase? Did you see your team grow by 50%? Those are hard facts and figures that in a 32nd scan of a single page, when that’s all I get to know about you, that I’m able to see whether or not it’s worthwhile to make the next step, which is typically a phone interview,” – explained Jaki.

HR expert also discouraged the inclusion of extra information, reminding guests to maintain a focused resume. One of the essential elements of a successful resume is the format itself. The speaker recommended sending resumes as PDFs rather than Word documents to ensure the preservation of formatting during the review process.

Furthermore, the speaker reminded the significance of thorough LinkedIn profiles, highlighting the impact of a clear online presence on potential employers. Professionalism and integrity during the application process are the big rocks according to Jaki.

‘’So my recommendation from scratch would be to find a template. So to go on to Canva, to go on to LinkedIn, to go on to ZipRecruiter, to look at other resumes and to use a template and plug in the information you have available to you ’’ – Jaki

Overall, the workshop encouraged guests to take proactive steps in their career search and requirements of potential employers. As the session came to a close, participants left equipped with confidence in navigating the job market.

‘’I did appreciate the tips in terms of letting us know what to not only put on a resume, but what to emphasize, what to remove and what not to focus on. The page constraint is a huge help. Letting us know insight into what the interviewer or reviewer is going through when they’re reviewing your application was a great help to know what we should embellish on a resume so that we get through at least the first few steps of the interview process. ’’ – Marlene Rolindoro.

The session concluded with a strong power of networking and using available resources. All Chabot members are encouraged to connect with professionals in their desired fields and seek mentorship and guidance from Jaki to boost their understanding of the job market and create a powerful resume. 

You can reach Jaki via email Jaki@gundir.com

The first annual Chabot Haunted House and Halloween party took place on October 30 and 31 at Building 1200, presented by the Chabot Theater Club. On October 30th, the haunted house was open from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. with an admission fee of $3.00. On the 31st, both the Haunted House and Halloween Party will be available from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., also with an admission fee of $3.00.

The entrance to the haunted house

Staff Photographer: Michael Sykes

The haunted house and Halloween party were organized by Priyanna Atwal, a theater student, and other students from the theater arts department. According to Atwal, she stated, “We (The theater club) started planning the event last year. We came up with the idea of an insane asylum and they had to figure out how to make it happen, including obtaining the necessary funds. We asked for donations from people and received support from the theater department. However, it was a stressful experience as we faced challenges in getting people to help due to scheduling conflicts.

Scary Clown Frighting the Guest

Staff Photographer: Michael Sykes

To enter the Haunted House, you begin in the hallway of the 1200 building and exit from the back of the 1300 building. The haunted house was impressively decorated with horror-themed props, had realistic sound effects, professional make-up, wardrobe, music, and casting. The theme was centered around an Insane Asylum. The haunted house had a theme of an insane asylum, with theater students dressed as nurses, psycho killers, and asylum patients. They would pretend to attack or scare guests as they walked through.

Theater students posing as Patiences from the Psychiatric Ward

Staff Photographer: Michael Sykes

Virginia Criswell is one of the attendees that was at the haunted house. She said, “I really don’t do haunted houses, I was kind of apprehensive. The things that scared me were people crawling around and coming out of nowhere jumping out. I really enjoyed it.”

The money collected from the haunted house and party goes towards supporting the theater club’s future events and needs.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving female senator, passed away on Sept. 29, at age 90. 

She died at her home in Washington D.C. from natural causes, her office said in a statement. 

Feinstein graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in history. Her political career began when she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors after becoming involved with the California Women’s Parole Board. She became acting mayor of San Francisco on Nov. 27, 1978, after the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. 

She officially became the first female mayor of San Francisco on Dec. 4, 1978. Feinstein’s leadership helped the city through the crisis of the double assassination that left San Francisco in a panic. Soon after, she would become the first female chair of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. 

Feinstein’s political career created opportunities for other women to enter the sphere of politics. She ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor of California in 1990. 

Feinstein did a joint campaign with Barbara Boxer in 1992, both running for California’s Senate seats, with both women winning. This was a historic win for California as they had two women in the Senate. 

While being one of the first women elected as a senator, her career in the Senate often came with challenges. She held a moderate governing style and often advocated for gun control, wanting to pass a ban on assault weapons.

In 2014, Feinstein led the Senate floor reading a 500-page report on torture and mistreatment of prisoners by the CIA.

Born in San Francisco on June 22, 1933. She was the daughter of Leon Goldman, a surgeon, and Betty (nee Rosenburg), a model. Feinstein suffered from a traumatic childhood, resulting from her mother being unstable with her and her younger sisters. 

Feinstein was married three times in her lifetime. She married Jack Berman in 1956, and divorced in 1959, Bertram Feinstein in 1962 until his death in 1978, and married Richard Blum from 1980 to his death in 2022. 

She is survived by her daughter, Katherine Feinstein, her granddaughter, Eileen Feinstein Mariano, and her three stepdaughters. 

As online college classes become a new normal, Artificial Intelligence usage has skyrocketed. After speaking with the administration, teachers, and students at Chabot College, I have gathered their thoughts, opinions, and experiences with AI both in and outside of the classroom.

From an ethical standpoint, AI usage in education is widely considered cheating. In a survey conducted by BestColleges, a website that provides academic and career resources for college students, out of 1,000 undergrad and graduate college students, 51% stated that AI constitutes plagiarism. Additionally, 41% stated that using AI for exams and assignments is morally wrong. A survey I conducted of 15 Chabot College students yielded similar results. In the survey of Chabot students, 68% stated that they believe using AI is plagiarism. 

The use of AI to write essays, solve problems, and essentially do your work for you seemed to be the common reason for this result. One student stated, “It’s like hiring someone else to write your work for you.”

Another Chabot student shared a different opinion, saying, “To be honest, it’s a mix. You can cheat, yet also it can help you.”

One of the AI tools, ChatGPT, is familiar to many college students and staff. ChatGPT is a generative AI website that can provide answers or statements based on keywords or a prompt that the user enters. This is an example of generative AI. According to a study done in early 2023 by Intelligent, a news source for students, about 30% of college students use this program. Out of those students, 46% use it for homework and other assignments. These statistics made me curious about how Chabot instructors feel about AI usage in their classrooms. 

One Chabot College instructor mentioned that “students don’t even try to proofread and revise [their work] to personalize it for the particular assignment!”

Despite ChatGPT being one of the most popular generative AI sites, another form of generative AI rising in popularity is image creators. Similar to ChatGPT, you can put in a description or prompt of an image you’d like to create, and within seconds, you will have a computer-generated image. 

One student voiced their concerns about artistic integrity with the use of AI image creators. “Not a fan at all. People have been caught making AI-generated art by having the AI learn and copy from preexisting artists to make their own art, which I think is incredibly lazy [and] also theft,” they stated.

However, the responses from Chabot students about image creators were mixed in comparison to their thoughts on plagiarism. Other students feel like generative AI can be beneficial and harmful depending on the intent of the user. “I feel like it’s a double-edged sword. It can help us in many creative ways, yet it can hurt us by not using our minds and cheating.”

Another even admits their admiration for AI image generators, “I think sites like ChatGPT are a bit of a cheat, mainly because I prefer to do my own writing, but I LOVE image generators.”

Due to the increasingly negative reputation of AI usage, many people have misconceptions that AI is just a technology that creates something based on prompts from the user. However, that is only true for generative AI. In reality, AI is in most of the technology people use every day. Many virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google are all examples of AI. Many of these virtual assistants were designed with machine learning capabilities. This means that over time, without having to be programmed to do so, they can self-improve and become more efficient. 

Another example of this is Grammarly. According to their own website, they use AI and natural language detection to improve their grammar detection software. According to a survey done by Grammarly, students felt more confident in their writing after using the program as opposed to before. 

Once again, mixed responses were gathered from Chabot students about their thoughts on AI usage outside of the classroom. Some students continued with the general reasoning of threats to integrity. 

“I think it’s wrong to replace hardworking artists or anyone else’s work with AI,” states one student. 

Another student responds, “AI can be useful and will eventually be in many sectors and industries. But I do hope that it is more of a tool than the norm.”

Others mention the potential harm AI could cause in the entertainment industry. “For those who are in entertainment … AI-generated actors are going to be used in TV/film, I believe it will contribute toward a lack of emotional connection to its audience.”

Another student shares a similar view, saying, “From the view of a film major, it scares me if the film industry doesn’t utilize it correctly. If they use it to replace writers to have AI write stories based on prompts, it’s not gonna work.”

I believe that this Chabot student says it best that, “AI usage is inevitable. It may not be for everyone, but technology changes, and it adapts.”

Artificial intelligence usage continues to pose many concerns and benefits in and outside of the classroom. However, it is a technology that will continue to evolve and remain a big part of everyday technology. While artificial intelligence was created with great intention, time will tell what its true impact will be.

The Chabot Crochet Club is one of Chabot’s newest clubs on campus. 

The Chabot Crochet Club was created to help the students at Chabot College have a way to combat the fast fashion industry and companies like Shein.

Companies like Shein have become one of the fastest-growing fast fashion companies in the world. They create clothing that is cheaply made and produced rapidly for fashion trends, with clothing ending up in landfills shortly after. 

“I wanted to make a club that helped with the slow fashion movement because there’s a lot of fashion companies that are not great right now like Shein,” said club president Chandini Chen. “I wanted to make this as a guide to the slow fashion movement, which is basically making our own clothes.”

The club provides materials such as yarn, crochet hooks, and helps club members make practicing stitches for their projects. Club members practice on projects such as scarves, stuffed animals, blankets, and various pieces of clothing. 

Crochet has a reputation for being one of the easiest fiber crafts to learn quickly versus knitting or embroidery. All you need is to have some crochet hooks and yarn to learn the basics of stitches.

“I’ve been trying to make a blanket. It has not been going well because I got it tangled, but it’s a learning process, and I’m enjoying it a lot,” said club member Lhia Lynn Alvarez.

The Chabot Crochet Club meets every Wednesday in room 1702 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

In the heart of Las Positas College lies a hidden gem – the Campus Hill Winery. It is a stunning teaching Winery, a place where the art of winemaking meets education. Here, the students master the craft of viticulture and winery technology, transforming the grapes from the 4-acre Campus Hill Vineyard into exquisite student-made wines. 

“Livermore Valley has a very deep history of winemaking. And the college should show that commitment to the local industry to have a wine program to teach about winemaking and wine growing, sensory analysis, tasting and basic mind appreciation,” – shares David Everett, Chief Winemaker at the Las Positas College.

The college has a wine program that was started 16 years ago by Dean Neil Eli to support the local wine industry in Livermore Valley. The program is hands-on, allowing students to interact with the equipment and process of winemaking from vineyard to bottling. Graduates have found success in various roles within the local wine industry. The program can be completed in about two and a half years for a degree and two years for a certificate. The college practices sustainable methods in their vineyard and winery, using minimal pesticides and sulfites.

“It’s very interactive. And I think that’s the strongest component of the program. And it’s what the students really appreciate because they’re doing things here in our on-campus winery site that you just can’t do in a public winery,” added David Everett.

Students, in both theory and practice, delve into the intricacies of vineyard operations, including canopy management, pest control, and harvest. The Open Bottle event turned out to be an open-door tour for diving deep into behind-the-scenes winemaking for the Chabot student journalists. We traced the journey of the wine from grape to bottle, following all the stages of its production, ending up with bottling, corking, and labeling. Also, we were given a unique chance to have a sophisticated wine tasting. David Everett uncorked a special bottle of wine himself.

“The wine being sampled is the 2022 Campus Hill Winery Albarino, grown at the Campus Hill Vineyard at Las Positas College. The wine was just bottled and filtered. So you have to keep in mind that this wine was just filtered, too. And it needs a month to relax and bottle to really show its full potential,” – explained David.

The revenue generated from sales supports the Viticulture and Winery Technology program.

“I joined the program because I wanted to learn how to make wine after an unsuccessful attempt with my backyard vineyard. Here, we’ve harvested and tested the grapes. You saw the little operation here. We were bottling today. So I mean, it’s a real learning experience. I’m learning a lot here,” – shares her experience with Jill Scarlet, one of the students of the program.

“If you don’t have sterile equipment, wine turns bad. And then, as you saw here today, helping with bottling and kind of overseeing the students and making sure that they’re being safe and kind of guiding them along the way if they have questions,” – emphasized Damian Bramlett, a part-time lab technician for the Viticulture and Enology program at Las Positas. 

Damian’s role involves supporting the program and instructors, maintaining the lab, and assisting students:

“It could be one day I’m up in the vineyard, rolling up netting, the bird netting after we’ve harvested. I could be up there harvesting. I could be mowing weeds or running the tractor the next day. I could be down here in the fermentation room, cleaning equipment, managing supplies and stocks that we need. Glass bottles or cleaning supplies that we use because a lot of the job is cleaning, so it’s making sure things are sterile,” – Damian described his work and passion for winemaking.

Whether you’re a prospective student or a wine enthusiast, the winery offers an open invitation to explore, taste, and appreciate the artistry and dedication that go into each bottle. If you want to purchase an award-winning wine, stop by on campus every first Thursday of the month from 12-5 p.m. at Las Positas College, at room 806, building 800.

Chabot College’s Veterans Resource Center held their celebration of Veteran’s Day to honor veterans and thank them for their service on Nov. 9 in the Veterans Resource Center in room 2353. 

“Veterans Day for me is a day to remember the memories I had with fellow service members that I served with,” said Chabot College veteran student Adrian Ramos. 

Food such as barbeque was cooked by Professor Mark Stephens and “Thank You” swag were provided for veterans and students. Military movies were screened and a Veteran salute slideshow was played to honor them. Many students and faculty came by to participate in the celebration.

“It means a reflection on history. We’re remembering wars past and then also really about the Veterans today. Veterans Day is for those of us that still survive and have served,” said Stephens. 

Veteran’s Day was formerly known as Armistice Day, to honor the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. Armistice Day was renamed to the modern Veteran’s Day by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954. 

The Veterans Resource Center offers academic counseling resources, programs, and a study lounge with a computer lab and free printing for military connected students to utilize. 

“They have an entire dedicated space for them. We have a full academic program here in terms of helping the faculty and counseling. The College supports compliance so we can certify our students to the VA,” said Veterans Program Coordinator Jessica Biles.

The VRC is open on Monday from 9 p.m. to 5 p.m and Tuesday to Thursday from 9 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Chabot Gladiator Football lost their ninth game to the San Francisco Rams. The game took place on Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. at Chabot, where they have yet to secure a victory all season. The team suffered a crushing defeat, with a final score of 6-59, leaving their season record at a dismal 0-9. Immediate action must be taken if they hope to win even a single game before the season draws to a close.

Eric Fanene, the coach of Chabot, had this to say about their defeat. “Defense played stout, especially in the first quarter. We slowed it down on offense, so that’s not really us. I’m just frustrated right now. When you’re now 0-9, you hope that some calls will go your way and some of the big plays, we didn’t get first downs, that’s the deal. We didn’t get first downs, we made mistakes. You can’t make mistakes when guys are wide open. You can’t make mistakes when you’re wide open and drop the ball. You can’t make mistakes and that might come from just guys trying to do extra to help their team win and sometimes it comes and hurts you, but defense on the field way too much, way too much.”

During the first quarter of the game, #56 Andres Viernes (Linebacker), executed a great and brutal tackle on the Rams. Unfortunately, the Rams managed to score a touchdown just two minutes into the game, as Chabot’s defense was unable to stop them from reaching their goal. This made the score 0-7, without any field goal. However, Chabot’s defense managed to make the Rams lose five yards, and even though the Rams made it to the field goal line, they missed the field goal. At the end of the first quarter, the Rams were leading with a score of 0-7.

In the second quarter, the Chabot team’s defense performed exceptionally well by making great tackles. Linebacker Willie Chase (#25) picked up 28 yards and a first down. Despite Chabot’s defense putting in their best effort to prevent the Rams from making a touchdown, the Rams were able to score three touchdowns and three field goals, resulting in a lead of 0-28 by halftime.

During the third quarter, Opeti Fangupo (#45) Chabot’s defensive line picked up a fumble from the Rams and scored a touchdown, making the score 6-28. However, San Francisco quickly responded with three touchdowns and two field goals, ending the third quarter with a score of 6-49.

Opeti Fangupo (#45) Chabot’s defensive line made a great touchdown

Photographed by Jared Darling

In the 4th quarter, the Rams committed an illegal formation penalty, but #45 managed to make a sack on the five-yard line. Despite this, the Rams were still able to make a successful field goal, bringing the score to 6-52. Later, the Rams scored another touchdown, ultimately winning the game with a final score of 6-59.

Despite not winning a single game this season, the Gladiators are gearing up for their final match against Laney on Friday, Nov. 10th at 7:00 p.m. You won’t want to miss it! To stay up to date on all Chabot sports, be sure to visit www.norcalsportstv.com

The long-awaited first annual DevDay by OpenAI announced several new upgrades to their AI models, including ChatGPT, on Nov. 6. in San Francisco. A livestream was accessible to the public through YouTube. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman started the conference by stating there are 2 million developers helping develop their API and ChatGPT has over 100 million weekly active users since it was launched to the public. 

“OpenAI is the most advanced and the most widely used AI platform in the world now,” said Altman. 

The hour-long developers’ day presented glimpses of new updates for OpenAI’s products for the general public. 

The biggest takeaway of the newest updates will be OpenAI’s ChatGPT is going “Turbo” as the newest version will be able to process images as prompts, a larger token limit, and customizable GPT models for developers and users to utilize. 

Another big reveal is OpenAI is launching a GPT store for creators and developers to list GPTs. It will be live in late Nov. 

Altman announced there will be a program called Copyright Shield. The purpose of it is OpenAI will pay legal costs for users who are accused of copyright infringement. 

“We believe that AI is going to be a technological and societal revolution. It will change the world in many ways, and we’re happy to get to work on something that will empower you to build so much for all of us,” said Altman.