CAMPUS
NEWS
AROUND CAMPUS
INSECURE AND
HUNGRY FOR FOOD
After sending a campus-wide
online survey for students to fi nd
the extent of food and housing
insecurity on campus, Santa Ana
College’s Associated Student
Government intends to have a
market to address food insecurity.
“It’s a work in progress,” said
ASG Senator and Vice President
placeholder Maria del Carmen
Luna. “By next semester, ASG
plans to have some sort of
‘farmer’s food market’ on campus.”
CalFresh is a state nutrition
assistance program that can
award up to $192 a month to
buy groceries. Every Thursday,
SAC’s Extended Opportunity
Programs offi ce has a CalFresh
representative come in to look at
applications from EOPS students,
which most students are eligible
for, but are not mandatory to
apply to.
By contrast, for example,
Santiago Canyon College, our
sister school, launched The
Hawk’s Nest Food Pantry in 2017
to provide food for food insecure
students. Students at SCC are also
encouraged to enroll in CalFresh
when they apply for CalWorks.
“[ASG] understands and supports
the importance of a food pantry
on campus,” said ASG President
Mariano Cuellar. “Not only can
we address the issue at hand, but
advocate for the entirety of Santa
Ana College.”
ABOUT THE
MURAL
With the idea of
Thomas Rober-
ton, SAC's mural
team painted
the mural on a
cloth instead of
a wall.
Wings Spread
STORY
LESLY GUZMAN
PHOTO
ASHLEY RAMYNKE
One in ten students on campus are living without documents. SAC Mural
Team's latest designs encourage them to come out of the shadows
Ceramics student and mural team member
Thomas Roberton might not look like it, but he
grew up in Mexico. As an American citizen of
Scottish descent, Roberton moved to Mexico with
his mother and stepfather, who couldn’t obtain
a green card to stay in the United States. For
Roberton, Mexico is his home.
So when the opportunity came earlier this
semester to help design a mural that would honor
and represent Santa Ana College’s undocumented
immigrant students, he knew he had to participate.
According to the most recent Student Satisfaction
survey, one in 10 students self-reported
themselves as undocumented.
Roberton’s mural team classmates voted for his
design, which features a large monarch butterfl y,
an insect that has been used by many artists to
symbolize migration from Central America to North
America.
“I wanted to have that feeling of beauty,” Roberton
said. “When people come into this country, they
start a new beginning.”
The mural was displayed on campus during the
Undocumented Student Week of Action Oct. 14
through Oct. 18. A second butterfl y-themed mural,
designed by mural student Alexis Medina, was live
painted during events held throughout the week.
SAC student Isabel Gonzalez was born in Mexico
and crossed the border when she was 7 years
old. Having to live in fear of revealing that she was
undocumented growing up, Gonzalez said she had
to work hard to learn a new language and immerse
herself in a culture she didn’t know. Despite facing
roadblocks, she enrolled in the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program and graduated from
Santa Ana College with a 4.0 earlier this year and is
now studying art at SAC.
“I was mad and frustrated and bummed out [for
not being able to receive the same resources as
documented students have from the college], but
I still wanted to learn and worked hard,” Gonzalez
said. “So, this mural means giving us wings to move
forward.”
SAC counselor and Undocu-Scholars Program
Coordinator Maribel Pineda said she reached out
to mural professor Darren Hostetter to collaborate
on the project because of his participation in the
AB-540 Ally training. She hopes the art will raise
awareness about immigration at SAC.
“I believe that art is a form of activism,” Pineda
said.
Roberton’s art is painted on a piece of cloth to
make it portable and interactive. It is currently
hanging in the counseling offi ces.
el Don Santa Ana College · October 2019
3