Newspaper Page Text
*i.a Red and Black • Thursday, October 11, 1990 • 5
Center helps out foreign students
By KYLE J. ELLIS
Campus Correspondant
Hablan ustedes eapanol?
Many people in Athens can’t
claim English as their first lan
guage. These people — most of
them immigrants — have a rough
time adjusting to life here.
The Athens Area Opportunity
Industrialisation Center helps
those who are struggling with the
English language, primarily his-
panics.
The OIC offers both “English
as a Second Language” classes
and GED preparation classes to
the public, free of charge.
Elizabeth Bryant, an in
structor and coordinator for the
OIC. 9aid, '‘Most of the immi
grants attending classes come
from poor backgrounds and poor
educations."
Some of the students didn’t
know English at all, she said.
Roberto LaRosa, an ESL stu
dent from Peru, said the classes
have helped at the “grocery,
movies and conversations. I can
carry on conversations with my
teacher.”
Ruth Morgan, the administra
tive assistant at the OIC, sai-
d,“Robert just wants to be
comfortable with things like
going to the library. He just
wants to function as an Amer
ican ”
LaRosa has been attending
classes at the OIC for nine or 10
months, she said.
Kamar Noll, a GED student
from Morocco, said, “I have
learned many things since I
started classes. I learned spelling
and reading comprehension. I
have to go home and practice a
lot. English is so hard.
Noll wants to become a dental
assistant, she said.
“I used to go to adult educa
tion, but they couldn’t help me as
much. Here, I like it so much. Ev
erybody here is so nice, and they
help me," she said. “If I know
anybody, I tell them to come. It’s
a great place.”
Another student from Peru,
Walter Buiza, agreed. “English is
ve good teachers. I
e," ne said.
very hard. I have
have to practice,"
The OIC is a nonprofit organi
zation that receives money from
solicitations and grants such as
the Community Development
Block Grant.
The English classes are funded
mainly by the State Legalization
Impact Assistance Grant.
The OIC’s goal is to help people
become self-sufficient by pro
viding job skills, life skills and
personal development programs.
Connie Nelson, executive di
rector, said, “Most people don’t
know we exist. There are lots of
people who could benefit from our
services. About four or five of our
students have been direct refer
rals."
Referrals come from principals
of schools and private industries,
she said.
Nelson said a very small stafT
of volunteers assists with tu
toring. Most of the volunteers
come from the Senior Center and
churches. A few come from the
University.
County okays civic center design
The architectural design of the
new Civic Center was approved by
the Clarke County Commission
after several original drawings
were revised, Commissioner Jewel
John said.
The commission met Tuesday
night.
The building will be made up of
two large structures connected by a
wide corridor with a stairway. The
front of the center will face Thomas
Street, but the entire complex will
stretch to Foundry Street, she said.
The left building will contain a
large banquet hall and meeting
rooms with a large exhibit hall in
back. The other part of the complex
will contain a performing arts the
ater with seating for 1,600 and a
complete stage equipped to acco
modate an orchestra, John said.
The large lobby in front of the
theatre can also be used as a recep
tion area, she said.
‘The detail has changed consid
erably, and Deople just can’t quite
visualize it from the drawing.
John said the commission’s ap
proval of the drawings marks the
end of the first phase of the center’s
development. The next step will be
drafting the blueprints, she said.
The final phase should be com
pleted in 1992.
The commission also appointed
an ad hoc committee to research
moving the Fire Hall from the cen
ter’s construction site. Libby
Morris, executive vice president of
the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foun
dation, was appointed chair of the
committee.
— Dana White
Jewel John: County
commissioner.
PLANT
From page 5
step back and look at the big pic
ture.
“I don’t think Physical Plant is
I'd nev er have believed that one little computer could make
such an incredible difference in my academic and working life.
Miriam Stoll
B A Hiitory Dartmouth Coll*g«
M B A Stanford Graduate School of Buiineu
became a Macintosh convert in
on top of things," she said. ‘They’re
not approaching it systematically.
I think they’re taking each situa
tion and handling it instead of
working with the big picture."
TenBrook said, “I’m chagrined.
We’ve been very proactive with air-
quality control for a number of
years."
He said Physical Plant was
charged with the temperature con
trol, ventilation and filtration of air
systems on campus, not chemicals
or proper chemical disposal.
Every morning at 8 a.m. Ten-
Brook and his staff examine air-
quality complaints and decide on
how to respond to them.
Porter also wanted to know why
a cracked pipe in a lab on the third
floor wasn’t discovered sooner. The
pipe leads down to a sewer and gas
from it was seeping into the lab
Thursday.
Shari Travers, University labo
ratory safety officer and a lab tech
nician, found the pipe after
investigating an odor complaint.
“I want to know why, after nu
merous visits, (Physical Plant)
didn’t know of a pipe leading to a
sewer," Porter said. “Do other
pipes like it exist? Are they looking
for more? Are they on the
blueprints? It was sheer sniffing
around that found it.”
TenBrook said, “There are over
463,000 pipes in that building.
That pipe was behind a cabinet
that had been there for 27 years."
Porter said there needs to be a
network in place within the Uni
versity that would disseminate in
formation on the problems between
ESS, Physical Plant and those
making the complaints.
“I think up to the point when
(ESS, Physical Plant and bio-sci
ences personnel) had a town
meeting, there was a bad commu
nication,” TenBrook said. “But this
is the first major air quality-con
trol problem we’ve had.
“It’s a learning process.”
business schcxil.
"At our computer lab III always find
lines of people waiting to use the Macintosh
computers, while other computers just sat
there. Sr) 1 had a eht lice: wait for a Macintosh,
i ir ct >me back at 6 am. u ) grab tme before
they'd all be taken.
".After business schtxi I uxik a job at a
large bank and used my Macintosh for
producing everything from spreadsheets
to a company newsletter.
"Today 1 use Macintosh to help me
run my own management consult
ing linn.When 1 give a presentation,
. 1 can see in people's faces
'. i ’ that they're really impressed.
And that makes me feel great.
“St mietimes 1 take Friday
r iff put my Macinu ish and skis
in the car, and head for the
mountains. I ski days and work
nights. It's jieifect.
"You know, I can't say
where I'll be in five, ten, or
fifteen years, but I can say that
my Macintosh will be there
with me'.'
For more
information contact
the University
Computer Store
at 542-7204
Whv d() people love Macintosh’?
Ask them.
PREVENTION
From page 1
but aren’t going to stop someone in
tent on stealing one.
Thomas Russell, dean of the Col
lege of Journalism and Mass Com
munication, said his college also
looked into a card-access system,
but the number of doors in the
building would make the project
very expensive, even though it
might be best in the long run.
“It (funding security) was a
problem in the best of times; now
it’s out of the auestion,” he said.
Russell saia the college was
looking into cheaper methods in
cluding changing locks and lim
iting access to certain parts of the
building on weekends, when the
building is closed except for the
University computer lab.
Although the college has only
lost one computer, the Instruc
tional Research Center in the base
ment had $12,000 worth of
equipment stolen last spring.
James Trieschmann, associate
dean of the College of Business Ad
ministration where the most re
cent computer thefis worth more
than $23,000 occurred last
weekend, said student access —not
money — is the main concern at
this college.
“We’re here to serve the stu
dents and to serve them we have to
have the doors open,” he said.
Trieschmann said there are
some sophisticated systems which
would allow access but they are
very expensive.
He expressed doubts about key-
card access in his building, where
there are more than 150 offices
that would need hardware.
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