La Verne Magazine
Winter 1997
"The University of La Verne: A Day in the Life"
9 a.m.-Noon:
Where Did You Park?
by Heather Morales
photography by Melissa A. Collett

11:15 a.m. Making a party of the fall Club Fair, the Latino Student Forum
promotes charity work and awareness of Latino issues. Many clubs and organizations
lined the dirt pathway in the Quad, promoting their causes and encouraging
students to join.
The parking lots at the University of La Verne are almost full by 9
a.m. So when junior Jim Rodriguez and seniors Frank Zappia, David Randall
and Robin Forgay meet for coffee at Lordsburg Coffee Roasters, they decide
to park in the two-hour spaces in the Wilson Library parking lot.
"After 20 minutes [of circling the parking lots] you just get mad
enough to park anywhere," says Forgay, a history major, as she sips
her coffee.
Zappia, a psychology major, says that he does not have class until 9:30
a.m., but he "arrives around 8:30" to find a parking space.
Standing in the parking lot, Randall points to a brown pick-up truck
and says "This is the third time that GMC has been around this lot."
Circling the parking lots, rushing to class, grabbing a quick breakfast
and meeting with friends are a typical morning on campus. Many students
are already in the middle of their day at 9:20 a.m. Some, however, are still
sleeping or barely rising.
Just coming out of his Spanish class, sophomore Jeremy Gonzales saunters
across the quad between Miller Hall and Founders Hall on his way to his
next class, Chemistry. He stops along the way to talk with friends and meet
up with fellow classmates at the Seal.
"I just found out that I have a test and a paper due on Friday.
I wish my teachers would converse and realize that I have other classes
and not to pile on everything at once," he says, putting his head down.
While most students feel that the mornings are the best time for classes,
others take advantage of the morning to get their work-study hours over
with.
"I have to be at work at 9:30," says senior Amber Rodriguez
as she rushes to work at Student Accounts in Woody Hall. "I've been
at the Child Development Center (CDC) all morning. I have to work here,
then I work at Roynon [Elementary School], and then in the evenings I work
at Warehouse [Pizza] so the mornings are the only time I have to do my work-study
hours."
Rodriguez is a diversified major who is planning to graduate in May.
She undertakes her observations at the CDC in the mornings for a class and
then works at Roynon for another class.
Another student on his way to Woody Hall is also on duty, but part of
his job is to take his time card to the Payroll office.
At first glance, the campus at 9:45 a.m. seems to be desolate except
for the few students in front of the Student Center who stop to speak with
one another or the occasional professor walking to his office. But, a peek
into the classrooms and the University will reveal that it is brimming with
life, with students obtaining the education they desire. Because of the
small size of classes, students and professors get to know one another.
Across the campus on a quiet bench behind Daily Theatre, facing the
football field, freshman Brian Showalter sits and reads a book he must finish
for his English 110 class. An environmental biology major, he finds the
bench a "quiet and relaxing place to study in between classes."
He likes La Verne and says that so far being an environmental biology
major is only "mildly stressful."
With the presidential election rapidly approaching, many students are
getting involved locally. Hoping to catch students as they exit class and
head into the Student Center, the Latino Student Forum (LSF) sells bumper
stickers, buttons and temporary tattoos with the "Clinton/Gore '96"
logo in front of the Student Center.
"We're just promoting the upcoming elections, registering people
to vote and promoting [Bill] Clinton," says sophomore LSF member Janet
Torres.
Enjoying the beautiful day, junior Michelle Runyan studies for an upcoming
business math class at the grassy knoll at the Oaks. "That's all I
ever do is math," she says with a sigh.
However, senior Dan Ferguson opts to stay inside and study because of
a cold. In between coughs, he says, "I have a biochem test today, and
I'm studying now because my neighbors kept me up late last night."
Back on the other side of the campus, freshman Jennifer Parsons heads
back from her 10:30 a.m. math class to her room in Studebaker-Hanawalt Hall
to finish homework. "I have to finish typing my homework for my News
Reporting class at one," says Parsons.
Sometimes forgotten in its location across Bonita Avenue, the University
Relations office is preparing to send out media kits before lunch about
the upcoming Fasnacht Lecture with featured speaker Janet Schrock, the director
of the Americorps program.
"I did the research on her, and I wrote the [press] release,"
says Nicole Ramos as she sits at her desk preparing some of the media kits
which include pictures. Ramos is the public relations assistant for the
University. "I think she's a very interesting person. She'll be very
inspiring to us."
It is lunch time, and students, staff and faculty are thinking about
what they are going to eat. As the parking lots start to thin out, it is
a far cry from three hours ago, when students and faculty could be found
circling the lots in a daze, looking for a space to park.
For some, it is the end of their school day. They are on their way home
or work. Others have a few hours of rest before they have to be at practice
for football or soccer.

9:45 a.m. Lost in his English homework, freshman Brian Showalter finds
a quiet nook behind Dailey Theatre and studies before class.

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