Gia Pham

The Humanities Honors series at SJSU is extremely overlooked by so many incoming freshman. This four-semester course is taught by four amazing professors and centers around the interdisciplinary study of world culture, emphasizing the interrelationships between the arts, philosophy, and social institutions. Not only was this program a fast-track to graduation as it rids of almost all SJSU GE’s, but a great way for me to make friends in seminars. The four professors: Cooper, Lindahl, Rycenga, and Peter, were all enthusiastic speakers who graduated from highly acclaimed colleges and acted as guides to SJSU. I enjoyed the information I was learning and the leniency of the class as all teachers emphasized learning over achieving. The written essay exams were well-structured, extremely fair, and honestly enjoyable. I was able to collect my thoughts on everything we learned throughout the semester and transform them into a concise and meaningful argument. My highly participative spirit in se...

From the bustling streets of Tokyo, Japan, to the peaceful outskirts of Hawaii, I will be a visual storyteller of social-political issues at a media company. I have always loved taking pictures and learning about the world around me.  But most importantly, I have always been interested in ways I can make it a better place.  Being a photojournalist would combine my passion for photography with me instinctive duty to bring justice to marginalized, oppressed, or overlooked communities. Though I hope to be paid well, working as a photojournalist would give me personal satisfaction as I could be a voice for others.  I hope to inspire change by exposing the truth and telling meaningful stories. As a successful visual storyteller, I would be extremely knowledgeable in all different types of camera and lenses.  I would know how to work in different lighting, and be able to adapt to my surroundings.  I would also have a keen eye for composition.  Howeve...

After touring Iraq for four years, military veteran Murray Hastie wanted to go back to a “normal life” with a college degree and a job. Like most people, he took to the web to search for universities that would take his GI credits. Soon enough, DeVry University reached out to him using sophistication and reassurance as facades, masquerading the fact that his credits would not be transferable nor valuable in the real world. “I just remember he was going so fast, “ Hastie regretted. “My biggest mistake is trusting too many people.” The 2017 documentary “Fail State” directed by Alex Shebanow exposes the heart-wrenching stories of students who were driven to the ground in debt by for-profit colleges and the systems that perpetuated their demise. For- profit colleges would use glamorous advertising techniques to lure in unsuspecting students and steal their loans and grants. People in Congress backed up these for-profit college because they were pocketing the students’ money as well. Repub...

Cotton-candy colored Nike jackets, monochrome oversized T-shirts, and 90's sweatshirts hang from a semicircle of racks as Coral Watters spots a rainbow tie-dye T-shirt adorned with spiraling gummy bears.

My family and I lived in one of the biggest houses in the nicest neighborhood in Tracy, Calif. in 2010. Our all white, 2-story house was symmetrical from the outside and had two large coat closets behind the rusty, chocolate wooden front door. My 9-year-old self managed to convince my parents to take advantage of this opportunity and make our first floor our very own haunted house for Halloween. We filled up a mechanical, zombie-hand bowl with only the best candy and placed it in the hallway about 5 feet from the front door. Then, we made a trail of more candy leading to the living room where our electronic piano played creepy accordion music. After we turned off all the lights, except for the welcoming orange-lit pumpkins in the front of our house, we got into out positions. I was a zombie bride with fake blood on my face, thick black eyeliner, and a long white dress. I stood quietly in the coat closet near the door, waiting for my first unsuspecting victim. A group of kids we...

Free barbecue for life is being offered to anyone who can serve -up hot information on a restaurant robbery in Hendricks County.  Rusted Silo Southern BBQ & Brew House was robbed of an undisclosed amount of cash Tuesday night when someone, or a group of people, used a crowbar to force open the front door and unscrew lights in the dining room.  The burglars also broke the cash register machine when stealing the money.   The incident was reported on Wednesday morning after a driver for the BBQ & Brew House arrived to work and noticed both the front and side doors of the restaurant had been pried open.  Rob Ecker, the owner of Rusted Silo Southern BBQ & Brew House, and the Hendricks County Sheriff's Office are seeking more information on the incident and are open for contact.