Jon-Paul Cook

“It was the best experience I’ve had in college,” senior Patricia Scherer said. “I learned more every single day there than I ever did sitting in a classroom.”

Students have access to incredible opportunities at Whittier College. There are quite a few professors with connections and networks stretching around the world. When students show an interest in something and pursue it with the professors here, they could end up like seniors Ian Costello and Patricia Scherer, interning with the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Being an unpaid internship, it was a big sacrifice to make it happen but I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” Costello said. “It was humbling, because they do such good work and to be a part of that was very rewarding.”

Jon-Paul Cook - Thu, 2011-03-03 03:47

“In this day and age, we should be looking for renewable resources instead of backtracking to oil,” junior Meagan Dominguez, a life-long Whittier resident said. “It’s bad for the environment and it will ruin Whittier.”

It all started with the City Council’s decision over two years ago to pursue drilling in the hills between Whittier and Hacienda Heights.

The only thing delaying the city’s finalization of plans was the issuing of an environmental impact report to finalize plans and contracts.

Jon-Paul Cook - Thu, 2011-02-17 04:13

After the December collision of one Whittier College student’s mother and a vehicle, as well as a recent three-car accident in the same intersection, eyes have turned toward the Painter Avenue and Philadelphia Street intersection itself for an answer.

According to Campus Safety, a vehicle carrying a canine swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding with two other vehicles and coming to a rest on the grass nearby Hoover Hall. According to the Crime Log, the dog jumping into the driver’s lap reportedly caused the accident.

“I think it would save lives to have a left-hand turn signal there,” first-year Mary Bigler said.

Jon-Paul Cook - Thu, 2011-01-27 04:53

Peaceful protests turned violent in London Dec. 9 when Britain’s Parliament passed a bill to triple tuition fees to $15,000. Student demonstrators shattered the windows of the Supreme Court and urinated on a statue of Winston Churchill amid plumes of smoke and frantic riot police. Dec. 14 saw riots in Rome for similar reasons. Hooded and helmeted students who had lost government scholarship money occupied the stock exchange in Milan, shattered windows to banks and set fire to cars and other authority vehicles.

Jon-Paul Cook - Thu, 2011-01-13 04:27

Societies were recently faced with scheduling changes and breaks in tradition thanks to Whittier College’s decision to cut JanTerm from four weeks to three weeks.

The Franklin, Orthogonian, Sachsen and Palmer societies moved their pledge periods to the spring semester, whereas the Athenians, Ionians, William Penns and Thalians are still pledging in JanTerm.

By next year, all societies will have moved pledging to the Spring, which in itself presents challenges. The four societies moving pledging to the Spring this year had to completely rework their process around the limited hours of operation they are permitted. Four hours allowed during the week and eight hours over weekends may change the experience of pledges to come.

Jon-Paul Cook - Thu, 2011-01-13 04:26

It’s a trap!

The Phonathon program is one of the most important jobs that students are pushed to do but at the same time one of the most insidious.

It simultaneously sucks dry hard working parents and alumni to fund scholarships, campus infrastructure, tech upgrades and professor’s salaries—and promotes more anti-social attitudes in its cliquish work force.

The truth is, the Phonathon receives the most exception funding of any job on-campus because Whittier College suffered a falling out in endowment levels in 2008.

The extra pay is an incentive for many potential applicants. The more people working the phones, the more efficient the Phonathon program will be in contacting alumni.

Jon-Paul Cook - Thu, 2010-12-09 05:15

Zombies, ninjas, talking food and pop culture. What do they all have in common? They all can be seen on Threadless t-shirt designs worn by Whittier College students. The popularity of this company has been soaring thanks to their innovative practices and new perspective. Threadless treats their customers like business partners and resources through their web site: threadless.com.

A program known as Street Team was developed to promote Threadless through a referral system where one can earn Street Team points that are worth $1.50 in store credit. You can either post your referral link or submit a photo of yourself in one of their shirts.

Community participation is key. Without the constant feedback and input of their customers,

Jon-Paul Cook - Thu, 2010-12-09 04:34

Whittier College ladies may be pleased to hear that the wage gap is finally turning around. According to New York research firm Reach Advisors’ analysis of 2008 U.S. Census Bureau data, unmarried women aged 22 to 30 without children earn a median salary of $27,000 a year, which is 108 percent of the wages of male counterparts in the top 366 metropolitan areas in the U.S, such as New York, Los Angeles and San Diego. These women out earn males in 39 of the 50 biggest cities around the country.

The largest pay gap can be observed in Memphis and Atlanta, where this group of single, childless women earns 121 percent of single, childless men’s salaries.

Jon-Paul Cook - Thu, 2010-12-02 04:53