Through the Hope Foundation, which she co-founded and serves as the chairwoman, Chi encourages people to walk 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy, save energy and to reduce each person’s carbon footprint. “We have a slogan that says, ‘10,000 steps a day keeps the doctor away’ – just like an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” she says.

As a former athlete and kinesiology major, Chi understands the value of health and taking care of one’s body. “Health is more important than wealth,” she says. “The most wealthy people in Taiwan cannot buy back the life of their beloved ones or their own lives.”

Chi founded the Hope Foundation in 1986, after she had appeared in a commercial for Quaker Oaks and guest starred in a Hong Kong movie called “Flying Antelope.” Demonstrating her commitment to athletics, she donated all the money she earned from those jobs – about $2.4 million – to promote sports in Taiwan.

“Never in my mind did I think to keep the money,” Chi says. “The logic was simple: Without sports, I wouldn’t have been invited to do the commercial or guest star in the movie. That’s how the Hope Foundation started.”

Since the organization began encouraging people to walk, Chi has partnered with numerous elected officials, celebrities, public figures and the media to host high-profile events across the country. In 2006, Taiwan’s then premier, Su Tseng-Chang, declared Nov. 11 to be the national day of walking.

“For me,” she says, “the happiest moments is when I walk in the streets and people say to me, ‘Ms. Chi, 10,000 steps a day keeps the doctor away.’”

When she was a student athlete at Cal Poly Pomona, Chi lived the life lessons of discipline, sacrifice and time management. With a demanding training schedule and the rigors of college coursework, she had to give up many of the fun aspects of college life — watching movies, going to parties and traveling.

Her dedication certainly paid off. She tied or broke 10 world records in track and field, won a bronze medal in the 80-meter hurdles at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and was named the Associated Press World Athlete of the Year in 1971. She set five track and field records at the university in 1971 – 100 meter, 100 meter hurdles, 200 meter, 400 meter and long jump –and continues to hold those records today. When she graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 1971, she was named an outstanding scholar in the College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences.

Today, when she advises young athletes, she tells them that it is possible to be both an outstanding athlete and an outstanding student.

“As a student athlete, you have to be very disciplined and you acquire very good habits for the rest of your life,” she says. “If a student can overcome the pain, ache, torture and pressures of training, then I don’t think there are any obstacles in life that can’t be overcome.”

Those lessons aren’t reserved for elite athletes either, she says. Everyone should take any opportunity to join a sports team, train and exercise. “It’s really a treasure and a life experience,” she says.

Visit Original Post: Alumni Spotlight Chi Cheng

Fehrensen, who studies theater in education and community at Cal Poly Pomona, was so inspired by the person she calls “the tobacco lady” that she decided to base her senior project on the woman’s teachings.

“I decided to create a program that uses theater to educate children,” Fehrensen said.

She is the founder and director of Theatre Educating Children About Realistic Experiences, also called The CARE.

“The CARE is a preventative program that gives children a community to take part in that doesn’t involve violence or drug abuse,” she said.

The program works with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at the Success Through Awareness and Resistance day camp in La Puente. The group meets with fourth- through sixth-grade students Thursday mornings, using theater to teach them how to deal with everyday experiences.

“What we’re trying to do is educate children about drug prevention,” Fehrensen said.

On their first day with the elementary-school students, the theater group performed a scene that dealt with tobacco, alcohol and inhalants.

The 50 elementary-school students were divided into four groups, and each group was led by one or two members of the theater group.

“At the end of the month, the four groups of students will have created a piece of art,” Fehrensen said.
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The performance will take place Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. at Cal Poly Pomona’s Studio Theatre.

The scenes that will be performed were written by the theater group with help from the elementary-school students. The performance will incorporate everything from singing and acting to rap and breakdancing.

“One of my students from The CARE is making a documentary (about working with the students) and we will probably show that if the students cannot perform,” Fehrensen said.

The six members of The CARE all came from the Peer Theatre class at Cal Poly, which Fehrensen has been a part of for the past two years.

“The Peer Theatre class collaborates with the Pomona Unified School District to create controversial plays for high-school students,” Fehrensen said.

Article Originally Published by Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on 07/22/2008 08:35:16 PM
Author: Danielle Mohlman, Correspondent

But that’s exactly what goes on at the Summer Arts Academy at the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center, where nearly 60 youths are learning to express themselves through art, creative writing, music and theater.

The four-week academy, which started July 7, is all about igniting those creative fires in kids ages 7 to 16 - anything that’s free thinking, aesthetically pleasing, out of the box, artistic and spontaneous. Arts education can also improve students’ communication skills, interpersonal relationships and creative thinking.

For instance, students in the improvisational acting class are given a scene, and in a matter of minutes, six actors come together to recreate the Battle of the Bulge. Instead of Germans fighting the Allied forces, though, the young thespians’ battle include a fairy, karate kid, devil, boxer and cowardly Indiana Jones.

On Aug. 1, the summer program culminates with the fifth annual Showcase of Student Learning and Talent, where students will discuss their visual works and give performances from the movement, theatre and choral music classes. The show and reception begins at 5 p.m. Student art work will be on display at the Downtown Center gallery throughout the month of August.

No matter their background, all students can find commonality through art, says Jonnie Owens, director of community outreach in the College of Letters, Arts, & Social Sciences. It’s that kind of thinking, along with the “Respect each other” rule, that guides the academy and brings the best out of everyone.

“Art is the great communication platform. It’s what connects people,” Owens says. Shy and insecure students learn to open up and try something new; the experienced ones help the novices; and each person learns from another.

Part of what makes the arts academy so successful is the enthusiasm and energy of students and teachers.

“I love it,” says 12-year-old Jessica Rodriguez of the printmaking class. “You can always create different things. You can be free with it.”

Recent Cal Poly Pomona graduate Alyssa Mancao, who works as an academy assistant, says it’s inspiring to find so many kids who are willing to learn.

“They’re motivated kids. They’re really great,” says Mancao, who graduated in June with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. “They have excellent dynamics, and they respect each other and adults.”

In addition to acting and printmaking, students also paint water colors, draw portraits, tell stories through comic books, drum, sing, create masks, paint murals and dance.

The Summer Arts Academy showcase will be on Friday, Aug. 1 at 5 p.m. at the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center, 300 W. 2nd Street in Pomona.

For more information about the show, download this PDF (click here)

To learn more about the Downtown Center, visit
www.class.csupomona.edu/downtowncenter.

Article Originally Published by Cal Poly Pomona PolyCentric

The Big Read gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss and celebrate one of 23 selections from American and world literature. The Big Read in Pomona will focus on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird through a series of events in October and November. Last year, The Big Read in Pomona encouraged thousands to pick up Bless Me, Ultima.

“We are hopeful that Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird will be a catalyst to bring people together around the broad themes of tolerance and justice that are prevalent in the book,” said Jonnie Owens, director of community outreach for the College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences, who will oversee the use of the grant. “As our community reads, we hope they will not only find pleasure in that reading but also enlightenment and the ability to understand and get along with each other.”

The Big Read in Pomona will launch with a kickoff event Friday, Oct. 3, at the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center, 300 W. Second St. in the Pomona Arts Colony. Details about upcoming events will be released later this summer.

Cal Poly Pomona is one of 208 organizations across the country hosting The Big Read events this fall and winter. As a recipient of a $17,000 Big Read grant, Cal Poly Pomona along with community leaders and partnering organizations will provide community-based reading programs. Activities include read-a-thons, book discussions, lectures, movie screenings, and performing arts events. Participating communities also receive high-quality, free-of-charge educational materials to supplement each title, including Reader’s Guides, Teacher’s Guides, and Audio Guides.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.

Modeled on successful city reads programs, the Big Read is meant to address the national decline in literary reading as documented in the NEA’s 2004 landmark survey Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. The survey showed that less than half the American adult population now reads literature.

To date, the NEA has given more than 500 grants to support local Big Read projects.

“Everything the NEA does we do in partnership. I am delighted to announce our 208 new partners in The Big Read. Some are new to the program, some are returning, but all of them have answered the call to action to get our country reading again,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia.

For more information on The Big Read in Pomona, visit
www.class.csupomona.edu/downtowncenter/bigread/ or www.neabigread.org

Original Article published by Polycentric

Rod Leveque, 2000 - Loves Riding and Writing
By Laurie McLaughlin, Poly Trends

His most recent race was the hardest he had ever done. “It was 55 miles through fire roads and trails in the Cleveland National Forest with approximately 11,000 feet of vertical elevation gain,” says Rod Leveque of the excruciating seven-hour trek. “To give that some context, it’s more than twice the distance of a marathon, through the wilderness, with an elevation gain equivalent to climbing the stairs of the Empire State Building 10 times over.”

Leveque competes in as many as 30 mountain-bike races a year, and last season, he won the state championship for an intermediate rider in his age group. He’s 5-foot-7 and currently weighs 145 pounds, but fewer than four years ago, he was pushing the scale at 200 pounds and hadn’t ridden his bike much since high school.

“I just decided I didn’t want to keep gaining weight, so I dusted off my 10-year-old bicycle and started riding again,” he says. “I took to it really well, and I lost more than 50 pounds.”

He also spent a lot of time at a local shop getting parts for his old bike, and the employees encouraged him to start racing. So he joined the beginner circuit two years ago and came out No. 1 in the nation for all age groups at that level, and he moved up to the intermediate level last year.

When Leveque isn’t riding, he’s writing. He’s a reporter for the Daily Bulletin newspaper in Ontario and covers the courts and legal affairs. Most notably, he’s been writing about the appeals case of Kevin Cooper, an inmate who escaped from a Chino prison in the 1980s and was convicted of killing four people. “I’ve been at the paper for seven years, and I’ve covered this case for as long as I’ve been here,” he says.

Leveque got his first taste of journalism as a staffer and editor of the Poly Post. “I wrote about a lot of controversial subjects back then,” he adds. “I had a really great advisor, Tim Lynch, an editor at the Los ngeles Times, and it was through him that I got into the business. “It’s an exciting job because you have a lot of freedom, and no day is the same. You are out talking to people and coming across things you would never come across if you had a more conventional job behind a desk.”

He earned a degree in journalism at Cal Poly Pomona in 2000 where he met his wife, Maryann Tolano. She was also a journalism major who graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree and in 2006 with an M.A. in Education.

“She was ASI president when I was the editor of the Poly Post. You know how the relationship between the press and the government is — they sometimes have to battle each other a bit. And, initially what attracted me to her is the way she handled that. She was so honest and direct in her dealings in student government.”

There was no conflict of interest between government and the fourth estate back then, he adds with a laugh. They began dating when her term ended, and she joined the campus newspaper’s staff. They were married in 2005, and she’s now a student government advisor at Mt. San Antonio College, and Leveque is again racing in a new category.

“This year, I’m entering the elite levels, and so far, I’m staying competitive,” he adds. “The races are longer, more technical. There are a lot of steep climbs and tricky descents. Some courses are brutal and rugged.” The circuit he participates in is predominantly in Southern California, and his sponsor, Upland’s Jenson USA bike shop, helps him travel and get the gear he needs.

“I don’t know why I’m good at this. A lot of it is mental,” he says. “But, I think some of the riding I did when I was heavy got my legs really strong. When the weight came off, I had a body built to haul a bunch of weight that wasn’t there anymore.”

In the meantime, Leveque is staying in gear with his professional and riding careers.

Originally published in PolyTrends Spring/Summer 2008

Does anyone recall the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty during the 1990’s with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen when the Bulls had a strong all-around defense and six NBA championship titles to show for it? One of the reasons the imprint of the Bulls’ legacy is embossed in my mind is that it reminds me of a big part of my childhood and how I grew up watching every single game with dedication and passion. Michael Jordan became one of my top role models and a hero who represented motivation and perseverance — an example of how I wanted to live my life. I am currently president of the Men Against Violence group at Cal Poly Pomona. As a student club working within the Stop Violence Office, our group is concerned with peer education and assistance in dealing with issues of stalking, sexual assault, and dating and domestic violence. One of the areas where our group differs from the T.E.A.A.R. (The Education Against Abusive Relationships) theatre group on campus is that we focus on the men’s side of the partner violence problem. The Men Against Violence group at Cal Poly Pomona concentrates on the research that explains why males commit 98 percent of all reported sexual assaults in this country (according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics) and the fact that most rapes are perpetrated by someone the victim knows. With these problems in our society continuing to occur all around us, sometimes I find myself getting overwhelmed from all of it and, at times, am hard-pressed to strive for change. So how did I get into this field, and why do I continue to invest my time? I actually get that question more times than I can count and whether the specific answer I give makes perfect sense, it is by looking at a few levels of my background that the response becomes clear.

Growing up with two sisters in a Southern California suburb, I felt that often the strongest bonds of growth were directed back to the family. Also, even though it may be a touchy subject, I feel that for a complete understanding of my motivations as a student for change and hope, I would have to acknowledge that religion played a role in my life. Because of my upbringing, I began to seek definitions of morality and ethics and the different tribulations we face as human beings living in a diverse society. It was then that I started to take heed of some fundamental social problems that we are inundated with in this country, such as violence against women.

As I began my transition into high school and college,I noticed the media’s portrayal of male behavior start to change, first gradually, then suddenly. Positive role models of honest motivation and determination were diminishing in the limelight of television and movies, while characters such as Steve Stifler from “American Pie” and  Billy Loomis, from the movie “Scream,” were the onesbeing chatted about. These characters moved from subtle to obvious and depicted images of violence and forced sexual aggression, all the while perpetuating negative stereotypes of hyper-masculinity. Although we have entered the new millennium and are marking the growth of the children categorized as the “Internet generation,” we have yet to find proficient ways of solving the problems of crime, teenage pregnancy, drug addiction and rape.

I strive for change because to be the type of positive role model that I grew up admiring is a necessity and is what motivates me to stay involved with the Men Against Violence group. We certainly have the intelligence to work practically for the change we want to see happen. Change may require strengthening the emphasis on education about violence, and some may learn from the process of going through the experiences personally, but awareness of the problem is the first step to creating change. Consciousness is the difference between activism and apathy.

Devyn Huynh is a third-year sociology major who has been working with Men Against Violence for the past year. He is planning on a career in law.

Originially Published in PolyTrends Spring/Summer 2008

General admission tickets for the world-class concert are only $5 due to the generous sponsorships of local organizations, including Cal Poly Pomona. Tickets will be available beginning Monday, Jan. 14.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m., at the First Baptist Church of Pomona at 601 N. Garey Ave. in Pomona.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic will stage an hour of music under the direction of conductor Ward Stare, the organization’s American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Fellow. The American Conducting Fellows Program is a national conductor training program developed and managed by the American Symphony Orchestra League. The program supports the musical and leadership development of exceptionally talented conductors in the early stages of their professional careers.

The evening includes two movements from popular concert hall libretto La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust) by French composer Hector Berlioz. Joining the orchestra to perform Marguerite’s aria D’amour l’ardente flame (The ardent flame of love) is soprano Lauren McNeese. The concert closes with Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor.

This is the ninth concert the Los Angeles Philharmonic has performed in Pomona. The event is organized by the Cultural Alliance. Event sponsors include Cal Poly Pomona, City of Pomona, Western University of Health Sciences, Mount San Antonio College, Pomona Unified School District, State Farm Agent John Forbing, Pomona Rotary, Downtown Pomona’s Owners Association and Pomona First Baptist Church. The Cultural Alliance banded together to provide affordable opportunities to enjoy world-class performance arts in the heart of Pomona.

Tickets are available at the Pomona City Hall’s Community Services Office, 505 S. Garey Ave. For more information, call (909) 620-2321.

Article Originally Posted on PolyCentric

Led by the center’s faculty fellows, the discussion focused on the results of a 1,000-person survey of residents in the Inland Empire. Presenters also offered a few predictions of the region’s economic and housing future.

The roundtable, held at Sheraton Suites Fairplex in Pomona, gave the center’s sponsors a first glimpse of the results of the phone survey, to which they were able to submit questions. The sponsors include: Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Majestic Reality Co., Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, San Bernardino County Sun, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Three Valleys Municipal Water District, Fairplex, the city of Pomona, Southern California Edison and the city of Upland.

In the spring of 2009, the Center will host its third annual EMPIRE symposium in which faculty fellows will present their research findings in greater depth to a larger audience.

At the roundtable, Greg Hunter, associate professor of economics, said residents are less confident about the current economy compared to a year ago and are more pessimistic than consumers in other parts of the country. Despite their current pessimism, Inland Empire residents are more optimistic about the future compared to the rest of the country.

Most of the threats to economic growth are limited to the housing and financial sectors, according to Hunter.

“Banks are lending a lot less than before. It’s at the lowest levels since 2002,” Hunter said. “Until regulators get together to restore liquidity at the home property level, you won’t see a housing rebound.”

Geography professor Michael Reibel’s presentation examined the housing market in more depth. Home values are falling as much as 28 percent in some areas, and foreclosures have more than doubled. In addition, sales volumes of existing homes are down anywhere from 13 percent to 31 percent in Southern California.

However, Reibel called the changes in the real estate market a “painful adjustment,” not a freefall. He added that the housing problems could last anywhere from six months to six years.

Stacy McGoldrick, assistant professor of sociology, and Faye Wachs, associate professor of sociology, studied attitudes toward crime, illegal immigration and police. Residents, especially those who live in areas of higher foreclosure rates, feel that crime is on the rise.

In addition, nearly 85 percent of residents view illegal immigration as a serious or extremely serious problem, although many dont distinguish between legal and illegal immigration. In all, their research found a generalized anxiety toward housing, crime and immigration.

The Center’s annual symposium will be a half-day event for academic researchers, business people and community leaders to receive comprehensive forecasts of social, political and economic trends in the Inland Empire. Additional faculty fellows include: Sandra Emerson, professor of political science; Juliana Fuqua, assistant professor of psychology; and Carsten Lange, associate professor of economics.

The Center for the Study of the Inland Empire promotes interdisciplinary applied research about the Inland Empire. The research generated by faculty and students in the Center will inform and empower public and private communities in Cal Poly Pomona’s service region to make informed decisions on issues related to the region’s social, economic and political development.

Article Originally Posted on PolyCentric

Years later, she decides to spend several years in the National Archives, researching an issue of importance to herself and her community. She works tirelessly from opening to closing every day, bringing a carefully wrapped half sandwich for lunch and paying for photocopies from her own coin purse.

She ends up writing a critically acclaimed book that exposes deception at the highest levels of the government. Its publication ignites a powerful national movement that results in congressional hearings, a presidential apology and redress payments to her community. It is considered by many civil rights historians to be one of the most successful redress movements in American history.

Although not equipped with a graduate degree, academic affiliation or support in the scholarly community, her work galvanizes the growth of Asian Pacific American studies. It also inspires a generation of lawyers who go on to found the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and many APA law student and legal services groups.

While this story sounds like a fantasy cooked up in Hollywood, it is the actual life trajectory of Michi Nishiura Weglyn. Her book, Years of Infamy, did indeed inspire a movement.

Many Japanese Americans and civil libertarians felt that Japanese Americans had been wronged by their incarceration behind barbed wire during World War II. To prove this case, however, someone had to show that there was no real “military necessity” for the government’s actions. This is what Michi and her book did.

Years of Infamy contained not only clear, elegant prose, but numerous photocopies of revealing civilian and military documents. She dared to place blame squarely at the feet of President Franklin Roosevelt, that icon of liberalism. And she pulled no punches when she reminded us that “concentration camps and wholesale contempt for individual rights and lawful procedure are not the exclusive province of corrupt tyrannies and maniacal dictatorships.”

Michi died on April 25, 1999, at age 72, but her life continues to serve as an inspiration. Not only did she overcome adversity, she refused to be intimidated by professional barriers or conventional thinking. She lived a remarkably well-rounded life as a poet, painter and friend to many people around the country and the world. Her gracious support for other scholars and writers led to the release of many books, articles, plays and official documents that shed even more light on the wartime incarceration.

When Years of Infamy was first published in 1976, it served as a tool for ripping away the curtain of undeserved executive secrecy and power in the Roosevelt years. Today, it continues to serve as a reminder that claims of “military necessity” or “national security” need to be examined by disinterested parties, so that they do not serve simply to cover up injustice, wrongdoing and unconstitutional activities.

Years of Infamy also serves as a testament to the power of perseverance, and serves as one of the best examples of how community-based scholarship can influence discussion, just as strongly as campus-based scholarship.

As we approach the 10th anniversary of her passing, I propose that we declare 2009 the “Year of Michi Weglyn” in our campus, professional and membership-based groups. Here are a few examples of how you can celebrate an extraordinary Asian Pacific American, while reaffirming your support for human rights and the need for continued collective vigilance and action to preserve our constitutional form of government:

• Buy copies of Years of Infamy for your town and school libraries.
• Sponsor a house party where you and your friends read Years of Infamy, and get together to discuss its current relevance.
• Integrate discussion about Michi and Years of Infamy into your K-12 and college curricula.
• Organize an event on your campus or in your academic, church or community group that invites scholars and activists to discuss Years of Infamy and Michi’s contributions.
• Support the Michi and Walter Weglyn Endowed Chair in Multicultural Studies at Cal Poly Pomona.
• Contact the Japanese American National Museum (janm.org) and your local Asian American studies department for more details about Michi’s life and legacy.

Originally published on Asian Week
Written By: Phil Tajitsu NashMar 17, 2008

Phil Tajitsu Nash serves as Michi Weglyn’s literary executor. Please contact him at pnash@umd.edu to share your ideas for celebrating Michi and to learn about videos, speakers and other resources.

Quinones also authored True Tales from another Mexico in 2001.

The book signing is part of the Pomona Big Read, taking place from Oct. 13 through Dec. 1 and featuring the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded Cal Poly Pomona $15,000 to carry-out Big Read events over six weeks to encourage literary reading in the city of Pomona, one of 117 communities across the nation taking part in the program.

Pomona’s Big Read includes various activities such as read-a-thons, film screenings, book discussions, contests, keynote addresses, performing arts presentations, and library and museum exhibits. Participants will have to opportunity to receive free reading guides, and in some cases, free books.

More than 7,500 people are expected to read the coming-of-age novel, says Jonnie Owens, community relations program director for the College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences, who is overseeing the use of the grant.

The Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center is located at 300 W. Second St. in Pomonas Arts Colony. For more information visit www.class.csupomona.edu/downtowncenter/bigread/events.html

Originally Published:  Polycentric