Fresno State Focus Radio edition 3/9/2024

Hello, this is Fresno State Focus Radio Edition. I’m Maxwell Gallegos. And I’m Natalia Mendoza. Good morning. The new RSU has been filled with complaints, even after construction on the parking lot. There is a lack of parking. Hello. My name is Natalia. And here with me is Max. We are your anchors for today’s show. Max, let’s introduce the topics for today.

Construction has impacted many students on campus. The affects of construction have many students without finding parking. Cycling safety and the precautions. Drivers and cyclists take on the roads. Student Worker union comes out. Winning. Is the new RSU worth the hype? Later on, we will have your seven day forecast. And inflation sucks, especially with students here on campus that complain about high prices around campus.

And we will end the show with sports. Stay tuned. Hey, Max, what are your opinions on the construction on campus? From my personal experience, I’ve been going to school on campus for three years now, and I’ve felt like there’s always been construction somewhere, whether it’s in front of the library, in the parking lot where there should be grass.

It’s super frustrating having to take different routes to class, and they advertise the campus as a place that looks great. But there’s always construction, and at times I would have to disagree with them. You know, Max, as a commuter myself, I get where you’re coming from because I have to get here earlier now and adjust my schedule and my routine to that, getting here earlier in like an hour, just to beat everybody to find a parking space.

And sometimes even when I get here on time, I spend like 20 minutes trying to find a parking spot. And sometimes I’m always late to class because of the construction issue on campus. And all these points lead us right into our next story about the RSU and the expectations students had for it. And it also had construction delays, modern design, new food options, two floors of seating and a nice place to get work done.

However, when it first opened, the RSU did not have any food options because of construction delays. Students initially complained about food quality as well. Gage Vickers, a student at Fresno State, expressed his concerns about this. I think when I first opened, everybody expected three food places and then they weren’t open for like another year. And then the meeting room space was like, I heard we’re supposed to be 24 hours on one floor.

I’ve never experienced 24-hour rooms anywhere. And once the food options were added, there were other complaints. I’ve Read the Collegian’s recent article about finding hair in the food and nobody wearing hairnets. It’s kind of scary, but not everyone is complaining. Nathan Nodar says each student union on campus has its perks. The panda and the subway in there. And also they like the smoothie place and the bowling alley, which I think is pretty cool.

Like, this doesn’t really have like a bowling alley, like pool tables or anything. So it’s not really like a hangout spot. It’s more like a get food and then like, maybe study around here. Opinions on the new student union vary. However, it seems like students will most often come to the new RSU if studying needs to be done.

A lot of students on campus have scooters, including us two. Have you ever gotten into a scooter crash? I havent max, but you know who else we have to watch out for? Bicyclists on campus. Cyclists awareness can help prevent crashes on the road. But what about on campus and around campus? There has been an uptick in the number of bikes, scooters and skateboard accidents, according to the Fresno State parking manager.

So the key to staying safe is planning ahead. Here are some tips on what to wear on the roads, on campus or around campus. Bells, helmets and bright colored clothing and reflectors are the most effective ways to prevent accidents, said Monte, a bicycle mechanic gives us tips on how to gear up on cycling the road. So one thing is to always wear a helmet.

I know that’s a big one and people don’t always like to wear them, but helmets can can save lives and they have plenty of times in the past. Now you know what to wear. Helmets, save lives. So please don’t hesitate to wear one on campus or on campus. California State University student workers have voted to approve a union.

The union approval is historic, being the largest student worker union in the nation. After nearly a month of voting, the results came in with 97% of student assistants voting in favor of unionizing with a union. Students will be able to fight against the exploitations they face in the workforce on campus. The next step is for student workers to come up with a list of the most important things to fight for.

A link was emailed to student workers with a survey to fill out before a contract was drafted and presented to the CSU. The CSU Employee Union, creating one of the largest student worker organizations in the country. Now they will need to decide what they want to bargain for, a symbol of leadership, negotiating them and present their demands to the Cal State administration.

Student parking is a concerning issue for many of Fresno State students. Some of these issues include arriving to class late due to unavailable parking. Others have to park off campus at their own risk. This causes students to feel unsafe when walking back to their cars at night. A reporter you hire has a story of students who are asking for immediate change.

The lack of parking on the Fresno State campus has been a concern for quite a while. Many students blame the construction happening around the campus. This causes parking structures to get closed off, making it difficult for students to find a place to park. Business Major Joseph Morales feels the situation has not been fixed since he started school at Fresno State.

Foreign campuses need to do a better job with the parking situation because I usually have to park across the street and walk to campus because there’s just a lack of parking spaces. And I’ve been here about four years, and I have yet to, like, be able to just get on campus on time, go to class. And I said I got to drive around in a lot of different areas to try to find a parking spot.

Morales isn’t the only one who feels this way. Social work student Heidi Hernandez feels the school funds should be used to expand the parking structures for students and faculty. She feels the university is spending more of the funds on other things, such as landscaping. Students want to change and want the school to find a solution to this problem parking structure, like how they did that.

Fresno City, what other funding they are. I feel like Fresno State should have done there instead of repairing who knows what they’re doing now because there’s a whole lot of construction and they don’t really I don’t know personally, I don’t really get any updates on like what they are for and seeing how they just like adding new grass, like grass, like I do like about things, but for the parking and I feel like they should be like parking structures so that Fresno State students have a lot more parking and have like a variety and not just in like one parking structure in one location, but like have them around campus so that those that have like classes in Science 2 can park in Science 2, those that have parking by Science 2 can buy right there, and then stuff like that so that we can all like have like equal parking since, as I mentioned, parking does like pretty much suck like here. And that’s when I see I really wanted there to be like enough parking, but since its my last year, I dont really care.

There isn’t enough. But I hope in the future Fresno State does do like a parking structure because it will be nice for like future generations to actually, like, have parking. Students hope that in the near future the university will have a better solution for this situation. This has been a Yahaida Ruiz with Fresno State Focus radio edition. Let’s dive straight into your weather forecast for the week ahead.

Expect a generally pleasant week with partly cloudy skies and temperatures ranging from the low to mid-seventies. It’s a perfect weather for outdoor activities. Whether you’re planning a picnic in the park or a stroll around town. While there might be a slight increase in cloud cover midweek, the sun will still appear, keeping the weather delightful. So get ready to enjoy a week filled with sunshine and mild temperatures, making it ideal for both work and play.

Max, what are you doing this week? I’ll probably going to attend some of the Fresno State sporting events. I’m going to hang out with my friends, probably get some good food, you know, typical week, take it right into Friday and maybe I’ll go out on Friday. Wow. Max, that does sound fun. But with these prices, I don’t know.

How has inflation impacted students? We’ll take a look at that. Inflation is when the purchasing power is eroded. As of February of 2024, the annual inflation percentage is 3.1%, which is down from its 40 year high of 7% in 2021. The US inflation rate, however, is different from the food inflation rate of the US. The U.S. inflation rate refers to the overall price change of the economy.

The food inflation rate refers to the changes in food prices. Food inflation depends on many factors, such as distribution in the supply chain, weather conditions that can affect agricultural production, governmental policies and supply and demand. Students who are in financial need and need help with the affording food can go to the Amendola Student Cup board here on campus.

The student cupboard also has a diaper program that students can access by scanning the QR code at the checkout counter inside the facility. Any current student can access the resources at the student cupboard with their student ID card or a student I.D. number. The student cupboard is primarily funded through donations from members of the community, as well as grants.

Any student can volunteer or donate. Students who are also in medical financial trouble can go to the city health center and get access to discounted items such as prescription drugs, birth control, condoms and other things that students might need. Now let’s dive into sports with fun. My name’s Aaron Story, and today I’m joined by Holly Casino. How’s it going, Holly?

I’m doing well. How are you? Pretty good. Pretty good. I guess we can start off with what’s your title? What’s your job here at Fresno State? All right, well, I am a Holly casino, like you said. I am the sports information director for our baseball and women’s volleyball programs here at Fresno State. I do a lot of the media relations, a lot of you know, social media communications from the team.

So it’s a little bit of everything. It’s kind of a mixed bag, but it’s a lot of fun. I enjoyed it a lot. Cool. Cool. How long have you been working for Fresno State? Was this like your first job? This actually isn’t my first actual, like, full-time job in sports. Well, it’s my first full-time job, but I was an intern here at Fresno State through my undergraduate studies, so I actually went to junior college first, and then I transferred to Fresno State.

And right when I transferred, I started interning here. That was about three years ago now when that happened. And then as I was an intern, I got a job at the Fresno Grizzlies. So I was at the Fresno Grizzlies for about six months. Loved that job. Shout out to my people over there at the Chuck loved them. They were the best.

And then I had the opportunity here to jump on full-time. So I took that was about a year ago. So I took that opportunity and I’ve been here since. Okay. So what do you enjoy most about this experience so far that you’ve been on this journey so far? I guess for you, what I love about my job specifically is that if you really boil it down, my job is to brag about the athletes and what are they good at?

How are they good people off the field? How are they good people on the field and how do they play? And I think that that is so cool that I get to promote them in that way, Like they get to promote themselves, obviously, but I give them an additional outlet too. You know, I get to brag about them, I get to post about them on social media, I get to nominate them for Player of the Week.

I get to tell people like, Hey, you should pay attention to this guy, or you should pay attention to this volleyball player. And I love that I get to promote them in that way and help them pursue professional careers. So why did you pick baseball and volleyball or that there was only once I gave in to you or I got really lucky with baseball.

The baseball is not your favorite. Yes. So baseball is my favorite sport. It always has been. And so when the opportunity came up for me to take over as the communications, the asset for baseball, I was through the roof, very excited about it. And then, after baseball season ended, I was given volleyball, and I had kind of I had like played volleyball in middle school.

My best friend growing up was a volleyball player and she came from a volleyball family. And so I knew a little bit about the sport, but I kind of took it and ran with it and the coaching staff with the volleyball team is amazing and they’re brand new, so we got to kind of grow together. Yeah, you know, what do we want to do as a team and what do we want to promote with these girls?

And I ended up falling in love with volleyball too. So I’m very, very lucky to have those two sports and those two coaching staffs have really brought me in and treated me like one of their own. So I’m very, very fortunate with them. So you said you’ve had a good experience so far. Is there any difficulties you’ve had?

I’m sure you’ve had some or maybe you haven’t, I don’t know. But well, you learn that being a 24 year old girl in my role is very rare. And at Fresno State, we have a lot of women that are in the sports information director role. We have four of us and only one male that’s in a similar role to us.

And communications. And that is very, very rare. So it’s not necessarily a difficulty, but it is interesting because sometimes you walk in a room and people are surprised that the S.IE for a D-1 baseball team is a 24 year old girl. And sometimes, you know, they might not necessarily take you seriously right away, but you just kind of have to own that and be very confident in what you’re doing and you’ll get there and people will respect you.

And it’s never really been a problem. But it is just it’s interesting to observe. Okay. Have you had like a a specific, like good memory that you’ve had so far, like on your short career so far, like a specific memory? They’re like, wow. I’m like, I made it out. I’m doing it. You know, it’s funny that you say that because I have those, like, weirdly existential moments pretty often where I’m like, This is my job.

Like it is. I’m in charge of Fresno State baseball communications. It’s me. Like I’m the one talking about the volleyball team. I’m the one writing these notes that people are going to read later. And I think every once in a while somebody from the news will reach out and ask for ask for something or thank me for something, or an athlete will thank me.

And I just I pause for a second and I’m like, Wow, that is really my job. And I can’t think of something super specific on the spot. But every once in a while I have those moments of like, my gosh, this is this is my job. This is real life. This is what I’m doing right now. And that it’s it’s a great feeling being a part of the volleyball team and their success last season.

They got to the tournament for the first time right in about 20 something years, and they won the Mountain West title for the first time. How is that experience being a part of that journey for those those girls and that team? Well, first of all, I love those girls like they’re my own sisters, so it was so fun.

I’ve grown so close to them and I really feel like my athletes because I’m close in age with them. It really is like I have a group of 16 little sisters and 40 little brothers that I get to take care of all the time. So to watch them succeed and to help promote them on social media and to kind of push the whole why not us thing that they started and those girls created that on their own.

They thought of that. But it was on me to get the rest, you know, the fans and the community to buy in and to help them know like, Hey, this exists. This is what this team is doing. And to watch them succeed and grow and take that mindset and create a fan base and like I got to help them do that.

I got to help them create why not us and make that a thing? And I just love being able to help them succeed in ways that they might not have even thought of. Obviously, they want to be successful on the court, but I get to help them find success in other ways, and that was so rewarding. It was a lot of work.

It was so much work. It was a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of stress. Even just hoping, you know, you showed up in Vegas and we wanted to win. We wanted it more and it was going to be so hard to have to travel back with those girls knowing they put in so much work and they came up short.

But it just never happened. They never it never happened. So like, that was I will never forget that moment when they ended up winning and the girls are dog piling on the court and I’m in tears and our school sports supervisor is in tears and our athletic director is out there and like that is something that nobody can ever take away from those girls.

And I was lucky enough to experience that with them and have that relationship with them, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. Okay. So switching to your other sport, baseball, I think it’s like seven games into the season. What is your takeaway from the season so far from your perspective or from the team’s perspective? I think this team is really starting to gel together.

There’s a lot of returners, but there’s also a lot of newcomers. It’s really close to 5050, and I think that, you know, the first couple of games, you really have to figure yourself out. You can have your intrasquad games in the off-season, you can have, you know, we had an alumni game, and you have your fall scrimmages and everything, but until you really you’re in it and you’re playing live games, you don’t fully know how you come together as a team.

And I think it is still so early, but I think that these guys are so gritty and so confident in themselves, not in a cocky way, but a hey, we’re going to show up to the field every single day and we’re going to put in 100% every single day. And they’re really coming together and starting to create a gameday culture.

And I think they’re going to find a lot of success with that for yourself. You say you run the social media for the baseball team. Like, are there goals for that? Like getting a certain amount of followers and getting, like, maybe trending one time or so? I do have, you know, kind of follower goals. And I think that that’s something that we’ve really realized: our creative department helps us so much.

So a lot of that video content they’re producing, and we’re kind of bouncing ideas back and forth with them. So shout out to them also because they’ve put in a lot of work to help achieve those goals as well. But really what, what can I do to promote those guys in ways that fans really enjoy? So I think keeping up with what’s trending right now, what are things that other baseball schools like, what’s Wake Forest doing right now, What’s LSU doing right now, and how do we compete with them off the field?

And when it comes to, you know, the content that we’re creating and what we’re putting out and how are we keeping up with the best programs so that we are one of the best programs, even though, you know, I kind of think we’re a sleeping giant in a lot of ways like this. There are a lot of people that may not necessarily pay attention to us, but they’re going to by the end of the season, they’re going to be paying attention to the Fresno State Bulldogs.

So. All right. So what should students or fans of the Bulldogs of baseball volleyball should look forward to for this? I guess the rest of the the school year or even like next next year for volleyball? Well, I think volleyball proved that they were also a sleeping giant. You know, they were dead last in the rankings and they were able to win a championship.

Our baseball team isn’t dead last in the rankings, but I do think that they are a sleeping giant. And I think that once the season progresses, they’re really, really going to figure it out on the field, as they’ve already shown that they are figuring it out. But I think there’s so much room for growth even still. So just like I said, just show up for these guys that really makes a difference.

And the same with our volleyball team. Show up for them, and they’re going to show out for you. All right. So that was my interview with Holly Cassino. Thank you all so much for doing this with me. Yeah, thanks for having me. This is Aaron Story. And that wraps up our show for the day. Next week. We will talk about college advisors, international students, perspective and scooter safety.

Today’s episode of Fresno State Focus Radio Edition was produced by Professor Hanayo Oya for the Department of Media Communications and Journalism. Our stories and interviews were produced and edited by Aaron Story. This program is produced in collaboration with 90.7 Campus for Fresno State focused Radio edition. I’m Max Gallegos And I’m Natalia Mendoza. See you next week.