Author Archives: Melissa Anderson

JMC premieres ‘The Barbershop Diaries’ for Black History Month

The School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San José State University will premiere a documentary entitled “The Barbershop Diaries” on Feb. 8, from 3-5 p.m. in Morris Dailey Auditorium. Admission is free for the documentary screening; tickets may be reserved online at www.thebarbersinc.eventbrite.com.

The School of Journalism and Mass Communications will premiere a documentary, 'The Barbershop Diaries,' on Feb. 8.

The School of Journalism and Mass Communications will premiere a documentary, ‘The Barbershop Diaries,’ on Feb. 8.

The documentary, created by College of Applied Sciences and Arts multimedia students and Professor D. Michael Cheers, focuses on the historic and powerful impact barbers and beauty salon owners have in communities. According to a press release, “For generations it’s the place where people from all cultures have gathered to learn about each other, life and the challenges we face together.”

“This is the last in a series of trilogy projects that examines how engaging and compelling visual storytelling impacts community,” Cheers said, in the release. “In 2010, we premiered ‘Soul Sanctuary,’ an in-depth look at the challenges facing the aging congregation and leadership at Antioch Baptist Church, the oldest African American Baptist Church in San Jose.”

In 2013, “Dream Fulfilled, Dream Deferred” was premiered with a look at urban violence through the eyes of two San José families affected by gun and gang violence.

“‘The Barbershop Diaries’ afforded me the opportunity to spend time inside the shop’s hallowed public space,” Cheers said, “peer into the diverse lives of these barbers, and share with the public their personal stories of triumph over adversity, naysayers, personal demons and the stumbling blocks and hurdles of life.”

Over two years, the film “explores the eclectic lives of 10 barbers who work at Barbers, Inc., a neighborhood barbershop in downtown San Jose.”

The press release describes the participants featured in the documentary: Two are former inmates, now seeking salvation, redemption and “a chance to make things right.” Others are a budding actor and screenwriter; a lesbian barber who juggles a domestic relationship and her mother’s stage four breast cancer; a promising model and singer; a tattooed, man‐child who was headed for “jail or the graveyard”; a “my faith comes first” Muslim, who struggles to find a quiet place to pray during work hours; an unassuming Ethiopian immigrant, who lost his security guard job, and used his jobless benefits to pay for barber college; and a young apprentice barber, still studying for his license, with two toddlers in tow.

As part of Black History Month, the School of Journalism and Mass Communications will also unveil an online portrait gallery showcasing photographs taken by photojournalism students of South Bay area African-American barbershop and beauty salon owners.

For more on the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, visit: http://www.jmc.sjsu.edu/

AFROTC alum lands job with Whiting-Turner

Bryan Evangelista, front row left, who graduated from SJSU in Dec. 2014 with a engineering degree and was an Air Force ROTC cadet, has been working with the Whiting-Turner contracting group at Stanford University on a infrastructure upgrade.

Bryan Evangelista, front row left, who graduated from SJSU in Dec. 2014 with a engineering degree and was an Air Force ROTC cadet, has been working with the Whiting-Turner contracting group at Stanford University on a infrastructure upgrade.

Bryan Evangelista, a San José State University civil engineering graduate (’14) and Air Force ROTC cadet who was commissioned in Dec. 2014, has been interning with Whiting-Turner since summer 2014. Lt. Col. Douglas Lomsdalen, the chair of Aerospace Studies in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, helped him work with his schedule to allow him to intern with Whiting-Turner, where he was assigned to the Stanford Building Conversion and Piping Team in Palo Alto.

Evangelista has been hired on as a full-time employee with the company in January and he will continue his work with the company until he enters active duty as an Air Force Civil Engineer at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina later this year.

His team worked on converting legacy steam systems to hot water systems in mechanical rooms across the private university’s campus. The team was identified as the Whiting-Turner team of the quarter for the fourth quarter of 2014.

According to a newsletter from Whiting-Turner, the team worked in 42 different mechanical rooms at once and installed 20 miles of underground pipe.

Hospitality profs look to future of international travel in Vietnam

Dr. Tsu-Hong Yen, the chair of the San José State University Hospitality Management department, and Professor Kate Sullivan co-hosted a conference in Danang, Vietnam in December. The College of Applied Sciences and Arts department was invited to participate in the Duy Tan University Hospitality Management conference on the future of international tourism and hospitality in Danang.

Yen served as the keynote speaker at the event, with a lecture on leisure and entertainment city models while Sullivan spoke about customer service. University faculty from the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Canada and Vietnam were in attendance. More than 500 people attended in person, with parts of the conference airing on Vietnamese national television.

Following the conference, a city-wide press conference was held to announce that Danang had received Trip Advisor’s 2015 award for “Up and coming City in the World.” The online travel website allows users to post recommendations of places they have stayed in the United States and around the world as well as allow users to search for travel needs such as hotels, airfare and more.

Sullivan said she is hoping to return to Danang in March to continue to work on creating a partnership between SJSU and the universities there.

Donate for annual ‘Love for the Troops’

San José State University’s Associated Students will be hosting its annul “Love for the Troops” event Feb. 11, where students will have a chance to put together care packages and write thank you letters for United States military members. Last year students put together 186 care packages with items donated and purchased by the SJSU community.

For those who would like to donate items, AS members put together a wish list of the most needed items. Donations can be dropped off at the Associated Student House on campus by Feb. 9, or a pick up can be scheduled for departments that collect a large number of items.

All individual items need to be able to fit in a quart-size Ziploc bag. Suggested items include:

  • Paracord survival bracelets
  • Travel-size games, such as board games, handheld games and playing cards
  • Pens and unsharpened pencils
  • Snacks such as energy bars, beef/turkey jerky, trail mix, fun-size candy bars, single-serving food packets (noodles, oatmeal, cold/hot cereal), Pringles snack stacks, single-serving sunflower seeds, ready-to-eat tuna or chicken salad packets, girl scout cookies, single-serving beverage mixes, such as Gatorade, Kool-Aid, MiO, Crystal light,
  • Personal care products such as lip balm, mini tissue/toilet paper packs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mini hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, individual packets of moist towelettes, deodorant, instant hand/foot warmers, foot powder (travel size) and socks (unused and unopened, preferably not white)

Hospitality students prep for Pro-Am tournament

San José State University Hospitality Management graduate Jennifer Hill is an assistant manager at the The Bench Restaurant, one of many eateries that dot the Pebble Beach Resort property in Carmel. For the last three years, she has come back to SJSU to train students as part of the Special Event Management Team program that will bring 35 students to the resort in February to serve as supervisors at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

As a student in 2010, Hill participated in the internship program.

San Jose State University students enrolled in the Pebble Beach Special Event Management Team internship class play a game that quizzes them on professional language.

San Jose State University students enrolled in the Pebble Beach Special Event Management Team internship class play a game that quizzes them on professional language.

“They really set you up for success,” she said of the week-long internship that requires intense training for the students in the months leading up to the Pro-Am. “They make sure they are right behind you, but they let you make decisions.”

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts Hospitality Management department has had a partnership with Pebble Beach since 2006 that allows 30-35 students a year to work at the golf tournament as interns. Pebble Beach managers and SJSU Professor Rich Larson oversee selection of the students, which includes an application and an interview with a panel of professionals. After being selected, the students participated in an orientation on Dec. 6. By the time the tournament starts, the students will have completed seven full-day training sessions on campus and at Pebble Beach. During the tournament, they will work up to 12 hours a day to keep food and beverage concessions running smoothly Feb. 9-15.

On Jan. 15, during their second day of on-campus training, Hill talked about why she came back as a trainer and what she learned from the program.

“I like their willingness to learn,” she said, “I can share my experience from a different perspective (than the other Pebble Beach trainers.)”

She said when she participated in the program, she had already had internships and had worked on planning weddings.

“I had experience with delegating and management so it wasn’t unfamiliar,” she said. “I think the confidence was the biggest thing (I gained.) Another is polish, professional language and how to problem solve – but the most important was confidence.”

Marissa Giacomo, a current hospitality management major, said she heard about the program shortly after she transferred to SJSU.

“I was interested in the opportunities that came with it,” she said. “It is a good way to get involved in the industry.”

She said during the first days of training they had learned about the history of Pebble Beach.

Adil Charki, a business student, said he had some friends who were in the program in past years.

“They really enjoyed it and said it was rewarding,” he said, noting that the students come from different backgrounds, including different majors on campus.

Dayna Miya, a hospitality and event management student, said she heard about the internship in her second year on campus in a hospitality class. She applied twice to the program before she was accepted this year.

“I didn’t really know what they were looking for,” she said. “But this year I knew the process. I’ve had a lot of experience with events for family and friends, but not with corporate and professional settings.”

SJSU students listening intently to managers from Pebble Beach who providing training for the Special Event Mangement Team who will intern at the AT&T National Pro-am in February.

SJSU students listening intently to managers from Pebble Beach who providing training for the Special Event Mangement Team who will intern at the AT&T National Pro-am in February.

On the second morning of training on Jan. 15, the conversations focused on professionalism for the students who will be tasked with managing Skyboxes and Chalet hospitality rooms for VIP guests along the fairway as well as other on-course food and beverage operations.

During their training sessions on campus, the students met in rooms in the Boccardo Business Center, where they transformed classrooms into a conference room. The students were even critiqued on their set up of the room’s food and beverage tables.

“For breakfast, I walked in and some of the set up was very well done,” said Jeff Wallace, the food and beverage director for Pebble Beach. “But the napkins and silverware – not so much. I noticed it was spaced too far apart.”

He advised that as supervisors, the students should seek out those with experience in table set up from their crew when they are setting up their areas at the golf tournament.

As part of the morning’s training, the students broke into groups and discussed the one most important thing that contributes to a customer’s first impression. The students mentioned such things as having someone to greet clients, cleanliness of the room, noise level, proper signage and directions, the flow of a room and how the outside of a restaurant looks.

Donn Achen, a training and communication manager from Pebble Beach, said it was his second year working with the students.

“It is important they understand how much their customer service skills come into play,” he said. “They need to listen. They will work with a variety of people and circumstances. They need to keep the same standards and values, whether it is a temporary or permanent position.”

Achen said the student interns are a critical part of the success of the tournament each year.

“They get a chance to work in a world-class hospitality spot and get coached by the best in the business,” he said.