While we see the best players in college sports coming from the top programs across the nation, many of the players in the professional ranks don't necessarily come from those schools. Pro Bowl wide receivers Chad Johnson and Steve Smith came from Santa Monica Community College, Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Ben Rothlisberger came from the University of Miami in Ohio and there are plenty more to be named. But the point is that athletes from schools that aren't as big as the Dukes or the North Carolinas or Ohio States, like the ones from UC Irvine, have as good a chance to make it to the Pros.
The eve of St. Patrick's Day usually prompts questions like, "Do you want to spend the night at Casey's Irish Bar & Grille or Molly Malone's?" However, during the course of the 2009 recession, 20-something's like Jennifer Stiegert asked, "Why is it that I have $150,000 in law school loans and all I have is a J.D and no job?"
Travel a few miles up the 55 North and the prim, polished, perfectly planned community of Irvine transforms into the graffiti-ridden, overpopulated metropolis of Santa Ana. According to School Data Direct, a service of the Council of Chief State School Officers next door to one of the most affluent, first-rate research universities in California, the Santa Ana Unified School District stands as one of the lowest-ranked school districts in Orange County. We remain aware of these curious socio-economic contrasts, yet the question remains – what can we do?
While we see the best players in college sports coming from the top programs across the nation, many of the players in the professional ranks don't necessarily come from those schools. Pro Bowl wide receivers Chad Johnson and Steve Smith came from Santa Monica Community College, Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Ben Roethlisberger came from the University of Miami in Ohio and there are plenty more to be named.
Ruben Hipolito, a third-year biology and Spanish double-major, received a call on Jan. 22 from Keith Christopher, the professional director for the entire Sea Scout program. Christopher informed Hipolito that he had been chosen from a pool of over 3.5 million scouts for a special task...
Abe stood 6 feet 3 inches and hailed from Humboldt County, CA. He described himself as laid-back and down-to-earth. In a sleepy drawl, he touched on the lack of marijuana use at UC Irvine. "Man, it is so hard to find bud in Irvine," Abe sighed.
Over 40 faces sat enraptured as they watched the UC Irvine Invisible Children club's premiere of the organization's newest documentary "The Rescue" this past Monday, March 2. As images of African children carrying machine guns flashed across the screen, students squirmed in their seats as they were faced with the reality of the 23-year long war currently raging in northern Uganda.
