New Kids on the Block Plan
It's been a year since we last checked in on Verdel Baskin and Amy Wielkoszewski, the CC students we like to call "New Kids on the Block (Plan)." Now sophomores, the two are managing to juggle the rigors of studying under the Block Plan with a host of extracurricular activities.
t's "Hell Week" for Amy Wielkoszewski.
For one week in December, this slender, freckle-faced sophomore has spent her days either on stage at the Fine Arts Center, rehearsing her role in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat," or in the stacks at Packard Library, studying for a midterm in music theory.
"The exam is on opening night. I don't know how I'm going to get through this," she says, obviously tired but still model material for an Oil of Olay commercial.
A Margaret Barnes scholar in the natural sciences majoring in biology and computer science, Amy is often heard singing in lab as she pursues her degree. Her classload these past two years shows the far-reaching range of a liberal arts education: Shakespeare and Comedies, Flowering Plants, French, Philosophy of the Mind, Mathematical Models in Biology, Musical Theater, Genetic Engineering.
"There's a saying on campus: 'If you stay at CC, you thrive.' People either love or hate learning on the Block Plan. I love it here and, being a campus tour guide, I'm often told my enthusiasm shows."
A good student who rarely makes a grade below B, Amy enjoys the small class sizes and "how the faculty know us all by name. Ted Lindeman, my chemistry professor, even made us pancakes one morning."
Settling in her second year, Amy says she is learning what she can and can't do in three-and-a-half weeks.
Ideally, she likes to divvy her time between academics, friends and community service, and her activity planning at the Worner Center, where she's co-chair of a programming board that brings entertainment to campus. Most of the time she squeezes everything in, often finding time to perform or work backstage in an off-campus drama production.
Something has to give, though. In Amy's case, it's her room at Tenney House, a small theme house on campus.
"My roommate and I haven't vacuumed in weeks," she laughs.
Across campus at Rastall dining hall, Verdel Baskin is feeding mind and body: reading Plato's "The Republic" and eating a heaping mound of pasta.
Verdel needs the carbohydrates; this 19 year old is a leading scorer on the CC basketball team. Averaging 20 points per game, he also racks up points for the team with assists and rebounds.
The night before, he scored 33 points, his personal best. Several in the noontime crowd who saw Verdel's smiling mug in the Gazette Telegraph high-five him as they walk past his booth.
"I get lots of publicity here," the Los Angeles native says. "But I like CC because of the superior education I am receiving. I realize basketball will not always be there."
Although undecided about his major, Verdel knows graduate school and, quite possibly, law school are in his future. "When I graduate, I want a career I can make money at. And I believe a CC diploma will help me be successful at whatever I chose to be."
Verdel has taken a host of ethnic classes his first and second year. "These classes have helped me know more about myself," he says, adding that he's glad CC is trying to increase its minority faculty presence. "Minority students need someone to relate to, someone in a significant position."
He's making good grades, even in a class where "I learned 60 new vocabulary words a day!" Somehow, Verdel manages to study, practice and play basketball, help with Black Student Union activities, date (his high school sweetheart, also from L.A., transferred to CC this year) and work in the college weight room at El Pomar Gym.
"I'm happy here. Quite content," he says.