This past month of April, Sonoma State University’s Neurodiversity Student Panel has hosted a variety of Zoom meetings to talk with SSU students about neurodiversity and their experiences at SSU for Disability Awareness Month. The student panel has held eight different zoom meetings that consisted of different lectures and discussions from guest speakers, students, people of the community, and other faculty.

Just this past week, Sonoma State presented its inaugural informational Zoom meetings for the MECSO, which is the Male Educators of Color Student Organization. The school held various Zoom meetings to provide a space for not only the SSU student body, but the community as well, to contribute ideas, gain perspective, and get an understanding of current issues and events regarding male educators of color.

As a fourth year undergraduate student, Tori Millendez remains determined to reach her goals within her education, as well as in her social life, throughout her college career. No matter what university Millendez ended up attending, her main goal was to leave a lasting impression on everyone that she came across.

Just this last week, Sonoma State presented its seventh annual Social Justice week. The school held various zoom meetings to provide a space for not only the SSU student body, but the community as well, to contribute ideas, gain perspective, and get an understanding of current social issues.

As a fourth year undergraduate student, Trey Kujiraoka was always determined to reach his goals, not only within his education, but also in his social life throughout his college career.

The Associated Student Government (ASG) elections recently took place from March 9-11 on Engage to elect representatives for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year.

The state of California is waging war against environmental issues such as severe catastrophic forest fire, drought, and climate change. Last week, the Redwood Forest Foundation hosted an informational Zoom meeting introducing a series called, “Dig Into Nature: Biomass to Biochar.”

Last Tuesday, a Sonoma County resident checked into an unidentified local pharmacy and presented the UK variant of COVID-19 in their test sample.

According to the CDC, the UK variant is a mutation and has thus created a different strain of COVID-19 that is far more contagious with the ability to spread quicker and easier than other strains. The CDC also states that the, “...variant may be associated with an increased risk of death compared with other variants.”

Golf legend and 15-time major champion Tiger Woods had gotten into a rollover car crash last Tuesday around 7:00 a.m. in Palos Verdes. Woods’s future on the course is now uncertain due to a severe leg injury he obtained during the crash.

The Sonoma State University cheer team has not only been practicing during the pandemic, but they are holding virtual tryouts at the end of April to fulfill their future white and blue squad.

The team’s ultimate goal is to be able to practice face-to-face while keeping social distancing in mind. Head coach Kaylie Poiani and Safety Officer Tersita Montalvo took it upon themselves to ensure the safety of their team while being able to make that goal a reality. Temperatures are taken at the start of every practice as well as sanitizing different pieces of equipment like tumbling mats.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, masks have become essential ranging from a disposable surgical mask, different cloth masks, and full face shields of all different styles. The most common ones worn by people today include: cloth, filtered, disposable surgical, cone-style, N95 masks, and many more. The question remains, which type of mask is most effective in protecting the population from COVID-19?

A scheduling website operating over the course of a week for a clinic in Rohnert Park called OptumServe, was forced to cancel thousands of appointments following a mix-up in the requirements for the vaccine. The company mistakenly listed the eligible immunization age at 65, but intended to list the minimum age as 75 years or older. The Press Democrat states, “County officials said 85% of the vaccine appointments set had to be canceled,” due to the fact that the individuals were ineligible to receive the vaccine at that time. This led to the turn away of many patients and the cancellation of 9,000 plus vaccination appointments.