Let us, Cabrillo Students, reminisce over the years of Cabrillo since its establishment in 1959

If you’re ever curious as to what it was like not just a couple but more than 87 years ago, You’re going to want to stick around for this.

As a student who’s been attending this college for about 3-4 years now, I’ve always been fascinated and interested as to what it might’ve been like a couple years back then. Since 2020 has just begun, I thought it’d be an appropriate time to bring back some of those most nostalgic moments and catch you up to speed if this is your first year at Cabrillo.

May 26th, 1983 “Twenty Four Years”

I guess you could say I wasn’t the only one who wanted a decade piece in their college’s newspaper. The “Cabrillo Log” students had made a timeline starting from 1960 all the way to 1970’s.

They had columns for “Faculty Profiles,” Which gave people who were working at Cabrillo some time to hit the spotlight and share the insight about how long they’ve been working with the campus and interesting facts about themselves. On special occasions Log students would find brand new Principals and Teachers who would’ve been the uprising face in this category. 

A personal favorite of mine from this newspaper, Is on page 11. The column, “Only 2 Frosh Candidates Run.” While I can’t tell who has written this one, It still makes me laugh. Their article goes on to talk about how there were only 2 people going up for the Student Elections that year. And this is what they had written as the first sentence, “Without a doubt the worst election in Cabrillo’s history is taking place today in the College Center. A low spirited freshman class could muster only one man to run for each of the open positions.”

 I’m flabber-gasted. I didn’t know we could be so outspoken and blunt all at the same time, in a newspaper. Vic Epperly was running for Freshman Class President and William Dann was the only candidate for Frosh Representative.

March 10th, 1993 “Smoking ban on the horizon”

Is anyone still a staff member and worked with us in the 90’s? If so, please contact the Cabrillo Voice. I just want to talk.

Pushing aside from those classics you might still hear from Janet Jackson, The 90’s was Cabrillo’s calling to ban most areas on the campus for smoking. I don’t know if you remember but I believe just back in 2017 we banned all smoking areas on campus. 

Tina Clifford, (your 1993’s assistant editor) wrote the following, “The Cabrillo Governing Board voted unanimously last week to impose new and more tingent smoking regulations starting the first day of the 1993 fall semester.”

The 1993 areas that still counted for as smoking areas were the parking lots, outside courtyard in front of the Cabrillo Theater, The porch area on the Soquel Drive side of the Theater, The porch area on the north side of the Forum 450, The porch area of the Soquel Drive Side of the Student Center, The library porch facing Soquel Drive, The porch area facing the pool, and the 1400 Building porch area facing the ocean. 

For the Watsonville Center it was the Outside Courtyard area of the La Manzana Center Complex and La Manzana Parking Lot.

March 30th, 2009 “March in March”

Now I don’t mean to make you feel old (or maybe I secretly do), but I was only eight years old when this march was happening. Luckily, Emily Nord, 2008’s Editor-In-Chief, was able to push the broadcast parts of this March by writing the article, “Cabrillo Fights Back.”

This is one of the paragraphs she had written, “Sarah Emmert is responsible for Cabrillo’s attendance at the March in March event. She began organizing for Cabrillo Students to go before the Spring Semester began.” 

And what exactly was this rally about, you might ask? It was simply for Sacramento’s Education. Emily continues to interview Emmert and from here you can almost agree with me that they did change and leave a mark of Cabrillo, “My motivation for organizing this event wasn’t just to show my commitment for education, it was about empowering others to get involved and realize they can be apart of history.”

May 4th, 2017 “Beyond Gender”

    Probably in one of the top ten favorite newsletters from Cabrillo, personally, this one marks pretty high. “Cabrillo Student becomes the first minor in the U.S. to gain non-binary status,” written by Serena Mendoza. 

    The best part of this article is that Mendoza explains how Star, (Our non-binary student), has made herself well known and even knew Star as a close friend before all of this history was happening. 

    Mendoza had written, “To me, they’re just my best friend. They’re from one of the smartest families I know (both of Star’s parents went to Stanford) and have one of the greatest laughs you might ever hear. And, over the years, hearing of them speaking in front of a court or lobbying in Sacramento doesn’t even seem odd anymore- that’s just Star.” 

    Thanks to people like Star, ever since May 2017 existed, we now have non-binary options on government and DMV forms. 

(President Matt Wetstein with 2018 Voice editor,  Sabrina Mota)

March 6th, 2018 “New Prez on the Block”

    Some of you may or may not have already read this one, but Cabrillo has just hired a new president. Back in 2018, Matthew Wetstein was interviewed by Sabrina Mota about the President’s ambitions and goals he had for the upcoming years with working for Cabrillo. 

    Mota had quoted Wetstein, “I want career advice pouring into the classroom. I want students to have a clear understanding of their career options available to them, the kind of money they can make, where they can transfer to, and that shouldn’t be in a separate office.”

    I have to say that I only wish the best for our President this upcoming year and hope that those ambitions and goals get across even further. In my further investigation with this article, he continues to discuss adding more faculty of color and diversity.

(Adam Spickler – photo by J Guevara)

November 16th, 2018 “First transgender man and first teacher appointed to Cabrillo Board” 

    You could say President Wetstein is a man of his word after this historical moment. Jordy Hyman had written in their article, “Spickler came out while working as a senior field representative for Bill Monning in the state assembly. He said Monning was very supportive, and the two drafted a letter informing coworkers and leaders in the community about Spickler’s transition and how to be appropriate and understanding.” To know a little bit more about Spickler, He was 48 back in 2018, with 12 years in the making for local government. Hyman later on spits out facts with, “He ran uncontested and was appointed in lieu of election to represent parts of Santa Cruz, Live Oak and Happy Valley.” 

    Congratulations to not only Spickler, but to the LGBTQ+ Community! I would find this as a step up in the right direction and I hope that if Spickler is reading this, our school is proud of you and giving you a very *late* congratulations on helping Cabrillo find its voice. 

So… What’s next? 

Well I don’t really quite have an answer for that. But I do hope that reading from this it encourages you to become the first in… pretty much everything! Take a stand and become the first in sports, literature and arts, science, math- your possibilities are endless. Who is to stop you and why aren’t you already trying? It only takes one person to bring up your awareness. So go on ahead, and be the first. 

As for the people who have been writing for Cabrillo Voice before me, Thank you for attempting and being the first to broadcast wild, crazy and exciting news. Cabrillo deserves it’s voice to be heard and you’re doing just that. So thank you.