Pasadena City College

Marine Corps recruiters at the San Gabriel Valley Pride event at Pasadena City College on Saturday didn't care whether the young men who lined up to test their strength were gay or straight. The Marines just wanted to see some pull-ups done properly: Place hands about shoulder width apart, palms facing away; pull upward until chin is over the bar and then slowly return to the hanging position. Repeat until the feet feel like concrete blocks and the biceps like rubber bands about to snap.

PCC Presents "Dancing Under the Stars" Swing and Ballroom Concert Boogie the night away with "Dancing Under the Stars" on Friday, June 2, when the Pasadena City College Swing Band performs big-band standards, swing favorites, and ballroom classics on the top level of the parking structure on Del Mar and Hill. Selections will include the music of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and many more. The evening also features the vocal trio Swing of Pearls. "The performance offers a unique experience for people that enjoy music and dancing," said Dennis Kay, PCC Swing Band director.

The Pasadena City College Spanish Theater Group, "Troteateatro," invites students, actors and the audience into the fascinating world of the "juglar" - juggler - and the romance poem as PCC presents "Historias Para Ser Contadas en Tiempos de Guerra," ("Poems to be Told During Time of War") on April 29. In times when books were not readily available to the general public, jugglers and jesters used to tell stories to entertain in the streets. These "romance" poems featured an indefinite number of verses and were the oral tradition until the end of 19th century when they were written and published.

Be part of a moving play about five strong and determined women as Pasadena City College presents Brian Friel's "Dancing at Lughnasa," beginning Dec. 1 in the PCC Little Theatre. Directed by professor Whitney Rydbeck, the award-winning play is a story of five unmarried sisters living out their lives in a small village in Ireland in 1936. That year, the women acquired their first radio, whose music transforms them into shrieking, stomping banshees. The action of this memory play is told through the recollections of the illegitimate son of one of the sisters.

Hamlet Nalbandyan Pasadena City College men's soccer Coach Cherif Zein had mixed emotions Tuesday. On one end, the well-known soccer guru in the local region was ecstatic with his Lancer squad after it advanced to the California Community College Soccer Championships for the first time in school history with a 3-0 victory against Glendale Community College. But with that said, Zein also had a place in his heart for the Vaqueros following the Southern California Regional third-round victory at Mount San Antonio College.

Those seeking to end their Mother's Day celebrations on Sunday, May 13, literally on a high note will want to take Mom ? and the rest of the family ? to Pasadena City College's Sexson Auditorium, when the Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra (PYMO) presents its annual spring concert, "The Pines of Rome." The program, which will begin at 4 p.m., will include The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi; Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 , featuring Jonathan Lee, who is not only an accomplished pianist but principal cellist for PYMO; Poem for Flute and Orchestra , with flutist and PYMO member Carina Jette, by Charles Griffes; and Rimsky Korsaov's Capriccio Espanol . "The concert will be a unique and wonderful way to celebrate Mother's Day," says Jo Raquel Stoup, music director of the orchestra, whose members attend 32 different high schools and junior colleges throughout Southern California.

GLENDALE — The following are updates on area athletes at the collegiate level. Jeanine Deno (Crescenta Valley High, 2004) sophomore guard, Pasadena City College women's basketball: Deno, a former All-Area Player of the Year selection, and the Lancers continue to remain perfect. Pasadena City College improved to 22-0 with an 83-62 nonconference home victory against El Camino Community College on Wednesday. Deno, who is averaging a team-high 17.5 points per game, finished with eight points, six assists and three steals.

GLENDALE — An undefeated season would have been great and all, but, instead, the Glendale Community College football team would be satisfied with a .500 record. The Vaqueros can reach that with a victory against visiting Pasadena City College in a Northern Conference National Division contest at 7 p.m. today at Sartoris Field. Glendale college and Pasadena are both 4-5 and 1-4 in conference entering the final week of the season. “We want to get to .500 because it’s important to the players,” said Glendale college second-year Coach John Rome, whose team snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday with a 41-27 division home win against winless Moorpark College.

PASADENA ? Once the final horn sounded and the last team huddle around their first-year coach took place, many of the Glendale Community College football players grabbed their gear and walked off the field dejected on a hot afternoon. The Vaqueros finished their season anything but hot, undoubtedly leading them to look back on a campaign that featured mixed results, multiple injuries, a five-game losing skid and no playoff appearance. Glendale college saw its season end Saturday with a 31-14 loss to host Pasadena City College in a Northern Conference National Division contest.

Auditions have been scheduled for the summer production "Broadway Songbook" at Pasadena City College. Funded by a grant from the PCC Foundation, the performing and communication arts division will offer a Summer Performance Workshop focusing on the melding of acting, singing and dancing in a rehearsal setting with a 10-piece live orchestra. The musical numbers were all professionally arranged by Truman Fisher, a long-time PCC professor of jazz and arranging. Participants will work with classic song-and- dance numbers by legends such as Irving Eerlin, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Fats Waller, the Gershwins, Kander and Ebb, Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein.

Jack Scott, a veteran and popular educator who has headed the state's community college system during a period of brutal budget cuts and was often a voice decrying the impact on students, announced Tuesday that he will retire as chancellor overseeing the 112 campuses. Scott, 78, became chancellor of the nation's largest community college system in January 2009 after a long career as a state legislator and college campus leader, giving him rare insights into both politics and academia.

Glendale Community College may see its budget shrink an additional $1.9 million this year - its share of an unexpected $149-million cut to the California community college system announced this week. It would follow on the heels of $5.7-million in lost revenue the college has already sustained since the start of the current fiscal year on July 1, said Ron Nakasone, vice president of administrative services. “This is the third cut we have had to absorb this year,” he said.

Thousands gathered under clear, blue skies Monday for Pasadena's yearly spectacle of fantastical floral floats, high-stepping marching bands and colorful equestrian units. Themed "Just Imagine," the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade was expected to attract more than 150,000 visitors this year. The parade is being held on Jan. 2 instead of the traditional Jan. 1 because the parade is not held on Sundays. The event this year was punctuated by a demonstration: The group Occupy the Rose Parade carried signs drawing attention to their cause of income inequality, and dozens of protesters planned to march at the end of the parade with an Occupy Octopus "live" float constructed of plastic bags.

Incumbents breezed to victory in all three contested races for seats on the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees Tuesday night. Former Pasadena Mayor William Thomson, who will serve his second term on the board, outpaced political activist M.A.C. Enriquez-Marquez 85% to 15%. Longtime PCC board members Jeanette Mann and John Martin enjoyed roughly 2-1 margins of victory over their respective rivals, Altadena conservative Brian Fuller and Los Angeles City College instructor Chris Cofer.

Marine Corps recruiters at the San Gabriel Valley Pride event at Pasadena City College on Saturday didn't care whether the young men who lined up to test their strength were gay or straight. The Marines just wanted to see some pull-ups done properly: Place hands about shoulder width apart, palms facing away; pull upward until chin is over the bar and then slowly return to the hanging position. Repeat until the feet feel like concrete blocks and the biceps like rubber bands about to snap.

The Glendale Community College football team will start the 2011 season the same way it did the last one, in a matchup with Pasadena City College. Whatever the Vaqueros learned about the Lancers from that meeting, which resulted in a 41-20 loss, may not mean much in preparing for the rematch today at 6 p.m. at PCC's Robinson Field. Having installed Coach Fred Fimbres, PCC's fifth head man in the last seven seasons, less than two months ago, the Lancers are a program coming off a 4-6 season in a state of flux with less than half of their 2010 roster returning.

GLENDALE — The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level. Anna Shahinian (Glendale High, 2009) sophomore guard, Pasadena City College women's basketball: Shahinian probably couldn't have picked a better time to enjoy a career game — one that etched her name in the school record books. Shahinian finished with a career-high 39 points to help propel the Lancers to a 96-39 home victory against L.A. Southwest in a Southcoast Conference contest.

GLENDALE — Though his Crescenta Valley High girls' water polo team emerged from the Pacific League undefeated for a second straight season, Falcons Coach Pete Loporchio has proclaimed all season that the league is one of, if not the very best, leagues in CIF Southern Section Division V. Ample evidence of that claim came Sunday afternoon, as the CIF offices released the Division V playoff pairings with five Pacific League squads receiving postseason...

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. GOSSARD BECOMES WINS LEADER AT PCC Pasadena City College football coach and La Crescenta resident Dennis Gossard became the college's winningest coach Saturday after the Lancers recorded a 34-14 nonconference home victory against College of the Desert. Gossard picked up his 53rd victory, passing the mark set by R. Frank Baker . Baker registered 52 victories from 1926-34. "Something like this is based on longevity and having a good bunch of kids and assistant coaches," said Gossard, who improved to 53-42-1 at PCC. "It means I have been at one place for a long time.