While most students are struggling to enroll in classes and earn their A’s, some students at Santa Monica College have managed to purchase their guaranteed success, gift-wrapped in packages for thousands of dollars. For a price, these students can pay to enroll in “easy-A” courses and even skip school -- paid impersonators could take their courses for them.

Santa Monica College’s Associated Students sponsored the 7th Annual Public Policy Institute Symposium on May 10, Wednesday night. With several students left standing in the back or sitting on the floor, the crowded event took place in SMC’s Cayton Center.

“When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.”President Donald Trump delivered this line in his inaugural speech on January 20, 2017, while addressing a crowd that Press Secretary Sean Spicer, labeled the largest inauguration crowd in history.

As dozens of students packed SMC’s Skybox Gym on Thursday, May 11, the big screen greeted them with a stark yet encouraging message on the main projector: “Everyone has a mental health story. Talking about it shouldn’t be taboo.”

Shoulder to shoulder, red and blue t-shirts hung from a clothesline stretching across the line of palm trees down Santa Monica College’s main quad.

Just a few minutes before 11 a.m., organizations begin to occupy the empty tables lining the walkway in front of Santa Monica College’s library. As SMC’s various eco-themed clubs set up and decorate their booths, a few students stop and linger, curious about the unfolding displays before them.

I was insanely nervous the first time I walked into a Planned Parenthood. I did my best to keep my head down and avoid all eye contact with anyone in the waiting room.

Jes Baker, author of the book “Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls,” stood in front of Room 165 in Santa Monica College’s HSS Building. She smiled as students filed into the room, taking their seats in the rows of the amphitheater-styled lecture hall. Behind her, the projected screen read, “Change the World, Love Your Body. The Social Impact of Self-Love.”

Imagine that a person could hop into a magical car which would teleport them to a Beatles concert in the 1960s.