From the 1969 film Winning to a modern-day auction, here’s the fascinating history of motorsport’s most iconic watch.

These iconic works of propaganda art will go under the gavel on August 1.

The model talks to ELLE.com about the current state of plus size politics.

On set at their Lane Bryant fall ad campaign shoot.

Matt Boermeester, the USC placekicker who made the winning field goal in the Rose Bowl last January is not permitted to return to the university, his attorney, Mark Schamel, said Sunday night.

The school discipline followed from an investigation led by USC’s Title IX Office, said Zoe Katz, Boermeester’s girlfriend, in a statement provided to the Southern California News Group.

USC began a Title IX investigation in late January after an allegation that Boermeester pushed Katz in the driveway of her home near the University Park campus, Schamel said. Boermeester and Katz denied this. Katz said the allegation was made by a “third party.”

Katz, 22 and a senior, was an all-conference player on USC’s women’s tennis team. She is expected to graduate this fall and issued the statement which called the investigation “unfair” and “biased” and that Boermeester, 23, “has been falsely accused of conduct involving me.”

In February, the university announced Boermeester had been suspended for an unspecified “student code of conduct issue.”

Boermeester was removed from the roster of the Trojans’ football team, which opened training camp on Saturday. He would have been a redshirt senior this season. In 2016, his first season as the Trojans’ starting kicker, Boermeester made 18 of 25 field-goal attempts, including the 46-yard field goal as time expired to defeat Penn State in the Rose Bowl.

Title IX investigators contacted Katz three days after the alleged incident occurred in January, her attorney, Kerry Steigerwalt, said.

In her statement, Katz said she was told by the investigators that she was in an abusive relationship and was “told that I must be afraid of Matt.”

“I was stereotyped and was told I must be a “battered” woman, and that made me feel demeaned and absurdly profiled,” Katz said in a statement. “I understand that domestic violence is a terrible problem, but in no way does that apply to Matt and me.”

During the investigation, Katz said the university issued a no-contact order against Boermeester, preventing him from communicating with her. As he was suspended from the football team, he was also prohibited from using its facilities to rehab a knee injury, she said. He underwent surgery after the Rose Bowl.

Katz said investigators led her to feel, “misled, harassed, threatened and discriminated.”

“She feels her protests are falling on deaf ears,” Steigerwalt told the Southern California News Group.

Steigerwalt said Katz filed a separate complaint with the Title IX Office after its investigation concluded in June.

A USC spokesman wrote in a statement late Sunday, “The university has concluded its investigation. Student disciplinary records and proceedings regarding any matter of student conduct are confidential and protected by law. Per the registrar, he (Boermeester) is no longer enrolled at the university.”

Katz said she has dated Boermeester for more than a year.

“I want to be very clear that I have never been abused, assaulted or otherwise mistreated by Matt,” Katz said in her statement.

Schamel, Boermeester’s attorney, said “Zoe Katz’s statement speaks for itself.”

Katz said she decided to address the issue publicly in order to speak up for herself and Boermeester and highlight flaws in the Title IX investigatory process, what she called a “rigged system.”

USC is a private university, but required under the federal Title IX statute, to investigate claims of sexual violence.

Boermeester is not the Trojans’ first football player to face Title IX discipline in past years.

The university opened Title IX investigations last year into, Osa Masina and Don Hill, suspending the linebackers in September 2016 after allegations of sexual assault, said Greg Skordas, Masina’s attorney. A preliminary investigation recommended that Masina be expelled from the university earlier this year. The decision that was later appealed. The result of the investigation into Hill was not clear.

Criminal chargers were dropped in Los Angeles for the two players, but Masina is scheduled to stand trial in Salt Lake City this fall for a separate sexual-assault allegation.

Bryce Dixon, a former tight end, was also expelled in May 2015 following a Title IX investigation for an alleged sexual assault. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge later reinstated him to the university, but not to the football team.

The Fullerton Arboretum on June 17 posthumously honored the late Harry Norman, Cal State Fullerton’s former associate vice president for international programs and dean of University Extended Education.

Norman, who served Cal State Fullerton for 23 years, led efforts to raise more than $4 million to build the arboretum’s Bacon Pavilion and Orange County Agricultural Nikkei Heritage Museum. He also helped develop the Children’s Environmental Education Program, which has served more than 65,000 K-12 students.

Insurance program recognized as global center

Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Insurance Studies – which has grown into the largest and most active insurance program west of the Mississippi, according to its director – has been recognized as a Global Center of Insurance Excellence by the International Insurance Society.

The designation recognizes colleges with a major or concentration in insurance studies with a clear set of courses and other requirements focused in at least two areas of instruction. Also required is a record of graduates who have found positions in the field, as well as faculty members with education and experience in the field.

“The honor is a recognition of our two decades of work to establish an undergraduate concentration in risk management and insurance in the Department of Finance and in actuarial science in the Department of Mathematics,” said Weili Lu, professor of finance and center director. The school also offers an MBA concentration in RMI and a recently created master of science in financial engineering and risk management.

Business leaders join philanthropic board

Three business leaders have been named to the board of governors of the Cal State Fullerton’s Philanthropic Foundation, a nonprofit that builds and strengthens relations with the community and encourages advocacy, investment in and support of the university.

The new members are:

–Joe Cervantes, executive vice president of operations, R.D. Olson Construction

–Martha Daniel, founder and president/CEO, IMRI Technology and Engineering Solutions

–Gary Green, executive vice president and manager, California Bank and Trust

Joining the board as the student representative is senior business administration major Laila Dadabhoy, president and CEO of Associated Students Inc.

Continuing as chair is Jeffrey S. Van Harte, a 1980 alum in business administration-finance and chairman and CEO of Jackson Square Partners LLC.

“Greece, I am falling in love with you already.”

That’s what student Izabella McPhee tweeted about her study-abroad experience this summer. She was one of at least 292 Cal State Fullerton students who participated in programs in other countries, ranging from cultural exploration to research projects.

Students attended a film camp in South Korea, studied communication design in Denmark, learned math in Thailand and took part in multimedia journalism in Spain. On an island off Puerto Rico’s mainland, students farmed, manned a radio station and contemplated their career goals by the ocean.

“We’re excited about the many diverse programs abroad and away that CSUF is offering in just one summer,” said Jack Hobson, director of the Office of Study Abroad. “Representing over a dozen countries, these programs encompass a variety of disciplines and include faculty-led department programs, research groups, experiential and service learning trips, internships and also independent program options.”

Eight students nominated by faculty traveled to Baja California Sur to develop their leadership skills while they supported community development projects.

“Not too many science majors study abroad, but it’s so important to our education,” said Maddie Ybarra, a senior biological science major who was excited to see the plant life of the Sonoran Desert.

“I remember being a freshman and not really knowing what I wanted to study,” said Andrew Vo, who is now eyeing a career in public relations. “Putting myself out there, and studying abroad, really did help define what I wanted to do in the future.”

Faculty pull all the strings they can to help students afford such trips. The Baja trip was sponsored partly by University Extended Education, for example, with travel provided by Southwest Airlines. To finance other trips, students held food sales and set up GoFundMe pages.

The students come home changed, said John Gleaves, associate professor of kinesiology, who led a group of students to Athens, Greece, to explore the history of the Olympic Games in the olive groves where they began. The idea, he said, was that students see that their professional ambitions – whether for physical therapy, physical education or medicine – connect to a tradition that goes back to the ancient Greeks.

“They are able to take a longer and larger view of the world,” Gleaves said. While they learn how big the world is, they also learn how interconnected we all are.

The students were able to run in the ancient stadium in Nemea where athletes ran for glory before the birth of Christ. Student Talia Jankowski posted on Instagram that tears filled her eyes as she stood on the same hill on which the Apostle Paul preached to the Athenians.

“As a professor, it is incredible to watch young minds come alive,” Gleaves said. “I think studying on sites that are 2,500 years old awakens the curiosity and awe that is essential for learning. Students begin asking more and more questions and don’t even realize that class ended an hour ago because the conversation and questions are so fascinating.”

After taking three groups to Greece, Gleaves has noticed the study abroad students more often graduate with honors and go on to do great things.

“I think there is a direct connection between such an intense learning experience and the fire that motivates the students to be successful in their studies and careers after they return,” he said. “You see that study abroad has an impact not just on school, but also for life.”

The summer trips aren’t all fun and Olympic games. Six students lugged 21 donated suitcases of school and art supplies, CDs, balls, diapers, sheets and medical items to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, for an orphanage school.

In sweltering open-air classrooms, the students taught reading, writing, art and music and played games with the children. In the evenings at their hotel, the students crafted lesson plans.

“This experience completely opened my eyes and changed my perspective about teaching,” said Lindsey Hass, a preschool teacher who completed the early childhood special education credential program in May and is beginning her master’s in education-special education this summer. After just an hour in the school’s preschool classroom, Hass admitted she wasn’t as prepared to teach kids struggling with learning as she thought.

“The experience reminded us to continue to be open-minded and self-reflective. The kids at this orphanage are so bright and kind; they have so much potential, and all they need is someone who is on their side to support and guide them,” said Hass, who is now sponsoring a 4-year-old boy from the orphanage.

Want to go?

Studying abroad isn’t just a summer thing; the university boasts a dozen programs available during Winter Session, for example.

The Study Abroad office can answer questions about how to participate in programs overseas and how to finance it. Information sessions are held regularly on campus.

A Fall Study Abroad Fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 7 on the Central Quad.

Info: international.fullerton.edu/study-abroad

Over posole, ceviche and handfuls of tortilla chips, parents of Cal State Fullerton students chatted in Spanish with one another, too anxious to quite enjoy the moment.

The potluck dinner in May brought them together so Julián Jefferies, assistant professor of literacy and reading education, could allay their fears. Their children were about to embark on a 3,300-mile trip – for some the first time they had been out of California or on an airplane.

A few weeks later, those students were sitting, blindfolded, around a bonfire at 4:30 a.m. on a small island in Puerto Rico as the sun rose and a handful of wild horses walked toward them along the beach.

Their parents could hardly have imagined.

“I warned the parents and the students they were going to come back and they were going to change,” said Miguel Martinez, college career specialist for the College of Education, who accompanied the students, all the first in their families to attend college.

The 15 students returned home with new inspiration, motivation and career goals. Some want to change their career focus; others had a new interest in applying to graduate school. And with the exception of one visit to the hospital, all went smoothly.

The two-week trip by the Literacy Education for Social Change class has become an annual tradition for Jefferies, a strong believer in the power of experiential learning – getting out of the classroom to learn by doing. He took the class to Vieques, an impoverished, rural island where the U.S. Navy conducted bombing and other military exercises for 60 years.

The class members helped establish a community farm, cleaned archives, worked at a radio station and conducted surveys of island residents. Their experience also included professional and personal development, highlighted by a short lecture by Martinez calling the students fakes.

“That was one of the highlights of the trip, when Miguel called them fakes,” said Jefferies.

But that’s putting the cart before the wild horses.

Before the class set foot in Puerto Rico, the students had to learn to budget and to raise money – selling tacos at churches, setting up GoFundMe accounts – to supplement funding from the university’s Center for Internships and Community Engagement and the College of Education.

But an equally tough task was winning over the parents, who worry about a child, especially a daughter, traveling alone. In some cases, the student is a caregiver for siblings or works to help pay the rent or phone bill, making a two-week absence a hardship. Parents often have trouble understanding why their child needs to leave campus to learn. That’s why Jefferies and Martinez hold the potluck.

“For our culture, food is family,” Martinez said.

Geography major Kevin Goxcon brought his mother and sister to the potluck.

“I study the world but yet I haven’t actually explored,” he said. “I’m eager to actually feel the place.”

His mother, Ereida, said she was glad Kevin would acquire more knowledge so he can get ahead and had faith that everything would be all right.

Gerardo Marquez said he was glad his daughter, Otilia, was getting “out of her cubicle” to get to know the world, as it shrinks and integrates culturally.

“So I’m sort of pushing her,” he said.

For their part, the students were so busy on the trip they barely had time to miss their families, Jefferies said. Some worked on an organic farm – weeding, sowing and harvesting – as part of a nonprofit’s efforts to grow more produce on the island. The decades that the Navy used the island for military exercises left it with little indigenous agriculture; produce must be imported from China via Florida, taking so long that much of it ends up decaying, and expensive, by the time it reaches Vieques.

“A lot of our students are from low-income communities in Santa Ana, Anaheim or Fullerton,” Jefferies said. Issues of access to healthy food are not just found in Puerto Rico. Many minority communities in Orange County have fewer options to buy fresh fruit and must pay more for it than other communities, he pointed out.

Students especially responded to a panel of local women activists who protested against the Navy, and the contamination it left behind, or in favor of more health care on the island. Studies have shown rates of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease on Vieques sharply higher than elsewhere in Puerto Rico.

When one student experienced an allergic reaction and needed medical care, the only option on the 9,300-population island was a run-down clinic with one doctor and three nurses.

“I left the hospital worried for Viequenses,” said Estefania Gutierrez-Guerrero, a senior majoring in human services.

The class landed in Puerto Rico after two months of student protests at the University of Puerto Rico over proposed budget cuts. Three leaders of the student strike stayed with the CSUF group for two days.

“They were very impressed by the fact that students had basically closed the university for two months in protest,” Jefferies said.

Another timely event was the June 11 referendum on Puerto Rico’s statehood, which passed overwhelmingly.  The students collaborated with a UPR professor to conduct exit interviews with about 300 people early that morning.

The activities and speakers opened the students’ eyes to social justice work, Jefferies said.

“When I think about the work we do there, I don’t know that we’re changing that much,” he said. “The big change is the change in the students. I don’t pretend to go there and improve the vast inequalities that there are there. We can learn from what their struggle is and get motivated to work for social justice.”

Last year, one student realized that Vieques, with few jobs or opportunities and little to do but cruise up and down a one-block stretch, is similar to his hometown of Santa Ana, Martinez said. Surrounded by affluence, Santa Ana’s just a different kind of island.

“They see the Disneyland fireworks, but it’s another world.”

While working on the farm in Vieques, some students learned there is a community garden in Santa Ana, inspiring them to volunteer in their own communities.

Along with such discoveries came more personal ones, Jefferies said. He brings Martinez along on his trips to continue professional development lessons he incorporates into his CSUF classes.

“We’re working on them as professionals, but a lot of it is personal,” Jefferies said. “They don’t believe in themselves, don’t think they can do it or have some kind of limitation.” He says a lot of the young women aren’t used to speaking up in class, even though their writing shows they have a lot to say. Some students hide their knowledge at the dinner table because they don’t want to be accused of being a know-it-all among less-educated family members.

To address that, Martinez woke up the students at 4:30 a.m. one day and took them to the beach, where Jefferies had started a bonfire. Martinez asked them to write down on a cloth strip three obstacles holding them back. They put the cloth around their shoulders to feel the burden of that limitation, then blindfolded themselves with it to symbolize how it blinds them. Then they threw the cloths into the fire.

Then, as the sun came up, a family of horses came walking up the beach.

“They asked, ‘Did you do this?’” said Martinez. “I so wanted to say yes. It was just magic.”

While that morning was cathartic for many of the students, it was another session with Martinez that provided the jolt many needed to commit to real change. After the UPR students spoke about their protest, showing how much they are invested in their college, Martinez challenged the CSUF students to really commit to being a college student, saying they were just pretending.

“It’s almost like it’s become college is their hobby. It’s not who they are,” Martinez said. They wear a Cal State Fullerton T-shirt, but it’s like a costume. As CSUF has grown as a commuter school, a lot of students don’t stick around after class, apply for jobs on campus or go to baseball games, he said. Instead they have a part-time job and do their classwork at home.

“They’ll go to parties and say, ‘Look, I’m at Fullerton. I’m at university.’ It gives them a ranking in their communities, in their barrios, with their friends,” he said. “What are you really doing with this experience? A lot of them hadn’t been doing what they should.”

Some put off getting involved, saying, “Let me get my degree first and then I’ll be active and contribute.”

He called them fakes.

“I hope I didn’t go overboard,” said Martinez, who added that he wants them to see they are leaders in their community.

“I like Miguel because he’s not as polite as I am,” Jefferies said. “He told them what they needed to hear.” The reflections the students wrote after they returned (see accompanying story) bear out Jefferies’ hunch. He said many included statements along the lines of: “I was called a fake. Miguel was right.”

As the students were called out for their level of commitment, they also received a dose of ethnic pride as they spent most of the trip conversing only in Spanish and living and working among the Puerto Rican people.

“Our students have one foot in two worlds,” Jefferies said. “They grew up in the United States, but they are also Latin American, Mexican. Salvadoran. Going to Puerto Rico helps them to be proud of being Latin Americans. They don’t get that many messages that speaking Spanish and being Mexican is a good thing – from media or school,” something Martinez calls “immigrant stress.”

“I think that’s what I’m most proud of,” Jefferies added. “We need more bilingual, bicultural, global-minded people.”

In the students’ own words

Excerpts from reflections the students wrote upon return and from interviews:

Kevin Goxcon: This place was magical. The part of the fort we used as a classroom had the most amazing view. The air that reached the top of this hill was unique to anything I have ever felt. Unlike the winds back home that quickly caress and leave, these winds were strong and lingered as they embraced me in their strong arms. They welcomed me to their island. They brought with them the smell of salts from the sea, the moisture from the land, the sounds of faraway dogs and roosters. …

I have this newfound motivation to better myself in order to help others that are facing the same challenges as me. There might be a high school student right now who thinks they cannot afford to go to college or they don’t have what it takes. Perhaps there is a community college student somewhere right now wondering if transferring to a four-year institution is something they can achieve. There might be several students receiving their bachelor’s degree who are not pursuing graduate school due to lack of information or support. I was once in all of those situations. I need to be ready for when I meet these students in the future.

Otilia Marquez: One thing I quickly learned about Vieques, Puerto Rico, is that they are a collectivistic culture! Unselfish and willing to help the community, unite as one, and stand up for what they believe in! They don’t have much to offer to anyone, neither to themselves, materialistic-wise, however, they have it all if they stick together! The island has suffered enough, both individually and as a whole, yet they love freely, speak freely, and always find a way to make a difference.

Estefania Gutierrez-Guerrero: One of the most memorable experiences of the trip was hearing the women of Vieques speak about their contributions to their island. … I had always been too scared to stand up and fight for what I think was right. … After hearing the panelists speak about their battles, I realized that activism is what I want to devote my life to. …

A woman who helped me understand the importance of women empowerment was Nilda. … She was part of the protests to remove the Navy, and she continues to fight for Vieques. Something she said that made an impact on me was that protesting can be done through different ways. For example, every morning she would put on a shirt of a certain color and then walk around the plaza. This act of protest is still powerful and meaningful even if it is not with a big group of people. What I understood by that is that you must stand up by yourself, and the right people will join you.

Jason Miramontes: To call myself a student after meeting the students of Vieques would be a lie. … Seeing to what lengths the students were willing to go to just be heard was awe inspiring. Also all the difficulty they had to overcome, the fear that they have during protesting for themselves and their families was impactful. They would tell us how there were government types standing around with cameras ready to take pictures of people to keep an eye on them and make a folder on them. … Seeing what a formidable force people my age in similar circumstances can be was really motivational. I see them and I think to myself “I can do that.” …

My culture isn’t bad! I always thought it was lesser than American, always scared to accept it as part of me but now I can say I am a PROUD CHICANO. I have a better picture of who I am and how I operate and can use that to push myself more. My identity is starting to cement and I can say I am proud of who I am now, knowing I can help make a difference in other people’s lives. I love my culture now and I am actively studying it, I want to know everything, especially the history and dancing … still don’t like a lot of the music though.

Cesar Lopez: Those feelings, those emotions that I had were pretty much based on my rough past. From age 13 until 16, I used to be gang-affiliated. It’s true what classmates, professors told me. You can’t let your past define you now because you are a completely different person. …  From now on I’m going to try to identify myself as who I am right now and on the hard work and what I’ve accomplished. …

Originally I wanted to be a social worker and pursue my master’s in education. But then Miguel said, “I picture you teaching junior high in Santa Ana.” Everyone else said they could picture that: “You’re a big dude, sometimes intimidating. But inside you’re like a teddy bear.” There are not that many male, of color, teachers. Maybe I should start teaching.

Mayra Mendoza: There’s a solidarity that the Vieques people have. It doesn’t matter if you are from Vieques. As long as you want to help the community, they’re willing to help you help them.

Anthony Flores: I learned so much from everyone out there. I would share something on Facebook. I wanted things to be known. Now, I don’t just want to sit back and share it on the internet. Now I want to know what can I do to help.

Vanessa Beltran: I would like to bring my experiences and what I learned over there and be able to teach them to my family and friends and my community here, to stand up for what we want.

Maricela Gonzalez: I was interested to see a body of students actually take action, go to this assembly, voice their opinions and their rhetoric. I haven’t dealt with situations of that magnitude. It’s their way of voicing out their way of what they want for their university. It was really good to see.

What’s next?

To tap the desire for change that the trip often elicits, CSUF career specialist Miguel Martinez conducts career exploration workshops with the students. He has them write a statement of purpose  to start reflecting not just on what they’re doing but on what they’re not doing, and administers a RIASEC test, which matches six personality types (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional) to occupations, then helps them interpret the results.

Some students were disappointed, said Julián Jefferies, assistant professor of literacy and reading education. They had trouble imagining themselves in the careers the test guided them toward. But it turns out they didn’t know much about many of those careers, he said.

For example, one student who is good with money was annoyed when she was matched with financial jobs. She said she didn’t want to work in a bank; she wanted to help people. But when she was told she could conduct financial literacy workshops for people who get into debt and don’t know why, something clicked. Since she returned home, she got her resume together to apply for those kind of jobs.

“Her parents aren’t professionals,” Jefferies said. “Where is she going to hear: ‘You could be a loan officer’”?

Many students on the trip typically start thinking about graduate school for the first time, something they then have to explain to parents who thought it was enough to put their child through college.

“It changes you,” Martinez said. “For some of them, you have to start all over. There’s a certain amount of confidence when you think you know what you want vs. when you really know but have to start over.”

Jefferies expects many students will seek out the Career Center now that they’ve made that connection with Martinez. They came back hungry, wanting to develop an action plan for grad school, Martinez said.

Jefferies also hopes students will stay connected with the CSUF faculty and staff on the trip – who shared their stories of the struggles that brought them to where they are today – and seek out office hours and group events. Some have become his research assistants.

“They know they can get a letter of recommendation from me,” he said. “I told them: ‘I was there with you for two weeks, so I know you’re not crazy. I know you very well. When mosquitoes are biting you when it’s hot, you do hard work. I can give a good recommendation.’”

OCVarsity’s list of the top committed Orange County football recruits for the Class of 2018:

Updated July 29, 2017

O.C. COMMITTED FOOTBALL RECRUITS
Name, School, Position, Ht., Wt., College
(Listed alphabetically)
• Chigozie Anusiem, Sonora, DB, 6-2, 170, Cal
• Tommy Brown, Mater Dei, OL, 6-7, 321, Alabama
• Ryan Cragun, St. Margaret’s, WR, 6-1, 185, Penn
• Olaijah Griffin, Mission Viejo, WR/DB, 6-0, 170, UCLA
• Issaiah Johnson, Los Alamitos, LB, 6-3, 215, Arizona
• Christian LaValle, Mission Viejo, LB, 6-1, 225, Arizona St.
• Malone Mataele, Santa Margarita, ATH, 6-0, 180, Utah
• John McCartan, Santa Margarita, TE, 6-5, 215, Fresno St.
• Clyde Moore, Corona del Mar, LB, 6-2, 225, Colorado
• Griffin O’Connor, Edison, QB, 6-3, 200, UNLV
• Austin Osborne, Mission Viejo, WR, 6-3, 185, Washington
• CJ Parks, Mater Dei, WR, 5-11, 185, UCLA
• Nikko Remigio, Mater Dei, WR, 5-11, 170, Cal
• Matt Robinson, JSerra, QB, 6-1, 180, Montana
• Brandon Won, Sunny Hills, LB, 6-2, 210, Harvard

Position Breakdown
LB: 4
WR: 4
QB: 2
DB: 2
TE: 1
OL: 1
ATH: 1

Conference Breakdown
Pac-12: 3
SEC: 1
Ivy: 2
Mountain West: 2
Big Sky: 1

Please send recruiting updates to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or on Twitter at dalbano@scng.com

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OCVarsity Football 2017: Team pages, schedules, rosters and stats