As of April 2024, Bobby Sanchez, beloved Mt. SAC Early College Academy (MECA) media center clerk, has moved between rooms to engage in the rotation of his media center management. Here at MECA, Sanchez commonly engages with the students for any assistance that they may need regarding technology such as loaner laptops, chargers and even camera equipment of any kind! Recently, Sanchez has been rotating between two very important rooms at MECA: the Mini Media Center (aka Room 10) and the MPR; two commonly used facilities loved by students and staff members. Moving has reportedly been an unusual change, but it allows him to work in two environments rather than just one, which can be beneficial at times to him and students because of the various locations where he can assist in his profession of tech support.  

Bobby discussed topics surrounding his migration between media centers, capturing his input as well as some insight to better understand how much he does for MECA students. Sanchez is an important figure who contributes to MECA in all things computers; that laptop that this document is on, Sanchez; the charger used to charge that laptop, Sanchez; if a computer doesn’t work, Sanchez; having trouble with the internet connection, Sanchez. Without Sanchez, student access to any tech would be so much more difficult to get a grasp on because they’d lack his professional insight to any issues they are dealing with.

As Sanchez explains, the reason for the switch “was because in room 1, I’m standing and sitting remotely, so the idea was the wellness center needed more space. I needed more space, so this was the space we could use for the Media Center and it would open it up for you guys to use.” Bobby moved into the MPR to handle all of his tech in a large, open space. “It was kinda one of those where we were trying to do all that in one room.” Bobby also shows his care for our MECA students by stating he’d considered moving out of the old Media Center to have more space for students to mingle and just hang out in a quiet, chill environment.

Beloved by many students, the old Media Center was an area for students to chill, to hang out, and overall enjoy some games from time to time. Sanchez does miss the old Media Center, saying,“ this room echoes really weird and so it’s harder to be what it used to have in room 1 because everyone’s gonna be very aware of how loud they’re being, and it’s different.” Sanchez seems to miss a few things about the old room, varying from the way it echoes to the services it provided in the previous layout as it’s no longer that quiet area it once was. “The quiet kids don’t have their quiet spaces; I’d like to fix that but I want to be where you guys need me the most, so I felt like this, if we could fix it, would be a better spot.”

But ultimately he doesn’t mind the change as much because he always wants to support the MECA family. 

With Sanchez’s stamp of approval on this new room, students and staff are starting to get accustomed to the new environment, though there is some uncertainty to how long this configuration will last. Bobby hopes that “eventually we’ll have enough money to either build a new library or make a change but this should just be temporary until we find a better one.”

Seeing how much work Sanchez does just for students at MECA is really amazing; he wants to give MECA the best services for its students and is willing to make whatever changes necessary to be of help to everyone. “I’d just like to give you guys some place to study if you need to, gather when you want to and unwind as well because a lot of you guys overdo it on activities and stuff so the little 30 mins or hour of a free period is the only downtime you have.”

Sanchez is a phenomenal Media Center clerk, so with this new Media Center here temporarily, MECA may inquire how long it’s here to stay. Sanchez has just switched from the old media center to a new one, and with this change we wish to know how long MECA students are gonna be residing in this new safe-space. Sanchez knows that the media center is “Constantly changing—it’s definitely one of those things changing every year until we adjust,” to figure out what works and what doesn’t. 

He wants to continue to make the space work for students, and he even dreams of bettering it even more. “What I’m going for you guys and for MECA students is more of a student union, a place where you can gather, work together.”

Sanchez’s great migration will be remembered by all of the students who experienced the environment in Room 1, which MECA students may return to someday; who knows? At this point, it’s safe to assume that the media center can become any room at MECA depending on if MECA students find certain environments more useful to others. What matters most is that MECA has Sanchez to help us solve any issues they have regarding laptops and school resources.