“It’s been a long five years,” Associated Students of Central Washington University (ASCWU) President Hondo Acosta-Vega said reflecting on his time as president. “All I can say is just, thank you for putting your trust in me, and for your support, and I hope that moving forward, I can keep making everybody proud.”
Acosta-Vega has been a CWU student for five years, a journey he said he could never have dreamed of. “I didn’t ever think I would ever come to college, and it took some people pushing me to get me to come to college,” Acosta-Vega said.
“I graduated high school with a very low 1.7 GPA, and I didn’t think I had it cut out to be a college graduate. So knowing that I get to walk into commencement here in just two weeks is just a very surreal experience that I’m just really excited to get a chance to actually experience,” Acosta-Vega continued.
Now, as the latest generation of Wildcats prepares to graduate, so does Acosta-Vega, whose year-long role as ASCWU President will soon be taken over by Jada Aurellia Chaplin. In the closing days of his term, Acosta-Vega sat down with The Observer to talk through the legacy he has worked hard to leave behind.
THE WINS
Acosta-Vega, who is an Instructional Foundations major, double-minoring in Creative Writing and Comparative Religions, spoke about the number of projects he has taken
pride in during his time at CWU, starting during his time working with the College of Education and Professional Studies and finishing with his time as ASCWU President.
“For me, one of the biggest [wins] that I can think about is when I was the Senator for the College of Education and Professional Studies, when they were starting the reconstruction conversations for Black Hall for the Multi-Cultural Center (MCC),” Acosta-Vega said. “There weren’t a lot of conversations that were being done with my department about what was going to become of the education space that was in that space.”
So Acosta-Vega worked hard, he stated, to make sure that the educational space would be able to be moved, and after a period of backand-forth, it was. “They were able to ensure that we would get a new education space in Black Hall, which is now right across from the MCC in a really, really nice multi-room space, and so that was definitely one of the biggest successes,” Acosta-Vega continued.
Following his time as Senator for the College of Education and Professional Studies, Acosta-Vega went on to become ASCWU Senate Speaker. According to Acosta-Vega, the biggest success that he landed during his time as Speaker came to fruition during the Services and Activities Committee (S&A) funding situation last Spring, wherein proposed S&A bud gets defunded multiple aspects of student life, including Student Media.
“The number one [win] was when we were able to work with The Observer and our stu dents in our campus after the S&A delibera tion last year,” Acosta-Vega said. “Working with my team, working with the Senate and advocating to the Trustees that there were
mistakes that were made, and the importance of our student media and our other groups on campus.”
“Even though it was a little bit of a struggle, we were able to advocate to give ourselves another chance for this year for the new S&A deliberations, and it looked great,” Acosta-Vega continued. “I call that a really big victory, knowing that Student Media stands strong, and I got to support all of you in that endeavor, alongside the Senators.”
Acosta-Vega moved on from his time as Senate Speaker to win the general election for ASCWU President, a role he’s held throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. “In the Presidency, man, there’s a lot,” Acosta-Vega said. “We focused this year on just rebuilding Student Government, being more active, and then focusing on the recruitment of first years and second years, and so it’s going to be really exciting to see what becomes of Student Government next year, knowing that a lot of the students that we were able to recruit this year are going to keep going, which is what we wanted to do, so it was really exciting to see.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Brandon Mattesich
LETTERS from our GRADUATES
I first joined The Observer back in 2024, during my first year at CWU, to have something good to put on my resume. What I got was the most fun, supportive, indispensable friend group I could have hoped for. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t even have friends if it weren’t for The Observer. I would have gone through college alone, and right now I would be alone in my apartment procrastinating on my finals instead of laughing and joking with all of you in here. I would still be the weird quiet kid in the back of the classroom that I was in high school, wondering why I can’t connect with anyone. But because of you all, I was able to come out of my shell, even if just a little bit for a little while. I will always cherish that.
From organizing protests, to late night snack runs, to getting drinks at Shooters, I have made memories in this little rodeo town that I will keep with me forever, and it’s all thanks to The Observer. I got all of that, AND something good to put on my resume. So I guess I did pretty well after all.
Thank you, Observer. I will never forget you.
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ASCWU PRESIDENT HONDO ACOSTA-VEGA REFLECTS ON THE WINS, CHALLENGES AND COMMUNITY HE FOUND
THE CHALLENGES WHAT COMES NEXT
During the fall quarter, ASCWU faced sexual assault allegations against one of its student leaders. Acosta-Vega led ASCWU through the situation that followed, which involved the removal of the student and the reappointment of the position.
“That was a challenge that none of us could have truthfully foreseen, and my biggest goal in that situation was to just be authentic and make sure that it was very clear where we stood, where our values were,” Acosta-Vega said. “That behavior is not acceptable, and as you know, we were able to overcome that. A lot of the feedback I had received from the statements I had released was very positive and [that it was] very authentic. People didn’t feel like it was written falsely or it was hiding it or not addressing it, so that was definitely a challenge we faced.”
Other hurdles have also arisen during Acosta-Vega’s term as President, many of which have stemmed from budget challenges at the university, he said.
“We see how it’s [budgets are] affecting everybody, and we’re trying to advocate,” Acosta-Vega said. “I know next year the board, they are gonna keep doing the same, just trying to make sure we prioritize our students in our student life and experience here on campus.”
These budget challenges are not exclusive to CWU, Acosta-Vega said, and his communications with student presidents at other universities have brought to light similar challenges. “I’ve worked with students from across Washington State. I’ve seen how the budgets and other institutions have also been affected as well, and so it’s a challenge also working with other institutions to [say] how do we navigate those together as a group,” Acosta-Vega said.
Outside of monetary challenges, this year is also a transition year for ASCWU, with six of the Board of Directors leaving. “That hasn’t happened since 2022, when that last major transition year occurred,” Acosta-Vega continued. “That’s definitely been a challenge of how do we, as some people would say, separate the information from the person. Just making sure the next board feels, and the student government as a whole, feels confident in their roles?”
With his time as President coming to an end, Acosta-Vega took a moment to reflect on everyone who’s supported his career so far. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this role without their support,” Acosta-Vega said. “I was a little scared, because during the election last year, I kept thinking, ‘Am I doing enough? Have I done enough?’ And all I kept thinking to myself was, ‘no, I have to trust the student body,’ because I can show them what I’m capable of and what I have done, [and] the decision is ultimately theirs.”
“When the election results dropped, I screamed and I cried, because I felt like I had finally found a place where I felt like I was accepted,” Acosta-Vega continued. “It was a really big boost of confidence, but for everybody who supported me, who’s trusted me, and was there for me when I needed it, I couldn’t have done this role without them.”
Acosta-Vega also thanked a couple of individuals who were important for his success, stating, “My sister Dusty, she got me here, she pushed me, she was the one who kept telling me to go,” Acosta-Vega said. “My sister Renee was also one of the biggest inspirations to get me here, and so for everybody who stood with me through all these times, years later, through thick and thin, I couldn’t have done this without them.”
While Acosta-Vega’s time as a Wildcat is coming to a close, his pursuit of higher education is still ongoing. “I just applied for Western’s master’s program in higher ed, so I want to keep working in higher ed,” Acosta-Vega said. “I’m hoping to get hired here, so I can keep working somewhere here on the campus and give back to the community once again. And if not, we’ll just see where I end up … I’ll still be in Ellensburg, sticking around, and so you’ll always see me pop in when I can, because I know people that will come looking for me if I don’t.”
Acosta-Vega shared his advice for his successor, Aurellia Chaplin, and the rest of ASCWU, stating that trusting themselves will be key to success.
“This is not just for Jada, but just for the campus as well: every president is different,” Acosta-Vega said. “I will never be Malik … Malik’s style and approach to things is very different than mine.”
“I want people to remember that Jada is coming into this role with her own way of wanting to be the President–she wants to lead student government and work with the student body,” Acosta-Vega continued. “I want her to remain her authentic self and just remember to be open-minded with everybody and to new ideas.”
But Acosta-Vega’s advice wasn’t limited to Aurellia Chaplin–he also shared his guidance for the university at large.
“I’ve been on so many sides of this university,” Acosta-Vega said. “I really hope we keep going on this path to focusing on that student retention. And that’s a challenge with the budgets right now.”
“It feels like constantly the campus is under construction and it feels like more and more areas get closed off,” Acosta-Vega continued. “It becomes harder for students, and so I really hope that lessons over the next few years, and I really hope we try to focus more on the student experience, where we don’t have situations where … student groups [are] having to fight it out for funding in S&A, or clubs are running out of funding in winter quarter.”
“I really hope we remember to prioritize our student experiences first, because without the student body, Central just would not exist,” AcostaVega said.
Photo
ALLERGIES IN ELLENSBURG
IN ON CAUSES are worse this spring compared to past years
CWU
FACULTY
WEIGH
Meisner Dunlap Copy Editor
An increasing number of Ellensburg residents have had much worse allergies so far this spring compared to recent years, according to Ryan Galindo, a senior lecturer in the Health Sciences Department.
One community member who has lately experienced allergies was Krislon Rhynes, an office assistant for the English Department.
“Because I’ve only developed allergies within the last five years, I feel like I’m learning about it all at once in my late 20s, whereas a lot of people who have allergies have them from birth,” Rhynes said.
Among CWU faculty and staff, different ideas have come up as to the main causes of these increasing allergies. Rhynes, along with Biology Professor Holly Pinkart and Geography Associate Professor Jennifer Lipton, posited that climate change could be the main factor contributing to the rise in allergies.
“I do believe that the biggest cause is global warming associated with increase in pollen concentration and increased length of pollen season, in general, mostly due to air pollution and greenhouse gasses,” Rhynes said in an email to The Observer. “Having just developed allergies in the last few years, I have been pondering the wide possibilities of reasons for it for a long time.”
Pinkart stated that among the pollen concentrations in the air are yellow flakes coming primarily from the pine trees, cedars and junipers that live in Ellensburg. She further discussed how the weather has been different so far in 2026 compared to
previous years, as these changes relate to allergies.
“We’ve had a very different winter season, so it wasn’t as cold and we did have a lot of water, so everybody that needs water to grow is very happy right now,” Pinkart said. “We get a lot of plants that are normally starting to grow and produce pollen later are producing that a little bit earlier.”
“A fair number of plants … are producing more pollen because there was more water and less freezing,” Pinkart continued. “We’ve had a fair amount of wind this spring, so all the pollen that is being produced is being picked up and blown around.”
To measure the rain count, Lipton turned to an online organization called the Phenology Network, which she said is “monitoring research focused on collecting, organizing and delivering phenological data, information and forecasts to support natural resource management and decision making to look at what is called nature’s calendar.”
Phenology Network tracked the status of spring this year by examining lilacs, which are found across the United States. On the Phenology Network website, people could log their observations of how the lifespan and life cycle of lilacs near them have changed over the years.
Despite the increase of rain this particular winter season, Ellensburg and the surrounding area are still facing the effects of a four year long drought, something that Lipton said is contributing to the allergies.
“We have had drier conditions,” Lipton said. “We’re in a drought right now, so the fourth year of a drought.
Without the rain, you have more of that pollen in the air, more of it blowing around and it is settling. The rain will capture it and put it into the soil and ground and carry it away and retain it.”
However, Galindo suggested that climate change has not been the direct cause of the increase in allergies this year. He stated that changes in behavior and lifestyle could be the primary factors contributing to a greater frequency of congestion and other allergic reactions and respiratory symptoms among CWU students.
“People oftentimes don’t have the best diets. We don’t have the best exercise routines. We don’t have the best sleep habits,” Galindo said. “We work and operate in very stressful environments and so our stress levels are constantly out of whack. All of these factors can lead to what we call low-grade inflammation all the time.”
Recently, Galindo has heard many people use the word “inflammation” to refer to chronic bits of swelling inside the body caused by an immune response.
“When people are having these lowgrade inflammations that are brought on from chronic stress, no sleep, poor diet, poor activity, you can think of all of that as your immune system being agitated,” Galindo said. “Your immune system’s upset. It’s angry.”
Galindo hinted at a longer pollen window as a factor contributing to allergies. Still, he stated that this alone does not provide a strong enough correlation between climate change and allergies to prove causation.
“If I have an angry immune system that’s agitated from all of these
lifestyle factors of mine and then you take this agitated immune system and you introduce it to pollen longer, you’re increasing the odds of people developing allergies,” Galindo said.
“It’s not climate by itself, but … it plays a factor by widening that window that you can be exposed or you can develop those allergies.”
Health Sciences Associate Professor Ana Freire briefly explained how pollen enters the body and irritates it.
“What happens during spring seasons in general is that the spread of pollen from flowers, plants, increases over spring,” Freire said. “That tends to transfer to the respiratory system and the respiratory system treats that pollen as a pathogenic particle.”
“It creates an inflammatory response on the respiratory system and that’s what usually leads to wheezing, sneezing, coughing and those common respiratory symptoms that we have,” Freire continued. “It’s an allergic process that goes through … responding to that pollenization and that increase in our exposure to it.”
To adapt to the increasing amount of pollen in Ellensburg, Lipton advised community members to purchase air filters. She stated that those filters “will help trap some of the larger particulate matter of pollen.”
Lipton specifically suggested “having an air filter that is able to capture that, especially at night, where you’re going to be inhaling and breathing more often and having it closer to where people sleep–that might help them with allergies. So, air filtration is probably one of the better ways that can be done.”
Farm fields of grass and weeds. (Photos courtesy Unsplash)
MEET SEA LEMON Dreampop performed at CWU
Sea Lemon, a dream pop songwriter from Seattle, visited CWU to perform for SWEECY day on May 21. Performing to over 300 attendees, the lead singer, Natalie Lew, took center stage in front of Samuelson Hall leading to cheers that could be heard across campus.
Inspired by artists such as Enya, Caroline Palochek and Hatchie, Sea Lemon said she aimed for ethereal sounds using synthesizers, low bass and slow tempo.
Before performing, the artist met with students in Samuelson Hall, answering questions and taking photos. Lew, along with three other musicians, including her husband, gave insight into their musical process and background.
“I started playing guitar five years ago. I
used to live in New York and was in a grunge band there–it was my first band ever. I didn’t think grunge was for me, and then I heard this artist, Hatchie, who I love. Once I heard her, I wanted to play something more akin to her,” Lew said. “I showed my band at the time, and they said no. Once the pandemic happened, I moved back to Seattle and decided that I just want to pursue what I want to pursue.”
During Sea Lemon’s performance, the band played her cover of the song “Slow Burn” by Kacey Musgraves.
“The original is kind of a country pop, but the cover that we play is kind of like slow pulp or more grunge-inspired–it’s really fun to play live. Then I went into the studio, and it was time to translate that cover into a studio version. It wasn’t feeling as freaky as I wanted
it to be. I wanted it to be weirder. The studio version is definitely one of the weirder songs that I’ve put out, but the version that we do live has more of a shoegaze feel,” Lew said.
Since her debut in 2020, Sea Lemon has been climbing up the industry, first starting as a songwriter, then officially releasing her song “Close Up” in 2022. She went on stage for her first live performance under the title Sea Lemon in March of 2023.
“It’s really fun to think about how you take a song into a live environment, and it’s okay if it feels completely different. When listening to songs on Spotify or Bandcamp can feel like a different listening experience compared to seeing something or someone live,” Lew said.
Sea Lemon’s top song is titled “Eraser,” amassing over 6.2 million plays on Spotify.
Noah Lovell Staff Reporter
TThe 2026 NBA Finals: Knicks vs Spurs
he Eastern Conference Champions, the New York Knicks, are appearing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals for the first time since 1999, looking to win their third championship since 1973. The Knicks are led by three-time NBA all-star Point Guard Jalen Brunson and Center Mitchell Robinson with Head Coach Mike Brown.
New York rated fourth in offense and seventh in defense during the regular season, but flicked a switch once the playoffs began and is now rated number one in both offensive rating and defensive rating.
While the Summer Solstice is around the corner, the NBA finishes off the season with the NBA Finals, kicking off on Wednesday, June 3.
The Knicks completed the regular season with a 52-29 record, began the first round of the postseason against the Atlanta Hawks,
beating them in six games, then swept the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers back-to-back in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and Finals, punching their ticket on Monday, May 25.
However, the Knicks are facing the champions of the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, May 30, at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City for the right to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.
Junior Mechanical Engineering major Alfonso Covarrubias is rallying behind San Antonio in the NBA finals, giving a shoutout to the Spurs Victor Wemanyama, highlighting, “Shooting, blocking, running across, he’s the difference maker, the big man, 7-foot-4.”
Covarrubias, stoked about the upcoming finals, said, “I haven’t felt this much hype before, because we just have superstar teams
just going at it and I feel like this could go to six games.”
The San Antonio Spurs are advancing to the NBA finals for the first time since 2014, when they won their fifth title in franchise history. The current finals will officially be a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals against the Knicks.
The Spurs finished the regular season with a 62-20 record, starting the postseason against the Portland Trailblazers, beating them in five games, the Minnesota Timberwolves in six games and taking out the Thunder in seven games. Led by Power Forward Victor Wembanyama, Point Guard Stephon Castle and Head Coach Mitch Johnson, San Antonio is rated third in offensive ranking and second in defensive ranking.
The NBA Finals mark the beginning of the end for the season, with two teams at the doorstep of the ultimate goal. But only one can be crowned the champion of basketball.
Ethan Kennedy Scene Editor
Sea Lemon “Diving for a Prize” promotional photoshoot. (Album photos courtesy of Sea Lemon)
New York Knicks vs. San Antonio Spurs.
(Promotional photos courtesy of ESPN)
STUDENT FILMMAKERS, REPORTERS, TAKE HOME THREE REGIONAL EMMY AWARDS
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) hosted its 63rd annual Northwest regional Emmy Awards this past weekend, and among the many winners of the student awards were a group of CWU students who had their hands in both film production and PULSE magazine, a quarterly student life magazine published at the university.
Collectively, Tyler Diltz, Keaton Weyers, Emmett Giaccio and Grace Thompson took home three Emmy awards at the event, two for CWU Student Film projects, “Bringing Fish Back — MCF's Story” and “Bedford's Blind Date,” and one for a PULSE magazine multimedia story, “Boots & Boogie.”
“Bedford's Blind Date” was also nominated at the event for the Promotional Video category, landing Tyler Diltz, Keaton Weyers, Gurdil Dardi, Emmett Giaccio, Javier Angulo, Madisyn Joyner and Frank Purpura an additional nomination on top of the other awards.
Diltz, a fourth-year Film major, talked about what the awards and nominations have meant to him. “Being recognized means a lot to me,” Diltz said. “It was one of my goals when entering college, but that isn't the only reason. I have made some amazing friendships with my peers, who also turned out to be some of the best collaborators I could ever ask for. In all of these projects that were nominated, my friends made the experiences phenomenal.”
“It was a great deal of fun and to be able to share that recognition with the people that I truly believe deserve it,” Diltz continued. “It just feels so rewarding.” Weyers, a transfer student and Film major, shared his feelings of pressure as a creative to put out his best work, even when he knows it’s turned out well. These awards, Weyers said, have meant a lot to recognize that effort.
“As a creative person, even if I am super proud of a piece of work or think it's some of my best work. It still feels daunting to put it out to the world because I don't know how it will be received by others,” Weyers said. “So getting an award and recognition on this scale is definitely a huge confidence booster and helps validate the thought that I can produce good quality work.”
Weyers credited his time at PULSE magazine toward most of the learning that led to the awards, stating, “My time at PULSE helped improve my ability to collaborate and work in different mediums and media types. It also provided deadlines for work on stories that I wasn't necessarily coming up with on my own, and those deadlines and scheduled releases helped me get used to putting out my work into the world and community more comfortably.”
“Bringing Fish Back — MCF's Story,” took home the award for Non-fiction, Short Form, while “Bedford's Blind Date” won the Photographer Craft Award. Both productions were created within the CWU Film program’s Production IV Corporate Media course.
“Boots & Boogie,” which was written and recorded for PULSE magazine, took home the award for Arts/Entertainment/Cultural Affairs.
Grace Thompson, who reported the story for “Boots & Boogie,” said that the recognition is “incredibly meaningful,” stating, “It's rewarding to know that a story you poured so much time, effort and passion into resonated with judges on a national level.”
“More than anything, it validates the importance of community-centered storytelling and reminds me why I got into journalism in the first place, to tell stories that matter and connect people through shared experiences,” Thompson continued. “Attending the awards ceremony and representing PULSE on that stage was an experience I'll never forget.”
“Being recognized means a lot to me... I have made some amazing friendships with my peers, who also turned out to be some of the best collaborators I could ever ask for. In all of these projects that were nominated, my friends made the experiences phenomenal.”
-Tyler Diltz, fourth-year film major
Brandon Mattesich Editor-In-Chief
Left to Right: Gurdil Dardi, Madisyn Joyner, Keaton Weyers, Frank Purpura, Tyler Diltz, Emmett Giaccio and Javier Angulo.(Photo courtesy of Rebecca Hernandez)
CWU BECOMES COLLEGIATE LEADER IN SUSTAINABILITY
WINS AT WSRA CONFERENCE, TALKS FUTURE OF CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY
Gabriel Genzel Staff Reporter
CWU Sustainability secured a $10,000 grant for their department at the Washington State Recycling Conference (WSRC) held in early May. The conference brought together industry leaders across the state to discuss the future of sustainable waste management in Washington.
CWU was an outlier from the other 15 presenters invited to the event, being the first college to attend as a presenter, represented by Sustainability Coordinator Jordan Spradlin. Student Sustainability Ambassadors Brooke Cruz and Hannah Campbell also attended on a student scholarship they won earlier this year. While the event has hosted students, it has never hosted college departments prior.
“We're heading in a direction that not only will make the campus more sustainable and allow us to thrive for years to come, but to be that leader in sustainability, and to be known as a sustainability campus,” Spradlin said.
In early October 2025, CWU Sustainability submitted an application for NextCycle, a collaborator of the WSRC conference, with the focus on the Wildcat Compost Collective. NextCycle is funded by the Washington State Ecology Department and focuses on initiating a circular approach to waste management across Washington, including funding grants.
In January, CWU Sustainability Director Jeff Bousson, along with Spradlin and the Wildcat Farm Interim Manager Nora Jacobs, attended the Circular Accelerator Academy, hosted at the Washington Department of Ecology headquarters in Lacey. They spent three days in workshops with 15 other teams from across the state to bring their Wildcat Compost Collective proposal to life.
“We were just kind of in an odd one out a little bit,” Spradlin said. “Just coming at it from a different perspective, we're not necessarily looking for customers, we're not looking to make a profit, we're looking to do this purely for the circular aspects of it.”
When they brought the grant presentation to WSRA in May, they won. “It still to this day kind of feels surreal, just because we were the only university involved in this,” Spradlin continued. “We're looking to bring a commercial-sized composter to the Wildcat Farm, and kind of create that circular approach to dining, just more food grown at the farm with better quality soil from the compost means more fresh food for you guys in dining.”
The composting unit from Green Mountain Technology, projected to hit campus before 2028, would revolutionize the food cycle at CWU. The $10,000 grant put the first dent in the unit's $500,000 price tag, and next year's grant cycle is expected to be a great help in funding the initiative.
The WSRA conference is only the most recent example of CWU Sustainability’s ongoing efforts. The Student Green Fund, run through the Sustainability Department, has been scoring small wins through funding student projects rooted in sustainability. One yield of the Fund was the implementation of three Student Sustainability Ambassadors, two of whom attended WSRA.
Campbell hired student ambassadors for her Sustainability Club, which she initially conceived as a class project. “I talked to some other universities about how their sustainability programs operate … and then I implemented it,” Campbell said. “Fall of 2024 is when that started, and now it's been two years since that has started,
and I've been employed in this role for two years.”
Cruz, who represents the multidisciplinary aspect of sustainability, held an AI Efficacy workshop this past quarter and aims to reduce E-waste on campus, combining her two main passions into positive sustainability initiatives.
“I'm going to be a security technician out of school, I'm going to be working for a company … and they handle a lot of different company IT consulting issues,” Cruz said. “Policy is something that I'm very well versed in when it comes to that, and security planning, and data governance … that's all really important to me, being able to have control over your own information and data.”
One project the Department has been trying to initiate since 2020 is a Reusable Container Program through Dining. The program would offer reusable containers to students from oncampus food locations. Two avenues are being explored–stainless and plastic.
“We are the largest generator of waste in the entire county, fun fact,” Campbell said. “We have all of these students who are just ordering all the time. So if we kind of were to restructure the way we do this … we would reduce waste significantly.”
“Students would invest in this almost like they do that one-time payment, and then take their container, eat their food, and bring it back, and then that charge either gets put back into their account,” Campbell continued. “They just keep the container for the whole year, and then they just keep bringing it back and replacing it.”
They’ve been collecting survey responses over the past year, gauging student interest in the reusable program to present to Dining. Sustainability offers a newsletter through their CWU page that you can subscribe to to keep up with everything CWU Sustainability.
(Left) Jordin Stradlin headshot. (Photo courtesy of someone)
(Right) Brooke Cruz attending event. (Photo courtesy of someone)
(Left) Jordan Spradlin (centerleft) with Material Solutions award. (Photo courtesy of someone)
Native American Student Union hosts the university’s first-ever American Indian Studies end-of-year ceremony
Meisner Dunlap Copy Editor
The Native American community recently experienced the death of CWU Professor Emeritus Don Woodcock, whom Program Coordinator Ash Perron referred to as a “grandfather figure” for herself and Arviso Alvord (Diné).
Don Woodcock’s legacy still lives on
“Dr. Don Woodcock, he found his way into our offices and to our hearts,” NASU Advisor Vi Alvord said. “He, for hours, would be sitting with us, making sure we knew whose land we’re on, who we need to know, who we need to listen to, who we need to look out for, take care of. He made sure we knew the history of our institution.”
NASU honored Woodcock at the end-ofyear ceremony for the graduating AIS scholars on Saturday, May 23, in Black Hall 101 in the early afternoon.
“Don was an incredibly remarkable being and I’m so grateful for all of the honorings and the recognitions that have been provided today for him,” Vi said in a speech at the ceremony.
Ceremony attendance
Buffalo Dancer, led the group, along with his brother, Erwin Mesgato Scabbyrobe.
The group began the ceremony by playing the “Honor Song,” which Mesgato Scabbyrobe said was “something we always sing before we start any kind of event. The ‘Honor Song’ is to honor people, so that’s why the ‘Honor Song’ is sung.”
At the end of the ceremony, the Black Lodge Singers performed their “Round Dance Song,” which Mesgato Scabbyrobe described as “a friendship and a headline song, so that’s why we thought we would sing that, because it’s a celebration. It’d be a good feeling for everybody to get up and dance and share with each other their feeling.”
Perron, along with Equity Services Council (ESC) Advisor Justin Santoli, counted a total of 44 attendees. Vi said they felt proud of the diversity of the turnout.
“I’m so glad that we had so many different people from so many different backgrounds and even non-native folks,” Vi said. “Just as much as it is for Native people, [the ceremony is] for non-native people too. We can’t do anything without community and we are a small community.”
“There was tribal diversity,” Vi continued. “There was ethnic diversity from the identities that go beyond just native and the diversity of thoughts and opinions and ages and abilities.”
The Black Lodge Singers
The Black Lodge Singers, a Native American drum group from the Confederate Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, played three songs during the ceremony. Algin Scabbyrobe, a Yakama tribal member whose stage name is
Before he and his family began singing the “Round Dance Song,” Scabbyrobe described the history and message behind the songs that they performed.
“The first song we sang is a Blackfoot flag song,” Scabbyrobe said. “Before there was an American flag or Canadian flag, we had eagle stamps and that was our flag that we honored first and foremost before any event.”
“The second song we sang was also a Blackfoot song. This song they would sing, they called it ‘All People Song.’ This song was sung when horse riders would come back from a war or from stealing horses,” Scabbyrobe continued. “This song was for any person that did something of a great deed. This song was sung and we only thought that it was appropriate for this day and this occasion.”
President Wohlpart’s AIS contributions
CWU President Jim Wohlpart gave the graduating AIS students and the NASU officers Pendleton blankets that Woodcock had made. Wohlpart spent thousands of dollars on those blankets, according to Vi.
“I am a graduate of Dartmouth College. I graduated in 2021. I was a Native American Studies major and it’s one of the biggest Native communities in elite academia,” Vi said in their speech. “We only saw our president once a year for hundreds of Native students … I see Jim [Wohlpart] at every event we hold.”
The importance of celebration
During the ceremony, several keynote speakers gave speeches recognizing and expressing pride about living and working in the lands of the Yakama Confederacy. The Yakama Nation encompasses nine bands and tribes of Indigenous peoples. Among the keynote speakers was Wohlpart, who explained the importance of hosting a ceremony for local communities.
To strengthen his explanation, Wohlpart quoted Chickasaw Poet, Novelist and Essayist Linda Hogan from her book, “Dwellings.” Wohlpart quoted Hogan, stating, “Through ceremony, we remember that all things are connected. Ceremony is part of a healing and a restoration. It is the mending of broken connection between us and the rest.”
Then, Wohlpart followed Hogan’s quote with his own remarks. “The ceremony begins where the former one ends. When we take up a new way, our minds and hearts filled with the vision of Earth that holds us within it,” Wohlpart said. “In a compassionate relationship to and with the world, we often talk about commencement not being the end of the journey but the beginning of the journey in the same way that this ceremony is the beginning of a journey as you go out into the world.”
Willard Bill and Black Lodge Singers teach the ceremony crowd.
(Photo by Meisner Dunlap)
High Winds cause Wildcat Pantry celebration to relocate mid-event
Jackson Lawler Staff Reporter
The Wildcat Pantry’s end-of-year celebration was originally meant to be held on the lawn just outside of Northside Commons at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 29. The Ellensburg wind had other plans.
The night before the event, a wind advisory was posted for Kittitas Valley, warning of “Northwest winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph,” according to the National Weather Service. The day of, the winds kicked in, and the event had to be moved during setup, despite efforts to keep things on track.
Wildcat Pantry Coordinator Charles Johnson organized the event alongside his programming team lead, Cesca Gossing, a child development and family science graduate student. At the beginning of the event, they both witnessed the wind blowing in.
The end-of-year celebration is one of the largest events that the Wildcat Pantry hosts, Johnson said. “The Wildcat Pantry always does an end-of-year celebration. It started … as a way of just celebrating all the work that students had put in to get this far, especially since we were founded by students for students.”
“Since then, it’s evolved into just a celebration of all the work that students continue to do,” Johnson continued. “We have a ton of volunteers that we like to always honor during our end-of-year celebration. And it’s really just a way of saying ‘thank you’ to our students who have brought us this far. We’ve done so much this year, launching new programs, establishing a higher fee and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without student support at all.”
Set-up for the event continued despite the wind advisory. According to Gossing, the event had been in the planning phase since winter quarter and the date had been pre-selected long before weather could be factored in.
Wildcat Pantry staff and volunteers set up their tables, tents and racks of free clothing on the lawn. 88.1 The Burg set up their DJ booth next to Dugmore Hall’s bike racks. Dining Services set up their catering table outside of Northside Commons. Cornhole and Giant Connect-4 games were also set up on the lawn.
As the event began, so did the winds, which became strong enough to warrant rocks being used to weigh down items on tables. Johnson, Gossing and Student Inventory Lead and Third-Year Business Administration major Alonzo Avila all noted that Johnson had to buy 60-pound sandbags from Ace Hardware to keep the tents in place. These sandbags were ineffective, and Wildcat Pantry staff resorted to holding the tents down themselves.
As Johnson recalled, “I come back [from buying sandbags] and the wind is ten times worse. So it was a last-minute decision of, ‘I know it’s 3 o’clock, I know we’re supposed to start. However, this event can’t be successful in the environment we have it in right now.’ It was me and my programming lead [Cesca Gossing]. I pulled her aside in the library and told her, ‘...We can either move inside to the pantry, to the [library] fourth floor or we can stay outside. What do you think?’”
Gossing replied to Johnson, “Let’s try the fourth floor, but if there’s students up there and they don’t want us there because it is first and foremost a study space, then we won’t.”
“We asked them [students and staff in the library] if they would be okay if we moved up here and they were all fine with it. So I immediately called the other team lead,” Gossing continued.
With permission to proceed, Gossing called Avila, who was at the time helping hold down one of the tents on the Northside Commons lawn. She told him, “Alonzo, we’re moving everything inside. Just grab everything and let’s go.”
Avila intentionally relayed the phone call to everyone on the Northside Commons lawn. “I said it really loudly, ‘Oh, we’re moving. It’s confirmed.’”
Johnson quickly moved some furniture around in The Attic of the library while all the event employees, volunteers and even multiple community members attending aided in taking down the tents and moving everything across the street. Along with the Wildcat Pantry, both 88.1 The Burg and Dining Services brought their respective set-ups into The Attic as well.
Chris Keitges, another Child Development and Family Science graduate
student, volunteered at the event with her five-year-old granddaughter and enjoyed helping with the sudden move. She said, “That was adventurous. It was fun trying to take those tents down. There was a couple times I thought maybe some of the tents were going to take off.”
Cece Laplace, a fourth-year Chemistry major, arrived at the event with a group of friends right as everything was being moved to the library. They were among the community members who stepped in to aid in the move.
Laplace said of their decision, “We were just coming over for the event, we saw people that needed help and things work better if you work together.”
At about 3:40 p.m., the actual end-of-year celebration was finally able to begin with Johnson taking a moment to thank everyone for their patience and willingness to help with the sudden venue change.
Gossing and Johnson said they were both impressed by the turnout the event saw, with Gossing stating that within about twenty minutes, she had “already filled out like four pages of the sign-in. So that’s pretty good. I just feel accomplished for even planning the event in the first place.”
Johnson cited the raffle with “free prizes that you actually want” as a factor in the high turnout, while Laplace cited the “free food”.
Toward the end of the celebration, the raffle winners were pulled for seven prizes. Students, regardless of whether they attended the event as guests or workers, were allowed to enter the raffle. Among the winners, Daniel Biggs, a Business major attending the event, won a Blackstone Griddle and Riley Emmett, a Wildcat Pantry student employee, won a pair of beach chairs.
Other prizes awarded included two separate hot pots, a longboard, a “beach kit”-- a sunhat, cooler and beach towel-- and a Stanley cup with a Hydroflaskbranded insulated tote bag.
As an additional thank you to a handful of community members who frequently aided the Wildcat Pantry throughout the year, Gossing and Johnson awarded certificates of appreciation.
“You should never feel judged entering any sort of any one of our spaces because we are not judging you,” Gossing said, speaking to the purpose of the pantry. “We are the last people to judge you because we’re all in the same boat. We are all living in this economy–we are all living in this world right now. And it’s really hard to get by, especially being– what? 18 to 22, living in an apartment where you’re paying $750 of rent and you don’t have enough money to feed yourself? Yeah. So, the Wildcat Pantry is accessible for every student. And no one should ever be ashamed to use a resource that is for them that they pay for.”
DANCE TRYOUTS
from someone who has never danced
Kyley Glenn Columnist
With dancing experience purely from viewing
Dance Moms and Shake It Up as a child, I took it upon myself to prepare for CWU Dance tryouts, to give you all an insight into a world I’ve never been a part of. Spoiler alert: my toe is now twice as large, purple, and my pride is shot.
To fully immerse myself in the mindset of an individual trying out, I tried to prepare by browsing old performances of the CWU Dance Team on YouTube, but learned that most performances posted are from nine years ago, unfortunately. Thankfully, their Instagram did have a few performances for me to study and learn.
Instead, I watched tutorials on short dances while not taking into consideration that tryouts would probably include multiple types of dance and not just hip-hop.
Not only did I need to learn how to memorize choreography, but I also needed to achieve the skill requirements. I went to the gym to focus on those first. I started my training with a Calypso. My coordination is something close to nonexistent, so it took an hour to even get the rough concept of what I am supposed to do.
Before the tryouts, the skills I could confidently do were a leap on my left leg, leg hold on left, single turn, high kick and a backbend.
The tryouts took place at 10 a.m. on a Saturday. To really live action roleplay (LARP) as a dancer, I took the time to put on my best makeup and do my hair. I had to look at Pinterest if we are being honest. Furthering my research, I made sure my outfit fit the part. Thankfully, upon entering, everyone else was in a similar outfit.
And just like that, the tryouts began. We started with stretching. This was the one task I succeeded in. Once we lined up to do some warm-ups across the floor, I learned my fate.
After a few humbling attempts and awkwardly running across the floor because I could not move with such speed and elegance, it was finally time for leaps. A move I have had to do many times in gymnastics. However, it was all over once I realized I had to use my non-dominant foot. On the first leap, my toe landed still pointed. This mis-step reflected across the rest of the practice. As the bruise progressed, so did the humbling I experienced.
Once lines were over, it was time to learn the routines. Now, in gymnastics, which I did do growing up, there’s no trying out. You learn the routine slowly and the longest one will be about a minute and 30 seconds. My focus was mainly on beam growing up, so I had gotten used to a 45-second routine learned and created through several practices in high school.
In tryouts, we took about 10 minutes to learn a 30-second dance. To the average person, this may seem simple. To the most uncoordinated individual alive, with no dance experience, (me), I only knew half of the choreography by the time we reached the official tryout portion.
Starting with hip-hop, we were placed in groups of three. My group, unfortunately, had me. Someone who spent the entire time skipping moves and staring at my peers in the mirror in front of us to make sure I was doing the right move while dancing to ‘The Box’ by Roddy Ricch. I’m not saying I am the worst dancer, but let’s just say I don’t think them skipping over me for a repeat performance after this was a coincidence.
The same goes for the jazz section. Except this time, the rhythm was even worse somehow. I didn’t even attempt my right-legged calypso at the end. Or the freestyle portion we were doing after each performance.
With a limp and a body that has aged 10 years in the span of a three-hour tryout, I can successfully say I did attempt to dance and might have awoken the urge to relearn any skills I have lost by taking a break from gymnastics, basically all of them. Thank you to the Dance team for honoring my request in allowing me to try out and write this piece. Pain and all, it was a fun experience.
Gunner Stuns Columnist
You’re probably thinking, “What makes this guy qualified to give advice and who cares what he’s got to say?” And yeah, I get it. I wouldn’t exactly call myself wise either, but just hear me out. I’ve been a CWU student for five years and now that I find myself on the way out, I figured a great way to sign off would be to share five things I’ve learned in the hope that maybe it’ll help someone else out. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something?
5. Plan Ahead
This may sound obvious, but it’s harder to do than you think. Something that I wish I had taken more seriously earlier on is making a plan for how I would end college, which sounds incredibly daunting, especially if you’re just starting out. My advice there would be to meet with your advisor at least once a quarter if you can–that way, you’ve got someone in your corner to help you always keep track of what classes you’re taking and check off boxes for a graduation plan.
At the same time, keep in mind when class registration opens for each quarter, as it’s different depending on your year and you’ll want to stay on top of that. The unfortunate thing is, the classes you want most are the ones that are going to fill up the fastest. I’m a chronic procrastinator even now, and the above two things are what wound up being trouble for me around my second year.
4. Be Open To New Things
Things are probably going to change for you a lot throughout your college journey. Chances are, you’re coming in with an idea of what you want to do and that’s great! Stick with it. But, you might also find that it isn’t what’s going to work for you, and that’s okay, too. Try new things when the opportunity arises, because you’ll never know where that leads. I swapped my major from Media & Journalism to Communication Studies in my first year and thought that was the greatest idea ever until I switched it back– that’s just how much can change.
I took an anthropology class on primates and evolution that I found so interesting–it made me think that in another life, I might’ve become a primatologist. Even when pursuing journalism, I never fancied myself a magazine writer, but then I found myself at PULSE magazine for two years, working my way up from staff reporter to de facto Editor-In-Chief. That experience made me doubt if I would be capable of still writing for newspapers, and yet, here I am at The Observer after two quarters working as News Editor. There are so many possibilities out there. Don’t get lost in them, but don’t let them pass you by either.
3. The People You’ll Meet
Speaking of PULSE and Observer, my favorite thing about each of those opportunities is probably the people I’ve met through them, who I’m deeply proud to call coworkers and, more importantly, my friends. Whether you’re networking for your field or just socializing, the people around you, students and staff, are a diverse group with many different perspectives and personalities. You can learn a lot from them and you’ll likely find you’re in good company.
I’ve met important mentors who have taught me invaluable skills for my field and for life in general. I’ve made the best of friends and found myself in odd rivalries. I’ve had my heart broken more than once. As I said about staying open to new things, that means being open to the people around you, too, because they’ll enrich your life and your experience in ways you might not even expect.
2. Enjoy The Small Moments
They’re bigger than you think and they won’t last forever. These formative years are going to lay the foundation for the person you’re going to be for the rest of your life and that can be intimidating, but don’t let the big moments (and there will be plenty) distract you from how important the small stuff can be too.
Walking into downtown at night to take pictures with your friends, deciding to binge watch a cartoon from your youth with your roommate, achieving a new personal record at the gym, getting a compliment on your latest project, winning a pickle ball volley against the guy who taught it to you, making that special someone laugh, going for a Taco Bell run at 10 p.m. even though you probably shouldn’t. Stuff like this softens failures and makes them just feel like setbacks, but they also bolster the
victories and make them feel even bigger. Some days, you’ll need them and other days you’ll just be grateful they happened.
1. You’re Not Alone
This is maybe the most important thing I can tell you. I have felt alone before and it’s pretty scary sometimes, especially with so many new and unfamiliar experiences coming your way. But let me tell you, so long as you keep those four previous points in mind, you never will be.
Hold close the mentors who tell you that you’re a better reporter than you think you are, the friends who let you crash at their place all the time because you don’t like your new roommate, the coworkers you bond with late at night when you’re stuck together, the people you learn from at a conference opportunity, your even newer roommate who adopts you into their friend group just because.
These are the types of people and experiences that will uplift you and in my experience, at CWU, they come in spades if you’re willing to be open to them. If nothing else, I hope that you might see yourself in these words I’ve written and know that you aren’t the only one who’s ever felt the way that you do now. If you can find some comfort in that, then I’ve done my job. I wish everyone who takes the time to read my sentimental ramblings the best of luck and hope you got something out of them. It’s the best farewell I know how to give to the people, places and experiences at CWU that have made me who I am and to all the people who are set to do the same once I’m gone.
Designed by Z Morris Divined by Ethan
Kennedy
Aries (March 21 - April 19): Bro not gonna lie, pick a side man. I bet Anakin Skywalker would have a HUGE problem with you. Your Sinister Six member: Sandman.
Taurus (April 20 - May 20): Goin on a little safari? God your movie was terrible, just stick to being quicksilver, Mr. Taylor-Johnson. Your Sinister Six member: Kraven the hunter.
Gemini (May 21 - June 20): Now how the fuck does a tank of electrical eels fix a gap in your teeth… The logic does not logic. Your Sinister Six member: Electro.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22): Eddie or Flash? Anti or Agent? Be honest, you liked being on Spider-Man the most. Your Sinister Six member: Venom.
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22): I AM NO GOSH DARN SINISTER SIX MEMBER! SPIDER-MAN IS A MENACE, AND ALWAYS WILL BE! Your Sinister Six member: J. Jonah Jameson.
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22): Stay hydrated. Okay this is going to be a deep cut, but your part on the Spider-Man ride in Universal Studios is the best. Your Sinister Six member: Hydro-Man.
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 22): RIGBY! No really go look up the voice actors for the Insomniac Spider-Man games. Your Sinister Six member: Doctor Octopus.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21): What a stinger! I am not gonna lie, I feel like there are one too many animal villains out here. Your Sinister Six member: Scorpion.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21): How many Marvel characters are green? Do you prefer your metal suit or your scaly skin? Your Sinister Six member: Green Goblin.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan.19): CHARGE! You thick skin boi. Honestly, you’re just a cheap knock off of The Thing. Your Sinister Six member: Rhino.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb.18): Quentin Beck man, look I know you got some goofy things goin on. Say what’s up to Rey for me though. Your Sinister Six member: Mysterio.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - March 20): This is going to be really gruesome… but a version of you ate Uncle Ben alive in front of Spider-Man in a different universe… Your Sinister Six member: The Vulture.
