The Commuter - April 2025

T H E

L I N N - B E N T O N

C O M M U N I T Y

C O L L E G E

APRIL

VOL. 56 EDITION 8

2025

One Pitch From

Perfection

Connor Mendez Nearly Makes LB Baseball History pg. 22

pink cowboy hats and underwater robots pg. 04 Exploring LB's ROV Club

pg. 14

lbcc cuts budget

Inside LB's $3.5 Million Deficit

letter editor from the

O

ne of the perks of being at The Commuter is the chance to read all the articles early.

What’s the Linn-Benton ROV team like?

What’s up with that wall of letters in North Santiam Hall? These are all questions I’ve had in the past, and I got the answers early thanks to the great team of writers on the Commuter's staff.

I’ve often found that journalism is the greatest excuse to do just about anything – it’s a way to write about interests, ask questions about topics we’ve always been curious about, and chat with interesting and awesome people.

This magazine in particular has a lot of the latter. It’s our

about us

The Commuter is the student-run magazine for LBCC, financed by student fees and advertising. Opinions expressed in The Commuter do not necessarily reflect those of the LBCC administration, faculty and students of LBCC. Editorials, columns, letters, and cartoons reflect the opinions of the authors.

LBCC is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

letters welcome

The Commuter encourages readers to use its “Opinion” section to express their views on campus, community, regional and national issues. The Commuter attempts to print all submissions received, but reserves the right to edit for grammar, length, libel, privacy concerns and taste. Opinions expressed by letter submitters do not represent the views of The Commuter staff or the college.

most Q&A-heavy issue of the school year, and I hope you enjoy reading about the people doing cool things at LBCC as much as I did.

And if you’re graduating after this term, we'd love to have you be one of those interview subjects for our May magazine.

Flip to page 21, and after you’ve looked at the great lunar eclipse photos, pull out your phone and scan the QR code to fill out The Commuter’s digital form for soon-to-be graduates. We’re hoping to compile your stories, goals, advice, and anything else interesting from your time at LB in a feature for our last magazine of the school year.

If you’re an instructor, do us a favor and share the form with your class – we’d love to see every meta major represented!

One memory a few of us on The Commuter staff will have from the 2024-25 school will be our trip to the ACP Spring National College Media Conference back in March, where I’m proud to announce that our last edition placed fourth among two-year college newspapers and newsmagazines, competing against schools in several states.

It was a good boost to get us through the end of the school year, and we also received some critiques to continue to improve. It’s tempting to sleepwalk through spring term with summer just around the corner, but I hope these last few weeks on campus can still be a time to learn and find inspiration.

But don’t forget to enjoy the sunshine.

Ryland Bickley Editor-in-Chief

join the team

Wanna get together? We’re really nice and fairly cool and we’d love to hear what you have to say. Not big on journalism but love to journal? Perfect. Are you a STEM major with major opinions?

Let’s hear ’em. Like writing about ’80s film? Local animals?

Snack hacks? Maybe you have a hefty folder of flash fiction on your laptop, just dying to be published and printed. Drop us a line. We’d love to meet you, read you, and support you. Think your ideas might be too weird or too niche for submission? Even better. The Commuter is an award-winning publication because of our wide range of contributions and our unique contributors.

So reach out. We’ll be staring at our email inbox in the meantime, not an ounce of chill to be had. cover photo by MICAH TEAGUE

editor-in-chief RYLAND BICKLEY

design editor

KAILYN MCQUISTEN

photo editor

SARAH ROSE LARSON

feature editor EMILY JIMERSON

sports editor

ETHAN BIRMINGHAM

marketing director CHRIS PATTERSON

reviews

STEVEN PRYOR MASON WILLS

advisor

in this issue:

staff

04

pink cowboy hats and underwater robots

Exploring LB's ROV Club

06

beyond the classroom

with Sonya James

12

13

with Samantha Bennett

with Jessica Toledo

student spotlight

14

lbcc cuts budget

Inside LB's $3.5 Million Deficit

16

beyond the classroom

ROB PRIEWE

with Chris Riseley

contributors

20

ANTHONY DREWS AYDEN HORTT BRENDA AUTRY BRITTANY KING CARSON EMMERT LIANA LAHANN MARSH HAMEL MICAH TEAGUE MIKA WINDER MIKE MCREYNOLDS SCOTT SUTHERLIN SID MYDLAND

student spotlight

spring break migration

Exploring Othello, Washington’s Annual Sandhill Crane Festival

22

one pitch from perfection

Connor Mendez Nearly Makes LB Baseball History

24

student artist spotlight

with Charlie Dickey

WANT TO SEE YOUR NAME HERE? JOIN THE TEAM!

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29

Campus Vending Machines

Movie Review

what's popping in takena hall?

a minecraft movie

CAMPUS ⋅ COLUMN

Pink Cowboy Hats and Underwater Robots words by CARSON EMMERT photos by AYDEN HORTT

O

n my meanders through the physics building recently, there have been some pink cowboy hat wearing hooligans afoot, and I wanted to know why. After tracing them to the ROV room, I had my first lead.

The Linn-Benton ROV (remotely operated vehicle) team is a school club that builds underwater robots. They then compete in an annual competition held by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) organization, competing with teams from around the globe. Last year, the LBCC team placed 10th in the competition, also winning a first-place award for technical presentation.

This year’s MATE competition is set for June 19-21 in Alpena. The robot will complete underwater tasks in a timed environment for points, which will be judged based on predetermined performance metrics and the opinions of the judges. The students use physics, math, electronics, and various engineering skills.

Not knowing any of this, I just started showing up. What I didn’t immediately expect to find was that they built robots. Specifically robots that go underwater, like Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster. Not only that, but they complete tasks in competition.

As I started learning about the point of the ROV team it seemed relatively complicated. There were also no leads as to why they wore pink cowboy hats. So, still lacking understanding, I decided to join the team and find out what was really going on behind the scenes.

The key players seem to have a high level of dedication, and they put in a huge amount of time and effort to make things happen. There are also many members that put in a smaller, more manageable amount of work that helps the team along.

It seemed like there was not any specific time obligation as long as someone wanted to learn and work on a project.

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“

As I started learning about the point of the ROV team it seemed relatively complicated.

There were also no leads as to why they wore pink cowboy hats.

There were a few major projects and personal projects that intertwined to make the overall plan. Each person who shows up has a piece in mind they want to deal with, or tries to find one they want to work on. The thing I appreciated about it was that everyone seems as if they are just trying to learn, for the purity of learning.

When asked what their greatest struggle was in the competition, “staying motivated” was the response.

Understandably, it is a large project, inherited by one group and partially completed by another. In the words of the team, “Sometimes you have a good skeleton, and sometimes you just get bones.”

Everyone seems to have a compassionate understanding of the work involved in making changes. I asked the team members what on the robot they most wanted to improve this year, and what would make the biggest impact. They responded that they were adding more thrusters, because in last year’s competition the thing that took the most time was positioning the robot while underwater.

Some of the systems involved are

an analog camera system, powered from the 48-volt supply, going through a 48volt to 12-volt converter. They transfer data from cameras by ethernet back to the team for command and control.

There is also a humanoid robotic arm, being actuated with 16 servo motors and artificial tendons.

It is controlled via a glove with potentiometers to measure hand and finger movement similarly to human anatomy.

There is also a member working on high-efficiency, low-frequency radio communications, which if realized, will be routed through the compressed air line, as water will not conduct radio waves.

They are also working on a program to balance the thrust load of the robot so it stays level at whatever angle they specify for it, sort of like a drone that automatically hovers. This needs to be done with sensor data hover, not static thrust values, as different parts of the robot can take on water; many of the 3D printer parts are hollow, so the buoyancy can change mid competition.

Things that people work on as passion projects get integrated

into the robot if applicable, and the design seems to stretch to encapsulate the group’s enthusiasm. The people working to make it to MATE seem to see it as a labor of love more than a cold-cut competition.

Much thought goes into the changes that are made, and the work is manageable for new members; you only need to take on as much as you feel comfortable with. They are in pursuit of continuous improvement; you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to improve certain things from last time, and if it's not broken, don’t fix it.

I have never thought of submersible robotics as so downright reasonable. As a new member, if I have an idea, it is actually heard and I am told why it would or wouldn’t work, and everyone involved tries to help you get the resources you need to succeed in whatever project you want to take on.

I would highly recommend trying it out, business majors included – whoever would like to participate.

We are getting ahead of ourselves, though. We still never answered the question of the pink cowboy hats. After much questioning, and skullduggery, I found the truth we’ve all been searching for: “If we don’t wear the hats, the robot won’t work.”

I was stunned. It was so obvious, how didn’t I see this before?

WE’RE HIRING DRIVER EDUCATION INSTRUCTORS

• Flexible Hours & competitive pay • Preference is given to bilingual applicants • ODOT Instructor Certification Required

MORE INFORMATION: richeym@linnbenton.edu

Community Education

beyond the

classroom: with Sonya James

words by MARSH HAMEL

S

onya James has been on staff at Linn-Benton for over a decade, and she’s worn a lot of different hats during that time, often all at once. From fulfilling the role of academic advisor and guiding students toward success to licensed social work at a youth correctional facility, James’ hard work and dedication stands as a testament to how often the worlds of social work and academia intersect with one another.

During a 45-minute discussion, James detailed how she began her career at Linn-Benton, the crossover between social work and sociology, how that relates to cultural ideals, and her passion for working with concrete.

When did you get your start at LB? This is the weird part. See, I came to college in 2010 as a student, became a work study in 2011, and then Katie Winder (currently LBCC’s dean of instruction) hired me in 2012, in May. I was still going to school, older – non-traditional student – and Katie Winder hired me as a student ambassador. And then I worked with Leslie Hammond, who's now my current dean, in the New Student Center. It was kind of a strategic initiative. And then I became full-time classified when I went to OSU. So I was at OSU, going to school to finish up my bachelor's, became full-time classified, started my master’s degree of social work at OSU, and finished at Portland State in 2021. Now I’m a licensed clinical social worker.What kind of classes have you instructed?

Sociology and a couple of human development and family services [classes].

What areas do you advise students in?

I'm the business advisor, which is just fascinating.

I touch a little bit of everything. Interestingly, it's created many different conversations with business students, because again, I'm not the stereotypical business advisor, but I think that's good, right? Because we need to be exposed to different things. Just staying in our silos doesn't help us in any way, shape, or form.

So what exactly got you onto that path of pursuing sociology?

Life. I had a colorful life. Sometimes my choices, sometimes others' choices. And in that, I recognize that we are very individualistic in our assigning of “your problems are yours because of you.”

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photos by AYDEN HORTT

“We are,” as in our culture?

Our culture. Our world. This world. This United States society is very individualistic. And what I realized is the systems, the institutions, the structures that we are part of and live in are influencing us and pushing us to certain places. And so social work and sociology was a really great place for those to connect because, yes, I want to work with people and help them understand where they're at and what they're experiencing and how they can cope better – what tools they can use. Where are they accountable? Where are we responsible? And where is the system? And how?

If I go to you and I say, “You're the problem; the reason you're having all these things is because you're the problem” – that's not empowering. It's not traumainformed. Because when society looks at us and sees XYZ, they respond to XYZ versus how they respond to the rest of the world. And so helping people understand there is a system, and unfortunately, we have to navigate it, is very empowering, in my opinion.

Did you set out to be a licensed clinical social worker first and foremost?

No, I didn't know that. It evolved as I was exposed to more things and recognized, you know, where my upbringing had … sheltered me in so many ways, and in other ways did not in any way, shape, or form.

But in a lot of ways, when I think about people and I think about our judgment of others, my upbringing was not good. And as I was exposed to more questions and critical thinking, I went, “Oh, but this, this I don't want to work with.” … How do I say this? Some people have access to support and systems that others don't.

And so yes, they are experiencing mental health crises and they are experiencing these things, but they have the resources that others don't. And so in that, again, because I grew up without those resources, I recognized I wanted to work with people who would not normally have access to me if I followed this other path, and so that brought me to social work.

Was there a time when you became absolutely certain you wanted to do social work?

So, in 2017, I started volunteering over at the [Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility], and I became wellknown on the campus over there. And then they figured out I worked at LB. And there were classes that were being taught in there from the high school partnerships,

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Do you have any pets?

My grandpuppies! I have an 11-year-old Connie Corso named Ziva, they're my son-in-law’s, my daughter's, but they're mine. So there's 11-year-old Ziva and then we've got a service dog and he is a year and a month old and his name is Spinner. He’s a thunderball.

He’s a sweetie, and a total lap dog. He’s a velcro dog.

What are some of your hobbies outside the classroom?

I read, and I hang out with my grandpuppies, and I build things. I love to pour concrete.

What are some of the projects you’ve worked on recently?

The most recent one I did was I just poured a pad for a cold plunge. We had a sunny weekend in December, and so I poured. It was about eight by eight, so it was a tiny little pour. so I had brought it up to Katie Winder, and I was like, this is what I was doing over the summer, working on these big, huge projects over there, laying brick and stuff with a bunch of students over there.

And it developed a partnership with Oak Creek, where I'm basically the liaison, so I advise all of the Oak Creek students who are incarcerated over there.

This is where sociology met social work, is seeing young individuals who have their entire lives, but when you hear their stories and the stuff that's happened to them, and how the system failed them or pushed them into certain places – yes, granted, they made choices – but they had a bad choice or a worse choice in so many situations.

What are some ways you’ve been able to assist students at LB as a counselor/advisor?

So my main job is an advisor, so I'm helping students successfully complete college. Making sure they have an education plan, making sure they know that they're taking the right classes for their degree here, and for wherever they want to transfer to. Most of my students are transfer students – that's my main priority as an advisor – but there’s also a mental health component to it.

Most of us advisors, not all, but most, are counselors and even the ones that aren't have such a really great grasp of mental health and what people need that we’re able to help people successfully navigate college.

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“

This is the advice I'd give any student: If you're interested in something, go talk to a person who does it.

What are some important aspects of mental health that students should consider?

Anxiety, right? This idea that a bad grade is going to ruin your life. You know, a whole bunch of bad grades are gonna ruin your life. But we all are going to fall down, right?

And we're here to help you get back up and it's OK to ask for help, right? We get siloed and all we see is, “I messed up here, I can't go tell anybody, I'm gonna be judged!” But that's what we're here for. Making that plan to get back up and being really intentional about that.

How do you prioritize your own mental health while acting as a resource for struggling students?

I have a really great team in the Advising Center and in the First Resort, and so we share and commiserate and laugh a lot. I try to get out in the forest and go for green walks as much as I can, and recognize I'm only responsible for what I can be responsible for.

When you compare yourself as you are today, versus when you were just starting out in social work, what has been the greatest area of change?

I would say the biggest change is I am less afraid. My upbringing taught me to be afraid of people and to think that I was responsible for all and everything they did. Now, I see that, yes, I do have an influence and impact on people, but they are also seeing things from their

perspective and they have their own stuff that they're going through, and as much as I want it to be all about me, it's not all about me.

Does serving as both an advisor and a counselor pose any unique challenges or benefits?

Sometimes there are crossovers.

As a clinical social worker, I have confidentiality to information which is different from some of the staff here, and it leaves me going, "OK, how do I navigate this?"

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The people. The people on all fronts we work with. The people I work with, the people that come into my office, the people I meet – they're so fascinating and I am always learning something new from everybody, because, yes, I might be an expert in this little space, but everybody else is an expert now.

What do you enjoy the least?

Probably the temperature in my office. Yeah, it's 78 degrees right now – I’m dying over here! Then when it's cold, it'll be like 52. And you know what? I wouldn’t give up my window for anything. So I’ve got my little walker, I walk on it, I get warm, and I’ve got all my fans.

Words of advice for students seeking to pursue a career in social work?

This is the advice I'd give any student: If you're interested in something, go talk to a person who does it. If you can shadow them, even better. Because, and I'm gonna quote Charles Madriaga, one of the other advisor counselors here: He always tells this story, and this is so accurate, how he thought he wanted to do something with education with little kids. Maybe a friend of his did. Anyway, somebody wanted to do something with elementary education, and they were in their college degree and all this, and they shadowed at an elementary school and realized they can't stand little kids.

Learning about something in a book is completely different than doing it in real time.

Where is the best place for students to find you or reach out?

Call the Advising Center reception desk, or they can just email me: jamess@linnbenton.edu.

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Spring Term Volunteer Opportunities Sat, Apr 12 10-1 PM

Sat, Apr 19 10-1 PM

Waverly Park Clean Up

Agate Beach Clean Up

Make a difference, earn volunteer hours, and help the community!!

Email slcvolunteer@linnbenton.edu for more information!

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT ⋅ OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT

Samantha Bennett words by EMILY JIMERSON

photo by MICAH TEAGUE

amantha Bennett is a second-year occupational therapy assistant student at LBCC. She is originally from Monmouth, Ore. but she currently lives in Salem. Bennett has been working as a server since she was 18 and has been married to her husband for 25 years. She and her husband have two daughters, an 18-year-old graduating from high school this year and a 20-yearold who also attends LBCC. Bennett is a highly empathetic and compassionate student who is passionate about working with both children and patients of all ages.

An occupational therapy assistant (OTA) is someone who works under the supervision of an occupational therapist (OT) to help people better participate in independent daily activities, mobility, and improve their quality of work and life.

really helped him a lot. So seeing that kind of sparked my passion for the field.

S

What made you choose occupational therapy?

So there's a lot of medical programs to choose from, and I knew I wanted to do something in that field. I really like the holistic approach of OT. That's what drew me to it. It focuses on helping people regain independence and confidence in their lives, and then it empowers people to live full lives. So it's not really medicating people. … Also, I had a stepdad with multiple sclerosis, and he lived with that for 40 years. He had inhome OTAs that would come help him with his ADLs (activities of daily living), and they taught him a lot of compensatory strategies, how to use adaptive equipment, and

“ 12

Which classes did you take during winter term?

I took documentation, therapeutic use of self, anatomy physiology, and activity analysis.

So those are all OTA courses, and then there’s corequisites that you take along with them. This term I had abnormal psych.

What type of patients or settings do you feel most passionate about working with?

So I'm really passionate about working with children. I mean, I'm really passionate about helping all types of people. I think I'm just most drawn to the pediatric population.

I'd really like to work in a pediatric clinic or a pediatric unit in a hospital. I don't really want to work in a school, but our second year of school is field work, so you get three different sites to do your field work.

I'm really hoping that I'll get one site that's a pediatric and then two totally different sites because I'm really open to just seeing it all and then kind of deciding where to go from there.

Are there any role models in your life who you look up to?

I have a half brother that lives in Eugene, and I really look up to him. He is quite a bit older than me. He's 12 years older than me, and so I've always looked up to him since I was a kid. He just has a really good outlook on life.

He teaches me a lot. He's been living with a traumatic brain injury

for the past four years, which has been really hard, but also really great to watch him try to overcome things. He's just the strongest person I know. So I'd say, yeah, my brother.

What has been the most challenging part of the OTA program?

Definitely time management.

Taking care of my family and my household while working and going to school is a lot. And then it's really important for me to take a little bit of time for self care, too.

So creating daily schedules for myself has been really key to my success in the program so far.

How do you find those moments of self care?

Well, getting a walk in every day, for one, that's taking care of my dog as well as myself.

I make sure I either get a little chance to sit down, watch a little TV, or read a book. I really love reading. I don't get to do a lot of reading for fun while I'm in school. But during my breaks, I always have a few books set

...Getting those skills developed and I'm learning a lot every day, and that's very rewarding to me.

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aside to read while I'm off. I like fiction. Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors. She has a lot of books that I really like, but I'm not picky. I'll read pretty much anything you put in front of me.

Other than that, I spend time with my family. That's important to me. I like to cook. Cooking's fun and relaxing for me. I like to listen to podcasts a lot. Mostly murder podcasts.

What has been the most rewarding part of the program?

I'd say just developing skills and gaining confidence to prepare for my career. It's a pretty big change from waiting tables, and so I have a lot to learn. So yeah, just getting those skills developed and I'm learning a lot every day, and that's very rewarding to me.

What are your goals for after LBCC? My expected graduation date is June of next year, so 2026.

After you graduate from the OTA program, you have to take the NBCOT exam, which makes you licensed to practice in Oregon.

Continued on page 20

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT ⋅ OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY ASSISTANT

Jessica Toledo

J

essica Toledo is a firstyear occupational therapy assistant student. She has a bright personality and a heart to care for others and see them succeed in life. Toledo is from a small town in central Oregon called Terrebonne, around 30 minutes from Bend.

She grew up with a love for the outdoors, hiking, fishing, and riding ATVs. She also enjoys camping, backpacking, reading, and making jewelry. She enjoys reading self-help books and has recently found a new interest in fiction books, particularly thrillers and mysteries. Toledo is currently working as a sales associate at a local thrift store called The ARC. What made you choose occupational therapy?

Quite a bit of things, actually, but I would say it was based off of the experiences that I've had. I knew that I wanted to be somewhere in the healthcare field since I was a kid, but I just

didn't know which discipline I wanted to be in. I got introduced to physical therapy, and I worked as a physical therapy aide for I think almost two years. But while I was there, as much as I loved it, I found myself veering towards our occupational therapist. I had a lot of fun with her and her patients and seeing what she was doing, and I felt as though there was more of a connection to those patients. I think that was definitely what sparked my interest in looking into occupational therapy.

What brought you to LBCC? I think it was just the program, hearing that the OTA program was offered through Linn-Benton, and I heard a lot of great things about the program through experiences that I've had with other occupational therapists that work within the valley. So it kind of just worked out that I moved into town and I saw that the program was available.

I heard great things about it

“

words by EMILY JIMERSON

photo by AYDEN HORTT

and saw great things about it when looking online to gather information. So yeah, I would say the program is specifically what drew me to attend Linn-Benton.

people, and it is an occupation that is very purposeful. Like I said, we just do so many different things and we pull from so many different healthcare disciplines, that combined, we can offer a lot of assistance to a wide variety of individuals. And there's so many fun things that kind of come out of helping. I would say we use a lot of creative thinking to help these individuals and get them back to what brings them purpose and what makes them feel like themselves.

Could you explain what occupational therapy is for readers who might not be familiar?

It's very diverse in that it pulls from a lot of different disciplines. We just do so many things. Honestly, it's so mind boggling the more that I learn about it. A lot of people think that it's physical therapy, but it's not. We work hand in hand with PT, but we are our own identity.

We look at an individual for their abilities, not for their disabilities or their limitations.

And we kind of work with them, with their abilities, and how we can just enhance those more and more. Getting them back to their occupation, or their occupation being something that brings them purpose. Or something that they have to do or something that they want to do or a role that they have to fill. We get them back to that in any way possible, whether that's advocating for them or modifying any sort of adaptive equipment that they need, getting them transportation – working on just a variety of things. It's crazy how much we can do to help people out.

Why is occupational therapy meaningful to you?

I would say it is important to me because it can serve a wide demographic and population of

What are your long-term goals with occupational therapy after LBCC? I would definitely say a long-term goal is I'm hoping as soon as I graduate from the program that I'm able to get a job either in central Oregon or here in the valley. It doesn't really matter to me, but the long-term goal is definitely to get a job after work or after graduation.

And really, like I said, in any sort of facility or with any sort of demographic, whether it's acute care or outpatient – those are the two that I have experience in. But I have even been looking into potentially home health or the school district. So really, the long-term goal is just getting a job and wherever it is, I will make the most out of it.

Continued on page 23

We look at an individual for their abilities ... It's crazy how much we can do to help people out.

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CAMPUS ⋅ NEWS

LBCC Cuts Budget Inside Linn-Benton’s $3.5 million budget deficit words and photo by RYLAND BICKLEY

C

ommunity colleges put Oregonians into the workforce, says LBCC President Lisa Avery.

However, a $3.5 million budget deficit has resulted in some tough decisions for the college as it pursues that mission entering the 2025-27 biennium.

On, March 31, Avery announced that LBCC will be enacting budget cuts that include eliminating five currently filled positions and six vacant positions to address the deficit.

The plan also involves “transitioning community education to a cost-recovery program and switching some technologies to less expensive or free alternatives.” Avery wrote the reduction will save $2.1 million, adding that the remaining $1.4 million deficit would be addressed “later this spring.”

LBCC stated in a news release that it will handle the remaining reductions “through operational efficiencies, prioritized spending on core instructional needs, and additional cost-saving measures that will be implemented throughout the coming year.”

Most staffing changes will go into effect by June 30, 2025, the school announced. Earlier in March, the LBCC Board of Education approved a 4% increase in tuition and fees.

“The college has consistently dipped into its reserves just to stay afloat, and I don’t take that lightly,” said Student Leadership Council President Travis Overvig. “These are not easy times, and while I recognize the difficult

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decisions administrators are being forced to make, those choices can have real, lasting consequences for students.”

Avery said the tuition increase was to help offset the budget cuts, adding that LBCC’s cost is still less than half of Oregon State University’s. “Even though the amount is higher, it's still overall, proportionately, much less,” she said.

The school’s budget deficit, currently estimated at $3.5 million, didn’t come as a surprise. “It's a combination of rising costs and the state's budget challenges. Our allocation is funded by the legislature, and they have a lot of competing demands right now,” said Avery.

LBCC budget forums in the fall included Vice President for Finance and Operations Sheldon Flom and Director of Accounting and Budget Jess Jacobs informing staff of a projected $3.3 million deficit, which increased to $3.5 million in January.

The increase was due to less state funding than expected. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s recommended budget for the 2025-27 biennium included $870 million for the Oregon Community College Support Fund. However, updated numbers showed that $854 million would be distributed among the state’s community colleges.

The initial $870 million amount was a 9% increase from the previous biennium, but the Oregon Community College Association said at the time that it was “still about $50 million short of what colleges say they need to maintain current services.” Instead, that number

could drop even lower.

“Increased funding for the next biennium 2025-27 is at the forefront of our advocacy efforts,” wrote LBCC Government Relations Manager Linnea Everts in the March LBCC Foundation newsletter.

The state budget will be forecasted in May. Among the rising costs that LBCC has to afford are mandatory payments into the Public Employee Retirement System, or PERS. For the upcoming biennium, LBCC is estimated to pay a weighted average increase of 20.3% into the system compared to the last two-year period.

“Obviously, a really big number,” Jacobs said during a November budget forum, adding it would be a little under $1 million in additional expenses “with really no change at all in our benefits.”

Avery noted that enrollment numbers are still less than ideal.

“I would say that Covid is not directly a factor in the budget, but we are still digging out of some of the enrollment challenges that Covid brought to us,” she said, adding that government relief from the pandemic has already been spent. “I'd say that the worst of the crisis is behind us, but we are still trying to redeem our enrollment and the revenue that goes with it.”

In the 2022-23 school year, Linn-Benton made substantial cuts, including eliminating the computer science and criminal justice programs,

as well as the library faculty positions on the Albany campus, to address the budget shortfall. The cuts were met with outrage from students and staff; this year, the response has been quieter.

Avery said the school has not received many comments regarding the cuts. She says it’s because the deficit hasn’t caused the elimination of an academic program this biennium – also, the school pursued a more transparent approach addressing the 2025-27 budget shortfall.

“It's a little bit of a different approach this time through,” said Avery. “We've had more participation with a bigger task force earlier on to try to get a lot of voices around the table – to take ideas and figure out the best route forward.

“I know, though, that it had an impact on those who were reduced, definitely, but it's not as broad as the reduction last time.”

In an email to staff announcing the cuts, Avery wrote that the collegewide budget task force, started in fall 2024, included representatives from each employee association on campus.

The SLC also had a seat at the table.

“I appreciate the efforts of LBCC administrators to hear from students in budget forums so that our voices and concerns are heard,” said Overvig.

“That being said, if we’re serious about student success, we need to protect the resources that make success possible.

Budget cuts and tuition hikes might balance the books, but they risk costing students their futures and that cost must be considered at all levels.”

While academic programs were a little bit “ It's spared from this year’s cuts, there will of a different

approach this time through.

We've had more participation with a bigger task force earlier on to try to get a lot of voices around the table – to take ideas and figure out the best route forward.

still be noticeable changes. Eleven staff positions – five currently filled – were eliminated.

Avery stated in an email to staff that LBCC’s human resources has contacted every employee impacted by the cuts, including discussion of potential “reassignment opportunities” for those eligible. One faculty member whose position was cut has accepted a full-time role elsewhere in the school.

Other cuts involve saving when it comes to technology licenses, with Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Ann Buchele noting that the school will be switching from Panopto back to Kaltura for instructional videos.

“We are trying to share more of our site licenses and our products so that we're spending less money to vendors and more money directly here on campus,” said Avery.

Other cuts that Buchele confirmed include LBCC’s mental health crisis hotline, as well as the First Year Experience course previously required for new students.

Buchele said that the usage of the hotline has been “very low” since the school added two mental health counselors to its staff.

Dean of Academic Foundations Leslie Hammond said students needing a mental crisis hotline can still call the national number: 988. It’s “an excellent service,” Hammond told The Commuter, “and we're confident that they will take good care of our

students in need. While we are sad to lose our dedicated crisis line, we understand the need to reduce costs in all available ways. Because there is a good alternative in 988, we feel comfortable with this change.”

As for the elimination of FYS classes, Buchele said the courses had a failure rate between 20% and 40% depending on the term, mainly because enrolled students didn’t show up or do the work.

“This showed us we should look at other ways to provide students this important information instead of a credit course,” said Buchele.

After another biennium of cuts, Avery put the onus on the Oregon Legislature to better support the state’s community colleges. “(Covid) takes us back to what have been some tough times for the college in recent years. … Our enrollments are climbing again, which is great news, because we want to get Oregonians back to school and back to work. But our costs are up as well, and so we do need additional support from our legislature to try to help with that – to make sure that students are able to have all the services and the classes that they need.

“It's incumbent upon our legislature to try to find a way to help bridge those funding gaps if we want to think about the workforce of tomorrow,” she said. “So to me, it is of utmost importance.”

COMMUTER

15

beyond the

classroom: with Chris Riseley

photos by MICAH TEAGUE

words by LIANA LAHANN

C

hris Riseley is a wellregarded writing instructor at Linn-Benton. Having a background as a novelist, TV producer, and scriptwriter, this wide range of experience explains his expertise in not only entry-level writing courses but also more niche subjects such as Shakespeare, sci-fi, and scriptwriting.

After designing and scaling up Linn-Benton's Accelerated Learning Program to improve completion rates in composition, Riseley developed the Peer Empowerment Project, a series of student conversations aimed at increasing overall college completion.

He also advises the Poetry Club, directing involvement in community events for the incumbent poet laureate, and hosting club meetings.

Riseley's commitment to student success, evident in his classroom environment and the lasting impact he has on students, is enhanced by incorporating self-empowerment and creativity exercises from his clubs.

Is it true that you played the movie Idiocracy in your classroom?

It is absolutely true. I play the whole movie every year in my class.

I can't think of a movie that is more relevant to our time than Idiocracy.

I mean, it does have to do with how much effort we put into our own ability to think; that's what the whole movie is about, and how corporations want us to be as uncritical as possible.

Imagine if we didn't seek out intellectually stimulating media of any kind.

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CAMPUS

What motivated you to pursue teaching?

I started my career at E! Entertainment Television in Los Angeles, working on the “E! True Hollywood Stories” as a producer and a writer for that series. It was on a biographical documentary show. Working for E! Entertainment Television, we – my wife also worked there at the time – discovered that they wanted us to tell lower and lower stories, kind of like Idiocracy.

I already felt a little bit iffy about participating in it, because it was always a bad story, and then, Princess Diana was killed in an accident that involved paparazzi. And to be honest, I was only one step away from the paparazzi. Paparazzi gave us the material that allowed us to do this, so we were part of what fueled paparazzi.

And my wife and I had kind of a reckoning like, “Oh, we're not with the good guys.” Well, who are the good guys? Educators? So when we left LA, I went back and finished my

“

Nobody knows how to teach when they start teaching. You learn how to teach every time you get better.

master's degree and started teaching because I would rather be on the side of the good guys. That's what got me.

How long have you been teaching? Have you made any changes along the way?

Oh, everything. So I started teaching at the college level in 2002. So it's been 23 years. Have I made any changes along the way?

Nobody knows how to teach when they start teaching. You learn how to teach every time you get better. So yeah, it's continually improving and continually finding your voice as a teacher. I first taught the way that the professors who taught me taught, and that was useful, but I could do better, and I did.

Is there any other career path you considered pursuing as a good guy, other than teaching?

I have written five novels – one that is published and four that are unpublished. I publish in journals every so often. And you know, it's surely more than a hobby, but it's not paying the bills.

What do you publish in journals?

A wild short story that I just published: “This Planet is Not Safe.”

I published this within the last year or two in a journal called Alternate Route. It's an experimental piece of fiction. It's different views of what fiction should look like.

I published something in Kairos; they recently published an essay of mine called “Nine and a Half

“

As I sit here in the hall and I read each of these letters, I come to realize that the pain, love, and respect is shared by all.

Centimeters.” That is the birth story of my son. It's about the relationship between parents and their doula.

How would you explain the letters covering your office door?

So these are handwritten letters to people we wish we could write to: dear ex-girlfriend, dear mom, etc. They were a place for people to connect. As I sit here in the hall and I read each of these letters, I come to realize that the pain, love, and respect is shared by all. So it's a communitybuilding experience.

It's very interesting how these are strangers who are connecting and they'll never meet one another. It's real, not like a digital forum filled with millions of people. It's an actual artifact from a living human being.

They get swapped out all the time.

The old ones, I keep them. Maybe they'll end up in a book someday.

Which students have left the strongest impression on you?

All of my students have left very strong impressions on me. Students in my scriptwriting class, because we get so deep into their creative work, I can't forget them. Because we have so much fun, imagine a class where it's pretty much half laughter, because it's so fun to watch people designing scripts and for us to share the work. When I think about these incredible moments, they mostly come from students that were in that scriptwriting class.

What made you start the Peer Empowerment Project?

I was asked to redesign our developmental writing sequence

COMMUTER

17

“

I, like most people, went to a big school, but I felt like I lacked community. And what the Peer Empowerment Project would have done for me is give me that community...

so that we could help underperforming writers. I was asked to get all the staff involved, and I found out that I had a natural ability to pick the teachers that were going to be the best at bringing out the best of these developmental writers.

That's how I came upon the Peer Empowerment Project. It had to be kind of foolproof, and it had to be run by the students. That's the way the Peer Empowerment Project is. It used to be that the Peer Empowerment Project was part of the accelerated learning program.

We no longer have that, but we kept the Peer Empowerment Project part because everybody needs a little bit of empowerment.

A few of the topics currently in the Peer Empowerment Project’s agenda include: Open mindedness, self sabotage, toxic loyalty, and seeking support. How do you think a club like the Peer Empowerment Project would have benefited you as a student or young adult?

As an undergrad, I felt very isolated.

I felt very lonely. I, like most people, went to a big school, but I felt like I lacked community. And what the Peer Empowerment Project would have done for me is give me that community, a place where I could go and share who I really was with people who would validate that and help me.

What would you say to students who are hesitant about entering the Peer Empowerment Project or just checking it out?

Just try it. One time. You know, we're not getting married, I mean it, just come and sit. If it's your cup of tea, if you enjoy it, then come back. If you're afraid of us, bring a friend. You'll see it's really cool. I never know who's gonna show up. Last time, we had nine people, and I have no idea how many we'll have today.

Are there any other projects you’re working on?

I'm the advisor of the Poetry Club. We are looking for our 2025-26 poet laureate, which is a stipend position.

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CAMPUS

How would you describe the position of the poet laureate as related to the Poetry Club to people who may be interested?

Our poet laureate is the leader of the Poetry Club, designing the activities that the Poetry Club will engage in over the year, and those activities are sometimes reading a poem at staff in-service at the beginning of the year in fall; if we are commemorating a new building, sometimes the poet laureate will commemorate the building by writing a poem and reading it at the ribbon cutting.

We have created books of poetry in collaboration with the Willamette PhotoArts Guild. The poet laureate has a lot of leeway to be able to create something like that. My job is to facilitate what they want to do.

Did you have a mentor who significantly impacted your life?

The first thing that comes to mind is Robin Havenick, who was the previous advisor for the Poetry Club. She was a really great mentor.

I had a teacher by the name of Gerry Rosen. Gerry said the best thing about one of my very early short stories: He said, “Chris, I've been carrying this story around to give it back to you! I read it at the beginning of winter break, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

It's fantastic!”

It was that encouragement – I hope I've been able to do that for others, too. I think I have.

How do you hope that your impact on students changes their lives?

I hope they achieve their dreams. I hope they achieve their goals. I hope that they're kind.

During the spring term, The Peer Empowerment Program meets at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays in Forum 200 (Equity Center), and the Poetry Club meets at 2:30 p.m. in the same room. If you’re interested in the poet laureate position, contact Chris Riseley at riselec@linnbenton.edu. The deadline to apply is April 28.

LILO & STITCH THURSDAY, MAY 15

Free Dinner provided Along with a raffle for all who attend!!

COMMUTER

19

COLUMN

Continued from page 12 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT ⋅ OTA

Samantha Bennett It's a really tough exam and it's like four hours long. So I plan to study a lot for a month after graduation and then take the exam sometime in July, probably. And then during my first year of employment, I also plan to take more college courses to become fluent in Spanish. I think it'd be really good to have that skill in this occupation because there’s a really big population of Spanish-speaking people here. And I think it'd be really effective to form therapeutic relationships with the Spanishspeaking population if I could communicate with them directly instead of through interpreters. So that's my first two years goal to get that done while working.

How does the role of an OT differ from an OTA? So the roles are really closely related, but they each have very distinct responsibilities.

The simplest way I would put it is that OTs evaluate, plan, and create individualized treatment programs for their patients. And then the OTA carries out those plans and they work directly with the patient to implement the therapy. So OTAs work under the supervision of OTs, but they have direct, hands-on interaction with the patients.

What advice would you give students who are interested in the OTA program?

I'd say if you're passionate about helping people, then this might be a good option for you.

You have to be compassionate and empathetic. I feel like those are the kind of traits that you are not going to learn. Those are traits that lie within you, but make sure you research the field before ending up in the program to see if it's a good fit for you. And then I'd say working on developing time management and study skills before entering the program while you're going through your prerequisites would be a really good thing. You need to be strong in those areas to be successful in the program.

Read the full interview on lbcommuter.com

Spring Break Migration words and photo by SID MYDLAND

E

very March, 35,000 cranes fly into the sleepy town of Othello, Wash., making a few days stop on their treacherous journey north. For the past 27 years, this migration has been celebrated by locals and tourists alike at the Sandhill Crane Festival, with some traveling from Europe to see the cranes. Even coming from LBCC it’s not a short trip, with a six-hour train ride up to Seattle and a three-to-four hour drive through Snoqualmie Pass.

It can be difficult for some people to understand what makes these birds unique. For dedicated birders, a single sighting can be an exceptionally moving moment. There is plenty to do at the festival, including lectures, tours, crafts, vendors, and more, all in celebration of nature and community.

Arriving on Friday, we saw the rolling agricultural fields and shrublands of eastern Washington’s high desert, a landscape carved by the Missoula floods thousands of years ago. Home to alfalfa, corn, apples, and more, Othello is a convenient visit on the cranes’ long migration route.

Cranes are opportunistic omnivores, meaning they eat what is at hand. Sandhill cranes pass through the roughest and most remote places in the United States. Othello is a well-deserved break, offering them a buffet of spent grain and bugs.

With so much to do, time passes fast at the festival.

We started our morning with a lecture from Dr. Gary Ivey called “Sandhill Cranes of the Pacific Flyway.” Ivey, an older man dressed in a patterned button-down covered in cranes, is retired from research; he spent decades working with these birds. He happily informed

▲ Karen Ceballos (left) and Sienna McClaren (right) band a plush crane.

the crowd about three migratory subspecies of sandhill cranes: greater, lesser, and Canadian.

Each subspecies has its quirks. For example, the Canadian sandhill cranes walk from their marshy roosts to the coast, bringing back an intertidal diet for their colts (crane chicks). They trek through the woods, avoiding predators such as coyotes and bears. In Othello, the vast majority of cranes are in the lesser subspecies. It is not uncommon to see several birds from other subspecies flocking together.

Ivey ended with a story from his research days about a group of cranes and three hungry coyotes. These coyotes tried for hours to close in on the group of cranes and colts, but they never even got close. The long-necked birds can use their beaks to strike when necessary.

Sandhill cranes can be a fearsome opponent, standing at four to five feet tall (depending on the subspecies) with powerful feet, a sharp beak, and an even sharper mind. As Karen Ceballos, a current United States Fish and Wildlife employee said, people are required to wear safety glasses when banding a crane’s ankle: “They aim for the middle of your eyes.”

USFW answered questions, rewarded prizes to kids who completed a series of educational crafts, and handed out free posters and coloring books. Guests who bought plush sandhill cranes were encouraged to visit the USFW booth, where they could put real bands on their birds' ankles.

We ended that day with a crane viewing tour. Guests loaded into a school bus and were driven through the country to spot cranes.

The tour was led by Ceballos, who, between comments on wildlife, told the crowd an amusing story about a white-naped crane repopulation effort.

This effort included a researcher courting a female crane due to her aggressive behavior towards males of her species. In short, he now had a crane wife. Funnily enough, this worked; part of working in these restoration efforts is thinking up creative solutions, such as doing a mating dance with a crane.

Also in attendance was a local retired farmer who informed us about the agricultural history and present of the area. At sunset, we arrived at the reservoir where cranes flew above as they called, some landing in the fields.

The next day started bright and early with the five-hour Royal Slope birding bus tour. On this tour, guests learned about biodiversity in the scrublands of the Columbia Basin. With a bus full of birdwatchers, it was easy to find many species: long-billed curlews, loggerhead shrikes, great-horned owls, American kestrels, tricolor blackbirds, around 30,000 snow geese, and of course, sandhill cranes.

Whether you are a lifelong nature lover, just starting, or excited to learn more, the Sandhill Crane Festival is a place for everyone.

See you there next March!

CONTENT ⋅ NEWS

Blood Moon Rising words and photos by BRENDA AUTRY

T

he skies cleared just enough on the evening of March 13 to give many Oregonians a chance to witness the dramatic “blood moon” total lunar eclipse. As the Earth’s shadow passed over the moon, it transformed into a deep reddish-orange orb — a striking sight that earned the event its vivid nickname. The eclipse lasted about six hours from start to finish, with totality spanning roughly one hour. This was the only lunar eclipse visible from Oregon in 2025. Skywatchers will have to wait until March 3, 2026, for the next one.

graphic via FREEPIK

Graduating this year?

We want to hear from you!

If you are a soon-to-be grad and want to share your experiences with LBCC, what you’ve learned, or have knowledge you’d like to pass on to other students, check out the QR code below to fill out our form!

The stories and photos you submit may be shared in our final print edition of the year, or on our website!

Submissions due by May 5, 2025.

COMMUTER

21

SPORTS ⋅ NEWS

One Pitch From Perfection words by ETHAN BIRMINGHAM

Throughout the prolific history of the Linn-Benton baseball program, no pitcher has ever recorded a perfect game.

On April 3, pitcher Connor Mendez was one hit away from becoming the first.

Mendez's stellar performance led the Roadrunners to a decisive 1-0 victory over Southwestern Oregon during the first game of a doubleheader at Dick McClain Field against the Lakers. Mendez owned the pitcher's mound all game, throwing 12 strikeouts, allowing only one hit, and recording zero walks in a dominant nineinning performance.

"I want to do my best to give us a shot to win every game," said Mendez. "It's about the eight guys behind me and just playing for them, really."

Mendez, a sophomore from Pasco, Wash., transferred over from Saint Martin's University in the summer of 2024. Enticed by the opportunity Linn-Benton gave him, Mendez entered the 2025 season hoping to bolster the Roadrunners' bullpen.

Making his seventh start of the 2025 season against Southwestern, Mendez showcased why the program had brought him in. After Mendez got through the entire Southwestern batting order without a blemish in just three swift innings, many in attendance understood the magnitude of the situation.

22

SPORTS

photo by MICAH TEAGUE

Continued from page 13 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT ⋅ OTA

After outfielder Kolten Lindstrom hit an RBI single to give Linn-Benton the lead in the bottom of the third, Mendez threw his fifth strikeout in the top of the fourth to keep his perfect game intact through 12 batters.

However, facing his 13th batter of the game, Mendez would be taught a quick lesson on why No. 13 is often associated with bad luck. On the opening pitch of the fifth inning, Southwestern infielder Chyler DeSilva looped a ball into right field to give the Lakers their first hit of the game and break up Mendez's attempt at perfection.

With the perfect game gone and LinnBenton clinging on to a narrow 1-0 advantage, Mendez understood that he couldn't let one hit spiral his pitching performance out of control.

Following DeSilva's single in the top of the fifth, Mendez would throw seven more strikeouts while never allowing another runner on base.

When all was said and done and Mendez had retired his final batter of the day on his 12th strikeout, he left the mound with 76 strikes on 104 pitches thrown this season while bringing his ERA down to an astounding mark of 0.52.

While the stats were nothing to take lightly, Mendez was happiest with only one thing: the win for his team.

"I don't really look at stats, I try to just go inning by inning, pitch by pitch," said Mendez.

"If we're winning the game, then I'm okay with the outcome."

In baseball, a perfect game is one of the rarest feats a player can achieve. It only occurs when a pitcher gets through an entire nine-inning game without allowing a single opposition player to reach base via hits, walks, or errors. ince the foundation of the MLB's National League in 1876, only 24 pitchers have managed to throw a perfect game at the professional level. Since 1959, only 23 pitchers have managed to throw a nine-inning perfect game at the NCAA level.

While Mendez was one hit shy of reaching the illustrious achievement, his dominant display received plaudits from fans, coaches, and even NWAC league officials. On April 9, Mendez earned recognition as the NWAC Athlete of the Week for baseball pitchers in the conference.

To top it all off, Linn-Benton head coach Andy Peterson praised his pitcher for putting on one of the best performances he had ever seen at Dick McClain Field.

"Mendez was unbelievable; that's one of

S

Jessica Toledo

What has been the most challenging part of the OTA program?

I think the most challenging part is the balancing of school and work and the social life. This is a two-year program, and we are on a term system, so it's very accelerated and a lot of things are thrown at us and expected for us to do. So it can be really hard. … And it asks for a lot out of you. I feel like it asks for a lot of time. You have to dedicate a lot of time to stay afloat and make sure that you're understanding. It asks for quite a bit. Even with field work, it's expected that a lot of things kind of change within our lives when it comes to location where we're at. Yeah, I would say the most challenging thing is probably that there's a lot of sacrifices to succeed in the program.

photo via LB ATHLETICS

the best performances I've seen at this field by anyone, hitter or pitcher," said Peterson. "One pitch away from being perfect."

During Peterson's tenure as head coach of the Roadrunners, several former Linn-Benton pitchers have gone on to pitch at the D-1 level.

Last year, former Linn-Benton pitchers Ethan Kleinschmit and Gabe Brabec signed to play for Oregon State and Gonzaga, respectively.

Even before Peterson joined the program, Linn-Benton had a rich history of developing pitchers. Of the 48 ex-Roadrunner baseball players who have been drafted by an MLB organization, 30 of them were pitchers.

With only eight hits allowed through six appearances on the season and a teamleading tally of 40 strikeouts, Mendez has a legitimate shot at moving on to the next level once his time at Linn-Benton concludes. But if and when he does play bigger games at the D-1 level, Mendez’s brush with perfection as a Roadrunner will be hard to forget.

What has been the most rewarding part of the program?

Oh, probably just seeing how much my knowledge has expanded.

I've seen a very big shift in my knowledge and my confidence of what I know, and it's really cool: Sometimes I catch myself outside of school, applying things that I have learned or talking to people about certain things that I've learned with just such confidence in myself – just crazy how much knowledge I've absorbed and learned through the program. So yeah, I would say the most rewarding part is definitely just the knowledge that I've accumulated over the time, and I guess intellectual confidence that I've gained through it.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in the OTA program?

Oh my goodness. I would definitely recommend just having a support system and having those lines of communication with that support system, making sure that work, I guess, is also part of that support system and making sure that they're aware of how much the program might ask of you.

Read the full interview on lbcommuter.com

COMMUTER

23

What is your major?

I’m an anthropology major.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT ⋅ STUDENT ARTIST

Charlie Dickey interview and photos by MICAH TEAGUE

Charlie Dickey is a student at Linn-Benton Community College who was recently awarded an artist residency at LB. His artwork is featured in Chinook Hall at the Corvallis campus. Sitting down for an interview, Charlie gave insights into his art and other interests.

24

A&E

Do you have anything specific that you’re working towards in anthropology?

So there are the four main disciplines of anthropology. I want to focus on cultural anthropology because I’m really interested in studying the police and systems of power. That was originally going to be my body of work for the residency.

What would you have done with that if you had gone in that direction?

I would have gone through a bunch of body camera footage and taken scenes that seemed most common. Like these are all the problems that people are facing and then kind of move that together just to one scene.

I was very conflicted on it, because there's a lot of issues with body camera footage and police with the technology that they use. So I decided to do something completely different.

Charlie has been interested in art since he was young, but started painting in his sophomore year of high school.

He expressed having a preference for painting with acrylics and his favorite artist is Michael Armitage.

What about Michael Armitage inspires you?

Instead of using canvas he used a cloth from Kenya – I think is where he's from. He sews it together and I think it's a hard cloth to work with because it comes from, like, tree bark. So there are a lot of holes and stitching in the canvas and just the way he paints is so loose – there's so much meaning in his paintings.

Do you find artistic inspiration in anything other than art?

I definitely find it in the research I do in anthropology.

It’s less about the stories and more about the concepts that I hear. I feel like the concepts in sociology and anthropology can be translated into art.

I noticed you used lots of pops of color at the art gallery. Is that something you just fell into?

Yeah, I did it all by accident because when I was learning how to paint my teachers were like, “You have to learn to use the primary colors first and then you can start adding all these other colors in.” So the colors I used were just the basic primary colors. I didn’t really know anything about color theory. So I just mixed them together and they would make these vibrant colors and over time that's just what I liked the most.

Many of Charlie’s art pieces focus on figures, portraits, or multiple people in a painting.

Do you deal with creative blocks at all?

Definitely. I haven’t painted anything since the residency this summer because I had to paint everything in this short amount of time and after that I burnt out.

Is there a way you handle creative blocks to get past them?

Honestly, if I'm in a place where I don’t have to force it, if I’m not preparing for a show or

anything, I just let myself not paint. I’ll come up with ideas or I’ll keep sketching. But if I don’t feel like painting I just won’t paint. I know it'll come back to me.

Last spring at the student art show, Charlie was awarded a residency at LB. He spent the summer creating a body of work specifically for the residency that was then showcased at an art gallery on campus.

What was it like for you as one of the featured artists in the art gallery?

It was so weird. It was surreal in a way. I’d always wanted a residency and I always wanted to get featured in a gallery. So when that came true, it was like, “What is going on.”

You can keep up with Charlie and his artwork through his Instagram, @Charliewwrenn.

What do you like doing outside of art and school?

I really like to read. Right now I’ve been so busy, pretty much all I do is work.

What do you do for work?

I’m a direct support professional. I work with people with developmental disabilities.

I used to work at a grocery store and I felt like my work wasn’t valued at all and then I switched to something I feel like I’m needed in, and that's just a cool feeling.

All of your work for the residency focused on mental health struggles.

What was the inspiration behind that?

I feel like everyone has their struggles and I wanted to represent that. When I see other artists doing something that is filled with emotion, it always moves me. So I'm like, “Well, maybe I can do it and move other people too.”

Charlie will be graduating from Linn-Benton soon and is planning to attend classes at the University of Oregon. He expressed an appreciation for the community built at LB and how much support he's received.

COMMUTER

25

TIME TO

STUDY ABROAD BROADEN YOUR HORIZON EXPLORE NEW CULTURES EARN COLLEGE CREDIT SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

EVERY SUMMER JOIN US!

Questions? Email us!

STUDYABROAD@LINNBENTON.EDU

CAMPUS ⋅ REVIEW

What's Popping in Takena Hall? words and photo by MIKA WINDER

F

or many terms, students have been greeted by the sight of the Takena Hall vending machine, welcoming them into LBCC’s Albany campus with its affordable and routinely stocked snacks and candy. The machine is courtesy of the Student Life and Leadership council, to whom the profits from the machine go in order to fund their efforts to improve campus life and host events.

This vending machine, typically carrying light snacks like chips and peanuts as well as the standard candy bars and sodas, is one of several across LBCC’s campuses that serve as stalwart saviors of hungry students who want a quick treat or something to eat when the other dining options are closed or less convenient.

However, this iconic landmark of LBCC isn't stagnant, receiving a companion on April 4 in the form of a brand-new boba tea vending machine located directly beside the original.

The Student Leadership Council collaborated with local Corvallis vendors Sweet Heart and Bobaface to bring LBCC students the vending machine during the first week of spring term, with the goal of using the funds to support student basic needs.

“Two years ago, the Student Leadership Council took over vending on campus,” said Rob Camp, the Student Leadership Coordinator at LBCC. “The goal was to create a business model that would allow the SLC to have income that could be invested in things like their food insecurity initiatives. The program has been a large success and the team has been able to direct profits from the machines

graphic via FREEPIK

Anthem of the Month Monthly music recommendations to keep you inspired.

1901 Phoenix

Summer isn’t here yet, but it’s already time to start putting together your playlist for sunny days. Phoenix’s “1901” is a great, energetic place to start.

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directly into the Linn-Benton Lunch Box gift card program.”

With the machine opening for business on the 5th, I was able to purchase one of the available teas for $4.95, a price that is roughly standard when compared to boba you can get at other locations in Albany and Corvallis.

Currently, three flavors are available: strawberry, passionfruit, and mango (I chose strawberry). Each tea contains a fruit tea base with flavored popping boba, chewy fruit jellies, and fresh fruit pieces. The tea itself has a mild flavor that isn't overwhelmingly sweet, and the variation of add-ins makes each sip unique.

With the limited number of options when it comes to beverages in the standard vending machine compared to the food choices, the addition of boba tea allows lots of diversity if you need a drink on the go.

The SLC isn't finished with vending machine ventures, however. The boba machine is the first exploration into outsourcing fresh items for vending, but there are exciting plans for the future as well.

“The SLC is looking into acquiring a smart store vending machine,” said Camp, adding that they hope to have it in place by fall term. “[This] would allow us to actually sell some healthy fresh options in Takena Hall. We are in the process of getting quotes on that type of machine now.”

1901 Pheonix

Billy Toppy Men I Trust

Happy Birthday Black Country, New Road

Roman Holiday Fontaines D.C.

Fly As Me Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic

Stand or Fall The Fixx

Lovesong The Cure

Wicked Game Dead on a Saturday

Save a Prayer - 2009 Remaster Duran Duran

When You’re Gone The Cranberries

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Drive Your Career Toward Success

CDL TRAINING ENTRY-LEVEL DRIVER | OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Linn-Benton Community College has partnered with the Knife River Training Center to provide a comprehensive learning experience, to get you on the road with your CDL!

Invest in your future today

Program highlights

• FMCSA-compliant CDL training • Tuition cost: $6,499 • Comprehensive training materials • Daily catered lunches included • Third-party DOT skills test • Unrestricted licenses

• Just over 3 weeks, Monday-Friday, 7:30 am 4 pm • Manual transmission trucks • 3:1 student-to-instructor ratio, resulting in a high first-time pass rate • Students train on 1.5 miles of closed circuit training roads before driving on public roads

Why choose LBCC?

Simple application process

• Real-world experience delivered at the Knife River Training Center in Albany, OR • Professionally trained and highly experienced instructors • Start driving and backing the first day of class • We don’t rely on simulators

• Complete the Application at: www.linnbenton.edu/CDL • Email it to CDL@linnbenton.edu • LBCC Coordinator will contact you within 2 days

WWW.LINNBENTON.EDU/CDL

Contact the CDL Coordinator

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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Extended Learning

Mindlessly Dumb and Incredibly Fun

MOVIE: A Minecraft Movie

DIRECTOR: Jared Hess

STARRING: Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, Jennifer Coolidge, Rachel House, Jemaine Clement, Jared Hess, Matt Berry RATED: PG

RUNTIME: 101 mins

OVERALL RATING: ★★★

words by MASON WILLS

A

fter being stuck in production limbo for over a decade, a movie based on the best-selling game of all time, Minecraft, was finally released April 4 with a mixture of quality.

The movie follows a group: Garrett (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers), and Dawn (Danielle Brooks), who travel to the Overworld of Minecraft from the real world and get stuck there. Very quickly, they meet Steve (Jack Black), who needs help to defeat the evil Piglin Queen Malgosha (Rachel House) to save the Overworld.

Despite the massive budget compared to all of director Jared Hess’ previous projects (that include the likes of Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, and Gentlemen Broncos), his style of comedy still comes through really well. There are quite a few moments where A Minecraft Movie comes close to the feeling that Napoleon Dynamite had, albeit a lot more artificial because of the heavy CGI and the fact that it’s a studio movie. Hess allowed his creativity to flow through this movie and he created a film that maintains the core spirit of Minecraft while still holding true to his relatively unique style of comedy.

The cast is a lot better than I thought it was going to be, particularly Jack Black. I had my expectations low for him in this movie and he encapsulated the player character of Minecraft pretty well and was very funny. He and Jason Momoa had incredible chemistry and were by far the biggest piece that held the movie together. Emma Myers, Sebastian

Hansen, and Danielle Brooks were all good in their roles, but were the weakest part of the movie because of how they were written.

The characters are definitely not written in equal measure, which was a major problem with the movie. Steve and Garrett are both written really well for the type of film this is and that shows through their interactions and physical performances. Henry and Natalie suffer from a lot of underdevelopment. There is a small, almost microscopic, side plot about their family drama that is such a minor part of the movie it might as well have been omitted.

Finally, Dawn is relatively useless throughout A Minecraft Movie and is used mostly as a catalyst for specific events to happen or she is entirely removed from portions of the movie to do other things offscreen.

There is also a side plot with Jennifer Coolidge’s character falling in love with a Villager named Nitwit who gets stuck in the real world, and it is one of the more solid and consistently funny parts of the movie.

Strangely enough, it feels like the side plot that had the most satisfying conclusion even though it is only maybe five minutes of the movie in total.

The CGI is incredibly consistent and feels strangely grounded for being an adaptation of a video game entirely made of cubes. The mobs are particularly well done because they mixed natural materials like wool and skin with the unnatural shapes of the characters really well. The mobs, obviously, look kind of weird simply because of their shape, but they all still feel grounded

and look good. It was fun to see how the more fantasy-looking mobs like Piglins, Villagers, Ghasts, and Iron Golems were adapted into a live action format.

The story also takes a major hit because of the type of movie this is. There is a plot, but it is very bare bones and mainly takes a backseat to references to the game and jokes. There are probably two to three jokes per minute in this movie and most aren’t that great. Jack Black is pretty consistently funny, and his knack for occasionally breaking into song was pretty good every time. This somewhat plotless nature makes the movie very fun to watch, but it’s also entirely mindless and takes no brain power to understand. You could honestly zone out at any point and not miss anything important.

Fair warning: the theater experience is very bad because of younger people, mainly high schoolers and middle schoolers, who cheer for everything, yell lines out during the movie, and occasionally throw popcorn in the air, so it might be better to go to an early matinee showing on the weekend or a weekday showing when fewer people are watching.

Overall, A Minecraft Movie is a ton of dumb fun, but that’s almost entirely at the cost of telling a good story. I can’t recommend this movie if you aren’t already a fan of Minecraft because it just won’t have anything to give you, but if you like Jack Black, you will probably find some parts funny and enjoyable.

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01. 70's rock band from Sweden 05. 2011 superhero film 09. Interpret 13. Number for two 14. Sported 15. Gleeful 16. Like some finals 17. Gaelic 18. Quickly 19. With "The," 1939 Steinbeck novel 22. Observe 23. Sigmoid curve 24. Basil sauce 27. Hindu garment 30. Flooring choice 34. Monkey business 36. Asphalt 37. "Everybody Hurts" band 38. Kin to "beer and skittles" 42. Museum display 43. Craggy peak 44. William Sydney Porter pen name 45. Bewildered 47. Romulus, e.g.

49. Portents 50. OPEC export 52. Part of HOMES 54. Perfectly neat condition 60. Skiers' milieu 61. Church calendar 62. Egyptian goddess 64. "Bigger than life" heroes 65. Paddock youngster 66. Biotic starter 67. Ashen 68. Individuals 69. Lascivious look

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07. Approximately 08. Coral creation 09. Meal 10. Part of Q.E.D. 11. Span 12. Henna or eosin 15. "When I Was Your Man" singer 20. Doggie 21. Creep 24. Re. the pope 25. Madrid month 26. Sports figures 28. Co. that created Centipede 29. Vied for office 31. Goddess of peace 32. Catch on 33. TV industry awards 35. Colonize 39. Sty resident 40. Singing group 41. Curative 46. Cause to fall 48. Sharp implement 51. Islands in the Seine 53. Alex Haley classic 54. MASH star 55. Place for a dip 56. "Crazy Love" band 57. Golf club 58. Hireling 59. Ceremony 60. Little drink 63. "To ___ With Love" "Fruitful Phrases" by Allen Vaughan

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When emergencies arise, your gift makes all the difference.

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Join the LBCC Foundation for a day of community support as we raise funds for the Roadrunner Student Emergency Fund, which helps students overcome financial barriers and stay on track with their education.

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LBCC Gives Hope, and your support is why we can.

Your donation provides immediate support for students facing unexpected challenges— from car repairs to medical expenses to textbooks and supplies.

giveday.linnbenton.edu

For accommodations requests, contact Accessibility Resources at 541-917-4789 or accessibility@linnbenton.edu at least three business days in advance. LBCC does not discriminate based on any protected status in its programs or activities. For more information, visit linnbenton.edu/nondiscrimination.

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