The Utah Statesman, February 13, 2023

Utah State University, Logan, Utah

Week of Feb. 13, 2023

Page 2 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 202

What do USU’s plans to increase student enrollment mean for student housing?

PHOTOS BY Elise Gottling

Students sit in the Canyon Crest Suites lobby on Feb. 7.

By Savannah Burnard NEWS STAFF REPORTER

W

ith plans to increase new student enrollment each year, Utah State University faces the challenge of continuing to provide housing resources for its students.

Katie Jo North, the executive director of new student enrollment at USU, said there is a 2% increase each year in student enrollment statewide, with an exception in 2020 due to COVID-19.

North said as of fall 2022, enrollment was just under 28,000, which includes all 30 locations of USU, as well as online.

The Office of Analysis, Assessment and Accreditation has enrollment summaries from 2018-2022, and according to these summaries, in fall 2022, the Logan campus had the highest number of incoming students the university has ever seen.

Amanda DeRito, the university’s associate vice president for strategic communications, said by 2028, the university has a goal to have 30,000 students enrolled statewide.

“When we talk about increasing by 2,000 more students, that’s a statewide number. So we’re not saying we want to increase Logan enrollment by 2,000; the impacts will be spread across the state,” DeRito said.

The university determines the demographics of enrollment by looking at three specific goals. The first one is a head count, which determines the number of students a university can actually enroll.

The next goal is called net tuition revenue, or NTR. This determines how much tuition is brought into the university. North said the university has to find a balance between providing scholarships and tuition costs.

The third goal is to determine what each class looks like in terms of in and out-of-state students, high ability

students, nonresidents, and underrepresented students.

However, there have been times when determining enrollment hasn’t been as straightforward.

North said one instance is when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lowered the age at which missionaries could start serving missions. She said when this happened, the university created a task force to look at how to help students with deferment processes.

When COVID-19 started affecting universities, North said task forces looked at ways to provide opportunities for different classes so students could still attend.

“That’s what we do whenever we have a challenge like that. We look at the specific situation, bring the people in who need to be involved and figure out solutions. Sometimes those things provide us with more tools going forward,” DeRito said.

North said in 2020, the waiting list for on-campus housing filled, and it has stayed that way until spring of 2023.

DeRito said it’s hard to know for sure why it is, but the university guessed it was because they offered more resources to students during COVID-19.

When students needed to quarantine, the university provided food. DeRito said there was a certain appeal of living on campus because with an unsteady housing market in the private sector, university housing was stable.

Whit Milligan, the director of residence life at USU, said she thinks one reason the university saw the waitlist remain full after COVID-19 was because students were eager for normalcy after restrictions were lifted.

With plans to increase student enrollment each year, one might wonder how the university will continue to provide housing resources for its incoming students, and what they will do if waitlists fill up again.

DeRito said the proportion of students living on campus is measured by looking at enrollment and the num-

ber of on-campus beds that are filled.

As of fall 2022, roughly 20,000 students were studying at the Logan campus, with 4,500 living on campus, approximately 22%. DeRito said this percentage has stayed in that range for at least the last few years.

USU relies on the private sector to house the rest of its students, and DeRito said the university is seeing housing facilities being built that will benefit students in the coming semesters.

She said when it comes to making investments in housing owned by USU, the university has to be careful because these investments are made with taxpayer money. She said it’s a long-term investment, and the university has to make sure there is a need for housing they will actually be able to fill.

“Housing and our business services are looking at those options, trying to figure out what the best solution is, but I think it’s less clear when you look at all the numbers, and you have all the data to say, ‘Oh, we should just build more housing,’ because we don’t know if that’s actually a good investment five years down the road,” DeRito said.

Milligan said because on-campus housing doesn’t get any state funding, the university has to keep the revenue stream coming from rent, so they haven’t been able to demolish some current residence halls that need to be torn down yet.

“All that revenue has to be put into maintaining buildings, paying the staff, replacing roofs and boilers and buying furniture and carpet and all of that stuff,” Milligan said.

The housing department has a strategic housing plan, but it is not yet available to the public. DeRito said this plan focuses on maintaining and rebuilding current housing.

Right now, USU is working with a consultant on a housing needs study, and DeRito said the university should have results in the next few months.

“What I did like about the whole process is that you paid the whole rental portion with your tuition. Luckily I was not waitlisted because there was a cancellation, and that’s how I got into my room,” Huber said.

However, there were a few things he didn’t like during his experience with on-campus housing.

“The carpet was hard, the rooms were small and there was barely any storage.

There were two half bathrooms, one had a sink and shower with some minimal storage, and the other bathroom had just a sink and a toilet. There was just very little space and hardly any sound barrier,” he said.

Milligan said most conflicts people have with on-campus housing could be resolved by talking to somebody.

“We have some people who leave and say ‘I hated living on campus.’ Well, it’s not for everybody, but I’m like, ‘Did you tell anyone about it? Have you asked for help?’

The only person they told about it was their friends they’re complaining to about it,” Milligan said.

She said her staff is committed to taking action whether it be through reporting, moving the student, or having a meeting

with housemates to ensure students have a positive experience with their housing situations.

“For me, students that want to be Aggies, I want to help them get here. That’s one of my main priorities. Whether it’s through admissions and scholarships, or housing or events that they come to, we want to make sure that they have a good experience, and if they want to be here, we’re going to provide those opportunities,” North said.

A complete list of on-campus student housing and additional resources can be found online at usu.edu/housing.

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Canyon Crest Suites is USU Housing’s newest building on campus that opened in fall of 2022.

Page 3 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 2023

To ensure spots for students in on-campus housing, North said the university implemented an enrollment deposit this year.

After paying a $200 deposit, students can then sign up for housing. North said the deposit just goes towards tuition, but this way, it shows commitment from students.

She said the university hopes by doing this, the waitlist can be shortened because they won’t have students signing up for multiple housing areas and then dropping out at the last minute.

This past fall, the university opened another on-campus housing area called Canyon Crest, which added an additional 402 beds. The university also has a website with a list of resources for students living off campus at usu.edu/housing/ off-campus/renter-education.

Through a text message interview, USU student Logan Huber said he had a lovehate relationship with living on campus.

He lived in Summit Hall in 2017 and said he liked how he was able to make friends easily because he was constantly interacting with other students who also lived there.

Huber said the process of applying for student housing was relatively smooth.

Page 4 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 202

Conversational Space Makers USU students bridge conflict through conversation

By Kate Stewart NEWS STAFF REPORTER

C

onversational Space Makers is a conflict resolution program offered to Utah State University students by their peers.

The program provides students with a neutral, safe amd confidential environment to talk about their challenges in a confidential setting.

According to the USU Space Makers website, a space maker serves the role of a listener for students.

“They are not there to judge, advise or solve. Instead, you’re the boss and you set the boundaries. You choose where the conversation goes,” the website states.

Nicole Hardy is a senior pursuing communication studies at USU. She works as a conversational space maker, and said her favorite part about being a space maker is helping people feel more peace in their lives.

Hardy said students can meet with a space maker to resolve and talk about any conflict they may have — whether it be roommate conflicts, relationship struggles, overwhelming emotions or big life decisions.

“Conflict can be stressful, and it can bring anxiety and stress and just darkness in your life,” Hardy said.

“But being able to help people work through their conflicts and seeing the peace and the calm and the happiness that can come to them is probably my favorite part of space.”

Clair Canfield, a senior lecturer in communication

studies at USU, is the program director of Conversational Space Makers.

“This is a unique program to Utah State. The closest thing that you would find is something like peer mediation or conflict coaching, but there isn’t a program quite like this anywhere else,” Canfield said.

Canfield emphasized how important the resource is and that it’s available to all USU students.

“It’s not uncommon for people to have troubles with their roommates, troubles with their group projects, troubles in their relationships, troubles with interactions with professors, with family members.

There are a lot of reasons why all of us face conflict on a pretty regular basis, and it’s really normal,” Canfield said. “We know that even though everybody has to work GRAPHIC BY Bailey Rigby through those things and make decisions on their own, it really helps to have somebody who knows how to support you as you navigate that.”

Similar to Canfield, Hardy said regardless of what major someone is in, conflict is something everyone is going to face at some point in their life.

Space maker Justin Seegrist said he understands how people can initially feel hesitant or nervous to sign up for a space making appointment.

Seegrist has worked in the space making program for six semesters. He said he likes watching people come to realizations they initially didn’t think they could.

“We don’t tell people how to resolve the conflicts, and we don’t fix the problem for people. We enable them to work through it on their own, and we help them learn the tools that they need in order to navigate the conflicts in a more meaningful way,” Seegrist said.

He also said space is up to the student utilizing the resource. It is about where they are at and what they want to share.

“If they want to share the little details, they could share the little details. Or, if they want to share some more, then they can share some more,” Seegrist said. “A lot of people have said that it’s a lot more comfortable than they thought it would be, and that it’s a lot more helpful than they thought that it would be.”

Space maker Mara Smuin is a senior studying history and communications.

She said everything is confidential in the space making program.

“What happens in space essentially stays in space.

And not only that, but we believe in double confidentiality, which means that we won’t talk to other people about it — about what happens in the appointment — and we won’t bring it up to the person that we’ve made space for,” Smuin said.

Seegrist said they hold all of their space making appointments via zoom out of respect to double confidentiality.

“In a space making appointment, there’s a couple rules or boundaries that the space maker follows. We choose to not judge the person, and we choose to keep the conversation confidential. We believe that everyone is a human who deserves to be loved and respected.

And we believe in everyone’s capacity to change,” Hardy said.

Canfield said he loves seeing how space making empowers students. He said those who receive space feel empowered because they recognize they can actually work through their conflicts and their challenges on their own.

“My observations have been that there are a lot of people, not just students, who have experiences in life where they need a really good listener. They need a witness, or they need somebody who knows how to make a conversational space for them to work through what they’re facing, and we want to be able to offer that to those people who need it,” he said.

Thanks to space making, Canfield said he’s seen people work through grief, make really big decisions in regards to their education and their career goals, navigate the forgiveness process and heal family relationships.

Smuin said space making changed her life, and she hopes more people are able to learn about it and come to an appointment.

“We are excited to hopefully expand our reach and have students from all across Utah State — have all the Aggies — be part of the program and get helped with their conflicts,” Hardy said.

There are 26 different USU students trained as spacemakers who are available to meet through appointment. Students can schedule with them through the USU space making website, chass.usu.edu/ communication-studies/space-makers.

Follow @givespaceusu on Instagram for more updates and information.

Kate is a junior studying journalism and marketing. Kate is from the Portland Oregon area and loves all things family, friends, thrifting and the outdoors.

— Kate.Stewart@usu.edu

*If you have any more information regarding these cases, contact the USU Public Safety Department at 435 7971939. Summaries are from USU Police Chief Blair Barfuss. You can find these and other USU reported crimes at www.usu. edu/dps/police/daily-crime-log

ALCOHOL OFFENSE TAGGART STUDENT CENTER

FEB. 1 — Student reported damage to their vehicle by unknown suspect. Video review of the location showed a large truck back into the vehicle, and a license plate was obtained showing registered to another student who lives on campus.

Contact was made with the student who reported they believed they hit a snow pile.

Information was shared for insurance purposes, no citation issued.

FEB. 3 — Nineteen-year-old student observed intoxicated at Mardi Gras. Alcohol testing resulted in a blood alcohol concentration of .295. Due to high BAC, student was transported to the hospital for medical evaluation.

This student received a criminal citation due to this alcohol offense being their second alcohol related arrest in two weeks. A disciplinary referral was forwarded to Student Affairs office to provide the student with additional resources and assistance for alcohol abuse.

Page 5 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 2023

‘POLICE BLOTTER’

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Page 6 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 202

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Page 7 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 2023

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a three and made it. You know, my first experience against Division I college players and just did it, played, had a good time. And the story everybody told is that Brennan Ray went upstairs and told the coaches, ‘Hey, you should, you should get this kid.’ And we left. And we got a phone call and they said, ‘All right, look, we want to offer you a scholarship. We’ve offered it to you and one other person.

Whoever says yes first gets it.’ And so, it took me about an hour and a half. I called and said, ‘Hey, I want to come. I’d love to come.’ And that’s how I came to Utah State. I had seen them at a few of my games. We had talked a little bit, but that’s what, kind of how the offer happened. And then I saw coach (Randy) Rahe a few years later, I said, ‘Hey, who was the other guy?’ He said, ‘There was no one else, there was no one else we offered.’ So kind of an old recruiting trick I guess, but it got me here, and I definitely don’t regret it.

Q: In your first year, you kind of hit the ground running.

I mean, awesome freshman season. What was that pressure like, and how were you able to manage it?

A: Honestly, I was just young and dumb enough that I didn’t feel the pressure. I just, as I came back from serving a mission, my attitude was if I didn’t go on a mission, this would be my junior year of college. I’m going to act like I’m a junior, I’m going to play like I’m a junior, I’m going to try to play junior year minutes. And that’s just the attitude I took from the very first workout as a team, and I just kept going. Just kept going. I kind of kept it to myself, and we got to the first preseason game. My parents are calling me, ‘Hey, should we come up? Should we come to the game?

Do you think you’re going to play?’ And in my mind — I hadn’t been told, but I was like, ‘I think I might be starting, like I might be starting.’ So I told them, ‘Yeah, come up.’

And I didn’t tell them anything. Sure enough — started the game, I finished with 29 points in my first game. And they’re just like, ‘Well, why didn’t you say something?’ ‘I didn’t know. I didn’t know.’ So it was awesome. But that’s just kind of my attitude. I was going to play as if it was my junior year, and I just, I was just kind of dumb and naive enough that things didn’t worry me. I didn’t feel pressure.

I just went out and tried to do what the coaches asked me to do.

Q: What ended up being your favorite memory that season? I mean, the Big West tournament went great.

A: Yeah, that’d be my favorite memory. Had a game where I made a bunch of 3-pointers, six or seven 3-pointers. And I tied Cardell Butler, his personal record at the time. He always said, ‘Don’t beat my record. Don’t beat my personal record.’ And I tied it that year. And yeah, that’s kind of cool. But the culmination was the Big West tournament. Pacific was ranked when we played them. We had to beat a very good Northridge team and had a good tournament. And we got to the championship game, and we put in a few new plays that just fit right into what I was doing, and I played well — was the tournament MVP, the first freshman in history I think.

Again, just being dumb and naive. I remember that the TV did an interview with me and they said ‘You’re going dancing,’ and it didn’t register. I’m not a dumb guy, but the stakes of winning to get into the NCAA Tournament like hadn’t registered with me. So I was like ‘Oh man, we gotta get in.’ So when they’re telling me ‘He’s going dancing.

Can you show me your best dance?’ I was just dumb. I was confused, like ‘What’s this guy talking about?’ I was so confused, and I didn’t realize how big of a deal the tournament was. So when we came back and we watched it as a team, you know, the Selection Sunday, that’s when it really started to click. So again, I guess I just was unaware

great. We end up losing, and then my next year, we played being the MVP of the tournament, and I remember that game pretty well.

Washington, University of Washington, in the NCAA Tournament, and I had to guard Brandon Roy. Sadly, a lot of people today, young people, they don’t know who Tai Wesley, 2004-05, 2007-11 Brandon Roy was because his career was so short due Statesman: Did you think he would be as good as he to injury, but he was an amazing basketball player. His was? moment in the NBA shone very brightly for a brief time.

Wesley: Absolutely not. When I first met Jaycee, he And I had to guard him and that was my sophomore year came up to me, and it was in Mountain View Towers. and I took things — I said, ‘He just made the right decision And he walked up to me. He was wearing a visor — all the time.’ And he had some offensive things he did. upside down, backwards, sticking up in the front — I said ‘I’m going to learn how to do that.’ So I spent the cargo shorts, and I said, ‘Are you for reals? You’re on the summer putting in Brandon Roy stuff that I had to try and basketball team?’ And then we went and played pickup defend. at a church, and he was unreal. And I thought, ‘OK, this Q: What is your favorite memory from playing in the kid is the real deal.’

Spectrum?

Q: How do you feel about USU retiring Jaycee’s numA: There’s a lot of memories. The ones that really stick ber? out — the night that I broke the scoring record. I was never A: I feel great about it. I think it’s amazing. I think a very animated player, never got too high, never got too it’s well deserved. You know, Jaycee Carroll is a legend low. Part of me now looks back and wishes I would have in the history of Aggie Basketball. He’s the leading enjoyed moments a little more. I would’ve had a little more point-getter. And so I feel so proud of him, even though, fun with the fans, would have interacted with fans a little you know, who am I to be proud of him? But I’m excited more, but it just wasn’t me, and it’s my dad’s fault because for him, and I think it’s so well deserved. he always just said, ‘Hey son, be humble.’ And so I always, it was like interacting with fans that’s getting out of where John Neil, 2002-05 the humbleness lays. But the longer I went off my career, Statesman: What was your favorite off-court memory the more I was like, ‘Hey, this is a fun experience, I really with Jaycee? enjoy this.’ So I enjoyed all the awesome things the fans Neil: Favorite, maybe more infamous, but I was kind would do. The student section was awesome. It’s second to of known as maybe the best conditioned guy on the none. As I played professionally, I played with teammates team. And so every year before the season, we’d do a — I had teammates that have played at Duke and other two-mile run at the beginning of conditioning and then major, major universities — I said, ‘Look, it’s cool what you’ve got, but it’s not any better than what we had at Utah a one-mile run, and I would always beat everybody pretty good. And my senior year, we started off with a State. Utah State is one of the top venues to play college two-mile run, and I beat everybody pretty good. Jaycee basketball.’ was just a little bit behind. But at the end of conditionAnd I still feel that way. So apart from the awesome ing, we did the one-mile run, and I was winning the moments, a couple of game-winners or record-breaking whole time until, like, the last 200 meters. Apparently nights, just the overall being in the Spectrum every night.

Jaycee was just behind me the whole time, and then he Honestly, my freshman year, driving to the Spectrum with Tai Wesley in the passenger seat yelling out the window as sprinted by me for the last 200 meters, and I couldn’t keep up. And he actually won the mile in the condiloud as he could, ‘It’s game day! It’s game day!’ — some of tioning my senior year. I was super annoyed that this my favorite memories. freshman kid right off his mission was in better shape Q: How does it feel to have your jersey retired by Utah than I was after just one preseason of conditioning, so State?

I had to give him a hard time about that. But I still joke A: It’s incredible. It’s icing on the cake, it’s the cherry about it with him today, actually, because I’m still super on the top, whatever you want to say. It’s awesome. As annoyed that my senior year, he beat me in the mile. a young kid playing basketball, you know, I want to hit That’s the one that comes to mind. I guess that was still game-winning shots. I want championships. I want this, I want that. I want to be my jersey in the rafters and to have in practice, but off the court. that opportunity, it’s cool. When Jerry Bovee reached out Gary Wilkinson, 2007-09 and made the call, I was at a loss for words, honestly. I didn’t really know what to say or how to react. Again, I’m Statesman: What was your first impression of Jaycee? not a too-high or too-low guy, and it was emotional. It’s Wilkinson: That Jaycee was a hard worker. So when I cool. Every time — any gym I go to, I look up there and got up here in the summertime between 2007-2008 and see who was there, what they did. And now to be one of I started working out with Jaycee, and he was dedicated those guys that other people can walk in and see it and and was in the gym every day, getting shots up, working go, ‘Who is this guy?’ And then have it kind of more of a on his game, and that kind of helped me to understand lasting legacy — it’s awesome. So I’m very grateful, very what needed to be done to be successful at Utah State. humbled by it.

Q: Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?

For a documentary and A: Yeah — first of all, thanks for all the love and support throughout the years. It’s been awesome. You know, talking more of the interviews, visit about fans, it’s funny — a lot of the fans that watched me play, it’s their kids that I see now, and they say, ‘Hey,’ and usu.statesman.com/jayceecarroll they’ve never seen me play, and their comments are, ‘Hey, my mom and dad said you were really good at basketball

By Jake Ellis once.’ So that’s kind of where I am now.

So to the fans, to the Aggies, thank you. Thank you for Photo illustration by Bailey Rigby so, so much. It’s awesome to be part of the Aggie family.

Page 9 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 2023

Retiring No. 20

enough that pressures and things — I was just playing basketball.

Q: Who was the best competition you played against in college and why?

A: When we moved into the WAC, the WAC was a conference. I mean, essentially they were getting three or four teams in the NCAA tournament. It was a big deal to be there — a lot of them now are in the current Mountain West. But Hawaii was very good, Nevada was very good, Fresno — there were a lot of very good teams in the conference, so that move was spectacular.

So there’s great competition. Nevada had the threetime conference MVP Nick Fazekas and Marcelus Kemp, Ramon Sessions. Boise State was a big team and that was great. Now we went to the NCAA tournament, and those were great teams. We played Arizona my freshman year, coached by hall-of-famer Lute Olson. They had Salim Stoudamire, Channing Frye, Hassan Adams, among others, and we gave them a run for their money. We played

PHOTO BY Phil Weber

Statesman: How do you feel about USU retiring Jaycee’s jersey?

Nelson: Well deserved. I’m one of those people that thinks that shouldn’t happen very often, and fortunately at Utah State, it hasn’t. That’s not a common thing. It’s not something — in my mind — that should be done regularly. It takes extraordinary players and performances to be able to garner that kind of recognition, and Jaycee is well deserving of it for what he accomplished in his career at Utah State and even after Utah State. He is in the elite group, and he belongs in the company of people with their jerseys retired.

Q: What was your favorite on-court memory with Jaycee?

A: I remember the Big West Championship game against Pacific. That felt like we ran the same play 40 times in a row, where I got the ball at the elbow and then did a dribble handoff to Jaycee and kept handing him the ball. And good things would happen every time I did. So I remember that, and then I played with Jaycee in Spain. I played with him for a year, and I played against him for a couple years. And I have some really, really fun memories, just battling in practice with him, or playing in games with him or against him. I have a lot of them, but from a college standpoint, I think that’s probably the Big West Championship. He ended up

Spencer Nelson, 1998-99, 2001-05

Statesman: How do you feel about USU retiring Jaycee’s jersey?

Morrill: Well deserved, I mean, leading scorer in school history. Won a ton of games while he was playing just made a lot of sense to me. But you know, I grew up in Utah, so I’m very familiar with all of Utah State’s, or at least most of the Utah State’s basketball history.

And the guys that are already have their jerseys retired, and there’s not very many of them, so he’s in a select group. And I was just pleased for him. And anytime you get an individual honor — and I used to always tell our players this — anytime you get an individual honor, it’s a reflection of your team too, because all those good things don’t happen if you don’t have good teammates and guys willing to sacrifice to be successful.

Just had a fabulous career. I mean, as good of a pure shooter as I ever coached. And once when he was playing overseas, I heard someone say he’s one of the best shooters, if not the best shooter, in the world. And that’s quite a statement by him for someone to make, but he had an amazing athletic ability.

Stew Morrill, coach 1999-2015

Jaycee Carroll, Stew Morrill and teammates reflect on one of USU’s best

Jaycee Carroll smiles while telling the story about his recruitment to Utah State.

Statesman: Why did you choose to play at Utah State?

Carroll: Being a Wyoming kid, the University of Wyoming was probably number one on my list whether I knew it or not, subconsciously. I grew up watching them. Every one of my school teachers graduated from there. My dad graduated from there. I watched Midnight Madness.

Then when we got down to my senior year, I just — I didn’t hear from them very much, and fortunately, my basketball season finished and spring break came. I didn’t, I hadn’t signed a scholarship or anything, so my family, we took a trip and we visited colleges. We stopped at Idaho State and walked in the office and said, ‘I’m Jaycee Carroll.

I want to play college basketball.’ And they said, ‘Great, go play with our guys right now. They’re playing pickup.’ So I went and played with them. Our next stop was Utah State, said, ‘Hey, come play pickup.’ And I played pickup with them.

And honestly the story is, well, I remember the very first possession. I came off a down screen, caught the ball, shot

Page 10 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 202

By Avery Truman LIFESTYLES STAFF REPORTER

B

ricks and Minifigs, a Lego store located at 555 W. 100 N., Providence, opened on Jan. 7.

Jason Messer, the owner of Logan’s Bricks and Minifigs, said the company currently has 60 stores, but is rapidly growing. Messer owns two other locations.

“There’ll be 80 of them by the end of this year at minimum,” Messer said. “They already got 20 in the pipeline.”

Messer has family members PHOTOS BY Aspen Marshall with roots in Cache Valley and said he was excited to open a The new Bricks & Minifigs store is located at 555 W. 100 N., Providence, Utah. store in Logan.

In addition to selling Legos, the store will buy and “I’ve just fallen in love with Cache Valley. I love it,” trade used Lego sets for a portion of the original price.

Messer said. “But really what I’m most excited about “Sometimes families just want to see it going back is just the customers and how appreciative and excited to other families,” Messer said. “The easiest way is to they are to come into the store.” set up an appointment, and they can do that on our While he enjoys his store in California, Messer said website.” the shop in Logan will have younger customers.

On Trader Tuesdays, customers under 15 years old “California is great as far as our customers are awecan trade Lego sets for 100% value up to $15. some,” Messer said. “But they tend to be a little older Steven Martinez, the area manager of Bricks and and tend to be focused a little more on collecting for Minifigs in California, has a personal love for building really fancy builds. And there in Logan, it’s a lot of with Legos. little kids just having a lot of fun, which is a lot of fun “I was a big Lego kid in my family when I was youngto be around.” er,” Martinez said. “I made stuff out of my mind, my Messer said he hopes the new store will impact Cache imagination.”

Valley positively.

Martinez said when hard times hit his family, the “One thing that I instantly took the opportunity to Lego store was a great place to enjoy himself. engage in was the librarian at the middle school right “You’re making people happy when they come in up the street,” Messer said. “They’ve got a reading here,” Martinez said. “People come in happy, and they program and if middle school kids read the books, she leave happy.” gives them little gift certificates and stuff. We gave her Martinez said his favorite part of working for the basically an unlimited supply of free minifigs cards.” company is creating builds from his imagination.

Messer said he loves supporting education.

“There are times when I make people like Rick and “I’m really excited to be supporting something posiMorty, Louise from ‘Bob’s Burgers’, Cosmo and Wanda, tive in middle school,” Messer said. “And just already The Powerpuff girls,” Martinez said. “I’ve made a Star seeing them come in after school, drop in at the store.”

Wars sign out of Legos. It’s just the creativity here in According to Messer, middle schoolers come in with the store.” their friends and talk about their memories with Legos.

Martinez said people come in often and reminisce “We have customers from as young as two years old, about the Lego sets they owned as a child. to as old as in their 90s,” Messer said. “There really is “Lego has basically touched everyone’s lives, even if something for everyone now.” they don’t know it,” Martinez said.

Messer recommends curious onlookers stop by the More information can be found at their website brickstore to see what others have created. sandminifigs.com/logan-ut.

“Young families come in, where the kids are responer ru an is a first ear student sible for conducting the transaction, actually pay for ursuin en iron ental studies and their Lego,” Messer said. “I would expect it’s not somegeography. thing families in Cache Valley can do at, say, a Walmart.

They really are able to come up to the register as a usu.edu person.”

Mayson Garrett is a sophomore majoring in International Studies. Her show, Shut Up And Listen, features just about anything she feels like playing alternative rock, r&b, jazz, punk, and more. Tune in every Friday at 3 p.m. on Aggie radio.

Grace Jeff Buckley

Wild Is The Wind Nina Simone

Static Somewhere Girlpool

Orange Moon

Erykah Badu

Stereo @zo1oft Pavement

Watching the tl try and break down the Harry Styles Chris Pine spitting allegations like its the assassination of JFK

Page 11 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 2023

Bricks and Minifigs Lego store open in Cache Valley

Page 12 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 202

Aggiepella: Building a group to last

By Harrison Larson LIFESTYLES STAFF REPORTER

A

ggiepella, a Utah State University a cappella group, began as a senior capstone project three semesters ago. Since then, the group has officially become a USU club, taking on a more formal structure. The group’s goal is to last and grow for years to come.

Lauren Knowles started Aggiepella with several friends she invited from USU chamber singers.

When the group began meeting, it had an informal structure, which changed when Knowles graduated from USU. Aggiepella is now is led by club president Michael Ellefson, who is one of the only remaining members of the original group and a student at USU. In a virtual interview, Ellefson said he was asked

by Knowles to run the group after she graduated.

“Lauren was also in that choir, she had been there for quite a while. So when she decided that she wanted to start an a cappella group for her capstone project, she just kind of grabbed all the emails from that semester that we were in there, of people in the choir, and sent out a big mass email and said, ‘Hey, if anybody is interested in doing this with me, Aggiepella auditions were held in the Chase Fine Arts building on Tuesday, Jan. 24. this is kind of what I’m planning on doing,’” Ellefson said. “And I some new things for our auditions, and we had a pretty just thought it sounded like a blast, so I just responded decent group of auditions come in this semester, which and said, ‘Yeah, that would be great,’ and so, jumped on was really amazing. So that, I think, is going to be my big that very first semester, and then after she was graduating push this semester. Make sure we get a good strong core and moving on, she asked if I would kind of take over group and get some leadership experience for people, and leading the group for her.”

I think that will really help the longevity of the club.”

Ellefson said that Aggiepella is a campus a cappella club Ellefson said he wants to see the club continue in the run by students. future.

“If people don’t know or aren’t familiar with a cappella, “I hear that there have been some clubs that have it’s like a choir, but it’s a small group, and we don’t use cropped up in the past that have just kind of died away any instruments or backtracks or anything,” Ellefson said. with time, and I would like for this to be able to just con“We make all the music with just our voices or our bodies, tinue on, and I think just creating a good foundation will so it kind of makes it fun that way.” help make that happen,” Ellefson said. “So that is kind of Ellefson said the current goal of Aggiepella is moving my vision for now, and we can travel to competitions and forward to create a better system to manage the group. do stuff like that later on, but for me, I just want to make “Last semester we kind of worked on becoming an sure the club is strong and can continue on.” official club at USU, which was a big step,” Ellefson said.

While Ellefson’s focus is on the longevity of Aggiepella, “Prior to that, it was kind of a group of us getting togethother members expressed a desire to make the group er, so that was a really big step for us, and so now we are more well-known. working on creating a better management system. People Jonah Giesler, the head of media for the group, said can have some different roles, leadership roles when during a virtual interview his interest is in growing the it comes to utilizing the campus’ advertising resources scope of Aggiepella. or things like that, and so far it worked great. We did “I would say definitely right now the push is to get word

PHOTOS BY Claire Ott

out more, because it is a fairly new group and so as time goes, we’ve been kind of under the radar,” Giesler said.

“So now we’re trying to be like, ‘Hey, we go sing at gigs, we can go and do all that stuff.’ I don’t think that a lot of people know that we have an a cappella group here on campus.”

Giesler said he has a passion for the atmosphere of Aggiepella and is appreciative of the ability to create music through the group.

“It has just been really fun. It feels so much more like a fun get-together of a group of friends that have these talents of singing and creating music, and getting together and making that into a product,” Giesler said. “We all have these creative juices flowing through us, that we were like, ‘OK, where can I put this,’ so I feel like, especially for me, this group has really helped us to guide that energy into it.”

Giesler said the group holds auditions once a semester, most recently being Jan. 24.

“We do auditions once every semester — we try and get through the semester, then we try and work on those pieces and keep the group fairly stable during that time,” Giesler said. “Every semester we’re trying to look for new

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talent, for people who want to help out, to raise the group to new heights.”

Giesler said Aggiepella is looking for people that will add something new to the group.

“Of course, it’s great to have experience, it’s great to know music, and especially, you know, experience with arranging, even if that’s not necessarily with a cappella music,” Giesler said.

“But just arranging in general, knowing some theory, but also, I feel like right now, we have a very open mind. We are just looking for whatever people can add to it. We’re open-minded to what can be new.”

Ellefson said anyone interested must have musical independence because the group is a cappella.

“Really, there’s not much required when it comes to joining the club, but there does need to be a sense of some musical independence,” Ellefson said.

“That you need to be able to learn, to sing your part. You need to be able to own it, because there aren’t very many people and there are many times in a cappella where you are singing your own part, on your own, and you have to be able to hold it well, so there does need to be a certain level of musical independence and comfortable with performing and singing — other than that, there’s not much required.”

Ellefson said that Aggiepella has yet to finalize where their performance will take place this semester.

“I really don’t know where it will be this semester, but I’m open to wherever,” Ellefson said. “There are quite a few

spaces that could work well because it is such a small group, but we’ll make sure to be really transparent and try to get the word out as best we can on social media and posters and things on campus.”

For those interested in Aggiepella, the club’s YouTube channel is called Aggiepella and they are on sInstagram @aggie.pella.

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Harrison Larson is a freshman pursuing his English degree in creative writing. When he has spare time, he loves to explore and find new things to do with friends and is always looking for a good documentary.

— A02360639@usu.edu

Page 13 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 2023

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Page 14 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 202

By Sam Warner STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sam Warner is a first-year student studying photography and outdoor product and design.

He enjoys skateboarding, photography and playing guitar.

— A02383353@usu.edu

Page 15 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 2023

Last week’s solution:

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Page 16 - The Utah Statesman, Feb. 13, 202