the advocate issue 30

A&E p. 9

ASG responds to allegations of dismissing

democratic processOpinion p. 3

Queer Straight Alliance's Pride Week highlighted by guest speakers News p. 12

the dvocateA Mt. Hood Community College Gresham, Oregon

May 28, 2010 Volume 45, Issue 30www.advocate-online.net

Index

Opinion

News

Sports

A&E

Music

p. 2-3

p. 4, 11, 12

p. 5-8

p. 9

p. 10

MHCC custodian sells beats,

produces music part-time

Music p. 10

Sports p. 5

Track athletes win shotput and 400-meter dash at NWAACCs

KMHD launch party announces public

availability

Jen AshenbernerThe Advocate

Associated Student Government Presi-dent Bradley Best on Wednesday vetoed a disciplinary bill passed by the Student Sen-ate last week, saying he wasn’t comfortable signing it as presented.

In the Senate meeting, Best took the opportunity to explain further and compli-mented the bill’s author, Sen. Charles Cook-man, for the work he did on the bill and said that he appreciates all of the time put into it and that he wants to pass the bill but cannot as it is written.

Best said his concerns regarded the vagueness in certain areas of the bill includ-ing the timeline for the investigative com-mittee.

“It doesn’t say anything about how soon information can be addressed and brought forth. Meaning --- is that a week, what is the shortest amount of time that you can launch

an investigation,” said Best.He also proposed that Senate clarify

what offense would be “deemed worthy” of the removal of a president or vice president as he said that portion of the bill is not clear.

The primary concern Best voiced was regarding Senate only requiring two-thirds votes in order to remove an elected official.

“I like the process, I like what you guys are doing, your hard work has been impec-cable, but I have to veto this,” he said. “If anybody picks this back up and puts in a unanimous vote, I will sign it faster than you can write it. I want to work with you, I want to be a part of this.”

In reponse, Cookman said, “Seeing as how Senate has had disagreements about even the smallest details, when it comes to the heavier subjects we don’t come to agree all the time. Especially with something as heated as removing a president.”

Best acknowledged Cookman’s point of

view and said that he would hope in a situ-ation such as removal of an elected official, the complaint would be serious enough that all senators would have no problem deciding to remove them from office unanimously.

Sen. Verity Bishop addressed the issue of a unanimous vote by discussing the federal impeachment requirement for a two-thirds vote.

According to Janet Campbell, MHCC political science instructor, the two processes are different because of the structure of the balance of power because of how few sena-tors are on ASMHCC Senate compared to the U.S. Senate. Campbell said, “There are two bodies involved in a federal impeach-ment process: one focuses on the accusation (House of Representatives) and one focuses on the conviction (U.S. Senate). There are a lot of people involved in the initial accu-sation, and a lot of people involved in the conviction. In the bylaws the accusation and

conviction are (handled) within the same body.”

“It’s different because there are only nine people involved and there’s not really that balance of power between the people who are accusing and the people who are con-victing,” said Campbell.

During the meeting, Vice President Bethany Peterman took a moment to clarify the veto process with the senators.

“Once a bill passes through its second reading, it is just one complete thing,” she said. “We can’t tear it back open. It doesn’t go back to author. It’s passed. When the president vetoes, he is vetoing it in its entire-ty. Once he submits his veto, this will come back onto the agenda next week and you all have the choice to overturn the veto, which puts it back into the law books and it’s all

Senate continued on page 4

Senate disciplinary bill vetoed by Best due to 'vagueness' concernsPhoto by Brett Stanley/The Advocate

Softball wins NWAACCs

Story on pages 6-7

OPINION2 The Advocate may 28, 2010

Sanne Godfrey Editor-in-Chief

Ron J. Rambo Jr. Executive Editor,Design Jake Fray Sports EditorAdvertising Manager

Brett Stanley Photo Editor

Chelsea Van BaalenA&E, Web Editor Jen Ashenberner Music Editor

Jordan Tichenor Opinion Editor

Submissions

Mt. Hood Community College26000 SE Stark Street

Gresham, Oregon 97030

E-mail [email protected]

www.advocate-online.net

503-491-7250 (Main)

503-491-7413 (Office)503-591-6064 (Fax)

Bob WatkinsAdviser

Dan ErnstAssistant Adviser

The Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission.

Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board.

The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length.

Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to [email protected]. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print.

Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

Ollie Barker Reporter

Devin Courtright Reporter

Chealsey Fischer Reporter

Jon Fuccillo Reporter

David Gambill Reporter

Chanel HillReporter

L. John King Reporter

Thelma M. Lucas Reporter

M. Michael Rose Reporter

Mario Rubio Reporter

the dvocateA

Mt. Hood Community Col-lege District board members,

administrators and President John Sygielski all seem to be buddy-buddy these days with each other and will-ing to scratch each other’s back. Each walks hand-in-hand, step-by-step, with the others, like a uniform military unit strategically planning a strike on their enemies. The problem? They aren’t walking the same line as the stu-dents, who more and more are grow-ing concerned about this — as they should be. And that strategic strike? In a matter of weeks, it will take place in the form of pick-pocketing the stu-dents they are supposed to cater to.

Instead, they seem to be catering and pandering to one another. Dur-ing open forums about how the college might implement a $50 parking fee, college officials seemed disinterested in hearing student input on why the fee was being implemented in the first place. Discussions were held as if the fee was a foregone conclusion — but it hadn’t even been officially voted on or approved yet. The initial proposal meeting was troubling in how short it was and how little discussion there was between board members – acting as budget committee members in this

instance – and Sygielski. Clearly, the president had already buttered up the committee and all necessary discus-sions had taken place earlier and else-where. This is highly inappropriate.

It is equally troubling that the bud-get committee is comprised of board members. They are one in the same. In approving the 2010-2011budget as the budget committee, they have as-sured everyone that they will do the same June 23 when acting as the dis-trict board. Listening to budget com-mittee/board member Duke Shepard at the May 19 meeting, the board ap-pears ready to do whatever Sygielski wants. Shepard responded to an au-dience member’s plea to reconsider the steep parking fee by telling her that she shouldn’t speak to the board “at budget time and ask us to make all these changes.” Shepard, when else would a person talk to the com-mittee/district board about making changes? The proposal had just been announced May 5; should she have traveled back in time upon seeing the budget proposal and coerced Sygielski and budget consultant Heidi Franklin into removing this from the proposal? Apparently, as Franklin suggested, this is the only way, the absolute only way,

to fill the $2 million gap in needed rev-enue – unless anyone else has sugges-tions they wouldn’t consider anyway.

Regardless of the fact that there is still nearly a month until the budget must be finalized, leaving plenty of room for discussion (despite Shepard’s comments), the district board and several administrators are only pup-pets doing as Sygielski says. He has control of the board and his cabinet, as well as all of the flow of informa-tion in and out of the Office of the President. If this is what board mem-bers wanted when they hired Sygiel-ski two years ago, they got everything they asked for. With these actions in mind, the students should be ready and willing to write letters, confront Sygielski and administrators, vote for new board members who will not be yes-men, and do everything else short of harrassment to get the changes they deserve. Faculty members have been invisible, saying nothing publicly to aid or at least comfort those who pay their bills. But at the forefront of this should be the Associated Student Government, many of whom have been just as silent and willing to fol-low orders, despite claiming to be the voice of the students.

Editorials

Congratulations are in order for the Saints spring sports teams for the second straight year. Softball

and track and field each put together extraordinary per-formances to come out on top. And even though baseball didn’t make it into the NWAACC tournament, they still put in one of the most impressive runs in the league this year to keep their playoff chances alive until the last day of the season.

The softball team headed into the NWAACC tourna-ment as a number two seed out of the Southern Region but for a second straight year took top honors. With the leadership of the sophomore class, along with excep-tional play from the freshmen, the Saints deserved to be NWAACC champions again. NWAACC tournament MVP Ariel Fulkerson provided the Saints with timely hits and managed her pitchers well in all four games as the Saints surged to the title.

The track and field teams proved that after having a year under their belt, the sophomores knew they could go into the NWAACC Championship meets and do well and come out as champions in their respective events. Chris Zeller and Jr. Velasquez won NWAACC gold while Anaiah Rhodes came in second in the 100 meters and third in the 200 meters, Micah Strong also finished

second in the 100 meters and third in the 200 meters. The teams also broke two school records this season, the 4x100 meters record was broken during the NWAACC Championship and the shot put record was broken earlier in the season. The 4x100 meters record stemmed from 1978 while the previous shot put record was set in 1970. All in all, it was a great year for the MHCC track and field teams.

The baseball didn’t get to make another trip to Longview to compete in the NWAACC Tournament, but in the face of the adversity the team encountered this sea-son, they truly showed how much heart MHCC sports truly have. The men lost the former NWAACC player of the year Taylor Ard after only three preseason games when he broke his hand while hitting in practice. The Saints had to win their last six games but would have needed some luck with a top team losing one game to even have a shot at the tournament. Ultimately, the Saints came up short losing, their last game to end the season.

All the Mt. Hood spring sports teams have a lot of heart and loyalty to their team and school, and congratu-lations go out for how hard they all worked this season. You have truly earned the respect from other teams in the NWAACCs.

Students begin to express displeasure toward ASG keeping them in the dark

College officials to blame for stagnant information flow

MHCC spring sports perform well throughout the season

OPINION The Advocate 3may 28, 2010

David L. MingerVice President for Student Success and Enrollment Management

As we conclude our spring Diversity Weeks, I find myself reflecting on my first months at our college. Unfortunately, this year we have seen incidents of racist hate language, bigoted bathroom graffiti, and shouted parking lot obscenities from a small number in our community.

We are fortunate that freedom of ex-pression – even hateful speech – is often ensured in the United States. Yet history shows that violence can follow hateful ut-terances. We have seen this in injustice perpetrated by various “us vs. them” hate groups in American life and history.

Because of history, those of us who

are alarmed by bigotry will, I hope, be ex-cused for feeling great concern when we see hate raise its ugly head. In the 20th century alone, some 35,654,000 people were killed in conflicts worldwide, nearly 1,000 people on average every day of ev-ery year for a century – 35 million inci-dents of terror, pain, and loss, of broken hearts, minds, and bodies, of destroyed hopes, dreams, and potential.

Who knows who lies in the waste-land of unmarked 20th century graves? Someone who might have cured cancer? A leader who could have bridged West-ern and Muslim worlds? Another Shake-speare, Gabriel García Márquez, Lao Tsu, Nguyen Van Ly or Tolstoy?

We will never know what we have lost. Yet we can embrace what we may yet be-come as a human race – fully appreciative of the richness of our diversity; under-standing that what I lack, you may have; seeing for me what I cannot; sharing with others what they need. In the end, people cannot realize their own humanity until they recognize the humanity of others. We can become far more together than we can separately.

I want to thank the students, staff, and faculty who put on our diversity events. Through such efforts, we can and will cre-ate a better world for one another, a world in which we call all strive to reach our full potential.

Guest Columns

Dear Editor,The ASMHCC Senate exists to represent

the students of Mt. Hood Community Col-lege and we take this responsibility very seri-ously. It is very disheartening that the campus media has been so uninformed and unsup-portive in their reporting of recent events.

Bill #09-116, Disciplinary Procedures, passed by the ASMHCC Senate, is modeled after the impeachment process of the United States Government. As stated in article. I. – The Legislative Branch, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, “The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments . . . and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.” Just as students’ votes are not a part of the removal of a student body president as ASMHCC, the vote of the American people is not a part of the impeachment process out-lined in the U.S. Constitution. The bill #09-116 calls for a 4/5ths majority which is 12 of 15 seated senators. Two thirds would only be 10 out of 15 seated senators.

The complaint that bill #09-116 disre-gards the democratic process is uninformed and inflammatory. Many other colleges across the country have a removal process similar to the ASMHCC, for example Santa Fe College. Anyone can access their by-laws at:

http://dept.sfcollege.edu/stuorg/stugov/content/docs/studentgovermentcontitiution.pdf

Check out Article 7, Impeachment.The ASG office is located in the College

Center. Please feel free to come speak with the ASMHCC Senate to clear up any concerns you may have.

Verity BishopChair of the ASG Membership Commit-

teeSenator of nursing and allied health

Letter to the Editor

Illegal immigration is once again a huge issue across America, but an even bigger issue (literally) is being totally ignored.

Immigration questions and issues seem to have plagued the United States for the last 10 years, occasionally flaring up with racists/phony patriots screaming about the costs that illegal immigration supposedly imposes on the Ameri-can economy by way of medical costs, welfare and job-steal-ing. What people should really be concerning themselves with, rather than the race of a person, is the weight of a person and those costs on American society. No one can control what they were born as, but they can control how fat they are. Therefore, yours truly is introducing (or at least supporting) the Fatist Movement, coming soon to a town near you!

Arizona’s recently-passed controversial law, allowing cops to pull over anyone suspicious and demand to see their immigration papers, has been burning up a lot of people recently, especially Los Angelenos, whose City Council re-cently passed a boycott of contracts with Arizona compa-nies, as well as most forms of travel to the state. Apparently, Californians have a short memory: As recently as 1998, California’s Highway Patrol (CHP) ran a program called Operation Pipeline, which was being used to search and de-tain Hispanic drivers to determine if they were transporting drugs and guns. Essentially, they were racially profiling — the same way Arizona law enforcement is — to see if they could catch illegal conduct in action. Hypocrisy is amazing.

No matter who is doing the profiling, citizens should in-stead turn their prying eyes to obese Americans preying on

and feeding our national debt. While estimates of cost of illegal immigrants range from $1.9 billion to $19.3 billion (according to The Urban Institute and Rice University, re-spectively), neither number comes close to the hefty cost of fat folks: Business Insider reported one year ago that fat people cost the U.S. economy $117 billion, a fact supported by the Office of the Surgeon General.

The conservative Center for Immigration Studies said in a report the net federal cost of illegal immigrants is under $10.4 billion a year. “In terms of welfare use, receipt of cash assistance programs tends to be very low, while Medic-aid use, though significant, is still less than for other house-holds,” the report said. Considering most of the Medicaid costs were for children born in the United States, also known as American citizens, that number should shrink to under $10 billion, according to factcheck.org. The report also said they estimate more than half of illegals “work on the books,” which allows them to pay taxes.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of American adults over the age of 20 are overweight or obese according to Business Insid-er. Because food production accounts for about one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions, and fat people eat more food, they’re also responsible for one ton more carbon dioxide per year than thin people, according to the New York Daily News. Fat people get worse gas mileage for their vehicles, because for every 100-pound increase in the weight a vehicle is carrying, you can count on losing at least 2 percent in gas mileage. Fat people are also less likely to achieve the types of high-paying jobs others might due to the fact that, you guessed it, they’re fat. A staggering 93 percent of British Human Resource officers would rather give a promotion to a thin person than a fat person, even if they’re equally quali-fied, according to research by The Telegraph.

Fat people can also count on the possibility of employers starting to dock paychecks for being too fat. Clarian Health, a hospital in Indianapolis, has already begun this process to help cover increasing health care costs. And why not? Unhealthy people should pay more for health care; it’s those

same people who are weighing the system down. Similar stances should be invoked on airlines as well, whose fuel costs on average have increased by $275 million per year because of fatter flyers. Airline companies: Start charging by the pound.

The health risks are obvious to all who can see but fat people might be too stupid to realize them. Seriously. Sev-eral U.S. and European studies have found fat people to have less brain tissue, worse cognitive ability and get worse grades on average than skinny folks. All this might be dishearten-ing, fat people, but don’t kill yourselves yet: Fat people cost more to bury because they take up more space in a cemetery.

Perhaps Tea-Baggers, whose movement of collectively angry, old, white people hell-bent on curbing all excess costs, should do something productive and turn against them-selves. Here’s some Tea-Bagger logic: Most Tea-Baggers are white, and most white people are fat. Start cutting costs by cutting some bacon off your own backs. Have a diet ice water. Stop eating greasy, crappy food, and spend some time on a treadmill.

To all you ageists, racists, sexists: Get over those things — they can’t be naturally controlled. Instead, join a movement with a true benefit and a healthy purpose.

Ron J. Rambo Jr.The Advocate

Illegal immigration activists should be more angry at fat people

Senate bill does not disregard

democratic process

Everyone should strive to end modern-day racism

William A. YorkMHCC student

I sent the following letter to a group of ASG senators about 8:30 a.m. Monday morning, May 24. To date (Wednesday, May 26) I have had no responses.

In voting for this bill, you have removed the right of the students to weigh in on the process of removing the only two positions in ASG that are elected by the vote of students. I am somewhat familiar with the issues involved, and I must say that drafting this bill while in the middle of what is effectively an ongoing witch hunt against ASG President Bradley Best is not just poor timing, but reeks of corruption, and foul play on your part. Were it left up to me, it is you who should be removed from office, for your aggressive attitude towards not involving students in this process. I should not have had to find out in the college paper of your heinous, reprehen-sible and irresponsible actions. This is proof that you have ignored your fiduciary responsibility to represent the students in this college by act-ing in collusion with other senators and ASG executive cabinet members. Thankfully, your conspiracy has not gone unnoticed.Sincerely, William York

I express revulsion that the senators have left students out of the process. It is my opinion that the senators that wrote, sponsored

and voted for this bill should be removed. It is my belief that by not more fully involving students in this process, the ASG senators in-volved have violated a duty that they have sworn an oath to uphold. I have been told by several of my peers on campus that some senators have openly stated that they feel my letter is “hate mail” and some, I am told, have even called my letter “hate-speech.” Perhaps it is my age, 53, or that I am a U.S. Navy vet-eran, but when others who are in public positions of power, are a privileged minority, have access to funds, have priority access to administration officials, and who are charged with represent-ing all students at MHCC, take steps to remove the rights of other students, I feel I have no choice to speak up. And loudly. By not responding in a timely fashion, what it does say is that dia-logue on this topic is not wanted. Which only further proves my point that the senators behave as though they are not sincerely interested in student opinion. I reached out to them, expressing my extreme displeasure at how they have behaved in this matter, with the hopes that it would stimulate a dialogue.

Since it is understood that silence equals agreement, and since it has been over 48 hours, and no senator has responded or re-plied to me, should I assume that by their silence that they agree with my assessment of their actions? I’m guessing no. Doesn’t change how I feel about their behavior as public officials.

I spoke up, and I spoke out about what I see is the wrongful usurpation of MHCC students rights, by a privileged few. My reward has been to be ignored and ridiculed. My crime? Getting involved. Is this the new face of ASG? I sincerely hope not.

Student letter to ASG about new bill labeled 'hate-speak'

Inhabited by mostly fat people

Editor’s note:On May 19, the ASMHCC Senate approved a bill which

allows the Senate to remove the ASG president with 4/5th’s majority vote.

Editor’s note:ASMHCC Senate bill #09-116 outlines a

removal process for the ASG president with-out an impeachment process. An impeach-ment process involves a public trial, while the removal process does not include a public trial. One can be impeached without being removed from office.

news4 The Advocate may 28, 2010

CalendarFRIDAY, MAY 28

Saturday, MAY 29

CRST Big Wave Decathon From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.at the Aquatic Center

Sunday, MAY 30

CRST Big Wave DecathlonFrom 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.at the Aquatic Center

Tuesday, JUNE 1

Monday, MAY 31

Jazz Night From 7:30 p.m. toin the College Theater

Student Success Seminar “Steps to Successful Test Taking” From noon to 1 p.m.

in toom 1152

Student Success Seminar “Understanding Test Anxiety”

From 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.in Room 2307

Wednesday, JUNE 2

Thursday, JUNE 3

The AdvocateIssue 25In news stands aroundcampus

Student Sucess Seminar"Getting the Most FromYour Textbooks”From 3 to 4 p.m.in Room 2307

Softball at Clackamas C.C.

Starts at 3 p.m.in Oregon City, Ore.

Friday, JUNE 4

Student Sucess Seminar“Green Careers”From 2 to 3 p.m.in Room 1152

Student Success Seminar“Time Management”From 4 to 5 p.m.in Room 2307

Student Success Seminar “Steps to Successful Test Taking” from noon to 1 p.m.in Room 3315

Student Success Seminar“Study Techniques for Line Learners”From noon to 1 p.m.in Room 2307

Student Success Seminar“How to Write a Resume”From 2 to 3 p.m.in Room 1152

Student Success Seminar“Understanding Test Anxiety”

From noon to 1 p.m.in Room 2307

done. Or to vote against that and it’s vetoed and it dies and doesn’t come back.”

Another issue Best said was a factor in his decision not to sign the bill is his belief that there is already a formal complaint and disci-plinary process in place and administered by MHCC. He said there should be no reason for there to be another disciplinary process han-dled by Senate.

“MHCC already has a formal process for complaints,” he said. “I just went through it myself.”

The formal process Best went through hap-pened as a result of a complaint being lodged against him for harassment and following a student to class on April 30. Best said in an interview Tuesday that he presented evidence supporting his defense that he would have been unable to follow the student at the time they

claimed. “It seems to me that the ASMHCC Senate

is trying to generate a double whammy,” Best said at the Senate meeting. “You can be tried for breaking the student code of conduct in the Senate and you can be tried for breaking the student code of conduct by MHCC at the same time.”

Best continued by comparing the “double whammy” to what is a “double jeopardy” in federal law.

“You cannot be tried for the same crimes again, and again, and again,” he said.

The question of whether it would be con-sidered the same as a double jeopardy was ad-dressed later by Robert Cox, dean of student services.

“The conduct process is not a legal process. Federal courts all the way to the federal Su-

preme Court have said college campuses can do conduct processes completely separate from the legal processes because it’s an educational way for students to learn from their behavior and move successfully through life and their education,” said Cox. “The word double jeop-ardy doesn’t even apply in this case.”

In his explanation, Cox used the example of a student caught cheating on a test. Accord-ing to the student code of conduct, the teacher has three choices. They can send it to Cox for conduct review, or handle it on their own by giving the student an F on the test, or they can choose to do both. Cox said ASG has the op-tion of dealing with the issue on their own and/or send to him for conduct review but that it may not meet Senate’s needs “in terms of mov-ing together in a harmonious organization for the remainder of the year.”

Senate continued from page 1:

Best: No need to change from current disciplinary process

Jordan TichenorThe Advocate

The state-mandated 150-day time period for contract negotiations began Wednesday in the MHCC full-time faculty contract negotiations.

The faculty association proposed that the 150-day period start with Wednesday’s bargaining session.

While the administration did not comment during the meeting, Ran-dy Stedman, the labor relations consultant hired by the board to bargain the contract for the administration, said after the meeting the administra-tion has “no objection” to the clock starting with Wednesday’s session.

The negotiations must be concluded within this 150-day period. The full-time faculty association also gave their list of proposals to

the administration. The administration appeared to accept the propos-als, with the exception of wording in Article 7.

The administration will give their list of proposals during Wednes-day’s 4:30 p.m. bargaining session in the district board room.

150-day faculty contract negotiation period begins

Sanne GodfreyThe Advocate

MHCC is getting ready for graduation and commencement ceremo-nies on June 10 and 11.

The GED/Adult High School Diploma Graduation will begin at 7 p.m. on June 10 in the Earl Klapstein Stadium, while the College Com-mencement Ceremony will start at 7 p.m. on June 11 at the same loca-tion.

ASG President Bradley Best will be speaking during the commence-ment ceremony about “being your dream” MHCC President John

Sygielski will also be speaking at the event.Graduating students are asked to be in the gymnasium no later than

6 p.m. the day of the ceremony.A rehearsal for the commencement ceremony will take place at 2 p.m.

and instructions will be mailed early June, according to the MHCC web-site.

Caps and gowns are available at the MHCC bookstore for $27.99 until June 11.

Seating for the ceremony will be by general admission, therefore no tickets are required.

College prepares to bid farewell to graduating students

College works on improving advising center by adding new software to create better understanding for students

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"Challenges with the new programs are getting people comfortable with the new techonology, it pushes us out of our comfort zone, and it's natural for us to fear the worst"

David MingerVice president of student

success and enrollment

Venture Magazine hits newstands on campus

Wednesday at all Advocate

Newstands!

Ollie BarkerThe Advocate

Changes have been implemented in the Academic Advising Center with hopes in creating better understanding and process for students, according to David Minger, vice president of student success and enrollment management.

Minger said he has been trying for a change he thinks will be a benefit for both faculty and students.

Minger said, “One significant change we are starting with is group advising.” There are signs around campus showing that group advising will be available starting next term. Minger said, “Students have a lot of the same questions. Having group advising is a more efficient way of addressing those ques-tions.” Students can discuss questions in the group and everyone can hear the advisers reply.

Minger said, “Another thing we are start-

ing is advising software to produce a schedule for students’ specific needs. The software is an opportunity for students to become more efficient; it helps pick the best match for long-term career goals. We are trying to set up live chats with academic advisers here on campus for those who have busy schedules.”

“The software has a series of tests that help evaluate different values and person-alities for possible future direction. It is per-fectly fine for students not knowing which direction they want to go. We are gathering the information from students and helping them make decisions later. Students have a purpose, to explore and find what they want to do.” In a best case scenario, this advising program will be offered best scenario sum-mer term, Minger said; otherwise, the latest will be fall term.

Getting to know new programs can cause frustration for both students and faculty. Minger addressed these challenges by having

the advising staff learn the new technology to show students how to make it work for them.

“The Challenge with the new programs is getting people comfortable with the new technology; it pushes us out of our com-fort zone, and it’s natural for us to fear the worst, the normal human fear of change.” Once the program is working, and advisers are comfortable with the software, it will cut costs, Minger said.

Peggy Maas Manager of enrollment management and advising services, said, “The group advising started this week. Workshops are available two times a day

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, starting everyday after July 12. Students seem to ap-preciate the help they’re getting on how to pick courses, navigate through the website, and other issues that arrive.”

Maas said, “This way we’re able to help serve several students at one time.” The workshops consist of 12 students and two advisers who answer each of the ques-tions asked. Each student has a computer to work on during the advising session. The workshop is about an hour and a half long.

Maas said, “Some advisers have worked with group sessions, and every adviser has gone through training on how to use the pro-grams and how to help students.” She said, “We also might start calling students to re-mind them that they signed up for a work-shop.”

“Some advisers have worked with group

sessions, and every adviser has gone through training

on how to use the programs and how to help students.”

Peggy MaasManager of enrollment

managment and advising services

May 28, 2010

dvocateA SPORTS

Saints earnsecond straight

NWAACC title

Sports p. 6-7

the


Two MHCC athletes won their events Monday and Tuesday at the NWAACC Track and Field Championship in Spokane, Wash.

Jr. Velasquez won the shot put with a dis-tance of 52’6.5” and Chris Zeller won the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.40.

Head coach Matt Hart said he expected both of these athletes to do well because they had been NWAACC leaders all year long.

Zeller ran a lifetime PR in the 400 meters when he went from 51.10 to 48.40 during the championship. Hart said, “That’s a huge jump in terms of times.”

Zeller also ran the final leg in the 4x100-meter relay where the men’s team finished second with a time of 41.65, shattering the school record set in 1978 with a time of 42.01.

Hart said that assistant distance coach Keith Maneval and he had been trying to break the record for years and the team came together this year with continuity and consis-tency and it was a real team effort.

Hart said the team passed the baton well and with 100 meters to go the team was in the lead but Spokane, who ended up winning the relay with a time of 41.40, put their strongest runner Michael Vetter in last. Vetter had won the 100 meters the day before.

Hart said he’s proud of the team for push-ing it all the way through and shattering the record.

“This was the best fit for everybody,” said Hart. “It highlighted the strength and charac-teristics of running.”

The MHCC relay team came in third in the 4x400 meters with a time of 3:21.58 be-hind Clackamas and Spokane.

Sophomore Micah Strong, who also com-peted in both relays, came in second in the 100 meters with a time of 11.04 and third in the 200 meters with a time of 22.24.

Women’s sprinter Anaiah Rhodes came in second in the 100 meters with a time of 12.58 and third in the 200 meters with a time of 25.43.

Rhodes said, “At first I was disappointed

but I’m glad to have the opportunity to com-pete.”

Hart said Rhodes is a very poised athlete and competed strong in both events.

Rhodes also competed in the 4x400-meter relay where the team finished sixth with a time of 4:23.04. Rhodes said she was very nervous the second day.

Fellow Saint Kelsey Strot finished second in the shot put with a distance of 42’11.5” and she came in fourth in the discus with a dis-tance of 114’9”

Adrian Weber came in fourth place in the discus for the men with a distance of 141’10.” Weber said about NWAACCs that “overall it was okay, but the year was good.”

Weber also competed in the shot put where he placed tenth with a distance of 39’10.5”. In the hammer throw, he finished tenth with a distance of 94’2” and he finished eighth in the javelin with a distance of 167’4”.

Weber had PRs in all events throughout the year.

Hart said this year the team was a goal-oriented and team-oriented bunch of people with great personalities and no drama, just success.

Hart has been recruiting for next year and said that if everything goes according to plan, the teams will shape up well next year.

Sophomore Brian Howelton was injured earlier in the season and is a medical redshirt this year. Hart hopes he’ll be back next year.

Hart said there are several strong athletes returning to MHCC next year, including Zach Young who came in fifth in the 400-me-ter hurdles with a time of 54.99 and eighth in the 110- meter hurdles with a time of 15.80.

This is if all the students come through, he said, and when asked if he had confidence, Hart said that nowadays there is no such thing. He was confident at the beginning of this year with the women’s team but lost quite a few athletes due to “flipping out, flaking out or flunking out.”

However, Hart said, these are student-ath-letes and that their education is a very impor-tant piece of this equation.

MHCC finishes record breaking season at NWAACCs

MHCC athlete (center) Micah Strong passes the baton to Nick Mulich in the 4x100 meter race setting a new school record with a time of 41.65 at the NWAACC Championsips in Spokane, Wash. last Tuesday.

Two school records broken throughout the track and field season

“At first I was disappointed but I’m glad to have the opportunity to

compete.”Anaiah Rhodes

MHCC athlete

Anaiah Rhodes (far left) running for a second place finish at the 2010 NWAACC Championships in Spokane, Wash. Rhodes finished second in the 100 and 200-meter dash.

Contributed photo by Matt Hart

Contributed photo by Matt Hart

SPORTS6 The Advocate

Saints softball repeat sweep in NWAACC championship

Sophomore class leads the way; Fulkerson earns MVPPhoto by Brett Stanley/ The Advocate

Photo by Brett Stanley/ The Advocate

The Saints pinchrunner Kerri Yoder slides safely into home against the Wenatchee Valley Warriors in the quarterfinals during Monday’s NWAACC Championship Tournament at Delta Park. The Saints went 4-0 to win their second straight NWAACC title.

Sophomores Ari VanHorn slides into third base during the championship game while Head Coach Meadow McWhorter tells her to stop. The Saints won the championship game 7-4 against Southwestern Oregon Community College Monday at Delta Park.

“Words can’t describe how I feel.All this work we put into this year and having it pay off just makes

me unable to describe it. It is just the best

feeling in the world.”

Ari VanHornSaints softball second baseman

Jake FrayThe Advocate

For sophomore third baseman Nicole Colpron, winning the NWAACC championship once wasn’t enough for her and her fellow sophomores.

This was the year they wanted to be remembered as “‘08 The Great” since all the sophomores graduated high school in 2008. “We worked hard for this,” Colpron said.

That motto propelled them all the way to the title game against Southwestern Oregon Community College where the Saints won their second title in a row Monday at Delta Park.

“Words can’t describe how I feel,” said fellow sophomore and Saints second baseman Ari VanHorn. “All this work we put into this year and having it pay off just makes me unable to describe it. It is just the best feeling in the world.”

Unlike last season where the Saints rode to the title on the arm of Lauren Hadenfeld, this team relied on what had been working for them all season long with freshmen Chelsea Schrib-er and Kayla Anderson and sophomore Myranda Sawyer all picking up wins in the tournament.

“I can’t tell you how proud of all of them I was,” said Head Coach Meadow McWhorter. “They all knew they were a team and we weren’t going to rely on just one of them. They all were there to help each other in every game.”

The tournament started off rough, as bad weather forced the Saints to play a waiting game. Originally scheduled to start play on Friday, the Saints started a day late on Saturday but were only able to play two innings before rain halted their first game against Centralia CC.

“We never lost our focus,” said VanHorn. “When there was a chance we could have been playing a game at midnight, we

SPORTS May 28, 2010

Game 4-MondayChampionship Game

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H

Saints 1 0 1 5 0 0 0 7 12

Lakers 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 4 9

WP- Myranda Sawyer (10-4) 1 k

LP- Annaleisha Parsley (19-6) 4 k's

Game 3-Monday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R HRed Devils 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 5 6

Saints 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 8 10

WP- Kayla Anderson (11-2) 3 k's

LP- Emily Sinclair (14-6) 2 k's

Game 2-Monday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H

Knights 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5

Saints 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 5 9

WP- Chelsea Schriber (13-2) 13 k's

LP- Sydnee Jerome (19-5) 5 k's

Game 1-Sunday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H

Blazers 0 0 0 0 1 x x 1 3

Saints 6 6 7 0 x x x 19 12

WP- Chelsea Schriber (12-2) 5 k's

LP- Samantha Hall (5-10) 4 k's

Softball NWAACC Championship 2010

Box Score

Saints softball repeat sweep in NWAACC championship

NWAACC Coach of the Year : Meadow McWhorter

All-Tournament Team:MVP - Ariel Fulkerson, catcher

Nicole Colpron - third base

Bre Thomas - center field

Jessica Guy - right field

Chelsea Schriber - pitcher

Sophomore class leads the way; Fulkerson earns MVPSaints NWAACC

Tournament Honors

Ariel FulkersonTournament MVP



“The Southern Region is a hard conference to play in. We face

the toughest pitchers every game in NWAACC so we were ready. We felt we were more

deserving than them.”

Bre ThomasSaints softball centerfielder

Sophomores Ari VanHorn (12) and Sarah McGregor give a chest bump during the semifinal game against Lower Columbia Community College with the Saints winning 8-5 Monday.The Saints pinchrunner Kerri Yoder slides safely into home against the Wenatchee Valley Warriors in the quarterfinals during Monday’s NWAACC Championship Tournament at Delta Park. The Saints went 4-0 to win their second straight NWAACC title.

-Information gathered by Jon Fuccillo

didn’t care. We were ready to take care of business.”The tournament was then switched to a single elimina-

tion tournament in which the Saints had to win three straight games with just 15 minutes between games. But even that didn’t slow the Saints in their quest to their second NWAACC title.

“It helped we had that 6-0 lead after two innings against Centralia,” said McWhorter. “It kept the tension down which really helped us.”

The Saints ended up winning 19-1 after five innings. The Saints then had to wait until Monday before going against NWAACC pitcher of the year Sydnee Jerome of Wenatchee Valley. The Saints exploded quickly with nine hits to win the game 5-1.

On one side of the semifinals, it became an all-Southern Region affair with the Saints facing off against Lower Colum-bia. Clackamas was up against SWOCC on the other side of the draw.

“The Southern Region is a hard conference to play in,” said sophomore centerfielder Bre Thomas who went 8-8 on leadoff bunts in the tournament. “We face the toughest pitch-ers every game in NWAACC so we were ready. We felt we were more deserving than them.”

NWAACC tournament MVP catcher Ariel Fulkerson said the Saints were ready to go to battle against Lower Columbia.

“When our bats came alive, it became contagious,” she said. “Bre leads off for us and then you get a hit and pretty soon the whole team starts to hit. We couldn’t be beat.”

Thomas said, “In my head, I always said if I can start it, we will do well at the plate.”

The Saints headed into the finals against SWOCC ready to play and full of respect.

“We respect that team so much,” said Colpron, “how they act on the field and how they play. We respect them as a team. We were happy they beat Clackamas and we got to play them for the title.”

Fulkerson said pitcher Chelsea Schriber was more than ready to lead the team.

“I always make sure my pitchers are ready to go,” she said. “Their success is my success. It is my job to get them ready and go out and help the team.”

The Saints scored first against SWOCC before giving up three runs in the third inning to be down 3-1.

“I didn’t have to tell them anything,” said McWhorter. “If I had to talk to them and tell them what to do, I wouldn’t be do-ing my job correctly. They knew what needed to happen in that moment and that is what they did.”

The Saints scored six runs in the next two innings to win the game.

“Mentally this team was 100 percent prepared to win the tournament,” said McWhorter.

VanHorn said, “She had us out there running sprints that morning and we were the only team doing that.”

McWhorter said, “My girls train harder than any team in the NWAACCs and that is why we deserved this.”

For the second straight year, McWhorter earned NWAACC coach of the year while Fulkerson earned her tournament MVP award.

“With how hard she works for us, she deserves it,” said Thomas. “It is her job to call the game for us and she was the leader of the team.”

Colpron said, “She memorizes every number off every play-er before a game and knows exactly how to pitch to every single one of them. She doesn’t look at Coach for the signs. She is the one calling the pitches and totally deserves to be the MVP.”

McWhorter said, “It takes a lot of respect and confidence to let a catcher call the game so that shows you how much I believed in her all year. She earned her MVP award because she called the shots.”

VanHorn said, “I have the utmost respect for her as a person. She has a good head on her shoulders and when she speaks, people listen.”

As for next year, the Saints are already gearing up for a three-peat and can’t wait for next season, according to McWhorter.

“At the tournament, the freshmen were already talking about next year,” she said. “The NWAACC is getting stronger every year so we have to be ready if we want to win it again.”

SPORTS8 The Advocate May 28, 2010

Saints softballdeserves all therespect in the world

Jon FuccilloThe Advocate

Basketball to host scramble golf tournament fundraiser

Saints luck finally runs out...

Contributed photo by Bill Jaworski

Saint lose final game, miss postseason for first time in 16 years“This is motivation for next year.

The team as a whole (next season) will be a little bit more hungry."

Bryan Donohue Head baseball coach

Freshman first baseman Grant Fink takes to the plate in the Saints final home game of the season. They finished the season with an overall record of 25-19.

Jake FrayThe Advocate

The men’s basketball team is holding a four-person scramble golf tournament June 18 at Gresham Golf Course.

“We are just trying to raise some money for the team,” said Saints forward Dustin Jones. “It’s a fun tournament to raise some money for us next year. It’s nice to see the support.”

All proceeds from the event will go to cov-ering the team’s traveling expenses, commu-

nity service projects, team apparel and team-building events.

“It’s not a competitive tournament,” said Jones. “We are just going out there to raise money and have fun. It’s not a competition.”

However, Head Coach Geoff Gibor says it gets competitive out there.

“It gets pretty competitive,” said Gibor. “The competition gets going out there but that is because they are a competitive group of guys. The players are out there at every hole talking” to the golfers.

To register, contact Gibor at 503-449-2306. To play, it costs $100 per player or $500 per foursome, which includes a hole sponsorship. The fees cover 18 holes, a golf cart, and a buffet dinner and awards ban-quet.

Prizes include shot closest to the pin and longest drive and the basketball team will also give out raffle prizes.

“It will be nice to see all the people out there knowing they are supporting us for next season,” said Jones.

Jon FuccilloThe Advocate

A rare occurrence took place May 20: The Saints baseball team missed out on this season’s NWAACC tournament.

The Saints split a doubleheader against the Clackamas Communi-ty College Cougars but missed the playoffs by two games and finished the season in third place in the South Region with a record of 18-12 (25-19 overall).

With all of the circumstances that needed to occur on that last day for the team to make the postseason — including losses by both the Chemeketa Community College Storm (21-9) and the Lane Commu-nity College Titans (20-10) — it became too much to handle with little to no time left in the season.

Nevertheless, the Saints took six out of eight games in the final stretch of the season.

“There are always should-haves, could-haves and what-ifs,” said catcher Corey Davis, who will attend Wright State (Dayton, Ohio) next year, on the outcome of the season. “But unfortunately, that’s baseball for you.”

Head Coach Bryan Donohue added, “We weren’t happy, but I was real proud of these guys for coming together at the end. This is motivation for next year. The team as a whole (next season) will be a little bit more hungry.”

Lefty Nate Dolman tossed seven in-nings of one-run ball in game one against the Cougars to improve to 3-1. The Saints ran away with a 9-1 victory with a strong offensive performance behind Dolman.

“He did what he did all year,” said Dono-hue on Dolman’s performance o n the mound. “He looked really good.”

The Saints offense beat up on the pitching of Taylor Hill (5-7) of the Cougars. The team ended the game with 15 hits, including a 4-for-5 performance by center-fielder Michael Blake, who led the Southern Region with a .387 bat-ting average.

Left-fielder Matt Nylen hit a three-run shot over the left-field fence in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-0 lead. This was Nylen’s first homerun of the season.

In game two of the doubleheader, the tides turned for the Saints and they fell apart quickly. Matt Pechmann (3-4) threw less than two innings before Donohue pulled him when the Cougars broke out with an early 3-0 lead.

Freshmen John Yearout, Alex Keenan and Cam Foster all saw ac-tion in relief in the 7-2 loss.

Freshman Michael Seifert, who did not play in the final double-header, was very impressed with the pitching staff this season.

“I think we exceeded expectations, coming in with no college ex-perience,” said the relief pitcher who ended the year with a perfect record of 3-0, seven saves and a 1.82 ERA. “What stood out to me was our confidence on the mound. We weren’t fazed and played up to the level of our opponents from the get-go. We just needed to work

on consistency.”Asked when it started to sink in that they wouldn’t be playing in the NWAACC tournament this year, co-

captain Davis said it wasn’t until after the loss that he realized it was too late.

“Honestly, it really didn’t start to hit home until we actually lost the game,” said Davis. “I thought we had the most talent in the region. But you can’t just win games based on talent. Other teams capitalized on our mistakes all season long.”

Although the Saints didn’t make the post-season, they once again dominated in the Southern Region awards categories. Nine players were selected for either first-team or

second-team honors. On the first team were: Blake (outfield), Davis (catcher), Tanner Hodg-

es (shortstop), Griffin Boyd (third base), Jeremy Burright (starting pitcher) and Derek Hough (util-

ity). On the second team were: Nylen (outfield), Dol-man (starting pitcher) and Seifert (relief pitcher) pitcher).

Davis, Hodges and Boyd were all awarded regional gold gloves in their respective positions.

Four Saints were selected to play this summer for the Corvallis Knights, one of the elite summer league teams in the Northwest. The Knights play their home games at Goss Stadium in Corvallis, home of the Oregon State Beavers. They are part of the West Coast League (WCL). Davis and Blake grabbed roster spots while Boyd and Burright were offered 10-day contracts.

Last season’s MHCC first baseman Taylor Ard became the fifth player in the Knight’s history since 1990 to lead the team in homeruns (5), RBIs (40) and batting average (.387). Last season, the Knights fin-ished the summer 49-13 and were the WCL West Champions.

The four MHCC players will reunite with former Saint and now Beaver Dylan Jones, who will be a utility player.

Saints ‘09-‘10 StatsOverall Record:

25-19Southern Region

Record18-12

Third inSouthern Region

For the second consecutive year, the Saints softball team has gone where only the best of

the best can go: they are NWAACC champions.

Not only did they sweep the 16-team tournament, but they did it in a do-or-die format dictated by weather constrictions. Since the Northwest weather gods produced a downpour that seemed to last 48 straight hours, the tournament officials were forced to scrap the normal format where a team could get a second chance com-ing out of the losers bracket, if nec-essary. The only way to survive was winning and advancing.

And that is exactly what they did — and proved that MHCC softball has, hands down, the most energetic and charismatic team on campus.

Although it may seem cliché and an easy task to write a column about an enormously successful team (33-9 overall), this column is not about their record or talent. It is about much more than that.

It starts with the magical coaching staff and extends all the way down the chain of players. What this pro-gram has to offer on a yearly basis is highly contagious.

It begins with the skipper, Mead-ow McWhorter, who still holds many records as a pitcher here. She is full of positives and smiles, not to mention being one of the most gentle souls you could meet. All teams should hope to experience a leader of this type. She also holds a special passion for the game that you need to witness in per-son. You can see the fire in her eyes, the will to settle for nothing less than a championship with a championship group of players.

McWhorter would be the first one to tell you that there isn’t one MVP on this team, and that it’s a group ef-fort.

Thinking back on last year’s title team, it was hard to imagine a more well-rounded group of young wom-en. But this year’s team added to that success with a blend of strong sopho-more leadership, kindness and respect that took down any form of adversity in its path. The old saying, “Kill them with kindness,” played a significant role in their domination. There was never a moment when any one player wore a frown on her face. It was all smiles, all the time.

Of course, amazing skill at every position didn’t hurt the cause. This produced remarkable back-to-back-to-back victories on Monday — at 10 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m. — to be crowned champs.

According to the unwritten rules of softball, they played the game the right way. No one individual stood out from the others. There wasn’t a single person on the playing field or on the bench who didn’t contribute to their four-game sweep of the cham-pionship.

The chants, screaming, laughing, praising, smiling, thumbs up after clutch hits, handshakes, high fives of all sorts — anything that you can imagine — played a factor in separat-ing themselves from their opponents.

As a bystander or fan of the game, it was as if you were right there in the action. That was the vibe that spread through Delta Park when the Saints played.

You could tell they wanted it more. It was apparent in their performance. And for that reason, they persevered and executed time after time in must-win situations.

A&E The Advocate 9MAY 28, 2010

KMHD2 celebrates launch with festivities in Vista

Ceramics sale benefits club account, gets 'wonderful reactions'


The radio broadcasting students held a launch party Wednesday in the Vista Dining Center to get the word out about MHCC’s high definition radio station KMHD2.

Broadcasting student Mara Becker said, “We’ve been in HD for a couple weeks; the launch party is to make a pub-lic announcement.

“Since we’ve gone HD, we’ve been able to reach a larger listening audience. The launch party was an opportunity to celebrate that accomplishment.”

The party featured the Portland band No Kind of Rider, Daryl Kirk, and the hip-hop group Flynn. The station also gave away two HD radios to students who entered the online contest featured on www.facebook.com.

Students who attended the launch party were offered cake, popcorn, and

raffled off prize packs that included CDs. Associated Student Government President-elect Larry Collins-Morgan and Vice president-elect Jon Francis were the masters of ceremonies for the event. The two are also broadcasting students.

Collins-Morgan said of KMHD2, “People should expect to hear sport, talk, and variety shows, and music on the sta-tion.”

The party was originally scheduled to be held in the Main Mall but was moved into the Vista Dining Center due to rainy weather.

KMHD2 can be listened to via a high definition radio or the live stream-ing available from the station’s website kmhd2.org. The station is also broadcast on campus. The station offers a variety of music including rock, hip-hop, metal. To find more about the new radio station, go to kmhd2.org website for show sched-ules and a local concert calendar.

Thelma M. LucasThe Advocate

The spring student ceramic sale this week in the Main Mall rep-resented a wide variety of techniques including soda glaze, wood-fired pots and pots finished in high-fire gas kilns.

Stephen Mickey, instructor of vi-sual arts, said, “The Ceramics Club is a

group of ceramics stu-dents who raise money so

the club can go on field trips, build special kilns for club usage and

organize visiting artist events in the classroom.”

There was some porcelain dinnerware, tea ware and decorative vases.

“There were beautiful pieces of ceramics. There were wonderful reactions from staff and faculty.” said Mickey.

Ceramics student Elisa Mitchell said, “My art is very ther-apeutic; it’s a great way to meditate when you are throwing.

It’s just you and the clay and you don’t have any outside interfer-ence. You have a lot of time to think about everything.”

The Ceramics Club promotes and organizes ceramic workshop activi-ties, field trips and hold a yearly ceramic sale as a fundraiser for the club.

Although an exact dol-lar amount for the sale is still unknown, according to Mickey, “It helped re-fill the club account.”

For more information about the Ceramics Club, stop by the College Center, Room 1051, for an ap-plication to join the club and meeting times, or call 503-491-7277.

Chanel Hill also contributed information for this story.

Photos by Ollie Barker/The AdvocateA party was held Wednesday in the Vista Dining Center to celebrate the launch of MHCC’s radio station KMHD2. The station is in high definition and will be available for listening through HD radios, the web and on campus.

Photo by Devin Courtright/The Advocate

Perceptions’ managing editor Megan Jones speaks at the Perceptions dinner

party Wednesday.

Photo by Devin Courtright/The AdvocateAround 100 people attended the Perceptions Dinner Party, though Perceptions’ managing editor Megan Jones said she had expected around 75.

Perceptions commemorates its 2010 magazine with a dinner party at McMenamins - Edgefield

Devin CourtrightThe Advocate

Mt. Hood Community College’s literary magazine “Perceptions” had its debut dinner party Wednesday at McMenamins-Edgefield.

The reading started at 7 p.m., with participants reading their po-ems and fictional stories.

Toni Partington, who read her poem “Driven by Hope,” said, “It’s always fun, it’s always really fun. The audiences are different each time so my goal is to try and convey the spirit of the poem, what my intention was and take the audience’s reaction and build on that.”

After the readings, a break was used to view short films, photography and fine art submissions on a projec-tor screen.

The last poetry reading occurred in the last 30 minutes of the dinner party, with three people reading their short stories.

Megan Jones, managing editor of “Perceptions,” planned on 75 people showing up but actually said about 100 people attended.

“That was a good turnout. A lot

of people from Mt. Hood came out,” said Jones. “More people showed up than I was expecting.”

Jones also read piece of her own poetry. She also said this year’s maga-zine is about a third of the size of last year’s publication.

“It was a nice amount of reading. Everybody seemed to enjoy it,” said Jones. “I was happy with this one.”

The editors of “Perceptions” also selected the best piece for each genre and awarded $50 cash prizes.

Catherine Thompson won best artwork, Laura LeHew won best fic-tion, Larry John King won best in non-fiction, Howie Good won best poetry and Sabrina Guitart won best photography.

Jones said her goal for next year’s magazine is to get more Mt. Hood students to attend next year and knows “a couple of people who want to come back and work on the staff ” next year.

“It was cool to see people excited about being in the magazine,” said Jones. “The other five genres were all people from Oregon who won the awards.”

Photos by Thelma Lucas/The Advocate

Ceramic pieces created by students in the Ceramics Club were sold this week to replenish the club’s account.

MUSIC10 The Advocate May 28, 2010

MHCC Music department closes out year with a week of concerts

Cameron Monoco produces clean campus beats for MHCC

Cleaning up the beats

Story and photos byDevin Courtright

Malachi Sterling, general stud-ies major, takes a moment to play acoustic guitar in the main mall Thursday.

Sweet sounds of Spring

David Gambill The Advocate

The MHCC bands and choirs will share the billing during four days of performances on campus next week with their final concerts of the 2009-2010 school year.

The first concert starts Tuesday, in the Vista at 7:30 p.m. where the symphonic choir, chamber choir and symphonic band will perform.

“It’s a group performance showing some of the things we’ve been working on all term,” said band director Susie Jones.

Jones said she has seen a lot of growth in all her music students throughout the year, “Half of our students are freshman. They come from various high schools with varying programs and it takes them a while to meld into a group and become a cohesive unit be-cause their backgrounds are so dif-ferent,” she said. “Now they’re like a well oiled machine and they’re hitting on all cylinders,” she said.

Additionally, Tuesday night’s symphonic bands will feature stu-dent conductors. About six stu-

dents get the opportunity to stu-dent conduct every spring term, Jones said. “A lot of these students are thinking that they might go into music education or they are conducting their church group or some other organization so they are working on some conducting skills,” she said. Conducting is only open to the second year stu-dents, Jones said.

Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. the Orchestra will accompany the chamber and symphonic choir presenting musical selections from Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote,” which translates into English as, “The Magic Flute.” Choral direc-tor Solveig Nyberg said the per-formance will be semi staged with the main characters acting in cos-tumes.

Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Jazz Band I and II will perform as will two student jazz combos, smaller jazz groups, in the College The-

ater. Jones said she wouldn’t be surprised if the jazz combos per-formed original works. She said these works may include premiers, which are songs that have never been performed live.

The Thursday performance will not be the final performance for the Jazz Bands; they will still be performing at the G.E.D. cer-emony and commencement, Jones said. She said they would not be doing a feature song at this year’s graduation, “We are going to do our part to keep the graduation ceremony short.”

The final concert will be on Friday, June 4, 11 a.m. to noon in the student center. The chamber choir will perform Brahm’s “Li-ebeslieder Waltzes,” which are 18 waltzes for choir and one piano, four hands, said Choral director Solveig Nyberg. She said the four hands will be choir accompanist Frances Fu and student accompa-nist Jessica Muscgrave.

Jones and Nyberg said that the shows will be the final exams for their performing students.

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.Vista:

Friday, 11 a.m. College Theater:

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. College Theater:

Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.College Theater:

Instructors are using concerts as an opportunity to grade

Cameron Monaco

or singers interested in being recorded, Cameron Monaco, a custodian at Mt. Hood Community Col-lege, can help because he’s also an independent mu-sic producer.

“I put an ad out on craigslist and started meeting dif-ferent singers,” said Monaco. “I met a guy online and) I’m actually helping him do a CD . It’s the first played song on my myspace page.

“He sings for me and I record him,” said Monaco. “I record him singing and I do his whole album for him, so it works out well.”

Monaco, 30, says even though he’s a music producer, he’s never thought of actually being called a producer until recently because he originally thought a music producer was a “bigwig” type of person in the music industry.

However, he says all a music producer does is “record music and help put it together.”

“I’m still adjusting to being called that,” Monaco said. “It’s kind of weird to hear someone say, ‘What’s it like to be a producer?’ It’s just a dude in his room doing what he loves to do (record music).”

Monaco said he’s been making and selling beats to re-cording artists for about six years. As for as rates and fees, he said, “It’s not really about the money for me, it’s about if I spend hours working on something.

“I would encourage anybody that’s interested, that needs music, to call me before saying ‘Oh, he’s too much’ because I may not charge him anything,” said Monaco. “If it’s some-thing I want to do, and I’m able to do it and they like my abilities, I may end up doing it for free just for the chance to do it.”

Monaco has been interested in music since he was 5 years

old and said, “I started off as a kid playing any instrument I can get my hands on and in school I played percussion.

“When I was a kid growing up, I was always a fan of hip-hop music but never really played it or got really involved with it,” said Monaco. “These programs make it so easy (to make beats) that I started playing around with it and the next thing I know it I’m listening to it.”

After high school, Monaco said he played guitar in a metal band called “Eye Lid Up.” He said, “Per-forming is fun but I really like mak-ing things.”

“I don’t think I got as good on one instrument as maybe I would have liked to because I was always focused on songwriting and) creat-ing things,” said Monaco.

Monaco said he built his own in-house recording studio with a PC, about eight years ago, and in the beginning he didn’t have much “luck at all.”

“It wasn’t so easy back then because everything wasn’t quite as accessible (as today),” said Monaco. “It was a strug-gle and I tried all these different things.”

While he was trying to figure out how to become an inde-pendent music producer, Monaco enrolled in an Electronic Music Production class in the music program at MHCC. He said the class was beneficial to him because that’s where he learned all about MIDI (musical instrument digital in-terface).

“I took the MIDI class here (and) that changed my life,” said Monaco. “That just opened my world to MIDI.”

Monaco said currently MIDI is “90 percent” of what

people listen to on the radio for music. He said, “It’s a com-puter program that takes a recorded version” of the music being heard and said “even the stuff that sounds real takes a recorded version.”

“They record each individual instrument and then you can control it with the keyboard,” said Monaco. “I got turned on to that and pretty much any wind (instrument) I can blow into I can play, even those that sounded like you were blowing into them, on keyboards.”

Monaco said after learning about MIDI, he started downloading a cappella (songs using only vocals) versions of remake songs that he would use to create his own variations of an original song.

“I did a Nine Inch Nails song and made it all mellow,” said Monaco. “It’s on my (myspace) page.”

Asked if creating mash-ups is difficult, Monaco said when it comes to programming, “it depends.”

“The cool thing about it is if you understand how music works, like the layout of time. You can program it,” said Monaco. “You’re looking at a grid (on the computer screen) and you just program the music together.”

He also records himself playing his guitars and other in-struments, and tries to collaborate with a variety of singers because he said he “doesn’t sing so well.” He laughs and said, “I’m still working on that one. I haven’t gotten past the point of (saying) ‘Well, that’s okay.”

“Until then, it’s all about finding people to collaborate with,” said Monaco.

People who are interested in being recorded can contact Monaco at myspace.com/cameronmonacomusic.

“My goal is to meet as many people as possible who want music made for them,” said Monaco.

F

Photo by L. John King/The Advocate

News The Advocate 11May 28, 2010

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Mario Rubio The Advocate

The MHCC forensics team finished a successful year with a strong showing at the recent national competition in Minneapolis, forensics coach Shannon Valdivia said this week.

Jeff Lewis won the excellence award in prose interpretation and the team brought home a quarterfinalist award in duo interpretation at the Pi Kappa Delta Nationals in Minneapolis, Minn.

MHCC’s debate team had a busy year, Valdivia said, traveling all across the country debating with 64 other colleges and universities.

Valdivia expressed optimism when discussing the team. “We placed in the top three of every tournament we attended this year before lead-ing up to nationals” says Valdivia. “That’s quite an accomplishment for such a young team.”

The team garnered many honors at competitions this year, she said. “We went down with four students and came away with a sweepstakes at a tournament that is very brutal and known for tough competition,” Valdivia said. “This year I am particularly proud of the third-place fin-ish at the Point Ploma (California)” competition, said Valdivia.

Valdivia said she’s excited for the 2010-2011 season. She said five stu-dents will be returning and three more students will be joining the team. “Right now we are preparing presentations for next year’s season,” said Valdivia. She is looking forward to MHCC hosting the 99th annual Pi Kappa Delta National Championships and Convention in March 2011.


The Associated Student Government Senate and SOC budgets have been out of money since April 30, which is a reflection of how active clubs and students were this year, according to ASG President Bradley Best.

Director of Stu-dent Organizations Dee Hawes said, “I feel that the clubs in SOC had a great year and put on a lot of good events for the students at Mt. Hood Community Col-lege. There were numer-ous events and speakers brought to the campus for the enrichment for those who chose to attend the events that were spon-sored by the individual clubs.”

Best said all the money in the budget was utilized for good purposes.

“There were funding requests that did not get pro-cessed because the clubs had used the allotted funds for the year on their various projects,” said Hawes. “The effect on the clubs (students) is irrelevant be-cause even if there were funds, the clubs would not be able to have access to those funds because the ac-

counting office needed those requests turned in by the 30th of April.”

ASG Vice President Bethany Peterman said they have to be out of money, because the money for SOC and Senate comes from student fees and therefore have to be used within the academic year.

Peterman said the funding requests that were denied were for events that did take place, be-cause the clubs were able to get funding in a dif-ferent way.

The clubs’ deadline for funding requests was set on April 26, because this

fell on a Monday, which is when SOC meets.The clubs also have their own accounts where they

can deposit funds raised through fundraisers.SOC will not meet officially during the summer

and even though the budget will get funds starting July 1 the funds will not be available until fall term, according to Hawes.

Best said, “When Larry (Collins-Morgan, the ASG president-elect) takes over, he’ll have a new budget.”

“I feel that the clubs in SOC had a great year and put on a lot of good

events for the students at Mt. Hood Community College.”

Dee HawesASG Director of Student Organizations

SOC/Senate budget used for student events

Forensics completed a successful season

Chealsey FischerThe Advocate

A study to see whether college students perform better in a semester system versus a quarter system may result in a statewide transition.

According to David Minger, vice president for student success and enrollment management, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill in 2009 to conduct a study on the transition from quarters to semesters to see how students learn. One argument is that semesters are better for students as well as instructors because it allows more time to get deeper into a subject and therefore the students will learn more.

Currently no decisions are being made, Minger said, but the results of the study will be presented to the Oregon Legislature in August.

“This is a statewide discussion about the possibility of switching to se-mesters. There would be many impacts on students. Students would buy books less frequently and classes would last more weeks, for example,” Minger said.

“My understanding is that this is a required discussion, required by Oregon legislation,” he added.

Minger said he has worked in schools both on a semester structure as well as schools on quarter terms and he said, “They both have definite pros and cons. Therefore I can’t say I prefer one over the other.”

As for tuition, “It would probably stay the same,” Minger said, “It wouldn’t need to go up. Financial aid would stay the same also.”

The major differences for a two-year degree is that in a semester structure, it would only take 60 credits as opposed to the 90 credits it takes in a quarter term school because the classes are longer.

Summer classes would still be offered, but would be structured in a slightly different way and worth fewer credits because the summer term is shorter than each semester would be if the switch were to take place, Minger said.

MHCC starts discussion on semester vs. quarters

Chanel HillThe Advocate

Rho Theta, the MHCC chap-ter of Phi Theta Kappa Interna-tional Honor Society, inducted more than 200 members Thurs-day.

“The ceremony will be old school. We will say vows, discuss symbols, there will be a candle lighting. It’s pretty formal,” said Heather Nichelle-Peres, vice president of Rho Theta, on Wednesday.

Every year MHCC Rho Theta inducts new members to their exclusive internation-al honor society.

Students must have a cumulative

GPA of 3.65 to be invited to join; once accepted, a student must maintain a 3.0 to remain a mem-ber as well as pay a $60 fee.

“Inactive members just pay the $60 fee; after that it’s up to them to look at our website to find differ-ent resources. More active mem-bers will attend regular meetings,

events, and possibly become board members,” said Nichelle-Peres.

Aside from active members go-ing on retreats, there is leadership training and a chance to volunteer within the community.

Members are also privy to ben-efits exclusive to Rho Theta mem-bers. “You get so much more from

joining. You have access to scholarships no one else is offered, as well as easier transitions to a number of schools by just being chapter mem-bers,” said Nichelle-Peres.

At graduation, active members can wear their gold honors stole, gold tassel and Phi Theta Kappa medallion.

Rho Theta inducts 200+ students

Photo by Chanel Hill/The AdvocateThe city of Gresham is constructing a new traffic signal at Northeast 23rd Street and Kane Drive at the south entrance to Mt. Hood Community College.

“You get so much more from joining. You have access to

scholarships no one else is offered, as well as easier transitions to a number of schools by just being

chapter members.”Heather Nichelle-Peres

Vice president of Rho Theta

Construction near campus

NEWS12 The Advocate May 28, 2010


A trio of Portland-area guest speakers Wednesday dis-cussed “Queer Issues in Politics” as a highlight of QSA Pride Week sponsored by the Queer Straight Alliance.

QSA President Heather Nichelle-Peres spoke for the club in the College Center event, and asked questions deal-ing with queer issues. Nichelle-Peres introduced the guest speakers: Karol Collymore, David Martinez and Jeff Law-rence.

Nichelle-Peres opened the discussion with the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy in the military. She said, “Congress will be voting on the ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy this week. President Obama asked for the policy to be repealed.”

Karol Collymore, guest speaker representing the Mult-nomah County chair, said, "Politics should be inclusive and representative of the community." She also said, "Who peo-ple decide to be with doesn't mean anything. We are all hu-man beings.” She talked about how she is helping to defend gay rights.

Collymore just ran for the Multnomah County Com-

mission for District 2 in the May 18 primaries. She is in a November runoff for the position. She lives and is active in communities of the Portland area.

Jeff Lawrence, running for Oregon Congress, said, "We need fairness to treat people equally. Members of Congress are taking steps in the right direction.”

David Martinez, outreach and orientation coordinator from Portland Community College, is also on the board of the Portland Latino Pride Festival. The Pride Festival will begin June 2.

Nichelle-Peres said, “The event went really well. The guest speakers didn’t agree on all the issues,” but, she said, “They did all agree queer rights are important.”

Many issues involving gay rights were raised, and the three guest speakers answered questions from the audience.

The Queer Straight Alliance hosted a series of events this week to inform, educate and provide fun for QSA Pride Week.

On Monday, local Portland electro band Serious Busi-ness played in the College Center from noon to one while students danced to their music.

Nichelle-Peres said, "The main goal of the events is vis-ibility, to open students up to new experiences." She said after the set of the local Portland band The Lovers, who also performed in the College Center Tuesday from noon to one, "People have been really receptive of the events so far."

Nichelle-Peres said six people on the QSA board helped organize the event. She also said, "Lots of people have been signing up to be in the Portland Pride Parade which is the weekend after finals.” To sign up, students can send an email to [email protected].

Bobbi Briseno, an MHCC student who recently joined QSA, said, "People wanting to be involved should come. There is lots of energy, and interesting people in this club. It's important for gay students to get involved for proper rep-resentation of our gay community.

"I joined because I felt it was something important to put attention toward," Briseno said. She said she hopes others will come to help support something positive.

QSA has been voted the most active MHCC club for the past three years. This was the third annual Pride Week the club has hosted.

Jen AshenbernerThe Advocate

Sweaty palms, a nervous stom-ach and rapid heartbeat are the symptoms commonly experienced when a college student is experi-encing test anxiety, according to Stephanie English, tutor in the Learning Success Center

As MHCC is rapidly approach-ing the end of the term, final ex-ams will run June 7 to June 11 and the problem with anxiety grows because this is the last term of the academic school year.

English said, “Test anxiety can be as simple as having a mental block and having a hard time get-ting started on a test.” However, she said there are students who can experience panic attacks or faint-ing spells.

The Learning Success Center can help with minor test anxiety but according to English, the more severe cases are referred to the counselors in the Career Planning and Counseling Center. “We are primarily learn-ing specialists, not trained in psychological is-sues,” said Eng-lish. “So those cases where stu-dents are feel-ing faint or can’t eat or sleep will be referred to counselors.”

Causes of test anxiety vary, said English. “We usually find that there’s a combination of things that cause test anxiety. A lot of the time it’s pressure students put on themselves.”

She said students sometimes have had a poor test experience in the past that causes them to stress about tests now.

“We try to get to the root of the cause. It’s sometimes just because they are unprepared or the test was harder than they thought,” said English. “So we talk about how to know when you’re well prepared, how to practice so you will know the material, and starting to pre-pare earlier.”

According to studygs.net, some other ways to help manage test anxiety include time management, taking care of one’s self physically, and mentally preparing before an exam.

“Allow yourself plenty of time,

especially to do things you need to do before the test and still get there a little early,” according to the website.

English agreed with the website and said students should prepare mentally and ask themselves what they will do if they run into a ques-tion that wasn’t expected; this can help keep them from being dis-couraged.

“If a student looks at the entire test and does the ones they know first to get started, sometimes that helps,” she said.

Some students’ anxiety is a re-sult of being prone to distraction while taking an exam, and English said she has recommended stu-dents wear earplugs if it’s difficult to focus with noise in the back-ground. If movement is a distrac-tion, she recommends choosing a seat in a location where people may not be moving so much.

Positive self-motivation is a major factor in how much anxi-ety a student faces, according to both English and studygs.net.

A c c o r d -ing to studygs.net, avoiding other students who are not prepared or ex-press negative thoughts about the exam can influence how one feels before an exam.

“Sometimes just positive self-talk — remind-ing themselves

that they did everything they could to prepare and that they should do well on an exam instead of ‘I’m going to fail’ — can make all of the difference,” said English.

The Learning Success Center is holding a student success semi-nar “Understanding Test Anxi-ety” on Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. and Thursday 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Room 1152 for students who would like to find out more information about test anxiety.

So to those students who find themselves freezing up or blanking out when taking a test, here’s the opportunity to address the prob-lem and possibly resolve it before finals.

English said, “After a student has addressed the issue, they some-times come back and say it was better. Not perfect, but better.”

Panel takes a look at 'Queer Issues in Politics' WednesdayQSA looks to 'open up students to new experiences' with it's annual Pride Week

"We try to get to the root of the cause.

It's sometimes just because they are

unprepared or the test was harder than they thought. So we talk about how to know when you're well prepared..."Stephanie English,

Learning Success Center tutor

Tutor looks at causes of test anxiety; offers students tips

Following up on last year’s overhaul of The Advocate website, Web Editor Chelsea Van Baalen has taken it one step further with the help of Opinion Editor Jordan Tichenor.

“We are always trying to find new things to implement to make the website more interactive,” said Van Baalen. “We want it to be user-friendly and draw people in to look at it.”

After a few months of discussion between Van Baalen and Tichenor, they decided to add a slide show across the top of the home page linked to stories, an idea pushed along with the help of assistant adviser Dan Ernst.

“We talked about it with Dan and decided we needed to try and implement it,” said Van Baalen. “Jordan found the software online to do it and that was when we started it.

Tichenor said, “It makes the website more appealing now to students. We can always improve our site and I thought it would make it stand out a little more instead of having just one photo on the index page.”

Along with the new slideshow, Tichenor also came up with the idea of implementing Google calendar into the website.

“I thought it was a good service to our readers,” he said. “It is a cleaner and more user-friendly interface than what we had before. Also, students can now copy and paste it into their Google calendar, which is nice.”

Along with many ideas still in the works, one of things to come around came from the idea of Music Editor Jen Ashenberner of loading mp3 songs of performances she reviews in the music section every week of The Advocate.

“I wanted students to be able to listen to the bands and understand what was being written about them,” she said. “I ran the idea by Dan and Chelsea and they liked the idea. It is just one more thing that we could do to help the reader get more interactive with the web.”

One idea surfacing this week is the website will now be featuring galleries of photos along with the story so that people can see more than what the paper version runs.

“I was getting frustrated because Brett (Stanley) was taking so many great photos and with limited space on the page I wanted to find a way to show more of his pictures to our readers,” said Sports Editor Jake Fray. “So when the slideshow idea came up, I asked Jordan and Dan what they thought about having slideshows of photos along with the story and they liked the idea. This is the first week we can implement this idea, which I am glad to finally have the chance to do.”

For Van Baalen, with all these new changes to the web, she says it truly resembles what the paper is all about. “Our whole staff works on it,” she said. “It is a collaboration that truly represents our paper. Our main goal

when we redesigned the web was to get the readers more involved. Now we have polls, they can leave comments on stories, we have videos, music and lots of photos. We are always working on ideas to improve it but I feel we have done a great job as a staff to make a great website.”

The Advocate's website gets new features, more to come

the advocate issue 30

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