Vol. 115, Issue 19March 6, 2014

Every ThursdayThe BEacon

The Student Voice of the University of Portland Since 1935

Women’s basketball seniors play final game. See their stats online.upbeacon.com/wbballseniors

M.E.Ch.A. brings Aztec dancers to UP

upbeacon.com/aztecdancersinstmarys

Watch the short video featuring 2014’s student world-changers

upbeacon.com/worldchangers

Students get involved with ethics programs

With the goal of transforming the study of ethics from a classroom abstraction to a lived experience, Amy Dundon-Berchtold and Jim Berchtold ‘63 pledged $4 million to UP’s Fund for Moral Formation and Applied Ethics.

The Fund sparked the creation of two programs – an upper-division theology class called the Character Project, and the Initiative in Applied Ethics, which prompts students-faculty teams to study issues within their academic fields through an ethical lens.

With the $4 million endowment fueling the Fund, both pilot programs will become permanent. The Fund will cover all operating costs, including

stipends, research funds and the hiring of a program director.

President-elect Fr. Mark Poorman said the programs are part of his vision to make ethics a centerpiece of the University.

Poorman first spoke to the Berchtolds about his interest in applied ethics during the alumni fall 2011 Aegean Cruise. After that conversation, Amy Dundon-Berchtold made an initial $25,000 on-the-spot gift to establish the Fund.

“I was talking about some of the things that I do in the area of ethics, and they were very taken by the idea of the projects and wanted to know how they could help,” Poorman said. “At the end of the trip, Amy said she wanted to contribute to anything that would advance the cause. I was really grateful.”

The Dundon-Berchtold Initiative in Ethics launched in

early 2012 after UP received a $500,000 seed money gift from the Berchtolds.

The Initiative awards fellowships (a stipend) to faculty selected through a competitive application process in the fall. After completing a fall ethics training colloquium, faculty fellows choose students as research partners for the projects they submitted proposals for. These students are awarded a scholarship, and are selected based on their classroom performance, compatibility, work ethic, natural curiosity and experience with research.

Political science professor Lauretta Frederking, a current faculty fellow teamed with senior Andrew Herzog, called the Initiative “transformative.”

“Bringing the ideas and concepts I play with as an academic into the realm of how it

matters and how the world should be, I’m finding this intellectually liberating,” said Frederking.

According to Frederking, the Initiative bridges the disconnect between the raw dreams students bring with them to UP, and the rigid theories and concepts taught in classrooms. The hands-on, collaborative structure of the Initiative compels students to learn the relevance of their classroom lessons, while compelling faculty to learn from their students’ passion.

Frederking and Herzog are researching how political representatives handle immigration reform. The principles they’re focusing on are coherence and consistency – ethical concepts that fit into a political science framework.

Frederking said part of the

Nastacia VoisinStaff Writer

voisin15@up.edu

On top of 27 hours working as both an office assistant and an RA, a full class load and field experience, junior Maggie Hamilton worries about credit card debt, loan interest and making bill payments on time.

“It’s continual stress,” Hamilton said. “It’s overwhelming, I’m always juggling things.”

Hamilton is putting herself through college with minimal assistance from her parents, and even with financial aid covering a portion of her college tuition, she’ll be starting senior year with a $42,000 student loan debt.

Hamilton says scholarships and the occasional check from her parents help, but the out-of-pocket costs of attending UP means quitting her job is not an option.

“If I didn’t have that income every month, I don’t know what I would do,” Hamilton said.

Earning minimum wage as an office assistant in the School of Education helps her scrape by, but Hamilton says earning even a dollar more per hour would have a huge impact.

“It would mean a lot to me,” she said. “Every little bit helps so much. I always have to know exactly when I’m getting paid and how much. Even five or 10 dollars means I have to pay a

Increase in minimum wage may

mean fewer on-campus

jobsNastacia Voisin

Staff Writer voisin15@up.edu

See ETHICS, page 2See MINIMUM WAGE, page 3

Nastacia Voisin | THE BEACON

(From above, left to right) Seniors Erika Standeven, Sierra Bray, Ryan Gillespie and junior Alexandra Quackenbush are involved in the Uni-versity’s Fund for Moral Formation and Applied Ethics, which has just been pledged $4 million by Amy Dundon-Berchtold and Jim Berchtold.

On Campus

Accuracy in The BeaconThe Beacon strives to be fair and accurate. The newspaper corrects any significant errors of fact brought to the attention of the editors. If you think an error has been made, contact us at beacon@up.edu. Corrections will be printed above.

In last week’s article “Mock Trial ‘A’ Team heads to D.C. The ‘A’ squad was incorrectly referred to as ‘A’ team. ‘A’ squad and ‘B’ squad make up one team. Also, there were four trials, not eight, as stated.

In last week’s editorial, a photo caption incorrectly implied that biology professor Jeffrey Brown would be leaving UP at the end of this year. He will remain at UP through next year.

The Beacon regrets the errors.

Corrections

NEWS2 March 6, 2014

beauty of the Initiative is learning how applied ethics is understood differently across disciplines.

Senior accounting major and student scholar Ryan Gillespie echoed that sentiment. He’s teamed with Professor Richard Gritta in researching causes behind breakdowns in moral lending practices.

“They encouraged us to look at issues in our disciplines through an ethical lens,” Gillespie said “That naturally caused us to reach beyond the borders. It’s really easy to hone on something that’s specialized, but by asking ‘what’s the moral implication of

this?’ then you have to broaden your view.”

That cross-disciplinary lens, he said, allows them to pull everything together and look at the implications of actions, not just causes.

“This kind of thing is what UP is really good at – taking things we’re learning in the classroom and making it apply to the real world,” Gillespie said.

According to Poorman, it’s exactly that kind of grounded ethical questioning that’s so rewarding to know the Initiative is generating.

“The reason that I love applied ethics is that it’s generated by the people actually in professional

fields and disciplines,” said Poorman.

Facing ethical dilemmas is also part of the Character Project – the other half of the Moral Formation and Applied Ethics programs. Currently just an interactive theology course similar to one Poorman team-taught for six years at Notre Dame, it challenges students to question what shapes moral character.

The class is an invitation-only course, taught by Poorman, Danielle Hermanny, executive assistant to the president , Fr. Gerard Olinger, vice president for student affairs and Daniel McGinty, assistant adviser for

student athletes.Senior Sierra Bray says she

looks forward to the discussion-based Character Project class every week.

“It’s fascinating to get to know people on a deeper level,” Bray said. “It creates a hyper-awareness of how I’m acting and how my actions are shaping me in my everyday life. It’s probably one of the most practical classes I’ve ever taken.”

Poorman said he hopes to expand the Character Project program’s scope beyond a single course.

He hopes to involve the UP alumni network and the Portland community in joining

the conversation about ethical challenges they face in their professions and plan retreats with a character formation theme.

The $4 million endowment the Berchtolds created for the Fund will allow Poorman’s plans to make UP a place where ethics flourish possible.

Frederking, Gillespie and other student scholars affirmed that the Fund and the programs it sponsors will have a lasting impact on them and UP’s environment.

“It’s transformative,” said Frederking. “And their gift will be transformative.”

ETHICS: students examine ethics through multiple disciplinesContinued from page 1

After this year’s last final on May 1, students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to celebrate together.

“Anchors Aweigh” will be an end of the year event hosted by the University on the last day of finals from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on The Bluff. There will be bands on stage (TBA), a beer garden and Bon Appetit will provide all-you-can eat barbeque food.

ASUP used $4,000 from its Major Project Fund and CPB used $2,000 of their funds to support the event. A few weeks ago ASUP conducted a survey where students could submit potential names for the event, and “Anchors Aweigh” was the

winner.“We are currently looking

for bands to play,” CPB Director senior Evan Castro said. “But the main focus of this isn’t a concert, it’s all about community.”

On-campus students can use their meal points for food and off-campus students are encouraged to purchase pre-ticket orders to the event, which includes food. All students over 21 must show ID to purchase beverages from the beer garden and will be issued a three-beer limit wristband.

This end of the year party is not a new concept at the University. In fact, it used to be an old tradition.

The University hosted this event for the first time in 1989 with the title “Blowout on the Bluff.” This tradition extended

all of the way through into the 2000s. After 2008, the tradition ended due to low attendance.

Now, with the help of Assistant Director of Media Relations Joe Kuffner and professor Craig Swinyard, the University has decided to bring back the event. Both UP alumni, Kuffner (‘05) and Swinyard (‘98) attended the event during its heyday and regard it as one of the major highlights of their college experience.

“All four student classes, faculty and staff were there. Everybody at UP went,” Swinyard said. “It provided a great closure for the year.”

Kuffner says he and Swinyard have been silently advocating for this event for a few years now.

“We are starting this tradition

again. It’s 2014 now, and we are figuring out what works,” Kuffner said. “In the past we had different regulations and it seems the emphasis of the event shifted over the years. Now we want to find a healthy medium for managing this.”

Parker Shoaff | THE BEACON

CPB Director Evan Castro

CPB plans end-of-year eventW.C. LawsonStaff Writer

lawson14@up.edu

Chemistry professor Sister Angela Hoffman has another accomplishment under her belt. In addition to her six patents and research on Taxol, a known anti-cancer drug, Hoffman received the Outstanding Teacher in Science and Mathematics, Higher Education Award at the Oregon Academy of Science awards on Feb. 22.

“I don’t know how I got nominated but someone did and they decided to give me the award,” Hoffman said.

Despite her modesty, chemistry Department Chair Kevin Cantrell, believes Hoffman deserves the award.

“I think the biggest outstanding characteristic about her is her work ethic, dedication,” Cantrell said. “She does the work of like 10 other people. She is always committed, always here, always available to the students. She’s just incredibly hardworking at doing science and teaching students.”

One of Hoffman’s biochemistry students, junior Silvia Plascencia, who also helps with her research agrees that she is dedicated to her students.

“In class she’s very good at drawing in on topics related to what we’re studying in class that are relevant in the field or what’s trending. Say that there’s a new medicine coming out, she mentions it and ask us ‘do you think this will really work?’ ‘or ‘do you think this diet trend makes sense?’” Placencia said. “She’s very enthusiastic about what she teaches. She has a big interest in medicinal biochemistry and I know that’s something she’s mentioned she’d love to teach. She’s always willing to help during office hours, too. She’s overall really open.”

Hoffman first started at the University of Portland part-time in 1988 teaching biology, but returned to school to get a degree in chemistry.

“I think chemistry is better, no offense to biology,” Hoffman said. “I think chemistry is interesting because you don’t have to memorize very much; you can figure things out. It’s all strategy. It’s practical. It’s kind of like a puzzle.”

At the event Hoffman hoped to find out who nominated her but she was unsuccessful.

“I asked (who) but they said it didn’t matter ‘but I want to tell them thank you,’” Hoffman said. “But they still didn’t tell me.”

Cantrell, doesn’t know who nominated her either.

“(I’m) not even sure who the nominating committee is for (the Oregon Academy of Science) but it could possibly involve any of the neighboring schools. It could have been someone here, I don’t know,” Cantrell said.

Hoffman isn’t the first from the University of Portland to receive this award. Anatomy professor Terry Favero and physics professor Robert Butler both have as well.

“(It’s) because we have people who know how to teach!” Hoffman said. “We’re a good school, what can I say?”

Sister Angela Hoffman wins teaching awardRebekah Markillie

Staff Writer markilli17@up.edu

Spencer Young | THE BEACON

Chemistry professor Sister Angela Hoffman holds her award from the Oregon Academy of Science. She joins UP professors Terry Favero and Robert Butler, two former recipients of the award.

“I think the biggest out-standing characteristic about her is her work ethic, dedication. She does the work of like 10 other people. She is always committed, al-ways available to students.”

Kevin CantrellChemistry department chair

www.upbeacon.com 3NEWS

While many seniors are in the midst of searching for careers, applying to graduate school and deciding if they’re going to move back home or strike out on their own after graduation, Patrick Throckmorton and Sophie Anderson already have the next two years mapped out. Both have been nominated to serve with the Peace Corps for two years – Throckmorton in Cameroon and Anderson in Guatemala.

“I’m at a point in my life where I need to do something big and drastic to change the way that I approach the rest of my life,” Throckmorton said.

Past Peace Corps volunteer Andrew Bernhard came to campus on Feb. 13 to speak with other interested UP students about the ups and downs of his service experience. Bernhard worked in Zambia doing rural education development for two years. He told stories of bonding with Zambian school children, traveling through Africa and being immersed in an entirely new culture, as well as the harsher realities of working in international service and development.

“I think it can produce a lot of resentment and struggle, but at the same time I think it’s real and that’s what we need as Americans,” Bernhard said. “We need to be woken up and we need to see the reality of what other people are experiencing and what’s going on and what our government is doing.”

Attendees of Bernhard’s speech ranged from freshmen who were already interested in exploring the Peace Corps as a post-graduation option, to older students looking to apply to volunteer with the Peace Corps or to better understand how to support friends going through the process.

Freshman education major Emily Gast was one of these students.

“I have had an ongoing interest in travel and service, and I thought learning about the Peace Corps would be a good way of continuing that,” Gast said.

Already on the path to becoming a volunteer, Throckmorton, a biology major on the pre-med track, will likely be working with new mothers and babies in a health center in Cameroon. He is looking forward

to this service experience as an opportunity to hopefully reinforce his future plans.

“It’s always been one of my life goals to get to a position where I can work with populations in need, especially in other countries,” Throckmorton said. “I’m really interested in Doctors Without Borders and programs like that, so I think I’m using this as an opportunity to experience that and see if that’s a direction I really want to go.”

Unlike Throckmorton, who applied with no expectation of where he would be placed, Anderson entered the process knowing that she would likely be placed in a Spanish-speaking country, due to her Spanish minor. She has been nominated for a youth development program in Guatemala.

“The majority of my motivation for doing it was travel. I did the Salzburg year program and spent a summer in Chile, so I’m hoping to get a more professional travel experience,” Anderson said.

As a social work major, she expects the education she has received at UP to play well into her service experience. She, like Throckmorton, also hopes it will steer her in the direction of a path to pursue when she returns from the Peace Corps.

“I think having an experience like this will help me explore some options (for continuing my education), so whatever I end up choosing, I’ll know that I’ve thought about it a lot and I’ll have had an experience that inspired me to do graduate studies,” Anderson said.

Bernhard supported the idea that the Peace Corps can be a good way of discovering what one’s future path ought to be.

“I am now studying speech pathology at PSU, which isn’t

something I thought I’d be doing before I went into the Peace Corps,” Bernhard said. “Learning how to teach English to the kids in my village helped me to realize that this was could be a career and was something I wanted to do.”

“Many students go into cruddy jobs right after graduation,” Assistant Director of the Moreau Center Pat Ell said. “Post-grad service organizations are like jobs, so why not do an awesome job?”

Ell urges students to look into the plethora of options for post-grad service, as the Peace Corps is only one of many and may be a better fit for some students than others.

Bernhard’s presentation was organized by Mehling Hall Service Justice Coordinator junior Carissa Luebbering.

“I think it (hearing Bernhard speak) was valuable because a lot of times people don’t think about the fact that there’s a world outside of our own community,” Luebbering said. “There’s a whole world out there that is so different from our own culture.”

Seniors prepare for Peace CorpsClare DuffyStaff Writer

duffy17@up.edu

Steps to becoming a Peace Corps volunteer

1. Fill out an online application 2. Interview with a local recruiter.3. After the interview, recruiters nominate fitting applicants for specific programs, which the applicant can then begin to prepare for. However, due to the competitive nature of the application process, a volunteer’s location is not always certain until they arrive there for training.

*Information from peacecorps.gov

Spencer Young | THE BEACON

Seniors Patrick Throckmorton (left) and Sophie Anderson (right) plan to spend the next two years in Cameroon and Guatemala, re-spectively, with the Peace Corps.

little less interest.”Hamilton’s story is not unique.

University students across the nation struggle to cover tuition costs, pay back loans and manage living expenses while earning a minimum-wage salary.

In his January 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama called for the federal minimum wage to increase from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, that wage hike would impact many college students, who make up roughly 30 percent of the minimum wage demographic.

Professor Todd Easton, who studies labor economics with an emphasis on low-wage workers in the United States, says a wage raise would help students struggling with college costs.

“If you’re looking at this in dollars and cents terms, for college students it’s a plus,” Easton said.

But economics – and politics – aren’t that simple. Congress is still debating the merits of a minimum wage boost, mostly divided down partisan lines.

The White House and Democratic supporters claim a wage raise would ease income inequality and stimulate the economy. A stiff Republican opposition says it’s a job killer, arguing that raising the price of labor drives employers to hire fewer people.

Easton said there isn’t a lot of evidence that higher wages means fewer jobs. It’s argued that a short-term economic shock – which might affect small business the most – would be outweighed by the new purchasing power of low-wage Americans.

Easton added that while raising the minimum wage would help students who work off-campus, university employment is more complicated.

Like all universities, UP has an annual student employment budget. If the minimum wage rises and UP’s student worker budget doesn’t increase at the same rate, departments have two options: reduce pay scales or cut workers. Locking all positions at minimum wage would stretch funds to cover more jobs – and pay more students – but it would

reduce the value of specialized positions.

“So when it comes to jobs on campus, I’m not sure it’ll help that much,” Easton said. “It might help some student employees and hurt others.”

UP already faced cuts to the student employment budget in the 2012 -2013 school year – partly in response to Oregon’s yearly inflation-tied minimum wage increase. Oregon’s minimum wage is currently $9.10 an hour, the second highest rate in the country and $1.85 higher than the federal rate.

According to Rowena Bramlette, director of budgets, the cuts were made in response to “exponentially” expanding campus employment levels.

“Student employment was growing at an extreme rate,” Bramlette said. “There had been a number of years when there was quite a bit of overspending.”

While the surge in student workers may have been tied to growing enrollment, the budget department decided to trim the overall student employment budget starting in the 2011- 2012 school year.

Since then, the number of on-campus workers has dropped from 2,119 to 1,529 students. That’s an almost 28 percent reduction.

Bramlette said that decrease may or may not remain stable.

While the budget department divvies up funds to UP’s departments based on historical and current demands for student workers, each department decides how to spend that money and how many students to employ. Smaller budgets might force departments to streamline or cut jobs, Bramlette said.

The number of students who work off-campus isn’t tracked by UP, but for those students, Easton said a rising minimum wage should add to their incomes more than it will harm the businesses they work for.

Junior Estefany Ramos, who squeezes in 20-35 hours at her two off-campus jobs, says a bump in pay would let her cut back work hours and dedicate her energy to academics.

“It would make a huge difference,” Ramos said. “Huge. I can’t even imagine what I’d do with that extra time.”

MINIMUM WAGE: on-campus jobs on the decline since 2011

Continued from page 1 Photo Courtesy of 401(K) 2013 on flickr

1. Feb. 28, 1:32 a.m. - A staff member reported loud music in the west dorm quad. Officers were unable to locate any disturbance.

2. Feb. 28, 10:27 p.m. - A neighbor reported a loud group of individuals near the intersection of Portsmouth and Lombard. Officers were unable to locate any disturbance.

3. Feb. 28, 10:48 p.m. - Officers responded to a party complaint at the 5000 block of N. Syracuse. The resident was cited for a noise ordinance violation and with providing a place for minors to consume alcohol; three MIPs were issued.

4. Mar. 1, 12:27 a.m. - Officers made contact with a student consuming alcohol in the Pilot House. The student was transported back to their dorm and left in the custody of Residence Life.

2 3

1 4

The UP Public Safety Report

For a complete interactive public safety report visit www.upbeacon.com and click UP Crime & Fire Log under the News tab.

NEWS4 March 6, 2014

Seven professors tenured in 2014Seven professors will be promoted from

assistant to associate professor and granted tenure, effective July 1, 2014. Tenure allows professors academic freedom as well as financial security.

McKena MiyashiroStaff Writer

miyashir17@up.edu

“She treats people like adults, but still keeps class fun with comical and relevant stories... Even if the material is dry, she makes it enjoyable,” said junior Taylor Nightingale, who took software engineering and systems and securities with Crenshaw.

“I'm going to be here

for 20 more

years. What

can I do with 20 years?”

“I’m delighted

to be a full member

of the University.”

“I’m very excited and thrilled to be able to continue to build my career here at UP. I've always felt really supported here and I think that will continue as my career unfolds at the university.”

“It’s a bit of a relief. I look at it as a reflection of the work that I’ve done and I appreciate the fact that its held in high esteem.”

“It was a tremendous relief. This is my dream job. I went to school here as an undergrad, so this is where I want to be for the rest of my life. And knowing that I get to be a part of this community for as long as I want is an amazing feeling.”

“He is clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about his area of study,” senior Madelyn Voelker said, who took Urnezius for general chemistry.

Eugenijus Urnezius, chemistry

Hillary Merk, education

Tanya Crenshaw, engineeringPatrick

Murphy, performing

and fine arts

Christin Hancock, history

Craig Swinyard, mathematics

Andrew Golla, performing and fine arts

Parker Shoaff | THE BEACON

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

Kristen Garcia | THE BEACON

Kristen Garcia | THE BEACON

Kristen Garcia | THE BEACON

Spencer Young | THE BEACON

Photo Courtesy of UP Directory

The invisible minority: atheism at UP

There’s an invisible minority on campus. It’s impossible to tell who they are based on the color of their skin, the shape of their facial features or the clothes they wear. They pass unnoticed by others. It’s only when the topic of religion comes up in conversation that they become visible.

These members of UP’s com-munity are atheists, and their experiences of life at a religious university greatly differ from the majority of UP’s students, who tend to come from Catholic and Christian backgrounds. Accord-ing to UP’s Institutional Research website, 47 percent of this year’s freshman class of 2013 identified as Catholic, up from 40 percent in 2010. About 75 percent identified themselves as having a religious affiliation.UP’s religious affiliations

not a deterrentWhile she grew up Catholic,

junior Hayley Patin now identi-fies as atheist, but doesn’t think badly of others who are religious.

“People with faith, they talk about feeling a presence in their lives, feeling protected and safe,” Patin says. “I think that’s wonder-ful and everything, but that’s just something that I didn’t have in my personal life so it’s just that lack of feeling like there’s some-thing else to that.”

It’s no secret that UP takes

pride in being Oregon’s Catholic university, and for all who visit campus, signs of UP’s religious affiliation are everywhere. The Chapel of Christ the Teacher is a focal point in the Academic Quad, some professors and ad-ministrators wear clerical collars and crucifixes hang in nearly ev-ery classroom.

However, freshman Christian Kim, an atheist, wasn’t deterred from coming to UP because of its Catholic influences.

“Religion overall is not that big of a factor (at UP),” Kim says. “I feel like it’s not that strong, but it’s not like its presence doesn’t exist at all. It’s still there but I don’t think anyone would find it offensive.”

Junior Sarah Woodward’s family was taken by surprise when, as an atheist, she decided to attend UP.

“There’s still kind of a joke in my house that I’m going to a Catholic school,” she says. “The first day of freshman year when I moved in, my parents bought (me) this plastic toaster insert that had the Virgin Mary on it.”Peers show acceptance or

resistanceAs a minority, many atheists

are unsure of how their lack of religious views will be received by the majority of students who identify as Christian or Catholic.

Sophomore Patrick Garrison doesn’t feel rejected by others be-cause of his atheism.

“At first I was a little worried

that people might try to convert me or might be a little apprehen-sive of me because I’m an athe-ist. One of my big concerns was that Mass was required, which it isn’t,” he says. “But a lot of those apprehensions, none of it has ever happened.”

For the most part, Woodward feels accepted at UP, but also ex-perienced some resistance to her atheist views during her freshman year.

“I’ve definitely had some in-teresting experiences of people making it their mission to save me and things like that or saying I’m going to go to hell because I’m not baptized,” Woodward says. “I mean, that’s not true of everyone but that’s the small mi-nority of people.”

Theology classes both frustrate and instructRegardless of religious af-

filiation, all students at UP are required to take three theology classes during their time on The Bluff. For atheists, learning about religion from a Christian perspec-tive has its benefits and challeng-es.

Patin greatly enjoys learning about religion from an academic perspective.

“It’s actually been kind of

nice going to a school that has the theology requirements and everything, because I feel like it’s helped me open up my own expe-rience and help me be a bit more informed about the world,” Patin says.

While she liked her introduc-tory theology class about world religions, Woodward didn’t enjoy her Biblical Traditions and Cul-ture class, which focused heavily on studying the Bible.

“It’s boring for the people who have read the Bible their whole lives and have studied it through-out their lives, and it’s frustrating to be in the same classroom if you haven’t studied the Bible,” Wood-ward says. “It’s just weird to have everyone at all different levels in the same class.”

Understanding religionKim came to have a greater

respect for religion after meeting people who found religion impor-tant in their own lives.

“People like Brother Tom (Gi-umenta), he’s such an amazingly friendly person, and for people like him, I feel that’s religion af-fecting someone in a profoundly spiritual and positive way,” Kim says. “I’ve also attended hall Mass a few times just out of cu-riosity and that sense of commu-

nity is definitely something I can appreciate.”

However, experiencing UP as an atheist can have the opposite effect.

“It (religion) just strikes me as really weird, and I know in con-text it makes sense, but just hear-ing that and not being familiar with that is really strange,” Gar-rison says. “As I’ve seen more of it, it still doesn’t make sense.”

Desire for communityWhile she doesn’t feel ex-

cluded as an atheist, Patin wishes there were more opportunities on campus for students of alternative or no religious views.

“I kind of wish there was a cool atheist or agnostic club be-cause the other religions get to do cool stuff all the time,” Patin says.

As an atheist, Woodward thinks some people of faith make certain assumptions about athe-ists, which she finds upsetting.

“I think the biggest thing is that if people assume that if you’re not religious, you don’t have good morals, which both-ers me,” Woodward says. “Just because I’m not religious doesn’t mean I’m not going to help out people and I don’t have good morals.”

ASUP focuses on diversity, including

religion

In light of the Chiles Center cultural insensitivity incident earlier in the semester, ASUP has taken a more aggressive stance on issues of diversity and inclu-

sion. A few weeks ago, ASUP Senate passed Resolution 14-02, which splits the current aware-ness committee into two new standing committees: service/leadership and diversity. Ac-cording to ASUP President Quin Chadwick, University President Fr. Bill Beauchamp has approved the resolution.

This will allow ASUP to more easily promote the topic of diver-sity in its meetings.

“Personally I felt like diver-sity needs to be brought up in Senate more. We don’t talk about it enough,” freshman senator Sa-mantha Delucchi said, who wrote Resolution 14-02.

ASUP has also expanded its

understanding of diversity to in-clude not just race, but other is-sues like sexual orientation and religion.

Sophomore senator Temo Ledua, a member of the former diversity sub-committee and member of the new standing di-versity committee, would like to encourage a dialogue about di-

verse religious views, including atheism, so atheists feel included and religious students can be more informed.

“This is a Catholic institu-tion, but we want to make sure everyone feels welcome here re-gardless of their religion,” Ledua said.

Students find both acceptance and resistance to views, desire community

Kathryn WaltersCopy Editor

walters14@up.edu

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

Junior Hayley Patin (above) and junior Sarah Woodward (right) discuss their experiences of being atheists on a Catholic campus. Patin was raised Catholic but now identifies as atheist.Wood-ward experienced resistance to her beliefs freshman year of col-lege, but from a small minority of students.

Emily Strocher | THE BEACON

Graph based on UP’s Institutional Research data from full-time freshmen, Fall 2013.

LIVINGwww.upbeacon.com 5

If you begin to type “Rwanda” in the search bar of Google, the first hit is “Rwandan Genocide.” The notoriety of Rwanda that comes from its genocide that re-volved around the ethnic conflict between the Tutsi and Hutu in 1994 is the only thing most West-erners know about the nation in eastern central Africa.

Enter “Rising Rwanda,” a project focused on the new gen-eration of Rwandans that were born after the genocide by com-munication studies professor C. Vail Fletcher and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona photographer and professor Lo-rena Turner. This exhibit was cre-ated to show a different aspect of the nation as well as how far Rwandans have come following their tragic history. Turner and Fletcher have been exhibiting their material since finishing in 2010. It is currently being show-cased in the Buckley Center Art Gallery and for the 20th anniver-sary, the United Nations will ex-hibit the project in June.

Zooming in on a new generation

Turner noticed that there was a lot missing in the documentary photography field about Rwan-da’s progress from the genocide after traveling there on a sepa-rate, camera distribution project devoted to women who had been directly affected by the genocide.

“Going there and realizing that all of the photographic docu-mentary work done in Rwanda has this kind of negativity to it,” Turner said. “It’s rehashing the recent history there and it really felt important to me that people in the West don’t continue to dwell on that history. That they move away from that history as much as the people from Rwanda are.”

Turner described the move-ment of progress for the new gen-

eration, but she also discussed is-sues in regards to communication and the way in which Rwandan history is presented to this new generation through oral tradition. Since the children only have what people tell them, there is a lot of power in the communication be-tween those that lived through the genocide and the new generation.

“There’s a lot of the attempt at reconciliation. There’s a lot of hope and optimism. There’s also a lot of repression coming from the government about how people should communicate with each other about issues related to race and identity,” Turner said.

The two professors met teach-ing at California State Polytech-nic University, Pomona. Turner and Fletcher agreed there needed to be an updated portrayal of Rwanda through their project.

“We really were interested in telling a different narrative than had been told prior and maybe one that was more positive,” Fletcher said. “So not focusing on specifically those that survived the trauma, the initial trauma, but really the role it had in the lives of people that were born immedi-ately after the genocide.”

Building identity post 1994

The two professors had a clear idea going into the project of who they would want for their sample sources and the information that they wanted to take from this sample. In order to better under-stand the change in Rwandan atti-tudes since the genocide, Fletcher and Turner questioned children that were born any time after 1994. They looked specifically at the role of oral history and how this may have had an effect on the individual’s sense of identity in Rwanda today.

As a part of the project, the children first drew pictures based

on simple questions about their daily lives.

“We were sort of inviting them to tell a story through art as well as narrative and really making them both part of the narrative,” Fletcher said.

According to Turner, this part of their work was used to facili-tate discussion and be part of the photographs as well. Turner and Fletcher were able to use the children’s drawings to talk about other issues that needed to be ad-dressed.

The portraits of children from both a rural city of Nyarubuye to the capital city of Kigali focused on the effect of the genocide on the children’s overall outlook towards their lives and sense of identity. Fletcher interviewed 35 participants and asked basic ques-tions to understand their concept of identity.

“We didn’t really know what specifically would get at identity and sense of self, but we asked things that you would ask a 10-year-old in the United States: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up,’ for example,” Fletcher said. “One of the most common answers that we got, and this is a way that it points back to the genocide, is that over 20 chil-dren said that they wanted to be a medical aid when they grew up.”

When Fletcher inquired fur-ther, she said the children would say, “‘I want to be a medical aid so I can help people that have been macheted.”

A hue apartTurner photographed the chil-

dren in front of a bright colored felt background that she set up for each shoot to reveal the attempts to separate the new generation from the old.

“All the colors that they’re photographed in front of were chosen to specifically isolate

them visually and symbolically because we wanted to represent the fact that they’re not connect-ed to the history, or symbolically represent the attempts that the country is making to disconnect them from their history,” Turner said.

Fletcher and Turner chose to use the exhibits to showcase their work rather than publishing their findings in a journal because they wanted to make their work more available to a broader audience.

“What’s interesting about this project is that (Lorena and I) bring very different lenses for un-derstanding the world and getting to know the world,” Fletcher said. “What we wanted to do was de-sign a project that had great pub-lic accessibility. So not the aca-demic audience, but we wanted a public audience.”

For Fletcher, exhibiting her work at the United Nations is one of the many rewarding aspects for the work done on this project.

“That’s pretty much a pinnacle for me of what I want to do with my life,” Fletcher said, “which is take something as serious as a major international conflict, one of four genocides in the 20th century, tell some narrative about that, that maybe isn’t being told or hasn’t been told and having it shown to an audience that is a) very interested and b) has the po-tential to make change.”

Exhibit puts different lens on RwandaProfessors’ project explores identity of children born after the 1994 Rwandan genocide

Maggie HannonStaff Writer

hannon15@up.edu

Parker Shoaff | THE BEACON

The “Rising Rwanda’” exhibit hangs in Buckley Center Art Gallery. UP professor C. Vail Fletcher and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona professor Lorena Turner finished the project in 2010 and will display it at the United Nations in remembrance of the 20th anniver-sary of the Rwandan genocide.

See the Exhibit Where:

Buckley Center Art GalleryWhen:

Feb. 10 - March 15Photo courtesy of C. Vail Fletcher

Professors C. Vail Fletcher (above) and Lorena Turner (below) work-ing on their project in Rwanda. The two professors wanted their work displayed in an exhibit rather than an academic journal so it was accesible to a larger audience.

6 March 6, 2014 LIVING

SPECIAL SECTION:

World changERS It’snotdifficulttofindinspirationattheUniversityofPortland.Wearefortunatetoliveinacityfullofintellectualandartisticindividuals,andhereonTheBluffwearesurroundedbystudentsandprofessorsdoinginnovativeandinterestingresearchandprojectsonaregularbasis. Butintherushofclasses,work,internshipsandPortlandtraffic,it’seasytooverlookthestudentsittingnexttoyouinchemistryclasswhospenthislastbreaktestingvillagersinKenyaforHIV,orthestudentwhokeepseveryoneinagoodmooddespitehavingspentherdayinvestinginherresidentsontopofaninternshipwithOregonHumanitiesand

volunteeringwithOregonPublicBroadcasting. Afterall,themostgivingandinfluentialstudentstypicallydon’tseekthespotlight. Sointhisspecialsection,wewantedtohighlightsixsuchstudentswhoarechangingtheworldrightnow,whetherinthehallwaysofFieldsResidenceHallorinHonduras.Wehopeyouenjoyreadingaboutthemandhearingwhatchangingtheworldmeanstotheminourvideoatupbeacon.com/worldchangers. Andintherushandstressofmidtermsandpapers,wehopetheyprovideyouwithanextrabitofinspiration.

KelseyThomas,Editor-in-ChiefandShellieAdams,DesignEditor

All photos in section and design by SHELLIE ADAMS | THE BEACON

8 March 6, 2014 SPECIAL

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Whatithelpsyoutodoiscreatethisrealityoflovewherethereisnohistoryofjudgmentandtwopeoplecanlookateachotherandsay‘IunderstandyouandIunderstandyourstoryandIloveyouforthat.’

-BrianCarter

Brian: biochemistry, immersion trips and music

Corey: ‘an endless, stupid, overflowing love for everybody’

Not many students can say that they have been on four service immersion trips, given 100 home-

less people waterproof bedding, tested villagers for HIV in Kenya and play in the wind ensemble. But junior biochemistry major Brian Carter can. “I was a wee little freshman, scared and not sure what I was doing with my life, so I went on the Service Plunge freshman year. That was my first experi-ence with the Moreau Center and my first community I got to know,” Carter said. Later on that year, Carter went on the Rural Immersion. “I got to know them (the students) really well and got to learn about migrant farm workers of the U.S.,” Carter said. “That sort of got me thinking about where I could have an impact on the world and what is it I want to capitalize as a person on in order to make change.” Because of his drive to make change in the world and his experience on the Urban Policy Plunge, Carter started working with Operation Nightwatch, an organization in downtown Portland that opens their doors at night for the homeless. Together they started a Street Swags project to give bedding to the homeless. A Street Swag is a wa-terproof nylon and foam bed roll at night that can also double as a shoulder bag during the day. “You come to learn that the

(homeless) population is mostly people who have had one bad experience that maybe put them at the bottom and who are con-stantly struggling to get back on their feet,” he said. Carter’s passion for people has also touched the people in his daily life. “I think Brian is someone who has incredible potential and wants to use his gifts and talents to brighten someone’s day,” said sophomore Alexa Bryant-Capellas. She met Carter her freshman year when she went on the Service Plunge. “He always seems to be in-terested with everyone and cares about what you have to say,” Capellas said. Carter has a philosophy of acceptance that he discovered while he was on the the Border Immersion. “Most people really only see very small parts of the story and they base their assumptions off of that. What it helps you to do is create this reality of love where there is no history of judgment and two people can look at each other and say ‘I understand you and I understand your story and I love you for that.’ And that’s re-ally powerful to me,” Carter said. This kind of love carried with him when he traveled to Ke-nya over the summer where he worked on sustainable develop-ment with villages and tested people for HIV. “It was really important in

terms of taking myself out of my culture and my background here in the U.S. and putting myself in Kenya where everything is en-tirely different,” Carter said. “All these immersions have lead to this bigger philosophy of life: the idea of making myself a part of something larger than myself so I can go anywhere in the world and just work with people on an individual and group basis and try to make things better.” Even with all his service work, Carter still makes time for music. “Music is a big part of my life. I grew up with hearing aids and overcame my own adver-sity in that way,” Carter said. “Its been something that’s fun but also something that’s more meaningful.” He first started playing the piano when he was 5 and hated it until he was older. “It wasn’t until I started high school and I realized I could write my own stuff and express myself. That’s when I fell in love with it,” Carter said. Carter doesn’t know exactly the role music will play in his future but he’s sure it will stay. “I think it will always be in my life, whether I’m dancing like nobody’s watching or just listen-ing to it at least of course. But I think I’ll always play the piano, it’s my go-to when I’m stressed out. And when I find myself with more free time I’ll always keep writing (music),” he said.

- Rebekah Markillie

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Ibelieveeveryonehasamazingstoriesandgifts,anddeservesthechancetosharethem.Everybodyhassomethingtocontribute.

-CoreyHubbard

Her favorite place in the world is one where she doesn’t speak the lan-guage, barely knows how

to get around and has no idea what she’s doing. That experience is a joy senior social work major Corey Hub-bard wishes she could experience constantly because “it makes you learn all over again how to be with other people.” Being surrounded by people - in particular children – and learning from them is one of Hubbard’s greatest passions. Her dreams are undefined, but she’s plotting a course to a warm and sunny country, where she can be outdoors, speak Spanish and “learn more about what it means to be human on planet Earth.” Last semester Hubbard’s practicum placement was at an or-phanage in Accra, Ghana. Anissa Rogers, chair of the department of social and behavioral sciences, said that as one of the first UP stu-dents to be placed in Ghana, Hub-bard’s journey showed passion, enthusiasm and motivation. “I knew from the moment that I met her that she was special,” Rogers said. “She’s that kind of shining spirit that people gravi-tate towards.” The only two certainties of Hubbard has about her future is that her life will be devoted to working with children, and that she want to live outside the U.S. “I love kids,” Hubbard said. “I love their energy, I love being

around them. Being able to spend a day with an 8 year-old is the greatest gift ever. So whatever I end up doing is going to involve children and their endless poten-tial.” Hubbard is considering teach-ing English abroad, a venture she said would be less of ‘here’s my culture, here’s my language’ and more ‘let me learn how to live in your culture.’ “What I’d love to see is ev-ery kid get access to education,” Hubbard said. “That every child be able to get as far as they want-ed to, and for all children to be valued for the individual, beau-tiful humans that they are. I re-ally wish that is how our world worked.” Among her mentors, Hubbard counts her father, who taught her to question the status quo; her grandmother, who showed her how to offer compassionate ac-ceptance to all people; and Moth-er Theresa, as an example of how to live a life that is “a complete sacrifice for what you believe in.” Hubbard also has a love for learning and critical thinking, partly inspired by her social work professors and peers. “I really love being surround-ed by people who intelligent, pas-sionate and also searching with answers,” Hubbard said. “That really inspires me. Rogers said Hubbard’s love of asking hard questions and spark-ing social change is evident in the energy she brings to the class-

room and her practicum place-ments. “She’s the person I can always count on to ask really good ques-tions,” Rodgers said. “And to be there – body and mind. She’s committed, engaged and not afraid to take a critical look at things.” Social work professor Kevin Jones named Hubbard one of the strongest social work students academically. “She’s a very joyful person, but very serious about her com-mitment towards social justice and the community,” Jones said Hubbard’s goal is to channel her fierce love for engaged think-ing and compassionate living into giving children the tools and en-couragement to become whatever they want to be. “I believe everyone has amaz-ing stories and gifts, and deserves the chance to share them,” Hub-bard said. “Everybody has some-thing to contribute.” As for Hubbard’s own con-tribution? She finally confessed: “An endless, stupid, overflowing love for everybody.”

- Nastacia Voisin

www.upbeacon.com 9 SPECIAL

Fatima: first generation student, dual degrees and Gates scholar

Julia: changing lives one water system at a time

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”IthinkwhatreallymademestaywaswhenIjoinedEngineersWithoutBorders.Themedicalfieldalwaysinterestedmebecauseit’shelpingpeople,andthisshowedmethatevenwithoutbeingmedicallyinclined,Icouldstillhelppeople.

-JuliaSheets

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I’vealwaysdreamedofhavingaprojectandseeingitgetbuiltupovertime.Managingthepeoplewhodothis.Ijustthinkit’ssofascinatingtoseethishappen.Youhaveapieceoflandandthensuddenly,afewyearslater,it’sabuilding.

-FatimaRuizVillatoro

Fatima Ruiz Villatoro is go-ing to build something big someday, but she doesn’t know what it is yet. That’s

okay. With dual degrees in engineering management and Spanish, and a minor in entrepre-neurship and innovation--not to mention the 18 or more credits that she takes each semester-- Ruiz Villatoro is amply prepared. However, she isn’t just an aca-demically energetic student but a truly inspired person as well. “I’ve always loved construc-tion - my dad worked in con-struction when I was young,” Ruiz Villatoro says. “I’ve always dreamed of having a project and seeing it get built up over time. Managing the people who do this. I just think it’s so fascinat-ing to see this happen. You have a piece of land and then sud-denly, a few years later, it’s a building.” Ruiz Villatoro’s five-year col-lege plan is funded by her Gates Millennium Scholarship. The Gates Millennium Scholars are few and great, with 1000 Ameri-can students a year awarded college tuition from Bill and Melinda Gates. “I’m a first generation college student,” Ruiz Villatoro says, “So a lot of what I am going through now is dependent on faculty advisers and on me being proactive.” She was born and raised in Lislique, El Salvador and the surrounding area until her family

moved to west Seattle in Wash-ington when she was 8. She learned Spanish in a colloquial setting although her interest blos-somed academically, turning the minor into a major eventually. Her majors piled up like that, after some small token of interest grafted onto her and turned into a part of her. She says that friends joke that she will be in academia forever. “They’re like, ‘How’s your seventh out of 20th year of col-lege going?’ and I’m like, ‘Going great!” Ruiz Villatoro jokes. “Even on a five-year plan, there are so many classes that I wanted to take that have nothing to do with my majors,” she says. Much like her academic schedule, Ruiz Villatoro has fully maximized her extracurricular involvement as well. Currently, Ruiz Villatoro is president of the Entrepreneurship and Innova-tion Club as well as treasurer for the Engineers Without Borders. In the past, she worked with E-Scholars, teaming up with senior Jordan Mattson on a project called “Healing Spaces,” rooms for terminally ill children, among other projects. “(Entrepreneurship) could fit into some of the goals she had for being involved in the com-munity, giving back, or working with students from different backgrounds,” says Peter Rachor, director of entrepreneurship at the Franz Center for Leadership and club adviser.

Ruiz Villatoro also works with Fr. Art Wheeler in the stud-ies abroad office. She interviews students in Spanish in order to assess their language proficiency level, a skill that Wheeler says he is dependent on for the applica-tion process. “She certainly is a very hard working student with a very global perspective on her career and eclectic interests,” Wheeler says. On top of her majors, mi-nors, all the homework spread amongst them, two clubs and weekend trips with them, Ruiz Villatoro still finds time to spread herself even further. She babysits once a week for the innovator of Harper’s Playground - -a play-ground engineered for children with disabilities - babysitting Harper herself. In the winter, she will be a bridesmaid. On the weekends, she visits home or friends. “I like to think that I’ve gotten pretty good at time management in the past couple of years,” Ruiz Villatoro says. “There’s still enough time in my day where I just have hours to play around in.” The future, however, is still on uncertain ground for Ruiz Vil-latoro. “Right now I’m thinking about grad school. I don’t know what it is that I want to do,” Ruiz Villatoro says. “And I have so many interests.”

- Olivia Alsept-Ellis

Senior Julia Sheets is aiming to engineer a better world. Having grown up with par-ents who both work in the

medical field, Sheets considered going in that direction for the sake of being able to help people, but decided on engineering sev-eral weeks before coming to UP her freshman year, a decision that proved to be life-altering. “I initially entered engineer-ing because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Sheets says. “I think what really made me stay was when I joined Engineers Without Borders. The medical field always interested me because it’s helping people, and this showed me that even without being medically inclined, I could still help people.” Sheets, a civil environmental engineering major, has devel-oped a passion for engineering equal to her passion for service, and has allowed it to permeate many areas of her life. During her time at UP, Sheets has been a member of Engineers Without Borders, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Ameri-can Waterworks Association. However, the defining moment of her engineering career was spending seven weeks during the summer of 2012 in a rural village in Honduras working on projects centered around designing a water system with the nonprofit organization Water For People. “One of (my favorite parts) was the connections I made,”

Sheets says of her experience in Honduras. “We worked with five students from the National Autonomous University in Hon-duras and I formed really close bonds with all of them. It was fun to get to know someone from a completely different culture … one of the girls even taught me how to salsa.” The project Sheets spent a majority of her time on in Honduras was a water collection survey where she asked villagers the time and distance they had to travel to collect their water. The goal of this project was to quantify the benefit that would be brought to the developing community if a water system were built, in terms of time they could spend doing other things. In addition to providing service to the people where she worked, Sheets’ experience also provided personal growth. “I kind of stepped out of my comfort zone a lot,” Sheets says. “One of those moments was when we went on a waterfall tour … and we went under the waterfall and I felt like I was drowning. It was terrifying, but afterwards it was such a good story, telling people ‘I almost died today.’” Engineering professor Mark Kennedy accompanied the stu-dents on their trip to Honduras and is Sheets’ adviser. Kennedy experienced her development as a student, as well as a citizen of the world during her time at UP.

“I’ve been able to see her grow into someone who I think will have a great future, even if she doesn’t stay in engineering,” Kennedy says. “Working with (developing countries) is some-thing I could see her focusing her grad school on.” In February 2013, at the Hu-man Development Conference (which is entirely student-run), Sheets sat on a panel of stu-dents discussing water issues in developing countries. Her service work was also beneficial and in-spirational for her senior design project, which was to design a water system for another rural community in Honduras. “I think even before I went there, I was always interested in working in Central America,” Sheets says. According to friend and former roommate, senior Nikki Kriskovich, Sheets has also learned how to maintain a bal-ance between her academic life and letting her silly side come out with her friends and family. “I remember a time freshman year before we knew anyone and didn’t know where to go out, we once had a neon dance party in the study room in Shipstad,” Kriskovich says. “Julia’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and she succeeds in every-thing she does, although I don’t think she even knows it because she’s so modest.”

- Clare Duffy

10 March 6, 2014 SPECIAL

Marques: nursing student, father of two

Sierra: fostering relationships one conversation at a time

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Ithinkjustthelittlepartsofmyday,likegettingcoffeefromSusieintheFranzbasement,she’salwayssuchasweetheartandsuchagreatconversationtoo,justthoselittleinteractionsthatmakeyourdaysomuchbetter.

-SierraBray

“”

In(thenursing)environment,oneofmyprimarygoalsistonotjustdowellwithmypatientsbutseehowIcanimprovetheclinicalsite...Ialwaysliketoseewhatcanbechangedandleavealegacy.

-MarquesScott

After clinicals it seems most nursing students would be ready to pass out for the night.Transfer

student Marques Scott, however, is not like most nursing students. During his clinical work this summer, Scott frequently stayed late and looked for ways that the program could improve, while balancing the added responsibil-ity of a family. He is married with two boys (ages 5 and 3), is a devout and active Jehovah’s Witness and has travelled many times to the Dominican Repub-lic for service within his faith. Here in Portland, he is an active member and works closely with the deaf congregation. “If I am anything I’m a Jeho-vah’s Witness and that has been the catalyst for everything I’ve ever done,” Scott says. Scott did his pre-reqs at Port-land Community College and then decided to attend the Uni-versity of Portland on a scholar-ship through Human Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Nurse Corp Scholarship Program (NCSC). During his clinical work over the summer, Scott tried to improve the various groups he worked with. “In (the nursing) environment, one of my primary goals is to not to just do well with my patients but see how I can improve the clinical site,” Scott says. “See how it can improve the experi-ence for students and for staff. I

did some things that are ambi-tious sometimes. I always like to see what can be changed and leave a legacy.” Scott’s clinical faculty coordi-nator (CFC) and nursing profes-sor Halina Barber recognized and appreciated Scott’s effort to make a difference at the hospital and understand the areas where change could take place. “He would always go the extra step and ask extra questions and want to know more about his patients,” Barber says. “When clinicals were over at the end of the day, he would always stay longer and just sit and talk to patients and talk to administra-tion about problems and how to fix them and it just really blew my mind.” Scott enjoys helping others through the promotion of his faith, but he looks forward to helping others as part of his work as a nurse. He decided to go into nursing after working with nurses during the birth of his first son. “The main thing that really did click for me was when my wife was giving birth to our first kid, and the nurses were so caring and I really respect that,” Scott says. “Everything that (the nurses) were doing I would be like, ‘oh how do you do that? Why are you doing that? Can I do that? No? I have to go to school first? That’s okay.’ Seeing the anesthesia, watching the epi-

dural on her, I don’t know why I was so intrigued by that.” Scott says. Barber saw firsthand Scott’s fervor for community and has confidence that he will have suc-cess in whatever he does in the future. “He’s really passionate about community and serving the vul-nerable and the challenged and the sick,” Barber says. “I really don’t know what he’s going to end up doing, I just know what-ever it is it’s going to be great.” After graduation this spring, Scott and his family will move to Tulsa, Okla. and work for two years in accordance with his NCSC scholarship. He hopes to someday return with his family to the Dominican Republic to continue his nursing work and his work as a Jehovah’s Witness. “There’s always going to be challenges but, if you’re doing (something) in respect to serving a greater need, if you’re there to serve yourself then you’re not going to like it,” Scott says. “But if you’re somewhere with the in-tention of serving a greater need, if even in those minor things even in a clinical environment, if you’re there with the mindset of serving a greater need and mak-ing little differences than that’s how you make a change. I’m not a world changer, but maybe a little part of it.”

- Maggie Hannon

There’s a spark in senior Sierra Bray’s eyes when she describes how much she loves when co-workers

at her Oregon Humanities intern-ship use the word “capricious” in everyday conversation. “I geek out every day at my internship but try to keep it cool on the outside,” she says. “But inside I’m like, this is awesome!” As a senior organizational communication major, Bray has a genuine and infectious pas-sion for communication studies and how what she learns in the classroom can be applied to daily life. “I’m a huge communication studies nerd, so it’s cool to see that applied to the real world,” she says. “As much as I love theory, it’s always nice when it’s more tangible.” Bray seizes any chance to put what she learns into practice, whether it’s through her intern-ship in the communications sector of Oregon Humanities, as a volunteer project manager with Oregon Public Broadcasting, as an RA in Fields Hall and in her interactions with friends and faculty. Communication Studies Department Chair Jeff Kerssen-Griep, who has taught Bray and is her academic adviser, is inspired by her ability to relish, rather than be exhausted, in her many activities. “I’m sure she has her own

dark nights of the soul, but when I see her she’s got such an optimistic, almost sunny way of looking at and thinking through and embracing new challenges,” he says. One challenge Bray looks forward to is her eventual goal of attaining a doctorate in commu-nication studies and becoming a professor so she can use her passion to give back to society. “I think teaching is a vocation that has been calling me for a while, and also research because I’m always curious and critical and wanting to explore more about the world,” Bray says. “So I feel it would be a good culmi-nation of my interests but also a good output where I’m not just helping myself, but hopefully adding something to society too.” Although, not everything is always strictly intellectual with Bray. Senior Rebecca Bell, a friend and classmate of Bray’s, recalls a fun time spent with her and others making a video for a class project late at night, when they ended up singing and goof-ing around. “She is really fun and silly and doesn’t take herself too seri-ously, and for people who are as smart and successful as she is, I think that’s a good quality to have,” Bell says. Bray looks forward to what life immediately after gradua-tion has in store for her. She’s

also a Spanish major, and says she fell in love with Spain while studying abroad in Segovia last summer. As a result, she applied for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant position in Madrid, and she’s now a finalist. Though she won’t know if she is chosen until at least late April, Bray hopes she can return. “I feel like I’m a Spaniard at heart in a lot of ways based on their schedules and outlook on life and values in terms of family and enjoying the moment,” Bray says. Bray admits that her busy schedule and great ambitions don’t give her a lot of free time, but she is grateful for all the opportunities she’s been given and tries to take pleasure in life’s simple moments. “It does push me to be happy in this and enjoy the conversa-tions I’m having,” Bray says. “And I think just the little parts of my day, like just getting coffee from Susie in the Franz basement, she’s always such a sweetheart and such a great conversation too, just those little interactions that make your day so much better.”

- Kathryn Walters

At UP, it’s a statistical likeli-hood to have a friend in the nurs-ing program. Another statistic is more jarring. According to a study published in the Internet Journal of Allied Health Science and Practice, the nursing school dropout rate across the country at times approaches 100 percent for male students, compared to 46 percent for female students.

Nursing professor Chad O’Lynn, who studies the experi-ences of men in nursing, provides practical guidance to male nurses in his award winning book, “A Man’s Guide to a Nursing Ca-reer.” O’Lynn wrote this book af-ter receiving feedback for a more practical guidebook based on his first book he co-wrote as a schol-arly review of the male nursing experience.

In “A Man’s Guide to a Nurs-ing Career,” O’Lynn offers ad-vice to male nurses, from those thinking about the profession, to those struggling through nursing school, to graduates in their first job. It also offers role models of men in the nursing profession.

For some men, entering a his-torically female-dominated ca-reer is an exercise in recognizing that nursing is a profession open to all genders, especially with high dropout rates that may argue the opposite.

“Nursing school is tough for both men and women, but some-times nursing school and the pro-fessors have old fashioned ideas, that (they) aren’t open to men, or in caring for people, women do it better than men, or that men shouldn’t be doing women health,” O’Lynn said. “These old

fashioned ideas still have a place in nursing schools, fortunately not all nursing schools, and that’s starting to change, but all it takes is a couple of professors who give you a hard time and give you a negative experience.”

However, O’Lynn sees many ways the nursing profession is changing to be more inclusive, especially at UP. He points to the breakfast meeting for male stu-dents with the School of Nursing Dean and himself.

“The biggest thing is to have a real welcoming atmosphere, and I’m happy to say that I think that’s very present at the Univer-sity of Portland,” O’Lynn said. “For the most part, the guys feel really welcomed, aren’t having any issues with their teachers or classmates for being men. We’re very happy in that regard.”

Junior nursing student Matt Gadbois sees the future of men in nursing as looking beyond dif-ference, and towards normalizing all types of people in nursing. For him, gender has not affected the way he views nursing, or his role as a nurse.

“People always jump to the idea of ‘oh men and nursing - that’s great to have some tough guys around to carry things,’ I’m thinking like, I’m not going to school to lift heavy objects, I’m going to school to become a nurse. I’m going to be doing the exact same stuff as everyone else,” Gadbois said. “It kind of turns me off when people try to talk about what being in nursing means for me, but really they’re asking what it means to be in classes with all females, which I don’t care about, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Nursing professor Loretta Krautscheid agrees that while

some male nurses may have chal-lenges, the focus should be on in-clusion and normalization.

“We certainly want to be in-clusionary and not have some-body think that they shouldn’t even think about being a nurse just because of gender,” Krauts-cheid said. “We at the School of Nursing try to normalize all situ-ations, no matter what it is, we’re less concerned about the gender and more concerned about ability, and making sure all of our nurses, regardless of gender, are prepared to take care of the physical, men-tal and spiritual well being of the person that they’re being entrust-ed to make better.”

O’Lynn’s book has won two awards, the Gene Tranbarger

Award from the American As-sembly for Men in Nursing, as well as an honorable mention from the American Association of Publisher’s PROSE awards for Professional and Scholarly Excel-lence.

Krautscheid sees O’Lynn’s book as an important step in ad-dressing and acknowledging the concerns and problems some male nurses face.

“The most important thing is raising awareness among the general population of male and female nurses that there are these concerns that can come to the forefront and that we shouldn’t brush those aside,” Krautscheid said. “We need to address them objectively and see that people’s

needs are met.”Amidst the accolades,

O’Lynn’s experience writing the book has lead him to some broad-er ideas about the importance and challenge of diversity.

“For a number of years, nurs-ing has wanted a more diverse workforce, (including) more men and more minorities. But when it actually comes to walking the talk, it’s a little harder,” O’Lynn said. “I think that that really be-came clear to me as I wrote this book and talked to people and listened to their experiences. By and large, everyone wants to do the right thing, but it’s not always easy to do. ”

Men in nursing: not just for heavy liftingNursing professor receives recognition for book addressing the role of

men in a traditionally female profession

Maggie SmetStaff Writer

smet14@up.edu

David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

Nursing professor Chad O’Lynn holds his book, “A Man’s Guide to a Nursing Career.” The book is based a book he co-wrote as a scholarly review of the male nursing experience.

Entertain MeDr. Dog

Imagine a bunch of white guys donning bright, primary-colored beanies and a couple of pairs of sunglasses, and a crowd of sweaty, hat and/or bandana-

wearing fans with lots of big glasses making various hair state-ments (picture scruffy beards, dreads and overgrown surfer dude styles). Now add electrify-ing neon lighting that makes you feel like you’re in an under-the-sea psychedelia and the vague smell of marijuana, and you have Dr. Dog’s March 3 show at the Crystal Ballroom.

Amidst the sunshiny har-mony, surfer hair and bro-tanks, I felt like I’d been transported to

California and was watching a modern-day version of the Beach Boys, sped up and hipster-ified.

The best thing about the show was that I didn’t have to know any of the songs to feel like part of the energy of the manic fans in front of me hopping and head-bobbing with purpose and the entwined couples behind me nod-ding gently in time with the beat.

Most of Dr. Dog’s set was their new stuff, and the best of it came with their more soulful songs like “Lonesome” and the crowd’s vig-orous refrain of “Nothing at all!” as they sang along with the band.

Dr. Dog isn’t my new favorite band, but they put on a fun show. Between disappearing into the crowd for a song to jumping all around the stage, the band kept the energy high, especially for a Monday night.

-Sarah Hansell

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

www.upbeacon.com LIVING

FAITH & FELLOWSHIP12 March 6, 2014

A Mass of ashes

The season of Lent began yesterday, Ash Wednesday, with two Masses celebrated in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. Campus Ministry’s online Lenten calendar provides daily reflections for this 40 day period of fast-ing, praying and alms-giving.Website: wordpress.up.edu/lent/

All photos by David DiLoreto | THE BEACON

Sports and education: a problem of culture

Maggie SmetStaff Commentary

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Staff WritersClare Duffy, Olivia Alsept-Ellis, Mitchell Gilbert, Maggie Hannon, W.C. Lawson, Lydia Laythe, Rebekah Markillie, McKena Miyashiro, Emily Neelon, Cassie Sheridan, Maggie Smet, Nastacia Voisin, Kathryn Walters.

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OPiNiONS www.upbeacon.com 13

EDITORIAL UP must not lose sight of sustainability

Image courtesy of garethclubb, openclipart.org

In 2010, awareness of climate change was at an apex. One sur-vey found that 97-98 percent of climate researchers agreed that human activity is currently in-fluencing global temperatures.

In 2010, UP played its part in the global fight against climate change.

For the past several years, the University has demonstrated a progressive attitude toward be-coming a sustainable and envi-ronmentally conscious universi-ty. Donald P. Shiley Hall earned a LEED Platinum certification (the highest level) for being an environmentally friendly build-ing. Also in 2010, UP banned the sale of bottled water, becoming the first university on the West Coast to do so.

A year later, the University hosted renowned writer Michael Pollan as the keynote speaker of Focus the Nation, a national convention intended to build support for the movement to-wards sustainability. The Chiles Center was packed with students and community members eager to hear what Pollan had to say about food sustainability.

In 2014, weather patterns across the country are out of whack. A drought in California threatens to increase food prices due to a poor harvest, the polar vortex froze the whole nation and snow still covers much of the East Coast. Many climate ex-perts have suggested this year’s drought could be indicative of future years, as the results of our careless emission of carbon un-fold.

In 2014, what is UP doing to promote sustainability?

Not much.The past two years, the Of-

fice of Residence Life sponsored UP’s participation in the Cam-pus Conservation Nationals, a

competition in which universi-ties across the nation compete to reduce water and electricity usage. This year, Residence Life chose not to participate in the event.

When this year’s juniors and seniors were prospective fresh-men touring campus, tour guides were sure to point out that the recently renovated Shiley Hall was LEED certified. Now, the Clark Library is the shiny new building for campus tours, but it boasts no such impressive claims about its sustainability value.

The Presidential Advisory Committee on Sustainability, which helped bring Focus the Nation to campus, has not met for months, and if the commit-tee’s website is any indicator, they haven’t been doing much work lately to advise the presi-dent on sustainability.

UP is losing sight of its com-mitment to sustainability.

The University may be slow-ing down in its commitment to combating climate change, but unfortunately, climate change is not slowing down. According to the National Climatic Data Center, January was the 347th

consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th cen-tury average.

The University’s website states that “University of Port-land is committed to living and acting sustainably.” Well, maybe we were committed in 2010. But much of what made UP a lead-

ing university in sustainability issues has been forgotten.

As the climate becomes ever more unpredictable, this loss of commitment to being good stew-ards of the earth is a shame.

“The University may be slowing down in its commitment to combating climate change, but unfortunately, climate change is not slowing down.”

“I don’t need to study, I’m just going to get a full ride to play football at OSU.” I’ll never for-get this comment from a student while working at Roosevelt High School. He was insistent, even as a freshman, that going to college would simply rely on football. I knew to warn him that getting a football scholarship wouldn’t be

easy, and that his grades would be important. But I didn’t know to warn him of the hardships he would face if he even managed to get that scholarship.

For many years, I harbored a grudge against college athletes. Why was I paying more to study at school, while they were paying less to play sports? My animos-ity towards big college sports heavily influenced my college decision. I could never stomach going to a school where athletics was a huge focus of attention and money.

Once coming to UP, every interaction with student athletes and athletics has been extremely

positive. (Anyone who has wit-nessed me screaming wildly at a soccer game can attest to my change of heart regarding sports.) I respect all the things our Pilot athletes balance in order to suc-ceed in the classroom and on the field.

However, I could never shake the nagging animosity towards those big NCAA Division I ath-letes. Why should they be treated like royalty in the place of stu-dents doing extraordinary aca-demic work?

I realized after reading and watching the documentary “Schooled” that my anger was not towards the athletes themselves,

but the larger system of college sports and the NCAA, especially for football and basketball, the real NCAA money-makers.

The NCAA holds that, in the spirit of amateurism, players that

bring in millions of dollars for school can only be compensated through free tuition, room and board. But when compared to the kind of money their sports pro-grams are raking in, the differ-ence is staggering.

According to Forbes Maga-zine, the University of Texas gen-erated $109 million in revenue last year, $34.5 million of that was just from ticket sales. Notre Dame’s football team brought in $78 million last year, $46 million of which was pure profit. The list goes on and on, until the millions

See NCAA, page 14

“Compared to the kind of money their sports programs are raking in, the difference (in athletic scholarships) is staggering.”

Maggie Smetsenior

FACESby Kristen Garcia

What is the worst part of midterms

week?

Justin Barrieault senior

philosophy

“The anticipation for spring break. Having to

wait that week for it.”

Laura McDonagh freshman nursing

“Maybe just not having enough time to study.”

“Besides the obvious ones, it’s just looking

forward to spring break and having everything in

the way.”

Breanna Laurente sophomore

biology

Connor Whan senior

business

“It’s a myth. It’s not real.”

on The Bluff

Lydia LaytheStaff Commentary

SUDOKUSEE BELOW FOR SOLUTION

SUDOKU SOLUTION

Professors are people too. It has become apparent to me that not everyone recognizes this fact. So for the students who can’t grasp the concept of being respectful during class, I’m going to give you a quick lesson in how to behave like decent human be-ings. I call it:

Lydia’s Three Easy Rules for Proper Classroom Etiquette

Rule 1: Don’t come to class if you’re going to fall asleep.

Imagine if you were trying to tell your friend an exciting story and they were falling asleep. Imagine you spend thousands of dollars and a lifetime career on that story. That’s exactly what a professor is doing when they lec-ture, and you’re falling asleep. If for no other reason, don’t fall asleep because it’s disrespect-ful. Your professor is just trying to tell you about something they find really interesting.

If I see another student sit-ting in class snoring during a lecture, I’m going to pick them up and throw them off The Bluff. Welcome to college, everyone, where YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE HERE. You chose to go to college. So why, if you’re choos-ing to be here, are you sleeping in class? If you’re too tired to stay awake, don’t come. And for any-one that says, “Well, I try to stay awake”: Try harder. Suck it up and find a way to stay awake.

Rule 2: Don’t be a zombie.Again, imagine you’re tell-

ing a story and instead of nod-ding, smiling, reacting to your story, your friend just sits there expressionless. Imagine you re-ally love the topic you’re talking about, and your friend’s eyes are half-open, they’re looking out the window, or they’re staring at the table. I would venture to guess we would all just stop talking to our friends, maybe punch them in the arm and walk away. I’m sure there are plenty of profes-sors that’ve wanted to do that to a few students.

Despite what we’ve come to believe is acceptable, lectures aren’t one-sided activities we can passively participate in. A lec-ture is like any conversation – it requires some interaction. Yes, you may not be able to verbally respond to every point the profes-sor makes, but you can at least be polite and respectful and show you’re listening. Listening to lec-tures requires active participa-tion: nodding and smiling when you understand, or furrowing your brow if you don’t. Again, out of sheer respect for the hu-manity of your professors, please at least pretend to listen.

Rule 3: Don’t pack up early.This is probably the most an-

noying habit I have witnessed in classrooms. At the end of the lec-ture, as the professor is wrapping up and the clock is counting down 30 seconds to freedom, students begin to pack up their belong-ings. The shuffling of papers and notebooks and laptops drowns out the professors last words, and students don’t even care.

I was sitting in a class once when this happened, and it nearly broke my heart. I watched the professor look helplessly around the room to find just one atten-tive face. He paused and tried to finish his thoughts but pursed his lips, sighed and gave up. He couldn’t even finish his lecture. I felt so bad for that him, and for all professors who have been in similar situations.

They spend their time read-ing and crafting interesting lec-tures and trying to find new ways to engage students – and it’s not easy. They love what they do, so to have students disregard their hard work, ignore them, and be so disrespectful – it’s disappoint-ing to say the least.

So let me make this final plea: Please remember that your professors are people too. They deserve at least a small acknowl-edgement of their human dignity. Don’t ignore them. Don’t shut them out. Don’t disregard them. Please be kind to your profes-sors – they are someone’s father, mother, husband, wife or friend.

Lydia Laythe is a sophomore social work major. She can be reached at laythe16@up.edu.

Three rules for proper classroom ettiquette

NCAA: Scholarships not enough for athletes

Continued from page 13

14 March 6 2014 OPiNiONS

BABYSITTER NEEDED Seeking experienced babysitter to watch 6 month old for approximately 10 hours a week in the afternoon. Residence is a mile from the University of Portland. If interested please contact Nicole at 5038605950.

start to lose their meaning. But when compared to what the play-ers get in return for their hard work, it seems astronomical.

Meanwhile, 86 percent of col-lege student athletes live below the poverty line according to a study by the National College Players Association. Between practices, class, travelling for games and trying to eat and sleep, it’s almost impossible for some-one to hold down another job. For those from humble backgrounds, this means that while tuition is covered, basic necessities aren’t. They may play in front of thou-sands of adoring fans, but come home to no food in the fridge.

That college education may be priceless, but many athletes simply aren’t getting the educa-tion they’re playing for.

At the University of North Carolina, learning specialist Mary Willingham exposed the unpreparedness of the Univer-sity’s football and basketball teams. Her research on the read-ing levels of UNC-Chapel Hill football and basketball from 2004-2012 found that 60 percent read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels and 8 to 10 percent read below a third-grade level.

Of course, there are student

athletes who succeed and excel in both academics and sports. The problem is not the individu-als. It is a culture that prizes athletics over meaningful educa-tion. When millions of dollars depend on athletic achievement, academics will fall behind for these students. That’s just not fair – to anyone. To the athletes, their peers, their professors or the institution.

Although this culture may not be a concern at UP, we as college students should be in-formed about what’s happening to our peers at other schools. We should be concerned about these universities and the culture they are perpetuating.

If I could go back to Roo-sevelt and find that student, I would show him the statistics. I would let him hear from student athletes who struggled. I would warn him of what he’s in for: long days, long nights, no compensa-tion for his work and, perhaps, a subpar education. It’s critical for kids like him, kids who dream of making a better life for them-selves through college athletics, to know it’s never going to be a free ride.

Maggie Smet is a senior Eng-lish major. She can be reached at smet14@up.edu.

This week in sports

Baseball The Pilots were swept at home this past weekend by UC Irvine and then fell to Oregon State Tuesday. They are 2-10 on the season. Bakersfield comes to Portland this weekend to play three games, then the Pilots travel up to play Seattle U Tuesday and Wednesday.

Men’s BasketballThe Pilots dropped the final regular season game to Pacific 68-65. They finished 15-15 overall. The WCC Tournament begins for the men tomorrow against LMU at 6 p.m.

Women’s Basketball

The women fell to St. Mary’s 76-72 in their final home game and final game of the season. They finished 14-12 on the sea-son. The Pilots take on Pacific at 12 p.m. in the WCC Tourna-ment tomorrow .

Track & Field

The Pilots began their outdoor track and field season last weekend at the Willamette Opener. The men and women took multiple heat wins includ-ing the women’s 400-meter and 800-meter runs. The teams will be at the Oregon State Invita-tional this weekend.

(courtesy portlandpilots.com, WCCsports.com)

www.upbeacon.com 15SPORTS

Chet Thompson

Pilot in the Spotlight

OutfieldRedshirt Senior

Gig Harbor, Wash.

career as a player with a .278 bat-ting average, 242 home runs and 1,013 RBIs.

Baker’s work as a manager, though, is where he really rose to fame. He began managing the Giants in 1993. He won two divi-sion titles, one wild card spot and was named the National League’s Manager of the Year three times with the Giants. He then went on to make two more playoff appear-ances with the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds.

After the Pilots’ loss against UC Irvine (3-5) on that day, Baker had an intimate discussion with the players about the game as well as leading a good life. Baker appreciated the fact that he was able to advise the players on not only their baseball careers but also the importance of being a good person.

“I think (talking to the play-ers) is great because I’m pass-ing on what’s been given to me,” Baker said.

He emphasized that his knowl-edge and what he has learned was not “his to keep.”

“It’s great to learn from some-one that’s had a chance to manage at the professional level. Hopeful-ly it’ll help us,” said junior pitcher Jordan Wilcox.

The players appreciated the advice and felt that they were able to learn a lot from Baker since he managed such successful teams.

“He really emphasized keep-ing our dreams alive, especially when we get older,” Littlefield said.

During one of the many speeches of the night, head coach Chris Sperry mentioned the diffi-culty that the team has had so far this season. He mentioned some

of the advice Baker gave to the team during their private talk and how it resonated with their strug-gle. The team has a 2-10 record so far, but Sperry hopes to improve on the rest of the season.

“Just because you start out a little rocky, doesn’t mean that’s how it has to go,” Sperry said.

Baker’s speech discussed his career and development from a player to a division-winning man-ager. During his speech, Baker expanded on the advice that he gave the team during their private talk.

“The young guys, it’s refresh-ing to be around them because they’re bright-eyed,” Baker said. “For the young men out there, just dream, because those of us that played baseball had a dream.”

Continued from page 16

Parker Shoaff| THE BEACON

Junior pitcher Travis Radke prepares to deliver a pitch during the Pilots’ series against UC Irvine last weekend.

What is your first memo-ry playing baseball?

I was 5 years old and I definitely didn’t like base-ball. My parents took me to t-ball and I didn’t like large groups of people and they kind of dragged me out there. I immediately started crying, trying to get out of there. Well, my parents had already paid for it so they basically said, ‘Chet, you are going to this no matter what.’ They would take me there, drop me off and if I cried, I cried and I just had to deal with it. Ironically, I ended up falling in love with it from then on out.

Do you have any pre-game superstitions?

I always go up to the plate doing the same thing every single time. I walk slow, stretch my arm with my bat, take a swing and then stretch my right hamstring. I don’t know why I do that. Even on turf fields where there isn’t any dirt to scratch with your foot I’ll scratch the turf. I do that every single time.

Do you have a walk-up song?

This year, it is called “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind, & Fire. I like funk. I always tell people I was born for the 70s, missed it though.

What kind of things do you enjoy doing outside of baseball and school?

Well, I am a math major, so I am a bit of a nerd. I love collecting things. Ever since I was little I’ve been col-lecting comic books, base-ball cards; I was really into Pokemon. So I am always looking for valuable stuff to add to my collections. I also spend a lot of time hang-

ing out with my friends that are non-athletes. It’s fun to talk about other things than sports sometimes because that’s what I spend so much of my time doing.

When did you start col-lecting baseball cards?

I started collecting base-ball cards when I think I was about 8 years old. I went to my cousin’s house and they gave me their collection and I fell in love with it. I have a lot of awesome rookie cards from that original collec-tion, like Derek Jeter’s rook-ie card that they didn’t know was worth anything.

Do you have a favorite place in Portland?

There are so many plac-es I like to go! How about favorite food place? No…that’s even tougher. Well, I guess my favorite area is probably 21st and 23rd it’s just a cool place, tons to do, some might say a little hip-sterish Portland. I also re-ally like Mississippi, not just for the bar scene, there’s a bunch of cool stuff there.

I apologize in advance for asking this, the dreaded question, do you have plans for after you graduate?

Well, what I want to do is become an actuary. Your next questions is ‘what is an actuary?’ Have you seen ‘Along Came Polly?’ It’s what Ben Stiller’s profession is in that movie. An actuary is basically a risk assessor or analyzer. You use statistics and probability to determine things such as risk behav-iors and things like that for insurance companies. That is my goal, my dream job if you will.

- Cassie Sheridan

BASEBALL: Pilots get motivation from MLB veteran

Parker Shoaff | THE BEACON

THE BEACON16 March 6, 2014 www.upbeacon.comSPORTS

Coach Sollars, seniors say farewell to The Bluff

Photos by Spencer Young | THE BEACON

(Top) Head coach Jim Sollars waves to the attendees of his last game in the Chiles Center. (Top right) Senior forward Amy Pupa high fives her teammates as she comes off the court during Senior Day. (Bottom right) Senior Elyse Sny-der waits for a rebound against St. Mary’s, the team’s final home game of the season.

Saturday March 1 marked the last day head coach Jim Sollars will coach the women’s basket-ball team in the Chiles Center. He has coached at UP for 28 years, 11 years of which he also taught in the history department. He has coached the Pilots to nearly 400 wins in his career, is cur-rently ranked second all time in the WCC with 166 wins and has been named the league Coach of the Year five times.

People came from all over Portland to celebrate the career of a coach who has been an in-strumental member of the com-

munity since the beginning of his career 28 years ago. It was apparent throughout the game that the members of the commu-nity, past and present players and friends of the Sollars’ respect and admire him, not only as a bas-ketball coach, but as a genuine person.

“Coach Sollars was always looking at my overall well-being as a person. He would never put himself first,” senior Amy Pupa said. “That was important to me. I felt like I was part of his family. He has such a great life and such great wisdom to share, both on and off the court.”

The event contained multiple speakers, including the coach himself. In Sollars’ speech he

thanked the University and his players for the years that he has spent in the program. Sollars was also presented with a UP rocking chair and a basket of wine and crackers to commemorate his time spent here.

The Pilots fought hard in their final game of the season, but fell to Saint Mary’s 76-72. The Pilots have another chance to win it for their coach though, with the quarterfinals of the WCC cham-pionship against Pacific Univer-sity coming up on March 7 in Las Vegas, Nev.

“They played hard out there,” said Sollars. “I was very pleased with the effort. They played hard, and you have to be happy with that.”

The day was not only a day of celebration and reminiscence for Sollars, but for his three se-niors as well. Amy Pupa, Alexis Byrd,and Elyse Snyder all played their last home game for the Pi-lots.

“I definitely loved my senior day. It was an honor to be brought out onto the court with my family and in front of my friends,” Pupa said. “It was a really special day for Coach.”

After the game they played a video celebrating the career of Sollars with pictures and inter-views from past and present play-ers. Many of the players spoke of how he made them feel like they were members of his fam-ily, and said Sollars treated them

as though they were his own daughters. They also told stories about the quirky things he says at practice, and the intensity that he brings out on the court every single day.

Coach Sollars has had a suc-cessful career at UP, with a be-ginning goal that many can agree has been achieved.

“I want to leave the program in as good of shape as I got it. I inherited a great group of kids back in the day,” Sollars said. “And I hope that is the legacy I leave with. And I think that I have done that, and I believe that the program will get even better.”

Mitchell GilbertStaff Writer

gilbert16@up.edu

Former MLB Manager of the Year speaks at Diamond Dinner

Former MLB player and well known manager Dusty Baker fol-lowed his dreams to play at the professional level. On March 1, Baker told parents, players and alumni to keep their dreams alive, even in adversity, as they gathered for the 13th Annual Di-amond Dinner fundraising event in Bauccio Commons.

Although the dinner was orig-inally scheduled for Feb. 8 and is supposed to mark the begin-ning of the season, due to poor weather conditions at the time it was moved to the later date. The fundraiser, which involved both the dinner and a silent and live auction, helped to raise money

for the proposed renovations on Joe Etzel Field.

Baker spoke on his experienc-es and gave some advice for the players and coaches in the crowd.

“He had some really good advice about baseball and life in general. He’s a really nice and personal guy so it was nice to see someone so well known be so humble,” said freshman out-fielder Ryan Littlefield.

Baker began his career in the MLB as an outfielder for the At-lanta Braves in 1968, although he didn’t want to go to the South during this time. After his 16 sea-sons in the MLB playing for the Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Oak-land Athletics, Baker ended his

Maggie HannonStaff Writer

hannon15@up.edu

See BASEBALL, page 15 Maggie Hannon | THE BEACON

Dusty Baker shares tips from his experiences from the MLB during the 13th Annual Diamond Dinner.