"Improv Smack Down" at Russell Trip Theater

On May 25, the Russell Trip Theater hosted six high schools for a Friday night of laughter and fun. The two act event lasted roughly two hours and every minute was purely enjoyable.

Among the six high schools who came to visit were South Albany High School, West Albany High School, South Salem High School, Crescent Valley High School, Corvallis High School, and South Eugene High School. South Salem High School even brought an entire bus full of spectators from South Salem to cheer on their improv group.

Each of the six schools volunteers a few people from their school to put on a show and perform a random routine of improvisational acting before 265 people.

When I was spectating the event, I felt utterly scared for each performer. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to absolutely embarrass yourself in front of that many people. High school seems to be a time where some people experience fragility when they’re faced with social issues. If that was the case, then these group of kids were certainly the anomaly of the entire room.

Not a single performer was embarrassed of what they said. They all seemed to say exactly what was on their minds when performing a random act.

One instance during the first act, Corvallis High School played a game called “who's counting?”. In this game, each of the three selected students are limited to a given amount of words to create dialogue with.

Corvallis High School had to perform a scene with dialogue consisting of only two, five and 12 words. While one of the students struggled with coming up with a reply that had 12 words, the others could only respond to the other in two words or five words.

The struggle with sentence structure made a very funny scene about a family who had to catch crabs to feed their baby daughter. When the scene didn't stop soon enough, they opted to kill the daughter with absolutely no time to orate the scene.

“Every school seemed to have a moment where I was over on the side trying not to laugh too much.” Michael Winder, the production coordinator for the Russell Trip says.

Winder says “the nature of this spontaneous form of theater is it happens in the moment and never happens again.”

With that being said, that was the most enjoyable aspect of the event. I saw scenes that I thought I would never see. Also, to see the students just have fun and act together is a really nice experience.

“Seeing them immediately start playing games together and doing warm up exercises together and just acting like they're great friends and known each other for a long time is just really cool to see” says Winder.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I sat down before the first act started, but I had a really fun time!

Benjamin Hauser Acknowledged for Academic Excellence

On April 25, Benjamin Hauser, alongside two other LBCC students, met with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown at the state capitol. The three Roadrunners were honored for their academic excellence by being named to the All-Oregon Academic Team.

On this day, Hauser was recognized for the determination and hard work he's put forth.

But this day felt like any other for Hauser. The West Albany graduate has high expectations for himself.

“It's a long process,” Hauser said. “I'm just in the beginning baby steps for where I want to go. I want to be a neonatologist, I want to work as a doctor for babies. That's going to take, after medical school, more schooling,”

Hauser volunteers at the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. He works in the emergency room, where he describes his job as “stocking supplies in the trauma rooms and everywhere in the ER.”

He also tutors students at LBCC, on top of his own school and volunteer work. He tutors for chemistry, math and anatomy classes.

“Last term I think I had 15 or a little more hours of availability. This term I have cut it way down to approximately 10 hours because this term has been ridiculously crazy for me,” Hauser said. “I'd have to double check my hours to be sure on how many I'm exactly available.”

Sheri McIntyre, tutor coordinator at LBCC, said, “I've supervised Ben for a little over a year. He is an excellent tutor. He is able to encourage his tutees to think about the information and learn the material in a way that works best for them as a learner. He is patient and thoughtful in his approach, ultimately assisting tutees with their understanding of the course, but boosting their confidence as well.”

“Ben is a remarkable and capable student. He possesses the desire, dedication and tools to achieve whatever academic and career goals he sets. I have no doubt he will make an excellent doctor and be an asset to the field and the families he works with.”

At a glance:

Hometown: Albany
High School: West Albany
Class of: 2016
Major: Biology Science
Hopes to be: Neonatologist

Teachers Deserve Appreciation.

I was among the few hundred that stood in the Veterans Memorial Coliseum to receive a high school diploma in June 2017. The graduation rehearsal was earlier the same day at 8:30 a.m. and the same few hundred seniors were mingling about the vast open space inside the coliseum in North Portland. It was clearly a juxtaposition to how quickly the coliseum filled up late that night.

As time approached, my parents drove me to the commencement ceremony. There was absolutely nowhere to park, but that's expected. I had rehearsed earlier the process of receiving the diploma and getting your picture taken shaking hands with the principal and everything went relatively routine. I just hadn't expected every single teacher to be lined up aside the rows of chairs to shake hands with the graduating students.

Let it be known for the record that I left the commencement ceremony immediately after getting my diploma as I had better things to do on my graduation night than listen to each valedictorian speech. Sorry Franklin High School.

I got my name called, walked up the steps, and shook the hands that needed to be shook, being photographed several times throughout this entire process. As I walked down the steps with my diploma, I looked for exits to leave without being seen by thousands of people. I was immediately accosted to mingle with the rest of the teachers before returning to my seat (in my case, leaving the building with my parents).

I saw my history teacher, sophomore art teacher, geometry teacher and I shook their hands only happy I wouldn't see them ever again. I then thought of the teachers I would miss and became a little bit sad. I shook hands with every single teacher there that night but I hugged only two.

My journalism teacher and my English teacher. I knew that those two ladies have taught me the most valuable skills I’ve learned all throughout high school and that was undebatable. A feeling of utmost gratefulness passed through me as my last encounter with Elizabeth Kirsch and Ellie Wilder was over.

What these teachers taught me in high school meant more to me than the time I spent in any classroom in high school. Ellie Wilder taught me advanced placement literature writing and composition, a class that you couldn't take until you took all of the other English classes. That didn't stop her from teaching the only underclassmen in the room, myself.

Wilder never excluded me or make me feel like I was incompetent when I was in her classroom even though everybody else had a year on me. She taught me rhyme, prose and literary elements at a pace that I could handle every day I could go to her class was an absolute joy to the rest of my day. Knowing well that I was a sixteen year old kid in a college class, I loved Ellie Wilder because she never made me feel stupid ever.

The graceful selflessness they had shown me for two years was finally put into perspective and I finally had come to realize that I never appreciated it enough.

So that made me pose the question, what does it take to be a teacher and what exactly does it mean to have that position? The answer just might surprise you.

“To be a teacher means to to aggressively and persistently work against systems that disadvantage certain people. It means to show compassion, to remember that everyone has a story. It means to encourage rigor and engagement. It means to hold people to a high standard, intellectually, socially, behaviorally. It means never getting any sleep and being constantly undervalued by society” says Elizabeth Kirsch, the first person to teach me what journalism is.

In today's society, most students of from elementary to high school develop a belief that they're not performing well in a class because the teacher is rude, boring or just simply ineffective.

You know, when you thought you were just going to fail your freshman algebra class because your teacher is a grouch, only to find out that you have a 40 percent just because you don't like waking up at 7:30 in the morning to do quadratics. Do you think anybody else did either?

Sure, you can just write the teacher off as a “bad teacher”, but in the end, you still fail the class and you hate your math teacher.

Kirsch offers an insightful perspective on how we should get past this vicarious cycle.

“I think there are ‘bad teachers’ in the sense that there are ‘bad’ anything, but I also believe that rather than assigning a ‘bad’ label to people, we should instead work to provide the systems and supports that will allow them to grow and be good at their jobs.”

School can be a rough time for many individuals. While some are worried about not being liked or talented, they also have to balance school work on top of that. At the end of the day, teachers are there to support students. Teachers reject no student and accept everyone they're assigned. I think that any person that possess these admirable qualities deserve to be appreciated every time they walk through the classroom doors.

Dispatches from 1320, by Tom Hallman Jr. Wows

At a glance:

What: “Dispatches from 1320”

A collection of newspaper stories compiled during the career of former Oregonian reporter Tom Hallman Jr.

About the author: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.

Publisher: Hallman Publishing

Rating: 4 stars

Cost: $7.99 for the Kindle version on Amazon, $25 for a printed copy

Where available: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Pages: 501

Chess with Friends

Walk into the Commons cafeteria at noon and people are eating and having conversations. At the same time, chess matches are being played, as well as other card games in adjacent tables.

Two games of chess are being played next to each other. Shoulder to shoulder, each player offers smiles and conversation to their opponents. A seemingly competitive game of chess on the surface turns out to be a bunch of friends laughing together and playing games.

 One of the two games plays with traditional black-and-white pieces and the other plays with bright blue and yellow pieces, for school spirit of course.

Each move on these chess matches are completely defining; they’re all very careful with their moves. They have a common pursuit in defeating each other, but they’re all here to have fun.

Travis Peterson, the club president, is among the pair of games and he is absolutely having his way with his opponent.

 Peterson has been the student rep for the chess club since February 2018, but the club itself has been in existence since the fall term in 2015.

 He looks up, laughs and smiles with his counterpart.

“It’s okay,” Peterson said with a sincere smile.

Playing chess with your friends is what the club is all about. In fact, at the end of the term the club intends to give away a free chess set for any person who drops by the chess club meeting and plays a game of chess and signs a raffle ticket. Not just any chess set though, but a four-player one!

A four-player chess set is like a traditional one but with an additional three rows of eight cells on all four sides of the chess set. Players can play free-for-all matches or have teams of two and each side of the board has different color pieces.

For more about how to get involved with the chess club at Linn-Benton, contact Travis Peterson via e-mail. The chess club meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Commons cafeteria from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. “The idea was that we were going to give away a regular one, but we thought why give away a regular chess set when you can give away a four-player chess set, so you can play with your friends,” Peterson said.

Why you should consider taking Communication

Have you ever had a hard time arguing your case or effectively getting your point across? Of course you have. Frankly, one time or another, you’ll encounter a struggle to make yourself better spoken. How about a difficulty relating to others or building empathy for somebody? Of course! Relating to somebody that doesn’t have anything in common with you and offering your empathy can be a seemingly impossible task. If you ever wanted to better your skills at things like these, communication is the line of courses you want to consider taking in college. You’re taught exactly how to offer empathy and perceive things without bias, as well as other things when you chose to take communication.

Absolutely anybody can benefit from taking communication courses. More often than not, the instructors that teach communication are a reliable source of support for hardships in your life. In addition, the instructor helps you establish a sense of belonging in their classroom. This isn’t to say that your favorite math teacher won’t listen to your problems, but your communication professor will offer a fruitful method to express your feelings in an appropriate environment.

Communication can go a long way in your romantic relationships. Dr. John Gottman who is a professor emeritus in Psychology is known for his effective relationship analysis through observations. Many of these are published in peer-reviewed pieces of literature for anybody to read.

Gottman’s four horsemen theory underlines four traits that are likely to destroy 90% of romantic relationships; criticism, contempt, stonewalling, and defensiveness are the four traits that likely end any relationship. This simple concept of relationship protection is taught in communication 218, here at LBCC. During the “emotions” unit, students in this class are taught how to effectively express their emotions constructively.

After taking communication in college, you’ll be enchanted with the very skills that employers look for. You will be able to conduct yourself professionally in a job interview. After studying communication, you’ll be able to facilitate healthy relationships with people that are important in your life. These are all gainful reasons to take a communication course in college.

Linn Benton CC's, Phi Theta Kappa holds donation drive for sexual assault awareness month

April is sexual assault awareness month and what better way to show remembrance and support than donate to the victims of these crimes. LBCC provides students and faculty the opportunity to donate goods to victims of rape and domestic violence.

Linn Benton CC honor society Phi Theta Kappa will be holding a donation drive to raise awareness for sexual assault all throughout April. The donations will go to CARDV (Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence) and Center for Hope and Safety.

Alena Santos, head of events for Phi Theta Kappa, says that “PTK will hand these donations to CARDV and Center for Hope and Safety at the beginning of May after the donation is over. The items donated to these two organizations go to either to the victims of domestic violence/abuse/sexual assault or the organizations themselves.”

You can donate by going to the Diversity Achievement Center, or the SLC office where there will be the donation box. Accepted items include toiletries, towels, school and office supplies, used cell phones, bus passes and children and baby items (toys, games, sippy cups and diapers).

She Speaks, Everyone Thinks: Hailey Adkisson

She emerges from her office and makes her way to the classroom, class starts in five minutes. Her face is seemingly expressionless. She clutches a tan hydro-flask with one hand and a clipboard with the attendance and lecture notes in the other, and marches to the classroom. It's a Tuesday afternoon and the weather is wonderful in Albany, Oregon and first year professor Hailey Adkisson is about to give a lengthy lecture on conflict in her communication 218 class.

Adkisson turns the corner to greet a few early students waiting outside with smiles. She unlocks the door, turns on the light and assumes her position behind a tall wooden, beige podium. More people come in and make themselves comfortable in their seat until the classroom is filled up with two dozen students.

Before class begins she gives details to the class about the upcoming final and how the criteria will be broken down. The shortest person in the room, but undoubtedly the most recognizable, commands attention with each sentence. Some take notes even. Unfortunately for those who aren't comfortable speaking aloud to the class, the final exam will be a verbal presentation about some of the positive experiences gained from exploring another culture.

"Time limits?" one student asks aloud to the front of the classroom.

"No more than five minutes, no less than two." She replies. Then there are no questions.

Adkisson gives each student a number one through four, instructing them each to say their number as the room counts up then tell them each to group up with the number they got. The students group into fours and fives to a corner of the room.

At this point she announces the students are to "write the word conflict on the whiteboard and brainstorm a list of names, phrases, or emotions when you hear the word conflict."

The four groups exchange a flurry of ideas and thoughts. The only challenging part about this exercise, put your thoughts into words and have a discussion. Adkisson sits atop her desk, left leg over her right and looks on to each of the five groups, smiling in content with the state of each group discussion.

This idea of social interaction and constructive ideas being shared among minds young and old is also a theme for the discussion board that the Civil Discourse Club uses to understand other points of view.

Mark Uristo, the official advisor for the Civi Discourse Club, said he "reached out to Hailey for help [with the club] because she has a lot of experience with facilitating civil discourse based on her work at North Dakota State."

Adkisson gets her desire for civil discourse from a former advisor she had during graduate school. She said that "she had a big influence on me, not nessecarily teaching, but I just really respected her teaching style. The bulk of it [the class] was just sitting around discussing ideas. She would challenge you to think, you would respond, and she would say 'tell me more'". Adkisson goes on to say "her advise translated well beyon the classroom."

Infact, before she entered NDSU for her MA in Speech Communication, she spent two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA serving in Winatchee, Washington and Moorhead, Minnesoda.

Linn Benton's History of Extra Curriculars

The year is 1991, the only club that exists at LBCC is the Horticulture club. Being the agricultural hub that Linn County is, there was no surprise to see a Horticulture club among the campus's extra curricular activity. Then came ASCET, or the american Society of Certified Electric Technicians.

LBCC has had numerous clubs come and go such as: Biology club, Geology club, Swing Dance club, and many more. A list of clubs on campus, active and inactive, can be seen here: http://www.linnbenton.edu/current-students/involvement/institutional-equity-and-student-engagement/clubs-and-co-curricular-programs. Clubs to the students on LB's campus serve as a staple to the community and a place to meet many other people with similar interests.


The club has been disbanded in it's 25-year history only once, as it has "ran out of seniors [upperclassmen] to fill office positions" says Ric Costin, the adviser for ASCET. "It died about two years ago to be brought back again after a low enrollment of students".Perry Carmichael serves as the department chair for ASCET and is an instructor in Computer Aided Design and Drafting, or CADD. He said that the "club isn't very focused on research and development", contrary to other beliefs. The club doesn't have any partnerships or sponsors, but

The end of fun clubs and co curricular activities are almost inevitable, as numerous clubs have been disbanded only to be brought back, like ASCET and many others. Heather Morijah, who is the program assistant of Clubs & Student Engagement at LBCC told of a process clubs regularly attending clubs have to go through, as well as the direction disbanded clubs must take to become active again. "If a club has been inactive for several years, then the leader [of the club] needs to fill out a petition for club charter". Morijah goes on to say, "To have a club, you need eight students that are currently enrolled, and an adviser."

If you're an LBCC student and you have a profound interest in a set of activities that aren't validating of your interests, start your own! Make sure that you have a theme that is suitable for a school environment and go make yourself some friends doing what you enjoy.

'These Two Facts Exists", an exhibit by Ron Linn

The new exhibit in the SSH Art Gallery ‘These Two Facts Exist’ features many different drawings by Portland native Ron Linn. Linn’s graphite composite comes after local print maker Tallmadge Doyle’s, ‘Pollination’.

On March 5, 2018, a reception and talk was held to show his drawings and give students a chance to ask questions about his work and talk art. Here is a website with all of the information concerning the gallery and art staff: https://www.linnbenton.edu/current-students/involvement/art-gallery/now-showing-in-south-santiam-hall-gallery.

Linn has bounced around as an artist, as he has spent time at an art residency in Iceland for two months, and in Nevada, where he studied art. He recalls his time in Iceland as a “really intensive, focused time to explore my art at a bookbinding workshop.” Soon after, he obtained a bachelor's of art at the University of Oregon. He currently teaches at the school he got his undergraduate degree in Nevada.

Landscape is a very critical theme in his art, as he said, “My artwork seems to come back to this idea of place and trying to connect with place.” Linn recalls an old geologist roommate he had that looked at things differently than he did in relation to the landscape. “Whenever we’d go hiking, he would see things entirely different than I saw.”

All of the work on display is done in pencil. In fact, Linn claims he would “use mechanical pencils, mostly.” Using pencil on all of the art depicts calm but intricate lines with this particular medium.

 Ron Linn (Left) is talking about his art with Anne Magratten (Right).

Though there aren’t many colors, rather shades, Anne Magratten, a professor in LB’s fine arts department, said of Linn’s work: “It’s a wonderful reminder as I see you [Linn] stepping in and out of these different ways of working that this is the blessing of contemporary art. It’s the flexibility to occupy many different artistic positions.”
The art piece seen on the floor is a drawing of a windsock. Linn gives a profound interpretation to this, as explains the idea of “windsocks as this empty body that reveals invisible forces. You don’t see the wind, but when it interacts with this tool used to measure the wind, you can finally start to see it.”

"These Two Facts Exists" gets its name from “this idea that a drawing of something being looked at as an object, and the object itself as two different things. So you have a drawing of a rock, that exists and you have an actual rock is a second fact that also exists.” He goes on to say, “We would privilege the actual object as being the ‘true thing’, but in many ways there’s something very true about the drawing of the object. Through interpretation and conversation, it is a fact that exists.”

The exhibit will be on display in the SSH Art Gallery until March 29.

LB Delivers in Two Game Streak

The Linn-Benton men’s basketball team enjoys a two game win streak with a pair of wins over conference opponents, Lane and Mt. Hood CC.

On Wednesday, Jan. 24, the Roadrunners hosted Lane College and OSU commit, Kylor Kelley. LB earned a 79-71 victory, and played lights-out defense, causing 12 turnovers in the second half. Taylor Jensen, Fr. from Philomath HS, helped out with a 13-point, 21-rebound performance.

Going into the game against Mt. Hood, Coach Everett Hartman called Mt. Hood CC a “very well coached team” and they would prepare by “going to the film room and study them.” “We want to make them use their second and third option players against us.”

The Roadrunners did just that as they traveled to Gresham to defeat Mt. Hood CC 70-63. Bailey Evers lead the team in scoring with 22 points and Taylor Jensen records his second consecutive double-double with 12 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Neither team shot very well that night, as LB shot 32% and Mt. Hood 26% from the field. The Roadrunners, though, managed to squeeze 21 turnovers out of Mt. Hood. 

Linn-Benton will host Southwest Oregon CC Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. as they look to extend their win streak and make the most of this home stretch they have coming up. See how the Roadrunners stack up against thier conference opponents here: http://nwacstats.org/sports/mbkb/2017-18/overall_standings .The Roadrunners will play their next three games at home. See the Roadrunners men's basketball schedule here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Uc2A8nVimVOfc0oMqFeJtRTOak-eTlZJwdQazphOSjU/edit

Linn-Benton CC Budget Outline Premiers Tuition Hike

January 26, 2018--

Students at LBCC find a way to make their tuition for school more affordable. These approaches include work study jobs, grants, scholarships, and tax paying jobs away from school. For many students, financial restriction is the very element that keeps them off a college campus.

On Wednesday, Jan. 16, the LBCC Board of Education held a budget meeting that highlighted the future plans with spending, budget assumptions, and college growth. The meeting was presented by Jess Jacobs, the director of accounting and budget. The highlight of the presentation featured a temporary tuition hike.

In the new 2018-2019 budget outline, a large budget increase for the second biennium grows from $48.4 million to $50.5 million. The board did not announce any significant budget cuts for any LB programs. The hike is expected to increase LBCC students by roughly 4 percent. Though Jacobs said in the board meeting that “The current model for 2018 will show tuition hikes fall in the coming years.” The model that was presented by Jacobs shows an initial four percent increase in the tuition of students but is followed by a steady decrease to 3.5 percent.

Javier Zepeda, a transfer student at Oregon State who studies humanities said of the tuition hike, “It’s certainly frightening, but I would imagine the officials using money funded by the state moving forward. Possibly the reason why they’re proposing a decrease in tuition hikes.”

Last year, a similar budget meeting was held that approved the tuition hike to five percent, but backtracked on this approach. For now, the college is faced with a four percent tuition hike, but that is expected to decrease in the future years.