November 2016 – Page 9 – The Western Howl

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

“The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” is a five year-old game that has remained very popular with a huge fan base behind it. Fans have been asking for years for “Skyrim” to come to modern consoles, Bethesda responded by releasing the “Skyrim: Special Edition”, which brings the original game to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with revamped graphics, mods and add-on content.

“Skyrim” is a massive role playing game where players take control of the Dragonborn, the only person who can truly kill a dragon. As Dragonborn, players venture off into the province of Skyrim, doing quests, fighting monsters, slaying dragons and collecting weapons and armor.

The world of “Skyrim” feels very much alive. Walking through villages, there are blacksmiths working at their forges, children playing, bards singing and so much more that just makes you feel like there’s a living world around you. It’s easy to get completely immersed.

Part of playing in a world as alive as “Skyrim” is that there are consequences for your actions. Strangers will have conversations about things your character has done. If you wrong someone, they might send mercenaries to teach you a lesson. No wrong deed in “Skyrim” goes unpunished.

In the special edition, the graphics are stunning. A lot of “Skyrim” is wilderness, so players spend the majority of their time in caves, forests and tundra’s. With the graphical revamp, these landscapes are brought to life more than they ever were before. As you wander through the picture perfect world, every still is worth a screenshot as you wander through a picture perfect world.

Mods in “Skyrim” have been around on the PC for a long time, but just got put onto consoles with the special edition. Mods are user-made and can range anywhere from improving effects to adding new characters and buildings. Mods can sometimes give players an unfair advantage, so trophies are disabled while using them. Since modders have been hard at work for years creating content, the mods added onto the PlayStation and Xbox versions of the game give players a lot of new things to try out.

The special edition includes add-on content that costs money in the original version. There are two add-ons that give new quests and content, “Dawnguard” and “Dragonborn” and one called “Hearthfire” that allows players to adopt children and build a house. Each of these packs adds hundreds of hours of new content, but requires players to be a higher level to start, so players just starting out won’t see it for a while.

Some may not like the game’s immersion, requiring lots of walking and reading dialogue. It’s definitely not a “pick up and jump into action” game, so it’s for more of a role-playing experience and less of a casual one. For players looking to get lost in a game though, “Skyrim: Special Edition” is one of the best games out right now to do that. I’ve had hours of fun and I’ve barely scratched the surface.

“Skyrim: Special Edition” is a fantastic game. One of the most beloved and immersive games in the last five years, “Skyrim” is back as one of the richest and most beautiful games out on modern consoles.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

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ASWOU on Campus

By: TK Layman,
Staff Writer

When you think student engagement on Western Oregon’s campus, The Associated Students of Western Oregon University should be a name that comes to mind. On campus, ASWOU plays a major role in creating new and exciting opportunities for students to not only get involved in campus life, but to also be a part of the school’s decision making process. Multitudes of positions can range from volunteering in committees, interning with the executive cabinet, or becoming an elected official on campus.

Western Oregon’s ASWOU organization is the student government organization on campus that headways changes for students. “ASWOU… its mission is to protect and advance the interest of the students of the university,” Student Body President Alma Pacheco said in an interview. “(To) represent students of WOU in the affirmation and application of institutional policies that are both affecting academic and student affairs.” On campus their main mission is to create awareness of any policy changes that may affect its student body, as well as be a communication tool to raise student awareness. “Not only are we representing them, but we are educating and communicating to them,” Alma said. “We’re supposed to (tell them) what is happening on campus, what policies are going to affect them, and changes that might happen.”

Students play a vital role in creating change around campus by becoming involved with ASWOU and its many committees. Students are able to become a part of a key organization that brings a new perspective for their generation. There are a few ways a student can get involved, and the first step is to elect their student body officials, such as the Student Body President, Vice President, President of the Senate and Judicial Administrator. Students are also able to become a part of ASWOU through internships, committees, and being a part of the executive board. As for applying to these jobs, Alma offered that, “The vice president recently finished an application for students on OrgSync and we’re going to start off by marketing by next week.”

Being involved on campus doesn’t have to be as time consuming as working in the ASWOU offices, as there are many events and activities for students to be engaged and network with their fellow classmates. ASWOU recently finished their “Vote or Vote” drive, a campaign run by students to help register students to vote. The campaign was incredibly successful by surpassing their goal of 300 students registered by over 500; they ended their campaign with a total of 859 total students registered.

Clubs and Organizations are a great way to get involved. “Coming up we are having a club fair next term. And continuing on letting folks know that these organizations are student led and student run are important for them to be involved because college, one, is already hard,” Alma said, “and being involved not only helps individuals grow but helps them have an opportunity to enjoy their student life.”

Upcoming student activities being put forth by ASWOU are events such as World Kindness Day on Nov. 14, Burgerville day running Nov. 18 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. The longest term activity being planned is the Spring Term Cooking Contest, being a cooking competition on campus to get people from around campus to come and compete cutthroat-kitchen style by paying someone in the food pantry to remove cooking supplies from the contestants.

To keep students engaged and involved on campus Alma stated, “This is an institution run and paid for by students, and folks don’t know the importance of being involved. It’s time consuming … but it’s not only an opportunity to enjoy their time but grow as an individual and find out the importance of finding their own voice. I’m bringing this from a perspective of a Latina woman who is also a DACA student and never in my life I thought I would have an opportunity to represent such a huge campus, so if I can do it, and I can be involved, I think this opportunity really helps them grow as an individual.”

To find more information on ASWOU students can check OrgSync through your Portal!

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College football’s biggest tease

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Big 12 expansion talks flared up and died down in reliable fashion again this year.

Next year the conference plans to add a conference title game.They are willing to do so with their current ten-team structure, rather than upping their number of affiliated schools to 12 or 14.

The concept of a title game came as a way to help Big 12 schools compete with other powerful conferences to get spot in the College Football Playoff. Ten teams might seem too small to demand a championship game, so schools looking to better their own ranking profiles tried to seize an opportunity to climb the conference ladder. big-12-houston-coloruh-edu

At the start of September this year, ESPN reported that BYU, Cincinn
ati, Houston and South Florida lead the dozen candidates. Houston and BYU in particular seemed to be increasingly viable as the time ticked towards announcement.

Bob Bowlsby is the commissioner of the Big 12, and he and his board of directors reportedly never discussed specific teams when they voted on the option of expansion.

Until the 1990s, the conference was known as the Big 8. Adding four powerful Texas schools increased its profile immensely. But in recent years, Texas A&M left for the Southeastern Conference and Nebraska left for the B1G, taking all their rankings value with them. These are only two of the moves that were made in a rash of re-conferencing through the early 2010s. And the Big 12 isn’t out of the woods yet.

The conference plans to announce within the next month whether or not they will split their conference into two divisions. This would help determine which teams play in the championship, in the style of the Pac-12 north and south or the Southeastern Conference west and east.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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Men’s hoops ranked sixth

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

The GNAC preseason basketball polls have hit, and coaches in the conference don’t see Wolves repeating last year’s success.

The polls rank the men’s team sixth place. The GNAC is comprised of only 11 teams, placing the basketball team in the middle of the pack.

This could be considered a surprise for the team, as it is coming off its most successful year in history.

The 2015-2016 campaign saw the Wolves be crowned GNAC regular seasons champions with a record of 31-4. And, while playoffs are notorious for unseating favorites and crowning underdogs, the Wolves proved themselves best and became GNAC tournament champions too.
Then they won the NCAA west regional bracket.

They advanced all the way to the final four of Division II’s tournament before losing to Augustana. Augustana would later be crowned Division II champs. This lead to being ranked third in the nation by way of bracket, and sixth in the nation in the end-of-season coaches’ poll.

Coming into this season, coaches seem less sure. Sixth out of the 11 that are in the conference is a lot less impressive than sixth out of the 306 schools in NCAA Division II.

The big reason for this is the turnaround of talent. Tanner Omlid is the team’s only returning starter.

Last year was Omlid’s first season with Western, after transferring from Division I Army. A Monmouth native, Omlid came home last year and became the team’s best shooter.

Now beginning his junior year, Omlid has been unanimously voted to the preseason All-GNAC team.

Like Omlid, head coach Jim Shaw was in his first year at Western last year, and also returns this year.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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Volleyball by the numbers

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

2: The number of matches played last week.
0: The number of total sets won.
374: Miles traveled from Monmouth on the road trip.
7: The number of times the Wolves lead against nationally ranked Western Washington.
19: Kills recorded by offensive leader Mariella Vandenkooy over the week.
138: Average Wolves hitting percentage.
36: Digs recorded by defensive leader Christie Colasurdo over the week.
225: Average opponent hitting percentage.
4: Home games left on the season.
2: Length of the at-home winning streak.
3, 5, 8, 10: Dates in November to see Wolves at home.
7: The time each match starts.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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Abby’s House welcomes Aislinn Addington

By: Paige Scofield
Campus Life Editor

Abby’s House has recently hired a new director, Aislinn Addington, Ph.D. Addington’s first day of work started on Oct. 3. “It’s fantastic so far, it’s been great,” she said smiling.

Before becoming director at Abby’s House, Addington received her undergraduate degree from Pacific Lutheran University where she double majored in political science and sociology. She then received her Ph.D and Masters in Sociology from the University of Kansas. After her college education, she taught sociology at Pacific Lutheran University and University of Kansas. “I taught with specialities in women gender sexuality and religion and secularity. I also did some non-profit work in arts education for young people with disabilities,” Addington explained.

As the new director of Abby’s House, Addington’s job entails many different things. “On a day to day basis, there are 16 trained advocates that are students here, I manage them, and we as a group have a meeting once a week. We put on programs like Take Back the Night that happened earlier this week,” she said, “the director of Abby’s House is a confidential position, so if someone comes in and has a situation they want to talk to someone about confidentially, I’m here for that as well.”

Abby’s House is a resource and referral center for everyone. Their job is to help those in need find the services that they need. “I think of us kind of as the hub of a wheel. We have a lot of information here, both in terms of literature, resources and the 16 student advocates. If people come in with questions or concerns about any number of things … we have information to share, we have other resources on campus, as well as off campus,” she said, “come here and find what you need.”

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@mail.wou.edu

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Soccer closes season

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Seniors Hailey Berg and Michaela Rapozo were injured going into the final game of the season, and the final game of their collegiate careers. Both of them started the game then were subbed out after kick off.

The Wolves ultimately fell to Seattle Pacific, losing the final game 0-2.

Two days earlier the Wolves hosted St. Martin’s. In the next to last game of the season, soccer broke the month long winless skid they had been on. Trailing to St. Martin’s at the half, the Wolves came out in the second period determined to rally.

First Dani Payne scored a headed goal from a Taylor Higa corner kick at the 55th minute. Then with time winding down, Sydney Thomas scored the game winning goal at the 89th minute. Dacia Alexander provided the assist with a long pass.

These final two games were played at Central High School’s football field in Independence, where every home game had been played since conditions forced the game against Western Washington off of the Western Soccer Field on Oct. 13.

The final week of the season was the final week of play for nine players. The campaign ended 5-11-1, with four of their five wins coming from play in Monmouth-Independence.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Western Oregon University’s Land Acknowledgement
Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

Accessibility Public Records Privacy Student Consumer Information

WOU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all programs, activities and employment practices as required by Title IX, other applicable laws, and policies. Retaliation is prohibited by WOU.

Review: “Skyrim: Special Edition”

ASWOU on Campus

College football’s biggest tease

Men’s hoops ranked sixth

Volleyball by the numbers

Abby’s House welcomes Aislinn Addington

Soccer closes season

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