Mount Hood

Are you graduating the right way?

By: Katherine Ljungquist
Freelancer

If this is your last year at Western, chances are you’re counting down the days until the commencement ceremony on June 17. In addition to finishing your coursework there is still a lot to be done before you graduate. If you were unable to attend the Senior Kickoff on Wed. Nov. 9, this article can catch you up on what you missed, including where to find help building a résumé, how to apply for graduation and how to get your cap and gown.

Western offers a handful of graduate programs in areas such as criminal justice, graduating-colormanagement and information systems, and education. If you’re planning on attending graduate school in the future and are seeking information regarding your specific program Student Administration encourages you to meet with Western alumni, Amber Deets. Amber is on campus Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and students are also welcome to schedule appointments with her via email at deetsa@wou.edu.

When preparing for life after graduation, students are encouraged to meet up with a counselor at the Service Learning and Career Development Center for help building a resume, practicing job interviews, and figuring out your next steps during your senior year. The Service Learning and Career Development is located downstairs in the Werner University Center in room 119, where you can find the development director, Adry Snorradottir Clark, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Students are also encouraged to meet up with alumni mentors through the Career Mentoring Program, where alumni share their knowledge and experience with students.

It is important that students visit the Registrar’s and Financial Aid Offices before their final term at Western. At the Registrar’s Office, seniors need to fill out paperwork to apply for graduation and they also need to check their Degree Works to make sure they will be finished by their last term. The Financial Aid office will help students navigate exit loan counseling and advise students on different loan payment options. Perkins loan exit counseling must be completed before a student can get their degree. If you are planning on attending graduate school, the 2017-2018 FAFSA is available now.

On April 3-5, there will be a Spring 2017 Grad Ordering Event outside the bookstore. Jostens is the company that supplies students with caps and gowns, personalized announcement cards, tassels, and official Western rings. If you are unable to attend this event don’t worry, after April 5 you can purchase your cap and gown at the bookstore or online at wolfstore.wou.edu.

Finally, as a graduate of Western Oregon University, you are encouraged to register as a Western Oregon alumni. You can register with the alumni program by filling out a contact update available at alumni@wou.edu.

Classic tales retold

By: Alyssa James
Staff Writer

Walt Disney Pictures has been working hard on making many new live-action movies recently: “Cinderella” and “The Jungle Book” to name a couple. Although, they haven’t stopped there. They are in the midst of working on and releasing new live-action movies within the next few years.

The new live-action version of “Beauty and the Beast” stars Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast.

“I knew all the words by heart. I knew all the songs by heart,” said Watson to Entertainment Weekly when asked about the film.

This is going to be the classic fairy tale retold. If you aren’t familiar with the story, it is about a prince who, due to his arrogance, becomes the Beast and must learn to love and receive love before he can turn back into the prince. The story follows the young woman whom he traps in his castle and their love story.

There has also been talk about two other live-action movies. “Snow White” and “Oliver Twist” are in the works, both being produced by Marc Platt, known for such performances as Broadway’s “Wicked.” There is not much information currently about who will star in these movies or when they will be released.

Although information is lacking, we still know a little about each of these movies. “Snow White” will be a musical and will expand on the original story while “Oliver Twist”, though also a musical, will be set in present-day America. Other upcoming movies to watch out for information about are the live-action adaptations of “The Little Mermaid” and “The Lion King.”

“Beauty and the Beast” will be in theaters March 17, 2016.

Contact the author at ajames16@mail.wou.edu

Review: “Two Vines”

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Empire of the Sun is known for their upbeat electronic music and their quirky style. Members Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore wear elaborate costumes and are often accompanied by dancers. The spectacle and music are entirely original.empire-colorempireofthesun-com

Their latest album, “Two Vines”, doesn’t try to reinvent Empire of the Sun’s sound; instead, it expands their library and only adds to the sounds of their past albums. Their originality is expanded, rather than changed.

The highlight of the new album is the song “Friends”. One of the most upbeat songs that Empire of the Sun has ever produced, “Friends” blends slow poetic verses with an extremely upbeat chorus that sounds like electronic dance music. This song is made to be played loud.

“High and Low” is another fantastic fast-paced song. “High and Low” is currently the only song on the album with a music video, which features plenty of Empire of the Sun’s signature costumes and dancers.

“Two Vines” doesn’t only have fast-paced songs though. Songs like “There’s No Need” and “To Her Door” slow things down and put more focus on vocals.

The album also has some less memorable songs; “ZZZ” and “Way To Go” are both repetitive and don’t really add anything to the overall sound of the album. “ZZZ” especially is aptly named for how it makes me feel.

The deluxe edition of “Two Vines” was released at the same time as the normal version, and includes four additional songs. One of the songs included is “Walking on a Dream” from the band’s first album. It’s a little strange that they included it, but it’s a great song so I’m not complaining.

The inclusion of “Walking on a Dream” enforces the similarities between Empire of the Sun’s earlier work and “Two Vines”. Someone who’d never heard “Walking on a Dream” probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it was a song from two albums ago.

For the most part, “Two Vines” is a fantastic addition to Empire of the Sun’s library of music. It has both fast and slow songs, danceable music accompanied by meaningful lyrics and stays true to the band’s style. Although slightly brought down by some unmemorable songs, “Two Vines” takes its rightful place alongside the albums before it.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

Western students and surrounding community come together to make a difference

 

By: Jade Rayner
News Editor

Last week Western hosted its first blood drive of the 2016-2017 school year. The American Red Cross took blood donations on Nov. 10-11 in the WUC, and were met with many eager volunteers. Western students, alumni and community members, both first time and regular donors, came together during the two day event.

In an interview, Marisa Wyckoff, account manager witblood-drive-2-colorh the American Red Cross, stated that their “goal was to collect 50 units of blood, each unit being a pint of blood, and yesterday we collected 66 units … which is basically a phenomenal day.”

Wyckoff added that “ a couple things that made a really big difference was that a lot of students took the time to make appointments … it helps us to prepare on our end that we bring out enough staff, enough beds, enough equipment so that the wait time and processing goes faster.”

The Red Cross supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply according to their website.

“The beauty about the Red Cross is that we’re a nationwide organization, so we definitely first make sure that the hospitals that we serve-their needs are met first. We can, and we do, ship our blood nationwide to make sure that the needs are met nationwide” answered Wyckoff when asked where blood goes after it’s donated.

Another way you can help out during the blood drive is volunteering to assist people after they make their donation.

“As a student volunteer, essentially what I do is I go in the snack area. When people are done donating I offer them snacks, water and juice,” explained sophomore Andrew Henneman. “We essentially make sure they (the donors) are okay and they stay for about 10-15 minutes or however long they need.”

One of Henneman’s reasons for volunteering was in part because “I’ve donated blood a couple times myself, and I knew some people that had tough times donating, like they got real dizzy after. I never did but know it was always nice to have someone to talk to when you sat down afterwards because you have to wait awhile.”

Whether you want to donate blood or volunteer to be there for someone donating blood, you can make a significant impact for those in need. Be sure to look out for the next blood drive at Western, or go to redcrossblood.org to find where you can donate blood locally.

Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu

American Music Awards 2016

By: Blayde Biacan
Staff Writer

This has been a truly crazy year. An event that signifies the coming of the end, as well as a new year, is the 44th annual American Music Awards, which will take place on Nov. 20 in the Microsoft Theater.

The American Music Awards will also premiere live on ABC’s “Good Morning America”, which will be hosted by Gigi Hadid and Jay Pharoah. There are many well-known names included in the nominees for the many different music categories.

Drake currently leads with 13 nominations, the most in the event’s history. Previously, Michael Jackson’s 11 nominations held the top spot from the 1981 American Music Awards.

Drake’s album, “Views”, has kept the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart, and one of the songs, “One Dance” was given the title of Billboard’s “Song of the Summer 2016”. Following him is Rihanna with 7 nominations, and Adele and Justin Bieber who hold 5 nominations each.

This year, the American Music Awards is adding in new categories such as, Tour of the Year and Video of the Year, as well as adding in a favorite song category for the different genres of music.

The nominees for favorite album and favorite song in each genre aren’t the same, so don’t fret too much if we hear too much of the same names.

An anticipated category is the Artist of the Year, which features the nominees such as Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Twenty-One Pilots, Carrie Underwood, and The Weeknd.

These are some highlights of the American Music Awards, however there is more information on the American Music Awards website itself with more information. If not you can always surprise yourself when it’s showtime on ABC.

Contact the author bbiacan16@wou.edu

A day for putting out the smoke and picking up a healthy lifestyle

By: Jade Rayner
News Editor

Western Oregon University is now in its second year of being a tobacco free campus, yet many students and employees continue to gather around the edge of campus to smoke throughout the day. While it is ultimately up to the individual if they would like to smoke, Nov. 17 is a day aimed smokeout-colorat informing smokers of the health benefits of quitting along with providing advice on how.

The American Cancer society hosts the Great American Smokeout each year with the aim of getting people to set a quit date or use that day to quit smoking. Cancer.org states that “by quitting – even for 1 day – smokers will be taking an important step toward a healthier life and reducing their cancer risk.” Tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of premature death and disease in the world as reported by the American Cancer Society.

It may not be easy to quit, but the CDC website claims that “the urge to smoke is short—usually only 3 to 5 minutes.” The CDC suggests making a list of activities to do you when you start to feel the urge to smoke; activities could include calling or texting a friend, drinking water or taking a walk/exercising in some way.

The Student Health and Couseling Center on campus provides multiple resources to help students quit; free tobacco quit kits are available to pick up in the waiting room. The kit includes a mint, gum and lollipop to give you something to reach for other than a cigarette, a book of tips for staying tobacco free and a tobacco use tracker in order for you to keep track of when and why you smoke.

Students can also make medical and counseling appointments to get help with quitting by calling the center at 503-838-8313, or visit their website at wou.edu/health.

The decision to quit smoking can be difficult, but the Great American Smokeout is a great day to start the process. With all the resources available on campus, you won’t have to go through it alone.

Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu

2016 General election outcome: what it means for students

By: TK Layman
Staff Writer

The 2016 Election has come to an end after a tumultuous campaign. President-elect Donald J. Trump will assume his role in the Oval Office come January. The US Senate and House will have a Republican majority, giving the party control of both the legislative and executive branches. Citizens in nine states voted on ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana for both recreational and medical purposes and voted yes in all states except Arizona.

As President Obama counts down his final days in office, Trump will begin to prepare for his role as president. He has a plan to reduce college costs for students by “making a good faith effort … in exchange for federal tax breaks and tax dollars,” according to his campaign site.

Along with reducing costs, Trump’s website states that he wants to make it easier for students to attend a two or four-year college. He also proposes to create an additional 25 million jobs over 10 years and increase the economy by creating 1.2 million new jobs for every 1 percent growth in national GDP.

Oregon’s gubernatorial election is making national headlines with incumbent Kate Brown, who took office after the previous governor John Kitzhaber resigned, becoming the first openly-LGBTQ governor in national history. Brown’s website lists her accomplishments since taking her place as Oregon’s governor: she has passed a plan to increase Oregon’s minimum wage in relation to local population, expanded the Oregon Opportunity Grant, and created the Oregon Promise Grant which allows low-income students to attend community college for as low as $50 a semester. By creating an affordable education, Brown hopes to create an educated workforce that can earn a livable wage.

Oregon also passed several ballots measures that affect students. Measure 98 passed with a 65 percent vote. The measure is set to help Oregon students prepare for higher education by helping reduce the dropout rate and create college preparedness courses. The Oregon Voter’s Pamphlet details that Oregon has one of the worst graduation rates in the nation, with 10,000 failing to graduate each year.

Almost 75 percent of high school graduates who do seek higher education will be placed into remedial courses. The measure claims that it will invest no less than $800 per student within the state of Oregon, based on attendance, to improve graduation rates and offer more college-level courses for students to be better prepared for higher education.

In our Nov. 2 issue, news editor Jade Rayner wrote about measure 95, a ballot measure allowing public universities to reinvest their equities to reduce financial impact on students. Measure 95 passed with a 70 percent “yes” majority.

The campaign has come to an end and there is still much more to come. The midterm election of 2018 is just two years away. Students hoping to get involved are encouraged to contact their party’s headquarters for more information.

Contact the author at tlayman16@wou.edu

Western Oregon University

Facebook   Instagram   X  YouTube

WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY
345 Monmouth Ave. N.
Monmouth OR 97361

503-838-8000 | 1-877-877-1593

Tools

Campus Maps
Canvas
Find People
Portal
WOU Email
Technical Support

Resources

A-Z Index
Accessibility
Academic Calendar
Class Schedule
Jobs at WOU
News
Explore WOU
Partnerships
Student Services
Freedom of Expression

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.