Mount Hood

Wolves fall to Azusa Pacific University

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Wolves football was stifled on the road by Azusa Pacific University. An improved second half performance didn’t translate to points and Western fell, 8-33.

Early on, three-and-outs became the standard for the Wolves as the powerful defense of 13th ranked APU kept forcing on the punting unit.

Partway through the third quarter, Nick Duckworth replaced starting quarterback Philip Fenumiai. Fenumiai only completed one pass on the day, thrown to running back Torreahno Sweet for no gain.

Duckworth went 11-for-20. Wideout Paul Revis became his most reliable target, including the 70 yard pass that became the Wolves’ only touchdown. Duckworth finished with 165 yards.

“In the first half I noticed we had some favorable matchups, especially with Paul,” Duckworth said. “Looking ahead to Simon we just have to get the ball into our playmakers’ hands. We have a lot of weapons on offense.”

This week the Wolves go north of the border to face Simon Fraser University. Duckworth and Revis lead the Wolves to steamroll over SFU earlier in the year.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

The Tuition Choice: Western gives it’s students the power to decide how they pay tuition

tuition-choice-colorwou-edu

By: Jade Rayner
News Editor

Western Oregon University offers countless opportunities to its students, but one of many that sets Western apart from other universities is the option to choose your own tuition plan upon once being admitted to the university.

The Tuition Choice gives students the power to choose how they want to be billed for tuition in their four years here at Western. The choice outlines two plans: the Tuition Promise, a new plan that offers students a guaranteed fixed-rate tuition for their first four years as an undergrad at Western, and the Traditional Plan which is subject to potential annual tuition increases.

According to the WOU Admissions website, the Tuition Promise is a “save later” plan that is outlined to save students money in the long run. A first time student this year, 2016-2017, on the Tuition Promise would begin with a tuition rate that is about 4.2 percent higher than the 2015-2016 rate, but it will remain unchanged for four years. While the student is estimated to pay more in their first two years at Western, they are set up to potentially save more in their last two years due to annual tuition increases.

On the other hand, the Traditional Plan is a “save now” tuition plan that starts at a lower price, but will shift with annual tuition changes. For a student beginning their undergraduate at Western in the 2016-2017 year, they are estimated by WOU Admissions to save more than $1,000 on tuition and fees in their first year than a student on the Tuition Promise. It is estimated that opposite to the Tuition Promise, the Traditional Plan will save more their first two years, but could end up spending more than the Tuition Promise price their last two years.

When comparing the numbers on the graph provided on the WOU Admissions website, a student could save more altogether on the Traditional Plan, but it isn’t guaranteed since tuition rates are subject to change annually. With the Tuition Promise, a student may end up spending more at first, but there is the potential to save money if tuition rates increase at an unexpected rate.

As a first time student at Western Oregon University you had the chance to choose your own tuition plan. It is important to note that the plan you chose sticks with you for four years, and cannot be changed after your first class here at Western.

An opportunity to love and support yourself and others

By: Jasmine Morrow
Staff Writer

Triangle Alliance is a social organization and club on campus for the LGBT+ community, as well as anyone else who wants to join. There’s a meeting every week on Wednesdays from 4-5 p.m. in the Health & Wellness Center room 301

The meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 2 began with everyone introducing themselves to the group to participate in what they call the Whip Around. Triangle Alliance’s Vice President, Sydney Culpepper, talked about and described polyamory. Discussing with the group that polyamory is being in a committed relationship with two or more people with consent and understanding.

During the hour meeting, the attendees also participated in events and games. On a slideshow were bad movie plot descriptions and everyone had to guess the movie title. It got somewhat competitive, but in the end, everyone had fun and was laughing at the horrible and funny plot descriptions. While people were guessing the movie titles, President Casi Healy gave everyone an incentive ticket. Incentive tickets are handed out at meetings and serve as an opportunity for meeting attendees to win a prize. The prize this week was a rainbow colored lanyard.

Towards the end of the meeting, there was an opportunity to talk about what is going on in everyone’s lives; the good and the bad. If someone shared something sad, Sam Stageman, the activities director, would pull up pictures of puppies to lighten the mood and to make everyone feel better. The meetings are always helpful and everyone is supportive of one another. There are upcoming events that the Triangle Alliance is hosting, look around campus for posters to make sure you don’t miss a wonderful time.

Contact author at jmorrow16@mail.wou.edu

Supporting those with diabetes this November

By: Sadie Moses, 
Freelancer

29 million people face Diabetes face every day. November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and awareness has become more important than ever before.

According to the American Diabetes Association, 1 in 11 people have the disease, while 86 million are at risk to contract it. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States. It can lead to diabetes-inforgraph-colordiabetes-orgconditions such as heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, blindness and eye problems.

The most important part of this month is simply getting informed.

Diabetes is diagnosed as either one of two types. Type one is characterized by the body’s failure to produce insulin. Usually, type one is genetic. Therapy can help people with this type live long, normal lives. While less people are diagnosed with type one, those people are generally youth from childhood to age 20, meaning that many are college students.

Type two, on the other hand, is the most common form of diabetes, characterized by the body failing to use insulin properly and caused by either genetics or lifestyle choices. While those in the early stages of this type may not need glucose supplements, type two is known to get worse over time, and most need medications later on.

People with diabetes can face hypoglycemia, also known as insulin shock. It is a condition where one has abnormally low glucose levels that can result in a wide range of symptoms.

Left untreated, hypoglycemia can lead to severe conditions such as seizures or unconsciousness. Treatment involves consuming something with 15-20 grams of simple carbs or glucose.

While diabetes does not increase the chance of catching an illness, becoming ill can cause harmful complications. Because of this, the ADA recommends getting flu shots every year.

For students on Western’s campus, we can be aware of this issue by helping out our friends and community in supporting those with diabetes in their day-to-day lives.

Diabetes can make it hard for students to do schoolwork. “If my blood sugar gets too high or too low, it affects my ability to concentrate and sometimes even stay awake,” said an anonymous student with type two diabetes.

Students living with diabetes have their good days as well as bad, and we can be supportive through all of them. Get informed, and know the truth about the disease.

Aquaculture to play a key role in global protein production

By: Brian Tesch,
Advertising Manager

With diminishing habitats, decaying fisheries and an increase in demand for Seafood, aquaculture across the globe is poised to play an important role in the future of food supply. It is unlikely that wild capture fisheries will be able to produce any higher yields in the future. In many parts of the world, wild fisheries have been experiencing a sharp decline. Most notable are the Atlantic salmon, a species that once dominated the eastern seaboard with numbers estimated in the hundreds of millions are now around 500,000. Despite ambiguous packaging and with a few minor exceptions, all of today’s Atlantic salmon you will find in your local grocery store was farm raised in an aqglobal_seafood_production-colornoaa-govuaculture facility. While the industry is easily replacing salmon demand, it has a long way to go.

On paper, fish are the most efficient source of animal protein to produce. There are many ways to compare efficiency when it comes to proteins, to simplify, we will look at the feed
conversion ratio. The ratio expresses the amount of feed by weight, to produce a protein by weight. Fish being the most efficient have a 1.2 ratio, meaning it takes 1.2 pounds of feed to produce one pound of fish. Beef and pork have ratios that are 8.7 and 5.9 respectively (taken from NOAA). The reason for its efficiency is directly related to the industry’s biggest challenge. Fish are predators and are built to consume and process more complex forms of proteins and nutrients, unlike cows or pigs. This is great when it comes to efficiency scales and sustainable production of protein, but like most things, there’s a catch. Since fish are predators they must eat other sources of proteins.

Most fishmeal today is produced from the harvest of pelagic fish less desirable for human consumption such as herring or anchovies. This poses a problem because it puts a lot of weight on herring and anchovy populations and it does not completely solve the problem of sustainable fish production. Most of the aquaculture industry is based on converting less desirable fish into more desirable fish. This is a problem because in this process, nutrients and proteins are lost. It’s important to note that populations of anchovy and herring are more likely to decrease than increase, making fish feed another limiting supply on the aquaculture industry.

So while global fishery production is very limited and mostly in decline, Aquaculture has been supplementing the growth in the seafood industry but most of that growth is based on the natural carrying capacity of smaller fish such as anchovies, which is very limited and mostly also in decline. Paired with demand for Seafood increasing as global populations set to reach 9 billion in 2050, the industry has some very limited problems. Continuing of this course, the Aquaculture industry will reach a limit in the amount of feed, therefore fish they can produce.

What is the solution?

Increasing anchovy populations is one way, but done unnaturally is outlawed. People have tried artificially increasing fish populations in the past but most have been labeled as geo-terrorists.

Most notable was Russ George in an attempt to restore fisheries in the Northeast Pacific. He poured 120 tons of iron into the ocean in 2012 in an attempt to artificially bloom algae. Iron being a limiting nutrient for algae in the open ocean. In the next following years, fishing yields quadrupled in the region, but because no scientist was brought on to the experiment, it’s impossible to prove the increase in yields as a direct result of Russ George’s ambitious experiment.

If you can’t increase populations, the only other option is to decrease the reliance of anchovy in fish food. The aquaculture industry all over the world is looking for sustainable protein substitutes for fish feed, and progress is being made. The solution is simple, find alternative food sources to raise fish on. Once the feed becomes sustainable and uses less fish, the aquaculture industry is poised to become the world’s leader in protein production due to its sustainability, efficiently and overall tastiness.

Contact the author at btesch14@wou.edu

Music at Western (On campus music performances)

By: Katherine Ljungqvist
Freelancer

Research has shown time and again that music can promote mental health, improve sleep quality and relieve stress and anxiety.

According to John Hopkins Medical research, exposure to new music has been linked with increased creativity; for a college student, these benefits can be paramount to a person’s success.

Fortunately for us, Western offers numerous musical performances throughout the year where one can reap the benefits of music.

The Western Oregon University music department is kicking off the 2016 fall term with a number of music events at Smith Hall and Rice Auditorium. Weekly performances are scheduled starting Nov. 5 through Dec. 4, which will include guitar and chamber ensembles, the Western Orchestra, a performance by the Tom Bergeron Brazil Band and a performance by the student run Brazil orchestra with special appearances by the Brazilian Bassist, Wagner Trinidade.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Western’s music department head, Dr. Tom Bergeron, to discuss some of this year’s events and also the major role that Latin American music plays in America’s music education. When asked how students can benefit from exposure to live music performances at Western, Dr. Bergeron responded that these performances offer students “edutainment.” “We’re playing music that we hope you’re going to enjoy, but we’re also trying to … put it into context,” said Bergeron.

Part of how this is accomplished is with the presence of guest musicians such as Wagner Trindade, who lend their knowledge and talents to performances.

Many college music departments feature symphony or jazz ensembles, but Latin American music is a staple in America’s music culture, and is subsequently growing in popularity in American music education.

While many Latin American countries are small enough to stay off the music industry’s radar, Brazil is the second largest country in the Americas as well as the “largest self-contained music industry in the Western Hemisphere.” The presence of Latin American influence in America’s music culture is prominent, which is why it is so beneficial for music students to receive exposure to this element of the industry.

Performances by the Tom Bergeron Brazil Band and other Western music events throughout the year are posted on the music department home page, wou.edu/music and are free to students with their student ID. So if you’re looking for affordable entertainment this year that has educational and mental health benefits, then you should check out the Western music department event schedule.

Contact the author at kljungqvist16@mail.wou.edu

Complete cultural immersion: how study abroad can change a student’s perspective

By: TK Layman

Staff Writer

Studying in another country can sound like an exciting yet daunting event that many students dream of doing one day. Western Oregon University offers many study abroad programs, and informational meetings to help students achieve their goals of experiencing another country, culture and possibly language for a full term.

Students have a variety of programs that can fit their individual interests. From a diverse list of countries like Argentina, China, Germany, South Africa and several more, students can immerse themselves in a new country and way of life.

Exchange Student Beatrice Andersson came from her hometown of Karlskoga, Sweden to study at Western Oregon University. When asked why she chose Western Oregon, and her favorite parts of studying here she stated, “It was that the school was more involved with the students. The people here are very friendly and very helpful. The teachers here are really involved with their students and engage them.”

The experiences gained can impact a student for a lifetime. A person who studies abroad will be learning a new way of life in another part of the world, have the possibility of learning a new language and immersing themselves in an unfamiliar environment.

“Just do it … there will be a time where you will feel uncomfortable with the whole experience, and you just want to go home, but those times are nothing compared to the amazing experiences you will get as a whole,” Andersson expressed.

If you are interested in studying abroad there are few ways to learn more. On the WOU Study Abroad page you can search which program they feel will fit you best, followed by a group advising session offered Wednesday’s at noon in Maaske 114. For anyone wanting to learn more you can call 503-838-8905, email studyabroad@wou.edu or stop by Maaske 112 for more information.

WOU Study Abroad home page

https://wou.edu/provost/studyabroad/index.php

WOU Study Abroad location and Information

http://wou-sa.terradotta.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.MapSearch

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