Mount Hood

Senior send-off for Wolves football, brings home a sad loss

Hannah Greene | Sports Editor

Football came to an unfortunate end last Saturday, Nov. 16 when the Western Oregon University Wolves fell to the Eastern New Mexico University Greyhounds — a game for the seniors, but an outcome to leave them wishing for more.

Opportunities were endless, but completion wasn’t matching up. The Wolves’ defense continued to carry the team on their backs, which forced the Greyhounds to punt on multiple fourth downs. 

The Wolves’ offense couldn’t find a way to stay connected and maintain their possession or capitalize on scoring moments. The Wolves’ special teams had a difficult time making smart decisions during play, making the defense spend more time on the field.

Though the Wolves had a difficult time finishing, they created many great plays that kept the fans on their edge of their seats. No. 23, sophomore Omari Land, made two chunk runs to get the Wolves into a great position to score. The Wolves were in the redzone on fourth down and went for it, but quarterback, Ty Currie, of the senior class, got sacked for a turnover on downs.

Before the half ended, Western had the ball — it snapped back by Jacob Pruitt to Currie, who threw an ill-advised pass into triple coverage (three opposing players covering one teammate) which resulted in an interception by the Greyhounds.

The half ended with ENMU in the lead, 28-7.

The second half started with the Wolves getting a quick score and their defense held the Greyhounds to a three and out — three plays and a punt.

Western had the ball again with 11 yards to go on fourth down, but failed to convert and the possession went to ENWU. 

Eastern’s triple offense posed as a large threat for Western’s defense to stop.

The third quarter ended with a solid run by No. 3, junior Curtis Anderson.

During the fourth and final quarter, action and suspense filled every second. A one-yard run by number seven, senior Nico Jackson, made the score 35-20, with the Greyhounds still in the lead with 11:40 left.

Western’s defense continued to make harmful plays against the Greyhounds to keep them from scoring. Number 32, Nate Proctor of the senior class, sacked the Greyhound quarterback for a significant loss in yards and resulted in 4th down. ENMU wasn’t able to score.

The Wolves continued to push forward and not give up, but failed another conversion, giving the Greyhounds possession with seven minutes left in the game.

Western’s defense held up a barrier and didn’t allow for an attack from Eastern New Mexico. With the Wolves’ offense back on the pitch, a touchdown was on the horizon.

A dart was thrown by Currie in the endzone, which was caught by No. 11, sophomore Thomas Wright, to complete a touchdown. The Wolves were now within eight of the Greyhounds.

The Wolves attempted to take an onside kick with No. 96, Andrew Gross, a junior, slamming the ball into the side of a Greyhound players helmet — but the Greyhounds gained possession over Western. 

The game concluded with a 35-27 score, Greyhounds won. 

Western left the gridiron with their heads down and their season done. It was a great game from the first minute to the last, but not quite the send-out the seniors had hoped for.

Congrats to the seniors — Braelan Evans, Tyler Reid, Nico Jackson, Ty Currie, Joey Roos, Derek Parnell, Nate Proctor, Aaron Turner, Joseph Gonzales, Anthony Kennison, Court Hammond and Tyrell Cummings— for an overall great 7-4 season.

 

Contact the author at hgreene18@wou.edu

Photos by Hannah Greene

Somebody call 9-1-1, Men’s Basketball is on fire with third win in a row

Hannah Greene | Sports Editor

Win, win, win — Western’s Men’s Basketball team is on fire, having won their first three games. 

From Nov. 15 to Nov. 16, the team held a four-game tournament consisting of the Concordia Cavaliers, the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans, the Warner Pacific Knights and the Western Oregon Wolves.

On Friday, Nov. 15, the Wolves took on the Knights during their second exhibition game of the season. The Wolves opened the game to a quick lead after the Knights took the first points. Western continued to score and got a seven point lead — never falling behind the rest of the game. 

Multiple three-pointers were made, a crucial tactic for the game. The first half concluded with the Wolves ahead, 40-25, a 15 point lead.

Western held their momentum throughout the rest of the game to bring home their first tournament win over Warner Pacific University, 85-68.

Western saw their second game, and the first regular season game, against the University of Hawaii Hilo, a team that made the Wolves earn every point. 

The play was a consistent battle back and forth — Vulcans ahead, Wolves ahead — keeping the players, coaches, fans and spectators eager and unsure of who was going to take the “dub.”

The first half ended with a tie, 31-31.

No. 25 of the Wolves, Darius Lubom, got the scoring started during the second half but turned it over to the Vulcans after a shooting foul. The Vulcans took advantage of this and converted the three point play. 

The play stepped up and the Vulcans took the lead after more three-pointers were made, 44-42.

Western wasn’t done; No. 2, Jaylyn Richardson, made for an acrobatic layup to narrow UHH’s lead by three.

Towards the end of the game, multiple timeouts were called, the energy intensified and the Wolves and Vulcans tried everything to finish the game ahead. With three minutes left in the game, No. 15 of the Wolves, Zach Baugher, broke the tie with a finished three-pointer.

Vulcans were in possession of the ball when Wolves guard, Lubom, stole the ball. The scoring continued to be both sided.

With 35 seconds left on the clock, No. 34 of the Wolves, John Morrill-Keeler, made a huge block to benefit the Wolves.

Only seconds remained on the clock as the Wolves attempted to run out the time — and the Wolves took home their third win in a row, 74-69. It was a tough battle, winning by only five points, but a win nonetheless.

The Men’s Basketball next home game is Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. against Corban University for their third and final exhibition match.

 

Contact the author at hgreene18@wou.edu

Photos by Hannah Greene

Salt and pepper battle leads to Wolves’ Volleyball loss

Hannah Greene | Sports Editor

Women’s Volleyball hosted the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks and Central Washington Wildcats on Nov. 14 and 16.

In the first match of the weekend, the Wolves were put to the test by the Nighthawks. During the first set, the Wolves stayed behind, but kept fighting back, only being a few points behind. 

The second set was not the same; the Wolves allowed for a quick lead by the Nighthawks until Wolves’ defensive specialist, Sarah Crowell, stepped up to dish out some well placed serves — catching the Nighthawks off guard — and racked up some points consecutively.

There were many well-executed plays made by the Wolves throughout the match including one by middle blocker, Makenzie York, who barely tipped the ball over the net to score for the Wolves.

This wasn’t enough — the end of that set had the Nighthawks up 25-19.

The Wolves started the final set, determining the tempo by scoring first, but this didn’t last long. The Nighthawks quickly returned, but the Wolves remained enthused.

NNU took the lead again with multiple unanswered points from the Wolves due to the strong defense the Nighthawks continued to put up. Western kept the pressure high, with many hard balls over, but none were powerful enough to beat the Nighthawk’s blocks.

The Wolves began to gain some momentum, but with not enough time left in the game to recover and catch up. The final set came to a close and the Nighthawks took home the win 3-0.

Western Oregon returned on Saturday with a hunger and desire to beat the Wildcats and bring home a win. 

The games started and the Wolves were blazing, winning the first two sets and dictated the energy and play of the game. During the third set, the Wildcats woke up and brought the energy higher, challenging the Wolves. The battle was back and forth with a lot of great plays by the Wildcats and not enough by the Wolves to match them. 

The game went into a fifth match, which hadn’t occured between these two teams since 2016.

Unfortunately, the fifth and final match was not in the paws of the Wolves, leaving the “dub” in the fangs of the Wildcats. 

The Wolves now have a 4-21 record with only one win at home. Women’s Volleyball have two more games, their last of the season, on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. and Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. — come and support your Wolves’ Volleyball for their final matches of the season.

 

Contact the author at hgreene18@wou.edu

Photos by Mikayla Bruley

After news of low enrollment, the Student Health and Counseling Center struggles to meet the growing needs of students, sparking conversation about stigma and human connection.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

According to the 2018 Marion-Polk Community Health Profile, depression ranks as the most common chronic condition experienced in our community, and approximately 1 in 10 adolescents reported having attempted suicide in the last year. 

At Western, appointments to the Student Health and Counseling Center are booked until finals week. Director of the Student Health and Counseling Center, Beth Scroggins, said, “we are aware that it is an issue, we are aware that there are students who are just now getting an intake done and it’s going to be January before they will get to be seen.”

In Monmouth, students have few options for mental health services and their coverage depends entirely on insurance. Their student fees cover the cost of mental health services on campus, but therein lies the problem: “Everything that runs (the Student Health and Counseling Center) is only provided through student fees … funding keeps going down because of lowered enrollment, but demand for services goes up,” reported Scroggins. 

However, Scroggins divulged that she is “glad we have this problem and not the other problem — that students won’t come in.” She revealed that this year in particular, she has seen a rise in students accessing services and thinks that some of “the stigma has diminished.”

“We are looking at how we can accommodate more and what that is going to look like,” she said, but as of now they’re still in the planning stages.

Despite that, Scroggins assured that the Student Health and Counseling Center will “always have crisis services available,” and emphasized the various new support groups on campus that have been created from student need and initiative. She also expressed admiration for the amount of “faculty, staff, students, and community members (who) do a great job of referring students to us,” and wanted to stress the importance of community involvement. 

Of the optional survey that students can complete after their visit to the counseling center, Scroggins asserted that she always reads “every single one of those,” and that they’ve “already made some changes to student services based on those, so (she) takes student feedback very seriously.”

And while she believes that stigma has reduced, “people are a lot more comfortable talking about depression, anxiety, self-care … when we start talking about PTSD, trauma, sexual assault, abuse, psychosis … people don’t know how to respond to that because lack of information or knowledge,” she said.

“People worry so much about saying the wrong thing … that they say nothing. Say something,” Scroggins urged.

As a community, we need to be “comfortable with hearing things that are uncomfortable,” and remember that, “people don’t have to be experts to be a support system,” Scroggins said. She followed up with that, sometimes, all it takes is noticing the differences in a person’s behavior or listening to someone and directing them towards help to make a difference. 

Regarding the student suicide that was reported in an email sent out on Nov. 6 by Western’s vice president of Student Affairs, Gary Dukes, Scroggins stated, “when there is a student death, it does affect everybody … I think that mental health is an issue for everybody; even if they aren’t directly experiencing it themselves, someone they know is.” Scroggins reminded all students to “give themselves grace,” count their support systems, engage in self-care and set healthy boundaries. 

“Things will be okay, and even when they’re not, they will be,” Scroggins concluded.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Health and Counseling Center 

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During the 2019 Oregon Special Election, Polk County passed a levy that would extend funding for educational programs

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Approximately 30% of 959 eligible voters participated in Oregon’s Special Election — an election not part of the regular schedule — which took place on Nov. 5, according to oregonvotes.gov. Overall, there were nine state-wide measures to vote upon, and all aside from one passed. The measures primarily focused on education, environmental, and economic issues. 

In Polk County, community members were voting on a measure that would determine if the Falls City School District would renew a five-year levy that would otherwise terminate in June of 2020. According to the Polk County website, this levy would “continue funding for a music program, sports programs, extracurricular activities and FACES, or the Family Academics Community Enrichment for Success program.” Out of 297 votes collected for this particular measure, 180 were in support, and the measure passed.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Based on the theory of transformative justice, a Japanese Healing Garden has been established in the Oregon State Penitentiary.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

“Punishment doesn’t work … we need to find an alternative way to rehabilitate offenders,” said criminal justice professor, Miyuki Arimoto, during her talk, “Transformative Justice: Diminishing Boundaries through the Healing Garden Project at the Oregon State Penitentiary,” held on Nov. 13. The Healing Garden Project began five years ago as a grassroots effort combined with an inmate-led initiative centered around the idea of a “koi pond” being indoctrinated into the prison environment. 

“Prison is a boring, monotonous place,” stated Arimoto, “(the inmates) thought that nature might help to reduce altercations.”

Over time, the idea of creating a fully functional Japanese-style garden was formed. Inmates wrote grants and the project developed collective advocacy, resulting in approximately $500,000 being raised. Renowned Japanese garden designer, Hoichi Kurisu, donated his design and equipment to the project. He even advocated for inmate involvement in construction, saying that “this is (part of) the necessary process of healing,” according to Arimoto. 

Amassing a total of 13,000 square feet, the garden is only the second in the nation to exist within prison walls — the first being in Maryland — and 180 inmates spent over 12,000 hours developing it.

In a video shown during the presentation, an inmate named Johnny Cofer stated, “there was so much more at stake than just building something aesthetic; there was potential for building a space that could make a really impactful difference on the lives of people that live here … I can remember that the best times in my life were spent out in nature … this place … will be transformative.”

Professor Arimoto recalled a similar testimony, where one inmate she described as “macho” broke down after thanking her and telling her that he could not stop touching the trees and smelling the earth, after not having been able to for the past 40 years. 

“Past research suggests that exposure to nature improves certain conditions such as depression, anxiety and Alzheimers … the recovery process becomes faster,” Arimoto recounted.

Arimoto is a member of a team conducting an impact study on the effects of the healing garden on inmates and staff. Using both qualitative and quantitative research over the course of two years, Arimoto hopes to analyze not only psychological effects but also the effects of a transformative justice system. Arimoto defines transformative justice as an expansion to traditional restorative justice, which “recognizes the potential for human growth … and provides (inmates) with an opportunity to make amends.”

“They are paying back society by transforming themselves for the better,” said Arimoto.

However, Arimoto also admits that there have been some criticisms about the project, citing complaints about using the money for a garden rather than using it to help transition inmates back into society and fears of violence within the garden. 

Arimoto combated these fears, saying the garden will help “to create nice neighbors instead of angry neighbors,” and will assure that inmates must go through a strict screening process to be able to utilize the garden. 

“Without trying, we won’t know if it works or not,” stated Arimoto. “It might not be the solution, but it might help to reduce recidivism.” 

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photos courtesy of Professor Miyuki Arimoto

Western alumni, Lisa Lowell, has become a prolific writer and teacher after achieving her masters. Here is her story.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Lisa Lowell has always been a writer. As a local Oregonian born into a family of artists who “don’t do competition,” Lowell said that writing became her niche. However, as a high school student, Lowell admitted that she “wasn’t a very good writer,” or rather, she held contempt for any type of writing which stifled her creative process. 

After being asked to follow a prompt for a class assignment — and failing miserably, preferring to add in her own flair of fantasy and magic — her teacher submitted her work to various scholarships unbeknownst to her. She received a scholarship to Brigham Young University, but ended up losing it as she wanted to pursue a career in teaching history rather than English, later being named the VFW Teacher of the Year in 2011. 

However, after realizing that “you can’t (become) a history teacher as a woman because they also want them to be a coach,” Lowell opted into getting a masters degree in English as a second language from Western Oregon University. 

Lowell called Western “very cooperative” in helping her basically design her own degree. Throughout this time, Lowell continued her writing, but after graduating in 2006, her husband went through a terrible accident, resulting in Lowell putting her art temporarily on hold. 

But after six years of contacting different publishers, she ultimately published three books in “The Wise Ones” series, and her fourth is set to come out in March of 2020. 

“The Wise Ones” is a fantasy series with each novel focusing on one or two stand-alone characters within the overall universe. It starts with the dragons — the keepers of the magic — going into hibernation, during which 16 Wise Ones are chosen to contain it. Lowell compared her writing to that of C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” series, in that it is “not full of smut and violence,” and “there is a higher-being” central to the plot, although the series is not “overtly Christian.” 

“Each Wise One has their own adventures focused around how they find and come into their magic,” Lowell said, “people think that it’s YA, but the characters are adults strictly controlled by their morals, or they can’t control their magic,” Lowell said.

For example, one of her characters takes the magic when he becomes 25, freezing him in time while his wife and children age in front of him. The moral issue central to the plot is him attempting to remain faithful to his wife despite prophecies of another woman being important to fostering his magic. 

Lowell’s work can be found on her website, magicintheland.com, which also includes a blog dedicated to informing not only readers about the world she has created, but also writers who might want to travel the same path as her. Her blog features book trailers, as well as videos about writing tips and the publishing process. She will also be attending the Dallas High School  Holiday Bazaar on Dec. 7, where she can be found selling her books. 

In regards to writing, she said that she enjoys it because “it’s a different kind of teaching,” and offered this advice to fellow writers: “if you’re not creating, entropy happens, and you’re going to fall apart.”

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of  Lisa Lowell

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