Mount Hood

IMa create a league of my own and compete in IMLeagues

Hannah Greene | Sports Editor

Ever wanted to be the leader of a team? The creator, the all mighty powerful emperor of your own squad? IMLeagues is a good way to do this. Every quarter there are multiple teams one can either join, create or even be a free agent — where any team can add you/pick you up.

“Intramural (IM) Sports program offers opportunities for the Western Oregon University community to participate in a variety of team and individual sport leagues,” explains the Western Oregon University Intramural Handbook. 

IMLeagues is accessible through the IMLeagues website, using Western Oregon University as the school and your regular school email as your login. From there, students will create a password and fill out some paperwork and then voila — free to roam and play all the sports or join multiple teams.

As of right now the sports offered are: flag football, volleyball, badminton and a powerpuff team for Homecoming weekend. The teams include different sections like co-recreational, competitive, all men’s or women’s.

Join now, be a part of a team, have fun and step into the community of Western Oregon University Intramurals.

Anyone identifying as female can still join the Powerpuff team before 11:59pm on Oct. 16.

 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Greene’s picks: Varsity and club game changers on the field, making an impact every second they’re in action

Hannah Greene | Sports Editor

Third week of school means Wolves’s athletics are in full blast. With varsity sports more than halfway through their seasons and club sports just starting, there are so many incredible athletes to spotlight, it’s hard to just pick four. 

Below are Greene’s picks, two varsity players and two club players, all deserving of the recognition and support. Find their next games below to go out and shout their names loudly and proudly.

 

Men’s Football Women’s Soccer Men’s Rugby Women’s Club Soccer
Curtis Anderson

Class: Junior

Major: English Major

Defensive Back

#3

 Isabelle Creighton

Class: Senior

Major: Exercise Science 

Position: Forward

#9

 Riley Bardes

Class: Senior

Major: Exercise Science

Position: 8 Man

#8

 Reilly Penziol

Class: Junior

Major: Exercise Science

Position: Goalkeeper

#2
Curtis Anderson, a defensive back for the Men’s Football team was quite the game changer in Western’s last game against Texas A&M Aumsville — having seven tackles and two interceptions. He makes Greene’s list due to his energy on the field making plays to benefit and push the team forward. Anderson is part of the defense that this football team has needed in the past, helping to keep opponents from not finishing and gaining yards for the Wolves in every inception. Come watch this DB play in the Homecoming game Oct. 19 against Central Washington University at 1:05pm. Isabelle Creighton, the starting forward for the Women’s Soccer team is a force to be reckoned with. Creighton is dominant on the ball, going through defenders to get to the goal, as well as a finesse player with tons of tricks up her sleeve. Fast and strong, she makes opponents defense work extra hard to try and stop her. So far this season, Creighton has scored three goals and set up multiple teammates to join the scoreboard. Creighton is a key component to every lineup, being the game changer and energy booster whenever the Wolves need a pick-me-up. Watch Creighton play in the next home game Oct. 17 against Montana State University Billings at 2 p.m. Riley Bardes, the 8 Man on the Men’s Rugby team has been a key player in the team’s success. The eighth man calls for leadership, smarts, and drive to carry the ball — and Bardes has shown this every play, whether helping the Wolves to attack or defend. During the Wolves’s first match against Oregon State University, Bardes stepped up and made major plays to keep Western ahead — especially playing down two players. Bardes is a solid part of the rugby team, making the starting lineup week in and week out — as well as a very entertaining athlete to watch. Catch Riley Bardes at Men’s Rugby next home game Oct. 26 against Oregon Tech on the turf at 1 p.m. Reilly Penziol, the starting keeper for Women’s Club Soccer was a standout player in the season opener against University of Oregon Gold team. This was her first game back in the goal after tearing her AC (acromioclavicular) joint, making her play on the field. For a first game back, in general and in goal, she brought her best —  saving any opportunity the opponent kicked at her, making great saves and keeping the defense at a shutout. She makes Greene’s list due to her strength and tenacity, only going in to every play at 100%. Come watch and support this goalie at the next home game Nov. 12 against Portland State University on the turf at 4:30 p.m.

 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Many of the renovations in Independence are a part of the Independence Vision 2040 Plan which is based around the community’s ideas and desires

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Western students may have noticed the increase in construction and development currently changing the landscape in Monmouth’s neighboring city of Independence. Some of the renovations include apartment complexes, a new youth center and the Independence Hotel, which was just opened to the public last Thursday, Oct. 10. Many of these renovations came to be because of the Independence 2020 Vision plan, a plan developed by both the local government and the community to revitalize downtown Independence. Now that these goals have been or are in the process of being accomplished, the Independence Department of Economic Development has set its sights on starting the next chapter — the Independence Vision 2040 Plan. 

“Independence is growing. The Oregonian back in May published a story that said we were the fourth fastest-growing city in Oregon since 2010,” said Independence’s Economic Development Director, Shawn Irvine. “The cities faster than us were Bend, Happy Valley and Wilsonville, so kind of cities you would expect, and then there’s Independence.” 

Irvine said this growth can be attributed to the fact that “we’ve done a lot in the past 10-20 years to revitalize the community and make it a place people want to be, and that appears to be working.” 

In fact, the Independence Vision 2040 Plan marks the third time that the Department of Economic Development has sought community input on future renovations. 

“As far back as 1996, folks were worried that Independence was going in the wrong direction, so they took a year and went out, got everybody involved and just said ‘what’s working and what’s not working’ and ‘where do you want Independence to be in 20 years and what do we have to do to get there?’”

In the ‘90s, Independence was known as a “blue-collar, rough-and-tumble town where everybody went to drink,” Irvine explained. “It’s funny, because as we evolve, we don’t want to lose that and become all hoity-toity.” At the same time, safety was a huge concern. Independence locals wanted their town to be “vibrant,” so they realized they had changes that needed to be made. 

Now, almost 30 years later and after around 560 surveys were completed, the Independence Vision 2040 Plan focuses on new concerns. 

“Folks still want the town oriented around the river, but they want more recreation around the river and more trails … we’re hearing more about … concerns about making sure that housing stays affordable, concerns about the people in our community who are less able to care for themselves … and increased interest in healthy living and lifestyles,” said Irvine, who also noted concerns for Independence’s characteristically young population.

Now, Irvine said, “I’m going to take it on the road and basically go to every local group and community organization and get in front of them to talk about this,” and asserted that, “it’s better to go out into the community and have the community tell the government what needs to happen, because then we can take our guidance and figure out how to implement that vision … and it makes it a whole lot easier to work with the community, to find partners, (and) to get people excited about it.”

For more information, visit http://www.independence2040.org/.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Independence’s Department of Economic Development 

Interested in broadening your horizons and making lasting connections? Consider the Conversation Partner Program.

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

How does one form community when they are on a foreign campus miles away from home? The conversation partners program at Western seeks to provide a solution by connecting international and domestic students together. 

Currently, the international students of Western represent approximately 2.5% of the campus community. For their first term living at Western, they are automatically enrolled in the conversation partner’s program. Director of International Student Academic Support and Linguistics Professor, Dr. Troyer, described the program as, “a wealth of information for international students.”

It works like this: domestic students either volunteer independently or participate as a part of certain classes to become partners with an international student or two. Students are paired together based on their schedules and interests and once paired, they meet on a weekly basis to discuss anything of particular relevance, from music taste to language-learning skills to events happening on campus or in the surrounding valley. The goal, according to Dr. Troyer, “is cultural connection … broadening your worldview and connecting with people, finding out why they are here, what their motivation is.” 

The program was established in 2007 and was much smaller then, almost doubling in size since its conception. However, the international student population has dwindled. Dr. Troyer cited “economic changes (and) U.S policy and immigration issues” as reasons, even mentioning gun violence as a consideration. 

Despite this, Dr. Troyer asserts that the conversation partner program is still making positive changes in student’s lives, recalling one particular student who “had always lived in Oregon and towards the end of her freshman year had heard about the conversation partner program, signed up, and … completely changed her college and career trajectory … (she) went to China to teach … and is now working on her masters in TESOL at UofO.” 

On a smaller scale, Dr. Troyer remembers a time where he went to Sing Fey’s — a local downtown Chinese eatery — and observed “a table with four girls talking and laughing, and it turned out they had all met through conversation partners.” Troyer said, “That’s the kind of thing that makes it worthwhile.”

Students interested in signing up to be a conversation partner can do so by visiting wou.edu/westernhowl/ and clicking on the link for more information.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Western has a new mobile app letting students carry campus with them wherever they go; plans for a future more advanced app are underway

Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

Through the new MyWOU mobile app, Western’s students now have a way to carry campus with them wherever they go. As of now, approximately 1,200 students have downloaded the app, with 990 of them using the app through iOS and the rest through Android.

Director of University Computing Solutions Bill Kernan, and Web, Mobile and Systems Programmer Tony Manso are two of the people responsible for cultivating and modifying the app to give it that “Western look.”

“The idea actually started maybe 2 and a half years ago … Elucian, the provider of Banner, approached Western, Southern, Eastern and OIT and asked if we were interested in a mobile app and I said ‘we are,’” Kernan said.

MyWOU functions much like portal — students can find all of the information on portal built into the app but Kernan said, “the current portal isn’t responsive, so we are in the initial planning stages for portal 3.0 … MyWOU isn’t ever going to be a replacement for portal, but will hopefully work in a similar fashion.” 

However, unlike portal, MyWOU is customizable, more accessible for daily use and has a few unique features currently in development. 

One “cool feature is College Scheduler … (a) mobile app to do planning with. You can put your schedule in and then say ‘I want to take these types of classes’ and then it will fill it all out so you can use that when you apply for classes,” Kernan commented. That will be linked into the MyWOU app within the coming months. 

“We also have the campus map,” Manso added, “since it’s running on a mobile device, the device has GPS capability, so we could actually do things according to your location on campus, so as soon as somebody comes up with a reason to do that, we will probably have that functionality on the app.” This function could serve to give students information about events being held in different buildings on campus, or interesting fun facts about the art and architecture of Western. It’s like Pokemon Go, but for learning about the campus.

The biggest feature that has already been implemented, however, is notifications. 

“It’s really hard to get ahold of students because it seems like the current generation of traditional students that are in college don’t use email much anymore, they use social media more,” Kernan said, “we’re thinking this is one more communication tool to get information out to students in a timely manner, such as reminders that it’s time to see your advisors.”

However,  MyWOU is still in its early stages of development. 

“We’re hoping it can be a tool for success,” Kernan said, but “if students have feedback about the usability or additional functionality they’d like to see … we’ll take it to that subcommittee in UTAC and we can go from there.”

Manso concurred, “there’s a lot of possibilities … once the students get ahold of it, we need to learn from them, what they want to see it do and let them define it from there.”

For students interested in providing feedback, contact Tony Manso at monsot@wou.edu.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Sage Kiernan-Sherrow

Wolves besmirch the Ducks in season opener, Women’s Club Soccer looking stronger than previous team

Hannah Greene | Sports Editor

Death stares are exchanged as the Wolves and Ducks take the pitch to start the 2019 season. The University of Oregon Gold Women’s club team has repeatedly beat the Western Oregon University Women’s club team — but not this weekend. 

The game started out intense, everyone pressing every ball and going into every tackle strong and wanting to win. The battle was even with many transitions between both the Wolves and Ducks, neither team finding the back of the net. The first 25 minutes of play are clearly dominated by the Ducks, but they were unable to capitalize on multiple opportunities. 

The Wolves struggle to get offense going; luckily the defense continued to confidently hold their wall in front of game changer goalkeeper — Reilly Penziol, a junior and third year player for the Women’s Soccer club.

The first half ended with a score of 0-0, neither team able to connect ball to goal. At halftime, the Wolves talked game plan and tried to prepare for the second-half by changing the lineup ever so slightly. 

As the players take the field for the final portion of gameplay, nerves are no longer of concern —  scoring is all that is on mind.

A free kick opportunity was given to the Wolves due to foul play by the Ducks. Center defending midfielder — Hannah Greene, a returning player from last season — takes the free kick posing the first threat against the Ducks’s goalie. No luck — the shot was saved and the game preceded.  

Multiple subs were brought in and out, giving many Wolves’s players rest, while also trying to see where each athlete plays best. 

Towards the end of the game, the Ducks put high pressure against the Wolves, causing the Wolves to drop back and play a defensive game without any transitions to attack on goal. Lacey Knutson, a returner; Sydni Manuel, new addition; and Ming Ng, a returner, kept the wide unbeatable, leaving the Ducks to attack through the middle. The Ducks’s strongest player was left to play by herself as the Wolves anticipated multiple moves and marked up well. Chances were created through the middle, but Hannah Greene, returner, Kawehi Taniguchi, returner, Sarah Texter, returner, and Seidree Kealoha-Albarado, new addition, were there to stop any attack.

Although the battle fell to the Wolves half for most of the game, Western held strong and unwavering. The final score ended in a tie with zero goals for both teams. 

For the Women’s Club team, this was a great result and true test for the upcoming season — leaving the pitch bruised and burned but without a loss against their hardest opponent in the past. 

To finish the weekend, the Wolves played against Willamette University Bearcats, ending the game in another tie, with the final score of 1-1. No wins to start their season but no losses as well. The Women’s Club Soccer team plays against the University of Oregon Green next weekend, Oct. 19, in Eugene at 1 p.m. The Wolves’s next home game will be on Nov. 12 on the turf at 4:30 p.m.

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Photos by  Max Carmona

Opinion: Pumpkin spice is back, and so are the monotonous, dull jokes about being “basic”

Caity Healy | Managing Editor

October is here, fall has officially begun, and with it, the celebrations and festivities that often come with it. Pumpkin spice is back in rotation at most coffee shops, those little Pillsbury sugar cookies with the ghosts and pumpkins poorly printed on them are back in stores — though, from my experience, they sell out in like, two seconds… so get ‘em while you can — and Halloween decor is making its appearance. And, of course, the tweets and memes about “basic b*****s” are making themselves comfy on our social media feeds once again. 

Look, I get it. A single leaf falls and suddenly these “basic witches” (I changed the word so I don’t have to keep using asterisks, but you know what I mean) seemingly show up out of nowhere, just crawling out of the sewers like they’re Pennywise or something. A person steps on a perfectly crunchy leaf and the next thing you know they’re wearing a sweater that says something like “pumpkin spice and everything nice” written in Rae Dunn font and probably covered in glitter. Before you know it, the basic witch invasion has begun. And it must be so incredibly hard to see several people post about Starbucks’s new pumpkin spice cold brew and NOT say anything at all. So, so hard. But here’s an idea: just… actually try not to?

It feels like we’ve come to a point where we just can’t let people enjoy the things they like. So someone chooses to put their Halloween decorations up before the official first day of fall (it’s me, I’m that someone), is that hurting anyone? Unless they’re putting those decorations up in your space, then you don’t really have a right to say anything at all. 

So someone chooses to literally search for when pumpkin spice is back in rotation at their local Starbucks so they can order their drink the first day it’s back (as you can probably guess, it’s me, I’m still talking about myself), does that have any effect on you whatsoever? If someone can genuinely tell me a way that it is creating a negative impact, short of buying into the commercial schemes that most of us are still guilty of buying into in some way or another, then I’d genuinely like to know. Until then, what right do you have to make people feel bad about it? Because, while I do understand that it is a joke, I definitely still feel a little self conscious when I go to The Press and, under my breath, tell the barista that I want a grande PSL (if you abbreviate it, people in line behind you might not know what you mean. Pro tip). 

To be clear, I’m not advocating for the end of all criticism of things we consume. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We should be critical of our consumption, and it’s definitely okay to not like something or actively want to partake in it. But the difference between that constructive critical mindset and what is actually happening is that the former would involve a conversation about how we as a society can be better and would respectfully assert your opinion, and the latter is people recycling the same jokes, usually aimed at judging women, that truly just are not funny.

We see this trend all the time. “You’re playing Christmas music before we even sat down for our totally unproblematic American holiday of Thanksgiving?! How dare you!” The non-existent PNW snow melts and spring arrives.“You’re actually wearing shorts when it’s barely above 60 degrees outside?! Ridiculous!” Or, of course, “You like Nirvana? Lol you probably just like their logo — name every single song on every album ever made. By Nirvana and every other band, too, while you’re at it. Fake fan.” 

All jokes aside, I really think everyone should make a conscious effort to just try and let people enjoy the little things. Life isn’t easy. I don’t know about everyone else, but college has been nothing short of a struggle for me. So if a festive beverage or a spooky shirt, or an occasional trip to Target’s dollar section for a pair of pumpkin-covered socks makes me feel a little better, just let me have it. Let the basic witch in me live. Because in the end, it’s not hurting anyone… except maybe my bank account. But we don’t have to talk about that. 

 

Contact the author at chealy16@wou.edu

Photo by Caity Healy

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