Mustang News May 16, 2023

LEADERSHIP

MUSTANG NEWS

NEWS

Chloe Lovejoy Editor

Amelia Wu Assistant Editor

Carly Heltzel

Ashley Bolter

Archana Pisupati

Emma Montalbano

Jeremy Garza

Leila Touati

Kate McHugh

Owen Lavine

Shruthi Narayanan

Lauren Yoon

Naomi Baron

Abby Gorman

OPINION

Rebecca Caraway Editor

Grace Schweitzer

Shelbi Sullaway

Neta Bar

Zoie Denton

Erin Yarwood

Eden-Rose Baker

Caroline Kelleher

Alexandra Ruther

Marcela Bonet

SPORTS

Diego Sandoval Editor

Miles Berman

Derek Righetti

Kylie Hastings

Nick Bandanza

Matthew Ho

Noah Greenblatt

Jonathan Sze

Sergio Romero

Jack Bynum

Jackson Inagi

ARTS & STUDENT LIFE

Emma Robertson Editor

Lauren Emo Editor

Sarina Grossi

Mia Anderson

Maya Aparicio

Delaney Jacobs

Kate Hernandez

Makaylah Kahn

DESIGN

Claire Lorimor Creative Director

Olivia Frazier

Jacob Boyd

Kaley Schneider

Rain Mazumder

Caitlin Calhoun

Liz Ridley

Jack Lewis

Brandon Schwartz

VIDEO

Brady Caskey MNTV News Director

Matthew Bornhorst Producer

Nate Mills Sports Video Director

Ari Lopez

Gabrielle Downey

Madison Vernon

Avery Elowitt

RJ Pollock

Ben Anderson

Liv Collom

PHOTO

Shaelyn Ashamalla Editor

Owen Roberts

Fenn Bruns

Kayla Stuart

Chloe Kern

Mia-Isobel Craig

Bobby Groth

Ashley Spinoglio

Annabelle Fagans

Lily Tenner

COPY EDITING

Morgan Fitzgerald

Payton Swanson

Shalini Sinha

SOCIAL MEDIA

Chloe Chin MN Manager

Clover Hamilton

Alyssa Pacheco

Jackie Espitia

Sydney Spencer

Alina Jafri

Noel Lopez

Angela Passalacqua

Presley Allen

DATA & INVESTIGATIONS

Elizabeth Wilson Editor

Amelia Wu

Victoria Bochniak

Jessa Rosenthal

Cole Pressler

Joshua Blank

Jadyn Ellis

Brandon Kim

Masato Nandate

Tejasree Kandibanda

EN ESPAÑOL

Yarely De La Cruz Editor

Bryanna Hernandez

Liv Collom

Kimberly Garcia

KCPR

LEADERSHIP

Emily Tobiason Content Director

Lauren Boyer KCPR News Director

Maddy Worth Art Director

Zoe Boyd Programming/Music

Director

David Aronson Marketing Director

DISC JOCKEYS

Zoe Boyd Director

Liv Collom

Jaxon Silva

Melissa Melton

Nathan Jackson

Maire O’Toole

Arianne Landers

Jordan Bates

Emily Duncan

Charlotte Matthews

Alina Jafri

Cindy Nguyen

Ollie Lamkin

Maile Gardner

Emily Tobiason

Joshua Maxin

Dante Erz

Samay Shah

Maria Langlois

Penny Alioshin

Sam Kohn

David Aronson

KCPR NEWS

Lauren Boyer Director

Jordan Triebel Assistant Director

Trevor Baumgardner

Brady

Victoria

Ethan Telles

Liv Collom

Eden-Rose Baker

Natalie Levesque

Sophie Corbett

Zoe Boyd

Sarah McElroy

Presley Allen

Victoria Bochniak

Ashley Tuell

Jada Griffith

Maddie Harrell

Avery Elowitt

Aidan Dillon

KCPR.ORG

Emily Tobiason Content Director

Cayley O’Brien Editorial Assistant

Summer Fitzgerald

Claudia Muñoz

Kaelyn Bremer

Sadie Beaumont

Ashley Oakes

Sydney Spencer

Kate Lowpensky

Emmy Burrus

Jaxon Silva

Lily Tenner

Maile Gardner

Samay Shah

Emma Hughes

Alina Jafri

Kaelyn Bremer

Jordan Bates

Emily Duncan

Mckenna Rodriguez

Natalie Venable

Casey James

DESIGN

Maddy Worth Director

Reilly Yuen

Izzy Flint-Gonzales

Cindy Nguyen

Josie Doan

Lexi Berryhill

Jaxon Silva

Ollie Lamkin

Maire O’Toole

Penny Alioshin

Ella Tune

Raja Grossi

MARKETING & PR

David Aronson Director

Charlotte Matthews

Kailey Dodson

Maria Langlois

Sydney Osterbauer

Dante Erz

Nate Jackson

Arianne Landers

Jacquelyn Wong

Emily Duncan

PODCASTING

Samantha Riordan Manager

Ashley Oakes

Cameron King

Rachel Kupfer-Weinstein

Jordan Triebel

Kaitlyn Lam

Avery Elowitt

Cassie Duarte

Sam Kohn

Jacob Sarmiento

Sophia Martino

Emma Hughes

STORY BY Maile Gardner & Alina Jafri

DESIGNED BY Liz Ridley

BLACK,

STORY BY Sarina Grossi DESIGNED BY Brandon Schwartz

STORY BY

BY Olivia Frazier

STORY BY Matthew Ho

DESIGNED BY Caitlin Calhoun

STORY BY Erin Yarwood

DESIGNED BY Kaley Schneider

Patti

Taking Flight: A Cal Poly Student’s Solo Aviation Journey

BY KATE HERNANDEZ

Computer science junior Sarah Hallam said she savors the serene atmosphere of the recent super bloom as she takes on the exhilarating challenge of solo piloting a plane through the San Luis Obispo sky.

“You can feel the flow of air over the wings and under you while feeling the wind a lot more,” Hallam said.

“It’s such a neat experience.”

A torn shirt, displayed with the date of Hallam’s first solo flight, is pinned to the wall of the Cal Poly Aerospace Engineering hangar in San Luis Obispo, where she piloted the plane.

Hallam said the torn shirt holds symbolism behind the tradition of soloing a plane.

“In the olden days you would have your student sit in front and instructor sit in the back,” Hallam said. “Anytime the instructor wanted to talk to the student they would have to pull on their shirt to get their attention.”

Cutting off the back of a shirt symbolizes that the student pilot no longer needs their instructor to pull on the back of their shirt to fly

a plane.

During her internship at General Atomics last summer, Hallam discovered her passion for aviation while working alongside fighter and general pilots. She was an international strategic development intern for the Japan MQ-9B SeaGuardian program. She spoke with them about her desire to obtain a pilot’s license which sparked her interest to do a demo flight.

“I’ve always wanted to get my pilot’s license and then I took a demo flight, and I just fell in love with it,” Hallam said. “I’ve been obsessed ever since.” Hallam has since then been training at Cal Poly’s Aerospace Engineering Hangar in San Luis Obispo.

Her instructor, professor Eric Paton, teaches at the College of Engineering at Cal Poly for the Materials Engineering (MATE), Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) and AERO departments.

MATE is the field of materials engineering that investigates the interplay among the atomic/ molecular configuration of materials, the processing techniques utilized to modify the configuration,

and the impact of the structure on the characteristics of the material, according to the C al Poly Material Engineering homepage.

get my pilot’s license and then I took a demo flight, and I just fell in love with it. I’ve been obsessed ever since.

SARAH HALLAM Computer Science Junior

IME employs engineering techniques and analyses to facilitate the manufacturing of all goods and

services, while also being dedicated to enhancing business operations through design and improvement efforts, according to Cal Poly’s info fliers to prospective students.

Paton holds certifications as a flight instructor for the student private pilot program, as well as a commercial pilot and an instrument pilot. Paton utilizes a Cessna 150G aircraft to train each student. The instrument pilot certification is earned through training that focuses on operating an aircraft using solely instrument references, while a Commercial Pilot license permits the operation and navigation of aircraft for passenger and cargo transportation. Each student in the program receives instruction in Paton’s Cessna 150G aircraft.

Following her through her aviation journey, Paton speaks highly of Hallam.

“Sarah is an exceptional student pilot,” said Paton. He mentioned how Sarah is on track to receive her pilot’s license before the end of the spring quarter.

For students wanting to get involved in aviation, Paton said

joining the Mustang Aviation Club on campus is a great way to start.

During Fall 2023, the Mustang Aviation Club will organize a ground school, as well as an Airport Day event where local pilots will provide complimentary airplane rides. Additionally, Cal Poly students will have access to simulators at no cost. Due to the high cost of aviation, Hallam said she had to save up money in order to afford the training.

For students seeking a budgetfriendly alternative to aviation Hallam said she recommends gliders which are aircrafts that are designed to fly without the use of an engine. She said it’s a cheaper and easier introduction to aviation.

Hallam said she envisions a future in aviation and is contemplating a full-time career as a pilot, driven by her passion for the profession. She is currently an intern at NASA at their jet propulsion lab and will be working full-time doing a co-op at SpaceX for Fall 2023.

I’ve always wanted to

SARAH HALLAM | COURTESY

Recapping

Shabang outgrew its previous Laguna Lake venue and opted for the more expansive Dairy Creek Golf Course. Shabang Public Relations Specialist Nikki Morgan said the festival drew in 10,000 people, reaching the same number as the year prior.

Despite this year’s festival expanding in

stages, vendors and its venue, Shabang held close to the communal roots it has had since the day it started nine years ago to promote local house shows.

Shabang expanded by 25 performers and 15 vendors with the largest stage last year becoming the smallest this year. However, music and art from local bands and business owners served as a reminder of the unique Central Coast community.

“I appreciate the community — this is Shabang, this is SLO, we fucking love each other,” psychology sophomore Ava Cuffari said.

Though Shabang began as a primarily surf rock music festival, this year’s festival featured a wider variety of genres, including EDM, grunge and indie rock, according to Morgan.

The various stages — Cuesta

Ridge, Laguna Lake, Funk Safari and the Hush House Silent Disco — compartmentalized these genres to certain areas of the festival so attendees could choose what they wanted to see.

The Cuesta Ridge stage highlighted the music scene of the Central Coast by featuring smaller bands, including several winners from Shabang’s Battle of the Bands competitions.

“What stokes me out is as this platform grows, they’re still giving an opportunity for local bands and smaller-sized bands to get on a big stage in front of people,” lead singer of local band Dudeo Perez Noah Boland said.

These performances were interspersed with acts by San Luis Obispo-based bands Earthship and IMUA. One of the last acts to play at Cuesta Ridge was San Clemente-based band Repeater, whose vocalist is a Cal Poly student. Repeater gave an energetic show, inciting a mosh pit that stirred up dust from the dry ground of Dairy Creek Golf Course before turning the stage over to the Los Angeles-based Death Valley Girls.

The creation of the Silent Disco Stage was one of the many homages

house music in SLO.

“We try to bring as much of SLO here as we can, whether it’s the community, scenery, food, art, music or culture,” Morgan said.

The expansion of Shabang this year uplifted it as a platform for celebrating SLO culture and the wide range of local artists in the area, Morgan said.

“SLO never really had anything like this; no one expected it,” Morgan said. “It just started with a bunch of friends to now a festival, and we all are just

Shabang is all about meeting and connecting with people... [It] is such a great space for community, connection, and shared joy in SLO.

CLAIRE GRETLIN Yoga Instructor

AIDAN DILLON | KCPR “Tijuana panthers” performing.

AIDAN DILLON | KCPR “Men I Trust” performing.

Couch Dog

SCAN THE QR CODE FOR AN IN-DEPTH LOOK INSIDE SHABANG

2023 & EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

BY NOEL LOPEZ

JACKIE ESPITIA | MUSTANG

JACKIE ESPITIA | MUSTANG NEWS Hippo Campus.

OWEN ROBERTS | MUSTANG

Students celebrate life and nature through Design Village competition

BY REBECCA CARAWAY & MAYA APARICIO

Cal Poly hosted the 48th annual Design Village competition from April 28-30. Each year, freshmen architecture students build shelters reflecting a given theme and sleep in their designs throughout the weekend. This year’s theme was biophilia, defined as the “innate human instinct to connect with nature and other living beings,” according to the event website. This year’s winning group structure, called “Twisted,” was made to look like a DNA molecule to represent how DNA is at the center of all life.

“Twisted” was designed by landscape architecture students

Lindsey Kuehn, Jack Mura,

Lynn Kataoka, Ailani Tran, Katie Allen, Evelyn Neagoy, Ruby Smith, Ellie Feistel and Arlo Hadley.

“We collaborated super well from the beginning,” Evelyn Neagoy said about her teammates. “It was just so awesome to work with all of them.”

Design Village has been an event that is wholly student run, serving as a pillar of independence and growth in the application of their knowledge to create full scale designs.

Participation is mandatory for freshman architecture students for their grade, and voluntary for all other participants. Design Village student coordinator Corrinne Chan said that the competition this year included the entire College of Architecture and Environmental Design, as well as all others on campus in an attempt to increase participation.

At the beginning of April, students

went down to the Poly Canyon Design Village — known by students and locals as “Architecture Graveyard” — to do a site evaluation. Each group then came up with three preliminary designs. They then shared their ideas with an architecture landscape design firm who helped them choose their final design.

“As landscape architects, we were really excited to put in this year’s in because it kind of aligns with our major,” Neagoy said. “We just wanted to emphasize the use of natural and sustainable materials.”

They chose to use bamboo because it is sustainable due to its rapid growth rate and ability to regenerate after harvest. Using bamboo also made it easier to transport. The design team chose a spiral design to represent change and growth. Something that set their group apart from other designs was the use of home grown chia for their structure in order to

give their design a landscape touch. “I think this is what really set our project apart; we were some of the only students that had plants involved in our project,” Neagoy said.

Contestants are judged on innovation, aesthetics, functionality, durability and ecological compatibility. The Design Village judging panel is composed of experts from architectural engineering, landscaping, art construction and graphic design.

For Neagoy, the whole process was challenging, yet rewarding.

“It was easily the most creative, challenging and rewarding academic experience I’ve ever participated in,” Neagoy said. “I’m so grateful I got the opportunity to do it.”

The group’s structure won them a cash award and the opportunity to have their project installed at the Shabang Live Music and Arts Festival from May 5 to May 6.

This was easily the most creative, challenging and rewarding academic experience I’ve ever participated in.

EVELYN

NEAGOY Cal Poly Freshman Architecture Student

ANNABELLE FAGANS | MUSTANG NEWS

One of the structures installed for the Design Village competition on Friday, April 28, 2023.

EVELYN NEAGOY | COURTESY

The Design Village winning structure was designed by landscape architecture students Lindsey Kuehn, Jack Mura, Lynn Kataoka, Ailani Tran, Katie Allen, Evelyn Neagoy, Ruby Smith, Ellie Feistel and Arlo Hadley.

Students compete in Design Village while commemorating Sean Hillman

BY CATHERINE ALLEN & HALEY ELLIS

Architecture freshman Max Dennison first met Sean Ogawa Hillman at the start of spring quarter, when their professor put them in the same group for the annual Design Village competition. In the short time she’s known him, Dennison said Hillman “always had the biggest smile on his face and the most yummy looking breakfast burrito.”

The team shared a few short weeks of working together in what Dennison described as a “wholesome and amazing group to be a part of.”

But Dennison and her group had a new objective for Design Village: To honor their teammate Hillman, who died from a bike accident the week leading up to the competition.

Architectural engineering freshman Sean Hillman, 20, was hospitalized with severe injuries and put on life support after a bike accident on Friday, April 21. By the following Tuesday, he had passed away, taken off of life support after his mother was able to fly in from

Tokyo to see him.

“Sean was a bright, hard working student and friend, with a lively and inspirational energy that he brought to everything and everyone everyday,” group member Justin Ocampo said. “His loss will be felt throughout the Cal Poly community and beyond.”

The Architectural Engineering Department and the Structural Engineering Association of California student club, which Hillman was a member of, organized a remembrance for him on Friday evening at Design Village and encouraged people to wear green to honor him.

“This kid is amazingly, like, whiz smart,” Dennison said about Hillman. “He’s been putting in so much effort into this project, he was so excited. He was always asking how everyone’s day is. He was always just super fun to be around.”

Hillman and his group members

— Justin, Alexis, Alex, Max, Yvonne and Helen — began designing their structure for Design Village on the second day of class. They were given

three weeks to complete a task: build a shelter, transport it and live in it for 48 hours. Ocampo and his group worked on a tent-like design that had a middle pole with pieces of fabric hanging from it in the shape of a triangle petal to provide shade throughout the day.

Earlier in the process, the group was still unsure whether the project would work, but the time came to start welding metal pieces to hold hammocks for the team to sleep in. Dennison said that when the rest of the group left for the evening, Hillman, who she described as a “master welder,” stayed behind.

“And then the next thing we knew, we got a picture in our group chat of a perfect hammock,” Dennison said. “We’re all like, ‘Dude, what? You just did like a sixth of our project in 30 minutes. He just always had an inventor mentality. It was amazing what he was capable of doing.

“He was just such an amazing person,” Dennison said. “It is so incredibly unfair that he had to be taken from us.”

ANNABELLE FAGANS | MUSTANG NEWS

The Architectural Engineering Department held a remembrance for Sean Hillman during the first evening of Design Village, on Friday, April 28, 2023.

Black, white and gray: The complex legacy of Shades of Cal Poly

BY SARINA GROSSI

Shades of Cal Poly is run anonymously. They have chosen to remain anonymous.

In their second year at Cal Poly, senior communications and ethnic studies major Rey Smith was in a survey of Africana studies class taught by a white professor. One day, when describing the oppression faced by a black man, Smith heard the professor use the N-word. Smith, and the only other student in the class with black ancestry, were appalled.

“We were both just stunned like we didn’t know how to react,” Smith said. “And it seemed like we both wanted to say something but she just keep going and we just, I don’t know, trauma response I guess, just didn’t.”

Smith had essentially blocked the event out of their mind, but after George Floyd’s murder in 2020, the memory resurfaced. They wanted to share their story, so they submitted it to Shades of Cal Poly — a studentrun Instagram account that emerged after active social and political movements in 2020.

“Limited by the pandemic, we felt the need to do something, anything, about the injustices happening at the time,” the account administrators told Mustang News. “In particular, we were frustrated by Cal Poly — both the administration and the community — because despite being outspoken about support for larger social movements, there was so little discussion and action taken.”

The account’s goal was to open up a dialogue surrounding discrimination faced by the people at Cal Poly and by the administration, particularly individuals who belong to marginalized communities like people of color, LGBTQIA+ and women. Shades of Cal Poly works to provide individuals with a safe space to share their experiences in depth without their personal information.

When scrolling through the account, Instagram users can find hundreds of submissions detailing experiences or opinions about discrimination on the Cal Poly campus. For many students on campus, the content

found on the account is reflective of their environment.

“Sometimes when I do see those posts I do feel like it is a pretty accurate representation of Cal Poly,” landscape architecture freshman Li Ow-Wing said. “My right to exist, at peace with my identity, was never questioned. But here it has been questioned multiple times, to the point where I don’t even want to talk about it anymore.”

Having similar stories dealing with discrimination shared to one account has also allowed students to find community through their shared experiences.

“A positive outcome is that it just connects people that feel the same way and have experienced similar things, and that is an important part of processing trauma,” Smith said.

The account offers resources to students on their account, like story highlights on reporting incidents directly to Cal Poly and information about Safer and Ombuds services. Alongside this, the team of student administrators created a database document ing all

been published to easily access submissions.

Individuals can send in stories anonymously through a submission form available on the account. Stories with names of students, profanity or grammar mistakes are not published on the account, but otherwise, the administrators say they post all eligible posts to initiate conversations.

“Originally, we did not intend to post all of our submissions. However, as we read each of the hundreds of stories that came in, we came to realize that each one is important to somebody. That’s their story,” the administrators told Mustang News. “The idea of picking and choosing whose story has value felt wrong. Like playing god, in a way.” When creating the account in 2020, the administrators of Shades of Cal Poly decided to prioritize anonymity, as they felt students would be more comfortable sharing their stories if their identity was protected. However, protecting anonymity came with some sacrifices, they said.

“We acknowl- edge that there is no truly validate

the information we receive. For this reason, we also choose to protect the identity of students who are referenced in the stories,” the administrators told Mustang News. “We do not, however, protect the identity of Cal Poly staff and faculty members or organizations; as they maintain a position of power over so many students and often keep that position for many years, we found it imperative to allow submissions to name them so that patterns could be identified.”

For some individuals, the lack of validation for submissions is troubling since the account has a wide reach. Shades of Cal Poly currently has 6,500 Instagram followers and 1,265 posts, most of which contain sensitive information and large claims.

“I don’t know, the lack of research is a little bit concerning,” Ow-Wing said. “Because they have a lot of followers of students who go to this school and may not actually take the time to actually think about what they’re reading.” Recently,

the account has faced some backlash for recent submissions posted. Due to their open policy of allowing all eligible submissions to be posted, some that have been published have centered on individuals who do not belong to minority groups. One post, in particular, received negative attention, which read:

“I once had a class in which I was the only European-American male and a conservative Catholic. If I offered a conflicting opinion during class, some of the other students and professor would be dismissive and condescending. Several times throughout the course the professor even referred to the previous Pope as ‘the Nazi Pope.’ I felt like my opinions and religious beliefs were being invalidated because of my ‘whiteness’ and because I didn’t agree with the far-left ideology of the professor and my classmates.”

Though publishing submissions like this one creates conversations around differing opinions, it highlights the voices of what some, including Ow-Wing, may consider privileged people, the opposite of what the account originally sought to represent.

With recnt posts, the account has been criticized for shifting away from its original intentions. Despite Shades of Cal Poly’s mission to prioritize minority experiences, Smith’s story which was submitted more than a year and a half ago has yet to be posted on their platform. Now a senior, Smith believes the account has strayed from being a helpful source for minority communities at Cal Poly.

“I just don’t see any way that a person or persons could be okay with the type of stories that are being highlighted now,” Smith said. “It’s just another example of disappointment that oppressed groups at Cal Poly face because even a platform meant to center us is focusing on this.”

Individuals like Smith believe that the account could fix these mistakes by exercising more judgment over what gets posted as well as acknowledging the criticism it has faced, including a possible apology and working to re-center diversity, equity and inclusion.

Ow-Wing also proposed having a change in administrators, to potentially consider people with a more

diverse background who aligns with the original ideology of the account.

Originally, we did not intend to post all of our submissions. However, as we read each of the hundreds of stories that came in, we came to realize that each one is important to somebody. That’s their story.

Account Administrator

“But if that’s not going to happen, the best thing for them to do is deactivate,” Smith said.

Though Smith sees that Shades of Cal Poly can change to produce a more substantial impact, they believe that it should not be the responsibility for a student-run account or the minority students who submit their stories to the account to enact social change on campus.

Rather, the administration should make more quantifiable advancements in addressing discrimination on campus, going beyond the bare minimum.

“They just do not do a good job of notifying their students about the resources available. It’s always ‘resources are available if you need’ but they don’t tell us what,” Smith said. “And they do sometimes but it’s not in a way that is actually absorbable…and proactive. The responsibility is always on us to seek those resources out.”

To Smith, Shades of Cal Poly is ultimately just a reflection of the current state of campus, and can only do so much when the campus’s administration holds all the power to enact physical change.

Shades of Cal Poly can be found @ shadesofcalpoly on Instagram.

SHADES OF CAL POLY

CLAIRE LORIMOR | MUSTANG NEWS

BRINGING THRIFT TO CAMPUS:

How Cal Poly Students

Guide Sustainability Efforts on Campus

BY AVERY ELOWITT

Filled with vintage clothes, handmade products, and roughly 500 students,Thrift Cal Poly hosted their sustainability market on April 22 in celebration of Earth Day.

Starting at the Sequoia Lawn and expanding to the recently-opened Plant Conservatory, Thrift Cal Poly brings sustainability efforts to campus.

Journalism sophomore and founder and president of Thrift Cal Poly, Eve Stewart, started the club her freshman year at Cal Poly. She and her friends began selling thrifted items on the Sequoia lawn in front of their residential community and eventually this concept grew into a full-fledged club.

“We try to bring the thrift store to campus instead of the students to the thrift stores. That way it’s really accessible to freshmen and anyone living on campus,” Stewart said.

Stewart says that the club draws a variety of vendors.

“30 to 40 sometimes more venders that are all entrepreneurs that have sustainably sourced and produced products,” Stewart said. “Ranging from curated vintage to ceramics to jewelry, to people with services like tarot and henna and really so much more.”

Thrift Cal Poly focuses on

EVE STEWART

Journalism sophomore and founder and president of Thrift Cal Poly

sustainability while encouraging students to be conscious consumers and producers. “With the climate crisis, one of the things we

constantly hear is how we can be conscious consumers,” Steward said. “And while that’s really important to consider, I think it’s even more impactful to consider how we can be conscious producers.”

Stewart says that the market strives to support local businesses while keeping the environment in mind.

“We want to support local small student run businesses, we want to support sustainability and saving the planet and we want to support learning by doing. And we’re doing that through hosting these events,” Stewart said.

Owner of Dale Morenx Dayane Zuniga crafts her own jewelry with beans, corn and other plants — from her garden to the market.

Her business started in 2020 after losing her job when the pandemic hit. However, her bills were still piling on. Inspiration struck that would both help pay off her bills as well as incorporate her creativity.

“I was sitting one day in the garden

and then this bean specifically called out to me,” Zuniga said. “And I was just like, ‘Wow, I think I can make those into jewelry.’”

While turning plants into jewelry can prove to be a challenge, Zuniga says that each plant has its own personality.

“I like the way that they kind of tell me if they want to be jewelry or not,”

Zuniga said. “If I’m working on them and they crumble, then I know they don’t want to be made into jewelry or sometimes they don’t want a charm…So I like how they have a little personality into them, a little essence of themselves.”

Whether students choose to start their own business or visit local markets Stewart encourages all to get involved in sustainability.

“There’s tons and tons and tons of ways to get involved, whether you’re just looking to come support our vendors and check out our events or if you’re looking to start a sustainable small business yourself,” Stewart

said. “We are here to meet you where you’re at.”

For some students, these events are their first time thrifting on campus.

Business administration sophomore Ela Grabowski has never been thrifting on campus. To support her friends as they set up shop, Grabowski brought her pet ducks to explore the market.

“My friend over here, one of her friends is working the little fair. So we were like, ‘We’ll bring the ducks in, check it out,’” Grabowski said.

Even at her first campus thrift experience, Grabowski knows what she wants for her next find.

“I was looking for cool clothes,” Grabowski said. “I also love plants. So I saw a bunch of cool plants over there and I was like, ‘All right, I’ll take a look. See what’s good.’”

To stay updated, those interested can visit the club’s Instagram at @thriftcalpoly.

We want to support local small student-run businesses, we want to support sustainability and saving the planet and we want to support learning by doing.

William and Linda Frost Center opens to host classes for the spring quarter

BY BRADY CASKEY

Cal Poly Master Plan Threatens Student Experimental Farm. Students still have time to weigh in

BY OWEN LAVINE

Moe Lee says a huge part of the reason they came to Cal Poly was their interest in the Student Experimental Farm (SEF).

Lee, now a Junior environmental management major, is president of Polyponics, a club run out of the SEF and a fixture of the SEF’s day-to-day operations.

“The SEF, to me, is an amazing space for students from whatever major to come and appreciate sustainable agriculture and get involved in regenerative farming,” Lee said. “A lot of people don’t have access or have never had access to a farm area where they can actually dig in the dirt and experience what it’s like to produce their own food.”

The farm was established in 1989 by a group of Cal Poly graduate students and is now the home of many graduate-level research projects, three clubs, senior projects and much more. The farm is located north of the compost facility near the railroad.

To read more about the day-today activities of the farm and its history visit: http://calpolysef.peteschwartz.net/home/.

However, the SEF may not be around for future generations of Cal Poly students. A Water Reclamation

Facility (WRF), will be placed on land currently occupied by the SEF, according to multiple environmental impact reports, EIRs, for the WRF. The original location of the WRF, as outlined by the 2035 Cal Poly Master Plan, a document that details the university’s plans for new construction, placed the WRF north of the daily unit and southwest of the compost facility.

Despite the university having finalized the EIR for the Cal Poly Master Plan in 2020, a Notice of Preparation was issued on Sept. 14 2022. The notice is a form that notifies the relevant government agencies that the lead agency – Cal Poly – intends to prepare a new EIR.

The new EIR focused on the WRF specifically but placed the WRF in a different spot – on top of the SEF.

“The Master Plan is something that took years to compile, there were multiple student-faculty-community workshops,” Sarah Spann, a lecturer who teaches environmental impact analysis, said. “They went through the whole programmatic environmental review process [for the Master Plan], and then one of the first projects out of the gate is inconsistent with this document they spent all this time on.”

University spokesperson Matt Lazier said that the Master Plan is

usually “aspirational in nature, not execution based.”

In the newest draft of the EIR, agriculture is not one of the main issues mentioned in the environmental impact analysis, despite the fact that it was one of the environmental impact areas that was reviewed in the final 2020 EIR.

class interested in the environmental review process when last fall they compared the Master Plan and the NOP to find inconsistencies in the school’s environmental review. Lee and their classmates sent letters to the school, urging them to offer an explanation for the change in the location of the WRF and why its new location was placed on top of the farm. The school did not respond to their letters as they were submitted outside the comment period. Spann also emailed facilities and asked if they would be willing to come to her class and talk to her students about the environmental review for the Master Plan, but recieved no response.

Currently, the draft EIR is in a 45-day public comment period ending on May 31, where the public is allowed to provide input on the plan. However, what comments are considered “substantive” is decided by Cal Poly, according to CEQA guidelines.

“It all feels very suspicious to me,” Lee said. “They want to override any consideration of students who put their work out there.”

After over six years of planning, design and construction, the William and Linda Frost Center for Research and Innovation is complete and is hosting students in classes for the first time during the spring 2023 quarter.

The $133 million dollar center houses spaces for The College of Science and Mathematics, College of Liberal Arts and the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.

“With this building, the goal has been to bring those colleges together and find ways to collaborate,” said Carla Brown, the senior project manager for facilities planning and capital projects at Cal Poly. The four-level building features three university scheduled classrooms, 46 faculty offices and 22 lab spaces including a variety of specialized labs such as a full culinary kitchen lab, sensory lab, computational lab and expressive motion and cinematic design studio. Other lab spaces in the building can also be configured to fit the specific needs of student researchers.

Spann got Lee and the rest of Spann’s Environmental Impact Analysis and Management (NR 416)

For those interested in commenting on the proposal, please email facilities and planning director mjackson@calpoly.edu.

The SEF, to me, is an amazing space for students from whatever major to come and appreciate sustainable agriculture and get involved in regenerative farming.

MOE LEE Enviornmental Management Junior

OWEN LAVINE | MUSTANG NEWS

Cal Poly students spearhead ‘Project RattleCam’

BY LEILA TOUATI

In the peak of rattlesnake season, Cal Poly undergraduates are working towards altering the media portrayals of deadly rattlesnakes through Project RattleCam, a community science website used to analyze rattlesnake social behavior.

Project RattleCam launched two years ago and is led by biological sciences professor Emily Taylor, who has studied rattlesnakes for more than 25 years and takes an interest in the biological aspect of rattlesnakes and reversing the stigma placed on them.

“Rattlesnakes are so unfairly portrayed on TV, they make it look like the rattlesnakes want to bite you, they’re always rattling and striking — they’re not, they only [strike or rattle] when they’ve been provoked,” Taylor said. “We’re trying to fight back at that and provide rattlesnake public relations and show people what rattlesnakes actually do when you leave them alone which is some pretty cool stuff.”

For the rattlesnakes in California, undergraduate students have the opportunity to research and work on the live stream camera over the summer.

Biology sophomore Zooey Sandel was chosen to be a part of the Frost Undergraduate Research Program, funded by Cal Poly alumni William Frost and Linda Frost to aid students in the College of Science and Mathematics. Sandel will control the camera in California over the summer.

“We’re not just trying to research the rattlesnakes themselves but part of the goal is to change people’s minds about rattlesnakes and a sort of conservation goal as well,” Sandel said.

Project RattleCam would not have been possible without the help of non-scientists. The complete website is based on major community science website Zooniverse, where people-powered research allowed Project RattleCam to analyze 60,000 photos of rattlesnakes in less than six months with the help of 6,000 volunteers.

“It’s really a collaboration between

citizen scientists and academic scientists like me for both of our mutual benefit. They’re helping me do science and I’m helping show them participate in science even if it’s not their vocation,” Taylor said. “We will be continuing our community science efforts with our livestream camera in future years.”

Project RattleCam currently has a camera live-streaming a small den of rattlesnakes on the Central Coast. The program’s goal is to set up another live stream camera in Colorado to observe a mega den of rattlesnakes.

rattlesnakes in the massive den in Colorado to see how they behave and interact with one another.

Project RattleCam will live-stream the rattlesnake den in California on a large screen television in the first floor lobby of the Baker Science building (180) between July and October. Their YouTube channel will also stream the rattlesnakes for people to watch from their homes. Next summer, the live-stream will possibly be of the large congregation of rattlesnakes in Colorado.

“It’s been really awesome to be a part of this, and hopefully do more going forward,” Sandel said.

The den in Colorado houses about 2,000 rattlesnakes gathered in a space the size of half a tennis court. The rattlesnakes hibernate underground in the winter, then reappear in May to bask in the sun. A time lapse camera is currently set up on the site in Colorado while Taylor and her team are testing live streaming technology at the local den of rattlesnakes.

“This wonderful opportunity is logistically extremely challenging to put the live-streaming camera [in Colorado], which is why we put the easy time lapse one to start,” Taylor said.

Taylor hopes that a year from now, people will tune in and check on the

A year from now, our hope is that people can check in from April through October on this massive den and watch rattlesnakes behaving.

EMILY TAYLOR Biological Sciences Professor

EMILY TAYLOR | COURTESY

A large male rattlesnake poses for the camera in Central California.

The live stream camera on the Central Coast is set up to project the rattlesnakes and is wrapped in light camouflage tape to fit in with its surroundings.

Multicultural Center League Provides Competitive

BY MATTHEW HO

Due to the limited amount of slots, getting a team for intramural sports at Cal Poly can be difficult.

“You kind of have to fight for a spot,” Biomedical Engineering sophomore Nathan Tran said.

Tran is the current vice president for the Chinese Student Association. In the first two quarters of the year, he acted as CSA’s sports coordinator and was responsible for setting up intramural sports teams for CSA.

Tran had the idea in the spring of 2022 to create his own intramural league after having trouble getting into the regular leagues. At the same time, he wanted to make a separate league for the cultural clubs at Cal Poly to participate in and compete against one another.

“If there’s a way for us to make a league that was all cultural clubs, it’d be fun to play against them and meet other people from other cultural clubs,” he said.

At the start of the 2022-2023 school year, Tran made his vision come to life. He founded the Multicultural Center League (MCC) through ASI intramurals.

“I think the [MCC] is especially important to reach a different demographic,” Interim Assistant Director of the Cal Poly Recreation Center Nick White said. “It allows them to have an opportunity to play in the sports because those spots are just so limited. It was about giving (the cultural clubs) an opportunity to participate in the program.

White, who is half Filipino, said in the games he’s witnessed, his first impression was the level of competitiveness in the MCC.

“They get after it, and I love that,” he said.

White also pointed out the strong fan support of the MCC games from people cheering on players to video recordings of the game.

Currently, the MCC offers basketball and volleyball as sports with a designated league, but Tran hopes to expand the league into less popular sports like ultimate frisbee, kickball and softball.

However, the issue he runs into is the cost of entry into intramurals, which often makes clubs hesitant to join.

According to the ASI League Purchase Form, the cost of one intramural basketball, basketball, football or softball league is $1,320. In a six-team league with evenly split cost, the price amounts to $220 per team.

Similar to how there are cultural events, such as Culture Fest, Lantern Fest and Poly Cultural Weekend, Tran hopes to create a similar type of event with the main draw being people coming to watch the intramural games in Mott Athletic Center.

“It’s just a good time and brings the whole cultural community together,” Tran said.

He added that having community across cultural clubs “puts into perspective how big our community really is.”

“CSA is a group of 300 plus members…but seeing that we have other clubs that are also 300 plus members or smaller clubs that aren’t really represented, it puts into perspective Cal Poly is not just a PWI,” Tran said.

Tran hopes for the Olympic-style games to happen in the 2023-2024 school year.

Taking a step back, it feels “unreal” to Tran that he created the league.

White is currently assessing options to make creating a league more financially accessible. One strategy he is considering is a per player fee instead of one large lump sum.

If Tran and ASI intramurals can make funding more accessible to students, Tran has a future vision for an Olympic-style event for the MCC playoffs.

“I didn’t think the MCC would happen at all, but we’ve found ways around it,” he said. “It’s really weird to know that we’ve found ways around the obstacles we face…and we’ve been able to make it happen.”

To participate in the MCC league, reach out to Nathan Tran at calpolycsa@gmail.com.

CAL POLY CSA | COURTESY

It’s just a good time and brings the whole cultural community together.

NATHAN TRAN Biomedical Engineering sophomore

The Ultimate College Student Trader Joe’s Haul

BY ERIN YARWOOD

Erin Yarwood is a journalism sophomore and a Mustang News Opinion Columnist. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

Trader Joe’s is a taste tester’s dream. The grocery store is filled with hundreds of original packaged foods for customers to try, among other produce. For a college student just beginning to cook for themselves Trader Joe’s is the perfect way to feel like you’re wine and dining yourself without barely lifting a finger. It’s no wonder why so many Cal Poly and other college students feel a sense of loyalty to the grocery chain. However, grocery shopping when you first get to college can be overwhelming. If you don’t know where to start, enjoy this list of the must have Trader Joe’s meals and items.

CATEGORY ONE: FROZEN MEALS

Japchae Korean Glass Noodles & Vegetable Stir Fry

This mixed vegetable noodle stir fry is the perfect quick lunch or dinner, combining onions, spinach, carrots, and bell peppers with chewy, sweet potato glass noodles. Pop in the

Chicken Tikka Masala

This microwaveable meal is the perfect, easy dish for a busy college student. Enjoy the creamy tomato-based, curry sauce over chicken with a side basmati rice in under five minutes. I like to cook up some zucchini to go alongside this quick dish.

Steamed Pork and Ginger Soup Dumplings

This frozen meal adds a little bit of a kick to a classic pork soup dumpling, with a hint of ginger. Pop them in the microwave for two minutes and enjoy delicious hot soup wrapped in a soft dough. I add some Trader Joe’s sriracha and soy sauce to perfect them.

CATEGORY TWO: DESSERTS

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

These Reese’s Cups dupe, are the optimal chocolatey snack on the go. Keep them in your pantry or in the fridge for a cooler dessert. The almond-butter version is also a favorite of mine.

Gone Bananas!

Gone Bananas! are Trader Joe’s frozen dessert of chocolate covered

one used on the famous Trader Joe’s takis.

Sriracha Seasoning Blend

A seasoning blend inspired by deconstructing sriracha sauce into garlic, cayenne pepper, paprika, and dried red bell peppers. Use on eggs, noodles, fries and shrimp.

CATEGORY FOUR: SAUCY

General Tsao Stir Fry Sauce

This thick, sweet stir fry sauce is so good that I pour it on any rice and protein bowl I make. It has the perfect hint of spice and garlic that makes it irresistible.

Magnifisauce!

Magnifisauce! is like Trader Joe’s version of the famous In-n-Out secret sauce. The mustard, mayo, and ketchup blend is perfect for a college student to dump on a sandwich, burger, fries, or pretty much anything else.

Vegan Kale, Cashew & Basil Pesto

College students tend to eat a whole lot of pasta. Trader Giotto’s Vegan Kale, Cashew & Basil Pesto is perfect for pasta and so much more. I probably go through a tub of this creamy pesto a week by adding it to avocado toast, rice, eggs and pasta.

CATEGORY FIVE: TOP PICKS

Everything but the Bagel Greek Style Yogurt Dip

This onion and garlic seasoned dip is perfect on potato chips to add a little

Chickpea, Kale and Crispy Red Rice Salad with Avocado

This ready-to-go salad is the perfect

lunch to pack for a busy day on campus. The vinaigrette is perfect on the crunchy mix of kale and red rice.

Soft & Juicy Mango

The best dried mango is not just soft, but juicy and Trader Joe’s dried mango delivers every time.

Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn

Tortilla Chips No Trader Joe’s haul is complete

without the Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips, better known as Trader Joe’s takis. Who doesn’t love these crispy, spicy rolls of corn masa?

A College Student’s Weekend Guide to the SLO Downtown Bars

BY ALEX RUTHER

Alex Ruther is an opinion columnist for Mustang News and journalism senior. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

A college student’s weekend guide on the SLO downtown bars

Once you’re 21 you’re no longer limited to house and frat parties, and instead can experience a new social scene in SLO: the downtown bars. There are so many bars to choose from and hop to throughout the night, so it can be a little overwhelming at first. Each bar has a different vibe, plays different music and has different drinking environments. Here’s what you can expect when going to the bars downtown.

BULL’S TAVERN

You’ve probably noticed a lot of Cal Poly students walking around in Bull’s clothing merchandise. It’s one of those staple clothing pieces that most Cal Poly students own by the time they graduate.

Bull’s is a good bar for their stiff and substantially sized drinks for a decent price, and a great bar for those who want to stand or sit while chatting with your friends. They also have a really fun shot called the Bull’s sweat that is a must do for 21st birthdays or just showing an out-oftown friend a good time. While Bull’s doesn’t have a dance floor or DJ they do have a jukebox that people can pay to play songs out of and also some games in the back like a hunting game and darts.

They’re also known for their fantasy bartending league where two partner teams go against each other and try to make the most drinks during the night. The competitions run through each quarter and spaces fill up super fast, so for those who want to sign up make sure to follow their Instagram to see when sign ups open.

FROG AND PEACH PUB

Don’t let the long line scare you, it usually goes pretty fast! Frog and Peach is a pub for those looking for a social environment over a dance floor. On the weekends Frog and Peach usually offers live band music which will typically come with a cover fee at the door – so bring some cash.

Bar-goers can drink inside where there are booths and seats to sit around and chat or there is a nice

back patio to hang out at as well. In the back you can also find fun games like darts and other quarter-operated, pay-to-play games.

My favorite activity drinks to get here are the Irish car bombs, which is a pint of Guinness beer and you drop or pour a shot of whiskey and Bailey’s into the pint of beer and chug, and also the Guinness race to see who can chug Guinness the fastest. These drinks also make for super fun group inclusive 21st bar crawl drinks as well!

MOTHER’S TAVERN (MOTAV )

My friends and I have a rule for Motav and that is if the line is to or past Bubblegum Alley it’s not worth it. Once you make it through the line Motav is a really fun bar for those looking to dance. The music is played by a DJ, so the music is a little different each night depending on what DJ is playing, but it typically resembles what you hear at a frat party. There is an upstairs which may look super alluring and exclusive because there is a red rope and a line, but if you are looking for a dance floor don’t go upstairs. The upstairs vibe is a little more relaxed with lounge seats and an upstairs bar with typically a shorter line for drinks, and there might be a small group of people dancing in the middle of the room. The line to get drinks is typically shorter upstairs. Bring cash out with you if you want to go to Motav because they randomly do cover charges on the weekends, and I also keep a picture of my ID in my phone photos to avoid the non-student cover charge on “college night.”

BUFFALO

Buffalo is one of the smaller-sized bars downtown but resembles the vibe of Motav with similar DJ music and people covering the room either dancing or grouped to the side talking. They also have TVs that play fun cartoons during the night like re–run Spongebob episodes.

THE LIBRARY

The Library is also a smaller-sized bar right next to Buffalo that typically has a DJ who plays R&B, hip hop and rap music. I don’t go to the Library very often, but when I do go there it’s for their Statue of Liberty shot race, which is a 3-part shot race where you and your group of friends drink each shot and then stack each finished glass on top of your head

and whoever stacks all three empty glasses on top of their head first wins.

THE MARK

The Mark has a special place in my heart since my 21st bar crawl. The Mark is a great place for those who want to dance or hang with friends and chat. Inside there’s a large dance room with a DJ playing music that ranges from EDM, throwbacks, hip hop and rap. Outside there’s a large patio area with heat lamps, tables, chairs, TVs playing sports games and occasionally corn hole is set up for people to play. There is usually a cover charge here as well but they accept Venmo so no need to worry

about finding cash. A fun bar crawl drink to get at the Mark is the Sexy Alligator, if you go early enough in the night the bartender might even pour it for you in a fun martini glass!

MCLINTOCK’S

Mclintock’s is probably the only bar you will hear country music downtown at except for Bull’s, so anyone who loves country music this bar is for you. This bar is usually more of a bar to stand around and talk with your friends at instead of dancing. Typically the line isn’t very long so it’s always a great bar to go to on busy nights like grad nights or alumni weekend

when none of the other bar lines are moving very fast. The drinks are on the pricier side, so definitely plan to pregame elsewhere if you are drinking on a budget.

HONORABLE MENTION: CREEKY TIKI

Currently Creeky Tiki is shut down as of now, but Creeky is the go-to pregame spot where people can buy their infamous AMF buckets which can feed 2-4 people (depending on the night you’re going for). They also offer shot-skis for those who enjoy taking shots in creative ways.

DIEGO RIVERA | MUSTANG NEWS

A line forms outside Frog & Peach Pub in 2019.

CHLOE KERN | MUSTANG NEWS

Crowds gather in Downtown San Luis Obispo on May 12, 2023.