Issue 02, Volume 51

Oct.26.2016

www.thegrcurrent.com

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thecurrent the student newspaper of green river college

Get Ready to Get Spooked!

Mariya Mubeen| The Current

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Student Affairs Building Remodel

Artist Spotlight: Elhier Montiel

International Opinions about the Election

Learn all the details about what is coming in the building remodel.

Learn about Montiel’s abstract art.

What are international students saying about the election this year?

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campus Transfer Fair Coming to Help Students Succeed 2

thecurrent

Riley Agnew | Campus Editor campus@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

2016-2017

By: Kiara Nagatsuka Staff Writer

With Green River is mostly a two-year college, a large percentage of the students attending plan to transfer to a four-year university after getting their two-year degree. This process of transferring, however, can often be tiring and difficult. The sheer length of the applications and the various requirements can make applying to universities quite overwhelming.

Thanh Nguyen, 18, is an international student from Vietnam who is working as a peer mentor for the International Programs office. Almost finished with her classes here,

she is trying to decide the school where she would like to transfer.

Desperate for more information on this, and finding it difficult to get any, she heard about the upcoming transfer fair.

“I want to get a face-to-face interaction with the university representative so that I can know about the schools much better than I know them now,” said Thanh.

Thanh is one of the many students who plan to attend the transfer fair. It will be held on Oct. 28 at 10 a.m., in the Gator Hall Dining Room of the Student Union building. There would be more than 100 universities coming to this fair.

Mim Phillips, international stu-

dent advisor, said, “The more that they know, it benefits them.” This fair will help students see that there are lots of universities that want students from Green River College.

At the transfer fair Thanh plans to ask questions about what the universities’ requirements are regarding scholarship and tuition, telling them what classes have to be taken here and to see if there are more classes she should take.

Mizuki Nakano, 19, is an international student from Japan.

He has just started his studies at the college this quarter. “I don’t know about transferring, and what schools I want to go,” said Nakano.

“By attending the transfer fair, it

would be a good opportunity for me to imagine where I want to go and what I should do at this college.”

There would be a lot of benefit in going to the transfer fair. “Students who have not attended to the transfer fair are more likely to have narrow views of universities,” says Phillips. By going to the fair, students would be able to expand their knowledge about universities.

A University Transfer Pathway panel discussion will be held after the fair in the Willow Room at the Student Union Building.

“There would be 22 schools coming to the discussion,” said Phillips.

At the discussion, questions

would be asked which the Peer mentors came up with. The students may talk to the representatives after the 20 minute discussion.

The fair focuses more on international students, who want to know more about scholarship. Domestic students, on the other hand, want to find out about the financial aid.

Annie Chan, 20, is a domestic student who wants to go to the fair.

“I don’t mind that it is for international students,” said Chan. She also said that this might be because the international students are more likely to come to the Green River College to transfer.

“The main informations are same,” said Phillips. Everyone can ask about what majors the school has, what the requirements are and ask about the housing.

On attending the fair, students should prepare one or two questions to ask. “The popular tables would be busy,” said Phillips. A good way to earn more valuable information would be to prepare for the fair.

Attending the transfer fair is an extremely good opportunity for students and will benefit them in many ways.

Photo Credit: Green River website

International Programs Hosts Global Teas: Japan By: Annie Chan Staff Writer

on which Japanese teas and sweets students at Green River should learn more about. The Aroma of tea at Global Japanese students advised Dou Teas: Japan welcomed stuto order the two most typical dents to the first cultural Japanese tea: matcha green tea event hosted by Internationand barley tea. Sweets included al Programs this school year. daifuku, more widely known as Students of any culture were Japanese mochi with sweet fillinvited to attend the event on ing and wagashi, sweets made Friday, October 18. Traditional of just sugar.

Japanese music and the smell Students from other cultures of tea took over a small room like Monica in IVC for an Chung, an hour. Japanese “Our campus is already very internationstudents from diverse with all of the internaal student Green River tional students but there is not from Taiwan, shared with enough interaction between the enjoyed trying the students of different cultures, ” the teas and various other - Mim Phillips sweets. cultures about “I came here traditional teas because I do not know much and sweets from Japan. about the Japanese culture so “The purpose of this event is I want to learn more about it for students of any culture to and try their tea,” Chung said. learn more about the meaning “I liked the barley tea the best behind the foods and teas of because it smelled good and it Japan and how they eat and is sweeter than the matcha tea.” drink them,” Angela Dou, the Global Teas used to be a weekassistant for the International ly event but now only occurs Programs said. twice a quarter. According to Dou, also an international Mim Phillips, the adviser for student from China, had asked international students, it would Japanese student volunteers for be more special this way. the event to give their opinions The turn-out was above ex-

pectations. Forty-six students of various cultures attended. They had the chance to interact with students of other cultures while also learning more about the Japanese culture.

“It’s really important that we have these cross-cultural events, so that students will understand other cultures,” Phillips said. “We like it, when domestic students come too, so they can be exposed to a variety

of different cultures.”

Students of different cultures introduced themselves to one another and informed each other about their own cultures as well. Phillips believes that this type of cultural event is a good way to promote diversity.

“Our campus is already very diverse with all of the international students but there is not enough interaction between the different cultures,” Phillips said.

“This event really helps to bring the cultures together.”

Kirara Nagatsuka, an international student from Japan, presented about the history of Japanese teas and sweets. She wore her yukata, a traditional Japanese garment also known as a kimono, during her presentation to represent her culture.

After the success of their first event, the international programs is hoping to host their second cultural event in December. The event will most likely be Christmas-themed and will introduce more of the European culture. International programs hope for a bigger turn-out by sending out newsletters in advance to the event.

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campus National Coming Out Week at Green River thecurrent

Riley Agnew | Campus Editor campus@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

2016-2017

By: Matt Caras Staff Writer

As the wild Washington weather cancelled afternoon classes for a lot of students, attendance was remarkably high for last Friday’s Green River College Drag show commencing the end of the second annual National Coming Out week.

Throughout the second week of fall quarter, Green River College’s Student life implemented five events for each day of the week.

On Monday, students were asked to click the like button on the Student Life Facebook page resulting in a free T-shirt giveaway. On Tuesday, over 300 cupcakes were distributed to students as well as with a large Halloween candy bowl with male and female contraceptives up for grabs for the students. On Wednesday, 30 Green River students and faculty came together for a heartfelt discussion, asking questions and learning about the LGBTQ community from personal testimonies. On Thursday, Student Life representatives gave away No H8 buttons for Green River students to pin to their clothes. Finally, on Friday, professional Seattle Drag Queens brought the stage to life for the Drag Show acting as the finale for National Coming Out Week.

Melisa Williams, Director of Student Life, positively talked about the week.

“For our 2nd National Coming Out Week I felt that it was a suc-

cess and it was something we can build on to be more successful in the future,” said Williams.

Many of the Student Life activity members, organized the bulk of the National Coming Out Week events.

Working with the health department and buying the T-shirts, buttons, and the contraceptives.

On Tuesday, they had a plethora of contraceptives such as male condoms, female condoms, dental damns and lube.

Williams said, “The Health Department had a great response asking about their services and their products and working with us.”

By supporting the community and providing the student body with a variety of protective sexual products, small clothing items and tasty cupcakes, it provides students with a sense of pride in their peers and themselves. It also made all the difference in one’s life, who is struggling to find themselves.

Wednesday’s event, The Panel Discussion, had an overarching impact among students and community members. The conversation opened for many Green River Queers and Ally members, students, faculty, and other community members. Students were asked to write questions and personal stories on 3x5 note cards. Nine panelist, each varying in ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, participated in it. In fact, Heaven Quirin, LGBTQ and Peer Navigator at Office of Diversity and Conclu-

sion, talked about last Wednesday’s event.

“The panel had the most impact because it brought a humanistic side to the events through out the week,” said Quirin, “Participants could ask questions about being LGBTQ and the community at Green River.”

Pauline Elevazo, Arts and Culture chair, and second year member of student life, also commented on the impact of Wednesday’s event.

“I heard testimonies from faculty which was inspiring for me because I knew their stories but I was also able to hear questions from other students who did not know their stories,” said Elevazo.

Victoria Pacho, president of Queers and Allies and Speaker of the House for Multi-Cultural Student Congress, also had thoughts on Wednesday’s panel.

“The panel was interesting because the conversation shifted from what are you to how can I help you,” said Pacho.

The allies in the meeting were not concerned about the identity/orientation of their fellow classmates but they wanted to know how they can help the community as a whole.

The LGBTQ Green River club, Queers and Allies, also helped organize the events during the week making the string of events an overall success. The club is a safe space and a fun gathering for LGBTQ student body and their Allies to become friends and to

participate actively in campus life and events. Some suggestions were brought up such as better collaboration when creating the events, planning ahead of time, working as a a collective.

“Queers and allies should take a more authoritative role because in order to serve the community you need to ask what they need,” said Pacho, “Even though we have a difference of opinions, we shouldn’t allow it to divide us but it should challenge us to become more inclusive of our differences,” said Pacho.

In campus life, in general, a couple further suggestions are made. First, the Green River faculty has no official training in Cultural Sensitivity. Second, some of the activities have high energy and are a lot of fun but they could make some improvements on educating the public about each event.

By training faculty on cultural sensitivity and bringing awareness to our surroundings, our communication strengthens actively coming together as a community.

Cultural Sensitivity also includes implementing counseling services and creating safe spaces, places for students to go when needed.

Friday’s Drag show was an event that allowed students to experience a different cultural experience in the LGBTQ community. Particularly, it gave an authentic cultural experience to our 21 and under international students. The proud queens proudly strutted in their

high heels and jumping up onto the tables giving a couple members of the audience a little more personal show. Overall, mother nature made it rain for these queens, they performed as if this were a professional show out in Seattle.

Only a couple suggestions were made about the event, such as making it more educational, including having guest speakers such as Drag queen and other drag team members such as make-up artists and padding experts. Also, for some of the artistically inclined students who share passions in fashion and make up, perhaps they can shadow these individuals as they prepare for a show. Possibly, creating connections and allowing students and faculty to work hand to hand in the community.

Overall, all of the events supported the LGBTQ community at Green River. Perhaps the further strategies and communicating ideas could be discussed. However, the overarching message of support and love shined through the muggy clouds of Washington as many Green River Students welcomed the string of events with open arms. Some may have just simply liked a page on Facebook for a T-shirt or grabbed a cupcake and a dental dam, while others openly testified their stories on Wednesday’s discussion. The smallest amount of support makes the biggest difference making our Green River Family an inclusive entity. A force that trumps hate.

campus The Student Affairs building is being Remodeled

2016-2017

Photo Credits: Mollie Clements

By: Mollie Clements

Staff Writer The 36-year-old Lindbloom Student Center, just recently renamed the Student Affairs & Success Building is to go through renovations at the start of November.

During an interview with Deb Casey, vice president of student affairs, she had stated that renovations are to start on the first of November and that they expect this to be finished and ready to unveil around the end of June just

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Riley Agnew | Campus Editor campus@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

in time for summer quarter.

The Student Affairs & Success Building (SA) was not built to meet the growing program’s needs. Since the student life office, conference services and the bookstore moved to the new Student Union (SU), this has created opportunities to advance the college and help students access the programs that will be in the renovated building.

The plan is to have this building be a “one-stop shop,” said Casey.

The entire first floor will be the welcome center for new students.

The career and advising office, outreach office, running start office, the Current, the judicial office, campus safety office, KGRG radio station and other offices such as the vice president of student affairs office will be in the this building.

KGRG’s Trevor Foyston had said that this remodel will affect the radio station. During the remodel they will not be allowed to book bands to play on the stage in the SA building. They will have to use the stage in the SU building which doesn’t have the same accommodations as the other stage.

This will reduce with the amount of bands they can have playing.

Foyston as well as others of the KGRG station have stated their approval of the renovation of their offices and are excited to have the student newspaper back with them in the same building.

Heather McCurdy, conference services, said that this remodel will put a foot in the door concerning the stage that is in the SA building. As previously talked about she stated that they will not be able to book this great big space until the renovation is

College textbook price re-visited By: Kienan Briscoe Staff Writer

With college textbook prices on the rise, students and faculty are turning to open textbooks, which are faculty written alternatives to traditional textbooks.

Because of increasing costs, 65 perwcent of students considered not buying the required text for their class, and 95 percent of them mentioned concern for their decision affecting their grade negatively, according to a U.S. News & World Report.

As more students make the decision to refrain from purchasing required texts, more teachers are inspired to adopt open textbooks in their own programs.

“I wrote a textbook for Geography 101 because I really wasn’t happy with any of the textbook offerings at the price they were asking,” said Tim Scharks, head of the Green River College Geology Department.

“There are more and more open educational resources available for a variety of subjects, making it easier for instructors to find and adapt free resources to perform the function of a traditional printed textbook.”

Since 2006, the price of college textbooks have increased by 73 percent, four times the inflation rate, and an increase of over 1,000 percent since 1977, according to a report by NBC “The textbook market is a broken market,” said Ethan Senack, higher education associate of U.S. PIRG, a federation of state public interest research groups.

“In a traditional market two factors exert control over prices…First, competition. If someone else entered the market it forces everyone else’s prices down. Second, consumers. If the price of a good book is too high consumers won’t buy it. In the textbook market, neither of these protections exist.”

Textbook prices, on average, cost 39 percent of community college tuition and 14 percent of four-year university tuition according to the USA Today.

Kayla Price, a student at Green River College, said she it’s fair for publishers to charge a fair rate for textbooks.

“However I think the price in relation to the average college student’s income is pretty high.

When my friend needs to decide between eating for the month and affording a book required to pass her class, then the price of textbooks definitely become a real problem.”

Open textbooks could save students over a billion dollars if just one of their required classes switched from standard textbooks, of which 80 percent are controlled by only five publishers, according to the Huffington Post.

Gary Jones, manager of the Green River College bookstore, said open textbooks only aid in increasing textbook prices.

“There are a variety of reasons for these increases,” Jones said. “As more options become available, the costlier the printed textbook becomes.”

In Jones’ bookstore, he does a variety of things to help keep the cost of books lower aside from offering alternative textbooks.

GRC offers one of the best buyback programs in the country, said Jones, offering up to 60 percent on a bookstore gift card that can be used on books for future quarters.

In addition, Jones listed a variety of rental, loan and donation programs the college offers including iGrad, the ODEI rental program, and the Green River Foundation which has helped students purchase books in the past.

“Every quarter we conduct a price comparison on all our titles to see how competitive we are with our pricing,” Jones said. “As the prices continue to rise we have lowered our margins on the higher-priced books to save students money.”

coming to a close. Most of the events that are booked at this stage are big events that need lots of accommodations.

Casey said that the cost will be around 2.7 million dollars to complete the renovation.

The college has decided that a remodel was needed in order to provide the students with a convenient place to find these programs that will be moved into the finished building. The future goal for the college is to build a brand new building across from the new SU so that the students can access all of the resources in one place, hence the “one-stop shop” idea that is being incorporated into the SA building.

The college currently doesn’t have the funds to build this building so they have to compromise and renovate the old building in order to keep these programs up and running.

The plan is to do one side of the building at a

time so they don’t have to relocate too many offices and programs.

It’ll have two phases. The programs still in the SA building will have to move buildings till the renovation of their side of the building is completed. Programs such as the outreach team and the judicial offices will be relocated until completion of the building.

Photo Credits: Mollie Clements

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thecurrent

6 2016-2017

Photos by Mariya Mubeen | The Current

M. Kienan Briscoe | A&E Editor a&e@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

Us the Duo, the Los Angeles-based folk pop band, played a packed Student Union last Friday, October 21. The group is well known for their internet videos and work with the Pentatonix.

Us the Duo Perform At Student Union

Family, Design and the Human Experience Inspire Artist Elhier Montiel By: Mollie Clements Staff Writer

Elhier Montiel, a 22-year-old student at Green River College, has been selected as the November artist spotlight by the fine arts faculty.

Montiel was born in Mexico and moved to the United States when he was only two years old. He has lived in Kent for 20 years now and is happy to call Kent his home.

While Montiel isn’t working on his artworks he is boxing, exercising, playing sports or spending time on his uncle’s ranch helping with the animals.

Montiel has just finished a design drafting degree here on campus and is working now on transferring to the University of Washington this next year to pursue the indus-

trial design program. He plans on pursuing art as a career after his college career and becoming an Industrial Designer.

At GRC he has taken the beginning drawing and intermediate drawing classes and is currently taking advanced drawing and design classes.

He also participated in a Teen Art Studio program at The Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, however, he only participated for a couple of months when he turned 18, as the program is reserved for minors.

Art has been a big part of Montiel’s life. He has been an artist for as long as he can remember, starting by drawing on napkins that he had taken from the dinner table.

He was further inspired to draw after being introduced to some of his uncles’ drawings and paintings.

His favorite art style to use now is very expressive and he likes using

chalk, pastels or anything with color in his works.

Montiel’s expressive work comes from a whole realm of emotions and life experiences, sometimes used as a form of therapy.

Montiel stated that art helps him cope with personal traumas and depression. By taking these art classes at the college he has become known to his strengths and weaknesses and has been constantly improving them in his works.

A creative family has always been Montiel’s biggest influence. His mother has created embroideries and many other crafts like décor for parties. His uncles are all craftsmen and professional carpenters.

One of his uncles, who lives in Mexico, creates drawings and often sends his art to Montiel. He is also influenced by local artists like window artists, automotive painters, graffiti artists and all of the art he

Courtesy | Elhier Montiel

sees around town.

“Don’t ever say you can’t draw” said Montiel as words of advice to any up-and-coming artists “anybody can do it”.

He is hoping to reach “real artists” with his works, or people who enjoy following, buying or selling good artwork.

A great deal of his teachers have influenced him over the years, particularly teachers throughout high

school and college.

Almost all of his teachers have helped him learn how to express himself artistically and showed him ways to pursue his goals in art and design programs.

Montiel likes the aspect of his art where people often do not understand what he has created. He likes to see the look of confusion on people’s faces when they look at his art.

M. Kienan Briscoe | A&E Editor a&e@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

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thecurrent

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Facts provided by funology.com By: M. Kienan Briscoe A&E Editor * During a solar eclipse, the shadows of leaves make the same crescent shape of the eclipsing sun. The image is made by light passing through tiny holes in the leaves. * The loudest sound in history was recorded in July 1883 when a volcano on the tiny Indian Ocean island of Krakatau erupted. The explosion was heard wThe eruption also created giant tsunami, sea waves, that reached heights wspeeding across the ocean at 400 miles an hour and destroyed over 300 towns.

Players flip through their scripts during a rehearsal of Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Directed by Robin Bowles. Photo By Deadra Johnson.

GRC Takes On Existential Classic

* Ball lightning can sometimes float through a glass window without breaking it; other times the glass is smashed to pieces! * The number of bacteria in a quart of soil from your backyard garden is 30 times greater than the population of the world. * Roy Sullivan, A U.S. park ranger, was struck by lightning seven times during his life and lived to tell about each of those strikes!

Students Visit The Patch

‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ is New Feature By: Deadra Johnson Staff Writer

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead,” an English ambassador says in the final scene of Hamlet, referring to the two messengers carrying orders of prince Hamlet’s death.

This proclamation became the title of Tom Stoppard’s absurdist tragedy, which Green River College will be performing this December 2 and 3.

The play centers around Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters from William Shakespeare’s classic, and the events leading to their demise.

By choosing the messengers as protagonists, Stoppard hoped to exploit the flatness of their characters by making them representatives of absurdist-existentialism.

Robin Bowles, the instructor for Green River College’s drama department, chose this play for that exact reason.

“This play is a classic of absurdist comedy and it’s a challenge for the students,” Bowles said. He noted that this is one of the most difficult plays for actors to grasp because of how generally ridiculous it is.

Anthony Conley-O’Donnell, a GR student who has attended the college on-and-off since 2012, plays

Guildenstern, one of the eponymous leads. For Conley-O’Donnell, acting wasn’t something he had always wanted to do, until middle school, when he watched a production that instantaneously sparked his interest. As one of the lead characters, Conley-O’Donnell says that the dynamic between the protagonists is what attracted him to the part.

“I thought it was interesting how he always tried to plan and figure out what was going on around him but never really gets any answers,” said Conley-O’Donnell.

Alex Leas plays Guildenstern’s opposite, Rosencrantz. He’s been acting since he was in high school.

According to Leas, when he was watching movies as a child he would even try to memorize the character’s lines. Leas says “Rosencrantz is a lot of fun to act for because he’s like a kid who doesn’t know how to stay in one place. Acting for him is a good challenge for me.” He says that one of his favorite scenes in the play is the question and answer scene where the protagonists keep asking questions that they can’t exactly answer.

Being a part of the tales spun by

these playwrights is a calling some are more than happy to answer.

To Alex Aragon, a Green River College student participating in the upcoming campus production, this is no exception. She was chosen to act as the Player, a character who ironically sees the world around him as a stage and people as its actors. While Aragon doesn’t share her character’s perspective, they share a passion for acting. Aragon says that due to the influence of the shows she’s watched growing up, she’s always wanted to be an actress. Her favorite part of acting is the fact that it allows her to step away from herself.

“If you’re a shy person acting is wonderful because you get to be someone else. It’s very liberating,” Aragon said.

The play is going to take place in the Bleha Performing Arts Center. Ticket prices have yet to be announced.

“Going to the theater enlightens our minds to the human condition.

Seeing a play allows the audience to have an active role in the experience and learn something about themselves,” Bowles said.

By: Amethyst Mcknight Staff Writer Green River College students visited Spooner Farms to partake in Halloween and fall festivities.

This event was $10 for GRC students. The cost included transportation, a pumpkin weighing between 10-15 pounds or smaller pumpkins for $2.50, as well as being able to participate in a 5-acre corn maze.

Spooner Farms included a gift shop filled with Halloween and fall items, an area with concession stand foods, rows of pumpkins to choose from, bins of decorative pumpkins to purchase separately.

The majority of the GRC stu-

An international student at Spooner Farms. Photo by Amethyst Mcknight

dents that went to the event were international students. For many of them it was their first time going to a pumpkin patch in America.

“It was my first time,” said Ayaka Nishihori, a 21-year-old GRC Japanese international student.

“Japanese people don’t make jacko-lanterns. I was very happy to see mine, and I really enjoyed seeing others. Some were very cute, scary, and creative.”

After the pumpkin patch GRC students who live at CCA went to the community room to carve their pumpkins. Some pumpkins were even painted and decorated such as a globe or the Seahawks logo.

games

thecurrent

8 2016-2017

R I D D L E S C R A M B L E

Kartik Sarda | Web Editor web@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

Solve the Riddles

1. A seven letter word, I am used in every home. I am made of a thousand letters, tell me who I am.

2. Two fathers and their two sons go fishing together.

They each catch one fish to take home with them. They do not lose any fish, and yet when they arrive at home they only have three fish. How can this be?

3. I don’t have eyes, but once I did see. Once I had thoughts, but now I’m white and empty.

4. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?

5. What goes through a door but never goes in and never comes out?

Halloween Word Scrambler

okypos pkpinum treta oghts ydacn rpivame keonstel luhgo pecyre tomcuse nthua owaercrcs iyderah oblod ogbiln mymum rasyc sremca

opinion Advertising opportunities with

Raghav Mandhana | Opinion Editor opinion@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

thecurrent

The Current

Editorial

The start of a new year brings new clubs, organizations, and events with it. Keeping that in mind, we introduced some new changes at The Current to help our diverse community at Green River College promote their activities. Outside of print ads which show up on the pages of our newspaper, we now have advertising space available on our website (www.thegrcurrent.com).

After redesigning the website during Spring 2015-16, we made sure to keep track of the number of visitors we receive each day. As of now, the average number of visitors per day is more than 120, which includes repeat visitors.

On publishing days, the number can get higher than 250 visitors on a single day, thus proving that we have a surge of web audience during that time. These numbers motivated us to start a bunch of advertising opportunities as our Web Editor Kartik Sarda came up with the idea of featuring college events as well as normal advertisements on the home page of the website.

The website has numerous options for advertising. Any advertiser can buy the home page ad on the right side of the page. A number

of advertisements share the slider as the visitors can browse through them manually.

Otherwise, the ads slide automatically every 4 seconds. The dimensions of the advert is 350 x 500, and it covers about quarter of the computer screen while on the home page. The cost for advertising here is $40/week, but we give $5 discount to student and non-profit organizations.

As mentioned previously, we are trying hard to increase our audience by involving student clubs and organizations. Thus, we started publishing college events on the website, while also featuring them on request for a small cost of $25/ week. We highly encourage all the students involved with clubs, especially new ones, to contact us regarding the options they have to promote their events with us. On and off campus events are separated and featured Along with the happenings at college, we have started a new initiative of promoting the individual talents we have at Green River College.

Our college is a place full of diversity and potential, with students from more than 40 nationalities. Taking

that in mind, we thought that our new website can act as a hub for students to feature their talents and individual works.

The categories include: Artwork, Literature, Music, Photography, Student Videos and Miscellaneous.

Thus, we support any and all forms of talents/hobbies that our students have and promote it through our website. They can submit their work through email, and fill out a simple form on the ‘Advertisements’ page if they want to feature it. We charge a very small fee of $25/month for featuring the artworks.

It is a bold step that our team has taken, and we surely hope that our hard work will pay off as more and more students get to know about the opportunities our website provides.

Considering the number of visitors we have each day (which will increase rapidly as more students submit their work and feature events), it is a really good way to promote your activities.

For any more details, please visit: www.thegrcurrent.com/advertisements or contact our Ads Manager and Web Editor Kartik Sarda at ads@thegrcurrent.com.

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2016-2017

thestaff

Riley Agnew Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Campus Editor 253-833-9111 x2377 Kienan Briscoe A&E Editor

Raghav Mandhana Opinion Editor

Mariya Mubeen Copy Editor

Aiman Ahmad Sports Editor

Kartik Sarda Web Editor Ads Manager

Staff Writers: Cameron Braun, Matt Caras, Annie Chan, Mollie Clements, Deadra Johnson, Amethyst Mcknight, Kirara Nagatsuka.

Photographers: Matt Caras

Corrections If you find and error in our facts or simply a name spelled wrong, please contact us at: editor@thegrcurrent.com 253-288-3457 or come in to our office in OEB room 17

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Editorials reflect the opinions of the entire editing staff of the Current.

Editorial Policy

The Current is a public forum for student expression. Student editors make all content decisions without censorship or advanced approval. The opinions of these stories are those of the writers and the writers alone. If you have an opposing viewpiont feel free to write The Current a Letter to the Editor.

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10

2016-2017

opinion

thecurrent

Raghav Mandhana | Opinion Editor opinion@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

Presidential Election 2016 Its Significance to the International Community at Green River By: Cameron Braun Staff Writer

It seems like the international students at Green River College are not taking the 2016 presidential elections for 2016 seriously.

After reaching out to students, I realized that the students are not taking the candidates seriously with some of them not even knowing about them.

Election Day, Nov. 8 2016, is right around the corner for Green River’s domestic student. This is where the students registered to vote will decide on things like state initiatives, national representatives, and most importantly the next President.

Having asked several international students at Green River about their opinions on the candidates, keeping their respective countries of origin and personal experience in mind, many considered the election some kind of joke or otherwise not worthy of their time.

Several students, when questioned, were either unable to recall the names of any of the primary candidates, or had no spoken opin-

ion of them.

Students like Xiao Luan, 18, from China and Siti, 19, from Malaysia, were able to name Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the front-runners, but had no opinions on either of them.

None of the students who were interviewed mentioned any of the third party candidates like Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. That being said, it is evident that third party candidates don’t gain the same type of groundswell as the elected Republican and Democrat candidates.

As such, they are excluded from national debates making more and more voters unfamiliar with them or their policy.

There were some international students who, having spent time in the United States, have had more time to digest this election season.

However, the general opinion seems to be of disbelief and dishonesty.

Every student interviewed who had an opinion on the 2016 Presidential Election, also carried a critical opinion of Trump (this is not necessarily representative of the thoughts of every international student at Green River, and only of the six individuals interviewed before

this publication).

Ryan Naro from Indonesia, said “Trump seems like a bad joke.” This keeping in line with every other opinion taken on Trump and his campaign thus far.

When asking Kiara Nagatsaka from Japan, if is she had any advice or thoughts towards the American people voting this November, all she had to say was “Please don’t vote for Trump.”

The question has to be asked, what’s causing this mass distaste for the candidate? On one side, the argument can be made that it’s Trump’s actions, words and records that have earned him the infamy among the international community. On the other side, it can also be argued that the media has been set painting a negative picture of Trump ever since the beginning of the campaigning season to frame his opponent in a better light.

Danylo Nimko, 16, from Ukraine, while also critical of Trump and the way it has made the American political system look, made an interesting point on the style of American voting and the Presidential elections in general.

As mentioned earlier, this elec-

tion does have third party candidates. However, their popularity is vastly overshadowed by Trump and Clinton. Nimko explains that in Ukraine, there are usually five parties vying for power. Thus, no one party can generally win on their own and must work with others, by making concessions, in order to bring one party to power.

Nimko, having lived under this system, feels that it’s strange that in the United States, especially this election, one’s vote is often made not to elect one candidate, but rather to stop the opposition from getting elected.

The 2016 Presidential election has the potential to vastly reshape the United States for decades to come.

With the possibility that the next President will be able to appoint three new Supreme Court justices, the Supreme Court could be tipped one direction or another, and affect constitutional interpretation.

With that in mind it is encouraged that every eligible American vote this election season, and furthermore take part in shaping the country they live in.

The 2016 Presidential Election date is Tuesday, November 8.

Aiman Ahmad| Sports Editor sports@thegrcurrent.com www.thegrcurrent.com

sports

thecurrent

11 2015-2016

Green River’s Cross Country Teams Shoot for the Champioship Northern Regional and Northwest Athletic Conference Championships await the Green River Gator Cross Country Team.

By: Matt Caras Staff Writer

The Green River Gator cross country team plans to cross the finish line together, bringing home the competition as they eagerly prepare to compete in the final cross country championships against our community college rivals.

In the beginning of the cross country season, members of the community, including various 4-year colleges such as the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University, compete with NWAC colleges.

As a result, the cross country teams do not record place values during the regular season. Both Green River’s male and female teams compete The men’s cross country team in the same season and locations. members, four of them being freshThe male runs the 8 km event while men. Abby Oosterhout, freshmen the female runs the 5 km event. team captain, is the week six NWAC Assistant Distance Track Coach, Athlete of the Week. She is in her Robert Bartholomew, once ran for fifth year running cross country and our NWAC rival, Highline Thunshe enjoys the friendship she builds derbirds. Later, he ran cross country with her team. for New Mexico Highland Cowboys, “We run strong, pushing each othearning a B.A. in exercise science. er every step of the way to finish the Now, as the assistant distance track race,” said Oosterhout. coach, he coaches the male and Katie Sherick, sophomore team female cross country teams. Barcaptain, and week one NWAC Aththolomew encourages other Green lete of the Week, is in her sixth year River students to running cross experience cross “A running club could become country and, like country and hope a part of the running community Oosterhout, her to expand the which allows them to compete favorite part is running commu- in certain cross country events bonding with her depending on the hostess’s decinity. team. sion.”

“For next year, “Cross country - Robert Bartholomew I would like to is awesome and I hold tryouts encourage others and to start a running club,” said to join. We run in packs because we Bartholomew. “A Running Club want to finish together, receiving a could become a part of the running low overall score,” said Sherick. “If community which allows them to we finish at varying spots during the compete in certain cross country meet, we’ll get a higher score which events depending on the hostess’s ranks our team lower as a unit. Basidecision.” cally, the team with the lowest score The female cross country team wins the competition.” express their excitement as they When running cross country practice for the regional and NWAC events, the girls express the imporchampionships. The team has six tance to understand the various

Source credit: Northwest Athletic Conference

weather conditions, terrain and size said, “I paced myself with my teamof the field. When running in packs, mate, Yiwei.” they train diligently, understandAll of the male teammates vary in ing the idiosyncrasies each event experience with some who ran since location brings to the table. LaRee high school and others since middle Graham, one of the team members, school. Bob Kickner, athletic direcshared how they will tor, commented on prepare for the chamthe male team.

“We run strong, pushing pionship races.

“I expect their each other every step of “We’re going to the best race to be the way to finish the race.” course preparing for - Abby Oosterhout their championship obstacles, building race because of the teamwork and condiimprovements and tioning, staying ahead of the other dedication this group of individuals team,” said Graham. have,” said Kickner.

Like the female, the male cross Both male and female teams are country team anticipate the two excited about running the final two final races of the season. The team races. If you are interested in long has seven members and five of them distance running, come out Saturare freshmen. Although their week day, October 29 to Clark Lake Park six NWAC runner, Ron Roberts, in Kent at 9:30 a.m. for the regional was injured during the last couple championships. Next month, the of meets, the men’s team diligently NWAC championships will be held trained, improving their running on Saturday, November 12 at St abilities for the final competition.

Martin’s University at 11 a.m..

“Right now we host the Northern Regional course and we run there three times a week,” said Roberts.

Armando Valencia, freshmen runner, adds, “We know the course, we keep training, we run to bond, pushing ourselves past our limitations.”

Esteban Lopez, freshmen runner

Geena Rocero NOV 3, 2016 7:00 p.m.

SU, Grand Hall FREE EVENT

Transgender Model, Activist and Founder of Gender Proud!

Sponsored by Student Activities Board.

For details contact Pauline: pelevazo@greenriver.edu