July 11, 2017

Page 1

JULY 11 - JULY 25, 2017

FEATURES

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

A&E

PAGE 3

Meet the Student Representative to the Board of Regents

THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG

PAGE 6

After six years, “Inflorescence” arrives at CPISB

Father-son duo to kick off 2017-18 basketball season

Son of UAA head basketball coach signed national letter of intent to join the Seawolves following his 2017 graduation from Dimond High School By Lauren Cuddihy

sports2@thenorthernlight.org

As the influx of new recruits to UAA athletic’s continues, the men’s basketball team received a rather unique addition. As head coach Rusty Osborne enters his 14th year in his position and his 27th year at UAA, his son, Kylan Osborne will enter as a first-year freshman on the team. “He is the final piece in what we believe is an outstanding freshman class. It can be tough for kids to play for their parents, so I know this was a difficult decision for Kylan. However, as a father, I look forward to being around him every day for the next four to five years and helping him reach his goals,” head coach Rusty said. As it might be difficult to be a father-son, coach-athlete duo, both Kylan and Rusty Osborne observed the benefits. Kylan realized that his father knows his abilities better than anyone and that will help bring him success.

Following in his father’s footsteps to play collegiate basketball, Kylan signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Seawolves last month, after just graduating locally from Dimond High School. As a Dimond Lynx, Kylan made standout performances for his four years on the team. As a senior, he averaged 10.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.0 steals per game; producing a record like that gave Kylan 3-varsity letters throughout his high school career, as well as two years being a starter. In Kylan’s final two seasons, he made made many notable accomplishments. He was a top contributor to the Lynx’s appearance and finish as runnerup at the 2016 ASAA 4A State Tournament as junior and winning the state title in 2017 in his senior year. During that final State Tournament game, Kylan sunk the final three-pointer with one minute left in the game and then produced a steal and two free throws to help win the game

PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL ROTH

Kylan Osborne reaches for the ball in a game against East Anchorage High School in February. Osborne joins the Seawolves after graduating from Dimond High School in 2017.

in the final seconds. Kylan was always a top contributor in the Lynx’s games. He explained the importance of following through and dedica-

tion throughout his high school career, which is an important trait to have in a collegiate season. Speaking of the 2017 state

championship game, Kylan Osborne described the momen-

SEE BASKETBALL

PAGE 10

Undergraduates study swallow colony on base

PHOTO BY JAY GUZMAN

UAA undergraduate and field technician Andi Parrott carefully holds a male tree swallow near Otter Lake.

By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org

This summer several UAA undergraduates have taken their education off campus to on base at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s Otter Lake to study tree

thenorthernlight.org

swallows. Environmental studies professor Audrey Taylor has been a part of a collaborative research project on swallows with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services since 2013. For the past four years, 10 undergraduate students like Rachel Gingras,

facebook.com/northernlightuaa

natural science major with an emphasis on environmental science, have been working in the field collecting data on swallows. Gingras is the lead field technician for the project this summer, and she said the opportunity to work outside has been

@tnl_updates

awesome. “It’s my first job in the summer working outside… even on days like this where it’s just overcast, it’s really nice being outside and being in nature and watching these birds and their behavior. It’s been a really cool learning experience for sure,” Gingras said. Over the past few summers, Taylor has kept the project in action through Faculty Development Grant funding, and Taylor said this research opportunity is important to an undergraduate’s career development. “I cannot overstate the importance of undergraduate research in opening students’ eyes to the possibility of a career as a scientist,” Taylor said in an email. “Many students are only vaguely aware of what researchers actually do, or of the role they play in management, conservation or policy setting activities, until they actually get their hands dirty on a research project. I think being involved in research as an undergraduate also teaches valuable life skills such as striving for accuracy and precision, setting goals and

@tnl_updates

protocols for achieving them, and problem solving on the fly.” Before applying for the research position, Gingras said she knew nothing about swallows. Now, after two months of observing and banding the birds, Gingras can tell you all about their nesting habits. “It’s our fourth year of having birds in these boxes and the numbers of birds we get back each year keeps increasing,” Gingras said. “We kind of joke around like the word spreads it’s a good place to nest so each year there’s been a larger and larger number of boxes being used.” Natural sciences major with an emphasis on environmental science, Andi Parrott, is also a field technician at the swallow colony. Parrott said she has enjoyed working with the swallows. “I really like it first of all...I don’t think there’s a lot of talk about undergraduate research, so it’s really fortunate that Dr. Taylor was able to voice this in a class and have students know

SEE SWALLOW

PAGE 4

youtube.com/tnlnews


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
July 11, 2017 by The Northern Light - Issuu