March 29, 2016

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MARCH 29 - APRIL 5, 2016

FEATURES

THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

FEATURES

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“Stalking the Bogeyman” author visiting UAA

Canstruction underway at the University Center

Summer plans laid for student apartments, concrete plaza

PHOTO BY NOLIN AINSWORTH

A student returns to his residence hall from the Gorsuch Commons. The paths behind the commons will have all-new LED lights installed this summer that will cross perpendicularly above the trail.

By Nolin Ainsworth

sports@thenorthernlight.org

Beginning next winter, the UAA residential campus will have a winter village to call its own, minus the five-star restaurants and gondolas. Suspended LED globe lights in the Main Apartment Complex (MAC) plaza and across West and East Hall trails will enhance safety and aesthetics of the area,

according to UAA Housing, Dining, and Conference Services director David Weaver. “We want to create something that is really breath-taking, and we are going to spend the money, we’re going to do something really amazing,” Weaver said in an interview last semester. Weaver spent the money, $900,000 to date, that will pay for not only the Winter Village project, but also full-scale renovations in two of the six student apart-

How to chase the lights

ment units. Student rates will increase 4 percent, or $150 more per semester, added to the current $3500 per semester cost of a shared bedroom apartment. The remaining four units will receive the upgrades over the next few years. The Winter Village is also an ongoing project — a fire pit and a plumbed gas grill are possible additions in the future. “I think it will be a huge improvement and benefit to the campus to make that area much more lit, livelier,” Peter

Briggs, landscape architect at Corvus Design said via cellphone. “Maybe on the nicer winter days, which we seem to get more of, more people will choose to go outside and have fun, not even at night, but when it’s dark.” A 900 square foot grid of suspended steel cables wrapped in globe lights will illuminate the rejuvenated MAC plaza. Currently, the small circular slab of concrete consists of a wooden bench and a rusted barbecue grill. The LED trail lights will be located on the other side of Chester Creek on the paths that connect the Gorsuch Commons to East and West Halls. Weaver hopes the lighting improvements are just the first step in drawing students outdoors. “If you think about when students are here, they are here from the late part of August and September through May,” Weaver said. “The vast majority of that part of time, there is snow of the ground, and so we want to embrace that, we want to make spaces where students can get out — get out of their rooms, socialize, recreate and enjoy the fairly mild winter climate we have.” The interior design work on the apartments was headed up by Megan Lierman of RIM Design. The apartment units of

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Seawolves continue striving, advance to Div. II National Championship game

PHOTO BY YOUNG KIM

This is a panorama stitch of 32 images from Eklutna Lake in Alaska. Each image was shot at a focal length of 24mm, f/1.4, 8.0 seconds, and an ISO of 320.

By Young Kim

ykim@thenorthernlight.org

The ever elusive aurora borealis has become an increasingly popular subject for photographers since the introduction of the digital sensor. That’s not to say that it wasn’t possible before by using a traditional film camera, but having instant verification on the backside LCD of your camera to check whether you nailed the shot or not does help a great deal with keeping costs down due to the relative high price of shooting and developing film. There are, however, some basic guidelines to follow that will keep the time fumbling with the camera to a minimum and the time enjoying the light

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show to a maximum. WHERE AND WHEN TO GO Location, location, location. This has been the mantra for real estate professionals for years, and the same applies for those who are seeking the northern lights. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that a place away from the city is going to be best as any light pollution will affect the visibility of the aurora. Great images usually include some sort of foreground element (like a campfire) and mid-ground elements (like water, trees, or mountains) in the composition, but don’t feel discouraged if you can’t get to a location that

PHOTO BY YOUNG KIM

The Lady Seawolf bench goes wild as they cheer on their teammates during the Final Four match-up against the Grand Valley State Lakers. Their win clinched a berth in the NCAA Div. II title game.

SEE LIGHTS

SEE SEAWOLVES

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