Triton's Call | Volume 50 | Issue 1

Vol. 50 | Issue 1 | Jan. - Feb.

College Essentials: Three items that you need in college

by Kaito Nishimura

The first two weeks of the semester can be challenging for students to acclimate to new schedules, new teachers and an ever-changing university environment. Between busy schedules and back-to-back classes, it can be hard to know whether you are ever fully prepared for the day ahead of you.

I interviewed several students at the University and here are the must needs to survive your semester:

•Laptop - For the modern student, your entire academic life revolves around this. From assignments to binging your favorite series this is a must need in your bag.

•Charger - To keep the aforementioned laptop or your smartphone alive.

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•Water Bottle - Hydrate. Hyrdate. Hydrate. Water is important for you to function well. Be sure to get your recommended six to eight glasses of water each day. Adobe Firefly

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Triton’s Call Staff

Infrastructure changes usher in the new school year

by Samantha Bautista

Returning from the winter break, students found a slew of changes from construction installments to online changes happening around the University of Guam.

The University had broken ground for the Dr. Lucio Chua Tan Student Success Center and the School of Engineering during the winter break.

The new Student Center will be located where the original one stood across the Calvo Field House. It is planned to be the central area for student services as Admissions, Financial Aid, Counseling and Advising, Student Health, and Career Development. It will also provide spaces for students to work and study in as well as amenities such as a new Triton Store, coffee shop, and dining hall for students to enjoy.

Public Administration sophomore Seamus shares his sentiment towards the previous Student Center as his coworkers would occasionally go to the cafeteria and would have liked

to try the cafeteria’s food before it closed.

However, he looks forward to the new one.

“I kind of miss it [the center]. I’m glad that it’s going to be new. I wished it would be finished, ” Seamus said.

Tyra, a Business Administration student, also believes the new student center will be beneficial for students living at the University’s dorms.

“I think it’s just going to be very helpful especially for those who live in the dorm because maybe they don’t have transportation to go out and get food, so they can just go to the dining hall instead.”

No Space to Park

By Fall of next year, UOG will finally see a permanent home for our first-ever School of Engineering as construction begins this year.

The 16,000-square-foot building will host three classrooms as well as laboratories for students to develop knowledge on hydraulics, soil and structure, and environmental engineering.

The school will be located across the Humanities and Social Science Building. This comes after the UOG Board of Regents approved a fouryear Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering for the University back in February 2019.

Since then, the program has pro -

duced 28 Civil Engineering Graduates since 2022 and welcomed 170 declared civil engineering majors within the Academic Year 20222023.

Civil Engineering sophomore Troy shared his enthusiasm for the new School of Engineering Building.

“Since we’re engineering majors, we knew about the building. And we knew they were going to start on it, but we were pleasantly surprised that they started this year. We’ve been waiting for this building.”

Despite the enthusiasm for these new areas, students shared their frustration with the construction itself.

The site of the School of Engineer-

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School of Engineering construction site located across the Tan

ing’s construction has taken over the overflow parking for students and staff attending courses at the HSS building as well as the nearby Science Building and the English and Communications Building. Students now have to arrive on campus earlier than their class times for a spot, or as Civil Engineering student Elvis comments, park further than where their class is located.

“With the construction of the engineering building, they did block off a lot of the overflow parking. So, a lot of the people would have to park at the warehouse. I usually end up parking in front of the Fieldhouse. So, it’s a longer walk.”

The University is also seeing the construction of the Nursing Annex for the Dr. Margaret Perez Hat -

tori-Uchima School and the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific.

The construction of both the Student Success Center and School of Engineering are estimated to be completed by the end of Spring 2025.

Extra Step to Login

Self-Service has become the new hub for online registration as UOG makes new online changes within its website. Although the transition to Self-Service hasn’t affected students much, they found the new Multi-Factor Authentication to be a bit exasperating.

Civil Engineering sophomore CJ shared his frustration of the con -

stant logins he needs to do just to access Moodle.

“Due to the lack of time it gives me, it’s kind of a hard time to use. Sometimes, I need to open a quiz within minutes. But then, I have to open my phone, authenticate it, and then open Moodle. If you close Moodle for like, let’s just say five minutes, you’re going to have to sign it again. The signing in part was already annoying and now you have to authenticate it.”

Despite all these changes that need some time to get used to, students are still enthusiastic for what is to come for this year.

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across the Tan Lam Pek Kim Building. Photo by Samantha Bautista

Study Café Closure: New Semester, New Study Spots

by Kiana Aniceto

According to a National Survey of Student Engagement, college students are recommended to spend 30 hours of studying per week. Stats across the country mentioned that college students spend around 10 to 13 hours a week studying and about 11% of students study more than 25 hours per week.

One way to elevate a study session is by studying at a place that also offers food. With popular study café, Siesta Guam Café closing down, students were left to search for their new favorite spots to work away from school.

In addition to the usual trappings of a Guam café, like coffee, tea and… a cereal bar. Siesta had something many other cafés don’t: large open spaces with a bunch of outlets dedicated to giant study groups and lone wolves who have forsaken the world and turned on the noise canceling on their AirPods Pro because they CANNOT afford to fail that next exam. Siesta also had an entire suite of massage chairs for travelers who needed a few hours of shut eye.

Why did Siesta close down? In the wake of the relentless challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses were forced into closure. Although Siesta was operational for up to two years after the pandemic, it is rumored that they still struggled each year to stay afloat. In an attempt to verify the rumor, my findings were that the previous owners moved back to South Korea.

Siesta Guam Café closed down in 2023 and the space was converted into GolfXpresso which is a new entertainment source for the people on Guam. GolfXpresso is a golf simulator café. Although it is still a café, it is no longer a suitable studying environment.

Some insights from students who are on their journey of finding their new favorite place to study included other cafés, a restaurant study hall and a hotel lobby. Other than the convenience of food, students also expressed their appreciation for other qualities:

• Slowalk Café has a comfortable ambiance and an abundance of seating.

• Westin offers free wifi.

• Café Gudcha is a pet friendly establishment!

“Sirena Café is one of the few places on island that sells Starbucks drinks. If you have never tried Starbucks drinks before, this is a good place to try.” by Samantha Bautista

“The student shack itself is such a unique thing to have. I can’t think of another restaurant that has a room catered to students for studying and dining. And at Jamaican Grill the food is always good, the staff are always friendly and the best part is that it’s really close to the university!” by Kiana Aniceto

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Sirena Café 3.5 stars Jamaican Grill’s Student Shack 5 stars

“Compared to other places the ambience was the most peaceful and I liked the fact that I would be the only one studying most of the time.” by alumni, Reese Meno

“I feel like this new cafe is very student friendly and I appreciate it being 3 stories to accommodate.” by Gabriela Sablan

“I love Café’ Gudcha and would say that my overall experience has been great. The service is always on point, and I feel productive when I’m there and tend to get a lot of my work done. I like how there’s a wide variety of drinks to try and appreciate the simplicity of the place.” by

Katielyn Aizon

Images provided by Samantha Bautista, Kiana Aniceto, Reese Meno, Gabriela Sablan and Katielyn Aizon

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Westin 4.5 stars Café Gudcha 5 stars Slowalk Café 4 stars

Camera Rolling – Young Filmmakers and Videographers in the Making

by Samantha Bautista

A career in filmmaking or videography might sound impossible to achieve, especially here on Guam. Students from the University of Guam’s Communications program, however, would say otherwise. Within the Communications program, these students would not only learn about filmmaking and videography but get first-hand experience creating their own student films.

zOne integral part of filmmaking and videography, according to Communications student Christian Legaspi is translating a feeling into visual media and vice versa.

“I would say the most important part of filmmaking to me, and this also applies to videography, is translating a feeling into a visual language and visual language into a feeling. It’s like the basis of communication that we learn in our classes. There are so many elements that kind of obstruct your message as you go through the process,” said Legaspi. “But what’s beautiful about film is that you can fine tune it to be exactly what you want to say. Convey the exact meaning that you want to be telling. So, I think the most important part of filmmaking is keeping sight on that feeling that you want to convey, that story you want to tell. The director’s vision and ability to fulfill that vision is the most important part.”

Storytelling is another important part of the filmmaking and videography process according to fellow Communications student Alyssa “Lyss” Dela Cruz.

“To me, I would say storytelling. Knowing the kind of story you wanna tell, the kind of message you want to send is super important and then you kind of build everything else around that.”

Filming on a Phone

Another inherent part that pertains to both filmmaking and videography is understanding the camera. It is essential to know how to work the camera. This skill is taught to Communication students, even if they don’t intend to use one in the future. Although they’re often taught to film on standard video cameras, cell phones have been a trending alternative for them to record video.

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Communications students Kiana Bilon and Samantha Bautista watch scene playback on camera. Photo by Mikaela Yanto

Cell phone technology has improved throughout the years that everyday people are now able to record video without needing a camera. With the ability to film at everyone’s fingertips, people might think it’s easy to make a film.

For Christian, he notices this recent underestimation likely due to people’s media consumption.

“I think it’s heavily underestimated now because it’s such a common thing to be able to record video. People’s perception of media consumption is becoming blended with what they see as a film. A film is very different from a Tik Tok or a YouTube video. But with the amount of media that we consume on a daily basis, it’s easy for people to kind of lose that sense of media literacy,” he said. “I think it’s just the sheer volume [content] that we consume on a daily basis that kind of lowers our expectations and our ability to estimate the amount of work that would go into a film.”

Despite this, Communications students believe there could be some benefits for using a cellphone to film a movie scene or commercial.

With Lyss, it depends on the person’s vision and what’s available to them.

“It’s gonna depend on your vision and basically whatever is available to you. If you are working for a client, they’re going to want to use good equipment because they’re paying you. Cellphones and their video camera quality have been getting better. There

are instances that you could use them, but it’ll all depend on what you want.”

Christian believes that filming on a cellphone could be achieved, however you just need to know how to film.

“You could get away with filming a movie or a commercial on a cell phone as long as you understand your fundamentals [of filming]. Because there’s a checklist of things you have to check off like formatting your color, or your depth of field. That’s why professionals can really work well with anything you give them. And amateurs, even if you give them the greatest equipment, it might not even be to that same level. So, I think it’s not exactly beneficial or a detriment. It just depends on whose hands it’s in and more so, your ability to learn the rules of filmmaking in order to make that piece of equipment work.”

Connecting through Comm. Society

One way that Comm. Students can showcase and share their passion for filmmaking and videography through being part of the UOG Communications Society or Comm. Society.

The Comm. Society is an organization where not just Communication students but all who are interested in filming, photography, videography, and other aspects of Communication are welcome to join.

Within the society, members engage in activities such as photo booths, film screenings, and workshops

to connect and showcase their own student works. The society also participates in events outside of UOG to meet others within the industry as well as to see what projects people have created.

Lyss Dela Cruz is also the treasurer of the Comm. Society and she believes event opportunities are great ways for students to connect with others.

“It’s a good chance to see what kinds of people are out there creating things and meet other people who are interested in these kinds of things.”

Currently, the Comm. Society is collaborating with Prutehi Litekyan/ Save Ritidian and Marianas for Palestine to host free film screenings within the month of February. With these film showcases, they hope to encourage critical discussions within our local community on topics such as environmental justice, racism, settler colonialism, and human rights. Film screenings were located at the UOG College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Lecture Hall every Saturday in February. This event was open to the public.

Advice to the aspiring

If you’re interested in pursuing a career in filmmaking or videography, here’s some words of wisdom from our Comm. Students.

Lyss shares that it is important to practice your skills and meet new people within the community.

“My advice for people who want to get into filmmaking, practice as

much as you can. Look for opportunities to actually get hands-on work with different kinds of equipment. Meet as many people within the community as you can. Because making those connections are also really important. But it’s also important that you’re always practicing your skills and trying to get better at them.”

And Christian imparts the importance of never giving up and keep making things.

“My advice is to keep making things and posting them, even if it’s on a private YouTube channel. Once you post something, you’re done with it. That’s something I’ve learned working on videos since I was a kid. I would just upload and upload and it was reinforced when working in the industry. You just need to let go of a project sometimes,” Christian said.

“Another one I just want to reiterate is don’t get lost in production hell. Finish your projects, get them out, but don’t beat yourself up after you’re done. Beat yourself up throughout the entire process. You could be super critical of yourself during the filming, pre-production, and postproduction. But once you click render for the final time, watch it yourself and you enjoy it. That’s the most important thing I’d say.”

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Exploring the Languages of Love

Valentine’s Day may be over, but love is present all season!

by Kiana Aniceto

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Image generated using Adobe Firefly by Triton’s Call Staff

As we exit the month of love, the air filled with heartfelt affection and expressions of sweet nothings will fade. The flirtatious whispers and impassioned declarations of love will pass once again. Communication isn’t always as straightforward as Cupid’s arrow in February.

Part of the problem is that we’re not always speaking the same love language, a term coined by Gary Chapman in 1992. His efforts are still very relevant today as people are discovering how much of a difference learning what your special someone’s unique definition of love is.

To understand and speak in the love language of your other half, your family and friends can help elevate those relationships by strengthening each bond. Relationships will naturally become more connected, considerate and emotionally positive. Even as we approach the less romantic months of the year, consider exploring the love languages with your loved ones with this helpful guide.

Words of Affirmation

People who express love with words of affirmation will appreciate hearing words of encouragement, appreciation and affection. A simple “I love you”, “thank you” and a heartfelt compliment can light up their world. The key to this type of communication is by frequently sharing supportive words of gratitude and love.

Advice: give regular “good morning” and “good night” greetings, give compliments, send random text messages throughout the day

Gift ideas: handwritten love letter, poem, song or personalized playlist

Physical Touch

People who express love with physical touch will appreciate gentle touches, warm embraces and loving kisses. The key to this type of communication is through physical affection by staying close by and embracing your loved one as often as possible.

Advice: give regular “hello” and “see you later” hugs/ kisses

Gift ideas: massage coupon

Receiving Gifts

People who express love with gifts will appreciate thoughtfulness and effort behind gift giving. In this case, sentiment and thoughtfulness overpowers material value in a gift. The key to this type of communication is by understanding that material value is less of a representation of love rather than sentiment and thoughtfulness.

Advice: buy their favorite food or snack during a store run, surprise them with flowers

Gift idea: sentimental purchases, homemade gifts

Quality Time - “They would if they wanted to.”

People who express love with quality time will appreciate moments of undivided attention, meaningful conver-

sations and shared experiences. The key to this type of communication is by understanding that even in a fast and busy paced world, making time to be available is still possible.

Advice: be present, eat meals together, have a standing date night

Gift idea: intimate dates - candle lit dinners at home

Acts of Service - “Actions speak louder than words.” People who express love with acts of service appreciate that actions speak louder than words. Without being asked, important gestures can be displayed like cooking a meal, running errands, helping with chores and walking the dog. The key to this type of communication is by tending to your loved one’s needs through the initiation of action.

Advice: wash and fill up vehicle, clean home, make their favorite drink or meal

Gift ideas: chore coupon, home cooked meal

What is your definition of love?

Noah Abernilla was kind enough to share with us that his love language is words of affirmation. He is a sun in cancer who deeply appreciates the power of speech.

“Love is a recognition of trust and loyalty. To me, I think love is intrinsic, it’s tribalistic. Because it’s lasted so long, the concept of love is a strong and uniting force. Love ultimately unites.”

Ultimately, love languages remind us that love is diverse. Love can be romantic, platonic and familial. It can be expressed through acts of kindness, empathy, support and understanding. Love’s diversity lies in the ability to adapt to its different contexts. As you have a day of love, remember to speak in a way that resonates with the heart of your loved ones.

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