The Utah Statesman, December 5, 2022

Discussing politics on college campuses

By Alivia Hadfield NEWS REPORTER

In recent years, politics — local and national — have become a sore subject for many Americans and families.

A Pew research study showed that 45% of Americans have opted not to talk about politics with someone, and another 85% of Americans believe that political debate has become less respectful and fact-based.

“I think we have seen over the last several decades an increasing trend and polarization in politics with Republicans and Democrats getting farther and farther apart, especially among elites,” said Damon Cann, a political science professor at USU.

Cann explained this polarization can even lead to extremes with unnecessary consequences.

“Accompanying that is an escalation in incivility, and even to some extent, dehumanization of people who hold different political views than we hold,” Cann said. “That has led to deadly escalations in acts that we might consider on some level just discourteous or uncivil, but we’re also even seeing ticks up in levels of political violence.”

However, the average American family isn’t the only group who has seen a lot of political unrest and incivility. A Sage Journal titled “Chaos on Campus: Universities and Mass Political Protest” stated, “Universities are hotbeds of political protest.”

Currently, Utah State University’s free speech

rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sits at 53.66 out of 100. The report also ranks USU’s openness and students’ perceived ability to have hard conversations on campus at 124th.

Drew Eden, a USU student, described his experiences talking about politics.

“I think that trying to share your political ideals with others who disagree with your political ideals just turns into a big argument,” Eden said. “However, I think people at USU try to be broadly welcoming, and we can all look past our differences for an activity.”

Cann also shared his thoughts on the political climate at USU.

“One of my greatest hopes for the future comes from my experiences here with USU students in every class that I teach,” Cann said. “I have a wide range of students on the political spectrum, and I am always heartened by the way that the students are respectful to each other. If our students continue to model that behavior after they leave USU, it gives me a tremendous amount of hope for the future.”

When asked how students can better engage in uplifting political discussions, Cann offered advice.

“I think one thing that really helps, is when we have shared experiences and things happening in our lives that give us ways that we can connect with things in common, even though we have other differences,” Cann said. “Don’t be afraid to change the conversation topic and find something where you can connect, as opposed to feeling like you have to hash out this particular battle.”

— alivia.hadfield@usu.edu

‘POLICEBLOTTER’

SIMPLE ASSAULT MAVERIK STADIUM

NOV. 19 — Ex-girlfriend saw her ex-boyfriend at a USU football game kissing another female. Ex-girlfriend called ex-boyfriend a “whore” and pushed him backwards, causing him to fall into students/fans on the rows below him. Ex-boyfriend declined to pursue charges for criminal assault.

ACCIDENT HIT & RUN LIVING LEARNING CENTER

NOV. 27 — Student sitting in her vehicle in the Aggie Parking Terrace believed her vehicle was hit by a car that parked next to her while she was sitting in the drivers seat. USU Police were contacted and spoke to all persons involved. The driver of the car accused of hitting the parked vehicle denies the accident occurred, stating damage on cars was pre-existing. Driver information was swapped and a police accident report was completed.

FRAUD MORTY’S CAFE

NOV. 28 — Out of country fraudsters notified Morty’s employee they were a Sheriff and needed to collect cash from a fraud that occurred at Morty’s Café. The employee believed the fraudster and purchased pre-paid gift cards from a local business and provided it to the fraudsters. Once the scam was believed to be a fraud, USU Police were contacted. Unfortunately, the gift cards and information was already given to the out of country fraudsters, and the money could not be returned to the victim.

435 797-1939. Summaries are from USU Police Chief Blair Barfuss.

www.usu.edu/dps/police/daily-crime-log

GRAPHIC BY Bailey Rigby

The online majors of USU

By Carter Ottley NEWS REPORTER

Utah State University offers a variety of options for online degrees.

The options include associate, bachelor's, master’s and doctorate degrees. They also offer undergraduate and graduate certificates, along with professional licensures.

Michelle Wilson is an adviser at Utah State University who has seen the benefit of online degrees.

“It’s really beneficial for those who have life events or circumstances which may preclude in-person attendance,” she said. “The pandemic helped with students' attitudes towards online and also helped them to be a little bit more successful.”

Wilson advises for the communicative disorders and deaf education program, and she previously advised for the human experience design and interaction major. Both of these majors can be earned fully online.

Andrew Walker, the department head of instructional technology and learning sciences, has also seen the value of an online degree.

“What’s really touching to me is hearing stories about people having access to degrees that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to,” Walker said. “That could be because of geography, but could also be because of time constraints.”

Brian Champagne is a journalism professor who has adapted his multimedia boot camp class to reach online students since the journalism major can be completed online.

He has also seen the benefit of the flexibility provided in an online class.

“They can choose to watch a lecture at 2 a.m. or whatever works for them,” Champagne said. “I think it’s great, it can be that flexible for them.”

Many of the faculty worry students are not able to connect to the content or other students when it is online. They also worry about the isolation this may cause.

In Champagne’s class, students shoot videos throughout the semester. In the in-person class, they can talk to him about their plans and get ideas and tips before they go

film the videos. This does not happen as often in his online class.

“I’m trying to adapt, like Zoom with a shared screen,” he said. “We’ll watch you for a couple of minutes and see if we can speed you up.”

Ramy Shaaban, a professional practice assistant professor for instructional technology and learning sciences and coordinator of the HEDI program, tries to “gamify” his courses.

He has done this in the HEDI program through discussions, group work and continuous motivation or rewards in class.

“Online learning is sometimes boring, and sometimes you need to have more involvement with an instructor,” Shaaban said. “We try to overcome these challenges with good design of the course.”

Over 70,000 people have utilized the online degree options, including students from 50 states and 55 countries.

The online program allows the university to reach more students and work with more faculty. Champagne teaches students in Logan, other parts of Utah, Missouri and Italy.

The HEDI program has a faculty member located in California.

The online programs have also earned a variety of awards in 2021. The U.S. News and World Report ranked it 21st in the nation for best online bachelor’s program, 12th in online bachelor’s for veterans and 8th in online undergraduate psychology program.

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Carter Ottley is a junior studying journalism and political science. When Carter isn’t writing for the Statesman, he enjoys Chili’s, reading and Imagine Dragons.

carter.ottley@usu.edu

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What’s worse? Diet or regular soda?

By Jack Johnson NEWS REPORTER

Diet soda versus regular soda. Which is healthier for you?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 53.6% of Utahns drink a sugar-sweetened beverage. A sugar-sweetened beverage is defined as regular soda, sweetened fruit drinks, sports/energy drinks, and sweetened coffee/tea drinks.

Brooke Lister, a registered dietitian at Utah State University, provided answers to some questions about soda.

According to Lister, regular soda is made of soda water, flavoring and sweet syrup. The reason for the dark color in soda is the sugar caramelizing.

She explained the difference between diet soda and regular soda is how it is sweetened. Regular soda is sweetened with natural sugars, while diet soda is sweetened with artificial sweeteners.

Audrey Lidgard, a graduate student in food science, explained artificial sweeteners work differently than natural sugars.

“Baseline for all sugar has a value of 100, but artificial sweeteners, some of them are ten times sweeter than sugar,” she said.

This chart is from Lidgard’s NDFS 5560 class with USU professor Bob Ward. To give this more context, the following sweeteners are put into these foods:

• Sucralose is used in Splenda and diet sodas

• Sucrose is natural sugar

• Saccharine is what is in Sweet’n Low

• Cyclamates are from sweet taste of cigarettes

• Aspartame is used in Nutrasweet and Equal

• Neotame is used in Ice Breakers

• Acesfulame K is used in Sunette and Sweet One

Artificial sweeteners are made by taking regular sugar and switching out one of the alcohol molecules with a chlorine molecule.

That is the simple way of putting it, but scientists need to perform chemical reactions in a lab to make the chlorine attach to the sugar.

The amount of calories you consume from artificial sweeteners in diet soda is “negligible” according to Lidgard.

“Nothing is exactly zero calories,” Lidgard said. “The amount of calories you get from diet or zero sugar soda is

so small, it is virtually insignificant.”

Artificial sweeteners also do not mix well with water, so scientists need to add an emulsifier to the diet soda to get it to mix, according to Lidgard.

“Soda is filled with sugar and empty calories,” Lister said. “Meaning that we really get no nutritional benefit from drinking soda.”

Lister said there can even be serious consequences for large consumption.

“There are no health benefits to drinking soda,” she said. “Consuming a lot of sugar-sweetened beverages, like soda, can lead to weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease and many other health conditions. Soda is also the leading cause of tooth decay.”

When questioned whether or not there should be government regulation on the consumption of soda, Lister said for regulation like that to be successful, it needs to be done on a local level — every community has different health necessities, so keeping it local will have bigger effects.

She cited regulations that took place in Philadelphia.

“In 2017, Philadelphia started taxing sugar-sweetened drinks and found by 2018, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has decreased by 40%,” she said.

The debate for regulating soda is complex, but no one seems to question that neither diet soda or regular soda is good for you.

Overall, both Lister and Lidgard say in order to lead a healthy life, one must simply drink water.

“If you are looking for something that is carbonated, sparkling waters are the healthiest alternative,” Lister said.

Jack Johnson is a student at USU studying English and history. When he isn’t staring at the ceiling, he spends his time reading, writing, traveling and rolling in Jiu-jitsu.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY Kate Smith

Beating the winter blues

By Leah Call LIFESTYLES STAFF REPORTER

Dark afternoons and cold mornings. Snow and rain fall relentlessly and the cup of hot chocolate or coffee in your hand is the only thing keeping you moving as you trudge to class. An incessant amount of homework. Take-out containers and cups piling up on your nightstand. Endless failed dates and mornings you chose to sleep in instead of going to the gym. A hopeless feeling that creeps in and won’t let go. It happens at the end of every fall semester. It’s seasonal depression.

The Mayo Clinic reported 44% of college students exhibit symptoms of seasonal affective disorder or seasonal depression, and 4 in 5 of those are women. The average onset range is 20-30 years old.

Mental health professionals on campus are a resource to reach out to if you, like countless fellow students, feel you’re drowning in assignments, exams, last-minute study sessions and never-ending to-do lists.

Monique Frazier, a staff psychologist in the USU Counseling and Psychological Center, identified seasonal depression as feeling depressed during the day, losing interest in activities, experiencing changes in appetite or weight, trouble sleeping and feeling hopeless.

“Seasonal depression has symptoms similar to regular depression, but it is more common to see a subset of symptoms with seasonal depression that include sleeping more than usual, weight gain, craving carbs, feeling groggy and sluggish,” Frazier said. “There’s a heaviness to it, like you’re dragging yourself around. There’s a physical nature to it, a physical feeling of heaviness. It can be hard to get up and get going.”

Frazier said the main goal of the CAPS office is to assist students statewide with their mental health through group, individual and crisis therapy. The office also does outreach to the USU community across all campuses on a variety of mental health topics.

“We went to keep Aggie students mentally well,” Frazier said.

There are two avenues they use to combat seasonal depression, she said.

“Biological and psychological,” Frazier said. “Under the biological category, the first line of evidence based treatment for seasonal affective disorder is bright light therapy.”

These lights can be found anywhere online or in stores, and depending on sleep habits and style, it is recommended that most people use bright light therapy in the morning. The light should be set up approximately 18 inches from the face for 15-20 mins.

“What happens with the bright light — when the light from the sun or from bright light therapy hits cells on the back of your retinas — it flips this switch on for the brain to start producing serotonin,” she said. “So, that’s the mechanism of the action for getting serotonin, which is a chemical associated with our mood.”

According to information provided by the CAPS office from “The Depression Cure” by Stephen Ilardi, the light of a bright sunny day is 100 times brighter than

indoor lighting and even being outside on an overcast day is 3 times brighter than standard indoor lighting.

Frazier recommended consulting a doctor before using bright light therapy.

“The other biological piece that I look at in patients is their vitamin D, because we get some vitamin D from what we eat, but when the sun hits large patches of our skin, it converts sunlight to vitamin D,” Frazier said. “So in the winter, when we have next to no skin showing, the sun doesn’t convert as much vitamin D for us. So oftentimes, starting in October, we’ll start to see those levels get lower and lower. When vitamin D levels get too low, it mimics completely the symptoms of depression. I would call it fatigue-based depression.”

Consult with a doctor for proper dosage recommendations for vitamin D as well. “Psychologically, with it being darker outside, we want to hunker down and stay in,” Frazier said. “We tend to isolate more, and we tend to have less social interaction and that can feed depression. There’s also just the association we have with winter. It’s easy to have a bad attitude about winter, but if we think negatively about it, then it’s very likely we’re not going to be as happy in the winter.”

Frazier recommended bundling up and getting outside, no matter what. Her advice was to make commitments to get outside and be active.

A free workshop on seasonal affective disorder will be held through CAPS in January 2023. Information can be found on their website — usu.edu/aggiewellness/mental-health — in the next few weeks.

Students can call and request a single therapy session or consultation through the website as well.

Jacob Horton loves to Funk up your Fridays at 9 a.m. with the funkiest, grooviest tunes around. Jacob is a senior at USU studying marketing with a minor in Japanese. Jacob loves curling, music and working for USU Student Media as their Operations Manager. Make sure to tune in to his show to funk up your life. Lovely Day Bill Withers

Leah Call is a junior pursuing her degree in print journalism. In her free time she loves finding new music to jam to and is always on the lookout for the perfect iced chai tea.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY Samuel Warner

New Heravi Peace Institute offers peace-building skills to all students

By Caitlin Keith LIFESTYLES STAFF REPORTER

Mehdi Heravi visited Utah State University for the official signing of the new Heravi Peace Institute on Wednesday, Nov. 2. Heravi made a substantial financial contribution to help support the institute.

Heravi is from Iran and moved to Logan during his high school years. He attended USU and has been a friend of USU for years. The donation to the peace institute is just one of multiple contributions he has made to the university.

The Heravi Peace Institute is an interdepartmental effort housed within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. It offers different certificates and programs for students to gain peace-building and conflict-solving skills, and it also offers opportunities to get involved in global projects.

The goal of the peace institute is to prepare students to enter the workforce with multiple skills, including being adept at cultural peacebuilding, conflict management, nonprofit work, creating intentional relationships and enacting change in communities.

Colin Flint is a professor in the political science department and is one of the main people who brought the institute together. He is serving as director of the Institute for the time being while a search is being conducted to find a full-time director.

“We’re trying to look at peace in a number of ways that will be useful for students in their careers,” Flint said. “Whether that be trying to engage global issues or whether it would be much more local issues.”

The institute currently has four different certificates students can receive from taking classes in a variety of different departments. These departments include history, political science and religious studies.

The four certificates are global

peacebuilding, conflict management, leadership and diplomacy and a nonprofit organizational and social entrepreneurship certificate.

Even though the peace institute is housed within CHASS, all students of USU have access to its resources and programs.

“It’s an institute in which we all connect students to projects across the globe, engaging in various forms of peace-building within the state of Utah, and across the globe,” Flint said.

About two years ago there was a push throughout the university to create undergraduate certificates. This led to the collaboration between departments and eventually

the creation of the peace institute with the help of Heravi.

Another part of the institute is the conversational space-makers program which is led by professor Clair Canfield.

Canfield works in the communication studies department, specializing in conflict.

This program came about after students would often come to Canfield for advice.

“Unfortunately, giving advice to people has some pretty significant consequences, one of which is the advice-giver doesn’t have to deal with the consequences of it,” Canfield said.

Canfield started the space-makers program as an alternative to giving advice. The program gives students a place where they can talk things out and be heard.

The program started in 2021. It allows students to work as space-makers helping their peers to work out their own conflicts, decisions, setbacks, frustrations and more.

“The basic principle of space-making is that we believe in people’s capacity to change,” Canfield said. “And conflict is usually showing us something about what we would like to have differently or to change within ourselves or our relationships. We believe people have the capacity to do that.”

Students have to take specific classes from Canfield and go through hours of training before becoming space-makers.

Abby Wallentine, the peace institute’s staff assistant, was a space-maker last year.

“Do you want advice-free and judgment-free listening, that’s kind of a really easy way to explain it,” Wallentine said. “Even though there’s a lot more to it than that.”

Any student at USU can make an appointment to meet with one of the space-makers. Canfield said the space-makers program is there to help everyone.

Read the rest of this story at usustatesman.com.

@clairehansen_

@sharloola

i’ve been forced to watch some football recently and i really think they should consider editing the matches to have confessionals from the players like in reality tv shows. would be way more interesting

PHOTO BY Elise Gottling

Colin Flint, the interim director of the Heravi Peace Institute, poses for a picture with co-advisors Patrick Mason and Tammy Proctor.

The Legacy of Val R. Christensen

By Alexis LeBaron LIFESTYLES STAFF REPORTER

The namesake for Utah State University’s service center, Val R. Christensen, died Oct. 31. He was 87 years old.

Christensen’s legacy has extended to much more than student service projects. With programs such as the Days of Service activities, Community Rakes and Shovels, the Student Nutrition Access Center (SNAC) pantry and other community involvement–based service, Christensen’s efforts have bred belonging, cohesion, leadership and inclusion at USU.

Christensen’s legacy began in 1967, when he was first hired at Utah State University as the director of recruitment. Throughout his thirty years of employment, Christensen started various programs that helped develop USU to what it is today.

Eric R. Olsen, interim vice president of student affairs, is Christensen’s son-in-law.

“Val contributed to the Women’s Center, started the Multicultural Center — which is now the Inclusion Office — instituted the Aggie leadership conference now known as AggieBlue, developed the Bear Lake Training Center and put hours of work into different inclusion-based clubs and organizations,” Olsen said.

Additionally, Christensen pioneered the Ambassador’s program, championed and sustained the Robin’s award and developed USU Connections.

The service center’s administration has shifted their focus from service to community-based social action.

Nelda Ault-Dyslin, assistant director of community engaged learning, said, “Social action implies more than just painting fences. It involves things like philanthropy, advocacy and organizing something that is bigger than just service.”

Christensen’s legacy is providing a voice and a place for students to gather and feel belonging.

Ault-Dyslin said she hoped the students she worked with did not just get a resume builder or service hours, but found their efforts mattered to their community.

“Service brings belonging,” Ault-Dyslin said. “When you’re able to engage with the community, get yourself out of the routine and see that there are community members who are working really hard to make the world a better place, you can do something about really big, scary topics, on a local level.”

Val Christensen’s work at USU illustrated this goal can be achieved. During his tenure, Christensen, in addition to the programs and organizations he founded, sought to provide a voice to students and establish camaraderie

between USU’s administration and students.

While Christensen worked the Student Affairs office, he personally mentored hundreds of student body officers, and provided leadership opportunities for all types of students. Olsen said the relationship between student government and Aggie administration is a “partnership.”

In comparison, other colleges Olsen has visited see officers and administration as “adversaries” of each other.

“He would be found asking what a student felt or wanted to institute before anyone else in administration,” Olsen said.

“He always really cared about students and helping them.”

Today, Christensen’s legacy continues to uplift students at USU, and provide them with a voice and opportunity to give back to their community.

“Students can get involved through our AggiePulse database, or by coming into our office at the TSC room 318 and have a conversation with us about how they can get involved,” Ault-Dyslin said. “There are always new things in the community and new programs we run that can apply to most people’s service interests.”

As the holiday season approaches, there are so many opportunities and places for students to find where they belong and how they can give back, bolstering themselves and their community.

“Val always said that if you surround yourself with good people and help them get what they want, it will come back to you for good, and you’ll get what you want,” Olsen said.

Visit TSC 316A between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday to have a conversation with one of the service center’s representatives and learn how to extend Christensen’s legacy of inclusion, social action and philanthropy in Cache County.

@ronnui_ @ellewasamistake

We are officially in Spotify Wrapped no-man’s-land. You can listen to absolutely whatever you want without for 31 days and it’s completely off the record. It’s like The Purge but for listening to Crazy Frog.

the third knives out should be an all-muppet cast except daniel craig

Alexis LeBaron is a senior currently studying public relations with an emphasis in nonprofit work. She loves running, writing and meeting new people. — alexis.lebaron@usu.edu

STATESMAN FILE

Val R. Christensen spoke to students on campus in 2012 about his experiences serving at USU.

Isaac Johnson: Staying true to himself

By Jake Ellis SPORTS EDITOR

In the tunnels of Matthew Knight Arena at the University of Oregon, there’s a lounge where high school athletes start their recruiting visits. Inside, a case filled with premium Nike uniforms, apparel and shoes shows off the marquee relationship the school has with the brand.

As recruitment tours continue, graphics on the arena’s walls showcase legendary Duck athletes and mottos for the teams — all of this in an arena just over a decade old that can house more than 12,000 fans on game day.

“I bought into the flash of University of Oregon,” center Isaac Johnson said. “It is a lot of money being poured into that program, that university and for the athletes.”

The flash, combined with the recent success of the Ducks — achieving Pac-12 titles and NCAA Tournament bids under head coach Dana Altman — sold Johnson in 2018, who was then a top 50 high school prospect from American Fork, Utah. He committed to the Ducks.

After high school graduation, Johnson put basketball on hold for two years while he served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Afterward, he moved to Eugene, Oregon, and as he settled into campus life, he realized something he had failed to think about when deciding where he would attend college.

“I didn’t consider what it was like to live there,” Johnson said.

As a missionary, Johnson had grown accustomed to a disciplined lifestyle that did not match the vibe of the Emerald City, or a basketball team that had not welcomed a returned missionary in more than 50 years.

“I didn’t consider the impact my mission would have on me,” Johnson said. “It just wasn’t my lifestyle choices.”

Oregon students recreated and relaxed in different ways than Johnson had his entire life. It made it hard for him to hang out with or date people who wanted to have fun the same way he did.

“Almost everybody just could not wait until it’s the weekend,” Johnson said. “I’m more of a ‘Why not enjoy every single day instead of wait for the weekend?’ type of guy.”

Despite feeling like he didn’t belong, Johnson pushed through, and played well in practices and scrimmages before the season. He did so well Altman decided he didn’t want Johnson to redshirt, which was his original plan, and instead planned to utilize Johnson as a freshman.

In his first season, Johnson played in 14 games, averaging 5.4 minutes per appearance. He accumulated 33 points, 16 rebounds and three assists in that time, playing one of his best games against Chaminade, where he scoreda career-high eight points.

After a tough year in Eugene and a disappointing season for the team on the court — considering the Ducks were ranked in the top 15 in the country to start the season — Johnson felt like he was ready to move on. The way Johnson’s father, Darren Johnson, describes it, Isaac realized he was “not just a basketball player.”

“He is a human being,” Darren Johnson said. “He’s a great big, tall human being, but he has feelings, and that

matters.”

But before he could transfer, Johnson still had some games to play, as Oregon was selected to play in the National Invitation Tournament. Their first-round game was against Utah State in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

As the Ducks’ bus drove up the hill to the Spectrum, Johnson’s teammates asked him, “What in the world is there to do” in Utah? Johnson thought about the things he missed in his home state.

“There’s a lot more than you think,” Johnson thought. “I would enjoy this place way more than living in Eugene.”

The Ducks beat the Aggies, and Johnson had two points and an offensive rebound in the four minutes he played. However, the atmosphere of the Spectrum might have been one of Johnson’s biggest takeaways.

“It was really cool to be able toget a feel of what it would be like for me to play here,” Johnson said. “To seehow supportive the fans were, no matter win or loss.”

Oregon was bounced in their next game by Texas A&M, ending Johnson’s freshman season. He entered the transfer portal and sought a place wherehe would feel more at home.

Beehive Belonging

After entering the portal, Johnson garnered national attention with bothpowerhouse Gonzaga and Stanford offering him a scholarship, but he narrowed his focus to the big three schools in Utah: Brigham Young, Utah State

and Utah.

“I wanted to come back to Utah because it’s where I fit,” Johnson said. “I can get along with anybody anywhere, but it’s just a lot easier for me to be successful in my life when I have some other comforts.”

After deciding where he wanted to play, Johnson needed to find the program he best fit with. He talked with head coach Ryan Odom and met some future teammates, then selected Utah State.

“Finding a safe landing spot, like Utah State or any of the other in-state schools would have provided him, is a positive thing,” Odom said. “We’re just happy that he’s here. He’s seven feet, tremendous skill. His game is continuing to improve each and every day.”

Depth in the post is especially important to the Aggies in the Mountain West Conference, a league that has big men like Graham Ike and Nathan Mensah now, and has produced players like Andrew Bogut, Jason Smith and Larry Nance Jr. in the past.

“You have to have size,” Odom said. “If you want to win at the highest level, you have to have size.”

In addition to a group of teammates Johnson felt would lift him up in an environment where he would be comfortable, Johnson would be able to continue a family legacy.

Back in the 1960s, Johnson’s grandfather, Ronald Johnson, tried out for the basketball team. After one day of tryouts, he knew he wouldn’t make it, but during the experience, he was able to play against Aggie legend

PHOTO BY Sam Warner

Trevin Dorius, Isaac Johnson and Taylor Funk huddle up during the Utah Tech game on Dec. 1.

Wayne Estes and talk with him. It’s an experience he still talks about today.

In the 1980s, Johnson’s father Darren played two seasons for the Aggies before transferring to Snow College.

Now, Johnson and his brother Spencer, a guard at BYU, are both Division I basketball players in Utah wearing the number 20 on their jerseys.

Redshirt Resoluteness

For this season, Utah State has the depth they need at center with Trevin Dorius and Szymon Zapala. Additionally, forward Dan Akin can also reliably defend bigs.

“The frontcourt is kind of stacked right now,” Odom said.

That left Odom with a big decision to make for his squad leading up to this season. Despite transferring

Johnson from a Power Five school, Odom met with him and explained how Johnson would be better utilized if he could save a year of eligibility and develop more during a redshirt season.

It wasn’t what Johnson thought would happen.

“My expectation of transferring was that I would be able to come here and play,” Johnson said. “What’s happened is that I’m redshirting this year, but I’m not mad about it. I’m completely at peace with the fact that this year will be a big progression year for me both bodywise and skill-wise.”

Redshirting can be tough for college athletes. They agree to not play and focus on their personal development while their teammates shine on the court. It requires dedication and a selfless attitude, but that is what Johnson is willing to do.

“I’m willing to keep on working to make bigger and better roles for myself and my teammates,” Johnson said. “As of right now, I’m excited to make everybody better every single day in practice.”

With that in mind, it makes sense to preserve Johnson’s eligibility and allow him to focus his time and energy on improvement in practice, the weight room and the kitchen.

“I just want to show up and improve, and try my hardest to be my best each day,” Johnson said. “My weights workouts look a lot different than the guys who are playing. We’re doing full-body workouts, lots of reps for more sets with heavier weight. And really working on making sure my diet is getting better, because that’s something I definitely need to work on.”

Johnson’s father said even though the redshirt season will be hard, he thinks it will be worth it.

“I think this redshirt year will be good for him to kind of get his feet under him (and) feel like he belongs again,” Darren said.

Even though Isaac Johnson likely won’t see the court this season, he wants fans to know his hard work will pay off.

“I may not make a massive impact this year on the court in front of the fans, but there’s still years to come,” Johnson said.

For now, Aggie fans can see Johnson on the bench pumping the crowd after monster dunks and huddling around his teammates during timeouts. He’s preparing his time to shine in front of one of the “craziest crowds” he’s ever seen.

Jake Ellis is a senior studying journalism. When he’s not covering the Aggies, Jake questions the sanity of the marketing team that developed “Pilk and Cookies.”

PHOTO BY Sam Warner

Isaac Johnson warms up during the Utah Tech game on Dec. 1.

Kate Smith is a wildlife ecology student. She enjoys being outdoors and taking photos. Her favorite bird is a peregrine falcon.

Grant helps USU students pay for child care

Child care is expensive, but there is a program that can help USU students pay for care. The Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program provides subsidies to qualified students to help them pay for child care while they attend classes and study. It is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education that is intended to help low income college students access quality care for their children.

For approved students, subsidies pay 20%100% of regular monthly child care costs directly to the care provider. Students must be receiving care from providers that are state-licensed and nationally accredited or working toward national accreditation. There is a list of providers that currently work with the program on the CCAMPIS website. Students who receive care from a state-licensed provider that is not on the list may apply for a subsidy; the provider will be contacted about working with the CCAMPIS program.

To be eligible for subsidies, students must be in good academic standing and enrolled for credit at USU for the semester that they apply to CCAMPIS. There is not a minimum number of required credit hours; full- and part-time students can receive subsidies. Due to the nature of the grant funding, priority is given to students who are Pell-grant eligible.

CCAMPIS is currently accepting applications for the spring 2023 semester for students attending the USU Logan, Brigham City, Eastern, and Blanding campuses. The application includes questions about USU enrollment status and household income; documentation is required. Students can learn more about CCAMPIS or apply for a subsidy on the CCAMPIS website https://www.usu.edu/ccampis/.

Anne Brown-Reither has been the been the CCAMPIS project manager since 2019.

— anne.reither@usu.edu

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