advocatetheApril 6, 2012 Volume 47, Issue 22

6666 Rainouts a common problem for MHCC Rainouts a common problem for MHCC baseball baseball

2222 Revisiting Japan a year after the 2011 Revisiting Japan a year after the 2011 earthquakeearthquake

www.Advocate-Online.net

Gresham, OregonMt. Hood Community College

It’s more than just a holePhoto by John Tkebuchava/� e Advocate

Above: Electrical construction continued Wednesday, east of the 1400s classroom area. Construction began March 12 and is estimated to continue until June.

by Tiarnan FortesThe Advocate

The MHCC campus is now undergoing a $3 million electrical system replacement project that runs from Stark Street to Northeast 17th Street.

Construction began March 12 and according to Paul Dunlap, the manager of cap-ital construction projects, only three parts of the campus — fi sheries, the baseball fi elds, and the Early Childhood Center — will not be affected by the work.

Two years ago, water leaked into a hole between the College Center and the Visual Arts Gallery and caused a problem with the high voltage electrical system. According to Dick Byers, director of facilities, the weather has not been a problem since the leak.

The new electrical system is being built parallel to the old system so that the school does not have shut down. A majority of the work is done underground using machines.

Byers said, “(There are) hundreds of feet of wiring. It’s a big problem because without replacing this old system, we (have) the potential for catastrophe that could close the college for months.”

Byers said the 2010 failure was due to “dilapidated equipment” and added that the wiring had “outlived its intended useful life.” According to Dunlap, systems have a 40-year life span as the copper in electrical wires degrades over time.

Byers said a loan was taken by MHCC to pay for the construction. Dunlap is in charge of the project and Jennifer Dement, the director of fi nance, is in charge of the fi nances for the project.

Dunlap said the infrastructure is now being built. Dunlap said the construction in-cludes three levels of construction, including excavation, boring and electrician work.

Construction continued over spring break and on March 26 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., there was a power shut down in the Early Childhood Center (ECC) in order to work on one of the construction sites.

Concrete demolition and excavation also occurred near the 1300 through 1700 classroom areas.

Projected completion of the project is June 20.

Photo by Shelby Schwartz/� e Advoccate

Above: Construction work was done over spring break between the College Center and the Visual Arts � eater.

Replacing the electrical system will cost $3

million and is projected to be completed by

June 20

Notice: Sunday is the fi nal day to drop a course with a

full refund.

See Attendance on page 8.

by Jeff HannigThe Advocate

MHCC teachers are to sub-mit student attendance records for the fi rst week of school or students may not be eligible for fi nancial aid.

According to Administra-tive Regulation AR-7080-B: “The refund deadline is the seventh calendar day of the term (or the equivalent for non-standard length classes). Tuition and fee charges will be removed from classes dropped by the refund deadline and the classes will not be recorded on the MHCC tran-script.”

This new procedure is an at-tempt to make the awarding of fi nancial aid more effi cient and accurate, said Peggy Maas, MHCC’s director of admissions, registration and records.

This is the fi rst term in which the school is enforcing its new policy. “Last term was a pilot ses-sion,” said Maas.

Some students may have no-ticed their teachers being extra diligent about their attendance recording efforts in this fi rst week of the spring term. Quiz taking, student participation or the old-fashioned roll call are all examples of acceptable forms of student participation/atten-dance listed on a handout mailed to part-time faculty members.

As for distance learning class-es, also known as online classes, students are asked to do more than just logging in: a student must be active in an online dis-cussion about academic matters, or by initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a course-related question.

Students who are not present for the fi rst week of class or make insuffi cient contributions in their distance learning discussions may be dropped from the class and “this could reduce a

Financial aid now linked to attendance

2 opinionadvocate

the

April 6, 2012

Editor-in-ChiefJill-Marie Gavin

Associate EditorsJohn Tkebuchava & Mike Mata

Sports EditorChanel Hill

Living Arts EditorDavid Gambill

Assistant Living Arts EditorKylie Rogers

Mt. Hood Community College26000 SE Stark Street

Gresham, Oregon 97030

E-mail advocatt@mhcc.edu

www.advocate-online.net

503-491-7250 (Main)

503-491-7413 (Offi ce)

503-591-6064 (Fax)

Dan Ernst

Lisa Marie Morgan

Bob Watkins

SubmissionsThe Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by

letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission.

Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board.

The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length.

Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print.

Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily refl ect those of The Advocate or MHCC.

the advocateOpinion EditorShelby Schwartz

Copy EditorsKylie Rogers & Yuca Kosugi

Photo EditorRiley Hinds

Web EditorJohn Tkebuchava

Web DesignerLogan Scott

Leah Emura

Tiarnan Fortes

Jeff Hannig

Laura Knudson

Shaun Lutz

Dorothy Ocacio

Kayla Tatum

Reporters

Advisers

Editorial

Finishing a degree in two years may be harder than one thought

by Yuca KosugiThe Advocate

When the earthquake shook the northeastern coast of Japan in March 2011, I was competing in a swim meet near Seattle.

For more than a year, I watched helplessly from my safe, comfort-able home on this side of the Pa-cifi c Ocean as the tsunami fl attened towns, aftershocks shook for months,

and the nuclear meltdown frightened the world.There are as many different stories about what hap-

pened that day as there are people who were affected.All my relatives live in Japan and I had the opportu-

nity to visit Japan over spring break. During my short stay, my mother and I were able to visit a coastal town affected by the tsunami, and took a day to participate on a volunteer bus that left from Sendai to where we cleaned

a strawberry fi eld in Yamamoto that was cluttered with debris left by the tsunami.

On the bullet train to and from Sendai, I noticed that we passed through Fukushima but did not stop there. Fu-kushima is the location of the nuclear meltdown. There is no way that the bullet train passes by a large city like Fu-kushima by coincidence. Every time I watched the news, they included something about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and radioactivity.

Visiting KamaishiAn old family friend showed us around Kamaishi, a

small coastal city fl attened by the tsunami. She grew up in Kamaishi and her in-laws lived there until the earth-quake hit.

She lives in Hanamaki now, which is more inland and out of the reach of the tsunami. However, she still recounts clutching to her mother and three dogs in her home while the 9.0 earthquake shook violently for about

fi ve minutes. Luckily, everyone in her family was all right.

Her in-laws now live in temporary housing but re-ally have nowhere to go. They would like to rebuild their house, but people in many of the affected coastal towns are not permitted to build houses until the government decides the area is relatively safe from another earth-quake or tsunami.

We also paid a brief visit to the temporary housing to see how her in-laws were doing. My mother —who on a recent trip in the United States visited the Manzanar Japanese internment camp in California — said that the houses seemed eerily similar.

Despite that, the old couple seemed cheerful and chatted away, although the local dialect kept me from understanding most of what they were saying. One thing I understood clearly was that the grandpa said, “We ran while being yelled at by our grandson.”

Spring term is the beginning of the end for MHCC students gradu-ating from their programs as sum-mer term approaches.

For other students, this is not the case. Even though they may have been here for the two years that many people assume it takes to earn a community college de-gree, they still have further to go.

If you’re wondering why this is, it isn’t such a simple question. Asked how many students grad-uate within the two-year time frame, Peggy Maas, the manager of admissions, registrations and records, gave a somewhat complex answer.

Maas said, “I know you want me to give a percentage or exact num-ber of how many students gradu-ate in the two-year period but we don’t have that information.” She said the college must prepare an annual report for the federal gov-ernment that tracks the number of students each year who graduate in 150 to 200 percent of the catalog time, or three to four years.

“We don’t count and report the students who complete degrees in two years because they just don’t do it,” Maas said

This is an interesting fact consid-ering the term “two-year school” and “community college” have become synonymous in everyday conversation. Perhaps this has be-come the case because referring to a community college as a three-year or four-year school is too dreary of a thought for students.

Another question one may pose is, why aren’t students completing their studies in two years?

Data Analyst Ray Christner added some insight when he said, “It’s hard to track when students begin because they often start out in skill building before migrating to an actual program. For those who are in programs we can tell the time frame because they go through a locked step.”

Every term, new students ar-rive on campus to begin the next step of their educational journey, but many students don’t know where they are going to end up. For some, general prerequisites and random classes of interest fi ll their schedules. After some serious soul searching and increasing ex-perimentation, a specifi c program might catch their eye. After declar-ing a major and entering a specifi c program, a student’s progress can be more accurately tracked.

With most degrees requiring 90-plus credits, a program can be fi nished in eight terms if a student is taking 12 credits per term. This would require a student to take summer term classes in each year.

The schedule of an average stu-dent oftentimes includes a part- or full-time job as well as a demand-ing family or home life; this often adds time to how long it will take to complete a program.

That extra time that a student might need to complete their de-gree can be very discouraging. As a student enters their eighth or

ninth term and sees that they are behind by the guidelines estab-lished by DARS or the catalog, it is understandable for them to feel discouragement.

These students can feel as though they’re in academic pur-gatory, seeing others graduating and moving on from the “two-year school” they’ve been attending for three or more years and it can be painful.

But The Advocate would like to remind students that while spend-ing those few extra years or couple terms at MHCC may seem like a stressful experience, they should appreciate the fact that every cred-it spent here is dollars saved that would have otherwise been spent at a four-year university.

This is especially signifi cant if you are a student who isn’t sure of what career path they want to take yet still want to take that step to further their education.

Why head straight to a univer-sity without any plan or idea of what degree you will be working toward when you could attend MHCC, see what options are available to you, and save a couple thousand dollars in the process?

As such, students shouldn’t think of MHCC as a “two-year” school, but rather as a college they can attend at their own pace while still being productive without having to take out loan af-ter loan to pay for ever-increasing

tuition costs. After all, no one wants to be

stuck being bombarded with Sal-lie Mae voicemails for decades to come.

Student gives insight to the Japan earthquakes one year later

“In how many years do you plan

to finish your degree at MHCC?”

Two years

Three years

Four or more years

Student Feedback:

We will be printing the re-sults of our weekly student polls in the following weeks paper on the Opinion page.

Free speech zone

www.Advocate-Online.net

Give us your answer and leave us a comment about your degree process at

See Aftermath on page 3

advocatethe

April 6, 2012

opinion 3

• Kyoto

• Tokyo

•

•

• Kamaishi

9.0 magnitude March 11, 2011

Fukushima

Sendai

• Hanamaki

• Sapporo

•Osaka

He explained that a lot of the older neighbors shrugged off the tsunami warning and he never saw them again.

The grandson was visiting on the day of the earthquake during a break from college. He had planned to leave earlier that day but decided to stay a little longer. Then the earthquake hit. Im-mediately after, he urged his grandparents to evacuate to higher grounds with him, which may have been the difference between life and death for the old couple.

What happened later seemed almost apoca-lyptic to me. Destroyed towns were left with no running water or electricity and severe supply shortages. Despite praise from around the world about the lack of looting, there was still petty dis-crimination and bullying between people who lost their homes and people who didn’t. Some people and organizers refused to share supplies with people whose houses were not destroyed, despite the fact they were almost as equally de-prived of food and supplies as the others.

Volunteering in YamamotoThere were about 35 people on the bus who

signed up to volunteer that day. Since it was also spring break in Japan, there were a few students despite it being a weekday. People gathered from all over Japan, from a man who actually grew up in Yamamoto, where the volunteer bus was going, to people traveling from Kyushu and us from overseas.

The task was not glorious by any means. Al-though the soil was soft to dig, hours upon hours of just putting our heads down to dig and remove rubble turned out to be a physically strenuous job. Even with a whole busload of volunteers, we were only able to comb through about half of one fi eld, out of many more, in a day.

Most of the rubble we found were parts of greenhouses, like the plastic covering and metal beams. Once in a while we would come across more personal items like socks, toys and pictures. It was hard not to wonder what happened to the boy in the picture or the owner of the socks. At the end of the day, the owner of the strawberry fi eld came to thank us in person.

He had been working on building new green-houses at a different part of his farm that day and looked battered. It was clear he was very grate-ful for the work and explained that he had only recently started recovering his fi elds recently due to restrictions. Because it has been more than a year, people who are evacuated from the area are starting to forget about the problems resulting in insuffi cient and ineffi cient recovery.

But who is to blame? I admit that I do not worry nearly as much about the people who were affected by the Haiti earthquake in 2010, or in the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, or Hurricane Katrina in 2005 right here in the United States. It is easy to become consumed in the day-to-day routine of one’s own life and forget about the struggles of entire communities, especially if they are far away.

A volunteer combs through a strawberry � eld with shovels and waste bags in Yamamoto, a city in the Miyagi prefecture. � e mound in the background is a pile of rubble, and many of these piles can be found around towns that were a� ected by the tsunami.

Aftermath: Continued from page 2

Help still needed a year after disaster

MAP ofJAPAN

A temple at a cemetery in Kamaishi was washed away by the tsunami. Statues of Buddha and other artifacts were gathered back to where the building stood.

Top and bottom: Battered buildings still stand around the oceanside cities, like these in Kamaishi. Buildings marked with an “x,” like in the photo on the top, are planned to be demolished.

Photos by Yuca Kosugi/� e Advocate

•Yamamoto

4 living artsadvocate

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April 6, 2012

On Campus Feature

Your weekly reason to stand up and hit the streets

April 9

April 11

April 10

April 12 The American Sign Language Club will present the 2010 documentary “See What I’m Saying” in the Visual Arts Theater. Directed by Hilari Scarl, who will be in attendance, the �ilm is about four deaf entertainers trying to reach mainstream audiences. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. for the Diversity Month event; entrance is free for MHCC students with ID and $5 for general admission. A Q&A will be held with Scarl after the movie.

New York disco artist Penguin Prison (Chris Glover) brings his melodies to the Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave., Portland. Doors open at 7 p.m. Swedish indie pop band Miike Snow will also perform. Tickets for the 21 and older show are $25 and are available at Ticketswest.com.

The Swift Lounge, 1932 NE Broadway, Portland, will show “Back to the Future 3” as its Monday night movie. Admission is free for the 21 and over event. For more information, visit swiftloungepdx.com.

“Choosing Sides,” the second of a �ive-part reading and discussion series called “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War,” with scholar Richard Etulain, will be presented at the Portland Central Library, 801 SW 10th Ave., Portland, from 6 to 8 p.m. The free event is about the legacy of the Civil War.

April 13“Blue Like Jazz,” a movie about a religious college sophomore from Texas on a self-discovery journey who decides to attend the progressive Oregon school Reed College, opens in national theaters today. The movie is based on the book “Blue Like Jazz” by Portland resident Don Miller.

Café TuesdaysOn fi ve Tuesdays this spring, the Hospitality and Tourism

program will roll out a full service café in the MHCC Jazz Café. This week’s menu includes a salad with craisins, hazel-nuts, gorgonzola cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette, a pota-to-crusted salmon and a mushroom and asparagus risotto,. Meal purchases can be ordered individually or customers can select one of the three entrée choices, a salad and a dessert for $10. Seats are available from 11:30 a.m. to noon and fi ll up quickly. The other Tuesdays are April 24, May 8, May 22 and June 5. For reservations, call 503-491-7230 or e-mail htrpt@mhcc.edu.

by Kylie RogersThe Advocate

Twenty-one year-old music major Mark McSpadden, in his third year at MHCC, joined Genesis in winter term of his fi rst year after director Dave Barduhn ex-tended the invitation to him.

McSpadden said he didn’t begin to take music seriously until his freshman year in high school despite having been involved with music when he was a child.

He said he took piano lessons when he was 5 or 6 years old but, he added, “(his piano instructor) wasn’t my favorite person.”

In general, McSpadden works as the men’s section leader in Genesis, he said.

“It’s a bit of a commitment. I have to fi nd times for everyone to meet up (to rehearse.) Some people learn music differently so you have to tailor what you’re doing to them,” said McSpadden.

Although the men’s section consists of bass and tenor singers, McSpadden tends to focus on the bass. “I am a bass,” he said.

“A lot of times, sectionals aren’t ideal with bass and tenors together. At the same time, it has its benefi ts but it also has its drawbacks,” said McSpadden.

On top of class rehearsals Monday through Thursday, with an occasional rehearsal Friday, students schedule rehearsals outside of class typically at a house or an apartment, he said.

“It’s diffi cult music we learn. We have to put in quite a lot of practice,” said McSpadden.

McSpadden said he tries to do at least 15 hours a week of Genesis practice – eight in class and at least seven on his own time.

Genesis has also put McSpadden’s childhood piano skills to use.

When he came to Mt. Hood, “I was not good at piano. I had let my skills decay,” said McSpadden.

He took piano courses on campus. “The classes were able to keep me on my toes, or on my fi ngers – that’s better,” he said.

“Playing piano as a section leader helps. It forces me to read music at (tempo). You keep soldiering on whether or not you make a mistake,” he said.

“Music spoke to me but it also frustrated me quite a bit – in a good way. It never came naturally, it’s always been some-thing I’ve had to work for,” said McSpadden about what in-spires him, adding that it’s addicting to keep throwing himself at it and seeing what happens.

Outside of Genesis, McSpadden still partakes in music. He plays “a little guitar” and works seasonally with the Dickens Carolers, a professional caroling group in Portland.

When he isn’t in class, playing music or working, he says he likes to play video games and describes himself as a “movie buff.”

After McSpadden completes his degree, he said he would like to sing opera in Germany.

“Germany is the hotbed (of opera). Even if I don’t make it to Germany, there are other places to perform and hopefully make a living,” he said.

Students, faculty and the community can see McSpadden perform in Genesis on April 13, followed by the Jeff Baker Quartet in the Visual Arts Theater. Tickets are $10 for students and $15 for general admission.

Student plays piano and sings for MHCC’s Genesis

Tickets for the MHCC spring plays, “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams and “The Underpants” by Carl Sternheim, are now available by calling the MHCC Performing Arts Box Offi ce, 503-491-7154. or by e-mail at tickets@mhcc.edu. Advance tickets are $8 for general admission and $3 for students and seniors. “The Glass Me-nagerie” runs April 26-28 and “The Underpants” runs May 10-12. Show times for all nights are 7:30 p.m. Both plays will be held in the Studio Theater, Room AC1118.

Tickets for spring plays

Photo provided by the Hospitality and Tourism program

On Campus Briefs

Photo by Kylie Rogers/� e Advocate

Music major Mark McSpadden practices vocals in the practice room of the music department � ursday. McSpadden practices in front of a miror to help notice bad habits and work on his technical abilites.

advocatethe

April 6, 2012

living arts 5 Off Campus CD Review

APPLY EARLY — get money on time

If you need financial aid by the start of the

academic terms:

File the FAFSA by these dates:

You must also complete all MHCC paperwork by the following deadlines:

Summer Term As soon after Jan. 1 as possible April 1

Fall Term April 1 — earlier if possible July 1

Winter Term July 1 — earlier if possible October 1

Spring Term Nov. 1 — earlier if possible February 1

1. File your FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) online for faster processing (fafsa.gov). 2. Check MyMHCC regularly for your application status and turn in required documents promptly. 3. If you missed deadlines, financial aid will not be available until after the start of the term. 4. Students are served first-come, first-served for fairness - do not ask for exceptions unless the College made a clear error in your file completion date. This will help us serve you and all students faster!

Remember: It can take up to 12 weeks for your financial aid to be ready after you file your FAFSA!

TIPS:

CA

1581

by Mike MataThe Advocate

As evidenced by the music video for “Dream of 1890s” seen on “Portlandia” last season, Portlanders seem to be tickled by all things that look or sound old or nostalgic while

still being hip. Portland-based folk singer-songwriter M. Ward’s lat-

est album, “A Wasteland Companion”, to be released Tuesday, fi ts into this category nicely, a fi nely constructed ode to all that is good about folk music while still main-taining a modern edge.

“A Wasteland Companion” follows Ward’s 2009 “Hold Time,” which was known for its cover “Rave On!” by Buddy Holly. Like other M. Ward albums, one can fi nd the silky smooth tones of actress, songstress and all-around cutie-pie Zooey Deschanel, the she of music group She & Him, with Ward playing the part of him.

The album begins with the track “Clean Slate,” a slow-picked acoustic introduction to all that is M. Ward: a soft yet powerful song tinged with a melancholy and nostal-gia that is ever-present in Ward’s velvety-rasp of a voice. However, it does seem to be over before one can really get into the song. This happens in the following track “Primitive Girl” as well, mostly because no song on the album is four minutes or longer, the closest being 3:42.

However, the third track, “Me and My Shadow,” kicks up the tempo a few beats and benefi ts from it. While most of the album has an introspective-inducing slow tempo, this track takes a more bluesy approach one might hear on a Black Keys album. Paired with Ward’s rasp, it’s a delight to hear.

Deschanel lends her particular talents on the track “Sweetheart” and the whole song fi ts the title nicely, a short and sweet piece that just sounds like an old happy

country duet.The following track, “I Get Ideas,” a song more or less

based on infatuation and a somewhat lustful attraction, takes the country-feel of the album onward further into delight. It incorporates a female vocalist that sounds like Deschanel but could be any other of the frequent guest artists on Ward’s previous albums. Much like “Sweet-heart,” it’s short and to the point and that simplicity goes a long way toward making the album fun to listen to.

“The First Time I Ran Away” takes the tempo down again and relies more on the folksy-storytelling that sounds nice but is not very dynamic. Coming after three fast and fun, albeit shorter, songs, it’s a nice transition.

The next track follows the lead of “The First Time I Ran Away,” but when one gets to “Watch The Show”, Ward gets somewhat darker, with a Jack White-esque

feel on a longer song. It takes after The White Stripes’ “The Hardest Button to Button,” with a haunting wall of sound guitar backing Ward’s vocals. For variety’s sake, this song is easily the most different and one of the better songs on the album.

Ward’s rasp reaches its peak on “Crawl After You,” a piano and percussion piece with a little string ac-cent in there for good measure. The mix makes such a pleasing steady sonic swirl as to complement the more country-infused tracks.

The album fi nishes with the song “Pure Joy,” a nice bookend to the album that began with a guitar-picking song that frames Ward’s voice nicely. There is a slight-ly more gospel feel to this song, which is nice as it adds a touch of contrast and some variety.

Overall, the album is a good one. The musicians do a good job of making an easily digestible song that serves to highlight the silky sandpaper of Ward’s voice. The only problem there is that too many of the songs are alike and therefore can lull the listener into not pay-ing much attention to the individual songs. Sure, there are some changes when the tempo changes or Ward switches from the country feel to the bluesy feel.

The best songs on the album would end up being “Me And My Shadow,” “I Get Ideas,” “Watch The Show” and “Crawl After You.” Each track showcases the differences in the album and can sum it up nicely.

One might consider buying the full album when it comes out next week or they might choose to buy the songs. Fans of Ward ought to buy the full album, as they will not be let down if they’ve enjoyed his previ-ous work. However, the new or casual listener ought to just stick to the four aforementioned tracks. They showcase the best of album and portray the kind of music M. Ward makes. Either way, folks, mark your calendars.

Portland-based songwriter creates album � lled with rasp and “Pure Joy”

6 sportsadvocate

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April 6, 2012

“This meet was at the end of spring break and was challenging to say the least.”Matt Hart, head track and � eld coach

Track combats strong winds and academic ineligibilityby John Tkebuchava

The Advocate

Strong winds proved as much an adversary to MHCC’s track and fi eld team as any competitor March 30-31 as the team competed at the Willamette Invite at Willamette University in Salem.

Conditions were far from ideal at the meet, with the athletes having to battle strong winds which not only hindered performances of athletes, but convinced meet offi cials to run some of the sprints in the opposite direc-tion on the track in order to run with the wind rather than against it.

“There was a pretty aggressive wind at the meet and Willamette University decided to run with the wind. This helped with the sprint races as there were some very fast times,“ said head track and fi eld coach Matt Hart.

“Our school record in the men’s 100m occurred at University of Oregon under very similar conditions where U of O ran the race with the wind to the competi-tors back. There was a howling wind and our guy ended up running 10.37 in 2003,” he said.

To add to the misfortune, the track and fi eld team had to compete without nine athletes on the men’s side due to academic ineligibility.

In previous meets, ineligible athletes have been al-lowed to run unattached until they could become eli-gible again after winter term.

Despite the conditions and the loss of the ineligible athletes, several Saints and relay teams placed in their event.

Standout performances include a third-place fi nish by the women’s 4x100 meter team, consisting of sopho-mores Stephanie Anthony, Amy Kegler, Terra Zodrow and freshman Molly Scoles (49.71).

Sophomore Stephanie Anthony placed sec-ond in the long jump (4.84 meters), freshman Kait-lin Doyle placed third in the shot put (10.79 meters) and also placed fourth in the discus (39.16 meters).

On the men’s side, freshman Jacob Troupe was the sole fi rst- place fi nisher on the team, taking the top spot in the

long jump (6.32 meters). Fellow freshman jumper Chris Un placed second in the triple jump (13.37 meters).

“This meet was at the end of spring break and was challenging to say the least,” said Hart.

“We had a few dedicated individuals who commit-ted to practicing through the break while we had several people who showed up intermittently, if at all,” he said.

“The performances were indicative of the practice.”Regarding the nine ineligible athletes, Hart said that

although the men’s side had taken a hit, the women’s team has actually grown.

“Eligibility was great for the women. We gained two women from winter to spring. Not the same story for the men. We lost nine men to eligibility. A few of those were guys who had already fl ipped out or fl aked out but a few were surprises,” he said.

With eligibility questions now resolved, for better or for worse, Hart said, “Our teams are now what they will be for the rest of the season.”

Hart said he hopes his athletes will perform to their fullest this weekend at the Shotwell Classic. “I am hop-ing all our student-athletes will do their best and com-pete well,” he said.

The Shotwell Classic will be Saturday at the Univer-sity of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash.

Photo contributed by Matt Hart

Freshmen Douglas Sudberry competing in the 100-meter run at the Wil-lamette Invite, where he ran a personal best of 10.97 seconds.

Upcoming MEETS

Shotwell ClassicUniversity of Puget Sound

Baker Stadium

Sat. April 7 Tacoma, Wash

Fri. Apr 13 John Knight Twilight InviteWestern Oregon University

McArthur Stadium

Monmouth

by Shaun LutzThe Advocate

Few sports are as weather sensitive as baseball and in Oregon, since the season starts in March, consistency in a team’s schedule is hard to come by.

The Mt. Hood Saints had yet another game postponed Tuesday as their home game against Lane Community College was rained out. The rain also postponed their last scheduled game over spring break against Linn-Benton CC from March 31 to April 5, then postponed again to April 19.

Although it wasn’t detrimental to the team’s progress, time on the fi eld is valuable, especially this early in the season.

Rainouts are not surprising to any ball-player who has spent time in Oregon. But with so many happen-ing at the beginning of the year, it is sometimes hard to see so many games either pushed back or outright cancelled.

To cope with all the rain, the Saints use the gymna-sium for a majority of their practices. “We’ve only been able to get on the fi eld a handful of times since January,” said Coach Bryan Donohue, who has been with the pro-gram since 2007.

Donohue and his staff are still fi nding a way to stay positive while enduring the rain — and even some snow-fall last month. He said the postponements and cancella-tions don’t have a drastic impact on his players, nor does it weigh down the pitching staff. “The rainouts just com-pact our schedule,” he said.

“With our depth, it works in our favor knowing we

have eight or nine guys we can send out there to get the job done for us,” Donahue said about the pitching staff.

After a 29-13 record last season — best in the Southern Region of the NWAACCs — anticipation is high coming into this year. But Mother Nature is making it diffi cult for the Saints to gain any type of rhythm or momentum.

Regarding the condition of the Saints home turf, Naslund Field, Donohue said that discussions have oc-curred about leveling and resurfacing the outfi eld for better drainage.

He also said turf vendors have been contacted to pos-sibly renovate the entire fi eld to become artifi cial, making it playable year round. But artifi cial turf is far from cheap to install and expensive to main-tain.

While MHCC still has the traditional dirt base paths, dirt mound, and grass on the infi eld and the outfi eld, the team has to make sure they have

all the necessary equipment and the right amount of soil to upkeep the fi eld. Puddles don’t go away by raking through them.

Donohue emphasized that his team and the staff do everything they can to make the fi eld playable through the rainy Oregon spring, as the Saints try to repeat as Southern Region champions for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.

The Saints next game is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. when they will travel to Salem for a double-header again Chemeketa CC. The forecast shows mostly clouds, with a low probability of rainfall, giving the Saints an op-portunity for their fi rst game since March 25.

On March 25 the Saints swept the Blue Mountain Tim-

berwolves on the road in a double header, defeating them 6-4 in game one and 7-6 in game two.

“With our depth, it works in our favor knowing we have eight or nine guys we can send out there to get the job

done for us,”

- Bryan Donohue

Saints head baseball coach

Rainy weather throws Saints baseball schedule o� course

Photo by Shaun Lutz

� e Mt. Hood baseball � eld remains covered to avoid puddles on the � eld

SOFTBALL UPDATE

Despite rough weather conditions, the Saints softball team competed over the break, stringing together wins through the rain and mud.

The Saints, who were ranked 4th in the Alas-ka Airlines coaches poll March 21, recently went 2-2 at the West Inter-Region Tournament March 24 and 25.

Please visit:

www.TheAdvocate-online.net for the rest of this story.

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April 6, 2012

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Use social media? The Advocate does. /TheAdvocateOnline @mhccadvocate

News BriefsA small fi lm crew followed a pro-

spective student on campus March 12 and March 23 for the documentary “American Winter.”

The crew has been following 25 families in the Portland metro area. They are fi lming the families through the economic downturn during their “highs and lows,” according to Lisanne Hara, the fi lm’s production

manager.The fi lm is in conjunction with the

social service, 211info. Hara said, “Social Security is being

cut every day when the need couldn’t be greater.”

She said the purpose of the fi lm is “to shine a light on people on the frontlines.”

Director Harry Gantz, who is co-

directing and producing the docu-mentary with his brother Joe Gantz, declined to comment on the fi lm until its release this summer.

Director of Communications Mag-gie Huffman approved the fi lming campus and declined an interview.

MHCC students in the back-ground of the footage were asked to sign consent forms.

Career and job fair will be held on campus next week

Attendance: Continued from page 1

by Jill-Marie GavinThe Advocate

A proposal to add a networking and cy-ber security degree will be presented at the MHCC District board meeting Wednesday.

Computer information systems instruc-tor Wayne Machuca, who is helping to de-sign the curriculum, said the cyber security proposal refers to a new degree that may be available at MHCC in the fall. He said the program is the result of an increase in nation-wide cyber attacks that prompted The Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative.

In the 2008 a 10-part cyber security initia-tive was established. The initiative is posted on the White House website, www.white-house.gov. Initiative eight is titled “Expand cyber education.” In the description of initia-tive eight, the document says, “In order to ef-fectively ensure our continued technical ad-vantage and future cybersecurity, we must develop a technologically-skilled and cyber-savvy workforce and an effective pipeline of future employees.”

Machuca said, “A component of this ini-tiative is for college education programs, and the National Security Association has granted funding for training at a community college level.”

He also said when MHCC begins this program, “it will be the fi rst in Oregon and we will be the only center of academic ex-cellence as a two-year institution.” He said, “There is a certifi cation that NSA will grant a school once they’ve met specifi c guide-lines, which includes hundreds of points. Once completed the certifi cation will allow MHCC to market itself as a center for aca-demic excellence.”

Machuca said information systems in-structor Paul Morris is working on obtaining the academic excellence certifi cation.

Asked what specifi c outcomes students should expect upon completion of the pro-gram, Machuca said, “A lot of people think of cyber security as a homeland security is-sue, and it is, but what Paul and I are doing is taking all of the components of cyber se-curity and making them appropriate to busi-nesses in our community.

“MHCC has a strong business orienta-tion, especially when it comes to medical practices. We are adjusting the curriculum to teach students skills used at a national level and breaking them down to help pro-tect technology in rural business and medi-cal clinics.”

The program is in the “notice of intent” stage with the State of Oregon and Machuca said the school expects the program to be ap-proved over the summer, which would make the program available by fall 2012.

Asked of his hopes for the new degree, Machuca said, “We need cyber warriors to defend us. This program will help train them.”

Rod Barker, dean of business and infor-mation systems, is scheduled to present the program proposal at the 6 p.m. board meet-ing 11 Wednesday.

Cyber Security to be presented at MHCC Board meeting

Students, alumni and community members are invited to attend the Ca-reer and Job Fair at Mt. Hood Com-munity College Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the campus gym.

The fair will give job seekers a chance to network with local employ-ers and apply for positions and in-ternships.

Workshops on Monday will be open to prepare for the fair: Career Fair Success from 10:10 to 11 a.m. and 2:10 to 3 p.m. in Room AC1152, and Resume Writing from 3 to 5 p.m. in Room AC3333.

FedEx Ground of Troutdale is sponsoring the event hosted by MHCC, WorkSource Portland Metro East and the Gresham Chamber of Commerce.

Employers scheduled to be on hand include AAA Oregon, Fred Mey-er, KGW Media Group, KOIN Local 6, Madden Industrial Craftsmen, Micro-chip Technology, ON Semiconductor, The Boeing Company, Oregon Trades-women Inc., Pioneer Pacifi c College, TriMet and US Bank. For a complete list and updates along with events and times, visit mhcc.edu/jobfair.

There will be resources available from several agencies, such as Work-Source Portland Metro East, Child Care Resource and Referral, and a va-riety of MHCC departments including the Career Planning and Counseling Center, Small Business Development Center and Student Outreach and Re-cruitment.

People with disabilities requir-ing accommodations may contact the MHCC Disability Services Offi ce at 503-491-6923 or 503-491-7670(TDD).

Parking is free on campus until Wednesday.

“American Winter” documentary to include MHCC student

student’s fi nancial aid eligibility,” according to a handout sent to part-time faculty members by MHCC Admissions.

When part-time faculty member Morgan Chase, who teach-es math, was asked if this process was clearly communicated and easy to accomplish, he said, “I was aware of it and after reading the memo it was clear what I had to do.”

“I think it’s easy and a great idea. I think it’s a shame for the college to lose money when we (MHCC) are trying to create opportunities for people,” said full-time biology teacher Wal-ter Shriner. “It’s a shame with all the no-shows.”

Shriner touched on a topic, no-shows, that is a point of dis-cussion that can be overheard in hallways, student services buildings and, in Shriner’s case, read in national newspapers:

students signing up for classes in order to receive fi nancial aid, but then they drop the classes and keep the fi nancial aid money.

However, the program is offi cially meant to make awarding fi nancial aid more effi cient for both parties involved. And if an instructor does not report attendance for his/her fi rst week of class, all students will be at risk at not being awarded fi nancial aid.

Students can prevent this from happening or can reduce any anxiety they may have about this situation by checking the attendance records of his/her class on the MHCC portal and then emailing his/her instructor if they feel they are unaware of the new program.

New procedure seeks to make fi nancial aid ‘more effi cient and accurate’

MHCC Charter Day celebration on � ursday in the College Center included jazz musicians, from le� , Chuck Redd on marimba, Tom Wakeling, hidden, on upright bass, Randy Porter on piano and Rebecca Kilgore on vocals. � e group performed from noon to 1 p.m.

Photo by Kylie Rogers/� e Advocate

8 newsadvocate

the

April 6, 2012

A new possibility changes everything.

W A R N E R P A C I F I C . E D UPORTLAND, OR

April 9 - ASMHCC campaign informational meeting in Council Chambers from 1-2 p.m.

April 14 - ASMHCC campaign informational meeting in Council Chambers from noon to 1p.m.

April 13 - Candidacy fi liing ends in College Center at noon

April 16 - Mandatory candidate meetings in Council Cham-bers from 1-2 p.m. or 5-6 p.m.

April 18 - Candidate biographies due for voting pamphlets at 5 p.m. by email

April 23 - Campaigning begins campus wide

April 24 - Candidate meet & greet in College Center from noon-2 p.m.

May 1 - Vice presidential debates in Main Mall from noon-1 p.m.

May 2 - Presidential debates in Main Mall from noon- 1 p.m.

May 7-10 - ASMHCC elections Online Polls open at 12:01 a.m. on May 7 and close at 11:59 p.m. on May 10

May 10 - Absentee ballots due at College Center at 5 p.m.

May 11 - Spring Dinner Dance - Results announced at Per-simmons Country Club from 7-11 p.m.

The Associated Student Government elections for 2012-2013 began with ASMHCC fi ling on March 12. The rest of the elec-tion schedule is as follows:

2012-13 Budget Timeline

April2— Decisions made for presi-dent’s proposed budget11— Board meeting- Board room at 6 p.m.18— First Budget Committee meeting, Board room at 6 p.m.

May2— Second Budget Commit-tee meeeting, public hearing on 2012-13 budget - AC1710 at 6 p.m.9— Board meeting, board

room at 6 p.m. — Third Budget Commit-tee meeting to approve the 2012-13 budget and establish property tax rates. Board room after regular meeting.

June13— Public hearing by Tax Su-pervising Conservation Com-mittee (TSCC) - Board room at 6 p.m. — Regular board meeting: Adoption of 2012-13 budget following TSCC adjournment

The purpose of the Budget Committee meetings are to review proposals from the administration for funding of college activities. In addition, they will hold a public hearing.

by Jill Marie-GavinThe Advocate

The Facilities Council will pro-pose three capital projects, all with an estimated cost above $17 million, to the MHCC District board Wednes-day.

Facilities Director Dick Byers said Thursday the board will determine what should be presented to the state for funding by the 2013 Legislature.

Byers said the three projects in-volve remodeling or construction in three major areas on campus. “The three projects being considered, in no specifi c order, are: a library re-model with new space; a technology innovation center or TIC building; or a Student Services enhancement.”

The cost of these projects is esti-mated with a percentage price esca-lation for two time frames. Each proj-ect has a price if the funds become available between 2012-2015 and a different price if the funds become available between 2015-2020.

He said the library remodel and new space would include “expand-ing the footprint of the library, which

would mean moving into the Public Safety area, the Testing Center, and the smaller joining areas behind the existing library.” He also said the open ceiling area on the third fl oor of the library would be fi lled in to make a complete level. The estimated price of this project is $26.5 million to $29.2 million.

For the Technology Innovation Center (TIC), Byers said all the op-erations from the current Indus-trial Technology building would be moved into the TIC and the technol-ogy building would be demolished. The proposed TIC would be built north of the technology center and east of the allied health area. Esti-mated cost for the TIC is $17.3 mil-lion to $19 million.

For the Student Services enhance-ment, Byers said the current area would be remodeled and the area between the 1400 and 1500 wings would be connected, and a pro-posed Hood River terrace construc-tion would make student services a three-story area. The student servic-es enhancement is estimated to cost $23.9 million to $26.3 million.

Facilities to propose three new projects to board on Wednesday