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Spokane Falls Community College The NEWS: A&E: FEATURES: SPORTS: BUDGET CRISIS! C ommunicator COMIC-CON JOSE VARGAS TRACK UPDATE

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Spokane Falls Community College

The

NEWS: A&E: FEATURES: SPORTS:

Volume 47 Issue 8May 19 - June 2

BUDGET CRISIS!

Communicator

BUDGET MELTDOWN COMIC-CON JOSE VARGAS TRACK UPDATE

Reach staff members via email in the following format: [email protected] for any questions, comments and corrections

found in the paper.

2 5.19.2016 [email protected]

CONTACT THE STAFFPhone: 509-533-3602

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:Jeremy Logan

MANAGING EDITOR:Dexter Yocum

NEWS EDITOR: Stephanie Goodhue:

FEATURES EDITOR:Sam Jackson

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:Allie Raye

SIDELINES:Mallory Biggar

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR:Collin Masteller

WEB EDITOR:David Kruse

PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Allie RayeJP Fuller

Jeff Gregory

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR:Louis Demauro-Ayling

Writers:Brook KelloggScotty Morgan

Christina GlatzmaierCharlie Dahl

ADVISER: Jason Nix

A&EContEnts nEws FEAturEsopinion sidElinEs

CommunicatorThe

Tell us why you’re mad:Send complaints, grievences, gripes and other opinions to

[email protected]

By the Numbers

May 9, brought a call to action from Driscoll workers to boycott the Berry distributors policies and what they call the inhumane working conditions they have to endure. The workers marched on the local Costco, asking them to drop Driscoll’s products from their shelves.

52 protesters were arrested on May, 15 for occu-pying BNSF train tracks.

Climate activists and Native tribes camped out on the railroad tracks and took to the puget sound by kiak to raise awareness to the effects of the use of fossil fuels on our climate.

12s of protest-ers gathered outside the Trump rally in Spokane. Non Trump sup-porters complained that they were denied admitance due to their lack of support for the re-publican candidate

3 protesters were arrested on May, 7 after they linked together using PVC pipe, chains and latters to block traffic to the Trump rally in Lynden WA. The activists told Democracy Now! that they were there to protest Trumps racist policies, and plans to deport 11 million on docu-mented workers here in the US.

From the editor

For me, running a student newspaper is kind of like letting a drunken carny run the circus. This truly is a freak show of revolving door comers and goers. Right now I am lucky enough to be surrounded by freaks that are passionately committed to their talents, and somehow we make this whole crazy thing get published every few weeks. I’m certain that we have made every mistake that is mathematically possible, and by the time you learn from them all, it’s over. Time to move on. We owe apologies to the Jazz club for printing a teas-er to the story that didn’t print, a thank you to Sudexo for providing plates and forks for our “papers and pan-cakes” event when our shortcomings left us ready to hand out soaking pancakes on pieces of scratch paper, and our sympathies to the readers who have suffered some of the most ridiculous errors any writers could make (namely me). It is our mission to not only make this a good-looking paper but provide the students on this campus the infor-mation they need to navigate the world of community college. We only hope we are doing an adequate job. If you feel that we are not doing so, then please send us an email. We would love to hear from you so that we may correct the errors that we make and give our readers the news they deserve. Contact me @

[email protected]

ABOUT THE COVER:Illustration by Niah

Ferlito.

Niah Ferlito is an illustrator based in

Spokane WA. He is currently enrolled at SFCC. Niah is currently working on a variety of different projects, the largest of which is a Graphic Novel called Skeletons in the Closet that will be finished by the end of the year.He also teaches Drop in and Draw; a free all-ages art class, every friday at the Spark Center in Kendall Yards.

You can find more of Niah’s work at www.NiahMakesStuff.tumblr.com

4 5.19.2016Editor: Stephanie [email protected]

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Budget crisis affects students and facultyMallory Biggar

[email protected]

"I wouldn't call it a perfect storm, because perfect ... has a good connotation. It's a terrible storm."

- Jim Minkler, Vice President of Learning

@EWUSummerEWUSummerSession

With more than 700 summer courses at EWU, the opportunities

are endless. Summer classes are condensed into 4- and 8-week

sessions, enabling you to make the most of your time and passion.

Open to the CommunityVisit ewu.edu/summerCheney | Spokane | Online

think summer

think summer sfcc.indd 1 4/19/16 9:37 AM

According to administration, SFCC is currently experiencing an unusually heavy budget crisis. Though it is typical to go through peri-ods of financial fluctuation, it is atypical to have multiple crises at once. Due to a new allocation model (how CCS gets their money from state legis-lature), a lawsuit and enrollment being down, it is likely that some classes will be cut, adjunct faculty (faculty that is hired on a quarterly basis) may not be coming back and there will be fewer seats avail-able in existing classes. “It’s kind of a - I wouldn’t call it a perfect storm, because perfect kind of has a good connotation. It’s a terrible storm,” said Jim Minkler, Vice President of Learning.

Enrollment and Reallocation:

Full Time Equivalency, or FTE’s, are used to determine how many students are enrolled, based on both the amount of students enrolled and how many credits they are taking. “One of the things is that, people don’t like to admit it, but the funding allocation in the state of Washington for big districts like Spokane and Seattle has been pretty favorable for the last couple of decades,” Minkler said. “There are col-leges that are year after year, they’re over enrolled, so they’re underpaid because you just pay to the FTE target, but here they’re serving at 128 percent.” He added, “Then you have colleges that are under enrolled, but they seem like they always get the same amount of money. This is called the reallocation model. There basically were 22 colleges that won, and 12 colleges that lost. As a district, CCS, we all lost.” With the reallocation model in place, larger schools with more students will suffer, and smaller schools with fewer stu-dents will benefit. Not only will state funds be reallocated outside of the district, but also to SCC. "SCC’s enrollment was down a little bit last year, but they have a percentage or a higher percentage of career technical pro-grams which are funded at a higher level, so the district is shifting from money from SFCC to help pay for those higher cost programs,” said Darren Pitcher, Vice Presi-

dent of Student Services. “So immediately we’re losing somewhere in the neighbor-hood of $700,000 to $1 million that’s going to that school.” With enrollment being down, this di-rectly affects how much legislative funding CCS will receive in the future. “Our enrollments have been down for over two years. There’s two key players here: one is that the economy is back up,” Minkler said. “During the recession, we had all-time high enrollment numbers. But when the economy gets better community college enrollments go down. The other thing is that, if you look at the high school graduating classes in the Spokane region, demographically, the numbers are fewer. That doesn’t turn around until 2023.”

Lawsuit:

In June 2006, a class action lawsuit was filed against the Health Care Authority of Washington. The lawsuit states that the State did not provide healthcare to em-ployees who were eligible. In August 2014, the court ruled that the State was at fault for wrongly labeling employees eligible for health care as part-time. “It’s called Moore versus The Health Care Authority of Washington,” Minkler said. “It’s a lawsuit that affected the whole

state, and the way that we pay employ-ees, part time employ-ees in particu-lar.

But the amount that the Community and Technical Colleges system owes $26 million. Now they gave some kind of deal where they eventually - the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges was only accountable for $13 million. Guess who was number one on the list? Commu-nity Colleges of Spokane.” Due to misinformation, this lawsuit has been a greater detriment than CCS admin-istration initially anticipated. “The schools interpreted the law one way, and it went to court, and we learned that we interpreted it the wrong way,” Pitcher said. “So we’re having to pay back benefit money to a number of individuals who were a part of this class-action law-suit. The hit to the district was $2 million,

so that now is also being taken away from us. I think the school could have easily overcome one or the other, but both at the same time has hurt.”

ctcLink:

Because of the issues that students have faced, including financial aid, many chose not to return to SFCC. “Another thing we’re fighting is the num-ber of students we may have lost due to our software conversion,” Minkler said. “It didn’t work very well. I can’t tell you how many students got fed up with waiting for their financial aid [and] went to Eastern. We’ll never know.” “With ctcLink and the year that we’ve had, the difficulty that students have had has maybe led to a little bit of an enroll-ment drop, maybe 3 percent, that we are going to get back,” Pitcher said. “It’s just going to take a little while.”

BY THE NUMBERS:

$700,000- $1 million

Reallocated to SCC

$2 millionTo Moore vs. Health

Care Authority

40 percentIncrease in tuition since

2008

5 5.19.2016

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Stephanie Goodhuesfcc.stephanie.goodhue@gmail

The technology fee is based upon the number of credits students take

every quarter and therefore enrollment is crucial.

“The technology fee is $4 per credit per quarter or $40 per quarter max”, states the CCS Tuition, Fee and Waivers Schedule 2015-2016.

The students within this committee outweigh the faculty in order to ensure the student voices are heard on how the money can be best spent. There are five to six students that are a part of the committee every year; along with four faculty or staff members.

The students that serve on the committee are selected every winter quarter to serve during the following spring quarter.

“The president of ASG is co-chairman with Darren Pitcher”, said Heather Mckenzie WaitE, Advisor of ASG. “The treasurer of ASG is usually involved with the committee.”

Now the vice president of student services, whoever it may be at the time of the annual spring committee meeting, is appointed the responsibility of co-chairman position automatically.

The allotted technology fee money is not solely distributed to any one department here on campus, but rather it is distributed to all requests made from various departments and students.

When the committee meets they go through each and every request before any final decisions are made. In order for the requests to be approved within the committee they must pertain directly to the students.

“Students have to physically get to have their hands on it like the nursing program being awarded the window surfaces for electronic charts” said Darren Pitcher, vice president of student services. “Wireless access is always popular to students, [the committee] helped the planetarium because it is shared with the community as well as newer computers for labs.”

Any requests that involve the instructor as the sole beneficiary are not approved.

There is a hierarchy in which all requests must go through. They first are brought to the attention of the committee and after the committee approves the request it then goes to ASG. The student government then forwards all the requests to the Board of Trustees where they need to give final approval before any money can be spent on such requests. When all decisions are final and all requests are approved, the allotted money is available July 1 for purchase and everything purchased will be available to students the following academic year.

On Mar. 9 the SFCC tech fee committee distributed a total of

$605,360.15 collected from students, the technology fee portion of tution.

* Based on students averaging 15 credit quarters. *Information imported from CCS Tuition and Fee Schedule 2015-2016 Academic Year.

Comparative Fees Students Pay Each Quarter

*Information imported from CCS Tuition and Fee Schedule 2015-2016 Academic Year.*The graph above is an example of how a portion of the Technology Fee total expenditure is going to be used for 2016-2017 academic year.

Percentages of the Approved Network Requests by the Tech Fee Committee

Student voices heard: Technology Fee Committee

[email protected]: Stephanie Goodhue

A&EContEnts FEAturEsopinion sidElinEsnEws

Editor: Stephanie [email protected]

5.19.20166

Sasquatch in Space

David Krusesfcc.david.kruse@gmail

Plastic bins filled with previous years components were set on a table and the construction of

the balloon has already begun. "If we were to start from scratch it would probably cost us 600-800 dollars," said Mark Gorski, Advisor of the Engineering Club. "The helium alone costs us around 200 dollars and that’s with a discount."The project takes a while to put together as they must make it lightweight and abide by The Federal Aviation Administration guidelines."It must be under four pounds," said Bridge. "It has to have reflectors

so airplanes can see that it’s there and won't crash into it or anything like that. We also need a way to cut the line in case the balloon doesn't pop. We have something that will burn through the wire just in case something happens."There are many things that can happen to the fragile equipment that the students deal with while attempting to launch the balloon. The fragile balloon and technological equipment they have can be broken with ease. "You have to be prepared," said Bridge. "You have to use gloves when you touch the balloon because the

SFCC's Engineering Club has been sending a balloon into space for the past five years. Their project has accumulated both data and photos that the club records and distributes as well as has made for a popular project in the engineering room.

oils on your hand can ruin the balloon. We've had years where when we filled up the balloon we lost hold of it. It's really nerve-wracking. We have a camera, a GPS system and an altimeter so we can see how high the balloon gets.” Their plush Sasquatch had been the pioneer of the previous balloon launches and can be seen in the bottom left portion of the pictures taken. "We've asked the bookstore to give us a new one to use," said Joe Bridge, President of the Engineering club. "This guy got to 105 thousand feet."

Engineering Club| Spokane Falls Community College

d This is a plush toy of Skitch over Earth's atmosphere.

A&EContEnts FEAturEsopinion sidElinEsnEws

7 5.19.2016Stephanie [email protected]

SFCC is currently in a budget deficit. In this deficit there are choices that need to be made in

order to keep the school functioning. The numbers that are emerging are rumors and should not be taken as fact until the finances are evaluated by the board and the management.

“There is a rumor floating around that we have an 8 million dollar deficit,” said Mike Wilson, Board of Trustee Member. “We don’t know the actual number as we have yet to determine our expenses.”

As the economy picks up the school receives less students as more people are working. Less students means less money for the college and less money for the college means they need to look at the amount of staff that can be employed.

“What you have to look at is the universe of looking at a large organization like a college . . . enrollment has decreased and the volume of work changes,” said Wilson. “When we have a budget reduction from the state causes leadership to figure out how to marry a reduced revenue resource with the expenses to the organization.”

As a board member, Wilson meets with his fellow board members to decide on the future of the school on Tuesdays to discuss the granting of tenure and to approval of the operating budget. As more information comes to light on the current situation more decisions need to be made that affect teachers and programs within the schools.

“There are many ways to do that in terms of solving the issue,” said Wilson.

One way involves bringing more money

David Krusesfcc.david.kruse@gmail

into the college through various means. “You can work hard to increase

enrollment to increase revenue,” Wilson said. “Trying to find a way to increase revenue is the most positive way of addressing a budget shortage.”

Another way involves looking at the teachers, advisors and management members that quit or leave the school and not fill the places.

“Look to management to be able to take the natural turnover of employment within any organization as a means of resolving the future financial concerns,” Wilson said. “It doesn't affect existing employment but you have to measure whether it affects the programs.”

Lastly, the way that has the most impact on student and staff members in the school, cutting school programs as a means to save money.

“Look at all the programs and all of the expenses, some of them are optional expenses although many are not and try to reconcile the overall budget,” said Wilson.

With the board meeting over the next several weeks there will be discussions as to how CCS will cope with their decreased funds as they have called special sessions to attempt to solve the issue.

Rumored Numbers

The curriculum committee of SFCC reviews changes dealing with the curriculum of SFCC. However, they also

approve and deny new courses being proposed to the campus.

The curriculum committee is made up of faculty members from every department on campus. They take a vote on such changes for the curriculum when they meet, which is usually 3 to 4 times a quarter.

“We take a vote on changes that affect the curriculum,” said Mark Wylie, chair of the curriculum committee. “That would include revisions to existing courses, adding a course to the AA program, and adding new courses.”

New courses are proposed to the curriculum committee after all the paperwork has been completed and looked over properly by a given faculty member who is making the proposal.

Any faculty member can propose a new course to be added to the SFCC curriculum simply by writing out their proposal and giving it to the head of their department. They even ask the committee members for some help with their proposal, where the committee then votes on it.

“We did just have a meeting where we approved one new course,” said Wylie. “The college has just started offering Bachelor of Applied Science degrees. Those [particular] degrees are now requiring the creation of new courses. We just approved a new psychology course, it’s a motivational psychology course that is going to be a part of the BAS degree.”

The new motivational psychology course should start taking students next year. The curriculum committee wants everything within SFCC to flow as an institution. They strive to constantly learn how to better the campus and their academics. “We have a philosophy called Shared Governance,” said Wylie. “Top level administrators do not get to decide absolutely everything. The curriculum committee is giving a number of voices within the faculty to speak out on these issues.”

Curricular Courses

Scotty Morgansfcc.scotty.morgan@gmail

"We don't know the actual number as we have yet to determine our expenses." -Mike Wilson

Budget cuts could leave more classrooms empty. Collin Masteller | The Communicator

Mark Weile discussed proposed courses. JP Fuller | The Communicator

8 5.19.2016

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Editor:Sam Jacksonsfcc.sam.jackson@gmail

Risking the right

to stay

Jose Vargas, Pulitzer Prize winner, spoke in front of SFCC students on

May 11 about the struggles of being an undocumented American.

Vargas was born in the Philippines and came to the United States at age 12. When he was 16 he confirmed that he indeed was an illegal immigrant. He is known for being a renowned journalist, filmmaker, and immigration rights activist. Though Vargas was able to confirm his illegal identity at an early age he had been living a lie until recently he decided to come out. At age 30 he announced to the world that he is undocumented and admitted to all the fraud he committed because of that. Vargas was able to get into the White House with a fake Social Security number, won the Pulitzer Prize, and paid his taxes all while being undocumented.

“Let’s be really honest about this, you are looking at the most privileged undocumented immigrant in America,” said Vargas. “So while hundreds of people will get arrested everyday just for driving without a license, while people get detained everyday, … For

Jose Vargas, undocumented

immigrant, speaks to SFCC students about

immigration.

Sam Jacksonsfcc.sam.jackson@gmail

the past 5 years I’ve done more than 600 events in 48 states.”

His job now is to educate people on immigration, in order to understand how complicated it actually is. According to Vargas, when he revealed his secret, Obama had been deporting over 400,000 immigrants a year.

“So I figured hey President Obama knows who I am … so come get me,” said Vargas. “And nothing even happened.”

Vargas was ready to be arrested and ready to be deported. But months passed by and nothing happened. He even called the government, Homeland Security, looking for a response as to why he hasn’t been deported yet.

“No comment, is what the lady from Homeland Security said. No comment,“ said Vargas.

Since Vargas has yet to be arrested currently or deported, he is working on many projects in order to further the truth about immigration. He is traveling the U.S speaking with different crowds about Define American, and uses “#emergingus” to allow other people to spread awareness on the issue and share their stories.

“Race and immigration

* A valid student ID required.

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DOWNTOWN 809 W. Main (509) 747-2500

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JP Fuller | The CommunicatorJose Vargas speaking in front of SFCC students

intersect with each other. They just do, ” said Vargas. “Why don’t we embrace complexity?”

While Vargas was speaking at SFCC the crowd of students there were incredibly diverse and active listeners. Yet, the room was only a little more than half full. It cost $15,000 to have Vargas here including his transportation and hotel fees.

“We potentially have students here without papers. We brought in Jose in order to continue that conversation in regards to undocumented citizens,” said Heather McKenzie Waite, Director of Student Funded Programs.

To know more about Jose Vargas and his project Define American go to www.defineamerican.com

9 5.19.2016

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Editor: Sam Jacksonsfcc.sam.jackson@gmail

Spokane native is an American Ninja Warrior

Brook Kelloggsfcc.brook.kellogg@gmail

Spokane’s own “American Ninja Warrior”, Sandy Zimmerman, has been a Medical Lake School district physical education teacher for 18 years.

“At first I was just obviously super excited,” Zimmerman said about receiving the call from NBC. “I told my kids I’m going to be on “American Ninja Warrior.” Once it came out of my mouth, the reality set in, and it was this mixture of excitement, but I was so happy I was crying.

Zimmerman has always maintained her passion in fitness and in health. Having a fitness routine that includes judo, basketball, and her homemade ninja course. She has always stayed in pretty good shape and even has a resting heart rate of 40.

“All my hard work paid off as soon as I got the call,” Zimmerman said.

“It’s amazing a person from around here is doing American Ninja Warrior.” Said Lori Loggains, a colleague of Zimmerman. “It’s great!”

From the beginning of Zimmerman’s childhood she was faced with challenges, she grew up on welfare and was even in the foster care system.

“I know what it’s like to only have a tub of butter in your refrigerator.” Zimmerman said.

However, she never let that defeat her. Her passion in sports, health, and in fitness motivated her to do better in life and in her

fitness routines.“The ninja training has taken

my routine to a whole other level,” Zimmerman said. “I will often times pull two days and do body weight circuits in the morning and then do obstacle course training in the evening.”

Zimmerman and her family built an obstacle course in her basement and backyard and runs them six days a week. She also does body circuits, plays basketball, and does judo. On top of her fitness regimens here in Spokane she has also traveled to Boise frequently to use ninja training gyms down there and compete in three local ninja competitions, winning first place, twice, and second place. Above all the ninja training, Zimmerman simply wants

to inspire. “My biggest motivation for wanting

to do this is being told the biggest compliment you can ever get, which is that you’ve inspired somebody, this is just an amazing opportunity to just inspire tons of people,” Zimmerman said. “To just tell people to be their best and not just in physical health but in all aspects. When I got back from the show, I felt healthier mentally, and physically and I am just at a really good place.”

“I have known Sandy for 14 years. She is an amazing woman and mother. Sandy doesn’t do anything halfway. She puts 150% on anything she takes on. I feel like she will do really well on American Ninja Warrior.” Said Brenda Baughman, also a colleague of Zimmerman.

Zimmerman remembers college and wants the student body of SFCC to strive for greatness and excellence.

“I remember college and that was another hurdle in my life that I had to get over. School was hard and it was such a struggle. But, if you find something you’re passionate about and that you want to make a difference in, let that be your motivation. Make a difference in somebody’s life.”

Zimmerman also runs a youth fitness program on the south hill at the Moran United Methodist Church on 65th and Freya every Saturday during the school year for kids K thru 6. It is a free activity and takes place in the church’s gymnasium.

Sandy Zimmerman on American Ninja Warrior airs June 1st on NBC.

Scotty Morgansfcc.scotty.morgan@gmail

Angela Gollehon is a current student in the Addiction Studies program here at Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) and the president of the Addiction Studies club.

Gollehon grew up in a clean-living Air Force family. She struggled with epilepsy through the majority of her childhood. In 1997, she decided to sign up for classes at SFCC, but found herself unable to follow through. “When I got out of high school I just didn’t know where I was going. I checked into SFCC and I came for one day, sat through classes and never came back,” said Gollehon.

“Then I just started hanging out with the wrong crowd.”

She suddenly found herself addicted to methamphetamine. Her addiction lasted four months. Then, in the middle of that addiction, a game-

changer occurred.“I guess my addiction was about

four months long, and then I found out I was pregnant with my son. So I quit everything”, said Gollehon.

After finding out she was pregnant, she stayed low-key to avoid detection by the authorities.

“After I found out I was pregnant, I kind of went incognito. I had a warrant out for my arrest, but I didn’t want to have my child in prison, so I went on the run like a dummy,” said Gollehon. “I had my son, and two weeks after he was born I was arrested, and went to prison.”

Her stint in prison lasted three years.“I didn’t consider myself an addict,

because I didn’t know what an addict was, until after I was about a year-and- a-half into prison,” said Gollehon. “Just going through some of the programs and classes they had, I realized I was an addict.

“So I admitted that to myself and

started working on it, and coming to terms with how to cope with it, how to deal with it, and of course how to beat it.”

Gollehon has made many changes in her life since being released from prison 11 years ago. She anticipates graduating in winter, getting her bachelor’s degree in addiction studies and is currently working at a treatment center for adolescents. She has gotten her epilepsy under control.

“My advice I want to add on to that is that it doesn’t matter what you look what you look like, what you sound like, how drunk you are or how high you … somebody’s going to help you,” said Gollehon. “And to know that you are not alone. That’s probably the biggest one!”

For anyone interested in the addiction studies program, one thing to make clear is it’s not a rehab program.

“A lot of people I think kind of mistakenly think that the program is going to help them, but if you’re not strong in your recovery, this program is going to be that much tougher,” said Gollehon.

Recovering addict takes on addiction studies

Brandon| NBCSandy Zimmerman Swinging Through The Course

Editor: Jeremy Logansfcc.Jeremy.Logan@gmail

Apps that will make a students life easierBrook Kellogg

sfcc.brook.kellogg@gmail

EasyBib: It is common knowledge that writing essays and papers are a part of being in college, like it or not. EasyBib is a bibliography app meant to make creating bibliography citations quick and easy. It generates citation in MLA, APA, and Chicago style anywhere you are; just scan the book’s bar code or enter the work’s title. You can then export and email the bibliographies to yourself. This app is available for both iPhone/iPad and Android. This app is free.

3

Freedom and Studious: Freedom (iOS), and Studious (Android), ban intemperate (uncontrolled or distracting) use of the apps, email and websites

on the phone by blocking them during a time you pre-select, to help you get more schoolwork done. They help you to focus while in class. There is also a lock mode intended to help prevent cheating. Calls and texts, however, will always come through. Both apps are free. To use Freedom, you just have to sign up for a free Freedom

4

Mathway: Mathway is an app that takes you step-by-step through

finding a solution for any algebra, geometry, or almost any other type of math problem. Simply enter the information into the app, and check if the solution you came up with is the same as what the app is showing. Available for both Android and iOS and is free.

5

Sound Note and ShareYourBoard: Sound Note (iOS) and ShareYourBoard (Android) are lecture

capture apps, that allow the student to record a lecture without expensive recording equipment or recorders. SoundNote acts a notepad AND audio recorder. ShareYourBoard (Android) allows you to photograph a whiteboard from any angle, so as to store up all the data for catch-up and revision purposes. There are several other features in each of these apps and both are free.

Students have access to a huge number of smartphone apps, yet they may not be aware of how many apps can help them with their education. Here’s a list of apps that may help make you more productive in your educational endeavors.

2

Top 5 apps

for students

GoConqr: Exams can be nerve-wracking, but of course are part of the school and learning process. Prepare for these exams

using GoConqr. Youcan create mind maps, flashcards, quizzes, slides or notes to help study in any of your classes and help keep organized. If you sign up for use of the app’s website, you can sync your info from the app to the website, and share it with anyone on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and other such platforms. Available for iOS and Android for free.

1

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Editor: Jeremy [email protected]

everyone is learning a lot.” One thing the drama department has learned is that the play is not entirely fictionalized. Arthur Miller started The Crucible with a “Note on Historical Accuracy” which informs viewers that not all information is historically accurate. He did not want the people who were attempting to learn the history of the Salem Witch Trials to read his play and assume it to be a true representation of events. “Historically it was about twenty people who were put to death, inno-cent people considered to be witches or sorcerers,” Keefe said. “Arthur

Miller used that historical point in America’s history as an allegory for what he was experiencing during the house of un-american activities committee in the 1950’s. This was the big witch hunt for communists in the country and Arthur Miller was accused of being at one point.” The drama department is taking a slightly different approach to set de-sign compared to other performances in the past. “To come in and look at the set we have, and see our process can be a little confusing based off our scenic design, it’s not in the world of the play.” Keefe said. “It is more of a surrealistic, expressionistic approach to the story.” With The Crucible taking place in the 1600’s, one of the most difficult tasks was how to bring that era to life

he Crucible is a 1953 American playwright written by Arthur Miller, an American playwright,

essayist, and prominent figure in the twentieth-century American theater. It depicts the partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place during 1692 and 1693. The SFCC drama department is performing this riveting tale and production is going great according to director Josephine Keefe. “It’s Arthur Miller so it is very dense text and a lot of subtext,” said Keefe. “Our dramaturgical work is also exploring the history of the play, so

on stage in the Spartan Theater. “As a director it was a little hard to get attached to The Crucible when it is so period like. I was often asking how do i relate to the storyline when it took place hundreds of years ago?” said Keefe. “The way we were able to get around that was having a candid discussion with where do we see witch hunts happening today? Minorities are still being told what’s wrong and so with looking at that that’s how we were able to find that line of past and present.” The Crucible performances start May 26-29 and June 2-5, Thurs-day-Saturday at 7:30pm and Sun-days at 2:00pm in the Spartan The-ater. There is no charge for SFCC students and a suggested $10 ticket donation at the door for Non-SFCC students.

Spokane students go on a witch huntDrama deptartment recreates a the semi-fictionalization of of the Salem witch trials as an alagory to the to the Mcarthy period.

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Lantern FestFire dancers, stilt walkers, live music and free

s’mores cooked over your very own campfire; this is not your typical Saturday night at the racetrack. The climax of Lantern Fest wasn’t a car wreck or a photo finish. Instead it was the sounds of wind and fire carrying dreams and hopes into the air.

The Lantern Fest is a local event in its infant stages. Saturday’s event was only the second time the festival has taken place in the region. The first time was last spring at Spokane Raceway Park. The event has grown significantly in its first year and had to be moved to the larger venue at Stateline Stadium Speedway in Post Falls.

“This year we have had over 2,000 people come thru the gate,” admissions supervisor Chelsea Booth said.

Tickets prices ranged from $25-$50 depending on when you registered. Portions of the proceeds are donated to Angels of America’s Fallen(www.aoafallen.org). Angels of America supports children of fallen military parents.

Every participant was given a gift box, a paper lantern, and sticks to cook s’mores. Fire pits were provided in the middle of the circle eight racetrack. People were encouraged to share their fire pits and make new friends.

“It’s a super chill event, good social thing

HATCH Creative Incubator hosted a live painting collaboration event on Saturday, May 14 in Spokane.

HATCH is located at 9612 E. Sprague in Spokane Valley. It serves as common meeting place for local artists, businesses, musicians, and creators alike, to utilize by providing private studios, various art classrooms and gallery space. For the live event, 15 local artists rotated from canvas to canvas every 20 minutes from 10am-5pm, building upon the previous artists work.

Ryan Babcock, graduate of SFCC and one of the participating artists, welcomed the idea of creative cohesion.

HATCH

that’s great for kids, it’s so magical,” Booth said.

New mom Angela Templer-Parker agreed with Booth.

“It’s a must go, not like a music festival but a family festival,” she said.

The evening was filled with fun and laughter but there was a minor recurring problem. The wind averaged 10 mph, strong enough to wreak havoc on paper fire lanterns. Many participants had trouble getting the lantern lit before the let-go countdown. Many attendees were forced to use tiki torches to light their lantern. Once they did many lanterns had trouble lifting off the ground.

The wind did not prevent those attending from enjoying themselves. Children danced with their favorite Disney princesses while loving couples embraced each other. The sounds of laughter and conversations around the campfire brought everyone together for a few moments as hundreds of paper lanterns floated into the horizon. New grandmother Lyn Radford spoke joyfully about the event.

“I thought it was awesome, very meaningful,” she said. “If you could have shut down the wind there would have been no

“I haven’t painted in a while,” Babcock said. “To be here with artists who make a living doing this is a little intimidating, but it’s been really great to participate with such creative people.”

HATCH has also been working to promote its Second Saturday art events.

Jesse Swanson, Creative Director at HATCH, hopes that Second Saturday will be embraced by Spokane Valley like First Friday has been embraced by Downtown Spokane.

“The goal is to get more people into the Valley for the art walks,” Swanson said. “We’d like to see it evolve into a city-wide arts tour.”

Swanson uses HATCH as headquarters for his print shop: Magic Craftsman Printing. He produces a quarterly fine arts and literature magazine,Terra Obscura, and numerous fine art prints from artists around the area. HATCH also houses other business productions such as, Jam Pad Rehearsal Spaces, Art Hour on KYRS Radio, and The Artist Collaboration Project.HATCH aims high to unite the Spokane arts community.

HATCH Co-Director, Jennifer LaRue, embraces the amount of creative output coming from within the studio walls.

“We’re all about the arts,” LaRue said. “Art shows, art classes;It’s all happened very

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organically.”“We have around 8,000 square feet,”

Swanson said. “ We have a lot of gallery space we can use aside from the private studios we rent out.”

A raffle, small silent auction and live auction of the 15 paintings will take place on Saturday, May 28 from 5-9pm.

“Artists are driven to express themselves,” LaRue said. “HATCH is for the artists and for the community.”

Tickets for the auction are $10 at the door. All proceeds will benefit HATCH to aid in advertising for future creative endeavors.

Collin Masteller | The Communicator

A Collaboration of artists...Allie Raye | The Communicator

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13 5.19.2016

Lilac City Comic-Con is one of the few places where you’ll rub shoulders with Darth Vader, browse comic books with Batman and wait for the bathroom along side the Alien from Ridley Scott’s horror movie “Alien”.

The 10 Annual Comic-Con was held at the

Lilac City Comic-Con’s 10th AnniversaryDexter Yocum

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Whitworth’s Bachelor of Liberal Studies Program educates you, mind and heart – expanding your experience and setting you apart from the crowd. You’ll transfer in as a junior and earn your bachelor’s degree in about two years. Classes are in the evening, once or twice a week, at either our northside campus or our downtown U-District location. And it’s all available at a tuition that’s comparable to the cost of a state university.

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Spokane Convention Center on Saturday May 14, and was geared towards fans of comic books as well as science fiction and fantasy television shows, games, and movies.

“Lilac City Comicon’s goal has been to help local artists & businesses around the Inland Northwest for the past 10 years.” Said Nathan O’Brien, the founder of lilac city comic con. “We look forward to continue to build these relationships to further strengthen our community for everyone to enjoy.”

Over the past 10 years lilac city comic-con has seen exponential growth. ”We also had a 20% growth in attendance from 4,225 in 2015 to 5,310 in 2016,” said O’Brien.

The Comic-Con boasted a vendor’s hall where local artists could show off and sell their wares. “Getting to participate in lilac city comic con as an artist is a great way to share my work with the community.” said local artist Sars Guti, “It’s also gives the artists a chance to encourage the younger attendees to get into art scene here in town and share their own work.”

Special guests this year included Russell Hodgkinson, an actor on the Sci-Fi original TV series “Z Nation”, Youtube sensation Adam The Woo from “The Daily Woo”. and local comic book artist Colton Worley who is known for his works on “Battlestar Galactica” and “The Spider” comics.

Dexter Yocum | The CommunicatorA cosplayer dressed as the Xenomorph from Ridley Scott’s 1979 Horror film

“Alien” was in attendance.

Dexter Yocum | The CommunicatorIconic Star Wars characters like Darth Vader and squads of Stormtroopers were a common sight during the convention.

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Best mountain bikingin Spokane

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Charlie Dahl | The CommunicatorAlbert Hagher riding at Beacon Hill near John Shields Park.

Editor: Mallory [email protected]

Summer is just around the corner. Al-ready Spokane has been experiencing beau-tiful and rich springtime weather tempting residents with Spring Fever. Cool sunshiney days seem to be inviting outdoor enthu-siasts to enjoy this delightful season that seems to always pass by too quickly. Lately, the popular activity mountain bik-ing has seen significant growth in Spokane. This eco-friendly sport is widely diverse, offering numerous types of riding. Through the miles and demand of strength and en-durance cross country riding, down to the thrill and adrenaline experienced through downhill riding. This sport attracts a variety of people all looking to get outside and on two wheels. Spokane is an awesome area for moun-tain biking. Spokane provides some of the best local terrain to shred if you’re looking to go up or down. The local biking trails are effectively maintained through the tre-mendous effort of nonprofit organizations, park administrators, and mountain bikers, promising safe and clean riding. Spokane is honored to have help from the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance to maintain our local spots as well, a nonprofit mountain bike organization dedicated to maintaining and

building local trails around this beautiful state. Several locations in Spokane are de-scribed as treasures to the local bikers. A local popular favorite is Beacon hill, located a mile past John Shields Park (Minniehaha) a hot spot for riders who like big jumps and going fast. “The local biking community is awe-some,” said Albert Hagher, a local downhill rider looking to get sponsored in the next few years. “We have tons of cool spots, my favorite local spot is Beacon Hill. Downhill riding is my favorite and Beacon has it all. Its got the biggest jumps and most technical lines, good rock drops and rooty sections.” Beacon Hill is a hotspot for local riders as well as visitors. It is used to host mountain biking events during the good months. Pros attend these events and awards are given to riders who place in their class. Beacon is well maintained. It offers trail maps of the miles of enduro and downhill trails, and includes huge jumps. It also provides a disc golf course for those looking to have the full outdoor experience. “You’ll meet a lot of new people up here,” said Hagher. “On saturday and

sundays the entire parking lot is packed. Good luck finding parking. Professionals come and do races here. There hitting the 30 foot drops but it’s also a great place to learn. There’s a lot of trails ranging from beginner riders to advanced riders.” Mount Spokane is also one of the best local spots for mountain biking. Although not as close as Beacon Hill is, the ski resort contains miles of amazing trails running underneath the forest. Mount Spokane State Park provides 3 main multi-use trails used for horseback riding, hiking, and mountain biking.

Not only does this local spot hold some of the most breathtaking views in Spokane, the trails are amazing, offering tight tracks and speed unlike any other spot in Spo-kane. There are picnic tables and rest stops along the way as you will be riding for a while to make the long wrong down from the summit. “Spokane ain’t half bad. I mountain bike with a lot of buddies from school. We go up to Mount Spokane as often as we can bringing about 5 or more friends to shred,” said Allen Kang, local mountain biker.

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Jeff Gregory | The CommunicatorAndrew Stich, star javelin thrower and SFCC student.

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April showers bring may flowers, it also brings baseball, softball, golf, lacrosse, tennis, volleyball, and of course outdoor track and field.

With previous athletes continuing their track careers, as well as new members of the team, the track and field team has had a determined season and is now about to attend Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAC) Championships.

The NWAC is a sports association for community colleges in the United States Encompassing Oregon, Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia, it includes a total of 36 members and is the largest community college convention here in the United States.

“Championships are in ten days and we’re really excited,” said Amanda Kinzel a long distance runner for CCS track and field. “It should be interesting. You can always be so good on paper but it really doesn’t matter until the meet. It’s going to be my last track meet here so i just want to have fun, but i also want to win that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

Track and Field is an extremely competitive sport on an individual level.

You have to be top 16 in your event to even participate in Championships.

“There’s a lot of competition,” said Khryi Edwards, one of the newest athletes on the SFCC track team. “In high school you get a lot of people just running track for fun but on the college level, people are about their business. It’s fun though, I like not being on top all

the time. It makes it interesting trying to compete harder but It’s definitely a change.”

This spring quarter is Edwards first quarter at SFCC. He

recently moved here from the west side of Washington.

“I love track because it does not depend on anyone else,” said Edwards. “For a sport like basketball you’re only as good as the team is. For track you’re competing against others, but in the end it’s all about how you do.”

Although Track and Field sounds like it’s all about the challenge of competing, there’s a lot more to it.

“Track is a fun sport. I love track because you work hard and you are able show your talent,” said Gracie Ledwith a long distance runner for CCS track and field. “I love to run and I like all the girls. We all get along really well we and we’re all able to bond together because we run together everyday. It’s a lot of fun.”

CCS women’s softball team has had a great season so far, and they continue to work hard to hold their ranking in the East-ern Conference.

With a winning record of 28-16, the Sasquatch have high hopes for being a candidate for the playoffs. Star players in-clude Madilyn Naccarato, who has a batting average of .429, Michele Strauss who leads the sasquatch with 7 homeruns, and Kylee Anderson who has the highest RBI of 42.

For CCS women’s softball team, Michele Strauss is an outstanding player who leads her team in four categories including having 22 walks, 170 strikeouts, and has an earned run average of 2.68.

The fighting Sasquatch are ranked 4th in their conference and are a well respected team with their positive attitudes, deter-mination, and strong defensive skills that

CCS Women’s softball team moving forward

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have helped them hold their ranking, and hopefully move them higher up.

“Most teams have basic skills that they acquire, and I think we have those basic skills, but i think the communication piece is what makes a huge difference between our athletes compared to other teams. We are capable of maneuvering into positions, filling space, we can predict where the ball most likely will land, and we have very good communication,” said Jujo Predisik, assistant coach of CCS women’s softball team.

“When it comes to the offensive ap-proach, we are very much in attack mode, so we are moving very quickly and we are taking advantage of the weaknesses of the other team,”said Predisik. Along with coach Predisik, a couple of players on the softball team put in their insight on the team and their season

“Most teams are very focused and serious before games, and our tea is a little different because we know that we pay a

lot better when we are relaxed and having fun, joking around, but don’t get us wrong because we do have focus and deter-mination, it just helps us more when we are not so tensed up and we’re relaxed. Before games we usually will listen to music and just joke around in the batting cages, before we go out onto the field and it just works for us,” said Court-ney Kent, catcher for the Sasquatch.

“I think the team really needs to improve on keeping our team chemistry going, because throughout the season, we

Jeff Gregory | The CommunicatorSecond baseman Erika Hall avoids the tag against Wenatche Valley.

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sometimes fall apart through rough patches and we just need to remember that we are a team, a good team, and with each other’s help, we can get through adversity” said Courtney Adams, catcher.

“I love track because it does not depend on anyone else.”

- Khyri Edwards

CCS track team weilds stars for championships