the clipper volume 70 issue 1

News

Volume 70, Issue 1 - October 16, 2013THE

CLIPPERSTAFF

Henry Yarsinske Jr.Managing Editor

Andrew WahlAdviser

Nathaniel LynchPhoto Editor

/ClipperNewspaper

The Clipper is an official publication of the Associated Students of Everett Community College. Views expressed in The Clipper are those of the author

and do not reflect views of the students, faculty, staff or administration of this institution. The student newspaper does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, creed, country of origin, ethnic history or sexual orientation. The

Clipper has been established as a public forum.

Cassie RatterreeAssistant Editor

Sapphire ChanAdvertising Manager

Jake NichollsWeb Editor

Christian ZerbelSocial Media Manager

Meagan BaronStaff Writer

Ashley ClineStaff Writer

Chris KimStaff Writer

Bob NearyStaff Writer

Felim SoStaff Writer

Kaleb WeberGraphics Editor

clipperonline.info

@ClipperOnline

facebook.com/Clipperonline

[email protected]

2000 Tower Street · Whitehorse 265 · Everett, WA 98201

425-388-9522

Ashley ClinestAff Writer

There are at least three ways to purchase soft drinks on campus. When choosing where to buy, you have to balance price with convenience. The cheapest places are in the middle of campus, and the most convenient are the most expensive.

The vending machines are what most people pic-ture when they think of buying soft drinks on cam-pus. There are vending machines in every building on campus, and they’re big, bright and noticeable. If people are thirsty, they don’t have to leave their building, so why not just use the vending machines?

The price. The soda, juice and energy drinks found in the vending machines cost the most out of any other place on campus.

The soda machines have been priced a little bit higher than the café and bookstore for the last few years. But recently, there was a rise in the price of all items that has brought them from being a little bit more expensive to a lot more expensive.

Just last spring quarter, if you went to the Parks café or the bookstore, you would pay $1.69 for a 20 oz bottle of soda, and $1.75 in the vending ma-chines. The difference in those prices was so small that it was completely worth it to buy from the vending machines.

But if you go to the vending machines now, you will have to pay two bucks a pop.

So why did the price go up?John Olson, executive director of the EvCC

Foundation, said that “the manager of the vending

machine distributor looks at the bookstore and the café and makes comparative prices.”

The price of soda in the bookstore went up to $1.79, but the price at the café didn’t change. It’s impossible to say why such a price increase in the vending machines was necessary.

“We can’t tell if sales have gone down after the price increase, because we have put more machines in,” Olson said.

The vending machines are put in the school by the EvCC Foundation, which is an independent organization that raises money for the college. It raises money for scholarships, sports equipment and many other things around campus.

“The Foundation gets about $15,000 a year from the vending machines,” Olson said. “The money raised from the vending machines is discretionary. Meaning that, since it’s not a donation, the Foun-dation gets to use it wherever it’s needed,” Olson explained.

So what is the best choice if you’re thirsty for some soda?

The vending machines are the most expensive, but are located in every building, and some of the money goes back to helping the students.

The café is the cheapest, but it can be inconve-nient and out of the way, especially if you’re in a hurry.

Buying soda shouldn’t be so complicated, but if you keep these things in mind, hopefully you’ll be able to make your decision.

Pop Inflation

@ClipperEvCC

David MosiejVideographer

Follow us online for daily news updates

Got news? Send news tips to:

Join the conversation on social media

VOTED “BEST HAMSTER BEDDING,” 2013.

It’ll take more than a buck to get a cool refreshIng drInk thIs year // ashley clIne

Vending Prices Rise On Sugary Carbonated Goodness

News and Features

Volume 70, Issue 1 - October 16, 2013

Christian ZerbelContributing Writer

Health care and manufacturing students at EvCC are feeling the effects of the October 1, 2013 government shutdown. Until Congress can come to an agreement, staffers meant to provide vital services to students are on a sud-den unpaid, unwanted vacation.

Once the Democrat-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Repre-sentatives decide to pay for the government’s bills, the “navigators” at EvCC will return. Those navigators serve students in the manu-facturing and healthcare fields.

The reason they’re the only staffers sent away is because a large chunk of their salaries come from federal grants through the Depart-ment of Labor. And the Department of Labor can’t fulfill any financial obligations until the government opens up, grants included.

In total three grants were suspended. One being the Air Washington grant, which helps students going into advanced manufactur-ing. The other two, the Healthcare Education to Career Opportunities grant (HECO) and the Creating Access to Careers in Healthcare (CATCH) both serve students entering the healthcare and public safety fields.

There are about half a dozen full-time navi-gators at EvCC on furlough. The navigators provide one on one sessions with students to help develop skills like resume writing, net-working strategies, job search strategies, and interview preparation.

For now employment services are still run-ning for students, but on a more limited basis,

according to Howard “Buzz” Loring, Employ-ment Solutions Manager at EvCC.

“Hundreds of students currently enrolled at the college are affected and do not have navi-gation services under these grants as a result of the shutdown,” he said.

Instructors help students with the technical side of the industry.

Navigators help with the soft skill side: communication, reliability, teamwork and dependability. Loring said the industry has asked higher education to equip its students with these core skills.

bob nearystaff Writer

Since 2011 Washington has seen more than $150 million of federal funding enter the state for the development and implementation of the online insurance marketplaces, in ac-cordance with the Patient Pro-tection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act). The Washington Health Plan Finder is the result. The site is designed to make comparing and pur-chasing health insurance simple and painless.

By entering some basic infor-mation, a list of plans is gener-ated for you to compare side by side. Because the Affordable Care Act stipulates that all plans offer the same level of essential medical coverage, the plans are sectioned into tiers based on the estimated premium – how much you pay every month – and the correspondent dollar amount of coverage you receive. Each plan is graded as Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum based on the pre-mium you pay. For example, a Bronze level plan will have a low monthly premium but a higher cap for out of pocket expenses. Conversely a Platinum level plan will have a higher monthly pre-mium and a lower out of pocket expense cap.

So far this is straightforward enough, but as a student insured through the college, things are a little more complicated. Regu-lations instituted (.pdf) by the Centers for Medicare and Med-icaid Services (CMS) state that because of the “unique char-acteristics” of student health insurance coverage, certain requirements of the Affordable Care Act are inapplicable. What these “unique characteristics” are specifically remains unclear. Representatives from the Wash-ington Health Benefit Exchange were unavailable for comment.

Near as I can tell, colleges and universities in the past have of-fered health insurance to stu-dents much the same way a company provides coverage for its employees. An insurance is-suer contracts with the school to setup a blanket plan at an agreed price for a defined set of benefits, available to any student who desires coverage. Students may purchase insurance through the college for each academic term or for the entire year.

Typical of most insurance plans, cost adjustments for in-flation are made annually.

The Affordable Care Act won’t drastically change the basic framework by which schools have previously provided healthcare coverage to students. Indeed there may be more than a few provisions in the Afford-able Care Act that will have no effect on student health insur-ance plans whatsoever because of the “unique characteristics” previously mentioned. In de-fining student health insurance coverage, the Office of the Fed-eral Register States:

“The proposed rule acknowl-edged that because self-funded student health plans are nei-ther health insurance coverage nor group health plans, as those terms are defined in the PHS Act, HHS has no authority to regu-late them, including extending Affordable Care Act policies to them. As explained in the pro-posed rule, these self-funded student health plans may be regulated by the States.” (My emphasis.)

Concerns have been raised as to how each state will proceed with this prerogative.

One decision left to colleges was deciding who is eligible to receive coverage. EvCC’s insur-ance plan requires students to be taking at least 6 credit hours per quarter in order to qualify. But those credits must be for classes offered on campus. If you have a full course schedule of online classes you’re not eligi-ble for health insurance through the school. This, however, will not stop the college from charg-ing you for the administrative fees of providing insurance to participating students.

This is another loophole in the Affordable Care Act that col-leges take advantage of because of their unique classification un-der the law. Section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS), for example, prohibits the im-position of cost sharing with respect to preventative services. Colleges, though, may charge all students “regardless of whether a student utilizes a designated clinic or enrolls in student health insurance coverage.” (.pdf) Sec-tion 2713 of the PHS also found that such administrative health fees are not cost sharing – again, due to the unique characteristics of student health insurance.

Colleges may cut down on those administrative fees by utilizing their own facilities. Regulations by CMS state that a health insurance issuer can setup up a plan with the col-lege in which the student health center serves as the in-network provider. Students could then receive preventative care on campus without cost sharing. For a school like EvCC, that has seen exponential growth in its medical studies department, this could work very well.

As with any new legislation, the Affordable Care Act is not perfect. The amount of bureau-cracy required to institute such a massive bill, will inevitably leave much room for interpreta-tion. These months preceding the law officially taking effect in January will serve as a period of discovery.

To accommodate that need, the Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement will be hosting an outreach at EvCC, Thursday Nov. 7, from 10am to 3pm. There will be several health benefit enroll-ment specialists available to meet with students and answer questions.

Obamacare leaves more questions than answers

Grey area surrounds student healthcare

Government shutdown

furloughs some staff

www.CityU.edu/TransferScholarshipProgram888.422.4898 • [email protected]

City University of Seattle invites you to turn your associate degree into a bachelor’s degree.

• AffordableFinancial aid is available! Plus, you may qualify for a scholarship valued up to $10,800.

• Generous Transfer PolicyYou can transfer up to 90 credits that you earned at college, and put them toward your bachelor’s degree.

• Class AvailabilityNo waitlist or closed classes. Enroll today!

SP3634

On deadline we recived more information. According to Megan Moore, an interim execu-tive assistant at EvCC, “Navigators did return, full-time, to work by the end of the week.” However, as of October 14, the government still hasn’t opened back up, and if this rolls into the debt-ceiling deadline, October 17, this could have big implications for EvCC.

According to Loring, “…However as we ap-proach the debt ceiling in two days things may drastically change for everyone. Student loans and grants could be impacted immediately in addition to grant-federal funded positions like navigation. The real story now is will congress make a deal to avoid the debt limit? I would say for the moment the navigators will continue to work but that will likely change if a resolution is not reached by Thursday.”

Update:

News and Features



After witnessing safety drills being silenced by her teachers, EvCC student and logistics department employee Khrystelle Mason wants answers.

Mason said that even though she hasn’t participated in a single drill since first attending EvCC a year and a half ago, she has seen two or three drills that were supposed to happen. Mason said that during these times in class, it looked as if the phone was signalling a fire drill, but the teacher would simply silence it and continue with class as if nothing happened.

Mason said, “There is always going to be that risk of an earthquake or a fire. There’s supposed to be this huge earthquake coming up here in Washington State for the longest time, and I don’t know where we are supposed to go after we hide under a desk. If we are

supposed to stay in the classroom, if we are supposed to leave; I don’t know what the codes are.”

According to the Director of Campus Safety and Emergency Management, Marc Tolle, EvCC tests the alarm system twice a day but safety drills are only once a month and only inolve faculty. Tolle said that safety drills don’t involve the entire campus because it would be too disruptive.

During these drills, faculty members are trained so that during a real emergency, they are able to make the best decisions for directing students. Only certain faculty members in each building are trained. These individuals are referred to as “service captains,” said Tolle. The captains are given announcements over a phone-like device.

Tolle said that if a student wishes, he or she could attend these Emergency Management programs.

“I would certainly welcome students as participants. We could use the help to simulate a classroom [drill] and see how that looks,” said Tolle.

In addition, Tolle said that each classroom is equipped with a map that has safety information and tells students how to get out of the building. There is also a poster that informs about fires, evacuations, shootings, hazardous materials, unattended and suspicious packages, earthquakes, criminal activity, medical emergencies and bomb threats.

Tolle said that minor problems set off EvCC fire alarms at least once every quarter, but a sincerely harmful problem hasn’t occurred for about three years. These problems are called “burnt popcorn evacuations.”

However, if a fire was to occur, Tolle said that fire extinguishers and fire alarms are located by most building doors that lead to the outside of the building.

Additionally, Russell Nunes, program manager for emergency management and preparedness, added that fire alarms and extinguishers could also be found down some long hallways or any common areas where there is traffic.

If a fire alarm is activated, students should think about evacuating safely.

Tolle said to “gather your things if you can, important things like your car keys, and go to the exits. Go to the parking lots.”

Tolle said that emergency assembly areas are parking lots and that there are signs on lamp posts to direct students. As for earthquakes, Tolle and Nunes

said that for a second year EvCC will be participating in The Great Washington ShakeOut drill, which has enforced

practicing the standard “drop, cover and hold on” routine that students are advised to do if an earthquake actually happens.

EvCC will participate in the ShakeOut drill on Oct. 17 at 10:17 a.m. for about one minute. Students will do the basic drop, cover and hold drill, Tolle said.

Tolle added that this drill will not lead to evacuation, and

that class will just continue as usual afterwards.

The Great ShakeOut website says that EvCC is the only college in Snohomish County who is participating in the statewide drill. However, there are regularly new participants. Currently, there are over 760,000 participants.

Nunes said that Facebook and Twitter have been broadcasting ShakeOut information and that EvCC Student Activities Department should be broadcasting soon if they haven’t yet.

For more information on attending the drill or for more information about safety drills in general, contact Nunes at [email protected], Tolle at [email protected], Student Activities in Parks Student Union 209 or the ShakeOut website at

www.ShakeOut.org/Washington.

Safety: Do you know the drill?


Installing its first solar panel array on campus in late August 2013, EvCC surpassed an 8-year-old goal, thanks to dedicated EvCC staff members, Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) and legislative funds.

The 19 kilowatt solar panel array is located on top of the new Liberty Hall building on campus.

Molly Beeman, EvCC administrative services manager for facilities and maintenance, said that most kilowatt projects are only two or three kilowatts, which was the original size. However, thanks to PUD funding $25,000, EvCC was able to think bigger.

EvCC maintenance mechanic, Patrick Snowden, said that the solar panels were installed by Fire Mountain Solar, a Mt. Vernon company.

“That’s kind of beyond our scope here, so in order for PUD to sign off on it we had to hire outside contractors,” said Snowden.

The new solar panels are beneficial to the student body because they fulfill educational purposes.

Information from the energy and money statistics will be used on-campus “by engineering classes, instructors who are teaching sustainability on campus [and] public outreach,” said Beeman, “So, it’s got wide fingers into the campus culture.”

Also, the solar panels are financially beneficial to the school.

“We produce a certain amount of energy with the solar [panels], we feed that directly back into the grid, and we get a certain amount of credit. They credit us off of our bill. So basically our power bill is offset on the amount of power we generate,” said Snowden.

At the rate of 7 cents per kilowatt, a year’s worth of energy from EvCC’s solar panel is equivalent to “11.6 metric tons of CO2, 2.4 car emissions, 27.1 barrels of oil, CO2 emissions for 1.7 homes, 56 million Btu [or] 2.03 metric tons of coal,” said Snowden. In addition,

Snowden said that the solar panels would not pay for themselves for quite a while.For EvCC, compensation is a fraction of the typical cost

since it’s a state funded organization. The 2013 Biennial Energy Report for Washington State determines that state funded organizations receive 7 cents a kilowatt, while organizations and houses that are not state funded receive $1.07 a kilowatt.

Beeman said that the writers of the bill didn’t mean to exclude community colleges.

In addition, Beeman said that she will continue trying to get the bill changed in the future since universities, which are not state funded, can receive $1.07 a kilowatt, but not “community colleges, the people that need it the worst [and] that have the least funding.”

The bill will be up for renewal in 2015. During the renewal process, the drafters of the bill will try to include community colleges then, said Beeman, but not now because of fear that the bill would get overturned

completely.Since solar panels are beneficial, nonpolluting,

reliable pieces of machinery, according to both Snowden and Beeman, EvCC plans to install more solar panels in the future as educational projects. In fact, a small company in Arlington named OutBack Power, a previous employer of Snowden, donated $15,000 of technical equipment to EvCC in 2010.

Sometime in the future, that equipment will be used to expand the project.

“I have to wait a year before I can apply for funds again, because you apparently can’t be greedy,” Beeman laughs,

“Once I’ve done that, we have a couple of different sites we are looking at. But, there is nothing that is certain.”

Solar panels installed on roof of Liberty Hall

Solar panelS on top of the liberty hall.// Meagan baron

Marc tolle and ruSSel nuneS point to the earthquake Safety procudureS.// Meagan baron

Jake Nicholls

Web editor

The long awaited switch to Canvas has been made and it’s been two years in the making. Although there are always bumps when switching from system to system, most students and staff are happy – or at least satisfied with the change. Canvas classes appeared as early as last year, but EvCC officially began using Canvas over the summer.

The decision to switch was made statewide by The Washington State

Board of Community and Techni-cal Colleges, as Washington’s

contract with ANGEL expires in June 2014. Other colleges,

including Edmonds, have made the switch early as

well. But, why Canvas? A statewide system

will allow for a stu-dent to take classes at multiple col-

leges and have all their resources in one place, said Interim Director of eLearning Alyson Indrunas. Currently, 33 out of 34 community colleges and 5 out of 6 uni-versities are either using or switching to Canvas. The two schools not on board are WSU and Skagit

Valley Community

College. Canvas also

sports a vari-ety of features

that allow for greater student

teacher interac-tion, said

Indrunas. Multimedia

is easier to post and ac-

cess. Notifica-tions can be sent

to your Facebook, Twitter or email.

Rubrics are present with every assignment.

Teacher student mes-saging is like an instant message. Students and teachers can even record video messages with their webcams.

Canvas’ grading system is also easier for teachers to use. Before, Indrunas

“wasted hours of [her] life” downloading stu-

dent’s work from ANGEL. There’s also no more opening links in that weird half browser ANGEL window. ANGEL would also crash servers, whereas Canvas exists in the cloud.

“I think it’s what the future of learning managements will look like,” said Indrunas.

Many students are happy with the change to Canvas. Student Ce-celia Cancel says that she actually understands Canvas, whereas AN-GEL was always confusing to her. She is taking a double Geology and English class and Canvas handles the double class very well.

Joelle Moussi likes Canvas, es-pecially the mobile friendliness that ANGEL lacked. Some students choose to use Can-vas on their phones and that choice has benefited Canvas in the court of student opinion.

Student Steven Marin doesn’t think Canvas feels like anything special, but did not use ANGEL. He thinks that Canvas should be implemented at the high school level because it helps him commu-nicate with his teachers when he has last second questions.

Political science professor Dr. Steven Horn likes the feel of Can-vas more than ANGEL. However, he has some worries about inter-acting with his students.

“I am constantly worried that I am going to miss a student’s post where they might have a question for me,” he said. He has set up Canvas to email him when students make posts, but hasn’t found Can-vas’ email systems to be reliable. Horn followed up in an email that he still prefers Canvas to ANGEL.

Faculty member Jason Ripper, however, would discard Canvas and go back to ANGEL if he had the chance. ANGEL had a tiered discussion board system much like an Internet forum. Canvas’ dis-cussion system looks more like a news story or a Facebook post that a student posts replies to. Rip-per says that he is “rarely a fan of something that has more features … especially if it was working well in the past.” In Ripper’s online classes, 80% of students’ grade is based on the discussion board. Ripper feels that ANGEL “worked better for the

purposes of a thorough discussion,” and in his classes, that’s what counts the most.

“There’s nothing I like about [Canvas],” said Ripper.

Another potential issue with Canvas is that it’s meant to be used in Google Chrome.

For some students who have always used Internet Explorer or have never downloaded a new browser before, this can be tricky. eLearning plans on doing a survey to get feed-back from students on Canvas.

Horn hopes that changes and fixes are in the works for Canvas. Director of eLearning for SBCTC Connie Broughton says that could happen. Instructure, the makers of Canvas, were a small company a year ago when the decision to switch was made. It has since

grown signifi-cantly but is still very open to user suggestions as they continue to develop their product. Canvas up-dates itself every three weeks, said Devin Knighton, Director of PR for Instructure.

Canvas was chosen based on faculty and student decisions, said Broughton. Both the approachabili-ty of Instructure and the cloud stor-age were big selling points for them. In the yearlong decision making process, the group looked at other eLearning systems such as Moodle, Blackboard and Desire2Learn.

The real next level of eLearning, however, will come when online students start designing online classes, said Indrunas. There’s a little bit of that in Canvas, but eLearning will always be moving forward. It may even be a testament to Canvas’ ease of use that there haven’t been as many problems. There are almost always questions at the start of each quarter for those who are new to online learning, said Indrunas. But this year, not quite so much.

Saying goodbye to ANGEL wasn’t hard for many professors. Most prefer Canvas to ANGEL. And once the school moved away from Blackboard to ANGEL two years ago, Blackboard bought ANGEL and planned to shut it down. Washington state’s contract with Blackboard expires June 30 2014. Many schools have made the switch already because Blackboard has stopped developing for ANGEL – the dead service walking.

News and Features


EvCC + Canvas = BFFStatewide learning platform proves to be a hit


Focal PointSAFE ZONE CELEBRATES

On Oct. 10, the Student Activities Corner was deco-rated in pink to celebrate the birthday of a very important program: Safe Zone.

Safe Zone is a college pro-gram for the students, staff and faculty who are part of the LGBTQA community. It aims to eliminate homopho-bia on campus.

LGBTQA stands for les-bian, gay, bisexual, transgen-der, questioning and ally.

“It is a place for them to

talk to someone, or to just get any support they may need,” said Karl Ritter, who works in Enrollment Services.

Doors around campus that are marked with a pink triangle are Safe Zones. The Student Activities Office and the Diversity and Equity Cen-ter are also Safe Zones.

During the birthday party, there was a banner on the wall with the Safe Zone Pledge: “Educate myself and advocate for equality. Sup-

port and appreciate my LG-BTQ peers and allies. Respect and embrace our differences.”

Students and staff were invited to sign the pledge and make a pledge of their own.

Some people even took this as an opportunity to ask questions and learn about the program and about the LG-BTQA community. The most common question was what the letters stand for.

“A lot of people have a glazed look about the letters,”

Lindsay Krill said. Krill is part of the Triangle Alli-ance, a club on campus that discusses issues facing the LGBTQA community.

The Safe Zone meets every month to discuss educa-tional opportunities, and the Triangle Alliance meets every Thursday.

On Nov. 7, Safe Zone is showing a movie in the Jack-son Center called “In-laws and Outlaws.”

Ashley ClinestAff Writer

MeMbers of student ACtivities behind the CAke tAble. // Ashley Cline

Justin MArtin leArns About sAfe Zone froM sAo ProgrAM MAnAger, lindsAy hudson. // Ashley Cline


Focal Point

seCurity guArd leslie kikuChi reCently MArried her PArtner of 15 yeArs. seCurity is very suPPortive of the lgbtQA CoM-Munity. // Ashley Cline

these lgbtQA buttons And ribbons Were free // Ashley Cline

students And stAff Pledge suPPort for the lgtbQA CoMMunity. // Ashley Cline

evCC student shAylA sCott signs her nAMe on the bAnner. // Ashley Cline evCC student ChArley PrAither enJoys soMe free CAke. // Ashley Cline

News and Features

Volume 70, Issue 1- Oct 16, 2013

Math is simple in general, but in col-lege, math becomes a big deal, a mon-ster even, especially for non-science majors. Math becomes a big monster because if you fail, you have to retake

the class. without those credits, you can-not finish your Associates Degree and go to a University. It’s all about money and

time. While you are looking at your tran-

script, you find out that you have to take a math class. You may think back to all the bad times you had with math in high school. Then, you start talking to a friend.You tell your friend that you hate math

and don’t want to take it. If your friend also has bad memories, she or he may answer you, “Yes, I know that feeling bro.” And then, you both conspire ways to escape it. Here are some tips on making math a

bit easier here at EvCC.

Instructors: Easy vs.Hardcore

A way to escape could be finding an easy teacher, and sticking with that easy teacher until you finish your math re-quirement.From personal experience, there is no

big difference between easy instructors and hard instructors.“Math is hard to change in our level,” said Bob Killingstad, who has been teaching at Everett Community College for 43 years. Killingstad said the way he learned math and teaches math hasn’t changed that much.The difference between easy instruc-

tors and hard instructors would be the flexibility. No one hates take home quiz-zes and exams, but there are no differ-ences between them and in-class exams. You have to do the math if you want to learn.

Why Math?You may also wonder why you need to

take math if you are majoring in music, graphic design or other majors that seem like they don’t need it.Education should not turn people off.

In contrast, education, should help hu-mans to solve issues in reality. Why are we learning the math that we don’t need to use in stores or gas stations?Mike Nevins, a math instructor at

EvCC, explained that learning math can improve your problem solving ability.“If you are the boss, you don’t want to hire someone who cannot calculate ba-sic math,” said Nevins.College math trains problem solv-

ing ability. While solving math ques-tions and doing calculations, progress requires carefully thought out steps. Finding the right method to solve an equation resembles finding a tool to solve work issues.Moreover, Killingstad explained that

math in college can relate to all majors because math requires several skills which can be used in any kind of classes.Critical thinking ability, organized in-

formation and decrypting symbols are used in every class.“You have to identify the data by criti-cal thinking before you use it because there [is] some wrong data,” Killingstad added.

What makes students afraid of math?

According to Killingstad, people are

afraid of math because they are told that math is hard, and that stereotype cretes a mental block. Students develop an il-lusion that makes difficulty synonymous with failure. Carelessness, distraction and misunderstanding would be the rea-son for failure, not difficulty. “There are so many distractions and burdens that make the students not fo-cus on college classes,” Killingstad said. The age range in community college is 16 to 60. To handle work and classes is by no means easy.“Math needs practice,” Killingstad em-phasized, “It is just like football games. If the Seahawks haven’t practiced, they cannot win the game.”Doing homework helps regionalize the

concept. It helps to practice the opera-tion, so skipping the homework is an-other reason for failure.International students who come from

Asia will say math in this country is easy because math questions are a mandato-ry part of every day life. Practice works.Failing is another reason why people

are afraid of math. “In the beginning

of the quarter, students step in the classroom [crazy] nervous.” Nevins explained, “So my job is to help them to set up their confidence during the quarter.”

Different Math ClassesClasses below 100, such as math 92,

98 and 99, teach the basic algebra op-erations to help students get ready for the college algebra class.

Calculator or no Calculator?In general, instructors will not allow

the use of calculators in basic math classes because they want to make sure you can remember the basic concepts in the calculation progress.“If you can prove that you know how to do the calculation process to the instruc-tor, we might let you use the calculator,” said Killingstad.The tutoring center is currently located

at Index Hall. Student helpers and in-structors are willing to help students with any academic problem.

SURVIVING MATH

TRANSFERRING OVERJake Nichollsstaff Writer

Transferring can be a tricky, messy thing to do. Entire books can be written on the subject. There was even a whole class called Transfer Success, taught by Gina Meyers. That’s not around any more, but The Clipper is here to help. The first key to a successful transfer is to have a plan mapped out with a major and a school in mind. Let’s use a busi-ness student that wants to transfer to the University of Washington as an ex-ample. UW lists several different courses that a business major would want to take at

EvCC, including microeconomics, mac-roeconomics and Calculus I. This will vary depending on the school and major, but the rule is to ask. Having a conver-sation with your advisory and compar-ing the university’s equivalency guide to your DTA helps ensure a successful transfer. And all those blank spots on the DTA? Fill them up with other prerequisites. The bottom line is that EvCC doesn’t know where students are going, so it’s up to us to be informed. A lot of stu-dents don’t get into the programs that they want to because they don’t have all their prerequisites done. It’s also worth noting that just because a student is ac-

cepted into a school that does not mean a student is accepted into the program they want. In the past, advising was mandatory for students who wanted to graduate, but this is no longer the case. Meyers strongly suggests that students find an advisor in their major or department to get them onto the right track. Start at the university and work your way back alongside your advisor, says Meyers.

“The biggest mistake that people make,” says Meyers, is that “financial aid dead-line dates are usually before admission dates.” Yes, that means apply for financial aid before applying for admission.

Furthermore, many students get infor-mation for their friends that isn’t always reliable. Meyers recommends talking to an expert about your own personal transfer situation. Keep in mind that as a transfer student, you are “a good risk” for colleges to take, says Meyers. Many students do not transfer simply because they missed deadlines or forgot to apply. So here are the application dates for some in state universities:University of Washington: February 15. Applications open December 15. Washington State University: January 31 Western Washington University: March 1.

A GUIDE TO HELP YOU TRANSFER YOUR CREDITS OVER TO A UNIVERSITY. SMOOTHLY.

WE ALL HAVE TO LEARN IT. HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON MATH SURVIVAL.

felim sophotoJourNalist

A student loses focus As instructor bob killingstAd teAchers mAth.// felim so

News and Features


Kaleb WeberGraphics editor

Basic self-defense isn’t offered as a class at EvCC, but a local Karate instruc-tor wants to remedy that situation.

Casey Mills is an instructor at the lo-cal North Sound Karate dojo and has expressed a keen interest in instructing college students in self-defense.

Casey has been studying the art of Ka-rate for over 34 years and has been an instructor for 16 of them. For five days a week, he can be found at his dojo teach-ing groups of people of all ages and skill levels.

“By simply having or portraying con-fidence, many times you don’t have to present your knowledge,” Mills said.

“If you don’t look like prey, they’ll find someone else.”

Mills has a strong determination to convince the school to allow him to be-gin instructing a course that would teach all the skills that a white belt should know.

“Learning to be aware and learning how to keep yourself out of [bad] situa-tions is worth its weight in gold.”

Currently, Mills teaches mostly young children and teenagers. It is his hope to increase interest among the adult demo-graphic. “Back in the day [as children], we could be goofy and not worry about things. Now, assaults and kidnappings are something we should be prepared

for.”“Do not confuse yourself with the end

goal.” Mills told one of his classes, “The end goal is to defend yourself in the fast-est and most efficient way possible.”

The students quickly replied in Japa-nese, and stared intently into the eyes of

their own refection of the mirrors that lined the south wall of the dojo. The fe-rocity in their faces would be more than enough to defer any criminal from vic-timizing them.

Karen Landry, director of continu-ing education at EvCC, said in an email,

that “[EvCC has] not offered self-de-fense courses in Continuing Education in more than ten years,” and “that [the college is] not working on offering a self-defense course.”

Casey Mills watChes over a junior karate Class . // nathaniel lynCh

Instructor wants defense on campus

bob Nearystaff Writer

At some point or another we’ve all encountered the problem: you find a way to arrive on campus early in the hopes of finding parking. If you’re a student, you invariably end up driving around for 20 minutes only to find the last available space is boldly marked “STAFF ONLY.”

Hurling a bombardment of expletives at no one in particular because your early arrival plan backfired, you continue your search off campus. When you finally do find a space, your morning has turned into a race against the clock.

As the college has grown in recent years, planners and administrators have struggled to accommodate the large influx of student vehicles.

According to the college’s 25-year plan, a parking garage was scheduled to open back in 2011 with more than 1,000 available spaces. Two years later, these plans have yet to materialize. The security office maintains that there’s plenty of parking – just that students don’t want to walk. Be that as it may, teachers and students frequently grumble about the trouble they have finding parking.

Whichever side of the debate you fall on, here are some alternatives to the parking headache.

CarpoolingWhile it doesn’t solve the problem of

finding parking outright, it improves the 1:1 student-vehicle ratio by 100 percent with just one other participant. Not only are you cutting down on traffic,

carpooling permits are $10.92 – $34.08 cheaper than the quarterly single vehicle permit. With an SUV capacity of eight, that comes out to only $1.37 per passenger if you share the cost with your friends. Ass, gas or grass … you know the rules.

To qualify, you must provide a list of all carpool members, a copy of each student’s class schedule for the current quarter and have at least two members with classes between 7 a.m. to 9am. If you want to take advantage of this program, carpooling permit applications are available at the Security Office in the Parks Student Union, Room 224.

BusingIf you don’t have any friends, or

object to treating coitus as a business transaction, busing is another way to extricate your self from the parking nightmare.

Everett Transit Route 29 services College Station and runs south through Lowell and returns to Broadway at 52nd St. then continues to the Eastmont Park and Ride, Silver Lake and ends at the Everett Mall Station. For those north of Everett, Route 79 runs from College Station following old Broadway north to Marysville at the State Street/I-5 junction, then heads north as far as the Navy Support Complex.

If you’re coming from out east, like Monroe, Community Transit Route 275 will take you from the Monroe Library to the Everett Train Station where you can catch one of the two Circulator buses that service the College Station.

For you islander-folks, the 412C Express on the Island Transit will take

you from Terry’s Corner right to Tower and Broadway in an estimated 40 minutes.

For a complete list of routes and schedules follow the links on the EvCC Student Survival Guidepage. Quarterly ORCA passes are $45 and can be purchased at the Cashier’s Office in the Parks building, room 201

BikingBiking is a great option for those far

out or close to town. All local transit buses are equipped with bike racks to easily combine your riding with your commuting. Yes, the wonderfully wet Pacific Northwest climate will dampen your enthusiasm to bike fairly often, in

which case you can always fall back on the local transit. Most routes can get you to campus with only two transfers, if any at all. For the truly dedicated cyclist who won’t let the weather get them down, invest in some rain gear and fenders if you haven’t already.

There are many alternatives to driving by yourself and wrestling for those precious few parking spaces. Any one of them can save you time and money. A couple will keep you fit and energetic, which you’ll be thankful for when it comes finals time. That together with the time you’re saving means more time for studying and relaxing with friends.

Parking, yeah , it’s still a problem

a staff only Marked parking spot. // BoB neary

Local Dojo pushes for self-defense on campus.

But here are some tips on how to get that coveted spot and get here on time

Opinion


BoB Neary,Staff Writer

A recreational drug shouldn’t consume your flesh. Unfortunately, the world is a nasty place. What passes for recreation has degenerated to the point where such things do occur in the quest for pleasure. Krokodil, as it’s called on the street, is an apt name for the extremely addictive and unrefined pharmaco-logical zombie that will eat you alive. A couple weeks ago Arizona’s Banner Poison Control Center reportedwhat they believe to be the first cases of the drug’s use in the United States.

Krokodil’s history lies in the 20th century’s great leaps in pharmaceutical discovery. It is a very dirty rendering of desomorphine, which was first synthesized in 1932 while searching for a less addictive alternative to morphine. However, clinical studies soon revealed that the immediate effects, while of shorter duration than morphine, were in fact more addictive and production was terminated.

Clean preparation of de-

somorphine is a very difficult process and one definitely not for the amateur chemist. Regrettably, you don’t need a highly refined compound to get fucked up. Until recently, the foul vaporous secre-tions of this concoction were thought to be confined to the dark recesses of Siberia. The main ingredient being co-deine, it has become a cheap street opiate in Russia over the last decade, where until June of last year pharma-ceuticals containing codeine could be purchased over the counter. (It’s estimated that one million people are cur-rently addicted to Krokodil.) Shortly after the ban went into effect, a Russian pub-lication ran a story chroni-cling the four days journalist Marina Akhmedova spent with Krokodil addicts in Yekaterinburg. Its horrific narration of junkies’ lives is a haunting taleand not for those with weak stomachs. Consider yourself warned. (Ed. note. – Seriously. It’s terrible, but informative.)

It’s a very trusting soul indeed who partakes of street drugs. Any creep can cook up Pepto-Bismol and battery acid in the kitchen-

ette of a sleazy motel, call it ‘Pink Passion’ and find some self-loathing fool, all too eager to pay money for the thrill of irreparably damag-ing his body. To wit: some other ingredients in Krokodil include sulfur, red phospho-rous and gasoline.

Which brings me to the point of seriously question-ing the existence of so-called drug ‘culture’ – a term that is too often employed today to describe virtually any activity that a group of people habitually participate in. This designation is given irrespective of the absence of substantially edifying achievements that are typi-cally requisite for something to be considered an element of ‘culture.’

What culture is there in blending industrial chemi-cals with codeine to get high? Top that off with the deplorably communal ap-proach opiate junkies take to shooting up. All the perks that come from intravenous drug use – HIV, Hepatitis C

– a culture does not make. At its best, approaching

drug use as just a rebellious sub-culture is a misguided quest for enlightenment.

This notion was summed up well by Hunter Thompson in describing the mysticism of the 60s acid wave – “the age old fallacy that there was someone or something tend-ing the light at the end of the tunnel.” For the particularly insensible taker, it borders on viewing drugs and the pusher as their benefac-tor; that they’re simply a business man providing a product in demand, that the seller exercises quality con-trol over their product – they won’t sell you any bad shit

– or they are sympathetic to your ill-conceived search for higher understanding. But somewhere between misdi-rected curiosity and down-right stupidity is the average recreational drug user.

In my own experience, most drug users fall into the middle category. They are risk takers with a healthy curiosity, an even healthier skepticism of authority and a youthful disregard for consequences. They’re fully aware of the risks involved in ingesting an unconfirmed substance – the high is deemed worth it. And with the exception of rare hal-lucinogens, like mescaline

or DMT, they don’t entertain any delusions about achiev-ing profound transcendence through narcotics. Injecting something into their blood-stream that is all but guaran-teed to kill them in the most awful way imaginable isn’t their idea of fun.

Normally, I greet the latest drug scare with a cynical smirk and sometimes even seek it out. This time around I’m not sure if the drug is scarier or if I’m scar-ing easier. Maybe it’s the delicate evolving experience that comes with age. Equally likely are the hours of ra-diation and chemotherapy. Whatever the reason, I can no longer afford to gamble with my mortality.

What kind of narcotic euphoria is so extraordinary that a person is willing to sacrifice the flesh on their bones to get it?

I don’t know and I don’t want to know. This Krokodil stuff is the most nihilistic drug out there (NSFW). It’s not like smoking a doob at the end of the day or even the occasional acid trip. It is the narcotic embodiment of utter hopelessness.

ChriS KimStaff Writer

As the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One approach their release date, the question ultimately comes down to this: “Does it matter?” Every new gadget or technology that comes out is about what’s new, what kind of feature it boasts that the previous product didn’t, what the specs are, and how it can benefit me and the world. Every hardcore technology nerd goes and digs deep into the new products that come out, looking for newer and better gadgets.

In this gamer’s opinion, it does matter which console gamers get. Dedicated gamers know what’s good and what’s bad inside and out. Also, we must

look at what is offered for soon to be own-ers of both consoles. When looking at why this matters, we must look at the speci-fications; features, content, games and importantly, how much it will cost to own one of these con-soles. Right off the bat, we can see that PlayStation 4 by far is the clear winner in customers choice of console this upcom-ing holiday season

based on the fallout from the Xbox One unveiling, which made Microsoft re-think its position about having a constantly-online console. You may also notice the price difference between the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. While the PlayStation 4 goes for $399 for a standard edition, the Xbox One goes for $499 for the standard edition.

People want to be able to buy something that fits their budget, and Sony has done a nice job naming the price for its upcoming next-generation console, but people may be willing to spend a little more if the console peaks their interest and it is what they are looking for. Ultimately, the price is not the de-

ciding factor here, but rather the experience it will give the players.

Both consoles will be using AMD Jaguar Octo-core (8 Core) processing technology, while PlaySta-tion 4 will boast 8GB GDDR5 RAM and the Xbox One will have 8GB of GDDR3 RAM. Back when the PS3 and Xbox 360 came out, the PS3 was the only console capable of playing Blu-Ray DVD’s and the Xbox 360 was unable to. The Xbox One coming out this November will have the capability to play Blu-Ray discs.

However, there is a huge feature difference for both consoles. Microsoft is famous for locking out a lot of its services such as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. Currently, the only way to access them is to pay a subscription fee for these services. On the other hand, Sony has these services for free to use without a PlayStation Plus subscription, which will be new to their console.

But who cares, right? If I like it and it suits my interest, then I will get it. No, no, no. This kind of mindset is the worst way to decide why you want a console. You must look at other opinions to why it matters or else you will end up disappointed that you didn’t do your research.

It matters because it is important to know what you will be getting out of it so you won’t be disap-pointed. Take my advice and do your research before deciding on which console to buy this year.

Krokodil and “drug culture”

Xbox One vs. PlayStation4Two entertainment juggernauts want to take your money this holiday season.

Culture Volume 70, Issue 1 - October 16, 2013

Felim So CaSSie RatteRRee

StaFF WRiteRS

This crisp fall Saturday morn-ing on Oct. 12th, EvCC stu-dents enjoyed the chance to get their hands dirty while learning about the geology of Mount St. Helens. The EvCC geology class went on a two-day field trip to Mount St. Helens over the weekend to study the earth and gain practice with field-work experience.Although students couldn’t get too close to the volcano due to government regulations, they were able to get first-hand experience researching nearby rocks.

Even though the weather was cloudy for the first part of the morning, Steven Grupp, the geology class instructor, said altogether it was a great trip and a good opportunity for students to get hands-on ex-perience. When the students arrived, they could see steam rising from the volcano from the highlands. Mount St. Helens is an active composite volcano located south of Seattle with a rich and fruitful landscape.

Geography Students get Hands-On at Mount St. Helens

StudentS climb a hill to get a better view of the mountain. // Steven grupp

the geography 102 claSS in front of the mountain. // Steven grupp

the view of the crater of mount St helenS. //Steven grupp

Steam riSeS from the crater. // Steven grupp

Culture


“CHAOS” ON CAMPUS KALEB WEBERGRAphic EditoR

If you were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the “Incommensurable Things” exhibit at the Russell Day Gallery, you witnessed a multitude of paintings done by the artists Emily Gherard and Stephanie Pierce. Pierce’s past speaks a story of a bleak time that visually came to life through the pow-erful embrace of chaos. Pierce answered ques-tions from art students and teachers on Sept. 26. She spoke about her art, which included paintings based on time. She would spend months on each piece, occa-sionally adding small sections to each painting from varying perspectives and times of the day to create beautiful ab-stract works of art. Her avidity for art began when she was 13 years old, a time when she “started un-derstanding the world beyond what I had known, and began [my] education by punk mu-sic” she said. “The room was like a nucleus for forming a sense of self,” she recalls, gazing at her eight-foot collage on the wall at the far end of the

exhibit. In the corner of a vast empty room pasted together by memory, there was only a messy bed and an old cas-sette radio seeming to echo the grimy, overdriven melody of the tape by the punk band Husker Du held within. Punk music has had a great influence on Pierce’s art, as well as her life. “Often in punk music, especially with bands like No Trend or Hüsker Dü, it feels like things are about to fall apart, but they hold together. It can seem like an organized chaos,” she said, “At first, you get a sense of everything all-at-once, but then there’s change. There can be chaos in space, and a competition for that space.” Pierce and Gherard had been friends since they met in 2004 at the University of Washington. Emily Gherard currently teaches at EvCC, North Seattle Community College, and Bellevue College. As Pierce answered ques-tions by the students and faculty of EvCC, the people in the small and dimly lit Russell Day Gallery stopped to think when she said, “Honestly, I experience a lot of doubt in regards to making work. There’s always a question of

where to start, what makes it in, and what about the source or process will be-come the real subject or reason for the painting. I have to take a leap of faith that everything holds pos-sibility. That thought is one of the reasons I keep doing it.” Currently, Pierce plays an important role in the management of a punk rock radio station in Arkansas, KXUA 88.3 FM, while at the same time teaching art at the University of Arkansas. If you haven’t had a chance to see the

“Incommensurable Things” exhibit at EvCC, it is lo-cated in the Russell Day Gallery in the Parks Student Union building, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays until Oct. 25. Whether you like contemporary art, appreci-ate paintings, or just enjoy staring at pretty colors, this exhibit is sure to im-press.

Stephine pierce ShareS a Story about one of her paintingS. // Kaleb Webber

Offering Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees.Open to the public.

Columbia College-NS Everett-Marysville(425) 304-4480 • [email protected]

Columbia College-NAS Whidbey Island(360) 279-9030 • [email protected]

GoForGreater.org

Take pride in what you’ve accomplished so far and know that

you can add a Bachelor’s to your list of achievements. Transfer and

continue the journey to go for greater.

MoRE photoS FRoM thE RUSSEL dAY GALLERY AVAiLiBLE oNLiNE AtcLippERoNLiNE.iNFo