The 'Grunt' Film Project Focuses on stories of four OSU men who served in the military

Photo courtesy of The 'Grunt' film project's website

Jacob Mogler’s film The 'Grunt' Film Project looks at the post-war lives of four of his fellow veterans at OSU. Locals will appreciate the beautiful OSU backdrops.

The veterans’ stories show different ways to transition successfully back into civilian society after time in the military, including filmmaking, (Mogler is a veteran), theater, leadership in school and community, and mediation.

An important touchstone of the film looks at the high numbers of suicide among veterans and U.S. citizens in general. As the narrator and filmmaker, Mogler asks each of the four soldiers: Anthony Plant, Nivardo Gonzalez, Sean Maloy, and Steven Olson about suicide among veterans.

"Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem,” says Maloy, an affable-looking fellow who moved out to Oregon at the instigation of his friend Plant. The message is clear; it is important to find successful ways to transfer the leadership skills from deployment to civilian life, as challenging as that can be.

This showing of “Grunt” was put on by Jaya Lapham, Veteran Resource Coordinator at LBCC and Teri Bartlow, Veteran Liason to the Advising Center at LBCC.

The filming for most of the story is realistic/gritty, with the OSU vistas providing a welcome bit of greenery and spaciousness. The profiles of the soldiers are filmed in super detailed close-up, making the viewer feel almost inside the movie.

In the movie, Gonzalez talks about discovering meditation as a technique that not only helped him but also that he can share with others. Steven Olson, who came with Mogler to LBCC to talk with audience members after the movie, said that theater, friendship and getting a companion dog have helped him and fellow soldiers deal with PTSD from serving in the military.

After the talk, Olson jumped up on stage to see the sets for LBCC’s upcoming plays with Michael Winder, LBCC Events and Production Coordinator. Olson was a student here at LBCC and has continued in theater. Juliette, Olson’s dog, waited patiently, wagging her tail when he returned.

Among the most poignant of the questions after the talk came from a mother who is concerned about the imminent deployment of her son. Mogler gave her a link to the movie so she could show it to her son and Olson said, “Don’t expect anything. Don’t expect things to be different. Just let things happen organically. You’re going to be able to stay in touch with him. For me, it was so awesome to see my Mom at the gate, pulling out grey hairs [saying] ‘Look what you did to me.’“

The 'Grunt' Film Project will be showing again at LBCC on Monday March 18th at 7 p.m. in LBCC’s Russell Tripp Theater. These soldiers’ stories can spark important conversations about service in the military, and bringing those leadership skills and real-life experiences into higher education and ultimately into second careers.

LBCC Hort Club Meets Mondays at Noon in Greenhouse

A rock sculpture welcomes visitors to the LBCC Greenhouse

Are you interested in plants, mushrooms, gardening, vineyards, greenhouses, and/or small farms? “Everyone’s welcome,” said Horticulture Club President Sterling Guijar at a meeting on Jan. 17. Succulents, geraniums, and vegetable starts fill the Greenhouse. The Club has a plot in one of the Farm Hoophouses, too. Activities are every Monday at noon in the Greenhouse by White Oak Hall.

Student Leadership Committee earn tuition credits

Rocky the Roadrunner meditates, photo courtesy of Shelby Pick

Would you like to start next term with a free three credits coming to you?

Put on the Rocky Roadrunner costume. Talk to Barb in the Student Life and Leadership/Student Leadership Council (SLC) Office next to the Hot Shot Café. The office is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Rocky is one of about a dozen SLC positions opening up this term and all of them translate directly to free credits. For example, Krystal Madrinan is the SLC Wellness Coordinator, a part-time position, so she earned three credits last spring term during training, six credits for Fall, and six credits for winter. A full-time officer will earn double that.

Krystal puts in about three hours a week in the office and three hours per week in meetings.

Applications are being accepted now through the end of spring term for regular positions, both part-time and full-time. President and vice president applications are due by 5 p.m. Feb. 11; students are encouraged to serve a regular year first to learn the ropes before running for president or vice president.

Mural Brightens LBCC's Adult Re-Entry Center

Title: Leaving The Nest

Deck: Adult Re-entry Program is a bright welcome place for older-than-average students

Mural Brightens LBCC’s Adult Re-Entry Center

Mural artist JJ Bolden talks with attendees of the open house in the Adult Re-Entry Center.

A closeup of Bolden’s mural of Rocky Roadrunner.

If you are re-entering school as a second career and are older than 18, you might benefit from the Adult Re-entry Center, affectionately called “The Nest.”  

It is located past the Academic Foundations door in the top floor of the learning center.  There are snacks, a movie softly playing, and outlets for laptops. There’s also information about scholarships.  And brightening up the whole area is a beautiful brand-new mural by LBCC art student JJ Bolden.

Bolden was on hand to talk about his art at the March 6 Adult Re-entry Center open house.  Attendees crowded into the room to admire the mural and eat snacks, talking about art, and community.

Work-study students Greydi Olvera and Jennifer Justice were happy to talk about the new mural and the center.

“I love it; the bright happy colors make me really happy; it makes it more welcoming,” said Justice.

Olvera, who helped vote on this version of the mural, likes the representation of “the climb, the struggle.” In the mural, Rocky the Roadrunner grips a mountainside, eyes intent on an unseen peak, as a red glow of sunset illuminates the background.

“We have a Facebook page 'LBCC Adult Reentry Student Success Center' for the Nest started just to stay in touch with people who have gone through the Empower program or are starting the Empower program,” said Olvera.

“The Empower program is for students who have been out of school or thinking of getting into a second career,” she said. It helps with financial aid, class requirements, and computer skills.

It’s three separate classes for free that generate four college credits, according to Malinda Shell, faculty for adult re-entry and career pathways.

“It was super helpful,” said Justice.  “It just helps you figure yourself out a little bit.”

“We had someone from CWE-Cooperative Work Experience,” said Olvera. According to Olvera, sharing resources with other students was an important part of the class. “You don’t feel like you’re the only one” who is an older student.

For more information about this or other programs such as STEP (SNAP, Training and Employment Program) that helps students who are receiving SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) with tuition, books, supplies and transportation for certificate programs, contact Program Coordinator Malinda Shell at shellm@linnbenton.edu.

For more of JJ Bolden's art, see Instagram @Mutalist9

OSU Small Farms Conference

 On Sat Feb. 23, one thousand compact farmers piled into LaSells Stewart Center in Corvallis for the sold-out annual OSU Small Farms Conference. This conference was part of a series of associated farming events put on by OSU this week including the first-ever “Back to the Root-2019 Pacific Northwest Black Growers Gathering,” the “Pacific Northwest Flower Growers Association,” and the “Oregon Farmers Market Association Membership Meeting and Banquet.”

LBCC Horticulture faculty and students attended different workshops including sessions on legislative issues facing small farmers, successful seed-starting, and growing specialty-cut flowers.

Presenters Miranda Duschack and Mimo Davis, the two-woman-team of Urban Buds in St. Louis, Missouri (They have one employee besides themselves) were featured speakers at the Conference. Attendees could follow the “flower track” which, as well as Urban Buds, included talks by Diane Szukovathy of Jello Mold Farm in the Skagit Valley in Washington state, and Bethany Little of Charles Little & Company in Eugene.

There was also a “Spanish track” offered at the conference, according to the website, and being in mono-culture Corvallis, there was the added benefit of conference attendees who had dark skin, including Davis, who is partners with Duschack, who is white, (they got married in St. Louis) and they have a son and there were lots of other kids at the conference; all KINDS of diversity going on.

All of the “flower track” talks unexpectedly emphasized experimentation. The growers of this national trend of “local, specialty-cut flowers” are constantly trying out new kinds of flowers and new ways to grow them in the winter using “season extenders” like heated or unheated greenhouses. (Davis and Duschack bought their one-acre farm in the heart of St. Louis because of the its vintage glass greenhouse.)

The flower talks also emphasized the “ephemeral beauty” of flowers, which require very high standards of culling, cleanliness, and even refrigerated trucks to arrive looking lovely at the markets, wholesalers and florists where they are sold.

“We have very pretty compost piles,” agreed presenters Szukovathy and Little. The presenters are familiar with each other from other conferences and refer to each other’s talks. In one of Urban Buds’ talks, Duschack referred to spreadsheets she saw in a presentation by Szukovathy showing the relatively lucrative nature of selling perennials versus annuals, which need to be replanted every year.

Erin McMullen of “Raindrop Farms” in Philomath introduced each flower talk. “Raindrop Farms” sells at the Corvallis First Alternative North Co-op and Farmers Markets as well as locations in Portland and Seattle, and the minute you see the beautiful fresh colors of their columbines, you’ll never forget the “ephemeral beauty” of this area’s own particular version of specialty-cut local flowers.

According to Urban Buds’ website, horticulturist Mimo Davis had a first career in social work in New York City; “While her life in the Big Apple is far behind her, Mimo still knows and appreciates the emotional and healing power of flowers.”

The presentation on “Food Hubs,” attended by LBCC student Erin Day-Gennett, talked about expanding the assumption that everyone’s going to get their food from super-markets only.

And "Black Voices in Oregon Agriculture: Sharing our Experiences" looked at the history of farming in Oregon when you’re black. Part of the talk, according to attendee Ms. Penniman, catalogued Oregon’s history as the only Union state with apartheid, which had a law on the books that required all black people in Oregon to be whipped twice a year “until they left.”

The emotional nature of this information, said Penniman, who is white, caused a man who is a veteran as well as black as well as a farmer to decry this pattern of abuse; and an emotional and important conversation between attendees followed. Penniman bought the book Farming While Black at the conference, because she shares the same last name as the author: Leah Penniman.

“Are you the right age to remember Little Richard?” asked lay-person-not-author Penniman. “He has this last name too.”

Commuter Story Improved: Talent Grants are tuition scholarships available at OSU

phot courtesy of the LBCC Livestock Judging Team, a co-curricular activity

Talent Grants are available through LBCC Co-Curricular Programs and the Student Leadership Council, which is the Student Government at LBCC.  Talent Grants cover anywhere from 1-3 credits per term or more at the discretion of the advisor of the co-curricular program or student government.

LBCC Co-curricular programs include Livestock Judging, Diversity Achievement Center, the Commuter, and the Student Leadership Council (SLC).  A full list is online at linnbenton.edu.  By searching for "clubs" you can also access a list of co-curricular programs.  Keep clicking on the “co-curricular” links until you come to the list which includes contact information for all the advisors involved with co-curricular programs. Clubs are not the same as co-curricular programs.

If you are in a co-curricular program, you may be able to get financial aid for classes by working for the program in exchange for a Talent Grant that will pay for some of your credits. According to Heather Morijah, Program Assistant for Clubs, Co-Curricular Programs, and the Diversity Achievement Center, “it’s solely up to the [co-curricular program] advisor [to decide] who receives [the Talent Grants] and how many they get.

“Only co-curricular programs have access to Talent Grants; clubs do not,” says Morijah. “The number of Talent Grants any co-curricular program receives is up to the discretion of the Co-curricular Budget Committee.” Some clubs do become co-curricular activities. Morijah said that the active “Civil Discourse Club” is currently trying to become a co-curricular program. Other co-curricular programs, like the Art Galleries on campus, started right away as co-curricular programs and never were clubs.

For more information on Talent Grants contact Morijah. Her office is in Student Life and Leadership next to the Hot Shot Cafe in the mornings and in the afternoons her desk is on the left in the Diversity Achievement Center on the second floor of the Forum Building facing the quad. “Anyone can talk to me about clubs and co-curricular programs,” said Morijah, speaking from her cozy office in Forum 120. “That is my job here [in Student Life and Leadership.] The other half [of my job] is providing the same type of work for the Diversity Achievement Center (Forum 220),” said Morijah.

Advisors for the co-curricular programs award Talent Grants to some students within each program. Some of the co-curricular programs, such as Livestock Judging, use Talent Grants to recruit and support students in their related discipline to come to LBCC. Each individual Talent Grant is worth 12 credits for the whole year. A program like the Diversity Achievement Center has 9 Talent Grants to award over the year to be distributed among three student positions. In the DAC these students are then responsible for campus-wide programming showcasing the diversity of LBCC students.

In co-curricular programs such as Space Exploration and Remote Operated Vehicles, Talent Grants “are awarded to team leaders for projects they are working on,” said Morijah, sitting on her exercise ball surrounded by the twinkly lights of her office.

At a glance:

What: Students can earn free tuition (fees still apply) by working in co-curricular programs and Student Government (Student Leadership Council.).
Who: All LBCC students are eligible, regardless of financial status.
When: Available during all terms.
Where: Ask Heather Morijah about Talent Grants; her office hours are mornings in the Student Life and Leadership Office (Forum 120) next to the Hot Shot Cafe and afternoons in the Diversity Achievement Center on the 2nd floor of the Forum Building facing the quad.

FMI: search for co-curricular programs under “Clubs and Co-curricular programs” in the linnbenton.edu website.

Estudiantes del Sol

"Estudiantes del Sol" Club Vice-President Patricia Simon, Adviser Tania Mendez and Events Coordinator Yulissa Gonzalez

"Estudiantes del Sol" club officers sat down in the DAC (Diversity Achievement Center) in Forum 220 to talk about the “Estudiantes del Sol” Club. Advisor Tania Mendez, who is the LBCC Latino Outreach and Retention Specialist, helped start the club last Spring. Talking about how clubs can help the transition from high school to college, Club President Marta Nunez and Vice-President Patricia Simon agreed that whereas high school is a lot about fitting in, college is more about finding yourself as an individual, and being willing to be unique.

“Estudiantes del Sol” organizes events like the upcoming Preferentia LBCC, which is like College Night but which will be held out in the community at South Albany High School on Saturday April 20th from 5-7:30 p.m. The event will help high schoolers about to go to college and adults considering reentering school to know what resources are available.

The resource fair will include a booth on Extended Learning for non-credit classes, a booth on the Dual Partnership Program with OSU and LBCC, and a GED booth as well. Advisor Mendez said there will be a bi-lingual representative to help people who don’t speak English.

“We welcome everyone and everybody,” said both officers and advisor regarding the bi-weekly meetings and other events of “Estudiantes del Sol.” Although Mendez specializes in helping Latino students, she has an open office right in the main room of Forum 220 and helps all LBCC students answer questions about financial aid, leadership opportunities, etc.

The “Estudiantes” mission statement reads, “As LBCC's only Latino club, we're here to make a positive impact on our campus by presenting the culture and history of Latin America. Our mission is to be present and active on campus--but our purpose is to make a lasting impact on the Latino community. We welcome all students regardless of their cultural background.”

The club has had students from Guatemala, Mexico, and Sudan as well as the United States. Club President Marta Nunez said the club seeks to share information about the many types of Latino culture. People might think of Mexico when they think about Latino culture, but there are many culture, countries and shades of skin included under the umbrella of Latino culture.

An example of this is that Oregonians might usually think of a Mexican savory quesadilla when they hear the word “quesadilla,” but at the recent “del Sol” event “Coffee and Cake 101,” Simon shared that a Guatemalan “quesadilla” is a sweet pastry made with crumbly cheese.

At a Glance: Student Clubs
What: “Estudiantes del Sol”
Where: Forum Building 220 (DAC)
When: Tuesdays (12-1pm) and Thursdays (11:30-12:30 am)

At a Glance: LBCC/Community events
What: “Preferentia LBCC” college resource fair (like College Night but with Bi-lingual information)
Where: South Albany High School Commons Cafeteria, sponsored by “Estudiantes del Sol”
When: Saturday April 20 5-7:30 p.m.

For more information: contact Tania Mendez at mendezt@linnbenton.edu