The Colorado State University men’s golf team tied for third place in the 2022 Wyoming Cowboy Classic on Tuesday. After a turbulent opening day, just two Ram golfers were keeping par at the meet. However, down the stretch, with a few amazing rounds by Connor Jones and Davis Bryant, the green and gold were able to turn their performance for the better.
Finishing in third place at the Whirlwind Golf Club’s Cattail course in Chandler, Arizona, was a step in the right direction for the CSU men’s golf team. In a tournament wherein most of the 25 participating teams made the 2021 NCAA Division I men’s golf regionals, 13th is not terrible.
But after the last season’s disappointing finish in the 2021 Mountain West Men’s Golf Championship, the CSU golfers are playing with a chip on their shoulder. Looking to capitalize on their success in the National Invitation Tournament last month and roll their performance into the Wyoming Classic, the men’s team was able to rally on the second day, jumping to third place.
A great tournament with some key wins for us! Congrats Connor on your runner-up finish!
— Colorado State Men's Golf (@CSUMGolf) April 6, 2022
The third round teed off at the Cattail course with Bryant and Jones in the top 20. In the final 18 holes, Jones took over, finishing the 18th hole tied for second place with a score of 204. Bryant, a senior, also found success in the third round, as he finished the tournament tied for 11th place.
In recent history, the CSU men’s golfers have had success at the individual level; however, the last time the team was competitive as a whole was in the 2010-11 season, the second season after their 2008 Mountain West championship. The silver lining for Ram fans is this third-place finish ties their best team performance at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic. With the season having only just begun, CSU golf seems to be correcting course. This marks the second tournament in a row wherein the Rams have over-performed their expectations.
The Rams will continue their season on April 11 for the 75th Western Intercollegiate hosted by San Jose State University.
The club meets every Thursday in THH 115 at 7 p.m. It plans upcoming projects and educates on the issues unhoused communities face in L.A. (Photo courtesy of Teya Hisel)
During her freshman year, Teya Hisel grew frustrated because of how closed-off USC is from the surrounding community.
“USC was making me really angry,” Hisel said. “I would walk through the gates and have to show my ID after a certain time — we literally live in a gated community.”
Coming to USC, Hisel knew she wanted to see more community engagement from USC as she believes they are “not doing nearly enough.”
Hisel sought out opportunities on campus to get involved, including the United Way and the Downtown Women’s Center, and hoped to join the Housing Equity Project, a student organization that promotes housing equity around L.A., But when USC shifted to remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic, the club died out and Hisel began to think of other ways she could get involved in advocating for housing equality.
This semester, alongside Thomas Martynowicz, a sophomore majoring in international relations, and Atharva Tewari, a junior majoring in journalism and global studies, Hisel created advocaSC, a club that aims to support unhoused community members of Los Angeles through policy advocacy, education and outreach and direct service.
“I built advocaSC based off of the idea that you can’t do direct service without [also] addressing systemic issues, without addressing policy at the same time, and without educating the people in your community to support those policies and support that service,” Hisel, a junior majoring in journalism and global studies, said.
The club meets Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in THH 115 to coordinate upcoming projects and learn more about the issues faced by LA’s unhoused population. AdvocaSC also shares informational flyers on its Instagram profile and gives attendees the opportunity at the end of each meeting to anonymously submit questions about the houselessness crisis to be answered at the next meeting.
In March, the club hosted an event with the United Way of Greater Los Angeles community activation specialist Sarah Thomas and associate director of policy at LA Family Housing, Zack Warma, to discuss work in the nonprofit world.
Hans Yang, a sophomore majoring in international relations with an emphasis on global business, has attended meetings since they began in January. Yang said he didn’t initially know much about the issue of houselessness in L.A. but decided to learn more because he, like other students, has lived in the city for the greater part of the year.
“The more I learned about it, I realized that it’s a really serious problem in L.A. and across America,” Yang said.
Students like Yang who have an interest in learning more about the houselessness crisis are encouraged to join advocaSC, even if they have no prior knowledge of the issue.
“If you want to join, then don’t be intimidated. There are so many people here who came in and they were like, ‘We have no idea about this,’” Tewari said. “You can come with no background information and we’ll educate you. This is a safe space for that.”
Kamy Akhavan, executive director of the USC Center for the Political Future, serves as the club’s adviser. Although the club is not directly affiliated with any other organizations, Hisel said she hopes to partner with CPF and other student organizations in the future.
“A bunch of us are in Delta Phi Epsilon, the international relations fraternity, a bunch of us are in Trojan Democrats, some of us are in other different things. So there’s no specific attachment to anything,” Martynowicz said.
Hisel and Martynowicz met through DPE and took inspiration from the fraternity’s meetings to develop their own unique tradition. At the start of each meeting, a small stuffed dog is given from the member who received it last to another member they wish to recognize.
“We do this thing in DPE where there are these stuffed foxes and every chapter meeting, whoever has the fox from last meeting gives it to someone else and recognizes them for something cool that they did or just being a cool person or whatever,” Hisel said. “I wanted to throw our own twist on it.”
Initially, Hisel thought of bringing in a stuffed apartment complex because the club advocates for multifamily homes and massive building of affordable housing, but then came across a doghouse full of stuffed dogs and saw the opportunity for a play on words.
“I’m a huge fan of like wordplay and puns, as you can tell by advocaSC,” Hisel said, “I saw it and I was like, ‘Oh my god, we can reclaim the idea of being in the doghouse as a good and celebratory thing because this is housing policy.’”
“[AdvocaSC] meetings are a great time with a great community of like-minded individuals trying to make our community a better place,” Martynowicz said.
“If you’re interested in service, if you’re interested in supporting our unhoused neighbors, advocaSC is a great club to get involved in,” Hisel said. “This semester is our first semester, so we’re still just getting started. But watch this space, and please get involved.”
The University of Utah has a large amount of mental health support services, as I’ve recently written. The U also provides a few basic healthcare services for students at the Student Health Center like dermatology and orthopedic exams. But the U is lacking in any form of affordable vision care for students. Vision problems affect mental health, yet many people are not aware of the direct correlation. Being educated about how they are related is the first step in understanding why the U should offer them to us as a student resource, and how they can help students take care of their mental health. The U should provide basic vision screenings to its students in an effort to help reduce mental health concerns.
Vision concerns are linked to mental health issues. Researchers believe that stress is the largest contributing factor. Many people that have vision impairments are often more anxious and depressed. One in four adults who experience vision loss or impairment report anxiety and/or depression. People who have mental health disorders are more likely to develop eyesight problems later on in life. In a physical sense, visual impairments often are associated with falls, tripping and visible disfigurements. From a mental health perspective, those with vision problems can feel lonely and socially distant. Prolonging a detrimental eye condition can be serious for mental health, and vice versa. Understanding the relationship and treating both mental health problems and eye conditions can be an extremely effective preventative measure.
College-aged students should have a comprehensive eye exam at least every 2 years. For those that are considered “high-risk,” an eye exam is recommended at least every year. Some of these many risk factors include any family history of eye disease, wearing glasses or contacts, previous eye injuries, etc. For college students, some of the most common eye conditions are myopia (nearsightedness), pink eye, scarring (due to allergies and contacts), infections and activity-related trauma. Myopia is thought to be worsened by long periods of screen usage, studying hours and unpredictable sleeping schedules which describes most college students. 25% of American citizens are diagnosed with myopia, and unsurprisingly that rate is significantly higher among college students.
There are also individuals who can’t afford basic healthcare necessities, let alone a voluntary eye exam. In Utah, Medicaid only covers medically necessary eye exams, which are usually emergeny visits after an underlying issue has gone untreated. Most college students benefit from a parent’s health insurance plan. Young adults can stay on their parent’s health insurance until age 26 or marriage.
In addition, the U also offers a student health plan through United Healthcare. While this is a great step in the right direction, the U is not extremely clear about which kinds of services and exams are covered. Insurance companies can be extremely finicky with the coverage they allot for many plans. As a college student, I would not seek an eye exam willingly unless I either knew I had a preexisting condition, or I had the option of a free eye exam.
The U needs to address this gap in care. One way this could be made possible is through a partnership with the Moran Eye Center. Not only is the Moran located close to campus, but it is also a University of Utah health facility. Partnering with the Moran would likely be the best option, although there are others as well. Making it explicitly clear that student insurance can cover a preventative eye exam every year is another great course of action.
The U must make education on the correlation between mental health and vision issues a priority. Student healthcare should be expanded to include vision care to alleviate mental and physical health concerns. Spreading this awareness of this issue and being an advocate for mental health (no matter what the reason) is something our campus needs to keep working towards.
The University of Minnesota is researching how to make harmful “forever chemicals” less dangerous for ecosystems in Minnesota with a naturally occurring bacteria capable of breaking down these chemicals in the environment.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” is often found in non-stick cookware, stain protectors, firefighting foam and cosmetics. They can potentially cause cancer and pose dangers to fetal development and young children, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The MPCA expanded its PFAS monitoring plan to include additional industrial facilities in the Twin Cities on March 22.
Expanded monitoring in the Twin Cities
The monitoring will determine if PFAS chemicals are being released into groundwater, wastewater and surface waters and collect data on concentration levels. Monitoring will also help build regulations and legislation around PFAS in Minnesota, as there are not currently any statewide water quality standards. Regulations have been difficult to develop because of PFAS’ mobility and persistence in the environment, according to MPCA PFAS coordinator Sophie Greene.
The expanded MPCA plan will monitor 137 manufacturing and industrial facilities, eight regional airports, 143 landfills and solid waste management facilities and 91 municipal wastewater treatment plants. MPCA will summarize and report this data to the public in 2024 and use the information to implement further pollution prevention efforts.
“[PFAS] are known as ‘forever chemicals’ because they don’t break down in the environment once they are released,” University environmental health sciences professor Matt Simcik said. “We are still trying to find something that is efficient, inexpensive and highly concentrated that we can use to destroy these things.”
Student researcher takes on PFAS
PFAS are difficult chemicals to eliminate because they have a high resistance to degradation and tend to stay in water and soil for long periods of time. This eventually leads to accumulation in humans and fish, according to graduate student researcher Maddy Bygd.
With assistance from University biology professor Lawrence Wackett, Bygd has researched and identified a bacteria, “Pseudomonas putida,” that can break down pollutants similar to PFAS in soils.
The bacteria breaks down chemicals into less harmful compounds such as fluoride and carbon in a process called defluorination. This process decontaminates the PFAS chemical so it is less harmful to the environment.
“By understanding these reactions, we can apply an effective enzyme in soil without causing any ecological damage or hazardous effects to remediate chemicals such as PFAS,” Bygd said.
PFAS and big corporations
Some companies have received growing attention over their release of PFAS into the environment and have been pressured to change manufacturing practices, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Twin Cities based-company 3M has used these chemicals for over 50 years to the manufacturing of products according to the 3M website. In February 2018, Minnesota reached an $850 million settlement with the company for PFAS production that caused damage to natural resources and drinking water in the east metropolitan area.
According to 3M’s website, the company has invested over $200 million worldwide towards PFAS remediation.
“By monitoring these facilities, we can understand the amount [of PFAS] present and make strategic decisions in order to create future regulations that are comprehensive,” Greene said.
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The program offers three-week classes for students to earn college credit WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 6, 2022 – WorldStrides, the leader in educational travel and experiences, has partnered with Oxford’s Oriel College to offer university students from around the world an exciting educational experience at their historic campus in Oxford, England. Designed to provide students […]
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Despite losing to Oregon the previous week, Cal lacrosse knew it had a very good chance to rebound the following week. The team only lost to the Ducks by three goals, a narrow margin well within its grasp. If there was ever a team Cal could find its first victory against, Oregon was just about the closest one to fit that description. Luckily for the Bears, they were given a rematch no less than one week later — and sure enough, they capitalized on that opportunity, finding their first victory of the season in a tightly contested 14-12 win.
On April 1, the Bears hosted the Ducks in a Pac-12 rematch. Both teams entered the game with one goal on their minds: to not to be last place in the conference as both teams rounded out the bottom of the Pac-12. The game was decidedly a bout of desperation, and the blue and gold were not about to come out weak to start the game like they did the previous week.
The Bears essentially played a perfect first half. Unlike in previous games, Cal got off to a great start, with Amanda Morse leading the way with two goals in the first quarter, giving the Bears an early 3-2 lead. Maya Lawliss continued her excellent season thus far with two more goals in the second quarter, on the way to her four-goal outing and giving Cal a solid 7-4 lead going into the halftime break. Halftime leads are not something the Bears have had very often this season.
At one point, the blue and gold built a 9-4 lead, a significant enough margin that allowed them to withstand the Ducks’ comeback attempts. The Ducks went on a 6-2 run from seven minutes left in the third quarter to four minutes left in the fourth to tie the game at 12 apiece. Luckily for the Bears, they had Lawliss, who scored the go-ahead goal with only 3:12 on the clock. Kate Rothman sealed the deal with a dagger a minute later, and Cal hung on to win its first game of the season.
In its victory versus the Ducks on April 1, Cal not only snapped its 11-game losing streak to start the season, but the Bears also snapped a losing streak dating back to March 28, 2021, with their previous win against Fresno State having taken place more than a year ago. From the outside looking in, Cal’s victory may have seemed like one measly win overshadowed by 11 demoralizing losses. But the beauty of winning is that all of that disappointment, all of the negative feelings associated with losing over and over again and all of those dark thoughts simply melt away, replaced by sheer joy and ecstasy.
But like the ocean’s tides, winning comes and goes. The Bears hosted Colorado two days later Sunday and were subsequently blown out. Perhaps it was the emotional drain of the previous game — sometimes it is difficult to get up for a game following a sensational victory. Maybe the Buffaloes were simply too much for the Bears to handle. They opened with a 5-0 run to start the game and never looked back. Cal was unable to handle Colorado’s stampede, with familiar names trampling the Bears once more. Sam McGee continued her onslaught of this Cal team with five goals in this game, bringing her up to seven goals against the Bears in 2022. Sadie Grozier found the net twice as well, moving her total goals versus Cal up to eight.
Still, it wasn’t a complete mess for the Bears. Lawliss earned another hat trick, bringing her total up to 24 goals and 29 points on the season, the second highest on the team behind Liz Scott. The junior midfielder, who has already matched her goal totals from last season about two-thirds of the way through this year, has had a breakout year in 2022,The Bears boast a potent trio in Lawliss, Scott and Morse, with playmaking capabilities from Nikki Zaccaro and Catherine Roxas. It just didn’t show up in its entirety Sunday afternoon.
Despite losing versus Colorado and dropping to 1-12 on the season, the Bears have a lot to celebrate. Winning is difficult, especially for a team that hadn’t won in more than a year. The Bears have taken the first step toward success; now it is about stringing together more wins so that these victories don’t feel like rain after a long and dry drought. The Bears travel south for a rematch against USC and Arizona State this weekend.
Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.
The Cameron Peak Fire was both one of a long series of increasingly destructive wildfires that occurred in the summer of 2020 and a harbinger of an unfortunate new reality: The climate crisis is no longer a far-off possibility we have time to prevent.
It was here, it was wreaking an unimaginable amount of havoc and our elected officials couldn’t be bothered to prevent future crises of similar scale.
2020 also brought the East Troublesome Fire, which threatened much of Grand Lake, Colorado, scorched hundreds of homes, forced tens of thousands to evacuate and burned just over 10% of Rocky Mountain National Park. In terms of sheer destruction and human impact, the East Troublesome Fire was among the worst in Colorado’s history — at least at the time.
“These recent wildfires have prompted a reckoning among Coloradans. Officials in the state have declared fire season is now year-round.”
Perhaps the most visible and recent example of the destructive nature of Colorado’s wildfires was the Marshall Fire in Superior, Louisville and unincorporated Boulder County. Despite only burning a relatively small 6,000 acres, the fire was Colorado’s most destructive in terms of homes being destroyed.
A few months later, a fire started at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Despite its less destructive impact, the fire occurred in March, illustrating that wildfires can now happen outside of the standard wildfire season.
Colorado’s wildfires are often broken into epochs, meaning that there are different periods in state history that each include dozens of individual fires. According to analysis from the Colorado Sun, the year of 2020 alone could be considered its own wildfire epoch. The year saw the most wildfire damage in Colorado’s history, with the state’s three largest wildfires of all time occurring in 2020.
These recent wildfires have prompted a reckoning among Coloradans. Officials in the state have declared fire season is now year-round.
There’s a growing consensus that Colorado’s wildfires are being directly caused by climate change. Colorado — and much of the Western U.S. — has recently been embroiled in a “megadrought” that has dried soil, brought record-breaking heat and sunk rivers to some of their lowest recorded levels. The result: Colorado’s worst drought stretch in over 1,200 years.
Despite clear evidence that Colorado’s climate is in a historically bad state, our elected officials couldn’t seem to care less. Fracking, a practice known to contribute to the massive amounts of methane in our atmosphere, has seen a recent boom in Colorado. Oil producers in Colorado now hold nearly 3,000 approved drilling permits.
“There are two clear trends in Colorado: Climate change has arrived, and even our most ‘progressive’ politicians are only worsening the problem.”
The lack of care for the environment is a trend that is rampant in Colorado politics.
Oil and gas corporations are mounting a statewide astroturfing campaign to encourage voters to approve even more natural gas usage. State lawmakers have sidelined legislation that would’ve implemented greenhouse gas restrictions on large manufacturers until 2023.
Keep in mind that that’s just on the legislative side. Perhaps the biggest example of Colorado’s climate carelessness is Gov. Jared Polis, who is currently campaigning for reelection.
When he was first elected in 2019, Polis campaigned on a promise to move Colorado toward 100% sustainable energy use within 20 years. His actions since arriving in office have done almost nothing but contradict this hollow, green-washed campaign messaging.
Even before he was elected, Polis vowed his support for the harmful practice of fracking. After his election, Polis further caved to the interests of oil and gas companies and threatened to veto a bill aiming to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Even more recently, Polis announced that he’s delaying his plan to cut emissions from commercial trucks, sparking outrage among environmentalists statewide.
The main points to take away from this are there are two clear trends in Colorado: Climate change has arrived, and even our most “progressive” politicians are only worsening the problem. Polis and most of our elected representatives are up for reelection this November, so please make sure you keep their climate policies in mind when you fill out your ballot.
The program offers three-week classes for students to earn college credit
WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 6, 2022 – WorldStrides, the leader in educational travel and experiences, has partnered with Oxford’s Oriel College to offer university students from around the world an exciting educational experience at their historic campus in Oxford, England.
Designed to provide students a condensed study abroad experience, the Summer Institute will offer students three two-week sessions to choose from, and it allows them the flexibility to select the duration and courses that best meet their goals and time constraints.
“The program is built to give students back the time they have lost on campus the past two years during the pandemic and still offer a high-caliber study abroad experience at a world-class institution,” said Brian DeMoss, head of higher education marketing at WorldStrides. “We want to provide students with options to travel this summer and these courses are fun, intense two-week courses to gain credits while enjoying the summer in Oxford and nearby London.”
The programs are two weeks in length, and students will earn three credits per two-week session. Students will live in the Oriel College at Oxford dorms while being immersed in the culture of the historical city of Oxford, which is just an hour outside of London. The curriculum includes diverse course offerings such as artificial intelligence, modern philosophy, entrepreneurship in the 21st century, Shakespeare and shifting economic policies. The deadline to apply is April 20, 2022.
About WorldStrides
WorldStrides is the global leader in educational travel and experiential learning. The company was founded in 1967 to provide middle school travel programs to Washington, D.C., and has grown to provide a wide range of programs for more than 550,000 students annually from more than 5,000 K12 schools and universities to over 100 countries around the world. WorldStrides offers experiential learning programs in educational travel, performing arts, language immersion, career exploration, service-learning, study abroad, and sports. Each of these experiences helps students to see beyond the classroom and to see the world – and themselves – in new ways.
About Oriel College
Oriel College is the fifth oldest of the University of Oxford’s constituent colleges, founded in 1326. Situated in the heart of Oxford, Oriel is home to around 330 undergraduate and 250 postgraduate students, as well as over 100 members of academic staff. The majority of Oriel’s buildings date from the 17th century onwards and include the Chapel, Pantin Library, Senior Library, and Hall. The College prides itself on being a welcoming academic community, home to world-class teaching, learning and research.
Contact
Chris Tygar
KWT Global for WorldStrides ctygar@kwtglobal.com / (973) 229-0571
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Student Health encouraged students that are eligible for a coronavirus booster dose to receive the shot. (Amanda Chou | Daily Trojan file photo)
Two hundred twelve positive coronavirus cases were recorded in the USC community last week, compared to 140 positive cases the week before, according to the University’s coronavirus dashboard.
“While we are seeing an increase, it’s not an exponential increase,” said Chief Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman at a student media briefing Tuesday. “We do believe that most of this was related to spring break travel.”
USC Student Health continues to closely track positivity rates and USC community members previously in contact with people who have tested positive, Van Orman said.
On Monday, Trojan Check validations were no longer required for all campus access points. Student Health made the change to align with Los Angeles County practices, including no longer requiring proof of vaccination for public areas like gyms, restaurants and events.
“Our campus … is over 95% vaccinated and over 86% boosted,” Van Orman said. “We have a community that’s very well protected against this illness”
Student Health plans to individually contact all students, staff and faculty who are eligible to receive their second booster shot, and those who are still in need of their first booster.
“Despite all of the conversation about vaccines and people still getting infected, the vaccines really do what we want them to do, which is to prevent individuals from suffering the worst consequences of this virus,” Van Orman said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended that adults over 50 receive their second booster shot. Additionally, those who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine as their first dose should receive their second booster.
Approximately 85% of students and faculty are boosted, and Student Health urges those who aren’t boosted to get their shot. Vaccines are continually proven to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death, Van Orman said.
The coronavirus has also directly spread among people living together, influencing the increase in cases. Despite this, Student Health has not seen significant outbreaks.
Cases in L.A. County also remain very low, Van Orman said. Positive cases have plateaued, with only minimal rises.
Additionally, the aftermath of spring break travel has caused a drastic increase in the percentage of BA.2 coronavirus cases. Before spring break, the percentage was about 25%; however, the variant now makes up close to 90% of USC cases.
Van Orman said BA.2 has not appeared to display any more significant symptoms than other strands, despite its more infectious nature and encourages vaccinations to prevent hospitalization, severe disease and death.
Student Health encourages any students with symptoms to get tested immediately, including all students who have come in contact with people who have tested positive. Student Health also recommends students wear masks indoors, despite the removal of the mask mandate March 7.
“[For] most of the cases we’re seeing, people are symptomatic, so that remains the best indicator for someone that they could be infected and they need to get tested,” Van Orman said.
Quarantines have increased through USC at local hotels. Student Health estimates 100 to 150 students currently in quarantine, compared to less than 50 before spring break. However, the current number of students quarantining is nowhere near the level it was at in January, Van Orman said.
“We hope this was related to travel,” Van Orman said. “We were anticipating an uptick in cases seven to 14 days post-spring break, but we’re watching very closely this week to see if cases start to come back down.”
If cases do not go down, Student Health will start working with the county to see if mask mandates and surveillance testing need to be reinstated. These requirements may not come into effect across campus, but perhaps in specific areas, Van Orman said.
“What we’re trying to do at USC is prevent the spread so that we can protect our health for both our vulnerable faculty, staff and students, but also to protect the community around us and protect our healthcare system,” Van Orman said.
https://t.co/O7fxlNMNFd#CSURams x @pedersentoyota pic.twitter.com/qCM4gokFfA
