By Alexander Hiner James Webb Telescope’s (JWST) expected lifespan doubled after a successful launch and two mid-course corrections. That’s the message from the December 29 NASA blog. NASA’s goal prior to launch was to get at least five years of science operations from the telescope. They now believe it will be operational for significantly longer than 10 years. With a mirror diameter of about 21.3 feet, JWST has a surface area six times larger than its predecessor Hubble. It’s designed with Infra-red (IR) technology, a low frequency heat radiation, to see beyond gas and dust clouds in space. Beyond anything…

By Alyssa Baker Starting a new quarter of college classes in a new year is difficult enough, but doing so with COVID-19, which I did, is much worse. On December 27, I woke up with a sore throat, body aches, headache and fever which occurred just after I returned home from a vacation with friends. Without even getting tested, I immediately started a 10-day quarantine. Due to the massive surge of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, I found that all drive-through COVID testing sites were completely booked and rapid test kits were sold out everywhere. Finally, I found…

AUBURN, Wash. — Running Start students at Green River College find itdifficult to connect to their community as they navigate online learning, inisolation from campus.Several Running Start students interviewed for this story share that opinion.Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the college was forced to go online in Marchof 2020.This left almost 2,000 Running Start students completely isolated from theircollege’s campus and facing additional challenges. They lost connections withstaff and peers and the motivation to succeed.A study performed by California State University found that “remedialstudents that participated in extra-curricular activities performed betterthan non-participants.”With frequent closures of on-campus services, the college began…

AUBURN, Wash. – The demand for vegan menus is continuing to rise and catching people’s attention.             With a recent boom of healthy diets in the U.S., an increasing number of people are interested in vegan menus that use plant-based foods. The Gallup Poll Social Series said in 2018, 3 percent of American people are vegan, and 5 percent are vegetarian.  The figure seems lower than some might expect, however, GPSS reports the data of growing sales of plant-based foods. The movement encourages restaurants to adopt plant-based foods.  “I see a lot of restaurants provide vegan options to customers in…

Nicotine use has increased significantly among teenagers since 2011 and the use of the drug can harm youth brain development, which impacts attention, memory and learning. The bright colors of some vaping devices draw them in, but the flavors and addicting effects of the drug are consistently bringing these teenagers back for more. To prevent youth e-cigarette use, health advocates are calling for the elimination of all flavored vapes and e-cigarettes. The FDA’s announcement in 2020 restricts some flavored e-cigarettes, but this policy contains loopholes that allow thousands of flavored products that appeal to the vulnerability of kids across the…

By Tatiana Marshall Virtual learning has led to a nearly 24 percent decrease in enrollment at Green River alongside stagnant levels of student success. Ryan Hawes, who has been the assistant director of the Placement & Testing Center at Green River for five years now, offers his insight on how virtual testing has impacted students’ placement into courses. “It seems like students are placing into college-level courses at a rate similar to pre-COVID,” says Hawes. He believes that some students may lack experience with technology, which could be hindering them in virtual classrooms. Nonetheless, Hawes remarks how “Some students are…

By Alison Barlow As diversity increases on college campuses, the importance of encouraging equity and inclusion has become more important for students and administrators.  The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) at Green River College has many programs to assist a variety of students, including students of color, refugees, and foster youth. ODEI is important because it helps students feel included, represented, and supported, according to Marwa Almusawi, director of ODEI.  As stated on Green River College’s website, “The office of Diversity creates inclusive spaces that promote intellectual discourse, diverse leadership, and social justice among students, staff, faculty, and…

By Shemar Young For The Current AUBURN, Wash. – Students at Green River College are feeling more socially isolated because of the pandemic and, as a result, engagement with student organizations is down dramatically. “Club life took a dip last year…we had about 15 clubs where we’re normally at 60,” said Dan Fergueson, director of student activities and engagement at the college. This year, student engagement is slowly climbing back up with 20 clubs now available to join.  During this past year and a half students have been forced to adjust to pandemic era schooling. This has led to seniors graduating and going off to college in unusual circumstances.  What’s happening at Green River…

  By John Fischeer For The Current This season for Gators Basketball will be one like no other. The team hasn’t been able to play for two seasons, but it has the skills and chemistry to go big this year. “My only predictions for this season are related to this group’s chemistry,” said Godfrey Drake, in his fifth year as coach of the team. “They are a legitimate family so I know they will give maximum effort on every possession. This is arguably our most talented and well-rounded team that I’ve had here… so it’s just about staying healthy and…

by Shemar Young  Some three hundred college scholarships worth more than a half-million dollars are available for Green River students. Applications need to be turned into the GRC Foundation between January and April 2022. If students applied for scholarships this fall, they cannot apply for the 2022 scholarships. Heather Hughbanks, a development specialist at GRC, said program-specific scholarships are among those available. She cited the $500 Esther Latter Nursing scholarship for nursing students as an example. Hughbanks said, “Typically, the money awarded in this program is $2,000 per scholarship divided over three quarters”.  George Frasier, vice president of college advancement,…