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…

Out of numerous community colleges across the nation, Green River college won a spot amongst the top 150 colleges eligible to be a recipient of the 2023 Aspen Prize. Starting in 2011, the Aspen Prize is a recognition award from the Aspen Institute to colleges every two years and consists of funding of up to $1 million awarded to the winning college. Apart from the main winner, being the finalist(s), passing the determining factors and showcasing rapid improvement can also grant runner-up colleges with funds. To determine eligibility, this excellence program majorly focuses on aspects like teaching and its effect…

The Mysterious Trebuchet Back in the Middle Ages, trebuchets were used in wars and sieges to throw stones at castles and walled cities, trying to break them down. They were also used to throw things, like manure and animal corpses, over the walls of cities. But why in the world is there a trebuchet tucked in one of the hiking trails adjacent to GRC? Was it built as a physics project by students on campus? How long has it been there? Like all good mysteries, these questions may not have answers. But in case you happen to stumble upon it…

Last month, Governor Jay Inslee was in Glasgow, Scotland attending the U.N. Climate Summit. Part of the Pacific Coast Collaborative, Inslee joined other leaders for the launch of the Low Carbon Construction Task Force. Said Inslee, “Washington and the PCC region are leaders in demonstrating how strategies to reduce climate pollution also create good jobs and a strong economy”. A spokesperson from the governor’s office stated he will lead a team of governors and mayors committed to making measurable progress to slash greenhouse gases emission in half by 2030.  On Nov. 7, Inslee issued an executive order committing to having…