(As you may or may not be able to tell as the term goes on; I really like cats. This is my super photogenic cat, Lego.)
Hi! My name is Avery Leon-Castillo, I'm a student here at LB. This term will be my fourth term! I work at our student newspaper, The Commuter, as the Student Voice Editor.
One of my main interests is baking. When my family and I moved to a bigger house, we got a better kitchen and an actual oven, so I've been experimenting with a lot of different treats.
My favorite to make is called Roti Boy which is a popular dessert in bakeries across China. They are basically super fluffy buns covered with a coffee-buttercream frosting before they are baked so after they come out of the oven, they are crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.
Sometime during the term, I want to learn how to make one of my new favorite treats, mochi. A really great little coffee shop in downtown Corvallis called Kell's sells Hawaiian mochi which is different because when they were colonized by Japan, they brought a lot of things that were later adapted by Hawaiians. Mochi is made with glutinous rice starch to create a skin that can be wrapped around sweet bean paste or ice cream. Hawaiian mochi is made similarly but is mixed in with vanilla cake batter to create a gooey inside and a crust that tastes like cake! Just much less dry :)
I also have two cats, both of which my life kind of revolves around. The first is Teacup Charles, he's super fluffy and he's also very chonky. He's also not the brightest bulb in the box... But he's very sweet and enjoys sleeping on my legs and grooming me too. The other one is Lego the Chicken Chomper. He's not fluffy, he's just very big. He hates getting picked up but can't help but sit on my lap when there's a vacancy. He yells at me in the morning after I wake up to pet him too. Oddly enough, he loves it when I play the drums on his back... Both of them are the two least aggressive cats, probably on the whole planet.
(Teacup sitting in my childhood play stroller while Lego does a perfectly timed, unexpectedly demonic yawn.)
I live with my mom and my little brother, Nadia. My mom and I are going to school at more-or-less the same time; I'm beginning my associate degree and she's finishing her bachelor's degree at OSU. My brother swims with the Corvallis Aquatic Team and is in middle school.
(Nadia and I enjoying paletas during a road trip in July 2021)
I'm taking News Reporting is a required course but also because it's an important skill to have, I think. I enjoyed Feature Writing in Spring term (2021) and this class seems pretty similar to that except more geared towards actual news writing. It also helps that I already had both required books, so I didn't have to spend more money there.
I decided to major in Journalism 1.) because I was considering something like art/writing but had the fear of burn-out, 2.) because I abhor not knowing things, 3.) I only have to take two math classes and two sciences which I get to choose. Lastly, the field is so damn versatile, I could be a food journalist and get paid to travel, write, and eat. I'm doing a double minor in Spanish and Anthropology mostly for similar reasons :) It's also great because I don't have to feel pressure to get a master's in it or anything. So far, it's been a pretty rad experience!
I really want to work more on conducting actual research for actual news stories; that obviously includes having interviews and actually pestering people about things. I also want to get better at having AAGs on the top of my mind as well as AP style rules. Another goal I have, which isn't super class related, but I want to have at least one story from the term that directly affects something I'm interested in that'd possibly go into another publication. Basically, maybe doing another follow up possibly with the CSB (Corvallis School Board) on how Whitebear is doing on her goals/what they're doing to keep their students+staff safe.
My news story for this class is going to be about what LB is doing in terms of COVID-19 regulations; pretty much reporting on updates for mandates, vaccine clinics (there's one on Wednesday the 12 here), who the mandates are affecting in terms of how students who are lower income and/or who are people of color or with disabilities. Also, how the pandemic is affecting admission rates and tuition rising.
Jennifer Boehmer; Executive Director, Institutional Advancement.
Angie Geno; Executive Assistant of the SLC
Someone either at LB who's directly affected by regs, a member of the board, or quote from last term's debate.
Are there any future clinics planned for the term?
Will LBCC be further considering a mandate for vaccines? Is the board even considering points brought up from fall’s Braver Angels debate? Ie, incentivizing vaccines, mandating v keeping vaccines optional, how everything affects students, especially lower income+students of color and with disabilities concerning admissions that are also affected by the pandemic.
Are there any new mandates or regulations that are keeping everyone on both Benton and Linn campuses safer?
What is the proportion of in-person classes to synchronous online classes and asynchronous classes?
How do the regulations affect admissions? How does that affect the board's decision to raise tuition?
