LBCC Best in the World: First Place Winners in Latvia Choir Games

The Chamber Choir after receiving World Champion status at the World Choir Games.
Photo Courtesy of James Reddan.

On July 18 James Reddan led 34 LBCC Choir members as they competed in the 8th annual World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia. Attending for the first time, they brought home three awards: 1st place, 2nd place, and 4th place in respective categories. 

The newly crowned world champions competed among 73 countries and 500 choirs for their title. They embarked on a long journey to get to Latvia, and it started a year ago.

The trip was self-funded and each student had to pay $3,500. It was a group effort.

Reddan, director of choral activities, and his students spent the months prior working at the concession stands at Oregon State University sports games. Through a sponsorship deal with OSU they received a portion of the sales for the trip. 

They also performed concerts on the LBCC campus with ticket sales applied to the trip. They recycled a lot of bottles and cans. Students' families donated as well as the LBCC foundation. 

To qualify for attending the 2014 Games in Latvia, the choir competed in the 2011 American International Choral Festival in Reno, NV and placed with all silver diplomas. The organizers were the same for both the Festival and the Games therefore they received an automatic invitation. 

Before reaching their final destination of Riga, they performed twice on their historic tour of medieval towns and churches in the Baltic region of Europe. Those performances were educational and not part of the competition.

"Getting to perform in marvelous historical venues and move the audience that is completely unfamiliar with our work was a highlight of each performance," said Reddan.

Each performance was packed with locals. 

One venue was in the 900-year-old St. Nicholas church in Tallinn, Estonia. With high vaulted ceilings and arches, and its walls of the stone, the church opened on a Monday specifically for their performance.

"It was there that I really understood how beautiful choral music can be. It felt to me that choir music was meant to be sung in that kind of environment, where the sound continued for ten seconds after the group stopped singing. I have never heard anything more beautiful," said Melinda Ehlers, an Alto in the Concert Choir.

In Tallinn the students had a walking tour of the city, the biggest in Estonia, with a history dating back 5,000 years. It's cobblestone streets and massive stone buildings, many erected during the Crusades, still exist today. The choir took advantage of the acoustics the city streets provided and had two impromptu performances to promote their formal ones.

Students tour Tallinn, Estonia and pose with a period-dressed knight.
Photo courtesy of James Redden.

In Helsinki, Finland the group also toured the city, its marketplaces, and cathedrals. Immersing themselves in local culture, they had a group dinner eating reindeer and salmon.

"Every place we visited was just as curious to our culture as we were to theirs," said Katharine Dunigan, a Soprano in the Chamber Choir.

When the choir finally arrived in Riga, Latvia they were welcomed to the country in The Parade of Nations in preparation for the competition. The parade was broadcasted live on Latvia TV. Reddan was the flag bearer representing the United States so the LBCC choir were the first to march of the 26 attending U.S. choirs.

"While we were parading down the street with 73 other countries, people were shouting out to us that they loved the USA and wished us much luck. I have never experienced anything like it before and will never forget the amount of support and kindness we felt being welcomed by what seemed like the entire city of Riga," said Ehlers. 

At the competition there were three categories. Musica Sacra A cappella was performed by the Chamber Choir placing second. The open competition for Mixed Chamber Choirs also represented by the Chamber Choir placed first. And, the Musica Contemporanea category was performed by the Concert Choir placing fourth.

"Every time our group wasn't called I got more and more excited and nervous. Then the screen said, 'The Open Mixed Chamber Choir winners go to...,' that's when my heart stopped. I started to tear up and I realized we were the winners before they even said our name.  It was and will be one of the most memorable experiences of my life," said Dunigan.

There were five judges in each category: how in tune the choir sang, how true they stayed to the composer's intent, and overall score for sound and artistic impression. The scores were then averaged by each category and by each of the judge's individual scores.

"To place high, all five have to agree on where you should be," said Reddan.

"I could tell how much heart was put into the performance from the whole Chamber Choir. I believe the judges also saw how much we put into it. I believe that's why we won. They saw our love for singing and knew we meant it," said Dunigan.

The Chamber Choir had the second highest overall score in the entire competition regardless of category and was only four points away from a perfect score. The program book was 450 pages long, listing each song performed in the two-day showcase, so competition was plentiful.

"All of the performances moved me literally to tears. They performed their hearts out on the world stage and they belonged there. They earned everything they got," said Reddan.

His advice to his students was to do the best they could in that moment of time.

"If you walk off that stage doing the best you can then you've already won. They only know you for 15 minutes in time, so make it count."

The challenge of an international singing competition is to communicate the song through body language and emotion. The singers must tell a story, feel it and understand its history. When singing in foreign tongue, which some songs were, they had to learn its translation in order to convey it.

"A singer is always an actor. You have to act the part," said Reddan. "Your body is your instrument."

After a 10-day whirlwind adventure, taking two days to get home, sleeping on a ferry across the Baltic sea, then on planes and buses, the group arrived home in the early hours of July 21.

"These are the types of experiences that will prepare [the students] to function in a global world," said Reddan. "This is what it means to  make the world your classroom."

The choir visiting a historic rock church in Helsiki, Finland.
Photo courtesy of James Reddan.

Jim Day of the Corvallis Gazette-Times Gives Tips on Being a Journalist

Since 2012, Jim Day has been a reporter and copy editor for the Corvallis Gazette-Times covering building, zoning, and community issues. Before the GT he was with the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore. working as a sports editor and reporter. 

Day is well versed in the business, spending half his 20 years in journalism as an editor and the other half as a reporter. Although he did go to community college, he didn’t graduate with a degree. In his younger years, when he started working as a copy boy, he didn’t plan that this would be his career. He kept learning and moving up to where he is today.

As a reporter, Day said his goal is to keep his calendar full with story ideas and meetings with sources so that there’s no room for his editor to assign him something he doesn’t want to cover. For him, it’s gotten to the point that his boss knows he will deliver and let’s him dictate his articles. 

“It’s good practice as a reporter to be well planned so your editor doesn’t fill in the blanks for you,” he said.

When asked how he keeps his schedule full he called it the “snowball story effect.” He explained this means that one community murmur will lead to a city council meeting that will lead to the police department that will lead to a merchant that will lead to a source. The snowball keeps rolling until it hits the bottom of the hill—or the source, journalistically speaking.

“One person leads to another and then all the sudden you have an 80 inch Sunday story,” he said.

Day wasn't always at the point where he felt comfortable following the “snowball.” He said it took a while but that as a reporter you have to be able to get out of your comfort zone. You have to push yourself. He resisted at first, but then realized if he wanted the story he had to go get it.

“There’s a curiosity that’s important to be a journalist,” he said.

There are challenges in talking with people who've had a bad experience. Many times a source is talking because they feel wronged or upset, so maintaing sensitivity is important. Sometimes things hit a dead end when he realizes a source is just angry and has no basis of being wronged, but you have to sit through those meetings to make sure they don’t lead to something of substance.

“I find meetings interesting. Some people find them deadly dull. A lot of what you do is driven by meeting coverage,” he said.

Day writes about four stories a week and six “briefs” following up on previously published stories. Because his beat is covering city related issues most his sources are working during week days. But, as a sports reporter he worked more nights and weekends then he does now. Either way, he made it clear that you work when your story needs you.

When Day interviews people he said that the first step is the most important to make the source comfortable. If it takes 10 minutes to shoot the breeze and find a connection you have with them to bring their guard down, then it’s worth your time. You will get more from them if they are comfortable with you. Sometimes he finds he doesn’t particularly like a person, but it’s his job to represent them regardless.

“There’s people I like and I don’t like and I try to quote them both equally,” he said.

Day cautions about immediately believing your sources. The largest portion of a journalist’s job is reporting the truth, therefore facts are imperative. He admits that sometimes you have to be ruthless to land an interview, sometimes you have to scramble to find someone, and sometimes you have to sit and observe to get the answer you need. If you still don’t know something then find an expert who does, he suggested. The bottom line is that you need to ask questions.

“Have a little bit of skepticism. Trust but verify,” he said. “I’d rather ask a bunch of dumb questions than have a fact wrong. It’s about writing a factual and analytical story.”

To find the good stories Day said you need to find the hot-button issue of the moment. Is it what people are talking about? Or is it what people are afraid to talk about? Those are both good signs of a hot-button story. Some of his tips come from confidential sources, some from emails, some from reader phone calls. He said people are always willing to pitch a story idea and sometimes they pan out, if you listen.

He recognizes the challenge of drawing the line between being a reporter and being a person. He told of a time when he had to decide if he was going to intervene with something he was observing as a matter of safety. It was a college drinking story. Day cautioned it can be hard to know when that time is, when you tell someone your opinion, and when you become a citizen again—because generally speaking you don’t get involved. Reserve your biases. Let the reader decide for themselves.

“You want what you are doing to have an impact,” he said. “As a reporter you’re an active watcher.”

LBCC Explores Possibilities of Study Abroad Programs

Photo courtesy of Bolivia Study Program

History classes in Greece, art classes in France—LBCC explores the possibility of study abroad programs—if students show interest in involvement.

Last fall Ian Priestman, instructor of business management, and Dr. Robert Harrison, instructor of social science, met with LBCC President Greg Hamann about the steps needed to bring back a study abroad program for students. It's been five years since the college had a program of its own.

Priestman, originally from England, understands the benefits of an exchange program. In 1994 he came to the United States via an exchange scholarship from Fulbright, an international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Government. 

"I see how exciting exchange is first hand. It changed my life."

This summer Priestman went home to England and visited his old college in which he got the scholarship through and discussed the possibility of working with them to host programs for LBCC students. They are optimistic and interested.

It will be a long road to organize the return of a program. Hamann has asked Beth Hogeland, executive vice president of academic affairs and workforce development, to look into the logistics of bringing a program back.

"I do find the ideas around exchange students and foreign travel programs very interesting, and I am generally supportive.  But they need to have a place within the college's curriculum for them to be most effective," said Hamann.

The reason the previous program was terminated came from lack of student participation.

According to Hogeland there were about three students a year enrolling. The program is expensive in comparison to local studies and was not cost effective in terms of enrollment tuition and instructional cost to operate the program.

"For us to create and maintain a study abroad program we would have to feel sure that enough students to support the classes would enroll every term. Think about our on campus classes, which range in size from about 24 to 38 students. This is the number of students we are talking about needing every time we offer a class."

The classes could vary depending on area of study. Business studies, history, art history, ecology, and horticulture are a few examples of current programs at LBCC that would benefit from opportunity to study abroad.

The expense of international studies does fall heavily on students. They generally pay travel, tuition and living expenses. Other factors to be considered are the currency exchange rates in the country of study and transferrable credits internationally. 

But opportunity is there for students determined to partake. There are private companies available to help with ground work, fundraising, scholarships, and potentially financial aid. 

Kim Sullivan, the previous study abroad program coordinator, still helps students with interest despite the formal program being canceled. She works with students who can be part of a degree partnership with Oregon State University get connected to resources and programs there. 

"One of our goals for students is for them to become more culturally literate and appreciative of diversity," said Hogeland. "What we have done instead is connect students interested in studying abroad with the programs offered through OSU and Chemeketa Community College. This seems to have worked well."

Priestman and Dr. Harrison are in the process of marketing the potential for a new program and doing presentations for faculty on campus to get the word out to students. Their goal is for abroad study opportunities to not just be for particular departments but campus-wide knowledge. 

"I'm committed to helping students as much as I can, we're not OSU, but we should do better recruiting students for abroad studies," said Dr. Harrison.

In the mean time, LBCC is open to supporting faculty who want to offer classes in another country. Such classes are designed as a sort of cultural emergence course. 

"When enough students have been interested in a class in a particular country we create a section of a class to be taught by one of our instructors in that country.  The classes tend to be intensive and short term," said Hogeland. 

These courses may include a few weeks state-side preparing, then time abroad visiting museums or historic sites, followed by a few weeks of cultural debrief upon return.

For more information or to express interest in involvement contact Ian Priestman at priesti@linnbenton.edu.

LBCC Voyager Club Goes to Costa Rica

Dr. Robert Harrison, social science instructor, and LBCC students Ashley Warren and Katie Hundemer took a trip to Costa Rica June 16-25 as part of the Voyager Club on campus.

The Voyager Club is open to students and civilians with a passion for travel, culture, and worldly exploration. Providing educational tours abroad and in the U.S. and teaming up with a travel company called Explorica, the cost of the trip included airfare, transportation, hotels, guided tours, three meals a day, and a lifetime of memories.

This year's extravaganza was a tour of Costa Rica including a visit to the country's capital, San Jose. Seven others, including students from Washington State University and Albany residents, joined the club to meet a larger group totaling 46. They would spend the next 10 days together.

On the agenda was a trip to an active volcano, Arenal via Poas, and a visit to the tropical beaches and rain forests of Manuel Antonio National Park. Excursions included kayaking, hot springs, river rafting, and horseback riding.

"This has probably been the most educational trip we've had," said Dr. Harrison. "A lot of my trips have translated directly into my classes. I find as a teacher, having been to these places makes it more exciting to talk about in class."

One of the activities they embarked on was planting avocado trees in the Santa Elena Biological Reserve. The avocado tree is a favorite fruit of the quetzal bird and planting them is part of a conservation attempt of the bird's migration path and preservation of the forest ecosystem.

The avocado tree takes 50 years to bear its first fruit. Dr. Harrison is optimistic he will return back to their fruiting trees one day.

"I'm going to go back. I'll be 105 years old, but I'm going back."

For Warren, a club member for two years and psychology major, the town of Santa Elena won her over. She recommends future visitors to Costa Rica stop and get to know the locals.

"Everyone I met in Costa Rica was very nice and genuine, but the way I was made to feel in Santa Elena was wonderful. There are some exceptionally nice people in that town that will open their doors to you with comfort and joy."

During leisure activities, such as river rafting, the guides would pull over and show the group wildlife and plant life in and around the water. Even their tour bus driver would teach them about local culture and its history while en route to destinations.

"The guides are the key to these tours," said Dr. Harrison. "We had great guides."

To prepare for the trip abroad, the Voyager Club had several meetings with guest speakers that talked about the country from personal experience. One speaker was a student that lived there in an exchange for four months. Another was a bird watcher sharing expertise and another was a Spanish teacher, teaching the basics helpful in travel.

"This trip gave me a sense of independence. I learned how to be more independent because when I was exploring Costa Rica some places the people didn't know English. I had to use the little bit of Spanish that I knew and learn how to communicate with them when I was lost or needed banos (bathrooms)," said Warren.

While people at home in the States were watching the World Cup, the group saw first hand football-mania in Central America as they watched locals viewing the games.

"We saw a crowd erupt and explode with excitement," said Dr. Harrison.

For Dr. Harrison the highlight of the trip was visiting an elementary school in Monteverde and bringing them school supplies.

"The guys played soccer with the boys and the women played games with the girls. They knew a lot of American music so that was a connector immediately between us and the kids."

Warren's favorite activity was their kayaking trip in Lake Arenal, near the active volcano and the Monteverde cloud forests.

"We started by partnering up and getting settled into our kayaks. Then when we were all snuggled in our life jackets and helmets our tour leader set way to an island in the middle of the lake. When we were on the island the tour leader let us swim around in the lake for a bit before we made our way back. Our tour director told us that were the very first group to not flag down the boat to carry them to shore. We were truly Voyagers then."

Past adventures of the Voyager Club have been to France, Spain, Greece, Italy—even Barak Obama’s inauguration in 2009. Next on the list is Cuba for the 2015/16 school year.

Dr. Harrison is committed to helping students who want to come on future trips with fundraisers and financial aide possibilities. In the past, some trips have been taken by students for credit therefore certain financial aide applied. 

Contact Dr. Harrison at harrisr@linnbenton.edu for club and travel inquiries. 

Linn-Benton Community College "Rocket Women" Build and Launch at NASA

The launch of the student-built payload rocket. Photo courtesy of NASA

LBCC students Ashley Trout, Ariel Stroh, and Hazel Betz were accompanied by Parker Swanson, instructor in computer systems, to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia for the "Rock On" conference June 21-26.

The "Rocket Women" were joined by about 65 other students and instructors from the U.S. and Puerto Rico to build the "payload" for a rocket that was assembled by NASA engineers and launched 117 miles into space—right in front of their eyes—taking only 173 seconds.

"It was really cool! We were only 150 yards away from the rocket. The rocket was several hundred feet in the air before the sound even hit us," said Trout.

"It was the thrill of a lifetime. A breathtaking moment to count down till the rocket launched and then to watch each part of the rocket disconnect, since it was a two-stage rocket," said Stroh.

The mission of the launched satellite was to measure carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere.

The conference was by invitation only in which selected schools and students were chosen. LBCC is an affiliate of Oregon Space Grant Consortium (OSGC), an educational outreach of NASA. The OSGC is a network of students, universities and professionals that participate in cooperative education and training of NASA's next generation.

In February Swanson received an email that there were three slots left for the 2014 S.T.E.M. conference, focusing on science, technology, engineering, and math. Two of the available slots were reserved for a female. He sat down with colleagues and together selected sophomores Stroh, majoring in engineering, and Betz, majoring in physics.

The third spot was left open for applications. Trout, who graduated this June with an Associate of Applied Science in Mechatronics and Industrial Automation, was selected for the final spot. Thus they dubbed themselves the "Rocket Women."

"I was in complete shock when I was told that I had been selected to go on the trip. Never have I ever been able to go on an extravagant trip like that one before," said Stroh.

The three Roadrunners were joined by three students from Oregon State University, three from Oregon Institute of Technology, and four mentors. Oregon was represented by the largest group of people from one state.

"This is one of the most exciting things that's happened to me in a long time," said Swanson.

At the conference the attendees were split into 21 groups. The "Rocket Women" were one group.

Each group was assigned to make their own package of electronics also called a payload. It took two days to build the payloads and one day to assemble them together. NASA engineers integrated the 21 payloads together with a half dozen other more advanced packages into the rocket canister and launched on June 26.

Hazel Betz, Ashley Trout and Ariel Stroh (from left to right)
Photo courtesy of Parker Swanson

For Trout, the trip to Virginia was the furthest she had ever traveled.

"It was definitely a learning experience. It was definitely out of my comfort zone. We were all kind of excited and terrified at the same time."

According to Trout, NASA representatives told "Rock On" attendees that they were the largest group of previous conferences and they finished several hours faster than any group before them.

"It was a wonderful one as any group activity. You may disagree with your partners and have different ideas but we always found a way to agree on the correct way of doing things. Parker made a wonderful mentor, always around when ever we had questions," said Stroh.

The two-day building session required a lot of soldering, computer programming, working with micro processors, testing, and teamwork.

"It's competitive, it's a design competition and we were prepared to compete," said Swanson.

The payload from the rocket descended from a parachute into the Atlantic Ocean. It was recovered by a NASA boat and returned to Wallops for disassembly. Each team retrieved their electronics package and the data it collected in its SD chip. The "Rocket Women" will continue to analyze their data.

Swanson's hope is LBCC will return to the conference next year as second-year attendees. Next year his students will propose a science experiment, make the measurements for it, and build the prototype to get qualified by NASA to attend again.

"It's not the end, it's just the beginning of LBCC rocketry," said Swanson.

What's next for the "Rocket Women?"

Trout is undecided whether to focus on green energy with an emphasis on wind turbines or to enter the field of aerospace after her experience at NASA. From the press received about her trip to the Wallops Flight Facility she was offered a job with Georgia Pacific but has not yet accepted. She would like to apply for an internship at NASA.

Stroh is working on a double major in Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering. Her plan is to work with robotics after graduation and invent a device that will somehow better every day life. No matter how big or small her invention, her goal is to make a difference in someone's life.

Betz will continue towards a degree in physics, learning about a topic she came to LBCC knowing little about. She enjoys learning about how computers and technology work and getting to play with the stuff that runs the modern world.

For more information on program opportunities at LBCC contact Parker Swanson at parker.swanson@linnbenton.edu.

Independence Day! 4th of July Celebration in Yachats, Oregon

Independence Day 2014!

A population of 700 didn't stop the small coastal town of Yachats from having a big fireworks show. The display was shot over the Pacific with a couple hundred locals and visitors seated in lawn chairs on a closed street. People on the street displayed their own fireworks and onlookers mingled through the maze of celebrators adorned with day glow necklaces and bracelets. Chinese Lanterns, released by locals, ascended in the air as the colorful explosions lit the sky.

All photos by Allison Lamplugh