By Kacey Gardner, Editorial Assistant
Understanding the shape and behavior of our planet is an absolutely classic problem, says Kyle Rocha-Brownell, a double major in physics and computer science.
In fact, says senior Rocha-Brownell, “It’s one of the oldest scientific questions on record.”
Continue reading Modeling the Mystery of the Earth’s Movements
If you can play, you can play at The WREC! At 130,000 square feet, Chico State’s Wildcat Recreation Center has everything you need to get fit and have fun doing it, including a welcoming attitude. ALL students, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, orientation, language, size, or ability are encouraged to use and enjoy the facilities. Hear it from The WREC community themselves: we want you here!
By Quinn Western, social media and photography intern
Here’s a peek into my experience so far as an intern at The Sacramento Bee. I’ve been afforded countless opportunities to learn and have fun, from shadowing Pulitzer Prize winner Denny Walsh to playing on The Bee’s softball team, The Slugs. (Check out my slide in the video!)
I will return to Chico State in the fall as a senior journalism major.
Here are a few stories I’ve done so far:
17 and solo, she set out to hike the 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail
Title photo by Hector Amezcua
Chico State group photos by Andrew Seng
By Quinn Western, Chico State social media intern
Can you run 13.1 miles at a pace of 5:36 per mile? I didn’t think so. That was the pace set by alums Kara Lubieniecki and Alia Gray at the U.S. Half-Marathon Championships in Houston last weekend, qualifying them for the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon. Joining them will be a third Chico State alumna, Lindsay Nelson Tollefson, who qualified with a time of 2:41:31 in the California International Marathon in Sacramento last month. This was a feat for the trio since the qualifying standards have been shaved from 2:46 for the 2012 Trials to 2:43, according to runnersworld.com. Lubieniecki (Biology, ’11), Gray (Journalism, ’12), and Tollefson (Psychology ’08) each won a slew of awards during their time at Chico State including earning All-American honors and now continue to lay those tracks.
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Butte Station is bustling during the tight squeeze between classes, coffee-dependent students swarm Common Grounds to get their morning fix and Marketplace Café releases a smell of fresh bread and chorizo. Sadasa North, junior exercise physiology, indulges in an omelet or hard-boiled egg every day for breakfast at Marketplace Cafe. “I’m actually eating better because I make better choices here,” she said. Kevin Garnica, junior civil engineering, also finds “the little salad place” great for trying to eat healthier. Let’s also not forget Sutter Dining with the welcoming Wonkalike décor and delectable Mongolian barbeque. But of course, dining on campus would be nothing without the relished hot dog guys. After being on campus all day, freshman anthropology major Jazmin Villa finds this to be most convenient. She prefers to get her dog doused with mustard and ketchup from Crazy Dog on First Street. No matter which place you prefer, nothing creates better memories than those Chico cravings.
Comment below with your go-to place to eat on campus.
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Buildings and people are disintegrating, and the few who are left are armed and on edge at every turn. This is the post-zombie apocalypse setting in the short film “After the Fall” by the Digital Filmmakers Guild, a Chico State student group. “After the Fall,” which premiered last spring at the year-end SMASH awards at the El Rey Theatre, has been accepted into the Sundial Film Festival. The festival will be on March 9 at the Cascade Theatre in Redding. Congratulations to the Digital Filmmakers Guild and all who took part in the making of “After the Fall!” Tickets are on sale now. Good luck, Wildcats!
Directed by Christopher Parks
Produced by Taylor Sibbern (President Spring 2013)
Starring Kaylyn Dowd, Murphy Mayer, Zach Myers, Tim Ditmer, and Jason Bartus
Written by Christopher Parks, Taylor Sibbern, and Corryn Fleming
Edited by Christopher Parks and Taylor Sibbern
Music by Christopher Parks
Sound design by Cameron Farboud
By Gracey Hessinger, Senior, Communications Studies
Preparing for the Disney College Program wasn’t just a simple walk in the park.
It took a lot of effort, determination, and passion to become a part of the program at Walt Disney World in Orlando, where I am today. About 30,000 students apply and only 7,000 are accepted. Thankfully, Chico State had tons of opportunities available that helped me prepare for the internship—a key step to reaching my life goal of being a part of the Walt Disney Corporation.
This year was actually my second time applying to be a part of Disney College. I applied for fall of 2012, but did not get accepted. It was so hard for me to be rejected from my dream job.
But this gave me the motivation to become more involved on campus so I would become a better candidate for the program. During my time at Chico, I worked on campus with Prime Time Productions through University Food and Housing. I also became a part of Greek life, which exposed me to a life of networking and finding commonalities with a lot of people really fast. Joining Greek life gave me a confidence boost, and I became involved with the best experience I have had at Chico State thus far: peer advising for the Summer Orientation Program.
This year, I received the magical acceptance email. And then during my fall semester I found myself working in Walt Disney World!
I was assigned to attractions in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Although it may seem like being a peer adviser for incoming students is totally different than being a cast member for Disney, I quickly realized that the fundamentals for being successful in the two roles are very similar. The interactions have with people in each job can impact their life and make every day a new experience. I get the opportunity to make memories.
This experience has served as a confirmation that this is the industry I want to pursue after graduation. To help prepare myself for a job and become integrated with Disney’s professional expectations, I participated in the learning component of the program. Disney Heritage is a course that dives into the company’s historical milestones and Walt’s dreams. I am also in an Exploring Guest Service course where I learn about the exceptional guest service and discover why hospitality is the hallmark of Disney.
I was also lucky enough to attend workshops for resume writing, professionalism, personal branding, acing the interview, and presentation skills. These workshops have really given me insight into what I will be facing in the “real world.” After finishing all of these workshops and classes, I received my “Mouster’s Degree” and return home to Chico and finish my BA in communication studies.
Now that I’m back home, my goal is to be involved with Disney’s College Representative program. This program is a great way to bring back everything that I have gained to our beautiful Chico campus and to other students interested in a great internship opportunity. Being a representative would be a great chance for me to be a part of the magic while giving back to the program and to some of my fellow Wildcats.
As we launch into 2014, we decided take a look back at Chico State’s social media hits in 2013. The common thread across platforms is that all of our audiences love stories of student/faculty achievement, and have a strong connection to our beautiful campus and its quirks and traditions. So, we’ll do our best to bring you more of that kind of content in 2014!
Thank you for following us and keeping the Chico State social media community vibrant!
Without further ado…
By Ben Mullin, Editor-in-Chief, senior, Journalism and English literature major
Ask any journalist what they’re proudest of and you’ll get different answers.
Some will break out their old stories and tell you how they tracked down each breathtaking scoop. Some will regale you with tales about how they stood their ground when some infuriated reader demanded a retraction for a story that was completely true. Still, others will recall a tearful hug from a grieving family or simply recite a beautiful sentence they wrote recently.
But when I look back at the time I’ve spent as an editor at The Orion, Chico State’s student-run newspaper, I’m not proudest of my first interview—because it was probably awful—and I don’t tell grand stories about my first byline—because it was probably about silverware stolen from Whitney Hall. Instead, I’m just happy to have found my calling while getting to know some of my closest friends.
Anyone got some Ritz for this cheese? I know it’s totally cornball, but it’s true.
For those of you counting at home (read: absolutely no one) I’ve been working for The Orion since I arrived on campus in fall 2010. At a student newspaper, where roughly 75 percent of the staff turns over every semester, these three years are equivalent to about 20 millennia, give or take a few geologic epochs.
During those aeons, I’ve seen a lot of people come and go, most of them riding around on the backs of brontosauruses. But the people that are still working in journalism mean a whole lot to me. Many of the reporters I’ve worked with have gone on to work at the Chico Enterprise-Record, our local newspaper. Some of our alums have left to work at other daily newspapers or radio and TV stations up and down California. And still others are freelancers, trying to eke out a living by shooting video, writing stories, and taking photographs.
But no matter where they are or what they’re doing, many of them recall the time they spent in the basement of Plumas Hall producing The Orion as some of the most transformative years of their lives.
It certainly was for me. When I arrived at Chico State, I was a biology major dead set on getting straight A’s and going directly to med school. From there, I would become a doctor, which in my mind consisted of wearing scrubs to work and making inspired diagnoses in the space of one hour, allowing time for commercials.
This career plan, of course, ground to a halt after I spent one semester in The Orion’s newsroom. In four short months, I realized that I loved the adrenaline rush that accompanied breaking an exciting story, even if it was about stolen silverware. I discovered that I enjoyed interviewing people just as much as I loved writing and reading. And I found a calling that I believed in, even though it wasn’t as glamorous as medicine looked on TV.
I realized that the world needs people who are willing to bust cheats, investigate wrongdoing, expose corruption, and give a voice to people languishing on the margins of society. It also needs people who are willing to call a grieving family to write an obituary that helps the community mourn. It needs people who will cover Little League games, talk to criminals, and trawl through megabytes of census data.
In short, the world needs more journalists. I’m happy to say that my experience at Chico State showed me that and guided me to a career I’d never considered before setting foot in the basement of Plumas Hall.
By Kory Masen, Junior, Sociology and Women’s Studies
I have experienced Chico State from the point of view of several identities, all of which come together to form the person I am. I came to this campus as a Mexican, first-generation, low-income, pansexual, freshwoman; since then, some of my identities have changed and evolved as I continued to educate myself, and I now identify as a feminist, queer, transgender man.
Most of my education on feminism and activism came from the many experiences and opportunities offered to me through my internships with the AS Gender and Sexuality Equity Center (GSEC). There I found my identity as a transgender man and a feminist; I will forever be indebted and grateful to this amazing organization for changing my life for the better. It offered a safe space and community for me to learn and grow, and in a short amount of time, the people there became the family and support system I was lacking in my personal life.
As a sociology and women’s studies double major, I find myself surrounded by like-minded people in the classroom—the same is true for the clubs and organizations I am a member of. As a transgender queer person of color on this campus, I can confidently say I have found a community. But, in regards to my relationship with the campus at large outside of those communities, I can’t say I feel the same safety and support. I have experienced discrimination at various levels that are clearly based around ignorance and lack of education.
I have brought several of the issues I’ve faced on campus to the administration, and I’ve been amazed at the response in a very positive way. At Chico State, we pride ourselves on the value of diversity, and the administration is willing to take action to uphold that value. And organizations such as GSEC and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion bring diverse events to campus, educating the community about issues surrounding the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups.
I was fortunate to be a part of the Queer People of Color Society (QPOCS!) panel that allowed a space for our experiences to be heard and seen as people of color within the queer community. We have ties to mend within the queer community itself, but an even greater challenge in creating bonds with the campus and local community.I recently attended the GSEC’s sixth annual LGBTQ+ Conference, and it was a great example of the work GSEC does to advocate for the queer community. There were speakers from San Francisco talking about how we construct gender in our society and how gender was imposed on us as children. Also, local leaders from our Chico State queer community took us on a journey that spoke to the experience of being tokenized and “othered” as an LGBTQ+ person.
All in all, this is what our campus needs more of. If there is anything I would ask for from any institution, it is education. Respect, validation, and safety all derive from educating our communities. I am proud to say I am an activist and advocate in this institution that is trying to service the marginalized communities that form my identity.
Nobody is perfect, especially within a college setting, but we can try our best to educate as many people as we can in order to create socially responsible and respectable individuals. After all, that is what being a Wildcat is all about.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
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By Kristen Warshaw, Junior, Business Marketing, Chico Performances Marketing Assistant
When patrons want to attend a performance at Laxson Auditorium, they go to the Box Office, purchase tickets, find their seats, and anxiously await the curtain to rise. But there is much more to a show than what is visible to that excited theatergoer.
The excitement first begins to build here, in the marketing department at Chico Performances. This is where my job as marketing assistant comes in.
Preparation for a new season at Laxson Auditorium begins about nine months prior to opening day. We start gathering information, music samples, and photos for each and every performer. We use this information as a platform to create the web page, brochures, season advertisements, and much more.
It’s a rollercoaster every day when you are in contact simultaneously with more than 40 agents, all representing different types of performers. I never know what to expect in my email inbox when I would come into work: “Did the STOMP agent get back to me?” “Who is opening for Andrew Bird?” “The Onion Live got canceled!?”
It is always interesting to see how different artists’ agents react and respond to me. The more precise and direct I am, the more likely they are to give me what I need. I learned very quickly that less was always more. Sometimes it’s a struggle to get the correct information or to even just get a hold of the correct person!
I began to realize a connection between performers and accessibility to their agents. Performers represented by a large organization usually had very organized systems that use technology to allow me easy access to information and marketing tools. With some of the artists with smaller representation, it’s a struggle just to get adequate information.
This juggle between easy access and those that take more time to collect info from has been very exciting for me in my daily work. I’ve realized I actually like the challenge of working with a smaller artist more that of working a larger one.
Working for Chico Performances has also allowed me to develop my business organization skills. I have multiple projects with different deadlines. Having this responsibility has taught me a lot about when to stop one task and begin another in order to meet deadlines, an essential skill in the field of marketing.
My overall experience at Chico Performances has allowed me to further develop my skills and prepare me for what post-graduation life has to offer.
Working for Chico Performances has made me realize that I love to be a part of the MORE that happens before the curtain rises; the more than meets the eye.
What:
Help us choose CSU, Chico’s Facebook cover photo! Share your photos, and then help select from our favorites to be the next California State University, Chico Facebook page cover photo.
Guidelines:
Photos should show off the best of Chico State and the Chico experience. Take photos of our beautiful campus in all its fall glory or your student club hard at work—or make a creative collage of campus scenes. All photos should represent your own work, be in good taste, and comply with the Chico State Social Media Comment Policy.
Photos need to be large enough to work for a Facebook cover photo (851p x 315p, file sizes of 1 to 2MB work well). Most current smartphone camera photos are OK. (Sorry, Instagramers—most Instagram images won’t have high enough resolution when cropped and enlarged to Facebook cover size.)
You may submit up to three photos.
How to Enter:
Share your photo(s) with us in one of three easy ways!
Selection Process:
Share your photos with us by Weds., Nov. 6, at 5 p.m. The Chico State social media team will select finalists to be featured in a photo album posted on our page Thurs., Nov. 7. The photographers’ names will accompany the photos, so brag to your friends and encourage them to “like” your entry if you’re featured. The photo within the album with the most “likes” by Thurs., Nov. 14, at 5 p.m. will become the next CSU, Chico Facebook cover photo!
Note: This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with Facebook Inc. Any and all information provided with your submission is to California State University, Chico and not to Facebook.
![2013 Year in Review [Infographic]](https://chicostateblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/574856_396062397114529_1300838235_n1.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
Exploring the Chico Experience 