Albany Events: WAHS Boyds Soccer Away Day

West Albany High School boys Junior Varsity takes on Silverton High School in a match ending 5-1 to the Foxes

West Albany JV coach Luis Martinez shouts instructions to his players

Martinez, while unhappy with the result, is happy with the growth his team has experienced this season. "We're graduating four seniors this year; that means at least 4 vacant spots on varsity. I feel that we're preparing these boys well for those spots."

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Bulldogs Ian Lloyd, Jackson Cellerini, Neil Morse, and Carter Cordle  take in instruction while tied 1-1 at half time.

Martinez explains weaknesses in the defense to his players on the bench who are preparing to go on.

Martinez feels his team's 3-3 record is passable, but laments that it is the measure of success for Junior Varsity.

"This team is a development project. JV doesn't have playoffs or a state championship, or even a league title. My job is to prepare them for Varsity, where they have a chance to do something that will mean more to them and their school."

Humans of LBCC 3&4

Jackson Finnan



Jackson is a sophomore in his first year at LBCC.






“I went to high school in corvallis, and last year I went down to California and went to Chico State. I played baseball there, and I decided I was going to go to community college for a year. I was going to go to one in California, but it was just to expensive. Decided to come back home, save some money. I was a walk on. I’m currently playing on the baseball team here.”






“The classes here seem pretty similar, not too hard yet. First week, mostly syllabus stuff so far. Chico State was obviously a lot bigger, the buildings were more spread out, this is just one building so it’s a lot easier to find your way around. I feel like there’s more communication between the students here, just cuz it’s smaller and being in a college with 25,00o kids you don’t see the same people ever really. I think at a state school people are a lot less active and talk less than they do here; I guess there are more familiar faces seeing everyone around all the time.”


“It’s good to see people from high school, run into a familiar face every once and awhile. It was good (to get out of the state for a year) I’m actually probably looking to get back there after a year.









Jade Hayes



Jade is a freshman at LB, majoring in business administration. She’s on the volleyball team at the college, and wants to own her own business in the future.





“Yeah, I’d say that I’m an optimistic person. I have to try to be optimistic; it doesn’t always end up like that. It’s definitely something I have to try to be. I’d say it’s important to try to be that way, because it just improves your life.





Jade moved to Albany from Mackenzie, a small town that she says makes Albany seem like a big city.





“I think the biggest thing with moving was being away from family, and having to just go straight into things. When I moved here, it was just 8AM practices then 5PM practices. Just like “go go go go.” I never had an adjustment period, it was just like senior summer, and then boom you’re a college student. It’s really nice to be on the volleyball team. There are 15 people on the volleyball team, and it’s great because there are 15 people that you already know pretty well. It provides a nice foundation.”





“If there was part of my mentality that I think has helped me the most, it’s just the idea that I need to stick with it. I don’t always want to be here, and sometimes I wonder “can I do this?” But then my teammates and other people just come to me and say “yeah you can do this, just stick with it. It’s simple but it works.”

Week 1 Forum

PHOTOJOURNALISM WEEK 1 FORUM



TOPIC 1--

I am a soccer coach at West Albany High School trying to get a foothold in journalism and learn more about the field. I took this class to get started in Journalism and learn more about photo editing.

TOPIC 2--

I want to get photos into the Commuter, I want to expand my photo editing skills, and I want to embrace interviewing strangers and subjects, as that part is still hard for me.

TOPIC 3--



The assignment was sort of uncomfortable at first, but I came away from my last interview feeling better about it. My last subject was very kind and interesting, and I left him feeling very optimistic about the class.

Humans of LBCC

Humans of LBCC

Saul Ramos

Saul Ramos is a 46 year old first generation immigrant from Calisca, Mexico. He attended high school in Guadalajara, and made his journey to Corvallis, Oregon at the age of 21. He found a few differences between t Calisca and Corvallis;

“The streets in Mexico are not often clean, much cleaner here. Business is different too. There, there are only bathrooms in some places. Here there are bathrooms everywhere, not there. There, in a small town, there were no public bathrooms. If you had to go, you just had to run, in the wild. In Mexico City, you had to pay 7 pesos to use a public bathroom.”


“The school system here is a lot better, a lot more care for the students...You have a lot more here, you have a lot more computers and labs and everything. When I was going to high school in Guadalajara, you know, a big city, I never saw any computers or labs anywhere. You get whatever you get and that’s it.”


After a long struggle in Guadalajara due to a lack of resources in the education system,Saul dropped out of High School, and half a decade later immigrated to the United States

Diego Casillas-Reyes

Diego is a sophomore at LBCC pursuing a civil engineering degree. He is a hispanic American, a first generation American.

“I get a big blend of mixed cultures. My parents are from Mexico, and they live as such… A LOT of things are different here than what I was taught, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing… I wouldn’t be who I am today without the blend. I understand there will be those who do not like me because of my heritage. Or perhaps one might be upset if they heard me speaking my native language, but those things don’t bother me. I know who I am and I’m proud of who I am.”

“Although I’ve yet to have a direct conflict with someone who dislikes me solely due to my heritage, I am sad to say I’ve had my fair share of situations where people have assumed things of me because of it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been followed by a worker or an associate at the store. Just the other day I had an encounter with a fellow classmate where I was racially profiled. She interjected with a question I wasn’t expecting that day. She asked , ‘You weren’t born in the states, were you?’ Processing what had just happened, I told her I was born in Corvallis. After being told the Hispanic guy sitting across from her wasn’t born in Mexico, with a shocked look on her face, she replied, ‘Really!? Wow. Those are rare.’ Within minutes, I went from being her lab partner, to “those” because of how I look. I am so much more than just my ancestors, but all I can do is suck it up for now.”