In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Highline College decided to ring in their 10th annual observation of the holiday by holding a multifaceted celebration on Oct. 12.

Festivities began at 9 a.m. in Building 2 with elder Roger Fernandes of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe telling traditional tales such as “The Fly”, a long passed down story about how even the smallest community members can make a difference. “Our little ones are as important as anyone,” Fernandes said. “We must bring them to the struggle in a good way.”

The Q Center, Highline’s multifaceted resource center and social space for the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond, recently orchestrated an event that was part scavenger hunt, part open house.

While the purpose behind a scavenger hunt is usually to find items on a list, the Q Center scavenger hunt directed students to various buildings and departments on campus with specific questions for answering, such as “Is the Women’s Programs only a program for women?” and “Where is one gender neutral bathroom on campus?”

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to taking King County Metro. Riders must know how to pay their fare, how to request a stop, how to read schedules, and more. It can be overwhelming for first time passengers and, in their confusion, they might break the rules of the Code of Conduct. This article is a friendly reminder for the ridership.

It’s important to familiarize oneself with the Code of Conduct before beginning to take public transportation. This saves time for everyone involved, as an informed public is an efficient public. A key thing to remember is that buses are shared spaces and one person’s behavior doesn’t just affect them, it affects everyone.

The excitement on campus during opening week was not limited to the classroom as students and faculty gathered to have some fall fun with games, snacks, socializing, and even a raffle during the Carnival Palooza.

“What better way to start the quarter than a carnival?” said Yuan Fernandez Granil, an advisor within the Programming & Marketing Leadership department. Spurred on by the success of a similar event that took place during last year’s Thunderweek, Fernandez Granil decided to replicate the theme, as Autumn is the peak season for carnivals.

Despite the title, the Welcome Tea had more than just a variety of teas for students to choose from to start their first mornings back on campus. The event, co-hosted by the Women’s Programs and WorkFirst, also gave out hot cocoa, coffee, and baked goods such as danishes for the first two mornings of the quarter.

According to Alycia Williams, the program manager of both departments, the Welcome Tea has been a tradition at Highline College for the last ten years. “The Women’s Programs Welcome Tea is one of our signature events and it was designed to make the students feel comfortable [and] welcomed,” said Williams. “It was designed to build community and for students to get to know who we are as Women’s Programs. We are a resource center, so the main goal is to get students comfortable, they can grab a snack, grab coffee, warm up — it’s the fall, why not?”

Whether attendees were graduating, staying for another year, a supportive friend or family member, all were welcome at the End of Year Celebration.

Featuring an awards ceremony, inspiring speeches by student speakers, free graduation-themed mementos and multiple chocolate fountains, campus swelled with an estimated 558 event-goers.

As graduation inches closer, many students at Highline College are thinking about the next step on their educational journeys. Thankfully for potential transfer students, the Northwest STEP Transfer Fair was designed with them in mind. At this event, which took place on May 19 in Building 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., university representatives answered students’ questions about that transition.

Generally, the key to success when transferring from community college to university boils down to a few things: Make sure that coursework completed at the college is transferable to the university of choice, submit transcripts with the university application, and, once accepted, connect with academic advisors to learn about additional resources and next steps.

How can poetry be used as a way to empower ourselves? That question informed the activities taking place during “Speaking Your Truth”, the third event put on by Highline College for Week of Wellness, which took place from May 5 to May 7.

Hosted collaboratively by the Counseling Center and the Arcturus editing team, “Speaking Your Truth” was held in Building 2 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. 

Residents of southern King County are more connected than ever thanks to three new light rail stations in the area: Kent-Des Moines, Star Lake, and Federal Way Downtown. These stations are undeniably a community good, with the train being an affordable alternative to driving (Fares are free for youth 6-18 and three dollars per ride for adults 19-65 compared to Des Moines’ six dollar gallon of gas). 

However, the ridership has some safety concerns, including a source who says that Kent-Des Moines Station, and others along the 1-Line route, may be compromised by meth usage.

When thinking about the concept of pets, coyotes and raccoons aren’t the first animals that come to mind. However, two intriguing cases of self-domestication may change that.

Self-domestication is an evolutionary survival tactic used by species who are losing their habitats to human urbanization. It is a process that scientists have characterized as reduced reactive aggression. This is the single trait that starts domestication. Reduced reactive aggression eventually leads to tameness or docility, seen in domesticated animals today like the house cat or dogs.

Nine years ago, Highline professor Susan Rich read a poem by Saddiq Dzukogi in the Toaist Journal of Poetry, sending her on a near-decade correspondence with the Nigerian author. Dzukogi celebrated his recent book release, “Bakandamiya: An Elegy” at last week’s “Poetry and Samosas” event as the key note speaker.

Once Professor Rich read that 2017 edition, she wrote a letter to the editor, exclaiming about how much she loved it. She then received Dzukogi’s email, which became a professional relationship between the two. Good things can happen unexpectedly. Dzukogi’s second book came out last last year, and he shared a range of new and older works of his as keynote speaker of the event.

Bus route 156 recently underwent a service change in late March, which altered the route’s last southbound stop from Highline College’s South Parking Lot to the newly constructed Kent-Des Moines Station.

The service change was done in an effort to connect the 1-Line Light Rail to more local bus routes, which would in turn connect the ridership of the rerouted buses to the train.