NEWS page 10
OPINION page 8
SPORTS page 9
DIVERSITY page 3
Vol. 123 NO. 1
September 28, 2022
The ‘Burg and campus come together to connect communities
Evan Couch News Editor “Welcome to Ellensburg,” a Bite of the ‘Burg employee said to event attendees as they entered Fourth Avenue. The bumping bass of 88.1 the ‘Burg speakers surrounded students and community members as they were greeted with bags “for goodies” as they entered Bite of the ‘Burg. According to the pamphlets, 70 booths lined both sides of the street. The booths ranged from chain companies such as T-Mobile and Papa Murphy’s to more local venues such as The Pearl Bar and Grill and Ellensburg Desserts. Event head, Darby Grimes, said that their main goal with events
like Bite of the ‘Burg is to introduce the business aspect of Ellensburg to the influx of new students coming to the community. “It’s to really introduce them to the business community in Ellensburg and get them into their storefront,” Grimes said. CWU senior Shelby Yonko said the Bite of the ‘Burg offers a sense of community for incoming students beyond campus life. “There’s other things outside of school that you can go do,” Yonko said. “You can go find places to eat, you can find places to get your hair done, your nails done.” First year international student Daniel Landaverde said being around the students and business giving out free food samples was
a cool and fun experience. Landaverde said that coming from El Salvador, he did not get to experience events like ‘Bite of the Burg.’ “In my country, we don’t have these types of activities,” Landaverde said. “It’s nice to have the sense of union or community union that you guys have here in Ellensburg.” Bite of the ‘Burg puts newer businesses in front of the community like Ellensburg Desserts. Owner and baker Cassidy Merritt offered cake pops to those visiting her table in an exchange for a follow on Instagram. Merrit said she came to Ellensburg from Maryland during the COVID pandemic and realized that the community didn’t have a dessert shop.
“I wanted to bring what I know how to do here,” Merrit said. According to Merritt, she is currently looking for a storefront for her business so she can operate out of a physical location. Another local business offering a taste of their menu was The Pearl Bar and Grill. Owner Blake Collins stood behind a simple fold up table as he handed out crackers with artichoke dip. Collins said he enjoyed the turnout and energy the most, and he feels the energy increase as the population of Ellensburg does. Collins said, “It’s been a lot of fun being able to talk directly to college students that bring a lot of energy to this community.”
Student loan relief does not meet student needs Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20k in debt Katherine Camarata Editor in Chief In an attempt to fulfill campaign promises, the Biden administration announced they will be forgiving up to $20,000 in student loan debt for recipients of the Pell Grant and $10,000 for those who did not receive the grant. The weight of student debt applies significant pressure to about 45 million borrowers nationwide with an accumulated $1.6 trillion in debt, according to a press release issued by The White House on Aug. 24. The release stated that those
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with incomes greater than $125,000 individually ($250,000 for married couples) will not be eligible. According to CWU Financial Wellness Counselor, James Paton, any federal student loan that was dispersed prior to June 30 is included in this debt relief. “This would even include graduate loans that graduate students have taken out as well as parent plus loans. These are loans taken out by a parent on the student’s behalf,” Paton said. “For the current students, the students that would be taking out student loans for the upcoming school year or anything after,
those debt balances would not be included.” CWU students will be impacted by this change to varying degrees, including Diego Garcia, a student in the who studies in the Philosophy master’s program. “I’ll have 20k taken off my student loans,” Garcia said. “I have a total of 48k currently. That will definitely make it more manageable to cut down on payments when the time comes to start repaying those again.” Eponine Romo, a recent CWU graduate and student in the Law and Justice master’s studentprogram, said the debt relief will have palpable results in her life. “As a mom of four, this is huge
for me and my family’s future,” Romo said. “I’m so thankful.” The cost of public and private four-year -universities has almost tripled since 1980 and this includes adjustment for inflation, according to the release. While Hammes said the $1020,000 of relief is “great” she said, “I don’t think this is a long term solution because obviously students who are still going to borrow are not going to be given the same opportunity.”
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STEM Program receives grant to help teachers Megan Rogers Senior Reporter CWU’s Teach STEM program received a Noyce Track 3 grant and started working on it in August. This grant is a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help STEM teachers around Washington. The Robert Noyce program, which is part of the National Science Foundation, has different tracks. Track 3 grants are the NSF Master Teaching Fellowships to help fund master teacher fellows. Brent Hancock, project director and principal investigator, said, “We’re going to provide opportunities for fellowships where they’ll be financially supported and teachers can take on that leadership role and really improve the state of STEM education throughout all of Washington state.” According to Brent Hancock, they will spread this grant out over the next six years. “We will have two cohorts of teachers,” Brent Hancock said. “The first one would be in years, one through five of the grants and then, the second cohort would be taking part in activities in years two through six.” The two cohorts will each have eight teachers and will be split into teachers that already have their master’s degree in a STEM or education field, or teachers currently in a master’s program and planning to finish within the next year. Allyson Rogan-Klyve, a co-principal investigator, said the grant provides support for STEM teachers mainly at the middle and high school levels. “People that are going to become leaders in their district work with us as a network to implement some STEM innovations in their districts to reach more students,” Rogan-Klyve said. “Particularly students from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds.” To receive this grant, teachers have to meet the National Science Foundation eligibility requirements and then go through the application process with CWU. “Teachers tell us why they want to join the program and what types of innovations [they] are thinking about...
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