More than 6,000 users have reported an outage for the Microsoft email service Outlook, according the the user-monitoring site Downdetector.

Those affected by the outage have reported an inability to open, search and send emails through the popular service. As of 9:27 a.m. PDT, Microsoft has not provided any updates on the scope or resolution of the outage for those affected.

A live-tally of user reported issues can be tracked on Downdetector.

MICROSOFT UPDATE — 1:08 P.M. PDT

Microsoft provided an official update on the outage on their Service Health Status page, stating that, “Impact includes, but may not be limited to, the below services and scenarios. We will update this list as our understanding of the issue progresses.

They further stated that the outage was caused by “an issue within a core authentication configuration used by multiple Microsoft 365 services.”

RESOLUTION UPDATE — Sept 1, 1:14 P.M. PDT

Outlook, and various other Microsoft 365 services, have been restored to working order for a majority of users, despite ongoing issues with the internal Microsoft systems. Microsoft provided their latest official update at 7:02 p.m. UTC, stating, in reference to their communication services, that “service telemetry indicates recovery of core mail flow and search functionality.”

However, while the bulk of the issues have been resolved for most users, Microsoft did note that some problems are ongoing, and that “users may be unable to connect to, or experience degraded functionality, such as failures when attempting to use the search function, within Exchange Online. All connection methods are affected.”

As of the time of this update’s publication, Downdetector is still reporting a higher than baseline issue-rate with most Microsoft related software, including Outlook.

Wednesday afternoon the official CWU Eats Instagram page posted an image depicting a blurred sign in the SURC with the caption, “Something new is coming to CWU Dining .” The sign in the image occupies the location which previously housed the SURC restaurant Panini.

At the time of this article’s publication, CWU Eats has not officially announced what the new restaurant will be, but The Observer was able to confirm that the sign in the SURC is for a restaurant chain called Kikka Sushi.

In addition to the physical rebranding, the Grubhub page that still retains much of the Panini branding, including its banner image and profile, has been renamed “Kikka Sushi – SURC.”

What is Kikka Sushi?

Kikka Sushi is a third-party sushi supply company based out of Los Angeles, California. It has franchises at businesses, stores, universities and more across the nation. It is also one of the main third-party vendors partnered with Whole Foods to supply fresh sushi counters to the grocery chain. 

Kikka Sushi operates as a franchise business, and has the following food standards outlined on their corporate website:

“Kikka stands apart by using hand-selected Grade-A tuna in our Whole Foods sushi. Unlike any other U.S. sushi company, we ship the next-day directly to markets nationwide to ensure the highest quality,” a statement on the Kikka Sushi website says. “Everything is prepared daily with care and delivered sustainably—from eco-friendly packaging to our low-impact, waste-conscious operations.”

According to Google Menus, many Kikka Sushi franchises feature menus broader than just sushi, some examples being hot dishes, Korean and Vietnamese cuisine.

CWU has yet to officially announce the menu for the Kikka Sushi location in the SURC. The Observer will continue with further coverage as more information is made available.

Waite played for the Wildcats during their 2018 and 2019 season as a Defender and graduated from CWU in 2021 with a degree in Psychology. Waite only started eight games for the Wildcats but in a release from CWU Athletics department, “her impact extended well beyond the soccer field, and she will be remembered as a caring teammate and member of the Wildcat community.” 

Waite played 723 minutes in total on the field and secured two assists through her career as a Wildcat. She was also chosen for the 2019 GNAC (Great Northwest Athletic Conference) All-Academic team, with a 3.91 GPA. She played soccer at Service High School in her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska where she was in the top 10 percent of her class, an honor roll honoree for all four years, and a two-time member of National Honor Society. 

CWU Director of Athletics Dr. Dennis Francois spoke on the alumni’s death in an announcement on the CWU Athletics Page. “It’s moments like these, when a person’s life ends way too soon, that remind us how precious life truly is and how much they were loved by others. Bryn was a very talented student-athlete excelling on the field and in the classroom. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bryn’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time.”

Don Woodcock’s legacy still lives on

“Dr. Don Woodcock, he found his way into our offices and to our hearts,” NASU Advisor Vi Alvord said. “He, for hours, would be sitting with us, making sure we knew whose land we’re on, who we need to know, who we need to listen to, who we need to look out for, take care of. He made sure we knew the history of our institution.”

The American Indian Studies (AIS) program honored Woodcock at the end-of-year ceremony for the AIS scholars on Saturday, May 23, in Black Hall 101 in the early afternoon.

“Don was an incredibly remarkable being and I’m so grateful for all of the honorings and the recognitions that have been provided today for him,” Vi said in a speech at the ceremony.

Ceremony attendance

Perron, along with Equity Services Council (ESC) Advisor Justin Santoli, counted a total of 44 attendees. Vi said they felt proud of the diversity of the turnout.

“I’m so glad that we had so many different people from so many different backgrounds and even non-native folks,” Vi said. “Just as much as it is for Native people, [the ceremony is] for non-native people too. We can’t do anything without community and we are a small community.”

“There was tribal diversity,” Vi continued. “There was ethnic diversity from the identities that go beyond just Native and the diversity of thoughts and opinions and ages and abilities.”

The Black Lodge Singers

The Black Lodge Singers, a Native American drum group from the Confederate Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, played three songs during the ceremony. Algin Scabbyrobe, a Yakama tribal member whose stage name is Buffalo Dancer, led the group, along with his brother, Erwin Mesgato Scabbyrobe.

The group began the ceremony by playing the “Honor Song,” which Mesgato Scabbyrobe said was “something we always sing before we start any kind of event. The ‘Honor Song’ is to honor people, so that’s why the ‘Honor Song’ is sung.”

At the end of the ceremony, the Black Lodge Singers performed their “Round Dance Song,” which Mesgato Scabbyrobe described as “a friendship and a headline song, so that’s why we thought we would sing that, because it’s a celebration. It’d be a good feeling for everybody to get up and dance and share with each other their feeling.”

Before he and his family began singing the “Round Dance Song,” Scabbyrobe described the history and message behind the songs that they performed.

“The first song we sang is a Blackfoot flag song,” Scabbyrobe said. “Before there was an American flag or Canadian flag, we had eagle stamps and that was our flag that we honored first and foremost before any event.”

“The second song we sang was also a Blackfoot song. This song they would sing, they called it ‘All People Song.’ This song was sung when horse riders would come back from a war or from stealing horses,” Scabbyrobe continued. “This song was for any person that did something of a great deed. This song was sung and we only thought that it was appropriate for this day and this occasion.”

CWU Foundation’s contributions

CWU President Jim Wohlpart purchased over 100 blankets from Woodcock’s estate to donate to CWU, half of the purchase being funded from his personal funds and the other half funded by the CWU Foundation.

Woodcock’s collection was composed of vintage, out-of-print or otherwise unique blankets from Pendleton Woolen Mills.

The founding NASU officers, along with Cultural and Environmental Resource Management (CERM) graduate student Shane Turntoes-Kuhnhenn, were given blankets to honor their efforts to support American Indian Studies and Native American students at CWU. 

The remaining Pendleton blankets purchased from Woodcock’s estate are stewarded by Associate Vice-President of Tribal Relations Dr. Zoё Higheagle Strong for further honoring purposes.

“I am a graduate of Dartmouth College. I graduated in 2021. I was a Native American Studies major and it’s one of the biggest Native communities in elite academia,” Vi said in their speech. “We only saw our president once a year for hundreds of Native students … I see Jim [Wohlpart] at every event we hold.”

The importance of celebration

During the ceremony, several speakers gave speeches recognizing and expressing pride about living and working in the lands of the Yakama Confederacy. The Yakama Nation encompasses nine bands and tribes of Indigenous peoples. Among the opening speakers was Wohlpart, who explained the importance of hosting a ceremony for local communities.

To strengthen his explanation, Wohlpart quoted Chickasaw Poet, Novelist and Essayist Linda Hogan from her book, “Dwellings.” Wohlpart quoted Hogan, stating, “Through ceremony, we remember that all things are connected. Ceremony is part of a healing and a restoration. It is the mending of broken connection between us and the rest.”

Then, Wohlpart followed Hogan’s quote with his own remarks. “The ceremony begins where the former one ends. When we take up a new way, our minds and hearts filled with the vision of Earth that holds us within it,” Wohlpart said. “In a compassionate relationship to and with the world, we often talk about commencement not being the end of the journey but the beginning of the journey in the same way that this ceremony is the beginning of a journey as you go out into the world.”

New charter for AIS

At the beginning of the ceremony, Professor and Chair of the English Department Christopher Schedler, who is also the co-director of the AIS program, gave a speech in which he reflected on some AIS highlights from this year.

“One important highlight of this year was that we got the formal approval of our new charter for American Indian Studies,” Schedler said. “It’s the first approved revision since the original charter in 2007. It only took about 20 years for us to get this new charter. It sets our vision and mission to provide interdisciplinary learning about American Indian peoples, their diverse cultures and rich heritage, as well as connecting our campus to Native communities and resources.”

“Rooted in Resilience, Culture and Giving Back” by Willard Bill, Jr.

After Schedler and Wohlpart spoke, Associate Vice-President of Tribal Relations Dr. Zoё Higheagle Strong, a member of the Nez Perce tribe, and a descendant of the Yakama Nation and Umatilla, interviewed enrolled Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Member Willard Bill, Jr., in a public keynote speech called “Rooted in Resilience, Culture and Giving Back.”

“My father was a suit-and-tie guy for 40 years,” Bill said in his introductory statement. “His presence, not only his physical presence was quite large, but his presence in getting that PhD [meant] people couldn’t say no to him anymore. They couldn’t keep the door closed.”

Then Higheagle Strong asked Bill to discuss an important lesson he learned from his father. He replied, “Once we were at a school district, I went on business trips with them, but the superintendent wouldn’t meet with them … so he literally just sat in the office for four hours until they let him in, in his suit and tie, calm, but that presence matters.”

“In the winter of 1855, when those treaties were signed and no homeland was designated for our people, they all wanted us to go live down in Nisqually or Puyallup,” Bill continued. “Our warrior families united under Chief Leschi and fought against the United States government, primarily government-sponsored militias. In that wartime, we sent one runner over to Yakama. All those Yakamas were in their own direct conflict with Governor Stevens’ militias. They sent over 100 warriors in the dead of winter to fight with our people and we won that war. It’s the reason the Muckleshoot tribe exists today.”

NASU officers and graduating Native Wildcats

After the keynote, the ceremony organizers recognized graduating students and the founding NASU officers, acknowledging their contributions to the Native American Student Union.

Shane Turntoes Kuhnhenn was about to finish his Master’s in Cultural and Environmental Resource Management when he served as the emcee for the ceremony. He gave a short speech about his experience in his undergraduate and graduate studies at CWU.

“I came here … during the pandemic. We had a low population on campus of students,” Turntoes Kuhnhenn said in his speech. “I came out of the army and I was like, ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ I thought I’d be in Japanese Language and Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management. What the heck even is that?”

“I took some AIS classes and so I asked [AIS Faculty Marna Carroll], ‘What can I do with this?’ She said, ‘Try to get into the anthropology degree department,’” Turntoes Kuhnhenn continued. “I checked out that and it seemed like anthropology was studying humans. I like talking to humans, so through that, I’ve seen the program go from professors that were here and then they moved on into other opportunities. The AIS has always been my static here. It’s always been the thing that I’ve always been proud of as a Wildcat.”

Then, Vi introduced other graduating Native Wildcats, as well as NASU Secretary Mariah Gilmore, NASU Treasurer Michael Whitefoot and NASU President Alyanna Ayala. NASU Vice President Liz Storm was not able to be present for the celebration. Vi invited the people whom they had acknowledged to come up front so that they could wrap a Pendleton blanket around each recognized person’s neck.

Overall, the students who received blankets, as presented by Vi and Dr. Higheagle Strong, expressed happiness about their time studying at CWU.

“I’m proud to be a Wildcat,” Turntoes Kuhnhenn said. “If all of us can be proud to be Wildcats, we can all be a community of Wildcats. In that community, we can find out what’s special about us. We can have the Native Wildcats at this event that are special on their own, but we also go back to a larger community.”

“Community building is huge, in my opinion, here at Central–the diversity, equity and inclusion–that’s all hugely important to me as a student,” Turntoes Kuhnhenn continued. “I wouldn’t be here without it.”

Acosta-Vega has been a CWU student for five years, a journey he said he could never have dreamed of. “I didn’t ever think I would ever come to college, and it took some people pushing me to get me to come to college,” Acosta-Vega said. 

“I graduated high school with a very low 1.7 GPA, and I didn’t think I had it cut out to be a college graduate. So knowing that I get to walk into commencement here in just two weeks is just a very surreal experience that I’m just really excited to get a chance to actually experience,” Acosta-Vega continued.

Now, as the latest generation of Wildcats prepares to graduate, so does Acosta-Vega, whose year-long role as ASCWU President will soon be taken over by Jada Aurellia Chaplin. In the closing days of his term, Acosta-Vega sat down with The Observer to talk through the legacy he has worked hard to leave behind.

The Wins

Acosta-Vega, who is an Instructional Foundations major, double-minoring in Creative Writing and Comparative Religions, spoke about the number of projects he has taken pride in during his time at CWU, starting during his time working with the College of Education and Professional Studies and finishing with his time as ASCWU President.

“For me, one of the biggest [wins] that I can think about is when I was the Senator for the College of Education and Professional Studies, when they were starting the reconstruction conversations for Black Hall for the Multi-Cultural Center (MCC),” Acosta-Vega said. “There weren’t a lot of conversations that were being done with my department about what was going to become of the education space that was in that space.”

So Acosta-Vega worked hard, he stated, to make sure that the educational space would be able to be moved, and after a period of back-and-forth, it was. “They were able to ensure that we would get a new education space in Black Hall, which is now right across from the MCC in a really, really nice multi-room space, and so that was definitely one of the biggest successes,” Acosta-Vega continued.

Following his time as Senator for the College of Education and Professional Studies, Acosta-Vega went on to become ASCWU Senate Speaker. According to Acosta-Vega, the biggest success that he landed during his time as Speaker came to fruition during the Services and Activities Committee (S&A) funding situation last Spring, wherein proposed S&A budgets defunded multiple aspects of student life, including Student Media.

“The number one [win] was when we were able to work with The Observer and our students in our campus after the S&A deliberation last year,” Acosta-Vega said. “Working with my team, working with the Senate and advocating to the Trustees that there were mistakes that were made, and the importance of our student media and our other groups on campus.”

“Even though it was a little bit of a struggle, we were able to advocate to give ourselves another chance for this year for the new S&A deliberations, and it looked great,” Acosta-Vega continued. “I call that a really big victory, knowing that Student Media stands strong, and I got to support all of you in that endeavor, alongside the Senators.”

Acosta-Vega moved on from his time as Senate Speaker to win the general election for ASCWU President, a role he’s held throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. “In the Presidency, man, there’s a lot,” Acosta-Vega said. “We focused this year on just rebuilding Student Government, being more active, and then focusing on the recruitment of first years and second years, and so it’s going to be really exciting to see what becomes of Student Government next year, knowing that a lot of the students that we were able to recruit this year are going to keep going, which is what we wanted to do, so it was really exciting to see.”

The Challenges

During the fall quarter, ASCWU faced sexual assault allegations against one of its student leaders. Acosta-Vega led ASCWU through the situation that followed, which involved the removal of the student and the reappointment of the position.

“That was a challenge that none of us could have truthfully foreseen, and my biggest goal in that situation was to just be authentic and make sure that it was very clear where we stood, where our values were,” Acosta-Vega said. “That behavior is not acceptable, and as you know, we were able to overcome that. A lot of the feedback I had received from the statements I had released was very positive and [that it was] very authentic. People didn’t feel like it was written falsely or it was hiding it or not addressing it, so that was definitely a challenge we faced.”

Other hurdles have also arisen during Acosta-Vega’s term as President, many of which have stemmed from budget challenges at the university, he said.

“We see how it’s [budgets are] affecting everybody, and we’re trying to advocate,” Acosta-Vega said. “I know next year the board, they are gonna keep doing the same, just trying to make sure we prioritize our students in our student life and experience here on campus.”

These budget challenges are not exclusive to CWU, Acosta-Vega said, and his communications with student presidents at other universities have brought to light similar challenges. “I’ve worked with students from across Washington State. I’ve seen how the budgets and other institutions have also been affected as well, and so it’s a challenge also working with other institutions to [say] how do we navigate those together as a group,” Acosta-Vega said. 

Outside of monetary challenges, this year is also a transition year for ASCWU, with six of the Board of Directors leaving. “That hasn’t happened since 2022, when that last major transition year occurred,” Acosta-Vega continued. “That’s definitely been a challenge of how do we, as some people would say, separate the information from the person. Just making sure the next board feels, and the student government as a whole, feels confident in their roles?”

Some Advice for The Future

Acosta-Vega shared his advice for his successor, Aurellia Chaplin, and the rest of ASCWU, stating that trusting themselves will be key to success.

“This is not just for Jada, but just for the campus as well: every president is different,” Acosta-Vega said. “I will never be Malik … Malik’s style and approach to things is very different than mine.”

“I want people to remember that Jada is coming into this role with her own way of wanting to be the President–she wants to lead student government and work with the student body,” Acosta-Vega continued. “I want her to remain her authentic self and just remember to be open-minded with everybody and to new ideas.”

But Acosta-Vega’s advice wasn’t limited to Aurellia Chaplin–he also shared his guidance for the university at large. 

“I’ve been on so many sides of this university,” Acosta-Vega said. “I really hope we keep going on this path to focusing on that student retention. And that’s a challenge with the budgets right now.”

“It feels like constantly the campus is under construction and it feels like more and more areas get closed off,” Acosta-Vega continued. “It becomes harder for students, and so I really hope that lessons over the next few years, and I really hope we try to focus more on the student experience, where we don’t have situations where … student groups [are] having to fight it out for funding in S&A, or clubs are running out of funding in winter quarter.”

“I really hope we remember to prioritize our student experiences first, because without the student body, Central just would not exist,” Acosta-Vega said.

What Comes Next

With his time as President coming to an end, Acosta-Vega took a moment to reflect on everyone who’s supported his career so far. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this role without their support,” Acosta-Vega said. “I was a little scared, because during the election last year, I kept thinking, ‘Am I doing enough? Have I done enough?’ And all I kept thinking to myself was, ‘no, I have to trust the student body,’ because I can show them what I’m capable of and what I have done, [and] the decision is ultimately theirs.”

“When the election results dropped, I screamed and I cried, because I felt like I had finally found a place where I felt like I was accepted,” Acosta-Vega continued. “It was a really big boost of confidence, but for everybody who supported me, who’s trusted me, and was there for me when I needed it, I couldn’t have done this role without them.”

Acosta-Vega also thanked a couple of individuals who were important for his success, stating, “My sister Dusty, she got me here, she pushed me, she was the one who kept telling me to go,” Acosta-Vega said. “My sister Renee was also one of the biggest inspirations to get me here, and so for everybody who stood with me through all these times, years later, through thick and thin, I couldn’t have done this without them.”

While Acosta-Vega’s time as a Wildcat is coming to a close, his pursuit of higher education is still ongoing. “I just applied for Western’s master’s program in higher ed, so I want to keep working in higher ed,” Acosta-Vega said. “I’m hoping to get hired here, so I can keep working somewhere here on the campus and give back to the community once again. And if not, we’ll just see where I end up … I’ll still be in Ellensburg, sticking around, and so you’ll always see me pop in when I can, because I know people that will come looking for me if I don’t.”

Collectively, Tyler Diltz, Keaton Weyers, Emmett Giaccio and Grace Thompson took home three Emmy awards at the event, two for CWU Student Film projects, “Bringing Fish Back — MCF’s Story” and “Bedford’s Blind Date,” and one for a PULSE magazine multimedia story, “Boots & Boogie.” 

“Bedford’s Blind Date” was also nominated at the event for the Promotional Video category, landing Tyler Diltz, Keaton Weyers, Gurdil Dardi, Emmett Giaccio, Javier Angulo, Madisyn Joyner and Frank Purpura an additional nomination on top of the other awards.

Diltz, a fourth-year Film major, talked about what the awards and nominations have meant to him. “Being recognized means a lot to me,” Diltz said. “It was one of my goals when entering college, but that isn’t the only reason. I have made some amazing friendships with my peers, who also turned out to be some of the best collaborators I could ever ask for. In all of these projects that were nominated, my friends made the experiences phenomenal.”

“It was a great deal of fun and to be able to share that recognition with the people that I truly believe deserve it,” Diltz continued. “It just feels so rewarding.”

Weyers, a transfer student and Film major, shared his feelings of pressure as a creative to put out his best work, even when he knows it’s turned out well. These awards, Weyers said, have meant a lot to recognize that effort.

“As a creative person, even if I am super proud of a piece of work or think it’s some of my best work. It still feels daunting to put it out to the world because I don’t know how it will be received by others,” Weyers said. “So getting an award and recognition on this scale is definitely a huge confidence booster and helps validate the thought that I can produce good quality work.”

Weyers credited his time at PULSE magazine toward most of the learning that led to the awards, stating, “My time at PULSE helped improve my ability to collaborate and work in different mediums and media types. It also provided deadlines for work on stories that I wasn’t necessarily coming up with on my own, and those deadlines and scheduled releases helped me get used to putting out my work into the world and community more comfortably.”

“Bringing Fish Back — MCF’s Story,” took home the award for Non-fiction, Short Form, while  “Bedford’s Blind Date” won the Photographer Craft Award. Both productions were created within the CWU Film program’s Production IV Corporate Media course.

“Boots & Boogie,” which was written and recorded for PULSE magazine, took home the award for Arts/Entertainment/Cultural Affairs.

Grace Thompson, who reported the story for “Boots & Boogie,” said that the recognition is “incredibly meaningful,” stating, “It’s rewarding to know that a story you poured so much time, effort and passion into resonated with judges on a national level.” 

“More than anything, it validates the importance of community-centered storytelling and reminds me why I got into journalism in the first place, to tell stories that matter and connect people through shared experiences,” Thompson continued. “Attending the awards ceremony and representing PULSE on that stage was an experience I’ll never forget.”

CWU was an outlier from the other 15 presenters invited to the event, being the first college to attend as a presenter, represented by Sustainability Coordinator Jordan Spradlin. Student Sustainability Ambassadors Brooke Cruz and Hannah Campbell also attended on a student scholarship they won earlier this year. While the event has hosted students, it has never hosted college departments prior. 

“We’re heading in a direction that not only will make the campus more sustainable and allow us to thrive for years to come, but to be that leader in sustainability, and to be known as a sustainability campus,” Spradlin said.

In early October 2025, CWU Sustainability submitted an application for NextCycle, a collaborator of the WSRC conference, with the focus on the Wildcat Compost Collective. NextCycle is funded by the Washington State Ecology Department and focuses on initiating a circular approach to waste management across Washington, including funding grants.

In January, CWU Sustainability Director Jeff Bousson, along with Spradlin and the Wildcat Farm Interim Manager Nora Jacobs, attended the Circular Accelerator Academy, hosted at the Washington Department of Ecology headquarters in Lacey. They spent three days in workshops with 15 other teams from across the state to bring their Wildcat Compost Collective proposal to life. 

“We were just kind of in an odd one out a little bit,” Spradlin said. “Just coming at it from a different perspective, we’re not necessarily looking for customers, we’re not looking to make a profit, we’re looking to do this purely for the circular aspects of it.” 

When they brought the grant presentation to WSRA in May, they won. “It still to this day kind of feels surreal, just because we were the only university involved in this,” Spradlin continued. “We’re looking to bring a commercial-sized composter to the Wildcat Farm, and kind of create that circular approach to dining, just more food grown at the farm with better quality soil from the compost means more fresh food for you guys in dining.”

The composting unit from Green Mountain Technology, projected to hit campus before 2028, would revolutionize the food cycle at CWU. The $10,000 grant put the first dent in the unit’s $500,000 price tag, and next year’s grant cycle is expected to be a great help in funding the initiative. 

The WSRA conference is only the most recent example of CWU Sustainability’s ongoing efforts. The Student Green Fund, run through the Sustainability Department, has been scoring small wins through funding student projects rooted in sustainability. One yield of the Fund was the implementation of three Student Sustainability Ambassadors, two of whom attended WSRA. 

Campbell hired student ambassadors for her Sustainability Club, which she initially conceived as a class project. “I talked to some other universities about how their sustainability programs operate … and then I implemented it,” Campbell said. “Fall of 2024 is when that started, and now it’s been two years since that has started, and I’ve been employed in this role for two years.”

Cruz, who represents the multidisciplinary aspect of sustainability, held an AI Efficacy workshop this past quarter and aims to reduce E-waste on campus, combining her two main passions into positive sustainability initiatives. 

“I’m going to be a security technician out of school, I’m going to be working for a company … and they handle a lot of different company IT consulting issues,” Cruz said. “Policy is something that I’m very well versed in when it comes to that, and security planning, and data governance … that’s all really important to me, being able to have control over your own information and data.”

One project the Department has been trying to initiate since 2020 is a Reusable Container Program through Dining. The program would offer reusable containers to students from on-campus food locations. Two avenues are being explored–stainless and plastic. 

“We are the largest generator of waste in the entire county, fun fact,” Campbell said. “We have all of these students who are just ordering all the time. So if we kind of were to restructure the way we do this … we would reduce waste significantly.”

“Students would invest in this almost like they do that one-time payment, and then take their container, eat their food, and bring it back, and then that charge either gets put back into their account,” Campbell continued. “They just keep the container for the whole year, and then they just keep bringing it back and replacing it.”

They’ve been collecting survey responses over the past year, gauging student interest in the reusable program to present to Dining. Sustainability offers a newsletter through their CWU page that you can subscribe to to keep up with everything CWU Sustainability.

One community member who has lately experienced allergies was Krislon Rhynes, an office assistant for the English Department.

“Because I’ve only developed allergies within the last five years, I feel like I’m learning about it all at once in my late 20s, whereas a lot of people who have allergies have them from birth,” Rhynes said.

Among CWU faculty and staff, different ideas have come up as to the main causes of these increasing allergies. Rhynes, along with Biology Professor Holly Pinkart and Geography Associate Professor Jennifer Lipton, posited that climate change could be the main factor contributing to the rise in allergies.

“I do believe that the biggest cause is global warming associated with increase in pollen concentration and increased length of pollen season, in general, mostly due to air pollution and greenhouse gasses,” Rhynes said in an email to The Observer. “Having just developed allergies in the last few years, I have been pondering the wide possibilities of reasons for it for a long time.”

Pinkart stated that among the pollen concentrations in the air are yellow flakes coming primarily from the pine trees, cedars and junipers that live in Ellensburg. She further discussed how the weather has been different so far in 2026 compared to previous years, as these changes relate to allergies.

“We’ve had a very different winter season, so it wasn’t as cold and we did have a lot of water, so everybody that needs water to grow is very happy right now,” Pinkart said. “We get a lot of plants that are normally starting to grow and produce pollen later are producing that a little bit earlier.”

“A fair number of plants … are producing more pollen because there was more water and less freezing,” Pinkart continued. “We’ve had a fair amount of wind this spring, so all the pollen that is being produced is being picked up and blown around.”

To measure the rain count, Lipton turned to an online organization called the Phenology Network, which she said is “monitoring research focused on collecting, organizing and delivering phenological data, information and forecasts to support natural resource management and decision making to look at what is called nature’s calendar.”

Phenology Network tracked the status of spring this year by examining lilacs, which are found across the United States. On the Phenology Network website, people could log their observations of how the lifespan and life cycle of lilacs near them have changed over the years.

Despite the increase of rain this particular winter season, Ellensburg and the surrounding area are still facing the effects of a four year long drought, something that Lipton said is contributing to the allergies.

“We have had drier conditions,” Lipton said. “We’re in a drought right now, so the fourth year of a drought. Without the rain, you have more of that pollen in the air, more of it blowing around and it is settling. The rain will capture it and put it into the soil and ground and carry it away and retain it.”

However, Galindo suggested that climate change has not been the direct cause of the increase in allergies this year. He stated that changes in behavior and lifestyle could be the primary factors contributing to a greater frequency of congestion and other allergic reactions and respiratory symptoms among CWU students.

“People oftentimes don’t have the best diets. We don’t have the best exercise routines. We don’t have the best sleep habits,” Galindo said. “We work and operate in very stressful environments  and so our stress levels are constantly out of whack. All of these factors can lead to what we call low-grade inflammation all the time.”

Recently, Galindo has heard many people use the word “inflammation” to refer to chronic bits of swelling inside the body caused by an immune response.

“When people are having these low-grade inflammations that are brought on from chronic stress, no sleep, poor diet, poor activity, you can think of all of that as your immune system being agitated,” Galindo said. “Your immune system’s upset. It’s angry.”

Galindo hinted at a longer pollen window as a factor contributing to allergies. Still, he stated that this alone does not provide a strong enough correlation between climate change and allergies to prove causation.

“If I have an angry immune system that’s agitated from all of these lifestyle factors of mine and then you take this agitated immune system and you introduce it to pollen longer, you’re increasing the odds of people developing allergies,” Galindo said. “It’s not climate by itself, but … it plays a factor by widening that window that you can be exposed or you can develop those allergies.”

Health Sciences Associate Professor Ana Freire briefly explained how pollen enters the body and irritates it. “What happens during spring seasons in general is that the spread of pollen from flowers, plants, increases over spring,” Freire said. “That tends to transfer to the respiratory system and the respiratory system treats that pollen as a pathogenic particle.”

“It creates an inflammatory response on the respiratory system and that’s what usually leads to wheezing, sneezing, coughing and those common respiratory symptoms that we have,” Freire continued. “It’s an allergic process that goes through … responding to that pollenization and that increase in our exposure to it.”

To adapt to the increasing amount of pollen in Ellensburg, Lipton advised community members to purchase air filters. She stated that those filters “will help trap some of the larger particulate matter of pollen.”

Lipton specifically suggested “having an air filter that is able to capture that, especially at night, where you’re going to be inhaling and breathing more often and having it closer to where people sleep–that might help them with allergies. So, air filtration is probably one of the better ways that can be done.”

Meissner is the most common variant of the surname. Locationally, it derives from the town of Meissen in Saxony, Germany, where the original bearers of the name lived. Therefore, Meisner/Meissner is a habitual name connected to the Saxony region.

The Middle High German word “meisner” means cutler or knifemaker. Some sources suggest that Meisner is a term of endearment for someone small in stature or lively and youthful in energy and personality. That description perfectly defines me. I am a 21-year-old 5-foot-2 woman who has the energy of a 12-year-old and a lively disposition.

The surname, Meisner, has been recorded in German-speaking regions since at least the late 1200s, the first known bearer being Hermannus Meysnere. Ever since then, several Meisners and Meissners have become famous for their unique inventions.

Probably the most famous Meisner is the inventor of an acting technique that centers on truthful and spontaneous performances. The Meisner Technique focuses on three primary tenets–emotional preparation, repetition and improvisation. Under this method, Sanford Meisner helps actors stay present in the moment and engaged with their scene partners instead of relying solely on memorization or rehearsed lines.

“Your acting will not be good until it is only yours,” Sanford Meisner famously stated. “That’s true of music, acting, anything creative. You work until finally nobody is acting like you.”

Sanford Meisner’s principles can easily be applied to my major, which is Communications with a focus on Journalism. I have noticed that many communications classes teach active listening, feedback loops, nonverbal signaling and conversational responsiveness, all of which Sanford Meisner emphasized in his career as an acting coach.

For example, Sanford Meisner’s famous repetition exercise teaches future actors and other public speakers to notice subtle behavioral changes, respond honestly, refrain from planning responses and track shifts in tone, posture, timing and emotion. These factors demonstrate the communication theory concepts of turn-taking, conversational adaptation, immediacy and relational feedback.

Julia Meissner is one of my favorite singers of all time. Not only does she perform covers of the most difficult songs for an English-speaking woman to sing, but she also works as a vocal coach in Konigswinter, Germany.

Her cover of “Child of Mine” by Deep Purple is jaw-dropping. Julia Meissner sings her low, medium and high notes all equally powerfully. Her vocal range is so amazing.

Another talented musician is Stan Meissner, who was important to the overall musical culture of Toronto, Canada, during his time in the 1980s and 1990s. His song “River of Fire” provides great imagery of a stressful experience that Stan Meissner had at the time. I love how the key goes up and down between the verses and the chorus. These key changes intensify the metaphor of fire as it represents emotional turmoil, longing and desire.

Join my informal Meisner committee. It is a place for Meisner enthusiasts to come together and casually do Meisner things.

If your first or last name is Meisner–or any other spelling of the name–you can comment and feel free to connect with me. I have been seeking connections with other real-life Meisners for quite some time now.

“Ben 10” first aired on Cartoon Network in January 2006, running for four seasons and coming to an end in 2008. The franchise continued with the subsequent series subtitled “Alien Force” and would later be rebooted to a more colorful and cheerful style in the likes of “Ben 10 Omniverse.”

After “Ben 10 Omniverse” ended with mixed criticism from fans, the franchise decided to back up the timeline, releasing a complete reboot of the original show, also titled “Ben 10.”

Fans were still not pleased with this new take on the character, with the reboot receiving the lowest score out of each show, amassing a whopping 2.8 stars on IMDB. The reboot ended in 2021 with no sign of a new show moving forward.

Originally, the idea for “Ben 10” was based on an early comic run titled “Dial H for Hero,” with the main character possessing a magical rotary phone that would turn the user into 10 distinct heroes, each with different powersets and designs. The idea was pitched to DC (Detective Comics) by Marv Wolfman and Carmine Infantino. 

“Man of Action” would pitch an idea similar to this to Cartoon Network. After two years of development, the team switched gears from heroes to aliens.

Hope is not all lost for us fans, however, as the most recent piece of Ben 10 media has been released in the form of a paperback comic. Published by Dynamite Entertainment, the comic run is titled “Ben 10,” and is set for four issues so far.

The “Man of Action” team working on the comic run consists of Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle. The first issue was primarily led by Casey, with modern and almost grotesque illustrations done by Robert Carey. 

Issue One was released on May 6, with the other issues projected to be released through the summer. There has been no announcement made yet on how many issues the full series will last.

The comic starts with Ben at the iconic campsite that started it all. Traveling on a road trip through the states with his Grandpa Max and his cousin Gwen, Ben encounters an alien device called the Omnitrix that crashes down from the sky and attaches itself to his wrist, granting him the ability to morph into various alien life forms.

The art style done by Carey has been somewhat divisive amongst fans online. Each alien featured in the franchise has a distinct look to them, which I believe carries on in the comic, though the illustrations of the aliens lean heavily into the cosmic horror aspect. The new designs have strange proportions, and each has detailed, illustrated transformations.

The attention to detail in the comic is prevalent, with intricate backgrounds, vibrant color and surrounding each alien’s speech bubbles is their primary color.

Fans online have pointed out the pacing of the comic feeling a little off, with only 20 pages in the first issue, pacing can make or break a story. A YouTube creator known as Kuro the Artist, of the “Ink Tank,” recently uploaded a video reviewing the comic.

“It [the comic] also seems to keep Ben as an alien for a much shorter period of time than what we’d expect. As with comics, the pacing has to be much quicker in order to fit as much story as you can within a reasonable monthly release. In general, comics are just paced faster than animation. It’s up to you to interpret the slowness of the story beats and pacing of the character’s dialogue. But on the surface, it really does seem like Ben turned back to human pretty quickly,” Kuro said.

The main villain of the comic run seems to be Ben’s primary antagonist from the original series, an alien conqueror named Vilgax. Though the first time Ben transforms, he ends up in a fight against a cybernetic bear, which has little to no connection to the original series, the closest counterpart being Cybearg, a small side character from the reboot series.

There are always pros and cons when it comes to translating media into comics, but I believe that with the original team behind the scenes, the franchise is in good hands.