Brenda Autry Journalism Blog

LBCC's Culinary Arts Department Purchases Food Truck. Stacy Lebar, Audrey Anderson, President Lisa Avery, and Josh Green pose in the new food truck. After years of saving funds from events such as the Santiam Dinners, the Culinary Co-Curricular finally had enough to make their mobile food dreams come true. Their new food truck was delivered on Wednesday, October 5, with a crowd befitting the occasion. “We’re hoping to have it open in Spring or Fall,” said Josh Green, department chair and culinary instructor. “We’re going to start out with small events, like doing concessions at baseball games, to get students used to working in the truck.” Culinary Arts students are excited to see the food truck arrive.  The 2000 Ford E450 was completely gutted and fitted with a professional kitchen. But the culinary department still has work to do. They’ll need to add refrigeration and cooking equipment before the truck can be used to prepare and serve food. Culinary Arts students check out the fo...

Culinary Arts and Welding Club Join Together for a “Weld and Dine.” Brian and Jill Lulay showing their sunflowers On Thursday the Welding and Culinary Arts co-curricular clubs came together to host their first ever “Weld and Dine” event. The Weld and Dine event was a play on Paint and Wine events that have become so popular in recent years. Participants enjoyed a dinner prepared and served by the Culinary Arts Club, and were then instructed by the Welding Club’s students on how to weld a sunflower yard ornament.  The idea for the event came from both clubs’ advisors, Josh Green from the culinary department, and Marc Rose and Cameren Moran from the welding department.  “We were brainstorming ways we could get our club more involved with the community,” Rose said. “Since COVID has affected our programs so much, we really wanted to get the word out about our programs and give people a way to get out.” Culinary Arts Students Nolan Ramirez, Kimberly Cebbell and George Krohm servi...

  Non-Destructive Testing Program is Alive Emily Whittier helping NDT student John Lopez There is no doubt that your life has been saved not once, not twice, but hundreds of times because of non-destructive testing. When you get on a plane, the engines that propel it are tested using NDT methods. The parts that make up your car’s brake system, the welds on the bridges you drive over, and even the parts in your cell phone, were tested using NDT.  NDT is a wide variety of testing methods used to evaluate engineering materials and their properties without causing damage to them. These tests ensure a product's integrity and reliability. They help to avoid failures, prevent accidents and to save human lives.  Xray equipment in the NDT lab Formerly known as the Metallurgy program, NDT has been a staple at LBCC for decades. The department has two full-time instructors, Scott Ballard and Zachary Milligan, and one Instructional Assist faculty member, Emily Whittier. Milligan, who ...

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, Sept. 8, Idahna residents David Stevens and JoAnn Serdy were awoken by a pounding at their front door.  “The fire department was telling us we had to evacuate now,” Serdy said. “We had no time, so we just grabbed our medication and jumped in our car. By the time we reached the Detroit dam [just 15 minutes away] the fire was everywhere.” “It was like we were in the movie ‘Volcano,’” Stevens added. This scene was the terrifying reality for many Santiam Canyon residents who fled their homes, narrowly escaping the flames of the Beachie Creek Fire, which spread rapidly overnight. The evacuees, many of whom have lost their homes entirely, have sought shelter with friends, family or, like Serdy and Stevens, at the Linn County Evacuation Shelter set up at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany.  According to County Commissioner Will Tucker, the Linn County Evacuation Shelter is currently housing around 450 people and more than 1000 animals...

My heart sank as we reached the top of the path and gazed down into the valley at a pillowy white wall of clouds that threatened to ruin a moment I had awaited for years. I spent hours researching the perfect timing to avoid the calamity that lay before me. I sank to the ground among the llamas and other forlorn travelers to see if I could wait out my misfortune. As the sun began to peak over the mountains to the east, its rays cut small slits in the airy barricade allowing glimpses of deep green and earthy brown below. The crest of Huayna Picchu broke through and with each inch of dissipation my excitement rose to where it had been an hour earlier on the zig-zagging bus ride up the mountain. Suddenly, the sun broke free; flooding the valley with golden light and vanquishing the last remnants of cumulus shroud. I jumped to my feet, ran to the edge of the cliff, and finally drank in the sight I’d waited so long for -- Machu Picchu ! Machu Picchu The view was even more stunni...

Marc Rose is a full-time welding instructor and the department chair of the welding program at LBCC. Rose is an alumnus of the LB welding program. He lives in Lebanon with his wife, Kim, daughter Emma, 16, and son Luke, 14. This is his fifth year teaching full-time and he taught part-time for six years prior to that. The welding program has gone through a barrage of changes over the last few year. Just as things were beginning to settle down covid-19 hit and threw their program into disarray once again. Despite the challenges they've faced, the entire department has come together and found a way to teach hands-on skills online. Marc Rose How did you get started teaching? I wanted to teach right out of high school, but I wasn’t the most academic of students and I couldn’t see myself going to school for four more years. So, I kind of lost focus on that dream for a while. But about 11 or 12 years ago, Dean Dowless (a welding instructor at LB) contacted me about teachi...

I don’t know if it is the way the strangler fig trees and creeping lichens seem to devour the massive stone walls of Ta Prohm. The mystical pink blush in the carvings of Banteay Srei. Or the humbling feeling of standing in the shadow cast for centuries by the towering spires of Angkor Wat that makes me want to return more. Banteay Srei But whether it’s something I remember, or something I know I’ve yet to discover, few places in the world have left me longing to return as much as Angkor Wat. Hidden in the jungles of Cambodia for centuries before being rediscovered, Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century as a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu, but was soon converted to a Buddhist temple. It served as the capital for the ancient Khmer people until the 15th century, and today is the largest religious monument on Earth, receiving millions of visitors every year. Angkor Archaeological Park , often mistakenly called the Angkor Wat Temples (Angkor Wat, translated “Templ...